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

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll sing song number 14. Song number 14 in your samples. We'll sing Neil at the cross. And if you would stand. We'll sing song number 14. Neil at the cross. Christ will meet you there. Come while he waits for you. List to his voice. Come while he waits for you. Come while he waits for you. Come while he waits for you. Come while he waits for you. Come while he waits for you. List to his voice. Leave with him your care. And begin a life anew. Neil at the cross. Leave every care. Neil at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Neil at the cross. Neil at the cross. There is room for all. Who would his glory share? Bless their awaits. Heart can never be full. Anchor there. Neil at the cross. Leave every care. Neil at the cross. Neil at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Neil at the cross. Give your idols up. Lock on two rounds above. Turn not away. To life's sparkling cup. Trust only in his love. Neil at the cross. Neil at the cross. Leave every care. Neil at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we just want to thank you, God, for our church. Thank you, God, for just your word, that we know that it's perfect and holy and that we can lean fully upon it. I want to thank you, God, for salvation. Thank you, God, for the souls that we saw saved today and throughout last week. I pray, Lord, now that you would just be with our pastor, filled with your power and your spirit. For it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it, amen. All right, you may be seated. And turn in your song books to song 153. Song 153 in your song books. We'll sing How Firm a Foundation. That sermon is just from this morning, brother. Yeah. Yeah. Mercy and patience and temperance. All right. We'll sing How Firm a Foundation, song 153. How Firm a Foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled in every condition, in sickness, in health, in poverty's veil, for abounding and wealth at home and abroad on the land, on the sea, as your days may demand, shall your strength ever be when through that faith we shall lie. By grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, thy only desire, thy draws to consume and thy gold to refine. In down to old age all my people shall prove, thy sovereign eternal unchangeable love. And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn, thy glams they shall still in my bosom be born. The song that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not, desert to its foes, that song of hell should endeavor to shake. I'll never, no never, no never forsake. Amen. Welcome back to Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday afternoon. Let's get the sowing numbers for the week here. I know we had, it was 11 yesterday, and then was there any during the week that anyone... On Monday? Okay. So that'd be 13 leading up to today. And then what was it today? So there was two that I talked to with Wade. Okay, so three, four, five. Who are you with? Okay, six, seven, eight. Right? Yeah, yeah. So eight and plus I said 13, right? So we have 21. Good job with sowing. This is what happens when I stay back, you know, things get done. All joking aside. That's awesome though. That's some good numbers there. So as far as the other announcements here, we have our services are normal. Barring when our baby's born, we have men lined up to kind of fill in the gap there. If I'm not here, it's probably because I'm at the hospital or something like that. But Lord willing, I'll be here on Wednesday and I'll be preaching on James chapter four as we go through the book of James. And then sowing times this week, as far as regional times, we have WhatsApp there as far as the times and the availabilities there throughout the week. We have the men's prayer meeting coming up this Friday. We have the Lord's Supper that we're going to be doing after the afternoon service this coming Sunday. And then the women's prayer meeting is the next Saturday. After that, we have the Bible memory, First Thessalonians chapter four, and our memory verse for the week is Ephesians 6 four. And keep up the good work with reading through the New Testament this month. And so definitely a good thing to do. And then hopefully, I know some are doing their year reading through the Bible in a year, so keep that up as well as far as your reading schedule goes. Or maybe you're on a different schedule and you're trying to do it like two times in a year, three times in a year, four times in a year, whatever you're trying to do. Just keep up the good work with that, keep consistent with it. And I'm trying to get through the Greek New Testament this month. And some days are better than others. But I'm going to really try my best to get through it. Now if the baby comes, I'll have some free time while I'm sitting there at the hospital, while Holly's doing everything she's got to do. Then I can just crank it out, you know. So, I'm joking. Obviously, I'm going to be there supporting you. I'm going to go down, go down and get my scone, my coffee, and I'm just going to read. Let me know, let me know how everything went. So, Holly's going to kill me later, don't worry. But yeah, no. So, but we have that all scheduled as far as, you know, obviously if I'm out. So, but be in prayer there under the pregnancy list for my wife. And just pray that everything goes well with the delivery there. And then for Mrs. Alesco, that everything is going well there, especially when you're in that first trimester with sicknesses and stuff like that. So, but and then be in prayer for all the other ladies in our church. Some may be pregnant that we don't know about or who knows. Or maybe trying to get pregnant. Just be in prayer for our families in this church. And so, yeah. That's about all I got for announcements. We have the offering box in the back there if you want to give a tie to their offering. With mother-baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. I did try to turn up the volume back there. I know that it's really low. When brother Dave comes up, I may ask someone to check and see if he can hear better. Because I didn't get a chance to check it. But I can still turn it up a little bit. But brother Dan said that if you turn it up a notch, it turns it up a lot. So, yeah. We'll try to see if we can get that figured out for you so you can actually hear something back there. But besides that, who's reading tonight? Brother Dave is going to be reading Luke chapter 12 after we sing one more song. All right. Take your song books and turn to song number 18. Song number 18 in your song books. We'll sing take the name of Jesus with you. Song number 18. Take the name of Jesus with you. Child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give you. Take it, you go. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Take the name of Jesus ever. As our shield from every snare. If temptation drowns you gather. Breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Oh the precious name of Jesus. Thrills our souls with joy. When his loving arms receive us. And his songs our tongues employ. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. At the name of Jesus bowing. Falling prostrate at his feet. King of kings in heaven will crown him. When our journey is complete. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Precious name, oh how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. All right, take your Bibles and turn to Luke, chapter number 12. Luke 12, in your Bibles, and we'll have brother David read that for us. Luke 12, if you found your place, amen. And the Bible reads, in the meantime, when they was gathered together in innumerable multitude of people, one upon another, he began to say to his disciples, first of all, ye rare ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and not which ye have spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you, whom ye shall fear, fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast him to hell, yea, I say unto you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, for you are of more value than many sparrows. Also, I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before man, him shall the son of man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denied me before man shall be denied before the angels of God. And whoso shall speak a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they shall bring unto you unto the son of gods, and unto the magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought, thou, or what, ye shall answer, or what, ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach ye in the same hour what ye ought to say. And one of the companies said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, that has most goods laid up for many years, fake thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then, who shall thy things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that lateth up treasure for himself, and is not restored God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take not thought for your life, what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouses nor barns, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you, taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that, paying with his lease, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon, in all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow it is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things to the nations of the world seek after, and your father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather they seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms, provide treasures, provide yourselves with bags, which wax not, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither mouth corrupteth, but where your treasure is, they will ye help ye also. Let your loans be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when ye will return from the wedding, that when ye cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching, fairly as they knew that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come on the third watch, and find them served, blessed are those servants. And this now, that if the good men of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also, for the son of man cometh at an hour, when ye think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and right steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their person to meet in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so during. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But, and if that servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men's servants, and the maidens, and to eat, drink, and be drunken. The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his person with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things with various stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much, of him of they ask from earth. I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straight until it be accomplished? Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell ye, nay, but rather divison. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house, divided three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, and the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, That cometh a sower, and so it is. And when ye see the south wind below, ye say, There will be heat, when it cometh the pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, and of the earth, but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? Then thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence, that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest ye hail thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, that thou shalt not depart from this, for thou hast paid the very last mite. Pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to come back to church, Lord, pray that ye be with the pastor, and that ye fill him with your spirit. Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. So we're continuing our study, if you will, through our statement of faith, and we have come to the ecumenical movement, and so this sermon is our statement of faith dealing with opposing ecumenicism, and I want to, well, just state what our statement of faith is. It says, We oppose the ecumenical movement of our day, period. So, and I'm gonna explain what that means, but Luke 12 here is the reference that we give, but I want to read to you, first of all, the Wikipedia definition, if you will, of ecumenicism, and that is, The concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any initiative that encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches. So it's basically saying, like, all these churches, so the Methodists, the Pentecostals, the Church of Christ, the Catholics, we're supposed to all just work together and commune with each other and not on your life, you know? That's what our statement of faith basically is saying, no. No, we are not gonna hold hands with them. When I think of ecumenical, you know, this ecumenical movement, if you will, I think of, like, why don't we just go sing Kumbaya, and I think of, like, some hippie out, you know, like hippie, like, that's, like, drugged out of his mind, like, strumming a guitar and singing Kumbaya, and then we're all holding hands together around a campfire. That's what I picture when I see it. Now, that's not really technically what's going on in that movement, but the Bible actually teaches against this, okay? Now, it's under the guise of Christian unity, but unity, remember that, remember we went through James where it says that the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable? Well, unity has to first be under truth before you can actually have true unity, okay? We're not going to unite under false doctrine, false brethren, false churches, and so I'm going to be getting into this as far as what the Bible teaches on this, but look at Luke chapter 12 and look at verse 51 there. Luke chapter 12 and verse 51. Good night. Can you imagine us yoking up with, like, Methodists? Let alone most Baptists. Most Baptists I would never want to even, like, at all be yoked up with, let alone the Methodists and all these other denominations, okay? But in Luke chapter 12 and verse 51, it says, Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? Now, this is Jesus talking, and this is a question he's asking. He says, Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? Now, obviously, you know, if you believe the Gospel, then you're going to have peace on earth because that's the Gospel of peace. But notice what his response is here. I tell you, nay, but rather division. You know what? Jesus is coming to send, to give division, to send division, okay? And notice what it says here in verse 52. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided. We're not even talking about different groups of people. We're talking about in the same house saying things are going to be divided and not be united. In the same house, five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, and the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. So, he's basically saying that there's going to be a division within your own house. Now, this doesn't necessarily have to be the case, right? Because right now there's not division in my house. But guess what? There's unity of truth. And so this doesn't have to be the case, but there's a lot of people that have family members that you're not united with. And ultimately, when you're talking about this subject, you're talking about being a disciple. You're not even talking about being saved, because you can be saved and be united with people you shouldn't be united with, okay? And you can be ecumenical, and you're still saved. But it's not biblical, and you can't, and I'm going to state this, you cannot be ecumenical and be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Facts. Because the Bible's teaching here, go to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 34. It's going to say something very similar. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 34. Matthew chapter 10 and verse 34 says, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he that taketh not up his cross and falleth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. And in another place in Luke, and I think it's Luke 14, it says you cannot be my disciple. When it's talking about the subject, it's not talking about salvation. It's not talking about, well, if you love father or mother more than me, then you're not saved. This isn't what it's talking about. It's talking about being a disciple, and to be a disciple, you have to be willing to forsake all, okay? But if your wife or your mother or your father, and everybody's just following the Lord, guess what? You don't have to divide from them. Well, it would be the point of dividing from them, right, if you're all in the same course. But the idea here is that if you're following the Lord and you're wanting to serve the Lord, if people aren't going your direction, you're going to end up separating from them. And by the way, you know, young people out there, if you're going to follow the Lord, there's going to be people that you're not going to end up being friends with. And you don't necessarily have to make that choice, okay? I remember when I got saved and I started, you know, I was in college and I, you know, I got saved before I went into college, but when I was in college, there was people I was friends with that when I started following the Lord, they just didn't want to hang out with me anymore. It's not like I had to call them up and be like, hey, listen, I'm really getting serious about things of God and we can't be friends anymore. You know what happened? They just didn't talk to me anymore. They didn't invite me to their get-togethers anymore because they knew that, well, if, you know, certain things are going to be there, I'm not going to be there. If it's going to be of the world, then I don't want to be there. You know, and it just, that, it took care of itself. So when it comes to this, you know, friends, family that aren't going to follow the Lord, there's going to be a division there, okay? Just simply in the fact that you're going this direction, they're not. So there's, by definition, if you're following the Lord and they're not, they're not going to be together, okay? And go to, go to Romans chapter 16, Romans chapter 16. So when it comes to this ecumenical movement, you know, they want us to yoke up with Methodists. Methodists believe they can lose their salvation. They believe in works-based salvation. I mean, get the term Methodist, by their methods, that it's a work-based salvation. John Wesley believed in losing your salvation. I did a whole sermon exposing John Wesley. He was not some circuit riding preacher that you should be, you know, like looking back to as like a father of the faith. He was a false prophet and he's in hell right now. And I'm not going to yoke up with Methodists because they preach a false gospel. Now, are there people in a Methodist church that may be saved, meaning that there's like someone sitting in a Methodist church right now that's saved? It's possible, right? This is like any other church, there's someone sitting in there that's saved, but they didn't get saved from that church. They didn't get saved from a church that preaches a false gospel. And I'm not going to yoke up with that. Notice what it says here in Romans chapter 16 and verse 17. Romans chapter 16 and verse 17. It says, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause the visions and offenses contrary to what? The doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. And notice what it says about them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Listen, those that are leaders in these false religions out there, and listen, I'm not saying a leader can't be ignorant and get saved, okay? But most of these leaders in the Catholic church, the Methodist church, the Church of Christ, the Pentecostals, they're not ignorant, okay? And they are teaching this, and they are basically trying to pervert the minds of the simple. They're preaching a false gospel, and we're going to have no fellowship with them. You know what we're going to do? We're going to knock the doors of everybody that goes to those churches, get them saved, and tell them to get into a real church. And you say, well, is your church the only real church? Of course not. There's tons of real churches out in America right now, but they're not it, okay? They're not it. There's Baptist churches that are saved churches that are in our area right now. There's one in Morgantown. You know, manual Baptist church, right gospel, it's soul winning, King James Bible only. There's a good church right there. But then there's other churches too. It's not like it's just those or just my friends, pastor friends that I have, and that's the only churches that are out there. No, there's other churches that preach right that hold to the key doctrines when it comes to biblical truth that I would not put in this category, okay? But listen, when it comes to the Catholic church, they're in that category. When it comes to the Methodist church, they're in that category. And you can go down the line of all these denominations that are out there, these mainstream denominations, they're in this category. But also, listen, yay, a lot of Baptists are in this category too. You know the Southern Baptists and their lordships, repent of sins, salvation. Is there a Southern Baptist church out there that preaches right? I'm sure there is, okay? A blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. But I'm sure there's a Southern Baptist church that has their doctrine right and they're saying nuts to the convention and they just haven't got caught yet or something, I don't know. But then there's also other Baptists that may be a part of the ABA or the ABC or the convention that they're in that would preach right and all that. When Jesus said, I came to bring a sword, do you think that he was bringing unity with that sword or division? Think about what the Bible says about a sword in Hebrew chapter 4. Hebrew chapter 4 and verse 12 says this in a very well-known verse. It says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Here's why I'm not going to yoke up with these denominations is because that they are contrary to the word of God. And the word of God is going to divide us. Salvation by grace through faith, boom, division. King James Bible only, boom, there's a division. We're going to go soul winning, boom, there's a division. By the way, we're independent, meaning Jesus Christ is the head and not some denomination, division. And you can go down the line of other doctrines that maybe you would hold. I mean, obviously, the Trinity and different things like that. But those are the big ones that you're going to divide on most of these denominations. But go to 2 John and say, well, you should link up with them. Maybe you can be a good influence on them or something like that. What does the Bible say about this, though? You know, there's a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. You can think that going into a bar and preaching the gospel is a good idea, but I'm going to say that that's not. And show me in the Bible where they did that. You know, I don't remember them going into Sodom and preaching the gospel. You know, I'm not saying that people in the bar are all reprobate, okay. You know, they'll put a false equivalence there. But the idea here is that, you know what, show me where in the Bible we're supposed to do that. Or we're supposed to yoke up with false prophets. Actually, the Bible is talking about fleeing them. And basically, when you find, you know, basically beware of them. Not, and in this case, avoid them. Not yoke up with them. That's the complete opposite of this ecumenicism that they want to push on everybody. And by the way, ecumenicism is going to be the gateway drug for the new world order. For the one world religion that's going to come in the end. Everybody coming together, everybody just compromising on their issues just so we can all have unity for the sake of unity. No, it's not unity for the sake of unity, it's unity for the sake of truth. And the word of God is that truth, the word of truth. The word of truth. But in 2 John, in verse 9 there, it says, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. So the subject here is the doctrine of Christ. Okay, now what's the doctrine of Christ? Well, I mean, if you look up earlier in there, it's talking about the fact that he believed that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. We're talking about people that believe the gospel. People that believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Son of God. He's the Savior that should come into the world, right? And there's people that were confessing that he isn't. Obviously, the Jews would be in that category. But in verse 10 here, it says, If there come unto you, if there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed. It doesn't sound like I should be singing Kumbaya with this person if I can't even have him come into my house. And I'm not supposed to bid him God's speed, so I'm not to say God bless you. Or to give him any type of blessing. Why? It says, for he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds. You'd yoke up with a bunch of false prophets that preach a false gospel. Guess what? You're a partaker of their evil deeds. What are you going to go up to and be like, God bless you, you know? Have a good day. When I'm talking about ecumenical, this ecumenical movement, I'm not talking about going out to the lost and giving them the gospel or talking to them or even communion with unsaved people. I'm talking about yoking up with pastors and leaders of churches that preach false gospels. Not going to happen. By the way, they wouldn't touch me with a 10-foot pole, right? They wouldn't touch our church. I mean, already the local churches here are like, oh, they don't stand with us. And you're like, yeah, you're right about that. The more they say they don't like, they want to be with us, the more I think we're on the right track. Because the churches in this world, the mainstream churches, that is, they are not focused on the truth. And when you see people yoking up with other religions, I mean, I'm just talking about Christianity, but think about people yoking up with Judaism, with Islam, with false religions, right? That is just straight up denying that Jesus is the Christ. So when you're dealing with this, know this is that we're not to yoke up with unbelievers. So 2 Corinthians 6, go to 2 Corinthians 6. Now, you say, well, how do you know they're unbelievers? If you don't know they're unbelievers, then you don't know what you're talking about to even have this conversation. If you were to come up to me and say, well, how do you know the Methodists aren't saved? Then you don't know anything about the Methodists then. And if you think the Methodists are saved, you probably need to get saved yourself. If you think that you have to keep getting saved over and over and over again and that you can lose your salvation and you understand what they believe and what they're stating, then you need to get saved. If you think that you need to be baptized to be saved like the Church of Christ and that you have to have a seven-step plan of repenting of your sins, confessing your sins, getting baptized, getting baptized in the Holy Ghost, and whatever else is on their seven-step plan, and you think that's how you get saved, then you're not saved, you need to get saved. But if you understand salvation is by grace through faith and that you cannot lose your salvation, and then if you think you can lose your salvation, you're not saved because you're trusting in your own works to go to heaven, then you can look at all these other religions and be like, Church of Nazarene? Definitely not saved. Methodists? Not saved. Church of Christ? Not saved. Pentecostals? Not saved. Catholics? Not saved. Then when you look at what I'm going to show you right here, what's the whole premise of ecumenicism? Unity and basically working together, right? What was the definition according to Wikipedia? It says, Christians shall work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. Well, what's the Bible say here in 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14? Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. What about that makes you think that we should be yoking up with a whole bunch of unbelievers? Nothing in the Bible would state anything close to that. Now obviously we're supposed to go out into the world and preach the gospel to unbelievers, but we are not going to yoke up with unbelieving churches. And that's what the ecumenical movement is. It's yoking up with unbelieving churches. And we're going to have no part of that. When it comes to unity though, go to 1 Corinthians 2. When it comes to unity, we should have unity. We should strive to have unity. Actually I believe our church has strong unity. That's one thing that I really love about our church is the unity. But there's a reason why we're united, and that's not just because we like each other's personalities. If anything, that should be a testament to the truth of how the word of God brings us together. The fact that we can have all these different personalities and yet we can still be united. And the Bible is actually very clear that God wants us to be united. One of the things that the ecumenical crowd would use is like in John 17 where Jesus is talking about that they may be one as we are one and talking about Christians being united. But they just take that and just rip it out of context. I mean the Christians he's talking about in there are those that are preaching the gospel, that are sanctified by the truth. My word is truth or thy word is truth, right? I mean they're missing the whole point of what's being said in that passage. But they're united under the word of God, which is truth. It's not just unity for sake of unity. In 1 Corinthians 2, dealing with the mind of Christ. We want to be united and have the same mind, be of one accord. But the way that happens is that we have something that we're being united with. And it's called the word of God, the mind of Christ. Jesus is the word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory is of the only begotten, of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's Jesus. He is the word of God. And we have the mind of Christ because we have the word of God. And that's what we're uniting under. Now notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 2 in verse 12. It says, Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judgeth no man, for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ. Because we have the word of God that we're comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And let me ask you a question. Why am I going to yoke up with a whole bunch of Christian leaders that are natural men? Or women in that case when you're talking about the Methodist Church, right? Yeah, I'm going to yoke up with some lesbian preacher of the Methodist Church, right? Yeah, that's going to work out. At that point, there's not even hope of them getting saved at all. But when it comes to these leaders, they're not saved. They can't discern the truth. They can't know it. What are we going to discuss about how they're unsaved? Now, we have the mind of the Lord. And here's where unity is going to happen. Go to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. And I believe unity is something where there's two main factors that I think about when I think about unity. And that's doctrine, but also the work. These two things, I believe, are two main factors that are going to cause us to be like-minded, be at one accord. And that's the work itself that we're doing as a church and the doctrine. And let me show you the work here when it comes to this in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27. Obviously, when it comes to doctrine, you can go to Ephesians chapter 4 and deal with the unity there when it comes to doctrine and being united on doctrine. Well, when you have the word of God as your source for doctrine, then we're reading the same book. We should be coming to the same conclusion, right? I mean, if we're all saved and reading the same book, there's no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation. So, I mean, either we're going to be united or there's people that are wrong when it comes to the interpretation. Now, in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27, it says, There's one thing that I think of that unites us more than anything else, and that's the work of the Lord. Preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel, getting people saved and doing the work of the Lord will cause us to put any petty differences aside. Also, tribulation, if you think about the fact that here it's talking about nothing and nothing terrified by your adversaries, meaning this is that tribulation brings you together too as well, right? And when there's tribulation, you're either going to have people that are going to be by and by offended because they don't have root and they're offended and they flee, right? Or you're going to have people that dig in and say, you know what, it's time to get serious. And you know what, the fight's coming to my door, now I'm definitely not going anywhere. You know what I mean? Now I'm definitely not quitting. You know, you're going to try to fight me on this, then let's go. And that drives unity. Why is our church united? I believe our church is united because soul winning. The great commission. Going out into the world and preaching the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe all things. You know, that threefold cord, if you will, of the great commission and the fact that that is going to drive unity. That's going to cause us to come together. And you know, we have petty differences or whatever, it's going to go to the wayside because we have a bigger goal in mind. Okay? But these churches that don't, listen, these churches that are named that aren't saved, one, they don't have unity because they're not saved. But then also, a lot of these churches don't have unity, even if they are saved. If they're saved Baptist churches out there, they don't have unity because they're not doing anything together. They're not working together. They come together and see each other on Sunday morning and then they don't see each other for the rest of time. Well, you know what that opens up? A whole bunch of idleness that's going to cause division. Now, I'm not saying that a church that's serving the Lord can't have divisions and people leave because they can, right? Especially when tribulation comes. Because when tribulation comes, you're going to really see who's rooted and grounded and who isn't. You're going to see who is being choked by the cares of this world and who isn't. Or you're going to see people that may be struggling with not being rooted or struggling with the cares of this life that say, nuts to that, I'm getting grounded. You know, and they purge themselves to get into the work, right? Go to Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1 there. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, notice this, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. So the Bible's very clear that, you know, that God wants us to be united. Same love, one accord, like-minded, the one mind, just over and over again is stating that. But you can't just like rip that out of context and be like, so therefore we need to all come together no matter what. You know, you believe, oh, you believe in Jesus? Well, then that's it. Are the Mormons in that, too? Joe witnesses there, too? Well, no, they had to believe in the Trinity, you know. Oh, okay. Well, I'm adding something else. You have to believe that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works, and that it's eternal life and you can't lose your salvation. Well, so much for ecumenicalism, or ecumenicism and the ecumenical movement. Now, keep reading, though, right? It doesn't just stop there because it's setting you up for something, right? When it's stating all this about being like-minded, of the same mind, that it's setting you up to say, hey, we need to be like Christ. We need to have the mind of Christ, okay? Notice what it says in verse 3. It says, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in the lilliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. So when it's saying being one mind, you know, the idea here is that we're esteeming others better than ourselves and we're being lowly and all that, and then it's going to go into let's look at Christ and how He was lowly and the mind that He had, we need to be like that, okay? Notice what it says. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So if you say, well, you know, it's hard for me to just humble myself like that, you know, because I'm up here. Well, Jesus is the Lord from heaven, okay? And if He can humble Himself to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, then you can humble yourself just like He did, okay? Because if anybody humbled himself more than anybody else, it's the Lord, coming down from heaven, off His throne, and becoming one of us so that He would die the death of the cross to save us from our sins. And how much more should we be doing that as well, okay? You know, Philippians chapter 4, go to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, Philippians chapter 4 and verse 1 there, it says, Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved, I beseech Euodius and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I am truthy also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also and with other of my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. So notice that there's some qualifiers here as far as being yoked up, being of the same mind. One, you're basically, these are people that are, names are in the book of life, they're saved, okay? We're not dealing with false brethren, we're not dealing with false prophets here, we're dealing with saved people, but they're true yokefellow, meaning that these people are of the same mind in the Lord, they are following what the Bible says, and that's why he's yoking up with them, okay? He's not yoking up with people that are not of the same mind, okay? Now, go to Acts chapter 15, but I'm gonna read a pretty well-known passage, and this usually is in Amos chapter 3 and verse 3, used dealing with marriage or things like that. It says in Amos 3, 3, can two walk together except they be agreed? It's a question, but it's kind of, it's a rhetorical question, right? It's like, how are you gonna walk together if you can't agree which way you're going, okay? And this is the premise of this ecumenicism and the fact that how are we supposed to unite if we're all going different directions? Like, who's calling the shots at that point? Like, everybody gets together, now where are we going? Are we just gonna sit there and just break bread and not do anything? You know, that's the principle. Now, here's the thing, though. In the ecumenical movement, they are going the same direction, because they're all going towards hell, okay? You're like, this is harsh, you know? I can't believe you'd say it about the ecumenical movement. It's true. Listen, the ecumenical movement is filled with a bunch of false prophets and unbelievers that believe that you can lose your salvation, that believe in works-based salvation. They're all going down that same broad path, that wide gate, which leads them to destruction, so that's why they can go that way. But if we're going the opposite direction, then how are we gonna yoke up with them if we're not agreed? Now, go to Acts chapter 15 and verse 36. I'm gonna read a story here dealing with Paul, and when it comes to this, let me lay off for a second on unsaved people, okay? When it comes to unity and, you know, all these false religions, you know, the Catholic Church, all these other denominations, that's ridiculous to think that we should yoke up with them, okay? But I'll say this, I'm not gonna yoke up with people that don't wanna do the work. I'm not yoking up with lazy Christians. I'm not saying they're not saved. I'm not yoking up with a church that doesn't wanna do the work, that's gonna put a wet blanket on soul winning, that's just gonna give up, or that's gonna, you know, basically kowtow to the political correctness garbage that's in this world and won't preach against anything that needs to be preached against. I'm not yoking up with them. Now, there's gonna be saved people that are gonna disagree on this point right here, right? No, you should try to lift them up and get them into the fold and get them to get on your side and get them to do what you're doing. And let me give you two men here, Barnabas and Paul, both great men, okay? Would anybody argue that Barnabas is not a great apostle? I mean, he's the one that rooted for Paul, went and got Paul, and brought him, you know, unto the apostles and basically was, you know, fighting for Paul, right? And it was Barnabas and Paul up to this point, but something happened along the way while they were working together, and it had to do with John Mark. It had to do with Mark leaving them while they were, you know, working. And he basically just went back to Jerusalem while they were supposed to be doing work, okay? Now, look at verse 36 here. It says, In some days, after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take with them, who departed from them, from them, from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. So here's this, you know, argument here. Like, they're both wanting to go do, you know, Paul's like, let's go do this. Barnabas is like, yes, let's do this, but let's bring Mark with us. And Paul's like, no, I don't want to take him with me. He left while we were working last time. I don't want him with us, right? You say, you know, was this a big deal? Well, look what it says in verse 39. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other. Barnabas and Paul, who were like, I imagine good friends, and they were fellow workers together, this was so sharp, this dissension as far as whether they take Mark with them, that they went asunder from each other. And it says that Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God, and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. And that's why you'll see in Paul's epistles, you see Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, right? And you don't see Paul and Barnabas, you know, unto this church or unto that, right? And now, I'll say this, Mark does redeem himself later on, and Paul even states, you know, Mark is profitable for the ministry. So in the end, Barnabas did get Mark, you know, basically into the work and all that, and kind of redeemed himself from what he did before. So who's right? Who's right in this situation? Well, I'm just going to tell you that I think they both have their place, okay, when it comes to how to deal with this situation. It's not necessarily that Barnabas was wrong and Paul was right, but here's the difference, though. Here's my mentality. I'm on Paul's side on that dispute, okay? You're like, ah, it's harsh. It is what it is. I'm on Paul's side when it comes to it, that, listen, some people will say, well, you know, that church over there is not doing anything right now, you know, let's put them under our wing, let's try to get them to start up something. My mentality is you want to join in to work with us, come with us. I'm not calling, listen, I haven't called up any churches in this area and said, hey, do you want to go soloing with us? Do you want to go do a work with us? And some may say, well, why haven't you done that? Why haven't you tried to reach out to these Baptist churches in the area? Well, one, they haven't reached out to me, so, you know, it's a two-way street here as well, okay? I assume they don't reach out to me, they don't want to do the work with us. But some would say, well, why don't you be like Barnabas and say, well, you know what, try to get them to go in with you and then you'd have another church that's going there. Or maybe they'll just leave the work in the middle of it, like Mark did. And I'm more of the Paul that says, hey, we've got a great work that we're doing, you know, come follow us if you want to do that. And you know what, if you're doing the work too, then we can yoke up. You know, if there's another church out there that's got the right doctrine when it comes to salvation, the King James Bible, and they know how to go soloing and they're like, hey, we go soloing, you go soloing, hey, let's do this soloing trip together. Let's do it. Show me that church, though, that we're going to do that with. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I'm just saying that there's two modes of thinking here when it comes to unity and when it comes to yoking up with people. These are all saved people, by the way. Barnabas is saved, Mark is saved, obviously Paul is saved, Silas is saved, they're all saved. But sometimes there is going to be a division even amongst believers that are doing the work. And you know what, maybe it's for the best in a lot of these cases, that maybe the mentality that I would have works out in this area over here and the mentality that someone else has works out over here. I'm just not in the mood to reform Baptists. I don't have the time or patience for it. And I know I preach a whole sermon about having patience. But you know what, we got enough to do. I'm looking this way, I'm like, hey, let's go do this, let's do these missions, let's do these soul winning marathons, let's do this, we got our stuff that we're trying to do, and I don't want to hold someone's hand while I'm doing it, besides the people that are in this church. When I say hold someone's hand, I'm talking about holding a pastor's hand. You're like, oh, you're being so demeaning to the pastor. I'm not talking about any particular pastor right now. I'm just talking about if there's a pastor out there that's not soul winning, that's in a legit church that believes right on salvation, they're not soul winning, they're not right with God, one, because they're not doing the works, but two, I would have to hold their hand during that process. Now if a church came up to me, if a pastor came up to me and said, Hey, we like what you're doing, can you please help us? That's a different story. So don't get me wrong here. Don't think that I'm just like, get out of my face. Why aren't you doing this already? I'm talking about actively trying to find them and persuading them to do it. Does that make sense? Where I'm just like, hey, come on man, let's do this together, you should be doing this and trying to persuade them. I'm not doing it. I'm trying to get a whole bunch of Baptist pastors together where we all eat lunch together and talk about the way we should run our churches or the way that we should lead it about. I'm not doing it. It doesn't mean that I don't have pastor friends because I do, but we're like-minded. I don't want to sit around a bunch of pastors and then just talk about the pre-Trib rapture and me having to tell them that they're wrong on it and then get into a big argument about the pre-Trib rapture. I've got better things to do. Talk about that. By the way, I'm going to be preaching on that next week. When it comes to preaching on doctrine, I'll do it behind the pulpit and I'll do it for the congregation, for the edification of the church, but I'm not here to persuade a whole bunch of Baptist churches that have their doctrine wrong, that aren't going out soul winning. If they want to come and say, hey, we want your help in this. Please help us get this started up. How do you do this? Listen, great. We're not yoking up on that, but you're going to be following our lead. Does that make sense? We're not yoking up. You're getting behind me and I'm going to show you how to do it. You say, wow, that seems so arrogant. Listen, this is what the Bible teaches here when it comes to how things are going to be done, when it comes to soul winning, when it comes to doctrine, and I'm not playing games with other churches. Frankly, I feel Paul's pain here. We've got things to do. We're not bringing Mark with us. It's just that mentality and I just feel for Paul here, but I also understand Barnabas. It's not like if someone else has a different mentality about this. Maybe some other pastor friend of mine has a different mentality about this issue and they're more on Barnabas' side. I'm all for them. I'm all for them doing whatever they want to do to try to further the cause of Christ and all that. So in this case, I'm not saying either one's bad or wrong, but I do think that Paul, I would go Paul's route. Now go to Mark chapter nine. Mark chapter nine. Mark chapter nine. And I want to say this is that if there's a church out there that's going out soul winning, but let's say we just don't see eye to eye on how we do things, whether it's doctrines, whether it's how we preach on things. Let's say, well, you're just too hard. Too much fire and brimstone coming from over there. But let's say all things being equal, we have the right gospel, we're preaching the right gospel, we're all saved, right? And we're preaching from the King James Bible, so we got the right Bible, right? Notice this story here in Mark chapter nine. Mark chapter nine and verse 38. And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us, and we forbad him because he followeth not us. So they're basically, they saw someone over here casting out devils and they're just like, no, you're not with us? You're not following with Jesus? And obviously, what's going on here is that these people are saved, these people are not, you know, they obviously believe on Christ. They're just not following in their group, okay? Notice what it says here in verse 39. But Jesus said, forbid him not. For there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name. So these people are doing it in Jesus' name. It's not like they're just like, we don't believe in Jesus, we're doing our own thing, okay? They're doing it in Jesus' name. That can likely speak equal of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Go to Luke chapter 9, a very similar passage there, Luke chapter 9 and verse 49, dealing with the same topic here. Luke 9 and verse 49, Luke 9 and verse 49, it says, And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us. Listen, obviously in Jesus' day, when Jesus was walking on the earth, the group you should have been in was in Jesus' group, okay? Does that make sense? There was always factions within believers. Even in Jesus' day, there were people that were doing the work of Christ, but not following literally with him, like right by him, okay? Now let me ask you a question. If you were back then, whose group would you rather be in? Would you want to be with those that Jesus is saying, don't forbid them, they can't lightly speak evil against me, you know, they're doing the work in my name, right? Or would you rather be with John, who's following the Lord, like right behind him, right? And I do believe that there's churches out there that are good, better, best, right? Meaning that there's good churches out there, then there's better churches, and then there's like the best churches out there, okay? And what I mean by this is that all those churches in that umbrella are saved and doing the work, and you know, they're fulfilling the Great Commission, all of that, but there's good, better, best in that. In Jesus' day, being in his group, that's the best. You want another term for that? I believe that's the elites. The 12, right? Obviously Judas was the traitor, right? But you had the apostles that were following the Lord and those that were closest to him that went wherever he went. Then you even, on top of that, you had the top three, Peter, James, and John, that were the top echelon, if you will, of that tier that were following Jesus. And the question you have to ask yourself, do you want to be a part of just a good church or the best church, okay? I'm not saying we're the best church. Of course, I think we are the best church, but you know, what I'm saying with that is if I didn't think this was the best church, I wouldn't be coming here, right? You're like, well, you're the pastor, so it'd be a problem if you didn't, you know? Well, yeah, it would be kind of on me if it wasn't good. But other people may say, well, I don't think your church is the best, I think this church is the best, and that's great, you know? You should be going through the best church you can go to. But in some places, some people don't have the choice maybe of the best church that they'd want, like that would be somewhere else, so they have a good church over here. And then they're like, well, we found a better one right here. But the ultimate goal is that you're at the best, aren't you? You want to be at the best church possible you can be. And if you're not at the best church, then that should be your goal, right? Your goal should be saying, how do I get to the best church? That I'm going to grow in the Lord and do the most service for the Lord. You know, that should be everybody's goal, okay? My job as your pastor is, you know, as far as the preaching is concerned and the leading is concerned, is that I try to make this the best church it can be at when it comes to doctrine, when it comes to the work that we're doing, and just loving the Lord, following the Lord, the unity that we have. That is my job is to make it the best, okay? And I'm not perfect, okay? So when I say this is the best church, I do believe it's the best church, but it's not because of me in particular, it's because of all of us. It's because of what the Lord does through our whole church, all the families, all the soul winners, the men, the women, the children, you know, that's what makes up Mountain Baptist Church and I believe it's the best because there's unity in the spirit, there's one accord in the work of the Lord and in doctrine. And so I'm not going to forbid, the point of this is that I'm not going to forbid like a church in the area that's going out so late. You're like, you're not going with us? Then you shouldn't be going at all, you know? No, I'm not going to forbid them because if they're out there winning people to Christ, then praise the Lord. Labors are for you. Would the God, all Baptist churches that believe right on the gospel would preach the gospel? You're like, well, they're in your turf. I don't give a rip if they're in my turf. You know, if this place got so saturated and just all the Baptist churches that are right on the gospel just said, hey, let's go out soul winning and it was just getting so saturated with soul winners. You know what we're going to do? We're going to go find a place that's not saturated, right? You know, pick up our sticks and go, but let's come back to reality for a second. That's not what happens, okay? That's not what's happening in this area. And I'm not going to forbid those that go out and praise the right gospel, but I'm not necessarily going to yoke up with them. Does that make sense? When I'm talking about ecumenical, I'm not just talking about not yoking up with unbelievers. That should be like a given no brainer, right? When I'm talking about ecumenical, I'm also not going to yoke up with people that we differ on some major doctrines, okay? I'm not going to forbid them, okay? Let's say there was a church that was like Zionist. They were dispensational, but they believe that everybody say the same way, right? But it's like that Zionist dispensationalism that's not terminal, okay? They're pre-Trib rapture. They believe in Abraham's bosom, you know, and they're just these things that are like kind of old IFB type of realm. Listen, I'm not forbidding them, you know, when it comes to the work of the Lord. I hope they get many people saved, but we're just not going to be on the same wavelength to yoke up arms. It's just probably not going to happen. And you say, well, what if it could happen? I just don't foresee it happening. I think that they wouldn't want to yoke up with us in the long run anyway, so why would I waste my time? Because you start stabbing the sacred cows, and they don't want to mess with you. They don't want to yoke up with you anyway. It's kind of like one of those things when I was talking about friends, like young ones, you know, the kids out there. When you're following the Lord, when you're doing what the Bible says, you don't really have to make that choice of saying, I don't want to be your friend. Because that kind of takes care of itself. Now, go to 2 Kings chapter 10. And ultimately, I'm not going to yoke up with a bunch of Christians that we differ just so much on doctrine. And you may say, well, it's not the amenable heresy. I understand that, but there's still that idea of being like-minded, to a certain extent, right? I mean, there's a reason why a lot of you have come to this church because you're going to churches that there wasn't necessarily amenable heresy there, but there was enough there to where you're just like, I'm just not, I can't get locked into this. There's just too much that we're at odds with when it comes to doctrine that I just can't yoke up with this. And that's my mentality when it comes to other churches, when it comes to doctrines like that. I'm not saying they're unsaved. I'm not saying that they're not maybe winning people to Christ. I'm just not yoking up with them. You say, well, they called you up or whatever. I never had to worry about it. It's kind of this, it's a hypothetical that doesn't exist, my friend. These people aren't calling me up anyway, so maybe years from now, you know, and I get all these churches that call me up and say, hey, listen, we've been listening to your preaching and you're right. And we need to follow your lead on soul winning. And by the way, can you let us know why we're wrong on all these other doctrines? And when pigs fly after that, you know, then we'll talk. But it's just, I don't see that happening, okay? So I live in a place called reality where I know that that's not going to happen. And so I'm not seeking that. They're not seeking me to lead them about. And so in the end, we're going to do our work. You do your work and when we get to heaven, we'll have fellowship at that point, okay? But I'm not fellowshipping with a bunch of Christians that have major, like these doctrines that are just so off in these areas. But I'm also not going to, I'm not going to yoke up with Christians that are afraid and faint hearted. What I would call the weak Christians that are out there, okay? Go to 2 Kings chapter 10 and verse 15. 2 Kings chapter 10 and verse 15, it says, And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab, the son of Rekab, coming to meet him. Now this is Jehu, the son of Nimshai. And he's coming up, he's basically coming up to Jehonadab, okay? He's riding in a chariot, comes up upon this guy. And he saluted him and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord, so they made him ride in his chariot. There's my condition. And you say, I'm not liking myself to Jehu, okay? I don't think I drive furiously, first of all. I think I drive pretty standard on the road. But Jehu, Jehu, this mentality of, okay, is your heart right? Is your heart right as my heart is with thine heart? Meaning this is that, are we going the same direction? Are we agreed? And he doesn't just like, okay, get in your chariot, and I'll be in my chariot and we ride together. No, he says, Get in my chariot, come with me. See my zeal for the Lord. That's Jehu's way of leading, and I like it. I like that idea of, you know what? Come with me and I'll show you my zeal for the Lord. And notice a leader there, he doesn't say, Hey, let me tell you about my zeal for the Lord. I'm gonna show you. Let me show you my zeal for the Lord. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 8. Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 8. This idea, we're going to battle, my friends. This church is a church that is filled with soldiers of Christ. Soldiers for the Lord. We live in perilous times, and we need to be ready for the battle. This is a church where we actually believe we're putting on the whole armor of God, and that we need to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And doing all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and going down the line until you get to the point where you have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And when you understand that we're in battle, we don't want to be yoked up with a bunch of faint-hearted Christians that are just going to just run away when the fight hits. Notice what the Bible says about going to battle. In Deuteronomy 20, verse 8, it says, And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. Here's why we don't want to be yoked up with a bunch of Christians that are faint-hearted, because when they're faint-hearted, that could affect our heart. I mean, if we start getting tribulation and persecution, and then just half the church, okay, half the church is just like, What are we doing? And they're afraid, and they're just like, I don't even know if I should come to church. You know what? That's going to affect the church, whether you like it or not. Whether you've got some strong Christians on that other side, that can affect them. You know what's better off? Just don't come then. Go whine at home and, you know, get in the field position, wrap yourself in your grandma's shawl, and rock yourself to sleep at night. And you say, Well, you're being a little cruel. I'm being a little facetious, okay? I'm being a little overboard in what I'm saying. But what it means here, though, is that when we're going to battle, we don't want a whole bunch of cowards that are around us. Does that mean they're not saved? No, I'm not saying they're not saved. You know, if someone flees because they're offended, it doesn't say they're not saved. They're saved, but, you know, they're still fleeing. And when people get choked by the cares of this world, they're still saved, but they got choked by the cares of this world. What we want to have, if you want unity, if you want unity in a church, you need Christians that are rooted and grounded in the faith. And, listen, as the church is growing, we're going to have Christians, there's going to be people that are coming up that aren't rooted and grounded, but what you need is you need a base of rooted and grounded Christians to where when the fight hits, you tell all those baby Christians to get behind you as you fight that battle. You know what? They're the Jahanidabs. And you say, Hey, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. And I'm not against churches that have more babes in Christ. Everybody's kind of got a different kind of layout, if you will, when it comes to that. And, you know, when it comes to our church, I do believe we have a lot of matured Christians, but time will tell. I mean, you can't really know for sure until everything hits the fan, until things go south, and then you kind of really see, okay, who's rooted and grounded? Who's here to stay? Now, there's some in here that have already dealt with persecutions like that. So I have a lot of confidence, okay? You know, I don't want to pick on Brother Richie, but I'm going to pick on him anyway. But Brother Richie, I mean, going out to the missions field and like basically having somebody, you know, get a warrant out for your arrest because you preached too hard against them. And when I'm talking about preaching hard against somebody, the guy said he was Jesus, wasn't he? Yeah, he says he's the son of God. He's the savior of the Gentiles. Jesus was the savior of the Jews. Okay, so we have, you know, he's preaching against some false Christ out there, and he has to flee the country because of that and dealing with persecution there and dealing with persecution in other places. And I'm not here, listen, I'm not saying that Richie couldn't fall, okay? But there's things that are proven within certain people that when all that stuff hits, if we have persecution and all that, it'd be hard for me to think that Brother Richie's going to be like, that's just too much guys, I'm done. It can happen, okay? I'm not saying it can't happen. But until you kind of see those tests, it's hard to know. And what we need to do is say, hey, wherever we'll let him stand to take heed, let's he fall, we can all fall, we can all faint, but you know what? We need to be preparing and making ourselves temperate in all things right now so that when that battle comes, it's like nothing. We're just ready for it. We're actually waiting for it. You know, it's one of those things like, when's it going to come? I mean, like practicing, you know? It's like when you practice for something, you're like, when do I finally get to use the things I've been practicing, you know? And when it comes to the persecution and tribulation, it should be kind of on that mindset to be like, all right, when's it coming? Come on now. So that when it comes, you can just hit it and hit it hard and just keep on going. But in those times, you don't want to have people that are faint-hearted because it can cause others to be faint-hearted. Now granted, there's going to be people that are going to be faint-hearted in the end. There's going to be people that are going to be like, oh man, what's going to happen? And they're worried and all of that. But the ultimate goal is that that's on a minimum, right? That's not most of the church. I mean, if everybody started coming after us and the news cameras were on our church, they're like, can you believe what they say over there at Mountain Baptist Church? Can you believe what they teach? The idea here is that when that happens, hopefully most people are just like, can you believe that they don't agree with what we're saying? You know, it's kind of like the attitude of a church. And there's where unity is going to be even amplified more, when that stuff happens. So, when it comes to this ecumenicism, we oppose it. We are not going to be yoking up with unsaved denominations, first of all. But I'm also not going to be yoking up with saved churches that aren't going the same direction we are. And I'm not forbidding them, though. I'm not forbidding them, but I'm not seeking to be yoking up with them. And some may disagree with me on that, okay? Some people may say, well, why not? Why not just at least reach out, you know? Reach out to them and see if they want to yoke up with you, see if they want to do this. It's been over five years, and I'm good. You know, I mean, I'm not against yoking up with pastors and doing works together with pastors, so don't get me wrong. But I'm not interested in holding hands with other pastors when I have to hold their hand, you know? And so when it comes to this subject, it's very clear in my opinion, you know, Jesus came not to bring peace but division. And so we're not to be yoking up with all these unbelievers and with even in a lot of cases believers that aren't going the same direction we are. So let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Thank you for these passages that show us that we do need to have divisions between even saved people that aren't doing the work or maybe have different doctrinal stances. And Lord, we just pray that you'd help us to do your work, Lord, help us to be the best church in the area. And Lord, we fail as men and as flesh. Lord, through your word, I know we can do mighty things. And Lord, we just pray that you would help our church to accomplish great things in 2023. I pray for many souls to be saved. I pray for many to be baptized. I pray for many to get into church and to do likewise. And Lord, we just pray that you'll be with us throughout the rest of the week. Lord, we love you. We pray all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So, brother, they will come and sing one more song and that will be dismissed. All right, take your psalm books and turn to song number 48. Song number 48 in your psalm books, we'll sing I'll Be So Glad. And if you would stand, we'll sing song number 48. I'll be so glad when day is done. I'll be so glad when victory's won. There'll be no sorrow in God's tomorrow. I'll be so glad when Jesus comes. You are dismissed.