Drinking of One Spirit

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. 1 Corinthians 12, beginning at verse 12. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. For the body is not one member but many. Now if the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not a part of the body, it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

And if the ear should say, I'm not an eye, I must not be a part of the body, it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as he desired. Praise the Lord, you may be seated.

Drinking of one spirit. The seed thought for this message came to me last Tuesday during our every Tuesday, our staff, pastors and staff meet together in prayer. And the seed thought for this message came during that meeting.

And it was during that meeting that I heard David say and prayed and he had said Tuesday that he was thanking the Lord during his prayer that he had his message for Sunday. And I thought, boy, I said, I was envious. And I thought to myself, my goodness, it's only Tuesday and he's got his message already for Sunday.

And we pastors talk about this sometimes. Sometimes our messages come week, two weeks in advance and sometimes the day before. And so I was envious when I found out that he had his message already.

And I said, Lord, do that for me by tomorrow. The Lord did even better. And he gave me the seed thought and inspiration for this message right during the prayer meeting by looking around at who was there and listening to their prayers.

Because the Lord gave me a picture, actually an illustrated sermon of how the body of Christ functions or ought to function and the beauty of being a member of the family of God and all drinking from one spirit. Because you see represented among our pastors and staff was and is a testimony to the unity of the body of Christ and the fact that we do drink of one spirit. Ephesians 4.16 describes it this way.

The whole body being fitted together by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working of each part causes the growth of the body for the building of itself in love. You see when the church is functioning right under the headship of Christ, we help each other grow. I think there's no lovelier fellowship and unity this side of heaven than when you and I are drinking of one spirit and the whole body is fitted together by that which every joint or member supplies.

And what is remarkable about this unity of the body is that in the natural and in our carnal sinful state there is much that would divide us and pull us apart. And I'll be talking about that a little bit later. But I was blessed as I looked around in our prayer meeting as our pastors and staff and saw the variety that there is represented among us.

We have young and we have old or older. Actually only one old because he laid claim himself to that from this pulpit at least two times when David said he's a senior pastor of the group and the rest of us had a quick meeting and did not disagree with that 100. We were united on that 100% that he is the senior pastor.

So we're young and we're older, male and female, white and black. Our church backgrounds are varied. We have an ex-Baptist, an ex-Catholic, some ex-traditional Pentecostals, some ex-this and some ex-that as far as church backgrounds are concerned.

I'm sure we have diverse political views as well. And I tell you the truth and this is the honest truth. I don't know if David is a Republican or Democrat.

I really don't know. I don't know what Bob's political views are either. If I find out and they're not correct, I'll straighten them out.

But I don't know. You see, I'm talking about the miracle of unity in diversity and diversity in unity. And then what a testimony this church is.

Every time we meet together, some 30 to 40 nationalities and cultures are represented. We have people who have been saved out of the gutter of this city, if you please. We have other people that have been saved out of the glitter of this city.

And all races and classes and economic and social stratas worship together. We sit side by side. On Friday night, it's beautiful to see small little groups in a circle praying together.

This, my friend, is a miracle of the grace and the love of God. And we must never lose sight of it and never let the enemy come to disrupt the unity of the spirit and the fact that we, though we are diverse, we drink of one spirit. Hallelujah.

In addition to the diversities of culture, consider the diversities of deliverance. Deliverances that are represented here. Paul said it in 1 Corinthians 6, 9, and 11.

It applies to this church. Oh, how it applies. He said, do not be deceived.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. And he said, in such were some of you, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of God and brought together in the body of Christ. Hallelujah.

Now, we must never neglect the truth that those who walk in holiness and in righteousness must do so not only individually, but also in harmony with brothers and sisters of different color skin, of different ethnic backgrounds, of different social classes, as well as being saved out of the various backgrounds that Paul talked about. God does not want holy lone rangers. Our walk of holiness must be one of harmony and unity between the members of a body.

1 John 4, 21 says, and this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should love his brother. 1 John 2, 10, the one who loves his brother abides in the light. And so tonight I want to consider with you what it means to drink of one spirit and how that spirit breaks down any wall or separation that divides people outside these doors, but unites us inside these doors and keeps us united when we go outside the doors as well.

First of all, I believe that this truth that I want to share with you tonight and as intimated in 1 Corinthians 12, is that we are one and we are family only by virtue of being under the covering and headship of Christ. Ephesians 4, 15 says this, but speaking the truth in love, we are growing up in all aspects unto him who is the head, even Christ. And also Colossians 1, 18, it says, he is also head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that he himself might come to have first place or preeminence in everything, in everything. You see my friend, anything or anyone or any disruptive spirit, any teaching, any predominance of spiritual gifts, as Paul mentioned spiritual gifts here, he mentions also certain offices or roles of ministry or any spiritual experiences, any church system or government or denomination, anything that distracts or dethrones Christ in his headship and lordship over us is not the spirit of God. Paul says in verse four of Corinthians chapter 12, he says, now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit.

And in this chapter, what he goes on to explain and partly what this is inferring is that we are not to exalt the instrument or the personality through which the gifts flow or the spirit flows, but we are always only to acknowledge the source from which all gifts flow. And that is the spirit of God. And Paul had to instruct the church at Corinth, which was a much gifted church.

It was a Pentecostal church that the gifts of the spirit were fully in operation, but he had to address them because of all of the manifestation of gifts and the many fine ministries that were there, he had to come against the personality cult that had developed, centered around some of those gifted persons. Listen to first Corinthians chapter one, verse 10 to 12. He said, now I exhort you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and there be no divisions among you, but you'll be made complete in the same mind or judgment.

For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each of you was saying, well, I am of Paul. Another says, I am of Apollos.

Another says, I'm of Cephas. And another says, I don't follow any man, I'm of Christ. And he says, has Christ been divided? No, he hasn't been divided.

You see, the headship of Christ must never be replaced with the headship of a man or a woman. Now, if you go to a church or follow a ministry where a man or a woman keeps lifting themselves up, they have to keep drawing themselves to you and solicit your loyalty to them, then you are in an, I am of Paul and I am of Apollos church. That's a Corinthian spirit.

And my friend, God has been bringing that down today. And Paul gives us the key to putting men and ministries and gifts into their proper perspective. He says in 1 Corinthians 3, 7, it says, neither the one who plants, listen to this.

Now, if ever I am attempted to get proud about any gift or any role that I exercise in the church, I'm gonna go to this verse and read it over and over again. Listen to what Paul says. Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything.

I mean, Paul just told me under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I'm nothing. And neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth and gets all the glory. Hallelujah.

And so Paul says, going back to 1 Corinthians 12, 4, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit. Verse five, and there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. You see the Holy Spirit's operation results in a variety of effects.

He birthed churches, parachurches, movements, denominations and various other ministries. In fact, we are ministry, we're associated with many fine ministries across this country. But what Paul says about personalities applies to these ministries or denominations as well.

He is saying it is neither the ministry that plants nor the ministry who waters. And incidentally, planting and watering is very important. It's vital to the work of the Lord.

Paul is not pushing that aside, but he said in putting it all into perspective, it is not the ministry, not the church that waters, not the ministry, not the church that plants, but God, none of these are anything, but God, but God, but God who causes the growth, hallelujah. I don't think God cares that much about denominations or labels or organizations. I learned long time ago, never get married to an organization.

Now, I don't think that they are unscriptural nor unnecessary. We do need legal organizations. We need church government.

We need church order. We need church administration. We need church fellowships and church movements as long as we remember what Paul says that neither the one who plants or the one that waters is anything, but it's God.

I remember when I grew up in the church and our church, they used to sing, we used to shake hands like we do here. And when that would happen, we would sing a course that went like this and I'm not gonna sing it, but I know the words. It goes, and some of you heard it.

It goes like this. I care not what church you belong to, just as long as for Calvary you stand. If your heart is as my heart, then brother, sister, give me your hand and everybody turned around and shake hands with each other.

Well, I learned as a young fellow growing up in the church, when they sang those words, I care not what church you belong to, that it wasn't entirely always the truth. And we, there was a group of us that were in the back and we used to sing it like this. I care not what church you belong to, just as long as it's the assembly of God.

And if your doctrine is as my doctrine, then brother, sister, give me your hand. Now I remember, and I'm honest, truthfully, when I tell you this, when I was a little fellow and I used to pray, I used to pray, actually prayed. I said, oh Lord, thank you that I am assembly of God because I didn't think there was anybody else.

Now the church didn't teach that directly, but indirectly it did. And little later on, I learned that there were more of us than them. And I changed my prayer and I said, oh Lord, thank you that I'm Pentecostal.

Because, you know, as long as we, anybody else was Pentecostal, then they were a part of the church, the true church as well. And then I remember when I went into the ministry and I met others that didn't fit those categories and I found out that they were saved and it blew my mind. And I changed my prayers.

Finally, I came to the place where I said, thank God I'm a Christian, hallelujah. And I try to keep it in that order. Ephesians 4, 4 and 5 said, there is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Now, listen, I believe you ought to be loyal to your church. I pray that you're loyal to Times Square Church if you make this your church. But if any church tries to lay a loyalty to pastor or loyalty to denomination guilt trip on you, then you're in there into a Corinthian spirit.

Paul said, you were called in one hope of your calling. And that is to be in submission to the headship and Lordship of Jesus Christ. And if you're doing that, you're gonna hear the voice of God that David preached about on Sunday night.

And if he tells you that this is where you ought to make your church, then we know that you're a member here, not of Times Square Church, but you're a member of a one and only one body, the body of Christ. And if that can't keep you, a little card won't keep you if that can't keep you. And if God speaks to you and tells you, this is not your church, then we don't want you here out of the will of God.

But if God speaks to you, then you fellowship here, not because we have any membership card, but because you drink of one spirit, hallelujah. You're under the headship of Jesus Christ. That's what's gonna keep you.

Now there's a new problem arising in the church lately. And I'll just go on this quickly. Not only did God's people sometimes gather around a particular doctrine or denomination.

And by the way, we've said it a number of times. We're not, we have a, we're not against doctrine. We have a doctrine here.

It's as well, doctrine is simply biblical truth. But not only did God's people sometimes gather around a particular doctrine or denomination, but now there is a gathering around a teaching and teachers and preachers. There is a dividing of Christ today, a division of the body according to so-called revelations of truth.

And one group rallies around faith and prosperity. Another around the so-called kingdom now theology. Another around praise and worship.

Another around, especially in the cities now, there are churches that rally around it taking the city kind of concept. Others around healing or inner healing. Now in this church, we emphasize holiness, holiness of lifestyle.

But our gathering point is not around a teaching of holiness or righteousness. Our gathering point has been preached by Gary and Bob on Sunday is in the cross of Christ and him crucified, buried and risen again. That's our rallying point and only point.

But second Timothy four, three and four says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn aside their ears from the truth and will turn aside to miss. And let me tell you something, if you have been baptized and some of you may have been, you may have been baptized into a teaching. And when you do, you become a prisoner to that teaching.

And you accumulate teachers and teachings and books and tapes, not in accordance to the will and plan of God or the word of God, but in accordance to that particular teaching. And if it doesn't line up to that, then you throw it out and you can be into a myth and not into sound doctrine. Don't gather around a teaching.

Now, there's one other important point that I wanna bring out about what it means to be a member of a body of Christ, the true body of Christ. Now, unity must not be based upon church or denominational affiliation. It must not be based upon gathering around a certain teaching.

And thirdly, it neither can be based upon one knowing Christ or preaching Christ. And let me qualify that. You see, my standard of judgment used to be, I used to just say this and I'd said, well, as long as they preach Jesus.

No, that's not enough. I need to know what kind of Jesus and what kind of gospel they're preaching. Now, let me explain it further because the Holy Spirit showed me something about how I used to preach.

I used to preach a divided Jesus. And this is how it went. I would say, now, first of all, we accept Jesus as our savior.

Secondly, we then accept Jesus as our Lord. Thirdly, there is a permissible time lag between the two. And you may do the first, but you may not do the second.

I remember being told of a certain young convert one day who wasn't able to overcome or wasn't overcoming in a certain sin. And I said to somebody, I said, well, give them time. I said, I know this person.

I know they have accepted Jesus as their savior, but they haven't accepted him as Lord yet. So give them time, they'll work it out. But my friend, that's a mistake.

This heresy has been in the church for years. It is the cause for weak Christians. It's the cause for backsliding.

It's the cause for so-called decisions made by people who never understood what they were supposed to decide on. And it's the cause of those who have accepted Christ on their own terms, but not on the terms of who Jesus really is and what his call is to follow him. You see, to urge people to believe Christ can be divided in his works, one as savior and one as Lord, and that we can receive half of Christ or a third of Christ or a quarter of Christ, that is bad teaching.

The truth is that salvation apart from obedience and laying down of self is unknown in the teaching of scripture. Peter says that we are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience. And it has to start in the beginning.

And yet many insist on preaching that Jesus can be our savior without being our Lord. Now, they may not say it in those terms. It may not come across that way, but in the final analysis, that's what they are doing.

And I realized that for some years in my ministry, now, when I grew up in the church, that was not the gospel that was preached, but somewhere along the line, when I went into the ministry, something changed. And you see, the Bible never in any way gives us such a concept of salvation. Nowhere are we ever led to believe that we can have Jesus as savior and not own him as Lord.

It is either all of Christ or none of Christ. We need to preach a whole Christ to the world, a Christ who does not just save from sin bit by bit or deal with one sin at a time. Not a Christ who is divided, but a Christ who will either be Lord of all or who will not be Lord at all.

Now, we do have to progress and grow in the knowledge and the grace of the Lord. There is a progression, a process of sanctification that must always go on, but we don't get saved at one point and then later on determine that we'll get holy at another point. We have to begin determining that we're gonna live wholly unto the Lord and start from day one to see him as savior and Lord over our lives.

Peter preached it. He said, God hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and savior. You know, David was talking about the revivals of the past under such men as Finney and Moody and Wesley and Whitefield.

No one would ever rise up at a meeting and say, I'm a Christian if they had not surrendered their whole being to God and had taken Jesus Christ as Lord and savior and had brought themselves under the obedience to the will of the Lord. It was only and then and only then that could they acknowledge and say, I'm saved, I'm a Christian, only understanding the full gospel message that Jesus is both savior and he's Lord. All right, that's the criteria.

That's the criteria for being a member of the body of Christ. But another amazing truth in connection with this and what I wanna get to out of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is that we can be united in this body in spite of our diversity and our potential differences. 1 Corinthians 12, 12, look at it again.

For even as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. What then follows is Paul's picture of the body as unity in diversity and diversity in unity. Now, we preach many aspects and requirements for walking in holiness and in righteousness.

Another important requirement is that though we be many members, we must be one. We are not to let culture or class or race or nationality or preferences or prejudice divide us. 1 Corinthians 12, 13 says, for by one spirit, we were all baptized into one spirit, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit.

Now, remember who Paul was writing to. He was writing to the New York City of his day. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city.

It was a center of a trade route and they came from east and west and converged there. Many of them settled there because of trade. There was cross cultures there, many, many different cultures.

There were deep social and cultural differences among them and this had crept into the church. And Paul tells them that in Christ, in the church, they were to leave their Jewishness outside the door or their Greekishness outside the door. Greek, slaves and free were all made to drink of one spirit.

Listen, my friend, the world is divided by class and by race, but in the body of Christ, it ought to be different. In the body of Christ, those barriers and division or pride of race or class is to be crucified at the cross and have no part in the body of Christ. Almost everywhere you look today, you'll see it.

I get the New York Times delivered to my door in the morning and page after page, Ireland, Iran and Iraq. Just this last week, two weeks ago in Central Africa, little country in Central Africa, Burundi, 5,000 people massacred in that country. Why? Because they were fighting one another, countrymen fighting one tribe against another tribe.

38,000 people had to flee and fled to another, into another country. Russia is in ferment today. We've seen what racial strife, how it's riddled this city and Howard Beach and other neighborhoods.

And the potential of it is always under the surface. And listen, my friend, it's probably gonna get worse in this city in the future. We all know New York City is reportedly to be a melting pot and we know that's not true.

It's a seething pot. Others have called it a mosaic. But I don't know about you, most mosaics I've looked at look pretty nice to me.

I can see what they look like. New York City is not a mosaic. It's a jigsaw puzzle.

And there's no administration, no government, nobody that's able to put it together. But you see the church ought to be different. In here we drink of one spirit and the spirit makes us family.

It makes us one, hallelujah. Romans 12, five says, so we who are many, we who are many diverse and different are one body in Christ and inwardly members of one another. There's a powerful example of it.

Go with me to Philemon, a little teeny book, sandwich, where is it? I don't know. It's after Titus and it's before Hebrews. Right after Titus, study the book of Philemon, if you will, because in it is a picture of a triangle of relationships.

If you picture a triangle, at the top is the apostle Paul. At the bottom of one corner is a, probably a wasp, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, a man by the name of Philemon. And on the other corner was one of his slaves who had run away named Onesimus, who got saved under Paul's prison ministry.

And Paul found out that he was a runaway slave. And so he sends him back to Philemon. And this is what he says about, he says to Philemon when he sends him back, and Philemon is a Christian, he's born again, but Paul is really gonna test him.

He's really gonna test him. In verses 15 and 16, it says, for perhaps he was for this reason departed from you for a while. What he meant was so that he could get saved.

He ran away, but he said, God had a purpose and he got saved. That he should, that you should receive him back forever. Meaning because he's saved, he's not gonna run away again.

But this is what he says about him. He said, no longer as a slave. That doesn't mean that he wasn't gonna be a slave, but it meant that he wasn't gonna be treated anymore as a slave.

No longer as a slave, but much more than a slave. A beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you? Both in the flesh and in the Lord. And I love that little tag he put on the end.

He said, I want you to love him in the flesh and in the Lord. Listen, brother, sister, I can love any one of you in the Lord. It's your flesh that I sometimes have problems with.

Paul tells Philemon, I want you to accept and love Onesimus in the flesh. He doesn't mean fleshly, he means in the natural. In his flesh and blood as a slave.

Yes, a slave, but much more. His being a slave should make no difference or spiritual difference to you because now you both drink out of the same spirit, hallelujah and that is broken down. That difference is broken down.

And then next Paul describes it. He goes even further in verse 17. He says, if then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me.

Oh, he blinds himself. He stands right in Onesimus place. And he said, I'm the apostle Paul, but you receive him just like me, hallelujah.

What a beautiful picture. You see in the family of God, there are Paul's and there are Onesimus's and there are Philemon's. And there ought to be no difference between a Philemon and an Onesimus and between a Philemon and an Onesimus and Paul.

This is the beauty of the body functioning as one. 1 Corinthians 10, 17 says, because there is one loaf. There's one loaf at the communion table.

We who are many are one body for we are partakers of one loaf, hallelujah. Now this church, this church can never testify. We can never totally be a testimony of its people walking in holiness.

If we do not manifest that holiness in our unity and oneness in our fellowship and our interpersonal relationships with each other. Now, early on when we started this church, somebody called me and was never able to follow this through, I wanted to. Somebody called me and said, do you know that there are two sisters that come to your church, they live in the same house and they don't talk to each other.

They come to church, they sit in different seats and it was beyond me to figure it out. They live in the same house together and they don't talk to each other and they come to the house of the Lord. And I said, would you please point them out to me? Well, she didn't and I don't know if they still come or not.

And if you do and the Lord has put you together and healed you, at least let me know that it'd be a testimony of what the Lord is able to do. But here in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the individuality of God-given spiritual gifts and the offices and roles in the church. And he ends the chapter, he ends the chapter by stating that our character is more important than our gifts.

And he says this, I show you now a more excellent way. He said, yes, we have pastors and evangelists and we have healings and we have gifts and we have this and we have that. But when it all is said and done, he said, let me show you a more excellent way.

And then he introduces and leads into the 13th chapter of Corinthians, the love chapter. Now, please listen to me. Listen to me carefully.

I don't know what kind of church you worshiped in before. I don't know if it had the diversity of a Times Square church. Chances are that some of you went to a church where mostly everybody maybe was like you, spiritually and culturally and racially and socially.

And if your love for your brother or sister was based upon your similarities, either doctrinally or denominationally or academically or vocationally or socially or racially or anything else in the natural realm, then as Paul said, I show you a more excellent way. Hallelujah. That we are made to drink of one spirit.

We are many and yet one body. Hallelujah. Galatians 4.2 says, with all humility, gentleness, with patience, we are to be showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

Or Galatians 3.28, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female.

You are all one in Christ. Now, let me take it a step a little bit further. Being a member of the body of Christ does not mean, now listen to me, it does not mean you lose your individuality or your personal identity.

Listen to what Paul said. Look at verse 18, 1 Corinthians 12. But now God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as he desired.

Also in verse 27, now you are Christ's body and individually members of it. Romans 12.5 says, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Listen, Christianity preserves personality and individuality.

This is clearly seen in the lives of the disciples. What I see in them as they follow Christ is the intensifying of their personality. You might think that their association with Christ would have been a suppressing influence.

The strange thing is that far from doing so, somehow in following Christ, it touched the strings of their personality. And each of them while dying to self yet retained their individuality. And the worst thing in them is to be brought to the cross.

And so the best thing in you can begin to come out and it comes out even in individual expression. Peter never grew like John. John was never a copycat of Peter.

Thomas, you would have known him anywhere. Gloomy, doubting, yet fearlessly loyal. Peter was a Galilean.

And you know, in the Bible days, what today is South was North then. You know, a Southerner lived in Galilee and Peter and some of the others had an accent. They talked funny like some people from Texas talk funny.

You don't believe that? Listen to what it says. Matthew 26, 73. And a little later, the bystander came and said to Peter, surely you are one of them for the way you talk gives you away.

I knew right away Mariana was from Boston the way she talked. You see, he had a Galilean accent. The Lord didn't take that away from him.

When Paul said there is neither male nor female in Christ, he was not promoting unisex. He is teaching that gender and race and nationality should never divide us. And that membership to the body of Christ supersedes personal identity.

However, our personality and individuality and race and nationality are God given. It is not set aside when we come to Christ. We have this treasure in an earthen vessel.

And if God respects individuality, so should we. There is a constant tendency in society to reduce men to a common level. Society is not only an organ of expression, it's an organ of repression.

And so in the church, there's a constant danger to want everybody and everything to be done just like I like it, just like I've been used to it. The beauty of the church is that it has unity with diversity and diversity and unity. When we came out of the pastor's meeting last Tuesday, I just happened to notice this.

It was about one o'clock and we were hungry. And I watched Sister Gwen go up the street. And I don't know what she went after, but she went after one thing.

I saw Sister Marianne had come with her little bag from home and she had her little lunch there. I saw Steve and Kevin talking, I don't know what they were talking about, probably where they can get ribs. You see, each one in a different direction according to their stomachs.

I remember I counseled a young convert one time who was coming across with certain ethnic racial hangups. And I counseled him, I said, brother, that does not belong here. I said, that does not belong in the house of God.

And I began to instruct him on these things. And he took it very well. He said, yes, he said, I realized that.

I realized that, you know, but I saw that he was still a little bit confused. And I said, hey, now don't get me wrong, don't worry. I said, you'll still like rice and beans and it's all right.

You can still, it's still all right for you to like and eat rice and beans. He said, oh, thank God, thank God. And you know, just as we have differences of taste in food, we have difference of taste in music, depending on culture, upbringing, personality.

And I just want to say a word about this because this ought not to divide us. Unless your taste is so-called Christian rock music, then that will divide us. But when it comes to good worship music, it's permissible, you see, to have individual preferences in style or likes and dislikes, as long as you don't deny other people their likes.

You see, I don't know, I may be different than other people, maybe not. I like hymns and I like gospel courses and I like praise music and I like worship music and I like loud music and I like slow music and I like music in between and I like black gospel music and I like white gospel music. I just like music that glorifies the Lord, hallelujah.

Don't confuse right and wrong with personal preferences in music. Now, some have come quickly to label fast music, upbeat music from this pulpit as being rock music, when it is not. On the other hand, those that like freedom in worship style must be careful because your freedom can cross over the line into flesh.

So we all have to be very, very careful. But beware of personal preferences becoming a selfish desire. We are drinking of the same spirit, even if we drink different ways.

You drink your way, I'll drink my way, hallelujah. You drink, you like to drink in the hour and you don't like to drink in the hour. It's all right.

If you get excited, bless God before you drink or it gets to your feet or you wanna praise the Lord, then bless God, praise the Lord, hallelujah. But don't sit in judgment. Don't sit in judgment.

This is rock in a difficult place. We used to sing a chorus. Oh, there's honey in the rock, my brother.

There's honey in the rock for me. Then I don't know the rest of it. Trusting in his blood to cover the spirit and you drink in your way and we'll rejoice in the spirit, hallelujah.

Let me give you some more words. David gave it to me early tonight and he must've known, he must've saw my notes. Some more words about being a member of one body and yet accepting our diversity.

There is to be no envy or jealousy between different members. Look at the scripture. Verse 15, if the foot shall say, because I'm not a hand, I'm not a part of the body.

Are you a foot envious because you're not a hand? Do you look upon more gifted, prominent, more blessed members of the body and feel envy? You cannot drink of the spirit and have the spirit of envy, or jealousy in you. Envy is a deadly sin. Among the seven deadly sins, envy and jealousy are the most ancient and universal.

Cain envied his brother Abel because God accepted his brother's sacrifice and not his and he murdered his brother as a result. Envy had its origin in the heart of Satan who desired a place above God and coveted his transcendent attributes. Satan then led a revolt against God and his envious, rebellious spirit transformed Lucifer into the devil who quickly tempted the earth's first occupants, tempted them to sin with a promise that instead of them being the foot, they could be the head just like God.

Envy, envy was at the root of it. And envy will destroy you. Envy will lead to bitterness.

Proverbs 14, 30 says, the heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. First Corinthians 12, 26 says, if one member is honored, all the members rejoice in it. Are you able to do that? If you're a foot, quit wishing you were a hand and don't envy the hand, give the hand a hand.

Raise your hand and praise the Lord for the hand, for the foot, for the eyes, for the ears, because God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as he desired. Hallelujah. And then it goes on.

There's another thing brought out in verse 21. Let no member of a body despise or put down or injure another member. Look at verse 21.

And the eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. I have no need of you. Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

I don't know where I read this, but it's in my nose. A foot said to the mouth, you're the luckiest thing on earth. You're forever getting the best of me.

Here I am running around all day, wearing myself out while you're eating. Replied the mouth, don't accuse me. How would you like it if I stopped eating so you could stop running around? The point is this, we need each other, hallelujah.

Let no member despise another member of the body of Christ. Each and every member is important. And listen, I know, and God convicted me this day, I know, I know that in the busyness, even coming into this church or leaving this church, in my business or preoccupation with other things, that many times it appears that I have slighted members of the body of Christ.

And the Lord convicts me of that. And I'm sorry, I feel sorry about that. And I don't want to be that way.

1 Corinthians 12, 25 and 26, that there should be no division in the body, but that members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members should suffer with it. I told the story here before, and I'm gonna repeat it again, not to drive it into the ground, but I have two brothers and I'm the youngest.

And when I grew up, one of those brothers used to say to me every once in a while, we'd be around, kids would be around. And he'd turn to me and he'd say, you know, you're adopted. He said, you don't belong to this family.

You're not really a part of this family. You've been adopted. And as I said to you, I have two brothers.

And the one who said that, who didn't say it is not on the platform tonight. I didn't have the presence of mind to say, I only wish I had said in return to him and said, well, at least they chose me. They couldn't help it when you came along, they had to take you.

Listen, the point is this, my friend, listen, the Lord has adopted you. Hallelujah. He chose you to be a part of his family.

Praise the Lord. God has placed the members just as he desired. Glory to God.

And in first Corinthians, look at verse 23. It says, we are to seek out certain members. Tells us to seek out those members of the body that seem the least noticed, even unlovely.

It says in those members of the body, which we deem, which we deem less honorable. On these, we should bestow more abundant honor or recognition or attention or love or care. Okay, that concludes my message, except for one thing.

I was finished with my message and the Lord reminded me of one more thing that I've got to close with tonight. And I feel this is a word for some of you who struggle with a feeling of not being a part, not feeling that you're a part of the body. Look at Acts chapter three, and I'm gonna close with this.

The story in Acts chapter three. And while you're turning there, while you're turning there, let me say this, that one of the tricks of the devil, one of the tricks of the devil is to tell you, you're not really a member of the body. You're not really loved.

You're a nobody in the body. Do you sometimes feel like you're a non-member? Worse, you may even feel that you're not a member, that you're like a scab on the body, that you're trouble, you're trouble to the body. You're a problem to the body.

And maybe you have feelings. And as I prayed over and over again, the word that kept coming to me and coming to me and coming to me is the word unworthy. And I feel that maybe some of you fight those feelings, the feelings of unworthiness, of rejection, of loneliness.

And Acts chapter three is a picture of this. Here is a lame man is a picture of those who feel that they don't fit into the body because of spiritual or emotional lameness. Here was a man who sat outside the temple because he was lame.

You talk about feeling like you're an outsider. And I know, and I've met people like this, as much as they come to the church and as much as they praise the Lord, but still down deep inside them, they always feel like they're on the outside. The devil has robbed them of the understanding that they are a member of the body of Christ and a member in particular, an important member, and loved and accepted in that body by Christ and by other people.

And here was this lame man who sat at the entrance of the temple and he watched people go in and people go out. He was an outsider, not fitting in, not being accepted. And this man knew the feeling.

And I believe that the devil is robbing some of you of the joy of knowing that you are a member of the body of Christ and the joy of fellowship with other members because you feel unworthy of being loved and accepted. Now, listen, if you're in sin, if you're living in sin, that will be one reason that you don't feel a part of the body and a good reason that you don't feel. And you've got to lay down that sin.

But that's not what I'm talking about. If you've laid down the sin, then there may be a lack of faith and not understanding that your forgiveness, well, you're not understanding if forgiveness can make you feel that you're unworthy, but you have not been accepted. Look again, or don't look, but just listen again.

And there in 1 Corinthians, it says there, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. I have no need of you. And maybe some of you kept getting messages all the time or feel like messages are coming to you.

I don't need you. You're not needed. I don't need you.

You're not wanted. And the devil can do that to you. And the devil can cause you to think other people are thinking about you when that's the furthest thing from their mind.

And yet you're feeling it. And in Acts, in chapter three, this man was an outsider. And I think it's a terrible thing to sit in the church and feel that way.

And you're like this man, you see other people, you watch them go into the presence of the Lord. You watch them move around. And you may think, well, oh, you envy that person.

You envy something in them because you just feel you're an outsider. And so tonight, if you're an injured member of the body of Christ, Jesus can heal you just as he healed this man of his physical lameness. He can heal you of your spiritual lameness, your emotional lameness, or those feelings of not being worthy, not being accepted.

Christ wants you to be whole because when the man at the gate, beautiful, encountered Jesus, it says with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk. And he entered the temple with them. No longer an outsider, no longer unworthy of being a member of the body of Christ, no longer nursing his lameness, but he was walking and leaping and praising God.

And the Lord wants to heal you of that tonight. If you are, you have that kind of feeling in you. Micah four, six, and seven, and I close with this.

It says, in that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather the outcast, even those that I have afflicted. And I will make the lame a remnant and the outcast a strong nation or a strong body. And the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion.

Hallelujah. Oh, let the Lord heal you tonight. Let him give you a vision of what it means to be a member under the headship of Christ, but then in fellowship one with another.

There is no more beautiful. There is no more beautiful family on the face of the earth than knowing that you are a part of the family of God. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Let's bow in prayer. Let's bow in prayer.

You know what he knows? He knows what caused you to do that. He knows what causes you to be that way. He knows the hurt that you've gone through.

He says, I understand, I understand. But he also says that he wants to make you well. Hallelujah.

And you know the worst thing about rejection.