Paul says we are to be endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace is that not beautiful the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace what a beautiful concept this is the desire of God that we have the unity of the spirit that we have the bond of peace now this Unity is a wonderful Unity we do not produce it it is called the unity of the spirit but while we do not produce it we are to preserve it profound truth simply stated This is Love Worth Finding with Pastor teacher and author Adrien

Rogers you take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 4 I want to talk to you about unity in the church unity in the church now I want you to look at it particular part of the scripture here this morning Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 3 Paul says we are to be endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace is that not beautiful the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace what a beautiful concept this is the desire of God that we have the unity of the spirit that we have the bond of Peace Psalm

133 verse 1 says behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity and the Bible also says that God hates him who SWS Discord among the Brethren now this Unity is a wonderful Unity we do not produce it it is called the unity of the spirit but while we do not prod produce it we are to preserve it and that is my prayer for this dear Church in the years to come now the this Unity is based on three basic concepts and I want us to learn these Concepts today because they’re very very

important uh the first uh concept that uh we’re going to learn is what I want to call the ground of our Unity the ground of our Unity now the ground of our Unity is truth it is doctrinal and spiritual if you would to go out in the front of this building there at the Portico you would find seven magnificent pillars and each of those pillars is named for seven basic TRS that are found in the word of God here in Ephesians chapter 4 they hold up the entire spiritual Enterprise of our church no one can call himself a Bible

Christian who does not believe these seven basic truths which are the foundation of our Unity now look again in Ephesians chapter 4 this time 3-6 endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace there is one body and one Spirit even as you’re called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all now again I want to say that the basis of our Unity the ground of our Unity is doctrinal and spiritual now let’s think about these

seven truths number one there is one body do you see that there in Ephesians 4:4 one body now what is that one body that one body is the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now it doesn’t say one congregation but there is one body the church is a spiritual body the church is not a corporation with Jesus as the president the church is a body with Jesus as the head that’s all of the difference in the world now again I want to say not uh one denomination somebody said are you one of those narrow-minded Baptists who think only

Baptists are going to heaven I’m more NM minded than that I think a lot of Baptists are not going to make it but whether you’re a Baptist Methodist Presbyterian Episcopalian if you have given your heart to Jesus Christ if you have been twice born you are a part of the mystical body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now there is is a local expression of that body you see a church is a unified body here with pastor and deacons and servants and you need to be a part of this church there is one church now that brings unity and

may I say precious friend that if you are a disunified person if you seow Discord in the church number one you dishonor the head who is Jesus and number two you wound and mutilate yourself because we are members of the same body now not only is there one body there’s also one Spirit do you see that in verse four one Spirit there he’s talking about the Holy Spirit who is the substance of our life The Secret of our strength and the source of our Unity the holy spirit is what is the one who binds us together who tells us that

we belong one to another I sat down on an airplane a man sat down beside me I made up my mind I was going to witness to him I turned to him and raised the subject of spiritual things oh he said you’re a Believer aren’t you I said yes I am he said so am I and he said mister I want to tell you something strange he said I felt your spirit when I sat down beside you when I sat beside you something in me said he’s one of us he is a Believer there is one Spirit do Vance havner has said this we are not to be wired together by

organization Frozen together by formalism rusted together by tradition but melted together by one Spirit now there’s a third basic truth here and that is we have one hope Ephesians 4:4 there is one body and one Spirit even as you’re called in one hope of your calling what is that one hope it is the second coming of Jesus Christ the Bible calls his coming the Blessed hope all True Believers in Christ are waiting for Jesus Christ to come again you cannot call yourself a Bible Christian if you do not believe in

this one hope the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now we have people have have different views of the second coming of Jesus they have technical terms on millennial premillennial post-millennial some say I don’t understand those terms well let me tell you this folks you don’t have to know the meaning of every detail to be expecting the Lord Jesus to come again and the longer I’ve been on the trail the more I have gotten humble about this matter of Prophecy and I moved from the program committee to

the welcome committee and I want to say even so come Lord Jesus there is one hope and it is the second coming of our Lord and I believe we are living in the closing Shadows of an age and our one hope and the only hope of this world is the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then belleu not only has one spirit and belleu not only has one hope but belleu confesses one Lord now notice what he says one Lord in verse 5 one Lord who is that one Lord that one Lord is Jesus Christ when I come to bie I expect to hear about Jesus

and may it always be and by the way did you know that the early church did not call him Jesus nearly so much as they called him the Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus I think we need to get in a habit of saying the Lord Jesus Jesus must always must always must always always always always always be the Lord of our dear church and then belu has one Faith look if you will in in verse five he mentions there one Faith now what is that one Faith he’s talking about the unified body of truth that we call the Bible not a faith but not Faith but one Faith he’s

don’t need a new in the modern gospel for a new in the Modern Age if it’s new it’s not true and if it’s not absolute it’s obsolete it is the one faith of this church and may this sacred desk always have a man who stands behind it who will open the word of God analyze it organize it illust rate it and apply it and we can have all other kinds of programs but we must have this one Faith the dear old Apostle Paul just before he stepped off the scene said this I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have

kept the faith he was faithful to the fight faithful to the Finish he was faithful to the faith Bel you must never waver next Belle shares one baptism look in verse 5 one baptism now as he’s here talking about uh immersion or sprinkling no he’s talking about something that goes beyond that when a person gives his or her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ they are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the the mystical Body of Christ that is you are placed at the moment of your salvation into the body of Christ remember I said that the

church is a body with Christ as the head we are the members when are you baptized before you were ever baptized in water you baptized with the holy spirit of God and in the B into the body of Christ put this verse down 1 Corinthians 12: 13 for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body body this is the holy spirit of God putting us into the mystical Body of Christ and that’s what makes us one and then Belle worships one God he is not Allah he is Yahweh Jehovah God Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all who is above all and

through all and in you all his name is Jehovah and you do not know him apart from Jesus Christ no one comes to the father but by me the Lord Jesus has said now look up here those are seven basic foundational truths and our Unity is in these truths that is the ground of our Unity if you’re enjoying this message from Adrien Rogers and would like to dig a little deeper into today’s topic download this free companion Bible study use the link above of to get yours if you’re enjoying this message from Adrien Rogers and would like to dig

a little deeper into today’s topic download this free companion Bible study use the link above to get yours but now here’s the second thing I want you to notice not only the ground of our Unity but the glory of our diversity did you know that God made us one and God made us different all at the same time look now in verse vers 7 Ephesians 4:7 but do you see the word but he’s changing direction he’s been talking about our sameness doctrinally but then he in contradistinction uses the word but but unto every one of us is

given Grace the Greek word for Grace is Caris so where do we get Charis a charismatic by For unto every one of us is given Charisma according to the measure of the gift of Christ no there’s not room for every kind of belief but there is room for people to have different gifts God gave us different gifts that he might make us one and you have a Grace gift un every one of us the scripture says here is given Grace Charisma and God gave you a gift to serve him and I’ve been saying now for 30 years and more my heart just leaps out of my

throat when I think what would happen if every member of our church were to discover develop and deploy his gift a spiritual gift is not for your ecstasy it’s not a toy it’s a tool and you have a spiritual gift and God gave us different gifts God gave us gifts that are different to make us one you see sameness is not Unity as a matter of fact Unity comes from diversity I give you a perfect illustration of that Joyce is a girl and I’m a boy we have Unity because she’s different it’s the differences that draw

us together I’m glad Jo is not like me I just as soon hug a barrel of pickles is to hug another man she’s different VV different us God makes us different God gives you a gift and you a gift and you’re gifting these gifts and we don’t have to march in lock step I preached a sermon before I got started I asked how many of you like liver and onions about a third lifted the hand I said all right now let me ask you another question how many of you detest liver and onions can’t stand liver and onions about a third lifted the hand I

said now I want to ask you another question how many of you like liver and onions but only ever so often about a third lifted the hand I said now look folks we are hopelessly divided here is a congregation divided what were we divided over not Jesus Jesus we divided over tastes and those things don’t make any difference whatsoever now I hear people say well this is my style of music that is my style of music friend forget that stuff we’re here to glorify the Lord Jesus we are going to be one body in the

Lord Jesus Christ and so uh there is the glory of our diversity we are are to celebrate we are to conserve our diversity we don’t all have to sing in unison now here’s the third and final thing I want you to see uh a friend the ground of our Unity the glory of our diversity but also the goal of our maturity now why do we have this uh unity and this diversity well verse 13 tells us what’s the goal till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man the word perfect

means mature unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ peace comes with unity diversity and maturity little children squabble and fuss mature adults learn how to get along with one another bickering comes from immaturity and may God preserve this church ever from bickering we are to be mature we to be mature in stature look in verse 13 unto the stature of the fullness of Christ you want to know whether you’re growing up or not don’t measure Yourself by some other member of this church measure Yourself by Jesus

Christ I frequently told you the measure of my Ministry is this not the size of these buildings are our budget are our Bible study attendance are you becoming more like Jesus Christ we to be mature in stature we to be mature in stability look in verse 14 that ye be henceforth no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in weight to deceive get your feet on the Rock Paul told the Ephesian church he said I know that after my departure

there will come Grievous wolves not sparing the flock let me tell you about the false Cults the false Cults do not produce converts nearly so much as they try to siphon off Bible believers who don’t understand and so because they’re not rooted and grounded in the faith they’re drawn away into these things they’re like little sailboats blown this way and blown that way blown about by every wind of Doctrine look up here Church you get a bulog grip on the truth you college students you get a grip on the truth

these seven basic principles now you can be different in a lot of things but when you grow up when you mature you’re going to be mature in stature you’re going to be mature in stability you’re going to be mature in speech look in verse 15 but speaking the truth in love may grow up speaking the truth in love we’re not to speak truthless love or Loveless truth we speak the truth never stutter never stammer never apologize speak the truth but in love truth without love is brutality love without truth is

hypocrisy now the Bible is a wonderful sword it’s a poor Club don’t you be a Bible bully argumentative over the difference between tweeted and tweetly done yes we’ll never jettison the truth but we speak the truth in love we’re mature in stature mature in stability mature in speech and listen mature in service look in verse 16 he says For Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that whichever joints supplieth according to effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body

unto the edifying of itself in love if you’re like I am you say that that’s hard for me to understand what is that talking about well let me give it to you paraphrased each part in his own special way helps the other parts so that the whole body is healthy and growing full of love he speaks here of the joints what makes my arm operate like this there’s a joint there how come my fingers go like this because there’s a joint you see look the Greek word for joint is the word harmos is the word we get our word

harmony from now he’s saying here that the body is to be flexible and the body is to work together the body is to be coordinated I was watching football and I saw a man go down the field and leap 10,000 miles high and with soft fingertips catch a ball Now ladies you may not think that’s beautiful but to me that was a work of art an absolute work of art and I saw that man his entire body cooperating to catch a bag full of air it really doesn’t make much difference and to get that bag full of air down a

pasture so what but I’m telling you so folks we’re in business for Jesus and don’t you forget it and if my Ministry makes difficulty for your ministry there’s something wrong with what you’re doing or what I’m doing or we’re both doing my desire My Prayer my goal for this church is that we will be one in the bond of love and God’s people said it amen amen there’s the ground the ground of our Unity the glory of of our diversity and the goal of our maturity now bow your heads in prayer

heads are bowed and eyes are closed if you know the Lord Jesus Christ would you pray oh God bless this dear Church may it always be unified may we be one in the bond of love and if you’ve not yet received Jesus Christ as your personal savior there is a blessing a glory of Fellowship you know nothing of until you know Jesus to be saved means that every sin is Forgiven to be saved means that God through the Holy Spirit lives in you and he has baptized you into the body of Christ and to be saved means when that

blessed hope comes or when we die we be caught up to meet our Lord in heaven you can be saved by trusting Christ Christ purchased your salvation with his shed Blood on the cross it is your duty and your privilege by repentance and Faith to receive Christ repentance means I turned from the old way faith means I put my trust in Jesus if you’d like to be saved would you pray a prayer like this Lord Jesus Come into my heart forgive my sin cleanse me and save me and begin to make me the person you want me to be in

your name I pray [Music] [Music]