0:01 [Music]
0:15 [Music]
0:39 [Music]
1:47 Good evening.
1:49 Welcome to this evening service of
1:51 Pastors Fellowship 2025. Have you
1:54 enjoyed the day?
1:56 Has it been
1:58 wonderful? It has been rich and it has
2:00 been wonderful. Well, we're glad you're
2:02 here for the evening service tonight.
2:04 And let's just take a moment and pray
2:06 and ask the Lord to meet with us this
2:08 evening. Father, we thank you, Lord, for
2:10 the day that we have had. We thank you
2:12 for the presence of your spirit that has
2:14 met with us. And Lord, as we come
2:16 together for this evening service, Lord,
2:19 we ask for again that your Holy Spirit
2:22 would fill this place. Father, our
2:24 desire tonight is that we would
2:26 experience your presence and your power
2:29 and your blessing in a very fresh and
2:31 new way. We pray father that when this
2:34 evening is over and the two services
2:36 have been completed and father we walk
2:38 out of here for the night lord may we be
2:41 able to say surely god was in the house
2:44 tonight and lord we will have
2:46 experienced your presence with us so
2:48 have your way here tonight we pray in
2:51 Jesus precious name
2:55 [Music]
2:57 amen let's
2:59 [Music]
3:02 Dan, now that your belly is full with
3:04 all that good southern chicken and uh
3:07 mashed potatoes, green beans, all the
3:09 stuff, you cannot get sleepy on us.
3:11 Okay? It's not an option. It is not an
3:14 option. Oh, we're going to start off
3:16 with one of our good reformation hymns.
3:18 Just like it says, the reformation
3:20 glory. Let's sing it all together.
3:26 There's a mighty reformation sweeping
3:28 over the land. God is gathering his
3:32 people by his mighty hand. For the
3:35 cloudy day is ending and the evening sun
3:38 is bright. With the shout of joy we
3:40 hail. Oh, let's sing a church. Oh, the
3:44 reformation
3:46 glory. Let it shine to every land.
3:51 We will tell the blessed
3:55 story in its truth we air shall
3:59 stand. When the voice from heaven
4:02 sounding warning all to flee from the
4:05 darks courts the babel back to Zion's
4:08 free. Let my heart to hear the message
4:11 and I hasten to obey. And I'm standing
4:14 in Oh, if you're standing in the truth,
4:16 let's sing. For the
4:19 reformation
4:20 glory, let it shine to every
4:24 land. We will tell the blessed
4:29 story in its truth. We air shall stand.
4:34 Zion's walls again are building in the
4:37 days of your and the scattered hosts
4:40 returning to their land once more are
4:43 rejoicing in their freedom pledging ever
4:46 more to stand in the reformation truth
4:49 so
4:50 grand. Oh the
4:53 reformation
4:54 glory let it shine to every land.
5:00 We will tell the blessed
5:03 story. In his truth we air shall
5:07 stand. Christians all shall dwell
5:10 together in the bonds of peace. All the
5:13 clashing of opinions. All the strife
5:16 should cease. Let divisions be forsaken.
5:19 All the holy join and one and the will
5:22 of God in all. Oh let's sing it one more
5:25 time. Church. For the
5:27 reformation
5:29 glory, let it shine to every
5:33 land. We will tell the blessed
5:37 story in its truth. We all sing that
5:41 course again. Oh, the
5:44 reformation glory, let it shine.
5:50 [Music]
5:51 We will tell the blessed
5:55 story and it's true. The air shall
6:01 stand. Oh, I'll never Oh, I praise the
6:04 Lord who bought me.
6:06 Hallelujah. I'm a happy pilgrim bound
6:09 for glory. That's it. I am singing and I
6:13 hope to sing
6:15 forever when before his throne eternal
6:18 light. Oh, let's praise him tonight. Oh,
6:20 I will praise him.
6:23 Hallelujah. I will praise him more and
6:28 more. If I had 10,000 lives in which to
6:32 praise him, I could not enough my
6:35 blessed Lord
6:36 adore. Oh, I will praise him for
6:39 salvation.
6:41 Hallelujah. Richest treasures human
6:43 spirits ever found.
6:46 Once I wandered far away was sad and
6:49 lonely. But I'm dwelling now where
6:52 pleasures there. Are you thankful for
6:54 that? Oh, I will praise him.
6:58 Hallelujah. I will praise him more and
7:02 more. If I had 10,000 lives and wish to
7:06 praise him, I could not enough my
7:09 blessed Lord
7:10 adore. Oh, I will never cease to praise
7:14 him.
7:15 Hallelujah. For he gives me peace
7:17 abounding every
7:19 day. He redeemed me from my sins and
7:22 fully cleans me. And I find his service
7:26 sweeter all the way. Oh, I will praise
7:30 him.
7:32 Hallelujah. I will praise him more and
7:36 more.
7:37 If I had 10,000 lives in which to praise
7:41 him, I could not enough my blessed Lord
7:44 adore. On the last verse, I will praise
7:48 him for the strength he daily gives me.
7:51 I am running now to gain that heavenly
7:55 prize. Soon with joy I'll reach the goal
7:58 of life
7:59 immortal and go sweeping through the
8:02 gates of oh one more time lift your
8:04 voice. I will praise him. Hallelujah.
8:09 [Music]
8:14 If I had 10,000 lives in which to praise
8:18 him, I could not enough. My blessed Lord
8:21 adore. Give him a hand of praise
8:25 [Music]
8:27 tonight. Sing this good worship song.
8:30 How great is our God, the splendor of
8:34 the
8:37 King, clothed in
8:41 majesty. Let all the earth
8:44 rejoice. All the earth
8:47 [Music]
8:49 rejoice. He wraps
8:51 himself in light.
8:56 And darkness tries to hide and trembles
9:01 at his
9:03 voice. Trembles at his
9:07 voice. How
9:10 great is our
9:12 God. Sing with me. How
9:16 great is our God. And all will see. How
9:22 great.
9:24 How
9:25 great is our
9:32 God. Oh, and age to age he
9:39 stands. And time is in his
9:43 hands. Beginning and the
9:46 end, beginning and the
9:51 end. The Godhead three in
9:57 one. Oh, the Father,
10:00 Spirit,
10:02 Son, the Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and
10:07 the Lamb. Oh, lift your voice and sing.
10:10 How
10:12 great is our
10:14 God. Sing with me. How
10:18 great is our God. And all will see how
10:25 great, how
10:30 great. Oh, for he's the name above all
10:33 names. Let's sing. For he's the name
10:37 above all
10:41 names. Worthy of all praise.
10:47 and my heart will sing. How
10:52 great is our God. Oh, let's sing that
10:56 line again. Oh, for he's the name above
11:02 all
11:05 names, worthy of all praise.
11:12 And my heart will sing. How
11:16 great is our God. Then sings my soul.
11:20 Let's sing. Then sings my
11:26 soul. My
11:29 Savior God to
11:35 thee. How great thou are.
11:42 How great thou
11:45 art. Then sings my soul. Then sings my
11:52 soul. My Savior God to
12:00 thee. How great thou
12:06 are. How great thou are.
12:12 heart. Oh Lord my
12:19 God, when
12:21 I
12:23 allome
12:25 wonder,
12:28 consider
12:30 all the world thy hands have made.
12:39 I see the
12:42 [Laughter]
12:45 stars. I hear the
12:49 rolling
12:51 thunder. Thy power
12:56 throughout the
12:58 [Music]
12:59 universe
13:01 displays. Let's go to that fourth verse.
13:05 When Christ shall
13:10 come with shouts of
13:17 acclamation to take me
13:22 home. What joy shall fill my heart.
13:31 Then I shall
13:36 bow in humble
13:43 adoration and there
13:47 proclaim my God how great thou art. Lift
13:54 your voice. How great. Then sings my
14:00 soul, my Savior God to
14:08 thee. How great thou
14:13 are. Oh, how great thou are.
14:21 Then sings my
14:25 soul, my
14:27 Savior God to
14:30 thee. Oh, watch me now,
14:33 church. How great thou
14:40 art. How
14:44 great
14:47 thou are.
14:51 Oh, let's give him a hand
14:53 [Music]
14:59 tonight. This
15:01 evening, we're going to receive an
15:04 offering. This is the only offering that
15:06 we receive in pastor's fellowship.
15:10 I need you to get in your
15:12 billfold, your pocketbook, in your
15:16 neighbor's bill fold, and in your
15:18 neighbor's pocket, and
15:21 uh seriously, we need you to give the
15:24 best offering that you can give. We need
15:26 about $10,000 tonight. No, we really
15:30 need about $2,500 tonight. And uh you
15:34 know, Pastor's Fellowship is attempting
15:36 to try to expand and do a lot of other
15:40 things, a lot of other ministries, and
15:42 but you got to be you got to have
15:44 dollars to do that. And so tonight, I'm
15:47 going to trust you that you're going to
15:50 give the very best offering that you can
15:53 uh for the glory of God and for the work
15:56 of this pastor's fellowship ministry.
15:58 Okay, let's pray. Father, thank you
16:00 tonight, Lord, for again the opportunity
16:02 and privilege to be here together in
16:05 this place. Lord, we thank you for
16:07 pastor's fellowship. Lord, I know just
16:09 for me what a blessing it has been down
16:12 through the years. And Lord, uh it
16:14 continues to bless many hearts and lives
16:16 tonight. But Lord, we do need the
16:19 finances to be able to continue not only
16:21 just what we do in May every year, but
16:23 Lord, some of the other things that
16:25 we're attempting to try to do to expand
16:27 the work and ministry of Pastor's
16:29 Fellowship. And so tonight, we pray,
16:31 Father, that you would just bless your
16:33 bless this offering. And Lord, may you
16:36 just make it a good one to meet the
16:38 needs that we have. We pray in Jesus
16:41 name. Amen.
16:43 [Music]
16:56 Heat.
17:04 Heat. Heat. Heat.
17:08 [Music]
19:12 Amen.
19:18 Well, when Allan called me a few days
19:20 ago and asked me if I would chair these
19:23 two evening services, and I knew that I
19:27 was going to be introducing Brother
19:29 Mitchell Burch. How do you introduce
19:32 somebody that doesn't need an
19:34 introduction? Most everybody in the
19:37 house here knows our dear
19:39 brother. So, I'm not introducing him
19:41 tonight. I'm presenting
19:43 him. I am presenting him to
19:46 you. I am so thankful. Back in 19 fall
19:50 of 1979, I met Mitchell for the very
19:53 first time. And down through the years,
19:55 we have crisscrossed paths and even had
19:59 the privilege of serving on his staff
20:00 for a couple of years at Daypring Church
20:02 of God. And I love him dearly and I'm
20:06 thankful for his friendship and for
20:09 being a wonderful colleague in ministry.
20:12 I know tonight that if you know him, you
20:14 know these three things I'm about to
20:16 say. He loves God with all of his heart.
20:20 He loves the church. He loves the church
20:23 of God. He is one of her sons and has a
20:27 deep long legacy and history uh with the
20:31 church. And tonight he loves truth and
20:35 he is a warrior for truth. So you pray
20:39 for him tonight as he is going to come
20:41 and preach and proclaim the truth about
20:44 biblical unity to us. But before he
20:47 comes, we've got a trio of guys that I
20:50 know you're going to hear. They're going
20:52 to come up and sing for us. And after
20:54 that, Mitchell will come to preach.
21:17 Hallelujah. Thine the
21:20 glory.
21:23 Hallelu.
21:27 Amen. Hallelu.
21:30 Thine the
21:32 glory.
21:34 Revive us again.
21:40 Revive us again. Fill each heart with
21:44 thy love. May each soul be rekindled
21:49 with fire from
21:52 above.
21:53 Halleluah. Thine the glory. Halleluah.
21:59 Amen.
22:00 Halleluah. Thine the
22:03 glory. Revive us
22:08 again.
22:11 Hallelu. Thine the
22:14 glory.
22:17 Hallelu.
22:18 [Music]
22:19 [Applause]
22:24 Amen. Hallelu.
22:27 Thine the
22:29 glory.
22:31 Revive
22:32 us
22:35 again.
22:37 Revive us. Revive us.
22:42 Revive us again.
22:46 [Music]
22:50 [Applause]
22:50 [Music]
23:09 I've been held by the
23:15 Savior and I felt fire from
23:22 above and I've been down to the river.
23:28 Yeah, I ain't the same. I'm a
23:34 prodigor for all my hope is in Jesus.
23:41 [Music]
23:42 Thank God my
23:46 yesterday's
23:49 gone. I know my sins are forgiven
23:57 and I been washed by the
24:01 [Music]
24:04 blood. I'm no stranger to the
24:10 prison. See, I've worn shackles and
24:16 chains. But here's the best part. I've
24:19 been freed and
24:23 forgiven and I'm not going back. I'll
24:27 never be the
24:30 same. For all my hope is in Jesus.
24:38 Well, thank God my
24:41 yesterday's gone.
24:46 Oh, my sins are forgiven
24:51 [Music]
24:53 and I've been washed by the
24:59 blood. There's a kind of
25:03 thing that just breaks a
25:07 man. It'll bring him down to his knees.
25:14 Lord, I've been broken more than a time
25:18 or two, but then he picks me up and he
25:23 shows me what it means to be a
25:27 man. All my hope is in Jesus.
25:34 Well, thank God my
25:37 yesterday's gone.
25:42 And all my sins are
25:46 [Music]
25:48 forgiven. Life been washed by. I know
25:53 you know it when you sing with us. For
25:56 all my hope is Jesus.
26:01 Well, thank God my
26:05 yesterday's
26:08 gone. And all my sins are
26:14 forgiven. Oh yes, they are. And I been
26:19 washed by the
26:22 blood. Praise God.
26:24 I I've been washed by the
26:28 blood.
26:36 [Music]
26:42 Those boys have been singing with me for
26:44 over 10 years. We travel here and there
26:48 and around the country and uh just love
26:51 singing. Love telling people about
26:53 Jesus.
26:54 love singing the gospel and I love doing
26:57 it with guys like Ben Lon and Brandon
27:02 Pelffrey. It is a joy for me to be here.
27:04 It's It's good for me to be
27:09 anywhere. I'm glad to be here to be
27:13 here. You understand that double
27:16 positive? Glad to be here to be here. If
27:20 I weren't here, I couldn't be here. You
27:22 know what I'm saying? And I would be
27:24 remiss if I did not say a special thank
27:27 you to so many of you who on the spur of
27:31 the moment lifted my
27:34 name and my
27:36 need. Thank you. God has heard the
27:39 prayers of his people and he's helped
27:43 and he is continuing to help.
27:47 I would also be remiss if I did not say
27:49 a special thank you to the preaching
27:53 committee uh pastor's fellowship
27:55 steering committee for the honor and the
27:59 privilege of speaking here again. I was
28:02 trying to remember brother Frank uh the
28:05 first time I spoke at pastor's
28:06 fellowship but I know it wasn't here. It
28:09 was down on East Tikman Street 127 East
28:12 Tikman. And uh I was a young kid like
28:16 some of these young preachers are today
28:18 and I'm delighted that they're among us
28:20 preaching. Wow. But I was just a kid
28:23 preacher and I thought why am I down
28:25 here among the giants and uh I I I used
28:30 to I used to honor them. I thought I was
28:32 I was trying to honor them when I would
28:35 in the privacy of my own conversation
28:38 call them elder statesmen.
28:41 I wouldn't say that out loud, but that's
28:44 what they were to me. And I looked in
28:46 the mirror today and
28:49 uh the Lord reminded me that things do
28:52 come
28:53 around and now you are one of
28:56 them. One of them. So, it's a privilege
28:59 and an honor to be here and I've enjoyed
29:01 the day. It's been good. So good.
29:04 Preaching's been good. The conferences
29:06 have been outstanding and I know it will
29:08 continue after this sermon tonight. It
29:11 will continue on being
29:13 outstanding. I have been given the the
29:16 the theme of biblical
29:20 unity. My my question is is there any
29:25 other
29:27 unity that is really
29:31 unity? I submit that there isn't. and I
29:34 will probably take all of my 47 minutes
29:37 in counting to try and tell you about
29:40 it. I don't know what happens at the end
29:43 of 47 minutes and I I'm a heart patient
29:46 so I got to be careful that I don't pull
29:47 a trap door or something
29:50 on. Few years ago, I was on my way to a
29:54 funeral visitation just to pay my
29:56 respects to the deceased of a family uh
29:59 friend of mine. And uh on my way, I
30:02 tuned my radio to a Christian radio
30:04 station. And uh it wasn't one that I
30:07 listen to a lot. I normally listen to
30:09 Sirius XM, Enlighten, or Bluegrass
30:11 Junction. Um that tells on me a bit, but
30:15 nonetheless, um I I don't normally
30:18 listen to a lot of preaching on the
30:19 radio. I I can't afford it
30:27 um on a number of
30:29 fronts. But this particular night, I
30:32 pulled up to the funeral home in the
30:34 funeral home parking lot and I had just
30:36 tuned my radio to this Christian radio
30:38 station and there was a preacher
30:41 preaching and I heard him make a
30:45 statement and the
30:47 statement pierced me.
30:51 And I want to share that statement with
30:53 you and
30:56 proceed. He said, and I
30:58 quote, "If you have a faulty
31:02 christologology, it will produce a
31:04 faulty
31:07 ecclesiology. And if you have a faulty
31:09 ecclesiology, it will produce a faulty
31:12 sociology."
31:14 and he ended his statement by saying,
31:17 "And all of that leads to
31:20 chaos and anarchy." End
31:24 quote. And I'll give him credit, the
31:28 brilliant
31:30 expositor, Dr. Tony Evans.
31:36 I want you to stay with me tonight
31:38 because not only do I want you to
31:39 understand what I'm going to speak, but
31:42 I want you to be able to defend
31:44 it. Defend it as the word of truth. And
31:48 believe me, you'll need to defend it
31:50 because you'll face it and be confronted
31:53 with it later.
31:56 I want to help us understand that as a
31:58 part of the church of Jesus Christ, we
32:01 are born into a new nation. Say new
32:06 nation with me. New
32:08 nation, not
32:12 nations, a new nation.
32:15 Singular. As citizens of this new
32:17 nation, we are to live with a new
32:21 agenda. Not our
32:24 agenda. a new
32:27 agenda. The truth of the matter is in a
32:30 nutshell and maybe I should say this and
32:33 sit
32:35 down. When the church acts like the
32:38 church, it will experience biblical
32:42 unity.
32:45 When the church acts like the church, is
32:48 the church, behaves like the church, the
32:52 natural product of that righteous
32:56 behavior is biblical
33:00 unity. Now, the reality is I I have I
33:03 have preached this message before, and
33:05 for those of you who are here from
33:06 Michigan, just indulge
33:08 me. You've heard some of this before.
33:12 So, you don't need to turn to your
33:13 neighbor and say, "I I've heard him
33:14 preach this
33:16 before because I just told them that I
33:18 have preached this
33:21 before." But everything I've heard
33:23 today, I've heard before. How about you?
33:26 I haven't heard anything new. I've heard
33:28 some fresh word, but nothing new. So,
33:32 let me let me reiterate for those of you
33:34 who have heard it, but let me state it
33:36 clearly for those who have not.
33:39 There are three theological truths that
33:41 help us understand biblical unity. The
33:46 first is a radical statement and the
33:48 other two biblical truths that help us
33:50 understand biblical unity are biblical
33:52 principles that I want to share with you
33:54 as briefly as I can. The first one is
33:57 this this radical truth. God resists
34:02 unity outside of the church.
34:07 one. Amen. And many people thinking
34:10 about it. I'll say it again. Give you a
34:13 chance to think it over. God resists
34:17 unity outside of the
34:20 church. This the statement may not make
34:22 sense just yet, but follow me. God God
34:25 resists. He He actually works against
34:27 man's attempt to become unified outside
34:30 of the
34:31 church. Look at a passage of scripture
34:33 with me in Acts 17:4. It says this, "The
34:36 God who made the world and everything
34:38 that is in it, the Lord of heaven and
34:39 earth, does not live in temples built
34:41 with hands. He is not served by human
34:44 hands as if he needed anything because
34:45 he himself gives all men life and breath
34:48 and everything else. From one man he
34:50 made every nation of men that they
34:51 should inhabit the whole earth." And he
34:53 determined the
34:55 times. He determined the times set for
34:57 them and the boundaries exact places
35:00 actually the exact places where they
35:02 should live.
35:04 He decided where they would live. He
35:07 created the nations and determined what
35:09 groups would live where. And he
35:11 determined how how long every nation of
35:13 people would
35:15 exist. And you might be asking, well,
35:17 why would he do that? Well, look at
35:18 verse 27. That they should seek God if
35:21 perhaps they might grope for him and
35:24 find him though he is not far from each
35:27 one of us.
35:29 Why did he why did he create and send to
35:33 various parts of the earth the peoples
35:35 of the earth? So that they might grope
35:39 for him and find him though he is not
35:42 far from each one of us. This verse
35:44 teaches us that God established global
35:47 separation, national division, separate
35:50 racial, ethnic identities and
35:53 development to force men to seek him for
35:58 salvation. Why? Why would separation
36:02 force men toward God? It's because only
36:06 in their separateness would they realize
36:08 their limitation, their insignificance,
36:10 and their smallalness.
36:14 You see, it is when men are separated
36:16 that they recognize they cannot be all
36:18 they wish to be. The point of this
36:21 divine separation is to get them back
36:23 toward God. You see, when we are divided
36:26 in the body, we are not all that we
36:28 should be or can be. You see, I need
36:35 you. And whether you want to admit it or
36:38 not, you need me.
36:42 We are not meant to live in a vacuum as
36:46 believers. We are meant to live in
36:48 fellowship and harmony and oneness and
36:55 unity. I need you, you need me. We need
36:58 each other in order to demonstrate the
37:00 greatness of God and the excellence, the
37:02 beauty and the purity of the bride.
37:05 So when men try to come together across
37:08 racial, social, cultural, class, and
37:11 doctrinal lines, what normally drives
37:13 them is the humanistic view that if we
37:16 can get together, we can pull off what
37:18 God cannot pull off because we've come
37:20 together. And you actually hear it today
37:22 when men are called together. Let's get
37:24 together and show what we can do. God
37:27 will never let men come together and
37:30 show what man can do
37:33 when he wants to keep them apart to show
37:36 what only he is able to do.
37:41 Now the truth is this unity doctrine,
37:43 this unity truth did not originate in
37:46 John 17 which is the famous passage of
37:49 scripture on unity where Jesus prayed
37:52 that high priestly prayer for the
37:55 believers that the Lord God had given
37:57 him that they all may be one. It didn't
38:00 originate in Acts chapter 2. It starts
38:04 all the way back in Genesis 11 and verse
38:07 one. Turn there with me. Genesis 11.
38:10 Genesis 11 and verse number one. You've
38:14 read the story about the the tower of
38:16 Babel. Now the whole earth had one
38:18 language and one speech. And it came to
38:20 pass verse verse two as they journeyed
38:23 from the east that they found a plain in
38:25 the land of Shannar and they dwelt
38:27 there. When they then they said to one
38:29 another, "Come, let us make bricks and
38:32 bake them thoroughly." They had brick
38:35 for for stone and they had asphalt for
38:37 mortar. And they said, "Come, let us
38:39 build ourselves a city and a tower whose
38:41 top is in the heaven. Let us make a name
38:43 for ourselves, lest we be scattered
38:45 abroad over the face of the whole
38:46 earth." But the Lord came down to see
38:49 the city and the tower which the sons of
38:50 men had built. And the Lord said,
38:52 "Indeed, the people are one, and they
38:54 all have one language, and this is what
38:56 they begin to do. Now nothing that they
38:58 propose to do will be withheld from
39:00 them." Then verse seven, hinge
39:05 pin critical turning point. Come, God
39:09 says, come, let us go down there and
39:13 confuse their
39:15 language that they may not understand
39:17 one another's speech. So the Lord
39:19 scattered them from abroad there over
39:21 the whole face of the earth, and they
39:22 ceased building the city. Therefore, its
39:24 name is called Babel because there the
39:26 Lord confused the language of all the
39:28 earth. And from there the Lord scattered
39:29 them abroad abroad all over the face of
39:31 the whole
39:33 earth. He
39:36 decided to go down
39:38 there. Can I just suggest to you that
39:41 when you're going up and God's coming
39:43 down, you you need to be
39:45 careful. When you're rising up the
39:47 ladder of success and God's coming down
39:50 to assess it, you need to be watchful
39:52 and careful. Just it's just a little bit
39:55 of a a play on direction there. God's
39:58 coming God's coming down. Man is going
40:04 up. Here the
40:06 scripture helps us understand that God
40:09 is not at all
40:12 pleased with their efforts.
40:16 Look at these verses again in verse
40:18 three of Genesis 11. I'll just break it
40:21 down quickly. Come, let us, verse four,
40:25 come, let us build for ourselves. 4B
40:29 says, come, let us make for ourselves a
40:32 name. The men of the world decided to
40:35 come together to build a monument to the
40:38 power of man. to come together and build
40:40 a city and a tower that would
40:42 demonstrate the greatness of man. And
40:45 God admitted their great
40:48 capacity. How do we know that that was
40:50 their purpose? It says in the second
40:52 half of verse four, "Let us make for
40:53 ourselves a name lest we be scattered
40:56 abroad across the whole earth." The
40:59 intent of man back at the Tower of Babel
41:02 was to build a name for themselves
41:04 independently of God.
41:07 So they sought to unify across race,
41:10 nation, culture, and class, all speaking
41:13 one language in order to demonstrate not
41:16 the greatness of God, but the greatness
41:17 of
41:19 man. Now let's answer the
41:22 question. Did God applaud
41:25 them? Did God congratulate them on their
41:28 brilliant efforts? Did God encourage
41:32 them in their modern
41:34 genius? Did he support them? Did he
41:36 sustain them? Absolutely not. What did
41:40 he do in response to their efforts? The
41:42 Bible says he came down. They came down.
41:45 God father, God Son, God sp Holy Spirit.
41:48 And they confused
41:53 them. The Lord scattered them across the
41:56 whole earth. Therefore, they stopped
41:58 building the city. Therefore, the city
41:59 was called Babel or confusion because
42:01 there the Lord confused the language of
42:03 the whole earth. It cannot be any
42:07 clearer. In my
42:09 estimation, God resisted man's attempt
42:12 to become unified apart from him. And I
42:16 contend that God will always resist
42:18 human attempts to have unity outside of
42:20 him. When men want to come together to
42:23 unify apart from God, guess who gets the
42:25 glory? Man gets the glory. They want to
42:28 demonstrate their clout and their power
42:30 and their genius and their greatness.
42:35 What happened? What did God do? God
42:37 caused them to lose their ability to
42:42 communicate. And that is true every time
42:45 there is no
42:47 unity. There is an inability to
42:50 communicate when there's no unity. It's
42:51 true in a marriage. It's true in a
42:54 family. It's true in a church. And I
42:56 contend it is absolutely true in a
42:59 movement of people.
43:04 Every attempt man has made to find unity
43:07 outside of God will be frustrated and
43:09 resisted by God
43:10 himself. Point number one, 33 minutes
43:14 in. Number
43:16 two, the spirit establishes unity
43:19 through the church. First bold
43:21 statement, the spirit establishes unity
43:24 through the church. Paul Billheimr may
43:27 very well be right when he writes, and I
43:29 quote, "The continuous and widespread
43:31 fragmentation of the church has been the
43:34 scandal of the ages, and the sin of
43:35 disunityity has probably caused more
43:37 souls to be lost than all other sins
43:40 combined." End quote. Staggering
43:44 idea. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12 says
43:47 it like this. For even as the body is
43:50 one and has many members, and all the
43:52 members, though they are many, are one
43:53 body, so also is Christ. Watch this. For
43:57 by one spirit, we are all baptized into
44:02 one body. Whether Jews or Greeks,
44:05 whether slave or free, we are all made
44:08 to drink of one spirit. Church, we
44:12 cannot deny the unity and the oneness of
44:15 that one verse of scripture.
44:22 And so it's the baptism of the spirit or
44:25 God placing you in the family of God
44:27 through conversion by the spirit that
44:29 establishes the unity that God wants us
44:31 to have. Why? Because only the baptism
44:34 of the spirit or being placed into the
44:36 body places you under the direct rule of
44:39 God.
44:41 The reason why the church is the only
44:43 authentic crossracial cross-cultural
44:47 crossgender basis of unity is because
44:49 only the church is obligated to live
44:52 under the authority of
44:54 God. And so what God did by the spirit
44:57 is to establish a
45:00 baptism. You see, unity is a uniquely
45:04 spiritual
45:05 experience. Hear me. The government has
45:09 not. The government cannot and the
45:12 government will not be able to legislate
45:18 unity. They will not be able to organize
45:21 it or politicize it. Why? Because unity
45:25 is not a political dynamic. Unity is a
45:28 spiritual dynamic. And it comes not by
45:31 political power or persuasion or
45:33 manipulation, but by the power and the
45:35 persuasion of the Holy Ghost of God
45:38 himself.
45:39 Unity, you see, is a gift of the Holy
45:42 Spirit and a work in the heart of the
45:45 believer. That's why, listen, that's why
45:47 the church holds the key to unity. The
45:50 government does not understand the
45:52 things of the spirit. That's an that is
45:54 an understanding that is reserved
45:56 exclusively exclusively for the church.
46:01 So if it's not the government's
46:03 responsibility which we have given too
46:05 much responsibility to
46:08 don't I I can't go there. I got 30
46:11 minutes. But suffice it to say that the
46:14 church has given up a lot to the federal
46:16 government to do that the church chose
46:18 not to do. Amen. But I want to tell you,
46:21 we cannot relegate the unity of the body
46:24 and the unity of the people of God to
46:26 the government. It will never happen. It
46:28 will always be fractured. The church
46:30 must retake. The church must intercept
46:33 the gift of the spirit of unity again.
46:36 We must do it. We must do
46:41 it. The Greek word for baptism is used
46:44 in the Bible as identification.
46:46 It is meant to reclassify
46:49 something. Here the scriptures teach us
46:51 that we have been
46:54 reidentified. We have been reidentified
46:56 to another realm. We have been
46:58 reidentified into a brand new family. We
47:01 have been reidentified into a new
47:03 environment. It's like a friend of mine
47:05 who adopted two little girls from China.
47:07 Beautiful little girls. These little
47:09 girls are still Chinese, but they are in
47:11 a brand new family now. They come under
47:13 a new authority now. They have a new
47:15 name now. Now they're in a new
47:17 environment now. They've been adopted
47:19 into a brand new family. And I'm here to
47:20 tell you, when you were baptized by the
47:22 spirit into the body of Christ, into
47:24 only authorized unity under heaven,
47:27 under God's authority, when you were
47:28 baptized by the spirit and converted and
47:31 saved by the glorious grace of God, you
47:33 were reidentified
47:37 in a new
47:39 family. A new order is in line.
47:47 In the same way, no matter what your
47:50 race, culture, or class, when you came
47:53 to Jesus Christ, you entered into God's
47:55 only authorized unity under his
47:58 authority. And this unity is established
48:00 by the spirit for the church and for the
48:03 church alone. That's why Ephesians 4 and
48:06 3 says it like this. Endeavor to keep
48:08 the unity of the spirit. Endeavor to
48:11 keep the unity of the spirit. You see,
48:13 we don't create
48:14 unity. There is nothing you can do to
48:17 create
48:18 unity. Truth is, you don't have it in
48:20 you. I don't have it in me to create
48:23 unity. Unity is a work, a distinctive
48:26 work of the Holy Spirit. If you don't
48:28 believe me, then get out of the spirit
48:30 and see how unified you'll ever
48:33 be. It'll be chaos. It'll be a dog
48:36 fight, right?
48:40 You can only preserve or endeavor to
48:43 keep I want to tell you it is an
48:46 endeavoring. Hello. It's an endeavoring
48:50 to keep the unity of the spirit with
48:51 some people. It's sometimes an
48:53 endeavoring to keep the unity of the
48:54 spirit with me. I get
48:56 it. I get it. But it's an endeavor. It
49:00 it's it's it's it's the help of the
49:02 spirit's work in us.
49:05 Apart from the Holy Spirit, unity
49:06 meetings are man's attempt to find unity
49:08 or create it. The Bible says that the
49:10 spirit has already established unity. We
49:13 can't create it. We can only live by
49:15 faith in what the spirit has already
49:16 accomplished. It takes a sanctified
49:19 spirit of surrender to live in biblical
49:21 unity. Look at that Ephesians 4 text
49:23 really quickly. Ephesians
49:26 4. Quickly Ephesians 4:1. I therefore, a
49:30 prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to
49:31 walk worthy of the calling with which
49:32 you've been called. Now watch verse two.
49:34 Sounds like sanctified life to me. With
49:37 all loneliness and gentleness, with
49:39 longsuffering and bearing with one
49:41 another in love, endeavoring to keep the
49:43 unity of the spirit in the bonds of
49:46 peace. I want to tell you that is a the
49:49 hard work of unity.
49:52 The work of unity is hard. But it that's
49:54 why it takes a supernatural end of power
49:57 from the Holy Spirit to live in unity.
50:04 That's why after hundreds of years we've
50:05 not solved the race problem or the
50:08 division problem in the
50:11 church because men apart from God are
50:14 trying to create unity when men under
50:16 God already have unity. The failure
50:19 listen the failure to find unity in the
50:21 church in the culture is a result of the
50:23 failure of the church to pres to to
50:26 preserve the unity of the spirit. The
50:28 race problem is not first a social
50:30 problem. It is not first a political
50:32 problem. It is not first an economic
50:34 problem. The race problem in the church
50:36 is first and foremost a spiritual
50:41 problem. I'll just tell you right now to
50:44 the extent that you are entire entirely
50:46 sanctified to that extent you will live
50:48 in
50:49 unity.
50:51 Hello. Are you kidding me? Nobody here
50:54 nobody here believes
50:56 that. Well, I need to preach a little
50:58 longer than that. Extend my
51:01 time. To the extent that you're
51:03 sanctified by the spirit of God, to that
51:05 extent, you will live in unity.
51:09 You'll work at it. The spirit will work
51:10 through you at
51:16 it. The church has already been given
51:19 unity because we have been put in the
51:20 same family.
51:24 The racial divide in this country and in
51:27 the church would be significantly
51:29 narrowed if the church would get its act
51:36 together. The church already has been
51:38 given unity because we've been put in
51:40 the same family. Listen, I have two kids
51:42 and five
51:44 grandkids and uh I don't have to ask my
51:47 kids to be in the family. They're in my
51:49 family, right? They just are. Andrew
51:52 Wayne Burch is my oldest. Megan Rochelle
51:55 Burch Flores is my youngest. And they
51:58 each have grandbabies. My grandbabies. I
52:01 don't have to I don't have to tell them
52:02 that they're in my family. But sometimes
52:05 I have to ask them to act like they're
52:07 in my family.
52:12 I'm a PK. I'm a preacher boy. My daddy
52:14 pastored for 57 years. Was a faithful
52:16 member of pastor's fellowship on the
52:18 steering committee for many years.
52:20 I remember my big brother and I, we get
52:21 in dad's Volkswagen. We'd be going on
52:23 visitation. And uh I didn't always like
52:26 visitation because I didn't like their
52:28 dogs and I didn't like their cats and I
52:29 didn't like most of the time what they
52:30 fed me. I didn't like it. But I can
52:32 remember going on visitation and dad
52:34 would turn about two miles away from the
52:35 house of visitation. He would say,
52:37 "Boys, we're going to soand so's house.
52:39 You need to act like you're our
52:43 family. Act like you're my sons. Don't
52:46 embarrass me. Love their dog. pet their
52:49 cat, play with their kids, eat what's
52:52 put before you. What was he trying to
52:53 say? He's trying to say, "Act like
52:55 you're a part of my
52:57 family." You don't have to ask your
52:59 spouse to be a part of your family.
53:02 They're already a part of your family.
53:03 But sometimes you have to ask them to
53:04 act like they're part of your family.
53:07 Just look straight up here at me. Don't
53:08 look
53:13 sideways. The idea is not to become
53:15 family. The idea is that you are family.
53:18 Therefore, we should by the spirit's
53:20 power act like family.
53:24 Now, listen carefully. When God wanted
53:26 to confuse the attempts of man to reach
53:28 unity, he blocked their communication.
53:29 Genesis 11. When he wanted to unify men,
53:32 he gave them a new communication on the
53:34 day of Pentecost. When they heard and
53:36 understood languages known to them,
53:37 unknown to them, and spoke in language
53:40 that they had never learned. Acts two.
53:42 May I suggest to you tonight that the
53:44 unity of Pentecost was the direct
53:46 reversal of the confusion of Babel. At
53:48 the Tower of Babel, God said,
53:50 "Unreenerate men want to be unified
53:52 apart from me. I'll confuse their
53:54 language." On the day of Pentecost, when
53:56 the spirit showed up, people spoke with
53:58 languages they did not know so that
54:00 people with different backgrounds could
54:02 come from all around the world and hear
54:04 the central message of Jesus Christ and
54:07 him crucified and come to faith 3,000 at
54:10 a time.
54:12 God reversed the curse.
54:15 And I'll just promise you this, Sister
54:18 Jessica, he will always reverse the
54:21 curse. And you'll do it with the power
54:22 of
54:29 unity. You authentic unity comes only to
54:32 those who are under the authority of the
54:34 spirit. So what's our problem?
54:36 We have a theology where God disunited
54:39 to keep men limited and the spirit that
54:41 unifies to to help us understand the
54:44 unlimited God. So what's the problem? I
54:47 contend it's a faulty
54:49 christologology. Christ determines unity
54:52 within the
54:53 church. That's where the rubber meets
54:55 the road when it comes to the
54:56 possibility of unity in the church. And
54:58 it's also where we struggle the most.
55:00 It's just where we struggle. You see,
55:03 God resists unity outside the church.
55:05 The spirit establishes unity through the
55:06 church and Christ determines unity
55:08 within the
55:09 church. For Christ himself is our peace,
55:13 who made both groups into one, and broke
55:14 down the barrier of the dividing wall
55:16 that divides men by abolishing in his
55:18 flesh the immnity strife, which was
55:20 which is the law of commandments
55:21 contained in ordinances, that in himself
55:24 he might make the two into one new man,
55:28 one new nation, one new
55:31 man, thus establishing peace or the end
55:34 of the conflict, that he might reconcile
55:36 them both into one body, the church, to
55:38 God through the cross thereby killing
55:41 the mutual enmity and bringing the feud
55:44 to an end. Church, the in Christ, listen
55:47 to me. In Christ, the feud, whatever it
55:50 is, in Christ, the feud has come to an
55:53 end in Christ. The question is, are we
55:58 truly in Christ?
56:04 Verse 18 of Philippian or Ephesians 2
56:07 says, "For it is through him that we
56:09 both, whether a faroff gentile or near
56:12 Jew, now have an introduction or access
56:15 by one Holy Spirit to the Father." You
56:18 see, Christ ended the conflict, the
56:21 conflict that existed between the Jew
56:23 and the Gentile so that the two might be
56:25 one. Therefore, only in Christ and only
56:28 having Christ as our reference point
56:30 will we ever live out the unity that
56:32 we've been given already by the spirit.
56:34 Christ died for the fulfillment of his
56:36 dream. Unity among his people. Do dreams
56:40 still come true? Yes, by the cross. Yes,
56:43 through the cross. Yes, in the cross.
56:46 That's where it
56:49 happens. How do you preserve the spirit?
56:52 By living under the cross.
56:57 Let me share this last
57:00 passage in the next 19
57:03 minutes. I'm so glad my church don't
57:06 have one of these time tickers.
57:10 I just preach as long as I want to. A
57:12 Buffalo
57:13 church. Colossians 3. I'll honor it
57:17 tonight. Colossians
57:19 3. And have put on the new self, new
57:22 nation.
57:25 Are you listening? New nation, new man,
57:27 new self. In front of the new self is
57:29 being renewed in true knowledge
57:30 according to the image of the one who
57:32 created him. A renewal in which there is
57:34 no distinction between Greek and Jew,
57:36 circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian,
57:38 cynthian, slave, free. Christ is all in
57:40 in all. Passage is deep, very deep. And
57:44 I don't have time to unpack it, but I'm
57:45 going to I'm going to give you the
57:46 highlights.
57:49 Paul says that when you bring the
57:50 divisions of men into the church of
57:52 Jesus Christ, you divide
57:54 it. When you bring those divisions into
57:57 the church, you turn the church into
57:59 something that it was not meant to be. I
58:02 want to bring to this family my agenda.
58:04 No. No. There's a bigger agenda in
58:08 here. If you lose sight of the bigger
58:10 agenda in the household of faith and
58:13 only focus on your limited agenda, the
58:15 family never comes together. Let me tell
58:18 you why the church struggles to come
58:21 together. We've taken the divisions of
58:23 the world and tried to force them to
58:24 work in the church. We've taken what
58:26 Paul called the old man, how we were
58:28 outside Christ, how you were in the
58:30 world, and tried to fit its round peg
58:32 into a square hole called the church.
58:35 When you when you enter the church, you
58:37 enter a whole new
58:39 family. You have to leave that mess out
58:42 there. There's a whole different program
58:44 in here. He's not saying that you're not
58:47 white. He's not saying that you're not
58:49 black or or Asian or Hispanic. He's not
58:52 saying that you're not traditional or
58:53 contemporary. He isn't saying that that
58:55 you're not Church of God Anderson or
58:57 Church of God Cleveland or Church of God
58:59 of this or Church of God of that or
59:01 Nazarene or Baptist or UMC or UMG or
59:04 UMGGGC. He's not saying any of
59:07 that. He's not saying that. He's not
59:10 saying that you're not male or female.
59:12 He's not saying that you're not that
59:13 you're not traditional contemporary.
59:15 you're you're you're just distinctly
59:17 different. He's not saying that if you
59:20 believe differently about non-essential
59:21 elements of the gospel that you can't
59:23 come into the church. What he is saying
59:25 in these passages and what he's saying
59:27 in these things is that if any of these
59:29 things divide you, you have to bring
59:32 them under the lordship of the cross and
59:34 Christ.
59:36 When you come into the church, all
59:37 people are on the same level. There are
59:39 no handicaps in the
59:40 church. There are no advantages in the
59:43 church. In Christ, human distinctions
59:45 become nonrelevant when it comes to
59:48 spiritual progress. They are all
59:50 overruled and transformed. He's saying
59:52 that physical differences lose their
59:54 significance. The problem we face is
59:56 that we try to bring this old man into a
59:59 new man, the church, and we try to use
60:01 our physical, our social, and our
60:03 theological heritage as an advantage
60:05 rather than subjecting it to the
60:08 cross. When you walk through the door,
60:11 your whiteness must come under the
60:13 cross.
60:16 Hello. When you come through the door,
60:18 your blackness must come under the
60:22 cross. When you come in the door of the
60:24 church, that is when you're baptized in,
60:27 your femin femininity must come under
60:29 the
60:31 cross. One woman said, "Amen."
60:39 When you come when you come into the
60:41 church, you've got to make sure that all
60:43 of those personal nuances are
60:45 sanctified. Those personal preferences
60:48 are sanctified and laid at the cross of
60:50 Christ
60:52 or they will
60:55 divide. I believe it's because the
60:57 church has not forced people to come
60:58 under the cross that there are divisions
61:00 in the church.
61:02 Blacks can't worship with whites and
61:05 afroentrism takes over. Whites can't
61:08 worship with blacks and euroentrism
61:10 takes
61:11 over. But if you look at Colossians
61:13 chapter 3 11, it's talking about a
61:16 renewal, a making of brand new where
61:18 there are no distinctions and no
61:23 differences. Follow me here. First, he
61:26 says there are no ethnic or racial
61:28 differences, Greek or
61:30 Jew. the Jews and everybody else,
61:34 right? There were different races being
61:38 identified. He did not say that you
61:40 weren't a Jew or you weren't Greek. He
61:42 just says there's no difference to be
61:44 made. I'm not to look at a black brother
61:46 or a sister in my church and make a
61:48 difference because their skin is
61:50 different than mine. I have a right to
61:52 be what God has made me. But listen to
61:54 me. I have no right to make a
61:56 difference. Not in the church. I must
61:59 treat them and they must treat me as
62:01 equal members of the body of Christ. And
62:03 when you don't do that, hear me. When
62:05 you don't do that, you lose Christ.
62:10 It may help us understand the question
62:11 of the church's lack of power. I think
62:14 sometimes we've lost the power of Christ
62:16 because of the
62:17 division. Whenever you make a
62:19 distinction and divide the family, he
62:21 can't be your father.
62:24 Look at your neighbor and just say in
62:26 West Virginia brogue, they ain't no
62:30 difference. Just ain't no difference.
62:32 Ain't no difference. I hope you're
62:34 standing I hope you're sitting beside
62:35 somebody that's of a different ethnicity
62:37 than
62:39 you. There ain't no
62:41 difference. There ain't no
62:46 difference. Secondly, there is to be no
62:48 difference made between circumcised and
62:50 uncircumcised. This is difficult,
62:52 but there will be no religious
62:55 distinctions. Now, you got to follow me
62:57 here or uh you'll misunderstand me and
63:01 uh it won't be
63:03 good. And what do I mean? I believe the
63:07 apostle is talking about being under
63:09 Christ. That's the caveat. Being under
63:11 Christ. Sure, we make distinctions
63:13 between what is Christian and
63:14 non-Christian. Get that right. Right. We
63:17 make a clear distinction. Christian,
63:18 non-Christian. We don't fellowship with
63:21 the unfruitful works of darkness. But
63:23 what the Jews wanted to do was to force
63:25 the Gentiles to be circumcised in order
63:27 to follow the external Jewish practice
63:29 of
63:30 religion. I I I love what Acts Acts
63:33 chapter 15 says really quickly. You got
63:35 to you got to look at this. Acts chapter
63:38 15. You know the debate going
63:40 on. Acts chapter 15 verse 11 or or verse
63:46 one. and the the brothers had come
63:49 together and they were in this major
63:50 discussion and basically a dispute
63:52 breaks out and uh the dispute was
63:56 whether or not the Jewish proelites to
64:00 Christianity was going to force the
64:02 gentile converts to be
64:05 circumcised. And
64:08 uh the fight was on. They actually sent
64:11 the the two apostles to uh to to town to
64:15 talk to the credentials committee about
64:17 it. And
64:18 uh they had a little debate. But as it
64:22 turned out, what happened was the
64:24 apostle said, "We are not going to
64:26 require the gentile Christians to be
64:29 circumcised." And I love what the Bible
64:30 says. And all the men rejoiced.
64:37 It's like this. Think of it. Think of it
64:39 like this. What if in order to be saved,
64:40 you had to have a
64:43 colonoscopy? How many would line up?
64:46 That that was
64:47 preposterous. So the So Peter says,
64:49 "Look, we we already have verified the
64:52 miracles of Christ among them. They're
64:54 already redeemed. They're already saved.
64:57 They don't need your ritual to make them
64:59 converted."
65:02 And I'm going to tell you something that
65:03 you may not want to hear. They may not
65:05 need some of our ritual to be converted.
65:09 Let me preach it in the next 11 minutes.
65:16 I mentioned to this this to you in
65:18 Ephesians 5 that we are to have no
65:19 fellowship of the unfruitful works of
65:20 darkness, but rather expose them for
65:22 it's shameful even to speak of those
65:23 things which are done by them in the
65:25 secret. Let me just tell you this, my
65:27 friends. I got to tell you
65:30 that we cannot fellowship with persons
65:34 and groups of persons who deny the
65:37 authority of scripture. We cannot
65:39 fellowship with people and groups of
65:41 persons who deny the word of God and its
65:44 infallibility, its inherency and its
65:46 inspiration. We cannot fellowship with
65:48 people and groups of people who will
65:50 deny the reality of a male and a female
65:53 in a in a in a marriage that God
65:55 sanctions. We cannot fellowship with a
65:57 people like that.
66:00 We love them. We love
66:02 them and we share with them but we
66:05 cannot fellowship with
66:11 them. He said there can be no
66:14 distinctions. They wanted to force
66:17 circumcision. In other words, if people
66:19 don't worship like we do externally, it
66:22 cannot be the basis of division and
66:24 separation. Now listen to me and keep in
66:28 mind all of this is a subject subject to
66:31 Christ. If people don't baptize like we
66:35 do, some people sprinkle, some people
66:38 pour, some people immerse, that is an
66:41 external
66:44 unless you believe in regenerational
66:47 baptism. And if you believe in
66:49 regenerational baptism, then make your
66:51 case, brother or sister. But the truth
66:53 is we know that it is a sign of an
66:56 inward reality. It is a sign of an
66:58 inward work of God's amazing grace.
67:02 So what I'm more concerned about is the
67:04 internal reality, not the external
67:06 practice. Now we have our method. I've
67:09 counted it up. Brother Frank, I should
67:11 have asked you
67:13 permission, but I've I've sprinkled two
67:15 people in 50 years of ministry. Two two
67:18 of them. Both of them were heathens on
67:20 their deathbed that came to faith in
67:22 Jesus Christ. And they had oxygen and
67:25 tubes and ventilators and everything
67:27 else. And and their family was saying,
67:28 "Would you please," they were conscious.
67:30 They were saying, "I'd love to be
67:31 baptized, but I can't get to the pool. I
67:33 can't get to the river. Can you baptize
67:35 me?" I said, "I can, but I got to call
67:37 my b my my uh my Methodist preacher
67:42 friend cuz I don't know how to do it."
67:47 And so I called my Methodist preacher
67:49 friend and he he told me what to do and
67:52 I took half of his suggestion and a
67:54 little pan of water and a little picture
67:56 of water and a towel, put it up around
67:58 the guy's chin up under his neck and I
68:00 poured water on his head and I prayed
68:02 the Holy Spirit would would would help
68:04 him understand that he was identifying
68:06 with Christ.
68:08 We have our method of baptism. I immerse
68:11 I believe it's the the most the most
68:13 appropriate and the most articulate way
68:15 to communicate what has happened in the
68:17 believer but it is an
68:19 external
68:22 practice. We have people fighting over
68:24 external stuff in the church. Did you
68:26 use cups or do you share a common cup?
68:28 Well, co took that out of the picture,
68:30 didn't it? That shows you just how
68:32 spiritual it
68:34 was. Did you use crackers or do you use
68:36 unleaven bread? Paul said no, no, no. If
68:39 the internal is straight and is under
68:41 Christ, the external can vary. Do you
68:44 know my most meaningful communion
68:47 experience was at Myrtle Beach with 50
68:50 men and the guy that was designated to
68:53 bring the the juice the Welch's grape
68:56 juice. Bless God. Welch's grape juice.
69:00 Don't you change
69:03 that. The Welch's grape juice and those
69:06 little flat crackers. no taste. He was
69:10 designated to bring it. He forgot it.
69:12 Here we are on the beach. All the guys
69:14 that were about to have communion. I
69:15 said, "Where are the elements?" "I don't
69:17 have any. What do we've got?" He said,
69:19 "We got Coke and
69:24 Fritos." I said, "Break out the Coke and
69:27 break out the
69:29 Fritos." And I'm here to tell you, we
69:31 had church. We had
69:34 church. Why? Because our guys realized
69:36 for the first time maybe in their life,
69:38 it wasn't about grape juice. It wasn't
69:41 about a wafer that dissolved on your
69:42 tongue in 3 seconds or less. It really
69:45 was about what was racing around in your
69:48 mind and in your heart when you were
69:50 drinking it or eating
69:53 it. Paul says you cannot divide over
69:57 externals. Now, I don't suggest you
69:59 start with Fritos and Coke.
70:02 Get back to the Bible and get Welch's
70:04 grape
70:10 juice. Some people raise their hand in
70:12 worship. God forbid we'd ever raise
70:15 two. You know where God set me free to
70:18 worship God in spirit and in
70:19 truth. On 127 East Hickman Street in
70:24 front of Ero Moore and John Connley and
70:26 Oel Johnson and Bill Nice. I was on the
70:28 front row. Frank Curtis was sitting
70:30 right behind me as I recall. And Ero, he
70:33 had a way of singing the song over and
70:35 over and over and over. And I kept
70:37 fighting with the Holy Ghost. I'll raise
70:39 the other hand if you'll sing another
70:40 verse. And he would. And I'd put it I
70:43 wouldn't raise it if he'll sing another.
70:44 And he sung about six or seven verses.
70:46 And finally, I shut my eyes. I gritted
70:48 my teeth. And I had one hand up and I
70:50 said, "Well, I'm going to go for it.
70:51 They might throw me out of here as being
70:53 a radical charismatic, but here we go,
70:56 God." Amen.
70:59 And I turned around and Frank Curtis had
71:00 both of his hands up. Bless God. Freed
71:03 me up in the Holy Spirit. I'm telling
71:05 you, I've never had a problem worshiping
71:07 anywhere since then. Just like God to
71:10 free you up in the most conservative
71:11 house in America. Isn't
71:15 it external stuff? You cannot divide
71:19 over
71:20 circumcision or uncircumcision.
71:26 He says there could be no cultural
71:28 distinctions, barbarian or
71:30 cynthian. The Greeks thought that
71:32 everyone who was not a Greek was a
71:36 barbarian. Don't that make you feel good
71:38 in the house of
71:40 God? If you really wanted to be a
71:42 barbarian, then be a Cynthian. They were
71:45 people who had low class, but not just
71:47 low class, but absolutely no class, no
71:50 culture. Cynthian. They were not raised
71:54 to know which fork to eat with first.
71:56 Outside in, inside
71:58 out. They did not go to the opera. They
72:01 did not go to the symphony. No
72:05 class. So here's the deal. Here's what I
72:08 believe he's teaching. If someone is in
72:10 the church from Africa and they want to
72:12 wear their African garments, as long as
72:14 they are modest, they are free to do it.
72:17 Someone from China, they want to wear
72:19 their garments, they are free to wear
72:20 it. If there's somebody from the
72:22 mountains and the hollers of Boone
72:23 County, West Virginia, and they want to
72:25 wear their bibbed overalls and t-shirts
72:28 and their B boots, then they're free to
72:30 wear it if it's modest.
72:32 There can be no
72:36 distinctions. No
72:38 distinctions. There can be no slave or
72:40 no free.
72:42 When persons come into the church from
72:44 the ghetto or the inner city or from the
72:46 suburbs, they're equal. the cross. You
72:48 know, the ground around the cross is
72:51 level. We've all been saved by God's
72:53 grace anyway, right? If God has given
72:55 you the ability to move up the ladder,
72:57 understand most of us in middle class
72:59 are one paycheck away from going down
73:00 the ladder. Don't get too excited about
73:02 how far you are up the ladder. God has
73:05 blessed you and now you live in a house
73:07 with four bedrooms and the three car
73:08 garages and a boat on the on the at the
73:10 at the at the lake rather than a shack
73:12 on back street. You ought to thank God
73:14 that he took you from where you were to
73:16 where you are and relate to every
73:18 brother and every sister in the house of
73:20 God regardless of distinction.
73:27 Finally, right at 3 minutes and 20
73:29 seconds. Tell you what, I'm setting a
73:34 record. There are no gender
73:37 distinctions. What's it say?
73:40 Galatians 3, neither
73:43 male nor
73:45 female. And I just want to tell you, I'm
73:47 glad it stops right there. Hallelujah.
73:51 Neither male nor
73:54 female. And from what we're hearing
73:56 today throughout Pastor's Fellowship,
73:58 that's the way it ought to stay. Male or
74:01 female. That's not the way it ought to
74:02 stay. That's the way it's got to stay if
74:05 we're going to remain true to the word
74:06 of God and the word of truth. You know
74:09 that women were put down in Jesus day.
74:10 Greeks would pray, "Thank you, God, for
74:12 not making me a woman." The women were
74:15 working in pleasure machines. So Jesus
74:17 turned the social tables around when he
74:19 said that they are to be treated equally
74:21 to men. They are not less than men. They
74:23 stand beside men. Yes, there are
74:24 functional differences. They're always
74:26 equality of persons. However, women are
74:29 never to be demeaned as less than a man.
74:31 That's why the Bible says, "Husbands,
74:33 treat your wife as an equal heir to the
74:35 grace of God. And the last time I
74:37 looked, when you love your wife like
74:39 Christ loved the church, she will follow
74:41 you to the ends of the earth.
74:44 You were built to lead. She was built to
74:46 follow. And if you'll love her like
74:48 Christ loved the church, she'll follow
74:52 you.
74:54 Well, my question was,
74:57 uh, biblical
74:59 unity, is it
75:01 possible? Come up here to the
75:03 instruments, please. Uh, I I I didn't
75:07 ask this question. I probably should
75:08 have, but but but does the time tick on
75:11 the invitation to or just the
75:15 sermon? I want to do something really
75:18 freaky. Every man in here with a beard,
75:21 I want you to come right up here and
75:22 stand over here. Every man, hurry. I
75:24 don't have time. I don't have time.
75:25 Every man with a beard, come up here.
75:27 Stand right over here.
75:31 Every man with a
75:33 beard, come over here and I want you to
75:35 look at these bearded
75:40 men. Hey, every every African-American
75:45 person in this room, I want you to come
75:47 and stand right here. Every
75:48 African-American person, I want you to
75:50 come stand right here. Where are you?
75:53 Come on. Come on. Every African-American
75:55 person, come stand right over here.
75:57 Right over here. Over here. Separate
75:59 from us. Are you hearing me, brother?
76:02 Brother, brother, I want you to stand
76:03 over there just for a second because I
76:05 want to show y'all something. I want to
76:07 show y'all something. Are you a bearded?
76:09 What? I should have picked something
76:11 else. There's way too many bearded men.
76:13 You kidding
76:16 me? Every African-American, every
76:20 Hispanic, every Hispanic, every single
76:24 person in this room, come over here and
76:25 stand over there. Every single person.
76:27 Single persons, come over here and
76:29 stand. I know who you are. I got my got
76:30 my finger right on you.
76:32 Every single person come over stand over
76:35 there. Every every Church of God female
76:39 pastor come stand over there. Every
76:41 Church of God female pastor come and
76:43 stand over
76:47 there. Every pastor's wife, every
76:50 pastor's wife, go over there and stand
76:51 by the women
76:52 preachers. Come on, girls. Come on,
76:54 girls.
76:57 Hey. Hey. Every pastor's husband over
77:00 there in stand too. If your husband is
77:02 bearded, go get him and get him over
77:09 there. All
77:11 right. All
77:14 right. Every retired preacher, get up
77:18 here. All right. Hey, come here. All
77:21 right. Mark Richardson, Sister
77:24 Richardson, up here. Up here on the
77:26 platform.
77:28 Come on. Come on, Sister Richardson.
77:31 Come with Mark. Come with Mark. Come
77:33 with Mark. All right. Look at Brother. I
77:37 want you to stand back there. I want you
77:38 to stand between Mark and
77:40 Isa. Stand between them. Stand between
77:42 them. Stand between them. Do not let Do
77:46 not have let let the African-American
77:47 people stand by
77:49 themselves. Don't let the Don't let the
77:51 Latino people stand by themselves. Don't
77:53 let the Just don't let the bearded men
77:55 stand at all.
77:57 Uh lady, women, women pastors, women
77:59 pastors, get up there. Get on the other
78:01 side. No, you all have to separate.
78:03 Y'all have to separate. Y'all have to
78:04 separate. I want a white person between
78:06 y'all. A white person. White person. I I
78:09 want a Hispanic between you all. Come
78:12 on. Hey, up there. Up there. I got to
78:13 have you up here. Okay. Hey, Greek. Hey,
78:16 Greek. Hey, Greek. Hey, Mr. Greek. Go up
78:18 there. Go up there. Go up there. Go up.
78:20 Go up and stand by that lady right
78:22 there. Mr. Greek. Go there.
78:26 Are there any other ethnicities in this
78:27 room I missed? Are there any naturalb
78:31 born Jews in this house?
78:35 What? Glory to God. Get her right over
78:37 here in the center.
78:40 All right. All right. I'm right here.
78:42 Okay. Right here in the
78:45 center. She's the nation through which
78:47 the Messiah came. That's right.
78:49 Hallelujah. Thank you, sister.
78:52 What what other uniquenesses do we have
78:53 in here?
78:58 Well, we got to have somebody to
79:00 celebrate. So, I'm going to let
79:02 everybody else sitting in the seat
79:03 celebrate. Ladies and gentlemen, hey,
79:05 hey, hey, brother, pastor, I was looking
79:07 for you. I need you up
79:11 here. I need a 6 foot I need a 6'7
79:15 African-American guy.
79:20 I want you to I want you to go up there
79:22 and stand beside that little Greek guy.
79:23 Okay. He's the Hey, hey, hey, hey.
79:27 Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But
79:28 he's got a dual option. Okay. Hey, hey,
79:31 hey. He's the guy that asked you all the
79:32 questions this morning. Stand up there.
79:35 All right, ladies and gentlemen,
79:37 everybody standing, all the bearded
79:39 guys, I want you to turn around and
79:40 look. Turn around and look. Turn around.
79:42 Turn around. Y'all turn around and look
79:43 up there. Look up there. I want to
79:45 introduce you to somebody. There she is.
79:48 There she is. The bride of Christ, the
79:52 body of Christ, the household of faith,
79:55 the people of God, the people of God.
79:58 There she is. There she
80:01 is. Hey. Hey. I know. I know in this
80:04 world we're not perfected yet, but I'm
80:07 going to tell you, we're on our way to
80:08 perfection. And that's the body of
80:10 Christ.
80:12 These are the people of God.
80:14 They're not black and white and Greek
80:17 and
80:17 Hispanic. They're not
80:20 eurosentric. They're not afroentric.
80:22 They're our brothers. They're our
80:24 sisters. We can make absolutely no
80:28 distinctions whatsoever.
80:35 I celebrate you
80:36 tonight. I celebrate you. I love you.
80:41 Even you bearded guys.
80:47 We can't make any
80:49 distinctions. The women in ministry, the
80:51 pastor's spouses, no distinctions. All
80:55 servants, all people of faith, all
80:58 people of God, all part of the family of
81:01 God. I want you to sing it with me.
81:04 Let's sing it together. Sing it, Caden.
81:07 I'm so glad.
81:12 of the family of God. I've been washed
81:18 in the
81:19 fountain, cleansed by his
81:24 blood.
81:25 Join with Jesus as we travel this song.
81:32 For I'm part of the family. The family.
81:38 Come on, let's sing that first verse
81:40 together.
81:42 You may notice we sing. Hey, turn around
81:45 and tell somebody, "Hello, brother."
81:47 Sister around here, it's
81:51 because we're a family and these folks
81:56 are so near. When one has a
82:02 heartache, we all share share the tears
82:07 and
82:08 rejoice in each victory in this family
82:13 so dear.
82:15 Oh, let's sing this chorus. Oh, I'm so
82:18 glad I'm a part of the family. Oh, I've
82:23 been washed in the fountain. Sing. I've
82:25 been washed in the valley, cleansed by
82:29 his blooded by his joints with Jesus.
82:34 Join with Jesus as we travel this song.
82:41 For I'm part of the
82:45 family, the family of God.
82:52 [Music]
82:57 Hey. Hey. Let's send all these bearded
83:00 guys back to their seats so we can sit
83:01 down. Hallelujah.
83:07 She's glorious. She's glorious.
83:10 Beautiful. Well, we're at minus 624 and
83:13 the floor didn't open swallow yet.
83:19 Yeah. All right. We're gonna just do a
83:22 quick dismissal. The next service starts
83:24 at 8:15. Am I
83:27 correct? 8. Well, you got seven minutes.
83:31 Okay. 7 minutes.
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