WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN
SERMON TITLE: UNITY. THE SOLUTION FOR THE POLLUTION
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
TEXT VERSE: Psalms 133:1 “BEHOLD, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
Now I want you to take your Bibles and turn over to Ephesians. While you’re turning there, we thank God for unity. If there is one thing that the devil does not like, it’s team work. If you want to defeat the devil this morning, just get a bunch of Christians together that’s got their heart and their minds on the Lord Jesus Christ and the devil will run. The devil likes to get into just one man, woman, boy or girl and he starts trying to bring them down. The Bible says that one sinner destroyeth much good. It seems to me like things work better as a whole. I want to preach to you this morning on: Unity, the solution for the pollution. You want to keep the devil out? You want things to keep going smooth? You want to see God’s work really being done? Then come together like they did in the day of Pentacost. The Bible said they were all together in one place, in one mind and one accord. The Bible said they heard a sound from heaven, like a rushing mighty wind. It filled all the house where they were sitting. What we need in the Baptist’s churches is some Christian people that will put Christ first in their individual life and come together in God’s house rejoicing, singing and praising God. We need to love one another this morning. We can get a whole lot more done by putting God first than we can by putting him last. There’s a lot of Christians and churches today that are leaving God out. I want God to be first in my life today and I know you do too.
Luke 11:17 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.” There’s one thing God is not a part of and that’s division. I’m glad I’m serving a God that likes to build unity. The Bible said, Let everything be done decently and in order. The Bible said that God is not the author of confusion. But the devil is. We get in one mind and one accord and we’ll see some souls saved. Not only at this church but everywhere.
First Corinthians 1:13 “Is Christ divided?” I have news for you, he’s not. We’re serving the same God that Christians were years ago. You have lost loved ones just like I do and we need to turn them over to God. Don’t let one day go by where you don’t pray for them. Ask God to save them and ask God to use you to reach them. Because a divided house will fall.
First Corinthians 12:12 “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” We’re one body.
Now I hope you have your Bibles on Ephesians 4. I want to read some scripture to you as we preach on Unity, the solution to the pollution. You think about a jug of milk real quick. It has those different chemicals in it that makes up that body of milk. You get one little bad speck in there or one of those little grams goes wrong and it will sour that whole jug of milk. That’s the way it is with Christians today. If you don’t get your heart and your mind on the gospel. We need to realize that we’re not working for Westside Baptist Church. We’re working for God. Some of you aren’t working at all. If you’re just a pew warmer you can just go to some church where God isn’t and that’s where you need to take your letters. I’m serving a God that loves to see people saved today. We churches have enough pew warmers in them. We need to get into the unity of God. Ephesians 4;1 “THEREFORE, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”
NUMBER ONE: I want to talk to you for just a minute on the grace portion of unity. You say, preacher, we’re from different backgrounds. We have different hair colors, we don’t like the same things. There’s a lot of truth in that but you get saved by the grace of God and get some of that grace portion of unity and you’ll be able to get along. We’re going to spend eternity one with another. You better learn how to get along with each other down here. We’re able to get along because we’re saved by His grace through faith and the Bible says that it’s not of our self but it’s a gift of God. If we’re saved by Grace we ought to be able to walk in grace, love in grace, pray with one another in grace, live in grace.....we ought to have that grace portion just because we’re saved. And there ought to be some unity there. If there’s not then you’ve fallen from grace. Paul said if you’re after the law, you’ve fallen from grace. He didn’t say you’ve fallen from salvation but grace. You know why Christians can’t get along? They are backslid. You get your heart and mind right with God and you’ll get along with anybody. God says to love your enemies and do good to them that hurt you and pray for them which spitefully use you. We ought to love everybody in God’s family. It doesn’t matter where they’re from, where they’ve been or what they’ve done in the past or what color they are. If they are saved by the grace of God, they are just as good as you are. I wasn’t anything before Christ saved me. I’m still not. But thank God I didn’t get saved because I was bad, or something I did. I was a sinner because I was born in this world. I got saved through the abundant mercy and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn’t save me because I went to church one Sunday. He saved me because he knew I was on my way to hell. Are you saved this morning? Yeah preacher, I’m saved. I just don’t have any unity about me. Then you need to get into an old fashioned altar this morning and get things right with God. There’s so much trouble and tribulation and confusion in this world. The devil is going every where. He’s seeking whom he may devour. Satan desires to have you and to sift you as wheat. He wants to tare you apart. God wants to put you together. We need to live in the grace portion of unity and we’ll see results. If you can’t have unity with him, how are you going to have unity with everybody else? The Bible says if we say we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we have fellowship with him, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
NUMBER TWO: The ground portion of unity. Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” That’s the ground portion of unity. We’re not serving different God’s. Just because somebody goes to a different church, it doesn’t mean they are serving a different God. If they’re serving the same God as you are, then they are still your brothers and sisters in Christ. God is everywhere. You want to have some unity; stay in the word. Don’t give somebody your opinion. You give God’s word. Don’t you tell somebody how to live. You let God tell them how to live. Don’t you tell somebody how to get it right. You let God tell them how to get it right. Don’t you tell somebody how you can save them. You can’t save anybody. God saves people. He’s the only one that can save them. It makes me sick to see so many Christians that don’t know this book and they are trying to preach it and teach it. How can you do it if you don’t know it? Get in the word and you’ll learn how. We need to learn to speak with the ground portion which is the truth, the doctrine. There is no other doctrine. What greater unity can you have than the word: one? We’re living in a world where Christians aren’t one anymore but individuals. They want to do everything by themselves. How can you be a part of God’s family when you’re living in isolation from your brothers and sisters in Christ? It’s not right and you’re backslid. Anytime you isolate yourself from God, the church, your brothers and sisters in Christ....you’re backslid. How can you have unity. You say preacher, I watch Billy Graham on television. I praise God for that man. But you know why he started preaching on television? To reach those that weren’t able to go to the house of God. If you’re able to go to church, then you ought to get up off your lazy do nothing and go. You start isolating yourself from your church and God will take you ought of your church. He don’t put up with that. As a Pastor I don’t put up with it. If you want to be a member of Westside Baptist Church then do your part. We’re not here for show. I’m not here to make you look good. I’m here to see lost souls saved. You get out of that business and you better look for another Pastor. Those lost souls might be in your family. I care about them. I love them. I want to see them saved whether you do or not. That’s why I pray for you every day.
NUMBER THREE: We need to stick to the gift portion of the unity. Look at Ephesians 4:7 “But unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” It didn’t say to some of us but to every one of us. Every one of us that has been saved by the grace of God has been given a gift or gifts. In verse 8: “Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” Now in verse 11: “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” God gives spiritual gifts to every Christian who has been saved. Everybody has at least one gift. Some have more. Don’t you ever get confused and look at your natural ability as being a spiritual gift from an almighty God. Some of you women could say, I sure know how to sew. That doesn’t mean that God wants you to use your sewing to do a work for him just because you know how to sew. Your mama can’t give you your spiritual gifts. They can only come from God. You say, how do I know what my gift is? You have a spiritual gift from God and you use it for two reasons. One to glorify him. If it don’t glorify him you might as well stop doing it. God has given some men gifts to play a musical instrument and they ended up playing in a bar using it for the devil. Don’t you use it for the devil. He gave it to you to glorify him and not Satan. Number two you use your gift to edify the body of Christ. That’s the two ways you can tell if you have a spiritual gift from God. I could ask you what you’ve done in the past thirty days to glorify him and to edify him? A lot of you would say you couldn’t think of a thing. You need to take your gift and your talent and use it to glorify God and to edify God at Westside Baptist Church if that’s where God placed you. If God didn’t place you here then leave. You need to go where God has placed you. If God didn’t want me here and he wanted me some place else, you’d be the first to hear about it. I’d say, I’m on my way. If we’ll all use our gifts and come together as one we’ll go to meeting.
NUMBER FOUR: The growth portion of unity. In verse 12: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” That’s the growth portion. There’s Christians out there that have been saved for thirty years and they’re living at the same level as they were thirty years ago. Just because you’re saved it doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to grow. Get off the milk of the word and get on the meat. Grow up! Jesus commanded us in his word to be fruitful and to multiply. There’s a lot of Christians out there that have never grown up. They are in the same condition and the same position as they were years ago and they are always wondering what’s wrong.
Acts 2:44 “And all that believed were together, and had all things common.” There wasn’t one off over here and one over there. One of my hardest things of being a Pastor is keeping up with all my members and wondering why all of them can’t come to church at the same time. I try to keep up with the flock. I don’t have any problem reaching out to the lost. I do that all week long. But there’s some members who get so far out that I don’t know where to find them. I’m glad God’s keeping up with them. I care about you and love you. We need some unity. If we can only have unity on Sundays, what are you going to do when you get to heaven? Are you going to be wondering when Monday is coming along because you have things you have to do? There isn’t going to be a Monday in heaven. It’s going to be one day and that day is eternity. You’re going to have nothing but unity there and you ought to learn to have it down here.
Christ loves peace. He loves peace makers and not trouble makers. If you’re a burden to your church instead of a blessing to your church then find another church. If you’re a burden to the Lord instead of a blessing then get things right. Tell him you’re sorry and ask him to forgive you. We have to have unity to see our loved ones saved. We’re living in the last days. He could come back any day and any hour. Did you ever think that lost loved one isn’t saved because of you? Maybe you aren’t praying for them enough, maybe you aren’t visiting them enough, maybe you aren’t witnessing to them enough, maybe you aren’t living an exampled life in front of them. Maybe if you’d get more involved in your church, your church family could help you out instead of you trying to do it on your own. I could ask one man to come up here now and pick up this pulpit and load it on my truck and he could probably do it but he’d have a hard time but if I asked everyone of you to come load it, it would get done more easily. See how good it works when you work as a team instead of as individuals? Don’t try to be some great Christian in the eyes of God and say I’m a member of Westside and I can do things on my own, it will not happen. We have to do things together. We have to do things decently and in order.
We need more unity in our church. If you’re here and God spoke to you and maybe you’re a trouble maker instead of a peace maker, then the altars open for you. Maybe you just want more unity with your church and your family, the altars open for you. If you’re here and you’ve never been saved by the grace of God, then come and turn it over to God.
Thank you for your attention and I pray you’ve done that which God has told you to do. May you have a blessed week.
