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Hey guys, welcome back. We are glad you are with us. So it's Wednesday and we are praying for you guys. I appreciate you sending us your prayer requests, your praises as well. We are reporting those to the congregation. Now tonight, Acts chapter number 11, the title is Denominations Are Abominations. And in this sermon, you're gonna see why denominations are divisions and divisions lead to unbiblical traditions. Kind of a mouthful there, but we're gonna break that down, talk about it, we're gonna talk about what the new IFB is and what it is not. If you're like me and you've been accused of being in a denomination, and this is gonna help hopefully give you some things to help instruct people on what it really is, which is a move towards biblical Christianity. I hope this helps. It's great seeing you guys, God bless. Right, amen. First Corinthians chapter number one. So if you look down at verse number 10, read this last week, but Paul mentions that he doesn't want any divisions among the people. And so keep your place there, but go to Acts chapter number 11. Acts chapter number 11. So the title of the sermon this evening is Denominations Are Abominations. Denominations are abominations. I'm sure that's not original, but that's what it is. So I thought it appropriate being tomorrow's Independence Day to do a sermon about why we are independent and what we're independent from. And so that's basically what we're gonna be talking about. I'm gonna talk about the independence of what is called New IFB Churches, New Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. We're gonna talk a little bit about what that means, what it doesn't mean. Then we're gonna get into a review about church. What is a church? What does the Bible teach about church? What are the different ways that church is used in the Bible? And we're also going to talk about denominations and why I believe they are abominations. So with that being said, what's a New IFB Church? Well, it says on our website that our church is New IFB. I like that term. I don't shy away from it. It's just a title. That's all it is. New IFB is not an organization. It's not something that you join. It is not something that is governed by any one person. It is simply an identifier. For example, if we just put down, I don't know, let's just say we renamed our church to this, just Shield of Faith Church in Idaho. That doesn't really tell you a whole lot about what we believe. There's all kinds of so-called churches in the world, which is why titles started becoming a thing. People like to categorize, and there's nothing wrong with this, right? People like to categorize, what is your group about, right? People want to know that, and we want to help them know that, okay? It would be pretty dishonest if we just had on our website, well, we're not New IFB. We're just independent fundamental baptism. We reject that, okay? The reason why I think that would be a problem is because there's a lot of other churches in the country that just say IFB, and you know what? A lot of them all have some things in common, okay, which we don't have in common with them. So the term New IFB is simply a title that lets people know what we are about. There's nothing wrong with titles, okay? For example here, you're gonna see one here in Acts chapter 11, the word Christian was a title, okay? Before the word Christian was used to describe the followers of Christ, okay, we're not really told of what people had called them, maybe followers of Christ or something like that. But let me show you this here. Acts chapter 11, look down at verse 25, the Bible says this. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul. Now look at verse 26. When he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, okay? Notice that phrase there, with the church, and taught much people, and the disciples were called Christians first at, I'm sorry, in Antioch. Now, keep your place in Acts because we're gonna come back to it, but go to 1 Corinthians chapter number three, 1 Corinthians chapter number three. So right there, you can see that the Bible is recording for us the first time that the word Christian was used, okay? So obviously we see Saul, Barnabas, Antioch gathered with the believers, they're teaching much people, they're doing the teachings, the things that the disciples do, and people referred to them as Christians. Now probably in a derogatory sense, and they just went ahead with it, okay? That's kind of how churches like ours got the term New IFB. Now, let me just say this, I think it would be more appropriate to think of it this way. Obviously I'm not gonna launch some crusade to change the acronym, New IFB, but really what it is is it's more like our IFB, and I've told some of you this before, okay? It should be like revised independent fundamental Baptist church, or resurrected independent fundamental Baptist church, because what happened is basically the prior generations to us, right? Baptists have been around for a very, very long time, and what happened over time, just like with any organization, any kind of group of people, things go down. So think about it this way, okay? You're in Acts chapter number 11. What happens by the time you get to the seven churches in Revelation? Things have gone down, right? Jesus is having to rebuke the seven churches in Asia, and one of those churches that gets rebuked are who? The Ephesians, okay? And so I'm just bringing this up because over time, when people get together for common ground, things always start off good, they start off well, and they decline. That is human nature, that is just what it is. That will happen to this group someday as well. I don't believe that's happening right now, but it will happen. It is just what it is, okay? So just so that you've got your thinking straight, okay? The New IFB is not an organization. It's nothing that you can join. There's no one that can kick us out. And I have to bring this up because as I've told you guys before, we had some people leave the church a couple years ago, and one of their sales pitches to other people to turn them against us was, Pastor Shelley kicked Pastor Jones out of the New IFB, so you're gonna wanna be on our side. I'm not making this up. This is word for word what people were saying. And he got a good laugh out of that because he was one of the first people to actually call me and offer help, and just comfort when that happened to me, you know? Which speaks a lot about this group that we have. We're all independent of each other, okay? And I wouldn't even say that we're all friends. We all preach against each other. We bicker over different things all the time, okay? But we are like family. And so that's kind of how you wanna think of it. Definitely more like family than friends, which is okay. If, you know, anybody who has the label New IFB, if something bad happened to their church and I had the means, I would help them out. Whether we're different on a little thing here or there, it doesn't really matter, okay? The point is we're a family. We're all in the body of Christ. That's what's important, okay? So with that being said, I just wanna get that point across to you several times this evening, that it is not an organization. Why is that important? Well, because our enemy is like to throw things at us and say, well, it's a cult and you have a leader, okay? That is not true. That is unbiblical, okay? Denominations have leaders. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. So before we get to 1 Corinthians chapter three, I just wanna just rattle off some things that make us independent from let's say the independent fundamental Baptist churches that are out there or denominations or what have you, okay? But specifically what we call the old IFB. Now number one, we have this in common with them, okay? We believe in the written preservation of God's word, not just verbal only. And a lot of these so-called Baptist churches today are declining so bad that I've seen several of them change their statement of faith from we believe in the written preserved word of God to we believe in the verbal inspiration of the word of God. You say, what's the problem with that? Well, the problem with that is when you say we believe in the verbal inspiration of God, you're leaving open to interpretation several things. So you're allowing yourself to basically say, well, you know, the word of God that we have today, we just have English, the Greek is superior, the Hebrew was superior to that and whatever language was before that was superior. And so it leaves a lot of problems. So that's the first one. The second one is very obvious as well. We believe in salvation by faith alone, once saved, always saved. A lot of old IFB churches still believe that, but you're seeing a decline even in that amongst what are called old IFB churches. In fact, a lot of churches that we call old IFB that do have soul winning still, still use the King James Bible. They will allow people behind their pulpits to teach their people that aren't even saved. Hey, they will allow people into their congregations that preach repent of your sins. And that's a big problem. We would never do something like that. Number three is we promote truth over tradition, okay? If there's a tradition and it doesn't make sense and it's not biblical, then we're not gonna do it, okay? That is just as simple as that. Whereas a lot of times in old IFB churches, if you don't follow a specific tradition that they might have, they would tend to look down on you like, oh, you didn't go to Bible college or you don't promote Bible college. Well, you're not as educated as us and therefore you're beneath us, okay? Now these next ones really kind of definitely separate us from the other groups. And that is we are anti-Zionists. We do not believe that Jews are God's chosen people. Practically every page of the Bible teaches that and we go over that a lot. Number five, we're anti-Sodomite, no tolerance, zero tolerance for any Sodomites in church whatsoever, no exceptions at all, okay? Number six, basically what the new IFB is, it's biblical Christianity. That's what it is. That's what it aims to be, biblical Christianity. If the word of God says it, if the word of God teaches it, then we believe it and we teach that and we promote it, okay? That's not always the case in the old IFB, hence Zionism, hence tolerating Sodomites, hence separating children from family, which is my next point, family integrated, okay? We do not believe in having Sunday school. Now let's say that a church springs up, okay? They don't have Baptist in their name and they have Sunday school, but they believe the King James Bible is the word of God in English. They believe salvation the way we do. They have soul winning. You know, there are a lot like us in those things. Then, I mean, I would be like, well, I wouldn't be like, ha ha, you're, you suck. You're not new IFB, you're beneath us. We wouldn't have that attitude at all. In fact, we would have a lot in common with them, I'd hope, and we would just obviously accept them, you know, maybe work with them, whatever the case may be. Post-Trib is the next one. I already mentioned soul winning. Missions are different, okay, in the new IFB. Missions are different. That's one of the things that makes us different than the old IFB as well as other denominations in churches is that we have self-paid missions, meaning our churches pay for them themselves. We don't sell candy bars and goods and services and try to, you know, really dig deep into people's pockets and guilt trip people for those types of things. In fact, a lot of times when there is a missions trip, people just come together and chip in and it just all seems to work out perfectly. And the last one I'm gonna mention, there are many more, is no Bible college. We believe that the church begets the church. Like for example, our church was started by Pastor Roger Jimenez from Fairview Baptist Church in Sacramento, California, which is another reason why I say there's nobody that can just kick us out of the new IFB. You would think that somebody who would attend a church like this for four years would be smart enough to realize that, but you would be surprised at what people are not able to learn, okay? So those are just some quick basic facts on why we are independent from other churches that label themselves just independent fundamental Baptists or what we refer to as old IFB. Now I have a statement here and I think I've said this before. So when people come at me and they say, you are a denomination whether you want to realize it or not, okay? They say that I don't care what you say, the new IFB is an organization. It is a denomination by definition. I'm gonna show you by the end of the sermon why that's not true, but I say this to them and this is something you have to be careful saying to people because it only gets them mad, but it makes a very good point and it is true, okay? The new IFB isn't a denomination, it's domination, okay? That is what I tell them oftentimes and they get very upset. Why? They think it's arrogant, okay? But I can say that and I have Bible for that and you're gonna read that in a moment. It comes from Matthew chapter 16 where Jesus says that he is going to build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, okay? Again, this church is, who's the head of this church? It's Jesus Christ, it's the word of God, it's the Bible, okay? It is not a man, it is not an organization, it is not anything like that. We just happen to have a lot of like-minded groups and friends that believe that with us, okay? So just think about that the next time somebody says, you are in a denomination. No, we aren't. You wish we were, but we're not, okay? Look down here at verse number 11, 1 Corinthians chapter number three. So the Bible says this, verse 11. It says, for other foundation can no man lay then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And you guys already know that all we are doing is building on that foundation. The church is made up of believers, people that are saved. That is what defines a church, okay? Think about it, go back to Acts chapter, don't go back there, but just think back to Acts chapter 11, the first time the word Christian is used, okay? Who were those people? Okay, well it says the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Well, what's the requirement to become a disciple? We have to be saved. We have to be saved to be a disciple, okay? So what is a Christian? A Christian is just somebody that is saved, that is born again, not somebody who just says they are a Christian, okay? They don't believe the right gospel, they are not a Christian, though they may say they go to a Christian church or that they are Christian. I know you guys know that, but I have to say this. I'm gonna give you just a few quick statements here about the new IFB, just some things that I wrote down. I'm gonna say these things. I don't expect you to write them down. This is just to help get your mind thinking about what we're talking about this morning. I'm gonna say this about the new IFB, okay? The new IFB is a thing that isn't a thing, okay? It is a thing that isn't a thing. You say, well, how can that be? Well, because it's not an organization or a denomination, but it's a title that describes who we are, okay? The things that we believe. We believe the Bible. We believe truth over tradition. We believe in soul and we believe in edification. We believe in all the things that we talked about in the beginning of the sermon. Number two, because it isn't a thing, its definition is fluid to certain people. And what I mean by that is if you were to hand out a piece of paper and say, describe what the new IFB is, you're gonna get different answers based on people's perception of it, okay? And so it's just something to be aware of. And what you're gonna find is many of those people will be wrong. There are people that think that this is literally an organization. There are people that go to these churches that think that Pastor Jimenez calls me regularly and tells me what I can and cannot do, or that Pastor Anderson reviews all of our content and tells me what I did right and what I did wrong. Okay, he doesn't have time for that, nor does he even care, okay? That is not true. But there are people out there that believe that, okay? Number three, it's called new, but it's been around for 2000 years. We are not trying to be different than the Christians that were in the Bible. I mean, what do you read in Acts chapter 11? What were they doing? Discipling people, getting people saved, teaching much people, that's what we're doing. We're trying to do the same thing, promoting truth over tradition. Why were they hated so much when they first started and throughout the rest of time? Because what they were teaching was different. It's the same thing for us, okay? Number four, you can't get kicked out of it, but you can remove the label, okay? Now say, but I know pastors that have gotten kicked out, who? Who? We've had pastors that have identified themselves as new IFB. I heard a preacher many years ago, I forgot how many years ago, but he preached a sermon called, Why I'm an Andersonite. Hey, that's stupidity. Basically what you're saying is why I'm a Corinthian at that point, okay? We are Christians, we are followers of Jesus Christ. We are followers of what this book says only. You know, obviously somebody has got some good teaching out there, be edified by it, listen to it, apply it. There's nothing in the world wrong with that, okay? But when you start to put man over Christ, it becomes an idol and I'm gonna prove that to you later on, okay? Now, what if somebody has all the same beliefs that we have, okay? All the ones that I've read, but they're like, I don't wanna be titled new IFB. Fine, you're still new IFB. That's what it is, okay? So what I'm trying to say here is you can't get kicked out of it, but you can remove the label, okay? It's just a moniker, it's just a title. It's something to tell people, hey, this is what we are. It's like our church invite, okay? You know on the back of our invite how we have all those things about our church. So that people can look at that and be like, oh, I wanna check this out or, oh, I don't agree with any of this and they don't have to waste their time and come down here, okay? Because this is what these churches out here do. They're very dishonest, okay? They just put Tree City Church or Life Church or whatever and you're like, okay, well, what does that mean? You have to go there and then when you get there, I mean, you just have no idea what they are, all right? A lot of times they're Pentecostal or they're Calvinist or they're Foursquare or they're Nazarene or they're apostolic or they're west, you know, just some sort of denomination, okay? Our aim is to be honest with people and let them know that we are independent, okay? We don't have any kind of governing body or outside influence that dictates what we do. And all of our like-minded friends are like that, okay? Let's see here, the next one. The church can be New IFB and have never heard of the term New IFB. Nobody would go back in time to Acts chapter number 11, go back to Antioch and be like, I'm from a better time than you are. I'm New IFB and you aren't, you don't even know what that is. Nobody would do that, okay? And so I'm just trying to say a church can be New Independent Fundamental Baptist and have never heard the term, okay? So in other words, if a church just believes the word of God as it is written, they have the right salvation, they're soul winning, okay? They're gonna have the same doctrines that we have and I would say, you know, you are basically independent fundamental. You know, the big deal here with the word fundamental and this is a huge deal and really deserves its own sermon by itself is the Bible says that if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? It's a rhetorical question, the answer is nothing, okay? That is why we should never shy away from that term fundamental. The news, these other churches, they wanna equate fundamentalism with extremism and they wanna equate both of those terms with danger, prison, cult, okay? We have to educate people to the truth that that is not true. This is a fundamental book, this is a foundational book and if you're not fundamental, then you're nothing, okay? That is not my opinion, that is fact and I can prove that. Here's another thing, a new IFB church does not have to agree on everything with every other new IFB church and none of them do and I thank God for that, okay? Number eight, the last one I'm gonna say here is this right here, okay? The founder is not a pastor, it's Jesus Christ, okay? The founder is not a pastor, it's Jesus Christ. You say, how can you say that? 1 Corinthians 3, look at verse 11 one more time. For other foundation can no man lay, then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, the internet will tell you, well, no, Pastor Anderson started the new IFB and Pastor Jimenez, okay? And I don't mind crediting them with all the credit in the world, okay? Because this church, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here today, okay? They made our lives so much easier because their influence on the internet, their influence in the world has made it easier for us to find each other and to come together with commonality and to be one group, okay? But even they would tell you, okay, they're not interested in starting a denomination, they're only interested in biblical Christianity, they're only interested in building upon this foundation which was given to us the moment we believed and we're saved, okay? And so you have to know this because when people come at you with this stuff, okay, they're trying to get you to admit that a man founded the new IFB so that they can label you a cult member and you and I are not going to allow them to do that, are we? We're going to give them biblical answers for what we do, for who we are. Go to John chapter one. So again, the founder is not a pastor, it's Jesus Christ. What these pastors did is they realized, you know what? We grew up in an independent, fundamental Baptist church and by the time they reached adulthood, okay, this is what Pastor Mendez will tell you, this is what Pastor Anderson will tell you, you know, they grow up, they're like, you know what? We're starting to veer off from the truth that we were taught as children and we're going to bring it back, okay? We're going to go against the status quo, we're going to go ahead and stop your tradition and get back to the word of God, that's what they did. We all agree with that and so we are following that process and of course they're great guys, great people, great men of God, so on and so forth so we don't want to let people attack them in that sense, okay? We want to have a clear definition and understanding of what makes us independent from other organizations, other groups that are out there. So what did we learn in 1 Corinthians 3? Well, that Christ laid his life down for us, he became the foundation upon which he's building his church, okay? He is the foundation and so what we do is we are trying to build on that with the tools that he has given us, okay? So look at this here, very basic stuff. John chapter one, verse number one says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Now we're going to get into denominations here in a minute but what I need you guys to realize and to understand is that denominations do not believe this. Let me say that again, denominations, you go to Google and you go to Wikipedia or whatever you want to go to and you type in, list me all these denominations, they do not believe this. They might tell you they believe this but they do not believe this at all whatsoever. Verse two, the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made and that includes the church, okay? That includes his body. Go to John chapter number six, John chapter number six. So I'm just basically giving you a foreshadowing of what's to come when we start talking about denominations and that is that they do not believe the word of God. I don't care if that denomination says we have the King James Bible, if they are a denomination, you're gonna see this very clearly later on, they are an abomination, they do not believe in the word of God, they do not believe in that foundation. Their foundation is a process manual, it is a set of rules and regulations, it is a board of directors, it is some kind of man-made body that they are trusting in. John chapter six, look at verse number 63, the Bible says this, it is the spirit that quickeneth. What does that mean? What does it mean to quickeneth? How does the spirit quicken? Does it make you fast, make you run really fast, make you talk really fast? No, it means to make alive, it is the spirit that makes alive, that gives new birth, okay? Look at what it says next, the flesh profiteth nothing. This is why we cannot have a denomination, this is why we cannot have a body of men over the church because the flesh profiteth nothing. And of course, we could get into repenting your sins here as well, it definitely fits. Hey, but look at the rest of the verse, the words that I speak unto you, remember, this is Jesus saying this, okay? The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So the words that Jesus spake, the words that he has spoken for us, okay, they make alive, it's what saves a person, it's what gives a person new life, okay? And that is what sustains our life, flesh profits nothing, turning from sins doesn't do anything, okay? And I know you guys know this and I know you understand that, but you go look up denomination and every single one of them violates these principles across the board, 100% of them, okay? Now you go to Acts chapter number two, you can leave your place there in John, but go to Acts chapter number two and I wanna show you something else over here. So what we're gonna do now, is we're just gonna kinda continue this review here of church, okay? Remember a church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. He is the living word, he equates his name with word, okay, the words that he speaks, they are alive. They're not like a man speaks, they're not like some author writes down and they change over time or they get buried, they get lost, okay? They are different, they are living, that means they live on throughout generations. Nobody can stop the word of God at any time, anywhere. People can try to add to it, they can take away, they can move, but guess what? Another real true word of God just pops up, another King James Bible's printed or translated into another language and God just keeps putting his truth out there, okay? So that obviously proves the fact that church is made up of believers and what I want you to understand is that denominations are made up of unbelievers. Now there are saved people in denominations, I'm not denying that whatsoever. I'm not even saying that denominations do every single thing bad, okay? There are certain processes that a denomination may have that may be beneficial to a church like ours, I don't know, I don't have the time to look that up, okay, they do things for people, they feed the homeless, that's cool, good, okay? But what does that profit a man if they lose their very own soul? You gotta think about that for a second, okay? In the Bible, okay, in the Bible, you're going to see the word church used in two senses. The first sense is in a universal sense and the second sense is in a local sense, okay? So let's start off here and look at something here. So Acts chapter number two, go to verse 41 here. Look at verse 41, it says, then they that gladly received his word, okay, remember this is Peter speaking on the day of Pentecost here and there's people from all over, Jews from all over the place here, okay, all over the world have come for this event, then they that gladly received his word were baptized, okay, and I'm not talking about water, and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls, okay? This is the beginning here of churches starting to form made up of believers, those that were placed into the body of Christ based off of Peter's preaching. Now skip down just for sake of time, and look at verse 47. So it says, praising God and having favor with all the people, the Lord added to the church daily as should be saved. So during this time here, you have Peter and obviously the other disciples as well, they are preaching the word of God. And remember, what is there like 17 different languages mentioned here, that means there's 17 different or probably even more regions from around the world that people were gathered together, okay? They heard the word of God, they got saved. Now they weren't gonna all necessarily remain right there in Jerusalem, that's a lot of people, okay? And so what happened over time is they went back to their places of residency and joined together and formed their own churches. But what you have to understand is that they're still part of the body of Christ. So again, you're gonna see this in the Bible, okay? The word church is used in the universal sense or the local sense. Now go back in the Bible to Matthew chapter number 16. So just go backwards in your New Testament to Matthew chapter number 16. I'm just gonna give you like three passages about the word church being used in a universal sense. And so why is this important? Well, this is very important to understand our church. It's important for you to understand those that we associate ourselves with, why we're different and how to teach other people what that means, okay? So Matthew chapter number 16, look down verse number 18. So Jesus says this, and I say also unto thee, talking to Peter, that thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church, okay? So what is Jesus saying here? That he has a church. He has his own singular congregation. Now who makes up that congregation? Just anybody in the world? Everybody? All dogs go to heaven? No. People that are saved, that have received him as savior. He says, I will build my church. Notice the tense here, present tense. He's saying, I will build my church. Who is he? John chapter one, basic doctrine. He is the word of God. That proves that the word of God was meant to be living through all time, all generations. Denominations today, you guys already know this, they're all original manuscript only, it's practically all of them, okay? They do not believe in a preserved written word of God. Because if you believe in a preserved written word of God, that means you have to have Christ as your head, Christ as your foundation, and man don't like that. Man wants to be the head, man wants to be in charge, flesh wants to be in charge, okay? So he says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is why I say the new IFB is not a denomination, it's domination. I know it gets people super mad when you say that. So choose your opponents carefully, but it is true. We're saved, we have the truth. We're preaching the truth. We're looking to the Bible to do everything that we do. We're like the Bereans. That's our aim, that's our goal, okay? Is to be more noble than those that do not do that, okay? Go to Ephesians chapter number five, Ephesians chapter number five. And in our generation, in today's day and age, I would challenge anybody in here to find another group of independent churches or whatever you wanna call it, a denomination, anything out there that is doing it right. Show me, where are they? You're not gonna be able to do it. This is it in the world today. Ephesians chapter number five. Look at this here, verse number 23. For the husband is the head of the wife. That word head there means boss, in charge, okay? Number one, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the savior of the body, verse 24. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, not a denomination, okay? Not a 10 page book about rules and regulations that define a denomination, okay? No, the church, people that are saved, born again, okay? Christ's church, the church that he is building. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, he is the word of God. We are subject unto this book, which is why you all are commanded to make sure that what I preach is legit. And if it's not, you have to come and tell me, okay? Because we have to be one and we have to follow what Christ has said. So it says, therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wise be to their own husbands and everything. Go to first Corinthians chapter number 12. Give you one more passage here and then we'll move on. First Corinthians chapter number 12. So again, we're just looking at the word church, okay? The word church in the Bible. You're gonna find it used in the universal sense, as in the body of Christ or the church that Christ is building, okay? Every believer or the local sense. And we'll get to that here in a second. First Corinthians 12, 12. So Paul says this, for as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. And I want you guys to understand this and think about this because what's commonly said about Christianity today? Well, they say this, okay? Well, the denominations, they're just little divisions here and there. It's not really a big deal. They're still Christians, they're still in Christ. You guys in the New IFB, you're the ones that are being divisive by saying they're not saved. Okay, the word of God is what? A sword, okay? Swords do what? Do they glue stuff together? They divide, yeah. Oh yeah, they divide, they cut, okay? Jesus said, I came not to bring peace but to bring division, okay? Why? Because he is the word of God. You see what happens when people neglect the most basic fundamental doctrine in the Bible that Jesus is the word of God? They can't divide, they can't rightly divide anything. They can't teach, they can't think, they can't do anything right. And so you get all these weird denominations which is confusion and we all know that God's not the author of confusion. Look at verse 13. Look at this here. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. See, that's talking about water. Does the spirit baptize you in water or do we do that? We do that, okay? So for by one spirit, by one Holy Ghost are we all baptized or placed into or converted into one body? One body of Christ, one church whether we be Jews or Gentiles. Now there's one that gets cut in half by the butter knife of Zionism or dispensationalism. Look what he says. Whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit. Verse 14, for the body is not one member but many. So the body of Christ is made up of many people throughout centuries, throughout generations, okay? Saved. So there's just, and there's more. We don't have time to get into them. Go to Ephesians four. That's just a few passages there on how the word church is used in the Bible in a universal sense. I'm just gonna rattle these off here for local because we're running out of time, okay? If you go to Acts chapter eight, you look down at verse number one, you're gonna see this phrase, the church which was in Jerusalem, okay? That's singular. That's talking about the local church. First Corinthians one, two, the church of God which was at Corinth. First Thessalonians 2, 14. Churches are in God at Judea. Revelation chapter one, the seven churches in Asia. We already mentioned that. Galatians one, two, the churches of Galatia, okay? So I just want you guys to make sure you understand that and to have that in mind because it can be helpful because people will come at you again and they'll say, well, you know, there's only one church and so these denominations are just many parts of the body. Is that true? That's false. That's false doctrine, okay? Somebody said, well, we're of, you know, so-and-so denomination. Oh, what do you believe a person has to do to be saved? First of all, you're gonna be lucky if they could even answer that and second of all, if they do answer it, you know what the answer is. It always works. Every single time, it has always worked. So let's move on here. You're in Ephesians chapter four. Let's get to denominations, okay? The title of the sermon is Denominations Are Abominations and so now I've gotta prove that. Say, are there denominations in the Bible? No, but there's something like that. So for example, you follow Israel from their conception, from when God brings them out of Egypt, gives them the promised land, feeds them, nourishes them, okay? They pretty much stay cohesive all the way up until you start to see the New Testament, okay? Now, what springs up in the New Testament? What springs up when you get to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Pharisees and Sadducees, okay? And so that kinda, I guess, would be kind of a picture. So you get the Pharisees, they believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees, they don't believe in the resurrection and they don't believe in angels. They're kinda like your new evangelicals today, right? In a lot of senses, like, well, we don't quite think that means what it says, you know? And so that in my mind kind of pictures denominations, okay? Now let me give you the definition of denomination because I had somebody try to do this to me out solely one time and I think this will help you. Here's the definition, okay? So if you just go to the dictionary, this is what it says. A denomination is a recognized autonomous branch of the Christian church, okay? They'll say a denomination is the autonomous, okay, branch of the Christian church. And they'll say, therefore, by you not wanting to be a denomination are therefore a denomination because you're an autonomous, you're independent, okay? You're just an independent branch of the local church. Therefore you're a denomination. What you have to come back at them with is what is the Christian church? If you're gonna use a definition on me then I'm gonna use it back on you, okay? Okay, fine. You wanna play that game, what is the Christian church? And you make them explain that to you and you're gonna get all sorts of answers. Well, it's just anybody who names the name of Christ. Oh, you mean like the guys in Matthew chapter seven that get swan dived into hell because they weren't saved? I mean, what is it? What is it? You make them explain that, okay? And so the whole point in me reading that is to tell you, we are the church. The new IFB is the Christian church. We are a group of people made up of believers that have believed the right gospel that are built upon the foundation that God has given us, which is his son, Christ Jesus. So we are not a branch of the Christian church. We are the Christian church. That's what you wanna tell them. We're not a branch of the Christian church. We are the Christian church. The Catholic church would love nothing more than to have us think, we're just a branch of the Christian church, just a little hard branch of the Christian church, a little harsh group. But nonetheless, you're just a branch of the mothership. No, we are the mothership. We are the Christian church. Ephesians four, look at verse number three. The Bible says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, okay? Obviously a goal as a pastor, a goal of a church is to keep peace amongst the people. Verse four, there is one body. You say, well, how do you get off saying that denominations are abominations? Because there is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One body, one spirit, one calling. And these three are what? One, these three make up what? Salvation. A new man, a new person. Look at verse five. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one conversion, okay? Verse six, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. So if you're missing any of these components, then guess what? You're not in the body of Christ. For an example, if you've got a organization out there like, well, let's just take the Nazarenes and say, well, you're one body, as long as you don't lose your salvation, as long as you don't fall away, as long as you don't throw it in garbage, okay? Then you're good to go. Wrong, that is incorrect. One God, one father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. So if God is in us, can anybody take him out of us? No, that is impossible. That is giving man too much credit, okay? Now I will say this, I think even the world knows that denominations are wrong, which is why you see this push from these professing Christian churches. Say, go to 1 Corinthians 14, which is why you see this push today for Christian churches to drop the denomination. I knocked on this door about a year ago over a meridian and this lady, she's like, well, you're a Baptist, I'm non-denominational and we're the true church of God because we're non-denominational. I was like, well, we are too, but like we're really non-denominational, like we're independent. She's like, nope, you're a denomination, Baptists are a denomination. I'm like, there's a lot of different Baptists. There are Baptist denominations out there, but that's not us. We're an independent Baptist church. And I tried to like, you know, reason with her and explain to her what the deal was. And she just walks away, like, as I'm trying to explain, and she hands me this piece of paper and says, go read that, and then slammed the door in my face. I look at the bottom and it says, the name of their church, which I forgot, is over in Meridian, right off Jacob Court. Yeah, Jacob Court. And it says, such and such church is sponsored by the Foursquare Church of Idaho or something like that. I'm like, wait a minute, what a joke. You're not non-denominational, you're faux-denominational is what you are. But anyways, that's kind of how they all are, okay? A lot of them want to appear like they're non-denominational because even the world knows, you know, what's the deal? Why are there so many different branches that say so many different things? What's the deal with that? I thought the Bible said God wasn't the author of confusion. And so they're starting to realize that. So they're like, okay, we got to appear non-denominational because that's the cool thing to do, okay? Because then we could kind of all blend in and realize that we're the true ones, okay? We're the true ones. So they're trying to get away from labels and there's other reasons for that. They don't want to let people know what they believe and who they are, because again, they want to do this to people. They want to stick their fingers and ears and scratch their itching little ears. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33, look at this. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace as in all churches of the saints. Now in all churches of the saints, you're going to have issues with people or beefing or whatever, okay? But in general, don't we have a peace here because we know we're saved, because we know who our foundation is, because we know that we have the word of God. And that's what this is really talking about, okay? God is not the author of confusion. So you take a Calvinist denomination, you take a dispensational denomination and they are out there, okay? You take the Wesleyans, you take the Methodists, you take the Lutherans, okay? It is so confusing sometimes. It's like, well, what is the deal here? And you know, that tells you who's behind it. Go to Colossians chapter number one. Colossians chapter number one. So that's another reason why I say denominations are an abomination is because of the confusion, okay? The second one is going to be because of idolatry. You say idolatry? They don't have no idols. What are you talking about? This ain't the Catholic church. Let's check your definition of idol. Colossians chapter one, verse 18. And he, now notice here, notice how Paul says this. And he is the head of the body. Isn't that the same thing you told the Ephesians? And I'm going to stop right here and just kind of try to explain what I'm thinking here, okay? So people will say this. Well, denominations are true because in the Bible, apostles had the authority over all of the local churches. Okay, so that means there's nothing wrong with having a group of guys over local churches. The problem with that is the apostles are still over the local churches. Hey, the apostles are a lot of the New Testament, okay? Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians. So anyways, just something for you to chew on there. But look what he says. He says, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, you see that? In all things, he might have the preeminence. Okay, so the Bible here says very clearly that Christ ought to have, should have the preeminence, meaning he should be number one. Go to Wikipedia, go to Google, get your list, get your AI-generated list of all the denominations and their founders, okay? And show me one that has Christ as the preeminence. They say it in all their publications. Oh, we believe in Jesus Christ. We call on the name of Christ. We believe in Christ, okay? What's your founding documents? Is it the Bible? Is it the King James Bible? Or is it something different? It's something different. It is a publication or a series of rules and regulations that they made up. Okay, go look at the Nazarenes. I like to pick on them because they're all over the place here, and they are very adamant about losing salvation, which is something that upsets all of us, okay? Christ is not the preeminence there, not whatsoever. So you know what happens when you take Christ and you move him from that preeminent spot? You know what that's called? That's called instant idolatry. People like everything instant today, right? Noodles, you know, soups, all that stuff. Well, people want their instant Christianity today, okay? And the way you do that is you take Christ out of preeminence and you put man in his publication up there because then you can have instant decisions to do whatever you want to do. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter number one where we first started. So the first thing here, the first reason why I'm saying that denominations are an abomination is because of the confusion. The second one is because of idolatry, okay? Christ is not the center of those denominations. It is a group of men or women or sodomites or some kind of paperwork that they have all signed on and agreed to be bound by. And it's not the King James Bible. It is not the word of God. 1 Corinthians chapter number one, verse 10. Paul says, now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, okay? So there's a second or the third reason rather why denominations are an abomination because they are all divided, you know? Divided on many, many different issues. Now I will say this, I will be honest with you. There is some, there are a few senses where they're united, okay? They're united in that they're all the same religion. They're the religion of human achievement. They're the religion that you have to work for your salvation. I'll give them that. They're the religion that says, well, God didn't preserve his word just audibly and we have prophets and you know, whenever we hear we just kind of give you guys. So I'll give them that, okay? But what is Paul saying here? He's saying, hey Corinthians, I want you guys to stop being divided, okay? What does that mean? That means that God is against division. He's against denominations. Look what he says next, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Just about every denomination out there will speak harshly, negatively about that word judgment. So there's some food for thought. Look at verse number 11. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Jump down to verse 13. We're just gonna read the first three words. Is Christ divided? So if you ever have a denominationalist come up to you and just start running, you know, and just really trying to take over to the conversation and try to make you feel like you're two inches tall. Is Christ divided? I mean, that's a simple way to kind of put it to him, okay? Now let's say this. Denominations are divisions. That is what they are. That is the heart of that subject matter. Denominations are divisions, and divisions always lead to unbiblical traditions, okay? Denominations are divisions, and divisions always lead to unbiblical traditions. There's no way around that. Go to John, the Gospel of John. John chapter number 17. And I'll show you how these divisions actually go directly against the prayer that Jesus made for us before he was crucified. So denominations are abominations for several reasons, okay? Because they provide, they produce confusion. Number two, because they are idolatrous in their practice. Instead of having the literal word of God guide and dictate the church, it is a group of people. It is a group of people that have signed a document saying these are our founding principles and blah, blah, blah, okay? We believe in sprinkling. We believe in sprinkling and immersion. We believe in repentance and, you know, that God gives you the power to turn from sins, and we believe it's a free gift. You know, it's just straight confusion is what it is. And number three, denominations are divisions, and divisions always lead to unbiblical traditions. Look at verse 20, John chapter 17. The Bible says here, this is Jesus' prayer. He says, neither pray I for these alone. Obviously, his converts, his disciples there. This is neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. Again, here's another plug for Bible preservation in Jesus' prayer before he was crucified with the disciples. What does he say? He's praying for those in the future that would believe on him based off of the word that they're preaching, which he gave them. Again, proving that his word quickens and makes alive, and nobody can kill that. Verse 21, that they all, now you're gonna find this phrase three times, okay? Three times in the next two verses. Look what he says, that they all may be one. So what's Jesus' prayer for the body of Christ, for his church? That we would all be one, one in truth, okay? One in him. That they all may be one as thou, Father, are in me and I in thee. Now here's the second time, that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou has sent me. So here's the thing, guys, when we are all one, we have the same Bible, the same gospel, the same principles, okay? We realize that this church stands upon the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. This is our go-to document, okay? The world sees that, and it does something, it deserves respect, okay? They know something is different. That's why I believe he says this, that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And isn't that our job? So when you have division, okay, the world looks at that and they don't see what Jesus said here. They don't see, oh yeah, I'm gonna believe on Christ because there's all these different factions. No, they don't believe that. It's discouraging is what it is. And of course, if I were the devil, I would do that as well. I'd produce as many Bible versions as possible to sow division, cause division, cause discontention, cause confusion, disillusion people. And I would set up as many denominations as possible to keep the world from believing. But Jesus says, no, it is my prayer that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou has sent me. So when a church is united on the truth, they've come together, okay? That is a powerful force that dominates in the world, which of course we know is what his church will do because the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. Verse 22, in the glory which thou gave us me, I have given them. Now here it is that for the third time that they may be one even as we are one. We're getting close to being done. Go to Galatians chapter number six. Galatians chapter number six. I'm sorry, Galatians chapter number one. Galatians chapter number one. This is actually the last passage we're gonna go over. Galatians chapter number one. So again, several reasons, there are all kinds of reasons why denominations are unbiblical. But if you're looking for just a few quick ones, it's the confusion factor, okay? It's the fact that they literally are all in idolatry, every single one of them, 100%. If they have any kind of a document, any kind of board, any kind of a group that is above the word of God, idolatry, that's what it is. At the heart of it, idolatry, they don't like to hear that, but that is the truth, okay? And of course, we know as a result of those things, the denominations are divisions, okay? That's why Paul said, I don't want divisions among you. Okay, I don't want these divisions among you because divisions bring in unbiblical tradition. So let's get this finished here. Galatians one, look at verse six. I marvel, okay? Paul saying this here to the churches, plural, okay? The local churches here of Galatia saying, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto, look at this, another gospel. Well, that's interesting, another gospel. You know why it's important for us to understand that he's talking to the local church, that he's using that word church in the local sense here is because I've heard people spin this, okay? I've heard people spin this and they'll say, see, Paul wasn't just saying this to the Galatians, but he was saying that to everybody. And he was basically saying that they were all, that all Christians have, you know, a time where they don't, you know, where they basically, they don't listen to other people that come into the church and that's what's bad and that's what's a false gospel. Not what these guys said because they were Jews and of course a Jew would never do anything wrong. I know that's kind of hard to wrap your mind around. It was hard for me to spit out, but I've heard it. Okay, that's why I'm saying it. I've heard that, I've heard that taught. Look at verse seven. Not all churches were dealing with the same things. This was specific to them, but it's good for us to know these things so that we can be warned on how the enemy operates. Verse seven, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Okay, so obviously we know that there are people that try to pervert the gospel that do pervert the gospel all the time. We run into them, every once in a while, you'll see one come through here, verse eight. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you, then that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. So what are we supposed to do as Christians when someone preaches anything other than salvation, anything other than the free gift of salvation? We're supposed to allow that person to be accursed. So what does that mean for that person? They're just a little mixed up. They're just trying to help God along. No, it means they're accursed, they're going to hell. That's what that means, okay? Verse nine, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that ye have received, let him be accursed. Again, go show me a denomination that's right on salvation. Can anybody do that? Raise your hand right now if you can do that. That's what I thought. Verse 10, for do I now persuade men or God? Now look at this, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. What is the number one goal of a denomination? It is to please the man in charge or men in charge or women in charge, whatever it is. That's what their goal is. I'm dead serious, I got a story for this one. When I was stationed in Louisiana, we used to go to the Nazarene church because my wife grew up in the Nazarene church, okay? And this dude's reading from the NIV and I had a King James, I walked up to him and I said something, I can't remember what it was, and he's like, keep that Bible. He had me go to Acts chapter eight and he's showing me all these different things I've never even seen before. He's like, you see over that verse is gone, see how this verse has changed? I'm like, what? He's like, oh yeah, the NIV is corrupt. I'm like, just flabbergasted, like, why are you using it then? He's like, well, you know, the board of directors, they'll fire me, I'll be out of here if I use the King James, I'll be out of here if I don't follow the program. I remember thinking like, man, this guy is pretty cool because he's like, I thought of him kind of like a spy, you know, like he's just in this organization trying to set people free, you know? And he had the right gospel too, by the way. So I'm telling when I say people in these denominations, there are some that are saved, it is true. This guy was a pastor, he's like, when I do my own Bobbering, I just use the King James, I ain't down with NIV, but for you guys here, I gotta play by the rules, okay? So what does that say? He's not being the servant of Christ is what that's saying, okay, this is what does Paul say, for do I now persuade men? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not, okay, should not be the servant of Christ. One more thought for you, verse nine, back up one more verse. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man, okay, any man, any outside influence, okay, if any outside influence comes in and preaches any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. So this is another reason why we are independent, okay? Why I believe denominations are abominations is because when any outside influence grips a local church, it's an idol and they do not please God, okay, their aim is to please men. So we're done right here, let me just say a couple of things in closing that I've already said, just because it makes me feel better. Denominations are divisions and divisions lead to unbiblical traditions. Number two, denominations are idolatry, okay? They take Christ and they knock him down a few pegs and they put man in his governing wisdom, if you wanna use that term or their documents ahead of the Bible. And this is very easy, this is at your fingertips. Anybody in here can just go and pick and choose, go read what the Quakers say, go read what the Methodists say, go read the Nazarene documents, okay? They're all available for free on the internet and all of them take place of the Bible. And you know what, there are some people out here, if you ask them that and they've been in that denomination long enough, they will be honest with you and tell you that's exactly how it is, okay? And of course, I'm just gonna leave you with this here, denominations are not good, okay? People say, well, they're still good. No, they might do things that are good, but you know what, so do Buddhists. For a matter, as a matter of fact, I went to a Buddhist temple the other day to fix something and you know what, they were pretty good to me. Gave me a tip and they offered me noodles and all these things. They did some good stuff and I was pretty hungry. So I'm just saying, you know, they do good things, but the problem is what? They don't have the gospel and they're going to hell. Guess what? These denominations, it's the same problem. They don't have the gospel and they're going to hell. So when any outside influence grips a local church, it is an idol, plain and simple. That is why we are and remain independent, but that doesn't mean we don't have our family that's like-minded with us. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for our independence and also for our friends and our family. We just pray, Lord, that you would help us to use this information to properly explain the truth and what your church is to this community, Lord, because we know there's a lot of confusion out there, especially here in the Treasure Valley. We just pray that we would be the vehicle you use to set people straight and get them edified, Lord. And we thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, one more song and then we'll be dismissed.