Thank you very much.
Thank you.
.
All right.
Good morning, everybody.
UFOs here today.
I don't know.
Anyways.
Good morning, everybody.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Take out your bullets in here today.
Our verse of the week is
1 Corinthians 3, verse 13.
The Bible reads,
Every man's work shall be made manifest
for the day shall declare it, because
every man's work shall be made
manifest for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire,
and the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is.
That's a great verse there.
We'll tie in with our second sermon.
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.
First service is at 10 a.m.
Second service is at 11.15.
Wednesday evening Bible study at
7 p.m. Soul winning time is listed.
4 p.m. on Wednesdays.
On Saturdays, in case I'm on Memorial Circle,
10 to 12, lunch provided by church,
and then 2 to 4 in the afternoon session.
Of course, we do have soul winning around
1.45 here today.
Our salvations and baptisms are listed
there for the year,
as well as the month to date
for all of our churches and Bible study fellowships.
Birthdays and anniversaries for March
are listed down there below.
On the next page, our Bible memorization challenge.
So, for ages 11 and above,
Option 1 is always the same.
You can memorize any chapter,
and if you do it word for word perfectly,
quoting it to someone, you get a prize,
but obviously you can't pick the same chapter
every week.
You can pick Esther 10 once.
You can't do it every single week just because
it's a short chapter.
Option 2 is a one week option where
next Sunday, March 12, is the last day to quote.
That is 2 Peter 1 verses 12 through 21,
so that is 10 verses to quote.
Today is the last day to quote
1 Corinthians 3 verses 1 through 15,
which is what the second sermon is going to be on.
Ages 8 to 10 memorizing 7 verses perfectly.
Below 8 is memorizing 1 verse perfectly.
Upcoming activities.
So, next week is going to be
our annual table tennis tournament.
And so right now,
we have the sign up sheets back there.
I think there were 14 men
in the men's division,
12 ladies or something like that,
and then there were like 4 kids or whatever.
We're planning to set up a table,
a court or whatever,
here, there,
and then one in the back,
so basically 3 groups,
and the kids will kind of just play for fun,
whereas the men's and the women's
are going to be kind of tournament style.
Our goal is to get it done in one week.
I'm just not sure if we're going to be able to do that.
We might have to drag in like the semis
in the championship to the week after,
because what we're going to try to do
is kind of like we did in the chess tournament,
instead of single elimination,
to make it into like groups,
so you get to play several matches,
because I just don't want to draw Marlin in the first round
and lose like 21 to 5,
and it's like, wow, that was a lot of fun, right?
But anyways,
our aim is a one-week tournament.
It might end up being two weeks.
We're going to order something like pizza
or something next week for the fellowship.
So if you don't play,
you're still welcome to stick around
and fellowship and eat and everything like that.
It's going to be a good time.
Our monthly prayer meeting is in three weeks
on March 26th,
and I don't have this listed in the bulletin,
but Easter week is like,
along with our anniversaries,
like the busiest, probably busier
than anniversary week,
because basically,
so-winning marathon, so-winning marathon,
the so-winning mega marathon,
coming up, but I'm excited.
We've had contact from people from Japan,
India, and South Korea,
so we could have a lot of countries participate
that didn't do that last year,
so that's really exciting.
Obviously, we're going to have a lot of locations
in the Philippines,
and regardless of who participates,
we're obviously going to go very zealously for it
with all of our churches and the surrounding areas,
so that's going to be coming up
during Easter week in April,
and of course, we'll take the Lord's Supper
during that time as well.
Current and upcoming series,
and the new series, Pastoral Training,
information on our group chat down there below.
On the back, there's a place for notes
for both of the sermons here today,
so the J is the judgment seat of Christ,
so I've been tracking how people are doing at guessing,
and right now, we have a four-way tie at first.
Brother Wynard,
Brother Mark, Brother JR,
and Brother J have been correct three times,
and we might end up having a prize
when we're completely done,
but someone in Pampanga,
Brother Raji's wife, Sister Osel,
she's been right most of the time, four times,
so you're all behind her,
but good job, everybody.
You know, do your best.
Sometimes it matches up with the memorization.
Sometimes it doesn't,
and sometimes I change my sermon last second,
so it's kind of hard to figure out sometimes,
but anyways, that'll be it for announcements,
while Brother Marlon leads us in another song.
Amen.
For our next song, let's get the Marlon book,
and it's turned to hymn number 104.
Let's sing the song, Lean on His Arms.
Lean on His Arms.
All at first, all together,
just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
Ready, sing.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
He'll have you,
He'll have you along in view.
He'll fill your heart with song.
Lean upon His arms,
who He trust to meet and serve.
Lean on His arms,
all His curses prove.
Lean upon His arms,
and looking on the rock,
just lean on to see your Son.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
The right hand away,
the spot of God,
He firmly seated,
and He spoke the voice of man.
Lean on His arms,
who He trust to meet and serve.
Lean upon His arms,
and all His curses prove.
Lean on His arms,
and looking on the rock,
just lean on to see your Son.
Lean on to first,
just lean upon the arms of Jesus.
Hoping every year,
and every day,
the burden that has seemed so heavy,
linked to the Lord in prayer.
Lean on His arms,
who He trust to meet and serve.
Lean on His arms,
and all His curses prove.
Lean on His arms,
and looking on the rock,
just lean on to see your Son.
Just lean upon the arms of Jesus,
and live on to Him,
live on to Him.
His heart is full of mercy,
His eyes are never near.
Lean on His arms,
who He trust to meet and serve.
Lean on His arms,
and all His curses prove.
Lean on His arms,
every looking on the rock,
just lean on to see your Son.
Let's take our offering.
Let us open our Bibles to Titus,
to the people of Titus.
We are going to read Titus chapter 1 verses 1-9.
Please say Amen when you are there.
Titus 1 verses 1-9.
Holy servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect,
and the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness,
in hope of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie,
promised before the world began,
but hath in due time manifested this word
through preaching,
which is committed unto me,
according to the commandment of God our Saviour.
To Titus, mine own son,
after the common faith,
the grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
For this cause, left are we in Crete,
that thou shouldest set in order
the things that are wanting,
and ordain elders in every city,
as I had appointed thee.
If any be blameless,
the husband of one wife,
having faithful children,
not accused of riot or unruly.
For a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of God,
not selfish, not soon angry,
not given to wine,
no striker, not given to filthy luxury,
but a love of hospitality,
a love of good men,
sober, just, holy, temperate,
holding fast the faithful word
as he hath been taught,
that he may be able by sound doctrine
both that sword,
and to convince the gainsayers.
Let's pray.
I thank you, our Father, for this day.
Thank you for your Bibles.
Thank you so much for your word
and your faithfulness.
We ask also today to give us understanding,
to open our hearts for your word,
and also that you change our hearts
so that we are willing to obey everything
what we hear,
and that we can apply this in our personal lives
and get over spiritually in faith.
Then you also ask that you bless the future
and anoint him in his name. Amen.
All right.
We're in our second sermon
on the serious pastoral training.
If you remember, the first sermon
was a couple weeks ago,
and it was about basically
running your own home.
As we saw last week, a couple weeks ago,
or two weeks ago,
it was kind of like a Father's Day sermon.
So you say,
Brother Stuckey,
I don't have any interest in being a pastor,
or it's not going to be for me,
but at the same time,
you can always learn from the word of God.
And I would say that today's sermon
certainly applies to everyone
because this sermon is about character.
Now, you look at the Roman Catholic Church,
and in the Roman Catholic Church,
one of the requirements for being the clergy
is you can't be married.
Right?
Whereas members are obviously
allowed to be married.
Well, you know what?
It doesn't actually work this way in the Bible
because the standards for me
are no different than you.
And what I mean by that is
if I should read the Bible,
so should you.
If I should not drink alcohol,
you shouldn't drink alcohol either.
There's no different rules or commandments
for me or you.
It's just a matter of
if you're in a public and prominent position,
you're held to a high standard.
So realize,
as I'm talking about the requirements
for your character to be in the ministry,
well, these are things that all of us should have.
I can't be covetous.
Well, you shouldn't be covetous either.
Right?
I mean, all these things are good
for all of us regardless of
whether you go in the ministry or not.
Now, what we're going to do in this sermon
is mainly be in two places here today.
Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3.
We're going to be going back and forth,
so what I would recommend is
you put a bookmark, a ribbon,
put your finger or something there,
put the bulletin,
because we will be going back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth,
comparing these two lists.
Now, this is one of those sermons
that honestly it would be helpful
to have like a projector,
and you could see the verses
because we're going to be comparing back and forth.
So to make it easy,
make sure you're just able to
quickly turn between the two.
We'll go back and forth, back and forth,
back and forth this entire sermon.
So we're going to use 1 Timothy 3
as our guiding chapter, though,
and then we'll also be turning to Titus 1.
So go to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy 3.
And it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2,
A bishop then must be blameless.
And then what 1 Timothy 3 is going to do
is going to give you a list of requirements
in order to be blameless.
Being blameless is used synonymously
with the word spotless.
So just imagine you have a white couch,
it looks perfect,
and you're raising very young children
and they get a hold of a black marker,
which happens to every family, right?
And then all of a sudden
you've got this giant spot on the couch.
It stands out. It's obvious.
When people see that couch,
the first thing they're going to do
is look at that black spot, right?
The idea is if you're in the ministry,
you can't have anything major
where they look at you and they think,
covetous, drunkard, right?
You need to be blameless.
You need to be spotless.
Not sinless because obviously
nobody is without sin,
but no major thing that is going to
basically disqualify you
from the ministry.
So what it says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 2 is,
a bishop must be blameless,
and it's going to divide it into two categories.
One of them is for family requirements.
We talked about that two weeks ago.
The other one is for character requirements,
which we're going to talk about here today.
Now go to Titus 1.
Titus 1.
Titus chapter 1.
Titus 1 verse 6.
If any, be blameless.
And then in Titus 1 verse 6,
the context is family requirements.
Titus 1 verse 7,
for a bishop must be blameless,
and then you see character requirements.
So in the list in Titus 1,
it uses this word blameless twice.
However, 1 Timothy chapter 3,
when it talks about blameless,
it links your family and character requirements together,
whereas Titus 1 kind of separates them.
But we talked about the family requirements
already in Titus 1 verse 6,
and today is about the Titus 1 verse 7,
the character requirements.
What you're going to primarily see
is the list in Titus 1 verse 7
is about the nots.
Don't do this.
You say, why?
Because here's the thing.
I need to read my Bible every day
like all of us do.
Quite honestly,
nobody has any idea
whether or not I've read my Bible today
or yesterday or the day before.
I need to pray every day.
You have no idea whether or not I'm praying.
Now, those are things you need to do, do, do,
but the things that you should not do
are the things that basically take away
from you being blameless
because they're transparent.
They're obvious.
They're visible.
Right?
I mean, just imagine we go out soul winning,
and then I stop at 7-Eleven and get a red horse,
and just I down it.
It's like, well, that's very obvious.
I've got a major sin.
Everyone would be very easily able to see that.
Now, look, somebody does not get kicked out of church
because they drink from time to time
even though we teach and believe it's a sin,
but obviously I can't drink from time to time.
That certainly would disqualify me from the ministry
because of the fact I would have a blame.
I would have something people would say,
well, that's Brother Stuckey's besetting vice
or besetting sin, right?
So let's just go through this list
and go back to 1st Timothy 3,
and let's look at the list of requirements,
and all of these things are good for all of us,
but these are requirements to be in the ministry.
1st Timothy 3, verse 2.
First thing you see after blameless is vigilant.
Vigilant.
What does vigilant mean?
Keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties,
for possible danger or possible difficulties.
So think about being a parent,
and your child is in the living room.
They're just a very young child,
six months or a newborn or whatever,
but they started to crawl,
and there's a sharp object like a knife on the ground.
Well, you don't know whether your child
is going to pick up that knife.
You don't know whether they're going to crawl to it,
but wait a minute.
As a parent, what do you do?
You've got to be vigilant and say,
hey, I'm going to remove that before there's a problem,
because before you know it, you get a phone call,
you're not paying attention,
and then you've got a disaster.
As a parent, you must be vigilant
to make sure of potential danger.
With our son Ezra, he's a climber.
We've got two floors in our house,
and so with Ezra, it's like if we don't block the stairs,
we're like, where's Ezra?
Just look up.
I mean, he's very quick.
Well, here's the thing.
As a parent, it's actually very dangerous for a child,
this nine months, because it could easily fall down.
So as a parent, you've got to say, well, wait a minute.
Let's just block off the potential for danger, right?
We don't want to even risk something possibly happening.
Well, if you're going to be in the ministry,
this is a requirement for you.
You've got to watch for potential danger.
Even if it never turns out to be something,
if you see possible danger, you kind of put a stop to it,
and a lot of people might think,
man, I didn't even see anything wrong with this.
Why is he going overboard?
Because of the fact you've got to be vigilant.
Because maybe you're looking at potential possible problems
that may never come, but you say, wait a minute.
We don't even want to risk it, okay?
Go to Acts chapter 20.
Acts 20.
If you're a parent, you can certainly relate to this.
I mean, you don't really think about it before you're a parent,
but then as a parent, you become paranoid.
You're really always afraid that something's going to happen to your child
because the amazing thing is kids, they get hurt all the time,
and they just bounce back up, right?
But as a parent, you're scared to death every time.
Maybe they fall off the couch, and then all of a sudden they're happy
like a minute later, right?
But at the same time as a parent, you're worried about potential danger
because something could happen.
They fall and hit at the exact wrong spot,
maybe the back of the head, where it's very weak and dangerous,
and then you could have a disaster.
So as a parent, you're very careful.
In the ministry, running a church is like having a family on a larger scale, right?
Isn't that the example that we see?
Learn to run your own home well, and then you have a church
where there's lots of families.
The Bible says in Acts 20, verse 28,
Take heed therefore unto yourselves and all the flock over the 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.
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.
Look, there's nothing nicer than just sitting outside in a chair
and just looking at beautiful scenery, looking at the mountains.
My parents' house is right by a beautiful set of mountains.
Just being outside and relaxing is just great.
But here's the thing.
If you're a shepherd, you can't just sit there and watch the sheep run around.
You have to be really worried about one of them getting away,
some sort of animal coming, and you don't get to just relax.
And here's the thing.
In the ministry, you really don't get to relax because you've got to be vigilant.
You've got to be paying attention.
Paying attention to things that are not just obvious,
things that are very subtle, things that are not obvious.
Now this is a good trait for anybody to have.
We should be people that are vigilant.
I'm just saying if you go into the ministry, hey, it's a requirement.
It just is a little bit different if you're in the ministry.
Go in your Bible to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 3.
And look, for those that are interested in going in the ministry,
like I said, I'm not trying to convince you to go in the ministry.
If anything, it would make you say, wait a minute.
I don't know if I want to do this.
Here's the reality.
You know what?
If you're not working for a church, you show up for activities.
You just have fun.
You have a great time.
Like next week, the table tennis is going to be a lot of fun.
And you know what?
I plan to enjoy it and have fun.
I enjoy table tennis.
It's a fun game.
But at the same time, if you're running things,
you've got to make sure things go smoothly.
And quite honestly, you don't have the same sense of enjoyment
as if you're just kind of showing up.
And you know what?
I worked a secular job for a long time after college.
And you know what?
Here's the thing.
When you work a secular job, you work 40, 50, 60 hours a week,
and then there's great joy every time you enter church
because I'm away from the things of the world.
You do not get the same feeling if you're in the ministry.
I don't want you to misunderstand.
I'm happy to be in the ministry.
I believe it's the calling God has for my life.
I enjoy it.
I enjoy preaching sermons.
But I want you to realize I don't get that same feeling
when I walk into church
because I'm always involved in ministry-related things.
So there's some advantages not being in the ministry.
Now, as I said, I'm not trying to convince you not to go in it.
I'm just trying to give you a realistic idea
because a lot of people get this idea.
Man, you know what?
If I become a pastor,
I'm going to be happy every single session.
I'm going to be happy every single second and never be upset.
Actually, no.
That's not the way it works.
I remember the first Red Hot Preaching Conference in Sacramento.
It was right after the big protest in Sacramento, California.
And here's the thing.
You know what?
To other people, they just kind of showed up.
It's exciting.
Protests, fun, games and everything.
But for me, it's like, wait a minute.
We got Pastor Burzen's family arriving.
You call every day to Hertz or the Enterprise
or whatever it was to make sure there are rental cars coming
for a family that's big, a van.
And then all of a sudden it's like, wait a minute.
Even though you call many times, we don't have your reservation.
We think there must have been a mistake.
It's called, yeah, you canceled us, obviously.
And it's like there were all kinds of problems like that.
No, wait a minute.
You guys never ordered pizza for this day.
And all these companies were canceling us.
Look, those couple days during the first Red Hot Preaching Conference
were some of the worst days of my life.
I'm just being honest with you.
I mean, it was so muggle-o, so stressful.
And I'm just thinking, oh, man, everybody else so.
Smile on their face.
It was the first Red Hot Preaching Conference.
Soul winners from all over.
They're so excited.
And then everyone's excited, 200 soul winners.
But wait a minute.
Myself, Pastor Menes, those involved in it,
how are we going to pair up hundreds of soul winners?
People fly in.
They don't necessarily have cars.
And there are no Jimpneys in the U.S., right?
It's like, what are we going to do?
Right?
It was actually a time of a lot of stress, right?
Now, I'm not complaining about it.
I'm just stating you get a different feeling
if you're in the ministry.
I'm glad to be in the ministry,
but it's not all just, you know, sunshine and roses or whatever, right?
Got to be vigilant.
Another thing it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2 is sober.
It says sober.
Sober, we naturally think of, you know,
But that's not really all that the Bible's trying to say.
I mean, obviously you'd expect someone to go into the ministry
probably not to be la cinero, right?
I mean, that's probably the last thing that you have to worry about.
But sober is not just about alcohol.
Here's the definition.
Make or become more serious, sensible, and solemn.
Because drunkards act like idiots, right?
It makes you act like a fool.
It makes you act like an idiot.
It makes you not serious, right?
I mean, you're like, oh, let me just drive.
Let me just drive twice the speed limit
and just take my hands off the wheel and see what happens.
That's literally what people do when they're drunk, right?
Well, being sober means to be serious.
Take things very seriously, right?
Now, here's the thing.
I don't think it's a sin to wear shorts and a T-shirt, right?
I mean, when I work out, I wear shorts and a T-shirt.
When I play sports, I wear shorts and a T-shirt.
Anyone who comes to our church wearing shorts and a T-shirt,
I am happy to have them.
But what if I showed up today in shorts and a T-shirt?
What would your opinion be?
You visit a church for the first time
and the pastor's wearing shorts and a T-shirt,
you'd be like, he doesn't take it very seriously.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
do you just naturally enjoy wearing a suit and tie?
You've got to be kidding me.
Do you think I enjoy wearing this?
You've got to be kidding me, right?
My ties are not the same length,
so sometimes it takes me 10 minutes.
It's like, ah, too long, too short.
But why do I do this?
Because I want to be taken seriously.
And here's the thing.
It's not just a joke if you're in the ministry.
Now, is there a time to have fun and relax?
Absolutely.
If you've been at our church for years,
you know that I like to tell jokes and have fun,
but then there's other times,
Brother Stuckey's just really serious.
Why?
Because it's serious.
Preaching a sermon's not a joke.
Going sobering's not a joke.
Hey, there's time to have fun
during the table tennis tournament,
but during the service, it's serious business.
Why?
It's not a joke in the house of God.
And if you want to be in the ministry,
you've got to be sober.
You've got to take things very seriously.
It's serious business what we're doing.
I mean, literally what we do
will determine whether or not people around us
go to heaven or hell.
That's pretty serious.
Now, of course, we have fun.
We have games.
We had the sweetheart banquet.
I make jokes and things like that,
but wait a minute.
During serious things,
you've got to take it very seriously, right?
It also said in Titus 1, verse 8, sober.
So in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2,
Titus 1, verse 8,
you see this phrase coming up, sober.
And so when the Bible's repeating it,
it's very important, right?
This is something that young people struggle with.
In our modern day,
people don't take life seriously at all.
It's like, let's just joke around,
and then once I graduate college,
I'll take life seriously.
Why not take it seriously when you're 15 years old?
Why not take it seriously when you're 16 years old?
Why not give your kids some responsibility
so they realize life is not just games?
I get it.
All kids want to do is play games,
and of course,
let the kids have fun and run around.
That's good for them.
But at the same time,
they need to realize it's not just a joke.
It's not just fun.
It's not just whatever you want.
I mean, life is serious,
and we need to take it very seriously,
especially in the house of God and at proper times.
Go back to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy 3.
As I preach this sermon,
if you have a desire to go in the ministry,
what you should do is really be thinking about these things
and be honest with yourself,
because you know yourself better than I know you,
and if you can't be honest with yourself,
ask your wife to be honest to you.
She'll let you know what your problems are.
I'm sure her being around you,
she's going to see the various things
that maybe you could work on, right?
Because if you want to go in the ministry,
it's not like,
well, I'll just figure this stuff out once I'm a pastor.
Well, prepare to just mess up
and not enjoy the ministry,
and just your life is a mess.
It's better to figure this out ahead of time, right?
It says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2,
after sober, of good behavior.
Of good behavior.
Now, of good behavior to me,
it's like a generic catch-all phrase,
which honestly, we're covering all this stuff.
Basically, having a good attitude,
not to be a bitter person,
not to be rude,
to be polite.
I mean, these are things that are very important, right?
I mean, if you're a rude, obnoxious person,
don't go in the ministry, okay?
You have to be of good behavior.
Then it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2,
given to hospitality.
Given to hospitality.
Go to Titus 1, verse 8.
Titus 1, verse 8.
And in that verse it says,
but a lover of hospitality.
A lover of hospitality.
Once again, this is something
that's appearing two times.
Hospitality.
The friendly and generous reception
and entertainment of guests,
visitors, or strangers.
So, being hospitable
is making people feel welcome.
Right?
Now, here's the thing.
These two things are not the same.
A lover of hospitality
and given to hospitality.
They're not actually the same thing.
Being given to hospitality
is what you're doing.
A lover of hospitality
is what you feel on the inside.
Do you see the difference?
A lover of hospitality on the inside
being given to hospitality
on the outside.
Here's the thing.
If you're going to be
given to hospitality,
you need to learn to love it.
I mean, if you don't enjoy it
and you hate it,
you're not going to do it.
The things we do in life
are things that we enjoy.
This is why the Bible
always talks about
fix the inside and the outside
cleanses itself.
You don't have to work on it.
I mean, if you love something,
you're going to do it.
Right?
The things that we love in life,
we do.
Think about whatever you do
for enjoyment or fun.
I like to play soccer.
I like to work out.
It's not really a burden
for me to do those things.
It's like when I have free time,
I want to do those things
because I love it.
It's enjoying to me.
It's fun to me.
There's a lot of things
I do not love.
Things that aren't exactly
something that I would gravitate
towards.
And here's the thing.
It's hard to be given
to those things
if you don't enjoy them.
And so here's the thing.
You say,
Brother Sucky,
I want to go in the ministry,
but I'm not just naturally
a friendly and welcoming
and hospitable person.
What do I do?
Change.
It's that simple.
Change.
Right?
Because some things,
you just got to change.
I mean, the Bible said with Paul,
I have learned
in whatsoever state I am there with
to be content.
You know what Paul's saying?
I had a nice life
before I became a missionary.
Everything was great.
And then all of a sudden,
I went to the mission field.
It's like, man,
it's like I had to learn
to be content or happy.
So here's the thing.
It's not like if you fail
at one of these things
on the list,
it's a lost cause.
What it's called is
change ahead of time.
Change.
Learn to be hospitable.
That is probably
one of the hardest things
on the list for people
that go into the ministry.
One of the big reasons
why people want to go
into the ministry
is they enjoy preaching.
I mean, I enjoy preaching.
It's fun to me.
Writing sermons,
preparing them,
I enjoy it.
For some of you,
it's like that's the last thing
I would ever want to do.
I enjoy it.
Right?
But being hospitable,
that's not something
that I naturally gravitate towards.
You got to just learn to change.
You say, why?
Imagine going to a restaurant
for the first time.
I mean, the reviews are great.
Greatest food in the world.
You show up to that restaurant,
you're at the front,
and you're like,
are they going to seat us
or do we seat ourselves?
And you're kind of confused.
It's a bit modulo.
Then you just seat yourself
after two minutes.
Well, I guess
they're not seating us
even though they've got
one of these in front.
You seat yourself.
Five minutes later,
you're like,
are they coming to us?
I mean,
and then you have to go.
You know what?
You might never go back
to that restaurant
because your service
is horrible, right?
Now, here's the thing.
A lot of people would
look at our church
and they would say,
you know what?
I love the preaching.
Now, a lot of people hate it.
Okay, I get that.
A lot of people really like
the preaching of our church,
but that doesn't mean
people are going to
start coming to our church.
What do we have to do?
Be hospitable.
Be friendly.
Be welcoming.
Be a place where people say,
you know what?
I like the atmosphere.
I like the people.
I want to be a part of that.
And you know what?
If you're going to go
there, you have to learn
to be hospitable.
It says in 1 Timothy 3,
go back to there.
1 Timothy 3, verse 2.
1 Timothy 3, verse 2,
it mentions after
giving a hospitality,
apt to teach.
Apt to teach.
Apt is a short word
for aptitude,
and aptitude's kind of like
a makalumang type of word
for ability.
You would say the ability
to preach.
The aptitude ability to teach.
Obviously, one of the
main things you do
if you're a preacher
is you preach.
I mean, this is one
of the big things.
This is such a big thing,
we're going to have
a whole sermon on this.
So honestly, I'm not going
to talk about it here today
because we'll have a whole
sermon in this series
because one of the most
important things you're
going to do if you're
in the ministry is teach.
Now, what I will say
about teaching is
if you preach a sermon
and you ask people
after the sermon,
hey, what was that
sermon about?
And people are like,
man, it was great.
I mean, what was it about?
What did he talk about?
He told a lot of jokes.
It was funny.
What was that sermon about?
You're not a very
good preacher
because if you're teaching,
they understand.
I mean, imagine you have
a calculus teacher.
That class was great.
Do you know how to
solve this problem?
I have no idea.
But I really like the teacher.
Well, that doesn't mean
that he's good at teaching,
though, right?
And so I'm not saying
there's anything wrong
with being friendly
or engaging when you
preach and teach,
but I need to be teaching
you something
so you're learning, okay?
We'll talk about that
in this series.
Go to Titus 1
because there's something
on the list in Titus 1
that is not in 1 Timothy 3.
Titus 1, verse 7.
And in Titus 1, verse 7,
it has this phrase
not self-willed, right?
Not self-willed
in Titus 1, verse 7.
And so here's the thing.
If you go into the ministry,
it should not be,
well, you know what?
I want to benefit myself.
It's all about me.
I want to become
famous on YouTube.
I want to become rich.
I want to become this.
I want people to look at me
and just respect me
and everything.
That's the wrong reason
to go in the ministry.
And if that's why
you want to go in the ministry,
then just let me know
ahead of time
because you're going to
destroy your life
and you shouldn't go
in the ministry.
When you go in the ministry,
it's not about yourself.
The Bible says
you desire a good work.
It doesn't say you desire
the praise of man
that everyone's going
to look at you.
You're the greatest thing
in the world, right?
No, actually, it should be
that you're not self-willed.
It's not about you.
Go to Romans 15.
Romans 15.
Remember, it starts
with running your own home.
Your child comes to you,
Dad, can I please have water?
No, I don't feel like
getting up right now.
I just want to sit down
and relax.
It's like,
you're not a good father then.
Now, here's the thing.
The reality is
sometimes my kids ask for water
and it's like,
man, we already sat down
to sleep.
But wait a minute,
if you're going to be
a good father, not self-willed.
It's not about you.
It's about your spouse
and your kids.
I mean, learn to care
about other people
more than yourself.
If it's all about you,
you will fail as a father,
you'll fail as a mother,
you'll fail as a husband,
you'll fail as a wife,
and you will fail as a pastor
if it's all about you.
What benefits you?
Romans 15, verse 1.
We then that are strong
ought to bear the infirmities
of the weak
and not to please ourselves.
It's not about yourself.
I mean, I say this all the time.
The essential theme
in the entire Bible
is that our lives
are not about us.
Don't I say that all the time?
Is that not in the Bible
all the time?
Our lives are not
about ourselves.
And if you go in the ministry
thinking it's about you,
what can this do for me?
It's the wrong reason.
You should have the mindset,
what can I do
for the people at church?
How can I benefit them?
Verse 2.
Let every one of us
please his neighbor
for his good to edification.
For even Christ pleased not himself.
Excuse me.
But as it is written,
there were approaches of them
that reproach thee,
fell on me.
When Jesus came,
it wasn't about himself.
It was about other people.
I'm sure that there were times
Jesus just wanted to relax.
He didn't want to preach.
I mean, there's a time
where they go to have basically
a mini vacation with the apostles
and then people follow them.
The apostles get a bad attitude.
They're like, man,
we're going to relax
and now these people are showing up
and Jesus is like,
hey, we need them to have bread and fish.
We don't want them to starve.
We need to give them something.
And look, I get it
because I would probably be
like those apostles sometimes.
You just want to rest.
But here's the thing.
When you go in the ministry,
you can't be self-willed.
It's not about you.
And here's the thing.
You don't know when issues
are going to come up
from week to week.
You have to be ready to help
when those issues come up.
Go back to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy 3.
Look, obviously you could preach
a whole sermon series
on all of these points,
like one point per sermon.
This is like rapid fire,
just point, point, point, point, point.
So obviously take time
to think about these things,
but as I said,
even if you do not go in the ministry,
think about what you're not good at
and fix it.
Find your weakest area
and fix it.
It says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3,
in this verse it has
not given a wine,
not given a wine.
Now of course you think,
well, he said to be sober,
but there's more to it than that
because wine in the Bible,
along with oil,
are sometimes used to represent things
that are very rich and expensive
and luxurious,
something where you have
a really nice lifestyle.
This is why every word in our Bible
is so specific.
There's great meaning
the way God actually wrote things.
When he's saying not giving a wine,
it's not simply that I'm not like,
man, I gotta have that red horse.
It's also not being given
to fancy things,
meaning that you can accept
just a modest and nice life.
It's not that you've gotta have
everything that life has to offer.
No, I mean we should be people
that are thankful for the things
that we do have.
This exact thing is mentioned
in Titus 1, verse 7,
the same wording,
those four words,
not given a wine,
not given a wine.
Now of course this is something
that all of us should have
in our personality
that we can live
just the life we have,
the fact that we're saved
and that God loves us
and He's blessed us
in so many ways
that even if you never get
that nice house,
even if you never get
that nice car,
that you're content
with what God has given you.
Now there's nothing sinful
about having a nice house.
There's nothing sinful
about having a nice car,
but if you can't have those things,
be content.
Be happy with the things
that you do have, right?
Turn to your Bible,
1 Timothy 3.
When people have this attitude
where they have to have
everything so nice
or exactly like they want,
it's really rude and offensive.
I remember that someone
who's not at her church anymore,
but it's like she would complain
just kind of subtly about how,
oh, my old church
gave me a free lunch.
It's like, you're bastos.
You're rude to insult
myself and my wife.
And let me be clear,
we will never give a free lunch
at this church
because it's going to create
an atmosphere of people
that want to use our church
for all of these things.
We're never going to have that.
Here's the thing.
You know why we had
a sweetheart banquet
where we paid for it as a church
and we didn't ask for any money?
Because we don't give you
a free lunch, right?
Things cost money.
We're never going to have
a free lunch here.
But here's the thing.
To even say that is like,
what's wrong with your heart?
You're rude.
I've never been to a church
and nor would I have
never expected.
I've never been to a church.
And look, I'm not saying
it's wrong for a church
to do that.
Churches run things differently.
I'm just saying,
aren't you happy with a church
that has the right gospel
and that goes soul winning
and that's preaching
the word of God?
It's like, you guys don't give
us a free lunch.
What's wrong with you?
We'll never give one.
I'm not trying to be
a people pleaser like,
oh, Brother Stuckey,
some people won't join your
church if you say that.
Okay, good.
Because if people are going
to use our church for money,
just stay away.
I mean, it's just like,
be thankful for the things
that you do have.
When our church started,
we didn't have a lot
of nice things.
Why?
We didn't have any money.
We're a new church.
We didn't have
a sweetheart banquet.
We didn't have events.
You say, why?
Those things cost money.
Any money we did have,
we had for soul winning
marathons, right?
And look, our church
is always going to be
about soul winning.
I mean, look,
let me be clear.
I love our all-day soul
winning on Saturday,
but you know what?
We spend a lot of money
on a monthly basis on food
for the soul winners,
and I'm happy to do it.
And we make it enjoyable.
I mean, look,
Bacolone Chicken is
a nice place to eat.
It's not the cheapest though,
and that's fine because
God has blessed us with money.
We're going to use it
for soul winning.
But here's the thing.
It's like having this attitude,
well, I want more.
Look, we're never
going to be a mega church.
There are churches that
are going to provide things
that we're never going to provide.
We would never have
the capacity to provide,
nor would we even choose
to do it if we could.
Why?
Because I would think
it is an inefficient way
to spend that money.
And you say,
Brother Stuckey,
who makes the decisions?
Me.
You got a problem
with my decision?
You can ask Pastor Menes.
He's going to say,
well, I support Brother Stuckey
because I appointed him in charge.
We will not give a free lunch.
Don't be a person.
I've got to be given to this
and have this and have this.
Just be content
with what we do have.
I think this is a great church.
Of course, in the future,
I'd like to have
other things we don't have now,
but I'm thankful
for what we do have.
Don't be given to fancy
and luxurious things.
It also says in
1 Timothy 3, verse 3,
Not greedy of filthy lucre.
Now in Titus 1, verse 7,
it says not given to filthy lucre.
Not given to filthy lucre.
Filthy lucre,
it's like a dishonest way,
a sinful way to get money.
Right?
Now, here's the thing.
My opinion of being greedy
or given to filthy lucre,
although this would apply,
I don't think this is
the main context,
of course, I can't be making money
off gambling and prostitution.
Something very sinful.
That would obviously be wrong.
However, a more practical way
would what if there's a member
of church that has a lot of money
and they give a lot of donations
to church because they make
a lot of money,
but the way they're getting money
is via gambling.
They own a casino.
Look, if you own a casino,
let me know because we're going
to kick you out immediately
because you are responsible
for a lot of sin in this world.
That would be greedy of filthy lucre
if I say, wait a minute,
I'm not going to kick them out.
That would make me a respecter
of persons, right?
It's like, no, wait a minute,
that is filthy lucre.
Making money from a casino
is wrong.
Now, if there's a million jobs
in this world,
you can work hard,
get an honest day's wage,
and you know what,
God provides for you,
but if you're making your money
off a casino or gambling
or prostitution or something like that
and I say, well,
I'm not going to kick them out
because their tithe is so high.
Don't go into the ministry.
You have to be willing to just
be fair in judgment, right?
Turn to 1 Samuel 8.
1 Samuel 8.
Let me give you an example of this
to show you what I'm talking about.
1 Samuel 8.
1 Samuel 8, verse 3.
This is the story
of the sons of Samuel here.
1 Samuel 8, verse 3.
Now, look,
lucre in and of itself
is wrong.
When it's saying filthy,
it's like emphasizing
how wicked it is,
but lucre is dishonest money.
Filthy is just making it clear.
This is filthy.
This is sinful.
They turned aside after lucre,
and notice this,
and took bribes
and perverted judgment.
I mean,
what if I was going to kick
somebody out of church
and then they're like,
here's a thousand pesos.
Put it in my pocket
and I don't do it
because they gave me money.
Kind of like,
and look,
I'm not saying this is wrong,
but you get stopped by a policeman.
You're speeding
and they're going to write you up
and it's like,
here's 500 pesos.
It's like,
all right, you can go, right?
Now, I'm not giving an opinion.
I'm not saying that is wrong.
I would do the same thing
if I was caught by a policeman,
just hope that they'll
let me out of it or whatever,
but here's what I'm saying.
It's like if you're in the ministry
and you don't deal with stuff
because somebody gives you money,
you're turning aside after filthy lucre.
You're a respecter of persons.
That's a sin,
and you shouldn't go in the ministry
because if that is in your personality,
you're going to allow anything
to go on at church.
You're going to just say,
well, whatever,
because it's all about
what can people give me.
Well, that's not why you go in the ministry.
It's not about what benefits you.
It's about caring about other people.
You've got to be fair in judgment,
not to take bribes,
not to pervert judgment,
but be fair.
Turn in Bible to 1 Timothy 3,
1 Timothy 3.
I mean, look,
if you work at a company
and somebody's done something really wrong
and then they offer you money
not to tell the boss
and you take that money,
yeah, don't go in the ministry
because you're going to do the same thing
in the ministry, right?
You're going to be tempted in your flesh.
You're going to sin,
and you're going to be under the judgment
of God for doing that
because that's wrong.
To take money and say,
well, you know, because they gave me money,
you know what?
I'm not going to deal with the situation, okay?
1 Timothy 3, verse 3,
and I know I'm going a little bit out of order.
I'm going to in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3.
There's a point to it.
There's a reason.
It also says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3,
not covetous, not covetous.
Now, this is pretty similar
to not being given to filthy lucre,
being covetous.
Turn to Exodus 18,
Exodus 18,
and you know the story of Exodus 18
where basically Moses is judging the people,
and it becomes a burden
because he's judging too many people,
and his father-in-law gives him some wisdom
and says, hey, appoint other people to be in charge
so you don't have to bear that all yourself, right?
And in Exodus 18, verse 21,
here's what he says.
Moreover, thou shalt provide
out of all the people able men, okay,
having the ability.
What determines if you have the ability?
Natural talent.
Is that what it says?
No, it does not say natural talent.
Such as fear God.
You know the most important thing
about being a leader or ruler
is that you fear God?
That's number one.
Men of truth.
Hating covetousness.
I mean, these are all things
about having strong and high character.
It's not just, well, you know,
natural ability, right?
It's very easy for people with natural ability
to kind of get lifted up
and think very highly of themselves.
And sometimes they think,
well, you know, I'm too good.
I can do whatever I want
because of my talent.
Look, we had someone at our church,
you know, a few years ago,
and hey, they were naturally gifted
at a lot of things.
It's like, well, I'm not gonna
pervert judgment.
I don't care how good you are
at song leading.
I don't care how smooth
of a talker you are.
I'm gonna do things properly,
and when you're in major sin
and you're guilty and unrepentant,
it gets dealt with.
I don't care about your natural ability.
What I care about is do you fear God?
And the proof of whether you fear God
is the actions, right?
Turn your Bible to 1 Timothy 3.
1 Timothy chapter 3.
I mean, this is brought up quite a bit,
you know, not being, you know, covetous,
not greedy of filthy liquor,
not giving a wine or fancy things,
a lot of things associated with money.
The idea is if you struggle with money,
it's like you should not go in the ministry
because you'll pervert judgment.
You'll make changes at church.
It's like, well, wait a minute.
Let's just change the music
to bring more people in this church.
That ain't happening at our church.
We're not changing the music.
We're not changing the preaching.
I will still preach things that offend people
and make people mad.
I'll preach the whole Bible.
You say, why?
Because I don't care whether or not
it makes the church big.
What I care about is we have a good church.
What I care about is God's blessing
is upon this church.
I'm not going to change to make people happy.
We're going to do what God says.
Why?
We want the blessing of God upon this church.
Whether that means our church will never grow
past a certain point, fine.
I don't need to have the biggest Baptist church
here in the Philippines.
I'm just happy that people love God at our church.
That's what matters.
It says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3.
It mentions two things that are very similar
in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3.
It says, no striker in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3.
And it says, not a brawler in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3.
In Titus 1, 7, it also says, no striker.
And it also says, not soon angry,
which is relatively similar.
It's kind of the pathway to being a striker
or a brawler.
And the idea is that you can control your attitude.
You're not given to just get into this massive
anger and screaming and mad and everything.
I mean, this is very important.
This is why if somebody wants to go in the ministry,
you know what, I kind of like to give them
a little test of the stress of the ministry
before they go in.
Because it's good for you to deal with it.
Because it helps you develop patience.
Let me give you an example.
You know the thing that, honestly,
was my least favorite thing to do in Sacramento
at Verity Baptist.
I don't know if Pastor Mendez knows this or not,
but I guess he'll find out.
Or maybe I'll email him and tell him.
Was pairing people up for soul winning.
Why? It was stressful.
It was frustrating.
You say, why?
Because of the fact, in America,
we don't just send everybody in a jiffy.
Some people have cars, some don't.
And so basically, you know what,
you do the pairing for soul winning.
You think it's all organized and figured out.
Everything's fine.
I get to relax.
Somebody walks in last second.
It's always like, no.
Or if somebody comes to you and says,
hey, so and so's not going to be here
for soul winning today.
You're like, okay.
You cross them off the list,
and then they show up.
Hey, I decided to come.
Great.
I'm so happy.
It would be stressful.
It would be frustrating.
And it's just like, it is what it is.
And here's the thing.
Pairing people up for soul winning,
I promise you, the guys who do it,
hey, it seems very easy, doesn't it?
Just pair somebody up with a different person.
It's not that easy.
It can be frustrating.
It can be actually very stressful.
Honestly, before you go in the ministry,
it's good to actually get practical experience
of doing stuff,
because once you get stressed out,
what's the reaction?
To scream at somebody?
Or to just put a smile on your face
and say, okay, no problem?
Because look, there's times I do things at church
and things make me mad.
But what you have to learn is to control your anger,
to control your attitude,
because look, if I'm screaming all the time at church
outside of a sermon, right?
It's okay in a sermon,
but if I'm screaming all the time at people
and yelling at people,
it's like that's an obvious spot or blame
that's associated with me.
Even if something made me mad at the same time,
it's like I can't have that as an obvious thing.
When you raise kids,
you've got to learn to be patient, don't you?
Your kids are going to do stuff.
I mean, things are going well,
and then one of them accidentally knocks
the juice on the floor
or accidentally knocks it on the computer,
like water or something like that.
Your first reaction is not praise the Lord, right?
Your first reaction is frustration.
But here's the thing.
As a good parent,
what you should strive to do,
I'm not saying I'm perfect at this by any means.
What you should strive to do
is not to scream at your kid
and make them feel horrible
because they made a mistake.
You know what?
Kids make mistakes,
and here's the thing.
We also knock over drinks
on the table sometimes, too.
Sometimes I get mad at my kids,
and then I just completely knock over
like Eliminate or something,
and it's like, oh, man, right?
But anyways,
let me just quickly go through these other things.
We're already kind of low on time,
but it says also in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3,
it says, but patient, but patient.
Now, here's what's interesting in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3.
I want you to pay close attention.
In 1 Timothy 3, verse 3,
there are six things mentioned, right?
In the middle of this verse
is what's called a semicolon, right?
The dot looks like a period with a comma underneath.
A colon is two periods, right?
Two dots.
Semicolon is a dot that's semi, half of it,
and then a comma-looking thing underneath,
the apostrophe-looking thing or whatever.
And with semicolons,
it kind of sets aside lists,
but I want you to notice
there's three things before the semicolon
and three things after the semicolon, okay?
Now, the last thing before the semicolon
is not greedy of filthy lucre.
The third thing mentioned
is not greedy of filthy lucre, okay?
The sixth thing mentioned is not covetous.
Aren't those similar, right?
The second thing mentioned is no striker.
The second thing after the semicolon
is not a brawler.
Aren't those things similar?
Wouldn't that kind of tell us
probably the first and the first
are going to be very similar?
There's a reason why every word,
that's why you can't just switch up the words.
There's a reason they did it
the way they did it, right?
The first thing is not giving a wine.
The first thing on the other side
of the semicolon is patience.
Now, you say,
okay, Brother Sucky,
I get striker and brawler,
but how are giving a wine
and patience the same thing?
The Bible's actually trying
to teach you a deep truth.
As I said, being not giving a wine
is about not being given
to fancy or luxurious things.
The Bible's saying, you know what?
Be patient to get nice things in life.
That's what God is trying to say
to you in this verse.
Be patient.
You say, what are you saying,
Brother Sucky?
I'm saying that, you know what?
When someone first graduates college,
they're not going to have
all the money in the world.
They're not going to have
the nicest house.
They're not going to have
the nicest car.
And if they're wise,
they're not going to spend
all of their money on things
that they really can't afford.
They've got to be patient
for those things.
There is nothing wrong
with having a nice house
or a nice car or any of those things.
That's perfectly fine.
Nothing sinful about money.
But there's something wrong
about being given to wine,
given to fancy things.
And what the Bible's saying is,
be patient for nice things.
They might come one day,
but be patient.
Be thankful for what you do have
and be patient for nicer things.
Look, growing up, my family,
by American standards,
had a lower income
than the average family
by a good bit.
I wouldn't call ourselves poor,
especially in America.
Being poor in America
is not really poor worldwide,
and I get that.
What I'm saying is,
all my friends at school,
they're doing all these nice things.
And of course, as a kid,
what do I do?
Hey, Dad, can we go
to that amusement park?
We can't afford it.
Right?
We couldn't do those things.
When I was growing up,
we went to a fast food restaurant
one time per month.
One time per month.
And to us, it was a big treat
that we got to go
one time per month.
We couldn't afford more than that.
It was a big thing.
Our family went.
We're excited.
We had fun.
We could not afford more than that.
Now, today, my parents,
because my dad was successful
in his company,
and he moved up the ladder,
and then they have
a very nice house today.
Several bedrooms, two floors,
a beautiful area,
very nice house.
What I'm saying is,
they couldn't afford that
when they were 25 years old.
Or 35 years old.
Right?
I mean, they couldn't
afford those things
at the beginning.
Those are things
they had to wait for in life.
And look, you know what?
Sometimes in life,
you've got to be able
to wait for nice things.
In terms of the ministry,
not only in a financial sense,
but when you first start
your church,
don't expect it to be
as nice as every other
church out there.
You're just starting.
I mean, when we started
our church,
I don't know if you remember,
to those that came to Bayview,
our first semi-event
was Christmas.
I can't remember if it was
Christmas Day or Christmas Eve
or whatever,
but of course at Bayview,
we had a three-hour window,
and no food was allowed.
If you remember,
Brother Jay talked to them,
and they gave us
kind of a time period
to be able to eat,
to fellowship for Christmas.
People brought their own food
we fellowshiped,
and I think, Brother Chris,
you were the one preaching
the afternoon sermon,
and I remember,
they were in the back
just trying to get rid of us,
like, hey, five minutes
have gone by,
10 minutes have gone by,
but you know what?
It was very nice
because it was
the first thing we did.
We have a lot of nicer things
than we did
four and a half years ago,
don't we?
But you know what?
Be patient for nicer things
than that.
I mean, things can come,
but we've got to be patient
for it.
In your individual life,
be patient for it.
Look, when you first go
in the ministry,
your first few years
are going to be stressful,
they're going to be frustrating,
you're not going to have
as many people
going soul-winning,
not as many nice events,
and in many ways,
you can say,
man, did I make a mistake?
Be patient.
That is what
the Bible is saying.
1 Timothy 3, verse 6,
I've got to hurry up.
Yesterday, the sermon
ran a bit long.
It looks like it's going
to run even longer,
but you know,
we'll do our best to get done
at a normal time.
I like ending 15 minutes earlier
like we started,
but sometimes it's hard
depending on the content, right?
1 Timothy 3, verse 6,
it says, not a novice.
Not a novice.
What's a novice?
It means somebody who's new.
It means somebody who's
a beginner.
It means a fact,
you didn't just get saved
three years ago
and get your Bible
college degree,
and then we ordain you
and send you out to be
a pastor that's not married.
It means that you have
experience.
It means you've been
saved for a decade.
It means you've read
this book many times.
It means you've
memorized the Bible.
It means you've been
involved in ministry.
It means you're
not a beginner.
Nothing wrong
with that.
Look, if you got
saved recently,
praise the Lord for that,
but it doesn't mean
you're ready to be a pastor.
It doesn't mean you're
ready to preach
three sermons a week.
It doesn't mean you're
ready to run ministries.
You need to get
some experience.
Everybody feels like
they're more prepared
than they actually are.
Now, the Bible says,
lay hands suddenly
on no man.
If somebody comes
to our church for a week
and says, hey, will you
ordain me into the ministry?
No.
You've got to be here
for a time period.
I've got to know what
you're like.
I've got to know
your character.
You need to get
some experience.
Not just, well, you know what?
Hey, sure, we can start
a church here all
the way to ordain you.
No, no, no.
Not a novice.
Things have to be done
properly, decently,
and in order if they're
going to be successful.
Not a novice.
1 Timothy 3 verse 7.
Moreover, he must have
a good report of them
that are without.
Without would be
not in the church.
Meaning, if I talk
to your coworkers
and they say, well,
he shows up late for work.
He takes a lot of breaks
during the day.
He clocks out early.
He gossips about his boss.
You have a bad report.
You have a bad reputation.
Now, here's the thing.
I don't necessarily know
what your reputation is
outside the church,
but you better believe
if you're going to be
ordained, I'll ask
people at the church,
what do you think about
Brother So-and-So?
What do you think
about Sister So-and-So?
It reminded me,
my wife and I listened
to a sermon this past week
where Pastor Mendez
was talking about me
five years ago,
and he said,
you better believe
I've been asking people
about Brother Stuckey
and Ms. Tan.
He's like, you know
what people say?
Man, Brother Stuckey,
he's really zealous,
such a good guy,
always praying
and caring for me.
Ms. Tan, she always cares,
great attitude.
You better believe
I'm going to follow
that same standard,
and if you're going to
be ordained out of here
and a bunch of people
have a problem with you,
it's like, well,
something doesn't add up,
because here's the thing,
people act differently
in front of me
than they do in front of you.
There are things
they would never do
in front of me,
but they'll do them
in front of you.
I remember someone who used
to come to our church,
you know, that ended up
leaving the church
on very bad terms,
and you know what,
I always thought they were
a really nice person,
and someone said,
actually, she used to
gossip about you
all the time.
She criticized you
and her husband was always
trying to stop her
and she's criticizing,
you know, like,
no free lunch
and all these different things.
I was thinking,
it would have been nice
to know that before
we had a big public kick out.
You know what I mean?
That's called kind of
letting the leadership know,
because if someone's criticizing
me or my wife all the time,
it's like,
that's a major problem.
That's extremely disrespectful.
See, the average person
wouldn't think about doing that,
and if you're always
trashing the leadership,
it's like,
there's something wrong
with your heart.
I didn't self-ordain myself
the leader of this church.
Pastor Jimenez ordained me,
and if you got a problem with it,
then just go to a different church.
I mean, if you got a problem with it,
then just don't be here.
And what I've noticed,
when people really trash
their old pastors,
it's like they do that
because they think
it makes them look good.
What I've realized is,
they tend to be the same people
that trash me and my wife also,
and they do it
because it makes them look a man.
My old pastor did this,
this, and this.
What it really tells me,
learning from experience,
is they probably do
the same thing about me, right?
And I'm not saying your old pastor
wasn't a false prophet,
but what I'm saying is,
what I've noticed,
people that tend to trash
their old pastor
and their old church,
they tend to trash the new one too.
Not to my face.
I just hear about it
after the fact.
That's just kind of
the way it works, right?
Says not a novice.
Says good report.
Titus 1, verse 8.
A lover of good men.
Titus 1, verse 8.
A lover of good men.
Titus 1, verse 8.
A lover of good men.
It means you love good people.
You say, well, what does that mean?
Well, you love the brethren.
Another thing is,
you love churches
that are zealous
and doing great things for God.
You're not mad at them.
You know what you've seen
with churches in the U.S.?
Sometimes you'll see pastors
that they use the influence
of Pastor Jimenez
and Pastor Anderson
to get a following,
and then they publicly
just come out against them
once they have enough people
that they want.
You're not a lover of good men.
You know what I saw recently?
Faithful Word started
a church in Germany.
You know what I think about that?
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord there's a new
church in Germany
that's on fire for God.
Why would I be upset and say,
oh, man, he got one started
that I didn't?
What kind of attitude is that?
I mean, if a soul winning
marathon takes place,
I say great.
Doing a soul winning marathon,
I think, in Belize right now,
I hope they get a thousand
people saved, or more.
What if they get more
souls saved than you do
at your marathon?
Great!
We're not competing with them.
Even if we were in
the same country,
we wouldn't be competing.
I mean, maybe if they were
across the street,
but I don't really think
we're in competition
with that church over there
or that church there.
We're kind of going after
a different group of people.
So here's the thing.
You got to be a lover
of good men,
but here's the thing.
If you've got a problem
in your heart where you've got
to be number one
and you're prideful,
it's going to become
pretty evident once you start
running your church
that you start attacking
good people because they're
doing more than you
and you're envious and bitter
because they're better than you
or more successful.
But I'm not in competition
to be the greatest person
in the world.
There are pastors that are
better at preaching than me.
And look, I have a realistic
view of myself.
Pastor Jimenez is a better
preacher than me.
You listen to him preach
the same sermon I would.
It's better.
It's more impactful.
It's more motivating.
But here's the thing.
I'm not competing with him.
It's not a competition.
It doesn't matter to me.
Now, I try to get better.
I try to do a good job,
but I realize, you know what,
I'm not going to be the best.
That's okay.
But if you go in the ministry
because you've got to be
the Michael Jordan of preachers,
just don't go into the ministry
because you're going to get
lifted up full of pride
and you're actually showing
you're a novice even though
you think you're really
experienced.
It also says just in
Titus 1, verse 8.
For sake of time,
I'm not going to talk about that,
but basically being fair,
fair in judgment you can think of.
We talked about that.
Being holy.
I mean, if you're going to be
running in the ministry,
you have to have a high
standard of living.
I preach against rock music.
I'm aware many people at our
church I'm sure listen to
the modern day Beatles,
whoever that is,
Justin Bieber, whoever's,
I guess he's not even
young anymore.
I'm aware of that.
I'm sure some of you
listen to K-pop.
Now, of course,
if you're a guy,
you'd be embarrassed to let us
know that, but I'm sure
some of you do.
Right?
But here's the thing.
Look, I want you to come
at church even if you're
guilty of things like that.
That's fine.
I understand when you first
get rid of music, it's hard.
But if you're going to be
the one preaching,
it's not like,
hey, we're going out soul
winning, brother Sucky's
driving, and you go into the
car and it's like,
whatever Jay-Z song or
whatever rap or rock artist,
you'd be like,
what's going on?
Oh, I must accidentally
hit the button.
Right?
There'd be a problem.
Because you have to have
a high standard if you're
going to be in the ministry.
Why?
Because there are going to be
people that are going to
try to take you apart.
You can't have any blame.
Okay?
It says in Titus 1.8,
also temperate,
which means showing
moderation or self-restraint.
That applies to anger
and things like that.
One of the fruits of the
spirit is temperance.
But let me just say this
in conclusion.
The one ordaining someone,
because obviously if we
ordain someone from this
church, I will be the one
that ordains that person.
I've got to look at this list
honestly, and if someone's
failing at an area,
I'll say, hey,
you've got to fix this.
But the reality is,
you know yourself better
than I know you.
If there is an area that
you're struggling with,
be honest with yourself
and fix it.
It doesn't mean you can't
go in the ministry
but it means you're not ready
if there's a major thing.
You've got to be honest
with yourself.
And all of us should fix
the weakest thing in our lives.
So I thought about this
example because the reality is,
we're in a fight.
We're in a spiritual fight.
The devil will attack you
at your weakest point.
Right?
And the sport of mixed
martial arts, you know,
UFC or pride fighting,
you know what,
and I'm not telling you
to follow this,
but it's a good example
because boxing's just,
I don't know the technical
things of boxing.
It's just striking.
But in MMA, they usually
break down fighting
into three categories.
Striking, which includes
kickboxing, boxing,
punches, whatever.
Striking, wrestling,
and submissions.
Or they'd say striking,
wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Let's say somebody is
the greatest striker
in the world
but they're horrible at
wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Know what's going to take place?
A wrestler will take them
down a couple seconds
into the fight
and just pound them out.
That's what's going to
take place 99% of the time.
Why?
Because the striker doesn't
know how to stay on his feet
when someone's trying
to take him down.
But let's say somebody's
the greatest wrestler
in the world.
They can't strike.
They have no submissions.
They're going to take down
the Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy
and get choked out
in five seconds
because they can't defend
against submissions.
You say, well, okay, brother
Psyche, it's all about
Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
If someone's the greatest
Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter
but they cannot wrestle
or strike,
the striker's just going to
knock him out on the feet
in a couple seconds.
What am I saying?
Fix your weakest area.
The devil walketh about
as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour.
He is not going to attack you
where you're strong.
He's going to attack you
where you're weak.
I mean, if you're playing
basketball and your opponents
are like all the size
of Shaquille O'Neal
or Kai Soto, right?
You're not going to try
to post up on the inside.
You're going to shoot
from outside
and try to run around them
unless, you know,
your coach has no idea
what they're doing, right?
You attack them
where you think you can beat them.
You don't attack them
at their strengths.
You don't just say,
let's just go against
the best player
in the other team
that's the greatest defender ever.
That would be foolish.
The devil's not a fool.
He's wicked.
He's not an idiot.
He will attack you
at your weakest area.
Look, all of us
fix our weakest area,
but if you're going to go
in the ministry,
you better make sure
you get rid of your weak areas
and fix it ahead of time.
Let's go in 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 help us to all
apply this to our lives.
Whether we are planning
to become pastors
or whether or not
we're the wives of someone
becoming a pastor,
help us to fix
our weakest areas.
Help all of us
to develop strong character
in our lives, God.
We pray these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
And for our last song,
let's get our hymns
and turn to hymn number 116.
Hymn number 116.
Sing a song,
He needeth me.
On the first,
all together,
He needeth me.
O blessed one,
no words will have me
conquered from.
Whate'er I do,
whate'er I live,
still,
Tis God's hand
hath needeth me.
He needeth me,
by His own hand
He needeth me.
His people,
the world I would be,
for I His hand
He needeth me.
Sometimes,
with scenes of He bless me,
sometimes,
for even hours through,
by waters deep,
or troubled sea,
still,
Tis His hand
hath needeth me.
He needeth me,
by His own hand
He needeth me.
His people,
the world I would be,
for I His hand
He needeth me.
All heard,
Lord, I would cast
Thy hand in mine,
forever heard,
Lord, be mine,
forever heard.
God, I see,
Tis God's hand
hath needeth me.
He needeth me,
by His own hand
He needeth me.
His people,
the world I would be,
for I His hand
He needeth me.
One last, we're gonna sing it without the instruments.
Everybody, and when my task on earth is done,
everybody on the last sing.
And when my task on earth is done,
when by Thy grace the victory's won,
in death's code way,
I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me.
He leadeth me,
by His own hand
He leadeth me.
His faithful power
I would be,
for by His hand
He leadeth me.
Mother Ella, can you pray for us?
Amen.
Let's have a quick break.