SHOW NOTES:

• The Book of Acts begins with the collective experience of the disciples being gathered in one place for Pentecost. They had been directed by Jesus to go to the upper room and wait. After many days, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

• There are many accounts in the Scriptures of the brethren entering into spiritual experiences simultaneously.

• Many sons of God are coming forth as they cry for the Lord Jesus Christ to rule and reign in their lives. It's a cry that brings a unity.

• God is bringing His people into a new level of awareness where the will of God is being revealed for the Body of Christ more than for each individual.

• There is coming an advanced attitude of “we and ours” in place of the attitude of “me and mine”.

• Body ministry does not automatically happen when members come together and claim they are one; there must be a dedication to become one.

QUOTATIONS:

• If you agree on something that is a spiritual entity that God is directing you to reach into, and you reach into that with somebody who has the same cry in their heart, and you touch that together, there's power that's loosed.

• We actually discover it in one another—the same depth, the same cry, the same drive.

• The challenge is not in combining what we think to come into unity, but it's laying down what we think and taking on the Father.

• There has to be in us the willingness to say, “Lord, I hear what You're speaking , and I am willing to drop what I think out of the equation, because It's Your will that I'm believing for, not mine but Yours.”

REFERENCES:

Psalm 133:1

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.

Ephesians 4:12-13

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the statue which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Acts 4:23-24

When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them, and when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.”

Acts 2:1

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

Matthew 18:19-20

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

Romans 12:10

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.

TAKE AWAY:

Oneness can be a deeper experience than the normal human bond or friendship. There can be a level of relating that brings a dropping of the individual in order to blend with another person or group of people. The experience of lifting up our voices in one accord, as the Scriptures talk about, reveals Him in His greatness. He is creating His many-membered Body that truly walks in His lordship.

Dale:

Our oneness in the body of Christ has to be an experience. And as we are coming into a relationship with one another, we spend time together, we worship together, we eat together. There's things that we do that, that create unity, and they become experiences. One of the things that creates that unity is our cry for the Lordship of Jesus Christ to rule and reign in our lives . That the body of Christ move into a oneness. Aren't we seeking a unity of the Spirit, a unity with one another, our love for the Lord? Is that the unity we're looking for?

Ken:

I think oneness is more than unity, though . And I'll tell you why I say that . You can be one with a person in a level of unity where you agree on most everything, but you'll never agree on everything. You'll just have a condition where you come together. Yeah.

We're good friends. And so we get along and we don't let issues develop that'll divide us or anything like that. Oneness ; I'll explain it like this, because this has been a cry of my heart. I've seen people come into this level of oneness just for a moment, and it is a dropping of your own individual identity to blend with another person or a group of people in a level of oneness. But if you agree on something that is a spiritual entity that God is directing you to, to reach into, and you reach into that with somebody who has the same cry in their heart, and you touch that together, there's a power that's loosed, set free in that, that really, really brings forth a miraculous thing to happen. Again, it's an experience.

Ron:

I would add to that, that the agreement is not a mental agreement. It is, in a sense, it's part of it. But if it's just a mental agreement, there's no power, there's nothing in that. This is an agreement of Spirit. This is an agreement in His presence. This is an agreement that's deep within you, actually an agreement before the Lord.

Each person has the same drive, the same agreement, the same revelation in the Lord. And when those two things touch, that agreement has power in it and has authority in it because it's something that comes from His Spirit. And it's united in oneness with His spirit. So each person, each individual has the same level of revelation, dedication, and oneness in their relationship to the Lord and in their agreement on whatever topic it is.

I think that's what happened in the Scriptures, in the book of Acts, when they came together after, they had been imprisoned, and they came back and they reported what the authorities had said to them, and then they all lifted up their voice with one accord. There was something in each one of those people that was so united in their hearts before the Lord. So it wasn't a mental thing. There was a cry in their hearts before the Lord . As humans, you cannot manufacture that.

That's something that God creates in each individual. He's creating his many member body. And so as He creates that in each person, then we come together with that same cry, that same spirit.

We actually discover it in one another. Oh my God, you have the same depth, the same cry, the same drive. It has nothing to do with a personality agreement or let's get along. That's so not the same thing. It's just deep, deep, deep cry. What's that scripture? Deep calls on the deep. It's like that.

A very deep thing that God created. I think that's the oneness that we're, you could say we're reaching for. Yes, we are. We have to be open, but really it's the Lord creating it in His body.

Ken:

You think back in the Old Testament, and there were schools of prophets And different ones, even Saul, after he had sent several people, to try to find David.

Saul himself decided, I'm just going to go and find out what's going on. And he got into the school of prophets, and the Spirit of God was so rich and so one, that he entered in and began to prophesy just like the rest of them. I want to see that kind of level of oneness, and I'm really believing for that.

Dale:

The Scriptures are filled with different ways to approach the unity of oneness. Our human nature is limited. And so this thing of unity becomes a challenge. The challenge is not in combining what we think to come into unity, but it's laying down what we think and taking on the Father. Jesus Christ taught us taking on that.

And that's what we unify around. Jesus Christ is Lord. That's easy to unify around. I love the Day of Pentecost. They followed a word from the Lord. Go to this room. Stay. tary. And that he gave a simple promise of the Holy Spirit. Unity is based on, we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. That brings us into a place of unity.

And it triggers the oneness. Where two or more are gathered in My name, there I am also. And whose will are you gonna do when He shows up? You're doing His will.

Ken

I love what you're saying, Dale, because there has to be in us the willingness to say, Lord, I hear what You're speaking, and I am willing to drop what I think out of the equation, because it's Your will that I'm believing for, not mine, but Yours.

So when I hear a word from God, I quickly say, Lord, that's Your voice. I hear what You're speaking. And I just drop my own interpretation, my own way of looking at things and say, yes, Lord. That's not easy for a human being, but it's what God's calling us, I think, to really walk in.