Thank you.
One more.
Thank you.
Look.
Amen.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church Manila.
Let's take our seats.
And let's get our games and turn to game number 70.
Game number 70.
Let's sing a song.
Will Jesus find us watching?
Game number 70.
Let's sing a song.
Will Jesus find us watching?
When Jesus comes to reward His service...
Ready all the prayers.
Game number 70.
Will Jesus find us watching?
When Jesus comes to reward us...
Whether it be good or not,
We, good to him, will define us, watching,
In our last what we've been brought.
Oh, can we say we are many, brother,
Many for the souls right home.
Same will define you and me, still watching,
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come.
He planned the dawn of the early morning,
He took us one by one.
When will the Lord lead us for our lives?
When he answered, he welled on.
Oh, can we say we are many, brother,
Many for the souls right home.
Same will define you and me, still watching,
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come.
Have we been true to the drugs seen at last?
If we are real,
He's the death we truly bless.
Oh, can we say we are many, brother,
Many for the souls right home.
Same will define you and me, still watching,
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come.
Blessed are those whom the Lord finds watching.
If he shall come at the dawn or midnight,
Will he find us watching there?
Oh, can we say we are many, brother,
Many for the souls right home.
Same will define you and me, still watching,
Waiting, waiting when the Lord shall come.
Can we say we are many, brother,
Many for the souls right home.
If we are real,
Him number 441.
Let's sing the song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
Him number 441.
Let's sing the song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
Great is Thy faithfulness,
O God my Father on the birth.
Great is Thy faithfulness,
O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with me.
Thou changest not thy compassion,
King may enough,
As thou hast been,
Thou forever will be.
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning,
New mercies I see.
All I have needed I have provided,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.
Summer and winter,
And springtime and harvest,
Sun who then stars in their courses above,
Join with old measure,
In that big open nest,
Till thy great faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning,
New mercies I see.
All I have needed I have provided,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
O Lord unto me.
I am foreseen and obese,
God is to rest,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to buy.
And for the good of the Lord to come
And sings the one who can't outside his sight
Great is thy faithful hand
Morning by morning new mercies I see
Oh, I have hear the Lord and have provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
All right, good morning everybody.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Take out your bulletin here today.
And our verse of the week is on the front of your bulletin.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.
That's a great verse there.
We are 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 the ladies restroom.
The men's restroom is up here in front.
Remember, no eating during the service.
Maintain a professional atmosphere.
And keep the children from running and making noise
during the church service.
On the next page, our service times are listed.
First service is at 10 AM.
Second service is at 1130.
Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 PM.
Soul winning time is listed at 4 PM on Wednesdays,
meeting here at the church building.
On Saturdays, generally, K Psalm Memorial Circle,
this coming Saturday is going to be the Pampanga trip.
So we're not going to be having that soul winning there.
And of course, we kind of ran into a few issues
yesterday at QMC.
So I'm not 100% for sure in two weeks what the plan is.
We will figure it out, though.
Hopefully we'll be able to go back to QMC in two weeks.
But I will let you know.
And of course, we do have soul winning this afternoon
around 2.15 PM.
Salvations and baptisms are listed there
for the month of October as well as year to date.
And also birthdays and anniversaries down below
for the month of November.
The next page, our Bible memorization challenge.
We do have prizes back there if you complete the challenge.
Upcoming activities.
So today we do have choir practice,
getting prepared for our anniversary
coming up in three weeks.
And this Saturday will be our three year anniversary
in Pampanga.
And so service starts at 10 AM
if you're planning to drive there.
And if you're planning to ride the vehicles
that we're renting, we're gonna be leaving at 7.30.
And it's very important that you're on time.
But if you're late, it's okay, we got a backup option.
You can walk to Mabalakot.
Okay, so have fun with that.
It's good exercise.
You might need to leave pretty early, though, to do that.
So I don't know.
But anyways, they will be leaving at 7.30.
I'm gonna send more information about that trip
later on during the week with a detailed outline
of the schedule of events and things like that.
For example, we do have a photo booth down there
for the anniversary.
So if you wanna get a family photo,
it's a good time to do that.
And I'll just mention things in the group chat
later on this week.
And let's see, possible upcoming activities.
So I have listed there the possible missions trip
to Baguio or some other tourist location.
We do have a signup sheet back there.
That does not mean that you're for sure going.
That means that you're interested.
We're trying to get kind of a general survey
to see kinda how much interest there's gonna be.
We're not planning on having
an international missions trip in 2023.
Things are getting less my heat peak.
So probably in 2024, we're gonna have one
every single February is the hopeful plan.
But of course, you never know what a day may bring forth.
But if you're interested in doing the missions trip,
you can just sign up back there.
As I said, you're welcome to back out later on.
It's just kind of a general idea.
We'll kinda get a more firm idea
who's planning to come in the coming months.
And as I said before, it's kind of like
a half soul winning trip and half just kind of
vacation.
So if you're planning to come,
we will provide the transportation.
But obviously, you have to provide money
for your place to stay and food such as that.
But anyways, also we are in the Book of Ezra
during our sermon series.
We're actually not gonna be preaching through it here today.
But information on our group chat.
On the back, there's a place for notes
for the sermons here today.
And the second sermon's actually changed.
So I have a different sermon.
So that'll be from 2 Kings 19 as the chapter text.
But anyways, that's it for announcements.
Let's talk about Brother Martin,
and let's sing another song.
For our next song, let's start with hymn number 442.
Let's sing the song, We Gather Together.
Hymn number 442, let's sing the song,
We Gather Together.
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing.
On the first lady, sing.
We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing.
He chastens and hastens His will to make known
the wicked oppressing system from distressing.
Sing praises to His name, He forgets not His own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us,
joining for the evening, maintaining His kingdom divine.
So from the beginning, the five we were meeting,
the Lord was on our side, the glory we died.
We all knew it slowly, the Lord in battle.
And pray that thou still our defender will be.
Let thy vocation escape regulation.
Thy name we ever pray, O Lord, make us free.
The snake are on me.
Please open your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 4.
2 Timothy chapter 4.
As is our custom, we are going to read the whole chapter.
2 Timothy chapter 4.
Please say amen when you're there.
2 Timothy 4.
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing and his kingdom.
Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound dachshund,
but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves,
teach us, having itching ears,
and they shall turn away the ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables.
But watch, though, in all things, endure afflictions,
do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
For I am now ready to be offered
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,
and not to me only, but unto all them also that laugh his appearing.
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me,
for thee must have forsaken me, having laughed this present word
and is departed unto Thessalonica,
questions to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Only Luke is with me.
Take Mark and bring him with thee,
for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
Antichikos have I sent to Ephesus.
The cloak that I lefteth throweth with Tappos,
when thou comest, bringeth with thee,
and the books, but especially the parchment.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil.
The Lord's award in the course of my departure
also, for he has greatly withstood our words.
At my first answer, no man stood with me,
but all men forsook me.
I pray God that it may not be laid to the church.
Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
that by me the preaching might be fully known,
and that all the Gentiles might hear,
and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work,
and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Say we please cannot fill up, and the household of Onesiphorus.
Erastus abode at Corinth, but so he must have I left at Miletum, sick.
Do thy diligence to come before winter.
I bullish greeteth thee, and Judens, and Linus, and Claudia,
and all the weather.
The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.
Grace be with you. Amen.
Let us pray.
Thank you, our Father, for your word.
Thank you for the Bible.
Please give us concentration this day and understanding.
Open this word for us.
And also please support the preacher who is preaching your word.
We pray in his name. Amen.
Alright, we are here in 2 Timothy chapter 4,
and the name of the sermon is,
I've never been to a church like this.
I've never been to a church like this,
and that is in reference to our church.
And so, in 2 Timothy chapter 4,
we have a pretty famous chapter in the Bible
because these, I believe, are the last words
that Paul the Apostle wrote in the word of God.
You know, in this chapter he talks about,
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
He's making statements that he's coming to the end of his life.
And so, this is a pretty famous chapter.
I believe it's the last chapter he wrote in the Bible.
And, you know, there's a famous section here at the beginning of the chapter,
starting at verse 2, where the Bible says,
Preach the word.
Be instant, in season, out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
And when the Bible says, in season and out of season,
it's kind of giving a reference to something like fruits and vegetables,
something that we can relate to.
Now, in this country, the temperature doesn't really change that much.
Where I grew up, during the wintertime,
it's negative Celsius, like negative 20 degrees Celsius.
During the summertime, it's 35 degrees Celsius, right?
And so, certain fruits don't grow well during the wintertime,
and certain fruits do grow well during the wintertime,
and vice versa as well, depending on the temperature.
And so, certain fruits are in season or out of season.
And the Bible's using this as a reference to preaching.
Certain preaching is in season or out of season.
You say, what does that mean?
It means that, you know, that preaching is popular during that time period.
For example, it was in season 50 years ago to preach against the homos.
It's out of season in 2022.
People don't like that kind of preaching, right?
I mean, everywhere you go now, it's just really, really common,
whereas 50 years ago, people wouldn't bat an eye if you said something
and made a joke about, you know, vice pong eat or whatever.
But now in 2022, how dare you say that?
Now, why is it that people have that reaction?
It's out of season. It's not popular.
Other churches aren't doing that, right?
And one reason why people would say that I've never been to a church like this
is because the preaching at this church is very different
than the preaching at other churches that you go to.
The Bible says in verse 3,
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned on to fables.
And the Bible's making reference here in verses 3 and 4 that, you know what,
people don't like this sort of preaching.
They reject it.
And what the common response people have is if it's out of season and it offends people,
we should not preach it.
We don't want to drive people away.
And the context is saying even though it's out of season, you preach it anyway.
Preach the word whether it's in season or out of season.
And the fact that the preaching is out of season in 2022,
that just shows it needs to be preached.
Go in your Bible to Isaiah 58.
Isaiah 58.
When it comes to preaching, our preaching is very different than most churches you've been to.
Now, here's the thing. Some people love it.
Right? You that say you're a member of this church,
you love the fact that the preaching here is different than other churches you've been to.
Some people hate it.
They can't stand the preaching.
I didn't say everybody's going to like the preaching.
What I said is everybody's going to say, I've never been to a church like this.
Whether you love the preaching or you hate the preaching, you know what you're going to say?
It's a different church than other churches I've been to.
The Bible says in Isaiah 58, verse 1,
Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
Brother Stuckey, why are you yelling?
It says lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
It doesn't say just give a soft, melodious piano tune when you're preaching.
No, it says like a trumpet.
Something that's just like, man, it wakes you up if you're falling asleep.
I mean, if you forgot your coffee this morning, you don't have to worry.
I will keep you awake.
Right? Lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
The Bible says to cry aloud and it says to spare not.
Spare not means don't hold back.
To the best of my ability, I preach everything from Genesis to Revelation.
And obviously there's verses I have not really preached on,
but all topics I strive to preach on.
Now, there are topics I don't really want to preach on.
Things that offend people, honestly, I don't really enjoy preaching it.
Anyone who's a preacher would say their goal is not to make people upset
or preach things that people are really bothered by,
but it's my job to preach everything that the Bible says
and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.
You can go to other churches for years and years and years,
and the pastor never preaches on this or this or this or any manner of topics.
The modern-day Baptist church is striving to be like CCF and victory.
And you know why that is?
Because they say, well, victory has a bigger crowd.
They're reaching more people.
CCF has a bigger crowd, and you know what? They're right.
They do have a bigger crowd than us.
We're not striving to reach the most people.
We're striving to reach those people that love God.
And there is a big, big difference.
And Baptist churches are doing this in-between thing,
and what's taking place is a lot of Baptist churches are failing in 2022.
We're never going to be as big as victory,
but it's not like we're struggling for members.
I mean, look around. I'm not preaching to an empty room here today.
Obviously, some people like this preaching.
And as I said, some people love this preaching.
You like the fact that the preaching is different.
Some people hate this preaching.
But here's what both sides agree with.
I've never been to a church like Verity Baptist Church.
The preaching is very different than my old church.
Go to Jeremiah 23.
Jeremiah 23.
Look, you know, don't feel down on yourself if you bring somebody to church
and they don't like the preaching.
It is what it is.
I mean, a lot of people are just not going to like the preaching that we have at this church.
And even saved people.
You might know people that are saved, and they just don't like the style of preaching.
They think I'm too hateful.
They think I don't have enough love.
They say I don't have enough compassion, right?
It's all judgment, judgment, judgment.
You know, they can say whatever they want, right?
You know, the Bible says,
cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet.
My job is not to become everybody's best friend in this room.
Now, I want to be your friend.
I mean, I do the fellowship with you.
I go out sowing with you.
I want to be friends with you.
But the reality is, I'm not going to hold back the message
just so I can be everybody's buddy.
I've got to preach everything that the Bible says.
And when you show people their transgression, sometimes it offends people.
Now, here's the thing.
You say, Brother Sucky, I'm a member here, and I like this.
Why do you like it?
Because you want to be a spiritual person.
You want to make changes in your life.
You want to be close to God.
But realize not everybody has that goal.
Now, here's the thing.
Everybody has the goal of feeling spiritual.
Not everybody has the goal of being spiritual.
Everybody wants to feel spiritual.
This is why other churches, like Victory, can be very successful,
because you can walk into church with major sin and walk out,
and the pastor doesn't make you feel guilty about it.
You can be at the church for 10 years, and you don't feel guilty.
And you feel like you're close to God
because you're listening to some CCM song or whatever.
Right?
But that doesn't mean that you are close to God.
I mean, people have been saved for 20 years,
and they've never read their Bible cover to cover.
Don't tell me they're close to God.
How can you be close to God if you've never read the Bible?
How can you be close to God if you're not doing what he says?
But people still want to feel close to God,
even if they're not willing to do the work that makes them actually close to God.
Jeremiah 23, verse 1.
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, against the pastures that feed my people,
ye have scattered my flock and driven them away, and have not visited them.
Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord,
and I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries,
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds,
and they shall be fruitful and increase.
And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them,
and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
The Bible highlights the fact that there are a lot of false preachers.
And in 2022, there are a lot of false prophets.
A lot of false preachers.
Now, here's the thing that other Baptist churches do.
They will preach against churches like that one down the road.
They'll preach against maybe the Catholic Church,
but they won't even preach against non-denominational churches.
They say, well, we're not Catholic or in the cult, so we're on the same side.
They certainly won't preach against other Baptist churches.
It doesn't matter if the other Baptist church is hardcore, repensive sins,
and you're preaching grace through faith.
You never preach against each other.
Well, that's certainly not my style.
Let me just say this.
Most Baptist pastors in the Philippines are not even saved.
Now, I'm not saying all of them are not saved.
I do believe that there are saved pastors in different Baptist denominations,
Bible Baptists and the other denominations, but most are not saved.
You say, how can you say that, Brother Stuckey?
Based on what they say salvation is.
I mean, when they say salvation is repentance of sins,
and they take a strong stand on that side,
well, that's the exact opposite of what the Bible says.
People have this idea, well, you know, you've got to repent of your sins
because you've got to give your life to God to be saved.
I thought God gave his life for me to be saved.
That's the exact opposite of salvation.
Salvation is not that you give your life to God.
God gave his only begotten son.
It's that he gave his life for us because we can't fully give our life to God.
But here's the thing.
You say this in 2022, and they're like,
how dare you preach against the other Baptist preachers?
I mean, we're supposed to be on the same side.
Look, I'm not exactly going to be invited to these Baptist fellowships
that they have here between these pastors.
I'll be like the one preacher that will not get the invite.
Why? Because of the things that I say.
Right? Turn your Bible to Jeremiah 5.
Jeremiah 5.
Now, why do false prophets exist?
Because there's a market for them.
They're successful.
They get people to listen to them.
Did you know that most people in this world want to be lied to?
You say, what?
Why would anybody want to be lied to?
Well, you know what, I ask myself the same question.
It's like you go to the doctors, and it's just like you need immediate surgery,
right, in the next week.
And then the doctor says, you know, you're in great health.
You know, you're going to live a really long, you might reach 120, right?
And you need like triple bypass heart surgery within the next week.
Why would you want the doctor to lie to you?
But spiritually, people want this.
They want to be lied to.
They want to feel spiritual, right?
Now, you say, Brother Stuckey, I don't believe that.
That's just your opinion.
Well, what does the Bible say in Jeremiah 5, verse 30?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land.
The prophets prophesy falsely.
The preachers are lying.
And the priests bear rule by their means.
And my people love to have it so.
And what will you do in the end thereof?
Now, when he says my people, I think he's saying in general the nation of Israel,
but I promise you that includes a lot of saved people.
Why would people want to be lied to?
Because to actually be close to God, it's difficult.
Being saved is easy.
Being close to God is hard.
It's hard to read your Bible, memorize your Bible, pray consistently,
go to church, go soul winning, get sin out of your life,
get worldliness out of your life, especially in 2022, right?
It is difficult to draw a night at God in 2022.
And so since people don't actually want to do the work to be close to God,
but they want to feel close to God,
what they'll do is go to churches where they get lied to.
And it's like a symbiotic relationship, as they say in this stupid theory of evolution,
where basically both things need each other, right?
And a symbiotic relationship is when two things need each other to survive,
like bees and pollen, okay?
And basically the false prophets, what they need is people that are willing to be lied to.
And the people that are willing to be lied to,
see, what they need is someone to lie to them so they feel spiritual.
It's a symbiotic relationship.
One does not exist without the other.
Since there's people that want to be lied to, there's false prophets.
And false prophets, you know what?
They're necessary because people want to feel spiritual.
This is what the Bible says.
They love to have it so.
They want to be lied to.
They want to come into church and then walk out and feel very spiritual, even if they're not, right?
Turn your Bible to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy chapter 3.
See, people that want to be lied to, they don't like the preaching at this church.
They hate the preaching at this church.
Now, you might say, Brother Stuckey, I like the preaching.
I like to hear the Word of God.
I like to know what the Bible says, so I have the free will choice to decide to do or not.
See, some people love this preaching.
Some people hate this preaching.
But what both sides agree with is I've never been to a church quite like this before.
The preaching is different than other Baptist churches or other churches that I've been to.
Number one, one thing that makes our church different is the preaching is very different than you hear in most churches.
Let me say this.
If there's exceptions out there to churches that are very good that you went to that had great preaching, then praise the Lord for it.
Maybe there's exceptions of a church that you've been to.
But by and large, most people at this church have told me that their old Baptist church had a lot of problems.
And they never learned anything in the sermons, and their preacher never preached against sin.
It's like, well, that's obviously not like us, right?
I mean, we are different than other churches in the way that we preach.
Another thing that's different about our church than other churches is the authority structure that's found at Verity Baptist Church.
Now, I'm the ordained evangelist underneath Pastor Jimenez until I'm ordained as the pastor one day.
But what this means is that I'm the one who runs the show here at Verity Baptist Church Manila.
I'm the boots on the ground to run the show.
And at a lot of churches, they'll have, like, deacon boards or elder boards, or the church members will take a vote on everything, and there's no real authority from the person leading the church.
That's not how we operate.
The things that happen at this church, I'm the one who gets to say okay or not okay.
And a lot of people have a problem with that, but that's the authority structure found in the Bible.
You say, well, prove it to me.
1 Timothy 3, verse 4.
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
You know, the Bible says that a husband is to rule his own house and be the leader of that home, and he's above his children, and he's also above his wife in terms of authority.
Am I saying he's better than his wife?
No.
I didn't say that.
I just said there's an authority structure.
You know, you go to work, and there's a boss.
If there's no boss at a company, the company is going to fall apart in a couple months.
You have to have one person at the end of the day making the rules.
Otherwise, it's going to fail.
It's not going to work.
And inside the home, husbands are the heads of the home.
The fathers are the leaders of their homes.
And as a father, you better take the lead in your home.
You better be the spiritual leader of your home.
You better be the rock in that house, and you're the one who leads that home.
Now, the Bible says Christ loves a church, and he died for the church.
He loved the church just as a husband is to love his wife.
So I'm not saying you be a jerk to your family, but you are the leader as the husband.
Right?
Now, the Bible says having his children in subjection with all gravity.
Look, if my son comes to me and he says, Dad, I got an idea, I'll be like, okay, what's your idea, Zeph?
I think that I should start eating ice cream every day for breakfast.
Well, I mean, you know what?
Let's take it to a vote.
Right?
You and Christabel say yay.
I say nay.
It's like, well, you guys win.
Right?
I mean, I guess it would be two-two because my wife would be on my side, I think, right?
And Ezra is too young to vote.
Maybe we'll just hold up his hand to get him on our side or something.
But it's just like, you know, and obviously that's a silly example,
but I'm just stating the fact that obviously the fathers and the mothers are above their children in authority.
And of course, moms are above their sons in authority as well.
Husbands are the head of their wives, but obviously moms have the authority over their sons, you know, in the authority structure.
But see, in the same way that a husband rules his home, the Bible says this in verse 5,
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?
Well, how does he take care of the church of God?
In the same way he rules his own house.
Sounds like authority.
Right?
This is not free-for-all Baptist church where anything goes,
where somebody does something that, you know, that they know I don't want done at our church,
and it's like, well, you know, we get to decide or whatever.
That's not the way it works.
Now, of course, people have free will, just like a child has a free will whether they're going to listen to the authority or not.
But let me say this, that if you're right with God, you should listen to the authority at the church.
Turn your Bible to I Timothy 5.
I Timothy 5.
Now, some people love that.
And it makes sense to me because, quite honestly, when you're always making decisions, it's kind of stressful.
It's like everybody wants to have the authority to make decisions.
Let me explain something to you.
When there's always decisions to be made, it causes stress.
It's like even last week when it was raining, it's like, all right, so what do we do?
Do we cancel the soul-winding?
It's like I've got to make the decision at the end of the day.
You know, there's never really a free moment where it's like I get to just show up and not have to worry at all.
I kind of miss those days, to be honest.
I didn't want to go into the ministry because I want to rule people's lives.
It's just part of the job of running a local church.
And did you realize when a boss starts a company, the main reason why he starts a company is, well, in that case, to probably make money.
But making all the decisions all the time with that stress, it's not like he's going to enjoy that, right?
It's not like making the decisions like, man, I want to be a pastor so I can just run people's lives and tell them what they do.
And just look, oftentimes I wish I didn't have to make the decisions.
It's just the way it goes, right?
You know, when you're the one running the church, that's part of the responsibility.
And so a lot of people like the fact that they're not responsible for all the decisions.
And they can show up to church where things are pretty well organized.
We have an authority structure, and it's not just free-for-all Baptist church where anything goes.
You know, some people hate that.
Some people hate the idea of someone being above them in authority.
They can't stand the fact that somebody else gets to make the decisions, and they can be told this word no, right?
And what I think to myself is, didn't your parents ever tell you no as a kid?
I mean, is it that much of a shock to you when you hear no, right?
I mean, it shouldn't be a shock that, yeah, you know what, sometimes you get told no.
I had suggestions at my old job, you know, where I'd tell my boss when I worked in Maryland,
and you know what, sometimes he said no.
He didn't agree with the suggestion.
And it is what it is.
I mean, he's the boss.
Am I going to quit the company because, you know, my boss didn't agree with me?
Right?
It's like, no, it is what it is, right?
1 Timothy 5.
Now, here's the thing.
Some people love that.
Some hate it.
But what I want to say is, I've never been to a church with the authority structure quite like that.
1 Timothy 5, verse 17.
Let the elders that rule well, once again, there's that word rule, be counted worthy of double honor,
especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.
You say, Brother Stuckey, what does that mean, double honor?
Well, let's look at the context.
Verse 18.
For the scripture sayeth, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,
and the laborer is worthy of his reward.
The double honor, I mean, what's verse 18 in reference to?
It's in reference to money.
Now, do I preach on money a lot?
No, I really don't.
But the context of the double honor is in reference to money.
Right?
And I remember, you know, earlier in this church several years ago,
I remember somebody said, they don't go to our church anymore, but they kind of made like a mocking comment,
like my old pastor said double honor is in reference to money.
I didn't say anything about it because, but I probably should have.
I'd be like, it is.
Look at the context.
Look at the next verse.
I mean, the laborer is worthy of his reward.
What's your, you know, interpretation of that?
Right?
Now, the Bible says those that rule well be counted worthy of double honor.
And so you have to do a good job ruling.
But let me explain something to you.
If you work a secular job for ten years and you're good at your job and you're profitable for the company,
then guess what?
You deserve to get paid more.
Isn't that the way it works?
And look, our church has definitely grown, but here's the thing.
If our church grows in the next five years and we're running 150 people, it's just like doesn't it make logical sense
that if you're doing a good job ruling that you're worthy of double honor, you're worthy to get paid?
And I don't believe that if you work in the ministry you should get paid just very low wages where you barely survive.
Where does the Bible say that?
I mean, if you do a good job ruling, you're counted worthy of double honor, the Bible says.
Now, here's the thing.
I don't take a paycheck from this church.
I'm supported by Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento and they have some secular work for me,
but also the main thing is just running these churches.
So it's not a necessity to me right now, but hey, I don't know in five years.
I mean, if we have a couple more kids and, you know what, I may decide in the future to take a paycheck or a partial paycheck.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Pastor Menes is a full-time pastor.
What's wrong with that?
He's able to devote more time to his sermons.
I mean, the church is 200 plus people.
It's just like 100 soul winners every week.
I mean, what's wrong with that?
A lot of pastors you love and respect are full-time.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Now, here's the thing.
Maybe your old pastor was a false prophet and he was full-time in the ministry.
Well, I don't consider him to be ruling well, but if he has members that obviously believe he is
and the church is bigger, then it would make sense he's full-time even though he's a false prophet.
But don't take this mentality if our church grows.
It's like, wow, a pastor should never take a paycheck or they should work for a very low wage.
The Bible does not teach that.
And I'm not really preaching on that, but that is the context here in verse 18.
Verse 19, against an elder.
And let me just say this.
One of the main reasons why I'm not taking a regular paycheck from this church
is because, honestly, I hope one day that we have our own building, permanent building, in here and also in Pampanga.
You know what?
It takes time to save up that sort of money.
And as a church, we've been able to save up some money, but it's also very expensive in Metro Manila.
Right?
And so it's just like, for me, it's like we're able to do a lot of activities that the church pays for.
And the reason why we're able to do a lot of these things is because people at our church are very generous
and we have a lot of good online offerings, but also the fact that, you know, I'm not taking a full-time paycheck.
But in the future, maybe our situation will change and, you know what, maybe I will do things differently.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with a pastor being paid.
Verse 19, against an elder received not an accusation but before two or three witnesses.
Now, verse 19 is oftentimes misunderstood where people say, well, you know what, don't believe in accusation.
It doesn't say don't believe in accusation.
It says don't receive an accusation.
And what that means is if somebody comes to you with some sort of rumor or gossip about your spiritual leadership,
you're not even supposed to accept that.
Think of like Matthew 10 where they're not receiving the words.
They don't even want to listen.
And, you know, they're not worthy to hear the Gospel as a result.
But the bottom line is if somebody comes to you with some sort of accusation, the Bible says don't even receive it.
So I'm not even willing to listen to that.
Now, if there's two or three witnesses and you got some sort of proof, well, then that would be the time that you can actually listen.
But when somebody comes with some sort of accusation, you shouldn't even listen to what the Bible says.
You say, why is that, Brother Stuckey?
Because did you realize that when people get kicked out of church, they oftentimes come up with a lot of ammunition to try to tear down the church afterwards?
I mean, we've experienced that at our church.
People that I've removed from church and they said all manner of things about me and my family, all sorts of lies afterwards, just trying to tear our church apart.
Why would they do that?
Because they're mad?
Because I told them they're not welcome at church anymore.
And, you know, we're going to be talking about that later on in the sermon.
But, you know, what the Bible is saying is don't even receive an accusation because did you know that bad people would try to tear apart a good church?
And oftentimes, and look, you shouldn't even listen to gossip about other people at the church, much less the spiritual leadership at the church.
It's not just me.
You shouldn't even be involved in gossip at all.
The Bible says don't even receive an accusation but before two or three witnesses.
Then it says in verse 20, them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear.
Now, a lot of times people have a problem with this verse.
They say, well, you know, why do you have to rebuke people publicly?
Well, the Bible says that others also may fear.
Others also will figure out it's not acceptable.
Now, this is not something that is a regular thing that I do because I've heard of churches where every single week they publicly name people.
It's not something I do every single week.
But, you know, people that tried to tear our church apart in the past, I have publicly rebuked them.
And even though I didn't do it by name, it was extremely obvious that family that I was talking about.
You say, why did you do that?
Because the Bible says that others may fear.
Rebuke them publicly.
I mean, if they're going to make lying accusations about me behind my back that I don't know about, let's just make it public so everybody knows.
So people can choose a side.
And last I checked, 90 plus percent of people, or pretty much everyone not related by blood or married into that family, chose this side.
Because it was very obvious.
But the Bible says that others also may fear.
It's like, I'm not the one that brought lying accusations.
I'm not the one that committed all those sins.
But, see, a lot of people have a problem with that.
But here's what I'd say.
A lot of people like that.
You say, why?
You like the fact that you have a church leader that is defending you against bad people.
Defending you against people that would tear apart this church.
Look, I don't know about you, but I love this church.
I love the people of this church.
I don't want this church torn apart.
And when someone tries to tear our church apart, I'm going to defend it.
I love this church.
I love being a part of this church.
Anyway, a lot of people like the fact that I'm willing to defend our church and fight for this church and fight for the truth.
But, you know, a lot of people hate it.
They don't like it.
Here's the thing.
I didn't say everybody was going to like this church.
I said some people love the authority structure.
Some people hate the authority structure.
But what pretty much everybody's going to admit is I've never been to a church like this before.
Turn your Bible to John 2.
John 2.
John chapter 2.
One thing that makes our church very different than most churches is the preaching is very different than most churches.
And I'm only giving you four points.
I'm sure you could come up with more things, but these are just kind of four things that I thought of.
And the main reference is to people that are first time visitors where basically, you know, this church is different than other churches.
This was actually my original anniversary sermon for Manila, and I changed it because I came up with something that I like a little bit more.
So kind of the idea was we're going to have a lot of first time visitors.
It's like, hey, you might love it.
You might hate it, but we're different, right?
But I still think it's an interesting topic.
But it's true.
We're very different than most churches.
The preaching is very different.
The authority structure is very different.
One thing, and if you've been here, you know this is true.
One thing that makes us very different is I don't focus on money at our church a lot.
I don't preach on money like they probably did at your old church, whether it was Baptist or non-denom or Pentecostal or whatever.
I don't preach on money a whole lot.
The Bible says in John 2, verse 13,
And a Jew's passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting.
And when he made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables.
And said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not my Father's house and house of merchandise.
Now Jesus doesn't say that what they're doing is wrong, but where they're doing it is wrong.
It's not wrong what they're actually doing.
I mean, you can sell animals. There's nothing wrong with that.
But the problem is the location that they're doing it.
And he drives them out.
If you go to a lot of churches, you know, you'll have guest evangelists or guest missionaries, and they'll set up their table of books that they wrote.
And they spend the first 10 or 15 minutes of their sermon trying to get you to buy their book.
Right? This is my experience being at most Baptist churches.
And they'll set up a table. I mean, I know of people that went to Baptist churches.
To go soul winning, they had to buy the invitations.
They weren't even given invitations by the church.
Anyway, what a lot of people tell me about this church, they've never been to a church where the church just pays for everything.
What they'll tell me is, yeah, you know, we'd have like a Christmas event, but we had to pay for it.
So the pastor's like, if you raise 50,000 pesos, we'll do the event.
If you don't, we're not going to do the event.
Whereas at our church, you know what, we don't do that.
I mean, we had a children's day last week.
It's like we didn't stop you at the front and said, give us your money.
It's like, this is VBC KidZuna, give us your 500 pesos. Right?
You got three kids, you get a discount.
Three kids for, you know, 1,200.
We didn't do that.
And we're never going to do that because of what the Bible says in John 2 and what the Bible says about this.
Right?
Now, my philosophy is the fact that I really don't have to talk about money that much because if we do what God says, God's going to provide what we need.
As I said, I hope, Lord willing, one day we're going to have a permanent building, you know, rather than just renting.
And I do believe that will happen.
But, you know, God has blessed us with this place.
A lot of things that a lot of people don't have in other ministries that they have, we're very fortunate to have those things.
And here's what I would say.
If Jesus was so concerned with money, why did he appoint Judas Iscariot to be in charge of the money who he knew was a thief?
Did you ever think about that?
Now, I don't think that we should take that example and say, hey, let's just find the person that we trust the least with money at church and they're going to be in charge of the money.
I don't think that's the takeaway.
I think the takeaway is, hey, you know what?
God's going to provide what we need.
And another takeaway is that people will try to use church for money.
That is something that we have experienced.
The Bible says in verse 17,
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Then answered the Jews and said unto them, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
And the Jews are saying, what sign are you giving us?
Basically, where's your authority to do this?
Didn't we just talk about authority?
And the next several verses, he proves his deity by saying he's going to resurrect himself from the dead.
He's like, you're going to kill me and I'm going to resurrect myself from the dead.
What's your authority?
I'm God in the flesh.
Not me, okay?
Jesus saying that, right?
You never know what they're going to pull into some sort of YouTube clip, right?
But Jesus said, I'm God in the flesh.
There's my authority, right?
And he said, I can do what I want because I'm God.
And what I'm going to die for is going to die for this church.
And you're destroying my church, right?
And so Jesus, he didn't focus a lot on money.
The only thing that you really see in the Bible is you're supposed to give your 10% your tithe.
Quite honestly, that's a lot.
10%.
It's not 10% plus your first-roots offering.
Or 10% plus, you know, whatever your old church might have said.
No, it's 10%, right?
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
What is his commandment? 10%.
I've listened to sermons from Baptist pastors that talk about, you know, first-roots offering and various things.
And it's like, you know, I was really frustrated because they didn't even explain any verses.
They just talked for an hour.
I was like, okay, that's smart.
If you don't have any verses to defend what you believe, don't use any verses, right?
But what the Bible says is 10%, right?
And so what I preach and teach is the Bible says 10%, but I don't really talk about it that much.
Go to 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5.
You say, Brother Sucky, why would people like their church talking about money a lot?
Because if you're a member here, you probably like the fact that the main focus of this church is not money.
The main focus of this church, in case you don't know, is soul winning and getting new churches started in the future.
That's the main focus.
It will always be our focus.
I mean, quite honestly, it's like we do spend a lot of money on soul winning, right?
And look, praise the Lord for it that we're able to do that every Saturday, pay for the soul winner's lunch.
But you know what?
Our focus is soul winning, right?
I mean, that's the focus.
It's always going to be the focus of this church.
But you know, a lot of people, they hate the fact that we don't talk about money.
I say, why would somebody hate the fact that we don't talk about money?
It goes back to this idea, everybody wants to feel spiritual.
What do you have to do to be spiritual?
Read the Bible, go to church, go soul winning, obey God's commandments.
It's hard to do those things, right?
It's hard to zealously read your Bible every single day.
I mean, one of the things that I feel guilty about sometimes is sometimes I will be on fire with memorizing the Bible.
I'm excited and excited and memorizing the Bible.
But memorizing the Bible is very hard.
And then other times it's really difficult for me to spend time just memorizing and memorizing.
It's so easy to get distracted.
I mean, it's hard to really try to draw close to God, isn't it?
But see, here's the thing.
When a church talks about money all the time, you can give a lot of money, not obey God's commandments,
and you get to feel close to God, even though you're not.
I mean, a lot of churches, the favorite members of the person preaching or the pastor is the people that give the most money.
That's reality.
And people are able to feel close to God because they give money without actually doing what God says.
Don't misunderstand me.
The Bible does teach 10%.
But here's the thing.
I mean, if God has blessed you financially and you give a lot of money but you don't obey God's commandments,
you don't read the Bible, you don't go so any...
You're not right with God.
It doesn't matter how much money you give.
What matters is are you obeying God's commandments.
Right?
Go to 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5.
And obviously there's a lot of verses on this, but let me show you a passage on soul winning.
What is the main thing that the Bible focuses on in terms of our job as a church and our job as Christians?
2 Corinthians 5 verse 18.
And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing the trespasses unto them,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God.
The Bible says we're given the ministry of reconciliation.
We're ambassadors for Christ.
Now let me give you an example of what I'm talking about.
You know, at my own church in West Virginia, you know, and it was a good church,
but most independent Baptist churches in the U.S., they have what's called faith promise missions.
And I know some churches here, probably some of you are familiar with faith promise missions,
where basically at the beginning of the year, you know, you pray about how much money you're going to give for missions for the entire year.
And basically, you know, it's basically above your 10%, but how much money,
and based on how much money is pledged is basically how much is going to go to the missionaries during the year.
So they call it faith promise missions.
And at the church I was at, what they would have is like a yearly, you know, service dedicated to that.
Which, I mean, there's nothing wrong, I mean, obviously giving money to missionaries if they're,
I never gave money to missionaries because I met a lot of them and they had a false gospel,
but there's nothing wrong with giving money to, you know, a good person, right, if they're doing the work of the Lord.
But what they would do is have testimony time.
And you'd have people at church that never win soul winning, were worldly as can be, and it was obvious to everybody.
They obviously didn't love God, but they gave some money to faith promise missions
and I remember this one person standing up and this kid was a teenager
and he was not the most popular guy at church because he was super Mayaba.
And he stood up and he said, I can't wait to go to heaven one day
and see all these people come up to greet me about how I helped them get to heaven by the money that I gave.
I mean, it was super, I mean, that's basically a paraphrase, that's pretty much what he said.
I was like, man, that comes out so arrogant, do you not realize?
But it's just like this idea where it's like, I'm not going to go soul winning,
but if I give money, I pass the responsibility on to somebody else and you can feel spiritual.
And it really is this symbiotic relationship that churches in the U.S. do
where basically they don't really do a lot of soul winning in the U.S. at most churches,
but they give money to missionaries all over the world that are also not doing the work
and you've got this symbiotic relationship.
But here's the thing, is there anything wrong with giving money?
No, I'm sure God will bless you if you give above your 10%, obviously.
But here's the thing, that doesn't make you right with God.
What makes you right with God is if you're doing what he says, if you obey his commandments.
And see, here's the thing, some people love having a church where we focus on soul winning.
Some people hate that because they don't really want to do that.
I didn't say everybody's going to like our church.
I said some people are going to love it, some are going to hate it, but everyone's going to agree,
you know what, I've never been to a church that didn't have a first fruits and second fruits and third fruits offering.
I didn't even know that there was a church without those fruits.
Go to 1 Corinthians 5.
He said, Brother Stuckey, you don't believe in the fruits.
I do, I believe in nine, right?
The fruits of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, unsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
I missed the extra money as the 10th fruit mentioned.
But we don't focus on money a lot.
And if you've been a member of this church, you're aware of that.
We don't focus.
We have a lot of events now.
We didn't when the church started because we had to save up money to do those events.
But now we're able to do a lot of events.
And honestly, we have a lot of online listeners that send us money.
And we're very appreciative of people that believe in what we're doing as a church and getting people saved.
And we're able to do nice things.
We don't have to focus on money a lot.
But we're never going to focus primarily on money.
Number one, one thing that makes us different is the preaching.
Number two, one thing that makes us different is the authority structure.
Number three, one thing that makes us different is we have very little emphasis on money.
Number four, one thing that makes us very different is we kick people out of church when necessary.
And that's probably something that your old church did not do.
1 Corinthians 5, notice what it says.
I wrote on you in an epistle not to company with fornicators,
yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters,
for then must these needs go out of the world.
Look, obviously, you would have to leave this world to avoid people that are guilty of these kinds of sins.
I mean, it mentions idolaters. We live in the Philippines, right?
I'm sure most of your coworkers are Catholic, right?
There's idols everywhere in this country.
You must needs go out at least of the Philippines to a point there, right?
But the Bible's stating about in the church, though, right?
Outside the church, you can't avoid this.
You go to Robinson's, you go to a restaurant, don't feel guilty about it, right?
But inside the church, it's a different story.
There are certain rules the Bible says.
Verse 11, but now I have written on you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such in one know not to eat.
For what have I to do to judge them also that or without?
Do not you judge them that are within?
But them that are without, God judgeth.
Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Now, here's the thing.
As a church that does kick people out of church right away,
here's the thing.
As a church that does kick people out of church when necessary from time to time, you know what?
Some people love that because you want to follow what the Bible says.
You also believe, hey, I'm raising young kids.
I don't want it to be acceptable to commit these sorts of sins.
You know, we're setting a standard.
And this is not a list I came up with.
If I came up with my own list, it probably wouldn't be the same.
And I'm glad I don't have to guess about it.
The Bible gave us a list.
The Bible gave us a template of things that are not acceptable in the local church.
You see, at a lot of churches, they will accept anybody in the church no matter what.
A guy could come into church wearing a dress, holding hands with another guy, and they would have no problem with it.
We don't operate that way, my friend.
The Bible says there are actually rules and standards of things that are not acceptable.
Certain sins are not acceptable in the local church.
That's what the Bible says.
Verse two.
Some people hate this.
They can't stand the fact that people can be removed from church if they're guilty of certain sins.
You say, well, prove to me that some people hate the fact that people get kicked out of church.
Verse two.
He says, and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
What it says here in verse two is that inside the church, there were people that were getting arrogant about the fact that they never kicked anybody out of church.
You say, what are you talking about?
We're so loving, we would never kick out anybody.
Right?
I mean, if they were a serial killer, you know what?
And it's just like, we would let them come because maybe they'll change.
Right?
It's like, we'll accept anybody in no matter what they're doing.
Somebody could stumble in here, drunk as could be, and just, you know what, whatever.
Somebody could come in here doing crystal meth or whatever.
We're not going to do anything about it.
Right?
They're puffed up.
They accept anything.
We don't accept anything at this church.
Now, here's the thing.
If you're not doing anything majorly wrong, you don't have to worry about being told, hit the road, Jack.
But if people are doing things majorly wrong, then they have to worry.
I mean, if you're committing major sins, well, we do follow what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5.
Some people love the fact that our church does what the Bible says.
But a lot of people hate that.
It's like, but what about the love of God?
Can't you give them another chance?
It's like, well, we do what the Bible says.
Go in your Bible to Acts 20.
Acts 20.
Some people love it.
Some hate it.
But what people agree with is I've never been to a church that actually kick people out of church when necessary.
And the truth is that if people get told they can no longer come back to church, as long as they're not trying to cause problems at our church, you know, it's kind of like I let them just kind of go silently.
I don't make a big deal of it.
Right?
There have actually been people that probably, some of you aren't even aware of people that were told not to come back for various things, but I didn't make a big deal out of most people.
Now, I made a big deal about that family a year and a half ago because they literally said that they were going to get me fired from running Verity Baptist Church Manila and they were going to take over the church.
That's literally what they said.
It's like, oh, but I should never say anything bad about them.
It's like, you've got to be kidding me.
Right?
They can say whatever they want about me, but I could never say anything bad about them.
Well, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
And I made a big deal about that because it was a big issue.
They were trying to tear our church apart.
Right?
Well, here's the thing, though.
I mean, if people, you know, are guilty of certain things and they get removed from church, I just handle things quietly because they can get that sin right and come back to church.
I want to give them that opportunity if possible.
Now, if they cause major problems, it's a different story.
But we operate differently than other churches.
Bible says in Acts 20, verse 28.
Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
What Paul the Apostle says is, you know what?
When I'm gone, bad people are going to come in and try to destroy the members.
And the idea is that if I'm not around to deal with this and to take a strong stand on this, what it's going to cause is the fact there's going to be wolves taking advantage of people.
I've said before that two things take place.
If you do not remove bad people or people causing major problems from a church, what takes place is good people will leave a church.
That's what takes place.
There have literally been people at our church that have told me that, yeah, you know, I'm really glad you handled that.
I was even thinking about leaving church myself because of all the issues.
If I don't deal with those situations, good people are going to leave.
So I've got an option.
Bad people leave or people causing major problems or good people leave.
That's so tough to decide which.
I prefer.
I think I'd rather the good people stay.
I think I'd rather those that love God stay rather than because, look, if they see the leader of the church allowing someone to just take advantage of other people and doing nothing about it, then they're going to get frustrated at what I'm doing and they'll leave the church.
That's what takes place.
And, look, I wish I didn't have to deal with these situations because I wish they never happened, but from my experience, they do happen.
Not just my experience here at every church.
You see these sorts of things.
And it doesn't necessarily mean that all those people are bad people, as in a child of the devil, but they're doing bad things if they're causing those sorts of problems.
The Bible says in Acts 20, verse 30,
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Paul says, you know what, I have warned about this day and night for three years.
And what did he warn about?
He said that grievous wolves will come in and try to destroy a good church.
Try to destroy people.
You say, what exactly does that mean?
Well, people can come in for various reasons.
People could come in for just financial gain like Judas Iscariot, like Balaam.
People could come in because they're just trying to bring false doctrine.
Because they disagree with what we teach and they want to try to confuse things by trying to talk about sovereign grace.
Or repentance of sins or whatever.
And people will come into church.
That's why I'm very hesitant when people...
If I suspect someone being a Calvinist is like, no, no, no, we're not bringing in this sovereign grace sort of doctrine into our church.
We don't believe in that.
We believe Christ died for everybody.
We believe that we have free will.
We're not robots, right?
People might come in to try to bring false doctrine.
They might come in to try to cause division.
They might decide, you know what, I'm going to be one of those people that comes in and I'm going to feed myself without fear, as the Bible says.
And just slowly spread gossip and try to pit people against each other and tear the church apart.
Just start spreading half-truths and lies.
Try to get people fighting with one another.
I mean, the Bible speaks about this from Genesis to Revelation.
This is going to exist.
And is it a shock if we're a church that is getting thousands of people saved every year, is it a shock that the devil would not be happy with that?
I mean, do you believe in the devil?
Do you believe what the Bible says?
I mean, do you believe that the devil is just going to be okay with us getting people saved and our church growing and reaching people?
Is that what you see in the book of Acts?
They're getting these people saved and it's just like, hey, they've turned the world upside down.
Turn the world upside down, that's great.
No, they try to arrest them and kill them.
Try to persecute them.
There's going to be people that try to tear our church apart.
It is what it is.
I wish it would never take place.
I wish that it would never happen, but it's reality.
And as the church leader, I'm the overseer and part of that is the fact that I feed the flock.
Part of that is that I kind of watch.
I have a shepherd that is watching for what?
They're watching for a wolf coming.
Why?
Because that wolf is going to destroy the sheep and they've got to protect against it.
Right?
Now, of course, we give people the benefit of the doubt with stuff.
And quite honestly, it's not like I'm worried about everybody at church.
It's like, no, honestly, most people, I don't see any signs of anything.
I think they're great people at our church.
I would never question them at all.
I've had people in the past that we had to have leave church because they're trying to cause problems for various reasons.
And at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter if they're a child of the devil or just a really bitter and backslidden Christian.
Either way, they're not going to be welcome here if they're doing things that would get them kicked out of church.
It doesn't even matter what your opinion is on the debate of any of those people.
It's just like they're not welcome at the church.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And here's the thing.
Some people love that.
When we've had these situations before, a lot of people told me, thank you very much, Brother Stuckey, for dealing with that.
Thank you for having the guts to take a strong stand and deal with that situation.
But you know, some people hate it when people get kicked out of church.
Right? I mean, it abases me.
There's this guy who got kicked out of church in Sacramento.
And I mean, like, the long list of things that this guy did.
Like, Pastor Mena's went through the list because they were trying to take other church members, like a group of people that ended up going.
But it's just like, what other accusations do you need against this guy?
And then some people are like, oh, he gets a chance to defend himself.
Right? It's like, you've got to be kidding me.
I mean, look at all the things that he did.
And I witnessed a lot of these things.
I mean, we're literally playing basketball one day.
And he got in a fight with a young little child.
And he stole the kid's basketball and then just like kicked it like hundreds of yards away.
It's like, what are you doing?
It's like, what's wrong with you?
Right? But there are other things that were a lot worse than just like losing his temper when he got into an argument with a five-year-old.
Right? But it's just like, what else does this person have to do?
And yet there's always going to be people that say, well, you should have given them another chance.
Look, if I took that mentality with running this church, we would be overrun with people taking advantage of this church and good people would leave the church.
Some people love the fact that I deal with issues.
Some people hate the fact.
Some people would never like our church because of the way we handle situations.
I didn't say everybody's going to like it.
What I said is some love it.
Some hate it.
But pretty much everybody agrees I've never been to a church like this before.
And quite honestly, with our style of church, it's really one of those things you love or you hate.
Right? We were just talking recently when we had the wasabi here that one day we were talking about, I hate wasabi.
But that's something you love or hate. Right?
Some things it's like you love it or you hate it.
It is what it is. There's really no in between.
Our church is kind of like that. We're the wasabi.
Right? You either love it or you hate it.
There's usually no in between.
And this is why, you know, it's funny because sometimes people will bring visitors to church and they bring first-time visitors and I can tell the person loves the preaching.
They love it.
Then other times people bring visitors and you can tell the person does not like it at all.
They're like, what is this?
Right? And the person that brings them, they're really excited. They love the preaching.
And then all of a sudden they're surprised that their visitor doesn't like it.
But here's the thing. Our type of church you either love or hate.
It is what it is.
But here's what you agree with. I've never been to a church like this before.
Let's close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic.
And I ask you to help us to, you know, love the church we have and be willing to stand with our church no matter what sort of trial we have in the future as a church God.
I ask you to continue to bless our church and also bless all of our church family.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here on the first.
Day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here.