I'm going to show you how to do that.
Okay, here we go.
Ready?
Here we go.
There.
There we go.
There.
Welcome back to Verity Baptist Church.
Turn your hymnals to song number 21.
Song number 21.
Let's sing, what a wonderful Savior.
Let's sing, What a Wonderful Savior.
Song number 21.
Let's sing it on the first reading.
Christ has forsaken atonement made.
What a wonderful Savior.
We are redeemed, the price is paid.
What a wonderful Savior.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
I praise Him for the cleansing blood.
What a wonderful Savior that reconciled my soul to God.
What a wonderful Savior.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
On the third, He cleansed my heart from all its sin.
What a wonderful Savior that now He reigns and grows therein.
What a wonderful Savior.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
He gives me overcoming heart.
What a wonderful Savior that triumph in its trying heart.
What a wonderful Savior.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
Let's sing it on the last.
To Him I give and fall my heart.
What a wonderful Savior the world shall never share a part.
What a wonderful Savior.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
Amen. Let's pray.
As you bless the first service, also bless the second service.
We praise you and love you and you send us praise.
Amen.
Song number twenty-five in your hymnals.
Song number twenty-five, let's sing one dead for me.
One dead for me, song number twenty-five.
Let's sing it on the first.
Ready, sing.
One dead for me, one dead for me.
There on the cross He was wounded for me.
On my transgression and now I am free.
Oh, because Jesus was wounded for me.
Second, dying for me, dying for me.
There on the cross He was dying for me.
Now in His death my redemption I see.
Oh, because Jesus was dying for me.
On the third, praise sent for me, praise sent for me.
Up from the grave He was risen for me.
Now evermore professing I am free.
Oh, because Jesus has risen for me.
On the fourth, living for me, living for me.
Up in the skies He's living for me.
Daily He's leaving and praying for me.
Oh, because Jesus is leaving for all the last.
Coming for me, coming for me.
One day to earth He's coming for me.
Then when what joy His dear faith I shall see.
Oh, how I praise Him, He's coming for me.
Amen.
All right, take out your bulletins and welcome to Verdi Baptist Church in New York.
Hello, the Second Service.
And let us just count up salvation, actually.
Does anybody have any salvations to report this week?
One, all right.
Anybody else?
Four, two, all right.
Anybody else? I see two.
All right, two from Brother J. Anybody?
Five.
Anybody else?
All right, let me just quickly count up what we have for the week here, nine, ten, fourteen.
So we're at 209 salvations here, 12 in Pampanga.
This is not going to be our record probably this week unless things are really, really awesome, right, today.
But it's a great week. This is, I think, our second best week we've ever had outside of the missions trip.
So great work, everybody. And we'll have Brother Prince lead us in another song.
Song number 27, hear now, let's sing the old rugged cross.
Song number 27, song number 27, the old rugged cross.
Can you hear me?
Let's sing it on the bird, ready.
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross.
The emblem of suffering and shame.
In our love that old cross, were the dearest and best.
For a word of the cedars was made.
So I cherish the old rugged cross.
Till my trumpets at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross.
And I'll change it someday for a crown.
On a second, oh that old rugged cross.
So despised by the world and a wondrous attraction for me.
For the dear Lamb of God, left His glory above.
To bear it to nor call glory.
So I cherish the old rugged cross.
Till my trumpets at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross.
And I'll change it someday for a crown.
On the third now, in the old rugged cross.
Stained with blood, so divine.
All wonders of beauty I see.
For it was on that old cross, Jesus suffered and died.
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I cherish the old rugged cross.
Till my trumpets at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross.
And I'll change it someday for a crown.
On the last now, to the old rugged cross.
I will never be true.
If shame and reproach gladly bear.
Then He'll hold me someday to my home far away.
Where His glory forever I share.
So I cherish the old rugged cross.
Till my trumpets at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross.
And I'll change it someday for a crown.
So I cherish the old rugged cross.
Till my trumpets at last I lay down.
So I cherish the old rugged cross.
Hey man, please open your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel.
1 Samuel chapter 7.
And as our custom, we will be reading the entire chapter.
1 Samuel chapter 7.
Yeah, the book of Joshua, Judges, the book of Ruth, the book of 1 Samuel.
The Old Testament.
1 Samuel chapter 7.
Please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 1.
Now, this is probably not going to be the longest sermon I've ever preached.
The first sermon was close to the longest I've ever preached.
But I actually have an announcement at the end of this sermon,
so I kind of wrote this sermon for purposes of making the announcement and everything.
So the sermon itself probably won't be the longest.
But I think it's also good from time to time to kind of explain our setup
because not everybody always knows this, especially if they're new to church.
And the way our church works and the way our church plant works is
every single Saturday I actually go to Pampanga and preach the services there.
We have a church that runs on Saturday, and then we come back on Saturday and we're here.
Then we have the church here on Sunday and the midweek service and everything like that.
So that's kind of the setup that we have.
And obviously that's a lot of work, but I'll show you this is actually kind of a biblical concept
to try to get churches started to really kind of do a big work.
Notice what it says in 1 Samuel 7 verse 15.
And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
Notice this.
And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah
and judged Israel in all those places.
So it says Samuel went in circuit.
So he basically kind of had a pattern, just like an electrical circuit,
and he kind of went from place to place just kind of judging those locations.
So he's kind of like all over the place just judging in a lot of different places.
Now the name of the sermon, Circuit Riding Preachers, comes from this verse in 1 Samuel 7 verse 16
where it says he went from year to year in circuit.
This is actually a term that Methodists used to use.
They would call their preachers Circuit Riding Preachers.
And look, I grew up Methodist and I reject the Methodist religion, okay?
I'm not going soft on the Methodists.
But the concept is basically you're traveling around preaching at different locations.
And in some ways that's kind of how I am because I'm preaching at two different locations every single week.
I preach five sermons pretty much every week except from time to time, right?
Verse 17,
And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord.
So Samuel's judging in Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, but his home's actually in Ramah.
So he's basically traveling all around.
Now here's the thing.
Samuel was married.
Samuel had a family.
And Samuel's kind of gone just all over the place.
And here's the thing.
It probably means that he was gone from his family for an extended period of time, right?
Because nowadays it's a lot easier to travel.
You have cars where you can drive to a location, come back.
But with Samuel, he's probably gone for weeks at a time or months at a time, just going from place to place,
just traveling all around, okay?
Now turn to Ezekiel 22.
Ezekiel 22.
What I like about our setup is that although I'm traveling down every Saturday to Pampanga,
I'm also back on Saturday night with my family.
Sometimes I get back and one of my kids has already fallen asleep,
but I'm at least back at nighttime, so I'm not just gone for extended periods of time, right?
Now here's the thing.
You know, I'm not the only person, though, that preaches at one church and then also runs another church as well.
Some examples from other locations,
not in the Philippines, but for example, many people know Pastor Jonathan Shelley, right?
He had a church in Houston, Texas, and he still has that church, and he's preaching the services there.
And then there's a church in Texas in a different location where the pastor went into some major sin
and had to step down.
He was disqualified.
And basically he took that church on, and now he basically inherited a lot of churches when he did that, right?
And so basically his location changed when he went to that church.
And so basically his location changed to Fort Worth or near the Fort Worth area for Steadfast Baptist,
but every single week he preaches the midweek service at the other church.
And as far as I know, he works a full-time job outside of church, so he's staying very busy, right?
And he also inherited church plants and everything, and so every single week he's going in circuit preaching at these locations.
In Australia, there's a pastor named Pastor Kevin Sepulveda, and he basically had his main church,
and then he started another church a long distance away, and then once a week he went down to preach there.
He would fly there and fly back, right?
Even our pastor, Pastor Roger Jimenez, he has his main church in Sacramento, but he's also a very sought-after speaker,
so he travels to a lot of locations to preach, and then he comes back, right?
You say, well, why would somebody do this?
Why did we start a church plant?
Why do these other churches or other pastors do this?
Well, point number one, there's a demand for the preaching.
There's a demand for the message, because in locations around the world, there are people that love God,
and they just can't find the church that they believe in.
They can't find the church that's preaching the truth, right?
I don't consider myself somebody who's special.
All I'm doing is preaching what the Word of God says, but unfortunately, that makes you special in today's world,
because there's just very few people that are preaching the truth.
We've got people in this room from Bulacan, from Laguna, like all over,
and if you're kind of new, you'd be like, why would people travel for hours to come to a church?
It's like, well, unfortunately, not every Baptist church is the same.
That's reality, right?
I mean, it's sad, and look, I hope it's not always like that.
As much as I love having a strong attendance, I hope there are like-minded churches all over the Philippines,
where people can have their own local church that they go to, and be connected, and be fully involved,
because the reality is, when you travel from a long distance, you can be connected, but not as much as you'd like to, right?
Now, praise the Lord, people are here, but one day, Lord willing, we're going to have like-minded churches everywhere,
and people don't have to travel an hour and a half.
Within two gypsy rides, they're there, right?
Lord willing, that's the way it will be one day, but unfortunately, we're not at that point yet.
So point number one, there is a demand.
Ezekiel 22, verse 30.
And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land,
that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
Right?
The Bible says there's not a single person that's standing in the gap where God says I won't destroy the land.
That doesn't mean that nobody was saved, it just means in terms of a profit that God was using, there just was nobody.
That's sad.
And yet, many of you have that same testimony.
Why do you come here to church?
Because there is no man in my location or in my city that's standing up and preaching the truth.
That's why you spend a lot of money to travel to this church, and you make a great investment in it.
Right?
Next week, one of the sermons is going to be on the cost in serving God.
Surely, there is a cost if you serve God.
And it means time, it means money, it means effort.
There is a cost to fully serving God.
And look, Lord willing, one day you won't have to make that big of a trip to go and serve God.
That there will be like-minded churches everywhere.
But unfortunately, that's just not really the case right now.
Go to Isaiah chapter 6.
Isaiah 6.
When I ask some of these pastors, you know, some of them I know more than others, you know,
I know Pastor Sepulveda told me that when he started the other church, his reason for it was there was a need.
There was families that didn't have a church that were like-minded, and he said,
I have the ability, I have the effort, I'll go in and just get that thing started.
Right?
The reason why is there was a need.
There was a demand.
Right?
Why did Pastor Jonathan Shelley, why did he take on the church and steadfast and still run his other church?
Because there's a demand.
There's a need.
Right?
Why would anybody do this?
Why did we start a church?
Well, there's a demand.
You're not going to start a church in a location if there's nobody there.
But when there's families that are like-minded saying, man, we love the things of God, we love this preaching,
we love soul winning, it's like, you know what, we can invest in that church.
I hope our church will always be like this.
I hope that in the next 20 years we can put that investment into a lot of great ministries
because, Lord willing, there will be churches in every surrounding province.
And look, as big as Metro Manila is, I mean, you could have a lot of churches in Metro Manila.
Right?
I hope one day that will be the case and we need to be a church that is willing to put in that effort.
I don't have a goal to have the greatest church here in the Philippines.
I have a goal that there's a lot of great churches, which means no one church is as significant as before.
But every church is just doing what the Bible says and getting churches started.
And, Lord willing, that will be all over the Philippines that will take place.
That is what our goal is.
Isaiah 6, verse 8.
Isaiah chapter 6, verse 8.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
Then said I, here am I, send me.
Right?
Oftentimes this is used for, you know, running missions and everything,
but it's really talking about someone who's willing to stand up and just preach the truth.
And sadly, there's just not a lot of people that are willing to stand up and just preach the truth.
There are plenty of Baptist churches.
Right? You've got relatives, you've got Catholic relatives that say,
there's a Baptist church just down the street.
You're going to another province, like why in the world are you going to another province?
It's like because not all Baptist churches are the same.
Now I want you to realize that, you know, many of you are making a huge investment,
and I'm thankful for the investment you make.
And I want you to realize I've made that investment before I was in the Philippines as well
in terms of making a big effort and putting a big cost to myself,
both with effort and finances and time and stuff like that, in order to try to serve God.
I used to drive an hour and a half to church.
Now there were churches that were right on salvation that were closer,
but they just weren't that zealous, and I just thought, I'm not going to be that zealous
if I'm not around people that are that zealous.
When we moved to Sacramento, California,
California's the second most expensive state in the U.S. behind Hawaii.
Right? I had money saved up, but it's amazing how that money just plummets.
And you take a leap of faith when you do that.
I mean, it's tough. Right?
And look, I'm not the only one who has made that sort of investment.
Brother Matthias moved from another country to come here.
Man, when he messaged me, he emailed me and said he was moving here,
I was just thinking, this guy's crazy.
It's like, this is a strong leap of faith to come here when you haven't met the people
and just say it's all going to work out, and yet God provided.
God provided a job and everything worked out.
It's like, man, but you know what?
Sometimes it takes a leap of faith to serve God.
That's reality. Right?
And that is the situation in today's world where, you know what,
it honestly takes a leap of faith to find people that are really serving God,
finding a church that's like-minded.
It's just not everywhere. Okay?
Now turn in your Bible to Acts 1.
Acts 1.
Acts chapter 1.
Now, when it comes to people moving to go to a church,
I never try to convince people to move,
because it's a big leap of faith people are taking,
and I don't necessarily know their situation.
For some people, it just might not be possible, quite honestly. Right?
For some people, it might.
For other people, it just might not be possible.
Now, of course, I think you should try to link up with God's people,
but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're able to do that.
There's a lot of people in the Philippines that probably thought in the past,
man, I really want to move to the U.S. to be a part of this like-minded church.
Wasn't possible. Right?
I mean, sometimes, and you know, even coming here,
if people live in other locations, it might not be possible financially.
It might just be too difficult.
It just might not be possible.
So I don't try to convince people to move.
You know, that's a personal choice people have to make.
If you're able to do it, I do think God's going to provide,
but it's not necessarily always possible. Okay?
Acts 1, verse 8.
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you,
and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The principle behind this verse is basically you have a church in a location,
and you slowly branch out.
So if we were to read this in kind of our modern situation,
it would be witnesses on me both in Pasig,
and in all of Metro Manila,
and in Luzon,
and onto the uttermost part of the earth.
That would be kind of a similar sort of analogy.
And the principle is you reach your local area,
and you slowly branch out.
Now, does that mean that since we have more soul winners now on Sundays,
your soul-winning map is in Baguio, right?
You're going to go down to the Jollibee today on Sunday,
and you're going to meet there and knock the doors, right?
Well, no, because you just can't reach that far away.
We're slowly branching out more and more,
but you can only realistically go so far,
and honestly, as great as soul-winning marathons are,
and I love them, and we're trying to help people in other parts of the Philippines,
establish those in like-minded groups,
the reality is you have to have a church in those locations, though,
to really reach everybody, right?
We're able to reach this area because we have a church,
and people get edified by the Word of God,
and we slowly branch out.
But you can't realistically just hold soul-winning marathons all over the place
because you wouldn't even be building your local church.
We have to reach Jerusalem first.
And I know some Zionists are probably confused about what that means,
but that means Pasic, okay?
We reach this area, and we slowly branch out, okay?
Go to Titus 1, Titus 1, Titus 1, Titus 1.
Lord willing, one day, you know,
I know there's people at our church that are interested in being in the ministry,
but that we will ordain people to basically start churches in locations.
Now, ideally, you're going to start a church in an area where there's already a demand,
because that's going to make things a lot easier.
Our church started, and at the first service we held, including my family,
including myself and my son and my wife, we had 40 people.
But if you look back at that photo,
actually, it's right there in the top left corner, right?
You can look at it after the service.
Not all of those 40 people were actually there, you know, more than a week or two, right?
There are people that came one time and never came back.
There are people that came a couple times, and some people were checking it out,
but they weren't necessarily planning to come.
And then some people, like Brother Marlin, wasn't planning to stick around,
but the preaching got to them, right?
And so he's like, man, this is great.
And he decided, man, I want to be a part of this church, right?
Praise the Lord for that, right?
You're just back. First service back, I've got to call you out, right?
I don't know where he's been the last couple months.
I mean, back then, but he's here now, right?
Praise the Lord.
And so, but, you know, there's people that are coming from,
there's a family all the way in Bullicon, super far away, right?
And it's just like, you never know with people that are coming from a long distance away
whether or not they're going to be able to make that trip every week, because it's tough.
There's people at our church that come from a long distance away, it's hard, right?
So I didn't necessarily expect everyone to stick around,
and whenever you start a new church, that's kind of the way it is.
There's a few Catholics in that picture that were tricked into coming to church, right?
There's friends of ours from the U.S. that basically said,
we've got a gift for you, but you've got to show up at this Baptist church to get it, right?
And they showed up after the sermon, and they just made it for the picture,
so praise the Lord, we reached 40 that Sunday, right?
But we didn't expect them to stick around, they didn't even want to hear the gospel, okay?
And so when we started, though, I would say we had, you know, 30 people maybe,
or high 20s, as kind of regular people.
Well, when you look around, we're a lot more than high 20s.
Growth is something that's kind of a slow thing that takes time,
but there was a group of people that were ready for the Word of God to be preached.
Well, Titus 1, verse 4, notice what it says.
Titus 1, verse 4,
And Paul says, there are locations where things are wanting.
Meaning there are locations where there are people that are looking for a church like this.
When we started the church in Pampanga, there were three families that we knew,
outside of my family and anybody else coming from our church,
three families that were there and said, hey, I want to be a part of this church, I'm committed.
And, you know, in my mind, I thought two families is not enough, three families is enough, right?
I thought it seems a little bit crazy,