 And next Sunday I'm doing a special pair of sermons to give you an idea of some things that are some words that are used to describe our church. So many of you in here are soul winners and we go out and we pass out these invitations to our church. On the front of the invitation you'll notice there's really three things listed here. It says hold fast Baptist church and it says independent fundamental family integrated. I want to focus on for the next couple of weeks the first two words that are used to describe our church and this morning I want to focus on that first word independent and just talk about why we are independent this morning and what does that mean? So we're really going to talk about independence this morning and the importance of a church to be independent and you know you're all some of you are maybe like yeah America we're talking about independence I think you're going to be sorely disappointed with the sermon if that's your thought. But the point is why are we independent? Why is that word used to describe hold fast Baptist church this local church? And this is actually something that I think is very important to understand it is something when I first got saved and started going to an independent Baptist church I didn't really understand what the big deal was. I mean it was a huge deal to an independent Baptist church that they are independent. What does that mean? It means that we are not you know you'll go out soul winning and people will ask you well what denomination are you? We are not a denomination we are an independent Baptist church. Look there are Baptist denominations that's not us and it's a big deal that we are independent and I want to show you that it is very important doctrinally that we remain that way and that all churches that are true churches are independent and not of denominations or ecumenical meaning just that you know you get together with different denominations and all these types of things and I was actually getting a tire fixed a few weeks ago right before soul winning I was getting a tire fixed on Saturday morning and I had my hold fast Baptist church shirt on the one that has the Jesus made me a fisher of man on the back. I've had more comments on that shirt by the way just wearing it in public because I got my tire fixed and I was just complimenting the guy for fixing my tire so fast and a guy that was waiting for his car to get fixed came up to me and he says oh I'm a Christian too and he's like where did you go to church and I had an invitation I gave him an invitation to the church he's like we should get and he told me where he went to church which is an assemblies of God church you know a Pentecostal denomination he's like we should get our churches together you should get your pastor to call my pastor we should get our churches together and we should do activities and things like that never will that happen ever I didn't say that to him I was very polite and I was nice and I was like oh great check out the invitation and all that and I was very polite but we would never do something like that you say why because we're independent that's why you say what's the big deal what's the big deal first of all turn to Ephesians chapter 5 so the end of Ephesians chapter 5 it gives us this structure at the end of Ephesians chapter 5 you know the Bible shows us this structure for the family and it relates this structure to the family to the structure of the church and who's in charge and what it's an organizational structure is what we're looking at at the end of Ephesians chapter 5 and look the world today rejects all of this from the family to the church and we're going to talk about this so there's this idea look most of you know that I grew up Lutheran all right when it when it comes down to it it just it's pretty much Catholic it's the same thing I used to call being Lutheran we're like diet Catholic is what I would say because it's basically all the same stuff except I used to even joke with people when I was growing up as a teenager they're almost like what's the Lutheran what's the difference between Lutherans and Catholics I'm like Lutherans are basically like Catholics they don't have to go to church that's that's how I'd explain it but anyway I grew up Lutheran and there was this idea every single service we would recite what is called the Nicene Creed and I mean we had to memorize it and every single it's not hard to memorize something that you repeat every single Sunday of your life but there's this line in the Nicene Creed where it says I believe in one holy Catholic Apostolic Church and a lot of Lutherans would be like oh it says Catholic but we're Lutheran well the word Catholic simply means universal that's what the word actually means so there's this idea that is almost universally accepted amongst Christianity today that there is this idea of a universal church of a Catholic meaning universal church but and what they use for this doctrine is Ephesians 5 verse number 25 through 27 look down at the Bible here where it says husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it meaning the church with the washing of water by the word verse 27 then he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish so look I agree the church should be holy the church should be without blemish this is a true statement Ephesians chapter 5 but what this is not saying is that there is some universal invisible church made up of all of those who profess Christ or whatever the definition of Christian is to that person so the question becomes since this is the verse these are the verses used to justify the doctrine of this universal church meaning that there is the church is this invisible number of people that follow some specific doctrine which is different to anyone you ask by the way and it's just only God knows who's part of this universal church but that is not what the Bible is teaching here the Bible is simply saying that the church whatever that is is to be holy is to be subject to Christ that's what this is saying so the question becomes what is the church what is the church that's what that's the only question we need to answer here look at go to Revelation chapter 1 think about the letters of Paul think about the letters of Paul throughout the New Testament the letters of Paul are written to what they're written to churches they're written to written to local groups of believers in certain areas they're they're written to Rome they're written to Corinth they're written to Galatia Ephesus Philippi Colossi Thessalonica they're written to all these different churches as a matter of fact in Revelation chapter 1 look at verse number 4 Revelation is addressed to who look at verse number 4 of Revelation chapter 1 John to the seven churches which are in Asia grace be unto you and peace from which is in which was in which is to come and from the seven spirits which are before his throne look the first point is if there was a universal invisible church these Bible these Bible authors here you know that were inspired by the Holy Spirit could have saved themselves a lot of words coming why would they say to the seven churches why would Revelation chapter 2 Revelation chapter 3 and all these letters to the churches why would they say to the seven churches and that in Jesus talking to you know all of Revelation chapter 2 and 3 are our red words are Jesus speaking to these churches he says to the church at to the church at you say why would you've done that why wouldn't you just said to the church I write this to the church but he didn't it's always talking to a local group of believers that obviously applies to us a local group of believers but the point is is this Paul could have saved a lot of ink if there was a universal church he would have just said to the church to the church to the to the universal church it's also a doctrine that people want to believe because it justifies them not having to go to church because a church is a local group of believers that meet at a specific location and you'll meet people out there that are just like oh you know I am the church I don't have to go to church because I am the church just like me walking around with myself on the church that's nowhere in the Bible that's nowhere in the Bible 99% of the time that the Bible uses the word church it is talking about a specific locality and the other times as in Ephesians chapter 5 it is talking about the organizational structure of that organization in every locality that it's at he's talking generally to you know the church when he says but first of all who is he talking to in Ephesians chapter 5 he's talking to the church at Ephesus and he's talking about how that specific church should be organized which obviously applies to every church at every locality it is not anywhere near talking about some kind of universal or invisible church now who is the church go to Acts chapter 20 actually go to Acts chapter 2 or just look at the front of your bulletin so who is the church what is the church made up of look at Acts chapter 2 and verse 47 or just look at the front of your bulletin the Bible is talking here about Acts chapter 2 is all about the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem so again it's a specific location it is the first actual church that formed after Jesus Christ went ascended into heaven look at Acts chapter 2 verse 47 it says praising God they had just gotten all these people saved in Jerusalem through this great miracle of speaking all these different languages and being able to reach all these different people from all these different nations it says praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved it's talking about every single time they're preaching the gospel daily in that location that church is growing and growing and growing and we studied through the book of Acts and it wasn't until they were persecuted in Jerusalem that by the way anytime Christians are persecuted throughout real the real believers are persecuted throughout history is a great example of this in the book of Acts Christianity just spreads it just gets stronger it just grows more and more and more but if you remember the church at Antioch actually formed because of the persecution at Jerusalem they were chased out they formed the church in Antioch that became the base the home base of Paul's missionary journeys where he did what he started all these other churches and that's exactly what the book of Acts talk about you think that the universal church would be mentioned somewhere in the Bible if it was actually a thing it is not a church is a local group of believers it says added to the church daily what such as should be saved so the church is a group of people that are saved that's what the church is well that doesn't mean we're not gonna have visitors come in that aren't saved but that's why when people do come visit I mean we try to give the gospel to everybody that comes to visit this church it's a normal thing because we want to add people to the church as such that should be saved but the point is a church the church is a local group of saved people and this church is no different go to Acts chapter 20 go to Acts chapter 20 in verse number 28 I'll just give you one more verse on this but look at Acts chapter 20 in verse number 28 the Bible says take heed in verse 28 take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the witch the Holy Ghost had made you oversee seers to feed the church of God what is the church of God which he had purchased with his own blood talking about a local group of again people that were purchased with Christ own blood believers about a local group of believers so this idea that there's a universal church that is just all inclusive of everything no matter what is going on is just not in the Bible at all as a matter of fact the Bible teaches in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 that certain types of even believers if they're doing certain things are not to be allowed in the church there's very strict you know management that needs to be taken you know of the church turn to Matthew chapter 16 so the church is a local group of believers the Bible talks about churches and in Ephesians chapter 5 it is talking about how that local church how a local church is to be organized how it is to you know operate what is the authority structure that's what Ephesians chapter 5 is explaining and it's also relating that authority structure of how that local church is to be it's relating that to the family as well that's why you go to a wedding and you go to especially a Baptist wedding maybe modern weddings don't really read much of Ephesians chapter 5 anymore but if you go to a Baptist wedding one of the things that a that a Bible believing pastor will read from is Ephesians chapter 5 because it talks about the authority structure in a family as it relates to husbands and wives are you in Matthew chapter 16 so what is the what is the organizational structure of a local church supposed to look like and the point of the sermon this morning and what I want to show you this morning is why it is vital and important that churches real churches are independent that's the point of the sermon this morning and the irony by the way the irony of Ephesians chapter 5 is just like the irony of so much other false doctrine that's taught out there Ephesians chapter 5 if you actually read it it is talking it literally it it's teaching against denominations and against churches being ecumenical it's telling you know the the believers in Ephesus what a local church should be structured like look at Matthew chapter 16 and verse number 18 the Bible says and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it talking about you know the local church that this organizational structure that is made up of believers Jesus is saying we're going to build this upon the rock who's the rock it's Jesus not Peter folks Jesus is the rock all right Jesus is the rock Jesus is saying if you follow the way that you that you should structure the church the gates of hell will not prevail against it if the church follows if the local church follows the Bible of which Jesus Christ is the Bible the word became flesh is Jesus Christ and if a church follows that if a local group of believers follows exactly what the Bible says about a church nothing can prevail against it that is what the Bible is saying that's what Jesus tells Peter here he's saying look but there is no mention of denominations in the Bible there is no mention of it there's no mentions of presidents vice presidents CEOs all these different there's no mention of cardinals there's no mention of popes all these extra church authority figures in the Bible there's no mention of the church on earth there's no mention of the universal church but that's why so many denominations by the way as a matter of fact every single denomination claims to be the true church when there's only churches you say I mean what's the big deal and like I said at the beginning of the sermon I didn't even really think this was a huge deal coming from Lutheranism to you know once I got saved to becoming an independent Baptist I was kind of like what's the big deal that's the goal of the sermon this morning is to show you what the big deal is what is the doctrine of the universal church actually doing and who's behind it who's behind it first of all ask yourself this question find find me one denomination today that has not corrupted the gospel find me one you see what about the Baptist there's Baptist denominations the yeah the biggest what's the biggest Baptist denomination you can think of the Southern Baptist denomination in the United States is the biggest Baptist denomination they are not independent they have a large management structure above all their churches there's presidents there's vice presidents there's all these things and guess what they have a false gospel they teach that you need to repent of your sins to be saved look it's worse than Pentecostalism you're gonna pick a false gospel that's the worst one meaning you have to turn from all your sins to be saved no one's going to heaven folks go join a Southern Baptist church and they teach literally that you have to turn from all your sins to be saved guess what we're all going to hell that's what that means good luck stop spending hey go stop spending for one week and then tell me about this denomination in their gospel it's impossible it's not in the Bible every single denomination today has a false gospel as a matter of fact when you go out soul winning if you're an experienced soul winner you'll realize that there are other churches out there that are not independent Baptists that have a correct gospel but the vast majority of the time what are they they are non denominational churches and many times those churches if you study it out those churches they came from being independent Baptist and they just drop Baptists from the name because they became liberal but they had that they had the original they have the correct gospel they're not doing anything they're liberal they're watered down they're not preaching anything but they have the correct gospel they're non-denominational and that is something that you will see all the time look with the denominations you would think there'd be one that has a correct gospel but show me one what they're trying to do is put you in this box and control the way you think and I want to show you this morning that by becoming a denomination and by converging into these organizations that are extra biblical what they are doing is they're getting people to set aside their personal convictions they're getting people to set aside doctrine and the first thing that gets set aside folks is the gospel this is the problem see the problem is with organizations like denominations I mean first of all the Bible teaches certain things but they all make sense when you just think it through everything that God structures in the Bible for the family for our nation for everything it all makes sense when you think it through denominations and all these universal structures the problem is this is that corruption spreads easier in those structures you think about a denomination you say why is every denomination corrupt I was Missouri Synod Lutheran and every single Missouri there's yes there's many denominations inside the Lutheran structure many many so many I probably can't even name them all there's many denominations but every single one of those denominations has a false gospel you say why because Satan loves that because he can just corrupt one person then he gets all these people he can corrupt the president he can corrupt the top of the organization and he gets all these people I mean of course the denomination will say yeah we're the one true church but every denomination is corrupt because it's an easy structure to corrupt this is why some denominations don't even claim to follow Bible doctrine anymore but if a denomination the point is this if a denomination goes bad all of the churches in that denomination follow it creates an organized structure of power outside the biblical teaching of the individual church it's not in the Bible and whenever we go outside the Bible remember what Jesus said to Peter if you base your church on the Bible nothing can prevail against it if we start operating outside the Bible all bets are off this is why we must remain independent CEO CFO COO's VP's all these different things these are not structures that are in the Bible for the church turn back to Ephesians chapter 5 so what is the structure inside the church what is the structure inside an independent church because the Bible lists that for us look at Ephesians chapter 5 let's start at verse number 22 Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 22 the Bible says this it says wives submit yourselves under your husbands as unto the Lord so this is just it's talking about the structure of a family here it's saying wives are to submit themselves under their husbands as unto the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife this is a family structure here this is not hard to understand even as Christ is the head of the church so the Bible here is using the relationship between Christ and the church the local church as an example of as a mirror of what the family is supposed to look like so we're talking about the church at this point I'll talk about the family in a few minutes but who's the head of this church Jesus Jesus is the head of this church not me Jesus is the one that is in charge of this church so who is the local church subject to Jesus Christ who else no one the president the CEO the board of directors no Jesus Christ the cardinal no look at verse number 30 but we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones for this cause shall man leave his father and mother and should be joined in his wife and they too shall be one flesh this is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church turn to 1st Peter chapter 5 so we learn in Ephesians chapter 5 that the only person I mean people use this to teach denominations and teach a universal church doctrine it's literally saying no you shouldn't do that that's not the way it is the only person that the local church is subject to is Jesus Christ but now look at 1st Peter chapter 5 you say okay we're all supposed to just follow Jesus and there's supposed to be no structure inside the church well no look at 1st Peter chapter 5 verse number 1 the Bible says but the point is there's nothing outside the church this is the first point it's the church the local church and Jesus that's it now inside the church God gives very specific rules but church Jesus there's no outside there's no outside influence on this local church look at verse number one of 1st Peter chapter 5 the elders which are among you I exhort now in the New Testament elder Bishop and pastor are used as synonyms they're the same thing they're interchangeable so when it's talking about the elders which are among you I exhort he's talking about the pastors the leaders of a church who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed look at verse 2 he's talking to the pastors of the local churches here the elders of the local churches and he tells them to do what feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight there if he's saying feed the flock of God with what this is what I'm supposed to feed you with this is a direct commandment from the Bible of the pastor to feed the flock of God feed the Bible and other places in the Bible it says I'm supposed to feed you everything in here some is milk some is meat some is easy to understand easy to take some is hard to take that's why some sermons you walk out of here you feel like you got kicked in the chest by a horse because I'm supposed to feed you everything look there's times I flip through the Bible and I'm like oh man I got to preach that that's going to be tough but I'm not I'm not responsible to tell you what you want to hear I'm responsible to tell you everything I'm supposed to feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight there of not by constraint but willingly not for filthy looker but of a ready mind so here there's some specific instructions to the pastor here it's saying don't don't you can't do it by constraint you know this is why pastors add to the gospel this is a pastor that gets up and says if you don't come to church three times a week you're gonna go to hell if you don't listen to what I say you're gonna go to hell if you don't like this sermon today are you really saved look you know what that's doing that's taking constraint over the people there's nothing I can say that will make you go to hell if you are saved this morning if you have trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ you understand that is not of works that you are saved and you have taken the trust off yourself and you put it all on Jesus Christ there is nothing I can say that can change that you are sealed by the Holy Spirit not by me there's nothing I can say so as much as I get up here and I want you to follow the Bible I tell you what the Bible says you implementing that it is is up to you and your relationship with your heavenly Father not willingly but willingly not for filthy lucre I'm not supposed to be up here being a pastor for money to get rich which from for a Bible preaching church is a ridiculous is a ridiculous notion in itself but I'm not up here trying to just say sweet nice things to just grow this church as fast as possible do you know that there's things that are preached here that actually make people not come back because it's hard for people to hear some things from the Bible but it's not my responsibility to preach nice things and just get up here and tell you a great message every single morning that if you come to church and you do these things if you put money in the plate everything is going to be great in your life this is Joe Osteen what is he doing he's just telling the people what they can hear for filthy lucre sake so they can make money just get rich the Bible saying no pastor you cannot do that neither is being lords over God's heritage again that's going into that you know threatening the people with their salvation and all this type of thing but being examples to the flock the pastor is under very strict qualifications in 1st Timothy chapter 3 Titus other places in the Bible but look at this in verse number 4 it says when the chief shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory that fated not away so the pastor of the church is the under shepherd Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd we're talking about the pastor being the under shepherd of the flock but it can't be by force or threat it can't be for money you know this is the this is the Pentecostal today folks the Pentecostal pastor that gets up and has whatever whatever list of sins he doesn't want the people to do and he puts that on the list that will make you go to hell that's taking you know that's taking you know God's people and it just and just making them follow you by constraint look it's Coltie people I mean works based salvation I don't care every single Christian denomination that has a false gospel with some form of work salvation it's Coltie it's Coltie saying if you don't do these things you're gonna go to hell listen to me you're gonna go to hell that's that's Coltie well it's taking it's taking God's people by constraint it's being lords over God's heritage is exactly what it is now turn to Acts chapter 6 but the point is is the structure inside the church is there's there's to be an under shepherd there's a chief shepherd which is Jesus Christ and there is an under shepherd and he and he alone he by the way it can't be a she alright I mean it can't be a she the Bible is like so clear on the qualification for a pastor I think it says like six times in just in like five verses that it needs to be a man and then you get some some woman pastor that stands up and it's like I'm the pastor of this church right you I don't know what it's not a church but you're the pastor of something it's not a church that Jesus would consider a church look at Acts chapter 6 look at Acts chapter 6 look at verse number one the Bible says remember what we have to do things the way the Bible says it's important look at verse number one it says in those days when the number of disciples was multiplied there was a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows widows were neglected in the daily administration so this church is growing and growing and growing and there's things that are being neglected in the church there's people that need to be visited there's people that need someone to talk to and the pastors can't get to everybody look at verse number two it says the 12 called the multitude of disciples under them and said it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables where for brethren look out among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom who may appoint over this business but we will give ourselves continually in prayer into the ministry of the word and the same please the whole multitude and they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and Philip and Procura's and the canner and Timon and Parmenius and Nicholas a proselyt of Antioch so this is the first deacons of the church here this is the first deacons of the church so there's a structure of a pastor being an under shepherd and when the church gets big enough we don't have a deacon here because we don't have a church that's large enough for a deacon but an independent Baptist church that grows to the point of needing someone to help with the daily administration of things visitation of people where it's too much for one man to get to everyone that's where the deacons come in and guess what the deacons are to be what men again and there also to be have specific qualifications and those qualifications by the way are exactly the qualifications of a pastor exactly the same thing but that's the structure it's pastor led there's Jesus Christ it's led by a pastor there's deacons when necessary for support and look even even in our church here we don't have deacons but you know I have there's Jesus had an inner circle of Peter James and John we have two trusted individuals at this church where I meet with them twice a year and go over business things in the church I go over the financials with them in the church just to show them that we have every loop closed in the in the financials of the church these are things that I do to make sure that everything is decent and in order these are things these are men that I've told them their job is also you know if I need you know a question to ask about you know hey you know how do you think you think this looks good or you think we should tighten up here there they're not voting and telling me what to preach and what to do and how to lead the church but even Solomon had counselors even Solomon had counselors and especially when it comes to finances and things like that in the church I think it's very important just so people in the church know that there's that structure there okay but look the bottom line is this this is a pastor led church it is independent from any denomination and it is led by a pastor because the pastor is the only one responsible the pastor is the one when it gets to the time where you know Jesus is going to come and say how to hold fast Baptist church you know run itself and how did things go there and and what went wrong and what didn't look I'm responsible I'm responsible that's it that's why there's qualifications and there's very specific instructions the pastor is subject to Christ not a president or a CEO or whatever I mean what a dangerous situation for me that would be if I was subject to some president that was telling me something and it was it eventually it would be against the Bible and I'm responsible for it look I fear the Lord no man and and you know the Bible even says I shouldn't even fear your faces when you hear something that you don't like to hear so I fear the Lord because I am I am responsible to answer to Jesus Christ for how things went here now I mean the obvious question comes in your head is like will all pastors do good well no in the Bible talks about that no all pastors will not do good there are pastors that will and look I'm telling you turn to Jeremiah chapter 23 but this just proves showing that there are pastors in the Bible that the Bible talks about that God talks about that don't do the right thing and don't do well first of all no pastor is perfect but what if a pastor starts preaching things that are outside the Bible what if a pastor starts doing things that make him no longer meet those qualifications in first Timothy chapter 3 in other parts of the Bible what then what then could that happen look it does happen and I'm sure you can think of cases where it did happen that pastors go bad and do horrible terrible things it happens unfortunately but I'm going to show you this morning that it just backs up the fact that churches should be independent the fact that it does sometimes happen look at Jeremiah chapter 23 look at verse number one first of all look who the woe is upon here it says woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor sayeth the Lord therefore the sayeth the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doings sayeth who sayeth the CEO sayeth the board of directors of the Lutheran church Missouri Synod no sayeth the Lord it is the Lord that is going to take care of that situation and look I'm sure if you can think of a situation where a pastor did go bad or do terrible horrible things the Lord did take care of that situation every single time I've seen it happen the Lord took care of it look it wasn't pretty but the Lord took care of it but back on this but back on this idea of an independent church okay a pastor goes bad you know what though that church goes bad and you know what not even all that necessarily all the people in the church go bad because another pastor can come in and take over you know that flock and feed that flock properly it's it's possible but you know what even if that whole church went bad say there's a pastor that goes and declares himself to be Jesus or something which happens not independent Baptist people that we know but it happens and then people follow that look it's that one church that's gone bad it didn't just make everybody else go bad because we're all subject every individual independent Baptist church is subject to Jesus Jesus is never going to go bad that's protection and look if you're in an independent Baptist church and look including this one I start preaching a false gospel get out of here I start preaching things that aren't in the Bible hit the door get out because I'm not going to do that you know I promise but the point is is that every single individual individual church is subject to Jesus we're not subject to what some wicked person that calls himself a pastor over here does or in another town over so it doesn't it doesn't destroy us the independence of the church is protection for God's people and this is why God does it you know who you know who wants to converge everything and merge everything and get every everybody together and get all the denominations together and get everything you know let's all come together have you heard this before you know whose plan that is that's satan's plan that's the plan of the devil in this world today look it is satan's plan to converge everything you say what are you talking about pastor look this is the problem with corporations this is the problem with corporations corporations become this conglomerate of boards of directors and presidents and ceo's and you know what it does it removes individual responsibility from what a business does it's convergence it takes the morality out of everything because you know if you have individual businesses that a lot of times you'll get an individual business that maybe does you know some kind of service but the owner of the company is responsible for what his company does and he's like no no we're not going to go and do that for that immoral cause or whatever that is and they can make that decision as the owner of the company but as soon as you start getting these corporations and conglomerates together the individual people with morals get further and further away from the decisions of the organization that's how you get corporations that are like they literally have literally have board of directors meetings and they're like hey whatever helps us sell more bombs that's what we're for and they could care less about what's what their what the materials that they make are used for or who they're being sold to look an individual owner would say i'm responsible for what this company does just as a church has a pastor who is responsible to jesus christ for what he does it's easy to corrupt organizations like this not only that but i mean it gets so big you know these these these organizations get so big that even good people can work there and feel like they're detached from the evil that is happening you know at that place i mean there's evil organizations that you know in our government where i'm sure there's a lot of good people that work there but they just detach themselves from it because you know but but here's what happens as the organization gets more converged it gets more evil as it gets more evil there becomes less good people that works there and this cycle just continues and continues and continues the perfect example of this type of convergence is the public school system where you have an organization that is completely converged it is completely centrally controlled by the department of education this federal this federal government controlled program that's why look and converged organizations they are designed satan designs them so it is nearly impossible to change them from a local level like oh i don't want to be you know i don't want to be a converged school system anymore i want to have a local school that follows the school that follows the morals of this local community this is how our country was founded on this philosophy but no it's central you can't change it that's why i leave people to go into school board meetings and all this stuff i might just get just save your hot air it's designed so you can't change it it's a central machine it's completely converged but guess what happened you'll be hard pressed to find a bible believing christian teacher today in the public school system because there's no bible believing christian teacher that's going to go and teach all this trans gender and all this perversion and evolution and there's no god and all this kind of stuff there's no christian teacher that's going to do that that's truly saved that believes the bible turn to deuteronomy chapter seven satan tries to so satan's trying to converge organizations he's trying to converge he's converged the school system he's you know what he's trying to converge nations too he's trying to converge everything today but what does god say does god want nations converged let's look at what god wanted for his nation i don't know where god's nation is today in the world but god had a nation back in the old testament and let's see what he told them when they went into the promise land did he say hey you need to get together with these people your diversity is your strength you need to get together with these people you need to get along you need to embrace your differences look at deuteronomy chapter seven look at verse number one satan is the one pushing convergence in this world god is against it and if satan's pushing you know god is on the opposite side look at deuteronomy chapter seven verse number one deuteronomy chapter seven verse one god is giving instructions before they go into the promise land let's see if these instructions are unclear or gray in any way when the lord god when the lord that god shall bring me into the land whether they'll go to possess it and have cast out many nations before the the hittites the gurgoshites the amorites the canaanites and the parasites and the hivites and the jebysites seven nations greater and mightier than thou and when the lord god shall deliver them before thee thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them god says i don't want any of them left thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them neither shall they'll make marriages with them thy daughter shall not give unto his son nor his daughter shall thou take unto thy son he's saying you go in there and you destroy all these people you say that's mean hey that's the bible that's the bible and the bible explains why that happened by the way these people were sacrificing their children these people were doing evil wicked murderous perverse things and god says go in there wipe them all out he's like and then he just kind of goes into he knows he knows they won't listen to him don't make covenants with them don't make deals with them what do they do they go in and they start making deals they're like hey we can make money if we tax these people we can make deals with these people and don't pay us money if we don't destroy them he's like don't marry into them don't marry their daughters don't let their daughters marry your sons you say why it says for they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other god so the anger of the lord will be kindled against you he's like he'll join them you'll become like them god is saying stay divided and destroy these stay divided or the anger that i have shown against these nations i will show it will come upon you and then you will be destroyed as well thus you shall deal with him you shall destroy their altars break down their images cut down their groves and burn their graven image with images with fire for thou art in holy people under the lord thy god the lord thy god has chosen thee to be a special people unto himself you see what he's saying here he's like you should be separated unto me you should be apart from these people above all the people all the people that are upon the face of the earth look it is the anti-christ that is going to try to converge nations the bible teaches it is globalism that the anti-christ is going to be pushing not god it is not god that wants the world to all come together that will happen under one king and that is jesus christ but it is the anti-christ that is going to be making all these treaties amongst all these nations in a covenant with many that he will fight a world war through and that will be a world one world government it is the anti-christ that is going to be pushing that kind of philosophy and who's he run by he's run by satan satan is his master how about this satan you know what satan's trying to do satan's trying to converge families too satan's trying to destroy the structure that god's god's putting forth for families the very specific structure that we looked at in Ephesians chapter five you say in in Galatians chapter three we looked at last week it says we are all one in christ jesus look we're not talking about the value of people to god here we're not talking about a woman's value to god or a man's value to god we're talking about the specific structure that god has put forth for a family that there is to be a husband and a wife and the wife is to be subject and in reference to her husband meaning the husband is in charge that the home is not supposed to be a democracy you're like oh democracy is great america by the way we're not a we're not a democracy we're a constitutional republic people need to read more we're all like we're all about democracy here i'm like not in this country we've never been a democracy democracies are terrible yet we try to push democracy around the world and we support nations that you know aren't even democracies that have like suspended the ability to vote it's weird people need to read more but back to the family satan is trying to converge the family you should not sit in your house around the dinner table and and be like everyone's in charge here let's let's decide what's going to happen let's all take a vote that is not how the family is supposed to run right the husband is in charge if everyone is charged this is what satan knows if everyone's in charge no one's in charge satan knows this if you are if ever at work and and you ever get in a situation where everyone's like yeah we'll all take care of that just remember it's never gonna get done because unless somebody's in charge or somebody's responsible it's never gonna get done the husband is the head he's the responsibility he's the responsible factor he's the one that god is holding accountable so when the family falls apart the husband can't sit there and say oh it's her fault you're in charge if the ship sinks that's on you because you allowed it to sink you know it's it's his responsibility to make sure that the children are raised you know what homeschooling is by the way it's taking yourself out of this converged system that is the public school and you're becoming an independent system and that's what god you're separating from that converged organization this is what satan is teaching today it takes a village to raise a child no it doesn't it takes my my wife who's subject to me and us teaching those children the bible and raising them up according to what god says that's what it takes doesn't take a village look at what the village is doing i hope it doesn't take a village to raise a child this idea of convergence is being pushed on everyone in our society today this is why you hear all the things that we need to put aside our differences turn to luke chapter 13 our diversity our diversity is our strength that's that's my favorite one and then what they'll do is if you say no can you can someone tell me how our diversity is our strength you tell me how that works what they'll do is if you go against that they'll be like oh you're a racist look around you in this church race is nothing race is made up to put you in a box the bible says there's one race we are all of one blood we're not talking about when god is against the nations he's not talking about what skin color they are it's what they were doing it's what their culture was their culture was against them ruth was a mobitus it had nothing to do with the blood running through your veins the color of your skin the color of your hair the color of your eyes nothing it has everything to do with worshiping the one true god or turning against him that's all it is but this idea that all cultures are equal that's being pushed today nothing is wrong there is no there's no taboo there's no this is my favorite one there's no shame anymore i'm reading a book right now that most people in my family have read so i i figured i'd read it and it's really good it's really good i don't read a lot of books like this but i'm reading pride and prejudice raise your hand if you've read it oh man more people need to read this book it's it's pretty good it's a fictional story but it's really good and one of the one of the most interesting things about the book to me it's based in like 1820s the early 1800s in england and one of the most interesting things reading this book looking at it through a biblical lens is how like what people thought was shameful back then and i'm just like i'm just loving it because i mean there was a situation where a man was going to go up and talk to another man and and some woman says to him you can't do that you can't just go up and talk to that man without being properly introduced i'm just i'm just like this is just great there's all this formality and all this this shame with someone that is considered to be you know in fornication and and there's it's just like we need to bring we need to make shame great again is what we need to make right the bible talks about shame all the time shame is a good thing but people tell you oh there's nothing wrong with anything anything that you do is right this is this is what pastors will teach today they'll get up and ever you're great you're great and everything that you do is great i mean just they take the bible and they just throw it out the window they have a fake bible anyway but nothing is wrong nothing's taboo look shame is a good thing we're i was driving to church this morning with jake up and there's a guy that walked across the street we're at a stoplight he walks across the street he wasn't even a homeless guy but it was some guy that was just going to a coffee shop and he's got out of bed and just like literally must he just got out of bed and just walked right out of his house and just like went to the cops i mean he's in his pajamas his hair is like looks like it just blew up this way he's just like just who cares you go to walmart who cares nobody cares there's nothing that shameful anymore people walk around naked today according to what the bible says naked is you're like that's not naked you know naked's what the bible says it is it's not what you think it is you know what your what your society taught you today are you in luke chapter 13 it is satan that is trying to converge everything in order to converge in order to be part of a converged organization whatever it is you have to let your principles go this is the problem and god is saying no look at luke chapter 13 look at verse number 23 luke chapter 13 verse number 23 the bible says then one said unto him ward are there few that be saved and he said unto them strive to enter in at the straight gate for many i say to you say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able the bible says in another uh jesus says that in another way he says broad is the way that leads to destruction so let me give you one last point to think about this morning and tell jesus is in charge you say okay maybe we should push for a government that that just like that has you know independent baptist is their official religion i would never want a government to endorse any religion and it's because of luke chapter 13 as a matter of fact if you like the first amendment and the fact that we have freedom of speech in this country you should go thank an independent baptist today because it is the independent baptist that that had the first idea for the first amendment that the government should not endorse a religion and the reason that i would never want a government to endorse a religion at all ever is because of luke chapter 13 because the religion that they endorse will always be the wrong one always until jesus christ rules and reigns on this earth the independent baptist in in the 1780 the 1780s was given a seat at the table like the government's going to endorse five denominations and we would like you to be one of them and they're like no we don't want any part of it we don't want any part of it why because we're independent we're subject to christ not you nothing gets in between the church and jesus nothing they said no and that's where they came up with the idea of the first amendment that people would i don't want the public school everybody's like oh we took out of the schools in the 70s and that's what's wrong with the public school i don't want if my kid was in public school i wouldn't want the public school teaching anything that having anything to do with religion to my children why because they'll teach the wrong thing that's why it's a converged organization it will never teach the truth and jesus is saying in luke chapter 13 that the gospel will never be the majority opinion so when you go out souling and you realize that the vast majority of people are not saved jesus told you it will never be the majority opinion straight is the gate meaning narrow it doesn't mean hard it's very easy to be saved accepting a gift is very very very easy it says narrow other modern bible versions say hard is the way like you got to do a lot of work you know work is hard it's not hard it's narrow is the way turn to ax chapter seven the gospel the word of god is never going to be the majority of opinion why because it offends people that's why because people hear it and they get upset in ax chapter seven steven one of the first deacons gives this beautiful sermon and what what effect does it have on people when he gives this sermon look at verse 54 of ax chapter seven the bible says when they heard these things what they they stood up and gave them a standing ovation it says when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed our name with their teeth and then they killed him right after this it cuts to the heart and today is no different than in jesus's day so the best that we can hope for folks until jesus comes back is for independent thinking to thrive actually as we go out and we talk to people about the gospel look i want that person that i'm talking to to be an independent thinker i want that person to not be in some converged you know box that somebody has put them in i wanted to be an independent thinker why because the gospel is the best idea that's why it makes no sense all these other religions and really there's only two there's workspace salvation and there's the gospel that's it the gospel is the best idea and guess what it's the only thing that makes any sense so i want people to be independent thinkers when i go knock on their door and you know what if i find somebody who's an independent thinker and thinks about the things that they're being told they're going to get saved i'm fine competing in a free market of ideas as long as i have the bible satan is about convergence in everything it's it's simply because he can't get everybody on his side so he converges everything to corrupt the many through a few that's what satan is doing in this world turn to luke chapter 12 and we'll end here see god is about division you're not going to hear that a lot today jesus christ is about division he's about being divided it is a fake jesus that is taught that oh you need to love everybody and everything that anyone does at any time that is not the jesus of the bible god is about division and separation today you know what jesus knows that not everyone will accept him he knows that too look at luke chapter 12 verse number 51 luke chapter 12 verse number 51 the bible says suppose ye that i am come to give peace on earth i mean i guess to be a modern preacher that's as far as you got to take that verse right there see jesus he wants peace on earth jesus he wants to bring everybody together there's a question mark after that statement he says do you think i came here to bring everybody together and just make everybody at peace with each other later in the in the bible he says no i came to bring a sword jesus didn't bring a sword he's saying to the disciples i'm bringing people are going to take a sword after you but look what he says he says i tell you nay but rather division and then he talks about even own people in their own houses and their own families will be divided second korean he's chapter six it says come out from among them and be ye separate the christian against what satan wants is to be divided is to be separate look that's a hard thing to teach today people don't want to hear that today but you know what as a christian as a bible-believing christian this morning you need to stay divided you need to stay separate you know what you need to point out weirdness you need to point out weirdness you need to not because the more we see weirdness the more our kids will get used to it we need to point out weirdness when you see some guy getting pushed down the some grown man being pushed down the sidewalk by some lady in a baby stroller you need to point that out to your kids and say that's weird kids that's not normal for some passed out drug addict to be pushed down the street in a shopping cart kids weirdos you need to point that stuff out these things need to stay separated in their minds division is good shame is good it's when you stop feeling shame it's when sin stops being exceedingly sinful that you know you're in trouble look if sin becomes if you get out of church and you get out of the bible and you get out of prayer and you get out of these things in your life you know what sin will stop being exceedingly sinful to you you're not going to go to hell if you're saved you're not going to lose your salvation if you're saved but you need to stay in this spiritual life in a local church that preaches the word of god so you can see that sin so that sin pops out at you so shame is stays real for you see but in order to converge you have to abandon all these things you have to abandon all these principles you have to abandon what you have to abandon the bible in order to converge if i went and met with that guy and got together at that organization that's why these converged organizations that have a religious tone to them like the Boy Scouts of America don't even get me started on that but they're they have a religious aspect to but they're an ecumenical organization they're an ecumenical organization and guess what look i used to be involved in that organization way back when and they would get together and they would say these these generic prayers at their big meetings like you know we pray to the god you know whatever and and pretty soon i i think they even started taking the word god out of it just talking about a higher power or whatever and that's like you know you get into the organizations that are converged like this like the like the masons you know the higher power they're talking about you're talking about satan higher power no there's one god and he's this god so we're not going to get together and be ecumenical we're not going to because i would have to take in order to be ecumenical i have to take this and throw it out the window then god's going to take and he's going to smash me is what's going to happen i'm afraid of that i should be afraid of that i am subject to jesus christ so when you hear the bible preach and it does kick you in the chest just just recognize the structure here just recognize what's going on this is why we will always and must remain independent and we cannot be in these other organizations and we cannot be together which is anyway look we have friends we have a lot of friends we have a lot of churches that we are in fellowship with but guess what when pastor humanness comes here he doesn't say well pastor berserker i'm going to preach on this and when i go preach there he's like well i'd like you to preach on this no he's he's just he just he comes here and he preaches the bible and because he's subject to christ not me and i'm subject to christ not him so we have friends just like the disciples in the bible have friends but we are always going to be independent the bible says so but it makes sense just as the bible always makes sense let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer