"The Power Behind Unity"

if you'll stand together and turn with me to Acts chapter 10 and we stand in honor of the reading of the word thank you pastor carpenter thank you for introducing this series and I'm excited this is a great series the church needs but pastor I believe this is gonna be an easy an easy series to teach of this church I know some churches this might be a hard series but I believe to this church that I'm that I'm teaching in front of today at first Apostolic of Maryville then again in Sevierville I believe we have a unified body and this might just kind of fix a few things we need to kind of tweak in our lives Acts chapter 10 and verse 34 says this says then Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him skip down to verse number 44 Bible says while Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word and they are the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God then answered Peter can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord then prayed they him to tarry certain days our lesson today the first lesson in this series of unity our lesson is entitled the power behind unity we're going to talk about the power behind unity aren't you glad that there is a power that helps unify us are you thankful for that come on I believe I believe that most of you already know what that power is but keeping us lift up our hands and thank him for that power today well we thank you Lord that your spear Lord and dwells within us father and we're thankful Lord that you are that your hope Lord God that you the leader Lord God the guides are so God that that helps us throughout our life throughout our day-to-day Lord and I I thank you for your spirit that unifies your church in your body father help us to hear your word and understand what's being taught today and apply it to our lives that we could leave this place Lord God and and we could be unified together for a revival that's gonna take place in Jesus then we pray everyone said amen you may be seated you may be seated today it was probably around noon the Bible says that Simon Peter climbed the steps to the top of the dwelling where he was staying in Joppa and there was a meal being prepared by his host and he was he headed upstairs and the Bible talks about that that he felt compelled to pray and while he began to talk to God a vision began to play out before his eyes and and it was a vision of a variety of animals that came down on a sheet a sheet with four corners it was there was lowered before him and in front of him and I don't know about you but but this kind of sounds like some some crazy dreams that I've had that you really can't explain why they happen or how they happened or sometimes you can't even explain why it happened but but the good thing about this vision that Peter had is I became very clear to him why these animals were in this sheet or this cloth it was before his eyes and he looked and the voice of the Lord said get up Peter kill and eat and Peter who was hungry it was it was around lunchtime it was when when most people would have dinner he might have smelled the food cooking and the in the in the level below him and no doubt he was probably hungry but as Peter began to look upon the animals that were within this sheet he began to realize that every single one of them were unclean according to his dietary standards he was not allowed because he filed the law at this time and he was not allowed as a Jew he was not allowed to eat the creatures that were within this sheet or will upon the sheet and and so he had he had said I have never eaten anything impure or unclean and so in Acts chapter 10 to verse 15 the voice once again the second time speaks and says get up and eat and then it says call not thou common if I have cleansed it don't be calling things that I clean unclean and three times this same the same vision the same voice repeats and every time Peter says no I can't do it I cannot eat what is unclean and so God finally just says listen if i purified anything and of course Peter you know how Peter something something about thrice with Peter something something about that he has to hear things three times I don't know before he wakes up but but but finally God's gets through them and says listen there's gonna be free men that are gonna come to your door that you're gonna understand what this vision means you're gonna you're gonna see these men and you're gonna think about these unclean animals in the sheet and and I want you to know what I have cleansed of what I have sent to you I want you to go with them and see what I have for you and for them so Peter strong tradition of culture segregation was suddenly challenged and this is kind of where we're gonna begin today and and talk about ways that that sometimes we we we have differences in opinion in differences in thinking and and sometimes we can let those cloud our minds to the will of God and and these Gentiles that came to the doorstep of Peter were considered unclean they were that the Jewish people would not speak to Gentiles they would not have any dealings with them they wouldn't sell property to them they wouldn't buy from a Gentile they they had no dealings with Gentiles Gentiles were not of the right bloodline they were not of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so they stayed clear of the Gentiles they didn't have dealings they didn't worship with them they didn't do anything didn't eat with them then do anything with them and so here we have these men as they come to Peter's doorstep and and and Peter says okay god I understand what you're telling me to do I've got to go with these men and one should know it was the very promise that Peter had preached in the book of Acts chapter 2 it was going to come back and haunt him in Acts chapter 10 it was a very promise in Acts chapter 2 and 39 where he says this promise of the Holy Ghost it's for you it's for your children it's for all that are far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call and obviously the law was saying I'm calling him at this time Acts chapter 10 this is the moment this is the time when I'm gonna be able to call those that are not of the Jewish faith in so by his own words Peter had stated that the promise was for afar often and by his own words he had to wake up and realize this is what God was speaking through me on the day of Pentecost and so as he spoken Peter arrives at the house of Cornelius and begins to preach Jesus and begins to preach the resurrection from the dead and how Jesus came back on the third day and and to everybody that was there and he understood that he was preaching to Gentiles huh I believe pastor even at this time even though God had made it very clear for him to go in to preach this message I still kind of don't believe that he really thought it was gonna happen I believe maybe he was maybe he was the Jonah type that thought well it seems like this is my only choice so I'm gonna go preach this gospel I guess this is my only this is my only option so I'm gonna go preach and and I love this because in the book of Acts chapter 10 and verse 46 says as the other Jews began to witness what Peter was preaching to the Gentiles they they began to see that the very same Holy Ghost that fell on them fell on the Gentiles the very same Spirit of God that in field the Jews on the day of Pentecost now in field those they were there in the house with the son with the with the Gentiles it's so Acts chapter 10 in 46 the Bible says for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God I love this because there's a powerful demonstration of a Holy Ghost in and nobody could deny that the Gentiles had received the Holy Ghost a matter of fact it was so obvious that even Peter himself said hey can we forbid water can we forbid these to be baptized and the Bible says that they couldn't forbid it so they baptized them the Bible says in the name of the Lord and aren't you glad is anybody in this room glad that Gentiles received the Holy Ghost and had the opportunity baptized in Jesus name I believe we can celebrate that moment more than we can celebrate the day of Pentecost if you understand what I'm saying because I would say that the vast majority of us in this place are Gentiles and we can say thank you Lord that you gave us the same thing you gave your people in Acts chapter 2 you gave that to me Lord and I can receive your spirit today because of Acts chapter 10 however deep cultural prejudice is often difficult to overcome and what would seem right here as an obvious sign to all the Jewish people and all those with the Jewish bloodline I'll be obviously an obvious sign would be that the Gentiles received it but somewhere along the way there was still prejudice and there was still a prejudice people that had to be worked through and God had to work on in more and more Gentiles as they were being converted and receiving the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost huh not everybody was welcoming to them receiving this gift not everyone was welcoming to them having the same experience that they had had in Acts chapter two others wanted to see the Gentiles embrace Jewish cultural traditions if you if you read your Bible and you read for the history of your Bible at this time there are so many different regulations and traditions that they had to uphold within the law there was dietary regulations of of what they could eat and what they could not eat there was there was things such as circumcision there was still a this in the Jewish culture and and and so they had what was probably something like their first general ministry conference and they held it in Jerusalem and they started bringing up these different issues they started bringing up the issues of how how can they have the same experience as us but now followed the same laws that we follow how can they how can we call them one of us how can we bind together in unity if we're following laws and they're not following any laws and and so as they begin to study in the Word of God began to speak to their hearts they they began to see that in in this intercultural challenge that there were ways to get through this and get beyond this in who we can't have the influence of the Pharisees we can't have the influence of the religious leaders to tell us what is right and what is wrong and so they came up with and James I believe it was he he came up with we've got to have a way to where we can symbolize and we could write down and make others understand what it takes in order to be saved in an other even the Samaritans and and the Gentiles how they can be saved and purified in an axe chapter 15 and eight the Bible says in God which knoweth the hearts bear them witness giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us and he put no difference between us in them purifying their hearts by faith and so they began to realize that it was by faith that they didn't have to have the bloodline of the Jewish culture they didn't have to have the bloodline of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but by faith they could be saved it could be a spiritual experience and so and so they debated and and they finally concluded James the brother of Jesus the leader of the church in Jerusalem gave the summary and requested that the conclusion be reached and be drafted in a letter for disciples to deliver all across the Gentile believers in their churches and an extra 15 and 20 he said write unto them that they abstain from the pollution of idols and from fornications and from things that are strangled and bludsoe simply what they told him okay it's not about circumcision and that was not even mentioned in this it was all about things that the world it was about things that the world were doing in their worship it was about the idols it was about the pollution of idols or meats that were being sacrificed to idols he talked about don't be eating knows and don't be causing your brothers to stumble we've got to keep it spiritual for the Gentile the new covenant was based on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the atonement of his blood the gospel could not be preached and the new birth experience could not be preached unless they realized it wasn't about tradition it was about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we celebrated last week we celebrated the resurrection of the law we celebrated the whole weekend of of him dying and shedding his blood for us and it was at this point they began to realize it's not about who you are the race that you are it's not about where you came from who your father your grandfather is it's about who has been covered by the blood of Jesus and even so beautifully who has the Spirit of God living within them so the first step in bringing greater unity among believers is recognizing our biases in cultural differences we live in the south this is something that we have to fight that we have to face it's a culture that we live in that there's biases there's cultural differences that we have to come together and realize that there's more important things than then how you were brought up and and and how your grandfather talked and and and who your friends were before you got in the church there's there's things that we got to look at and we got to look beyond beyond the foundation of our doctrine in our church teachings and I'm not talking about when I say look beyond things I'm not talking about we got to look beyond what's in the Word of God or look beyond what we know to be true or or our standards of holiness or our pastoral standards and when I say look beyond I'm not talking about those things but there's gonna be differences that we have some differences that seem humorous some differences listen sports and hobbies and and likes and dislikes and fads you know I believe the color orange now I've lived I've lived almost 20 years and in Tennessee volunteer nation I mean this is what were 20 minutes from the stadium actually I grew up as a Syracuse Orangemen fan Soph always blood orange was just a different shade of orange but you know if you bleed red if you're an Ohio State fan I still got to love you yeah yeah LSU fan I still got to love you brother shilling for Florida fan I still we've still gotta love we can't let these little differences and listen I know that I'm kind of preaching to the choir today but there's some churches that lockdown I grew up for a couple years in North Carolina if you talked about the Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils at the same time my goodness you might people might walk out of your church service if you show favoritism listen we can get we can get our eyes on things that don't even matter the things that they don't don't have a don't have a thing to do with salvation a thing to do with unity but people can look at differences silly differences the cars you drive and-and-and the hobbies you have we can express disapproval them and and based off it solely on personal biases or prejudices but can we admit today that biases and premises preferences and even prejudices sometimes can take root in our hearts people can look at others and judge them harshly for what they wear you say brother Eriksen come on you can see somebody come in listen I enjoy wearing dress shoes I was in Nebraska man listen Nebraska people in abrasca they dress differently than I was in Texas couple in Texas they come in wearing cowboy boots Oh cowboy boots they took their cowboy hat on when they walked into the church listen and people can look at others instead you'll type others because of preferences in clothing styles I grew up listening to Brian Duncan and Carmen David in the Giants I grew up I grew up war spinning and shouted Reverend John peaky and Hezekiah Walker in commission some of you grew up listen Mac Amy's in the Kingsmen but they shouldn't have behind us genres of music sin Devine and I know I'm you're like brother Eric senior you're kind of metal in it I promise you stuff like this divides some churches you can always sing certain styles because man if you don't sing my favorite song and my favorite style of music my favorite genre I tell you I'm gonna have to find another church to go to if you don't worship like I worship and on the fifth Sunday if we don't if we don't bring the banjos out or whatever you know I don't know if I could go to church here and I know I know we may not be like that but it's an easy it's easy to get into that mode if we're not careful it's easy to get into that state of mind if we're not careful that everything has to be like I want it in order for me to worship with you and unify with you but but I thank God for the body of Christ that's so diverse then we can sing every style of music up here we can have a choir we could have a small group southern gospel song whatever it is we can preach we can sing we can enjoy worship together because it's not those things that divide us it's actually those things that United unites us we can appreciate all things the rivalry the rivalry of superiority is ingrained in our culture and I'm about to prove it to you from a chosen sports team to even a model of a vehicle that you drive that our culture is trying to ingrain pride the market of pride I'm a Ford man any Ford men in here I'm a Chevy man I got some pictures brother brother Dale help me out here I just told you I'm a tow okay Toyota now brother Hammond would not like this picture at all oh man I'm a knight as I just searched I'm a fourth man that's what all came up they go where they're told y'all but everything everything inside of our culture is pushing towards the pride of life and in a sense of pride for what we have and the products it could be it could be listen listen I'm a person that drives a Porsche may feel more successful and smugly look down at the person who drives a minivan listen my wife and I we got we got a minivan we never we said we're never gonna get a minivan minivans just aren't cool and minivans man I'm never gonna and then we got a minivan and we're looking for that bumper sticker that says I used to be cool and we're gonna get like three of them and just put them on the back of our minivan but people here feel superior about what they have are or maybe somebody who wears the the certain designer labels and then they look at people wearing the generic stuff like ooh somehow I'm bitter because of what I'm wearing and again I don't believe that's anybody here this it's for the internet broadcast it's for those that are watching by way of internet that I believe that are feeling something right here but here's the deal we could done we condemned racial prejudice right as we should but then we promote competition in other areas of society if someone doesn't come up to our level of expectation that person may be viewed as somehow inferior cultural prejudice can become an obstacle to unity and it hinders the growth of the kingdom of God sometimes we don't even realize that it infiltrates into our church in and this is something that we fight against even within our Christian Academy we play we play sports and listen I'm all about organized sports and I do mean organized sports there there's there there are disorganized sports but I'm all about sports that teaches young people how to work together in a team young people how to be under a coach because that kind of sounds like church kind of how to submit to somebody who has authority over you and it is good to get people to unify together on a team and go for a common purpose and a common goal but at the same time if we're not careful we could be fanatical about it and then it causes us to go to go to another church to go over to fac knoxville and then we still have that fanatical sports spirit that that's what we got we would try to get in our kids this is not who we are we are not it's not about us playing sports it's about playing together and unifying together and learning team concepts but when we go to another church we got to love one another we can't look at who we follow and who we root for and who we who we applaud they're in competition right that's why we gotta be careful I just said competition because that's something else we got to be so careful that we don't go over to Knoxville and we don't compete against schools all over this country and it's almost like up we ain't unified or against them it happens this is a fact of life and and I know that you call it prejudices is a very strong word but it can cause thoughts of prejudice not just against skin color I'm not talk about skin come tomorrow in every way because prejudice as a whole fights against unity the church is comprised of people from every social and economical background every race is represented there are believers who are among the most educated and there's those that may not have any formal education yet all belong to the kingdom of God and everyone is important in the body of Christ there's no big guys a little use everyone is important it's not about your talent and it's not about whose kids you are it's not about where you live what you drive it's about the body of Christ we are unified together because we are one body with one God is our Father we must understand there's always going to be differences in cultural groups and between individuals there's nothing wrong with people rooting for different ball teams there's nothing wrong who you liking and who you follow in the music that you listen nothing's wrong with that but in Christ we are all members of the same body Paul said in Romans 12 and 5 so we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another and while there's great diversity and individuals in the body of Christ we are all interconnected I thank God that we're all interconnected all contribute to the success of the kingdom no one should feel better than anybody else no nobody should look down at anybody else that they feel is less fortunate Paul writes in first Corinthians 1225 that there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care one for another it's our goal it's always our goal should always be to value each other for the part that person contributes to the body of Christ and understand how much we need each other I could prove to you how much we need each other some people well I'll tell you what I you know I could never teach kindergartners but I would sure teach that adult Bible class well I don't know anybody that's more influential than those kindergartners they that are influenced greatly are greater than kindergartners I got a funny story I tell my daughter Winsor came home one day and years ago came home and and she said dad I think he knows his Paris is Paris years ago Paris came home she said dad she said I we got taught in Sunday school today that the Old Testament was in Greek and the New Testament was Hebrew she was proud because she had that down pat and I said baby actually it's it's backwards the Old Testament was in Hebrew and the New Testament is written in Greek oh no it wasn't because my Sunday school teacher said now I know she probably either miss her the teacher or the teacher was just rolling fast and just read it backwards I don't know but-but-but Paris would not take my word for it I said Paris baby I'm telling you Paris she would not I mean she refuses shook her head nope nope my Sunday school teacher told me that the Old Testament was in Greek and the New Testament was Hebrews I said Paris I'm one of the pastor's of this church and I am telling you that the Old Testament was in Hebrew and the New Testament was in Greek she shook her head no don't tell me listen listen we need kindergarten teachers and first grade teachers just as important as we need adult Bible study teachers and we need strong tower chapter 29 teachers listen every person every teacher in this building is influencing a mind and I promise you those younger ages somehow it's being trapped a whole lot better sometimes it's trapped in this room I tell you what I playing an instrument in the worship band whole lot more important than being a custodian of the church oh really I mean I I don't want to live without the low end of the bass guitar and I sure don't want to live without the piano and and I need the beat of the drum thank God for it but I also thank God that I'm not scared to walk into one of our restrooms I think either we could come to church and be proud of what we have here because it smells good and looks good I would venture to say that the Ministry of the custodian might be one of the very top ministries in the church because they all would give the first impression to every guest that walks in this house it makes somebody say hey I want to come back again long before they hear a 150 voice choir and they hear our music team long even before they made him get welcomed by the 15 they've already opened the door that's been cleaned the glass has been clean and they've already walked in and seen a dust-free floor every person in the body of Christ you may be seated every person every ministry is so needed and so we've got to be careful to look at one another and say I love every member of the body I love every member of the body it doesn't listen we can we can go into anatomy and start talking about I sure won't want to live you go down too I don't want to live without any my fingernails I mean come on every part of my body I don't want to live I want at all everything helps something else function things that you don't even think about little toes help you keep your balance don't need that little toe all it does it gets caught on stuff try to put my lady stop put your put your open-toed shoes on and lose a toe you got to have it you you've got to have that balance every every person in this room today whatever you do don't ever feel like you don't do much and you don't listen every person whatever you're doing if if you're just telling people about the church and how good god is we need that you say well I'm not a preacher I'm not a singer I'm not a musician I can't even cook I can't run a camera listen if you can tell about the goodness of the Lord if you can tell your testimony you're helping the body of Christ because you're telling people there's something to be a part of there's a healer that's in this house there's a Savior that's in this house there's something here it can change a life so at this point we've discussed the prejudice in the context of of preferences and biases perhaps prejudice seems unharmed fall and something we can live with and this is so important this part of the lesson so important because a lot of people feel that as long as I don't voice my feelings it's okay I can I can be prejudiced and and I can have thoughts about people and about their ways or about their skin color or or even sometimes about gender people have have problem with other gender I can have these prominent as long as I don't say anything about it as long as I don't voice my opinion everything's alright but but I want you to understand something prejudice is sin prejudice is sin it doesn't matter if you speak it or you just thinking you feel that way if it's your paradigm if it's listen because everything you do is through the lenses of your prejudices and a lot of people want to reason away ah listen I'm just gonna reasonable well I'm just gonna justify anything my father was a prejudice I grew up in the south and that's just that's just how we roll around here we used certain words that made me the North doesn't use in the West doesn't you know I'm sorry you got to stop justifying sin is sin justifying sin doesn't fix the problem of sin but the correct response to any kind of sin is to acknowledge number one you have a problem and then we gotta ask God God forgive us god I don't want to tolerate sin I don't want my motives to be wrong God I don't want my thoughts to be wrong but God I know if I do those things it's gonna separate us we're gonna be separated from God and it's not hard to remedy listen we just got to repent confess forsake the thoughts and behaviors that we previously had and stop giving excuses and stop justifying and to say God I will love all people and God even if they're not like me they don't look like me don't act like me we don't share the same likes even the same dislikes I'm still gonna be unified and love my brother and love my sister because his plan of salvation provides the remedy for the weight of rebellion in second Corinthians 5 in 17 the promise of the Holy Ghost transforming our lives and making us new creations we know this first therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things born in the south my father my grandfather all things are passed away behold all things become new there's no doubt that the old man was prejudice there's no doubt that the old man judged people according to their skin color there's social class and maybe even their political preference but when you get the Holy Ghost when you get the Spirit of God inside you thank God those things are gone thank God we can look at somebody and love them for who they are and for what they are because we are thank God a new creature not only and are we saved from sin in a sinful world but we're empowered by his Spirit you see receiving the Holy Ghost and I'm so thankful for the Holy Ghost receiving the Holy Ghost will enable us to love those we have judged as in fewer inferior the Spirit of Christ living within us it makes everything a unifier we are given the ability to love will be previously despised receive who we previously rejected and I want you to know today if you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost listen I want you to know if you've never I'm gonna say it again if you've never received the gift of the Holy Ghost I can totally understand feelings of prejudice I can all I could totally understand why you had those feelings but if you can ever get the Spirit of God to live on the inside and I promise you it's not very hard it only takes a life of repentance if you can get that Spirit of God living inside of you it just takes being baptized in his name and get your sins washed away but if you could ever get that Spirit of God living inside of you all your thoughts will change and and your motives will change and the very things that you thought were so important will lack importance because you'll have the Spirit of God leading you in guiding you the merciful God that's on the inside of you makes you merciful the long-suffering God that's on the inside of you makes you long-suffering it causes you to be long-suffering and and the God of love on the inside causes you to have a loved one for another the gift of the gifts of the Spirit it's all the fruit of the Spirit it's all about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and allowing those fruit to grow in your life because God is not prejudiced we know that and the members of his body can be President prejudice either the Bible said that God is no respect a person that versus that doesn't mean that God doesn't respect mankind or God doesn't respect people it's simply stating that God does not show favoritism but instead he accepts every nation every people every kindred every tongue he accepts them that fear him and do what is right this was such a new revelation to Peter resulting from the merciful confrontation of the Lord in his prayer time at the housetop all the son Peter was revealed is revealed a Peter that God is not prejudice God is not just just looking out for one people God died and he loves all mankind so in the end for the Gentiles in the book of Acts chapter 10 when the Holy Ghost fell the sign of God's Spirit was evidenced to Peter in his Jewish companions that this gift that they had received the Gentiles had also received Acts chapter 10 they didn't believe it they couldn't believe it that these lowly Gentiles would receive this same Holy Ghost but they heard a sign they heard a sign and this is what is so beautiful that God gives the same sign to all people every person no matter what skin color no matter what nationality no matter what culture no matter what social status he gives the very same sign to all people acts 10 in 46 the Bible says the Jews heard the Gentiles because they spoke in other tongues and they magnified God and they realized and recognized it's the same kind of tongues that we received it's the same promise that we received on the day of Pentecost I personally witnessed I witnessed in Kenya I've witnessed in Uganda in Zambia in Papua New Guinea in the Philippines in South America in Lebanon in Oman in Ireland all those men since I witnessed people receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost in the way I knew that they were receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is because every single one of them spoke in another tongue and you say how on earth do you know they spoke in another tongue I don't I don't know I don't know I don't know these languages I don't know a Spanish I couldn't tell you if they're speaking another tongue or not in Papua New Guinea they they speak they speak in in pidgin I can't understand pidgin how is it that I knew well it's obvious because something gets over a person and when you see them receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and you see them speak at another tongue their their face lightens up you see stammering lips you can tell they're not speaking they're not speaking in their native language but they're speaking in another tongue it's obvious what they're speaking they're receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost I'm teaching about the power behind our unity the power is the Holy Ghost I'm almost done but we got to understand that God is much bigger than any box that we could create for him we've got to recognize that his work and a spirit moving is much bigger than our vision it's more inclusive not exclusive it's more inclusive than we could ever imagine and as show favoritism by only reaching for those that meet our criteria or to limit God to only saving those whom he whom we approve is an offense to his sovereign grace in his Universal plan of salvation and redemption because the Bible says we must reach all people he said preach his gospel to every nation he said leave where you're at leave your culture leave the society that you live and that you're used to and go to some other place and go to some other field of work and reach out to all people stand your feet with me and musicians if you'll come Jesus desired that we would be one our unity as a body is an important it's it's it as important as the oneness of the Godhead listen to me the unity of this body that stands before me and not just here but all over all over this country and all over the world the unified body of Christ the unity here is just as important Jesus it's just as important as the Father in the son being unified look at John on the screen look at John 17 and 21 Jesus afraid that we would be one even as he and the father are one John 17:21 says that they all may be one he's talking about the body the church as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me if we want to confirm and we want to preach the gospel that Jesus brought to this earth and if we want people to believe what we're preaching then we've got to be one we've got to be unified as one body we've got to be in this together it said that the world may believe that thou has sent me we if people are gonna bleed this great salvation message they've got to see a unified body of Christ they can't see a bunch of people in are at odds with one another how can they see Christ if they look at us and and we can't get along and we can't see eye-to-eye we can't love one another and have mercy on each other how can they ever see a loving God but the power that is in unity is a very power that brings revival to a church the very power that's in unity is what binds us together to allow revival fire to break out in this building and when revival fire breaks out in this building people are gonna come from miles away to watch it burn people are gonna want to experience the same thing that's in this house the same Holy Ghost that we have in this place I finished with this William J Seymour was an african-american man who had a sincere hunger for God he moved to Houston Texas in 1903 where he joined a small Holiness Church pastored by a woman an african-american woman named Lucy Farrow it was this pastor this this woman pastor the connected SEMA or William Seymour with a man named Charles Parra this man named Charles Parham he started a school for the Apostolic Faith he started a school in Houston like a Bible School because a lot of his students had had received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of tongues in a little town called Topeka Kansas so in Seymour's desire to learn more about baptism the Holy of Holies oast he he saw to attendance this school by there was taught by Charles palm and and you got to understand that the city of Houston at the time was part of the Jim Crow South which was a very racial segregated rule of the day but somehow someway they allowed Seymour to attend this Bible School and God used I want you to understand this morning God used this african-american man to take the message of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost with a sign of speaking in other tongues to a big city called Los Angeles California into a street that you're going to recognize called Azusa Street it was this man who acquired a storefront in Azusa Street on Azusa Street in Los Angeles he began holding services where thousands of people came from all across the world they came to this Azusa Street revival and were filled with the baptism of the holy ghost and it was a modern day book of Acts chapter 2 it was a modern day where we're all we're all people came to Jerusalem and they received the Holy Ghost and they scattered throughout the same thing happened here in America on Azusa Street people came from all places all Kindred's all tongues all races came together and received the Holy Ghost here in America and began a spread throughout different states North Carolina Kentucky they started spraying through all these different states from California all the way to the East Coast and God called men and women with different races I love this different cultures the work together to further his kingdom because whenever believers are unified the power of God is revealed in tremendous signs and wonders happen when unity takes place they had so many healings they said they had miraculous things that happen on a Sousa Street things that people came from miles to experience to see to hear about to see for themselves they didn't care about their background they didn't care about social class that they were a high class or middle class or or low class they abandon all their prejudice and they United in the Spirit of God and because of that a great Pentecostal Apostolic movement is now in this country and it's in South America and it's an Africa and it's in all regions of the world because an African American man he joined up with a Caucasian man and they said listen we're different and we're in a time of segregation but we refuse to be segregated we're gonna go into this together and we're gonna be in one line in one Accord I wish we can just lift up our heads right now and pray a prayer of unity say Lord bind us together Lord bind us together Oh in Jesus name Lord God I want to love my brother like never before I want to love my sister like never before I want to see every ministry in this church and in your body of Christ has a ministry that we cannot live without we can't cut it off we can't stop but we gotta bind together in one mind in one Accord and let this revival continue throughout this church and throughout this county and throughout Sevier County and the counties that are surrounding us Oh God let revival continue through unity come on somebody and just thank you for the Holy Ghost that I feel right now come on think of the Holy Ghost that I feel right now