In this sermon, the preacher tells a story about a boy named Johnny who struggles to understand basic math concepts. Through this story, the preacher highlights the lack of cooperation and understanding in the world. The sermon then shifts to a personal anecdote about the preacher's friend, Bob Keyes, who suffered a heart attack and needed open heart surgery. The preacher emphasizes the importance of loyalty and friendship, urging the congregation to support and help those in need. The sermon concludes with a call for unity and a prayer for the congregation to learn to dwell together in harmony.

Thirty-five years ago, last month, something very wonderful happened to me. I became a Christian. I'm sorry, thirty-four years ago, I became a Christian. As somebody has said, salvation is instantaneous. The understanding of it is eternal. You're saved in a moment, and spend the rest of your life here and in heaven trying to really understand what happened the moment you were saved. Thirty-four years ago, last month, my sins were forgiven. Gone, gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul is free, and in my heart is a song. Buried in the deepest sea, yes, that's good enough for me. I shall live eternally. Praise God, my sins are gone. I heard an old country preacher one time, voice was about to shout, coat was off, collar unbuttoned, sleeves halfway rolled up, almost a burlesque performance. The old country preacher, he said, you think I could get lost? You know what the devil would have to do to get me lost now that I'm saved? He hollered and screamed. He said, the devil, first thing he'd have to do, have to take the hand of Jesus and unpride the hand of Jesus out from around me. Because the Bible says, I know my sheep and they follow me and they shall never perish. And no man shall pluck them out of my hands. Then the old country preacher said, you know what I'd have to do next? You'd have to take the hand of God the Father, unpride the hand of God the Father out from around me. Because Jesus said, my Father which gave to me is greater than all. And no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. Then he said, then you know what I'd have to do? He said, you'd have to, you'd have to go east till east is east no more, and west till west is west no more, and get my sins and bring them back. For the Bible says that as far as the east is from the west, he's separated my sins from me. Then you know what the devil would have to do if he got me lost again? He'd have to get behind the back of God because my sins are behind the back of God. And then he said, once he could get me lost, he'd have to come where I am to get me. And I'm in Christ. And the devil would have to come in Christ to get me. And if he came in Christ, he'd be a new creature because the Bible said, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. And he said, he'd be saved then. He wouldn't want to get me lost. He said, I'm secure. And so am I. So am I. I'm not sure that's good theology, you college professors, but it beats a heap of the teaching I had in college. I'm not here, but 34 years ago, I got justified. I'm not sure what justification means. I've tried to understand it for years and I've taught it. I could describe it and define it, but I'm not sure I've yet explored the depths of real justification. But more than that happened 34 years ago, the Holy Spirit came and needed to live. For 34 years, he's lived in this body. He's indwelt this body as his own dear temple. That isn't all. My name was written in heaven 34 years ago. My name was written in heaven, the Lamb's book of life. That isn't all. I became a new creature in Christ 34 years ago. But the thing I want to pinpoint tonight is this. In spite of all those blessed, blessed things, as far as my relationship with God is concerned, one of the best things that happened to me 34 years ago is the fact that I got born into the most wonderful family in the whole world. You know, we don't realize how much we love each other. We don't realize how much we would miss each other if Dr. Billings suddenly were taken tonight and dead. We didn't realize how much we appreciate Dr. Billings. Somebody said it always hurts worse to have your arm cut off than it feels good to have it on. But we belong tonight. I was thinking, these school teachers. Now, where in the world, do you know what more people have commented on to me than any other thing in the coronation service? The, what kind of service do we have? Not ordination. The one we had the Wednesday night before last. Convocation. Those big words always throw me. But the convocation, I wanted to say coronation. I knew it started with a K, but I didn't know how you spelled it. But I tried to be scholarly because we have so many educated folks here, you know. And, but I, more of the professors and teachers commented about one thing. They said the biggest blessing was all, of all, was when Mr. Garcia stood up here and said, I've never been to school. I've never been to school. Do you know, I think that the dear Lord is pleased when a person with a doctor's degree and a person that's never been to school admire each other mutually and work together with nobody higher than anybody else. You folks are visitors here. I have to tell you this. I've told it many times here. One day, a lovely couple sat back here, live over in Wheaton, Illinois, refined couple, sat back here in the building. And right in front of them were two ladies that had on mink coats. I don't know. Rosa Bryant has stolen most of the mink coats in this church. But, and she's a good sport, I hope. But anyway, but she said, he said, two ladies in front of us had mink coats. And right across the aisle over here was a little Mexican boy that had a hole in his trousers. He was trying to cover up. Like one of the boys said, that sure is a funny patch you got in your trousers. The boy said, that's no patch, that's me. And the boy had a patch in his trousers, trying to cover up. I know, I've tried to do that when I was a kid. And this couple, the man looked at his wife and said, sweetheart, that's the First Baptist Church of Hammond out there. So there are two ladies in mink coats and that little Mexican boy across the aisle trying to cover up a hole in his trousers. And he said, I wept as I said to my wife, I believe that little boy is as welcome as those two ladies. And by the way, he is. He is. I mean this, I said, I'm glad to have our faculty, if it's not a student, walk down this aisle to join this church in the last few weeks, who was not as welcome and, and who was less welcome than the faculty. To me, you students are here. God bless you. You're just as important in this church as I am, or as the faculty members. Why? Because we all belong to God's family. We have been baptized, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, we've been baptized by one spirit into one family. We're his children. And that's what the apostle meant when he said, behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God or the sons of God. And you look at, look around you tonight and you see your brothers and sisters in Christ. I was watching the deacons come down the aisle this morning. They're good men, God bless them. I was watching the lineup back in the back. They started down the aisle. And I thought, this is terrible to think about the Lord's servant, but I thought about it. I said, God bless those men. They've stood beside me and we've labored and worked and prayed and hoped and planned. And then I thought this, I thought it's not one of those fellows walking down that aisle that I couldn't put in the penitentiary if I squealed. And then I thought I better not, because they'd put me in the next cell if they told all they know about me. Really, think about it for a minute. I want you just to dwell on it for a second. Isn't it wonderful to be a part of the family of God? And isn't it wonderful to be a part of God's blood brought group of people who love him? But something disappointed me about this family, which I belong. I was, I was, I wasn't ready for something that happened. I never have understood it. I found out the family fused an awful lot. And that bothers me. It always has bothered me. I never have understood why we ought not to get along with each other. I never have comprehended, to me, if anybody in the world ought to love each other, it's God's people. And I couldn't understand it. I, I still can't. The hardest thing in the world to understand is why in the world God's people can't get along with each other. I've told our faculty and our student body, there's going to be one school in this country, college in this country, that doesn't criticize the other Bible-believing school. I've told our faculty and I've told our student body, we're not even going in homiletics class to outline the sermon of the chapel speakers and homiletics class discuss the good points and bad points of the chapel speakers. We're not going to do anything but praise the men of God who walk across our platform and our campus. We're not going to do it. Now we're not going to do it. We're not going to have it. The first time I hear a faculty member who stands up and criticize another school that believes the Bible, if you want to criticize the liberals, have at it, brother, have at it, just have at it. A preacher called me up from here in Hammond not long ago. I told the students the other day, he, uh, certain liberal church doesn't believe the Bible. And he said, could I come and let you teach me how to build a Sunday school? And I said, it all depends. Do you, do you believe the virgin birth? He said, no, I don't. I said, do you believe the, uh, the, uh, the verbal expression of the Bible? He said, no, I don't. I said, you believe in the deity of Christ? He said, no, I don't. And I see, he said, not going to come and let you teach me how to build a church. And I said, no, you can't. I said, you can come and kneel at the altar like any other sinner and get converted if you want to, but I won't teach you how to build a church. But he said, why? I said, because when you stand up and preach next Sunday morning and you don't believe the Bible and you don't believe in Jesus Christ and his deity, I hope you get the hiccups. You say you don't have love. Yes, I do. I have love for Jesus. You have a synthetic kind of a hypocritical love for Christ rejecters and those that deny the very Christ that we love and preach. I told him, I said, if you have a flat tire, I'll have to fix it. Better still, I'll send Jim Reiner. If you're hungry, I'll feed you. If you're naked, I'll close you. A lot of his members are. I'll close you. I'll wait for you. And I said, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And I hope you have good health and I'm not against you. I love you. But I said, when it comes to, for a man to stand behind a pulpit and claim to be God's man and not even believe this Bible, I said, you're a deceiver, a deceiver. But now when it comes to God's people, blood bought, blood washed, redeemed people of God, I do not ever want to hear anyone from this church set in judgment against some other church. Well, you said they criticized us. Let them do it. Well, I heard about a school that criticized us. Let them do it. Now, just to be honest with you, we have students tonight here from Moody Institute and also Miles Anderson College. It's beyond comprehension that we'd criticize each other. To me, it's absolutely beyond comprehension that any one of God's people ought to set in judgment against the other. I can understand it. And I got worried about this. For example, I got thinking, why should we, we belong to the same body? Should my right hand hit my left? Should my right hand get a knife, slash my left hand? No. And my right hand suddenly, my left hand suddenly is cut. My right hand rushes to its rescue. When my foot, if I stump my toe, I used to have an ingrown toenail. Nothing like that. Cancer of the blood, can't compare. Leukemia, heart attack, no disease known to man as deadly as an ingrown toenail. Have you ever gotten up at night to go to the washroom or something and didn't turn the light on and felt your way across? All of a sudden, with an ingrown toenail, you, oh, I might have to sit down. Have you ever done that? And all of a sudden, oh! And then you wish that you hadn't gone to Christian school so you could learn some words appropriate to a situation like that. I've done that. But boy, I can, I can recall every time I'd stump that ingrown toenail. What happened? Both of my hands would rush to its rescue. And my mouth would say, oh! My eyes would squint. My tear ducts would produce. Why? Because the entire body rushes to the rescue of that portion which is wounded. Why shouldn't the body of Christ be the same way? Why should we sit in judgment on each other? Why should God's people not love each other and stand with each other and stand for each other? We are, we belong to the same body. But that isn't all I got thinking. We also share a mutual experience, a mutual experience. I mean, we as God's children, all of us came to a place in our lives where we realized that we were sinners and where the Holy Spirit of God spoke to us and convicted us. And we felt that all alike. We have a common denominator, something we all share. We felt a conviction and we realized that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. And in faith we looked to Him and received Him as our Lord and Savior. And we've been born again. Why shouldn't we stand together? We share something so blessed is that. I can understand preachers criticizing other preachers. I can understand Christians criticizing other Christians. I can understand schools criticizing other schools. I can understand God's people ever speaking ill of each other. We share too much. You, many of you folks have heard me tell. I was a paratrooper in World War II. One of our men, one of our boys, a paratrooper, brought me a paratroop cap for the day and some wings as a gift when he came back home and I'm so proud of him. I was a paratrooper in World War II. And to me there's still, if I see a paratrooper, I still, boy, I feel like one with him. I was down, were you a paratrooper? Were you a paratrooper? How'd you get in? As fat as you are. I can understand that. But paratrooper. And I can still, you know, you know how it is. You can see it. Were you an 82nd or what? Special Forces. You see a fellow walking down, has those boots on and those wings here and that parachute on his cap, that insignia. And boy, you won't rush up to him. The other day I was in Louisville. I was in Louisville, Kentucky at the airport and I saw, it was early in the morning, bright and early, nobody much there. I saw a paratrooper and I ran down, I said, Trooper, hey! He said, okay. I said, well, how can I help you, sir? I said, man, what outfit you in? He said, 82nd. I said, man, I was in the 82nd. I said, what regiment? He told me. What were you? I said, I was in Special Troops, a parachute maintenance company. And he said, well, isn't that something? And he said, where were you in? I said, shut up. But now we share, we shared something together. I mean, each of us has felt the weight of that chute on our back and the reserve on our chest. Each of us has felt the sensation of jumping from a plane, moving in flight and twisting and turning and looking up and seeing the most beautiful sight of steel you've ever seen in your life. We shared that and we, we, we talk about it. We can't fuss at each other. We have nothing but, but, but oneness. Why? We shared something. And by the way, God's people, each of whom has shared the new birth experience, if they'd talk about that experience a lot more, they'd fuss a lot less and talk about each other a lot less. I got to thinking, why should this family bicker and fuss? We have the same father. We have the same destination. And you got to put up with me forever. Hallelujah. Oh, I got one friend in the house, but you do, you do. And you may as well get used to it. I'm going to be there. I mean, I'm going to, I don't want to go then. Okay. Go ahead. But I'm going to be there. We're going to the same place. We're indwelled with the same Holy Spirit, the same blood runs through our spiritual veins. Why shouldn't we get along with each other? Well, you sit with the house. How can we do it? The Bible gives us a detailed plan. And I found some Bible verses and I want to share them with you. To me, one of the great words in the Bible is this, it's one word in the Greek. Oh, it's a combination of a couple, but it's all one word. It's called one another, one another. And I found some words in the Bible that, that tell us what we're to do to one another as God's people. That'll make us get along with each other and not criticize each other. Yeah. Moody students. I was, I was at Moody speaking one night and I got through speaking. Uh, I wanted to find the quickest way out of the car. And I was in a hurry to make an appointment out here. And I, and I went down through the boiler room or something. I don't know. Catacombs. Uh, liberals are buried down there or something. I don't know. But, uh, anyway, I went down and I got behind two young preachers and they didn't know I was there because it was way down in the, in the, in the basement. And one of them said, what do you think about Hia? Of course, you know, what's coming now. But the other one shot me and he said, I can't figure him out. He said, I've never heard a man on this campus criticized as much as Jack Hiles. And then he put me to my knees when he said, but I've never heard him criticize anybody. This man right here gave me one of the biggest honors I've ever had. A paper called him Toronto Canada. They called me and I was out of the state and the papers that we understand. Dr. Jack Hiles made a statement while he was in Canada recently against some well-known Bible preacher. And Dr. Bidding said, no, he didn't. And they asked him something like this. Well, were you there? Did you know? And he said, no, but he said, my preacher doesn't criticize any of God's men. Now I'm simply saying, why can't we get along with each other? Why can't we love each other? The Bible is out loud. The first thing I noticed is this. We are to pray for one another. For the Bible says in James 5, 16, pray one for the other. And over and over again, the word one another is used. One another, one another, one another. We're to pray one another. Hey, you got anybody you want to criticize, then pray for him. I don't mean pray he'll drop dead. I mean, pray for him. Pray good will happen to him. Pray for him. Put him on your prayer list. You don't like me? Then put me on your prayer list and pray for God to bless me every day. And pray for God to give me power while I preach every day. Pray one for the other. God's given us that. Then there's the second thing. We're to exhort one another. Hebrews 13, three, we're to exhort one another. Exhort, what does the word exhort mean? It means, by the way, you Greek students, it comes from the same word that the word in 1 John 2, 1, my little children, these things right on you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. That word advocate is the Greek word parathlete. And it's the same word that's used in John chapter 14 and 15 about the comforter. I will say, if I go away, the comforter will come. If I go not away, the comforter will not come. That word comforter, the Holy Spirit is called parathlete. And we as God's people, or Jesus is our parathlete. And here in Hebrews, it mentions exhort one another. It means parathlete one another. And what's the word parathlete? The word parathlete means run along beside somebody and pick them up when they fall. Let me show you something. Doc, let me use you here, would you please? And you got a little limp here. And you got a little limp and stumbled here. Oh, here, here, here. Let me help you here. Let me help you here. And let's just go all the way and stumble. Oh, here, here. That's fine. Oh, thank you. Now, that's exactly what it means. It means when the comforters come, our Lord went back to heaven and he sent us a parathlete, a comforter. What's his job? Pick us up when we fall. And in first John two, one, it says, my little children, these things right eye on you that you send not. But if any man sins, we have a picker upper. Who is it? Jesus Christ, the righteous. And then in Hebrews, it says that we are to be picker, picker uppers for one another. Pickers uppers are cotton pickers for one another. The Holy Spirit's supposed to pick us up when we fall or each other. And Jesus is supposed to pick us up when we fall. And we are supposed to pick up each other when we fall. How can we get along with the other? How can God's people love each other? How can God's people get along? How can we stop our, our criticism, stop our complaining, stop our talking about each other and especially God's men. How can we do it? We ignore one another. Nobody needs you to push them down. I go off the broadcast every morning saying, don't forget, be good to everybody because everybody's having a tough time. Another morning I went off and I said, don't forget, be good to everybody because everybody's having a good time. I don't know why I said that. I guess everybody, I guess I was having a good day or something. Then I thought about it wasn't good, thought it was bad. So bad time, but it's tough time. And everybody is having a tough time. No Christian needs my criticism. I got thinking one day, and you've heard me say this. I got thinking one day, suppose a fella is only one-tenth what I am. I don't know of anybody that little, but suppose a fella is only one-tenth of what I am. Let's suppose that I chop him down, criticize him and ruin his, ruin his testimony and hurt his chance to serve God. Did you know if I cut down 10 people like that, I completely nullify my entire ministry? Think about that for a minute. All the work and toil and sweat and blood and tears of 27 years of preaching could be nullified completely if I cut down 10 men who are one-tenth what I am. How can we get along with each other? We can, 1 Corinthians 12, 25 says we're to care for each other. And actually it means we're to be anxious and be distracted one for the other. What does it mean? It means that God's people are supposed to take care of each other. Let me, let me show you something that'll break your heart and show more than anything else, the condition of our world. Bob Keyes, Bob Keyes was a buddy of mine. You know, he spoke for our, back to your heart, wasn't it? Graduation week of our high school. Bob Keyes was my assistant pastor for three years. Bob had a heart attack. When he had a heart attack, his throat was paralyzed and he couldn't speak. He almost died with a heart attack. And then he had to have a surgery on his throat so he could speak again. And all of a sudden he realized he had heart, a heart damage that was permanent. They found he had to have open heart surgery. He opened up his body, went into his heart and open heart surgery and took out an aneurysm. It was bigger than an orange, they said. And he only has half a heart. The doctor said he wouldn't live. They called me one day and said, said, said Bob Keyes won't live an hour. I talked to Sid with his wife whom I've known since she was nine. And Sybil said, Jack said, they say Bob can't make it. But Bob did make it and he'll never be completely well. But I got the idea of trying to help him. And I helped him along a little bit. And I wanted to put him on salary. Now listen carefully to this. I wanted to put him on salary. So I went to Bob and I said, Bob, give me a, give me the best friends you've got on earth. And Bob gave me a list of nine people, his best friends on earth. I thought I'd contact those friends. I thought all of us get together and pitch in something. I want to pitch in some and we'll all get, put Bob on salary. And I'm, I'm scheduling Bob every Sunday where he can preach somewhere across the country every Sunday. So we'll have a ministry and I'm financing the publishing of a tract that he's written. And, and finally they give him a ministry and maybe his last days, I don't know. And so we contacted these nine best friends. First fellow, first fellow on the list says, we asked him to just give anything once a month, just, just something. His church, all of these are preachers, his church. First fellow says, cannot do anything now. He's hoping that his board will consent to do it after Bob Keyes has been with him in the service. Cannot do anything. One of his nine best friends. One of his nine best friends. Fellow's about dead. Cannot do anything. Contacted another one. He cannot do it now. He is hoping to be able to write it into his church budget after the first of the year. That fellow has a color television set. He drives a new car. He has a church, has an offering of $2,000 a Sunday. He couldn't put $5 in his budget for a fellow who said he's one of his nine best friends. Contacted another fellow. Well, thank God. One fellow put $25 a month in his budget. Another did the same thing. Here's one. I cannot do it now. He would like to do it in the future. Yeah. I'll tell you when he'd like to do it. He'd like to do it. And Bob Keyes is dead. And he wished he'd done it. Of the, of the nine best friends the fellow had, we were called eight. I'm another one. Of the eight best friends he had, three of them said, sorry, you know what I'd do? I'd take the coat off that back and the shirt off under that coat. And I'd wear overalls to preach in before I wouldn't help a friend. What kind of Christianity is it that doesn't care for each other? I hope I can, can, can instill in you some, some comradeship and loyalty that'll exceed what these eight preachers have. And the nine, take, take away me, the eight best friends he has on the face of the earth, we've only been able to raise $125 a month. Now that means of all of his friends, apart from me, only $125 a month for a man who's almost dead. Now that's not Christianity. Young people, when I was your age, I sat beside Bob Keyes in church. He and I were just like you are now. You heard me tell about it. I assumed, I assumed the word friend, and I don't assume the word friend lightly. You're going to grow up one of these days when those folks that you've shared teenage joys with, when they get in trouble, you stand to their, stand up and come to their rescue. You be a lawyer, you be friends. Why in the world? Listen, listen, Dr. L.C. Stewart is in trouble. He said hardly anybody came to his rescue. There's a man of God about to be put in prison, and was, and is in prison tonight. Well, he's in the hospital, but, but uh, uh, sentenced to the, to the prison, a man of God, wrong, wrong, ruined. Nobody came that hadn't been to First Baptist Church in Hammond, either rotted in penitentiary, 14 years, probably died there. Now here's the tragic thing. Angela Davis, a dirty communist, can ruin her country, and communist hippies can come to her rescue from all across America, and have campaigns, and sacrifice, and give their money to keep that communist out of the penitentiary, when God's fundamental people won't even have that much loyalty to God's men. There's something wrong with our loyalty, integrity, and character, when all we're concerned about is ourselves. Listen, listen, in God's name, ladies and gentlemen, we're in the same family. I'll bind you one thing. There's no preacher in this country that stands for the Bible going to be in trouble. If I found out about it, I'm going to try to rally somebody to his rescue. We're God's people. We're in the same family. And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 25, we're to care for one another. And the word care means, it means to be anxious and be distracted. It means to lose something, give up something, worry about somebody. Why can't we get along with each other? Well, the Lord gives us another little plan. He says, confess your faults one to another. How can we have oneness? How can we have a spirit of togetherness? Pray for one another, exhort one another, care for one another. The same word is used in all these scriptures. Confess our faults. James 5, 16 says, confess our faults one to another. Listen to me. If every Christian in this house tonight would decide never to speak of a fault of another Christian, it'd make this church 10 times as great as it is tonight. Never, never, never set in judgment. I sat with 10 of the most famous preachers in America, and I say most famous, I mean their names are household words. I sat in the motel with them. I'm sorry, in a motel dining hall with them. And one of the preachers brought up and spoke a little unkindly about a man that wasn't there. And I stood up and I said, I'm sorry, brethren, but I'm leaving. And every case, these men, each man is far greater than I, believe me. And one said, why? And I said, because I don't, I'm too busy. I have too much to do to fly across the country and sit in a dining room and hear one of God's men criticize. Now I said, either he is not criticized or I leave. Now I don't know about you, but I am sick up to here with God's people picking at each other. You young folks, sometimes folks will come to me and say, did you know that, and don't you laugh when I say this because it's a dirty black sin. I don't care how wicked a fellow is. One fellow said, so-and-so, he just hates Jim Crawl. Well, in the first place, Jim Crawl happens to be a very fine soul winner. But if he weren't, if he weren't, if he deserved to be hated, you're not God. Somebody said, hey, young folk, he won't even speak to somebody. Well, what kind of Christianity is that? We're in the same family. I don't like him. Well, good night, you're not the most lovable thing since Marilyn Monroe. Students criticizing each other. Won't speak. Christians can't get along with each other. Rise above such folly. Rise above such childishness. Rise above such sin. Learn to care one for the other. Let's confess our faults one to the other, not confess one another's faults to each other. How can we get along in the family of God? The Bible says, in honor of preferring one another, 1 Timothy 5.21, prefer one another. Know what that means? That means that if, if there's only, I like this story. So the boy went to school one day and his teacher said, Johnny, if you had a pie and then you got mama and daddy and you and your sister and the family and each one had a piece of pie, how many pieces would you cut the pie into? Johnny said, three. No, said the teacher. Johnny, if you had you, your sister, your mother, your father, how many is that? Well, one mother, father, four. Okay, Johnny, then how many pieces would you, a pie would you, would you cut? Johnny said, three. She said, Johnny, let's, let's go over it again. Now you got mama and daddy and you and your sister. How many is that? Four. Okay. Now you've got a piece of pie for everybody. How many pieces of pie would you need? And Johnny said, three. And the teacher said, Johnny, you're not trying to cooperate. He said, yes I am. Well, why would you just need three? Johnny said, because mama would say she didn't want any. That's the way all Christians ought to be. Don't you recall the story of Abraham and Lot when they had a feud between their herdsmen? Huh? And, and, and Lot, Lot said, I won't go well-watered plain towards Sodom. And Abraham said, let there be no strife. Let there be no strife. You choose what you want. That's what it means. In honor, preferring one another. Let there be no strife. Let us not bicker. You take what you want. Oh brother. Sometimes, sometimes Christian people really, honestly, it's, it's disgusting to watch how they behave. Watch sometimes at a, at a meal. Watch the kids try to see who can get to the table first and get first in line. Huh? Like I said this morning, I don't know. I don't know. I don't do that unless you're behind the steering wheel driving down the street. And if you've got a piece of steel to protect you from getting your nose punched, you're just like you were when you were a kid, aren't you? But the Bible said in honor, preferring one another. How many times have I seen dear Dr. John Rice? Time and time and time again, I've seen this happen. I've seen Dr. Rice. We'd be, we'd be preaching together. We'd, for thirteen, thirteen straight weeks, he and I'll be in, in meetings together this fall. But time and time again, I've seen Dr. Rice, the pastor come for us in a Volkswagen. And Dr. Rice is seventy-six. And he'd get out there first and, and I'd, I'd say, here Dr. Rice, wait a minute. And Dr. Rice would crawl over in the back seat where you got about that much room for your legs. And I've seen that man in the back seat. Why? He's preferring me. He's preferring me in honor, preferring one another. Somebody asked me one time, said, write an article about John Rice on his, on his birthday, about a great, some great thing he's done. I told him about a time we were in Dallas, Texas, and I was preaching. There's a door over here causing a draft. It was blowing right on me, and I was losing my voice. And I said, one of you ushers back in the back, please close that door. And the usher did it. And I said, hey, with some deacon, would you mind closing the door? And everybody was too big and important to close the door. And suddenly Dr. John R. Rice stood to his feet, timidly and quietly walked over and closed the door, et cetera. In honor, preferring one another. Want to know how to get along with each other? In honor, preferring one another. I mean, if there's only one piece of pie, I'd rather the other fellow to have it. If there's only one gift, I'd rather the other fellow to have it. If there's only one seat, I'd rather the other fellow sit down. If there's only one place of honor, I'd rather the other fellow. You say, well, Brother Howard, that's okay, but I'm just a teenager. Well, teenagers are supposed to be Christians too. I'm a child. I, listen, you children that run and break your neck to get in line first, well, you'll get the biggest helping. That's not Christianity. Well, you say, well, I'm just a little kid, and children will be children. Yeah, and children can be Christian children. The Bible's written for everybody. We're to, in honor, prefer each other. How can we get along with each other? The Bible says love one another, 1 John 4, 7, and that word is love. There's some things the Bible says one another we should not do one to the other. For example, in 1 Corinthians 4, 6, we're not to be puffed up against each other. In James 5, 9, we're not to grudge against each other. What I'm saying is this. Why couldn't I want to be a help to all the family of God? All the family of God. Let me tell you something. Children, you still know. Just a minute. When I first began preaching, and I'm not sure if I've told this in a sermon, but if I have, it stands where it is here again. When I first began preaching, Bob Keyes, I'll come back to him. I never had had an assistant pastor before, and I'd always wanted an assistant pastor. Man, I'd always wanted to say, hey, but I found out that that don't do any good. I say, and they say, but anyway, I'd always want, I'd always want to be a big shot. You know, Dr. Tom Malone says the preacher is like a wasp. He's bigger right after he's hatched than any other time in his life. And I'd always want to be a, have an assistant pastor. I never will forget it. Bob Keyes, I hired him as an assistant pastor. Actually, I hired him to be my secretary. My church didn't believe in paying a song leader. And so I hired Bob to be my secretary, but he was my assistant pastor. One day, he lived about three houses down the block, and one day he came up and was rubbing his stomach. He said, man, I just had the best green beans I ever had in my life. I said, good. He said, they're fresh. I said, you got a garden? You see, I've been used to getting all the green beans from my people. I've been used to getting all the green beans. I said, you got a garden? He said, no. I said, where'd you get those fresh green beans? He said, Mrs. So-and-so brought them over. I said, she didn't bring me none. Isn't that the way we are? One day I had a Ford. God's forgiven me for it. I used to have a Ford. He's forgiven me for having a Ford and for all the dirty words I said because I had. One day I was backing out of our driveway, a circular. I was backing out, and I got off the driveway. Snow, 18 feet deep. Drifts up to 200 feet. I got off the drive and got stuck. And so I decided I'd just pull up a little bit. I pulled up a little bit, but I just couldn't pull up much of it. I decided to gun it back, gun it up. All I was doing was just digging a foxhole. And so finally I gunned it up and I gunned it back, and I thought, one more and get it. And all of a sudden I smelled something. You know what it was? It was my clutch. Transmission. Out. Gone. It cost me $276 to get that thing fixed. About that time Jim Lyons drove up. He said, you having trouble, preacher? I said, what does it look like to you, Jim? The assistant pastor here. He said, what's the matter? Haven't you got your snow tires? I said, you know I can't afford snow tires. $35, $40 a piece. You got any? Yeah. Where'd you get them? He said, Mr. and Mrs. Clifton gave them to me. I haven't spoken to Mrs. Clifton since. You know what I wanted to do? Murder. Triple murder. Lyons, female Clifton, and male Clifton, and the old green monster. We're not good Christians to have come to the place where we drove the Jim Lyons had the snow tires and us get stuck. We're not good Christians to have come to the place where we drove the Bob Keys had the green beans. I learned something, folks. Please listen. I learned something. Did you know I learned that the wider open the arms of another goes to someone else, the more love they can have for me. Ask your question. You know I've tried to honor this man here. You know that's true. I've given Dr. Billings power of attorney with our kids in the schools. You know that's true. And he deserves every bit of honor I've given him. Does anybody here love me less than you love me when he came? You know you don't. You know you don't. Tonight I stood and spoke about Max Hilton. I want Max to have everything you can give him except green beans. He needs some potatoes, pizza, or something like that. Something starchy. But anybody here love me less than you love me when I came in tonight? Don't answer that. Of course you don't. Of course you don't. C.W. Fisk, I've called him one of the world's greatest soul winners time and time again. I want him to have all the love you can give him. Anybody here love me less than you used to? Of course you don't. Mr. Vineyard just came to be with us. I want you to open your arms. I want you just to open your heart and your arms and just sprawl and rock. You think that'll make you love me less? Of course not. Of course not. I've learned that from God's people, learn to share and learn to love. I've learned that God develops those people to love us more. It's good to be a part of the greatest family on the face of the earth. What a fellowship. What a joy divine. I belong to the king. I walk with the king. Hallelujah. I walk with the king. Praise his name. No longer I roam my soul. And I'm a child of the king. Why should I cut any inches off anybody else? Why should I? You say, boy, if you knew what folks are saying about you, you'd sure be upset. No, I wouldn't be. The thing that bothers me is what's true. The thing that bothers me is what I've got to admit about myself. That doesn't bother me. I'd rather be the accused than the accuser, the criticized than the critic, the hated than the hater. All I want to do. You know when it boils down to it, you know all I got to do to keep the power of God on me, a little round spot about right in there. Not round, sort of like that. Right in there. If I can keep right in there, right close to the breast of the Savior, then all the critics can't stop the blessings of God. That's the only place right there. That's the only place. And I, as I've been lifted up, said, the Savior will draw all men unto me. And as we are drawn to him and keep our eyes upon him, the closer we get to him, the closer we'll get one to the other. Nasty question tonight. You've been praying one for the other? You've been preferring one another? You've been caring? Hey, have you got a mother who's having it rough tonight financially? And you're, well, yes sir, I think it's all the bills we can take care of. Sell your house. Yeah, sell it. Sell your car and get a bicycle. Well, yes, we just, mothers tell me all over town, I say, do you have a good economy? Hungry. And I said, do you have any children? Yeah, I got four or five, but they've got all they can take care of. Infidels. Worse than infidels, the Bible says. Sell your car, get you a bicycle. Sell your house and sleep in a tent. Brother, when one of your family, I'm talking about God's family, gets down, paraplegic them, pick them up, care for them. Again, I told you this, I don't have much body. I'm not a giant. They didn't ask me to run a mile at the Olympics this year. I've tried to keep my body a temple of the Holy Spirit. I've tried to not put things in my body that would make it not well. I can't preach when these lips are still and dead. I can't hear the complaints and heartaches of suffering people when these ears are still and can't listen. I can't give when these hands are crossed across my breast. I can't walk to the gospel when these feet are still. I can't help you when my voice is silenced. I want to keep my body strong and well. I want to keep my body healthy. You know why? It's my body. It's all I've got. It's not much, but it's better than anybody else on the platform. Not much. But I belong to the body of Christ, and I want to be sure my entire body stays well. I want to help the body. I want to run to its rescue. That means if Brother Pierce has a problem, I want to come over here and help him. He's my brother. That means if you have a problem, I want to help you. You're my brother. If Doc has a problem, I want to help him. He's a part of my body. It'll be a tiny part, but a part of my body. That means if Mr. Coulson here has a problem, I want to help him. Why? We're in the same body, and I want you to learn to get along with the people of God. Love one another. Pray for one another. Exhort. Paraphrase. Pick up one another. Prefer one another. Honor one another. Confess your faults one to another. Forgive one another. Love one another. And then the scripture can be fulfilled when it says, when my people dwell together in unity, it's like the sweet ointment that folds down Aaron's beard. How precious. And the prayer of our Savior can be fulfilled. When you melt in the garden of Gethsemane with blood rolling down his brow, look up and he said, Father, I pray for my people, that they may be one, even as you and I are one. Doc, I wish every pastor and principal in the world could have the oneness you and I have. For the health, and I wish every pastor and assistant in the world to have the oneness you and I have. With a fist, I wish every pastor and associate in the world could have the oneness that you and I have. He put his hand on my shoulder last night and said, I love you, preacher. I love you, preacher. That's what our Savior would say. He'd say, Father, I wish everybody that love each other like we love each other. And that's what I want you to have. I want you to go to bed at night and sing with the old singer Edward Q, who used to sing, If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused one soul to go astray, if I have wronged in my own willful way, dear Lord, our heavenly Father, teach us to love one another, care for one another, pray for one another, exhort one another, pick up one another, love one another. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. Is there anybody in the body of Christ tonight? Anybody in the body of Christ whom you've tried to wound? Huh? If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused one foot to go astray, if I have wronged in my own willful way, dear Lord, forgive. As long as the First Baptist Church in Hammond can have young people who will clap when the algebra teacher steps up to speak, and a sweetness and a warmth and a oneness that we feel tonight, nothing's going to stop this great church. I wonder how many would say tonight, Brother Hiles, God's convicted me. God's convicted me tonight. Along the trail where you've been speaking, God spoke to my heart. I've not been picking up the fallen. I've not been preferring others. I've been wanting my own way. I've been critical, Eddie. I've spoken ill of God's people. Brother Hiles, I confess it. I want you to pray for me. Would you lift your hand, please, all over the building? All over the building. All there others? All there others? Our Heavenly Father, may tonight thy people learn to dwell together in unity and in oneness. Bless these dear ones, and may tonight may hurt feelings, critical dispositions, and sharp tongues be laid at this altar. And may we stop to realize we're headed for the same place, share the same experience, belong to the same body, have the same Father, indwelt with the same Spirit, save for the same blood, bound for the same heaven. Our heads are bowed. If you need to come to the altar and pray after a while and we sing, you do so. For those tonight who want to come and say, I want to join the church, I transfer, you come. No doubt there's some who want to come tonight and say, Brother Hiles, I've not been baptized, but I want to get baptized. Or others ought to come and say, I want to receive Christ as my Savior. If you've not been saved, you come tonight and receive the Savior. I'll be at the front, you come and take my hand. If you've not been baptized, you come and take my hand here at the front. If you want to join the church, you do the same thing. If you're coming to kneel at the altar and say, Dear God,