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Romans 12 and Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Let's jump right in tonight.

Romans 12, Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Good to have Pastor Prather and his wife with us from Ventura down here getting some medical treatment.

Tell you about that maybe a little bit later.

Romans 12.

Good to have you, brother.

Sister.

Mean it.

Romans 12 and Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Y'all have been having a tough day?

Are you are you are you uh physically here and mentally somewhere else?

Huh?

Be honest.

How many of you are physically here but mentally, who knows where you're at?

Alright?

Good.

That's typical before a friend day and everything.

How many of you are always physically somewhere, but mentally never know where you're at?

Okay?

A couple of you back there honest.

All right.

Romans chapter 12 and Philippians chapter 2.

Romans 12 · chapter mention Philippians 2 · chapter mention

As I read my Bible, one of the uh aspects that I see presented over and over and over in this Bible, all the way through, is that God wants harmony and unity.

Do you do you read that in there?

All the way through I see the words like one accord and in harmony and unity.

And if uh if I if there's anything that runs threads throughout this Bible, is that God wants uh his children, if you would, to be in harmony and in unity.

Um I uh I would say this: a a family that is not in harmony is less productive than a family that is in harmony.

Would you agree?

I mean, that's that's a simple statement.

For example, a marriage.

If a husband and wife are in harmony and unity, they are more productive for the Lord than if they're in disharmony.

Would you agree with that statement?

Would you agree with this statement?

A uh, let's say the bus ministry.

The bus ministry is more effective for the Lord when it's in unity than it's when it's in disarray.

If uh if one bus captain's fighting with another bus captain, and by the way, if you're doing that, I haven't talked to Chris, uh, that's just prophetic.

Uh but if a bus captain's fighting with another bus captain and it's disharmony, it will affect the the production of the bus ministry.

Would you agree?

Or the teen ministry or or uh the military ministry of if Jim Chambers is fighting with Rich Pollock and Rich is fighting with uh uh uh uh Wes Riley and these guys just aren't getting it wrong.

Wouldn't you say it's going to affect their productivity?

Now, would you agree with this statement?

God is the author of harmony.

Would you agree with that?

God is the author of unity.

Uh how do we know that?

Because God is not the author of confusion.

Are you with me so far?

Satan is the author of confusion.

Satan is the author of disunity.

If uh if there's a uh, okay, would you agree with this statement?

If God has his perfect will in a church, it will be in harmony and will be in one accord if he has his perfect will.

Would you agree with that statement?

But Satan would try his best to get a church family in disharmony and disunity.

Especially before friend day.

Wouldn't you agree?

Especially before we're doing something for the Lord.

So God would promote harmony and not confusion.

Look at, if you would, at uh Philippians, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

And let me show you a hard verse.

This is a tough one.

Romans chapter 12, look at verse uh 18.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

I'm glad he put the first word in there.

What is it?

If.

I'm glad he started it that way.

I'm glad he didn't say uh it be possible.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

I'm glad he put the word if.

I'm glad he didn't say it is possible to live peaceably with all men.

How many of you at work today, if that Bible would have said it is possible to live peaceably with all men, how many of you at work today would have broken that command?

Or suggestion?

All right?

And how many of you uh are not being honest?

Okay, there's a couple.

All right, at least you're honest now.

It says, if it be possible, if it is possible, as much as lieth in you.

Let me ask you a question.

As much as what lieth in you?

Let me ask you again.

Now, I know you're physically here, but mentally, turn on just for a moment.

I tell you what, give me five minutes of brain.

Alright?

Just turn your brain on for five minutes.

That's all I'm asking.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, as much as what lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

The spirit of God, what else?

As much as lieth in you.

Come on.

Charity?

Charity suffereth long in his kind.

Patience, there's a good one.

As much as lieth in you, as much as charity lieth in you, as much as patience lieth in you, what else?

Compassion, kindness, what else?

Somebody says, Huh?

Forgiveness?

Alright?

As much as as much as patience, as much as forgiveness, as much forgiveness as you have, as much patience as you have, as much forbearance as you have, if it's possible, live peaceably with all men.

Would you agree that that should mean marriages?

Wouldn't you say husband and wife?

Listen, as much as it lies in you, the patience, the forbearance, the uh charity, as much as it lies in you, live peaceably with each other.

Wouldn't you agree with that?

Family?

Would you agree with that?

Parents, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with your children.

As much as you can.

Would you agree with that?

Would you agree with church?

Church, listen, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men, each other.

Would you agree with that statement?

As much as lieth in you.

Somebody says, well, there's not a whole lot lying in me right now.

Let me show you something that'll be a help to you.

Look at Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Stay right with me.

Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

I want to give you something that's hard to do.

I want to show you something that's a hard scripture.

Have you ever met someone?

Look right up here if you would, Philippians 2.

Have you ever met someone that can't get along with anybody?

Oh boy, have I?

Do you have anybody that you work with that really that person just can't get along with anybody?

Boy, you thought them right away, huh?

Um, there's a problem in their attitude.

Now let me show you something, and let me let me let's start in verse one and stay right with me.

Look at verse one.

If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bows of mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be what?

Light-minded, having the same love, being of what?

One accord.

There's unity, harmony, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory.

Now he says, listen, if it's if it's profitable, if you've got this thing going on, be of one accord, be of one mind, be of love.

Look what he says in verse 3.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind.

Now watch these next few words.

Let each esteem other better than themselves.

Would somebody explain to me what that means?

Let each esteem other better than themselves.

Huh?

Put someone else's needs before your own.

Fair.

Anybody else?

Let each what does esteem mean?

Honor.

Honor, lift up, respect.

Could we use the word respect?

Wait, if you esteem someone highly, you respect them.

Is that right?

You lift them up in your mind, you honor them.

Would you agree with that?

He says this, okay, and let me just substitute that in there.

Let each uh respect other better than themselves.

Would that fit?

So I'm supposed to respect Gary more than I respect myself.

Is that what you read?

I'm supposed to respect Mike as much as lieth in me.

Amen?

Better than myself.

Is that right?

I'm supposed to respect John Will more than I do myself.

And if I have that mindset to respect and esteem him and them more than I do myself, I'm going to have a pretty good chance of living peaceably with them.

Would you agree?

Would you agree?

Let me put it another way.

You know what I ought to do as a Christian?

I ought to give Gary the benefit of the doubt.

If I esteem him higher than I do myself, I ought to give Gary, if we're in a conversation and he says something that I don't know if I took just right, I ought to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Would you agree?

Let's say Gary, stand up just for a minute, Gary.

Let's say Gary and I are talking, and he says something, and I don't understand what he's saying really, and I go away and I think about it and I think, boy, I wonder what his motives were for saying that.

That hurt just a little bit.

Now listen, if I respect him more than I do myself, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say, I must have just misunderstood.

It's me.

It wasn't him because he would never do that.

He's loyal, he's trustworthy, he's thrifty, kind, obedient, brave, you know, all that stuff.

And if I respect him and esteem him higher than myself, then I know Gary would never do anything to hurt me, so I'm going to have a positive attitude towards Gary and say it was probably just me.

I heard it wrong.

Mary Gary had a bad day and it wasn't really meant like that to me and everything.

It wasn't his fault.

I just probably took it wrong.

Because I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Is that what you read about esteeming higher than someone else?

Is that what you now listen?

If I don't esteem him higher than me, if I respect me more than I do him, you know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to question his motive.

Why did he say that?

Man, that hurt me.

He should have never said that.

Didn't he know?

I don't care if he had a bad day or not.

He didn't have any uh right doing that, saying that to me.

You know what my problem is?

I'm thinking about me more than I'm thinking about him.

Hello?

So if I esteem him better than I do myself, you know what?

Me and him on my side, I'm never going to argue with him.

Sit down.

Patty, stand up for a minute.

Come on, come on, come on.

It's my wife.

Patty, this church, church, this is Patty.

Now, look up here.

If uh if I esteem my wife higher than I do myself, if I respect her and think of her more than I do myself, and I come home and she says something to me, and I go, Wow, I wonder what I did wrong, or I wonder why she said that to me and everything.

You know what?

I am not gonna take that and let it eat on me and let it dwell on me and let it get to me.

I'm gonna say, you know, maybe my wife had a bad day.

And she didn't really mean it.

Because she's loyal and loves me, and and maybe I just took it wrong, anyways.

She probably didn't mean that at all.

It just came out the wrong way, or I took it wrong.

It's not her fault.

And I just released that from my mind automatically.

But you know what?

If we had the type of marriage where everything she said, I kind of what do you mean by that?

What did you mean by that?

What do you mean, you're what you got your hands like this for?

Body language, you know.

Why'd you give me the evil eye?

Why'd you give me daggers out of those eyes?

We could have a terrible marriage.

You know, some people live in constant agony because they don't esteem each other very high in their own minds.

You know, if I was more concerned about me than her, every night we could argue over something.

Would you agree with that?

The key to getting along in a marriage is uh easy.

You know what the key is?

Trusting each other.

Respecting each other.

Uh, hey, uh, let's say I come home, and man, stand up, please.

Let's say, let's say I come home, and then I just had a rough day, you know, and I walk in the house, I don't say hello, I don't say nothing, I just come and sit down in the chair.

She could come and say, What do you mean by that?

What do I mean by what?

I didn't say anything.

I know.

That's what I'm talking about.

What do you mean by that?

What did I and she's in her mind going, what did I say to him?

What did I do to him?

What's what's what's going on?

What I wonder what if he's mad at me or wonder what I did wrong.

Amen?

But you know, if she's got me in her mind right, she's gonna give me the benefit of the doubt.

She is gonna give me the benefit of the doubt.

And she's gonna say something I did.

He just had a rough day, you know, and and who knows what happened, everything like that.

And uh, she's gonna give me the benefit of the doubt.

And she's gonna back off and give me a little distance, and I'm gonna get my head together, everything's gonna be great.

What I'm saying is, in a marriage, give each other the benefit of the doubt, esteem each other better than you do ourselves.

Are you with me?

Maybe see.

Thank you, my dear.

Now, how about at work?

How about at work?

Oh, you say they're not Christians down there.

Now, wait a minute.

If it be possible, as much as lieth within you, live peaceably with only Christians.

What did you read?

Amen, is that right?

Well, say, well, that's that's good.

Amen.

That doesn't include women.

Man, I got a woman for a boss.

I'm glad I'm glad to sit up a minute.

Come on, ma'am.

Somebody lady is a going.

Come on, ma'am.

It's okay to laugh a little bit on a Wednesday night.

Look at listen, you know what?

If you can't laugh in church a little bit on a Wednesday night, it is a sour puss.

The world's got you down, you're walking under the clouds, it's got the best of you.

Overcome it, laugh a little bit.

Laugh at yourself a little bit.

Hey, you know what?

Life's a little funny.

Did you ever notice that?

We do some dumb things like get all down and depressed.

It's good to laugh at yourself just a little bit.

Or if not, if you can't laugh at yourself, laugh at me.

But if you esteem me highly, you won't.

Now, the point of it is this.

If you go to work, hey, you know what we need to get the mind of Christ is?

The mind of Christ is I'm going to esteem them higher than I do myself.

Now, wait a minute.

You don't know my boss.

As much as lieth in you.

Live peaceably with all men.

And if you can, you say, now wait a minute.

They don't deserve it.

Well, look at each other.

Do you know what?

My wife, she shouldn't look at me and say, Well, my husband, let's see, does he deserve high esteem today or not?

Hmm.

Left his dirty socks in the room.

Uh boy, you know, needs a shower.

Real bad.

No, no, hey, it doesn't matter whether I deserve it or not.

It doesn't matter whether we deserve it or not.

Nobody here deserves high esteem.

We're all dirt balls.

What does uh Jim White say?

We're all just rolling our little dust balls up for the big melt, wax balls up for the big meltdown.

We're all just dirt formed up.

I mean, none of us deserve, none of us walk around, I deserve high esteem.

Come on, man.

None of us deserve it.

And and I know your boss, they don't deserve it, but it's not up to them to deserve it.

It's up to us in our mindset just to say, I'm gonna esteem them.

Esteem him higher than myself.

It's my boss.

You know what submission is, true submission?

True submission is esteeming someone higher than you do yourself.

Is that true?

You know what?

I hate to say this, but the office of pastor should be esteemed highly.

Whether you like me or not.

I happen to fulfill that position of the office of pastor, and I'm not putting that over you, but I'm saying just because I'm fulfilling that office, you ought to automatically esteem me higher than you do yourself.

So you got a problem?

Now I ought to not use that as Lord over you.

I'm not supposed to be a Lord over God's heritage.

I ought to esteem you higher because I'm serving you.

You know what the office of pastor is?

Servant.

So my job is to esteem you higher than I do myself and just serve you.

Well, she asked me to do that.

I'm not gonna do that for her.

That's somebody else's job.

Hey, if I'm serving her and she asks me to do that, and I esteem her highly, sure I'll do that for you.

That's no big deal.

Are you with me?

Hey, this will this will you say, preacher, all right?

Now wait a minute.

Why are we talking about this?

Why are we even discussing this?

Friend day's coming.

You know what's about to happen a week and a half, 12 days from now?

A hundred ladies are going to get together and serve and cook a meal.

Can we talk?

Ladies, may I say something to you?

Esteem each other higher than you do yourselves.

When you're over there serving and getting all the food in there and everything, there's gonna be a little stress, there's gonna be a little tension, there's gonna be all kinds of opportunities for division.

All these people are gonna be standing around going, food, food.

And it's gonna be running around, it's gonna be a little chaotic.

If you esteem each other higher than you do yourself, you have a bright outlook, someone will say, Hey, go get that for me.

And you'll say, Don't tell me what to do.

What am I your servant?

Yes.

There are some ladies that are gonna be leaders over this thing, different section leaders.

And if the lady says, Would you go get this for me, please?

Don't say, I don't like this woman.

What is she telling me to do this for, anyways?

Esteem them higher than yourself.

Are you listening to me?

You know, a friend day can blow a church out of the water.

A big push can cause great division in a church.

When you try to pull something like this off, if you're not careful, the church can start to split and crack and peel.

And well, a friend day.

I remember last year, you know, this person said this to me, and that was.

Come on now.

Let's grow up a bit.

Let's esteem each other higher than we do ourselves.

You say, now, wait a minute, preacher, is that just the ladies?

I don't know, the men are gonna work together too.

Oh yeah.

I mean, there's gonna be men setting up chairs and setting up tables and tearing down tables and all kinds of stuff.

And then the men and ladies are gonna be working together.

Ma'am, some man might come up to you and say, Would you move over there and go do that?

And you'll say, You're not my husband.

Get away from me, dude.

Now, wait a minute.

If you esteem them high, you say, Well, they don't deserve it.

Who does?

If everybody in here says, I'm gonna esteem that person and respect that person higher than I do myself, then I'm not thinking about self, I'm thinking about them.

Oh, by the way, now, did you lose me yet?

You say, preacher, why are you preaching this?

Because I want us to come through friend day liking each other.

On May 20th, I don't want you to have anger in the root of bitterness.

I want you to like each other.

We're all still going to heaven on May 20th.

Life isn't over after Friend Day.

There's meetings that night.

There's meetings the 20th and the 21st.

You say, well, let's see, when we get to June, no, come on now.

We need to like each other even after Friend Day.

You know, I understand something.

If you're gonna work in a ministry here and get involved in a heavy-duty ministry, in some way, shape, or form, or get involved in this church, we're gonna have to like each other, and that means we're gonna have to respect each other.

Oh, by the way, it does say this.

Look at what it says.

Stay right with me.

Verse 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Some people misinterpret that, they really do.

That's not talking about covetousness.

Do you understand what I mean?

That's not saying, hey, preacher, you got a good-looking car.

I think I'd like to have that.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others.

Let me just throw a thought out to you.

Stay right with me.

Look not on your own things, but look on other men's things.

How about this?

Uh someone comes up to you and they're a little gruff with you.

Have you ever thought about looking on their things?

Like this.

Have you ever thought about this?

You know what?

Maybe they had a bad day.

Maybe they had a bad day.

Maybe they just got hurt.

That's their things.

Maybe something just happened to them.

Look at every man on other man's things.

For example, uh, uh, let me use Jim.

Jim, stand up.

And and I come up to Jim and I say something to Jim, and he kind of just lets me have it.

Now listen, if I'm looking on his things, I'm not thinking, man, that hurt.

Doesn't Jim know what kind of day I had?

Doesn't Jim know the pressures I'm going through?

Doesn't Jim understand that as a pastor I got so much going on.

Doesn't Jim understand that?

I'm thinking about me.

Better for me to say, boy, that Jim, he's probably had a bad day.

Look on his things.

Man, if I had to live in that body, you know.

Come here.

Amen.

But I and I and I think, I wonder what pressures Jim's going through.

I wonder what pressures Jim's facing.

I wonder what trials he's facing.

I wonder what he's going through.

Amen?

I don't think about myself.

I think what you No, maybe Jim's just going through a lot right now.

I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

May you have a seat.

Brother Art.

Brother Art?

Just stand up for a minute.

Brother Art, way back there.

Hey, let's say me and Art had a little bit of a problem.

You know what?

If I'm looking, let's say Art got a little irritated me.

Look right up here.

Not an art, me.

Me.

No.

Let's say me and Art had a little tiff today.

And I said, boy, that wasn't fair.

He should have not said that to me.

You know what?

If I looked on his things, I would think he's got a dad in the hospital with cancer.

Maybe he's just going through some problems.

Maybe he didn't get much sleep last night praying for his dad.

And if I looked on his things and what he's going through, maybe I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

And rather than retaliating and going back on him, maybe I just say, hey, he's going through some things.

He's got some hurt right now, and maybe that was maybe he's just a way to release it to me.

Praise the Lord.

He's got some things he's going through that I'm not.

Are you with me?

Thanks, sir.

Did a great job.

By the way, pray for Art's dad.

He is he does have cancer.

Went back in the hospital tonight.

You see, we get our minds so intense on what is going on in our little lives when someone comes up to us and offends us in just a little bit, we automatically don't esteem them very high.

Let me show you something now.

And by the way, up to this point, it's a child's play.

Let me show you something.

A habit can develop if we're not careful.

Now, now I got five more minutes before you shut off.

Five minutes, you can click off.

But a habit can develop.

If I don't esteem him highly and him highly and him highly and her highly and him highly and him highly, if I get a mindset where I'm automatically thinking about myself more than I'm thinking about them, you know what?

If I'm not careful, I'll apply that to God.

Did you hear what I said?

If I'm not a careful, I'll start applying that to God.

You say what?

God, that's not fair.

God, why'd you let that happen?

Hello?

Wake your friend up.

I just lost some of you now.

Anyone in here ever get frustrated with God?

Be honest.

Alright, now the rest of you be honest.

Do you ever get frustrated with God and say, why?

Or you didn't say it, but you thought it.

I mean it passed through your brain and stuck for a while, but it didn't come out of your mouth.

How many didn't say it, but you thought and said, in your mind, why is this happening to me?

I've been doing this, I've been doing this, I've been doing that, I did that, I got rid of that, I changed this, and now all this come on me.

Why is this happening to me?

But you don't say what you're thinking.

How many?

Right.

And if we're not careful, our mindset, if we're not careful, we'll not give God the benefit of the doubt.

Let me show you two scriptures.

Now stay right with me.

Show you two scriptures.

Look at Joshua 7.

Last two scriptures.

I won't ask you to look at any more.

Joshua 7 and Exodus 5.

Exodus 5 first.

Stay right with me now.

Don't lose me.

I know you're tired tonight.

Exodus 5.

You've been out inviting friends all day long to Friend Day.

Exodus 5.

Look if you would at verse 20.

Watch what happens here.

And I'll ask you a question or two, and we'll we'll get ready to close this off.

Maybe.

Exodus 5.

Look at verse 20.

And they met Moses.

Remember what had just happened?

Moses had just walked in and said, Let my people go.

And Pharaoh had said, Hey, if they got time enough to think about this, take away the straw.

They've still got to make the same number of bricks.

And the Israelites got all mad at who?

Moses.

And they met, they being Israel, the leaders, and they met Moses and Aaron who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh.

Now they just got their straw taken away, and they said unto them, this is the Israelites taking and the leaders taking to Moses theirs, the Lord look upon you and what?

Would you say these leaders are giving Moses the benefit of the doubt?

No, no, no.

Huh?

Would you say these leaders are esteeming Moses higher than themselves?

No, because ye have made our favor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand as fast.

Now, look what happened.

Because they did not esteem Moses very high, Moses goes back to verse 22.

And Moses returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people?

Why is it that thou hast sent me?

Would you say that there's a little lack of esteem there between Moses and God?

You know what Moses is saying?

Why?

Why is this going on?

Didn't you tell me to do this?

Why is this happening this way?

Have you ever been there?

Have you ever done something that you you you knew God wanted you to do it, and it just all fell apart on you?

Do you ever have that happen?

I have.

I did something.

I thought now God was in it, and that's what God wants me to do, but it sure looks like a mess now that I did it.

Did you ever have one of those?

Why, God?

Let me show you even a better example.

Look at Joshua 7, last scripture.

Joshua 7, stay right with me.

Give you something practical in just a moment.

Joshua 7.

Last scripture.

And by the way, you say, man, I don't know if this applies to me.

Wait till tomorrow morning.

Wait till tomorrow about noon.

Everybody look up here.

You're in Joshua 7?

About noon tomorrow, you'll be sitting in the message tonight going, yeah, okay, that was fine, great, wonderful.

I didn't get anything out of that.

That doesn't apply to me.

And about tomorrow at noon, someone's going to do something to you and you're going to take it the wrong way.

And you're going to start burning up inside.

And the Holy Spirit's going to say esteem.

Esteem.

Remember the ugly preacher?

Esteem.

Esteem him higher than yourself.

What are you talking about, Lord?

Is that you?

Esteem.

Esteem.

Esteem him higher than yourself.

He doesn't deserve it.

Don't you remember the preacher said he doesn't deserve it?

Esteem.

Esteem him higher.

But that's not logical.

Whoever says divine logic was logical.

Didn't say they deserve it, it says just do it.

Well, Lord, I can't.

I'm angry at him.

I'm frustrated about him.

I don't care what you say, I'm not going to do it.

That's rebellion.

Well, I can't do it.

I know you can't, but I can through you.

Amen?

I can through you.

Now, would you let me?

No.

I'll do it myself.

I like them.

I like them.

Man, I hate them.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I don't know how many times I've walked out of message and said, Oh, that wasn't for me.

And the next day the Lord said, Oh, yes, it was.

Let me dig up some dirt inside of you and look, look, look.

Oh, man, there it is.

I'm thinking about me more than I am them.

Joshua 7, watch.

Joshua just comes back.

They've just taken Jericho.

The men have gone up to Ai.

They've just lost the battle of Ai.

And notice one verse of scripture, Joshua 7, look at verse 7.

And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites?

To destroy us.

Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of Jordan.

You know what Joshua is saying there?

Why in the world did you bring us over here?

Now we're in this battle, we just lost.

I haven't raised those children like he has and come out with those results and had those methods.

Hello?

Mark McGahee will come in and he'll preach.

And we have we have other men coming in to preach to us some specific topics and areas, if you would.

What?

To edify us, to begin to form us up as a team, because what we did last fall is done.

It's sealed.

It's in heaven already.

But we don't rest on what we did last year.

Last year was last year.

Praise the Lord, glory to God.

That's over and that's laid up.

But we've got another opportunity this fall to do more.

And God needs to fit this thing together and set us in array.

Set the battle in order.

So when kings go forth to battle, we're ready to go.

Now, you say, well, aren't we always in a battle?

Yeah, we're always in a battle, but sometimes it intensifies.

And fall, spring is typically a time that intensifies and we push to do more for God.

Look at Psalms 133.

Are you getting it tonight?

Psalms 133.

I said we need each other.

We lift each other up.

We give strength to each other through the Spirit.

We comfort each other through the Spirit.

We we bury you one another's burdens, if you would, through the Spirit.

Psalms 133.

In Psalms 133, look if you would at verse number one.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in what?

Unity.

And the punctuation?

Exclamation.

Unity, please, and consistency go hand in hand.

God makes all things consists.

He holds them together.

He, if you would, fixes them in unity and harmony.

And God's the one that has to take our attitudes and weld them together to where we can function together as a unit.

That doesn't mean that we're all exactly the same.

In fact, I would not want a church where everybody, everybody had exactly the same convictions and standards.

We wouldn't be growing.

You can't grow and win people to Christ and expect everybody to have the exact same convictions and standards.

The only churches that have that are the ones that aren't growing, that's been together for 20 years because nobody can take the hard preaching.

Hey, even on our staff, not all the associate pastors have the exact same standards and convictions.

Now, majorly we do.

But minorly, we have our own preferences.

Amen.

But that doesn't mean we can't get along and go on and fly in formation.

Left each the one behind and learn how to please look up here, drop back.

Or you say, well, preacher, you're always at the head.

Oh, you're you're absolutely wrong.

Every once in a while, I drop back in formation.

Let someone else take the lead.

During bus days, Chris Stugger takes the lead.

You say, well, doesn't that make you insecure?

No, man, I go back and rest.

Go, Chris, go.

Amen?

Hey, I was in the lead of the Bible Institute for many years.

I'm glad Wade's here.

Take it, Wade.

Go.

I'm just a teacher.

You take care of it.

Amen?

Now, I don't need to have the preeminence.

Christ has the preeminence.

And nobody's going to take that from him.

Anybody that tries to, but we need to learn every once in a while.

Well, well, man, you know, it seems like I'm dropping back.

Well, drop back so you can come up again in the formation and take the lead when you need to.

You know, it's kind of like this, even though you're flying, come apart and rest you a while.

But you don't stop flying.

Otherwise, the formation moves along and it leaves you.

I mean, as a church, let's just face it, we're going to keep moving forward.

We're going to keep occupying, and occupying is not a stagnated position.

Occupy is a forward-moving position.

Study it.

So we're going to keep moving forward.

Somebody says, Oh, oh, I just can't make it.

Okay, a couple of y'all drop back with them.

Try to encourage them along.

But if they're just going to sit there and die on the pond, rejoin the formation.

Because sooner or later they're hunters coming along.

And he's got a dog.

And that's a dead duck.

Amen?

A dead goose, amen?

Because you can't stop and stagnate.

You have to keep your formal momentum.

So how good it is for the brethren to dwell together in what?

Unity.

Verse 2.

Now you say, wait a minute.

Don't those geese ever rest?

Well, sure they do.

You know what though?

They rest as a team.

You can go into some of those areas and you'll see them.

They're just spread out over that field.

And you know what?

I've watched them in the morning take off together.

Man, what a sight.

You talk about, it's like helicopters and off they go, and it's not too long.

They're in formation.

I don't know how they figure it out, but they're in formation.

Off they go again.

It doesn't seem like they're jockey for position.

They just fall into place because they know it works.

Amen.

Look again, verse 1.

How good it is and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

It is like the precious ointment upon the beard that ran down upon the, I'm sorry, the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts of his garment.

That's the dew of hermit.

As the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, watch it.

For there the Lord command the what?

The blessing.

So when brethren dwell together in unity, then God commands the what?

The blessing.

And he does.

You look in the book of Acts, and we won't go into it.

When they dwelled together in unity, there was a blessing.

Now, we've grown a little bit.

We've not outgrown and we've not grown awkwardly or anything like that.

God's added as he's seen fit.

And we welcome you that are relatively new.

Maybe in the last four or five months, you've been coming to our church and everything.

And we're glad you're here.

And I'm not just saying that.

We're glad you're here.

You that are here in the last four or five months, whether you were here before or you're new to our church, brand new hour, you are an answer to our prayer.

We pray that the Lord of the harvest would send what?

Labors into the what?

Into the harvest.

And we're glad you're here.

More than you know.

We were getting tired of flying in formation with each other.

What do you mean?

Well, as a smaller formation, you get to the front much faster.

Amen?

So we're just glad you're here.

And whatever you can do and you want to be a part of it, we're we're glad you're here.

But it's important for us to get to know each other.

I was out visiting a family last night.

Uh the night before I was visiting a family.

And by the way, I probably need to say this if you're new here and I have not visited you yet, and maybe you've been here for a few months and I've not visited you.

I've apologized.

But all you need to do is uh call me and I'll I'll definitely stop by and just get to know you a little bit so I know how to pray for you.

And if I missed you, I do apologize.

I want to see you.

I don't mean that.

You mean you'll come to my home if you invite me.

Even if you don't invite me, I'll come.

Well, what do you want?

Nothing.

Just get to know you.

I tell everybody I go to visit, I'm not here to sell the church.

I'm here to find out how we can help you.

How we can be a blessing to you in some way, shape, or form.

You say, well, you know, what's your phone number?

I'm in the book.

Oh, don't you have like, you know, D Fisher with no address?

No, it says Doug Fisher, and it says the address, and the number is 465-5315.

Aren't you afraid?

No.

Don't you think a lot of people will call you?

No?

I prefer your word if you want to.

But you know what you shouldn't do?

If you've been here five or six or seven months, ten months, two years, well, the pastor's never coming to see me.

He doesn't care about me.

But wait a minute, I'm flying information.

There's a lot of things going on.

I'll be happy to see if you just honk.

Or even squeak.

Hey, if you've been here for years and years and years and years and years and say, man, I don't know, the pastor just doesn't seem to have time for me.

Well, let me know you need some.

I got people coming to my office all the time.

I don't remember ever saying, get out of here.

Can't you see?

I'm in my meditation.

I'm studying.

Leave the man of God.

Hey, listen, I am not sitting up on a mountain somewhere killing off the next 50 that comes by.

You know the story?

That's not me.

So if you if you need our help in some way, my wife or I, or you say, well, you know, I can't seem to get through to the pastor.

Hey, if you leave a message and I don't get it, it's because I didn't get it.

Call again.

Call my home.

We've tried to work out of a system at home, but Deborah seems to keep eating the messages.

So if I don't get back to you, it's not because I didn't want to call you, it's just I probably didn't get the message.

Is that fair?

Hey, we want to get this church prepared for the battle that's upcoming, if you would, with school and Bible institute, and fall time.

And you say, hey, preacher, are we going to have uh you know Thanksgiving push this year?

Absolutely.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, you remember last year?

For those of you who weren't hurt here, we'll show you the video later on, a little little bits and pizzas, pieces of it, but last year, pizza.

Uh it's not pizza, it's turkey, amen.

But just so you know, last year uh uh we had a packed house our first year here.

Uh there was people that were literally visitors here, and we had uh chairs about from about here that way, and about the same over that way, and the choir was full, and it was full back this way, and there were people back over there, and there were people over there, and there were people out in the foyer, and uh Brother Wally Davis preached, and a number of people got saved.

But it's a lot of work.

And then we fed uh is Mrs.

Schultz in here somewhere, Daryl?

Uh I think we fed uh 2,700, 2,800 people.

But that takes unity.

Is she back there somewhere?

Okay, so we fed 7,000.

But but please understand something.

And you say, wait a minute, I come to get something tonight.

You are.

You are getting something because it's an attitude that we need to have towards each other.

That we're here as a team, and God's placed us on this earth as a team.

And he's joined us together, and he's got something for us to do.

You say, man, it sounds like pressure.

Well, if the wind starts to blow, just keep flying.

Just stay in formation.

Just do your best to stay in.

And there'll be trials and tribulation.

He gives us an example in the Bible.

I mean, Hezekiah's group faced a lot.

They stayed on the wall.

Uh, Nehemiah's group faced Sambalat and Tobiah.

And they stayed building.

Is that right?

Yes, sir, sir.

Uh, the the negative example is in the wilderness where the ten spies come in, they broke each other apart.

Usually it comes from within.

So uh I'm gonna do something uh, I guess a little bit unusual for a Wednesday night.

What time do you have?

Eight o'clock?

My message is finished.

You say, well, what did you didn't study?

Oh, I studied.

I mean, I prayed and I studied.

I mean, what have you been lazy preachers?

It's summertime and you got didn't got done anything else for us?

More?

Oh no, I do have something more for you.

What if we took the last 15 minutes of what would be our normal services instead of you running out the door?

I should stay around fellowship a little bit.

Talk to somebody I haven't talked to in a while.

Oh, I don't like to do that.

You know, I don't know.

You ought to get to know the goose that's ahead of you flying.

Because you never know how it'll form up that day.

I don't like flying behind that.

You know, you just learn to.

Sometimes we come into church, and I understand we're we've got a set kind of schedule on what we're doing and everything, but I want to give you some time tonight to have some fellowship, to see each other, and to talk a little bit.

Now, if you're new here, you say, Man, I come to the church, and man, I thought I was gonna get really preached too, and all that, and all I got was some liberal message about goose and geese.

I mean, I don't get that.

But if you've been around for a while, you know this is a pastoral message.

Because when the stress and the pressure and the trials come, and let's face it, please look up here.

Uh God's gonna continue to add, and let's just face it, I don't know if a year from now we'll be here.

We've been here officially now at the Seventh-day Adventist property one year.

We didn't come in with this many people.

Amen.

Well, God's added to us a little bit.

And we're glad you're here.

And we know this, we've got to get prepared for whatever is next.

Is there a plan?

I'm sure there is.

You say, well, who has it?

The one who has preeminence.

And he'll show us in time.

But it's good if you meet someone and get to know somebody's name and maybe somebody you haven't talked to in a while, and just fellowship and why?

Because it's unity and harmony.

You know when I was talking to Brother So-and-so, boy, and he's got some things going on.

We need to pray for him a little bit more.

You would have never known it had you not talked to him a little bit.

You know, I uh you know the pastor stopped the message a little bit earlier than Norman.

I wonder when we're talking to so-and-so, and we didn't know it, but boy, they're going through something right now.

Uh, why don't we uh why don't we do something for them and be an encouragement to them?

Tomorrow's July 4th.

I don't know what you're doing, but I hope you're not going to the beach to get drunk.

Amen.

I mean, I hope you got something planned to tedify.

How many of y'all have to work tomorrow?

All right, all together.

But we're gonna be thinking about you.

And we'll give an extra flag wave for you, amen.

But it ought to be a good time to.

If you don't want to be, uh, if you want to be alone with the Lord tomorrow, fine.

But if you don't want to be, let us know.

We'll find someone for you to be with.

You don't have to be lonely on a holiday.

Let's all stand.

Now it's 8.05, and you're gonna go down and get your children out, and they're gonna say, What are you doing down here already?

So, what I'd like to encourage you to do is something like this.

You will allow you another 10 or 15 minutes before we empty out the nurseries in the beginner's department because they're used to not letting out to about 8.15, 820.

And why don't you just uh find a place and get to know someone or shake somebody's hand or go up to them and introduce yourself or something like that?

And what I hope you won't do, and I know you don't want to just, well, I'm not gonna just stand over in a corner and wait for somebody to, you know, come up to me and say, how long I gotta do this, it's 10 minutes to go.

Oh man, this is I hate that.

Hey, you know what?

Don't run off to your car, linger a little bit, go up and shake somebody's hand you never met before, talk to them a little bit.

Hey, I never saw you before at the church.

Uh uh, you know, are you new here?

And they'll say, No, we've been here for three years.

And uh, you know how that goes.

Oh, I'm sorry, I've, you know, I work in the ministry and haven't met you before and that type of thing.

But I think it'd be a good time tonight.

If you've never received Christ as Savior, God wants to have some fellowship with you tonight, but he wants to create you a new creature in Christ first.

And then he wants to dwell with us to dwell together in unity.

And by that we have to get to know each other.

The deaf section, have some fellowship up there.

We've got a deaf revival coming up.

We've got a prison revival coming up.

Um, there are different meetings that are coming up.

We've got some of the men that are coming in that will be preaching the prison revival, will be preaching to the church.

And there's just a lot of things going to be happening this summer.

We've got later on that we haven't really announced yet, we've got a men-boys uh, it's not a father and son, but it's a men-boys campout plan.

And we've got some things just this year planned that uh you you are definitely gonna want to come and see.

Um just for you ladies, you don't listen to this, this is this is kind of male, you know, toys, men's toys that are important to us.

But if you guys ever heard of paintball, uh you know but you you ladies, you know, that's this is bonding.

This is important to us.

Amen.

We we we need to do this stuff.

So uh so we got some things planned for the men and the boys, and not everybody has to participate, but I mean it's worth coming out just to watch guys get plastered, amen.

I mean, you know.

So, anyways, we got we got some things like that, and we've got, we're already planning, ladies, we're planning our uh we're printing our we're planning our ladies' conference.

It's gonna be a great ladies' conference this year.

Something for the ladies and the daughters.

It's not mother-daughters, it's ladies in there and and and the girls of the church.

Because we don't want ladies who do not have daughters to think, oh, that's the mother-daughter thing.

We don't go to that.

Hey, we don't have that kind of stuff as far as we want ladies and and all the girls to come, and when we do the camp out, we want men and we want the boys to come.

And we want you to have a good time with that.

So we've got different things planned that that don't sound maybe real spiritual, but you get to know each other.

Because we have to dwell together according to what?

Unity.

And fly in formation.

We'll fly longer, we'll accomplish more together than trying to drop out and fly on our own.

If you've never seen Christ as Savior tonight, would be a good night.

If you have already and God's brought you to our church, and even if you're visiting here tonight, we're we're glad you're here.

Stay around a little bit, fellowship with someone, talk with someone.

Go outside where it's a little cooler, maybe, and just kind of talk a little bit and everything.

And they'll be letting out the children before long.

Then go get your nursery children and all that.