Tag Archives: working together

May 31, 2024 · 5:35 AM

Being Together

In Exodus 17, while the Israelites were trekking through the wilderness, they were attacked by the Amalekites. Moses knew they needed the Lord’s help for victory, so he sent Joshua to take men to the battle while he went up a hill with Aaron and Hur. While Moses’ hands were raised, they we’re winning, but when he got tired and out them down, they began to lose. Aaron and Hur held Moses’ hand up until the battle was won. They gave a great representation why we need people in our lives around us. Even when God is fighting our battles, we need to be together with His people. Like God told Adam in the Garden, it’s not good to be alone. We need to be together for strength, encouragement, victory and more. Don’t try to face life alone. Get together with God’s people who will support you and hold you up the way Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms.

Here are some Bible verses on being together.

1. Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.

Philippians 1:27 GNT

2. For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.

Matthew 18:20 AMP

3. Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NLT

4. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.

Hebrews 10:25 TPT

5. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Thanks to Unsplash for the photo.

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August 24, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Working In Harmony

I grew up as the middle child of three boys. Like most siblings we fought over insignificant things and argued over just about anything. We often tried to get each other in trouble by tattling. Many times we would instigate arguments between the other two just to watch them fight. Like most siblings, we were competitive and were always trying to outdo each other. We had the same parents, but we had three very distinct personalities. As we matured, the fighting and arguing stopped. We learned to get along and how to help each other out. Even though we sometimes have disagreements, we don’t allow those to be reasons to separate us. We recognize those are personal choices and don’t try to force each other to live by each other’s personal rules.

Romans 14 has a lot to say about similar things. We as individuals and corporate bodies of churches often fight with each other over things the way siblings do. We find reasons to argue with each other even though we serve the same God. Instead of working together, the way a body should, we find problems with each other’s choices and interpretations that don’t line up with our own. Paul says those are signs of immaturity. Why are we fighting with each other trying to prove who’s right or better? We’re on the same side. When we look for differences, we’ll find them and be divided. We know that a house divided can’t stand, nor can it accomplish its great commission.

Paul encourages us in verse 19 by saying, “So then, make it your top priority to live a life of peace with harmony in your relationships, eagerly seeking to strengthen and encourage one another” (TPT). The foot is not more right than a hand because it walks instead of grabs. An eye is not greater than an ear because it sees rather than hears. We have differences because there are strengths in our differences. Let’s quit firing our weapons at each other, look for each other’s strengths and work together so that all may know Him. We must live in peace and harmony with each other as believers. The best way to do that is to seek to help, strengthen and encourage each other in the work God has called each of us to. It’s time we matured in our faith and worked in harmony with each other to accomplish His will instead of our own.

Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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June 15, 2020 · 5:53 AM

Complimentary Christianity

One of the things I love is sports because they teach you so much about life and they require intellect, discipline and teamwork. I used to love playing them, now I love watching them. One of the things you will hear a coach tell their team is that they want them to play complimentary ball. When I was younger, I didn’t really know what that meant. I grew to understand that coaches understand different players are gifted differently and have different levels of skill. Their desire is that each person would put down their ego and play to each other’s strengths for the betterment of the team. Teams that figure out how to play complimentary are hard to beat because they’re versatile and run as one.

When I was in my early 20’s, I had the unique opportunity to intern at a church that had over 20 denominations and 50 nationalities all under one pastor. It was incredible to see the Body of Christ united by their commonality instead of being divided by their differences. I got to experience the Church function the way it was intended to. Each person and group of people didn’t fight others trying to say their way was the on,y way or the “right” way. Instead, they worshipped side by side in a variety of services throughout the month. This church still exists and is thriving because the people who attend understand we’re co-laborers and not competitors.

Paul addressed this in Ephesians 4:4-7. He wrote, “You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness. But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift” (MSG). We are all different and have been gifted differently, but we all have one purpose. It’s time we quit trying to do everything on our own and being upset because we’re not gifted the same way as others. Your gifts are meant to be used in a complimentary fashion with others in order to advance the Kingdom. We are all different and have different ways of achieving the Great Commission, but we’re also one body and are called to work together under one Lord.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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April 10, 2018 · 5:42 AM

One Body. One Mission.

What do you think of other church denominations other than yours? What do you think about the Baptists? The Methodists? The Presbyterians? The Vineyard Church? The Assemblies Of God? The non-denominational churches? Do you have positive thoughts about them? Do you see them as the competition? Do you see them as having incorrect doctrine? The truth is we all feel something when we see other churches, and it’s related to how you were brought up to think.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me when I first started attending the church I go to was that each week the pastor would pray before his sermon. In that prayer he would say, “Lord, I bless the Methodist church down the road meeting this morning. I pray for Pastor Johnson at the baptist church this morning. Speak through him. I pray over our Anglican brothers and sisters meeting this morning. Holy Spirit, meet with your body of believers this morning.” Each week, he would call out different pastors and churches in the area and bless them.

God uses those prayers to remind me that we are all One Body and co-laborers together. Each of us has a part to play in the Body. We are not in competition with each other, but in cooperation in the Great Co-Mission. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:25, “The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part” (MSG). God’s desire, and design, is that we learn to work together and to become depend on each other.

We are not to be in competition with each other or against each other. Remember, if a house is divided, it can’t stand. We need to look at our commonalities and give a 100% on building relationships around those things. I’ve been on staff at a church that had 50 denominations represented in the audience with people from over 50 different nations. We worked and worshiped together as one. This is God’s design for His Body, and it starts with us individually focusing the things that unite us rather than what separates us.

Photo by Ghost Presenter on Unsplash

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