Live Free with Josh Howerton - Harmony Is a Big Deal to God | Ep. 28 | Wednesday March 15, 2023

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

You may have one opinion, and your neighbor may have another, but did you know that God expects you to still live in harmony with them? Today’s episode shares Scripture and wisdom about what it looks like to live this out in a way that pleases God. Tune in and take note! For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to our daily podcast. We are simply learning a walk with God every day, and we're just spending a few minutes hanging together

to seeing what God might want to say in our lives. My name is Bro, and I am so honored to be a fellow traveler with you on this journey called Life. And lately, all we've been doing is chewing on a few verses found in Romans chapter 12 in the New Testament of the Bible. Romans, actually a letter written to brand new Jesus followers in the first century that feels like it was written in 2023. And that's just the way God's Word,

works. It always feels new and fresh and alive and relevant to every generation. Now, when Paul, the author, begins this chapter by telling us that we are to live distinctively, he goes on to describe what distinctively actually looks like. So I would encourage you to go back and start with verse number nine and just work your way down to where we currently are. Now, today, we land on verse number 16. So let me just read that to you. It says, live in harmony. with one another. Now, when I was in college, my girlfriend lived in a dorm, and the name of the dorm was Harmony Hall. So I used this verse with the Dean. He says, listen, it says right here in Scripture, live in harmony with one another. He didn't buy it.

But the word harmony here is a symphonic term. Dissidence is unbearable, isn't it? I mean, even if you're not much of a musician, you can tell. You can tell when somebody's like hitting the wrong note. But they're a little. pitchy, there's a cringe factor involved in all that. But harmony, harmony is sweet. I was driving to my truck this week, and I was listening to an old Vince Gill song, who's great, by the way. And it's a song called When I Call Your Name, oh, the harmonies were so, I mean, hauntingly good. It was so good. By the way, did you know that harmony is a big deal to God? Now, harmony is not uniformity. We can all have different opinions about different issues, and we will. But we can still

be harmonious with our attitude by keeping the main thing, the main thing. Now, I want you to keep your finger in Romans chapter 12. I want you to see a few other things that Paul wrote about this harmony stuff. He writes this in Philippians chapter two. He says, is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love, any fellowship together with the spirit, Are your heart's tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and one purpose. You see, harmony is a big deal to God.

Colossians chapter 3, Paul wrote, since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tender heart at mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts for as members of one body, you are called to live in peace and always be thankful.

You see, harmony is a big deal to God. How about this? On the night before Jesus was crucified, this Thursday night around midnight, and Jesus has reached those final moments before his disciples would abandon him and Judas would betray him, and he is arrested and tried and beaten and crucified, and he draws his final breath. What do you do in a final moment like that? Well, Jesus did what many people do in their final moments. He prayed. And most of us know that he prayed for himself and the extreme anguish that he was in.

But what some of us may not know is that the bold. bulk of his passionate prayer was not about himself at all. It was about his followers. It was about us. Amazingly, on that night, we were on his mind. And this is what he prayed. I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony.

My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father. that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world then will believe that you sent me. Does it surprise you like it did me? That when Jesus looked ahead, and he saw all the needs of all of his followers for all time,

that what he prayed for was our unity, our harmony, my prayers for all of them is that they will be one because when they are unified, when they live in harmony, Father, because of that harmony, the world, they'll believe that you sent me. So I don't know. Maybe that's where we all need to examine ourselves today. Maybe just honestly ask, am I adding to the dissonance with my comments, with my post, with my attitude, with my actions or reactions?

Or am I bringing my best so that the family of God lives in sweet harmony? The kind of harmony that makes people lean in and say, oh, that sounds so good. I just something to chew on the day. See you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.combe.church slash daily drive.