Where would you most love to be if everything could be exactly as you want it to be? It’s actually a pretty important question to ask because the way we answer that question may say a lot about our hearts. Here in 2020, many people are doing everything in their power to make a paradise for themselves or keep a paradise for themselves. But is that the way of Christ’s followers? Join us this week as we examine one powerful word that has formed the rallying cry of One Indivisible Kingdom for thousands of years. It’s a reflection on everything we’ve covered in this series.

Today’s message was about Becoming a New Creation - or getting a “do-over”, something we’ve all wished we could do, at some point in our lives. Having a chance to go back and correct a wrong would spare us quite a bit of heartache. What about Adam and Eve? How different would our lives be if they had a do-over, if they were able to go back and say “No” to the serpent? That didn’t happen, and mankind suffered the consequences of sin.

Today though, we still have the choice to make - the choice between sin or following God’s Word. God can make everything new. He loves us so much that He’s given us a second chance at eternal life. Will we make that choice? Will we choose to live for God, or will we choose to live for self?

Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…” It’s a life-changing choice. Opening that door means you surrender to him all the things of this world that you love; you must love Jesus above ALL else.

Open the door and choose life, choose eternity, choose a new creation. Let Jesus into your life, invite the King into your heart and receive the grace and goodness only He can give. Open the door and be restored!

There are way too many ways for people to feel divided nowadays. Even amongst a group of Christians, each individual can have different ideas about the “right” ways to give glory to God. But God has accepted us all. We don’t need to be alike, or act alike, or even worship exactly alike, as long as we’re committed to His mission to make disciples and share His love.

A Christian’s first priority is not being right.

A Christian’s first priority is being LOVE.

It can hardly be said better than in Romans 15:5-7. “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Regardless of someone’s opinions, we mustn’t stand in judgment, as we read in Romans 14:10-13. “...why do you judge your brother or sister? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’... Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.”

This is our challenge in today’s divisive world -- and it’s a big challenge -- to accept one another, in spite of our different viewpoints, and leave the judgments to God.

This week’s lesson was about good news, something we’re way overdue for in 2020. The message in Matthew 1:17 was that the exile was over, it was time to go “…from the exile to the Messiah.” The waiting is over and the Kingdom is coming, yes, even for us, right now.

Think of the Lord’s Prayer: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” We can belong to that Kingdom now. If it seems like Jesus’ Kingdom is a tiny, quiet hamlet that we don’t hear from enough, think of it instead as a farmer sowing wheat that will grow into a great harvest. Think of it as the yeast that will make a dough rise and rise.

The main key to remember is that “There is a Kingdom, and Jesus is the King.” We can’t put all our faith in mortal leaders and we mustn’t believe that any nation is the Kingdom:

1. The Kingdom of Heaven exists amid the kingdoms of this world, but separate from them.

2. You cannot serve two masters, or two kingdoms.

Earthly kingdoms only have the power to take life; the Kingdom of Heaven gives life everlasting. Will a president or prime minister or king heal you, or relieve your pain? Can they see into your heart? Jesus, our King, has real everlasting power to rescue and save us. The question is, when Jesus looks into your heart, will he see that he is your one and only master?

This week’s message continued the examination of exile, which is a recurring theme in the Bible. God uses exile when His people claim power for themselves. Therein is the problem. We start thinking we have some kind of power where we know best, where we should make our own decisions, with little or no regard for others -- and certainly, no regard for God. That’s when we start worshipping other gods (falling back into sin). But “power corrupts” and eventually, our so-called power makes us miserable, along with everyone around us.

What we have to accept, always, is:

Power is God’s to give, never ours to take.

When our ‘power’ fails us, when we are in agony, when we finally cry out to God, that’s when the Spirit of God will appear. That’s when we let go of our pathetic power and accept His power. As it says in Acts 1:6, “He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

God is unfailing love. Let His Holy Spirit come to you so you can be a disciple and share His love.

Josh’s message this week made us think more about what unity is, and what it isn’t. It’s important to recognize that unity isn’t conformity. Fifty different states make up our one nation. Two people in a marriage create one union.

In the Exodus story, (Exodus 1:8-14) the Egyptians were frightened by the Israelites when their population was growing, so the Egyptians enslaved them and oppressed them. And when the Israelites continued to multiply, the Egyptians made their lives even more miserable and worked them ruthlessly.

Throughout their misery, though, God heard their prayers and brought them out of Egypt, to a land flowing with milk and honey. God said “you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6). Our God is a holy God and His people needed to learn how to be holy people, to set themselves apart by ridding themselves of sin -- by following the Ten Commandments.

In today’s world, can we unite with our brothers and sisters in God, regardless of their race or political beliefs, or any of the other myriad reasons they are “different”? Can we learn to love them for what we have in common? Our charge as Christians is to come together in unity, despite our differences.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we need to travel together. We can’t be holy AND divided. We are one body comprised of many parts. Let’s pursue holiness together. Let us “Be set apart, together”.

Sunday’s message, How to Overcome a Divisive World, continued the series on One Kingdom Indivisible.

Josh hearkened back to September 12, 2001. On that day, and the weeks following, we were as united as we’ve ever been as a nation. Could our country, our world, look any more different today? We’ve never been more divided. We divide and separate ourselves from others by politics, by religious beliefs, by language spoken, by skin color, by income, by heritage and more. We even divide our own families, completely forgetting that we are ALL God’s children and He created each and every one of us for a reason. As Josh said, “We cannot live in unity as long as we live with impunity.” Spoiler alert: unity is hard!

I encourage you to re-read the story of Joseph, Genesis chapters 37-50. This powerful story of jealousy and evil is also a story of extraordinary forgiveness and love, despite past injustices. Ultimately, it is a beautiful story of unity.

This is no time to reinforce the beliefs that divide us. God’s vision for us is to love each other and, yes, to be our brothers’ keeper. We must unite as brothers and sisters in Christ and learn to live in unity. But remember, we cannot live in unity as long as we live with impunity.

Today’s message kicked off what should be a particularly relevant series called “One Kingdom Indivisible”. The question posed today was “Why Did God Create Me?” As we read in Genesis 12:1-3, the Lord told Abram to go “...to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing… and all people on earth will be blessed through you.”

What is a blessing? When we spend time with someone in need or share our food, they may say “What a blessing.” But the benefit of our time or our food is secondary. Building the relationship with that person is the primary benefit; that’s the true blessing.

God blessed us by giving us His creation: this world and everything in it. We are blessed by our relationship with Him, and that is what blessings are all about - relationships.

So why did God create you? Meditate on this statement: GOD CREATED ME TO BLESS OTHERS. That is our purpose in life. Our mission is to live this out, to bless all peoples - yes, even our enemies. If we can live with that kind of purpose, we will BE the blessing that God created us to be.

On Sunday, John Mulligan continued our discussion from last week with his Rooting Out Racism lesson. The Bible gives us many lessons about racism being wrong. For starters, man was made in God’s image and (Acts 17:26) from one man God made all nations, so saying that any particular group is “less than” is simply illogical. We are all one in Jesus Christ. There is simply no room for racism in any aspect of the Christian faith.

John summed it all up with 5 points:

1. Embrace change as our lifestyle (Romans 12:1-2)

2. Know that racism is unacceptable (Galatians 2:11-14), and not in line with the truth of gospel.

3. Listen, learn and act on the complaints of people of color (Acts 6:1-6)

4. Expand our social circles, just as Jesus socialized with people from all walks of life.

5. Make sure people of color know they are welcome (Hebrews 13:2)

It’s easy to get caught up in our heads and be paralyzed into inaction. But these last three points -- these are action items that help us to practice what we know. Let’s all think about this and ask for God’s guidance. What things can we actually do to help Root Out Racism?

Michael Rankins brought us a powerful message on Sunday, “Seeing Each Other for Real”, which related to racism. Michael reminded us that racism isn’t new; in Numbers 12, Miriam criticized Moses for marrying a Cushite (someone from Africa). God’s reaction was to give Miriam leprosy, a disease which turned her skin “white as snow”.

As Christians today, how do we react to people who are “different”? Are we the good Samaritan who would help an injured traveler, or are we more like the priest who ignored him and walked by? In Mark 12:28-31, we’re reminded that one of the greatest commandments is to Love your neighbor as yourself. Do we do that? Or are we challenged by our own reactions?

The heart of the message is recognizing that Christ looked into the hearts of people who were being shunned, who were rejected by others. Jesus saw them as people of faith, people with pure hearts. Our challenge is to look at others through Christ’s eyes and remember that we are ALL the ones for whom Christ died.