Embracing Our Mystical Union

A message by Caleb Hyers | John 14:20

In this message from Caleb Hyers of The Resting Place Apostolic Family in Tampa, FL, John 14:20 opens up a question many believers never get answered: are Christians really living in union with Christ the way Jesus promised? The message walks through the three statements in that verse, “I am in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you,” and shows why union with Christ is where the believer’s life begins, not where it ends. Read the full transcript to explore the Greek word for know, the Scriptures behind each statement, and three practical ways to embrace this union.

ARE WE EXPERIENCING THE FULL SPIRITUAL UNION JESUS PROMISED US?

My title this morning is long and important. It’s embracing our mystical union. Embracing our mystical union with Christ specifically. Not all have even believed that we’re in union with Christ, and it is, I would say, the backbone of the new creation experience.

So here’s my main question this morning. I want you to ponder this question as we go along. Are we, and don’t answer now, are we experiencing the full spiritual union Jesus promised us? Are we experiencing the full spiritual union Jesus promised us? Some of you might be like, “Well, what is the full spiritual union Jesus promised us?” And then I’ll answer you: good question, good follow-up. That’s great. We talk about this a lot in our internal world, our internal communication as a team here. We talk about it a lot in our schools.

I just want you all to look at me. To those on the podcast, sorry, you can only hear me. You should watch the live stream. You and Jesus are not like this. You and Jesus are like this. For the podcast, I’m crossing my fingers. I have two fingers up, and they’re crossed. I’m saying it’s not like that. And then I’m putting up one finger. It’s like that. That’s how it is. You’re not near him, you’re not around him, you’re in him. And he’s in you. According to him, not my opinion. Are we experiencing that union in every way? Well, we’re going to get into it.

So John 14:20 is out of our reading, and this is an amazing statement. Jesus said, “When I am raised to life again,” that’s the New Living, “you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

Those last three things are radical. We are going to unpack that today. Let’s take these things, starting with “I am in my Father.” Ready? Here we go. “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Do we really know that? Do we know it, know it? Are we just aware of it? Did we fill the answer out on the test, but we didn’t really grasp the reality of it? I think even if you know it, there’s still more grasping of the reality of that. It’s such a mind-boggling thing to believe.

And I love the Greek language. I like looking at the lexicons and word studies, and that’s just my thing. But I also want to say that this verse in the ESV says “in that day,” and a lot of the more common translations say “in that day you will know.” But the context absolutely is when he is resurrected. When he has paid full redemption for our sins, and he is raised from the dead. How many believe that happened? Okay, he’s resurrected, amen? Amen. Okay, just making sure there are Christians in here. You’ve got to know your audience, bro. “When I am raised to life again, you will know.”

IN THAT DAY, YOU WILL KNOW

And that word know is powerful. We’re going to jump into that in just a moment, but I’m going to paraphrase an old English theologian, Adam Clarke. He said this: the life of the believer does not end in union with Christ. It begins there. It’s a consequential statement, and you might be like, “What’s the difference?” Well, a lot of the church has put off the experiential knowing of Christ to heaven. We put it off into the millennium. You know, in the book of Revelation, that thousand-year reign, then we will know. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. I’m going to show you that the life of a believer does not end in union, it begins there. We’re not reaching until we get to union with Christ. We’re reaching from our union with Christ. This is the finished work of the cross, and some of you might be like, “Yeah, I know, I know.” Well, stick with me here, because that word know, “in that day you will know,” is the Greek word ginosko.

And that means to know through personal experience or firsthand acquaintance. In that day, you will have firsthand acquaintance, personal experience, that I’m in the Father, and that you are in me, and I’m in you. By firsthand experience. The best way to understand the word know there is experientially. You’ve had an experience with something. It’s one thing to know something is going to happen or to know something is true. Like, I know that Africa exists. I’ve never been there. I’ve never been there, but I know it’s real. It’s a fact. I know it’s real, but I don’t ginosko it. See what I mean? Some of you know Israel is a place, but you don’t. I’ve been in Israel ten times. I can ginosko Israel. I put my hands on the dirt. I’ve stood in the water he walked on. You know what I mean? That’s the kind of knowing: experiential knowing.

It gets even more intense, because in Luke 1:34, this is the word Mary said to the angel: “How can I have a child? I have not known a man.” So even to the extent of sexual intimacy, he says, “In that day, you will know” like that. That I am in the Father, you are in me, and I am in you. Pretty close and personal, wouldn’t you say? Yeah. My parents are in the front row, seeing if I can make them blush or something. I don’t know. It’s funny. I know, I know. I wasn’t looking at you, Mom.

All right? “In that day, you will know this,” and that’s a promise that we will move from mere intellectual understanding to experiential knowledge of our union with the Godhead. Experiential knowledge. I’m just asking, do we all have that?

Walk in Newness of Life

Look at Romans 6:4. I love this. This is one of my favorite passages of the Bible. Romans 6 says,

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that.”

Say with your chest, “in order that.” In order that.

“Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Listen, walking in newness of life requires embracing the mystical union we have with him right now. It requires it. It requires it. Some people put this off. They say, “Okay, just as he was raised, we’ll be raised too, in the resurrection, in the day.” They put it off to that. But then it doesn’t make sense with the rest of the sentence: “so that we might walk in newness of life” in heaven? No. Why would we need newness of life in heaven? Why would it be walking in newness of life when the new heaven and new earth and all things have been restored? No, this is standing out in the crowd, being a new person, a new creation. You’ve already been buried with him. You’ve already been raised with him, and now you’re walking in him, and he is walking in you. Newness of life, right now. You should change the way you live. But that requires embracing it. That requires saying by faith, “You are in the Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.”

Think about how difficult it would be to sin if you really believed that. True. If you had a conscious awareness of being in him, and him in you, would you even be able to sin? If you consciously thought, “Okay, I’m in Christ, Christ is in me,” and then you’re tempted. It’s not even like he’s in the room watching. You’re in him. He’s in you. You’re one. You and Jesus are not like this. You are like this.

That’s why Paul uses this language in 1 Corinthians 6. I have it on the screen for you. He says,

“How can you unite yourself to prostitutes? How can you have sexual immorality among you? Don’t you know that you are one spirit with God? Anyone who unites himself to a prostitute unites himself, unites Christ, in that prostitute.”

He said, even in the physical, your physical actions, you’re uniting Christ in these things. You and Jesus are not close. You’re not tight. You’re one. And if you embrace that, shedding temptation is like the easiest thing in the world. I don’t want to make Jesus do that. And I’ll extrapolate on what I’m not saying: Jesus never sinned, and he can’t. He won’t. He’s proven he won’t. Are you with me? I’m saying we should look at these things that way, because the Bible commands it.

I AM IN THE FATHER

I want to look through all three of these statements. I am in the Father. You are in me, and I am in you. I want to look at some other references, because how many know you should never build a doctrine off of one moment in Scripture, even if it’s coming out of the mouth of Jesus? Come on. Even if Jesus says it, I promise you, there are three to four to nine hundred other references. You just don’t maybe see them right away. So let’s look at that. The “I am in the Father” statement, and let’s look at other places where he makes that confession. All right? Sound good? Yeah. All right, we’re going to do it anyway.

John 14:9-10. This is the context of John 14:20, that verse we read earlier. He’s talking to Philip, and Philip says, “Show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.” And Jesus said to him,

“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?”

Think about this. He says, “Show us the Father. It’ll be enough.” And Jesus says, “I’ve been with you so long, and you still don’t know me.” He’s saying, “I want to know the Father,” and Jesus says, “You don’t know me.”

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

Radical statement.

“How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”

And then you see him confessing there also that he is in the Father. Yes? Okay.

Let’s go to Colossians 2:9-10. This one’s wild.

“In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”

He’s speaking of Christ. Wrap your brain around that for the next two hundred years, okay? The power of a million nuclear reactors somehow was contained in a meat blanket of human flesh. Somehow flesh and bones contain the whole fullness of the deity. What? Isn’t that wild? You understand? I’ll break your brain further, because I did it at 9 a.m. It’s only fair. I do it to you as well. All right? The prophet, I think it was Jeremiah. I don’t have a reference. But one of the prophets said, “The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you, O Lord.” So the heavens don’t contain God. What does that mean? God contains the heavens. Okay? That’s not the part that breaks your brain yet. If your brain hurts already, you’re in trouble. Here we go. The heavens don’t contain him; he contains heaven. Heaven is in God. Yes, God is in heaven, but heaven is in God, because they don’t contain him. He’s the container. Are you okay so far? Yeah. All right. And then he put that container into a human container. And then he says, after the fullness of deity,

“And you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”

That means all of God is in Christ, including heaven, and all of Christ is in you. You’re full of him.

So, yes, I’m going to heaven, but I’m also containing God, who contains heaven. Where am I going? Yes. Being wrapped into the ether of the cosmos, the one who holds all things together. I mean, is that wild or what? What if you lived like that? That you’re filled with the whole fullness of God? Just look at your neighbor. I said, you’re filled with the whole fullness of God. Because you might be able to believe for your neighbor more than for yourself, but you need to hear it. Say to the other person, the one you don’t like as much, check the other person out: “You also are filled with the whole fullness of God.” I love doing that. It was so much fun. Isn’t that amazing? Come on. Incredible.

Jesus also, in John chapter 10, stood up, and this is one of the moments where he absolutely, emphatically declared that he is God. Okay? Some people say Jesus never claimed to be God. They’re not paying attention. John 10:22 through 39. It’s a long passage. We’re going to read it. We believe in the public reading of Scripture around here, amen? Yeah, man. Come on. There’s not enough Bible in church anymore. Yeah, I mean, we’re doing it. We’re going to read this thing, all right? John 10:22 through 39. It says,

“At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,”

I love this. Picture it, right?

“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

“Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe.’”

He’s like, “I already told you, bro. You know I told you. We all know I told you. Okay? I told you, you do not believe.”

“The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Bruh. Bruh. Okay, like… All the Pharisees hear, in Solomon’s colonnade of all places, is blasphemy. Blasphemy, blasphemy. I’m telling you. Let’s keep reading.

“The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.”

Right after he says that, they’re like, “Oh, no, he did it!” and they grab rocks. Okay?

“Jesus answered them,”

I love this. This is sassy Jesus, 100 percent. So much fun.

“I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you going to stone me?”

I love it. He’s like, “Hey, I healed your mama. I fed you twice by miracle. I did this and that. Which one of those moments? I just want to know, before we get this stoning thing on, I just want to know why. Which of the good things I did are you stoning me for?” Do you see this? It’s audacious in the perfect way. It’s so good. I love it.

“The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’”

That is exactly what they heard him saying, because that is exactly what he was saying. Yes?

“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law,’”

And he breaks the brain another way. Totally flips them sideways. I love it. They are not doing well. He’s like, “Let’s make it worse, all right?” He says, “Isn’t that written in your Law?” This is a quote from the Psalms.

“‘I said, you are gods.’ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Okay, get this. They pick up stones, and he’s like, “Wait a minute, which good work?” And then they say, “No, it’s for blaspheming.” And he goes, “Oh, doesn’t it say that you’re gods? And why are you on me for saying that?” I just see them standing there with the rocks, like, “Do we go now? What do we do?” They’re so confused. And then this, right here. I want to see the movie. I want to see the movie when I get to heaven.

“And they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.”

I mean, doesn’t anybody else wonder how that happened? Some Jesus jujitsu going on. They’ve got rocks, and he says, “The Father’s in me, I’m in the Father,” and he dodges their rocks? Did he morph through the crowd? Did he become like a hologram? Did he float up above them and over? Did he toss some guys? Did he throw a few elbows? They sought to arrest him. Have you ever seen someone being arrested? Like a police chase? I know you watch all the videos. Sorry, you’ve seen it. Yeah. All right, you’re scrolling at night, watching guys run from the cops, and you’re like, “So stupid.” They sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands, is all John gives us. Come on, man. That’s an action scene. I want to know. Anybody? I mean, the possibilities are real. Was he just dropkicking fools? I mean, they sought to arrest him. You don’t like thinking about Jesus like this? I think about him as a real thing. I know you’ve got your fairy tale, but this is his story, all right? He escaped from their hands. Somehow. I don’t know. It’s fun to think about. Yep.

So there are a few references for him saying emphatically, not just in John 14:20, but in other places, “I am in the Father.” And do you see that? Are we convinced he’s in the Father yet? Yes? Okay. Half of you are convinced. Good.

YOU ARE IN ME

Let’s go into the “you are in me” statement. This is all we’re doing today. We’re reading the Bible. Hope this is okay. Ephesians 1:3-14. This is Paul writing to the church in Ephesus. He says,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

In Christ. I’m saying this in defense of where he said, “You are in me.” That’s a big deal.

“Even as he chose us, what? In him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

That’s good news, amen, right? But we think that’s all we need. We think, “Oh, we’re forgiven.” No, no, no, you’re not just forgiven. You’re in him, friend. Something else has happened.

“According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things, where? In Christ.”

Are you a thing? Yes. I’m a thing. You’re a thing. We’re human being things, right? Yeah? Okay.

“To unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth, where? In him. In him we have obtained an inheritance,”

Past tense.

“having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

He’s talking about himself. He’s talking about the early believers. But then he goes on to say, “In him, you also.” Come on. “In him, we also.” Hello?

“When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,”

We think about believing in him as saying, “He’s over there, and we believe in him.” No, you’re believing because you’re in him. The only reason you can believe is because you look around and it’s obvious. “How did I get in here? I didn’t do anything. I just believed it, and now I’m here.” We sometimes make our faith something we do, like bridging a gap between us and God. Faith is a person. It’s a gift. He gives you to believe. All right, that’s not my sermon today. I’m going to leave it alone.

“We were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee. Say guarantee. The guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

See, right there, people say, “See, it’s not now, it’s not yet.” It’s because we haven’t acquired possession of it. But we do have something now. The guarantee. One translator says the down payment. The Holy Spirit is the down payment. We see in part, yes. We know in part, yes. We will know in full. Things are going to change when heaven and earth collide, sewing it up like a blanket, making it one. Absolutely. But right now, we have the ability to live in him, from him, for him. Amen. Because he has done that right now. We should not put this off for some millennium or some other time. Come on.

Galatians 3:25 through 28 says,

“But now that faith has come,”

Used as a noun. Now that faith has come. Hello, that’s a noun, just in the grammar. Faith has come. Jesus.

“We are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Hello, you see that too? Put on Christ. If you put on a jacket, you’re in the jacket. Hello?

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one, where? In Christ Jesus.”

Come on. He said, “You are in me.” And these are other people who believe that, not just him. Come on.

2 Corinthians 5:17. You know this one?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

He is. Present tense. A new creation. Some have said that’s true in heaven, that it’s not true now. Some have said that it’s not fully manifest now, that it’s only partially manifest. I don’t see that anywhere. “Therefore, if anyone is,” present tense, “in Christ, he is a new creation.” And it’s the perfect imperative in the Greek syntax, just so you know. So it is absolutely, emphatically clear. It’s now. It’s not then, it’s now. You are in Christ now. Now.

“The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Come on. “In that day, you will ginosko that I’m in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Experientially know.

1 John 4:15, another one.

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides where? In him, and he in God.”

CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY

All right, so I am in the Father, you’re in me. Let’s go with “I am in you.” Romans 8:10. Not just us in him, but him in us, right?

“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.”

Let me help you with this. This is right in Romans 8:9, 10, and 11. Romans 8:9 says you’re not in the flesh if the Spirit of God dwells in you. Romans 8:10 says, “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” And then verse 11 says, “The Spirit that gave life to Christ in his resurrection will bring life to your mortal body.” Why am I saying that? I’m saying there’s a difference between the flesh and your body. Your flesh and your body are not the same things. They’re not always used in the same way. You’ve got to understand. He dealt with the flesh; he’s healing your body. He dealt with the sin factory, the sin nature issue, the thing that separated you from God. Hello? He dealt with it because you’re in him. How do you get in him if you’re naturally sinful at the core? How do you get in there?

You remember the guy who touched the outside of the ark? Was that Uzzah, right? Uzziah? One of those names. Sorry. He touches the outside of the Ark of the Covenant, which contains what? The presence of God, the Spirit of God. He touched just the outside of the box and died because he was sinful. How did you become the box? You became the box, and you’re still breathing. That means you’re a different vessel. Yeah. A vessel for holy use. That’s the only way you get to carry him. Hello? And in this day, he’s resurrected. If we know that we’re in him and he’s in us, we have to believe that. Hello?

Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t have some damage to heal. “Although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” So you don’t have a sin nature, but you have sin damage, and God is healing it by his Spirit, from the inside out. And that’s the process of being healed. You want inner healing and outer healing. You want all the healing. Amen? But it’s all by the Spirit. All right. I have four sub-points in this sermon. I have no apologies for that. All right?

Another one, “I am in you.” 2 Corinthians 13:5. I love this.

“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.”

That’s intense.

“Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.”

What’s the test? Have you believed that he’s in you? Wow. Pretty straightforward.

Colossians 1:24 through 27. Paul said,

“I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed.”

Say, “now revealed.” Now revealed.

“Now revealed to his saints, to whom God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles,”

That’s the non-Jewish nations, that’s us, most of us.

“How great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery.”

What’s the mystery? It says,

“Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Some people, the mystery for them of salvation is Christ in heaven returning one day. Some people, it’s Christ in heaven forgiving their sins. That’s not the mystery hidden for ages and now revealed. It’s Christ in you. Right now, the hope of glory. Right now, and you might not feel it, you might not perceive it, but you can know it by experience through faith.

WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN TO EXPERIENTIALLY KNOW?

So I have a little overview for you of all three of those. I am in the Father. You are in me. I am in you. It’s a good thing to take home with you, because you need to sit with these Scriptures. You need to sit with these and go, “Okay, is this really in there? Is he just making up a bunch of stuff?” I say it all the time: you should never take my word for it. You should go to the Word for it. Please don’t just believe me because I have a microphone. That’s what gets everybody into trouble. Okay? Do not believe me. Believe him. Check it.

So here’s a question. What does it really mean to experientially know we’re one with the Three in One? Because we just heard it, and our minds can say, “Yes, I agree” in your mind. But experientially knowing it, what does that mean? I think the answer is different for everyone. I don’t think I’m able to define for everyone here what it means to experientially know it. Some have very charismatic, intense experiences where they feel God. Some just worship the Lord even though they feel absolutely nothing. Both are faith. Amen? Come on.

I usually feel nothing until I feel everything. I’m either hot or cold. I don’t feel anything, and then it’s like, bang. I have literally, in this room, been thrown off a chair by the presence. I was there. Am I lying? It’s true, right there. Not sideways off a stool. God knows I am pretty stubborn. He really has to get at me. Yeah, it’s crazy. So I’m not trying to define that for everybody. I’m not. But I am trying to get you to ask the question, because there may be more on the table than your Christian life has afforded to you. There probably is.

That They May All Be One

Jesus said this in John 17, and I’m just trying to say before we read it, all of Jesus’ prayers get answered. Amen? Understatement of the century. All of Jesus’ prayers get answered. He’s like, “Hello, me.” “Yes, me.” “Can we please… me?” “Yes, we can do that, me.” “Okay, thank you, me.” “Amen, me.” “Let it be so, me.” And the Holy Spirit is like, “Me, me, me, me. I’ll do it.” Anyway, John 17:9-11. This is God the Son speaking to God the Father. It was written down for us. We should pay attention. Okay?

“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified, where? Where? In them.”

You want Jesus to be glorified? It’s going to be in you.

“And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them, where? In your name,”

The name of God is the character, reputation, and authority of God. Keep them in your character, reputation, and authority.

“Which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Radical. Radical. Let’s jump down to verse 20. John 17:20.

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,”

That’s us in this room. We only believe because they talked about it and passed it down, the early disciples. Come on. He’s praying for you. Thousands of years ago. Awesome. Come on.

“I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Wow. Let’s read that again.

“They will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.”

Wow. Is there any separation between Jesus, the Father, the Spirit? Any distance? Well, that’s the amount of separation between you and the Father, between you and the Spirit. It’s supposed to be the separation between each one of us.

WE CAN MEASURE THE FRUIT

I wonder if we fully embrace our mystical union yet. Because while we can’t define what the experiential knowing will look like, I think we can easily define the results of embracing it. We can measure the fruit of whether or not we believe that. Does that make sense? I don’t think we can look at the root of everyone, but I think we can look at the fruit and say, “Yeah, there’s a result if we believe that.” All right?

So I’ll say something. The first one is kind of the other way around, but hopefully it’s helpful. We should not hope for Christian unity without experiential knowledge of our union with Christ. If we attempt oneness with one another without believing we’re one with God, it’s going to fail. It’s worthless. It’s not going to happen. So that’s like the first conversation. It’s like, okay, with yourself. I really believe that I’m one with the Father, the Father’s one with me, and Jesus, Holy Spirit, we’re all one. But if we put our faith toward knowing we’re one with God, we’ll easily see Christ in our brother, Christ in our sister. It’s like, “Oh, I know you. I hang out in there all the time. I’m with you every day, all the time. There you are again. Here we are. I’ve been with you this whole time. I recognize you.” This is making sense.

Second statement. Embracing our union with Christ will produce oneness with each other. It will be the automatic offspring. It will. When we know we’re one with Christ, we’re able to see each one as a part of his body and our body. It’s like, there goes my own body. Hey there, left kneecap. Good to see you. Glad you’re still doing good. Right? Come on. Oh, I’m a shoulder. Yeah, there’s the shoulder. Where’s left elbow? Oh, there you are. Yeah. You start to see yourself working together in one direction, not because you’re trying to work together in one direction. Right, yeah. We put the cart before the horse, you know, and we try to get everybody going in the same direction. We don’t even all fully believe we’re one with God. It’s a mistake.

Last statement. Our union with God produces oneness with each other in a way the world cannot deny that Jesus is the Christ. True unity, birthed out of union with Jesus, is the best evangelism tool we have. Every tribe, every tongue, connected by the Holy Spirit of God and nothing else. That’s a witness. That’s a witness. How did all of y’all, with different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different opinions, different upbringings, how do you even hang out together, much less love each other, lay down your lives for one another? How do you do that? The only answer is the Holy Spirit of God has made us one, because we’re all in him. You see what I’m saying? That’s why every tribe and tongue will be there. Because he’s the unifier. Not our unity efforts. The person.

A PRACTICAL WAY TO EMBRACE YOUR MYSTICAL UNION

So, how do we walk this out? Here are some practical ways to embrace your mystical union. I mean, I’m trying, all right? The next slide, I just put “Embracing Your Mystical Union.” Maybe not practical. I don’t know. I think it is.

Number one, sit with those Scriptures. You need to spend real time in those Scriptures. Here’s what you need to do. You need to ask God to give you the grace to believe them. Don’t just read them. Say, “Give me grace to believe this, Lord. Help me believe.” And then you can say, “I believe, help my unbelief.” You can say that. It’s fine. When you throw off unbelief, that’s good. That’s the work of God, to believe.

Number two, intentionally expect to experience the Lord, in his manifest presence in new ways, not just at church, but when you open your Bible tomorrow. You get into the 90 Day Word Challenge, expect an encounter, an actual experience. You have to live your expectation. That’s why your Bible reading is so boring. You don’t expect very much. I’ll prove it to you. Imagine I brought a book of witchcraft up here. Spells. And I just opened it and started reading. What would happen on the inside of you? Would you freak out? Maybe you might even try to stop me. Right? But when we read the Word of God, it’s just kind of, “Oh, yeah, that’s the word.” Come on. One of those situations you have a real expectation for. The other one, you don’t expect very much at all. And it has nothing to do with what is written. You’re welcome. Intentionally expect to experience the Lord. That’s your job. You’ve got to lift your expectation.

Number three, risk believing Christ is in your brother and your sister, especially when it gets hard. Risk believing it just as much as he is in you; he’s in your brother and your sister. Amen. That’ll help us embrace our mystical union with Christ. Hallelujah.

Lord Jesus, we ask for your help. We obviously need a lot of it. We ask you to help us, Lord. Come on, anybody else need help, or is it just me? We all need help. We thank you for your Word. We ask you to help us to expect, to experience you, to know you by firsthand experience, so that we can embrace you, Lord, embrace our union with you, and so be one with one another in a way that the world begs to know, who is this Jesus? Help us, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Would you welcome up Jake? He’s going to close the gathering. Come on, welcome him real good. Come on.

Transcript of a message by Caleb Hyers delivered at The Resting Place Apostolic Family | Tampa Bay, FL | trpfamily.org

Watch this full message by clicking here: https://youtu.be/E2C81EPyO4k