All right, we're here in Titus chapter one. We're going to do this quick book and we'll finish it before I head to Sacramento
And so anyways, we're in Titus chapter one
The name of the sermon is the ordination of elders and the book of Titus is a very packed book
Especially this first chapter with a lot of information
So I'll do my best not to be too lengthy
But it says in Titus 1 starting in verse 1
Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect
The acknowledging of the truth which is after God is and so this opening verse Paul is stating that he is an apostle of Jesus
Christ right now when you think of the apostles many of them were directly chosen by God and there were lots of witnesses
And people could not deny it with Paul
It was a little bit different because he came in a possible kind of later on
And so I do believe that Paul states his apostleship because a lot of people kind of question
Now when Paul first got saved
Obviously people question that and you know, honestly, I don't really blame him
Because it's just like man. This guy was helping Christians being put to death and they were kind of afraid of him
Obviously, you know over time they should have forgotten that but a lot of people still question him being an apostle
And so it's not an arrogant thing when he says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ
He is just trying to prove his authority as he's writing this book
So oftentimes you'll see that that he had to kind of prove his authenticity. Now turn to 1st Corinthians 15
Now what we need to understand is that apostles do not exist today
And so I promise you if anybody says that they are an apostle in today's world
They are a false prophet. There's no question about that. And you say what why do you know that there are no apostles?
How can you prove that? Well in 1st Corinthians 15 we can actually prove this verse number five
And then he was seen of Cephas then of the twelve after that
He was seen above five hundred brethren at once of whom the greater part remain under this present
But some are falling asleep
So first appearing to Cephas then of all of the twelve
Then he was seen of five hundred brethren at once and then most of them are still alive
Most of them are still present, but some are falling asleep
Which is a nice way to say that they passed on they died verse seven after that
He was seen of James then of all the apostles
So this is all the apostles right here that mentions
But then there is going to be one other one that is mentioned here in verse number eight and last of all
He was seen of me also as a one born out of due time
And so the last one was Paul, okay
So in the context when we're talking about apostles the last one is Paul
Because all the apostles come first in verse seven and then we see Paul in verse eight
And he was one that was born out of due time
God knew that he would one day be an apostle and he would be a mighty man of God
He was one born out of due time. He kind of came later on with the other words verse 9
Prime the least of the apostles proving he is an apostle because he says I'm the least of the apostles
That have not need to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God and so Paul looked at his life
He said I don't deserve this. I'm lucky to even be saved when you think of you know, the life I lived
I was not a good person. I was persecuting the church
And he said he was the last one. So here's the thing if somebody in today's world is going to tell you I'm an apostle
There are false prophets right because you can prove in 1st Corinthians 15 that there are no apostles
They are all not
Everyone who is a true apostle is up in heaven now. There are no apostles in today's world
We say why because we have pastors in today's world. We have evangelists in today's world
We have missionaries and we have teachers. We have all of these things
Why don't we have apostles? We don't have that because none of you have seen the risen price, right? Neither have I
And look if somebody says that they've seen the Lord Jesus Christ, but you know, they might see something. I
Think Joseph Smith probably saw something
I think Muhammad probably saw something
I think that all of these calls that say that they've seen this vision they probably did see something
They're probably already a reprobator on the way to come in one and then God not God
But you know the devil, you know, basically have them see some sort of deceiving image deceiving lying angel
Called an angel or whatever. I go back to Titus chapter 1 and so there are no apostles in today's world
Okay, it's ridiculous to even claim that somebody is an apostle in today's world
Now look, you know, somebody's claiming to be an apostle and they want to be your friend
I remember the first Baptist Church I went to the first church
I went to after getting saved and you know
They had it's kind of a trendy thing to have many Bible studies you break up into small groups of like
Discuss the Bible now, obviously this is not something our church is gonna do because then you basically have a lot of people playing
But anyways, we broke out of the Bible study
Yeah, I think it was our D even be part of an era right there's like four of our groups
We had like ten twelve people and we came outside and our pastor apparently do this apostle
And then this guy was so arrogant to and he's wearing like really fancy stuff, you know
Nice gold necklace and everything like that
And then he's like, you know, I'm gonna pray with you and me and my friends are just thinking because obviously our pastor was our authority
You know, but our pastor like had a joint pair of them and we're just like
How do you look at somebody's a false prophet do not even pretend
Pretend to be friends with some, you know Mormon
I'm not gonna pretend to be friends with anyone who's preaching a false gospel, right?
Now in Titus chapter 1 verse number 2 the Bible reads in hope of eternal life
Which God that cannot live promised before the world again
And so it says in hope but I want you to understand that hope in the Bible
It's not something where it's like I hope eternal life is real. I hope I'm gonna make it to heaven
No, it's it's a sure thing. I don't know that you turn to Hebrew 6
So it's not in some possibility dot or this or see guru
Hey, it's for sure. It's a guarantee
Okay, not just a possibility
And so in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 11
Hebrew 6 verse 11 the Bible reads and we desire that every one of you in verse 11 do show the same diligence to the full
Assurance of hope unto the end. So the Bible says the Bible says here the full assurance of hope
And the Bible talks about the Lord Jesus Christ being our hope
We don't have to just hope and wonder if we're gonna make heaven obviously Jesus is a sure thing here
It says the full assurance of hope and so when you go back to Titus one
When we're talking about in the hope of eternal life, it's not something where you hope it's real
I hope it lasts forever. You know, I hope I don't lose my salvation
No, it's a sure thing right in hope of eternal life. It's a guarantee. It's eternal life. It's never gonna end. Okay
And so it says in hope of eternal life, which God that can not lie
Look God cannot
The Bible says God is not a man that he should lie. And so his promise is eternal life
Okay, and so when it says it's eternal life, that means there is no possibility of losing your salvation
You know in the second death, it's in hope of eternal life is a promise. This is a guarantee
I don't care what scenario you give me of someone who's saved and ends up committing some sin if they're saved
Yeah, that's just the way it works
We talked about suicide on Sunday and the big mortal sin that everyone thinks sends you to hell here in the Philippines
Well quite simply they don't know what to talk about
Because God cannot lie and he promised eternal life, which means it will not ever end
And he cannot lie now in Titus 1 2 at the end it said
On this before the world
Okay, this is very significant when he says promise before the world began because what this shows you is eternal life
Has always been eternal life. In the Old Testament when they got saved they received eternal life
Yeah in the New Testament they received eternal life. During the end times they received eternal life
Why is it significant? Because dispensationalists will say during the end times you can lose your salvation
They also teach during the book of Acts there's different methods of salvation
Some dispensationalists will literally look at certain verses and say there's multiple methods of salvation found in the blood of the earth
But they will literally go to chapters and say we'll see the methods changed here, Acts 2 38
You got to repent of your sins and be baptized in order to go to heaven
But then in Acts 16, it's just by believing
James chapter 2 you got to work your way to heaven. That's what they'll say. They change their method of salvation all the time
It's like I'm sorry if you can't understand these verses
But look God's Word doesn't change. In the hope of eternal life which God that came out of life promised before the world began
It has always been the same way. Now when people get confused
Is they believe that well in the Old Testament they weren't involved in the Holy Ghost so maybe they could have lost it and gone to hell
You know when it comes to eternal life that was promised before the world began just as Jesus was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world
Okay
When it comes to us, we're going to dwell with the Holy Ghost. Yes, that is a New Testament thing
You know, you were not dwelled with the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament, but you still had
eternal life
That still is not going to actually turn to Psalms 51. Let me give you a great example
Of someone who did not lose their salvation, even though they did adultery and we're speaking of danger
And this is also a very misunderstood passage, but I want to show you in Psalms 51
Where we see that we see somebody getting right with God starting in verse 9
He says hide thy face for my sins and blot out all my iniquities
Create me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me
Cast me not away from my presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Now verse 11 is very misunderstood because they say well see
You can be cast away from this presence and lose the Holy Spirit
But remember they were not dwelled with the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament. So when it's saying take not thy Holy Spirit from me
It's basically asking and God I want your spirit upon me so I can do my own things
Look, this is a prayer that I pray sometimes where I ask God, you know God
I know I haven't been asked right with you recently
Please give me your Holy Spirit so I can reach with boldness
And we don't fall into sin from time to time and this is a good example of a prayer
We should give to God because obviously God wants us to have his Holy Spirit
We must be right with him verse 12 restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
He did not say please help me get your salvation back
It says restore to me the joy because when you're living in sin as the same person you will not have joy
Right what you will have is salvation. Yeah, he doesn't say
You know give me my salvation back. It says restore to me the joy of thy salvation
Basically saying hey, I still have this salvation, but I've lost my joy. As a same person you will not be happy living in sin
Especially when you know what is right, but he didn't lose his salvation
See people in the Old Testament they were
But when they got saved they received eternal life because this was promised before the world
Okay. Now look, honestly, there's a lot of Baptist pastors that if you ask them how do people get saved in the Old Testament?
They'd be like some of the mysteries. We just don't know
And it's like I live in the Old Testament. So I don't know
Before the world began was eternal life
And in Titus 1 verse 3 the Bible reads
But have them two times
Manifested his word through preaching which is committed on me according to the commandment of God our Savior
And so remember Paul was one that was born out of two time
And so it was God's plan to eventually have the method that we have today says manifested his word through preaching
You say oh brother stuff you're saying they got they didn't have to hear the gospel in the Old Testament
No, what I'm saying is this
But now we basically have a system of churches and we have set preaching and set times in the Old Testament that they still have preaching
They still have so many you can look at verses like that as well
Actually, we're just at in Psalms 51 in the next verse
We didn't go to David said then watch these transgressors
Then basically though he says, you know, I can help turn people from their transgressions and get me safe
Okay, if he has the whole sphere back, that's what he's saying in Psalms 51 verse 13
I'm just quoting that Psalms 51 13 is a great soul in verse but here in Titus chapter 1 verse 3
It says have to do times manifest in his word through preaching and so God has this system in the world today in the past
He's fake through the prophets and now we have the whole word of God and you have set church services where somebody's preaching
Okay, and so yes, that is a little bit different, but it doesn't change the fact that in the Old Testament
They still went out with the law increase the gospel
Now in Titus chapter 1 notice what it says here in verse 3
At the end of verse 3 it says of God our Savior
Okay, but notice in Titus 1 verse 4 to Titus my own son after the common faith grace mercy and peace from God
The Father in the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and so at the end of verse 3
We see that God is our Savior at the end of verse 4 the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior that proves Jesus
God beyond the shadow of a doubt right what you also see in verse 4 is that we have God the Father in the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior
Showing an distinction between God the Father and God the Son Jesus Christ
Now are we gonna fully grasp this
Because when we look at these verses we see that Jesus is God and yet we also see that there's a father and a son
Now
But here's what's not possible
What's not possible is to go back to the very beginning and say well Jesus didn't exist until
He came into this world that basically he's just here
Originally was just God and he would manifest himself as God the Father he manifests himself as the spirit
He manifests himself as God the Son. No, there was always the Trinity right in the very beginning in the beginning was the world
Okay, and when you start seeing that people are here it takes how you notice it is they have really weird explanations
For example in 1st John 3 5 the Bible says
I use that verse often for soul to show that Jesus is perfect and yet I've heard some of the people that are one is
Teached well, that's actually God the Father
Now the reason why they say that is they say well, you know, Jesus is not mentioned in 1st John 3 before that
Well, that's true. But first John 2 mentions him and the context is never broken
Yeah
And it's clear it goes back to Jesus Christ and so they try to deceive you that way and when you hear things like that
You're like man. They do not understand the gospel. They don't understand Bible at all
So we see here the Trinity in verses 3 and 4
This is a good way to prove the Trinity and also prove that Jesus is God right there
Now notice what it says in Titus 1 4 to Titus my own son and so Paul led Titus
He's not saying his physical son because it says after the common faith
So it's based on believing on the gospel, but he says my own son
So I believe that Paul actually led him to the Lord
I guess you could say that maybe he just trained him off
Maybe he isn't the one who left in the Lord
But I personally believe he actually did lead him to the Lord. He says my own son after the common faith
Okay, but notice how it says the common faith
What does that mean think about the verse where it says there's no temptation
to take people such as this common demand
When it says common demand it means it's a temptation that everybody can have
That everybody has common intimacy
And so when it says the common faith realize what the Bible is saying is
Salvation is common to everybody in the world. That's what it's saying. It's not different for the Filipinos versus the people that live in India
Well, I mean people in India have an English that's their way the people in Thailand have Buddhist
That's how they people in Vatican City
They have the Catholic Church
No, it's not different depending on where you live
It's the common faith
Which means God means God wants everybody's saying and anybody who believes on Jesus Christ did say to tithes my own son after that
common thing
now this actually
Disproves both dispensationalism and Calvinism into words
It just proves dispensationalism because the faith is common. It has always been the same. Yep. It's never changed
It's the common thing why because guess what happened in the Old Testament people were sinners and for all of sin
They come to where they would have got. Do you just think that people in today's world are sinners?
That's ridiculous. People have always been sinners and they always needed the blood of Jesus Christ
That's why you're always seeing blood sacrifices in the Old Testament
They always needed the blood of Jesus the faith has always been common
Okay, and Jesus from the landscape from the foundation of the world, but the fact that it's common means is for anybody
It is not just for a select people that God has chosen
But I was thinking of Calvinism while we were singing the song
I was thinking of the song who so ever made it me I was thinking when the Calvinists in that song
It's like the most prideful song ever
Who so ever really needed me? Not necessarily you, but man that means me
And it's it's just like no the Bible says the common thing. Yeah, and so the faith is not only
available to anybody
But it's also the same for everybody as long as it's always been the same
So we see a lot even before we've gotten into the ordination of elders in the first four verses. The book of Titus is very
Let's kind of get into the meat of the sermon and that's starting in verse number five where the Bible reads
For this cause I left I thee in Crete that thou should have said for the things that are wanting in ordain elders
In every city as I had appointed thee. Now
When you look at elder you say what exactly is that referring to?
Well elder is referring to the position of being a pastor. Just kind of a different role of that same position. There's elders
There's bishops and there's pastors
We know
even from just Titus that elders and bishops are the same as in verse number seven it speaks of
Bishops, okay, and the context is not broken there
It says for admission for a bishop basically means we're connecting the earlier verses to it
So an elder and the bishop are the same thing now
I can't remember if it was Sunday, but recently I proved that pastors elders and bishops are the same
But we do see here in Titus one that elders and bishops are the same
Okay. Now there's a lot of churches that actually don't teach things
You know a lot of churches have different beliefs on what an elder is. Obviously the Catholic Church
Their view of a bishop is obviously much different than what the Bible would teach
But the Bible says elders and bishops are the same and what exactly does an elder really reference? Well think of the word elder
It's basically your masmat atah. Now it could be an experience or it could be age or kind of a common thing
Obviously, you know if somebody's going to be a pastor they need to have at least some experience
even if somebody got saved at the age of five and now they're
Let's say 16 years old. They've been saved for 11 years. Yeah, but they're still a teenager. I mean, they're just not old enough
They don't have enough life experience and when it comes to being an elder
You actually have to have some experience and so when ordaining elders
You're ordaining people that have the experience and they're ready for the role now
You can just select someone if you want, but you know, that's gonna be a foolish thing when it's highlighting basically the age experience
They graduated from Bible college. Well, they have no experience in a church then do they?
Yeah, I mean because you know, you're being ordained to be a pastor Bishop elder of a church
Well, you graduated from Bible college that's not a church
Yeah, so what experience do you have at church because we're talking about experience in something that's applicable
You say brother stuff, you know, I want to become an engineer and you say I'm applying for engineering job
What experience do you have? Well, it's like I have it. I was a doctor
I mean that's not applicable
You have to actually have the applicable experience and look getting a Bible college degree
That's not the same thing is actually being involved in a church
You're gonna learn a lot more by being involved in the ministries getting experience preaching but Bible college is just completely different
It's not only just unbiblical. It has nothing to do with being a pastor
How can they show that to you you learn through experience? Okay, and so notice what it says
Now you say well, how are pastors bishops and elders the same?
I don't know if this is the best example, but if you were to think about being a good husband
There's a lot of different aspects
You must be a good provider
It's still under the same thing though of being a good husband
Okay. Now it says here in Titus 1 verse 5 for this cause
Left I be increased so for this cause the reason why Titus was left here was to ordain elders
For this cause now if this was something that was really easy to do
They quite honestly he'd be there for six months and just to gain the best to get by and be done with it
But the implication is this that basically I'm gonna have to train them and teach them and make sure they're ready
It's not something where I can just lay hands on someone and boom. I'm done with you lay hands on another person
Okay, I owe Dave. You know, you have to actually be doing something because you're being left increased
So basically there's training that's being implied and then once they get the experience then you ordain
Then you have chosen so this is not something that just gets done in a couple weeks
You can't just fly to town and just ordain whoever you is
No
You have to actually know that person and make sure they're ready and make sure they are
Trained and see the Bible speaks about laying in suddenly on no man
Now pastor minutes is believe is that he needs to basically somebody's be there for at least two years big trick
He has to know them for a couple years, but they basically have to
I have desired
Because what he does not want is someone to just get emotional and say well, you know, I guess I'll just be a pastor
I have nothing else in life to go on. I have no other hope in life
I guess I'll just be a pastor. It's like no you have to actually desire that because the Bible says you must decide
And it's something you just decided last week. Well desires coming home
They come and they fade once you express a desire then you get opportunities to prove yourself
You get opportunities to preach make sure you take it seriously and quite honestly
There have been many people that were at very who basically said they had a desire to be a pastor and it just kind of faded
And that's fine because if that's not what they want to do or they're they're not going to be fully
That's fine because not everybody has to be passed you can be a very godly person to be a churchman
But it's very important. Somebody is basically saying hey, this is what I want and I'll train for do whatever is necessary
Because otherwise we have people that just go out there
That's not what you want, right? Because then it ends up being an embarrassment and then you
You're basically gonna destroy what could have happened. You have to make sure people are actually ready
What about says lay hands suddenly? I'm no man. And that is why he's being left in for this cause
This is not something where it's like hey
I got a three-month job for you
Just fine go to this town and pick the best person then go to the next town and then one coordination per week
Because you've got to basically
Train somebody you gotta make sure that they're ready now say well mother stuck you what if there's a real demand
If there's a real demand for a pastor shouldn't we just ordain the best that we have what does the savers hot?
This cause let them be increased. I should have said more than things that are onesie. The things are already wanting increase
There's already a need for pastors, but you still can't just go and ordain the best to God's look throughout the Philippines
There's a need for pastors, right?
Throughout the Philippines there's people that are looking for a church just like this
But what we will not do is just ordain the best we got
What is this churches would close down yeah, that's what would take place or people that weren't ready their preaching would be very good
I mean, you know, it takes a lot to preach three sermons a week
You don't just get up here and wait, you have to actually study and write notes
It's been a lot of time. I spent a lot of time on my sermons
You say why because people are expecting something they're expecting to learn and they know this is the period
Truth and quite honestly in our movement people have high demands for churches
They really expect to learn
Because they know they can go online and learn in those sermons
And so they show up the church and they learn nothing and they rely on the other ministry
They're just gonna start to not really enjoy church that much
Yeah, and that's where the online ministry can actually be detrimental
But honestly, it's something where the people that are leaving the churches better spend real time in their sermons
So they're bringing something new to the table and people are being edified and learning
But look things are already wanting at this point
In the Philippines, there's no question. Things are one. Why am I here in the Philippines? I'm left here to ordain
That's not something that happens like that
Now there are people looking for churches
People that message us sometimes in areas looking for a church and quite honestly
It's kind of aggravated me that some people have messaged saying I wish there was a church just like this and I'll literally start
Facebook message of like three people that live here by each other and they never respond to each other never
And it's just like you're you're begging for church and I spend time on Facebook and say hey
This person lives in the same city as you and they never contact each other
It's like well, I don't know how much you really want a church
You love the online ministry
But would you really be that committed if the church started because there are so many stories of people looking for a church just like this
The church opens up and it's like oh, we know people that we're looking for church just like this
And I'm here on Sundays
No, some are I mean you guys are obviously here, but you know what honestly a lot of them Sunday rolls around it's like oh
You know, I'm just whatever it's like well, you know, how much we really want
And that kind of aggravates you but honestly there isn't even though it means but you have to realize the needs gonna be bigger in
Another year. Yeah, it's gonna be bigger in two years. And so there's nothing wrong with with weight now
Honestly, if people really want a church like this, they should be willing to make a big effort to drive
Right, I know it's not easy for some people they take
But you know
How badly do you want to be around God's people not even just a priest how bad
And look we do have people in this church that come a long ways
To come to church and praise the Lord for that. There's also a lot of people that even if they're only 30 minutes away
I
Used to drive an hour and a half to come to church
And look where I drove to church in West Virginia
When you go back at night, the fog was so heavy that you could honestly not even see
I was literally right in in Garrett County in
Maryland the fog is so heavy that there were some nights where I literally could not see it
There's been big wrecks of like a hundred plus car bylaws because nobody can see it's like a giant cloud in front of you
But see it doesn't lead you as the Bible you know
We do you got the problem it actually basically blinds you and you literally can't see and you're doing everything you can to look
To the side of the road to see the lines that are there but see if one car were to slam on the brakes
It would be wreck, wreck, wreck, wreck. It's dangerous. And there's about a 10 mile stretch. It's like 10
Because in America
But America's like 10 minutes, but that's 10 minutes and I am praying heart
But you know, I would still go to church every service and at nighttime. I would just make it my faith that God would
Basically keep me safe because and honestly, you know, I was safe
Even though I was scared sometimes because honestly it's you can't see very well
But look people ought to be committed to come to church
Even if it's going to take in effort. Now is there a need for churches? Absolutely. But you have to do things the right way
Things are wanting but you know Titus was left to ordain elders which means it did take a lot of effort to do this.
Say why? Well, there's requirements in being a pastor.
Now in Titus 1 starting in verse 6 we're going to start seeing the requirements. One thing you will not see is getting a Bible college degree.
Yeah, and somehow in today's world a Bible college degree trumps all the other requirements
Where the Bible there's there is no Bible college.
Yeah
and so in Titus 1 verse 6 the Bible reads if any be blameless the husband of one wife having faithful children not accused of rioting or
ruling and so there's basic qualifications mentioned here one is that you need to be blameless and
There's many ways in which you need to be blameless and one thing is the husband of one wife, okay?
Now realize we're talking about being blameless because some people say well you can be divorced
Because you're still the husband of one wife. There's the problem. Are you blameless?
Or can people look at your life and the first thing they'll say is your pastor's divorced. You're not blameless.
And so it's obvious you cannot have been divorced. Look Peter Rockman was not qualified to be a pastor.
Say why? He was married three times.
And it's like if you don't know how to run your own house, how are you running the house of God? And yet he's the greatest
Bible
Preacher of the last hundred years according to the dispensation. Well, you know, I'm sorry, but when you've been divorced multiple times
You are not qualified to run the church. You can actually read any one of his books. I don't remember the exact quote
I think it was in his book called Black is Beautiful. And by the way, he was racist.
In the Bible black is always a bad thing and white is always a good thing. White or white is always a good thing and black is bad.
I guess you guys are like half good half bad.
I'm good because I'm white.
He was a racist and I don't throw that term out lightly because in America people say racist this, racist that. But no, he was
racist. But in his book, I think it wasn't that one, but if not it was another one.
But in writing, and he mentions this as if it's a good thing, he talks about how he went through so many trials.
He's like I've had wives try to throw themselves out of moving cars going 35 miles an hour.
I've had deacons try to threaten and burn down my house.
And he mentioned a lot of things. I should have. I didn't even think about the reason about the new record.
I'll have to come up with that quote and add it to another sermon because it's ridiculous.
But look, you know when you're talking about how you know your wife tried to kill herself.
Look, you're not qualified to be a pastor.
It's lucky you just got divorces and then you know your wife didn't actually kill herself.
He talks about it as if it's a good thing, like he's going through persecution.
You know you're grooving, you don't know how to run your house.
So how are you going to run the house of God?
And so no, obviously you cannot be divorced because you are not blameless.
And the excuse, well you know he might have been divorced, but everybody's got sin in their life.
Yeah, everybody's got sin in their life, but there's qualifications for being a pastor.
I'm not claiming to be sinless, but I'm also not divorced.
And so if you're divorced, you are not blameless.
The husband of one wife, obviously you must be a man, not a woman.
But then it says, having faithful children not accused of life or unruly.
Now, the Bible says here that you have to have faithful children.
As I mentioned recently, when it's saying children, it is talking about plural.
Because it's highlighting a single bishop or a single pastor.
And a single pastor must have faithful children.
Now, what does it mean to have faithful children?
This is a bit of a gray area situation where people have different things.
Because the Bible does not say your oldest child must be five years and seventeen days.
It does not say that.
It does not say your youngest child must be a certain age.
But what you need to understand about having kids is that when babies are first born into this world, they're just babies.
They cry no big deal.
But eventually they'll reach an age where if you do not discipline them, they start just being a big problem.
Now, obviously we know all kids will act up from time to time.
But once they start reaching that age at four and five, they can start being extremely rebellious.
And it's going to be very obvious to everybody.
Now, here's the thing about this.
If you have a child that's five years old and they're extremely rebellious, you're showing that you're not doing a good job running the call.
Now, I'm not saying that you don't have to spank them from time to time because no kid is perfect.
But that's exactly why they actually don't act up that much.
Because you do spank them.
And so once your oldest child is maybe five years old and then the younger one is three years old,
look, you're going to start to see whether that younger child is also starting to obey the rules.
Because they're going to kind of run from their older brother or older sister.
The truth is that the child that you have to discipline the most from people I know with a lot of kids is the oldest one.
Because you set the standard with the oldest child and then the younger one kind of looks up and says, oh, wait a minute.
And they kind of get in line with the older child, older brother or older sister.
Now, obviously we only have one child that's one with a second on the way.
But that's what I've heard people that have a lot of kids say.
That basically you're the roughest on the first one and then the other kids, they kind of, they can kind of tell.
So generally if one kid is rebellious, both are going to be rebellious.
If two kids are rebellious, all of them are going to be rebellious.
They kind of go in line.
So I don't know what the exact age is and honestly that could vary for a situation.
But look, you know, you have to have multiple children.
And they have to be of some age to show at least some faithfulness, I would say.
Having faithful children.
And so how old are the kids? Honestly, people can have different opinions on that and that's fine.
But I think it is pretty clear that you have to be married with one wife and have multiple kids through the day.
Now, why am I not a pastor or bishop or elder?
Well, you know, I'm not a pastor or bishop or elder because we have one child and a second on the way.
Zephaniah is not old enough at this time.
He is not two years old yet.
And so I don't even claim to be a pastor.
I would never tell someone I am a pastor.
Now, look, do people call me pastor?
Yes.
You guys might have even heard people at our church call me pastor.
Now, look, when somebody calls me a pastor, I don't stop them and correct them because I don't want to come across as rude of them.
I'm trying to be respectful.
When someone is trying to do something good, I don't want to rip their head off.
I do hope, though, that when they hear sermons like this, it's like, I am not a pastor.
And they won't call me pastor.
Now, it's so ingrained in the Philippines to refer to the person leaving the church as a pastor whether or not they're married at all.
I think some people, they're like, man, if I call so-and-so a pastor and he's not even married, then of course I'm going to call you a pastor.
So they're honestly just trying to be respectful.
But the best term would be brotherhood.
That would be the best thing to call me at this time.
And I'm perfectly fine with that.
Now, honestly, my standard, and this is something I've kind of changed on, but if there's somebody who is not a pastor in the Philippines,
even if they're called a pastor by their church, it's like, I won't refer to them as a pastor.
And it's not something to be offensive, and we don't have to have the same standard as me.
But it's just like, I don't want to confuse the issue.
Because I don't want to be called a pastor, and they shouldn't want to be called a pastor either.
And I'll call them brotherhood.
And I can think of a few names, and I think of people that are good people, people that I like.
But it's just like, they're not ordained, they're not a pastor.
And so I'll call them brother so-and-so.
And I'm not trying to offend them or hurt them or be disrespectful.
That's what they are.
They're brother so-and-so.
And so what the Bible says is to be a pastor, a bishop, or an elder, you have to have multiple days to have a community.
Now, you say, why don't you come here to run this church, then, if you're not qualified to be a pastor or a bishop or an elder?
The Bible speaks about evangelists.
And basically, Pastor Mendez believed that I was doing everything else.
And I couldn't meet that qualification yet.
But he looked at everything else and said, well, you know how to preach, you know your blessing to the church, the people at church like you.
And he thought I was ready.
But that does not mean that I'm a pastor.
And that's going to at least be three plus years, probably, before I can be ordained as the pastor of this church.
And so in Titus chapter 1, verse 7, the Bible reads,
So there's basic qualifications for being married and having kids.
But there's also a lot of qualifications of, basically, your personality and, basically, your attributes.
And it says, a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not student-angry, not given the wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.
So it says, not self-will.
What does that mean?
It basically means your life doesn't just revolve around self.
You're not selfish.
You're not all about yourself.
You're not self-willed.
You need to care about other people more than yourself.
This is a balance that I'm trying to learn because I've heard pastors in our movement say that new pastors, new preachers, they need to learn to have fun from time to time.
Because there's always something going on and someone's going through some trial in life.
Even a church our size, there's always somebody sick, always somebody going through a death in the family or something like that.
And I've heard them say, well, you need to be willing to have fun even if there's someone in the church struggling because there's always going to be someone.
You're going to drive yourself crazy.
And so I'm trying my best.
And on this Sunday, as I'm going to be preaching three sermons, the next day we're going to be celebrating, I guess, the Muslim holiday.
So in my order to be in Phnom Penh again, one of my wife's sisters is having her birthdays.
We're going to spend some time celebrating on Monday.
And it is important to get a break from stuff.
But at the same time, you can't just always say, I'm going to do what I want and have fun.
You have to care about your members more.
And so we're mentioning elders and bishops in these verses.
But when you talk about a shepherd, that is when you're caring about your flock and the people.
And if all you do is care about yourself, you're a shepherd mentioned in Jeremiah 23.
You're a pastor mentioned in Jeremiah 23, not a good pastor, not a good shepherd.
You must care about the members of your church.
And if you're going to sign on to this position of being a pastor or being an evangelist, you must be willing to care about people in your church more than yourself.
That's what the Bible teaches.
It also says, not soon angry.
And so the Bible says that we should be careful to control our temper and not to get angry quickly.
Now, obviously, we need to take this in context of the whole Bible because there are times you get angry.
Look, there's a righteous anger when you see sin that exists.
When I see a guy dressed up as a woman, I should get angry about that.
And so, yes, there's a time to get angry, but there's also a time not to get angry.
And if you think of Ecclesiastes, there's a time to love, a time to hate.
There's these balances.
So obviously, I'm not saying you shouldn't get angry at false prophets because I get angry at false prophets.
Man, they take me off and we're going sowing again, caisson memorial circle or result park.
And they're just, you know, basically damning souls to hell.
And they're making it harder for us to preach the gospel.
Yeah, that does make me angry.
But at the same time, our lives shouldn't always be angry.
You know, by default, we should just try to be in a good mood unless there's a righteous anger that comes up.
It says, not soon angry.
Then it says, not get into wine.
Now, I don't really believe this is talking about getting drunk.
And I'll explain to you why.
Now, the first person I heard preach about, and I actually heard Pastor Anderson preach on this.
When he said it, it was something I read the Bible and looked at.
And I said, you know, honestly, I think he's right what he's saying.
What he mentioned, and I think this is accurate, is although there's a direct application of not giving to wine in terms of drinking alcohol,
wine and oil are mentioned as basically costly things in the Bible.
Wine is a very precious commodity, oil is a very precious commodity.
What I believe it's saying is that a pastor should not be given to just all these nice fancy things.
I believe that's what it's saying. I could be wrong.
So when it says not giving to wine, I believe that would be the application.
Because quite honestly, when it comes to someone who wants to be a pastor, there are a lot of things they could struggle with.
But getting drunk is usually not one of those things.
Right.
That's usually something where it's like, okay, that I got rid of a long time ago, or I never was into it.
Look, I was never into getting drunk.
Not giving to wine, honestly, that's not really that tough of a qualification.
But being given to costly things and wanting to go to a nice restaurant, that is something that anyone could struggle with.
And this phrase of not being given to wine or much wine.
And see, when people talk about not giving to much wine, they try to use it to say it's okay to drink a little bit of alcohol.
I don't really think that's what it's really referring to.
So not giving to too much costly things is what I think that's talking about.
Here it says not giving to wine.
But I think that what it's basically saying is not being given to fancy and costly things.
And you have to understand, and this ties along with not giving to filthy liquor.
Because if you're a pastor or running a church, you do have the opportunity to steal money from the church and be accepted.
Right.
Because you can easily just, I saw this YouTube video of some, I'm sure he's a Pentecostal,
a preacher who was in trouble for millions of dollars in the reports that he had.
And he would talk about going into a clothing store and spending like $15,000.
He's like, well, these are my shoes for church.
These are my shoes for church.
And it's like he's basically stealing money from that church and just saying, hey, you know, it's underneath the wing of the church.
That's ridiculous.
That's obviously being given to fancy things.
And so I believe the Bible speaks against that.
If you're a pastor, you should not be given to fancy things.
And so it says not giving to wine.
Then it says no striking.
Now, obviously, you should not be getting in fights at church or outside of church.
You should not be hitting people in the face.
No striking.
Now, I know someone who used to be a friend of mine.
And since he used to be a friend, I don't mind telling the story.
I won't name his name.
But I remember just talking to someone else who was with him like the first time he went soul winning.
And he was talking to someone at the door who was trying to argue.
And he had been training like Brazilian jiu jitsu.
And he's like, all right, you want to take this out on the street?
I was like, look, when you're going soul winning, it's not the time to try to threaten someone or challenge someone to a fight.
Even if you can win that fight.
You're not a striker.
Now, a good example of this is the movie Impossible.
Speaking of false apostles, has anyone ever seen the movie Impossible?
Besides me.
Am I the only one who's worldly?
I remember I saw this like a year or two after I got saved.
It's really a movie mocking God.
And it stars Robert Duvall, who is the apostle.
And he's some Pentecostal preacher in it.
But basically, during the movie, and it's really a Pentecostal movie mocking God.
But he basically just beat somebody up.
He was basically, you know, coming to try to disrupt the service.
And it's like, no, you know, you can't beat somebody up.
And let me just make it clear that if somebody comes into our church that's a reprimand or some false prophet.
We're not going to beat him up and just say, well, you know, that's what happens.
I mean, you're not supposed to be a striker.
You're supposed to allow God to deal with that.
And so we're not going to beat somebody up and throw them into the wall.
And it's like, that's a good way to get sued.
And that's a good way to be foolish.
And you're destroying your testimony.
Because even if it is an evil person, you're causing your testimony to have blame.
You're supposed to be blameless.
And look, if you beat somebody up, you're not blameless.
Even if there are red flags.
So what do you do?
Well, I mean, you obviously kick them out of church.
They're not welcome at church.
You try to do it without force.
You try to just, usually you're just going to leave on their own.
But basically, you know, if you have to, you'll have two guys facing the back of their arms.
One guy on one side and one on the other.
And basically get them out and basically lock them out.
But you don't just beat them up.
You say, why? Because you are destroying the testimony of the church.
And I hope we don't have reprobates come in that we have to basically kick out of here.
But look, if that does happen, we're not going to beat them up.
And the Bible says you're not to be a striker.
And obviously, from the pastor, they would not be blameless if they're a striker.
But you also are going to lose your testimony if you're beating people up.
Because the average person out there is going to look down on us for that.
And it's going to shame the church.
So it says no striker and it says not give it to filthy lucre.
And so, this is a verse that I think is missing in the Bible Baptist Bibles.
Because of this last part, not giving to filthy lucre.
And that ties along with what I said earlier.
But basically, churches that are just all about money, money, money, money.
And they just want to grab you with money.
Special tithe to fix this.
Special tithe to fix that.
It's like they're giving to filthy lucre and then they end up having, taking a lot of that money and going into their pocket.
It's like, you know, if you're going to preach a false gospel, do that just to run the Catholic church.
Let the priest do the same thing.
Don't call yourself a Baptist if that's what you're going to do.
Now, here mentions in verse number 8, let's move on.
And it says, a lover of hospitality.
And so the Bible speaks about how you should be hospitable to people.
This is especially true when you have people that come in from out of town and visit the church.
Which, it happens from time to time here, but it's probably going to happen more often as the church goes.
And it's important for us to be hospitable to those people.
One reason, just from a logical standpoint, is a lot of those people do donate to us.
And, you know, honestly, depending on what country they come from, they probably have more money than in this country.
But also just in general, you're supposed to be hospitable.
When we have first time visitors, we need to be hospitable.
Especially if we want them to come back.
Because they might visit once, they might never be back.
If they get connected with people at church, though, they're more likely to stick in the church.
So, it mentions a lover of hospitality.
A lover of good men.
Obviously not a lover of bad men, but a lover of good men.
Now, obviously we should seek to be at peace with everyone.
But, when I say bad men, I'm talking about people of false presence and stuff like that.
You don't just be nice to everybody, but you are a lover of good men.
It says sober.
Obviously, you know, not getting drunk is part of being sober.
Or not having any alcohol, I should say.
Not having any alcohol.
But also the Bible speaks about being sober-minded.
And, honestly, the way we live our lives and even the food and things that we drink,
that's how sober-minded and how clear-minded we are.
So, it mentions sober.
It mentions just being fair and correct and not biased in situations.
It mentions holy.
Look, the pastor needs to be living a holy life.
Now, I don't think it's right for anybody to listen to rock music,
but you need to definitely set a good standard if you're the pastor.
I promise you at our church there are people that listen to rock music.
You say, why?
Well, there's new people at our church, and people are growing and learning.
And just because you know something's right or wrong doesn't mean you're necessarily going to do it.
But, look, the pastor or the person running the church, they need to be living a holy life.
And then it says temperate, and this also means to control your emotions.
So, that's going through the ordination of elders.
Now, let me ask you a question.
Where in those verses do you see that basically the Bible college will ordain you?
Do you ever see that?
Is that anywhere in the Bible?
Now, I'll be honest with you.
I don't even know how God feels about someone who gets ordained by a Bible college,
because it's not a scriptural method of ordination.
You're getting ordained by the local church, okay?
That is what's taking place.
I hope to one day lay my hands on a lot of men and ordain them to run churches, to be evangelists, or to be pastors.
I hope that will come one day.
But that's a valid ordination because it's coming from a valid church where I was ordained and sent out.
The Bible college is not given that authority based on the Bible.
And so, honestly, I don't know how God would look at that.
And, you know, in our country, the Bible Baptists, they have the weirdest ordinations that are out there.
And it still doesn't really make a lot of sense.
Basically, they kind of half-ordain somebody who may not be married.
They may not have any kids or anything.
They basically ordain them to run a mission, but it's not an ordination to be a pastor.
And they're not really qualified.
They don't have kids.
They're not married.
Or they don't have kids yet.
And they basically kind of ordain them.
And then it's kind of like, well, we're watching for several years.
I've even heard up to seven years.
And then you're going to sit in a round table.
You have to pass this examination and you can do everything that we tell you.
And it's such a joke.
And there's so many problems with it.
But one of the problems is they are ordaining people that are not ready.
And they're going to make them cry.
Say why?
Because, honestly, there's a process.
And when they basically put their hands on you and say, we think you're ready, it's going to pump you full of pride when you're not ready.
The Bible says lay hands suddenly on no man.
And look, at our church, we have several men in our church.
Several men at our church where they would have ordained them to run missions and become pastors.
I mean, how does this make sense?
We will call you a pastor, but you're actually not a pastor.
We'll just call you a pastor.
Why do they do that?
Because they want to make them feel really special and they have control over them.
That's the reason why.
But they won't give them proper ordination, but they'll call you a pastor.
What a joke.
I mean, what in the world?
Where are you seeing this in the Bible?
You're not actually a pastor, but we'll call you a pastor.
Why?
Because they're pumping them full of pride when they're doing them a disservice.
And look, I don't believe every Bible Baptist pastor out there is unsaved.
I mean, the majority are unsaved, for sure.
Not everyone is, but look, if you're a saved Bible Baptist pastor out there, look, don't ordain somebody who's not ready, who's not married, he doesn't have kids.
You're doing them a disservice.
There is a proper system to stuff.
Try ordaining somebody who basically has no experience of being a surgeon.
They just have that desire to be a surgeon.
And after six months, you say, you know what?
I think you're ready.
You know what you're going to do?
You're going to give somebody confidence, and look, they're going to have a disaster when they're actually performing surgery.
Yeah.
No, there's a proper way to do things.
And look, the way the Bible Baptists are doing it, it's...
And, you know, honestly, there's another situation I don't really know how God feels about it.
Because the proper system is this.
You go to a good, godly church, preaching the truth, where you line up with exactly what they believe.
I'm not saying on every single verse, okay?
But I'm saying on salvation.
I'm saying on Calvinism.
I'm saying on the King James Bible.
I'm saying on the essentials.
Look, if you have a different opinion on a verse, you can see people checked or whatever, of course.
Because none of us knows everything about God.
There's deep things in the Bible which implies there could be different opinions on it.
But when it comes to, like, key things, when it comes to Trinity, when it comes to King James Bible, when it comes to soul-winning,
when it comes to things like this, you must have the same opinion.
And look, if a person is willing to ordain you that has completely different beliefs and isn't even saved,
I have no idea how God feels about that, to be honest.
And they ordain you and it's about...
Honestly, I don't really know.
Because what I do know is this, that when I wanted to become a pastor, I didn't try to cheat the system.
What I did is I moved my family 40 hours across the country.
And guess what?
It cost money.
I had to quit my job.
I did not know.
I did not know I was going to work for Verity Baptist Church when I told Pastor Mendez I was moving there.
I got the offer before I moved, but I did not know that ahead of time.
I saved that money.
I counted the cost and I took it by faith.
Because why?
Because I wanted to be ordained to be a pastor and to start a church one day.
And I was going to do things the proper way and the right way.
Look, the church, I was asked, they would have been willing to ordain me with one child.
Now, it was a decent church, but that's not the proper system.
And it's like, you know what?
I don't know about the systems that are not the proper way, how God feels about them.
I just said, I'm going to do things God's way.
And I believe God is willing to bless them.
Now, I do understand that in this country, people really didn't have an option of being a pastor for a long time.
Where are they going to go to church to have things done properly?
But we're going to do things properly here.
And you know what?
What if we don't get many churches started eventually?
But I'm left here in the Philippines to do this.
It's not something that just happens overnight.
There are many, many churches that are very zealous and they know how to preach.
But I am glad that I, pastor is waiting to ordain me.
I'm glad I didn't just go out when I had a really strong desire.
Because honestly, it takes a lot of work.
And if you're going to be doing this for 40, 50 years,
what's the harm in waiting a couple extra years of getting the proper training?
That's the way I look at it.
And honestly, that is the biblical way to look at it.
How God feels about when people sort of cheat this system.
Honestly, I don't really know.
But I do know that we're going to do things right around here.
It's not the Bible college.
It's a proper church ordination of someone who's trained and ready.
It says lay hands suddenly on the romance.
This is not something where someone comes here.
And six months later, I said, boom, there's your ordination.
Oh, they're going to have to be here for a while.
So everyone in the church, in unison, looks at that person and trusts that person.
That person knows how to preach.
They're well liked.
They've proven that they know what they're doing.
That's the sort of person to get ordained.
And that is what the Bible teaches.
Titus 1, verse 9, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught.
And what you're seeing in verse 9 is that no matter how much you read the Bible,
there are things that you are going to be taught at church.
You don't learn everything by yourself.
From the context, look, you don't learn to be a pastor by yourself.
You honestly have to get trained to do it.
You basically look at someone who is a good pastor and you model yourself after that person.
That's how you learn how to do things.
You want to become good at basketball.
Obviously, you do a lot of practicing in your free time,
but you learn from people that already know how to do it.
And so if you want to be a pastor, you learn from someone who already knows how to do it.
And you get taught certain things.
Taught things about various verses, but also taught basically how to do things and run things.
So it says, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the game-saver.
Now, starting in verse number 10, this is a very confusing passage in verses 10 through 14.
So just bear with me and I'll explain these verses.
And honestly, if someone has an different opinion, that's fine.
But basically it says here in verse 10,
for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision.
When it says they of the circumcision, we are talking about Jews.
There's no question about that.
And it says vain talkers, unruly deceivers.
Not just someone who's being deceived, but someone who is a deceiver.
Okay, so this is a false prophet, a Jewish false prophet, in the circumcision.
There are a lot of Jewish false prophets.
Same thing. No new thing under the sun.
There's a lot of false Jewish prophets today as well.
And so basically we have these false Jewish prophets.
What does it say in verse 11?
Whose mouths must be stopped.
There is a time to stop the false prophets now.
That's what it says in verse 11.
Whose mouths must be stopped.
Why is it that their mouths need to be stopped?
Because they subvert whole houses.
Who subvert whole houses?
Basically they're causing damage to people and deceiving people who subvert whole houses,
teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake.
Imagine that.
Doesn't it always go back to filthy lucre?
Look, when you see the pastor who is basically very shady with money,
watch out for that person.
Watch out for that person.
Look, in America, it's a little bit different than the Philippines,
but in America, basically, the donations you give the church can write off in your taxes.
And so churches basically are required to basically show how much people have tied throughout the entire year.
And so you have to keep very detailed accounting records.
Now, it blows my mind that people have been at churches where basically they gave you no yearly statement at the end of the year,
and that didn't throw up a red flag there.
Because every church I've been to gives you a yearly statement.
Hey, Brother Matthew Stuckey, you donated $2,114.67.
You say, why? Legally you have to do that.
And look, I don't know if anyone in America are listening to the sermons, but it's like, good night, man.
If your church doesn't give you a yearly statement and you ask them for it and they don't produce it,
there's something wrong going on with your church.
You need to do things properly with accounting, even at our church.
Because people don't write their names for their tithes because you don't write it off for taxes like you do in America.
But at the same time, we still need to have accounting reports and very detailed things.
We have multiple people that count the tithes, and I am not one of them.
You say, why? Look, if I was one of them and someone could easily question, why are you controlling money?
There's something shady going on.
Look, you need to have detailed stuff.
And as I've mentioned before, we're doing quarterly reports.
At the end of September, which is basically going to be nine months out of the 12,
we're going to have new reports of basically where all of our money's gone.
Now, not every single time I've bought anything, but basically I'm in categories.
You say, why? Because you need to be transparent about these things.
And honestly, there's legality to it as well.
Because if you're not, you can get in trouble for that.
You need to be able to report everything that comes in.
Look, every single time we have a tithe, that exact money is put into the bank either on Monday or Tuesday.
Why? Because when you trace it back, you need to have, hey, $4,282 for a pace of 4,285 paces or whatever came in.
And that means 4,285 paces were put in the bank the next day.
It must be the exact same.
You cannot change that.
In everything, we scan those reports.
You say, why?
Well, for one, for safety purposes.
Because if someone tried to get us in trouble or whatever, and we don't have any sort of accounting there,
it's like, you can go to jail for stuff like that.
Because the government's going to know, hey, you're doing something shady.
And look, when pastors are not being very detailed about stuff like that,
and they don't trace any of this, they don't scan anything,
there's a good chance they're doing something shady.
Because what are they trying to hide?
And honestly, there's just legality that every church,
whether it's Baptist or Pentecostal or Catholic, they're required to do by law.
And look, we don't have the government in our pocket where we can just avoid all these things.
We have to actually do things by the book.
And so, it mentions filthy loot forsaken, verse 11.
So these are false prophet Jews that are basically teaching damnable heresy for the sake of making money.
And so in verse 12,
one of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said that Cretans are always liars and evil beasts slow down.
This is where it gets confusing.
Because when it says one of themselves, even a prophet of their own,
we're talking about a false prophet Jew. Remember that.
So one of these false prophet Jews, this is what he said,
the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
So basically these false prophet Jews are accusing the Cretans of being liars and evil beasts and slow bellies.
Oftentimes when you're a bad person, you'll accuse other people of being bad.
Why? It makes you look innocent.
As these false prophet Jews are accusing the Cretans of being liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
Verse 13, this witness is true.
Now this is where it gets a little bit confusing.
Because you say, wait a minute.
Does that mean the false prophet Jews were correct when they said that these people are evil beasts?
No, no. Remember, they're false prophet Jews. They're liars. They're prophets.
When it's saying this witness is true, what it's basically saying is,
hey, here's an example of what we're talking about. This witness is true.
This is what we're saying. They're always accusing other people of being phonies when they're the ones that are in prophecy.
So when it's saying this witness is true, it's not saying that the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
Every single Cretan is an evil beast according to these false prophets Jews.
Why? Because didn't the Jews really care about their own flesh and their bloodline?
They're saying every single Cretan is an evil beast. Is that true?
It's not true.
Every single one is a false prophet. Now, I'm sure there are some Cretans that were bad people.
But every single one is an evil beast?
Every single one is a slow belly?
Now, we do know that everyone was a liar because, you know, obviously we're all liars.
But I don't think that's really what they mean by a liar. They're basically really putting a strong accusation.
So when it's saying this witness is true, it's not saying, yes, every Cretan is an evil beast.
Because the context is rebuking the Jewish false prophets, not the Cretans, not those of Crete.
Because again, churches started in Crete because there's people that are godly people, that are waiting for a church like this.
Not every Cretan or person in Crete is an evil beast.
So when it says this witness is true, this is an example of what these false prophet Jews are doing.
Then it says, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
Well, who are we rebuking? Are we rebuking the Cretans?
No. Who are the false prophets that need to have their mouths stopped?
The Jews. We're rebuking the Jews sharply.
So they'll be sound in the faith? No, because we're talking about reprobates.
You rebuke the false prophets and reprobate, it's not going to be sound in the faith.
What it's saying is you rebuke the false prophets and reprobate Jews.
That way the Cretans will be sound in the faith. That's what it's saying.
So the witness is true that the false prophet Jews are always accusing the Cretans,
and we must stop their mouths, rebuke them sharply, so these people will be sound in the faith.
I believe that's what it's saying.
Now it's confusing if you don't really stop. I used to be very confused on this passage until I really stopped and thought about it.
But look, the context is rebuking the false prophet Jews, not the Cretans, not those in Crete.
And so yes, you know what, sometimes their mouths need to be stopped.
Now that doesn't mean that we stop them by just popping them, not a striker.
But you do need to rebuke the false heresy sometimes.
Now that's not what all of our church is about, but yeah, you do need sermon series on the dark history of the Roman Catholic Church.
You say, why? We need to rebuke their false history so that way people here in the Philippines will be sound in the faith.
They know what is right and what is wrong. Why?
Because if you live in this country for so long, you're going to have this stuff for a bother even if you know what the false is.
And so then it says again in verse 14, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth.
And so these Jewish fables and all this false heresy and lasting the Cretans, look, people get given this stuff because they hear it,
but it's false and it must be stopped and must be reviewed.
Verse 15, unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled in unbelief is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscious is defiled.
So in verse 15 when it says unto the pure all things are pure, it's basically saying that those that are saved, all things are pure to them.
What does that mean? That they can just do anything they want and it's not a sin?
No, what it's basically saying is this, that when you look at a young child, an innocent young child, you think pure thoughts.
You don't think any wicked thoughts.
Unto the pure all things are pure.
You just got to think innocently about stuff.
But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, the Bible says, is nothing pure.
Basically the person who's got a reprobate mind and his mind and consciousness defiled, they will look at a young child and have maybe disgusted thoughts,
but they don't necessarily need to think about them. Why?
Because we're saved. We're pure.
Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure.
So those that are wicked people, look, everything they just think of is disgusting.
Just in normal conversation they just think of some sick perverted joke or something.
That's in the back of their minds.
That's not in the minds of someone who's pure about them.
But with those people their mind and consciousness is defiled.
Verse 16, they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate.
So we're talking about false religious people and they profess that they know God.
They say they love God, but in their works they deny him.
Does that mean that you can tell somebody's saved based on their works, whether or not they're good or not?
No, because we're talking about false prophets.
In their works, yeah, you can tell.
You say, why?
Well, for one, if they do reprobate acts, it's very obvious.
But their hatred for the truth and their hatred for what's godly,
their hatred for soul and things such as that, in their works you can tell that, honestly, they're not really believers.
They're not really saved as much as they might have pretended.
In Matthew 7, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says, we shall know them by their first.
Does that mean that you can look at me and say, wow, you know, Brother Stuckley, I think you're saved because you seem to be a good person.
Well, no, because the context is referring to reprobates.
The false prophets, you can know them by their first.
How do we know if we're saved?
Well, for one, we don't know 100% for anyone.
But what's the evidence of our salvation?
According to Hebrews 11, verse 1, faith is the evidence.
That is the evidence.
So if somebody tells me that they're saved, they believe on Jesus Christ, look, I don't believe they're saved.
What if they're drunk?
I don't believe they're saved.
What if they're a drug addict?
I don't believe they're saved.
What if there's no change in them?
What if they never think about it?
I don't believe they're saved.
Why?
Because faith is the evidence.
When we go so away, how do we determine if somebody's saved?
We ask them if they know for sure they're going to heaven.
And if they say no, then they're obviously not saved.
If they say yes, but then they still say, well, it's because, you know, I live a good life.
Look, they're not saved.
Why?
Faith is the evidence.
But you say, well, look, Brother Stuckey, they seem like such a nice person.
Look, faith is the evidence.
It's not our works.
We are not Calvinists around here.
We know based on people's faith.
But the false prophets, you can tell them by their works when they do disgusting, despicable things.
Let's go to the word prayer.
Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing me to be in your house here today and just seeing this important chapter in the word of God.
The highest chapter of the one is the great word of God.