Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Welcome?
Welcome.
I am Yankuban Bautisa.
I am also Bautisa.
Welcome.
Good morning.
Welcome.
I am a Baptist.
Welcome, this is Yankuban Bautisa.
Welcome.
Would you please come first?
Morning Worship Service.
Would you please come first?
There is a hymn number 405, hymn number 405, hymn number 405,
the banner of the cross.
First hands up for Dayo.
Last hands up, first hands up.
There is a royal banner, first hands up, ready, sing.
There's a royal banner given for this play
to the soldiers of the heat.
As an inside bear, we lift it up today
while as ransomed, once we see
horses marching on, marching on.
North rise down there, we think of God.
Things are growing deep, toil and sin,
leave the banner of the Lord.
Though the foe may rage and gather as the plan,
let the standard be his fame.
And beneath its fold, a soldiers of the Lord,
for the truth be not his fame.
Marching on, marching on,
for Christ now everything but God.
And to crown him king, toil and sin,
leave the banner of the Lord.
Over land and sea, wherever and wherever we go,
make the glorious findings known
of the crimson banner, now the story tell,
while the Lord shall claim his own.
Marching on, marching on,
for Christ now everything but God.
And to crown him king, toil and sin,
leave the banner of the Lord.
When the glory not is going merry here,
it seems safely divided.
Then before our kingdom all shall disappear,
and across the world shall sway.
Marching on, marching on,
for Christ now everything but God.
And to crown him king, toil and sin,
leave the banner of the Lord.
Amen.
Thank you very much.
Here is Hymn number 248,
Hymn number 248, Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus my Lord, first sons are ready, sing.
Jesus my Lord will love me forever
From Him no power of evil can sever
He gave His life to ransom my soul
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
Not for eternity
Once I was lost in sin's segregation
Jesus came down to bring me salvation
Lifting me up from sorrow and shame
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
Not for eternity
Join plus my soul for Jesus and save me
Free me from sin that longed and slayed me
His precious Lord He gave to redeem
Now I belong to Him
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
Not for eternity
As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription,
To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.
And that's a great verse there. We are a family integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the church services.
We do have the mother baby room back there for your convenience as well as the ladies restroom.
The men's restroom is up here in front. Remember no eating during the services. Maintain a professional atmosphere
and keep the children from running rough housing before and after the church services.
On the next page, our service time is listed and our first service is at 10 a.m.
Short break and then our 1130 service. Wednesday evening Bible study is at 6 p.m.
and soul winning will start two hours before that at 4 p.m.
Saturday afternoon soul winning first round 10 to 12.
Short break and then 2 to 4 for soul winning.
Then Sunday afternoon soul winning we have at around 2.15 p.m. here today.
And so praise report for 2021. 538 salvations this month.
3252 year to date. Not including this past week.
Pampanga 29 salvations month to date. We had 15 yesterday.
So we went to a new area. It's pretty good. And then Singapore Bible study fellowship.
Right now I think they're not even able to go soul winning in Singapore due to restrictions.
So hopefully that doesn't happen to us in the future but you never know.
So I just read they're talking about removing the restriction on having masks.
They just talked about that in the last couple of days. If you've been vaccinated they say.
But I'm also reading reports that they might make restrictions more tight.
So it's like who knows what's going to happen, right?
And so birthdays and anniversaries for June listed below.
We have a couple on June 1st. Information for first time guests.
On the next page our Bible memorization challenge.
And so in a couple weeks we're going to be starting 1 John.
So you might want to get ahead on that. I think there's seven sermons in 1 John.
And so there'll be a prize if you're able to memorize the entire book of 1 John or just the first chapter.
1 John is a very important book if you're a soul winner because there's a lot of verses that are kind of tricky.
So it's good to memorize and have a good understanding of that.
Upcoming activities. We do have choir practice here today and also next week.
Soul winning marathon on June 12th. Independence Day.
And we have some other activities coming up.
And current and upcoming series. We're going to be in false philosophies for a while.
Starting 1 John here soon.
Information for the group chat. And then there is a place for notes on the back.
Now, I warned people yesterday, especially before the second sermon, it is the most complicated sermon by far I have ever preached.
So take advantage of the notes section on the back, especially during the second sermon on the myth of ancient polytheism.
I'm going to be quoting from the Greeks and the Persians and the Assyrians and all these cultures and everything.
So this is for your benefit because sometimes you hear things, you're like, oh, man, that makes sense.
And then five minutes after the sermon, what did he say again?
It's like math class, right? The teacher makes all these letters and everything like, oh, wow, that's how you do it.
And then it's like, all right, now you do it yourself. It's like, oh, I have no idea, right?
So take advantage. Make sure you grab a pen and you can put some notes down there.
So anyways, we'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song.
2424, there shall be showers of blessing.
There shall be showers of blessing. First sons already sing.
There shall be showers of blessing. This is the promise of love.
There shall be seasons with blessing sent from the Savior of all.
Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we give.
Mercy drops from those who are calling, but for the showers we believe.
There shall be showers of blessing. Precious reviving again.
Over the hills and the valleys, sound of abundance of rain.
Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we give.
Mercy drops from those who are calling, but for the showers we believe.
There shall be showers of blessing. Send them upon us, O Lord.
Right to us thou art refreshing. Amen and honor thy word.
Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we give.
Mercy drops from those who are calling, but for the showers we believe.
There shall be showers of blessing, O that today they might walk.
Now as they gather on blessing, now as with Jesus we call for us.
Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we give.
Mercy drops from those who are calling, but for the showers we believe.
As it is our custom we are going to read the whole chapter. Please say amen when you are there.
Call to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the will of God, and sustain us, our brother.
Unto the church of God, which is at good ends to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
call to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ,
that in everything ye are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge,
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift,
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing,
and that there be no division among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe,
and there are contentions among you.
Now this I say, that every one of yourself, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Christ was in Gaius.
Lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name, and I baptized also the household of Stephanas.
Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of noneffect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where's the wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the disputer of this world?
Have not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
For the Jews require sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, whether how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,
and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, have God chosen, yeah,
and things which are not, to bring to not things that are.
That no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him I inquire Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
That according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord.
That is great. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the Bible, and for the chapter, and really for every word that you're giving us.
Please help us to love you with more, and to pay attention, Lord Jesus.
And please also give your Holy Spirit, for the might and power of your Holy Spirit.
Our God has tackled you with a preach, and bless all the sermon. I pray in your name, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Alright, we're here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and we're continuing our series on false philosophies.
And we've covered a lot of different philosophies, and kind of the purpose is not really to give you a full explanation of those philosophies,
but just kind of the reason why they're popular.
Like we talked about Taoism, and in terms of your personal life, it's really not that important to fully understand, you know, the Taoism and the history of it.
But it is good to understand the fact that having this idea to live an easy life, which is what they teach,
is actually the opposite of reality, because life is hard.
With Buddhism, they say, well remove suffering.
The problem with that is it's going to increase suffering in your life, and that's not a biblical concept to try to avoid suffering.
Suffering is part of our life.
Or hedonism, searching after pleasure, and it ends up making you miserable and having a terrible life.
With Hinduism, you say, Brother Saki, what is the goal of Hinduism?
Like, what are they promoting? Why is it prominent? Why is it popular?
Well, I'm going to quote to you from Gandhi here, so you can understand what Hinduism is basically searching after.
It says this, Gandhi said of Hinduism, and obviously Gandhi was a Hindu,
if I were to define the Hindu creed, I would simply say a search for truth through non-violent means.
So Hinduism claims to be a search for truth. That's the purpose of the religion, they're searching after truth.
A man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu, according to Gandhi.
So you don't have to believe in God, but you can still be a Hindu.
You can be an atheist and be a Hindu, as long as you're searching after truth.
Now you say, Brother Saki, I come to this church because you preach the truth.
You're a Hindu, right? According to Gandhi, I mean, this is the pillar and ground of the truth.
Whether you realize it or not, according to Gandhi, you're a Hindu, right?
And it says, Hinduism is relentless pursuit for truth. Denial of God we have known, denial of truth we have not known.
So according to Gandhi and according to Hinduism, all their swamis, Hinduism is searching relentlessly after truth.
Well, somehow you missed the mark when you started bowing down before cows.
Somehow you have not arrived at the truth. But they claim to be a search for truth.
Now, this sermon is not just covering Hinduism, but also Greek mythology or their religion of Hellenism as it was known,
because they're pretty much the same exact religion.
In fact, you can read articles and there's a big question, did the Hindus just take from the Greeks or the Greeks take from the Hindus?
To be honest, I actually think the Greeks stole from India.
And basically, Greek mythology just basically took what India had and just kind of made it their own, okay?
But here's the thing, whenever we look at topics, we can look at the Bible to see what the Bible says.
The Bible does not talk about Hindus, but it does talk about Greeks.
1 Corinthians 1, verse 22. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 22. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22.
For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
Do you see how that's the same religion of the Hindus?
The Greeks, the purpose, they're seeking after wisdom, right?
You know Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, the wisest philosophers, the wisest people who have ever lived, according to the world.
They're searching after wisdom. They're searching after truth.
That's what they claim about the religion.
Both the Greeks from thousands of years ago with Hellenism and all of their philosophies,
and then the Hindus today over the last couple thousand years with the Vedic scriptures and their sacred scriptures.
They're searching after wisdom, okay?
Now go to John 14. John 14.
You say, Brother Stuckey, why is this a false philosophy?
Well, here's the problem. Point number one.
Wisdom and truth is found in this book.
That's the problem.
The problem is the Hindus, the Greeks, they're not using this book to arrive at truth.
If they were just reading this book and saying, hey, we're searching after wisdom.
We read the Bible for hours every day.
Praise the Lord for that.
And you know what? If you did that, you wouldn't be bowing down before a cow.
You'd actually arrive at the truth.
But they're searching after truth apart from God's Word.
Well, you're going to arrive at some pretty crazy conclusions.
Because last I checked, the world is insane.
And if you don't realize that, then obviously you haven't been reading the Bible enough.
I mean, all you have to do is walk down the street and realize the world is insane today.
It's crazy.
Truth is found in God's Word.
And the problem with this idea of searching after truth is if you're not doing it from the Word of God,
you're going to arrive at crazy, crazy conclusions.
Point number one. Truth is found in the Word of God.
Now, in John 14, verse 6, this is what Jesus said.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by the Spirit.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So Jesus Christ said, I am the way, meaning He is the way to heaven.
He says, I am the truth.
So truth and wisdom is found in Jesus Christ.
And if you go outside of Jesus Christ, you're not going to arrive at that truth.
He says, I am the truth, meaning every other religion is false.
Every other belief system is wrong.
Jesus is truth. All other forms are wrong.
And as a Bible-believing Christian, this is what you must believe.
Jesus is the way to heaven. Every other way is a false way.
Okay?
Now, turn in your Bible to John 1.
John 1. John 1.
John chapter 1.
I mean, there's that cute little quote from Gandhi where he said,
Man, you know what? I would have become a Christian if it weren't for Christians.
He said, I would have become a Christian if Christians were nicer.
Well, that's kind of funny because if you know anything about Gandhi,
Gandhi was a sexual pervert and a sexual deviant.
Gandhi slept in bed with naked women all the time.
And that's a fact. Nobody even denies that.
All you have to do is look up anything on Gandhi, this great hero, this great person, whoever.
He was a wicked, evil person.
He said he was trying to test his celibacy because he was a married man,
and he took a vow of celibacy.
You're married!
It's like, what in the world?
And look, that might not sound too crazy in a Catholic country because that's what people believe about Mary.
Mary took a vow of celibacy.
It's like, well, it's amazing how, you know, you're able to have lots of children,
even though you took a vow of celibacy, according to the Catholics.
But then Gandhi wanted to test his ability to restrain himself.
So basically he just put himself in a bad position and just supposedly never did anything wrong.
You're insane if you believe that, okay?
Look, truth is found in God's Word.
Jesus said, I am the truth.
And here's what you need to understand.
Jesus is the Word, okay?
John 1, verse 1.
In the beginning was the Word.
Now, who is that referring to?
That's referring to Jesus Christ.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I thought Jesus was created.
No, Jesus was here at the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
You say, how is that possible?
That's the Trinity.
See, what the Bible teaches is,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost have eternally existed and always will exist.
God's nature is the fact that He's three.
One God who exists in three persons.
I'm not saying you can fully comprehend this like a math problem.
I don't think that's the goal, but the goal is to just believe what the Bible says.
And Jesus Christ is the Word.
Now, here's the thing.
When it says Jesus is the Word, it's not like a cool phrase to represent Him.
It's like, you know, you've got these rappers that got these phrases or these names,
like Lil Wayne or Lil whatever.
I don't know who the rappers are.
Jay-Z's kind of old now, so I don't know who the new guys are.
Dr. Dre, he's a long, long time ago, right?
I doubt he was a doctor. I don't know.
But it's just like, when it says Jesus is the Word, it's not like, hey, Jesus Christ is the Word.
No, it's actually trying to tell you something.
And what it's trying to tell you is this, that you know what, just as Jesus is perfect, so is the Word of God.
Truth is found in the Word of God.
Jesus is the Word.
So when you're reading these words, it's not just that somebody wrote a cool story in Rappler or whatever,
and you read it.
I just read Rappler this morning.
This is actually the Word of God.
And here's the thing.
You read a story online or whatever,
those stories basically have a time frame where they're actually important.
Five years from now, you try to read a story on COVID,
and I'm assuming in five years people are going to say,
why are you talking about COVID? That was years ago.
I'm assuming, okay?
Here's the thing, though.
The Bible's timeless.
And you can open this book, whether you lived thousands of years ago
or whether you lived thousands of years in the future, however long this world lasts,
and guess what?
It is just as relevant and just as important today,
because it's a living book.
It says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him.
All things were made by who?
By the Word.
Jesus Christ.
He made all things.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
So my question to the Jehovah's Witnesses is that if Jesus made all things,
doesn't that mean that He wasn't made Himself if He made all things?
Because if Jesus was created, then He didn't make all things, right?
But the Bible says He made all things,
because the Jehovah's Witnesses and these various cults say that Jesus Christ was created by God.
No, no, no. Jesus Christ has always existed.
He has always eternally existed as the Son of God.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost.
Verse 14.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
So Jesus Christ was God in human flesh.
He came here. He died. He paid for our sins.
The Word is referring to Jesus Christ, okay?
Turn to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1.
So here's the thing.
These religions like Hinduism and Hellenism or the Greek mythology,
they're trying to search after the truth, but they're not using God's Word.
They're trying to search after the truth in nature and by feelings and by meditation.
It's like literally with a lot of these religions, they believe in this hardcore meditation
where basically you take drugs and then you start meditating.
It's like, no, you're just a drug addict.
I saw visions. Yeah, I'm sure you did see visions.
That's kind of a side effect of doing drugs.
That doesn't mean that you talk to God.
Now you might have talked to a god, like a devil, but you didn't talk to the God.
Proverbs 1 verse 20. Proverbs 1 verse 20.
Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the streets.
Now, when it says cry in verse 20, it's not saying, you know, oh, you know, so sad.
You know, all right, maraming luha, right? Oh, I'm sad.
No, that's weeping according to the Bible.
When it's crying, the Bible's defining itself, she uttereth her voice.
Right now, I am crying, but, you know, I'm not really sad right now.
Right? I'm not crying, you know, oh, I'm so sad.
No, no, no, I'm uttering my voice, though.
And what the Bible's indicating is that wisdom is basically crying out after us.
So basically, if this book could speak, you would hear it yelling after you in the morning,
read me, get off Facebook, get off YouTube, get off social media, read me.
That's what basically the Bible's saying.
Wisdom is crying out after us because wisdom is found in this book.
God wants you to read His Word.
And if He could, He would cry out and say, hey, before you eat breakfast,
esteem my words more than your necessary food.
Verse 21, she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates,
in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity?
You say, what does it mean by ye simple ones?
It means Bobo.
That's what it's referring to.
Ignorance.
Without knowledge.
When the Bible's calling you simple, that's a major insult.
And it's not talking about your natural intelligence.
It's talking about how educated you are.
And quite honestly, if the Bible were to define most Christians in today's world,
it would probably say B-O-B-O.
That's how God would describe them.
Bobo.
You say, why?
Because people don't know anything about the Bible.
They're literally ignorant of the Bible.
They've never read the Bible.
Look, at our church, we try to encourage you to read the Bible.
In January, we had the Bible reading challenge,
where half of our church read the entire New Testament in January.
You say, why do you do that challenge?
Because I want your faith to stand not in the power of men,
but in the power of God.
Not in my words, not in my arguments, but what does the Bible say?
And here's the thing.
When I preach a sermon, I want you to go home and search the Scriptures
and say, is this true or not?
Because here's the thing.
I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes.
I'm wrong about things.
And look, you don't have to believe everything I believe.
Read the Bible for yourself and determine what you believe.
If somebody says, you know, Brother Stuckey,
why do you believe salvation is by grace through faith?
Well, Brother Stuckey told me.
Wrong answer.
You need to believe it because,
thus saith the Lord, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.
Thus saith the Lord, John 3, 16.
Not, thus saith Brother Stuckey.
You need to know what the Bible says for yourself.
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity,
and the scorners delight in their scorning,
and fools hate knowledge.
Turn ye at my reproof.
Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you.
I will make known my words unto you.
Do you see in verse 21, uttereth her words?
Verse 23, my words are known unto you.
Verse 22 was knowledge.
Verse 20, wisdom crieth out.
See, wisdom is found in the words of God.
Okay?
Turn to Proverbs 2.
Proverbs 2.
Proverbs chapter 2.
I mean, the truth is,
you should learn more about the Bible
from your personal reading and studying
and memorizing than from my sermons.
Now, I give you a lot of verses and sermons.
I don't just give you one verse
and let's just tell a story about, you know,
back when I was 15 years old or whatever, right?
But here's the thing.
I can only give you so many verses in one sermon.
And quite honestly, you know,
as I'm reading a couple verses in Proverbs chapter 1,
I'm not taking those out of context,
but I'm giving you just a few verses in the chapter.
You know, you're not seeing the full picture
when you're just seeing a couple verses.
You need to read Proverbs 1 for yourself
to figure out what does the Bible say.
I can only give you so many verses in one sermon.
Okay?
Proverbs 2 verse 1.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words
and hide my commandments with thee
so that thou would incline thine heart onto wisdom.
You see how the words and wisdom are associated.
And apply thine heart to understanding.
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge
and liftest up thy voice for understanding,
if thou seekest her as silver
and searches for hers for hid treasures,
then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord giveth wisdom,
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
And see, the Bible says that if you're actually
crying after knowledge and searching after knowledge,
you know what?
You're going to find the knowledge and wisdom of God.
But the key is that this is the book to find it.
It's not in some other book.
The Quran's going to teach you nothing.
Right?
The Hindu scriptures are going to teach you nothing.
The Bhagavad Gita, the Bible of the Hindus,
is going to teach you nothing.
The Vedas, the eternal truth of God,
according to the Hindus,
they teach you to get drunk.
That's what they tell you in the Vedas.
I mean, good night.
I mean, I've seen plenty of verses from the Vedas
and their gods are bisexual.
They're rapists.
They're murderers and they're getting drunk all the time.
Boy, that sounds like a lot of wisdom.
I'm pretty sure the Bible says wisdom is found
in the opposite of getting drunk.
How are you going to have wisdom
when you're drunk all the time?
I mean, it's foolishness.
And that's a holy book?
That's a sacred book?
And you know what they'll say is this.
The Swamis will say,
well, some things are okay for God to do,
but not for man to do.
That's kind of funny because the Bible says
be holy for I am holy.
So what the Bible says is,
I want you to be holy because I am holy.
And the number one attribute you see
of God in the Bible is holiness.
It's the number one attribute.
And God says, you know what,
because I'm holy,
I'm setting an example for you to be holy.
I mean, how successful.
I mean, if this was filled,
this is filled full of water, by the way.
I know you can't see it, okay?
But let's say, for example,
I was a Catholic priest.
You know, because at communion,
Catholic priests are getting drunk.
And then all of a sudden it's like,
oh, no, we ran out of communion wine.
Let me just drink the rest for myself, right?
But can you imagine if this was filled full of booze,
and I'm standing up here saying,
don't drink alcohol.
That's called hypocrisy.
It's called being a Pharisee.
How successful are you going to be?
But see, God says to be holy because I'm holy.
Proverbs chapter, turn to Proverbs 4.
Proverbs 4.
There is a devaluing on the importance of wisdom
and knowledge and understanding in today's world.
People have this idea,
well, I listen to Christian rock music,
so I'm really spiritual.
But they never read the Bible.
I'm pretty sure the main thing God focuses on
is reading the Bible.
Now, look, I encourage you to sing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs as the Bible says.
But even above that, read the Bible.
That's the key in the Word of God.
Read the Bible.
And we live in this video game generation
where people can't pay attention, right?
It's like, oh, man, I was trying to read the Bible,
and, man, I was reading in, I don't know,
James chapter 1.
I got through five verses.
Let me see what's on Facebook.
It's like, no, just set aside your distractions
and actually spend time with God
and say, 30 minutes, I'm going to read the Word of God
and find out the great mysteries in life
because these are the answers found right here.
Proverbs 4 verse 1.
Hear ye children the instruction of a father,
and attend to no understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsaking not my law.
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved,
in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me,
Let thine heart retain my words,
keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not.
Neither decline from the words of my mouth.
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is the principal thing,
therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting,
get understanding.
The Bible says wisdom is the principal thing,
and it's found in God's Word.
You say, why is it important?
Because, you know, you've got these churches
that don't preach on anything.
Just these generic sermons, God loves you,
you know, and it's all, and look,
I'm all for sermons on encouragement,
and patience, and love,
but you need a proper balance on the Word of God.
And Jesus didn't get crucified for preaching on patience.
John the Baptist didn't lose his head
for preaching on patience, okay?
And I'll tell you what, if people grow up in church,
and they never hear this kind of preaching,
and they never read the Bible for themselves,
it doesn't matter whether they're saved or not.
They're going to think it's normal for a guy to wear a dress.
You say, why? Because that's what you see.
But, you know, anybody who's actually reading the Bible
would look at that and say it's an abomination before God.
You read Genesis 19, and you're like,
what in the world is wrong with our world today?
And if you know anything about history,
guess why the Greeks got destroyed,
and even the world would agree,
because they were a bunch of homos.
That was a large part of why Greece was destroyed.
You say, how did that destroy them?
Well, I believe God's judgment was upon them.
But, see, if you don't read the Bible for yourself,
that might seem normal to you.
Like, no big deal.
Go to Proverbs 9.
Proverbs 9.
Proverbs chapter 9.
Proverbs 9, verse 10.
Now, here's the thing about these religions, too.
They devalue the importance of living a holy and godly
and separated life.
I mean, both the Greeks and the Hindus,
that's really what you would say about them,
because when you focus on one aspect,
you're not going to focus on something else.
When you look at the most famous god of the Greeks,
you would say Zeus, right?
Everybody's heard of Zeus.
Zeus, in their myths and their stories,
was also bisexual, a rapist, and a murderer.
If you don't believe me, actually, I don't encourage you.
I don't encourage you to check that out on Google,
but it's a fact.
It's the same thing with the Hindu gods, okay?
Here's the problem.
You're searching after wisdom,
and you have no problem with committing sins.
It's not a big deal.
Well, what does it say in Proverbs 9, verse 10?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
So, by all means, you need to read this book,
but you need to live a holy life,
because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
And if you're fearing God and obeying His commandments
and reading His word, you're going to arrive at the truth.
But you've got these religions, like the Greeks,
who are just sitting around, these philosophers,
just kind of discussing the mysteries of life all day.
I mean, literally, in their stories,
like the actual biographies and stories,
you have all these philosophers.
You know how after church we sit around in chairs
and everything for a little while,
talk about the Bible, talk about life.
They literally sit around for 10 hours all day,
and they got paid for this.
With alcohol, they're drinking alcohol,
and then they're talking about the mysteries of life.
And it's like a bunch of them were just a bunch of open sodomites.
Like, this is a fact.
I mean, one of their big books, you know,
it's a fact that they were talking about just, you know, homosexual.
Is it wrong to have a little boy as a sex slave?
This is the Greeks.
This is the wisdom that was passed over to the Western world
that the United States was so happy about.
We've got to get this philosophy and wisdom from the Greeks.
Wow, it sounds really wise.
It sounds really great.
Look, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
So here's the thing.
Wisdom and truth is found in God's Word, okay?
And if you want to arrive at the truth and know wisdom,
you need to read God's Word.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I just got married a couple months ago.
I'm trying to figure out, you know, how to be a good husband.
I just got married a couple months ago.
I'm trying to figure out how to be a good wife.
You know, man, what are the tips that you can give me?
What does the Bible say?
You want to know how to be a good husband, what does the Bible say?
Read the Song of Solomon.
You can learn some good tips.
I mean, literally the first place my wife and I lived after we got married,
literally I picked that place because of the fact I memorized the Song of Solomon
and I learned some things and I was like, okay, I shouldn't make this choice,
I should make this choice, literally from reading God's Word.
You want to find out how do I become a good husband?
How do I become a good father?
How do I become a good mother?
What's the answer? Father's Day is coming up, right?
It's like, how do I become a good father?
What does the Bible say?
That's the answer.
How do I get successful at work, at my career, at my job?
What does the Bible say?
Look, that is what we believe as Christians, that wisdom is found in this book.
It's not just a cute phrase we say.
These are not just interesting stories.
Yeah, just read these stories of David and Goliath to keep yourself entertained.
No, they're actually teaching you.
It's actually wisdom from God's Word.
Now, turn back to 1 Corinthians 1.
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
And look, what I find is that with a lot of topics,
people don't ask themselves what does the Bible say when they're trying to figure out the answer.
They just kind of go off man's wisdom or something they've heard or what seems right.
They don't even consider is there something in the Bible that actually addresses this.
I made a video on our channel just like a week ago about keto and Atkins and low-carb diets.
Here's an example of this with diets.
You've got some people that are like vegetarians.
They don't ask themselves what does the Bible say.
And there's Christians that are vegetarians.
And they don't ask themselves, well, what does the Bible say about it?
And then the keto diet is really popular, which is like the no-carb or very, very, very low-carb,
like less than 30 grams of carbohydrates a day to keep in ketosis.
They say 30 or 40 grams, depending on who you are.
But here's the thing. You say, Brother Seki, what's the problem with that diet?
Well, the Bible says bread strengtheneth the heart.
Bread strengthens your heart.
That's what the Bible says.
I mean, I don't believe that verse is just, oh, the bread strengthens the heart.
No, I believe it literally strengthens your heart.
I mean, the most common food I probably eat is probably oatmeal, to be honest.
You say, why? Because I want my heart to be strong.
Bread strengtheneth the heart. I believe that.
And look, if you're coming to whatever, you say, I want to live a healthy life, what does the Bible say?
What wisdom can you get from the Word of God?
Because the Bible speaks about all subjects.
Right? Or it's just like a land flowing with milk and honey.
It's showing you that milk and honey are good things.
That's why I wouldn't be on this no-carb diet.
Now, at the same time, depending on what type of fat it is, it's not necessarily a bad thing
because some fats are kind of prohibited in the Bible or spoken against, and some are not.
Milk is an example of a very high-fat food.
It's kind of got a mix of protein, carbs.
But my point is this.
When we're looking at any topic, what does the Bible say?
Don't tell me the Bible doesn't talk about it.
Maybe there's just a verse you haven't noticed or thought about.
Okay?
Now, point number one, truth is found in God's Word.
Point number two, the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.
So here's the thing with the Hindus and religions like this.
They're not reading the Bible for wisdom.
They're reading something else or just doing something else.
The problem is this is foolishness with God.
Okay?
1 Corinthians 1, verse 18.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
So in verse 18, it's giving you two types of people.
Those that perish, which means those that go to hell.
And they hear the preaching of the cross, and to them it's foolish.
But to us which are saved, it's the power of God.
I mean, hearing the story of Jesus dying and rising again, we're like, amen.
Right?
Doesn't that make sense that Jesus died and paid for all of our sins?
It makes perfect sense.
Doesn't it make sense that living a good life could never get you to heaven
because we're all sinners, and we're all guilty,
and no one can boast before God, right?
Walang Mayabang person in heaven.
That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
But see, unsaved people, they think it's foolishness.
You think by believing on Jesus Christ that's going to get you to heaven.
It's really funny because these people will tell you you have to live a good life to get to heaven,
and then they don't live a good life.
It's like you can't just believe on Jesus and expect to go to heaven.
You've got to do works and get baptized and live a good life
and change your lifestyle and quit drinking and quit smoking and do all these things.
And it's like you were smoking a cigarette at the start of the conversation,
and now you're telling me that you've got it.
Well, I'm trying to stop.
It's like, what in the world?
It doesn't make any sense, right?
The Bible says we're all sinners, and we're all guilty.
All of us need a Savior, right?
Kurapa, dapa, tayo nang, empirono.
Everybody's guilty.
Everybody needs a Savior, and only Jesus Christ died for us.
That makes sense.
It makes sense.
The reason why Jesus came here was not to just be entertaining for 30 years and then die,
but that He actually died for our sins, and He lived a perfect and sin-free life.
This makes perfect sense.
Other religions, Buddha didn't die for Buddhists, right?
Muhammad didn't die for Muslims.
Eli Suriano didn't die for un-da-ting-da-an, right?
It's like these people, these religious leaders, they didn't die for their members,
and so how could that get you to heaven?
But see, Jesus Christ died and paid for our sins and rose again after three days.
And so I trust what Jesus says.
I trust modern-day prophets.
I trust what Jesus Christ says, because you know what?
He is the Word, and He died, and He paid for our sins.
This is the power of God.
It makes sense to us.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
And what God's saying here is, the people that think they're so wise,
God is going to destroy that wisdom, or so-called wisdom.
Where is the scribe wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this world?
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that belief.
So in verse 21, it says that after in the wisdom of God,
the world by wisdom knew not God.
You say, what does that mean?
It's saying those that are seeking after wisdom and truth
don't actually arrive at the wisdom of God.
You say, what's the problem?
Well, the next verse is going to talk about the Greeks.
The problem is, they're not going to the actual wisdom.
If you try to search after the wisdom and truth of God,
but you do not actually read this word, you're not going to arrive at the truth.
You're going to arrive at the opposite of the truth.
I mean, when you listen to Hindus talk about why they worship idols,
or there's swamis that talk about it,
what they'll say is, you know what, you're meditating, you're meditating,
you're meditating, and once you realize that you're actually God,
you've arrived at the wisdom.
Well, last I checked, that's what Satan told to Eve in Genesis 3.
Last I checked, I'm not God because I'm a sinner.
But they say, no, actually, you are God.
You just need to realize that. We're all God.
Because God's in everything. This is God right here.
This is God right here.
This little idol that I make with my hands that now I'm worshiping,
that's God.
It's foolishness.
It's ridiculous.
But this is what they teach. This is the wisdom of the world.
Then it says here in verse 22,
and when it says at the end of verse 21,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,
realize it's not saying that the preaching of God's word is foolish.
What it's saying is to the unsaved world, they consider it foolish.
They will consider you dumb and foolish no matter how smart you are.
You literally could be the smartest person in the world,
and the world will say that you're foolish because of what you believe.
It doesn't matter how smart you are.
I mean, my sister graduated college a month after she turned 18.
Oh, but she's a fool because she's a Christian
and because she believes the earth is young.
She's a fool. She doesn't know what the truth is.
Just because of what she believes, they will say that you're a fool.
Here's the thing. Don't spend your life trying to prove to the unsaved world
that you're intelligent and look really good.
And this is something that we can make a mistake when we go soul winning
because I get this.
I understand how annoying it is when people will act like you're dumb
and they act like they're smarter than you.
I mean, that is frustrating.
That is annoying.
Trust me, when I was in college, because I got saved when I was 18,
and then there's these evolutionists that would mock you
and laugh at you and make fun of you.
It was so annoying, right?
But you don't want to fall in the trap of just spending an hour
trying to win a philosophical discussion with someone who's not going to get saved.
You've got to be strong enough in your faith to walk away
and allow yourself to look like a fool by the world's standards.
I mean, when Jesus Christ was on the cross, people are like,
look at this fool.
He saved others himself he cannot save.
They mocked Jesus Christ.
But you know what?
Those same people are the ones that died and went to hell.
Except the other thief on the cross was willing to humble himself and get saved,
and praise the Lord for that, because he started mocking Jesus,
and then he ends up getting saved.
But here's the thing.
This world that mocks us,
well, one day they're actually going to bow before Jesus Christ and beg for mercy.
Richard Dawkins is the most obnoxious person in the world probably, right?
If you know Richard Dawkins, the atheist,
I mean, he wrote a book 15 years ago, The God Delusion.
And it's one thing to not believe in God because maybe you've been lied to,
but it's another thing where your goal in life is to tear down Christianity
and tear down the belief in God.
And he mocks people believing in God like, you're so stupid.
It's like, I'm sorry, but when I walk outside and I look up at the sky
and somebody tells me there is no God, I'm just like, you're an idiot.
It's like, you're a fool, as the Bible would say.
It's like, what are you talking about?
It's obvious there's a God whether you like it or not, okay?
It's not foolishness, the preaching of God's word,
but the world will look at it as foolish.
I mean, good night.
If a bunch of atheists listen to this sermon,
they would think I'm like one of the dumbest people in the world, right?
That preacher is so foolish.
I can't believe anybody would listen to him.
I mean, somebody commented on the YouTube video earlier,
you know, the worst thing about it is there's actually people listening to this fool.
They're talking about me, right?
It's like, oh, whatever, you think I'm a fool, that's fine.
You know what, God's word is still true whether you believe it or not,
and this is the actual wisdom is found in God's word.
Verse 22, for the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
So the Jews want a sign.
Didn't they always say, give us a sign, give us a sign, and we'll believe?
Well, Jesus said, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
What does that mean?
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And what Jesus said is, you know what, here's the sign.
I'm going to die and pay for your sins and rise again.
That was the sign given to them.
And guess what?
Jesus literally rose again from the dead, and people still didn't believe.
That's not a strong enough sign for you.
You say, well, how did they know it was true?
The Bible says there was many infallible proofs that proved it was true.
I mean, it was denying reality to say Jesus didn't rise again,
and yet people said, well, I don't believe.
It's just like, you're a fool.
I mean, this is the sign that Jesus, I mean, I'm going to die for your sins and pay for your sins,
and Jesus prophesied about this.
He said He was going to die.
He said, you're going to kill the Son in the parables, He said in the book of Matthew,
and then He's going to rise again from the dead, and they still didn't believe.
It's like, what sign do you want?
What greater sign could there possibly be?
I mean, the existence of God is proven as the sun rises and sun sets every single day.
What sign do you want?
You just don't want to believe in God.
You don't want to believe the truth.
The Jews require a sign, and then the Greeks seek after wisdom.
The Greeks want to understand God by just trying to understand the great mysteries of life.
They're seeking after wisdom.
According to the Jews, we'll believe if we see a sign.
According to the Greeks, we'll believe if you can prove it to us in a philosophical debate for three hours.
Neither one of those is true.
It doesn't matter what you say in that debate.
They're still not going to believe.
You say, Brother Stuckey, since the Jews are requiring a sign, I think I need to give them a sign.
Well, what sign are you going to give them?
Jesus rose again from the dead.
I'm pretty sure that's the best sign you could possibly have.
What wisdom can I give to the Greeks to get them saved?
Wait a minute. What does it say in verse 23?
We preach Christ crucified onto the Jews' stumbling block and onto the Greeks' foolishness.
Paul says they're looking for a sign in wisdom, but you know what we do?
We tell them that Jesus Christ died and rose again and paid for their sins.
In the second sermon today, we'll look at Acts 17.
That's exactly what Jesus said to the Epicureans and the Stoics who were various types of Greek philosophers.
He just told them about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Some believed and some didn't.
Did you know that there are Hindus that would get saved if you just gave them the Gospel?
You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't know if that's true.
Well, let me just say this, because in the U.S. I've spoken to many Hindus,
and I know three specific Hindus I've won to the Lord in the United States by preaching the Gospel to them.
Now, it took a longer conversation.
It was not a 15-minute conversation, because their idea on the nature of God is very different from ours.
It took a lot of time to explain that Jesus Christ is God, and He's the Son of God, and the Trinity.
And I explained a lot of things I would not normally do at the door,
because the good thing for us preaching the Gospel is that Catholics believe in the basics of salvation.
I mean, the fact that Jesus died and rose again is what I'm saying.
They believe in a false Gospel. They believe work saved them, but they believe in the death, burial, and resurrection.
They believe in the Trinity. They believe Jesus is God.
Here's the thing. Hindus don't believe that.
And if you're going to speak to a Hindu, you have to explain the idea of the nature of God.
And you know what? I'm not really that into philosophical discussions, but here's the thing.
The Hindus that are willing to listen, just give them the Gospel.
Some will get saved and some won't.
When I was in Guyana, Guyana is a country that's 25% Indian descent and 75% of the native descent.
And so a lot of people in Guyana are Hindus.
So when I was in Guyana for a couple weeks, I gave the Gospel to a lot of Hindus.
And they were less likely to get saved, but there were still some that got saved.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how did you prove to the Hindus that Jesus Christ was the way?
I proved it through the Word of God, and some believed and some didn't.
It might shock you, but from my experience, and I've preached to people of a lot of different religions,
Hindus are actually very receptive compared to other unique religions.
I've actually found Hindus are a million times more receptive than Buddhists and Mormons.
I mean, even Seventh-day Adventists. Hindus are more receptive, from my experience, than Seventh-day Adventists.
Now, of course, I have a small sample size. I'm not saying I've preached to five million Hindus,
but I am saying I've seen many get saved, and they got saved through actually seeing what the Word of God says.
Now, at the same time, I also remember I gave the Gospel to a Hindu one time, 25 minutes, 30 minutes long,
and I got to the end of the conversation, and I said, so what do you think?
Because this is very different than, you know, Hinduism and the teachings.
And they were listening and answering correctly about everything, about eternal life and a gift,
and they said, this actually makes me feel really good, because you gave me confidence that Hindus and Christians believe the same thing.
And I'm just like, hey, some get it and some don't. I'm just like, man, do I need to make changes to my Gospel presentation?
It's like, I was just explaining the Trinity and how Jesus is God and it's not Siva and He's the only one.
It's like, wow, we really believe the same thing. I'm like, what?
So, look, I'm not saying every Hindu you talk to is going to get saved,
but I am saying no matter what the religion is, there are some that when they hear the truth of God's Word,
they're going to hear and say, man, that's right. That's the wisdom and power of God.
I remember when I heard the Gospel when I was 18 years old, and you know what, here's the thing.
The conversation happened because my friend in college, I had just kind of met him,
and he was my friend, so I probably wouldn't have listened if it was door to door,
but he started preaching to me and explaining the Bible and everything.
At the beginning of the conversation, I mean, I was arguing with him.
I said, no, you can't just believe. That's too simple. I don't believe that and everything.
And I ended up getting saved, but when I heard his words, it wasn't his words, it was the power of God.
It was the words of God. I couldn't deny, man, that sounds right.
It's like, I lived for 18 years, and I realized, you know what, I've been lied to.
Because when he was explaining, it was just like, and I don't like losing arguments,
so I was very frustrated to have to admit I was wrong. Right?
But when I heard it, I was just like, that sounds right. I mean, that makes sense.
And you know what, there are actually Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims.
No matter what the religion, if they heard the truth, they'd be like, you know what, that actually sounds right.
Like, that is the power of God. But most won't listen. Some will and some won't. Okay?
But we still preach Christ crucified, according to verse 23.
Verse 24, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
Isn't it true that most people that are really intelligent by world standards are very powerful?
Oftentimes they don't get saved. Right? Some of them, they think they're so wise and smart that they refuse to humble themselves
and just admit that they were wrong. That they were wrong about what they believe.
So the truth is, many powerful people, many wise people, many rich people, they're not interested. Right?
You know, like I said, you know, our new building in Pampanga, you know, right near there, there's a neighborhood.
And, you know, I've been told it's called the Tondo of Pampanga. I'm thinking praise the Lord for soul winning. Right?
Because if it was a rich neighborhood, I mean, if it was the, you know, I don't know the richest area.
The Ortegus, right? I don't know. Of, you know, Pampanga, it probably wouldn't be that receptive.
I mean, if every house has like 20 bedrooms, they're probably not going to be that receptive.
Now, there's going to be some that listen, but it's also easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle.
Most camels are pretty big. Most needles are pretty small. Right?
So look, it's good soul winning in poorer areas. They're more receptive in general. Right?
Verse 27, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
The Bible says God's chosen the foolish things to confound the wise.
And what it's basically saying is He chooses very simple and easy things and they confound the wise and they can't answer it.
Right? You know, when we're going soul winning, we're not explaining anything complicated.
We're explaining that salvation is a gift. Doesn't get much simpler than that.
And people that want to argue with you, it confounds them. Right?
These religious people that don't believe and you explain a gift and you explain how a gift can't be taken back
and that gift is eternal, meaning forever, so you can't lose it.
And a gift means, we'll uncouple it, we'll unbay it, we'll uncondition.
So if you say, here's a gift, but oh, you got to be baptized. It's not a gift.
And you know what? They don't agree with you, but then they can't really deny what you're saying because that makes sense.
So sometimes they refuse to answer the questions because, you know, they just don't believe.
They don't want to believe. But, you know, another example we give is being born again.
Here's the thing about being born again. When a baby's born, the mom does the work. Right?
When we get born into God's family, who does the work? Jesus Christ did the work.
We don't do anything. We just believe on what He did for us.
Here's the thing. My son, Zeph, will always be my son.
If he acts up, I will punish him and discipline him, but he's still my son.
Same thing with God. You receive eternal life. You're God's child.
Will God discipline you here in this life? Yes, but you're always going to be His child because it's eternal life.
It's everlasting life. That makes sense.
And you know what? That confounds the really wise religious people because they can't answer that.
That's literally what being born again is.
What I heard recently, this guy, you know, I made a video because there's this guy who I went to high school with.
He was my friend a long time ago, like 28 years ago or whatever.
And he's a hardcore Church of Christ. And when I say Church of Christ, I'm not saying I-N-C.
There's a Church of Christ in every country. Okay?
It's a Church of Christ cult in the U.S.
And he talked about how, well, when you believe on Jesus, you have everlasting life.
You know, it's basically, I'm trying to remember the word he used, but he basically says it's not immediate,
but one day you're going to get it.
That's funny because John 3.36 says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
As in has everlasting life.
Present tense. You don't wait to the end of your life to be saved.
If you're waiting to the end of your life to figure out whether or not you're going to heaven, it's too late, my friend.
You've got to figure it out now. And you receive eternal life the moment that you believe.
Okay? That's, I mean, man, the time just stopped. I've got to figure out what time it is.
This is why I don't preach for like five hours, because I look at the time, but it stopped.
So it's 11.04. Okay.
Anyways, verse 28. But see, something simple like that, if Richard Dawkins was here,
and he listened to me, and he let me explain for a couple minutes, he would laugh at me,
he would mock me, and he'd say, That's foolish. That's too simple. That doesn't make any sense.
But it's true. And you're not going to be able to answer against that. That is what the Bible teaches.
Verse 28. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen ye,
and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Did you know that no flesh, no person can glory in God's presence?
Now, we usually apply this to works. And this is true. Ephesians 2, 9.
Lest any man should boast. Right? You cannot be my Abong.
You can't be up in heaven and say, Well, I deserve to be here because I'm so good.
Your works don't save you. But the context in this verse is talking about glorying in your wisdom.
Right? I mean, it's mainly talking about the Greeks and the wisdom.
Look, nobody's going to be able to say, Well, I got to heaven because I'm so smart and educated.
I studied the great mysteries of life, and I found out the knowledge of God.
No. It's just the wisdom found in God's Word that somebody explains to you.
No one's going to be able to glory and say, Well, I'm in heaven because I'm so smart,
and I'm so educated. No one's going to be able to glory for any reason in heaven
because the only reason why you're saved is because of the fact somebody
explained the Gospel from the Word of God, and you believed it.
It doesn't matter how smart you are. You're never going to arrive at the truth on your own.
You humble yourself when someone explains the Gospel to you.
Go to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2.
1 Corinthians. I got to speed up. I was deceived by that clock.
Good night. I mean, I thought I still had plenty of time.
We're just going to skip lunch today.
Just go straight into soul learning.
1 Corinthians 2. Let me just read you these verses here. Verse 4.
Now, let me explain something to you. Paul the Apostle was one of the smartest, most educated people in the world.
I mean, he spoke a lot of languages. We don't know how many,
but it seemed like he moved to whatever town, and he immediately spoke the language
just like a couple minutes later. It's like, Man, I wish I had that power, right?
I mean, Paul the Apostle, he moved here to the Philippines.
I mean, within like a couple months, it's like, Man, I speak Kapampangan, Tagalog, Cebuano.
It's like, Man, how many languages do you speak? And so he'd just pick up all the languages
really quickly, right? And he was a very educated person. He was educated
to know the wisdom of the world at a young age. The best teachers he could
possibly have. He was a very smart man. Nobody would deny that.
But what does he say here in verse 4? And my speech and my preaching was not with
enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God.
When you're preaching sermons, your job
is to make it seem so simple that everybody understands.
Look, I used to be a math teacher. The first day of calculus,
if you've had calculus, right? The first day of calculus class,
all they do is give you this long, complicated
formula with no numbers and just letters.
And you're looking at it like, What in the world are we talking about?
It's like, Where are the numbers to explain this, right? And you walk
away, you're thinking, Man, that teacher's really smart, but I don't understand anything
about what he talked about. Here's the thing. If I try to just
make myself seem intelligent and just not be very clear
with my preaching, I might look really smart to you. But if you don't
understand and you can't apply it, I'm actually failing as a preacher.
And you've got some of these very wise preachers that are out there,
and they talk very complicated, and people don't understand them.
That's not your goal. If you're a teacher, which is what you're doing,
you're teaching, you're meant to teach so people can understand.
A great example I know from the U.S. is Dr. James White.
He's this famous Calvinist
apologist that always debates. And if you ever listen to him talk,
he talks for a couple minutes, and you don't even know what he's talking about because he uses words that
nobody understands.
Egotology. The end times.
Just say the end times. If you're going to use a word, make sure you explain it. But he doesn't explain it.
Exegesis.
And it's just like, what? Jesus? No, no, no. Exegesis.
It's like explain what you're talking about, which basically means go back to the original language
which you don't speak and just figure out what the Bible actually says, is what he's saying.
Or soteriology. The study of salvation. Just explain what you're talking about.
Because you want people to understand, not to walk away
and, look, I know how this is. My wife's been a Baptist for longer than me.
And she talked about how she used to be a church and her old pastor from a long time ago.
Everyone thought he was like the smartest person, but they didn't understand.
I mean, they were bouncing all over the place.
Like, oh, we're in Zeko chapter 7, and this ties into Joshua 15, which ties
into John 3.16. Wow, he's so smart.
And it's just like, that's not your job as a preacher.
And Paul the Apostle, he did not try to sound intelligent when he was preaching.
He tried to just explain it very simply. And look, sometimes you explain deep, deep, deep, deep
complicated things. As I said, the next sermon is the most complicated
sermon I've ever preached in my life. To the best of my ability,
I'm going to try to make it as simple as possible so we can actually understand it.
Okay. Verse 6, howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,
not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught. But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God
ordained before the world unto our glory. The Bible speaks about
hidden wisdom. But where is this hidden wisdom?
Well, it's right here. It's not hidden
to you and me. I mean, if we're saved, because if you have the Holy Spirit of truth,
the Holy Spirit of God inside of you, if you're reading God's word,
God can actually show you what the truth is.
There's absolutely nothing that I ever preached from the Bible that you could not
find on your own. You could find it on your own. Now, I definitely believe in
church, you can have somebody preach to you that can really help you, that maybe they've
studied it more, maybe they've been saved longer, they can motivate you.
But you could still learn this on your own if you're reading the word of God. You could read 1 Corinthians
1 and 1 Corinthians 2 and see the same things I'm seeing
and the same explanations I'm giving you. You say, why? Because if you're saved, you've got
the Spirit of truth inside you guiding you.
Now, turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians 3.
And we'll skip some things for sake of time, but
1 Corinthians 3.
Let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world.
In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 18, it's saying by the world standards, they seem like they're
very wise and smart, right? If he seems to be wise,
notice this, let him become a fool that he may be wise.
Richard Dawkins, you want to be wise? Become a fool that you may be wise.
Now, I'm fairly certain it's too late for Richard Dawkins, but
let me tell you something. I think it would be, you know, as embarrassing
as it would be to write a book called The God Delusion and then admit that you were wrong and
get saved and say, man, it's going to be more embarrassing for you
when you're bowing down before Jesus Christ and begging for mercy.
Because Richard Dawkins said, you know what, he literally said, even
if the God of the Bible is the true God, I would never worship him.
It's not about wisdom and truth. He just doesn't like the God of the Bible.
Well, one day you're going to bow down whether you believe that or not.
Now, I've said before, we need the atheist
challenge. And what the atheist challenge is, is to really find out if they're an atheist.
Because many of them are just lying to you. And what you do is you drop them in the middle
of the ocean surrounded by sharks and see if they cry out to God.
If they don't cry out to God and then they get eaten by the sharks,
they were an atheist. If they cry out to God
to save them, they weren't really an atheist. They actually did believe in God
even if they didn't want to admit it. It's like, there's this really old Twilight Zone
episode where there's this guy. It's set in a futuristic
time period, I think over in Russia, because Russia was the big evil to the US
in the past and everything. And basically where everything's becoming obsolete.
The word of God is obsolete. The Bible is obsolete. So you're not allowed to have a Bible in the futuristic
society. This guy gets arrested for having a Bible and everything. And he
gets tricked into the fact that he's basically going to die.
And then all of a sudden at the last second, please, just save me.
And he says something like, he mentions God. I can't remember how he says it,
but just God, save me. Give me a chance. And then all of a sudden
the guy unlocks the door and lets him out and that guy ends up blowing up.
But the guy who cried out for God to save him, then all of a sudden he stands before the government.
He was a very powerful person. This is all on video for the world to see.
All of a sudden he gets caught crying out to God and now all of a sudden he gets the death penalty
because he cried out to God. But that's kind of the challenge.
It's like, would you actually be an atheist if you're at the point of death?
Many people would not because they actually believe in God.
And so, let him become a fool that he may be wise. But notice this in verse 19.
This is very interesting. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
So what it's saying is the wise people lift themselves up as being so smart
and in that same way he basically turns at 180.
So actually you're a fool. I mean the Bible says the fool
hath said in his heart there is no God. These people lift themselves up as being so wise
but God takes them in their craftiness. He makes them look like a fool to the entire world.
You say, what are you talking about? Well with the atheists
as you listen to what's coming out of their mouths, the smartest people in the world
and what they believe is so stupid.
Now they don't want to believe in the big bang theory. Now it's the simulation theory that's going to take over.
That we're just a computer program. We're not even here.
Elon Musk, Mr. Rich and Famous said there's a one in billions chance that this is actually real.
Look, you live in the matrix. Did you realize that?
According to all these evolutionists and Elon Musk, it wasn't just a fun movie
you watched 20 years ago. You live in the matrix.
That's what they teach. Foolish. You're insane.
Why do we have emotion and free will then if we live in the matrix? That's foolish.
But that's what they're teaching now. He's taking them in their own craftiness.
An example though from as we're talking about the Hindus, I mean look at how
they're trying to treat COVID. It's a religion that's searching
after wisdom and you see them over in India doing interviews
covered in cow poop to try to cure COVID.
Look,
I'm mocking the religion. Not mocking the people. That is the result
of the religion. Hinduism is destroying India.
I mean it's crazy. It's madness. And look, many people
look in Sacramento, it's very saturated with people from India. Many Hindus are nice
people that are willing to listen to you and as I said, they're willing to listen to the gospel oftentimes.
But Hinduism is foolishness. They're searching after wisdom
and they're bowing down before cows. They're going to the
rat temple. It's like what in the world? Most people
if they have a rat, they just kill it. Look at our new place in Pampanga.
You know we heard some crawlers up there. You know what we did? We put down traps
and guess what? We got rid of the problem. We caught them.
I mean it actually didn't kill them. We just threw them in the trash and those cats were getting
very excited. Just like crying all night. They wanted to get to those. But it's like
man, I'm not going to have a bunch of rats and mice crawling around my house. Most people
they see an E piece, they just kill it.
But it's foolishness. That's searching after wisdom apart from God's words.
It's foolishness. Now praise the Lord that many are willing to listen. Now here's
the thing. If you run into a Hindu out soul-willing, don't mock them and make fun of them.
Just try to give them the gospel.
It's not their fault they grew up in a false religion. Because here's the thing. It's also
pretty foolish. The Feast of the Black Nazarene is pretty foolish.
It's like you rub this idol and it's going to heal you of some disease. I'm sorry but
that's pretty foolish too. All of us believe foolish things before we are saved.
Turn to one last place. Ezekiel chapter 18.
Ezekiel 18.
Point number one, truth is found in God's
Word. Point number two, the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.
Point number three, when you go for the wisdom, if this is the
wisdom, think about this logic, if this is the wisdom right here,
and this is the world's wisdom right here, and you search after the world's
wisdom instead of the Bible and God's wisdom,
what does that mean? It means you're going to end up at the opposite of wisdom.
That's what we've said about every sermon during this philosophy series. It's a
religion that's searching after wisdom and literally, I don't know if you could invent
a dumber religion than Hinduism or
Greek mythology, Hellenism. It's like foolishness.
I mean look, all false religions are wrong
but here's the thing, when you look at the religions in India, Islam's a normal religion.
It's not, right? Sikhism's
a normal religion. It's not, Hinduism is
like, what in the world?
I mean this is, and I get it, they say, well you're not supposed to make fun of other,
all cultures are equal just in different ways. No, I'm sorry,
there are some that are worse. I'd rather live here than North Korea or a Muslim country or India.
Right? It is a crazy, crazy, crazy religion.
Ezekiel 18 verse 25,
Yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal.
Here now, O house of Israel, is not my way equal?
Are not your ways unequal? And it says here in verse 25,
the way of the Lord is not equal. This is the claim the house of Israel is making. It's not fair.
Because the book of Ezekiel is preaching after they've already been in captivity and they're saying,
it's not fair we're in captivity. How's it not fair?
Just like other nations became wicked and they got judged, when you became wicked, you got judged.
That seems fair to me. But they're saying, it's not fair.
It's not equal. It's not right. And you know what, you talk to people today
and they'll say the laws of God are not fair.
They're not right. They're not equal.
For example, the Bible speaks of the death penalty, right?
The death penalty existed before the Mosaic law. Genesis 9,
Whoso shedth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.
The death penalty is in Genesis chapter 9. And you know what, the Bible says, an eye for an eye.
So if somebody kills someone and there's witnesses, they would be put to death.
That's the resurrection of Jesus. It still applies.
Now, no government really follows the laws of the Bible, but it's still the laws of the Bible.
Same laws that are going to be there during the millennial reign.
Here's the thing. When I was in Sacramento, there was this really famous serial killer.
He was the most famous serial killer in the world who hadn't been caught.
He was called the Golden State Killer.
This is how it always starts. They start off with something small.
He went on to rape and then he went on to murder over the course of like 15 or 20 years.
And he officially, you know, they know for sure it was like
15 or 16 murders, but they said it might be up to like 30-some.
He did this over a long period, and he raped a lot of different people.
And then when he got caught, you can look at the YouTube comments.
And you know, this guy, this shows how phony these people are, because this guy's now like in his 70s.
But when he was in court, he was like in a wheelchair.
He was like, he acts like he's really old.
Remember when Pope Benedict looked like he was a million years old?
Pope Benedict, right? Before Pope Francis. And Pope Benedict's still alive, by the way.
There's two Popes alive. But he looked like he was at the point of death.
He looked like he was so old. And this guy acted like this.
Then they actually showed inside of his cell, and he's like climbing on top of chairs to fix light bulbs.
I mean, he's actually a very active person. Everyone in the community that lived in his neighborhood
is like, man, he used to go jogging all the time and do push-ups, even in his 70s.
And then he's in court, and he's like trying to act.
But you know, you read the YouTube comments, and people are saying,
you know, people are saying, hey, this guy deserves the maximum punishment from God.
He's a wicked person. And people are saying, no, you know, you don't know his situation.
He deserves another chance. It's like he murdered like 16 people,
raped like 50 people. We should give him another chance.
Just give him one year in jail and let him get out, and maybe he'll quit murdering people.
It's insanity. But what people are saying is, they don't believe in the laws of the Bible.
It's like, I'm sorry, you look at this world. The world is crazy.
This book is just as relevant today as it's ever been.
It's still perfect. It's still right. And the laws of this world are insane.
They don't make sense. Literally, people will be a pedophile for 15 years,
and they go to jail for like a couple years in the U.S.
I mean, literally, I know this guy that I invited to church,
and I regretted 30 minutes later when I realized he was insane.
And he came to church, and it turned out he had been to jail for eight years for being a pedophile.
And he was insane. I mean, literally, after the service,
I mean, he was talking like a madman. He puts his arm around me.
He's like, I don't think people at church like me here.
He's like, but I want to let you know, he's like, I'm headed down to Mexico tomorrow because the FBI is after me.
Now, when I say Mexico, it's not like living in Pampanga where Mexico is right next door.
It's like, you're saying that you're fleeing from the United States,
and then everyone's looking at me like, why did you invite this guy to church?
He's like, man, I just gave him a church invitation.
Because, I mean, he said we had testimony time at that church.
He stands up, and he's like, I want to thank my good friend Matthew for inviting me.
I'm like, no. This guy's insane.
But the guy had been to jail for eight years for being a pedophile.
Because in the U.S., you can actually look. There's a chart where you'll know if there's a pedophile in your town.
And look, when you're living somewhere in the U.S., there's pedophiles all around you.
And it's like, why are these people on the streets?
It's like, well, we'll let you know there's someone in your neighborhood that's a pedophile just so you have a heads up.
Why not just keep them in prison or give them the death penalty?
It's like, well, I don't want a pedophile a couple doors down when I have a few children.
Madness!
But they'll say, well, the way of the Lord is not equal.
They deserve a 57th chance.
I mean, didn't Jesus say forgive them seven times 70, 490 chances?
They deserve 490 chances. It's madness.
The ways of the Lord are fair and equal.
It also says in verse 29,
Yet sayeth the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal.
O house of Israel, are not my ways equal?
Are not your ways unequal?
The ways of the world and the laws of the world are wrong.
They're not fair. God's Word is perfect.
Look, what are our points today?
Point number one, we said truth is found in God's Word.
As a Bible-believing Christian, you should always ask yourself,
what does the Bible say about this subject?
On any topic.
Now, I'm not saying that you're necessarily going to arrive at the same exact conclusion as me.
But on any topic, you know what, because it's kind of funny,
because over the last year and a half, the only thing on news is COVID, COVID, COVID.
I don't think I've ever seen any single person quote a Bible verse on any of these news stories.
It's like, does the Bible have nothing to do with this situation that's in the world?
There's not a single Bible verse that applies to this
for the biggest situation in the world over the last year and a half,
but people don't care what the Bible says.
They don't think about what the Bible says. It doesn't matter to them.
What does the Bible say about issues?
Point number two, the wisdom of the world is foolish.
The wisdom is found in God's Word. The wisdom of the world is foolishness.
And look, if you search after wisdom apart from God's Word, common sense says,
you're going to end up the opposite.
You're going to end up a Hindu.
As I said, according to Gandhi, we're Hindus because we're searching after truth, right?
It's like, it's madness. But you know what, this is the result of searching after wisdom.
Anyway, here's the thing. Some people, they find their pleasure,
not in committing these atrocities or sins, but they find their pleasure in just searching after wisdom.
They pride themselves on being very intelligent people, kind of like the Richard Dawkins of this world.
They're searching after wisdom, and they think they're going to arrive at it.
You're never going to arrive at the wisdom of God unless you actually open this book and see what God's Word says.
Let's close in Word of Prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your Word on this topic.
Help us to realize as Christians that this Word we hold in our hands is the very wisdom of God.
Everything in the world we can find out by looking at what does the Bible say.
Help us as Christians, regardless of the world mocking us or criticizing us,
help us base our decisions on what does the Bible say.
I ask you to continue to bless our church. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
.