["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good morning. Let's start our first service. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church, Manila.
Let's turn on hymns to hymn number 194. Let's sing the song,
Since Jesus Came Into My Heart. So we're going to sing the first and the last verse.
First and last verse.
On the first.
What a wonderful vision my life has been brought, Since Jesus came into my heart.
I have died in my soul for which long I had sought, Since Jesus came into my heart.
Since Jesus came into my heart, Since Jesus came into my heart.
Lots of joy o'er my soul like the sea billows roll, Since Jesus came into my heart.
Nonetheless, I shall go there to dwell in that city I know, Since Jesus came into my heart.
And I'm happy, so happy as onward I go, Since Jesus came into my heart.
Since Jesus came into my heart, Since Jesus came into my heart.
Lots of joy o'er my soul like the sea billows roll, Since Jesus came into my heart.
All right, good morning everybody, welcome.
The sorrow of the world worked with death, and that's a great verse there.
You can see the picture's appropriate for today, right?
And I make these bulletins ahead of time, so I guess I'm a prophet, right?
Even the song we sang, the floods of joy, like the sea billows roll, it's like, yeah, that's right.
And so anyways, we're a family-integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services.
We do have a mother-baby room back there for your convenience, as well as a lady's restroom.
Remember, no eating during the services, maintain a professional atmosphere,
and keep the children from running and making noise during the church service.
Then on the next page, in the middle of our bulletin, our service time's announced.
Sunday, first service, 10 a.m., second service, 1130.
Wednesday evening, Bible study at 7 p.m.
5 p.m. soul winning on Wednesday afternoons, but obviously realize,
if you come here for soul winning on Wednesdays and the weather's really bad,
then we might not have soul winning, depending.
Saturday afternoon, we have our soul winning times, 10 to 12, lunch provided, then 2 to 4.
If you have any questions, like the weather's bad, you can ask Brother Ehrman.
Like yesterday, for example, we weren't really able to do soul winning.
And today, as far as I know, it's supposed to be raining, so we're kind of having a change of schedule.
Our song, we just did the first and the last one song.
And so we're probably planning right after lunch today to start the dark competition and fellowship.
We have food carts coming. We're going to have mais, hot dogs, and ice scramble.
And so it's like we're going to a fair or something.
You know, the weather's terrible, but that's what we did in Pampanga last week.
That was a lot of fun.
And so that's what we're going to do.
So probably right after lunch here today.
And my family's probably going to be leaving early afternoon, around 3ish,
just because I don't want to go home when it's dark.
The roads might be bad.
If you want to stick around, though, late and do soul winning after that, then you're perfectly welcome to.
We're probably just going to be doing the fellowship activity here today is the plan.
And so it's not often we skip soul winning, but there's a lot of things to consider, and that's what our plan is today.
I don't want people going home too late.
And so anyways, our Praise Report for 2021, 312 salvations year to date, not including this month, not including this past week.
Over 4,000 year to date.
We're at over 300 in Pampanga, over 300 in the Singapore Bible Study Fellowship.
You can see below volunteering opportunities, birthdays and anniversaries listed.
Bible memorization challenge, we're going to finish 1 John 4 today, which means we have one more sermon in 1 John.
So you have basically a couple more weeks to finish this up if you're doing the challenge.
And in 1 John 5, I think there's only one sermon on that.
Challenge B is to memorize Chapter 1.
Upcoming activities, we do have the dark competition.
I'm glad there's going to be less people here today because I have a better chance of winning.
Right? I mean, amen.
If you're here, it's like, yes, my odds of winning just skyrocketed.
Right?
And so anyways, we have the dark competition.
We're planning a soul winning marathon.
Obviously this depends on the weather.
So I guess there's a holiday on August 10th, a Tuesday, a moon jotted, you know, some other Muslim holiday.
And obviously we have soul winning every Saturday, but on August 21st is Nino Aquino Day.
So all day soul winning marathon that day, obviously given the weather.
But our next prayer meeting is August 22nd.
Current and upcoming series, 1 John, we have just this week and next week will be done.
How to Spot a Psychopath will be done after this week.
We have just two more sermons in 2 Peter.
We'll be moving on to something different.
And on the back, there is a place for notes for the sermons here today.
And so I do believe that's it for announcements.
We'll have Brother Marlon lead us in another song.
And for our next call, it's going to be number 164.
We'll sing about Praise Him, Praise Him.
Praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer.
King of Earth is wonderful, love divine.
Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels in glory.
Grant and honor, gift to his holy name.
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard his children.
In his heart, he cares them all day long.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
To His excellent greatness.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
Ever in joyful songs.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
Jesus our blessed Redeemer.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
Ever in joyful songs.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
Ever in joyful songs.
Praise Him, Praise Him.
Ever in joyful songs.
All right, we're going to jump right into the sermon here today.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 7, 2 Corinthians 7.
And yesterday, the first sermon ran pretty long.
I'm going to try to actually cut out some stuff and just kind of shorten it a little
bit, but make sure I cover all of the same points.
And so let me just open in a word of prayer as you're turning to 2 Corinthians 7.
And, dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to be here in Your house and being able
to come here safely.
And I ask You to be with everyone who still might be traveling as the roads are pretty
bad, God.
But even though we might not be a huge number here today, we ask You to bless this service.
I ask You to speak through me and help us to learn something from Your word here today.
Have a great time at fellowship here later today and a safe trip back to our homes.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
And so we're concluding the series on how to spot a psychopath.
And the name of this sermon is How to Spot a Psychopath, a Survival Guide.
And so I got the title from, I just finished the book, Without Conscience, by Robert D.
Hare.
And that's kind of the last chapter where he talks about, okay, I've given you all these
terrible things.
How do you survive now?
What do you do now that you can spot them?
Well, what do you actually do to keep yourself safe?
What do you do to safeguard yourself?
And so I'm going to kind of talk about three groups of people here today.
I'm going to rush through the first two.
Mainly, we're going to focus on people that are saved and trying to serve God.
But I want to start with, let's say you're saved here today, point number one.
And many of these characteristics, you're like, man, I'm guilty.
And you didn't realize that you had a lot of character flaws.
But we've gone through 20 different characteristics.
And here's the thing.
The world has identified these 20 characteristics as being something that is not very common
with a normal person, much less a saved person.
It's something that's very common with people that they label as psychopaths
or what would be a reprobate, as the Bible says.
So look, if we've gone through 20 characteristics and you're like,
man, there's like four or five of those that I can check,
you need to make some major changes in your life.
I mean, if you're a pathological liar, if you're a manipulator,
if you think the world revolves around you, I mean, if you're committing these sins,
you need to make some major changes in your life because be sure your sin will find you out.
And you're going to destroy your life, okay?
And so let me give you an example of this in 2 Corinthians 7.
And in 2 Corinthians, this was written basically after 1 Corinthians.
And he's basically kind of giving a response to how they responded to the first letter of 1 Corinthians.
This is a group of saved people, right?
I mean, the Church of Corinth was saved people.
You never see Paul questioning their salvation in the book of 1 or 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 7 verse 8.
For though I made you sorry with a letter, what letter?
The letter of 1 Corinthians.
I do not repent. That's present tense.
And Paul is saying, hey, I do not repent.
I don't change my mind that I wrote that letter, though I did repent past tense.
And what Paul is saying is when I did write that letter, I kind of changed my mind about it.
Like, was that the right strategy? Was I too harsh?
Should I have not made that YouTube video, you know?
And then all of a sudden he's saying present tense.
I do not repent, right?
He said, why does he say this?
For I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
And he's saying, you know what, I don't repent.
And the reason why is I looked at the Church of Corinth and they made the right change, okay?
They were sorry, but only for a season, only for a time period.
The Church felt bad about what they did.
They felt grieved over their sin.
And notice what it says in verse 9.
Now I rejoice. I'm happy, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance.
And Paul says, I'm happy, but not because I made you feel miserable, but because you sorrowed to repentance.
A change actually took place, okay?
And when it's talking about repentance, this has nothing to do with going to heaven,
because these people are already saved.
He's writing to save people, but he's saying that when I wrote that letter,
you responded in the right way and there was actually a change that took place,
and I rejoice that a change actually took place.
You know what you see from Paul the Apostle?
He didn't actually enjoy preaching those sermons that made people feel miserable.
And let me tell you something.
I don't enjoy preaching sermons where I know certain people are guilty and people could get offended.
I mean, a lot of those sermons, it's just like, man, well, I hope this goes okay,
but here's the thing, I can't avoid certain parts of the Bible.
It's really easy to preach a sermon against the LGBT,
because presumably nobody's guilty of that in our church.
And if they are, well, that needs to be revealed, right?
But you know, the sermons where I know people are guilty,
you don't know how people are going to respond, right?
I mean, sometimes people could get offended by the message.
Sometimes they could leave.
I mean, people quit churches over sermons because they get offended.
You don't know how people are going to respond, and I can just tell you,
I prefer preaching sermons about why you need to read the Bible every day.
I don't prefer preaching sermons where I'm ripping on somebody's sin,
but at the same time, as a preacher, you must preach the entire message of the Bible without holding back, okay?
And Paul did that.
But that's not why he was happy.
He was happy because a change took place.
For a year made sorry after a godly manner that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
Now, why does Paul say that ye might receive damage by us in nothing?
He's going to talk about godly sorrow, and godly sorrow is a sorrow that results in a change that's permanent, okay?
And what Paul says is that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
What does that mean?
Here's what it means.
If you're somebody who is drinking alcohol all the time and you don't realize it's wrong,
and then all of a sudden I preach that sermon and show you from the Bible,
and now you do know it's wrong and you don't make a change, you're going to get damaged by me.
And Paul's saying you're going to get damaged by my words if you don't listen to what the Bible says.
So here's the thing.
That's why I never understand people that come to church but don't have an interest in serving God.
Why would you come to this church?
Because God's going to hold you accountable.
Like people that always listen to the sermons online but never come to church, I'm just like, just don't listen online.
You're going to be held accountable for what you're listening to, right?
And Paul's saying you're going to get damaged by us, which means not just Paul but the other people that were helping write this book.
And he said, you know what, because you had a godly sorrow, you're not going to get damaged, okay?
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of.
He said, but wait a minute, works repentance to salvation.
Well, they're already saved spiritually.
But what happens is that if somebody hears the message and doesn't make the change,
they're going to get damaged or be destroyed, which is basically the opposite of being saved.
Let me give you an example.
If somebody drinks alcohol every day and they hear that sermon and they don't make the change,
they're going to destroy their body.
They're going to destroy their liver.
They're going to die 20 years younger because of their sin.
And they're going to be destroyed, but here's the thing.
If they listen to that sermon and make the change, it will save them from destroying their life.
What about a young man who's tempted to commit fornication
and he hears the sermon and he feels guilty and he doesn't do it?
That is going to save him from marriage problems 10 years down the road, right?
And so here's the thing.
God's word does good to those that walk uprightly, and it will save you from destroying and harming your life
if you follow what the Bible says.
But if you do not follow what the Bible says, well, you're going to get damaged by the words that are being preached
because God will hold you accountable to what you hear.
And see, godly sorrow is a sorrow that results in a change.
There's the repentance, not to be repented of, meaning you don't change your mind a couple weeks later.
Meaning King Saul, when he got caught, I'm sorry for trying to kill you, David.
I'll never do this again.
Three weeks later, I'm sorry for trying to kill you, David.
I will never do this again.
A month later, I'm sorry, David. I don't know what got into me.
It's like, what do you see?
Well, you don't see godly sorrow because of the fact it's been repented of.
It's been changed, and he's doing the exact same thing.
What is worldly sorrow?
This is worldly sorrow that's being described where there's no permanent change.
It's the altar call.
At the altar, what happens is people feel very emotional.
They come down.
They get right at the altar, but they make no changes in their life, and then they do the same thing the next week.
Why is that?
Because it's not godly sorrow.
It's worldly sorrow.
I know how that works because I've been in Baptist churches for almost 20 years now.
I remember one time.
One time, I went down to the altar because I got very emotional.
You do feel like you're making a change, but it doesn't actually result in any permanent change.
That is worldly sorrow where you get right, but you never make any changes.
You're bouncing back and forth.
As a saved person, you need to make the changes and not to repent of that,
not to change your mind, but make the appropriate changes in your life and never go back on that.
If you go back and forth and back and forth, you're like a ping-pong ball or a tennis ball just bouncing back and forth.
What that is is worldly sorrow.
It is not godly sorrow.
Then it says this.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance and salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
The sorrow of the world worketh death.
What is the sorrow of the world?
It's like everybody who gets caught for a crime, and they're sorry for it,
but if they could do it over again and get away with it, they would still do it.
This is every murder.
Every time they get caught, I promise you they're sorry, but is it godly sorrow or worldly sorrow?
Well, it's worldly sorrow.
They get caught, and you know what?
The serial killers, they just end up doing it again when they have the opportunity.
Here's the thing.
If it's godly sorrow, here's the reality.
You cannot know if someone has godly sorrow unless a time period has gone by.
Now look, David, when he was rebuked by Nathan, he admitted he did wrong,
but the only reason why we know he had true godly sorrow is the time that went by.
You're not going to know when somebody first apologizes whether or not they're actually sincere or not unless time goes by.
Well, you can kind of tell if somebody's insincere when they make excuses, enlighten their sin.
You can tell when they're insincere, but even if someone has the perfect words,
you cannot tell if they're sincere unless time goes by.
You say, well, how do you know?
Because godly sorrow is a sorrow that results in a change that does not get repented of.
Well, how are you going to know that it's not going to be repented of unless time goes by?
The only way to know that is an appropriate time that actually goes by.
Verse 11, for behold this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort.
What carefulness that it hath wrought in you?
Yea, what clearing of yourselves?
Yea, what indignation?
Yea, what fear?
Yea, what vehement desire?
Yea, what zeal?
Yea, what revenge?
In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Paul says enough time has gone by.
I see your zeal.
I see your desire.
You've cleared yourself.
You have an indignation or anger or hatred for the sin that you committed.
Enough time has gone by.
Enough time has gone by where Paul can actually see it.
But here's the thing.
You would never be able to know unless a time had gone by to actually see it.
It is impossible.
Now, it's possible to tell if somebody's insincere.
It is not possible to tell if somebody's sincere unless time goes by according to the word of God.
Okay?
The other thing is this.
Let's say you're a saved person but you're guilty of many things that we talked about.
The Bible says they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
These are the words of Jonah while he was inside of a whale's belly.
And what he said is they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
What he's saying is this.
If you try to justify your actions and don't admit that you're wrong and you basically lie against the truth,
what's going to happen?
You're forsaking your own mercy.
And it's not going to be anybody's fault when you don't have mercy.
It's going to be your fault.
Why?
Because you observed a lying vanity.
You tried to justify yourself.
You didn't just admit you were wrong.
You didn't admit that you messed up.
You didn't admit how bad your sin was.
Guess what?
Your mercy has been forsaken.
And that is nobody's fault except yours because you're observing a lying vanity.
This is what the Bible teaches.
Right?
Turn to 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3.
The first group of people I want to talk to are the people that are saved,
but maybe you have a lot of characteristics you've noticed that you have problems in your life.
The second group of people I want to talk to are if you're a psychopath here today.
Right?
If you're a bad person here today, I do want to speak to you for a couple minutes.
Okay?
And I'm going to give you a verse that actually talks about this.
2 Timothy 3, verse 7.
It says,
Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
So the Bible says about people that are reprobates or psychopaths,
they are not able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
It is impossible for them to actually believe on Jesus Christ.
You could give them the Gospel and it's going to go straight over their head.
They're just not going to get it.
It's just not going to click with them.
They're just at the end going to be like, I'm not sure.
Okay?
Verse 8.
Now as Janus and Jamborees withstood Moses,
so did these also resist the truth,
that men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.
Notice this in verse 9.
But they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men,
as theirs also was.
The Bible says about bad people, their folly is going to be manifest.
Right?
If you're a bad person, your sin is going to be found out.
And here's the thing.
We are not the sort of Baptist church that's going to cover your sins.
So here's the thing.
You're better off just going to another Baptist church now ahead of time
before you get embarrassed before the church.
Because your folly is going to be manifest,
and we're not going to hold it and try to make you look good.
The truth is the truth.
So look, if you're a bad person here, I mean,
if you want to play this game and just have your folly manifest one day,
so be it.
We'll play that game.
You're better off just leaving now, to be honest.
Right?
Because the Bible says your folly is going to be manifest,
and there's a lot of Baptist churches that will cover every single sin
and just keep it in house.
I know Baptist churches in the U.S.
where it was known that somebody committed a sin like pedophilia,
and they were guilty of it, and they had a private meeting,
and they made it a point not to tell the congregation.
And they just said, we're going to cover it, not go to the police.
That's ridiculous.
I mean, why would you do that?
And yet there's many churches.
They have junior church.
They have children's ministries.
They have all these things.
And it's a breeding ground for these types of crimes.
It's not a safe environment for people with kids.
And then those Baptist churches cover everything.
It's not just the Baptist.
I mean, obviously the Catholics, the Jehovah's Witnesses
have a lot of scandals on their hands.
Right?
I don't think I've ever talked to someone of the worldwide mission society
that was like an evangelist that wasn't a homo.
Like every single one I've talked to it was like pretty obvious
that they were a homo.
So, you know, there you go with that religion.
But it's just like, you know what, this exists in a lot of churches,
and you know what, when they're grievous sins,
they cannot be just covered.
They need to be known.
The Bible teaches that.
Okay?
Now go to Matthew 13.
Matthew 13.
But the main group I'm talking here today as a takeaway
are those of us that are saved and we're trying to live for God.
I'm not saying you're perfect.
I'm not saying you're without sin.
I'm not saying that you haven't learned things over the last five weeks
of things you could make some changes in your life.
But by and large you're trying to serve God.
You mess up.
A just man falls seven times and rises again.
But what do we do when we hear a sermon series like this?
How do we respond to that?
Because the first thing you need to understand is this.
Bad people exist in all walks of life.
If you work at an office with 100 people,
there are going to be bad people at that office.
It's just a reality.
There are bad people that walk amongst us.
It's just a fact.
Okay?
And so, look, the wrong response would be to say,
well, I'm just going to hide out in a bubble at home
and just avoid people all my life.
Because that is literally what you'd have to do
to avoid running into a bad person.
Just order your food from the grocery store,
have it delivered,
wait five minutes after they drop it off at your door
to go outside and take it in because that person might be a bad person.
That is literally how you'd have to live your life.
That's not possible.
The reality is they're going to be amongst us
in all walks of life, including in church.
Notice what it says in Matthew 13, verse 24.
Another parable put forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field.
But while men slept, his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
So notice how it says,
the enemy sows tares among the wheat in Matthew 13, verse 25.
You say, what does that mean?
Well, look at what it says in verse 26.
But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit,
then appeared the tares also.
So the Bible speaks about the tares and the wheat,
and what we're going to see in this parable
are the wheat are the saved people, children of God.
The tares are the children of the devil.
Not just a normal, unsafe person,
but you've got children of God and you have children of the devil.
And what it said in verse 26,
But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit.
Now, what do you think that's trying to tell you?
It's trying to talk about a church that brings forth fruit.
It's trying to talk about a church that wins souls to the Lord.
And see, what the Bible says,
if you are a soul-winning church, get prepared for tares.
That's what it says.
You say, why?
Because the enemy is trying to stop the work that's being done.
It's logical.
It makes sense.
How many churches are actually going out there winning souls to the Lord?
Not a whole lot.
So what church is the devil going to attack?
A church that's actually winning souls to the Lord.
It's common sense, right?
It says, when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit,
then appeared the tares also.
So a new church gets started, they start winning souls to the Lord,
and guess what's going to happen?
Well, in come the tares, right?
That's what the Bible says is going to take place.
And look, at a church like ours, you just need to be aware of that.
You say, why?
Because we're going to bring forth fruit until the day we die.
Because we're going to be a soul-winning church.
That is what our church is about.
And here's the thing.
I wish I could provide you an atmosphere where we could do all these great works for God
with no resistance from the devil.
That's not reality.
As a church that wins souls and is doing something for God,
you just need to realize we have entered into a spiritual warfare with the devil.
And the reality is these other churches, they're not in spiritual warfare with the devil.
But we are.
You say, why?
Because we preach the things that are going to offend the world.
We preach the things the Bible says.
We go out soul-winning.
We're serving God.
So guess what?
We're going to have a battle on our hands.
That is reality, okay?
And look, it's not just what it says here in Matthew 13.
It's just common sense, though, that this is what is going to take place.
Verse 27.
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him,
Sir, didst not thou so good seed in thy field?
From Winston hath it tares?
I mean, if you go out to your vineyard and you plant all these things,
why are there tares?
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
See, your first reaction is, wait a minute, Brother Stuckey.
There's going to be a tares among them, so let's just go out now and gather up all the tares, right?
Well, wait a minute, though.
Does the Bible teach that?
That is what makes sense with your wisdom.
That's what makes sense with my wisdom, but what does the Bible say?
Verse 29.
But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them.
What's the Bible saying here?
Actually, no, I don't want you to go on a campaign to try to find out everyone is a bad person and remove them.
You say, why?
Because you're accidentally going to remove some wheat when you thought you had a tare.
And see, what the Bible is indicating is if you try to make it a campaign to remove all the bad people from church
because you're paranoid or whatever, you are going to accidentally remove some of the wrong people.
You say, what are you talking about?
Well, I'm talking about Amnon and Jonadab.
If you were around during that time period, you'd say, man, I think Amnon's the bad guy.
Amnon wasn't the bad guy.
Now, what he did would get you certainly kicked out of church.
That would actually get you the death penalty, according to the Bible.
But he wasn't the tare.
He was actually the wheat.
And you're like, when you're looking at that story, you wouldn't have actually thought of it because you know why?
Because the person who's the tare, they often start a bunch of fires and they step away and nobody knows it was them.
And they just sit back with popcorn watching the battles, and nobody knows that I'm the one who started all these problems.
That is reality.
I wish everything was just two plus three equals five, but it does not work that way.
And see, what the Bible teaches is actually the tare can hide amongst the wheat, and you know what?
You can't easily tell what's the tare and what's the wheat sometimes.
That's reality.
Now, we're a soul-winning church.
We bring forth fruit.
Now, obviously our attendance is a little bit lower today due to the weather, but I promise you as a church that wins 4,000 souls, we're going to have some bad people amongst us.
We're always going to.
And here's the thing.
You're not going to necessarily know who the bad person is.
The Bible says it's going to be tricky.
You say, how do you know that, Brother Stuckey?
Well, how long has our church been around for?
Less than three years.
Now, I think most of us would say that Peter and James and John probably accomplished more than any of us ever will.
But did any of them know Judas Iscariot was a bad guy?
Nope.
You say, why?
Because he hid amongst the wheat.
I mean, literally Jesus says, hey, Judas is the bad guy.
Is it I?
It's like, I just told you.
But we couldn't have meant that because Judas is the last person who would be a bad guy, right?
And yet Judas is the bad guy.
So the Bible's indicating the tares can hide amongst the wheat.
It can actually be hard to find out who the bad person actually is.
And so the goal of this series is not to walk away and say, okay, we're going to find everybody and just root them out
because the Bible actually says that's going to be impossible.
You are not going to know 100% for sure, okay?
He actually explains this parable.
Go to verse 36, and it will be exactly like I just explained, but we'll look at verse 36.
And it says, then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house.
And his disciples came on to him, saying, declare unto us the parable the tares of the field.
So they're confused about the tares of the field.
They want to know.
He answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the Son of man, the field is the world,
the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one.
So the tares are children of the devil, the Bible's saying.
So you've got children of God and children of the devil.
At a church like ours, if somebody is here for years and years and years, there's one of two possibilities.
One of three if they're very young.
You know, if they're a baby, you know, they could be here for years.
If somebody's been here for three years and gone soul-winding with us and listened to sermon after sermon,
they're either saved or reprobate.
There's not going to be an in-between because they're going to eventually make that decision.
Now, if there's someone who just comes from time to time, that could be different.
If somebody's here and partaking in the ministries, they either believe it or they've already rejected God's word.
There's only one of two possibilities.
I mean, even Paul speaks about that when he uses the term basically like,
well, you know, you're either saved or reprobate is what he says in 2 Corinthians 13, right?
And so the indication is if someone's here for a while, it's going to be children of God or children of the wicked one.
That's going to be the reality. It's one of two groups of people, okay?
The enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world, okay?
Now, turn in your Bible. Actually, look at verse 47. Verse 47.
So, look, realize that there are going to be bad people amongst us as a church, at your work, everywhere this is going to exist.
Notice what it says in verse 47. Again, the kingdom has gone to a net.
When we go soul winning, we are like a fisherman casting out the net trying to grab a bunch of fish, right?
We're casting out the net. We're throwing it to the side, hoping to catch some fish.
That was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind. So the net is cast into the sea and gathered of every kind,
which when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away.
So the Bible says when the net is thrown forth, it's going to bring forth the good and the bad, right?
The good and the bad are going to end up coming.
I don't know if people have ever fished before. You know, I didn't really do a lot of fishing, but it's pretty common in West Virginia.
But sometimes, you know, you throw out that reel and then you think you've got a strong catch or something,
but you've caught on to like a log or something like, man, this is a big fish. It's a battle. It's a battle.
And then all of a sudden it's like seaweed or junk or trash. You say, that's what the Bible is indicating, though.
You cast that out. You never know what's coming back. You might get a nice fish. You know, you might get some trash.
You're going to get the good and the bad. Well, obviously you're going to get rid of the trash, right?
And so you're going to get the good and the bad when you cast the net out. Verse 49.
So shall it be at the end of the world. The animals shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just.
So the Bible is indicating the wicked from among the just. So it is giving a comparison of children of God and children of the devil.
And the indication is this. When we go soul winning, we're going to get some new people coming to our church,
and some are going to be good and some are going to be bad, right?
You say, really? If we go soul winning, we'll attract some bad people? We will, according to the Bible.
And I'll give you a couple stories of that. Go to Romans 16. Romans 16. Romans 16.
I told these two stories yesterday and I got one of the names wrong of the first name.
I thought both of them, their name was Joe. I've just lived in the Philippines so long and people call me Joe.
I think every American is called Joe. But in the first story I think the name is Sam, if I remember correctly.
I never know how to respond when someone's like, hey, Joe. I'm just thinking, am I supposed to respond to that?
I mean, are you saying I'm like GI Joe, like a muscular or something? I mean, that's a compliment, right?
I don't know what they're trying to say. But anyways, the first one I'm talking about, his name was Sam.
And my friend, Brother Richard Simes, he was going soul winning and he brought this person to church.
He preaches the gospel to this person. They hear the gospel, but they don't end up getting saved.
But he invited him to church and then he gets a message from that guy saying, hey, you know, I'd like to come to your church.
And he said, you know, I got saved. And he said he thought about it and he got saved afterwards.
Obviously that's possible, right? We can give the gospel to people and they can get saved later on.
They think about the message. I know many people, that's how they got saved. Sometimes they think about it for a couple weeks.
They're just not ready to get it at that time. But this guy hears the message, doesn't get saved there,
but then I guess a few hours later he says he gets saved.
This guy starts coming to church and all of us were like, there's something about this guy.
He's got that look in his eye, right? He was a little bit, you know, a little bit baklava.
He seems like he might be a home-own, right? But he's coming to church and coming soul winning and hanging out and everything.
But we're like, we don't trust this guy. There's just things that he said and everything like that.
It just didn't seem right. And so I was like, well, let me test this guy because he came from a Pentecostal church
and he used to speak in tongues. So I was like, let me try to trick him.
And so I sent him a text message and I was just talking generally like, hey, I heard you came from a Pentecostal church.
He's like, yeah. I was like, did your church do speaking in tongues and stuff? He's like, yeah.
I was like, did you ever do that? He's like, yeah. I was like, do you still do that from time to time? Yeah.
And so he admitted to me that he still speaks in tongues from time to time because we had talked to the pastor about this
and I showed the pastor. I was like, this is what he said. He's like, all right, he's not coming back to our church, right?
Because he was pretending to, and look, I don't think this guy realized he was a bad person.
I think that he thought that he was good, but the devil had actually sent him and he was still speaking in tongues,
which is an indication of being possessed according to the Bible. And so he actually still was not saved.
And so it's like, but he was among us and pretending to be like us.
And I don't know if he was intentionally doing that or just he was sent and he didn't realize it.
But what is that called? Well, it's called casting out the net and sometimes you cast back something bad.
There's this guy at my old job at Lowe's in the US. This is probably a long time ago, more than a decade ago.
And this guy had had a really serious car accident. He had messed up his head when he was younger, so he was a little bit off.
But I thought it was because he had had a big car wreck and, you know, it had really kind of messed with him.
He had had surgery. And so people made fun of him. I felt bad. I took him out to lunch and I gave him the gospel.
Same thing, though. This guy did not get saved in front of me, but he got saved like four hours later.
Now, I'm not saying that's an automatic indicator someone's bad, but in these stories, you know, there is that link.
And this guy's name was Joe, okay? And then all of a sudden, you know, he would start coming to church from time to time and everything.
But this guy also, just something off about him, right? And I thought it was because of the car accident, but I was like, I don't know about this guy.
And then all of a sudden he started rooming. He said, man, it's tough on rent. So he started rooming with his homosexual friend.
It's like, well, if that's not a red flag. He's like, I'm not a homo. He's like, there's nothing between us, but I'm trying to save money on rent.
It's like, so of course, you know, I talked to the pastor privately about that, but here's the thing.
All of a sudden he's just coming from time to time and then all of a sudden he said, hey, I really want to start getting involved in church.
And he said, I'd really like to work with the children's ministry. And then I called the pastor and I talked to him and he said, I appreciate that.
He's like, he will never set foot anywhere near our children's ministries because quite honestly, the church, these are two different churches in West Virginia.
I actually had good pastors. They're pretty good churches. I'm not saying that they're perfect, but they're good men, you know, very clear in salvation and everything.
And he was aware of the fact, no way are we letting someone near children when he's lived with a homosexual and we're just going to trust him with children.
It's like, we're going to pass on that. But what am I saying? Well, here's what I'm saying. You know, sometimes you go soul winning and you might catch the bad.
That's reality. And look, our movement attracts a lot of types of people. We're going to have the good and the bad at our church.
It's just reality. We're going to attract the good. We're going to attract the bad. And of course, when we go soul winning and somebody new comes to church, we're going to be excited.
We're like, amen, they're starting to come to church. And of course, we're going to give the benefit of the doubt, but it is possible they could be a bad person.
You say, well, Brother Stuckey, when do I just assume somebody's a good person? Well, let me explain my philosophy when it comes to trusting people.
There's levels of trust, okay? I've heard the phrase before, trust no one, suspect no one. I don't really agree with that phrase, though, because some people I trust more than others.
Right? There are certain things I would never trust with anyone. I am not going to trust my children with anyone.
Right? No matter how much I trust you, I don't trust you that much. Okay? But, you know, there are people that I trust for certain things.
Right? I mean, Brother Ehrman's running the Saturday soul winning. That means obviously I trust him to run the Saturday soul winning.
But if somebody's new at church, let's say they just start coming, am I going to put them as a leader in a ministry or have them preaching behind the pulpit?
Well, obviously not, because that trust has to be built up. Right? And so when it comes to this idea, there are certain things that you shouldn't trust with anybody.
And, you know what, when it comes to trust, though, there might be some you trust more than others. It's just reality. Of course we form judgments, because man looketh on the outward appearance.
If somebody tells me, hey, I used to room with a homosexual, you know what, my trust for that person is going to be lower than other people.
And if it's not for you, you're insane. Right? Of course, I mean, your trust level is going to vary depending on who the person actually is.
Okay? It's just common sense. Okay? Now, what do we take away from this knowing that there's going to be bad people among us?
Well, what does it say in Romans 16? Point number one, avoid these people. The Bible says to avoid these people.
It says in Romans 16 verse 17, now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned. Notice this, and avoid them.
Now, here in Romans 16, it is referring to people that are bad people, and what it says about them is to avoid them.
What's interesting is that's pretty much the first advice from the book I just read without conscience. What do you do with these types of people? Just avoid them.
And you say, why is it you avoid them? Why is it you don't get into an intellectual battle with them?
Here's the reality. You are never going to win an intellectual battle with a psychopath. Not because they're necessarily smarter than you.
Let me give you an example. Let's say I'm boxing Brother Marlon, okay? And we're boxing. Who knows who's going to win? Obviously me, but no, I'm just kidding.
But, you know, either one of us might end up winning, right? There's always a puncher's chance, brother. No, I'm just kidding.
But let's say, for example, you know, both of my arms are tied behind my back. Who's going to win that boxing match?
Well, I hope he wins. Otherwise, he's really, really bad at boxing, right? You say, what am I trying to say?
Well, here's what I'm saying. It's not a fair fight if you're fighting a psychopath, because if someone is a bad person, they are willing to lie and manipulate and do whatever to win that battle.
And as a safe person, you're not willing to do that. So here's the thing. Don't get into a battle with them. Avoid them.
Now, here's the thing. As I've said, you're not going to necessarily know if someone's a bad person or not, but your trust level is going to vary depending on who the person is.
And so if you're questioning it, then it's just like, well, that should be someone that you personally avoid, right?
This is not someone you gossip to other people at church and say, well, so-and-so did this, so-and-so, I think they might be a bad person. No, right?
But you as an individual, if you think someone might be a bad person, you should personally avoid them.
At your work, if you think somebody's a bad person, avoid that person. You say, why? What are they going to do to me?
Well, they're probably not going to be a serial killer. But, you know, what they can do is get information from you, gossip about you behind your back, manipulate and lie about you to destroy you and promote themselves at work.
That is what they might end up doing. And so what the Bible says is, you know what, you should actually avoid these people because they're actually going to harm you.
They might not kill you, but, you know what, they're going to harm you. And so you should avoid these people.
And it's not just the world's advice. The Bible actually says, mark these people and avoid them.
When it comes to someone being a false prophet, if somebody gets called out as a false prophet, a John MacArthur type, or someone who's new IFB but they turn out to be a false prophet, don't listen to them anymore.
You say, well, you know, I might still learn something. Why would you listen to a false prophet? The Bible says mark and avoid them.
I really don't understand it because people get called out as a false prophet and people know they're a false prophet and then they say, wow, but this one sermon is, you know, it sounds interesting to me.
Why would you listen to them? You might get some right information. You might get some wrong information as well.
Don't just listen to every single thing that you hear. You say, well, eat the meat, spit out the bones.
Yeah, but here's the thing. If it's 99% bones, it's not, I agree with that strategy in terms of the fact that there's very little bones.
But look, I hate eating meat where it's like 95% bones and you're stabbing your mouth every second. It's like, man, it's not worth the effort. Right?
So it says, mark and avoid them. Verse 18, for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches.
Notice this, deceive the hearts of the simple. And the Bible says that these people by good words, by flattering words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the Bobo, the simple.
That's what it's saying. Those that are without knowledge. So here's the indication. These people, just avoid them. You say, why?
They could deceive you. They could lie to you. Look, if somebody is a bad person, they have no problem with lying.
But don't we just automatically assume when we hear something that is probably the truth?
And so if somebody tells you something, you're going to assume that it's probably true. And here's the thing. If somebody might be a bad person, they could easily be lying to you.
So here's the thing. It's better off just not even listening to what they have to say if you think they might be a bad person. You say, why?
Because they could be lying. They could be manipulating you. Right? This is what the Bible indicates.
There's many examples of bad people in the Bible that are doing things like this. You think of Naboth, who has his vineyard, and Ahab wants the vineyard.
And Ahab's like, you know, I really want this vineyard. And he's like, he's crying to his wife. He's like, he's crying. You know, honey, I can't get the vineyard and everything.
Well, it's good when you have a supportive wife like Jezebel. Right? His wife was Jezebel. And he's like, honey, I can't get the vineyard. What should I do?
She's like, don't worry. Don't worry. I'll handle it for you. And then she sets up a plan to get Naboth killed.
But how does she get Naboth killed? Well, there's two lying witnesses that say we heard Naboth blaspheme God and blaspheme the king. Right?
And it says that they are children of Belial. And what is it? Well, they got two false witnesses that lie and say, you know what?
We saw and blaspheme God, which is the death penalty according to the Bible, and they were lying about it.
And so here's the thing. When she needed to get some bad person, she's like, all right, well, I know these. I mean, I'm sure Jezebel's a psychopath.
I don't think there's any question. She's like, guess what? You know, here's my friends that, you know, always help me out and lie about whatever.
Just say, you know, that he said this. And I can imagine Naboth's reaction. He's probably shocked. He's like, what?
I didn't blaspheme God. And then he's just put on trial and just put to death basically immediately because violence or punishment was done very quickly in the Bible times. Right?
And so what do we see? Well, these are people that you should avoid because they can destroy you.
Go to 1 Kings 2. 1 Kings 2. 1 Kings 2. 1 Kings chapter 2.
So point number one, as a saved person, what do you do if you notice someone who has a lot of these characteristics where you start to question them?
Well, you should avoid them as best as possible. Now, I'm not saying it's 100 percent perfect to be able to avoid them
because let's say, for example, we pair you up with soul winning and we pair you up with a person you trust the least at this church.
Well, it is what it is. You're just going to have to deal with it. Right?
But, I mean, I've gone soul winning with someone that I knew was a homosexual at my old church in West Virginia.
And he wasn't openly a homo, but every single person knew it. Okay?
He grew up in the church and then the pastor, we talked to the pastor many times about this, and he's like, well, by definition, a homosexual is someone who does the act.
So he's basically saying, I admit he seems like a homo to me, but I don't have evidence.
And quite honestly, I understand now being in a position of leadership, you do need to have evidence to condemn someone, especially, you know, in that sort of situation.
But I went soul winning with him a couple times, and this guy was a homo.
In fact, I gave him a ride to soul winning, and I'm alone with this guy that I know is a homo in the car.
So look, if I can go soul winning with someone that I know is a homo and somebody pairs you up with your biggest enemy here, just suck it up and deal with it.
And look, I haven't heard of this at our church, but I've heard of this at other churches where you pair people up soul winning and they get into a big fight out soul winning.
And it's like, what in the world? I mean, can't you put aside your problems for just a little while and just go soul winning for an hour together?
But they get into this big fight and they come back and they're screaming.
Everyone else is rejoicing. It's like, yeah, you know, seven souls saved today as a group.
And then all of a sudden these two people come back and they're screaming at each other.
You're the devil. You're the antichrist. It's like, what in the world, right?
So look, if we pair you up soul winning and we pair you up with someone that is not your favorite, just deal with it, okay?
We're going to pair you up with different people. And here's the thing.
The people that are doing the pairing, whether it be me or Brother Chris or Brother Mateus, we don't necessarily know about everybody's issues with other people at this church, right?
I'm sure there's issues I never hear about because people aren't always going to bring those to public or whatever.
But if we pair you up with someone you don't like, you just have to deal with it, okay?
1 Kings 2. So point one, avoid them. Point two, write everything down. Write everything down.
So if there's someone that you think might be a bad person, you should start writing things down because your mind is going to forget it, okay?
Your mind is going to conveniently forget about it and then you're not going to remember the situation.
You're not going to have the direct information.
So you need to start writing things down if you think someone might be a bad person.
1 Kings 2, notice what it says in verse 5.
Moreover, thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zoriah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel,
unto Abner the son of Nur and unto Amasa the son of Jethur, whom he slew and shed the blood of war and peace,
and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins and in his shoes that were on his feet.
So David transfers the kingdom of Solomon and what he says is, you know what? You know what Joab did in this situation, in this situation?
Either David has this committed to memory or he has it written down somewhere where he will not forget.
And this is not just my advice, this is what the world will say, write stuff down.
Make sure you have the information and you're aware of it because otherwise you're going to end up forgetting it,
you're going to get it backwards.
You need to have the information written down if you're questioning stuff because if you run into this situation
where you're like, you're telling your son to put this guy to death, you have to actually have the correct information, right?
But it's not just with Joab, notice what it says in verse 8.
And behold, thou hast with thee Shemiai the son of Gerah, a Benjamite of Bahurim,
which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanim.
But he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swear to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.
Now therefore, hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him,
but his whorehead bring thou down to the grave with blood.
So David says, hey, you know what, Shemiai's a bad guy, but I told him I wasn't going to put him to death,
but you're a wise man, Solomon.
Now here's the thing, Solomon doesn't immediately put him to death because, here's the thing,
David seems to believe this guy's a bad guy, but he's like, I don't have enough evidence to prove that.
But he says, Solomon, you're a wise person, this is one thing I'm transferring on with the kingdom,
and Solomon was a wise person, and Shemiai ends up getting put to death because he agrees to something and he doesn't actually follow it.
What am I trying to say? Here's what I'm trying to say, if you think somebody might be bad,
you need to write that information down so you remember it.
Now this is not something for you to show everybody at church,
but this would be a wise thing for you to do in your personal life if you think somebody might be a bad person.
You say, Brother Stuckey, do you have information written down about some people at this church?
Yes, I do, because I'm the leader at this church, I would be insane if I didn't have any information on anybody.
Now I want you to realize something, if I hear somebody listen to rock music, I don't write that down because I don't care, okay?
I mean, I care a little bit because I'd rather you sing psalms and hymns than spiritual songs,
but that doesn't make me think you're a bad person because you listen to rock music.
I'm sure many people in this room listen, I hope you don't listen to K-pop, okay?
K-pop is just, is terrible, okay? But then I might, if you're a grown man listening to K-pop, then I might wonder about you, okay?
But look, I'm sure there's people in this room that are watching the wrong movies, listening to the wrong things,
but that doesn't mean that those are things to write down or this guy might be a bad guy, that's just a sin.
What I'm saying is writing down things that are like, whoa, one of the 20 characteristics of being a psychopath,
or things that are very subtle, or things where it leaves a red flag in your mind,
those are things you should write down because in the future it might actually be important to know it.
Now, I have to do this as a church leader because if anyone ever gets kicked out,
there has to be evidence for someone to get kicked out, so I have to have information,
otherwise I'm going to look like a fool, okay?
But it's a wise thing for every single person in this room to do because it's a good way to protect yourself.
And you know what? If you have a few things written down on one person, that doesn't mean that they're a bad person,
but it does mean you should probably start to try to avoid them as much as possible,
not be the person that you text all the time or send messages to all the time.
You say, why? Because you've already got a few many red flags.
There might be a lot more red flags that you're not aware of, okay?
Go to Jude chapter 1, Jude 1, Jude 1, Jude chapter 1.
So point one, one thing you should do is avoid these people.
If there's people that you think might be bad, and when it comes to your work situation,
try to avoid these people as much as possible.
It might not be 100% perfect. You might not be able to avoid that.
But if somebody might be a bad person, you need to realize they can harm you.
When I worked in Maryland, the person who was right beside me,
I don't know if she was a bad person or not, but she was the biggest gossip at our company.
She knew all of the information.
And I would listen to people all day long feel comfortable talking about all the dirt in their lives and all the problems.
People came up to her and felt comfortable saying, you know, that they were committing adultery on their husband.
And it's just like, to me, I'm offended. I don't want to hear that.
But all kinds of information.
And she would always talk to me and act like she was really friends with me and everything like that.
But I just thought, you know, if she's gossiping about everybody else, if I say anything bad about the boss,
if I say anything bad about someone else, there's a good chance that is going to come out sometime.
Now, I don't know if she was a bad person or not, because being a gossip does not mean that, you know,
you're definitely a bad person.
But it does mean you should be careful about that person.
You say, what? You can't trust them. Right?
You need to be aware of these types of people that are throwing off red flags. Okay?
I understand we want to give the benefit of the doubt to people.
And obviously, charity believeth all things.
And of course, I try to be long suffering and give people the benefit of the doubt.
But if you're identifying a lot of red flags, you can't deny reality either.
You need to be aware of that. Okay?
So point one, avoid them. Point two, write everything down.
Point three, you need to analyze your own personal weaknesses.
You need to analyze your own personal weaknesses.
And you say, why? Because the bad person is analyzing them to find out where they can get you to fall.
You say, what are you talking about? Isn't that what you see with Jonadab and Amnon?
Why are you sad? Why are you lean from day to day, being the king's son?
Why does he ask that question? Well, he's trying to find out what is the area where he can attack Amnon.
And he finds out.
And this is what you see with people that they say in the world that are psychopaths.
They will often ask questions with the only intention of seeing what your response is.
Because they want to see areas where you've got a chink in the armor and they can attack you.
And this is what they're going to do.
And what's interesting is the Bible actually confirms this.
Jude 1, verse 16. Jude 1, verse 16. Let me turn there myself.
Jude 1, verse 16. And it says, Jude 1, verse 16.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lust.
Now, one of the things it mentions is they're murmurers and complainers.
And what's interesting about them being murmurers and complainers is this,
that this is a common thing you see from Korah and people like that, complaining about the leadership.
Complaining and murmuring. That was really the big sin in the wilderness.
Always complaining. Always murmuring.
And see, when bad people do this, oftentimes they're going to complain about something
that they know other people are feeling the same way.
And they get you to complain and feel miserable also.
Isn't it true that when you're around somebody who's always complaining,
you end up becoming depressed yourself?
It's like your life is going okay. You don't notice any problems.
Someone's always complaining and murmuring. And then they're like, yeah, you're kind of right about that.
And they're making you feel the exact same way as you.
And the Bible's saying that these people, this is actually a strategy they use.
I have no doubt that in the wilderness, the people that were starting all this complaining
were the bad people that subtly just kind of passed it in, and it just spread like a wildfire.
Just complaining. Just murmuring. Always got a complaint. Always upset at something.
Look, if you're trying to find a complaint in life, it's not going to be hard.
I mean, you say, Brother Succy, there's this problem in our church.
You know, you're doing something wrong. I'm sure I am.
I could probably give you 20 things. Right?
I mean, you say, Brother Succy, you made a mistake.
Look, I've made a lot of mistakes since I started this church.
When you make a lot of decisions, guess what? You're going to make some mistakes.
You do the best you can. And you know what?
If you're trying to find a reason to complain about this church, yeah, you're going to find something.
But you're going to find a complaint in all areas of life.
And here's the reality. In life, some people find a way to be happy,
and some people find a way to be miserable no matter what.
Somebody could have the greatest house in the world, the greatest car in the world,
eat at all the nicest restaurants, and they're miserable.
And they're always complaining. And they hate their life.
You say, How do you know that? Look at celebrities.
Most celebrities are miserable. Always complaining.
I mean, for me, if I go to a fast-food restaurant and they slightly mess up my order,
it's not really the biggest deal in the world to me.
But if somebody's rich and famous, it's like, How dare they only put one tomato on my burger?
Okay, I should have had two. Now, I don't know of anybody who did that.
All right, if you've done that, then it's just like, Hey, just accept the fact you only got one tomato.
Just put another one on yourself or whatever.
But I'm just saying it's just like some people find a way to be happy in life.
They find a way to be content whether they have a lot or not.
And some people find a way to complain whether they have a lot or not.
And you just have to learn to be content in life.
But here's the thing. These bad people, they're going to complain and murmur.
And you know what? It spreads like wildfire.
But not only that, it says, In their mouth speaketh great swelling words.
And the swelling words, it also talks about words of vanity.
This is the flattery, okay?
Why would they do this?
Having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
They want to take advantage of you.
They want to get information from you.
I mean, if they're always flattering you and being sip-sip to you or whatever,
they're likely to be able to get information from you.
And they can use that against you if necessary.
I remember a long time ago, there was this person who was kicked out of a church.
I don't know where it was at, like 13 or 14 years ago.
They got kicked out and they were prepared.
And they had all of this information.
And they were trying to turn everybody at the church against each other
because they were actually writing down every single thing of gossip anyone had ever said.
They would basically get people to say something that they regretted.
And then all of a sudden, boom, and then they were just trying to cause problems on the way out.
It's funny, that person quit the church.
The next day, they go from being King James only to putting up a versa of the new King James
and promoting Billy Graham.
It's like, yeah, you were really like-minded.
It's amazing how you used to hate Billy Graham, but now it's just like, whoa, I just did a 180.
But it's like they were doing that to use it against people.
So one technique that bad people do is they use flattery to end up taking advantage, to get information.
And so here's the thing.
They're trying to analyze your weaknesses.
You need to know what your weaknesses are.
If you have a problem with gossip, you need to be aware of it.
And you need to be very, very, very careful.
If you've got a problem with pride, you need to be aware of it.
You need to be able to look into the mirror and realize where your problems are, okay?
You need to not lie against the truth.
You need to just admit the problems that you have.
And look, all of us have areas of our lives.
All of us have areas where, you know what, we're not the most spiritual.
And you should be able to identify that from the preaching of God's word and from the reading of God's word.
If there is an area that you struggle with, you need to be aware of it, okay?
I know areas of my life that I struggle with.
And you need to know those areas because of the fact that that is the area they're going to attack you, right?
I mean, imagine just the example of like a basketball game.
You've got two teams, and there's one team that doesn't do a very good job defending the outside shots, okay?
Well, the other team, if they're aware of that and they know how to shoot,
they're just going to shoot three-pointers all day and win the game.
You're not going to go inside when everybody's Shaq, right?
It's like, well, I'm going to post up Shaquille O'Neal, right?
I'm 5'10", I'm going to post up Shaquille O'Neal.
No, you're going to shoot outside where he can't catch you, right?
You're going to use wisdom.
Well, this is what they're going to do.
They're going to attack you in the areas where they think that they can get the advantage.
And so you need to be aware of your own weaknesses, otherwise they could take advantage of you.
I'm going to give you one example.
Go to Matthew 26, Matthew 26, Matthew 26.
Somebody commented on our YouTube, like, man, I really like this series.
Can you preach another series on psychopaths?
I'm like, I'm going to take a break from preaching on psychopaths, right?
Like I've been on my phone reading that book without conscience at nighttime
and reading these various stories, and now it's like every small noise I hear in the house,
and I'm like scared, like, oh, did somebody break into my house or whatever?
Because you get paranoid when you're reading about all these cases, right?
And so I'm going to take a break from this sort of series for a while.
So Matthew 26, notice what it says in verse 7.
And it says, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment
and poured it on his head as he sat at me.
So that's Matthew 26, verse 7.
But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying to what purpose is this waste?
For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.
Now, when you're reading this, the disciples are complaining because the ointment is being used,
and they say, well, that's a lot of money.
They should have just sold it and given to the poor or whatever.
But what's interesting is some of you had me just read this, and you're like, well, wait a minute.
I thought that Judas was the one who was complaining.
You're right, but it doesn't mention that in the book of Matthew.
See, the Gospels will often tell stories multiple times
because they're trying to give you more information.
Here in Matthew 26, it's keying in on the fact that all the disciples were complaining,
but it keys in on Judas in other Gospels.
You say, why? Because who was the ringleader of that complaining?
Judas, right?
And so Judas is complaining. Now, Judas is stealing money, right?
He has the money. He has the offering, and he's stealing money.
He's like, that money should have been given to the poor.
And see, the other disciples, they kind of feel that way as well,
so they actually voice that and say that, well, here's the thing.
Judas is actually the one who's the bad guy.
Now, I'm sure people around during that time period didn't even notice it,
because obviously Peter and all of them had no idea Judas was the bad guy.
The subtle sign was there, if you're paying attention, though, in the Gospels.
Obviously, hindsight is always 20-20.
But you see this in Matthew 26, and Judas is the one that actually started that.
Why is that? Because he knew that other people would feel the same way,
and he said something that was wrong and sinful.
And honestly, when you think about it, it's actually a pretty dumb statement.
You say, why? Imagine if somebody donates something to the church,
and you complain, well, you should have just given it in cash.
We could have used the money for something else.
That's called being rude, right?
I mean, if somebody gives you a gift, even if it's not the number one thing on your wish list,
it's rude to just say, oh, you know what, you should have done this.
It's like she's giving something for free.
She chose to do that, and it's a great blessing to Jesus.
And Jesus is like, hey, if somebody gives you a gift, you need to accept it.
This is true even if it's a gift that you don't want.
Sometimes people are going to give you a birthday card that has an NIV verse on it.
Somebody who's new to church, they're trying to be friendly,
they get you a birthday card with an NIV verse.
Well, obviously, we're King James only.
If you've been at our church for a while, you probably know that.
We're actually going to be preaching the King James Bible in a few weeks.
But here's the thing, if somebody's new at church, they're probably not going to know that.
They probably did not intentionally give you an NIV verse to corrupt your mind.
It's probably just they're a nice person.
They did something nice, and they didn't realize, oh, that's actually...
Pastor Mendez has told stories where he's gotten birthday cards and Christmas cards
of all kinds of different versions and everything.
Then six months later, someone comes, I'm so sorry.
Six months ago, I got you that Christmas card.
I'm sorry.
He's like, no, it's okay, right?
Because obviously, they meant good from it, right?
And so they just didn't realize what the personal belief is that people have or whatever.
So here's the thing, though.
Judas is aware that other people are going to feel the same way as him,
and he basically just starts that problem, okay?
So what am I saying?
Well, analyze your own weaknesses.
If you struggle with pride, you need to be aware of that.
If you struggle with covetousness, you need to be aware of that.
If you struggle with lusting, you need to be aware of it.
Look, not all of us are the same.
If you have a guy in our room that really struggles with lusting,
with the lust of the eyes, looking at women that you shouldn't,
you need to be very careful with your computer.
...not to get a big head.
Whatever your area is, you need to be aware of it.
Otherwise, the enemy can take advantage of you.
And here's the thing.
Move your Bible to number 16, number 16.
Think about the example of being in a fight, because you know what?
The Bible speaks about us being in spiritual warfare,
so it's a great analogy the Bible's giving.
But imagine a fight like mixed martial arts, not just boxing but like the UFC.
You can be good at 20 things, but if you're really bad at one thing,
you can be destroyed.
Somebody can be like the strongest person in the world,
but if he has no stamina whatsoever, you know what?
That strength goes out the window after two minutes.
Somebody could be really great at everything, but he's got a glass jaw,
so he's beating everybody up.
He just gets tapped, and then it's like boom, and he's out or whatever.
Or somebody who's really bad at wrestling,
somebody who's going to take him down and win by decision or whatever.
If you have an area where you struggle and that you're really weak,
you need to be aware of that.
And what would you do in a fight?
If you really struggle with fighting off your back,
you're going to try to avoid getting taken down,
and if you get taken down, you're done.
So whatever your area of weakness is, you need to safeguard yourself.
You need to put up areas to safeguard yourself.
Otherwise, you're going to just destroy your life,
or somebody else is going to come and destroy your life.
Point one, avoid them.
Point two, write everything down.
Point three, analyze your own weaknesses.
And point four, realize this.
Some things you need to make me aware of as the leader of this church.
You say, Brother Stuckey, you know,
hendia co sum bong ero, okay?
Well, my question is, how far are you going to take that philosophy?
Let's say tomorrow you see somebody commit murder
and you know who committed murder.
Well, hendia co sum bong ero.
That's stupid, right?
That has to be reported to the police if you saw someone commit murder.
If you know who the person is, you have to report that.
I don't want to be a tattletale.
Yeah, but if you see somebody commit murder,
don't you agree you need to report that?
Let's say you work at a company
and one of the coworkers is stealing money from your boss.
What's going to happen if the boss finds out that you were aware of it
and just didn't do anything about it?
You're now in trouble.
Here's the thing, I don't think any of us want to see a murder take place.
Not only is it not something you want to see,
but here's the thing, you don't want to be involved in it at all
because you could end up getting in trouble.
What happens if the guy gets off innocent,
they declare not guilty and he's back on the street
and he knows who you are, it's like, whoa, right?
But here's the thing, if you saw it, you saw it.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Nobody wants to be that person who sees that crime committed,
but if you see it committed, you're obligated to actually deal with it.
I mean, it's just common sense.
And the same thing is true in a church.
There are certain things that should be reported
if you are aware of them or if you see them.
Certain things don't need to be reported.
Certain things do need to be reported.
And I'll give you kind of a brief description of the comparison
of what I would say should be reported and what shouldn't.
Well, let me give you an example in Numbers 16 with Korah.
Numbers 16, verse 1.
Now Korah the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,
and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and An the son of Peyleth,
sons of Reuben, took men.
And they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel,
250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown.
So these people, Korah and all these people, Dathan and Abiram and his helpers,
they're famous in the congregation.
They're well-known, well-respected people.
Verse 3.
And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron
and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the Lord is among them.
Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord.
So in this story we see that Korah just basically comes to Moses with hundreds of guys behind him
and basically says, You're arrogant, Moses.
You're lifting up yourself. You're arrogant.
Now here's the thing.
Korah cannot do this immediately out of nowhere.
He does that over time.
What he's saying out loud now is obviously what he's already told these people.
They separate themselves and told them individually.
Because he knows they're on his side. Right?
He's got hundreds of people on his side.
Obviously this is something that was not reported publicly earlier.
It was something done individually.
He got people on his side and he's like, Now I'm ready to go to war.
He's got hundreds of people behind him. Why?
Because he was turning people's hearts toward himself for a long time.
Now what he says is really this might be the dumbest verse in the Bible.
I mean that's a tough competition, but this verse has so many problems with it.
One I just mentioned, the fact you called Moses arrogant,
because the Bible says he was the meekest man on earth.
He's the exact opposite of arrogance.
You're actually revealing what's inside your heart, Korah.
But not only that, notice what it says.
Seeing all the congregation are holy.
All the congregation are holy?
This is a big congregation.
Every single member of that congregation is holy?
Every single member is waking up and reading the Bible for an hour a day?
Every single person is memorizing the Bible and is Spirit-filled?
You have got to be kidding me.
Every single person in that congregation are holy?
That's ridiculous.
That's obviously not true.
But that's what he says.
Every single one is holy.
Well, he's just lying, but why would he say that lie?
Well, because he's flattering people.
He's saying, Hey, you're all holy.
And people are like, That's right.
Moses isn't giving me my opportunity.
Right?
And see, this is what Korah is doing.
And how does he do this, though?
Well, he does this over time, getting people on his side.
Right?
Now, I want you to realize, turn to Joshua 7.
Joshua 7.
I want you to realize that this is a major sin speaking against leadership.
It's a major sin in the Bible.
I mean, think about the two people that are kind of the right-hand men,
or, well, the one guy and then the one lady who are the right-hand men of Moses,
you say, Aaron and Miriam.
Obviously, Joshua comes in, but Caleb.
But really, Aaron's the right-hand man, and then Miriam, his sister.
Right?
But the two of them spoke against Moses.
And what happened?
Well, they got leprosy.
Right?
She got leprosy as a result of speaking against her brother.
What is that?
Well, that's called speaking against the leadership.
Look, here's the reality.
If you want to find something to criticize me for, you can find it.
I don't stand up here and say I make perfect decisions.
Of course, I do certain things wrong.
If you want to find something to criticize me, you're going to be able to find it.
I am sure, if everybody was honest, and you took a survey that was not reported publicly,
everyone would say, yeah, you know what, there's something here I wish Brother Stuckey did differently,
or he should have done this, or he messed up about this.
I don't deny that.
But you know what?
When you're making decisions, everybody makes mistakes.
I mean, could any parent say that they've always made the right decision with their children?
No.
If you have multiple kids, sometimes you accidentally spank the wrong kid.
They get into a fight and you do your best to figure it out, and then sometimes, like,
oh, you spanked the wrong one or whatever.
Right?
If you're a husband, you're the leader of your wife.
Right?
Does any husband always make the right choices for the family?
No.
Sometimes we mess up.
Does that mean that the wife can just say, well, now I get to make all the decisions
and rebel against the husband?
That's ridiculous.
Because God did not change his authority structure just because the authority makes a mistake.
I'm sure your boss has made plenty of mistakes.
Right?
When I was at my company in Maryland, you know, there were plenty of things where I knew my boss
made a big mistake.
There was one time he made a mistake, and I had to spend, like, 30 extra hours working to fix it.
And I didn't mind because in, I don't know, here, but in the U.S., you get time and a half for overtime.
But I was in on Saturdays working ten hours and everything because he made a mistake.
Well, here's the thing.
I probably would have made ten times as many mistakes as him if I was the one running the show, though.
So it's easy to identify somebody making a mistake, but doesn't everybody make mistakes?
Right?
You look at sports teams, and the coach calls the wrong play, and they're like, well, he should have done this.
Well, yeah, it's really easy to say that afterwards.
It's like the team lost because he had the wrong strategy.
Well, yeah, hindsight is 20-20.
The coach had the wrong strategy and it proved itself when the team went 4-for-27 on three-pointers, right?
It's like, well, we should have just gone inside, okay, or whatever.
My point is this, though.
It doesn't give you the right to criticize authority.
Now, look, I'm not naïve.
I'm sure many people at our church have criticized me to other people, and many people I know for a fact,
as long as people weren't lying to me when they said that over the course of a couple years,
I've heard of people criticizing me.
And you know what?
It's not like somebody automatically gets kicked out for criticizing me.
But here's the thing.
If I hear that several times about the same person, well, then we're going to have a one-on-one conversation and say,
hey, why is it I have four people telling me that you're saying this about me, right?
And they would still get a chance, but I would actually confront that person because it's like you don't have the authority
to just criticize me or my wife or my family and say, wow, we're going to attack the leadership.
Anyway, that should be a red flag to you if you hear somebody criticizing authority
because you see that in the Bible as a massive red flag with Korah and Dathan and Abiram.
You see that in those stories.
When people criticize leadership, it's actually a red flag.
That's exactly what Korah did, okay?
We're going to look at one last place in the Bible.
We're going to look at Joshua 7, Joshua 7, Joshua 7.
And as I said, this is the last sermon in the series.
We're going to move on to different things and everything, but I do want to show you the story of Joshua 7.
We're going to make some applications.
Notice what it says in Joshua 7, verse 7.
And Joshua said, alas, O Lord God, Joshua 7, verse 7,
Wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us?
Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan.
O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies?
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it,
and shall environ us round and cut off our name from the earth.
And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
So Joshua right now is complaining to the Lord.
I will say this, if you have one person that you're going to complain to,
the best person would be to God, if you feel the need to complain.
Now, it's obviously not right, but that's what you see Job basically doing.
I wouldn't say it's the right thing to do, but you know what?
Instead of gossiping to someone else, if you've got a real problem,
why don't you just get on your knees and ask God why something's happening?
Instead of complaining to somebody else at church, because gossip is a terrible sin,
and it spreads like a wildfire.
The Bible actually uses that term of it spreading like a fire.
When the wood go out, the strife ceases.
But you know what? There's always someone to throw another log on that fire.
Verse 10, notice what the Lord's reaction was.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up,
wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
So it doesn't seem like God's too happy with Joshua's complaints.
He says, Get up, quit whining about it, quit crying about it.
Verse 11, Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant,
which I commanded them, for they have even taken of the accursed thing,
and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies,
but turn their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed.
Neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed from among you.
So God says, You better deal with this problem, destroy the accursed,
or I'm not going to be dwelling among you.
Verse 13, Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.
For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee,
O Israel, thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.
Now in this story, Joshua goes to God, and he's basically complaining,
Why are we losing this battle?
And Joshua is unaware that there's a major problem, right?
And the way the Lord responds is, Hey, you've got a major sin you've got to deal with.
Joshua, you can't really blame him, because he's not aware of it,
but God says, You know what, I don't want to hear you crying,
because actually right now your congregation is cursed,
because there's this major sin that has taken place, and it needs to be discovered, right?
That's what's taking place.
So Joshua's told about this, and notice what the end is.
I don't have time to go through this whole chapter, but notice what it says in verse 25.
And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us?
The Lord shall trouble thee this day, and all Israel stoned them with stones,
and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day,
so the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.
Wherefore the name of that place was called the Valley of Acre unto this day.
The Lord turns from the fierceness of this anger,
because when there is a major problem in the congregation, it gets dealt with.
What about if it's not dealt with?
The whole congregation is cursed.
What am I trying to tell you? Here's what I'm trying to tell you.
If you're withholding major information that means somebody should get kicked out of church,
you're not doing anybody a favor by holding on to that information,
because our whole congregation could be cursed.
You say, Well, what information do you tell, and what do you not tell?
Look, as I mentioned earlier, if somebody commits a sin like listening to the wrong music,
I don't need to know that.
If somebody says, Well, I caught somebody on Facebook,
and this woman was not dressed appropriately, it's not a big deal to me.
The only time that would be a big deal is if somebody was a full-time worker for our church,
or a deacon, or something like that,
because they're obviously in leadership, it becomes more serious.
But if somebody is caught doing something wrong, I don't need to know about that.
But the Bible gives a pretty specific list in 1 Corinthians 5.
And if somebody's guilty of those sins, something that would be worthy,
or borderline worthy of getting kicked out of church,
that should actually be reported to me.
And of course, I have to prove stuff.
I'm not just going to assume one person telling me something means it's the truth,
but that's also the reason why you need people reporting major stuff,
because if I have four people tell me the same story,
it's like, okay, now there's a pretty clear picture being painted,
out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, the Bible says.
Now, one witness is not going to be enough on something.
Now, if it's something major, I'm going to have to investigate that and figure it out.
But I'm saying, if somebody's committing major sins and people are aware of it,
and I hear these things, then I'm going to deal with it.
And look, obviously our church has been around two and a half years.
Everyone could say that. I have dealt with problems when they've come up.
And sometimes people wonder, why didn't Brother Stuckey deal with this earlier?
Sometimes Brother Stuckey's not aware of it.
It's like a year and a half. Why didn't Brother Stuckey deal about it earlier?
Well, I didn't know all the stuff that some of you knew.
Once I found out, it's like, okay, well, this is more serious than just this level.
Now we're at this level.
Now, you do need to understand something.
If you report something to me, don't be upset if I don't make the decision you want.
I might not make the decision to kick somebody out.
I might be long-suffering.
I might make the final decision, and those decisions are not easy.
But here's the thing. I need to know the evidence.
If you've got a murder trial, you need to know the evidence
of whether or not someone's innocent or guilty.
And if you don't know the evidence, then you can't convict somebody off just hearsay.
They're going to be innocent, which is why some stuff needs to be reported.
The other stuff that would need to be reported, I would say,
is if somebody's speaking against leadership.
You say, why? Because that's a common link we see in the Bible.
Or somebody's doing very subtle things just slowly.
Because here's what a lot of people do.
They don't lift themselves up necessarily.
They subtly tear a lot of people down.
By doing that, they are lifting themselves up, but that's their strategy.
I don't want to be looked at as someone who's saying how great I am.
I'm just going to subtly say how bad everybody else is,
and then all of a sudden you subtly lift yourself up.
So look, when there's major subtle things that give you...
When you have red flags about someone,
if someone has committed a sin that's worthy of getting kicked out,
whether or not you have a red flag, whether they're bad,
or if you have red flags about someone,
you should tell me or my wife privately about it.
Not tell everybody.
Not gossip to your friends, because this is what people often do.
They gossip to their best friends at church.
Hey, I think so-and-so might be a bad person.
Well, why don't you tell me that?
Instead of gossiping and committing your own sin
by spreading something like that in church, right?
I get it. This is not the way...
And I understand this is a difficult thing to do,
but let me just say something.
You're appreciated once you're in leadership
and you understand the importance.
Just four days ago, I sent Pastor Jimenez an email
about something I noticed on Facebook that pertained to his church,
something that's not major,
but I said something for you to keep an eye on in the future.
He's like, thank you. I will keep an eye on it.
Now, it's not something where this person is going to be kicked out or whatever,
but you just need to be aware of stuff that's going on.
And oftentimes, you're not aware in leadership.
Oftentimes, nobody tells you,
because people either assume Brother Stuckey already knows
or they're just like, ah, I don't want to get involved.
But you want to get involved enough to tell your best friend at church.
Right? I mean, this is reality.
And for many of you, this hurts because that has been you before, right?
Okay? This is reality.
But here's the thing.
You're not doing anybody any favors,
because if this is a major sin and it's in the congregation,
our entire congregation will be cursed for that.
That's what the Bible teaches.
That's what we see in Joshua 7.
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
If somebody gets removed or kicked out of church,
that doesn't mean that they are a bad person or they're not a bad person.
What it means is I've made the determination they need to be kicked out
based on the evidence I have about something.
Okay?
Here's the thing.
Don't have this attitude.
Well, I don't want to tell Brother Stuckey
because this person might get kicked out for this.
Well, if they might get kicked out for this,
shouldn't that be something that the church knows about?
It's like that's you forming your own judgment and opinion,
and you're deciding the case, but wait a minute.
You're not the authority to decide the case biblically.
I'm not trying to be mean,
but I am the authority to make the final decisions in cases like this.
This is what the Bible teaches.
You know what?
We need to have a congregation that's pure and holy,
and there are some times, like the sin of Achan,
where things need to be brought forth publicly.
This is what the Bible teaches.
Now, let me just say this in closing,
and we're not going to go back on it anymore.
I plan to move on in weeks,
but let me just be very clear
because I've had plenty of time to think about this.
The person that recently got kicked out
is never welcomed back at our churches.
I have made a final decision on that,
and there's worse evidence, in my opinion,
than what I originally knew,
especially with someone who's young at our church,
and you know what?
I'm sorry, but there are certain sins
that I have to protect the entire congregation,
and by my estimation,
I don't believe I can trust that person in our congregation,
not just financially, but with young people at this church.
You know, I'm sorry, but it's just like
when I look at that evidence,
I look up what grooming is on Wikipedia.
That's what I see, and you know what?
I have made that decision.
Now, some of you don't agree with that decision.
Well, it's not your decision to make.
Say, Brother Stuckey, you're being a jerk.
Maybe I should be more of a jerk sometimes
just to lay down some pretty hard lines.
You know what?
It's not easy when you make final decisions at church,
and you know what?
That is the final decision I made,
so we can have closure to this and realize,
and look, everyone's welcome to do what they want.
If that offends you, if you're like,
I'm not going to stay at a church
because you're being too harsh.
You should forgive them.
Well, that's your decision, but let me just say this,
that when I preached a sermon a couple weeks ago,
the person tried to hide other evidence.
When the video came out, they tried to lie about me,
and now I don't really see them trying to pay off their debt.
I try to see them getting excused out of their debt,
getting excused out of the payments,
meaning, as I've said, you know what?
Any information that goes out there,
people are going to report it to me,
and yes, I've had the people that are new IFB people
outside of our church.
I know the conversations that some of you have had with them.
And yes, they've shown me the post.
I see them, but I don't see somebody saying,
man, I feel so terrible.
I need to pay this off, this debt off.
What I see is somebody saying,
hey, will you forgive me this debt?
You should feel a moral obligation to pay off your debt,
and if you owe 15,000 pesos for a situation,
just because they're willing to forgive you,
you should feel an obligation to pay that off,
and I don't see this taking place.
I have seen no godly sorrow
over this course of a couple weeks,
and look, I don't believe that I could ever trust that person.
So that is the final decision I made.
I understand not everybody agrees with that.
That's perfectly fine,
and you can disagree with decisions the leadership makes,
but you can either go along with what the church decides
or go against it, and here's the thing.
I hope our church, in a couple years,
is running 200 people, 100-plus soul winners,
but I'm perfectly fine if our church is running 30 people
and we're just like-minded and love each other
and we have great unity.
That is perfectly fine with me as well.
Okay, we're not trying to build an omega church,
so that person, they're welcome to go to another church.
That's fine.
If somebody wants to accept them, I'm not going to make,
you know, it's there without the church now.
It has nothing to do with me, so it's completely up to them,
but that's the decision that we've made at this church.
But in closing for this series or in closing this sermon,
you need to realize there are some things that you do need to report.
So number one, avoid people that give you all these red flags.
Number two, write stuff down.
Number three, analyze your own weaknesses,
and look, number four, if they're major things
or things that put all these red flags up,
those sorts of things should be reported, okay?
I don't need you to tell me, well, Brother Stuckey, you know,
somebody told me they didn't read the Bible yesterday.
I just wanted you to be aware of it.
I'm going to be like, is that a bad joke or do I?
It's like, yeah, you should read the Bible every day,
but I'm not a Catholic priest
where I need to know every single person's sins, okay?
But if there's something major, that is a little bit different.
Let's go to the Lord's Prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today,
and I just ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives,
help us to walk away and understand things from this God.
I ask you to continue to bless our church.
Help us have a great day of fellowship, God.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
In number 166, let's sing a song, I Will Praise Him.
For the last song, we're going to sing the first and the last verse.
When I saw the cleansing fountain
On the verse.
When I saw the cleansing fountain
Oh, growing up through my seed
I obey the Spirit's moving
When He settles down the weakling
I will praise Him
Praise the Lord for sin and sin
Give Him glory, all ye people
For His blood can wash away each stain unless
Glory, glory to the Father
Glory, glory to the Son
Glory, glory to the Spirit
Glory to the Treated One
I will praise Him
Praise the Lamb for sinners' pain
Give Him glory, all ye people
For His blood can wash away each stain
We thank the Lord for the prayer service.
We thank the Lord for the preaching of the Word.
We ask the Lord to give those lessons that we have heard.
Keep it in our hearts and apply it into our lives.
Help us to protect ourselves.
I pray that you would also bless the fellowship that we have on this afternoon, Lord, and bless the second service.
We're asking all these things in Jesus' name we pray.
We thank the Lord for the prayer service.