The first sermon I talked about getting churches started was higher than anything else, even
more so than getting a lot of souls saved, but running the church in a way to get other
churches started.
Now, I want you to notice here in verse number five, it says, ordain elders in every
city.
Now you say, why are you saying a church in every province instead of a church in
every city?
Well, quite honestly, the way we would define a city is going to just vary depending
on who you ask.
You know, I grew up in a very small town of less than 10,000 people, and in West
Virginia, that's common.
In fact, in West Virginia, you'll have towns of like a couple hundred people.
And so the reason why I'm saying a church in every province, I think what the Bible's
trying to highlight is you have good churches all over the place where anybody, no matter
where they live, is close enough to access that.
And so when I'm saying a church in every province, what I'm saying is we have churches
located everywhere, so even if you live an hour and a half, it's close enough that
if you really want to be part of the best church and go soul winning and hear great
preaching, you can still access that.
Because in today's world, it is a lot easier than when the Bible was written.
They didn't have cars in the times of the Bible.
It was very difficult to travel a long distance.
They would have to put in a big effort.
Look, if you live in southern Metro Manila, the truth is that if this was 2,000 years
ago, you wouldn't be able to make it to church.
You would need a church that is much closer in order to make it.
But the reality is in today's world, you can travel long distances in a much shorter
amount of time.
Now, I understand that Japanese are not the easiest access, but quite honestly, you
can cover a lot of ground that throughout human history was not possible.
And so when I'm saying a church in every province, I'm saying that if there is a
good church located in every province, that for the most part, anyone would be able
to get there if they really wanted to come.
Now, some provinces are very big, and you might need multiple churches, but what I'm
basically saying is you get a church established in a province, and then that
person who runs that church has the same goal of duplicating themselves, and you
spread out that way.
Basically, logically, church planning, okay?
So when you start a church, our first church plan is not in Bicol.
You say, why?
Because it's a really long distance away, and it wouldn't really be possible to send
people down there to preach.
It just wouldn't be very logical, okay?
Now, we'll look in Titus chapter one, and I want you to realize the first thing
that comes is a demand or a need for a church when we're talking about
church planning.
Notice what it says in verse five, Titus chapter one, verse five.
For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things
that are wanting.
When it says the things that are wanting, what it's saying is there is already a
demand for good churches in these areas.
There were saved people, people that love good preaching, people that were soul winners,
and they really didn't have a church where they could go to.
It's actually pretty similar to today's world.
Because in today's world with the internet, many of you a few years ago were listening
to great preaching, and you wanted to have a church like this, but it just didn't exist.
You had no church to go to.
It was impossible.
And the best you could do is either go to kind of a lame Baptist church, or just consider
the online ministry a church, which it really isn't.
And so there's a need for a church to be established.
But see, one church is not enough to reach all of Luzon.
We must duplicate, otherwise there's going to be a lot of people throughout Luzon that
don't have a church to go to in terms of a good church that's like-minded.
So first comes the demand, and in verse five it says the things that are wanting.
I would say to you that throughout Luzon, in every province, there is a demand for
a church.
And quite honestly, one thing I've noticed when it comes to people that are from the
Philippines, oftentimes there are people that aren't really involved with the online ministry.
They're not friends with anybody from our movement, but they still send us donations,
which makes me realize they're listening to a lot of sermons online.
And so they're just not part of this network, but they're looking for a good church
in their province.
And I believe every single place here in Luzon, there are people in every province that
if a church like this started, they would be there from day one.
It's not just Metro Manila.
Now I do believe that here there are more people, but I believe anywhere here in Luzon
or anywhere throughout all the Philippines, there are people looking for a church just
like this.
And that's why one church doing lots of soul winning is not enough.
It isn't that logical to expect every single person to move to our church.
Because it's not really that possible for everybody to just pick up their bags and move.
It might not be possible.
Now turn to Acts chapter one, Acts one.
When it comes to things that are wanting, you say, Brother Stuckey, why did you start
the church in Metro Manila?
Because things were wanting in Metro Manila.
Look, originally, a couple of years ago, if you had asked me, where are you going
to start a church?
I would have said in Pampanga.
That was what the original plan was in my heart, my wife's heart, my wife's from Pampanga.
But the things were wanting here in Manila.
And you go where their demand is.
And this is the area where there are people already looking for a church.
And so quite honestly, I do expect people, if they really love God, to put in a bit
of a sacrifice.
Because quite honestly, you know, my wife and I put in a bit of a sacrifice.
And I believe anybody, even if you do live a little ways away.
And look, if you're here today, the truth is, you are making a sacrifice if you live
a long ways away.
And I believe that if you love God, you ought to be willing to make a sacrifice.
Because there is a cost to serving God.
And I understand your Sundays get very busy, you're tired.
I understand that.
I used to drive an hour and 45 minutes or an hour and a half to a very, kind of not
quite as much like us church, but it was the best church in the area.
I used to drive almost two hours to church.
And it's tiring.
It's exhausting.
You get to the end of the day and you say, man, my whole weekend was gone.
I didn't get to relax.
But you know, I wouldn't change what I did.
Because of the fact I was part of a church that went soul winning and got people saved.
And quite honestly, traveling a couple hours to church is not that extreme.
Because throughout the Bible, they're going to the wilderness to hear John the Baptist.
That didn't take 20 minutes.
That took your whole day.
It was difficult.
And so quite honestly, putting in a bit of an effort to come to church is not really
that big of a deal.
Notice what it says in Acts 1, verse 8.
Acts chapter 1, verse 8.
It says, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
And ye shall be witnesses on me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and onto
the uttermost part of the earth.
And so what the Bible teaches here, this is written to people that are at Jerusalem.
And the first area you reach is your local area, okay?
We're located here in Pasig.
We're here in Metro Manila.
And our first area to reach is this area.
That's why the vast majority of our soul winning is either somewhat nearby or right around
the building.
Because this is the area we've been given to reach.
And then what you do is you grow as a church and you reach a new area.
You say, how do you reach all of Judea and in Samaria?
It's not talking about having a missions trip.
Now missions trips are great, but that doesn't reach that area.
You don't reach Samaria by having one soul winning event.
You reach it by getting churches started.
That's what he's telling them.
You have a church here in Jerusalem, but now I want you to reach all of Judea and
then Samaria and then onto the uttermost part of the earth.
Because eventually every church should be multiplying itself, duplicating itself.
It gets established and then all of a sudden it grows and you slowly branch off.
And if every church has that goal and that zeal and desire, slowly you will reach
all of Luzon.
It doesn't happen overnight, but I do believe you got to have that vision.
That's why the first sermon of this church, I said the first goal of this church is
not soul winning.
We do lots of soul winning.
I love soul winning.
I go soul winning many times every week, as do a lot of people in this room.
But the number one goal is to get churches started.
That's why we're trying to help train you guys, give you guys opportunities to preach,
sending you lessons on Facebook.
You say, why do you do that?
I want to give you every opportunity if you want to be a pastor or start a church
to get trained and know, because this is the number one goal of our church, to not
just reach Pasig, but also all of Metro Manila and then areas outside of Metro
Manila, Cavite, Pampanga, Bulacan, wherever, then on the uttermost part of the earth.
Now turn to Acts chapter eight.
Acts chapter eight.
I mean, if you go back to 2018, the first, you know, soul winning missions trip that
we had here was great, wasn't it?
I mean, it was awesome.
You know, we had the missions trip, lots of people got saved.
Everybody was excited.
But at the end of the day, it was one week.
And then after that, a lot of you were left with kind of lame Baptist churches.
It doesn't really do you that much benefit.
I mean, it's great for a week.
It's fun.
It keeps you excited.
And then eventually it's kind of lame when you hear bad preaching every week.
You're hearing false doctrine.
Eventually what you need is you need churches established.
And I believe even with Paul the Apostle, at the heart of him above anything was to
get churches started.
That's why when you're reading the book of Acts, and I encourage you to do this,
because I have a bit of a different opinion than a lot of people.
When all this soul winning is taking place, I don't think it's just soul winning without
a church service.
When Paul is going to new areas, every Sunday, he's like, hey, this is when we have church
service.
Then throughout the week, they're doing preaching and getting churches started.
I don't think it's just soul winning without church, because the Bible commands
you to be a church.
So whenever new soul winning is being done, it's in areas to get churches started.
So they go to an area where there'd be a few people.
They'd hold services.
They do soul winning, try to bring more people.
The church would be established.
Paul would go to a new area after this area is stable on its own.
Paul's got an ordained man of God, and he'd go to a new area to do the same thing.
I don't believe he's just going to an area and going soul winning, no church services,
no goal of starting a church, because in the end, that's a small drop in the bucket.
Yes, soul winning is great, but you can do soul winning anywhere.
I mean, you could just stay here and go soul winning if you're not trying to get a church
established.
But what Paul the Apostle was doing was getting churches established.
It's not just soul winning without church.
The whole goal was to get new churches started.
Why?
Because in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, those were the last words of Jesus Christ before
he departed up to heaven.
He's saying, reach the world with the gospel, and logically, you don't reach the
world with the gospel unless you get churches established everywhere.
That's the way it works.
Notice what it says in Acts 8 verse 1, and I want you to remember the areas mentioned
in Acts 1 were Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and on to the uttermost part of the earth.
Notice Acts 8 verse 1.
And Saul was consenting on to his death, and at that time, there's a great persecution
against the church which was at Jerusalem.
So this church, it's kind of like a mega power with churches.
You got like some of the greatest men of God who ever lived at this one church.
I mean, what a great church it was.
They were growing, they're here, then they get persecuted, and notice where they
get scattered to.
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.
Notice they're in Jerusalem, persecution comes, now they get scattered to Judah and Samaria.
You say, Brother Stuckey, was that persecution a bad thing?
It's the best thing that could possibly happen.
You say, how do you know that?
Notice what it says in Acts 9, Acts chapter 9 verse 31, Acts chapter 9 verse 31.
Acts chapter 9 verse 31, the Bible says, Then had the churches rest throughout all
Judea and Galilee and Samaria.
Notice how the churches have rest.
Churches is plural.
What is that saying?
There are churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.
How did that happen?
Because this one powerful church got persecution, they were forced to go to Judea.
They were forced to go to Galilee.
They are forced to go to Samaria, but they were not following what God told them.
Jesus told them, reach the entire world, go to Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria,
and they were perfectly comfortable and happy staying in Jerusalem, having this one great
church, getting lots of people saved, but that's not what God wanted from them.
What he wanted is to reach all of Judea and Samaria and eventually the world.
So what happens?
Persecution comes and now there's churches in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.
That's what the Bible is teaching.
And so I want you to realize when it comes to a church, God does not want this church
to be 3,000 people and we start zero churches.
That would be a failure.
You say, why?
Because his goal is to get churches started.
Now look, it's not easy to get churches started.
I'm not saying we just do this overnight, but here's what I'm saying.
If this church is blessed and we get tons saved and we grow and everything like that,
and yet we get zero churches started, that is a failure.
You say, why?
Because it's just what was taking place in Acts chapter eight, verse one.
Now look, the comfortable and easy thing is just try to get this church to grow.
It's not as difficult, but that's not what God wants.
What God wants is you have a church and you reach other areas.
You get new churches started.
Now there are many parts of this taking place.
One part is you need people to preach sermons.
And so we have a goal that many men at this church will one day be ordained as pastors.
And look, I don't want to force you into the ministry because if you don't have that
desire, then you know it's perfectly fine not being a pastor.
You can serve God without being a pastor, but if you do have that desire, I want to help you in
any way I can.
Why?
Because we need churches all throughout Luzon, all throughout the world.
And that's what the Bible is teaching here.
And so there's many aspects.
You need people to preach the sermons, but also every church that gets started, it needs
to be financially stable on its own.
That's what I believe.
You say, why?
Because if it's not financially stable on its own, it could never follow what we're saying.
It must end up starting a new church.
See what's taking place is Verity Baptist Church invests in this church, right?
We started, they bought us our hymnals, they helped us, they paid for the payment
for the missions trip and things such as that.
They helped us get off the ground, but the goal is that this church becomes dependent
or independent on its own financially, and then it can start a new church that becomes
independent on its own financially.
That's the goal.
Look, we are not going to have Verity Baptist Church Pampanga drain the money at this
church.
That will not take place.
You say, why?
Because that church must be independent on its own, which means you keep expenses low
and keep things simple until you're able to kind of grow.
One great thing with our church is I got an email just less than a couple weeks ago
from someone who's in OFW in Canada, and right now Verity Baptist Church Pampanga
is already independently financially.
They're fine for the first couple months.
Everything's paid ahead.
I was very thankful for that because I don't want the money drained from this church,
and there's people that love God that say, hey, I'm from Pampanga.
We can't find a church.
We're going to make that our donating church, and praise the Lord for that person, and
you know what?
It's great because of the fact every church must be financially stable on its own.
Think about companies in this world.
Companies will grow and be successful, and the big problem is they try to expand too
quickly.
Isn't that what takes place?
They expand too quickly.
They're financially unstable, and then all of a sudden bankruptcy in two years.
That's not a smart business model.
You must make sure every new thing you do is financially independent and stable on its
own.
Otherwise, the whole system is going to crumble, and so that is what I believe.
There's many aspects to getting a church started, but what we see here in Acts Chapter
9 is the fact that new churches have been established because the persecution takes
place.
So realize at this church, you say, Brother Stuckey, why are we putting an investment
in of so much time and effort because of the fact that is what God's goal is in the Bible,
to get churches established everywhere, and there is a demand in Pampanga because there
are families that are looking for this church.
There's a demand for that church.
We've got a location.
We're going to start in the house, very basic, starting out.
Why are you doing that?
Because we want to be financially stable, and you know what?
Honestly, that church is going to grow, and eventually it can do the same thing,
invest in some other church two, three, four, five years from now as it grows and becomes
financially stable.
This is the model of the Bible.
I'll turn back to Titus Chapter 1, Titus 1.
So why Pampanga?
Well, because there's a need in Pampanga, but also because Pampanga is close enough
that we can send people down to preach, but it's far enough away.
We can't really expect people to be dedicated to this church if they live in Pampanga.
I mean, it would be a little bit much to expect people to be that dedicated to this church
because it's a whole other province.
It's a long areas away, okay?
So it's an area that really makes sense because it's close enough that we can send people
down, just go down on Sundays to preach, and this church can still be fine on its
own.
Now, I personally am willing to make an investment in terms of my time and effort,
and many men at this church enjoy preaching.
They're willing to make that effort, and you say, why do you do that?
Because a church invested in us.
Now it's time for us to invest in another church, and then that church needs to invest
in another church, and so we invest in this church.
We help them get them strong and stable and everything, and then one day we'll invest
in another church, and I don't know where it is.
Maybe it's going to be Southern Metro Manila, maybe Cavite, maybe Bulacan, maybe Rizal,
the areas around us, but slowly we spread off, and then every church gets strong on
its own, and they reach a new area.
It's a logical way to reach the world.
Notice what it says in Titus 1, Titus chapter 1.
So the first point that we had here today was, first there needs to be a demand for
a church, but I want you to understand that when it comes to a new church getting
started, it's not always a perfect situation.
Notice what it says in Titus 1 verse 5.
For this cause left I thee and create that thou shouldest set in order the things
that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee.
What's taking place is, there's basically people either getting together or having
church services, but there's no one person running that church.
There is no elder or bishop or pastor running that church.
So basically they're getting together, going soul winning, probably having preaching, but
it's not a perfect situation.
See, a perfect situation is an ordained elder to run that one church.
They're not in a perfect situation here in Titus chapter 1.
Okay, now turn to Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11.
But quite honestly, when a new church is started, we shouldn't expect them to be in
a perfect situation.
You should expect where it's basically kind of simple to start off, and you slowly build
on that.
When a new church is going to get established here in the Philippines, it's not going to
be a perfect situation from day one.
Look, when Pastor Jimenez started Verity Baptist Church, there was less than 10 people,
and half of those members were his family.
There's like nobody there.
And then they grew over time.
It wasn't a perfect situation from day one, but it was great they had a church.
Now here's the thing, Pastor Jimenez worked a full time job.
You say why?
Because when a new church gets started, generally you're going to expect that someone's going
to have to work a job, because financially they're not going to be able to be independent
on their own.
And you can't just drain your sending church.
Now we've been pretty blessed here because we had a lot of members from day one, and
so we haven't had to drain Verity Baptist Church for money.
Now they were more than willing to send us money if we needed it, but we haven't
really needed it.
Because just from our tithes and people that have donated to our church, we've been
able to get, I mean pretty nice place, the chairs are pretty nice here.
The aircon units are pretty nice, we have three of them.
I mean we're able to have events and pay for soul winning and lunch for everyone on
Saturdays.
We've been doing pretty well financially, but what we're not going to do is just go
above and over our meets.
I look at the money each week and there's a certain amount and I say I don't want
to drop below this amount, and if we're starting to spend too much, we're going
to have to cut back.
You say why?
You have to be financially stable on your own.
And so when a new church starts like Verity Baptist Church Pampanga, they're not going
to have these aircon units on the first day.
They're not going to have these chairs on the first day.
You say why?
Because they must be financially stable on their own, just the same way we ran things
here.
Now we gave them hymnals to start off and some basic necessities, because I believe
when you get a church started off the ground, you kind of help them hit the ground kind
of going.
But we're not just going to drain all of our money here, you say why?
Because I don't think that's the model in the Bible and I don't think it's a very
logical method to get churches started.
It's going to be a very failing method, okay?
Now in Matthew chapter 11 verse 7, it says, and as they departed, Jesus began to say
unto them altitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken with the wind.
And so when John the Baptist was preaching, they're going out in the wilderness to hear
him preach.
Is this a perfect situation?
Going out in the middle of nowhere?
It'd be like if we held services in the middle of Rizal Park.
Jesus kind of went there and we're just preaching.
And it wouldn't be a perfect situation, but I'll be honest with you, you could have
a legitimate real church that holds church services outdoor where you don't even
know depending on the rain and stuff what you're going to do, and it's a legitimate
church.
There's nothing wrong with that.
And you can get soul saved and it's a real church.
And John the Baptist is out in the wilderness and people are coming a great distance just
to hear John the Baptist preach.
You say why?
Because throughout all time, there's been a need for preachers, of good preachers.
And so people are saying, hey, I don't really want to travel hours into the wilderness
and spend my entire day, but I have no other options.
Because the church I'm at is teaching that unsaved people don't go to hell when they
die.
The church that I'm at is teaching that, hey, if you're really saved, you could
never commit suicide, and I guess Samson's in hell because he committed suicide.
That's what churches are teaching here in the Philippines.
Well, that isn't what the Bible teaches.
Because my Bible teaches eternal life, which means it's forever, which you could never
go to.
It's not life, it's death, okay?
It's very simple.
But what I want you to realize here in Matthew chapter 11 is not everybody has a perfect
situation.
And so they're going out in the wilderness to hear this preaching.
Now turn to Mark 5, Mark 5.
I mean, right now in our world, we know of people, because we have people visit
from time to time, from Hong Kong and Singapore, and they have soul winning groups
established in these areas without a great church.
But they go soul winning every week.
That is a perfect situation I'm talking about, where I believe God wants those people
in that area.
And I believe one day they will have a real church, an established church, but they're
meeting independently and going soul winning all the time, every single week.
It's not a perfect situation, but it's better than nothing.
And so realize if a new church gets started, it might not be a perfect situation, but
it's better than not having any church.
Notice what it says in Mark 5, verse 16, Mark 5, verse 16.
And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil
and also concerning the swine.
And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
It's interesting that whatever Jesus went anywhere, they wanted to get rid of him.
You say, why?
Because Jesus was not a love preacher.
He was not Joel Osteen.
He actually preached everything the Bible said, and people wanted to get rid of him.
And so notice what it says in verse 18.
And when he was coming to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed
him that he might be with him.
So this person who was possessed with many devils is saying, I want to follow Jesus
Christ.
Jesus, I want to follow you.
I want to be here as part of your ministry.
You would say, Brother Stuckey, well, of course, Jesus is going to say, come along
with us.
But wait a minute.
That's not what he does.
Notice what it says in verse 19, verse 19, Mark 5, verse 19.
How be it?
Jesus suffered him not, saying he did not allow him, but saith unto him, go home
to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath
had compassion on thee.
And so when I think about people like in Singapore and Hong Kong, I personally believe
God wants them there for a reason and would say, I don't want you to move because we
need soul owners in this area.
And what's taking place is Jesus is basically being kicked out of the area.
And so who else is going to preach the gospel?
And he's saying, I want you to stay behind and preach the gospel.
Now look, I'm glad we have a great church.
I'm glad that we do have an established great church.
And I believe one day those areas will get an established great church.
But quite honestly, I believe God wants them there for a reason.
I do not personally believe that everybody in the Philippines should move to our church.
I don't believe that.
I don't teach that.
And I'll be honest with you, I've heard people kind of preach that before, like everybody
needs to move, you know.
First off, it's not always easy to move.
But I remember reading this scripture and thinking, I don't actually agree with it because the
Bible doesn't actually teach that.
Now I think oftentimes you should move, but I don't think always you should move.
Why?
Because here's an example where he wants to follow Jesus and Jesus says, no, I need
you to stay there and preach the gospel.
Now look, we're happy we have a great church.
And look, don't misunderstand me.
If somebody is going to a church preaching repentance of sins for salvation, they need
to just leave the church.
But here's what I'm saying.
I remember when I was in West Virginia and my church was a decent church.
And you know, I thought about staying there and not moving to Verity Baptist because
I thought maybe God has me here for a reason.
You know, my church was fine.
It wasn't a perfect church, but no church is.
But here's what I'm saying.
It's not always a perfect situation for this man possessed with the devils.
He's not in a perfect situation, but that's where God wants him to be.
Verse 20, and he departed and began to publish into Coppolaus how great things
Jesus had done for him and all men did marvel.
And so you have somebody who's soul winning in this area and what it will cause is a
need for a church.
And then eventually I believe God wants churches in those areas.
If I were to give advice to people that don't have a great church all throughout
this world or in the Philippines, I would say, do a lot of soul winning in your area
and God will bless you with a church.
In fact, why does this area have this church?
Because there's a lot of people doing a lot of soul winning.
When you look at Shur Foundation Baptist Church, you know why that church plant was started
in Vancouver, Washington?
Because there were people traveling a couple hours every day to meet up and go soul winning
kind of independently.
Going soul winning all the time together, and what happens?
God looks down and says, things are wanting.
Now we need a church in that area.
Now turn in your Bible back to Titus chapter one.
As individuals, we are to lay down our lives for other people, esteem others better
than yourself.
As a church, we are supposed to lay down ourselves for other churches and esteem
other people better than ourselves as well.
As a church, we do the same thing.
And so yes, when it comes to this church starting, it means, you know, it's going
to take some effort.
It's not going to be easy.
You know, we're going to have various guys go down and preach.
I'm not going to be going down every single Sunday.
And quite honestly, there's going to be an effort where we have various guys going down
to preach.
We're driving down, and we're putting in an effort to get this church started.
Now I believe that here at Verity Baptist Manila, I believe we've been blessed with
a lot of guys who know how to preach.
When I was gone and everybody preached, I thought everybody did a great job.
Everybody did a really good job, and they have an ability to preach.
They know the Bible.
They have zeal, and that's why I believe this is possible.
See if I was going down every week, I think it would just be a little bit too much
to handle.
We have various guys that know how to preach, they have practice, and I think it logically
makes sense because it's not a financial drain.
And there's people wanting the church, and we have guys that can help fill that need.
And what's been amazing to me is that pieces have kind of come together to make this a
lot easier.
Because it was going to be quite a big effort, and then just things just timed
out perfectly.
So it's going to be a little bit easier to do.
And I believe it just shows God's looking down and says, I approve this work because
I don't want you to just stay in Manila.
I want you to reach the surrounding areas as well.
Now I want you to understand what the end goal of a church is that gets started.
The end goal of a church has a couple different parts.
One part is that an elder gets ordained, or a bishop or a pastor gets ordained.
Now notice in Titus chapter one what it says in verse six, if any be blameless, the
husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly.
The Bible says a few things here that someone can be a pastor.
First they must be a man, okay?
They must be the husband of one wife.
Now that's not really extreme in the Philippines because we're a Catholic country, and as
far as I know, all the priests are men.
But you must be a man, okay?
You must be a man with a wife, okay?
So the Catholic church that basically has their priests that are not allowed to get married,
it's just like, okay, that's like the exact opposite of what the Bible says.
But first you have a guy and he's married and he has faithful children, okay?
Multiple children.
You say, Brother Stuckey, what does it mean to have faithful children that are
not accused of riot or unruly?
The Bible doesn't give an exact age, but I would say if your kids are old enough
where people look at them and say, that kid could be a bad person, you know, he's
doing a lot of bad things, he's rebellious, then that could certainly qualify as
being part of riot or unruly or on that path.
The Bible doesn't give an exact age, but it does say you have to have faithful children.
And so I want you to realize something.
Is Verity Baptist Church Manila in a perfect situation?
Do we have an ordained elder at this church?
No, we don't.
You say, why?
Because I'm not a pastor at this point.
I don't have faithful children.
Now obviously we do have two children, our second one's on the way, obviously they're
live from, you know, moment of conception, but here's what I'm saying.
You certainly can't say that my baby in the womb is a faithful child.
They haven't even been born yet.
My son's not old enough, in my opinion, to be determined a faithful child.
Now people have different opinions, that's fine, but what I'm saying is it's not going
to be in the next year or two.
It's going to be several years before I'll be ordained as a pastor of this church.
So it's not a perfect situation.
And quite honestly, I still do work a secular job for Verity Baptist Church, so I'm not
full time as the pastor here either.
Now I believe a perfect situation would be that the person running the church is full
time so they can do more soul winning and devote their time to the ministry.
We're not in a perfect situation here, but aren't we glad we have this church though?
Even though it's not a perfect situation, a church doesn't have to be a perfect situation.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I thought that when you started a church, you had to basically
be full time from day one with a building already.
No, that's what the Baptist say here in the Philippines, but I would love to know
the logic behind that.
How does that logically work?
From day one, you don't have members, but you have to have a fancy building from day
one that doesn't make logical sense.
Look, when it comes to, and I believe it's kind of the same way here on the mission
field or in the US, that when churches start, usually the person starting that church
is going to have to have a job until the church is big enough, and then you can
basically afford for them to be on staff or be full time.
It doesn't really make logical sense from day one, you have to have a fancy building.
The Bible doesn't teach that.
Doesn't the Bible say the church in thy house a lot?
There are churches that met in homes, and they're not less of a church.
If they're God's people and preaching is being done and soul winning is being done,
that is an established church, and that is a smart method to start a church.
A foolish method is to have a really fancy building if you can't pay for it.
That is foolish.
If you were to do that, and if you were to just drain your sinning church because
you can't pay for it, that is a foolish method.
It does not make sense.
Look, we have a nice building, but it's not the fanciest in the world, and you say why?
Because we can't afford to have just this perfect building.
You have to wait until you can afford these things.
You have to be logical about it.
So what I want you to see here in verse six is a perfect situation.
One thing is you have someone who's the ordained pastor, even though Verity Baptist
Church Pampanga doesn't have that, realize neither does this church.
And realize that even in the US, all the pastors you love and listen to, very few
of them are full time.
Very few.
It doesn't surprise you.
In fact, when I was in the US, there were a lot that I just assumed were full time
because they're doing so much for the Lord, and then I found out they're not full time.
They have full time jobs, and they're just spending a lot of time basically waking
up early, staying up late until their church can be at that situation where they can
be full time.
Why?
Because that's usually what you're going to have to do.
Now if you can go without that and be full time, praise the Lord for that.
But if not, there's nothing wrong with starting and having a full time job.
Look, a lot of churches here in the Philippines, they say that you must be full time from
day one.
And if you can't be full time, then your wife has to work a lot of hours to pay
for the church.
And the guy, she's got to be full time in the ministry.
Where does it say that in the Bible?
It's not logical, and it's not biblical.
There's no verse that would say that.
There's nothing wrong with working a full time job until you can afford to be on staff.
Now I want you to see here in verse number seven, for a bishop must be blameless
Jesus is a steward of God, not self willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker,
not given a filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just,
holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may
be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
And so there are a lot of requirements listed to become a pastor.
One of them is familial, basically with your family.
What we believe in teaches you need to be married with multiple kids.
That's one thing, and they need to be faithful.
Secondly, you must have a desire to be a pastor.
Look, if you don't have a desire to be a pastor, the worst thing you can do in your
life is to become a pastor.
You say, why?
Because you're going to hate your life.
Look, what does it mean to desire the office of a bishop?
It means you enjoy writing sermons.
I enjoy writing sermons.
I enjoy studying the Bible.
That's not necessarily everybody though.
That doesn't make you less either.
I do believe there's certain, because look, if everybody was a pastor, our church would
have three people, me, my wife, and my son.
It wouldn't work.
There are people that God doesn't really want to be a pastor because they're great
faithful members and they do more in a supporting role than they would in the lead.
We need people like that in churches.
But I do believe certain people do have that desire to preach.
And if you have that desire, you say, I enjoy writing sermons.
You know, I enjoy the work of the ministry, you know, soul winning.
I'm okay with working really hard and not necessarily making lots of money, then this
might be for you, being a pastor one day.
And you train for that.
And that's a great thing.
That's not necessarily for everyone, but I do want you to realize a desire is necessary.
And if you don't have a desire to preach, you should not become a pastor, okay?
Even if you've read the Bible a hundred times, if you've read the Bible a hundred
times, you have the New Testament desire, but you say, Brother Stuckey, I don't desire to write
sermons or to be a pastor.
I don't think you should become a pastor.
If you do have that desire or burden though, then maybe God does want you to be a pastor
and maybe you can study and train for that.
And thirdly, what you see is not only a desire, but you need to be prepared spiritually.
These things don't happen overnight.
When he's being left in Crete to ordain elders, it's a lifelong mission.
It's not, hey, you're here in Crete for six months.
I want you to ordain an elder over these 20 churches.
That's not what's being said.
He's saying this is a lifelong mission.
You say, how does that work?
It means training starts at the local church.
It means he's training people and preparing them.
And look, we don't believe training comes from the Bible college.
We reject that notion.
But if training doesn't come from the Bible college, it must come from the local church.
Actual training.
Not just you're a member, but there's actual training to prepare for that.
And so that's what we believe here.
And that's why there is an investment of time and effort to do these things.
And that's why, you know, honestly, a church is not just 100% about soul winning.
There's many aspects to having a church, especially if you want to duplicate yourself.
Now turn to Matthew chapter 28.
Matthew 28.
So you say, Brother Stuckey, so basically one day you'll be ordained the pastor and
then this church is in a perfect situation, right?
No, that's not the end goal of a church.
In fact, a church is never going to reach their end goal because you have a permanent
goal of getting new churches started.
And you're going to see that in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19.
Matthew 28 verse 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
And so the Bible says you are supposed to go and teach all nations.
Now look, I understand in today's world we have the online ministry and somebody can
be in a country all over the world and hear a sermon.
You say, well, see, you're teaching all nations, but you're not baptizing that person.
So don't tell me that an online ministry fulfills this.
The only way to teach all nations is if you're getting churches established everywhere.
Now our church is never going to get a church established in every nation in the world.
But basically you look at your local area, your local Jerusalem and say, we'll put
an effort in this area and slowly expand from here.
Now see, if every church has this goal of duplicating itself, this can actually be done.
The reality is most baptist churches have no desire to get other churches started.
Because honestly, it doesn't really benefit this church to get other churches started.
If we ordain somebody to the ministry and they leave our church, we lost a good church
member that knows how to preach and goes soul winning and is a blessing to our church.
And so when somebody gets ordained, it doesn't really benefit our church.
And you say, why is it that pastors don't like to ordain people and send them out?
Because they don't want to get rid of their members.
They say, no, we just want to have everybody here so we can have this big church and
we'll have lots of money coming in.
Yeah, I understand you don't want to get rid of your members, but the reality is that
should be what our goal is.
I personally have a desire that one day as this church grows and as time goes by, I
would love it if one day we could start a new church somewhere and we could send
like 15 people there to help that church from day one start.
I think that would be great.
You say why? Because it would probably be pretty hard to start a church from scratch
from day one. I didn't have to do that.
And I'll be honest, it's a great blessing having other people going soul winning
from day one. I would love it if we could start a church a couple of hours away
and we could have 10, 15, 20 people from day one just help that church start.
I believe that's a great model to start a church.
Hopefully that will be the case.
Notice what it says in verse 20, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've
commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even on to the end of the world.
Amen.
And so if you're going to teach people to observe all things, the only way this
takes place is when you get churches established in areas.
One missions trip.
Yes, we have people from Hong Kong and Singapore and Europe that come for the
missions trip, but that's one week long.
That's not that long.
The only way you can really reach those nations is when churches get established.
Turn back to Acts one, Acts one.
Now, I think one reason why churches have kind of lost the concept of getting new
churches started is because of the Bible college.
They've messed up everything.
The whole system is so confusing because people get ordained to the ministry from
the Bible college.
That's not the way it works in the Bible.
You get ordained from the local church.
They send you out to be a missionary from the Bible college.
But in the Bible, you're sent out from the local church.
And so everything's backwards.
Now, when you're sent out from the Bible college, you'll go on this process of
deputation for two or more years.
What deputation is, is you go from church to church and beg them for money.
That's what it literally is.
What you do is you have this presentation, this slide that goes for 10 minutes.
You'll show these starving children, and then you'll basically have this same sermon
you preach for two and a half years.
And you basically just don't tell them what you believe.
You're very kind of shallow in your preaching.
And then you just say, people need the Lord.
Don't you think people need the Lord?
And then people look at that slide show and they're like, oh, we need to reach
these people.
And it's like, it's really just this emotional thing.
And it's, look, you know, I don't think emotion is necessarily a bad thing, but
we're not Pentecostals either.
If I was preaching at a church, I would be honest about what I believe.
And quite honestly, there wouldn't be a whole lot of churches that would give
me money.
You say, why?
Because of what I preach.
And see, what takes place, though, is when you have all these people will
visit, you know, to be missionaries, when you support them, you're only
giving them like $50 a month at the most.
You're not giving them a lot of money.
See, churches in America, they will have on their wall this big map of the
world, and they'll have safety pins or whatever of every area where they
support a missionary.
And it will be a church of 50 people that supports 50 missionaries,
literally.
But how much money do they give them?
Very little.
Now, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Now, here's the reality, though.
If somebody is going to become a missionary from a church, they need to
get trained from that church.
And that church might support them quite a bit, because if you're not
supporting everyone for like 20 bucks a month, it could be a big
investment into that.
That's why the part of being financially stable is so important, because
it would be a big financial investment that you would make if you're
supporting someone full time from day one.
Usually, that's just not going to be possible.
It's great if it is possible, but usually, you're just not going to be
able to just $2,000 every single month.
That's a lot of money.
You'd be supporting someone from day one.
Now, I want you to see, though, here in Acts chapter one, I want you to
just reiterate what this says here in verse eight.
It says, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon
you, and ye shall be witnesses on me, both in Jerusalem.
This is where your local church is.
We are here in passing.
So it would be basically passing here.
And in all Judea would probably be Metro Manila.
And in Samaria would be kind of all of Luzon.
And then onto the uttermost part of the earth would be the uttermost
part of the earth everywhere.
This does not take place from one church putting sermons online.
It's not going to take place that way.
Now, I want you to turn in your Bible to Philippians chapter two.
Philippians chapter two.
And because of the Bible college system and people getting ordained
from Bible college, churches do not structure their church in a way to
try to ordain people for the ministry.
They don't really provide any sort of training for them.
They don't really prepare them or give them opportunities to grow.
They just don't really train anyone for the ministry because they're used
to the Bible college doing that.
Look, a part of any good church will be some of your times devoted to
try to train men for the ministry.
Now, that does take away some time from soul winning, but it is a
necessary thing if your goal is to get new churches started.
And so I want you to realize churches aren't really structured in a
way to get new churches started because that's not really what
church has been doing.
Very few Baptist churches actually start a new church one day.
They're not really trying to because it doesn't really benefit them.
But what you see in the Bible is that the whole goal is to get new
churches started because doing lots of soul winning is great.
But at the end of the day, people need a church where they can get
baptized and hear the preaching of the word of God, and they can
change their lives.
So what are the next steps for us here in Manila in terms of a
church starting in Pampanga?
Well, I want you to notice in Philippians 2, verse number one, Philippians
chapter two, verse one, the Bible reads, if there be there for any
consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be
like minded, having the same love being of one accord of one mind.
And the Bible says that we are to be like minded and we also
supposed to have the same love that Christ has.
Notice verse three, let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves.
And in verse three, what the Bible says is we ought to esteem or
care about other people more than ourselves.
Our lives are not about us.
They're about other people.
And you must understand as a church, an investment was made to
get this church started.
And it's time for our church to repay that by helping another
church get started.
You say why?
Because you esteem others better than yourself.
Verse four, look not every man on his own things, but every
man also on the things of others.
So instead of caring about your own things, the Bible says
we're supposed to care about the things of others.
Okay, this is not just as an individual, but as a church
as well, we cannot just focus on what we're doing.
We should have a goal of trying to get new churches
started and help out other people.
How about other churches?
Now turn in your Bible to Malachi chapter one, Malachi
chapter one.
So you say, what exactly are you saying, Brother Stuckey?
How does that work?
Well, one thing is this, be willing to volunteer at this church.
So why is that important?
Because quite honestly, you know, it's going to be a little
bit busier around here.
You know, if I'm going down to preach there quite often,
I'm going to spend a little bit more time on my sermons
and things are just going to be a little bit busier.
And I'm sure the first couple months as we're still
figuring things out from time to time, something might be
forgotten.
It might be a little bit more hectic.
And I ask you to be patient with that because you don't
expect new things to be perfect from day one.
Nothing is perfect when it first starts.
When things first start, you're still trying to figure
it out.
Look, if you start a new business, it's not perfect from
day one.
It takes a little bit of time, right?
It's going to take a little bit of time for it to
become better and become perfect or more complete.
When anything is new has started, it's not going to be
perfect from day one.
So one thing is this, be willing to volunteer here.
You say, how do you do that?
Well, there's many things that you could do to help us
out here.
But I'm sure there's things I might not even think about that
I'm kind of neglecting or forgetting.
And I ask you to help volunteer here.
That doesn't just make our church here strong.
It's also going to help make the church in Pampanga
strong.
Because as more stuff is done here, it's going to enable
more time to focus in Pampanga on those sermons and
also the sermons here as well.
Notice what it says in Malachi 1 verse 10.
Malachi 1 verse 10.
It says, Who is there even among you that would shut the
doors for naught?
Neither do you kindle fire on mine altar for naught.
I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts.
Neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
Here in Malachi chapter 1, it speaks about how nobody
is willing to even shut the doors unless they get
something out of it.
No one is willing to do it for naught or for nothing.
It's like, yeah, you know, I'll close up the building
if, you know, you give me a little bit of money.
It's like, that's what he's saying here.
He's like, nobody's willing to do that.
It's like, yeah, I'm willing to open up the building,
you know, if you pay me a little bit.
So what the Bible is saying here is no one's even willing
to do this.
No one's even willing to kindle the fire on the altar.
You know, just basic things.
And what I believe and what I've always practiced in my
life is that if I was a part of a church, I ask
myself the question, how can I help this church out?
How can I be a blessing to this church?
What can I do to help out?
Quite honestly, things are going to be busy here.
Now, I want you to understand a few things.
Not only will we not drain the finances at this
church, I will not spend less time on the sermons
here at this church.
I will spend just as much time preparing the sermons
and being ready for the sermons and practicing the
sermons as I did in the past.
I'll spend just as much time.
I'm still going to be going out soul winning.
Every Saturday I've been going out soul winning in case
I'm on Memorial Circle.
Every Wednesday I go on Sundays.
I won't be able to go every Sunday now as I'll be
in Pampanga from time to time, but I'll still be
going during the week.
I'm not going to cut back on the things here and
basically make the ministry worse here.
Now, one thing we did recently, and I think many of
you know, maybe not everybody, but I understood
things were going to get really busy here.
And we've been doing well financially, and we
actually hired Brother Dustin to help out on a
lot of things here.
And it has been a great blessing at this church
because quite honestly, church is busy.
It's not easy.
It takes a lot of effort and it really helps having
someone being able to set stuff up and prepare
things.
And I don't want this church to basically be not
as good because we're investing in a new church.
I want this church to still have the same
preaching, the same soul-winning, the same
standards.
I want everything to be running just as it has.
Now, realize when we start off, it's going to
take a little bit of time to get used to it.
But I don't want to forsake the ministry here.
That's not what we're doing here.
We're just helping get a new church started.
Now turn to Romans Chapter 12, Romans 12.
I never believe you should forsake, you know,
what's going to take place in some new ministry
because in the Bible, even when David was, you
know, there being appointed as the king, if you
notice, all of the brothers went to Samuel
because they were interested in being the
king, not David.
You say, why?
Because he was looking after the sheep.
He says, my responsibility is to watch over the
sheep and my number one responsibility is to take
care of the people here.
To do a good job preparing the sermons and
preaching the sermons and doing lots of
soul-winning, I will not forsake the ministry
here one bit, okay?
But I do want you to realize it would definitely
help if people are willing to volunteer both
here, but also willing to volunteer in
Pampanga as well.
You say, how does that work?
Well, notice what it says in Romans 12, verse 6.
Romans 12, verse 6.
Having then gifts differing according to the
grace that is given to us, whether prophecy
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.
The Bible says and speaks about certain people
have an ability to preach, okay?
This is not something that everybody has an
ability to do.
The Bible speaks about being apt to teach and
not everybody has that ability.
There's nothing wrong with that.
And if you don't have an ability to teach,
there's nothing wrong with being a great,
devoted member that volunteers at church and
you can still be a blessing.
You don't have to become a pastor.
And there's certain people in this room,
though, and I want to kind of speak to the
people in this room that say, I don't know
if I want to be a pastor, but I do enjoy
preaching and I know I can preach sermons.
And so for you, one great way you could
volunteer is being willing to preach from
time to time in Pampanga.
You know, say Brother Stuckey, you know, I
don't necessarily want to be a pastor one
day, but I'd like to help out a church.
I have an ability to preach sermons.
I'm willing to preach and I'm willing to
go down once every three months to preach
one of the sermons.
Look, because our church has been blessed
with so many people that can preach, you
know, honestly, you won't have to preach
that often in Pampanga if you want to
help and just preach from time to time.
But it would be a great blessing if various
people would say, I'd be willing to be in
that rotation.
I'll preach whether it's every three months
or every four months, preach one sermon
because if nobody's willing to volunteer,
I'm preaching four sermons every Sunday.
And quite honestly, that's going to be
difficult. I'm definitely putting in a bit
of an effort, but I'm also hoping that
people are willing to put in an effort as
well. And I know that certain people have
said they're willing to do that.
And honestly, there's a lot of people that
have the ability to preach.
Next week, Brother Ehrman and Brother Dustin
are going to go down.
And then the next week is our anniversary.
So Pampanga is actually going to come up
here to celebrate with us.
The next week, I'll be going down.
And then Brother Chris is going to be
going down the next week.
And honestly, there's a lot of other
people that have the ability to preach
at our church.
I mean, isn't that true that when I was
gone, the sermons were pretty good?
Compare that to the other Baptist
churches here in Metro Manila.
There's not any comparison.
And see, the members of Verity Baptist
Church Pampanga, they think the same
thing.
That's why they've been asking for a
church. And that's why they're willing
to put in an effort as well, because
honestly, being willing to have
church in your house, that is a big
effort you're putting in.
I've never had a church in my house,
but I've talked to people that have
started churches in house, and they'll
kind of comment about how sometimes
people will leave it dirty and things
such as that.
And it's like, I hope people won't do
that. But the reality is, you're
putting in a bit of an effort every
week to get things set up and to
have people meeting there.
And I want you to realize they're also
putting in an effort because they want
this church.
And they don't have as many members
as we have here.
But quite honestly, it's financially
stable.
It's not that far away.
And we do have men that have the
ability to preach.
If it was just me, quite honestly, I
don't think we could do it because I
don't want to preach four sermons
every single Sunday.
That's just a little bit too much.
I'm willing to put in an effort to
do it every other Sunday, and we'll
see after three months as we're kind
of in a trial run to see how
things are going to go and to go
from there.
But honestly, if you have an ability
to preach, I would ask you to be
willing to volunteer and just say
from time to time, I'm willing to
go down there.
And as of now, we have a vehicle
that will take you right down
there.
And I mean, honestly, things have
come together very nicely.
It's not going to be that big of
an effort. You have a vehicle that
will take you down there, we'll
pay for the food while you're
down there, and basically you go
down there and then you come right
back up and you're able to get
back to your house and it
won't even be that late.
It's really not that big of a
deal. And I believe God's already
blessing this new church that
we're starting.
But you say, what are the steps
to getting this church started?
Be willing to volunteer, both
here and also if you have that
ability to preach from time to
time, be willing to volunteer
down there as well.
And I want you to realize people
did invest into this church.
You say, what should we do?
We need to be willing to invest
in new churches that start.
And there are people right there
that are looking for churches
like this. And I just ask you to
be willing to volunteer from time
to time. And I know you guys
will. You know, everyone at this
church, you guys put in a lot
of time. You come from a long
distance. People volunteer.
And I love the fact this is a
church where people are willing
to volunteer and put in effort.
And I'm just asking you to kind
of help partake in this.
And quite honestly, the soul
winning results that happen in
Pampanga, even if you never
go soul winning in Pampanga, if
you're helping volunteer here
or you're going down there to
preach from time to time, you're
partaking in their great works
that are being done.
Look, we do a lot of soul
winning here, but as we start
new churches in the future, and
I have a goal that will get a
lot of churches started, we're
partaking in the works they're
doing by helping them out.
And we should be happy to do
that. We should be very
thankful. People have invested
in us. It's time for all of
us to invest in another
church. Let's close in a word of
prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to
be here in your house here
today and getting to see your
words here, especially about
getting churches started and
having a goal of a church in
every province. And I ask you,
God, to help us all at this
church have that vision of
helping getting churches
started all throughout the
Philippines. And you know, it's
not going to be a perfect
situation from day one. And
I'm sure things are going to
be figured out from time to
time. But we have a church
with many men that have the
ability to preach and we have
people ready in Pampanga for
this church. And I ask you to
help us all have this
servant attitude, God. Help us
to get this new church
started and continue to bless
us here in Manila. We pray
these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.