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🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 2.17 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 2.17 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 And for the next song, it's turned to hymn number 113, 1 1 3. Let's sing the song, Wonderful Peace. Hymn number 1 1 3. Let's sing the song, Wonderful Peace. 🎶🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 🎶🎶🎶 And for our Bible reading let us open Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 and we are going to read the verses 1 to 13. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 to 13. Please say amen when you're there. Amen. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the page wherewith you are called. With all holiness and meekness, with longsuffering forbidding one another love. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he has sinned up on high, he let captivity captive and give 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 teachers. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the defying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the state of the fullness of Christ. That's great. Thank your Father for your work. Thanks so much for the Bible and for all your wisdom that you are trying to teach us. We also ask you that you will open our hearts and ears to understand your message and that we can apply all the things. And really let us understand that message about unity today and also bless the preaching and anoint the preacher. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, we are here in Ephesians chapter 4 and the name of the sermon is The Alphabet of Bible Doctrines Unity. So I'm going to talk to you about the topic of unity here with the letter U. And so point number one is this, that we want to have unity in the local church. We strive and want to have unity inside of this local church. The Bible says in Ephesians 4 verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So the Bible speaks about endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now realize that this is the book of Ephesians. So this was written to the church of Ephesus. This is a local church, right? Obviously there's a lot of books in the Bible and there's a section that we call the church epistles because they're directly written to a local church. So he's not saying, hey, you know what, keep unity with the entire world. This is to a local church. And he's saying inside of the local church you want to have unity, right? And he says to endeavor, which means to really fervently strive to have unity. It's something that's very important inside the local church. He said, well, how do you do that, Brother Sucky? Well, verse 2 said with all lowliness and meekness. And what that's saying is that each of us individually, we don't have a puffed up, arrogant view of ourselves. We just realize, hey, I'm just another brother or sister in Christ. I'm just another member of this body of Christ, right? Which means that we're not better or worse than any members of the church. We all have a purpose. We're all part of this local body. And so the Bible uses the terminology with a church of being a body, okay? When it comes to a body and your individual body, isn't every single member of your body important? It's like, hey, Brother Sucky, you know what, what's more important to you, your ears or your eyes? Do I have to make a choice? It's like I wouldn't sell any of my body parts for a million dollars. It's like it's not worth it. Because every part is valuable. You have it for a reason. And there's some things that money cannot buy, right? Same thing in a local church. Now turn to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. Now this is point 1 in the sermon. And underneath this point 1, we have three letters. I want to mention to you three things that can break the unity of a local church. And two of those things are mentioned in this verse in 2 Peter 3, verse 18. And the Bible says, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. So there's two things mentioned in this verse that apply. And the first one is grace. The Bible says, Grow in grace. Grow in maturity. Grow in character. Obviously we are saved by grace through faith. It's not saying, well, you know, you've got to grow to be saved or something like that. No, but grace is a word that also is used with having like character and maturity. And what the Bible is saying is that, you know what, we've got to grow in these things. See, a person can get saved without having strong character. Right? A person can be saved with a lot of vices, with a lot of bad character, no respect, being lazy, because you're saved by believing on Jesus Christ. But when you get saved, it doesn't mean you automatically become a good person with strong character. Right? You can be a saved person with miserable character and miserable characteristics, and what you're going to do is live your life full of strife and fighting. The Bible tells us to grow in grace. Go to 1 Corinthians 3. Now, in my opinion, because both those things are important, we'll talk about knowledge here in a couple minutes, but grace and knowledge are very important. And these are things that can help you not lose the unity of a local church. But what I've said before, and I mean this, is more important to me with my kids when they grow up is not knowledge of every doctrine, but that they're not an obnoxious jerk. That they have strong character. That people can see them and say, hey, there's a person that's, you know, ma-galang, ma-si-pang, you know, respectful, hardworking, you know, just a good character, good attitude. They know how to say thank you. They know how to say please. They know how to say I'm sorry. They know how to forgive one another. For me as a parent, that is more important to me than whether or not my son can tell you, well, this is how he proved this doctrine. Now, I'm not negating the importance of knowing our doctrines, and we'll talk about that in a second with knowledge. What I'm saying is grace is mentioned before knowledge. And you can be saved by grace through faith, but you can still grow in grace, grow in your character, grow in your attitude, and that is something important, especially in the local church. Your turn to 1 Corinthians 3, I'll just quote to you where the Bible says, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Look, I mean, it's a beautiful thing when you have a soul-winning marathon or you have a church event and there's just unity, right? When we went bowling at the Father's Day event just recently, it's like, you know, there was unity. It was fun. Everybody had a good time. Hey, if somebody else got a strike, we're all excited because we're united as a church. We're just happy for one another. We're just having a good time fellowshipping together. Look, if there was a bunch of fights at the bowling alley, right, people get mad and somebody like tucks the bowling ball at one person, it's like, man, you know, that would have destroyed the entertainment of the event. But it's a great thing when a church can dwell together in unity, right? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1, And I, brethren, and once again, this is a church. This is part of the church epistles, the church of Corinth. If there is any church that serves as a bad example of unity, it's the church of Corinth, right? The problems they had, it's just like, you know, make a list of all the things they had wrong. But one thing is they're not united. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. And he's saying, I couldn't speak to you, you know, spiritually in the deep things and help teach you because you need the very basics. Being carnal means you're acting like a babe in Christ. Okay, that's what the Bible says here. It is very possible for someone to be saved for a long time and to be a babe in Christ with no knowledge, no character, and you know what, just filled full of strife and fighting, and they're a baby Christian. Verse 2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you are not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. And so he's using an example of a physical baby. What does a physical baby eat when they're first born? Milk. That's all they eat. Right now in our modern day where people are like anti-meat and then people that are vegans that take it to another extreme, there was a case of a woman, I think she was from the U.S., and she was so vegan that she refused for her baby to drink milk. The baby died after a couple weeks. She said it's just going to live off grape juice. And then the baby ended up dying, and of course she got found guilty in court, which, amen for that, because it's like everybody knows a baby needs milk. Right? And so here's the thing. When a baby's born, they need milk. Well, here's the thing, though. It's like, you know what, when a baby is first born, it's like they drink milk, that's what they need, and eventually you add other food to the diet. And of course parents have different opinions when you do that. The Bible does not have a set rule of exactly when that starts, but eventually you're going to feed them other foods than milk. I mean, wouldn't you find it strange if someone's an adult and it's like, you know, here you go, you know, people that are in the front row, I'm sorry, I've got to use you as examples, like Brother Noel, you know, it's like he's a grown adult. You know, when you become an adult, you learn how to use a fork, you learn how to use a spoon, you learn how to drink yourself and then eat food, and you don't just have milk because you grow out of that stage. Well, here's the thing, there can be people that are baby Christians, they've been saved for 20 years, and it's like the sermon comes and it's like, you know, here you go little Johnny, here's your food, right, here's your spiritual food because I know you don't read the Bible for yourself. And I'm being humorous, but not really, because that's reality. There are people that never read the Bible for themselves and literally they're getting spoon fed everything they believe and all their doctrines and everything, but they never read the Bible for themselves. I mean, the reality is most Christians in this world have not read the Bible cover to cover. That means you're by definition a baby Christian because you're being fed rather than feeding yourself. Now, the real sad thing is that a lot of churches, you don't get fed anything. So you don't feed yourself and then you don't get fed and then you wonder why people are spiritually without anything to show because they're not getting fed by anyone, they're not feeding themselves, right? The Bible says in verse 3, For ye are yet carnal, for where as there is among you, envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? And what Paul says is, you are a group of baby Christians, here's the proof, because there's a million fights going on and if there's fight after fight after fight after fight, it's like you are carnal. You're walking after the flesh. You're not doing the things of the Spirit because the Bible says to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So you know, look, here's the reality. Sometimes people are going to make you mad and it's like, get over it. That's what the Bible is saying, right? Don't let small things bother you because think of young children. Children fight over the smallest things. Is that not true? People that have raised young children, it's like you got a brother and sister, you got two brothers or two sisters, they fight over the smallest things. It's like, well, I didn't want that one, I wanted that one, right? It's like, you know, siblings growing up are the best of friends and the biggest enemies, right? It's like both, all in the same day. But here's the thing, if that's you as an adult, there's a problem. I mean, we understand with kids if, oh man, my brother sat in my seat, I wanted that seat. That's the way kids are because foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But look, if you get to church and someone is sitting in your seat, get over it. It's not that big of a deal, right? You know, I thought back to this example of a church I know where my parents live, and this is not a Baptist church, but it serves as a very good example of what I'm talking about. They literally had a church split because they were repainting the walls and there was an argument on what color. I mean, it's like, you gotta be kidding me. Now look, I have general preferences of not pink, right, if we were gonna repaint the walls. But you know, if I went to a church and they had pink walls, I think it's kind of strange, but it's like, you know, whatever, right? Because I'm there for the preaching, not the color of the paint on the walls. And that would be a silly example except this is a real life situation that caused the church splits. Now the church was only like 15 members anyway, but it's like, well, there you go. It's like half of them went here, half of them went there. And it's like all over the color of the paint on the wall, right? Turn your Bible to Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians four. Ephesians four. And here's the thing, as you grow in your maturity, in your grace, in your attitude, in your character, you're not gonna let little things bother you. When little things really bother you, it just shows you're not that mature, right? I mean, if somebody sat in your seat and you got really mad about it, it's not the person's fault that sat in your seat. It's your fault. Because you obviously just don't have much maturity. Now, of course, kids, they fight about stuff like that, but if you fight about that, it's like, no, how dare you? This is where I sit at lunch. It's like, man, is it really that big of a deal? Right? And you know what? Obviously, I'm using an extreme example, but in reality, it's just like when you're right with God, you don't let small things really bother you. You know, you just get over them. Even if you don't like how things went down, it's like, you know, it's perfectly fine. You just get over. Why? Because you grow in grace. It's not that important to you. It's like, hey, maybe I'm not happy about this or whatever, but it's not that big of a deal because you know what? You should endeavor to keep the unity and the spirit and the bond and peace, right? Ephesians 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. So God gave individual churches ordained leadership in order to perfect the saints. Does that mean you're going to be perfect? No, but the word perfect in the Bible is not sinless. It's saying complete. That way you are complete in your life, right? You have strong character. You have a walk with God, right? All things. And the Bible says for the work of the ministry. Obviously one of the big things my job to do is is to help motivate soul winning and to have soul winning times and we're going out and getting people saved and knocking the doors, talking to people at the parks. That's very important for the edifying of the body of Christ. One of my jobs is to preach sermons that you're edified. One of the main things people have said at this church is that at my old church during the sermons I was not edified. I was not fed. And that's probably true for a lot of you. I'm not saying it's your fault. I'm saying if the pastor can't teach you anything there's something wrong. Look, there's a lot to learn in this book. And if I have absolutely nothing that I can show you where you learn or you're motivated to serve God it means I'm not doing my job. But you go to a lot of churches you walk in and you leave and you learn nothing. Absolutely nothing. I have been at churches before where I went out of duty but I did not expect to learn anything because nothing was being taught. Just kind of a generic story. And it's like, man, why aren't they just opening up the Word of God and just teaching the Word of God? And one of my main jobs is to edify it. But then notice what it says in verse 13. Till or until we all come in the unity of the faith. The first thing it mentions here is the unity of the faith after verses 11 and 12. So one of my main jobs is to just keep the unity here. Of course when it comes to keeping the unity it's like obviously if people are striving to keep the unity it's going to make it a lot easier to keep the unity. And so look, we don't have fights every single week. I mean if we did then we would just start the book of 1 Corinthians. But it's just like if we had fights every week it would be my job to settle the fights. Now we've had fights at our church before. We've had people that got kicked out of our church for various situations and there being strife and fights within the church. But here's the thing. When those are taking place, you know the Bible says it's great for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like people start to not want to be at church when there's fights and all these problems. Is that not true? We've had those problems before. People have told me, Man, thank you very much for kicking out that person from our church. Because it's like they made the atmosphere just not that enjoyable. And look, I've said before, if people at church don't like you there's a problem with you. Because people are going to like you at church. We have different personalities. We're different people. But if you're here at church and you fellowship with people and you're joining the activities and going soloing, people love you. People care about you. And if everybody hates you, it's not a problem with all of them. It's a problem with you. The Bible says, In the unity of the faith, but then it says, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So it mentions unity and then it mentions knowledge. And see, a lack of knowledge, as we saw in 2 Peter 3, but also here, right after it talks about unity, a lack of knowledge will cause problems within the local church. It will break up the unity of the local church. Imagine you go soul winning later today and you're preaching the gospel and you're explaining how salvation is forever and your soul winning partner stops you and says, Oh, wait a minute, you can lose it. How much unity are you going to be having going door to door? Why? Because of a lack of knowledge. Doctrine is important. We need to know what we believe. It's my job to teach doctrine and to tell you what the Bible says and to tell you what we believe and why we believe it. Knowledge is important. Now, at a lot of churches, you know what they're doing in order to endeavor to keep the unity? Not talk about anything. Is that not true? Churches want to be united by embracing anything and accepting anything. That's their strategy. Where it's like, hey, you know what, I'm not a homo, but at the same time, I don't want to offend anybody. So, hey, whatever you do is perfectly fine. Whatever sin you're into, it's like we're never going to say anything. And then people look at a church that's like a mega church and say, well, look at they're united, how they just accept everyone and they embrace everyone. Is that what the Bible tells you to do? See, we are united at our church because we explain what we believe and why we believe it. And people are reading the Bible in their free time as well. You know, I've said it before, I encourage people to read the Bible and I'm not afraid of you reading the Bible. Wait a minute, if you read the Bible, it's like you might end up thinking you've got to be baptized to go to heaven. So I can't get you to read the Bible. I can't let you read Mark 16 because you might think you've got to be baptized to be saved. No, actually, if you're saved, you're not going to be confused by that. I'm not worried about that. Now, does that mean that we as a church are going to agree on every single verse and every single topic under the sun? Well, no, because some things are not black and white. They can be interpreted different ways. There's verses people can have different opinions. I mean, look, if I was preaching through Ezekiel or Isaiah, there's going to be different opinions on some of those verses and passages. Right? But here's the thing. I mean, when you're trying to serve God and write with God, you keep the main things the main thing. Number one most important thing is salvation. Right? Number two, it's like, well, what Bible are we using? Right? I mean, these are the main things. And as a church, we are united. You know why? Because we understand salvation. It's something I preached on a lot, obviously. Most of our church goes soul winning. We understand the Bible topic. And when you keep the main thing the main thing, you know what you see? You actually see a united church, even if there might be verses, people have different opinions. Bible says, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. It says here in verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. The Bible's stating people that basically they believe something and then all of a sudden when the wind blows, they blow with the wind. Here's the reality. If a person gets saved and they never read the Bible, they never go to a good church, they never hear preaching, they will be tossed to and fro by all kinds of things. They'll get confused at all kinds of things. Which is why you need what, according to Ephesians 4? Knowledge. You need to read the Bible. See, here's what you need to understand. The number one teacher you can have in your life is the Holy Spirit of God. If you're saved and you read the Bible, you can learn what the Bible says. Now here's the thing, I've learned many great things in churches in the 20 years I've been saved, but I'll tell you what, it's really exciting when you're reading the Bible and you learn something, and you learned it from yourself and the Holy Spirit teaching you. Something you never knew before and it's like, man, it's just amazing to you. And look, there's plenty of things I've read in the Bible and I'm like, man, I just learned something new. That's what the Bible's stating here. This is what this verse is talking about. That is actually exciting. What I would say to you is, yeah, it takes work to read the Bible in your personal time, but if you do that, you're going to learn great things from the Bible. And it's going to be probably more exciting to you than what you hear in a sermon because you learned it when the Holy Spirit taught you as you were reading the Bible. The Bible says that you're not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the sight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, make an increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians 12. Now, a sermon on unity is always an important and good sermon. You say, why? Because whether you're a small church or a big church, you need to be united. This is something that all of us can learn of, be reminded of, like, hey, I could do a better job at this. It's like unity is a very important thing in the local church, and it's probably something we don't focus on that much. You know, we think of other things and doctrines, but it's like I've said before that, and I said this when our church was small. I said when this church was like half the size, I would rather this church never grows at all as long as we're united. I've said that in church before. Now, our church has grown a lot, and praise God for it, because we've kept the unity as our church has grown. And I make the same statement now. Do I hope this church grows? I do, and the reason why I want this church to grow is because we can get more people saved. We can get more churches started, send more laborers. That is why I want the church to grow. But here's the thing. If it never grows and we stay united, that is better than becoming like a mega church where it's like we accept every doctrine, every belief, just a free-for-all. It's like, well, you know, you're Baptist? I mean, that's a little bit too intense. It's like, well, that's okay. We accept everything. It's like, well, you think that, you know, you want your baby baptized? Like, well, you know, I don't believe in that, but sure, I'll baptize your baby. I mean, how far are you gonna go with this? Just change everything about the church. It's like, oh, you don't like the music because it's old-fashioned. It's like, and, you know, I've literally been to independent Baptist churches before where they had two different services, one that was liberal and one that was old-fashioned. I remember I visited a church one time, and I went to their website. I looked, and I said, you know, this is probably the best church in the area. I went to visit the church. I was expecting something old-fashioned, rock music, and then all of a sudden, they're using a Bible that wasn't the King James, and the person beside me when I first came is very friendly and everything. He could tell I was not happy, and he's like, you know, are you all right? I said, I thought this was an independent, fundamental Baptist church. Like, that's not the King James. This is not old-fashioned. He said, oh, well, you know, I'm sorry. We could have made it more clear. It's like the second service we have, so you got two different churches, two entirely different churches. Now, look, we have a church in Pampanga that meets on Saturday, but you know what? The sermons are the same. The music's the same. It's like it's the same. It's not like, well, here's the contemporary one, right? We can increase donations by having a non-denominational service, and we can have, like, a fundamental service. It's like, yeah, it's ridiculous, right? Where would the Bible ever advise you to do something like that, right? And so I've seen that before, and it's like, our church, we're not planning to change. I don't care, because here's what takes place. Our church, if we stay stable and keep things the same, the world's gonna get worse. It's not gonna get better. People would already look at an IFB church and say, you're part of a cult. It's like, you know, what kind of a church is telling you you shouldn't, you know, listen to other versions. They're telling you what music to listen to. That's what people would say about you. I mean, your family members, many of them probably accuse you of being in a cult, because it's a fundamental church. It's an old-fashioned church. They tell you that you shouldn't wear this? What? They tell you you shouldn't watch this? Right? And they'll accuse you of being in a cult for being old-fashioned. Well, I'm sorry, but when I look at the world, you think that we're crazy? Look at the world. It's like there's men walking around in women's dresses, and we're the one who's crazy? I remember this time, my wife and I, you know, we guest preached at a church in the U.S., and they had, like, a famous, like, ice cream place in Portland, Oregon. And Portland is like San Francisco. Right? And so I remember we were in line at this famous, you know, ice cream place, and I was not dressed in a suit and tie. I was just wearing normal clothes, just a nice shirt. My wife's wearing a dress. It's like we had our son Zeph. And I remember we're in line, and this is a place where there's literally, like, homos and homeless all around the area, and there's drugs on the street. You know, they painted things rainbow everywhere and stuff. And I remember everybody's looking in line at us, like, man, what a bunch of weirdos. It's like, you know, in line, it's like people have green hair and, like, purple hair and all these things, and people are dressed in all these strange ways, and then everybody's looking at us, like, what is wrong with you guys? Right? Just by just dressing normally. Well, I mean, here's the thing. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm the one who's crazy. That's right. You know, I don't wear this when I go to, like, a grocery store or a restaurant. You know, I wear just, like, modest, normal clothes. And in the world we're coming to, people are gonna start looking at that like it's crazy. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 23, and those members of the body, referring to the body of Christ, the local church body made up of parts or members, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncommon parts have more abundant comeliness. For our common parts have no need, but God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. And the Bible speaks about how members of a body, you might look at as being not as important as somebody else or whatever, but God's saying all of them are important. Think about your personal body. Every part of your body matters. You can look at something that's small, like, oh, man, my pinky. Like, how important is that? Well, if you accidentally hit yourself with a hammer, you're gonna change your mind when you have that pain. Right? I remember when I was in college, I was lifting weights, and I put the weight back, and it was, like, right on the edge, and it started to fall, and my natural reaction was to try to catch the weight in midair. And he would smash my fingernails, and he's like, the pain was horrible for several days. I mean, this is only a small body part, but yet when you suffer that pain, you're like, actually, it really matters. Right? And in our church body, every single person matters as part of a church. Every single person has a role. Every single person has a value. Just as every part of your body is important, every part of the church body is important. You know what? The Bible teaches the earth is less than 7,000 years old. And the world thinks it's billions of years old. What the world thinks is that there's parts in your body that are known as vestigial organs. Who's heard of that term vestigial before? And what they mean by that is it no longer has value. It's like, well, this part of your body was part of, like, some sort of cow or dinosaur, like, you know, 47 million years ago. Right? Something from a science fiction movie. Well, I don't believe that. I believe every single part of my body has a purpose. Now, that doesn't mean that I understand the purpose of every part of my body. But there's no doubt that every part that God made, because you're made in the image of God, you're made of the purpose, God did not create in you vestigial organs that have no use. Every part of your body matters. Every single part. And every single part of a church body also matters. Right? Verse 25. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. Now, this word schism is a pretty famous Christian word, you know, Christian, because of what's known as the Great Schism, which took place about a thousand years ago. And what the Great Schism was was the separation of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. And I've talked about this before. And it's known as the Great Schism because they say, well, we had one united church body worldwide, and then all of a sudden there was this division, and now there's this schism, and we want to join everybody back together. Well, here's what's foolish about that. There's no such thing as this universal church body that we're all a part of. Because here's the thing with the body. Your body has to be together. Look, if you divided up all your body parts all over the world, it doesn't do you any good unless they're actually together. They've got to be together. Right? It's the same thing with a local church body. We are together as a church body. But see, here's the thing. We are together physically here, but it should not just be physically that we're here together. Because non-denominational churches meet, like CCF or Victory or whatever, and they're physically in the same room. But here's the thing. The beliefs in the room are just completely different from one another because they accept and embrace everything. Right. Well, here's the thing. That shouldn't be the way it is in a local church. We've got to be together physically but also in the same mindset, having the same love one for another, having the same goal. What's the big goal of our church? To get people saved and to get more churches started. Right? That's the goal that we have. We've got to be not just physically together but also in the same mindset as well. Turn your Bible to Matthew 18. Matthew 18. Matthew 18. Matthew 18. Now, this seems very basic, and honestly it is, but when our church first started, it's like I did not like the culture in our church. It was not united when this church started because there was this mindset. I didn't know. One person recently is more than just one person that I heard. Multiple people at our church have told me that they were told by other people at church they were not allowed to go soul winning because they weren't good enough. I know of one case. I just learned there's multiple cases. Who knows? There might be other people who say, actually, Brother Stuckey, that group that you kicked out of church, they also told that to me because I know now there's multiple cases. And there's this sort of attitude, well, we're like the inner circle. We're like the in group. We're the ones that have knowledge. And it's like if other people come to our church, it's like we'll kind of test them until we accept them. Number one, did Brother Stuckey ever preach that you're not allowed to go soul winning unless you're good enough? And here's the thing. If I did preach that, I would be the one to determine whether or not you're good enough, not some member of church. But here's what's so stupid about that, and this church is a great example, but here's what's so stupid about that. You know how you get better at stuff? Practice. Practice. Guess what? Every single person, when they first start going soul winning, no offense, I'm including myself, is not good at it. Right? If those have been soul winning for years, you say, yeah. When I first started, if I had a video and I'm watching it, I'd be like, oh, man, that was horrible. You know why? Because you're new at it. Anything you do for the first time, you're not good at. Now, if there were people that did very well at the bowling recently at the Father's Day event, first time bowlers, that doesn't prove you're good. It just proves all of us are bad. Okay? That's what that proves. It proves none of us are any good. Right? But here's the thing. You get good at stuff via practice. So my philosophy has always been, when people first start in their soul winning, unless they're preaching heresy, it's like, let them learn. And they're going to learn from other people. Right? But there's this attitude where it's like, well, wait a minute. We're like the first group of people at this church, and I'm not saying everybody had this attitude. I don't think everybody had this attitude. Those that had the attitude, pretty much the group that's been kicked out. But they had this sort of attitude where it's like, well, we're going to accept certain people. Well, wait a minute. We are meant to be one church body, not, well, here's the 50 people that are worthy, and here's the other ones that are not worthy. That's ridiculous. We are one church body, not realistically at a church. There are going to be people that know more about the Bible than others. There are going to be people that are more zealous than others. There's going to be people that have more experience than others. But, you know, a healthy church has new body parts and new members that are in the process of learning and growing. And you know what? That is okay. That is okay. It's okay to reach new people that it's going to take them some time. Look, when I got saved, I listened to the wrong music, I watched the wrong things on TV, the wrong movies, I was dressed wrong. I mean, literally for the first year after I got saved, I went to church wearing a soccer shirt and like soccer, you know, pants that you would wear. You know, the white striped ones on the side and Adidas soccer shoes because I was newly saved. But, you know, it's more important than cleansing the outside, the inside. And it's like when someone first gets saved, you know what? It's probably going to take them some time. That's fine, right? And let them, you know, learn and grow without like tearing them down because how are they going to get better if you tear them down when they're first learning? I mean, remember, you were also at that stage one time as well, right? And so we need to be united as a church whether we're a small church or whether we're a big church. Whoever big we get, we need to stay united as a church. So one thing that breaks up the unity in a local church is a lack of character, lack of grace. I mean, look, here's the reality. Every single one of us could work on being more long suffering, more patient, less angry, less bitter, less prideful, less envious. None of us are perfect, right? So all of us can learn from that and say, yeah, you know what? I could do a better job, right? Knowledge is important too. You need to know your Bible. You need to read your Bible. You need to memorize your Bible. You need to teach your kids these things also, right? I mean, quiz your kids. As I just said like five minutes ago, the earth is less than 7,000 years old. You got to tell your kids that a million times so they hear it and they don't get brainwashed by evolution and the big bang theory and all those things. It's like knowledge is important. We need to know what we believe, what we believe and why we believe it. But another thing is not respecting authority. Not respecting authority in a local church can destroy the unity of a local church. You think of a famous example with like Korah in the Bible. There's no unity there with Moses when Korah is doing this uprising. You got like a church split, right? You got a schism. Matthew 18. And actually turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 5 for sake of time. 1 Timothy 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5. And the Bible says in 1 Timothy 5 verse 17, Let the elders that rule perfectly, is that what your Bible says? No. It doesn't say let the elders that rule perfectly. It says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. Not who rule perfectly because nobody's perfect. I mean there are a lot of men in the Bible that are probably better than I will ever be. We see them making a lot of mistakes, right? People that are great characters in the Bible. I mean, Elijah is probably, no offense, better than any of us is ever going to be. And in 1 Kings 18 you're like, this is the coolest story in the entire Bible. And then you read 1 Kings 19. It's like, what? It's like, what happened to you? When Jezebel threatens him, he gets scared. Nobody's perfect. And the Bible does not say let the elders that rule perfectly be counted worthy of double honor. It says those that rule well. And it kind of gives a defining of what this means because here's the thing. People would say that Joel Osteen rules well because look at how big his church is. And of course if you go to an independent church, you might think that you're a leader. Man, this is a great leader because you obviously like the church. But what the Bible says is who labor in word and doctrine. So here's the question. When I preach sermons, do you learn new things? Because the proof's in the pudding. If you're at a church for a year and you're never motivated, you never learn anything new, it means I just don't know that much. Now, I'm not standing here stating that, well, I know more than anybody. I don't think that's the case. What I'm saying is if you're at a church and you're learning and being edified and motivated and you're learning things that can make you a better Christian, better father, better wife, better mother, better husband and all these things, help you more successful at your work, more successful at your job, better character, it's like, you know what? Then you're at a church that's a good church. And of course when you break it down, one of the important things at a church is soul winning. Well, I mean, do we do soul winning? Yeah, I don't think there's any question about that. I mean, do you learn from the sermons? And if you're at a church like that, then it's like, well, you know what? Then you're at a church with the ordained leadership leading well. Not perfectly. If you're a father or a mother in this room, do you always make the right decisions with your kids? I'm sure that my wife and I are not the only two parents in this room, that you've had your kids sit at a table and they refuse to eat the food, right? And then all of a sudden you make them eat the food and then they end up throwing up, right? And you don't have to admit it, but I know people that have told me, yeah, you know what? That's happened to me before. Because you don't want them to just not eat the food, because like, hey, learn to be happy with what you get. And of course you don't necessarily know that actually they're already full, and then all of a sudden they're feeling sick. And you know what that's called? It's called, whoops, mom and dad made a mistake. You know, no parents always make the right choices with their kids. But it does not change the fact that the kids need to respect the authority and the decisions of the parents. That's the way authority works, right? We made a change recently in Pampanga with our soul winning marathons, because ever since COVID, Astro Park is just not that great for soul winning anymore. So we made the change where instead of soul winning starting in the morning, we start at 3 p.m. And we have one push of three hours and our salvation took up a lot less time and salvation's more than doubled. It's like, yeah, you know what? I should have done that a long time ago. Someone at the church had in a polite and respectful way mentioned it as a suggestion. I figured we'll give it a chance. And it's like, yeah, I should have made the decision to do that a long time ago. Now there's a respectful way to talk to authority, right? You know, for example, if you tell your kid to do something, then the kid can be like, actually, you know, I feel kind of sick right now. Is it okay? I don't eat the food or whatever, right? But the point is you need to respect the authority at church, because if there's no respect for the authority and there's opinions going 50 different ways, there's no unity. It doesn't mean authority is always right. It just means that you have to have an authority in situations. Think about it at a job. The boss is not always right, right? You know, I thought about this example yesterday. We would have three-day weekends every once in a while at my old job when there's like a holiday, and what they would do is let you out two hours early the day before. But here's the thing. There's the requirement at the job. So basically you have a six-hour work day, you know, six official hours. If you wanted to work overtime, you could, but six official hours. There's a requirement that you work five hours, and then you must take a lunch break. What that would mean is you'd work for five hours in those days, lunch for one hour, and then work for one hour and go home. Now, in my mind, I think it's kind of a dumb rule. It's like on those days that you're giving them, you know, like a three-day weekend, either give us like, you know, three hours early or let us just work six straight hours, right? Because realistically, if you work for one hour after lunch at a job, you don't do anything. You're just counting the time until you go home. So to me, it was a dumb rule. But, you know, I never told my boss about it. I never told my coworkers because it's like, I just work for the company, right? And there is a respectful way to talk to leadership. What I'm saying is you just have to respect the authority whether you agree or not in situations. Now turn your Bible to Psalm 34, Psalm Chapter 34. You know, quite honestly at our church, I feel like we've had a great unity for a couple of years at our church now where we really haven't had any major problems at our church. And you know what, it's exciting to be a part of that because what we've seen with not just being united is we've also seen great church growth. Those things go hand in hand. You've got to be united as a church in order to grow, if you're going to be a healthy church, right? And you know what, the last couple of years at our church have been great. We've been growing as a church. We're united as a church when things are going great. God is really blessing. And you know, it's how great it is to dwell together in unity, right? So point number one is unity inside of the church. Point two, you should strive for peace outside of church, not unity. The context of having unity is with the local church. Outside of the church, you should not be striving to be united with everything and everybody. But you should strive for peace. The Bible says in Psalm 34 verse 14, Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. The Bible tells you to seek peace. It should be something that we're searching after. You should not have a goal to be fighting with every single person that you meet outside of church. And sometimes people use it as like a justification. Where it's like, really it's their own character. They don't have any grace. So they're fighting and bitter and all full of all these problems. And it's like, wow, they're just mad because they're a Catholic. No, maybe they're just mad because of your attitude, right? I mean, look, because I don't get in fights outside of church. It's not like I'm getting in fights with people at the grocery store and the restaurant. And look, if that's happening to you, it's not them. Because other people go through life and they can go through a drive-thru or go to a restaurant. And it's not World War III if there's a small little problem. It's called just growing in grace. And you should strive to have peace outside of church. I'm not saying you're united with everybody outside of church. But you should try to be at peace with people. You don't want to go through your life fighting every single person. You're driving the car. Somebody cuts you off. And then all of a sudden you drive up beside them. You're honking the horn. You try to run them off the road. It's like that's not because they're not a fundamental Baptist. That's because of your attitude, right? Turn to Romans 12. Romans 12. Look, when somebody makes you mad as you're driving and a four-letter word comes flying out of your mouth, it's not because they're not a fundamental Baptist. It's because you have no grace. Yeah, people get mad when they're driving and somebody cuts them off. I get it, right? You get mad sometimes. You get frustrated. But it's like if what happens is you just immediately want to get into a fight, it's because of your attitude. It's not because of them. It's because of your attitude. And pressure situations reveal what's on the inside. It's a fact. You cannot change the fact that there will be pressure and stressful situations in your life. And what they do is they reveal what's on the inside. It's not the fault of the situation. It's just what's actually on the inside is coming out. Just like if I squeeze an orange and orange juice comes out, that's what's on the inside of that orange. It revealed what's on the inside, but it didn't make the inside of the orange have that juice. It revealed what's on the inside. And so when you get in those situations, what comes out? We should strive for peace outside of church with people. Romans 12, verse 18. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. The Bible says, if it be possible. We should strive to be at peace with people. But the Bible also says, if it be possible. Why does the Bible say, if it be possible? Because if you're going to live godly, then sometimes it's not possible. Now look, don't make excuses when you have no peace in your life. It's because I'm a Baptist. I mean, if it's your attitude, fix your attitude. But the reality is, if you're striving to serve God and you're right with God, sometimes it can be hard to have peace. Turn your Bible to James 3. James 3. James 3. I mean, an example I heard yesterday from one of our members. The sermon had different examples. But he gave me an example in his personal life. And he said, you know what, it was like a group text between, I think it was his old friends in college or a group of people or whatever, and they were trying to do something spiritual. So it's like, well, let's just all hold the rosary beads and then pray. And then they asked him to lead the prayer because he's the most spiritual. And it's just like, well, if you want to keep peace with them, what do you do? Well, let's just say the rosary. But is that what God would tell you to do? Now, here's a polite way to try to just say, well, actually, I'm not going to be able to do it. But even if you say it in a polite way, people can get offended. What, you think you're better than me because you're a Baptist? I mean, it's reality. But let me help you out. You know what would have helped Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stay at peace with everybody? Just bow down before the idol. Does that mean that's what you should do? So here's the thing. Just strive to have peace and if it's possible, have peace. But see, point number three explains why it's not always possible. Because point number three is this. Purity, holiness and righteousness comes before unity and before peace. Notice what it says in James 3, verse 13. Who is a wise man and in do with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. So if you're getting filled full of strife and fighting with people, don't say, well, it's because I'm a Baptist. No, don't lie against the truth. It's because of your attitude. Verse 15, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For our envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable. Do you see an order here that's mentioned? First pure and then peaceable. Look, I think world peace would be great. It's also impossible. Because if I say, hey, Jesus is the only way to heaven, how dare you say that? And I'm the bad guy for trying to fight against the peace. It's like, can't you just not say anything controversial? See, it's first pure, then peaceable. And sometimes you get in situations like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or how about Daniel, where you're told not to pray, and you've got to make a decision. I just read online a couple of days ago, in certain parts of Ireland, they just outlawed prayer. Near abortion clinics, they made it illegal to pray, according to what I just briefly saw in the article. But it's like, you know, near abortion clinics, because they're upset that people protest the abortion clinics, so it's illegal to pray near an abortion clinic in Ireland. And I don't know whether that's comprehensive in the entire country, I just briefly saw the article, but that's kind of like a modern-day Daniel situation. Man, I would be ashamed to be a Christian living in Ireland with that. What an embarrassment. But what do you do if you want to keep peace? You don't pray. What do you do if you want to be godly? You pray. Because it's first pure, then peaceable. Now, of course, it can cause problems. Daniel was basically put to death. Obviously, God saved him, but he was given the death penalty. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got the death penalty. But here's the thing, I love what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said, because they believed that God would save them, but they said, if not, it's like, we'll just die in the first. That's not a direct quote, but that's what they're saying. Like, hey, if God doesn't spare us, I am not going to sin in order to spare my life. I'm going to do what's right. Matthew 5, Matthew 5, Matthew 5. You know, what's interesting about this, the whole world wants world peace. World peace, world peace, right? It's like the moniker to try to bring all these religions together, unite with the entire world. What's interesting about this is there's going to be peace during the millennial reign of Christ. There's going to be peace because purity is put first. Look, I mean, when people are criminals and they deserve to be put to death or whatever the crime would be, depending on what sin they committed, it's like we're not the ones that are taking away peace by saying, thus saith the Lord, this should be the punishment. They're the ones that are committing the crimes. And it's interesting because if you live as a godly person, in general, you're going to stay out of fights and conflicts. You just go about your life. And yet sometimes people accuse you of being like the bad guy, like you did something. And it's like, man, I want to have peace with people. It's like, you know, I mean, literally, at my old job in Maryland, it's like I was probably considered the quietest person at the job. And if you know me, outside of the pulpit, I'm not the quietest person. I'm not the most outgoing. I'm not the most shy person either, right? But the reason why I didn't say much is because I'm there to work. And you know what? People talk about a lot of things I don't feel comfortable with. I'm just trying to avoid it and everything. Never really went to the parties and stuff like that. And they thought, man, you know, Brother Stuckey is a hard worker. Why can't he just, you know, whatever. But it's like I remember I was told this by multiple people that someone at work tried to get me like in a lot of trouble because at lunch I read my Bible. I would bring my food to my desk. I sat there reading my Bible for the hour. I mean, literally. And I didn't talk to anyone. I was just reading the Bible. And somebody got so angry that I would have a Bible at work. And I'm the one who's being accused of taking peace. I'm like, I'm just at work trying to do my own thing. And I'm the bad guy. But if somebody who just, I guess, hates, I mean, I don't know, maybe they just hate the Bible. They hate God or whatever. I don't know. It's just like if you live godly, sometimes they're going to accuse you of trying to cause problems when in reality I'm for peace. Right? The Bible says in Matthew 5, verse 8, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Let me ask you a question. What comes first in these verses? Purity or peace? Purity. Blessed are the pure in heart in verse 8. Blessed are the peacemakers in verse 9. Now, I don't think things are accidental or coincidental in the word of God. It's written a certain way for a certain reason. What the Bible's saying to you is purity comes before peace. What the Bible's saying is don't sacrifice your integrity or your morality in order to keep peace. Your coworkers say, hey, come out drinking with us. And you don't really want to drink, but you don't want to break the peace, so you go out with them anyway. What the Bible's saying is don't sacrifice your purity and righteousness for the sake of peace. And here's the thing. All of us can be tempted by this sometimes, because you've got peer pressure, you've got friends and relatives, and they want you to do something. Or, for example, in our day-to-day, you could have somebody in your family, like a cousin, is having a gay marriage or whatever. And then all of a sudden the rest of your family, they're against it, but they want you to come because they don't want you to cause problems in the family. It's like, well, I'm sorry, but sometimes you've got to take a stand and say I'm not going to be a part of any of that. And here's the thing. When you do that, people might accuse you of, well, you're trying to cause problems, when in reality it's like, no, I'm not going to sacrifice purity and holiness and morality for the sake of peace. Let me help you out with this. People that are always trying to get you to do something like that, they will always take it a step further. Once you agree to do this, then they're going to ask you to do this. Then they're going to ask you to do this. That's just the way it works. They're not going to stop at the fact that, you know, just take the LGBT. It's like they want one thing, and then they want to take it a step further and a step further and a step further. And that's the world that we're living in. And you know what the world's been doing? They've been accepting it, and it's getting worse and worse and worse. And, look, you might think I'm crazy when I say this, but I am telling you, there will come a day when they're justifying pedophilia in this world. Because they're already trying to change the language to justify. You know what I've read, and this is what they're trying to say, like clinical psychologists or experts or whatever, they'll say this, well, every eight-year-old boy is attracted to eight-year-old girls. The only difference between you and them is they continue to be attracted to eight-year-old girls when they became adults. I mean, this is a perverted and disgusting world that we live in, but that's the way that they're pushing it. And they're always going to take it a step further, except this, except this, except this. You know what people have been doing? Well, you know, I'm trying to have peace. And they sacrifice their integrity. They sacrifice their morality. They sacrifice their purity to have peace. Here's the thing. When you sacrifice your purity for the sake of peace, they will always take you a step further. Now, of course, I'm not saying to be an obnoxious jerk to people. I mean, try to get along, and sometimes people ask you. I remember my old job. They invited me. There was this guest speaker at their church. They thought I would be interested, because this is someone who said, I can't remember if they went to heaven or hell, and they came back and talked about it. Again, he's a famous person. He sold millions of copies. I know you're really zealous. And I was like, oh, I appreciate the offer, you know. I'll see. I know I'm really busy on that weekend. I just tried, in a polite way, I basically said that it wasn't going to come, right. And I didn't try to get into a fight with them, because they're just trying to be nice. They obviously just believe different things. And obviously, to the best of your ability, strive for peace. Seek peace, if it's possible. But don't sacrifice your integrity for the sake of peace, right. So point number one was unity in church. It is very important that we are united as a local church. Point two, though, outside the church, you're not striving to be united with everybody and every belief. Let's hold hands with Hindus and Muslims and have some prayer breakfast for every religion under the sun. No, no, no. But you strive to be at peace with people. And point three, the reason why it's not always possible is because purity comes before peace. That is the order. You don't sacrifice your integrity for the sake of peace. Let's close with a word of prayer. Your Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today to ask you to help us apply this sermon to our lives. I ask you to help us, number one, be united as a church. Help us to be united and help us grow in character. I ask you to help us in our personal lives to have peace with people. Help us to be at peace and not to be in fights and striving and all these things, God. But help us to be people that when peer pressure comes that we do not succumb or give in to it, but that we always put our personal purity and integrity before peace, God. So pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. It's all praise. It's all praise. It's all praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.