Alright, well it's great to be here tonight, and let me just, you know,
reiterate the fact that my wife and I have had a really great time this
weekend, and everyone's been so hospitable. We've had a great time
fellowshiping with people, going out to dinner, and everyone's been paying for
our meals. It's like, man, we really appreciate that. And honestly, events like this
kind of, you know, bump up your zeal. That's at least the way I feel. Like, I
feel like I'm gonna go back home, be more excited for Soul Winning, more excited to
bring people to church, more excited to read the Bible. You know, I think events
like these are great, and this church is doing great things. Now the first thing
we see in 2 Samuel chapter 21 is just the fact that you reap what you sow.
Because of the bloody house of Saul, seven sons get put to death. You reap
what you sow. Imagine how terrible that is for your sons to be put to death, but
you reap what you sow. He had a bloody house, seven sons get put to death. But
what I really want to focus on here is starting in verse number eight, where the
Bible reads, But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom
she bare unto Saul, Armani and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michael, the
daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzilai the
Maholothite. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they
and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord. And they fell all seven
together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the
beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and
spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped
upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in
them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. So in these verses, you see two
different women. You see Rizpah, and you see Michael. Now Rizpah has two sons that
are put to death. Michael has five sons that are put to death. Now here's the
difference. Rizpah's sons were her own biological kids. Michael's five sons were
not her kids, she raised them. Now let me just say this up front. I believe, we have
plenty of people of Airety Baptist Church, that they have kids where they
are the parents, and they are not their biological kids, but they put just as
much love, just as much affection, just as much care into those kids. And I
believe those kids are going to grow up, and serve the Lord, because they have
parents who love them. And in the Bible, you see with Isaac and Rebecca, how one
parent likes one son more than the other, and vice versa. And so even if they are
your biological kids, you might not put all of your care, and love, and affection
in some of your kids. And so I just want to say that up front, because I don't want
to offend anyone. But in this story, you can see that Michael treats these five
kids as if they're not really her own. It's just that she's raising these kids
for somebody else. She doesn't really look at them like they're her own kids.
Whereas Rizpah, these two kids, she pours her heart and soul into these kids. She
loves these sons. We can see that from the story. Now there's a lot of symbolism
you could pull from these verses, but the name of this sermon is, Rizpah versus
Michael, a tale of two pastors. Rizpah versus Michael, a tale of two pastors.
We're going to see a lot of symbolism here from a good pastor, a Rizpah, and in
a bad pastor, a Michael. Now here's the thing. Obviously if somebody is like a
Jehovah's Witness pastor, or a Church of Christ, or a Pentecostal pastor, I mean
they're not even saved. So I mean I'm not comparing like a Baptist versus a
Pentecostal, because obviously they're already, you know, they're not even at the
Michael level. I don't know what level they're at, but you know they're more at
the Jezebel level of being a pastor I guess. But you know when we're looking at
Rizpah versus Michael, I'm really just looking at IFB pastors, okay. And here's
the thing, the vast majority of pastors, they're a bunch of Michaels. They do not
really care about their congregation. They don't really care about the people
that they're preaching to. They kind of just look at it as a job. I'm just kind
of here to put in my time so I've got a full-time position. I've got my house
paid for. I've got my bills paid for. Hey, not too many people got saved. You know
seven people got saved all year long. No big deal because you know what, I'm
covered. That is the way Michael was. That's the way most pastors are. They
look at their congregation as just kind of, this is just like a job. You know
people go to a job and most people don't take their jobs as seriously. You know
they work their 40 hours, they work their 50 hours, they come home, it's no big deal.
But you know if you're gonna be a pastor, you ought to take it really seriously.
And you know most pastors, they kind of just look at it like, well you know I'm
just kind of here you know raising these people. No big deal. They don't put their
care. They don't put their love into the congregation like they should, like they
ought to. And so the first thing I want to look at is in verse number 10 where
it says, And Rizpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth and spread it for her
upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them
out of heaven. Now notice it says she took sackcloth. What is sackcloth
representation of in the Bible? It's a representation of being in mourning. Her
sons are put to death. She's in mourning. She's sad. It doesn't say here, but I'm
sure she was crying. I'm sure she was grieved. Have you ever seen a mom who
even if their son doesn't die, you know you visited someone at the hospital
that's a church member and they're worried about their daughter, their
son's life. They're so grieved. They're so sad. And that's what this woman was,
Rizpah. She is grieving over her sons that have been put to death. And so the
first thing you see about a good pastor, they need to mourn and care for their
congregation. Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 5.
Now when it comes to mourning for your congregation, there's a lot of different
reasons why you need to mourn and a lot of different areas which would cause you
to mourn. Now one thing that should make pastors mourn is when there's sin in the
church. They should mourn over that. They should care about that. They should have
the attitude, man I need to get up here and preach a little bit harder on that.
You know we got we got fornication in the church. I need to lay down the hammer
and get rid of that. I need to preach hard because I care about my members. I
don't want them to destroy their lives. That's not most pastors. Most IFB
pastors, they don't really care if there's sin in the church. Look at what
it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse number 1. It is reported
commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not
so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and
you're puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed
might be taken away from among you. Paul says you as a church you ought to mourn
when your church is in sin. That's a big deal. That's an embarrassment. If all of
a sudden just this major sin was here at Steadfast Baptist Church, talk about an
embarrassment for the cause of Christ. Talk about an embarrassment for all the
members. You better believe that your pastor's gonna get up here and preach
hard against that. But you as members, you need to be mourning over that. And how
much more as a pastor if you're the leader of this and there's sin in the
church. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2.
And as you're turning there, let me read in 3rd John verses 3 and 4 where it says,
For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is
in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear
that my children walk in truth. John said I have no greater joy than to hear that
my children walk in truth that they're not involved in sin. Now if you remember
the book of James, it says let your laughter be turned to mourning and your
joy to heaviness. So laughter and joy is kind of contrasted with mourning and
heaviness. And so here's the thing, John said my greatest joy is that you're
walking in truth. So if they were living in sin, it would be a great mourning to
him. He would be very sad about that, right? And so here's the thing, if your
people are in sin, you know, you, especially John, being a leader, he was
very sad about that. Paul the Apostle, he was mourning over the fact there was sin
at the church of Corinth. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, starting in
verse 1. But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to
you in heaviness. So he came in heaviness. For if I make you
sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
And I wrote the same unto you, lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of
whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all that my joy is a
joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote
unto you with many tears. I don't think Paul's lying about this. I think he means
it with many tears. He was deeply grieved about the sin. Many tears, not that he
should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly
unto you. And if you're a pastor, if you're a Rizpah, you're gonna grieve over
sin coming into your church. You're gonna deeply care about that. And you're gonna
get up and preach hard against it. Now here's the thing about this. Most pastors
that are IFB, I can prove to you they're not a Rizpah, because do they preach hard
against sin? They don't do it. And if they really cared about their church
members, if they really mourn for their church members, they would preach hard
against it so it didn't even come up in the first place. They would preach hard
against it. And I'll tell you the truth, like I moved to Verity Baptist Church,
but if I felt like my church was really ripping face and they were really
zealous for soul winning, I would not have left. Even though they were
pre-trib. I would have stayed at that church if I really felt like they were
just getting up and ripping hard against sin. But I really felt like if I bring
visitors to this church, their lives aren't going to be changed.
Because I mean, I'm gonna have to teach them everything outside of church. Like
me and my friends, I mean, their lives aren't gonna be changed to their preaching.
Because what changes your life? Hard preaching against your sins. You know why
I don't listen to rock music today? Because I heard IFB preaching ripping my
face off about the music I listen to. Man, I used to listen to Aerosmith, AC DC, and
it's just like, you know, hard preaching that ripped my face off. And I was like, man,
this is garbage. And I threw it in the trash. You know why I don't watch TV
today? Hard preaching that ripped my face off. That's why I don't watch movies.
That's, I mean, you make sin exceedingly sinful. That is the job as a pastor. But
you know, most IFB pastors, they preach nothing at all. And you know what's
really frustrating? They've got this down to a science. They have learned how to
pretend to preach hard without actually preaching hard. I mean, like, you'll have
these guys get up and say, man, sin is bad! It's like, what does that mean? It's like,
why don't you tell us the television's bad? Why don't you be specific? They get
up and say sin is bad to make it look like they're a real preacher, but they're
a joke. They're a Michael. They're just there because it's their job, because
they need to get paid. They're not there because they really care about their
numbers or their members. Let me say this, that if you're gonna be a pastor or
leader one day, you must learn to care about the people you're preaching to.
Don't be this internet preacher. You're gonna make a fool out of yourself. You have
to actually care about the members at your church. Turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 1.
And honestly, all these other points we're gonna look at are really following
through after this, because if pastors really cared about their members,
everything would change. They really cared, everything would change. They'd be
like, man, I gotta do everything I can to get sin out of this church. I
remember at a church I went to in West Virginia, there was this guy that I
invited to church, and you know, it was a really weird situation, because when I
met him, he was around a sodomite, someone who was a drug addict, and someone who I
don't know what they were. There's like four of them, and you know, but this guy
gave me the right answers about salvation, and I'm just like, you got to
be kidding me. He's like, I'm gonna come to church tonight, and I was thinking, yeah
right, you know, he's not gonna come. But you know, he ended up coming to church.
You know, I called him up, I picked him up, and it turned out that he had
actually gotten saved like 20 years earlier before his life was just in
shambles, because here's the thing, just because you're saved doesn't mean you
won't fall into sin. Look, here's the truth, that you as a saved person, you can
commit the same sins you did before you were saved. There are people that are
gonna be drug addicts till the day they die, and they will go to heaven. There are
people that are gonna be drunks till the day they die, and they're gonna go to
heaven. Why? Because salvation is not about repenting of your sins. Show me
the pastors that are gonna get up here behind the pulpit and say what I just
said. And that's not even that intense. That's just basic whosoever
believeth, but they won't even say that, because they don't want to run off their
unsaved repentance heretics at their church. I mean, what a joke. But you
know, this guy, you know, he started coming to church, and he seemed like he
was really growing, and I found out, you know, he was living, you know, with his
girlfriend. So yeah, what we did is, I talked to the assistant pastor who's, you
know, just like us. He listens to tons of sermons and everything, soul winner loves
the Lord. And so what we did is, you know, like a week later, we went over to the
house, and, you know, he won her to the Lord. And so then we talked to him about,
you know, getting married. You know, how about, hey, you know, you're saved, your
girlfriend's saved. This is what the Bible says. You should get married. And, you know, he
was just kind of delighted. And I was the guy giving this guy a ride to church, you
know, since I had first met him and everything like that. And he was still
living, you know, with his girlfriend. And it got to the point where I was just
like, I don't feel comfortable giving this guy a ride to church. And I talked
to the pastor, you know, very respectfully, just told him, hey, you know, he's living
with his girlfriend. I know it's not known in the congregation, but, you know,
he knows what the Bible says. You know, I think we need to do something. And it
reached a point where I just told the pastor, I was like, you know, I can't give
this guy a ride to church anymore. I was like, I don't feel comfortable with doing
that, because I feel like I'm a partaker in his sins, because he's not. And he kept
saying he was gonna get married, and then he was just delaying it, and he never did.
But, you know, the pastor never, you know, never talked to him about it, and just
said, hey, you need to get married. Get in or get out. That could have changed that
guy's life, because I know people that they were in that situation, and they are
living for the Lord as a soul winner now. And I'm not gonna name their name,
because I don't even want you to know, because the fact they're living for the
Lord now, why bring up past sins? But, you know, if that pastor had been willing to
talk to them or preach hard about it, maybe they would have fixed it. But he
didn't do that, and that guy, as far as I know now, he's out of church completely,
because of the fact, you know, he ended up fading out. I didn't give him rides.
Somebody else did after that, but, you know, I didn't want to be a partaker of
it. And, you know, this was a guy who I put him on a Bible reading plan, and
for like six months, he was on that plan, just reading, reading, reading, to get
through the Bible once a year. I mean, he had a, you know, he was trying to live
for the Lord. He needed his pastor to step in there and help him out, and the
pastor didn't do that. But that's what you have with most pastors. Turn to 2nd
Samuel chapter 1. Did you turn there? 2nd Samuel chapter 1. And so the first thing
we saw is, when it comes to mourning and caring about your church members, with
sin in the church, pastors need to care for their church members. Number two,
though, look at what it says in verse 12 of 2nd Samuel chapter 1. And they mourned
and wept and fasted until even for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the
people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the
sword. These people are mourning because of the death of Saul and Jonathan. They're
mourning due to death, and when it comes to deaths or illnesses, a good pastor is
going to mourn and care for his church members. You got to realize that a church
this size, you know, all the time there are people that have a cousin that's in
the hospital that the pastor has to visit. There's a death from a relative,
and you know what? When people have situations like this, they're going to be
grieving for it. They're going to be sad, and they need to know that people
actually care about them. You know, the last Sunday that, you know, I was at
church, we just had one of our members who, just like the van route, went to
pick them up, and they were unconscious on the floor. And, you know, there are
right now, they're at the hospital recovering, but there's always situations
like that where there's problems, where people have illness, or they have
death. And here's the thing, if they don't have a pastor that actually shows them
that they care, they're going to probably leave this church. I don't care how
zealous they are for the Lord. If they feel like people don't care about them,
they're probably going to leave. And these people, they're mourning because of
this. And a good pastor, they will mourn in that situation. You know, at a church
this size, you know, praise the Lord, this church is growing. So many ladies are
having children. But, you know, the truth is, you know, giving birth can be a
dangerous thing. And there are always ladies at churches that end up having a
miscarriage. It happens. My wife and I have been through that. And when that
situation happens, I'll just be honest to you, even as a guy, you get pretty
emotional about that. I'll be honest with you, when we went through that, there
was this bad thought that went in my head where I just thought, you know, God,
why is it these wicked whores out there are able to have kids all the time?
That's a thought that went in my head. I'm just being honest with you. And let
me tell you something. How much more for the wife who's grieving? And there are
always church members that are going to be grieving. They have illnesses. They
have debts. They need a pastor that actually cares about them. Not a pastor
who's just kind of like, eh, the sons are dead. No big deal. I'll just go on with
my life. That was Michael. That wasn't Rizpah. Rizpah cared about her sons. And
honestly, we don't know a whole lot about Rizpah in the Bible. Other than this, we
just have the story with Abner, which doesn't paint her in a good light. But we
know that she loved her sons. She cared about her sons. She grieved over her
sons. And a good pastor, not only for sin in the church, but also with deaths and
illnesses, he will mourn and greatly care for his members. Turn to Isaiah chapter 19.
One thing that Pastor Hemen has taught me over the last couple years is this,
that, you know, when people are going through, you know, trials and transition
in their life, that's a great time to reach people to get them into church
because they might be thinking about spiritual things, but it's also a time
where you lose church members. Because people either turn to God or away from
God in situations like that. You think of Job's wife. I don't believe Job's
wife was a bad woman. I don't believe that. I mean, look at her situation.
That's worse than probably anyone in here has ever gone through. But, you know,
you have to realize when people go through things like that, they're gonna
be very emotional. And that's a time period where church members quit because
they're mad. They're bitter because they don't feel like the pastor loves them or
cares about them. That's why it's so important for the pastor to care for
those church members when they're going through these things. But another thing
is this, with financial problems, a pastor needs to really care and mourn for his
church members. Look at what it says in verse 7 of Isaiah chapter 19. It says,
The paper reads by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown
by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also
shall mourn, and all they that cast angle to the brooks shall lament, and they that
spread nets upon the water shall languish, languisheth. Moreover, they that
work in fine flax, and they that weave networks shall be confounded. I know the
book of Isaiah is extremely confusing. I can't say I understand everything in
this, but I'll tell you this. When the fishers are mourning, they're mourning
because they can't catch any fish. So basically, they're not getting their
sustenance. They're not able to provide for their needs. If you look at the longer
passage, you can see that. Also in verse 9, they that work in fine flax, and they
that weave networks shall be confounded. So they can't provide for themselves
financially. So the fishers are mourning. And here's the thing. If you're a pastor,
you're laying down your life for your church members. So when they mourn, you
need to mourn with them. You know, when a church member is joyous, you need to be
joyous with them. When they mourn, you need to mourn with them. And a good pastor, he
will mourn with his members when they're mourning. He's gonna come for them. And
here's the thing. If you're a pastor, you go through the same trials that everyone
else does. I mean, probably more. Because you're the one who gets those death
threats. But here's the thing. If you're gonna be a pastor, you have to be able to
mourn with others. Even if you're going through mourning. It's like when we had
the protest in Orlando, there were, I mean, Pastor Menes had a lot going on,
obviously, in his life, and things that people didn't even know about. But there
was a lot of church members that were mourning at that time, and they needed a
pastor to step in there and help them out. And he did that. And he cared more
about them than himself. And that's what a good pastor is gonna do. He's
gonna mourn for his church members when it comes to sin in the church, deaths and
illnesses, or when it comes to financial problems. He's gonna lay down his life
and care about them more than he cares about himself. Turn back to 2nd Samuel
chapter 21.
And the first thing is pretty basic. But, you know, obviously a pastor needs to just
care about his members. I mean, it sounds pretty obvious. But honestly, most
IFB pastors, they just don't care about their members that much. They just don't
love them that much. They don't have, it's something that you don't get
taught in Bible college. They go to Bible college for four years, but they
don't even learn to love their members. And I've been a member of several IFB
churches. You know, I know how the IFB world works. I've been IFB for a long
time. And honestly, and I've gone to a lot of revivals in West Virginia. I
know the pastors, you know, you meet them, and it's like, you know, the vast
majority of them, they just don't care. What they care about is getting that
tied so they can still be full time. That's what most of them care about.
That's the truth. You cannot say that the pastors in our movement, you can't
say Pastor Amera cares about that. He cares. I mean, he came here and he was
working a full time job when he came to start this church, working 40, 50, 60,
70 hours a week and pouring out his heart and soul into building this
church. And now he is full time and praise the Lord for that. I hope that
all the pastors in our movement are able to be full time and devote
themselves to the Lord. He poured his heart and soul into it. Most IFB pastors,
they don't pour their heart and soul into it. I mean, most IFB pastors, they
don't have a goal to get churches planted like none of them do. That
should be your goal as a pastor. You shouldn't just be like, well, I'm good
to go. I got my church. No, your goal should be to reproduce yourself. And
the reason why they don't have that goal is because it takes work. It takes
a lot of hard work, not just to preach the sermons and get people in church,
but train up people so they're ready because it's a tough job that most
people are not cut out for and most people aren't going to work hard enough
for. And so most pastors, they just don't care that much. They just care
about themselves. Second Samuel 21. Look at this in verse 10. And Rizpo, the
daughter of Ayah, took sackcloth and spread it from her upon the rock from
the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven and
suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in them by day nor the beasts
of the field by night. Now, the second thing is this. Not only should they
mourn for their members, but they need to defend their church members. They
need to defend their church members. That is something big time lacking in
the IFB world where pastors actually defend their church members. Now
there's many things we can learn. A lot of symbolism with the birds of the air
by day and the beast by night. One thing is this. Attacks happen at all
times of day. It happens during the day. It happens at night. You know, my
old job in Cumberland, Maryland. You know, my job. One thing I really liked
about it is when I got home from work, I didn't have to worry about getting
a text message or a call like, Oh, you know, we got this problem. You need
to help me fix that. When I was off the clock, I was off the clock. Now
here's the thing. If you're a pastor, you're never off the clock. You never
have. It's just like, well, you know, I'm completely good to go. I'm off
the clock. I don't have to worry about, you know, my member call me. No,
you have members that are going to call you at midnight. You got members
gonna call you say, I can't get my windows rolled up. You know, you never
know. You never know what they're gonna ask you, right? These things are
happening at all times of day. It's gonna happen during the day. It happens
at night. Things can happen at five in the morning. You don't know when
someone might have a heart attack and all of a sudden you get that call at
two in the morning and you might have to just wake up and go down to that
hospital and help a grieving family. That happens. That's reality. And, you
know, we see things were here at church. You don't see everything that happens
behind the scenes. You know, I feel thankful and grateful that I get to see
some of these things working for a church. Let me tell you something.
There's a lot of stuff that happens off the clock. A lot of times where
something comes up, you know, at 10 o'clock at night, it's like, man, we
gotta get this worked out. We gotta deal with this. You just don't know it
can happen during the day. It can happen at night. You don't know when
your online donations are gonna shut down. It could happen at five in the
morning. Could happen at midnight. Make it happen at any time. Things like
that happen all the time, and it's only gonna get worse because the devil is
gonna attack. Why? Because we're doing bigger and better things, and she's
gonna try to attack us, and we gotta just be more diligent than him. So
these attacks can happen at all times of day. They can also happen from all
directions. Think about this. The birds are attacking from above the beasts
from the ground. These attacks can come from all directions. They can come
from family members mocking you for how you're raising your kids as church
members. Most of you have family members that do not approve of what
you're doing. They don't approve of your church. They don't approve you
homeschooling your kids. They don't approve of you, how you raise them, the
decisions you make with the hospital medications, things like that. They
don't approve it. Attacks come from family members all the time, and it's
really frustrating because most people I know don't really bring the fight to
their family members. Usually the family members bring that fight to you.
That's a frustrating thing. It's like, Man, I want to be close to you. You
know, I'd like to be able to spend time with you, but it's just like you always
have to tell me why we need a TV. It's like, Why are you doing that? You know,
these attacks happened from family members all the time. They also can
come from friends, friends that people have that are unbelievers, not part of
this church, people that they should just cut off. People get attacks from
their friends. They get attacks from co workers. You get attacks from church
members. These attacks can come from all different sources, every direction. And
as a pastor, you have to be here to help out your church members because you
got church members that are grieving over the fact that their parents don't
want to talk to him anymore. Now, you know, one thing I find funny. I've
mentioned this in a lot of sermons, but it's funny when someone will come to
you and they'll tell you their story about how their family basically disowned
them. They'll go on and on, and they think it's just them. And it's just
like, No, that happens to everybody. Everybody's family disowned them. It's
you don't know too many people whose families love the Lord. You know, I'm
very thankful I have saved parents, you know, praise the Lord for that. You
know, very few people can really say that they have family that approve
anything they're doing. And so attacks come from family members all the time.
And as a pastor, you got to be there to help out your church members that are
going through this. And unfortunately, there's always fights that happen
within church. There's fights that happen where there's gossiping, there's
busy bodies, there's people that are getting involved in things they ought
not. And unfortunately, those fights happen all the time as well. And people
need to just mind their own business. But unfortunately, those fights happen.
Unfortunately, as a pastor, you have to get involved sometimes and help out the
situation. That's the reality. Unfortunately, there's attacks all the
time. Husbands and wives going through problems, and you have to help them out
not to make foolish decisions that will ruin their entire life. That stuff
happens all the time. There's also just different types of attacks in terms of
not coming from all directions, but you know, things like hospital visits, like
I mentioned, financial struggles, which we mentioned, church fights, depression,
backsliding. These things happen. Your donations being shut down, protests. All
these things happen. They come all times of day. They come from every direction.
They're different types of attacks. But there's something more interesting in
this verse I want to focus on. I think it's really interesting where it says
that the birds are attacking by day, and the beasts are attacking by night. So in
this, the symbolism with a bird, I believe, is basically just talking about
your general everyday person. Basically, an unbeliever or a Christian, so to
speak. Just your general attack. You know, here's the thing. It happens by day
because the birds aren't trying to hide anything. They're doing it for anybody
to see. They don't have to be subtle at all. They're just coming down. They're
going to quickly swoop down, get food. They're trying to eat her sons. The
birds and the beasts are trying to eat her sons, and she's protecting her sons
from this. And so the birds will come at day. They're not trying to hide anything.
They're just trying to swoop down quickly and get that. And you know,
honestly, you can go on Facebook or YouTube and see, and these Christians
will say, you're so hateful. They don't try to hide it. They just put it out
there for anybody to see. Because they think what they're saying makes a lot of
sense, and everybody will get on board. They're not subtle about it. They just
say it like they think it is. And so the birds are going to attack by day. It says
in Genesis 15 11, you don't have to turn there, but it says, And when the fowls
came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. So Abram drives away the fowls
that are trying to eat up the carcasses. Now here's the truth. These attacks
happen by day, and everybody can see them, but very few pastors deal with it.
There's problems in just about any IFB church you go to. How many pastors really
get up and deal with those problems? Very few. These attacks are there for anybody
to see. It's an embarrassment for the church, and yet they don't deal with it.
Sodomites that everybody knows is a sodomite, and yet they do not deal with
that problem. They just don't, you know, preach it, yet kick the person out of
church. Just attacks happening by the day, and it's visible for everyone. But then
it says the beasts are attacking by night. Now what does a beast represent in
the Bible? A beast represents a reprobate. And see, it says they are attacking at
night. Now turn to Jude chapter 1.
When it comes to birds attacking, one thing that makes me sick is when you see
believers start acting like a bird. They join in on the attacks, and Pastor Romero
mentioned it this morning, but you know one thing I find interesting in the
Bible is that sometimes God's people really screw up, and you know what? God
sticks in and defends them. Think about Abraham. God defended Abraham who lied
about his wife and put himself in a terrible position, and whose side did God
take? He took Abraham's side. And I'll tell you what, I don't believe any of the
pastors in our movement are perfect. Obviously they're all sinners, but you
know what? I'm gonna defend the pastors in this movement. I'm gonna defend Pastor
Romero if there's some problem. I'm gonna defend Pastor Mendez. Does it mean they
handled everything a hundred percent perfectly? Who cares? Because they're
still the good person in the battle. You still stick to the side of the good
person. You don't join in on the attack and say, well, you know, I agree with you. I
think Pastor Romero messed up too. No, you defend the pastor. That's what God does.
That's what I'm gonna do. That's what you should do as well. You ought to defend
your pastor. You ought to defend the man of God. Even if he does screw up, everyone
screws up. I'm sure that if you go to a church for 20 years, you're gonna see
your pastor make some mistakes. He's gonna preach some things he was a little
bit off on. He's gonna be a little bit rude sometimes. He's gonna say some
things a little bit off, but you know what? You defend the pastor. Now obviously
I'm not talking about if your pastor ends up being like Jack Scott. Obviously
then, good night. I mean, the old IFB, they do defend them. How many of you talked
to this say, well, Jack Scott, you know, yeah, you know, David got caught up in sin
as well, you know. It's like, good night. They won't defend our pastors, but
they'll defend Jack Scott. It's like, are you kidding me? Sometimes I think I'm
living in like, you know, the Twilight Zone, you know what I mean? It's like, is
this real? And it's like, it's real. This is the truth. But as you're turning to
Jude 1, it says in 1 Corinthians 15 32, if after the manner of men I have fought
with beasts at Ephesus. Now when it said Paul fought at beasts, do you think he's
talking about fighting like a lion or a tiger or a bear, oh my? Does that happen? No.
You know, it's talking about fighting a reprobate. He fought with beasts. Anyway,
these attacks are gonna come wherever you go. There's reprobates everywhere you go.
There's bad people, and our movement's gonna bring them in. Why? Because the
devil's trying to destroy this movement. That's why you say, man, I've heard this
sermon so many times. Everyone keeps preaching. I mean, my wife was tuning in
to the sermon from Pastor Mendez today, and you know, part of the sermon he's
talking about reprobates. But you know what? Paul warned people night and day
because the battles happen. And honestly, this sermon was written several months
ago. It was before you guys kicked out someone recently. I had already had this
sermon. This was a sermon I've been wanting to preach for a while, and it's all
throughout the Bible. And the symbolism of fighting against reprobates, it's
there. It's right there, plain as day to see. The beasts attack by night because
they want to be subtle. They don't want it to be obvious. They don't want people
to realize. You can see what's happening during the day, but it's like when
we leave here, I don't know if it's gonna be dark, but when you drive at night, it's
harder to see what's going on. Think about if there's a person in the broad
middle of the day. We have a lot of homeless people, you know, near where we
live. So they're just kind of randomly walking sometimes in the street where
you gotta pay attention so you don't hit them sometimes. You know,
they're drunk or drugged out of their mind. But it's like during the day, it's
not too hard. But then at night, it's like, man, at last second you're slamming on
the brakes and everything like that because it's just harder to see at night.
And so these attacks are happening by night because the beasts are trying to
be subtle. They're trying to creep in and get their food. The birds aren't trying
to be subtle. They just go down. The beasts are trying to be subtle about it.
So look at what it says in Jude chapter 1. Let me make this just very obvious that it's
talking about reprobates because it says in Jude 1 verse 10,
But these speak evil those things which they know not, but what they know
naturally as brute beasts, and those things they corrupt themselves. So we're
talking about false prophets and reprobates. If I were to refer to them as
beasts, as brute beasts, okay? So look at what it says in verse 16. Look at what it
says. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lust. You know, if
you're someone who always likes to complain and murmur, let me just say
that's an attribute of reprobates. That doesn't make you a reprobate, but you
might want to think about just shutting your mouth. And quit complaining about
how, man, my life is so miserable. Learn to be content. Yeah, you know, all of us
can have bad days. Just learn to be content. Quit murmuring. Quit complaining.
And the last thing I want to hear is somebody complaining to me about
something. It's like you're gonna go complain to somebody else. Complain to
your wife. Complain to your husband. I don't want to hear it. Who likes to hear
somebody complaining all the time. It's annoying. That's an attribute of
reprobates that they always murmur. They complain. Why? They're trying to cause
problems. They're subtly bringing something up like, man, I wish Pastor
Romero would do it a little bit like this. And they'll do it subtly. They don't
make it obvious for you to be able to see real clearly and just point out, hey,
you're a reprobate. They'll do it kind of subtly. Why? Because they're intentionally
doing it by night because they're trying to creep in. Then it says, in their mouth
speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of
advantage. What does it mean to speak great swelling words? An example would be
like, oh, Brother Jesse, man, your sermon the other day, that was probably the
greatest sermon ever at a men's preaching night. Man, was it good. That's
speaking great swelling words. Now look, when people preach at preaching nights,
I'll tell them, hey, you know, good job. You know, I learned something from
your sermon like from 1 Kings or whatever. But you know what? There's
a level to that compliment. You better make sure it's sincere. For one, don't be
a phony. If you're going to compliment someone, make it real. Don't just say,
well, you know, I'm going to tell everybody good job no matter what. You
know, they preached a repentance of sins, pro-repentance of sin, sermon behind the
pulpit. Man, good job, brother. I learned from your sermon. It's like, well, don't
compliment them for that. Make sure your compliments are sincere, but even still,
make sure your compliment's not over the top because even if you are trying to be
sincere, you are doing that person a disservice. Because I'll tell you what a
sin that all of us struggle with is pride. And I'll tell you what, you know,
nothing can fill you full of pride more than when someone tells you you're
the greatest thing since sliced bread. When they tell you, man, you're the
greatest preacher. You're the greatest soul winner. That's pumping you full
of pride. You're doing a disservice. But the reprobate, it's not accidental.
It's intentional. Flattery is one of the big attributes you're going to see from
a reprobate. Every single one who ends up being a reprobate, they end up being a
huge flatterer. When somebody's a huge flatterer, man, I put a big, massive, you
know, worry sign there. Big, massive check mark where I'm just like, that's, that's
one check. That's one strike, right? It's like, three strikes, you're out, buddy. But
it's like, they have, they're a huge flatterer. All of a sudden, man, that is a
big strike. And that's a strike I usually don't forget when it's ridiculously over
the top. It's just like, and honestly, one thing I've learned over the last year,
and I'll admit, you know, I was more naive about this topic than I realized,
I'll admit that. Because I thought that, you know, I was good at catching people.
Because there's a lot of people, you know, I've had worry signs before and they
ended up being bad. I'll be honest, you know, just because it's been 10 years
doesn't mean that you're good. Because I kind of used to figure, man, if it's been a
long time, obviously, you know, they're good. Because Judas was three years. Well,
that was, that's been disproven, hasn't it? It can be a long time and they can just
stay in there and be one of your best members and turn out to be the devil. And
let me tell you something, if your pastor kicks somebody out of this church for
being the devil, I don't care if they're the number one preacher of this
church that he calls on, you better trust your pastor. You better trust he's making
the right... I mean, if you go to this church because you trust his spiritual
guidance, you ought to trust him when he kicks someone out of church. And that's
something that we see within this movement, so to speak. And it's like, you
know, it's ridiculous to get in another church's business where you disagree
with what the pastor did and then you criticize them online. It's like, are you
kidding me? It's just like, for one, just keep your mouth shut. We don't care
about your opinion. It's like, you know, what difference does it make? I don't
care whether you think it's wrong that we kick that person out. It's none of
your business. It's another church. You know, if you're if you're gonna say
anything, just get on board and trust the pastor. But just going on the side of the
devil, it's like, what is wrong with you? And that's what we see within our
movement where people just get involved in business that doesn't belong to them.
Look, I mean, that's a local church matter. That's this church's deal.
When someone gets kicked out, that affected this church. And if somebody
doesn't say anything, they better get on board with what's being said. Let me tell
you something. When you basically say that a pastor is wrong for kicking
someone out, you are basically saying that they're either lying... Let me give you
an example. Let's say I told, you know, Brother Duncan, let's say I said, let's
say he told me he went out camping on the weekend, okay? And let's say he told
me, man, I fought a wolf on the weekend. And he came and he attacked me. I was
scared for my life. And he goes on and on. He's being sincere. He fought a wolf.
And I'm like, yeah, you know, I think it was a house cat. I'm calling him just... I'm
either doing one of two things. I'm calling him a bold-faced liar, or I'm
saying he's just an idiot who has no discernment whatsoever when things
happen at nighttime because he can't see clearly. And so here's the thing, when somebody
disagrees with Pastor O'Meara about that, you're saying one of two things. You're
saying he's a liar about all the signs that happen, or you're saying he's an
idiot and he doesn't have any spiritual discernment whatsoever. And it's like,
why in the world would you listen to somebody's sermon if they think they
have such little spiritual discernment? Does that make any sense? It's like, people
listen to all the sermons, and then they'll just disagree with the pastor's
decision for kicking someone out. It's like, I mean, you trust them for spiritual
guidance, and then you think they have no discernment whatsoever to kick somebody
out. No, you have to understand, these battles happen at night, so they're hard
to see. So you might not see all the signs. And one thing you have to realize
is, you might not know everything the pastor knows. See, if like five people
have come to the pastor and told him about a worry sign, you might not have
seen those things. You know, honestly, the last person that was kicked out of
Verity Baptist Church, I didn't know, like, most of the things that had happened.
Because, honestly, they didn't come to me and try to change the King James Bible
to me, because they know, you know, obviously that I work for church. They
went to other people that were just kind of, they thought were newer, they thought
they could trick, and unfortunately they got in that business a little bit too
much, and those things were reported back to the pastor. That's the way
reprobates operate. But you have to realize, if somebody gets kicked out, you don't
know all the facts. And it's not like your pastor's gonna stand up here every
single time someone gets kicked out and just mention every single thing they did.
Because we don't want this church just to fall into being like just this big
gossip thing, or where everyone knows this business. Unfortunately, if it's
someone who's known, so to speak, by so many people, it has to be rebuked
publicly, you know. But I'll be honest with you, I know a situation where people
kicked out of churches, the pastor just didn't say anything about it, you know,
because the person wasn't known. So it's just easier just having them kicked out,
they never come back, they're not ever welcome back, but not something you have
to mention by name. So people have to realize they don't know all the facts,
and it's amazing how people think they know everything. It's like, oh, I went
soloing with that person! He's such a great guy! It's just like, you know, you're
sounding like the old IFB. Because, you know, the old IFB, they hear a case about
somebody being a pedophile, and they're like, there's no way. This guy couldn't
have been a pedophile! I mean, I've been soloing with him for years, and as they
just brush off that immediately, it's like, are you kidding me? I mean, obviously
there's a reason, because it's not like a pastor wants to kick people out of
church. You want church members, and these are church members that you prayed for,
and cared about for so long. It's not like you made that decision lightly, but
unfortunately, when you're the leader, eventually you have to reach the point
where you do have to kick somebody out. Notice what it says in verse 19 of Jude 1.
Jude 1 verse 19. Another important attribute you see of reprobates here is
this, these be they who separate themselves. Sensual, having not the Spirit.
These be they who separate themselves. It always kind of concerns me when I see a
certain person always trying to show somebody something from the Bible one on
one, and I can kind of see it from a distance. You know, this recently happened
during the Red Out Preaching Conference. One of the members came up to me, and he
just had a worry sign. I was glad he told it to me, so we can have that as, you know,
potentially an eventual thing, where that's one of the red marks. You know, I
talked to Pastor Mendez about it, where you see somebody privately talking to
someone one-on-one about the Bible, and it wasn't the first time, and it's like,
you know, you're starting to make us worry, when it's not something you feel
comfortable talking about to everybody. Even though we've heard you say before
that, you know, you don't believe all sodomites are reprobates, and you've
already put up those red flags, but when people separate themselves, they have
motives for doing that. They don't want everybody to know that. You know, there
will be evil people that will creep in a church, and they'll be
talented. They'll learn how to do this, causing problems between the husband and
the wife, and they'll cause problems, and make that wife think that, well, you know,
maybe this isn't the best church for you. Maybe you shouldn't be here. There are
reprobates that do that. They're trying to cause problems, because how do you
destroy people? Hey, if you destroy families, that's gonna destroy churches.
We need strong families that have kids that we train up and raise, and
reprobates do this stuff. They'll always do these things. They separate themselves.
They don't do this in front of the pastor, and so when somebody comes to you
and tries to bring you something, somebody comes to you, and it's a big red
flag. You need to tell your pastor about it, and people will have this idea. They'll
go around and tell everybody else at church, and they don't tell the pastor.
It's like, no, that's not a good idea. Go to the pastor and tell him about the red
flag. You have to understand, he might already have some red flags about this
person, so you don't have this attitude, man, he didn't kick them out. It was a
waste of time. No, it wasn't a waste of time, because once those things get added
up, eventually it can reach the point where he says, now I've got to lay down
the hammer, because I have enough evidence. It's obvious this person's a
bad person, but you know, sometimes he might be waiting for more evidence, and
so you trust in your pastor to have wisdom and guidance, because honestly,
even as believers, we can do things that are just wrong as sinners, and someone
could misinterpret it. Maybe we did something really wrong. They say, wow, you
know, that person might be a bad person. Maybe they just did, you know, a terrible
sin or something like that, or maybe you misunderstood. That can happen, but when
you see something, you must come to the pastor and let him know, because these
people get kicked out of church, and then all of a sudden they've done like 50
things, and the pastor had no idea, because nobody ever came to the pastor
to tell them about it. No, you have to come and tell the pastor about that. You
know, one thing that people see is, they'll see somebody getting kicked out
of church. They'll see this. They'll watch the video, and they'll be like, man, I think
Pastor Romero was just way too harsh with him. Yeah, that's something you saw, but
let me share with you something you didn't see. You didn't see this pastor
opening the Bible for an hour every day and reading it. You didn't see that. You
didn't see the pastor down on his knees praying for that same person he kicked
out every day, over and over and over again. You didn't see him memorizing the
Bible all the time. You didn't see him soul-winding all the time. You didn't see him up at
midnight doing a hospital visit. You just saw one thing, and you just jumped on the
gun to criticize him. It's a joke. It's like, are you kidding me? It's like the
pastor, he's been praying for that person for so, I guarantee you, everyone has ever
been kicked out of this church that was here for a length of time. That's someone
Pastor Romero prayed about for a long time, and he prayed about that decision,
and he knew it was the right decision. If there's anything the pastors might be a
little bit too lenient in our movement, because they want to
care about people. They want to love them. They don't want to think somebody's a
wolf. I don't want to think people are bad people. If I've gone soul-winding with
someone, even if there's flags, I just want to think, man, maybe they
need to grow more. And here's one of the unfortunate things. When people first
come to a church like this, if they're a bad person, at first they don't really
know how to fit in. They're just playing a part. You know, they're just like an
actor, and eventually over time they start to fit in a little bit better,
right? You know, we've had people like the person we kicked out when they first
came, it's like, whoa, it's like so many red flags. Then they start to, you know,
it's like, well, maybe they're growing. But in reality, they're just learning how
to act a little bit better. And they realize, okay, this is... and then every
once in a while, they'll just make some stupid mistake. And here's the thing,
the Bible says your folly is going to be manifest to all men. And that ought to be a
great comfort to you as a member. If there's someone you think's a bad person
in this church, you know, you tell Pastor Romero the things that, you know, make you
question them, realize their folly is going to be manifest onto all men. So
don't worry about, oh man, you know, this person's here, they're a bad person. Look,
their folly is going to be manifest. It's going to happen. It's going to be found
out. She attacks, defends the beasts by night. Turn to 2 Samuel 21. Turn back
there. Now I'll be honest, I don't think Rizpah did a perfect job defending her
sons. I mean, there's no way she did a perfect job, but at least she defended. I
mean, who did a better job, Rizpah or Michael? How long do you think Michael's
sons lasted out there? Probably not a whole lot of time. You know why? Because
Michael wasn't defending them at all. You know, I don't think Rizpah did a perfect
job defending, but at least she defended. You say, well, you know, I don't think
Pastor Romero does a perfect job. Well, at least he defends, though. He is willing to
kick people out. He might not do a perfect job, but you know what? None of us
are Jesus Christ. We're not, nobody's a perfect pastor, but at least he's
defending, though. At least he's putting in his best effort to defend this
congregation. Why does he defend this congregation so hard? Because of the fact
he really cares about this congregation. Going back to the first point, and here's
the thing, you look at these pastors that are most IFB, they don't fight the
battles by day, and they certainly don't fight them by night, because they just
don't care about their members that much. You know, it's either, you know, pretty
much both or not. Most of these IFB pastors, they won't kick you out for
anything unless you're post-trib. I mean, literally, you can be an open
sodomite. They won't kick you out. I mean, once again, you know, we're living in
the twilight zone. I don't know, but it's just like, they won't kick you out for
anything unless you're post-trib, or you're too zealous of a soul winner. I
mean, and honestly, you know, a few years ago when I heard about people getting
kicked out of church, usually I felt like most people got kicked out of church
because they were a little bit overboard by trying to convert their pastor, and I
believe that was the case. But honestly, it's kind of switched now. Most people
that get kicked out, honestly, it's the pastors and the members that are
attacking them for being post-trib. So many good people have been kicked out of
churches now, and it's like, I mean, are you kidding me? It's like, what in the
world? In 2 Samuel 21, verse 10, I want you to notice where it says that
Rizpah, the daughter of Ayah, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the
rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven,
and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in them by day, nor the
beasts of the field by night. And the third point is this, a good pastor, a
Rizpah, is going to work very hard. Now I want you to realize, she is doing this
all day long. She's doing this at morning, and she's doing this at night. And I
don't know the exact time frame of how long she's doing this, but I tried to
figure it out the best I could because it says that it happens until water
drops upon them out of heaven. It tells us that it starts at the beginning of
harvest. I believe the time period is probably from around November to
February, okay? This is a long time based on when it says rain starts raining. When
we went to the Philippines, one reason why we picked April was because it was
before it ever rains, but it actually did rain a little bit when we were in
the Philippines. Usually there's a little bit in May, but it never happens in April,
but it did happen. So the time could be a little bit off. Like, it could be a month
more either way. You know, sometimes the weather can be weird. You don't know.
Every once in a while it would snow in, like, October in West Virginia. That was rare,
but sometimes it would happen. But I believe it's probably from around the
time period of November to February. So we're talking, like, three months, and
she's defending, you know, during the day. She's defending, does that sound like
an easy job? Defend off fowls and beasts for three months? I mean, that is hard
work. Turn to First Timothy chapter 3.
I remember my wife and I visited a family of ours at the hospital, and they
had a baby they were really worried wasn't gonna make it. You know, they
really thought, you know, their child wasn't gonna make it. And, you know,
thankfully, thankfully they recovered and everything. A lot of people visited and
prayed for them and everything like that. But she had been there for, like, four
days. And, you know, the husband looked really tired and everything too, but, like,
the mom just, you know, looked like a wreck, you know. She hadn't slept for, like,
four days. Why? Because a grieving mom isn't gonna sleep at all, right? She's not
gonna sleep at all. Just imagine what she looks like for three months. I mean, she's
literally like a homeless person for three months. She's just living out there
by faith. I mean, it doesn't say how she got food, but, I mean, it's not like she
could just go home and, you know, cook a steak and then go back out there. No, I
mean, she's just relying on God to provide her food. I mean, this is three
months throughout the day. I'm sure she looked like a ragged mess after three
months, but she loved her son that much. And here's the truth. A good pastor, he's
gonna really care about his church members. He's gonna work very hard. Because
running a church is extremely hard work. It's not easy. You know, honestly, writing
a sermon is not easy. That takes a lot of work, but there's a lot more to it than
that. I mean, if it was just preaching sermons, then, honestly, a lot more people.
If it was just so many preaching sermons, there'd be a lot more people that would
sign up for the job. But, honestly, I've seen some people that sign up for the
job, they're getting trained, and then all of a sudden it's just too much for them.
They're like, oh man, I didn't realize there was all this stuff, too. It says in
1 Timothy 3, verse 1, I know you know this verse, but we need a
reminder of these things. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a
bishop, he desireth a good work. One thing that really needs to be preached in
today's world is just being a hard worker. Because that's just something
that's sorely lacking here in America. People are just lazy deadbeats. They
don't work hard at all. It's like, man, I don't have any time to read the Bible. It's
like, you don't have any time whatsoever. It's like you watch the NFL for six
hours on Sundays. It's like you watch every sporting event. I mean, you go to
these concerts. You don't have any time to read the Bible at all. It's like no
time whatsoever. But, you know, you spend two hours on Facebook every single day.
Man, talk about a lazy world we live in, where people just don't find any time to
do things for God. They're just lazy. Here's the thing, if you're gonna be a
pastor, you can't be lazy. One of the requirements is to be a hard worker. Now,
understand, if you want to be a Michael, you don't have to work hard. You could be
a lazy deadbeat, but good luck getting ordained by Pastor Romero. I mean, you
might just want to go down to some church down the road, some IFB church,
because honestly, some of these churches, it's like these drive-by ordinations. I
mean, literally, you know, my friend in the Philippines, Brother Richard
Simes, he said, you know, his church, his old church, he's like, they would just say,
it's just kind of like, man, I got the call from God. Man, you got the call from God,
brother. Let's lay hands on you right now. That's the way it is. It's like, you got the
call from God. It doesn't even matter if you've read the Bible. I mean, most pastors
in the Philippines have never read the Bible cover to cover, one time, and they'll
admit that because it's not embarrassing to them. It's like, wow. I mean, there's
probably people in this church that are like seven, eight, nine years old that have read
through the entire Bible. People are lazy, and unfortunately, pastors have a big
reputation of being lazy deadbeats. That's a reputation they have. You
know, God forbid that would happen in our movement, though. You know, we need to get
hard work brought back. I mean, 40 hours. We do live in a rich country compared to
the rest of the world where you can get by on 40 hours of work. You can provide
for your family. You know, in some places, you got to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week to
provide. That's not like that here in America for most people. It depends,
obviously, you know, what your job is and things like that, but people are like,
man, 40 hours a week. Now, this is going to sound worldly, but it just made me
think of this, you know, because a long time ago, I watched the movie Dumb and Dumber,
but I just remember that part where he asked him how it went on the job search.
He's like, man, he's like, I can't find a job. Like, everyone expects you to work
like 40 hours a week. He's like, I can't find something. I just put in a few hours, but
that's the way a lot of people are, and honestly, the reason why this needs to be
preached so hard, the truth is a lot of people found this movement because they
were lazy deadbeats who spent all the time on YouTube, and they found this
movement because they spent all their time just searching, you know, whatever
they could hear, and they just happened to stumble across something good.
Honestly, there's a lot of people that come to this movement where it's just like, man,
are they lazy, and unfortunately, that is something that's really hard to fix, and
that's why it needs to be preached a lot, but if you're going to be a pastor, you need to
learn to work hard. You say, man, I got to read the Bible 10, 15 times to get ordained.
Look, that's not that much, because if you're saved for five years, you can read
through the Bible two or three times a year, and, you know, you're gonna probably
be saved more than five years before you're ordained. I mean, honestly, two
times, I mean, that's 30 minutes a day for two times, depending, obviously, at your
reading level, and things like that, but it's just like, you know, ten times the
requirement we have at Verity. That's not much. Ten times is pretty small, but
people are lazy. Look, if you're gonna be a pastor, you got to work hard. Turn to
1 Timothy chapter 5.
1 Timothy chapter 5, look at what it says in verse 17. Let the elders that rule well be
counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word of
doctrine. The word labor, that implies really hard work. They labor in the word
of doctrine. You got a pastor at this church who labors in the word, and the
reason why I know that is because I listen to a lot of sermons from this
church, and I learn from the preaching, and so when you're learning constantly
from the end, look, many of us, probably most of us, have listened to a lot of
sermons online. There's a lot of things we've already heard, but, you know, I've heard
plenty of things Pastor Marist preached. He's like, man, I've never heard that. Never
noticed that in the Bible. Why? Because he's laboring in the word. He's laboring
the doctrine. Laboring in soul winning. Verse 18. For the Scriptures say, Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his
reward. When it's talking about double honors, it's talking about financially. Against an
elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, them that
sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. People will receive an
accusation about an elder, it seems like, with like one accusation all the time.
But the Bible says before, you know, with two or three accusations, we're talking
about something like really serious. But here's the thing, I, you know, if you come
with something about Pastor Marist like he did this, look, I'm just not
gonna believe you. That's just the way I'm gonna be. I'm just gonna assume that
what you're saying is not true. Now obviously I'm not talking about if
there's something major where someone's like, you know, a jackscop situation.
That's a different sort of situation. You got to take that very seriously. But
people complain and criticize about pastors for like nothing. It's like, man, he
was too mean. He did this. He did that. He didn't let us run this Bible study
outside of the church at the same time of the Wednesday night service. You know,
I'm leaving this church. It's like, man, are you kidding me? It's like people
literally will walk into church and they think they're just gonna walk up here
and just tell the pastor what they're gonna do. It's like, you know, I don't know
if that's that's what they did where you came from. This is a pastor-run church.
You don't just come up here and tell us how you're gonna sing a special, you know,
before Sunday morning service. That's not the way it works here. There's actually,
this is done decently and in order at this church. But you know, pastors, they
deserve to get paid. And you know what? People will put all these accusations
about these pastors. You got pastors that are working hard to study the Bible,
read the Bible, memorize the Bible, have great soul-winning events. And for a
church to thrive like this, you got to put in a lot of work to get all this
stuff done. It doesn't just happen magically. All the pastors, this pastor,
Pastor Romero, he's working very hard and it's evident by the results of this
church. Great things are happening. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Now I kind of
got ahead of myself in the third point, but the fourth point is basically the
pastor needs to be able to accept rough conditions, okay? And with this story of
Rizpup, she's basically sleeping in the wilderness. I mean, she's sleeping on like
a rock. You know, I don't know, the Bible doesn't really say, but she's just
sleeping out there. And you know, I don't know what the temperature was, but you
know, just sleeping, I mean, it's nice just to be in a bed, you know? Nice and cozy
and comfortable bed. What is she sleeping on? I don't think that she,
you know, had a mattress delivered out there in the wilderness. I don't know
what she's sleeping on, like a rock. You know, it's just, man, that's pretty
terrible. Night and day, those are pretty rough conditions and she loves her sons
that much that she's willing to do that. And you know, a good pastor, a Rizpup, you
know what, he's gonna care about his members that he's willing to have a
rough condition of a life, maybe less money than he deserves, in order to help
out this church and help it grow and help it build. I promise you, the pastor's
in our movement, if they work secular jobs and they poured as much heart and
soul and energy and time into those jobs as they do with these churches, they
would make good money. Because here's the thing, in America, whether you work a blue
collar or white collar job, if you work hard, you'll make money. Now it's not like
that in every country, but in America, whether it's blue collar or white collar,
you work hard, you will make money. And any of these pastors, they could just, you
know, work 70, 80 hours a week like they do for this church, pour out their heart
and soul into that, and they'd have some pretty nice conditions. But you know, if
you're gonna be a good pastor, if you're gonna be a Rizpup, it's not gonna be
like that. And if you want to be a Michael, you know, sure, you don't have to
work hard, you don't have to accept rough conditions, but if you're gonna be a Rizpup,
you got to work hard. Look at what it says in Philippians 2, verse 25.
Yet I suppose it necessary to send you a Paphrodite as my brother and companion
and labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my
wants. For he longed after you all and was full of heaviness, because that he had
heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had
mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow. I sent him therefore, that more carefully, that when you see him again, he
may rejoice, and I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the
Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work of
Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to supply your lack
of service toward me. Paphroditus doesn't even care about his own life. I mean, he
is literally at the point of death, and he cares about other people more than
himself, and that's what you have at this church. You got a pastor who, you know
what, if he only gets three hours of sleep because he's got to deal with
church things, that's okay, because he cares about this congregation more than
himself. He puts his heart and soul and his energy to work hard. That's the way
Rizpah was. She didn't care about her own conditions. I mean, I would really be
interested, honestly, in seeing what she looked like after three months, and
actually seeing this, because, you know, it would be really cool if you could
actually have, like, good people put movies to the Bible that you could
actually see what's taking place, which that's never gonna happen, but it would
be really be cool to actually see this, and I'd see men, I mean, for months, I
believe, probably for around three months, maybe more or less, she's out
there just in the wilderness. What did she look like after three months? I mean,
it's not like she had a marriage, just everyday look and say, oh, I gotta fix my
hair here, you know. I mean, no, she wasn't putting on makeup every day or anything
like that. I mean, after three months, she probably looked pretty bad, but she
cared about her son so much that she did not care about that. Turn to 2 Samuel
chapter 21. Turn back there. I do think one thing needs to be said, because I
think this is obvious, but I feel like there'll be some idiot who says
something on YouTube, so I'll just say this. When it says, from the beginning of
harvest until water dropped upon the Mount of Heaven, I could hear some idiot
say, well, you know, she really left when it got really tough and the water started
to fall, didn't she? That'd be a really stupid thing to say. The point God's
making about from the beginning of harvest until the water dropped upon
the Mount of Heaven is the fact that it's a really long amount of time, and
basically, it just reached the point you have to go on with your life eventually.
I mean, it's like, do you really expect her to just be out there like her entire
life? I mean, she was out there for a long time, and basically, it's not that she
left because it got too tough. It just left because at some point, you have to
go on with your life. When people are mourning for a lost loved one, some
people are gonna mourn longer than others. That's why if that ever happens
at this church, you got to realize, give a person a chance to grieve. They might
take it more, you know, it might take more time than it would take with you.
She really grieves about her son. She spends a long time. It's not that, oh wow,
it got really tough. Now it's raining. I got to leave. No. I mean, she was out there
for a long time, and eventually, you have to move on with your life. Now, so far in
this sermon, you know, I don't know if this sounds encouraging or not, but you
know, the last point is very encouraging because notice what it says in verse 11.
And it was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul,
had done. You know, when we go through our lives and we're living for the Lord,
sometimes you feel like, man, I'm putting in so much labor reading the Bible, so
much labor, you know, you know, going soul-witting, and nobody's taking notice
of me. Nothing. Nobody realizes what I'm doing. You know, David was a very godly
person, and here's the truth. If you're working really hard, maybe not everyone's
gonna notice it, but you know what's usually gonna happen? The really godly
people are gonna realize that. You know, I hope everyone at this church realizes
how hard Pastor Romero works, but I'll tell you what, I realize that Pastor
Romero puts in a lot of time. You know, I mean this sermon from my heart. I'm not
just saying this to preach a sermon, to preach a cool sermon. No, I realize he
puts in a lot of time, and this is a thriving, very successful church. And
honestly, oftentimes the people that realize this are just the people that
are really zealous, and I believe many people, hopefully all of you realize, you
know, how much of work he's putting in and how successful this church is, but
I'll tell you what, the godly people, they'll realize what you're doing.
They're gonna realize how hard it is for the stands you're taking and what you're
doing. And honestly, most people at this church, you go soul-winning, you do love
the works. You do realize that. But we need a reminder about this. You need to realize
this church has been successful for four years, and one of the big reasons is
because you have a godly pastor who cares about his members, who works really
hard. He'll fight the battles that need to be fought. And I'll tell you what, we as
church members, you as church members, you need to realize how hard that he's
working. Now here's the thing, I don't believe that Rizpa just sounded a
trumpet in the wilderness and said, hey David, guess what I'm doing? I don't
believe she did that. But David somehow found out. And I'll tell you what, for
young men that are here, that you say, man, I want to be a pastor one day, I want
more opportunities to preach, you need to realize you're not trying to impress
Pastor Romero, okay? There's someone above that you're trying to impress, because
God knows what you do. And here's the thing, even if the Davids don't realize
or don't find out what you're doing, you know who always, because Dave is also a
type of Christ, isn't he? And God will always know about the work you're doing.
You're gonna be rewarded. If you don't get rewards here, you're gonna get the rewards up in
heaven. Usually the godly people, the Davids of this world, will find out. But
in the symbolism of David being a type of Christ, even if nobody knows, you know
who knows the work you're putting in? God knows that work. He knows what's
happening. So you don't have to lift yourself up. Allow God to lift you up. If
you deserve it, God will lift you up. He'll give you those opportunities. You
should be trying to impress God. When you read the Bible for an hour in the
morning, look, God looks down and says, man, that person's doing a good job. You
don't have to tell everybody at church, hey, guess how much I read the Bible this
morning? You know, God sees the work you're doing. You don't have to tell
Pastor Romero. God's gonna know. And I believe that when, you know, Pastor Romero
selects someone to preach a sermon, I believe God's guiding him in that
selection. I believe God guided him to send Brother Adam Fanon to Jacksonville.
And it's not like, you know, Brother Fanon was just always bragging about what he
was doing. It's just like, no, everybody saw it. It was obvious, you know, people
could see it. And, you know, obviously Pastor Romero was guided by God. God knew
everything that he was doing, and he deserved it. And, you know, great things
are happening down there. Turn to 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5.
And this will be the last place we turn this evening. But this is what it says in 1
Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 12.
When it says beseech, that's like a really strong term to find out. You know, we beseech you.
Like, it's very important for you to know this. You as members, you need to really
need to realize how much great work Pastor Romero is doing. That's what the
Bible says here at 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 12.
And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace
among yourselves. Now, I firmly believe this, that if you cannot feel this way
about your pastor, then you probably need to go somewhere else. Because you need to
love your pastor. You need to care about your pastor. And, unfortunately, when it
comes to the Michaels out there, a lot of those pastors you can't love. Because,
honestly, they just don't care about their members that much. And if they
don't care about you, then you're probably not going to care about them.
And I believe people should move if they don't have a pastor that's... I believe if
you don't have a Rizpah for a pastor, you should move. That's what I believe. You
should find a way to move. You should save up the money, set the date, and make
the move. I believe that. I don't regret for one second moving to California, you
know. And I don't think anybody in this room regrets moving here to Fort Worth,
Texas. You know, if you don't have a Rizpah behind the pulpit, and there's a lot of
Rizpahs rising up. And praise the Lord for that. You have a lot of options now.
You don't necessarily have to move all the way across the country. You know, move
to whichever one you want. There's a lot of Rizpahs. This church, you have a
Rizpah behind the pulpit. Now, in conclusion, I'll be honest with you. You
know, we don't really know a whole lot about Rizpah in the Bible. We really
don't. But one thing we know for sure, she loved her children. And honestly, this
was thousands of years ago. And, you know, this is a testament to her. I mean,
it's still written. I really... I don't know whether she was saved or not. I really hope she
was. I mean, man, this is a lady who really cared about her sons. Man, did she love
them. And I want you to realize, you know, that Pastor Romero, he really cares about
you. He really loves you as well. Let's close in a word of prayer.