On Unity

[0:00] Can anyone tell me, what was your favorite part about that Sunday?! Cookies, that was good.

[0:11] ! Anybody else have a favorite part about that Sunday?! All the games. David and Goliath, that was good. The food, yeah.

[0:23] Thank you, Pastor and Sister Carrasco, by the way, for all that. Thank you, thank you. They cooked it up, bought everything, got it all set up, and, you know, thank you so much. How about the kids?

[0:35] What was your favorite part of that Sunday? Oh, yeah, the games. Which game? The Oreos.

[0:47] Cookies, the Oreo game. They got pretty competitive. You know, I thought this one, these kids over here, I thought they won. And then afterwards, this kid came up to me, he's like, we actually won that game.

[1:02] Here you go, some candy. He's all, he's all, ah, it's all right. And he walked away all mad. I want you to know I won, okay?

[1:12] All right, sorry about that. Anyways. Plus, those two kids are guests of mine, so, you know, of course they won. Praise God.

[1:22] But we had a great time. And, you know, there was just a real sense of, I don't know, unity, togetherness. Because we're all moving the same direction, wanting to achieve the same thing.

[1:34] And so I just, that really got me thinking about our church and our family, our church family. And what we can accomplish when we are united.

[1:47] That's what I think about. Think about that. What can we accomplish together? What can we accomplish divided and separated?

[1:59] Really nothing. We're just fighting each other. I mean, you know it in your own family. When you're trying to do something and no one wants to work together, you spend more time arguing and dealing with crying kids.

[2:12] And crying, you know, than you are trying to accomplish something. I know this firsthand experience, okay, trying to clean our house. All right, you guys clean up there. And you go, I don't want to clean. That's Tom's stuff.

[2:24] That's great. Grayson's like, that's not my stuff, Dad. Okay, all right, son. Just pick it up, please. Anyway. But there's so much that can be accomplished when we just work together and we make it happen.

[2:40] Amen. So just for a few moments, I want to talk about one big pizza party. One big pizza party. Just for a few moments.

[2:51] Anybody ever, who likes pizza? Tom is like, yes. Every part of me is yes. Yeah, there you go. Tom is the pizza bandit.

[3:04] And, you know, it's funny because when we order pizza, it's almost like there's never enough that's ordered sometimes, okay, most of the time. And everyone's kind of patient and, you know, kind of waiting around, waiting for that first person to go for the pizza.

[3:19] Because, you know, when that first person goes, it's all in. Everyone's going to just charge those pizza boxes. But everyone's polite, cordial. And then once that pizza box opens, everyone just, it's like chaos.

[3:32] Everyone just rushes in and grabs some pizza. And then that's usually what happens, yes. And then when there's, you know, a couple pieces left, like for Tom made, for instance, there was like a few pizzas, slices left.

[3:48] And, you know, we only bought like one, this was for the house. They had one pizza. And so Tom walks up, and I knew he had had a bunch. And so he walks up to the pizza box and he's opening it.

[4:00] And I go, hey, hey, how many have you had? Just two, Dad. Okay. But I'm hungry. And I love pizza. And he's, you know, he's attacking.

[4:14] And then Tom and Grayson come in, or Cash and Grayson come in. And they're like, man, Tom, have you had enough pizza? So everyone kind of knows Tom's business about that.

[4:26] I called that pizza. That's my slice. Elbows are flying. Not in our house, but I'm just saying there's this craziness about the pizza. But that's the thing about those kind of situations.

[4:41] When there's something good that's there, everybody wants a slice. Everybody wants to get in and on the action on the pizza.

[4:52] Church. Church.

[5:07] I have to stop for a minute, actually. I was going to do a whole story and a whole. When I think about our church and where it's come from, I think about the chaos that we had a few years ago.

[5:26] And not quite knowing what was going to happen. There's a lot of uncertainty in our church. But that Sunday when I witnessed all of what was going on, everyone working together.

[5:41] I was overwhelmed with so much joy and warmth. And just being excited because of what God wants to do through us.

[5:55] Of what God wants to do through you and your life, your family. If this church is going to be anything, that's what I want it to be. If this church is going to be anything and be useful for the kingdom of God.

[6:09] What we don't want to see is what happens when there's pizza and one slice left. And everyone's elbowing each other and knocking each other over for a slice of pizza.

[6:25] But what happened on Sunday, that's what we want South Bay Church to be. A church that's united. A church that helps one another. A church that says, no, you have the last slice.

[6:39] No, that's my favorite. But you know what? You have that last slice of pizza. Where Tom says, that's okay.

[6:50] You can have that slice. God does miracles. He's so sweet. I started to get in this music stand. And he's like, Dad, I got it.

[7:00] I got it. And he brings it up. And he sets it up right here for me. That's what I'm talking about. That's exactly what I'm talking about. A church that will see a need and will go out of its way to make it happen.

[7:13] I can't tell you. I'm just going to brag on some people today. That's okay. You know, Brother Zeke just sees a need and he takes care of it. He does it. Sister Olga goes to that front.

[7:26] And she greets people. She does a great job. And Alyssa, this morning, she's putting up creamer and bringing us, I don't know, she brought some other stuff to that coffee area.

[7:39] And no one asked her. I didn't ask her. And I saw her doing it. And I said, thank you so much for taking care of that. I said, people, you know, sometimes it goes, we don't make it sometimes. So that would be nice if someone just made it.

[7:51] But she sets stuff out for it. That's what I'm talking about. A kind of church that sees a need and takes care of it. That's the kind of church that I want us, I'd like us to be.

[8:03] Amen. Praise God. You kind of talk about branding. You know, when you see a logo or you see a fit or you see something, what's the emotion behind it?

[8:17] What do you perceive about it? What do you think about it? You think of Witteschnitzel. You think nasty hot dogs. You think of Taco Bell. You think of diarrhea. You see In-N-Out Burger.

[8:28] You see fresh, okay. You see Chick-fil-A. You see 50 ingredients, okay. You see Starbucks, you look at, that's watered down coffee, okay.

[8:40] Now that's not real coffee, okay. So you just, you see something and then you instantly get a feeling or an emotion about it. What's the feeling and emotion when someone thinks about South Bay Church?

[8:53] What's the feel and emotion when someone hears where you go to church? That you're a Christian. That you live for God. What's the feeling, what's the understanding about you?

[9:05] About God? About the church? And I want to be a part of a church whose brand is they pray. They feel the power of God.

[9:18] They're united. They prefer one another. They serve one another. They're of one mind. Amen. The power of God. The fire of God. Falls.

[9:31] They're a church that's a praying church. In the book of Acts 4 and verse 32, Luke records, all the believers were of one heart and one mind.

[9:44] They were in one accord in one place in Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Ghost began to fall. They were all synced up. They were all united. They had things in common. Now, I don't know about you, but I am not a pineapple pizza person.

[9:58] Okay? I'm sorry. I just can't do it. Who's a pineapple? Oh, my goodness. I got to find another church to go to.

[10:11] I didn't know that. I didn't know that about you guys. Wow. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I know.

[10:25] So, you know, what's funny is, like, my wife, sometimes we'll try to appease everybody and we'll try to get multiple toppings on one pizza. You know, half pepperoni, quarter pineapple, quarter anchovies, a quarter.

[10:38] Who likes anchovies on their pizza? Oh, really? Oh, wow. I really didn't know you. I don't know you. But that's the thing.

[10:48] You know, we're all, we just have different tastes, different likes. But when that pizza shows up, we enjoy it. We enjoy each other's company. And that's the thing about our church is that we all have preferences.

[11:01] We all have desires and things we want to see. Music we like to hear. Volume we like our music at. Okay? But when we gather into the house of God and Jesus pours out his spirit, there is nothing greater than what just happened a few moments ago.

[11:22] When everyone's worshiping, regardless of, again, their preferences, regardless of what they want to see happen or what song's playing, when the spirit of God is moving, there is just such beauty in the unity of the body of Christ.

[11:38] Amen. And you look at the disciples. They were in, you know, James was intense. Peter was loud. He was, he spoke, he spoke and acted before we really thought about stuff.

[11:49] Yet they were a family and they were united. God blended men, people from all different walks of life, tax collectors, zealots, you know, fishermen, all different people.

[12:01] But they worked together. And on the day of Pentecost, it says that they were all of one mind and one accord. And the spirit of God filled the house and all where they were sitting. Amen.

[12:11] And they all began to speak in tongues. Hallelujah. Praise God. Again, we all come from different backgrounds and walks of life and experiences. Some grew up in church.

[12:22] Some didn't grow up in church. Okay? My kids grew up in church. My wife grew up in church. You know, me, I didn't. You know, I was, I was in high school.

[12:33] I was a metalhead. I was a weirdo. Still am, some people would say. But there was, we're one. We're one in Christ. We're one in the blood of Jesus Christ.

[12:46] Amen. Amen. Amen. But that's what we need. We need to remember that that, that oneness is where our wholeness is going to come from.

[12:59] Our oneness, our unity, our, our preferring one another is where our wholeness is going to come together. Not everything is going to be perfect and not everything is going to be right and people are going to sing off a key.

[13:11] I love you. Okay? The drums may be off, especially when I'm playing, not on beat all the time. Okay? And you know what?

[13:23] Things happen. But the important thing is that we remember why we are here and that why we are together. We are a family. A family in Christ Jesus.

[13:34] Amen. That's united for one purpose. And that's to reach this world. That's to reach others. That's to reach those that don't know Jesus, those that have walked away from him. That's the kind of church I want to belong to.

[13:48] Some churches are, you know, I'm not here to knock anybody. But there may be some groups and some people that worry about if their tie is on straight or if they tie certain brands or if they're, if they're, if they're not correct.

[14:01] You know, some of that's important and good. But what the book of Acts Church did is, Acts 2.45 says, they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

[14:16] They sold stuff just to help other people. They gave to help others. Because that was in their mind. That was in their thinking. That was in them. Imagine, you know, someone sells something.

[14:29] Oh, hey, honey, by the way, I sold the couch for, for Joe. So Joe could have some, some food this week at home. What? Where are we going to sit? But there were no needy among them.

[14:47] Everyone was fed, clothed. Everyone had everything they had need of. Joel Urshan once said, sharing shows we're family.

[14:59] Sharing and giving shows that we're family. Sharing is not charity. It's throwing our pizza in the pot and trusting God for seconds.

[15:15] But see, that's the thing. It's, it's about us. And the reason why I wanted our kids in here is because we're showing that generation what it is to be the church.

[15:30] We're showing that generation what kind of church this is. We're showing them how to be the church. We're showing them what it means to share and what it means to love. And we've all heard our kids.

[15:42] Well, I don't want to give that to them. I don't want to, you know. That's mine. And I guess it's just in kids.

[15:52] But they also see it. They also see it in our lives. As parents and those that are around. Okay. Acts 2, 46 and 47 says, they were meeting together.

[16:10] They were breaking bread. They were with glad and sincere hearts. They were praising God. Daily. Not just a Sunday thing. It was a daily thing.

[16:22] We, the other day, the other night we had, we opened the Bible together as a family. And we read Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, 5 and all those things. And in that book, that chapter, it says, here is where the Lord our God is one Lord.

[16:41] And Moses instructs the people to teach this to their children. When they wake up. When they walk by the way. When they're about their business. He says, speak about.

[16:52] Talk to the kids about that God is one. And that you're loving with all your heart, your mind, your soul. And this is exactly what we ought to be doing with our children.

[17:04] Showing them. And you know, and not just, and not just the children, but even the babes in Christ. Those that are coming into the church. Those that are born again. Amen. We're showing them. By our actions, we're showing them what it is to be the church.

[17:17] If we want to see them worship, we ought to worship. If we want to see them give, we ought to give. If we want to see them serve, we ought to serve. Amen. We shouldn't just expect it to happen.

[17:29] But it's something that's, there's more, my wife loves using this phrase. Because if I say something, things are more caught than taught. And that is so true.

[17:40] Because there's times where I hear my kids say something that I say. And I'll go, whoa. Oh, wow. Okay. I didn't teach them that, but they picked it up.

[17:53] There's some things that I say that my dad did, or he said. I go, that sounds just like my dad. Cash, you ever have those days where you do that? Yes. And you're a better man for it.

[18:06] Praise God. Amen. Okay. Is this messy? Yeah, it's going to be messy. Is getting together and having unity messy?

[18:19] Yes, it's messy. It's part of the deal. But that's the thing. You know, when people look at our church, and they see that there's chaos and disunity, they're not going to be attracted to that.

[18:36] They're going to be turned off to that, won't they? Come on, somebody. Talk to me a little bit. But how much more beautiful and more attractive we would be is when we have a body that's united, that serves.

[18:53] Oh, help me help you get that, brother. Let me help you take that water in, sister. Let me grab that for you. Amen. Amen. I'm not speaking about any situation that's in this church. I'm not talking about anything at all.

[19:04] But I'm saying I have seen people go out of their way to help one another. I see Brother Zeke helping. I see Annalisa going out of her way to help. I just see so many people just stepping up and just, we had Cecilia here on Saturday setting up balloons.

[19:21] And that was a beautiful thing, wasn't it? It was gorgeous. Woo! Woo! Come on, give it up for Cecilia. Give it up. Let's go. It was beautiful.

[19:35] I could never do that. I would have like a balloon here and a balloon there. And it would kind of look all weird. You don't want me to do that kind of stuff. Praise God. But I'm, look, this morning, I'm just talking to us.

[19:50] It's important. This is important. And I can scream and I can shout. But I want to be able to look at every single one of you in the eye and tell you that I love you. We love you.

[20:02] And we as a church want to be branded as a church that is in unity. That loves one another. Serves one another. Any, any, there's no place for gossip in this church.

[20:15] There's no place for tearing each other down in this church. Sister Sheila, you may be a dog lover. And a dog, you know, yeah, okay, we'll use that word.

[20:30] And, you know, you may cart your doggy around in a whatever, a buggy or whatever. And that's okay. A stroll. There you go. And that's okay.

[20:41] That's all right. Sister, I'm praying for you and your doggy. That's awesome. Because I love you. But that's okay.

[20:55] Because heaven is real. Hell is real. And people are going to those places. And I don't want to be part of an offense to somebody. Amen.

[21:08] That they can't get over. Amen. I want to be able to love and forgive one another. Amen. Praise God. You know what I love about, you know why I love going into Sunday school so much too?

[21:19] It's because these kids have no idea about anything as far as drama. Okay. In our family, you know, they might pick up on it. But they get in there and they just have a good time.

[21:33] They get in there and they have a great time. And they love just standing by the candy. Yeah. There you go. Can't believe I left it right there.

[21:44] Wow. They conveniently just kind of gathered around it. Oh, we're just coloried. Yeah. Yeah. Here we go. A sneezing fit.

[21:55] Yeah. But just think about it. It's so funny. When we get in there, there's so much unity when there's candy involved.

[22:09] Oh, man. But you know what? They laugh together. They play together. They act stuff out together. And I love it. I love seeing that. You know, I coached baseball for a winter league.

[22:23] And I remember, we can all stand. Let's all stand. I remember, I remember that, you know, we had a losing season.

[22:41] I think we went one and seven. You know. But I remember when I said, okay, you know what? Let's just get back to the basics.

[22:55] Let's just get back to the basics, guys. So I got in front of the team. And I said, guys, I was just real with them. I said, guys, this season is not going very well. It's not going the way I thought it was going to go.

[23:06] Okay. We're one and seven. And I said, you know, the only thing we can do from here on out is just have some fun. Okay. Let's have a good time. And so that, you know, that practice, you know, we didn't go over crazy drills.

[23:21] We didn't run the bases all crazy. We just, you know, I set up games. There was prizes. There was laughs. There was encouragement. There was laughter.

[23:33] It was such a good, good time. I want, I would love us to understand that we are on the winning side.

[23:49] And in the end, we are going to win. Amen. Praise God. And while we are going from here to there, let's have some fun.

[24:03] Let's encourage one another. Let's have some fun in worship. Let's have some fun in prayer. Let's have some fun encouraging one another.

[24:14] Amen. Let's share. Let's share that last slice of pizza. Let's share that last hamburger today. Like if I were to toss all this candy up right now, I know all these kids would run over here.

[24:38] And they would, they would, I'm going to get, that's my candy. Izzy's ready to go. Unity's tough.

[24:57] Sharing is tougher. Because our, our natural inclination is I want to, I want to hoard it all. But what we need to be, what we ought to be is a church that shares and that gives.

[25:13] Amen. Praise God. Anybody want to be that kind of church? Come on.

[25:23] Anybody else want to be that kind of church? Hallelujah. I want to tell, we have a good church. Amen. We have a church. Amen.

[25:34] That loves one another. Like, oh my God. Hallelujah. And what happened this last Sunday is not going to be the end of it. We're going to pick off that momentum and we're going to move forward.

[25:46] Praise God. I just want to challenge us here this morning. If you see a need. Hear me. Kids.

[25:57] Isabella. If you see a need in the church. If you see a need in a family or a need. A fellow sister.

[26:08] A brother. Somebody. If you see a need. I challenge you. Help them with it. Take care of it. Do whatever you got to do to help them.

[26:22] Whatever needs to happen. Call somebody. Text someone. Let them know you're thinking about them. You're praying for them. And that you love them.

[26:33] Amen. That goes a long way. Amen. I can't tell you the time. I've received text messages. And times. I remember I was praying one day.

[26:45] And I was really discouraged. I was having a really hard time with something. And I was praying about this thing. And a couple hours later. I got a text message from a brother. He says, brother, I want you to know.

[26:55] God said it's all under control. He's taking care of it all. Keep trusting him. And keep praying. Hallelujah. And I just said, well, thank you, Lord. Hallelujah.

[27:08] Amen. Praise God. Hey. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we love you today. We thank you, Lord, for your word.

[27:19] We thank you, Lord, for unity. God, I pray you'd help us to be that kind of a church, Lord. A church, Lord, that's united. A church that gives, shares, has everything in common, oh, God.

[27:32] Lord, it's messy. Lord, it's difficult sometimes. But, God, there is such beauty in unity, Lord. So I pray for my brothers and for my sisters, God, that you would help us, Lord, to be a church that's united.

[27:48] A church that's moving in the same direction, God. Hallelujah. We love you. We praise you. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus, we pray.

[28:00] Amen, amen, amen. Praise God. Praise God. So don't miss out on the next family experience. We're going to be announcing it next week.

[28:12] Or soon. We'll be announcing it soon. Don't forget your small groups. And also don't forget your offering. If you have one, you have through the app where we have our offer plate in the back.

[28:23] Amen. God bless every one of you. Love you. Appreciate you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[28:44]