Well, good morning. My name is Kayla and I'm one of the pastors here at north gate, where we envisioned transforming our homes, communities, and world by pursuing God, building community and unleashing compassion. I am so glad that you chose to worship with us today, wherever you are today, we're actually finishing up a series called stages each week. We've had a conversation about a specific age or stage of life. We've talked directly to people , people in that age or stage of life. And we've learned from them collectively. We've learned lessons from that stage of life this week. We're wrapping all of that up by talking about the power of the church. When we all are together, we are talking about unity. What happens when the church pursues, unity, C churches rarely get in trouble because of theological issues. Instead, they get in trouble over competing agendas and power grabs, but that's not what Jesus had in mind when he launched the church. In fact, we'll see in just a moment that when he prayed for his followers, he prayed that they would be one. This topic was already on the calendar before we knew that we would be going to online church for the next couple of weeks, but it's even more timely and impactful. Now, as we welcome people from both campuses, Benicia and San Francisco, as one body, one church together spread out hopefully to hundreds of homes all across the bay area. So if you are huddled in your living room with family and friends that you invited over this morning, welcome, thank you for being the church. We're so glad that you're here. If you're watching this morning from bed, because you're feeling a little bit under the weather, thank you for being here. We're so glad that you joined us. In fact, this week, we're actually welcoming other churches who are also unable to gather for the next couple of weeks. I specifically want to welcome those of you from first Baptist Vallejo. We're so glad that you're worshiping with us today. We're so glad that you are a part of the church. The church has left the building, but it won't be stopped. This is the kind of moment when the church can shine. So let's be the church while we can't be at the building. If you have a Bible around you today, go ahead and turn to the book of Ephesians. We're going to camp out in chapter four. You can find effusions in the new Testament, which is the second half of the Bible. Ephesians was actually a letter written by the apostle Paul to the Christians and the church in Ephesus. Now Ephesus was at the intersection of some major trade routes, which also made it a major commercial center. Think of it like one of our major port cities. Paul had started a church there and he actually made it his headquarters for over two years. Then a decade later, Paul wrote this letter back to the Christians and the church that he started there. And a lot of Paul's letters. They actually make up most of the new Testament. Paul addresses problems in the specific churches where he's writing. But in this letter to the Ephesians, it seems more like he's writing them to help, better understand God's purpose and goals for the church. He starts out talking about God's wisdom and he even emphasizes that we're saved, not just for our own personal benefit, but we're saved to bring glory to God, to make him famous so that more people would be saved. He says, first God reconciles individuals in an act of grace. And then he takes those individuals and reconciles them to each other. See, God's grace is big enough to mend relationships or the take down barriers between people. But now Paul's saying God is doing something even bigger. His goal is to bring all of that under Jesus into one body. The church, the message version says it this way, fusions two , starting in verse 20. The kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers are outsiders. You belong here with as much, right to the name, Christian, as anyone, God is building a home. He's using us all irrespective of how we got here and what he is building. He used the apostles and profits for the foundation. And now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick stone, by stone, with Christ Jesus, as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day, a holy temple built by God. All of us built into it at temple in which God is quite at home. So Paul pitched his vision in this letter. He explained God's goal and vision for our, for us, our purpose as believers as the church. And that leads us to some practical instructions. He lays out for us turn to chapter four and Ephesians starting in verse one. I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling. You've received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love. He says, live like, you know, God is building the church with you. Humble, gentle patient bear with one another. Then he goes on in verse three, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called one Lord, one faith, one [inaudible] one God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all. So let's start here. Paul's telling us that unity requires effort. It's not easy. It doesn't just happen. Unity requires effort. This phrase make every effort in verse three is actually a Greek word that carries the idea of determination. When difficulty is around, it's used in other places in Paul's letters where he recognized that what he was asking the believers to do would be hard. And not only would it be hard, but difficulty would come while they were trying to do this hard thing. You know, during a Monday night football game between the Chicago bears and the New York giants, one of the announcers noticed that Walter Payton , who was the bears running back had finally accumulated over nine miles in rushing yards. The other announcer marked. Yeah. And he did that while someone was knocking him down every 4.6 yards, that's kind of what it feels like to pursue unity sometimes. And that's the determination that Paul was talking about. The kind that when you get knocked down, you get back up. We love movies that portray this. You know, the ones about the kid that was born into a , a rough home and into an even harder neighborhood that kid overcomes the odds and pushes and pulls and gets knocked down and then gets back up. We love to cheer for people who have that kind of determination, the kind that is worth overcoming adversity for, and that's the kind that is going to be needed to pursue the unity of the church. Paul says the church will see difficulties. We're seeing them in real time right now, but those difficulties are worth persevering through as we continue to make the diligent effort to pursue it's that significant. It's also significant when Paul says that there's one body see in the community for the Christians living in this particular community, there were many religious cults to choose from. In fact, it was a religious consumer's paradise out there. You could find any group to belong to any belief system to subscribe to. In fact, you could find a group of people that were so much like you, they were similar backgrounds, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, people that would make you feel comfortable with what you already feel and think and believe. In fact, if you were a part of a group and you started to feel uncomfortable, or it was difficult for you to get along with people, you could just abandon that group and find another one. There were plenty to choose from, but Paul's saying that that is not what the church was meant to be like. The church was not about creating a community for people to huddle together with other people that look just like them. In fact, Paul, talk about the vision for the church in another letter where all kinds of different people who would not normally be together in society would find themselves equal. As members of the church. See the church is meant to be the visible expression of how God sees community. The church is supposed to be what community is , looks and acts like Karl Barth said it this way, the church exists to set up in the world, a new sign, which is radically dissimilar to the world's own manner. And which contradicts it in a way which is full of promise. Yes. As beautiful, right? Well, of course it is. He loves to dream of that beautiful place where everybody gets along. But the reality is when you put a bunch of different people together, especially if you are pursuing people that are not like you, it can get really, really mad. See it's a whole lot easier to just opt out and choose to be with people who look like you, who vote like you, who read the same books and watch the same news channels you do. Or maybe even who are people in the same stage of life who are having the same kind of life experiences I have. But if we do that now only will the church become just like any other civic organization. It will lose the power of what the holy spirit does when we pursue unity. Like God intended. As Paul goes on, we see him use the word one over and over again. Paul is using repetition to make a point because see, when the new Testament was written, Paul didn't have the option in the Greek for bold italics in all caps side note, I am horrible at using all caps. I use all the time, especially in text messages. In fact, one of my coworkers once responded to one of my all caps texts with why are you yelling at me? Well, Paul didn't have that option. So instead in the Greek, the way that he emphasized things was typically the repetition one body, one spirit, one hope one, Lord, one faith, one baptism, one, God, you all the differences. And uniqueness's Paul is calling the church all followers of Jesus to be one. Why, because pursuing unity actually teaches us about the character of God. Unity is shown through the Trinity, this Trinitarian nature of God. See God exists eternally as three distinct persons, each unique and attributes, but they are not three distinct gods. They are one God. Although that theological concept is difficult to grasp. And certainly to describe one of the things that Paul is advocating here is that church's ability to live as one is a visible, tangible example of who God is. It's kind of like trying to teach your kid how to ride a bike. You can't sit them down and draw a picture of it and explain the mechanics and explain all the different things they'll have to do balance and steering and peddling . It gets too confusing. And it seems impossible to be able to think of those things all at the same time. So instead we put the child on the bike and give them instructions. And as they are doing it, the actual learning happens. It just becomes ingrained in them. Paul is saying something similar about the unity of the Godhead. See, when you make every effort to pursue unity, you're actually experiencing life in community. And the character of God becomes ingrained in you just by itself , experiencing unity by pursuing unity in community. We become more like God himself. So how do we do that? How can we make every effort to pursue unity? Well, first you can't help, but form community and experience unity when you're on mission together. That's why this moment in history is such a huge opportunity for the church. This is literally what we've been training for. People. Think about the times when you've been on a mission trip with a small group of people, or maybe you've served at an event or having helped at your kid's school, or maybe you were even part of a relief effort of some sort, even if you only worked with that group of people for a short time, something happened while you were together working together, or one mission. When you have a common purpose, it creates a bond. And the things that would normally divide a group of people like race and gender and political viewpoints and carpet color, all of that nitpicky divisive stuff can be overlooked and overpowered by the mission. It's in the pursuit of the mission that we lay down our personal agendas. We tell our pride to take a back seat . We say I'm willing to lose my power and position because the mission is just too important. Hear me. If the people, the church can run toward this emission together, right ? Right now, I truly believe this will actually be time of growth for the church. Can you imagine it growing more people finding hope and community, more people meeting Jesus when the church can't even come together and a building see around here, we aren't just praying for , uh, maintain a maintaining of numbers. No, instead we are praying that the church will see a revival and the world will see Jesus right now that's the mission. And we can do this, but that's only going to co going to come about. If we stay focused on the mission together, you see the unity of the church is so significant that one person really can ruin it. When someone pursues a different agenda and tries to make the church meet their needs, when they want to make their voice louder or have more influence, it can derail everything. When one person pursues something that's outside of the church's mission, it will disrupt the pursuit of unity, creating divisions and factions in the church. But when we set our sights on the mission above any personal pursuit, when we're in this thing together, that's when things really start to change. So when we get on mission together, and as we do that, we each have to do our part. We can probably all think of a time when we met somebody that was doing their thing. There's something magnetic and authentic and irresistible about that person. And that's how it works in the church too . Paul says it clearly in his letter to the Corinthians, now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it. The message says it this way you are Christ's body. That's who you are. You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body , the does your part mean anything? There's a unique [inaudible] to each person within the church. And when we try to be something, we were not, we miss the unique and distinct contribution for the whole church. We spend our time comparing ourselves instead of bringing what we have to the table. When we own who we are though, when we own what we bring to the table, we will also be able to not only make allowances for other people, but actually want and see the need for the uniqueness and others. See this, isn't just true for spiritual gifts. This is actually also true for different stages of life. Like the ones that we've been talking about the last few weeks, the church needs the uniqueness of every stage, young and old, married, and single each one contributing the best of who they are and everyone else recognizing the unique best each other. We need each other, not only in our personal lives, but in the church at large, you see the closest anyone will be to being in the presence of Jesus. On this side of eternity is being in the presence and of his people. When the members of the body are actually functioning as a body, if we're one in purpose and mission, imagine how God transform our homes, communities, world. That's what we're here for. And maybe you tuned in today. And that sounds like something you would love to be a part of. You're hungry for being a part of something bigger than just yourself. We are so glad that you're here. You bring something unique to the table and the church needs it. God created you uniquely and beautifully and wonderfully. It says it in his word, but maybe that's hard for you to swallow. Maybe there are some things in your life that make you believe that you aren't worthy of a like that. Maybe there are some things in your past that make you believe that you've been disqualified. Well, here's what we believe about that. And we stay at every single week. There's nothing so dead that God cannot resurrect it again. There's nothing so lost that he cannot find it. And there's nothing so broken that God cannot begin to mend it. So if you want to be found alive and mended, we would love to walk along that journey with you. In fact, we have a tool that we'd love to offer you totally for free. It's this book called, this changes. Everything. We'd love to send this to you. It's just a 21 day journal that will get you started on a relationship with Christ. And maybe you know that you need something. You want to be a part of something bigger than yourself, but you're not so sure that Jesus really is who he says he is. This will also be our gift to you. Give it 21 days. What can it hurt? You can just talk to one of our online hosts there and the chat room and they can connect you. And we can get one of these sent out to you. Or you can come pick one up at one of our campuses this week, or you can, you can even email info at end gate dot Oregon . We'll make sure to get one of these journals out to you. We would love to follow up with you, answer any questions you have and sit, even in some of those doubts. As you walk through this process, you belong here. Stanley, our Hoston will Willimon says this. The most creative social strategy we have to offer is the church here. We show the world a manner of life. The world can never achieve through social coercion or governmental action. We serve the world by showing it something that it is not namely a place where God is forming a family out of strangers. I think we can all agree that the world needs a family right now. And this week we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to show them what that family looks like. I mean very well washed hands, but hands nonetheless. So if you know, have a kiddo who is struggling to get those two meals that they would normally get at school because school's been canceled step in. If you know of a family whose income is already being, because the industry they work in has taken a hit think, small business owners or hourly wage or workers. You drop a Safeway gift card in the mail for them. Check in on your elderly neighbors, run errands for them. Ask if they need a ride to the doctor, or maybe even a meal, step up order in Chinese food. For pity's sake, the business has taken a hit and their food is delicious. Let's rise up church. Let's be the hands of feet of Jesus. Let's show off. God's love this week. And then next Sunday, we hope to see pictures of hundreds of homes in the bay area, getting together for worship as we show up and we , we put God first and we say, we're going to worship you when all the rest of the world feels wobbly. As we close today, I want you to know that we have people that are ready to pray for you in real time . Right now, all you have to do is click the request, prayer button on your screen, and you'll go to a private connection where someone can pray for you right now. You can also send in prayer requests to that info. At end gate.org website. We would love to pray alongside you. We know there's a lot of hurting and anxiety going around, and there's also a lot of really good stuff happening. So send us a note. If you see God working in your life as well, we'll celebrate with you. Thank you for coming to church with us today. Wherever you are. Thank you for being here. I actually want extend a special thank you to the people that are here for the very first time. Maybe you've never even been in one of our buildings before, but you decided to show up today. Thank you for being here. We're so glad that you're here. We hope that you'll give us a few weeks. We're online at least through the end of March. So grab a few friends and join us online. Next weekend, we look forward to meeting you in person. One day soon, you can still fill out a connection card with that button there online. And we'd love to send you a gift just for being a guest with us today. For the first time, I also want to say, thank you for your generosity. So many of you have given and are continuously generous and generosity is especially important right now because there are people that forget to give when they don't come into the building, but we're still doing it ministry. We're in fact now maybe more than ever, and our partners, both local and abroad, they still rely on our support. So thank you for giving. We're still doing the dollar club. So you can be a part of changing someone's life every week by $1 for every person that's coming to church with you. Even online. When you give here your generosity reaches, not just here in this city, but all over the world. So thank you for partnering with us. As we unleash compassion every week, I'll leave you with a blessing. And so I'm just going to ask that you take the same posture that we do when you're in the room. You just extend your hands like this in a posture of receiving this week's blessing is actually a prayer that Jesus prayed over us. Yes . From John 17, he said, my prayer is not for them alone. I pray. So for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one father just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I've given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one I in them and you me so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you've sent me and have loved them. Even as you have loved me. I love you guys. And I hope to see you soon.