The Oneness of the Church with Jesus Christ

https://fb.watch/yRtTgknKIh

On Sunday April 6th, 2025 I shared a message at Bethel Fellowship in Montour Falls entitled The Oneness of the Church with Jesus Christ. <—Click the link for the Facebook livestream video. This message is about part 40 of the gospel of the kingdom messages that I have been prayerfully writing and compiling and posting introductory YouTube videos for.

FOUNDATIONAL SCRIPTURE FOR THE MESSAGE:

HEBREWS 3:1 WHEREFORE, HOLY BRETHREN, PARTAKERS (PARTNERS, COMPANIONS) OF THE HEAVENLY CALLING, CONSIDER THE APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST OF OUR PROFESSION, CHRIST JESUS; WHO WAS FAITHFUL TO HIM THAT APPOINTED HIM, AS ALSO MOSES WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE. FOR THIS MAN WAS COUNTED WORTHY OF MORE GLORY THAN MOSES, INASMUCH AS HE WHO HATH BUILDED THE HOUSE HATH MORE HONOUR THAN THE HOUSE. FOR EVERY HOUSE IS BUILDED BY SOME MAN; BUT HE THAT BUILT ALL THINGS IS GOD. AND MOSES VERILY WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE, AS A SERVANT, FOR A TESTIMONY OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TO BE SPOKEN AFTER; BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE; WHOSE HOUSE ARE WE, IF WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE AND THE REJOICING OF THE HOPE FIRM UNTO THE END.[1]


[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Heb 3.

In this passage the word partners from teh KJV would have been better translated as partners or companions. And it is translated as such in several other English translations.

THE CHURCH IS INTENDED TO ENJOY A ONENESS WITH JESUS CHRIST. AND THERE SHOULD NEVER BE A DISTANCE BETWEEN THE LIFE AND MINISTRY AND EXPERIENCES OF CHRISTIANS FROM THE LORD. THERE ARE MANY ASPECTS TO THIS ONENESS BUT IN THIS MESSAGE I ATTEMPTED TO POINT TO SIX OF THEM, THERE ARE MANY BUT FOR THIS MESSAGE ONLY 6, AND I ONLY HAD TIME FOR 4.

  • ONENESS IN LIFE – WE ARE TO SHARE IN THE DIVINE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST THAT IS THE NATURE OF ETERNAL LIFE TO SHARE IN A GOD-KIND OF LIFE.
  • ONENESS IN PURPOSE – OUR PURPOSE AS BEARING THE IMAGE OF GOD IS SHARED WITH JESUS CHRIST
  • ONENESS IN SUFFERING – WE PARTAKE IN THE SUFFERING WITH JESUS CHRIST AND SUFFERING HAS A PURPOSE.
  • ONENESS IN HIS MINISTRY AND ANOINTING – WE HAVE A MINISTRY AND AN ANOINTING FOR A MINISTRY THAT IS UNIQUE AND SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST. A MINISTRY OF TESTIMONY AND A MINISTRY OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST. WE ARE TO REFLECT OUT THE GLORY OF GOD FROM THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST
  • ONENESS IN DEATH AND BURIAL – NEXT TIME
  • ONENESS IN HIS HEAVENLY GLORY – NEXT TIME

IT IS ALWAYS A PRIVILEGE TO SHARE ANYTHING WITH THE BODY OF CHRIST. MY PRAYER IS THAT IT WAS EDIFYING FOR ANYONE WHO LISTENED, AND I APPRECIATE ANY AND ALL OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE.

Time to Prune Your Technology Pipeline

 Prune March 2014

I have about a dozen apple trees in my back yard; I transplanted them a few years ago from a local apple orchardist who needed to get rid of them to make room for a different breed.  They were last pruned 3 years ago.  Last summer we harvested about one bushel from these trees.  The summer before that I think there was one edible apple harvested.   I have taken a pruning course and have studied apple tree pruning for some time now.   This weekend I had my loppers and my new pruning knowledge, it is the right time of year so I decided it was time to prune.  While I was pruning these trees I thought of several principles to growing productive apple trees that could be applied to my career in R&D.  Pruning apple trees is about energy management, the goal is to produce the maximum number of large healthy apples. 

 

An apple tree if ignored will produce a very large number of small unhealthy apples and it will be continuously harassed by pests.

 

There are at least six principles to maximize apple tree productivity; a professional likely knows several more but these are the ones that come to my mind.

  1. Protect the tree from parasites. Vines from other bushes, bugs, voles, rabbits and deer all want to eat bark, buds, leaves and apples from the apple tree; this year-round pressure can destroy a trees fruit quality and overall productivity.  It can even kill a tree itself, fencing, chemicals, trunk guards and wood chips are common tools to protect trees from these pests.
  2. Cut branches away that are growing vertical.  The reason for this is to maximize the light down in the lower part of the tree and to not allow shading of the lower leaves and fruit.
  3. Cut the branches that grow back toward the trunk of the tree, this also is a light management technique to keep light and airflow down through the entire tree.
  4. Cut away branches that produce leaves and apples too much for the size of the tree, apple trees will produce more sticks and more apples than the size of the tree can support. If you have ever noticed an un-pruned apple tree you will know what I mean.  The ignored tree will produce many small, unhealthy and unripe apples.
  5. Cut away dead wood, dead wood takes up space in a tree and can block sunlight.
  6. Thin the new apples, this means cut away apples which are too many, this is done when the apples are about the size of a dime, usually early summer, at this point you can see how many apples a tree is trying to produce.  If there are too many apples it is wise to cut away apples if they are growing more than one every six inches.  This is difficult to do for the novice pruner; hundreds and possibly even thousands of small apples sometimes need to be cut away.  After thinning, the surviving apples will grow larger because the energy flow from the tree is divided into less apples making each apple larger and more healthy.  Think of it this way, at harvest time, would you rather have 200 high-quality large ripe apples with great sugar content or 1,000 small, un-ripened apples that contain less sugar and taste somewhat bitter?  Quality is better than quantity for most people. 

These fruit tree principles can be applied to our innovation divisions and companies; there are times when leaders need to prune their portfolio.

 

There can be ‘parasites’ that want to drain teams of energy, employees who sap morale, sap the joy and excitement of creating, of innovating and of inventing new products.  The leader who is mindful of the productivity and the long-term fruitfulness of the team, will have the courage to set some boundaries to protect morale.  Some people are negative dream killers, they have given up on a lot in life and they spread that defeat and depression around, leaders should protect culture from these people because they hinder productivity.

Sometimes projects grow and expand in ways that hinder energy from getting into the ‘core’ of the company.  We should remember to take time for culture, take time to renew energy, the culture and morale of a R&D or innovation team is more important than the number of projects it works on.    When we take the time to focus on culture, on leadership unity and on clarity of vision we lead our company well.  The benefit of this is that we can produce higher quality innovation projects.  Excessive busyness can be like apple limbs growing vertically or back toward the trunk, they hinder the healthy culture that refreshes the energy of the company (sunlight into the base of the tree).  Trim away busy projects that perpetually consume employee time; set aside times of team building, time for employee training and personal development.  If projects demand employees at every waking hour for an extended period with no return on investment, ‘prune’ them out of your team.

Let’s face it, some of us produce a large quantity of lower quality fruit. Entrepreneurs call this the “bright shiny object syndrome”.  We get excited about opportunities or projects and don’t follow them through to completion.  I have a hard time with this personally; even now there are at least two major unfinished projects on my hard drive that need completion.  I now try to make it a rule to end one project, or bring it to completion, before starting a new one.  It is better to produce one completed project per month or per year then it is to produce five half-baked projects.  Similarly, leaders need to trim away the half-baked innovation pet-projects so that fewer projects can get more employee energy. It is not easy to decide when to cut your losses and quit certain projects for the sake of other things.  Is there another project that may be less exciting but would be a better use of employee time and company capital? You want to divide up your limited energy supply among fewer projects and increase the quality at the expense of quantity as is done in early summer when I thin hundreds of small apples.

 

Like the apple tree, R&D and innovation teams exist to bear fruit and to create great things for society.

Does your company or R&D portfolio need pruning?

011 Community Building, Innovation Employee Engagement

 

Building networked communities has become much easier in the past few years, find out why and hear some best practices in this episode. Adam also discusses how to increase employee engagement and why it is so critical to technology innovation teams.

 

 Building2

Announcements:

    • I will be attending the SCORRE Conference in May in Orlando FL, Ken Davis and Michael Hyatt host this conference to help attendees with communication skills.  You should join us.
    • Ray Edwards Course on creating an information products check out Ray’s blog and podcast here.
    • My ESN market research e-book is ready, waiting on Ray’s course for a little guidance.
    • My500Words Challenge, writing 500 words with Jeff Goins, check out his blog at goinswriter.com

Feature Segment – Building Communities

There are many types of communities in our lives; there are personal communities, there are friendships, there are social media connections and now there are social enterprise communities forming at work.

 

These communities need to be managed, they need stewardship, it is recommended that there be an actual position called Community Steward for new social networks.

 

5 responsibilities of an ESN Community Steward

    1. Content Creation (yourself and/or others should create content for new members to consume day one)
    2. Market/ sell the community and its value to potential community members.
    3. Educate Users on Technology, how to actually use the software.
    4. Educate on expectations/ ground rules, how should the network be used, what is appropriate content for posting.
    5. Obsolete yourself, make the community grow and produce content spontaneously, just like FB and twitter does currently.

 

With some ambition we can also create our own communities such as:

  • Mastermind groups for business
  • Church or non-profits networks for members to connect and get things done together.
  • Topical study groups, bible studies, women’s/ men’s groups.

 

We can create these personal communities to help people, to run our business and to grow our influence. These communities can be created using (or enhanced by) software such as FB Groups, Kona, Wishlist, Basecamp, Tibbr, Socialcast, and many others.  Be ambitious create a new community.

 

Social Layer Segment – Engagement in Tech Innovation Employee Teams

 

Employee behavior engagement (not to be confused with ESN community engagement mentioned above) has a large impact on employee productivity and on long-term employee retention.  This cultureamp.com article cites the top five engagement drivers.

 

Below I list three ways to increase employee engagement:

 

  1. Gently force employees to move around the company, to cross train, to acquire new skills if they are stagnant/ complacent and not growing.  However, make sure to allow people time to mature, this can be a long-term process, disengagement does not equal poor performance.
  2. Create two visions, one vision for the company growth (most get this right) another for employee growth.  This vision should not be in the unwritten rules, the rumor mills, or meaningless rhetoric from HR, this vision should be leaders speaking from the platform at a variety of levels with the same vision.
  3. Tear down cliques, popularity clubs by rewarding good behavior and good productivity regardless of identity politics.

 

Innovation teams in particular benefit from full engagement, and not only engagement from an elite few.

  • In R&D innovation teams, layers should not exist; it is wise to avoid having a scientist layer, an engineer layer, a technician layer, a union worker layer that do not mix well together.
  • Making cultural changes such as this can best be done at the top levels of leadership.
  • There are many low-level employees that may have amazing ideas and insights but won’t share them because they believe that they will not be given credit, they believe this because they are discouraged and disengaged.

 

Are there any communities that you would like to build or join?
Would you be interested in joining an innovation mastermind group?
Are you engaged in your current position?

Please comment below or email me directly at adam@colliersengineering.com

 

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