You are called to embody the unity and sacrificial love of Christ in your daily interactions, not just during Sunday services. Take time this week to examine your heart against the standard of 1 Corinthians 13 and actively pursue fellowship with other believers. When you love boldly and communicate transparently, you become the living church the world needs to see.
What's up? Daniel Mannix here. I had the opportunity to deliver a word on the importance of the church, the body of Christ. And the title of the message is Together We. It's at the core of real church.
Together we love boldly, communicate transparently, and create with excellence. I pray that this message encourages you as part of the bride of Christ, and I pray that it spurs you on. God bless you.
Good morning, church. Good morning. He's worthy, isn't he? Amen. He's worthy of it all.
You know, I feel like I've been preparing for this message for a long time because I am 1 of the unfortunate people that got COVID. Everybody say stupid COVID. Supposed to deliver this about a month ago, and I got COVID. But *God* is good. Thank God.
I got through it relatively un scathed, and I am here today with you this morning. I have a little bit of an annoying cough. So if you hear that, please show me some grace. Alright? Alright.
So as pastor said, we've been going through foundations. These are fundamental core principles of a Christian's walk, a Christian life, any Christian. Okay? But they are not simple. They are not basic.
They are not remedial. They are not elementary. Okay? Don't ever believe that you have graduated from the more simple core things of God. Never believe that you have arrived to a point where you no longer need to meditate on or think about the cross of Christ as simple as it sounds.
Amen. Paul said, I've decided to know nothing among you except Jesus and him crucified.
That's right.
That's it. That's it. It's the core and the cross changes everything, doesn't it? It changed everything for me. What about for you guys?
Yeah. But it also created something. The cross created the bride of Christ. It created the church. It created us.
Stick with me. Let me explain. So if we go back to the beginning of creation, when God decided to give Adam a helper, a wife, a bride, He caused him to fall into a deep sleep. Not die, he fell into a deep sleep. Why?
Because sin had not entered the world yet. And the wages of sin is? Death. Death. No sin, no death.
So Adam didn't die. He simply fell into a deep sleep caused by God. And when he awoke, he awoke to Eve, which was formed out of his own body. And that was his wife. Similarly, *Jesus*, who's known as the "last Adam", died.
He died because now sin has entered the world, and God caused him to die just as he caused Adam to sleep. That might be hard for some of you to hear, but in God's sovereign plan, it was always for Jesus to be sacrificed. And Jesus himself said, nobody takes my life. I offer I offer it up freely. And when Jesus rose from the dead, amen, He arose to a church, to a bride.
But that bride was a scared bride. It was a fearful bride. That bride ran away from the bridegroom as he was in his darkest moment, in his time of need when when he was arrested, she was nowhere to be found. When when Jesus was on the cross suffering the terrible death that he did, only 1 of the disciples showed up. They're actually after he's risen from the dead, I mean, that would you would think turn anybody to follow this person that's risen from the dead, and yet, they were hiding in an attic.
They hid in an attic for for days, 50 days to be exact. But then something happened. Something that changed everything for all of us. The reason why we're here today. Does anybody know what that is?
What is the Greek word for fiftieth? *Pentecost*. Pentecost. Exactly. Pentecost.
We got the Holy Spirit. The the disciples were endued with power and all of a sudden this bride knew who she was. She was the bride of the king, the bride of Christ, and they had power and they spoke boldly and Peter preached to this massive crowd, and the people were "cut to the heart", the Bible says. The gospel cuts to the heart, amen? Amen.
It cuts to the heart because it cuts the flesh of the carnal man. It exposes the insufficiency of ourselves, and it reveals the need for a savior. And the people said, what are we supposed to do? What do we do? Peter said, repent and be baptized, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
And now all of a sudden, have the church. There was about a 120 people in that attic in the upper room, and 3,000 people were saved on the day of Pentecost. I mean, outside of COVID, we normally average, what, about a 120? Can you imagine if 3,000 people were added to the church in 1 day? *God*'s done it before.
He could do it again. Right? So the church is now over 3,000 people, and they're learning how to "do life together". And we pick it up in Acts-2:42. We're gonna read a lot of scripture today.
But if there's no God's word in it, then it's not worth anything. Alright? And before I start reading God's word, let's pray because my words aren't worth anything without the Holy Spirit. Amen? Amen.
Lord, you are incredible. Thank you, God, for who you are. I pray that you would touch this message, Lord God, that you would speak through me, that you would help me to get out of the way, that you would perform miracles in here, Lord. You would break chains. You would mend hearts.
You would bring people back to You, Lord God, and You would expose the power and the positioning of the church of the bride of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
That's it. They devoted themselves to 4 things. Are you devoted to these 4 things? Are you devoted to Christ? The early church was devoted.
And there were 4 things. The apostles' teachings, what's that? Well, that's basically what we're going through here. The book of Ephesians is simply a letter from Paul to the church that was in Ephesus. The book of Romans is simply a letter that was written from Paul to the church in Rome.
First and second Peter, letters written by Peter to the church, generally speaking. These are letters and we now read them and wow. The the the amount of God's anointing on these words is incredible. If you've never read through some of these New Testament letters, I highly recommend that you do it. Can you imagine being in Rome and and we get a letter from Paul?
Imagine right now, we just get a letter from Paul coming in here. They weren't always great letters. They weren't always encouraging letters, I guess I should say. He would call out people by name. This person did me wrong.
That person did me wrong. Purge the evil from among you, brothers. Some of these words were harsh. They cut to the heart. They also devoted themselves to fellowship.
*Fellowship* is so vitally important. Fellowship is so important that we do life together. Don't isolate yourself. If you ever see a Christian that's struggling, that's stumbling, they isolate themselves. It's almost like a like like an animal who's about to die and they and they go off on their own, if any of you watch National Geographic or any of that kind of stuff.
But in the same way, when people are spiritually dying, they tend to isolate themselves. Don't isolate yourself. That's what the enemy wants. Because alone you are ineffective and unproductive, but together, we are the body of Christ. We are the bride of Christ.
They also devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. Now this can mean 2 things, I believe. It can mean *communion* and also simply eating together. Communion, of course, is what Jesus commissioned us to do. He said, do this in remembrance of me, in remembrance of what I've done.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians-11 that we're gonna do this until Jesus comes back. So we are to keep doing this. What are we doing? We're we're eating the bread. I'm I'm sure we're gonna do it at some point here today, but I highly encourage you to do so.
We we eat bread in remembrance of his body, That flesh that was torn in 2, that represents the veil that was torn in 2, so you and I could enter into relationship with God. That flesh that was beaten and broken and stabbed and spit on and flayed open. It's the Bible says that he was beyond recognition of a man, not only of Jesus of Nazareth, but as a man. He was beaten that bad. So, whenever you're questioning your worthiness, remember how that body was broken for you.
That's how worthy you are. And we drink the wine or the juice, in most cases, in remembrance of his blood that was shed on that cross. The blood that that forgives past, present, and future sins. The blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. The blood that speaks grace and mercy.
The blood that covers a multitude of sin. The power of the blood. Oh, the power of the blood. Oh, it's so powerful. By that blood, we can enter into the holy of holies.
We can enter into relationship with the creator of the universe. That's a huge deal. Without it, we are lost. So they they remembered this. They celebrated this.
And they also prayed together. Before I go into that, let's just quickly talk about just eating together. I know it sounds simple, but I could give you all these studies of families that eat together, how the kids' grades are better, how they don't get in trouble in school, how the parents are more happy at their jobs, have less stress. Eating together is so important. The apostles understood this.
We eat together after Sunday church at Benedict's right down the street here. If I have not personally invited you, here is your invite to come to Benedict's after church on Sunday. We break bread together. We eat together. We laugh together.
We pray together. We do life together. It's part of fellowship. So you are invited. Prayer.
Prayer is so important. Pastor David preached on this a few weeks back, and he talked about how it was likely the most important part of a Christian's walk. Why? Because it's communication with God. How can we be in relationship with someone that we don't communicate with?
Communication is more than just speaking. It's listening. We don't just give him a chore, a list of chores or wishes. He's not Santa Claus. He's not a maid.
We're in relationship with Him. We speak to the the bridegroom as the bride. Prayer is even in praise and worship. We're speaking to God. Right?
We're we're exalting Him. We're worshiping Him. We're we're saying that you are worthy of worship. We are putting Him where He belongs. You'll notice there's a few things missing from this list that you might commonly find in churches today.
There's no fog machines. There's no instruments. There's no free coffee or donuts or t shirts or any of the pleasantries that that you might experience. And I'm not saying those things are bad. I love coffee.
I love free coffee. I'm I'm all for that. I'm kinda missing the fact that we didn't have it today. But, again, stupid COVID. When you are deciding what church body you wanna be a part of, don't let your decision be based on those things, please.
Worry about those primary things, the 4 things. Is that body devoted to the word, to fellowship, to communion, to prayer. That's what your decision should be based on. Yeah. Okay.
So they devoted themselves to these things. And what happened? Verse 43, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs. Everyone say many. Many.
Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common. If you've been a part of this church for any amount of time or just been coming to the church at any amount of time, you've heard, "together we love boldly", communicate transparently, and create with excellence. The glue of that statement is together we. It's important. It's it's fellowship.
The early church was all together, and they had all things in common. And God was doing amazing things among them. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we have to do that. Right? I mean, this is descriptive.
It's not necessarily prescriptive. We're not being commanded to do this, are we? I mean, my relationship with God is personal. I don't I don't go to church, but, you know, I pray all the time. I read my Bible.
I have a great relationship with God. Anybody ever heard that? My answer to that question would be another question. I pull a Jesus on them. Jesus asked a lot of questions and returned to questions.
Why would you not want to be going to church? Why would you not wanna be in fellowship? Why would you forsake 1 of those 4 things and not the other 3? What's the spirit behind that? The creator of the universe who walked in the flesh did not do life alone.
If anybody could have done it on their own, we know Jesus could have. Right? But he chose to be in community. He chose to be united with people. So if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, we have his nature and his character in us, why are we not lining up with his nature and character?
Some people might not wanna hear this, but those are the ones that need to hear it. It's important. And as a matter of fact, we are commanded to meet together, by the way. In case you're wondering, Hebrews-10. Let's go to Hebrews-10:24.
And let us consider how to stir up 1 another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging 1 another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. As is the habit of some. This was happening from the beginning. What's a habit? A habit is a list it's it's a progression of choices.
Every time you decide not to serve or not to pray or not to go to church or not to get involved or fellowship or sacrifice. You're making choices. And the more you make those choices, the more you make a habit. And the longer you have a habit, the more difficult it is to break. Every day we make choices.
As is the habit of some. How can you stir up 1 another if you're not in fellowship? It's pretty difficult to do. We are to be together. Christ actually prayed for us to be together in John-17.
Follow me there. John-17:20. Jesus has this amazing prayer. He's praying to His Father, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. Who's he talking about?
He's talking about us. You believe because somebody told you and somebody told them and somebody told them and going all the way back to these original disciples. Jesus is praying for us. He's praying not only for those that were around him at the time, but for all who would believe through their word, that they may all be 1 just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us. Wow.
That's another level of unity. *Jesus*, part of the triune God, right, the Trinity, 3 persons in 1 being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is praying for the same level of unity that Him and the Father have within the Trinity for us, for me and you. That's deep. Why?
So that the world may believe that you have sent me. This is eternal life, knowing God. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them. Woah. That almost sounds sacrilegious.
*Isaiah-42:8, God says, He does not share His glory* with anyone. How can Jesus pray that God's glory be given to us? The answer is Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is also part of the triune God, and Holy Spirit lives in us. And because he does, we can share in the glory of God.
You guys understand the weight of what I just said? The only reason why we are not crushed under the weight of a holy God living within us, his literal spirit lives in you. The only reason why is because of your righteousness that was imputed on you from Christ. It's because of Christ's sacrifice. That we can be the temple of God, the actual God of the universe living in us.
And we can share in that glory. Hallelujah. That they may be 1 even as we are 1. I in them and you in me that they may become perfectly 1 so that the world may know that you have sent me and love them even as you loved me. Wow.
*God the Father loves us just as much as he loves Jesus*. That's unbelievable. But believe it, receive it. So Jesus prayed for us to be united. That means that God's plan for the church is unity.
I'm not talking about unity with the world. We are to be set apart from the world. No. That it's the exact opposite. But unity within the church.
That means disunity is of Satan. Disunity is of Satan. Unity is of God. God wants us to be 1. That's how the world's gonna know Christ when we are 1.
Look at what Paul says in Ephesians-4. Are you guys with me? Is everybody awake? Let's go. Let's go.
This is good news. This is good news. And the spirit, the Holy Spirit that's within you right now is hearing His own words spoken back to Him. And He's stirring up. I'm stirring y'all up.
Okay? *Ephesians-4* starting in verse 1, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, not for my own will, not for the laws that I've broken, not for my own prosperity, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to "walk in a manner worthy" of the calling to which you have been called. We have all been called. Amen? Amen.
With all pride and arrogance. Just making sure you're awake. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with 1 another in love. Oh, God. Some of us are unbearable.
Bearing with 1 another in love, eager to maintain, here it is again, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Why? Because there is 1 body and 1 spirit, 1 body, not the Roman Catholic church or the, First Presbyterian or First United Methodist or Protestant, there is 1 body and 1 spirit just as you are called to the 1 hope that belongs to your call. 1 Lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism, 1 God and father over all I'm sorry, father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Amen.
Over all, through all, and in all. We could preach on that for 4 hours. Skip down to verse 15. Rather, speaking the truth in love. Guys, that's so important.
The gospel according to John said that Christ came in truth and love. I'm sorry, grace and truth or truth and love. Everything that Jesus did was truth and love. Everything that we do as Christians should be of truth and love. If we do anything that is not truth or not love, it is not of Christ.
Remember that. Anything that's all truth and no love is just religion, and anything that's all love and no truth is cheap grace. Everything is in truth and love. We are to grow up. We're supposed to mature.
Yes. We are supposed to grow up. Some of us need to get out of our parents' basement of our spiritual life. Grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into *Christ* from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. Christ holds everything together, guys.
*Christ holds the church together. Christ builds the church. It's not our job to build the church. Jesus said, Matthew-16*, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Jesus builds the church.
We are simply to make disciples. We are to go. That's the last part of foundations, isn't it? Go. *Christ* holds everything together.
*Colossians-1*, in Him everything holds together. He's the head of the body, the church. I'm gonna go into that. Let me stop. Joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.
When each part is working properly, working properly, we are to work guys, we're not gonna be floating on clouds with a harp for the rest of eternity. I'm sorry if some of you thought that that's what heaven is. We are to work together. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it "builds itself up in love", builds itself up in love. Are you building the church up in love?
Are you building the church up in love? We are to work. Ephesians-2:10. We are **God's masterpiece** created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that He planned in advance for us to do. Again, good works.
And, yes, we are God's masterpiece. How amazing is that? God said it's very good when He made us. But we are only God's masterpiece in Christ Jesus. If you are in Adam, in sin, you are not God's masterpiece.
You are God's masterpiece in Christ Jesus. In us, we are in Christ Jesus. God has planned good works for us. But what are these works? Hebrews-3:12.
Praise God. No coughing. Hebrews-3:12. I'm telling you, I've been coughing all morning. So that's a blessing.
Thank you, God. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an **evil unbelieving heart**. Yes. Unbelieving heart is evil. *Romans-14, anything that's not of faith is sin*.
An unbelieving heart is evil, leading you to fall away from the living God. That's why. It pulls you away from God. If you're pulled away from good, it's evil. Yes.
It's over a month ago. I've gone through quarantine. I'm fine. I just have this lingering cough. Thank you for clarifying.
But exhort 1 another every day. What does exhort mean? Exhort means to strongly urge or encourage. Strongly urge or encourage 1 another every day, not just on Sunday, every day, as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. None of you may be hardened.
We are to encourage each other. We read in Hebrews-10 that that we're to spur 1 another on or stir 1 another up. That stirring includes more things than just encouragement. That also includes admonishment, correction, rebuke, accountability. I'm so grateful for my brothers and sisters that hold me accountable to the things of God.
I've preached about it before. It's so important in my life. You gotta you gotta get yourself around people like that because when you're being encouraged, when you're being led in the things of God and you're doing it 1 another, you're you're running this race together and you're going toward Christ. And it creates a unity. It creates a fellowship.
You you have no choice but to be going in if you're rowing in the same direction, if you're holding each other accountable to the things of God because the things of God are truth. They're absolute truth. They're not relative. You can't go this way and that way. There's only 1 way.
His name is Jesus. Read *1 John-1:5*. This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaimed to you. It's still being proclaimed to this day. Amen?
Still being proclaimed to this day that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Truth is more than just told or heard. Truth is practiced. Truth is walked out.
Truth is practiced. That's powerful. But if we "walk in the light", as He is in the light, we have fellowship with 1 another and the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin, not just some sin, not past sin, not the small sin, all sin. All sin. Spurring each other on, stirring each other up.
I wanna spur you guys on. The best way I know how to is with the truth, with God's word. So before I wrap up, I'm just gonna give you a couple verses here to spur you on. Is that okay? Yes.
Okay. *1 Corinthians-1*. When you have it, say amen. Amen. Wow.
You guys are fast. That doesn't count. *1 Corinthians-1*. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be "no divisions" among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Yes, we are to have judgment.
We are to judge everything according to the word of God, the truth of God. We are to have the same mind and the same judgment. There should be no division among us. There should be unity. How's this possible?
Have this mind among you brothers, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Philippians-2.
In Christ. Amen.
We all have the mind of Christ. So there's unity in that. So there should be no division among us because Jesus is not a flip flopper. He doesn't change his mind. There should be no division.
There should be complete unity. So let's have the same mind and the same judgment, which is ours in Christ Jesus. But let's also love. John-13. John-13 verse, I think it's 34.
Yep. A new commandment I give to you, this is Jesus, that you "love 1 another". That's not a new commandment. Leviticus-19:18 says, love your neighbor as yourself. But that's imperfect love.
You see, if I'm an alcoholic, I'll love my neighbor by taking him to the bar and getting him drunk, buying him a bottle of liquor. It's not perfect love. Jesus takes it to a whole another level. He says, Love 1 another just as I have loved you. That's another level of love.
That's a new commandment. That's a God love. What did Jesus do? He died for us. He laid His life down for us.
He counted us as greater than Himself. He served. He submitted Himself in love. That's the type of love. That's the new commandment.
Love as Christ loved us. And by this, all people will know that you're my disciples. If you have love for 1 another, they will know you by your love. Love is evident. Love is action.
Love is a lot of things. Let's see what else love is. 1 Corinthians-13, I'm sure you've heard this at a few weddings before. 1 Corinthians-13, The truth is that it's not really written specifically for marriage. It's the love we are to have for each other.
Starting in verse 4, Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It's it's not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful.
It doesn't rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. When everything else has disappeared, these 3 remain, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. This is what love looks like. Can I spur you guys on?
Everywhere that you see the word love or a nod to love or description of love, replace it with your name and see if it rings true. Roman is patient and kind. David does not envy or boast. Raymond is not arrogant or rude. Eddie does not insist on his own way.
Don is not irritable or resentful. Olivia does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Does it ring true? It's not a condemnation, it's a conviction spurring you on. This is what love looks like.
This is the church. This is what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to devote ourselves to the Word, to prayer, to fellowship, to communion. We're supposed to do everything in truth and love. We're to spur 1 another on.
To hold each other accountable and encourage each other and walk in the light as He is in the light and have fellowship with 1 another. This is the church. This is us. And it's not just on Sunday. The Church isn't a building.
It doesn't end here. It's us. Are you the church on Monday at work? Are you the church on Wednesday at school or Thursday night with your family? We are the church.
It's not what we do. It's not where we are. It's who we are. Let's pray. Lord, you are incredible.
Thank you, God, for your bride. Thank you for the church, Lord, that we can have unity with each other. Help us to recognize who we are in you Christ. God, we all look forward to the the marriage supper of the lamb, Lord, where we will be reunited with you Christ as your bride, that we will be fully without spot or blemish, that we will be robed in majesty and glory, Lord God, when we are with you. But until that time, Holy Spirit, help us to be the church every day, in every way, leaning into you, hearing your voice, following after you, and recognizing who we are, our positioning, our status, our identity in you, Christ.
It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a "deeper understanding" of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving or you can text any amount to 84321 and then just search in the link that comes up.
Search for Real Church Clearwater. *God* bless you and the best is yet to come.