Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
It's so nice to see you all here on this Sunday morning.
Find your seats, please.
Take your song books.
We'll begin this morning.
Hymn 442.
Number 442.
We gather together.
Hymn number 442.
Once you find your place, let's begin on that first verse.
Nice and strong together.
Hymn number 442.
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing.
Sing it out now.
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing.
He chastens and hastens his will to make known.
The wicked of presents he spent from distressing.
Sing praises to his name.
He forgets not his own.
He signs us to guide us, our God, with us, joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine.
So from the beginning, the five we've waiting.
Thou, Lord, was at our side.
The glory be thine.
Thou who extolled thee, thou leader in battle.
And pray that thou still our defender will be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation.
Thy name be ever praised.
Oh, Lord, make us free.
Amen, good start to our singing this morning.
We want to ask the Lord's blessing on the service, so
I've asked brother Nix, McIntosh, if you would
please pray, please.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for allowing us
to be gathered here this morning.
We pray that you would just bless all aspects of the
service, fill Pastor Anderson with the power of your
Holy Spirit, and help us to lift up our voices to you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen, 439, number 439.
Count your blessings.
Hymn number 439.
439 it begins, when upon life's billows you are tempest
aus, count your blessings.
Number 439.
Sing it out together now.
When upon life's billows you are tempest aus, when you
are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many
blessings, name them one by one, and they will surprise
you what the Lord has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God has done, count your blessings,
name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what
God has done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Count your many blessings, every down you'll find, and
you will be singing as the day goes by.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
many blessings, see what God has done.
When you look at others with their lands and goals, think
that Christ has promised you his wealth and soul.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God has done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
many blessings, see what God has done.
So what made the public better, great or small?
Do not be discouraged, God is over all.
After many blessings, angels will attend.
Help and come forgive you till your journey's end.
Down to blessings, take them one by one.
Down to blessings, see what God has done.
Down to blessings, take them one by one.
Down to blessings, see what God has done.
The Bible study this week will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 28.
We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms.
And then across the page next Sunday morning will be the donuts before the service
in honor of all the December birthdays and anniversaries.
Don't forget to send us your best photos from the year for the yearbook.
We're putting together the yearbook and so any great pictures that you have in high quality
from whatever the church activities, soul-winning missions, whatever,
send them to that email address so that we could consider them for inclusion in the yearbook.
Below that we've got the list of expectant ladies.
Pray for them all to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
On the back we've got the note about the Christmas caroling.
We do this every year, door-to-door Christmas caroling.
We're going to do this on Thursday, December the 19th.
And so we're going to do this as a cookie potluck
because we normally have the cookie bake-off and the Christmas caroling.
This time we're just going to kind of combine those.
Christmas is on a Wednesday night this year, I believe.
And so we're going to combine those and just basically...
It's not a contest, though. You just bring the cookies and we eat them.
It's that simple.
So anyway, we're going to meet up here at 5.30 on that Thursday night, December 19th,
and we'll get you organized.
And you don't have to be shy about this because we put you in a big group, right?
So you're not going to be out there singing a solo or quartet or something.
We're going to put you in a group of like, I don't know,
I think we usually do like 20, 30 people or something in the group.
So that it's a big group.
So if you're not a confident singer you can just kind of fade to the back
and just blend in with the crowd.
But we'll make sure that we have a few confident singers in each group
kind of at the front leading the charge.
It's super fun. We always have a great time.
I know my kids are always really stoked about it.
And so we do this every year. It's great.
Big groups. Don't be shy. Show up and enjoy.
And how many of you would say,
I've never been door-to-door Christmas caroling in my entire life?
I've never done it.
See, this is one of those things that you just have to do, right?
It's on the bucket list.
And if you have done it, well, I don't even have to sell it to you
because you already know how fun it is.
So anyway, then once we go caroling for just one hour,
we'll do a maximum of one hour because we don't want to burn people out.
Then we will come back to the church building and enjoy cookies and milk.
And so that's why we want you to bring cookies.
So if a bunch of people bake cookies, we'll bake some cookies,
you guys will bake some cookies, and then we'll have the milk.
It'll be great.
That is going to be on Thursday, December 19th.
Just another note to please remember to keep your kids supervised
before, after, and during church services.
We just don't want them running around and roughhousing and stuff like that.
And then at the bottom, the only other thing is just on December the 4th,
we have Pastor Mejia coming and preaching on that Wednesday night.
And so if you don't normally come on Wednesday night, make a point,
mark the calendar to be there on that particular Wednesday night
to hear Pastor Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church in Los Angeles.
And that is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us.
You should find the insert in front of your hymnal with the song entitled,
Lord, Bless Our Home.
If you don't have an insert, you can raise your hand
and we'll sing it on that first verse together.
Families all around us are crumbling every day.
Lord, bless our home. Let's sing it out together.
Families all around us are crumbling every day.
Yielding to the enemy and throwing life away.
Find our lives together. Guard us with your truth.
When the struggle seems to break, Lord, keep our eyes on you.
Lord, bless our home. Protect our home.
Let it be our refuge in this world of sin.
Lord, reign within. Keep us strong and true.
And when we need to vote, Lord, draw us close.
Come, let it to each other.
Lord, bless our home. We give our home to you.
Thank you for your goodness. Our love was in your plan.
Help us face the future. Always trust in your hand.
Keep us warm and tender. Keep us clean and pure.
Drive us to each other's arms and make our love endure.
Lord, bless our home. Protect our home.
Let it be our refuge in this world of sin.
Lord, reign within. Keep us strong and true.
And when we need you most, Lord, draw us close.
Come, let it to each other.
Lord, bless our home. We give our home to you.
Man, good singing, everybody. Take your hymnals now.
Go to hymn 145, hymn 145.
It is well with my soul. Hymn 145.
This is not a song you can sing without purpose.
So really sing it out with me on that first verse.
Number 145, When Peace Like a River.
When peace like a river attended my way.
When sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my life, thou hast taught me to say.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should profit, though triumph should come,
Let this blessed assurance control
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate
And has shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
My sin, O loveless, of this glorious thought,
My sin not in part, but the whole,
Is held to the cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
And woe is thy name when my faith shall be signed.
The clouds we roll back as us roll,
The drums shall resound and the voice shall be sang.
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.
We're beginning in verse number one.
Follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads.
Philippians chapter one, beginning in verse number one.
Philippians chapter one, the Bible reads,
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ,
to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi
with the bishops and deacons.
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
always in every prayer of mine for you all,
making requests with joy,
for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.
Being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all,
because I have you in my heart,
inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel,
ye all are partakers of my grace.
For God is my record, how greatly I long after you
all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
After this I pray, that your love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,
that ye may approve things that are excellent,
that ye may be sincere and without offense
till the day of Christ,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God.
But I would ye should understand, brethren,
that the things which happened unto me
have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the gospel,
so that my bonds in Christ are manifest
in all the palace and in all other places,
and many of the brethren in the Lord,
waxing confident by my bonds,
are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife,
and some also of good will.
The one preacheth Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds,
but the other of love,
knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.
What then? Notwithstanding, every way,
whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice,
yea, and will rejoice.
For I know that this shall turn to my salvation
through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
According to my earnest expectation and my hope,
that in nothing I shall be ashamed,
but that with all boldness, as always,
so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor,
yet what I shall choose I want not.
For I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide
and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith,
that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me
by my coming to you again.
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ,
that whether I come and see you, or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that of God.
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake,
having the same conflict which he saw in me,
and now here to be in me.
Father in Heaven, thank you for this beautiful day.
I pray that you please bless Pastor Anderson
as he preaches your word, fill him with the fullness
and the power of the Holy Spirit,
and help us, your children, grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Men, this morning I'm preaching on a major theme
in the book of Philippians,
which is the idea of being like-minded.
Over and over again, in the book of Philippians,
this phrase will jump out, being like-minded,
having one mind, being of the same mind, having one mind.
Over and over again this comes up,
and I'm going to give you some specific points
from the book of Philippians about how we as a church
can be like-minded, right?
Because the Apostle Paul,
as in all of his different epistles that he writes
to various churches,
is calling for unity within the local church.
What is the point of even having a church
if we all believe totally different things, right?
It's not just about, hey, we just get together,
kind of hang out, listen to music, you know, whatever.
The whole point is that we come together
to be with people of like faith.
That's why it's important which church we go to
and not just, oh, this church is by my house,
so I'm just going to go there, right?
We want to make sure that we go to a church
where people are like-minded with us, all right?
Can two walk together except they be agreed?
We need to have some common ground.
Obviously, we're not going to agree on every little thing.
Of course, different people have different views
and different opinions,
but when it comes to the fundamentals,
when it comes to that which is important,
we need to have the same beliefs
and we need to have unity where we get along,
we can work together, where we can be a team,
not just a bunch of individuals
who get together for some services
and then go our separate ways,
living our totally different lives.
There needs to be some common purpose
and we need to be able to operate
and function as a team serving God.
Now, let's start out in chapter 1 here, verse 27.
It says, only let your conversation
be as it becometh the gospel of Christ,
that whether I come and see you or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs,
that ye stand fast in one spirit
with one mind striving together
for the faith of the gospel, right?
So, striving together.
Striving in the Bible is often referring to fighting, right?
So we are fighting the good fight,
we're fighting for the gospel,
we're striving for the faith of the gospel,
we are on a mission,
we are wrestling against principalities and powers
and spiritual wickedness in high places
and so we need to have one mind as we do that.
Look at chapter 2, verse 1
and I'm ready to get into the first point.
Point number 1 is that in order to be of one mind,
we have to be unselfish, right?
If people are selfish,
self-centered, egotistical people,
they're never going to be able to be part of a team
where they're of one mind.
Look what the Bible says in chapter 2, verse 1,
it says that there be therefore any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies.
Now, of course, these are if statements,
but we know that these are things that are assumed to be true, right?
Of course, there is consolation in Christ,
there is comfort of love,
there is fellowship of the Spirit,
there is bowels and mercies or compassion among us as Christians
and so because we have all of these blessings in the local church,
the fellowship, the love, the comfort, the compassion,
he says, and this is Paul speaking,
fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded, right?
So he's saying, look, if the local church can be a blessing to you,
if it's the right kind of church,
it can be a big blessing to you
and provide you with all kinds of consolation
and comfort and fellowship and compassion,
bowels and mercies,
if so, then fulfill my joy that you be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord,
and then here it is again, of one mind.
It's striking as you read the book of Philippians,
how many times this will come up.
It will even come up multiple times in the same verse repeatedly.
Hey, be like-minded.
Oh, and did I mention be of one mind,
which is just another way of saying the same thing, okay?
And even if you read this in the original Greek,
the word mind that keeps coming up,
it's also the same word that keeps coming up in Greek.
It's not like it's just an English, you know,
English doesn't have enough words,
so it has to keep saying mind or something.
No, that's the way it is.
That's just the way this book is written.
It's just mind, mind, mind, mind, mind
as you read the book of Philippians.
And so it says, fulfill ye my joy that you may be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind, there's that word again,
let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
I mean, how many times did we see the word mind?
Just in the first five verses, we saw the word mind four times.
Just over and over again, we're getting hit with this idea
of having the same mentality, right?
Well, one of the ways in which we need to have the same mentality
or the same way of thinking or the same thought process
is that we need to be unselfish, right?
Unselfishness is the actual context of this first part of chapter two.
That's why it says in verse three,
in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.
Let each esteem other better than themselves.
This is not saying that we should have a negative image of ourselves.
This doesn't mean that we should go around saying,
I'm a loser, I'm not important, I don't matter.
That's not what the Bible is saying at all.
And by the way, when you get around people that are like that,
self-deprecating, self-denigrating people,
you will find that these people are also focused on themselves.
They're obsessed with themselves.
So being prideful and arrogant and being self-deprecating
are like two sides of the same coin because it's just self, self, self.
It's just constantly focusing on yourself.
We, on the other hand, are to think about other people.
That's why the Bible says in verse number four,
look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others, right?
So we shouldn't just go through our lives thinking about,
what's this going to do to affect me?
How am I going to come out?
It's more like, how's the group going to do?
What's this going to do for the team?
What can we do for the betterment of the church?
How can I bless other people, right?
So when it says let each esteem other better than themselves,
what this is saying is not that we should have a low view of ourselves,
but that we should have a moderate view of ourselves
and have a high view of other people
and think of other people as being better than ourselves.
And, you know, you see out in the world the exact opposite mentality of this
where everybody takes pride in something about themselves,
why they're better, right?
And you could see this with the white supremacist types, right?
You know, we're better because we're white or whatever, right?
And obviously other races could do the same thing
and have their, you know, Latino pride or whatever.
But the point is this attitude of, hey, we're better, we're superior,
and blah, blah, blah, you know, and whatever.
Or even just other little rivalries of, you know,
our state is better than your state or whatever.
And a lot of times we just joke about that, you know,
because obviously Arizona is better and all that.
But the point is, you know, this kind of idea of just we're better, I'm better,
you know, my generation is better than your generation,
all these different things.
In reality, in the local church, we need to think of other people
as being better than ourselves.
And what do we mean by that?
Better?
You know, we could think of them as being more important, right?
More important.
Put them as a priority.
Prioritize other people and not just think, well, I'm better.
No, no, no.
Not I'm better.
You're better, right?
He's better.
She's better.
That should be the mentality.
Our default mode should be to think of other people as better.
Not I'm the biggest, I'm the strongest, I'm the smartest, I'm the greatest.
No, it should be, no, these other people are actually better than me.
Let me see if I can support them and help them succeed.
In order to be a team player, you've got to be unselfish
and you've got to look at other people as being more important
and not be just focused on yourself.
Let each esteem other better than themselves, the Bible says.
Look not at every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
And then it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Now, of course, verses 5 through 11 are a super famous portion of Scripture,
one of the most beloved sections of the whole New Testament probably.
And, you know, we'll save that for another sermon.
I'm not going to go into that passage, but it is one of the most famous passages
in all of the epistles of Paul is verses 5 through 11, right?
But here's the key thing to understand about that famous passage about Christ,
and it's going to be in my sermon tonight about that famous passage,
but verse 5 that sets out that whole passage,
let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, and on and on.
Notice that the this mind, the antecedent of that this is the four verses that we just read.
This mentality of putting others before yourselves, having one mind, being of one accord,
looking every man on the things of others.
It says, let this mind, that mentality be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
And so Jesus Christ, he had a mentality of humbly serving others and thinking about other people.
Now, if anybody had the right to be arrogant or prideful, it's Jesus.
He's the creator of the universe. He's perfect in every way.
He truly is better than everyone else.
And yet, even though he really was better than everyone else,
he went through life meek and lowly, humble and a servant,
even though he's the God of the universe made manifest in the flesh.
So you think, well, you know, of course I'm prideful, it's because I really am that great.
And you'll hear people talk this way and it makes you want to throw up, right?
Well, I mean, I just am smarter than everyone else.
I just am tougher than everyone else. I just am, you know, stronger and better and whatever.
Look, Jesus really, you're not number one.
Okay, you're just puffed up in your fleshly mind.
But Jesus actually was superior in every way and still went through life meek, humble, lowly and so forth.
So if Jesus can humble himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,
then I think you can humble yourself too because however great you think you are, you're not as great as Jesus.
And so Jesus did not come to be ministered unto, but he came to minister and to give himself a ransom for many.
And so we need to have that same mentality that Jesus had.
Now jump down if you would to verse number 20 because in this chapter, Philippians chapter 2,
there are four examples given of this kind of selfless attitude, this unselfish attitude,
and thinking about other people and putting other people first.
And the first example is Jesus. Jesus himself obviously had that mentality.
And then the next example is the Apostle Paul because the Apostle Paul says,
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.
He's saying, look, I'm willing to be sacrificed so that you can succeed as a church.
I'm willing to be offered and poured out as a drink offering.
I'm willing to be sacrificed.
Then the next example, the third example is Timothy.
And then the fourth example is Epaphroditus.
So in this chapter you have, you know, that's pretty much how the chapter is structured, this idea of being unselfish.
And then you have Jesus as example.
You have Paul as the example.
You have Timothy as the example.
You have Epaphroditus as the example.
Now let's look at the example of Timothy specifically.
This is what Paul says about Timothy in verse 20.
For I have no man, here it is again, like-minded, who will naturally care for your state.
And then look at this startling statement in verse 21.
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.
Now obviously that's a slight exaggeration.
It's a little bit of hyperbole here saying everybody is in it for themselves.
Not Timothy, right?
All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.
But you know the proof of him, Timothy, that as a son with the father he had served with me in the gospel.
He's saying, look, I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.
Meaning that this guy doesn't have to be constantly reminded to think about other people, to be unselfish, to put the needs of others first.
That's just how he is.
That's how Timothy is.
Timothy is a guy who just will naturally care for your state.
And he's saying that's not how people are.
Timothy is an exception here.
Timothy is an exceptional guy because everybody else is just seeking their own.
And what is he saying?
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Be like Jesus.
Be like Paul.
Be like Timothy.
Be like Epaphroditus where you're constantly thinking about other people and caring about other people.
All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.
You know that tells me there's a big problem in our world.
The Apostle Paul, he spent his time with other people.
He wasn't a guy who was just off by himself.
I mean this is a guy who's working with other people in the ministry.
He's going to the synagogue and preaching to the unsaved Jews there.
He's getting together with the church and breaking bread with the disciples.
He's training preachers.
He's going to preach to the unsaved.
I mean he goes down by the river where the women are washing their clothes and go soul winning.
And the women by the river, right?
I mean this guy gets around a lot of people.
He's around men. He's around women.
He's around rich people like Lydia, the seller of purple.
He's around poor people. He's around prison guards, prisoners.
He's around all kinds of people.
And his statement on humanity is that in general, all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.
But Timothy is different.
Look, that tells me that we as human beings need to work on this.
And that even amongst God's people, there's a mentality of everybody seeking their own.
And not the things which are Jesus Christ.
We need to be unselfish.
If we're going to be like-minded as a church, if we're going to have unity and work together as a team,
we can't have this ego and arrogance and pride that is the enemy of that kind of teamwork.
We have to put other people first and think about the group.
Look at chapter 4.
Philippians chapter 4 says this,
Therefore my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown,
so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
We're in chapter 4 verse 2.
I beseech Euodius and beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
And these are females.
And it says in verse 3,
I treat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel,
with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
So apparently there's some kind of a dispute possibly between these two women, Euodius and Syntyche.
And he's beseeching them that they would be of the what?
The same mind.
There it is again, right?
Have the same mentality.
Be of the same mind, one with another.
Get along.
Do not have strife between you.
That's what he's saying.
And he says also help those women because, you know, they've labored with them in the gospel.
They're not bad people, but they're just wrong in this one area.
They need to get this right.
They're not being a team player.
And they need to be.
Then he says, rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice.
Verse 5, let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand.
Now what does this mean, let your moderation be known unto all men?
Well, just simply looking this up in the dictionary, here's what the dictionary says about moderation.
It just says the quality of being moderate, restraint, avoidance of extremes or excesses, temperance.
Number two, the act of moderating.
So then if we look up the adjective, moderate, it says, kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits, not extreme, excessive, or intense.
Of medium quantity, extent, or amount.
Okay, and then there's the verb, to moderate.
If it's used with an object, it means to reduce the excessiveness of, to make less violent, severe, intense, or rigorous.
For example, to moderate the sharpness of one's words.
Number two, to preside over at a public forum.
Without an object, it means, number one, to become less violent, severe, intense, or rigorous, or to act as a moderator.
So what does the Bible mean here when it says, let your moderation be known unto all men?
Now, of course, if we get the context, this is just coming off of this statement about how these two women need to be of the same mind, they need to get along, and so forth.
And we often think of people having a fight or a dispute as needing moderation, right?
Somebody who comes in and gets between them and moderates between the two.
And what is the moderator doing really toning people down?
If you have a meeting, city council, public town hall, or whatever, the person who's the moderator is basically keeping things from getting out of control, keeping people toned down, keeping things from getting too sharp, or bitter, or intense, just trying to cool things down, calm things down, to moderate things.
So really, it doesn't matter which definition you take for the word moderation, you're going to end up at the same place.
Because I just read all these dictionary definitions, and whether you think of moderation as being mellow, not too extreme, not excessive, not too intense, or even if you think about the definition of a person who moderates a meeting or moderates some kind of contention between two people,
either way, you're going to get to the same idea that when the Bible says, let your moderation be known unto all men, is that we need people who can stay calm and resolve conflict between people by not having too extreme or excessive of views.
And this leads to my second point, because point number one is that we must be unselfish. That's what it's going to take to have one mind, to be like-minded as a church.
But number two, we also must realize that no one has arrived. No one is perfect or sinless or without fault.
So because we're all on our own journey of spiritual growth, we're all learning and growing, none of us has arrived, and so that is part of what it means when it says, let your moderation be known unto all men, not just having these extreme views that expect people to be held to an unreasonably high standard.
Right? Because if you're holding people to an unreasonably high standard, that is not moderation. If you're expecting people to be excessively righteous or we can't have anything to do with them, right?
And let's face it, the holier than thou's, they think that they are perfect and they act like they're just so perfect and it is a fraud. They're not real. Nobody's that perfect.
But these holier than thou types, they put out this facade that they're just so righteous and so holy and everything's so good in their life and everything's so perfect, they're liars.
Okay? It's not real. The same temptations and trials and tribulations that you're going through are also being accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
There's no temptation taking you but such as is common to man and everybody is going through difficulties, trials, tribulations. Everyone struggles with the flesh.
I mean, if the apostle Paul was very candid about the fact that he struggles with the flesh, how much more are we going to struggle with the flesh? We're not the apostle Paul.
So to act like you have no struggle with the flesh, you've arrived, I'm not buying it. Not for one second.
Look at Philippians chapter 3. Let's get this point from the book of Philippians. It says in verse 12, not as though I'd already attained, either were already perfect.
He said, look, I haven't arrived at my destination yet, right? Another word for attained there would be arrived, right? I haven't yet attained my destination, right?
I've not yet already become perfect but I follow after, right? He's saying, look, I'm trying to catch up. I'm not there. I'm not perfect yet.
That I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, right? I have not caught it yet, right?
When we think about someone being apprehended by the police, we're talking about someone being caught or seized by the police.
And it says that, you know, I haven't yet caught the final destination but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be perfect.
And here perfect does not mean sinless or without fault but meaning mature, right?
And here's the thing, none of us is fully mature either because we're all growing but as many of us as be perfect, there's a little bit of tongue in cheek here like the ones who kind of think we've arrived
or we think we're mature or we think we're seasoned believers in the Lord, well then we need to be thus-minded. We need to have this mentality that says, I have not yet arrived and I'm just pressing toward the mark.
And I'm just following after and I'm just trying to apprehend but I haven't yet apprehended. We need to be thus-minded. We need to have that mentality.
And if in anything ye be otherwise-minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. What is he saying? If you think you're so perfect, God's going to show you that you're not perfect.
You know, you think that you've arrived, God's going to show you that you've not arrived and of course, none of us wants to be shown that.
We don't want to be taken down a notch. We want to just believe God when he says that and stay humble and keep pressing toward the mark.
And so number one was that we need to be unselfish, right? To have the right mentality to have one mind.
And number two, we need to realize that no one has arrived and so that we're not holding people to an unrealistic standard, right?
And I don't know if Syntyche is holding Euodias to an unreasonable standard or vice versa but we need to let our moderation be known unto all men.
Both of them probably need to just chill out and be of the same mind and relax and not expect everybody to be so perfect.
We got to be able to forgive and move on. Let's move to the third point. This is kind of the obvious point, right?
The first two points that I gave are maybe not as obvious. If I said, what does it mean to go to a church where people are like-minded?
What does it mean to go to a church where people are of one mind? You maybe would not automatically think of being unselfish or, you know, realizing that no one's arrived.
But that's what the Scripture said. That's what the text taught when it talked about being one mind.
But then now we get to the obvious point about being of one mind is that, number three, we must have the same authority and, of course, the final authority is what? The Bible.
How are we going to have one mind? How are we going to have the same mentality if we don't have the same final authority?
We're not going to be able to agree mentally.
And, you know, there's so much emphasis on the heart, isn't there? We talk a lot about the heart and the heart's important.
There are all kinds of sermons on the heart. But, you know, we need to also talk about the mind a little bit here because the Bible in Philippians is not emphasizing the heart.
It's emphasizing the mind. Other portions of Scripture are emphasizing the heart.
The mind is something different here. And the Bible is hammering this in Philippians.
It's in chapter one, two, three, four. Mind. It's hard to ignore mind, mind, mind, mind, mind, mind, even in the same verse twice in multiple places.
What does it mean? Right? What does it mean? It means that we need to have the same way of thinking.
We need to think about things the same way.
When God says have one mind, he's saying you guys need to all kind of think about things the same way.
All right? And one of the important ways we need to think about things is we all need to think about things as,
hey, you know what? I need to think about other people before myself and not be selfish, arrogant, prideful, bragging, etc.
Another way that we need to all have the same thought process or way of thinking is that we all need to think,
hey, okay, this person committed sin. This person is struggling. Well, guess what? I'm not perfect either.
I'm not going to throw stones. I'm not going to judge them because they're going through a rough patch in their life.
They're going through this. They're going through that.
You know what? I'm not just going to just freak out because I realize that none of us have attained.
None of us is apprehended. Let's have grace with people. Let's be patient.
Let's have a mentality that understands that nobody's perfect and doesn't hold people to unrealistically high standards.
But number three, obviously, if we're going to have the same way of thinking, we've got to have the same final authority
because at the end of the day, when two people have two different opinions, the Bible should settle it.
Now, some things obviously aren't covered by the Bible. We don't care, you know,
somebody is crazy enough to think that Whataburger is better than In-N-Out Burger or something, right?
That doesn't matter. Those kind of opinions don't matter, okay? It's your loss if you're down at Whataburger, okay?
But I'm just saying, like, that kind of stuff doesn't matter. We joke about stuff like that because it doesn't matter.
Okay, but when it comes to controversies that do matter about biblical issues, about the issues of life,
some people – look, there are two kinds of people in this world.
There are the kind of people where they're just like, what does the Bible say? And it's end of story.
And then there are the people who are like, well, I mean, come on. I mean, we all know, right?
I mean, I'm sure we can all agree, blah, blah, blah. It's not in the Bible.
I mean, it's crazy that I even have to talk about this because, I mean, we all know, right?
No, no, no. And then there's the people who just say, what does the Bible say? I'm done.
What does the Bible say? Okay, I'm done.
Look what the Bible says in Philippians chapter 3 verse 16.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, you know, to the point that we have arrived or to the point that we have attained.
The Bible says, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind – there it is again. There's our favorite word, mind.
Let us mind the same thing, right? We need to think the same way.
And how do we think the same way? It's by walking according to the same rule.
Here's the rule book, folks, right?
Look, if we're going to play basketball, we better all have the same rule book.
If we're going to play Scrabble, we better have the same rule book, right?
When you play Scrabble, you know, for the people that aren't as athletic –
Hey, I love Scrabble.
When you play Scrabble, you know, one of the first things that you do when you play Scrabble is you agree upon a dictionary.
And back in the day, we actually had a physical dictionary, which made things a little easier.
And you just, you'd slap that thing down on the table and say, this is the dictionary.
And if it's not in this dictionary, in lowercase, you can't play it.
It has to be in this dictionary and it can't be uppercase.
It's got to be lowercase in this dictionary or you're not playing it.
Nowadays, it's like, okay, dictionary.com, folks, you know, we have to, like, agree upon an electronic dictionary
because nobody has that big doorstop in their house necessarily anymore
of the big, you know, Webster's Collegiate Dictionary that we used to have growing up.
But the point is, you know, I can't be over here with Webster's Dictionary
and you're over here with some other, you know, Oxford English Dictionary
and then somebody else over here has got some other dictionary and it's like, well, my dictionary, well, mine doesn't.
You know, how's that going to work? You got to have the same rule.
You got to mind the same thing. We got to have the same authority.
And that rule is the Word of God, right? This canon of scripture is the rule.
And by the way, that's what the word canon means.
The authoritative, right? The authoritative collection of books is the canon.
You know, you hear about, like, comic books and stories and, you know, the Marvel Universe or the DC Universe, whatever,
and it's like certain things are canon, other things are not canon, right?
Or like Star Wars or something, you know, is this canon or is this not canon?
Have you heard, you know, those kind of other kind of nerds talk about that?
Who knows what I'm talking about? You've heard people talk that way, right?
Well, here's the thing, you know, Judith and Tobit and Maccabees, those aren't canon.
That's some fan fiction. And it's not even good fan fiction, okay?
We don't want to have a bunch of fan fic in our Bible, right?
We want to have the canon. We want to have the authoritative stuff and understand, okay, yeah, that stuff's not part of the Bible.
The Apocrypha, Deuterocanonicals, Pseudepigrapha, Book of Enoch, eh, not canon.
We need to be as enthusiastic about it as some of these dweebs are about their comic books.
We need to have just a strong opinion about that.
And so we need to understand what is canon and what is not.
And by the way, let's just put it out there, guess what?
The story of the woman taken in adultery is canon.
Don't let them take that out of our Bible.
That is the Word of God. And don't let them take out the long ending of Mark out of our Bible.
Mark chapter 16 verses 9 through 20 is canon.
It's been canonized long ago, for centuries, yea, for millennia.
That has been part of the Bible. And now, all of a sudden, they want to take it out of the Bible.
They want to leave us with 666 verses in the book of Mark.
I'm not superstitious, but even that feels a little weird to me, okay?
But who cares? It's canon. We got to keep it.
Let's walk by the same rule, the same rule, the same canon.
It needs to be the Bible, right?
This is the boss. This is the rule book. This is what we're going by.
You know, games, board games, the rules change over time, right?
You know, we recently had a risk tournament last year at our missions conference.
And, you know, the rules were a little different than when I was a kid.
They had made some changes in the rules.
They even had some new game pieces coming in the box, cards that we'd never seen before, okay?
And so, here's the thing about that, is that if we're going to have unity, we need to all be playing by the same rules.
You can't have one guy that's playing by 1980s rules of risk, another guy who's on the 2024 rules.
We got to decide, hey, we're all going to be on the 2024 rules, or we're all going to be on the 80s rules, or whatever.
But you got to walk by the same rule.
And for us, of course, it's clear it's the Word of God.
And it's not just any Bible. It's the traditional text of Scripture, not the new changed Scriptures that are coming out.
It's the traditional received text that we've received that's been passed down.
And in English, of course, we have the translation par excellence, the English King James Bible.
This is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
And so, the Bible says, let's walk by the same rule, let's mind the same thing.
So, we must have the same authority. Now, the ultimate authority is the Bible.
But guess what? We also need to respect human authority in order to have unity.
Now, think about this. If we're going to use, say, a basketball illustration, you know, in order to have unity, you can't have ego and self-serving.
Everybody wants, hey, pass the ball to me. And they're not willing to assist someone else to get the point.
Is that going to be an effective team if everybody's just in it for themselves? No.
You got to be a team player.
But not only that, everybody's got to be listening to authority, which in that case would be the coach.
Which in that case would also be the rule book, ultimately, of basketball, right?
They got to follow the rules of basketball. And they got to be listening to the same coach.
I mean, imagine two different coaches. One coach is coaching half the team.
The other coach is coaching the other half of the team. And they're just getting different instructions.
And it's just going to be a mess, isn't it?
You have one person that's basically the authority that they're listening to.
You have one set of rules and also earthly authority.
And look, why do we even follow earthly authority in the first place?
Because authorities are ordained by God, right?
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.
And so, therefore, why do children need to obey their parents?
Because the Bible says children obey your parents, right?
Why do wives need to submit themselves to their own husbands?
Because the Bible says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands in everything, okay?
Why do children need to obey? Why do wives need to obey their husbands?
Why do employees need to obey the boss at work? Why? Because the Bible says so, right?
Also, in the church, there is an authority structure in the church as well.
Now, it's not as strong as the authority structure in the home.
Because God specifically says that the pastor is not to be a lord over the flock, or it's a lord over God's inheritance.
So it's not the same in the church.
The pastor is not the lord of the church, right?
And so it's a different style of leadership.
And the authority in the church just has to do with basically running things that have to do with the church.
The pastor doesn't have the right to run your personal life, run your home, run your business, whatever.
Whereas the man's authority in his own is supreme, and he answers only to God.
Because the Bible literally says that wives are to be subject unto their own husbands in everything.
And that Sarah literally called Abraham lord in 1 Peter 3.
So again, is there a difference between the way the pastor leads and the way a husband leads? Absolutely.
The pastor is not to be a lord. The husband is a lord.
He's the lord of the manor. He's the king of the castle. He's the head of the home.
This isn't popular in 2024, but ask me if I care. It's Bible.
And so we've got to follow the leader.
Whether that's in the home, we've got to follow the leader.
In a business, follow the leader.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh.
Follow the leader in business, follow the leader in home, follow the leader in marriage, follow the leader in church, right?
We believe in a church that is led by the pastor, not a democracy.
It's not like, oh, 51% of the people want to switch Bibles, let's go.
51% want to cancel soul winning, we'll cancel it.
No, my friend, if 90% of people want to switch Bibles, if 90% of people want to cancel soul winning,
if 90% of people don't agree with the sermon,
it doesn't matter because the pastor is going to preach the Bible and lead in the way that God is leading him to lead.
Okay? It's Moses, Joshua, it's Othniel, it's Ehud, it's Barak, it is Gideon, it's not just democracy.
That's not what the Bible teaches. We don't believe in it.
This church is not a democracy. It never has been and it never will be.
Okay? And, you know, go to the churches that are democracies, go to the churches that are run by committees and boards
and businessmen of the community that form, like, this deacon board, which that's not even what a biblical deacon is.
Our church has actually had biblical deacons over the years that are actually doing the work that God describes a deacon doing
versus this idea of, like, they're like a legislative body like the Congress or the House of Representatives or the Senate or something.
No, that's not how the church is supposed to work. And so, therefore, look, and you say, well, preach the Bible.
Okay, let's preach the Bible. Let's walk by the same rule, let's mind the same thing. I believe that that's a strong reference to the Word of God.
It's the same rule. But then look where he goes next in the next breath in verse 17.
Brethren, be followers together of me. Right? This is a human being, the Apostle Paul, saying, follow me.
Well, I don't follow any man. I just only follow the Bible. He says, okay, let's follow the Bible, right? Okay, now follow me.
Because here's the thing. If you're following the Bible, that means you're honoring your father and mother or you're not following the Bible.
If you're following the Bible, that means that you are reverencing your husband.
If you're following the Bible, you're going to be obeying the boss at work.
If you're following the Bible, you're going to obey the human authorities that God has set up in these various institutions.
Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensemble, right?
Because the pastor is a leader, not as much as a lord, he's more of an example to the flock.
Not being lords over God's heritage, but being an example to the flock, right?
So the pastor does not have the dictatorial power that a husband or a father has in his own house, right?
But he is an example to the flock. He says, look, follow me.
And look, obviously following the apostle Paul, he also doesn't have that kind of authority over the church at Philippi or over other Christians.
But he's leading as an example and God is saying, you know, follow Paul and mark those that are walking correctly.
Mark those preachers, pastors, deacons, leaders in the church that are following Christ and follow them as they follow Christ and have them as an example.
Okay, this is part of what it's going to take to have the same mind, the same mentality, okay?
Is to basically be number one, unselfish, right?
Number two, realizing nobody's perfect, nobody's right, don't get these radical views expecting everybody to be unrealistically perfect.
And number three, we need to have the same authority, right?
We're all following the Bible and we're following the same leader or leaders or at least type of leaders, right?
I mean, think about what if we have a church where some of the people in the church are just, they're listening to preaching and really following preachers that are just from a totally different school of thought, totally different denomination, totally different mentality than what we believe around here.
Is that going to help or harm unity?
Now look, I'm 110% for Christians listening to preaching outside of church.
I think the Internet's a wonderful tool for you to be fed spiritually through the word of God.
There's a lot worse things you could be listening to than the preaching of God's word, right?
You know, rather than just all the podcasts and all the entertainment and radio and so forth, you know, hey, listening to preaching is great.
And, and listening to preaching has been very, uh, formative for me as a Christian because, you know, I started really listening to a lot of preaching downloaded from the Internet back when I was like 19, 20 years old.
And I mean, we're talking, this was dial up, and then it would take like an hour to download one sermon in low quality.
And then I would then take that sermon and put it onto a cassette tape, put it in my Sony Walkman and listen to it while I was at work.
And I had like a factory and my wife, I'm sure remembers the early days of our marriage where I just had this cassette factory going the whole afternoon and evening.
I was home as I would hang out with her every, every like 45 minutes, I got to switch the tape and flip it over and switch things around.
I mean, I was into it.
And you know what?
That really helped me grow a lot spiritually.
But guess what I was listening to?
You know, I went to an independent fundamental Baptist church and I was listening to preaching from independent fundamental Baptist pastors.
You know, I wasn't just listening to some non-denominational stuff, Presbyterian stuff, Methodist stuff, you know, just, just all this charismatic stuff.
I wasn't just all over the place with what I was listening to because I realized, hey, this is who I am, this is who we are, and that's the kind of stuff I listen to.
And it helped me be a better Christian and it helped me to actually have better unity with my local church and be a better church member and get along with people better.
It didn't drive a rift between me and the rest of the people in my church.
You know, now again, I'm not talking about non-essentials.
I'm not talking about a different view on Bible prophecy or I'm not talking about a different view on Israel or something.
I'm talking about on important key fundamental doctrines.
We need to make sure that we're in the same ballpark.
And look, if you're not a fundamental Baptist, chances are it's a jungle out there.
Let's face it.
And I'm sure that there are some people out there that are doctrinally sound that are not fundamental Baptists, of course.
But guess what?
It's a jungle out there.
The vast majority of it is going to be tainted with a lot of weird ways of thinking.
You know, we need to have the right mentality.
And so we need to walk by the same rule and we need to be following the same leader or leaders or at least type of leaders, right?
So, hey, listening to preaching from other like-minded churches is great.
I love to hear that people in our church are listening to, you know, preaching from my pastor friends.
You know, like, for example, Pastor Bruce Mejia or Pastor Shelley or Pastor Thompson or whoever, right?
Hey, that's great because you know what?
It's just less work that I have to do.
You know, it's just other people teaching you stuff for me, right?
Hey, and are we going to agree and be in lockstep on everything?
No.
But where it counts, we're in agreement.
Where it counts, we're in agreement and that's what matters.
And so, yeah, we need to walk by the same rule, the Bible, but we also need to be followers together of, right?
Paul says follow me and mark those which walk other people.
It's not just Paul.
Other people who are walking right and have them as examples.
Listen to those preachers.
For many walk of whom I've told you often and now tell you even weeping that they're the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction.
We're in chapter three, verse 19, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame.
Who mind, there's our favorite word again, who mind earthly things for our conversations in heaven, right?
And so here's the deal.
There are some Bible teachers and preachers out there.
They think in a worldly way.
They have a worldly mentality.
They have a worldly way of thinking.
The Bible is not their final authority for what they believe.
They're heavily influenced by culture and society and they have a different view of things.
And these people who mind earthly things, we don't want to follow them.
We want to follow the people that are following the Bible that only care what the Bible says and don't get sucked into worldly ways of thinking about things.
I got to hurry because I'm almost out of time and I got a lot more sermon and only a little bit of time.
But let's just quickly, we're done in Philippians.
I just want to reinforce the three points from Romans, okay?
So flip over to Romans chapter 12.
We're just going to go to the book of Romans and just reinforce everything we saw in Philippians.
We got three points on unity and they're all three going to be reinforced in the book of Romans.
What did we just finish saying?
Don't mind earthly things.
Don't have a worldly mentality.
Walk according to the rule of the word of God.
Look at what the Bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse 1.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Verse 2.
And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The renewing of your what?
Your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Look, why do we keep talking about the mind?
Why is the book of Philippians just mind, mind, mind, mind, mind?
Let me tell you why.
Because all day long you're thinking.
You're thinking all day.
And you know what?
It's best if you're meditating on the word of God when you're thinking.
So that when you're thinking about something and you're thinking like, hmm, I wonder what I think about this situation or, oh, man, I wonder what I think I should do or where I should go, who I should be.
What are you thinking?
You're thinking about the Bible.
You're thinking about what the Bible says.
You're thinking the way God thinks.
Or you're just thinking about the way the world thinks.
Your worldly mentality because you pumped your mind just full of so much Hollywood and just all the worldly music and all the worldly movies and you didn't even read the Bible.
Or you spent 10% of your time in the Bible and in the things of God and in Bible preaching, 90% in worldly entertainment.
And then you wonder why you don't have a biblical worldview.
You've got to have your mind.
You've got to get your mind on the things of God and thinking about the way things would be in God's sight.
Okay.
And so he says you've got to renew your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
What's acceptable to God?
Not, well, what's acceptable in our society?
No, no, what's acceptable to God?
Okay.
So that's the third point about walking by the same rule, same authority, same final authority, not the world, the Bible.
But now we can review on point two because look at just the very next verse because we just said that point two was not thinking that you've arrived or expecting people to be perfect.
You know, let your moderation be known.
Look what it says in verse three, for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than you ought to think, but to think soberly according as God had dealt to every man, the members of faith.
For we have many, excuse me, for as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another.
Now stop for a second.
This is not a coincidence.
What are the first five verses here really about?
What are we culminating in?
A conversation about unity.
I mean wouldn't you say that verses four and five are about unity in the body, unity in the local church?
So is it a coincidence that in a discussion about unity he just said the same stuff that we saw in Philippians?
Don't have a worldly mentality.
Think about what's acceptable to God.
That's walking by the same rule.
And he said don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.
Isn't it interesting?
Two of our points just came right over into Romans chapter 12.
Look at Romans chapter 12 verse 16.
Be of the same mind one toward another.
Oh, there it is again.
Mind not high things.
Folks, this word is everywhere.
But condescend to men of lowest state.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
What's he saying here?
Be of the same mind one toward another.
Mind not high things.
Condescend to men of lowest state.
Again, it's thinking of others as better than yourself.
It's not to say, oh, these people are too low for me.
You know, these people are of the lowest state.
No, the Bible is condescend to men of lowest state.
Now when we use the word condescend in 2024, it has a negative connotation.
Like, oh, you're condescending.
But that's not what it means in the Bible because what does condescend mean at its core?
It means coming down and talking to people at their own level.
And it doesn't necessarily mean doing it in a disrespectful way.
Today when we hear condescend, we think it's disrespectful.
You know, like I saw a little comic that said, you know, this is the right way to talk to short people.
You know, like, hey, how you doing?
You know, obviously like that would be rude to like get, you know, hey, how you doing?
You know, but at the same time, at the same time when I talk to short people, I don't go like this either.
You know, and here's the thing.
You know, it's funny.
One time I took this guy out soul winning with me who is not a fundamental Baptist.
He's a reformed Baptist.
Okay, so he's Calvinist and whatever.
But he was saved and I took this guy out soul winning with me and he was a silent partner and I took him soul winning to an Indian reservation.
Okay, so basically we're on the Indian reservation and we were talking to some humble people on the Indian reservation.
We were in like, because we went to some of the roughest parts of the Indian reservation and it was some humble people and we were talking to some people and giving them the gospel.
And this guy, he's a reformed Baptist.
He's all geeked out on theology, using all these big theological jargon terms and everything.
And I'm sitting there and I'm giving the gospel and talking to people and I'm talking to people in plain English, making it really simple, breaking things down.
We're talking to children, teenagers and people who just aren't necessarily intellectual.
They're just living in a poor neighborhood on the rez or whatever and we're talking to people.
And I said to him, I said, you know, think about all these like theological gurus that you listen, like can you really even imagine them even being here and having this conversation?
Because it's like they're just so into their intellect and they become so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good.
And they cannot even just get down and talk to people.
And you know what, I always love to emphasize this verse where the Bible says about Jesus, the common people hurt him gladly.
The common people hurt him gladly.
He wasn't just giving lectures at a university.
He's able to just talk to Joe Plummer and the common people hurt him gladly.
And that's what, when I think of these reformed Baptists and Presbyterians and their homilies, you can't even call them sermons, they're homilies.
You know, these homilies, I guarantee you that's not how Jesus preached because otherwise the common people wouldn't hurt him gladly.
And that's why you'll see these guys.
They're big name guys will give these theological dissertations and just look how low the view count is.
And they're famous guys, right?
Then just some preacher just gets up and just preaches the word of God with boldness and power and puts it on the level of the common man and lo and behold, thousands of viewers.
Right, the common people hearing gladly.
Now obviously there are some people that the common people hear gladly that are wrong and they get a lot of views too.
But those of us that are preaching the truth, we need to also speak in a way that the common people hear.
And not just be up here flexing our intellectual muscles and just show, look how smart I am, you know.
That's not what it's about.
You've got to condescend to men of low estate.
And you know what, you think you're better than people because you make more money or because you're smarter or because you're more athletic.
Wrong.
Esteem others better than yourself and you know what, condescend to that guy who's not athletic.
Condescend to that guy who is not intelligent.
Condescend to that guy that is not as cool as you are, whatever that even means for you.
But you know, it means something to the teenagers.
They haven't yet figured out how vain and worthless that concept is.
Ah, these people aren't that cool.
Well, condescend to those that aren't that cool.
Amen?
Mind not high things.
Like, oh, the high thing, you know, the high art and the high thing, you know.
No, man, why don't you just relate to people?
Why don't you just sit down and have a cheeseburger, buddy?
Right?
He says in chapter 15, flip over to chapter 15.
I'm almost done.
I just want to review these points.
And it's just cool to see the same points in Romans that we saw in Philippians.
All the same, because I'm not, nothing new here.
This is all stuff that we've seen from Philippians already.
Chapter 15, verse 1, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Again, this mentality that says, hey, people are sinners.
People aren't perfect.
People are at different stages of growth.
Let's help people out.
Verse 2, let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.
There's your unselfishness point again.
For even Christ pleased not himself.
But as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
There's your let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Even Christ didn't please himself.
Even Christ humbled himself.
Do you think you could humble yourself?
He's condescending big time just to even come to this earth.
You think Jesus ever got to sit down and have a conversation with a person who was as smart as him?
Because let's face it, if you're a smart person, you enjoy sitting down and talking to people that are as smart as you are.
Right?
You know, if you're as knowledgeable about a certain subject, you like to sit down with somebody who knows.
And not necessarily the dilettante.
If you're really athletic and you're really good at basketball, you probably want to play against someone who's of an equal ability.
You don't want to just be like the Harlem Globetrotters just running circles around the other guy.
Just making them look silly.
You want to actually have some competition.
Am I right?
But Jesus, he never got to sit down and talk to somebody who's as godly as him.
He never got to sit down and talk to someone, you know, who is as intelligent as him.
He never got to sit down with someone who knew the Bible as well as he did.
You know, the closest thing was when he was 12, he kind of was able to hang out with people who knew the Bible like he did.
Only because he's 12 and they're 50.
But by the time he's 30, he's already passed everybody up.
At least when he was 12, he got to hang with some people that were on his level.
But he had to do it at age 12.
And so we should be able to condescend to men of low estate. Amen?
The Bible, I got to hurry, but in verse 7, or actually, no, we don't want to skip our favorite word.
Look at verse 6, that ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 7, wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Nobody's arrived.
Christ received us just as we were.
We got to receive others just as they are.
And then, lastly, here's a little bonus verse from Corinthians.
It says, uh, now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing,
that there be no divisions among you, that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment.
Same mind, same judgment.
Second Corinthians 13, 11, finally, brethren, farewell, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind.
Live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
And again, perfect in this context means mature, and so mature people, they can be of one mind with others.
They're not like, oh, you know, I just think different than everybody because I'm so much more mature.
That's a sign of immaturity.
Maturity gets on the team and can go with the flow of people that are serving God and following Christ and doing the right thing.
Same doctrine, right?
Galatians chapter 5, uh, talks about the exact same thing.
Uh, it says, uh, that, you know, if you're trying to be justified by the law, you're falling from grace.
We, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Like, we believe that salvation is by faith, not by the law.
And then he says, I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded.
He's saying, look, have a mentality that understands that salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing minus nothing.
Don't be otherwise minded.
Okay, and so, again, we could go on and on.
This is all over the New Testament, being of one mind.
What's the sermon about?
Being like-minded, okay?
I want to go to a church with people that are like-minded.
To me, there's absolutely no point in going to church if I, if I go to church and I'm fellowshipping after the service,
and I'm talking about the Bible, and I say something that's biblical, and people are just looking at me like I have two heads.
Or I say, I say something biblical, and they're like, oh, what?
And then they're saying something to me, and I'm like, huh, what?
But, you know, you start going to churches that are not like-minded, those are the kind of conversations you're going to have.
You're like, what the heck? Like, people are just going to be all over the place.
You know, at Faithful Word, yeah, there are going to be some wild opinions from time to time,
but in general at Faithful Word, you know, we're like-minded.
You know, we talk after the service, we chat, we talk about the Bible, we're on the same page in general.
And the things that we're not on the same page about, we can actually have a discussion that makes sense
because we at least have a foundation.
You know, it's fun to discuss areas of disagreement as long as we're on the same foundation.
You know what's not fun?
Discussing an area of disagreement, and we both have two different rule books for the game of risk.
That's not going to be fun.
Two totally different Bible versions that say two totally different things, that's not going to be fun.
One of us includes the Apocrypha, the other doesn't.
You know, and then they're making the Apocrypha their proof text.
That's not going to work.
Folks, you want to be like-minded.
You start going to churches that are not like-minded, and you're going to start feeling real lonely,
and there's going to be strife, there's going to be contention, there's going to be problems,
and you're not going to be able to work effectively as a team, striving together for the faith of the gospel.
Because it's not about us, it's not about our own personal agenda, it's about the gospel going forward,
it's about the work of the Lord going forward.
And look, why has our church been so effective at evangelizing?
Because we're all on the same page.
And again, no unity is ever going to be perfect, but in general, we're on the same page.
We're striving together for the faith of the gospel, and therefore we are an effective team
working forward for the gospel of Christ, not for ourselves.
So get rid of this worldly, selfish, egotistical, I'm the greatest kind of a mentality,
where you think you're just better than everyone.
And just realize, no, you are not better than everyone, you're part of the team.
You're part of the team, and get on board, get on the program, and you know what?
And even for the people that left our church, and that, you know, they, I'm leaving or whatever,
and they go to some church where they disagree with like 25 different things,
because they disagreed with me on one or two things, and then they go to a church where they disagree on 25 things.
Here's the thing about that, is that I hope that when they get in that new church,
that they actually get on board with that church's program, and sit down, and shut up, and learn something,
in their new church, instead of going to their new church and saying,
oh, this isn't like Faithful Word. Well, you love Faithful Word so much, then where are you at?
You know, but I guarantee you, a lot of these people who left are going to be a pain in the butt of the new church.
But you know what they should do? They should go to that new church, and you say, why would you address them?
Because they're still listening to every sermon.
That's why. Because you know they're still listening.
So I've got a message for you. Why don't you get on board with the program in your new church?
Why don't you get all in, 100%, on board with their program, instead of telling them how to change everything and fix everything?
Why don't you fix yourself and get on their program?
And if you love our program so much, well then, you need to be on our program.
But if you're going to be over there, you need to be on their program.
And you know what? Before I was a pastor, I was a layman, and I was on their program.
And I was on every church that I went to, I was on that program, and I got all in on their program, their way of doing things.
I didn't try to be the tail that wagged the dog.
And so we want to have unity, we want to be like-minded.
Go to the church that's like-minded with you, and then strive for unselfishness, patience with other people, realizing no one's arrived, and make sure the Bible is always the final authority.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you so much that we can have the same rule.
And Lord God, thank you so much for a wonderful church that, over all these years, has been very like-minded and has had great unity over the years, Lord God.
I pray that you continue to bless our church and let us continue to have that unity as we have one mind, as we think about things the same way, and have the same mentality.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Take your hymnals together, please. Go to Hymn 441. Hymn 441.
441, Great is Thy Faithfulness. Hymn number 441.
We'll sing this out unto the Lord this morning and be dismissed. Number 441.
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not.
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above.
Join with all nature in manifold witness.
Arm Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Pardon for sin and the peace that endureth.
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and rival for tomorrow.
Blessings all mine with ten mountains beside.
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
All I have needed Thy faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is Thy faithfulness, mercy and love.
All I have needed Thy faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is Thy faithfulness, mercy and love.
Thank you for watching!