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I'll tell you the story of a
church that no longer exists.

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It was actually a church
that was instrumental in my

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life and, and my wife's life.

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Uh, it was a church that I attended
while I was going to seminary.

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After college, I ended up back here, and
I went to Dallas Theological Seminary,

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and while there, we attended a church,
uh, together, Amanda and I did, that

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taught us a lot about what it means
to be a part of the local church.

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We showed up in one of our first weeks
there as relatively newlyweds, uh,

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without kids at this point in time.

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They said, "When are you gonna
sign up to serve in the nursery?"

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And we said, "Well, we don't have kids."

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And they said, "Great.

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When are you gonna sign up
to serve in the nursery?"

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And that began to teach us that
being a part of the local church was

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being a part of the local church.

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It was serving wherever you could
serve to, to help the body of Christ.

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And so we did.

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We served in the nursery.

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And in spite of that, we still had five
kids even after we served in the nursery

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with other people's kids at the time.

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It taught us about that.

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It taught us about the
importance of community.

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Uh, we got involved in a small
group, and, and that was something

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that, uh, was expected of us.

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"Hey, we want you to get
plugged in, get connected."

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And so we got involved with a small group,
and, uh, the leader of that small group

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became one of my mentors, is still one
of the men that's been most impactful

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on my life and my own walk with Christ.

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And we attended there, and we served
there, and, and then after I graduated

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from seminary, the Lord called me
up to Kansas City, Missouri, in

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that area, and I served up there
for three years at a church there.

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But what happened after we left was
really the tragic part of this story.

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After we left, there was division
that arose in that church.

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That church began to factionalize, and
eventually the senior pastor resigned,

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and when he resigned, he took a large
portion of the body with him when he left.

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And what was left was a shell
of what had once been there.

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In that shell of what had once been
there, they, they tried to sustain things.

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They tried to rebound.

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They tried to keep things going and,
and say, "Well, we, we can do this."

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And so the, they took the associate
pastor and made him the senior pastor,

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and they limped along for a few more
years before they realized, you know what?

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This is just not working.

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We're not effective, we're not faithful,
we're not able to keep doing what

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we once were so effective at doing.

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And so in a great tragic turn of
events, they closed their doors.

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And so a church that was so impactful
for my wife and I, so formative for our

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understanding of what the local church
is and what it means to be a part of it,

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isn't even around anymore because of what
we're gonna be talking about this morning.

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The title of the sermon
is, is Fight Together.

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It's an important distinction.

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It doesn't say fight each
other, but fight together.

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And what we're fighting is
disunity in the body of Christ.

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What we're fighting is one of the most
prevalent threats that exists in any

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church anywhere, and that is the notion
that we would begin to divide, that we

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would begin to factionalize, that we would
begin to drift apart and allow issues

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that are not tier one gospel issues to
become fodder for sowing discord in the

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body of Christ that is meant to, as we
read in Philippians, strive together

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side by side for the faith of the gospel.

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Christ has saved, like I talked
about last week, not just a

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person, but a people, a, a, a body.

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The church at large is realized
through the church locally,

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through this place, and as such,
we have a mission from our savior.

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Remember, this is God's church like we
talked about week one, and as such, we

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have a mission that he wants us to be
faithful to accomplish, but if we become

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divided, then that mission is at risk of
completely falling apart, at least here.

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And so this mission is so important, and
this message is so significant, that I

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just wanna encourage you to make sure
that, that you tune in, because you have

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just as much a part to play in the unity
of the body of Christ here as the pastors

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do or anyone else does in this church.

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If you tune out on this topic, on this
subject, on this mission, you could be

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the source of division that leads to
the downfall of the Bride of Christ.

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What Paul has to say to us
this morning is that important.

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As we consider the mission of the
church, here we base that on the Great

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Commission, reaching people for Christ,
teaching people to be like Christ,

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and training people to serve Christ.

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If we aren't united, that mission
will never be accomplished

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I want you to look at the, the
text that we're gonna be in this

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morning as I read it for us.

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It's gonna be verses 10 through
17 in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

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I'll read it out loud.

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It begins in verse 10.

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He- Paul says, "I appeal to you,
brothers, by the name of our Lord

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Jesus Christ, that all of you agree,
that there be no divisions among

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you, but that you be united in the
same mind and the same judgment.

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For it has been reported to me by Chloe's
people that there is quarreling among you.

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What I mean is that each one of you says,
'I follow Paul,' or 'I follow Apollos,' or

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'I follow Cephas,' or 'I follow Christ.'

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Is Christ divided?

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Was Paul crucified for you?

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Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

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I thank God that I baptized none of you
except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one

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may say that you were baptized in my name.

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I did baptize also the
household of Stephanas.

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Beyond that, I do not know
whether I baptized anyone else.

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For Christ did not send me to baptize
but to preach the gospel, and not with

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words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross
of Christ be emptied of its power."

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What we're gonna see in this
passage is just like Paul wanted

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for the Corinthian church, I want
for our church, and that is this.

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If our mission is to remain central, okay,
our mission, reaching people for Christ,

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teaching people f- to be like Christ,
training people to, to serve Christ.

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If our mission is to be central, and
we're not gonna to, to drift or become

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ineffective as a church body, then
unity has to be here in the church body.

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Let me put it this way,
our big idea is this.

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If the mission is to remain
central, unity is essential.

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If our mission as a church is, is to
remain central to our identity, who we are

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as a church, then this, what we're talking
about here this morning, is essential.

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It's a non-negotiable.

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If we become divided, we've
lost the battle already.

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So for us as a church, it's so important
that we fight together, that we fight

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together, that we strive side by side
together for the faith of the gospel.

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And let me tell you, right now, we're
doing a pretty good job in this area.

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I'm thankful that I'm not standing up
this morning preaching to a church that

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is dealing with pockets and factions
of, of divisiveness and division.

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But here's what I know to be true,
i- is we can't take that for granted.

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What I know to be true is that if we're
not on guard together as the church, if

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we're not fighting together, if we're
not striving side by side together,

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if we're not looking out for pockets
of divisiveness in the church, then

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it won't be long before I am standing
up here preaching to a church that

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does have pockets of division and
factions and divisiveness in the church.

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And so I'm so grateful that right now I
get to preach to a church that is united.

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We are together.

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We're three years into this church,
and we're striving side by side,

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and that is good, but we have to
remember, y'all, that we have to, to

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labor together to preserve that unity.

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Point number one this morning is this.

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Preserve the unity of the local church.

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Preserve the unity of the local church.

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It comes here from verse 10 where
he says, "I appeal to you, brothers,

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by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
that all of you agree and that

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there be no divisions among you."

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And so Paul's appealing.

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It's an emotional word here.

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I'm urging you, church, he's saying.

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A- a- and not just because of his
love for them, but also because

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of whose church it is, right?

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He says, "I, I appeal to you, brothers,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

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That goes back to week one.

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This church is God's church.

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This church doesn't belong to a
pastor or a group of elders, or

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it doesn't belong to a, a, uh, the
loudest members in the church or the

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longest time members in the church.

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This is Christ's church.

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And as such, Paul's appealing as his
affection for them, but also under

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the authority of Jesus and as an
apostle of Jesus, and he's saying to

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them, "Church, be united together."

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You ever been on a long road
trip with your family in the car?

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People that you love, right?

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These are your family members, and
yet spend a long enough time in the

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road trip on the car and what happens?

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You don't love them nearly as
much as you did at the beginning

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of the road trip, do you?

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Some of you do.

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That's nice.

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M- m- my family, w- w- we've got,
we've got seven of us, right?

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So it's my wife and I and our five
kids and, and we like to take road

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trips because flying is … We
would have to mortgage our house.

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Um, and we've already told our
kids that one of them gets to go

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to college, but not all of them.

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So, so we don't fly 'cause it's
way too expensive, so we drive.

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Well, we get in the van and everything
starts out great, mostly because

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they're asleep 'cause we leave early.

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But then what happens?

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Well, the, the, the children wake
up and, and here comes the disunity.

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Where are we gonna stop for lunch?

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We're gonna stop … If you're really
healthy, just plug your ears for a second.

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We're gonna stop at McDonald's for lunch.

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I don't wanna stop at McDonald's.

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I wanna stop over here.

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Uh, well, can we, can we go here?

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Do we have to leave at this time?

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Can we leave later?

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Can we d- disunity just, it
just happens, doesn't it?

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Second law of thermodynamics, right?

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A- an object is gonna
lose its energy over time.

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It's the law of entropy, right?

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Things trend towards
disorder, not towards order.

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A- and so that's true of unity
in the body of Christ, too.

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I- i- i- it's, it's right now something
that my wife and I are realizing with

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our, our foundation of our house.

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It is, after a decade of
existence, trending towards

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disunity rather than unity.

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If we're not on guard as the church, if
we're not working to preserve unity as

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the church, that's gonna happen here, too.

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We will, because of being in close
quarters with each other as a family,

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and that's right and good, we should
be in close quarters with each other,

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but because we are being saved, we
are being sanctified right now, we

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still have some of the old man that
there's vestiges of hanging around.

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Which means what?

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We're going to offend each other.

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We're gonna sin against each other.

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We're going to step on each other's toes.

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And if we're not careful to work
to preserve the unity of the

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church, it could become disastrous.

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Paul says here, "I appeal to you
by the name of our Lord Jesus

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Christ that all of you agree."

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The word agree there means
to say the same thing.

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Say the same thing.

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That's what it is in the Greek.

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That all of you be in agreement
on these things and say the

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same … Don't say different things.

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Okay.

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Well, but about, about what?

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Say the same things about what?

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This is where it's important for us to
understand that there is a, a level of

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triage when it comes to, uh, agreement
and disagreement in the church.

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So there are tier one issues, and
I believe that's what Paul here

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is referring to when he says, "I'm
appealing to you to say the same thing."

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I say, I think he's, uh, appealing
to the, the level one issues here.

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Then there are level two
issues, tier two issues.

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Tier two issues are important,
but it's not gonna divide

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Christian from non-Christian.

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And so a lot of times in the
church, you wanna be in agreement

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on a lot of those tier two issues.

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You wanna be able to say the
same thing as one another in the

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church on the tier two issues.

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An example of a tier two issue
might be, for example, end times,

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the timing of Christ's return.

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Is that a salvific thing?

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Is that a Christian, non-Christian thing?

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No.

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No, we can have disagreement on that
and still be brothers in Christ, or

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brother and sister in Christ But there
are, are level one issues where we would

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00:11:50,726 --> 00:11:54,295
say, "Okay, th- this is an area where
we're not gonna say, 'Well, you think

224
00:11:54,295 --> 00:11:55,506
this and I think that, but it's okay.

225
00:11:55,506 --> 00:11:57,545
We can still call each
other brothers in Christ.'"

226
00:11:57,575 --> 00:12:00,636
And I think that's what Paul is saying
when he says, "Say the same things."

227
00:12:00,875 --> 00:12:02,776
What are those tier one issues?

228
00:12:02,795 --> 00:12:06,606
Well, this list is not exhaustive, but
I do have a list up here of some things

229
00:12:06,606 --> 00:12:08,055
that this week I was thinking about.

230
00:12:08,295 --> 00:12:12,765
I think these are some of the tier
one issues that we wanna work hard at

231
00:12:12,786 --> 00:12:16,475
as a church to make sure that we are
preserving unity, that we are saying

232
00:12:16,475 --> 00:12:18,366
the same things when it comes to this.

233
00:12:18,885 --> 00:12:21,236
And so you'll notice the
first one there is the Gospel.

234
00:12:21,776 --> 00:12:25,795
We don't wanna have a, a gospel
that's different from the, our

235
00:12:25,795 --> 00:12:27,105
brothers and sisters in Christ.

236
00:12:27,605 --> 00:12:29,705
We wanna have the biblical gospel.

237
00:12:29,715 --> 00:12:33,185
We wanna have the gospel that says
that being saved is by grace alone,

238
00:12:33,185 --> 00:12:36,785
through faith alone, in Christ alone,
that it is surrendering to Jesus

239
00:12:36,785 --> 00:12:38,356
as your Lord and Savior in faith.

240
00:12:38,995 --> 00:12:41,225
We don't want a gospel
that says, "You know what?

241
00:12:41,495 --> 00:12:44,335
If you do enough, then God will
make up for the rest of it."

242
00:12:44,596 --> 00:12:45,746
That's a false gospel.

243
00:12:45,776 --> 00:12:48,515
We would reject that outright and
say, "No, that's a tier one issue."

244
00:12:48,515 --> 00:12:50,205
We, we need to say the same thing here.

245
00:12:50,725 --> 00:12:53,726
Another issue might be biblical
inerrancy and authority.

246
00:12:53,726 --> 00:12:56,605
What I mean by that is that
the Bible is without error.

247
00:12:57,055 --> 00:13:00,785
We're not gonna say, "Well, some of
this is reliable, but not all of it.

248
00:13:01,655 --> 00:13:04,376
Uh, there, there are some passages
in here that need to be updated

249
00:13:04,376 --> 00:13:05,945
to catch up with the modern world.

250
00:13:06,356 --> 00:13:09,365
And so we're gonna, we're gonna be
okay with some of the Bible or most

251
00:13:09,365 --> 00:13:10,805
of the Bible, but not all the Bible."

252
00:13:11,055 --> 00:13:12,715
We would draw a line there and say, "No.

253
00:13:13,096 --> 00:13:13,966
No, that's not okay."

254
00:13:13,966 --> 00:13:14,855
That's a tier one issue.

255
00:13:14,856 --> 00:13:18,655
We need to say the same thing there,
that God's Word is inerrant and it is

256
00:13:18,685 --> 00:13:22,025
authoritative, that we don't sit in
authority over the Word of God, but we sit

257
00:13:22,085 --> 00:13:23,856
under the authority of the Word of God.

258
00:13:24,785 --> 00:13:26,065
That's a tier one issue for us.

259
00:13:26,545 --> 00:13:29,146
Or the true deity and the
true humanity of Christ.

260
00:13:29,505 --> 00:13:33,155
Almost all of the heresies that came
out of the early church had to do with

261
00:13:33,415 --> 00:13:38,055
misunderstanding or overemphasizing one
side or the other of the hypostatic union.

262
00:13:38,055 --> 00:13:42,885
That is the union of Christ's
true humanity and true deity.

263
00:13:43,195 --> 00:13:46,175
We wanna be in agreement on that,
that He was truly God and truly man.

264
00:13:46,705 --> 00:13:50,285
Trinitarian theology, that God
exists as Father, Son, and Holy

265
00:13:50,285 --> 00:13:51,986
Spirit, three persons, one God.

266
00:13:52,395 --> 00:13:54,385
That's an area we don't
wanna d- deny that.

267
00:13:54,485 --> 00:13:57,395
We can't say, "Well, you think
that, but I think it's just one God.

268
00:13:57,395 --> 00:14:00,115
Sometimes He's the Father,
sometimes He's the S- Son, and

269
00:14:00,115 --> 00:14:01,065
sometimes He's the Spirit."

270
00:14:01,085 --> 00:14:02,105
That's modalism, Patrick.

271
00:14:02,475 --> 00:14:04,746
Um, couple of you have seen that video.

272
00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:08,610
We wanna be in agreement on
Trinitarian understanding of

273
00:14:08,610 --> 00:14:12,010
things, the bodily resurrection of
Christ, the future return of Christ.

274
00:14:12,020 --> 00:14:16,920
See, these are things that I think if
we deny these things, then we're on

275
00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:21,120
shaky ground as far as whether or not
we are somebody who would be in Christ.

276
00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:23,830
We need to say the same things here.

277
00:14:24,370 --> 00:14:28,599
Now, if, if some of these things are,
are new to you 'cause you're newly saved,

278
00:14:28,979 --> 00:14:31,979
and you'd say, "Well, I d- I don't know
that I know about all of these things.

279
00:14:32,229 --> 00:14:34,440
It, it … Does that mean I'm
not a Christian if I don't know

280
00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:35,720
about all of these things?"

281
00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:36,810
No.

282
00:14:37,210 --> 00:14:40,409
There's a difference between whether
or not you can affirm all of these

283
00:14:40,419 --> 00:14:43,319
things because you understand them
all, and whether or not you would

284
00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:44,910
come out and openly deny them.

285
00:14:45,489 --> 00:14:48,599
What we're talking about here is if
we're denying tier one things, then

286
00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:52,509
we're not saying the same thing, and
that's where we would have an issue.

287
00:14:52,509 --> 00:14:55,439
And I think that's where Paul is saying,
"Hey, I want you to say the same thing."

288
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:57,039
In other words, I want you to have unity.

289
00:14:57,039 --> 00:14:59,280
We need to work to preserve the
unity of the church, and one of

290
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,639
the things, ways that we do that,
y'all, is by making sure that we have

291
00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,310
agreement on these tier one issues.

292
00:15:06,249 --> 00:15:08,660
Paul says that there be
no divisions among you.

293
00:15:09,089 --> 00:15:11,670
The word for division
there is the word for tear.

294
00:15:11,980 --> 00:15:13,970
So I want you to, to
picture a, a fisher's net.

295
00:15:14,950 --> 00:15:18,099
The, the, the fisherman back in the,
the first century here, back in Paul's

296
00:15:18,099 --> 00:15:20,839
day, they would go out, and you remember
w- the disciples used to do that.

297
00:15:20,889 --> 00:15:23,420
They would take their fishing nets, and
they would throw them over the side,

298
00:15:23,420 --> 00:15:24,690
and they would haul in their catch.

299
00:15:25,139 --> 00:15:28,449
Well, a, a tear in a fishing
net is no good, is it?

300
00:15:29,230 --> 00:15:29,829
Because why?

301
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:31,470
The fish can get out.

302
00:15:31,959 --> 00:15:35,470
If … So if your mission is
to catch fish, then you want

303
00:15:35,470 --> 00:15:37,179
a net that is wholly intact.

304
00:15:37,690 --> 00:15:42,430
Well, the word division here means a
tear or a rip, and it was used to refer

305
00:15:42,430 --> 00:15:44,209
to tears or rips in, in those nets.

306
00:15:44,969 --> 00:15:48,819
And so Paul says, "I want there to be no
divisions among you but that you be united

307
00:15:49,099 --> 00:15:50,949
in the same mind and same judgment."

308
00:15:50,959 --> 00:15:53,480
The word united is the word for mending.

309
00:15:54,359 --> 00:15:57,660
And so he refers to the use of the
word for tearing of a net, and then he

310
00:15:57,660 --> 00:15:59,849
uses the word for mending that tear.

311
00:16:00,370 --> 00:16:03,609
And so Paul, unlike me, 'cause
again, I think we're doing well

312
00:16:03,609 --> 00:16:06,729
here, Paul's writing to a church
that wasn't doing well, and we're

313
00:16:06,730 --> 00:16:07,699
gonna see that in just a minute.

314
00:16:08,019 --> 00:16:09,440
So he's saying, "You have divisions.

315
00:16:09,749 --> 00:16:10,729
I want you to mend them.

316
00:16:11,389 --> 00:16:15,920
I want you to, to repair what's been
torn so that you can be effective

317
00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:17,029
in the mission of the church.

318
00:16:17,090 --> 00:16:19,399
For the mission to remain
central, unity is essential."

319
00:16:20,249 --> 00:16:23,899
And so this church was at risk of
losing their effectiveness on mission

320
00:16:23,899 --> 00:16:25,439
for Christ because of these divisions.

321
00:16:25,829 --> 00:16:29,739
"But I'm urging you that you be united
in the same mind and same judgment."

322
00:16:30,039 --> 00:16:34,990
Have the same mindset, the same
outlook, the same consent to

323
00:16:35,030 --> 00:16:41,514
specifically, again, these tier one
issues So how are we doing as a church?

324
00:16:42,784 --> 00:16:45,253
I've already showed my cards as,
as far as the local church goes,

325
00:16:46,034 --> 00:16:49,804
but what about the church at
large, the big C, capital C church?

326
00:16:50,424 --> 00:16:55,063
How are we doing in being united overall?

327
00:16:55,574 --> 00:16:58,954
I want you to just take evangelicalism
for just a moment and just think

328
00:16:58,954 --> 00:17:02,394
of the hundreds and hundreds of
denominations that exist under

329
00:17:02,394 --> 00:17:03,663
the umbrella of evangelicalism.

330
00:17:05,114 --> 00:17:07,583
And then I, I want you to consider
w- we're one of those that we

331
00:17:07,583 --> 00:17:08,992
are called non-denominational.

332
00:17:09,782 --> 00:17:11,464
We're a non-denominational denomination.

333
00:17:12,674 --> 00:17:16,303
And, and under that umbrella, there's
hundreds of non-denominational churches

334
00:17:16,304 --> 00:17:20,272
out there, and all of those churches
have different methods of doing things.

335
00:17:20,282 --> 00:17:22,304
They're gonna do things a little
bit different, have a different

336
00:17:22,304 --> 00:17:23,924
liturgy, different approach.

337
00:17:23,924 --> 00:17:27,083
Maybe they're gonna use the ESV, which
is what we use, and another church

338
00:17:27,083 --> 00:17:31,233
is gonna use the NASB and, and then
you go down to the next, or maybe

339
00:17:31,233 --> 00:17:32,473
it's a, a higher level up than that.

340
00:17:32,783 --> 00:17:35,363
We're gonna have differences of
opinion on some pretty significant

341
00:17:35,363 --> 00:17:36,403
tier two issues, aren't we?

342
00:17:37,113 --> 00:17:39,563
And so in denominations, you're
gonna have some denominations that

343
00:17:39,563 --> 00:17:44,074
are gonna say, "Well, we believe in
the next event on the, the end times

344
00:17:44,074 --> 00:17:45,713
roadmap is the rapture of the church."

345
00:17:45,713 --> 00:17:49,164
That's where we would stand as a church,
that the next thing is Christ is coming

346
00:17:49,173 --> 00:17:50,563
back to take His church to be with Him.

347
00:17:50,923 --> 00:17:53,933
You're gonna have other churches
that are gonna say, "No, uh, rather,

348
00:17:53,944 --> 00:17:57,003
the, the millennial kingdom is a
metaphorical thing, that Jesus is

349
00:17:57,003 --> 00:18:00,474
reigning metaphorically now, and so
the next thing is He's coming back

350
00:18:00,474 --> 00:18:03,943
to defeat Satan and to establish the,
the new heavens and the new Earth."

351
00:18:04,423 --> 00:18:06,304
And you'll have other churches
that are still different than that.

352
00:18:06,313 --> 00:18:09,263
Those are tier two issues, but those
are differences, and we tend to group

353
00:18:09,264 --> 00:18:14,753
together in churches that are different,
uh, from, from one another, but same…

354
00:18:14,933 --> 00:18:16,383
And, and here's my argument, y'all.

355
00:18:16,523 --> 00:18:18,453
I don't think that that's
necessarily a bad thing.

356
00:18:19,783 --> 00:18:21,103
I don't think that that's a bad thing.

357
00:18:21,523 --> 00:18:24,043
I don't think that the existence
of denominations points

358
00:18:24,043 --> 00:18:25,023
to an ineffective church.

359
00:18:25,023 --> 00:18:27,513
Rather, what, the argument that
I wanna make to you i- is, is

360
00:18:27,514 --> 00:18:32,600
this: I think denominations
allow us to be more effective And

361
00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:33,480
here's why I'm gonna say that.

362
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:35,170
Here's why I'm gonna say that.

363
00:18:35,170 --> 00:18:40,970
I- if you thought for a second … Okay,
w- we're gonna go back to that list

364
00:18:40,970 --> 00:18:42,679
here, that, that list of essentials.

365
00:18:43,109 --> 00:18:46,560
If you thought to yourself, "Okay, i-
if it's all about this, let's just all

366
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,160
agree on this, and let's just jettison
denominations, and let's just all get

367
00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,969
together and pool our resources and just
we'll be, we'll be the united church.

368
00:18:54,979 --> 00:18:56,080
Shouldn't that be what it is?

369
00:18:56,100 --> 00:19:00,419
If, if tier one, we should all agree on
that, can't we just blow up denominations

370
00:19:00,420 --> 00:19:01,640
and just all get, get along together?

371
00:19:01,979 --> 00:19:04,179
Shouldn't … Wouldn't that
make us more effective?"

372
00:19:05,250 --> 00:19:08,729
W- well, let me push back on
that just a, a little bit.

373
00:19:09,770 --> 00:19:11,579
Okay, and I'll just use this example.

374
00:19:11,759 --> 00:19:14,240
We here at this church, and hopefully this
is not a shock to anyone, but maybe it is.

375
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:15,950
If you're new with us, it's
probably good that you hear this.

376
00:19:16,180 --> 00:19:19,089
Uh, we are complementarian in
our understanding of the role

377
00:19:19,090 --> 00:19:20,099
of men and women in ministry.

378
00:19:20,750 --> 00:19:21,359
Here's what that means.

379
00:19:21,369 --> 00:19:25,369
That means that we believe that the
Bible teaches that the office and role

380
00:19:25,369 --> 00:19:30,259
of pastor is exclusively reserved for
men, that that's God's design, that

381
00:19:30,259 --> 00:19:34,639
it's not an issue of superiority or
inferiority, but it is simply an order

382
00:19:34,649 --> 00:19:37,039
of leadership that He has established
for the church, and that that's

383
00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:38,289
what He teaches in the scriptures.

384
00:19:38,869 --> 00:19:39,119
Okay?

385
00:19:39,690 --> 00:19:44,450
Not all churches and not all, and I
use this word intentionally, not all

386
00:19:44,450 --> 00:19:45,979
Christians agree with me on that.

387
00:19:47,069 --> 00:19:51,109
So if we jettison denominations,
now we're all just together.

388
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:52,629
Let's all get together, okay?

389
00:19:52,970 --> 00:19:55,140
And we're all gonna be together,
and we'll just take turns.

390
00:19:55,140 --> 00:19:57,950
We'll have pastors from different
denominations, or used to be

391
00:19:57,950 --> 00:20:00,089
denominations, not denominations
anymore 'cause we got rid of those.

392
00:20:00,290 --> 00:20:02,819
We'll have different pastors come up, and
they'll just take turns in the pulpit.

393
00:20:03,110 --> 00:20:08,299
Okay, you've got a sect of, of, of
those that are complementarian in their

394
00:20:08,339 --> 00:20:11,969
understanding of the role of, of the
office of, of a pastor and elder here,

395
00:20:12,220 --> 00:20:15,439
and then in the church, you've got a
group of egalitarians over here who

396
00:20:15,439 --> 00:20:17,289
believe that, yeah, women can be pastors.

397
00:20:17,319 --> 00:20:17,649
Okay?

398
00:20:17,919 --> 00:20:21,269
So now all of a sudden, it's the,
the turn for the, the female pastor

399
00:20:21,269 --> 00:20:23,329
who used to pastor the United
Methodist Church down the road.

400
00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:25,689
We're all in agreement on
these things, but now it's her

401
00:20:25,709 --> 00:20:26,689
turn to come up and preach.

402
00:20:26,900 --> 00:20:29,969
She's gonna come up here and get behind
the pulpit, and now all of a sudden

403
00:20:29,970 --> 00:20:33,499
you have this group of those that are
complementarian in their understanding

404
00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:37,050
of what a, a pastor should be, and
they're sitting there, and they can't

405
00:20:37,059 --> 00:20:40,569
get past the fact that we've got this
disagreement on a tier two issue.

406
00:20:40,989 --> 00:20:44,249
But what it's doing is it's preventing
the Word of God from being heard and

407
00:20:44,249 --> 00:20:47,940
received in the, the most effective way
possible, and it's creating the potential

408
00:20:47,940 --> 00:20:51,130
for divisiveness in the Church that's
gonna hinder the mission of the Church.

409
00:20:51,980 --> 00:20:56,709
Instead, as we gather in here this
morning as those that are complementarian,

410
00:20:56,879 --> 00:20:59,939
and we hear the Word preached,
we're not distracted from that.

411
00:21:00,109 --> 00:21:03,789
And down the road at the Methodist
Church, when the female gets up, and

412
00:21:03,799 --> 00:21:06,959
she gets behind the pulpit as a, a
pastor according to them, and she

413
00:21:06,959 --> 00:21:08,499
preaches, we're in agreement here.

414
00:21:08,590 --> 00:21:11,400
We're gonna check all these boxes
together, and so we can say, "Hey, we're

415
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,480
gonna see each other in heaven, but we're
gonna worship in different churches."

416
00:21:14,659 --> 00:21:17,859
And what that does is it frees both
of us up to be as effective as we

417
00:21:17,859 --> 00:21:22,628
possibly can at the mission of reaching
people for Christ And so I don't think

418
00:21:22,628 --> 00:21:25,548
denominations inherently are a bad thing.

419
00:21:25,958 --> 00:21:29,178
I think they make us more effective
than they would be if we tried to

420
00:21:29,178 --> 00:21:32,148
say, "Let's jettison everything, and
then just all get together and try

421
00:21:32,148 --> 00:21:33,448
to work out our tier two issues."

422
00:21:34,477 --> 00:21:40,848
So could we be more united as a church,
more together for the gospel as a church?

423
00:21:41,147 --> 00:21:43,987
Uh, y- yes, I, I think
there's always room for that.

424
00:21:44,658 --> 00:21:48,628
But on the other hand, I think
these denominations are, are not

425
00:21:48,628 --> 00:21:50,337
necessarily something to be despised.

426
00:21:50,807 --> 00:21:53,688
I think they're something that we should
look at and say, "Okay, if the church is

427
00:21:53,707 --> 00:21:57,607
faithful and agrees on those essentials,
then man, that church should get together

428
00:21:57,608 --> 00:22:01,217
and, and reach people for Christ as
they're doing it with full focus on the

429
00:22:01,227 --> 00:22:04,237
mission, and we're gonna do that here,
and this other church down the road is

430
00:22:04,237 --> 00:22:06,498
gonna do that there, and this other church
down the road is gonna do that there."

431
00:22:06,698 --> 00:22:08,997
And we should be able to celebrate
that and praise God for that.

432
00:22:10,748 --> 00:22:12,577
What about us here in this room?

433
00:22:13,617 --> 00:22:14,748
Again, I think we're doing well.

434
00:22:15,057 --> 00:22:15,357
I do.

435
00:22:15,788 --> 00:22:17,628
But even in this room,
there's gonna be differences.

436
00:22:18,317 --> 00:22:21,588
There's gonna be things that, uh, that
we're going to maybe be like-minded

437
00:22:21,588 --> 00:22:25,287
on and, and other things that, that
there's gonna be more tension here.

438
00:22:26,887 --> 00:22:27,668
There may be…

439
00:22:27,678 --> 00:22:30,367
As long as all of us are on the tier
one issue together, yeah, we're, we're

440
00:22:30,367 --> 00:22:31,897
in agreement of that, great, fantastic.

441
00:22:31,898 --> 00:22:35,398
There may be some tier two issues here
that you hold a different position,

442
00:22:35,398 --> 00:22:39,737
for example, than I do, and that's
okay, so long as it doesn't become

443
00:22:39,737 --> 00:22:41,197
a source of division in the church.

444
00:22:41,207 --> 00:22:45,507
I- if I'm up here and I'm preaching,
I'm preaching, "Hey, I, I believe

445
00:22:45,508 --> 00:22:47,897
that the Bible teaches the next
thing is the rapture of the church,

446
00:22:48,487 --> 00:22:51,487
and that there's a future for Israel
that God has," and you're sitting

447
00:22:51,487 --> 00:22:53,778
out there and you're going, "Okay, my
understanding, my interpretation is

448
00:22:53,778 --> 00:22:56,508
different from that," that, that's fine.

449
00:22:57,148 --> 00:23:00,037
We can be brothers and sisters in Christ,
and we can agree together, and you

450
00:23:00,038 --> 00:23:03,178
can even continue to be a part of the
fellowship of the body of Christ here, so

451
00:23:03,178 --> 00:23:04,717
long as it doesn't lead to divisiveness.

452
00:23:06,567 --> 00:23:09,067
And so there's room for,
for, for difference here.

453
00:23:09,237 --> 00:23:12,438
Here's my point: unity
does not equal uniformity.

454
00:23:13,148 --> 00:23:14,648
Those two things are not the same.

455
00:23:15,587 --> 00:23:17,248
Unity does not equal uniformity.

456
00:23:17,587 --> 00:23:22,177
There's room for diversity, even on
some of the, the positions on tier

457
00:23:22,178 --> 00:23:25,517
two issues within the body of Christ,
and we can still work together for

458
00:23:25,517 --> 00:23:26,537
the accomplishing of the mission

459
00:23:29,025 --> 00:23:32,226
That said, there, there may be
times where those tier two issues

460
00:23:32,226 --> 00:23:35,055
do rise to the place where for
you, you would say, "You know what?

461
00:23:35,446 --> 00:23:39,956
Out of love for this place, and out
of a desire to be most effective in

462
00:23:39,956 --> 00:23:43,285
serving Christ, I- it probably is
good for me to go on and, and find

463
00:23:43,285 --> 00:23:46,706
a place where I am more in agreement
with where they're at on that issue."

464
00:23:47,965 --> 00:23:51,905
If it becomes something that you would
say, "Man, this is a distraction to me,

465
00:23:52,916 --> 00:23:58,435
uh, a- and so f- so that I'm not tempted
to, to create division here, and so

466
00:23:58,446 --> 00:24:02,005
this church can remain united and keep
doing the work of the ministry, then

467
00:24:02,015 --> 00:24:05,295
it's probably best for me to go and, and
plug in with a church where I'm gonna

468
00:24:05,305 --> 00:24:06,975
be more in agreement on that issue."

469
00:24:08,075 --> 00:24:11,725
That happens, and that's okay, so long
as on your way out, you're not putting

470
00:24:11,745 --> 00:24:13,285
the church that you're leaving on blast.

471
00:24:14,505 --> 00:24:16,975
A- and I would also just add one
more caveat, come and talk to us.

472
00:24:17,005 --> 00:24:20,215
We, we would love to know why o-
on, on the way out, if that's you.

473
00:24:20,265 --> 00:24:24,106
I hope no- that's none of you, 'cause I,
I love all y'all, and I want y'all here.

474
00:24:25,105 --> 00:24:27,255
But I'm just saying, sometimes
that, that does happen, and we

475
00:24:27,255 --> 00:24:28,585
make those decisions, again, why?

476
00:24:29,085 --> 00:24:30,055
For the unity of the church.

477
00:24:30,055 --> 00:24:31,916
That's one of the ways we
preserve the unity of the church.

478
00:24:32,946 --> 00:24:35,315
And so as we're here, we work to
preserve the unity of the church,

479
00:24:35,315 --> 00:24:38,405
because if we don't preserve it, then
it won't be here for much longer.

480
00:24:39,175 --> 00:24:44,435
And so when we see seeds or when we find
opportunities to, to, to be divisive,

481
00:24:44,436 --> 00:24:46,835
we wanna fight against that in our own
hearts, but if we hear it in anybody

482
00:24:46,836 --> 00:24:50,456
else, we wanna call that out and we
wanna say, "Hey," lovingly we wanna say,

483
00:24:50,456 --> 00:24:52,055
"Hey, h- have you talked to the person?

484
00:24:52,065 --> 00:24:53,055
Have you talked to the pastor?

485
00:24:53,065 --> 00:24:54,765
Have you talked to your community
group leader about this?

486
00:24:54,766 --> 00:24:57,745
Have you talked to the person that
you're in disagreement with about this?

487
00:24:57,755 --> 00:25:00,905
It'd, it'd be better for you to go
to them than to be, be talking about

488
00:25:00,906 --> 00:25:02,185
that here with all of the rest of us."

489
00:25:03,035 --> 00:25:06,275
We can work towards mending
those tears whenever we see them.

490
00:25:06,945 --> 00:25:10,165
And that's not just my job or Pastor Rod's
job or Pastor Marc's job or Luis' job.

491
00:25:10,515 --> 00:25:11,225
It's all of our jobs.

492
00:25:11,775 --> 00:25:14,475
We work together towards
the unity of the church.

493
00:25:15,015 --> 00:25:20,025
The disunity in Corinth showed up
in these factions that had emerged,

494
00:25:20,025 --> 00:25:21,105
and that's where Paul goes next.

495
00:25:21,105 --> 00:25:21,826
Look at verse 11.

496
00:25:22,546 --> 00:25:23,255
Paul says this.

497
00:25:23,255 --> 00:25:26,955
He says, "For it has been reported
to me by Chloe's people that there's

498
00:25:26,955 --> 00:25:28,495
quarreling among you, my brothers.

499
00:25:28,885 --> 00:25:31,385
What I mean is that each one of
you says, 'I follow Paul,' or,

500
00:25:31,425 --> 00:25:34,495
'I follow Apollos,' or, 'I follow
Cephas,' or, 'I follow Christ.'

501
00:25:35,255 --> 00:25:36,235
Is Christ divided?

502
00:25:36,595 --> 00:25:38,045
Was Paul crucified for you?

503
00:25:38,365 --> 00:25:40,165
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

504
00:25:40,725 --> 00:25:43,505
I thank God that I baptized none
of you except for Crispus and

505
00:25:43,505 --> 00:25:47,625
Gaius, so that no one may say
that you were baptized in my name.

506
00:25:47,925 --> 00:25:49,916
I did baptize also the
household of Stephanas.

507
00:25:49,945 --> 00:25:52,106
Beyond that, I don't know
whether I baptized anyone else."

508
00:25:54,350 --> 00:25:57,990
If this wasn't the main issue facing
the, the Corinthians, this was a

509
00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,639
major issue facing the Corinthians.

510
00:26:00,709 --> 00:26:04,340
After all, Paul is kicking off the body
of the letter by addressing this issue.

511
00:26:05,260 --> 00:26:08,169
He's introduced himself, like we
talked about week one, and then last

512
00:26:08,169 --> 00:26:10,959
week we focused on his thanksgiving
prayer for the, the church there,

513
00:26:11,189 --> 00:26:13,510
and now he turns to the body of the
letter, the meat of the letter, and

514
00:26:13,510 --> 00:26:16,819
the first thing out of the gate he's
saying is, "Hey, you guys that are, are

515
00:26:16,819 --> 00:26:19,709
identifying with all these different
factions, we, we gotta stop doing that.

516
00:26:20,559 --> 00:26:21,449
We gotta stop doing that."

517
00:26:22,780 --> 00:26:25,819
Paul's not gonna chastise the
Corinthians for learning from Apollos

518
00:26:25,819 --> 00:26:28,009
or from Cephas or from himself.

519
00:26:28,809 --> 00:26:31,809
He's not gonna combat Apollos or Cephas
as though they're teaching any false

520
00:26:31,809 --> 00:26:33,439
doctrine, because it wasn't about that.

521
00:26:34,249 --> 00:26:37,219
Rather, the thing that he's gonna go
after them for is he's gonna say, "In,

522
00:26:37,249 --> 00:26:41,860
in elevating these men, you've missed
the, their point and the point overall.

523
00:26:42,449 --> 00:26:48,086
You've put them in a place that only
Christ should have Christ is the

524
00:26:48,086 --> 00:26:49,826
foundation of our unity here as a church.

525
00:26:50,546 --> 00:26:53,836
As we're working to preserve unity,
as we're fighting for, for unity,

526
00:26:53,836 --> 00:26:56,786
fighting together for unity, then
it's important that we remember

527
00:26:56,786 --> 00:26:58,596
that, that Christ is the foundation.

528
00:26:58,785 --> 00:27:02,566
And so wh- whoever your favorite pastor,
whether he be a, a celebrity pastor,

529
00:27:02,566 --> 00:27:05,635
a well-known pastor, or the pastor
at your last church, or your favorite

530
00:27:05,636 --> 00:27:10,335
podcaster, or your favorite author,
whoever it may be, learn from them,

531
00:27:10,445 --> 00:27:15,285
benefit from them, but make sure that
they spur you on to a greater devotion

532
00:27:15,285 --> 00:27:20,256
to Jesus and not to become a, a, a
disciple of just the, the man himself.

533
00:27:21,485 --> 00:27:25,015
Second point this week, you can write
it down this way: Don't let your

534
00:27:25,016 --> 00:27:26,445
favorite Christian divide the church.

535
00:27:27,945 --> 00:27:29,855
Don't let your favorite
Christian divide the church.

536
00:27:30,816 --> 00:27:34,146
And when I say that, I, I'm not
implying that this is a problem with

537
00:27:34,146 --> 00:27:37,765
the pastor, just like Paul was not
implying that this was a problem with

538
00:27:38,105 --> 00:27:40,735
Apollos or with Cephas or with himself.

539
00:27:40,996 --> 00:27:42,895
We'll get to the Jesus
group in a, a minute there.

540
00:27:42,895 --> 00:27:43,585
That's an interesting one.

541
00:27:45,185 --> 00:27:49,435
But rather, it's a problem
with us, with our view of them.

542
00:27:50,755 --> 00:27:53,286
And so verse 11 tells us here that,
that this woman, Chloe … And

543
00:27:53,286 --> 00:27:54,185
you say, "Well, who is Chloe?"

544
00:27:55,426 --> 00:27:55,796
I don't know.

545
00:27:56,735 --> 00:27:59,945
She was most likely a, a wealthy
businesswoman there in this,

546
00:28:00,005 --> 00:28:03,015
this region, and she had people
that, that worked for her.

547
00:28:03,036 --> 00:28:05,716
That's what her people
mean, probably her servants.

548
00:28:05,905 --> 00:28:09,496
And so Chloe would have sent her servants
on business for her, and it seems,

549
00:28:09,496 --> 00:28:13,495
'cause Paul was writing the Book of 1
Corinthians from Ephesus, that these were

550
00:28:13,496 --> 00:28:17,515
people that were based in Ephesus but
would go back and forth between Corinth

551
00:28:17,515 --> 00:28:19,825
and Ephesus on business for Chloe.

552
00:28:20,286 --> 00:28:22,866
Well, because they were part of the
church, because they were Christians,

553
00:28:23,066 --> 00:28:27,065
when they traveled … And this is a,
a, a s- sidebar lesson for us, too.

554
00:28:27,265 --> 00:28:31,495
When we travel or when we go on vacation,
we shouldn't travel and, and skip church.

555
00:28:31,496 --> 00:28:34,546
We shouldn't go on vacation
and go on vacation from church.

556
00:28:34,975 --> 00:28:37,415
You should travel and go and say, "Where
am I gonna go to church this week?"

557
00:28:37,875 --> 00:28:39,496
And so Chloe's people are doing just that.

558
00:28:39,505 --> 00:28:41,616
So they go over to Corinth, and
they're there on a weekend, and so

559
00:28:41,616 --> 00:28:42,935
they go to the Corinthian church.

560
00:28:43,505 --> 00:28:45,755
And while they're at the Corinthian
church, they start h- talking to

561
00:28:45,755 --> 00:28:47,625
some people, and they're saying,
"What's going on here in Corinth?

562
00:28:47,655 --> 00:28:48,335
How are things going?"

563
00:28:48,755 --> 00:28:49,835
"Oh, things are great.

564
00:28:50,045 --> 00:28:50,625
Things are great.

565
00:28:50,886 --> 00:28:51,225
You know what?

566
00:28:51,255 --> 00:28:53,625
I'm, I'm, I've been here
from the very beginning.

567
00:28:53,645 --> 00:28:54,475
I'm one of Paul's.

568
00:28:54,996 --> 00:28:56,015
I, I've been here with him.

569
00:28:56,036 --> 00:28:56,846
He's my guy.

570
00:28:57,195 --> 00:29:00,786
And, uh, yeah, so if you need anything,
come find me because I, I'm with Paul."

571
00:29:01,715 --> 00:29:02,455
They're like, "Okay, great.

572
00:29:02,485 --> 00:29:02,815
Awesome."

573
00:29:02,816 --> 00:29:04,836
And they go over here to the
cookies and the donuts 'cause

574
00:29:04,836 --> 00:29:06,335
that's what every church has.

575
00:29:06,345 --> 00:29:08,635
And we don't have cookies.

576
00:29:08,676 --> 00:29:10,005
I guess maybe we do, do today.

577
00:29:10,366 --> 00:29:13,815
Anyways, they go over there, and they're
talking to people behind the table, and

578
00:29:13,816 --> 00:29:15,675
they're getting their cup of coffee, and
these people are like, "You know what?

579
00:29:15,896 --> 00:29:16,626
We're with Apollos.

580
00:29:16,665 --> 00:29:17,926
Have you heard Apollos preach?

581
00:29:18,635 --> 00:29:21,585
Man, his style, his power, whoo.

582
00:29:22,116 --> 00:29:24,125
Yeah, you, you need to hear Paul.

583
00:29:24,125 --> 00:29:25,355
Apollos is the guy.

584
00:29:25,625 --> 00:29:27,315
I know they said about Paul,
but really it's about Apollos."

585
00:29:29,258 --> 00:29:29,948
O- okay.

586
00:29:29,958 --> 00:29:32,548
A- and then they go to the welcome
booth, and they walk up to the welcome

587
00:29:32,548 --> 00:29:34,928
booth, and they're, they're talking to
people back at the welcome booth, and

588
00:29:34,928 --> 00:29:38,048
the people back there are like, "Hey, you
know, you've heard about Peter, right?

589
00:29:38,428 --> 00:29:39,048
Yeah, Peter.

590
00:29:39,228 --> 00:29:42,498
No, yeah, the guy, the guy that cut
off the hi- the ear of the high priest?

591
00:29:43,908 --> 00:29:45,118
He led me to Christ.

592
00:29:45,698 --> 00:29:47,278
He baptized me.

593
00:29:47,837 --> 00:29:48,478
Yeah, Peter did.

594
00:29:49,327 --> 00:29:49,657
Yeah.

595
00:29:49,827 --> 00:29:51,967
I, well, I know there's Paul over
there and, and Apollos over there,

596
00:29:51,967 --> 00:29:54,347
but Peter was one of the original 12.

597
00:29:55,337 --> 00:29:56,017
He's my guy."

598
00:29:57,317 --> 00:30:00,177
And so that's what's ha- so, so
now Chloe's people go back to Paul

599
00:30:00,178 --> 00:30:03,408
and they're going, "Paul, this is
what's going on over in Corinth.

600
00:30:03,628 --> 00:30:04,977
What, w- is this normal?"

601
00:30:05,948 --> 00:30:12,278
And Paul is writing now to the church in
Corinth saying, "Um, no, it's not normal."

602
00:30:13,488 --> 00:30:16,387
Let's talk about these groups for just
a, a, a, a minute, a little bit more.

603
00:30:16,538 --> 00:30:18,567
So you have these factions that
are forming there in the church,

604
00:30:18,567 --> 00:30:20,718
and they, they're people that
would've been influential in the

605
00:30:21,038 --> 00:30:22,087
Corinthian church specifically.

606
00:30:22,797 --> 00:30:23,887
So Paul makes sense, right?

607
00:30:23,887 --> 00:30:26,257
Because he was the one that, that
helped plant the church there

608
00:30:26,257 --> 00:30:28,057
in Corinth, Acts Chapter 18.

609
00:30:28,597 --> 00:30:30,518
And so the, there's the OGs, right?

610
00:30:30,527 --> 00:30:33,277
I- in our church, these are the
people that were with us when we

611
00:30:33,287 --> 00:30:36,917
had our original vision me- meetings
for, uh, for, for our church plant.

612
00:30:37,448 --> 00:30:40,077
We've been with Pastor Ron and
Pastor PJ from the very beginning.

613
00:30:40,537 --> 00:30:41,538
We've been there the whole time.

614
00:30:41,538 --> 00:30:42,358
We're the OGs.

615
00:30:43,958 --> 00:30:45,348
And then you had Apollos.

616
00:30:45,378 --> 00:30:49,517
Well, Apollos also was present there
in the church in Corinth, and they

617
00:30:49,518 --> 00:30:54,587
had benefited from Apollos' ministry,
and we know from Acts Chapter 18 that

618
00:30:54,657 --> 00:30:56,498
Paul, Apollos was different from Paul.

619
00:30:56,787 --> 00:30:59,828
Paul will say, "Hey, I, I
came to you in weakness and in

620
00:30:59,837 --> 00:31:01,387
trembling in, in my speech."

621
00:31:01,607 --> 00:31:05,957
Apollos is characterized by boldness
and clarity and wisdom in his speech.

622
00:31:06,738 --> 00:31:10,517
And so there was a group that was, that
was saying, "Man, I, I kinda like Apollos'

623
00:31:10,527 --> 00:31:12,118
style better than I like Paul's style."

624
00:31:12,387 --> 00:31:14,467
And so they were beginning to
gravitate towards Apollos and be like,

625
00:31:14,467 --> 00:31:15,517
"Well, we're, we're with Apollos."

626
00:31:17,027 --> 00:31:20,298
Cephas is, is different because we
don't know of any specific reference

627
00:31:20,298 --> 00:31:23,657
to Peter having gone to Corinth, and
yet it appears that he was there.

628
00:31:23,948 --> 00:31:27,407
In fact, later on in 1 Corinthians
Chapter 9, Paul's writing about those

629
00:31:27,417 --> 00:31:31,858
that have wives, the apostles that
have wives, and he cites the fact that

630
00:31:31,858 --> 00:31:34,727
Cephas has a wife as something that
the Corinthians would've already known.

631
00:31:35,297 --> 00:31:39,767
So it appears that Peter did go to Corinth
at some point, and likely had a hand in

632
00:31:40,017 --> 00:31:43,507
maybe sharing the gospel with some or
baptizing some that were there, and so

633
00:31:43,517 --> 00:31:45,678
some were identifying with Peter as well.

634
00:31:46,337 --> 00:31:48,218
And then you have the,
the I follow Christ group.

635
00:31:48,927 --> 00:31:51,487
This is the first Jesus juke
that's ever been recorded in

636
00:31:51,487 --> 00:31:53,278
the Bible, ever in history.

637
00:31:53,287 --> 00:31:56,137
Th- they're saying, "Well, we've
got Jesus, and that's all we need.

638
00:31:56,257 --> 00:31:57,717
We don't need to learn from Paul.

639
00:31:57,827 --> 00:31:59,247
We don't need to learn from Apollos.

640
00:31:59,388 --> 00:32:00,847
We don't need to learn from Cephas.

641
00:32:00,967 --> 00:32:01,847
We're just Jesus people."

642
00:32:03,558 --> 00:32:07,528
Th- those may be the people today that,
that they'll say, a- and well-intentioned,

643
00:32:07,538 --> 00:32:11,868
but they'll say, "Well, well, I'm just a
biblicist, and so I'm separating myself.

644
00:32:11,868 --> 00:32:14,478
I'm not gonna be influenced
by MacArthur or by Piper or by

645
00:32:14,478 --> 00:32:15,688
Sproul or by any of these guys.

646
00:32:16,108 --> 00:32:18,217
I j- I just, it's just me and the Bible."

647
00:32:19,567 --> 00:32:22,048
But even that can be a position
of pride in our hearts.

648
00:32:22,848 --> 00:32:27,027
A- and that's what was at the root of the
Corinthian division, was this, this pride.

649
00:32:27,027 --> 00:32:29,787
A- a- and so the problem is, is this.

650
00:32:29,797 --> 00:32:35,557
H- have you ever known anyone to
take a picture and to, to show

651
00:32:35,557 --> 00:32:36,668
you a picture in a picture frame?

652
00:32:36,837 --> 00:32:40,287
Have you ever known anyone to be obsessed
with the glass on the picture frame?

653
00:32:41,967 --> 00:32:42,337
No.

654
00:32:43,397 --> 00:32:45,988
Nobody looks at a picture frame and
thinks, "Wow, look at the glass.

655
00:32:47,118 --> 00:32:48,368
That glass is pristine.

656
00:32:49,227 --> 00:32:50,348
Where did you get that glass?

657
00:32:51,028 --> 00:32:51,767
Is it Italian?

658
00:32:53,497 --> 00:32:54,917
That's can't be Hobby Lobby.

659
00:32:54,967 --> 00:32:57,767
I know Hobby Lobby glass, that's
better than the Hobby Lobby glass.

660
00:32:58,258 --> 00:32:59,397
Where'd you get that glass?"

661
00:33:00,227 --> 00:33:01,248
Nobody does that.

662
00:33:01,837 --> 00:33:05,157
In fact, most of the time you don't even
know the glass is there, because why?

663
00:33:05,487 --> 00:33:06,518
What's the glass there to do?

664
00:33:06,787 --> 00:33:09,297
The glass is to emphasize
the clarity of the picture.

665
00:33:09,927 --> 00:33:12,877
The glass is there to
magnify what's behind it.

666
00:33:12,887 --> 00:33:18,787
That's the preacher, that's the podcaster,
that's the author, that's the influencer.

667
00:33:18,957 --> 00:33:21,898
We are simply the glass
meant to magnify Jesus.

668
00:33:23,548 --> 00:33:29,017
If you're looking at us, if you're
identifying by us, if you're

669
00:33:29,018 --> 00:33:31,208
saying, "Man, MacArthur's my guy.

670
00:33:31,237 --> 00:33:31,868
I love MacArthur.

671
00:33:31,877 --> 00:33:33,588
Whatever says MacArthur
says is the word of God."

672
00:33:33,637 --> 00:33:34,637
I went to Masters.

673
00:33:34,667 --> 00:33:35,808
I love John MacArthur.

674
00:33:35,817 --> 00:33:38,957
He was a brilliant man, and I'm
so thankful for his ministry.

675
00:33:39,548 --> 00:33:44,298
But if he ever caught wind that he was the
reason for divisiveness in the church, he

676
00:33:44,298 --> 00:33:46,387
would be grieved to his heart over that.

677
00:33:47,737 --> 00:33:50,377
He's not there for you
to be obsessed with him.

678
00:33:50,527 --> 00:33:53,518
He's there for you to, to grow
in your obsession with Christ.

679
00:33:54,697 --> 00:33:57,077
He's the glass on the picture
frame, not the picture.

680
00:33:57,517 --> 00:33:58,747
Jesus is the picture.

681
00:33:59,567 --> 00:34:01,847
And so the problem here in Corinth
was you had all these people

682
00:34:01,847 --> 00:34:03,178
saying, "Well, I'm of Paul.

683
00:34:03,287 --> 00:34:04,068
I'm of Apollos.

684
00:34:04,228 --> 00:34:05,027
I'm of Cephas."

685
00:34:05,188 --> 00:34:07,927
And they were all saying, "My
glass is the Pauline glass.

686
00:34:07,927 --> 00:34:10,496
My glass is the Apol- Apollosinian glass?"

687
00:34:10,536 --> 00:34:10,847
Whatever.

688
00:34:11,127 --> 00:34:12,827
"My glass is, is the Petrine glass.

689
00:34:13,268 --> 00:34:16,068
Look how great my glass is," instead
of saying, "Look how great Jesus is."

690
00:34:19,310 --> 00:34:23,469
And so church, as, as we think about our
favorite Christians, if I can put it that

691
00:34:23,469 --> 00:34:29,239
way, we need to make sure that we love
them because they make us love Jesus more.

692
00:34:30,929 --> 00:34:35,420
And that in no way are they going to lead
to any sort of divisiveness in the church.

693
00:34:36,290 --> 00:34:38,089
You say, "Well, how would
that happen, Pastor PJ?

694
00:34:38,248 --> 00:34:41,168
If, if they all agree on those
essentials too, how would that happen?"

695
00:34:41,549 --> 00:34:44,699
Well, it, it may be that at some point
in time, and maybe I already have, I

696
00:34:44,699 --> 00:34:48,809
might preach something where my take on,
on a tier two issue might be different,

697
00:34:48,820 --> 00:34:51,980
for example, than John MacArthur's
or than John Piper's, or let me bring

698
00:34:51,980 --> 00:34:54,728
it out of the realm of the celebrity
pastor, I may preach something that's

699
00:34:54,728 --> 00:34:57,599
different than the pastor that you had
at your last church and what he preached.

700
00:34:59,060 --> 00:34:59,429
And you know what?

701
00:34:59,439 --> 00:35:00,540
You may disagree with me.

702
00:35:01,769 --> 00:35:07,270
And that's totally fine, so long as it
doesn't become grounds for going then to

703
00:35:07,270 --> 00:35:09,989
your community group and saying, "Well,
I can't believe Pastor PJ preached that.

704
00:35:09,990 --> 00:35:10,770
I don't agree with that.

705
00:35:10,779 --> 00:35:11,849
This is what's really right."

706
00:35:13,119 --> 00:35:16,519
And I'm not saying you can't disagree with
me or you can't have conversations with me

707
00:35:16,519 --> 00:35:18,369
or with Pastor Ott or with any of us here.

708
00:35:18,659 --> 00:35:21,639
This is not a grab for pastoral
power, but rather this is a plea

709
00:35:21,639 --> 00:35:23,139
for the unity of the body of Christ.

710
00:35:24,140 --> 00:35:27,010
If this is something that raises to
that level where you feel discomfort

711
00:35:27,010 --> 00:35:29,959
enough to say, "I, I need to talk to
somebody about it," then talk to the

712
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,180
person that you have the issue with
to begin with, and then let's see

713
00:35:33,289 --> 00:35:34,830
what we can do to work through that.

714
00:35:35,769 --> 00:35:36,659
Or say, "You know what?

715
00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:38,909
Yeah, that's not my take
on it, but I get it.

716
00:35:39,019 --> 00:35:40,860
And so for the sake of the
unity of the body of Christ, I'm

717
00:35:40,860 --> 00:35:41,899
not gonna make this an issue.

718
00:35:42,749 --> 00:35:44,949
I'm not gonna bring that up
and, and sow seeds of discord.

719
00:35:46,749 --> 00:35:47,729
I'm gonna be careful about that."

720
00:35:48,799 --> 00:35:50,260
Paul says, "Is Christ divided?

721
00:35:50,810 --> 00:35:51,479
Surely not."

722
00:35:51,530 --> 00:35:54,430
It's implied there in the Greek,
surely Christ is not divided.

723
00:35:55,179 --> 00:35:56,429
Surely he's not divided.

724
00:35:57,710 --> 00:36:00,089
He asked the question, "Was,
was Paul crucified for you?"

725
00:36:00,449 --> 00:36:00,599
No.

726
00:36:02,179 --> 00:36:04,639
"Or were you baptized
in the name of Paul?"

727
00:36:04,990 --> 00:36:05,580
No.

728
00:36:06,019 --> 00:36:07,539
In fact, he says, "I'm
even grateful that I…

729
00:36:07,589 --> 00:36:10,959
I don't even remember how many people I
baptized," is what Paul's saying there.

730
00:36:11,329 --> 00:36:12,459
Except for a few of these guys.

731
00:36:13,429 --> 00:36:18,489
Not because he thought less of baptism,
but because if people were gonna elevate

732
00:36:18,499 --> 00:36:21,899
who they were baptized by to become a
source of boasting in the church and

733
00:36:21,899 --> 00:36:25,429
factionalism, Paul's like, "I'm glad
that you can't boast about me doing that.

734
00:36:26,740 --> 00:36:28,179
You need to boast about Jesus."

735
00:36:29,409 --> 00:36:29,980
It's him.

736
00:36:31,179 --> 00:36:32,379
We need to follow Christ.

737
00:36:32,409 --> 00:36:33,549
Is Christ divided?

738
00:36:33,569 --> 00:36:34,869
No, of course not

739
00:36:39,470 --> 00:36:42,359
There's nothing wrong with
having, you know, your, your guy.

740
00:36:43,990 --> 00:36:48,560
Again, i- if you are influenced by John
Piper or by, you know, Charles Stanley or

741
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,430
John MacArthur or Alistair Begg or R.C.

742
00:36:51,430 --> 00:36:55,470
Sproul and, and th- that's your guy,
or y- you really learned so much from

743
00:36:55,470 --> 00:36:58,990
the pastor at the church that you
used to go to, praise God for that.

744
00:36:58,990 --> 00:36:59,919
Rejoice in that.

745
00:36:59,990 --> 00:37:01,799
Learn as much as you
possibly can from that.

746
00:37:02,079 --> 00:37:03,299
That's not the problem.

747
00:37:04,450 --> 00:37:08,350
The problem comes when we
elevate them to a position that

748
00:37:08,350 --> 00:37:09,389
they were never meant to have.

749
00:37:10,329 --> 00:37:13,389
The problem comes when they become
the picture instead of the glass.

750
00:37:14,339 --> 00:37:17,979
That's where the problem is,
and when that happens and, and

751
00:37:17,979 --> 00:37:21,389
that leads to this division or
this factionalism in the church

752
00:37:24,064 --> 00:37:28,524
Your guy, whoever that is, should cause
you to love Jesus more, to love the church

753
00:37:28,544 --> 00:37:31,634
more, but not to love him more, right?

754
00:37:31,764 --> 00:37:35,734
In the sense of elevating him to that
position of he's the, the be-all, end-all

755
00:37:38,030 --> 00:37:40,690
It's, it's sad to see what's happening
in the church in this in, in some ways.

756
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,810
Some of you may be keeping up with
what's going on with, with G3 right now.

757
00:37:44,350 --> 00:37:45,650
If you don't, then that's fine.

758
00:37:46,450 --> 00:37:49,359
But there's, there's just, there's,
there's division in the church right now.

759
00:37:50,900 --> 00:37:51,639
It's not good.

760
00:37:53,150 --> 00:37:55,719
And so again, I'm thankful that right
now we're not there, but remember point

761
00:37:55,720 --> 00:37:58,829
number one, we gotta work to preserve
that, and one of the things that we

762
00:37:58,829 --> 00:38:01,260
gotta guard against is making sure that
our favorite Christian doesn't become

763
00:38:01,260 --> 00:38:03,489
a reason for us to divide the church

764
00:38:08,248 --> 00:38:09,058
Christ is not divided.

765
00:38:09,928 --> 00:38:10,727
Was Paul crucified?

766
00:38:10,778 --> 00:38:11,278
Surely not.

767
00:38:12,167 --> 00:38:13,707
In other words, Paul's saying,
"Let's get our focus back where it

768
00:38:13,707 --> 00:38:16,468
needs to be," and that is on Christ

769
00:38:18,670 --> 00:38:21,650
Paul's gonna conclude his argument
by reminding us that the battle that

770
00:38:21,650 --> 00:38:26,230
we should be fighting is not one with
each other, but it, there is a battle

771
00:38:26,230 --> 00:38:30,360
that is worth fighting, and it's the
battle for the souls of the lost.

772
00:38:30,420 --> 00:38:31,300
Look at verse 17.

773
00:38:32,590 --> 00:38:35,619
Paul says this, "For Christ did not
send me to baptize, but to preach

774
00:38:35,619 --> 00:38:39,940
the gospel, and not with words of
eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of

775
00:38:39,940 --> 00:38:41,749
Christ be emptied of its power."

776
00:38:43,359 --> 00:38:45,819
Christ did not send me to baptize, but
to preach the gospel, not with words

777
00:38:45,820 --> 00:38:49,999
of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross
of Christ be emptied of its power.

778
00:38:50,269 --> 00:38:51,649
What's happening here is this.

779
00:38:52,199 --> 00:38:57,029
This was a time in world history where
wisdom, sophistry was, was elevated.

780
00:38:57,379 --> 00:39:01,359
If you could, i- if, if you could
pontificate, if, if you could speak

781
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:05,160
well, and with great eloquence, and
with great clarity, and with great

782
00:39:05,190 --> 00:39:09,399
logic, and employ logical arguments
and everything, you were held in high

783
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,839
esteem, and people would follow you.

784
00:39:11,909 --> 00:39:14,549
And, and these speakers would
get their groups that would

785
00:39:14,549 --> 00:39:15,979
follow and identify with them.

786
00:39:16,909 --> 00:39:20,269
And so Paul is drawing that in, and
this is gonna continue for the next

787
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:22,699
handful of, of weeks in 1 Corinthians.

788
00:39:22,710 --> 00:39:27,259
He's, he's pointing to that, saying,
"We can't be like the world in this,"

789
00:39:27,969 --> 00:39:31,759
because the weapon that God has given
us to fight the battle against the enemy

790
00:39:31,759 --> 00:39:35,569
and to see lost souls come to faith
in Christ, it's not the wisdom of the

791
00:39:35,570 --> 00:39:38,340
world, but it's the folly of the cross.

792
00:39:39,929 --> 00:39:42,880
And so Paul is gonna point to those
things and saying, "Hey, you know what?

793
00:39:43,250 --> 00:39:47,000
We do have a battle that we do need to
be engaged in," and that is a battle

794
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:50,549
indeed that is something that all of
us as the church need to own, and we

795
00:39:50,549 --> 00:39:54,519
need to understand what it is, why it's
important, and how we need to fight it.

796
00:39:55,170 --> 00:39:56,989
But you can write down our
third point this way at least.

797
00:39:56,999 --> 00:39:58,549
Don't lose sight of that battle.

798
00:39:58,579 --> 00:40:03,240
The … Don't lose sight of the battle
that is worth fighting So I wanna study

799
00:40:03,240 --> 00:40:04,420
the battle that is worth fighting.

800
00:40:04,630 --> 00:40:06,340
Paul was laser-focused on his mission.

801
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:07,930
He knew his mission.

802
00:40:08,290 --> 00:40:10,900
"Christ did not send me to
baptize, but to preach the gospel."

803
00:40:11,190 --> 00:40:15,400
And again, he is not undermining the
importance of baptism, but he's saying

804
00:40:15,750 --> 00:40:17,560
between the two, what's more important?

805
00:40:17,839 --> 00:40:18,350
The gospel.

806
00:40:19,650 --> 00:40:21,969
'Cause unless the gospel comes
first, baptism doesn't happen.

807
00:40:23,449 --> 00:40:26,600
In fact, we know this, Matthew 28, which
tells us that not only was this Paul's

808
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:27,870
mission, but it's our mission too.

809
00:40:28,830 --> 00:40:32,970
Matthew 28:18-20, "Jesus came and said
to them, 'All authority in heaven on,

810
00:40:33,049 --> 00:40:34,560
and on Earth has been given to me.

811
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:39,200
Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name

812
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,690
of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to

813
00:40:42,690 --> 00:40:44,360
observe all that I have commanded you.

814
00:40:44,530 --> 00:40:46,790
And behold, I'm with you
always to the end of the age.'"

815
00:40:47,100 --> 00:40:48,999
Go therefore and make disciples.

816
00:40:49,179 --> 00:40:51,900
The way that you make disciples
begins with the gospel.

817
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:53,499
That has to be there.

818
00:40:53,580 --> 00:40:54,319
That's our mission.

819
00:40:54,869 --> 00:40:56,629
That's what we need to be
focused on as the church.

820
00:40:56,629 --> 00:41:00,279
That's why we take from the Great
Commission our mission, which is to reach

821
00:41:00,279 --> 00:41:04,649
people for Christ, teach people to be like
Christ, and train people to serve Christ.

822
00:41:05,039 --> 00:41:08,549
That's what we are here to do as a
church, and so we need to be, like

823
00:41:08,550 --> 00:41:11,099
Paul, out there preaching the gospel.

824
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:14,460
We need to be convinced that that
is what Christ has called us to do.

825
00:41:16,289 --> 00:41:17,470
We do have a battle.

826
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:19,929
We talked about it in our study
of 1 Peter chapter 5, "The enemy

827
00:41:19,929 --> 00:41:22,509
is prowling around like a roaring
lion, seeking someone to devour."

828
00:41:23,539 --> 00:41:25,690
Satan hates what we are
doing here this morning.

829
00:41:26,839 --> 00:41:30,730
Satan hates the fact that you are
surrounded in your neighborhood by

830
00:41:30,769 --> 00:41:33,649
unbelievers, and you might have the
desire to reach them with the gospel.

831
00:41:33,650 --> 00:41:34,459
He hates that.

832
00:41:35,529 --> 00:41:38,349
And so you have a battle to go out and
fight this week, and you need to fight

833
00:41:38,349 --> 00:41:42,389
it with the right thing, which is not to
get distracted on, on a bunch of other

834
00:41:42,389 --> 00:41:46,419
things, but to make sure that you are
fighting like Paul was by emphasizing

835
00:41:46,419 --> 00:41:50,810
the, the straight-up most fun- fundamental
aspect of our mission, which is to reach

836
00:41:50,810 --> 00:41:52,449
people with the gospel of Jesus Christ

837
00:41:54,486 --> 00:41:57,596
Can apologetics be helpful in
our presentation of the gospel?

838
00:41:57,996 --> 00:41:58,435
Yes.

839
00:41:58,696 --> 00:41:58,906
Yeah.

840
00:41:58,976 --> 00:42:00,676
Lots of north-south, up-down on that one.

841
00:42:00,756 --> 00:42:01,036
Okay?

842
00:42:02,526 --> 00:42:07,425
But, but has apologetics
ever saved anyone?

843
00:42:08,556 --> 00:42:08,935
No.

844
00:42:10,395 --> 00:42:13,536
An apologetic argument has
never made a follower of Jesus.

845
00:42:14,065 --> 00:42:15,785
Only the gospel makes followers of Jesus.

846
00:42:17,196 --> 00:42:18,745
So apologetics, can they be useful?

847
00:42:18,745 --> 00:42:19,975
Yeah, but that's not our battle.

848
00:42:20,596 --> 00:42:24,275
In other words, can, can it help for
you to go out and use an apologetic

849
00:42:24,286 --> 00:42:28,366
argument like the cosmological argument
or the ontological argument, uh, for

850
00:42:28,366 --> 00:42:31,655
the existence of God to get somebody
who would deny the existence of God

851
00:42:31,655 --> 00:42:33,325
to believe in the existence of God?

852
00:42:33,356 --> 00:42:34,255
Is that helpful?

853
00:42:34,955 --> 00:42:35,615
Yes.

854
00:42:36,165 --> 00:42:37,415
But does that save that person?

855
00:42:37,915 --> 00:42:38,285
No.

856
00:42:38,745 --> 00:42:41,286
All you've done is now they're gonna
go to hell, but only they're gonna

857
00:42:41,286 --> 00:42:42,895
go to hell believing that God exists.

858
00:42:44,405 --> 00:42:49,655
Or i- i- if you convince somebody using
apologetic arguments that absolute truth

859
00:42:49,655 --> 00:42:52,605
exists, right, you make the arguments.

860
00:42:52,606 --> 00:42:55,016
They say, "There's no such thing as
absolute truth," and you say, "Okay,

861
00:42:55,016 --> 00:42:56,235
but is that an absolute truth?"

862
00:42:56,536 --> 00:43:00,566
And so y- y- you, you get them and you're
like, "Okay, you believe in absolute

863
00:43:00,596 --> 00:43:02,995
truth," but you never get to the gospel.

864
00:43:03,115 --> 00:43:06,115
Then they're only just now going to
hell believing in absolute truth.

865
00:43:07,995 --> 00:43:11,985
Or you use the, the argument of the
moral existence, uh, the, the existence

866
00:43:11,986 --> 00:43:13,105
of God comes down to morality.

867
00:43:13,105 --> 00:43:15,985
The only way to understand morals
and to be consistent with morals

868
00:43:16,306 --> 00:43:20,096
is for a moral God to exist who
gave us the objective standard.

869
00:43:20,125 --> 00:43:22,915
Otherwise, it's simply survival
of the fittest, which has

870
00:43:22,916 --> 00:43:24,025
no objective moral standard.

871
00:43:24,736 --> 00:43:27,495
And so if you believe in right and
wrong, then you must believe in a god.

872
00:43:27,625 --> 00:43:27,846
Okay?

873
00:43:28,075 --> 00:43:30,925
If you get there but never get to
the gospel, then all you've done

874
00:43:30,925 --> 00:43:33,485
is send somebody to hell who knows
the difference between right and

875
00:43:33,486 --> 00:43:34,735
wrong because it comes from God.

876
00:43:36,545 --> 00:43:38,455
Apologetics can't save.

877
00:43:38,545 --> 00:43:39,695
The gospel saves.

878
00:43:41,486 --> 00:43:43,725
And so I'm just saying, y'all, we
need to be about the right things.

879
00:43:44,625 --> 00:43:45,705
Can apologetics be useful?

880
00:43:45,916 --> 00:43:48,505
Sure, but only if they
get you to the gospel

881
00:43:50,712 --> 00:43:53,102
Y'all, we, we have to be
on mission as a church.

882
00:43:53,102 --> 00:43:55,052
We have to be fighting the right battles.

883
00:43:55,222 --> 00:43:56,622
We have to be sharing the gospel.

884
00:43:56,622 --> 00:43:59,702
We have to be telling people that they
need to come to faith and repentance in

885
00:43:59,702 --> 00:44:01,511
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

886
00:44:01,542 --> 00:44:02,751
We have to be sharing the gospel.

887
00:44:02,992 --> 00:44:07,491
That is that, that people are sinners,
born sinners, and they are stained

888
00:44:07,491 --> 00:44:11,461
with a guilt that is … You can't
bleach it with enough righteous deeds.

889
00:44:12,852 --> 00:44:18,702
It is permanently on you, and that
guilt has driven you apart from God.

890
00:44:20,022 --> 00:44:24,261
But God, in His love for you, sent Jesus
to live a perfectly obedient life for you.

891
00:44:24,441 --> 00:44:29,981
The life that you could never live,
Jesus lived for you, and then He died

892
00:44:29,981 --> 00:44:34,072
on the cross for the sins that stained
you so deeply and so permanently.

893
00:44:34,281 --> 00:44:40,802
Jesus died on the cross for your sins,
and that death was the death that, that

894
00:44:40,802 --> 00:44:44,781
caused God's wrath that you deserve
to be poured out on Jesus instead.

895
00:44:45,001 --> 00:44:45,881
And then what happened?

896
00:44:46,001 --> 00:44:50,752
Well, Jesus gave you His perfect
righteousness, the righteousness

897
00:44:50,752 --> 00:44:54,161
that He earned during His
life in obedience to the law.

898
00:44:54,511 --> 00:44:59,051
Jesus did what we couldn't do and then
gave us credit for it at the cross,

899
00:44:59,532 --> 00:45:03,252
and He took our sin on Himself, and He
died for our sin there at the cross.

900
00:45:03,611 --> 00:45:08,041
But then God, in His great love for us,
didn't keep Jesus dead, because death

901
00:45:08,041 --> 00:45:12,082
couldn't hold Him because the payment was
accepted, and Jesus, three days later,

902
00:45:12,082 --> 00:45:15,911
walked out of the grave, never to enter
again, which gives us hope that we will

903
00:45:15,931 --> 00:45:17,921
walk out of the grave someday as well.

904
00:45:19,091 --> 00:45:23,011
That's the message that saves us, to
repent from your sins and put your trust

905
00:45:23,011 --> 00:45:27,641
in Jesus, that He did that for you, that
He was your substitute, that He died

906
00:45:27,641 --> 00:45:29,622
in your place, and that He rose again.

907
00:45:29,812 --> 00:45:32,552
To surrender to Him as
your Lord and Savior.

908
00:45:33,821 --> 00:45:36,481
That's the message that we need to be
about, and we need to be fighting this

909
00:45:36,492 --> 00:45:38,341
battle, y'all, because time is running out

910
00:45:40,980 --> 00:45:42,770
I don't know if you've been looking
around, but, but let me just

911
00:45:42,770 --> 00:45:44,609
read this passage, Mark 13:7-8.

912
00:45:45,029 --> 00:45:49,020
"When you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, don't be alarmed.

913
00:45:49,399 --> 00:45:51,589
This must take place,
but the end is not yet.

914
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:55,029
For nation will rise against
nation, kingdom against kingdom.

915
00:45:55,140 --> 00:45:57,040
There will be earthquakes
in various places.

916
00:45:57,189 --> 00:45:58,200
There will be famines.

917
00:45:58,350 --> 00:46:00,649
But these are just the
beginning of the birth pains."

918
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,069
I'm not here to set dates.

919
00:46:05,089 --> 00:46:07,810
Those people are, are in a whole
heap of trouble of all of their own.

920
00:46:08,180 --> 00:46:10,959
But I am here to tell you
that the end times are here.

921
00:46:11,279 --> 00:46:13,329
John even wrote, "This is the last hour."

922
00:46:14,450 --> 00:46:16,279
The signs of the times are upon us.

923
00:46:16,769 --> 00:46:19,270
If we're gonna be faithful as a
church, we have to be faithful to

924
00:46:19,270 --> 00:46:21,459
the mission that God has given us
of reaching, teaching, and training.

925
00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:24,430
And, and I just … There's so
much infighting taking place in

926
00:46:24,430 --> 00:46:27,430
the church right now about stuff
that just is absolutely inane.

927
00:46:29,220 --> 00:46:33,709
And it's, it's, it's so detrimental
to the effectiveness of the church

928
00:46:37,102 --> 00:46:39,692
It's hindering us, it's slowing
us down, it's holding us up, and

929
00:46:39,692 --> 00:46:46,882
Satan is just dancing as we fight
about stuff that keeps us distracted

930
00:46:46,882 --> 00:46:47,672
from the battle worth fighting

931
00:46:51,438 --> 00:46:54,038
Y'all, as a church, we're,
we're fighting about the moon.

932
00:46:54,898 --> 00:46:56,028
We're fighting about outer space.

933
00:46:56,028 --> 00:46:57,498
We're fighting about
the shape of the Earth

934
00:47:00,802 --> 00:47:02,032
And it's a total waste of time

935
00:47:05,294 --> 00:47:09,254
Because none of that changes
the mission of the church

936
00:47:13,558 --> 00:47:16,578
I, I believe we're on a ball
that's spinning at 666,000 miles

937
00:47:16,578 --> 00:47:18,218
an hour, and I don't believe
it's a government conspiracy.

938
00:47:18,408 --> 00:47:19,048
Some people do.

939
00:47:19,188 --> 00:47:19,968
Who cares?

940
00:47:22,392 --> 00:47:25,662
Let's hang out together and, and, and
pursue the lost with the gospel of Jesus.

941
00:47:25,842 --> 00:47:28,992
Let's stop arguing about stuff
that doesn't matter anymore

942
00:47:32,110 --> 00:47:34,960
I mean, we, we give so much of our
time and attention to trying to

943
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:38,620
figure stuff out like that, and
Satan's like, "This is fantastic.

944
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:41,770
You could be useful to the Lord

945
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:46,490
I'm so thrilled that you're doing
what you're doing right now.

946
00:47:46,910 --> 00:47:47,490
Keep going

947
00:47:51,668 --> 00:47:52,958
We'll figure it out when we get to heaven.

948
00:47:53,878 --> 00:47:56,438
If I'm wrong and, and you're
right, I'll come say sorry to you.

949
00:47:57,688 --> 00:48:01,797
But in the meantime, can we just
realize that it doesn't change anything

950
00:48:01,798 --> 00:48:03,058
about the mission of the church?

951
00:48:04,348 --> 00:48:05,207
What we're here to do

952
00:48:08,728 --> 00:48:12,917
We need to be about reaching people for
Christ, teaching people to be like Christ,

953
00:48:13,377 --> 00:48:14,578
and training people to serve Christ.

954
00:48:14,817 --> 00:48:18,368
That's the mission of the church,
and if we're not united together,

955
00:48:18,368 --> 00:48:19,577
then that mission is not gonna happen

956
00:48:22,134 --> 00:48:25,944
Again, I think overall we're in a
pretty good position right now, but

957
00:48:25,944 --> 00:48:26,974
I don't wanna take that for granted

958
00:48:29,656 --> 00:48:32,456
I would've said that about the
church that Amanda and I were at

959
00:48:32,456 --> 00:48:33,436
while I was going through seminary.

960
00:48:35,136 --> 00:48:36,686
While we were there, I would've
said, "Yeah, this is a church

961
00:48:36,686 --> 00:48:37,606
that's pretty united together."

962
00:48:40,453 --> 00:48:45,094
They're, they're pursuing the the
mission of the church until they weren't

963
00:48:48,590 --> 00:48:51,560
So this is immensely important
for us to get right, church.

964
00:48:53,230 --> 00:48:55,770
And to remember that this is
not just the job of the pastors.

965
00:48:57,220 --> 00:48:59,299
This is not just the job
of, of ministry leaders.

966
00:48:59,300 --> 00:49:02,040
This is not just the job
of the mature Christians.

967
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:07,020
This is the job of every single
Christian in the church to work together

968
00:49:08,779 --> 00:49:10,090
to pursue the mission of the church

969
00:49:13,070 --> 00:49:16,610
If we're gonna do that, if the mission
is to remain central, unity is essential.

970
00:49:17,940 --> 00:49:18,320
Let's pray

971
00:49:25,582 --> 00:49:30,592
Father, thanks for saving us and bringing
us into a, a church, into a body of

972
00:49:30,592 --> 00:49:35,821
believers, into a, a relationship
with, with others in this room who

973
00:49:35,821 --> 00:49:37,241
are brothers and sisters in Christ.

974
00:49:37,241 --> 00:49:40,482
Even if we've never yet met them
or known their name, they're our

975
00:49:40,482 --> 00:49:41,482
brothers and sisters in Christ.

976
00:49:41,482 --> 00:49:42,562
They're part of our eternal family.

977
00:49:42,562 --> 00:49:45,902
We're gonna spend forever and
ever with them because of Jesus.

978
00:49:47,621 --> 00:49:50,031
God, I pray that you would
keep us united as a church.

979
00:49:51,002 --> 00:49:53,031
God, I, I pray that you would
guard us from factionalism.

980
00:49:53,031 --> 00:49:55,071
I, I pray that you would guard
us from looking at the glass

981
00:49:55,071 --> 00:49:56,241
instead of looking at the picture.

982
00:49:57,491 --> 00:50:01,451
Lord, make us a church that is all
in with Jesus and His mission for us.

983
00:50:02,571 --> 00:50:06,591
Lord, help us to show charity and grace
and, and mercy towards each other, even

984
00:50:06,591 --> 00:50:10,411
on those issues that we might not fully
agree on, so that we can unite together

985
00:50:10,411 --> 00:50:13,231
and say, "Yeah, but let's strive side
by side for the faith of the gospel."

986
00:50:14,352 --> 00:50:15,501
And so, Lord, we, we love you.

987
00:50:15,501 --> 00:50:16,011
We thank you.

988
00:50:16,011 --> 00:50:18,681
We, we praise you that we get to do this
as a church, and that you've been kind

989
00:50:18,681 --> 00:50:22,951
to us for these last three years to keep
us largely just together and united.

990
00:50:22,951 --> 00:50:25,391
And I just pray that you would
continue that, and that we

991
00:50:25,391 --> 00:50:27,962
would each take seriously our
responsibility towards that end.

992
00:50:29,281 --> 00:50:30,251
Thank you for this morning.

993
00:50:30,391 --> 00:50:31,361
Thank you for Jesus.

994
00:50:31,851 --> 00:50:33,451
I pray that we'd have a
great week serving Him.

995
00:50:33,832 --> 00:50:35,201
In Jesus' name, amen.