(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] All right, everybody. We're going to go ahead and get started this morning. If you would, find a seat and grab a hymnal. And for our first hymn, we're going to sing hymn number 434, O Little Town of Bethlehem. Hymn number 434. Hymn number 434. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. O Little Town of Bethlehem, Now still we see thee fly, Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, The silent stars go by, Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light, The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight, For Christ is Lord of Mary, And gathered all above, While mortals sleep, the angels speak, Their watch of wandering shine. O morning stars together, Proclaim the holy birth, And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth. O silently, O silently, The one Christ lived is given, So God imparts to human heart The blessings of his hand. No ear may hear his calling, But in this world of sin, Where he souls will receive him still, A dear Christ enters in. O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us we pray, Cast out our sin and enter him, He born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell, O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord, Emmanuel. Good singing will open and a word of prayer. Dear Father, thank you for this church and thank you for the opportunity that we have to sing praises about our Savior's birth. I pray that you would fill us with your spirit as we sing praises unto you, and I pray that you would bless the remainder of this service as well, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. For our next hymn, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 429. Hark the herald angels sing, hymn number 429. We'll go ahead and start that right on the first. Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King, Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled, Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies, Angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem, Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King, Christ highest and adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, In time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin's bloom, Veiled in flesh the Goddess seen, Veiled in garment deity, His death with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel, Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King, Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace, Hail the Son of Righteousness, White and white to all He brings, Friends with healing in His wings, Vile He lays His glory thine, Born that men no more may die, Born to praise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth, Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King, From desire a patient's come, Face in us thy humble home, Rise the woman's concrete sea, Cruise in us the surface head, Atoms like its swelling face, Stamp thy image in its place, Send the dead up from above, Reinstate us in thy love, Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. This time we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, you could raise your hand and Usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week, Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18, almost done and to the end where you can claim your prize if you've memorized this chapter. Our contact information is on the front there. If you look at the left hand side is our service times listed, Sunday morning 10 30, Sunday evening at 4 30 and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock. All of our soul winning times are listed there and just as a reminder, all of those meet here at the church building first, then we go out into the community wherever we're soul winning. Nursing home ministry picks back up today. The schedule is listed there if you partake in that ministry. Also you see our year to date statistics. Great job so far for this year, over 500 salvations. That's a great accomplishment and keep up the hard work out soul winning. On the right is our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed for her pregnancy and also upcoming events. So tomorrow is going to be our Christmas caroling. Brother John helped us get a really good neighborhood where we've gone in the past and that's gonna meet here at 6 30 p.m. Really excited for that and of course the more people that come, the merrier it will sound. God's people sometimes alone and I'm speaking to myself, don't sound the best alone, but together we could sound really good. So more people coming for that, that's gonna be wonderful. December 20th is the ladies Christmas party. There's some information below. We did make the catering order last night for some Olive Garden, so I hope you ladies have a great time. Should be really good. December 21st is gonna be a soul winning rally just with some coffee and food catered. We're gonna have a Christmas soul winning push that day. Also December 31st, the Wednesday service is gonna be moved to Tuesday and we're gonna be having a men's preaching night that night followed by food and a time of games and fellowship. Also just as a reminder, we are going to have the Sunday morning before Christmas a children's choir sing for our church. So if your child would like to participate in that, immediately after the service this morning, Brother Hall is going to be leading a practice for maybe 15 or 20 minutes for those kiddos to practice. So the ages are from basically as old as they can actually get up here and sing. So three, four depending on your child up to 18 years old. If you'd like to have the kids participate in that. So if you'd like to, that's happening right after this service. Giving is listed there. If you'd like to give to our church, there's a QR code you could scan and on the back is our prayer list. Please keep all those prayer requests in your prayers and if you have any requests, please email the church. Also we had one of our church members, Brother Theodore went on a missions trip this week to Jamaica and I asked if he would come up and give a testimony and kind of explain how that church trip went and how the soul winning was over there just so we could be encouraged and hopefully motivate the church to someday also do some missions work. So Brother Theodore will you come up and say some words about that? Hello, I went to Jamaica. This week there was a missions trip from Faithful Word Baptist Church. It was a one week long missions trip. Let me just ask for a raise of hands. How many of you have gone on a missions trip before? Okay, so I've never gone on a missions trip before. I've not been exposed to missions trip. I've only really gone to this church and not really had people been talking about going on missions trip, but I was introduced to the idea of it and I decided to go. And in terms of travel, everyone flew there I think and the flight went well. People in the group chat, they said on this missions trip everything went very smoothly. In the country the driving is sus, but I'm not too worried because it says all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go into all the world. I believe God can protect us. But the hotel was provided by Faithful Word Baptist Church. It was good. It's normal. There's nothing to worry about like poor sanitation or lack of amenities because it's a tourist type place so it's got everything you need. It's got good food at a normal price. And the culture, it's pretty interesting. I'm not really that invested in the culture, but something funny is at one of the schools we were at it said Pee Wee Culture. I don't know what that means, but it said Jamaican proverb of the week, even the best field must have weed. But I met people from other churches. It was nice to meet other people and to see how other people do sowing, to learn from them, to see other people's zeal. The language, everyone there speaks English. There's a few people that kind of just speak. To me it's like gibberish. I think they speak English, but I'm not sure. There was particularly one Uber driver. I asked him what he believes. He said worship, do the right thing, faith. So I got the idea, but I can't communicate with some people. But the vast majority understand English totally fine. They speak English totally fine. And it's very good. There's some nice flowers over there, a lot of flowers in Jamaica. I got some here in my Bible. They're not as pretty as they were, but the grass withered, the flower fainted, but the word of our God endureth shall stand forever. But for sowing it was receptive. I'd say if you go up to someone, they are receptive to the gospel. They want to listen. The target demographic that we had was mostly kids because they have time. They're willing to listen. They're very receptive. We did the soul-ending style there. I'm not used to this because here we just go door to door, but over there it's in a public place. You just approach people. You say, hello, are you Christian, or we're from a Baptist church, or whatever you say, or we're missionaries is what most people said. And I like that because apartments are better than houses because there's a lot of doors really close, but this is even better because it's just talk to one person, not interested, okay, go immediately to the next person. And so there's a very big potential for how many souls you can get saved. The other form is school preaching. One man organized, Kenton Knowles organized school preaching. I got to preach in two classrooms on that trip, and that was nice to see. The kids are very receptive and very fun. I would say I put low effort into this missions trip. I wish I had put more effort into sowing, but even then it's very receptive for the trip. I got about 20 salvations. Other people got about 40 or 50 salvations, and so I think it's a very good thing to do. It's very easy to get a large amount of salvations. It's like five hours a day is the target, and we stayed around that number, and the trick is just to constantly be approaching people, and that will get you a lot of salvation, just constantly approaching people. Anyone you interact with is the way to go. And what I learned on this trip, I forgot, I know I've heard this before, but I forgot at some point that when you're presenting the gospel, you can just ask someone. You don't have to explain every single point if they already have it, and at some point I forgot that, but then someone pointed that out to me that I'm doing that and it's wasting a lot of time, and so I corrected that, and it's a lot better. I'm very glad I learned that, and I'm also learned by the zeal of other people. I'm provoked to be zealous by other people's zeal because I don't feel that zealous, but I see other people as going, sowing hard and just talking to everyone they see, and it's very encouraging. And Pastor Oz asked me to show this so that I could encourage you to go on a mission trip. This was my first mission trip. I'm very happy I went. I think it's very good for me that I went, and the Bible says, go ye into all the world. If you just stay in one place and you don't do a mission trip, I don't think that counts as fulfilling that commandment, and so we need to go into other countries, mission trip, hopefully in the future, Anchor Baptist Church can do a lot of mission trips, and I hope I can, by me going, having gone on this mission trip, I hope I can provoke you as well because when I ask for a raise of hands, only Pastor Oz raises his hand. So I hope I can provoke you as well because it's a very good thing. I'm very glad I went, and I have a lot more things about the trip that I like and that are special, but there's more than I can fit in a short time. I hope this will encourage you to go on a mission trip as well. Thank you for your time. Yeah, missions trips are a really awesome thing to get yourself involved in and partake in. No one here has done it before, so I really encourage you in the future to do that, and Lord willing, in the future, probably not in this next calendar year, but hopefully after that, our church could start doing our own missions trips, and if you're new to church or if this is the only type of church you've ever been to, this idea of do-it-yourself missions where the church members themselves go out into the mission field is actually a very rare thing in this world. Usually what churches do is they have one guy or just a multitude of full-time dedicated missionaries that they just pay to support, but oftentimes these missionaries aren't doing what Brother Theodore's talking about where they're just spending their whole day out communicating with people, preaching the gospel. A lot of times they're just building schools, building houses, building wells, and all those things are good, but those things don't really profit if those communities go to hell, so I like the do-it-yourself missions trips because I know that the soul winners here actually preach the gospel, and while Oklahoma is extremely receptive, honestly, Oklahoma is some of the best soul winning in the entire United States, but it pales in comparison to going soul winning in somewhere like Mexico or the Bahamas or Jamaica, places like that. When you go to one of these trips, your life will be changed at just seeing how the rest of the world is and how easy it is to get them saved, so if you pay attention online to the church groups or to other churches' announcements, feel free to involve yourself in another church's missions trips like he did. I'm not against that whatsoever. That's great. I really do encourage everyone, if they can, to go to a missions trip someday. That's going to be it for announcements. Let's go ahead and go to our third song. All right, for our third song, if you would, take your hymnals and turn to hymn number 431. Silent night, holy night. Hymn number 431. Hymn 431, we'll go ahead and start there right on the first. Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night. Shepherds play at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah. Rise, the Savior is born. Rise, the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night. Son of God, love's pure light. Great in peace from thy holy face. With the dawn of eating praise. Jesus, Lord at thy birth. Jesus, Lord at thy birth. Silent night, holy night. Wonderous star, blend thy light. With the angels, let us sing hallelujah to our King. Rise, the Savior is born. Rise, the Savior is born. Good singing. As the offering plates are being passed around, turn if you would in your Bibles to John chapter number 13. John chapter number 13. John chapter 13. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God. He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto Him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every width, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, he was set down again, and said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happier ye if ye do them. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, That one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought because Judas had the bag and Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you, ye shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come. So now I say to you, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have loved one to another. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Will thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till that hast denied me thrice. Let's pray. Dear God, Lord, we pray that you bless the service. We pray that you fill the pastor office with your spirit, Lord. Help us to keep distractions to a minimum. Help us to focus on the preaching of your Word and apply it to our life. Jesus, can you pray? Amen. Amen. All right, John chapter 13, let's start reading in verse 34. Jesus said this, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Notice Jesus gave us a test where we could look at someone and we could see if they're a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice it doesn't say by Bible knowledge will you be able to tell if you're a disciple of Christ. Or by how many online sermons you've watched can we tell that you're a disciple. Or, you know, what kind of clothes you wear to church can we tell that you're a disciple. He said that you could tell if you're a disciple by your love towards one another. And, you know, I grew up with brothers. I had two brothers and I love my brothers. I'm very proud of them both. They're both active duty military. They're strong men. They're good men. But growing up we fought a lot, as most siblings do, right? And you would have maybe looked at our household and seen how much we fight and bicker and tear each other apart. And you might think, man, these kids don't love each other, right? And it's a sad thing to say that sometimes it's the same thing with Christians, where we're brothers, we're sisters in Christ, and oftentimes people can look at Christians and see the fighting, the hatred, the lying about each other, the mistreating each other, and that is a bad testimony. That is the exact opposite of what Christ wants us to do. And, you know, growing up, how many times did we hear this? If you grew up with siblings, how many times did you hear from mom, get along with your brother, or did you hear from dad, get along with your sister, right? We hear that all the time growing up. And the title of my sermon this morning is, get along with your siblings, get along with your siblings. We see in this verse, Jesus gave us a litmus test to see how we could tell when someone is a disciple. Now, what is a litmus test? It's someone's decision or opinion about something that suggests what they think about a wider range of related things. Now, we use these things all the time, right? I mean, if you look at someone and they have a Kamala sign on their front yard, that's a litmus test to where you can guess and probably be right about a lot of things that that person believes, about the lifestyle that they have, all that thing, right? So you look at someone, they've got a Kamala sign. Do they support abortion? Yes, they do. Maybe there's a weird exception out there, but most people who've got a Kamala sign, they are pro-choice. They are pro-murder, right? You see someone who they love guns, they carry a gun every single day of their life, they're probably a conservative. They're probably Republican, right? They're probably not some sort of Democrat. Why? Because it's kind of just a litmus test. Someone carries a gun every day, they're probably conservative. Okay, someone's a flat earther. You say, okay, this person's a flat earther. Okay, well, I know that they denied the moon landing because every flat earther denies the moon landing. Now, not every moon landing person is a flat earther, but every flat earther denies the moon landing, okay? Which are both stupid conspiracies, it's not the sermon this morning. But look, Jesus didn't say, hey, you'll know if you're a disciple by what type of building that you assemble at, or whether you've got the double Windsor or the single Windsor, right? That's how you could really know if someone's a disciple of Jesus Christ, or what color tie they have, or what color suit they have. No, Jesus said, you'll be able to tell if you're a disciple by the love that you have for each other. And I only have one point this morning. That's this, get along with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Go to 1 John chapter 4, 1 John chapter number 4. There is a lot of Bible about this subject of how we should treat our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And you know, I thank God that this is a unified church. And from the first time I ever visited this church, I could tell that there is a great unified spirit here, that the people here love each other. But I want to keep that going, because that is actually something that's pretty easy to break down. There's some factors that could break that down pretty quickly, and we want to avoid that. But I want you to see this principle. Look at 1 John 4, verse 20. The Bible says, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? And this commandment, have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Again, we just see this black and white test, that if a Christian says that they love God, but they hate their brethren, they're a liar. Someone that hates their brothers and sisters in Christ does not love God, and is not a disciple of God. And you can just see this formula very clearly in the text. Someone has, let's say someone has a lot of love for their brothers and sisters in Christ. You know what that means? It means that they have a lot of love for God. If someone has little love for their brothers, they have little love for God. If someone hates their brothers, they have no love for God. And there's a lot of different ways that we could show our love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. But honestly, it's not something that you could really force. It's not like there's this external checklist of things you could do to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Usually the external things that you do is just a manifestation of your heart. Usually you just love the brotherhood, and actions follow that. Right, here's an example. How about staying after church to fellowship? I mean, someone that has very little love for the brethren, you know what they're going to do? They're going to bounce as soon as the service is over every single time. I'm not saying like, hey, they got something to do on this Sunday, they've got to go, stuff like that. That happens from time to time. But when you just look at a person just year after year after year, and they go to church and they don't want to talk to anyone, they don't want to fellowship with anyone, they're just out the door, what does that mean? It's that they have little love for the brethren. And you know what that really means is that they have little love for God. That is what the Bible is saying. Now, when you have lots of love for the brethren, you know what that means? It means you love God a lot. Why? Because we have faith in God who we haven't seen. But here we are around God's children who we have seen. And we believe, hey, you've believed in Christ. You've believed in Christ. All of you have believed in Christ. And so I love you guys because you're my brothers and sisters, because we're in the same family. That should just be a natural feeling. When you love God, when you're thankful for what God's done for you, you know, and you have other people that share that faith and that same like-minded doctrine, that should cause you to immediately love other people in this church. Go to 1 John 3, 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3 verse 14 says, We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. You see, one of the evidences of salvation is not that you've repented of all your sins, is not that you're turning over a new leaf and you don't sin anymore and you don't struggle with sin anymore. But you know what is an evidence of salvation? Is that you love other Christians. Why? Okay, let me read this for you. You can stay there. Romans 8 16 says, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. See, in my spirit, my spirit is bearing witness that I'm a child of God. Why? Because I am indwelled with the Holy Ghost forever. And guess what? If you're saved, you have that same Holy Ghost inside of you. And so I've believed on Jesus Christ. I've called upon the name of the Lord. You've called upon the name of the Lord. You know what? I automatically just love that person. I automatically just have a kindred spirit with that person because they are saved. And the Bible says you're able to know that you've passed from death unto life because you have love for the brethren. And when someone does not love other Christians, that is a major red flag, a major red flag. And let me say this. When someone hates other Christians, that's an even bigger red flag. Look at verse number 15. It says, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. You know what's funny is over the last couple months, I've seen a bunch of Christians just hate on pastors and just completely hate pastors, hate Pastor Anderson, hate Pastor Shelley. They're the worst people. They're scum. They're terrible people. But I see these same people sharing memes, making light of murder of a CEO this week. You know, there's this CEO that was just ambushed and shot in the chest and just murdered in cold blood. And I see Christians laughing and joking about cold-blooded murder. But, oh, Pastor Anderson's terrible. Pastor Anderson terrible. Pastor Shelley terrible. Worst people ever. But let's joke about murder on Facebook. Well, it's kind of interesting how the Bible says, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. See, it's just natural when you think about how Jesus Christ as the perfect sinless lamb of God suffered and died for us, who are sinners that don't deserve it, or that he doesn't deserve the pain that he went through. We deserve hell, okay? When Jesus did that for us, shouldn't it just make us want to give our lives to the brethren who Jesus also died for, to serve each other, to love each other? That's just a natural thing when you love God. Now, when you don't love God, though, that doesn't come naturally. And sometimes it's really hard for people to fake it because they don't have a true love in their heart for the brethren. See, when you have love for someone, there's no faking it necessary. You know, if you love your wife, you don't have to fake, tell her, I love you. I mean, that's weird if you have to do that. You just love your wife, and love just flows out of your heart because you love her. You know, same thing with your children. You don't have to fake love your children. You would die for them. You would do anything for them. You love them with all your heart. Guess what? It's the same thing for brothers and sisters in Christ. It doesn't matter where I go in this world. It doesn't matter if I go to Germany and I meet some Christians in Germany. We're instantly great friends. I instantly love them. We instantly get along. I go to Faithful Word. I go to Verity. I go to Sure Foundation. I go to steadfast. It doesn't matter where I go in this world. When I meet people that are saved, I immediately like them. I immediately get along with them in general. Now, of course, when we're walking in the flesh, we could start to dampen that love a little bit. Why? Because our love for God is dampening. But when your love for God is hot, your love for the brethren is also hot. Go to Titus, chapter number one. Now, what's interesting about this, this idea of loving your brothers and sisters, getting along with your brothers and sisters, this is actually a pastoral qualification, okay? Because you think about this. You know, if someone wants to be leading a church, someone wants to be a pastor, you would hope that they love God a lot, right? And what's the result of loving God a lot? Loving your brothers and sisters a lot, okay? Here's the pastoral qualifications, Titus, chapter one, verse seven. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, notice this, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate. What did the Bible already tell us? That if you don't love your brother who you have seen, how can you love God who you have not seen? So what if someone is not a lover of good men? What does that mean about them? It means that they don't love God. When a pastor does not love good men, he does not love God. This is why it's a pastoral qualification. Don't you want a pastor that loves God? Well, what is a litmus test? What can we tell for sure whether or not someone loves God? It's when they are given to hospitality and when they are a lover of good men. Let me tell you something. When you hate good men, you are a wicked person. When you hate good men, you don't love God and you are a bad pastor. It should be natural. It should be easy to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's go to 1 John, chapter number 1. 1 John, chapter number 1. 1 John 5, excuse me, verse 1. 1 John 5, verse 1. The Bible says this, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Am I just making this up this morning or is this just in the Bible over and over and over? If you love God who begat us, you know what that means? You're going to love the people who are begotten of God. You are going to love other saved Christians. You know, yesterday we were out soul winning and we ran into three young ladies from a different Baptist church, an independent, fundamental Baptist church, and I talked to them, I checked their salvation, and guess what, I just immediately loved those ladies. I immediately was just happy that they are there, and yeah, their church might have bus ministry, and you know what, I prefer confrontational soul winning. Yeah, they have a bus ministry. I think that the way we're doing things is better. I think we're going to get more people saved. But guess what? I still love those people. Why? Because they're begotten of God and they're on our team. It's not like, well, you don't believe everything exactly like us, so I'm going to have to be mean to you. I dislike you. No, I just immediately was thrilled to see other saved Christians taking time out of their day on a Saturday to go visit people. Were they preaching the gospel fully, thoroughly to them? I don't know, probably not, but we were there too, so it's all right. But guess what? I'm just happy if people are getting reached with the gospel, are getting reached by good churches, and even if they're not like us, even if they're Zionists, even if they're pre-trib, even if they think homos can still be saved, I still love them. Why? Because they're my brothers and sisters in Christ. And, you know, not everyone has to be exactly like us. We're doing things a certain way here because we think we're right, because we have the Bible here and we're going to follow the Bible the way that we see fit, because we're staying faithful to the text. But if someone else is not perfect, well, guess what? We're not perfect either. We can still love them. You know, in the future, I would like to be friends with good pastors in this community. Now, maybe they won't want to be friends with me, but I'm not going to be the limiting factor on friendship. Why? Because I love God. And because of that, I love other Christians. I love other pastors, even if I disagree with them about certain things. I would love to have other good pastors from this community come preach for us. I would go preach for them. Oh, but they're pre-trib. Who cares? They're saved. They're our brothers and sisters in Christ, and I love those people. And then after that, we were out soul winning about 30 minutes later. We ran into another group of ladies from a completely different Baptist church. Who I also salvation checked, who were dead on in the gospel, dead on on eternal security. Were they going and presenting as thorough of a gospel as us? Probably not, but I was still thrilled to see them. I was still excited. I was still encouraged. I love those people. I thought, this is amazing. You know, only in Oklahoma can you in one apartment complex have people from three different independent fundamental Baptist churches, all with the right gospel, all with the right doctrine on eternal security, going out and reaching people. That is awesome. Oklahoma is the bomb, OK? But guess what? We don't want to have this holier than thou, you know, attitude where it's like, well, they're old IFB. They're saved. There are Christian brothers and sisters. If you don't love them, there's something wrong with you. Yes, go to the best church in your area. Absolutely. But OK, they have altar calls. OK, they have all these ministries we don't agree with. Who cares? They're saved. I love them and you should love them, too. And, you know, if we can love people that we have disagreements on, on some doctrines, you know, we should dead sure love people that are basically exactly like us. New IFB churches, right? But let me tell you something. It's a red flag when Christians in new IFB churches just constantly hate on the old IFB. And it's also an extremely red flag when you claim to be new IFB, when you're in a new IFB church and you hate other new IFB pastors. Let me just be really clear. It's a red flag when you hate Pastor Shelley. Why? Because he's a good man. The Bible says that a bishop should be a lover of good men. When you hate good men, there's something wrong with you. Get along with your siblings. But you know why you can't get along with your siblings? Because you don't love God. Or your love for God has gotten so cold and so small that now your external manifestation of that is that you can't get along with other Christians. You can't love your brothers and sisters in Christ. Go to Proverbs 26, Proverbs 26. While you're turning there, 1 John 5, 2 says, By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. How do you know that you love the children of God? It's when you keep God's commandments. How can you tell when you're starting to not love other Christians? It's when you're starting to sin against them. When you're starting to break God's commandments. You know, that's an unloving thing to do to your brothers and sisters in Christ is to sin against them, of course, right? The Bible says, Love is the fulfilling of the law. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. That's how you love someone. Well, here's an example of things that people violate that's not loving to their brothers and sisters. Proverbs 26, verse 17. You want to start not getting along with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Start meddling in their business that has nothing to do with you. When you're starting to meddle in someone's business, your brother or sister in this church even, they've got some sort of thing going on. It's none of your business. Don't meddle in other people's business. It's a foolish thing to do. And it's something that's going to start causing you to be at odds with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's going to cause you to not be able to get along with them. Verse 18. So is the man that deceiveth his neighbor, and saith, Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tailbearer, the strife ceaseeth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tailbearer are as wounds. They go down into the innermost parts of the belly. This is how people don't get along with their brothers and sisters in Christ, right? They start gossiping. They start tailbearing. They start being a person of strife that's getting in other people's business, repeating matters that have nothing to do with them. And the Bible's saying like, hey, when you stop putting wood on fire, you know what happens? It goes out. You know, this week I just started burning fires in my fireplace. It was one of my favorite times of the year when I could have a fire in my living room. And I noticed this crazy thing about my fireplace. When I stop feeding it wood, it dies. And in the same way, when you stop gossiping, when you stop railing, when you stop being a backbiter and a tailbearer, you know what happens? Strife ceases. You want to know why there's a lot of strife between brothers and sisters? It's because someone in that equation or both people are sinning. Did you hear what this person said? Did you see how this lady looked at me? Shut up. Doesn't matter. Let it go. Don't go around being a gossip, talking crap about your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not right. The Bible says that the words of a tailbearer are as wounds. There's this saying, and I get what people mean by it, but it's not true. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. That's not biblical because the Bible says that the words of a tailbearer are as wounds. They're like wounds. In what way? How are they like wounds? They hurt you. Wounds hurt you, right? The words of a tailbearer are as wounds. Yes, words can hurt you and words can hurt your brothers and sisters in Christ. And what are those sinful words like lying about them? Sinful words like gossiping about them. That actually can hurt people. And that's going to cause you to not get along with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Go to 1 John 2, 1 John chapter 2. You know, if you find that you're in constant strife with brothers and sisters in Christ, you can't get along with anyone, you're probably the problem. You probably are a gossip or a railer. You probably are the one that needs to fix yourself. 1 John 2, verse 8. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past and the true light now shineth. He that sayeth he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. But he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. The Bible says that if you hate your brother, you are walking in darkness. It is always wrong to hate your brothers and sisters. There's never an exemption to that. It's never okay to hate or to curse your brothers and sisters in Christ, even if they do wrong to you, even if they are gossiping about you, even if they are railing about you. You know, you could distance yourself. You cannot be their friend. You cannot necessarily, you know, want to spend a bunch of time with them. But you should always love your brothers and sisters in Christ. And there's even been people that have done terrible things. There's been saved pastors that have stepped down for doing really sinful things, yet I don't hate that person. I still hope that person just got right with the Lord, went on to serve him the best that he can, and just still goes soul winning and does, you know, what he can for God. We should want good for our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially, especially if they've done wrong to you. Because Jesus said to love your enemies, right? And that is the Christian mature response. There's been other pastors that have just made it their life's goal, it feels like, just to attack my family. And I don't even hate that person at all. I honestly just want the best for them. I want their ministry to succeed. I want them to do good. I want them to go on and do great things for Christ. I don't care. They're my brother and sister in Christ. I still love that person. And, you know, you should have a real love in your heart for other Christians. Go to Philippians chapter number one, Philippians chapter number one. Now, sometimes people within church can't get along. Sometimes, you know, saved people within your own family can't get along. Sometimes saved members at this church can't get along with saved members of other churches. And sometimes even saved pastors can't get along. Okay? And here's the reason why. Philippians one, verse 15. The Bible says, Some indeed preach Christ even of, what? Envy and strife and some also of good will. You want to know why a lot of preachers can't get along? Why they can't have fellowship? Why they don't like each other? You want to know why some preachers have gone on a three month long series against Pastor Anderson and Pastor Shelley? You want to know why they've spent the last three months preaching against their brothers and sisters in Christ? It's this right here. Envy. Envy. This is why a lot of pastors cannot get along. They're not getting the attention that they think they deserve. They're not getting the views that they think they deserve. They think that they're so great and they don't like it when people like other preachers. They don't like it when people in their church speak highly of Pastor Anderson or Pastor Jimenez or Pastor Shelley because they're preaching Christ of envy, not sincerely. Look at the next verse. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely. Do you see what that said? Not sincerely. Supposing to add afflictions to my bonds. You know, it's not a sincere thing to spend your whole ministry to waste three months of your time just attacking some other guy in a different state when the Bible says to feed the flock of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. Where are these pastors just reading their Bible throughout the week and just getting truth from the scripture and just trying to help their people? No, they just want to go on a campaign against other men of God, not just calling someone out because they have a disagreement a couple times. No, just month after month after month continuing to preach about it. Why? It's because they're envious. They're envious and they're not preaching sincerely because you know what a sincere person does? A sincere person says, wow, this is a massive book that my people need the truth out of. I'm going to have to really be reading this thing and studying this thing and trying to cook up some good spiritual meals to give to these people so that they could be edified. That's what a sincere person does. A sincere person wants his people to grow spiritually, not just hear the same sermon repackaged every single week about how much you don't like Pastor Anderson, about how envious you are of his influence, of his leadership, or how envious you are of Pastor Shelley, or how envious of whatever. Just get over it, man, because guess what a sincere person does? A sincere person doesn't care how much attention they get. A sincere person did not become a pastor to be worshiped, to be adored, to be, you know, the number one guy that everyone looks to. A pastor is a servant. A pastor's job is to serve God's people. And when you just show that you have this deep care to be liked, to be number one, to be in the spotlight, it shows me that you're struggling with envy. And that's why you can't get along with your brothers and sisters in Christ because you have so much envy in your heart. Look at verse 17. But the other, so the person that actually preaches Christ sincerely, notice what it says, of love. What are we talking about this morning? Loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. The loving thing to do is to preach Christ sincerely. The thing that's not loving to your brothers in Christ is being one that preaches the gospel, preaches the Bible of envy, of strife, of contention, 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 therein I do rejoice. Yea, and will rejoice. Hey, I'm still happy when the Bible is being preached by whoever, whenever, in whatever manner possible. Great. I praise the Lord for that. But you know what, for me, I would rather, and I don't know, I guess I can't speak for other pastors. I would rather be a person that actually preaches the Bible out of love, out of sincerity. Not just this hate fest for another pastor thousands of miles away. Dude, get over it. Get on with your life. Feed your flock. Go to John chapter 3, John chapter number 3. You know there's a man that exemplified this attitude perfectly in the Bible. John the Baptist. Let's read about this story here. John chapter number 3, verse 25. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth and all men come to him. What are these people doing? They're trying to provoke him to envy. They're saying, hey John, that guy that you were bearing witness of, have you noticed that everyone's going to his church now. Everyone's going to listen to him. You know, John, they get done with your sermon. You know what they do? They open their phone and they turn on Jesus' sermon. But guess what? John never claimed that he was the one. John was constantly saying, hey, there's come and won after me whose shoes latches I'm not worthy to unloose. That's what he said. He never wanted to be a big shot. He never wanted to be known. He just wanted to serve Jesus Christ. He wanted to pave the way for the Lord. And so this tactic isn't going to work on a guy like John the Baptist because he's actually preaching Christ sincerely. Look at verse 27. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. This is the right attitude right here. Let Jesus Christ increase. A man can receive nothing except it's been given him from heaven. If God has decided to give another man more influence, a bigger audience, a bigger church, more resources, then praise the Lord. Praise God. Guess what? My joy is fulfilled in that. Why? Because I'm on the side of Jesus Christ. I'm on the side of the kingdom of God. And it's not Anchor Baptist Church versus Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's not Anchor Baptist Church versus Steadfast Baptist Church. It's God's people versus the world. It's God's people versus the devil. And if Faithful Word just got done doing an awesome missions trip to Jamaica, praise God. Thank the Lord for that. It's just like, well, how come I didn't get to make the missionary update of how many people that we got saved? Dude, what's wrong with you? Why are you the one that think that you need to increase? Let other people increase. That's fine. You don't need to be a superstar. You need to be a servant of Jesus Christ. That's what being a pastor is. But you start seeing this. You start seeing this attitude. Even in pastors, they make comments about people that visit the church. Oh, this person's only here because Pastor Anderson is guest preaching. And you could tell they're envious. They're starting to have disdain towards Pastor Anderson or or oh, Pastor Shelley is coming in town. And this person is only visiting because Pastor Shelley is preaching. Praise the Lord. That person came to church. Who cares? Guess what? I am fully aware that if Pastor Anderson was preaching behind this pulpit this morning, this church would be a lot more full. And I'd be happy about that. Praise God. Because guess what? Pastor Anderson is saved. Pastor Anderson has the King James Bible. Pastor Anderson is going to preach a good sermon to feed God's people. Why would I be upset about that? Oh, let me tell you why. If I was envious and if I was preaching Christ of contention and if I didn't love God, rather loved myself, then I would be upset about that. Then I would be mad about someone else getting attention. But guess what? I didn't get into the ministry for attention. In fact, Pastor Shelley told me when I was working for him, Brother Dylan, I really like your sermons because they're boring, but they're biblical. Praise the Lord. I'll preach boring sermons that help people. I'm fine with that. Hey, if I preach a really boring sermon and everything in it is true and you walk out of here edified and you walk out of here loving God more, praise God. I've had people insinuate, oh, that, you know, Dylan's kind of this shock jock guy that just tries to preach the most wild things. It's like, dude, look at my sermon title list for the last three years and you're going to reconsider that statement. I am not up here to just preach some sort of shock jock sermon. I'm not up here to become popular or famous or be liked by everyone. I just want to serve God. And guess what? Because I want to serve God because I love God. I also love you. I also love other Christians. I also love other pastors. Why? Because I'm not envious. I'm not preaching Christ of contention. But the people that are upset that Pastor Anderson's church is bigger, that their church is full of church members that were reached by Pastor Anderson. They're mad about that. They're envious. Just look yourself in the mirror, Pastor, and just admit the truth. You are envious. You need to repent and get right with God. You want to hate me for that? Whatever. I'm your friend. I'm telling you the truth right now. Go to Galatians chapter number five. Galatians chapter number five. I mean, think about how silly this would be. You know, what if someone in this church moved to Verity Baptist Church? You know, that wouldn't upset me one bit because guess what? I was reached by Verity Baptist Church. I got saved watching a Bible Way to Heaven video made by Pastor Jimenez. Why would I get mad if you like Pastor Jimenez? I like him too. Let's go listen to his sermons together. That sounds wonderful. I'm not upset about that. I think that's great. He's a great man of God. I love Pastor Jimenez. Galatians five verse 14. For all the laws fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. We have witnessed this happen recently. People did not take heed to these verses, and people have been seriously harmed by the events of the last couple months where people have devoured each other. And it's because their eyes weren't on the Bible or on Jesus Christ, it's because they were envious. Verse 16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. See, if you're walking in the Spirit, you're filled with the Spirit, you know what you're going to do? You're going to love God more. What happens, according to the Bible, when you love God more? You love your brothers and sisters in Christ more. And you just have to reframe this. You have to change your perspective that when you're having beef with another Christian or with another pastor or another church, the battle lines are not drawn between us as Christians. The battle line is drawn between us standing shoulder to shoulder and the world in front of us. And the devil in front of us. And you know what, the devil gets an advantage over God's people by causing them to bite and devour one another. You know, when churches do this, when people fall out of church, you know what that means? It means there's less soul winners in this world. When people get bitter and they quit serving God, they quit going to church. Let's just be honest, people that quit going to church, you really think that they continued going soul winning when they're not going to any church? I'm not talking about they just went to another good, fundamental Baptist, soul winning church. Praise the Lord. Go to the best church that you think is in your area. Do that. But when people stop going to church, you know what they stop doing? They stop soul winning. When people stop going to church, you know what they stop doing? They stop reading their Bible. And you know what suffers? Their family suffers, their community suffers, and this whole world suffers because more people are going to hell. And people just need to swallow their pride. People need to stop. People need to stop being so envious and contentious with their brothers and sisters in Christ and say, You know what? I haven't been walking in the Spirit. I've been in the flesh. I've been envious. I need to remember the words of John the Baptist that he must increase and I must decrease. We need to remember that as a church. You need to remember that as a preacher. Go to 3 John, 3 John, the only chapter in 3 John. 3 John, chapter number four. The Bible says in verse four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Doesn't it bring you joy when you get someone saved and they start making changes in their life? Doesn't it bring you joy when you get someone saved and they decide to get baptized? They decide to start coming to church. They decide to get certain sins out of their family's lives. And you see the ladies start dressing modestly and you see the men start working hard at their job. And you see them become soul winners and reaching other people with the gospel. Doesn't that give you joy? I mean, what kind of person would see someone thriving spiritually and get upset about that and be mad about that? It makes no sense. Verse five. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers, which have borne witness of thy charity before the church, whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well, because that for his name's sake they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. We should receive other Christians, even if they're not exactly like us, so that we could be fellow helpers to the truth. Why? Because if someone is saved, whether they believe exactly like us on everything or not, that person is on the side of truth. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Someone believes on him, they're on the side of the truth. When we receive God's people, when we're blessing to our brothers and sisters in Christ, when we get along with them, we're being a fellow helper to the truth. Look at verse nine. I wrote unto the church, but Diotrophes, here's your envious pastor here, but Diotrophes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. You got Diotrophes in this church, some sort of church leader, he doesn't want to receive the Apostle Paul. I don't know if I need to tell you this, the Apostle Paul's an awesome Christian. He's a great guy, writing a ton of the New Testament, turning the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet Diotrophes doesn't want to receive him. Why? Because he wants to have the preeminence. What does that mean? He wants to be number one. He wants to be the most liked person. He wants to call other people a pope. He wants to be the pope. That's what Diotrophes wants. Diotrophes wants to be the pope, so because he's not, you know what he does? He doesn't receive other good Christians. Why? Because if he lets the Apostle Paul come and he receives him into his church, you know what's going to happen? His church members are going to love his sermon. His church members are going to be screaming, amen. His church members are going to be sharing the sermon on Facebook. And because Diotrophes is a carnal, envious, immature, babe in Christ Christian, even pastor, he's upset by that. But guess what? Is Paul a fellow helper of the truth or not? Yes, he is. So then you should receive him. You should want him to succeed. You should be, your joy should be fulfilled. When a man is doing great things for God, you don't want to be like Saul where you get so insecure in your leadership that when a great man, David, comes up, you start throwing spears at his head. That's a wicked person that would attack David. It's a wicked person that wouldn't receive the Apostle Paul. Another good Christians. Verse 10. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words and not content therewith. Neither doth he himself receive the brethren and forbideth them that would and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God. But he that doeth evil hath not seen God. And notice the Apostle Paul's attitude. He says, hey, I'm not going to forget this guy's deeds, prating against us with malicious words. Sounds like Diotrophes. The Diotrophes of this world are worthy of getting called out when they don't receive the brethren, when they're not loving towards their brothers and sisters in Christ, when they're being wicked to other pastors, just purely out of envy and strife. Sounds like it's totally biblical to call them out for that. Because here's here's Paul saying, hey, I'm not going to forget this loser's deeds that he's done against me and his malicious words that he's prated against me. He's not going to forget about it. He's not going to let it go. Why? Because the Apostle Paul's on God's team. Why would a pastor be attacking someone on God's team? It's wicked as hell. Go to Proverbs six, Proverbs chapter six. Look, these these verses, this concept should scare you if you're an envious person realizing that you are so far from being spiritual right now. It's not funny. It's unbelievable what we've seen. Proverbs six. I read this the other day and the descriptions just scared me on how I've seen Christians acting like the last couple of months. Proverbs six, verse 16. These six things that the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue. And hands that shed innocent blood and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies. And he that soweth discord among brethren. Those are things that God hates. Those are things that the Bible says are an abomination to God. You know, I've seen people acting like this the last couple of months, people that are safe. I've seen people, you know, trying to make strife between Christians for no reason, for no other reason other than they're envious and contentious. And it's sad to see. Go to Second Corinthians chapter 10, Second Corinthians chapter 10. Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. The Bible says it is a foolish thing to do to sit here and judge your success, your merit, your value based on what another person is doing. Based on how successful they are, based on how well liked or successful ministry they are. Look, the only person you could be is yourself. And really, you should be comparing yourself to the Bible standards, to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that we should be looking to the author and finisher of our faith, not looking at other people and judging where you stand based on their life. It's a foolish thing to do. And what happens when people start doing this, when people start comparing, you know what it does? It robs them of their self-worth. It robs them of their joy. They start getting insecure and they start getting envious. That's what happens. When you don't compare yourself to anyone else, you're just looking to Jesus. Hey, you're just trying to be the best person you could be. You're just trying to be the best pastor you could be. You're trying to be the best church member you could be. And you know what? You can't be another person. God hasn't made you another person. God's given you the talents he's given you. And guess what? Just be the best you you could be. And you're not going to have all this envy and strife in your life. James chapter 4, James 4. James chapter 4, verse 1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Why do people fight? Why do people go to war? Come they not hence, even of your lusts, that war in your members? Lusts we often think of in a really fleshly carnal way, but the word lust just simply means to desire something. The Bible is saying, where does fighting come from? Where do wars come from? It comes from your unfulfilled desires in your heart. You have an expectation. You have a desire. I should be the one getting the attention. I should be the one with a bigger church. I should be the one with more influence. And because that desire is not fulfilled that you expect wrongly, now that lust in your heart is causing you to be at war against your brothers, to have fighting against your brothers. And look, this is true in marriage. This is true with literal siblings, right? You got the toy. No, I want the toy. Where do the fighting and lusts come from? Your lusts, your desires that aren't being met, your expectations that you demand. Verse 2. Ye lust and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not because ye ask not. See, literal wars between nations where people literally die, people kill over what? Their lusts. Their desire for more money or, you know, Adolf Hitler, Liebensraum, living space. He wants more, more land. And what's he going to do? He's going to go to war off of more land because of his lust. The Bible says people literally kill over this. But not only do people physically kill over this, but people kill their marriages over this desire. People kill their churches over this desire. People kill their friendships with other good people because of their lusts in their heart that they did not get checked. Verse 3. Ye ask and or says, yet ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lust. He's saying a lot of times you don't get what you want because you don't even ask. And then you do ask and you still don't get what you want because you're asking selfishly. You're asking to consume it upon your own lust. Your heart isn't right. You don't have the right desire for why you want your church to get so big. And so God doesn't grant that, oftentimes. Verse number 4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. You know, something interesting about that verse is it doesn't say whosoever is a friend of the world. It says whosoever will be a friend of the world. You know what that means? It's whosoever wants to be a friend of the world in their heart is the enemy of God. You know what's going to cause a lot of division and strife amongst the church? Is if half the church wants the rock and roll music and the CCM and the liberal atmosphere and half wants to stay with the godly hymns, right? You know what's going to cause division? Half the church wants to go to the NIV and half wants to stay with the KJV. Well, half the church wants to get rid of soul winning. Half the church wants to become seeker sensitive. The other half wants to stay. Whosoever will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. You got half of people that want to serve God. They love God. They want to do what the Bible says and half don't. What's going to happen? Contention and strife. And oftentimes the reason why someone can't get along with their brothers and sisters in Christ is because they are deep in sin. Because one one or both people are super worldly or super backslidden. They're wanting to be a friend of God or a friend of the world. The other person wants to be a friend of God. And what's that's going to cause is division and strife. Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? I think that spirit is just talking about our just normal human nature, man's spirit. We naturally are just given to lust. We're given to envy. We have to walk in the spirit to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore, he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Verse seven is key. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. See, the Bible's implying that someone here is not submitting themselves to God. That's why there's fightings and wars among you. What's the answer? Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts. Ye double minded. Oftentimes, where is the strife coming from? Why is it that you fight so much with your family? It's probably because you want to go to church three times a week and your family thinks you're insane for that. Guess what needs to happen? Both parties need to submit themselves to God. Oh, you're crazy for reading the Bible. You're crazy for going soul winning. You're crazy for all these things. No, no, no. Actually, you're crazy. You haven't gone far enough. You need to submit yourself unto God. And when everyone's submitted to God, there's going to be harmony. Because what I've noticed is that when someone is right with God, when someone has communion with God, when someone is close to the Lord, when someone has good fellowship with the Lord, you know what I've noticed? They just get along with people. They get along with their brothers and sisters in Christ. But when someone is carnal, when someone's backslidden, when someone is not godly, they make a big deal out of everything. They're always fighting with someone. There's always some tiff that they've got going on in the church with someone else. And the problem is you're carnal. The problem is you need to get right with God. The problem is you need to spend time in your Bible and not so much time on Facebook and on Instagram and on TikTok. And let's just be honest for a minute. Ladies struggle with getting along with other ladies more than men struggle in this area. Because I'm just going to be honest. I could think of like one or two times in the last 11 something years I've been in church that I've ever, ever had beef with a dude. And we fixed it and it was over. But you know what? It just seems like oftentimes ladies always have problems with another lady. And look, that is something that you should internalize and ask yourself. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to pick on you. But ask yourself, you know, am I walking with the Lord right now? Am I being a spiritual person? Have I been reading my Bible? Have I have I been scrolling social media all day or have I actually read the Bible at all today? Because I'm just telling you, the Bible says when you submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you when you're close to God. When God is close to you, you tend to just be at peace with other people. Usually when there's a lot of fighting going on, it's because one or both parties are backslidden and in sin. Go to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. Dudes, we just openly make fun of each other and mock each other. So we're just used to it, OK? 1 Corinthians 11, verse 17. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Another reason why is there often division between God's people? Because of heresies. Now this is something that you should divide with people over. Look, we're not going to be friends with people that believe heresy, right? And especially damnable heresy. We could have different views on minor doctrines, tertiary doctrines. But you know, in this church, we want to be united as much as possible. And if there's a bunch of division in the church, what I've seen over the years is that there's often heresy in the church. When I could think of times in churches I've gone to when there was division, it was when oneness modalism was creeping into churches in the new IFB. And we had a couple of those people at the church I was attending at the time. You know what it caused? Division and strife. Why? Because half the church wants to submit to what the Bible says, half wants to draw an eye to God, half wants to submit themselves to God, and the other wants to believe weird heresy. So it's like, how do you fix this problem? Read your Bible and stop believing heresy. Oh, there's division in my church, okay? Stop teaching false doctrine. Stop going around the pastor's back, stop going around to other people in the church trying to teach things contrary to what the Bible says. That's going to cause division, that's going to cause strife, and that of course is a strife we would deal with. Go to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1, while you're turning there, Amos 3.3 says, Can two walk together except they be agreed? You know, we need to be in agreement in this church as much as possible. We need to be unified around the doctrines of the Bible. And look, we could have different opinions about tertiary doctrines, that's fine. And we could have different opinions on carnal things, doesn't matter whatsoever. But we need to be agreed on the main things. 1 Timothy 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, unto Timothy my own son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, notice that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith. So do. Look, I have been given a charge to preach no other doctrine. And that is my job as the steward of this church to make sure that the doctrine coming from behind this pulpit is no other doctrine other than what the Bible says, other than what I have been taught by godly men according to the Scriptures. We're not going to be changing on major doctrines. Look, the King James Bible is settled. It's the only Bible that this church will ever use. Salvation by faith, not up for debate. Hey, it's not up for debate if we're going to baptize babies. It's not up for debate whether baptism is sprinkling or whether it's immersion. Right? These things are not optional. No, I've been charged to teach no other doctrine. Why? Because if I did, you know what you'd see? You'd start seeing division in this church. You'd start seeing strife and conflict. And also it says not to give heed to fables. Look, I'm not going to give any ear, any heed to weird fables that people believe today. And, you know, the Bible says that the simple believeth every word. I often say that that is the theme verse of this generation. That is the theme verse of the day and age that we're living in where people, I don't know if it's because of their phones, and there's just something about that phone where like if they see a video, they just think it's real. If they see a TikTok video saying some conspiracy is real, then they'll just immediately believe it. But look, I am not going to talk about or give heed to or pay any credence to the idea of the Nephilim doctrine. Right? Or things like this stupid like, oh, yeah, you know, there used to be 500 foot giants that mated with people that created demons. That's a fable. I'm not going to give any credence to that. No, it's not up for discussion. Look, the flat earth is not up for discussion. I'm not going to give heed to any weird fable. Look, if you are a flat earther, you need to repent. You need to get some smarts. You need to get some brain cells in your head. OK, because it's the stupidest conspiracy theory ever made. You can literally just prove you could disprove the flat earth using just your cell phone. I did it the other night. I woke up at 6 a.m. and I took a picture of the moon on the horizon and I zoomed in on the moon. You know, you could see you could see the Sea of Tranquility on the upper third of the moon, which, by the way, is where we landed on the moon. That's another really stupid conspiracy, but we're not going to talk about that right now. OK, it's on the upper third of the moon. Then in the evening, the moon obviously is on the other side of the sky. And I took a picture of that zoomed in. And you know what you saw? The Sea of Tranquility was on the bottom third of the moon. You want to know why? Because the earth is spinning because we live on a globe. You can literally just prove this so easily in so many different ways. But because people are so stupid today and they're just glued to their phones, they believe all these weird fables. But look, I've been charged not to give heed to any of those fables. I don't want people to feel comfortable bringing stupidity to people in this church because it makes Christianity look bad. It really does. And let me just let me just say this real quick. I think it's it's a sad thing to see how we went from in the 1960s being a nation that had the brains and the guts and the determination to put a man on the moon to here we are in 2024, where many people don't even believe it happened. That is a reflection of the decay of our nation, going from the ability to do it to people not even thinking it happened. Wow, that is sad to me. And I'm gonna be honest, it makes Christians look really stupid when they believe that. No fables. Go to Colossians chapter three, Colossians chapter three. Now, here's what it's going to take, though. Here's what it's going to take to have unity in a church over a long term period. Because here's the thing. I get mean sometimes from behind the pulpit. What I don't want you to misunderstand is that the way that preachers preach is not how you should interact with people in your daily life. OK, look, and I've done this to people. If someone does bring me these weird things, I'm kind to them. I show them the truth. I give them a chance. OK, so don't don't be Pastor Dylan five seconds ago to everyone that you meet in life. OK, because look at what Colossians three, verse 13 says, says forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man of a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. A Christ forgave us for a lot. Christ has forgiven me for a lot. I've believed stupid things in the past. I've done stupid things in the past. And so we should be long suffering and forbearing to our brothers in Christ, thinking about the fact that, hey, Christ forgave me. Let's forgive our brothers in Christ for 14 and above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you're called in one body and be ye thankful. Go to Second Timothy to Second Timothy to what is it going to take to get along with your brothers and sisters in Christ? It's going to take loving God. First of all, the more you love God, the more that you're going to love your brothers in Christ. The more you love God, the more you're going to be filled with the spirit, the more that you're going to demonstrate the fruits of the spirit. The more you love God, the more gracious, forgiving, long suffering, charitable you will be to your brothers and sisters in Christ. People that can't get along with their siblings. It's because they're carnal, because they're not loving God. Second Timothy to verse 22. Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, which them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strife and the servant of the Lord must not strive. But notice, be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. Patience is something that we need with our spiritual church family. Patience realizing that, hey, the new Christian that comes to church is not going to be on the same level as you. The new Christian that's never read their Bible cover to cover is not going to understand everything in the Bible. Obviously, they're not going to know how to act properly in church. They're not going to know how to go soul winning really effectively. They're not going to know things that you just shouldn't say in church. Right. These are things that you just have to be patient with other people. Be long suffering with them. Lastly, go to First Timothy one. First Timothy one. And we'll also go to John 13 is the last two places we go. First Timothy one and John 13. First Timothy one, verse five is a very important verse with this idea. It says this. Now, the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and a faith on fame. You know what the end goal of this book should be? What is the end result of reading this book and actually applying it? What is the end result of the commandment? It's charity. It's love in your heart. That's not fame. That's not fake. When you actually read the Bible, when you actually internalize the things that we've talked about today, when you actually apply it to your life, you know what you're going to have? You're going to have charity for your brothers in Christ. You're going to have patience. You're going to have long suffering. And it's not going to be feigned. Let's end where we started. Verse 34 of John 13, verse 34 of John chapter 13. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this truth in your word. I pray that we would be a church that strives to love you as much as possible and to also love our brothers and sisters in this room as much as possible, our family members, other Christians in this community, other churches across the world, and really just every Christian across this globe. I just pray that we would have a real, true love for those people. Help us to walk in the Spirit so that we can demonstrate our love for others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. With that, we'll go ahead and sing one last song in conclusion. If you would, grab a hymnal and turn to hymn number 433. Away in a manger, hymn number 433. Hymn number 433. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the sky looked down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. The little Lord Jesus looked not in debate. The lovely Lord Jesus looked down from the sky and stayed by my cradle till morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay. Close by me forever and lovely I pray. Bless all the dear children in thy tender care. And take us to heaven to live with thee there. Hey, real quick, as a reminder, if your children are participating in the choir, we are going to have that practice right now.