S1: "How to be unified", Psalm 133 - a podcast by Malcolm Cox

• "What is and is not unity?”


• yahad: together, along with, in close proximity or concord either in space or time; by extension: close association in relationships, unity.

• Jesus: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22 NIV11)
  


• Jesus used the word "one", more than the word unity

• Unity tested by proximity
  • If no testing, maybe not proximate enough!
  
  
  

• Oil - Psalm 23
  
  
  • Perfume
  
  
  • Visage
  
  
  • Anointing as an honouring
  
  
  • Hospitality. Love spreads.
  
  
  
  
  

• 
  Hermon - 2,814m; snow all year; drenching; dew - soaking


• Supply what one another need: Acts 2:45, 4:35
  


• Church is not an institution with functions, but a family with relationships. 

• The goal is expressing godly love - Eph 4.1-6; 14-16; 25-32
  


• The means is communication

• Conversations


• Regular


• Initiate

• No hiding

• Gently

• “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7 NIV11)


• ““Do not judge, or you too will be judged.For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1–2)


• The goal, again, is experiencing God’s love


• The means is trust and respect

• Remembering we are not superior


• Trusting each other’s motives


• People who do not trust others display a lack of trust in the Spirit, since all of us are just as Spirit-filled as each other


• Mercy is cheerful : “if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” (Romans 12:8 NIV11)

• “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16–18 NIV11)


• Practical help for one another


• “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:15–17 NIV11)
  

• A loving truth and mercy are essential for harmony among a community.


• See Jesus - “full of grace and truth”, Jn 1.14
  

• Question for breakout rooms: “How harmonised are we? Are we doing life together?”

• Jesus always in harmony with the Father and of the Spirit


• Jesus lived truth in love


• Jesus lived mercy and grace


• The cross brought and brings us unity with God and one another

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