1. One Ekklesia

 

▪ Douglas R. Shearer, Sr. Pastor Emeritus, New Hope Christian Fellowship. Sacramento, CA . . .The Ekklesia is both the idea and the norm for believers. It’s been some time since a more Biblical analysis of the “Church” in doctrine and practice has been written which I could readily endorse.

 

▪Femi Adebayo, President, CHRISTIAN UNITY PROJECT, Ilesa, Nigeria. . .I strongly recommend this second book edition for every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Please, let us all examine these powerful insights into His Word and implement the instructions given therein. I believe it is God’s message to His people on earth today.

 

▪ Dr. Douglas Hamp, Pastor, The Way Congregation, Denver, Colorado . . . This fast-paced masterfully written book provides practical steps and keen theological insights into the big questions facing today’s body of believers . . . One Ekklesia will amaze you as it pulls insights from the pages of Scripture. This is a must read!

 

▪Richard Jacobson, author of Unchurching: Christianity Without Churchianity, Murfreesboro, Tennessee . . . Henry Hon isn’t just a theoretician on the subject of oneness in Christ; every life-changing insight packaged between these two covers was earned through years of faithful submission to the Lord’s vision for His Body, as described in John 17.

 

2. One Truth

 

Jesus said: The truth shall set you free and if the Son sets you free, you shall be free for real. When Jesus declared these words in John 8, the religious people of His day were first condemning an adulterous woman to death, then after Jesus saved her, they wanted to kill Jesus. Truth liberates people from religious condemnation and its zeal that’s ready to kill—if not physically then at least psychologically or spiritually.

 

The word “truth” in the Greek (alethia) means “the reality lying at the basis of appearance.” People are caught up with appearances both in the secular and religious world. There is a hunger within every person for what is real. Your inner being is drained by vanity; truth is needed to nourish, sustain, and energize your soul.

 

The world is full of hostile separations. Jesus in John 17 gave the gift of truth so that the most hostile and divided people may become united. Religious dogma and ceremonial practices divide, but truth unites. A person who has received logic and life from truth is one who can love, forgive, and express kindness to all; especially, those different or contrary to himself. Jesus answered: “I am the way the TRUTH, and the life” (John 14:6).

 

3. One Life & Glory
 

Both Christians and non-Christians like to witness the supernatural, miraculous actions taken by God. Certainly, God can do miracles to heal your loved ones from terminal diseases or to solve all your financial worries with a lottery winning. However, God’s desire with humanity is not to be their “Santa Claus.”’ His desire and purpose is wonderful beyond imagination: He wants to be “miraculously normal” in humanity. Not just hit and miss miraculous events here and there, but miraculous every day, such that it is normal and ordinary. This is God Himself being the source, empowering humanity to live by His divine-eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Being miraculously normal means: it will be indistinguishable whether it is you or God who is loving, caring, forgiving, enduring, and living in this present world.

 

Moreover, services rendered to both God and humanity can likewise be miraculously normal. Ordinary words can be spoken, yet they can give eternal life to the hearer. Through normal interactions, peace can be made between people previously divided and hostile to one another; they are brought into fellowship. Our text, One Life and Glory, is the third in this series forming a Trilogy together with One Ekklesia and One Truth. This Trilogy of ONE expounds on the Lord’s prayer in John 17 for all His people: “I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity” (John 17:23—NIV)\as one as the Father and the Son are one. In His prayer, He gave three gifts to accomplish the oneness of His people: eternal life, truth, and His glory, When previously divided, even hostile people, can become one in this present conflicting and confusing age; then the people of the world will believe “the Father sent the Son”—our Lord Jesus Christ.