All right, we're here in Leviticus chapter 14, and you're probably thinking, what in
the world does this have to do with separation onto the church family?
We're talking about a plague in a house.
And I'll explain a little bit.
Let me just tell you a quick story.
And I don't tell a lot of stories when I preach.
Anyone who's been here, you know that.
But I actually lived in an apartment in Arizona that had a water heater that was leaking from
above in the upstairs one because it was like several floors, and it was in this room where
I had a water heater.
I never entered that room because it just had the water heater there.
And I noticed that there was like moisture underneath the door one day.
And all of a sudden, when I opened that room up, you know, it had like black and blue and
red streaks all over the wall.
I'm like, what in the world happened?
Just a little bit of water dripping down day after day after day.
And after I don't know, a couple months, it was like a disaster.
And it's actually exactly what Leviticus chapter 14 is talking about.
We're basically, you know, when you think of things like mold and things like that in
a house, it's very dangerous to your health.
Okay.
And so it actually, Leviticus chapter 14, I actually had to apply to my life and I was
reading it and trying to understand what is this talking about?
And you know, several years later, I actually memorized Leviticus chapters 14 verses 33
through 57.
And it was just kind of a random memorization.
I was like, man, I lived in a house like this.
And I just said, I'm going to memorize this.
And I realized there's so much symbolism in Leviticus chapter 14.
It's actually one of the most interesting passages in the Bible to me.
It's very, very interesting.
And I want to teach you a few verses here just as an introduction here, as we're talking
about separation onto the church family.
Because last week what we talked about was separation from your physical family.
Now as I mentioned last week, I'm not saying you have to separate from your family or never
talk to them.
What I did was I gave you principles of whether or not, you know, you want to stay as close
to them as you are.
And depending on your situation, you might decide, maybe I shouldn't be as close to them.
Maybe they believe different things.
Look, if your parents are hardcore Muslims, you're probably just not going to get that
along that well as Christians, okay?
We saw the story with Abraham and Tara, and sometimes you do need to separate from your
physical family.
It doesn't mean that you never talk to them.
It just means maybe you shouldn't spend as much time with them.
We talked about that last week.
But here's the thing, if you separate from your physical family to any degree, whether
a lot or a little bit, you need to separate onto your church family.
See it's never good enough to separate from something unless you separate onto something.
Because your physical family provides certain things.
And if you separate from that, you've got this big void in your life that you need to
fill, okay?
Now in Leviticus 14, notice what it says in verse 33.
Leviticus chapter 14 verse 33, and the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When
ye become into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for possession, and I put the
plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession, and he that owneth the house
shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague
in the house.
So the Bible speaks about somebody owning a house.
And like your biggest nightmare when you own a house is to find out, oh, man, I've got
mold all in the walls, because that's not easy to fix, okay?
And so basically, someone's in the house and they say, man, it looks like I have a plague
in my house.
It looks like my house is unclean.
And that person would go to the priest to basically check out the situation and their
specific rules of what to do.
Verse 36, Then the priest shall command that they empty the house.
So everything's taken out of the house before the priest go into it to see the plague, that
all that is in the house be not made unclean, and afterward the priest shall go in to see
the house.
So everything's taken from the house, because if there's a major plague in a house, it's
going to make everything destroyed.
Think about if you have a bag of apples and one rotten apple ruins the bunch, doesn't
it?
One rotten piece of fruit ends up spreading to all the pieces of fruit.
That's just the way it works.
And if something is unclean, it's going to make everything else unclean.
If you touch something that's unclean, you're going to be unclean, right?
That's the way it works.
And so if the house is unclean, you want to remove everything.
That way you don't lose everything.
You don't want everything in your house just to get infected with mold and to be destroyed,
okay?
So that's what it says there in verse number 36.
Verse 37, and he shall look on the plague, and behold, if the plague be in the walls
of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than
the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut
up the house seven days.
So basically you see this result, and for seven days you kind of watch the house and
you're going to go back in and see what's going on with the house.
Notice verse 39, and the priest shall come again the seventh day and shall look, and
behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house, so it's a real plague, then
the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they
shall cast them into an unclean place without the city.
So verse 40 is an interesting verse because if you find out there's a plague, the Bible
says you remove the stones where the plague is and you cast them into an unclean place,
okay?
Without the city means far away from everything.
Now from just a symbolism on that verse alone, this applies in a lot of different ways, right?
If somebody at the church is a heretic or someone that needs to get kicked out of church,
you take them to an unclean place, basically cast them out of the church, right?
Or if you have trash, trash is unclean, isn't it?
You put it into an unclean place like the big trash container or whatever at your apartment
complex or wherever you put it without the city.
You don't want it in your house to destroy it, okay?
If something's unclean or your television, right?
Your television that you love to watch, I mean, take it to an unclean place without
the city.
Get it away from you.
Why?
Because you don't want to spend all your time just watching things that are ungodly, okay?
And so there's many applications you can make from verse number 40, but I want you to notice
here in verse 41, and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they
shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place.
So not only do you get rid of what's unclean, you scrape off any dust and remove that because
if there's just a little bit of that plague left, it could infect the entire house.
And look, this is a chapter in the Bible.
This is obviously a real situation that can be dangerous because if you've got a plague
that you cannot get rid of in a house, that could cost a whole lot of money to fix.
I know people in the US that have had a house that had mold in them, and to fix what was
inside the walls, I mean, they spent like 2 million pesos, like 3 million pesos.
It's a lot of money, okay?
And if you don't have insurance, then I don't know what you do, okay?
When you have a situation like this, it can be very, very dangerous, okay?
And also to your health, you got to get rid of that mold.
You can't be living in a place with mold.
But notice verse 42, and this is the main point I want to make, and they shall take
other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar
and shall plaster the house.
So you've removed the stones that were unclean, that were filled full of a plague.
You took them to an unclean place without the city.
You got rid of the plague.
But if you remove those stones that are part of that house to build that house, you must
replace those stones with other stones, right?
Stones for stones.
You don't replace stones with, you know, I don't know, whatever.
You must replace it with something that's the same, but that's clean.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
So something that's very similar, but the difference is instead of unclean, instead
of sinful, something that's clean, something that's pure, something that's good.
See when you get rid of your rock music, you go to a church like this and I preach against
the music you listen to, and you start feeling guilty, you say, man, I should quit listening
to music that's using the Lord's name in vain, that's blaspheming God, that's promoting drugs
and sin and fornication.
I should quit listening to that, listening to that.
Hey, that's great if you hear the sermon and you're motivated.
I did the same thing.
I remember like probably 13 years ago or so, I was listening to a sermon when I was at
home on the internet, on YouTube or whatever, and the preacher was preaching against listening
to rock music and I felt so guilty.
I went into my room, I got my CDs out and I just put every single one in the trash and
I took that trash into an unclean place without the city.
I was like, I'm going to take this out now.
I don't want to go back into the filth and grab those CDs and listen, because I listen
to a lot of pretty bad music.
I did the same with movies when I heard a sermon before where I got rid of a lot of
really bad movies that were gangster type movies and things like that where people were
being killed and it's glorifying violence and I said, I should not be watching this
as a Christian.
I took it to an unclean place without the city.
That's great if you hear a sermon and you get motivated to make changes in your life,
but when you remove an area of your life, you must replace it with something.
See if you spend two hours a day listening to music and you say, I'm going to get rid
of this.
Hey, that's great, but there's still 24 hours in a day and you're filling 22 hours.
You must make a plan to replace what you got rid of with something else.
Now I recommend based on the Bible that what you replace it with is something that's similar
but clean.
You understand what I'm saying?
If music's your thing and you love music and you say, man, I spend hours every day listening
to music.
Hey, that's great.
Get rid of the unclean music, but replace that with music that's good, that's godly.
Take one of these hymnals home and as a family, sing this hymnal.
Learn these songs and sing these songs.
If you're going to get rid of an area of your life and you love music, you've got to replace
it with something and I'd recommend based on the Bible, you replace it with something
that's similar but clean, which would be godly music, Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Same thing if you get rid of worldly movies or whatever, because here's the reality.
If you get rid of four hours of worldliness in your life, you're probably not going to
read the Bible for four more hours a day.
You're probably not going to spend all of those four hours memorizing the Bible and
here's the thing, you don't have to because there's many godly things you can do.
Singing the Bible is godly, memorizing the Bible, going soul winning, singing hymns.
These are things that are godly.
Spending time with family is a godly thing.
If you have a family that God's given you, God expects me as a father and a husband to
spend time with my wife, spend time with my kids.
Nothing sinful and you can have fun.
You can have fun and serve God at the same time without doing anything wrong.
Working out, playing sports, you can have hobbies.
There's nothing wrong with those.
There's nothing sinful about that, but there are plenty of things in our lives that we
do that are probably sinful and worldly and what the Bible is saying is if you have an
unclean area of your life, get rid of that with something that's clean.
Otherwise it's going to infect the entire house and if you have pockets of sin in your
life and you do not remove those, you must replace them with something that's godly.
It's not good enough just to separate from unless you separate on two.
When I was in an independent fundamental Baptist church when I was kind of newly saved, I remember
my pastor preached this point, not in this verse, but what he said is this is what we
call replacement theology.
So for me, when I've heard the term replacement theology, I guess I have two different types
of replacement theology because I understand if you've seen the documentary Marching Design,
you know what I'm talking about.
That's a different type of replacement theology, but the replacement doctrine or the replacement
theology that I'm speaking about is when you remove an area of your life that's bad, you
replace it with something good.
This is just a good principle in your life in general, even if you're not saved.
It's a good principle for how to live your life.
So when it comes to separating from your physical family, that's not enough.
Why?
Because if you remove an area of your life, you must replace it with something.
So you separate from your physical family.
Hey, you know, if you're in the situation where you need to, then that's a good thing,
but you must separate onto something.
Why?
Because stones have a function to building a house.
A brick has a function if you have a brick house, right?
Those things, you can't just remove nails from a house and say, I'm not going to replace
it with something.
You've got to replace it with something, and if you remove the parts of a house that built
that house, you must replace it with other stones that are good.
You separate from your physical family.
You must replace it by separating onto your church family, because we are a church family
at Verity Baptist Church, Manila.
You know, obviously we're all part of the family of God, but God is individual churches,
and this is your church family, and look, the family actually has many important functions.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 1, 2 Corinthians 1.
So what I'm going to do in this sermon is I'm going to basically give you three functions
of the physical family that they provide.
And I want us to all realize this, that for one, if you're a member of this church, you
need to be devoted to your church family.
Why?
Because if you're not devoted to your physical family and you're not that close to them,
they serve functions that you need to replace in another way, and it's through the church
family.
But not only that, not only do I want you to realize you need to dedicate yourself if
this is your church to your church family, but I want you to also realize this.
It's not just what can I get out of church.
See, a lot of people have the mentality, I go to church because I want something from
church.
Quite honestly, throughout the Bible, the main lesson Jesus is teaching is your life
is not about you.
Isn't that what every single chapter in the Bible is about?
Your life is not about you.
But this is the way God's built our lives.
I mean, look, when you're married, as a husband, you're supposed to lay down your life for
your wife.
Your life's not about you.
You're supposed to do what you can to raise your kids, and look, raising children is difficult.
Takes a lot of work, takes a lot of effort, and you could easily say, I'll do the easy
approach and not spend any time with my kids.
Yeah, the result's going to be when your kids grow up, they don't love you.
That's the reality.
If you don't spend time with them when they're growing up, they're not going to spend time
with you when they're adults.
That's the way it works.
We need to make it a point to spend time with our children, spend time with our spouse.
Look, our lives are not about us.
That's what Jesus teaches us.
Right?
I mean, he said, you know, he didn't come here as a conquering hero.
He laid down his life, okay?
The Bible says our lives are not about us.
So when it comes to church, amen, you love this church, you love the preaching, you're
learning things, you're going soul-winning, things like that, but the question you have
to ask yourself is, what can I do to help this church?
Now you say, Brother Stuckey, that's easy for you to say because you're the one running
the church, so you just want people to help you.
Well, that might be part of it, but here's the reality.
I've only been running this church for a year and a half, and do you know what I did for
my 14 years before that?
I pretty much did whatever my church wanted me to do, whatever my pastor wanted me to
do.
When I first started and I wanted to serve God, you know, I was at a church that, as
I mentioned, I think in the last sermon about how it was like a non-denominational type
Baptist church, and I didn't agree with everything, but I was at that church and the pastor wanted
me to run a Bible study.
Now we don't do that at our church, but, you know, I was learning and growing and I was
just trying to help out in whatever way, okay?
When I went to another independent Baptist church, my role was basically I was the backup
or the assistant to helping the bus route to pick up kids.
Now, we don't really believe in that as a church, and, you know, quite honestly, being
the assistant is not glorious because I still had to get there at six in the morning.
I mean, you go on those bus routes for three hours to pick up kids.
I was the assistant.
I don't get the glory.
I'm just kind of the assistant to help out, to help babysit those kids that are going
crazy on the buses, but it's just like that's what the pastor wanted me to do.
It's like, how can I help?
And he's like, hey, you know, if you don't mind doing this, and look, here's the reality.
What the Bible teaches is if you're faithful in something that's small, then he'll trust
you with something that's large.
And see, the attitude we should all have is this, how can I help, okay?
That's the attitude I had in other churches I was at.
In what other way, whatever church I was at, how can I help the pastor?
How can I help the church?
Why?
Because our lives are not about us.
And if you consider, and I understand we have a lot of visitors here.
I'm not really speaking directly to you.
I mean, you're here visiting.
We're happy to have you, but if you consider this your home, you have to ask yourself,
how can I be a blessing?
How can I help?
And look, obviously part of that is we believe in soul winning and things like that.
But there's a lot of ways you can help a church.
There's a lot of things to do.
And the more people that help, the more you can do, right?
One major function of the physical family is the physical family, your parents, your
brother, your sister, your cousins, your aunts, your grandparents, they provide comfort in
your life when times are tough.
They provide comfort.
Second Corinthians chapter one, verse one.
This is written to a church, the church of Corinth.
Second Corinthians chapter one, verse one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God and Timothy, our brother, onto the church of God, which is at Corinth with all
the saints, which are in all Achaia.
Grace be to you and peace from God, our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now notice verse three, blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father
of mercies and the God of all comforts.
See the Bible says in verse three, God is the God of all comforts.
See many people over these last couple months, your lives have just not been that good, right?
Maybe you're worried about work, you're worried about finances, a lot of different things.
The reality is the ultimate comforting person is God.
You can get more comfort by reading the Bible, by praying to God.
What a friend we have in Jesus, right?
The God of all comfort.
Now notice what it says in verse four, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, okay?
See if we would allow God to comfort us, he actually would comfort us.
Oftentimes though, we don't read the Bible when things are going bad, we don't pray,
and then we wonder why we're miserable.
When you're going through tough times, if you actually pray to God, he can help you.
But notice this next part, who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able
to comfort them which are in any trouble.
See notice what the Bible says, God comforts us and he does this and that way you can comfort
other people that are going through tribulation.
You say, what are you talking about?
Well let me give you an example.
And I mentioned this I think in the last sermon, my wife and I, as we waited a while to have
kids and when we first found out we were going to be parents and we were really excited,
we found out shortly after that our kids died.
They weren't born yet, but it's like that is terrible as a parent to deal with.
You're excited to have kids, you find out you're going to have twins, and they passed
away and you're going to see them up in heaven.
That's a miserable thing to go through, but here's the reality, and look, it's tough as
a husband, I can't even imagine as the wife.
Obviously that's going to be even tougher for the wife, but here's the reality, my wife
could comfort someone who ends up going through that one day, better than someone who has
not gone through that.
See when God comforts you in a certain way, you can in turn use that to help comfort you
in the way that God has comforted you.
Now let me just give you an important principle that if you have not gone through a trial
before and nothing similar to it, do not try to give advice if you have not been down that
road.
Instead, just say, we're praying for you.
That's the reality.
And the reason why I'm saying is this, and I just know from my personal life that when
my wife and I were praying every day to have kids and it took a couple years, which isn't
a lot of time except for the fact that our church, everybody's having kids left and right
and everything.
And so look, a lot of people gave advice that we didn't ask for.
And it's like, quite honestly, it's just like you were able to have kids immediately.
So it's like, I don't really want your advice right now.
We didn't say that, but it's just kind of like, I want you to understand that when you're
not going through something or you've never gone through it, you're not the best person
to comfort them.
See, if you're someone who's gone through that, you've lost a child, you can help somebody
be comforted that goes through that as well.
And so look, if you haven't been down a road...
For one, if people don't ask for advice, it's usually best not to give advice.
You might just have somebody be pretty mad at you or snap at you.
But I want you to realize, if you haven't gone through a trial, you probably shouldn't
be the one to give advice because you're not going to be able to comfort in the way of
someone who's gone through.
You say, that's your opinion.
No, that's what it says.
Isn't that what it says in 2 Corinthians 1?
He comforts you that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.
And here's the reality, parents and family provide comfort.
Do they not?
I mean, I love my parents.
I talk to my parents several times every week.
We Skype every week and then I talk to them through email.
I love my parents.
My parents were great parents.
I love them.
And I know that I could call my parents or email them about any problem.
And no matter how bad, even if I screwed up my life so bad down the road, if I became
a drug dealer or really screwed up my life, my parents would be right there to help me
pick my face off the ground.
Why?
Because my parents love me.
Family provides comfort.
And if people are separating from their physical family, the church family needs to provide
that comfort.
Right?
I mean, if they separate from the physical family and the church family is not there
to provide comfort in hard times, you know what could end up happening?
Someone might decide, well, I'm just going to go back to leave the church and just go
back to my old life because I don't get comfort at this church.
Okay?
Look, as members of this church, we ought to try to comfort those that are actually
struggling in life.
It says that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith
we ourselves are comforted of God.
So the way God comforts you when you go through that exact trial, you can in turn use that
to help someone out who's gone through the exact same thing.
Okay?
If you haven't had that trial, it's probably not best to give advice or to try to provide
that comfort other than just saying, I'm praying for you.
All Job's friends had to do was say this, I'm praying for you.
Let us know if you need anything.
Right?
I mean, when you go through something and people tell you that, it feels good, doesn't
it?
That people say, I'm praying for you.
If you need anything, let me know.
And that's usually how I stop with situations.
If it's a situation, maybe I'm really close friends to someone or I've been through that,
I might try to provide more advice or something like that.
Otherwise I just say, hey, you know what?
I'm praying for you.
Now, look, of course I have an opinion about every situation.
All of us do.
It does not mean that you need to provide your opinion though.
Okay?
Turn to Philippians chapter two.
Philippians chapter two.
See, I think one mistake we make is we assume that everybody actually wants to hear what
we're thinking.
So whatever we're thinking, we just kind of let people know.
It's like, well, sometimes just don't provide your opinion.
Okay?
Hey, I give advice behind this pulpit.
I preach sermons and you know what?
Sometimes people just don't follow the advice.
You know what I don't do?
I don't come up to them and say, you know what?
I told you to do this in the sermon.
I let people make their own choices.
Anyone who's at this church will realize that's the truth.
Now sometimes people do ask me for advice.
And if you ask me for advice, I give my honest opinion.
If you don't ask for advice, I don't give an opinion.
Why?
Because it's not wanted.
Okay?
And so the reality is this that, you know, sometimes, you know, keep your opinions to
yourself.
And look, I don't know of a problem we're having in our church.
I'm just trying to help for the future.
It's better to fix something before it ever happens, right?
Because sometimes people feel like, man, you know what?
You need to do what I say.
Do this.
No.
Sometimes it's best to just not say that much.
Okay?
Philippians chapter two, verse one, Philippians chapter two.
This is also to a church as well.
Philippians chapter two, verse one.
If there be there for any consolation in Christ.
So think of consoling, okay?
You're consoling someone who's struggling with something.
If any comfort of love, very similar to consolation in Christ.
If any fellowship of the Spirit.
If any bowels and mercies.
Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord
of one mind.
It's talking about having accord, being of the same mind in the local church, okay?
We're not expected to have the same mind or be in the same opinion as everybody in the
world.
But in a church, you need to get along with people.
In a church, you should be believing the same doctrines because those are the things that
are being preached.
In church, you should be as one like a body that's together, not separated where there's
frictions and schisms, okay?
Verse three, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than themselves.
So what does that mean in verse three?
Lowliness of mind is someone who basically has a low opinion of themselves.
Basically you're a humble person, the Bible's saying.
When you're lowly in mind, you basically don't think of yourself as like the greatest
at everything.
You just are kind of a humble person.
And what it says is let each esteem other better than themselves, meaning you look at
other people as being more important than yourself.
Jesus Christ did this.
He esteemed everyone better than himself.
I mean, dying on the cross is not fun, but he died for our sins.
Now was Jesus better than us?
Absolutely.
Was he greater than us?
Absolutely.
But he esteemed others better than himself.
Now it doesn't mean that he thought that they were more godly than him.
But what it means is he looked at their lives as being more important than his own life,
and he died for our sins.
And look, as Christians, we are expected to look at other people as being more important
than us.
Life is not always about us.
It's about other people, okay?
This is in the context of comfort of love from verse one, consolation in Christ.
Verse four, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of
others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
So in the mind of Christ Jesus was look on the things of others and not on the things
of himself, okay?
Look, sometimes something comes up and you've got to deal with it right away, right?
You know, we've had times where our son was sick in the middle of the night and I had
to just like wake up.
It's like 11 o'clock just trying to find a mercury drug that's open.
Just find something for my son.
Why?
Because you do have to esteem other people better than yourself, especially if you're
a parent, but even just as individuals, we should look at other people as being more
important than ourselves.
That doesn't mean that they're better than you in terms of a greater person, but it just
means that you're not supposed to care about yourself all the time.
What's interesting about this is if we learn to esteem others better than ourselves, the
result is actually that we're actually happier, right?
The Bible says if you know these things, happier ye if ye do them.
The people that are happy in life are the people that are not just focused on themselves
all the time.
They're the people that are actually serving other people.
The result is they're actually happier, okay?
Turn to Romans 12, Romans 12, and here's the truth.
Most families do this.
Most physical families provide comfort.
I know that my parents, I know that my sister and her family, look, you know what?
If I went on really tough times, they would comfort me.
If I email them about whatever and I'm really sad or I'm depressed, you know what?
They would pray for me every night, they would care about me, they'd do whatever they could
to help.
Why?
Because physical families provide comfort.
Look, if you're separating from the physical family that's providing this, the church family
needs to provide comfort for people that are really struggling in life.
Look, when you have a church that, obviously not right now, but most weeks we have more
than 50 people here for church when we're past the lockdown point, and I want you to
realize that when you have 50 people in one room, I can guarantee you there are some people
that are struggling.
There are some people that are not doing that well, and they will have a smile on their
face when they come to church.
They're going to act like things are going really well, okay?
Because everybody puts a smile on their face, and when someone says, how are you doing,
even if your life is falling apart and it's terrible, I'm doing good, I'm doing all right,
I'm hanging in there, I'm not dead yet, right?
You pretend like things are going well, isn't that true?
But sometimes when you're at a church, you might know of someone going through a major
trial in their life, and it's like, don't overstep your bounds, don't give advice if
it's not asked, but do try to provide comfort.
Do let them know you're praying for them, and hey, is there anything I can do to help?
And look, if there's something that you can do, they'll let you know, and then maybe you
can provide more comfort.
It says in Romans 12 verse 15, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that
weep.
So the Bible says if someone's rejoicing, you rejoice with them.
If they're weeping, you weep with them.
What does that mean, or what does that look like?
Here's what that looks like.
If I come to church on one Sunday and I'm in the best mood ever, everything in my life
is just going great, and somebody comes to church and they are at their lowest point
in life.
Something major happened in their life.
Their mom died, let's say, something major.
It's like, I'm not supposed to be like, man, my week's been awesome.
No, you're at that moment to weep with the persons that weeping.
But on the contrary, if you come to church and your life is falling apart and somebody
is really excited about something great that happened, they just got their dad saved or
something, you know what?
You're supposed to actually rejoice with that person.
You see, as people, we're supposed to esteem others better than ourselves.
The Bible says we weep with those that weep, and so when it comes to being in a church,
we need to provide comfort when people are struggling.
Turn to Acts 2, Acts 2.
One of the big mistakes people make is they look at a church, they say, well, Verity Baptist
Church Manila, man, it's all about the preaching, right?
It's not all about the preaching.
I mean, I understand the reason why most of you are at this church is because you agree
with the doctrines.
You agree with the direction our church is going.
We want to get churches started.
We believe in soul winning.
You believe those things.
You agree with the doctrine.
That's why you're here.
That's not the only part of a church.
You say, well, it's just the preaching and the music, right?
No, it's not.
That's actually a small part of church because people that are watching only online, hey,
they can hear the preaching.
I understand we don't have the best live stream.
The connection is not the greatest here, but look, they're able to hear the sermons.
They can learn the word of God.
But look, if that's all life is about, no need for anybody to meet here.
I just preach the sermons.
We live stream them.
You watch them.
But that is not what a church is about.
Okay.
Preaching is not the only part of church.
One thing is comfort, but another thing is this fellowship.
Fellowship is a very important part of church.
Acts two, verse 41, then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same
day they were added on to them about 3000 souls.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship.
Now the book of Acts is really the one that shows a church just exploding in growth and
lots of members and new churches getting started.
What you constantly see is it talks about fellowship, okay?
Why?
Fellowship is a large part of why a church grows.
Now is it not true that if you're close to your physical family that they provide fellowship?
Right?
I mean, when I used to live with my parents, my dad and I, we'd watch all sports games
together and things like that.
I would always spend time with them, ate with them.
You're fellowshipping with them all the time, okay?
If you leave that, if you separate from that, you must separate onto something.
See church is not just about the preaching.
The fellowship actually matters.
It's not just from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
We have two sermons and that's it and it's like, well then it's the soul winning at 2.15.
No, I mean actually fellowshipping when we have lunch together, that's actually important
as well.
We have a great time doing it and that's an important part of church.
Activities at our church, those are things that are important, okay?
We had a lot of activities planned which, you know, we had the big athletic competition
in June that I wanted to do when I was training and working out.
We're going to do all these events and we got a postponement due to everything that's
happened.
But doing events and fellowship, that's very important.
And look, the physical family provides that.
If people separate from their physical family and they say, well I'm just going to read
the Bible for six hours every day, no you're not, okay?
There's many things we can do in life that are not wrong, that are not sinful, that are
godly things and fellowship is one of those things.
And family provides fellowship.
You hang out with them, you spend time with them, but the reality is that many of us in
this room, we have Catholic relatives that just don't believe the same things or they
drink or they party or whatever and they're going a different road in life and it's like
it's probably not best to hang out with them when they're getting drunk.
But if you're not going to hang out with them on a Friday night, what are you going to start
doing?
Okay?
See, the church must provide fellowship.
Every church must do that.
Why?
It's an important part of church growth and if people separate from something, they must
separate onto something.
And it says in verse 42, doctrine in fellowship, then it says and in breaking of bread and
in prayers.
Now in verse 42, this is not referring to communion when it says breaking of bread,
it's referring to breaking bread with one another.
You know, eating, okay?
Eating together.
Throughout the book of Acts, you see this, they continued in breaking of bread, they're
eating together.
Isn't that one of the big fellowship activities that you do in life, is eating together?
It's probably the biggest one in the Philippines, right?
You have a function, you've got to have food, right?
You're going to have a fellowship event, you must have food there.
Look, that's a great way to have fellowship.
Notice the result of this in verse 43, And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles.
And all that believed were together and had all things common, and sold their possessions
and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need.
And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and
having favor with all the people, notice, and the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved.
This is a local church, because the Bible does not teach a universal church, and people
were added because they got saved, and they joined in the doctrine and fellowship, the
Bible's saying.
Why?
Fellowship is a very important way that church growth is going to take place.
Look, when somebody comes to our church for the first time, and they don't know anybody,
I've been members of a lot of different churches, and when you first go to a church, even if
I know I believe the exact same doctrines, I'm kind of like, am I sitting in the right
seat?
I don't want to take somebody's seat.
It's like, you know, I don't know, and you're kind of nervous.
That's the way anybody is when they're at a new church.
Isn't that true?
You're at a new church?
The first service we had at this church, we had all these people that were waiting for
the church.
We had a few people there for the first service, some from other areas just to visit, but nobody
knows anybody, so everyone's kind of uncomfortable.
You don't know anybody.
You're getting to know people and stuff like that, but look, you have to realize you've
been at this church for a while, most of you.
If somebody comes for the first time, they might feel a little bit uncomfortable or a
little bit Mahayan, a little bit shy, because they don't know anybody, because the reality
is that's how I would feel if I was at a new church and I didn't know anybody.
See, eventually, though, what will take place, if somebody does not get connected to church,
they're likely to leave the church at some point.
Why?
Because fellowship's a very important part of our lives.
Not only that, if people are not that connected, I've seen this so many times, people are at
a church, and look, my sermons can be harsh to people that have never heard this preaching
before.
I mean, everything I preach is from the Bible, but you know, I preach a lot of sermons, and
I preach what the Bible says.
I don't shy away from it because that's what God says, but there's a lot of hard truths
in the Bible.
You have to realize that when people are new at church, it's very easy that I might preach
a hard truth and they might leave, but if they know people and they're friends with
people, guess what?
They're probably not going to leave.
Why?
Because they've already made friends with people at church.
Look, as fundamentalists, we think of just like, it's all about doctrine, what we believe,
soul winning.
No, fellowship is a large part of it, especially for people that are new to some of this stuff.
Some of you were listening to sermons online for a couple of years from pastor and minutes,
so of course when this church started, you're like, man, I want to be a part of that, but
realize a lot of other people, they don't know a lot of these doctrines, or it's new
to them, or they're not familiar with some of the things we're saying, and what's going
to keep them around might be the fellowship.
It might not necessarily be the preaching, especially with new visitors.
We want them to get connected with other members.
Turn to Malachi chapter three, Malachi chapter three.
The reality is, family provides fellowship.
Isn't this true?
Family provides comfort.
I mean, I could email my parents or call them today and say, I could wake them up at three
in the morning and say, man, I need to talk, and you know what?
They would be there to talk, right?
Because family provides, at least my family, they provide comfort.
Family provides fellowship.
Isn't that true?
You spend time with your family, and look, if you're at a situation where you have to
separate to some degree from your physical family, and I hope that's not the case for
you, but if you do have to separate, then guess what?
The church family must provide comfort, and that's something that all of us must do, and
we must provide fellowship, and to the best of our ability, we'll try to have some fellowship
activities, and those things are important.
I think back to when we started in this building, a lot of times after soul winning, what do
we do?
Sat around and played board games, right?
Played various different board games, and you say, well, there's nothing spiritual about
that.
But fellowship's very important, and actually playing those board games gets people to know
each other, and to be friends, and to have that fellowship, and feel close to one another.
You're talking.
You're having fun.
You're breaking bread while you're hanging out and spending time.
Those things are actually very important, and some people can undervalue the importance
of those things, but if you don't have that connection with members at church, you're
likely to leave if you don't feel connected with other people.
Malachi chapter three verse 15, Malachi three verse 15, and now we call the proud happy.
Yea they that work wickedness are set up, yea they that tempt God are even delivered.
I'm about to deliver one of these hard truths, okay, from verse 15, because let me tell you
what verse 15's talking about when he says we call the proud happy.
So what is that talking about?
We call the proud happy.
What's the Bible referring to, okay?
Well what it's referring to is think about gay pride.
Gay means happy, right?
Isn't that what the word gay actually means?
Gay means happy, and the Bible is saying, you know what?
We call the proud happy, because think about gay pride, and it's like we say those people,
you know, are these proud people, these arrogant, we call them happy.
That's what the word gay means, and the Bible says we call the proud happy, but notice this.
Yea they that work wickedness are set up.
So what is it saying?
It's saying that vice pong eat is wicked.
That's not the point of the sermon.
I'm just saying it's saying vice pong eat is wicked, okay?
And I guess we don't have ABS-CBN, so it's no big deal now, but it is what it is, right?
Yea they that tempt God are even delivered.
But verse 16, then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.
They that feared the Lord spake often one to another.
You say I'm just going to show up for church, hear the sermon, I'll just leave, come back
for soul winning, and just not hang out, not fellowship.
It's all about the preaching.
I just want to learn the word of God, because I'm so spiritual, yea you're making a big
mistake in your life.
And some people have this attitude, well I'm just not going to fellowship at all, I just
want to hear the preaching, it's all about the sermon.
Look if that's the case, you don't even need a church, right?
If it's all about the preaching, you don't even need a church.
Just listen online.
Just listen to Pastor Hernandez online, just listen to Pastor Anderson online, go ahead
and do that.
You don't need a church if it's all about the preaching.
It's not all about the preaching.
Friendship is actually very important, and one thing at a church like this, even if I'm
not preaching a sermon series about separating from physical family, that's what my sermons
are about.
Taking hard standards on doctrines and things we believe, and the cause of it is that some
people will feel the need to separate from physical family sometime, but you must separate
onto something.
And I feel sorry for people that listen to sermons all the time online and don't have
a church family.
What's sad is this, that for some of us we can't do anything about it.
Worldwide, some people, they listen to sermons and they don't have a church family nearby,
but there are people in Sacramento, California that listen to all the sermons online of Pastor
Hernandez, but they never go to church at all.
I remember the first Red Hot Preaching Conference we had, we had various preachers there, and
I think I was driving the car, I was in the group with Pastor Anderson, many of you know
Pastor Anderson from the US, you listen online.
We went to this apartment complex, and I gave everybody maps of where to go to, and
I told him, I was like, hey, there's someone in this apartment complex that's a big fan
of yours.
He's like, okay, and I said, they're not a member of our church.
They listen all the time online, because I remember one of his friends had visited church
one time, and so I went and visited him, and he's like, man, keep what you're doing at
Verity, you're one of the best churches in the world.
I was like, why don't you come to church sometime?
He never even visited church, but he's like a big fan of Verity.
He lives in the same city, and so I went there and everything, and I'm driving, and as we're
driving by, someone screams, hey, it's Pastor Anderson.
He's all excited, but he's still never visited Verity as far as I know to this day, and it's
like he literally lives in Sacramento, California, never visited Verity, and probably never will,
but he loves all the sermons online.
It's like, what in the world?
Now some people, they live in a country like Japan or wherever, Cambodia, and you know
what, they hear sermons online, but they don't know of any believers that are like-minded.
That's not the reality with you, though.
The reality is you do have a church, okay?
You do have a church here.
Our church family in Pampanga, we have a church there, and you know what, obviously, you get
a new church off the ground, not everything's perfect, but you know, that church can still
provide fellowship, and fellowshiping with people that are like-minded is important.
Why?
Because your coworkers don't believe the same things as you.
Your coworker that you work with, they believe different doctrines.
They believe different things.
They have different opinions on everything that happens.
Why?
Because they just are going off a different path in life, okay?
It's important to have fellowship with people that are like-minded, and what the Bible said
is they that fear the Lord spake often one to another.
Turn to Ephesians 4, Ephesians chapter 4.
It's strange to me, because I'll be honest with you, that when I got saved, I was nervous
to visit church.
I didn't know where to go, and things like that, but about six months later, somebody
invited me to church, and I visited that ... Actually, he invites me to church on a Friday night,
I think it was, or Saturday night, one of those nights, and he asked me if I wanted
to go to church, because I was trying to give the gospel to someone at the mountain lair
in West Virginia, and you know, it was like late at night, so sometimes people would go
there to hang out, so I tried to give the gospel, and I was new at it.
I didn't really know what I was doing, but I was zealous, okay?
And so I ended up talking to someone who was like an atheist, so I ended up just getting
into an argument about evolution and stuff like that, and this guy actually comes over
to help me out, okay, as he had watched a lot of the Ken Hovind seminars and things
like that.
And so then afterwards, I'm just kind of listening to them for a while, and he invited me to
church, and that's actually to Baptist Church in Morgantown, and I told him, yeah, I want
to go.
And then here's what happened.
When Sunday morning rolled around, I was thinking, oh, man, I don't want to go to church, because
I'd never been to church before, and it's hard to go to a new routine.
But he called me to pick me up, because I didn't have a car, and he's like, do you still
want to go to church?
Now, here's the thing.
I kind of lied to him, because I did not want to go to church, okay?
But I was taught at a young age that when you commit to something by my parents, you
stick to it.
You say you're going to do something, you do it.
And I would love it if people that we knock on their door had that same commitment they
learned from their parents, that you say you're going to do something, you do it, because
many people tell us they're coming to church, and then usually they don't come.
Isn't that true?
It's like, I'm going to be there.
It's like, I promise you.
It's like, man, what I was taught is if you promise something, you do it, even if it hurts
you.
And that's a biblical principle.
And so I told him, yeah, I still want to go to church, even though I really didn't.
And he picked me up, and I went to church, and I've been to church pretty much every
single week since then in my entire life.
Because going to church for the first time, it's a little bit uncomfortable, okay?
But he had taught me the importance of that, okay?
Look, I think church is really important, and it blows my mind how people are saved
and they don't consider church that important.
Because to me, the most basic part of being a Christian is just going to church.
More basic than reading the Bible, because I mean, more basic than praying, because before
you're saved or you believe whatever religion, you're going to pray.
Everybody prays.
But I mean, the most basic part of being a Christian is just going to church, because
what you're doing is showing, hey, this is a church I like.
I stand with them.
I believe what they're doing.
I believe in the preaching and things like that.
The most basic part of being a Christian is just going to church.
And it blows my mind how a lot of people just don't even think it's important, okay?
But look, the church family, they need to provide that comfort.
They need to provide that fellowship.
And here's the reality.
One thing I've seen in my life, not just here but at other places, is that when you find
people that are in a like-minded church, when I was at Verity or here, the people that
are really obsessed with the online ministry, they are not the best church members.
And they're not the people that stick in church.
It's like so many people, they think their church is like a church in another country,
another part of the world.
And it's like, there's someone I know, and plenty of people I've known at various churches,
and you know, when I was in Sacramento, and they would know everything about the new IFB.
It's like, man, did you hear so-and-so got kicked out of church?
I'm thinking, I didn't even know so-and-so went to that church.
It's like, I don't even know who that person is.
They're like, you don't know, they're like one of the big people of that church.
It's like, I've never heard of them.
It's like, I don't pay attention to what every single church in the world is doing, okay?
It's like, my life is not just on the internet all day or on Facebook all day.
I actually have a real life that I think is more important than what's happening 5,000
miles away from here, okay?
So my opinion is this, you have your church family, and wherever that is, you dig into
that church.
You love that church.
You support that church.
You try to be a blessing to that church, and then you have your own personal life.
You have your job.
You have your wife or your husband, your kids.
Pour your life into things like that.
Don't just pour your life into something where it's like, hey, it's a church, where it's
a pastor I listen to that nobody knows who that is.
And I'm not saying it's wrong to listen to sermons online.
I listen to sermons online, but I'm just being honest with you.
I've seen many people that are obsessed with this movement of saved people all over the
world, and it's like, you got a church family right here that provides comfort, that provides
fellowship.
And it's like, honestly, and hey, listen to those sermons.
Learn great doctrines.
But what's more important than that is just getting plugged in and connected to the church
that you're a part of rather than just listening to sermons online.
Ephesians chapter four.
So the physical family provides comfort.
They provide fellowship.
The church family needs to provide comfort and fellowship, but the physical family also
provides motivation.
Okay, now here's the thing.
When we're talking about separating from physical family, they're probably not providing the
motivation in the same ways that you would be doing.
We motivate people by motivating them to go soul winning, to read the Bible, to memorize
the Bible.
That's not what your physical family does.
Okay, so it's a different type of motivation, but look, your physical family will motivate
you to get the career, get the job, do whatever the church family needs to motivate, but in
a different way.
Ephesians four verse eleven.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and
teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying
of the body of Christ.
So when it comes to spiritual leadership at a church, they are given for their perfecting
of the saints.
That does not mean to make the saints perfect.
It means to make them complete or to make them whole.
Okay, when it says perfect, that's what it means in the Bible for the work of the ministry.
You're running a church.
You should be motivating people to go soul winning and leading those campaigns, memorize
the Bible, read the Bible for the edifying of the body of Christ.
And so my job here is to try to help edify this local church, motivate us to serve God.
Verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God onto a perfect man, onto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every
wind of doctrine by the sight of men and cutting craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head
even Christ, from whom the whole body, referring to the local body, the local church, the whole
body, fitly joined together.
Once again, this goes back to my point that my eye does not do much good in the United
States of America.
I need both my eyes here.
You're joined together, right?
The body is joined together.
You don't have parts of your body in different locations, okay?
We are this local body.
That's what the Bible is referring to.
We are this local body here and Verity Baptist Manila or Verity Baptist Pasig, whatever you
want to say, we're this local body and we're fitly joined together.
What that means is this.
If you consider this your church family, God has placed you here for a reason.
We're fitly joined together.
And the Bible speaks about different parts or different, different people are different
parts of the body.
Someone's the eye.
Someone's the ear.
Someone's the nose.
Look, if you ask me, you know, what's more important to you, brother Stuckey?
Is your arm more important or your eye?
Both are pretty important.
It's like, I like having both of my arms.
I like having both of my eyes.
What's more important, brother Stuckey, your leg or your ear?
I kind of like them both.
It's like, can I have both those things?
It's like you say, well, brother Stuckey, I don't preach the sermons.
I don't lead the music.
I'm not really important.
Yeah, you are.
Every body part is very important.
There's not a single part of your body that is vestigial.
I mean, evolutionists will say parts of your body are vestigial, meaning that they're no
longer useful in your life.
They serve no purpose because you've evolved into something from an old animal or whatever.
It's vestigial.
It has no value.
Everything has value in your body.
Every single single part of your body has value.
And what the Bible is trying to say, every part of the local body, every part of the
church is valuable.
And look, here's the thing.
My ear serves a specific or specific functions, right?
It does certain things that my eyes can't do.
It does certain things that my mouth can't do.
Look, everybody has various gifts.
The Bible speaks about that they're given and my opinion, and maybe you disagree.
I think God's given me an ability to preach sermons and to teach the word of God.
The Bible says everybody's given at least one gift.
It mentions a lot of different things.
Everybody has at least one gift.
I believe that's a gift I've given.
That's I believe part of why I have a desire to teach the word of God.
But here's the thing.
I have not been given every gift.
There are lots of things I'm not good at.
You've been given certain gifts, and what I'm trying to tell you is every body part
has specific functions, and I might be the eye, but look, we still need the ear.
And so if you call this church your church family, I want you to realize you're here.
We're fitly joined together.
You say, why?
Verse 16, and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part.
The Bible says effectual working.
What does that mean?
Think of cause and effect.
It means to cause and effect.
What it's saying is this, that you being at this church, you will help others serve God.
You will help others live for God.
Every part's supposed to effectually work, cause and effect, and others.
You're meant to be a blessing at a church.
It's not just a phrase that said, I mean, it's the truth.
Everyone who's here, you say, this is my church family.
We're here for a reason.
It's important to find out what is that function?
What are my abilities?
There's a lot of things I just can't do.
I have no technology skills whatsoever.
I don't have technology skills, and quite honestly, I don't have an interest in learning
them, which is probably why I'm not good at them.
I love math, and I hate technology.
That's a very weird combination, but that's what I am.
I don't know how to do technology.
I don't know how to do basic things with technology.
To me, it's very difficult, but some people, you're very good at that stuff.
And yeah, in today's world, with our online ministry and things like that, you can provide
certain things in that area that I don't know how to do.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't know how to preach the sermon.
I don't know that passage in the Bible, but you can still be a blessing to church.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't know.
You can still bring people to church.
We have a lot of visitors here today, and the reason why you're here is because somebody
invited you and brought you.
And look, any one of us can invite people to church and bring people to church.
And every church I've been at that I considered my home church, I believed it was the best
church in the area, and I love that church.
And as a result, I wanted people to come to church.
I was like, man, you got to check out this church.
It's a great church.
Hopefully you feel the same way, but I just want you to notice it says, according to the
effectual working, everything, every part is supposed to effectually work.
Then it says this, effectually working in the measure of every part, maketh increase
of the body onto the edifying of itself in love.
What the Bible is saying is we edify one another.
I edify you with sermons.
You learn things in sermons.
I try to motivate you.
I try to teach you.
And yes, that's the job of an apostle, pastor, evangelist, you know what it says there in
verse number 11.
That's the job to try to help edify you.
But then the members themselves edify each other, motivate one another.
That's something a church needs to provide.
And it does not just come from the sermon that's being preached.
Say, how do you know that, Brother Stuckey?
Here's how I know that.
Because before this church started, you were already listening to great preaching, were
you not?
But how much were you going soul winning?
Two years ago.
I mean, isn't the reality that for most people here, you go soul winning a lot more now than
you did two years ago?
It's not because the preaching's better.
I mean, Pastor Mendez is a better preacher than me.
Pastor Anderson's a better preacher than me.
You're hearing great sermons already.
But it's because of the fact you need to be part of a church that's edifying and motivating
and effectually working with one another.
And so look, my attitude has always been that me personally, wherever God has placed me,
this is the church God wants me to be at.
I need to dive into that.
And see, here's the thing.
The church family provides comfort.
It provides motivation.
And it provides...
What was the other one?
Fellowship.
Comfort, fellowship, and motivation.
And the reality is, if you're part of a church, you need to dive into those things.
So here's the thing.
If you preach a sermon separating from physical family, you have to separate onto something.
And I would suggest this.
If you ask me, Brother Stuckey, if you were a person that just wasn't that involved at
church, you didn't fellowship or anything like that, and you say, Brother Stuckey, I
feel like you should separate from my physical family.
Well, look, if you're not really connected at church, it's probably best not to separate
from your physical family, because you need to separate onto something.
Separating from something is never good enough.
The Bible always talks about separating from sin, separate from worldliness onto God.
You can't just separate from something unless you separate onto something.
You separate from physical family, you separate onto the church family.
So look, we here at Verity Baptist Church Manila, we are a church family.
And if you consider this the church you're meant to be a part of, and you say, I'm a
member here, yeah, a member or a part of the body is the terminology.
If you're a member, every member of my body, every part of my body, every body part provides
a function.
We all need to find out what that function is.
Look, for people that don't dive into church, quite honestly, what I've seen, people that
are just obsessed with the online ministry and not really invested into the church, of
loving one another, caring about one another, they're usually people that just end up leaving
church.
That's what I've seen for years.
And so it's important that when you're part of a church, and we're thankful that here
in Manila we have people here that love the Lord.
This room is filled full of people that love God, that want to serve God, that say, man,
I love a Bible memorization challenge, man, I love a Bible reading challenge.
But you know, we also need to take seriously the comfort and the fellowship and motivating
one another.
Our lives are not about ourselves.
They're about other people.
And if we would learn that principle, we would actually find out happiness is found in just
obeying what God says.
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 to our lives.
All of us, including myself, God, help us to do our best as members here to try to provide
comfort to members that are struggling with things to try to provide motivation and also
to try to provide fellowship.
Help us to take all three of these things seriously.
God, all these things are important within a church family, and all these are things
that a physical family actually provides.
Help us to do our best to just be members here that actually want to serve you and try
to be a blessing to other people and not always care about ourselves.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.