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As I mentioned, we're taking the Lord's Supper here today, or Communion, however you'd like to call it. And obviously people come from different church backgrounds, and churches do things differently. And honestly, that's okay. I've been a part of Baptist churches that have done the Lord's Supper once a month. I've been a part of churches that did the Lord's Supper once every three months. We follow the same pattern that our sending church, Verity Baptist in Sacramento, they do it once a year, right before Easter. And I'll kind of explain why we do that during the sermon. But if another church does things differently, I'm not against that church, unless they're teaching some sort of heresy. Now if they're saying that the bread turns into the body of Jesus, or that, you know, Lord's Supper helps you go to heaven, well then that's heresy. Then you've got some major problems. If other churches do things differently, that's fine, you know, it's not a big deal. But it's important for us to understand why we do things the way that we do at our church. Now, the name of the sermon is, The Unity of the Lord's Supper. And what's unique about this sermon, compared to other years I've preached on this, although I will explain why we do what we do, it's more going to be a practical sermon about what the Lord's Supper can actually do to unite us together as a church, okay? And before I get into that, let me just show you an introduction, the importance of unity, according to the Bible. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And we're actually going to be staying in 1 Corinthians for the entire sermon, or at least that is the plan. And I want to show you an introduction that unity is a very important part of a local church. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 1, 1 Corinthians 3 verse 2, What he says in verse 3 is, you're carnal, you're acting like a baby Christian, okay? And when you think about babies, or young children, young children get in a lot of fights over a lot of silly and pointless things. Like, literally, young kids, especially if you've been a parent, you've raised young kids, they will fight about which seat they get to sit in. They'll fight about which toy they want, the blue or the yellow. Literally, they'll be the same thing, just a different color, and they'll fight over the one that they want. This is how kids are when they grow up. This is how you were when you grew up. This is how I was when I grew up, right? This is just the way young kids are. And of course, you expect that from young children, but eventually you expect them to grow out of it. And spiritually speaking, it's the same way. If somebody just gets saved last week, there's probably a lot they need to change, right? But you would expect over time that they're going to grow closer to God. They're going to mature. And the proof of them acting like baby Christians and being carnal, meaning walking in the flesh, is they have envy and strife and divisions. They have fighting within the church. They have strife. They have divisions, separations, and cliques that are forming. This is not a good thing for a local church to have. Go to 1 Corinthians 12. I'll give you an example. Our church in Pampanga is obviously not as big as this church. And it's a great church. People love the Lord. They go soul winning. But it's obviously not as big as this church. But here's the truth. If this church was filled full of strife and fighting and all of these problems, I would rather the church dropped in size dramatically so we could just be united as one. One of the great things about church is that you can come to church and you're happy to be there. You can talk to people. You're in a good mood. People get along. It's like we're not showing up to a UFC fight or something where there's fighting. You want people to get along in the house of God. You want to be united together as one. That's a very important part of a local church. In fact, one of the big jobs I have as a pastor is just trying to get us united together as one on the same page. And of course, since all of us are sinners, people have different opinions and everything, that can be a hard thing sometimes. But I do believe our church is very united together as one. And what I could say is I hope our church just keeps growing as long as we don't lose the unity and the love for one another and united together as one. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 24, For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lack. When it says tempered the body together, it's referring to the local church body, the Church of Corinth specifically here. Or for our purposes, it would be the Church of Manila, Verity Baptist Manila. And verse 25, That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. Now, you might say, well, what is schism? It's not really a word that's that common today. There's a famous event, I think it was in 1034 AD, called the Great Schism. And you had the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church and before this schism, they were united together as one church. They were this big universal church. Now, we don't come from the Catholic Church. We don't come from the Orthodox Church. There have been good Bible-believing Christians all the way back to the time of Jesus Christ and good churches and people that met together and went soul-winning. And a lot of their names have been lost throughout history because, you know what, you're unknown here on earth, the Bible says. But it's in a famous event and the reason why it's called the Great Schism is because they were united together as one and then all of a sudden there's this schism or this break where they're separated. Now, within a local church, you don't want to have this separation or this schism where it's like there's two churches within one church. Probably a lot of you have been part of Baptist churches that are like this, where you've got the soul-winning group and then the non-soul-winning group. Or you've got the salvation by grace through faith group and you've got the repent of sins for salvation group. And if you were to go to a non-denominational church, there's going to be a lot more than just two breaks. There's going to be a lot of different opinions on a lot of things. That's not the way the church is meant to be. We're meant to be united together as one. Why? Because we're a body. Our body needs to be connected together. Right? I mean, if you break a bone, like you break your arm, it's basically getting disconnected from where it should be connected to you've got major problems. Right? And so as a church body, we need to be connected together as one. Go to 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14. And of course, everything I'm showing you is in 1 Corinthians. So you're seeing that the book of 1 Corinthians talks about this a lot. And the reason why it talks about it a lot is not because the church of Corinth gave us a great example, but because they gave us a bad example. And Paul is trying to fix the problems. He says, hey, we need to be united together as one. Look, we've had situations before of people that got removed from our local church. And one of the big things is they were causing schisms or problems within the church. And honestly, there have been people that have told me this, that they used to come to church, and they didn't enjoy coming anymore. And they thought about leaving the church to go to church they didn't think was as good or right on doctrine, but just because of the fact they go to church they don't want to have strife and fighting with people. Right? And so it's very important for us to, because this is something we can overlook, we can think about doctrine and soul winning and standards and all those things. We can never forget the importance of unity at our church. As we grow we need to make sure we stay united. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26. How is it then, brethren, when ye come together every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation, let all things be done unto edifying. And so, I mean, just imagine we show up to church here today and, you know, to understand the church of Corinth you realize that Paul the Apostle started the church and then eventually he leaves. And what you're going to see in the church of Corinth is you have various people that are teaching and preaching. So for example, on Wednesday nights we have a rotating schedule of preachers. Right? And so we have different preachers each Wednesday. But imagine you show up to church and all of a sudden someone's getting ready to preach a sermon and someone else says, no, actually I'm going to preach the sermon and instead of, you know, preaching on salvation I'm going to preach on the end times. It's like you'd have chaos. You'd be like, what is going on at the church? Or, you know, you get up here for a song leading and then you've got both songs. No, I'm leading the first service. No, I'm leading the first service. It's going to be these songs. It's going to be these songs. You'd have chaos. That's not the way the church is meant to be. The church is meant to be organized, united together as one. It says in verse number 27, So a general process or rule that Paul's saying to the church is this, you know what, don't just have like 50 people preach on one Sunday. Have a couple different people. One person preaches a sermon. Another person preaches a sermon. And what does everybody else do? They judge what's preached. When I preach sermons, you know what you should do? You should judge what I preach. And you should go home and search the Scriptures whether these things are so. And it's not just true with me. It's true with any pastor you listen to. Don't just assume automatically, well, they said it. It must be true. Your reasoning better be this is what the Bible says. Because as much as I try to preach the truth, I promise you I make mistakes. I'm just a man that's doing the best I can just like any other preacher. So obviously you need to as a saved person, you've got the Holy Spirit inside, go home and check it for yourself. And I'll tell you what, there are a lot of topics in the Bible and the reality is you're not going to have any two godly pastors that agree on every single topic. Which is not the way it's going to be because there's a lot of different things in the Bible. Now there's the core things and the main things we should be in agreement on. There's a lot of topics and a lot of verses where it's kind of like maybe it means this, maybe it means that, here's my opinion. There's a lot of topics, things that I believe, but I'm not anywhere near 100%. I'll be like I'm 70%, this is true. 80%, but maybe I'm misinterpreting, maybe God's trying to say something else, or whatever. Verse number 31, So the church of God is meant to be organized, done decently, in order, united, coming together as one body, not problems and friction. This is all in 1 Corinthians that we looked at as an introduction. It seems like unity is pretty important. Now Paul wouldn't have to preach on this except for the fact the church of Corinth didn't really have unity. They had a lot of problems. Now turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and look at verse number 20. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 20. And let me give you four quick reasons, or four things, that unite us together when we take the Lord's Supper. Point number 1, part of the process of taking the Lord's Supper is that when we take the bread and we eat the bread, we do it simultaneously or subi-subi, same time. It's an alliterated sermon, so it's got to start with the letter S. Simultaneously subi-subi, same time. And so later on, and I'll explain this later on during the sermon, but when the bread is handed out and you get that bread, you don't just immediately eat it. We wait until everybody in the room gets the bread and everybody in the mother-baby room gets the bread. And then I'm going to give us basically a minute to look at the bread and think about the body of Jesus was broken for us and how He died for us. And inside of your heart and your mind, you should be praying to God and asking Him to forgive you and help you be more righteous and more zealous. And so when we actually take the bread, though, it's subi-subi, same time. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 20. When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, there's a lot of interpretations people have on this verse. What I believe this is saying is that when they are coming together, they are not taking the Lord's Supper properly. I don't think He's saying you should not take the Lord's Supper together. I think He's saying you're not doing it correctly. And the rest of the chapter, He's going to show them this is what you're doing wrong with the Lord's Supper. I will say this in a side point that if the Lord's Supper was taken at home, it'd be very dis-uniting as a church. Because you're coming together, doing it as one, but if everyone just kind of does it whenever they want at home, that's not really a way to unite. It's actually the opposite, which is what the Church of Corinth had problems with. They're not united together as one. But when we take the Lord's Supper, this is an event that unites us together as one. It says here in verse number 21, for in eating everyone taketh for other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken. So what He's saying in verse number 21 is this, that basically when you get your bread and you immediately just eat it, you don't wait for everybody. And He says, What have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? I despise you, the Church of God, and shame them that have not. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. So the way we do things at our church is you have the bread first, afterwards the juice, and what do we do right after that? We have lunch fellowship where people have brought food and they eat. And if you are like so matakah where you say, I gotta eat my chicken that I brought, I gotta get my pork that I brought, I'm just eating my bread and my juice now and I'm gonna start the microwave and cook my food. You know what Paul's saying? Don't come to church. You've got houses to eat and to drink in. Literally saying don't show up to church if you're not gonna wait for one another. Now obviously in general when you're eating meals, a common courtesy thing to do is to wait for everyone. That can be hard with a church with a lot of people, but this is certainly an event where we do wait for one another. It's simultaneously sabai sabai when we actually eat and partake in the Lord's Supper. Verse 23, For I received of the Lord that which I also delivered on you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he brake and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. So we have the pattern, and this is referencing back to the gospels in Matthew 26, but basically bread's handed out, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me, and then they partake in the food. And when we get to the end of the service, basically I'm gonna read verse 24, and you don't start eating when I say take, eat. You gotta let me finish the sentence, okay? This is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me, and what you're gonna see is right when I finish the sentence, I'm gonna eat. And everyone's gonna do the same thing, right? Now you don't have to take the Lord's Supper. It's a free will thing. You're not forced to, and that's fine. But if you do, we need to make sure we do it at the same time. Verse number 25, After the same manner also, he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament of my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. So after we hand out the grape juice, and I'll read verse 25 after I've given us a minute to reflect and to pray to God and try to get right with God on the inside of our hearts. Once I've finished verse 25, then we will drink the juice, okay? Now I will say this, that if you have young kids, as a parent you need to make sure that you're paying attention. Because kids might see the bread and say, I want to eat. And they might see the juice and they might want to drink. I mean, I have a perfect example. I saw it yesterday with my kids, right? Where you know, obviously as a parent you can kind of decide if your kids are saved. I'm not going to make that decision for you. Zeph took the Lord's Supper yesterday. We did not have our youngest. Christabel is four years old. She's not at a point of understanding, but she likes grape juice. And she saw that grape juice and she wanted one. And it's like as a parent, you know, it doesn't matter how much your child likes grape juice. If they're not saved, don't let them take it, right? And make sure that, you know, if your kids are taking it, make sure they realize, hey, you know, you got to wait for everybody, right? Because Zeph also was wanting to drink that juice. It's like, not yet. You got to wait for everybody, right? Then the Bible says here in verse number 33, verse 33, Therefore, my brethren, when ye come together, right? Because he mentioned in earlier, we saw in verse 20, coming together when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. So he's not saying you don't take the Lord's Supper at church, but he says when ye come together, tarry or wait. But the way they were doing the Lord's Supper, they were coming to church not with the attitude, this is something we're going to be doing together, but they're like, well, let me just get my bread and just eat my food and move on with my day. But what we should be doing as we come together, we're here in one place that we tarry or wait for everybody to get their bread, right? Verse 34, And if any man hunger, let him eat at home. So once again, don't come to church, right? I mean, look, you are free that if you say, well, you know what, I'm not going to wait, you are free to walk out of church right now. That would be a really weird reason to leave a church service, but you're welcome to leave right now if you're not going to wait. They come not together under condemnation and the rest will be said in order when I come. So Paul's saying that the church is going to be judged and be held accountable if they're not doing things the proper way, right? Go back to verse 24. And point number one, we said that when we take the Lord's Supper, it's done simultaneously, sub i, sub i, same time. That's something that unites us together as one. We're doing it at the same time. But point number two, the reason why the Lord's Supper unites us is because it's all about who? The Son of God. It's all about Jesus. It's all about the Son of God. Notice the end of verse 24. This do in remembrance of me. In remembrance of who? Well, these are the words of Jesus Christ. Paul's reciting the words of Jesus Christ. This do in remembrance of me. Do it in remembrance of Jesus Christ about the Son of God. The end of verse 25. In remembrance of me. See, this is the reason why as we have the bread and we have the juice, what you're going to notice is we don't bring wine, alcoholic fermented wine for the Lord's Supper. Now, I didn't grow up Catholic, but if you grew up Catholic, you might have drank some wine at church services as a young child because they give you wine at the Lord's Supper. You say, well, why don't you use wine? Because it's a sin to drink wine. The Bible says, look not upon the wine when it moveth and giveth color in the cup, moveth itself aright. And so, look, we're not supposed to drink fermented alcoholic beverages, and so if we were drinking wine, then we're sinning as we're remembering the Lord. Why doesn't that work? Because Jesus was sinless. The sinless blood of Jesus Christ. He never sinned. He never did anything wrong. And it's also the reason why we eat bread that is unleavened. You say, pastor, why don't we just buy Skyflakes? Because it's a bread product. Because it's leavened. And you know, it takes a little bit of work. My wife made the unleavened bread that we're going to eat in, but it's like the Bible says, unleavened bread. You say, why? Because we're remembering the Lord Jesus Christ, and leaven in the Bible is a picture of what? Sin. And so when we take the Lord's Supper, we have non-alcoholic, non-fermented wine, which another name for that is grape juice, and unleavened bread. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Now this is an interesting phrase here, because if you remember in the Gospels, when they're about to take the Lord's Supper, what does Jesus call the Lord's Supper? He calls it the Passover. And what you see in the Bible is the Lord's Supper replaced the Passover. The Passover, which, you know, passing over the door that had the blood on it, right, in Exodus chapter 12, as they're escaping Egypt, and the firstborn child is struck dead with all the Egyptians, but if you have the blood on the door, I will pass. I will pass over you, right? And, of course, you know, we know that Jesus Christ died, you know, just over 2,000 years ago, right? 2,000 years ago He died. He paid for our sins. Well, here's the thing. The Passover was done right before Jesus died. And yet we know it as the Lord's Supper. You say, why? Because the Lord's Supper replaced the Passover. It's known as the Passover in the Old Testament, and there is a change to it. You say, why? Because we don't kill a lamb in 2024. That would be heretical, in my opinion, if we killed a lamb and we ate a lamb as part of the Lord's Supper, because Jesus was already resurrected, and He doesn't mention killing a lamb. There is a change from the Passover to the Lord's Supper. So the Lord's Supper replaced the Passover. Because, remember, the Passover was said to be something that was lasting forever. Why did it last forever? Because it became the Lord's Supper, and there's a change because the Lamb of God has already risen again and paid for our sins, right? But what we do in remembrance is the bread, and we do the grape juice. And it says Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Then it says in verse 8, therefore let us keep the feast. The feast of what? The feast of the Passover. And, you know, remember, I think it's Leviticus 3. It mentions all these feasts that are mentioned, and the Passover was a feast that they would take. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so when we take the bread, it is unleavened, right? When we take the Passover, or the Lord's Supper, we use unleavened bread. Now go to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. And so, you know, you might ask, well, why is it that we take it right before Easter? Because that's when Jesus took it right before He died, and then, you know, He was resurrected. So we do it a week before. Now, I don't think that it has to be on a specific day because realistically we would take it exactly three days before if we were trying to be that specific. The reason why we don't do that is a lot of people wouldn't be able to take the Lord's Supper if we did it three days before Sunday. And so even in the Old Testament, they do adjust the days for certain reasons. So I think it just makes sense a week before. And look, we could take the Lord's Supper at a different time of year. We're just trying to follow the basic pattern we see in the Bible, and they take it right before Jesus died. And so we take it right before Easter. Why do we do it once a year? How often did they do the Passover? Once a year. Now, I don't think it's heresy if a church does it more than once. I'm just saying that's the basic pattern I see in the Bible, so we do it once a year, right before we celebrate the resurrection, which is the pattern that we see in the Word of God. 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. 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. Free are yet carnal, for as there is among you, envy and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men. Now, notice this. He talked about divisions. He talked about being carnal. And then he says this in verse 4, For while one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Look, when it comes to us serving God, it's not about Paul the apostle. It's not about Apollos. It's about the Son of God. That's who it's about. And when the Lord's Supper is taken, guess what? It's not about Paul. It's not about Apollos. It's about the Son of God. When baptisms are done, it's not about Paul or Apollos. Paul said, I thank God I baptize none but the household of Stephanus, because he said, you know, I didn't want people to say I did it in my own name. It's not about Paul. It's not about Apollos or anyone. It's about the Son of God. Now, here's to understand this on a deeper level, because let me read you verse 5 real quickly. And actually, let me just turn there myself, because I don't have verse 6 in my notes. It says, Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom he believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? And then it says here in verse number 6, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Now, the Bible says, I have planted, this is Paul talking, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Now, I believe verse 6 is a very misunderstood verse in the Bible, and it's applied in a certain way, and I don't think the application is wrong, but it's not really what the Bible is saying, because usually the way this is applied when preaching is, well, I gave the gospel to someone. I planted, but they didn't get saved, and somebody else came along and watered it, but God's the one that gave the increase. Now, that's a good application to use, but that's not actually what's being said. If you read the book of Acts, at the end of Acts chapter 18, there's a character known as who? Very zealous man, but with little knowledge, who was taught the Word of God more perfectly, Apollos. Right? And then what happens, Apollos has this desire to go to Achaia. You say, what's Achaia? Well, Achaia was a Roman province whose capital was at Corinth, okay? Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. So, Apollos has this desire to go to Achaia, specifically to Corinth. Guess where the Bible says that Apollos went? He went to Corinth. So, what the Bible is saying is this. Paul... What was that? Oh, okay. I was like, am I the only one who heard that? Am I, you know, okay. Just want to make sure. I want to make sure I'm already not going crazy yet, right? But anyways, Paul planted the church of Corinth, but did Paul just stay at one church, or did he move around to start other churches? He moved around to start other churches. Paul planted, and guess who's the one who kind of took over when Paul was gone? Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So, imagine this sort of scenario to understand this, and this is not what's going to take place. I'm just giving you an example, okay? Let's say, for example, I just left the church after today, and somebody else came in and took over. And they preached here for five years. Like, I've preached here for five years. You know what could take place after ten years? Someone could have the attitude, I'm more like Pastor Stuckey. I'm of Pastor Stuckey. And then someone else says, well, I'm of Pastor Brother So-and-So, right? Well, that would be the wrong attitude for church. And so, Paul was the one preaching to the church of Corinth, but then he's gone. And here's the thing. When he's gone and another man of God is preaching the Word of God, don't have this attitude, why wish that it was Paul preaching? No, actually, be thankful for anyone who's preaching the Word of God. Look, on Wednesday nights, be thankful for anybody who steps up here that's Spirit-filled and teaches you the Word of God. Don't have this attitude, man, I'm excited as Brother So-and-So because if it was this other guy, I wouldn't show up for church. That's the wrong attitude to have. In a way that it could manifest itself in a church like ours or in the modern day, you could say, well, I'm of Pastor Anderson because he got me saved. I'm of Pastor Menace because he taught me more about the Bible. And someone else said, I'm of Pastor Stuckey. That is a foolish and an ignorant attitude that shows you're acting like a baby Christian. That is the wrong attitude. Praise God for whoever got you saved. I guess I'm of Mike Maludich. You say, I don't know who that is because it was just a normal soul-winner that loved God, right? Whoever got you saved, praise God for that. And whoever's taught you the most about the Word of God or whatever you learned, praise God for that. But then if God has made you a member of this church, say, hey, man, I'm thankful for this church. I'm happy for all the things that I'm learning here. Because at the end of the day, it's not about me. It's not about Pastor Anderson or Pastor Menace. It's about the Son of God. It's about Jesus Christ. You never want to have this attitude because sometimes people can have a foolish attitude. You know what? My favorite pastor is Pastor So-and-So. And they'll mention someone they've never met, they know nothing about, someone who doesn't know them, someone who's never prayed for them, and it's just like the grass is always greener on the other side, my friend. And look, I don't say that our church is the best church in the world. There's a lot of great churches. And you know what? I think that if you're a member of any great church, you should feel thankful and blessed, regardless of whether it's this church or another church. But don't have this attitude as if this is just the one person that I can learn from or that I respect. Everybody else is not as good or whatever. That's the stupid attitude to have because honestly, when the men at our church step up on Wednesdays and preach, or someone preaches when I'm gone, and they're spirit-filled, and I listen to the sermons, you know what I do oftentimes? I'm like, man, that's a good point. I need to write that down. I never thought about that. Anyway, I've preached sermons before. Pastor Menace told me afterwards, like, man, I've never thought about that. That's a good point. I'm going to use that the next time I preach on it. You know why? Because when a man is spirit-filled and they study something, God can actually show them something from the Word of God. And so be thankful for whatever you have. And obviously for our purposes, if you're a member here, be thankful for the church you have. Because this is a great church. This is the area where people gather together that love God in Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces, people that love God, they're going soul-winning, people that read the Bible every day, they're striving to serve God and get sin out of their lives. So be thankful and appreciative to what you got. But that wasn't the Church of Corinth. There were those that were years later saying, I missed the glory days of Paul the apostle. It's just like, that was three years ago, man. Get over it. He's somewhere else preaching now. Get over it. Or I missed the days of Apollos. It's like, get over it. Be thankful for anyone. And obviously the Church of Corinth had a lot of men that would step up and preach sermons. It's like, be thankful for what you have. Right? And so when it's saying, I have planted, but Apollos watered, you can make an application of soul-winning, but that's not actually what it's talking about. It's referring to the specific Church of Corinth. Paul planted. Because remember, Paul makes a statement to the Church of Corinth, if I'm not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you. Why? Because he started the church. He got many people saved. He preached the sermons. A lot of areas he's just kind of linking up with the church. But with the Church of Corinth, he started it. He planted it. He got it off the ground. And then he left it in the hands of Apollos, who watered it. Right? And so it says in verse 4, For a one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Paules, are ye not carnal? So if you have this attitude, you're carnal. You're acting like a baby Christian. It's the wrong attitude to have. Right? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom he believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11. Let me say this at your turn in 1 Corinthians 11. As a church, we have no problem with saying this. We are a new IFB church. And when I think of, you know, I remember I first learned I was a Baptist shortly after I was saved. And then I learned one day, I was like, okay, I'm an independent Baptist. You know, King James only, soul winning, old fashioned, standards, all these things. And you know what? I don't think the term new IFB means as much in the Philippines as other places, but you know, as it would in the U.S. necessarily. But here's what I say. You know, the pastors that I really respect and I line up with their beliefs and their love for God and their zeal for soul winning are other churches and pastors that would say they're new IFB. And basically, I've been saved for over 20 years. And as I got saved, I started going to independent fundamental Baptist churches. I started going to those churches before faith-forward Baptist ever existed. And you know, I was saved. I was going soul winning. And the truth is at old IFB churches, I grew a lot. I learned a lot out of the Word of God. You know, people that were spirit-filled, they preached sermons. Now, they're not churches I would say would be the same ones I would necessarily link up with today, but I grew and I learned. But unfortunately, what I saw with these churches is that over the course of like 5 and 10 years, like, their love just seemed to die out. Like, there was a lot of soul winning going on in a lot of Baptist churches in the U.S. when I first got saved. And I remember like years later, it's like you used to have like 40 people that went out soul winning on a Saturday, and then all of a sudden there's like two people. It's like, what happened? And unfortunately, this is like an epidemic that's taken place all over the world with a lot of Baptist churches. And because of that, kind of the label at some point of new IFB came up. If you don't like the label, that's fine. Or whatever. But I'm just saying this because I want you to realize this, that even though I would say I'm new IFB and this is what I line up with and stand with, you know what? If I lived in another country and there was a Baptist church that was right on salvation, I would just be happy to be a member and try to be a blessing to that church. And I would have the attitude, you know what? I can still learn from this pastor. Because I've heard sermons from old IFB pastors and I learn things and I'm like, hey, that's a good point, right? You know, something that I never thought about before. And so you don't want to have this attitude that the only people that have access to the truth in the world are this small group of pastors or churches in the world. That is the wrong attitude to have. Because if you're saved, you've got the Spirit of Truth indwelling you. You've got the Holy Spirit. And I promise you, there are people that live in countries without a good church, but they read the Bible, they love God, and they actually know the truth just from reading the Bible. Even if they've never heard it from any pastor that we listen to, they just read the Bible and they realized, after the tribulation, I think that it means after, right? It's like, I don't need an interpreter for that. You know, this is what the Bible says, right? Point number one, when we take the Lord's Supper, it's done simultaneously, or sabai, sabai. Point two, it is about the Son of God. Point three, it is for who? The saved. Saved people. Who takes the Lord's Supper? Saved people take the Lord's Supper. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26, For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. When we take the Lord's Supper, we are showing the Lord's death. We're reminded of His death. Right? Now, obviously you might be thinking about His resurrection as well, but literally, the bread and the blood is about the death of Jesus. And the resurrection would be three days later, or for our purposes next Sunday, we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. But you're showing the Lord's death. And salvation is in the belief of the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached on you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached on you, unless ye have believed in vain. And so, of course, there's people that, they seem to get saved, they seem to believe, and then years later, they completely reject Christianity. They're a Muslim, a Hindu, an atheist. I knew people from college. I thought they were saved. They said they believed, and then years later, they don't believe in God. I had a friend that was studying Islam years later. He's like, you know, I'm thinking about converting to Islam. It's like, I don't think you ever believed on Jesus Christ then, right? But you believe on Christ, and you're indwelled with the Spirit of Truth. For I delivered on you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. What you're seeing is, the death, the resurrection, it's, this is how we are saved. We believe this. And as we're taking the Lord's Supper, we're reminded of the death of Jesus Christ. And so, the Lord's Supper is for those that believe on that. They understand that. It's for the saved. Right now, of course, in a room this size, in this many people, I cannot individually ask all of you for 20 minutes, double check your salvation or whatever, before we take the Lord's Supper. That would be ridiculous. In fact, for most people in this room, I have never directly spoken to you about it for five minutes. But, you know, you say you believe it, and you're going soul winning, and you're preaching the same things, and nobody tells me you're a heretic. Well, I assume. Well, apparently they believe the same thing. Now, of course, there's always going to be in a big church. I think there's going to be deceivers that come in. That's just kind of the nature of things. But, it's like, I presume that if you're here, you're a normal member of a church that you're saved. Here's what I would say, though. If you come to church and you do not know for sure that you're going to heaven, then I would recommend you not to take the Lord's Supper and let us know so somebody can talk to you after the service and tell you about salvation. If you're a parent and you have a child that you're not for sure they're saved, then if it's in the gray area because obviously I understand this raising kids. Your kids can be in the area where you're not sure. Like, there was a time period with our son Zeph because I had given the Gospel many times where I was like, not for sure. But, we let him take the Lord's Supper yesterday because I'm very confident my son Zeph is saved. But, here's the thing. With your children, if you're not sure about them, then just don't have them take the Lord's Supper, right? You know, it's better just to be saved. But, if you're saved, you're welcome to take the Lord's Supper. You don't have to. As the men hand out the bread and the juice later, I mean, if someone doesn't want to take it, don't like force it into their hand. Like, take it, take it. I mean, it's up to them. If they don't take it, it's perfectly fine, right? Turn in your Bible back to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. We'll close up here. Well, 1 Corinthians 11, then we'll go to 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians 11. So, how is it that the Lord's Supper is a uniting experience? Well, number 1, because it's done simultaneously, or sabai, sabai, same time. Number 2, because it's all about the Son of God. So, it's not this, well, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, or I'm of Pastor Stucker, or I'm of Brother So-and-so, but it's like, no, when we're looking upon that bread, that's about the Son of God. It has nothing to do with any person because it was the broken body of Jesus. When we're looking at that grape juice, it's not about anyone. It does not matter when you look upon that grape juice who got you saved or who taught you the Word of God, because it's about the blood of Jesus Christ. It's for the saved. It's for people that believe this. But lastly, it's for those that are separated from major sins. Okay? Now, I'm not saying that you have to be perfect to take the Lord's Supper. I'm not even saying you have to be blameless to take the Lord's Supper. I don't think you have to be blameless to take the Lord's Supper, but you do have to be separated from major sins. You say, what do you mean? 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27. Wherefore whosoever so eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. So, the Bible says that if you take the Lord's Supper unworthily, you're guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. You say, what does that mean? The Bible says this, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weakened sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. When we are judged, we are chased into the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. And so, the Bible says that when we take the Lord's Supper, that you need to make sure you can worthily take the Lord's Supper. Now, a lot of people apply this to salvation, because there's a reference in Matthew 10 as they go out soul winning, where if someone is unworthy or they judge themselves unworthy to hear the words of God, you move on to the next person. But I don't believe that when it says you take the Lord's Supper unworthily, it's referring to unsaved people. I actually don't think that's even part of being unworthy. Now, you say, why do you say that? Well, the end of verse 30 says for this, well, it says in verse 30, for this cause many are weakened sickly among you, and many sleep. The word sleep means what? To die. But, that is not a terminology given to unsaved people. It's given to saved people. People sleeping, you say, why is it a terminology for saved people? Because we're going to get the glorified body. We're merely sleeping in the ground. If I die today, I'm just taking a nap for, you know, 142 years and 5 months. I'm just kidding. I'm not date setting. I'm just merely sleeping and I'm going to get the glorified body. If you were to die before the rapture takes place, you are merely sleeping. Right? So in verse 30, this is not about unsaved people. It's about saved people. In addition to that, could an unsaved person really examine himself? Because a lot of unsaved people think they're saved. A lot of you before you're saved probably thought you were saved, and that's what you thought because you didn't understand salvation. I believe he's referring and speaking to people that are saved saying, hey, a saved person can be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord, and you know what? If you take it unworthily, you might end up getting very sick, according to verse 30, and you might even die or sleep until the rapture takes place. Now, because of these verses, this is the reason why there are always people that don't take the Lord's Supper. And it's fine. You do not have to take the Lord's Supper. Let me say a few things. If someone does not take the Lord's Supper, don't inside your head think, I knew they were a murderer. I knew that they have some major sin that they're committing in their life. I knew it! Look, there could be many reasons people don't take the Lord's Supper. Maybe somebody has an allergy or health problem with taking bread I know people at churches that I went to before, they would never take the Lord's Supper, but they were a very faithful church member. I don't think over the course of years they just had this major sin. I don't know why they didn't take the Lord's Supper. Maybe they had another reason, or maybe, you know, a lot of people are kind of scared. They're like, if there's a 1% chance that I might die, I don't want to take that risk. And I get that. I'm fully persuaded that, you know, I'll explain to you in a second what this is referring to, but I get that. You might have that feeling. So look, you're not obligated to take the Lord's Supper, and don't judge anybody else for why they did or did not take the Lord's Supper. There could be many reasons why they don't take the Lord's Supper. Right? But what does it mean to do it unworthily? Because the Bible does say you could get sick or you could sleep. Let me also say this. If after today's service, somebody gets very sick over the next week, that does not mean that it's because they took the Lord's Supper unworthily. Look, my family has had like the worst sickness we've ever had, and we're just finally recovered from it. I'm like 98%, although, you know, I still have my tissues here. It's like, it's kind of the season where people get sick. I promise you, some people from our church are going to get sick next week. And if they get sick next week, if you have this attitude, yeah, I thought that they were like, you know, some horrible person. Right? An extortioner or whatever. It's like, that's the wrong attitude to have. People get sick. It's a normal part of life. Okay? But go to 1 Corinthians 5. And actually, let me clearly show you at the end of verse 31 and 32. I want you to pay attention in chapter 11. Chapter 11, we're still there. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 31. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chasing the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. So the idea comes down to judge ourselves or get judged by God. Go to 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 9. I wrote on you an epistle. And by the way, remember we read 1 Corinthians 5, verses 7 and 8, a little bit ago, about Christ our Lord, the Passover sacrificed for us, and let us keep the feast? That's right before what we're reading. Right? Verse number 9, what is right after verses 7 and 8, which we looked at earlier, in reference to the Lord's Supper that replaced the Passover, I wrote on you an epistle not to keep company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or a covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one known not to eat. So the Bible says we are not to keep company with people that have these major sins that are listed here. Fornication. Common sense would say if fornication is something that would get you removed from the church, or we cannot keep company so you can't come together and be in the body, that sins that are worse than fornication, that are under sexual sin, would also get you kicked out. Obviously adultery would be to another level, or other sins that would be taking place would be to another level. But fornication is a big sin. It says, or with the covetous, or extortioners. Covetous, you say, well, what would that mean as covetous that would get you kicked out of the local church? Obviously some of these are a bit gray area because we can all be covetous at times. All of us are probably at least a little bit covetous. But I would say that if somebody, all they do is talk about money, money, money, money, money, money, like the whole time they just talk about money, money, money, money, I would say, yeah, they're struggling with covetousness. And so it'd have to be pretty extreme for someone to get kicked out of church, but if all anybody ever thought about and talked about was money, that could be a problem there. It says, or extortioners. Extortioners is to take money by force. And the most direct application you'd think of is like if you had people that just stole money from people. So if you were to rob someone, steal it by force, but I want you to understand another application because if you think about the horsewoman in the Bible, it talks about how she forced him with the flattery of her words. And if you can force someone with the words that come out of your mouth, I also believe it is extortion if somebody were to basically guilt people into giving them money. As we talked about earlier in the alm sermon, people that are lying and they're basically stealing money from people, it would be extortion. They're forcing people with their words. The Bible says idolaters. So if you were to hand over your purse or your book bag right now and we got a massive idol of Mary, we got a problem. Now I do believe that a Catholic could get saved and they could have the attitude, I spent a lot of money on these idols. I'm not ready to throw them away. And so we're not necessarily saying immediately, but if you're into idolatry and you're coming to church and people see you like holding rosary beads or something like that, it's kind of like, wait a minute, we're not a Catholic church, right? You'd have a problem. And then it mentions in verse 11 some other things. It mentions railer, it mentions drunkard. I believe a drug addict would fit underneath being a drunkard, I think common sense would say. So it has a list of things. But it says that you'd have to leave the world to avoid these types of people. I mean, most people in the Philippines are idolatrists. You'd have to leave the Philippines to avoid idolatry, right? The Bible is not saying that just live in a plastic bubble, never leave your house because people are guilty of these sins. But what it's saying is, wait a minute, in the house of God at the Church of Corinth and in our church, you cannot have people that have these major sins. You say, why? Because when you have these major sins, it's teaching the kids that these things are okay. And the thing is, I have three young kids. I don't want them to just subtly be brainwashed that, well, God's not really serious about this. These aren't that big. No, you know what's going to take place? If it's completely allowed in the local church for major sins, the next generation is going to be guilty of the same sins. And so I'll tell you what, as a father, one of the most important things to me is that I put my kids in a good position to succeed spiritually in life. And I want to be a good example to them. And you know what? I didn't go down the road that a lot of people do because I was raised in a good home, but I want my kids to do better than I did. I don't want them ever getting attached to the wrong music and movies and entertainment and those things. I want them to live clean and godly lives that are separated onto the Lord. In verse number 11, it tells us not to eat with these people. So look, if somebody were to be kicked out of a local church, it's someone we're not supposed to fellowship with. That's what the Bible teaches. And so sometimes people have this attitude when somebody gets kicked out of church, Well, I'm going to try to bring them back to church. It's like, look, I just kicked them out. Don't bring them back. Now, it's different if somebody leaves a church. If somebody leaves a church and they're not kicked out, well, of course, we want them to come back. But if someone is kicked out of church and then people are like, Well, I'm going to maintain friendship with them to try to help them along. Actually, that does the opposite. If they're going to get right, they need to actually have the shame of just nobody is communicating with them. And then hopefully they'll have the attitude, You know what? I miss the church. I need to get right. Now, that doesn't normally happen, but it does happen sometimes. But it says in verse 11, If any man that is called a brother... Well, here's the way that I look at this. Because sometimes people ask this question, Well, pastor, let's say I get somebody saved today, and it turns out they live with their boyfriend or they live with their girlfriend. Right? They're living in fornication, and they got saved today. Should I tell them they're not allowed to come to church? They are welcome to come to church. You say, Well, wait a minute. How could you say that? Well, number one, in the book of Revelation, it talks about being longsuffering with Jezebel that was seducing servants to commit fornication. Number two, you cannot expect someone who just got saved to be living a godly and separated life. And number three, it tells us in this verse, If any man that is called a brother... When someone first comes to church, nobody knows them. They don't know their name. But if they're here long enough, what are you going to call them? Brother, sister, right? Brother so-and-so. Brother stocky. Brother whomever. Sister so-and-so. You're going to kind of give that title in front. So my standard is this. That if someone gets to the point where they're a regular member, where people start knowing their name, then it's at the point where I need to talk to them and say, Well, this is what the Bible says. You've got to make a choice. And this is never a fun thing to do, but it's something that we've done before and talked to people about. And what I would say is we need to be long-suffering with people that just got saved. So if someone just got saved, they start coming to church, they might be guilty of some of these sins or whatever, but that doesn't mean I'm not dealing with it. But my opinion is it should be more than just a couple weeks that they get a chance to be a member, and then give them a chance to grow a little bit and learn, and then I'll talk to them. And I do have conversations like this with people, but I want to give them a chance to know what the Bible says first. But here's the thing about this. If you've been a member of our church for years, you already know what the Bible says about this. That's different. It's very different. Someone who's new to our church, they can't really judge themselves or examine themselves because they don't know what the Bible says. But if you've been a member of our church for years, you do know what the Bible says about this, because I preach it. And here's what the Bible says, because remember, you don't have to turn there, but what we read in 1 Corinthians 11 is, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged in the context of the Lord's Supper. And then what does it say here in verse 12? For what have I do to judge them also that are without? Do ye not judge them that are within? Paul says, hey, judge the person within the church that is guilty of these sins, but them that are without, so someone who's not in the church, God judges. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. So the Bible's saying, if we judge ourselves, then we're not going to be judged. Here's the thing about this. If we don't judge ourselves, we're going to be judged by God, because here's what I can say with a clear conscience before God today. At this church, I am not aware of anybody at the church that needs to be kicked out of church. I'm not aware of anybody that would be close to that line. I can say that with a clear conscience before God. But here's the thing. If you are guilty of these sins and you know that you deserve to be kicked out of church, you're not even worthy to be a member of the church and you're living in these sins, I don't know about it. Maybe nobody else knows about it, but guess who knows about it? God. And so look, if you're living in a major sin that would get you kicked out of church, yeah, when you take the Lord's Supper, you might get sick and maybe God will strike you down. Now here's the thing. Let me say this. I don't go above what the Bible says. I'll give you an example. The Bible mentions fornication. Let me explain to you another major sin. Addiction to pornography is a major sin in epidemic. But I do not believe that being addicted to pornography gets you kicked out of the local church. Now it's a major sin that I would say, hey, you should come to me privately so I can try to help you out, give you some counseling, give you some tips, because it's going to destroy your life. It's going to destroy your marriage. Even if you're not married, it's going to destroy your future marriage. But I don't believe that would get you kicked out of church because I can't think of a verse that would say that would get you kicked out. I think it's a huge sin. I do believe God's going to judge you, but I don't think that would get you kicked out of church. I don't think God struck down 23,000 people in one day for that sin. Or let's give another example of something not as grievous. You say, Pastor, I don't know if I can take the Lord's Supper because I still listen to rock music. I'm sure a lot of people in this room listen to rock music. Even though I preach against it, I'm sure people listen to the wrong music. That doesn't get you kicked out of church. You don't have to be 100% blameless to come into church. You don't have to be 100% blameless to take the Lord's Supper. If you listen to the wrong music and watch the wrong movies or whatever, that's not something that gets you kicked out of church. But if you're guilty of these sins, or inside your heart, you're like, Man, I don't even know if I am allowed to come to church. I'm scared to tell Pastor Stuckey about my sin because he might kick me out. Well, then I would say, you know what? Don't take the Lord's Supper in a couple minutes. I would say just pretend like, whatever, you've got an allergy to bread. Just don't take the Lord's Supper. And I would say use this experience to say, I need to get right with God now. Because I'll tell you what, if you're not part of our local church, you're going to miss out on a lot that God has to offer for your life. You're going to miss out on a blessed life. You're going to miss out on the greatest friends that you could have in Metro Manila and the surrounding areas. You're going to miss out on a lot. So I would say, hey, if you're worried that you're going down a road of sin and you're close to that line, you're at that line, or you're headed down that line, I'd say use this experience now to say, I need to get right with God now. And in fact, I would say this, is that whenever you have a spiritual event, like you're taking the Lord's Supper, or you're getting baptized or something like that, I mean, every single time I take the Lord's Supper and I look upon that bread and I think about what Jesus did for me, I feel guilty that I haven't done more for God. That is a normal feeling. And I hope that when you get that bread inside your heart, you're saying, God, please help me to do better. Please help me to be more committed to reading the Bible and less worldly and more godly and all those things. Those are good things to do. And you know what? That guilty attitude is the right attitude to have. That's the way I'm going to feel, because I can think of areas in my life I need to get more right with God. I think all of us, if we're humble and honest, we would say there's areas I need to make changes. And in an event like this is a great area, you reflect on what the Lord did, and you look at that bread, you look at that juice, and you're like, God, I need to get right. But in my opinion, it's pretty clear that unless you're guilty of a sin that would get you kicked out of church, you don't have to worry about taking the Lord's Supper. But I'm not trying to bully or force you into taking the Lord's Supper. If you don't want to take it because you're kind of worried or you say you don't think you're close enough to God right now, you know what? I don't have the same opinion. I think you'd be able to take the Lord's Supper even if you don't read the Bible every day. But you don't have to. It's completely up to you. And if you don't want to, for whatever reason, if you've got an allergy or whatever that's perfectly fine, let us not judge one another. But let us all just examine ourselves. Examine our hearts. And you know what? I don't think you have to worry about taking it if you don't have a major sin, but we should still be examining ourselves and say, Hey, God, I want to make some changes in my life. I need to make changes in this area, in this area, because at the end of the day, Christ gave His life for us. He did everything for us. He's not really asking that much from us. Yeah, you know what? We should be a living sacrifice to God. We should get everything to God because He gave everything for us. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 11. And let me just quickly remind you about how we're going to do the Lord's Supper here. So there's two parts to this. Number one is the bread. Number two is the juice. The bread comes before the juice because that's the pattern we have in the Bible. What I'm going to do is in a minute, not right now, but I'm going to ask the men to hand out the bread. And as the Bible said, we are going to tarry or wait for one another, meaning we wait until everybody gets bread in the room. And also in the mother-baby room, we need to make sure that anyone that wants to take the Lord's Supper that's in there gets bread. And when you get your bread, what you're doing is you're just looking upon it. You can close your eyes and pray to God or just reflect on your life, reflect on what Christ did. Think about what He did for you. And even after everybody gets the bread, I'm going to give a little bit of time so we can all just kind of talk to God in our heads. And then what I'm going to do is I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 11, verse 24. And when I finish this verse, this too in remembrance of me, we're going to eat the bread. Then I'm going to ask the men to hand out the juice. And when the juice is handed out, we're going to do the same thing. Look upon it, reflect upon it. By the way, these are washable cups, so we do want to keep the cups, right? But let me just say this. In verse 25, I'll read verse 25. I'll say, As oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me, and when I get done, well, immediately drink the juice. Right? So not too complicated, but as I said, then afterwards, return the cups for the juice. We'll use them each year. Not too complicated, but at this time, I'm going to ask the men if they could come and hand out the bread to everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 24, the Bible reads, And when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. At this time, we'll have the men come up and hand out the grape juice. We'll have the men come up and hand out the grape juice. We'll have the men come up and hand out the grape juice. We'll have the men come up and hand out the grape juice. We'll have the men come up and hand out the grape juice. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 25, the Bible reads, After the same manner also, he took the cup when he had stopped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. All right, let me just close us in a word of prayer here today. And I'll pray, and then we'll have the last song. But let me pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. And just ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives, God. Help us to use this experience to make changes in our lives, God, and draw closer to you. And I ask you to help us strive to have unity at our local church, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. 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. 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.