Overcoming Division with Brotherly Love

SPEAKER 03 : 0:05

Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to the Archie Hardy Ministries program. I’m Sharon Knotts thanking you for joining us today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message by my father, Brother Hardy, is certain to speak to every one of our hearts in both a powerful and discerning way. It’s entitled, Brotherly Love, the Key to Unity. psalm 133 declares how good and how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity well while it is certainly beautiful it is not always easy but unity starts with brotherly love

SPEAKER 01 : 0:46

All right. Mark on the same lines, 11, 25, and 26. And I want to go to that. I want to get the setting. If you’ll just read it at 25 and 26, you won’t get the setting. But let’s go to Mark, the 11th chapter, starting at the 22nd. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24th verse, therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Now, they’re some of my most favorite scriptures on receiving from God. But look what context it’s in. Now, read the next verse. Read it, the 25th verse, and when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you for your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you of your trespasses. So what What does he tell you to do? He tells you in the 24th verse to pray. Then in the 25th verse he says, while you’re praying, remember to forgive your brother and sister. Because if you don’t, you won’t be able to say the verses up ahead to this mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast in the sea, and not doubt in your heart, and you’ll have whatever you say because you’ll have condemnation in your heart. So you’ve got to read that in the context that he said it in. If you’ve got things in your heart, then you can’t act like you received them. You can’t have absolute faith and say, as it were, to the mountains of things in your life, be removed, be thou cast in the sea, and you’ll have whatever you say. It’s in the context that you forgive your brother or God won’t forgive you. And therefore, if you’re not forgiven for God, how can he hear you? Our condemneth not, we have confidence with God that whatsoever we ask him, he hears us and gives us because we keep his commandments. The scripture discipline of a fallen brother. 15th chapter of Matthew, how to deal with a brother that had ought, right? Now we come to this brother, he don’t respond. He’s fallen. He’s out of fellowship. So what should we do? To say he got just what he deserved. What should we do? Galatians 6.1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, fault was after him, fault jumped on him, fault knocked him down, he’s overtaken, he’s in the wrong. He’s in sin. He’s outside of the church. The devil has really diseased him. He’s almost ready to die. What should we do? Say, well, the devil didn’t finish him, but I am. No. What should we do? Brethren, if I may be overtaken a fault, ye which are spiritual. First requirement is what? You’ve got to be spiritual. What is our motive? Condition of the person to go to this brother is to be spiritual. What is the attitude that he goes in? Spirit of meekness. Remember, proud things. Try to render some kindness, some good deed to him. Try to meet his need in the right attitude and the right mindset. Trying to get him to respond. I love trying to show him that you love him. You’re coming in the right attitude. You’re not to kick him down. We know, brother, you did wrong, but that’s all right. We all make mistakes having the right attitude. Not like I said, a lot of people are looking. They’re just hawks. They’re waiting for somebody to make a mistake. They already got a gift of suspicion. They already know they done it. They got to have the proof. And they’re waiting. And as soon as they find a brother or sister made a mistake, they’re like an old chicken hawk. Right down on them, they’re going to finish them off. But God said, no. He’s in the wrong. He’s in the fault. But he’s still my brother and sister. I’m going to try to get him back. Going to him. I’m going to have to be spiritual. What does that mean? I’m going to have to be prayed up. I’m going to have to have the right mindset. Got to have meekness. I’m going to have to go to try to minister to his needs. To minister grace and kindness and favor to his needs. First of all, so that we’re not high-minded. Here’s that pride again. Considering ourselves lest we also be tempted. We don’t know the circumstance that made that brother fall. And without God’s grace, none of us would stand. You know, if God would let the devil just attack us without any limitations and without cessation, every one of us would crack. I mean, if he would just let us go continually, continually, continually, every one of us. Some might be able to go longer than others, but we would all crack under it. But God doesn’t do that. He said, I won’t put more than you are able. Because he uses the devil as a buffing pad, doesn’t he? To get out the cracks and the fissures. We’re diamonds in the rough. Sometimes they can find maybe a diamond that big. By the time they get cutting it and polishing it, it’s got cracks and fissures, they might not come up with anything. Oh, God, let there be something left. He said, he’s going to come up and take his jewels, just keep on buffeting me. He uses the devil to buffet us. But when we can’t stand it anymore, he makes the devil pull it back. The devil is the buffeting pad in the hand of the Lord. So we all stand by God’s grace. And when we see a brother that fell, then we ought to take in consideration that we could fall the same way. The Bible said, let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. I know a lot of people say you can’t fall, but that scripture said that if you don’t take heed, you would fall. And then we ought to consider ourselves lest we also be tempted. We don’t know whether we could go through with that brother or sister. We don’t know the circumstances, extenuating circumstances behind it. In fact, we don’t have to. All we have to know is that the body of Christ, somebody has stumbled and fell. And we are going to go to minister healing to that fallen brother. We’re going to have to be spiritual. We’re going to have to have the right mindset and the right motives. And the motive is what? Restore. Brethren, if a man be overtaken to fall, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. I was trying to remember how Martin Luther said it. He said, when we see our brother that’s fallen, we ought to run up to him, throw our arms around him, hug and embrace him, kiss him and love him, and let him know that we love him as a long-lost brother, not push him down, condemn him, destroy him. See somebody that’s backslid got away from the lord and somehow somebody brings him to church why all the brothers should go around and put their arm around and say bless god good to see you in the house of god i’ve been praying for your brother if you have let him know that you’re for him you know when you fall down you know what the devil tells you man they all know it they know you need to use going back there they know it They all, man, you don’t want to go back there. Oh, they know all about you. You’ve probably been to sermon topic. You’ve probably been to last gospel on the phone. And we need to let them know and reassure them that we love them. But for the grace of God, that would be every one of us. So we are to confront those being spiritual and in a spirit of meekness. And we’re to ensure our brothers that we are sincere, that we want to restore him, forgive him, render healing to him, get him back into the body on fire shouting for God. We’ve been missing that measure of increase that you brought. Just like it might have been the singer that blessed us. Oh God, get them back in there and get that anointing on them again. Maybe they had a good testimony. Maybe they was that good prayer warrior. 2 Corinthians 2, 7 and 8. Now in the 1 Corinthians and in the 6th chapter, they had a case in the church where a One of the members was having an affair with his father’s wife. Now, we don’t know whether it was his mother or stepmother, but either one, it was terrible. And Paul told them to discipline that man. Remember, they were all puffed up. They were boasting, we’re the only church that’s got this case. And Paul said, you should mourn and you should discipline him. Now they went from boasting that we’ve got a special type of fornicator. Now they went to the other end of not letting him back in after he gets saved. See, the devil will try to get you this way. You see, you’ve got to have that means between two extremes. He’ll try to get you to be so dogmatic that it’s terrible. Or he’ll try to get you to be so lenient that you let everything go. Then he’ll try to get you so strict that you don’t let nothing go. So here they were. They finally obeyed Paul, censured the man. being censored for his sin by the whole church now he wants to come back and they don’t want to let him see now you got the picture so then the sixth verse he says suffice to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many he was supposed to be put out of the church evidently he was put out of the church like he said saw his heir repented wanted to come back so now paul so so that Contrary-wise, you ought rather to forgive him. Your punishment was right. You should have did what you did. You put him out of the church. You excommunicated him. Now he’s repented and wants to come back. Now let’s bring him back. That’s not the unpardonable sin. How many hears it? The only unpardonable sin is blasphemy in the Holy Ghost. Any other sin can be forgiven. And when the brother or sister that is offended and you censured them, you took one or two brothers that didn’t hear you, you brought him from the church, he didn’t hear you, you excommunicated him from the church, and then finally he sees he’s wrong, repents, and wants to come back. Amen. The prodigal son, he that was lost, he was a son, he got lost. Restore him. The elder brother didn’t like it. A lot of saints hinder them coming back. So Paul said, so contrary wise, you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow and then satan will get an advantage for to this end also did i write that i might know the proof of you whether you are obedient in all things to whom you forgive anything i forgive also for if i forgive anything to whom i forgave it for your sakes forgave i it in the presence of christ lest Satan should get an advantage. You see, you could take those two verses out as a parentheses and read, Wherefore I beseech you that you should confirm your love towards him, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. So therefore, if we don’t forgive him, then we’re in a bad condition and in sin just as bad as his. Sin’s sin to God. No big little sins to God. As far as God’s concerned, you do one sin, you’re guilty of the whole catalog. So to forgive is charisastai. It’s an infinitive in the Greek. It means to be friendly, to be gracious, to be kind. We ought to comfort them. Parakalesai is also an infinitive. It means to encourage, exhort, urge on. And it’s used of leaders who send hesitant soldiers courageously into battle. You ought to encourage them, give them a pep talk, build them up, because they might be condemning their self. You know, one of the hardest things a lot of times is God will forgive people, but people a lot of times are harder on their self and won’t forgive their self. And you need to go and talk to them. Oh, I failed God. Who hasn’t failed God? Because we’ve all failed God. But that’s what grace is all about. That’s what the love of God is all about. We’re going on. We’re growing in grace and in knowledge. I know in my earlier years, I was pretty dogmatic. The Lord’s been trying to temper me and show me not so much the dogmaticness, but to get the person saved and healed and delivered. Bring that love and unity in the body so that he can use us to win souls. Confirm him. Greek word kourosai, another infinitive, means to legally confirm, to ratify. The church community, if the church has openly excommunicated somebody, we don’t usually see that too much, do we? Well, we have seen it, haven’t we? Tell them evangelists. But if that person then repents, then the church should openly, like they openly excommunicate him, should openly embrace him and open him to the whole church world and bring him back in love and favor again. Is that all right? To reinstate the offender, ensure him in their love. And then another scripture, it’s 1 John 5, 16 and 17, and this is really tremendous. You see, we are our brother’s keeper, and we have power to either give our brother death or life. Did you know that? You can either give your brother death or life. Now, let’s read 1 John 5, 16 and 17. It said, If any man see his brother sin, a sin which is not unto death. Now, this is not suspicion. This is actually, you caught this brother into sin. And What should we do? You know, like I said, most people, they get on the phone and tell everybody and their brother all about it. When the Bible said that if a brother’s overtaken in a fault, then you are to go to him and him alone. And then if he hears you, you’ve gained your brother. And then if he don’t hear you, take two or three witnesses, that it amounts to two or three witnesses, then every word would be established. And then if they wouldn’t hear that, then finally you bring them before the church. Like finally they had to bring that man in 1 Corinthians 5. They committed the fornication, and then they excommunicated him. But it worked because the excommunication caused the man to see his error, and he repented, and he was restored. So here John said, if you see a brother sin of sin, that’s not unto death. And I’ll clarify the not under death in a minute. Not under death. He shall ask and he shall give him life. Isn’t that beautiful? If you see your brother sinning, you can give them life. You can go to the Father and give them life. Which other words, God’s going to somehow answer your prayer and turn that brother around and bring him back into salvation. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not under death, he shall ask and he shall give him life. for them that sin not unto death.” There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he should pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. So what is a sin unto death? That’s blaspheming the Holy Ghost. When you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, then that’s it. You’re no use praying. But all other sin except the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost can be forgiven. So therefore, if you see your brother that sinned, a sinner to the death, and here he’s talking about eternal death, cut off. When he’s sinned, he’s backslidden, he’s out of the favor of the Lord, and if he dies in that condition, he goes to hell, but he can be redeemed. But if somebody blasphemes the Holy Ghost, then there is no redemption, there’s no repentance. In fact, they’re not going to seek repentance, because when you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, that’s the last stage of apostasy. You’d have turned yourself over to the devil. I get letters from all around the world and around the country, people saying, oh, Brother Harding, I think I’ve blasphemed the Holy Ghost. I said, no, you didn’t, because if you blasphemed the Holy Ghost, you wouldn’t be sorry about it. You wouldn’t be all shook up. You see, that’s a willful act, and it’s usually the last stages of apostasy. You don’t blaspheme the Holy Ghost in error or make a mistake. It’s a willful act. But you’d be surprised how many letters I get across the country of people being tormented to think they’ve committed sin. the unpardonable sin and blaspheme the Holy Ghost. Of course, we have to minister to them the Word of God and show them that it is in them. Because if you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, you would be sorry and all shook up if you did it. It’s willful. You think you’re all right. You’re a reprobate. You’re in the last stages of apostasy. Okay, so we have power to give life. And instead of condemning our brother and sister that’s fallen, if we’ll intercede and pray, and then maybe God will make us one of those spiritual ones to go to them, then God will allow us to minister life. And that’s what we want to do, to minister life to our brother and sister, because it is the flesh of Jesus. It is our flesh. It’s the one body that we’re a part of. And we don’t want the devil to get an occasion, to get a foothold. How many say amen? Peter, the fallen disciple, perfect illustration. Let’s go to Luke 22, 31, 34. You know the setting, don’t you? Jesus is getting ready to be crucified. He’s telling them they’re all going to flee. Of course, impetuous Peter. He’s always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, isn’t he? Like a lot of us. Luke 22, 31 to 34. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you that he may shift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and into death. And he, the Lord answering back said, and he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt deny that thou knowest me. Peter said, no, I won’t do it. And I believe Peter meant that. I believe Peter really believed that he wouldn’t have, you know, he was talking to the Lord. He knows who the Lord is. I mean, the Lord could see through him. He knows that. But a little week, the Lord knew Peter because he changed him from Simon. You know what Simon means? It’s a reed. And the reed can be bent with any wind. So he changed him from a Simon after the baptism to a Peter. You know what Peter is, don’t you? Stone, chip off the rock. Changed him from a reed that can be bent, a little made, make him curse and backslide. After the baptism of the Holy Ghost, he made him a what? Solid rock, just like Jesus. All right, let’s read a denial, 54 first down to the 60th. Then took he him and led him and brought him unto the high priest’s house, and Peter followed afar off. You see, he had more courage than a lot of them. When they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were sat down together, Peter sat down amongst them. That was his problem there. He was amongst the world and the enemies of the Lord anyway. You know, when you sit down with the enemies, you might deny the Lord. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said, This man was also with him. Peter denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another saw him and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said unto him, Man, I am not. He’s already backslid. He’s hit the bottom by now. And about the space of one hour another confidentially affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with them, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know what thou sayest. And immediately when he spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the words of the Lord, how he said unto him, Before the cock crows, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Now, what do you think the Lord should do after he’s resurrected? Here, Peter has denied him three times and even cursed. Because when another gospel said, the woman said, You’re a Galilean, your speech betrays you. So he said, Oh, is it speech? Then he gave him the speech he wanted, he cursed. So what did the Lord do? What would most of us do if somebody betrayed us and cost us our life? I don’t know whether we’d be really kind-hearted, would we? But what did the Lord do? When Mary met Jesus in the garden and revealed himself, what did he tell her to do? He said, I’m going to go to Galilee. He said, go and tell Peter and the brethren I go before them and I’ll meet them. It was the only name he mentioned because he wanted to let Peter know that he did what? All was for God. When he wept bitterly, God had heard. God had answered. God had answered prayer. So what does God do? God restores him, don’t he? We can read that in John 21, famous verses where they were out fishing, and then here’s Jesus out there, and he’s built a little fire and said, come and dine, and they came. And Jesus asked Peter three times, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? Read. No, he didn’t call him Peter. Simon, you know, read. Do you really love me? Peter said, Lord, thou knowest. He said, I restore you. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. The 18th verse. You’re not going to fail. You don’t want to do it, but you’re not going to fail me. And, of course, tradition said that’s when they were killing all the Christians in the Colosseum. Peter ran from Rome. They told him to run. Paul had been killed. Now he’s one of the last apostles left. and he’s running and on the way the Lord stops him and says famous saying Quo Vadis where goest thou my sheep are being slaughtered in Rome they need a shepherd and I like to give my version of where goest thou lovest thou me can I give you my version so Jesus said unto Simon Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me Jesus used the word agape when he says lovest thou me that means do you love me with a sacrificial love and Peter entered and said unto him yea Lord thou knowest I love thee and here he used phileo in Phileo, we get a word philema, and philema means to kiss. So phileo really means to show love, to be friendly, to show love. So Peter’s really saying, yes, Lord, I’ll show you I love you. And Jesus said, the only way you can show me is feed my lambs. Ask him again, do you agape me? Am I the object of your affections? Am I the one that you love with sacrificial love? I’ll phileo you. I’ll show you, Lord. Feed my sheep. That’s the only way you can show me, Peter. So one Peter was running away. While they were being fed to the lions in the Colosseum, the Lord said to him, Lovest thou me, Peter? Quo vadis? Where goest thou? Lovest thou me? Peter knew what he meant. I’ve got to show him. And another took his hand and led him back into the Colosseum. They had turned all the lions loose on all the Christians. And all these young lambs, I guess the devil was really preaching to them. They were confused because, you see, they had never seen the Lord. They didn’t know about him. Peter was old now. They didn’t know. And here they look around and their shepherd’s gone. Maybe it is a fairy tale. Maybe Jesus isn’t really the Son of God. Maybe he didn’t rise from the dead. Maybe their faith’s in vain. They’re confused and the lines are coming. They’re going to be destroyed. Then steps the big fisherman into the coliseum. I can hear him stay. Stand up. Stand up for Jesus. And a new faith and a new hope comes in. And they said, yes, there’s a Savior. Yes, there’s a Jesus. Peter was with him. Peter knows. Peter told us all about him. He hasn’t deserted us. He could have ran away. If Jesus wasn’t real, he wouldn’t be there. But there he is. nero grabbed him and all of his soldiers grabbed him and they took him said oh so you’re one of these jesus followers and you’re one of his leaders so we’re going to just let you have the same thing we’re going to crucify you and that just broke the big fisherman’s heart he had denied the lord and he said i’m not worthy to die the way my lord did so they said okay we’ll crucify you upside down They crucified him upside down and put him on the main hill that led to Rome for all the sea. But that’s where Peter wanted to be, for all the sea. Then Jesus was saying out of heaven, Peter, lovest thou me? Peter was saying, Lord, I’m showing you. There upon that hill, he was showing him that he loved him. And God’s faith was vindicated in the fallen brother, the brother that denied him, the brother that cursed him, the brother that turned his back. went into that Colosseum, strengthened his little lambs and his little sheep. He was on that hill saying, I’m showing you, Lord. I can almost hear the Lord answering, saying, yesterday, Peter, thou art showing me. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful in the least. Your battle is over. Your journey is done. And you can come home. That’s when it’s going to be worth it all. And I believe Jesus is saying to you and I, lovest thou me? Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs. Love my sheep. Love my lambs. And now we’re going to come to the fifth part in the brotherly love. Brotherly love opens the door to evangelism. The body is increased when it is edified in love. That’s Ephesians 4, 16. When every measure, every individual joint brings forth its measure of increase, ministers it to the rest of the body, then the body makes an increase of itself, adds souls to the edifying of itself in love. And we found out… that the greatest church amongst the seven churches in Revelation was the church of Philadelphia. Revelation 3, 7 and 8, These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth, I know thy works. Behold, I set before thee an open door, and no man shall shut it. The church of Philadelphia had an open door, an open door to Jesus and an open door to evangelize the world. How many say amen? The word Philadelphia is a combination of two Greek words, phileo, which means affection, fondness, or kiss, and it’s a synonym of philema, P-H-I-L-E-M-A, if you want to write that down, do a word study, P-H-I-L-E-M-A, philema, and it means to kiss or to express love. So this was the church of expression love. And that love was to Adelphos the Brethren. They were the church that expressed love to the Brethren, the church of brotherly love. And Philadelphia was built in a strategic location where the boundaries of Lydia, Mycenae, and Phrygia met. It was built for the purpose of being a missionary church of the Greek culture to the people beyond with its great highways that linked it to Europe and the Eastern world. The Greeks founded Philadelphia to be a missionary center to evangelize, as it were, the world with the Grecian philosophy. And Jesus took that church. He really let them call it that. But God had in mind it was going to be his church and that he was going to make it the church that he was going to use the same highways. It was on the postal route. Remember you that studied the seven churches? It was on that circuit of the postal route of the seven cities. And that was in the strategic place that it could go into all of Europe and Asia. It just was a wide open place to spread any kind of gospel or philosophy or ism that you wanted. The Greeks set it up to spread their philosophy. God used it to put brethren in there that love one another to spread the gospel into all of Asia and Europe. So it was founded to be a missionary church to take the gospel throughout the Roman province. It was located on the postal routes and the highways to Asia Minor. Jesus challenged them, I set before you an open door. And the door of evangelism, the door was wide open for them to carry the gospel all over the Roman Empire. We find out today, in this last day, the door of evangelism is open to the church that has brotherly love. Every church that has brotherly love in it, then God has the door of evangelism open to it. Like I’ve said many times, if there’s biting, bickering, devouring one another, God’s not going to bring in new lambs into that atmosphere to let them be caught up in that and be destroyed. Because Paul said, if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one another. But wherever there is an atmosphere and an attitude of brotherly love, then the door of evangelism and salvation is flung wide open. And we found that out as we’ve been praying in a corporate prayer, as we’ve been praying and loving one another and trying to put this message into action. God’s moving. It’s like He moved wonderfully over the weekend to get people saved and healed and delivered. The door of evangelism is open. I don’t care who comes. The people don’t have brotherly love, they can’t have a revival. Even if the Lord Jesus Christ himself would come, if there was not brotherly love, he couldn’t have a revival. And that was demonstrated when he went to Nazareth. How many say amen? They didn’t love him. They wouldn’t accept him. They resented him. And the Bible said that he could not do many wonderful works, say ladies had on a few and healed them. Well, that was a miracle in that atmosphere to get a few healed. I know preaching evangelistic and going into different areas in America and around the world, and if there is disunity, if there’s some kind of a trouble in the church, you can’t have a revival. First of all, if you’ve got that type of ministry that God can use you outside of an evangelist, then you have to minister to the church and try to get them to love one another. You’ve got to be ministering to correct them. And if the church is having problems and the pastor is being led of the Lord, he can’t preach salvation. He’s got to preach healing to get the body healed so they can get back in unity and one mind and one accord and bring forth its measure of increase so that the body can increase itself and be edified and built up in love. So the first love is love for the body. Because if you don’t love your brother and sister, we studied in this part of the lesson, you don’t love God and you sure won’t love the sinner. Paul said, if you don’t love your brother whom you’ve seen, you cannot love God whom you have not seen. And the two greatest commandments of all that condenses the 613 that the Jewish rabbis made out of the 10, all the commandments are condensed into two. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy soul, and to make it short, with all thy being, and everything that pertains to thee. And love thy neighbor as thyself. And in the Old Testament, the neighbor in the Jewish part, in the Gospels, the neighbor was any one of those that were Israelites and saved and in the family of God. So you are to love your neighbor as yourself. See, they loved their neighbor and hated their enemy. Jesus went and said, no, love your neighbor and also love your enemy so you can make him your neighbor. So the two commandments is love God, your whole being and everything that pertains to you, and love your brother as yourself. Now, if we would love our brother as ourself and we’re not demented, if we’re not demented and demonized, we’re not going to do any harm to him. If you’re not demonized or demented, you’re not going to take a hatchet and cut your fingers off. You’re going to protect your body. We put your strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. You know, that big, meaty, muscular arm. You’re going to protect your delicate eyes and nose and mouth and whatever. That’s a tall order. We’ve got to love God with everything we have and everything we are and all of our being. And we’ve got to love our neighbor as ourself. And I tell you, if we love our brothers and sisters as ourself, we’re going to have a loving good time. Because I tell you, folks really love their self. In other words, when you love your brother and sister as you love yourself, you won’t do anything to them that you wouldn’t do to yourself, and you would do everything to them that you would do for yourself. Love is the key to the unity to the brethren.

SPEAKER 03 : 29:27

Amen. What an eye-opening, Holy Spirit admonishing message by God’s servant, Brother Hardy. Brotherly love, the key to unity. The book of Acts is the birth certificate for the church, the body of Christ, and its outstanding birthmark was unity. Again and again we read that the believers were in one mind and one accord. An interesting fact about the book of Acts is that the word love is never used because you don’t have to preach about love when everyone is walking in love. It’s a different story when we get to the epistles of the apostles. Paul said that if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are become new. And he said this includes a new wardrobe. He described these new clothes as mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, and above all, the perfect bond of love. As the church multiplied and spread throughout the Roman Empire, there arose factions and worldly influences crept in. Christians were shielding outright sin in the church. Others were going to court to sue other believers in front of unbelievers, all of which the Holy Spirit condemned. The church faced fallen and failing brethren. And as Jesus said, it is impossible but that offenses will come. And James said that we all offend at some time. So how does the church deal with offenders and attendees? There is a Bible way to deal with these issues, and the emphasis is on restoration, not amputation. Only one church out of the seven in Revelation had an open door of evangelism given to them by Jesus. Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. This message, Brotherly Love, the Key to Unity, can be ordered on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request offer 320. That’s offer 320. Mail to Archie Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or order online at archiehardy.org. Once again, the offer is 320 for Brotherly Love, the Key to Unity. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1744 Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Till next time, this is Sharon Knott saying, Maranatha.