Sound of Faith

Sharon Hardy Knotts: Greetings friends and new listeners, welcome to the R. G. 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.

R. G. Hardy: Mark, on the same lines, 11:25 and 26. I want to go to that. I want to get the setting. If you just read it at 25 or 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, and 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."

Twenty-fourth 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 there are some of my most favorite scriptures on receiving from God. But look what context it's in. Read the next verse. Read the 25th verse. "And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have aught 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 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 into the sea, and not doubt in your heart, and you'll have whatever you say. You won't be able to do it because you'll have condemnation in your heart.

You've got to read that in the context that he set 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 into 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 from God, how can he hear you? If our heart condemn us not, we have confidence with God, that whatsoever we ask him, he hears us and gives us because we keep his commandments.

Now, we look at the scripture discipline of a fallen brother. Fifteenth chapter of Matthew tells us how to deal with a brother that has aught. Now we come to this brother and he doesn't respond. He's fallen. He's out of fellowship. So what should we do? Just say he got just what he deserved? What should we do? Galatians 6:1 says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault," fault was after him, the fault jumped on him, the fault knocked him down. He's overtaken, he's in the wrong, he's in sin. He's outside of the church. The devil is really diseased him. He's almost ready to die.

What should we do? Say the devil didn't finish him, but I am? No. What should we do? "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual," first requirement is you've got to be spiritual. The 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 praotes, 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 by love, trying to show him that you love him. You're coming in the right attitude, not to kick him down. We know brother, you did wrong, but that's all right, we all make mistakes. You must have the right attitude.

Not like 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 have 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 and 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, we do this so that we are 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. If God would let the devil just attack us without any limitations and without cessation, every one of us would crack. If he would just let us go continually, continually, continually, every one of us would crack under it. Some might be able to go longer than others, but we would all crack.

But God doesn't do that. He said, "I won't put on 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 a diamond that big, but by the time they get it cut and polished, they might not come up with anything because of cracks and fissures. Oh, God let there be something left. He said he's going to come up and take his jewels. Just keep on buffing me. He uses the devil to buff us.

But when we can't stand it anymore, he makes the devil pull it back. The devil is the buffing 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 have gone through what that brother or sister did. We don't know the extenuating circumstances behind him. In fact, we don't have to. All we have to know is that in 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 in a fault, 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 in love and let him know that we love him as a long-lost brother. Not push him down, condemn him, or destroy him.

When we see somebody that's backslidden, got away from the Lord, and somehow somebody brings him to church, all the brothers should go around and put their arms around him and say, "Bless God, good to see you in the house of God. I've been praying for you brother," if you have. Let him know that you're for him. When you fall down, do you know what the devil tells you? He says, "Man, they all know it. They know you. They knew you were going back there. They know it. Man, you don't want to go back there. Oh, they know all about you. You've probably been the sermon topic. You've probably been the last gossip on the phone."

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. We are to ensure our brothers that we are sincere, that we want to restore him, forgive him, render healing to him, and get him back in the body on fire, shouting for God. We've been missing that measure of increase that you brought. It might have been a 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 were that good prayer warrior.

Look at Second Corinthians 2:7 and 8. Now in the first Corinthians and in the sixth chapter, they had a case in the church where one of the members was having an affair with his father's wife. 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 got a special type of fornicator to the other end of not letting him back in after he gets saved. The devil will try to get you this way. 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 and censored 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. Now do you have the picture? So then the sixth verse he says, "Sufficient 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 error, repented, and wanted to come back. So now Paul says, "So that contrariwise 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 hear this?

The only unpardonable sin is blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Any other sin can be forgiven. And when the brother or sister that is offended and you censored them, you took one or two brothers and they didn't hear you, you brought him before the church and they 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 contrariwise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch 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 take those two verses out as a parenthesis 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 is sin to God. No big and little sins to God. As far as God's concerned, you do one sin and you're guilty of the whole catalog.

To forgive is charisasthe, 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, or urge on. It's used of leaders who send hesitant soldiers courageously into battle. We are to encourage them, give them a pep talk, and build them up, because they might be condemning themselves. One of the hardest things a lot of times is God will forgive people, but people are harder on themselves and won't forgive themselves. You need to go and talk to them. They say, "Oh, I did this, I failed God." Well, who hasn't failed God? 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 knowledge.

In my earlier years I was pretty dogmatic. The Lord's been trying to temper me and show me it's not so much the dogmaticness, but to get the person saved and healed and delivered and bring that love and unity in the body so that he can use us to win souls. Confirm him. The Greek word is kurosai, another infinitive that means to legally confirm or to ratify. 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? Televangelists. But if that person then repents, then the church should openly embrace him and open him to the whole church world to bring him back in love and favor again. It is right to reinstate the offender and ensure him in their love.

And then another scripture is 1 John 5:16 and 17. This is really tremendous. 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've caught this brother in the sin. What should we do?

Like I said most people they get on a phone and tell everybody and their brother all about it. When the Bible said that if a brother is 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 in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word would be established. And then if they wouldn't hear that, then finally you bring them before the church. Finally they had to bring that man in 1 Corinthians the fifth chapter that 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 a sin that's not unto 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. In 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 unto 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 shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death."

What is a sin unto death? That's blaspheming the Holy Ghost. When you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, then that's it, no use praying. But all other sin can be forgiven. Therefore if you see your brother that's sinned a sin unto death, and here he's talking about eternal death, he is 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 stages of apostasy. You've turned yourself over to the devil.

I get letters from all around the world and around the country, people saying, "Oh Brother Hardy, 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." That's a willful act and it's usually the last stages of apostasy. You don't blaspheme the Holy Ghost in error or by making 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 the unpardonable sin. We have to minister to them the Word of God and show them that it isn't them, because if you blasphemed the Holy Ghost you wouldn't be sorry at all. It's willful, you think you're all right. You're a reprobate, you're in the last stages of apostasy.

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. 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 a foothold. How many say amen?

Peter, the fallen disciple, is a 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 says, "And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to have you that he may sift 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, "I tell thee Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that 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. He was talking to the Lord, he knows who the Lord is, I mean Lord could see through him, he knows that. But he got a little weak. The Lord knew Peter because he changed him from Simon.

Simon means a reed, and a reed can be bent with any wind. So he changed him from a Simon after the baptism to a Peter. Peter is a stone, a chip off the rock. He changed him from a reed that could be bent by the little maid making him curse and backslide. After the baptism of the Holy Ghost, he made him a solid rock, just like Jesus.

All right, let's read the denial. 54th verse 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." He had more courage than a lot of them. "And 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. When you sit down with the enemies, you're likely to 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.'" And 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 confidently affirmed saying, 'Of a truth this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.'" And Peter said, "Man I know not 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 in another gospel the woman said, "You're a Galilean, your speech betrays you." So he gave them 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. But what did the Lord do? When Mary met Jesus in the garden and he revealed himself, what did he tell her to do? He said, "I'm going to go to Galilee," 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 all was forgiven. When he wept bitterly, God had heard. God had answered prayer.

So what does God do? God restores him, doesn'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." They came and then Jesus asked Peter three times, "Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me?" Reed. He didn't call him Peter, "Simon, 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: "Verily, verily I say unto thee, when thou was young thou didst girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest, but when thou shall be old, thou shall stretch forth thy hand and another shall gird thee and shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not." You're not going to fail. You don't want to do it, but you're not going to fail me. Of course tradition said that's when they were killing all the Christians in the Coliseum, 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'd like to give my version of "where goest thou, lovest thou me?" 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 answering and said unto him, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee," and here he used phileo. From phileo we get a word philēma, and philēma 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."

He asked 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 when Peter was running away, while they were being fed to the lions in the Coliseum, 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 Coliseum. 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 they had never seen the Lord. They didn't know about him. Peter was old now and 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 really rise from the dead. Maybe their faith's in vain." They're confused and the lions are coming and they're going to be destroyed.

And then steps the big fisherman into the Coliseum. I can hear him say, "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." Old 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 these leaders so we're going to just let you have the same fate, we're going to crucify you."

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 to see. But that's where Peter wanted to be, for all to see. Then Jesus was saying out of heaven, "Peter, lovest thou me?" Peter was saying, "Lord I'm showing you there up on 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. He went into that Coliseum and strengthened his little lambs and his little sheep and was on that hill saying, "I'm showing you Lord."

I can almost hear the Lord answering saying, "Yes today Peter, thou art showing me. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful in the least. Your battle is over, your journey is done and you can come home." That's what it's going to be worth it all. I believe Jesus is saying to you and I, "Lovest thou me? Feed my sheep, feed my lambs, love my sheep, love my lambs."

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 individual joint brings forth its measure of increase and ministers it to the rest of the body, then the body makes an increase of itself and adds souls to the edifying of itself in love.

We found out that the greatest church amongst the seven churches in Revelation was the church of Philadelphia. Revelation 3:7 and 8 says, "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.

The word Philadelphia is a combination of two Greek words, phileo which means affection, fondness or kiss, and it's a synonym of philēma which means to kiss or to express love. So this was the church of expressing love. And that love was to adelphos the brethren. They were the church that expressed love to the brethren. The church of brotherly love.

Philadelphia was built in a strategic location where the boundaries of Lydia, Mysia, 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 the world with the Grecian philosophy. Jesus took that church and let them call it that, but God had in mind it was going to be his church and that he was going to use these same highways.

It was on the postal route of the seven cities and it was in the strategic place that it could go into all of Europe and Asia. It was a wide-open place to spread any kind of a 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.

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. And Jesus challenged them, "I set before you an open door." The door of evangelism 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.

As I've said many times, if there's biting, bickering, or 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 or 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. We found that out as we've been praying in corporate prayer, as we've been praying and loving one another and trying to put this message into action, God's moving.

Just like he moved wonderfully over the weekend to get people saved and healed and delivered, the door of evangelism's open. I don't care who comes, if 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 save lay his hands on a few and healed them. That was a miracle in that atmosphere to get a few healed.

In preaching evangelistic and going into different areas in America and around the world, if there is disunity, if there's some kind of 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's 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.

The first love is love for the body, because if you don't love your brother and sister, you don't love God and you sure won't love the sinner. Paul said if you don't love your brother whom you have seen, you cannot love God whom you have not seen. The two greatest commandments of all that condenses the 613 that the Jewish rabbis made out of the ten, all the commandments are condensed into two. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy soul, with all thy being and everything that pertains to thee, and love thy neighbor as thyself.

In the Old Testament the neighbor was anyone of those that were Israelites and in the family of God. You are to love your neighbor as yourself. They loved their neighbor and hated their enemy, but Jesus said, "No, love your neighbor and also love your enemy," so you can make him your neighbor. So the two commandments is love. God with your whole being and everything that pertains to you, and love your brother as yourself.

Now if we would love our brother as ourselves and we're not demented or demonized, we're not going to do any harm to them. 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 which are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. With that big meaty muscular arm you're going to protect your delicate eyes and nose and mouth. 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 ourselves. And I tell you if we love our brothers and sisters as ourselves, we're going to have a loving good time because folks really love themselves. 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.

Sharon Hardy Knotts: 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 offerees? 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 3-2-0. Mail to R. G. Hardy Ministries, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203, or order online at rghardy.org. Once again, the offer is 320 for "Brotherly Love: The Key to Unity". The mailing address is PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland 21203. Until next time, this is Sharon Knotts saying, Maranatha.