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🎵Piano Music🎵 You You You Morning we're in Ephesians chapter number four Ephesians chapter four the Bible reads I Therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness With long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace There's one body and one spirit even as you're called and one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism One God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all But unto every one of us has given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men now that he ascended What is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry and edifying of the body of Christ so we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and to a perfect man under the Measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness Whereby they lie in wait to deceive But speaking the truth and love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply According to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind Having the understanding dark and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness You've not so learned Christ if so be you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus He put off concerning the former conversation the old man Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man Which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor who remembers one of another Be angry and said not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath now they give place to the devil Let him that stole steal no more rather let him labor working with his hands a thing Which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that may minister grace unto the ears And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking Be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Let's pray to Lord God. Thank you for this opportunity to hear the preaching of your word I just ask that you would be a pastor me here now Please strengthen him fill him with your Holy Spirit and just as that you would bless the preaching to our edification help us Continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of your son Jesus Christ and it's in his name. We pray. Amen Okay, we're in Ephesians chapter 4 this morning look down at your Bible's at verse number 1 It says I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called With all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering Forbearing one another in love. I want you to notice verse number three Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace So what I want to preach on this morning is the subject of the elements of church unity the elements of church Unity, it's important for us as a church to remain unified That's actually an important aspect of a local New Testament Church is that we are of one mind one accord Striving together for one specific purpose centered around the Word of God and in fact the Apostle Paul When he is writing to the church at Ephesus, he's telling them Hey, I want you to strive to keep the spirit of unity in the bond of peace This is kind of showing us that it has to be intentional right if we want to be unified as a church It needs to make we need to make sure that we actually go out of our way to do it doesn't come by osmosis It doesn't happen by accident. We have to intentionally strive endeavor Put in the effort to keep unity of the spirit in the bond of peace It's often said that attacks from without can often unify us whereas attacks from within can cause division right and When you are when you or myself our church when we're persecuted for the cause of Christ from people from without You know, it causes us to bond together that much the more it causes us to become more grounded It's very easy for us to like each other, you know It's very easy for us to labor with one another because we have a common enemy so to speak which is the devil his persecutors Etc. However, when there's this unity in the church though when there's division when there's offenses when there's when there's Strife within a church that can easily disassemble to let that local New Testament Church Why because of the fact that the strength of a church one of the strengths of a church is its unity God wants us to have peace and be bound by unity in the local New Testament Church The Bible tells us you don't have to turn there Psalm 133 verse 1 says behold How great and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity Hold your place there in Ephesians chapter 4 and go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 1 if you would 1st Corinthians chapter number 1 It's pleasant to dwell together in unity Romans chapter 15 as you're turning to 1st Corinthians 1 Romans 15 in verse number 5 says now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another According to Jesus Christ that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ I want you to notice that in Romans chapter 15 the verse that I just read Tells us that we need to be like-minded one toward another According to Jesus Christ meaning that the unity that we experience in church obviously has to be centered around God Centered around the Lord Jesus Christ centered around his teachings and his word now Why is that important to note well because of the fact that you know? There's a lot of churches out there that are unified around the wrong things You Mean like what well you know sometimes there's churches that are unified around political ideologies They go to whatever Church because it's a Republican Church. It's a conservative Church. It's a Trump supporting Church right it is a Democratic Church, I don't know I don't know if there's churches. Maybe there are churches like that Lutherans. I guess you know But you know that's the wrong type of unity We should not be unified around political ideologies or because you support a Specific president or a specific wing you know a specific belief of how this country should be run But there are churches that are out there that are like that they claim to be Christian They claim to believe the Bible, but the reality is this the reason they even Assemble with or congregate with a specific church is because of the fact that they agree that they hate Biden Right or they hate Kamala Or they love Trump. That's a wrong type of unity to have in a church, okay? Now they have you know sometimes people unify wrong around just the music they go to specific music because of the smoke and the lights and the Entertainment and the lasers and you know whatever else that they provide you know the the CCM And they're like we like to come to this specific church because of the music because of the worship But that's the wrong thing to unify around my friends We should not ask Christians as those who uphold the Word of God Join a local New Testament Church just because of the music and in fact you know music is great, but forget the music You know these are the wrong reasons to unify around a church political ideologies music Here's another one. How about just unifying around the fact that they dislike a church or a pastor That's a wrong reason to unify Like we're all just gonna gather together because we hate this one church, or we hate this one pastor now on the flip side of that It's also wrong to unify because you admire another church or admire another pastor You say why is that well because if that church goes sour you go sour Look what it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 9 God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord Now I beseech you beseech you means I beg you I implore 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 But that they he be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment now before we read on he's saying You know you guys got to have unity even when you judge a specific matter, right? He says in verse 11 for has been declared unto me of you my brethren by them Which are of the house of Chloe that there are contentions among you now this I say that every one of you sayeth I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ now everyone in this group should have just said I am of Christ It's weird that that's even like another category. That's that's the only category that should exist for a Christian, right? He says in verse 13 is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or he baptized in the name of Paul I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius Lest any should say that I have baptized in mine own name now obviously if he's addressing the church of Corinth you know, they should be centered around that pastor who's pastoring the church of Corinth and Even the Apostle Paul who started this church isn't saying don't follow me per se or side with me against someone else You know, you should be following whatever man is there on deck, you know in person at that church and at the end of the day We are of Christ is what he's saying, okay Should be no division Because well, you know if you don't like this particular pastor that I can't come here or if you like this particular pastor I can't come here. No, here's the pastor you should like is the one who's here Okay, I mean that's common sense there What are we talking about? We're talking about these are the wrong reasons to unify in a church What's another wrong reason we're just common interest outside of church You know, we like sports and that's why we're unified here because all the men here love football They love baseball or they love soccer If that's even a sport not just kidding, you know, or they love, you know I just defend a bunch of people, you know, or they love, you know fill in the blank Rugby, you know and that's why we're here because we all share that common interest, you know That's great that you share that common interest but you know, that's not the reason why you should be unified in a church How about this, you know, some people unify in a church Why because of ethnicity? Well, I go there because a bunch of Mexicans go there and I'm Mexican and therefore I don't like to be around other ethnic groups Or whatever we've seen this where it's just all Mexican churches or all black churches or all white churches or all Asian churches That's wrong Somewhere in the Bible that says that a church should be made up of one specific ethnicity But there are people that look for a church based upon the color of the skin Now thankfully, you know, we don't have that issue. Obviously we have all shades here on the entire spectrum Some that are just really black and the other ones are just really like clear almost, you know Ethnicity is a wrong reason to unify in a church How about this, you know some churches unify because of the conspiracies that they buy into Whether they're true or not You know, I've known I've seen churches Then by the way, we teach replacement theology here, but I've known churches that literally their entire ministry is just based off of their abhorrence of the Jews It's like that's all they talk about That's all they preach about every single sermon is against the Jews, but that's an unbalanced diet for the local New Testament Church Why because the Bible tells us that we need to preach the entire council of God not just Focusing and hone in on one specific hobby horse or something like that But there are churches that literally gather together just to hear about that and God forbid if you should preach on anything else That's a wrong reason to unify in a church some people unify because they're just against the government and They're anti backs It's just like well, you know, I need to know though, did you capitulate to the 2020, you know Whatever happened in 22 with the kovat. I need to know that that's the wrong reason to join the church These are these are reasons outside of the Bible that people will utilize in order to join themselves to a church Okay. Well, I gotta know did you vaccinate yourselves or something? Well, you know, let me just tell you there's people in here that got vaccinated. I'm not one of them You know, I'm against vaccinations, but you know, I'm not against someone if they chose to do that You know, that's if that's what they wanted to do. So be it but you know what? I have more in common with the purpose person who got vaccinated who's saved who actually reads the Bible who goes to church on Sundays who soul wins and Believes the right doctrines than someone who's not vaccinated doesn't hold to those things. It's the wrong reason to unify in a church Common interest outside of church because of their ethnicity Because of the conspiracies that they believe Because they're anti-vax There's other churches that unify around the fact that it's more like well, you know, what do you have to offer my children? Is it a homeschooling group? What do you what kind of Sunday school classes do you have? What do you have to offer the youth? This is what we have to offer the youth and it's the same thing that we give to the adults But there's literally people who choose a church based upon You know how much candy you give them out and in their junior church or Sunday school classes and how many activities you have That's a wrong reason Some people unify around a church because of the financial status You know They want to go to a church that is as wealthy or has members that are as wealthy as they are They don't like to you know mingle with the common man Believe it or not. There are churches that are like that and that's a wrong reason to unify in a church But everything I just mentioned are things that churches do this is these are things it's just like well You know and by the way, like I I'll be honest with you. Like I don't even vote I haven't voted in many years because like I don't care and I'm a Christian and you know I don't believe in this lesser of two evils Philosophy or whatever, but but here's the thing. Let's just pretend for a second Let's just fantasize real quick and say that I just voted for Kamala You know, I mean and I don't want to I don't want to use that little shit. That's a bad illustration Let's say it was someone else or something, you know You know, here's the thing but let's say I taught all the right this is way out there though, okay So this is just not gonna have this is a bad illustration though. I've already dug myself too deep We're actually, you know, let's just say in the multiverse Okay, you know I voted Democrat but I held to all these doctrines people should still come to a church It's if the pastor believes, right? Regardless of political ideology or whatever now, this is the world we live in and I'm not gonna do that And I don't really care what goes on out there But what I'm saying is, you know, we should not join a churches because well who what political party do you support? You know, what? What are your views on? You know the vaccinations. What are your views on this? What's your view on 9-11? You know, what's your view on kovat 19 on the shut on the lockdown and you know You know, are you fully Mexican or are you you know? These are nonsensical reasons to unify in a church, okay Go to Acts chapter twos still hold your place or an Ephesians 4 go to Acts chapter 2 And I want you to look at verse 41 of Acts chapter 2 it says In Acts chapter 2 verse 41 then they then they that gladly received his word were baptized Another way of saying received his word means that they got saved Okay The Bible uses various ways to explain someone getting saved calling upon the name of the Lord believing on the Lord Jesus Christ being justified Being cleansed. Here's just another way. They received his word and then they were baptized You said well, how do you know that's referring to salvation? well because of the fact that they were baptized afterwards and Chronologically speaking the Bible tells us that a person is to be baptized after they get saved So the pattern that's being followed here is that they received his word meaning they got saved and then they were immersed in water it says in the same day that were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly in political ideologies homeschooling conspiracy no in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking bread and in prayer skip down to verse 46 and they Continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of Heart the Bible tells us verse 44 also says that in that all that believe were together and had all things common So obviously there's unity in this first church in Jerusalem They're experiencing one accord being of one mind being like-minded and according to verse 42 It's around the Apostles doctrine and fellowship. Okay, meaning that we should be unified around listen to this and this is crazy spiritual things Not carnal things not the things of this world Right, not even things that take place outside of these walls We unify together as believers because we share a commonality Around spiritual matters and that's what matters. Okay Now go back to Ephesians chapter 4 if you would Ephesians chapter 4 I'm gonna give you a few elements of church unity and a lot of this is very basic stuff that you probably already heard But you need to be reminded of less. You should think that we should be unified around other things now Obviously, you know, there are churches out there that maybe believe different than we do regarding end times Bible prophecy Regarding replacement theology, maybe even some of the administrations of the other churches But here's the thing if their basic doctrines are the same we can have fellowship with them, right? If there's if their salvation doctrine is the same we can have fellowship with them Okay But I will say this most churches who believe like we do even on secondary or third issues We tend to be a little closer to Right because we share that commonality But even then my friends the most common Unity that we should experience is within church meaning that we here in this building Should essentially believe the same on these things. Okay, so let me give you a couple elements of church unity this morning first and foremost What should you unify us number one the element of fundamental doctrines? I know this is crazy. But the reason you should be here is because you believe the Bible that I believe You believe the same doctrines that I believe you believe the same about Salvation that we believe the same about Jesus Christ the same about hell the same about damnation The same about soul winning the same about you name it whatever we believe about the Bible are it should line up with one another We can have various interpretations regarding the secondary doctrines of the Bible, but the primary doctrines of the Bible we should agree on We Have assembled as a church because we agree on the fundamental doctrines of the Bible Doctrine divides us from others, but it should unify us as a church This is what has brought us together and as a church as a church in the first place Okay, now what kind of programs we have for the kids now? What kind of music we had now how long the worship is now? What kind of gifts do we give out none of that? What you unify us first and foremost the Bible, okay? The harmony we experience here is due to our common beliefs about the Word of God It says in Ephesians 4 and verse 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Listen to this there is one body and one spirit even as you're called and one hope of your calling one Lord One faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Sounds to me like there's only one right answer right, so we should believe in that one answer skipping down to verse 11 He says and he gave some apostles some prophets and some evangelists some pastors and teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God Unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ the Bible says So the Bible tells us that God gave us a local New Testament church with people who know the Bible to teach you the Bible So that you could be unified with us Now this is why we're not a cult Because here's the thing I tell you what the Bible says and what you should believe and if you don't agree with that It's okay. You could always leave at any time You know It's a it's like a revolving door in a church that if you don't agree with the doctrines of what we believe here first works About this church. You can always find a different church. No one forces you to stay. No one's forcing you to submit here No one's forcing you to just obey by these rules and the commandments of the Lord You have a choice to do so and if you don't like that you can go somewhere else Because why would you want to be somewhere where you don't agree with the doctrines of the faith? It says till we all come in unity of the faith We need that the people who come to our church that get saved they don't know all the Bible So as they progressively learn more Bible by reading the Bible by hearing preaching what happens they come into the unity of The faith meaning they come into agreements with the beliefs of the church Okay, you might come you get saved and you believe a little different about you know end times prophecy or just different Minuscule doctrines of the faith, but then you hear about it in church You're like, you know what? I'm gonna change my belief about that. I believe what this church teaches now now I'm unified with the church in this particular area and It says there that it happens until you reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Now when do we reach that like never this side of eternity? So that means that becoming a Christian or being a Christian is a lifelong process of you Just learning the Word of God and I would hope that if you've been here for a couple years You've learned the Bible I've heard that I hope that you've matured and your knowledge of the Word of God and your beliefs He says in verse 14 that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro Cared about with every wind of doctrine by the slide of men cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceive skip down to verse 16 from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply is According to the effectual working in the measure of every part make an increase of the body unto the edifying of itself In love now for you. This is like yeah, of course, we're supposed to be unified around the Bible around doctrine That's why we come here. Yeah, but you'd be surprised that there's churches that find this offensive There are churches out there that if you bring up this point, they're like, oh hey doctrine divides and it's like in a church Like we should be unified in a church That's why in some churches you have this side believing in faith alone This I believe that you have to repent this side believe repenting your sins to be safe This I believes in baptism over generation and these people are speaking in tongues. I don't know what they're doing over here and They're all they have disunity even in the fundamentals of the faith of salvation They can't come into agreement which is why a lot of the pastors of these non-denom type churches Have to speak out of both sides of their mouth that to be very vague when they preach Right you notice that they were very vague when they preach because of the fact that they have to placate all The categories that are found within their church. If not, it's gonna create division So they'll they'll placate the faith alone by saying we have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and people were like, okay He doesn't believe right about that. But then in person he talks to another person. He's like, oh, yeah You have to repent your sins. If you don't you're not really safe and they're like, oh, okay I thought you had meant this so he has to like speak out of both sides of his mouth to everyone in the Congregation in order to placate them and keep them in church. That's not unity The Bible says that we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully And so it's important that we agree on salvation Folks, it's important that we agree on baptism You know, you have to understand that baptism is for saved people And let me just plug this in if you've been saved, but you have not been baptized You need to get baptized today. The water is nice and warm Okay if you've already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ the next step for you as a Christian is to get dunked completely underwater and come out as a Profession of your faith to the local New Testament Church You're buried with them in the likeness of his death and you're raised to walk in newness of life That's God's command for your life after salvation. And you know what? We don't sprinkle babies here That's a common belief that we all have now if you believe that we have to sprinkle babies you're in the wrong church You know, you got to go to the Lutheran the you know, Lutheran Church some Presbyterian Church or the Catholic Church Because that's what they believe Because they are wrong on salvation Okay, and if you're wrong on baptism, let me just tell you something. You're probably wrong on salvation, too and So, you know we need to agree on salvation we need to agree on baptism we need to agree on the Bible You know, this this church is a King James only Church And what I mean by King James only it means that we only use the King James Therefore we reject all other modern versions of the Bible and I preach many sermons on that Most of us if not all of us know the reason why we reject all those Modern versions of the Bible such as the NIV, ESV, NASB and and so on They teach false doctrine that remove verses they add teachings that are not found in the Word of God They pervert the blood of Christ they pervert salvation Various other things that they do therefore we believe that the King James Bible is the inspired and preserved Word of God for the English-speaking people That's the only version that we accept. Okay You said well, I still think I could use the message every once in a while You're probably in the wrong church Okay These are the doctrines that we must agree upon Hey, we must agree upon the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that he's a hundred percent God a hundred percent man Okay The sonship of Christ. Hey, you must agree with us If you're gonna be in this church, obviously that the Trinity is a biblical doctrine Well, I you know, I kind of have a difference of opinion on that then you're not gonna do well here Being surrounded by a bunch of Trinitarians Okay The Bible sets us apart from everyone else go to John chapter 17 if you would John chapter 17 I'm trying to bring us back to the basics of what should unify us as a church Okay, you know, I don't want our church to be unified around Hitler That's like a thing now amongst young people Where it's just like you like Hitler I love Hitler we can love Hitler together It's like what is that? Hitler's not even a bible-believing Christian. That guy's wicked. He's he's in hell right now That should be a non-God. Well, I think he was a believer. I Think you know, I saw a picture with him where there was a cross in the background or something I think he believes in God or something I'm telling you but there's people who unify around that though Okay, we should not be unified around You know political ideologies political individuals Presidents, you know music stars Hollywood. None of that stuff should unify us whatsoever And you think to yourself like well there are other churches that you know kind of struggle with things like that Well, there's certain churches even in the old IFP. They unify around a Bible college Right They're like, well, this is a hiles church and obviously there's nothing wrong with house churches because they're solid churches But it should just be that this is a Christ Church You know now it's like this is we're all about house overall about North Valley. We're all about Paul Chapel You know, this is where we send our kids So they literally unify around a particular Bible college where they send all their kids to That's a wrong thing to unify around Okay, look at John 17 verse 17 Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth now we often think of sanctification as Being cleansed and that's absolutely true But another way another definition and another way to describe sanctification is just to be set apart Okay, and that's what it is Another way to describe sanctification is just to be set apart Okay Because Jesus in this particular chapter says that he sanctified as well and obviously we know he has no sin Something wrong with him, but he is set apart from everyone else and he says that to sanctify the disciples through what through conspiracies Through particular leaders. No, it says through thy truth Thy word is truth as thou has sent me into the world Even so have I also sent them into the world and for their sakes I sanctify myself That they also might be sanctified through the truth neither pray I for these alone But for them also which shall believe on me through their word that they all may be listen to this one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in Us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. So I want you to notice here He says it's important to be sanctified through the truth in order for them to have unity Okay in order for them to assemble together have unity be of one accord Be one as Jesus Christ is with the Father that unity that they experience. It has to be through the Word of God What binds us together? What causes us to fellowship one with another is the Bible? Okay This is why we don't care what race you are what ethnicity you are I can fellowship if you're with you if you're Asian black if you're Indian It doesn't matter where you come from if you're saved you believe the Bible We have more in common than I even have with my blood relatives that you know to a certain degree Why because at the end of the day we agree on the Word of God, we've been sanctified through the truth We've been set apart by the Word of God itself. Go to 1st John chapter 1 1st John chapter 1. We're talking about unity here Elements of unity is Doctrine the first one the most important thing is when you look for a church you look for what they believe Not for the aesthetics of the church not for What shade of purple they got going on and the lights? Not for the flooring though. This flooring is nice not for how comfortable are the chairs though these are comfortable and Those of you who weren't in the old building you just have no idea You know in the old building they people who came to our church legitimately only came for the doctrine Let's just put it that way. Okay That's the only thing that motivated them come to the churches because of the doctrine because the chairs were just You know, they're pretty they're pretty they're very primitive But this should not be a reason why we come to church, right? First John chapter 1 verse 3 says that that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you That ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and it's not and with the Son Jesus Christ And these things write unto you that your joy may be full Then the excuse me This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness At all if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness We lie and do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light listen to this We have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin What is this teaching us? It's teaching us that Part of the unity that we experience as a church is that we want to be around people who are just not involved in crazy sin We understand we're not perfect We sin every single day the thought of foolishness is sin but there's certain particular sins according to the Bible that merits excommunication from a church and the Bible says that we ought not to even eat With someone who's committing fornication who's involved in extortion who's involved in railing who's involved in idolatry and so forth, right? So part of the unity that we experience here is because we want to be unified with people who are not involved in those sins We don't want to fellowship with people who are drunkards We don't want to fellowship with people who are involved in fornication This is why God provides fellowship in the local New Testament Church because we can't just separate from every fornicator of this world Because not everyone in this world is the same person and even if they are a lot of say people still commit these sins But the local New Testament Church should be filled with people who are not doing these things and this is how we experience fellowship Why because we're both walking in the light We're not walking in darkness. We can rest assured that when we come to church. We're coming to a spiritually clean church Understand what I'm saying It's a spiritually sanctified church not perfect But you know what? I'm looking at a bunch of believers who are probably striving to keep sin out of their life You're striving not to be involved in alcohol and marijuana Fornication adultery and you may know you're like, well, I'm not striving to do those things. I'm not tempted with that Well just in general though, we should abstain from those things And we should view them as iniquity, you know as sinful and something that we don't want to be around That's why we fellowship with one one with another Whereas there's a lot of churches that because they don't practice that the church is just a cesspool of sin What is an element of church unity the fundamental doctrines of the faith what we believe should gather us together, right? We should believe in hell You should believe in heaven We should believe that the Word of God is the literal Word of God And yeah, there are sometimes when it's symbolic but for the most part it's literal We should believe in the fundamental doctrines of the resurrection of the laying on of hands We should agree on those things We should agree on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ Go to Philippians chapter 1 if you would Philippians chapter 1 Talk about elements of church unity should be centered around the fundamental doctrines of the faith what we believe Elements of church unity number two. Here's here's another thing that should unify us and That is the element of evangelism We can experience unity in our church because we share a common objective What is the common objective? We want to get people saved We want to preach the gospel We want to go out and win people to Christ We want to be soul winners. We want our church to be a soul winning Church and we should agree upon that Okay, we share the common goal of preaching the gospel to every creature. We share the common burden That our fellow man needs to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ You see, you know one thing that we have in common you and I that we both think about lost people You Know what commonality we share is that we both think about lost people and we both agree Let's go win them to Christ right That provides unity that's really basic. But you know what? These are the the threads that are holding the unity of our church together though fundamental doctrines of the faith and soul winning Look at Philippians chapter 1 and verse 3. I Think my God upon every remembrance of you Always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy Listen to this for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now now Let me just say something before we read on If you feel like you don't have unity in our church One of the best ways to kick start that up again is literally this come sowing with us Because often when people stop sowing they become more self-centered than others centered You see there we go so only because it's commanded of us We go so only because we love lost people, but it's also just a great way to abstain from being selfish Because when we go and preach the gospel, we're thinking about others In spite of the fact that you're going through problems Right, you're experiencing problems. You're experiencing issues. You're experiencing tribulation And trials but then you get together with someone else in the church and you say but you know what the most important thing is for us to win people to Christ and then you go out you share that commonality and it unifies you a Person who feels this this unity in the church or feels like they're not close to people in the church It's because they're not laboring with people in the church Because the church is meant to go out and preach the gospel Okay, that's what we're here for and it's just like well, you know I'm just here to get my family together and fix my family. Yeah, that's a good That's a good byproduct of coming to church and that will happen But that should not be the primary reason why you come to church Because you know what? Sometimes maybe you're maybe we're not gonna I'm not gonna preach on the family. I don't know, you know Or sometimes maybe you know, you're just gonna go through a season where you don't have obedient children You're just gonna experience merit of problems It's not to say that it's not gonna get fixed later on But you know what one of the best things to do Why you're experiencing those trials is go out and preach the gospel get people saved Like well, I don't agree with that then this is probably not the church for you then Because the commonality that we share here is there regardless of what we're going through Regardless of what trials regardless of the tears regardless of the fire We still share the commonality that we want to go out there and get people saved. I Mean That's what the Bible is talking about fellowship in the gospel what kind of activities you provide for the youth though Here's the activities that we provide for the youth for the ancient for the children Here's the here's an activity we have every single week. It's called soul winning It's a great activity We all go out preach the gospel get people saved go eat go fellowship go laugh go enjoy each other. It's great look at verse 27 He says only let your conversation meaning your conduct be as it become at the gospel of Christ That whether I come and see you or else be absent. I may hear of your affairs I want you to notice this they stand fast in one spirit with one mind Striving together for the faith of the gospel What are you saying I want you guys to be unified around preaching the Word of God preaching the gospel Well, we know that but we you know, we want to be unified around other things folks Think about what Jesus is saying here through the Apostle Paul What is it? What is he what is he saying? I want you to be unified about talking about me Because we're going to preach in the gospel. What are we doing? We're talking about Jesus We're testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ That brings Jesus Christ a lot of honor and pleasure Knowing that a group of people in the local New Testament Church are banding together to go tell people about him That's wonderful that brings unity and You know what? I don't know if you notice this but the head of this church is Jesus Christ So we can't necessarily determine what this what this church is gonna do or what it's gonna become Based upon what we desire what we want We need to ask the boss and the boss says the Lord says I want you to go out there preach the gospel to every creature Testify of the Lord Jesus Christ going there for and teach all nations Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I've commanded you, you know, the Bible is about Jesus Now the byproduct of being a Christian is that it fixes a lot of our problems sometimes, you know Right gives us a lot of answers gives us wisdom That is the fallout of being a Christian is just we benefit from it in every aspect of life But folks, let me just say this don't make that the primary reason why you're coming to church Well, I'm coming to church because I want to fix my marriage. Amen to that Let's fix your marriage. But can you go out and preach the gospel though? I Want to I want to be able to learn how to raise my children Amen to that raise your children, but can you also like raise them as you're going out preaching the gospel? Well, I just want to learn how to overcome depression I got the answer for you go out and preach the gospel Because it'll make you a selfless person It'll help you realize what the real problem is And when you go out and preach the gospel to lost people you'll realize how better your life is compared to others You get people saving you're like man. I actually have it really good number one because I'm saved So my worst day here on this earth will still be someone someone's best day if they're not safe I Let's have fellowship around the gospel go to Philippians chapter 4 if you wouldn't Philippians chapter number 4 Same book there Philippians chapter 4 verse 1 says therefore my brother and dearly beloved and long for My joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved The Apostle Paul really knows how to butter up people, huh? When he writes to them verse 2 says I beseech Euodius and beseech sin Tiki that they be of the same mind in the Lord And I entreat the also true yoke fellow Help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book Of life rejoice in the Lord always always and again. I say rejoice. What is he saying? He says I want Euodius and sin Tiki to actually be unified and I don't think it's a coincidence that in verse 3 He says that he entreats them to be true yoke fellows What does he talk about bear the burden to preach in the gospel? It sounds like Euodius and sin Tiki need to need to start preaching the gospel they need to start going soul winning You don't want to unify you with someone who you don't like in the church Going soul winning together Because when God uses you both it lead someone to Christ Now you have that bond you have that eternal experience that would just last forever. I Mean all of us can testify of a time. We went off Sony We've got someone saved with a sowing partner and it's just like it's there Like we remember that day that we experienced with that person or we change someone's life That's called the fellowship of the gospel and the Bible's telling us here that we need to strive To keep that unity. Okay of the gospel What is an element of church unity well we said the fundamental doctrines of the faith what we believe the element of evangelism what we do Here's another one go to 2nd Corinthians I'm sorry. No, you actually stay in Philippians stay in Philippians Element of church unity number three. Here's here's a big one. Okay So doctrine is important and some of you came because of doctrine Evangelism is important and some of you came because this is a soul winning church But here's one that will keep you here. Okay, and that is the element of friendship Doctrine unites us the gospel unites us friendship actually keeps us here though, okay You have to like the people here if you're gonna stay here Like they have to be your friends Like you got to go talk to them Like you got to like build a relationship with them. You cannot hate them You have to actually like like to be around them You say why because God created the local New Testament Church yes to preach the Word of God Yes for evangelism. Yes to teach doctrine, but here's also what he provided through the local New Testament Church fellowship And what's fellowship hanging around? Just hanging around Just talking to one another Laughing with one another eating with one another Being with one another And let me say this if you're like well, I'm only here for the doctrine I Only I only want to know systematic theology Go so any and that's it Well number one You're not gonna last very long. But let's just say you do you're just gonna be the grumpiest sourpuss in our church If that's all you do if you're like, I just want doctrine just teach me the Bible I just want to win people to Christ. I don't need a fellowship with anyone I don't need that type of relationship in my life right now. Just leave me alone. I'll be in the corner somewhere You're just gonna be a grumpy sourpuss in our church And you're gonna remain listen to this you're gonna remain weird You know what church does to you it makes you not weird And in my experience pastoring this church we attract a lot of weird people And that's okay as long as you start fellowshipping You said what does fellowship have to do with making me not weird? Well, then you start realizing how other people act and you're like, I'm gonna adopt the way this person acts I'm gonna adopt the way they talk. I'm gonna adopt a better attitude. I'm gonna smile 2020 mess people up Apparently made all people autistic or something like that Because everyone says they're autistic now after 2020 is like well, I'm autistic why cuz you're just not social or something No, what you need is a local New Testament Church. You need to make some friends Like I got so much social anxiety. I must be autistic. No, you just need to be in church and go talk to someone and be normal What's normal is actually talking to people? What's normal is laughing, right? The Relationships that we build actually sweetens the labor here at our church and look here's a I'm telling you This is an important element of church unity You actually have to like the people you're going to church with You like well, you know, I thought like as our church gets bigger you don't just don't like everyone I mean that's true to a certain degree just people you don't want to be around as much or something But in general though, you should like the people in our church You come there just like I just love the people I like to be around the people I like talking to the people, you know, because we have a common interest You know, I think about yesterday yesterday. We had the men's activity And it was great. We had a great time. You know, we got a lot of men show up I I preach I was supposed to preach like a 15-minute sermon. It ended up being like an hour or something like that and After that, we had a men's competition. We did planking Okay, what else did we do push-ups and Oh Yeah, we did Bible trivia. We did hanging by your hands. Okay, we did Bible trivia and then what else we did and then all the guys went in the gym and just maxed out on bench. I Don't know about you, but I had a great time And you know, I think that the testosterone went up like really high that day for everyone just being around them in right the planking You know Glen had some ninjutsu move or something that he was doing you look like a gecko the entire time, but We were laughing. We're having fun. We're unified and let me just say this like I love the men more now Just being around the men made me love them more And you like well, did you guys discuss the Bible doctrine? No, we're yelling at each other most of the time telling to get it up Like when they're bench pressing 300 They're taking pre-work everyone's just it stinks in there, you know dudes when they didn't come showered and you know We had a great time You said war you guys doing fellowshiping and Then when we ate we just you have like three groups just talking about different things. Just hanging out just talking to one another Like well, I prefer to have friends outside of church. Oh, you mean like unbelievers. Oh You mean like Christians who don't go to church Like we should be around Christians Who are as devoted if not more than us right who are good influence on us We should be around Christians who go to church Who read the Bible? Who love the Lord Jesus Christ? Who prioritize spiritual things? Why because that way they could exhort us To continue in the faith iron sharpened with iron the Bible says so a man sharpened at the countenance of his face The element of friendship is important. I'm glad you're here because you like doctrine I'm glad you're here because you want to go soul winning but make some friends You know, I know you get all anxious once the service ends everyone gets up. You're just like You just book about you're just gonna have a meltdown But you know what? No one bites No one's gonna look at you weird if you just go up to you introduce yourself and just go and make some friends Why because friendship will keep you here and you know what? That's God's will for your life God's will for your life is for you to be a social creature To develop friendships ladies develop friendships in our church Young people develop friendships in our church And you know what? It's great when the young men hang out with the older man because it matures them a little more The element of friendship That is what brings church unity And you know what? We kind of need to be friends to me and you Because you got to listen to me yell at you for three hours a week So, you know if we're not friends that you're just gonna be offended at me all the time But if you only listen to me up here, but you never listen to me down here You're gonna think that up here is the way I am all the time But when you talk to me down here you realize oh, he's not always angry Oh, he's not always mean he actually oh, he doesn't always yell, you know, or you might think actually oh, he does always yell or you know Look at Philippians 2 verse 1 It says if there be any if there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if Any fellowship of the Spirit if any bows and mercies? Fulfill ye my joy what brings the Apostle Paul joy the same thing that brings the Lord Jesus Christ joy They ye be like-minded listen to this having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife and or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves Look, not everyone every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others What is he saying? You know, I want you guys to treat each other. Well, I want you guys to get along Why don't you guys to be friends? Want you guys to have love? Comfort Being of one accord no strife or vainglory Be humble Esteem your brothers in Christ better than yourself. That's what he's saying there and I want you to notice that in verse 1 he says, you know, if there's any bows of mercies consolation and comfort You can get it through your brothers and sisters in Christ You know, one of the best reasons to develop friendships in church is that people in church will help you get through a hard time Plain and simple But if you don't develop friendships in church, how do you expect to get through the hard times? Like how how do you expect God to help you through this because yes, he comforts you through the Holy Spirit But he also uses people to get you through the hard times Okay The Bible tells us you don't have to turn there Romans chapter 12 verse 9 You could write it down or you can go there. Let love be without dissimulation Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good be kindly Affection one toward another with brotherly love in Honor preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer Distributing to the necessity of the Saints given to hospitality bless them which persecute you blessing curse not Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that we be of the same mind one toward another Might not hide things but condescend to men of lowest state be not wise in your own conceits over and over again. The Apostle Paul is Exhorting the brethren. Hey be kind to one another Love one another come from one another rebuke one another And look, it's important to receive rebuke from your brother in Christ But it's hard to receive a big from a brother in Christ if you don't like them So this is why we're trying to get you to like us so we can rebuke you That's the point You know, I try to strive as best as I can as a pastor to create a lot of unity in our church through friendships That's why we're having a Christmas party this year at my house Yep, you know this year and sometime in December I haven't decided when but I'm announcing it right now party at my house Not on Christmas Day, but sometime before that and ever we did this like two years ago I think it was like two years ago and it was just like the worst idea ever because My house was packed. No one can move everyone just because I had like a small little place, but we move. Yeah, it's still fun Actually, that wasn't the worst one. The worst one was like three or four years ago Where we didn't put a time limit To the party and people are at my house at like three o'clock in the morning Like my kids are asleep. My wife's already in bed, you know, and I'm just there I'm like tired out of my mind and there's still guys in my living room. Just you know, hang it out But you know, those guys are still here though And you know, that's a memory that we'll share for years on end But you know, I want to create your unity here But I want you to realize that you need to have friends here and I don't think it's it's out of place I don't think it's I'm crossing boundaries to say that you know The friendships you have in church should be more than what you experience outside of church with unsafe people That's not too much to ask and I feel like that's what the Bible requires The Bible tells us be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness That's not about being Amish Obviously you have to deal with me about your work and all these things But if you spend more time free time with unsaved people who don't believe the Bible, they're not saved They blaspheme the things of God then you spend with God's people then there's something wrong there And that's probably why you're experiencing this unity in the church It's not because of anything going on in the church is because you are not making friends in the church To be like-minded. What is the element of church unity? It's the fundamental doctrines of the faith what we believe the element of evangelism what we do the element of friendship who we do it with and Then lastly go with me if you would to Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews chapter 13 Here's the last element of church unity and that is the element of one pastor I feel weird kind of having to say this point because I am the pastor But this is something that this is something that binds the church together is a pastor This is why we reject the house church movement Okay, it kind of has just everyone leading the whole thing and there's not there's you know There's too many Chiefs not enough Indians type of a thing and you know You have everyone just coming up with their own interpretation their own him their own doctrine their own administration Whereas we just need one And we need one man to lead that charge And not by the way, let me just boldly say this no pastor outside of this church either We are an independent fundamental Baptist Church And as an independent church an independent church requires one pastor to determine the course of this church No one else outside of the church determines that No one determines what doctrines we teach the administration that we have the direction we're going in You know I was commended unto the Lord when I was ordained and Therefore I'm the one who basically charts the course here Okay, and you're like, well, I don't agree with that. Then you have to go to our church where you can't agree with that The element of one pastor is the one who leads the way and obviously I'm saying this because I'm the pastor here But also we're gonna raise pastors here as well There's people in our church that are gonna be pastors in the future starting future churches and then guess what? You know once they get ordained once they get sent out. I don't determine the course of that church That church needs unity that church needs to be centered around their doctrines their faith their soul and their pastor Look at Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7 It says here remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God I want you to notice these three words whose faith follow Considering the end of their conversation skip down to verse 17 Obey them to have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as They that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Let me say a couple things regarding this passage Number one we see here that the Apostle Paul is saying that there should be one leader who's and it's the one who's actually watching over your souls Now do we listen to other pastors online and all that? Of course, I Mean day and age in which we live, you know We have so much access to a lot of preaching a lot of knowledge But let me just say this when it comes to this church though. You got to abide by what's going on in this church Because we're we're not a part of a universal church Okay You know, you got to obey the leadership here Well, that sounds cultish. No, the cold tells you you got to obey the leadership here and you can't go anywhere else That's not what I'm saying Not only that but it says here that those who watch for your souls must give an account and he's saying there, you know, you should submit to the lead to the leadership because the leadership has to give an account to God and When they give an account about you you want them to do with joy and not with grace Now what I believe this is referring to I don't believe this is talking about like when we go to heaven You know, there's like a separate line for pastors Having to give an account of their church members like how was geo, you know You know, he's I Guess he's okay, you know, he hit three seven three sixteen three seven was it three seventeen three sixteen on the bench But you know, he's a good guy, you know, I don't think it works that way I think what this is actually referring to is when I pray for a church Because When I pray into the church, well when I pray unto the Lord for the church, I'm calling out people specifically you know, I'm praying for you guys specifically by name and The Bible's telling us here that When you submit yourselves, I'm able to like give an account with joy Like Lord, I thank God for geo. I thank God for his wife You know, I thank God for brother Cody. I thank God for his wife and they're just they're an asset to our church They're just love the Lord And I'm thankful they're in our church But the Bible is also saying here That when I pray for you, you know, God doesn't God's warning you. Hey, don't don't make them like pray with grief Let me just let me just pick on some I'll pick on hike cuz I always pick on hike you cool with that hike you good All right, that's a good that's a good example. That's a good example You know, I pray Lord I'm here about hike again Ah You know, I got to do those groanings which which cannot be uttered the Romans eight groanings And I'm just like, I don't know what to do Lord, you know, he's caused me so much grief Just can you just do something with him, you know who or And obviously I don't I don't pray that I love brother. Hi, can I pray? Oh, I always pray for brother hike As I do for everyone what the Bible's telling us here is that that's unprofitable for you, right? Why because then God has to come down on you as It as a Christian or as a church member because you know, you got a D on your report card on your church report card So that's why it says obey them to have the rule over you now, this doesn't mean like obey me in every aspect, right? It's not like I'm even Enforcing rules or something upon you that are just grievous to be born But just it's basically saying just be a good church member Be a church member that promotes unity Be a church member that promotes comfort love evangelism support a good attitude Why so that when I have to give an account before the Lord I say I praise God for TJ He's not talking about the Ravens anymore You know, he's talking about the Ravens and we're you know, now he's just he's a great church member. He's growing in the Lord He's He's an asset to our church. He loves the people here Lord. Thank you. Thank you for brother Lucas, you know Giving account like man this guy that's encouraged. He's been faithful See him in every service. He's just here. I'm like Lord. Thank you for that person and the Lord takes that and But it's unprofitable for you if I have to do it with grief though So what creates unity in the church is the leader who prays for you Leading the charge leading the course of our church So that when things happen in this world things happen in Christianity, you know, you just gotta listen to the captain Okay, let's just band together Stick it out. If something's happening in your life. You're experiencing a storm, you know, I'm there with you Just kind of telling you don't jump ship Just hold on to the mast We're almost out of it. You know, I've been through this before too, you know, if you a little seasick, it's okay You know, you'll get through it When we as a church experience trials and tribulations most of my job is just preventing people from jumping ship It's like don't go to the edge. Don't look at the water. Just look just put your head down Just don't look just close your eyes. Let me chart this course We'll make it out of here The point that I'm making here is that you know, the Bible does tell us be followers of me even as I am of Christ Now Lord willing I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life That's my desire. I believe that's the Lord's desire obviously things can happen in the future that might disqualify me and You know, I can no longer pass or whatever or you know Some evil can come upon me some sickness or something where I'm incapacitated. I'm no longer able to lead but you know, I'm gonna pray that I can do this to the very end and And what I like in my lifetime is to keep unity You know that you would continue to believe the same doctrines That we would be a church that would continue to evangelize even into our old age Okay That we would be here for generations to come because our children grow up here And we would also pass that down to them and they would experience that same unity That we would actually like each other in our church And not be divisive not have strife or vainglory But they would be here doing the work of the Lord charting the course until the very end The point that I'm making here is hey, let's endeavor Let's strive to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace in our church. Amen Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word and I'm thankful for the unity. We do experience in our church This is just a reminder to us all Lord That these are the main Elements of church unity and thankfully we share more things in common than just those things that we that we listed today we share a lot of common beliefs a lot of common interest a lot of common backgrounds and upbringings Lord Personalities and that's a great thing. It just kind of it ties us in even more But more than anything we should always take into account these four things are the most important things to unify us Lord and I pray that you'd help us as your people to emphasize and understand the importance of being independent autonomous churches and To endeavor to keep the spirit of the union the bond of peace at first works Baptist Church. We love you We thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen