Alright, we're here in Acts chapter 2 and we're going to continue our series on the Pentecostal agenda.
And last week we just kind of went over an introduction of the Pentecostal religion.
And I honestly learned a lot preparing a sermon about the history of their religion and how it relates to so-called Christianity.
And even outside of Christianity we saw that Plato, the famous Greek philosopher, wrote about people speaking in tongues in his day, which was before Jesus Christ.
So this is not a new religion at all.
And what we're going to talk about today in this series, the Pentecostal agenda, mocking Christianity.
This religion, the Pentecostal religion, it mocks Christianity.
And when people see the Pentecostal religion, it causes them to think Christianity is a joke.
Because they see these crazy healings and speaking in tongues and this madness and people screaming in church.
And it causes people that aren't saved to look at them and say, you guys are crazy.
Why? Because what they're doing is pretty crazy.
It's all over the place and it's not what the Bible says.
It's not like a church at all. We're going to see that here in this sermon.
And the first thing I want you to see is this, the purpose of tongues.
Notice Acts 2 verses 3 and 4.
It says, And there appeared unto them clothing tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
So the Bible says there's clothing tongues that sat upon each of them.
I don't know about you, but I've never actually seen this take place.
But these people are supposedly speaking in tongues and you see the tongue sitting upon them, okay?
Because they're claiming to be just like Acts chapter 2.
Somehow that doesn't seem to match up because it was very obviously different here in Acts chapter 2.
But it does say they speak with other tongues, okay?
Now the Pentecostal church will always say speaking in tongues.
The Bible never says that. That phrase is not in the Bible.
The Bible says speak with other tongues.
Why does it say speak with other tongues instead of speaking in tongues?
Because they're speaking with an actual tongue or language, okay?
It's like, for example, my wife speaks three languages.
She speaks Kapampangan, Tagalog, and English.
And when she speaks in Kapampangan, and I don't understand a single word of it,
she's speaking with another tongue, okay?
With another language.
Now I've never seen my wife, though, just start to mumble random things and say,
I was just talking to God, okay?
Because that's not something you see in the Bible, okay?
Notice what it says in verse 5.
And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven.
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded,
because every man heard them speak in his own language.
And so this is a big event. Everybody's here, and everyone's just amazed,
because they say, wait a minute, I'm hearing them speak my language.
It'd be like, for example, if we just, you know, went sewing, let's say, in China,
and we're just all fluently speaking Mandarin Chinese,
they'd be like, what in the world? How are you guys speaking this language?
How do you know this?
And so America was taking place here in Acts chapter 2,
where basically they would preach in their own language,
and yet God would translate it so people would hear it in their own language, okay?
That's what's taking place. They're preaching the gospel.
I mean, we run into people sometimes that we can't communicate with, okay?
And wouldn't it be great if we had the ability to speak in their language?
On Acts chapter 2, God allows a miracle to take place, so they actually could do that.
So they could preach the gospel, and a lot of people we could say,
think about during the missions trip we had in April, okay?
Or in, not in April, January. I'm a year behind now.
But think about the missions trip we just had in January.
You know, a lot of people were here that spoke no Tagalog whatsoever, okay?
Think about if they were all fluent in Tagalog.
A lot more people would have gotten saved in Rizal Park.
Because there's just certain people that could not understand English very well,
and that was what was going on in Acts 2,
where God allowed them to speak in a foreign language that they did not actually know, okay?
So what is the purpose of tongues?
The purpose of tongues is for unbelievers to hear the gospel.
That's what you see in Acts chapter 2.
So unbelievers could actually hear the gospel and end up getting saved, okay?
Verse number 7,
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans,
and how are we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?
And so they say, these men are Galileans.
Like, how are they hearing this?
How are my understandings? How are they speaking my language?
They're confounded because of the fact they understand.
They're not confounded because they don't understand.
See, the Pentecostals are saying this is a heavenly language that nobody understands.
No, they're confounded because they do understand it.
They're not confounded that they don't understand.
They do understand what's being said.
So it's the exact opposite of what the Pentecostals are saying.
And see, what you'll notice when it comes to people that are unsaved and false religions,
they look at any story of the Bible and they literally get it the exact opposite of what the Bible is saying.
They literally get it the exact opposite.
And here in Acts chapter 2, they're confounded because they do understand.
Because we're able to preach the gospel and they're able to get saved.
The Pentecostal church does the opposite.
They have tongues during the church service and nobody understands it.
And they say it's edifying to everybody.
See, what the Bible says is that in church you speak words that people can understand.
Now, this is a direct application when it talks about speaking in tongues.
But another example of this is people that would get behind a pulpit
and they would use very complicated words that nobody understands.
So if I were to get up here and I didn't go to Bible college.
You don't need to go to Bible college in the Bible.
All the apostles didn't go to Bible college.
You can read the Bible, you can learn, get trained at a church.
But I want you to understand that people graduate from Bible college
and they use words that this percentage of the population understands.
They use words like exegesis.
It's like, brother, did you exegete that passage?
It's like, what?
It's like, I'm glad you used these verses in the Bible but you didn't use any exegesis.
It's like, no I didn't. I don't know what that means.
But they use words that nobody understands.
And what that word means is basically you go back to the Greek.
You go back to a language you don't understand and then you just say whatever you want.
That's what they mean by exegesis.
But they use all these words that people don't understand.
It's like, why not just use words people do understand?
My goal is not to stand up here and try to sound intelligent.
To sound like I have this 10 year Bible college degree.
I'd rather just use words that everybody understands.
And so that's another application of 1 Corinthians 14.
But what you're seeing here is that what the Pentecostals are doing with speaking in tongues in church,
that is not what speaking with tongues was for.
It's not at all the same thing. It's completely different.
So the purpose of speaking in tongues is to help unbelievers.
But what they do is not helping unbelievers because nobody understands.
As the unbelievers look at them and they think it's crazy.
And guess what? I think it's crazy too.
It is crazy.
Now look at 1 Corinthians 14. Let's look at verse 23.
And the next thing I want to talk to you about is the madness of modern tongues.
And the Bible actually uses this terminology.
Verse 23.
If therefore the whole church become together into one place and all speak with tongues,
and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers,
will they not say that ye are mad?
And see, God is condemning them speaking in all these languages that nobody understands
because they say people are going to come in here and say you're mad.
Now what does mad mean? It means crazy.
You've heard of the Mad Hatter?
He gets that name for being insane, for being crazy.
And so what does the Bible say?
People are going to come in here if everyone is speaking all these languages
and they're going to say you're crazy.
Now just think about this logically.
Let's say for example we start at the church service
and Brother Timothy comes up here and he just sings a song in German.
And then all of a sudden he's like let's go to the next song and he sings it in Portuguese.
And then all of a sudden I come up here to do the announcements and I do it in Mandarin Chinese.
And then all of a sudden Timothy gets up here again and he's a really talented language guy
and he's like well let's do a song in Tagalog.
And then all of a sudden I do the preaching and I just do it in Swedish.
People would come in here and say this is crazy.
What are they doing? It doesn't make any sense.
You use one language that people understand.
And so what the Pentecostals are doing is they're speaking this heavenly language that nobody understands.
And people are going to say they're crazy.
And yes the unbelievers say you're crazy but the believers say you're crazy as well.
Because what you're doing is not what 1 Corinthians 14 is talking about.
Now in verse number 26 Bob reads this.
How is it then brethren when you come together every one of you have a song,
have a doctrine, have a tongue, have a revelation, have an interpretation.
Let all things be done unto edifying.
And so what Paul is saying is everybody has an opinion about everything.
They've got their doctrine, they've got their song, they've got whatever.
Everyone's got an opinion, everyone's got a tongue, everyone's got an interpretation.
Just think from a logical perspective when it comes to a church.
This church would not be able to successfully operate if everyone just stood up in their seat and just said what their opinion was.
I read a verse and someone says hey I got an opinion about that, here's my opinion.
And then someone else stands up and says well here's my opinion.
Look a church is not going to operate like that.
It needs to have structure, it needs to have organization.
Now I'm not perfect in what I say. I will make mistakes.
I don't claim to be perfect but if there's a verse I read and I interpret
and in your mind you say that's not right, that's not what the Bible teaches,
look it doesn't help or edify anyone if you stand up in the service and just point out that I made a mistake.
The best thing to do is to come to me privately, not to try to embarrass me and just say hey brother Stuckey,
you know you mentioned this, I don't think that you're right about this and here's the reason why.
You say it in a respectful manner and look I don't have any problem with that.
If there's a verse and you have an interpretation and you say this is why I don't think that's right,
come to me privately but don't do it in front of a bunch of people to embarrass me.
And definitely don't do it during the church service, why?
Because that's disrespectful, it's rude and it's not organized.
Now notice what it says in verse number 27.
If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret.
But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God.
And so in verse 27 when it says speaking by two or at the most three,
it doesn't mean that we got three people up here preaching different sermons at the same time.
That's not what the Bible's saying, it doesn't mean we have two people up here and I'm preaching on this side
and your brother Marlon's on this side preaching his sermon, that's not what it's talking about.
It's still one person at a time, it's just saying you can have multiple people preach that day.
You know I'm sure we'll have people guest preach here every once in a while on a Sunday
and we'll have multiple people preach in one day, not at the same time though.
And so think about what the Pentecostals do, they're all just going crazy during the church service
and they're speaking in tongues and over here you got someone who's been slain in the spirit,
over here somebody's drunk in the spirit, over here this person has holy laughter
and everybody's just shouting out and screaming hallelujah and they're saying words that nobody understands.
I mean it's a circus and when people see that it causes them to mock the Bible and mock Christianity
and a Muslim could look at that, a Buddhist could look at that, a Hindu could look at that,
a Jew could look at that and say look Christianity's crazy and look I don't blame them
because that is crazy, that is not what the Bible speaks about at all.
Now turn to verse 29, look at verse 29.
And what the Bible says in verse 29 is this, the third thing we're going to look at is that the spirit is subject
unto the prophets, that was our verse of the week, the spirit is subject unto the prophets.
Verse 29, let the prophets speak two or three and let the other judge.
So what the Bible says is once again you don't have a million people who preach in one day,
you have one person at a time and that by course and it says let the other judge.
When you sit at your seat the Bible says you're supposed to judge what I'm saying.
The Bible says that, let the other judge.
When you're sitting there and a sermon's being preached you see what the Bible says
and you judge if what I'm saying is correct or not.
Like I say all the time I'm not perfect, I will make mistakes.
So the Bible says let the other judge, you're supposed to be.
Now here's the thing, if I say something that's wrong though you don't say hey that's wrong preacher.
You don't do that, that's disrespectful, it's not edifying, it's not helpful
and quite honestly you're probably the one who's wrong.
Usually when people just have to have an opinion about how the preacher's wrong
and they have to interrupt, usually they're the ones.
It's like no I'm sorry you just walked in the wrong church today.
We're not Mormons, we're not Jehovah's Witnesses, I don't care what you've been taught.
That's not what we believe, that's not what the Bible teaches.
But let the other judge, look you're supposed to sit at your seat and see if what I'm saying is true or not.
You need to know the Bible for yourself.
Verse 30, if anything be revealed to another that's sinned by, let the first hold his peace.
And see that's exactly what I'm talking about.
If you're sitting at your seat and something's revealed to you or you know something
or you say what I'm saying wrong or there's something I didn't mention that you think is really important,
look you're supposed to hold your peace.
It means don't be disrespectful, don't interrupt the service, don't do what the Pentecostals do
and just shout out your opinion.
You're supposed to hold your peace.
Now in verse 31 this is what the Bible says,
three may all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted.
So there's what I'm talking about one by one.
It's not everybody at the same time.
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
Now verse 32 is a very important verse.
I want you to understand what's being said.
The Bible says the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
Now when you get saved you get to dwell with the Holy Spirit of God.
Now Pentecostals will often say things like are you spirit filled brother?
Now what they mean by it is completely different than what we mean.
It's like if a Calvinist walks up to you and says do you believe God is sovereign brother?
It's like what do you mean by that?
It's like yes or no depending on what you mean by him being sovereign.
They'll say are you spirit filled?
Now what the Bible says is that when you get saved you get in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God.
The spirit of truth, the comforter, there's a lot of terms for the Holy Spirit of God.
But the Bible says that you have an ability to be filled with the spirits.
This is not the same thing as being in dwell with the Holy Ghost.
You say how do you know that?
Any Old Testament where people in dwell with the Holy Ghost when they got saved, no they weren't.
Remember Jesus said unless I depart the comforter will not come.
So what he's saying is when I leave you'll be in dwell with the Holy Ghost as believers.
But in the Old Testament what does it talk about with King Saul and Samson and all these people?
It says they were filled with the spirit.
It is possible to be filled with the spirit.
Now what the Pentecostals do is completely different.
That's not what being filled with the spirit is.
Because when you look at being filled with the spirit, people are filled with the spirit and able to preach the word of God boldly.
Look when I come up here to preach a sermon, I will be in dwell with the Holy Ghost no matter what I do.
Whether or not I did a really sinful life last night or whether or not I was reading the Bible and being godly.
But if I want to be filled with the spirit I need to live godly.
And see you can be filled with the spirit to preach boldly.
We go out so many and we pray that we'll be filled with the spirit.
So it will be effective and God will use us in a great way.
So there's one thing being in dwell with the Holy Ghost.
There's another thing being filled with the spirit.
So we will be in dwell with the Holy Ghost no matter what.
But I want you to understand something.
The Holy Ghost will want you to do certain things.
The Holy Ghost will want you to come to church.
The Holy Ghost will want you to preach the word of God boldly.
But the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
What does that mean?
It means that the spirit does not force us to do anything.
We still have our free will.
We get to decide.
We have all had those times in life when we know God wants us to preach the gospel to someone.
When we sing that song he gets in so little time where the spirit moves.
Once you preach the gospel and you choose not to.
I've had times where I knew God wanted me to preach the gospel.
I could tell the spirit was urging me and I chose not to preach the gospel.
All of us have had times where we could have preached the gospel and we chose not to even though we knew God wanted us to.
It could have been because we were being shy.
It could have been because we were backslid.
But we had the option.
Now here's why this is an important verse when it comes to the Pentecostals.
What the Pentecostals say is this.
Let's say I get up here.
I'm at a Pentecostal church and I start speaking in tongues.
And I just pass out whether I got slain in the spirit or I'm drunk in the spirit or whatever.
I just pass out.
I wake up and what am I going to say?
People are going to talk to me and say, man you were speaking in tongues.
Here's what I'm going to say.
I don't even remember what happened.
That's what they say.
They don't know what they said.
When they speak with tongues or speak in tongues as they say.
They literally don't even know what they said.
But wait a minute.
They basically are telling you that the spirit just took over and caused them to say certain things.
No, the spirit is subject on the prophets.
It doesn't make sense what you're saying.
You're saying the spirit just takes over and it forces you to do something and you don't know what happened.
No, the spirits are subject on the prophets.
The spirit never just takes over.
The spirit wants you to do things but it never just takes over against your will and just causes you to do stuff.
No, you have the free will choice.
The spirits are subject on the prophets.
This is a passage about speaking in tongues.
Or speaking with tongues I should say, not speaking in tongues.
It's a passage about speaking with tongues and very clearly in 1 Corinthians 14.40 it says the spirits are subject on the prophets.
The Holy Spirit will not force you to do anything.
Look, if the Holy Spirit could force you to do something, you want to know what he'd do?
He'd go to your house today and he would take your rock CDs and he would smash them against the wall and he would throw them in the trash for you and take them into an unclean place without the city as the Bible says.
That's what he would do if he could just take over.
You know what he would do when you woke up this morning?
The Holy Spirit would just cause you to start praying.
He would cause you to start reading the Bible.
He would cause you to start memorizing the Bible.
You know what the Holy Spirit would do if he could force you?
He would cause you to get rid of all your worldliness and your sin in your life and start living a godly life and motivate you to go soul winning all the time.
If the Spirit could force you, you know the Spirit doesn't force you.
The Spirit is subject onto the prophets.
But that's not what the Pentecostals say.
The Pentecostals say that the Spirit just takes over.
And when you listen to them, they will say that they don't even know what happened.
They just hit the deck. They wake up.
They literally don't know. They say, I don't know what happened.
Or they'll speak whatever and they say, I don't know what I was saying to God.
I have no idea what I was telling to God.
But it was a heavenly language. It was obviously good.
That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says the exact opposite.
The Spirit is subject to the prophets.
Verse 33, For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
And so God is not the author of confusion.
Look, this is talking about the Pentecostals.
Their church services are very confusing.
I've never been to a Pentecostal church service. I never will go.
But if you've ever seen Minnie Hinn on YouTube,
and just see people just hitting the deck and rolling around.
That's confusing. It's madness.
It's not organized. It's just all over the place.
Look, God's not the author.
He's not the author of confusion, but of peace, as the Bible says.
Now, verses 34 and 35, these are very controversial verses here.
It says, Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak.
But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also say unto all.
And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home,
for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
Now these verses have two different extremes that they can go to.
One extreme is what the Pentecostals do.
The Pentecostals say that anyone can get a pure priest.
They let little kids get up here and preach a sermon,
as long as they're just screaming kind of crazy.
They let little kids get up here and say whatever.
They let women get behind the pulpit.
They let anybody get behind the pulpit.
Now the Bible says that if you're going to be a pastor,
you must be the husband of one wife.
Now there's bigger issues than you preaching if you're the husband of one wife as a woman.
You've got much bigger issues than you preaching a sermon
if you're the husband of one wife as a woman.
And so the Pentecostals go to an extreme.
They say women can get up here to preach, to run the services.
That's not the way it works.
That's not what the Bible speaks about.
So when you notice, we have people that lead music.
We have men lead the music.
We have men in the positions of leadership.
That's not to demean women.
That's not to look down on women.
It's just that men and women have different roles.
And so the Pentecostals say anybody can preach.
Well that's one extreme.
But there's another extreme because it says that women are supposed to keep silence in the church.
And then some churches would say women aren't allowed to sing during the song time.
Women are not allowed to say hello or greet people.
Now that doesn't make sense either.
Because there's a lot of verses that will contradict that.
But what you have to understand about this verse is this is in the context of the preaching.
And so during the preaching time when sermons are being preached, a man will get up to preach, not a woman.
But at the same time when it comes to agreeing with the pastor or getting behind the pastor and giving your opinion,
that is something for a guy to do the Bible says.
And the Bible says that women are supposed to learn from their husbands.
That's not something to demean them.
But it's just during the preaching time, that's something of a teaching time.
And so for example, if I say something and if you disagree with what I say, you talk to me privately.
That's what the Bible talks about.
But if you agree with what I'm saying, that's great.
I love the encouragement.
But the Bible says that as the heads of the home, the husbands are supposed to do that.
And to get behind the preacher and to motivate them.
So there's two different extremes to that.
But what we saw in point number three is that the Spirit is subject unto the prophets.
And the fourth thing I want you to see is the free for all in Pentecostal churches.
There's really no other way to say it.
But it says in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 40,
Let all things be done decently and in order.
The Bible says things are to be done decently and in order.
So it's not madness. It's not a circus.
Things are organized. They're done decently.
We have church service at 10 in the morning.
It's not, well, you know, it's Filipino time.
It's 9.30. It's 10.45.
They just kind of show off and we'll just drink coffee until we get started.
No, things are done decently and in order.
There's a set time.
Here's what would happen.
If we move the church service back to 10.30 because some people got late,
they'd still be late at 10.30.
It doesn't matter what time we start the church service,
some people are going to be late.
So you just got to kind of pick a time and go with it.
Things are done decently and in order.
So to be successful, we want to be as decently and in order as possible.
Now this is going to be very important for us as a church, not necessarily now,
but we do have a goal one day of getting church plans started.
And we need things here to be as decently and in order as possible.
That way when a lot of time is being devoted to a church plan,
I don't always have to stress about how things are going here.
But basically it's just a well-oiled machine.
Just everybody knows what they're doing.
And obviously most of the part there of it,
things to be done decently and in order and having structure,
that's more my responsibility to make sure things are being done.
Obviously I'm new to running a church, so I'm going to make mistakes.
I admit that.
But we want to get things done as decently and in order as possible,
so that way I don't always have to wonder about is this getting done,
is this getting done, is this getting done.
But I just kind of show up at church and I just know, hey, this is going to be done.
I know there's certain people that work on this, this person does this,
this person does this, this person does this,
and everything's just done decently and in order.
So when we do start a church plan one day,
whenever a new church starts, a lot of time must be devoted to that.
And so I don't have to worry about are things running smoothly here,
but just think, yes they are.
That's just the way it is.
And see, churches are supposed to be decently and in order, as the Bible says.
Now turn to 1 Corinthians 11.
Let's go back the Bible a little ways.
Now, I don't think there's any question that the Pentecostal churches,
they're not being done decently and in order.
It's a free-for-all.
And when people see that, it causes them to mock the Bible,
it causes them to mock Christianity.
It's a surface, it's a joke.
1 Corinthians 11 verses 33 and 34.
It says in verse 33, on Wednesday, in case you weren't here,
I preached on the Eucharist exposed.
I talked about the Kappa doctrine where they say that
it literally turns into the body and blood of Jesus while they're taking communion.
And what I talked about briefly also was that when you take communion,
what the Bible teaches is it's supposed to be done in church.
It's supposed to be done with organization.
Look, if everyone took communion at home, it would be a free-for-all.
Things are to be done decently and in order.
That's why the church is given responsibilities to operate certain things.
So if everybody was able to just baptize whatever they want
and do whatever they want, it would be a free-for-all.
It would be madness.
That's why the church is given the job to build structure.
And this just gets passed out.
I went to a church that did things a certain way.
They were effective.
So when I come here, what do I try to do?
I try to do things the exact same way they were in Sacramento.
It worked there. It's going to work here.
And so when it comes to 1 Corinthians 11, it's talking about communion.
Notice what it says in verse 33.
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat,
tarry one for another.
What is that saying?
It's saying, wait for one another.
Verse 34.
And if any man hunger, let him eat at home,
that he come not together unto condemnation,
and the rest will I set in order when I come.
It says the rest will I set in order.
So when it comes to communion being taken,
when we take communion here in about a month,
which we're going to do one time per year,
and I'll preach on that here in about four weeks
and I'll give you all reasons why we do it once a year,
we don't just have somebody say,
well, I'm going to start eating the bread now.
No, you wait for one another.
We don't just have everyone say,
man, I just want my grape juice now.
No, you wait for one another.
Things are going to be done decently and in order in church.
It's not a free-for-all when you say,
man, I'm just hungry now.
I'm just going to get started.
I also brought some mashed potatoes to eat during this week.
It's like, no, things are done decently and in order.
Turn to Titus 1.
And so this phrase of being done decently and in order,
this is something you see throughout the Bible.
And in Titus chapter 1, verses 4 and 5,
it says in verse 4,
to Titus, mine own son, after the common faith,
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
For this cause left I the increase
that thou shouldest set in order
the things that are wanting and ordain elders
in every city as I had appointed thee.
And so Titus was left in Crete,
and the reason why was to ordain elders in every city.
Set things in order and ordain elders in every city.
The number one job in a church should be to duplicate itself.
The number one job.
Now, obviously, we believe in soul winning,
getting people saved,
but the number one job we have as a church
is that we can duplicate ourselves.
And throughout Metro Manila,
if there be a church just like this,
whether it's in Caloocan, Muntinluba, Las Pinas,
no matter where, there be a church just like this,
and even outside of that.
That is the number one job.
Why?
Because Titus' number one job is to set things in order
that are wanting.
What does that mean?
There's already a need for these churches.
Look, throughout the Philippines,
a lot of you come a long distance to come to church.
Say, why isn't it you come a long distance?
Because things are wanting.
It's because of the fact there's not a church just like this near you.
If there was a church really similar to this,
that was close by, you would go to that church.
You come a long distance because this church is unique.
And I don't say that to try to lift myself up.
I wish that weren't my case.
I hope that eventually we'll have many men at this church
ordained and starting churches,
and we'll do everything we can to get that church started
and organized and ready to go.
Build structure and teach them.
They'll be ready to go.
I hope that's the case.
That will be the case.
I believe that.
We'll get a lot of churches started,
but it starts with just setting in order the things that are wanting.
It needs to be done decently and in order.
Look, the Pentecostal churches are not decently in order.
It's a free-for-all.
It's madness.
It's not what the Bible teaches.
Now turn to Luke 2.
Luke 2.
Now here's the thing about this.
If this was easy to do, then everybody would be doing it.
If it was easy to duplicate yourself as a church,
then every church would duplicate itself.
It's not easy.
Why? Because of the fact you need to make sure that people are ready to go,
which means they need time to be trained.
Not just be at a church, but be involved in the ministries.
People get up here to preach on Sunday afternoons,
and I let people get that opportunity.
I think it's a great opportunity.
I'm just letting you guys know, if you preach a sermon,
I want to try to help you out with feedback.
I don't mean it to be rude, but if you say something wrong,
I'm not going to embarrass you.
If you start preaching complete heresy, then yeah, you'll be yanked off the stage.
You get up here and you start speaking in tongues,
yeah, you'll be yanked off the stage.
Let me just say this going on a quick rabbit trail.
There's not too many things that would make me just say,
stop church service and just get somebody out of here.
You know, if somebody starts speaking in tongues during the church service,
look, I want a couple men to just kindly put them out there.
Not throw them down the steps. I'm not going to do that.
But kindly just show them, hey, you know what,
there's a lot of Pentecostal churches you can go to.
You don't come up here and speak in tongues in our church.
Because people that are doing that are obsessed.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Look at that later on in this sermon.
We don't want devil-possessed people here.
People start doing that during the service and say,
Brother Scott, do I have a guest? Do you have my room?
To kindly let them out of the room.
Not to throw them down the steps, not to beat them up, okay?
But basically kindly get them out of here
so we can actually have a church service and not have madness.
But, I have no idea what I was talking about before that.
Turn to Luke 2.
Let's talk about, you know, when guys get a chance to preach.
Honestly, when it comes to preaching sermons, it takes practice.
And so I'll tell you what, when I used to preach sermons, guess what?
Pastor Dennis gave me feedback on my sermons.
And it helps.
And so I want you guys to get opportunities, but I'll help you out.
If something, you know, that I think you could do better,
I'll be nice about it, I'll be respectful,
but I'll just give you a suggestion to try to help you out.
Why? Because I want you to be trained to eventually run a church one day
if that's what God will lead you to.
And if not, we want men to be ready to get up here to preach.
So if I, on a Saturday, I get really sick,
I can just message a few people and say,
Hey, if you fill in, I won't be able to preach tomorrow.
We need to be ready to do that.
We need things decently and in order for people to be prepared.
That's the way things need to work.
Now Luke 2, notice what it says in verse 48.
And when they saw him, they were amazed.
And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrow.
And he said unto them, How is it that he saw me?
Was he not that I must be about my father's business?
And they understood not the sandwich he spake unto them.
Now in verse 49, it's interesting how he uses the word business.
Okay?
Anyone in here who runs a business,
you know that to run a business successfully, it takes a lot of time.
It takes organization.
And it needs to be done decently and in order.
It can't be a free for all.
Okay?
When it comes to running a church,
in a lot of ways, it operates like a business.
Now that's not being disrespectful in the word of God.
That's the terminology God uses.
Yes, you know what?
It should be done with structure and be professional and not be a free for all.
Because if you run a business, you're going to do it with structure.
You're going to be organized.
You're going to work hard at it.
It's the same thing with the church.
A church should be run so when people come up here.
See, if people come to visit our church and then they walk away and say,
Hey, I noticed that there's a problem with this and this and this,
it's going to be embarrassing to the church.
The goal is that people come here and they don't notice any problems.
They just come here and things run completely smooth.
And that's the way you work at a business as well.
Now turn to Acts 6.
Acts 6.
We'll just look at a few more places here in the Bible.
And in Acts 6 verses 1 through 4,
and then I've got some stories of Pentecostal experiences I know people who should be pretty entertaining.
But Acts 6 verses 1 through 4.
And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews
because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Then the Twelve called the multitude of the disciples on to them and said,
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,
we may appoint over this business.
What ends up happening with the church is,
as the church grows in number,
there are certain things that are going to get neglected.
Certain things cannot get neglected.
So many must take place every week.
In my opinion, I need to make sure I'm going so many throughout the week
as well it can't just be one time a week.
So certain other things couldn't get neglected,
and it's like, you know what, that's fine if they get neglected.
Because of the fact so many must take place.
When it comes to running a church,
there are so many things to get done,
and truthfully sometimes it's like, oh, we forgot to do this.
But I can't just be like, oh, man, I forgot to go so many weeks.
It's like, no, that's not acceptable.
Because the job of a pastor is to make sure he's preaching the gospel.
And just because most pastors don't do that,
we're going to do things differently here.
That is an important part.
But another thing that's important is that I actually spend time looking over my sermon.
I'm not just going to get up here and just say,
well, let's just turn to Acts 2 and just figure it out.
No, if you've ever seen a sermon of mine,
and the men are welcome to look at it,
look, I've got it organized,
where it's got lines to separate stuff, bullet points,
and I look over it and I work on it and I practice it.
Why? Because that's something that can't be neglected.
Because when you've got a church full of soul winners,
I need to make sure I'm feeding you and teaching you
so you don't have to say, man, that sermon was terrible.
I'm going to go listen to Pastor Mena's sermon.
Because I didn't get fed this morning.
There'd be a problem with that.
Because the Word of God's pretty deep,
so people need to be learning more about it.
And if I'm not doing a good job teaching you,
there's a problem there, because the Bible is incredible.
Now, turn to Luke 4.
We're going to look at one last thing.
Luke 4.
And so far we saw the purpose of tongues,
we saw the madness of modern tongues,
we saw that the Spirit is subject to the prophets,
we saw the free-for-all in Pentecostal churches.
The last thing I want to talk to you about
is the healings from Jesus versus the healings by the Pentecostal.
Let's look at the comparison.
Let's see if they match up together.
Luke 4, verse 33 through 35.
And in the synagogue there was a man
who had a spirit of an unclean devil.
He cried out with a loud voice, saying,
Let us alone.
What are we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold thy peace and come out of him.
And when the devil had thrown him in the midst,
he came out of him and heard him knock.
Now, I want you to notice how the devil
throws him down to the ground.
Jesus doesn't throw him down to the ground.
The devil does throw him down to the ground.
It's kind of interesting because in the Pentecostal churches,
they say when you get healed, you hit the deck.
It's not really what you see in the Bible.
It's a little bit different.
See, when they hit the deck in the Pentecostal churches,
they say, I just got healed from some devil.
But see, in the Bible,
they're being thrown to the ground by a devil.
There's a difference there.
Now turn to Luke 9.
Luke 9.
And in Luke 9, verses 38 through 42,
it says in verse 38,
And behold, a man of the company cried out,
saying, Master, I beseech thee,
look upon my son, for he is mine only child.
And lo, a spirit taketh them,
and he suddenly crieth out,
and it tareth him that he cometh again,
and bruising him, hardly departed from.
And I besought thy disciples to cast him out,
and they could not.
And Jesus answered and said,
O faithless and perverse generation,
how long shall I be with you and suffer you?
Bring thy son hither.
And as he was yet a coming,
the devil threw him down and tare him.
The devil throws him down to the ground,
and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit
and healed the child
and delivered him again to his father.
So Jesus, when he heals him,
he doesn't hit the deck.
But the devil throws him down to the ground.
And so these Pentecostals are saying,
I'm healing someone,
and it causes them to just hit the floor
and start shaking like they're having a seizure.
Look, that's not what you see in the Bible.
You see that the devil's doing that to them,
not God.
And just thinking logically,
why would you think if somebody's healed,
they would look like they're about to die?
They're on the ground shaking
like they're about to die.
That doesn't make any sense.
And it's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says the opposite.
The devil's the one that throws people down,
and they start shaking uncontrollably.
So, you know, these Pentecostals,
when people are hitting the deck
and they start shaking,
there's one of two reasons.
They're faking it to fit in,
or they're possessed.
That's what's taking place,
because in the Bible, they're possessed.
Okay, now let me tell you a few stories here.
And let me just say this.
When it comes to healing,
if the Pentecostals could heal everyone,
they would just go to public places
and heal everyone.
If they really had that ability
to just heal everybody,
look, there's plenty of people out there
that are sick and they're hurting
and they have problems.
They would just go and heal everybody.
They'd go to public places and do that,
but they don't do that.
But let me just give you some experiences
I know from Pentecostal healings.
When I was in Guyana,
I was preaching at a school
and I was preaching to about 50 kids,
and I preached, and they had double booked us.
And so right after me was a Pentecostal preacher.
Now, I would have just left,
but it was very crowded
and I really couldn't get out.
He just kind of got up right afterwards,
so I was like, well, I guess I'm here
for the show in 15 minutes.
Okay?
Now, when he was preaching,
he didn't really say anything.
He just kind of screamed and yelled
and, look, this guy was dynamic.
This guy was as dynamic as TDJ's.
I mean, I can see when people started screaming,
they're excited wide,
they get all emotional.
Okay, we'll talk about that in another sermon,
in this sermon series.
But after he's done preaching,
this teacher comes up with a kid,
and everybody else has left.
So there's this Pentecostal preacher,
there's this kid,
and there's this woman that's his teacher.
Okay?
And then I was watching this.
This is when they just walk outside the classroom.
Okay?
And so this was not a show done
in front of a lot of people.
See, it's one thing if this happened
during the whole thing,
you could say it was a show.
This happened when it was all done
and nobody was there.
It wasn't trying to impress anyone.
And this kid,
his teacher kind of spoke on his behalf,
saying he's been having nightmares.
He's been having bad dreams
and a lot of scary stuff.
And the Pentecostal preacher said
that he would heal.
Okay?
This was not done in front of
billions of people to make a show
or faked at all.
So this Pentecostal preacher,
he touches this kid,
and this kid just hits the deck.
And then all of a sudden,
he just grabs his head,
and he's hit the deck,
and he grabs his head,
and he's like, oh.
And he looks like he's,
I don't know,
just getting out of being drunk
or being beat up or whatever,
and then all of a sudden,
you know, you supposedly heal.
You say, what do you think took place?
I don't think he was faking it.
This guy didn't shove him to the ground
and just touched him,
and he hit the deck.
Well, in the Bible,
when people were possessed,
the devil froze him to the ground.
You say, did this guy take a devil out of him?
No, I think this Pentecostal preacher
cast a devil into this kid.
Right, right.
That's what I believe took place.
And honestly,
I never really thought about that
until I saw with my own eyes,
and I was like, wow.
It was pretty scary.
Because obviously,
this Pentecostal preacher
is possessed by devils.
Right.
Obviously, the Benny Hintz
are possessed by devils.
Do they have the ability
to cast a devil out of them
and into someone else?
Well, I believe they do.
Now, I don't necessarily believe
that they knowingly are doing that.
This guy probably thought
he was healing this time.
But I think that's what happened.
Well, basically,
that devil went out of him
and went into this kid.
Because immediately when he gets touched,
he hits the deck,
he grabs his head
like he's in real pain.
He's like, man,
it's pretty scary what's happening
to these Pentecostal preachers.
Services.
Is everybody faking it?
No.
They're not all faking it.
That's what's scary about it.
Are some of them faking it?
Absolutely.
Have you talked to anyone
who's been to Pentecostal churches?
And a lot of people pretend
to speak in tongues of it.
And a lot of people,
they pretend to get healed.
But I don't think
they're all pretending.
I think that some of them
when they're shaking on the ground
are doing way too good
of an acting job
to be faking that.
Right.
And I think that
some of them
are doing way too good
of an acting job
to be faking that.
Right.
I believe, yes,
some of them are getting
possessed by devils.
And they think
they're getting healed.
And the exact opposite
is taking place.
There was a movie
that came out like
20 years ago.
Robert Duvall was the star
but it's called The Apostle.
Has anyone ever heard
that movie The Apostle?
I'm dating myself.
I know one of the older people here.
You're like,
man, that's before my time.
It was in the,
I think it was 1997
or in the 90s
or something like that.
But it was nominated
for best picture, I think.
And he was nominated
for best actor.
And he's nominated
for best actor.
And he's a Pentecostal preacher.
Okay.
At the beginning of the movie,
his wife's leaving him
so he hits her boyfriend
with a baseball bat.
The guy gets killed.
So he's on the run
from the cops.
He's on trial for murder
or whatever.
But he's this
Pentecostal preacher
and he's just doing
all these bizarre things
during the movie.
Okay.
Like there's one part
where he says,
I'm stomping
in the name of Jesus.
I'm stomping, I'm stomping.
And then all of a sudden
he'll say things
and this woman's translating,
oh, he's stomping
in Jesus' name, blah, blah, blah.
He baptizes himself.
He says,
I baptized myself
in the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.
He gets back up
and in Jesus' name,
down and up with him.
And it's like,
I remember when I saw that
and, you know,
part of it,
I did the same sort of thing.
I was laughing
to show his art.
But honestly,
that movie was meant
to mock us.
Meant to mock us.
But what he said
was,
I'm going to do
the same thing
in the name of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost.
He gets back up
and in Jesus' name,
but what he's doing
is not really different
than what the Pentecostals were doing.
Their religion
is mocking Christianity.
Look,
I've never been
to a Pentecostal church service,
but like all of us,
I've been to YouTube.
I've seen Benny Hinn in action.
I've seen what he does.
Look,
it's a mockery
of the things of God.
And, you know,
they do reach me,
but, you know,
here's the problem.
They don't get them saved
because they have
a different gospel.
They get people
to come to their church service
that, you know,
we might have been able
to get to come
to this church service.
They are mocking
the things of God,
whether they realize it or not.
It's not bringing people
to Jesus.
It's not getting people saved.
It's not teaching them
the word of God.
It's simply just a mockery
of the things of God.
Look,
there's a lot of problems
with the Pentecostal church.
We talked about
the introduction last week
and the history behind it
and how it's outside
the realm of Christianity.
We're going to talk
about the emotionalism
and the ecumenicalism
in future sermons.
But, you know,
one of the big things
about the Pentecostal church,
what they're doing
is just mocking
the things of God.
And it is causing people
to think that Christians
are crazy.
It is causing Catholics
not to get saved
and not to come
to our church services.
Because, unfortunately,
the Pentecostals
get their message
out for more than we do.
And people know
what they're about
and they think
we're just like them.
No, it's not like that at all.
Let's go to the word of prayer.
If you're having
a Father's Day
and you just look
at what Father says
about the Pentecostal church
and, you know,
the harm that they're causing
in Christianity, God,
help us to learn from this
and read the Bible closely
and do everything we can
to reach that
and get them saved
because they're not going to
be saved.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's what
the Pentecostal church
is all about.
And I think that's