The four adjusted their respective watches. Then the mother turned to the father, and with hand outstretched said, “OK. Now let’s all synchronize our wallets!”

It helps to get on the same page whenever we’re working on a common goal. All the various church denominations would end all their fussing if we all synchronized our spiritual lives to God’s word.

Many of those films have a common theme: soldiers in the barracks bickering and fighting with one another. But when they get to the battlefield they stand united because they need each other. Fighting together they conquer the enemy and win in the end.

One of the reasons Christians often bicker among themselves is that there is no challenging goal that binds them together. A church that argues over traditions or style has forgotten its vision of winning the lost.

What is your favorite kind of movie and why?

Relate that to your church world. Although you may like one style of church music, perhaps we would be more balanced in our faith if we exposed ourselves to different styles. Diversity is what keeps any church healthy. Some of God’s choicest characters were culturally diverse. Consider Moses, raised by an Israelite nanny (actually his God-fearing mother) but educated in the idolatrous Egyptian palace as royalty. Also consider Peter, who was so prejudiced he thought God only used Jews, until God straightened him out saying, “If God says something is acceptable, don’t say it isn’t” (Acts 10:15 NLT).

Paul said, “I try to find common ground with everyone…that I might bring them to Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Apply that to your life today.

Bartimaeus said, “Gentlemen, let me go first. I cannot wait to tell you what Jesus did for me. I was outside the city of Jericho when Jesus walked by, surrounded by a mob of people. I cried out, ‘Son of David! Son of David! Have mercy on me!’ and Jesus stopped. The crowd quieted down. He asked me the most unusual question. He asked, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ I said, ‘Rabbi, I want to see.’ He said, ‘Go. Your faith has made you well.’ Gentlemen, at that moment, instantaneously I could see. I was healed. As a result, I have come to this conclusion: When it comes to healing blind people, Jesus uses our faith and His word, and that equals healing.”

The other two shook their heads and frowned. They obviously disagreed with Bartimaeus’ conclusion. Unable to keep quiet, the man from Bethsaida spoke up. He said, “Gentlemen, my story of how Christ touched me isn’t anything like that. Jesus took me out of the city, and he spit directly into my eyes. Then he touched my eyes with his hands. I was expecting an instantaneous healing like yours, Bartimaeus, but when I opened my eyes, it was awful. I saw men as trees walking. Everything was a blur. I thought, ‘If this is what it is like to be healed by Jesus, he’s not much of a healer.’ Then Jesus repeated the procedure. He spit in my eyes again and touched me again. Gentlemen, the second time I opened my eyes, I could see. As a result, I am convinced that when Jesus heals blind people, he uses spit, and it’s always in two stages.”

By this time, the third man was red in the face. he said, “Gentlemen, I would seriously doubt the validity of both your conclusions. When Jesus healed me, he used saliva all right. But he did not spit in my face. Instead, he spit in the ground, and he took the saliva and the dirt and made mud packs and put mud packs on my eyes. It was uncomfortable and somewhat disgusting. Then he told me to go to the pool of Siloam and commanded me to wash the mud out in the pool. As I washed it out, I could see instantly. As a result, I am convinced that when Jesus heals blind people, he uses mud and the holy waters of the pool of Siloam.”

The three men argued with one another well into the night and went away divided on the matter of Jesus and healing. In the days that followed they formed three denominations – the Mudites, the Spitites, and the Faithites. The Mudites made mud their sacrament of healing, the Spitites made saliva their sacrament, and the Faithies assigned no special sacrament at all to healing, believing that faith in Christ’s word was all that was necessary to be made well.

Which one do you belong to?

Trying to believe it was a coincidence, the Pastor put the incident behind him. The next Sunday he preached on giving. Afterwards, the choir squirmed as the director led them in the hymn: “Jesus Paid it All”.

By this time, the Pastor was losing his temper. Sunday morning attendance swelled as the tension between the two built. A large crowd showed up the next week to hear his sermon on the sin of gossiping. Would you believe the Choir Director selected: “I Love to Tell the Story”. There was no turning back.

The following Sunday the Pastor told the congregation that unless something changed he was considering resignation. The entire church gasped when the Choir Director led them in: “Why Not Tonight.”

Truthfully, no one was surprised when the Pastor resigned a week later; explaining that Jesus had led Him there and Jesus was leading him away. The Choir Director could not resist: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Of course, this is a fictional story. But this kind of undermining of authority happens in churches all the time. We should be thankful for a unified leadership at New Hope. Human nature could easily destroy all that.

When Durante got on stage, however, something interesting happened. He went through his short monologue, and then he stayed. As he entertained, the applause grew louder and louder, and he kept at it. Pretty soon he had been on stage for fifteen, then twenty, then thirty minutes. Finally, he took his last bow and left the stage. Back stage, someone stopped him and said, “I thought you had to go after a few minutes. What happened?”

Durante answered, “I did have to go, but I can show you the reason I stayed. You can see for yourself if you will look down on the front row.”

In the front row were two men, each of whom had lost an arm in the war. One had lost his right arm and the other had lost his left. Together, they were able to clap, and that is exactly what they were going loudly and cheerfully – clapping.

Genesis 2:18 says, “It is not good that the man should be alone”. When Jesus wanted a simple donkey he sent out a team of two. Let’s work together.

“Rabbi, isn’t it true that the the tradition was always for the people to stand at this point in the service?” inquired the man from the standing-up side.

“No, that was not the tradition,” the old man replied.

“Then it is true the tradition is for the people to stay seated?” asked the sitting-down representative.

“No,” the rabbi said, “that was not the tradition.”

“But, rabbi,” cried the young rabbi, “what we have now is complete chaos; half the people stand and shout, while the others sit and scream.”

“Ah,” said the old man. “THAT was the tradition.”

Some people have the tradition of fighting for their own opinion, even when it really doesn’t matter. Christ has called us to overcome our own selfishness and be united. Somethings aren’t worth fighting over.

“A congregation in a small town in Tennessee flew apart rather than staying together. Their place of worship had a sign in front that read, ‘LEFT FOOT BAPTIST CHURCH’. It seems a number of years ago, there had been a split in this local congregation that practiced foot-washing. An argument had broken out over which foot should be washed first. The group insisting on the left foot taking precedence finally withdrew and split off to organize its own church and named its congregation accordingly!”

I’m all for standing up for our beliefs, but that takes the cake. I wonder how many people in the area were attracted to that church by its new name.

In conversation with a person I had recently met, I asked, “Are you a Protestant or Catholic?” My new acquaintance replied, “Protestant.”

I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He answered, “Baptist.”

“Me, too!” I said. “Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

“Northern Baptist,” replied. “Me Too! I shouted.”

We continued back and forth. Finally I asked, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”

He replied, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”

I said, “Die, heretic!”

Lutheran reformer Philip Melancthon proclaimed, “In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity [love].”

It seems that some believers keep picking until we find something to disagree on. Perhaps it would be more godly to look for things we agree on rather than hunt until we find what we disagree on. Be a bridge builder this weekend.

So, one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become unity-conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

If all Christians of every denomination were focused upon being like Jesus, I think we would soon lose the denominational differences. Let’s use Jesus as our standard and our petty differences will seem like nothing.