Pastor Brad DeLong - I'm Hurt, Now What?

you can be seated tonight it's good to be back with you in the house of the lord this wednesday night psalm chapter 133 says behold how good and how pleasant it is to brethren i would add the people of god to dwell together in unity and that last word there unity it's been on my mind quite a bit here recently especially with the admonition that i gave this past sunday in order to call the whole body together for the work of the kingdom we need unity we need the whole body fitly joined together growing up in all things unto him who is the head jesus christ according to ephesians 4 we need a healthy united and holy church family which means we also need to address things that could potentially disrupt or could derail the unity of the spirit which is so important to the health of apostolic pentecostal church and one of those things in particular that i want to address tonight mostly because it will always be a factor and it always has the propensity to disrupt unity it's this age-old issue of division and specifically division caused by hurts offenses and internal struggles my working title tonight to give you direction on where we're headed is this i'm hurt now what i'm hurt now what because i know that friction and offenses and internal strife have existed in humanity and even in god's global church and will more than likely continue to exist as long as imperfect people like me are around i have felt like this subject will edify and strengthen us as a body tonight

as an introduction to this in a way to make sure that i'm in the right room tonight i want to do a little crowd interaction don't worry i'm not gonna have anyone get up and move no one's gonna have to share their testimony i won't call you out like that it's very straightforward it's very simple but i want to ask you tonight by a show of hands how many of you have ever been hurt by someone else okay don't point them out how many of you have ever heard someone yourself all right we're on track this is getting a little more personal or closer to the heart of the matter but how many of you have ever been hurt by someone within the church family and body and lastly if you would be so bold and honest and vulnerable how many of you have personally hurt someone who was in the church family and body you've ever hurt someone all right so i am in the right place i'm in the right room and as i said this this subject this topic that has uh existed since the beginning and it will likely exist until the end this is what we're going to discuss tonight

and jesus himself i use this word encouraging or encourages us a kind of tongue in cheek he encourages us in luke 17 he says this as a way to uplift the church he says to his disciples it's impossible that no offenses should come someone received that right now he can run a lap and rejoice at the word it's impossible he says that no offenses would come the word offense is there can mean a snare or a trap or a stumbling block obviously one that's laid by someone else it can also be translated as a temptation or something that is used to provoke a person but the offense or the wrongdoing aspect is clear especially as this passage continues but woe to him through whom they do come it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea that he should offend one of these little ones jesus had set a young child in the midst of those disciples in the audience there verse three take heed to yourselves if your brother sins against you rebuke him and if he repents forgive him and if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day returns to you saying i repent you shall forgive him.

so jesus encourages us and reminds us that offenses traps snares temptations opportunities to stumble because of the sins of someone else they will come they're almost promised to us they're assured to us which is why our response is so critical and so important we're going to discuss that response tonight as well as the hurts that may precipitate it and i believe the lord is going to help us and particularly i want to look primarily at how we respond to hurts that happen within the body since we know that these are probable as well

in fact not only are they probable but these types of hurts that happen within a church family those that happen in the walls of the church or within the body they can oftentimes be the most detrimental to our unity and our personal spiritual walks with god i've heard it said before that the people who are closest to you have the capacity to hurt you the most this is the case with families it's the case with spouses close friends loved ones it's probably why siblings can hurt us more than just about anyone on the planet they know all the right buttons to to push my siblings are awesome but they know how to push some buttons too and i know i know how to do the same siblings can can hurt you so it stands to reason that those in our church family those closest to us those who know us best those who prayed with us those who have seen us at our highest and our lowest they have the ability simply because of proximity to hurt us more than most because we're more vulnerable with them as we should be and this is also yet another reason why it's so critical to have the right response because these are the people that matter to us the most if we're going to respond well anywhere or preserve unity anywhere it ought to be right here in the church

we need to fight for and contend for unity which is a fight and a struggle that has been ongoing since the church that jesus established himself first began you see even the early church had internal struggles in strife that existed between them in fact there's recently been a term used and invented for this kind of hurt hurt within the church and this phrase has often been used to attack the people of god in church family it's often used in a negative connotation at the risk of giving it steam i want to mention it tonight in order to provide some clarity on it you probably have seen it on social media you see it elsewhere it's called church hurt it's often employed as a way to attack the church even employed as a seemingly new concept or new phenomenon many of you probably heard this term or seen it tossed around and it's its rise in culture is just a case in point that this discussion the one we're having tonight is so critical especially as we look at chur or hurt and even church hurt through a biblical lens and we're obviously we're not condoning we're not hiding any hurt because the truth is as much as church hurt is used to attack the modern church there's nothing modern about offenses strife and internal struggle within a church they've always been there there's truth be told the church has always been made up of people people like you and me no offense don't get offended internal struggles in church hurt they're nothing new i don't discount them not in the least and the bible doesn't either in fact it's got a lot a say to say about internal struggles and and strife that's why we're taking the time to discuss this tonight

but the point is that these types of struggles and offenses are as old and long-standing as the church is itself i know someone is really encouraged right now you're like where are we going here the point is it helps to know that the early church had their share of struggles and eternal strife and they still preserve unity and they still paved a way for us to make it despite our shortcomings as well and if they made it through all of their quarrels and all their struggles without the benefit of the scriptures that we're going to read the principles that we're going to recount we can make it too we should make it we can preserve unity just like they did and wow did they have their struggles and coils

in fact james asked the church he asked his questions to the saints of the early church he said it's in chapter four verse one he said where do wars and fights come from among you do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war and your members that word war there i looked it up it literally means war i feel like the words that i look up just mean exactly what they say there was this intense struggle happening there between the saints and even those who were affluent and those who weren't there was a struggle between those who were rich and those who were poor they were battling a potential church split over economics they had a war on their hands according to james this was the context of james remarked in the early church this church was revolutionary they were attempting to bring jews and gentiles together they were trying to bring slave and free together rich and poor hellenistic and judaic religious and pagan people of all walks and backgrounds like i mentioned sunday this is what the church and the kingdom is this is what it's all about so when you get a group of people from every way of life imaginable and you get them in one place and in one family you're going to have some friction and some strife it's going to happen

an example for you just imagine this group paul was talking to them in first corinthians 6 9 through 11. this is the church do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of god don't be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of god and such were some of you but you were washed and you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit of our god this is the list of people who made up the early church and who continue to make up the church today again no offense this is the nature of the church it is a group of broken people who have all found grace all trying to stay faithful to god and faithful to one another

it is a family of imperfect people that still have the capacity and the propensity to make mistakes and to mess things up including the pastor himself you all don't seem as shocked i don't mean to demean the role in the in the ministry of the shepherd in any way by seeing this but i can save an experience even the pastor can make mistakes and i say that with the context that even the new testament church leaders and apostles had the capacity to make mistakes themselves and many were involved in internal conflicts within the church

all throughout the new testament church leaders and elders found themselves at odds and in contention oftentimes before the church even began disciples were already disputing over who would be the greatest in the kingdom the sons of zebedee had everyone in an uproar because they wanted to sit on the platform next to jesus in heaven just to put it in our context it was the first of many disputes in the church family in acts 6 the greeks felt like their widows were being mistreated they weren't getting fair portions of food so the leader stepped in to preserve unity in acts 9. the new convert paul comes to jerusalem but he's not accepted by the believers there because of his past mistakes and his persecution of the church in acts 11 peter had to defend himself for associating with gentiles and offending his brethren in jerusalem you start to get the sense that these were all imperfect sinners saved by grace

in acts 15 paul and barnabas had a sharp disagreement because paul didn't want to take john mark with him on his journey after john mark had left him previously i don't want to take that guy he left us barnard says no we got to take him no and their disagreement got so sharp that they end up going separate ways all right you take john mark i'm going this way paul said in galatians 2 he was stood peter to the face over his treatment of the gentiles his aversion to sitting with them in fellowship throughout the epistles paul constantly had to correct false teachers and those who combated his teaching and his leadership in first corinthians 1 the believers were drawn lines of division based on who their leader was who had discipled them they're basically saying well i go to so-and-so's church and we got it right we got it we got it going on all right you should see our platform set up no okay you know they're like well i go to this guy's church well i was discipled by this guy who's this no-name person that discipled you paul had to rebuke them for this sectarianism and division

then in 1st corinthians 6 paul actually had to tell the church in corinthians stop suing each other quit it he said you should be ashamed of yourselves he said you've got unbelievers judging you don't you know there will be judges in heaven and you've got unbelievers judging you he said handle this in the body and with all of this what i'm pointing to tonight is that we should not be overcome and disillusioned and derailed and bitter when we experience hurts and offenses in the body the apostles themselves had to grapple with hurts and with offenses

as you can plainly see the early church the disciples of jesus himself found themselves hurt and more than likely offended by those in the body and they found a way to reconcile through the spirit despite those hurts in offenses were they hurt absolutely nothing may hurt more than someone that's close to you turning their back on you but should they cause us to become bitter and turn our backs on the church or lose out with god absolutely not instead we should know offenses will come even within the body we just have to respond in the right way in manner

it was quite some time ago i preached a sermon on sunday morning and my title was welcome to the hospital essentially i just compared the church to the hospital where sick and broken people come to heal rather than it being a museum of perfect people and i know that you all are perfect tonight but i am not and this is a hospital we're a refuge for broken people we're we're a hospital and even in a hospital we can sometimes experience hurt and pain

now certainly the hope is that when you come here you'll experience only healing we'd love for no mistakes to be made for people to be perfect all the time we want broken people to come here and heal but when broken people get around other broken people sometimes broken people do broken things sometimes hurts happen one writer said hurting people hurt people and thank god he's redeemed us he's changes he's filled us with his spirit he helps us to live overcoming lives so we should have less propensity to hurt and harm others we should be less prone to sin into harming the body we should be more like him every day we should be christians we should grow in maturity i should not be going around making the same mistakes and hurting people in the same way over and over again but even christians are imperfect and in constant need of god's grace and the grace of us we are all still beggars telling other beggars where we found bread you've heard me say that before but it's the truth none of us are perfected yet

and again what i'm combating tonight is this common and cultural notion that there should never be even one ounce of friction or struggle within the body that is simply unrealistic if you follow the biblical pattern it's not even biblical and it causes many to discount the work of god through his church we're still being perfected so to discount god's modern day church because of the presence of any kind of struggle is really to discount the book of acts church in its entirety as well if offenses and broken people in the church are caused to dismiss the church as a whole then no church is safe including the church he started and continues to sustain

james says it like this in james chapter 3 said my brethren let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment for we all stumble in many ways if anyone doesn't stumble in word he's a perfect man able also to bridle the whole body indeed we put bits in horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn their whole body look also at ships though they're so large and driven by fierce winds they're turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires even so the tongue is a little memory and boasts great things see how great a forest a little fire kindles and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body it sets on fire the course of nature it's set on fire by hell you know one muscle in your body can turn your house on end somebody some of you probably experience that this week and you'd be in good company according to james

he says in verse 7 for every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature the sea they're all tamed they've all been tamed by mankind as a reminder before i mention this next verse he's talking to the church here he's talking to christians he says all these beasts have been tamed but no man can tame the tongue it's an unruly evil full of deadly poison with it we bless our god and father and with it we curse men who've been made in his likeness which is such a sobering thought we bless him and we curse people made in his name let me ask you not on the heels of that do we have any tongues in the room i'm not talking about the gift of tongues hopefully we have that anyone here have a tongue in your mouth don't show it if we do there is the potential for and the propensity for hurt if there are people in the room there is the possibility for problems

i'll say it again no offense although i probably already offended some of you as i said i know i walk a fine line on this subject and hearing this someone could say that i'm justifying hurts within the body i am not we should be spiritually mature we should not harm our brothers and sisters we should strive for unity which we'll discuss in a moment and just because there's grace from our heavenly father and grace from brothers and sisters that does not mean when we do mistakes that doesn't give us the right and the license to continue to make those mistakes

paul talks about this in romans 6 he said what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound certainly not or god forbid one of the strongest terms paul uses how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it or do you not know that as many of us are baptized into christ were baptized into his death therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so we should walk in newness of life so just because we recognize our imperfection and i in our shortcomings that does not justify continued mistakes and sin that we don't ever try to break free from we've been raised to new life he says we we've been made a new creation we've been redeemed and no longer walk in the flesh or behind the things of the flesh but thank god that when we do make a mistake and we do offend harm or hurt a brother and a sister we've got grace to fall back on and that grace is not taken advantage of through continued sin but we do recognize that the grace of god and this biblical admonition for unity and reconciliation they're in place for a reason that reason among others is that offenses are going to come they will come as long as people tongues and flesh have anything to do with it there will be offenses like there were in the early church

and i recognize i've taken quite a while to discuss the hurt and that offense portion night but as i said there's just been this destructive wave of late that has dismissed the validity of god's church on account of church hurt and that wave suggests that the individual who's been hurt can remain bitter and disconnected from the body and disconnected from the head of the body all in the name of being offended that is not biblical and again i don't condone or discount hurt but if that notion was true that i if i get hurt i can just abandon it all we wouldn't have a church to begin with because of the struggles that the early church faced regularly and because of their example and the struggles as well as their biblical approach to overcoming them we recognize in the alienating ourselves from the body becoming bitter and resentful walking away from our relationships with god these are not the right responses and the right approaches

instead we know offenses will come and we have a road map on how to respond to them so i'm hurt now what first of all i would compel you run to jesus i've been reading through the psalms recently and it's reminding me just how important it is to process hurts offenses and wounds and prayer rather than process them in our flesh or in the absence of the word and the spirit and in my reading i've come to the conclusion that david he got hurt a lot this man had enemies that's why he pinned his famous response mr amber loves to quote it all the time break their teeth oh god smash their teeth in that's not the kind of prayer i'm talking about tonight although according to david it'd be all right but he serves as an example among others that he says well my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that's higher than i am psalm 61 the context hear my cry oh god attend to my prayer from the end of the earth i'll cry to you when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock that's higher than i for you've been a shelter for me you've been a strong tower from the enemy i will abide in your tabernacle forever i'll trust in the shelter of your wings

this was not the first time or the last time that david would bring his struggle and his concern before the lord he did it regularly there were at least 15 in preparatory psalms many of them written by david which he would present those wounds and his hurts before the lord and sometimes just say god send whatever judgment you got on them he went to the lord this is exactly what the lord invites us to do as well come to me oh you are labor heavy laden i'll give you there may not be anything that would weigh on you heavily heavier than an offense by brother or sister go to him take my oak upon you learn from me from gentle lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your soul my yoke is easy my burden is light well that rest is from sickness or from a wound in your life from someone else the principle is the same you can come to him with the weight that you're carrying even the weight from a wound or a fence and peter gives instruction to the church about submitting to god resisting the enemy resisting darkness which would certainly apply here as well he says this in first peter 5 and 6 humble yourself from the mighty hand of god he may exalt you in due time cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you that includes wounds hurts scars so we can run to jesus pray about our offense we should process the wound and the hurt and prayer and in the presence of god we can cast our cares upon him

and i'll add that we need to be careful if we cast them anywhere else tonight i don't want to make the distinction that we need to be sure that we run to him and we need to be careful about running to anyone else and i'll talk directly about who we should go to when the offense occurs but we also need to be aware of who we should not go to you see too much division is caused when we run to others about our offenses and we fail to run to him hey i want to talk to you about this so you can pray about it now i want others to pray for unity but that's not the right approach especially when i haven't prayed over it myself i haven't prayed one bit over it i'm gonna go talk to this person pray about this with me how can i ask for them to pray about it with me if i'm not praying about it and if i am praying about if i am studying god's word why am i going to them when it's him and that other person i need to be going

we run to him not to everyone else and we need to pray several years ago i had a close friend with whom i had fallen out so much so i didn't think that the relationship would be able to be repaired but thankfully i remember in the middle of that hurt the middle of that pain i prayed about it i prayed about it and it was more than just for a few days it was a process like forgiven or forgiveness often is and when i prayed i don't feel like the lord would allow me to give up on that friendship or that friend in fact he led me to reconcile it just like his word instructs us to do and i thank god today that i went to him instead of everyone else and i'm thankful i stopped long enough to pray about the hurt and i went to that friend we were able to be reconciled thank god for that because his word works his plan and process works

matthew 5 43 instructs us along these lines of prayer says you have heard what it said that you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i say to you love your enemies bless those who curse you do good to those who hate you how counter-cultural is that and pray pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you not just the one who said something about you pray for one who spitefully uses you you may be sons of your father in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and the good sends rain on the just and the unjust for if you love those who love you what reward have you do you not even the tax collectors do the same just for reference tax collectors in that society with the lowest of the low so you're doing the same thing as the people that you revile and if you greet your brethren only what do you do more than others do not even the tax collectors do so the tax collector's over there like man why is he comparing us to them therefore you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect pray even pray for those who spitefully use you

first peter 3 and 8 finally all of you be of one mind having compassion for another love is brothers be tenderhearted be courteous not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling but on the contrary blessing return evil for a blessing for evil knowing that you were called to this that you may inherit a blessing for he who would love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking to see let him turn away from evil and do good let him seek peace and pursue it for the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers but the face of the lord is against those who do evil notice the contrast be careful what you're speaking what you say seek peace and pursue it know the lord's ears are open to your prayers and know he's also against those who do evil and speak falsely

so when we're hurt we process it in prayer and that prayer along with the instruction of the word of god they'll lead us directly to seeking peace and reconciliation the bible is so clear on this which probably means it's happened in the past and it's probably going to happen a time or two again in the future matthew 18 jesus himself he says moreover if your brother or sister sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he hears you you've gained your brother but if he won't hear take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established and if he refuses to hear them tell it to the church but if he refuses to hear the church let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector there it is again tax culture

so when your brother offends you go to him and tell him first go talk to him or her go tell them that they hurt you like paul did to peter on behalf of the gentiles speak the truth to them speak it and love this isn't an aside but i noticed that this does not mention telling the pastor first now i'm obviously here to serve you and i am all about unity but because i am i want to tell you what the bible says to do when you're hurt go to your brother or your sister and seek reconciliation with them dr erickson one of my instructors at urshan he said in his studies and in his experience over 90 of church conflicts were resolved when one party simply went to the other 90 that just makes sense especially because the bible says to do it

matthew 5 23 says therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you leave your gift there before the altar go your way first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift but this paul pointed this out to me several months ago not only does it say to leave your gift at the altar your sacrifice your act this was this was a big deal they were probably thinking i'm supposed to leave the altar supposed to leave the temple in the sake of unity leave it go immediately but then it's uh notice the difference here as opposed to matthew 18 matthew 18 says if your brother sins against you and you're upset or you have ought with them or a legitimate grievance against them go to them in matthew 5 it says if your brother is upset with you you go either way whether you're upset with them or they're upset with you you're required to go to them and be reckoned you know the lord leaves no room or excuse for unity well they're upset with me that's their problem no no no no this is unity this is the body so if one part of the body is affected and not functioning properly because of a hurt we're all affected by it so whether they're upset with you or you're upset with them you go to them this is the length that god wants us to go to preserve unity

and even if that doesn't work we're still required to go to them at least two more times one with a witness and then one in front of the church in order to be reconciled in other words do everything you can to be reconciled and promote unity repay no one evil for evil romans 12 says have regard for good things in the sight of all men if it's possible as much as it depends on you live peaceably with all men as much as it depends on you and it does live peacefully with all men that requires you go to them

it also requires forgiving them i know i did a i did a whole lesson on forgiveness several months ago but it's so critical and so integral to our church family and the personal walks with god i want to touch on it again briefly the truth is forgiveness just like it was several months ago and just like it was in the bible it's still non-negotiable colossians 3 and 12 therefore is the elect of god holy and beloved put on tender mercies kindness humility meekness long suffering bearing with one another forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another even as christ forgave you so you also must do doesn't say you should do what you ought to do must do we must forgive matthew 6 14 pretty straightforward for if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you of yours but if you don't forgive them neither will your father forgive your trespass simply no plainer way to say it in the word of god expressed

you can tell that the lord is serious about unity and because of that he's serious about forgiveness it is always appropriate to forgive and it is always essential to forgive and hear me tonight in contrast to that bitterness and resentment are never an option they're never appropriate ephesians 4 31 let all bitterness wrath anger clamor evil speaking be put away from you with all mouths and be kind to one another tender hearted forgiving one another even as god and christ forgave you we must forgive and we cannot justify unforgiveness or bitterness

and sometimes bitterness just seems so extreme well i'm not bitter i can't be bitter i just haven't really truly let go of it well there's no room for bitterness resentment in our lives or in the body of christ so even if it takes a long and painstaking process forgiveness is still the only option and the only response to hurt and pain even from those within the household of faith and earlier this week as i was thinking about this point even though i thought about it recently i just couldn't get past this prompting and the nudge that i felt in my spirit to tell someone that it is time that you forgave it's time that you canceled that debt knowing that he canceled yours and continues to you cannot harbor that unforgiveness in bitterness while promoting unity at the same time there are extreme odds and furthermore if the word is true and it is you cannot harbor bitterness and resentment and be in right standing with god at the same time but if you don't forgive men their trespasses neither will your father forgive yours that's as clear as it gets

and it's a word for someone tonight and i just felt earlier today like i wanted to pause here i'm going to have sister christy come i'm wrapping up but i'd like us to pray for someone in the body right now who's experienced a legitimate hurt and you could rightly say i've been wounded i've been hurt i don't know why they did this but you have not been able to let go of that and god's calling for you to let go of i wonder if we could pray as a body for someone maybe they're watching online maybe they're in the room right now who's been struggling with unforgiveness and they've not been able to let go of that would you lift your voice and pray with me as a church family

lord we want unity and we contend for unity and we pray for unity and we're asking lord that according to your word that if there's anyone here that's struggling god there's anyone who's been hurt there's anyone that's been wounded lord we recognize god that it wasn't okay that that sin causes wound or hurt or pain but we're asking lord that you would help them to forgive to heal to be able to move beyond this point lord to be in right standing with you again and be able to promote and contend for unity once again we're praying lord that if anyone has faced unforgiveness or harbored resentment that they'd be able to let that go tonight cancel that debt just like you did for us and you continue to do we need your help jesus we need your help what we're talking about tonight it's eternal it affects eternity

so i'm hurt now what recognized offenses will come pray process it in prayer go to jesus go to that brother or sister go to the offender be reconciled with them forgive them cancel their debt walk through the process of unforgiveness don't leave room for bitterness and lastly the aim of it all is to promote to contend for and maintain the unity of the body ephesians 1 paul says i therefore a prisoner of the lord beseech you walk worthy of the calling which with which you were called with all loneliness and gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another that phrase is so common bearing with one another endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there's one body one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who's above all to all and then you all

later in the chapter ephesians 4 verse 16. paul's just talking about unity he says we need growth of the body for the edifying of itself and love that comes to unity we need unity i prayed in pre-service prayer i had the thought as we all get closer to him we get closer to one another as we all draw near to the head and are in line with him or you in line with one another unity is more than it is important for here but if we're not unified and we're out of the body or out of sync then we're not in line with the head of the body we need unity i referenced the source access to source earlier this week 180 verses that reference and talk about unity if god talks about it a lot if he talks about it all it's important but if he talks about it over and over again consistently epistle after epistle book after book chapter after chapter it means it's important to him that's why i feel the presence and the glory of god here tonight he's calling his body to unity

i thank the lord for the unity that we have for the family that we have and as i said sunday we're not leaving anybody behind if as much as it depends on me and you we're going to live in peace with all men especially those that are here at apc i want you to stand with me together as we close tonight we have a goal ephesians 4 and 13 paul talks about till we all come to the unity of the faith the knowledge of the son of god to a perfect man to the measure the stature of the fullness of christ that's the goal tonight

we're going to pray to that end and we're going to pray for unity if you're comfortable doing it would you just link up with someone here who's nearby you and pray that god would help them and pray that god would touch the apc family and body we're moving the lord is using us the kingdom's going but we're going together would you pray right now in the name of jesus lord we're serious about unity god we're serious about it lord because we know that you are you value you and you play such great stock in unity lord you you call us to contend and to work for yearning so we're praying tonight for brothers and sisters we're praying for this apc church family i'm praying for anyone lord who's felt like they're on the outside looking in and feeling like they're disconnected from the body and the head of the body that this prayer would somehow the impact or the implication of it would bring them back in lord and they would feel a connection again to the body that your spirit and your love would flow to them again lord we're praying for unity here at apostolic pentecostal church and we commit to you lord and we commit to one another that we're going to fight for unity that we're going to endeavor to keep unity then we're going to seek peace lord ah that we're going to seek unity and we're going to continue to keep it at the forefront of our hearts and minds we ask for your help tonight for this church family this church body lord that others would see the love that exists between us and glorify our father which is in heaven that they would know that we're your disciples because of our great love for one another because of the unity that exists within the body we need you jesus we need you jesus we need you

and now if you're thankful for your church family your brothers and sisters would you just take a moment and thank the lord that you have a church family that you're connected to thank you jesus for this family thank you for this body of believers thank you lord for your church oh we thank you jesus for the connection we have to the body for the unity that we feel in jesus name amen amen

as i said unity is important to god it takes work so we're going to be intentional about it we're going to continue to help one another and grow together to the fullness of christ a united church is a healthy church it's a powerful church and we're going to be a united church