Overview
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “One Accord Conference #10: One Accord Above It All” through Isaiah 35, Acts 1, Acts 15, Romans 15, showing how christ, because, shall shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding One Accord Conference #10: One Accord Above It All
In some ways that says it all, how great thou art. Let’s go home. I just wanted to say how privileged I am to be here.
In some ways, just for me, that I got in the door is enough. Yep, and I know I got in like you did through our Lord. These are great days, great days.
We’re not done yet. We want to talk about one accord. One accord is above it all, and it’s the answer to a divided world.
And as we learned, if you are all in with that, God will be able to do amazing things for you because one accord is above all the fray, all the confusion, all the disillusionment, all the hurt, all the pain, all the suffering. It’s above it all. We spoke about how we live in a world that at the very least is suspicious, if not antagonistic and polarized in so many ways and so many levels.
I don’t need to recount this, it’s pretty obvious. But we as God’s people, we should not allow ourselves to be painted into a corner, the corner of limited options, and pushed on us by a spiritually corrupted world. In the Bible, the world is often referred to as the corrupted portion of humanity.
Depends on the context, but sometimes that’s what it’s referring to, the corrupted portion of humanity. And that’s where the personal identity confusion comes from, and the limited options is a tactic used by this spiritually corrupted portion of humanity. So where’s the common ground for the Christian? It’s a great question.
How do you sift through this? How do you navigate this? Well, the answer lies within the understanding of a concept that was launched 2,000 years ago by the first Christians. They didn’t even fully understand what they were launching themselves into. Later it became more and more revealed as they walked.
Sometimes that’s the way life is. Start walking, and God will reveal to you what you need to know in the next step. It’ll be there when you need it.
Too many people wait to develop these highly scrutinized and measured plans, and that’s a shame. The answer is very simple. It’s working together with God in one accord.
That’s the answer. That’s the answer that the world is looking for. We embrace in heart, soul, mind and strength the accomplished work of Christ.
It’s that simple. You know, one accord can only be accomplished with God’s involvement. Too many people try to do it on their own.
Have you ever done that, and you notice it doesn’t work well? Getting God involved by prayer, by seeking out those that can assist you and be honest with you, seeking out his wisdom, get him involved. Now, biblically speaking, one accord is more than agreeing on something. It is to unite with heart, soul, mind and strength on God’s will, which produces glory to God.
That’s what a one accord is, and his will is simple. It’s his desire. Unlike ourselves, his desire never misses.
It’s never selfish. It’s never misguided. It’s never displaced.
His desire is perfect, and his desire incorporates his gracious plan for you individually and then for us collectively. So he has a gracious plan for you that he’s not going to tell you everything till the return of Christ. He’ll sometimes he gives you things, and sometimes he just lays it out when you can handle it.
So these are amazing days that we live in because we can now engage in a one accord if we so desire. And we learn that a one accord glorifies God. It’s to bring attention to him.
It’s to magnify him. It’s to exalt him. It’s to praise him and allow the rest of our lives just to flow from that.
We learned that a one accord is initiated by God. He’s the love was introduced by him into the world. We learned that a one accord involves leaders who recognize God moving, who then in turn lead others.
You don’t have to have a title. It has nothing to do with your age, what you look like, what your background is. You hear God’s voice.
You hear him moving and you’re stirring in your soul and you start moving. And then you set an example, the right pace and the right example for others to follow. A one accord requires humility.
The Biblical Foundation
It has to be there. We cannot do this in a prideful and selfish way. It’s not going to work.
A one accord results in a mutual respect. There’s an environment that we all embrace that recognizes that I got in the door through my Lord. You got in through the door through our Lord, and we’re all on an equal playing field, if you will.
There’s no one above and no one below. I’m certainly not less than you, but I’m certainly not better than you either. And we think that way because it’s a mutual respect based on the work of another man.
And that needs to be constantly reinforced. Maybe that’s a strong word. It needs to be constantly confirmed in the souls of the believers because we are so performance based.
We are so driven to perform and it’s not healthy when the work has already been done. And it’s an environment that raises up our younger men and women and even in our later years to start taking on the privileges and responsibilities that God has called you specifically to. It requires personal conviction.
In other words, you can’t write off of my conviction. I can’t write off of yours. You have to decide on your own.
You have to exercise free will. And, you know, you can lay as many excuses at the feet of the Lord that you want to. They don’t matter because it’s still your free will.
He gave it to you. And people are very much into victimization these days. It almost becomes deified.
Don’t fall into that trap. One accord results in boldness. You are free.
You’ve been released. Exercise your authority. That doesn’t mean that you are coarse with people or you try to manipulate and manhandle them and force your way into life.
God knows that’s not what it means. It means that you are just not afraid because you’ve been delivered and you have the authority to speak on behalf of Christ. Why do you think we’re here? And he’s not because someone needs to speak for him.
You know, the world’s been saved. So just tell people about who did it. You don’t have to save the world.
It results in grace filled giving. And you decide what you’re going to do and what God has given you to steward. No one’s asking you for it.
It’s just a free will decision. What do you want to do? But don’t let the world tether you to it. Don’t let the world put ball and change around physical things to the end that you derive your identity from anything physical.
There’s nothing that you’re looking at that’s going to survive nothing. These bodies, these buildings, all the monuments to men, all of them are going to go. Put your heart and soul into that which you cannot see.
You live a happier life. And one accord is above it all. It’s the answer to the world.
Isaiah 35, please. One accord is above it all. And it’s the answer to a divided world.
Isaiah 35a talks about a highway shall be there. In the midst of the wilderness, there is a highway. There’s a higher road.
See, what the world wants to do is paint you into the corner of limited options. You either with this group or you’re with that group. Nonsense.
You want to join that group? Go ahead. But you’re above it all in your heart and loyalty. Isaiah 35, verse 1, The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.
The world is a wilderness. We need that rejoicing. We need that blossoming.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
And it comes by a highway. Verse 3, Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Once you’ve received sufficient strength in your heart in the faith of Jesus Christ and you’re convinced on His finished work, then help somebody else.
Anybody. You don’t have to start a group. You don’t have to start a movement.
The word and it’s already moving. Just help somebody. Say to them that are a fearful heart, be strong.
Fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you.
God will be there for you. And in the future, He will execute judgment and righteousness. And that’s a future time.
And there is a solace, a peace to the heart of God’s people to understand that He will execute perfect and complete and total justice. So I know there’s a lot of iniquity and injustice that happens in the world. Don’t worry about it.
He’ll take care of it. That’s His job. Vengeance is mine.
I will pace up the Lord. Then the eyes of the blind shall be open and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as in heart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert.
The world seems like a wilderness. It seems like a desert at times. And at times, because we get isolated off, these things become even more magnified.
You feel like you’re living in a desert. You feel like you’re living in a wilderness. Then that’s a good time to start connecting with people and get back to assembling ourselves together.
We should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but we should provoke one another to love and good works as we see the day approaching. And that day is the return of Christ. And on the day of Christ, which is the gathering together with a church, that same day rolls over into the day of the Lord.
That’s right. And that day of the Lord will bring more deeper and involved action by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to execute judgment. But that’s a future time.
And the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of dragons or could be depends on the context, could be jackals here, which where each day shall be grass with reeds and rushes and an highway shall be there and away. And that should be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those wayfaring those though fools shall not air there in.
In other words, those that are not instructed, it’ll be so obvious for them. It’ll be so clear for them. And you can be that witness.
You can be that touchstone. You can be one that is traveling on a higher road when everybody else is confused, when everybody else is quarreling about nothing. You can be the one that rises up above it because that highway has a name and that name is Jesus Christ.
That’s right. Absolutely magnificent. No lion shall be there.
No ravenous beast shall go up there. Thereon it shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sign shall flee away.
Look at Luke nine. Please see that highway is above the fray. It’s above the confusion.
It’s where you’re seated at the right hand of the throne of God. I don’t think Jesus wakes up every day and wonders, oh my gosh, what am I going to do today? These people are so confused. No, he’s experiencing God.
Luke chapter nine, please. See the first century Christians were on a raised spiritual highway above the political and religious quagmire that Jerusalem had become. The great nation of Israel was called out from the nations of the world to be a beacon to the entire world, to be a light, a city on a hill, to draw attention to the peoples of the world, that if you just follow God, you will be protected and blessed all your days.
Faith in Action
They could not hold it. Israel and Jerusalem became a shell of its former glory by the time our Lord came around. It was no longer a city on a hill as an example to the world.
It was a Roman occupied territory. They had lost their own sovereignty. It was a crossroad for commerce and cultures.
It was all about money. Least we know they spoke at least three languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, because those were translated on the cross of Christ. We know that for sure.
Other languages probably no doubt. But see Jesus Christ was the coming of the Christ in the Old Testament was what they were looking for. And that would bring that highway for God’s people.
And then when he came, he had a lot to share with them. But in the Old Testament, ancient Judaism, there was no there was no sharp distinction between religion and politics. The Mosaic law was the word of God for Israel.
And it was the law of the land for them as a nation. It was the path above all geopolitics, internal challenges, whether within tribes or on a national level. And keeping the law, the Mosaic law meant prosperity and protection from any international conflict with other nations, which were always within striking distance.
It meant above any lack, famine or drought if they just kept the law. And then the coming of the Messiah would bring this raised highway to a different level. He fulfilled the law and brought it to even a higher level, his accomplished work.
The deliverance for God’s people was no longer vested in the law. It was deliverance through grace and not through the works of the law. This is magnificent truth.
This is pivotal truth for all humanity. But by the time Christ came along, Israel and its capital was just a shell. It was supposed to be a city on a hill.
It was supposed to be tremendous for people to gaze upon and note the glory of the Lord. But all that faded away because they fell into idolatry. In Luke chapter nine, in verse 54, and what the context is here is Jesus sent messengers to go before him into a village of Samaria.
Well, let’s read 52. And sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. Now, Samaria was involved in the breaking up of the nation of Israel.
The two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remained and became Judah. And then Israel were the 10 northern tribes and they started to intermingle with the Gentiles and all that sort of stuff was going on. And there was a great prejudice between the Samaritans and the Judeans.
They wouldn’t even travel through that country because they felt it was in some ways contaminated. They had no dealings with them. But Jesus is sending messengers to this Samaritan village, verse 53, and they did not receive him because his face was to was though he would go to Jerusalem because he represented the original nation of Israel, Jesus Christ, and where it all was founded and moved out from Jerusalem.
And the Samaritans wouldn’t accept that. So they rejected the Messiah. Verse 54, when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elijah did.
Boy, sometimes you feel that way, don’t you? But see, that’s not the path. That’s not the highway that we’re supposed to take. The Jesus turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit you’re of.
For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. We’re not coming here to destroy anything.
We’re coming here to save people, to help people, to encourage people, to comfort people in the Lord our God through the accomplished work of Christ. Verse 57, and it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee with or so ever thou goest. Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.
Jesus knew that he was in a transient situation. He knew he had about a year to fulfill his ministry and he was more heavenly conscious than he was earthly conscious. That doesn’t mean we can’t have houses and all that.
It doesn’t mean that at all. His ministry was very specific and very clear. And for some people, it didn’t have enough earthly roots in it.
They couldn’t handle it. And he said unto another, verse 59, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is God’s sovereignty and care over all time and all things. And we’re to preach that even in the midst of the wilderness.
Walking in Love and Confidence
And that was one of the great lessons of the children of Israel traveling through the wilderness that God even provided bread from heaven and water out of a rock. What will he do for you? Amazing. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. And it doesn’t mean that someone can’t get saved. What it’s talking about is they are not ready to move into the understanding, the application and the sharing of God’s sovereignty and care over all things and all time.
They’re not ready to do that. That’s what that’s talking about. It’s not talking about salvation.
It’s talking about that person isn’t ready because people make excuses, excuses, excuses all the time. Enough with the excuses. What we really are after and what God, what really he wants from you is your heart.
He doesn’t want your money. He doesn’t want all these different things that people think are valuable. What he thinks the most valuable thing is, is you.
That’s right. You know, when Jesus came on the scene, we know that it was a Roman occupied territory, but there was religious groups. There were factions within even the concept of Judaism.
You had the Pharisees, which many of you are familiar with. They emphasize the traditions of the Father’s, the oral law over the Torah itself. The Sadducees, the Torah was only their source of revelation and they saw the law as static and literal.
And these two are always fighting with each other. The Essenes were a rejected group because they rejected both the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they were pushed to the fringes of society. Oftentimes the this group is associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The zealots were a fanatic and violent group and they did acts of terrorism to achieve their goals. They hated the Romans. So even within the time that Jesus comes, you have, it’s a Roman occupied territory.
You’ve got money flowing through there left and right. You’ve got all these groups. No one is on target with the word pretty much.
And none of these groups were set up by Moses or noted in the law. All of them developed because Israel moved further and further away from God and allowed worldly influences to a dilute and contradict God’s message to his people. And you got people in Christian communities fighting all the time over nonsense.
Waste of time and they’re going to try to rope you into these quarrels. They’re going to try to rope you in and maneuver you into these positions. So you take a stand on something that may not be worth your time.
You got to ask yourself a question. Is it producing spiritual fruit in your life or is it making you miserable, discouraged, afraid? Look at the fruit of your involvement. Be honest.
We think that our day and time is so charged and oh my gosh it’s so politically divergent or whatever the word is. These people were in chaos and this is the environment our Lord entered into. And he made no compromise.
He made no negotiation with it. He went to the people, loved the people, took care of the people and told them the truth. And then his followers took took that lead and did the same as we heard.
We ought to obey God rather than men. This is the high road of the one accord. Look at Acts chapter 1 please.
You do not need to feel like you’re trapped in this culture where people are going to endeavor to try to maneuver you, schmooze you into their group or whatever. You’re on a higher road. Acts chapter 1 verse 6 and when they therefore would come together they asked him saying Lord without this time restore again the kingdom to Israel.
They wanted a military Messiah. Sometimes that’s what we want but that’s coming later. You know what our job is? Be bold.
Exercise the authority given to you in Christ Jesus. Help somebody. Help anybody.
And he said unto them and it’s not for you to know the times or the seasons with the Father that’s placed in his own power. It’s put in his own power. But you shall receive.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
You’ll take ownership and use the power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria unto the uttermost part of the earth. That’s right. You witness with your identity.
That’s how you witness. What do you identify as? An attorney, a mom, a teacher, a pilot, bus driver. Nothing wrong with those things.
But that’s not who you are. You witness with your identity. When the identity of who you are in Christ Jesus has filled your soul.
That’s how you witness boldly, confidently, without hesitation. And that’s what he’s trying to tell him. And the power of God that’s been given to you, it’s not just to exhibit and evidence the Spirit.
It’s also to change. You have the power to change. You know, people keep telling you, hey, you got the power to change if you want to.
That’s right. Because the power has been given to you in Christ Jesus. It’s the power of God.
It’s the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that has shined in your heart will cause you to put on that mind of Christ, to allow the mind of Christ within you. You put off the old. You put on the new.
The world is going to tell you that you got to get fixed. You’re broken. That’s not true.
When God created Christ within you, it is whole. It is perfection. And then from there, we learn how to walk in that perfection in Christ Jesus.
In 114 it says, these all continued with one accord in prayer. They were waiting for the coming of the gift. In Acts chapter two, verse one, it says, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were always one accord in one place.
They were in unity. Look at Acts 15. When in the early church, they were learning about the faith of Jesus Christ.
And what ended up happening is some of the people that were still in their mind living in Egypt. They didn’t walk out delivered. They were still under the law in their head.
I’m using Egypt as a figure of speech. In other words, they never walked into the freedom of Christ Jesus. They thought that you still needed to be circumcised, to be saved.
And this contention came up in the early church. It was grace versus works. And this is what Peter said in Acts 15, verse eight, and God knoweth the hearts, bear them witness.
This is the Gentiles, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Look around you. There’s a lot of diversity in here, but God puts no difference between us.
Can you do that? Yes, you can. Because your heart will be purified by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. Your heart will be cleansed.
You will relinquish these, you know, I’m too young. I’m too old. I’m too big.
I’m too short. I’m, I’m the wrong color. I’m, you know, I’ve got curly hair.
I got no hair. I, you know, I wear funky shoes. Look at Colossians, please.
There is a highway, a higher road. Don’t allow yourself to be painted into a corner where people put a label on you. And then you think that that’s really you because they said something.
Well, what’s more powerful, what they say or what God says? Absolutely. This is the high road that Jesus Christ came to make available to us. Colossians chapter three, verse one, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, we set our affections, we set our thoughts on the things that are above, set your affections on things above, not on the things on the earth.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
Now it doesn’t mean that you forget things that you’re supposed to do, like your appointments and all that. It doesn’t mean that it just means in your heart, you’re loyal and your compass is fixed on things above where you seated at the right hand of God for you are dead. What? That means your old man, your old man is dead.
Basically what the Christian deals with once they’re born again is the habits that they develop and sometimes keep developing. You can change those habits if you want for your dead and your life is hit with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in what? Fantastic.
That’s the highway. Let’s close in Romans. That’s the highway.
Now I know it’s not easy. I know it’s not easy. You get up in the morning, you look at yourself in the mirror and you’re like, Oh my God.
What happened? Maybe you don’t do that. But if you live long enough, eventually you probably will. God doesn’t look at that.
You got to look at what God has done. God looks at your heart and what he’s done for you in Christ Jesus. We can follow the example of the first century Christians who follow their forefathers and their example.
Romans 15 in verse five, it says, now have a God of endurance, patience is endurance and consolation or comfort. Grant you to be like minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus. See the like minded means to think the same thing and it’s one toward another.
So it’s reciprocal. It’s mutual. We each have the same measure of faith according to Romans 12, three.
This is your identity. So the more that you can encourage and comfort and exhort me to my true identity, the better I’m going to be. And I can do the same for you.
See, because the standard we use is not your performance. I don’t read performance in there. What I read is according to Christ Jesus and according to means the standard of measurement.
How do you measure yourself against other people? Your performance are theirs. Their behavior or yours. No, you measure each other based on Christ Jesus.
What did he do? Crucifixion, resurrection. So simple, so beautiful. Then it says in verse six, it says that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The one mind is that Hamathoumadon, is that one passion, that one accord that uniting with the will of God were unified on that will. And what is that will? Jesus Christ with one mouth. So our words are like a chorus.
We harmonize whether you’re speaking from one side of the earth to the other side, wherever you are, you’re on a plane, you’re at work, you’re in recreation. Man, when you speak, you speak words that reflect what God’s will is for each of us, which is to accept the accomplished work of Christ and walk accordingly. See the meaning.
And more importantly, the application of this one accord is what we’ve considered to learn how to do this, to bring people together. We should not allow ourselves to be backed into that corner of limited options. One accord can only be accomplished with God’s involvement.
That’s all that’s all. And it’s that unifying in heart, soul, mind and strength on the will of God. And his will has a name and that name is Jesus Christ.
His will has a foundation and that foundation is the faith of Jesus Christ. His will has a gift. It’s called the Holy Spirit and eternal life.
And his will has an end. Eternal life, fully realized that the return of Christ when all Christians past and present will be received up into glory to ever be with the Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you for your abundant and rich blessings to our lives and the greatness of what you’ve called us to be and to do, not because of our works, not because of our performance, not because of anything we do, but because of what you wrought in your son, your will fully unfolded and continuing to blossom in the hearts of your people, because the work of Christ, his crucifixion and you raising him from the dead are so powerful and so reverberating that still two thousand years later, they’re echoing in the souls of the of people throughout the world because they they are above all of it.
Lord, they’re above all the fray and confusion. They’re above all the negatives and fear because you’ve given us a highway, a path to run in and that path is the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. And in so, Lord, we continue to ask you for our eyes to be open, for our hearts to be healed and for doors to share this truth with as many as we can as we see the day approaching in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen.
Key Takeaways
- Once you’ve received sufficient strength in your heart in the faith of Jesus Christ and you’re convinced on His finished work, then help somebody else.
- You can be the one that rises up above it because that highway has a name and that name is Jesus Christ.
- Because your heart will be purified by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ.
- They’re above all the negatives and fear because you’ve given us a highway, a path to run in and that path is the accomplished work of Jesus Christ.
- One accord is above it all, and it’s the answer to a divided world.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “One Accord Conference #10: One Accord Above It All”?
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “One Accord Conference #10: One Accord Above It All” through Isaiah 35, Acts 1, Acts 15, Romans 15, showing how christ, because, shall shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from Isaiah 35, Acts 1, Acts 15, Romans 15, Romans 12.
How can believers apply this teaching?
Because your heart will be purified by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ.
Scripture References
Isaiah 35; Acts 1; Acts 15; Romans 15; Romans 12
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
