TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE... SYNERGISM, Build a bridge!
FOCUS ON UNITY or UNITY AS A GOAL
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
I. SYNERGISM --- TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE...
CAN WE ACKNOWLEDGE A SIMPLE TRUTH FOUND IN ECCLESIATES?
A. We are better together than we are seperated...
Eccles. 4:6 Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
B. WHAT IF I FALL?
Eccles. 4:9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
C. There is power and strength in unity and binding together.
Eccles. 4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
D. SYNERGISM: THE COMBINED EFFECT EXCEEDS THE SUM TOTAL OF THE
INDIVIDUAL...
E. One horse can pull 700 pounds --- another horse can pull 500 pounds...
as a team of horses they can pull how much...???
Logic will answer 1,200 pounds... this is not true...
TEAMED TOGETHER THE TWO HORSES CAN PULL 1,900 POUNDS...
The team can pull 700 more pounds together than they can as individuals?
WHY?
F. TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE...
God made people to be social.
Man is never an ISLAND TO HIMSELF...
G. We all need:
1. SOMEONE TO LOVE ... SOMEONE TO LOVE US
2. SOMEONE TO LISTEN ... SOMEONE TO TALK TO...
3. IF WE FALL WE NEED A FRIEND TO HELP US GET UP...
4. WE NEED DIVINE COMPANIONSHIP AS WELL AS HUMAN COMPANIONSHIP...
H. We must learn to WORK together and help each other.
TEAM --- Together Each Accomplishes More ... team...
I. I can’t proof read my own writing? I will read my work the way I thought I wrote it. I need another set of eyes to see more clearly.
II. A COVENANT IS A CONTRACT OF TWO PARTIES COMING TOGETHER
IN AGREEMENT. YOUR PART... MY PART ... OUR PART ... GOD’S PART...
A. I WANT US TO WALK THE LAST MILE TOGETHER...
CAN WE HAVE A MEETING OF THE MINDS...
KJV
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
NIV
Amos 3:3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
B. MATH HAS A UNITY LAW or IDENTITY LAW:
The number one ... the factor that leaves unchanged the quantity on which
it operates.
C. UNITY:
Parts coming together as a whole---
State of being undivided;
Having oneness;
A condition of harmony... accord ...
Like mindedness...
Agreement ... mutual understanding...
D. THERE IS UNITY IN HEAVEN:
Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
III. A MARRIAGE IS A COVENANT BETWEEN A MAN --- A WOMAN --- AND GOD...
WILL WE AGREE WITH GOD’S DESIGNS? A GOOD HOME OPERATES WITHIN
THE BOUNDS OF UNITY...
A. THERE CAN BE A GOD CONEVANT POWER WITHIN THE HOME...
Matthew 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
B. GOD’S PERFECT PLAN FOR THE FAMILY IS TO HELP, SUPPORT, LEARN, LEAN
AND LOVE... IN SWEET UNITY.
Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
C. IT IS NOT GOOD FOR MAN TO BE ALONE...
Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him."
D. GOD COULD HAVE REACHED TO THE DIRT AND MADE WOMAN INDEPENDANT
OF MAN... GOD CHOSE SYNERGISM ...
GOD USED A RIB, NOT THE HEAD AND NOT THE FEET...
Genesis 2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and
[21] And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
[22] And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
[23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
E. THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE... SYNERGISM ... togetherness..
Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
IV. THE FALL OF MAN DEVELOPED A HISTORY OF WANT, OF WOE, OF GRIEF
AND OF HEARTACHE... SO HUMAN HISTORY RECORDS THAT SIN’S DISRUPTION
OF WHAT GOD INTENDED AND ORDAINED TO BE SWEET UNITY FOR THE FAMILY
COULD BECOME A BATTLEGROUND OF HARD HEARTS...
A. SOLOMON PENNED THE WORDS: VANITY OF VANITIES --- ALL IS VANIITY...
and VEXATION OF SPIRIT...
Matthew 19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
B. THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT THREATEN THE UNITY OF THE FAMILY.
THE FALL BROUGHT ABOUT SOME SAD FAILURES WITHIN THE FAMILY, ONE
OF THE GREATEST FAILURES IS THE ROBBERY OF UNITY...
PRIDE
STUBBORNESS
BITTERNESS
HARD HEARTS
SELFISHNESS
PROVOKE
LACK OF SUBMISSION
BAD HABITS
UNFORGIVENESS
KIDS DISOBEDIENT ---REBELLION
REFUSUAL OF CORRECTION...
C. GOD’S DESIGN WAS UNITY IN THE HOME.
God’s idea for marriage is for the home to be a HUSBAND and a WIFE
in GREAT UNITY...
D. THERE GROWS A GREAT AND TERRIBLE SPIRIT WITHIN THE LAST DAYS...
Matthew 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mark 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Luke 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
V. WEAK FAMILIES? WEAK CHURCHES? WEAK CHURCHES WEAK SOCIETY?
There can never be UNITY IN THE CAMP when THE HOME HAS BECOME THE
BATTLE GROUND... and UNITY CAN NOT BE FOUND...
A. GET REAL ---
SIN WILL ALWAYS THREATEN THE UNITY OF THE HOME...
B. THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES GOD’S OFFICE WORK AND LEADS US TO
CREATIVE USE OF CONFLICTS THAT WILL ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE ...
WE CAN OVERCOME THIS AND GO BEYOND DISSENSION IN THE FAMILY
AND IN THE CHURCH...
Col. 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
[19] Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
[20] Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
[21] Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
VI. IF GOD CALLS FOR US TO AGREE WITH OUR ADVERSARY QUICKLY, HOW
MUCH MORE SHOULD AGREEMENT BE THE GOAL IN OUR HOMES...
A. AGREE:
WILLING, MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING
Consent, harmony, be agreeable, enjoyable
Work to please, pleasant, delightful,
Matthew 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver
thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
B. WE CAN BREAK THE LAST DAY SPIRIT, IF WE FOCUS ON THE SPIRITUAL
IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING A BRIDGE OF UNITY...
C. THE PROBLEM OF THE HEART IS THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM...
Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
VII. JESUS HAD SEVERAL MISSIONS WHILE ON PLANET EARTH.
He came to seek and save that which was lost...
ONE OF THE BIGGER PICTURES WAS TO RESTORE THE UNITY WITH THE
INSTITUTION OF THE FAMILY. JESUS PRAYED FOR UNITY TO RETURN...
A. A godly goal for us is that we may be as ONE!
John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
B. That we allow God to MAKE US PERFECT IN ONE...
John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
VIII. UNITY BRINGS A DIVINE BLESSING... BE A BRIDGE BUILDER...
A. I heard a story where a man won the multi-million dollar lottery.
He had a beautiful farm, but there was a problem ---
His farm bordered his brother’s property. Years before the brothers had a
disagreement and had not spoken since their Mom’s funeral.
The first thing the new millionaire did was book a flight for Hawaii.
The millionaire had a hard hearing friend that was a carpenter.
From the airport the millionaire called the best carpenter in the town
and left him orders to build a 12 feet high fence between he and his brother’s farms... to be finished before his return from Hawaii.
So the next day the hard hearing carpenter began building a big bridge across the creek that divided the two farms. The new bridge really helped both of the brothers.
When the brother returned from Hawaii --- his brother had a feast ready
and they ate together and remembered the good old days... they
celebrated life.
Because the old carpenter thought he heard build a bridge ... he did so...
Yet the order was for a wall of separation...
THE BRIDGE BUILT NEW HOPE BETWEEN THE TWO BROTHERS, WHAT
APPEARED TO BE AN ACCIDENT --- WAS A COMPLETE RESTORATION...
Psalm 133:1 A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! [2] It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; [3] As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
In 1989 I left my first pastorate in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.
I had been the pastor 8 1/2 years, 1370 sermons... the Lord had blessed the small mountain mission work in my tenure.
The last service was a real tear jerker for the church had become my family. I had preached Rebecca’s mother in law, her cousin, and her grandson’s funeral down through those years.
We were nearing the dismissal of the service when one old lady stood to her feet and wobbled to the front of the church. She was crying and had an old handkerchief in hand.
She wiped tears from her eyes and said I have a poem that I love.
I want to read this poem for our pastor...
This poem describes Brother Hughes the best of any I know:
In a very broken voice Rebecca Arnette read this poem...
Later that day I wrote it in the front of my Bible...
THE BRIDGE BUILDER
(Unknown)
An old man, going down a lonely highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and wide,
Through which was flowing a swollen tide,
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The swollen stream had no fear for him.
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a pilgrim near,
"You are wasting your strength in building here.
Your journey will end at the closing of day,
You will never again pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide,
WHY BUILD YOU A BRIDGE AT EVENING TIDE?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"GOOD FRIEND, IN THE PATH I HAVE COME,"
HE SAID, "THERE FOLLOWED AFTER ME TODAY
A FAIR HAIRED YOUTH WHOSE FEET MUST PASS THIS WAY,
THE CHASM THAT HAS BEEN NAUGHT TO ME,
TO THAT FAIR HAIRED YOUTH MAY A PITFALL BE.
HE TOO MUST CROSS IN THE TWILIGHT DIM,
GOOD FRIEND, I BUILD THIS BRIDGE FOR HIM!
Unknown
Years later I returned to preach Rebecca’s husband, Joe’s funeral. He was 92.
I had the honor to return and preach Rebecca’s funeral.
I have never had a greater honor than one of my members to call me:
A BRIDGE BUILDER...
MAY I BE A PENCIL IN THE HAND OF A LOVING GOD THAT WILL HELP
ANOTHER REWRITE HOPE, LOVE AND UNITY.
If I fail? At least I tried... may my heart be broken by the things that break
God’s heart. God help me to try again.
Could you build a bridge to a family member? To a hurting individual?
We are facing eternity at 1440 minutes a day?
TEACH ME THE HEART OF JESUS ...
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
