Our Walk in Unity

Well, good morning. You know, for the past 19 years of my life, every summer, about two weeks out of the summer, I've gone to church camps to preach. Um, usually there are students. A lot of times they're the young elementary kids, but this is the 19th summer in a row. And so, I am leaving right after the service today to catch a flight to Texas. I've got one camp. There's going to be over 900 kids there um and about 300 leaders. And then the next week, I'm going to Kurville, Texas. Um, right outside of Kurville, Texas. And um there'll be just a group of people there. There's about 400 kids from the local area around there. Um and so I'm doing that camp as well. And so here's what I want to say church. Thank you. And you're going Keith, why why are you thanking us? Because when I came here as pastor two years ago and I shared with the committee that brought me, I said, "Here's something I do every year." And you know what they said? We bless you and we want you to still go. And so here's the way I look at it. Keith may be traveling to Texas to do these two camps with over 1500 kids and leaders, but I really think it's South Sub Church that's going to Texas to do this camp for 1500. And so, I just want to invite you. Would you pray for me this week? Um, this year's a little um gosh, I didn't know I was going to get emotional just knowing the tragedy that a lot of these kids have lived in for the last two weeks. Um, my heart goes just very, very sensitive. And so, um, will you just pray for me? Pray that not only will God use me to bring comfort to the families, but these kids just need to know Jesus. The one camp I'm going to next week is my first year to ever do this camp.

Excuse me.

God, thank you.

Thank you for the journey that is going on so many years. Lord, this year's a little harder and it touches all of our hearts, but I'm sure it touches his heart. He knows some folks down there. Some others do as well. Father, we just lift them to you and we lift all that in and all that are in other camps around Texas and maybe in the United States that are afraid to send their kids. But Father God, let nothing hold your word back from these children um and camp counselors. Let them hear you. Let them know your word. Let them memorize. Let them be so delighted and your joy and your hope like never before. May they come exponentially and know you and live and serve you all the days of their life for your glory and for heaven's glory.

So Jesus, um, thank you for your body of Christ for moments like these that aren't planned in our service. That God, this is not an organization. It's a family and it's your body and it's your family. So, thank you. And so we pray. We pray for the kids at camp next week and the week after. We pray for this church right now. Jesus, you have a word for us today. and will you open our hearts and our minds and we receive it in your name. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you church. Thank y'all. Now, as they return their seats, I got to say they give me 35 minutes to preach. That doesn't count part of my 35 minutes. Okay? So, let's just get that straight here. Thank you, church. Wow. That means a lot to me. And I was trying to get at the camp I'm going to next week when I was in the eighth grade as a middle school kid. That's the camp I went to that God called me to do what I'm doing today. And what goes through my mind is there could be a third grader, a fifth grader, a sixth grade young boy or girl there that may already know Jesus. So, it's not a salvation moment, but there's a life-changing moment. And so, um, if you don't follow our church on social media, I'm just planning this now. Daniel's in here somewhere and he runs our social media. I'm gonna be sending you prayer requests and photos of my next two weeks. And so, um, don't follow me on social media, but just go to the church's social media page, and that's how you'll know how to partner with me and pray with me as South Sub Church goes to Texas and does God's ministry. Is that okay? Okay. So, bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, somebody asked me one time, Keith, why do you do it 19 years? I'll be honest. Several months ago, as I was thinking about these two camps coming up, I asked the same question myself. Why? Because it is like tiring trying to hang out with 900 kids or 400 kids and and do all that. But you know, the why is why I do it? Because what Jesus did in my life, what he did in my life at camps, what he still does in my life today in the grace and the goodness and the mercy. And so I had a little leg going, why do I do it? It's because what he has done inside of me. Now, I share that with you for us to reflect because we've been studying the book of Ephesians together. And the book of Ephesians, when Paul sets out and he writes the book of Ephesians, the first three chapters, he gives the what? He talks about them being redeemed. He talks about the grace. He talks about all the stuff that Jesus has done in them for these first three chapters. He lays the foundation. And then today, we're moving to chapter four. And so as we finish out this series over the summer, chapters four, five, and six is the why. He goes, "This is how you need to live your life." But he did it after he told them what Jesus did in their lives. And so church, as we embrace over these next weeks, just chapters four, five, and six, here's what we need to think. Don't view it as a to-do list from God, but do it as a response to God. If our Christian behavior, if our following looking like Jesus is nothing more than just a set of bunch of rules and regulations, we've just fallen into the trap of religion. But when our outcome of our life, when the response of our life, when how we look and live our lives is because of who Jesus is in our lives, that's when we live our lives out of a spiritual relationship. And so Paul today is turning the page and moving to and this is why we do what we do as followers of Jesus. If you have your Bibles, you can look it up. We'll be in chapter 4. It's going to be on the screen. It's in your handout there if you didn't bring a Bible. But here's how Paul starts out in chapter 4 verse one. He says this, "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called." He used that word walk. Now when when I think of that word walk, an old movie comes to my mind and some of you will remember this movie. Do you remember young Frankenstein? Do do you remember when Dr. Frankenstein met Igor for the first time? And remember Igor and if you're younger than some of us in this room, you can go back and Google and look it up on YouTube or something. But Igor was this old bento guy, bent over just kind of just weird dude. His Marty Felman played it. And he walked and then he looked at Dr. Frankenstein. And what did he say? Walk this way. And Igor was walking all like this. And what did young Frankenstein do? Dr. Frankenstein, he bent over and he walked this way. Okay, here's the picture I want you to get today. When Paul is writing in Ephesians chapter 4, he's looking at the church of Ephesus, but he's looking at us today, and this is what he's saying. Walk this way. not physically walk this way, but our lifestyle should walk this way. And then after that, he spends the next number of verses and he lays a foundation of what our walk should look like. Let me read it to you. And as we've discovered in Ephesians already in the first three chapters, Paul can be so so so wordy. If you're a guest here today and I read this section of scripture and you kind of look glazed over going, "What in the world did he say?" That's what we've all said every time we've read a passage of Paul's scriptures because he just does grammatically one run-on sentence after another. But let me read it to you and then we'll break it down together to see exactly what he was saying. But this is what he says in verse two. He says, "Followers of Jesus, I want you to walk with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." He goes, "There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of you us according to the measure of Christ's gift." Therefore, it says, "When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men, saying, He ascended." What does it mean? But that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And then Paul goes on to say in verse 11, "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. when every each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Like I said, you read that going right over my head. I mean, Paul must have said something really good. We just have no idea what he said, right? There is one common theme as you look through there and there are several verses that you can find that theme. But here's the theme. Unity. As Paul is beginning this new part of his letter going, here's what it looks like to walk like Jesus. He goes, "But before I tell you the kind of the steps that you need to take walking to look like Jesus, you better make sure you have the right foundation." Remember when you're teaching your kids when they're little bitty to walk, I mean, you're you're putting things around them and they're standing up, but what did you do? You made sure the floor was completely clean because I don't know about you, but when we were teaching our kids to to walk and they were trying to figure it out, there might have been 15 or toys toys laid out everywhere. So we knew in their first few steps if they stepped on anything that wasn't even. If they stepped on anything that that kind of moved them to the side, they would go tumbling. So we made sure they had a very clear foundation, a good foundation to begin learning to walk. And so here's what Paul is doing in these scriptures. He is saying this one. As you begin to walk and look like Jesus, there is a foundation that you must have. And if if this foundation is not solid and clean, you will fall every single time. And he goes, the foundation that you must be on, every follower of Jesus, if we're going to walk good and steady and and clearly, we must have a foundation of unity. And in verse three, he put it this way, maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Verse four, he said, there is one hope that belongs to your call. Verse 13, spiritual gifts given so we can attain the unity of the faith. Verse 16, the whole body is joined and held together. So here's the deal. Unity is the ideal mandatory ground if we're going to walk and look like Jesus. If you're taking notes, let me put another way for you and you can fill in the blanks here. If we want to walk like Jesus, we must be in step with others. If we want to walk like Jesus, we must be in step with others. Now, here's what I should do. If we took two some extra time praying and we're trying to kind of just shorten this sermon down a little bit so we get out of here by two o'clock this afternoon, here's what I'd have just do is just amen right there. If I was going to summarize everything that Paul was saying in those verses, it would be that if we want to walk like Jesus, we must be in step with others. Have you ever met someone who claimed to be a Christian? They claimed to to live and and follow Jesus, but yet you saw their relationships with other people. And the relationships with other people was was was characterized by disharmony. It was characterized by conflict. And so all these other relationships around them, you're going, "It doesn't look like you're unified." Or, can I put another way? Have you ever been a part of a church that lacked unity? Have you ever been a part of a church that this group fought against this group and this person didn't like this person? And you walk in going, "If we're supposed to be like a one good, happy family, it's like the different members of the body are just beating each other up." And for the person stepping into that church, they probably take quicker steps outside the church because they're going, "That doesn't look, smell, or feel like Jesus would if he was in that church." And so Paul says, "Here's the deal. We want to as followers of Jesus, we want to walk and look like Jesus, but the foundation must be in unity, must be in step with one another in our lives." He's not talking about just putting up with people. He's talking about actually loving people. In fact, he's even talking about more than just loving because sometimes you can love somebody but not have anything to do with them, right? He's saying, don't only love them, but embrace the people around you. Walk in unity. And then Paul takes this passage and he says, I know unity is hard. So, let me break it down even more and just give you some crucial steps within this idea of unity. And here's the first thing he said. If you're going to walk in step with other people when it comes to unity, unity takes must take a good attitude. If you're taking writing that down, unity takes a good attitude. Verse two, this is what he said. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Unity is never created by dominance or force. It's always created in beginning with the right attitude. The right attitude of humility, thinking of others before yourself. The right attitude of gentleness, responding with kindness even when somebody provokes you. the attitude of patience allowing space for others to grow and fail. And here's what we think and we fall into this mistake that somehow within the body of Christ, we think unity is kind of that extra credit thing that we can do when it comes to God's assignment. But reality, Paul is saying unity is the actual assignment. That unity is that thing that we should be striving for no matter what. I grew up in a family that had very very very little conflict. We just we just got along. All my friends called us the Leave it to Beaver family. Okay? And if you look going what is a Leave it to Beaver family? Welcome to being young. Okay? Those that are laughing and smiling know exactly what I'm talking about. But the Leave it to Beaver family. And and I watched my mother and father and really they got along just like best friends. I mean I could count on the on one hand the number of times that I saw a conflict between my mother and father. And so when Denise and I got married, I assumed all marriages would be that way. Then Denise and I got married. Okay? And I realized we were my family was the exception to the rule. That's the reason Paul says this in your striving with the right attitude to have unity. You need to make sure that you make allowances, he said, for one another. And it didn't take me any time in my marriage that I realized if I'm going to get along with my wife and have a happy marriage, I must make allowances for her. I had to make some allowances for her. She had to make a lot of allowances for me. That's how we get along. I'll never forget we had been married four or five or six years and and one day um we just we got into a fight, okay? Like it was one of those bad ones and it was on the phone and we weren't together. And I remember coming home and my daughter was like in kindergarten and she opened the door and her words to me, "I'm sorry, mommy's not going to speak to you for two days." I knew I was going into not a very good situation when my kindergarten daughter announces my arrival. Mommy's not going to speak to you for two days. Now, after those couple of days of silence and and maybe shutting some doors a little bit hard and push and pulling, Denise and I, we figured things out, we we made it right. We reconciled. And then about a week later, I'm having my quiet time. And the Holy Spirit speaks to me and says, "Keith, you need to forgive your wife." And I'm going, "God, we already worked past that. I mean, it was a bad couple of days, but but we forgiven each other." So, I have forgiven her. And then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "No, you need to forgive her for the things in the future that she hasn't even done to you yet." You know what God was showing me right there? that if my wife and I were going to have a good marriage and be unified that I had to make allowances for her and she for me before the situation ever happens. Paul is writing this because he goes, he knows if you put two people, three people, if if you put 200 people in a room together, there's going to be conflict. There's going to be headaches. There's going to be disagreements. That's called living together, right? I mean, this idea of leave it to be for family is nothing but a fake TV show. There's going to be conflict. But if we're going to be unified that we can reflect and set this solid ground for us living the life of Jesus out through each of us individually and as a church, we have to be willing to make allowances for one another before the conflict ever ever happens because that's the way Jesus does us. When Jesus redeemed us, as Paul talks about in chapter one, he redeemed us not because we'd got our stuff together. He redeemed us because he graced us even when we've sinned and he still knows we'll sin again. That's what we call grace. That's what we call mercy. And so one of the first steps, one of the first building blocks of unity is to make sure in our life with one another, make sure that we are embracing the good attitude that brings us to unity. Here's the second thing. The second thing that Paul talks about, he says this about unity. Unity takes hard work. Okay, look at verse three. He says, "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit, binding yourselves together with peace." He didn't say, "Hey, go give it a try and see if it works out for you." He says, "Make every effort." In other words, it won't be easy. And Paul's going, "Get ready. You're about to do some hard work if you really want to be unified as the body of Christ." You ever participate in a three-legged race? You know, three-legged race where you get your partner and they tie your two legs together and you're supposed to run down and beat all the other three-legged people. Now, people think this, the key to winning a three-legged race is binding those two legs really tight together. Like, if you're racing with me and our legs are really tight together, then by golly, we're going to rent win. I don't When I was growing up, we used to do it in field day at school and they would use um neck ties and so those neck ties would stretch, the knob wouldn't be good. And so by the time you finish the race, half the participants, they really weren't a three-legged race. They were like a two-legged race and then two legs that are just like a foot apart from each other and they're just tripping over one another. And so many people think the key to winning a three-legged race is making sure the two inner legs are tied tight together. That's not the key. You know what's got to be tied together? The mind. because the minds have to start working and realize these two legs whether they're tied or not tied together they've got to be taking the same rhythm as these two legs out here. And so when Paul says this that we need to make every effort he says this and to bind yourself together with peace. Think about that. Unity is not coexisting in the same room. Unity is binding yourself together. I've got your back and you've got my back. That we may not always agree on everything, but we will walk step with one another in the direction that we're going in following Jesus. And so, here's the question I have. Here's a church, South Sub Church. So, there's 150 people in here right now. When it comes to us binding ourselves together and walking in the same direction, walking in the same rhythm, what are the things that we're supposed to bind ourselves together about? Like, are we supposed to all be in unison about the same color carpet that we have? If if we're remodeling an area of the church, does that mean we're like, that's what we're supposed to focus on? Or or maybe when Daniel's picking songs for next week's for the service that we're all supposed to be unison in the songs that we sing? There could be a hundred different things as a church, as a body of Christ that we're going, "Okay, so what are the areas that we're supposed to be in unison about?" And here's what Paul did. He goes, "Yeah, that could be difficult." He said, "So, let me give you seven areas." And he lists those. He says you need to be in ununified as the body of Christ in one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and one father. And when Paul lays these out, they are not man-made preferences. They're not man-made non-negotiables or um yeah, they're just anchors of our faith. And we as a group of a bunch of different people, if we would focus on those to be unified in those areas, we would be more unified as a body of Christ. But unfortunately, we can be like so many other churches that are open right now having services. We still try to focus on other things. We we try to be unified in oh we're one denomination or we try to be unified in our preference of music or we try to be unified in our style of organization and all those are necessary when you put people together but if those are our main focus we will miss the very essence of what the Holy Spirit has empowered us and directed us to be at this church. No, it's one faith, one hope, one Lord, one body, one spirit, one baptism. Those are the non-negotiables that if we would all say, "And that's what we're centered on. That's what we're focused on. And that's the direction we're going, we would be a church of unity that Paul is describing. And that church of unity allows every one of us to walk our Christian life much clearer and planer that people can see who Jesus is. Paul goes on to say this. It's not just hard work. He goes, "Unity also takes personal sacrifice." Look at verse seven. Paul says, "However, he has given each of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ." Scripture is clear that every single person within the body of Christ as a follower of Jesus has more than just talents, has more than just things they can do. They've been given spirit spiritual gifts. Like if you're sitting in this room right now and you call yourself and you're a fall, you've placed your faith in Jesus, God has given you a spiritual gift. And here's the problem with spiritual gifts, though. sometimes that we began to look around the room going, I like his spiritual gift. Like Daniel, he can sing really good. Oh, Harry can play the drums really good. Hey, Keith can well, he preaches. Okay, so Keith preaches, okay? But you look at other people's spiritual gifts. And here's the deal. Some gifts are more upfront than other gifts. But here's what God says. It doesn't matter what your spiritual gift is. It is important to the body of Christ. Like, here's something y'all have never seen with me. My little toe. Okay? Like, I'm never going to come here on a Sunday morning going, "Can I just take my shoe off and show you my little toe? It's the cutest little toe you've ever seen." But I guarantee you on a Sunday morning before I come here to preach, if I stump my little toe on a chair in my house, you will see how bad I will walk. It will affect my whole body. And here's what I'm getting at. Everyone has a different spiritual gift in this church, but we should never get to the place that we become envious of someone else's spiritual gift. Just like the body of Christ, Paul says in other writings that he does, he goes, "Some parts of the body of Christ are noticeable, some are notable, but they're all important to what God is doing." And so, as we think about it, unity takes a p personal sacrifice. It it takes the personal sacrifice in there because I can't look at you and think you're more important than me. I may have to sacrifice how I want people to view me. I might have to sacrifice my position. I might have to sacrifice accolades that I might receive. Why? Because none of our gifts are given to oursel to each of us for our own benefit. Our spiritual gifts that God has given every single one of you are not for you. They're for us. Can I say that again? The spiritual gift that God has given you, anointed you with, has never been given to you for you. It has been given to you for us. And sometimes for us to move forward, for us to be the picture God wants us to be of who Jesus is in our lives, it may take some sacrifice on each of our parts. Can I just be honest with you? Sometimes I wish I wasn't the preacher. I wish I was the worship pastor because all they have to do get get up every week and just sing three songs that someone else wrote. I've got to write a whole new sermon every week. Kidding. Worship people. Kidding. Kidding. back there. Okay. But can you imagine what Sunday morning would be like if every time I walked up here I'm just kind of angry because I'm not them or they are angry because they're not me or you're angry because you're not them or they are angry she's angry because she's not. Are you with me? And so it takes a sacrifice to going I have my role to play and God has anointed me with that gift to play it with. But Paul goes on to say this. Unity also takes everyone's involvement. Okay? It's more than just attitude. Like like you could come to church going, you know what? I'm okay. I know God's the gift God's given me and I'm okay and smiling. I'm so happy for you and I'm so happy for you and bless you. And you could really feel that. But if you never use that gift, you're not really helping the body. And so if we truly want to be the unified body of Christ that God has designed us to be, it's not only sacrificial in our attitude about mine and your gift. It also takes complete involvement by everyone with their gifts. Let me do a little side note here for a second. Thank goodness that God gives us talents. Thank goodness that God gives us abilities. Thank God goodness that God gives us even spiritual gifts that we can use outside of the body of Christ. But they were primarily and I say they our spiritual gifts were given primarily to edify the body of Christ that God has placed you in. Again, we get to reflect that beyond this building and this people. But our gifts were given primarily for the body of Christ that God has placed you in. Look at me again. Ephesians chapter or chapter 4:1. He says, "Now these gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers." And then look what he says in verse 12. and their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. So there are certain gifts that the Bible says he gives. The gifts of pastoring, the gift of shephering, the the gift of of prophets and evangelists. Sometimes he gives some people certain gifts that they are not better than other gifts, but they are in a place of leadership over the other gifts. But the reason that God has gifted me, your pastor, with certain gifts so I can lead you is not so I can do all the work. It's to equip you to do the work. Again, not the not to equip you where I get to sit back going, "No, I get to sit in my easy chair and y'all do all the work. I'm in the trenches with you." But we are all in the trenches together. Now watch this. This is why this is so important. If you're part of, and let's not even make it South Sub, okay? Because I don't want you to think this is Keith preaching at you. This is Paul preaching to the church at large, but it goes to us at South Sub. If you are a part of South Sub Church, we've already agreed that God has given you a unique spiritual gift. If whatever that gift is, if you're not using in a concrete measurable way within the body of Christ called South Sububurch, then you are part of a disunityity, not a unity. Are you with me? Let's let's look at this way. If the body of Christ has all these parts and and Paul compared it to the physical body, if I came in one day and I'm not using my ankle or my foot or my toe and I'm just hopping around wherever I go just like this, you would look at me going, "Dude, what's wrong with you? Did you hurt your foot?" No, they just decided they don't want to be a part today. They're not hurt. They're totally capable. I mean, this foot's as capable as this foot, but I'm just hopping around like this, and you're just You're going to look at me like, "You're weird. And then you keep seeing me do it for a couple weeks. You going, Keith, do you understand like the pressure it's putting on your knee doing that? Do you understand? You keep that on for a couple of months and you're going to start having hip problems. Do you understand? By not choosing to use that part of your body, it's going to affect the rest of you. Do you understand? You can't walk down the street as easy, it's going to affect your effectiveness. Are you with my thinking, church? You see, as members of the body of Christ that's been given a spiritual gift, when we don't exercise that gift within the body of Christ, we are affecting everything that God's wanting to do. And so if God, Paul, I'm sorry, Apostle Paul is laying this foundation, this foundation of going, I'm going to show you what it means to walk and look like Jesus. And it's the foundation is unity. that unity includes every single person being involved. And then he gives the last one. He goes, not only does it take everyone's involvement, unity also takes speaking the truth in love. Now, can I just go ahead and warn everybody? This is the toughest one, I think. Like, okay, I'll volunteer. Let me know vacation Bible school next year. I'll volunteer. I can check out the box and therefore I'm involved. Put me at the door greeting and I can do that. That's an easier one. I can even adjust my attitude to have a little bit more patience towards some of these unbearable people in this church. I can do that and I'll work on my attitude. Those are difficult, but they're more doable. But then Paul says this, if you really want unity in the body of Christ, we must be willing to speak the truth in love.

If we truth, if we speak truth without love, it becomes harsh, critical, divisive. If we love without truth, we become sentimental, shallow, and permissive. When either element is missing, we miss out on unity. Because my goal in your life, I hope your goal in my life is to nudge me and push me and encourage me to look more like Jesus. But when my life is being lived in certain a certain way, when my actions aren't looking like Jesus and nobody wants to come up wants to come up to me or nobody wants to come up to you and nobody wants to say anything, guess what? We water down the gospel because the gospel is reflected through our lives. When I don't love someone the way I should fully love them, fully embrace them like Jesus loves and embraces me. When I don't do that and no one calls me out on it, guess what kind of picture I give of Jesus.

And so it is good to have accountability. It sharpens us. It moves us.

But it needs to be accountability that we will speak that truth of accountability, but not done out of anger or bitterness. It's done out of love.

Some of the hardest conversations I've ever had to have with people are calling something out in their lives. Not that I'm the judge and the jury. The scripture helps us see. But to take somebody going, "Hey, brother, can I sit down with you and just say this this part of your life right now?" It's not reflecting what I'm reading in scripture and I walk into those because I'm not a confrontational person. Like I'm a peacekeeper. When everybody's not happy, it makes me so anxious. And so to go to a friend and going, "Hey, this is not matching up to what we see in scripture. I am scared to death that they will stop being my friend." And there's been times I've just simply not had that conversation before and I've allowed them to walk in the direction that's not the direction of Jesus.

But here's what I do know. On the times that I went in with prayer, it's not like a reaction. I'm like, "Holy Spirit, just when's the right time?" And I wait for that right time and I sit down with that person and going, "Can I speak the truth to you in love?" Most the times that individual will respond going, I needed that. I needed that.

Because the Holy Spirit is already working inside of them and we simply become the tool to point them in the right direction where Jesus wants them to go. And so we if we truly want unity, we must be willing to speak truth in love. In fact, if you go back to that verse, here's what it says, that part of the passage. It says, "When you do that, then they are both more like Jesus." Both the speaker and the listener are more like Jesus. And so, church, as Paul is beginning this next part of it, as I said, he's going to give us some in the coming chapters, he's going to give us some very specific here's some here's some concrete ways your Christian walk should look like. But he needed to lay the foundation and says, "But if we don't walk together in unity, it doesn't matter how each of us walk individually because the world will see the unity. they will see the church and not just individuals. I'm going to ask the band to come back up here and we're going to close with a song. And you know, sometimes at the end of our services when we have a song, honestly, we get together sometimes in our worship planning meeting after Sunday's going, "Okay, now why did we do that song?" Like, did we just do that song because we felt like we need another song? Did did we do that song because we're we're wanting people to have an opportunity to worship one more time. Why did we do the song? Here's here's my prayer as they do this song is that we would use that time as a time of reflection to think about the scriptures that we just read and say, "God, now sink it deep inside my soul." And I don't know about you, but sometimes he's singing it so deep, I just need to keep reflecting. And there's sometimes he sinks it deep and my response is to worship him. And so why do we do the last song? It's really just to give you and God time to respond in whatever way you need to. And so Jesus, we we wrap up the service today. We don't want to wrap you up. We're not trying to put you in a box and put a bow on it and say, "Look, we did good today." But God, I pray that that as we wrap up this part that you would just show us where we're not living with unity. Show us where we need to smooth out the ground a little bit more around us. God, live in us so much that you live out of us so clearly

that we can glorify and point people to who you are. And we pray this in your holy name, Jesus. Amen.