Have you ever been to a lacrosse game?  It’s an interesting sport to watch.  It contradicts everything you teach your child not to do as a preschooler.  You tell them not to run with a stick in their hands, yet lacrosse players run with sticks in their hands.  You tell them not to hit others, however, players are supposed to hit the opponent who has the ball with their stick hoping to knock the ball loose.  Finally, you tell your children not to throw things at others, and the purpose of the game is to throw the ball to others on your team and ultimately in the goal. 
The parents go crazy cheering at lacrosse games. I asked my son if he could hear us yelling.  He said if one or two parents yell something, it just sounds like muffled noise, but when everyone starts yelling the same thing, he can hear what we’re saying.
There’s power in unity.  Whether its parents cheering at a sporting event or the various tributaries of a river coming together as one body of water, unity brings power.  The enemy knows this, which is why one of his tactics is to divide the Body of Christ over anything he can. 
John 17 is said to be Jesus’ prayer for His disciples.  In verses twenty-two and twenty-three, Jesus prayed for the unity of His disciples, “I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one: I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” 
Too many times we allow the enemy to create a wedge in the Body by causing us to argue over things that are not the essentials of the faith.  Doing so weakens the Body of Christ and strengthens the cause of the enemy.  Baptism is a prime example of this.  Some denominations say you must be submerged to be baptized.  Others say water must be sprinkled over you, while still others pour for baptism.  I don’t know about you, but I’m certain the Lord isn’t sitting in heaven saying, “Oops, you got it wrong.  It doesn’t count if you do it that way.  You have to….”  Jesus looks at the heart of an individual not the outward signs {1 Samuel 16:7].
Jack Hyles put it this way, “On essentials, unity. On the nonessentials, liberty.  In everything, charity.”  It is time we come together as one to serve the One who called us.  After all, there is no “i” in one.