Sabbath 11/15/14 Alfred Station Seventh Day Baptist Pastor Ken sermon “Unity for Vision “

Sabbath 11/15/14 Alfred Station Seventh Day Baptist Pastor Ken sermon “Unity for Vision “ Philippians 2:1-8

What is necessary for vision to take place? Unity. Unity is needed for vision to take place. It’s like when you invite some people to you house. Some folk may come and some may not. You know the ones who will come and spend hours talking with you. The folk who come are in unity with you. Encouragement. There is encouragement in Christ Jesus. We need to encourage each other in love. There are different types of love and love has different meanings. I can say I love pancakes. I can say I love my sister. The kind of love that is found in Jesus is the love that doesn’t expect anything in return.

We also should be like-minded with each other. We obey God and have the joy of the Lord. Maintain the love of Christ and be serving Him in love. We all believe in Jesus Christ and we all believe in the Kingdom of God. We should not be selfish but have regard for one another more than for yourself. Don’t be conceited and think you are God’s gift to the congregation! Don’t think what you say and do is what the congregation is supposed to do. Also, don’t have empty conceit, vanity or be vain. God will judge our works and they will be judged by fire. Works of wood and straw get burned up! Empty conceit is of wood, hay and stubble. These works get burned up.

We should also look out for other people’s interests as well. Put others interest above your own. We are talking about Christians helping Christians. This is because not all of us have the same gifts. All of us have different gifts of the spirit and we can help each other. We should listen to them because God has a calling on them too, for using their gifting also.

The Apostle Paul is saying that the kind of humility and compassion Jesus had is set for an example for us. We are to be like Jesus. The Bible text says that we are to have the same mind that Jesus had. Jesus was divine but He emptied himself of his divinity to be in the form of humans. He became flesh. Jesus did this-gave up Heaven, his equality with God and limited himself to being human to save us. Jesus walked like we walk on foot so He could be like us to save us. Jesus took on the form of a servant and washed the disciples’ feet. Jesus did this so He could die on the cross for our sins.

We should be in unity with our brothers/sisters, to put our life out for them. It may not be to physically die for them but to put our life at risk to care for and take care of our Christian brethren. We are called to have a relationship with our brothers/sisters in Christ. It should like what Jesus had with the church and all people. We should see the Power of the Cross and believe that it is what God wants in our life.
AMEN
 
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