New Years Resolution Series: Unified

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Amen. Let's lift him up. We're here. So we might as well have church. Let's go say we worship you. Praise you. We magnify you, Jesus. I want us to just take a moment and sanctify this day. Uh, all of you have made such great sacrifices. I know there's been a lot of cancellations and uh activity and events today, and it may probably be rightly so, but uh I felt like having church in the building. So uh there won't be any jabs to those that are tuned in online because we understand uh given the circumstances, but I just felt who if it's just two or three of us, the Lord told me something, it may have been my flesh, because sometimes your flesh could be positive and it still ain't right. But a scripture just coming kept coming to me this morning that the Lord can save by many and the Lord can save my few. I said, I'm going to church. So uh I want us to sanctify this day with a prayer. If you if you're able to stand, uh, I know there's all kinds of things going on: cancellations, uh, sweather, people trying to get here. We don't want anything to happen. We want everything to be fine, but we also want a great presence of the Lord today. Amen. Uh as you know, uh, this is our last uh insert uh to our vision foundation for the month for the whole year. Uh the first month of the year at the International Church. We spend that whole month talking about the vision for the year, and I'm being a a little more uh detailed today because we're actually on live right now on Facebook and YouTube because people may uh not be able to get here, so we want to make sure everybody can tune in. Plus, there may be a lot of people at home today, so the International Church will do its part and minister uh to the social networks. So, but we want to be uh very uh in prayer and very focused on on what's happening with our vision, and this is gonna be that last insert. Now, I will do one more insert next week at 10 a.m. because Sister Wilson's taking my slot this Wednesday and speaking about what God's given her for the vision. Amen. I was I tried to get her to do Sunday. She said, I'm not doing Sunday. So here we are. Uh here we are. There it is, you know. So we are tuning on live and we want to say praise the Lord to everybody online, and we want to pray and sanctify this day. We're gonna do our 11 a.m. and we'll just play the rest of the day by sight. How about that? But we're gonna we're here, so we're gonna do our 11 a.m. But we also had some events tonight. Uh, we'll see how that goes. Is that fair? So why don't we pray? Uh Lord, in the name of Jesus, we pray for today, pray for what you're doing. We ask your your anointing, your blessings, your power. The Shekinah would fill this place, the holiness of God would be felt, that you would touch not only those that are present, but that your anointing would go through the airways and touch those that are tuned in online right now, wherever people are viewing or listening. Lord, let there be a touch, let there be a revelation, let there be an invitation, let there be a demonstration of the presence of Almighty God. Lord, let there be repentance, let there be forgiveness, let there be mercy, let there be grace, let your power flow, let your deliverance flow, let it all be felt, even as we teach. Lord, by the cleansing of your word in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. You may be seated, thank you. You never know what's gonna happen from one Sunday to the next. Amen. So this would be uh not the last 10 a.m. I'll do one more 10 a.m. So we're at week four, but let me just tell you uh you don't want to miss week five, which will be next Sunday at 10 a.m. You don't want to miss the topic. We're gonna try and close this out with a real fresh word uh for 2026. Amen. So I don't want you to miss next 10 a.m., next Sunday. But today in week four of our series on our foundation and our vision theme for 2026. Our theme is first the kingdom. That's what our theme is, first the kingdom. And but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So we're gonna we got our videos ready. Let me just say something before we get to our two videos. Um today's topic is going to be uh what appears to be something we know, but we got a different perspective for you today because it's about 2026. So it's gonna be uh fresh manna uh 2026. So I want to talk to you on this simple subject for us to file away because this is an important year. I want us to file this away. This is a this is a mission year for our church. This year could be the year where we walk into our new sanctuary. This could be that year. Why don't we step out on faith and say this will be that year? Amen. This will be that year. And so when you get to the five-yard line, they bring in what we call a goal line defense. So it's important that we take seriously what God is saying to us in our foundation classes. This is Bible class. We're gonna have church in a minute. This is Bible class. Uh so this topic is a very important insert, and I want you to say it with me, but let me say it first. Topic today is unified. Give me a little more monitor. I want to just talk to you. Would you say unified? Now, say that again. Say unified. Now we're gonna go into this. Uh unified is of course a different term than unity. Okay? Unity is the goal, but unified is the action. We can talk about unity, but until you unify it, it's just talk. Y'all with me. A church needs to be unified. Not to say we're unified, not to say we're uniform, but it's about mission. Any business owners or entrepreneurs or managers or supervisors or CEOs that's in this building or listening to me on social media, you should confess, I'm telling the truth, that being unified is critical and essential to mission. We got to be unified. So if we start talking about being unified, we're gonna also talk about the enemy of unity so that we can be aware this year because we're at the finish line. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. So let's do a little bit. Uh, are we ready, uh, Aaron? Uh let's see uh video one.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

What does that mean, keeping unity in the Spirit? The Spirit of God trying to get across to the church what he wants to do. And he's doing it through unity. He's calling the church together, he wants the church to join together, but he wants something to be accomplished. Remember, we talked about the 16th chapter of Mark, going to all the world. The only way we could do that is to endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Okay. Now he's talking about the Bible talking about unity of the spirit. The Bible is full of unified terms. So we've got to deal with this because it's critical that we apply this. Let's see the next video.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

That when Jesus said in John 17, I'm praying, Father, that they, the people of God that would come, right, the disciples that would come after this, I'm praying that they would be one as we are one, so that the world may know that you sent me. So in that, there's both this description of unity and a description of mission, which helps me to understand that unity in the body ultimately is for the sake of mission. It's this is the great apologetic that sometimes we lose. That Jesus actually prays that they would be one as you and I are one, Father, so that the world may know you sent me.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Get that unity creates us being unified for a mission so that they will know. Unity brings the revelation of truth. This is a big deal. So not only did we learn from our first video about unity, being a part of being unified in the spirit, but we know that Jesus prayed that his church would be unified so that they will know that he was sent. If Jesus is in the room, one of the great indicators that Jesus is in this church is unity. Can I tell you that more people leave church because of disunity than they do anything else? It's not because of this or that or the other, it's because people aren't unified. You're not safe in a disunified environment. So let's make up in our mind that we're going to get back to the mission. If we can get unified, the rest is gonna be easy. Disunity, we need to talk about. It's unity that has been dissed. There's a little bit of ebonics in scripture there, right? Disunity is the enemy's favorite weapon of choice. It's disunity. In the devil's arsenal of weapons against us, if he wants to bring down a kingdom, if he wants to bring down a corporation, if he wants to bring down a system, he uses and prefers disunity. That's how powerful it is when we're unified. You remember in the Tower of Babel? When they were unified, God came and looked and said, Yep, they're unified. Nothing is gonna stop them. Do you see that? So literally, God had to show up because nothing else can stop a unified group except God. Isn't that interesting? So the weapon of choice, the devil's favorite weapon is disunity. It'll break up a marriage, break up a family, break up a business, break up a system, break up an organization. It'll break disunity gets in something, nothing works. Nothing can work in a disunified atmosphere. The enemy's favorite weapon. Think about this. You get to the first chapter, the first book in the Bible. Okay? What's the name of the first book in the Bible? Okay, Genesis. Uh in Hebrew it's Berashit. In other words, beginnings. And actually, in Bereshit, it's so deep I don't have time. But anyway, uh you get to the book of Genesis, and the first thing you see in a completed system, the first attack that came against a completed, perfect system, the only thing that can stop perfection was disunity. Think about it. Everything was perfect, and the Lord was pleased. It is good, it is good, it is good, it is good. Here comes old Slew Foot. They used to call him in the old days. I don't know why they called him Slew Foot. Here comes the enemy. He shows up and he sees a perfect system. Everybody get this, with perfect people created by a perfect God and a perfect garden. And he shows up and says, Has God said? He wanted die vision. What did God say? Give him another vision. First thing he did was the enemy wanted man against God. What came into play? Death. What are we dealing with today? Death. Is everybody with me? Second thing we see out of disunity. Man turned against a woman. This woman you gave me. They were unified. They was even unified when they failed. But when it came to turn, when it came to pointing fingers, God said, What happened? Man said, why you give me her? Look what she done done. Everything was fine before you gave me her. Division into marriage. Next thing that happened, now you know it's funny, the woman turned and it was the serpent. Everybody pointing fingers. No, the serpent couldn't point at nobody. Next thing you see, the next chapter, you see brother against brother. Cain against Abel. The perfect system was destroyed because of disunity. It takes unity to succeed. Unity is so important and essential that really actually perfection has to have a unified foundation. You think we're gonna do what we need to do with disunity and division and arguing and complaining and critics? You think we're gonna get something done? Where has it succeeded in that atmosphere? They even tell us that in the components of breakdowns of atoms and the development of plants and frequencies, if it's disunified, it's all corrupt. To the very breakdowns that you can get to, it takes unity, harmony. Behold how beautiful and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Somebody say unity. It is so important that we remember it takes unity to succeed. We need to fight for unity. Now, let me explain something to you. Unity does not mean that everything is the way we want it. Unity requires compromise. Say, Pastor, you compromise? Oh yes. Well, you don't compromise, you're the pastor. Listen, half stuff go around here, I don't want to happen. And even more so at the house. I don't know what's going on at the house that I want to happen. You got to compromise opinions and viewpoints. And amen. Are you doing all right, Sister Wilson? Good, good. Man, I felt some something. I don't know if it was anointing or what it was. Amen. Forgiveness is important to maintain unity. You want to know how to combat or combat a bad situation? Put forgiveness in it. And you restore or heal or repair disunity. So what, everybody alright? I'm going deep. So what disunity destroys, forgiveness can fix. Want me to prove it to you? Can y'all hear me? Where can I can I have some more uh monitor? So, y'all want me to prove it to you? Let me give you an example. So, Adam and Eve fell in the garden, disunity caused the fall. Division caused the fall. What fixed it was God's forgiveness. If you don't put forgiveness in things that you're a part of, it's going to be toxic. Forgiveness heals toxic things. Just forgive it. Well, you don't know what they did. Forgive it. You don't know how it went. Forgive it. Let me tell you something. God's got power to help you forgive anything. He really does. He got power to help you forgive. He's God, if you let God do it, God can take all that away. You got to release some things. Some things you got to Let go. Let it go. There's more going on. There's more coming than what's been. Let it go. To be unified, it takes forgiveness. To be unified, it takes patience. I'm running out of time. To be unified, uh oh, I got another one. It takes tolerance. All the married people say, yeah. Y'all didn't do it right. Somebody did it right. Yes, yes, yes. You know, if we want to talk about the future, can we talk bigger now? I wanted to spend a few minutes uh talking to you, but let's talk bigger because we're putting a foundation together for the year. If we want to talk future for the international church, can we all please agree to protect unity? And can we all be mature and say, not everything is gonna go our way? Not every Ooh, I felt the Holy Ghost. Not everything's gonna happen the way we want to have it. That we're not gonna sing the right song sometimes. Somebody's gonna step on your foot while they shouting, don't leave, forgive it. Somebody's gonna say something you don't like. They didn't even know they said it, it just came out. You thinking about it for six years. Submission is a very important part of mission. Submission is the foundation, it's sub, it's it's underneath. Submission is the foundation to mission. I don't know if y'all know it now. This is good. Now, Ryan, just tell me if I'm all right. So let me talk to you about something. We're gonna quit because I'm already out of time. So it says, let me read a scripture to you. Um give me 1 Corinthians 1.10. It says, now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, uh, that ye all speak the same thing and there be no divisions among you, but that uh but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Work together. Work together. Now look at this. This is talking about mission. This is big picture stuff. If we go to 2 Kings 6 and 13, let me show you something because I you know I'm gonna teach you something today. The submission thing was enough, Isaiah. Wasn't that enough? The submission thing? No? Okay. We'll try and help you on this one. So 2 Kings 6, 13. Get this. Go and find out where he is. They're looking for Elisha. Go and find out where he is, the king commanded, so I can send troops to seize him. And the report came back, Elisha is at Dothan. So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround one old man. Armies, chariots, horses. Pull grandpa out of there. When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere for one old man. Oh, sir. What will we do now? The young man cried to Elisha. Elisha said, Everybody with me? Don't be afraid, Elisha told him, for there are more on our side than on theirs. Then Elisha prayed, Oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see the mission. That's my insert. So the Lord opened the young man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. Very interesting. I find it interesting in this passage. There's many things we can talk about, but I find it interesting in this passage for the sake of unity and being unified is that the Bible doesn't mention the young man's name. If you notice in Scripture consistently, the Bible doesn't mention certain people's names. The Hebrew rabbis often tell us that sometimes in Scripture when the name isn't mentioned and it's tied to a servant, because this was a servant, they just simply called him servant of the man of God. We're talking about unity. Servant of the man of God. Servant of the man of God. And they were on a mission. And the Bible doesn't tell you who he is, but the Bible tells you who the man of God is. Because old principles is you're under the man of God's covering and you're under his name. The power he's got, you get. The anointing he's on, you're under. Somebody say cover. Now, how does that work? It works like this. That's why y'all want another revelation? Watch this one, Isaiah. You want another revelation? That's why when God said, when when when Elisha said, God, open his eyes like mine are open. God did it. Because they're unified. When we're unified, we're all entitled to the same stuff. I'm going home. Is it snowing if y'all did that? That's why we got to be careful, especially young men of God coming up and young women of God. You got to be careful about your name. You ain't ready for your anointing. It ain't gonna be you ain't ready for you want to stay under the anointing that is mature. That's you want to stay covered. You can do more under the man of God's anointing, I'm telling you. You can do more. You can do more. You are, you see, because you got to understand this, young servants of God. If you step into an arena, you could be stepping into it blind. But when you're under the man of God's covering, you're entitled to whatever he has seen for 50 years. You get to see it, and you've been in ministry one year. Now that's good. I got a nod from Isaiah, so we're good to go. Now that's good. Now, everybody online never heard that before. You're welcome. Stay covered, stay unified. Stay covered and stay unified. I am a servant under my bishop. Today. Almost 60. That's right. Under my today. He could call me and say, Brother Hard, get in the car, come up here. I'm like, oh, in this blizzard? Yes, okay, y'all. Somebody take over. Bishop called. I've been in this too long. I know what's going on in the spirit. And I know the principle of Elisha and covering. I remember one time, and I've told you this before, but I felt like it's important there may be some people online. There was a situation. I was making some decisions for a national decision for our church. We had all agreed to do some things, uh, to make some decisions at our church, and our and the fellowship wanted us to wade, and all the super superintendents and stuff wanted us to wade. And I said, We're completely within our rights to make this decision. We're gonna go ahead and do what we want to do. Because it's our decision and we're ready to do that. And they were just all like, Well, but we want you to go in this direction. I said, We've already we pray, we feel good about this. So guess what they did? They called Bishop. They said, Bishop, can you make now? Let me let me qualify. I was a pastor and a bishop and a presbyter over pastors. So I was in perfect right for us to move forward. I was a leader or whatever. So we were making the decision we wanted to make. And it was all legal and right and good, but they just wanted a certain timing. So they called bishop. Bishop called and said, You know, I think you ought to go ahead and wait. I said, All right. I remember one of the one of them called me and said, I need to, that's amazing. I need to, you your bishop. I said, that's bishop. So that's bishop, that changes everything. Why? Because I know I'm under his covering, and I know my bishop loves me. You gotta have a bishop that you trust that you know love you. If you, yes, yes, you gotta be a this thing, this thing is about being unified, folks. This thing is about being unified. Oh, yes, it's about being unified. Uh what's going on with the time? We gotta quit, I guess. But good news, we got one more Sunday. Next week, we're gonna finish this out, and you don't want to miss it because we're gonna talk about some really important stuff that's gonna bless you. But uh, everybody say unified 2026. God bless you. See you next week at class.