So you can once again, the Lord's
help for him to bless his word to us and to grant me the ability
to speak to you this morning. I'd like you to turn with me
to the chapter that we read together, Acts chapter two, and the text
you'll find in verse one. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. I know that it's not the day
of Pentecost today. The day of Pentecost is 50 days
after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, or after Easter,
and it is 10 days after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Really
the latter part of the verse is what is on my mind but I think
we should look a bit at Pentecost and how this feast, which was
the feast of the first fruits, would would be used by Christ
to give his church the gift of the Holy Spirit and the first
gathering in of the first fruits of the Christian church in a
great number. And what we have at the beginning
of this verse is something very beautiful and something very
blessed. blessed. We have a group of people,
about 120, meeting together for prayer. after the Lord Jesus Christ had
ascended up into heaven, after he had told them that he was
going to go away and that he was going to give them the gift
of his Holy Spirit, they stayed together, this 120 people, and
they continued in prayer. In Acts chapter 1 and verse 14,
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication
with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and his brethren. You notice again that it's the
the same word one accord one accord, they were knit together
with one another, like-minded, they were united together, they
were unanimously sitting together waiting for the will of God,
the will of Christ to be fulfilled and the gift of the Holy Spirit
to be given. Jesus had told them in verse
8, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon
you you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea
and Samaria and into the uttermost parts of the world or of the
earth. And so they were waiting for
this time to be fulfilled, this this thing that Christ had told
them was going to happen yet they didn't know how it was going
to happen or what was going to take place but they had listened
to his word he had ascended up into heaven and now they are
waiting. And so what were they to do?
Were they just to continue on in their daily lives? Were they
to just go about their day-to-day life or what were they to do? And it seemed that they felt
the best thing to do was to sit together and to pray about the
will of God coming to fruition, coming about. And so they sit
together, this 120. and they pray to Christ. And as they are praying, Peter
begins to expound the word of God and all the different things
that had happened and no doubt they were concerned about what
happened to Judas and that they were one less. And so they appointed
Matthias as another apostle. And as they were sitting in that
room, that place where they were, trying to work all things out
with prayer and looking at the experiences and examining those
experiences with the Word of God, the Lord met with them. And it is a blessed position
to be in, united in prayer And in the Word
of God, having a unity, one with another, a like-mindedness, one
with another. And it seems that the Lord blesses
that meeting as they are seeking his will, searching the scriptures. It is then that he brings about
the appearance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us or tells them
in the Gospel of John chapter 16 in a bit more detail about the Holy
Spirit until it was all new to them. No doubt they knew of the
Spirit of God but they couldn't fully comprehend all that he
was going to accomplish in their lives. John 16 from verse 7. Nevertheless I tell you a truth
it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away
the comforter will not come to you but if I depart I will send
him unto you and when he is come he will reprove the world of
sin of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they believe not
me of righteousness because i go to my father and you see me no
more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged
i have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear
them now how be it when he the spirit of truth is come he will
guide you in all truth he will not speak of himself but whatsoever
he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to
come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you all things that the father hath are mine
therefore i I therefore saith I that he shall take of mine
and show it unto you. And so Christ had revealed to
them in part what the Holy Spirit was going to do and he was going
to assist them in the work that Christ had given them to do. He was going to work with them
and through them to accomplish the will of God and the advancement
of the kingdom and cause of Christ. But they hadn't yet received
him in his fullness. They had this tantalising vision
of what Christ, what he would do. Yet they hadn't experienced
it for themselves. He had told them that the Holy
Spirit was going to take the things of Christ and reveal it
to them. But they hadn't experienced that
yet. They were waiting for it. And then as he ascends, before
he ascends up, he promises them again that this is going to happen.
You shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has
come upon you. You shall receive power. And so they didn't just sit down
and wait. And I was reminded about what
I said about Daniel. Daniel read the scriptures and
he knew that it was 70 years of captivity in Babylon. And he didn't just look at the
date and say, oh yeah, it's nearly up. Soon we'll be delivered. No. He wasn't fatalistic about
the promises of God. He didn't just say whatever will
be, will be. God is going to work it all out.
There's nothing that I can do or should do. No, he pleaded
with the Lord, the promises and the prophecies which were found
in the Old Testament. And it's the same with the early
church. They didn't just say well Jesus
has said we're going to be given this Holy Spirit so we just go
about our lives and wait for whatever happens and see what
will be will be. No. They were together in one place in prayer waiting for what was
going to happen. I listened to a sermon yesterday
and the man said if you want to see
how popular a church is go on a Sunday morning. If you want
to see how popular a preacher is go on a Sunday evening. If you want to see how popular
God is go to the prayer meeting. And I've said to you before,
the early church were a praying people. They knew the privilege
and the power of prayer. And we're so thankful that here
at the prayer meeting, we do have a wonderful group that meet
together. But people say, I think Spurgeon
wrote a book, it's only a prayer meeting. That's the attitude
that many have. Oh, it's just a prayer meeting.
It doesn't matter if I go or if I don't go. The prayer meeting
is the most important meeting. It is communing with God and
fellowshipping with God and united prayer. where the saints meet together
to lay their burdens collectively at the feet of God. If you look
at the revivals that have taken place over the world over the
years you will find that prior to those revivals there was prayer
meetings. One or two or three gathered
together to intercede in prayer asking the Lord to work. Ian Paisley tells a story of
his church there in Ireland and a nightclub opened up opposite. What did they do? They prayed and they prayed and
in the end the nightclub never made any money and it was shut
down in answer to prayer. They didn't say well it's the
will of God whatever will be will be. They were not fatalistic
about it. They came to the throne of grace
and they petitioned God regarding their concerns and the Lord heard
and the Lord shut down the nightclub. The Lord heard the intercessions
of his people and he brings about a revival. He changes things
in a moment, things that have been the same for many hundreds
of years. He can alter it by a moving of
his Holy Spirit and break open hard hearts in an instant. But he first stirs up his people
to pray. when they begin to see the value
of prayer and that the privilege of being able to approach a holy
God through his son the Lord Jesus Christ then they're enabled
to have full access to God and he stirs them up to petition himself to bring
about his own purposes And it was his own purposes to bring
about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this day of Pentecost. It was done specifically to gather in the first fruits
of the Christian church. And these continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the
mother of Jesus and the brethren. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they were all with one accord and in one place. And so 10 days after the Lord
Jesus Christ ascended up into heaven, it was the day of Pentecost. It's believed to have been the
first day of the week, the Christian Lord's day. We go to the book
of Leviticus. You will see there that it was
a feast or a day that was given for the presentation or an offering
of the first fruits of the land. And they were to make some loaves
of bread and to bring some animals and to present them to God. And so 50 days After Passover,
10 days after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Jews
met together at Jerusalem to commemorate this feast, the Feast
of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost. Leviticus tells us a bit about
it, Leviticus 23. from verse 15 and you shall count
unto you from the morrow after the sabbath from the day that
she brought the sheaf of of the weave offering seven sabbaths
shall be completed so seven weeks from the from from the passover
The day after the Sabbath, which is our Sunday, they were to count
seven weeks and then they were to bring the, then it was to
be the feast of Pentecost. Even unto the morrow after the
seventh Sabbath shall she number 50 days. You shall offer a new
meat offering unto the Lord. You shall bring out of your habitations
two weave loaves, of two tenth deals. They shall be of fine
flour. They shall be baked with leaven.
They are the first fruits unto the Lord. And he goes on to explain
in more detail regarding the offerings that they were to bring.
And so it was the first fruits of the harvest that they were
to bring an offering to the Lord to give thanks to acknowledge
of his goodness. and his favour in bringing about
another harvest. And so Christ specifically chose
this day, or we can say that the feast was specifically done
in the old covenant to show in the new covenant that great gathering
in of the church. Christ specifically chose this
day to fulfil the old covenant, the gathering in of the first
fruit to be seen as the day that he pours out his spirit to gather
in the first fruit of the Christian church. He read together in verse
41, and they that gladly received the word were baptized and the
same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls,
three thousand people. If you think of all that had
taken place before the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, you
see how the whole city had risen up against him and rejected him. Their hearts were so hard, filled
with anger and hatred towards this Messiah. But now, through
the moving of the Holy Spirit, a great revival takes place.
something that is totally impossible to happen naturally happens. Peter's sermon we could say is
not that eloquent. Remember that he's just a fisherman. He doesn't cover every single
doctrine that he believes. He doesn't fill them with great wisdom and
theology. The difference is is that he was filled with the
Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit went forth and broke people's
hearts opened up their understanding so that they were convicted of
their sin. You think before they were shouting
crucify Christ get rid of him how hard the heart was but now
When Peter says to them, whom you crucified, God raised up
and they cried out, what shall we do? And he said, repent and be baptised
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so this day of Pentecost,
It was the day that the Holy Spirit came down and, as it were,
put in the sickle and gathered in the first fruit of the Christian
church. And day by day, the Lord added
unto the church those who should be saved. And from this day,
this world of ours was changed completely. As the Spirit of
God, working with the early church, went out and proclaimed the Gospel,
the known world at that time was changed. Within 50 years
it was said that every nation that was known at that time had
been touched by the Gospel. And not only had it been touched,
but churches were set up. Ministers were raised up, elders
put in eldership, deacons were put in place and churches were
established. All in 50 years. That's what God can do. Man can
labour and labour and labour to no effect. We can go into
the town and we can preach the gospel, nothing will happen. until the Spirit of God moves. When God rends the heavens he
can accomplish in one moment what a man would never accomplish
in a lifetime. And we can say that it began
with a group of people who were not fatalistic but gave themselves
to prayer waiting on God for that appearing of what He had
promised. He had promised the gift of the
Holy Spirit to give them understanding and they pleaded and God poured
out His Spirit on them and suddenly and suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and it filled the house
where they were sitting and each one was anointed and indwelt
by the spirit and they were given the ability to speak in other
languages which they had not learned and as they proclaimed
the gospel there were multitudes who heard listed, although I
didn't read it, there are 17 different people groups that
were there. It is said that on the day of
Pentecost that Jerusalem swelled to 10 times the normal amount
of people as the Jews came from all areas of the nation to offer
their sacrifices to God and so it was a prime location for a
preaching of the gospel and as the spirit moved He worked in
an amazing way and gave people the ability to understand. As they say, how can we hear
in our own language or our own dialect wherewith we were born? They were gifted to speak in
other languages that they had not learned before. And they
were given that amazing ability to hear the word. They called
it the wonderful word of God. and Christ added to the church
that day 3,000. It has been said, hasn't it, the
book of Acts is called the Acts of the Apostles but it can be
called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit worked through
these men to bring about a great moving of the gospel, to save
multitudes, to bring them from darkness to light. And it began here. As the church
were knit together in unity, they were all with one accord
and in one place. There's 120 people together. the word one accord. They were
unanimously meeting together. They were in complete agreement
with one another. They were as one mind sitting
together in prayer and pondering and waiting for the coming of
the Spirit. Waiting as it were in anticipation
for what Christ was going to do. And what a difference there
is now to these people. You remember
how when these apostles walked with the Lord Jesus Christ how
often they bickered with one another. In Mark 9 it tells us that Jesus
notices their discussions. verse 33 and he came to Capernaum
and being in the house he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace for
by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be
the greatest. See the difference? The day of
Pentecost they're knit together unanimously with one mind But
prior to that, they'd been arguing amongst themselves, who's going
to be the best one? Who's going to sit at the right
hand of God? Who's going to be used the most? Who's going to
be the most important one of us? Well, Peter, he's not very
educated, is he? He's so arrogant and so prone
to saying the wrong thing. He's not going to be him. It's
going to be me. And so they were reasoning and
disputing amongst themselves who's going to be the greatest.
They wanted to be the lead apostle in Christ's earthly kingdom.
And so Jesus sits them down. Well, he sat down and called
the twelve and said unto them, if any man desire to be first,
the same shall be last of all and servant of all. he took a
child and set him in the midst of them and when he had taken
him in his arms he said unto them whosoever shall receive
one of such children in my name receiveth me and whosoever receiveth
me receiveth not me but him that sent me. And so he tries to to
humble them and to say that they are to become as as it were little
children living in dependence upon their parents, upon their
mother or father and he sits them down and he says, don't
be arguing amongst yourselves who's going to have the most
important role, who's going to be the best, who's going to be
used the most but sit here upon my knee and wait and become as
little children. We know as Christ was in the
Garden of Gethsemane and as Judas comes and as he lays hold of
Christ and all the disciples, all the apostles forsook him
and fled. They all went in their own direction
doing their own thing. was no unity, there was no love,
true love for Christ or true love for each other and we have
Peter who boasted about himself saying that he is going to be
with Christ even to death and yet he is humbled by the words
of the little maid and denies the Lord Jesus Christ and so
we see that they have changed. They're no longer this rabble who are in fighting one
with another but they are waiting for the promise of Christ to
be fulfilled and they are knit together in unity. They are united with one cause
waiting for the appearance of the Holy Spirit and they're waiting
in prayer. Psalms tells us, Psalm 133 in
verse 1 it says, Behold or look and consider how good and how
pleasant It is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is
like a precious ointment upon the head that ran down from the
beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his
garment. And as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descends
upon the mountains of Zion, there the Lord commanded the blessing,
even life forevermore. And so unity, This unity that they had experienced
now was a pleasant thing. It was not a natural thing, it
was an anointing that had been given to them to enable them
to lose sight of their once proud and selfish ambitions. It was
like the holy oil that was anointed Aaron, the holy oil as it ran
down from his head and covered him. So this unity that was now
being experienced by these apostles, it was outside of them, was beyond
them and it covered them. And so it is a pleasant thing.
It's a great blessing to be able to witness these apostles and
this early church knit together with great unity and one mind. And it was whilst they were knit
together in unity with one mind, waiting for the appearance of
the promise that the Holy Spirit comes and gifts them, and gives
them the ability to do the work that Christ had given them to
do. And if we follow the early church,
we would find, especially in the very early days, there is
unity. On this day, the outpouring of
the Spirit, there was unity. after the 3,000 had been saved. Verse 42, they continued steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of
bread and in prayers. They fellowshiped this 3,000
group of people who came from all the different places were
now united in fellowship one with another with the core being
Christ. They had seen Christ, they were
now indwelt by his spirit and the evidences of that were fellowship
and love one to another, breaking of bread. They sat together,
they took the Lord's Supper together, they prayed together. Verse 46,
and they continued daily with one accord, the same word, with
one mind. with a unanimous outlook, with
one mind in the temple. And in breaking bread from house
to house, they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness
of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And
the Lord added unto the church daily such as should be saved.
And so you see, as the Spirit entered into these people, they
lost sight of themselves. they mixed with people from all
different society levels and all different cultural backgrounds
and they were knit together with one mind and one heart and one
common cause in prayer, eating together and fellowshipping together,
breaking of bread, going from house to house. encouraging one
another and each one eating their meat or food with gladness and
singleness of heart. Chapter four also tells us something
similar. Verse 31. And when they had prayed
the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they
were filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God
with boldness. And the multitude of them believed,
that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither did
any of them that ought of the things, sorry, neither said any
of them that ought of the things which he possesses was his own,
but they had all things in common. Such was that work of grace done
in their heart that they lost sight almost of everything that
was material. And they saw such love towards
one another. They were in such unity one with
another. It's almost like a great family
in Christ. That they had one heart, one
spirit. And they didn't even worry about
the things that they had. Some even went and sold all that
they had and pulled it at the feet of the apostles so that
it could be distributed amongst those who had a need. And so the early church they
were united in love and fellowship one to another and the Lord blessed
that unity. You know unity is very fragile. Unity takes people who are worked on by the spirit. It needs people to contemplate
the way that they react. It doesn't take much to rock
the boat Unity is like walking on ice. If unity is to be kept, then
people have to tread very, very carefully. They need to walk
with great diligence as to how they are to approach and to live
together one with another. By our nature we are like the
apostles, striving for the forefront. striving to make a name for ourselves. Pride gets in. And pride and selfish ambition
and also those who hold back, they affect the unity of their
core group. What is Satan's work? scripture
tells us that Satan walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom
he may devour. If you watch the nature programs
you will see the wildebeest are safe when they are knit together
in unity. They are safe in their vast numbers
You see the starlings that fly around the piers and they fly
in those great flocks because they understand that when we
are united and we are knit together in unity we are safe from the
praying bird. The wildebeest know that the
lion cannot get us when we are knit together as a mass. So what
do they do? The lion causes the herd to panic
and then he looks out for weak ones and ill ones and he begins
to attack them. He doesn't go for the strong
ones, he goes for the vulnerable ones and he gets them. The birds of prey fly into the
starlings and scatter them so that they are ununited and vulnerable. Unity is fragile. And Satan does the same thing
to the church. He causes panic where he sees
a vulnerability he attacks but no one is safe. You see the wildebeest,
the lion leaves the strong ones but there are no strong Christians
but Satan hates a united group of people and he will try his
uttermost to drive into the flock to scatter that you may attack. I thought of a jigsaw puzzle.
You see a jigsaw puzzle is all many bits put together to make
a picture. But if one of those pieces is
put the wrong way round it does not fit. It's not united anymore. And that's what can take place
in a church when people don't act in the
right way and they do not see that unity is fragile and they
try to do their own thing. It's like a jigsaw piece that
won't fit because it's the wrong way round. It's acting in a wrong
way and not a right way. so unity is fragile and it's
to be preserved and kept very very carefully by each and every
one. Ephesians tells us how we can
do that. Ephesians 4 from verse 1 it says therefore
I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called with all loneliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing or being patient with one another
in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit and the
bond of peace. And so he gives us that way in
which that unity can be preserved with loneliness or meekness,
humility, Meekness is that characteristic of Christ. Humility, not striving
for self but keeping oneself in a low position. Long suffering,
patience with one another. how quickly one can rile up another
one and how quickly someone can pounce on somebody who we think
is not doing the right thing or behaving in the right way
and we almost act as though we are Satan and we dive in and
we bring about disunity because we're not patient and we're not
forbearing and we're not gracious. And we're not endeavoring or
striving to keep the unity of the spirit but we think that
we ourselves must have a say. I've got to deal with it. I've
got to dive in and sort this thing out. And we're not endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit and therefore it takes effort. It's not a natural thing to have
unity. it's a work of the spirit of
God and it needs believers to consciously act in a way that
is right and in accordance with the scripture. If we lose sight
or lose control of ourselves and we stop treading carefully
and walking wisely then we can be the cause of disunity. Colossians 3 12 to 16. Put on therefore as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, bows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all things, put on
charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace
of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called
in one body, and be ye thankful. Forgiving one another, forbearing
one another as Christ has forgiven you. And so it takes effort to
dwell in unity. Think of a marriage to dwell
together in unity, two different characters living together, that
takes effort. Love does not cover everything
and so there are times when you have to restrain yourself from
speaking, there are times when you have to speak, rebuke one
another and that is how unity works. It is not sweeping everything
underneath the carpet as though it's not happening but there
are times to speak and there are times to remain silent. And so it takes effort. Sometimes not saying anything
is the right thing to do. Picking your battles to keep
the unity of the spirit is the right thing to do. But sometimes
saying something is important. Saying the right thing is important
to keep the unity of the spirit just because it's all smooth
on the outward appearance doesn't mean that underneath there are
not problems. You see we can try and ignore
problems as though they're not happening but it doesn't stop
them from happening. An ocean may look beautifully
calm but underneath there are rip currents that are dangerous. They cannot be seen from the
surface but they are there and sometimes everything may look
united but deeper down there are problems. I was working at
a house recently and the cleaner was there and she said oh they've
gone away to play happy families. multi-millionaire family mum
and dad divorced and yet they've gone on holiday the appearance
of it is that everything is okay we're all united together in
love but the cleaner said they're playing happy families it's just
an act underneath is a rip current of hatred between one another
there's no love there's no unity but on the outside it looked
like there is. And so sometimes it can be like
that. Everything may look okay but
underneath there are rumblings that are going on and those rumblings
have to be dealt with otherwise they can manifest themselves
into greater problems. so sometimes saying something
is the right thing to do. Jesus tells us himself in Matthew
18 and verse 15, moreover if thy brother trespass against
thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if
he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother. And so Jesus
says, if someone has offended you or sinned against you, it's
not always good to sweep it under the carpet because that injury
is still there within your heart. And that person might not even
know the things that they have done. And so Jesus says, go to
them and speak to them. Expose the problem. Go to them
in love and concern and say, this is what you have done. This
is how it's hurt me. And if he listens to you, then
you've gained your brother. You've unburdened your heart.
The relationship is restored. Unity is brought. And he goes
on, if you will not hear thee, take then with thee two or one
or two more at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
may be established and if he shall neglect to hear them tell
it to the church but if he neglect to hear the church let him be
unto thee as a heathen heathen man or a publican and so there
is that process of which one is to deal with the problems
that arise within unity as a step to take so that unity
can be restored and friendship can be continued. And in the early church we see
this acting out. They were knit together in unity
at the start. but as Satan began to examine
them he finds weaknesses within the church. In Galatians we read of Peter
and Paul that the apostle Paul in chapter 2 withstood him to
the face because he was to be blamed. You see Peter had been
living one way and he had been mixing with the Gentiles but
then when the Jews came he separated himself from the Gentiles and
he began to eat with the Jews only and Paul said this is wrong. You are having an imbalance in
your lifestyle and so he withstood him to the face. He told him
this is wrong Peter. and explain to him the reasons
why it is wrong. And the scripture tells us doesn't
it that a rebuke from a friend is better than a kiss from an
enemy. Often other people can be more
aware of our faults than ourselves Other people can see our behaviour
more than we can see our behaviour ourselves. And Paul could see
that what Peter was doing was inconsistent with his testimony
as a follower of Christ, that there was only one church and
not divided, and therefore he should sit together with Jew
and Gentile. And Peter and Paul says, it's
not so. you're acting contrary to the
teachings of the word of God and he rebuked him and so sometimes
there is that need to keep silent, to hold your tongue but sometimes
there is that need to speak privately to somebody regarding their behaviour
if it's done in the right and proper manner that will then
bring about reconciliation that will unburden your heart and
bring about reconciliation of friendship and the unity of the
church. But how easy it is to gossip
about things rather than to deal with things It's so easy, isn't
it, to go home and to sit at home and to chew people's ears
off and not to speak to them. We talk about them and how they
can change and how they should be doing this and how they should
be doing that. And if we think that we know better, then come
to them. Speak to them. Rather than gossiping
behind the back. We sang earlier didn't we? Onward Christian soldier marching
on to war. An army must be united. It cannot have divisions in its
ranks otherwise it will be ineffective. They say that don't they about
the the Russian army that there's this division and that they do
not act. We see that they say about the
Ukrainian army that they are united for a common cause and
therefore they fight better, they lose less men. And so the
army of Christ must be united around a common cause which is
the advancement of the kingdom and the love one to another,
deeming each other greater than themselves. And that's how unity
can be kept. It's not a natural thing. It's
a blessed thing, but it's not natural. It comes by every person
within that body examining themselves in accordance with the word of
God and striving to keep the unity of the peace. By knowing
when to speak, speaking in the right manner, and knowing when
not to speak to hold the peace and there will be blessing and
when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with
one accord and in one place may we know as a church and as a
people this true unity of the spirit as we meet together on
the Lord's day and in the week as we come together may we come
with one mind one united unanimous mind to hear what the word says
and to plead what the word says to Christ to God through prayer
and may we be united together in the bonds of peace and love
one to another. May the Lord grant us wisdom
then to live together in unity and to fulfil the law of Christ. Amen. Our final hymn is from Gatsby,
342 to the tune 477. 342. Christ is mine and I am
his, center, source, and sum of bliss. Earth and hell in vain
combine me and Jesus to disjoin. 342. I did my best. free and Jesus to his joy. O my fortress, heart and hand,
heavenly and wonderful, strong in the none can pluck me from my hand. Loving in myself I am, all I
have is in the Lamb. On His face I'm with thee, angels join. Praise his name, dear Imperial. Our Heavenly Father and Almighty
God, we thank Thee for the unity of the spirit and the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that we may be enabled to
be knit together, one with another, and we ask that Thou enable us
to have the mind of Christ to deem each other greater than
ourselves. We do pray dismiss us, Now with
thy blessing and do bring us here again this evening according
to thy holy will. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us
each now and forevermore. Amen.