Burden Relief and Faithful Unity

This is a gift with arms open wide Jesus the King, the light of the wind, some confess This is how you stand to see more than a star. Hallelujah, joy is a promise and he's coming soon. Yes, all of creation's aching for you. My Lord and my God, day or by night, no matter the day. Hallelujah. Oh you light of the hour It's your soul Thanks for watching! Good afternoon. Let's all stand together, worship together, lift the name of the Lord on high together. You know, Psalm 55 says, cast your cares, cast your burdens onto the Lord, and he will sustain you. And I think sometimes it's a mistake when we come in. We're kind of taught sometimes, hey, you should check your burdens at the door. But that's not biblical at all, as we see in Psalm 55, where the Lord wants you to cast your cares upon him. And God's not in the business of burden pausing. He's in the business of burden relieving. And he wants to care for you and relieve you of your burdens today, for he has been faithful time and time again. So we're going to sing of his faithfulness. So let's sing together. You're still the rock that I cling to When everything else falls apart You're still the one that I'm building on The reason my hope's never lost You're the reason my hope's never lost Oh, you'll come through now like Press my defense, my defense, nothing is... Coming from A song in my mouth, gave me something to sing about Set my feet upon that rock, I'm standing on you goodness God A song in my mouth He's been the fourth man in the fire, time after time. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough. Because I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. Because I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. Perfect, perfect, perfect submission All is at rest I know the arm Tomorrow has ordered my steps, so this is my story, oh this is my song, praising my risen King and Savior all the day long. Cause I trust in God. Oh my Savior, the one. I trust in you. So I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. I saw the Lord, and He heard, and I said, that's why I sing, oh Lord. That's why I trusted God Oh, we've seen what you can do Wonder Power has no end All the things you've done before In greater measure Oh, you will do again There's no prison, a wall you can't break through No mountain you can't move All things are possible There's no broken body you can't raise, no soul you can't save, no things are possible. The darkness died, who can light it up? Oh, you can light it up, oh God of revival. So become, oh yes, you've already won, oh God of revival Oh you rose in victory, and now you're seated forever on So why should my heart fear one you've defeated? I will trust in you alone Isn't what we can bring to know in my heart Suffering, breathe strong hope Yes, I can't exchange, if I will pour it out Every stronghold will crumble, I hear the chains hit the ground Oh God of revival, pour it out, pour it out A thousand generations Rolling down in worship, to sing the song of ages to the Lamb. To all who've gone before us, all who will believe, we sing the song of ages to the Lamb. Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name, it stands above them all. In the angels cry. You should cry, be in heaven, if you've been redeemed. Sing the song forever to the man today Sing the song forever to the man We'll sing the song forever and Is the highest your name? Is the greatest your name? Oh, it stands above them all. Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, your name, it stands above them all. Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above all dominions, all powers, positions, Your name is above all. God, you are holy. We serve a holy God. We serve a God who hears us when we pray to him, that when we call upon the name of the Lord, he will answer. And so, God, we thank you for being a God who is alive. A God who cares for us, who answers our prayers, who is seated on the throne, who knows each one of our hearts, the good and the bad. Lord, I pray that we will come to love you more, to serve you better, Lord, to worship you with everything that we have. to give all that we have to you because you're worthy and you're holy and we bless your name today it's in jesus name that we pray amen amen hey before you are seated would you turn to those around you and welcome them to church All right, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to church. Thank you for being here. Thank you for our online viewers as well for this live streaming of our service. Who's happy to be here in the house of the Lord today? Raise his name. I am going to teach this morning. We're going to be in Romans chapter 16, but I want to take a few minutes first to do a little interview style with a guy who's become a friend of mine over the last couple of years. He's been here before. We were together yesterday at Gumspring Library because this guy is a culture warrior. He's going around the country, reading in libraries, bringing Christian values. Reading books with Christian values and good, strong American moral traditions and, you know, it's a great response to what we have come to see commonly in our libraries is drag. Queen story hour. So it's refreshing to see a new story being instilled in the lives of children and families. So I'm real excited to have him here. And as I said, he's become a friend. Many of you in my generation remember him as Mike Seaver on the show Growing Pains. My kids remember him from the Left Behind. movie series, so it depends where you are in your demographic, but like I said, he's become a culture warrior, going around the country now, just talking about Jesus, his love for Jesus, and reading children's books to help families realize there is an answer to all the craziness in our world. Give a warm welcome to Kurt Cameron. All right, Kirk, so you have been actively involved in taking a strong Christian and moral message around the country. We were together yesterday at Gumspring, but I wasn't with you. You did other events in Alexandria and I think Winchester. But so talk about this. We're going to throw up some slides. We're going to put up some pictures from yesterday's event. And while we're cycling through this, if you want to just talk about how did you first get involved in this? How did the Lord put this vision on your heart? And then. mention about, and we have a graphic for it, mention about how many other story times were going on around the country. So, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded the world's largest drag queen story hour on June 1st, the first day of Pride Month this summer. When we went to a public library two years ago, we had 3,000 people show up to read Christian books of wholesome virtue. We invited Guinness to come out to join us yesterday in Gum Springs. Guinness wouldn't get back to us. In fact, we had to submit for the application three times, knowing that we would have tens of thousands of people spread out over 350 libraries in all 50 states at the same time, and they wouldn't return our calls. Not only that, they deleted our submission three times and say we have no record of it. Wow. But the great news is, is that 100% we dwarfed. their record, they only had 260 people show up. We had more than that at Gum Springs and across the nation, tens of thousands. And this is the way that God seems to work, doesn't he? It's nobody's from nowhere with nothing to offer, but a heart surrendered to God in love with him, with his people, with their families, and the nation who has built their country on his principles. And this is the groundswell, grassfire kind of movement that can spread across the country and take the world by storm. Put up that graphic, if you would, so people can see where all these storytime hours were happening around the country. Isn't that great? And the cool thing was that these were organized by moms and dads, not by a church or by Brave Books. But this weekend here, I went to two moms organized it and one dad. Yeah. So they've picked up the baton and they're running with it. Man, and if our world doesn't need this kind of wholesome values, when has it ever needed it like now? So that's great that you're doing this. And you've had your fingers in a lot of different projects, a few different projects, just trying to bring the same kind of message using different venues. Like you have now a children's show coming up. Is it actually available now? You've produced a few shows. We've wrapped. Two seasons, 20 episodes of a new television show called Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk. Adventures with Iggy, so it's an iguana, it's like a puppet thing, but you, I'm kind of amazed it's not Mr. Kirk and Iggy. You gave up your first billing to an iguana. You know, actors can be divas, and Iggy has got a tough agent. He demanded first position in the title. So it's an adorable... television show, imagine a modernized version of Mr. Rogers'Neighborhood meets a Bible-friendly Sesame Street. Yeah, he texted me the parallel pictures. Do you guys have that? Can you throw that up here on the screen? There you go. Look at this. This is the modern Mr. Rogers, ladies and gentlemen, Kirk Cameron. So, how did you come up with this idea? What was the motivation behind it? And then we got a clip we'll show in a minute. My friends at Brave Books realized that reading stories is one thing. Story time is important. But kids spend so much time on screens that they wanted to redeem screen time and give parents a tool that would reinforce good values. And so I said, hey, let's do a TV show. So we came up with the idea of Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk. And this is a little five-year-old iguana that Mr. Kirk adopted from Freedom Island, and he lives in a treehouse in Mr. Kirk's backyard. And he's got to teach him lessons while there's this vulture named Culture Don't you love that? Who's always deceiving him and lying to him about who he is and about who God is. And so Mr. Kirk has to teach him lessons together with his wife and his daughter about God and puts him to bed every night with the blessing out of the book of Numbers, may the Lord bless you and keep you. And there's a lullaby that Iggy sings to the children who are watching at home. So it's got some serious Mr. Rogers vibes, but no cardigan and sneakers, it's a bomber jacket and boots. Okay, all right. And a beard. And a beard, yeah. Let's show a clip of this. You guys will enjoy this. Hello brave explorers! Welcome to my treehouse! Look at this! This little bird has a hurt wing. Oh, that's not good! We need to take it to the hospital. Just as the wildflowers were starting to bloom in Wiggamore Woods, the sweetest little bear cub was born. He wasn't like any other cub. on Freedom Island, but that made Mother Bear love him even more. Mr. Cock is human, his family is human, and then there's you. Well, I'm part of his family too. Oh, well, you don't exactly fit in here. Culture said that because I'm an iguana, I don't fit in your family. Culture is wrong. You are family. Instead of trying to change, we should embrace the way God made us. Because God doesn't make mistakes. I guess that means that God didn't make a mistake with me. He made a work of art with you. I'd say a true... one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Thanks. That's awesome. I was asking Kirk if he writes any of the script. He doesn't write the script, but tell us about that particular episode because it has a great message. So that's an episode where we're teaching children things you wouldn't think you have to, like gender reality from God's perspective. Disney and Nickelodeon is teaching your children and grandchildren about gender, reality, from their perspective, which is distorted. This is an episode where Culture the Vulture tells Iggy that because he's an iguana, he's not. not loved as much as a real likable human boy would be in Kirk's family. And so he looks up on the internet, what does a likable human boy look like and sound like? And so he actually changes his name to Chad and he starts to talk like this as a likable human boy. And he wears a wig and a baseball cap and rides a bicycle trying to fit in. And culture's just laughing behind the scenes. And Mr. Kirk has to finally say, Iggy, why are you doing this? I love you just the way that you are. God made you special for a reason and a purpose, and he's got to embrace who he is, and he realizes how silly it was to be something else. So, these are the types of episodes, the sanctity of life, gender reality, the warnings of socialism and communism, honesty, the fruit of the spirit, courage, bravery. These are all lessons Iggy has to learn because this is what we want our children to learn. Yeah, they're not too young to learn those, friends. Not too young. Okay, you also just wrote a book that's coming out in October called Born to be Brave. Jack Hibbs did the foreword. You didn't ask me, but I'm not bitter. You know, it's okay. I'll get over it. But anyway, Jack's a good friend. But tell us a little bit about the book that's coming out and what that is about. Well, a couple of years ago, I started something in my backyard, really out of frustration, when the pandemic hit and our governor, Gavin Newsom, put everybody under house arrest. We couldn't. couldn't leave, we couldn't go to church, we couldn't go to school, businesses. So I decided I would make a hundred consecutive campfires in my backyard and pray and work through the... Not all at once, not a hundred, you know, but one at a time, consecutive. One at a time consecutively for a hundred days. And I learned so much during that time from the founders and our forefathers and mothers that gave me so much courage. And it reminded me that God didn't save us to be cowards. He saved us to demonstrate the fruit spirit and character qualities like courage. That's part of the new creation. Bravery is part of our second birth. And it's those kinds of qualities that have got to be deployed during difficult and oppressive times like this. That's how we got our blessings was from men and women with courage. So this is a book to share what I've been learning and remind us that the opposition is never too big. In fact, our big God dwarfs big government. Big tech, big media, big pharma, and everything else. Yeah, everything else. And people have been asking at the earlier services, how do we see the TV show? Where is it going to be? Yeah, and the book. You can get it all where? So if you go to bravebooks.com, you can see all of this. It's sort of a dashboard there that's got everything. And if you're part of their book club for kids, it comes with access to all the episodes of the television show. So it's all kind of all bundled up in one easy place. Well, I love you, brother. You are out there on the front lines. Thank you. for what you're doing. It's a privilege to call you friend and we're just excited to see voices like yours out in our country making a difference. So thank you and God bless you. Kirk Cameron everybody. Okay so Kirk will be out in the atrium after the service. If you have you want to stop by his table there's some books there. Thank you Dan. And so you can get books that are being offered out there, but as well, you're going to see out in the atrium several tables in addition to Kirk's table out there. We have a table for Cornerstone Chapel Bible Institute, if you're interested in that, the Women's Bible Study, the Women's Conference, the Young Adult Retreat coming up. Visit any of those tables out there. There's also a table for Koinonia groups. Now, we call them K-groups for short. Koinonia is just a big Greek word that means fellowship. It's our home Bible study ministry. If you want to be a part of a home Bible study, meet some people on a smaller group level, join a K group here at Cornerstone. There's a table out there in the atrium with more information about that. A couple of other quick announcements before we jump into our Bible study. This Wednesday night will be our monthly church baptism. So Wednesday night, the 28th, coming up, and it'll be in the park up by the volleyball court while we're still under construction back here in the back. And so that's this Wednesday night, 7 o'clock it starts. If you want to be baptized, you need to come at 6.30 for a pre-baptism meeting so everybody understands what it's about to make sure you understand what you're doing. That's at 6.30, it's in the chapel, which is by the west entrance over here. And if you want to come an hour before the service, 6 o'clock you can purchase dinner. All of that will be set up at the park, so you can go directly there starting at 6 if you want to purchase dinner. That's this Wednesday night. Also, those of you in the young adult category, 18 to 29, you have a retreat coming up August the 31st through September 2nd. And that is at North Bay Adventure Camp. It's a beautiful location on the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. So check that out if that applies to your age demographic, 18 to 29. Pastor Brian Shannon, one of our own, will be the featured speaker there. But you need to know that tomorrow is the deadline for registering. So if you haven't registered, please do so. by tomorrow. You can go to the events page for more information on all of that. So good to have you all here with us. Let's go to Romans chapter 16, if you have your Bibles now. Romans chapter 16. In the closing chapter of Romans, Paul gives a special farewell greeting and commendation. to 29 people that he mentions by name, including 10 women. And one of the women that he mentions here with gratitude, her name is found in the first couple of verses of chapter 16. Her name is Phoebe. And it tells us that she is from the church in Centuria. Now, Centuria is a town that was located near ancient Corinth, which is in modern-day Greece. And Paul commends her to the church at Rome. Even in his closing chapter, he mentions her and asks the church to receive her. He says in verse 2, Receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints. And the reason why Paul is introducing her, commending her, and telling the church, Receive her, is because scholars believe that Phoebe was the one who hand-delivered this letter, the letter to the church at Rome, the book of Romans, to the church there in Rome. She takes Paul's letter and hand-delivers it to them. So Paul says, Welcome her and receive her. Now, it tells us she's from the church in Centuria, which is in Greece. She's traveling to Rome in Italy to deliver this letter a distance of about 750 miles. And so in a day when there was no modern transportation, this lady gets noted here in the Scriptures as someone that Paul commends because she hand-delivered this letter to the church at Rome. After Paul finishes addressing these 29 people by name, commending them, thanking them, bidding them farewell, he finishes his letter here with one last exhortation. And I'm going to read this to you from Romans 16. I'm going to read verses 17 to 20. And here's what Paul writes. This is Romans 16, verse 17. Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions. and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience, now listen, this is in contrast to divisive people. Paul says to this church, for your obedience has become known to all. Therefore, I am glad on your behalf that they have a good reputation. But I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Now that last verse where he says the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly will be next Sunday's study as we bring the whole book of Romans to a conclusion. I'm going to talk about spiritual warfare. That's next Sunday. But for today we're going to talk about this theme at the beginning of what I read where Paul warns about divisions. Today's teaching I've entitled, A House Divided, A House Divided. Let's have a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for being here, for just your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness, your love toward us. We are grateful people, and we thank you, Lord, that you're our chief shepherd and you care for us. Bless those who are here, Lord, as we read your word together, and those watching online, and those who will later listen to this. We just commit all this to you and pray, Lord, that you would use it to speak to our hearts on this topic, Lord. And we thank you and we praise you together in Jesus'name. And everybody said, Amen. When you look at the Bible, it is true that God likes most math operations. He likes addition. It tells us in Acts 2 47, and the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. We see also in the Bible that God loves multiplication, because in Acts 6 verse 7 it says, then the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly. The truth is God even practices subtraction sometimes. There's another story in the book of Acts where this man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, lied to the apostles of the early church. They misrepresented their giving. They bragged about how they had gave a certain amount to God when in fact they hadn't given that amount. And so in Acts chapter 5, God strikes them dead. He practices some subtraction every now and again. But there's one math operation that God does not like and will not tolerate, in the church especially, and anywhere generally, and that's division. Division. Now the only exception to division... is what Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, where he talks about how there will be natural division within a home where some are believers in Jesus and some are not. He said there will be some natural division over those who profess Christ versus those who don't, living in the same household. But aside from that, God hates division because the kind of division that Paul writes about here in Romans 16 that God hates is division that is the result of strife or envy or pride or jealousy. That kind of division is sin, and that's what Paul is referring to here in his closing chapter to the church of Rome. His last instruction to them, now think about this. I mean, of all the things that he could have highlighted to just reinforce, to underscore, to put an exclamation mark by, Of all the things that Paul focused on and could have mentioned, he focuses on division, divisiveness. And he says here, I want you to note people who are divisive, and I want you to avoid them. In other words, have nothing to do with them. Now, as a pastor, of course, I want to be true to the context of the text. You should never take a text out of context. And so in fairness to the context. This text here about divisiveness is specifically referring to, Paul's specifically talking about people who cause division in the church because they are spreading doctrine that is contrary to the scriptures. That's the worst kind of division. And that's the kind that he mentions here because if you glance again in your Bibles at verse 17, that's how he defines divisive people. He says those who are contrary to the doctrine which you learned. So that's the context of the text. But I'm going to use this as a springboard in today's teaching to talk more broadly about divisiveness because the fact is you can have divisiveness not only in a church, you can have it in a family, you can have it in a business, you can have it in an organization. Wherever you have people, you have the potential for there to be divisiveness. And friends, if you haven't found this out the hard way, Divisive people can destroy whatever they belong to, and they don't care. that they are destroying whatever they belong to, because the very nature of a divisive person is it's all about themselves. It's all about their agenda, their interests, their selfish ambition. This is what Paul means in verse 18 when he says, for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. What does he mean by that? The word belly is just a reference to personal appetites. He says these people who are divisive, it's all about their self-interest, their selfish ambition, their personal appetites. He says they're not operating in the spirit of Jesus. They're doing this for themselves and they don't really care how they destroy whatever organization, group, or family they're a part of. Now, when you think about divisive people and examples of divisive people in the Bible, I will give you a couple examples. One, one that you might be familiar with all the way back in the book of Numbers is a guy by the name of Korah. His story is found in Numbers chapter 16. Now Korah was a guy who didn't like Moses'leadership. This was during the period of time when Moses was leading the Hebrew slaves after 400 years of slavery in Egypt toward the Promised Land. They're somewhere in the Sinai Peninsula now. And Korah recruits two of his homeboys named Dathan and Abiram. And those three guys go to Moses, and Korah's the ringleader. And he's like, you know, we don't really like your leadership. We don't really like your leadership, Moses. We're kind of tired of you. And Korah's basically saying, you know, who made you leader? And Moses is like, God. God made me leader. And Korah's like, well, I have news for you and for God. We could do just as good a job as you were doing. You know, you are old. You're washed up. Because Moses by now is 80 years old in this story. He's like, you're old. You're washed up. You're done. Sit down, old man. We're taking over, because imagine what can be unburdened by what, what, I'm sorry, I got, I got that story a little, a little confused there. Anyway, back, back to our story here, so here in number 16, Kama, I mean Korah, comes to, comes to Moses and leads a coup and says, You're old, sit down. We're taking over. That's what happens, it's right here in the Bible, friends. And God overhears this, because he hears everything. And so in Numbers 16, 26, God says to Moses, Moses, step away from the tents of these divisive people. I'm about to smoke them. And so Moses steps aside, yes, Lord. And the Bible says that God opened up the earth, swallowed those guys and their families, and closed the dirt back over. And God's like, all right, let's get on with things now. Why? Because God hates division. There's another story in our Bibles. This guy's name was Absalom. Now Absalom was one of the sons of King David. But Absalom thought he could do a better job than Dad. So Absalom positions himself at the city gate where everybody would be coming through to Jerusalem. And he just ingratiates himself with everybody. He's like the epitome of a politician. As people are coming through, he's kissing babies, and he's shaking hands, and he's like, I feel your pain. If I were king, I'd do so much of a better job than that guy in there right now. I'm getting other stories all mixed up in my head, I'm sorry. But that's basically what he's doing. He's politicking at the city gate and he's like, I'd be a better king than my dad. My dad doesn't know what he's talking about. If you presented your issues to me, I'd solve them better than my dad would solve them. And in 2 Samuel 15 verse 6 it says, And he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. And God hates division, and Absalom's life came to a tragic ending too, because Joab, the general of David's army, took 10 of his elite fighting men and they chased Absalom down and killed him. God hates division. And let me just say this, and this is going to sound really uncharitable for a pastor to say, but it's straight out of the Bible. God not only hates division, He hates divisive people. You say, wait a minute, God loves all people. I'm just telling you what the Bible says, friends. God hates divisive people. I'll read it to you. It's out of Proverbs chapter 6. There's a list between verses 16 and 19, and it says this in Proverbs 6, 16. These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. Here are the seven. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies. And listen to number seven. This is what God hates, the one who sows discord among brethren. God hates. And why does God hate division? Why does he hate divisive people? They're redeemable. But because of what they practice, he hates divisive people. And why so? Two reasons. Number one, because division is contrary to God's nature. And number two, because the source of all division is Satan. Is everybody hearing me? The source of all division, divisiveness, is Satan. Satan was the first divisive being in the universe. He was originally created as a magnificent angel. Most scholars think that he was the chief among the angels in heaven. You read Isaiah and Ezekiel, it gives us a glimpse into the beauty of his original created being. Here's this angelic creature in heaven, and the Bible says that pride filled his heart. He desired to ascend to God's throne. He thought himself entitled to God's throne. He saw himself as as good as God, if not even better. And the Bible says he led a third of the angels in rebellion against God. He was divisive. And for that, God kicked him out of heaven, expelled Satan to earth. What's the first thing Satan does when he comes to earth? He sows seeds of division and discord with the first family. He divides Eve from Adam. He divides Adam from God. And sin enters the human race. Now, it's interesting, in contrast, Sin enters the human race. What's the first thing God does? God brings a plan into motion to reconcile sinful man to him. Because God, hear me on this, God is about reconciliation, Satan is about division. The things that are broken, God brings together and reconciles. Satan breaks what is brought together. Let me say that again. When you look at things that are broken, those are the things God brings together because he's about reconciliation. But the things that are together, Satan breaks because he's about division. That has to do with your marriage, that has to do with your family, that has to do with the church, that has to do with your organization, your business, you name it. Wherever there's division, the source of it is Satan because God is the great reconciler and Satan is the great divider. And what does this mean? Now hear me on this. This is hard truth, but I'm going to say it. It means that when a person is divisive, they are not acting in the spirit of Jesus, they are acting in the spirit of Satan. Divisive people are acting in the spirit of Satan. And this is why Paul warns the church at Rome. I want you to note divisive people, and I want you to avoid them. Take special note. And here's why it's so critical. Because divisive people will destroy whatever they are part of. In my 33, 34 years now here at Cornerstone, this is the one issue that I have felt strongly compelled to be on guard against, whether it's in the church itself or on our staff. I have prayed to God, and God has been very gracious to us. We've never had a church split, to God be the glory. We've never had the kind of division that a lot of churches go through. But I can tell you over the time I've been here, my constant prayer has been, Lord, take dividers out. Anybody who's going to cause division, take them out. And Lord, if you're calling me to be a part of that by showing them the door, then I'll be faithful to do that. And I've had to fire a few people on our staff over this. And the reason is because... Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 12, 25. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. So you have to get rid of divisive people. They will ruin whatever you're a part of. Titus chapter 3, verse 10 to 11. Listen to what Paul wrote to Titus. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time after that. Have nothing to do with them. you may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful. He is self-condemned. It's the serious stuff. Again, it's the one thing that Paul decided, I'm going to underscore this at the end of my letter. You better deal with divisive people or they will destroy this church. Now, let me make this clear, okay? I want to make sure everybody hears this part. So if you've, you know, dozed off, nudge the person next to you who's dozed off. Because I want to make sure everybody hears this. I'm not saying that somebody who has a different idea or a different perspective or a different opinion or a different vantage point about something is a divisive person. Does everybody understand? We need different people around us. Because it helps us to see things that we otherwise may not be able to see ourselves. So we should welcome people who have different vantage points, different opinions, different perspectives. That helps to make us well-rounded individuals or well-rounded churches or organizations or families. We need each other with differences of ideas, opinions, and thoughts. We're not talking about people who are just different. That's needed. We're talking about people who are divisive. And how can you tell? The difference. I'm going to give you four quick things. How can you tell, how do you know divisive people? Number one is by their spirit. By their spirit. What's the spirit behind their attitude or actions? Are they genuinely contributing to the overall good of the organization, meaning like family, business, or church? Or do they have selfish motives? Divisive people are self-seeking instead of others-oriented. Divisive people are self-seeking. They're not others-oriented. And there is a Luciferian spirit behind divisive people where they often think that they know best or they would do it better and they often see themselves almost on a mission to correct whatever they think in their minds is wrong. Like, well, I'm here to save the day kind of an attitude. And they can't see themselves because they're not team players, they are solo manipulators. They're not team players, they're solo manipulators. I'm here to save the day, I'm here to correct whatever's wrong, I'm here to point this out, I'm here to point that out. It's a spirit behind it, it's a Luciferian spirit. And here's how you can really tell if someone is just different, contributing different thoughts and ideas, versus someone who has a divisive spirit. Here's how. Tell them no about something, and watch how they react. Somebody who's just different with different ideas, they might at first be a little put out, but they'll take it in stride and they realize, well, maybe next time my idea will work or my perspective will be accepted or whatever. But you say no to a divisive person, they will rise up, they will be angry, they will take it very personally. Why? Because a divisive person is all about self. They're not about the larger group, the family, the organization. They're about self. So when you tell them no, they take it personally because their ambition is selfish. So tell them no. And watch how they react. James 3.16 says, For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. Have nothing to do with them. Number two, you can spot divisive people by their words. Do they say things to your face or do they say to others what they won't say to you? Divisive people would rather talk about you than to you. Proverbs 16, 28 says, a perverse man stirs up dissension. That's a perverse person who stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends. Because they're words. They're going around talking. Not to you, talking about you, talking with everybody else. They're sowing seeds of discord. It's divisive. Have you ever noticed this in your family? Now, before I ask the question, I just want everybody to know, OK, every family... since the Garden of Eden is dysfunctional, okay? So I'm not asking what's a good family versus a bad family. We all got dysfunction in every single family, all right? But here's a question. Have you ever noticed in your family what I call triangular communication? It's just triangle. What do I mean? Now, I'm talking about adults, okay? Sister number one won't talk to sister number two. Sister number two will talk to sister number three, but sister number three will not talk to sister number one. Sister number three will talk to sister number two about sister number one. Sister number one will talk to sister number two about sister number three. Sister one and sister three do not talk. That's triangular communication. And that's divisive. And that's terrible. Okay? And sister number two is always in the worst spot because she's like, I'm talking to sister number one, talking to sister number three. I hope these two will get along. Why don't they ever get along? What can I say? And so I'll talk to you. And did you know what sister number two said? Sister number one, you got to know. And it's all this back and forth. Let me tell you how you put an end to that. You tell all the sisters you're not playing the game anymore. And you say, if you want to talk to me about the other sister, I'm not listening. You tell that sister what you need to say to her face. If you love her enough, you tell her to your face, to her face. But you stop talking to me about her. It'll put an end to it. See, we can have a part in the divisiveness without even realizing it. Because we're just trying to placate, we're trying to be peacemaker. And so we're allowing this kind of triangular stuff to happen. The words are divisive because divisive people talk about you, but not to you. And so number three, you can also tell a divisive person by their attitude. Divisive people are not teachable or humble. They have a self-righteous attitude. They don't often respect authority. And Jude refers to divisive people in his little epistle. It's only one chapter. It's verse 19. Jude calls divisive people worldly people devoid of the Spirit. Worldly people devoid of the Spirit. And you can see their attitude. Because they're not humble, they're not teachable. They think they're the smartest person in the room. They're divisive. And finally, number four, you can tell divisive people by their actions. Because divisive people do divisive things. They cause conflict and disrupt the harmony and unity of a family or a church or an organization, and they seem to thrive on it. You ever notice that? Divisive people seem to thrive on the conflict, and they stir up the controversy. And they get somehow energized by it in a sick, wrong way. And Proverbs 22.10, Solomon had some advice about people who stir up conflict and are divisive. Proverbs 22.10, he said, drive out the mocker and out goes strife. Quarrels and insults are ended. Drive them out like I have nothing to do with them. Now, before we pray, I want to say this much. So please hear me as I just wrap some things up here. What is interesting, when I was doing my homework and studies and prep for this, and I'm cross-referencing scripture about divisiveness, division, and here's what I found. In the Bible, when you look at all the different references of division and divisiveness, you see that God tells us we should warn a divisive person, we should avoid a divisive person, and we should even... distance ourselves from a divisive person if they are a problem. But not once in scripture can I find that God says, I want you to fix a divisive person. We are not called to fix them. That's God's issue. That's what God will do. But you're not supposed to waste your time trying to fix a divisive person. You are to warn them, avoid them, and if necessary, have nothing to do with them. You distance yourself from them. Or if you're in a different position where you need to fire somebody, then you fire somebody. But you have to get rid of them. The Bible doesn't tell us to fix them. That's God's job. So we leave that up to the Lord. And we pray for the Lord to take care of them, but we do our part. We warn, we avoid, and if necessary, we distance ourselves. But we give them to God, and we let Him fix them. Don't try to fix a divisive person, okay? For one thing, there could be divisive people in your life who aren't even believers, right? And so they're not going to respond to some godly advice or godly counsel or some gentle correction. They don't operate by the same handbook. So God doesn't tell us to fix them. God says, I want you to warn them, I want you to avoid them, and if necessary, I want you to distance yourself from them. But you leave the fixing up to me, God says. And why is this so important? Because again, a house divided against itself will not stand. And may God have it. help families, churches, organizations, and give you wisdom where you encounter it. And may God check our own hearts and challenge us if there's any divisiveness in us. Amen? Father, we thank you for your word. We ask you, Lord, to start with ourselves. If there's any spirit of divisiveness, would you please show us? so that we can repent of it as sin. Division is not of you, it's of the enemy. We want to be what you're about, Lord. You tell us to strive for a spirit of unity. You are the one who reconciles what is broken. Satan is the one who breaks what is reconciled. So we want to operate in the spirit of Jesus, not in the spirit of Satan. I thank you for your protection over our church. I pray for similar protection over churches, Lord, around our country, that you would remove divisive people. I pray, God, for families and marriages where the enemy has gotten in to cause division and strife and conflict. And as we talk about more of this next week about spiritual warfare, Lord, I just pray that you would bring unity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. where things are broken. Give wisdom to business owners, Lord, how they can have an organization that is unified. We just pray for a spirit of unity, Lord, and ask you to help us. To warn those who are divisive, avoid those who are divisive, and if necessary, distance ourselves from them. We take to heart your counsel from your word. And we thank you together, in Jesus'name. And everybody said, Amen and Amen. God bless you all. Thank you. Have a great day. Shout to Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there is love like you always. I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love. Oh, you're my comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath that sees of you. Shout to the Lord. Shout to the Lord on the earth. To the promise I have in you Shout to the Lord, all ye of the church Shout to the Lord, all ye of the church Shout to the Lord, all ye of the church Shout to the Lord Shout to the Lord And we give thanks to the God who will deliver. And we give thanks to the one who always saves. You are good. You are good forever. And we give thanks, for the ashes turn to beauty. Oh, we give thanks, for you lift our eyes to see. That you are good, oh, you are good. Yes, you are, forever. Oh, Jesus, we will sing. It's the steadfast love, the steadfast love And grace is the steadfast love, oh, the steadfast love You are good. You are good, yes you are, forever It just lifts your voice.

My Lord and my God, day or by night, no matter the day. Hallelujah. Oh you light of the hour It's your soul Thanks for watching! Good afternoon. Let's all stand together, worship together, lift the name of the Lord on high together.

You know, Psalm 55 says, cast your cares, cast your burdens onto the Lord, and he will sustain you. And I think sometimes it's a mistake when we come in. We're kind of taught sometimes, hey, you should check your burdens at the door. But that's not biblical at all, as we see in Psalm 55, where the Lord wants you to cast your cares upon him.

And God's not in the business of burden pausing. He's in the business of burden relieving. And he wants to care for you and relieve you of your burdens today, for he has been faithful time and time again. So we're going to sing of his faithfulness.

So let's sing together. You're still the rock that I cling to When everything else falls apart You're still the one that I'm building on The reason my hope's never lost You're the reason my hope's never lost Oh, you'll come through now like Press my defense, my defense, nothing is... Coming from A song in my mouth, gave me something to sing about Set my feet upon that rock, I'm standing on you goodness God A song in my mouth He's been the fourth man in the fire, time after time.

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough. Because I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail.

Because I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. Perfect, perfect, perfect submission All is at rest I know the arm Tomorrow has ordered my steps, so this is my story, oh this is my song, praising my risen King and Savior all the day long. Cause I trust in God.

Oh my Savior, the one. I trust in you. So I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. I saw the Lord, and He heard, and I said, that's why I sing, oh Lord. That's why I trusted God Oh, we've seen what you can do Wonder Power has no end All the things you've done before In greater measure Oh, you will do again There's no prison, a wall you can't break through No mountain you can't move All things are possible There's no broken body you can't raise, no soul you can't save, no things are possible.

The darkness died, who can light it up? Oh, you can light it up, oh God of revival. So become, oh yes, you've already won, oh God of revival Oh you rose in victory, and now you're seated forever on So why should my heart fear one you've defeated? I will trust in you alone Isn't what we can bring to know in my heart Suffering, breathe strong hope Yes, I can't exchange, if I will pour it out Every stronghold will crumble, I hear the chains hit the ground Oh God of revival, pour it out, pour it out A thousand generations Rolling down in worship, to sing the song of ages to the Lamb. To all who've gone before us, all who will believe, we sing the song of ages to the Lamb.

Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name, it stands above them all. In the angels cry.

You should cry, be in heaven, if you've been redeemed. Sing the song forever to the man today Sing the song forever to the man We'll sing the song forever and Is the highest your name? Is the greatest your name?

Oh, it stands above them all. Above all thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, your name, it stands above them all. Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above all dominions, all powers, positions, Your name is above all. God, you are holy. We serve a holy God.

We serve a God who hears us when we pray to him, that when we call upon the name of the Lord, he will answer. And so, God, we thank you for being a God who is alive. A God who cares for us, who answers our prayers, who is seated on the throne, who knows each one of our hearts, the good and the bad.

Lord, I pray that we will come to love you more, to serve you better, Lord, to worship you with everything that we have. to give all that we have to you because you're worthy and you're holy and we bless your name today it's in jesus name that we pray amen amen hey before you are seated would you turn to those around you and welcome them to church All right, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to church.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for our online viewers as well for this live streaming of our service. Who's happy to be here in the house of the Lord today?

Raise his name. I am going to teach this morning. We're going to be in Romans chapter 16, but I want to take a few minutes first to do a little interview style with a guy who's become a friend of mine over the last couple of years. He's been here before.

We were together yesterday at Gumspring Library because this guy is a culture warrior. He's going around the country, reading in libraries, bringing Christian values. Reading books with Christian values and good, strong American moral traditions and, you know, it's a great response to what we have come to see commonly in our libraries is drag.

Queen story hour. So it's refreshing to see a new story being instilled in the lives of children and families. So I'm real excited to have him here.

And as I said, he's become a friend. Many of you in my generation remember him as Mike Seaver on the show Growing Pains. My kids remember him from the Left Behind. movie series, so it depends where you are in your demographic, but like I said, he's become a culture warrior, going around the country now, just talking about Jesus, his love for Jesus, and reading children's books to help families realize there is an answer to all the craziness in our world. Give a warm welcome to Kurt Cameron.

All right, Kirk, so you have been actively involved in taking a strong Christian and moral message around the country. We were together yesterday at Gumspring, but I wasn't with you. You did other events in Alexandria and I think Winchester.

But so talk about this. We're going to throw up some slides. We're going to put up some pictures from yesterday's event. And while we're cycling through this, if you want to just talk about how did you first get involved in this? How did the Lord put this vision on your heart?

And then. mention about, and we have a graphic for it, mention about how many other story times were going on around the country. So, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded the world's largest drag queen story hour on June 1st, the first day of Pride Month this summer. When we went to a public library two years ago, we had 3,000 people show up to read Christian books of wholesome virtue. We invited Guinness to come out to join us yesterday in Gum Springs.

Guinness wouldn't get back to us. In fact, we had to submit for the application three times, knowing that we would have tens of thousands of people spread out over 350 libraries in all 50 states at the same time, and they wouldn't return our calls. Not only that, they deleted our submission three times and say we have no record of it. Wow. But the great news is, is that 100% we dwarfed.

their record, they only had 260 people show up. We had more than that at Gum Springs and across the nation, tens of thousands. And this is the way that God seems to work, doesn't he?

It's nobody's from nowhere with nothing to offer, but a heart surrendered to God in love with him, with his people, with their families, and the nation who has built their country on his principles. And this is the groundswell, grassfire kind of movement that can spread across the country and take the world by storm. Put up that graphic, if you would, so people can see where all these storytime hours were happening around the country. Isn't that great? And the cool thing was that these were organized by moms and dads, not by a church or by Brave Books.

But this weekend here, I went to two moms organized it and one dad. Yeah. So they've picked up the baton and they're running with it. Man, and if our world doesn't need this kind of wholesome values, when has it ever needed it like now? So that's great that you're doing this.

And you've had your fingers in a lot of different projects, a few different projects, just trying to bring the same kind of message using different venues. Like you have now a children's show coming up. Is it actually available now? You've produced a few shows. We've wrapped.

Two seasons, 20 episodes of a new television show called Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk. Adventures with Iggy, so it's an iguana, it's like a puppet thing, but you, I'm kind of amazed it's not Mr. Kirk and Iggy. You gave up your first billing to an iguana.

You know, actors can be divas, and Iggy has got a tough agent. He demanded first position in the title. So it's an adorable...

television show, imagine a modernized version of Mr. Rogers'Neighborhood meets a Bible-friendly Sesame Street. Yeah, he texted me the parallel pictures. Do you guys have that? Can you throw that up here on the screen? There you go.

Look at this. This is the modern Mr. Rogers, ladies and gentlemen, Kirk Cameron. So, how did you come up with this idea?

What was the motivation behind it? And then we got a clip we'll show in a minute. My friends at Brave Books realized that reading stories is one thing.

Story time is important. But kids spend so much time on screens that they wanted to redeem screen time and give parents a tool that would reinforce good values. And so I said, hey, let's do a TV show.

So we came up with the idea of Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk. And this is a little five-year-old iguana that Mr. Kirk adopted from Freedom Island, and he lives in a treehouse in Mr. Kirk's backyard. And he's got to teach him lessons while there's this vulture named Culture Don't you love that?

Who's always deceiving him and lying to him about who he is and about who God is. And so Mr. Kirk has to teach him lessons together with his wife and his daughter about God and puts him to bed every night with the blessing out of the book of Numbers, may the Lord bless you and keep you. And there's a lullaby that Iggy sings to the children who are watching at home.

So it's got some serious Mr. Rogers vibes, but no cardigan and sneakers, it's a bomber jacket and boots. Okay, all right. And a beard. And a beard, yeah. Let's show a clip of this.

You guys will enjoy this. Hello brave explorers! Welcome to my treehouse! Look at this! This little bird has a hurt wing.

Oh, that's not good! We need to take it to the hospital. Just as the wildflowers were starting to bloom in Wiggamore Woods, the sweetest little bear cub was born. He wasn't like any other cub. on Freedom Island, but that made Mother Bear love him even more.

Mr. Cock is human, his family is human, and then there's you. Well, I'm part of his family too. Oh, well, you don't exactly fit in here.

Culture said that because I'm an iguana, I don't fit in your family. Culture is wrong. You are family.

Instead of trying to change, we should embrace the way God made us. Because God doesn't make mistakes. I guess that means that God didn't make a mistake with me. He made a work of art with you.

I'd say a true... one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Thanks. That's awesome. I was asking Kirk if he writes any of the script.

He doesn't write the script, but tell us about that particular episode because it has a great message. So that's an episode where we're teaching children things you wouldn't think you have to, like gender reality from God's perspective. Disney and Nickelodeon is teaching your children and grandchildren about gender, reality, from their perspective, which is distorted. This is an episode where Culture the Vulture tells Iggy that because he's an iguana, he's not.

not loved as much as a real likable human boy would be in Kirk's family. And so he looks up on the internet, what does a likable human boy look like and sound like? And so he actually changes his name to Chad and he starts to talk like this as a likable human boy.

And he wears a wig and a baseball cap and rides a bicycle trying to fit in. And culture's just laughing behind the scenes. And Mr. Kirk has to finally say, Iggy, why are you doing this?

I love you just the way that you are. God made you special for a reason and a purpose, and he's got to embrace who he is, and he realizes how silly it was to be something else. So, these are the types of episodes, the sanctity of life, gender reality, the warnings of socialism and communism, honesty, the fruit of the spirit, courage, bravery. These are all lessons Iggy has to learn because this is what we want our children to learn. Yeah, they're not too young to learn those, friends.

Not too young. Okay, you also just wrote a book that's coming out in October called Born to be Brave. Jack Hibbs did the foreword. You didn't ask me, but I'm not bitter.

You know, it's okay. I'll get over it. But anyway, Jack's a good friend. But tell us a little bit about the book that's coming out and what that is about. Well, a couple of years ago, I started something in my backyard, really out of frustration, when the pandemic hit and our governor, Gavin Newsom, put everybody under house arrest.

We couldn't. couldn't leave, we couldn't go to church, we couldn't go to school, businesses. So I decided I would make a hundred consecutive campfires in my backyard and pray and work through the... Not all at once, not a hundred, you know, but one at a time, consecutive.

One at a time consecutively for a hundred days. And I learned so much during that time from the founders and our forefathers and mothers that gave me so much courage. And it reminded me that God didn't save us to be cowards.

He saved us to demonstrate the fruit spirit and character qualities like courage. That's part of the new creation. Bravery is part of our second birth. And it's those kinds of qualities that have got to be deployed during difficult and oppressive times like this.

That's how we got our blessings was from men and women with courage. So this is a book to share what I've been learning and remind us that the opposition is never too big. In fact, our big God dwarfs big government.

Big tech, big media, big pharma, and everything else. Yeah, everything else. And people have been asking at the earlier services, how do we see the TV show? Where is it going to be? Yeah, and the book.

You can get it all where? So if you go to bravebooks.com, you can see all of this. It's sort of a dashboard there that's got everything. And if you're part of their book club for kids, it comes with access to all the episodes of the television show.

So it's all kind of all bundled up in one easy place. Well, I love you, brother. You are out there on the front lines.

Thank you. for what you're doing. It's a privilege to call you friend and we're just excited to see voices like yours out in our country making a difference. So thank you and God bless you.

Kirk Cameron everybody. Okay so Kirk will be out in the atrium after the service. If you have you want to stop by his table there's some books there.

Thank you Dan. And so you can get books that are being offered out there, but as well, you're going to see out in the atrium several tables in addition to Kirk's table out there. We have a table for Cornerstone Chapel Bible Institute, if you're interested in that, the Women's Bible Study, the Women's Conference, the Young Adult Retreat coming up. Visit any of those tables out there. There's also a table for Koinonia groups.

Now, we call them K-groups for short. Koinonia is just a big Greek word that means fellowship. It's our home Bible study ministry. If you want to be a part of a home Bible study, meet some people on a smaller group level, join a K group here at Cornerstone.

There's a table out there in the atrium with more information about that. A couple of other quick announcements before we jump into our Bible study. This Wednesday night will be our monthly church baptism.

So Wednesday night, the 28th, coming up, and it'll be in the park up by the volleyball court while we're still under construction back here in the back. And so that's this Wednesday night, 7 o'clock it starts. If you want to be baptized, you need to come at 6.30 for a pre-baptism meeting so everybody understands what it's about to make sure you understand what you're doing. That's at 6.30, it's in the chapel, which is by the west entrance over here.

And if you want to come an hour before the service, 6 o'clock you can purchase dinner. All of that will be set up at the park, so you can go directly there starting at 6 if you want to purchase dinner. That's this Wednesday night.

Also, those of you in the young adult category, 18 to 29, you have a retreat coming up August the 31st through September 2nd. And that is at North Bay Adventure Camp. It's a beautiful location on the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay.

So check that out if that applies to your age demographic, 18 to 29. Pastor Brian Shannon, one of our own, will be the featured speaker there. But you need to know that tomorrow is the deadline for registering. So if you haven't registered, please do so.

by tomorrow. You can go to the events page for more information on all of that. So good to have you all here with us.

Let's go to Romans chapter 16, if you have your Bibles now. Romans chapter 16. In the closing chapter of Romans, Paul gives a special farewell greeting and commendation. to 29 people that he mentions by name, including 10 women. And one of the women that he mentions here with gratitude, her name is found in the first couple of verses of chapter 16. Her name is Phoebe.

And it tells us that she is from the church in Centuria. Now, Centuria is a town that was located near ancient Corinth, which is in modern-day Greece. And Paul commends her to the church at Rome.

Even in his closing chapter, he mentions her and asks the church to receive her. He says in verse 2, Receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints. And the reason why Paul is introducing her, commending her, and telling the church, Receive her, is because scholars believe that Phoebe was the one who hand-delivered this letter, the letter to the church at Rome, the book of Romans, to the church there in Rome. She takes Paul's letter and hand-delivers it to them.

So Paul says, Welcome her and receive her. Now, it tells us she's from the church in Centuria, which is in Greece. She's traveling to Rome in Italy to deliver this letter a distance of about 750 miles.

And so in a day when there was no modern transportation, this lady gets noted here in the Scriptures as someone that Paul commends because she hand-delivered this letter to the church at Rome. After Paul finishes addressing these 29 people by name, commending them, thanking them, bidding them farewell, he finishes his letter here with one last exhortation. And I'm going to read this to you from Romans 16. I'm going to read verses 17 to 20. And here's what Paul writes. This is Romans 16, verse 17. Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions. and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience, now listen, this is in contrast to divisive people. Paul says to this church, for your obedience has become known to all. Therefore, I am glad on your behalf that they have a good reputation.

But I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Amen. Now that last verse where he says the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly will be next Sunday's study as we bring the whole book of Romans to a conclusion. I'm going to talk about spiritual warfare. That's next Sunday.

But for today we're going to talk about this theme at the beginning of what I read where Paul warns about divisions. Today's teaching I've entitled, A House Divided, A House Divided. Let's have a word of prayer.

Father God, we thank you for being here, for just your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness, your love toward us. We are grateful people, and we thank you, Lord, that you're our chief shepherd and you care for us. Bless those who are here, Lord, as we read your word together, and those watching online, and those who will later listen to this.

We just commit all this to you and pray, Lord, that you would use it to speak to our hearts on this topic, Lord. And we thank you and we praise you together in Jesus'name. And everybody said, Amen.

When you look at the Bible, it is true that God likes most math operations. He likes addition. It tells us in Acts 2 47, and the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. We see also in the Bible that God loves multiplication, because in Acts 6 verse 7 it says, then the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.

The truth is God even practices subtraction sometimes. There's another story in the book of Acts where this man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, lied to the apostles of the early church. They misrepresented their giving.

They bragged about how they had gave a certain amount to God when in fact they hadn't given that amount. And so in Acts chapter 5, God strikes them dead. He practices some subtraction every now and again.

But there's one math operation that God does not like and will not tolerate, in the church especially, and anywhere generally, and that's division. Division. Now the only exception to division... is what Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, where he talks about how there will be natural division within a home where some are believers in Jesus and some are not. He said there will be some natural division over those who profess Christ versus those who don't, living in the same household.

But aside from that, God hates division because the kind of division that Paul writes about here in Romans 16 that God hates is division that is the result of strife or envy or pride or jealousy. That kind of division is sin, and that's what Paul is referring to here in his closing chapter to the church of Rome. His last instruction to them, now think about this.

I mean, of all the things that he could have highlighted to just reinforce, to underscore, to put an exclamation mark by, Of all the things that Paul focused on and could have mentioned, he focuses on division, divisiveness. And he says here, I want you to note people who are divisive, and I want you to avoid them. In other words, have nothing to do with them. Now, as a pastor, of course, I want to be true to the context of the text.

You should never take a text out of context. And so in fairness to the context. This text here about divisiveness is specifically referring to, Paul's specifically talking about people who cause division in the church because they are spreading doctrine that is contrary to the scriptures. That's the worst kind of division. And that's the kind that he mentions here because if you glance again in your Bibles at verse 17, that's how he defines divisive people.

He says those who are contrary to the doctrine which you learned. So that's the context of the text. But I'm going to use this as a springboard in today's teaching to talk more broadly about divisiveness because the fact is you can have divisiveness not only in a church, you can have it in a family, you can have it in a business, you can have it in an organization. Wherever you have people, you have the potential for there to be divisiveness. And friends, if you haven't found this out the hard way, Divisive people can destroy whatever they belong to, and they don't care.

that they are destroying whatever they belong to, because the very nature of a divisive person is it's all about themselves. It's all about their agenda, their interests, their selfish ambition. This is what Paul means in verse 18 when he says, for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.

What does he mean by that? The word belly is just a reference to personal appetites. He says these people who are divisive, it's all about their self-interest, their selfish ambition, their personal appetites. He says they're not operating in the spirit of Jesus.

They're doing this for themselves and they don't really care how they destroy whatever organization, group, or family they're a part of. Now, when you think about divisive people and examples of divisive people in the Bible, I will give you a couple examples. One, one that you might be familiar with all the way back in the book of Numbers is a guy by the name of Korah. His story is found in Numbers chapter 16. Now Korah was a guy who didn't like Moses'leadership.

This was during the period of time when Moses was leading the Hebrew slaves after 400 years of slavery in Egypt toward the Promised Land. They're somewhere in the Sinai Peninsula now. And Korah recruits two of his homeboys named Dathan and Abiram.

And those three guys go to Moses, and Korah's the ringleader. And he's like, you know, we don't really like your leadership. We don't really like your leadership, Moses.

We're kind of tired of you. And Korah's basically saying, you know, who made you leader? And Moses is like, God. God made me leader. And Korah's like, well, I have news for you and for God.

We could do just as good a job as you were doing. You know, you are old. You're washed up. Because Moses by now is 80 years old in this story.

He's like, you're old. You're washed up. You're done.

Sit down, old man. We're taking over, because imagine what can be unburdened by what, what, I'm sorry, I got, I got that story a little, a little confused there. Anyway, back, back to our story here, so here in number 16, Kama, I mean Korah, comes to, comes to Moses and leads a coup and says, You're old, sit down. We're taking over. That's what happens, it's right here in the Bible, friends.

And God overhears this, because he hears everything. And so in Numbers 16, 26, God says to Moses, Moses, step away from the tents of these divisive people. I'm about to smoke them. And so Moses steps aside, yes, Lord. And the Bible says that God opened up the earth, swallowed those guys and their families, and closed the dirt back over.

And God's like, all right, let's get on with things now. Why? Because God hates division.

There's another story in our Bibles. This guy's name was Absalom. Now Absalom was one of the sons of King David. But Absalom thought he could do a better job than Dad.

So Absalom positions himself at the city gate where everybody would be coming through to Jerusalem. And he just ingratiates himself with everybody. He's like the epitome of a politician.

As people are coming through, he's kissing babies, and he's shaking hands, and he's like, I feel your pain. If I were king, I'd do so much of a better job than that guy in there right now. I'm getting other stories all mixed up in my head, I'm sorry.

But that's basically what he's doing. He's politicking at the city gate and he's like, I'd be a better king than my dad. My dad doesn't know what he's talking about.

If you presented your issues to me, I'd solve them better than my dad would solve them. And in 2 Samuel 15 verse 6 it says, And he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. And God hates division, and Absalom's life came to a tragic ending too, because Joab, the general of David's army, took 10 of his elite fighting men and they chased Absalom down and killed him.

God hates division. And let me just say this, and this is going to sound really uncharitable for a pastor to say, but it's straight out of the Bible. God not only hates division, He hates divisive people. You say, wait a minute, God loves all people.

I'm just telling you what the Bible says, friends. God hates divisive people. I'll read it to you. It's out of Proverbs chapter 6. There's a list between verses 16 and 19, and it says this in Proverbs 6, 16. These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him.

Here are the seven. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies. And listen to number seven. This is what God hates, the one who sows discord among brethren.

God hates. And why does God hate division? Why does he hate divisive people? They're redeemable. But because of what they practice, he hates divisive people.

And why so? Two reasons. Number one, because division is contrary to God's nature. And number two, because the source of all division is Satan.

Is everybody hearing me? The source of all division, divisiveness, is Satan. Satan was the first divisive being in the universe. He was originally created as a magnificent angel.

Most scholars think that he was the chief among the angels in heaven. You read Isaiah and Ezekiel, it gives us a glimpse into the beauty of his original created being. Here's this angelic creature in heaven, and the Bible says that pride filled his heart. He desired to ascend to God's throne.

He thought himself entitled to God's throne. He saw himself as as good as God, if not even better. And the Bible says he led a third of the angels in rebellion against God. He was divisive.

And for that, God kicked him out of heaven, expelled Satan to earth. What's the first thing Satan does when he comes to earth? He sows seeds of division and discord with the first family.

He divides Eve from Adam. He divides Adam from God. And sin enters the human race. Now, it's interesting, in contrast, Sin enters the human race. What's the first thing God does?

God brings a plan into motion to reconcile sinful man to him. Because God, hear me on this, God is about reconciliation, Satan is about division. The things that are broken, God brings together and reconciles.

Satan breaks what is brought together. Let me say that again. When you look at things that are broken, those are the things God brings together because he's about reconciliation.

But the things that are together, Satan breaks because he's about division. That has to do with your marriage, that has to do with your family, that has to do with the church, that has to do with your organization, your business, you name it. Wherever there's division, the source of it is Satan because God is the great reconciler and Satan is the great divider. And what does this mean? Now hear me on this.

This is hard truth, but I'm going to say it. It means that when a person is divisive, they are not acting in the spirit of Jesus, they are acting in the spirit of Satan. Divisive people are acting in the spirit of Satan.

And this is why Paul warns the church at Rome. I want you to note divisive people, and I want you to avoid them. Take special note.

And here's why it's so critical. Because divisive people will destroy whatever they are part of. In my 33, 34 years now here at Cornerstone, this is the one issue that I have felt strongly compelled to be on guard against, whether it's in the church itself or on our staff.

I have prayed to God, and God has been very gracious to us. We've never had a church split, to God be the glory. We've never had the kind of division that a lot of churches go through. But I can tell you over the time I've been here, my constant prayer has been, Lord, take dividers out. Anybody who's going to cause division, take them out.

And Lord, if you're calling me to be a part of that by showing them the door, then I'll be faithful to do that. And I've had to fire a few people on our staff over this. And the reason is because...

Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 12, 25. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. So you have to get rid of divisive people. They will ruin whatever you're a part of.

Titus chapter 3, verse 10 to 11. Listen to what Paul wrote to Titus. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time after that. Have nothing to do with them. you may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful.

He is self-condemned. It's the serious stuff. Again, it's the one thing that Paul decided, I'm going to underscore this at the end of my letter. You better deal with divisive people or they will destroy this church. Now, let me make this clear, okay?

I want to make sure everybody hears this part. So if you've, you know, dozed off, nudge the person next to you who's dozed off. Because I want to make sure everybody hears this. I'm not saying that somebody who has a different idea or a different perspective or a different opinion or a different vantage point about something is a divisive person. Does everybody understand?

We need different people around us. Because it helps us to see things that we otherwise may not be able to see ourselves. So we should welcome people who have different vantage points, different opinions, different perspectives.

That helps to make us well-rounded individuals or well-rounded churches or organizations or families. We need each other with differences of ideas, opinions, and thoughts. We're not talking about people who are just different.

That's needed. We're talking about people who are divisive. And how can you tell? The difference.

I'm going to give you four quick things. How can you tell, how do you know divisive people? Number one is by their spirit. By their spirit. What's the spirit behind their attitude or actions?

Are they genuinely contributing to the overall good of the organization, meaning like family, business, or church? Or do they have selfish motives? Divisive people are self-seeking instead of others-oriented.

Divisive people are self-seeking. They're not others-oriented. And there is a Luciferian spirit behind divisive people where they often think that they know best or they would do it better and they often see themselves almost on a mission to correct whatever they think in their minds is wrong. Like, well, I'm here to save the day kind of an attitude. And they can't see themselves because they're not team players, they are solo manipulators.

They're not team players, they're solo manipulators. I'm here to save the day, I'm here to correct whatever's wrong, I'm here to point this out, I'm here to point that out. It's a spirit behind it, it's a Luciferian spirit.

And here's how you can really tell if someone is just different, contributing different thoughts and ideas, versus someone who has a divisive spirit. Here's how. Tell them no about something, and watch how they react.

Somebody who's just different with different ideas, they might at first be a little put out, but they'll take it in stride and they realize, well, maybe next time my idea will work or my perspective will be accepted or whatever. But you say no to a divisive person, they will rise up, they will be angry, they will take it very personally. Why?

Because a divisive person is all about self. They're not about the larger group, the family, the organization. They're about self.

So when you tell them no, they take it personally because their ambition is selfish. So tell them no. And watch how they react. James 3.16 says, For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. Have nothing to do with them.

Number two, you can spot divisive people by their words. Do they say things to your face or do they say to others what they won't say to you? Divisive people would rather talk about you than to you.

Proverbs 16, 28 says, a perverse man stirs up dissension. That's a perverse person who stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends. Because they're words. They're going around talking.

Not to you, talking about you, talking with everybody else. They're sowing seeds of discord. It's divisive.

Have you ever noticed this in your family? Now, before I ask the question, I just want everybody to know, OK, every family... since the Garden of Eden is dysfunctional, okay? So I'm not asking what's a good family versus a bad family. We all got dysfunction in every single family, all right?

But here's a question. Have you ever noticed in your family what I call triangular communication? It's just triangle. What do I mean?

Now, I'm talking about adults, okay? Sister number one won't talk to sister number two. Sister number two will talk to sister number three, but sister number three will not talk to sister number one. Sister number three will talk to sister number two about sister number one. Sister number one will talk to sister number two about sister number three.

Sister one and sister three do not talk. That's triangular communication. And that's divisive. And that's terrible. Okay?

And sister number two is always in the worst spot because she's like, I'm talking to sister number one, talking to sister number three. I hope these two will get along. Why don't they ever get along? What can I say?

And so I'll talk to you. And did you know what sister number two said? Sister number one, you got to know.

And it's all this back and forth. Let me tell you how you put an end to that. You tell all the sisters you're not playing the game anymore. And you say, if you want to talk to me about the other sister, I'm not listening. You tell that sister what you need to say to her face.

If you love her enough, you tell her to your face, to her face. But you stop talking to me about her. It'll put an end to it. See, we can have a part in the divisiveness without even realizing it.

Because we're just trying to placate, we're trying to be peacemaker. And so we're allowing this kind of triangular stuff to happen. The words are divisive because divisive people talk about you, but not to you.

And so number three, you can also tell a divisive person by their attitude. Divisive people are not teachable or humble. They have a self-righteous attitude.

They don't often respect authority. And Jude refers to divisive people in his little epistle. It's only one chapter. It's verse 19. Jude calls divisive people worldly people devoid of the Spirit.

Worldly people devoid of the Spirit. And you can see their attitude. Because they're not humble, they're not teachable.

They think they're the smartest person in the room. They're divisive. And finally, number four, you can tell divisive people by their actions.

Because divisive people do divisive things. They cause conflict and disrupt the harmony and unity of a family or a church or an organization, and they seem to thrive on it. You ever notice that?

Divisive people seem to thrive on the conflict, and they stir up the controversy. And they get somehow energized by it in a sick, wrong way. And Proverbs 22.10, Solomon had some advice about people who stir up conflict and are divisive. Proverbs 22.10, he said, drive out the mocker and out goes strife. Quarrels and insults are ended.

Drive them out like I have nothing to do with them. Now, before we pray, I want to say this much. So please hear me as I just wrap some things up here. What is interesting, when I was doing my homework and studies and prep for this, and I'm cross-referencing scripture about divisiveness, division, and here's what I found.

In the Bible, when you look at all the different references of division and divisiveness, you see that God tells us we should warn a divisive person, we should avoid a divisive person, and we should even... distance ourselves from a divisive person if they are a problem. But not once in scripture can I find that God says, I want you to fix a divisive person.

We are not called to fix them. That's God's issue. That's what God will do. But you're not supposed to waste your time trying to fix a divisive person.

You are to warn them, avoid them, and if necessary, have nothing to do with them. You distance yourself from them. Or if you're in a different position where you need to fire somebody, then you fire somebody. But you have to get rid of them. The Bible doesn't tell us to fix them.

That's God's job. So we leave that up to the Lord. And we pray for the Lord to take care of them, but we do our part. We warn, we avoid, and if necessary, we distance ourselves.

But we give them to God, and we let Him fix them. Don't try to fix a divisive person, okay? For one thing, there could be divisive people in your life who aren't even believers, right? And so they're not going to respond to some godly advice or godly counsel or some gentle correction. They don't operate by the same handbook.

So God doesn't tell us to fix them. God says, I want you to warn them, I want you to avoid them, and if necessary, I want you to distance yourself from them. But you leave the fixing up to me, God says. And why is this so important?

Because again, a house divided against itself will not stand. And may God have it. help families, churches, organizations, and give you wisdom where you encounter it. And may God check our own hearts and challenge us if there's any divisiveness in us. Amen?

Father, we thank you for your word. We ask you, Lord, to start with ourselves. If there's any spirit of divisiveness, would you please show us?

so that we can repent of it as sin. Division is not of you, it's of the enemy. We want to be what you're about, Lord.

You tell us to strive for a spirit of unity. You are the one who reconciles what is broken. Satan is the one who breaks what is reconciled.

So we want to operate in the spirit of Jesus, not in the spirit of Satan. I thank you for your protection over our church. I pray for similar protection over churches, Lord, around our country, that you would remove divisive people.

I pray, God, for families and marriages where the enemy has gotten in to cause division and strife and conflict. And as we talk about more of this next week about spiritual warfare, Lord, I just pray that you would bring unity, forgiveness, and reconciliation. where things are broken. Give wisdom to business owners, Lord, how they can have an organization that is unified.

We just pray for a spirit of unity, Lord, and ask you to help us. To warn those who are divisive, avoid those who are divisive, and if necessary, distance ourselves from them. We take to heart your counsel from your word.

And we thank you together, in Jesus'name. And everybody said, Amen and Amen. God bless you all.

Thank you. Have a great day. Shout to Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there is love like you always.

I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love. Oh, you're my comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath that sees of you. Shout to the Lord.

Shout to the Lord on the earth. To the promise I have in you Shout to the Lord, all ye of the church Shout to the Lord, all ye of the church Shout to the Lord, all ye of the church Shout to the Lord Shout to the Lord And we give thanks to the God who will deliver. And we give thanks to the one who always saves.

You are good. You are good forever. And we give thanks, for the ashes turn to beauty.

Oh, we give thanks, for you lift our eyes to see. That you are good, oh, you are good. Yes, you are, forever.

Oh, Jesus, we will sing. It's the steadfast love, the steadfast love And grace is the steadfast love, oh, the steadfast love You are good. You are good, yes you are, forever It just lifts your voice.

Transcript for:Burden Relief and Faithful Unity

Transcript for:
Burden Relief and Faithful Unity