Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent messages from the pulpit of Wilton Baptist Church. We pray that this message is a blessing to you in your walk with Christ. So God knows and we can know God. What an amazing truth that is. We have that bird. It was an epic battle. The bird made it. I don't know how, but the next day, the bird was out of the nest. I took it back into the woods a little bit, and then it kind of was coming back towards our yard. We were watching it from a distance, and the bird made it somehow. The next day, we made a little nest and put it up in the tree, and now the mother bird and the father bird, they're taking care of that little baby bird once again. So I kind of thought it went along with that song. We know God, he's the master of all these things. And so, very good. Natalie, thank you for singing that with me. Proverbs chapter three, and we have some young men that are gonna hand out a little paper for you this morning. And so fellows, if you wanna grab that, if you would, you can fold it into a little booklet, if you like. And if you got one last week, then this is the same thing from last week. And I gave out several, some of our new folks today. By the way, welcome many visitors here this morning. Glad you're with us today. How to be a happy Christian was last week, and really goes along with the same idea, how to be a happy church member. How to be a happy church member. I was thinking about those robins, and I wanted to tell you that story on purpose because, oh, by the way, just raise your hand if you need one of those, and they'll hand it to you there. Those robins were taking care of that baby robin. And what was really amazing to us was that other robins came. Other robins showed up, and they were all trying to help out. They were team working. They were working together to fend off the blue jays and that big hungry cat in the back. I don't know how they did it. I don't know. Those blue jays are pretty aggressive. So I don't know how they did it, but they worked hard. They worked together and kept care. of that baby bird, and we need to work together as Christians and as church members of the Wilton Baptist Church as well. Now, last time we looked at the one and others in Scripture that were the negative one and others. They're listed on your paper for you, and you can go back and listen to that. Those are all negative things, like don't be censorious, don't go to court, don't bite others, don't provoke to evil, don't lie, don't speak evil, and don't grudge and don't hate. Those are all things that we should not have in our life, in our relationships one to another. And it's a convicting thought and a real challenge for us not to have those things in our life. And today, and perhaps a couple more times, we'll take a look at the positive one and others in Scripture. Now, there are some terms in language that we use that are kind of contradictions or oxymorons, if you would. A jumbo shrimp, that's an oxymoron, okay? That doesn't really make sense, but you have jumbo shrimp, a freezer bird. That doesn't make sense. In church, sometimes we have those same things. A brief meeting, we're gonna have a brief meeting. And sometimes meetings go longer. A pastor's day off, one person wrote, a pastor's day off. I was at a meeting one time with preachers preaching and one person said, well, this preacher didn't show up because it's his day off. And I thought, well, you know, okay, maybe. Maybe he didn't want to go, but I was glad to be there. A blended service. That doesn't make sense. An early signup. We do this all the time. An early signup. Okay, there's a signup sheet. And everyone puts their name on last minute. Okay, so it's kind of an oxymoron as well. A clear calendar. A volunteer waiting list. Concluding remarks. You may hear that today. And conclusion, and it keeps going and going. Well, here's another one. It almost could be an oxymoron if we don't live it right. One another. One another. Here's the idea. I'm one, you're another. Individually, I'm one, and the other person across the way, he's the other. One another. A lot of times, however, we do not look at life that way. I'm thinking of honoring and blessing you, and you are thinking of honoring and blessing me. Now, the word one and another is the same Greek word in the New Testament, the same word, and the phrase one another. It's the same singular word as well. And we find it throughout Scripture, another, the other, yourselves is what it's speaking of. There are 22 positives, positive one and others, versus eight negative one and others of things to do or not to do. Now, why do we call this the happy church member? And this would be message one of the happy church member. Because if we are living up to what God expects of us, We're pleasing the Lord, we can have and experience and know real happiness in our life. Now look at your verse in Proverbs 3. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. Worth more than all the money you could ever bring home or wish to ever have. is having Bible wisdom and the happiness of living that out that comes from living the Bible wisdom. This is just amazing. If we live out God's wisdom, we can find real happiness in life. And most of the time you look at it, it has to do with our relationships, how we interact with one another, especially in the church context. Happiness is not found in being critical or demanding, selfish. Happiness is not found in stuff and things, and we need stuff and things, but that does not make us happy. Happiness is found in yieldedness to God. I'm yielding my life to the Lord. Happy is the man that hath wisdom, God's wisdom. You can have happiness today. A life submissive to Jesus is a life that can find true joy and real happiness. Think about it. No guilty conscience, weighing a person down. In fact, the relationships with other church members, other Christians, they're designed to encourage us and help us in life. And so these one and others will impact your happiness. They really will. If we're just thinking about ourselves, we can't be happy because we're being selfish. But when we're thinking of God first and thinking of others second, and somewhere down the list, we're thinking of ourself, not first or second, that's when and where we can actually find Bible happiness in our life. You can be a happy church member. You can. You can be a happy church member today. Let's ask God's blessing as we study his word today. Father, we thank you for this passage of Scripture and Proverbs. And as we open our Bibles to other passages, we pray that you would teach us your word, a move in our hearts and lives that we would have these one another's to be more like Christ, to find your wisdom and to be the happy people that you want for us to be. We commit this hour to you all for your glory. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You can be a happy church member. Here are some positives to have in your life. Look over in Romans chapter 15, if you would. Romans chapter 15, we'll be reading in verses 1 through 6. Romans 15 verse 1, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good unto edification. For even Christ, pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." By the way, verse four is talking about the Old Testament. All those accounts, all the drama, all the events that take place are there so that we can learn how to live, what to do, and also what not to do in our life, and we can take comfort and patience that other people have gone through the same things we experience today. Verse 5, Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God. even a father, with our Lord Jesus Christ." Be united. That's the first priority here of a church member, the first positive, to be united. Now, being united causes several things in our life. And notice how it speaks of the mind very first, very first thing, united in mind, that you may have one mind and one mouth, glorify God. So one mind, united in mind, that means with one accord or consensus or harmony. Now, the word mind is listed first on purpose, because what you say is a reflection of what's on your mind. What you speak is just naturally outflowing of what you've been thinking about in your mind. And so God says to the Romans, as Paul is writing this down, that they need to have one mind and in turn then they can say the right things to one another to have a united mind. A person saying wrong things does so because he's thinking in wrong ways. A person saying right things does so because he's thinking right things. And so, united in mind, united in mouth. As the passage continues, that has to do with language or what comes out of the mouth. Instead of, and part of this expression, instead of verbal vomit, we should be known for a verbal cohesion, if you would. Instead of chunks of garbage coming out of our mouth, we should be known for grace and for goodness and good things being spoken out of our mouth. And so be united in our mouth. Now listen to this, James 3, verses 10 and 11, a good illustration of what we're talking about. Out of the same mouth, proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" Okay, out of your mouth. Is it sweet words, sweet water, or bitter words, or bitter water? Now, think about it in your life. How are you now? Because everybody knows. Everybody knows. Whether you know it or not, everybody knows if you're a sweet person to be around or if you're a bitter person to be around. Everybody knows. You may not know it, but everybody knows. Are you a sweet person? Do you say sweet things? Are you gentle in your disposition? Are you kind in what you're talking about? Kind in your tone? Now, we can talk about hard things, but in a right way, in a kind way. That's not what I'm talking about. Are you known as a sweet person? Are you known as a bitter person? What impression do you leave other Christians in the church? And not only should we have a united mind and a united mouth, all of it starts with a united motivation. And that's the next word, that you may glorify God in verse six. What's the whole goal of coming to church? Glorify God. What's the whole goal or pinnacle of the Christian life? It's to glorify God. That's what we're here for. That's what God's called us to do as believers in Christ. And so we have a united mind as Christians here today. We have a united mouth. We want to say the right things, have a sweet tone about us. And our motivation is to glorify God. So that's how we can be united. it's in these three specific areas. Now, unity creates many things in our life. And notice in verse one, when we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Unity, when we are united as Christians, as brothers and sisters in Christ, the strong are supporting the weak. Verses 2-3 tells us that everyone is pleasing his neighbor for his good, for his edifying, it's a word which means a strong encouragement, building somebody up. And then we have an example like Jesus. Jesus is our example of this. He didn't come to earth to please Himself. He came to earth to please God the Father. We're here to live to the glory of God the Father. Jesus came to serve us. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to serve God, to serve us, and that's our example. Unity creates all of this. There are Bible examples in verse four to guide us. The aforetime, what was written aforetime, that's for our learning, that's to encourage us, that's to help us in our Christian life. And then when we're yielded to God in verse five, that's when this can happen. Now, the God of patience and consolation grant you, grant you to be like-minded, one toward another, according to Christ Jesus. And so this really touches every relational area of life, and especially in God's house, with God's people, in this church, with us. I mean, with me and you, this is so practical with you, with the others around you. Now, if we are constantly trying to make ourselves look good, look how good I am. If we're constantly doing that, who gets the glory? Right? Who gets the glory? If I'm always defending myself, making up excuses for myself, and, well, justifying this or that, and that's the reason I do this or that or whatever, who gets the glory out of that? God doesn't get the glory out of that. Who gets the glory in your interactions with one another? You see, our motivation in the Christian life is to glorify God. 1 Corinthians 10 31, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the, what is it? The glory of God, the glory of God. Now that's starting with the very basics, eating and drinking. I mean, staying alive, man, you gotta glorify God. Just the basics. Start with the basics. I'm going to glorify God. Lord, thank you for this food. Thank you for this. Thank you for my life or breath. Thank you for the people around me. And glorify God in those areas. From the wonderful Faith and Family film, Facing the Giants. Many of you have seen that. Facing the Giants. That's a great film, Christian film. The players learn something. We need to learn to praise God when we win. And we need to learn to praise God when we lose. Whether therefore you, whatever's going on, whether you live or die, whatever happens in life, we should be glorifying the Lord. So unity does this. It creates this in us. Unity commends. Paul did not say, be united tomorrow. You know what? Tomorrow you be united in mind and mouth and in your motive. You wait till tomorrow and do that. He didn't say that. Today, our mind and our mouth and our motives should be united together. So ask yourself this question. How do I influence those people around me? As you are walking into these doors and fellowshipping with each other and greeting one another and meeting new people, what kind of impact or influence did you project towards others? Over time, what impact are you making in church unity? Now folks, we're glued together with Bible doctrine. It all starts with our understanding of the Bible. This is God's book. It all revolves around what we believe about God from his word. So we're united on that doctrine. But then it becomes very practical. We're fellowshipping in Jesus. We're worshipping and serving God together today. We are serving together as a cohesive team, each of us individually willing to do our part to glorify God as part of this local assembly, this local body of Christ. One person said teamwork makes the dream work. Kind of like those robins working together. That baby robin survived. He made it to the next day. They teamed up to get rid of those Blue Jays and fend off the cat. Now, when it comes to church members being like this, united like this, I see some church members like glue. Some church members are like glue, and I mean that in an extremely positive light, like glue. I mean, they help people stick together. They help cohesion to take place, kind of a melding together through the good times and through the bad times. And several years ago, some of you have been here for a while, you knew a wonderful person who was, I really looked at her like glue and she passed away because of cancer. She's in heaven today. You know, you gotta hate cancer. Kelly Van Alstyne was like glue. Everyone that she was having a fellowship with or friendship with, she was like glue for them. She would hold them accountable. We missed you at church. Hey, you're having a bad attitude. You shouldn't have a bad attitude. She was like glue. You're thinking the wrong way about this. We need you. You need to help out. We need you to be here. She was like glue in her relationships and friendships, and we need to be like that. What's up with what you're doing? You're valued. We need you here. That's what she was like. We need to be like that. We need to be like glue to encourage one another. Hey, we missed you the other day. We're worried what's happening. And we need to be like that, to be like glue. Unity does that in mind, in our mouth, and in our motivation. But at the same time, some people are like repellent, like bug spray. We have a mole in our front yard. And I don't know, I put some stuff out, a mole repellent, and it looks like gopher hole sometimes. I mean, he's really going to town in our front yard. And we need some really good repellent to get rid of this mole in the front yard. But you know what? We can be like that. Sometimes humans can be like that, like repellent, driving people away from themselves, driving people away from Christian service. Some people drive others away from helping around the church. Sometimes our attitudes repel our own children away from Christian college, or even considering vocational service or ministry. Sometimes our attitudes are just repulsive. But it shouldn't be the case. You know, if our kids are going to become missionaries, if they're going to serve God with their life, maybe vocational, maybe just continue on as a regular church member doing their part, then we want to make sure we're not repellent to the things of God. that they're really clinging to because we're like glue and cohesiveness to God. Sometimes our thinking and our words and our motivation can repel a person from even going to church. I'm not meaning just our church, but any church at all. Sometimes our Christian attitude can repel, but it should not be like that. We need to be like super glue, cementing meaningful unification around the call of the cross. Number two, look over in 1 Corinthians 11. Here's another one another. 1 Corinthians 11. Be social. Be social. Look in verse 17. Now the context of this is the Lord's Supper. Last Sunday night we celebrated the Lord's Supper We remembered the sacrifice, what Jesus did. We took the leaven. Matzah has no leaven in it. And we took the juice, grape juice, and no impurities in it, all representing the body and blood of Christ. And we remember our sin. And we remember the sacrifice. And we remember what Jesus did in dying in our place on the cross and rising again. And so that's the context of what's being said here. Notice verse 17, Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. He said when you get together for church, sometimes it's not better. Things are worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper, For in eating, every one taketh before the other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? Have we not houses to eat in and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. Look in verse 33. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another." Maybe you'd like to underline the word Terry. It says, Terry, one for another. Now, when you meet together, what I understand from Bible history in the early church, early Christians held a love feast many times in connection with the Lord's Supper. A feast of charity is a term in the Book of And during that time, they would gather for a fellowship meal and they would send and receive communications from other churches. They would listen about what's happening on the mission field with other churches. They would collect money for widows and orphans. And it was like a church service altogether, very relaxed type setting. And apparently some of the wealthier members were not sharing their food. But they would get there early, eat all the food, and then act as if everyone was full, but the more poor among them didn't have a chance to eat anything. So it's like the first person who gets in line. Hey, get out of my way. I'm going in line first. It was kind of like that. But it was the rich ones who were neglecting to show love to those who had less material things in line. And Paul was saying, if the purpose of this love feast is not being realized, it'd be better just to eat at home. If you have a house, you can eat there and then come together. Now, the word tarry is important to understand. We understand it to mean wait around or wait a little bit longer than expected. The word tarry means to accept from some source. That's what the word means, to accept from some source. to await, to tarry, to expect. So whether they're coming from wealth or riches or whether they're coming from poverty and next to nothing, we can still wait on them. We can still tarry with them in a real basic way. We can still have a social atmosphere together with them. We can still do things with them. We can still fellowship together. It's a good Bible term for that. Terry, a synonym means to remain or to stay or to visit or to loiter, to stay longer than intended, maybe even delaying to leave a place. We don't want to have church without you being here. We can't wait until 1130 to start the church service. The idea is to wait around, though. It's to wait, no matter what their background or where they're coming from, socially, if you would, from different statuses and things, we want to be able to encourage to wait for one another to be able to serve God and worship and glorify God together. So we would say, be social. Be social. We choose fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ at church. You know, you could make it a goal to be the first one here in the last league. You could. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. Doors may not be open and somebody's got to turn the lights out. But listen, we can't tarry for one another if we're showing up at 11 o'clock. We can't actually fellowship and know one another if we're not arriving with some time to be able to enjoy with one another. And by the way, it's in context here with the Lord's Supper in particular. When we partake the Lord's Supper, it's not intended to be a meal to fill your belly. Rather, it's intended to be a spiritual reminder of your sin and your Savior and the salvation that he paid for. That little piece of bread and that little tiny cup of juice like that, it's not intended for anything but fellowship between you and God. Sometimes we use the term communion. And so that's what it's represent, what it means. Now there's some social causes that has helped with this. If we become social and think of one another like we should, they had division. Paul said, you have some division. You know, some of you are fighting about things. Some of you are having contentions about things. there apparently was some heresies. He says you have these divisions because of heresies. You're not waiting for one another. You're perceiving each other the wrong way. You're thinking wrong about the Lord's Supper. You're not even fulfilling the whole purpose of coming together for church because there's heresies and there's divisions and you're not thinking of one another like you should. You see, their mind and their mouth and their motivation was not what it should have been. Now look over in Jude, just another example of these feasts of charity. Jude verse 8, there's only one chapter in Jude, so just Jude 8, down to verse 12. Likewise, these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, speak evil of dignities. Look down in verse 10, but these speak evil of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally as brute beasts and those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. Remember Cain and Abel. and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam. Balaam cursed God's people so he could get some money, and perished in the gainsaying of Thor. He rose up with a rebellious attitude. Notice what it says. These are spots in your feast of charity. That's the love feast we were talking about. These are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees, whose fruit withered without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots." Paul said, I don't like how that tasted. He said, I commend you not, I praise you not. Now, if we're going to cherish one another, we accept them coming from where they're coming from. The past, their past, does inform the present. But listen, aren't you glad for this? The past doesn't define the present. Well, this is who I used to be, but I got saved. God changed my life. This is who I am today. We should be glad that the past may refine us, but it does not define us. And so we should thank God for that. If a person is currently, presently walking with Jesus, that's the person I want to socialize with. That's the person I want to be around. That's the person I want to fellowship with, to tarry for, to wait on, to know in a personal and close way. If a person walked with God in the past, but now they're going a different direction, they're going a totally different way. That is not a person. that I would want to be with, to be social with. Look back in Proverbs 22. Very quickly, Proverbs 22. Why is that so important that the people we socialize with are following God presently and are with God today? Proverbs 22, verse 24 and verse 25. Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man, thou shalt not go. What's the reason for that? Verse 25 tells us. lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Who you hang out with will make a big impression on who you are today. And what you do and how you interact and how you think will make a big impression and an impact on you. But Paul said, I praise you not because the way some of you are coming together in church. We need to be friendly with all close friends with a select few. Being social creates the opportunity for you to be a friend to somebody else, for you to be a fair partner, to have a shoulder for you to cry on and a shoulder for them to cry on. You can be an encourager to celebrate. And these things can only happen when we carry for one another, when we socialize with one another, when we wait for one another, no matter where that person is coming from. Like the love feast, our social interaction must not be driven by selfishness and greed or gluttony, but selflessness. And looking out for the other brothers and sisters, we promise. Next, social commends. I come here to worship God, you may say. You know, I'm at church because I'm here to worship God. That's why I'm here for. I understand that. I came here to worship God today. But did you know that part of our worship was our interaction with each other? It was. Part of our worship includes our interaction with each other, our ties and our offerings, our singing, how we are tuned in to the preaching of God's word, how we pray together. All of these things are part of our worship to God. Like I mentioned a moment ago, if I arrive just at 11 o'clock, I don't have time to be social. I don't have time for that if I'm not here a little bit earlier. Now, if I leave right at noon or right when the invitation is given, I don't have time to be social. I mean, if I'm not here to give time so I could talk to someone and know other people I'm not fulfilling part of the whole reason of our coming together. Yes, I'm here to worship God. That's why I'm here. I'm going to sing. I'm going to listen to preaching. But our fellowship is also part of that worship. The imperative of being in the Bible more and being encouraging one to another is so evident today. The imperative is so evident, at least I see it. Acts chapter 2 verse 46 tells us they continued daily with one accord in a temple and Breaking bread from house to house that eat their meats with gladness and singleness of heart They had a church the early church had a set meeting time at the temple. They would they would gather together But then they went house to house. What does that talk about? Okay, they knew each other beyond the walls of the temple They knew each other beyond just the 10 o'clock Sunday school, 11 o'clock preaching. They knew each other from house to house. Sometimes we read that and we don't really think about it, but they knew each other on a personal level, not just during the church hours. Now this is not just to be social at church, it's to be social with each other, be engaged with each other throughout the week. I read recently that kids today, teenagers, are actually having more time with their cell phone than they do with their own parents. They have more interaction with a five-inch screen than they do personal interaction with their mom or dad. That's staggering. That's staggering. The more social media-minded we've become, the less social we've really become. Some of us don't have a clue how to interact in person. Some of our kids are growing up, and there's another report I hope to read real soon about how that's impacting the young person's brain because they don't know anything outside that little screen. Now, I like media and devices. We use that to reach people and things, but there must be moderation and balance with it. The point is, the point is, social media is not the same thing as being social at church. Knowing someone face-to-face is not the same thing as face-to-face on a little five-inch screen. I encourage you to come to Sunday school early, come to church early, turn your device off so that you're not just doing this the whole time while you're sitting here waiting for the church service to start, and talk to somebody. Make eye contact with them. I don't like to do that. Yeah, I know. Get out of your comfort zone. You don't have to be a turtle around here. You know, I'm in my shell. All right. If, if we're doing this, we can't fulfill the expectations of Donald Trump. Can't do it. And as wonderful as social media and our devices are, you need to turn it off sometimes and actually talk to somebody. And it's such an imperative today. I encourage you to attend more than one church service a week. Hebrews 10.25 says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. What's the day approaching? Christ coming back for us. Jesus coming back for us is a day closer today than it was yesterday. Tomorrow to be a day closer it was than a day before that. And the Bible says we need each other so much the more. We need to be encouraging one another. We can't do that if we don't know each other. How do we know each other? We've got to be social. We've got to wait a little bit. We have to spend some time together. We need to know each other inside these church walls and also outside these church walls, from house to house. I encourage you to be more, to come to more than just one service, more than one. It should be a weekly goal, more than one. Can you say that with me? More than one. Try it again. More than one. You can do better than that. More than one. Now I understand work and sickness and trouble and struggles that we all go through. I understand that. But if we're going to be social like we should be, to wait on one another, then only the more services you come to early and leave late, the better chance you have to fulfill. I encourage you to get involved with the extras. Things that we have from time to time, the Bible studies, the youth events, the cookouts, the picnics. Our neighbor boy went to a youth event last week and he trusted Christ. The extras count. The extra things that we do are done so on purpose. They make a difference. And be involved with those types of things. I try to call or text different men each week to encourage them, praying for you, how you doing, things like that. get the text cell number of somebody, get a phone number of somebody here today, and try to connect with them, to encourage them, to help them throughout. the week. Go to the park with Natalie and the kids this summer. She can't go to the park with everybody. She'd like to, but she can't go with everybody. But go to the park with your kids, find some other ladies at the church, find some other people, and get together and do things together. This summer, just a couple weeks, about three weeks from now, we're going to have a Sunday school promotion. We're calling it the Adult Sunday School Summer Connect. And we're having the whole church divided into three groups. And whether you come to Sunday School or not, if I have your name, your name's on the list. If you come, you'd be in this class. And we want you to come. We want you to be in the class. And the idea is we'll have a Sunday school class and the Sunday school class down here is going to meet in this whole section right here. So we can rub elbows and talk to each other and feel more personal to raise your hand and ask a question or to stand and read a verse together. We have other Sunday school classes that will be going on up there as well. Not just for the teaching, but for the fellowship together so that we know who the people are. And then we'll see how it goes. Perhaps next summer we'll do that. We'll break up the groups and that way we can know other people. We'll have a big cook-off in each of these groups to start off the summer. We'll finish with some kind of event or activity at the end of the summer. And the reason is to encourage genuine fellowship and real relationships. Be united. Be social. Number three. Number three. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians 12. Verses 25 through 27, be careful, be careful. One person defined a church as a body or collection of persons voluntarily associated together, professing to believe what Christ teaches, do what Christ enjoins, to imitate his example, to cherish his spirit, and to make known his gospel to others. That's a good definition of a church. A church is a hospital for senators. It's not a museum for saints. Did you know that when we come here, it's not to impress one another? Look at me, how good I am or holy I am. It's not for that. It's not a museum for saints. This is a hospital for senators. We're all senators. We're seeking to please God. We want to serve him. as best as we can, and we should care for one another along the way. Give CPR. Give spiritual first aid. Don't kick a guy when he's down. Don't hurt somebody when they're hurting. Now, when we read these verses, notice what the Scripture mentions here. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one or another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. For one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular." Here's what caring causes. There's a schism that Paul mentioned. A schism. He said, I don't want to see a schism. God doesn't want a schism. It means a split or a gap, a rent or a division. Folks, when we do not care for each other, there's a gap. There's a hole to fill. There's a weak spot in the body. For example, a boat with a hole in it is taking on water. It may float for a while, but it's taking on water because there's a schism in it. A car with a crack in the gas tank can only run so long on fumes. A fence or a wall with a hole in it will not be as protective and as safe to either keep people out or keep your animals in, whatever the case is, because there's a schism in it. The whole chapter, chapter 12, especially verses 14 through 25, speaks about this, about the body. working together. Every body part is important. I read a report just last week. There was a woman who had a spine injury as a child. And that spine injury hindered the development of one of her legs. Her leg was kind of shriveled up. It didn't grow the same length as the other leg. And it had a lot of pain. She had a lot of difficulty. After 19 surgeries, after 25 years of trying to put braces on this leg and all these different things, in 2017, she had her leg amputated. That seems counterproductive at first. I was like, wow, why would she do that? But now she has a prosthetic leg. And now she can get along. She can get around a lot better. Now she has more mobility. Now all of her body, which was affected by that one leg, now her mind and her self-image and all those things, now she has confidence. Now she has a greater mobility. Now that schism, if you would, that one body part that wasn't working right now, now that prosthetic is working good and now she's doing well. That's the way we work. That's the way a church works, is we work together. We serve together. Caring creates an interest for other people. Like, how you doing? What's going on in your life? And talking like this. An investment in other people. Acceptance of one another. An appreciation, showing value to each other. Now, we tend to think of church by thinking of it as being two-dimensional. Two-dimensional. What I mean by that is, well, you know, you're an usher and I'm a choir singer. And you're a sound guy, and I teach in children's church. We think of church life as two-dimensional, but it's deeper than that. The Christian life is 3D. There's also the God dimension. We're not just here to teach a class or sing a song or open a door for somebody. We're here to serve God by serving other people. That's the God dimension. I'm not just here to do this. Well, that's just what I do. That's just what I do. No, I serve God by serving others. And that's how we show that we care is by fulfilling our spiritual gift. Every church member, every Christian should know their spiritual gift and should be using it to serve God by serving other people. If you have a question about spiritual gifts, on your way out to the right, there's a bookshelf in the lobby, and there's a little paper right there, a little booklet, and it says, Finding Your Spiritual Gift. Take that, find your spiritual gift, and then you can come back to church, and you can find how to use your gift to serve God by serving others. It's not just, well, I'm doing this, this is my role. No, it has to do with God and others. It's three-dimensional, and caring to men. carrying men. Now, I have a picture to show. Go ahead and advance the picture, man. Is the picture up there? All right, check out my pig. I'll conclude with this. Isn't that a cute pig? Someone said, aw, look at that pig. When I was in college, I was what's called a floor leader. I was given a charge in a dorm room of an entire floor. I had, any given year, over 100 men that I was responsible for to keep the peace, and to make sure that the dorm was kept clean. Every year, I probably started my sophomore year, and I would walk in and try to tell the guys the expectations. I would walk in, I found this somewhere, and I bought this little sign, I bought this big, this little picture, and I would take this in. And I would hold that sign up to all the guys, usually four guys to a room, and I'd say, look at this picture, guys. Tell me, you know, a picture's worth a thousand words, okay? What does this picture say? And they'd say something about all the fruit on the table or the nice decoration on the wall or the window. I'm thinking, no, there's a little bit more than that. What's in the window? Oh, the pig's in the window, okay? The pig's in the window. What's the pig doing? He's looking in. Where is the pig? He's outside. That's right. He's outside looking in. And I would say, guys, your room needs to be clean. So if you're a pig, you're going to be on the outside looking in. They got the point. They got the point. You know what I was trying to encourage in a fun way? Was that they work together. You take the trash out, you vacuum, you need to do your laundry. I mean, you need to do your laundry. You got to do it. You guys had a hard time. And when that happened, I take the sign back in. I'm like, guys, what's this mean? What's the sign mean? Encouraging them to work together. You know, when we show that we care, it really makes a big difference. It doesn't matter how much you know. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. It's a good truth. Now, the spiritual gifts Take that, use it. When it comes to church life, sometimes there's takers and givers. We'll just end with this. The Bible talks about casting all your cares to God. Casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. But did you know that God's called you to also bear other people's burdens, to carry their cares? Galatians 6.2, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. What's the law of Christ? The first commandment. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. The second commandment is likened to it. Love thy neighbor as thyself. That's number one. That's number two. Love God. Love other people. Where does that put me in the list? Well, we're to love God. We're to love other people. And when we learn to do that, we can care for one another and we can have some of these one another's in our life and it will make a difference in our life, in your home, and your relationships with other people. May God help us to be glowing, growing, going body of believers with a smile on our face at serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's bow together in prayer. Thank you for your good listening today. Oh, there's so many one another's in scripture and Lord willing, we'll look at those very soon. But how are you doing with these first three positives that we spoke about today? What about unity? Be like-minded, to be saying the right things, have your mouth saying the right things, and our motive to glorify God. How are you doing when it comes to being social? Caring one for another. Well, I don't know anybody. I don't know so-and-so. That's the whole point. We need to know each other so we can do these one-anothers. And then what about showing care? There shouldn't be excuses. No, he says to care one for another. When we're not caring for others, something's missing in the church, and something's missing in our life. Friends, let's not live that way. However God's working in your life, why not commit that decision to God? And then for the many friends here today, have you trusted Christ for salvation? If you don't know for sure that you're going to heaven, we want to take a Bible and show you today how you can be saved by believing in the gospel. Father, we pray that you bless this invitation as we respond to your leading in our lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.