YouTube Transcript:
Unity - Is Biblical Unity Possible?

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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
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amen let's
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat.
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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.
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[Applause]
Amen. Hallelu.
Thine the
glory.
Revive
us
again.
Revive us. Revive us.
Revive us again.
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[Applause]
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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.
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Thank God my
yesterday's
gone. I know my sins are forgiven
and I been washed by the
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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
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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
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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.
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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.