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The Church Must Strive to Be One

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Bible verse : 1 Corinthians 3:9 (NIV)

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

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Apostle Paul went to the city of Corinth during his second missionary journey.
There he met Aquila and Priscilla. Paul and this couple were doing the same thing. They stayed together in Corinth as a tentmaker.

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Aquila and Priscilla actively helped Paul evangelize in Corinth. Paul stayed in Corinth for 1 year and 6 months, preaching gospel. The church that Paul's evangelism bore fruit and was established was the Corinthian church.
Believers gathered at the Corinthian church became one with their faith in Jesus.

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Apostle Paul was staying in Ephesus during his third missionary journey.
There, Paul heard bad news about the Corinthian church. It was the news that the Corinthian church was not united and that there were quarrels among the believers.

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The serious problem of the Corinthian church was that the believers divided their sides and quarreled. One of them said they were Pauline because they had heard from Paul, the founder of the Corinthian church.
They did not recognize those who did not hear directly from Paul.

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Others who did not belong to the Pauline group claimed to be Apollos. Apollos, they say, was born in Alexandria, was well educated, and was particularly versed in the Bible.
[Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
(Acts 18:24)]

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Priscilla and Aquila were the people who helped Apollos accept Jesus. They took Apollos to their house and preached about Jesus. From then on, Apollos became a person who believed in Jesus and preached the gospel.

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Later, Apollos became a pastor who preached the Word in the Corinthian church following the apostle Paul. Those who learned the Word through Apollos did not become one with the Paulines, claiming to be Apollos.

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In the Corinthian church, besides Paul and Apollos, some people claimed to be Peter's, and others claimed that I was Jesus'. The believers of the Corinthian church were all divided in their hearts even though they worshiped together.
Paul's heart ached so much when he heard this news.

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The apostle Paul spoke through a letter about the wrong behavior of the believers in the Corinthian church.

[Beloved, I appeal to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. All agree, and do      not take sides among you. Be one with the same mind and the same mind.]

Paul urged the believers in the Corinthian church to be of one mind and not to     divide sides.

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It is because the act of sharing sides with each other is something that should not be done in the church. Fighting each other by dividing sides is what people in the world who do not believe in God do.
Believers are people who believe in one God, are saved through one Jesus, and are guided by the same Holy Spirit, so sides cannot be divided.

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Paul told them exactly what kind of person he or Apollos were before God.
Paul and Apollos said that they were mere workers doing what God had entrusted to them.

[What on earth is Apollo and what is Paul? I and Apollos are just workers who       lead you to have faith and work for the Lord.]

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Paul says that what he did in the Corinthian church was the one who sowed the seeds of the gospel of Jesus. And Apollos said that he played the role of watering so that the planted seeds of the gospel could grow. Paul said that it was only God who caused the seed of the gospel, which Paul planted and Apollos watered, to grow.

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Paul went on to explain to them the more wonderful mystery of the church with examples of buildings. Paul himself said he was the one who laid the foundation upon which the Corinthian church could be built.
And upon that foundation, he said, Apollos and others build upon it a suitable structure.

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There is no foundation, so you cannot build a building on it. Paul told them exactly that the foundation was Jesus.
[For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.(1 Corinthians 3:11)]
He said that the church is like a building built on the foundation of Jesus, so it is a holy assembly that should not be divided into people in any way.

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The church is the most holy gathering of people who act on the basis of Jesus.
It is Satan's pleasure to fight and divide sides with the people of the world here.
The church must become one in the love of Jesus.
When we imitate what Jesus sacrificed for us, when we value others more than ourselves, respect each other, and strive to become one in love, we become a church that pleases God the most.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)