Good morning everybody. If you
will, let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. On the heading of my notes, I
always have title, text, date, place. And I'll fill those in,
you know, what my title is and what the text was so I can save
it and keep it real organized and go find things that passed.
And so for my text, I just have various. But the title of this
Sunday school lesson is The Local Church. And I had it written
down here. It's not my intention to preach
you a three-point gospel message from this. I want to teach you
what God says. And I've been tore up over that,
but that's what God gave me. Now, if I'm gonna teach, I have
to preach some. If I'm gonna preach, I have to
teach some. It goes hand in hand. But I was really upset. I sat
down, I had a passage highlighted. We're gonna look first at chapter
three, but look here in chapter four, verse six. Paul had given
Timothy, I've been in 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, and Titus a lot
the last two months. A whole lot. I can't put it down. And somebody asked me a question
a couple months ago which sparked this. I typed these things out
and I was worried. I thought, I know it's right,
it's what God gave me, but I'm not at ease. Until I had this
highlighted and I saw it when I sat down. Look here. Paul gave
Timothy all these instructions and things to do and things to
look out for and things to warn against. And in chapter 4, 1
Timothy 4, verse 6, he said, if thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, what things? Everything he just told him and
everything he's about to tell him. Thou shalt be a good minister
of Jesus Christ. Boy, that's what I want to be.
I do. Nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, where unto thou hast attained. Do you
want to attain? I want to attain. I want to be
like him. I do. And God, the Holy Spirit, moving
Paul's hand, said if we look at these things and we're putting
remembrance to these things, we'll be good ministers of Christ.
And I want to. So the local body, the local
church, is what we're going to look at this morning. Someone
asked me a very good question about two months ago. And it
was a very simple question, and Buddy, it's one of the best questions
I've ever been asked. And I can't shake it. I've dreamed about
it in the mornings and in the nights. I've thought about this
question, and it stayed with me, and it's affected me. And
it was a question about the local church, about a local assembly
of God's saints. Like I said, I don't really intend
to preach a gospel message to you, but I want to show you,
I want to answer that question that person asked me. I want
to show you some things about the local assembly of God's saints
where God has gathered His sheep together, and I want you to see
what He has to say about it. Okay? Here in 1 Timothy 3, for
me, it's on the same page. At the end of chapter 3, verse
14. 1 Timothy 3, 14. Paul says to Timothy, he said,
these things are right unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly.
I hope I can get there quick, buddy. But if I tarry long, I
wrote you these things, that thou mayest know how thou ought'st
to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of
the living God. the pillar and ground of the
truth. This is where the truth's gonna
come out of. This is where the pillar that's gonna uphold this
gospel, this gospel of Christ, of his glory, of who he is, of
what he's done. This is concerning that local
assembly. It is. Now, the Lord gave us
two institutions. while we're here on this earth
to typify Christ, our husband, and us, his bride, his church,
while we're here in this world. And he gave us these two things
for us to be happy. These two things are for our
good. And he gave us these things to glorify Christ. It's for our
good and his glory. The first one he gave us, that's
the home. That's the home, the family, the husband and wife.
He gave us family government. What did the Lord say? I see
some people, I know some friends of mine, some people you know,
they're adult males and they're single. That ain't good. How could you say such a thing?
Let me read Genesis 2 to you. The Lord said, it's not good
that the man should be alone. It ain't good. God said it ain't
good. I'll make him a help, meet for him, fit for him, useful
for him. The Lord gave us a husband and
a wife in that garden. The husband's the head, just
as Christ is the head of his body. We're his bride. We came
from him, from his side, his wounded side. We ain't above
him, but we're not trampled below him either. from that pierced
side, from that rib, that's where we came from, just like Eve did.
And we can learn so much about ourselves and about our Lord
and about our need of Him through this daily example He's given
us, if we see it in light of Him. If He's on our minds, we're
gonna see Christ and how He does things and how bad we are and
how wonderful He is throughout the day. day in and day out in
this life. We don't just, you that are married,
you don't just see your wife twice a week for an hour and
a half, do you? No, this is a life together, it's living together.
So the first thing he gave us, that institution, was the institution
of marriage and the family. And the second one he gave us
is a local assembly of saints, the local church. This institution
that the Lord gave us, this local assembly, it's more valuable
to the believer than their own family. Well, I don't feel that
way. I ain't talking to you then.
I'm talking about children of God, you who believe. We love
our families. I love my children. I love my
wife. But the gathering of God's saints is more precious to the
believer than their own families. Or why? Why? This is an everlasting
family. We're in it for the long run,
buddy. I was talking to Brother Marvin the other day, I said,
I hate, I can't just sit down and spend time with you, but we'll have
eternity. So let's get after it, what we got to do now. And
then we can get our work done and we can meet up later. This
is our everlasting family. This is the family, this church,
Christ loved the church. Is that what it says? The scriptures
say? He chose it. He gave himself for it. He redeemed
it. He builds it. He honors it. Ooh, can I give you goosebumps? and he will preserve it forever.
Our earthly relationships, they're gonna come to an end. It's sad
while we're here, but this union that you and I have, someday
you're gonna die or I'm gonna die. And then when we're in glory,
we ain't gonna be husband and wife. But this union in a local assembly
that's typified in the home and shown in a local assembly, saints
of the Lord, we're part of his body, we're together forever.
This union's forever. And you see, I've told you before,
it's the same thing. The Lord's consistent in mathematics, whether
it's elemental or planetary, it's the same. But He gives us
these examples in the home, and it's the same in local assembly,
and it's the same in His body throughout time. We see these
things. And just like our earthly marriages,
our families, we have plain instructions in our roles on them. Now, we
may not like it. We may hate that God gave us
our God-given responsibilities. We may ignore it, but we're given
them. Me, how to be a husband. Me, how to be a father. Not how
other people ought to treat me, but how I'm to treat my wife
and my children. Those things always give a little
sour taste, don't it? You think, close your eyes and
think if your in-laws, whether that's son-in-laws or daughter-in-laws
or mother or father-in-laws, think if your in-laws really
got it. Wouldn't that be good? Wouldn't
that be good? If you have a daughter that you
love and her husband heard everything that he's supposed to do in light
of Christ and he knew Christ, wouldn't that be good for her?
You'd be happy about that. I'd be happy about that. or my
son gets married and his wife knows Christ and sees these instructions
in God's word and heeds them for Christ's glory and that homes
you not, that'd be good, wouldn't it? Now let's supply it to ourselves. Let's not listen through somebody
else's ears. I'm gonna listen to me, okay? Here's some things
concerning what God says about his local body, about his local
assembly. First thing, members of a local
assembly of saints were to love one another. It says so. He said in Romans 12, he said,
be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love in
honor preferring one another. I'd rather have a cookout with
you than I would the people I can't talk to about Christ. I'll have a cookout with them,
that's fine, but I'd rather, I prefer to be with believers.
I'd rather go bowling with believers. We prefer to go top golf. It's
fun with other people, but I like going with believers, don't you?
He said in Romans 13, he said, oh no man, anything but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. People worry about keeping the
law. Okay, forgive and love as hard as you can go after it. What's our motivation to love
one another? Well, God said we had to. I love you. That ain't
love. That's a mockery, isn't it? Ephesians
5, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it. For me to love her as Christ,
I have to know Christ first. I have to be the sinner and him
be the savior. And then I tell you what, that'll
humble husbands and that'll humble wives and everybody will start
getting along. Why? Because he first loved us. I
love him, that's true. But you're going to love your
brethren. You are, and not in word only. There'll come a time
I say, oh, I love God, but I hate the brethren. How you gonna know? That's gonna be an action, isn't
it? Turn over to John 13. John 13, verse 12. We remember
the Lord set the disciples down. He washed their feet. Peter said,
you ain't washing my feet. He said, if I don't wash your
feet, you ain't gonna have no part of me. He said, well, you washed my head,
my hands, my feet, all of them. He said, you're clean, Peter,
calm down. I'm giving you an example. Just hush and listen.
Quit talking while I'm teaching. Listen, open your ears. Verse
12. So after he had washed their
feet and he had taken his garments and was set down again, he said
unto them, know ye what I've done to you? Now, I just washed
your feet. Do you know what I just did?
You call me master and lord, and you say, well, for so I am.
If I then, your lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also
ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example.
What I've did, I've showed you. I've been an example that you
should do as I've done to you. You're telling us to do things.
No, God's telling you to do things. He said, remember us looking
at that? The Lord's washed us, we're holy. But this feet walk
through this earth, they get dirty. He said, just, you see
that dirtiness of flesh, wash it off, pay no attention to it,
let it go down the drain. He said, now I've done that for
you, now you do it. I've loved you, and you have
my love in you, now get to loving, get to doing it. I thought of,
Peter said, honor all men, and love the brotherhood. Fear God
and honor the king. That's fearing God, that's honoring
God. That's honoring the king, is to love the brotherhood. And
I lived in Philadelphia for a while, and that place is called the
City of Brotherly Love. Well, it's the City of Brotherly
Love, isn't it? Until you're in Sheltonham at 2 a.m. You don't
want to go down there. At rush hour traffic, it ain't
rush hour, it's rush day. I've been down 95 at 1.30 a.m.
going on a service call, and it's bumper to bumper pack. Where
are they going? and they're mad about it. But
it's the city of brotherly love, until you're there, isn't it?
It's sarcasm, it's what it is. We're a brotherhood. This is
a family, we're a sisterhood. And we are to love this gift
the Lord's given us. He's given us this family. And
it's instinct, you can't keep from it. He tells us, just like
we tell our children. I tell you all, don't you? Love
your sister. That's the only sister you got. You got two brothers,
but love both of them. I tell him, he tells us, he does. When love's present in a local
assembly, these are things concerning a local assembly, when love's
present, and this is the first one I'm laboring at the longest,
it's the foundation. Being in a body of Christ, being
in a local assembly, it's joy. If God has gathered saints together,
it's a warm place, it's a safe place, it's comfortable, you're
at ease, you're open. You come home the other day from
swim practice, was you scared to talk to me? Was it weird to
tell me what kind of lapses? Why? You're home. It's your family. Who else you gonna talk to? How'd
your day go? It's a family. Just like a loving
home, a local assembly's a family. I got this all throughout my
notes in Princey's. Family, family, family, family.
It's a family. And he's giving us that first
family to show us a second family. Oh brethren, that eternal union's
coming. This is good. He gave us this
to teach us what's coming. This is a down payment of that
inheritance we have. Second thing, things concerning
a local body. We're told to do everything we
can to keep us family. To stay with this, to be unified.
Turn to Ephesians four. Ephesians four, verse one. Paul's right here and he says,
Ephesians 4, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. I ain't
Nero's prisoner, I ain't a Roman's prisoner. All the Romans got
me. Catholic church got a hold of me. He said, I'm God's prisoner.
That's good. Prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called
with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering for bearing
one another in love. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. Bend over backwards and
kiss your heels and do anything you can without compromising
the gospel to endeavor to keep the unity. And do it right now. He said, don't let the sun go
down on your wrath. Do it. Forbearing. That means
you're going to carry something in a backpack. Long-suffering.
That means it's going to suffer and it's going to take a long
time. This ain't doing cartwheels and holding hands every day.
but endeavor, endeavoring to keep the unity. Why? Why would
we do that? Verse four is family. There's
one body, there's one spirit, even as you are called in the
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and father of all, who is above all and through all and in you
all. Christ abides in his people,
but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. God's been gracious to me, he's
been gracious to you. What we got to fight about? I don't like it when you wear blue
ties. Well, cut your ties up, throw them away. What we got to fight about? This
family ain't got nothing to fight about. This family God puts together. Wherever the Lord has assembled
his sheep, not where a bunch of people's got together. When
the Lord said two or three together, he's talking about rebuking a
brother. He said, you remember before you go and challenge somebody,
you take two or three witnesses with you before you charge an
elder, and you remember I'm sitting there listening. He's with us
always, yeah, and he's reminding us. First two or three of y'all
gather together to talk things out, I'm standing there. That
sets a tone, doesn't it? But where God's assembled his
sheep, not where we decide if we're gonna pour a foundation,
where he's assembled his sheep in love in a local house of the
family, we're gonna do everything we can to keep that unity. or
else we're grieving the Holy Spirit. Look down verse, well,
30, it says that, look at verse 29. Chapter four, verse 29. Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. That's plain,
isn't it? Say good things, don't say bad
things. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace to the hearers. If you ain't got something nice
to say, don't say nothing at all. and grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption."
No silly talk. Don't. Don't gossip, don't slander,
don't strife, don't murmur. Paul told Titus in Titus 3 plainly,
he said, avoid foolish questions. And we're talking about these
things, it's silly. It's foolish, don't quit that, you know. Henry
told us, now this does not apply to our generation. It applies
to that generation that Henry was sent to. And that was me
when I was a teenager. And it ain't a thing going on now. I
ain't seen one a long time. But there's a rage in the early
nineties of Ouija boards. I don't know about out here,
but in Eastern Kentucky, that's when he was sent and that's where
he was sent. And my pastor got up and told
us, he said, you young people, you leave them Ouija boards alone.
It ain't good for you. Don't do it. Is that okay? Was
that okay for me to hear that? What's going on nowadays? Them
conspiracy theories, leave them alone. They ain't no good for
you. You're worried about man, and
you're worried about the government, or what some teenage boy did
up in Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago, and who sent him? God sent
him. It's for his glory, and I talk about something good.
See? I'm not saying y'all talk about them things, but for our
generation, for what's going on all around us, constantly
in the phones and the TVs, leave it alone. Now God sent me to
say that in this generation, this place, and this time. It's
so. His word says so, isn't it? Leave
that silly communication alone. Let no corrupt communication
out of your mouth. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. And be kind
to those who've not yet seen their error. Get mad about those
things and still be kind to them. Still pray for them, still love
them. He says in Romans 12, bless them which persecute you. Bless
and not curse. Don't curse them. Pray God save
him. Pray God teach him. Because if
he does, we'll be back to being family and everything will be
fine. Here's the third thing concerning the local church.
We're to see to each other's needs. Now what's that? Is that
physically? Yes. You need some beans and
rice? I got some beans and rice. I'll give you some. But not just
that. Emotionally. Did you know that?
Be an ear for somebody to I sound like Henry, ain't I? Ought to,
I'm made from him. Be an ear to listen, not to tell
to listen, to hear, to bear one another's burdens. And that little
illustration, that boy, his mom said, where you been? Little
tiny fella. And he was next door with that neighbor all the time.
And that neighbor, he'd been widowed. His wife had died. And
he said, what are you doing? She said, what are you doing
with that fella over there all day? You've been over there for three days
in a row. He said, Mommy, I'm just helping him cry. They just
sit with him while he cried. Believers shed tears. Believers
have hard lives in this world. And I want to know what they
are, not to gossip and yik-yak about who put you in that bad
situation, but so I can pray for you, or just cry with you. Say, well, that's rough, isn't
it? And think about putting myself in their shoes. We've got good examples all around
us. We've got a great cloud of witnesses before, and we've got
a great cloud of witnesses right now. We do. Why would we do such
a thing? Because this is an assembly of
the saints. That's Christ's dwelling place in that person. That's
his child. He said in Matthew 25, and the
king shall answer and say to them, verily I say unto you,
inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these my brethren,
you've done it unto me. And not only providing for one
another, that's what love does, but to watch out for each other
like family does. Wolves are coming. We'll see
next hour, we're the wolf. Did you know that sometimes I'm
the wolf? Sometimes I'm the locust. That's in me. I got an old man
on it. Physically, we're looking out for him, but spiritually,
too. Spiritually. That goes with that foolish talking.
Now, the road you're going down ain't a good road to go. Leave
that alone. You know, or somebody says something good, that is
good. Thank you for saying that. Encourage them to keep going
the way they're going. It says in Hebrews 12, follow peace with
all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Looking diligently. We're to be diligent with this.
Lest any man fall of the grace of God. Huh? Oh, this ain't just stepping
on people's long toes. I don't know if that's an expression. Somebody said, hey, they got
long toes. That means they're easily offended. You say one crossword,
buddy, and they're just going to be like a mad 13-year-old
and go down. Look diligently lest somebody
fall from grace. That's what's it cost. It said
that those false preachers and stuff are just like a locust
we'll see next hour. They crept in unaware. Who are they unaware
to? Well, everybody except Kevin and Mike Smith. We know. No,
it's unaware. We didn't know. It's like a serpent
sneaking in. That scares me to death. I saw
a video of somebody found a snake behind a couch or something on
the internet. I want to go flip all the furniture
upside down. That could happen. I keep that
door shut. They creep in unaware. If I was
aware of it, I'd have done something about it. But we're to look diligently,
lest the man fall from grace, lest any root of bitterness spring
up, trouble you." What's gonna do that? Bitterness, contention,
pride, and thereby many be defiled. Trouble's gonna come. Hard times
are gonna come. And that's in the home, and that's
in a local assembly, isn't it? Or we're gonna disagree with
Dr. Gill. We don't see eye to eye on what he had to say. And
that's a regular family. Sometimes you don't get along.
We still eat together, don't we? We're still in it together. If we're family, we're there.
What are we to do then? Colossians 3 says, Put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bows of mercy, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against
any. And this is where it's gonna
be applied. Even as Christ forgave you, also do you. If Christ has
forgiven you, you'll forgive. If Christ has been engaged with
you, you'll be engaged. If Christ has been merciful to
you, you'll show mercy. Even to your dog. The righteous
regardeth the life of his beast. Hunter gets good walks and good
food, don't he? Why? Lord gave me good walks and good
food. Look at our Matthew 6. Colossians 3, you can turn to
Matthew 6 verse 9. Colossians 3, if anybody has
a quarrel against you, forgive them. Even as Christ forgave
you, also do ye. In the measure he's forgiven
you, you forgive in that measure. Matthew 6 verse 9. After this
manner, therefore, pray ye. They said, Lord, teach us how
to pray. All right, well, here's a format for you. Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. He's holy. Your
kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Lord, you're holy, you do it
your way. Your will be done, not my will
be done, your will be done. Now, give us this day our daily
bread. You know I gotta eat, you give
me Christ today. And forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. Does that terrify you? Lord, you forgive
me with the same amount of forgiveness that I forgive others. Oh, guilty. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. His kingdom is forever.
His glory is forever. He's the one that's holy. It's
his will be done. Now, what comment is God going to tell us on how
to pray or what he just told us? For if you forgive men their
trespasses, that's what he goes to. He gives some additional
instruction. It's not a caveat. Caveat's a
warning. That's what the word means. He gives some additional
instruction. If you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive you
trespasses. Well, that makes me want to be
like Paul. I don't want to know nothing among you, save Christ
and him crucified. Let's dwell on the good things.
I don't want to do no trespassing. I don't want you to do no trespassing.
Let's just look to Him. He's merciful, let's ask Him
for it. This local assembly, we're to
pray for one another. He said in Ephesians 6, 18, but
Paul said before, he said, brethren, pray for us. Pray for us that
preach. Before that, he says, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. He said, pray
for the brethren. Pray for all of them. And then
he said, well, you pray for us too. We're in that lump. We're in that body. You pray
for us too. When? When are we to pray for
our brethren? Well, they're going through a
rough time. They're in trouble. We ought to pray for them. Well,
yeah. Or they're going through a real good time. They got promoted
and everything's going good right now and got a new bass boat or
whatever. Well, pray for them too, yeah.
But the text says praying always. Always. How can I think about
somebody day in and day out? Do you think about your family
day in and day out? Remember, we're giving that example in
the home. Well, yeah, I think about my children every day.
Jared's in Utah. I think about Jared every day.
Why? Why do I think about him? Now we're getting down to brass
tacks. This is going to be cut deep on it. Why do we think about
him every day? We love him. I think about you every day,
Bob. Why? I love you. I think about all y'all every
day. I love you. I pray for you. And
then Paul says after that, now, y'all pray for me. That's sweet, isn't it? A local assembly's to assemble. I'll hurry. Is that too common
sense? We're a local assembly of saints.
We're to assemble. We're to get together and worship
Christ. He said in 2 Corinthians 6, Wherefore
come out of them from among them, be ye separate. We're out there
with them all week. Come out from that word. Forget
about SDG&E and forget about your grocery bill. Come in here
and think about him. Saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing, and I'll receive you, and I'll be a father unto
you. And you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty. That's what he's saying for us.
Is that true for the family and for the local assembly throughout
time? Yeah, that's why he's talking about Ephesians 5. He said, for this
cause shall man, because it ain't good for him to be alone, so
he gave him a wife. shall leave us father and mother and shall
be joined unto his wife and the two shall be one flesh. This
is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
That's what he's talking about. Get together, become one, assemble
together. And he said, but I'm talking
about the body of Christ. We understand that in the home, y'all leave
your mother and father and get your own place to live. And he
said, never let, I'm talking about Christ in the church. Come
out from that false religion, come out from that world and
assemble yourselves together. Oh, well, that's what we're supposed
to do. So now I ain't got to live with my wife or provide for her.
He said, no, nevertheless, let everyone in particular so love
his wife, even as himself. He said, this is the picture,
but we're to do it too. I can divorce my wife and kill
her or sell her or something like that. That's what he's talking
about, the local assembly. No, you assemble in your homes
too, just like you do here. We have a great privilege and
a great blessing from God to be here, to have this gospel
here, to have a family here. We ought not take it lightly.
And if we esteem it not, and it ain't that important to us,
God will take it away or move it. But if we didn't esteem it,
we never did really love it anyway, did we? God make us love him
and his people and the privilege he's given us to meet together.
It says in Hebrews 10, let us consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works, colon. Well, that means now we
got to get to love and you got to start providing for the poor.
That colon is going to expound what he just said. What's love
and what's good works? Not forsaking the assembly of
ourselves together. If you're going to do the works
of Christ, that's putting a family together. You're going to get
together. And if you're going to love, you're going to do it
together. I'm going to love you in another state. I'm going to
love you in person. As the manner of some is, some
people's fine with it. Well, that's a great inconvenience
that there's nothing there. Or it's a long way to go. That's
some people's manner, but not us. We're not like them to draw
back to tradition, are we? But exhorting one another and
so much more as you see the day approaching. That day's coming. Christ is coming. I want to hear
about him. I want to see him magnified before
we see him in glory. Don't you? I don't know how many
days we got going, but I want to look to him every day. Until
that day comes when we're made like him, until we see him, face
put away, hopes put away, he's our end. And we're not to be respecters
of person. That's so natural too, isn't it? So easy for us
to do. Education, wealth, intelligence, experience, social standing,
race, gender. I don't suffer a woman to preach,
but you think a woman can't enter into the same doctrine a man
can? Or a young person or an old person or just because somebody
has a doctorate degree or somebody didn't graduate high school?
This is a person, a love of a person. They're in this family. A family
has people, boys and girls, and short and tall, and the family
has a lot of different people, don't they? Some of them's richer,
some of them's poorer. We're not to be respecter of
persons. In a family, we're in it together.
If you hurt, I hurt. If you win, I win. It's a good
thing, isn't it? Be kindly affectionate one to
another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another.
Romans 12 says. Well, we're supposed to esteem
each other higher than ourselves. That's true, yes. But it says
in verse 16, Romans 12, 16, be of the same mind one toward another.
The same mind. We treat that one the same as
this other one. Well, they're a greater warrior for Christ.
We're the same. We're just part of the same body.
We preach Christ and Him crucified. I happen to be the one that stands
up and talks every week, but we preach Christ and Him. He's
put us together, the whole body. I'm standing here, my mouth's
talking, but my feet's standing here, ain't they? My mouth's
talking, but my kidneys are functioning. My heart's beating, my lungs
are breathing. Christ made Himself a no reputation, didn't He? He
said, be not wise in your own conceits. You esteem those of
low estate. Those that thank themselves,
well, I'm just not important enough to listen. You go listen
to Christ. And if somebody thinks themselves important, they're
not. That's so. This is what the local assembly
contends for. Turn over to Jude and we'll close. Right before
Revelation. If we're gonna fight for something,
fight for this. If you're gonna spend your mental
time, the real estate you have in a week's time, if you're gonna
spend time considering something and giving worry to something,
you think on this. The gospel, that condensation
of Christ, he come down, that's a great mystery, isn't it? That
was the next thing in 1 Timothy 3. Greatest mystery of God, he
came in the flesh. You think of his condensation,
why? Because we're down here. He's made like us. And you think
of his ascension, he's accepted that sacrifice, he laid his life
down, it's been accepted, the Father's accepted. And for whom
that concerns? Sinners just like me. Now look
at Jude, verse three. Beloved, When I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, that's the same to
you as it is to me. I didn't find him, he found me.
That's the same between me and that eunuch and all the way back. All the way back to Abel. All
the way back to that garden, isn't it? It's the same thing.
Not common, you can go get it at the dime store, but it's the
same between all believers. Same in that local body of church.
Same in the body throughout time. I write unto you of the common
salvation. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort
you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints." This whole thing, all these things
were given to this body that the Lord, it's His body. And
He said, now if you're going to defend something, you're going
to fight for something, you're going to take up a cause, you're going
to have something on your lips to talk about, have grace, His
grace on your lips like He had. You contend for this. This local
assembly, this assembly that we know of in other places, there's
some bad things happening over in, I don't know, pick one, Tennessee,
Indiana. What can we do? Let's pray for
them. Let's pray for them. There's
places without pastors right now. They just got one. The devil
needs to pray. Let's pray for them. Hey, you know what? I know
somebody that's preaching. Let's send them over there and
do the work of evangelists. Let's contend for that. I want
to. I don't. I catch myself just thinking
I'm foolish. Reading books that ought not
be read and watching shows that ought not be watched and listening
to songs that shouldn't be sung. And I get down and I think, boy,
the Lord's awful faithful, isn't he? To turn my mind, to stir
up my pure mind and make me look to him one more time. That's
what I want to contend for. That's what I want you to contend
for. And that's what his body will contend for. It will, because
he walks in. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for these words
you've given for us. Lord, we see our failures, but
we see our conqueror and our king. Thank you for Christ. Lord, make us like him and make
us want to be like him and to enjoy his word and enjoy the
presence of his people. Make us contend for these things
and not get used to it. Become lukewarm
towards it, Lord. Melt our hearts today and be
with us. Be with your people as you promised
you will be. Lord, and keep us. We can't keep ourselves. Keep
us as you promised you will. And be with our brethren in this
place that can't be with us. And your saints that we know
of throughout this world knows that we don't know, Lord. Send your spirit to them and
warm their hearts today. For your son's glory and for
our good, we thank you for these things. We thank you for what
you have done. We thank you for what you do and what you shall do.
And it's because of Christ, because of his ascension and his intercession
that we ask these things. Amen. All right, we'll take about
10 minutes. Meet back a little after 10.30. music playing