Functional Unity

Benham Brothers

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Functional Unity

The secret to getting along within the body of believers

June 15, 2017 • Benham Brothers

* David’s kingdom grew greater and greater because of the people God brought to David.
* Much like the church - it’s strength is in the individual gifts of each person in it.
* All of these people banded together to make and keep David as king.
* He didn’t have to go and recruit them - they were magnetized to him.
* 1 Chronicles 12:1-2 - relatives of Saul joined him.
* 1 Chronicles 12:16-17 - if they came to join him in the fight, he would be “united” with them.
* 1 Chronicles 12:22 - they slowly built into an army.
* 1 Chronicles 12:38 - they were of single purpose to make David king.
* These people didn’t join David for the sake of unity - they did it because of what he stood for.
* They wanted to fight the same battles he was fighting - to honor God.
* It’s called “functional unity” - unity that comes as a reward for uniting around the battle (function).
* 3-R model of unity:
* The Requirement for unity is engaging in the battle.
* The Result of engaging in the battle is unity among believers.
* The Reward for the church being unified in battle is victory.

The Foundations of Church

January 15, 2013 • Benham Brothers

* Covenant with Noah (8:20) * Covenant with Abe (Gen 12) * Description of Covenant (Gen 15) 15 years later he had Isaac 1000 years later Moses came 2000 years later Jesus came Gen 9 - Civil Govt Gen 9:20-24 - Covering Nakedness * Ham - cursed because he didn't cover Noah (father of Canaanites) * Shem - father of Israelites * Japheth - father of Gentiles Gen 12 - First thing's first * The first thing Abe did when he came into a land was build an altar to show honor to the maker of the Covenant * When Abe told Sarah to lie he had not yet built the altar - he failed to do it first!

Huddle Up

January 10, 2014 • Benham Brothers

God's command was to multiply and fill the earth, but the people wanted to huddle up God's plan was for us to possess and take dominion, and we can't do that in a crowd They also wanted to build something that would make their names memorable They wanted to build something so tall they couldn't be flooded out again God confused their language, which was the opposite thing He did on Pentacost God waited until they spent a lot of time and money before He busted it up - He gave them time to repent Our natural tendency will be to huddle in a comfortable group and not go into all the world (our neighborhood)

The Cost of the Covenant

January 12, 2017 • Benham Brothers

* When God made a covenant with Abraham He required Abraham to honor it. * It was going to cost Abraham something in order to enter the covenant. * For him, he had to cut his junk. * He had to remove the needless skin from his unit. * Can you imagine this? He was 99 years old at this time. * The first blessing from God to man was procreation. * Now, the sign of the covenant required pain to enter it. * If Abe didn’t want the pain he didn’t get the covenant. * For us, to be in covenant with God it cost Jesus His life. * The price we have to pay is the same - to give up our lives. * But to remain in the covenant we have to endure the pain. * Are you willing to pay that price?