Yummy!
Oh, what a kiss our Lord's command
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
I want to sing it, everybody
Black feet on the rolling tide
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Let the saints glorify
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Sing ye of the democracy
Let go of the ocean pain
Earth shall fear, for you believe
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Sing above the battle-stride
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
By his death and endless life
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Sing it softly to the tune
When the heart for e'ers he came
Sing it triumph morn and soon
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Give the winds a mighty voice
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Let the nations now rejoice
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
Shout, ole, to rule and reign
High as hills and deep as skin
This our song of victory
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
It's time to take our diocese offering
Jesus, hey, Jesus, hey
After reading, please open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 9
Genesis chapter 9, and we are going to read the verses 1-19
Genesis 9 verses 1-19
Please say amen when you're there
And God blessed Noah
and his sons and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth
and the fear of you and the dread of you shall
be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that
move upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea. In your hand
are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be made
for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things.
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof shall
ye not eat. And sure your blood of your lives will I require
at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand
of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
Whoso shadeth man's blood by man's blood be shed
for the image of God made him man. And you, be fruitful
and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply that in.
And God spake unto Noah and his sons with him saying,
And I behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you.
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl of the cattle
and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark
to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant
with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood.
Neither shall there any more be a flood to all destroy the earth.
And God said, This is the token of the covenant
which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you
for perpetual generations. I beset my bow on the cloud, and
it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall
be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you
and every living creature of all flesh, and the water shall no more become a flood
to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud.
And I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting
covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established
between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. And the sons of Noah that went forth
of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth.
Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan.
These are the three sons of Noah, and of them was the whole earth
overspread. Thank you, our father, for your word.
Thank you for the Bible. And we ask you that you bless the whole
service, that you bless the sermon, that you give us concentration, to listen,
to understand, and to apply. And please change our hearts and we pray in
his name, Amen.
Alright, we're here in Genesis chapter 9 and we're continuing a series on the alphabet of
Bible doctrines. For the letter X we're going to be talking about xenophobia.
Now you say, what is xenophobia? Now let me give you just
a couple definitions here. Xenophobia is a dislike of
or prejudice against people from other countries. Or it's
defined as the fear or prejudice with respect to someone who is perceived as foreign
or other in a national, cultural, religious,
or ethnic sense. And so the basic idea of xenophobia is
someone that doesn't want to see any changes with their culture or their nation.
They just want everything to stay the same. They're very nationalistic and say, wow, you know what,
we're the Philippines. Everybody else should stay out. We don't want to have any changes in our culture whatsoever.
Well the question with any topic we talk about is, what does the Bible
say about it? Now it would be kind of odd for me to be like, we should be
xenophobic when I'm here in the Philippines and obviously I wasn't born here.
So I think it's kind of pretty obvious what my opinion about this is.
But point number one is this, we are all of the same blood.
Everybody in this room is of the same blood. It says here in Genesis 9
verse 18, And the sons of Noah that went
forth of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. And Ham is the father
of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah, and of them
was the whole earth overspread.
Every single person in this world, we go back to Shem,
Ham, and Japheth. And of course you can go all the way back to Adam
and Eve, but then of course there's the flood that wiped out everybody else.
And then we go back to Noah and his wife, and then you have Shem, Ham,
and Japheth. All of us derive from that point. Our verse
of the week was Genesis 3.20, and Adam called his wife's name Eve because
she was the mother of all living.
And so there's a lot of weird ideas in this society about things like the Big Bang
theory, and evolution, and obviously we reject that.
But some people have this sort of idea like, well, black people
evolved over here from this rock, and white people evolved from
this rock, and the Asians came from this rock, and then everybody
else is somewhere in between, or something like that. And some people would look at this with
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and they'll literally say, well, you know what? Ham was
black, and Shem was white, and Japheth was Asian.
That's literally the sort of thing that they will say. Now I grew up in West Virginia,
and West Virginia is arguably the least diverse
state ethnically in the United States.
Remember I looked at a website online that gave kind of a comparison,
and based on three categories, West Virginia was voted the least ethnically diverse
state. And so look, everybody I saw growing up
was white. Everybody. I remember the first
time I saw someone that was black, or African American, or however
I'm supposed to say it, so I'm not a racist, was when I was a teenager
going to a baseball game in Pittsburgh to a big city. Other than that
though, everybody was white growing up. Now it's become a bit more diverse
because of colleges, and things such as that, but
it's not very diverse. And so a common sort of teaching
or preaching in West Virginia is that, well, you know,
Ham was a black man, and black people derived from Ham.
And this is lunacy, because what I would assume with
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, is they probably look pretty similar.
Right? I mean, if you look at my son Zeph,
and you look at my son Ezra, they don't look identical
at that age, you know, when Zeph was the age of Ezra now, but there's certainly
similarities. I mean, you wouldn't be shocked that they're brothers, because generally
brothers look pretty similar to one another. And Shem, Ham, and Japheth,
guess what? They look pretty similar to one another. And this idea,
well, you know, kind of Shem went this direction, and Ham went this direction,
and Japheth went this direction. Look, people have been intermarrying
for thousands of years, since the beginning of time. And so
all of us are a mix of people from all over the world.
Now, obviously, you know what, people went to various countries, and if you look at people
from Japan, they look a little bit different than people from here, or people
from Sweden, or whatever country that you want to say, but
especially in nowadays' world, it's so intermingled that everything is
just being blurred from those kind of traditional things that you would look at, okay?
Now, turn to your Bible to Acts 17. Acts 17.
Acts 17.
The other thing to think of is that, you know, of course of those
three sons, Ham would be the one that you would say, hey, that's the worst out of the three.
But it's not like every single one of the lineage of Ham
was evil, or every one of the lineage of Shem was righteous,
or every one of the lineage of Japheth was righteous. I mean, there's
good people and bad people all over the world from
every ethnicity under the sun. The Bible says in Acts 17,
verse 26,
So the Bible says that God is made of one blood, all nations.
So whether you're from the Philippines, which wasn't even
a country back during this time period, or the United States,
or wherever, it's like we are of one blood. And yeah,
you know, your blood type might be, you know, A positive, or whatever,
but we're still of the same blood. We derive from the same source of
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, going all the way back to right
off the ark. Go to Acts chapter 10. Acts 10.
Acts chapter 10.
And, you know, as your turn to Acts 10, let me just quote what the Bible says,
for there is no respect of persons with God. God doesn't look down at you because of your
skin color, or your eye color, or your hair color, or your height,
or your weight, or whatever your feature is, and say, well, I like this person
because he fits this category that is something I like.
Right? Where I don't like this person because of the fact, you know what, of his skin.
No, it's just like, there's no respect of persons with God. And in God's
eyes, it's not about your skin color, or your eye color, or your hair color, it's
do you obey what the Bible says? Do you believe on Christ, and are you
obeying what he says? Obviously, God is not a racist.
There is no respect of persons with God. The Bible says in Acts 10, verse 31,
And said, Cornelius, thy prayers
heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
Send, therefore, to Joppen, call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodged in the house
of one Simon a tanner by the seaside, who when he cometh shall speak unto thee.
Immediately, therefore, I sent to thee, and now it is well done that thou art come.
Now, therefore, are we all here present before God, to hear all things
that are commanded thee of God. Then Peter opened his mouth and said,
For truth I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons. And what Peter is saying in the context is,
God doesn't look down on you because you're from this country, or
look up on you because you're from this country. And you know what? Peter,
along with almost all of the apostles and the main followers of Jesus,
they had this hyper-Jewish perspective where they wanted to reach only
the Jews for the Gospel, yet the Bible says Jesus died for the sins of the whole
world. And so, don't just try to reach the Jews, but try to reach people
from all over the world of every ethnicity. And then,
this story is given because he kind of has that attitude, and then he
preaches to a man that is unsaved, but he fears God.
He's a good man, and then he's saying, you know what? Of a truth I perceive
that God is no respecter of persons. Basically, God is not a racist.
He doesn't look down on you because you're not of Jewish descent.
Because here's someone who fears God. Here's someone who fears God and wants to hear the Gospel.
And look, in our world today, out of all the countries
in the world, there are certain countries you would look at and say, that is a very
wicked country. Which, quite honestly, you should say that about probably
every country in the world. But certain countries you'd look at,
like let's say North Korea. That's a country you'd say is a very
wicked country. You're not able to serve God. You're not able to preach the
Gospel. You're not able to have a real church. My understanding is they
have church, but they have government officials there to make sure you're still bowing
before the statue and not saying certain things. So that is
obviously a wicked area. But you know what? There's people that love God in North Korea.
Just as in a so-called Christian country,
there's plenty of people that hate God. So it's not about what country you're from
or what the predominant religion of that country is. The question
is, what about you? If somebody came from an Arabic country,
and make no mistake, Islam is wicked as hell. It's such an
evil and horrible religion. But just because someone's from
an Arab country, that doesn't mean that they're a bad person.
I mean, if they believe on Christ, it's like you shouldn't
hold it against them because they were raised Muslim.
Right? And actually, our church leader in Bicol,
you know, he was raised Muslim. Right? You know, he wasn't born in
an Arabic country as far as I know, but he was raised Muslim
before. Is that held against him because he rejected a false religion a long time ago?
Obviously not, because the question is, what do you believe?
Right? If somebody was from India, would we look down on them because, well, that's a Hindu country.
If they believe on Christ and they're rejecting Hinduism
and they're rejecting all the weird religions there, why would you hold that against them?
It doesn't matter where someone's from. What matters is, what do they believe
because there's no respect of persons with God. Verse 35,
But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with him. So in every nation he that
feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.
It doesn't matter what country or what area somebody is from.
The question is, are they fearing God? Are they serving
God? Are they doing what's right? It doesn't matter what the dominant
religion of where they come from is. Right? Now, I
grew up Protestant, which is, I guess, just kind of like a generic sort of religion.
But what if I grew up in Salt Lake City and I was raised a Mormon? Would that be
held against me because I rejected Mormonism when I got saved?
That would be stupid that you would hold something against me because
I was born in a false religion. And quite honestly,
almost everybody in this room was part of a false religion
growing up. Look, I am not the only one that had water sprinkled
on my head as a baby. Right? I had water sprinkled on my head
as a Protestant and you did too because you grew up Catholic.
Right? But I'm not going to hold that against you because you've obviously
rejected Catholicism and you believe on Christ. You just got brought up
in a false religion, false church, false belief system. That's not held
against you though because it's what you believe now. Turn in your Bible
to 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
1 Corinthians chapter 9.
So point number 1 is we are
all of the same blood. We are all of the same blood.
We all go back to Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We all go back to Noah
and his wife. All of us. Every single one of us. Now,
obviously if you were to look at different people in this room depending on where you grow up,
obviously I look a little bit different than most people in this room because
in the United States, coming from Europe, when I go back to my heritage
in the past, it's like obviously you've got the white
complexion, the lighter hair color and things such
as that. But we still all go back to Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Every single one of us. So it doesn't matter what your skin
tone is or your hair color. The question is what do you believe about
Jesus Christ and do you love God? Do you fear God? Point number 2,
we are all of the same blood, but point number 2, we don't accept
false religion and sin. So it's not about your skin color
or your blood type. It's about what your beliefs are.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19,
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that
I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew,
that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I
might gain them that are under the law. Now some people try to take verse 20
out of context and he says, unto the Jews I became as a Jew,
he's not saying, hey, I still keep the Passover and
kill a lamb because I'm trying to win Jews to Christ. That's not what Paul is
saying. He's saying that I tried to fit in with that culture
and not try to cause any problems in order to gain them. But he's not
saying, you know what, I just act like a Jew and I just stand before the wall and go like
this because that's what they do. Or if I'm in India, I've got a cow
here and I put the necklace on the cow and bow down and start worshiping the cow.
That's not what he's saying. He's saying I just tried to fit in in the culture
that I'm in. He says, unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain
the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them
that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law,
being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain
them that are without law. So he puts this part in parentheses
and I think the reason why is, don't take me out of context.
You're going to hear me say, I went to those that are without law,
as without law, and you're going to say, well see, they're getting drunk.
I'm trying to get them saved so I'm getting drunk too. He's saying, no,
I'm not without law because I'm under the law to God. I'm underneath
the rules of God. So what he's saying is, I don't sacrifice
my integrity, my morale, my character,
right and wrong in order to try to get somebody saved. He said, I have a standard
I have to live under and I'm not going to make a change just to try
to fit in. You say, what are you saying brother Stuckey? Here's what I'm saying.
At your office party where you get invited and everybody's getting drunk,
you say, well I don't drink, I'm just there to try to get them saved. How about not being
in that atmosphere at all? How about having no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them?
Right? And it's very easy to give in to peer pressure
but you have to remember, you are not without law to God.
You have rules and standards you must abide by
and sometimes that means you don't fit in with society because
you're taking a stand on what is right and what is wrong.
I've heard this dumb hypothetical mentioned before about, well
what if, what if the only way to get
somebody saved is to go to a bar with them
and just hang out while they're getting drunk and that's your only opportunity
to get them saved. Would you go and do that? You know what I would say is
avoid foolish questions. Don't ask things that are
stupid. Number one, who ever gets
saved when they're drunk?
I have given the gospel to plenty of people in my life that had
at least some beer in their system. I'll tell you what, with just
less than one beer, it's like I don't see them ever getting saved.
Their mind is just not quite there. Sometimes they live, I'm not saying it's impossible
if they've had one sip of beer, but I'm saying if somebody's drunk,
they're not getting saved. It's not going to happen. Their mind
is clouded and they just don't get it. It's just going to go over
their head. They're not going to get it. I mean I personally when people are getting
drunk, you know as we're out soul winning, I just usually avoid those people.
If I walk up to them and realize they're drunk, I'll just leave them the invite and of course
they're welcome to visit church, but it's like they're not going to get saved when they're drunk.
That's just the way it is. Right? So that's a dumb question to
say, well Brother Stuckey, would you go around people that are getting drunk to try to
get them saved? How about inviting them on lunch break
so you can preach the gospel to them? Because I've done that to
many co-workers through the years where I said, hey, can you come to lunch with me? I'll take you out to lunch
and I want to talk to you about something. I'll pay for your lunch and then I give them
the gospel on lunch break. But you know what I don't do? Is yeah,
I'll just go to this party where people are getting drunk and trying to get
them saved. I mean, that's retarded. That's dumb. They're not going to get saved.
And that's just an excuse for not preaching the gospel to them.
You know they're not going to get saved if they're getting drunk. Right?
And so what he says though is being not without law to God,
but under the law to Christ. And there's right and there's wrong and
it doesn't change in order to try to get them saved. Right?
No, there are rules that we must live by. So he's saying, I will try to
fit in as much as possible in order to reach
people. But I have a limit when it comes to what's
right and what's wrong. I will not commit sin and do wrong
in order to try to get somebody saved. Verse 22,
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I made all
things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
Look at Numbers chapter 12. Numbers 12.
Numbers chapter 12.
And let me give you an example in the Bible where a few people that ought to know better
rebuke Moses for something and Moses is cleared as being innocent in the eyes
of God. Notice what it says in Numbers 12 verse 1,
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he
had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
And the ate and the kuya of Moses
criticize him and they say, well, wait a minute, why'd you marry this
Ethiopian woman? Now, when it comes to Moses'
first wife, you know, honestly, we just have no idea what happened to
Zipporah. So I'm not going to give you a guess. Honestly, there's just not information
in the Bible, in my opinion, that you can really go into. Obviously, if you go verse
by verse through Exodus, you could talk about it or whatever. We don't really know.
Is his wife passed away or what? We're not really sure. But they're criticizing
him not that he gets married, but for the woman that he married,
an Ethiopian woman. Now, in the Bible, Ethiopia, and if you just look at
a map of geography, what country is Ethiopia
pretty close to? Egypt.
Right? And so oftentimes, Ethiopian Egypt, I wouldn't necessarily
say they're used interchangeably, but Ethiopia was kind of under the
reign of Egypt during time periods in history. And so
the criticism is basically, we just left Egypt
and now you're marrying this woman that is just like the country that we left?
Now, here's the thing. If she was bringing in
false and pagan God worship, they would have a point.
Be like, why are you marrying this woman that's worshipping a crocodile?
Right? Why are you marrying this woman that's worshipping this man
with a head like a bird? Right? Well, then they would have a point.
But they're criticizing because of where she's from.
Well, here's the thing. I mean, we don't know a lot about this woman, but let's say that she
loves God and fears God. Why would you hold it against her because
of where she's from? Right? And then God clearly
takes the side of Moses in the story and is like, you have no right to
criticize Moses because of who he married. And they're criticizing
because, well, she's an Ethiopian woman. Now, in my opinion,
this is the second wife of Moses. I would presume his first wife, maybe
she passed away. I don't know. I read just online this past week, though, with
early Christian scholars like Josephus. They say this woman
that they're criticizing, he was married to
first. And I'm just like, she just pops up in Numbers
chapter 12. It's like, what did they say? Well, Moses was leading
a conquest in Egypt, and then all of a sudden he came across this woman in Ethiopia
and he married her. And it's like, what? Like, what Bible are you reading?
This is the first reference to her. And you can argue about
Zipporah, but here's the thing. This is obviously
not the same woman, in my opinion, and it's certainly not the first person that he married.
Because this was an event, if this was referring to his first wife,
it's like they're going way back in history to criticize him. Now, I believe the criticism is
he marries a woman, and she's from an area
that's very close to Egypt, and they're criticizing because, wait a minute, you shouldn't marry
an Egyptian, right? But wait a minute. If she fears God
and loves God, what difference does it make what the beliefs of her country
are? It doesn't make a difference at all. Go in your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11.
Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11.
And so let me just read you this about ancient Egyptian religion. It was a complex system
of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient
Egyptian culture. And I've read parts of their so-called holy book,
The Book of the Dead, and it's literally just sorcery and magic.
Depending on the situation, because what they believe just in
general is that when a person dies, those that are living help
prepare the dead for the afterlife. So if you want somebody to be rich in the
afterlife, you pray to this God and say these set words and do this
ritual, and they will be rich. If you want them to be strong, you pray to
this God and say this, right? And it's just sorcery and
black magic and wickedness. So look, obviously if
his wife has like a little idol of a crocodile
that she's praying to so that people don't get
eaten by crocodiles, there's a problem. But that's not what she's
doing according to the Word of God. There's no indication of that. The indication is just
well, she's from that area, but she obviously doesn't have the religion of that area. Because
obviously if you marry an unbeliever, there's a problem with that. You've got to marry someone
that's in the Lord, the Bible says. Someone that's saved. But you
can't look down on someone because of where they're from. Some modern day
examples would be like, what if somebody married someone from an Arabic country?
It's like, oh, you know, Arabia, it's a Muslim area.
Yeah, but it doesn't mean that person's Muslim, though. Or you marry
someone from India. Well, it's a Hindu area, but that doesn't mean that
they're Hindu. I know people that have been raised in
a variety of different religions that have rejected those religions
and believed on Christ and are saved, and who cares what
their background is? I mean, praise the Lord, they rejected the false religion and got
saved. Or maybe a more
applicable example for this area is maybe
people could be hesitant or afraid of
Chinese people and say, well, wait a minute, they bring in a lot of gambling and stuff.
I haven't really researched this stuff, it's just some things that I've heard people say about
bringing in gambling and stuff, specifically in Manila, Ermita
area and stuff like that. But wait a minute, that doesn't mean that someone, just because
they come from that country originally, is doing gambling
or anything wrong. I mean, if they believe on Christ, why would you hold it against
them because of their ethnicity? It's unfair
to Moses' wife and to Moses, and it would be unfair for any of us to do that
to anybody because you don't like the country they're from.
I mean, obviously there's a lot of wicked countries in this world, but it's not somebody's fault
where they're born. They have free will to decide if they believe on Christ
and if they're going to serve God, and if they make that choice, why would you hold it
against them where they're from? Go to Hebrews 11.
And let me just say this,
that in the U.S., and specifically in West
Virginia, there are a lot of Baptist churches that will preach against interracial
marriage, which is not really the main scope of this sermon, and they'll use
the story of the daughters of Zelophehad where it's a specific situation because there's
no son to pass on the family name. So he specifically says marry within
your tribe, but that's a very specific situation for a specific reason.
But in reality, they don't have a problem with you marrying someone
of a different ethnicity or from a different country. The reality is they have a problem
with a white person marrying a black person. And they're not going to say that,
but that is literally what they mean. Because it's
a bit offensive to me because obviously I'm from here, my wife's Filipino,
but if I were to press them on that and say, well, wait a minute, what's your problem with who I'm married to? No, no, no.
Not you. Not you. We're just talking about people from Africa.
That's literally what they mean. They're not going to say that,
but that is the truth. They don't have a problem with you marrying someone
of a different ethnicity as a white person. They just don't want you to marry a black person.
Generally, that is true.
But it's a wicked sort of attitude because if somebody
loves God and if two people love God and
they want to be married to one another, it's like, well, you can't do that because of your
skin color. That's stupid. Look, it's hard enough to find the right
person to marry, so if you find someone that loves God and you love them,
it's like, why would you say, well, I'm not going to do this because of their skin color. That is
stupid. And we have Numbers 12 as a proof that there's nothing wrong
with interracial marriage. And newsflash, interracial,
I actually believe in interracial marriage. Marry someone of the human
race. Now, that actually needs to be preached in 2023.
We're of the same race. We all
come from Shem, Ham, and Japheth, which
all go back to Adam and Eve. So yeah, I guess I do believe in interracial marriage.
Marry a human of the opposite gender, which also
needs to be said in 2023. Hebrews 11, verse 13.
Hebrews 11, verse 13.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that
country, for whence they came out, they might have had an opportunity
to have returned. But now they desire a better country
that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for He hath prepared for them a city. The Bible says here in this
hall of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11, they desire a
better country. Be very careful
about being overly nationalistic
and caring too much about the country that you live in.
Now, look, I'm not saying you should hate your country. I think it's good to love your country.
But be very careful being overly patriotic or overly nationalistic
because, news flash, there's a much better country than the Philippines.
And I'm not referring to the United States of America.
Okay? I'm referring to heaven. I'm referring to the fact
that we're just a passing through. We're here for 80 years
to, you know, 70, 80 years is generally the average.
And, you know, basically we should live our life here where we're looking toward the heavenly.
Set not your affection on things on the earth, but things above the Bible says.
As a safe person, instead of focusing on this world, realize
I'm just here and passing through. And focus on the things
of heavenly, spiritual, rather than the things of this life,
this earth. We are here for a short time, and then we pass away.
And so wherever you live, serve God zealously in the location
that you live. If one day you move to another country
or another church or another city or wherever, wherever you live, read the Bible,
pray, serve God, and do the most that you can
with the perspective it's not about this life, it's about the heavenly
country that I'm waiting for. Turn in your Bible to
Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12.
Exodus 12.
Now look, I love living in the Philippines, and the
number one primary reason is because you're freely able to serve God.
I mean, if they were freely able to serve
God in Egypt, they would have probably been serving God in Egypt.
But they weren't able to, so God led them out. He delivered them.
But here's the thing, because there's a lot of countries in this world,
you cannot freely serve God. You look at the Muslim countries,
what's so horrible about those countries is you can't serve God in those countries.
Now you can try, but it's not like you can just openly
and freely just serve God without having to worry.
I mean, you might get your head cut off, literally. In North Korea,
it's just like you can't freely serve God in that country.
And those aren't the only ones. I'm just using kind of some common examples.
But in the past, if you lived in a Catholic country, you couldn't really serve God.
Now I'm very happy that Catholicism is a much more watered down version
in 2023, because you're able to freely serve God. I preach against
Catholicism all the time, and I don't have to worry about repercussions.
There was certainly a time in this world where in Catholic countries,
you'd get killed for getting baptized. And what I would say is, during that time,
it would be a horrible place to live. But in 2023,
there's not really a whole lot of restrictions on serving God
in the Philippines. So if you live in an area where you can freely serve God,
you ought to be very thankful and praise God and take advantage of that freedom
and serve God to your fullest. But let me say this,
no country is the standard.
I think a lot of people look at the country they live in and they act
as if it's the standard, where if another country is different,
that means that country is wrong because this is the standard
and this is perfection. But see, that's not true
because every country is wicked and the whole world lies in wickedness,
the Bible says. No country is the standard of what's right
and what's wrong. And look, in the United States, it's a very nationalistic
country and that is a country you can freely serve God, but it's not the
standard of right and wrong. There's a lot of things that are wrong in the U.S.,
especially in today's world as abortion is legalized and gay marriage
is legalized, it's not the standard of right and wrong, neither is the
Philippines, neither is any country. You say, Brother Stuckey, what is the standard
of right and wrong? This is the standard. And what this book says goes.
And if a country is against the things of what God says,
God's right and the country's wrong. It doesn't matter what country you're
from or what that country teaches, what does God say? The Bible is
the standard, no country is the standard. So point number one,
we're all of the same blood. Point number two, we do not accept
false religion and sin. Number three, what about the topic
of immigration to another country? This is a question that a lot
of people ask, well, what about immigration? Well, let me just show you what the Bible
says, because the Bible does have all the answers. Exodus 12, verse 18,
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat
unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven
days shall there be no leaven found in your houses, for whosoever eateth that which is
leaven, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel,
whether he be a stranger or born in the land.
So there's a contrast between born in the land,
a native, and a stranger. A stranger is a
foreigner. Because here's the reality of the situation,
the best place to live during this time
would have actually been with those that are making the exodus out of Egypt.
Because God's people are centered in one area, and during that time period,
as a nation, Israel was blessed, that would be the place you would want to live
because you're able to serve God to the fullest. So what you see is people
immigrate, they migrate to be with God's people. And of course,
the Passover is a big event, so maybe you're not able to move, but people
might want to take a vacation. What better time than the Passover,
which is once a year? So the Bible's saying is, if somebody
comes from another area that's not born in the land, here's the thing,
no problem, that's great, but they must abide by the
laws of the country. They must follow the same standard, whether they're
born in the land, or whether they be a stranger. Go to verse number 47.
Verse 47.
All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, so someone from another country,
and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his
males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it.
And he shall be as one that is born in the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
One law shall be to him that is homeborn,
and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
You know, in our modern day, people get visas to live somewhere for three months,
or six months, and somebody might be sojourning, which means living
temporarily, saying, hey, I've saved up money, I've got three months,
I want to be with God's people. And there's churches in the US, I know,
where people go for a couple months, and serve God, and go soul winning,
and they're basically sojourning for a time period, and then they're going to be heading back.
And the Bible's saying, there's going to be people that want to sojourn among you.
Because here's the thing, in our modern day, what is the biggest
Christian event each year?
Easter. Right? That's the biggest Christian
event in the world. I mean, Easter's because we're remembering the resurrection
of Christ, and our salvation and our beliefs are based on this idea
of the resurrection. Because if He didn't rise, I quit.
I'm done. Somebody gave me
proof during the sermon, which this is a stupid hypothetical, that He didn't rise again.
It's like, alright, I'm done. Because there's no point. It's a waste of time.
It's all in vain if He didn't rise again, as the Bible says.
And so, here's the thing, before the resurrection
of Jesus, and before the birth of Jesus Christ, the big
event you're looking forward to is the Passover, which is once a year,
because you're looking forward toward the future. And so, this was a big event
as they left Egypt as well, the death of the firstborn, with the blood on the door.
And so, this would be an event where people would want to
sojourn among you. And the Bible's saying, that's great, but they must
follow the same standard as those that are born in the land. Go in your Bible to Numbers
15. Numbers 15.
Now, in the U.S., this is a very
controversial topic, you know, immigration. And the big
problem in America is that you can move to the U.S.
and the government gives you money, and you never have
to work. And you just live off the government. So, there's people that will
literally, you know, illegally come into the U.S., and somehow they
illegally come into the U.S., and then the government just gives them money, and it's
like, they don't have to work or do anything. And the problem is, if everybody's getting
free stuff, nothing's free.
Right? Just imagine if 80% of this country just
started getting free money. They didn't have to work. That means 20% of people are working
like quadruple overtime to pay for them to get free stuff,
because nothing's free. Somebody has to work for it. And so what takes place
is people will come in, and then they just get free money from the government, and they don't have to
do anything. And it's just, it's madness, because what would ever be their motivation
to actually start working if they're getting free money? Right now, obviously
there's people that have disabilities in various situations. Even in the Bible, there's
people that could be born with major disabilities and things like that. But
a lot of people just want to live off the government, and they don't want to work hard. Well, that would
obviously be wrong. And what is taking place is countries
that do that, like the U.S., countries that do that, like Saudi Arabia,
their wealth is actually steadily going down. It is not what
it once used to be. My dad tells me stories about
when you would graduate college, there'd be recruiters at the college when
you walk out the door, work for me! Work for me! Work for me!
It wasn't really like that when I graduated. When I graduated, you've got to put out
job resumes everywhere. You've got to do the work. But I guess back then, they had
such a surplus that the employers were trying to get new employees fresh
out of college. Well, it's a different situation, and obviously the U.S.
is still a very wealthy country compared to the average country, but
when countries are giving out all this free money, they're actually bankrupting
their country. And that's actually like communism.
It's a whole other topic, a whole other sermon. But
here's the thing, though. If somebody moves to a country
and adopts the laws of the country
and works hard, they're a blessing to the
country. They're a benefit to the country. So the
problem is not really the immigration, it's the fact what the government does when
they actually get in the country. Because the U.S. itself, it's a country
built from immigrants. The Native Americans
are not the ones that are in control in the U.S. or
built that up. I mean, they are very much the minority in
2023. And immigrants came in, and it was very helpful to the U.S. because
they worked hard. They wanted to escape false religion. They were able to come to the U.S.
as they preached before when the pilgrims came in situations like that. And then they were able to freely
serve God. And it made it a big blessing. And God blessed that country as a result.
So the problem is not really immigration. The problem is if you're giving them free money
and they're not doing anything. The Bible says in Numbers 15, actually turn to
Joshua 6 for sake of time. I'm already kind of late on time. Go to Joshua 6.
But some other verses the Bible speaks about if you're from another country
and you move to a country, you have to adopt the laws of that country.
And so it's not like, well, in my country
you're allowed to do this. Yeah, but if you committed that act in the country
that you're in, you follow the laws of that country. That's the way it should be.
And God says to him, he says, wait a minute. You can move to Israel.
You can be with God's people, but you have to follow the laws of that country.
And there were restrictions where they were not allowed to just worship any God they
want and do every pagan sorcery and things like that. A lot of things
had the death penalty on them. And it's hard for us to kind of comprehend this because we
live in a day where no country is really fully following
God's laws and they're not implementing God's system
in the Bible. But in God's system, people were able to immigrate
but here's the rules you must follow. It's not just a free
for all, do whatever you want. Let me give you a couple examples of people that immigrated that were
actually a real blessing to God's people. Joshua 6, verse 16.
And it came to pass at the seventh time when the priest flew with the trumpets.
Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord hath given you the city.
And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein, to the Lord.
Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that were with her in the house because she hid
the messengers that we sent. And Rahab believes in the true God
and here's the thing, if she was bringing in prostitution,
well yeah, you got a big problem. But she obviously did not.
She rejected her old life, she believed on the true God, and then she actually
became a great mom in the Bible, raised Boaz. So here's the thing,
was she a blessing? Absolutely. But when
she immigrated, she adopted the laws of the country. Go in your Bible to Ruth chapter 2.
Ruth 2. Let me give you another example. Ruth 2.
Ruth chapter 2.
And the Bible says in Ruth 2,
and if you're familiar with the story, Ruth was from Moab
and she kind of has this decision to make where she's kind of on the fence,
you know, there's Orpah and there's Ruth. And really the only difference,
because Orpah also seems like a very nice young lady, the only difference between
Orpah and Ruth is that Ruth wanted it a little bit more.
And Orpah chose to return to Moab and Ruth chose to forsake Moab
and by making that choice, it's kind of like, I'm going to trust in God,
He's going to provide for me financially. I mean that's a big, big risk
that Ruth took, but why? Because she wanted to serve the true God.
And if somebody wants to serve the true God, then great!
I mean that's great if she's leaving Moab, a wicked area, and then going to be with God's people
and wants to be a blessing and serve God. The Bible says
in verse 11,
The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel,
under whose wings thou art come to trust. So here's Rahab,
here's Ruth, here's a few examples of people that migrated,
but look, I'm sure there are a lot of other people as well.
Because the Bible speaks about a stranger being among you, and people
during the time that you're living in the past, you know,
because the Bible speaks about a stranger being among you, and people during
this time, if they really wanted to serve God, they'd move to this
location if they're able to. Now in today's world, it's different.
Why? Because there's good churches all over the world. Now not necessarily
in every country, but there's a lot of good churches. So you don't have to live
here in Pasig to serve God. You can serve God in a lot of
different locations. The key is, well I want to have a good church
to be a part of. Now turn in your Bible to Romans 14.
Romans 14.
Point number one, we are all of the same blood. Point two, we don't accept false religion
and sin. Point number three, immigration to a country is
actually a good thing if they abide by the laws of the country, and if
they follow it. And point four, in a symbolic
sense, what about immigration to a church? And what I mean
by that is someone who comes to our church that maybe before you are Catholic,
maybe before you're Bible Baptist, maybe before
you're Protestant, maybe before you're Muslim or Hindu or whatever.
Right? Well here's the thing, I mean
it's going to fit the same standard. Immigration to a country
is a good thing as long as you abide by the laws of the country. Well the same would be true
here, immigration to a church, even if you're from another church.
And the Bible says this in Romans 14 verse 1,
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye,
but not to doubtful disputations.
And what the Bible is saying here is, if somebody starts coming to our church
and they just got saved, or they don't know much about the Bible, or
maybe they're part of the Catholic church before and they have a lot of false things
inside of their head, that's fine.
They just got saved and they don't realize a lot of their false beliefs
that they have. That's fine. The Bible says receive those that are weak, but
not to doubtful disputations. What the Bible is saying is, well if somebody
is weak in the faith and they come here and then they start arguing about a bunch of stuff,
well that's where the problem is. Because there's no problem with people coming to this church
from a different background. I mean all of us come from different backgrounds in the past.
I haven't individually asked everybody at this church. I know a lot of people
used to be Bible Baptists. A lot of people were raised Catholic. I'm sure though
that there's a lot of different denominations or religions that people are part of
or churches that you've visited in the past.
And you know what? Here's the thing. It's not going to be held against you.
Because of the fact immigration to a church is a good thing,
well as long as you're not trying to bring in false beliefs in the church.
Well I mean if somebody's from a Catholic background, that's fine.
Now here's the thing though. If it's in the middle of the church and they're holding up
a crucifix or statue of whatever
false god, you know Mary or Jesus that's still on the cross or whatever,
it's like well then you've got a bit of a problem.
Now here's the thing. If somebody was from a Catholic background and they still had some of that Catholicism
in them, I would talk to them quietly and privately and be respectful because
they might just not know any better. Maybe they're doing things that
they just got saved or maybe they just for whatever reason visit our church and they're not saved.
It's like well unsaved people can visit church. That's actually okay.
As long as they're not trying to bring in problems.
I mean if we go soul winning today and you talk
to a Catholic and they don't get saved, I hope they visit next Sunday.
I hope they visit. Because not everybody gets
saved on the first time. I mean there's hope for them in the future. I mean I'm not going to ask
for a raise of hands but probably many people in this room, you didn't get saved the first
time you heard the gospel. Maybe you had to hear it several times.
And I think what takes place, because I didn't grow up Catholic so maybe I don't have
the same perspective, but I think there's a lot of people in this country, they realize
Catholicism is wrong. The problem is they don't realize
what's right. And so it's kind of like well maybe this is it.
They're kind of testing out where they realize it's like mom, dad,
why are we bowing down before a statue? It doesn't make
sense to them. It's like why are we doing this?
They're doing what their parents said to do and it doesn't really make sense but it doesn't necessarily mean
that they fully trusted on Jesus. They might be at an in-between position where they're still learning
and they need some time. So it's okay for unsaved people to come here
as long as they're not trying to argue and cause problems.
In verse 2 he gives us an example
of those that are weak. For one believeth that he may eat all
things. Another who is weak eateth herbs.
Now let me say this. In the context when he's saying
being weak he's referring to spiritually weak.
But let me also say if all you eat is herbs you are
physically going to be weak. And here's the thing
the Bible tells us who's right. The one that is weak is
the one that's the vegetarian. Now look
vegans are welcome at our church.
And honestly I'm preaching about this because it's right here in Romans 14
in the context. Here's the thing. In God's standard
actually you're able to eat not only meat but dairy,
bread, fruits,
honey and milk the Bible says, vegetables. I believe the Bible teaches a balanced diet
because honey is mentioned as a good thing, milk is mentioned as a good thing
and give us this day our daily bread. That's what my personal opinion of the Atkins
or keto diet is. You eat bread every day.
And you might disagree and that's fine. I know a lot of Christians that love the keto diet
and that's perfectly fine. You can do what you want. But here's what I'm saying.
Regardless of whatever dietary plan you have it's not a sin
to eat meat or fruit or veggies or milk or bread or any of those things.
But if somebody comes to our church and they say, well I'm against eating
meat. I just don't think that Hunter should have
killed Bambi in the Disney movie. I'm still mad about it.
They're welcome at our church as long as they're not trying to cause problems.
Here's the thing. If at lunch time you have
a unique eating plan or whatever I'm not going to say anything or make fun of you
nor should anybody. You can do whatever you want. That is perfectly fine.
Everyone has different diets and different opinions. But the problem would be
if someone is trying to impose their beliefs upon other people.
The Bible is saying receive somebody unless
they're one of those hardcore vegans that's protesting or whatever
and they're trying to cause problems at church. Well then you've got a bit of a problem.
Turn in the Bible to 1 Corinthians 11.
But the Bible
is very clear there from Romans that the one who believes you can eat all things is actually
correct. You're allowed to eat fruits and vegetables and bread and dairy
and meat. There's nothing wrong with killing an animal
and eating it. It is perfectly fine.
Here's the thing. When it comes to diets, diets are very different depending on
what part of the world that you're in. Just giving you an example,
when my wife and I got married, I remember she was talking about we need to buy a rice cooker. I was like why would you
buy a rice cooker? Because I ate rice
once every couple years growing up. It wasn't something that's a daily thing. So I thought you just
put rice in boiling water or whatever. But of course if it's a daily thing then
it makes sense to have a rice cooker. People have different diets. Me, I eat a lot of bread.
That's just kind of what I grew up on. I like bread more so than rice.
It's perfectly fine though. Bread is healthy for you. Rice is
healthy for you. Whatever you want to eat is perfectly fine. It's when you
will criticize other people or cause problems. That's where there would be a problem.
1 Corinthians 11. I'll give you one other example. We'll close
up for the sake of time. 1 Corinthians 11. It says this in verse 13.
Judge in yourselves. Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
Now in my opinion, in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 13,
this is one of the funniest verses in the entire Bible.
And I think a lot of times you read over it, you don't really stop to
like, what is Paul actually saying? Well, comely means attractive.
And he's saying, you be the judge. Now we don't need a show of hands.
But what Paul's saying is, you judge. Is it attractive
that a woman pray uncovered? Is it attractive that women have short hair?
That's what he's saying. Because the context of this chapter is short hair versus long hair.
And Paul's saying, you be the judge. Is it attractive if women
have short hair? And look, you know what? Every guy
I've ever met finds women with long hair attractive. And this is what Paul said.
Judge in yourselves. Right? This is exactly what this verse is talking about.
He's saying, you be the judge. Because here's the thing in verse 14. Doth not even nature
itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame
unto him. I've heard people take verse 14 and say, wait a minute.
I mean, lions have long hair. It's not talking about Mother Nature.
It's saying, naturally, by nature inside
of you. It's like the Bible speaks about the Gentiles which have not the law.
Do by nature the things contained in the law.
They know it naturally from birth. It's born into them.
And what Paul is saying is, you know it inside of yourself
that men should have short hair and women having long hair.
That's what the Bible says. Right? I mean, it's built into you. And I know we live in a
world where the world wants to blur the genders.
Let's make men look like women and women look like men. Let's make them dress the
same and look the same and talk the same
and act the same. Men and women are different.
They're different. I mean, it's madness
when you've got men winning beauty contests.
For women. It's like real controversial. I saw last night
Italy outlawed men entering female beauty pageants.
How dare Italy do that? That's sexist. It's like, what?
I mean, like, the world is insane.
There's a difference between men and women. They look
different. They talk different. They think different. They act different.
It just is what it is. And here's the thing. We shouldn't be
offended that men and women are different. There are things that
women are much better at than men. Feminine characteristics that men are not like.
And there are masculine characteristics of men.
I'm probably happy you saw that picture I posted on Facebook yesterday.
It's hilarious. And it's true. Men are just
stronger than women. It's a fact. And if that bothers
you, I don't know what to tell you. Common sense.
Men and women, I mean, the Bible says that men, in a
mental sense, emotional sense, but also in a physical sense,
that women are the weaker vessel. Men are stronger than women. It's a fact.
It's not even close. It's not even
close where anyone could be offended because it's common sense. I mean, I literally remember
at my old job, there was this coworker, and they were talking about this
topic, and then all of a sudden, actually, it was in college.
My mind's being refreshed. It was like a class that you did kind of online, and you
wrote your opinion. And I was really trying to step the line.
I'm not saying anything that would offend anybody. And I remember,
you know, because they're asking your opinion on these sorts of things, and I said, well, I
believe men are just physically stronger. And, you know, the most
athletic men are more athletic than women. They can jump higher. They're stronger. And if you
disagree, it's a fact. It's not even debatable.
Right? It does not make men better than women. It just means that men and women are different.
But I remember, literally, this was the response of one of the girls in college.
She's like, I don't know about that. We had a girl that was
the field goal kicker on our football team, and the year that she
was the kicker was the best year the football team ever had.
A field goal kicker.
Right? It's like, that's not exactly, and I know people aren't really American football, it's more basketball,
but it's like, that's not exactly the most intense position in a football
game, and in a team sport, because she was the kicker, it's like, really?
I mean, it's like, this shouldn't offend anyone, because honestly, it's
not disputable. Right? Men are just stronger
than women. It's just a fact. Men and women are different, and there's
no point of us trying to make them the same, because being strong is a masculine
characteristic. Now, I would say that during these times of Bible days,
lives were harder, so women were probably a lot stronger than they are today, because they're probably carrying
water and things like that, and yeah, you know, when women carry babies, it does make
them a lot stronger, but there is a limit, and men are just stronger
than women, and there's no point of trying to turn men and women
into the same when they're different. When I was in college, I got a math
degree in college, and there's a big push at the college to try to get just as
many women to get math degrees as men, but the thing is,
most women don't get math degrees.
That's just not what they're led to. I mean, this is not something that is
offensive. I'll just give an example. My older sister is much
smarter than me. She skipped. She went to college when she was 15 years
old. She skipped three grades. She's extremely smart, much smarter
than me. I am better at math than my sister. She's better at
everything else academically, okay, but there's just a difference, and I
understand there's exceptions. I'm using a general thing. People take this and say, well,
here's an example. Yeah, there's exceptions here and there, but in general,
you know what I'm saying is true. Women and men are different. They think differently,
and they have different strengths because they're different. That does not make men better than women
or women better than men. It just means there's a difference, and there's
nothing wrong with that. Look, I am never going
to give birth because men were not created that way,
and in the weird world we live, there are men that are literally trying to
give birth, and I'm thinking, what kind of a world is this?
Men and women are different. God created men and women
differently, right? Women are much better taking
care of their kids and providing that nurturing environment
than men because men and women are just different. God created them differently.
That is not something to get offended by. It's just a fact, and you
know it's true that men and women are different, and God created us differently. We're not
a church that tries to blur the lines. Let's just make everybody's hair the same length.
Men and women are different. Men ought to have short hair,
and women have long hair. That's what the Bible teaches, and if you have a problem
with that, well, 1 Corinthians 11. You can take it up with God.
Verse 15, and it says in verse 14, nature
teaches you. So what Paul is saying is, you know what?
Everybody who's hearing this knows that what I'm saying is true, and whether you want
to admit it or not, you know that what I'm saying is true because
nature teaches you. Verse 15, but if a woman
have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering.
So the Bible talks about women having long hair, and then he says
this in verse 16, but if any man seem to be contentious,
so if anyone wants to argue, we have no such
custom, neither the churches of God. Now, people misunderstand
in verse 16, because Paul's not saying, wait a minute, if
somebody has a problem with this, well, do whatever you want, right? I'm not going to say anything about it.
It's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, hey, if you have any questions about it,
let me just be very clear. There's never been a custom at the church of Corinth
where we said, hey, whatever hair length you want is fine.
Now, you can do whatever you want. If you're a guy, you can grow your hair.
Women, you want to shave your head, do whatever you want. I mean, you're still welcome to come to our church,
but I'm still going to preach what the Bible says. And he's saying, we've never had a custom
nor any of the churches of God. No church, and this is true,
when you look at churches that are fire-breathing churches, on fire
for God, serving God, and preaching the truth, and soul-winning churches,
you know what you're going to find? That those churches usually line up on the same sorts
of things. You say, why?
Because they're following what the Bible says. And what he's saying is, hey,
you know what? You're welcome to be at the church of Corinth,
but don't cause any problems.
Don't cause any contentions.
Look, I'm sure that there's women in this room that got offended by something I said in the last ten minutes.
And you're still welcome to be at the church. But if you're trying to cause problems,
say, ah, brother, he doesn't know this, he doesn't know what he's talking about, I'm stronger than him.
Okay, whatever.
It's like, you're welcome to think what you want, you're welcome to be at our church and disagree and
get offended at things. I'm sure most people in this room have been offended by something I've said before.
It just is what it is. Preach for three hours a week, and
never offend anyone. It's like, good luck with that.
You're going to offend people with how you say things, or what you say, or the way you bring it across.
It is what it is. But regardless of whether or not you're offended,
you know I'm right, because doth not even nature itself teach you.
If that offends you, it's like, well, then get right with God, because I literally
quoted the verse which said that actually everybody knows this.
And you know this because it's inside of you, and obviously we know
there's a difference between men and women. We're not going to be like the world
in 2023. Let's just make men and women the same.
Let's just have them dress the same, and act the same,
and talk the same, and let's just pretend that they're
just the exact same. It's like, no, we don't believe in
random evolution that happened billions of years ago. What we believe
is that God made a man, and then he made a woman, and he made them
different, so that they would fit together. This does not
make men better than women. It doesn't make women better than men.
It means that they're different. And there's nothing wrong with that. I would not want my wife
to be just like me. Right? It's like, obviously
men and women are different, and they're meant to complement one another.
And so here's the thing. When it comes to immigration in a symbolic sense to church,
look, we have a packed room, and I'm happy for everybody that's at
our church and wherever you came from. I don't know the story of everybody. People
grew up in different churches, you know what, and
come from different backgrounds, different countries, different ethnicities,
different regions, and that's perfectly fine. And we're happy to have you, as long as you don't
cause problems. Because immigration to a country is a good thing, as long as
you adopt the laws of the country. Immigration to a church is a good thing, as long as you
adopt the beliefs of the church. Or if you disagree, that you're accepting
and say, well, it's okay. I can agree to disagree, because the unity of the
faith is very important. And point number one,
we said all of the same blood. Look, xenophobia is wrong, because
it's just like, it doesn't matter where somebody's from. We're all of the same blood.
What we don't accept is false religion and sin, and immigration
is actually a good thing, whether it's to a country or to a church, as long as
you adopt the laws of that country or church. So let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today, and I ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives,
and help us understand that we are very happy when new people
come to our church from different backgrounds, and we don't necessarily expect people to be exactly
just like us, and people have different opinions and beliefs, and that's perfectly fine. But the unity
of the church is very important, that we are all united on the same page as we're here
in Pasig and here in Metro Manila to serve you and obey you, to go soul
winning and get people saved. God, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Remember our last song?
It starts with team number 260.
Team number 260.
He's able to be with you.
Come on up first, everybody.
Oh my sin of rest
Go to Him for as our God is
here to be
It's the grandest evening here for me
It's the grandest evening for me
It's the grandest evening
Tell the world again our God is here to be
He's able to
deliver me
He's able to deliver me
Oh my sin of rest
Go to Him for as our God is
here to be
It's the grandest evening
Look to God in faith
He's able to
deliver me
He's able to
deliver me
Oh my sin of rest
Go to Him for as our God is
Amen.