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  THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF UNITY
  by Carter Conlon
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of unity in Christ as
demonstrated through communion, highlighting the power of faith, prayer,
and reconciliation. It delves into the future worship service described
in Revelation, showcasing a diverse multitude praising God for
salvation. The message stresses the need for unity in the Church, the
manifestation of God's power through unity, and the significance of the
Holy Spirit in enabling communication and reconciliation among different
cultures and languages.

Topics: "Unity in Christ", "Power of Communion"
Scripture References: Revelation 7:9, Psalms 133:1, Acts 2:1, Matthew 24:7, Hebrews 10:24, 1 Corinthians 12:12, John 17:20, Ephesians 4:3, Colossians 3:14, Acts 1:14

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of unity in Christ as demonstrated
through communion, highlighting the power of faith, prayer, and
reconciliation. It delves into the future worship service described in
Revelation, showcasing a diverse multitude praising God for salvation.
The message stresses the need for unity in the Church, the manifestation
of God's power through unity, and the significance of the Holy Spirit in
enabling communication and reconciliation among different cultures and
languages.

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CONTENT
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Go to communion tonight in just a little while. So at home if you want
to take a moment to get some Some bread or crackers and some juice too
so you can join with us. That would be Wonderfully appreciated and I
think it's just an awesome thing that that we can have communion
together on Tuesday nights and even Sunday in the city in Times Square
Church because it is a symbol in a sense of our unity and our strength
in Christ as the body of Christ and It's just an awesome reminder that
we have a hope and we have a future and we have strength to get there
Provided for you and for me by the victory of Jesus Christ on that cross
2,000 years ago.

So thank God for that victory with all my heart I want to share tonight
some thoughts on faith and prayer before we go to communion If you
wouldn't mind just praying with me at this moment so father Thank you
God for the anointing of your Holy Spirit Thank you for the strength and
the power that only comes from your hand Thank you Lord for one more
time taking this frail vessel and letting your grace and your word be
spoken through me God Almighty may I always do justice to your word and
never violence to it I pray God that you would empower me to speak on
your behalf that you would speak through me Lord that you would unlock
prisons and give sight and strength and hope and heart and do things
Lord Among your people and those that are listening tonight that can
only be done by the Spirit of God Father, thank you that you've not
brought us into a kingdom that has to go forward by human effort We move
by faith in your victory Help us to lay hold of that again tonight Help
us to desire Lord to do things your way and to live the way that you
want us to live We thank you for it in Jesus name Amen, I I want to I
want to build on the theme that pastor Tim Delina our senior pastor at
Times Square Church spoke on Last Sunday morning, and if you didn't hear
that message yet, please go online and listen to it a powerful powerful
message about this incredible reconciliation that is Achievable through
Jesus Christ and will culminate one day at the throne of God in this
most incredible and explosive Worship service where people of all
cultures and races and backgrounds are gathered together Completely
reconciled in the sight of Almighty God not not just reconciled there
But there the expression of that reconciliation is finally realized at
the throne of God Because they made the choice to be reconciled on this
side of eternity by the power of God they chose to believe that God
could bring together what man would try to divide and The Lord in his
strength took down the walls took down all of the bitternesses The
unforgiveness everything that gets a hold of the human heart that causes
division among races among cultures among clans among friends even as
Michelle Tong prayed tonight even friends are at Against one another
even because of the difficulties we're experiencing and maybe some
personal things They have gone through as well, but I want to bring you
into the future the Apostle John the book of Revelation, which is the
last book of the New Testament Bible and He saw in the future a worship
service that hasn't happened yet. Isn't that amazing? It's going to
happen, but he saw it in advance God gave him the vision of it and In
Revelation chapter 7 in verse 9, so I'm going to build on the verse that
pastor Tim used on Sunday morning He said after these things I looked
and behold a great multitude Which no one could number so let's stop
right there He saw a literal sea of people before him. No one could
number this is all these are a lot of people No one can number them.

I mean think about this for a moment There's nobody there capable other
than God Maybe you're capable of actually counting the numbers of people
who are now gathered at the throne of God These people are from all
nations all tribes all Peoples and tongues and languages so they're from
all over the world as we prayed tonight. There's there's people from
Warsaw Poland there There's people from Nairobi Kenya there. There's
people from the Congo there.

There's people from France there there's people from all over the world
of All tribes people's tongues standing before the throne of God and
before the Lamb who is Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who died for our
sins, they're clothed with white robes and they have palm branches in
their hands and Crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to
our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb In other words, we we
didn't save ourselves They know that when they get there say God this
salvation that we have now We've now understand the fullness of it.
We've experienced it on earth But now we stand at the throne of God and
we recognize what you did on the cross We recognize that we couldn't
save ourselves No amount of human effort could have broken down the
walls between us No amount of human effort could have ever brought all
kindreds tribes tongues and peoples of the world together in one place
Only you could have done that. So the salvation we experienced belongs
to you.

Oh God That's what they're crying out who sits on the throne and unto
the Lamb. It's it's really a simple worship service It's it's a type of
the people In church today who could say God I didn't get to where I am
through my own strength I didn't become the person that I'm I have
become and am becoming through my own strength I have believed in your
victory and I believed in your promises and and you have taken me from
where I used to be and you have you have brought me to where I am today
and you're Leading me to what you're going to make me into tomorrow
because this salvation belongs to you It's yours and it was your choice
by grace to give it to me to give it to us and you broke down that Wall
of partition that was between you and I when you died on that cross Lord
Jesus Christ you forgave my sin and I found myself in a place where I
was back in relationship with God and automatically Once I'm in
relationship with God, I am now by the power of God Inside of my life
able to reconcile With every one of my brothers and sisters of every
race and every culture and every tribe and every language in every
country in every place We become one body in Christ These middle walls
of partition are suddenly broken down and there is a love that comes
into our heart one for another that's Supernatural only God could put it
there. Jesus Christ himself said it's by this All men will know that you
are my disciples in other words that you belong to me all men will know
What is the sign that you have love? One for another this love is not
something the world can produce.

It's not just a mutual tolerance It goes way beyond that you'll see that
in just a moment when we get in to other parts in the New Testament Now
in this worship service in the future suddenly all the angels all the
angels now We have a number of people that no one can number It's it's
an absolute ocean of people may I put it that way now all of a sudden
all the angels I don't know how many that is, but I suspect it's quite a
lot Stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures
and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God saying
Amen, amen blessing and glory and Wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
power and might be to our God Forever and ever, you know the writer of
the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament said This love that God
has For humankind created in his image is a mystery that the angels
desire to look into This is the way I read it. Maybe it's just my mind,
but they're In heaven, there's this perfection. They see the glory of
God and they look at that this incredible Despicable really fallen
condition of humankind and they wonder why is the focus and the heart of
God? Towards men and women created in his image and they too suddenly
will one day Understand this salvation understand this grace and
understand this mercy Their innermost being they begin to shout Oh God
the blessing that you gave these unmerited favor that you gave to your
own Fallen creation men and women created in your image and glory and
all wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might Be to our God
forever and ever, you know, the one thing About this worship service
that really strikes me as nobody is asking for anything Everything has
been completed Everyone is just giving thanks.

Everyone is making this incredible declaration of how Good, how
wonderful how kind how wise how merciful how incredible God is Oh I'm
looking forward to being there and if you know Jesus Christ as your
Savior and are willing to walk in the truth As it shines on your path
You'll be there too as well you and I'll be there and we'll be in this
in this multitude at the throne of God That are just worshiping him in a
way that maybe we can only touch the edges of it here in this side of
eternity This is the most racially and culturally inclusive place that
ever will be Every tongue every tribe every culture every language Every
country every place Nothing is left to be done. And all we can do is
thank Jesus for all he has done for us and it is true That unity both
brings this about and is the result of this apprehended power of God the
power of God May I put it this way is Manifested through unity the Bible
declares. That's why the devil fights so hard to break us apart That's
why there's every power of hell that exists would try to divide Every
language and every tongue and every race and every culture even inside
of the house of God for the devil himself knows That there's no power
when disunity is at the core of humankind or he's able to separate those
created in the image of God from The way and the life of God when
there's a disunity there even you know it yourself When children don't
Honor their parents.

There's disunity and there's a break up in the home when husbands don't
honor their wives and wives Don't honor their husbands or respect their
husbands Then there's an automatic disunity and what's supposed to give
strength to everyone around it suddenly becomes a conduit I'm gonna put
it that way of weakness in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms Psalm
133 speaking about unity David the King said behold how good and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity now you and I if
you're looking At the news you see how unpleasant and not good it is
when brethren refuse or won't dwell together in unity But when we choose
unity and I've often said it over the years as I've stood in pulpits in
many places That unity is a choice. It's not a feeling it becomes a
feeling I guess eventually but initially it's a choice we choose to be
unified because God said we should and because it's the right thing to
do as believers in Jesus Christ we choose the path of unity one with
another because it's the way God says we should live and We know that is
the pathway to both receiving and releasing the power of God David said
it's like the precious oil upon the head Running down to the beard the
beard of Aaron running down to the edge of his garments There's an
anointing that comes with unity there's a power that's released in unity
There's there's something of God that isn't found anywhere else. It's
not it's it's not found exclusively in doctrine It's not found in how
wonderful our worship might be even if it is wonderful It's not found in
the eloquence of the preacher It's found in the unity of the people that
we've made the choice We've come to the cross together and we say God I
as you chose to love me When I hated you you chose to love me and you
opened my heart to your love So now I make a choice to love my my
brother my sister I make a choice to love people that may be culturally
I have nothing in common with but I do now Because I'm we're at the
cross together and one day we're gonna be at the throne together one day
We're gonna be shouting out Oh God salvation belongs to you one day
We're going to be worshiping with the angels and created beings in
heaven and God none of us want to be there Having lived a deficient walk
with you and so much was available to us We don't want to live on the
outer edges or outside of what a relationship with you and your church
should be like There's an anointing and not just on the head, but it
comes right down to the the bottom of the garments In other words
everywhere we we go everything we do everything we touch including our
own homes our own marriages You know you wonder sometimes is is the
turmoil in the home because we've refused to reconcile with one another
in the church You can't be in unity in one place and disunity in the
other.

It just doesn't work that way It's like the dew of Hermon. It's
descending upon the mountains of Zion It's there the Lord commanded the
blessing life forevermore. There is a there's a watering.

There's a Unity brings about a presence of God that allows people around
it to grow There's a blessing of life that is commanded now if you're
wondering if there's an illustration of this of course the most classic
of all Illustrations is the upper room in Acts chapter 2 where people
120 different people just decided to get together the Bible says they
were In one accord and in one place there had to be a forgiveness there
Peter the fisherman was there for example and Matthew the tax collector
was there Matthew would have been considered a betrayer of the Jewish
culture Somebody who kind of shifted off into the Gentile world and
started extorting and taxing his Jewish brothers For the sake of
building an empire that's outside of the kingdom of God I mean it
doesn't get any worse than that there would have been a livid hatred
between these two men or they Could have could have gotten violent even
but yet in Christ We see that these men are in that room and they're in
one accord and they're in one place They had chosen they've made a
choice to walk together in unity Each had seen his own folly I'm sure
Peter had seen his and Matthew had seen his and I think there might have
been something in the hearts of these men that said God if if you've
forgiven me Peter Of course, you know cursed with an oath and denied
that he ever knew Christ Matthew would have realized how much he'd
betrayed his own culture by the things that he had done and the
allegiances he'd made with an invading power really is what it was what
Rome was and so Every man knowing the plague of his own heart and I put
it that way would say God you chose to forgive me So, how can I bear a
grievance against somebody else? That's a question I think that many
people in the house of God need to ask themselves right now In the light
of what's going on in our culture all around us Having forgiven me so
great a debt Lord Do I really have the right to hold a grievance against
my brother or sister in Christ? Are we not commanded to love one another
as you have loved us and Are we willing to live outside of the power of
God and just be relegated to just a religious argument? That's all we
become there's really no power in us But in that place of unity and
being in one accord the scripture says suddenly there came the sound
From heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting Suddenly God says I have found a people through
whom my power Can be made known to this generation because they've made
the choice to be together in one accord and in one place What a great
opportunity God has given the church in this generation I want you to
think it through my brother my sister. These people were no different
than we are They just made choices that maybe we haven't fully made yet.
They said we're going to forgive we're gonna walk together in unity
We're gonna get together.

We're gonna begin to pray and we're gonna trust God for the
manifestation of his power because the salvation is his The kingdom
belongs to him the way forward is his way forward. We don't have the
right to dictate to God He's given us the pathway that we're called to
walk in and when God finds the people like that Which he needs to find
again in this generation. You understand that and so do I this
generation is falling apart This generation is fragmenting at the seams
We're what we're seeing is Matthew chapter 24 when when the Bible says
nation shall rise against nation The word in the Greek is ethnos.

It means ethnic culture will rise against ethnic culture It will be the
sign of the last days the only real unity the only true unity the only
unity that can Transcend or get through this gauntlet of division and
anger is that which is found in Christ in his church We have this
incredible Opportunity given to us now to be the body of Christ and to
be an example to the world of what God is able to Do we need another
baptism of the Holy Spirit? We do we do the whole church world needs
this I need it. You need it. We need it corporately We need together.

We need these walls to come down. We need the grievances to melt into
the earth as it is We need to become one in Christ again we need to
actually have a foretaste of what it's going to be like and When we end
up at the throne of God one day with multitudes that are too great to
even number of all kindreds tongues tribes and nations There appeared to
them divided tongues as a fire and sat upon each of them and they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and Began to speak with other tongues
and means other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance So here's
here's something that I love the moment they are together in unity the
Holy Spirit comes upon them and the very first fruit of God's presence
is the ability to speak to people of other languages and cultures in a
manner that you couldn't before It's truly amazing. Now think this
through with me just for a moment in the Old Testament There was a
season where men and women decided they were going to try to be God in
their own strength they were going to rise above one another they were
going to try to in a sense dictate to God and Get to be godly by
themselves.

So they built a tower it was and they built this as they were building
the tower the scripture says God came down and Confounded their
languages and we have the beginning of like a confusion where one
culture can't speak to another culture And we have we have an instant
division came into the world when man tried to be God in his own
strength but on the day of Pentecost Men had and women ceased to try to
be God in their own strength They came back to God and the very first
result of that is the ability now to communicate with each other once
again You see we can't have a civil discussion in our generation without
the Spirit of God. I don't believe it's possible I think the divisions
are now getting to be too deep. The anger is profound We might be able
to put a band-aid on the wound for a little while, but the real healing
can only come Through the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God can only
come through the Church of Jesus Christ So we have a mandate from God To
get together in one accord and in one place again and begin to pray.

It's that Critical to the hour we're now living in One hundred and
twenty people stepped out of the upper room gripped by God With an
ability to speak to people of other cultures in a way They'd never
learned isn't it amazing over the years. I've been in Africa and
different countries in Africa speaking to Speaking to to people who are
at war with one another who had committed genocide. I'm not
Realistically it was God gave me the ability to speak to them and we saw
healing we saw reconciliation We we saw miracles happen in these places
Not that I thought that I took a five-year course on how to communicate
with people of other Parts of the world and other cultures and
languages.

No, it was just God. It was the Holy Spirit gives you the ability I've
remember one time after the war in In Kosovo, I was speaking to a group
of Muslim soldiers in a village And watch the tears start to come on
their faces. Where did the power come from to technically speak their
language Matt put it that way Yes, I was using a translator But I was
still able to speak to them and to reach their heart by the power of
God's Holy Spirit this is what the world needs today a Church that is
able to transcend its own experience its own cultural limitations and
has a love and compassion in her heart For other people of other places
a church that is Willing to let the Holy Spirit make them benevolent one
to another that's that was another hallmark of being in one accord in
one place There's immediate benevolence one to another it didn't have to
be worked up It was given by God into the human heart.

Oh Yes, when we stand at the throne of God one day trust me There'd be
no frauds there when we stand at the throne of God would say Lord. It's
it was your salvation I didn't try to dictate to you how this should be
done. I let you Wash away my sin and I let you wash away my old thoughts
And God I let you become the new source of the life That you were
willing to give into my heart And through me The reconciliation that you
desired to have with all men.

I began to be an ambassador of it This is the cry of my heart Oh God,
would you help us in the body of Christ not to be divided anymore? Would
you give us Lord the power one more time? To be a living example of the
victory of the cross Would you make us into your body on this earth?
Would you make us ambassadors of reconciliation not argue arguers
bringing up old grievances? Oh God Lord, but would you help us to lead?
Others to a reconciliation that we ourselves are willing to embrace
Lord, thank you. Thank you for another baptism of the Holy Spirit. Thank
you for another Pentecost in our generation you promised that the glory
of the latter house would be greater than the former and You showed us
in the scriptures that the wine at the end of the banquet feast is
better than at the beginning And so Lord we're asking for another
Pentecost in our generation We recognize our weakness We recognize Lord
that we're not yet what we should be But Lord, we're gonna put away
things that need to be put away and move forward to this mark of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus, I Pray that as we take of the
communion tonight Lord that we would be able to say To every brother
every sister of every race and tongue and tribe and color and creed that
we could say to everyone This is my body, which is broken for you as You
said to us Lord you broke you were allowed your body to be broken for us
Would you help us Lord? not to try to hold on to anything of the past
that would bring division into your church and Diminish the testimony of
your cross So I'm asking you now just to go if you can and get some
bread and some juice we're gonna go to the Word of God and have
communion together and Let's believe that the

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/the-incredible-power-of-unity/
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