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Why do we have to be so 
eager about maintaining unity?

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I'll tell you why.

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Because there's this pull

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on every one of us to be selfish.

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Every one of us.

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No matter how redeemed you are

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and how long you've walked with the Lord

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there's that pull, 
there's that temptation.

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There's that reality with the flesh.

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Sin does something.

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It puts self at center.

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Sin makes me feel like 
I alone am important.

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What I think is what really matters.

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What I feel is what matters.

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What's happening to me is what matters.

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So you know, you walk into the church:

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I want everybody to ask me how I'm doing

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and what's going on in my life.

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The guy that walks up 
to you and it's like:

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Well, let me tell you all 
about my sicknesses

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and my problems...

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Something happens.

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There's a chemistry when we 
interact with other people.

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Something is happening about

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what we think about ourselves

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and what they think about themselves.

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You know that.

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You know that's a reality.

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And most of us weren't saved

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maybe like John the Baptist in the womb.

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We had years where we walked,

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so we know what it's like to walk

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as lost people through this world,

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and we got redeemed

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and we know how that thing changed.

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But even as it changed,

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we know there's this dynamic

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in how we interact with others.

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And you know this,

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if you're going to be eager
and you're going to be diligent,

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you're going to cut through this,

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you've got to cut through the selfishness.

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That's where the battle lies -

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that I am not most important.

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We need to remember.

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We need to think.

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We need to be constantly given to this.

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We must not forget.

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We can get forgetful.

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We walk in here, we don't feel good.

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Or the sister had a migraine this morning.

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I can enter into that.

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We come in here -

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some people come to church,

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they just... what they can get.

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And when they stop getting,

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they just go to another church.

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That is exactly the attitude

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that they're not being earnest about

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and eager about this unity of the Spirit.

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Oh, the natural disposition

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is one of the things I see oftentimes

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in brand new Christians.

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They come to the prayer meeting

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and all their prayers 
are about themselves.

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It shouldn't be that way.

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You see, basically, we are to be devoted

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to the loving of each other

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and the serving of each other.

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We need to think about the things

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that bring disunity into the body.

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And we need to fight against them.

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We need to resist them.

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And one of the primary things

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is when you're stuck on yourself,

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and you come in here,

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and you want to be great,

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and you want to stand 
taller than everybody else,

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and you remember what it 
was with the Pharisees,

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they wanted the chief seats

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and there's lots of ways you 
can want the chief seats.

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You want the attention.

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Woe is me - self pity.

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The natural disposition

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is to spend too much time 
thinking about ourselves

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and not enough time thinking about others,

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occupied with our personal interests.

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This excerpt was taken 
from the full sermon:

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"The Unity of the Spirit"