IN FAITH, UNITY (3 OF 4)
by Jeff Strite
Scripture: John 17:1-23, John 17
This content is part of a series.
In Faith, Unity (3 of 4)
Series: Whatsa Motto U
Jeff Strite
John 17:1-23
OPEN: There's a Methodist minister named J. Gordon Melton who has an interesting hobby. He collects lists of church denominations in the United States... and his research has revealed there are 1517 different recognized denominations in USA. He includes all kinds of groups, including cults such as the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses. Additionally there are a few ''peculiar'' groups in his list such as:
- ''The Church of the Mystery of Universal Wisdom''. They believe they can communicate with aliens and they seek guidance from flying saucers.
- ''The Embassy of Heaven'' (Strayton, Ore.) considers all earthly governments illegitimate and issues its own license plates for cars. No word as to whether Oregon accepts their license plates as legitimate.
- ''The Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus''. Now, I'm not quite sure what all this group teaches... but I'm pretty sure I could recognize them from a mile away. They'd be the ones with no clothes on.
- And the last one that caught my attention was ''The Church of God Anonymous''. They're kind of hard to find since they're (pause) anonymous.
Those are some of the ''odd ducks'' in the list. But in that list of 1517 denominations there are groups that we would probably consider to be more ''normal''.
- There are 88 denominations that call themselves Baptist.
- 42 call themselves Methodist.
- 22 call themselves Presbyterian - and the list goes on and on.
APPLY: Now contrast that reality to these statements out of Scripture:
Philippians 1:27 ''Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.''
Ephesians 4:3-6 ''Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one bo ...
Series: Whatsa Motto U
Jeff Strite
John 17:1-23
OPEN: There's a Methodist minister named J. Gordon Melton who has an interesting hobby. He collects lists of church denominations in the United States... and his research has revealed there are 1517 different recognized denominations in USA. He includes all kinds of groups, including cults such as the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses. Additionally there are a few ''peculiar'' groups in his list such as:
- ''The Church of the Mystery of Universal Wisdom''. They believe they can communicate with aliens and they seek guidance from flying saucers.
- ''The Embassy of Heaven'' (Strayton, Ore.) considers all earthly governments illegitimate and issues its own license plates for cars. No word as to whether Oregon accepts their license plates as legitimate.
- ''The Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus''. Now, I'm not quite sure what all this group teaches... but I'm pretty sure I could recognize them from a mile away. They'd be the ones with no clothes on.
- And the last one that caught my attention was ''The Church of God Anonymous''. They're kind of hard to find since they're (pause) anonymous.
Those are some of the ''odd ducks'' in the list. But in that list of 1517 denominations there are groups that we would probably consider to be more ''normal''.
- There are 88 denominations that call themselves Baptist.
- 42 call themselves Methodist.
- 22 call themselves Presbyterian - and the list goes on and on.
APPLY: Now contrast that reality to these statements out of Scripture:
Philippians 1:27 ''Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.''
Ephesians 4:3-6 ''Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one bo ...
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