Being Willing to Learn
If I just listen for things I already agree with, I will never learn and mature.
To increase in wisdom I have to be willing to hear things I didn't already know and change what I believe as more information becomes available.
Just gathering with people isn't the same as growing with them. The Bible calls believers to become a body together.
The way the body grows, according to the Bible, is by unity from the inside out.
Luke 17:20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21“nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
This means I need to commit to the local to eventually get the global. If I can't commit to the small, I will never find unity in the large. The local church is where unity will be born, according to the Bible.
This is because the kingdom emerges from the inside out. This is why the apostles started local churches... It's about commitment to people dictated by an internal sifting that spreads out.
My heart begins to unite with spirit, where the Holy Spirit is active and alive. The Holy Spirit leads. God is God. My flesh is sifted...divided...what doesn't agree with God is left behind.
The Holy Spirit begins to sift and create unity in the relationships closet to me...my marriage and my kids are the first places true unity...unity by sifting, or unity by division, begins to happen. This is hard on the front end, but beautiful when the dust settles...a united vision of serving God through each other improves marriages and families...
Then my Church relationships enter into unity by cleaning...unity by sifting ... Unity by division.
It will spread to my city, my country...and eventually the world.
Will my reach for the leadership of God sift the whole world? Yes and no. It will sift me out of the whole world, and that process will eventually crescendo with the whole rest of the world being sifted.
Unity is not you and me agreeing about God. Unity is me and God agreeing about you. This sifts me... He feels differently about me, my family, my Church, my city...even the whole world, than I naturally do.
This makes repentance the basis of true unity...not listening for people I agree with...listening for God and learning to agree with Him.
This is Jesus teaching about unity:
Luke 12:45“But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,
46“the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47“And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48“But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
49“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50“But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!
51“Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
52“For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.
53“Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
54Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is.
55“And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is.
56“Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?
57“Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?
58“When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
59“I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”
The church is being sifted. That is why it is so divided. Many are tempted to find agreement apart from repentance...personal repentance. Agreement found outside of personal repentance will result in false unity...people agreeing about God and not necessarily WITH God. It's important to understand the difference.
Agreeing about god is how false god's are created (Isaiah 44:9-18). Agreeing with God are how sons of God are reborn.
To increase in wisdom I have to be willing to hear things I didn't already know and change what I believe as more information becomes available.
Just gathering with people isn't the same as growing with them. The Bible calls believers to become a body together.
The way the body grows, according to the Bible, is by unity from the inside out.
Luke 17:20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21“nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
This means I need to commit to the local to eventually get the global. If I can't commit to the small, I will never find unity in the large. The local church is where unity will be born, according to the Bible.
This is because the kingdom emerges from the inside out. This is why the apostles started local churches... It's about commitment to people dictated by an internal sifting that spreads out.
My heart begins to unite with spirit, where the Holy Spirit is active and alive. The Holy Spirit leads. God is God. My flesh is sifted...divided...what doesn't agree with God is left behind.
The Holy Spirit begins to sift and create unity in the relationships closet to me...my marriage and my kids are the first places true unity...unity by sifting, or unity by division, begins to happen. This is hard on the front end, but beautiful when the dust settles...a united vision of serving God through each other improves marriages and families...
Then my Church relationships enter into unity by cleaning...unity by sifting ... Unity by division.
It will spread to my city, my country...and eventually the world.
Will my reach for the leadership of God sift the whole world? Yes and no. It will sift me out of the whole world, and that process will eventually crescendo with the whole rest of the world being sifted.
Unity is not you and me agreeing about God. Unity is me and God agreeing about you. This sifts me... He feels differently about me, my family, my Church, my city...even the whole world, than I naturally do.
This makes repentance the basis of true unity...not listening for people I agree with...listening for God and learning to agree with Him.
This is Jesus teaching about unity:
Luke 12:45“But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,
46“the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47“And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48“But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
49“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50“But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!
51“Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
52“For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.
53“Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
54Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is.
55“And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is.
56“Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?
57“Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?
58“When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
59“I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”
We live in the moment of time Jesus described as His coming. Many think it is delayed...it is not. It is happening right now.
The church is being sifted. That is why it is so divided. Many are tempted to find agreement apart from repentance...personal repentance. Agreement found outside of personal repentance will result in false unity...people agreeing about God and not necessarily WITH God. It's important to understand the difference.
Agreeing about god is how false god's are created (Isaiah 44:9-18). Agreeing with God are how sons of God are reborn.
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