TPT Ep9- 1 Corinthians 1:10-16 Necessary Division

In episode 9, We covered divisions that are necessary in the church, and how that true unity is not just going along to get along, but truly agreeing on doctrine, and things of God. Also, how we must humble ourselves to get to a place of true unity. If we want division out of the church, we must again meet and agree on the word of God and let it tell us what the truth is. If we can't, we must side with the Bible, and according to Romans 16:17 that means having to separate from them. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Thank you for joining us on the plain truth. Where we open the Word of God and let the Bible speak for itself. We encourage you to grab your Bible, notepad for the field, and study the Word of God along with Brother Travis Lunchworth. Brother Rico is here on the plain truth.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Hey guys, welcome back again to the Plain Truth Podcast. Um today we're going to be jumping back into 1 Corinthians chapter 1, finishing up verse 10. Last time we talked about different Bible versions and how Paul said that y'all speak the same thing. They had division going on in the church, but the first thing Paul mentions is speak the same thing. Because if you're speaking the same thing, then you'll have that central authority. You'll have that central standard. One authority. Yeah. And it won't be confusing, you know, because God is not the author of confusion. Amen. And uh he's the God of order, very clear and precise about that. Now, yes, sometimes, you know, God will do things at different times. We're like, why is he doing this? He has got a plan, he's got an order to us. We don't see it because we're sitting way down here, and he's sitting way up there in eternity looking out on all this. So it may seem sporadic to you, but God, you know, he's he's working things according to his will. So um he that made us exactly, not we ourselves. Yeah, amen. But he's given us the word and he asks us to study it, and not only that, he tells, you know, Paul tells Timothy, preach the word. And uh Paul's always pointing back to the scriptures. Jesus always, have you never read? You know, know you not, that uh thus saith the scriptures, thus saith the Lord. It's always been about what has God said. There's power in God's word, God's word is quick and powerful, stronger, sharper than any two-edged sword. So God's word has always had power. In the beginning, when Jesus did all these things, the Bible says God spoke and it and it appeared. You know, Jesus made it, right? Yeah, the Bible says that Jesus is the word, his His name is the Word of God, right? Yep. His Word is very important. It might not be important to people today, but it's important to God. Right, absolutely. And God gave it to us to keep us from if you I'm sorry, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

No, go ahead, go ahead. It's the words. You know, Jesus said, The word that I speak, and the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, their life. Uh, God said, Let him that hath my words you know, do it's it's not about having God's thoughts or or teachings or you know, over overriding theme. It's about having God's words.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Every word.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Every jot and tittle is important.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Right. Jesus said that that that not one jot nor tittle would fade, you know, or pass until all was fulfilled. So you've got to stop and consider. God wants you to have everything he's got. You know, he he gave it to us. And and here's the thing to me, if if God Almighty is gonna judge you by the word, which Jesus Christ said he would, you know, the word that I speak the same shall judge you at the last day. If he's gonna judge me by a standard and he doesn't give me that standard, then he can't be a righteous and holy God because he's holding back things that are needful for me to be able to live how he wants me to live. So God has given us everything we need to know for this life and the one to come, and it's available to us, but we don't take available, we don't use the availability of it.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

It's like Paul talking about Romans uh and talking to Romans 10. I've been reading Romans a lot, and one of the things in Romans 10, he's like, Have they not heard? Right. Yeah, it went into all the world. The words went to all the world and in Acts uh 13, one of my favorite times talking about the word of God being published is when the Gentiles hear it and they're like, We'll hear you again this matter. The Jews don't want to hear it. So Paul said, I go to the Gentiles when they heard the word. If you look in Acts 13, it's a the word of God is mentioned quite a few times. Yep, and one of the things it says is they heard the word, they believed the word, they published the word. Right. They send the word, they wanted the word to go out. Yeah, it needs it. Because the word is living, it's it's the living word of God, it's not just some book. And if you look at it like it's some book, and sometimes I guess when you read, I guess for me, I have I've been guilty of it. If I'm just, you know, going through the motions reading my Bible, yeah, it doesn't feel as special and it's not as special in that moment. But if you sit down and you genuinely read the word of God, like Isaiah 66 talks about come to the word and like genuinely seeking the word of God, you know, with reverence and everything, yeah, and seeking it as if it is truly the word of God, it will really change your life. It sure will. It will. It sure will. If you're not saved and you read this word, it'll it'll point you to Jesus Christ and the good and the gospel and lead you to salvation. If you are saved, it'll give you uh doctrine, it'll give you how you should live after you're saved. Um it's you know, the things of uh that we need to know are found in the Word of God. It's so important.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

I want to read a quotation here from uh uh Spurgeon. And I don't typically do that because when you when you read something that somebody else has said, most of the time, you know, people think, well, he you know, he follows that guy and everything he says. I don't believe everything that that he said was perfect or anything like that. He's not Pope. But you know, I say that in in uh in jest. But he said this, and I think it's very good. He said, to open the scriptures is to draw near to the very voice of God. There is no this is no ordinary book, it is divine utterance. Therefore we must not approach it casually, but with hearts bowed in reverence, ready to listen, to tremble, and to obey. Where awe is absent, transformation is shallow. Let us come to God's word with holy fear and deep hunger, lingering, meditating, and allowing it to search and shape us, for it is in reverent attention that his voice becomes clear, his presence felt, and our lives aligned with his will. That's good. And he quotes Isaiah 66, 2020. That's the verse I was thinking of, yeah. To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. And and see, that's the thing. We we've lost the tremble to God's word. It's no longer revered as the word of God because there are thousands of different versions, you know. So now we have it's just a book. But that's not the truth. Because you quoted Hebrews 4 12 just a few minutes ago. Uh that book is alive. It's it's quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. And here's the part that gets people, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The reason people don't read the Bible is because the Bible reads them back.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

And they don't like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

No, that's and that's true. I mean, it does. And even for me, I'm a preacher, right? And I go to church, I try to, you know, live according to the way I know I'm supposed to live. I try to live by obeying God. Do I do it like I should? I know I don't. I'm just gonna be honest with you. I know I don't. If I sat here and told you I did everything the way I'm supposed to, I'd be a liar. Right. And that's according to first John. If I say we have if we say we have no sin, we do lie, you know. So I know, but at the same time, like I need the scripture, and when I read the scripture, I'm there's things it points out about me. Convicts me. Yeah, it and if you're like one of those people that never convicts you, then you're not reading it like the right way, just like the Jews with the law claiming they're following the law, right? But yet they're trying to attain their own righteousness. Well, if they really were following the law and reading the law, they'd be like, Wow, I'm not righteous.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Oh wow, Jesus died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and rose again, and I have to put my faith in him, and that's where the law, the schoolmaster, leads you to. Right. And it's so if that if they're truly following the law, that's where they'd get to. If we're truly reading the Bible, we're gonna come across scripture that's gonna call us out. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Well, it's like we read in the last episode in in 2 Corinthians 2 14. Uh, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Yeah, if you're not born again, this book's not gonna make a lot of sense to you. Um, you can maybe understand the historical aspect or you know, the person, place, and thing parts of it, but there's a spiritual aspect to this book. He said it's foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. Uh, it takes the Spirit of God to lead and guide you to the Word of God or through the Word of God to show you what you need to see. And like you said a while ago, I I'm I'm a preacher and I try my best, uh, though I fail often, to live the way the Bible tells me I ought to live. And and over and over and over, I come across things in here that convict me. You know, they hit me really hard sometimes, and and there are there are times of of weeping, yeah, you know, like a little whipped pup when when God's word comes in. And and even better than that, there are times of of 100% joy and rejoicing when God shows me something that I've never seen before. You know, it's like, my gosh, you know, and you you I've read this Bible. I'm I'm not you know, I'm not trying to brag about anything. I've read it. I've read it cover to cover a lot of times, not just once. I went through uh listening, you know, because I drove a truck from my for my work for years, and I went through listening to the Bible on on CD. I went through it seven times, cover to cover in a year. Uh listening to it. Wow, you know. And I'm gonna tell you something, you you're amazed at how much you retain, but you're also amazed at how much brand new stuff you find every single time you go through it. And and to me, I I think the biggest part of my ministry that God has placed me in is trying to encourage people to read their Bible, study their Bible. They don't listen, we need this more than we need the air we breathe. You know, I mean this this could show you everything you need every day, and and you can never get enough of it. You can never get more out of it than you put into it. You know, so you gotta put the time in there. It takes some effort.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

It doesn't it's something your flesh does not want to do. No, it don't. Your flesh is weak and wants to be lazy and don't want to read it. And and this church, the first Corinthian church, I mean, Paul said, No, you're not, no, you're not, no, you're not, no, you're not, over and over again. Right. The more we read our Bible, the more we do know. And I'll be honest, sometimes the more I read my Bible, the more I realize I don't know. I've been going through Romans 9 through 11 right now, and I'm sitting here, I got I got by the end of chapter 11, I was sitting there like Paul said, and you know, oh the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

I'm sitting there like how unsearchable.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I got to the last couple verses, thought I had it whipped, and I was like, okay, I gotta go back and read it again. Start that over. I'm gonna start back Romans 1 and read all the way back because I'm like, I mean, that's how you should be reading it. Like, you know, Romans doesn't start in chapter 8, you know, contrary to popular belief. Romans doesn't start in chapter 8, it starts in chapter 1. If you read it in chapter 1, you'll get the context for chapter 8 uh better. But yeah, like like you said, that it's it takes effort, it takes sitting down and actually reading it in this church. I mean, obviously they didn't have the King James 167 version, but they had this letter. Yeah, they had this letter. They had they did have, and Paul in one of the epistles, does he not say, you know, take this and share it with uh these people? And so you know they had what the word, they had the scriptures. We know Timothy had the holy scriptures, but he had copies of the holy scriptures, right? They had enough. Paul said, No ye not, know you not, so it's something they should have known. Right, that's it comes from us studying, but like he said, he said uh speak the same thing. But one thing I wanted to point out too is he said that there be no divisions among you, and then he said that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind, same judgment. A lot of people today will claim, and I've almost thank God I didn't, but like being around, you know, I've been in these circles before, I've or I've been around people that are in the circles, I should say that. I've been around people in the circles that'll get into all the, you know, like we just need to really focus on the gospel and stuff and not worry about all this stuff. And young believer or you know, young in the faith believer, whatever the case is, that sounds great. It really does. It sounds great. But again, Jesus didn't just say go out and preach the gospel, he said go out and preach the gospel and all things that I've taught command you to teach, or that I've taught you, right? Right. So he wants people to have his doctrine and the gospel. When you get saved, you need to know correct almost wrong. We need to know right. You need to know all these things, that's why he wrote it to us.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

Right. Well, and and here's the thing each individual book in this Bible is written for a specific purpose. Yeah, God has a purpose in everything. You know, you read Matthew, you're looking at the uh at the kingdom.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

You know, uh, John, to me, John, there's no book in the Bible that reveals who Jesus Christ is better than the book of John. Exactly. If you go through the book of John over and over and over, he said, I am, I am, I am. I forget exactly how many times, but it's over and over and over in every chapter, Jesus is telling you who he is. And if you read the word, you'll know who that's exactly right. So you get you got to get in the book and study and read in the book. Uh, and I want to say this, and people don't like this, but it's true. I know a man uh a long time ago who was uh high up in the Jehovah's Witness organization. Notice I didn't call out a church. Uh he was high up in their organization and he was a teacher. He taught those people in that organization, plus, he taught classes. He taught a class on how to convert Baptists to Jehovah's Witnesses because he in his words, not somebody else, but in his words to me, he said, because Baptists don't read their Bibles. Yeah, he said, So I can turn them inside out because all I gotta do is have a King James Bible and I can rip them to shreds because they don't know it. I I and that's that's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

That's the truth. And I I know a church, a pastor that I I appreciate that he's doing this. He's gonna he's um he teaches classes on it. I think he goes around to does that too, but he's big on discipleship and young believer discipleship and going and going to their house or going and meeting with young, just young believers that have just been saved in this church, they'll have meetings and he'll ask answer questions. And he's basically he says the way he says it, I'm just pouring the Bible into him, trying to pour the Bible into him as much as I can, give him the doctrine, uh, give them correct discipleship, and that's something that is so desperately needed right now. It is so desperately needed because you end up having these divisions that and like obviously they're not always like the Corinthian church, but make an application. Like I said, the way people view unity today in the in the church is that, and I I don't I guess this word has been like in my ear so much sometimes I'm like cringe when I hear it because it's used overused sometimes by by Baptists, but uh ecumenical. Yeah, yeah. So basically Catholic Church coming together, the Baptist Church coming together with the Orthodox Church coming up and all that stuff for the quote unquote sake of the gospel, when in reality the Catholics believe not the gospel I believe. Right. Um a lot of them, I think even Greek Orthodox, they don't believe the same gospel I believe. They don't. Um I know a lot of people don't, and because I believe Jesus Christ, what he did on the cross, it's enough. It's finished. It is it is finished. They believe sacraments, they believe all those extra things. Right. And I don't believe those things. So I can't come together with them. But what Paul's saying here is not you all need to come together and just kind of get along. And he's not what he said, no. He's not at all saying that. That's not real unity. Real unity is not just going along to get along and everybody having different doctrines in one church, it's everyone having the same doctrine.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

When when when the the the girl that was possessed with the spirit of Python came out and was following Paul and Silas and said, These be men of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. That was absolutely true. Yeah. Paul shut her up right there on the spot and commanded her to be quiet and shut up and go away, because he wasn't going to allow that from her. And the thing about it was what she said was right. They were trying to show you the way of salvation, but he didn't want to be confused. He didn't want the people to be confused with the fact that that's coming from a witch.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah, that's coming from a she was the best.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

She was a false, she was she was a false worshiper. She was not worshiping Christ, she she was worshiping the wrong God, but he didn't want the truth coming out of her. So, do the Catholics have some truth? Absolutely. Uh, Lutherans and Presbyterians and Methodists and Assembly of God and Church of God and every other kind of Baptist under the sun. I saw a new Baptist church. I'd never seen uh we were out traveling Tuesday and and I I ran across one, a separate Baptist. Never heard of a separate Baptist. I had to look that up to see what it was. Uh and they're they're kind of a lot along the same lines of an independent Baptist, but you've got so many of those different denominations that have some truth, yeah, but they don't they don't stick to the whole truth. And and they they take you know a works-based salvation, and and that's the problem with 99.9% of false doctrine, is it always points back to a works-based salvation.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

And and if salvation is by works, then Christ is dead in vain, as Paul wrote in Galatians.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah, and and um I wanted to point out too, like we're saying about the division thing. Um they'll say, let us let's put these things aside. Let's put you know, all these doctrinal things aside. Let's just preach Jesus. Yeah, let's just preach Jesus, put all these things aside. And like I said, when I first heard that, and like I was like, well, you know, that makes sense. Like I ain't gonna lie. Whenever I was like, I was like, wow, that kind of makes sense. But then I heard other preachers bring out good points about how that is not the case and that that is a dangerous path to go down. Don't go down, thank God. Thank God for those preachers that at the time I was like willing to tell the truth. Yeah, they're willing to tell the truth, and at the time I might not have wanted to exactly hear it in that moment because I was like, no, we need to be out preaching the gospel, and this is gonna be able to reach more people. But then those preachers told me the truth. Thank God, and I sat there and I pondered on those things in my heart. Like, you know, the Bible says, I sat there and I sat, I thought on those things, and I was like, you know what? That's true, that's right. I'm wrong. Like, I'm sorry, God, I even thought that, you know, I need to make sure, and I repented, went the other way, and I'm like, you know what? Thank God I didn't even get into that stuff really. I just was like thinking on those things. I was like, oh, it sounds right, you know, it sounds true. We need to preach this and that. And uh, but like, thank God there was a preacher out there that told me the truth. Not because he had the knowledge or wanted to sound so knowledgeable, but because he loved people and wanted people to know the truth. Right. It's not about us having all that, you know, we think we know it more than everybody. It's the fact is I've you know been wrong before. I want I don't want you to be wrong, I don't want you to go down the wrong path. I want you to have the truth. Yep. And people that don't tell you with scripture.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Yeah. See, that's the thing, line upon line, meaning you quote that all uh more than probably any verse in the Bible, line upon line, precept upon precept. It's it's you have to have context. You know, uh, and and I've heard it quoted and I love the quote. A text without a context is a pretext.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

And and you need the context. If you if you you you go and look up salvation in the Bible, we we all speak the same thing. You know, we we've got there are things that you can have differences of opinions on that really won't make a lot of difference, but doctrine is not one of those things that you can do that with. Doctrine has to be the same among everybody. That's what Paul was talking about here, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no division among them. Uh, it's not we're divided by doctrine.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

See, so he wanted us to have the same doctrine, and doctrine does divide, it has to.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Uh Jesus Christ, he didn't come together. To bring us together, he came to separate.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

He said, I came not to bring a peace, but to bring a sword.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Right. And he does that. He's you know, to separate a a mother from her son and daughter and all that. I mean, you know, that's the way it works. You when I got saved immediately, a lot of my family didn't want nothing else to do with me anymore.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

You know, we were divided.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah, it's not that he's trying to separate you from your family in the sense that he doesn't want you with your family. It's the fact that if you believe the truth, there it is, the truth. Persecution will come with it. It does, it does separate. I mean, and and like you said, it's like there are things we can kind of but we we'll have like disagreements on or whatever. But what I think the church needs desperately is maybe it's kind of like a renewal of your mind of saying, okay, that's exactly what it needs. Okay, so yes, you and I have disagreements. Yes, absolutely, this is a disagreement we have. But why are we so dead set and I'm not saying be open minded, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is say you and I have like I've had people tell me um like the whole Genesis six thing. First, I was like, I don't, I don't see that, you know, whatever. I studied it and eventually I came to that conclusion, right? I didn't just take you at your word, but I also didn't disagree with you and never touched back on that subject. I went to the Bible and I studied it out and I found and I and have I reached the end of that? No. But I've come kind of come to the conclusion I believe that, you know, about the sons of God and all that. But what I think we need to do is just that as the church, we if it's like Paul said in Ephesians, you have to endeavor for unity, right? Yep. You have to endeavor. It's you got to work at it, right? So as a church, if we think we've made it, we're wrong, right? And so what we need to do as the church, but as our church, Gilead Baptist Church, and as believers is not sit here and think we've made it, not think we know everything. But when we have a disagreement with someone, like you said, it's not end-all be all if we have a little disagreement on little things. But instead of sitting there and saying, okay, well, I'm right and you know he's wrong, or whatever the case is, we'll just agree to disagree. That's fine. But okay, go home and meet at the Bible. Say, let's study the Bible together, let's see what the Bible says. Instead of always being like, yeah, so divisive over it, let's see what the Bible says. Maybe one of us will realize that we're wrong and one of us will realize we're right, or maybe we'll both realize we don't know what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

You know what I'm saying? Well, and it's just like right here where he said, you know, now this I say that every one of you saith, I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Cephas, and I'm of Christ. Here's the thing. Well, see, I'm a Calvinist, so I follow Calvin. I'm a I'm a Ruckmanite, so I follow Ruckman. I follow it it ain't about following the man. No, it's the document uh I I am I am a member of Gilead Baptist Church. My pastor is Brother Chris Meltzer, and and I I have utmost confidence in him because of his stand on the word of God. And I'll follow him as he follows Christ, because that's what Paul said. Be followers of me, even as also I am of Christ. So as long as he's following Christ and following the word of God, you're you're you're fine to follow a man. Uh but you have to have this as a as a validation for it.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Well, right after that, though, he said, the head of, but I'll have you know, brethren, the head of everybody. Yeah, like you just said though, he's like he's letting them know. And also, Christ did not just say things about salvation. Right. Christ revealed things. Paul, by revelation, mysteries, he revealed them to Paul. Right.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

The rapture was revealed to Paul.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah, and Hebrews 1 1 and 1 and 2, you know, God in sundry times spoke by all these things, but he said, But in these last days it's spoken to us by his son. So he's giving, he's not just saying, yeah, he's not just said the things that he said in the gospels when he was on earth. He said things to Paul and told it and you know, revealed mysteries to Paul and things like that. And through the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Line upon line. Line upon line.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

So it's over and over. Just keep that in mind when people say, Oh, I only follow the words in red, I don't follow the rest. That'll make sense. That's not right either.

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Well, and then again, you got people Paul told you to separate yourself from. You know, uh uh he said, a man that isn't heretic after the first and second admonition, reject, yeah, knowing that such is subverted and since.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

So here's the thing. Uh if a brother's acting unruly, if you if I see you, if I ran into you and you're out in the in at the lake and and you got a 12-pack of cold beer in your cooler, and you I see you drinking and riding up down the lake, I'm gonna drop you like a bad habit because you ain't supposed to be acting that way. Now I'll come to you first and talk to you, but if if I can't get you get you to work with me on the truth, then I'm gonna have to separate from you. I can't, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Second Timothy does say to teach, right? Them that oppose themselves, right? Per adventure God uh will grant them repentance under the acknowledgement of the truth. That's right. And it's not just like we're like the the um homage, and we just, you know, all of a sudden we just abandonment. It is like you're trying to draw, you're trying to help your brother out, things like that. But I'm glad you brought that up. Romans 16, 17. This is Bible verses, this is not, and this is not out of context. It's like what Paul said, Romans 16, 17. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. There it is. So Paul is saying you do have to have, there are good divisions. Paul is not saying when he said no divisions among you. Yes, like we talked about before we even started this. Theoretically, I don't think in the body of Christ there should be any division. There shouldn't be, there doesn't, there should not be Baptist, whatever, blah, blah. From the beginning, it should have just been the church, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Unfortunately, though, there's There's the problem, but what you just read is is the separation. We have to separate from false doctrine.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

And and like I said, we can't we can't fellowship with Calvinists because the Calvinist has false doctrine.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

I can't fellowship with a with a Catholic because a Catholic has false doctrine. Yeah. And you can go and start naming over and over and over and over. That's why they have denominations. It's because they're separating from one another because of their doctrine.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

And you can't tell me I've met people that will, you know, they say, I'm just hanging out. It's like this, I don't know what to call it really, but I guess that that word I can't really say, the ecumenical ecumenical. Yeah, I'm sorry, guys. I'm not, I'm I'm redneck. So but basically those people that are like like Billy Graham at the end of his life just started doing whatever whatever with everybody pretty much. And uh you can't just like say if I go to talk to a Catholic and I'm trying to win them not to Baptists, I'm trying to win them to the truth. That's another thing, guys. We are not pushing Baptists. We are push, we're not pushing whoever we preacher we like listening to. Now, I'll tell you, like, there's preachers out there that know more than I do, and I'll point people and say, yeah, he's better at this than I am, he can explain it better than I can. But at the end of the day, we're trying to point you to the what the Bible says, right? So it's not that I'm out trying to promote Baptists, I'm trying to promote the Bible. Well, when I go talk to a Catholic and say me and him have several meetings together and I try my best, I'm still not, I'm not gonna go out and like fellowship with that guy. Me and him aren't gonna have you know like these meals and like sit down and like just you know, like be best friends all the time because we're eventually there's gonna be a mix, and it ain't gonna be him mixing with me, it's gonna be me mixing. It's how it always is. You will always communion hath light with darkness. Yeah, exactly. So that's what Paul's saying. He's not saying no divisions among you, like, guys, come on, stop fighting over stuff. Let's just all get along. He's saying what he's about to say, that you be perfectly joined together. Perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. We're a body, the body of Christ. He wants us, we're supposed to be perfectly joined together. If you want more information on that, Ephesians is a great book about unity. Especially chapter 2 and chapter 4 talks about unity and the body of Christ. Corinthians is a good book. We're going to get into in the next 20 years on 1 Corinthians 12. It's a great book, a great chapter on unity. But he's saying together in the same mind, the same judgment, we can't do that. Like I said, without the same Bible, without knowing our Bible, and also not taking our Bible out of context, but everybody in the church from the pastor down saying, let's come together at the Bible as a church. Let's lay aside our pride, lay aside what we think we know. Let's come together as a church and say, okay, we're gonna we're gonna stick to what the Bible says, not to what I think. We're gonna stick to what the Bible says, not to what our pastor says. We're gonna stick to the Bible. We're gonna say, guys, let's say what's what sayeth the scripture? Amen. That needs to be our like our theme verse. That should be our life verse. Yeah, what sayeth the scripture? What sayeth the scripture about salvation, for what saith the scripture about uh baptism, for what saith the scripture about this? If we will do that, I promise that will fix so many issues with us doctrine, even in our church, like I'm sure we've got things that are not right. If we'll sit and say and stop saying we think we know everything, and we'll say, okay, what does the Bible say?

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Right. Let's go to God, it'll help us a lot. Amen. It will. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

And he could anything else.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

No, I was I was just gonna say, I don't think I hate to say it that way. When when you say I don't think you're you're putting your own thoughts into it, but but God's word never tells us to to join together with false doctrine.

SPEAKER_04 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

See, that's the problem most people have is Jesus Christ came to separate, okay? He came to divide, he came to divide dark from light. Yeah, see, that's the problem. And false doctrine is darkness, it's just darkness. And and when you get false doctrine and it starts creeping into the church, then it gets worse and worse. It's like a cancer that just keeps eating and eating and eating and eating. And that's why he wants us to be all of the same mind and be all the same judgment. He said that he said that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren. Now he's talking to saved people, my brethren right here, uh, by them which are the house of Chloe. I'd just like to be them when the Ephesians when the Corinthians got this letter right here. Uh, but that there are contentions among you. In other words, they're arguing over the doctrine. See, that's what he's trying to stop. This being of the same mind that there be no division, he's not telling them that you don't divide yourself from false doctrine, but don't argue over the doctrine in your own church.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

You know, you guys can't come together and fight about this stuff all the time. You got to get together around the word. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

And one thing you said, and you said talking about a cancer eating and stuff. Yeah. First, if you want good like, you know, uh knowledge on this stuff and like good, a good book for this, I guess you'd say. Um, first Timothy, 2 Timothy, and I think Titus got a little bit, 2 Peter is a good one too. When it comes to the problem with allowing certain people in the church, it's big in those books. But uh 2 Timothy 2 or first, yeah, 2 Timothy 2, but shun uh profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodly. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

That's why he's saying here.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Because in the there's a one I was reading through these one time and I noticed there's certain conversations we are supposed to just avoid.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

And the reason is they don't lead to the same outcome we want. They don't lead to people getting saved, they don't lead to godliness, they don't lead to it. They don't lead to growth. Yeah, right. He said they will increase unto more ungodliness. So if you're not in the truth, it's gonna lead to more ungodliness. I I ain't gonna lie, I saw a church the other day uh and I saw all the people there, and there's so many people there and stuff, and it's a new church I've seen and uh where I'm from and everything. And um, I was like, man, like and you could tell they're getting the crowd, like I talked about earlier. Some churches only go for people that'll add more to the offering plate. Some churches go to people that really need to be saved. They either lead them to Christ right there or they invite them to church to hear more about Christ because sometimes it does take several meetings, but it's not always like, oh, you're just right there and you get it, you know, there's planting and watering. But anyway, and I see all these people and I'm like, wow, all these people I would never imagine going to church, some of them I know and stuff. But I know when I see the church at the same time, I know what they're getting, and it ain't the right thing. But and I'm like, I know that's why they're going there, but it kind of I was like, man, I was like, I just wish that we could like, you know, but what it what I'm saying is, is I also knew when I saw that I know what they're getting. I know they're not leading, it's not leading to God in this.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Well, Paul talks about the offense of the cross. Yeah. You know, if he if he quit preaching Christ crucified, he could do better, you know, and get along. So the the problem is with these big fancy churches with all these people that you wouldn't ever expect. Uh, I've got a card at home uh from a uh a local church that was started that said the church for people who don't do church. Well, what is that? That's a bunch of lost folks. Uh you know, no, I'm not laughing because it's funny.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

I just the way you said it.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

And the church is the body of Christ, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

I mean, that's what that's what he said in Ephesians. It's the assembly. The church is his body.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

So if the church is the body of Christ, the church for people that don't do church is a bunch of lost people hanging out. It's a it's a club. It's not a church, it's a club.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Well, I also uh like when I was looking at it, I was like, I bet they're serving food. The next picture is food. I was like, that's why I was like, that's why they're there. I hate that though. I know there might be some people really seeking well, but they're not gonna find it.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yeah, there's very few. There is a so-called church in this town, and I'm not gonna name it, uh, but there is a so-called church in the town in the town of Knoxville that has a Christian nightclub for teenagers where they serve virgin drinks. In other words, uh uh, you know, uh uh, I don't even know what a drink uh well they got one. Um Bloody Mary is the only one I can think of in my head. I got it. They they serve a Bloody Mary drink, which is I guess tomato juice and uh and some sort of liquor. And but they don't put the liquor in. But what's why? You know, you're you're you're serving a kid, a teenager, getting them used to drinking that stuff. In a so-called church environment, yeah, you know, and they've got the dark, the dark-lit room and and you know, barely lit with the with the with the rock music playing in there, and they're doing all this stuff. It's if it looks like the world and it sounds like the world and it smells like the world and it talks like the world, what is it? Yeah, it's the world.

SPEAKER_04 35:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

And and the problem is, is the world has crept into the church, you know, and and the church has accepted it. And and again, I keep quoting this one old preacher that I know a lot. He said, but he said this. He said, God made man in his own image, and then man turned around and returned the favor.

SPEAKER_04 35:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

You know, now we've made God in our image, and God's, you know, he allows us to get out and do all of our parting and do the things that we want to do because we just don't put the alcohol in it.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Well, it's like Romans 1 talks about, and they've you know, they've turned God basically into images like four-footed beasts and creatures and things like that. You know, they knew God and they, you know, they honored him not as God, things like that. That that's basically what's going on. It's like they're trying to make God into their God, which people claim that churches and quote unquote religion do that in general, but that's why we like we've talked about to separate us from everybody else, we need to stick to okay, let God tell us who he is, right, and mold us into who he wants us to be, instead of us telling him who he's supposed to be and us molding ourselves into who we want to be. Right. Here's another verse, though, that right after that that you were talking about, and their word will eat as death of canker. Yes, it will. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus calling them out, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some. If you want that in your church, by all means. That's what about that's the best part about being an independent Baptist. You know, like we're independent. But if you want that in your church, that's fine. But don't come over here trying to bring that in our church. Amen. Don't try to preach that to my kids, God forbid. Don't try to preach that to you know any of the people in our church. Don't try to push that stuff on us. If you want to be like that, that's fine. But just know that's what's gonna happen. If you let anybody and everybody come preach to your church, then just know they're gonna bring things in and their word will eat. It does not say might, it says their word will eat as death a king. It says duffe. Yeah, so it's gonna happen. It does. And that's why Paul is saying, like, I don't want you guys to have divisions. I don't want you guys to speak different things. Right. I want you guys to have the same judgment, the same mind. You know why though? Like, mainly, of course, number one, is we're following the truth, but also so we are unified. That is real unity is saying, okay, we're all speaking the same thing. It's not unity is not coming together and seeing and seeing kumbaya. It's coming together under the truth.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Well, he says in another place in the unity of the spirit.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

See? That's the thing. The unity of the spirit. The unity of the spirit is gathered around the word of God because that's where the spirit's going to lead you to.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

The Holy Spirit will not, or the Holy Ghost, I mean the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Ghost is not going to say. That's another thing. I'm glad you said that. The Holy Ghost is not going to say something that's not found in the Word of God. If someone's saying something and they're like, this is just how I feel like the Holy Ghost is leading me right now, and they're doing all the like, and then they start telling you, like, Rick, I think the word of God's telling me that you need to go out and drink a whole chill of pay. You know, I know I'm being really I'm really I'm exaggerating. I know, but you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm just making it clear. If the Holy Ghost is telling you something, and you or you think it's the Holy Ghost telling you something that's not found in your Bible or goes against the Bible, goes against sound doctrine, that's not the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Do you know how to tell somebody that's not really in their Bible? If you want to hear a guy, listen to a guy, pay attention to the preaching that you listen to, if you got somebody that's constantly saying Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, and never says Holy Ghost, that person's not in the right Bible or they're not in the right doctrine because the you you your King James Bible says Holy Ghost in the New Testament 90 times. You know how many times it says Holy Spirit?

SPEAKER_01 39:21

How many? Four. I thought I said two, I don't buy them wrong.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

So you're looking at 25 to 1.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

Or 20, 22 and a half to one.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

I guess like you said, too, it goes back to context a lot, too.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

It does. It's it's context. So Holy Ghost is a Bible word, it's a Bible term. And here's the problem again. We you know, we are in a Baptist church. We we identify ourselves as Baptists because we line up with what the Baptist doctrine is. That's why we say that. Uh, and that's that's we're not divided in our church. We all believe the same doctrine. But here's the problem when when you got somebody who doesn't believe the same doctrine, they're gonna talk different.

SPEAKER_04 40:01

They are, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

And you ought to be able to spot that. You ought to spot that pretty quick, you know. And so we believe it's the Holy Ghost who teaches, we believe it's the Holy Ghost who wrote this book. Uh, we believe it's the Holy Ghost that guides. Jesus said he'll lead and guide you into all truth.

SPEAKER_04 40:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

And and so, you know, it's it's it's the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_01 40:23

When he talks about the spirit of Christ, it's usually talking about like when he said, if the spirit of him that uh dwell that rose him from the dead, or you know, uh the eternal spirit, he would have visited them. And it's talking like if you look in the context of what he's saying, just like we don't call Jesus, we don't say the word and mean Jesus all the time, right? But like if you look in certain contexts, he is called the word. He is called the word. Right. We usually call him the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we'll what we call him what the Bible calls him most of the time, right? Right. Just like you said with the Holy Ghost, we call him the Holy Ghost because he's called the Holy Ghost the most. When he's talking about, you know, Christ's spirit being in you, then yeah, he calls him the spirit of Christ. Right. Just like with God the Father, he doesn't always say God the Father. And usually he says God, you know, or whatever. But we also know it's God the Father, God the Word, God the Holy Ghost. That's right. And they agree on one too. Like so, um, but anyway, moving on from that, I think we've kind of covered real unity in the church, real biblical. I mean, I know people hate that word, but it is biblical. Real biblical, okay, real scriptural unity, unity found in the scriptures in verse 10, I believe, sums it up really well for your church and for our church, and for any any believer, you know, any gathering of believers out there, you need to be coming together at the Bible and letting it be your first and final authority. First place you go, your final authority. As you're searching, you're always using your Bible and letting it be the final authority. And like, amen. Okay, how should we dress? What does the Bible say? What music should we listen to? What does the Bible say? What should we watch on TV? What does the Bible say? Yeah, you know, should we be watching that on online? You should know better. You have you know a conscience at least, if anything, if the Holy Ghost convicting you, but what does the Bible say? Um, you know, those things are the kind of things, not I have a, and that's again back to I've said this before, not I have a divine revelation. What does the Bible say? Right. Because people said that in Jeremiah 23, I've dreamed a dream and all this stuff. Like God said, Well, they might have claimed they dreamed a dream, basically, but that's not for me. Yeah, don't let them do it. So in verse 11, though, he says, For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are the house of Chloe, that they're contention among you. One thing I thought about when I read that verse is what are people saying about our church? You know, what are people saying? What is what are people saying about Gilead Baptist Church? Are they saying good things or are they saying, like, you know, that's one thing I thought about. What are they saying about me? You know, what if they wrote to Paul, what would they say about our church?

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Yeah. Well, I don't think they'd say anything about this unity in our church. No, I don't think. Um, in all honesty, and I I may be a little bit prejudiced about this church because I'm a member of it and have been for a while, but uh I see God moving here. I told my wife last night, I said, you don't go to very many churches and have a Wednesday night service like we had last night. No, it's very, very rare. And and in all honesty, it's not our pastor.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

No.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Uh it's it's the power of God moving in our church because God is pleased with what's going on here, I believe. And it, you know, you can of course I I I hear uh somebody in another denomination saying the same thing, you know, well, God's pleased with this because otherwise we wouldn't be rolling around the floor and barking like dogs, uh which is yeah, you know, lunacy, if just to be honest with you. But it it's not you want to you want to see the proof of God showing up in a church, you'll look at the altar.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

Because in your Bible, which is our final authority for everything we believe, in your Bible, you look at when the presence Of God shows up.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

People are on their faces.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

People are on their faces. They don't, they're not up jumping around. They're not rolling around the floor laughing. They're not barking like a dog. They're not doing all these crazy things. You know, they're not falling backward. You know, when the preacher hits them in the head and they fall backward, look, go through your Bible. Let me hit that real fast. You find out who fell backwards in your Bible.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

People trying to capture Jesus. All it was.

SPEAKER_02 44:24

The enemies of Christ fell backward when he spoke. Everybody else falls face down.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

I was going to say, the times that I've really met, like I feel like I have truly been in like the throne, I've been on my face. I'm just being and most of the time, not even really on my knees. I've been literally like on my face, like I'm like waving. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Well, I do my best praying like that. Right out on the floor, face down, as low as I can possibly get. Yeah. And that's when, you know, you put yourself down, God will lift you up.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

On Sunday, Sunday morning, we were they were singing um that song, How Great Thou Are. Yeah. And on that last verse and stuff, she's like, you know, um, When Christ shall come and all those things. And I bow and humble adoration and all that stuff. I was thinking about it, and I was really thinking about because I've been reading about the justification and all that. And uh I thought about that verse where he says, I am a worm. I know that's prophetical about Jesus, but he took our place. Jesus isn't Jesus should not be seen as a worm, but for me, right?

SPEAKER_02 45:19

He became like He became sin for us and do no sin.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

And I thought, I am a worm. You know, like I'm nothing. Yeah. Yeah, I'm no, I'm no, I'm no man. I'm nothing. Like I'm and I know that was talking about him, but I'm just saying in my heart, I was what I meant was when I think about the fact when I get to heaven, and like you were talking about having one of those moments of really just like God showing up and like really taking over the service, it made me low. Oh, yeah. And it exalted him, and it made me think I've been given eternal life because of him. Yeah, I've been given eternal life, and one day I'm gonna be in heaven. And when he looks at me, he can see nothing good. There's nothing good. Travis Luncer's not good. I'm not gonna be like, he's not gonna be up there like, buddy, you did enough works to get yourself here. It's gonna be thou art worthy. Amen. It's gonna be thou art worthy because your blood was shed. You got him here. And I just thought about how low I am, about how great he is. That is what people should be talking about. When people talk about our church, they the best thing they should, or the worst thing they should say is all they talk about is Jesus. Yeah. All they talk about how great Jesus is, and they talk about how dumb people are, and how wretched we are, and how much of a worm we are, and how red, you know, and all those things. And they they talk bad about people, or not talk bad about they they make men really, you know, like they act like we're the scum of the earth and that Jesus is something great. Yeah. That's exactly how it should be.

SPEAKER_02 46:42

Well, that's what Daniel, they they said the only way they could figure out to get Daniel was the you know, something according to his God. Yeah, you know, because they knew what Daniel did. They he worshiped God. And and the thing about it is when Daniel bowed three times a day uh as he did a four time, yeah, he wouldn't do anything unusual. He was doing what they expected him to do. He was doing exactly what they knew he would do. And see, that's that's the way they ought to look at us. Yeah, if they see you as somebody who's gonna be the only thing they can they can get you on is the fact that you're lifting up Jesus all the time or praising the name of the Son of God, that's that's a pretty good problem.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

That's a good testimony to have. Amen. And I mean and I thought about that the other day too. I'm I've been studying repentance throughout the Bible and stuff, and one of the things is basing ourselves. We have to, yeah, you we have to be humble. And one of the things I've noticed too is like, in just in general, as Christians, like if we're gonna do anything, we have to have humility. We have to have in order to lift Jesus up high, yeah. Yeah. In order to, like, just in what just like in order to be saved, you've got to realize you're a sinner. You gotta realize you're lost, and you're you don't you're going to hell, you're you're no lost in general, but you're also a sinner. You have to realize that. Just like um the thief on the cross, right? You know, he said, This man hath done nothing. You know, he didn't he didn't just before that, what was he saying? He was he was uh was it reviling, or is that the word I'm looking for? He reviled him. Yeah, he reviled him just like the other thief did. But then it's something in him, and like some people believe is when he heard, you know, uh Father forgive them for they know not what they do. He heard those things. He probably at that moment started getting convicted and realizing it had to be Holy Ghost. I believe it was conviction. I agree. Um just but I like he he came to the point, he said, you know, this man's done nothing. And obviously, you know, he's he can see them and he sees all that has been happening to him, and he said, Father, forgive him, for they know not what he called him father too. That's a big thing. And then he said, you know, remember me. Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, you know, and like that's all he said, but he was humble, yeah, and he realized I'm a sinner. And where a lot of people miss it is like he said, like a lot of people were all about lifting themselves up, and there's no calling out of sin, there's no calling out of what a sinner or sin is, there's no abasing of man. That needs to be present in a church. Absolutely. Like, what is what are what are people saying about your church? Are you told, you know, I mean, I'm not saying you need to sit here and badmouth everybody, and no way am I saying that. No, but I'm also not saying I don't think we need to be exalted in any way. I don't think if God exalts us, great.

SPEAKER_02 49:16

If God puts us in a high position to greatly it's self-exaltation, yeah, you know, give honor to whom honor is due. Exactly. Okay, we've got some fine folks in our church, yeah. You know, people that love one another and pray for one another and and and minister to one another, but we'll not put them on a pedestal above the Lord Jesus Christ. And for sure, don't put yourself there.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

No.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Uh, you know, if you abase yourself, but the Bible says you put yourself down, God will lift you up. You know, that's uh and I didn't quote the verse exactly, but that's the principle behind it. You you put yourself down, you abase yourself, and God will lift you up when his time is for it.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

Bell says to humble yourself under his hand, right?

SPEAKER_02 49:57

I'm the mighty hand of God.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

And that's what right along with what they're doing is they're saying, I'm of Apollos.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Christ. Yep. Like there's so many divisions because they were, I kind of viewed it as like they were lifting those preachers up in a way, you know, and like that's why Paul, I think one of the reasons he got so many opportunities and such a was one of the best, you know, um servants of God in the Bible and stuff, is because he was so humble. Absolutely. He was so he abased himself. It wasn't like I'm very humble, you know. But he was like, he wasn't walking around saying, look at me, I'm humble. He was just everything he did. If you read the book of Corinthians, when you read through it, it was nothing. He was like, I have liberty, yeah. But you know what I'm doing with my liberty? I'm making sure that my brother's not offended. Right. I'm making sure people are getting, I'm trying to lead people to Christ. I'm being all things to all men that I might by, you know, by might save some. He's like all about seeing people get saved. And that's why when you talk about Paul, that's Paul is not ever exalting himself. He's not exalting, he said, I speak as a fool sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

And he's like, I might, you know, the foolishness of preaching. I'm just looking at that just now.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Yeah, he said, I speak as a fool. And like, you know, all the things he did, it was all exalting Jesus Christ. That's what our church should be saying.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

It should be saying exactly this verse. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Yeah, it's about Jesus Christ and him dying for you on a cross. It's not about wisdom, it's not about being sharp and having a good speech, for with good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple. Paul wrote that too.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

And so you gotta be you gotta be humble and straight. Straightforward. It's direct. It's not not hiding, not trying to make a secret thing.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

We we don't use vain words. We don't use what is it he said? He said, like, we don't basically we don't pull punches. Like we're not we're not out here trying to give you fair speech and be like tickle your ears and stuff. He's saying we're just gonna tell you the truth. It's sharp and it does hurt, but it it'll either prick your heart or it'll cut you.

SPEAKER_04 52:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

You know, if it cuts you, the guys that got cut were the ones that stoned Stephen to death.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 52:13

Uh the guys that got pricked were the ones that said, well, what should we do? Peter said, obviously, in that time frame.

SPEAKER_04 52:19

Yeah, that's good right there.

SPEAKER_01 52:20

Uh repent and be baptized. The ones that were cut were the ones, obviously, that didn't repent, but it will prick your heart. It's gonna get you either way. But the the point is, like, okay, for example, uh Apollos, you know, he was eloquent, which means, you know, he was good with words and stuff, um, and everything. And like, you know, Peter did baptize, and like Peter was known for baptizing and stuff. Paul pointed out, he said, I just want to be known for basically. He's like, all I came to do was what Jesus sent me to do. He he and like he's not saying baptism is a bad thing here. He's saying, you know, I'm I think God, uh one thing he points out in 14 and 15, he says, I thank God that I baptize none of you. Why does he say that? But Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say, because he's like baptized my own baby, but again, that humbleness of Paul. Yeah, he said, I don't want people thinking that I've you know done this. And then he says in verse 16, I know not whether I baptized any other. So it's like he's not saying it's bad, he's just he's pointing out, just like, okay, for example, and I and I want to go off on a side thing, but I'm just trying to bring this into perspective a little bit. He's not saying baptism is a bad thing, but he's also not saying it leads to justification and eternal life. Right. Okay, just like in certain places of the Bible, when you know you say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. People are like, Well, now you gotta repent and do all this stuff. Paul said he did go and preach to repent and turn to God, and he said, you know, repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, and then do works meet for repentance, right? Well, what that means is when I get saved, stop living the way you live before you got saved. Put off the new the old man, put on the new repent. Right. But when he talks about salvation, he doesn't say do all these works, he says, believe on the Lord Jesus, the point of justification. And I've heard people talk about this. That is like the thing that divides like most of us the most is the point of justification. Is it when you believe or when you do all these works? Paul doesn't say when you get baptized, you get Acts 10, Cornelius, right? He's hearing Peter talk, and Peter says that they that believe on his name shall receive remission of sins. And before Peter could ever say, No, let's baptize you, yeah, all of a sudden the Holy Ghost falls and he's speaking in tongues because this is the first time Peter's seeing Gentiles be saved that way. And he's speaking in tongues, and Peter's like, Well, is there any reason why we shouldn't baptize them now? And so, but Cornelius did not get saved after after he got baptized, he got saved and received the Holy Ghost before he got baptized, and that's how me and you get saved. We believe the gospel. Yeah, we believe the gospel, we trust Jesus Christ, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise to the day of redemption. Amen. I mean, that's just how it is. It's not baptism plus this or whatever the case, but like but I like what you said, like he was all about the cross, he was all about Jesus, he was all about exalting him. And that's what if anything's being declared about our church, we should be living in such a way they have no evil thing to speak of us.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Well, and I don't want to jump too far ahead because we're going to cover these later on down the road, but but in verse 27, 28, and 29 is this but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things, that's us, of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught the things which are. Why? That no flesh should glory in his presence. We're never going to glory, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's those things. He's those things. We're not. And that's why no flesh will ever glory in his presence. See, that's why that humble, that humility uh is what God expects of us, because if we're hum if we're human and we're humble humans the way we ought to be, then Jesus Christ will be lifted up. And that's what the whole thing's about.

SPEAKER_04 56:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

That's Paul's that that's Paul in a nutshell uh is he wants to see Jesus Christ exalted and lifted high above everything there ever was or ever will be. And that's that's exactly the the plan we have or we should have, you know, exactly in our own lives is to be the exact same as that.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

Because and that's this first these first four chapters, really, if you look at them and you look at the main topics of the first four chapters, is abasing man, abasing preach, you know, preachers and but man in general, and exalting God, exalting Jesus Christ. That's what the first four chapters really is about. I mean, it's about absolutely, you know, I'm just a servant, we're just servants. He said, Yeah, me and Apollos, we we we sowed and watered, but we're just servants. Yes, God gave English. We built upon a foundation, but no man can build upon any foundation other than Jesus Christ. Right.

SPEAKER_02 57:11

Um I preach for that constantly.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

Yeah, it was always about abase man, lift up Jesus Christ. So, yeah, if you're going to a church or you know, you're in a church where you never hear your sin preached against, or you listen to people and they never preach against your sin, they never abase you, you're not gonna get anywhere with that kind of preaching. Because that's just like I've talked about with the gospel, like you need to know you're a sinner, right? Absolutely. Romans 1, when he starts out and he says, Yeah, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because you know there is the righteousness of God revealed, and then he talks 18 through what, 32, it's sin. Romans 2. Guess what, Jews? People that are trying to follow the law, you're hypocrites and you're judging people that you're gonna go to hell, too. Like it's like, you know, you're wrong. Romans 3, guess what? You're still wrong. And then there's one way to be right, you can be justified by faith in Jesus Christ, right? And then Romans 4, faith. Romans 5, faith. And now you've given peace with God. That's another thing. That it's the gospel of peace. Why is it the gospel of peace? Because you and I have sinned. There is no peace with the wicked.

SPEAKER_02 58:12

Well, we're enemies of God.

SPEAKER_01 58:13

You're enemies of God, right? And what is the gospel? The gospel of peace. The good news. Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem you and to reconcile you to God. Amen. And now, guess what? If you put your faith in him and you believe on him, you get saved, you've got peace with God. Your sins are forgiven and you've got eternal life. If you were like, I was reading Romans 8 the other day, and I was like, dude, I couldn't like, I mean, there there's so many books you can say that about in so many chapters, but I was just reading Romans 8, going verse by verse, not really stopping, just reading them all. I was like, man, like if you don't know God like really cares about you and loves you and is for you as a believer, you are missing it. So it's like Romans, like just that chapter alone, I was like, it's like he's for you, he's for you, he's for you. And it's just like over and over, and I was like, oh my gosh, it's so good. But anyway, I think we'll wrap it up today with that. But I'm I'm glad we got to go through those and cover that and kind of cap that off about real unity in the church, which is something we desperately need. It's found at the Bible, it's found in humility.

SPEAKER_02 59:11

It is, it's found in humility at the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

Exactly. That's really all you need. Yeah, being humble enough to say, okay, God, like that. I don't know everything. Yeah, Isaiah 66. I've got to come to the Bible trembling as a church. We need to definitely repent on that and come to the Bible trembling and stop going back to all the cliche sayings we've heard preachers say over the years and letting that be the end-all be-all for our doctrine, but saying, Okay, like genuinely, like, you know, services where we come together and say, you know, we're divided on this. We need to like you don't see that. I don't see churches where they'll be like, you know, say a division happens in the church, we just kind of let it go. Instead of coming together, maybe having a special service and saying, let's really see what the Bible, you know, let's just go through all the verses that talks about this in context and see what the Bible says so we can have real unity. Amen. Or, hey, you know, I think I think you're wrong on this. I think we need to get this straightened out. We don't, you just don't see it in anyone. No, you hardly ever do. Because either one of two parties is either prideful or is prideful or and they think they know it, or the other party is just a heretic, or they don't want to hear one to two, you know. It's like there's always that. So, but thank you guys for joining us again. Um, next time we're gonna be going, and uh, I think we're gonna start going just verse by verse and reading. I don't have I've I've really wanted to cover what we've covered so far in detail, but I also want to start getting into these next couple verses. There's so much so much good stuff we're gonna be getting into. So make sure to join us again next time. Thank you guys. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

This has been the plain truth. Join us again next time as we continue studying the word of God. Plain