Student Message on 11/5/06 CiCi Cea - Unity -          In the book of John, before Jesus was arrested to then be crucified, He was praying for Himself, His disciples, and then for all believers, present and future (including us).  When He was praying for all believers, He focused heavily on unification among the body. -          John 17:20-23: “My prayer is not for them (the disciples) alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message (us), that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”   2 components of Unity that go hand in hand: ·         Unity with our Lord ·         Unity with one another   Unity with the Lord Unity with Jesus Christ begins with salvation, and builds upon constant sanctification.  It’s about living life through the Spirit. SANCTIFICATION: What do you think it means?  Ken McCormick said it best when he said that sanctification is seeing things as normal, then asking God if He thinks they’re normal.  Example: watching tv.  Not bad; not sin (depending on what you’re watching).  But God may want to do something awesome with you that night.  So bring “normal; non-sin” things to God and see what He thinks about them so we don’t miss ANYTHING that He has for us.                                                                 i.      We must be sanctified for God to remain inside of us.  He does not enter an unholy place. (Old Test Laws vs. New).  I will also say that we cannot be in constant Unity with the Father, unless we are children of God.  This sounds elementary, but a child of God is much different than a believer.  Look through the word and you will see that when God talks about His children, He references incredible blessings, and incredible costs.  When He talks about believers, He is more general and has a different tone.  It’s very interesting. If we allow the Holy Spirit to truly come alive in our lives, there will be no distinction between us and Christ.  When Jesus walked the earth, He and the Father were one.  He didn’t have to say He was a believer – people could see it.  A state of perfection.  A state of unity.  The Lord wants that for us as well.   II. Unity with One Another -          This is so key, but let me preface by saying living in unity with one another does not necessarily mean being best of friends with each other.   **Genesis 11:5-7 shows us a story of what can happen when a group of people unite together. It shows the power of unity even when the cause is not anointed by God.  At this time, the whole world had one language.  The men got together and decided to build a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so they could make a name for themselves. Verse 6: “The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.’”  *****How much more can we do as a united body, if our cause is ordained and anointed by the Lord and we’re individually united with Christ??!!   -          Philippians 1:27 says “… stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”   A Great Example: In Exodus 17, you see the Israelites traveling around from place to place as God commanded them.  At one point during this journey, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites. Moses summoned Joshua to get some of his men to fight, and said that the next day, he would stand on top of the hill overlooking the battlefield, with the staff of God in his hands.  As long as Moses’ hands were held up, the Israelites were winning.  When his hands went down, they were losing.  Think about it – keeping your hands raised for that long.  Yikes!   Exodus 17:12 – “When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it.  Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset.  So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword” o        This is what unity is all about.  God called Moses to do something, but Moses knew he couldn’t do it alone.  The three men stood firm in one spirit; acting as one man for their cause.   -          Matthew 18:19 – “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” o        Wow!!!  This is awesome.  But, so many times we don’t see it come to pass.  Why?  I believe it’s because we’re not in a state of unity.   -          1 Corinthians 1:10 – “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” o        One thing I love about Edi Phi is that we don’t have much division, but we still have a long way to go to become perfectly united in mind and thought.  I think we should constantly strive for this.   How do we get there? -          Good question!  I’m still trying to figure that out.  J  Some steps: -          LOVE one another -          PRAY for one another o        Prayer meetings – important; Prayer chain – prayer@ediphionline.com; Individual prayer; small groups -          FAST for one another -          SHARE things that God is doing in our lives, and also our struggles.  Humbling ourselves. o        In Ken’s disc. Class, we would go around the room and share different ways we saw God that week.  As a group, we began to become unified. REACH FOR UNITY WITH THE FATHER.