WEBVTT

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This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
the Bible teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

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Today we continue in a series called
the Awesome Power of Vision. In

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these lessons, Pastor Rick shows us
how to pursue God's amazing vision for each

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of our lives so that we can
see our future with faith and not fear.

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But first, do you ever feel
like you've lost your spark your joy?

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In just a few moments, We're
going to tell you about an exciting

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new resource that will deepen your relationship
with God and restore your joy. You

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can take a sneak peek right now
by going to Pastororick dot com while you

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listen, and if you want,
you can just text the word Daily to

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eight hundred, six hundred five thousand
and four to find out more. Right

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now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with
the final part of a message called Christ's

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Vision a Unified Family. Write this
down number eight. Here's the eighth in

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the summarizing all the Bible says about
unity. Baptism and communion are the visible

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signs of unity. Baptism and communion
are the visible signs of unity. Both

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of them are symbols of our incorporation
into the body of Christ. Both of

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them visualize that we now don't just
belong to Christ. We belong to each

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other. If you've been baptized,
if you've taken communion, you don't just

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belong to Jesus. You belong to
others, everybody else in the family of

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God, everybody else in your church
family. Now, first, baptism is

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a sign that I intend to protect
the unity of the church family, that

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I belong to. You say,
where's that one? Corinthians twelve, twelve

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and thirteen says this, For just
as your body is a unity, even

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though it has many different parts,
it is with Christ's body the same,

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he says. The church. It's
just same way. He says. We're

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all different. Just look around in
our church. Obviously we're all different,

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but we form one body. We've
all been baptized into Christ's body by the

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same spirit. No matter whether we
were Jews or Greeks, our slaves or

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freemen, we have now all received
the same spirit, he says. No

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matter what your culture background is,
your racial background is, your religious background

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is, your national background is,
he said, doesn't matter what, he

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says, we've all received the same
spirit. We've been baptized into the body

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of Christ. He says, it
doesn't matter what your background is. Now

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you are unified with every other Christian, regardless of your distances differences, which

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means I have more in common,
for instance, with an Asian woman who's

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a believer in Christ, than I
would have in common with an American male

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six foot two man. We have
physical commonalities, but my real commonality is

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with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Now. Paul points out that not

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only baptisms, but also taking communion
is a sign of unity. One Corinthians

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ten, sixteen and seventeen says this
when we eat the bread that we break

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together talking about the bread of communion, isn't that sharing in the body of

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Christ? And by sharing in the
same loaf of bread, we become one

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body, even though there are many
of us. By the way, let

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me point out, the Bible also
says that you should not take communion if

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you're out of unity with anybody else
in your church family. Bible says that

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you actually eat judgment on yourself.
You should not take communion if you're out

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of fellowship, out of unity with
anybody else in your church family. Here's

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the ninth thing that God says about
unity in the church. Right this down.

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Focusing on our common purpose is what
creates unity. Focusing on our common

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purpose creates unity. We find this
in First Corinthians one ten. I love

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this in a new living translation.
Dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to

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you, by the authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to stop arguing among

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yourselves. He's talking to church members. Stop arguing among yourself. Doesn't matter

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what you're arguing about. Just stop
arguing among yourselves. Let there be real

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harmony so there won't be any divisions
in the church. Paul says, I

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plead with you to be of one
mind, united in thought and purpose.

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If you're taking notes, circle that
word purpose. God says, I want

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you to be united in purpose.
Paul's saying, be purpose driven in your

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church. Not program driven, not
pressure driven, not power driven, not

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pleasure driven, not popularity driven,
not personality driven, not politics driven.

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He said, be united in purpose. That's key, all right, Just

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a couple more. Here's the next
insight, number ten, summarizing what the

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Bible says about unity. Unity begins
when we realize we're incomplete without each other.

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Unity begins when you and I Christians
realize that we are incomplete without each

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other. We need each other.
God wired us in such a way that

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nobody gets all the gifts. I
don't have them all. You don't have

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them all. That's why we need
each other. One Corinthians twelve, twenty

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and twenty one and verse twenty five
says this, Yes, we're all different

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parts in Christ's body, but there's
still only one body. Okay. So

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yeah, we got different gifts,
we've got different background, we're different races,

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were different size of shapes, we're
a different gender. Yeah, we're

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all different parts of the body of
Christ. But we're still just one body.

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So he says, the eye can't
say to the hand, I don't

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need you, and the head can't
say to the feet, I don't need

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you. He says, there must
never be any division in the body allowed.

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This is the scripture talking there must
never be any division in the body

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allowed. Instead, all the members
must care for each other equally equally.

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You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be back in just a

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moment with the rest of today's lesson. You can sign up for Pastor Rick's

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free email devotional at Pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com. How do

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you feel spiritually right now? Maybe
you feel spiritually dry, like you're in

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a desert, or like you're just
going through the motions. Maybe you've lost

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your spark, your joy. God
knows how you feel right now. You

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are not alone. He knows even
David and the Bible felt like that and

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Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says
you will seek Me and find Me when

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you seek Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it

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leads to a renewal of your relationship
with Him. That's why Pastor Rick created

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a very special, brand new resource
called Going Deeper with God, a personal

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renewal retreat, and it he'll personally
leave you on a spiritual journey to help

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you seek God. Together, you
and Pastor Rick will go through a series

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of audio lessons and after each session
you'll take a little time to complete exercises

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in the Companion Workbook. You can
do this at home in short sessions,

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or you can get away for a
day and do it in one sitting.

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Through this retreat, you'll experience a
renewal of life within you. God will

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restore your joy as he renews,
refreshes, invigorates, and revives your spiritual

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life. You'll never be the same
again. Will send to you going deeper

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with God a personal renewal retreat as
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a gift today to help daily hope, share the hope of Jesus with a

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hurting world. Just call eight hundred
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That's eight hundred at six hundred five
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Once again, here's Rick fet Corinthians
twelve, twenty six and twenty seven.

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Listen to this. This is another
part that enhances unity in the church.

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When one part of the body suffers, every other part is to suffer with

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it. And when one part of
the body is honored, every other part

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of the body is to rejoice with
it together, not individually. You are

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the body of Christ. You're not
the body of Christ by yourself. I'm

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not the body of Christ by myself. Together, we are the body of

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Christ. And each one of you
is a part of that body, and

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you're a necessary part. So he
says, when somebody's suffering. You need

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to be empathetic. And somebody's going
through pain, be empathetic. Somebody is

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hurting, be empathetic. Somebody's frustrated, be empathetic. Empathy is a key

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to unity. You may write that
down. The more empathetic I am,

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the more I'm going to be able
to build the unity of the church.

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Okay. Number eleven. Jesus died
to unite us, not to divide us.

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That's why it's so important what we're
talking about. This is not some

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minor issue we're covering this week.
Jesus died to unite us, to reconcile

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us, not to divide us.
Phoenesians two sixteen says this in the TeV

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translation. By his death on the
cross, Christ reconciled us and united different

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races into one body. He brought
us all back to God, ending hostility,

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ending hostility. That's what Jesus did
on the cross. He reconciled us

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and united all the different kinds of
people into one body. In fact,

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in the Phesians it says we're a
new race together. He brought us all

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back to God, ending hostility.
I love how the Living Bible puts it

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this verse Pesians two sixteen. It
says the feud ended at the cross.

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The feud ended at the cross.
There's no place for any kind of bigotry

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or preferential treatment. Finally, number
twelve, Jesus write this down. Jesus

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expects me to work hard at unifying
Christians. This is not something for somebody

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else. If you claim to be
a Christian, this is part of your

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job description. Jesus expects me to
work hard at unifying Christians in the church

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family. Ephesians four to three says
this, make every effort, circle that,

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make every effort to keep the unity
of the spirit. Bind yourselves together

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by living in peace with each other. That's a direct statement from God's word.

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One day we'll stand before God and
has say did you do that?

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Did you make every effort to keep
the unity of the spirit in your church

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family? Did you bind yourselves together
with everybody else to live in peace with

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each other. I want to share
a personal grief with you, and it's

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this I am. I am sad. Actually, I'm heartbroken that today's Christians

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are known more for other things than
our love for each other. We're not

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known for what I'm talking about today, what the God says what God says

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in his word. You know,
if you were to take a survey,

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go out on the street and ask
a thousand people on the street, what

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do you think of first when you
think of a born again Christian? What

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do you think? The answer would
be? The number one answer would be

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what do you think? It would
be the number one answer, what do

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you think of when you think of
a born again Christian? I seriously doubt

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if you ask a thousand people that
anyone, anyone would say, Man,

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those guys really love each other,
They really really love each other. That's

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what we'd be known for. It's
the one thing that Jesus wants us to

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be known for. I think the
one thing that Jesus wants us to be

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known for wouldn't even make the list. That's how off course the contemporary church

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is today. My brothers and my
sisters, we need to practice Philippians Chapter

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one, verse twenty seven to twenty
eight. This should be one of our

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key verses this next year. I
love it in the message. It says

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this, no matter what happens,
okay, COVID or not, COVID politics

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are no politics, riots or no
riots. No matter what happens live in

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such a way that you are a
credit to the good News of Christ.

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Stand united, Stand united, singular
envision, contending for people's trust in the

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Gospel. In other words, caring
about what they think about the Gospel more

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than what they think about anything else, not flinching or dodging in the slightest

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before the opposition. And then he
says, this, your courage and your

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unity will show them the opposition what
they're up against. Defeat for them,

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victory for you, and both because
of God. Wow. Now, in

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part two this message, we're going
to look at the practical ways that God

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wants us to implement Christ's vision for
us. This is the vision of Christ

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for you, it's the vision of
Christ for our church. So we'll look

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at the practical steps in the next
message. But I want to close with

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a couple more verses, and I
want to make a statement that you've probably

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never thought of before. Here's the
statement. Jesus Us is still waiting for

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us to be the answer to his
prayer. Two thousand years later, Jesus

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is still waiting for us to be
the answer to his prayer when he prayed

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that we would be one that the
world would look at the church and goes

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man, those people love each other. The subject that was uppermost in his

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mind as he's getting ready to go
to the cross was this that we his

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children would be unified, That we
would defend each other, not criticize each

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other, That we would love each
other, not argue with each other.

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That we his family would model love. That we his family would not be

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divided over secondary issues, but that
we would make our allegiance to each other

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the priority over any other allegiance.
You know, Satan hates the unity of

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the church. He hates the unity
of Christians. Why because the unif fight

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church is unstoppable. In the first
five chapters of Acts, it talks about

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acts and the unity they had in
the first Church. We will have the

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power of acts. We will have
the miracle vacs when we have the unity

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of acts. Satan hates the unity
of christian He's the divider. He's the

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source of all conflict. Why because
he knows a divided church is a powerless

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church. So I want to close
this message by echoing a prayer that Paul

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prayed and honestly, friends, it's
my deepest prayer for you, It's my

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deepest prayer for me. It's our
deepest, my deepest prayer for our church

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family, and by the way,
for every other church family too. I

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pray this. Colossians two to two
in the Living Bible says this, This

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is what I have asked of God
for you, that you will be encouraged

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and knit together by the strong ties
of love, by strong ties of love.

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One day you're going to get to
heaven and you're going to stand before

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God. And he's not going to
ask you how much money did you make

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in life. He's not going to
ask you, you know, how much

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education did you get. He's not
going to ask you, did you convert

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anybody to your political views? Who'd
you vote for? He's not going to

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ask that. He's not going to
ask did you enjoy retirement? But it

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is much more likely that God will
ask did you learn you really learn to

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love your brothers and sisters in my
family, even those who didn't agree with

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you. Did you learn to love
the members of the family who were different

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to you, different background? You
see, my dear friends, what I'm

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saying today is the bottom line is
this, one of the five purposes of

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life is learning how to really love, and the Church is the laboratory for

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that. It's how we are to
practice learning how to really love, because

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we don't do it very good.
Nobody teaches you how to really love.

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But the Bible says without love,
I'm nothing. And the Bible also says

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the only thing that matters is faith
expressed through love. So I have to

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ask myself as I look at all
these verses we've run through, I have

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to ask myself, is this the
top priority in my life? Loving other

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Christians? And I have to urge
you to ask yourself that question. And

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when part two, as I said, we're going to look at the practical

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steps that each of them can take. But A'll end with one other verse

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Colossians three fourteen in the New Century
version says, this is what God says

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to those of us who are in
the Family of God. Quote most important

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of all, most important of all, love each other. Love is what

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holds you all together in perfect unity. See unity is just the visible expression

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of love. Now, if you're
not a part of the Family of God,

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then you need to become a part
today. The only thing that's going

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to last on this earth for eternity
is the Church. It's the family of

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God. God created the universe because
he wanted a family, and you need

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to become a part of God's family
today, how by committing your life to

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Jesus Christ. If you haven't done
that, you need to just open your

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life to Christ. Say Jesus Christ, forgive me and accept me into your

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kingdom, into your church, into
your family. I ask you to come

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into my life, Please change me, replace the fear and anxiety and self

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centeredness with your love. I want
to learn to love you, and I

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want to learn to love your family. And I humbly ask you to accept

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me into your family by grace.
I don't deserve it, but I put

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my faith in your grace. Thank
you for dying on the cross for me.

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Help me to understand that. I
pray this humbly in your name.

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Amen. Hi everybody, this is
Rick and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast.

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You know, if you just prayed
that prayer for the very first time,

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or you just recommitted your life to
Jesus again today, would you let

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00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:44.000
me know about it. There's something
real about sharing your commitment. So write

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00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:47.839
me Rick at pastor Rick dot com
and say, Rick, I prayed that

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00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.559
prayer of commitment. I gave my
life to Christ, and I'll send you

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00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:55.880
some material that will help you on
your journey with Jesus. And I'll also

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00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:02.799
pray for you. God bless you. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.

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We're so happy that you've chosen to
study along with us today. If you'd

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like to receive rix free daily devotional, go to Pastorick dot com and sign

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up right now. Rick will be
right back to close out our time today.

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But first, how do you feel
spiritually right now? Maybe you feel

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spiritually dry, like you're in a
desert, or like you're just going through

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the motions. Maybe you've lost your
spark, your joy. God knows how

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you feel right now, and you're
not alone. He knows even David and

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the Bible felt like that and Jeremiah
twenty nine thirteen. God says, you

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will seek Me and find Me when
you seek Me with all your heart.

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When you seek God intentionally, it
leads to a renewal of your relationship with

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Him. And that's why Pastor Rick
created a very special, brand new resource

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00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:57.720
called Going Deeper with God, a
personal renewal retreat. In it, he'll

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00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:03.680
personally lead you on spiritual journey to
help you seek God. Together, you

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00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:07.200
and Pastor Rick will go through a
series of audio lessons, and after each

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00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:12.640
session you'll take a little time to
complete exercises in the Companion workbook. You

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00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:17.279
can do this at home in short
sessions, or you can get away for

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00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:21.599
a day and do it in one
sitting. Through this retreat, you'll experience

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00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:25.960
a renewal of life within you.
God will restore your joy. As he

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00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:30.519
renews, refreshes, reinvigorates, and
revives your spiritual life, You'll never be

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00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:37.200
the same again. We'll send you
going Deeper with God a personal Renewal retreat

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00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:41.000
as our way of saying thanks.
When you give a gift today to help

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00:22:41.079 --> 00:22:45.200
Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus
with a hurting world. Just call eight

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00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:51.680
hundred six hundred five thousand and four
or go to Pastorick dot com to get

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00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:56.119
your copy of this great resource.
That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and

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00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:02.400
four or Pastorick dot com. Pastor
Rick with a letter from one of our

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00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:06.519
listeners. Hi, everybody today,
I want to share a note that we

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00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:11.559
receive from Darren. He wrote me. He calls Daily Hope his morning cup

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00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.440
of God because it helps him stay
focused on God throughout the day. Darren

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00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:19.000
wrote me this, He said,
Pastor Rick, I thank God for Daily

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00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:23.400
Hope. I support Daily Hope because
Christ Hope is for me and in me,

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00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:27.680
and I support it because it sends
Christ's message to people all over the

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00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:32.400
world. He wrote. You know, I've dealt with my share of demons

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in my life. I've had cancer, huge financial losses, addictions, permanent

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00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:42.039
disability, chronic pain, and depression. But Daily Hope gets me going in

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00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:47.119
the morning. It's like a cup
of coffee for me. But if I

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00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:51.079
haven't had my cup of God in
the morning, then I feel like I'm

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less able to pass on the good
news to others. So thank you,

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00:23:53.880 --> 00:24:00.359
Pastor Rick. You know, Daily
Hope helps people like Darren get their lives

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00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:04.920
back on track because it connects them
not just with God, but with God's

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00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.880
Word. And it is so important
for each of us to spend time with

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00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:15.519
God and in God's Word every day. So I want to encourage every one

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of you to make a daily habit
of opening the Bible. Sit down and

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00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:23.240
open the Bible. You may open
it on a iPad or on your phone,

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00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:29.000
but open the Bible to see what
God says about how we're meant to

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00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:33.119
live. God bless you everybody.
If you'd like to let Rick know how

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00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:37.680
this broadcast has blessed you, feel
free to send him an email at Rick

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00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:42.079
at pastor rick dot com. That's
Rick at pastorrick dot com. Be sure

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00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:47.839
to join us next time as we
look into God's word for our daily hope.

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This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's
Daily Hope and your generous financial support