"The Results of Unity"
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Galatians 3:27-28, John 13:35, Genesis 11:1-9, Genesis 9, Genesis 10:8-9, Acts 2:1-8, Acts 6, Acts 15:1-11

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--the-results-of-unity
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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you have your Bibles and would be so kind to turn with me today to the book of Galatians the book of Galatians chapter number three and we will begin reading at verse 27 and 28 the call to unity the call to unity today is the final lesson in a four-part series on the call the call to unity we have studied on the power of unity we have studied on the purpose of unity and we have studied on the standard member last week we talked about the standard the unity has a standard unity and today we want to conclude with the results the results of unity the results of unity Galatians 27 and verse number excuse me Galatians 3 and verse 27 for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus the gospel of john chapter 13 thank you Lord for your word John chapter 13 and verse number 35 Jesus says by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you have love one to another the results the results are in the results the results of unity precious God today I stand before you as a mortal man I stand before you today and God the test of my love for you has been determined if I love you I will feed your sheep Lord today give me the ability of the anointing and them give me the frame of mind in the frame of heart Lord to speak your word as you would have it to be spoken father I pray that upon the ears of the people today that there would be a desire to hear your word and to apply your word and to see the word change our lives Lord today I will give you all the praise and the honor for the miracle of unity God I will give you the praise and the honor for what you will do with this message and what you have done with this church in Jesus name we pray amen and amen you may be seated thank God thank God he is great and he is greatly to be praised there will always without exception without exception be a result of unity without exception unity will always produce results it will always without without exception is it would be impossible for there to be the spirit of unity among people and there not be any results without exception there are results but the thing we're going to look at today is that there are causes which are noble there are causes that we need to be unified over that are noble worthy causes but then there are causes that are not Noble there are causes that are not God's will you'll find yourself today understanding that there are people that are in unity that are doing things that are directly opposite of what God's will what God's will is in the earth and for their lives now think about this for a moment when Jesus was accused of casting out Devils by the Prince of Devil's he was accused of that they said they said you are casting out Devils through Devils and Jesus simply gave this explanation he said a house that is divided against itself cannot stand in other words something that is divided will never will never stand so the results of that unity would be division but isn't it amazing that the Devils can be United without the Holy Ghost the Devils can be united the devil there is no insurrection in Hell there is no dividing of demons demons are unified and they are unified for the purpose of humanity that which is made in the image and the likeness of God they want to do everything do damned to kill steal and to destroy they are destructive in their nature although that they are though they are unified in their cause and I would be less than honest with you today to tell you that you cannot see the results just open your eyes up you can see the results of the unity that hell has you can see the results you can see the pain and turmoil and terror that humanity is going through today and when you see that understand that's because hell is unified we find in the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis something very interesting it is a group of people that are in unity they are in absolute unity if you turn there Genesis chapter 11 and verse number 1 and the whole earth was of one language and of one speech and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there and they said please notice and if you write in your Bible underline and they said they said one to another go to let us make brick burn them thoroughly and they had brick for stone and slime had day for mortar it's gonna be waterproof brick for stone and slime for mortar and they said verse 4 and they said go to let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded and the Lord said Behold the people is one the people is one this is not God's will and I'll show you in a moment this is not God's will and my point would be today that if people can become one in something that is not God's will without God's Spirit how much more can you and I accomplish oneness in our church with God's Spirit and with God's purpose he said the Lord came down to see the city which the children of men built it and the Lord said Behold the people is one they have all one language and this they begin to do and now nothing and if God says nothing it means it nothing will be refrained from them which they have imagined to do go to let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech so the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth and they left off to build the city therefore is the name of it called Babel because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth and from thence did the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth now what was wrong with that tower what's wrong with this number one it's not God's will in Genesis chapter 9 in Genesis chapter 9 when Noah and his family came off the art God gave a new dispensation we call it human government he told them to respect human human beings to respect their fellow brothers they were they were to have a respect for one another as a matter of fact he said that if a man would shed another man's blood this is where capital punishment was issued by God he said if a man would take another man's life then by man's hand they would get together and take the life of the individual that took the life of his brother and so there was to be a dispensation in God's time of a mutual respect that you meant humanity would have for one another they would have a mutual respect coupled with the fear that I'm to do my brother no harm because if I would take my brother's life I would lose my own life they were to fulfill the will of God in that they were to go into all of the earth and repopulate or replenish the earth now what is interesting and along with that along with that was a sign a sign the rainbow was a visible sign that God had spoken his word and that God would keep his word God gave a visible sign because when God gives covenants God gives a sign to back up the covenant he gives something physical he gives something that you can see to back up so every time they saw the rainbow it reminded them of their covenant and their purpose in life to go into all the world to repopulate nothing was said about building nothing was said about cities with their names nothing was said it was God's will for them just to repopulate or to populate the earth that was God's will but there's some interesting things that are not said between Genesis 9 in Genesis 11 it's not necessarily what is said or what is done that concerns me as much as what is not done after God spoke and said this is my covenant this is what I want you to do respect each other repopulate the earth here's the sign the rainbow the next thing we hear the next thing we hear is that Noah planted a vineyard and that Noah made wine and that Noah became intoxicated and that Noah stripped his clothes off naked and lay shamefully in front of his family that's what we hear and then after that we hear about a man in the 10th chapter in the 10th chapter of Genesis verse number 2 chapter 10 verse number 8 and it says and cush begat Nimrod he began to be a mighty one in the earth he began to be a mighty one where did that come from he began to be a mighty one in the earth he was a mighty hunter before the Lord wherefore it is said even as a Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord and the beginning of his kingdom was babel so it's not necessarily what is said in between Genesis 9 and Genesis 11 as much is what is not saying where's the altar where's the worship Noah Noah I believe that you can save yourself some shame in front of your family instead of spending time planting vineyards and experimenting with the the wine that you made and becoming intoxicated if it could have said between Genesis 9 and genesis 11 and Noah worship God or Noah built an altar or Noah called on the name of the Lord you see when we become intoxicated with material things we are bound to produce a generation that gets lifted up in themselves that's why we must be so careful as Christian parents today desiring to raise our children up there in the way that they should go that we never get intoxicated with material things because intoxication with material things of this world will leave us dry and leave us shamefully laying in front of our families and then it will cause our families to want to lift up themselves they will live by the golden rule he that hath the gold rules they will live by the by the logo they will live by the statuses of material things and let me talk to you this morning from your heart that song I'd rather have Jesus than houses and lands I would rather have Jesus than be of the king of all the land I would rather have Jesus than all the gold and all of the material things that needs to become more than just a song that needs to become a lifestyle that we look at everything through life that we would rather have Jesus than all of these things his kingdom his kingdom were you getting off having your kingdom at because I'm getting lifted up in myself now the dangerous thing about unity is people can be unified by a charismatic leader and this is why we need the assurity of God's word we need the anchor of God's Word that's why we need to read it know it believe it and practice it because we can be led astray we can be led astray by the by the charismatic personality of a leader that has the ability that has the skills to know how to gain followers but because the cause is to lift up himself the cause is for him to get glory the cause was not millions of people did their lives not end because of a charismatic leader by the name of Adolf Hitler Hitler was a very charismatic leader he was a very powerful speaker he came along at a time he came along in a time of the prosperity of the Jewish people and Germany in Europe was at an all-time high and he used that he you that to spur within the nation of Germany that they were a superior race this is what Hitler taught Hitler taught that the Germans were a superior race of humans and that all others needed to be looked down upon and especially the Jews needed to be destroyed and millions of leader millions of Jewish people lost their lives because of a charismatic leader by the name of Adolf Hitler that solidified a whole nation that got now the nation of Germany looks back on that they look back on that and and and and with shame many of them will say how did we get into that place how did we ever get lured into believing such a thing if we don't watch it the climate gets right for charismatic leaders to come along and they seize the moment and our minds are tempered and our minds are numb and we start following the drum or we start following the Pied Piper we start just going right along because somehow we just believe in the cause was not a good cause charismatic leader David Koresh's and the Jim Joneses and all the list could go on and on but here we have the Tower of Babel Nimrod leads the charge he begins to preach and teach the people about a superior race we are a superior race so therefore we need to build us a tower we need to build us a name we need to have a name among ourselves we need to be a city we need to be our own City and our own civilization and we need to have our own name but the Bible said God came down be well assured that whatever we're unified in God's going to be the great inspector that comes down and God began to inspect it because it was not according to his will was not the will of God for man to build cities it was the will of from maan to repopulate the earth it was not God's will for man to go in this direction it was God's will that all the earth be populated with humanity and the Bible said God did a work because the kingpin are the most important they tell me that on a certain brother Jones that on a certain helicopter that there is one boat that goes through the blades on the top of that helicopter and that one boat holds the blades down and the name of that boat that long boat is called the Jesus boat and I and I asked I asked I said why do they call it the Jesus boat they said because son if that boat ever breaks all you have time to say is Jesus that's all that you have time to say the kingpin of unity is our speech the kingpin the Jesus bolt let me say of the church is our speech if the enemy can get us thinking differently he gets a speaking lit differently and if he gets us speaking differently our goal to evangelize our city our state our country our world becomes foggy and divisive our goals to do something for God becomes become something that we can't see anymore because we begin to worship our thoughts we begin to worship our mentality we want our way we want our wheel because after all my way of thinking is superior to your way of thinking this is how churches get divided this is even how families divide when one person in the family begins to feel a superiority about my thoughts are much higher than yours hey only God can say that okay let's let's just lay that to rest right now only God can say my ways are above your ways and my thoughts are above your thoughts but in a when the thoughts when one person begins to believe that they are superior some men are trained and and we have to retrain them when they get in the churches because they're a male that they have this dominant power over a weak female and and they get this unbiblical view in their life of how a woman should be treated and their role in a home and that always ends that always either ends the marriage or it has a marriage of endurance BC God made us today not to believe that we are superior can I tell you I am a much better man than my wife will ever be she is a much better woman than I will ever be I cannot be the one man I can't be the best woman in this family God has given us one best woman in this family and she cannot be the best man in this family because God has given me giving us the best man but together the best woman and the best man serving the best God can raise the best family and we can have the best life when it's all said and done talking about working together I didn't have this in my notes today we we we got to reminiscing last night she's teaching a marriage class right now upstairs and we got to reminiscing about funny things that we we've done throughout our marriage now some of the things sister Lee wasn't funny at the time all right we went laughing at the time you know but now we look back on it and we can laugh about it you believe you said that you believed I said you believed it but there's one thing that we did that in the in the life of me I don't know how we did this but we had a house that had a very steep roof on it and it had these beautiful dormers that came out okay man I think three beautiful dormers that came out and they were they were live dormers and and and that's versus dummy dormers because sometimes you see a dormer on a house there's nothing there they just they just built it it doesn't even go into the house but ours were live dormers you actually had a little space you could go back and you couldn't you could look out well you all know what a clean freak sister curtain tree is all right now me I'm trashed man I just listen just it it has start smelling for I would do anything to it all right huh just you know that's just how we roll and so those dormer windows were dirty and she wanted those dormer windows cleaned but I'm afraid of heights it's a steep steep roof I'm afraid of heights any-any happening it's it's not happening and so I'm not cleaning those windows I'll take the water hose and try to get it the best I can but the birds had left reminders upon a couple of them that they had been there and it wasn't happening I was not now I'm gonna please her and III think y'all know me well enough no I knew everything I really want to please my wife but this I'm not risking my life all right I'm not and so we have this kind of words she says okay I'll do it I'll do it I see you Pina you can't do it you you cannot you cannot do I'll do it I'd do it and some they say I knew she was taking the vacuum cleaner upstairs I'm thinking what in the world she's taking the bathroom and she starts hollering at me okay and so went upstairs she had the dormer window open she had we had a vacuum cleaner to that a real long cord to it she had the cord tied around her waist and she said could you just at least hold the vacuum cleaner I said penny this is crazy this is where you won't do it no I'm not doing it no I'm not gonna do this and so wish somebody got a picture she got out of the window me holding the rope why she can get out there on that steep roof and she can clean b-but I'm telling you she's a better woman than I'll ever be a better one she's a better woman than anything we worked together on that our cause is together I was feeling right proud of myself that I held the vacuum cleaner rope she never has come to that one but anyway language language when God wanted to divide man's efforts he came down and he confused their languages he came down and miraculously got in their mouths got in their minds changed the way that they communicated so when one man was asking for a pound of a obscene man or whatever he couldn't understand what he's saying you sound like you're babbling you're babbling you can't understand one another and the Bible said they left off to build the building because they could not understand unified though they were because they could not communicate it they left off to build the building and they went in and this is where we get the beginning of nations because they separated into different parts of the world and this was at the beginning these were different nations became into existence was su dis dividing but what about that account over in Acts chapter 2 when it is God's will to take the gospel into all the world what about when God says now it's not my will necessarily that the earth be repopulated because the earth is populated now but it's my will that a message called the death burial and resurrection the gospel of Jesus Christ it's my will for this message to go into all the world it's got to reach every village it's got to reach every corner of the world it's my will you hear that today it's God's will for the Apostolic message to reach the entire world it is God's will that every hut in Africa have a tract that explains to them the death burial resurrection repentance baptism Holy Ghost it's God's will that all the earth you said well housing how does God bless you all how do you all build hearing a recession how do you all build debt-free the only thing I can tell you is we're behind God's will to evangelize our world and because we are doing something that is in God's will God is a loud first Apostolic Church of Maryville to do something exceedingly abundantly and above all that we could all think ask right why is that because we're in God's will we're in God's will God used language to stop the building and to continue on with his will and now in Acts chapter 2 he said don't depart from Jerusalem and in Acts chapter 2 and verse number one and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one Accord in one place suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind it filled all the house where they were sitting there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire and it said upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the it gave them utterance or gave them the ability to speak there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven that's very important because God did a miraculous work in Genesis 11 through their language to get them into into all the world so that there would be nations because when God started in Genesis God already had revelations figured out when God started there there's got to be a message that reaches nations but if they don't go into all the world and repopulate the world there's no nations for the message to reach so God is a God of planning and God is a God of forethought and now that there's nations there he said I'll do another work he said because this gospel has got to go into all the nations so there on that day 120 faithful disciples of Jesus Christ were gathered waiting to receive something they had never received before they had never received the gift of the Holy Ghost it was nothing more than a promise but for some seven to ten days they stayed United did you catch that they stayed United they were listening it doesn't just say in verse number one and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one Accord in one place it could say they were just in one place and one of the day of Pentecost he could have left over the one place and one Accord but it's there for a reason because God will always pour out his Spirit upon people that are in one frame of mind God will always I know that you can feel Jesus at home I know you can feel Jesus in your car I know you can feel Jesus up at Cage code I know you can feel Jesus and read your Bible over the places but there is nothing more fulfilling than our corporate worship together when we get in one place come on somebody when we get into one place when we get into one place this old magnify the Lord with me that us exalt his name together I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of God you see when we come together it is a testimony of our love for Jesus Christ when we walk in today we don't have to say it our very presence here today says we're not here to play bingo we're not here today for some kind of social search social we're not here today for some kind of humanitarian outreach we're not here today to try to close everybody we're not here today to try to feed everybody we are not the Red Cross we are not the United Way we are the Church of Jesus Christ and were united to preach the gospel oh let me continue they were due and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and begin to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and they were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together and we're confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language God miraculously used tongues to get the attention of people that day because the gospel the church was born and before the church would close its doors on that first day 3,000 more people were added to the number of the church so we see this morning how that unity to a bad cause unity to the wrong cause leads to a place called Babel leads to a place called and that's another word for confusion unity to the wrong cause leads to confusion but unity to the right cause leads to the Church of Jesus Christ I'm glad I'm in this church I'm glad I'm in this church of Jesus Christ I'm glad that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it and I'm thankful today that when he sounds that trumpet that the Church of Jesus Christ is going to be raptured out of this earth that everything revolves around the church when you just lift your hands and give him praise if you if you feel what I'm feeling this morning give him some praise I'm glad I'm in this church I'm glad I'm in this church I'm glad I'm in the church something began to happen something began to happen yes the devil tried to threaten them yes the devil tried to persecute them but they also faced other temptations and I believe that we still face today Acts chapter six said there was a murmuring among the people that the certain ethnic widows were being neglected over the Jude that the the Jewish widows were receiving treatment in the other and of another ethnic group we're not receiving treatment fair treatment from the church and the Bible said there was a murmuring that was a murmuring want you to know today that if you are prejudiced in any form or fashion your heart is not right with God your heart is not right with God be it that you're a white person and you look with disdain upon a black man or a black person read my lips your heart is not right with God not right if you look at Hispanic people if you look at Hispanic people and there's something in your heart it makes you feel because you were born in the USA that you are superior to them you read your pastor's lips again your heart isn't alright we've got the white man we are not the superior race we are not the superior race now where did this come from this superiority this number one when the answer to all conflict is to believe the Bible because any race of people that believe they are superior to another race of people need to understand where we all come from we all came from Adam and Eve unless you want to believe in evolution and then that may be why some folks are looking like their kinfolks but anyway we all came from Adam and Eve and we had great racial and just when you thought that the the racial thing was an ignorance that we got delivered from years ago here it's flared back up again it's flared back up again what we need today what we need today is to understand that in the Church of Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female there is neither bond there's neither free there's neither Jew there's neither Greek and there is neither male or there is neither female you say man that's how in the world do you figure that because by one Spirit we are god's church the ultimate purpose for us is to be God's church not to be divided by what color we are there's not a place here in this town for a black church or a white church or Hispanic Church there's only a place here for one church for one church not there's not a place here there's not a place here for educated people and uneducated people I hear people they'll talk about well you know the real educated people go to so and a lot of times this is said in huge cities they'll say well the real educated people they they go over there to the soy sauce church and oh brother John Doe down there he's got a lot of poor people and all that you know that's a sad testimony to your church because a church should not be fashioned to fit a certain educational quality it shouldn't be fashioned to even fit a first for an economic level it should be fashioned to be the purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ to propagate the gospel to tell every person about Jesus to tell every person how to be born again to tell every person how to live an overcoming life to tell every person how they need to worship God that is the purpose of the church and so in the fifteenth chapter of Acts Acts chapter 15 and verse number one read this with me please in Acts chapter 15 verse number one and certain men which came down from Judea taught the Brethren and said except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses you cannot be saved when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension that means they had a large falling-out and dissertation with them they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem under the apostles and elders about this question and being brought on their way by the church they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria declaring the conversion of the Gentiles and they caused great joy into all the brethren and when they were coming to Jerusalem they were received of the church and of the Apostles and elders and they declared all things that God had done with them but there arose certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believes saying that it was needful to circumcise them to be to command them to keep the law of Moses and the Apostles and elders came together for to consider this manner and when there had been much disputing that meant that the business men session went a long time Peter rose up and said men and brethren you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe and God which North the hearts bear them witness giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did unto us put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith now therefore why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor nor we were able to bear but we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they then all the multitude kept it kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them no I think this is good today because one of the last things the devil wants us to do when we have differences is to be silent about it to be silent about it I believe a lot of times we could stay focused upon what our cause is as a church if we discussed things that we might differ on maybe you know now there's some things I'm not gonna discuss there's some things I'm not gonna discuss for example I have I have some convictions that I have never put on this church I've never asked them I grew up we had a little thing at school before I got saved we'd pitch pennies okay anybody know what that is you'd pitch pennies up against the wall and whoever got the closest to the wall guess what he got got all the pennies and then I went on up to two nickels and quarters right and then we went on up to these things called dice right anybody still here today right and we went on up to these things called cards right now pennies and dice and cards are not evil among themselves but what I used to do with that dice and cards reminds me anytime I see them you've never heard me get up here and talk about no Yoda want you all playing cards I don't want you all playing monopoly because monopolies got dice I've never got up here but personally and it doesn't make me any more spiritual than anybody else it does not it's not old none of your secret no that's not my secret all right that's just simply how I feel but I've never got up and tried to put that on anyone okay but I do believe let's let's just I know this is Sunday morning but let's talk for a moment sister you don't need to stay silent in your mind when you don't understand what the Bible is teaching about your hair you don't need to stay silent there you don't need to stay silent about it and think well I don't really understand why I can't do this I can't I can't cut my hair I don't really I don't really understand why I can't do this or I can't do that don't be signing about that don't be silent about that what you need to do what you need to do is say what does the word say about this what does the word of God teach about this in an open frame of mind in an open frame of mind a few weeks ago and I won't mention their name because I don't have the permission but a few weeks ago I had the most my wife and I had the most beautiful Bible study encounter with a precious family that that has started attending our church and and they had a lot of questions that they were asking they were not bad people that they had questions they were not rebellious people that they had questions that they just had questions about the faith they just had questions about the belief thank God this is how that we get things done is when we come together in this first in acts 15 in this first meeting guess who all got to speak all the views got to speak even those that stood up and said bless God they need to be circumcised they need to go back and they need to go back under the law just like we put them Gentiles under the law just like we if we had to do it they should have to do it put them back under the law of circumcision it is not repent baptism Holy Ghost it is now repent baptism Holy Ghost and circumcision all right or you cannot be saved you cannot be saved and so they heard them for a while and then Peter got up and said you all know that God sent me down to the house of Cornelius Cornelius was a full-blood Gentile we used to not even go into their houses and eat we wouldn't even walk on the same sidewalk with them we would have nothing to do with those dirty dogs that were outside of the house of Israel but God told me to go down there and when God told me to go down to the house of that dirty dog Cornelius he told me to go down to those nasty Gentiles houses and when I went down there and I began to preach the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Holy Ghost failed on them as it did on us in Acts chapter 2 and they begin to speak in other tongues and then somebody said I looked around at the six Jewish men I took with me because I'm not gonna be the only one get in trouble I took six men with me and I said since they've got the Holy Ghost like we've got shouldn't they be baptized the same as we and i baptize them in the name of the Lord Jesus and about that time Paul spoke up and Paul said I've been holding revivals in the in the Gentile cities and the lame is walking in the blind seeing and I'm baptizing people and all of this and all of a sudden James the Bishop of the church James is the bishop he gets up and he passes judgment he says we are not going to put this yoke upon them we're going to tell them to abstain from eating things offered to idols we're going to tell them to abstain from fornication amen we're going to tell the Gentiles they don't need to be a fornicating we're going to tell the Gentiles they need to abstain from eating meat offered to idols and he listed some things out through there and then the Bible says the Church of the Living God the book of Acts rolled on and it began to turn cities upside down what was meant to divide them thank God somebody clapped their hands and said let's get back to the purpose and the purpose is seeing people filled with the Holy Ghost the purpose is seeing lives change whatever sin of what every sinner in our town needs is the Holy Ghost I'm glad I'm in this church now I've got a little I've got a little something wanna do today and I've got some children that have come in and I'm gonna close with this sister Wilson just Emily sister Kay come over here for a second y'all come over here a second and the camera might want to get a good tight spot at this I got some puzzles today I went and I've got can can you get a can you get a close-up which camera should I look at today and y'all get a close-up of this this one done can you see that good on the screen I'll try to hold it real still can you don't see that what do you all see there lighthouse yeah beautiful picture isn't it a beautiful picture it's a puzzle it's a puzzle right and here it is a minute here it is here it is right hard to believe that this right here is in here right you say yeah I believe that but you know that's how we are in the church today because no one person just pass those down take one pass them down just take one pass them down just take one pass them down just take one take one pass them down brother feel would you help me would you just would you just listen let's get - let's make some offering containers let's get some offering containers here will you be an usher would you take that over that section there would you take that over that section there would you just take one take one pass them register make sure you don't have any left okay make sure you don't have any left all right don't have any left all right don't have any left y'all all right today make your Lord just take one that y'all got take one pass one down one-pass well then how about this whole section back here just pass them down oh yeah take one pass I'm glad I'm in this church or tune just take one pass around I'm glad I'm in this church today I'm glad I'm in this church this is what this church looks like but I can never be that all by myself hear me today I can never be that on by myself some of you want to be that all by yourself I'm sorry you're never going to be that all by yourself I believe I got a word from the Lord some of you have been thinking about some of you been thinking about going somewhere else to worship because you just don't know where you fit in here can I tell you most of us don't know where we fit in here I don't know really where this is my piece sister bowling time that's my piece but I really can't tell you where I fit in here I just got to let the master puzzle I just got to let the master of putting the puzzle together begin to put me in this space here I'm glad I'm in this church I'm glad that I'm in this church you may be seated may be seen you don't have a beast in this puzzle raise your hand right now bill Steve stand with me you don't have a piece you just go ahead I tell you look for the or look at that I don't know where I fit in hey wait a minute bro Steve bring me I've lost no here it is I'm how many of y'all battle at times not know where you fit in come on be honest with midnight you know I don't really know where I fit in I don't really really know where I fit in and don't you know there's people that went through church the church trying to fit in because they never get the big picture that they are simply one piece to this puzzle called the church they're just one piece to this puzzle and don't you know yet I don't care how beautiful put that picture on the screen for me please I don't care how beautiful that is look at that that's beautiful that's breathtaking today that's awesome today that's awesome I wish Ruby I wish mama all prophets sister Karen was still alive today she should eat this up today but you know what all it takes to take your mind off of the beautiful lighthouse in the beautiful ocean is for just one piece to be missing if there was just one piece missing in that puzzle you should say I can't I really can't I really can't see the beauty in the lighthouse I can't see it because that one piece is missing please hear pastor today we need you to be a part so that we can be the big picture for what God Wilson if I had the box I would tell you the box says that this is age 12 and above this is age 12 and above its called maturity but I bought about another puzzle last night and this is h3h3 and I got a sermon out of it would you come down three ladies come on down you start putting that puzzle together and you start putting that puzzle together now on this puzzle here it's not like this puzzle here all right we have it in anybody else you don't have a piece to this spell so that ought to be yours today anybody else but you're gonna be able to take this home I'm not gonna ask you need my elders with me but the better you are at a puzzle the more mature you are at a puzzle the smaller the pieces yet because you become more patient and you become more working you don't have to see this you don't have to be able to recognize well that's just a blue piece of puzzle there no that's part of a beautiful sunrise that's what I'm holding in my hand today and without my part of a beautiful sunrise that whole picture is going to have a distraction on it but if I'm immature I look at this if I'm immature go ahead y'all put these together in a moment then you can you show this one real close right here real close look at that you can put that together in just a couple of minutes you think y'all were working on that what two or three minutes two or three minutes you know why because you can't take two pieces of something you understand and put it together so well that's a plane let's not be immature in our walk with God first Apostolic let's not be immature thing I just got a real insignificant little blue piece here I'm not very important around here and I think I'll just hide my lamp under a bushel I think I'll just stay at home nobody will miss me up I will be involved in all of this unless I can look like this this is in maturity here but this speaks of great maturity I guess I guess the church has to decide what do we want to be do we want to be an immature Church I've actually had people leave this church I've actually had people leave us and brother Jones this is what they said y'all so big y'all don't need us y'all don't need me and as much as I make them the larger this church is the more we need the more we need people now you might be given a small piece of what night do you want to sit in the nursery Oh God's called me to do great things there couldn't be anything greater than you watching the child my mother and father set out here and fall under conviction and come to the altar and get the Holy Ghost oh I want to do something everybody can see Who I am as an individual some of you are a gifted today some of you have had tremendous patience with children and we have we have some diamonds in the rough I don't believe that there's one child born with any kind of situation that God stands back at their birth and says Down syndrome I don't have anything for them to do I don't believe that and I don't believe there's a child born blind that God says Oh born blind don't you speak out there wondering no I believe whatever child is born in whatever condition they're born I believe that Almighty God is looking for a person that's got part of the puzzle that will come along and say I can help you I can help you I don't know about you but I'm not gonna be an immature I'm not gonna be immature because all you can get in this puzzle right here until I dropped one piece this is why some churches stay small is because all I had to have Brittany was 12 pieces but they were 12 big pieces and when people have to figure everything out and then when people have to be the big part of the puzzle that's why churches are stymied that's why churches never grow very large but give me a group of people that are willing to say you know sometimes my pastor comes up and he'll say hey brother how you doing and you know I want to say to him you don't even know my name do you you don't even know my name do you but you see the most important thing about a mature person it's not that I know your name it's that he knows your name well I'm gonna still go go to a big church it's just something I don't even know anybody thank God that means we're reaching people that means we're painting a picture now now I want to do something and you stand if you got your piece of the puzzle I want you to lift it up right now but you lift it up you know what you're looking at brother Jones you're looking at this right here you're looking at this right here Church as long as you and I will realize I'm not the whole puzzle but I am a valuable piece to this puzzle we are the Church of the Living God let's pray God we love you this morning the results of unity the results of unity the results of unity the results are in we have a Christian school with almost 200 students the results are in we have a daycare open every Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m.

to 6:00 p.m. there is no arena where all the world the results are in oh my god the results are in brother brother Baker brother Baker how many cars do we have in the car show yesterday 80 cars in a car show yesterday would you not say that the majority of the people out there that record a car were not members here at first Apostolic Church would that mean would that be safe to say would it be safe to say there with almost 80 cars here yesterday in a car show would it be safe to say that the majority of the people that came through were not we're not Church members here be safe to say you know why we did it because we want them to see this right here the results are in we can do more together than we can do separately the results are in the results are in this year Lord willing we will tear the carpet off of these floors tear this platform out of here took bleachers back here hang basketball goals volleyball nets turn this into a champ and step over into our brand new auditorium all the results are in so to him the results one more time one more time hold that up before the Lord father God in heaven I come before you god help this church to see our unity god help us never to be divided God even when we come upon issues god help us enough to keep ours our voice is silent god help us to come together Lord and reason together so that we can see the main thrust of the church in Jesus name we pray amen and amen