Coming Together in Unity and Harmony

turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter 2 we've been doing this series on the The Dirty Dozen talking about the 12 apostles and I wanted today for Unity Sunday to look at how uh after Christ's Resurrection they came together in unity and the effect that that had on the church and so if you look at Acts chapter 2 and beginning with verse number 37 it says now when they heard that they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and Brethren what shall we do then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is

unto you and to your children to all that are a far off even as many as the Lord Our God shall call and with many other words did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation then they that glad that received his word were baptized in the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly in the apostles Doctrine in fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers the fear Came Upon every soul and Many Wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need and they continued daily with one Accord

break in the temple and breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat with gladness and signals of heart praising God and having favor with all all the people and the Lord added the church daily such as to be saved so God used their Unity as Believers to bless the church and I and that's what's a challenge I want to give to each one of us today we are a very diverse church people from many different backgrounds many different cultures many different uh different personalities and all those things have to come together in unity in Jesus Christ the word the Bible uses here if you look at Acts chapter 2 again verse number one Acts chapter 2 and verse number one it says and when the day

of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one Accord in one place and then I want you to skip down to verse number 46 Acts chapter 2 verse number 46 and they contined daily with one Accord in the temple uh that phrase one Accord is the idea that they were in harmony that they were in Harmony and uh the ible wants us as Christians to be in Harmony in Psalms chap 133 verse number one it says behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity and and the word Pleasant there it means it is the idea of sweetly sounding music and when when when the Brothers and Sisters in Christ are in unity when the church is in unity it it's like a a a beautiful song sung in

harmony now you know what Harmony is is when you sing different parts but all the parts come together to make one song and so we're going to kind of uh illustrate that I'm going to ask the team to come back up at this time and they're going to help me out with this we're going to sing a song that's very familiar to you and uh well we're going to show the song in parts and then put it together in harmony as well in doing that so I'm going to go ahead and have come up here I think we're missing Isaac somebody's got to find Isaac there so um here he comes there he is all right so we're going to sing song Amazing Grace and we're going to do parts now you're going to have to decide which part

you're going to sing with them are you going to sing the melody the soprano part are you going to sing the alto you can sing the tenter tener or you can sing the bass and so we're going to start with the melody line here and so we're going to go ahead and run through that first of all so the words are there and let's go ahead and do that Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved us rich like me I want was lost but now am found was blind but now I see all right I want to remind the fellows of The Sound Room to go to the second line when we sing that as well to go to the next page on that print out on the screen but we're going to go ahead if you're going to sing the melody the soprano line

I want you to sing with her now all right just those that are singing soprano you sing together with her here we go ready Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a rich like me I once was lost but but now am found was blind but now I S all right this next one is the alto line it's the same words but different sound to it so Noel's going to sing the alto Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a WR like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I sing we're going to sing the Alro and if you don't know that's the second set of notes on this on the first line the bottom set of notes and when they go up you go up and they go down you go down it's a simple way to think

about it but just follow along with Noel if you're going to sing the alto go ahead and sing now here we go Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved our rest like me I once was lost but now I found what was blind but now I see next one is tener Isaac amazing gra How Sweet the Sound that Sav the r like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I sing sing Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that save a rich like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see right T was going to the base amazing gra How Sweet the Sound that say gave our Ranch like me I was was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see ladies here's your chance to impress us no if you're going

to sing if you're going to do base let's go ahead and sing it right now here we go ready I made in Grace how sweet the sound that sa our like me I want was lost but now and found was blind but now I see all right now we're going to all stand and we're going to sing this like a great choir so pick one of those lines the soprano Alto tenor or base and do the best you can to stick stick to it and trying to follow these folks as you go and we're going to sing like great choir together so here we go ready amazing gra how sweet that sh the like me I was was lost but see great job you may be seated choir practice is at 4:30 this afternoon all right we do need more choir so come out and join the

choir that'd be a great thing you can see two for more information did you notice here that each part was different but they came together in melody in harmony they came together of one Accord and that's what the word means that we're reading here that they came together with one Accord and created that sweet song of unity now that's not easy I am not musical I I saved all my my musical talent for my son Caleb and he hasn't thanked me for that yet but uh I I I'm not Musical and so when I try to sing Parts if somebody else is singing another part next to me I have trouble not following them I have trouble sticking with what I'm supposed to be doing so it's always easier when you're standing

by if you're singing bass to stand by Basse or singing tener to stand by tener but when it's a mixed group it's really hard to keep to your part but that's what the church is all about God says I want the church which has many parts to come together in harmony now this word ACC chord is used also in Philippians chapter 2 if you'll turn over there with me Philippians chapter 2 and verses 1-5 Philippians chapter 2 and verses 1-5 and Philippians chapter 2 verse one it says that there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any Fellowship of the spirit if any bowels in mercies fulfill you my joy that you be likeminded having the same love being of one Accord of one mind

let nothing be done through Strife or vain Glory but in loneliness of Mind Let each esteem other better than themselves look not every man in his own things but every man also on the things of others let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus now the word one Accord here in verse number two it it's a little different and this word doesn't mean to harmonize it comes from two two Greek words the first word the first part of the word is the word sun which means together and then the second word is where we get our word psych from so what the word means is together with a bunch of psychos all right and and in essence that's what you have to learn how to do because as we come together

we're so diverse we're so different sometimes it feels like we're just a bunch of cyclos trying to work out our relationships with each other and some times it's our differences that can cause problems in Acts chapter 6 you'll remember that uh there was uh the church was new and and uh they were having uh dinners to feed those who had been kicked out of their home and everything and and and some of the Greek Jews got upset because they felt like they weren't being treated the same as the local Jews and and they were uh getting the leftovers and there was a lot of conflict going on and that's when they chose their first deacons to serve the church and and when you get get down to verse number

7 of Acts chapter uh 6 and verse number 7 the bible says this it it says and he and the word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith see when they were able to work out their differences and instead of having conflict to have Harmony that's when the church grew and if God is going to bless Ohana Baptist Church he will bless us as we learn how to work together and and and be together in harmony with a bunch of psychos because all of us we carry psychological baggage with us look at Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 and beginning with verse number 16 Romans chap 12 and beginning with verse

number 16 it says be of the same mind one toward another mind not high things but condescend to Men of low estate be not wise in your own conceits recompense no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men if it be possible as much as lith in you live peacefully with all men see God understood that sometimes it's difficult to get along with others because they're so different than we are and sometimes it's difficult to harmonize with others around us because what they're doing affects what we're doing and and sometimes we bring our psychological baggage in the church there are people here today that are dealing with bad EV vals at work and they're they're struggling with

their work situation there are others that are dealing with marriage problems then maybe there's some that are going through depression or or possibly they're dealing with pain on a daily basis and or uh family issues or financial problems and all of those things are things we don't leave at home when we come to church but we bring to church and it affects our relationship with each other and so our challenge as a church is despite the diversity of our backgrounds and diversities of of our psychological nature so to speak and our our personalities and all those other things to come together in unity and to bring that Unity into the church to be in harmony it's to be in harmony even in

division as I said in Acts chapter 6 there was some division going on the church even early on uh one side against another side and and that happens so often today it's not so much who gets which food but today it's about uh it can be division over music and music Styles it can be divisions over worship Styles it can be divisions over personalities and and that brings disharmony into the church and God wants us to find a way to reconcile it we got uh different backgrounds and different people and different tastes that we have and and understanding that we want to bring those together in unity in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 turn over there if you would 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse number

one 1 Corinthians 133 and verse number one the Bible says though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity and become a sounding brass or his tinkling symbol you see our song of Love Is just a song of noise without the love of God in Psalms 100 verse number one it says Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord and we need to understand that the song that we sing in harmony when we come together in harmony it needs to be the song of love to to Unconditionally Love One Another with the same love that God has loved us with you see here the attributes of love in verse number 4 through eight says charity or love suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not charity vaunteth not

itself is not puffed up does not behave itself unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoices not iniquity but rejoice in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things charity never fails and so we need to realize that these are the attributes of love that we need to bring in harmony with one another because without the love there is no Harmony without the love we're just a bunch of noise and and we need to have that love of God in John chap 13: 34 and 35 it says a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another by this shall all men know that you are my

disciples if you have love one towards another you see God loved us with an unconditional love God loved us with a sacrificial giving love and and that's the kind of love that that brings Harmony within a church and that's the kind of love that we need to practice towards one another and sometimes it's hard because you've got you're trying to do your part and this person over is doing a different part and and sometimes there's a it's hard to balance those together and sometimes you got these people bringing all their psychological problems into the relationship and you you got to deal with that but God says in all all of that I want you to come together in love and in harmony we also need to

harmonize our gifts look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and look at verses 12-4 1 Corinthians 12 12-4 for the body is one and as many members and all members that one body being many are one body so also is Christ for by one Spirit you are are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether be Bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit for the body is not one member but many see God wants us to come together as one body uh practicing our gifts every one of you has a different gift of God you have the that the personality you were born with you have the natural abilities and talents that came as part of your DNA but the Bible also teaches that when you got

saved God gave you a gift or gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians CH 12 and look at verse number four it says now there are diversities of gifts with the same spirit in 1 Peter 4:10 and 11 it says as every man hath received the gift even so Minister same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God if any man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man Minister let him do his ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ to be praised and Dominion forever and ever amen you see when you got saved the today you asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart and life the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you at that very moment God

also gave you a gift or Gifts of spirit and he gave you those gifts to use to bring Harmony in the church to use uh serving together with the other gifts there there as well and so all of us have different gifts it might be the gift of giving it might be the gift of serving it might be the gift of teaching uh there's a whole list of gifts that you might have and then the Bible also says in 1 Corinthians CH 12 and verse number uh look at verse number five and there are differences of administration but the same Lord and so we have different administrations of our gifts go over to hold your place in 1 Corinthians go to Romans chap 12 Romans 12 and look at verses 4-8 Romans 12 verse number four

for as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy let's prophesy according to proportion of Faith or Ministry and it goes on from there but see God has given us our gifts but he's given different Grace of that gift what that means the administration or the grace of the gift is there's different places of serving there's places where the ministry needs to serve there's places where the giver needs to serve and and so there's different positions or places that you can use that gift in the service of

the Lord and then finally in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and and verse verse number n verse number um I'm sorry verse number six it says there are diversities of attempt operations but is the same God which worketh all in all the word operations comes from the same word where we get our word energy from if if you go down to the store uh to buy a a refrigerator or an appliance you'll see on there this big yellow sticker and the sticker tells you the energy efficient of that Appliance in other words it says for this much power it will do this much work and was more in efficient more energy efficient it uses less power to accomplish more and and that's the idea of this word energy in other words

you can have two people with the same gift but sometimes God will give one a little bit more than the other you can have two people that are very talented musically but one is better than the other and and it's not because of them it's because of what God gave them and so we have differences of operations in Ephesians 4: 7 and 8 it says but onto everyone is given Grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ wherefore he sayith when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto the men and so we all have gifts we all have a measure an amount or ability in that gift that God has given us and then God also has a place for you use that gift in your local church every

one of you should be using your gift or GI gifts to serve at Ohana Baptist Church that's how we have Harmony that's how we come to work together in harmony in First Peter chapter 4 again it says as every man have to receive the gift even so the ministers same one to another and you need to be ministering your gifts in the service of the Lord here at Ohana Baptist Church to do what God has called you to do and I would challenge you if you don't know what your gifts are find out the Bible says do not be ignorant of our spiritual gifts in first Corinthians chapter 12 and many Christians not only don't know what their gift is but they don't even know what the gifts of the Spirit are and and I would challenge you I did a series of lessons on it that we recorded online on video and it's available at oh.

church slgs so if you want to do a study to determine what is my gift or gifts of the Spirit go to oh. church slgs and download those videos and watch them and so you can learn what your gifts are but also we need to be using those gifts if I were to walk up to you right now and say what are you doing with your gift to serve the Lord that's what needs to happen in order for God to continue to bless in a church we have many different gifts A diversity of gifts but we've got to bring them together in unity serving the lord but we also need harmony not only in in our lives as Christians but we also need harmony in the prayer and in the word go back to Acts chapter 2 Acts chapter 2 and look at

verse number 42 it says Acts chapter 2:42 it says and they continued steadfastly in the apostles Doctrine and in fellowship and in Breaking of bread and in prayers you know we need to pray uh to one another uh with one another in Acts chapter 1 and verses 13 and 14 the first thing the disciples did right after Christ rose from the dead it says in verse 13 and they were when they were come in they went up into an upper room where Abode both Peter and James and John and Andrew and Phillip and Thomas Bartholomew Matthew James the son of alphus and Simon uh zel zelot and Judas the brother of James these all continued one Accord in prayer and supplication with the wom and Mary the mother of Jesus

with his Brethren see what God blessed them because they were in Harmony in prayer they were coming together in prayer and supplication in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6 the Bible says be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God you need to be praying for one another and if you're not praying for one another then we're not going to have Harmony we need to have a church full of people who pray I I'm thankful every Sunday morning uh before Sunday school we have a group of folks that go down to the room by the nursery and they pray for that service there are people that gather on Saturday to pray together

there are people gather during the week and I'll tell you what I I will know that God will bless this church when I hear of church members who gather to pray for one another uh it's so important that we are praying uh we need to be praying Spirit-filled praise look at look at acts chap 2 veres 1 and 2 and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one Accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven of as a rushing Mighty Wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting you see they they were filled with the spirit and and they were praying in the spirit in Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5 and verses 8 19- 20 Ephesians chapter 5 I'm sorry verses

18- 21 it says and be not drunk with wine where is in excess but be filled with the spirit speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God and the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God you see when we are praying for one another when we are calling upon God in prayer and supplication that brings a Unity that that changes you know folks I I have a Prayer app that I do and and when I go through that Prayer app and I pray for you it changes my attitude towards you it changes my relationship with you it is such a blessing to

to see people on Sunday and to be look them in the eyes say I prayed for you this week and and if we want to see Harmony then we need to learn to pray for one another the Bible says in Matthew 18:19 to 20 again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on Earth touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them and if we could have more than just two or three or four or six if we could have a whole church full of people who will gather in prayer who will spend time every day praying for one another who will find time during the week to gather with uh other

people that work near them or other people that live near them and to have a prayer time if we can be a church of prayer we can be a Church of God's blessings and we need to be a church of prayer and we also need to be in harmony with God's word many of you are familiar with Acts chapter 17 and verse number 11 it's our church theme verse and the these were more noble than those in thessalonica and that they received the word with all Readiness of mind and search the Scriptures Daily with those things were so and then verse 12 says there therefore many of them believed also of honorable women which were Greeks and of uh men not a few because they were in the word of God people were getting

saved and folks if we want to see God's blessings we've got to be people of the word you've got to be people that are taking what you're hearing in church and not just leaving it here when you walk out the door you've got to be people that are taking the word of God home with you and you're opening your Bible and you're reading it for yourself and you're applying it in your life and that's where God is going to bless and so we need to be people of prayer we need to be a people of of the word of God that's how God is going to bless us and then we also need to have Harmony in Praise turn to Acts chapter 2 again Acts chapter 2 and look at verse number 47 Acts chapter 2 and verse number 47

praising God and having favor with all the people in the Lord out of the church daily such as to be saved go to acts chap 4 and verse number 24 acts 4 and verse number 24 and when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one Accord and said Lord thou artart God which H has made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and all that in them is you see when they begin praising God that's when God was blessing the church and and we need to be a church that is a church of prayer we need to be a church in the word we be a church of Harmony but we also need to be a church of Praise we need to praise the lord it's interesting in verse 24 how they praised God they talked about the Heaven and the

earth and the sea that is all that is in them so I want us to sing a song at this time so if I can hand hand to come to the piano it's a song that many of are familiar with How Great Thou Art if we can put the words on the screen here fellas and we're going to go ahead and sing that so let's goe and stand again and think about the words and don't just think about the words as they come out of your mouth sing them not to one another but sing them to God In Praise oh Lord my God I in awesome Wonder consider all the th hands and I see the I the UN my soul my Savor God to me how great how great th my soul my God to I'll bring the thank you may be seated think about those words folks if we're a

church that comes together every Sunday and doesn't just sing song songs but sings praises to the Lord if we're a church that throughout the week everyone spends time in worship and song to the Lord listening to Christian music singing Christian music praising God and his son Jesus Christ you see if we want Harmony we've got to have the harmony of Praise in Hebrews 13:15 it says by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name not just on Sunday morning not just before the message but we need to be lifting up praise to God all week long we need to come together in praise and one of things that we need to praise

God for is his great gift of Salvation on Wednesday night we're doing a Bible study we're talking about how great a Salvation that we have it it is so much we can learn about salvation Sal salvation is so simple that even a child can get saved and yet salvation is so amazing and complicated to take a lifetime to truly understand the love of God and giving his son for us Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse number 15 thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift I'm so thankful for God's Gift of salvation for that God has given me his son for God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son that if you would believe in him you would not perish but have everlasting life the wonderful

gift of Salvation and we need to praise God for our Salvation in Psalms chapter 95: 1 and two it says oh come let us sing unto the Lord Let's Make a Joyful Noise to the rock of our Salvation let us come before his presence with things giving and Make a Joyful Noise unto him with Psalms I wonder can you today thank God for your salvation can you thank God that your sins are forgiven and that you have eternal life can you give praise to his name for what he did for you in 1 John 5: 12 and 13 it says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God ha not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal

life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God see salvation is believing on the name of Jesus Christ and him alone and our original page in Acts chapter 2 it talked about how that they believed and were baptized I'm thankful they took that step of obedience of baptism but if they'd never been baptized they'd still go to heaven because heaven is not based upon your religion it's not based upon your rituals like baptism or catechism it's not based upon your righteousness but it's not by works of righteousness which we had done but ACC Court his Mercy has saved us in Ephesians 28:9 it says for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of

works that say man should boast can you thank God for his gift of Salvation to you can you thank God that you know your sins are forgiven you're going to heaven there's another Little Chorus that we sing at times it's called Thank You Lord and I want us to sing that right now just a simple Little Chorus but as we sing those words let me ask you a question can you truly sing them honestly from your heart thank you Lord for saving my soul you can remain seated As we sing this song together thank you Lord for my soul than you Lord foring me thank you Lord foring to by great salv so great and free song we have SC another great song but not the same one so let's sing that one again without you

can take the words off fellas to sing this that thank you Lord again thank you Lord for my soul thank you Lord for making me home than you Lord foring to me my gra salvation so I want to end with going back to Acts chapter 2 and look at verse number 47 Acts chapter 2 and verse 47 it says praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added the church daily such to be saved then go to Acts chapter 6 and look at verse number seven Acts chapter 6 and verse number 7 the word of God was increased and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly the great company of the priests we're obedient to the faith if we want those kind of blessings at Ohana Baptist Church then we

need to have Harmony we've got people singing different parts but we can all come together and create sweet music to the Lord we have to have Harmony despite the different psychological and spiritual problems we bring into the the church we need to love one another reaching out to one another encouraging one another and we need to pray for one another if we're a church that prays and we're a church that spends time in the word and we're a church that worships God then we're going to be a church that God is going to bless and he will take our diversity all of our different is and bring them together in harmony