["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Seven, five.
Two, one.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good morning. Welcome to the first service of Verity Baptist Church Manila.
Let's start our service by turning our hymns to hymn number 109.
Hymn number 109, let's sing the song,
Savior Like a Shepherd Did Us.
On the first.
Savior Like a Shepherd Did Us
Watch me leave my tender care
In life that's the best you'll need us
For our youth's life's mostly queer
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Thou has bought us, Lord, and we are
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Thou has bought us, Lord, and we are
We are trying to help you with us
In the garden of our ways
We are trying to help you with us
Seek us when we go astray
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Hear, O hear us when we pray
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Hear, O hear us when we pray
Thou has promised to receive us
For as simple though we be
In pastures we believe us
Wait still and stand hard to grieve
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Where the air does turn to be
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Where the air does turn to be
Oh, the last
Where the air does turn to be
Let us seek thy Savior
Where the air does turn to thy will
Let us seek thy Savior
Where the air does turn to be
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Thou has bought us, Lord, and we are
Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus
Thou has bought us, Lord, and we are
Let us pray
Dear Father, we thank you, O God, for the good crowd that you've given us today.
Thank you for protecting us for the whole week.
I pray that you would bless the service, Lord.
I pray that you would give Brother Saki the boldness and the clarity to preach our sermon, Lord.
And I pray that you would feed him with your Holy Spirit.
I pray that you would bless our singing, the reading of your word, and also for our soul winning this afternoon.
I pray, Lord, that you would also give the members who are still going here safe and sound.
And I pray, Lord, that you would bless us for the rest of the day.
Give us a good prayer, Lord.
And give us understanding and remove any hindrance that we have in our minds and our hearts.
And we're asking all these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
For our next song, let's turn to hymn number 264.
Hymn number 264. Let's sing the song once for all.
Let's sing the song once for all.
I don't know why there's a Reese's left back there, though.
That'd be like the first thing that I'd be getting.
Like, what in the world?
But anyway, keep up the memorization.
And it might get harder because you're doing the short chapters first.
Now you're hitting the longer ones.
But you always learn when you're memorizing the Bible.
Whatever you memorize.
I was just thinking about this today.
I was memorizing Genesis 18 on the right up here.
And I was just like, man, this story's jumping out at me
and just noticing all these things that
you never think about when you're reading over it.
You just don't think about it.
This is powerful.
The best thing you can get when you memorize the Bible
is just that you learn the Bible and those stories
will impact you more than they ever have before.
But anyways, upcoming activities.
So we do have choir practice here today.
We'll go back to our monthly prayer meeting in December.
We don't have it this month.
We have choir practice today and then next week.
And then in two weeks is our three-year anniversary.
So obviously that's a great time to invite people.
We're going to have food and fellowship.
We're going to be having the ping-pong tournaments, the big thing.
So hopefully you guys are getting ready for that.
You're excited about that.
We're also going to be having a jump house for the kids.
And so we actually did.
We planned to buy it before our big children's day,
but there's a delay in the shipping.
So we do have our own jump house now.
And the one we bought is actually nicer
than the one that we had here last time.
It's a lot bigger.
It's able to have a lot more children at one time.
The only thing is, having our own jump house,
we need to make sure we take care of it.
In fact, if it's broken, then it's broken.
Then it's a lot of money down the drain.
So we've got to make sure we take care of it.
And no matter how much the kids beg you,
we're not having it every week.
It's for special events.
We're not turning this into a kids' zone.
I mean, we'll probably make money, right?
Say, hey, come in here.
But we're not turning this place into a kids' party thing.
But we will have it out for special events.
We'll have it here in a couple weeks for our anniversary.
So get prepared for that.
In current and upcoming series,
we're in the Book of Psalms.
And we're actually taking a break from that here today.
Genesis on Tuesdays.
And then we have our information on our group chat.
On the back, there is a place for sermon notes.
So yesterday we had our two-year anniversary in Pampanga,
which we had a great time at everything.
But I kind of planned it out because I preached one sermon,
which is the same thing, the same sermon I'll preach here
in a couple weeks for more time for fellowship.
And so I'm intentionally preaching against false religion.
And so I'm going to do the same in a couple weeks
because of the fact that people in Pampanga aren't hearing it live.
So a lot of people love that.
It's not always the most edifying.
It will be edifying, but here's the chance that life is a Muslim.
The Shahada is spoken as the first words a Muslim baby hears
upon entering the world.
And Muslims strive for the Shahada to be their last words upon their death.
So apparently if you have a baby,
you make it a point to make this statement all the time to your baby
so that's what they're always hearing.
They hear it over and over again and over and over.
And as they get older, they'll end up believing it's what they say.
But according to the Bible,
do you have to publicly admit that you're saved to be saved?
What does the Bible say in John 12, verse 42?
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on him.
Do you notice that?
Many of the chief rulers believed on Jesus Christ.
Now, when it comes to them believing on Jesus Christ,
what makes it difficult for them is they've got a position they want to protect.
I mean, the average ordinary person could just freely say,
I believe on Jesus.
It's not going to affect their job.
But if you're a chief ruler, well, you know what?
If you actually convert and make it known, you could lose your job.
You could be in big trouble, right?
So it says many of them believed on him.
Through the words of Jesus Christ and through the soul-winning efforts,
many people believed on Jesus Christ,
but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him,
lest they should be put out of the synagogue.
So many chief rulers believed on Jesus Christ,
but they didn't just openly admit the fact that they believed on Jesus Christ.
They were just believing it silently and not letting anybody know.
You say, Brother Sucky, does that mean they were saved?
Absolutely, it means they're saved because they believed on him.
What must they do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
But isn't it true we get a lot of people saved?
And after we talk to them at the door and they get saved,
they might never admit that to their family members.
Somebody could be a Catholic and get saved today, and guess what?
They just pretend to be a Catholic and don't let anybody know.
You say, why? Well, because they're afraid.
Not because they're afraid of being put out of the synagogue.
Maybe they're afraid of losing an inheritance.
They're afraid they won't get invited over for that Christmas dinner.
They're afraid they won't get invited for All Saints' Day
to go down and pray to dead people or whatever.
It's just like many people, they might get saved,
but because of their position or the people they know,
they might just do it kind of silently.
They don't want to admit it.
Verse 43, for they love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
It's not that they're not saved.
It's just they don't really love God, right?
And look, I am happy for every single person we see in heaven
that believes on Jesus Christ and just kind of lived their life
and just kind of pretended not to believe.
They never went to church. They were never reading the Bible.
They didn't let people know about their new beliefs.
They just kind of acted like nothing, right?
And we'll see them in heaven and praise the Lord for that.
We're happy for everybody that we get saved.
But the sad reality is most people that get saved
are not real open with everything they believe.
One reason people don't come to church is they're afraid
of being connected to a church that's not a Catholic church.
Turn in your Bible to John 19.
John 19.
Now, generally, when you're preaching the Gospel and you talk to someone,
generally, you know what?
They're going to admit that they believe it.
Yes, I've changed my mind. I believe this.
And they ask Jesus to save them.
But it is possible for someone not to admit that at the door either.
Right? If you talk to a group of three people,
I mean, isn't it true sometimes you talk to a couple people
and one person's kind of the dominant speaker
and then the other one's more shy?
And you can tell the shy person is agreeing with what you're saying.
It's like the other day in Pampanga, you know, I was talking to two people
and, you know what, these two different girls.
And then the one girl was answering everything correctly,
but she was being very shy and quiet about it.
And then, like, right after she'd answer correctly,
she would act as if, like, she didn't say anything
because her friend was saying the opposite.
So she was embarrassed to admit, you know, it's just by believing
because her Christian friend said,
oh, no, you've got to repent of your sins and be a good person.
Right? And then the Catholic I was talking to was believing it and getting it.
I said, well, what if somebody committed murder?
And she's like, oh, they'd still go to heaven.
Or whatever.
John 19, verse 38.
Of being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.
Seems to be a common theme that they're afraid of the Jews, doesn't it?
Right? The early persecutors of the believers.
But it says, you know, he was a disciple of Jesus, but he did it secretly.
He didn't want it to be known.
He was afraid of being attached to this because he was afraid of the Jews.
Right? The same thing exists.
There's nothing new under the sun.
The same thing exists in 2021.
There are Baptists and people that love our church, but secretly.
Right? Isn't that true?
There's a lot of people that love this church secretly, but not openly.
You say, why? Because, oh, you know, I don't want to be attached to something so hateful.
I secretly am with you. I secretly believe this.
I support you.
I mean, I can't tell you how many people in Metro Manila and various locations
have talked to me about this church.
They've messaged me and everything and said,
yeah, you know, I'm planning to join your church.
I want to be a part of it.
And it's like, okay, well, one year, two years.
It's like, how much time goes by?
And, you know, it's funny because sometimes I'll go to people's walls on Facebook.
I can see, yeah, you know, they believe in our church,
but they have fear, so they don't attach themselves to it
because they don't want to be associated.
Now, I don't understand that.
Right? But that is the way a lot of people are.
They're afraid to just let their beliefs be known.
Right? 2 Kings 5 is a great example.
2 Kings 5.
Because, you know, oftentimes people ask this question,
is it possible to get somebody saved who's part of a false religion
and they stick with that religion after they get saved?
Now, people have different opinions, but my opinion is absolutely
because we see a lot of examples in the Bible of this exact very thing
where somebody could get saved and then pretend like they believe something else
due to various reasons of fear.
Now, as I've said before, if you know someone and you think they get saved
and they seem to get saved, but they seem to still believe the old thing,
you know, six months down the road, well, go back and double check that.
Talk to that person, whether it's your brother, whether it's your sister
or family member, go back and talk to them to double check.
But, you know, there are times when somebody gets saved and they believe it,
but they're just afraid to attach to a changed belief
because they're afraid of what other people think.
You say, well, prove that to me.
Well, I just showed you a few examples in John.
Let me show you in the Old Testament.
2 Kings 5, verse 15.
This is the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy, and it says in verse 15,
And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company,
and came and stood before him, and he said,
Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.
Now, therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
So this guy says, you know what, the true God is the God of Israel.
This guy believes. He understands the message.
Naaman believes this, right?
Now, he's only in front of a few people right now,
so he doesn't have to worry about publicly making it known.
He's not making a Facebook post.
We see it in the Word of God that he believes this,
but this is not before millions of people that are going to be aware of this.
It says in verse 16, but he said,
As the Lord liveth before whom I stand, I will receive none.
And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
And Naaman said, Shall there not then I pray thee be given to thy servant
whom you burden of earth? For thy servant will henceforth offer
neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.
Now, here's a guy who's a nice guy, right?
He gets saved and he has some gratitude.
He's thankful, right? He offers some money,
and he says, I believe this message and everything like that.
This is someone who is grateful to some degree.
But then notice verse number 18.
In this thing, the Lord pardoned thy servant.
And when my master goeth into the house of Reman to worship there,
and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Reman,
when I bow down myself in the house of Reman,
the Lord pardoned thy servant in this thing.
You know what he's saying?
I'm not really going to worship this false idol, but I'm going to pretend to
because of the fact I'm worried about what my boss is going to think.
I'm worried about my job. I'm worried about my future.
So basically, I'm just going to pretend to believe it,
even though I don't really believe it.
He's saying, I'm not really going to worship it.
I'm just going to kind of go through the motions
because I'm worried about my position.
Yeah, a similar example could be someone who is Hindu.
It's like, what? I'm not really worshiping it when I go down and bow before it,
but you know what? It's just like all my family.
I mean, my boss is a Hindu.
I mean, if I converted to Christianity, I could lose my job, right?
So I'll just pretend to believe it.
That way, I don't get fired.
Now, here's the thing.
If this happened 2,000 years ago, does it happen today?
Absolutely.
I guarantee you this is going to happen in areas where there's a lot of religious persecution.
Imagine a Muslim country or other countries where there's a lot of religious persecution.
There are going to be many people that believe, but secretly,
because they're worried for their lives and their situations and things like that.
And look, you know what? I'm thankful not to be in that situation.
It would be very tough to take a stand for God when your life is at risk in these locations.
So I'm not trying to say I'm better than these people that would do that.
I'm just saying this happens where people would believe, but they're afraid to do it openly.
Well, see, here's the thing. In Islam, that wouldn't be good enough.
You can't just believe in your heart because of the fact you must do it openly,
and if not, it means nothing.
You can say you believe, but it means absolutely nothing
unless you do the Shahada in front of a bunch of witnesses.
And then you're doing it every single day because you're praying five times a day,
and then you're going through the Shahada all the time.
Turn in your Bible to Matthew 6.
It's pretty similar to a lot of the Christian churches saying faith without works is dead.
It's pretty similar, saying you can't just say you believe.
You've got to have works associated or something to prove it.
Otherwise, is it really real? It doesn't count.
So point number one is the Shahada, which is basically their moment of getting saved,
and they do that three times a day.
The second is the Salah, which is the five prayers a day that they do.
Now, when it comes to the five prayers a day, that can be done at home,
but it's usually not done at home.
It's usually done in public places.
In fact, in many governments, this is like a lawsuit between the Muslims and the governments
where basically they want the right to basically pray anywhere they are in a public place
in the middle of the day, and certain businesses say,
No, we're not going to let you kneel down five times a day or during this time of the day,
and it's like a big issue.
But this is the Salah where basically they pray five times a day,
and most of the time they do it before people and they want to do it before people
because to them this is like a form of evangelism.
We're basically let everybody see what we're doing.
They know we're Muslim, and that's kind of a way to try to convert people,
and it's something that's meant to do publicly.
But what does the Bible say about this?
When we pray, should we make it a point to stand where everybody sees us?
Well, what does the Bible say in Matthew 6, verse 5?
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets
that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Now look, this is not directly about Islam, but it certainly can be applied to Islam
because they will oftentimes, the only difference is they don't do it standing in the synagogues,
they do it kneeling, right?
Kneeling in the streets five times a day, right?
And so they do this in public places, but see, here's the thing, with Islam,
you're supposed to do these things publicly because it's like a form of evangelism
and you're showing the world what you believe.
You're not supposed to hide it.
But see, biblically speaking, it's the opposite.
As Christians, you should not be making it a big point to be seen of man
and just basically bowing down and everybody sees you praying outside,
you know, thousands of people.
It's not something you're supposed to do, right?
So an example of this, let's say you're in Rizal Park or a heavily populated area.
Now is it okay to pray in a public place?
Yes, but you know what, you do it very quietly.
You do it not to be seen.
And if you're just doing it by yourself, you should probably just do it quietly in your head
rather than doing it so everybody's hearing what you're saying.
You say, why?
Because you're talking to God, not to man.
When you're praying, you're having a conversation with God
and asking of God, not to man.
Right?
You're meant to be praying to God, so it's something that should be done quietly.
I'm not saying it's wrong to ever pray publicly.
I mean, if we go into a restaurant, you know, on a soul winning trip
and we're taking a lunch break, yeah, you know what, we'll pray,
but we're also not going to make it a point to just be super loud so everybody hears us.
We'll be as loud as is necessary so everybody hears the prayer that's in the group.
And look, if we got 50 soul winners, then maybe it will be loud, right?
But we're not going to make it a point to just bow down and just everybody sees us
and everyone's got to walk around us and it's obvious that we're praying.
That would be inappropriate according to the Bible.
This is what they say about the salah.
And I guess there's five different names for when these prayers are said,
and I can't pronounce these, right?
If somebody speaks Arabic, you can tell me after the service.
I have absolutely no idea.
But the Fajr, which takes place at pre-dawn,
the Dur-zur, which takes place just before the sun reaches its zenith,
Azur, which takes place between noon and sunset,
Maghrib, which takes place just after sunset,
and Isha, which takes place during the night at nighttime.
So they have five prayers a day at specific set times.
And in countries that are very heavily Muslim that take this very seriously,
they'll literally just stop everything, stop the business,
and it's time to pray and you just shut everything down to do the prayer, right?
I preach that you should pray every day,
and I do preach you should try to pick a time and a place,
but not so regimented where it's like at this precise time every single day
five times a day, but that's how it is in Islam.
Five set times, and oftentimes what they'll do is
you'll get a bunch of Muslims together,
they'll go to a public place and just do it all together, right?
Well, the Bible says you should not be doing this before man.
It's something between you and God.
Here's what it says about the Salah.
It says there's certain etiquettes in order to perform it correctly.
Make the intention to perform Eid prayer.
Give the opening Takbir, a lahu akbar, with the imam.
Say the opening supplication quietly to yourself.
Give three more Takbir with the imam, raising your hands out for each.
I mean this is very...
It's not just give some Takbir.
Give three with your arms raised out, right?
It's very specific of exactly your motions and everything you do, okay?
I don't know if this is right.
I'm just putting my arms out, okay?
Listen to the imam recite surah al-fatiha and an additional surah.
Say alahu akbar while moving into rukkah with the imam
and complete the prayer cycle as usual.
In the second prayer cycle, listen to the imam recite surah al-fatiha
and an additional surah.
Give three additional Takbir with the imam.
After the third and final Takbir, place your hands to your sides before rukkah.
Say alahu akbar while moving into the bowing position with the imam
and complete the prayer cycle as usual.
Anyway, I've seen pictures online and it's really so strict
where they tell you your exact motion,
how far you're supposed to turn and everything.
I mean of course you have to be facing Mecca while you're praying, right?
That's one of the requirements is facing Mecca
where they believe is the main center where Muhammad was
and that's the area you have to worship.
And it's just like it's very regimented, this exact amount,
do this exact motion with your hands, everything, right?
Well, that's not what the Bible says.
See, the Bible says don't use vain repetitions.
It ought to come from the heart.
The Bible says don't do it to be seen of man,
but in Islam you are supposed to do it to be seen of man.
That is what they teach.
The Bible says here in Matthew 6 verse 6,
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
So here's the thing.
If you spend 30 minutes praying this morning, that's great.
Anyway, God is going to reward you for that
if you didn't make it a point to tell everybody about it, right?
I mean if you spend 30 minutes praying
and then you come to church and tell everybody about your prayer time,
man, I spent 30.
You know, you lost your reward.
That's what the Bible is saying, right?
I mean it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to spend 30 minutes
and just destroy it in a matter of seconds.
It's like, man, there's your reward.
It's just gone because you made it a point to tell everybody about it.
And it says, Use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
It's interesting because I'm preaching about Islam
and for those that grew up Catholic,
I mean there's a lot of similarities with Catholicism.
I mean Hail Mary, full of grace.
And look, I didn't grow up Catholic.
I don't know all the words to it or whatever,
but it's like the exact words.
In America there's the channel EWTN, which is like the Catholic station,
and they'll show the people praying
and it's like everybody looks like they hate their life
when they're saying that prayer.
It's like, Hail Mary, full of grace.
And it's like they look like they hate their life.
It looks like a cult.
I mean it looks so scary.
It's like, whoa, it's like they're robots or something like that.
But it's just like there's a lot of similarities,
not just with Islam, Catholicism, but all these religions.
They have set prayers that they do, very regimented.
That's the very opposite of what the Bible says.
Verse 8,
Be not ye therefore like unto them,
for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.
After this manner therefore pray ye,
our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
So when it says after this manner,
he's giving you a general template of what to do,
but what he just said is use not vain repetition.
He's not saying don't use vain repetitions
and repeat this every single time that we pray.
Our Father which art in heaven.
Look, and if you were raised Catholic or Protestant,
you were used to that, right?
I grew up Protestant.
Every single service we would say our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom.
I mean every single service, every single one.
Every single week we'd sing, not sing,
but there's that other thing we recited where the apostles created everything,
and it's like we believe in the holy Catholic church.
I don't understand why a church that is not Catholic will say
we believe in the holy Catholic church every single week,
but you do if you're Protestant
because they believe that the Catholic church was the true church.
They just went bad.
But it's just all these vain repetitions.
It's the same thing with all these religions.
It's amazing how the Bible is so different than all these religions,
and all these religions that are supposedly so different
are actually pretty similar to one another.
There's not really a whole lot of difference between them.
Turn to Daniel chapter 6 in your Old Testament.
Daniel 6.
Daniel chapter 6.
The Bible doesn't tell you the exact amount of times you should pray during the day.
The Bible says pray without ceasing,
which is kind of the indication throughout the day you're thinking about God,
you're talking to God, you're meditating on God's word.
I do think it's wise to have a set time and a place
where you really devote some time to praying to God,
but also during the day you should be thinking upon him and meditating upon him.
Honestly, most of the time you're just probably praying inside your head.
If you're going during the day,
if you're at an office,
it's like you don't have to pray out loud so everybody hears you.
Right?
I mean, it's just like just pray inside your head.
And look, there's always things that come up.
There's things that come up in your life,
especially though when you're part of a church family,
because there's always things going on.
People are getting sick, people need things,
people have concerns about jobs and all these things.
There's always things to pray about, right?
But this is something you can do throughout the day.
You don't have to do it,
and especially not in a public place where everybody's seen
especially not in a public place where everybody's seen what you do.
Okay?
Daniel 6, verse 9.
Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree.
And this is the decree where you're not allowed to pray to anyone except,
you know, Darius.
And you're not supposed to ask any petitions of anyone except the king.
Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed,
he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem,
he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed
and gave thanks before his God as he did a fourth time.
The Bible says that Daniel had a pattern for how he prayed,
and it says he prayed, you know, three times a day.
Okay?
And he kneeled upon his knees.
What he's doing is going into his house,
and it does say he has his windows open.
My interpretation of this, and I could be wrong,
is that the way that they see him praying is not from being outside,
but actually from maybe behind or something like that.
Maybe that's how the doors were or how the house was.
Maybe they got all these ones close by or whatever.
But I don't think he's praying in a way where people are going to see it.
But what I'm showing you is this.
He's just praying the exact same way.
He just has a pattern.
He prays three times a day, and of course that's a good thing to do.
But it says in verse 11,
Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
So men expect Daniel to pray, and they assemble and make it a point to try to catch him praying
so they can put him to death, right?
And they're able to see him praying because the one thing they said about Daniel,
you know what, there's nothing we have against him.
The only thing is, you know what, he loves his God too much, basically.
In fact, Daniel is about the only prominent character in the Bible
that it never mentions him doing anything wrong.
I'm sure he sinned because we've all sinned,
but I'm just saying the Bible never mentions him doing anything wrong,
and he's obviously a very prominent character in the Bible.
But he gets caught praying, and then they use this to try to get him put to death.
And of course you have Daniel in the lion's den, and we know the end of the story.
But what I'm showing you is this.
Daniel's praying, and he's very zealous about it,
but he's not praying to be seen of man, okay?
Whether these men assembled and they did see him on the outside,
maybe, I mean, because certain places you live, the houses are right beside each other.
It's pretty hard to hide what you're doing because your neighbors can see everything and things like that.
But he's not praying to be seen of man, okay?
Go to Matthew 6, Matthew 6 in your Bible, Matthew 6.
So look, if you have a custom to pray three times a day or two times or four times or whatever,
it's a great custom.
But you know, when you first start out during the day and you're praying to God,
I mean, just do it quietly, right, just between you and God.
Doesn't it make sense? I mean, even if you have a family,
isn't it true that you get better praying done when your family's not around?
You're kind of talking to God by yourself, right?
I go to a separate room and shut the door and, you know, I'm kneeling on my knees and talking to God.
It's kind of awkward if your kids are in the room and they're jumping on your back and people are talking.
It's not the same. It's meant to be between you and God, right?
Not to be before everybody's there because if everybody's there, it's obviously going to distract you.
When you are praying, it shouldn't just be a set pattern of say this, then say this, and say this, right?
Pretty much the only thing that should be a set pattern is in Jesus' name or something very similar.
Other than that, it's just like it ought to come from the heart.
Yeah, there's going to be certain things that you might pray for a lot,
certain things maybe you pray for every day,
but it shouldn't just be like these words I'm going to repeat every single time,
just these exact precise words.
I personally like doing categories, so I kind of divide it up each day.
This is my main category I'm praying for, but I don't just type out these exact words to repeat like
Hail Mary, full of grace, or whatever, like all these religions do.
Point number one, we looked at the Shahada, which is when a person converts to Islam.
Point two, we looked at the Sala, which is where they pray five times a day.
Point three, one of the five pillars of Islam is called the Zakat,
which is 2.5% of income for almsgiving.
So you give 1 40th, 2.5% for almsgiving.
Now I would say that of these five, this is the one that doesn't necessarily have to be before man,
although I'm sure many people do do it before man,
but I'm just showing you the difference between what the Bible teaches versus Islam.
Because in Islam they say 2.5% of your money as almsgiving.
Here's what they say about the Zakat.
Zakat or almsgiving is one of the five pillars of Islam along with prayer, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca,
and belief in Allah and his messenger prophet Muhammad.
For every sane adult Muslim, and sane means not crazy,
so every Muslim who's not crazy, who owns wealth over a certain amount known as the Nisab,
he or she must pay 2.5% of that wealth as Zakat.
So if you're not crazy, it says for every sane adult Muslim, that's what sane means.
I'm just reading it, right?
But it's like your income has to be above a certain amount as well.
Now that's very different than Christianity.
We'll talk about Christianity in a second because there's no distinction
about if you make a certain amount of money, then you give a percentage.
You give a percentage automatically that comes from your increase, the Bible says.
And it says 2.5% with the Zakat with Islam,
and it says the Nisab is the minimum amount of wealth a Muslim must possess
before they become eligible to pay Zakat.
This amount is often referred to as the Nisab threshold.
Gold and silver are the two values used to calculate the Nisab threshold.
The Nisab is the value of 87.48 grams of gold or 612.36 grams of silver.
And it says there's eight categories for your almsgiving.
One of them is to the poor, one is to the needy, one is to the administrators of Zakat,
one is those whose hearts have been recently reconciled,
those who have been enslaved, those in debt, in the cause of God and travelers.
Those are their eight things where you can give money and it's your almsgiving.
Well, here's what it says in Matthew 6, verse 1.
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.
Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
So almsgiving is a good thing to do,
but if you do do almsgiving, you better make sure it's not before men to be seen of man,
where it's a public thing that everybody knows about.
If you decide to help somebody out or give almsgiving, you do it quietly.
You do it secretly. You do it privately.
You don't make it a point for every single person to know it.
Now, what's the distinction between almsgiving and the tithe?
Well, the tithe is 10%. What they're saying in Islam is 2.5%.
There's one difference, because in Christianity it's 10% of your increase, the Bible says.
But almsgiving is different than your tithe.
See, it mentions in Matthew 6, verse 1, when you're giving alms, that's not your tithe.
What almsgiving is, is when you're helping out the poor.
You're helping out the needy. They're right in their definition.
You're helping out people that need it, benevolence, something like that.
That's almsgiving, but that's not your tithe.
When it comes to the tithe, you pay the tithe to the local church.
If you choose to give almsgiving above your 10% that you're giving to church,
that's a great thing to do, but that's not your tithe.
You're not required to do it either.
If you want to do it out of your own heart,
and you're going to get rewards if you don't do it to be seen of man.
I mean, if you're generous and give money to help people,
or buy things for people, and you do it out of your own heart,
God will reward you for that.
That is a good thing to do, but don't do it to be seen of man,
because you're going to lose your reward.
So with Christianity, the tithe is 10%.
It gets paid to the local church, and it's exactly 10%.
You don't have to give 10.1%.
You don't have to give 10% plus your January salary.
It's not 10% of the months, and 10% of the weeks, and 10% of the salary.
It's just 10%.
There is no first fruits offering in the Bible.
Look, 10% is already a lot of money.
Right? I mean, isn't that true?
I mean, that 10% hurts you, doesn't it?
That's already a lot of money.
Okay?
See, almsgiving is something completely different.
And see, what the Bible says is God requires your 10%.
He doesn't require you to give alms,
but if you choose to do that out of a generous heart,
then obviously you're welcome to do that.
Make sure you don't do it to be seen of man, though.
Make sure you don't make it a point where everybody sees this,
because then you didn't just give away your money.
You gave away your reward as well,
because if you do it to be seen of man,
and everybody knows it,
because you want people to think you're so spiritual,
what's going to happen is you're going to lose your reward.
Right?
That's what the Bible says.
Verse 2.
Therefore, when thou doest thine alms,
do not sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men.
Fairly I say unto you, they have their reward.
But when thou doest alms,
let not thy left hand know it,
thy right hand do it,
that thine alms may be in secret,
and thy father which seeth in secret himself
shall reward thee openly.
So look.
If you want to do something nice for somebody,
you know, just do it quietly between you and them.
And you know, hopefully,
if you're going to do something nice for someone,
all you care about is doing something nice for them.
You don't care about other people.
Right?
What I mean by that is you don't care about being seen
of other people,
because you're just trying to help some individual person out.
Hey, I just want to give this to you.
Right?
I just want to give this to you as a blessing,
just wanted to help you out or whatever.
It's like there'd be no reason to do that
where lots of people are seeing you,
because that's just between you and that person.
Okay?
Turn to Leviticus 27.
Let me just give you a couple verses here about the tithe.
Leviticus 27.
Leviticus chapter 27.
And look, when it comes to preaching on money,
it's about the thing I preach on the least around here.
Very rarely do I ever preach on money.
It's just that's one of the five pillars of Islam,
so I'm not just going to avoid one of the pillars.
Okay?
You know, we're going to go through it,
just see what the Bible says.
This is what the Bible says in Leviticus 27 verse 32.
And concerning the tithe of the herd,
so it talks about the tithe,
or of the flock even of whatsoever passeth under the rod,
the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
Now, back in these days when people had money,
it wasn't necessarily in, you know,
it's not going to be in dollar bills or pesos or whatever
like we have today.
You know, your tenth is going to be basically
of the possessions you have,
and so you have ten animals.
One of those animals goes to God, the Bible is saying.
Right?
One out of ten.
Okay?
Now, the way the Bible has this,
you don't intentionally have to pick the best out of those ten.
It's just kind of done where it's like whatever happens to be the tenth,
so it could be a better one or a lesser one.
You don't cheat the system,
but you also don't have to destroy yourself,
where if you spent five times as much money on this one cow
that you've got to give this one cow to God,
you can do that if you choose to,
but you don't have to.
Okay?
It's just a matter of giving ten percent, the Bible says.
Turn to Malachi 3.
Malachi 3.
And look, although Matthew 6 is talking about almsgiving,
well, the same is going to be true with tithes as well,
where, you know, you want to be as discreet and quiet about it as possible
not to be seen of man when you're giving any amount of money.
Right?
Malachi 3, verse 10.
Notice what the Bible says in Malachi 3, verse 10.
And here's where I say one of the verses that I would use,
and I'm not going to spend a lot of time,
this is the last verse I'm going to look at on this topic,
of why when it comes to, you know, giving your tithe,
it should be done to the local church,
which means not giving to, like, a charity.
There's nothing wrong with giving to a charity,
but that's almsgiving.
That's not your tithe.
Okay?
Because people have this question,
should ten percent be given to the local church
or should it just be given to whatever?
Right?
Well, the Bible says here in Malachi 3, verse 10,
bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house.
And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
So the Bible says bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
and it says that there may be meat in mine house,
referring to basically the house of God,
the house of worship.
And the idea is the tithes are what funds a local church.
Right?
I mean, just think about this.
And look, our church is very generous.
Right?
People at our church give money, they tithe.
I don't really feel a need to preach on money all the time.
I mean, people donate money, people give money,
people are very generous.
But let's just say that nobody gave any money.
Nobody tithed.
Well, then how are we going to pay for the building?
Right?
And look, I don't mind preaching outside.
I mean, it's like I'll probably wear a hat or something
to block the sun because preaching for technique
but it's just like obviously it's nice to be able to have
a building and you have a lot of various nice things
that we have at this church.
We're able to have nice events.
We're able to have air conditioning units
and things like that.
And as more money comes in, we can use more money.
That's a great blessing.
If nobody gave any money, you couldn't operate a church.
Right?
Obviously, you have to have money to come in
to actually operate a church.
Otherwise, it's just not going to be possible.
Right?
Turn to Matthew 6.
Matthew 6.
Look, as I said, money is really the least of my concerns
at our church because we've got a very generous church.
Ever since we started, our church has operated
and we've been fine.
Right?
We do fine off the tithes that come in from our church
and the donations that come in.
And one thing that's a big blessing to me is
we're not a financial drain to our sending church.
Right?
Because many times, you start a new church.
Obviously, a new church, it's hard when you start something
off the ground.
Oftentimes, the tithes can be low.
I'm thankful since we've been started.
I didn't necessarily expect that, but ever since we started,
it's like, wow, you know, we have enough money.
We've always just had enough money.
We've been able to do nicer things as money has come in
and donations have come in.
That's a huge blessing.
Right?
It's a great thing.
I mean, our church is very generous.
So I'm not really concerned about the money that comes in,
but what I'm saying is if you ever give money or almsgiving
or whatever, don't do it to be seen of man.
Any of your good works you're doing, you're not doing
to be seen of man.
The fourth, we had first was the shahadah, the second,
the salah, the third, the zakat.
The fourth is the psalm, S-A-W-M, not P-S-A-L-M.
Okay?
It's not about singing a song.
I'm sure this is not pronounced like this.
Probably nobody speaks Arabic.
I'm really not sure.
But what this is is basically fasting during Ramadan.
Right?
Who knows Ramadan?
Right?
It's a 40-day fast that they do.
Well, I mean, it's interesting that everybody knows about
Ramadan.
It's kind of like a set time every year where if you're a
Muslim, you're fasting.
Everybody knows.
Right?
And look, here's what I'm saying.
In Islam, this is their philosophical idea.
People are supposed to know.
It's a big difference.
It's a major difference between Christianity and Islam.
When you pray, do it publicly.
Well, biblically speaking, you shouldn't be doing that
publicly.
According to the Bible, we shouldn't do that publicly.
Obviously, they believe something very different.
But you think of people that, you know,
Tim Tebow was a very famous Christian,
and he was very famous for praying.
And it's just like everybody saw him and everything like that.
And it's just like, look, I'm all for praying.
But it's like when you're doing it and then millions of people
are watching you because it's just like in front of everyone.
It's just like, you know, you're doing it to be seen a man.
Right?
It's the wrong thing to do.
Okay?
By the way, reason number 50 why we don't have an older call.
Right?
It's like coming down here and then it's like a competition.
Who can stay at the altar the longest to look the most
spiritual?
It's like, you know, if we had an altar and you're down here at
the altar for the longest, you know,
you might think you look more spiritual to some people.
Maybe you do.
I would think, you know, wow, you just have a lot of sins
that you have to get right with God.
Right?
But it's like, no, we don't have an altar because it's just
like, you know what, everybody looks up and then everybody's
seeing everybody.
It's like, well, and look, the Baptist churches are guilty of
this as well.
Right?
Well, here's what it says about the Psalm or fasting during
Ramadan.
Psalm is the Arabic term used to describe the act of fasting.
Past the age of puberty, Muslims are required to fast during the
month of Ramadan, which entails abstaining from food,
drink, sexual relations, and displeasing speech and behavior
from sunrise until sunset.
Psalm is one of the five pillars of Islam and therefore mandatory
during Ramadan.
However, Muslims can keep the Psalm any time of the year as a
form of worship or in order to make up for lost fasts.
And so here's what it says in Matthew 6 verse 16 about
fasting.
Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad
countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear
unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
The Bible describes people that would fast and they make it a
point to make their countenance, their face, look like they're
fasting.
It's like, man, I've been fasting for four days.
It's like, man, I'm looking in the mirror.
Are people going to notice that I've been fasting?
I've got to just make myself look worse, you know, to make
sure, you know, a guy putting on lots of makeup so people can
tell he's fasting or whatever.
And it's just like because people need to know that I'm
fasting.
And the Bible says that people do this.
They make it a point so people know that they're fasting.
They disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to
fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
And so, look, if you fast, if you go without food or you go
without drink, the only person you would need to tell is your
husband or wife if you're married because they might think
it odd that you're never eating, right?
Your wife cooks you a meal and everything and you don't tell
her you're fasting and she spends an hour cooking it and
then she's mad at you.
It's like, well, I mean, the Bible, look, if you fast for a
special occasion or for a big thing in your life, you know,
it's a great thing.
But you know what?
That is between you and God.
It's not even something to tell me if you're fasting about
something.
It's between you and God, the Bible says.
And the Bible says that if you were to fast and to tell
everybody about it, you're going to lose your reward.
Right?
There's a famous example at least in terms of, you don't
have to try to compete against people that went on long fast
in the Bible.
You don't have to try to say, well, I want to outdo God and
go on a 58-day fast or whatever.
It's just like, you know, if you're fasting, I mean, it's
not always going to be healthy for you to fast for a very long
time.
A lot of people aren't going to be able to take it,
especially if you have a laboring job, you know, and
you're really busy and working hard.
Right?
It's just like, you know, you're probably not going to be
able to fast for 40 days and that's okay.
Right?
But when you do fast, if you fast for a day or just fast for
a meal because you want to spend time in prayer for
something important, obviously you see in the Bible people are
fasting for special events.
You know what?
It's between you and God.
It's not something to tell other people about.
It says in verse 17, but thou when thou fastest, anoint thine
head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to
fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret.
And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly.
The Bible says you're going to be rewarded openly if you do
it in secret.
You don't do it to be seen of man.
Go in your Bible to John 4.
We'll look at one last place.
John 4.
I mean, I think I learned about Ramadan because I watched
sports a lot as a kid.
They make it a big point to talk about this athlete.
Oh, it's got to be really hard to play right now because he's
going through Ramadan.
It's like always Hakeem Olajuwon is going through
Ramadan.
Hakeem Olajuwon is going through.
Everybody knows it because it's a set time during the year.
Everybody knows he's fasting.
Right?
But see what the Bible says is if you as a Christian that
believe the Bible, if you decide to do a fast, hey, that's great.
Don't tell everybody about it.
Don't make it a point to let everybody know, hey, you know
what, I'm going through fasting.
Right?
It's just like, man, you seem like you've lost a little bit of
weight recently.
Yeah, I've been fasting.
Right?
You know, it's just, it's like you want to be as discreet and
quiet as possible.
You know, it could be from time to time maybe people might
notice or something.
Obviously if you're here at lunch on Sunday and you're in
the middle of a fast, it's going to be like, it's probably going
to be pretty noticeable.
I would generally say this, though, you don't have to go on
a seven-day fast.
Right?
If you wanted to go on a long fast, you could fast six days
and then just on Sunday you're eating during lunch because
you're not trying to make it a point for everybody to see.
Right?
And people would start their fast on Sunday.
Right?
I'm going to start it on Sunday.
I ate breakfast but just, oh, I'm fasting.
I can't eat lunch.
It's just like, and every Sunday, you know, you're on a
fast.
Right?
It's like when you're doing something for God, you don't
have to do it to be seen a man.
Number one, point one was the Shahada.
Point two was the Shahada is basically the moment of
conversion for a Muslim.
Point two is the Sala which is praying five times a day which
is often done in public places.
Point three is the Zakat where you give 2.5% of your income.
Point four is the Psalm or Psalm which is fasting during
Ramadan.
Point one, we know it as Ramadan.
Point five is Hajj which we know as a pilgrimage to Mecca.
One of the five pillars is you're supposed to make a trip
to Mecca in your lifetime because, you know, that is
where Mohammed, I guess, supposedly grew up and
everything like that.
Here's what it says about this.
Hajj is a sacred pilgrimage performed by Muslims at the
holy mosque Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
It is one of the five pillars of Islam and takes place during
the month of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th month in the Islam
calendar.
So it's a set time.
Everybody's going to be aware.
It's like, hey, I'm taking two weeks vacation.
I'm going to Mecca.
And it's just like it's obvious, you know, what that person is
doing.
It's known the work that they're doing, right?
As Muslims undertaking Hajj in Islam, it is a spiritual duty as
long as we are financially, physically, and emotionally able
to do so.
Why is Mecca so important?
Mecca is the place where the Islamic religion started.
It is where the prophet Mohammed was born and received the first
revelations from Allah.
Allah is the Arabic word for God that went on to become the
Quran, the holy book read by Muslims.
Now, it's not just Islam that has a holy site where they
believe is above any other site of worshiping.
Here's some of the other religions that have a holy site
where it's not a requirement, but it's something that, you
know what, you're meant to do it.
It's like the greatest experience of your life, you
say.
They will say that you need to make this pilgrimage.
And for the orthodox religion, it's Mount Athos.
There's this holy mountain where there's a bunch of orthodox
priests that just, they literally will do a vain
repetition for like eight hours a day.
Like they're down to a routine for just hours and hours.
Three times a day for hours, they say the same thing for
hours and hours and hours.
And for some reason, this one mountain is a more holy place
to do it than any other place in the world.
Right?
And then they're just away from everybody.
It's something where it's like if you want to go to Mount
Athos as an orthodox, you got to be on a waiting list and
prove yourself for years and years and years to make it.
It's tough to make it because it's very selective.
Right?
Now, I think it's pretty strange to have, you know, like
50 single male priests or orthodox, you know, priests or
whatever just mainly repeating the same thing.
It's like I'm sure there's worse things going on up there.
But it's like that's a religion of orthodox where it's like
they have this holy mountain that they go to, Mount Athos.
With the Rastafari religion, it's Shashimane in Ethiopia is
their holy land.
Certain religions here in the Philippines, Davao is a holy
land to them.
For Buddhists, it's Lumbini-Nepal because it was a site
where Buddha was when he was young, a holy site for Buddhism.
So you go to this area and you got all these, you know,
Buddhists around the world that are coming to worship because
it's considered a more spiritual area than anything else.
In Jerusalem, for the Jews, it's the Wailing Wall.
Right?
I mean, there's plenty of walls that you can do this to, but
they got to go to the Wailing Wall.
Right?
There's something more spiritual about it to them.
Right?
And for the Catholics, it's Vatican City.
There's a famous example.
I mean, what converted Martin Luther to leaving the Catholic
religion was going to Vatican City.
He was expecting the most holy area in the world, and he's
like, I've never seen anything worse in my life.
Right?
The amount of debauchery and gambling and prostitution and
all of this stuff, and it's just like, but that's the holy
site for Catholics.
When it comes to Sikhism, they have the Golden Temple in India.
When it comes to Hinduism, the Ganges River, something about
that river where it's just like there's something holy about it.
You get cleansed if you go to that river.
I mean, here in the Philippines, right, you've got, man,
the Feast of the Nazarene.
I forgot.
It's been a while since they really had it, so it just kind
of slipped my mind.
But in January, isn't it January?
Right?
You've got the Feast of the Nazarene that comes up.
So, look, a lot of people have something like this.
Well, biblically speaking, you just need to be in the house of
God, and it doesn't have to be here, part of our church.
It's any house of God that's actually serving God and doing
right.
Okay?
But notice what it says in John 4, 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, ye worship ye know not what.
We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh
us to worship him.
Now he says salvation is of the Jews, not saying only the Jews
get saved, but the fact that the Jews were given the oracles of
God, they're given the word of God and the prophets, and they
grew up hearing about the message of salvation and what
the Scripture said, whereas other parts of the world, they
don't grow up hearing that.
And it says here in verse 23, but the hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and
in truth, for the Father seeketh us to worship him.
God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth.
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is
called Christ.
When he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Now when it comes to our modern day in the New Testament, when
it comes to, because in the Old Testament, if you really wanted
to serve God, you did really have to relocate to the area.
That's the area God was blessing.
They had the priests and the organized system and everything.
Obviously, they became wicked, though.
Their job was to bring forth fruit, and they didn't do that.
And they lost their preeminent position.
In our modern day, the application would be, make sure
you're part of a good church.
Now, obviously, if you're at this church, you're here, you're
part of our church, and for some people, it means traveling a
good ways.
For some people, it's a big effort, but you're here because
you say, you know what, I want to be a part of God's house and
around God's people.
And that's the right attitude to have.
But you know what, for some people, if they want to serve
God, they might have to move because maybe they don't have
an opportunity for a good church.
Now, I'm glad I don't have that situation.
Obviously, we're all glad we can be a part of a good church,
even if you had to drive a little bit of a distance, even
if it's not as convenient as maybe before you just went to
the closest Bible Baptist church or whatever.
But it's just like, you know, you want to put in the effort
to be a part of God's house.
But the basic idea is I looked at these five pillars of Islam
and the difference with Christianity, but you see this
overriding theme with all of these pillars with Islam, it's
about doing things where everybody knows what you're
doing.
The pilgrimage to Mecca is the same time everybody knows it.
Ramadan, same time every year.
The prayer is usually done in a public place.
Converting to Islam cannot just be something where you change
what you believe.
You must publicly profess and prove that you're actually
Muslim, and then you're going to repeat that every day, five
times a day, once or twice, so five to ten times a day for the
rest of your life, and see all these things are doing them
before men.
So what's the application to us?
Well, any works that we do, any good works, we shouldn't make it
a point to do these things to be seen of man.
We should do things quietly.
So if you read the Bible a lot, that's great.
I mean, if you read the Bible for an hour a day or 30 minutes
a day or you read through the Bible, you've got a Bible
reading schedule or whatever, I encourage you to do that.
I think it's a great thing, but you don't have to tell
everybody, you know, look at me, I've read the Bible more than
other people.
Right?
It's just something between you and God.
Now, this seems very easy because, of course, we shouldn't
want, you know, we shouldn't make it a point to do our works
to be seen of man, but, you know, naturally we're all
prideful.
Can we admit that?
I mean, in two weeks we're going to have our ping-pong tournament.
If you hit the greatest shot ever, you know, you might
naturally kind of look around, did people see that?
Right?
I just hit that greatest shot ever, did people see that?
And it's like, oh, man, nobody saw it.
And we're frustrated.
Right?
I mean, if you accomplish something you want people to
see, I mean, you hit that game-winning three-pointer and
everything and then everybody was just not looking because of
something else, it's like, what?
Nobody saw it.
It's like it's the greatest based on, you know, some
athletic achievement or some academic achievement or
whatever.
Right?
If you win some competition we have, because, look, we like to
do competitions around her, at least I do.
I love doing competitions.
We have a lot of competitions.
Well, hey, that's great if you win something.
There's nothing wrong with being excited.
Be very careful, though, with spiritual things because if you
make it a point to let everybody know about all your spiritual
accomplishments, the problem is you might have gotten rewards
for it and you could lose those rewards.
Now, I'm not saying it's never wrong.
I'm not saying it's always wrong to ever say something to
anybody about something that goes well in your life or a
blessing God gave you, but you need to make sure you have the
right heart about it.
And, of course, that is something between you and God.
You know your heart.
God knows your heart.
But make sure when you're doing things for God it's not to be
seen of man, but you're just doing it because you love God.
Right?
And so, you know what, there's many applications we can make.
We can make it with a personal walk, praying.
I mean, we have a lot of people memorizing the Bible, and I was
very happy today.
I went back there.
We're missing a lot of the prizes.
And so that's great.
People are memorizing, and that's a great thing to do.
And it's like, you know, one thing I like is I haven't had
people coming up to me and jumping up and saying, hey, I
haven't seen anyone make it a point for everybody to know,
look at what I did.
No, I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but I'm not aware of
it.
Right?
And, look, it's a great thing to memorize the Bible, but it's
something between you and God.
Prayer is something between you and God.
Right?
We need to make sure we're not doing our works to be seen of
men, and this is a difference.
And it makes sense why certain religions are very popular
because we naturally want people to see our works.
It makes sense why, you know, when you look at the message of
the Bible, in many ways why it's not popular because it's like,
man, you know, I don't...
But, see, here's the thing to remember.
The Bible says that your father sees what you do in secret, and
he's going to reward you openly.
Now, that could be at the judgment seat of Christ.
Obviously, at the judgment seat of Christ, people are going to
see if you have crowns and rewards.
That's going to be true.
But he might also reward you openly in this life.
The Bible says let another man praise thee.
Right?
Not your own lips, not your own mouth.
Right?
So here's the thing.
If you're doing something for God and serving God, there's a
good chance that other people might end up, you know, letting
people know about your accomplishments or whatever,
but you want to make sure that you're not making it a point
yourself to do your works for the purpose to be seen a man.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here
today and getting to hear this sermon.
Help us to understand just this difference between these
religions.
Help us understand what we believe as Christians, God, and
try to follow the Bible the best we can.
Obviously, pride is probably about the biggest thing that we
struggle with as believers.
Help us to be humble people.
Help us just to serve you because we love you and not to
be seen a man but just because we want to do what's right and
serve you and we want to love you, God.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Let's get our hymn books and turn to hymn number 130.
Hymn number 130.
Let's sing the song yesterday, today, forever.
Hymn number 130.