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Unity - Is Biblical Unity Possible?
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[Music] [Music] [Music] Good evening. Welcome to this evening service of Pastors Fellowship 2025. Have you enjoyed the day? Has it been wonderful? It has been rich and it has been wonderful. Well, we're glad you're here for the evening service tonight. And let's just take a moment and pray and ask the Lord to meet with us this evening. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the day that we have had. We thank you for the presence of your spirit that has met with us. And Lord, as we come together for this evening service, Lord, we ask for again that your Holy Spirit would fill this place. Father, our desire tonight is that we would experience your presence and your power and your blessing in a very fresh and new way. We pray father that when this evening is over and the two services have been completed and father we walk out of here for the night lord may we be able to say surely god was in the house tonight and lord we will have experienced your presence with us so have your way here tonight we pray in Jesus precious name [Music] amen let's [Music] Dan, now that your belly is full with all that good southern chicken and uh mashed potatoes, green beans, all the stuff, you cannot get sleepy on us. Okay? It's not an option. It is not an option. Oh, we're going to start off with one of our good reformation hymns. Just like it says, the reformation glory. Let's sing it all together. There's a mighty reformation sweeping over the land. God is gathering his people by his mighty hand. For the cloudy day is ending and the evening sun is bright. With the shout of joy we hail. Oh, let's sing a church. Oh, the reformation glory. Let it shine to every land. We will tell the blessed story in its truth we air shall stand. When the voice from heaven sounding warning all to flee from the darks courts the babel back to Zion's free. Let my heart to hear the message and I hasten to obey. And I'm standing in Oh, if you're standing in the truth, let's sing. For the reformation glory, let it shine to every land. We will tell the blessed story in its truth. We air shall stand. Zion's walls again are building in the days of your and the scattered hosts returning to their land once more are rejoicing in their freedom pledging ever more to stand in the reformation truth so grand. Oh the reformation glory let it shine to every land. We will tell the blessed story. In his truth we air shall stand. Christians all shall dwell together in the bonds of peace. All the clashing of opinions. All the strife should cease. Let divisions be forsaken. All the holy join and one and the will of God in all. Oh let's sing it one more time. Church. For the reformation glory, let it shine to every land. We will tell the blessed story in its truth. We all sing that course again. Oh, the reformation glory, let it shine. [Music] We will tell the blessed story and it's true. The air shall stand. Oh, I'll never Oh, I praise the Lord who bought me. Hallelujah. I'm a happy pilgrim bound for glory. That's it. I am singing and I hope to sing forever when before his throne eternal light. Oh, let's praise him tonight. Oh, I will praise him. Hallelujah. I will praise him more and more. If I had 10,000 lives in which to praise him, I could not enough my blessed Lord adore. Oh, I will praise him for salvation. Hallelujah. Richest treasures human spirits ever found. Once I wandered far away was sad and lonely. But I'm dwelling now where pleasures there. Are you thankful for that? Oh, I will praise him. Hallelujah. I will praise him more and more. If I had 10,000 lives and wish to praise him, I could not enough my blessed Lord adore. Oh, I will never cease to praise him. Hallelujah. For he gives me peace abounding every day. He redeemed me from my sins and fully cleans me. And I find his service sweeter all the way. Oh, I will praise him. Hallelujah. I will praise him more and more. If I had 10,000 lives in which to praise him, I could not enough my blessed Lord adore. On the last verse, I will praise him for the strength he daily gives me. I am running now to gain that heavenly prize. Soon with joy I'll reach the goal of life immortal and go sweeping through the gates of oh one more time lift your voice. I will praise him. Hallelujah. [Music] If I had 10,000 lives in which to praise him, I could not enough. My blessed Lord adore. Give him a hand of praise [Music] tonight. Sing this good worship song. How great is our God, the splendor of the King, clothed in majesty. Let all the earth rejoice. All the earth [Music] rejoice. He wraps himself in light. And darkness tries to hide and trembles at his voice. Trembles at his voice. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see. How great. How great is our God. Oh, and age to age he stands. And time is in his hands. Beginning and the end, beginning and the end. The Godhead three in one. Oh, the Father, Spirit, Son, the Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb. Oh, lift your voice and sing. How great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. And all will see how great, how great. Oh, for he's the name above all names. Let's sing. For he's the name above all names. Worthy of all praise. and my heart will sing. How great is our God. Oh, let's sing that line again. Oh, for he's the name above all names, worthy of all praise. And my heart will sing. How great is our God. Then sings my soul. Let's sing. Then sings my soul. My Savior God to thee. How great thou are. How great thou art. Then sings my soul. Then sings my soul. My Savior God to thee. How great thou are. How great thou are. heart. Oh Lord my God, when I allome wonder, consider all the world thy hands have made. I see the [Laughter] stars. I hear the rolling thunder. Thy power throughout the [Music] universe displays. Let's go to that fourth verse. When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation to take me home. What joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim my God how great thou art. Lift your voice. How great. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou are. Oh, how great thou are. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. Oh, watch me now, church. How great thou art. How great thou are. Oh, let's give him a hand [Music] tonight. This evening, we're going to receive an offering. This is the only offering that we receive in pastor's fellowship. I need you to get in your billfold, your pocketbook, in your neighbor's bill fold, and in your neighbor's pocket, and uh seriously, we need you to give the best offering that you can give. We need about $10,000 tonight. No, we really need about $2,500 tonight. And uh you know, Pastor's Fellowship is attempting to try to expand and do a lot of other things, a lot of other ministries, and but you got to be you got to have dollars to do that. And so tonight, I'm going to trust you that you're going to give the very best offering that you can uh for the glory of God and for the work of this pastor's fellowship ministry. Okay, let's pray. Father, thank you tonight, Lord, for again the opportunity and privilege to be here together in this place. Lord, we thank you for pastor's fellowship. Lord, I know just for me what a blessing it has been down through the years. And Lord, uh it continues to bless many hearts and lives tonight. But Lord, we do need the finances to be able to continue not only just what we do in May every year, but Lord, some of the other things that we're attempting to try to do to expand the work and ministry of Pastor's Fellowship. And so tonight, we pray, Father, that you would just bless your bless this offering. And Lord, may you just make it a good one to meet the needs that we have. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Amen. Well, when Allan called me a few days ago and asked me if I would chair these two evening services, and I knew that I was going to be introducing Brother Mitchell Burch. How do you introduce somebody that doesn't need an introduction? Most everybody in the house here knows our dear brother. So, I'm not introducing him tonight. I'm presenting him. I am presenting him to you. I am so thankful. Back in 19 fall of 1979, I met Mitchell for the very first time. And down through the years, we have crisscrossed paths and even had the privilege of serving on his staff for a couple of years at Daypring Church of God. And I love him dearly and I'm thankful for his friendship and for being a wonderful colleague in ministry. I know tonight that if you know him, you know these three things I'm about to say. He loves God with all of his heart. He loves the church. He loves the church of God. He is one of her sons and has a deep long legacy and history uh with the church. And tonight he loves truth and he is a warrior for truth. So you pray for him tonight as he is going to come and preach and proclaim the truth about biblical unity to us. But before he comes, we've got a trio of guys that I know you're going to hear. They're going to come up and sing for us. And after that, Mitchell will come to preach. Hallelujah. Thine the glory. Hallelu. Amen. Hallelu. Thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Halleluah. Thine the glory. Halleluah. Amen. Halleluah. Thine the glory. Revive us again. Hallelu. Thine the glory. Hallelu. [Music] [Applause] Amen. Hallelu. Thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us. Revive us. Revive us again. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I've been held by the Savior and I felt fire from above and I've been down to the river. Yeah, I ain't the same. I'm a prodigor for all my hope is in Jesus. [Music] Thank God my yesterday's gone. I know my sins are forgiven and I been washed by the [Music] blood. I'm no stranger to the prison. See, I've worn shackles and chains. But here's the best part. I've been freed and forgiven and I'm not going back. I'll never be the same. For all my hope is in Jesus. Well, thank God my yesterday's gone. Oh, my sins are forgiven [Music] and I've been washed by the blood. There's a kind of thing that just breaks a man. It'll bring him down to his knees. Lord, I've been broken more than a time or two, but then he picks me up and he shows me what it means to be a man. All my hope is in Jesus. Well, thank God my yesterday's gone. And all my sins are [Music] forgiven. Life been washed by. I know you know it when you sing with us. For all my hope is Jesus. Well, thank God my yesterday's gone. And all my sins are forgiven. Oh yes, they are. And I been washed by the blood. Praise God. I I've been washed by the blood. [Music] Those boys have been singing with me for over 10 years. We travel here and there and around the country and uh just love singing. Love telling people about Jesus. love singing the gospel and I love doing it with guys like Ben Lon and Brandon Pelffrey. It is a joy for me to be here. It's It's good for me to be anywhere. I'm glad to be here to be here. You understand that double positive? Glad to be here to be here. If I weren't here, I couldn't be here. You know what I'm saying? And I would be remiss if I did not say a special thank you to so many of you who on the spur of the moment lifted my name and my need. Thank you. God has heard the prayers of his people and he's helped and he is continuing to help. I would also be remiss if I did not say a special thank you to the preaching committee uh pastor's fellowship steering committee for the honor and the privilege of speaking here again. I was trying to remember brother Frank uh the first time I spoke at pastor's fellowship but I know it wasn't here. It was down on East Tikman Street 127 East Tikman. And uh I was a young kid like some of these young preachers are today and I'm delighted that they're among us preaching. Wow. But I was just a kid preacher and I thought why am I down here among the giants and uh I I I used to I used to honor them. I thought I was I was trying to honor them when I would in the privacy of my own conversation call them elder statesmen. I wouldn't say that out loud, but that's what they were to me. And I looked in the mirror today and uh the Lord reminded me that things do come around and now you are one of them. One of them. So, it's a privilege and an honor to be here and I've enjoyed the day. It's been good. So good. Preaching's been good. The conferences have been outstanding and I know it will continue after this sermon tonight. It will continue on being outstanding. I have been given the the the theme of biblical unity. My my question is is there any other unity that is really unity? I submit that there isn't. and I will probably take all of my 47 minutes in counting to try and tell you about it. I don't know what happens at the end of 47 minutes and I I'm a heart patient so I got to be careful that I don't pull a trap door or something on. Few years ago, I was on my way to a funeral visitation just to pay my respects to the deceased of a family uh friend of mine. And uh on my way, I tuned my radio to a Christian radio station. And uh it wasn't one that I listen to a lot. I normally listen to Sirius XM, Enlighten, or Bluegrass Junction. Um that tells on me a bit, but nonetheless, um I I don't normally listen to a lot of preaching on the radio. I I can't afford it um on a number of fronts. But this particular night, I pulled up to the funeral home in the funeral home parking lot and I had just tuned my radio to this Christian radio station and there was a preacher preaching and I heard him make a statement and the statement pierced me. And I want to share that statement with you and proceed. He said, and I quote, "If you have a faulty christologology, it will produce a faulty ecclesiology. And if you have a faulty ecclesiology, it will produce a faulty sociology." and he ended his statement by saying, "And all of that leads to chaos and anarchy." End quote. And I'll give him credit, the brilliant expositor, Dr. Tony Evans. I want you to stay with me tonight because not only do I want you to understand what I'm going to speak, but I want you to be able to defend it. Defend it as the word of truth. And believe me, you'll need to defend it because you'll face it and be confronted with it later. I want to help us understand that as a part of the church of Jesus Christ, we are born into a new nation. Say new nation with me. New nation, not nations, a new nation. Singular. As citizens of this new nation, we are to live with a new agenda. Not our agenda. a new agenda. The truth of the matter is in a nutshell and maybe I should say this and sit down. When the church acts like the church, it will experience biblical unity. When the church acts like the church, is the church, behaves like the church, the natural product of that righteous behavior is biblical unity. Now, the reality is I I have I have preached this message before, and for those of you who are here from Michigan, just indulge me. You've heard some of this before. So, you don't need to turn to your neighbor and say, "I I've heard him preach this before because I just told them that I have preached this before." But everything I've heard today, I've heard before. How about you? I haven't heard anything new. I've heard some fresh word, but nothing new. So, let me let me reiterate for those of you who have heard it, but let me state it clearly for those who have not. There are three theological truths that help us understand biblical unity. The first is a radical statement and the other two biblical truths that help us understand biblical unity are biblical principles that I want to share with you as briefly as I can. The first one is this this radical truth. God resists unity outside of the church. one. Amen. And many people thinking about it. I'll say it again. Give you a chance to think it over. God resists unity outside of the church. This the statement may not make sense just yet, but follow me. God God resists. He He actually works against man's attempt to become unified outside of the church. Look at a passage of scripture with me in Acts 17:4. It says this, "The God who made the world and everything that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples built with hands. He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth." And he determined the times. He determined the times set for them and the boundaries exact places actually the exact places where they should live. He decided where they would live. He created the nations and determined what groups would live where. And he determined how how long every nation of people would exist. And you might be asking, well, why would he do that? Well, look at verse 27. That they should seek God if perhaps they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us. Why did he why did he create and send to various parts of the earth the peoples of the earth? So that they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us. This verse teaches us that God established global separation, national division, separate racial, ethnic identities and development to force men to seek him for salvation. Why? Why would separation force men toward God? It's because only in their separateness would they realize their limitation, their insignificance, and their smallalness. You see, it is when men are separated that they recognize they cannot be all they wish to be. The point of this divine separation is to get them back toward God. You see, when we are divided in the body, we are not all that we should be or can be. You see, I need you. And whether you want to admit it or not, you need me. We are not meant to live in a vacuum as believers. We are meant to live in fellowship and harmony and oneness and unity. I need you, you need me. We need each other in order to demonstrate the greatness of God and the excellence, the beauty and the purity of the bride. So when men try to come together across racial, social, cultural, class, and doctrinal lines, what normally drives them is the humanistic view that if we can get together, we can pull off what God cannot pull off because we've come together. And you actually hear it today when men are called together. Let's get together and show what we can do. God will never let men come together and show what man can do when he wants to keep them apart to show what only he is able to do. Now the truth is this unity doctrine, this unity truth did not originate in John 17 which is the famous passage of scripture on unity where Jesus prayed that high priestly prayer for the believers that the Lord God had given him that they all may be one. It didn't originate in Acts chapter 2. It starts all the way back in Genesis 11 and verse one. Turn there with me. Genesis 11. Genesis 11 and verse number one. You've read the story about the the tower of Babel. Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass verse verse two as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shannar and they dwelt there. When they then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for for stone and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Indeed, the people are one, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them." Then verse seven, hinge pin critical turning point. Come, God says, come, let us go down there and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them from abroad there over the whole face of the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore, its name is called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord scattered them abroad abroad all over the face of the whole earth. He decided to go down there. Can I just suggest to you that when you're going up and God's coming down, you you need to be careful. When you're rising up the ladder of success and God's coming down to assess it, you need to be watchful and careful. Just it's just a little bit of a a play on direction there. God's coming God's coming down. Man is going up. Here the scripture helps us understand that God is not at all pleased with their efforts. Look at these verses again in verse three of Genesis 11. I'll just break it down quickly. Come, let us, verse four, come, let us build for ourselves. 4B says, come, let us make for ourselves a name. The men of the world decided to come together to build a monument to the power of man. to come together and build a city and a tower that would demonstrate the greatness of man. And God admitted their great capacity. How do we know that that was their purpose? It says in the second half of verse four, "Let us make for ourselves a name lest we be scattered abroad across the whole earth." The intent of man back at the Tower of Babel was to build a name for themselves independently of God. So they sought to unify across race, nation, culture, and class, all speaking one language in order to demonstrate not the greatness of God, but the greatness of man. Now let's answer the question. Did God applaud them? Did God congratulate them on their brilliant efforts? Did God encourage them in their modern genius? Did he support them? Did he sustain them? Absolutely not. What did he do in response to their efforts? The Bible says he came down. They came down. God father, God Son, God sp Holy Spirit. And they confused them. The Lord scattered them across the whole earth. Therefore, they stopped building the city. Therefore, the city was called Babel or confusion because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It cannot be any clearer. In my estimation, God resisted man's attempt to become unified apart from him. And I contend that God will always resist human attempts to have unity outside of him. When men want to come together to unify apart from God, guess who gets the glory? Man gets the glory. They want to demonstrate their clout and their power and their genius and their greatness. What happened? What did God do? God caused them to lose their ability to communicate. And that is true every time there is no unity. There is an inability to communicate when there's no unity. It's true in a marriage. It's true in a family. It's true in a church. And I contend it is absolutely true in a movement of people. Every attempt man has made to find unity outside of God will be frustrated and resisted by God himself. Point number one, 33 minutes in. Number two, the spirit establishes unity through the church. First bold statement, the spirit establishes unity through the church. Paul Billheimr may very well be right when he writes, and I quote, "The continuous and widespread fragmentation of the church has been the scandal of the ages, and the sin of disunityity has probably caused more souls to be lost than all other sins combined." End quote. Staggering idea. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12 says it like this. For even as the body is one and has many members, and all the members, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. Watch this. For by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free, we are all made to drink of one spirit. Church, we cannot deny the unity and the oneness of that one verse of scripture. And so it's the baptism of the spirit or God placing you in the family of God through conversion by the spirit that establishes the unity that God wants us to have. Why? Because only the baptism of the spirit or being placed into the body places you under the direct rule of God. The reason why the church is the only authentic crossracial cross-cultural crossgender basis of unity is because only the church is obligated to live under the authority of God. And so what God did by the spirit is to establish a baptism. You see, unity is a uniquely spiritual experience. Hear me. The government has not. The government cannot and the government will not be able to legislate unity. They will not be able to organize it or politicize it. Why? Because unity is not a political dynamic. Unity is a spiritual dynamic. And it comes not by political power or persuasion or manipulation, but by the power and the persuasion of the Holy Ghost of God himself. Unity, you see, is a gift of the Holy Spirit and a work in the heart of the believer. That's why, listen, that's why the church holds the key to unity. The government does not understand the things of the spirit. That's an that is an understanding that is reserved exclusively exclusively for the church. So if it's not the government's responsibility which we have given too much responsibility to don't I I can't go there. I got 30 minutes. But suffice it to say that the church has given up a lot to the federal government to do that the church chose not to do. Amen. But I want to tell you, we cannot relegate the unity of the body and the unity of the people of God to the government. It will never happen. It will always be fractured. The church must retake. The church must intercept the gift of the spirit of unity again. We must do it. We must do it. The Greek word for baptism is used in the Bible as identification. It is meant to reclassify something. Here the scriptures teach us that we have been reidentified. We have been reidentified to another realm. We have been reidentified into a brand new family. We have been reidentified into a new environment. It's like a friend of mine who adopted two little girls from China. Beautiful little girls. These little girls are still Chinese, but they are in a brand new family now. They come under a new authority now. They have a new name now. Now they're in a new environment now. They've been adopted into a brand new family. And I'm here to tell you, when you were baptized by the spirit into the body of Christ, into only authorized unity under heaven, under God's authority, when you were baptized by the spirit and converted and saved by the glorious grace of God, you were reidentified in a new family. A new order is in line. In the same way, no matter what your race, culture, or class, when you came to Jesus Christ, you entered into God's only authorized unity under his authority. And this unity is established by the spirit for the church and for the church alone. That's why Ephesians 4 and 3 says it like this. Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. You see, we don't create unity. There is nothing you can do to create unity. Truth is, you don't have it in you. I don't have it in me to create unity. Unity is a work, a distinctive work of the Holy Spirit. If you don't believe me, then get out of the spirit and see how unified you'll ever be. It'll be chaos. It'll be a dog fight, right? You can only preserve or endeavor to keep I want to tell you it is an endeavoring. Hello. It's an endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit with some people. It's sometimes an endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit with me. I get it. I get it. But it's an endeavor. It it's it's it's it's the help of the spirit's work in us. Apart from the Holy Spirit, unity meetings are man's attempt to find unity or create it. The Bible says that the spirit has already established unity. We can't create it. We can only live by faith in what the spirit has already accomplished. It takes a sanctified spirit of surrender to live in biblical unity. Look at that Ephesians 4 text really quickly. Ephesians 4. Quickly Ephesians 4:1. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you've been called. Now watch verse two. Sounds like sanctified life to me. With all loneliness and gentleness, with longsuffering and bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace. I want to tell you that is a the hard work of unity. The work of unity is hard. But it that's why it takes a supernatural end of power from the Holy Spirit to live in unity. That's why after hundreds of years we've not solved the race problem or the division problem in the church because men apart from God are trying to create unity when men under God already have unity. The failure listen the failure to find unity in the church in the culture is a result of the failure of the church to pres to to preserve the unity of the spirit. The race problem is not first a social problem. It is not first a political problem. It is not first an economic problem. The race problem in the church is first and foremost a spiritual problem. I'll just tell you right now to the extent that you are entire entirely sanctified to that extent you will live in unity. Hello. Are you kidding me? Nobody here nobody here believes that. Well, I need to preach a little longer than that. Extend my time. To the extent that you're sanctified by the spirit of God, to that extent, you will live in unity. You'll work at it. The spirit will work through you at it. The church has already been given unity because we have been put in the same family. The racial divide in this country and in the church would be significantly narrowed if the church would get its act together. The church already has been given unity because we've been put in the same family. Listen, I have two kids and five grandkids and uh I don't have to ask my kids to be in the family. They're in my family, right? They just are. Andrew Wayne Burch is my oldest. Megan Rochelle Burch Flores is my youngest. And they each have grandbabies. My grandbabies. I don't have to I don't have to tell them that they're in my family. But sometimes I have to ask them to act like they're in my family. I'm a PK. I'm a preacher boy. My daddy pastored for 57 years. Was a faithful member of pastor's fellowship on the steering committee for many years. I remember my big brother and I, we get in dad's Volkswagen. We'd be going on visitation. And uh I didn't always like visitation because I didn't like their dogs and I didn't like their cats and I didn't like most of the time what they fed me. I didn't like it. But I can remember going on visitation and dad would turn about two miles away from the house of visitation. He would say, "Boys, we're going to soand so's house. You need to act like you're our family. Act like you're my sons. Don't embarrass me. Love their dog. pet their cat, play with their kids, eat what's put before you. What was he trying to say? He's trying to say, "Act like you're a part of my family." You don't have to ask your spouse to be a part of your family. They're already a part of your family. But sometimes you have to ask them to act like they're part of your family. Just look straight up here at me. Don't look sideways. The idea is not to become family. The idea is that you are family. Therefore, we should by the spirit's power act like family. Now, listen carefully. When God wanted to confuse the attempts of man to reach unity, he blocked their communication. Genesis 11. When he wanted to unify men, he gave them a new communication on the day of Pentecost. When they heard and understood languages known to them, unknown to them, and spoke in language that they had never learned. Acts two. May I suggest to you tonight that the unity of Pentecost was the direct reversal of the confusion of Babel. At the Tower of Babel, God said, "Unreenerate men want to be unified apart from me. I'll confuse their language." On the day of Pentecost, when the spirit showed up, people spoke with languages they did not know so that people with different backgrounds could come from all around the world and hear the central message of Jesus Christ and him crucified and come to faith 3,000 at a time. God reversed the curse. And I'll just promise you this, Sister Jessica, he will always reverse the curse. And you'll do it with the power of unity. You authentic unity comes only to those who are under the authority of the spirit. So what's our problem? We have a theology where God disunited to keep men limited and the spirit that unifies to to help us understand the unlimited God. So what's the problem? I contend it's a faulty christologology. Christ determines unity within the church. That's where the rubber meets the road when it comes to the possibility of unity in the church. And it's also where we struggle the most. It's just where we struggle. You see, God resists unity outside the church. The spirit establishes unity through the church and Christ determines unity within the church. For Christ himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall that divides men by abolishing in his flesh the immnity strife, which was which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in himself he might make the two into one new man, one new nation, one new man, thus establishing peace or the end of the conflict, that he might reconcile them both into one body, the church, to God through the cross thereby killing the mutual enmity and bringing the feud to an end. Church, the in Christ, listen to me. In Christ, the feud, whatever it is, in Christ, the feud has come to an end in Christ. The question is, are we truly in Christ? Verse 18 of Philippian or Ephesians 2 says, "For it is through him that we both, whether a faroff gentile or near Jew, now have an introduction or access by one Holy Spirit to the Father." You see, Christ ended the conflict, the conflict that existed between the Jew and the Gentile so that the two might be one. Therefore, only in Christ and only having Christ as our reference point will we ever live out the unity that we've been given already by the spirit. Christ died for the fulfillment of his dream. Unity among his people. Do dreams still come true? Yes, by the cross. Yes, through the cross. Yes, in the cross. That's where it happens. How do you preserve the spirit? By living under the cross. Let me share this last passage in the next 19 minutes. I'm so glad my church don't have one of these time tickers. I just preach as long as I want to. A Buffalo church. Colossians 3. I'll honor it tonight. Colossians 3. And have put on the new self, new nation. Are you listening? New nation, new man, new self. In front of the new self is being renewed in true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, cynthian, slave, free. Christ is all in in all. Passage is deep, very deep. And I don't have time to unpack it, but I'm going to I'm going to give you the highlights. Paul says that when you bring the divisions of men into the church of Jesus Christ, you divide it. When you bring those divisions into the church, you turn the church into something that it was not meant to be. I want to bring to this family my agenda. No. No. There's a bigger agenda in here. If you lose sight of the bigger agenda in the household of faith and only focus on your limited agenda, the family never comes together. Let me tell you why the church struggles to come together. We've taken the divisions of the world and tried to force them to work in the church. We've taken what Paul called the old man, how we were outside Christ, how you were in the world, and tried to fit its round peg into a square hole called the church. When you when you enter the church, you enter a whole new family. You have to leave that mess out there. There's a whole different program in here. He's not saying that you're not white. He's not saying that you're not black or or Asian or Hispanic. He's not saying that you're not traditional or contemporary. He isn't saying that that you're not Church of God Anderson or Church of God Cleveland or Church of God of this or Church of God of that or Nazarene or Baptist or UMC or UMG or UMGGGC. He's not saying any of that. He's not saying that. He's not saying that you're not male or female. He's not saying that you're not that you're not traditional contemporary. you're you're you're just distinctly different. He's not saying that if you believe differently about non-essential elements of the gospel that you can't come into the church. What he is saying in these passages and what he's saying in these things is that if any of these things divide you, you have to bring them under the lordship of the cross and Christ. When you come into the church, all people are on the same level. There are no handicaps in the church. There are no advantages in the church. In Christ, human distinctions become nonrelevant when it comes to spiritual progress. They are all overruled and transformed. He's saying that physical differences lose their significance. The problem we face is that we try to bring this old man into a new man, the church, and we try to use our physical, our social, and our theological heritage as an advantage rather than subjecting it to the cross. When you walk through the door, your whiteness must come under the cross. Hello. When you come through the door, your blackness must come under the cross. When you come in the door of the church, that is when you're baptized in, your femin femininity must come under the cross. One woman said, "Amen." When you come when you come into the church, you've got to make sure that all of those personal nuances are sanctified. Those personal preferences are sanctified and laid at the cross of Christ or they will divide. I believe it's because the church has not forced people to come under the cross that there are divisions in the church. Blacks can't worship with whites and afroentrism takes over. Whites can't worship with blacks and euroentrism takes over. But if you look at Colossians chapter 3 11, it's talking about a renewal, a making of brand new where there are no distinctions and no differences. Follow me here. First, he says there are no ethnic or racial differences, Greek or Jew. the Jews and everybody else, right? There were different races being identified. He did not say that you weren't a Jew or you weren't Greek. He just says there's no difference to be made. I'm not to look at a black brother or a sister in my church and make a difference because their skin is different than mine. I have a right to be what God has made me. But listen to me. I have no right to make a difference. Not in the church. I must treat them and they must treat me as equal members of the body of Christ. And when you don't do that, hear me. When you don't do that, you lose Christ. It may help us understand the question of the church's lack of power. I think sometimes we've lost the power of Christ because of the division. Whenever you make a distinction and divide the family, he can't be your father. Look at your neighbor and just say in West Virginia brogue, they ain't no difference. Just ain't no difference. Ain't no difference. I hope you're standing I hope you're sitting beside somebody that's of a different ethnicity than you. There ain't no difference. There ain't no difference. Secondly, there is to be no difference made between circumcised and uncircumcised. This is difficult, but there will be no religious distinctions. Now, you got to follow me here or uh you'll misunderstand me and uh it won't be good. And what do I mean? I believe the apostle is talking about being under Christ. That's the caveat. Being under Christ. Sure, we make distinctions between what is Christian and non-Christian. Get that right. Right. We make a clear distinction. Christian, non-Christian. We don't fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. But what the Jews wanted to do was to force the Gentiles to be circumcised in order to follow the external Jewish practice of religion. I I I love what Acts Acts chapter 15 says really quickly. You got to you got to look at this. Acts chapter 15. You know the debate going on. Acts chapter 15 verse 11 or or verse one. and the the brothers had come together and they were in this major discussion and basically a dispute breaks out and uh the dispute was whether or not the Jewish proelites to Christianity was going to force the gentile converts to be circumcised. And uh the fight was on. They actually sent the the two apostles to uh to to town to talk to the credentials committee about it. And uh they had a little debate. But as it turned out, what happened was the apostle said, "We are not going to require the gentile Christians to be circumcised." And I love what the Bible says. And all the men rejoiced. It's like this. Think of it. Think of it like this. What if in order to be saved, you had to have a colonoscopy? How many would line up? That that was preposterous. So the So Peter says, "Look, we we already have verified the miracles of Christ among them. They're already redeemed. They're already saved. They don't need your ritual to make them converted." And I'm going to tell you something that you may not want to hear. They may not need some of our ritual to be converted. Let me preach it in the next 11 minutes. I mentioned to this this to you in Ephesians 5 that we are to have no fellowship of the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them for it's shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in the secret. Let me just tell you this, my friends. I got to tell you that we cannot fellowship with persons and groups of persons who deny the authority of scripture. We cannot fellowship with people and groups of persons who deny the word of God and its infallibility, its inherency and its inspiration. We cannot fellowship with people and groups of people who will deny the reality of a male and a female in a in a in a marriage that God sanctions. We cannot fellowship with a people like that. We love them. We love them and we share with them but we cannot fellowship with them. He said there can be no distinctions. They wanted to force circumcision. In other words, if people don't worship like we do externally, it cannot be the basis of division and separation. Now listen to me and keep in mind all of this is a subject subject to Christ. If people don't baptize like we do, some people sprinkle, some people pour, some people immerse, that is an external unless you believe in regenerational baptism. And if you believe in regenerational baptism, then make your case, brother or sister. But the truth is we know that it is a sign of an inward reality. It is a sign of an inward work of God's amazing grace. So what I'm more concerned about is the internal reality, not the external practice. Now we have our method. I've counted it up. Brother Frank, I should have asked you permission, but I've I've sprinkled two people in 50 years of ministry. Two two of them. Both of them were heathens on their deathbed that came to faith in Jesus Christ. And they had oxygen and tubes and ventilators and everything else. And and their family was saying, "Would you please," they were conscious. They were saying, "I'd love to be baptized, but I can't get to the pool. I can't get to the river. Can you baptize me?" I said, "I can, but I got to call my b my my uh my Methodist preacher friend cuz I don't know how to do it." And so I called my Methodist preacher friend and he he told me what to do and I took half of his suggestion and a little pan of water and a little picture of water and a towel, put it up around the guy's chin up under his neck and I poured water on his head and I prayed the Holy Spirit would would would help him understand that he was identifying with Christ. We have our method of baptism. I immerse I believe it's the the most the most appropriate and the most articulate way to communicate what has happened in the believer but it is an external practice. We have people fighting over external stuff in the church. Did you use cups or do you share a common cup? Well, co took that out of the picture, didn't it? That shows you just how spiritual it was. Did you use crackers or do you use unleaven bread? Paul said no, no, no. If the internal is straight and is under Christ, the external can vary. Do you know my most meaningful communion experience was at Myrtle Beach with 50 men and the guy that was designated to bring the the juice the Welch's grape juice. Bless God. Welch's grape juice. Don't you change that. The Welch's grape juice and those little flat crackers. no taste. He was designated to bring it. He forgot it. Here we are on the beach. All the guys that were about to have communion. I said, "Where are the elements?" "I don't have any. What do we've got?" He said, "We got Coke and Fritos." I said, "Break out the Coke and break out the Fritos." And I'm here to tell you, we had church. We had church. Why? Because our guys realized for the first time maybe in their life, it wasn't about grape juice. It wasn't about a wafer that dissolved on your tongue in 3 seconds or less. It really was about what was racing around in your mind and in your heart when you were drinking it or eating it. Paul says you cannot divide over externals. Now, I don't suggest you start with Fritos and Coke. Get back to the Bible and get Welch's grape juice. Some people raise their hand in worship. God forbid we'd ever raise two. You know where God set me free to worship God in spirit and in truth. On 127 East Hickman Street in front of Ero Moore and John Connley and Oel Johnson and Bill Nice. I was on the front row. Frank Curtis was sitting right behind me as I recall. And Ero, he had a way of singing the song over and over and over and over. And I kept fighting with the Holy Ghost. I'll raise the other hand if you'll sing another verse. And he would. And I'd put it I wouldn't raise it if he'll sing another. And he sung about six or seven verses. And finally, I shut my eyes. I gritted my teeth. And I had one hand up and I said, "Well, I'm going to go for it. They might throw me out of here as being a radical charismatic, but here we go, God." Amen. And I turned around and Frank Curtis had both of his hands up. Bless God. Freed me up in the Holy Spirit. I'm telling you, I've never had a problem worshiping anywhere since then. Just like God to free you up in the most conservative house in America. Isn't it external stuff? You cannot divide over circumcision or uncircumcision. He says there could be no cultural distinctions, barbarian or cynthian. The Greeks thought that everyone who was not a Greek was a barbarian. Don't that make you feel good in the house of God? If you really wanted to be a barbarian, then be a Cynthian. They were people who had low class, but not just low class, but absolutely no class, no culture. Cynthian. They were not raised to know which fork to eat with first. Outside in, inside out. They did not go to the opera. They did not go to the symphony. No class. So here's the deal. Here's what I believe he's teaching. If someone is in the church from Africa and they want to wear their African garments, as long as they are modest, they are free to do it. Someone from China, they want to wear their garments, they are free to wear it. If there's somebody from the mountains and the hollers of Boone County, West Virginia, and they want to wear their bibbed overalls and t-shirts and their B boots, then they're free to wear it if it's modest. There can be no distinctions. No distinctions. There can be no slave or no free. When persons come into the church from the ghetto or the inner city or from the suburbs, they're equal. the cross. You know, the ground around the cross is level. We've all been saved by God's grace anyway, right? If God has given you the ability to move up the ladder, understand most of us in middle class are one paycheck away from going down the ladder. Don't get too excited about how far you are up the ladder. God has blessed you and now you live in a house with four bedrooms and the three car garages and a boat on the on the at the at the at the lake rather than a shack on back street. You ought to thank God that he took you from where you were to where you are and relate to every brother and every sister in the house of God regardless of distinction. Finally, right at 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Tell you what, I'm setting a record. There are no gender distinctions. What's it say? Galatians 3, neither male nor female. And I just want to tell you, I'm glad it stops right there. Hallelujah. Neither male nor female. And from what we're hearing today throughout Pastor's Fellowship, that's the way it ought to stay. Male or female. That's not the way it ought to stay. That's the way it's got to stay if we're going to remain true to the word of God and the word of truth. You know that women were put down in Jesus day. Greeks would pray, "Thank you, God, for not making me a woman." The women were working in pleasure machines. So Jesus turned the social tables around when he said that they are to be treated equally to men. They are not less than men. They stand beside men. Yes, there are functional differences. They're always equality of persons. However, women are never to be demeaned as less than a man. That's why the Bible says, "Husbands, treat your wife as an equal heir to the grace of God. And the last time I looked, when you love your wife like Christ loved the church, she will follow you to the ends of the earth. You were built to lead. She was built to follow. And if you'll love her like Christ loved the church, she'll follow you. Well, my question was, uh, biblical unity, is it possible? Come up here to the instruments, please. Uh, I I I didn't ask this question. I probably should have, but but but does the time tick on the invitation to or just the sermon? I want to do something really freaky. Every man in here with a beard, I want you to come right up here and stand over here. Every man, hurry. I don't have time. I don't have time. Every man with a beard, come up here. Stand right over here. Every man with a beard, come over here and I want you to look at these bearded men. Hey, every every African-American person in this room, I want you to come and stand right here. Every African-American person, I want you to come stand right here. Where are you? Come on. Come on. Every African-American person, come stand right over here. Right over here. Over here. Separate from us. Are you hearing me, brother? Brother, brother, I want you to stand over there just for a second because I want to show y'all something. I want to show y'all something. Are you a bearded? What? I should have picked something else. There's way too many bearded men. You kidding me? Every African-American, every Hispanic, every Hispanic, every single person in this room, come over here and stand over there. Every single person. Single persons, come over here and stand. I know who you are. I got my got my finger right on you. Every single person come over stand over there. Every every Church of God female pastor come stand over there. Every Church of God female pastor come and stand over there. Every pastor's wife, every pastor's wife, go over there and stand by the women preachers. Come on, girls. Come on, girls. Hey. Hey. Every pastor's husband over there in stand too. If your husband is bearded, go get him and get him over there. All right. All right. Every retired preacher, get up here. All right. Hey, come here. All right. Mark Richardson, Sister Richardson, up here. Up here on the platform. Come on. Come on, Sister Richardson. Come with Mark. Come with Mark. Come with Mark. All right. Look at Brother. I want you to stand back there. I want you to stand between Mark and Isa. Stand between them. Stand between them. Stand between them. Do not let Do not have let let the African-American people stand by themselves. Don't let the Don't let the Latino people stand by themselves. Don't let the Just don't let the bearded men stand at all. Uh lady, women, women pastors, women pastors, get up there. Get on the other side. No, you all have to separate. Y'all have to separate. Y'all have to separate. I want a white person between y'all. A white person. White person. I I want a Hispanic between you all. Come on. Hey, up there. Up there. I got to have you up here. Okay. Hey, Greek. Hey, Greek. Hey, Greek. Hey, Mr. Greek. Go up there. Go up there. Go up there. Go up. Go up and stand by that lady right there. Mr. Greek. Go there. Are there any other ethnicities in this room I missed? Are there any naturalb born Jews in this house? What? Glory to God. Get her right over here in the center. All right. All right. I'm right here. Okay. Right here in the center. She's the nation through which the Messiah came. That's right. Hallelujah. Thank you, sister. What what other uniquenesses do we have in here? Well, we got to have somebody to celebrate. So, I'm going to let everybody else sitting in the seat celebrate. Ladies and gentlemen, hey, hey, hey, brother, pastor, I was looking for you. I need you up here. I need a 6 foot I need a 6'7 African-American guy. I want you to I want you to go up there and stand beside that little Greek guy. Okay. He's the Hey, hey, hey, hey. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's got a dual option. Okay. Hey, hey, hey. He's the guy that asked you all the questions this morning. Stand up there. All right, ladies and gentlemen, everybody standing, all the bearded guys, I want you to turn around and look. Turn around and look. Turn around. Turn around. Y'all turn around and look up there. Look up there. I want to introduce you to somebody. There she is. There she is. The bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the household of faith, the people of God, the people of God. There she is. There she is. Hey. Hey. I know. I know in this world we're not perfected yet, but I'm going to tell you, we're on our way to perfection. And that's the body of Christ. These are the people of God. They're not black and white and Greek and Hispanic. They're not eurosentric. They're not afroentric. They're our brothers. They're our sisters. We can make absolutely no distinctions whatsoever. I celebrate you tonight. I celebrate you. I love you. Even you bearded guys. We can't make any distinctions. The women in ministry, the pastor's spouses, no distinctions. All servants, all people of faith, all people of God, all part of the family of God. I want you to sing it with me. Let's sing it together. Sing it, Caden. I'm so glad. of the family of God. I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by his blood. Join with Jesus as we travel this song. For I'm part of the family. The family. Come on, let's sing that first verse together. You may notice we sing. Hey, turn around and tell somebody, "Hello, brother." Sister around here, it's because we're a family and these folks are so near. When one has a heartache, we all share share the tears and rejoice in each victory in this family so dear. Oh, let's sing this chorus. Oh, I'm so glad I'm a part of the family. Oh, I've been washed in the fountain. Sing. I've been washed in the valley, cleansed by his blooded by his joints with Jesus. Join with Jesus as we travel this song. For I'm part of the family, the family of God. [Music] Hey. Hey. Let's send all these bearded guys back to their seats so we can sit down. Hallelujah. She's glorious. She's glorious. Beautiful. Well, we're at minus 624 and the floor didn't open swallow yet. Yeah. All right. We're gonna just do a quick dismissal. The next service starts at 8:15. Am I correct? 8. Well, you got seven minutes. Okay. 7 minutes.
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