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Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all. He chose in seed of Israel's grace, he ransomed from the fall. Hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all. Hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball. To him all majesty has run, and crown him Lord of all. To him all majesty has run, and crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder's sacred rock, he at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song, and crown him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song, and crown him Lord of all. O that with yonder's sacred rock, he at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song, and crown him Lord of all. All right, Acts chapter 16. And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. Now when they had gone through Fergia, and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas, and a vision appeared of the fall and the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, a surely gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samoth-Tharussia, and the next day to Neopolis. And from thence to Philippi, which is the city, the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. And we were in that city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord had opened. And she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, if ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with the spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soosaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned, and said to the spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates ran off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his strayed way. And when he had brought them into his house, he sat meet before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this, saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go, now therefore depart and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out. And the sergeants told these words unto the magistrates, and they feared when they heard that they were Romans. And they came, and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father and Lord, we're so thankful to have a search, Lord. To have your word, and Lord, just to be able to preach it unhindered. And we pray, Lord, at this time, you build further halls with your spirit, Lord. Help them to say the words you have them to say. Help us, Lord, to gather truth from and apply it to our lives. Amen. All right, well we're in Acts chapter 16. Let's start reading in verse number 3. It says, Him would Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him because of the Jews, which were in those quarters. For they knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. One thing I want you to notice about this passage right off the bat is how it talks about churches, plural. Because Paul was going throughout cities where there was churches, plural. And this morning I want to talk to you about one of our most fundamental beliefs as a church. And that is the independent church model. The independent church model. If you take one of our invites, that hopefully you're handing out to people out soul winning. If you notice right at the very top, it kind of describes who we are. KJV only, and the second thing it says is what? Independent. What does that mean? What is that about for our church? We're going to talk about that this morning. Number 1, I want you to go to Hebrews chapter number 2. Number 1, I want you to understand that God established independent churches. God established independent churches. God did not just establish one universal church. Because today the Catholic church claims that there's only one church on this earth, and that is the Holy Roman Catholic Church. And the word Catholic simply just means universal. So their view is that there's one church on this earth, and they have individual little parishes. But those parishes, they're not independent in the sense that their clergy are given what to preach, are given what to say by their headquarters, by their diocese. You know, just right across the street here is like the Oklahoma Catholic Diocese headquarters or whatever. And basically all the little Catholic parishes around OKC are taking orders from that institution. They're not independent churches. They believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. But I'm going to show you from the Bible that God instituted church es, plural, their own unique institutions. Now, the Bible uses the word church es 36 times. I have a hard time believing that there's one church when the Bible 36 different times says the word church es, plural. OK. Now, you're in Hebrews 2. Let me read for you Psalm 22, verse 22. It says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. So in the Old Testament, the Bible uses this word congregation. Hebrews 2 is going to quote this verse that we just read in Psalm 22 and notice how it translates it. Hebrews 2, verse 11 for both he that sanctify it and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause. He is not ashamed to call them brethren saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the notice church. Will I sing praise unto thee? So here, if you let the Bible define itself, you understand what a church is, according to the scripture. According to the scripture, one of the aspects of what a church is, is that it is a congregation. Why? Because in the Old Testament said in the midst of the congregation, will I sing praise to thee? In the New Testament says in the midst of the church. And so a church is not a building. A church is not some headquarters. A church is a congregation of believers. We here in Oklahoma City today, we're at Steadfast Baptist Church. This is its own church. You know, people out soul winning say, oh, we're in church right now. No, this is church right here when we're congregated together with believers. And here's the thing. The word church is kind of neutral. It could be a good church. It could be a bad church. There's people that congregate around a false gospel. It's like, hey, the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church. Those are false churches. But a church is just simply a congregation. All right. Now, one of the other characteristics of a biblical church is that it's in a specific local community. I'll show you that in First Thessalonians chapter two. Go to First Thessalonians chapter number two. Let's just look at some Bible this morning. First Thessalonians 213 says, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God, which he heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became followers, notice, of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye have also suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. So notice a church is a congregation in a specific area. You know, I'm sorry to tell you, but if you listen to sermons online, you are not a part of a church. Right. And here's the thing. I'm not necessarily faulting people. Some people live in other countries where there's not good churches. But look, if you live in a different country and you listen to the preaching of Steadfast Baptist Church, you listen to Pastor Shelley, that does not make you a member of Steadfast Baptist Church. It makes you a listener. God bless you. I'm glad that we have the technology today where we can get the word of God out to more people. But unless you are physically assembled in the building with us, you know, wherever we are meeting, then you're not a member of that church. There's churches. These churches were where? In Judea. You know, there's a church today in Vancouver, Washington, Sure Foundation Baptist Church. There's a church in Boise, Idaho, Shield of Faith Baptist Church. There's a church in Texas, Steadfast Baptist Church. These are completely separate institutions. OK, we're not a part of any denomination. We do not have a similar headquarters where we get our rules and instructions from. These are independent churches in their own areas. Go to Second Thessalonians one flip the page. Second Thessalonians, chapter number one, verse one. Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus, under the church of the Thessalonians in God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So notice he's writing to the church where it's located in Thessalonica and all throughout the New Testament. Paul's writing to the church at Rome, the church in Galatia, the church at Ephesus, you know, the church at Philippi. These are all individual churches. OK, so this Roman Catholic idea that there's one, you know, universal church is disproven by usually verse one of every pistol in the entire New Testament, because usually verse one is saying like, hey, my name's Paul, I'm a servant of God and I'm writing to you guys at this church. OK, so it's not a Catholic church. Go to Revelation, chapter number one. And this idea of the Catholic church or the universal church, unfortunately, it's actually crept into a lot of people's minds who aren't even Catholic. For example, is anyone familiar with the college GCU Grand Canyon University? OK, it touts itself as a Christian college. It does not tout itself as a Catholic college. But at least as of a few years ago, when I was in high school, I was thinking about going there. And in order to be admitted into that college, you had to sign a statement of faith. And one of the things that it said in their statement of faith is that we believe in the Catholic church. And they're not they're not even necessarily meaning like, you know, robes and Latin. They're just saying like a universal church and outsole when you run into this attitude sometimes where they just think like, oh, we're all the Church of God, we're all part of, you know, this nebulous universal church. But that's just not true according to the scripture. All right. Look at Revelation one, verse 11. This one really, really destroys this doctrine, saying, I'm Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest right in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea. Sounds like Jesus understands that there's multiple churches, right? Now, of course, there's verses in the Bible that talks about the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, the Church of God, where we're talking about saved people in general. But that does not negate the fact that there are independent churches in the Bible and that there should be independent churches today. Go to First Corinthians, chapter number 14. First Corinthians, chapter number 14. Now, you're going to have a big problem with some verses in the Bible. If you believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Universal Church, you believe that there's a universal church. This is a serious problem for you. What I'm about to read. First Corinthians 14, verse 33. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. There's that word again. Notice verse 34. Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also sayeth the law. According to the Bible, women are not supposed to be speaking in church during the church service. Why? Because God has ordained men to be pastors, men to be deacons, men to be evangelists, men to run the church. God specifically prohibits women from preaching behind the pulpit. Now, that does not mean that women are lesser than men or that we should degrade women, or even that women can't preach at all because women can go preach the gospel anytime they want. Women can go door to door and be soul winners, and we want our women in this church to be like that. But what we don't want is a woman leading the church. What we don't want is a woman standing behind the pulpit and preaching sermons this morning. That would be against scripture. That would be completely inappropriate. And here's the thing. The Bible says that it is not permitted for women to speak in the church. Now, if you have this idea that, oh, we're just always in church, man. We're in church right now. You go out soul winning. Hey, do you go to church anywhere? I'm in church right now. It's like, well, all your women better be quiet then. Women are never allowed to speak if you believe in the Holy Roman Catholic Church. If we're just always in church and church isn't an assembly of believers, no, we're just always in church right now, man. When I go on a walk through the woods and I'm connected with God, man, I'm in church right now. Okay, well then, according to the Bible, women would never be able to talk. How silly is that? What actually makes sense is that there's an independent organization that's led by a man, that's led by a pastor, and when the church services are going on, that women are silent. This is why, by the way, it's inappropriate for women to yell, amen, in a church service. Because, according to the Bible, women should keep silence during the church. That doesn't mean we don't like women. That doesn't mean that we're degrading women. We love women, but it's just what the Bible says. I didn't write it. It's just what the Bible says. Look at verse 35. And if they, referring to women, if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is a shame for women to speak in the church. So notice, I know this is really difficult. Home, church. These are two separate institutions, okay? When you're at home, you are not gathered together with believers, you are at home. And it's okay to talk. In fact, the Bible says, if you want to ask a Bible question, you know, if you're hearing preaching and you don't understand something, you shouldn't, like, interrupt the service and be like, hey, preacher, what do you mean about this? You should just be quiet. You should go home and ask your husband. But not speak in the church. Why? Because that would be a shame. And I'm not going to ever allow a woman to ask a question during the preaching, or speak up during the service, because the Bible says that that is a shame. Go to Matthew, chapter number 23. Matthew, chapter number 23. Excuse me. What is a biblical church? The biblical church is a congregation or an assembly of believers in a local area with the mission of fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. That's what a church is. It's a real institution. It has real authority from Jesus Christ. We have a real mandate from God. We have real leadership. That's what a church is. But here's what's not a church. You're not a biblical church just because you have some big building, just because you have nice facilities, just because you have millions of dollars. That does not make you a legitimate biblical church. Look at Matthew 23, verse 27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. You know, something can look really beautiful and just magnificent and gorgeous from the outside, but on the inside be corrupt, be full of dead men's bones, be full of false gospels, be full of false prophets. And, you know, a good example of this is the Catholic Church, because when you go to Catholic, you know, buildings, they're usually very beautiful. And when I was in Pforzheim, Germany, and I told you guys that story about how that Catholic Church survived the bombing in World War II, the building was beautiful, absolutely. From the outward, it appeared beautiful unto men. But you know what that place within is full of? Dead men's bones. It's full of a bunch of pedophile priests, molesting little boys. It's full of a bunch of people that hate the concept of the common man having the Word of God. They're against that. They want only the clergy to have the Bible, and people still have this attitude today. This week I made a video about William Tyndale, and about how in 1408 there was a synod of Oxford that made this law in England, which prohibited unauthorized translations of the Bible into English, because the Catholic Church did not want the common man to have access to the Word of God. The Catholic Church, because it's a cult that follows a man called the Pope, wants to keep the Bible from people because the Bible debunks every Catholic doctrine. So they made this law saying, hey, the common man isn't allowed to have the Word of God. William Tyndale, his desire for his life was to get the Word of God in English to every single person, so that they themselves can know truth. And he even told a Catholic priest, he said, If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow, shall know more of the scripture than thou dost. And you know what he did? He went on the run illegally against the Catholic Church's law to translate the Word of God into English. The Catholic Church condemned him. They had a trial where they condemned him of believing salvation by faith alone and by breaking the law of the Catholic Church by translating the Bible into English. And you know what they did? They burned him alive at the stake. And when he was being burned alive, William Tyndale's last words were, Lord, open the king of England's eyes. And you know what happened less than 100 years after William Tyndale died? King James commissioned the translation of the King James Bible that we have today, that we're reading this morning. And you know what? That to me is just amazing. And it doesn't matter how beautiful your building is, Catholic Church. It doesn't matter how magnificent your facilities are. Your religion is wicked as hell. Your religion is the vicar of Satan. Catholicism is Satanism. They're not our brothers in Christ. They hate the Bible. They hate salvation by Jesus Christ. It is a false religion. And when I made this video, there's all these Catholics being like, Oh yeah, common Protestant L with not understanding how to use the word of God. And it's like, I like that you're posting that because it just shows that today the Catholic Church has the same attitude where they're so high and mighty and only they could have the scripture and they would never want a common man like me and you to have the Bible. I'm thankful that God instituted independent churches. That there's not just the holy, which is really unholy, Roman Catholic whore as our option for church. Go to Ephesians chapter number 5, Ephesians chapter number 5. Now, I've proven from the Bible that churches are local, independent congregations. What about leadership? Where does leadership come into play with an independent church? Look at Ephesians 5 verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, notice, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body, therefore as the church is subject unto Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. So according to the Bible, who is the head of a church? Who is in charge of a church? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn't matter what church in the world we're talking about. Jesus is the head of every single church. Not like the Catholics, where the pope is the head of their church. And under that they've got their cardinals, and under that they've got their bishops and their archbishops and whatever. No, according to the Bible, who is the head of the church? The Lord Jesus Christ. He has all power, all authority. Stay there, I'll read for you Colossians 2, 10, it says, And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. So Jesus Christ, he's the head of every power. He's the one that instituted power. You know who's in charge of government? Jesus. You know who's in charge of the husband? Jesus. You know who's in charge of the pastor? Jesus. Jesus is the head of all principality, all power. Now, here's the thing, Jesus is not here physically speaking this morning to lead our church, right? So how is it that Jesus Christ can be the head of a church today? Well, the Bible teaches that Jesus is the word of God. So here's how Jesus is the head of our church today, is when we read the pure, unadulterated, preserved words of God, we believe it, and we submit ourselves to what the Bible says, that is how Jesus is the head of our church. And let me tell you something, Jesus is the head of Steadfast Baptist Church. Not any man, not any pastor, not any preacher, not any staff guy. Jesus is in charge of this church. Now, that doesn't mean that there's not human authority. That doesn't mean that there's not human leadership, because here's the thing, we have the word of God here, we have the Lord Jesus Christ, we have his words, but we need a man to preach it, right? It's not going to preach itself. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians 4 verse 7. But unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers. So notice, one of the things that the Bible says God gives as a gift to us, is apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists. God has ordained human leadership, and you shouldn't get this weird idea that we shouldn't follow any man at all whatsoever. No, it's good to have human leadership. It's good to have a pastor. It's good to have a preacher. It's good to have a leader. Why though? Look at verse 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. That is what a leader's role is within the ministry, is to edify the believers, is to perfect the saints, is to lead the work of the ministry of Jesus Christ. That's what serving in the ministry is about. It's about the ministry. It's about God's work. It's not about lifting up ourselves, or gathering a following unto ourselves, or anything like that. What it is, is being a minister means being a servant, and you're supposed to be using your time, effort, and energy to serve God's people to enhance what? The kingdom of God. That's what it's about. Look at Titus chapter number 1. Now, this church right here, this assembly of believers in Oklahoma City, right now, we are not a fully independent church yet. Right now, we are a satellite ministry, which a satellite ministry is something that's biblical. It is something that's found in the Bible, but it's something that's not ideal for a long term, and something that you would want, eventually, to become its own independent church with its own pastor. That's God's will for every church. I'll show you that in Titus 1. Verse 4, To Titus, mine own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and notice, ordain elders, plural, in every city, as I had appointed thee. So notice, Paul is sending Titus to Crete, to all these different cities, because there was something that was lacking in these churches. He says, hey, I want you to go set in order the things that are lacking. Well, what's lacking? He says, ordaining elders in every city, as I had appointed you. So they had all these local congregations, believers, saved Christians, they're going out preaching the gospel, they're having church services, but they lack a pastor. Something's lacking. And when a church doesn't have a pastor, it is lacking something, right? But the goal is that Paul would go send Titus to go ordain elders in every city. And so that's the goal of our church, is that someday Pastor Shelley would ordain a different person to be the pastor, to lead this local assembly. And Lord willing, someday this church can start another church somewhere else. It could maybe be a satellite ministry. There could be a man leading there. Someday maybe that could be its own independent church. That's the biblical model. That's something that the Bible definitely endorses. And then it gives here the qualifications of a bishop. It says, if any, be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly, 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, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Notice, human leadership is very important. Why? Because a church is lacking something when it doesn't have a pastor. When it gets the pastor, what is it gaining? It's gaining a man that is going to be holding fast the faithful word, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. That's something that's needed. You need a human leader that's qualified, that's read the Bible scores of times, that is doing things right, that loves the Lord, that is ready to hold fast the faithful word and to preach that faithful word. You know, God willing, every single person would meet the qualifications of a bishop found in the Bible, but let me just tell you, it's actually a very rare thing. It's a rare thing to find a man that can meet these qualifications. Would to God there'd be more people that would do it, but pastors are something that's hard to come by today, but we need pastors, we need local leadership. Why? So that we could have more men holding fast the faithful word. And again, what is it about? It's about the work of the ministry. What is it about? It's about holding fast the faithful word. It's not about the person. It's not about the human leader. It's about the fact that Jesus Christ is our head and we're striving to serve him. We're striving to please him. So it's the pastor's job to hold fast the faithful word. It's not some council of elders job to write a sermon and tell a pastor what he's going to preach. It's not some headquarters down the street saying, okay, all these churches, you need to preach this way, you need to teach things this way. No, it's the pastor's job to walk with the Lord, to read the Bible, to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, and for God to give him the message that he's supposed to preach. You know, when it comes to the position of being a pastor, his only boss is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's whose boss the pastor is. It should be no organization, no other elders, no group of deacons, no board of women in the church. It's the pastor that's in charge. Go to 1 Timothy 5, 1 Timothy 5. Let me show you that in the Bible. And let me just explain something to you. A pastor is in charge of his church, of his local group of assembly of believers. A pastor is not in charge of any other church. His authority starts and ends with his own congregation. 1 Timothy 5, 17 says this, Notice that elders are supposed to rule well. What is ruling? That's having authority. That's leading. That's making rules. That's making decisions. That's being the boss. The Bible says, let the elders that rule well. Now here's the thing. We have one elder at our church, Pastor Shelley. He is in charge of our church. He's the one that makes the decisions. He's the one that calls the shots. No other pastor. No other pastor can call us up and say, Hey, brother Dylan, I want you to change this and this about the service. There's only one person that could do that. That's pastor Shelley. Why? Because pastors are in charge of their own congregation. Why? Because we are independent churches, independent churches. Go to Hebrews 13, Hebrews chapter 13. What should be the response as just members of the church to human leadership? Look at Hebrews 13, 17. It says, obey them that have the rule over you. Now we just learned who is it that's to rule the elders. The Bible says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account, that they do it with joy and not with grief. That is unprofitable for you. Within the context of the house of God, according to God himself, you must obey your spiritual leadership. You must submit yourselves to what they say. And you say, well, I have a big problem with that. I don't like my spiritual leadership. I don't like my pastor. Then go to a pastor that you like. Go to a church that you like. Go to a man of God where you could actually follow the words of God. Because let me tell you something. If you rebel against your pastor, if you don't submit against your pastor, you're in sin. You're not right with God. So if you want to find another church, you want to go find a pastor that you do like, please do that because it's very weird, it's very strange to be going to a church where you secretly hate the pastor, where you secretly hate the leadership, and you're just discontent with that, you know, murmuring against that, complaining, railing. That's garbage. The Bible says to submit to them, to obey them, so wherever you are in this world, you need to fulfill this verse. Go find a pastor that you can obey. Go find a pastor that you can submit to. Don't go to a church where you secretly hate the pastor. Number one, God instituted independent churches. Number two, just because we're independent doesn't mean we can't have other church friends. Just because we're an independent church doesn't mean that we couldn't or shouldn't be friends with other independent churches, right? Go to 2 Corinthians 8. You don't want to have this weird attitude where you're so independent that the only church in the world that's doing anything right, that's doing anything good for God, is Steadfast Baptist Church. That's simply not true. There's lots of other great churches out there, and churches even in the New Testament, independent bodies, worked with each other, assisted each other, blessed each other, you know, took counsel together. I'll show you that right here in 2 Corinthians 8. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God, bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear a record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. So notice, these were independent churches, yet there's a church at Macedonia who's giving financially to this church at Corinth. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, I worked for Pastor Shelley for four years, and several, several times I saw him give money to another church to bless that church. And there was times where other churches blessed our church, and that's a good thing. It's a good thing to have friends. It's a good thing to depend upon one another. You know, we wouldn't even have, in Cedar Hill, we wouldn't even have that church building if it wasn't for the blessing and generosity of Verity Baptist Church. And if it wasn't for Pastor Jimenez being willing to financially help Steadfast Baptist Church when they were in a time of need by donating and allowing Pastor Shelley to get a building. And vice versa, like I said, there's been plenty of times where I've seen Pastor Shelley bless another ministry, and hey, that's a good thing. You know, it's good to have two or three, it's good to have lots of friends to help each other when we fall, to bolster each other, to cause us to be stronger. Go to Romans 16. Romans 16 says in verse 1, I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cintria. So notice, we're talking to the Romans here, but he says, I want you to receive this person Phoebe who's a servant of a different church, that ye receive her in the Lord, has become a saint, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you, for she hath been a suckerer of many and of myself also. You know, it's great that we could have friendship with other like-minded churches where you go and visit those churches, and it just feels like family right away. I mean, I have found that to be true. I visited a lot of churches in the new IFB, and every time I do, it just feels like I'm around family. Why? Because we have the same core beliefs. We're like-minded. We're unified. We're excited about soul winning. We're excited about the Word of God. We're excited about reaching the culture with Christianity, and so when you're around those people, even if they're a part of a different church, what do you want to do? You want to receive that person, and people come and visit our church from different churches, and we should receive those people. We should, you know, put out the right hand of fellowship and be excited to see those people, be kind to those people, be hospitable to those people. Why? Because just because we're independent doesn't mean we can't have friends, and it's kind of a red flag when a church just doesn't want to be friends with anyone. They're too good for anyone. They're so independent that they're independent from other independent fundamental Baptists, and it's like that's weird to me. You know, I'm willing to be friends with other Christians that are Baptists, that believe salvation is by faith, that have the King James Bible, that are at least friendly towards soul winning. I want to be their friend, you know, and even people that are old IFB, that disagree with me on Zionism, that disagree with me on the Pre-Trib Rapture. You know, if they have those other things I talk about, I want to be those people's friends. They may not want to be our friend, as is often the case, but we should be people, as Christians, we should be people that are constantly extending out the hand to other Christians, wanting to be gracious, wanting to be charitable, wanting to love on other Christians, and not just have an us for, no more, and exclude everyone that's not exactly like us. Not excluding people that don't believe every single opinion that we hold. Not getting on Facebook and being like, if another church has a different opinion on anything in the 31,000 verses in the Bible, you need to cut fellowship with me immediately. It's like, I don't think that's appropriate. I think we could be friends with other like-minded churches. Go to Acts 11, Acts chapter 11. Acts 11 verse 22. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as to Antioch, who when he came and had seen the grace of God was glad and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. When he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first to Antioch. So notice Barnabas is being sent from Jerusalem to go to Antioch to go preach there. Paul comes as well, he grabs him, and they assemble with themselves together at Antioch for a whole year. You know, what is this? This is cooperation with other churches. And I think it's fun, I think it's exciting when we have guest preachers from other pastors. I think it's really fun and exciting when I've gotten to preach at other churches before, when other preacher friends of mine have gone and preached at other places. That's great. I think it's great to use men of God to go bless other churches, to go encourage other churches. That's something that's great, that's something that I hope to continue to do, is to still have friends, is to still invite people to preach, to still preach for other people if they would want me to. Why? Because that's something you even see in the Bible. Friends, you know, communicating with each other, churches helping each other out. And over the years, you know, the group of friends that we're associated with, often referred to as the New IFB, we've gotten to do a lot of great things for God because of friendships with other churches, where things we wouldn't have necessarily been able to do just on our own power. You know, God has multiplied our efforts through more Christians and more churches. You know, think about this. The Red Hot Preaching Conference is like the most awesome conference ever. I mean, it's fantastic. It's been going on for almost 10 years. And I met my wife at the Red Hot Preaching Conference. You know, I'm married today because I met Jasmine at the Red Hot Preaching Conference. There's many other people that got married because of that. There's been great sermons that have been preached from the Word of God that have caused people to change their lives forever, that have caused people to move to great churches. There's people that are pastors right now as a result of coming to the Red Hot Preaching Conference and deciding to, you know, get on fire for God. And look, that's a great work for the Lord that's been done. But it wasn't just done by one man. It wasn't just done by one church. It was done by a lot of people participating in that. A lot of pastors from all over America participating in that and blessing other people. And, of course, Pastor Amen has definitely, you know, has carried the largest load on that. But it wasn't even just him. It was lots of other preachers. That's a great thing. You know, the King James Bible Conference in Vancouver, Washington. That was an awesome conference. People learned about the Word of God there. People learned about the King James Bible. You know, that was a great work for God that was done. But it wasn't just one person preaching sermons. It was lots of people from different churches. Think about all the soul-winning marathons. Think about all the missions trips that have been done through a conglomerate of multiple churches. You know, even us, we've done soul-winning marathons, for example, in Shreveport, Louisiana, where steadfast has teamed up with an old IFB church to go preach the gospel in Shreveport. And they've gotten tons of people saved there. It's a very receptive place. But you know what? That wasn't done just by that old IFB church. It wasn't done just by Steadfast Baptist Church. It was done through a team effort. The Bahamas missions trip, again, Steadfast definitely carried the biggest load on that, but there were soul-winners from all over America that came and helped us get a huge harvest for Jesus Christ. You know, even back in the day, when we had a broader group of friends, there was like the Massa Conference, a Make American Straight Again Conference. And let me tell you, we need more conferences like that in America right now. We need the Word of God to renew our minds right now and that's not going to take it just with one church. That's going to take a lot of people. That's going to take effort from a lot of different people. You know, Mexico, the Mexican missions trip, lots of different people involved. The African missions trip, lots of churches involved. Germany, the soul-winning group that they have there in Germany. Preachers from all over America have gone there. It's not just a one-man show. What I'm saying is God wants us to have friends because we can do more for Him with more people, more soul winners, more resources. We can do a bigger work for God with friends that we can by ourselves. And so we shouldn't shy away from having friends. We shouldn't think, well, we're not exactly in lockstep on everything so we can't be someone's friend. We should try to be friends as much as possible with as many people as possible. Obviously, we have lines. Obviously, I'm not going to be friends with someone that believes you have to repent of your sins to be saved. Obviously, I'm not going to be friends with someone that uses the NIV. Not going to be friends with a Catholic. Not going to be friends with, you know, there's a lot of different lines. But as much as we can, we should reach out and try to be friends with people and not be us for no more. Number two, it's good to have friends with other churches. Number three, it's okay to disagree with friend churches. Did you know that? Do you know that it's okay to be friends with a church and disagree with certain things going on? Go to 1 Timothy, chapter number five. You know, for me, it's not okay to disagree on salvation. We have to agree on that. We have to agree on the King James Bible. We have to agree on being Baptist, okay? But there's other things that a church could say or do or policies that they have or ministries that they have or Facebook posts that they make or decisions that pastors make or things, secondary interpretations of scriptures where it's okay to disagree with them and not just trash them and not just cut them off from your life and not just say they're wicked, they're not serving God because they don't agree with me on Hebrews, chapter six. That's ridiculous. That's a carnal attitude. You know, it's okay if I preach something and I hear a different preacher interpret a passage a different way. Do you know that it doesn't hurt my feelings whatsoever? And there's people out there where they'll preach something and they'll hear a different preacher say it and it kind of offends them, it kind of riles them up. I don't care. I really don't. You know why? Because I think it is every preacher's right and especially every pastor's right to preach what they think the word of God is saying. And even if I disagree, I'm happy that a man of God is getting up and preaching what he thinks the Bible is saying. And even if I disagree with his interpretation, I'm happy that he's doing that. And I'm not going to take it personally, okay? You don't need to take things so personally. But let me show you what's not okay. And what is a very bad attitude, 1 Timothy 5, verse 1, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger man as brethren. You know, what's not okay is to see a different pastor or to see a different preacher have a different opinion on something than you. That's not clear. We're not talking about salvation. We're not talking about a clear doctrinal issue. They just have a different opinion about a situation. And you just say like, this pastor's trash. See you later. This guy sucks. This guy's carnal. This guy's on the wrong side. This guy's not on the side of God. You know what? You're wicked if you do that. The Bible says to not rebuke an elder. And it's absolutely carnal. And it shows you what a weak and spiritually immature person you are when someone has a different opinion than you and you want to go trash a pastor, I hope no one in here ever does that. That is ridiculous. And I may even disagree with what that pastor's saying. There's even pastors that I just personally don't really like that much in this world. But even if they're not associated with us, if I know that they're saved, if I know that they're preaching the Bible, I am not going to rebuke a pastor. I am not going to rebuke an elder. And let me tell you what. I just think it is completely ridiculous when people on any side of an issue, one person says, this pastor has a different view, so he's terrible. He's not on God's side. We should trash this guy. We should forget this guy. This guy's a nobody who cares about him. That's a terrible attitude. But you know what? That attitude should be reciprocated where if someone takes a stand as a preacher where if people don't agree with them that they don't necessarily cut everyone off too. Where it's like, hey, you have to agree with my opinion on this interpretation or you'll have no fellowship with me. I don't think that's appropriate. I don't think that's right. I think that us as Christians should try to get along with each other as much as humanly possible. And if something's not a clear divide in doctrine or something that's a primary issue, it does not make sense to separate over every disagreement. It does not make sense to tear other Christians down to call them names, to call them carnal for simply having a different opinion. That is shameful behavior. It's wicked behavior. You don't have to cut off everyone you disagree with. Go to Ephesians 4. You can have a sincerely held good faith opinion that's different than mine and me not think you're some sort of wicked, terrible person. Now, of course, there are people that you could tell they just hate pastors. They just want things to fail. They just want the new IFB to be destroyed. That's a different story, okay? But someone could still have a sincerely held good faith opinion and me not hate that person. I want nothing but good for preachers and pastors that are saved. I want nothing but success for their ministries. I want nothing more than for God to bless them. And you should have the same attitude. Look at Ephesians 4, too. With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You know, the world likes to call for unity, but when the world is calling for unity, it's for garbage reasons. You know, the world wants Jews and Muslims and Christians and atheists to all hold hands and agree on everything. That's not going to happen, right? Jesus Christ came to bring division and I want to divide from Muslims. I want to divide from Jews. I want to divide from baby murdering Democrats. I don't want unity with those people whatsoever. I want unity with Sodomites. You know, the Bible says to freaking knock their houses down, raise their houses down. But you know what I do want unity with? I want unity with God's people. I want unity with other Christians. I want unity with other churches where even if we don't agree on every single issue, we should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. You know what it means to endeavor? It means to try, to work at really hard. You know what that means? It means you don't have this attitude where it's like, yeah, I don't really care if all my brothers and sisters in Christ cut ties with me. Yeah, I could just trash a brother of Christ in Christ at any time. No worries. No skin off my back to cut from someone that's saved. No, the Bible says we should endeavor to keep the unity, meaning we should try our hardest, meaning it should be hard for a brother to separate from another brother. It needs to be severe. It needs to be like, hey, half the church is denying the Trinity. Bye. That's the division we need, right? Not like, hey, half the church has a different opinion on another ministry that has nothing to do with us of another pastor who's not our pastor. So what? I've got no problems with you. I love my brothers in Christ. I love people that have different opinions. I'm not willing to just destroy the unity of the Spirit for something that doesn't concern me. Go to Proverbs, chapter number 19. Proverbs 19, verse 11. The discretion... I'll let you get there. I'm jumping the gun here. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 11. The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. You know, sometimes you're going to hear something and say, well, I wouldn't have said it that way. I don't like how this person explained this. I don't like this decision this church made. I don't like this ministry they have. I don't like this doctrine that they preach. But you know what? What a wise person does, someone who has discretion does? They pass over transgressions as much as possible. You know what the best thing to do? You know what the best thing to do? The vast majority of time in life when you disagree with something, you know what the best thing to do is? Is just to keep your mouth shut. And look, I've been in church for over 10 years. And especially when I was going to the old IFB, I would hear stuff preached all the time that I disagreed with. All the time where I'm thinking like, that's not what the Bible said. And you know, I never, ever, ever once went up to the pastor and rebuked him. You know, I never once nitpicked every single thing that came out of his mouth and there's some people that love to do this. They love to come to church not to learn. They love to come to church because they think they're the expert. They think they should be in charge. And every time something's preached, they want to pull the preacher aside and just be like, here's the list of 30 things you said wrong today. It's like, you know what? You should just pass over transgression the majority of the times. And I'm not saying you can't go to your pastor or your preacher and voice concerns. I think you should do that. But you know what? You should do that with a temperate attitude and a moderated spirit. That shouldn't just be your default. Every service, you've got to correct something. Oh, I saw a post online I disagreed with. I just have to comment, right? I mean, I have to message this person, rebuke them. I have to unfriend them. No, you could just shut up. You could just pass over transgression. You could actually have discretion. And not every fight is your fight. Go to Romans chapter number two. Actually, I'll read for you Romans 12. Go to Proverbs 17. Romans 12 18 says, if it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. You know, is that truly your attitude this morning? Are you truly as much as is in you trying to live peaceably with not just your brothers in Christ, but all men? Or are you just at a drop of a hat? I'm ready to burn my friends. I'm ready to burn other pastors. I'm ready to burn other churches. At the slightest thing, at the slightest disagreement, at the slightest transgression, I'm ready to just burn everyone if you don't agree with me a hundred percent. That's a bad attitude to have. No, as much as possible, you should try to live peacefully with all men. Proverbs 17 verse 17. A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. You know what a real friend is? A real friend is when my friend does something that I disagree with, says something that I disagree with, explains something that I disagree with, preaches something that I disagree with. But you know what? It's not a primary issue. You know what? We're not talking about salvation here. We're not talking about the King James Bible. We're not talking about something major. You know what a friend does? Loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. You know, when things get hard with your brothers and sisters in Christ, that you're not just ready to just nuke them all and cut them all out of your life, but that you're ready to still love them. And let me just implore you this morning, as there's a lot of division happening right now, as a lot of people are just blowing up friendships, and just cutting ties with other brothers and sisters in Christ, why don't you, why doesn't our church try to be the most loving church that there is? Why doesn't our church try to be the most gracious church that there is? Why doesn't our church try to be the best friend that we could possibly be? Loving at all times. Being a brother that's born for adversity. And letting, let people transgress against you. Let people say things about you that are wrong. Let people call you names. Let people accuse you of things that aren't true because their emotions are high, and they're not spiritual, they're immature. Let them do all those things and still love them. And don't just cut them off. And don't just end things with them. You know what? Be more spiritual. Grow up spiritually. Go to John 21. So, we just talked about how, hey, it's okay to disagree with other churches that are our friends. It's okay. That's okay to do. You don't have to agree with every single thing. But number four, our church should primarily focus on its own business. We should focus on our own business. Why? Why? Because we believe in the independent church model. God instituted independent churches. We don't want to be so independent that we can't have friends. Okay? We want friends. But you don't have to agree with everything your friends do. But primarily, at the end of the day, we should be focused on our own business. You should be focused on your own life. John 21. Verse 17. Simon, son of Jonas, loveth thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, loveth thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and woggest whither thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee, whither thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. When he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? So get the picture here. Jesus is asking Peter, hey, Peter, do you love me? He says, of course, Lord, you know that I love you. He says, feed my sheep. He asks him again, Peter, do you love me? Yes, of course, feed my lambs. Jesus asks him a third time, Peter, loveth thou me? He's like, grieve, and he's like, Lord, you know that I love you. He's thinking, why are you asking me so many times? Of course you know that I love you. Feed my lambs. What is he saying? Peter, you've got a job to do. You've got a mission to do. You've got a commission to fulfill from me. And what's Peter's attitude? He says, but Lord, what about this guy? What about John? What are you going to do with him? What's his business? What is his Facebook wall going to say tomorrow? What's his live stream tomorrow? What's going on, huh? What's going on, Jesus? Notice his response. Jesus saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that the disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Jesus basically said, without saying it, hey, mind your own business, Peter. I gave you work to do, Peter. I gave you a commission. I gave you a job to do. What is it to you what he does? And you know what the lesson from that is? Is that you should worry about yourself. I should worry about myself. You know what? I should worry about my family. You should worry about your family. Our church should worry about our church. And at the end of the day, you don't have to get wrapped up in every single controversy with every other church. Why? Because we're independent. You know what God is saying to us this morning at Steadfast Baptist Church? He's saying, hey, Steadfast Baptist Church, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. You know what he's saying to us today? Go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every creature. That's what God's saying to us today. That's what he told us to do. You know what? He told us to go worry about what John is doing, what other apostles are doing, okay? Yes, we can have friends. Yes, we're going to know about stuff. Yes, we care about our friends. But at the end of the day, we should primarily be focused on ourselves. Go to Joshua 24. Joshua 24, look at verse 15. And if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You know, you need to decide for yourself that you and your house are going to serve the Lord regardless of what other people are doing. And let me just explain something to you. If you stop serving God because you perceive that someone else is messed up, someone else isn't serving God anymore, you perceive that and you stop serving God, you know what you were doing? You were following a man. You know, if you were going to Steadfast Baptist Church and Donnie Romero got exposed and you stopped serving God because of that, let me explain something to you. You were following Donnie Romero. But here, who is the one that's in charge of our church again? Jesus. You know who you should be serving? Jesus. You know, I see these comments sometimes. Man, I started serving God because of this person. I started making all these changes in my life because of this person. And I'm just thinking, that's weird because I've never made a single change in my life because of a person. I've made changes in my life because of what a person was preaching that came from the Bible. But I've never made a change in my life because of a person. I never have served God because of a person. And let me just tell you something. If your foundation is on a man, you are on sinking sand, my friend. Because man will fail you. You need to make sure your foundation is Steadfast on the Word of God. You need to make sure that you have the anchor of your soul. Both sure and Steadfast. Because man is not. Man's not your anchor. Man's not Steadfast. Man is not a sure foundation. But Jesus Christ is. And Joshua, you know what? He said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He didn't say, as for me and my house, we will serve Moses. Now, you should follow Moses. You should love Moses. And when Joshua's in charge, you should love Joshua. You should follow Joshua as he's following the Lord. You shouldn't rebuke Joshua. You shouldn't rebuke Moses. You should esteem them highly in love for their work's sake. But you shouldn't, at the end of the day, be making changes in your life because of Joshua, because of Moses, because of Paul, because of Timothy, because of anyone. It should be because of God. Acts 17. Go to Acts 17. You know, you want to make sure that you're, you're not paying attention to other people's lives so much that you forget about your own mission. Because when you're minding other people's business, sometimes you forget about the mission that God gave you to do. You know, when you're Peter and you're so focused on John, you're not so focused on feeding the lambs anymore, are you? You're focused on John. You should focus on yourself. Acts 17, 21. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. You know what? This is many Christians' lives today. This is many Christians' life verse today. I feel like there's two verses that are many Christians' life verses. Proverbs, where it says, the simple believeth every word. That is the verse of our generation. I'm telling you, that is one of the most important verses in the Bible for this generation. Because this generation believes everything they hear. They don't know what evidence is. They don't know that two or three witnesses does not establish something as a fact, but it establishes grounds for an investigation. Okay? The simple believeth every word. This is another life verse for our generation. People that spend their time in nothing else, nothing else, nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. People that spend their lives on social media looking at every post, looking at every video, commenting on everything, messaging everyone, you're doing nothing with your life. You're not reading the Bible. You're not going soul winning. You're not being a blessing to your church. You're not being a present father. You're not being a present mother. You're not being good at the job. You're being someone that does nothing else but to say or to hear some new thing. You know what? You need to grow up. You need to get that attitude out of your heart, the attitude of the drama mamas that they want to spend their whole life just looking at drama. Why don't you worry about yourself? Why don't you spend some time with your children? Why don't you spend some time in the Bible? Why don't you spend some time out soul winning? Why don't you come to that third service every week? Why don't you volunteer for something in church? Why don't you learn a music instrument? Why don't you stop spending your life doing nothing else but telling and hearing some new thing? Let me tell you it's a carnal attitude. Go to 1 Timothy 5. 1 Timothy 5. 1 Timothy 5 verse 9. It says, Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man. Well reported of for good works, if she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers, if she had washed the saints' feet, if she had relieved the afflicted, if she had diligently followed every good work. So notice you're not supposed to give money to widows that are under 60 years old and if they meet the criteria of someone that the church can give money to as a widow, what have they had to have been doing? Well it's not just doing nothing else but telling and hearing some new thing. They actually were spending their life doing good works, bringing up children, lodging strangers, washing the saints' feet, relieving the afflicted, diligently following every good work. This woman is not on Facebook all day. This woman is serving God. This woman is serving others. But there's other women that are not like this. Let's talk about them. Verse 11. But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry, having damnation because they have cast off their first faith and withal they learn to be idle. What does that mean? Lazy. No. Lazy. Not working. Wandering about from house to house. And not only idle but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Notice these young women that the Bible are describing, they're not going around working. They're not going around doing anything from God. They're just kind of wandering around aimlessly from house to house, speaking things which they ought not, getting involved in every drama that they shouldn't be getting involved in. Look what it says when we keep reading. I will, therefore, that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. You know what? If you're one of these women that spend your life on Facebook, you spend your life on Instagram, you're one of these women that run your mouth on every controversy involving pastors, you're one of these women that rebuke an elder, you know what you're doing? You're giving occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. That's right. And you know what, you need to learn some discretion. You need to learn to get to work. You need to learn to take care of your kids and your home and your husband and read the word of God and do something other than running your mouth on social media all the time, because let me tell you, you're giving occasion to the enemies of God to speak reproachfully. Not only that, look what you're doing, verse 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan. That's what a woman is doing when they're blabbing their mouth on social media and getting involved with every controversy that doesn't involve them, you are turning aside after Satan. You know what the wise person does? The person with discretion does. They pass over a transgression. They are merciful. They're long-suffering. They're charitable. They're not getting involved with every single controversy. And let me tell you something, it's bad enough when men do this. It's terrible when a man rebukes an elder. It is so much more unseemly and gross and inappropriate when a woman does so. It's extremely inappropriate. 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11 says, and that ye study to be quiet and do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. You know, that should be the characterization of our life that we as Christians are people that just put our nose to the grindstone. We put our heads down and we just work for God. We're here to serve Him. We're here to go soul winning. We're here to hear preaching. We're here to grow in our lives and in our families. We're here to work. We're not here to go be busybodies in other men's matters. Go to Proverbs. Proverbs, chapter number 26. Proverbs 26, verse 17. You know, it is a very foolish thing to do to walk up to a dog that's not doing anything to you. Like, imagine, you know, we were out soul winning yesterday and there was all these pit bulls chained up at this one house. And I saw all those pit bulls chained up. You know what I did? I just went to the different house. I was like, these people have judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. I'm not walking past these pit bulls. I'm going to go talk to their neighbor, right? What if I was just like, oh, look at all these pit bulls. I just went and grabbed that sucker by the ear. You know what would happen? I would have no hand today. I would be looking very foolish if I did that because I wouldn't have a hand this morning. I'd be all tore up. I'd be all destroyed. Let me tell you, just as stupid as a person that walks up to a dog and does that is as stupid as someone that goes and gets involved with strife not belonging to them. You know, I grew up in the Northwest and is anyone familiar with the National Park Yellowstone in Montana and Wyoming? It's hilarious. You go to Yellowstone and there's all these Asians from other countries, okay? And it's just usually, that's just how it is. I'm just telling the truth here. They always walk up to bison and elk and it's kind of like the dummy that goes and grabs a dog by the ear. They're like, oh, look at this bison. Look at this elk. And like many of these people die every single year getting trampled by bison, getting gorged by elk. It's like these are wild animals, okay? Don't walk up to them. Don't grab them by the ear. Don't pet them. Okay, apply this to strife. This strife has nothing to do with you. It's not your place. It's not your problem. It's not your beast. Don't go grab it by the ear. Don't go mess with it because bad things are going to happen to you. Go to Proverbs 20. Flip the page backwards a few pages. Proverbs 20 verse 3. It is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. You know, the honorable thing to do is to desire for strife between brethren to be quelled, to be dying down, to be ceasing. Not someone that's just meddling in strife trying to stir it up, trying to divide brothers in Christ, trying to get people to get involved in something that's not their business. The honorable thing is to cease from strife. Last place we'll have you go is 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. But you know, let's focus on our church this morning. I think that our church has a bright future. I don't know about you. I'm excited about our church. Yeah, it's been kind of a rough week. A lot of people are down, but as for this church, I'm excited for the future of this church. I love this church. I'm excited about the opportunity to reach Oklahoma City with the gospel of Jesus Christ, to turn hearts to the Lord, to turn hearts of fathers to their children and children to their fathers, to help families, to edify the body of Christ, to get people baptized, to teach people how to become soul winners, to make content, to do soul-winning missions. There's so much that we can do. There's so many things that this church can accomplish. And guess what? We're an independent church, right? Pastor Shelley's our pastor right now. Yes, we're satellite ministry, but we're still part of Steadfast Baptist Church. And I'm excited for the future of this church. You know, let us focus on what God has called us to do. You don't have to quit serving God. You don't have to get upset because you disagree with something happening in another church with another pastor. Hey, let's put the I back in New IFB. We are an independent church. It's one of our fundamental doctrines. It's one of the things that us as New IFB Christians that we believe in. All of us believe in this, right? Being independent. Why? Because number one, God established independent churches in the Bible. Number two, it's great to have friend churches. We could do more for God by having friends. Number three, you don't have to agree with everything our friends do. That's fine. Why? Because we're independent. And number four, we should focus on our own lives, our own church. Our own works for God. First Corinthians 15, 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for our pastor. Thank you for the biblical model you've given us of being independent. I just pray that all of us would seek to love our brothers in Christ. We would seek to be long-suffering, forgiving, charitable. That we would be peacemakers. That we would not be quick to cut off other believers in Christ that are on your team, that are doing great works for you. I just pray that you would restore unity if it's been lost anywhere. I pray that you'd cause people to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. And I pray that you'd all give us grace during this time. We love you, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. One last hymn to conclude the service. If you would, grab a hymnal and turn to hymn number 49. Meet me there. Hymn number 49. Hymn number 49. We'll start that right on the first. On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more When the storms of life are o'er Meet me there Where the night dissolves away Into pure and perfect day I am going home to stay Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are o'er On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more Meet me there Here our fondest hopes are made Dearest links are written twain But it hath no problem pain Meet me there By the river sparkling bright In the city of Eli Where our faith is lost inside Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are o'er On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more Meet me there Where the hearts of angels ring And the blessed forever sing In the palace of the king Meet me there In sweet communion play Heart with heart and friend with friend In a world where there shall end Meet me there Meet me there Meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are o'er On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more Meet me there Good singing, with that you are dismissed