Nairobi Kenya, Gratia Church held its first Sunday service of March, meditating on oneness with God through Jesus Christ. I.P Livingstone delivered the message from the book of John 17:23, 15:1-8.
Jesus is praying for unity. We are not trying to be the number 1 in this world, but rather one with Christ and one with one another. We must be one body of Christ. The world competes and ranks everything. That is how we are being discriminated against. Nobody on earth is perfect.
It is the heart of God for humanity that longs for this oneness. That is we can see every day that the devil is trying to divide us until we are all scattered around. That is when it is really hard for God to work through us. In our lives, we preach the Word, speak it, and live it out, but the greatest testimony and the greatest way to reveal God is through showing this unity in Him through Christ Jesus.
Jesus says “I am the Vine and my Father is the farmer”. The Father is superior but has a strong relationship between Himself and the Son. The vine is dependent on the vinedresser for its care and feeding, but the vinedresser also dependent on the vine for its produce (fruitfulness). Jesus says in John 10:30 that, “I and the Father are one” in the same way, you need to remain in me so that you can be in the father.
Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, so when we are in Christ Jesus we can bear much fruit for our life of faith. The fruit will be the fruit of Life and Love, not just the physical or temporary fruits. When we are in God, we will receive the eternal blessings for our lives and live a meaningful and fruitful life.
After, the Church could pray together that God gives them the grace to be one in Christ and be fruitful as God wills in Love and ministry