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2024-03-10- Sunday School- United We Stand Divided We Fall
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The speaker expresses gratitude for being in the house of the Lord and for the name of Jesus. They mention being in 1 Corinthians 1 and 10 and apologize for not getting far in their lesson. They talk about the church and the importance of unity. They mention the motto of Kentucky, "United we stand, divided we fall," and relate it to Aesop's fables. They discuss the unity in America after 9/11 and the need for unity now. They mention Jesus' lesson on division in Luke 11 and talk about the importance of unity in the church. They address the divisions and contentions among the Corinthians. They mention other sins in the church and read from 1 Corinthians 6 and 9 about the unrighteous not inheriting the kingdom of God. Thankful to be in the house of the Lord this morning once again. The Lord's kept us all week and brought us back here once again. I'm thankful for that lovely name of Jesus when we were singing that song. I thought that part, Brother Tim, where it says, Reaching farther than the brightest stars in heaven, I thought I'm thankful for that, but I'm also thankful that he'll reach as low as a hog lot. What would a man like that have any dealings with? Hog lot, Brother Quentin. That's where he found me, and I'm thankful that he would do such a thing. I apologize right off the bat. We're not going to get very far once again. We're in 1 Corinthians 1 and 10 this morning. We're going to get through about seven verses there. I'm a little bit behind on the Holiness Heritage, just trying to follow the Lord's will, and I believe that he'll help us this morning. The church house looks really good this morning. I didn't have a whole lot to do with it. I come by here and help just a little bit, but a whole lot of work was done, and it kind of speaks to what we're going to talk about this morning. I'm thankful for the talent and the effort and everything. We're a small church, but God's blessed us with men like Brother Joseph and Brother Quentin and Brother Anthony and Brother Tim and different ones that I don't really count myself a part of in that sense that I'm able to do a whole lot as far as handiwork, but they sure can. I'm thankful for that, and I don't mean to leave anybody else out. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1 and 10. I'd like to tell you right off the bat that I'm thankful for Wednesday night service. Brother Tim's always good about getting up here after Sunday morning and talking and encouraging me real well, but I am very thankful for that. If you're not a preacher, and by the grace of God, I am one. I know the pressure, especially behind a homeless pulpit, to feel the need to run around and do a whole lot of spitting and snorting, and there's times for that, and it's great, but there's some messages that just don't require that. I'm thankful for a man of God that's willing to do that, a man of God that's able to do all the spitting and snorting and all the other stuff but chooses not to at times. It helps me a whole lot because it's always the cosmetically challenged people that will say, well, beauty's in the eye of the beholder, but they don't say a whole lot that comes from me that, hey, it ain't all about the spitting and snorting, but it does mean a lot when it comes from somebody like Pastor Tim. I appreciate him. Let's get in here. This morning, I'd like to title the message, United We Stand and Divided We Fall. Our golden text comes out of 1 Peter 3 and 8. Finally, we be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. And I'm going to do a whole lot of scripture reading throughout this. You don't have to turn with me on everything. There will be times that I might tell you you might want to turn with me here, but it will be hard. We've got a lot to cover here. I promise you I'm out of the King James Version, and it's all recorded. Feel free to listen back. I don't do that very often to myself. But our title this morning should sound familiar. It's the motto of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I borrowed it. I was thinking of a title for my Sunday school lesson this morning, and since I'd left Manickee, I'd brought my license, my embalmer's license, my funeral director's license home and didn't have a place to put it, and I don't really proudly display it, but it's above my computer desk there and just basically so it don't get broke. But I looked up and then seen the emblem there on my license, and it said, United we stand and divided we fall. It's a well-known saying. Its origins come from Aesop's fables. A lot of you might be familiar with Aesop. His existence is not even proven. He supposedly was a Greek storyteller from the 6th century B.C., but he had fables such as the tortoise and the hare. We all read about that and was told that as a young child, slow and steady wins the race. But United we stand, divided we fall comes from a couple of different fables of his, one saying a story of a lion that used to prowl about a field which had four oxen in it. Many times the lion tried to take down one of the oxen, but the oxen would back up to one another, tie their tails together, and every time the lion would try to attack them, they would just move strategically and all would be met with his horns. But one time those oxen had gotten into it with one another, and they got into a quarrel and they divided and went all into their four corners, and sure enough before too long that lion came in, Brother Austin, and picked them all out one by one and killed them. And so United we stand, divided we fall. There's another fable of his called the Bundle of Sticks. An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered them to bring in a bundle of sticks and asked each of them to try and break them. None were able to break the bundle of sticks. Then he told them to untie the bundle and each take a stick, and then they were able to break them easily. So again, United we stand, divided we fall. I remember I was thinking about this lesson, and I remember, maybe I was feeling patriotic, I don't know, but I remember the fear of the young man on 9-11, and I wasn't sure what that meant for our country. I wasn't sure what it meant for me as a young father. I wasn't sure if there was going to be a draft again. There was a lot of uncertainty. I don't think I was the only one that felt that way, but I was probably 20, what, 21 at the time. Kelsen had just been about a year old. And I remember that uncertainty and that fear. I remember gas stations had spiked their prices up to like $5 a gallon. That's back when it wasn't near $5 a gallon. It was about like $1.25 or something like that, if I remember correctly. And it might sound funny to you, but I remember the hope that came back in is, don't fall out with me, but we was over at Dad's, and we was following that coverage quite a bit on the television. And on September 14th, I remember our president at the time, George W. Bush, had stood on top of some rebel with his arm around a firefighter, and then he was holding onto a bullhorn. And I looked up what he said. He said, I want you all to know that America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. The nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. Then a rescue worker hollers out, we can't hear you. You couldn't hear him amongst, you know, there's a big crowd there. And without missing a beat, President Bush and I remember this. He said, I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon. And everybody started chanting, USA, USA, USA. And there was just this spirit of unity in America after that. And President Bush soon after declared a war on terror, and he put out a warning that said, you are either with us or you're against us. He even called the terrorists evildoers, which I felt like was very biblical at the time. But we were unified in a sense. But America has gotten far away from that now, and a lot of the churches has as well. It would be a perfect time for terrorists to make their move right now while we're divided once again. In Luke 11, 14, and 20, you can turn there if you'd like, Luke 11, 14, and 20, Jesus gives the people a lesson on division. 14 says, And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb, and it came to pass when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake, and the people wondered. But some of them said he cast out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils, and others tempted him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. So Jesus is basically telling them that he had just done a great work, a miraculous act of kindness. It would be contrary to what Satan would want, Satan's plan. So if he did a godly work, how would it benefit the devil? If this was the case, Satan's work or his kingdom would be divided against itself. Like I said, we're going to get a little bit behind, even more so this morning. But we're picking up where we left off. But don't forget in 1 Corinthians 1 and 10, but don't forget that Paul did not start with this rebuke. He had many kind words for them before he addressed this matter, and I think that's important. I don't want to lose sight of that. This is one letter to the Corinthians here, so let's not forget that just because we're picking up here this morning. 1 Corinthians 1 and 10 says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and 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 brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now, if we skip ahead, we might see what other sins have come into the church of Corinth. Hold your place and turn ahead to 1 Corinthians 6 and 9. Just a couple chapters, well, five chapters ahead here. 1 Corinthians 6 and 9 says, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. This is quite a list of offenses. And some of our churches today are guilty of these very offenses. I'm going to back up these next points with Scripture, but like I said, you don't have to follow along. I'll probably go through it pretty quick here. The first one he mentioned was fornicators. And 1 Corinthians 6 and 18 says, we read it last week, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that committh fornication sinneth against his own body. I'd like you to know that homosexuality also falls under the sin of fornication. Leviticus 18 and 22 says, Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination. Us humans tend to place values on sin, Brother Quentin, but if you are given to pornography time after time, you are no closer to God than a homosexual. I listened to a sermon, and this may be unbelievable to you. I listened to a sermon, or it was a podcast, last year, and I believe, Brother Tim, it was Donnie King that was talking, but I'm not positive. I do know I was, for some reason I can't remember who it was, but I remember I was mowing this front, that's the way my mind works. I remember mowing out here and listening to it. But whoever the speaker was was talking about a friend of his in times past and how he had called him and he had fallen into sin. It was an ex-pastor friend of his. And it all started about ten years prior to this conversation. He had said that he was walking in downtown New York and walking down the streets, and he passed by a homosexual adult movie theater. The thought, for whatever reason, had come into his mind, and he didn't really understand why, but he was thinking, why would anybody want to be a part of this lifestyle, Brother Joseph? And he got consumed with that thought. It kept bugging him until curiosity got the better of him. He thought, I'm just going to go inside for a second. I want to see why somebody would, you know, I just don't understand it. Like, I'm preaching against it and I don't understand why. And he claimed he had no thought of homosexuality, you know, of being attracted to such a thing. He sat down and almost immediately got up. He got sick to his stomach. But he didn't. He stayed there. He just sat there. Ten years later, he had had many, many homosexual relationships and couldn't get past the temptation of homosexuality. He was bawling on the phone to this speaker, and he said that his life was just totally ruined. He had children. He had a wife at the time. And he would give anything if he hadn't gone into that movie theater. But a spirit of homosexuality had overtaken him, and that's simply what it was. I'm sure that that's a rare case, but happening upon a same-sex adult website that ends in a life of adultery is much more commonplace than we probably even know. And we need to be careful of what we do on the Internet. We talk about it time and time again, but it's worth repeating. We need to be very careful. The next sin, idolaters, Exodus 20 and 2 says, I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water underneath the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Just like the children of Israel, if you are a child of God this morning, God has led you out of bondage. He has bought you with a price, and you should not love anything more than him or put anything above him. Adulterers is the next sin. Proverbs 6 and 32 says, But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding. He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Hebrews 13 and 4 says, Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. The next sin that Paul mentions is effeminate. Our 1828 Webster's Dictionary says, Effeminate means having the qualities of the female sex, soft or delicate to an unmanly degree, tender, womanish, voluptuous. And I wrote here, see also skinny jeans. Webster's Dictionary does not say that, but we need to be careful. Effeminate does not mean you're a full-out homosexual. Effeminate just means having the qualities of female sex, dressing like a female, dressing like a homosexual. We all know what that is, and the Bible says that some things are just clearly seen. We all know what we're talking about here. If you are conformed to this world, your lifestyle, your walk, your talk, your attitude, and the way you dress will reflect that. Being non-effeminate does not mean that you are non-compassionate. Jesus was the epitome of compassion, and Paul likewise. I sometimes wish I could control my emotion more. There's times that I cry when I really don't want to. But that is far from effeminate. I'm embarrassed about it sometimes, but I don't apologize for it. There's really nothing wrong with it. It's just how I'm built. But it does not mean you're effeminate because you cry. Ephesians 4 and 32 says, And be ye kind unto one another, tenderhearted. Be tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. That is not being effeminate. Hardheartedness, confrontational, judgmental, or uncompassionate is not manly. The next sin that is mentioned is abusers of themselves with mankind. We don't need to go into detail with that, but it simply means a sodomite. I believe everybody probably knows what a sodomite is. Thieves, robbing from one another. Exodus 20 and 15, Thou shalt not steal. That is the eighth commandment. We talk about the ten commandments. We know that there's far more, but we call that the eighth commandment. Thou shalt not steal. And no doubting robbing God. Malachi 3 and 8 says, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, When have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Pay your tithes. Malachi 3 and 9, Ye are cursed with a curse. For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. It is important to give God his due. Everything is God's, but we should pay our ten percent at least. Covetous is the next sin. Luke 12 and 13, And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Like I said, I'm trying to go through these pretty quick. The next sin is drunkards. Proverbs 20 and 1 says, Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. We mentioned Donnie King earlier, and somebody had asked him one time. He does these, if you're not familiar with Donnie King. Brother Tim, it turned me on to him a while back, and I really enjoy it. He was talking about drinking, and somebody posed the question to him, Is it okay to drink in moderation? And it's very good. I can point you to it. I can't remember everything that was said, but he talked about the hypocrisy of people thinking that you can drink a little bit. And he said, You know, there's people that say you can do everything in moderation. Just keep it in moderation. He said, Well, can you do a little bit of killing? We can't just do a little bit of killing. We can't do just a little bit of stealing. So it's not right to do a little bit of drinking. Revilers is the next sin that is mentioned. Revilers simply means mischief. Proverbs 11 and 27 says, He that diligently seeketh good procures favor. But he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. If you're the type of person that seeks God, you will find him. If you seek goodness, you will find goodness. But if you are constantly looking for trouble, trouble will find you. Extortioners. An extortioner is someone who tries to acquire someone's money or goods through an illegal action. This could be through blackmail, ransom, or interest. We may not have fallen victim to this ourselves, but you'll hear many politicians or famous people, celebrities, somebody with money often falling victim to an extortioner. So these are a list of sins that were in the Corinthian church because Paul acknowledges in 611 after this list, and such were some of you. With a list this long, where do you start? Paul chose to start with unity. If the Corinthian church was going to grow, they first had to be unified, be on the same page, or Duane Manneke likes to say working off the same sheet of paper. Me and my wife talk about how that's just, he has these sayings, working off the same sheet of paper, be on the same page. So turn them back to 1 Corinthians 1 and 10. We'll see here where Paul does start. We'll read that once again. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Corinth had the same sin problem that America faces today, so it's no wonder that Paul brings this up first. If he approached other problems like sexual immorality, they might divide and fight about that before this letter even gets further. He needs to get them in agreement before a great work can be accomplished. We have to be in agreement here before we can do a great work. We have to be unified in Christ. You can turn with me to Ephesians 4 and 1. As Paul told the church of Ephesus, this is a letter to the Ephesian church, we're reading the first letter of the Corinthians. Ephesians 4 and 1, he tells them, 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 and 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. Flee fornication, but endeavor towards unity. Run to it, be quick to forgive. We have too much to lose when we hold on to bitterness and strive. If you love something, you will probably get hurt once in a while. That's just a fact. I know I talk about my animals a lot. I do love my animals, and if you was to see my arm and my back right now, you would wonder why I enjoy my cats. The other morning I was drinking a cup of coffee, and I didn't get pickles. His tuna fish, quick enough, I was enjoying my coffee, and he decided he was going to jump up and get my attention. And when he did, he held on, and he kind of overshot it, Brother Austin, and he scratched me right here and slipped and held onto my skin through my shirt for dear life. If every interaction was like that with pickles, I probably wouldn't enjoy them so much. But it's not. I have nice interactions with pickles quite often. We have a lot of good times together. I find comfort in my cats a lot of times. But once in a while, the interactions are not so nice. It's the same thing between me and some church people once in a while. That's just a cat. But even more so with you all, I find comfort in my interactions with you all. Have I ever got my feelings hurt? Yes, I have. Have I ever disagreed with people in this church? Yes, I have. But if it wasn't biblically wrong, it's not worth fighting over. And even still, it's not worth fighting, but a discussion might need to be had. Let's look at what Paul says in Colossians, Colossians 3 and 12. He tells them in Colossians 3 and 12, he tells that church, Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body. And be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Above all, love one another. That is the bond of perfectness. If we are bonded, tied together by love, we will quickly see the need for one another. I walked in here last Sunday, and Brother Quentin said that he had cut his thumb. I can't remember on what, but he didn't throw it away. He still has both thumbs. He used them a lot yesterday. Sometimes when I'm using a hammer, I hit my thumb. Y'all have probably done it before, and it hurts quite a bit. But then you hit it the second time, it really hurts. But you don't discard it. You don't throw it away because it got in the way. That thumb comes in handy. No pun intended. Let's not be quick to disregard one another. Let's look at Joseph for just a second. These pews were given to us. We're not going to throw them away just because one has a bad leg. But let's not be quick to disregard one another. What help would have Paul been to the barbarous people of Melita if they took one look at him and said, Oh, he's a prisoner. He has nothing to offer us. When he showed up, we all have our strengths. If you come in here with a preconceived notion of how the service is going to go just because you know who's preaching that night, you could miss out. That's the wrong spirit to have. The story of Goliath would have been much different if David hadn't convinced Saul to give him a chance. That's what I like about the Holy Ghost having his way in the service. You never know what might happen, what he might want to do or he might want to use. If we aren't careful, we can really let division get out of hand. And it starts with just the smallest disagreement sometimes. Like I said, I tell myself a lot because sin and temptation is common to man. If I went through it, you might have gone through it yourselves. Once I was very discontent with myself and I had a whole lot of bitterness towards an individual, and when I got back to the Lord and the Lord took me back, I felt like I had to go apologize to this person. And it went well. But I sat in service, and when they would start to do something for the Lord, I would think about the times that they had done me wrong and the things that they had done. And if I told you the things that they had done, you might agree with me, yeah, they shouldn't have done that. But I would sit in the service time after time, and I would be, you know, the service would be going good, and I'd be getting in, and, well, this individual would stand up and do something for the Lord. And right away, I thought, oh, here we go. You know, this is going to quench the service. But I was the only one feeling that way, Brother Quentin. And I would actually get so bitter that I would sit there and hope that the holocaust wouldn't move on this individual, that the holocaust wouldn't have his way in the church because this person was the one doing something for the Lord. And that's how bad I was. I was praying against the holocaust. I didn't want anything to happen. Well, sure enough, they would get up and they would do something, and somebody would start moving, and I would think, well, that's their relative. They always move when he does something, you know. And then somebody else would do something, and I'd be thinking, well, you know, they're easy. You know, they always move. You know, he's not going to get anybody else. And then before too long, somebody else would stand up. Somebody else would stand up, and then the holocaust would just be having his way, and everybody was having a good time, but Michael back there sitting in his bitterness. And that's discontentment. And it all started from something very small. And I could have, you know, I could have had a blessing that I missed out upon because I was sitting back there in discontentment and bitterness. So if we aren't careful, division will find its way, sometimes even through the best intentions. I made cookies, and I think I told some of you all for this where I work now with a bunch of ladies in the kitchen. And somebody had a birthday, and one of them approached me and told me that, hey, so-and-so's birthday is tomorrow, and we usually do something. You can take part in it if you want to. And I said, okay, you know, I'll make some cookies. And they said, well, you know, you don't have to. But I thought, no, you know, I want to be a part of them. You know, I want to participate. So I went home, made up a bunch of cookies, brought them in. Well, I made cookies, and then one other person brought some cupcakes from Walmart, and that was pretty much all it was. And I felt like I'd really done something over the top and was a little bit embarrassed about it. And they started taking pictures and putting it on Facebook. This is our new, you know, the man that works with us just made these cookies and all this stuff. And they was really making over and telling me how good they was and all this stuff. And it started out really well, and I thought, well, that's nice, you know. And, well, they started fighting over them. People were taking five, six, seven of them home, and the person's birthday, I think they might have ended up with one, and they was aggravated about it. The next day, it was somebody else's birthday. You know, we had two birthdays in a row. And, oh, Michael, you're going to have to make some more cookies. So I went home and made a bunch more and brought them in. Well, as soon as I brought them in, my manager took them from me and put them in her office because she wanted to make sure everybody got some. Well, there's different races of people that I work with, and it looked like some people was getting them and other people didn't want them and that I had stored these away for this certain race of people, and this other race wasn't getting any. I had the best intentions in the world, but it looked like I was doing all this because when I showed up, it was just me and this other lady. And tomorrow is somebody else's birthday, so we'll see how that goes. But that's how discontentment can start, even through good intentions. But contentment will start in your heart, but it is contagious. Ephesians 4 and 29 says, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. We should think before we speak. Is this going to sow contentment or is it going to sow edification? If it's not edifying, it's not worth saying. Your opinion of someone is just that. It's an opinion, and just because you have one doesn't make it fact. Proverbs 21 and 2 says, Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord pondereth the hearts. There was a lady that I used to work with, and this is another story. Back when I was a young dad, me and Christy, well, I don't even know if Kelsen was born yet. Me and Christy had just gotten married, and I worked at Bud's Produce for about five years. And at some point, Christy had Kelsen and maybe even Casey. But I worked with a lot of Asian people, and there's racism between those Asians. It's not just America doesn't have a monopoly on racism. It's throughout all different races. But they was great cooks, and I would spend, no exaggeration, 20 hours a day there, six days a week a lot of times. And 16 would be a light day, 23, 24 hours would be a big day. And I didn't do a whole lot of cooking at the time, of course, and Christy didn't do a whole lot of cooking at the time. I hadn't been home enough to teach her how to yet. On a good day, I brought a bologna sandwich to work. On a bad day, I would bring cereal. And that's what my lunches consisted of. But we had a lady there named Chong, and she called me her Korean mom, and she would cook for me in egg rolls and bulgogi and all these dishes, and they was really good, and she took care of me really well. Well, a lot of Asians did, but she ruled the roost. I mean, I was a manager there, but over the Asian people, she was really the boss. And she told them I would tell them something, and then she would say something in another language, and they would do what she said. And I didn't know what that was. Sometimes it meant slow down. No matter what I said, sometimes it meant speed up. But I didn't know. But there was one lady, they all ate together, and there was one lady there, and her name was Conchita, and she was the oldest lady there, and she stood about this tall, and she was really sweet. But they could not stand that lady. She was very slow. Her job was to cut stems off of spinach, and a sea of spinach would come across, and she'd take one and clip off the stem and put the other one up, and she did that all day long. And she was really slow, and they really seemed to me that they hated her. I would let her eat with them at the table, and if I wanted to be nice to her, which I was, if I had to be particularly nice to her, I would do it around where people couldn't see it because they didn't like me being nice to her. And it was pretty tough. But Chong would make me egg rolls, and I really liked them. And Conchita came up to me one time quietly, and she said, She said, You like egg rolls? And I said, Sorry, I'm a homeless preacher. I've got to do the impersonation. She said, You like egg rolls? And I said, Yeah. And she said, I'll make you egg rolls. And I said, Okay. Well, the next day she came in, and when nobody was around, and she brought me a plate of egg rolls, really good-looking egg rolls. And I sit there, and it was about like 9, 30, 10 o'clock, and an odd time to eat, and she kind of told me to come in there, and she made them for me. Well, she'd already had them made up, of course, and I ate one, and it was the best egg roll I've ever ate in my life. I mean, it really was. Well, sure enough, she's over there putting her gloves on. I'm in the break room eating them, and Chong comes walking through, and I thought, Oh, no, you know what? What's going to happen here? And she come walking in there, and she looked at my plate, and this look come over her face of I don't know how to describe it, but she said, Who make you egg rolls? And I was like, you know, I didn't know what to say. I would have considered myself saved at the time, but I didn't want to see this lady get killed, and I didn't want to die myself, and I wanted her to cook for me, you know, again. And I looked at her, and I said, Oh, my wife makes egg rolls. And she had seen me bring sandwich after sandwich, cereal after cereal, and here I am with these perfect egg rolls on my plate. And she looked at me and just, like, couldn't believe it. And she said, I try egg roll. And I was like, Okay. And I looked over, and Conchita was just, her eyes was this big around, and she was still putting her gloves on, you know, and she thought she was dead. And Chong grabbed the egg roll, ripped it in half, and looked at it and sniffed it, and she ate, started eating one, and she looked at me really confused, and she said, Your wife will make a better egg roll than me. And Conchita, I looked over, and Conchita was going, Yay! I mean, it was the funniest thing ever. But I said that, I can't even really remember what my point was, but we all have value. Never judge someone by the way that they look. They might surprise you. Like Paul, we need to find common ground with people. Not look for opportunities for division. So how can we fight division in the first place? James 1 and 5 says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and that breaketh not, that shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not the man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. It's important to know what you believe and why you believe it. This will only come through reading God's Word and prayer. Psalm 63 and 1 says, the Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah, Oh God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. My soul thirsteth for thee. My soul longeth for thee. That is a man with a made-up mind and a made-up heart. He used to be a man full of discontentment. He couldn't sleep. He'd find himself on a rooftop pondering things he shouldn't, but not anymore. I'm thankful that God can change a man, give him a made-up mind, and make him a new creature. And he did that very thing for me. So we have to be unified within ourselves. Secondly, we need unity in the home. Our children should know what we believe. They should see us treating our spouses with honor and respect. There should be unity in the home. Ephesians 5 and 22, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as the Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. It goes both ways. When we get home from work, our children and our spouses can take the brunt of our stressful day if we aren't careful. If your children see you act like a devil at home but a saint at church, guess what? They're going to think Brother Tim does the same thing. They're going to think Brother Joseph does the same thing. They're going to see hypocrisy in the house of God. We don't want that. There needs to be unity in the home. Ephesians 6 and 4 says, and you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Don't be short with your kids. Matthew 19 and 14, but Jesus said, suffer, little children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for if such is the kingdom of God. Jesus has time for children, and I think we should as well. I remember when Sister Sue died, we was all sitting around the house, and it was very sudden, and I know you all remember, of course. I just got home from hearing she passed to embalming her to doing arrangements with Brother Gerald all in the same three or four hours. Brother Gerald was very compassionate, but he didn't seem like to be a man that liked unsettled business. He wanted to settle it. And I'm not trying to be dramatic. I know this is harder on Brother Quentin and Sister Allie, but we were sitting around the house telling stories, and Camden started crying. It seemed like it had come out of nowhere. And he said, you know, she never treated me like a kid. She never walked past me. She always shook my hand and asked how my day was going or how my week went, just like she would the adults. And I don't want to be like that. I don't want to dismiss children. I don't like to be dismissed. That's probably one of the things that I hate worse in life is being dismissed. I heard a childhood friend talk about Charles Stanley after he died. He said that Stanley would spend very long days at church, and on Friday he'd come in and fill a milk jug full of water, grab his Bible, and he would head out. And you wouldn't see him again until Sunday morning. And that sounds commendable, but his wife ended up leaving him, and he spent most of his ministry as a single man. We have to take time for our family. Work is important, but we need balance. Even if we were just getting home from church and hitting every revival night and visiting a different church every night of the week, something is wrong. You might just be as strong in the Lord as you can be, but the devil is trying to get a foothold in your home. Don't leave your children out of your relationship with God. Just like those oxen, if you have a family that one is going off doing something every day and the other is busy over here in this corner and your child is in his bedroom doing who knows, or you have another child in their bedroom doing who knows what, somebody might get in trouble, and the devil is going to find a way in. You're leaving your child up to be susceptible to the devil. You might be as strong as you can be, but a lion will scatter the pack and pick out the weakest one. Let's see, we're going to have to hurry. 1 Peter 5 and 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resisteth steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren there in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish strength, and settle you. 1 Peter 5 and 11 says to him, Be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. I want him to have dominion over my home. I want him to be dominant in my life and my family's lives. Our church needs to be filled with strong family units. Robbie came to me the other day and asked for my blessing to court Kelsen or however you want to say it, which I appreciated, but I told him, and I meant it. I said, Robbie, I've prayed for the Lord to strengthen you ever since I've heard your name and that you were interested in my daughter. And I said, furthermore, if you happen to be the right one for Kelsen, and I wouldn't want you to ask her to be your girlfriend if that wasn't the case, then I've prayed for you for much longer than I even knew who you was. And it's never too early, even as Molly, it's never too early to start praying for her husband. He's probably out there somewhere. I was getting ready to get into the division of we need to have unity within ourselves. We need to have unity in our home, and I'm getting ready to hit on unity in the church, but I'm not going to have time. I apologize. Let me leave you with a closing verse here. Colossians 3 and 12 says, Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. We'll close out.
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