We Are One

So my name's René, another one of the pastors here at TLC, and I want you to picture something. Picture a Memorial Day picnic. Tomorrow's sometime, it's a park somewhere around town, and it's family reunion. And tomorrow, the marine layer is gonna get burned off, and we're gonna see the beautiful blue sky. And there's a bunch of picnic tables, and they're all laid out with those red and white checked picnic tables, classic Americana, right? And on the picnic tables, there's a potluck. There's apricot pie, and there's homemade potato salad, and there's corollita sausage. Raise your hand if you're hungry right now. You just wanna leave, right? And then something goes horribly wrong.

This is actually, sadly, a true story that I heard from one of the pastors at another church called The Crossing. He's got a great little podcast called Truth Over Tribe, and he talks about one of the things that motivated him to start that podcast was this incident. His family decided to have a big family reunion, and all the in-laws and everybody, aunts and uncles, everybody all gathering together. Now, this happened right before the last election, so you can probably see what's coming. Laughing people lined up for the potluck when one of his relatives proudly proclaims her progressive politics over the potato salad.

At which point, facing her, there's two lines going down the picnic table, and directly facing her is another one of his relatives, who's on the far opposite side politically, who had had just enough bush lights to eliminate any inhibition, and he loudly argues—there's a fight, there's even a food fight—and long story short, the reunion ends with everybody packing up their lawn chairs and their covered dishes on a very awkward note.

Now, not too long ago, that might've been the end of it, right? In fact, it might've even been remembered a little bit humorously, you know, given enough time, like, you remember that time that Aunt Bula and Uncle Bob kinda went crazy over politics? Eye rolls all around and shared chuckles, right? But we are in the social media age where family feuds can go nuclear and can last forever. I'm getting a lot of nods, and I'm thinking, some of you have experienced this personally. You can see what's coming, because the family immediately started going into their camps and attacking each other on each other's Facebook accounts, and it just got worse.

Because then, and this is a true story, when one of the side on what you could call the right wing, who was a young father, died suddenly of brain cancer, leaving two small children and a grieving widow, the left wing faction boycotted the funeral because they said they would rather do that than see their evil family members. In response, the right wing side of the family issued a series of disinvitations to three weddings that were taking place later that year, to which the progressive side of the family had been invited, but to which they were no longer welcome. The family members stopped talking to each other. It's been years later, and as of this day, they still have not reconciled, and this man who's a pastor finds himself in the awkward middle. And oh, oh, did I mention, almost all of the family are Christians.

I wish I could say that that's unusual. Interesting article that was out in The Economist recently, the disunited states of America. The article starts, "It's no longer just Republican versus Democrat or liberal versus conservative. Depending on what you read, it's now the 1% versus the 99%, rural versus urban, white versus black, climate skeptics versus climate believers, business versus environment, country music versus actual music." I just added that one myself, 'cause it was getting kinda heavy, okay. But there's no doubt we are living in a world of us versus them. How many of you feel like it feels like it's worse than ever in your life? Anybody ever feel like that? Yeah, well, you're not dreaming, because Pew Research did a study on political polarization in 19 countries just recently. And guess where we rank? They say Americans are more ideologically divided than any of the other 19 countries they surveyed.

Now just think about that. Think about the countries in the world. And we're the most divided. Northwestern University in Chicago did a whole big study on this recently. And I really found their conclusions to be right on. The researchers said this, it's no longer that people only associate with their own side. It's that they're contemptuous of the other side. This rise in hate is what we find so alarming. People on the other side are not just wrong. They're evil. And they point this out. It's not just people on the other side. Have you noticed this? People on our side who are not sufficiently pure are apostates.

What can we do about this? Well, the good news is that God cares. And that God cares enough to have done something about this already. Grab your message notes, your true self is our series in the first couple of chapters in the book of Ephesians. We're going to go verse by verse through the whole book all through the rest of the summer. And we've been basing this partly on Chip Ingram's great book, Discovering Your True Identity. I recommend it. We've got some available still at the book cart in the lobby.

And if you've got your Bibles with you, open to Ephesians chapter two, verses 11 through 22. And if you're just joining us this weekend, I'm super stoked you're here. You're not gonna miss a thing even though we've already been in the series 'cause I'm about to give you a quick recap. The book of Ephesians in our Bible is actually a letter that was penned from prison by one of the leaders of the early Christians, a man named Paul. Now why would Paul, facing a death sentence, take his time to address these Christians in this city called Ephesus? Well, he starts out his letter by really pumping them up. Remember, he's like, you're blessed, you're chosen, you're all part of the family of God, you've been forgiven and it's all by grace so that no one can boast.

We've been covering that so far in this series. But he's leading to something. And what he's leading to is this. Back in those days in the ancient Roman world, if anything, it was divided even worse than our society is today. Talk about of us versus them culture. Here's some of the divisions. They had Romans versus non-Romans. Men versus women. Women were treated as non-edities by many men. Citizens versus non-citizens. Greeks versus barbarians. The Greeks had a saying, "All men can be divided into two classes, the Greeks and barbarians are everybody else." There was free versus slave. A lot of slave revolts happening. Rich versus poor. And then of course the big one, Jew versus Gentile. Gentile meaning non-Jews. Gentiles obviously had invaded and oppressed and enslaved and slaughtered Jewish people throughout the centuries already back then and anti-Semitism sadly continues to this day.

And Jewish people for their part, especially in those days, regarded all Gentile people as unclean to one degree or another. So much so that even Christian Jewish people would refuse to even eat with Christian Gentiles. And all these groups that we just talked about found the perfect place to clash in the city of Ephesus. Why? It was the largest city in the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Larger than Athens. And so it is all those groups I just described to you in huge numbers. Consequently, we read historically about there's riots all the time, there's uprisings, one class against another. And guess what happens? There's something that changes history. And we read about it in the Bible in the 19th chapter of Acts.

It says the apostle Paul strolls into the city of Ephesus. And he does what he usually does when he arrives in a new city. He heads straight for the Jewish synagogue where he starts preaching. And then as often happens, he gets kicked out of the synagogue. And after he gets the boot, he starts looking around for a place to preach. And in a history making move, he does not go to another Jewish synagogue. And he does not go to the area of the Greek temples in town, kind of the sacred district with the pagan temples and the shrine of Artemis. And he does not go to a private home, nor does he go outdoors. Now he does do all of those things at one point or another in the book of Acts. But this time he does something new. This time he innovates. He rents a lecture hall.

In fact, the author of Luke tells us the name, it was so unusual, he's like, this is incredible, let me document this. It was called the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Why is that important? Well, because for the next two years or so, the apostle Paul preaches there and teaches there. And his choice of that place was genius. Follow me here. Because the lecture hall of Tyrannus is not a pagan temple, it's not a Jewish synagogue, it's not a private Gentile home, it's not a private Jewish home, everyone from all those divisions is okay about going there. It's a neutral ground. And so for the first time, Paul teaches for a long time at a place where he doesn't get kicked out. And all these people go to hear Paul.

By the way, Paul is a Roman and a citizen and a Jew and a Christian. And so he's sort of this human bridge between all these cultures and he's very aware of that fact. And over these two years, a lot of people from all these groups not only come to hear Paul, but they find faith in Jesus Christ. And they all are meeting in the lecture hall of Tyrannus together. However, there's all of these current antagonisms and past memories that keep dogging the fellowship there in that little church. And Paul's hearing about divisions between all of these groups. And now Paul has to convince them, and he really does this for the whole rest of the book of Ephesians. He has to convince them, you all now have one identity that transcends all these other identities even while it honors them. You are all now one in Christ.

And if he doesn't convince them of that, the whole Jesus movement is doomed almost before it starts. So how is Paul going to convince all these people to get along? They never have before? What's he gonna say? How many people think we need to hear this message today? Isn't it interesting how relevant the Bible is? It's because human nature doesn't change. What I'm about to say will challenge you today in our us versus them culture. I guarantee you'll be challenged at some level, but I'll tell you something else. Your life will be more full and rich and beautiful if you learn this. And Paul's really setting up conceptually what he's going to give us as applications between all those divisions for the whole rest of his book.

So he's gonna talk about three things: the reality of the problem, the root of the problem, and then the complete change, the radical change that Jesus Christ has done for us. So first, the reality of the problem. Paul does not skip over the fact that yes, there are major, major, major problems and there have been historically. He says in verse 11, "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision," which is just done in the body by human hands, that stopped there for just a second. What in the world is he talking about? Well, uncircumcised was a pejorative term for Gentiles. They were called this name by the circumcision, the Jewish people who kept the ceremonial religious laws. And this had been an insult for centuries, way back, a thousand years before this.

You see David insulting Goliath, remember that? They're trading insults kind of like pro wrestlers before a match or something like that. And what does David call him? You uncircumcised Philistine. And this had become a worse and worse and worse really kind of a racial slur. Paul's acknowledging that. And he says, "Remember that at that time you were," and look at all the nature of these divisions. Just look at this. You were separate from Christ. So there's a religious divide. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel. So there's a political divide. You were foreigners to the covenant of the promise. So there's a historical guide because they weren't part of the historical chosen people of Israel without hope and without God in the world. That's a dire situation.

Without hope, what's he mean? The Jews believe that God had made a promise, that all of human history is moving forward toward the coming of a Messiah who's going to make it all work out okay. But there was no such promise in the religion of the Greeks. In fact, their religion generally taught that history repeated itself in 3,000 year cycles. And at the end of each cycle, everything just kind of burns up and starts over on this futile treadmill. And Paul's saying, "That was a hopeless way to live." And what's happening here in these two verses is Paul is acknowledging reality. He's not papering over differences. He's saying the separation between those two groups, man, it was deep, it was real, it was theological, it was political, it was historical, and it was seemingly insurmountable.

But then he gets to the root of the problem to see how Jesus Christ deals with that. He dealt with it not at a superficial level, but at a ground, ground level. Verse 13, he says, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away were brought near by the blood of Christ." What he's saying is the root cause of division, the root cause of fighting, the root cause of prejudice, of any kind of division is sin. And so the ultimate solution is removal of sin and forgiveness, and that's exactly what Jesus Christ does. He goes on, "For he himself is our peace." Now, what does that mean? He is our peace. How could a person be peace? Because he is the one who sacrificed himself on the cross and rose again to remove the sin that causes all that division.

And he did this, you know what, say peace out loud with me, peace. Peace is one of the key words in this passage. It's one of the things that's just gonna bind this whole passage together. Jesus is our, say it again, our peace. Now watch this, he has made the two groups one, that's the other key word here is one, say that out loud with me, one. And he has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Now, watch this, we read this today, and we don't know the historical context, we're like, okay, that's a metaphor. Jesus Christ has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, there's all these walls, we gotta bridge the gap, we use all these things as metaphors.

Back in those days, watch this, this was real, he's talking literally about the Jerusalem temple. Look at this diagram, this is kind of an overview of the temple back in those days. There was the Holy of Holies where God's presence was seen to be. Remember that, God's Holy Spirit dwelled there in the Holy of Holies. And it was separated from the rest of the world by a thick veil or curtain, and only the high priest could go there and only once a year. Now watch this, in front of that, there was another area where only the priests could go. And in front of that, there was another area that was blocked off where only Jewish men could go, in front of that, there was another area where only Jewish women could go, and way up here behind a barrier there was the court of the Gentiles. No matter how righteous you were as a Gentile, you couldn't get past barrier after barrier after barrier after big barrier into the Holy of Holies.

There's all these barriers, and there's literally a dividing wall. And on this dividing wall, there were plaques that were etched in stone. Archaeologists have actually found a couple of them. And actually in the Istanbul Museum, I'll confess to you right now, I kind of looked around for guards and I touched it with my own fingers. I'm sorry, Istanbul. But when you translate it, it says this. Now this is on that barrier. Foreigners must not enter inside the balustrader into the forecourt around the sanctuary. Watch this. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. Man, that's intense. I was talking to Mark about this last night. What was usher training like at the Jerusalem Temple? Like, okay, remember to smile at visitors, hand out bulletins and kill violators, all the usual stuff, you know, but it's intense.

But Paul is saying, when Jesus Christ died, the Bible tells us that the veil in the temple was torn into from top to bottom. And that signified that now God's presence moves out from there to all of us. Why? Because Jesus Christ himself is our, say that word with me, that beautiful word, peace. And he has made the two groups what? One. And has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. You know, we've been talking in this series about your true self. This is part of your true self. We, we are now one. Say we are one. We are one.

There's a great old story from World War II. Happened in France when it was still being fought over between the allies and the Nazis and the Axis powers. And there was a group of GIs who had lost a close friend in fighting. And they were looking around for a place to bury him. And they found a cemetery that was right next to a church. And so they found the priest and they said, "Listen, can we bury our friend here at this church?" And the priest said, "Well, I honestly have one question for you, was your friend Catholic as far as you know?" And they said, "Well, no, he wasn't." And the priest said, "Well, I'm sorry, he can't be buried here because this is, this is a Catholic cemetery."

And so the GIs did the next best thing they could. They found a place just outside the fence of the cemetery. And they buried their friend there, hurriedly, because they had to get back to camp. Next morning they got the word that they had to move out. And so they went back to pay their final respects. And they couldn't find the grave. It was eerie and confusing because they literally just disturbed the dirt and put up a headstone. And there was no indication that the frozen soil had even been disturbed, just the night before. And so they walk all the way around the cemetery and they're thinking, "What, what are we dreaming? Where, where's his grave?" And so they see the priest working in the garden. They said, "Excuse me," they explained the situation. And he said, "Well, I have to tell you something." He said, "Last night I laid awake half the night regretting what I told you. And then the second half of the night, I spent moving the fence to include your friend."

Do you see what Paul is saying here? Jesus has moved the fence to include you all. And if you think of the ministry of Jesus, he keeps moving the fences. Now I'm going to include Samaritans and I'm going to include the prostitutes and I'm gonna include the tax collectors and I'm going to include the centurion and the fence keeps moving. This is such an important thing because God, because Jesus Christ is our peace. He's made us one, say peace, peace, say one, one.

Now watch this, by setting aside in his body the law with its commands and regulations. Now, now, we're gonna dive into this because this is so fascinating. God had given the Jewish people ceremonial laws, their own unique way of worship, dress, diet, calendar, even their own unique way of growing beards and much, much more. Now why would God do that? All these kosher laws, right? You've heard the term, how many of you have heard the term kosher, right? Now why would God do all that? Well, to keep God's people distinctive, separate. Why? So that people would see a beautiful difference. Now those people are not like anybody else. So they'd investigate and find out more about God. God talks about this many times.

He says, for example, in Deuteronomy, "observe these rules carefully for this will show," now watch this here, look at this closely. "Your wisdom and understanding to the," who? The nations, the Gentile nations, who will hear and say, surely this is a wise and understanding people and they're like, they're so different, we're gonna find out more about God. So the whole point of all of these laws and regulations and commands was to reach the Gentiles. However, what all these rules effectively did was create a wall between Jew and Gentile. Let me just give one example, kosher diet. God gave the Jewish people rules against eating things like shrimp and pork and eels. Part of the reason was because those were the very things that the pagans loved to eat.

And you know, the pagans were gonna look at that and go, they're just different than us and eventually it'll lead to a conversation about God. This is what God talks about in Deuteronomy. But here's the way it eventually played out. Take for example, dinner parties. In the first century, if a Christian Roman family invited a Christian Jewish person over to their house for dinner, even if the Roman host was very careful to offer only kosher food for their Jewish guests, the Jewish person, if they were religious and observant, they still could not go to dinner at the Romans house. Why? Because those Roman plates had once touched non-kosher food. So they just could never go there. So what all these rules intended to reach out to the Gentiles did was effectively create a wall between Jew and Gentile. You see?

This divide existed because they didn't even really know each other. They had no opportunity to be with each other and understand each other. And what Paul is saying is that in Christ, there are no longer these lines and verses has become and. He's saying those regulations don't determine who is in and out anymore. I mean, it goes on to say elsewhere, like in Romans 14, you can keep kosher if you want. That's part of the culture you were raised in. That's beautiful. But it is no longer a dividing wall of hostility. Jesus has bridged that gap. Now you might be thinking, well, but then is there no more beautiful distinctive between us and the world? Right? Those laws served an important function so that people could see the beautiful difference and want to go, they're so different than us. We want to find out more about God. We're attracted to that. So if those rules and commands and regulations have been abolished by Jesus Christ on the cross, what is our beautiful difference now? That's a great question. And Paul's gonna get to that.

But first three, the reversal of the problem. And now that you've seen all that background and all that history, where it really starts rolling, Paul just trapezes from one metaphor to another. He's so overjoyed about this. He says, now, because Jesus has done that, because he's brought us all together, we are first of all, one body. Say that out loud with me. One body. Check this out. Verse 16 is mind blowing. He says, his purpose was to create in himself one new humanity. What? This is amazing. Out of the two, thus making peace. And in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. We are, say one with me, one. Say it again. One. This is one of the concepts that we are trying to illustrate through TLC and Espanyol here at Twin Lakes Church.

So last year was our first full year of our Spanish service. But I really wanna recast this vision and I wanna do it continually. This is not just a Spanish service that meets at Twin Lakes Church. It's Twin Lakes Church in every way. Pastor Julian Pizarro and I preach the same sermons every weekend. Our worship team members often play with their band and their band often plays with our band. We started at the same time as our 11 a.m. service. We get out the same time as at our 11 a.m. service so that we can mingle at the same plaza and at the same coffee house. We share child ministries, missionaries, why to illustrate we are one. That in this culture, in this county, whether you are Hispanic or white or whatever does not have to separate us. In fact, in Christ, that wall is abolished, amen?

Hey, I want you to just meet, in case you haven't met him yet, by video, 'cause he's preaching right now, the same message, by the way. But I want you to meet via video our Pastor Julian and hear his vision about this. Watch this.

At church, we find something that can't be found anywhere else. A place where we find unity. Not in ethnicity, nor in language, or in nationality, or in politics, or in race, or even culture, but in God's love for us through Jesus Christ. And Paul says in this passage, "Our mission is to show off to the world that we have a unity that transcends all the walls that tend to separate people." People long for that kind of love. Here at TLC, we get to see it in action every week, as we are one church in two languages. The English services, the Spanish service. As Paul says in this passage, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." God bless you, everyone.

Amen, we're one body, right? One body. By the way, since January, that service has doubled in attendance. That shows you that there's a need and that people are attracted to this. More on that in just a second. But Paul's on a roll. Now he says that there's also one spirit. Say that out loud with me. One spirit. Now I'm just gonna roll through these verses 'cause I don't want you to miss the momentum. Jesus, Paul says, came and preached, what? Peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near, for through him we both have access to the Father by one spirit. There is one body, there's one spirit, and there's one kingdom that we're all citizens of. He says, consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with God's people. Say, fellow citizens out loud with me. Fellow citizens.

This is so important for us to hear today because whether you are American or Mexican or El Salvadoran or Nicaraguan or Ukrainian or Russian or German or Chinese or Swiss or undocumented or documented, none of that matters to Jesus Christ as far as salvation. We are one, amen?

Somebody said in the last service, you didn't mention Canadians. Well, Canadians are on the bubble for me, but we have one body, one spirit, one kingdom, and finally, we all live in one house, Paul says, and we're members of God's household. Now, look at this role he's on. And that's built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone, and in him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple to the Lord. He's like, you all, you used to be excluded from the temple. Now you are the temple, but it gets better. He says, and in him, you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.

Now, wait a minute, back in the days of the Holy of Holies, where did God's spirit live? Right there in the sanctuary, he says, now you used to not be able to get into the Holy of Holies. Nobody could, now you are the Holy of Holies because God's Holy Spirit lives in you. I mean, look at this list, one body, one spirit, one kingdom, one house. This is Jesus Christ's answer to racial discrimination. This is Jesus Christ's answer to prejudice. This is Jesus Christ's answer to bigotry. This is Jesus Christ's answer to ultra-nationalism. This is Jesus Christ's answer to everything that ever divides us in him, we are what? One.

And this is why Jesus himself said this. This was Jesus Christ's prayer for us the night before he died. He said, I'm praying not only for those disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through that. That means Jesus Christ through time and space saw us because we're part of that group. That means he prayed this for us and the Christians here in our nation. I pray that they all will be, what's that word again? One. Just as you and I are one. As you are in me, Father, and I'm in you, and may they be in us. Now don't miss this. So that the world will believe that you sent me. That's interesting phrasing, reminiscent of that verse from Deuteronomy.

You see, this is now our beautiful difference. Our biggest witness to the world is our unified love. Now, that doesn't mean we have to agree with each other on public policy and every other nuance of the world these days, parenting, music style, whatever. This is an occult, right? We can disagree about all kinds of stuff and find unity in Christ. And this also doesn't mean it's easy, but we strive for it because it's beautiful. And when we have unified love, the world starts to notice they're different. We would love to be like that.

I'll close with this example. My friends Bernard and Kyle are two pastors that I met probably five or six years ago now through a church group that we're part of called TBC. And Kyle used to pastor an all white church in Oakland and Bernard used to pastor an all black church in Oakland. But one day several years ago, they decided to unite and merge their churches. Now, it's not just that Kyle is white, Kyle is young, he's the age of my kids. And it's not just that Bernard is black, Bernard is about my age, a distinguished gentleman in other words, but they have combined their churches together despite all these differences. And the other day I asked them just like via my iPhone, I said, "You know, tell me what this is really like, right? It all sounds beautiful, but how's this really play out for you? And here's some of what they said.

You know, it's different doing ministry together than it was separately. Just by virtue of the fact that we were partners and then so we run everything by each other. We make all these decisions together and we're really, really different people. So even the way we make decisions, the types of things we would ordinarily think to do or want to do might be pretty different from time to time. But one of the things that Bernard actually has taught me about getting sort of outside of our tribal identities or the identities maybe I guess that the world creates for us and the families that the world creates for us rather than the family that God creates for us is that, man, this guy just committed to me. He just committed to me. Like he was calling me brother long before I actually even felt comfortable with him. Because, and he really meant it. It wasn't just a Christian use thing to say.

Yeah, yeah. It was some fears going into it because typically you don't see a black senior pastor with white parishioners. That kind of scared me because I was like, would they truly follow me? Would they accept me as their pastor? That was one of the biggest fears I had. And thank God that it's been my dream job. We're clicking on all cylinders. We're cooking with gas. And I'm just waiting to see, I'm excited to see what the Lord is gonna do next.

You know, one of the stories that comes to mind is actually it's not about race so much as it is about church tradition. There was a person in our church who felt like maybe our church was going a different direction than she was going spiritually. We had no idea until she said something like, "Oh, I don't know if I'm gonna be around much longer." And so we sat down and talked. It turns out that it was because of a sermon that Bernard preached, but she just really didn't understand the context that he was speaking from. And didn't know his story well enough to understand what the sermon actually meant. And so, you know, one of the, and I think that happens all the time. We have these kinds of conversations where we're just talking past each other because we don't really know each other. And if we could really get to know each other, know each other's hearts, know each other's families, know each other's histories, then we would have a lot more productive conversations and a lot more love.

That's what we wanna create around our church. People that know each other intimately and they can see the kingdom of God in that person.

Look at that. Is that not beautiful? You know, it's interesting. They have been covered in media, the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, other national attention. Why? Because this is our beautiful difference. And this is why the enemy is currently trying to use anything to divide Christians. Bickering over non-essentials, dividing over politics. Let me close with this application. It's a hard one. Ask yourself this big question. How do I sometimes rebuild the barriers Jesus came to tear down? Think back to that Memorial Day picnic I started with today. Family reunion, maybe tomorrow. And somebody says something you really disagree with. You don't have to pretend you agree. You can have a good conversation about it, but will your instinct be to win the argument or win their hearts?

Will my words to others or my social media posts or my comments about others be more or less likely to draw others to the peace and unity we share in Jesus Christ? And let me speak very directly. We really need to resist all the preachers and the politicians and the influencers who are trying to divide us, who are stoking division and outrage and not Christian unity. You and I, listen carefully, we need to develop discernment when it comes to who do I follow, who do I listen to, who do I watch, who do I believe. And we wanna train you to do this. In fact, quick plug, this is why we've got a seminar coming up in a month. Faith and fake news. Faith and fake news. I'm super stoked Rachel Whiteman is coming here in person for this. She just released this book, Faith and Fake News. She's a research librarian who specializes in what she calls information literacy.

And she's gonna talk about how do you know what to believe online anymore? How do you even know? How do you fact check? How do you evaluate sources? But especially, how can we engage with our neighbors both online and in person in a way that reflects the peace of Jesus Christ to show that in Christ, we're all one. I'll be bold, all of you need to hear this. Whether you're in middle school or a senior citizen or anywhere in between, this is in one month. Saturday, June 24th, 9 to noon, TLC.org/conference to sign up. Let's be agents of peace because that is our beautiful difference. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. It's astonishing to me how relevant it is, how little human nature's changed in 2000 years. We tend to divide into us versus them. That's our default as humans. But spiritually, you bring us to a completely different place. One, new humanity out of the two, out of the many. And so God, help us to live in the peace that Jesus Christ has already brought. And I pray if there's anybody here who maybe for the first time wants to step into that peace to really follow Jesus, not to follow the craziness that they sometimes see about religion or preachers in media, but to really follow Jesus the way we just saw, I pray that they would open their heart to you right now and say, "I don't understand it all, but Lord, create in me that peace that I've heard. I receive you, Jesus, and the peace you brought to us on the cross." Thank you, God, for that. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.