# Christians, agree to disagree

November 6, 2025

They’ve raised their kids in church and just to serve the Lord. And Gregory found him a good girl and planning on to serve the Lord with their lives. That’s exciting. Pray Lord for it. And congratulations to them. We’re in Acts chapter number 15. Acts chapter 15 tonight. And once you find that, we’re just going to get a brief outline in here.

And just get two points tonight, two things I think the Lord will like for us to cover. And we’re going to get an outline in here in just a minute. And Acts chapter number 15. And once you’re there, would you say, amen? We’ve got most of the folk, but Acts 15. And we’ll get just a brief outline of that chapter. And then we will… Pulled out two things. I thought God would just have us talk about briefly tonight. Acts chapter 15 and brother chips there. Amen. He was honest though. He waited until he found it. Good, good, good.

And verse number one through verse number five is Paul and Barnabas. They go to Jerusalem to discuss a circumcision required for salvation. Now, very clear, that it’s not. Jesus is the only thing that is required for salvation. But they were going back to the Old Testament Jewish law, the law of Moses. And they went there to discuss it.

And let’s get the next verse number six. If we can get over there, the next one there, verse number six to 21, the apostles and elders. Remember we got the 12 apostles, many of them, the apostles and elders, church leaders discuss, and Pastor James gives the verdict. And we got broken down a little bit. Can we get that next point there? Verse number 7 to verse number 11, Peter rehearses Acts chapter 2, Acts 10 and 11 basically. And remember that’s when Peter, he had that vision about the sheet let down, the animals in their unclean, and God said, what I’ve called clean, don’t call unclean. And he went over there, remember, and he said, remember that man, they got saved, and the Holy Spirit came down, actually spoke in tongues like we did at the beginning. He said they weren’t circumcised, and Peter’s kind of just, you know, Peter, he’s got to say something. He stands up and gives his words, which were great. And then after that, verse number 12, that next one there, Barnabas and Paul. Now, we’re missing the S right there. Don’t tell anybody about that. But Barnabas and Paul, they stand up just briefly and say, we’ve been all over the place, our first missionary journey. And it’s amazing how many people got saved and lives changed and God’s working mindedly. And they’re rehearsing a little bit in this Jerusalem, typically called the Jerusalem Council.

And then verse number 13 through verse number 21, we think James is a pastor. Man, he’s just pretty strong. He gives the verdict, and he kind of calls rank, if you will. It’s interesting. Look at verse number 19 there. Verse number 19. He says, “Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them, which from among the gentrars are turned to God,” and goes on. He says, we don’t need to trouble about adding to salvation. No, no. By the way, technically, that’s true legalism when someone adds to salvation. But he said, no, we’re not going to do that. And he gives the verdict there.

And then let’s go to the next one, would you, Brother Josh? And verse 22 through 29, they sent men from Jerusalem to correct what was said. See, somebody said, oh, you’ve got to be circumcised and get saved, whatnot. And so they sent these men to correct what was said and to encourage them at Antioch. Now this Antioch, remember we showed you the map. There’s the Antioch of Basidia up north, and there’s an Antioch of Syria. Kind of like there’s an Antioch, Tennessee. I’m sure there’s an Antioch, you know, George or Alabama or whatnot, you know, kind of same thing. There’s more than one Antioch in the Bible. This is Antioch of Syria. And they sent men down there and said, no, no, we’re not adding anything to salvation. And that was an era that was made and said that, and they encouraged them down in Anya.

Let’s get the next part. We’re almost done with this chapter, just an outline. Then chapter, excuse me, verse number 30 through 35, Judas, Silas, Paul, and Barnabas, they bring the answer down there, and they encourage them up here. They were saying to go down there, and now they’re doing it in these verses right here. And the next verses here, would you, Brother Josh? 36 to 41, they get the second missionary journey. Remember we covered that briefly, the first missionary journey, we showed you maps of that. They’re starting their second missionary journey begins, but with contention between Paul and Barnabas. Well, they’ve been buddies, I mean, they were just working hand in hand, but now they had sharp contention. It was about John Mark.

We’ll talk about it here in just a little bit, but they went on their second mission, actually split ways, went two different directions because they had a division between an argument about John Mark. We’ll get that at the last part of the service tonight here. But I just want to give you a brief outline. That’s the outline of chapter number 15. And I wanted to give you that before we get into it.

Now we’re going to be in verse number one, Acts 15, verse number one. And we’re going to read that. Would you please stand together? Let’s just show the word of God respect that first verse. And if it was just briefly, we’re going to pull out something here and talk about it for a minute and one other truth. And we’re going to go home. Amen for that. Six o’clock’s hard to get here by six, isn’t it? But it is kind of nice once it’s over. You get home pretty early. I tell you what. Now you’ve got time for some ice cream once it’s all over.

But look at this, verse number one. I felt like just briefly God would have us to address one issue. Verse number one, and the Bible there says, “In certain men, which came from Judea, taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after manner of Moses, he cannot be…” What’s the next word? Now, we’ll just for a minute, just maybe something obvious, but if we’re not careful, we’ll kind of get maybe the clarity taken away a little bit. Not just for a minute, we’re going to talk about this thing. We’ll go back to it. Let’s pray first, ask God to speak to your hearts as I ask the same. Lord, these folk, they’re here. They have made an extra effort to be in your house. Lord, let them leave being encouraged, wiser. Lord, would you speak to their hearts? Lord, give us what we need. Let us leave just feeling fed from you, Lord, in your table and your word. Father, would you bless Master’s Club going on now? Bless with Adam and Miss Melissa, the little ones over there. Let them grow and learn your word. And Father, we’ll thank you for what you do. It’s in Jesus name we ask, Father. Amen.

Last line of verse number one, he says, “ye cannot be…” What’s that word? You cannot be what? Look at verse number 11. “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, ye shall be…” What’s the next word? Saved. Even as they look over in chapter number two. Would you please? Acts chapter number two, and just getting a couple of things in here. By the way, this is the early church, many would call it a very pure church at the beginning. Of course, the closest to Jesus’ time would be this church here. And I want just, just look at this very, just kind of right in front of our nose type thing, but just briefly here, because in some in our day and time, we’re changing a little bit on that. Look in Acts 2, look in verse number 21. “And it should come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be…” What’s the next word? Saved. Look down to verse number 47, would you please? Verse number 47 of Acts chapter 2: “Praising God in heaven favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be…” What’s the next word? Saved. Look over in chapter number four, would you please? Chapter 4 and verse number 12. Chapter 4 and verse number 12, and he says there, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there’s none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be…” What’s the next word? Saved. No. Interesting. This early church, they’re using this term saved. Look in chapter number 11. Chapter number 11 and verse number 14, 11 and 14. He says, “who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy house shall be…” What’s the next word? Saved. Everybody shall be what? Shall be saved? Good.

We’ve already covered chapter number 15. Look over in chapter number 16, would you please? Chapter 16. And this is Paul and Silas and the Philippian jailer. And even the jailer knew the terminology of the early church. Very interesting. Verse number 30 of chapter number 16: “And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be…” What? To be saved? Look in verse number 31. And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be…” What? Saved in thy house.

Now here’s the thing: the Bible in the early church, they use this term saved. There’s something to that. It’s very distinct. There’s no degrees of it. It’s kind of like over there on the wall we have, let’s see here, one, two, three, I think it is, four switches, and then we have one knob you can turn. Now see, some terms about salvation is kind of like that knob, the recessed light, you can dim them. But the other ones, it’s either on or off. And being saved, these folks got saved, there’s no gray area; you’re either saved or lost.

Now, I’m saying we’re getting away from that a little bit. It’s amazing to me, so many, the worldly churches are really just, the gospel’s so muddy. You really don’t know if someone’s saved or lost. And even terminology is important when you get to that, you know? How many of you, by the way, when we’re out soul winning, we don’t per se use the term being saved because the world doesn’t understand that. You say, “Have you been saved?” Well, yeah, man, I had cancer, went to the doctor, and when the nurse came in, they were just, I could see lights buzzing around my head. And all of a sudden I had this feeling inside of me that I’m going to be all right. And I’m cancer-free. I’m saved. You know, that’s the world; they don’t understand it.

Well, we go out soul winning, we try to bypass the terminology. I’m talking about among the ranks of Christians. Even amongst the churchgoers, the gospel is just so unclear. And I like it that the early church, they use this term, saved. It’s not the knob now. I mean, it’s either you’re saved or lost; there’s no in between. Are you going to heaven when you die? Well, I’m working on it. I’m trying to get there. No, it’s not a process; you’re either saved or you’re lost.

And I’m just saying the terminology. We don’t use—the world of churches, they don’t use much of this thing being saved. My wife, she was talking to another Christian at work, and the lady said something along the line that she works elsewhere, I think it is, and she had led some people to the Lord. And she said, “Good, good.” You know, she’s excited. She’s a little bit surprised. And she said, “What do you mean by that?” And she said, “Well, they got saved.” And you don’t hear that a lot out amongst church people, you know, that are not independent Baptist churches. And Tammy was like, man, to me, I thought she’s got it, man, pray all those people got saved. I’m just saying, don’t let them intimidate us away from using biblical terminology that the early church used.

So many will use this term “personal relationship with the Lord.” I’m not saying that’s bad. I’ve used it before, but that’s so vague. I have a relationship, believe it or not, with our UPS man. I told him time and again, time and again, man, our dog, she showed by you—oh, she’s a menace since she’s a puppy. She’s playing with me. I’m like, I don’t think she played. That growl, I mean, she’s showing her teeth. That don’t sound like playing to me. And one day he learned she wasn’t like—now, it wasn’t bad, praise the Lord for that. That one wasn’t. It’s where our dog is in the backyard now, amen, you know. But I got a relationship with him. I am McDonald’s down here. I go there more often than I should, and, you know, I’m trying to order better on those things, you know. But I know some of those folks down there; some of them call me “pastor” down there. Never dark in the doors of this church, but they’re called my pastor. And I got a relationship to someone. But I got a relationship with my wife. Now, I’ll kiss my wife, amen for that. Praise the Lord. I ain’t going to kiss the guy at McDonald’s. I don’t know where that came from. I’m just saying it’s so vague. But I mean, I like it: “Hey, man, it’s saved or lost.” It’s just clear. And I’m just saying, let’s try to keep the gospel as clear as we can.

I got left in Chicago my freshman year of college. I mean, you know, the college, it was a good place, a good place, but it was intense. And if you weren’t there to such, such time—North Chicago, by the way—I mean, we were miles and miles away. And North Shore Boulevard up there is, what’s—oh, I think of me—it’s North Chicago. We’ll just leave it at that. Amen, you know. But I was up there, and Sunday afternoon we dropped kids off, and you better be here to, you know, the night bus going back to church Sunday night. Well, I wasn’t there. I was trying to get some people, somebody come to church, and I hadn’t learned, you know, they ain’t ready. Boom, forget him. We’re gone, man. Church is starting, and they’re going. And I’m in North Chicago, all by my little lonesome, poor little fella. I mean, somebody cried for me right there. Come on now, you know. And, man, born and country boy and grew up in Florida, you know, and I’m up here in this jungle. What in the world am I going to do? I wasn’t too worried about that, but if I missed church, I was going to get more demerits. And I already had demerits my freshman year. I mean, you’re learning all those codes. Man, I couldn’t afford any more demerits. That’s what I was concerned about. And I got to find a church, you know. I mean, it was back in the day every once in a while you’ll find other churches open on Sunday night. And found a church open on Sunday night. I can’t remember what kind of church—Methodist or something. I’m not sure. I’m not—maybe a Baptist. A bit of an older church, been there. The building had been there forever. And praise the Lord, they had somewhat of a service on Sunday nights. I’m going to fill out an activity report. Got to check off you in church on Sunday night. I’m going to be in some church Sunday night. I mean, I was going to have church on the street corner or something. I mean, I couldn’t take more demerits. They didn’t have regular church, but they had a singles meeting. Well, I was single at the time. Man, I’m going to that meeting, you know. And I went in there and just sitting around a little table. You know, everybody’s discussing. By the way, I don’t want to discuss. I can discuss the parking lot, man. I want somebody who’s been praying and reading the Bible. We’ve got something from God to give to us, you know. Anyway, so we’re, they’re discussing, and someone said, “Well, I…” Somebody at work sneezed, and I got to say, “God bless you.” I got the gospel in there. I’m thinking, that wasn’t there. You said, “God bless you,” just because, you know? And I’m kind of being facetious; it wasn’t that bad, but it was just very, very… And I felt like the Lord said, “Paul, go ahead and say something.” God had blessed that weekend, and I got to see just the Lord—I got to see two people bow their head now, Jesus Christ be the Savior. And so, Lord, Lord said, “Speak up, speak up, Paul.” And you know how it is. You’re like, boy, I don’t want to speak up. But all right, you know, the Lord, you know the Lord’s prodding you. By the way, didn’t Brother John do a good job leading us in prayer tonight? Pray Lord for that. That’s a blessing. And so anyway, I raised my hand and said, “All right, you know.” And so, well, I, praise the Lord, I got to see two people saved this weekend. Man, you thought I’d had four heads—I mean, you saw four people—excuse me, not four heads, amen, you know—two people saved. I wasn’t trying to brag on me. I just felt like, Lord, hey, you can still see people saved in our day and time. And don’t have four heads, only got three fingers, but, you know, I don’t have four heads, you know. But here’s the thing: they’re just, we’re just getting away. Hey, people get saved. And there’s nothing wrong with using that term. Let me just say something else: nothing wrong with leading someone to pray and asking Jesus to be their Savior. That’s all right. By the way, most people are not going to pray in front of you on their own. They’re so nervous and scared, and you’re a total stranger. They haven’t prayed in front of anybody. Most of them are going to have to help them. Now, if they’re just saying a prayer, they don’t understand it, they don’t mean it, that’s no good. About like a Catholic reading a prayer, don’t mean anything in the world. But nothing wrong with getting someone to pray. They need when you leave something definite: “I made a decision for Christ.” They need that. Nothing wrong. God bless you. We got the gospel in there. Look at that, you know. Go ahead and lead. If you say, “How do you know what they got saved?” Well, the Bible—the Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved.” I mean, and believe in your heart, confess with your mouth. I heard them pray, and the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart. Now, I’m speaking, that’s all I’ve got to go by. Now, I’m not talking about padding your numbers and making it just a little bit extra. No, no. Be honest. By the way, you’re doing it to be seen—to me, and if that’s what it’s all about. But the honest and for truth is try to get them in the boat, try to lead them to pray, try to get them saved. Amen. And don’t shy away from it. It’s all right. The early church, they used it. I like that Romans 10:13 sometimes, you know, you get to give some assurance for their salvation. And I like that Romans 10:13: “For whosoever shall call upon the name…” Somebody here recently, I was showing in, and I said, “Now look, you’re a whosoever. We put your name in there.” Maybe it was a guy Saturday, Noah, an 11, 12-year-old boy, and the adult was there. They’re all for me talking to my Lord. He got assurance. And, but maybe somebody that I can’t remember. But anyway, I got to say, right there, we can put you—for whosoever, you’re whosoever. Put your name in there, Noah. “Or if Noah shall call upon the name of the Lord, Noah shall be…” And will they just look? You know, I only did. So what are you, Noah? Did you call on him? Did you mean that? Oh, yeah. So according to God’s word, what are you? I’m saved. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, friend. That’s Bible. The early church used the word saved multiple times, and it’s all right to use that. You’ll be all right. It’s good for the early church. It’s been good for you too, you know.

Now, let’s go on. We’re going to get to the end part of this chapter here. We just want to get that real quick. I thought the Lord wanted to discuss that briefly. Look over in chapter—what chapter? 15. Look over into verse number 36. Verse number 36. The Jerusalem Council’s done. Don’t add anything to salvation. Jesus is not part of the way; He’s the way. They settled that. And now look down here at verse number 36. Acts 15, verse number 36: “And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us…” Notice that, “Let us,” both of them go together. “Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.” So their plan was to go together and go back that first missionary journey and kind of confirming and encouraging those churches. Verse number 37: “And Barnabas determined…” Notice it, “determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark.” Now, what’s the deal with John Mark? You remember that first missionary journey? They went to Cyprus. And remember, there was a little bit of a controversy there that the Roman ruler there and his servant, the sorcerer. And, well, they kind of had it all out in Paul. Man, he got him. But there was a little bit of a fight. And then they went on up in the Macedonia area there, or Asia Minor, excuse me. And John Mark left. He said, “Huh, it’s just too much.” Maybe that was it. Maybe it got him into a psychic—psychic—you know, there’s demonology going on. Maybe that’s it. He talks about later on the work. Maybe he’s just a little bit lazy. He didn’t want to get involved in the work. I don’t know, but John Mark left. He just—the first missionary journey, right? About a quarter of the way into it, man, he just walked out, left. By the way, some of these missionaries, you know, you spend a lot of money to get him over there, and he just walked away. That does happen. And a lot of preachers, a lot of Christians, they get mad. Well, we spent a lot of money just saying, you’re supposed to stay at least four years. You backed out a year into it or whatever. And that’s kind of what’s going on with John Mark. But Barnabas was determined to take him. By the way, the Bible is he’s determined. We’re going to take John Mark. Look at verse number 38: “But Paul thought not good to take him with him, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work.” I’m not sure exactly the wording, but Paul, maybe Paul said, “We don’t need a quitter.” I mean, this is a missionary team. When the going gets rough, we don’t need—we need somebody going to be there fighting. We don’t need—we don’t need quitters. I mean, the church, Antioch sending us out, they’ve been backing us, and they don’t need somebody walking out right in the middle of the work. It discourages the whole missionary team when the guy walks out like that. No, I don’t want John Mark. John Mark, we’ve already seen he’s got a history here. I mean, they’re—they’re happy about this. Paul and Barnabas, they’re going out this thing. Look at verse number 39: “Verse number 39, and the contention was so sharp between them.” There’s no punting against John and Dean is sharp. It’s not, you know, nothing gets in there. But the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches.

Now let me just give a little bit more, and then we’ll get the details about this. You know who is right and who is wrong, it’s hard to debate about. There is a truth to this, and maybe we’ll point this out, but later on, when Paul is years later, during the end of his life, and he calls, “Hey, send John Mark, he’s helpful, he’s beneficial to me in the ministry.” By that point, he’s proven himself and redeemed himself. And praise the Lord for that he had. There’s truth to that for sure. But there’s also truth. Some will say, well, after this, when Barnabas took John Mark and went one way to the island of Cyprus and Paul took Silas and went kind of back over some of the churches, the Bible doesn’t talk about Barnabas anymore. He’s mentioned in Corinthians and Galatians and Colossians, maybe, I think five times altogether, but they’re all about instances before this. So really the Bible doesn’t talk about Barnabas after this. So I’m going to point that out, and I don’t know all the answers. I’m not trying to get to the middle of their fuss, and what was right to do this moment. I don’t know. When you get to heaven, you can ask the Lord, you know. By the way, when you get to heaven, you probably won’t care about that at that point. But the contention was so sharp. I mean, they’re just—these—answer me, answer out loud of him. Was Barnabas a good Christian? Yeah. Remember the first time we heard him, Joseph’s over there, and he sold that land and gave all of it to the church. Remember? Paul would not get welcome into Jerusalem when he was a young Christian, but Barnabas took Paul and brought him in and said, “Hey, this guy’s a good guy. He’s been preaching.” He’s mentioned over and again after that. Barnabas was a great Christian. Was Paul a good Christian? Yes or no? Yeah. 13, probably 14 books in the New Testament. I mean, great. They started 20-something-plus churches. They’re both great Christians. They really were. Did they have a major argument? Did they or not? Yeah. Sharp. The Bible said, man, the contention was sharp. They had it out, if you will. It was not pretty. I mean, there’s just—did it get heated? Did the argument get heated? It did. I mean, they’re just having it out. Let me give it just, just, just, just, just, just a couple things about this thing here. You know, sometimes the right answer isn’t as clear as that other times. Whether circumcision should be part of salvation or not, that’s pretty clear, friend. And I went to Jerusalem and got a clear answer, even sent men back to tell them, “Hey, don’t you add that to it.” That’s Jewish people can’t keep all the law anyway. Why are we going to put some on you that we can’t keep? It’s pretty clear. But this, you know, especially at the moment, it would be very hard to know. Both had a point. You know, you get in the middle of arguments. Typically both sides got a point. By the way, be so careful, you hear one side of the story. There’s always, always more than one. There’s usually about 20 different sides of the story. It happens. You know, Paul could have said, “Well, the Bible says, putting your hand to the plow and looking back not fit for the kingdom.” And he had a point. And Barnabas could have said, “Well, everybody deserves a second chance.” And he got a point. Both of them got a point.

Now, here’s a good thing they did. Here’s a good thing. You know what they did? They fought for the next three years? No. You know what they did? They split. I mean, Barnabas said, “Well, I’m going to take John Mark,” and Paul said, “I’m going to take this—he’s been recommended.” I’m going to take old Silas over there, and they went separate ways. By the way, some say, “Well, they got double the work done now.” Maybe so, I don’t know. I think Barnabas is very capable. Paul is very capable. Maybe God did want to split them. Maybe God used that and split them up to cover more territory that way. But they split. By the way, they both kept serving the Lord as far as we know. Both have kept serving the Lord. Neither one of them said, “Well, that’s the way Christians are. I don’t want anything to do with them anymore.” You don’t find that. They both kept serving the Lord. You know, it’s interesting. You never hear them criticizing each other after this. You don’t find Paul saying, “Well, that’s sorry, good-for-nothing Barnabas. He didn’t do it my way.” And you don’t hear Barnabas, you know, yelling out over there in the island, “Well, that’s thinking, Paul won’t give anybody a second chance.” You don’t hear anything in Scripture about them criticizing each other.

Now, let me give you a couple of thoughts about what to do when Christians fight, because you know what? Christians do fight. I hate to say it, but they do. I mean, I know you would never fight with him, but you know, but what do you do when Christians fight? Let me give you just a couple of things. Number one, five things we’ll give you very quickly here. Number one: Don’t let it get you discouraged and defeated. And it’s discouraging. It’s discouraging. It’s discouraging. I was talking to a relative recently, and they said there are two people in their church fussing and fighting, and their pastor’s going to get involved. I said, “Tell me what your pastor does because I like to know what to do because it sure is hard to do it.” I haven’t talked to him about it, but I almost guarantee, when I was asking about it, they’re going to say, “Our pastor didn’t get anything done.” And I’m not saying it’s wrong to try, but it can get you discouraged in your walk with the Lord. Don’t let it discourage you. You know, the best churches in all the world have Christians—the best, whatever it is—they’ve got Christians that fight in there. I’m telling you, you just mark it down. These are great Christians here, and they’re fighting. Am I saying it’s right? No, but I’m telling you it’s going to happen, so don’t get discouraged and defeated when it happens.

You know, preachers fight with each other, and they’re supposed to be the leaders. Have you ever, ever heard about preachers fight with each other? Anybody yet? No, you’ve never heard that at you. Yeah, I don’t like it, but it happens. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t get bent out of shape. Don’t take it—we’re a church in all the world. It’s going to happen, friend. Every church has it. I don’t like it, but it’s going to happen. And so don’t get bent out of shape when it. And let me just, one last thing under that: You can’t always stop it. Now, you can go to them and try, if the Lord’s leading you, and you can try to restore a brother in Galatians 6:1, all those things, but you can’t always stop them from fighting. And if you can’t, don’t get discouraged about it. Number one, number one, don’t let it discourage and defeat you. Number two: Listen to this, don’t require your friends to be friends with your friends. You say, “What are you trying to say?” You ever seen him? “Well, you’re not friends with so-and-so, so I’m not going to be your friend anymore.” Friend, that’s kindergarten. That’s elementary. That’s in line in the playground. That’s who’s going to be the line leader type stuff. You can still be their friend if they’re not friends with so-and-so over there. You can still be their friend. Don’t require your friends to be friends with your friends. They’re humans. Sometimes they’re going to fight. I don’t like it, but just because they’re fighting with somebody, not going to be mean to them. Get involved in all—don’t get caught up in their fight. I’ve used this term, and this isn’t necessarily in our church, but I think about a local fight in another church that was pretty known in our area. And I don’t know how many people I told them, I said, “I don’t have a dog in that fight.” And I’m not going to put a dog in that fight. And you know, I was friends with both of the two preachers that were fighting, and I’m glad for it. And both preachers tried to tell me their side of the story, both of them personally. No, don’t get caught up in all that. They’re going to fight sometime. That’s part of it. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t require your friends to be friends with your friends. Keep serving the Lord. Amen. Go win somebody to the Lord. Let them fight. Go win somebody to the Lord. Number three: Number one, don’t get discouraged or defeated. Number two, don’t require your friends to be friends with your friends. Number three, defend the accused. I’m talking about the ones that just keep attacking. It keeps attacking. So hold on here. I’m glad God didn’t attack us when we do wrong. Glad for that. You know, they’re always real sly about how they slip it in what the other one did to do. They just keep going, going, going. Say, “Hang on, man.” I, you know, I sometimes, by the way, Matthew 18, many call it church discipline, but if somebody offended you, go to them. Don’t go to everybody else in the church. “Well, you know what, so-and-so did.” “Well, why don’t you go talk to them about it?” Because they don’t want to talk to them. They want to talk to everybody else about it. No. Tell him, “Well, let’s go to the pastor and let’s tell the pastor. Maybe he can do something about it.” You know, nine times out of ten, “Oh, we don’t want to do that.” Mother, don’t fall for this. “Well, there’s a group of people in the church saying this.” “Well, tell me who the group of people are.” “Well, so-and-so.” “Oh, that’s it, just one, huh?” “Well, so-and-so.” “Okay, too. A group of people, huh?” Mother, if you’re going to bring a problem, be mad enough, late enough to tell who told it if it’s new. You can’t tell their name? Don’t tell it. Good chance people will come telling you everything in the world if you’d ever tell who’s telling it. Kind of a system there at all. Don’t do that. Defend the accused. Number one, don’t let it discourage or defeat you. Number two, don’t require your friends to be friends with your friends. Number three, defend the accused. Number four: They’re just kind of throwing this in in our day and time. Don’t get caught up on the online social network fussing. I think many of you, I think you’ve seen this video, but you’ll get a kick out of it. There’s a difference in the online fussing and fighting and real life. Can we play that video there, Brother Josh? We’ve got that thing ready to go. Here it is. I hope you can see it? Can we get it again and turn the volume up a little bit there, Brother Josh? I’ve been turning these lights back old. Isn’t the way it is more on the line? People fuss and fight, fuss and fight, a lot, a lot different in real life. Don’t get caught up in all that. So-and-so fighting? No, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know about all that. Too much to do for the Lord. Number one, don’t let it discourage when two Christians are fussed and fight. That’s going to happen. Don’t like it. It’s going to happen. Don’t require your friends to be friends with your friends. Number three, defend the accused. Number four, don’t get caught up on the online fighting. Number five: Keep your eyes on who? Keep your eyes on who? Yeah. Yeah. Trust in him. Over the years, there’s going to be—and nobody likes it. I don’t like it. It can bother me. It can discourage me if I laugh at it. They really can. Don’t get too much on that. Somebody fussing the fact. Keep your eyes on him. By the way, you said, “Well, it happened so much in our end time.” It happened to the Bible too. It happened to every generation. It’s just part of it. I don’t like it. I’m not saying it’s right. But Paul and Barnabas got caught up in it. Sharp, sharp contention. And unfortunately, it happens. Just keep serving the Lord. Hey, you know, over the years it seemed like God ironed out some of that with John Mark and all that. And God can handle all this fuss and fighting. It’s just part of it. Let’s just keep serving the Lord.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? I’m not going to have you raise your hand, but let’s just spend some time with the Lord. Let’s just spend some time praying with him. Lord, maybe some of these things you want to speak to my heart about. Would you just spend—maybe you want to pray for someone? We’re going to have a quick word of prayer, and Ms. Bush is going to play for us. Let’s just spend some time with the Lord tonight. Would you do that? Would you please stand? We’ll have a word of prayer. Spend some time with the Lord. Father, thank you that, Lord, you’re bigger than all of our issues down here, our problems. Help me, Lord, to keep my eyes on you. Lord, let me not get discouraged when Christians fuss and fight. Lord, forgive us. Help us to have unity. We want that, Lord. Lord, help us to handle it properly when there’s not unity among your race. Bless these folks tonight. Give us a good time, just a couple minutes, Lord, very close to you. Would you allow us to be very close to you in these next few minutes? In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Would you spend some time with the Lord? Whether we had to alter, wherever you may be, just spend some time in love. Would you do that as our instruments play?

Aren’t you glad the Bible tells us the good and the bad? Second missionaries—boy, it’s a great work. But there was some fuss and fighting going on. I don’t like it, but don’t get too bent out of shape when it happens, because it happens. And as long as you’ve got people, somebody’s saying, “Go happen.” Let’s just keep serving the Lord. Amen. And stay right with him, ourselves. God bless you in church on the Wednesday night. I’m thrilled to see everybody here and getting some folks back. The McCoys are back, the real McCoys. We got it back. That’s a blessing. And amen for that. I got Brother Kevin back. And I think Ms. Teresa is about to go out and visit her mom real soon here. So we got one back, going to lose the other. But praise the Lord, good to have them both with us and everybody. Good to see it tonight.

Original File: 2025-11-06 - Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Christians, agree to disagree＂ - Wednesday PM 11⧸05⧸2025