The Way Church Podcast

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Paul is addressing a spiritually gifted church. I want you to hear this.

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He's addressing a spiritually gifted church that was acting spiritually immature.

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He wasn't talking to unbelievers.

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He wasn't talking to people out in the world. He was writing to church people. Somebody say church people? He was writing to church people, people who spoke in tongues, prophesied and shouted on Sunday, but were still fighting and divided on Monday.

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He asked them a rhetorical question.

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Y' all still carnal.

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You're still living like mere men.

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Now, we know Paul.

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We know his teaching. We know he wrote two thirds of the New Testament. We know how he. How he embodied the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He lived that through and through, placed in the church to help the body to become more like Jesus.

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And that is what our aim is here. Because what good is it for us to be gifted but not be spiritual?

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What good is it for us to shout on Sunday and prophesy on Sunday and have a good time, which we do. We have a great time, but live divided and fighting on Monday?

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In other words, what Paul was saying is that you've got heaven spirit, but you're still using the world system.
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I had a meeting a few days ago, and someone said something. And I said, you know, I think you just said something very valuable. She said, something else is going on here. I said, you're absolutely correct. There is something else that's going on.

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Paul begins to expose the symptoms of spiritual immaturity. And he actually points out in his writing three signs of immaturity.

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He says, number one, where there is envying, where you resent other people's success. I don't want to see anybody else get ahead of me. How many know we live in a culture where people are ready to pull somebody else down so they can get up, they're ready to. To cancel somebody. We live in a cancel culture where people will love you on one day and the moment they see something that they don't like, they will tear you down the next day.

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Paul identifies these things. He said, there's envying and there's strife, ongoing conflict and tension.

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I hope you are ready for this tonight. He says, I see.

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Getting reports because he was with them, he wasn't with them now. He said, I'm getting reports, essentially, is what he was saying, of division still in the church. You got the gifts. You know how to pick them up and put them down. You.

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You know how to come up with the. When the beat. When the beat starts going, you know how it feels good. But I'm hearing that there's division, there's clicks and camps and comparisons still among you. And he asked the question, are y' all still carnal?

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Hebrews illuminates this in Hebrews chapter number five. They're gonna put it on the screen. It reminds us. He says, you have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basics.

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Somebody say the basics. The basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk, is still an infant and doesn't know, hear this. How to do what is right.

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Verse 14. He says, Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training, teaching deeper services, Bible study, Sunday services, they have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

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I don't know about you, but I want to get to the place where I can digest meat and not milk. I don't want something that's just going to make me feel good. I want to get something that's going to help me decide, discern the difference between right and wrong. Paul was saying, y' all should be teaching other people by now, but you still fussing over petty stuff. Is anybody in this sanctified church?

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You should know from Genesis to Revelation by now, but you're still fighting over stuff. You're arguing about who's better instead of becoming better.

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Still have debates. You're territorial over titles instead of being surrendered to the truth of God's word, which shows us. This all shows us.

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Salvation makes you a Christian, but growth makes you Christlike. Like you can have salvation and it makes you a Christian. But you need strong meat in order to grow. You got to mature in order to grow. You cannot grow.

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Paul is teaching the church. He's teaching the Corinthian Church and teaching us. Giftedness is not the same as godliness.
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So we know how to do what we're supposed to do. We know how to function. We know Christianese, we know the right things to say. But do you know how to live godly on this earth? I know it's a word that we don't hear very often in today's culture, but it is still in the Bible.

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He said, we have to be God. Godly. We have to be Christlike. Somebody lift your hands and say, God, help me. Say it again.

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Say, God help me. God help me. Are we asking ourselves the question, Are you confusing church attendance with spiritual development? So there's a lot of people that go to church, but they're not being spiritually developed.

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Because when I'm spiritually developed, I'm gonna get challenged. When I'm getting spiritually developed, I may have to eat some things that I don't want to eat. When I was growing up, my parents made us eat vegetables. We didn't want to eat the vegetables, but they knew something that we didn't know, that the vegetables were going to help our growth. It was going to help our development.

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If I said, I'm not going to go there.

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How do you respond when you're not chosen and you're not in charge?

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Paul was identifying the symptoms of spiritual immaturity.

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Are we throwing fits of carnality? Because I can't be in charge. If I'm not in charge, I'm not going to work with it. If I'm. If I'm not chosen for this, I'm not gonna.

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I'm not gonna line up, I'm not gonna attend because after all, it's not me. My gift is not on display. But Paul was saying, your gift does not. Your gift can take you where your character can't keep you.

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Paul says these fruit of carnality, envy, strife, division. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen in the, the church, not only locally, but universally, we take it out of locally, let's say universally. Have you seen more envy and strife and division in the body than what we're seeing right now? It is amazing how much envying and strife and division.

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But we're gifted. We flock to the gifts. Give me a word, give me a prophecy, and all of those are fine. But Paul says watch it, watch it, watch it. Because he's exposing the diet of the immature.

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He said, I couldn't give you meat because you're still on milk.

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Milk is pre chew. In other words, it's pre digested truth. I can't digest the truth. Meat requires effort. In other words, when I'm really ready for meat, I'm not just going to have a good time, but I'm going to have to go home and search my heart.

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I'm going to have to take this word and I'm going to say, God, you're going to have to show me some things. You have to get some things out of me. When I'm really ready to digest meat, I can't just walk by somebody and not speak. I can't because I'll get convicted in my spirit. When I'm really going growing and maturing.

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Are y' all getting this spiritually mature Won't just let me do what I want to do. I have to do the work. What I'm saying here is that if you still need a bottle, you're going to see limited breakthroughs in your life. And some people are wondering why haven't I seen the promises that God has promised over my life? And the question I have for you today is are you still on the bottle?

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Ask the person next to you, are you still on the bottle? Are you, are you still on the bottle? I know nobody's, nobody's going to admit it, but, but are you still on the bottle? Because Paul gives us, you know, there's indicators, right? I, can't hear what you're saying because I'm watching the fruit, right?

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I'm watching the fruit. If you still need a bottle, don't expect a breakthrough. And this is the danger of staying stuck.

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The danger of staying stuck. Spiritual stagnation leads to spiritual
vulnerability.

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When you don't grow, it leads to spiritual vulnerability and the attacks of the enemy. I talked to you Sunday about having the whole armor of go and putting on the armor of God and being able to execute that armor using the right weapons. If you are only on milk, you're not going to want to pray, you're not going to want to read your Bible, you're not going to want to confess the right words. You'll say things that is contrary to the word of God and you think it's cute, but it shows that you are on milk and not meat. Because I got to watch words that I say because every word that I say has power.

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Death and life is in the power of my tongue.

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So I'm cautious. I don't say my head is killing me cuz I, I know that the words that come out of my mouth have power.

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I'm careful how I talk about my body because my body said, the Bible says that my body is the temple of the living God. I got to say what God said. But it will only happen when I'm able to digest meat and not milk.

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What I've learned and observed is that there are a lot of people that think growth is about knowing more. But growth is about becoming more.

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Growth is not just about knowing more. There are people that can quote scriptures, they know what it says. It's not about knowing more, it's about becoming more.

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Let me say it this way. You have to get to the place where you read the Bible, but then the Bible can read you.

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You're maturing. When the Bible starts reading you, you Read a verse and that verse starts reading you. And it changes your behavior, changes your attitude, changes your mood, changes your relationship. When I read the scripture, Scripture, I have to let the scripture then read me.

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Because stuck saints cannot slay strongholds.

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You're not going to slay any strongholds in your life. If you stuck at milk, you're not going to put the devil under your feet. I don't care how much you sing it, you're not going to put the devil under your feet. But unless you are maturing in Christ.

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And this is the danger, and this is why there are people that.

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This is why there are people that will be saved for 30, 40 plus years still struggling with the same thing, still got the same cycles, still got the same strongholds, still got the same outbursts, still got the same things going on in their lives because they're stuck. Milk.

00:16:02
Somebody say this. To be carnal is to be flesh driven rather than spirit led. Say it again. To be carnal is to be flesh driven rather than spirit led. Paul says you're acting like mere men, which means they were behaving as if they didn't have the Holy Spirit at all.

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Acting like humans. Which if you read in that, I tell you, you can't just read the Bible. You have to. What? You have to read the Bible.

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So what he was saying is you're acting like mere men, which implies to us that Christians should actually be different than everybody else.

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Christians should be different than everybody else.

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There, there is, there is Satan's way that you live, there's the culture's way that you live, and then there's the kingdom's way.

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My mentor calls it the third way. The third way is the kingdom's way. I'm gonna live the King's way. So I should not resemble the culture. I shouldn't look like the culture, shouldn't talk like the culture.

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There should be a difference between the king's way and the culture's way.

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I definitely shouldn't be resembling Satan's way because he's going to give me those, those demonic suggestions to be able to do things that's going to destroy me forever.

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I have to live if I'm a mature Christian. Mature Christian, bless you. That is on meat and not milk. I have to live the King's way.

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Galatians 5 and 19 tells us what the works of the flesh is for. My Note takers, Galatians 5:19 through 21, it says, now the works of the flesh are manifest. Listen at this. Hatred, variance, wrath, seditions, all of these things that it talks about in here, he's saying, these are the works of the flesh. Envy says, I want what you have, and I'm mad about it because you have it.

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And I don't.

00:19:00
Strike says, I just don't like you because I don't like you. I resent who you are.

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Anybody ever had somebody to not like you just because you've done no wrong to them at all. You didn't say, sometimes you don't even know the person and they don't like you. Just because they don't like you, they don't like you. That's what strife says. Division says, I refuse to walk with you.

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We supposed to be going in the same direction, but I refuse to walk with you. I refuse to sit next to you. I refuse to speak to you. I refuse. But the kingdom cannot be built on competition.

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The kingdom has to be built on collaboration. We gotta come together as one.

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Somebody say it out loud. Lord, make us one. Say it again. Lord, make us one. Make us one.

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Jesus did not say, by your doctrine, you will be known as my disciples. He didn't say, by your titles. You're going to be known as my disciples. He didn't say how well you sing, how well you preach, how well you prophesy. You are going to be known, known as my disciples.

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What he said is why? How you're going to be known as my disciples is by the way you love one another.

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That's the mark.

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That is where we have to be. That's where you're going to be known by this all men shall know that you're my disciples. If you love one another. How many know? The devil doesn't need to shut down the church.

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He just needs to split it up.

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But I just have a little inkling of faith, belief that there's some people that says, you know what? I'm not going to be a immature Christian. I'm not going to let the devil use me to mess up the church. I'm going to build the Lord's church. And I'm going to do whatever I have to do to make sure that I'm a part of the mature church, not the spiritually immature church.

00:21:49
Are y' all getting this? Because hear me. Where there is no unity, say this. Where there is no unity, there is no anointing.

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I can prove it to you. In the Bible, where there is no unity, there is no anointing. The book of Psalm 133 says how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together. In unity, verse three says there the Lord commands a blessing. He commands a blessing when there is unity.

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He commands a blessing when there's togetherness. He commands a blessing when people are together. But you can't just read the Bible, you have to read the Bible. Verse 2 references the anointing that flowed from the head to the beard of Aaron.

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He likens unity to the anointing. He says, for harmony is as precious as the anointing. Oil that was pure poured over Aaron's head and ran down his beard onto the border of his robe. In other words, what he was saying is when we get to you want to see the Lord provide miracles, signs and wonders. All we got to do is get together.

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All we got to do is mature and say, you know what, I'm going to put my schisms and my isms and the things that I don't like to the side and I'm a mature in Christ. I'm going to go deeper and get some spiritually in for formation like Jesus. I'm going become just like him. I'm going do what he did, say what he said, live how he lived. You will see the anointing in a greater measure.

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When we decide that we going to unify.

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You have to ask yourself, say self, where have I contributed to division with my words or my silence?

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Where have I contributed to division? Am I fueling? Am I fueled by Christ or am I fueled by comparison? Am I comparing in an ungodly way? Number three, he talks about the trap of personality worship.

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He says, one of you says I am a Paul. The other one says I am of Apollos. This group says I'm with Bishop. This group said I'm with Pastor Jamie. But he reminds them in verse five and verse six he said, who then is Paul and who is Apollo but ministers by whom you have believed?

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He said, I planted Apollo watered, but God is the only one that can give the increase.

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In other words, what he was saying is we're just servants of God whom you learn from, but you got division and schisms. And I don't want to work with this one and I don't want to work with that one.

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He was saying, this isn't about us.

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Let me bring balance to what I'm saying. Because the people weren't wrong for respecting their leaders. Where they went in error is when they started idolizing their leaders. It's not wrong to respect your leaders. It's not wrong to respect your founder.

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But where you get in error is when you start idolizing Your leaders.

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Are y' all hearing me tonight? First Corinthians 1 and 12 and 13 echoes this. He says, every one of you saith, I am a Paul. Then he asked the question. He said, is Christ divided?

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Was Paul crucified for you?

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Did Paul shed his blood for you? Did he hang on the cross? Sometimes we're more loyal to personalities than we are loyal to God's principles that he's already established before the personality ever existed.

00:27:05
We live in a culture where we follow charisma over character.

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We defend humans more than we defend the Word.

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Tell the person next to you, don't let your preference for a preacher block your pursuit of God's power. Don't let your preference for a preacher block your pursuit of God's power. Paul is saying, stop building camps around who fed you and remember who saved you.

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Remember who set you up. Remember who delivered you. Remember who's the one that set you straight. Stop building camps around who fed you.

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I don't know about anybody else, but I'm with Jesus. He's the one that healed my body. He's the one that delivered me. He's the one that wakes me up every single morning and says, live on. He is the one that's who I'm with.

00:28:17
He says, don't forget who saved you. Don't forget who saved you.

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He says, this is the call number four to unity. The call to unity. Unity doesn't mean uniformity. What did I say?

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Unity doesn't mean uniformity. It doesn't mean that we all think alike. But what it means is that we're all submitted to the same spirit.

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We're all submitted to the same spirit. We have different ideas. We have different backgrounds. We think differently, but we are on the same team. We are a part of the same body.
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Although we have different assumptions, assignments, we are still a part of one body. And Ephesians 4, 3, 6 tells us endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That word endeavoring means to try hard to do or achieve something.

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In other words, you got to put in work. You got to be intentional. Tell your neighbor, be intentional. Be intentional to keep the peace. Unity is a spiritual discipline.

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It's a spiritual discipline. It's a decision to choose grace over gossip.

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I gotta intentionally choose to say, you know, I don't really need to hear that. All I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pray for this person.

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I gotta be intentional because I want to be spiritually mature. How about you tell the person next year I Want to be spiritually mature.

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And you cannot call yourself.

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You cannot call yourself spiritually mature. If you are offended every other week.

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You can't say you're growing in God. If you can't grow past the disagreement you had five years ago, 15 years ago. 20 plus years ago.

00:31:09
Bishop is funny up here.

00:31:13
So what do we do with this? Are y' all getting this? What do we do with this? Here's our action items. Number one.

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Examine your heart. Examine your own heart. Examine your own heart. Don't worry about sister so and so, brother so and so. Who's not here?
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Who needs to hear this? It's being recorded.

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He said, man, you are inexcusable. The Word's being taught you. Not here. It's being recorded, so it's there for you. Examine your heart.

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Ask yourself, am I feeding division with gossip or preference or offense?

00:32:01
We don't do it like we used to do it.

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We never had to do it that way before.

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Am I feeding division with gossip, preference or offense?

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Everybody put your hand on your chest and say, I must examine my heart.

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I must examine my heart. Number two.

00:32:39
Pursue unity.

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You make the first move towards reconciliation. You make the first move towards reconciliation. You do your part. My dad used to tell me, let them be wrong by themselves. Do your part, because that's all that's required.

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You do your part, and God will defend the one who's obedient to him. Do your part. Pursue unity.

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Number three. Pray for the church locally and universally.

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Ask God to heal what's been broken and make us one. Ask God. Heal offenses, heal hurts, heal disagreements, and make us one. Because I don't know about you, but I believe for God to reign the anointing like never before. But we gotta make sure that we're in position, position to receive it.

00:34:10
I want to see the blinded eyes come open again. I want to see people come out of the wheelchair. I want to see the drug addicts and those that have been oppressed and depressed be set free by the power of God.

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Pray for the church. Ask God to heal what has been broken.

00:34:44
We want to be a church that has strong meat. You'll have new believers, absolutely. But we want the culture to be. You don't stay on milk for a long time because the culture is. We grow up to be strong Christians, strong disciples for Jesus Christ.

00:35:14
Lift your hands right where you are.

00:35:18
I pray over this church, this body. I pray, Lord, that you deliver us from carnality, that you help us to grow beyond our preferences and pettiness and the things that divide us. Make us one not around the person, but around your presence. Make us one where we use how you have changed our lives. You use us to build bridges, not to create barriers for people that want to come to get to know you.

00:36:01
Let the world see Christ in us, not clicks in your church, but help him. Help us to embody your spirit, how you live, how you walked. Help us to be mature believers. We thank you for this. In Jesus name, amen.

00:36:30
And thank God somebody.