So we're there in Philippians chapter 2, and what I want to preach to you about this morning
is desiring vainglory, desiring vainglory, of course vainglory is probably not a word
that we use often today, it's not something we hear in our vocabulary, but what it means
is an excessive or ostentatious pride, especially in one's achievements.
So vainglory is somebody who is overly proud about the things that they have accomplished
in life, it is a vain display or show, it is what we would call vanity today.
So really what we see here in Philippians chapter 2 verse 3 is that vainglory essentially
is the opposite of what Paul is admonishing these people to do.
He says there, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem other better than themselves, look not every man on his own things but every
man also on the things of others.
So lowliness of mind is the opposite of being high-minded.
So if we were to say a person was full of vainglory, you could say that they were very
high-minded.
He's saying don't be high-minded, he's saying do everything through lowliness of mind, so
we would say that's associated with being vainglorious or someone who desires vainglory.
And that's very true if we were to look at people who would say they're very proud, they're
very puffed up, they're very high-minded, often it's the very same people that would
like to boast of their own accomplishments, they take a lot of pride in the things that
they have done.
And if you would, keep something in Philippians this morning, but turn over to 1 Timothy chapter
6.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
We can get a better sense of what this word means, this word vainglory, when we start
to look at what it's associated with often in scripture, and often it's associated with
being puffed up, with being regarding one's own self better than another.
Look here in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17 where it says, charge them that are rich in
this world that they be not high-minded.
So there it is again, in Philippians chapter 2 he's telling them to do everything in lowliness
of mind, and here you have a group of people that are being reminded not to be high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing
to communicate.
Now does that not sound exactly like what we read about in Philippians chapter 2 where
he says, look not at every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of
others.
So it's that same admonishment again, to not be high-minded, to be ready to distribute,
to do everything out of lowliness of mind, and to be able to also look on the things
of others, not on one's own self.
So we would see that, you know, to be vainglorious is to consider yourself before another, it's
to be puffed up in your own mind, and really to just be a self-centered person or somebody
who is just concerned with themselves.
We could also compare it to Philippians chapter 2 if you would, turn over there to Philippians
chapter 2 verse 7, if we were to be one who is not desiring vainglorious, then we would
be one who does not make ourselves of any reputation.
We would not be one who is especially proud in their own achievements, we would not be
one who wants everybody to know about all the things that we have accomplished.
We would not be concerned with our own reputation.
As it says there in Philippians 2 where we were reading, continuing on in verse 7, but
made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of men.
Of course this is talking about Jesus Christ and what he did.
And he is our example, that is what we should strive to do, that should be the pattern that
we follow in our life, that we are not going to be those that would lift up ourselves and
be concerned with our own reputation and making sure that everybody knows who our name is
and what we are doing and what we are about, but we should be like Christ who made himself
of no reputation.
And he was there to do what we ought to do, which is to look on the things of others.
It is not what Christ did for us when he came and looked on our own needs and he died for
us.
So that is what it means to be vainglorious.
We would oppose these attributes here and we would say a person who is vainglorious
would not make themselves of no reputation, but they would actually esteem themselves
better than others and that is not what we are to do.
Of course we see this in the world, we can look at the world and this is not something
that is lacking in the world.
There is a lot of vainglory that goes on in the world, especially in the world we can
look at professional sports would be one example.
Professional sports is something where men are lifted up for their ability to run and
catch a ball and throw a ball and do this and that and of course we would look at some
of the things that they do and their physical attributes and abilities are impressive as
far as man is concerned, but it gets taken to another level.
They are lifted up like gods almost and venerated and worshipped and people are clamoring for
their autographs and things like that.
And that is a form of vainglory and when they think that they are better than others, they
would say that what they can do makes them a superior person and I'm sure not every professional
athlete is like that, but do I really have to take the time to point out professional
athletes who would maybe look down on others and esteem themselves better than others?
They are people who are very out for their own benefit, they are more concerned with
what is going on in their life than they are with the life of others.
Which is really what that occupation demands of them, they have to be training and very
self-centered and only concerned about the things that are going to help them accomplish
their goals in that endeavor of professional sports.
And then we can look at the example of the Oscars, you want to talk about vainglory,
you want to talk about people lifting themselves up and patting themselves on the mat and saying
look at us and how great we are and who did better this year than the other person and
voting on who was the best actor and who was the best actress and supporting actress
and supporting actor and director and producer and so on and so forth and it's the same group
of people all voting for each other, it's not like they are going to the masses and
saying what do you think, it's a board that is selected and they are all choosing amongst
themselves who did better than the other one, so that's really not somebody who is dis-concerned
with their reputation, I mean that's like a big deal to be a runner up, you were nominated
right but you never won, that person would be very, they would rather win than they could
say that they are a two time Oscar winning actor or whatever it is, they tout that when
they go out and promote other films and things like that, we can see the example of social
media and really this would probably come a little bit closer to home for us where people
could go on social media and really just kind of brag about their own accomplishments
or brag about whatever thing that they have been able to do and you know that's something
that we have to be careful of, that we don't fall into this trap of becoming vainglorious,
we should not desire vainglory, the bible says in Proverbs 18 I'll read to you, a fool
hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself and really that
describes the world today, that describes a lot of what we see in professional sports
and in the entertainment industry and if we're not careful even in our own lives where
we just want to discover ourselves and make sure that we can find out what we're capable
of and touting that and bragging about it and that's something that we have to be on
guard about because desire for vainglory, that can infect the Christian as well, you
know we're not surprised when the professional athlete wins the whatever cup, whatever championship
and they have the parade or they go up and down the streets and they're spending their
day with the Stanley Cup and making jello in it or putting their baby on instagram and
doing all these silly odd things and being lifted up by men, that doesn't really surprise
us, it doesn't surprise us that the unsaved entertainment industry is just more concerned
with their own reputation than other people, that isn't surprising but we should be surprised
when we find a child of God, a servant of God who is more concerned about their reputation
or being known or having some kind of vainglory about them.
The Bible says in Matthew chapter 23 of the Pharisees it says, but all their works they
do to be seen of men, you know Jesus admonishes us in Matthew chapter 5 and 6 to pray in secret
and to do our alms in secret and to not to be seen of men, that we should be careful
to not let the things that we do for God to be seen of men so that our Father which
seeth in secret may reward us and this is an attitude that can creep in, we say well
that would never affect me but it does affect us, it does creep in and it's something we
always have to be on guard about is this desiring vainglory and Jesus said very specifically
of the Pharisees that the reason why they did all the things that they did was to be
seen of men and there's obviously a great work that we've been given to do, there's
a lot of work that we have to do and it's a tough work, it's a work that requires dedication
and sacrifice but we have to be careful that just because we're accomplishing that work
that we don't allow ourselves to become puffed up and thinking well I'm doing something that
nobody else is doing, you know all these other people are just lame and we're better than
them and what we can end up doing is actually puffing ourselves up and even desiring vainglory
that other people would acknowledge the fact that we are doing greater works than some
other people and you know and that all comes by means of comparison which is a really bad
way of judging how well you're doing, to go and find some loser and say well he's not
doing anything, I'm better than him so I must be doing great, that's not really the bar
that we strive to achieve and really this type of thing you know of course we can apply
to probably that I've seen and noticed in a practical way that we can apply this to
our life because we are a soul winning church, it's in our methods of soul winning and this
is something that I think we have to be on guard about is to not you know puff ourselves
up about the things that we do for God and specifically in the area of soul winning and
one thing I've noticed or seen and something that you know I'm not just saying in this
group here but I'm saying just in general you know I'm kind of in a tough spot because
everyone always thinks I'm preaching about them when I'm down here but you have to remember
that I do this, I go to the Indian reservations, I lead soul winning time in Phoenix, I'm involved
up there so don't feel like I'm picking on you but you know what if it applies then it
applies and I'm just going to throw it out there because if it's not us we need to be
on guard to make sure that it doesn't become us so what I've noticed is that there's people
who become vainglorious, it creeps in, what they start to do is to inflate the numbers
of people they get saved, I've seen this where you'll be out somewhere and it seems like
it's always the same group of people, you know you go out to the same area, you'll drop
off several different people in an area and several groups will come back and they'll
say well we only had a few saved, we had one, two, three or four maybe and then one group
come back and says we have 15, we have 15 people saved and praise God if they did and
I'll say well I assume you're preaching to children and oftentimes you'll say yeah there
was a group of kids and things like that but I've also noticed other times where there's
a seed of doubt and that's usually a red flag to me when I see people that are always
coming back with 15, 20s you know in just these high numbers and you just have to start
to scratch your head and wonder why is that, why are these numbers, this one group of people,
these certain people always coming back with these very high numbers, well one it's either
because they're vainglorious, because they're just looking to be known as those that just
get a multitude of people saved every time they knock on the door it's the Philippian
jailer just throwing themselves at their feet and saying sir what must I do to be saved
and they're just there at the right place at the right time and maybe that's so but
I have to tell you I have a little bit of doubt about it.
Or it could be because, not because they're being pumped up and vainglorious, it could
just be because they have very poor soul winning methods and that's something we have to really
be on guard about is that people who will never develop their soul winning methods and
get more efficient and better at it because they like being able to just report high numbers,
they like the fact that they're not being thrilled because then they can come back with
a number and say I've got all these people saved.
They will practice poor soul winning methods simply to report higher numbers.
Now I certainly hope that's not the case, I certainly couldn't point at any one person
and say yeah this is the case with them but it's definitely something that's possible
and something that you know I've been, I've wondered about it's really more of a hypothesis
that I have or a theory that I'm not saying it's something that's definitely happening
but it's not beyond the realm of possibility to say that type of thing happens that people
will go out and practice poor soul winning methods just so they can come back and have
a higher number than somebody else.
Well let me tell you something, that's vainglory if that's you, if you want to go out and just
come back so you can raise your hand when the soul winning is counted up and just get
the thrill of reporting some high exaggerated number.
We want our numbers to be accurate, we really do.
I'm more interested in accurate numbers than high numbers.
The Bible says in Exodus 23, thou shall not raise a false report, you know we shouldn't
be going out and just making up things, making up reports, coming back and just saying things
that aren't so.
You know we might even believe that they're true in our heart and we have to ask ourselves
is what we're saying really true, is that really what happened out there?
You know I'm more interested in sincere numbers than big numbers, we were out on the reservation
this last trip out there and there was a lady that was going soul winning and she came back
and she was disappointed because she only got one person saved and you know I don't
care if you come back with zero people saved because the command is to go, once you've
done that you've accomplished everything God has told you to do, to go out and preach the
gospel and you know here's the thing, she came back with one but I said you know what
that's a sincere number, I had more faith in that than the person who came back and
so we got 15, you know maybe they did get 15 and praise God I marked it down, you know
I said in the past from this pulpit I'm not responsible for your numbers, you know you're
responsible for the numbers that you report, what am I supposed to do, go around and double
check on everybody if I get a suspicion like alright now you take me back and point out
every person that you said you got a letter of the word and I'll double check them, you
know that's not on me, that's on those that are reporting those numbers.
So I just reminded this lady I said look you might have only gotten one saved today but
chances are you know you got that one person saved, you know rather than the other folks
who just have these incredibly high numbers.
So we see that's one form of vainglory that we can apply to our own lives because we are
a soul winning church that goes out and knocks towards and preaches the gospel is that we
have to be careful not to come back with a false report simply so we can make ourselves
into something that we're not.
You know or people have others who make sure others know about their soul winning efforts,
you know they go soul winning they gotta make sure everybody knows about all the soul winning
that they do.
You know that's a wrong motivation to go soul winning, to make sure that everybody knows
that you're soul winning.
You know we should go soul winning because we want people to get saved, you know and
I don't doubt that's the motivation of everybody in this room but we have to be careful not
to let the desire for vainglory to creep in because it's so easy to do, to make ourselves
in your reputation, you know we're part of the new IFB movement, we're part of a, you
know we're not a denomination, denomination necessarily but you know we are a group of
people that have made up of younger folks that have grown up with technology and have
learned to use it and we're connected with other churches of like mind and faith around
the country and around the world and you know we can probably stand up here and I can start
to name names for you of people that I've only known from online that all of you know.
So there's a real possibility, there's a real temptation to have our names out there as
somebody to be known over you know in Florida, to be known in Atlanta, to be known in Vancouver,
to be known to know who my name, when I show up they all recognize me, they know who I
am because I've put myself out there as something and I'm not saying it's wrong for people to
know each one another but I'm just saying if all you're concerned about is developing
a reputation in some online community or to be known of men you know your motivation is
wrong and you need to double check that and make sure that you're doing things out of
a sincere heart and for the right reasons.
You know another area that this can creep in is in the area of preaching, you know we
talk about soul winning, how people can be desiring in vainglory to make a reputation
for themselves as some you know great soul winners and you know what there are a lot
of great soul winners that I know, you know I can name for you people that I think are
great soul winners but there are people that aren't going out of their way to develop that
reputation there are people that are genuine, they have a burden for the lost, they're faithful
to the soul winning times, they go out week in and week out, they're thorough with their
gospel presentation, they're more interested in getting sincere, true, accurate numbers
than they are just praying a prayer with somebody and so I'm not saying that there are great
soul winners out there but we need to be careful that we don't just desire to be known that
way and that's in the area of soul winning but another area that this desire for vainglory
can creep in is in the area of preaching, you know the people who get up and fill the
pulpit you know I'm probably preaching only to myself at this point right but this is
reality you know if we ever get an opportunity to preach behind a pulpit here or elsewhere
you know we need to make sure that we're doing that because we want to edify the body that
is there and we're more interested in the people that are filling the pews, the flesh
and blood that's there, the hearts and minds of the folks that are there for the preaching
you know in the flesh not to entertain you know the people on the camera and that's something
that we have to be careful of as preachers always on guard about if you would turn over
to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. These people can fall into this, they really can. I know
when I first started preaching you know anytime I got to fill the pulpit in Phoenix you know
for the next two or three days I'm examining every comment that is made on my preaching
you know I'm getting called names and other people are saying it's great you know and
that I have other people are saying I have a fat organ face which is one of the best
insults I've ever heard so anyway that's kind of a long story but the point I'm trying to
make is you know when I first started out I was really concerned with what everybody
on the line was going to say about me and I had to check my heart and say you know what
that's the wrong motivation now I'm preaching and I don't even think to check the comments
often because it's just a bunch of it really is a bunch of trolls a lot of times you know
I'm more concerned of what the people in the pew are if they're being edified if they're
being helped rather than just the online community look here in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse
18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in a church I'd rather speak
five words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also then ten thousand
words in an unknown tongue I love how he says they're yet in the church I'd rather speak
you know that's that's what we have to be concerned about those that are in the church
that's who we should be concerned about edifying it's those that are there you know he's more
concerned with those that are in church not those that are on YouTube and trying to get
you know I'd rather speak five words here that edify the body than get ten thousand
likes you know I mentioned I don't read the comments anymore you know that's because really
there's nobody commenting on the Tucson Channel you know but so what you know I get comments
here you know people say you know good sermon and I say thank you you know it's the word
of God and I'm glad for that and I'm glad that there you know it's more satisfying to
come here and actually edify real people living real lives that you can see their lives change
and then grow than it is just to have somebody in some video go viral you know people they
this happens with preachers this is something that people can fall into is that they become
more concerned with going viral than with edifying the body you know and here's the thing there are a
lot of sermons that go viral and there's a lot of clips I've made clips that have gone viral of
preaching from other preachers you know pastor Anderson yeah he's got videos that go viral
people pick that up whether for good or bad they try to they run with it you know they try to use
it against them often which is it's really odd because he's the one that put it out there anyway
but there's a lot of videos that do go viral but I guarantee you that those preachers that go viral
that's not their motivation right is to go out there and see if they can just you know go viral
you know that's something that just kind of happens in and of itself and that happens when
you're preaching you know for the right reasons to begin with when you're preaching with the Holy
Ghost and for the right reasons so you know we don't want to fall into this vain glorious type
of attitude where we want to we're more concerned with going viral than actually edifying the people
in in in the church because really that's more satisfying I think that's what I've learned the
most you know I consider myself to be an intermediate intermediate preacher you know I've
got a lot of room to improve don't amen that you know there's a lot of room for growth right but
you know that goes for all of us you know that's a lifelong thing that we should always endeavor to
improve soul winning or preaching or whatever it might be right but I've learned in my short time
doing this as I said already that it's more satisfying to preach to to folks here than to
get some nice comment or to get a hundred views you know there hasn't been a hundred views on a
Tucson channel since brother Oliver was here yes I checked into that now I could get all vague
glorious well why do I get a hundred views you know and or why aren't the videos on the two
century to most viewed ones my sermons and really get worried about it but what's that gonna do what
what is that type of a motivation gonna do to the quality of the preaching behind this
pulpit yeah I'm gonna be trying to achieve something that's not gonna help you you know
I'm gonna try and just you know preach about the sodomites every other weekend see if I you know
if I can get some protesters out here and I'm not you know I don't object to the protesters coming
you know if I preach something and they show up but if I make that my only goal you know what good
is that to any of you how is that going to help you in your marriage how is that going to help
you in your child rearing how is that going to help you you know live the Christian life because
things that we need to know and understand it from the Word of God that have to be taught
and if a preacher just gets puffed up and all he desires is vainglory the people that are actually
there that matter the most are going to be ones that suffer the most man and here's the thing I've
also found it's actually when you have that right motivation where you just want to edify the body
it's actually easier than going viral you know going viral it's not easy you know I assume you
know if that's something that you're going to try to achieve you know you have to really get yourself
out there and you have to you know get your channel noticed and all the algorithms the tags
and the hashtags and everything else you got to put it in there and really you have to really try
hard to get noticed in social media really get your name out there build up a channel and then
eventually YouTube just comes along slaps it down anyway you gotta start all over again it's actually
easier to just get up and take the Word of God you know and have the Spirit of God and just preach
his word and let him do the work that's what I love about preaching is that if you just preach
this book he does all the heavy lifting man he does all the work it's just our job to get up
and just preach what it says yeah you know in this area of desiring to preach for vainglory
and if you would turn over first into chapter three you know we talked first of all of course
about desiring to be seen and heard of men in the area of preaching but another another way
this manifests itself in the area of preaching is when you have people who persist in being pastors
that are disqualified that should not be pastors that should be sitting down and letting you know
either joining another church or having somebody else fill in that pulpit that they're filling
people who do not meet the biblical qualifications yet persist in being a pastor I'm telling you
something that that person has a big red flag I say that is probably somebody who's more concerned
with vainglory than actually serving Christ for any right reasons if you would look at
first Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 because believe it or not God actually lays out the qualifications
for a bishop God actually is very specific about it look here in verse 1 he says this is a true
saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth the good work you know first of all right
out of the gate we have to understand that if you want to be a pastor if you want to be a bishop you
desire work you know you're desiring to you know not just get up and preach you know a couple times
a week that's you know and be seen and have people hear you and fall in love with your own voice and
so on and so forth you're desiring the work that goes into it you know just as the deacon down
here I can tell you you know learning to preach three times a week it takes a lot of work it takes
time to actually you're going to sit down and schedule time you have to to you know write the
sermons hours that go into it you have to actually know the Bible you have to actually read the Bible
you have to actually be found the Word of God walking in the spirit and that's just that part
of it there's a lot of other things you know and I'm not I'm not a pastor obviously but you know
I've got to see a little bit behind the scenes what goes on the pastor of being involved in a
ministry full-time there is a lot of work and you know what it is it's a lot of little details
it's a lot of little things that have to be kept on top of and it's important and not to mention
the fact that there's people involved you know people who have problems people who have needs
you know you've got to get in there and as I've said earlier in another sermon you have to be
willing to get your hands dirty and dealing with people sometimes it's not always the easiest thing
to do sometimes you have to give people really hard news or tell them something you're not right
in this area you need to fix this that's not easy that's that takes work so right out of the gate
you know if you desire the office of a bishop you're desiring work it's not just so you can
go on easy street and just take it easy you know it's doing the work of an evangelist you know
making the maps going out there knocking the doors leading people organizing people which sometimes
can be like herding cats you know if you ever try to get a group of people to go and do a certain
thing in a certain amount of time and get back to a certain place you know people not everybody's
on the same page sometimes and it takes a lot of work so you know right out of the gate you got
a desire to work what is your motivation to be a pastor to begin with because people they want to
be a pastor for the wrong reasons because they want vain glory they desire of being glory look
at verse two a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife you know that would probably
root out a lot of pastors that are standing behind a pulpit today they've been divorced and remarried
and the bible says right there you're gonna be the husband of one wife and they got all their
cute little ways of getting around as well as the wife or the husband of one wife at a time
you know not being a polygamist are you are you kidding me do you think that's what the bible
means there no in your bible elsewhere condemns you know divorce every marriage it calls it
adultery right several times you know go read the go read the sermon on the mount go read matthew
chapter five so you know if you've been divorced you know you cannot be a pastor the bible is very
clear about that the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given a hospitality apt to
teach not given to wine no striker not pretty a filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous
one that ruleth well his own house having his children and subjection without gravity you know
if you have children that go wayward that go and live to the devil that you know it just it becomes
a pattern with all your kids that they just go off and they turn out wrong you have not ruled
your house well right and you are disqualified from the pastorate because how are you supposed
to like it says here for if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the
church of god you know how are you going to uh be put yourself up as an example to say do as i have
done do with your children as i have done use the principles found in the bible and and your
children will turn out for god how can you say that if they're not turning out for god you're
bringing your approach upon the word of god look go over to first tim or excuse me titus chapter
one god repeats a lot of these uh qualifications because here's the thing god's serious about these
qualifications these aren't just like you know gray areas these aren't just things that you can
get most of it you have to get them all if you want to be a bishop if you want to be uh you know
a pastor and we got a lot of guys today they're getting up on pulpits and they're even taken aside
and told by other men of god you do not meet the biblical qualifications of the pastor and
need to step down there's men that have been told that and yet they persist say well you know i'm
called well you're you know i don't i don't i don't understand why would god call you if your
life doesn't line up with the qualifications right you know that's your own imagination
that's something you've thought up it says in titus chapter one verse five for this cause i left
you in creed that thou should have said in order the things that are wanting and ordained elders
in every city as i had appointed thee if any be blameless the husband of one wife there it
is again having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly so again there's the same
qualifications repeated and it goes on but those are two major areas that a lot of pastors fall
short in that and i'm sorry have disqualified themselves and they need to sit down excuse me
but why why is it that they don't sit down why is it they don't remove themselves and let another
fill the pulpit because they desire vain glory that's why
look here go down to verse 10 why are these qualifications so important for there are many
unruly and vain talkers deceivers especially they have a circumcision whose mouths must be stopped
you know why you have to be blameless in these areas you know why you have to have your house
in order because you need to be able to go and silence the mouths of vain talkers right and you
can't have a person's desire desires of vainglory himself in that position because he's not going
to be he's not going to bother him to go after these people or they're going to have something
that they can point at you know they're going to be able to reproach him you know these people
they're more interested in self-promotion than the cause of christ and that's really
you know that could affect any of us not just as pastors or preachers but this can affect anybody
when we become more interested in just promoting ourselves than trying to promote christ than the
cause of christ and accomplish the work of christ go over to a third john if you would third john
the bible says let them another man praise thee and not thine own lips
you know there's nothing wrong with being promoted there's nothing wrong with you being praised but
when you're praising yourself when you're promoting yourself when it's your own lips
that are praising you you have to stop and check yourself and say am i desirous of vainglory and
the answer is probably yes it says here in third john verse one chapter one verse nine look here
it says i wrote unto the church but diotropies who loveth do have the preeminence preeminence
among them receiveth us not so john is talking about a guy in diotropies here and says that he
loves to have the preeminence you know he wants to be the one that everybody knows he wants to be the
one that everyone looks to he wants to be the one that has the final say in everything and and so
much so uh where it says in verse 10 wherefore if i come i remember his deeds which he doeth
pratting against us with malicious words i mean this guy is so full of himself and so puffed up
and so interested in his own uh promotion and having the preeminence that he's cutting down
the man of god the the apostle john himself that he's speaking against him with malicious words
he's dragging his name through the mud and he's not content there with neither did he receive it
himself receive the brethren and forbidth them that would even other people say no
doctor means you should let these guys that he's saying no he's even forbidding those people and
saying you know what if you're going to side with them you can't be here and he's running these
people out of house of god he casted them out of the church it says there now here's the thing you
know how does that apply today well you know i've been in this church for several years now and what
i've noticed is a pattern especially online of people who align themselves and people who
associate themselves with faithful word the pastor stephen anderson in order for the simple thing to
just gain a following because you know they'll say all the right things they'll do all the right
things they'll preach all the right doctrine and then they'll gain a following and because they
love the preeminence and because they're vainglorious because they're more interested in their
own selves their own reputation than the actual work of christ eventually once they feel like
they've got enough people that's when they come out against pastor anderson i tell you why he's
wrong why he played they prat against him with malicious words and if you side with him then
they they reject you this happens over and over folks i mean i could name names it's and it's gone
on time and time again where we see people who just align themselves with the man of god simply
to gain a following so that they they and because they have the wrong motivations uh you know they
they uh they they end up turning on them and it's unfortunate because here's the thing
you know what's the big deal about that because babes in christ get caught up in it babes in
christ they go along with that and then you know they're tossed about you know to and fro with
every wind of doctrine and then these people deceive them the and they and they end up you
know people who otherwise could have lived a productive healthy christian life and done
something real for god just ended up being internet bozos and it's unfortunate
you know another area and it's area of of preaching desiring to be seen and heard of men
you know is when uh sometimes you'll see i've noticed people who try to outdo the other
preachers you know they say well you know so and so he's real popular let me see if i can outdo him
let me see if i can preach a more radical sermon let me see if i can get more people to to share
mine or whatever it is they try to outdo other preachers in order to be considered better because
they think well more people know my name and more people know what i'm doing no people more people
know about my sermon that i preach then obviously i'm the better preacher and what this what this
leads to is people who start to preach you know over the top subject matter whereas every other
sermon is about you know the nephilim you know the debunking nephilim or debunking you know
transvestite nazi eskimos or whatever just these crazy topics that they just are always coming up
with you know the illuminati this freemasonry that it's just just over the top why because
they're trying to outdo other preachers because they're trying to get noticed they want their
channel to be bigger they want their notoriety to be out there they're self-promoting they're
people who are not in it for the right reason they're more interested in their own self-promotion
than the cause of christ and they start to preach what has been called what i agree with
clickbait preaching and that's a real thing yeah that goes on i'm not saying everybody i'm not
saying it's a lot a lot of it's out there but it is something that's taken place that i've seen
where people just have the clickbait preaching that goes on where they just have the the weird
thumbnail you know the odd title and a very strange subject matter that won't help you at
all in your christian life you know just so that they can get a thousand views or two thousand years
or whatever it might be if you want to turn over if you have kept something in philippians turn
back to philippians chapter two there we're going to wrap it up there but the bible says in second
christians 10 i'll just read to you for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare
ourselves with some that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and
comparing themselves among themselves are not wise the bible says it's not a wise thing to sit
down and compare yourself to another person and it's trying to measure yourself against what
somebody else is doing and to say and you want to say well that that's what makes me better that's
a lot of time with what people can do in this area of preaching or even in soul winning they'll sit
down and say well i get more souls one of them and must be better or i my you know my channel
my i have more subscriptions and more views you know i must be better you know that's not the
measure and if you're doing that you're not wise why because your motivations are wrong
and you're in it for the wrong reasons it's you're desiring vainglory you're puffed up and
you need to get that right because here's the thing about that there will always be others
that are better that's what i figured out there's always no matter how good i get at anything which
isn't a lot of things you know but no matter how good i ever think i get at anything there's always
somebody better always somebody that can do more or do it better you know every sermon you know
could be better you know every sermon i've ever preached i i already know it could be better you
know it could have been a better sermon somebody probably preached in the same topic or through
the same chapter and did a better job than i did but is that really what i'm worried about just
being the best what i'm doing what i'm trying to do with the preaching what we should all do and
have the right motivation is did it achieve the goal you know did it petify the body of christ
was christ glorified was somebody's christian did somebody drawn closer to christ in their life
did somebody get some sin out of their life did somebody get something right in their life
did somebody add something to their life did they grow as as god's child from what was preached not
was my sermon the best not was my sermon better than somebody else's sermon that's desiring vainglory
and here's the thing about vainglory and why it's so dangerous is because it leads to strife
if you notice there in philippians chapter 2 these things are associated it says in
philippians chapter 2 verse 3 let nothing be done through strife or vainglory so he's putting them
together and this happens a lot of times in scripture but you know and strife is not something
that we want in our life when you know strife is just conflict you know it's competing it's it's
you know backbiting it's it's being vindictive towards one another it's it's being angry and
upset it's these bad things and it's associated with being vainglorious and why is that it's
because people who are desirous of vainglory what do they do they strive to outdo somebody else
you know they'll create strife it creates strife they're they're just in a competition with
everybody else in whatever area it is you know they want they are vainglorious they want their
name to be known they love the preeminence it's their reputation that they want to lift up and
to be exalted and they're they will begin to strive with others you know they'll find somebody
else and they'll say well that person you know people consider that person to be better than me
so let me let me strive against him let me see if i can drag him down let me create conflict let me
promote myself and you would turn over to james chapter three james chapter three
we'll go on there
bible says in james chapter three james chapter three beginning in verse 13 who is a wise man
and a dude with knowledge among you let him show uh let him show out of a good conversation his
works with meekness of wisdom but if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory
not and lie not against the truth this wisdom descenteth not from above but is earthly sensual
devilish you know if we're striving if we're envying somebody else's success if we're desiring
that for our own self so that others might know who we are we're vainglorious you know the bible
says that's earthly it says that it's sensual and it says that it's devilish that's a wicked sin
being desirous of vainglory and striving with others if you're envying others if you're bitter
against them at their success and you're trying to outdo them and that's your motivation in life
that's a wicked sin that we need to get out of our hearts what goes on it says in verse 16 for
where envying strife is there is confusion in every evil work but the wisdom that is from above
is first pure and then peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits
without partiality and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them
that make peace you know people you know i don't know if this applies to anybody in the room tonight
i don't know this morning excuse me but if it does you know you just need to admit it and get
it right you just need to admit it and get it right you know if there's you know obviously
nobody in here is promoting himself you know as a disqualified preacher right but you know those
guys that are promoting themselves as pastors when they're disqualified you know what they need to do
they need to get out of the pulpit man sit down and shut up and let somebody else fill that pulpit
you know there's plenty of room in the pews there's plenty of room for people to serve
god from the pews there's plenty of work out in the field to do and they don't have to be behind
this this pulpit in order to accomplish something great for god you can do it from right where
you're sitting so people who are desirous of vainglory they don't belong in the pulpit they
should you know they should get out of the pulpit you should shut down the youtube channel if all
you're trying to do is just build some youtube channel and get noticed on social media you know
just shut it down you know fall out you know fall out of love with your own face in your own voice
i mean sometimes you see these channels and it's like you can just it just it just smacks of
someone who's just in love with themselves and they're yeah what they're saying might sound
spiritual but it just looks and the appearance is you're not even a preacher you're not even
a pastor you're not even somebody uh you know that is any kind of authority but we're just all over
the internet and we're lifting up our own selves shut down the youtube channel you know people who
need to be sincere in their soul winning you know this is probably the one that's the most important
be sincere in your soul and don't get so obsessed with the number you know and don't be so worried
about whether or not you come back with a goose egg you know we we we come back from soul winning
sometimes that we get nobody safe right you know we go to awatuki with about 15 people and we
usually get one person out of out of 17 sometimes wow but hey that's one person amen yeah and it
was worth it i don't get bummed about it right why didn't we get 10 you know i was like praise
god we got one right you know praise god 15 people showed up and obeyed the command to go amen praise
god for that there's people that are faithful going into neighborhoods that are less receptive
and doing the work they've been told to do yeah you know work on your methods and work on your
practices you know focus on those things and and then the numbers will come when it's appropriate
when you're in the right in the right neighborhood you know so verse 18 it shows us here in verse 18
james chapter 3 it shows us the proper attitude and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
of them that make peace you know the fruit of righteousness is when you're going out and you're
sowing in peace you're doing it out of for the right reasons the work of god is done in peace
it's not done out of strife it's not done out of vainglory it's not caring you know it's not uh
it's done in peace you know not caring what other whether or not others notice you know i have great
peace about coming down here and preaching and going so many with you folks and and not
being ever noticed you know i'm doing in peace i don't mind because we're accomplishing something
down here you know it you know god knows it go look at the map over there it's getting
filled in red amen you know and we're gonna we're gonna continue to do a great work down here
and if we're ever the only ones that ever know about it so be it okay i have i'm because i'm
doing it in peace and so are you we're doing it for the right reasons for sowing in peace right
not we're not caring what others uh think or whether or not they notice
you see the work of god you know it has if we're doing the work of god
and for out of the right reasons the results that come you know it says there that we sow in peace
of them that make peace and what's our friend we make peace with who between lost sinful people
and god and that is worth more than anything else any recognition any vainglory that this world has
to offer you know that that is a result that matters to eternity and there will be a day you
know maybe you'll so be a soul winner your whole life and you'll never hear your name from the
pulpit you'll never hear anyone lift you up and praise you for the work that you're doing for
god on this planet on this earth but there will be a time when every man will stand before god
and give a count of things which he had done would they be good or bad there you know jesus
said behold i come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his works man
you have a reward coming you will be acknowledged by the lord himself man i mean who cares what
anybody else thinks god says well done now good and faithful servant that's all that matters
because that's that's the real result that we're looking for peace is made between man
and a whole a simple man and only god that's what we're trying to accomplish
and whether or not anybody else recognizes us uh you or this group of uh believers as a body here
whether or not we ever get recognized it doesn't matter because we were doing the work out of the
right motivations and not out of vain glory let's go and pray