Love and Unity

 

Love and Unity

 

“Behold! How Good and how Pleasant it is for the Brethren to dwell together in Unity. It is like precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon Aaron’s beard. That ran down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Herman that descended upon the Mountain Zion; for it was there that The LORD Commanded His Blessing, even Life forevermore.” Psalm 133

“I give you a new Commandment, that you Love one another. Just as I have Loved you, so also you must Love one another. By this all will know that you are My Disciples, if you have Love one for another.” John 13:24-25

 “Now this is His Commandment – that we should believe in The Name of YESHUA The Messiah, and Love one another just as He Commanded us. The one who keeps His Commandments abides in GOD and GOD in him. We know that He abides in us by this – by The SPIRIT He has given us.” 1 John 3:23-24

“If anyone says, ‘I Love GOD,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not Love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot Love GOD, whom he has not seen. And this Commandment we have from Him: that the one who Loves GOD should also Love his brother.” 1 John 4:20-21

 

GOD asks His Church, “Why do you not keep My Commandments?” If there is no Love there is no Unity and if there is no Unity there is no Life Eternal! The Scriptures above say that if you don’t Love your brothers you do not Love GOD and if you do not Love GOD you do not abide in Him nor He in you and if GOD does not abide in you than you do not have Life Eternal! No Love, no Unity, no Eternity with GOD!

 

I did a google search of Churches within 5 miles of my home, there were 19 and I was surprised. I have seen several as I drive around, but I did not know there were that many. All of them were less than 1.5 miles from my home. I do not have any relationship with any of them, nor do I know anyone who goes to any of them. I do have relationship with 3 local Churches that are outside the 5 mile search area. I know a couple of my neighbors who are Christian but I do not know where they go to Church if they do go, one of them Tele-Churches.

 

I have visited a couple of other Churches in my general area, one of them is within the 5 mile radius, I know that there are groups of Pastors that get together for prayer and fellowship; but I am not aware of Churches getting together or exchanging Pastors occasionally, or doing any other fellowship or ministry together. This is one of the sins of the Church today, our lack of unity and brotherly Love as seen by our lack of involvement and activity together.

 

To seek GOD first we have to have unity, we (the Church) are The Body of CHRIST; Paul, Peter, James and John all teach on the unity of the Body of CHRIST so how can it not be a part of our doctrine and practice? To seek GOD first we must fast and pray, study and teach, praise and worship, fellowship and minister. All of these activities that we are called to do we are called to do them as individuals, families, fellowships, ministries, churches and dominations. We are not called to evangelize people to ourself or our group, we are called to evangelize people to JESUS! We are not called to disciple people to ourself or our denomination, we are called to disciple people to JESUS!

 

Today’s Church in America is in the Build Bigger Ministry because we think we are the Best or for greed and pride, either way it is sin! mega churches are not wrong but they tend to cause isolation rather than fellowship with other smaller churches. Having multiple campuses, all but the main location watching via video is no better, except maybe in parking lot access.

 

Not all Churches, ministries and denominations are isolationists. In San Diego County where I lived for 43 years there has been a unity of churches and ministries movement since the 80’s. There are several groups of pastors, churches and ministries around the County that fellowship and minister together regularly. They organize Church wide events and city or county wide evangelization events throughout the county, state, and into Mexico. Some of the pastors have international ministries and they invite others to go with them. In 1991 I went with a group from our church that joined a group from a lager church to Russia, where we ministered in two different cities. I am sure there are other groups like this all around the country.

 

The point of all this is to call us all too personal accountability before GOD! When we have personal accountability we can have ministry accountability. When we have ministry accountability then we can have unity. It is not about how big can we be, it is about how effectively we are ministering the Gospel in our community and discipling people to JESUS.

 

Every Christian is Called to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor and a teacher; these are the functions of a discipler.

Seek GOD First!