Okay, so a few years ago, Robin and myself and the girls were on this scuba dive. I know it's the second diving reference in a few weeks. I promise I'll be done. But what made this one cool was the guide, the shop that we were working out of. Stuart Cove is pretty famous. He's the guy that the Discovery Channel calls every year for Shark Week. He's the guy that all the movie producers call because he is a shark wrangler. He's the guy that arranges all these things. He's a Christ follower. And so we had a chance to hang out and you go in his office in the Bahamas, and it's like all the pictures, all the stories, all the... It's like he's got them, right? But he also will take certified divers out off the coast there a little bit to a shark dive. Now, some of you have probably done those things before. I'd love to hear your stories. All I got is my story. You see, we go out on this boat. It's the four of us now, and I'm signing all the release forms, and it's like yada, yada, yada. Promises not to sue if the shark eats you, blah, blah, blah, all of that. And I'm not really reading the fine print because, to be honest with you, we are bobbing up and down in this boat a mile off of the shore, and it's hot, and we're in full wetsuits, and I'm like, "Ugh, yeah, I don't care." And so we sign it all away. There were two dives. The first dive was so that they could check us out. The guides, I don't mean the sharks. So we go. It's a great dive, beautiful fish, sharks off in the distance. We get back in the boat. You have to wait a while before you can dive again. And this is where our guide says, "Now, this is when things will get interesting." He said, "We're going to get closer to the sharks, and this is where their feeding instinct will kick in." It was right here that all three women in my life looked at me as if to say, "You have got to be kidding me." But everybody had game face on because the guy who was going to lead us was saying, "You got to do everything exactly as I tell you to do now because I'm going to feed these bad boys, and this is going to happen." And the whole time he's doing this, I'm not making this up, over his dive suit, he is putting on a steel mesh shark-proof suit with gloves, with helmet, and I'm going, "Did I miss the upgrade in the fine print?" Because it's too late. Too late. Check your gear, check your buddy's gear. My buddy was my eldest daughter, and then you jump in the water. And when I say jump in the water, you're jumping in the water with sharks. Now, they're not quite on the surface. They're just below the surface, and so we have to descend through them to get to the bottom. Here's what they said. "As you're going through, try not to stand out." I'm like, "Really?" "Really? I look like an overstuffed seal. Try not to stand out?" But you go and a couple of them would brush. Oh, yes, they really do feel like sandpipers. Weird. You get to the bottom. We're supposed to go to this place. It's about, I don't know, about 40 feet or so beneath the surface on the ocean floor there, and we are to gather in a circle, and he will meet us there, and then these were the instructions. "You're on your own. Nobody's got your back. When the fight starts, don't get in the middle of it. If things happen, don't get in the middle of it. And whatever you do, do not reach out your hand for help or for anything else, or you might pull back a stump." And I thought, he's like, "Aren't you just being dramatic?" And then he began to come down. The guy with the extra gear, he began to come down, and he met us there. Now, what had happened was he has this large steel box with freshly caught, chopped-up fish because dinner is now about to be served. Now we're in this ring together, and all of the action is going to happen there. He's going to begin to feed these fish. The sharks are moving in and out of this circle on their own. One of them headbutts me, knocks my mask off. I had to put my mask on. Re-clear if you know how to do that as a diver. But I was just in his way. Another shark is trying to push these fish that he's catching along the ocean floor and pushes me and Alex over. We fall over. Now, you remember, you're on your own. Don't help anybody. Well, I'm going to help her. So of course, what I'm doing is I help her get back up. I am reaching out a little bit, and some of you are going, "You don't win Father of the Year for that because you put her in that position." But what I want you to know is that when you see all of these twisting masses of muscle, these pirouettes, and graceful moves, it is a terrible, frightening dance to behold. Now, where were we? It's the worst night of Jesus' life. If you've been with us, we've been studying these middle chapters of John. Jesus is about to be betrayed. He's already dismissed Judas from their midst. It's as if darkness now is creeping through the streets of Jerusalem to find him, and it will eventually. The remaining 11 disciples are hanging on his every word. Jesus is preparing them for something. He keeps saying things like, "I'm going to have to leave you. I'm going to my Father. I'm preparing a place for you." And we learned last week that that's all code for his death, his burial, and his resurrection. Now, speaking of last week, that was something, wasn't it? If you were here. The stories that are flying around this place now, the heartache and the healing, the raw prayers, the asking for help, the kindness that you were showing to each other. Last week, we heard a horrible, beautiful journey of one family and what they did when a rogue wave hit them out of nowhere. Were you here? It was something. And I thanked Kirsten Glanville Brown and her family in previous services for allowing us to peek into their heartache when they lost Sean all those years ago. I'm grateful that they showed us what it is to navigate through those kinds of waters and how you keep your eye on Jesus. But at the end of the end, Kirsten praying for us, and then that song. Man, I'm telling you, if you missed it, this is one that you'll want to go back and catch up on. But at the end of our time together, right before Kirsten prayed, we got to the end of chapter 16 in John. 16:33. It's a famous verse. "In this world, you will have trouble." And boy, don't we know it. But then Jesus says, "Take heart." And in the Greek, it really means daring, courage. means have courage. Somebody translated it, "I dare you to believe that I'm enough. I dare you to believe that I'm that close, that I'm that good, and that I am for you." Take heart. Have courage. Why? Because I have conquered the world. You see, the heartache, the evil, the death that has a stranglehold on the story is about to be broken The cross is coming. It's close. Now that's the end of chapter 16, and so we're going to turn the page now. But first, I'd like to pray for us because today will be a bit of a ride. Father, we come before you. We celebrate the worship that we've been able to experience. Lord, we celebrate the joy. We celebrate all of this, the freedom to be able to gather here, Lord, the gift of your Word that keeps us connected to you. When we hear these words of Jesus, we want to take them seriously. We want to take them in. We want to take them into our hearts. Lord, for those who do not yet believe that are in our midst, I pray that they will hear that this is their invitation to be a part of this life. And for the rest of us, God, may we leave here realizing that you are still up to something. Lord, we do ask that you do this again. It's only because of you, and it's only through you that we can see these things happen in our midst and in our world. So we're asking you now to keep us close and to keep us connected and to keep us focused on what you would have us to hear today. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray this. Amen. Amen. So what does Jesus do when there's nothing else to say? Or at least there's nothing else that these guys can handle. He prays. Now, when I say he prays, we're not in Gethsemane yet. Not yet. We're someplace between the upper room and the Mount of Olives where Jesus prays those famous prayers. But he prays, "Father, Father." Let's not forget the intimate relationship Jesus has with his Father. If you keep reading these early verses in chapter 17, he will actually say, "We've had this relationship since before the world." "Father, the hour has come." Now, if you read the Gospel of John, you'll see in a couple of different places where he says the hour has not come. One of them was with his mom at this wedding in Cana, and he goes, "Mom, it's not time." So a couple of different places he says the hour has not come. The hour is now. It has come. Evil is running free. The evil one is doing what he does. But you need to remember, Jesus is in complete control here. None of this is a surprise. All of the predictions, all of the prophecies, all of the longings, it's all rushing down to this moment, and it is exactly as God would have it. This is the moment. The hour has come. I just want you to feel the urgency of it. And I want you to feel the weight of it. Jesus prays, and there are some scholars who will say, "Well, this is really the Lord's Prayer," because it's the longest prayer recorded in all of Scripture. Jesus prays, first of all, for himself, then he prays for those remaining 11 disciples. By the way, we're going to cover all of that next week. And then if we jump down to verse 20, he prays for us. That's where we're going to pick things up. John 17, verse 20: "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message." Now, who is the their? Who are we talking about? The disciples. "I'm praying for all the people who are going to believe because they testified to me." That's us. What does he pray? "I pray 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 have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them, you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." There's a lot there. But we always come back to this because it's so important to Jesus and because it's so easy for us to forget how important it is to Jesus. But let's just break some of this down. We won't go through all of it, but let's just state the obvious here. When time is of the essence, remember, it's not long before Judas is going to find him. And Jesus prays for you and me. What does he pray? "Father, may they be the coolest kids at school. May they win all of the theological debates. Father, may they be in charge of everything. May they have more money than they know what to do with. Father, may they be the best looking, most athletic, most artistic people ever. Father, may they be the most popular. Father, may they have more followers than anyone else on Instagram." Does he pray any of those things? No. What does he pray? "Father, may they be one." That's what he says. "May they," meaning us, "may they be one as we are one." Jesus prays for us to be one. And I want you to notice how important it is because he lashes it. He ties it. He tethers it to his own mission, like what he's doing, "So that the world will know that you sent me." Apparently, this is a big deal. Jesus is praying for our unity. That's what we're talking about today? Unity? "That's so corny. That's so unrealistic, Greg. That is so squishy." Some of you right now are thinking, "Poor Jesus. He just didn't understand how complicated things were going to be in our day." And I just want to say this out loud. Jesus knows more than we do about... He knows everything. Amen? Amen. Okay, I think I had 23 people that agreed with me in this room. So I'm just going to go with those 23. Jesus knows best. Amen? Amen. Yeah, okay. We did better. Here's the rest of it. We didn't invent complicated relationships. I know we think we did. I know we think, "Oh, boy." Go read the Old Testament. Right. I'm telling you, God's been dealing with our brokenness from the beginning, and he's been calling his people to something different. And right here, Jesus is calling us to something different. Who's the us? Here's the truth in advertising. If you don't trust Jesus yet, if you haven't turned to him yet, if you haven't let go of religion and said it's only because of what he's done for me on the cross, if you're not there yet, I want you to know this is a truth in advertising message. We're going to tell the story of what he has invited us to be a part of, and just check and see if this isn't what you want to be a part of. You just tell me if this doesn't seem right. But he's talking about his church, not an institution, not a building, not a denomination. He's talking about the people of God who have trusted in Jesus, his church. Which means, by the way, this being one business is not an organizational motto. Do not think of this as a company motto. Do not think this is like one of those posters that's in the company break room, where you go out there, "Remember, be one." That's not it. This is so otherworldly, so different, so unique, so beyond the physical. It's spiritual. It's supernatural. That he connects all of this to the relationship he has with his Father. "I'm in you. You are in me." What does that mean? It is a kind of unity that we can't... There's a union there where they are so connected, but they don't lose their personhood. Stay with me on this. Jesus does nothing without the Father working through him, but the Father trusts him and says, "You go accomplish it." And they enjoy this relationship all in the fellowship of the Spirit. Now we're in the deep end of the pool, you all, because we're trying to explain life within the Trinity. Now, I know my time is limited because as soon as I say that, some of you are like, "I'll give you two minutes." Let's try it this way, because we've talked about this before in mysteries and things like that. I'm a lot of things. I'm afraid to ask you what you would say there. So I'm just going to say I am human. Can we all agree on that? Yes. Yeah. Okay, great. Which is a what? What am I? I'm human. So there's one what. I am Greg. Me. Okay? That's me. So that's who I am. So we humans operate with this general rule. It's one what and one who. You are human, and you're whoever you are. One what, one who. Are you with me? Okay. So when we talk about the transcendent God of the universe who creates everything, who is beyond anything we can imagine, who doesn't fit into categories because he doesn't fit into the universe he created. He is so much more. We're not going to get into multidimensional universes and all of those things. I'm just telling you God is more, so I don't expect him to fit into my categories. But what I do see scripture revealing is that there is one divine being. There is one what. But the deeper into scripture you go, and it cannot be denied by the time you get deep into the New Testament, is that this one God, this one essence, this one nature is revealed as Father Son, and Spirit. You see, we're trying to define the Trinity, but I can't define it. I can describe this is what it means. Which, by the way, means that there's one what and three whos. There's Father, Son, and Spirit, and yet one God. And now you're the one that's getting seasick because the room's getting swirly. Here's the best way I could describe it to you. If you want to think of the Trinity today, there's one word that we're going to hang on to, and it already came up in the passage. Love. The Trinity is a community of love. So what Jesus is saying is you get to reflect to each other the kind of love that flows within the Trinity. You all, the reason we just did a little heavy lifting was because if you blow past the theology, you don't get what Jesus is praying here. Jesus is not praying, "Father, may they get along as you and I get along." It's not that. Jesus is not praying that you and I will get along in the back seat on our way to eternity. It's so much more. It's based on how He is loved and how He loves within the life of the Trinity, and you need to know that is the core relationship that has always been before there was time, before there was anything. That's why God is love. 1 John 4:18 says God is love. He's loving, but God is love. So what was God doing before there was anything? You ever think about these things? Here's a quote. It's going to surprise you. You're not really going to know what to do with it. Theologian Scott McKnight puts it like this. He says, "The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were in an endless dance of endless love and surging joy and delightful play as they enjoyed the depth of their love for one another. They were doing this forever and are doing this now and will do this for eternity." I'm trying to blow up this idea in your head that God is just this serious, somber, "I'm on my throne, and this is what we do." God is joyful. God enjoys Himself in the Father, Son, and Spirit. You all, the ancients would call it the dance of the Trinity. Jesus is saying, "I have done this for you, and I'm inviting you into it." No, we're not gods. We are redeemed mortals. But He's inviting us into this thing that is going on where we get to enjoy the love of God. We get doused in it, baptized in it, soaked through and through. What did Kirsten say last week if you were here? What is it at the end of her wrestle and the end of her journey? What did she say opened things up for her? She said, "I got to a place where I could trust that God loves me that much." You all, I'll tell you, when that settles in, it starts to change some of the game-playing, some of the insecurities, some of the stuff that we all wrestle with. So we learn again and again and again how loved we are, and we probably learn again and again and again and again how we are to love the way we have been loved. You see, when you and I love the way God loves, it's a raucous, gentle, bold, tender, gutsy, outspoken, quiet, generous, proactive, creative love. When we love that way, Jesus says the world will pay attention because here's a newsflash, the world doesn't see that kind of love anywhere else. You and I live in a violent, chaotic world. We live in a lonely world. A point of research showed that when it comes to Gen Z, the three words that they said were sort of a common reality were isolation, loneliness, and uncertainty. Does that track? Is that you? And some of you are like, "Well, I don't think I'm Gen Z." No, unless you were born between 1997 and 2012, you're not Gen Z. But does that track? Because I think many of us, we think, "I'm good. I've got a whole bunch of people in my life, man." Do you have friends? I was thinking about this on the way into church today. I lost count, Robin, how many times when we were with family last night, how many times I did the math on the fallback, and I would just say it out loud, "Do you know what time it really is? It's 6:30." "You know what time it really is? It's 7:13. You know what time it is, Robin? It's 9:00." Now, I was reveling in this luscious thought, "I've got another hour of sleep tonight." It doesn't work that way, does it? Those of you with small kids, your kids didn't readjust, did they? No. But you know what? The rest of us didn't either. The University of Bristol showed that on average, tops, you might sleep an extra 30 minutes that first night that you think you got an hour. I didn't even get that much. I'm telling you, theoretically, I think, "Oh, I've got all of this," but it's not what I was experiencing. Sometimes we look around and go, "My life is full of people." But do you have friends? Because part of what Jesus is saying here is, "You can't do this alone. You don't want to do this alone. I have created you for more." I was reading this week about people who are frantic. I mean, frantic, in tears, trying to figure out what they're going to do next because Character.AI has filed for bankruptcy. Now, you may not know what Character.AI is, but it's a platform that provides-- It's an app that provides for people to have relationships with chatbots and online characters and personas. And when that bankruptcy goes through and that platform goes away, those chatbots go away. And there are people who are frantically trying to figure out, "Well, what do I do? Because I've invested in that." Now, listen to me. I am not now about to make fun of people who are saying, "I think that's the closest thing to a friend I have." You see, some of you know how hard it is to make friends. Some of you are people who don't track with the social cues that everyone else has, and so you always feel like you're a half step behind. Some of you have been burned so many times that you're like, "This just feels safer." I can imagine that it does, but I want you to hear me. It's not enough. You were made for more. Can I guarantee you when you're talking to flesh and blood people, and you take the risk of having real friends, that it's going to always work out? No. Can I tell you it's going to always be easy? No. But it's worth it. And 2,000 years ago, Jesus said, "If my people will begin to love each other in a completely different way, the rest of the world is going to pay attention and go, 'Oh, so maybe that's what we were made for.' And maybe they will listen to the gospel, the good news of Jesus." I still believe that's true. Now, if you are saying, "I'd like to kind of carve a path into real relationships..." I was just talking with a man today who was saying, "I'm trying to figure out as a guy, how do I have relationships like that?" If you're trying to figure that out, come talk to us. We'll help you. We're not going to own it, but we'll give you some ideas. But for some of us, we need to get out of theory now. So what we're going to do is you're going to hang out with some people around you, and this will be the easiest part of the day for some of you. This will be the most horrifying part of the day for others. And be nice to everybody around you, okay? So if somebody doesn't want to play along or they're new or they're just grumpy this morning, it's okay. If they go, "Mm-mm," just leave them alone. Here's the question. What one or two words describes what it means for us to be one? I want you to think verbs here. What are we doing when we are being one, okay? Use the app because we're going to kind of catch up with everybody at the sites, Mid Rivers, Grants Trail, Fenton, hello, those of you online. But hang out with each other. What does being one look like in the real world in real-time? Go ahead, talk to each other. Okay. All right, let's bring it back here. I bet you got some great answers. I'm just going to ask Dave, would you just start writing some of these things as you're getting them on the app from all of the sites? Okay, so by the way, can I just tell you this? Some of you probably looked at each other and said, "I have no idea what he's been asking." Like, I know what it means to be one. What we're trying to do now is to put some handles on this, okay? We don't want to just talk about it. We want to see where God is leading us. And so these are some good ones. Accepting hospitality. Ooh, that's a good one. 1 Peter 4:9 says, "Show hospitality to others without grumbling." What do you really mean, Peter? It's just like he's just saying, open your lives up, welcome people to the table, and do this. Show hospitality. That's a great one. Kindness, yes. Serving. Empathy. I would say the including and the hospitality are often very similar to each other. How about listening? We're kind of in this-- We've talked about the dance here for a bit. So I'm going to show you a dance step. You ready? Here it is. You ready? James 1:19. It's not my idea, but it works. One quick and two slows. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. There's your dance move, people. You see, as we move into, I don't know if they said it elsewhere, but you're telling us we're in the holiday season now. As we move into the holidays, you might want to remember one quick and two slows. As you move into this next week, yeah, let's talk about that for a second. What a privilege it is for us to vote in this country. What a privilege it is for us to do this. And I know we say that we dread these election cycles, and I'm guessing some of you are fatigued about this time, but we're here. It's now. And so I'm going to ask you, if you would, to study up, to learn, to know what you're doing. Listen from more than one source. Like really understand what's going on. Let the scriptures shape your thinking. Pray hard and then vote because it is a privilege in this country for us as a free people to vote. So do that, and then let me tell you how it's going to turn out. Okay? I'm not calling anything, but here's how it's going to turn out. Some of your people are going to win and some of them aren't going to win. Yeah, I know. I've got the gift of prophecy, don't I? You're going to be thrilled with some of the things that happen, and you're going to be heartbroken about some of the other things that happen. It's almost always that way. Can I tell you what I say before every election? You all listen to me. Jesus is King, and the King of Glory is our ultimate source of healing and hope in this world. And no matter how things turn out, you need to keep your eyes on Him. And some of you are going, "Well, wait, it sounds like you don't think it matters." It does. I just told you to vote. But I'm going to tell you something. Let me tell you something else that matters. How we treat each other in this world. Because here's my next prediction. You're going to bump into somebody, like tomorrow, week from tomorrow, at work, home. I can almost guarantee you it'll happen around the Thanksgiving table. You're going to bump into somebody who disagrees with you politically. What do you do? One quick and two slows. It's biblical. Be quick to listen. Ask questions. Listen. Try to understand. Be slow to speak. Slow to anger. Now, this is what we do. It's not like anything else in the world, but this is what we're called to do. That forgiveness. When somebody fails you, when somebody hurts you, when somebody disappoints you, they betray you, they sin against you, maybe it's just they forgot it was your birthday. I don't know what it is, but somebody does something. Do you go to them or do you let it fester? Do you go to them and say, "Hey, we need to make this right." And if they ask for forgiveness, do you? Do you forgive them? Or do you treat that failure, that grudge, like an Everlasting Gobstopper? You remember Everlasting Gobstoppers from Willy Wonka? Do you remember what they did? They never disappear. They never grow smaller. Do we do that with the things that people do to us and go, "You know what? It's never going to disappear, and it's never going to grow smaller. I'm just going to hang onto it and savor it." God says forgive. Ephesians 4:13 says, "Forgive as God in Christ has forgiven you." You see what I did there? I gave you just one little subtle Halloween reference. You didn't even see it coming. By the way, a week from now, when you're stealing candy out of your kids' stash may the Lord bring to your mind that we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. There you go. You're welcome. I didn't know where we were going to go with this. I'll just tell you, I knew we were going to talk about love. So this one I knew. We use this in weddings, but Paul's writing to the church. Understand the context here. This is the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the followers of Jesus. He says to us, "Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude." "It does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Bears all things, believes, hopes, endures. Sometimes we believe the lie that working on these relationships that we are not worth it. It's just too much. And so we settle into these habits, and the evil one keeps trying to put wedges in between those of us who know the grace of God. And that gets us back to those sharks. How come the instructions that were given to me, to us when we were swimming with sharks, how come those same instructions would seem appropriate to give to people who are hanging out with certain other people, some of whom just might be Christians? Watch your back. You're on your own. If you fall down, you got to get up. If the fight starts, don't get in the middle of it. And whatever you do, do not reach out and ask for help or anything else, or you just might draw back a stump. How come people treat each other this way? How come we've made this normal? How come we've gotten to a place where we go, "Oh, yeah, that's just what we do." How come Christians tolerate this? How come sometimes we're the first to hit on that juicy bit of gossip? How come we're the ones that ghost people and carve them out, and sometimes carve them up behind their back? I'm not going to ask for show of hands on this one, but I'll bet you most of us, if we're going to be honest, would say, "Yeah, I've been hurt by people who call themselves Christians." You all, this is not God's way. And if this sounds like I'm being a bit too in your face, I don't mean to. Well, maybe just a little I do. Because I've done that before to people. God help me. I have done that to people, and so have you. If we are so outrageously loved by God that He pays the costliest of price to invite us into the circle with Him, how can we not be challenged by this prayer? When Christians fight in a way that would make a shark blush, is it just a shame? Is it just what we do? Oh, great, it's what denominations do. It's what churches do. It's what small groups do. It's what Christians do. Is it that, or is it something worse? Because I'm telling you, the world is catching a vibe of who Jesus is by the way we treat each other So when we make fun of somebody who's walking up the stairs to a party, and we just start poofing on them about what they were wearing, or when we roll our eyes and we start saying really ugly things behind somebody's back, or when we are the ones who take the bait and pass it on in the room, or when we are the ones who always have the side jab about that one person, and we think nobody else notices, but we're constantly putting them down. When we are the people who feel like we are called to critique and put down everything that happens in the cul-de-sac, in the office, on the team, at school, maybe even here at church. When we are the people who say things online that we would never own up to in person. When we are the people who cling to grudges. When we are the people who look down on others and wrap ourselves in self-righteousness. This is not God's way. Right. And I need you to know, I am so grateful that I am a part of a community that says we can't do that. Yes. I had a friend who's an author and a speaker who came through town a little bit ago and just had a sampling of us, of our team, and of our church, and came and worshiped, and she just said to me, "Do you have any idea how different you guys are?" I said, "What do you mean?" She goes, "Like, the way you guys are committed to really trying to figure out relationship with each other." Like this whole thing of gossip came up and somebody said, "Around here we really, really, really try to just kind of pull that weed out." And she said, "Do you know?" And I'm like, "I do, and I'm grateful, and I want to say thank you to all of you for this mattering," because the rest of the world is watching. Yeah. You see, when sharks dance and the twirls and the pirouettes are a frightening sight to behold, that's one thing. But when Christians dance that way, God is grieved, people are hurt, and the rest of the world looks at us like we're no different. But there is a better way. Right. And you know this, I just want to remind you of it again. We've been called to something different, something so otherworldly and counter-cultural. It's a different way to live and to love because we are the beloved. We have friendships that last. We have relationships that we're committed to. We try to do things the right way. And when this happens and we creatively collaborate and work together on things, I'm telling you, it's so winsome, it's so attractive, it's a relief, it's a joy, it's a ride, and the watching world goes, "Wait, I can't explain that, but I'd like to know more." Yes. You see, when you look at the dance of sharks, who wants to be in the middle of that? Right. But when you think of the dance of the Trinity, who doesn't want to be in the middle of that? Yes. Y'all, we are being invited into something that our souls long for, the work of God on planet Earth and the work of God in our own friendships. And I just want to say this, for those of you who are still going, "Yeah, but," this isn't a call for us to all blend into some, "Oh, I can't tell anybody apart from anybody." That is so boring and bland and not God. He's not saying that. This isn't a cultish conformity to, "Oh, we've all got to just..." No. Go read the New Testament. Paul tries to talk about all these different people that call themselves family together, Jews and Greeks, slave and free, men and women, rich and old and young and poor, and all of this together. By the time you get to the Book of Revelation, John says it's every tribe, tongue, and nation. You can't even hardly explain it. What am I saying to you? I'm saying this doesn't mean that we don't get to have opinions. This doesn't mean that we don't get to be ourselves. It doesn't mean that we won't disagree. Hello. It doesn't mean that we won't have bumps. It doesn't mean that we don't offer grace to each other. We do that all the time. It doesn't mean that we avoid saying the things that need to be said to each other in love. It doesn't mean that we look the other way when something needs to be done just to kind of keep the peace. No. The love I'm talking about is not icky, it's not sweet, it's not soft. It's strong. It's got weight to it. It's real. And when the world starts to see all of these different people and go, "How are y'all getting stuff done in this world?" It's all because of Him. Praise Him. So what am I saying to you? You, young and old, you who are rich and poor, you who listen to Sinatra or Shaboozey. You didn't get that one. You listen to Ella Langley or Ella Fitzgerald. You vote red or blue or maybe not at all. You who love football or basketball or picketball, or you like to get dressed up and go to the ball. You who hunt birds or bird watch. And for the record, when I'm hunting birds, I am watching them. You who are Black, White, or Brown. You who are married or single or single again. You who have kids and don't have kids. Those of you who live in the county and those of you who live in the city. If we are the followers of Jesus, if we are His capital C Church, do you know what we have in common? Jesus. Yes. Jesus. We have Jesus, and we have no hope of doing this together if we don't stand in view of the cross. We are the people who stand drenched in His grace and filled with the Holy Spirit, and this is the way it has always been. And that means we, above all other organizations on this planet, we have a chance to do things differently, and that's what Jesus was praying that night. Yes. And remember, it's close. Like it's close. He's about to be betrayed now. It's mere hours before God will be nailed to a cross. I mean, we're almost there. Yes. A sacrifice will be made. One life will be laid down and justice will be served. The scales will have tipped and a way will have been made. We're close. So it seems to me like right now would be a good time for you to grab your elements at each of our sites. We'll do this together. It's okay for you to go and get those elements and come back. We'll take them together here now. But on this very night that we're talking about, Jesus gives us a way to remember and a way to remember how much we are loved. You see Jesus is about to win the battle, y'all. But that means that the Son of God would have all of the sin and all of the horror and all of the shame, and it would all be piled up on Him at one place. Paul says that He who knew no sin would now be made sin for us. It doesn't mean that Jesus is sinful. It means that in this moment, it's now all piled on Him, and it means that there's going to be a moment of separation between He and the Father, these two that have known each other since before there was time. Why? Because the hour has come, and because you and I are the beloved. Now, if you believe in this Jesus and you have received this grace, then I invite you to take this with us. If you have not made that decision yet, it's okay. Take a pass. This really won't mean anything until you have made it personal. If you are at a place where you need to do some business with God because you're sideways with somebody else, take a pass. Instead, use these moments now to ask God to bring healing in that relationship. But for those of you who are ready, Jesus said on that night when He took the bread, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." I've been saying all weekend long, and it's a strange phrase really, but I believe it to be true. There is no forgiveness without forsakenness. You see, God, the Son, is going to be forsaken on the cross because the Holy God of the universe cannot look on sin. He will not tolerate sin, and there is a moment when all of this is piled onto the Son that the Father has to look away Now Jesus prays about this in the garden, "Father, is there any other way?" And if you remember a couple of weeks ago, we suggested that if there was another way, don't you think the Father would've taken it? I'm telling you the hour has come, and Jesus is giving us a way to remember, because on the cross, the Son is forsaken, the Father is heartbroken, and the Spirit is grieved. And Jesus says, "This is my blood, which is poured out for you. Remember me." Father, we do not want to take your love for us lightly, the sacrifice of Jesus lightly, the presence of your Spirit lightly. Teach us now how to do something with this besides listen and talk about it. For your glory, we're praying this. I was trying to figure out how we end this thing because I was a little worried that I used that dance metaphor one too many times. And I know some of you are like, "I don't dance and I don't like to dance." So I was trying to think, how do we do this? How do we end this so that-- You're with me, right? Because there's some people that are like, "Okay, come on, how do we do this?" This is for those of you who feel that way. A few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago with some friends and some leaders, I did this and it's another way to think about us being one. Okay? Paul in his letter, Philippians 1:27, he talks about us being in one spirit, facing the gospel, doing this together. And he said striving together. In the Greek it can also be translated striving side by side together. Anthony, Diego, come here. Let me show you what I think that looks like, striving together. The word soon is with the word athleo, because that's what it means, soon athleo. Athleo means just what you think it means, athlete, athletic. So we're talking about teammates here. So if we're going to strive together in the gospel, part of what that means is we lock arms because we were never made to do this alone. Now we do what happens when we lock arms, we face the evil together. We face the challenge together. We advance the gospel together as one. This is what it looks like. But it also means sometimes we celebrate as one. It also means if I'm drifting a little bit, these guys will keep me on course. It means if I'm holding back and I don't want to go through that door and I'm like, "Oh God, I don't think I'm ready for that," they'll push me through the door. You know what they do? They say, "We're going to go through that door together." And as sometimes happens with me, if I get out ahead of myself they're going to go, "Whoa, cowboy, hang on. Let's pray. Let's talk. Let's think this through." But I promise you there are times in my life and maybe your life, you're getting attacked. Something comes up, there's a memory, there's a thing, there's something, and you're going, "I don't think I can do this." It's when we strive together that my brothers and sisters hold me up. This is how the Spirit works as we do this together as one. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? Yes. Okay, good. All right. So here's what I'm going to ask you to do as we leave now. Would you stand? Would you reach across the aisles? Would you lock arms with the people next to you? Some of you are going, "No, I'm not doing that." Well, you can just tell the people next to you, "That's dumb, I'm leaving," and you can go. But I'm going to ask you now to lock arms across the aisles. Come on, don't be bashful with each other. Some of you are not believers yet. This is a part of what we're inviting you into. But I want you now to hear just a teeny bit of this song as a prayer over you. Okay? Just a little bit of this song as a prayer over you. You may want to bow your heads. You may want to be a part of this. You may want to say, "I got to get out of here. This is too intense." You do whatever you need to do. But right now, would you guys just lead us through, just sing over us here at the site. Would you just sing this as a prayer over our people? For the different ways we see you. For all the ways you move. All the colors and expressions. Oh, the beauty of your church. What a masterful reflection. When we are unified. Truly celebrate each other. And let go of our pride. That you would have a spotless bride. Oh, praise the Father. Praise the Son. Holy Spirit, make us one. Every nation, tribe, and tongue. This is our cry. Your kingdom come. We surrender our agendas. Our preference and our plans. Would help us work together. To be your feet and hands. Yeah, our hearts ache just to know you. To show them who you are. Yeah, the gospel's still the answer. For every searching heart. Oh, praise the Father. Praise the Son. Holy Spirit, make us one. Every nation, tribe, and tongue. This is our cry. Your kingdom come. Okay, here's the last part of your assignment. I'm going to ask for the lights to come up a little bit. Find somebody in the room you haven't said hello to maybe in a long time. Tell them you love them. Tell them you miss them. If they need prayer, pray for them. Make plans for lunch now. But can you bring the lights up because I want you all to talk to each other as these guys finish singing over you. Thank you for being here today. Brothers, sisters. Under the banner of your name. Mothers, fathers. Under the banner of your name. All your children. All for the glory of your name. Brothers, sisters. Under the banner of your name. Mothers, fathers. Under the banner of your name. All your children. All for the glory of your name. Oh, praise the Father. Praise the Son. Holy Spirit, make us one. Every nation, tribe, and tongue. This is our cry. Your kingdom come.