Thank you.
Good morning.
Have a good weekend.
Good morning.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Thank you.
We are here to have you.
Thank you.
Your welcome.
And we will be here to take you.
Good morning. Welcome to Severity Baptist Church.
He number 389, bring them in.
Say Amen.
Him number 389, him number 389, him number 389, bring them in.
Say Amen.
Hark! This the shepherd's voice I hear.
Out in the desert, dark and clear.
Hauling the sheep who've gone astray.
Hark! From the shepherds fall away.
Bring them in, bring them in.
Bring them in from the fields of sea.
Bring them in, bring them in.
Who could help this shepherd kind?
Help him the wandering ones to find.
Who'll bring the lost ones to the poor?
Where there'll be shelter from the poor?
Bring them in, bring them in.
Bring them in from the fields of sea.
Bring them in, bring them in.
Bring the wandering ones to Jesus.
Out in the desert, hear their cry.
Out in the mountains wild and high.
Hark! This the master speaks to thee.
Go find my sheep wherever they eat.
Bring them in, bring them in.
Bring them in from the fields of sea.
Bring them in, bring them in.
Bring the wandering ones to Jesus.
Hark! This the master speaks to thee.
Bring them in, bring them in.
All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verde Baptist Church.
Let's take out our bulletin. We'll go through a couple things real quickly.
First, let's count up any salvations that I'm not aware of.
So let's start as we do in the back. Were there any salvations to report?
Three. Anybody else? Salvations?
All right, three salvations. How about here in this section? Any salvations? Anybody?
Two. Anybody else? All right, how about
in this section? Five, two, seven more. Anybody else?
Anybody I'm missing? All right, great job everyone. Twelve salvations
to add to the bulletin. And of course we do have soul winning at around
1.45 here today, assuming I can get my sermon done
relatively close to time. Other than that, in terms of events, so next
week is going to be our table tennis tournament. We are going to
try to get it done in one week. We do have three tables, so we'll have like the men's
section back there and then the women's and the kids up here.
So we'll try to get it done in one week. If not, then we'll probably have to have the championship
or semi-finals or whatever the week after. That's going to be next week.
The sign up sheets are back there on the table, so if you're planning to sign up
you know, you're more than welcome. If not, and you just want to laugh at us
and make bad shots, then go for that too. It's going to be a great time
of fellowship. It's going to be next week. Also, we're going to start choir practice for Easter
the week after the table tennis tournament. So that's going to be coming up. We'll have several
weeks of practice before Easter coming up. And as I said, of course Easter
week is our big week with soul winning and a lot going on. We'll talk about that more as we get closer.
I believe that's it for announcements while Brother Raff can lead us to another song.
Here Ye the Master's Call.
Hear Ye the Master's Call.
For be it
great or small, that is
His best. Do
them the best you can, not
for He won.
Not for the praise of men,
but for the Lord.
Every word for
Jesus will be blessed.
But He
has from every one
His best.
His talent may be few,
His may be small,
but unto Him He is
our best, our own wonderland.
Wait not for Him to
hide, He not dares
hide. Meaning does
my love God, brings His
delight. Fading
the good and true, dear
those unmet.
All that be, for to be
in the best.
Every word for Jesus
will be blessed.
But He has from
every one His best.
Our talent
may be few, His may be
small, but unto
Him He is our best,
our own.
Thank you.
Amen for scripture reading. Please open your Bibles
to the book of 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians chapter 3.
You have the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts,
Romans, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And for a
scripture reading you will only be reading verses 1 down to verse 15
of 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 1 down to verse 15. Please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat. For either to you
were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able.
For you are yet carnal, for as there is among you envying,
and strife, and divisions. Are you not carnal, and woe is men?
For while one sayeth, I am of Paul, and in another,
I am of Apollos. Are you not carnal? Who then is Paul,
and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom he believed,
even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted,
Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
So that neither is he that planted anything, neither he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planted and he that watereth are one,
and every one shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are laborers together with God, yea God's husbandry,
yea God's building. According to the grace of God which
is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man
lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble,
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. If any man's work abide which he hath
buildeth thereupon, he shall receive reward. If any man's work shall be
burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire. Bless the reading of God's word,
let us pray. Lord God in Heaven, we thank you Lord for this day that you've given to us.
I pray, Lord, that you would please bless the Lord for this day, for our soul winning and our fellowship later on.
I pray, Lord, that you would please bless the preaching and the preaching of your word, Lord, this day.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, we're here in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and
we're continuing the alphabet of Bible doctrines. The J is the judgment
seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ. Now, when it comes to the judgment
seat of Christ, some of these things I've actually talked about kind of recently, so we're going to kind of fly
through things which are probably pretty obvious or things I've talked about
and kind of focus on the things that maybe I have not talked about as
much, and the judgment seat of Christ is about getting rewards in Heaven,
and I want you to get rewards. I want you to live a successful life
where God's going to really bless you one day, so it's important to try to
see what the Bible says and try to follow what the Bible says. So, point number
one, when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ, as mentioned here in 1 Corinthians 3,
it's believers only. Believers only.
Everybody at the judgment seat of Christ is going to be a believer. They're going
to be saved. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 15,
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
But he himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire. So the Bible speaks about a person
whose works get burned up. They're not getting any rewards, but
he himself shall be saved. So look, if somebody has no good
works to show and no rewards that they're getting, he is going
to be saved, the Bible says. Why would that be? Because everybody
at the judgment seat of Christ is a believer. Everybody
is saved. This is not a judgment of innocent or guilty.
Everybody's guilty. Everybody's sinned.
Right? The determination of what judgment you go to is
based on what you believe. And if you're at the judgment seat of Christ,
it shows you're saved. Right? I mean, when the Bible says, Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, here's the thing. We get saved
by believing. That is the method.
So if we get saved by believing, when do we get saved?
The moment we believe, or pagna matai? Well, obviously the moment
we believe, because that's how we get saved. You don't have to wait
until pagna matai to find out heaven or hell. The moment you believe, you
are saved according to the word of God. So at this judgment, it is
believers only. Go to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11.
Hebrews chapter 11.
As I said, these first four points I'm going to
fly through, and most of the sermon's on the fifth point.
By the way, that verse we just read is perhaps the most
prominent verse the Catholic church uses for purgatory. They
said, well, he's going to be saved by fire, meaning he's going to spend time in purgatory,
and then he's going to be saved. But wait a minute, the context what we're going to see
in this sermon is that it's talking about good works,
or works being burned up, and not getting rewards.
It doesn't say the person's going to be burnt.
It says the works that they do, and we'll talk about that more as we go on in the sermon, but that is perhaps
the primary verse the Catholic church uses, which, by the way, does not use the word purgatory,
because purgatory is not in the Bible. You have either spiritual life or spiritual
death. Only one or two places you're going to go. Hebrews 11, verse 6.
But without faith,
it is impossible to please Him. Is it possible
to please God if you do not have faith? No,
it's not. You must have faith to please God.
There are two things mentioned after that colon of
the faith aspect. For he that cometh to God
must believe that He is. That's number one.
And that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. That's
number two. You must believe that He is, and you must believe that He's a rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him to please God.
Not to be saved, okay? It is possible
to be saved and not please God.
I mean, the Bible speaks about being saved and being a child of God.
Think about your children. Are you always pleased with your
kids? Are you always happy with your kids?
Nope. Sometimes you're upset.
Sometimes they do wrong. And you're not pleased with them when they do wrong.
A person can believe on Christ. It doesn't mean that God is pleased with them.
I mean, if somebody's saved and they never go to church, never read the Bible, never go soul
winning, they do every sin under the sun, God is not pleased with them.
But they still believe that He is. They're still
saved. Now, it is possible to fear God
and not be saved. Because Cornelius in Acts 10 feared God.
He did not please God, though. Why? Because you must believe that
He is. You must believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the way to heaven.
And if you don't believe that, God's not pleased with you. There's not a single Muslim
on this planet that God is pleased with. There's not a
single Hindu on this planet that God is pleased with.
There's not a single Buddhist on this planet that God is pleased with.
But you know what? There are people in false religions that fear God. They just don't know the truth.
But God's not going to be happy if they die and go to hell. He wants them
to be saved. So He's not pleased. But people fear God that are not saved.
I think before I got saved, I had a fear of God. There were things I chose not to do
because my conscience told me about right and wrong. But I didn't
please God because I wasn't saved. You must believe that He is. And then it says
that He is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. The idea there is that you're
striving to follow God because you know there's rewards at what's called the judgment
seat of Christ. That's what the judgment seat of Christ is about. It's about getting
rewards. It's about God saying, hey, you know what? This is your
trophy. This is your medal or whatever for winning.
Here you go because you did this, this, and this. Here's your rewards.
That's what the judgment seat of Christ is about. Go back to 1 Corinthians 3.
1 Corinthians 3.
I want you to get rewards in heaven.
I want you to get rewards. Honestly, I don't care if you get more rewards than me.
I don't feel like I'm in a competition with anyone. I would seriously doubt that I'm going to get more
rewards than everybody in this room. I never say just because you're preaching you get the most
rewards. I mean, you can be a church member, have no desire to go in the ministry,
or be a woman who's obviously not going to be a pastor, but you're zealous and you're
going to get a lot of rewards. It's not a competition between any of us.
I hope we all get a lot of rewards. And I want to show you how to do that
because honestly, and this can be one of your big motivations to serve
God, that you're going to get rewarded for the work you do.
Let's be honest. All of us like getting accolades.
I mean, if you compete in a competition, you want to win.
You want people to realize that you're good at something. I mean, naturally
and look, it can certainly be a prideful thing. We've got to be careful about that.
But all of us, we like getting rewards. And here's the thing. God wants to reward you.
And if you do good, He is going to reward you, the Bible says, at the judgment seat of Christ.
Number one, it is believers only.
Number two, it is a bonus for the work that you do.
It is a bonus or a reward for the work that you do.
1 Corinthians 3 verse 8,
And every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor.
Your reward, your bonus, is based on your labor.
Right? I mean, imagine saying this.
Well, you know what? I go to Verity Baptist Church and we have, I don't know,
how many salvations in our bulletin? We have
1,176 salvations. So we average 70 people on a Sunday
morning. So divide that by 70 and those are my rewards. No, it doesn't work that way.
Just because you're at a church that's doing work doesn't mean that you're going to get rewards.
What is your labor? What is your work that you're doing?
This is an individual thing. It's not like, well,
I work at a company and there's all this extra money. Everybody gets an equal bonus.
No, what God says is, let me give you the bonuses based on what you did.
It's like, hey, you know what? He got $100. I got nothing.
It's like, well, you didn't do any work. That's the way that it works
in God's system. Right? It's based on your labor, based on your work.
And so, look, I believe it's very good to be part of a church that's zealous,
but what are you doing? Verse 13.
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. If any man's work abide which he hath built there upon,
he shall receive a reward. The Bible
speaks about getting a reward, getting a bonus based on the work
you do, and it's going to be revealed by fire. God is going to show
basically your works and what abides or lasts through the
fire. Go to Psalm 103.
Psalm 103.
You say, brother Stuckey, why is
this? Because when you got saved,
you were given a gift.
Do you understand what that means? 100% libre,
will uncouple it, will unbind, will uncondition, no strings attached,
100% free. For the receiver.
Obviously, it was the blood of Jesus that paid for that.
But it's 100% free for us. So when you
get saved, it's not like you got to pay back the gift after
you get saved. You couldn't pay it back.
There's no way to pay it back. It's impossible.
But receiving that gift, when you do good, God's going to reward
you, because He truly gave you a gift. Sometimes somebody can
give you something in life, and they'll say it's a gift, but they expect something
in return. That is not salvation. It is
100% free when you get saved.
That being said, you should have the attitude when
somebody gives you something and gives you a gift that you want to return that favor.
That should be the attitude. We ought to have gratitude and be thankful
that we were given a gift. At the same time, it's a gift.
Any good you do is not paying back that gift.
It's getting a reward, getting a bonus for the work that you do, because God
gave you a gift. Point number one, believers only.
Point two, a bonus for the work
that you do. Point three, the bad is overlooked.
The bad or the sins or the wrong
is overlooked. See, some people teach that, you know what,
as a saved person, one day God is going to show everybody
the sins that you've committed. When you were five years old, you
cheated on a math test. When you were six years old,
you know what, you played that practical joke on somebody.
When you were seven years old, you did this. When you were 15 years old, you drank
alcohol. 19 years old, you smoked. That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches the bad is overlooked. It's gone.
It is not going to be shown. God is not going to let everybody know about it.
Psalm 103, verse 8,
God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not
always chide, and neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not
dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities. See, what Psalm 103, verse 10
teaches is that what we really deserve is hell.
Right? We deserve to go to hell.
Because we're guilty. I mean, if somebody commits
a crime, and they're in court, well, I mean, somebody stole
more money than me. That doesn't make you innocent.
You could be the greatest person in the world, but the Bible says
there's none good but one that is God. I was giving the Gospel to someone a few days
ago, and you know what, I was talking to him, and I explained the Gospel.
It was a long conversation, and his girlfriend got saved, but he was still kind of on the fence.
Not quite sure. And you know what, he said, but I still think,
you know what, if you live a good life, then you know what, you'll go to heaven. I said, you know what,
you're right. There's a problem. Jesus said there's
none good but one that is God. Are you
God? No? Well, you're not good. That's what the Bible
says. See, here's the thing. In my eyes, or by my standards,
I might consider you good. You know what, I would consider someone
who doesn't drink, isn't a criminal,
nice person, and volunteers, I'd say they're a good person
in my eyes, by man's standards. That doesn't mean
that in God's standards, though, they're perfect. I mean, it's not even in the Bible, all
liars shall have their parts. If you lied one time, then you're guilty.
And so here's the thing, he hasn't rewarded us according to our
iniquities because what we deserve is hell. What took place is Christ
took our place, and he got what we deserve.
He was on the cross because of what we did. If you were the only person in the world,
Christ would have still had to die on the cross and go to hell to pay for your sins.
Right? Verse 11,
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them
that fear him. Notice this, as far
as the east is from the west, so far
hath he removed our transgressions from us. You say, Brother Stuckey, what does that mean as far as the
east is from the west?
Let's say, for example,
you know, let's say you had a globe up here, okay? Okay, I don't have one here. I was thinking I was in
Sacramento, they got the globe, okay? Let's say you got a globe up here, and you're
traveling north. Traveling north, traveling north,
what direction am I traveling now? South.
I'm not traveling north. South, south, south,
north, north, south, north, south, north.
Why is that? Because there's the north pole and the south pole. There's a verse in the Bible
that I believe is in reference to that. It doesn't use the word pole, but I believe it's in reference to that.
But, you know, south, north, south, north,
let's say, though, you start going east. East, east,
east, east, east, east, east, east.
Do you understand the difference? You can keep going east and east and east and east
and east and east forever. You're never going to be traveling west.
It works differently with north and south because of the north and south pole. What is the Bible
saying? The Bible's saying your transgressions are gone.
Completely gone. You say, I mean, are they going to show them to the entire world? They're gone.
See, with God, forgiving and forgetting
are linked together, aren't they? According to God,
you say, well, you know what, I forgive you, but I'm never going to forget about it.
According to God, you don't really forgive them. Because those are linked together.
And, see, God has forgiven us because He's forgotten about it.
It's gone. Completely gone. Look, at the judgment seat of Christ,
they're not going to show every sin. It's like, all right, who wants to go first?
First we got up here, Brother Orman, let's see every sin he committed.
Is that really what you think it's going to be as He gives rewards to us? That's ridiculous.
I mean, I think all of us are very thankful.
Right? Doesn't matter how good you are, we've all
done foolish things. We've all committed sins. We've all
done things that we're embarrassed about, that we don't want everybody to know.
And guess what? God loves you. Because here's the thing. Notice what it says in
verse 13. Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.
When you're saved, you're a child of God, and God treats you as a child.
Look, all kids are makulit.
Everybody knows I do believe in spanking. I spank my kids. But you know what?
You don't see me spanking my kids in front of everybody.
When my kids do wrong, I talk to them in a quiet place
and explain to them. You say, why? I'm not trying to embarrass
my kids. If you embarrass your kids,
you're going to raise kids that are going to hate you and be bitter.
You know, I know the story of this Baptist pastor in the Philippines.
And his daughters did something wrong, and they were
like, I don't know, young teens, around 12 or something like that. And so the
punishment they got was he shaved their heads bald.
And then they came to church, and of course everybody
sees they're bald. That was their punishment. To look like, I mean, just be
an embarrassment to everyone. Why would you do that to your kids? I don't want
to embarrass my kids. Look, if Christabel does something wrong, I'm not shaving
her head. I'm going to deal with that quietly in a way where
nobody knows about it. It's not like I'm like, hey, let me tell you about all the things my kids have done.
Why would I want to do that? I love my kids. Do you know that God
loves you like a father loves his children? He doesn't want to embarrass you.
Right? When you're saved, you are saved, and the bad is overlooked
at the judgment seat of Christ. Go in your Bible
to Revelation 20. Revelation 20.
Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation chapter 20. So point one, believers only
at the judgment seat of Christ. Point two, a bonus for the work you do. Point three,
the bad overlooked. Point four,
before the millennial reign of Christ.
Before the millennial reign of Christ. The judgment
seat of Christ will be before the 1,000 year
period of Christ ruling and reigning. Let me show that to you in Revelation
20 verse 4. And I saw thrones
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given on to them.
Talking about judgment. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus. That saved people, right? Beheaded for the witness of Jesus.
And for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image,
neither received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and
reign with Christ a thousand years. See, here's the thing.
The determination of how you rule and
reign with Christ is based on the judgment
seat of Christ. Based on what you've done is going to
determine how you rule and reign. So if you've done more, you're going to rule more.
If you've done more good works, you're going to get more rewards.
So the basis of the 1,000 years, who's in what positions
is, well, what did you do? And so the judgment seat of Christ is going to be
before that 1,000 years. Now, of course, people get saved after that time
period, but here's the thing. Because during the millennial reign, there's still
going to be people that are unsaved people, and people are going to be born, and people are going to get saved.
For them, they're not going to be at the judgment seat of Christ, but they're going to be judged
after the 1,000 years as saved people. The Great White Throne
judgment, though, is in this chapter at the end, and it is after the 1,000 years.
So the judgment seat of Christ for saved people is before,
and the Great White Throne is after. See, if
a saved person dies right now, they have the same
heaven as everybody, and equal level as
anybody. Likewise, if somebody dies
unsaved, I mean, they're going to be burning in hell in equal amount to anybody else.
But see, God is a just judge.
Right? So if everybody's equal, then how is He giving
rewards? Well, what takes place is at the judgment seat of Christ, He's going to
basically give out the rewards for what you've done. Now, for the unsaved people at the
Great White Throne judgment, obviously a pedophile will burn more than just an
average, unsaved person that didn't know the gospel. And they're
going to be rewarded based on their sins, based on their works, as
saved people at the Great White Throne. But the judgment seat of Christ is
before the millennial reign of Christ. But you know what's interesting about this? As I said, the first four
points will just kind of fly through. What's interesting
is that if people really want to rule and reign now,
they're actually not going to rule and reign much
during the judgment seat of Christ. If people want to be in authority
and be like a leader now, they're actually not going to rule and reign
much during the millennial reign of Christ. See, point five is this, a broadcasting
of results. Go to 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
1 Corinthians chapter 4.
I mean, most of the things I spoke of I think
are relatively obvious, or I've talked about them at least. I mean, things, okay, that
makes sense. But as I said, I want you to get rewards in heaven. So I want to show
you what's really going to help you get rewards.
There's going to be a broadcasting of results at the judgment seat of Christ.
We're going to find out what rewards we get.
1 Corinthians 4, verse 1. Let a man so account of us
as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required, and by the way,
1 Corinthians 4 is after 1 Corinthians 3, obviously. Right after
it, okay? The original, when they wrote them, there were no chapters.
So it's kind of like, this is shortly after it talked about the judgment seat of Christ.
There's certainly a connection here, okay? Verse 2. Moreover, it is
required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me,
it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's
judgments. Yea, I judge not mine own self. And what Paul
says is, I don't really care what people think about me.
I don't care what opinion people have. That ought to be the attitude of all of us where it's just like,
hey, people can think whatever they want. You can judge me or look at me in whatever
way that you want. It's like, you can have whatever opinion. I don't think you're going to get many rewards in heaven.
Well, who cares? If you're in this room, you say, I don't think brother second is going to get many
rewards in heaven. Okay. Doesn't change anything. You're not the one
that determines, right? And then what Paul says is, not only that,
I judge not mine own self. He's like, here's the thing, I don't even
know how many rewards I'm going to get. The Bible says, we don't
know how many rewards we're going to get in heaven. We don't.
I mean, you say, well, I'm going to get the most rewards. How do you know?
The Bible's saying, actually, you don't know. Now, there are certain things that can get you rewards.
Obviously, soul winning, keep the commandments, read the Bible. But why is it God says you don't really know?
And I think there's a reason why God makes it not super transparent
because it would be very easy to be prideful if you knew, hey, I'm the greatest Christian
in the world. Reality is, you don't know that. The Bible says
you don't know how many rewards that you're going to get. Why is that?
Verse 4, for I know nothing by myself, yet am
I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Now, once again,
when it's talking about judging, it's not like, well, you know what, hey,
you say I'm a drunkard, I say I'm not, I say don't judge
me. That's not the context of what the Bible's saying.
I mean, if you're breaking a commandment that God specifically says,
then obviously you're guilty. Right? Hey, don't look down on me
for being a drug dealer. It's like, I don't think that's what the Bible's
saying here. The Bible's saying don't judge in terms of how many rewards people are
going to get. You don't know. It says in verse 5,
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness.
So why is it we don't know, and will make manifest the
councils of the hearts? And then every man,
then shall every man have praise of God. Now we're all going to have praise of God because this is
believers only. No one's going to be upset. Everyone's going to be happy.
Obviously we're in heaven forever. We're going to rule and reign with Christ.
But the Bible says we don't know because he's going to make
manifest the councils of the hearts. Here's the thing. It is not
just what you do. It's why you
do it. This is what the Bible teaches.
And look, somebody could do more good works than anyone at our church. You know what it doesn't tell
me is why they're doing it though. Actually I can't see your heart.
You can't see my heart. I mean if somebody goes soul winning a lot, I mean that's
great, but that doesn't tell us why they did it. We have no idea.
That's why judge nothing before the time because somebody could do a lot more good works
than somebody else, but we don't really have any idea why they're doing
it. And I mean even Paul said I don't know with myself.
He's like I don't know if I'm going to get more rewards than other people. He's like I judge not my
own self. Because here's the reality. There's a little bit
in all of us of wanting to be prideful or get
recognition for the things we do and sometimes we can feel guilty because it's like man
you know I know that's kind of wrong and all of us we do it sometimes.
And here's the thing. I can't tell inside your heart. Man look at
on the outward appearance, but the
Lord looketh on the heart. I mean remember people said surely it's Eliab.
It's like nope. On the outside it looks like Eliab.
But it's actually David that became the king. And of course man does look
on the outside appearance, but the Bible's saying actually don't do that. You don't know.
Here's what I'm saying. We're going to have 50 people out soul winning today.
Well I don't know what's inside the heart of all 50 people.
For some people it's because they love God.
For some people they're afraid of people dying and going to hell.
For some people it's praise of man. I mean we sang and it was kind of interesting.
I didn't even realize it, but in our hymnal
with 402, our best 402, and we sung
this line early on and I was like man that really makes sense with the sermon where it says
not for the praise of men. It says that here somewhere.
Not for the praise of men, but for the Lord. And you know it is very possible
to do things for the praise of man because you want to get credit. You want to get known.
And the Bible's saying this, if you do things for the praise of man
you're not going to get rewards. And one day we're going to have a broadcasting of results
because God is going to make manifest
what's inside the heart of each of us. Now here's the thing.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
The Bible says it's hard to even tell your own heart.
So how could you really know how many rewards you get?
I mean all of us think we're humble. All of us think we're holy.
All of us think we're really good. But actually you don't really know.
That's what the Bible's saying. I mean you don't fully understand or know
your own heart. And the thing is it's impossible to really know because of the fact
it's not like well who got the most salvations, most rewards.
It doesn't work that way. Now of course if you don't
do any works for God then nothing's going to abide the fire. We get that.
But simply because you do good works doesn't mean
you're going to get rewards for it. Right? This is what the Bible teaches. This is why
we all got to check the inside because the inside fixes the outside.
Make sure that we're right with God on the inside.
And then it says this in verse 6,
And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself unto Apollos for your
sakes, that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written.
That no one of you be puffed up for one
against another. The Bible's saying here in verse 6, be very careful to think too
highly of certain people. You say why? Because you don't know what's in
their heart. You don't necessarily know how right with God
they are. I mean look, I have no idea if you read the Bible
this morning. I have no idea. I might know if you
go soul winning later today, but I'm not going to know whether or not you read the Bible.
I'm not going to know whether you prayed. And even if I knew that you did pray, I don't know why
you prayed or why you read the Bible. I don't know your heart.
I don't know my own heart. Which is why I judge not my own self.
Which is why it's not mere words. I'm being honest when I say I have no idea
if I'm going to get more rewards than people and honestly I don't think I will because there's a lot of people
that love God in this room. I don't know. But it's also a foolish thing
to try to think, well I think so and so is going to get more rewards. We have no idea.
It's impossible to actually know that. Now turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 10.
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
We did our poll recently on favorite books of the Bible
and I really don't agree with the poll results at all.
To be honest with you, my favorite book is James. I've said that many times.
In the New Testament, my next two favorite books are 1 and 2 Corinthians.
I'm not saying they're better books than John or Romans but they're books that I personally like.
There's a lot of wisdom there, things that can be applied, a lot of great information.
And 2 Corinthians is a great book but honestly I don't think people really understand it.
Because there's something called sarcasm and backhanded slaps
and Paul's doing that throughout 2 Corinthians.
Sometimes you read over something and you completely miss unless you're paying really close attention
that he basically is just like boom right across someone's face
and you just kind of take it literally without realizing it's symbolic.
He's basically giving a backhanded smack to prove a point.
And we're going to see that in a second. Now in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12
notice this.
Did you know it's a foolish thing to compare yourself to other people?
You see, you might look at yourself and say, you know what, I think I'm a better Christian than so and so.
I read the Bible more, I go to church more, I go soul winning more.
Well what I would ask you is, have you been saved longer? Yes.
Well I hope you're reading the Bible more.
I mean it's a foolish comparison. I've been saved for like 20 years.
Would it really make sense to compare me with someone who's been saved for a short amount of time?
Wouldn't make any sense whatsoever.
And here's the thing, none of us are in the same situation in life.
So how can you really compare yourself with somebody else? It's a foolish thing to do.
And here's the thing, people can go, it can be bad in a couple ways.
You can compare yourself to lift yourself up, or you can compare and feel like a failure.
I mean some people might compare themselves, man I could never be like Pastor Jimenez, Pastor Anderson.
Pastor Anderson, you know that they're human beings? Do you know Elijah is a human being?
Did you know that anybody that's great in the Bible, they're just a human being except the Lord Jesus Christ?
Who is a human being, but you know, all God also.
What I'm saying is, you know what, everybody, the best of people, they're still just a person.
Alright, turn your Bible to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11.
Let me help you to understand what I'm saying.
I started listening to Pastor Anderson, Pastor Steven Anderson, most of you know who I'm talking about, in 2008.
A long time ago. I've been saved for several years, I was already soul winning.
But I was trying to find preaching that really motivated me, and I started listening online.
I started listening to his sermons, and there's a zealous group of people in West Virginia,
myself, Pastor Jason Robinson, other people you might know, Brother Richard Simes.
He would come along a few years later, but we started listening to Pastor Anderson.
Pastor Anderson and Pastor David Berzins, before he was married, so before he was a pastor,
they went to Washington D.C., which is four hours away from where I live, to go to a political rally of Ron Paul.
And so Pastor Anderson messaged us, because he's doing fire alarm jobs, he's traveling all around.
And so he said he's going to be in Washington D.C. if you guys want to come up on Saturday to meet him, hang out, fellowship.
And of course we're excited. I'm listening to this preacher, I'm learning a lot from him, he's motivating me.
And I remember, me and my friends are like, what should we wear tomorrow?
I was thinking, if I wear shorts and a t-shirt, I mean, because it's hot outside, is he going to look down on me?
I mean, do I need to wear a tie? We're literally worried about that, what is he going to think of us?
I mean, because we're thinking, someone's going to be like, thus saith the Lord, right?
And so I remember, you know, I dressed in a dress shirt, I didn't wear a tie, but I remember he was just dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.
You know what I realized that day? He's just a human being like anybody else.
He's nothing special. I mean, when you first meet him, I mean, obviously he's a great man of God, but what I'm saying is, you're not going to walk away and just think, wow, he's so much different than anybody else.
You're going to think of him as a normal person. If you met Pastor Roger Jimenez, you would meet him and say, many of you did when he came here, he's a normal person, wasn't he?
He's just a normal person. I mean, you talk to him, it's like, hey, you know, the expression in the U.S., we all put our pants on one leg at a time.
Right? I mean, we all, you know, eat food, we go to sleep, I mean, we're just human beings.
You know, what's interesting though, because what I'm trying to express to you, and you're going to see this in First and Second Corinthians, is that Paul the Apostle, he was an ordinary person.
If you met Paul the Apostle, and let's say he visited our church for three months and he's not preaching sermons, and he said his name was Paul, you would never guess he's Paul the Apostle.
You would just think he's someone who comes to church. And you'd think well of him, but you wouldn't think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Why? Because he's just an ordinary person. You wouldn't think anything special.
But you know, I thought something about this, because there's another pastor I met that gave off a different impression.
And I had, you know, and everybody pretty much had this opinion, like, wow, this is like the friendliest guy ever, he's such a great person, he's such a cool guy, you felt like he was your best friend.
He got disgraced from the ministry for prostitution and going to casinos and doing drugs.
But here's the thing, everybody when they met him got a very positive feeling. I mean, he seemed like the friendliest guy and greatest guy ever.
Here's what I'm trying to tell you. You can only make so good of a first impression if it's real, if it's sincere.
If you get like, this person's the greatest person ever, red flag. Because a normal person is not going to self-promote or lift themselves up, and you would just think of them as a normal person.
You wouldn't think that highly of them. I mean, Paul the Apostle speaks about this. People started looking down on him, because he's not self-promoting.
And he's saying, you know, eventually we're going to see this, he reaches a breaking point where other people are self-promoting, making themselves leaders.
And I'm not doing that, I'm just going about my business, and now they think less of me because I'm not talking about all the great things that I'm doing.
Right? Go to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
You know, when we had our first missions trip in, help me out, 2018, is that the year? April 2019? Oh yeah, that's right, because it's 18. 18, yeah.
And you know what? There's a lot of people from other countries that came. Many of you were there, a lot of you weren't yet though.
And you know what? People met a lot of different people. And you know what? People that gave off incredibly good first impressions are all people we kicked out of church.
I'm just being completely sincere. You say, why? Because you can't make that good of a first impression if it's real, unless you lift yourself up.
And you know, here's the thing, I'm not saying that everybody gets fooled by that, because you know, one of these people, Pastor Mendez literally said, hey, never hire that person to work for church, after meeting them for like a day.
And he was right. But a lot of people were fooled, because when they got kicked out, I mean, there's people in the US like shocked, like, man, I thought he was like the next great preacher.
I was like, yeah, everybody thought that. It's like everybody thought he was my right hand man, actually, because I got to put a smile on my face and act nice and friendly.
I'm just thinking, man, if there's one person in this church that gets on my nerves, because I know what he's doing. And I know he's good at it, because people thought he was my right hand man. Never. Never was he.
But everybody thought he was my right hand man. Why? Because he self-appointed himself into a position of leadership. I mean, that's the truth. I mean, never did I think that highly of that person.
But people thought I did. What's interesting is, a pastor friend of mine in the US, somebody left his church, and I messaged him. I'm like, man, I'm so sorry. I know that guy was like, you know, one of your strong members.
He's like, man, I'm so glad he left the church. He's like, everybody thought that was my right hand man in reality. We've had so many meetings and problems.
And I talked to Pastor Menes if I need to kick this person out of church. It's like appearances are not always as they seem. Judge nothing before the time. You don't really know.
And here's the thing. It's very easy to subtly self-promote and make yourself better than you actually are.
When we had our first service here at Verity Baptist Church, not here, but at Bayview Park in 2019, November 25, if I remember correctly, it was interesting because it was like the exact opposite of Filipino time.
Everybody's excited. Everybody's there early. I show up like 40 minutes before church, and the room is filled full of people.
Right? We had 40 people for the first service. Some were just out of town visiting, but we didn't have 30 regular people. I didn't know anybody.
Here's the truth. About half those people are still with us today. Right? About half. About 50%.
I mean, those 50% have proved their integrity, have proved that they love God, have been great members of our church.
Here's the thing. I didn't come across with an awesome feeling about any of them when I first met them.
I just thought of them as someone who's coming to church and going, so any. Now, over the course of a year and two years, you start to get to know people.
But I didn't realize that from day one. They're just somebody who came to church. You say, why? Because they didn't tell everybody how great they are.
Right? You know, there's people at our church. I've made this joke before, and honestly, maybe it's not a wise joke because it's a bit misleading.
I made a joke before about how, man, when are the men going to do soul winning? Because ladies report, you know, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.
We do the reporting. There are a lot of men at our church that do a lot of soul winning. They just message me on Saturday and tell me.
You say, why? Because they're not doing their works to be seen of men. They're perfectly fine that nobody knows about it.
I mean, if anybody at this church knows people that I would consider zealous and great people, I know that, but honestly, you don't.
And I only know that, and they only tell me because we report those results in the bulletin. So hey, I just want to let you know I had five salvations for the bulletin.
I had eight salvations for the bulletin. My family had nine salvations, but you don't know.
There's plenty of people at our church through the years that have volunteered in ways that nobody knows.
Cleaning the church building. Well, you don't know about it. Are you going to get rewards for that?
Well, absolutely, because it's showing what's in their heart because they're not telling anybody about it.
I mean, not for the praise of men, but for the Lord, the Bible says.
What I'm saying is be very careful about forming too high of an opinion about anybody because you don't really know people.
2 Corinthians 11, verse 16. Let me show you the backhanded comments that Paul makes, and we're definitely getting done late.
I mean, somebody's probably going to start after 1 45, to be honest.
When you become a parent, you start eating like this. So if you're like me, it's like, Brother Stuckey, did you eat? I'm already done.
What are you talking about, right? Holding a baby, and in one minute, it's like, no, I don't enjoy food.
No, I just get it down because I got kids, and it takes energy, right?
2 Corinthians 11, verse 16. I say again, let no man think me a fool, if otherwise yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.
Now, why does Paul say, you know, don't consider me a fool? Because he's going to do exactly what he said not to do.
He said, I'm going to boast. I'm going to brag. I'm going to tell you how great I am.
And he's saying, I hope you don't think I'm a fool. Then he says this in verse 17, that which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord.
What he's saying is, I don't even know if God thinks this is the right thing to do.
He's saying, I mean, I tell you, don't compare. I tell you, you know, don't do your works be seen of men, and yet, I'm about to do it.
Why is he doing this? Because what's taking place, I mean, remember 1 Corinthians, I mean, the church is a mess. Nobody deals with it.
Paul the Apostle is absent from the church because he's starting churches. Nobody at the church is willing to deal with the problem.
So Paul judges outside the church and says, hey, get the job done. He saves that church from losing their candlestick, right?
He does all the work. Nobody else does anything. Then in 2 Corinthians, what's taking place throughout the book he talks about,
people are lifting themselves up and making themselves be these great people, and now people are thinking lowly of Paul simply because he's not letting everyone know.
Hey, I also got people saved this last week. I also read the Bible, right? And he's saying, I hope you don't think I'm a fool because I'm about to boast and tell you how great I am.
This is the famous chapter where he talks about being shipwrecked, night and days in the deep, and you might say, why would he do that?
Well, that's the context behind 2 Corinthians. This is why he's doing it, because other people are self-promoting, and now they're thinking less of him because they're saying how great they are.
Then he says this, seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. He's like, I'm about to tell you how great I am.
He's basically saying, I don't believe in testimony time, but I'm about to just tell you how awesome I am, right?
By the way, we will never have testimony time at this church. Never. We're never going to have a testimony time where people just get up and say, look at all my great rewards.
Why? I don't want you to lose your rewards in heaven by boasting about how great you are. We're never going to have that, right?
It says in verse 19, for ye suffer fools gladly. That's a rude comment. He's saying, you're listening to all these arrogant fools, seeing ye yourselves are wise.
See, that's where people get confused. He's not saying they're wise. It's a backhanded comment. Ye yourselves are so wise, you think you're so great.
He's like, alright, I'm about to act like a fool. Now go in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11.
Let me give you a couple examples of this, of things we've had in our church in the past, right? With people that are no longer at our church, different people.
And, you know, I guess I've been thinking about it because I made mention a few times during the first sermon about various things. I'm not going to mention any names.
But this person at our church that was disfellowshipped, kicked out, no longer part of our church, he was going sowing with someone by the name of Juan de la Cruz at our church.
Obviously not literally Juan de la Cruz, okay? But just a generic name. He's going sowing with Juan de la Cruz.
I had already been sowing with Juan de la Cruz. And I had gone sowing with Juan de la Cruz, and you know what I noticed about the sowing of Juan de la Cruz, which is also something I've noticed about a lot of people when they first start sowing, is it needs some changes.
It's not in-depth enough. It doesn't explain eternal security. You say, why? Because most Baptist churches, their sowing is just not in-depth.
Now I'm okay with that. Because everybody starts off and they need to make changes, they're learning.
I don't rip people apart because, and I've been sowing with this person, because I realize if somebody is zealous and also humble, they have that combination, they're going to learn.
And the thing is, Juan de la Cruz gives the gospel, then he hears me give the gospel right afterwards, and he's literally like, man, you know what, I need to make some changes.
Like he's told me this, you know, past this point, like, man, I realized I need to be more in-depth and make some changes and everything.
I never criticized him, never said anything about it, because my attitude is, unless they're preaching heresy, it's like, you know what, it's not like you have to say every word that I say.
People are learning, people are growing, and they'll make the changes as they have time, right? As they're part of our church and go sowing with different people.
But this person, who was not working for our church, just a member of our church, trashed his soul-winning and told him, you need to make changes. Your soul-winning is not very good.
Oh, because you yourself are so great at soul-winning. Here's the thing, I would feel super mayabung to act that way, even as the one who runs this church.
I'm not going to trash somebody's soul-winning. Someone who's zealous and trying to do a good job, why would I make them feel horrible?
But, no shame. Walang Hiyada just trashed somebody's soul-winning like that.
By the way, I learned that expression because of this person. I was like, what does that mean? And they told me.
One of the sweetest people at our church, an older lady, used that term for them. It's like, wow, that must be pretty serious what this guy did.
But he just trashed him. That person told me that they felt kind of upset and angry about it, and it didn't have a good result on that person.
They were already trying to do the best they can, and they're learning, look, why would you appoint yourself as a leadership and make yourself act like you're the greatest thing and act like you're my right-hand man?
It's fake. It's phony. Be very careful about people that appoint themselves as a leader.
Another example. There's a guy at our church, different person, and he was criticizing the soul-winning of Maria de la Cruz.
All real stories, just names, are just changed a little bit.
And he was criticizing Maria de la Cruz, and this is what he said to her. She was not allowed to go soul-winning with our church until she got better at it.
He literally said that, no, this is not up to standards. You're not allowed to go soul-winning with our church.
Did Brother Stuckey say that? Did Brother Stuckey give you the authority to do that?
That Wednesday, I preached about it, and I could tell during the preaching, he's squirming around like, oh, man, obviously he knows about this.
I'm glad Maria de la Cruz told us about it, and here's what's foolish about it.
Someone who's just getting into soul-winning and trying to learn and trying to get up the courage, and you just kick them down for not being good enough?
It's like, seriously, what's wrong with you? That's just stupid. How do you get better if you don't practice?
I mean, can you imagine? It's just like you shoot a basketball. Man, you missed. You can't shoot anymore until you get better. How do you get better if you don't practice?
But my point is, man, I really left a mark here, didn't I?
My point is, they self-appointed themselves as a leader. I didn't say that they were a leader.
I didn't say that they were a leader. You know, that same person is still soul-winning today, one of the most zealous soul-winners from our church.
And you know what? Instead of just kicking them down, why don't you give them a chance to learn?
Another example of this person, and this is the last example I got, although honestly I could preach a whole sermon on examples.
They literally told someone that they were not allowed to visit our church.
They said, you're not welcome to visit our church because of this situation. You're not a member. You're not allowed.
And they made it seem as if this is what Brother Stuckey said. I never said that.
It's like, how do you have the right to tell someone they're not allowed to become a part of our church?
It's like, who gave you that authority? Let me help you out. The decisions made at this church are by me. By me.
Now, yes, in most instances, my wife is going to know what my opinion is, so as I said, ladies, you know, come to my wife and ask.
But let me tell you something. You don't tell people, well, you can't go soul-winning. You can't join our church.
That's not the way. I mean, look, maybe other Baptist churches work this way. That's not the way we work at Verity Baptist Church.
And I just think, I can't imagine being a member of a church where you're not a worker and then you tell someone you're not allowed to come to our church.
We're not talking about someone who's a reprobate. We're just talking about a person who's saying you're not allowed to come to our church.
It's like, how could you be that arrogant to even say something like that? Think inside of yourself. Is there anyone in here that could possibly think something like that?
Someone wants to visit our church, well, not worthy. I mean, a normal person would never do something so stupid or be so arrogant, and yet they think it's normal.
It's like, you gotta be kidding. Make no mistake about it. When this church started, there were problems from day one.
There were people that were problems from day one. There were. It's a lot better now than it was when we started.
Not just because we have more people, but because of the fact there are people that just thought of themselves as a leader. It's like, I can't even imagine doing that.
I mean, I've been a member of many churches. I never just made decisions on behalf of the church and acted as if, oh, you know what? I have the authority.
It's like, they didn't even work for the church. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. It says, be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. I would say the same thing today. Follow me as I follow Christ.
What are you saying, Brother Stuckey? I'm saying, you know what? We have a program to read the Bible in January. Follow the standard I'm giving. Follow me as I follow Christ.
Now, of course, if I'm in major sin, I mean, if I'm drinking alcohol, don't follow me.
But as long as I'm following, because here's the thing. Yes, we should not think too highly of any individual person. At the same time, there is God-ordained leadership at churches.
People that are ordained men of God. And here's the reality. You could think this is arrogant or whatever. I don't really care. It's like, I was ordained for a reason.
Do you understand that? It's like the standard of Verity Baptist Church to be ordained, one requirement is reading through the Bible 10 times.
I remember there was an ask of the spiritual leadership class, how many times have you read the Bible? I was thinking, I have no idea. I didn't know what to answer.
I told Pastor Menes, I know I've read it more than 10 times, but I never really kept track. It makes sense to keep track if someone's going to be ordained, because you've got to know your Bible.
But, I mean, when I started reading the Bible, it wasn't like, I've got to tell people how many times I've read it. I was thinking, some years I read it on like a three times through plan.
Sometimes four years. One time I did five times through. It's like, but I wasn't really keeping track, so I was like, I don't know. Right?
It's like, because I wasn't trying to lift myself up, but at the same time, sometimes you preach like this, and then sometimes people can take it too far on the other side and make you think, Brother Stuckey's just like one of us.
I've read the Bible a lot. I've been sowing probably for longer than anyone in this church. Probably. I could be wrong. But basically, less than a year after I got saved.
Right? I've memorized a lot of books of the Bible, and honestly, I don't know off the top of my head, nor is it like a competition, but I'm just saying something.
Follow me as I follow Christ. Right? Give me an example. This is how we do things. You know what? You're going to be successful.
We have things for reading the Bible, going sowing, and if you follow these examples, you're going to be successful in life. Right?
Go to Matthew 6. We'll close up in Matthew 6. Matthew 6.
Matthew 6.
Everybody who's a member of this church should want to just be part of the body. Just part of the body.
We together complete a church, and we have different talents and different abilities. There are many things I am not good at. There's plenty of things that I'm not good at.
There are things that I am good at, though. And I have a realistic view. One thing I know I'm good at is I am good at preaching, and I know that.
And a large part of that is because I do know my Bible pretty well. We have different talents. We have different abilities.
This does not make me better than you, but it does mean I'm the ordained leader of this church, and we've got to do things decently and in order and structure.
Be successful. When our church started, for those of you that are with us from day one, there is no doubt there are problems at our church.
I mean, many people are just posting all these things on Facebook, just ripping everybody apart. I'm thinking, I hope you don't get fired from your job.
I literally preached that. I was like, literally, you guys are going to get fired from your job by ripping apart Catholics on Facebook all the time.
It's like, be very careful, right? I mean, sometimes zeal can be taken a little bit too far, right?
See, Matthew 6 is really the key on getting rewards, because Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount is really about talking about not doing your works to be seen of man.
Matthew 6, verse 1, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Now, alms is not your tithe. Your tithe is 10%. Alms is basically helping out the sick, helping out the poor, or giving above 10%.
Imagine that you decide to give extra money to church or help somebody out, but you want people to know about it.
And then all of a sudden the offering plate is going around and they're just like, oh, oh, you missed me here.
When you make it a point, it's like, a lot of blue bills there, right?
Just, phew. Man, what a foolish thing to just give a lot of money to church and then lose your rewards instantly.
What a dumb thing to do. By the way, I mean, anything you do for God takes time and effort.
What a foolish thing to just throw it away because you have the wrong heart about it.
This is why the Bible says we don't know someone's heart. We don't know why people do things.
Verse 2, Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.
Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. People think they're the greatest thing.
I mean, people are going to look at someone who's bowing down in the middle of the street as if they're really spiritual.
That's what they're going to think. Man, look at those really zealous Muslims just bowing down in public before the world's a-see.
Number one, they need to get saved. And if they are saved, they ain't getting any rewards when they're making it obvious what they're doing.
That's what the Bible says. Nothing wrong with doing things in a public way because sometimes if you help somebody out,
but here's the thing, you should have the attitude that you're kind of shy for everybody to know how great you are.
Not that, man, everybody's got to know what I did. Right?
Verse 3, But when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
And obviously this is a bit of facetious humor that he's saying, but basically make it really secret.
That thine alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
There are people at our church that I know give a lot more than 10%, but you probably don't know that.
You say, why? Because they're not doing their works to be seen of men. That's the reason why.
Verse 5, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.
For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets.
Right? They love to pray before the wailing wall just choo choo choo choo, right?
Over in Israel. And in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men.
Why did they do that? To be seen of men.
I mean, why are they praying from the wailing wall? To be seen of men.
That's the reason why. Give me whatever reason. I don't care. To be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret,
and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
You say, why? Because the Bible is literally saying, I mean, use this word reward, which is like bonus,
which is in the context of the judgment seat of Christ mentioned many times.
You're going to get no reward if you're doing works to be seen of man.
It's not just what you do. It's why you do it.
Matthew 6 verse 16. Matthew 6 verse 16. Last one.
You say, why are you preaching this? Because I want you to get a lot of rewards.
Look, at our church, you know, honestly, because we have some YouTube videos, we put up some pictures from time to time,
there's a reason why I don't put up as many as some other churches.
Because I feel kind of shy about it, to be honest.
I mean, I, and I get it, and trust me, inside my heart sometimes there's like that competitive side that,
oh, but it's just like, that's, and I'm not saying, because I can't judge whether someone's doing it for the right reason or not.
As I said, I can't know their heart. I just know that for me myself, it's like, man, I put some stuff up,
but I feel kind of shy because, you know, I don't know if it's right.
It's like, you know what, I just, and you know, and I'll be honest, and this is something my wife has told me,
like, the Philippines is a very, very different culture than the US because, I mean, people are very into taking pictures in Asia.
It's not really like that in the US, right? It's like a little bit different.
So it's kind of like, you know, it's more of a quiet atmosphere with stuff like that.
But at the same time, you know, from time to time we post stuff for our church,
but at the same time, you know, you don't want to make your Facebook just boasting about what you are or who you are.
I remember there was an example many years ago.
There was this married couple that they were like the greatest couple ever on Facebook.
I was good friends with, you know, someone who was the brother-in-law of one of them,
and he's like, they have the worst marriage ever.
They're literally about to get divorced.
But on Facebook, it's like the greatest marriage ever.
Looks can be deceiving, my friends.
It's not always accurate.
Don't get into this thing, I've got a complete man, look, and their marriage is so great, they did all this.
It's like, you don't really know.
You really don't.
And it's like worry about her.
And it's a dangerous thing in the social media generation.
It's easy to get caught up in comparing.
It's like, don't do that.
It says, moreover, when you fast, be not of the hypocrites of a sad countenance,
for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward.
I mean, literally people fasting.
And they're like, man, I don't look, you know, you know, weak enough.
I've got to make myself look worse than I am.
Because they want people to know.
It's like, man, I started fasting and I don't look skinny enough or whatever.
It's like, I've got to just, you know, destroy my face so everybody knows about it.
Man, I can't imagine fasting for a period of time and then throwing away that reward
because I've got to let everybody know about it.
What a foolish thing to do.
Notice what it says in verse 17.
But thou, when thou fastest, notice this, notice this,
when thou fastest, put black ash on your head to let people know Lent has started.
Is that what it says?
I remember I was in grade school and I didn't know about Lent.
Right?
And where I grew up, one out of five people were Catholics or whatever.
And I remember seeing somebody had like this black thing in their head
and I'm just, I kept looking.
I felt guilty about staring but it's like, okay.
And then all of a sudden I started seeing other people with black stuff on their head.
I'm like, what's going on?
It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
What's going on?
And then somebody told me.
It's like, oh, they put black ash on their head to symbolize Jesus or whatever.
I was like, I still don't get it.
To let everybody know, hey, guess what?
I am participating in Lent.
They have their reward.
That's what the Bible says.
It actually says to make it look like you're not fasting, if you are fasting.
Anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast,
but unto thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret,
shall reward thee openly.
See, I think this is preaching that's important for all of us
because honestly, it's really hard to do good things without self-promoting yourself.
We all naturally want people to know what we're good at and what we're doing,
and I get it.
It's part of our flesh.
I mean, there's something inside of you.
I mean, we get back from soul-winning.
Let's say you have a really good day and somebody says, man, I got four people saved.
Inside of you, I got five.
It's like, you want people to know, right?
I mean, is this not true?
Let's just be honest with it.
Even as we do something spiritual, it's easy to come back
and you've got to let people know you're better than somebody else.
I certainly struggle with pride.
I certainly struggle with this.
You know what the danger is?
Buy-buy rewards because you had to tell everybody how great you are.
I mean, when you do works and when you serve God, just be content with saying,
you know what, I'm just a member of church and I'm just part of the body of Christ.
You're not telling everybody about all the things that you're doing.
Not for the praise of men as we sung, but for the Lord.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and getting to see this topic at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
I ask you to help everyone in our church.
Help us to get a lot of rewards in heaven.
Help us be very successful and serve you, but not do it to be seen of man
or to get credit, but just because we love you.
And I ask you to help us all change, not just the outside, but help us change the inside.
Help us to change our heart.
Help us to love you and serve you.
And just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
First Sansa, ready? Sing.
On the second.
Chorus.
On the third.
Chorus.
Even ready?
Amen.