Sister Teri Sunday School 6/14/15
Living our lives, Coram Deo, before God: in the presence of
God, for the glory of God, and under the authority of God.
Because God works so much good in adversity we will face a
lot of it. We want to go through it
right. One way we do this is by the Body
working together, carrying the burden one for another. God designed we work as a Body. It is good to recruit others to pray with us
on the difficulties that we face.
We have seen this work effectively in the past. There have been very miraculous answers to
prayer. God desires that we operate in
this way.
2Co 1:9
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust
in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and
doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
2Co 1:11
Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons
thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
When we go through something and one on one He answers
prayer, then we better thank Him. When
we work together and He answers prayer then all of our thanks goes up, thanks
from all of us. We have a testimony
together on how God answered our prayers.
One translation of this scripture is: “You are helping us by
praying for us. Then many people will
give thanks because God has so graciously answered prayer.”
Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you,
That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall
ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:20 For where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
We see here that God desires that we operate in unity that
way. God honors group prayer with
powerful intervention. God desires that
we operate in a collective and united way.
The enemy fights unity.
He knows the strength that unity produces. He has been successful in sowing division
everywhere. Where people are not working
together and are divided, the effectiveness of whatever they do is reduced.
We want to recognize the way the enemy works and resist
him. We need to stand against every mark
of the enemy that we see.
Ecc 4:9
Two are better than one; because
they have a good reward for their labour.
Ecc 4:10
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
Ecc 4:11
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm
alone?
Ecc 4:12
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold
cord is not quickly broken.
You can see all through this the benefits of two or more
working together. I have been trying to
set my garden up with timers so we can be gone.
I have been trying to do it alone and it was hard. We worked Saturday together and it went well
and is now done.
Spiritually when we get off in a way and don’t have
understanding, the other can help us.
When the Spirit of God moves on one and there is a testimony given, it
inspires and inflames us. There is a
heat produced.
A bundle of sticks, Aesop’s Fables:
A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling
among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he
determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and
for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks.
When they had done so, he placed the bundle into the hands of
each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried
with all their strength, and were not able to do it.
He next opened the bundle, took the sticks separately, one by
one, and again put them into his sons' hands, upon which they broke them
easily.
He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you
are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this bundle,
uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among
yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."
Union gives strength.
Eph 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
will,
Eph 1:6
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are
on earth; even in him:
It is not enough that we be redeemed and forgiven. He wants us gathered together, united. It is not all about me and my forgiveness, He
wants us to be working together.
Once a man had a dream in which his hands and feet
and mouth and brain all began to rebel against his stomach.
"You good-for-nothing sluggard!" the hands
said. "We work all day long, sawing and hammering and lifting and
carrying. By evening we're covered with blisters and scratches, and our joints
ache, and we're covered with dirt. And meanwhile you just sit there, hogging
all the food."
"We agree!" cried the feet. "Think how
sore we get, walking back and forth all day long. And you just stuff yourself
full, you greedy pig, so that you're that much heavier to carry about."
"That's right!" whined the mouth.
"Where do you think all that food you love comes from? I'm the one who has
to chew it all up, and as soon as I'm finished you suck it all down for
yourself. Do you call that fair?"
"And what about me?" called the brain.
"Do you think it's easy being up here, having to think about where your
next meal is going to come from? And yet I get nothing at all for my
pains."
And one by one the parts of the body joined the
complaint against the stomach, which didn't say anything at all.
"I have an idea," the brain finally
announced. "Let's all rebel against the lazy belly, and stop working for
it." "Superb idea!" all the other members and organs agreed.
"We'll teach you how important we are, you pig. Then maybe you'll do a
little work of your own."
So they all stopped working. The hands refused to do
lifting and carrying. The feet refused to walk. The mouth promised not to chew
or swallow a single bite. And the brain swore it wouldn't come up with any more
bright ideas.
At first the stomach growled a bit, as it always did
when it was hungry. But after a while it was quiet. Then, to the dreaming man's
surprise, he found he could not walk. He could not grasp anything in his hand.
He could not even open his mouth. And he suddenly began to feel rather ill.
The dream seemed to go on for several days. As each
day passed, the man felt worse and worse. "This rebellion had better not
last much longer," he thought to himself, "or I'll starve."
Meanwhile, the hands and feet and mouth and brain
just lay there, getting weaker and weaker. At first they roused themselves just
enough to taunt the stomach every once in a while, but before long they didn't
even have the energy for that.
Finally the man heart a faint voice coming from the
direction of his feet. "It could be that we were wrong," they were
saying. "We suppose the stomach might have been working in his own way all
along."
"I was just thinking the same thing," murmured
the brain. "It's true that he's been getting all the food. But it seems
he's been sending most of it right back to us."
"We might as well admit our error," the
mouth said. "The stomach has just as much work to do as the hands and feet
and brain and teeth."
"Then let's get back to work," they cried
together. And at that the man woke up. To his relief, he discovered his feet
could walk again. His hands could grasp, his mouth could chew, and his brain
could now think clearly.
He began to feel much better. "Well, there's a
lesson for me," he thought as he filled his stomach at breakfast.
"Either we all work together, or nothing works at all."
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into
one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free;
and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the
hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not
the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were
an eye, where were the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of
them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
1Co 12:20 But now are they
many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have
no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
1Co 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body,
which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
1Co 12:23 And those members
of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more
abundant honour; and our uncomely parts
have more abundant comeliness.
1Co 12:24 For our comely parts
have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honour to that part which
lacked:
1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body;
but that the members should have the same
care one for another.
1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the
members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with
it.
1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in
particular.
One would say, “I am not of as much importance as this
other.” That is not true. We all need one another. Sometimes those parts that we don’t see
laboring are busy working in a way that we don’t see and they are a
benefit. The stomach was working in a
way that was not seen by the other members.
Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Eph 4:2
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love;
Eph 4:3
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:4
There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6
One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.
Eph 4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ:
He gave these gifts, responsibilities, members for His
purpose and for the good of the body as a whole. The purpose is that we be more like
Christ. He wants us steady and
stable. That is the purpose of the Body
working together.
Eph 4:14
That we henceforth be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that
which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure
of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
We see love mentioned all through this reading. That is what unifies and holds us
together. It is a part of that bond of
peace. The enemy will fight our love.
The perfect man is Christ.
Love motivated Christ in all that He did. That needs to be what motivates us.
Col 3:12
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a
quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14
And above all these things put on
charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
We are going to sometimes hurt each other, not
premeditatedly, but inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts. If we are going to maintain that unity we need
to forgive and long suffer. We need to
communicate. Communication on an issue
will help things to not work and fester.
We want to work to maintain that love and affection one for
another. Charity is the bond of
perfectness.
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
This is not a natural love.
It is the love of God imparted to us by the Holy Ghost. If we are having trouble loving, then we are
probably trying to do it on our own with our own natural love. We need God to give us His love by His Spirit
toward that person.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be
one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which
thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
It is God in us that will help us to display the love of
God. This is how people will see that
God loves them when they see the love of God working through us and in us. God desires that we all be one.
The United States remains home to more Christians than any
other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly
seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.1 But the major new
survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the
percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians
has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4%
in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the
same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated –
describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has
jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans
who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2
percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially
great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.
Religious intermarriage also appears to be on the rise: Among
Americans who have gotten married since 2010, nearly four-in-ten (39%) report
that they are in religiously mixed marriages, compared with 19% among those who
got married before 1960.3 The rise in
intermarriage appears to be linked with the growth of the religiously
unaffiliated population. Nearly one-in-five people surveyed who got married
since 2010 are either religiously unaffiliated respondents who married a
Christian spouse or Christians who married an unaffiliated spouse. By contrast,
just 5% of people who got married before 1960 fit this profile.
While many U.S. religious groups are aging, the unaffiliated
are comparatively young – and getting younger, on average, over time. As
a rising cohort of highly unaffiliated Millennials reaches adulthood, the
median age of unaffiliated adults has dropped to 36, down from 38 in 2007 and
far lower than the general (adult) population’s median age of 46.
A divided home will cause confusion in the children. We need to be united in our marriage. To willingly go into a relationship of
marriage in a divided situation will cause its issues.
Could it be that the problem is that people are selfish in
our generation. There is a lack of
love. They love themselves. They don’t want to commit to work together
and all the interactions that open themselves up to hurt. It is a protective measure. It is a love of self more than the purposes
of God.
They are unwilling to sacrifice themselves for others unless
there is something in it for themselves.
We see this in all aspects of life.
Marriages don’t last. Mothers and
dads abandon their children. It is love
of self more than love of others.
Social and cultural organizations are losing their
influence. It is everywhere and will
work in us. When something happens and the
enemy causes us to pull back into that self-protective mode, we need to see it
as a mark of the working of the enemy.
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the
law of Christ.
The law of Christ is to love your neighbor as yourself. We need to work together and carry the burden
one for another and for the adversity that we go through. We can only do this with the bond of
love.
I encourage you to study the book, “The Greatest Thing in
the World: Walking in Love,” by Henry Drummond.
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