(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So I want to start off by saying, obviously, I love all King James Bibles, unless it's a Schofield or one of those Ruckman Retard Bibles. But if you're going to own a Bible, man, get something like this. Look at this thing. This is huge. I can't wait to go soloing with it, because there'll be no confusion about what I'm there for when you come with a Bible that's the size of your head. Anyway, so what I'm going to be preaching on tonight is a sermon called The Unity of the Brotherhood. The Unity of the Brotherhood. And I want to talk about how we can make sure this church is a unified, well-oiled machine for the cause of Christ. We can accomplish nothing if everybody is doing their own thing. We can accomplish nothing for the Lord Jesus Christ if there are divisions among us, if we're not working as a team, if there's arguing, if there's strife, if there's contention. And I want to give you all some do's and don'ts, what we can do as a church, as a unit to remain unified for the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can go forward as one and do amazing things here at the new steadfast Jacksonville. You're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Take a look at verse number 10, where the Bible says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. So Paul is saying there shouldn't be divisions in the Corinthian church. He wants them to be a team, again, unified, a well-oiled machine for the cause of Christ. He asks them, you know, to all speak the same thing, to be perfectly knit together. How can the Corinthian church accomplish anything if there are divisions? How can they accomplish anything if each individual person is forming a clique here, forming a clique there? If there's, you know, people don't view it as a team, they don't view their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as teammates, of course they're not going to be able to accomplish anything. In fact, it's totally counterproductive. That's what Paul is trying to say here. You know, and here's the thing, it's okay to have small disagreements in church. Obviously that's fine. You and I are not going to agree on every single Bible doctrine. We're not going to agree on every single little thing that's ever preached or taught or something like that. That's okay. But the key is if, let's say, I agree with somebody on 99% of issues, why then would I focus on the 1% that we disagree on? It doesn't make any sense. And folks, when you take a look at it from a broader perspective, we all agree together on 99% of Bible doctrine. And so let's act like we agree on 90% of Bible doctrine and keep moving forward together. You know, there are some churches where people think that it's okay basically to go behind the pastor's back and talk smack about what the pastor is teaching or even the pastor's character. That's unacceptable. That's not how we maintain unity at church. If you have it in your mind that you want to undermine people's confidence in the pastor here at Steadfast Baptist Church or any church that you go to, you're not being a good church member. You're being a wicked church member who's causing division. And we ought not to be causing division in this church or any church. We ought to be unified together. We ought to understand that we can't do very much at all, again, if everyone has their own little mission and everyone's going their own way. Let's go forward together as teammates. The Bible says in Amos chapter 3, can two walk together except they be agreed. And folks, we're walking together figuratively and we ought to be agreed. In Matthew chapter 12, let me flip there real quick. It wasn't in my notes, but this came to me at the last second. And once you hear the scripture, you're probably going to be wondering, why didn't you put that in your notes? It's obvious that you should have probably read that for a sermon like this, but sometimes things come to you at the last second. Matthew 12 says, but while men, or I should say Matthew chapter 12 and 13, let me go to 12. There we go. When Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. Did you hear that? Every city, every house divided against itself shall not stand. And that also, you know, that counts here at Steadfast Baptist Church. Our church cannot stand if we're not unified. Our church cannot stand if we're divided against ourselves. Look at 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 12. Now this I say that every one of you sayeth, I am of Paul and I of Apollos, I of Cephas and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? Paul's saying here, hey, what authority were you baptized in? Were you baptized in my own authority or were you baptized in the authority of Jesus Christ himself? And the correct answer is these people were baptized in the authority of Jesus and we go out and we do work for Jesus by his authority, not by our own authority, and we should never forget that. Yes, there are great men of God who we look up to, some as heroes, people who we follow as they follow Christ, but we have to make sure that the order is correct. It's man following man as they follow Christ and not putting man above Christ. There's a balance in everything. And look at what he says in verse 14, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. He doesn't want there to be any confusion about what authority he is baptizing and he's baptizing in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there were factions, another thing we can take from this, there were factions forming in the Corinthian church and they're childish factions. You had one group that were saying I am of Paul, another one said I am of Apollos, and then you had some that said I am of Cephas. They had these little childish groups that they were forming amongst each other and that's poison in a church. Let's not go into little bitty factions. Let's all be one giant faction for Christ and all say, hey, I'm for Christ. You know, Christianity is not about cliques. It's about serving the Lord. And you know, this sermon is going to show you exactly how we can remain unified for the foreseeable future. And the first point I want to mention is that we ought to offer words of encouragement to each other. Now I want to give you some dos and don'ts. So here's the do. Offer words of encouragement, but beware of flattery. There's a difference between encouraging somebody to try to make them feel better or just to kind of exhort them to continue doing what they're doing. And flattery, which is fake. It's also an attribute of a reprobate. There's a huge difference, again, between flattery and encouragement. Go to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1, if you would. Go to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1 while I read 1 Thessalonians 4 where the Bible says, but as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Folks, it's a teaching of God that we love one another. That's hugely important. If you hate your brother, you're not living the Christian life the right way, we should love one another. Why? Because we're brothers and sisters. Because this is a spiritual family. And so we're in the fight together. 1 Thessalonians Chapter 1, notice what it says in verse number 2. It says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Why is Paul mentioning that he's making mention of this church in his prayers? Because he wants to encourage them. If I walk up to Brother Owen and I say, hey, Brother Owen, I've been praying for you, man. I know what you've been going through. I'm just letting you know I'm praying for you, even if he's not going through anything. If I just let him know, I'm praying for you, brother. That's a form of encouragement. That's a statement made so Owen knows, hey, there's people here that care about him. His fleshly family, and many of you might be in this situation, where you have family in the flesh, whether it's mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, aunts, et cetera, who might have even disowned you or cut fellowship with you or don't want to communicate with you because of what you believe about the Bible. Well, you know what? Here at church, we have to mitigate that for people and understand, listen, if your mom or dad doesn't want to talk to you because you believe the King James Bible literally and you love the new IFB and you love this church, we're here for you. We're your family, and we're here to make sure that you get uplifted when you're down. Now, notice what it says in verse 3, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father, knowing brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and much assurance as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. The reason he's saying this again is to encourage them. He's letting the church at Thessalonica know they are in samples to others. Imagine if Pastor Anderson were to send us a letter and say, hey, Steadfast Jacksonville, you're a positive example for the other churches in this city and even in the entire nation. That would be uplifting for us to know that a great man of God thinks highly of us here at Steadfast Baptist Church. That's what Paul was doing to the church at Thessalonica. They had strong faith. They were an example unto others because of their strong faith. And Paul's hope is they continue doing the right things. That's the reason why we exhort and encourage those who are already doing the right things because we want them to continue going down that path. That's what it's all about. Now notice, he doesn't flatter them. He's not writing a letter saying, this is the greatest church in the history of mankind. You're perfect. You can do nothing wrong. It's just, man, I just can't believe you. You are. You're perfect. He doesn't say that because that's fake. That's flattery. And flattery is designed for selfish people to step on you to get what they want. Look at actually, you can stay there. I'm going to read from 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 where the Bible says, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God which triath our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness. Paul, Silvanus, Timotheus, they never use flattering words. They just say what's right. They offer words of encouragement and they're saying things to exhort them to continue to do good works, not to flatter them, to make themselves look good or to get something out of them. That's what a flattering person does. 2 Corinthians 9 says, therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren. And we ought to think it necessary to exhort the brethren here at Steadfast Baptist Church. You know, you memorize the Bible chapter, hey, that's great. Good job, man. Keep it up. Keep going. Don't stop. Memorize as much scripture as you can. We ought to have God's word etched into our minds. And if you see someone doing that, encourage them. Good job, brother. Hey, you got a couple of people saved out soul winning? I might have not got somebody saved in a month. Let's say you got two people saved. Great. That's awesome, man. Keep up the good work. You know, brother Brian, he always talks to me about how he's preaching the gospel to his clients and trying to get them saved. And that makes me feel joyful to know we have people in this church who care about getting other people saved even while they're working and doing something that has nothing to do with the gospel. But the gospel's always on his mind. Getting people saved that's always on his mind. Making sure people know how to be born again. It's always on his mind. And that's a good thing. So 1 Kings, let me read out of 1 Kings chapter 1. It says, And while he yet spake, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came and Adonijah said unto him, Come in, for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings. Now that's not Tyler Baker talking, that's Adonijah. He says, Thou art a valiant man. Do you think he means that? He's trying to flatter Jonathan. Why? Because he wants good news out of him. Come on in, brother, for thou art a valiant man. But in reality, Adonijah doesn't respond with that much flattery when he receives the news that Solomon has been anointed king, because that news scared him tremendously. Jonathan informs Adonijah that Solomon has been anointed king, and the rest is history. Go to Luke chapter 20. He doesn't like that news. And notice the flattery ended as soon as he received that news. Now, while you're going to Luke chapter 20, I'm going to read out of Proverbs 2, where the Bible says, Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee, to deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the mouth that speaketh froward things, who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked, whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths, to deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words. The stranger which flattereth with her words. Whenever you hear this incessant flattery coming out of somebody, you know what you ought to be thinking in your mind? Red flag, red flag, just file that one away. Somebody walks up to somebody, hey, you're the greatest soul winner I've ever seen in all of mankind, you're better than even Paul was. That's weird, first of all, that's weird. And second of all, red flag, just file it away, file it away. Now the Bible here is talking about the strange woman. Oftentimes how does adultery happen? Some whore in the office, flattering with her words, and enticing a man to do something he shouldn't do. Now you're there in Luke chapter 20, notice what it says in verse number 19, look at verse 19. The Bible says, False brethren, just like these spies will feign themselves just men. And so I'm imploring you, I'm pleading with you tonight, don't allow yourself to be manipulated by these people. That's what the spies tried to do to Jesus, we'll read it here in just a few moments. Oh, good master, we'll see it here. Look at verse 21. Okay, give me a break. Look what they say here. Or no, but look what Jesus does here. Somebody comes up to you with these flattering words, perceive their craftiness, don't buy into it. They're trying to manipulate you. They're trying to get something out of you. They're trying to have you win over their trust. Let's keep reading. The things which be Caesar's and unto God, the things which be God's, and they could not take hold of his words before the people and they marveled at his answer and held their peace. One of the things I love about Jesus, he couldn't be tricked. The Pharisees and the Sadducees tried, here these spies tried to trick him. Step one, flattery. Step two, a question they thought would trip him up. But what happened? Jesus gave them an answer that they couldn't respond to, and they were rendered speechless. That's what we can learn from. Flattery didn't work on Jesus. It ought not to work on us as well. So encouragement builds people up, and that's a good thing. That's a do. We should do that here at Steadfast Baptist Church. But flattery puffs people up. That's something we should stay away from. It's also, like I said earlier, the attribute, one of the attributes of a reprobate. Go to Numbers chapter 27, and I'll move on to my second point. Numbers chapter 27. I'm talking about how we can maintain and perpetuate unity here at Steadfast Jacksonville. So important, if we want to have a successful church going forward, is maintaining unity. My second point is, be a team player. Don't be an envious whiner. I don't like whiners. I don't know anybody that likes whiners. So don't do that. Philippians chapter 2, I'm going to read from there while you're going to Numbers 27. The Bible says, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, and having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, the Bible says. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other, better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Again, I'm talking about how we should be a team player, not an envious whiner. If we want to perpetuate unity here at Steadfast Jacksonville, what is a team player? A team player esteems others more than his or herself. A team player helps the church remain in one mind and in one accord. A team player congratulates, seriously, an excelling brother or sister in Christ who's excelling in the faith. Now if you ever think to yourself, man, you know, brother so and so, he's getting all the opportunities here at church. I want that. Me, me, I deserve everything. I deserve to preach every single week. I deserve, you know, it's just all, and you find yourself getting jealous at other people who are excelling in the faith. That's a wicked attitude, and God's going to reward you with a punishment, with chastisement. Look at Numbers 27 there in verse number 18. Verse number 18. Let's look at an example here of a good character trait out of Moses. It says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him, after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. Now listen to this. And Moses complained to the Lord that he wasn't the one in charge. No. Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation. Did Moses say, No, I refuse to do that. It should be me. I deserve all the opportunities. I deserve to go to the promised land. I deserve everything. Give me the power. Give me the authority. Give me the spotlight. Me, me, me, me, me. No he didn't do that. He did what God commanded him to do. Because Moses was a team player, and a team player knows their role within the team. Think of an orchestra. You've got your trumpets. You've got your saxophones. You've got your flutes. They all come together to play music. Let's do that here at this church. We've got some people preaching. We've got some people back there doing the video. We've got other people sweeping the floors, taking the garbage out. Whatever role you've been given, be happy that you've been given that role. Be thankful that God has placed you anywhere to serve in this church, and don't ever think in your mind, man, I deserve everything. It should be me that's in charge. No, God hasn't put you there for a reason, and don't get envious at those who are getting a little bit more opportunity than yourself. Your time will come. If you humble yourself, then God will exalt you. Numbers 27, look down at verse 23, and he laid his hands upon him and gave him a charge as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. Moses laid hands on Joshua just as God commanded. He laid hands on him. Now, at first, he did ask, well, can I go into the land? In Deuteronomy 3, God gave him a pretty stern answer. He said, speak no more unto me of this matter. And Moses complied because he knew his role, because he was a team player. Let's emulate that. Let's do what Moses did. Think about this. He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. He went through hell, figuratively, for the children of Israel. And after that entire journey, after going through all the blood, the sweat, the tears to bring these people out of Egypt, the wilderness, and all the rest of it, they're whining, they're complaining. What did he do? Did he whine? Did he complain when he wasn't given the opportunity to get inheritance into the promised land that he worked so hard to relocate to? No. Joshua, you're the guy that God has picked. And he laid hands on him obediently, because he's a team player. Deuteronomy 31 says, and Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him, in the sight of all Israel, be strong and of a good courage. Notice he encourages him. Now, hey, hey, Joshua, you know, how come I didn't get that spot? Be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. You know, let's say that somebody here at this church, I'll use Marcel as an agent. Let's say Marcel gets a call to preach at a church in the new IFB movement, right? You know what I ought to say to him? Be strong and of a good courage. Go rip some face, brother. Encourage him. He needs it. But you know what a wicked person would do? Man, I should have got that call. Why did you get it? I'm better than you. You know, it should have been me. That's a wicked person. That's a wicked attitude. And that's not how we, you know, unify this church. So don't be envious. Don't be jealous that other men are succeeding in the cause of Christ. Hey, listen, we all want the cause of Christ to be advanced, right? So if you see somebody succeeding, then you ought to thank God for that. Not say, well, that was, I should have been me, man. You're an idiot if you think that way. Okay? We're all in this together. And you know what? The word of God, it's Jesus that's our rock. In Numbers 11, you don't have to turn there. Numbers 11, it says, And there ran a young man and told Moses and said, Eldad and Madad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men answered and said, My Lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto them, Envious thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. Hey, we got some brothers here that are ripping face at men's preaching night. You know what? Would God that all the Lord's prophets, or I should say, would God that all the people were prophets? That's what God said. Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets? That's good. Go to 1 Samuel chapter 18. The more people who are preaching against sin, the more people who are on fire for God, we ought to thank God for that. That's a positive thing. Proverbs chapter 14 says, A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy, the rottenness of the bones. Envy is not only antithetical to unity here at this church. It's also rotten. And you know what? In Romans 1, the Bible says reprobates are full of envy. Why should we act like them? 1 Samuel chapter 18, look down at your Bible at verse number six, where the Bible says there, And it came to pass, as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. You know, the people are saying, Theo got more people saved than me. Oh, man, you know, I hate that wicked attitude. Saul was envious of the acclaim of David. Saul was jealous. And you know what his solution was? To kill David. Saul wanted the fame. Saul wanted the kind words from those women. That's what he was obsessed with. He didn't care about the cause of Christ. He didn't care to, you know, encourage his, make David feel good about himself. He did an amazing thing. No, that wasn't what it was about for him. It was about getting that flattery. Now switching gears, you know, I want to talk about how just whining in general is poison to a church that's trying to be unified. You know, like I said, I don't like whining. I don't know anybody who likes whining. Go to Numbers chapter 21. Let's see what God thinks about whining. In Numbers 11, the Bible says, And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Well, that's what God thinks about whiners, folks. He consumed them with fire. And you know, there's some people where just nothing is ever good enough for them. Look at this church, man. We've got chairs. We've got a nice building. We've got King James Bibles. We've got hard preachers. We've got Pastor Shelley and Fort Worth is going to come here regularly and preach for us. We've got safety. We've got security. We've got brothers and sisters in Christ who we can fellowship with, brothers and sisters in Christ who are like-minded, and for some people, they're never satisfied. It's never enough. All they ever want to do is murmur and whine and complain and just bring other people down with their bad attitude. And you know what I say to that person? Man, I don't want to be around you. You don't make me feel like I should even come here because all you do is discourage me with your complaining and your whining and your moaning. And let me tell you something, I'm sick of that attitude, not that we have a problem with it now, but we used to. And I don't like that attitude. It's poison to this church, and we ought not to have that attitude. Whining is annoying. Don't be annoying. Look, you were brought out of Egypt, just like the Israelites were brought out of Egypt. It's just that your Egypt, for some of you, was the old IFB. And you know, I would rather be in this church. Is it perfect? No, but I'd much rather be here or anywhere else in the new IFB rather than being in Egypt, the old IFB, listening to some Judaizing pastor talk to me about the pre-Trib rapture and how we ought to pray for Israel, man. I'd listen to the worst. I'd listen to the worst post-Trib, pre-wrath, anti-Zionist preacher over somebody like that any day of the week. So just be thankful for what you got. Look at Numbers 21 and verse 4. And they journeyed from Mount Hore by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God and against Moses, wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread, neither is there any water. And our soul loateth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died. It's always a mistake to speak against the Lord, folks. It's always a mistake and we see what happened here as a result. God's judgment was on these people. He sent them fiery serpents and you know what? If there's somebody who's just going to be whining and complaining and murdering every single time I have a conversation with them, I'm just going to say, you know, just go get bit by a snake because I can't take it anymore. I can't take it. Look, I can't take it at home. Why would I want to take it at church? So my third point here, we're going to move on now. My third point is reprove or rebuke, but don't rail. Again, I'm doing do's and don'ts here tonight. There's room in a church, a unified church for reprove, for rebuke, you know, at times that's warranted. Go to Luke chapter 17. Let's talk a little bit about this in Luke chapter 17. Why you go there? I'm going to read from Proverbs 9 where the Bible says, Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul, but he that heareth reprove getteth understanding. So if reprove is warranted, it could get somebody back on track. It could be a positive influence on them. It could be a good thing. But the Bible says there in the scripture I read to you, a couple of verses I read to you there that a fool hates reproof, a fool hates rebuke. Why? Because they're prideful. They think they can do no wrong. And if you point out a mistake they made, they're going to get angry at you for it because they want to pretend like they're sinless. You know, pick yourself up, dust yourself off if you screw up. Mistakes happen. If you're there in Luke chapter 17, notice what the Bible says in verse 3. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day, turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. So we see two sides to this coin. Rebuke if it's necessary and then your brother or sister, they are repentant if they're truly sorry about what happened, what, you know, they did to deserve a rebuke. Forgive them. That's what the Bible commands us to do, forgive, forget. I've been rebuked before. I said, hey, you know what? I owned up to it. I'm sorry. And the person forgave me. That's how things work in the Christian life and that's how it should work in this church. In Mark chapter 8, you don't have to turn there. As Jesus foretells of his death, burial and resurrection, he says this, and he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. And when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter is put in his place by the Lord Jesus Christ, but Jesus didn't do it out of hatred for Peter. Jesus didn't do it because he was trying to exalt himself or make himself look like he's more of an alpha male leader. Jesus did it out of love. And at a church that's unified, there might be times where reproof or rebuke is necessary, but understand we do it out of love to correct certain behaviors or just because we love the person and we want them to get better. We want them not to make the same mistake twice. Now shifting gears, railing is different than rebuke. Railing is not rebuke. Railing is a false accusation. Railing is slander. It creates division. And listen, it can even ruin lives. It's foolish. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 10, he that hideth hatred with lying lips and he that uttereth a slander is a fool. If you're uttering slanders on people without any proof whatsoever, if you're slandering, if you're railing, if you're making false accusations, the Bible says you're a fool. The Jews railed on Jesus. What do they call him? A wine bibber. They said that he was a devil. The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, they called him a devil. Every time I read that in the Bible, it makes me angry. They slandered him. Let's not act like that. Exodus chapter 23, the Bible says thou shalt not raise a false report. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Don't be an unrighteous witness. Don't just make things up about people. Even if the person actually is wicked, right? Don't just make up false allegations against them. If they are wicked, there are plenty of things you could say about them that would be true. Railing, you know, all it does is it just brainwashes people to think certain things about others that are not true, that are lies. It inculcates people with just false accusations and it's something that, according to the Bible, you can get kicked out over. It's something that, according to the Bible, we should cut fellowship over if somebody is an incessant realer. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I'm going to read this. You can stay where you're at. For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and then I shall be found unto you such as ye would not, lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbiting, whisperings, swellings, tumults, and less. When I come again, my God will humble me among you, and then I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. So Paul is worried about whisperings because whisperings can split a church, it can divide it right down the middle with certain people thinking something about somebody and another certain group thinking another thing about somebody. It creates division. That's not what we need here. And I want to make this point right now. If someone is going to try and start a conversation with me about a great man of God, whether it's a pastor or even if it's just an evangelist or just a regular church member, understand this. If you're going to begin the conversation with me with a railing accusation, I'm not interested. Here's a newsflash for you. I love Pastor Steven Anderson. I love Pastor Roger Jimenez. I love Brother Bruce Mejia. I love Pastor Manley Perry. I love all the great men of God who are doing amazing work in this movement. I love great men of God who are going out soul winning. I don't even know their name. I love people who believe like me about what this says. I love people who like the preaching that I do. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ and if you think it's acceptable to come to me and rail and backbite and make false allegations about people, you have a wicked heart and according to the Bible, we ought to cut fellowship with you. I don't like it and we ought not to like it here at this church. We're in this together. You're going to come to me, you're going to talk bad about Brother Dustin there, Brother Mark, Brother Theo with no evidence whatsoever. I ain't interested. I don't want to have that conversation. You know, as the Pentecostal women would say, talk to the hand, all right? Not interested. Depart from me. I never knew you. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 19. Railing is wicked. Railing will split churches. Railing is the total opposite of unity. Now here's what God... I showed you what God thinks about whiners. Let's look at what God thinks about false allegations here in Deuteronomy chapter 19. While you're flipping there, I'll read to you a scripture that I've referenced already a bunch of times here in 1 Corinthians 5. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat, all right? And I ain't interested in fellowshipping with a railer who's just going to throw around false allegations like hotcakes. Now here's what God thinks about it. Look at verse 15 there in Deuteronomy chapter 19. It says, one witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established. Two or three witnesses. We see this in the New Testament as well. So look, you want to make an allegation, you better have proof. You want to make an allegation, you better have two or three witnesses. It has to be substantiated. It can't be something you make up off the top of your head. Look at verse 16. If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days and the judges shall make diligent inquisition And behold, if the witness be a false witness and hath testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother. So shalt thou put away, put the evil away from among you. You know what that says right there? Railing is evil. Verse 20, and those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. So the consequence of the false accuser is basically to get what he thought to have done unto his brother. And that's perfectly just. The purpose of this is to make people hear and fear, to make sin exceeding sinful so that those in this congregation are scared to make a false allegation against someone. And that should be our attitude. You know, I'm scared to make a false allegation against somebody in this church. I'm scared of it. It says, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. The goal is that false allegations are not thrown around like nothing. That's how we maintain unity at this church. Understand, you want to make an accusation, you better have proof. Point number four is fellowship with the brethren. Don't be a clock in, clock out Christian. Now there are going to be people you work with that they clock in, they go to work, they clock out. They ain't interested in nothing but getting paid. They don't really have a passion for what they're doing. And so I would implore you, you want unity here at steadfast? Don't be clock out, clock in, clock out Christian. Come in and be a part of the family here. La familia as Alicia would say in her native tongue. So you know, be a part of this church. Fellowship with people. Fellowship, we want to see, we want to learn about who you are, we want to go have dinner with you, we want to invite you over, why don't you invite me over, that'd be cool too. You know, let's talk, let's have friendship, let's get to know each other. That's how you maintain unity in this church. Stick around after the service, it ain't going to hurt you. Stick around, talk a little bit. You know, hey, what'd you think of this? What'd you think of that? You know, offer criticisms on my preaching, that's cool too. Whatever it might be. Listen, let's talk, let's fellowship after the service, let's not be a clock in, clock out Christian. Alright, service is done, I'm out of here, see y'all later. No, don't do that, okay? I mean, there are some churches, and we don't necessarily have that problem, there's some churches as soon as the dismissal happens, I mean, it's like Speedy Gonzalez some people are to the door. They just can't wait to get on out of here and go watch their reality TV show or college football, I guess that's not on Saturday, that's on Saturday, so NFL football on Sunday. But you know, just stick around, go to Acts chapter two, go to Acts chapter number two. In Psalm 133, the Bible says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The Bible says it's good, the Bible says it's pleasant when we dwell together in unity, when we feel like we're, you know, when we're close with each other, when we talk to each other, when we're friends, when we hang out outside of church, or after church, the Bible says that's good, the Bible says that's pleasant, and God is pleased with us when we're taking the time to truly get to know each other. And so the Bible says, now I'm going to show you here in Acts chapter two, in verse 42, I'm going to talk about fellowship of the believers who were saved at Pentecost. But before I do that, I want to mention something here. As I look out into the people watching me, I see true diversity. I see true diversity. You know, I got a white guy there, Colombian, white, black, I mean, we're all, I'm an Arab, there's an Arab there. We're all come from different races, colors, creeds, different geographic locations. But ultimately, we all get along. And what's amazing about this is you've got leftists who are obsessed with race, these SJWs, obsessed with making sure every TV show and movie is this perfect pizza pie of all the different races. But you know what, they'll never give us any praise or acclaim or give us any encouragement for the diversity we have here at this church. You know why? Because they hate the Lord Jesus Christ, many of them do. But here we're unified no matter what your skin color is, no matter where you come from, we're unified by the Word of God, and that's a beautiful thing. In Acts chapter two, the Bible says, starting in verse 42, again, these are those who were saved at Pentecost, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers, and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common, all things common. They believed all things in the same way. They were unified. They continued in the apostles doctrine and fellowship. They fellowshiped with one another. They were unified in doctrine. They believed the same things. Now again, if you disagree with me on something, that's okay. We could have minor disagreements, but you know what's not a minor disagreement? Salvation by grace through faith alone. You know what's not a minor disagreement? The Trinity, the eternal sonship of Christ. Those are not minor disagreements. And if there is somebody here who has a disagreement on one of those primary doctrines, that's a problem. But it's okay to have some deferring views on end times Bible prophecy or something like that. But ultimately though, these people right here, those who were saved at Pentecost, they were unified in doctrine and they fellowshiped one with another. Look at verse 45. And sold their possessions in good and parted them to all men as every man had need. And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. We got no problem doing that here. Breaking bread, we do that every single time we hang out with each other practically. Going to restaurants and eating after the morning service, it's fun. That's what these people did. Look at verse 47. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Imagine if a visitor were to come in and to see the unity we have at Steadfast Jacksonville. Don't you think they're going to want to stick around and be a part of that? I know I would. And notice it says here they went from house to house. They were with one accord, teammates and unified. That's how we further the cause of Christ. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 4. Ecclesiastes chapter 4. And I'm going to read from Philippians chapter 1. While you go to Ecclesiastes chapter 4, the Bible reads in Philippians 1. Only let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. So the words I want to highlight there. One mind striving together. That's what we do here. Let's continue. And listen, you can't strive together for the faith of Christ if we're not all in one mind but 25 minds. It's not going to work that way. But you know, fellowship is so important because iron sharpens iron. I've been a product. I've learned a lot, not just from the preaching, but I've learned a lot from conversations I've had with people. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 says, look at verse 9, look at verse 9 here in this chapter. It says, Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Hey, it's no secret. It's been a while since I got somebody saved. But today, Brother Graham lifted me up. He gave me encouragement. He said, hey, it's all right, brother. Just keep trucking along. Keep knocking doors. You're doing what God commanded you to do. Don't get a bad attitude about it. Don't let it affect your gospel presentation. And you know what happened? I broke the streak today, but it was because of his encouragement. And obviously the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's the thing, loners, those who don't want fellowship with people, those who are just kind of weirdos, maybe they grew up in their mother's basement playing World of Warcraft all day, and they don't know what it's like to actually communicate with another human being. Those people who get saved and come to church and want nothing to do with any of us, you know, the Bible says they're not going to have anyone to pick them up if they fall. That's why in Ecclesiastes 4 we read two are better than one. Why? You fall down. You're struggling with something. You have a brother or sister in Christ who can lift you back up again, who can encourage you again. Woe to him that is alone, the Bible says. We keep each other accountable. We exhort each other. That's what we ought to do. Now, I'm going to move into my final point, which is forgive and don't hold grudges. Go to Matthew chapter 18 and we'll be done. Forgive and don't hold grudges. How can we be of one accord if everyone is holding a grudge against everyone else? It doesn't work that way. You've got to forgive, and it might be hard sometimes, but that's what the Bible commands us to do. And we can't move forward as a unified church unless we follow that commandment. Look at Matthew 18 verse 23. This is a parable here. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant, therefore, fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. What do we see here? Repentance. We see a servant who was genuinely asking for forgiveness because he couldn't pay the debt. As a result, this ruler felt compassion on him, and he forgave him. Let's keep reading. Verse 28. But then that same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him a hundred pence, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after that he had called them, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirous me. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? We're all mixed up, messed up sinners here, okay? God forgave us of those sins. We're saved, even though we deserve to go to hell, by the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ when he died on the cross, was buried and rose again. Without that, we'd have no shot of going to heaven. But understand this, God forgives us whenever we mess up. The Bible says he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins if we confess our sins. There's no doubt about that. And since he has enough mercy to forgive us when we trespass him, I say we have enough mercy on our brothers and sisters in Christ when they trespass against us. Let's look at verse 34, and his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses. The king forgave his servant, but then the servant went on and held a grudge against his fellow servants. You know, somebody called me ugly or something like that or some kind of petty issue I might have with somebody here and they apologize to me. It's my Christian duty to move on from that and not be this guy that holds a grudge against that person. And you know, if I come to church every single week and I look at somebody, anybody here with contempt in my heart and with a grudge being held deep down in my heart, there's no way we can ever look past that. There's no way I could ever look past that. And in fact, it's exhausting to be angry at somebody all the time. That's why Jesus commanded forgive. And if you don't forgive, if you don't forgive and forget, the Bible says, how can we have unity at church? How can we move as a unified movement for Christ if half the people of every person here is angry with the person sitting next to him? Grudges are destructive. And like I said, they're mentally exhausting. So just let them go, folks. Let them go. If somebody comes to you and apologizes and they're being genuine about it, forgive them. Let them go. Water under the bridge. In 1 John chapter 1, the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God forgave us when we messed up. Forgive others if they mess up and trespass against you. So the first point I made, how we have a unified church, how we can be together teammates, offer words of encouragement, but beware of flattery, which puffs people up. It's an attribute of the sons of Belial. Don't do it by mistake, folks. I don't want flattery. I like encouragement, but I don't need to be told that, you know, I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread because I know that's not true. Point number two, be a team player. Don't be an envious whiner. You see people succeeding in the church, exhort them, encourage them. Don't be jealous. We're all on the same team here. Reprove and rebuke, but don't rail. Railing is wicked. Railing is something that I will cut fellowship with people over. I don't want to be involved with railers, with false accusers. Point four, fellowship with the brethren. Don't be a clock in, clock out Christian. Stay behind. Talk to us. We want to hear from you. And finally, forgive. Don't hold grudges. That's how we can move together as one team if we're not holding grudges against each other. That's why Jesus is implying that we do there in Matthew chapter 18. That's all I've got for you. You were great listeners. Let's pray. Lord, Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this opportunity. And Lord, just thank you for this church. I pray that we can remain unified for the cause of Christ, that there aren't railers, that there aren't people who want to sow discord and division, people who want to sneak some damnable heresy in behind everyone's back here, Father, to try and divide us and form cliques and form factions in this church. We cannot accomplish what you want for us if we're busy fighting amongst ourselves. Help us not to do that. Help us to be in one accord, Lord. And I pray that this sermon was edifying for some people here. And I pray this prayer also in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.