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[0:00] A pastor's reflections, the effect of one. Exodus 23, 26. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in thy land.! The number of thy days I will fulfill.

[0:13] ! Exodus 20, verse 6. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. 1 Corinthians 12, 12. For as the body is one, and as many members, and all the members of that one body being many, our one body, so also is Christ.

[0:35] It is easy to think of my relationship to God on personal terms alone. My relationship with God is personal, but the implications of that personal relationship go far beyond just what I experience individually.

[0:51] In Exodus 23, Israel is continuing to receive instruction on how to outwork the Ten Commandments. God is presenting many different scenarios that relate to Israel's behavior towards their fellow man, the surrounding nations, and the false gods of the surrounding nations.

[1:12] All of these commands are for the personal benefit of the individual. But they also have ramifications that go far beyond just the individual. Exodus 19, 6.

[1:25] And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God expected Israel to be a collective of people that together lived out individual personal faithfulness that then beautifully displayed a holy God to the world.

[1:42] As each man, woman, and child lived out their personal relationship with God, they were each contributing to the whole. Little did they realize how much their individual lives would impact the lives of those around them.

[2:00] Exodus 23, verses 25 and 26. The individual service of God's people would have direct effect not only upon the individual, but on the very land and its inhabitants.

[2:27] The faithfulness of the life of the individual before God would directly affect the fruitfulness of the life of his neighbor. Romans 14, 7.

[2:38] For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. We little realize the effect our individual relationships with God have upon those around us.

[2:50] Our faithfulness has a direct effect upon the fruitfulness of others. Philippians 2, 1-2. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies, fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[3:16] The world thinks that the highest form of freedom is to live as independent individuals, with no accountability to God or man. In reality, freedom is found in oneness, not independence.

[3:31] Through our oneness in Christ, we come into the freedom of the soul that lives a faithful life of fruitfulness in God. That oneness then overflows into the lives of those we live in unity with, the body of Christ.

[3:45] Be faithful in your personal life with God. Your individual faithfulness will have a direct effect upon the fruitfulness of the body of Christ.

[3:57] Jesus, thank you for allowing individuals to come into personal relationship with you. Thank you that each one of those individual lives then becomes a part of something so much bigger, your body.

[4:13]  Help each member of that body to be personally faithful so that we might all be uniformly fruitful. Amen.