All right before I forget I did want to mention again we do have baptisms after
this church service so when I get done with the sermon and I'm in praying right
after the sermon before the final song you can get changed and we'll do the
baptisms and if you're here and you want to get baptized maybe you weren't
planning on it it's like we've got water ready you know right out here we can
baptize you after the service. Now one of the biggest nightmares of a preacher is
to follow a great sermon right and so it's one of the disadvantages of having
back-to-back church services because if there's a gap people kind of forget
about it but when it's like right after it it's like oh my voice is kind of weak
today can somebody fill in right but that was a great sermon and you know
obviously prayer is something that is is helpful for all of us it's something
that I could definitely work on it's a great thing for our lives and we need to
get better at it and I'm trying to preach an edifying sermon here today and
I'll give you the title here in a little bit and let's just start here
verse number 29 though the Bible says come see a man which told me all things
that ever I did is not this the Christ now this is a pretty amazing story in
John 4 where you have a woman who gets saved and right after she gets saved she
starts preaching the gospel and you know if you've started coming to our church
and maybe you haven't jumped into soul winning I mean soul winning seems kind
of intimidating because you think about well what if I run into some you know
Jehovah's Witness or INC and they start asking me questions I don't know
everything about the Bible I don't know about end times prophecy but the reality
is for soul winning all you need to know is that salvation is a free gift that
lasts forever and so the reality is that even if you know very little about the
Bible you can actually if you have zeal just go out and start preaching the
gospel obviously the more practice you get the better you're gonna get you know
it's exciting to see newly saved people that are just going out there by faith
and just have a lot of zeal and with everything practice makes you better
right that is the secret to actually getting better at it and this woman
she's newly saved and even just with her zeal and explaining the basics of the
Bible she is actually able to get people saved we see in this passage says in
verse number 30 then they went out of the city and came on to him in the
meanwhile his disciples prayed him saying master eat but he said unto them I have
meat to eat that ye know not of therefore said the disciples one to
another hath any man brought him ought to eat Jesus saith unto them my meat is
to do the will of him that sent me and to finish the work now Jesus says this
and it kind of transitions back to what the context of the chapter and the
passage was about because it kind of takes a break from this woman and it
kind of gets back into her story a little bit and it says here in verse 35
say not ye there yet four months and then come at the harvest behold I say
unto you lift up your eyes and look in the fields for they are white already to
harvest and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life
eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together now
what he's referring to here is referring to going out and preaching the gospel
going out and getting people saved you know we as a church get a lot of people
saved we do a lot of soul winning we have mission strips we have a lot of
people joined in the work and yet the vast majority of people I run into will
say I do not know for sure if I'm going to heaven because as many people as we
get saved it's really like a drop in the bucket and I'm not trying to make us
feel bad for the work we're doing because we're doing a lot of work but
that work is never going to end because the vast majority of people here in the
Philippines and all over the world are unsafe people that need the gospel it
says here in verse number 37 and here and is that saying true one soweth and
another reapeth I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor other men
labored and ye are entered into their labors I want to preach on this idea of
entering into the labor of other people entering into the labor of other people
now I'm going to read these next couple verses and then I'm going to give you
three points here verse 39 and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on
him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did
so when the Samaritans were come on to him they besought him that he would
tarry with them and he abode there two days and many more believed because of
his own word and said unto the woman now we believe not because of thy saying for
we have heard of ourselves and know that this indeed is indeed the Christ the
Savior of the world and the Bible saying here that by her own words being newly
saved in knowing very little she was able to get some people saved and then
others that she did not personally get saved she brought to the Savior right
and I remember you know when I first got saved and I started to share the gospel
and give the gospel I hadn't really been trained on how to do it so it was a bit
and I tried my best and I had no idea if I was really successful or not and
then years later as I got really formal training and knew what I was doing I
ran into some of the same people at college I talked to and some of them are
like yeah I know I'm going to heaven you already talked to me about this a couple
years ago I'm like praise God you know I had no idea that they had gotten saved
right and so that's kind of like this woman here she's very zealous and she
does get people saved and then others she brings to the Savior and they end up
getting saved as a result of hearing Jesus themselves go back to verse number
seven verse seven and I'm gonna give you three points here of how we enter into
the labor of other people meaning other people do the groundwork and we
basically take that groundwork and build upon what has already been built by
other people and one example of this is found in this chapter and it is simply
getting saved and what I mean by that is this nobody in this room got themselves
saved nobody I stand before you today as someone who heard the gospel as an 18
year old college student and he got me saved and then being saved what does
that mean there's the Ministry of Reconciliation that I can enter into but
I did not do the work to get myself saved number one Jesus did the work but
number two somebody threw out the lifeline as we sing I did not get myself
saved somebody gave me the gospel and if you are here today and you are saved
you are saved because somebody gave the gospel to you verse number seven there
cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Jesus saith on her give me to drink for
his disciples were gone away onto the city to buy meat then saith the woman of
Samaria onto him how is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me which I'm
a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans Jesus
answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that
saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would
have given thee living water he's saying you know if you understand what
salvation is and who is the person that paid for the sins of the world speaking
of himself you would ask for that gift right now he says these words but it
goes completely over her head she does not understand what he's saying and
obviously you know we give the gospel to people and isn't it true that that some
people it's very smooth and very easy and other people it's kind of like it
takes longer right you know my wife and I will often take turns soul winning all
what's the kids still go or vice versa and then I know how long my wife's
gospel generally is and sometimes I'm like what's going on over there it's
like you know and I'll be like hey and did they get saved like yes it's like
okay what was the problem right because I know it took an extra 10 minutes or
extra 15 minutes because obviously you know some people it takes a little bit
of time and quite honestly when I heard the gospel it took a long time because I
was very you know thick-headed right it's very stubborn it took a while to
actually hear the gospel for it to make sense to me verse number 11 the woman
saith unto him sir that was nothing to draw with and the well is deep from
Winston hast thou that living water art thou greater than our father Jacob which
gave us the well and drank there of himself and his children and his cattle
Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life it would be like for example if I said I'm
gonna fill this bottle with water and you can drink it and drink it and drink
it and it will always be full so how many times you need to fill it up only
one time because it is everlasting it is not going to end and that is what
salvation is regardless of how many times you sin after being saved
regardless of how big of sins you commit after being saved it is everlasting life
and all your sins are forgiven you have a home in heaven that is secure and then
in verse 15 this woman basically asks for this but once again she doesn't
understand what's being said exactly and you know one thing it shows us is this
that as we go out soul winning if somebody prays and asks Jesus to save
them but they have no idea what salvation is they don't understand they
still think they have to live a good life it's like they just said words it
meant absolutely nothing right and so you know I've done so winning with a lot
of different people over the last couple decades and you know there are some
Baptist churches where it's just like a two-minute gospel presentation right I
remember going so with someone a long time ago and you know it was literally
less than a minute and then basically starts praying with this person and I'm
like what's going on right it's just like you know you didn't explain
anything and it's like obviously you know we believe in praying to ask Jesus
to save you but what's the emphasis in the Bible well what do you believe
because words mean nothing just because you said the right thing you have to
actually believe it and of course there's others in the Bible that don't
really express something the best but since they believe the right thing in
the heart obviously God answers that prayer right then it says here verse 19
the woman saith unto him sir I perceive that thou art a prophet our fathers
worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men
ought to worship Jesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when
ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father and
notice this ye worship verse 22 ye worship ye know not what and isn't this
true about unsafe people they don't know what they're doing they don't know
what they're worshipping I mean the majority of people in this room grew up
in the Roman Catholic Church right my wife grew up in the Roman Catholic
Church and in the Roman Catholic Church you follow a bunch of traditions and you
know you can probably remember as a kid doing these things you didn't know why
it didn't make sense to you it seemed kind of strange about this Pope that is
like the head of this religion it seemed kind of strange these statues you know
that are just made out of wood and stone but you just kind of did what you were
taught but you know what's interesting about this is I grew up in a Protestant
home and I've always thought that the Roman Catholic Church was strange I
remember I went to the Roman Catholic Church once for a funeral when I was a
young kid and I was afraid because I looked at it as being like a cult and
I'm just like this is this is weird this is strange but the thing is I thought
that since I realized that that I was at the truth but the reality is that I
wasn't saved right and regardless of what your religion is it's not just
Catholics but I mean Hindus they worship they know not what Buddhist they worship
they know not what and you can look at any false religion and people are just
kind of following what they were taught following what their parents said trying
to do what's right and then they assume in their head it seems strange to me but
obviously my spiritual teachers know more than me I'm sure they're not lying
to me right I'm sure that what they're saying is true because very few people
that are unsaved actually read the Bible for themselves and if you actually do
read the Bible for yourself as an unsaved person all of a sudden I think
God's going to actually direct you to the truth and show you that this is
actually the right way you know what takes place this woman does not know
what she's worshiping she's not saved and Jesus gives her the gospel she gets
saved and in the same chapter she's in her enters into the labor of soul
winning she enters into the work of soul winning she got saved not of herself and
then she's doing the same work getting other people saved as well
good about a Titus chapter 3 Titus 3 the Bible is very clear that nobody gets
saved on their own and I could preach a whole sermon on that topic I believe in
our church we all understand this we all believe this but let me just kind of
give you a couple examples of this because we're not going to go to the
book of Acts you turn to Titus chapter 3 but in the book of Acts we have two
different examples that I think of that would be the perfect example of someone
that would get saved on their own if it were possible the first one is the
Ethiopian eunuch I mean he's reading the scripture he seems like a pretty decent
guy and then all of a sudden the soul winner runs over and starts talking to
him and it's like understandest thou what thou readest it's like how can I
except some man should guide me and he's literally reading about a prophecy of
Jesus Christ and then he's like what is this about and I'm not insulting this
man's intelligence I'm just showing you the natural man receiveth not the things
of God they do not understand on their own I tried before I was saved to pick
up the Bible and read it on a few occasions and I felt like I was reading
Mandarin Chinese I was like I just I just don't get it you know I just didn't
understand it and of course you know this is a common thing and then people
generally kind of quit reading because they feel like I'm not trained I didn't
get a degree in Bible college so how could I understand that's what I used
to think when I was a lot younger right I was raised in a very strict home a
very moral home and so I was trying to do what was right and I considered
myself a Christian but I wasn't saved and so I try to read the Bible thinking
it's the right thing to do but when I tried I just said no I just can't
understand it right and that's the same story with a lot of people but Jesus he
gets this woman saved and then she enters into the work of soul winning
immediately another great example is Cornelius in the Bible just a few
chapters laid later you have a man that is unsaved in the Bible says he fears
God because God gave every single person a conscience that teaches them right and
wrong and this unsaved man Cornelius he fears God and not just him along with
his entire house the Bible says and he's trying to do what's right he's he's
giving alms to the people he's praying to God but he's not saved now here's the
thing a man who fears God and is trying to do what's right I mean this is a man
that would have gotten saved on his own if it were possible but he didn't get
saved on his own what ends up taking place I mean with the Ethiopian eunuch
God sends a soul winner to like run after him and the way I imagine that
story is that Philip gets there and he's like understand is that what thou readest
I mean it's tiring to run and then with Peter Peter goes a long way to give the
gospel to Cornelius I mean neither the Ethiopian eunuch nor Cornelius gets
saved on their own but somebody gives the gospel to them you know I understand
that we have a record crowd not because of me today but because pastor Menes is
here and of course he's a great friend of our family we're happy to have him
here but but here's the reality in this room there are people that are
incredibly excited to meet pastor Menes even if you're too shy to approach him
on the inside of yourself you're like you're thinking about it you know you're
excited on the inside even if you're nervous on the outside but did you know
that in this room is the man that got pastor Menes saved brother Felix is here
with us today and you know ever since I started going to Verity he's a zealous
soul winner he goes on like every missions trip around the world he's been
so winning for probably more longer than anybody in this room maybe 50 years I
don't know the exact amount but a long time and here's the thing pastor Menes
and I might mess up this story a little bit but I don't know the exact age but
as a young boy brother Felix talked to his son and gave him the gospel and got
him saved and the great work that pastor Menes is doing he's entering into the
labor that his father and his mother set before him at a young age getting him
saved and teaching him the Word of God nobody in this world is a self-made man
or a self-made woman if you are saved in this room it's because somebody got you
saved when you were worshiping you know not what you had no idea what you were
doing and sometimes you look back and you think man how foolish was I but
nobody gets saved on their own Titus chapter 3 verse 3 Titus 3 verse 3 for we
ourselves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers
less than pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another but
after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by
works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us not
by the which he saved saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost and the Bible says here in Titus 3 verses 3 through 5 we were
also sometimes foolish before you were saved you were foolish and look you know
I look at this and you know in a comparison between other people my age
when I was a kid because I've never smoked a cigarette before I mean I grew
up with parents where they've never smoked they didn't drink I've never I do
not recall a single time in my life ever hearing either of my parents say a curse
word my I was raised in a very strict home I was homeschooled starting in
middle school I wasn't allowed to watch like MTV for those that are Americans
here is like not allowed it's bad music it's not for your ears I was raised in
a very strict home you know the reality is that I was serving diverse lusts and
pleasures before I was saved you don't necessarily feel like that if you try to
compare yourself with other people but I had the wrong belief I was foolish I had
the wrong understanding but then the gospel came to me when somebody talked
to me and then all of a sudden it's like it makes sense nobody gets saved on
their own what takes place is others labor to get you saved and then you have
the opportunity to enter into that same labor of soul winning go to Acts chapter
18 acts 18 acts chapter 18 let me say this I believe that all of us should
should forever be very thankful to the person that gave the gospel to us but
not only should you be forever thankful to the person that got you saved but you
should feel an obligation to help other people out that are essentially drowning
and they have no hope unless somebody actually throws out the lifeline to them
and praise God for all of the soul winning we do but I also think back to
stories in my life where maybe I wasn't fully right with God and I knew God
wants me to talk to this person it's the perfect opportunity and I let them walk
right by me and then I'm praying God please send somebody else and I wish
that we're not the case but it's not like every single opportunity I've ever
taken but we have an obligation you say why because somebody labored into us to
get us saved it's time for us to enter into that labor also you know if you're
in this room and maybe you've never gone so winning or you're shy or afraid to do
it you know we will pair you up with someone at this church and you can be a
silent partner and you can just listen to them talk and you can do that as long
as you need to to get used to it and and have a better understanding and feel
more confident and the reality is that almost everybody in this room before
they were a speaker were a silent partner and I remember when I first made
an agreement to start being a silent partner I never really thought I'd be a
speaker but then all of a sudden you just you just see the excitement and it
just kind of changes your heart right number one one area where we enter into
the labor of others is just simply getting saved we do not get saved on our
own but we have the opportunity to enter into that labor after we hear the gospel
and get others saved another area not just getting saved but also growing
spiritually because it's very rare to meet someone who got saved and they were
never in church never around other Christians and then just by themselves
they became a mighty soul winner and mighty Christian and very godly person
I've never heard of that happening in real life here's what it says in acts
18 verse 24 and a certain Jew named Apollos born at Alexandria an eloquent
man and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus this man was instructed in the
way of the Lord and being fervent in the spirit so he's excited he's zealous he
spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord knowing only the baptism of
John what the Bible saying here here's a man that's very zealous he wants to talk
about God he wants to teach people but he just doesn't know much and he's trying
he's excited he's doing his best but he knows very little and then it says in
verse 26 and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and
Priscilla had heard they took him on to them and expounded on him the way of God
more perfectly you have Aquila and Priscilla and these they see a young man
that's very zealous and very excited that clearly needs more training right
and they say you know what hey let us help you out and then they expound on in
the way of God more perfectly and then Apollos is is kind of one of the
right-hand men of Paul that you see in the Word of God doing some great things
but here's the thing he became that when he got around other Christians and other
soul winners that taught him and brought him along says in verse 27 and when he
was disposed to pass into a chia the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples
to receive him who when he was come helped them much which had believed
through grace for he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly showing by
the scriptures that Jesus was Christ turn your Bible to Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4
you know many ways I read about Apollos it kind of reminds me of myself because
I actually started to try to give the gospel and start soul winning before I
had really gotten involved in church and in West Virginia University they have at
the college campus they call it the mountain lair and people on the weekends
they the the university because the big drinking school they basically set up
the mountain lair so people can get free food and just kind of hang out there to
try to lessen the drinking at the campus and it becomes a great area for soul
winning because you go there there's a lot of people that are not drinking
they're just kind of hanging out and on Friday nights and Saturday nights I
would just go from table to table and of course you know if you're a soul
winner we know that that age 18 19 20 it's a great age to get people saved and
so I would just regularly do that and I remember though you know my early days
I'm very excited and very zealous and I remember I ran into someone who who was
an atheist and I had no idea how to answer him because I just didn't know
much and then there's someone that actually heard that conversation he came
over and kind of took over and then you know I learned from him and he said hey
you know what and he invited me to a Baptist Church on Sunday and I agreed to
him I'd go to church and then I eventually started going to church and I
learned and then as I started going to church I started hearing preaching I
started learning a lot more things I got you know other people at church were
teaching me things that were new they helped me get you know a better
understanding of soul winning and knowing what I was doing and then that
made me grow and become better and what I'm saying is I don't stand before you
today as a self-made man that just by myself just man I became so righteous
and so spiritual and learn so much no I've heard a lot of great sermons in the
last two decades I've met a lot of great people that have taught me things from
the Bible nobody is a self-made man now it's true we have the Bible and we can
learn these things on our own but you know when people tell you I don't really
go to church you know I just kind of worship God on my own does anybody ever
become a super godly and righteous person that way it never happens the
reality is that yes you know what you read the Bible and the scriptures on
your own but you also learn a lot of great things of people that have come
before you and learn these things and why did they learn a lot of these things
well often because they learned it from somebody else because they are entering
into the labors of those that came before them and those people entered
into the labors of those that came before them and they help people grow
spiritually they help people grow spiritually I stand before you day
entering into the labors of them of other people we were at Verity Baptist
for three and a half years before we came here we learned great things we
learned the Word of God I learned how to become a more mature person a godly
person a well-rounded person and then the knowledge I'm giving you are things
I learned from other people you say why because I'm entering into the labors of
other people and there's no shame in that I mean if I get great training and
learn great things from other people there's no shame in just admitting I
learned it from somebody else sometimes people come up to me they're like man
what an awesome thought from that sermon where did you learn that from it's like
well you know I learned it from Pastor Menace or I learned it from whomever
right it's like there's no shame in the fact that hey you know I've gotten great
teaching from people and then now I can stand before you today and try to help
others that are newer in the faith that are just learning these things newly
saved or maybe not spiritually grown as much and I learn these things from
others and then maybe you're gonna hear these things and you're gonna help teach
them to other people as well turning your Bible to Ephesians 4 and and notice
what the Bible says here in verse 11 Ephesians 4 verse 11 it says and he gave
some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and
teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for
the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man onto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ and God speaks about here specifically
Paul speaks about spiritual leadership at churches and when it comes to
churches God has set up a system of spiritual leadership of people obviously
men not women getting up and teaching the Word of God this church was started
more than six years ago when Pastor Menace ordained me as an evangelist and
I came down here with my family in this room there's probably around 15 people
that were here from day one of the church now some of those families have
more kids so that 15 becomes 20 or 25 or whatever but then there's a lot of new
people that are out of church right and what the Bible is teaching and I can say
this from our early days that when this church first started it was a very
zealous church from day one and I got to hit the ground running entering in the
labor of others that came before me because it's not like I just showed up
and then people are like I've been listening to you for years it's like no
I mean people knew Pastor Menace they listen to online preaching and there was
already a group of people but at the same time even though our church was a
soul-winning church from day one if you talk to the people that have been here
from day one there were some issues in the early days where people had a lot of
zeal it's like okay let's let's let's get this united into one let's let's calm
these things down let's let's redirect that zeal into the proper way and what
the Bible teaches is God gives spiritual leadership to help people become united
and learn the Word of God and help build a great church Bible says in verse 14
that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the sight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they
lie in wait to deceive but speaking the truth and love may grow up unto him in
all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body the the local
church body fitly joins together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth according the effectual working in the measure of every part
maketh increase of the body on the edifying of itself in love never get
this idea that you do not need church you need church I need church all of us
we need church and God set up a system of church to learn to grow and look
here's how it works in sermons because I'm preaching a sermon that's going to
be 40 45 minutes long or so but here's the thing I spent more than 40 minutes
learning this information as I studied the sermon and what takes place as a
pastor is you study you learn you reread the passages you memorize you cross
reference maybe you spend eight hours and then you basically combine it all
together in a simple format that people can take away and then in 45 minutes you
can kind of learn what it took me a long time to learn and basically there's
labor that is done as the Word of God is studied and then all of a sudden you
get to enter into the labor of what's come before you and what you can do is
take that information you say well you know who am I going to teach well if
you're a father or mother teach your kids how about teaching them the Word of
God but you know another thing is this when people come to a church like this
they're often intimidated to ask the past pastor questions now that might not
be true with you but it's true with a lot of people and you know somebody
might not come to me but they might come to you people at the church have told me
before that brother so-and-so you know a new person came to them and asked this
question and they'll say this is what I told them what was that a good answer
right and so the thing is you learn great information and you can use that
to help other people that have questions along the way as well turn your Bible to
Acts 1 Acts 1 see nobody gets saved on their own nobody grows spiritually on
their own you have people that are trained leaders that have learned from
other people and they help you grow they help you learn and one thing that I've
noticed in the Bible is God set up a system to try to eliminate pride from
ourselves I didn't pay for my sins so I can't boast about it as it says in
Ephesians 2 I didn't get myself saved I didn't get saved by reading the Bible on
my own I can't boast about that I didn't become you know a pastor just on my own
I learned things from other people and God set up a system where it's like hey
you should remove boasting from your life because you're not self-made you
learn from other people whether you're a man in this room or a woman you learn
from other people you don't just arrive at everything by yourself and look I'm
only giving you three points but you can think of a lot of other things I mean if
you see you know young kids that grow up and become godly people it's because
there's a godly mom and a godly father 99% of the time that took the time and
energy to train and teach their kids I mean I I pray for my kids to grow up and
love God and be very zealous people you know and one thing that motivates me is
I think back to a father and a mother that put in a lot of time and energy and
effort to train me and teach me and obviously you know I live on the other
side of the world so I talked to my mom three times a week my dad went home to
heaven you know several months back last year but I stand before you today trying
to be the best father I can be you say why because I had a godly father who was
teaching me the rules and Commandments and how to be a good person and it's
like I didn't become it by myself if you see kids that are left to themselves
they bring their father and the mother to shame the Bible says and if you see
kids grow up that are mature and godly it's because there was a father and
there was a mother who invested time and energy into raising them but aside from
getting saved and growing spiritually and this is I tried my best with pastor
men as being here to make this sermon alliterated and you know I like to
alliterate my sermons sometimes it's hard but the advantage you have here in
the Philippines is you can mix English and Tagalog together okay and you know I
guess generate starts with a G although it doesn't have that guh sound but
generate manga simbahan and simbahan is the word for church so basically getting
churches started is what I'm saying here's the thing this church didn't just
start itself we in Verde Baptist Church Manila are entering into the labor of a
church that started in Sacramento California in September of 2010
September 5th 2010 almost 15 years ago a church that started in the home with
maybe 10 people or so and then a lot of labor was put in because I can tell you
this I mean we have a lot of Americans here and I can say that if you talk to
Americans in this room many of them are going to tell you how it is frustrating
trying to get people saved in the u.s. you knock the door slammed in your face
I mean it's common if you go out so winning for an hour and a half that you
get no conversations I mean America was once built on Christianity and I believe
it's it's a country that sells a lot of great churches and was once a very
conservative and godly place but that's that's not what America is now you look
at a country that just does not care that much about church and the reality
is that if you try to talk to people in America about the Bible most aren't
interested they don't care it's one of the things that amazes Americans when
they come here it's it's why I first fell in love with the Philippines how
all of a sudden you walk up to people and they're not rude it's like oh do you
have ten minutes sure it's like really Wow it's amazing right and it's it's so
different than what you see in America but the reality is this church started
from a very tough battleground in Sacramento California with a small
number of people knocking the doors knocking the doors slowly adding slowly
adding slowly adding I don't know the exact number of people that were at the
church when my wife and I started going you know maybe a hundred I'm not really
sure and the church has definitely grown since then but you know a lot of work
had already been done and when I got married I decided to move my family and
I with with my wife and I and I talked her about I said I think Sacramento is
where we should go and I said you know basically I I threw away my career and I
just said well I'll find something as one of the best decisions I ever made
just stepping out in faith like that and then we were there for several years and
then I was ordained as an evangelist to start this church and but but but what I
want us to understand here is that this work is being done simply because we are
entering into the labor of work that came before us and no matter how big our
church ever gets no how matter how many churches we start we must always
remember that we are merely entering into the labor of work that came before
us Bible says in Acts 1 verse 8 but he shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost has come upon you and he should be witnesses on to me both in Jerusalem and
in all Judea and in Samaria and on to the uttermost part of the earth look
wait right before Jesus went up to heaven he said I want you to do a great
work here in Jerusalem but I want you to get all Judea and I want you to get
Samaria and as far as you can get get to the uttermost part of the earth and we
are literally standing on the other opposite side of the earth as Verity
Baptist Church in Sacramento California go to Luke chapter 12 we'll close up
Luke 12 Luke 12 we've been able to start several churches here from our church
here in Manila of course we have our members from Verity Baptist Church
Beekle we have the church in Pampanga we have the church in Warsaw Poland and
look I would love it if the churches we've started become bigger than us and
more successful I think that would be great I'm not I don't feel like I'm in a
competition with other people that are doing a great work but no matter how big
your church becomes or our church becomes or any church becomes everyone
must always remember I'm just entering into the labor that somebody else did
before me and of course here in the Philippines it's a receptive country so
you know some of these numbers especially if people have never gone
soul winning on the mission field or another place it almost seems impossible
to people they're like a thousand salvations in a month it sounds crazy to
them and of course you know at our church it's like it's not like I'm
getting a thousand salvations per month I mean we've got a lot of people that go
soul winning we've got a lot of people that volunteer their time and energy and
effort to put countless hours in but what we're doing is merely entering into
the labor of Verdi Baptist Church in Sacramento that set the groundwork
before we came here and no matter because look I believe right now our
church is better than it's ever been I think that the members of our church
would say yes I believe that's the case we've grown as a church we've been able
to start other churches we've got our monthly church services in Cavite and
Laguna there's now an open door to get into the schools I mean people are doing
a lot of soul winning I mean things are going great here we're growing God has
blessed us with a building and all of these things but all of this work that
we're doing we need to remember we're entering into the labor of work that was
done before us never allow this prideful attitude to get inside your head like
you that work I'm a self-made man I'm a self-made woman or we're a self-made
church we are just single-handed no it's like we just entered into the
labor of what others have done Luke chapter 12 let's close up Luke 12 verse
48 Luke 12 verse 48 when I look at my life I I look at someone that had a
great opportunity to get trained by you know even before I was going to a great
church the person who got me saved taught me about the poster of rapture
when I was 19 years old I mean I've never been pre trip I mean I learned a
lot of great doctrine the person who got me saved taught me a lot of great
things and then I was around a lot of great Christians I mean in college the
group of friends I had it's like hey what do you want to do on Friday night
it's like you know you want to do Bible trivia or you want to just read the
Bible and talk about I mean that's what we did just talked about the Bible and
so I think to myself it's like well you know who knows where I would be if I
wasn't put in a position of those opportunities to grow and I look at my
life and I just think man a lot of investments have been made into me in my
life and and you know sometimes it makes you wonder am I really you know worthy
of this because I feel like I've had so many opportunities and maybe you're in
this room right now and you feel the same way like man I've had chances or
maybe you don't feel this way but you should think this way because I want you
to realize around the world there are not churches like this everywhere there's a
lot of countries around the world where there is like nothing for church and I'm
not I'm not trying to think too highly of ourselves I just want to help you
realize that there's not a church like this everywhere around the world that's
why at our church you know we have people I mean obviously we have a lot of
people that are visiting day for to listen to Pastor Mendez but we have
people at our church that come every week that come from hours away I'm
thinking man that's dedication but I also think to myself how sad that
there's not a great church that they can be a part of that's nearby them right
Luke 12 verse 48 the Bible says but he that knew not and did commit things
worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is
given of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much of him
they will ask the more the Bible speaks about if you've been given a lot a lot
is required of you and I would say that you know if you're in this room and you
love God now if you stop to think you can probably look back to a lot of
people in your life you can probably think back to a father and a mother at a
very young age and maybe they didn't know all these things about the Bible
but they led you down the right path maybe you can think about just various
people you know getting in church and then people that taught you things not
just my sermons but other people at church that have had an impact on you
and what we need to realize is that if a lot has been given to us because I
believe a lot has been given to our church I believe a lot has been given to
me I believe I am entering into the labor of what other people have done
before me but to whom much is given much is required and no matter how much you
do for God in this life you can always do more if you've been given a lot be
thankful and devote your life to serving God let's close in word of prayer your
Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to
help us to apply the sermon to our lives including myself and my family God help
us to be thankful for all the labor that has been invested into us God and help
us in turn do everything we can to get as many people saved as we can and be
dedicated to church and and and raise our families for the glory of God we
pray these things in Jesus name Amen