Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
God we know God you said where two or three are gathered together in your name that you're in the midst of them and Lord we know that angels are around us because each of us have angels that protect us that you've assigned to us Lord and I know they stand around Lord in awe that looking at us as your children and the angels thinking how lucky we are how blessed we are how awesome it would be to truly be your child in the way that we are Lord they they stand in awe of us so Lord we thank you for that we thank you for the privilege for the honor for God what we don't deserve and that is to be born again and to be your children through the blood of Jesus we don't deserve it neither one of us deserves it so Jesus we thank you Lord that we are God restored to that place god with you that we were meant to be your children created in your image amazing thing Lord God help us not to take it lightly we pray this in Jesus name amen you know as we were singing that song uh there you know just for a moment I truly began to see as they were angels all around us and the Lord just began to remind me they look at us and they go wow I wish I could be like that think about that because they don't have the same experience they don't have the same relationship with God that we have that's just hard to find them isn't it the Bible even says one day we will judge angels it's just hard to Fathom when you what it what it really means to be a child of God to have that honor and that privilege that blessing to be born again to be restored to sonship to be restored to be what he originally created Adam and Eve to be his children in Intimate fellowship with him sin ruins that repentance and faith in the blood of Jesus remedies that amen and it is an awesome privilege that we take far too lightly folks I'm telling you we take it too lightly
if we took it as serious as it is and as special as it is we would be concerned about Sin we would be concerned about compromise we would be concerned about letting an idol creep into our lives we would be very concerned because why would you want to blow it when you're an heir to the throne you know the Bible says the day is coming where we will rule and reign with him that will be seated with him in his throne that we are not just going to be you know sitting on a cloud with a harp like the stupid world thinks heaven is that we will rule and reign with the King of Kings and the Lord of lords with Jesus Christ and we should not even be there boy I tell you it'll wake you up won't it I want you to take your Bibles this morning because the Lord did speak to me a very clear message and it basically has two levels to it kind of the body of Christ at Large and um in our church no hmm where'd you put them yesterday yes I gotta get my wife to get me my reading glasses just to help me out this morning I could probably do it without them but why struggle right um I actually printed my notes out but I actually walked off and left them but I have them on the computer so we're good let's just pray over the word for a second I ask God to give you ears to hear this not just with your head but with your heart because this is a very important subject tonight today because we're talking about true Christian Unity so Father in Heaven I ask you Lord to help us I already prayed this but I'm gonna pray it again Lord that you will help us holy spirit to understand in our hearts what it means to be in unity with you with the truth with each other in the body of Christ and what true Christian unity means Beyond head knowledge father I pray this in Jesus name amen this is vitally important subject because the Bible warned us that in the last days perilous times would come
and Jesus said in Matthew 24 one of the signs of the end and of his coming he said was what take he that no man deceive you many will come in my name and deceive many so we got to ask ourselves a question what is what is this issue of unity okay because there is a true biblical Christian unity and there is a false deceptive satanic Unity that is trying to transpire and trying to take place within the body of Christ but let's look at a few passages before before we go there we're going to look uh first let's just look at Ephesians we're going to be in a lot of scriptures this morning so Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 everybody there Ephesians 4 verse 1. he says here I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one Spirit even as you are called in one 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 but he says here with humility lowliness meekness long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit now I'm going to say this this morning just to get my point across because there's two there's two aspects of even true Unity one is unity of Doctrine or Unity of belief what we believe the doctrines that we believe and then another is the unity I'll call Unity in the spirit okay now how many of you know it's important to be unified in Doctrine I'm going to show you that in just a second but it's also vitally important to understand that you can be unified in Doctrine you can be around a group of people that all believe the exact same things and agree on the doctrinal issues and still not have Unity because there's issues in the heart that can cause disunity there's hidden things okay but I wanted to read that scripture because
you know there's an instruction toward Unity right we're going to come back to Ephesians 4 in a second go to John chapter 17. of course this is the famous prayer of Jesus here in John 17. that everybody likes to quote but not many pay attention to John 17 now we're not going to read the whole prayer of Jesus here it's the whole chapter almost but this is Jesus praying and we'll look at verse one he says these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify thy son that thy son may also glorify thee as thou Hast given him Power Over All Flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him and this is life eternal that they might Know Thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou has sent and so he goes on to continue praying and he begins to pray for the the disciples we're going to skip on down a little bit here and I love this because uh this is kind of against the pre-trib Rapture idea as he's praying here he says uh verse 13 and now come I to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have have my joy fulfilled in themselves I have given them Thy word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world hmm but thou shouldest keep them from evil they are not of the world even as I am not of the world sanctify them make them holy purify them cleanse them through thy truth Thy word is truth as thou has sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they may also be Sanctified how through the truth neither pray I for these alone but for them also which Shall Believe on me through their word now look what he says here's the prayer that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I and thee that they may also be one in us that the world may believe that thou has sent me now Jesus prayed here several things that are very important concerning this subject of unity talked about sanctify them through thy truth Thy word is truth can I say this and and can I make it very very clear
there is no Unity true Christian Unity without the truth of God's word whenever a group Strays from that whether they call themselves Christian or not when any church or group or denomination or Pastor or leader or Pope or priest or whatever they call themselves whenever they depart from the word of God and the truth of scripture and the foundational doctrines of Christianity whenever they depart from that there can be no Unity with that Jesus clearly spoke of truth here Thy word is truth okay did you see it now here's another point that I I don't I don't think I've ever seen anybody make except I wrote it in Grace abuse in 1998 when I dealt with this just briefly on the subject of talking about unity in the body because we got these people I mean I know a guy in Montgomery four years I calling the charismatic pope of Montgomery I won't say his name but he came to Montgomery he's a former Catholic he's probably a Jesuit plant but he came to Montgomery and started the thing called John 17. and basically it was an ecumenical everybody lets everybody get together the Catholics the Protestants the pastors let's all get together in Kumbaya and we'll all get along and we'll have Unity right this has been going on for a long time the Catholics have been trying this for a long time right um but anyway his whole meeting his L group was called John 17 based on this but I thought you know when I go to some of these meetings and I just thought the the spirit there was not the Holy Spirit the spirit there was demonic deceptive heavy witchcraft occultic it wasn't pure I remember being puzzled because you know of course we all tend to want to think Unity is a good thing you know just because we you know Christians don't agree on everything doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to hang out together and fellowship together and get along with one another well they're seeing the problem with that is there is some truth to that but there is a line that has to be drawn you see for instance let's talk about Essentials you got essential doctrines and you got non-essentials meaning in the sense I mean I believe all truth is important but there are things that we can disagree on we don't have to separate over or we don't have to be divisive or not fellowship or whatever like you know
it doesn't matter to me if a person is a believes in the pre-trib Rapture or they believe in something else about you know the timing of the Rapture I happen to believe it's post-tribulation right I'll have a discussion with them they can have a discussion with me we can share our different points of view and but I don't see that as a point where we would part fellowship or where I couldn't hang out with them or you know what I'm saying fellowship with them and call them a true brother or sister in Christ but here you have to understand there's another side to this coin and there are people like Joel Osteen who now say that you know and has on record on Larry King said that all you know people whether they believe in Jesus or not will go to heaven and that's really what it believes in homosexuality oh it's not God's best but it's you know he he won't say it will damn you to Hell matter of fact he won't even speak of Hell really but then of course we have the new pope Pope Francis now he's been very clear on record over the last year that he's been popeopotamus as Billy likes to say over the last year he's been very clear he's made very clear statements in the Press that he said quote that atheists will go to heaven if they do good works meaning they don't have to believe in Jesus they don't have to confess Jesus Christ as Lord they don't have to be born again they don't have to have faith they don't have to turn from sin there's no requirements an atheist can say I don't even believe that Jesus existed or God exists I don't believe but he says that an atheist will go to heaven that's what the Pope Francis the first says now what what many Christians now because every you know Christians have been so deluded and deceived by the spirit of the world and the spirit of the the backslidden spirit of the lukewarm Church in America oh no we gotta we can't judge people we can't we can't say what Pope Francis is teaching is wrong he you know we got to try to get along we got to still try to be unified we gotta you know we need to love him we can't don't speak about it publicly he poke can't the pope can speak about it publicly we can't isn't that convenient how that works right but the Pope's on record is this right he's on record with also being a little vague but really you can tell he's leaning to the that homosexuality is okay I can't judge them church should be open to everyone the pope has even made some more extreme statements like true fundamental bible-believing Protestants are mentally ill yeah truly what the pope thinks of you
if you're not in the Church of Rome and you're not alone down with the plan you're okay with his idea of what religion is of pluralism universalism all religions lead to God except of course me and you who believe the Bible and that Jesus is the only way um he's fine with that he's fine with everything else but what we believe right now he's he's on record is this he was on record also as being very clear that Mary is the co-redeemer that you have to have the intercessions of Mary to be saved he's even been very clear that if you don't if you're not in the Church of Rome and that if you're not having the intercessions of Mary to help you secure eternal life that you are not a true Christian okay now here's here's why I'm saying all this I've said some of these things before because this week and I don't know why it's not working it's not coming up on the screen what's on my screen is not I don't know what's going on but it doesn't matter but the bottom line is you know back a few months ago the Pope reached out to Kenneth Copeland who is a charismatic supposed to be a charismatic Evangelical believer right been on TV uh in America for you know 30 years a leader in the charismatic slash Pentecostal movement now granted I've never liked Kenneth Copeland I've never thought that what he presented the Prosperity Gospel and the extremes of that that he presented I've never agreed with and I've never liked him him or his wife okay I'm just be very afraid and I'm charismatic Pentecostal so I can I can say that my spirits never had peace with Kenneth Copeland and Gloria Copeland never ever believe that they were true genuine sincere Christians but when we see now we have a list of who recently went to meet with the Pope to bring about this Unity I shared this on Facebook last night very late there was a meeting you know a few weeks back it was Joel Osteen and a Mormon senator who went to meet with the Pope to begin this great unity in the church oh and there are Christians foaming at the mouth you know just saliva dripping they're so happy we're going to finally have Unity the church will be unified there's been too much division between the Catholics and the Protestants over all these centuries oh it's so wonderful
right so we have this meeting right and here it is Pope Francis meets with Evangelical delegation and let's just do a little look see who's here here's Kenneth Copeland Gloria Copeland boy she's had some work done um James Robison and Betty Robison and where is he are not back here um John arnott and his wife I can't see there's somebody behind that dude a lot of people say well who is that well let me just you know some of you ain't been around the charismatic Pentecostal movement in America so let me inform you who these people are James and Betty Robison what's sad is James was um the up and coming famous evangelist that everyone said back in the day back in the 70s and early 80s he was the next Billy Graham this man had the ability to preach and to communicate and he had the backing of the Baptist denomination of course he had a sexual problem that was going on in his life and what's what's great is he had a testimony of how he was struggling because see he he a powerful testimony he is the product of his mother was raped she got pregnant everybody told her to abort she refused to abort he was born and I believe adopted by a pastor and his wife and grew up and really became a powerful evangelist in his early years but because of the generational things I believe passed down to him and the spirits passed down I think we're going to struggle with sexual lust and Temptation and get into all kind of problems but finally he went through Deliverance he was baptized in the Holy Spirit speaking in other tongues powerful testimony God used him mightily for many years as he's gotten older though I've noticed that he's gotten more and more focused he has he has a program that's been on the air for over 20 years life today he's got a program that's been on for for years and you could just tell it's gotten more into you know the humanitarian efforts and you know charity you know trying to feed the poor in other countries and that is wonderful but when you let everything slide to the point that you're willing to try to unify with a man here Pope Francis who is teaching blasphemous false Doctrine
to the Christian world and To The World At Large and you're going to say we're going to join in unity with this my friends you have departed from the faith you have departed from the word of God you have departed from all sense of true Christian Unity you are now joining with the of Rome the mystery of Babylon you're joining with the who is already riding the beast and you've hopped on with her so that's James and Betty Robison then we have of course everybody knows Kenneth and Gloria Copeland voice The Voice what is it the believer's voice of Victory they've been on forever he was Kenneth hagin's pilot flew his Planes for him now he's just all about money I mean he's got a fleet of planes and it's just I mean he's got his own airport at his house I mean that's listed like Atlanta Airport it's listed on the Kenneth Copeland Airport and you know I can understand okay you're a big Ministry you make millions and millions of dollars you got to fly over the world one plane not a suffice if that but a fleet of planes they cost millions and millions and millions of dollars and people just keep forking this over but this man has great influence with many many pastors and leaders in Pentecostal charismatic realm and he said he's been working with this Jesuit here for many years to bring about this new Unity with it with between the Protestants and the Catholics and then of course there's John and I guess his wife's name's Carol are not a lot of you don't know who that who that is how many of you heard about the Toronto Revival the Toronto blessing matter of fact the song We sang this morning Jesus holy and anointed one that was from the Toronto Revival the early days of it that was Winds of worship three I believe I mean with our own Winds of worship 558 or whatever it is okay all right I believe God was moving but again the movement became corrupted polluted now I remember I was at Brownsville I was seated about three seats away from John arnott and Carol are not during the Brownsville Revival as he was there to speak and share and now he's at the Vatican trying to bring the charismatics and the Pentecostals back under the false Church of Rome I don't care how much they read John 17
I don't care how much they smile and talk about love and unity I don't care how much they talk about we're gonna we're gonna unite to help people what they're going to do and what they are doing is they are going to deceive Millions upon Millions upon millions of people and more people will go to hell because of the this this compromise you do not accomplish true Christian Unity by compromising the truth watering down the truth and and and joining up with evil you do not ever ever ever [Music] create true Christian Unity what you create is a horror Harlot Church system a One World Church that'll Embrace everything and anything which is exactly what was prophesied to come in the last days First Timothy 4 1. the spirit speaketh expressly then in the latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils there is no greater doctrine of devils to sit there as the pope of the Catholic church and to say that people can go to heaven and be atheists you just right there denied everything that Jesus taught everything the apostles taught everything in the New Testament it is this it is a satanic blasphemy of The Craft and the blood of Jesus Christ and they are joining with that charismatic Pentecostal leaders uh in America Joel Osteen included Rick Warren included now let me show you you think oh Pastor Dean you're being unreasonable here you should show more love more understanding we don't have to agree on everything I think we have to agree on how you get to heaven I think we have to agree on the essential aspect of faith in Jesus Christ confession of Jesus Christ is Lord the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to wash your sins away if what the pope is teaching is correct then everything Jesus did is in vain and Joel Osteen is preaching this nonsense the Lord can you fathom how far we have fallen this past week four denominations have okayed homosexual marriage we are in the apostasy the great falling
away before the man of sin is fully revealed we are in it folks the deception and the falling away from the faith and the truth is greater than I have ever seen in my 30 years of being in the church and yes I can say that because you know what I got saved in what 70 my first encounter with Jesus was like 79 so I can say that but if we look more closely at something at the scriptures mind you not the Pope not Kenneth Copeland not John arnott not James Robison not Rick Warren not Joel Osteen if we look at the scriptures we find out something the Bible never told us that Unity was the ultimate goal at the cost of everything never said that now I read to you some scriptures of unity but let's look back at John 17. Let's look a little more closely at what Jesus said when he prayed that they all may be one right we'll just read verse 20 and 21 again he said neither pray I for these alone but for them also which Shall Believe on me through their word that they all may be one as you father art in me and I in thee wait a minute let's stop right there do you think that between the Trinity the godhead the father Son and the Holy Spirit there is any disagreement on foundational Doctrine in theology well when I read this he says I pray that they may be one father as you and I are one oh oh you know what that means perfect agreement oh perfect agreement so let's look at some other passages go to second John toured almost back to revelation one little chapter the Apostle John wrote are we supposed to unite with anyone anyone's Doctrine anyone's theology are we supposed to have Unity with just anything now let's look at what second John says here anybody with me Second Epistle of John
look at verse number oh let's just read the whole thing here verse one the Elder unto the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth and not I only but also all they that have known the truth for the truth sake which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever Grace be with you mercy and peace from God the father and from the Lord Jesus Christ the son of the father in Truth and Love he's already used that word three times truth he says look at verse 4 I Rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth as we have received a commandment from the father and now I beseech thee lady not as thy as though I wrote unto you a new commandment but that which we have from the beginning that we love one another and this is love that we walk after his Commandments you might want a definition of Christian Life there it is and this is love that we walk after his Commandments if you don't walk after his Commandments and his truth and his Doctrine you're not walking in love why because you're going to lead people to hell you're going to lead people to destruction and to pain and suffering so you're not walking in love unless you're walking in God's Commandments and in his truth and in his word and in his spirit do y'all get that this is not the only place it says that this is love all right let's keep reading this is love verse 6 that we walk after his Commandments and this is the Commandment that as ye have heard from the beginning you should walk in it for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ Has Come In the Flesh this is a deceiver and an antichrist look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward listen to these next verses closely whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the father and the son if there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him God's speed for he thatth him God's speed is partaker of his evil Deeds if anyone comes to you and does not bring the pure unadulterated doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ now what does that mean that means everything Jesus taught Jesus taught there is a heaven and there is a hell and both places are Eternal one Eternal blessing one of Eternal punishment he
called it Everlasting punishment Jesus taught that he was the only way to be saved from sin if you don't believe that I am he the Messiah you will die in your sins I am the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me this is what Jesus taught this is the doctrine of Christ Jesus taught that he was God he allowed people to worship Him when he saw Philip Philip said show us the father and and Jesus turns to him said Philip if you've seen me you've seen the father I am the father are one of Jesus saying I am Jehovah I am Yahweh I am God In the Flesh I am Emmanuel promised from Isaiah the prophet God With Us you bring not this Doctrine Jesus said unless you repent you will perish no man will see the kingdom of God unless you are born again born of the spirit you must believe you must have faith you must turn from sin you must take up your cross daily and follow me this all this and much more is the doctrine of Christ it is the doctrine of Jesus Christ and if anybody the Bible says here the Apostle John if anyone comes to you and they don't bring this Doctrine they do not have God and you're not even supposed to let them in your house and then he adds you're not even to wish them blessing don't bid them God speak God bless you no why do we want God to bless their lying deceiving Doctrine God takes us very seriously when someone claims to be a spiritual leader a spiritual teacher a prophet or whatever represent God and then tell lies that makes him more mad than it than a a man or woman that wants to commit adultery that's just one let's let's look at another so we see there no are we supposed to unify with anybody no let's look go to First Corinthians chapter 5.
and you know I know I've preached on these things before but I'm going to hammer this home a little bit more here what did I say First Corinthians 5. listen to this we're not even supposed to be in uni Unity with a brother or sister someone who calls themselves a Christian but yet they're living in habitual sin they won't get out of see the church world thinks oh no no no just tolerate it just you know help them that's how you help them is to overlook it and maybe they'll come to church or maybe they'll finally get it but you know what if they call themselves a Christian and they're continuing in a sin unto death a habitual sin that I'm going to read out here the Bible says that not only are we to put them out of the church we're not even supposed to eat with them no fellowship with him no Unity do you hear me it's not being mean it's God's way to show them you have got to change your ways I guess I ought to get there First Corinthians 5. we know the story I'm not going to read the whole thing or there's a man what was let's just do it verse one it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you pornia premarital sex and it really covers all homosexuality incest you name it it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you in such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and you are puffed up you've gotten prideful and arrogance what he's saying here and you and you would rather should have mourned over this that he that hath done this deed among you might be taken away from among you he said you shouldn't be prideful and ignoring Jesus Paul is saying this to this church By ignoring this problem you're in Pride you should be mourning because you're going to have to put this person out it's hard when I'mma tell you as a pastor it's hard when you have to deal with problems people in sin and they won't change and they won't get out of it it's hard when you have to do because you don't it's not your desire to bring that kind of discipline to put somebody out of church I've put people out of church and I've never enjoyed the process I've never liked doing it it's always been very difficult for me and painful because it's such a serious matter because I know there's a chance they may be if they may become angry at me offended with the church offended with Christianity and never returning go to hell but there's always a chance that they'll finally humble themselves and submit to God's correction and discipline
and be saved and that's what Paul goes on to say he says verse 3 for verily is absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus your glory is not good know you not that A little leaven leavens the whole lump Purge out there for the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened for even Christ Our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast not with the old leaven neither with eleven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and Truth I wrote to you an epistle not to company with fornicators sexually immoral people really fornicators covers everything homosexuals incest all the way around the board premarital sex adultery they had the whole gamut it's a it's a all-encompassing word of sexual immorality okay I wrote to you an epistle not the company with fornicators yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetousness or extortioners or with idolaters for then you must need to go out of the world so he clarifies I'm not saying you can't be around unsaved people you've got to be around unsaved people to get them saved but then he clarifies he said but now I have written unto you not to keep Company If any man that is called a brother anybody that calls themselves a Christian if they are covetous a fornicator idolater that means a violent cursing foul-mouthed individual or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one you do not eat even eat with them and he says basically if you allow this to go on and you keep fellowshipping with this person you're defiling yourself okay and you that and if the pastor lets it keep going on it defiles the church okay now I brought those up to show you I'm gonna give you I'll just give you this verse you can turn to it Ephesians 5 verse 11. when he uses this term have no Fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them okay now we've seen some things and I'm going to bring up my notes Here but let's just look at what he says let's look at true Unity for a second all right let's go to First Corinthians chapter one
y'all learning something or the body of Christ needs to learn this one because we're in a heap of trouble because we're so ignorant about even what Unity is we're willing to be led anywhere by anybody it's ridiculous I tell you that's too much everybody there yet First Corinthians chapter one you there we're going to skip down to verse 10. he says now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing uh oh that there be no divisions among you but 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 brother and by them which are of the House of cloy so there was a tattletail let me just say this some tattletails are good but somebody told on the Church of corinth's problems told Paul said yes problems going on over here bud all right so don't get mad if somebody tells on you because they're trying to help you boom in the back up he says I beseech you brethren that you all speak the same thing that there be no divisions among you that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment now does that sound like that me and Pope Francis could be in unity together would we speak the same thing would we have the same mind would we have the same judgment or discernment I could never ever be in unity biblically true Christian Unity with Pope Francis never so listen to me a true minister of the Gospel a true Christian who believes the Bible is the inspired infallible inerrant word of God that believes it that we should follow the truth of the word of God and follow the Holy Spirit could never say I will be in unity with Roman Catholicism or Mormonism or Jehovah Witnesses
or Islam or Hindus or Buddhism oh my God see Paul's instructions to the church you couldn't be more clear no divisions among you right no divisions among you same mind same look I even look at this word same judgment look at here this is the Greek word Nome means be of the same cognition in your mind the same opinion the same resolve the same agreement the same judgment the same mind the same purpose the same will right let's keep going now we have an example in the early church here's a few passages you can turn to Acts chapter one and two and four you want our example the early churches are example of unity first place they started in unity was they obeyed Jesus to go to Jerusalem and wait there's no true unity in the body of Christ unless two people are obeying the same command you hear me if I'm obey if there's three of us there's only Unity if we all believe the same scriptures we all believe the same truth we all agree together and we all are obeying Jesus and obeying the word of God that's Unity but the moment somebody else decides no I don't agree with you I don't believe that I don't believe Jesus is the only way to heaven and then they step away from you over here and they start teaching these lies who caused the division the one who got into error right the one who walked away from the truth but guess who gets accused of being the divisive one when they the other two say no no no no no you're wrong buddy boy you're getting off track you see how the devil works the ones who want to keep obeying and believing the truth and walking in the truth and obeying the commands of God we're the ones accused of being divisive
it's the devil is the way he works right we see this so acts 1 14-15 they all continued with one Accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus with his Brethren and in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said the number of the names and they were about 120. so you had 120 people who obeyed the command were in unity and they were praying they were waiting and praying they so they were in obedience they were doing what Jesus said to do and they were together and they were praying together we see as the Holy Spirit fell and they were filled and began to speak with other tongues and as the church began to grow and the 3000 were saved on the first day is what it says and they continued steadfastly and the apostles Doctrine and in fellowship and in Breaking the bread and in prayers and fear Came Upon Every Soul of Many Wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and all had things common and they sold their possessions and so on but it says look at that they did eat they went breaking bread house to house they fellowshipped with each other but they continued I love this the unity they had says first thing they continued in the apostles Doctrine I'm gonna show you where where where this all this is important this morning because I'm going somewhere with this but it says they continued in the apostles Doctrine and fellowship see because they agreed on the truths of the Apostles as leaders see there's a lot of people that got problems with leadership in a church they don't want to they think you're not supposed to have leaders but they're just screwed up it's just rebellious doctrine of demons that rebellious people don't like to have anybody over them don't like to admit somebody might know something more than them and don't want to have to obey or be corrected by somebody who actually knows a little bit more and you know I got news for some of you some of you think you got ideas and you think that oh uh Pastor Dean should do it this way or do it that way or do it this way when you've been saved 27 years Pastor three four churches don't think for one second and this is not Erica saying but I'm just being honest don't think for one second that you could do this job better than me and I'd love to step aside and usually have you show me you know what I'm saying I almost told my wife the other day I said this there's some murmuring floating around I'm about to get to that too it's a little bit murmuring murmuring complaining mamamoo I borrow that from David Copper murmuring but let me just explain something to you I'll be glad to step aside and let you show me show me how to counsel all these problems that are in this little church
there's even been a little merman about why why does this church not grow let me ask you something I'm going to ask you real play show me one person that any of you have led to Jesus in the last two years how many of you how many people have you brought to church I mean we could get down and get nasty with it right I could get real blunt there needs to be some humility coming some hearts in this room a lot of people think oh Pastor Dean should be on the street all the time you know I've shared about that you know right now God has me being a pastor that means my job is to train you and you're supposed to get your butt on the street it's the truth we'll get to that in a second all right and I love y'all and yeah and let me add this for our church I need to apologize something because you know sometimes all the problems that y'all have and that I have my own problems my wife we got a life too it's difficult sometimes everybody's got all family problems kid problems money problems job problems it's just you know I understand it's just problems all the time right I need to ask y'all to forgive me because there's been a few services that I have said you know how I'd like to quit and leave but I want to be I want to let you know something that's just Dean's weary flesh getting involved because I would never ever stop doing this unless God told me to stop I would do it to my last breath because I do love y'all and I pray for you every day and I pray for you to become strong for you to get free and for you to grow and for you to become powerful and one day you know I hope you lead more people to Jesus than I ever have I hope you do but you will never get there if you're if you've got pride in your heart you'll never get there so we got this let's keep going and I know this message is going to be a little long today because it's a lot to cover but I love this we go down chapter four acts 4 32-33 more people were were coming in right here's what he said and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart look at this of one heart
and one soul folks even our church we're not there yet and I'm going to show you a lot of you think that we are that we're that we love each other and we're pretty Unified I'm gonna show you why I know we're not and again I just marvel at how some of you think you know the state of the church better than I do but we'll go on past that now we want to be of one heart of one soul see remember earlier I said that you can be you can be in perfect agreement in Doctrine but it doesn't mean in your heart you are right so I think we all hear pretty much as far as I know I think we all agree on the serious major doctrinal issues and we I've been very clear over these five years we've taught on salvation and repentance and the lordship of Jesus and the deity of Jesus and God is Creator and I mean demonology and deliverance and the gifts of the holy spirit in heaven and hell and end times prophecy and I mean you've got a pretty good full Council of the the word of God and I think for the most part we agree but what I'm talking about here is this unity in the spirit and I want to talk about this this passage right here real quick now this passage right here this is Psalm 133 you can turn there if you want to or you can just look at the screen but Psalm 133 it's only three verses it's about Unity but it's really some overlooked stuff here okay because the Holy Spirit does not choose his words haphazardly the holy spirit moves on David King David or whether he moved on the Apostle Paul or the Apostle John but when the Holy Spirit moved and they wrote the words down they wrote it exactly as the Holy Spirit gave to them and nothing is wasted and listen if if we want this church to break through then we're going to have to really deal with this subject of unity because Unity is where God true Unity Christian Unity is where God commands his Blessing his anointing and his power all right and there's here's the here's the song it says a song of degrees of David behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity it is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments as the Dew of Herman as the dude that descended upon
the mountains of Zion for there the Lord Jehovah Yahweh commanded the blessing even life forevermore so there's a powerful promise here if Brethren can dwell together in true Unity both doctrinally and spiritually if we can dwell together in true Unity God has promised his anointing to flow and he has promised his Blessing and life this is a powerful promise but I I was reading this again right here and it just some things just jumped out at me as I was reading it this morning and what jumped out at me why why did the Lord to talk about Unity why did he pick Aaron the high priest why did he why did he pick this image of Aaron in his Priestly garments with the oil poured on his head running down his beard run down to his robes because this is a picture of how Unity works and how the anointing works I'm gonna show you this is it the precious ointment means that perfect anointing oil that Moses was instructed by God personally to make it was it was perfect and he said upon a man's flesh it could not be poured so what we learn about the anointing oil well God doesn't anoint flesh oh that made out of Mickey moonwalk right there God is an anoint flesh all right but Aaron was different God would pour it on his head and let it run down he was the high priest not just any priest of God he was the high priest now this is what the Lord just really impressed him on and I'll proved him a point what the Lord is trying to get across to us here is that the anointing the unity in the church always starts with leadership Aaron was leader now Jesus is our high priest and the anointing comes from him but when he drops it down and it starts dropping down from the head he's the head of the body where does it go next to the beard now that's interesting why is that well because young boys can't grow beards immature people can't grow beards a beard on a man is a sign that he's beginning to mature and Aaron's beard was long and Aaron's beard was white he was old man he was an elder it says the anointing flows from the head Jesus to those mature and those in leadership and then it begins to flow down the garments now what is the garments
all of us now in the New Covenant are called priests unto God we're a new priesthood and we've all if we've been born again and we've repented we've been given white robes but also these garments represent something else too they represent you know Jesus when when Jesus it says when the woman touched His Garment and she said if I if I can just Touch the Hem of His Garment I will be healed with the hymn of his God what she was talking about was his prayer shawl the Tali and what this is talking about is is the righteousness of the saints that white robe and that prayer shawl that prayer life you want the anointing see you want the anointing first of all you have to be in right relationship with Jesus second of all you have to be in right relationship with God called God appointed leaders in the church you can't be a rebel and you can't be disrespectful and resistant to Authority you will not get this anointing in this blessing Renegades don't have it that's why they end up in air that's why they end up Shipwrecked that's why all kind of problems they end up in their life all right but he's also telling us you're not going to get this unity and you're not going to get this anointing unless you're wearing that white robe of righteousness you're living a righteous life unless you have a a true prayer life just some thoughts on that for you all right now let's go down here oh we're going to just I'm just going to list these out for you causes of disunity in the body okay now all these I've already touched on but I felt like I should follow these go for these scriptures first this is what he says for number one false doctrines on major issues you have your verses that's number one number two and let me give you another verse you can say false Doctrine in Romans 16 17 and 18. now beseech you brethren mark them which caused divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ with their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple so we're not to be in unity with everybody right number two problem that causes division in the body of Christ
habitual sin compromise and idolatry I gave you the passages already First Corinthians 5 9 through 11. Ephesians 5. sin will always separate us from God and if the church is the body of Christ spiritually speaking than if you live in sin you will separate yourself from the body you will you will be divided even if you're present you hear me let's keep going number three and this is very important here I said Pride or as can also be defined as the desire to lift up yourself at the price of tearing someone else down there's a lot of aspects to Pride matter of fact be honest all of these problems could fall under Pride but let's look at some because I've got a B and C here I really didn't plan to do this this way but we'll do it Proverbs 13 10. powerful statement only by Pride cometh contention but with the well-advised is wisdom that's a powerful statement Pride really covers all Strife all division all contention is a matter of pride pretty strong in it all right let's look at some of the issues right why do we know this well third John 1 9-10 the third Epistle of John right after a second John we read a minute ago this is what it says he said I rode unto the church but diotrophes who loveth to have the preeminence among them receiveth us not wherefore if I come I will remember his deeds which he doeth praying against us with malicious words and not content therewith neither doth he himself received the Brethren and forbidth them that would and casteth them out of the church now this fellow diocra fees it says love to have the preeminence he loved to have he loved to be seen he loved to be heard he loved to be in front of everybody he loved to be looked at as a leader he loved to have you know there's there's a lot of folks that want to be somebody in the church world but the problem was he didn't let God do it he didn't let God bring it about he fought with everybody he didn't receive the apostles because this is what he's talking about the apostles had sent them words of Correction and words of things and he says this the Oxygen's guy he's not listen and it's interesting because he used this term praying against us this means this means to be a babbler
trifler to berate idly mischievously so this means he went around suddenly yapping against the Apostle John not wise John also said when I get there I'm going to deal with this mess all right but John he has to write he has to write this letter and say this guy this guy was dividing the church notice he said anyone that was going to receive the apostles that he would cast them out of the church because he wanted to be head honcho there's nothing more dangerous I mean why do you folks why do you get offended sometimes has to do with Envy somebody else at work gets a promotion you don't you know they've been napping in the back room you've been working hard but they get the promotion and you're about to lose your religion right huh it works all over the place that way especially a lot of times when we see somebody else get blessed right just some thoughts there listen you want to know when you're in trouble the be part of this you know you're in trouble when you start murmuring against God called and God appointed leaders in leadership in the church when it starts rumbling mumbling now how do I know this because I can go back the numbers 13 numbers 14. Exodus 16 17. just do a little word search in your Bibles there on the word murmured and you'll see the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron why did you bring us out of Egypt we're going to starve here we're going to die here our cattle we don't have anything to drink we don't have anything to eat why'd you it's amazing how quickly they forgot about the Egyptian slavery and the Red Sea party right listen and Moses got angry and Moses spoke smote The Rock one time when he was supposed to speak to it and he got in trouble with God but you know what the people that spoke against Moses got killed
the leaders that rebelled and turned against him the Earth opened up and they went ahead went into hell alive I call it the reverse rapture but my point is it's always a sign I know there's some leaders out there and listen I am one and there's some things that God you know again prophetic Ministry is a little different you got to deal with stuff God tells you to deal with and that's it's a burden in itself but just be careful because when this starts happening and you're murmuring and a church is always mean something something else is going on all right let's keep going refusing to receive correction and make changes Proverbs 15 here verse 10 11 and 12 correction is Grievous unto him that forsaketh the way and he that hateth reproves shall die hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more than the hearts of the children of men a scorner loveth not him that reproveth him neither will he go unto the wise now scorner is someone who's being actually the word if you look it up in the in the Hebrew it's a mocker now what's a mocker that's somebody's being disrespectful so basically saying a mocker a disrespectful person will not love somebody that corrects them matter of fact you probably get corrected and walk away and they're mocking you right listen some of you can't stand it when me or my wife speak something directly to you correction or instruction or rebuke or you get your panties in a walk all right I've actually held back some of bringing some correction to some people that I needed to bring because I knew it would you would just get offended and you would get worse so I just prayed and waited on some things but this is important I'm about done waiting on some issues that are underneath the surface and here is the fourth thing that I'm going to deal with today this is number four you know on things that cause disunity
and this is offenses that you refuse to deal with oh boy you know last week in the sermon I said that there's still a lot of disunity in our church then later in the week there was disagreement about that obviously when I went around and I thought hmm okay but this right here you got to understand Nancy and I know because we hear from one and we'll hear from the other side and we'll hear from this and we'll hear from that and we know we sit back and we go that one's offended with that one over this and this one's offended but that one over this and this one's offended with us over this and then but nobody goes and deals with the offenses or sometimes you do go and say okay I'm gonna go talk to them but you don't really deal with it because you're still afraid to be too blunt about the problem we we we are still beating beating around the bush with each other if you have a problem we have the way I'm pastoring the church or something I do or something I don't do or something you would like me to do or something you think I did or I didn't whatever don't be offended and don't let it take you to the next level of murmuring I'm just using me as an example go to the next level of a murmur into somebody else come to me and let's find out if there's really an issue I'm fine if you want to talk you have to be accept the fact I may not agree with you you know what I'm saying but we can talk it out and at least understand each other because you know what a lot of our offenses that we have with each other over small things and things that are underneath the surface are usually misunderstandings not always but sometimes they are misunderstandings okay and sometimes just a a Frank conversation will clear there and go oh I didn't know I didn't know that was the way it was you know you know I know Nancy's trying to deal with some of this in the women's meeting about you know making sure the the you can't have unity in a church and have fake relationships and we have we have had that fake we're fake with each other sometimes
so if you don't deal with an offense you always know then you will know how you know you have an offense with somebody because either when that person comes up or that situation or something that reminds you that the chest chances up usually your face changes you start making excuses oh no I'm okay I've forgiven them that's no big deal well yeah why are you still wants it still cause your face to turn red huh you know it's funny I remember when I first came back here to start this church and I ran into a guy you know I helped start a church here in 2000 long before this church another church not that I was going to pastor but I just helped start it and one of the guys that was there in the beginning of that church now here you know we're talking 2000 and this is 2009. I hadn't seen him in nine years right we sit down to talk I find out he's offended still offended over something that happened in the year 2000. that I didn't even remember happened I just had to leave that conversation and go wow nine years that's been eating at you and there was some miscommunication it was like I was supposed to be there to preach one morning and I didn't know I was supposed to be there that morning and so yeah but there was just some kind of mix-up and he was he'd been mad about that for nine years mad at me I'm like wow dude you know something that simple though and I'm like you know miscommunications misunderstandings sometimes people forget that stuff happens we've got to deal with you know I I know some of you get offended with me sometimes some of you get offended with my wife because we're direct about things sometimes I know that it's time to grow up let's read this scripture Luke 17 1-4 then said hey Jesus done to his disciples it is impossible but that offenses will come but woe unto him through whom they come it's better for him than a millstone were hanged about his neck and he was cast in the sea it should that he should have found one of these little ones now he's going to a bigger drastic extreme on that part about leading someone astray but then he says is take heed to yourselves if your brother trespass against you rebuke him and if he repent forgive him
and if he trespassed you against you seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again and say I Repent you shall forgive him I mean what's he saying there say look your brothers your sisters you're going to get offended with each other but talk about it and don't act like you're okay when you're not okay because all that does is cause disunity on this Sublime fake level and a church that agrees on things and I believe does love each other still has a lot of I don't really want to hang out with that person I mean there's a lot of that that's still in our church if I've hurt your feelings or made you mad come tell me maybe I I was wrong if I if I'm wrong do I admit when I'm wrong I know it's not often but but if I'm wrong I'll admit it but sometimes it has to be stuck in my face yeah yeah I shouldn't have said that you know and I mean nobody told me I was wrong but you know I knew I shouldn't be saying you know I want to quit but I'm just expressed I was expressing some of my frustrations in the flesh I don't really want to quit being your pastor I really don't want you to leave the church I don't want people to leave but I know it happens but usually nine times out of ten it's over a fence and it's not over God led me to go somewhere else you know or it's some sin I don't want to get out of my life and it's too much heat listening to Pastor Dean you know or some teaching some Doctrine you I don't want to hear that even though it's Bible like we had before several people leave because they just couldn't handle what the Bible said I understand it happens but it's still shouldn't happen right so let's pray about this we have these two levels of Unity Christian Unity the church at Large this whole massive big body of Christ that's throughout the world and what's going on out there we got this local body we can't do a whole lot about what they're doing out there we can speak we can speak the truth in love and try to make a difference that's what we're doing
now let me just say this too about this issue and put it to rest hopefully for some of you I'm gonna say it for the 50th time I don't know we did not come here to build a mega church we did not come here to be First Baptist our First Methodist or anybody else we're not here to try to look you know grow a church and buy a building and look like everybody else if that happens it happens but that's not the goal God sent us here to feed the Sheep and the vision and the word from God for us was that our church is the Five Loaves and the two fish we're a small lunch that will feed thousands of people and that is happening through this church I showed Paul and Marlene yesterday get emails like this all the time God watch the Youtube videos and he sent an email through YouTube he said please make some more videos and sermons I'm telling you because of you being here this little group because of your prayers and your faithfulness and your tithes and your giving and your helping Nancy and I do what God called us to do here our little church our little Five Loaves and two fish are literally feeding the truth of the gospel and the word of God to thousands of people every month from all over the world I showed Paul last night the Facebook stats 45 different countries 3 000 plus visits in the last 28 days some of that though is about it's it's about a thousand plus visits a week it's just the way it updates United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia China about 100 visits from Australia Canada Brazil Serbia Croatia Iran Egypt and you know what they do what they get when they come to our website or to the Facebook page you know what they get they get the truth and they get the truth and it's there because you guys have been able to pray with us and
support us and we started as a small little church and then we began to get the messages out through podcasts we begin to get on the internet we were able to put the videos everything we've done things that you guys Finance doing the the prophecy conferences we have to pay money to be on Blog Talk Radio we have to pay money to do these things so what I'm saying is don't get discouraged and don't let the devil get you looking at that we don't look like everybody else so something must be wrong with us no we're doing what God has called us to do and I know that the bigger reach to our community will come when the crap hits the fan I know that from God he has spoken it clearly to us about that okay quit being discouraged and listening to the lying devil all right you are where you're supposed to be you're learning truth that's preparing you and equipping you to be a witness many of you are witnessing where you are I know you're frustrated because you feel like you're always planting seed you're never seeing any harvest the Harvest time will come we're not we we hadn't been in a harvest now we've been in a dry season we've been in a famine season in the sense of reaching the lost seeing Miracles and things of that nature seen a few people saved here and there and that that's fine but I'm telling you there's more work that goes into clearing the land and plowing the land and planting the seed and watering it and all the stuff you've got to do long before you get a crop and you just have to understand the season you're in and what you're called to do I will never Pastor Omega Church because if that many people got saved would I Pastor them as much as I could yes I would but I would turn it over to somebody else as quickly as I could that was like-minded because I I don't care you understand 25 30 people about kill me sometimes I don't want 3 000 folks you know what I'm saying but if God moves and that's we got to deal with it we'll deal with it you know what I'm saying but see that's the problem in the church world right now is everybody thinks you got to be big and you've got to have all these people and you got to have all these buildings and it's just a lie it's a lie because most of them are not equipped with the word or with the truth or with discernment or anything they're not ready for one second for what's about to come down on them so there's more to church than getting a bunch of people together
now that happens at a Metallica concert you can get a bunch of people together right that's what most of these mega churches services are anyway it's just a Metallica concert so be encouraged I guarantee you the power of God is going to flow I showed Paul last night and I I know I've shown Kevin I'm sure but you know we the the discussion is like you know it is kind of puzzling sometimes but I said look at who's paying attention because it not only breaks down on my Facebook page you know the Ministries it doesn't break down what countries visit but it also breaks it down by cities and how many visits per City so I can see how many people from Auburn how many people from Opelika how many people from the valley how many people from Lynette Beulah Casita all those are listed Vero Beach is always well represented about 60 visits from Vero Beach hundred and something you put it all together from just this area in just the last 28 days what well over 500 600 visits see they may be scared to venture out the doors of what they're not uh familiar with there's a lot of hungry sheep that are getting fed a lot of hungry sheep tell me my pastor doesn't talk about this pretty bad huh well you got to sneak out you got to sneak away to some other Pastor to get fed and that's fine you know what that's fine they want to go to some other Church God didn't call me you understand to take people from their churches the call of God on a five-fold minister is to feed his sheep and Lambs no matter where they are folks that's what we're doing this church is feeding the Lambs and the Sheep and if you keep praying for us and you keep helping us and we stay together we'll keep doing it until Jesus comes back amen all right let's pray father we thank you Lord your word is truth your word is powerful we want to be in unity we want the body of Christ to be unified but Lord we know it has to be around the truth it has to be around your word it has to be around the doctrine of Jesus Christ the true Doctrine we also want there to be unity in the body Lord that offenses and
misunderstandings and communication problems and relationships Lord help us all to forgive one another to love one another to go to each other if we need to talk it out and to be humble Lord help us to not give in to Satan's lies to looking at the glass half empty or half instead of half full help us Lord to understand our calling and our place and understand your timing Lord there's a time for everything there's a season for things when we ask you to just speak to our hearts right now Lord I hope that people listening people who will listen to this people here today at our church God you'll show them exactly what they need to deal with whether it is sin whether it is pride whether it is an offense whether it is a misunderstanding Lord I pray that this church will come into true Unity unity in the Holy Spirit unity and the truth in Jesus name amen amen