Amen.
The title of my sermon tonight is Preaching Christ of Envy and Strife.
If you look in Philippians chapter 1 there, verse 15, the Bible reads, some indeed preach
Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will.
The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.
But then notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached
and I therein do rejoice, yea and will rejoice.
So the apostle Paul here is stating that if anybody's preaching the gospel of Christ,
that's a good thing.
People are hearing about Jesus, people are hearing the gospel, and he praises the Lord
for that.
Even if people's motives are wrong, even if their heart is wrong, even if their spirit
is wrong, he's still just glad that people are hearing the message.
But that doesn't make it right to have that bad attitude, to be doing things for the wrong
reason.
And when it comes to getting a reward from Christ for your works, your motive does come
into play, doesn't it?
Because the Bible says that if you give your alms before men to be seen of them, you have
no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
If you pray publicly because you want everybody to see you praying, you have no reward of
your Father which is in heaven.
The praise of men that you're getting right now, that's your reward when you do your righteousnesses
to be seen of men.
But Paul's still glad that the message is being preached whether people are doing it
for the right reason or not, but what does it mean to preach Christ of contention or
of envy and strife?
Well if you stop and think about these three words, they really all are connected to one
another.
Because when you think about envy and strife, you think about being competitive, looking
for personal glory, praising yourself, comparing yourself to other people.
What is envy?
It's comparing yourself to other people.
That's what it is because if I envy someone, I'm saying I want their status, I want what
they have, I'm coveting what belongs to them.
Well that's a comparison, isn't it?
It's looking at my situation, looking at their situation, and I want what they've got.
That's what envy even is.
Strife has to do with friction with other people, contention.
Here it is from the dictionary, dictionary.com, definition of contention, struggling together
in opposition, strife, a striving in rivalry, competition, a contest, strife in debate,
dispute, controversy.
People preaching Christ of contention, they're in a competition, aren't they?
They're comparing themselves to other people, they are desirous of vainglory, they're envious
of other people's reputation or their status or whatever, and so they're making these comparisons,
they're striving, they're fighting for personal glory, they're praising themselves.
That's what the Bible says here.
Now let me just remind you that one of the most wicked sins in the Bible is pride, being
full of yourself, thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think, being arrogant.
Let me just quickly run through some verses from Proverbs just to drive in this point.
You don't have to turn to these, but in Proverbs 8, 13 it says, the fear of the Lord is to
hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate.
Proverbs 11, 2, when pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom.
Proverbs 13, 10, only by pride cometh contention.
Now remember, there are people that are preaching Christ of contention, of envy and strife.
Where's that contention coming from?
It's coming from their pride.
That's what's causing them to be contentious in regard to their preaching of the gospel.
But with the well-advised, it is wisdom.
In the mouth of foolishness, Proverbs 14, 3, is a rod of pride, but the lips of the
wise shall preserve them.
Proverbs 16, 18, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Haughtiness is arrogance and pride.
A man's pride, Proverbs 29, 23, shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble
in spirit.
And here's my personal favorite, let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, stranger
and not thine own lips.
Proverbs 6, 16, these six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto
him.
The very first one, a proud look, it's an abomination.
Proverbs 15, 25, the Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but will establish the
border of the widow.
Proverbs 16, 5, everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Proverbs 16, 19, better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil
with the proud.
Proverbs 21, 4, a high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin.
Proverbs 21, 24, proud and haughty scorner is his name who dealeth in proud wrath.
Proverbs 28, 25, he that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife, but he that putteth his
trust in the Lord shall be made fat.
Ecclesiastes 7, 8, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient
in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Isaiah 2, 12, for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty
and everyone that is lifted up and he shall be brought low.
Jesus taught that if one exalts themself, they will be abased, but whosoever humbled
themself shall be exalted.
And so there are people out there that are preaching the Gospel or preaching the Word
of God and they're envious, they're full of strife and contention because of their pride,
they praise themselves, they're full of themselves and it's wicked.
Now let me say this, there are two types of people that you'll really hear praising themselves
a lot.
Politicians and missionaries are two groups that you'll sometimes hear just bragging and
just praising themselves and boasting about their achievements and both of them are asking
for the same thing, money.
They both want you to give them money to talk about all their achievements and boast
and praise themselves.
Now I've got here some excerpts from a missionary letter that a lot of you received.
It was like a mass email that was sent to a mailing list that they called their missionary
mailing list but it was like 90% are church members or people who listen to my sermons
in other cities, maybe even more than 90%.
I don't know, but it was just pretty much, I'm just like, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, brothers
and so on, so oh yeah, her, yeah, oh yeah, I know them.
Just like a list, you know, send it out to all, of course, it doesn't send it to me,
but these guys, you know, they send it out to our church members, this email and this
is the most prideful, arrogant, bizarre letter that I've ever seen and in fact, I'll take
it a step further.
It's not just prideful or arrogant or bizarre.
I'm going to say this word and you're going to laugh, but I want you to understand that
I'm serious when I say this.
This is the word that comes to mind.
Just hear me out, psychotic.
This letter is literally psychotic and if I were diagnosing this and I'm not claiming
to be any kind of a medical professional or, you know, any kind of a specialist in mental
health, but I would classify this under the religious grandeur delusion section of psychosis
and I've done a whole sermon on psychosis.
I think it was called ways to destroy yourself or something.
I did that a while back.
It's on all the preaching.com, right?
So it's got to be, it's all there, but anyway, the thing is it, this letter is literally
psychotic and you think I'm exaggerating, you think I'm kidding right now.
That's because I haven't started reading you the excerpts from this psychotic letter.
Let me read you some of the highlights.
This is a letter being written by a couple of young guys who used to go to our church.
They moved to Africa and joined an independent Baptist church there.
They've been over there for the past few years, soul winning and serving in their local church
and many people from our church were sending them donations basically just to help them
out because they're, you know, they're living over there in Africa, knocking doors, serving
in the church, so they're getting subsidized by people from our church.
That's who they're writing to.
So just to give you the context, they're basically writing a letter to people who've been supporting
them financially, basically like friends of theirs, you know, they went to church with
us here and so some of their friends are sending them donations.
They support what they're doing, whatever.
Coming to some of the highlights from this letter, and let me just warn you going in,
sometimes you're going to be confused, am I reading the Bible or am I reading this letter
because they basically, they talk like the Bible except they kind of just swap out Jesus
and the apostles for themselves, okay.
So don't get confused.
Realize this is their word, this is what they are saying.
They're just using biblical language to say it, okay.
We praise you, brethren, that you remember us in all things and are sharpened by our
example.
Hey, you know what, I just want to congratulate you for following my awesome example, Daniel.
Let me just praise you, Daniel, because you're so sharp as a result of being like me.
I made you show you.
So that we can just we can literally just close in prayer and go home.
What in the world?
So just.
We praise you.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, you praise that.
What are you praising us for?
Because you're sharpened by our example.
Wow.
Oh, we're only getting started, folks, buckle up.
Now for a recompense of the same.
So here's what we're looking for in return.
You've been sharpened by our example.
Now in recompense of the same, let us at our imminent coming.
For a visit to many in America, find you such as we would, that we may be found unto you
such as you would.
Now that I know it's a little heavy, but let me just explain this to you.
They're basically saying, hey, you better be ready to pony up when we get there.
For all right.
You owe us.
You've been sharpened by our example.
Well, we're coming and we better find you the way that we want to find you.
Otherwise you're going to find us the way that you don't want to find us.
And if you understand where these biblical references are coming from, it's even more
bizarre.
The more you know the Bible, the more this is going to be bizarre to you.
This is like the apostle.
This is how the apostle Paul writes to a church that he founded.
It's got all this wild stuff going on.
And so he's saying, hey, I'm going to come back and deal with these things.
I mean, they're, it's like they're speaking from a position of authority.
Like you better get your crap together before we get back.
I mean, folks, are you hearing this?
Now for a recompense in the same, let us at our imminent coming.
So basically we're Jesus, you know, let us at our imminent coming for a visit to many
in America find you such as we would that we may be found unto you such as you would.
Okay, here's another, uh, excerpt from the letter as Paul would often write shortly before
he visited and with great doctrinal significance.
So let us follow in his steps, you know, just like Paul would write an epistle is doctrinally
important.
You know, we're going to do the same thing.
Okay.
Here's another one.
We tried working for a few months with another pastor of a different Baptist church because
they, they talk about how the pastor of the church they've been working with.
They've decided that he's an unsaved false prophet reprobate.
We tried working for a few months with another pastor of a different Baptist church recommended
to us by a friend, but he turned out to to be a false prophet.
None of his church members were saved.
All bad fruit proving that he himself is a wolf per Matthew 7, 15 through 20.
So basically get the, get the picture.
Their pastor they're claiming is, is this horrible unsaved false prophet reprobate.
So then they get recommended to go to another Baptist church and they just decide every
single person there is not saved.
We concluded that in all likelihood, all potentially viable Baptist churches in Kampala, if not
also in all of Uganda, are too run by false prophets.
That's quite a leap there, isn't it?
So this church I was going to turned out to be bad.
I went to another one that turned out to be bad.
So I've just decided that probably every church in the entire country is bad.
Well that's a little bit of a wild conclusion to come to.
I mean, are you listening to this?
Let me tell you something.
No, there are saved people in every country of the world.
There are preachers in every country in the world that are preaching the gospel.
You can't just sit there, well I tried a couple and so I've just come to the conclusion that
they're probably just all false prophets.
We're the only ones over here really doing any real work.
Everybody else is bogus, basically what they're saying.
So they're in a quandary and so I'm trying to give a little context to these excerpts
but here's another excerpt and feel free to read the whole thing.
I'll be glad to forward it to you.
Just email the church and we'll forward it to you.
My staff will be glad to just forward you this whole thing.
Lest somebody claim I'm taking this out of context.
I don't know what context any of this would be normal in but if you think I'm taking it
out of context, email the church, we'll be glad to forward it to you.
It's all yours.
Our quandary seems to have partly arisen, so we have learned, because some unscrupulous
and mischievous persons in America, parentheses, certain men crept in unawares who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, have taken it upon themselves to try and undermine
and defame us to others by labeling us as proud or arrogant and therefore not fit for
the ministry we're undertaking.
So did you guys get that?
Anybody who's basically calling them proud or arrogant, I wonder why anybody would think
that.
Anybody who says they're proud or arrogant has crept in unawares, they were before of
old ordained to this condemnation, they're unscrupulous mischievous persons.
And by the way, let me give you some of their names.
Pastor Anderson, Pastor Jonathan Shelley, Brother Daniel Ryder, Varon, you know, these
are the people that we're talking about.
So basically, this is what this letter is essentially saying, a rejection of the McPhails
means you're a reprobate.
You're a Judas Iscariot, you've crept in unawares because you don't accept them.
Now think, what if I made, just stop and think about this, what if I started saying, our
church is the only legitimate church in Arizona?
You'd say, that sounds like a cult, am I right?
Every other Baptist church, the pastors are all false prophets, that would be like a cult.
I'll stand here and tell you right now, there are at least 10 churches in the Phoenix area
that, you know, that I would say are okay, that I would say are good, and I'm sure there's
way more than that, I'm just saying that's what I could list.
So this cult-like attitude that just says, everybody's bad, and then how about this,
what if I said, oh, that guy thinks I'm prideful, well he must be a reprobate then, oh, he doesn't
like me, reprobate, Judas, folks, I had somebody this morning tell me, oh, this pastor, he
doesn't like you, this is why I said, that's okay, that's okay, because guess what, there
could be good pastors out there who don't like Stephen Anderson, because they don't
have to accept Jesus, or they don't have to accept Stephen Anderson as their savior, they
have to accept Jesus as their savior.
And so they could say, man, I don't like Pastor Anderson at all, I think he's proud, I think
he's arrogant, I don't like him, and they could still be a great person, they could
just be wrong about that, because I'm not prideful, and people who know me know that
I'm not prideful, but the point is, if someone called me a name or criticized me unfairly,
that doesn't make them a reprobate, that doesn't make them a false prophet, the test of someone's
salvation, the test of whether they're a good pastor isn't how they feel about me.
That's weird.
But according to them here, you know, that's the test.
We feel truly sorry for the fools who will be persuaded by such lewd fellows of the baser sort.
I mean, folks, look up lewd in the dictionary.
So because basically, you know, by the way, even when they went to church here, Pastor
Shelley said, do not ever send them to preach in any of my pulpits, because, you know, he
was running a few satellite churches, and we were constantly sending our young guys
to fill pulpits for him, to help him out, and he said, hey, run by me who you send,
of course, and so I gave him a list, and he said no to these two guys.
He said these guys cannot come, and he said because they're too prideful, they're so
arrogant.
And I was like, really?
Because I've never really seen that side of them.
But, you know, what I've learned over the years is that sometimes people act a little
different around me than they act around other people.
So I had never seen that side of them.
I didn't feel that way about them.
While they were here, I had nothing but good feelings toward them.
But Pastor Shelley told me that, and I said, well, of course, you know, it's up to you.
I mean, so I'll be, I won't send them then.
That lewd fellow of the baser sort, fool!
I mean, he's clearly crept in unawares.
He was clearly, before, of old ordained to this kind of, and now that I'm saying it,
I guess so am I, and so are guys like Daniel and Varen, because they said the same thing.
I think a lot of people have felt that way.
A lot of lewdness out there, apparently.
We feel truly sorry for the fools who will be persuaded by such lewd fellows of the baser
sort and who will be beguiled of their exceedingly great reward in partaking of our labors in
Africa.
So the exceeding great reward in the Christian life is give money to them.
That's how you get the mega rewards, folks.
And if you listen to these lewd guys saying that they're prideful, you're going to be
beguiled of your exceeding great reward of partaking in their labors in Africa by such
a laughable and altogether absurd attempt to discredit our ministry.
But thanks be to God for the few, the remnant, who will remain after God has sifted the house
of Israel.
There are doubtless those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and we are confident
that such persons will still cleave fast to our ministry.
So if you don't support their ministry, you don't love Jesus.
I mean, this is almost worse than those Facebook like, if you scroll past this, you don't love
the Lord.
You know what I mean?
You know, Satan is like, all of my children will scroll past this.
And then Jesus is like, my children will play like on this.
And then I was like, my children will do nothing.
I mean, what in the world?
Like you don't support them.
You don't love Jesus.
Folks, am I making this stuff up?
Are you hearing this?
Read it for yourself.
Thanks be to God for the few, that remnant, who will remain after God has sifted the house
of Israel.
There are doubtless those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and we're confident
that such persons will cleave fast to our ministry.
If you don't cleave fast, you're not the remnant.
You don't love Christ.
Even if not in word or deed, but at least in heart, just as the men of Judah clave unto
their King.
So far they're Jesus, they're the apostle Paul, and now it's like, we're your King.
The men of Judah clave to their King, you're going to cleave to us?
The hour is coming, and now is.
When one's affiliation or view of the servants of the true and living God, such as ourselves,
will be a test of fellowship in some churches.
How you feel about these guys, it's coming folks.
That's going to be the test of fellowship in churches.
Yeah, in your dreams, like you're not that important.
God forbid though, if they're here, is there here such a doubt, excuse me, is there here
a doubting Baptist, curious of whether we are evangelists of God or whether they should
look for another?
I mean look, basically that's like John the Baptist saying about Jesus, art thou he that
should come or do we look for another?
I mean are you the great white hope for Africa or do we look for another?
Now who thinks that maybe my previous diagnosis was a little more on point than, and I'm not
claiming to be a professional, but you know, talk to your doctor to see if supporting these
people is right for you.
You know, I've taken a look at the DSM a few times though, not claiming to be an expert.
We reply to you in no other words, so remember, whether we're evangelists of God or should
we look for another?
But they don't stop there, they're going to continue that story in context.
Remember when John the Baptist asked Jesus, art thou he that should come or do we look
for another?
And then Jesus gives the answer.
They're saying we're going to give the same answer that Jesus gave, so here's the answer.
You know, curious of whether we are evangelists of God or whether they should look for another.
We reply to you in no other words than those of the Savior.
Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John again those things which ye do here
and see the blind receive their sight and the lame walk.
The lepers are cleansed and the death here.
The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them and blessed is he
whoever should not be offended in me.
That's our answer.
If you want to know for the real deal, well, that's the answer.
Okay, a little bit later on in the letter, what signs show us thou then we can hear some
readers saying that we may see and believe thee.
What does thou work?
Folks, this is a quote where Jesus is claiming to be the bread of life coming down from heaven
and that whoever believes on him will be saved.
That's the context and they say to Jesus, well, what sign are you going to show so that
we will see and believe there now again, they're Jesus and they're saying, you know, well,
what sign so that we can believe on you?
Though it is not comely for a man to declare his own praise, yeah, that's true, nor is
it good for men to search their own glory, already we are become fools in glory.
You've compelled us for we have ought to have been commended of you for in nothing are we
behind the very cheapest evangelists.
We are the greatest evangelists in the world.
Did you hear that?
We are nothing behind, we're nothing behind the cheapest evangelists.
Find me the greatest evangelists in this world, the greatest missionaries in this world.
We are right there with them.
I mean these guys are making politicians look humble.
For in nothing are we behind the very cheapest evangelists, though we be nothing.
Truly as ye shall see here, the signs of an evangelist were wrought among you in all patience.
There's no, folks, there's no such thing as the signs of an evangelist.
That's not even a thing.
As the signs of an apostle, like the apostles like performing miracles.
The apostle Paul, they're lifting this from a letter by Paul to a church that he founded.
He founded the church, he won the people of the Lord, and he's saying to them, hey, you're
making me defend myself here and prove that I'm really an apostle here, the signs of an
apostle were done among you.
They're comparing that.
They're writing this letter to just buddies from church, buddies from church who were
sending them money just because they just wanted to help out people who were doing soul
winning in another country.
And now it's all of a sudden it's just like they are just the supreme whatever.
It's really unbelievable.
So there was another attachment with it.
Besides the letter, there was this other separate document as well because the letter was only
like 14 pages.
So they had to attach another like eight page document to that.
Here's some highlights from the document.
What was written of Samuel that all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel
was established to be a prophet of the Lord was in a way true of us two to be evangelists.
They're talking about when they were at Faithful Word Baptist Church, they're giving their
history of being at our church, and they say that just like everybody knew Samuel was going
to be prophet of the Lord, like everybody knew, you know, that we were to be evangelists.
We like Timothy were well reported of by the brethren far and near.
We were just well, folks, when they were here, I'll be frank with you, when they were here,
I always got along great with them.
I had no issue with them.
I liked and got along with them.
But as my wife likes to frequently remind me, I like everyone.
That's just kind of how I am.
And you know, when you're a pastor, that's kind of a good attribute to have anyway to
like your church members.
But the thing about that is that people were constantly coming to me and complaining about
them and I was always defending them.
And as I mentioned before, Pastor Shelley banned them from any of his pulpits.
But no, no, no, it's just it's just like all Israel knew that they were ordained to be,
you know, prophets unto the Lord and they were just well reported of by the brother
and far and near.
That is a fiction.
When they were here, by the way, when they were here, when they were going to Africa,
they asked if we would ordain them to be evangelists.
And I said, no, they came into my office and asked me and I said, no.
So if they were just if it was just the writing was on the wall that these guys are ordained
to be missionaries to Africa and they're well reported of far and near, then why didn't
I ordain them when they were here?
Why is that?
Now they said that they were going to go.
They asked for like some kind of a like formal sanction or approval of them or sending them
as our ambassadors, like, you know, FWBC is sending these guys on behalf of our church.
Just just they asked for some kind of a stamp of approval or sending them.
And I told them, no, I would not do that.
What I told them was I said, you know, if you guys want to go over there and join an
independent Baptist church over there and work in that church and win souls, you have
my blessing like, you know, I'm for you.
And I said, I think it's a great idea.
If you guys want to go, go for it.
I think it's a great idea.
I think it's going to be great and I'm for you.
But I specifically turned them down.
And part of the reason is because there's so many red flags and so many people that
had issues with them that I don't want to just ordain somebody where there's a lot of
red flags and a lot of people are telling me things and, you know, there's just a lot
of things that gave me pause.
That's all.
So they say this.
Let's move on in the doc.
I'll get back to that a little bit.
But in the document, they say, though we've been under the ministry of other persons for
almost this whole time, yet we have come to see one by one that each of them and they
list three preachers that they've worked under were indeed mischievous, ungodly, false teachers.
So so basically every church that they've worked under in Uganda is a false prophet
and they're claiming that they're they're starting to think that every single church
in the whole nation is probably just all false prophets, just nobody say that.
That's nonsense.
I'm sorry.
Oh, yeah, here's another great quote from the document.
The very demons of Uganda would cry.
So this is what they're saying to their critics, to the people who would criticize them.
The very demons of Uganda would cry out, Jesus, I know, and Jesse and John, I know.
But who are you?
Oh, wait, there's more.
As discussed, we are right about to board a flight to make a short 40 day trip back
to America.
I mean, these guys are so spiritual, they can't even take a trip without rounding it
to some biblical number like, you know what I mean?
It's 40 days at 40 nights, OK?
They put 40 day in quotes because, I mean, you know, Jesus fasted for 40 days.
You know, Moses in the mountaintop for 40 days.
Elijah goes for 40 days to Mount Horeb and, you know, it rained on the earth for 40 days
and 40 nights.
You know, this is the 40 day trip back to America.
We will visit with family and friends and hope you will make time to see us in where
we will appear.
Whatever happens on our trip, as we know not whether of the twain we will meet, Gaius or
Diatrophes that are coming.
Folks, that's a reference to the apostle John like, you know, being refused by a church,
a church not welcoming apostle John.
So now if you don't approve them, just these two young guys who went to Africa for a while
and won a bunch of souls in Africa, you're Diatrophes now just because you don't want
to support them.
You don't want to receive them.
You don't like them.
You think they're prideful or arrogant, reprobate, lewd, Diatrophes, whatever.
We have the fullest intentions of swiftly returning to our beautiful children in the
faith to continue with Christ, making them to lie down in green pastures and leading
them by the still waters.
Our long term plan is to nurture and grow this church which we hope will be the first
of three parenthesis in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria, even
a blessing in the midst of the land, three mega churches, one in eastern Africa, one
in southern Africa, and a final one in western Africa.
We ourselves will start and run from which many more hundreds, even thousands of churches
will eventually be started and all of Africa will be evangelized.
As it is written, princes shall soon come out of Egypt.
Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
Wow.
So that gives you just a little taste.
You know it's 22 pages but there's a little taste for you of what we're talking about.
Now folks, this is extremely prideful, arrogant, presumptuous, psychotic, delusions of religious
grandeur is the best way to describe it.
Oh I got more, I'm sorry, sorry.
One of our church members emailed back and said, can I have my money back?
Just one sentence, just can I have my money back?
Here's the response and this is going to blow your mind.
Sorry, I wasted it on saving thousands of people from hell and obeying that pesky great
commission and in loving people tirelessly to edify and encourage them and in training
people to become soul winners, watch this, who themselves save more in a year than you
will ever in your lifetime.
Now stop and think what he just said and by the way, it was brother Nick, okay, Nick who
often reads the scripture for us.
Here's the thing, Nick goes soul winning all the time.
I go soul winning with Nick all the time, I mean I see him out soul winning all the
time.
It's not like they're saying this to somebody who's against soul winning or somebody who's
criticizing soul winning or throwing a wet blanket on someone who doesn't do soul winning.
I mean this is a zealous soul winning member of our church and they're saying the people
that we win to the Lord in Africa, they win more people, like forget what we're doing,
our converts will win more people to the Lord in one year than you will in your whole life.
Now think about how the bizarre, how do they know what he's going to do in his life?
Number one, how do they know what he's going to do in his life?
Number one.
Number two, he is a zealous soul winner.
But let's just say for a minute, let's just say for a minute that he were just kind of
Joe church member at Faithful Word, just going soul winning once a week, going out, that
would be an insane stupid thing to say even to just any member of our church who does
any soul winning at all.
And you know what this is, this garbage is, it's this competitive comparison that's constantly
going on and that's what just drips from every page of his life.
We're so much better than everyone else.
We're awesome, we walk on water and everybody else is lame.
And by the way, Nick didn't you tell me also that when they were here one time they told
Nick, Nick came back from a few hours of soul winning and he was talking about how exhausted
he was and they said to him, well you didn't even do anything because we go for three times
that long.
I mean are you, are you hearing this?
And you know what, I believe that story because I'm reading the letter here.
And I'm like, yeah, that sounds about right for these guys.
Folks, if you compare yourselves amongst yourselves, the Bible says you're not wise.
I'm going to get to that in a moment.
I'm going to try to hurry because I want to make sure I get everything in here and
then I can kind of just go off but I want to make sure I get it all in.
Okay and then someone else wrote and said, please remove me from this mailing list.
And then another one, and this is brother Sean Conlan for those who know him, wrote
and said, me too, trash can doctrine from the McPhails.
Okay, so here's their response to Sean, who by the way is another great soul winner, like
personal friend of mine.
I've gone camping with him.
I've gone soul winning with him for days on the Indian reservations and stuff, you know.
Here's what they say to Sean because he said that their doctrine that they're putting out
basically saying no one will ordain us, no one in America or Uganda will ordain us.
So we've decided that ordination must be unbiblical, okay, basically, you know, because
Sean had the audacity to say that he believes that this is a trash can doctrine, okay.
Here's what they say, note everyone that we have here just a man who waves his hand and
dismisses hundreds of Bible verses.
This is about Sean.
And what fruit do you have?
So this is their challenge to Sean.
What fruit do you have?
You're just kicking against the pricks.
Again, if you know where these quotes come from, that's a guy who won't believe in Jesus.
He won't believe Jesus is the Messiah he's kicking against the pricks.
Now it's like you don't accept their new doctrine that they just switched to.
They just switched to this doctrine.
What three months ago?
Three months ago they switched their belief and now you're kicking against the pricks.
I'm afraid of you, Sean, whether you are not also one of those traitors crept in unawares.
Remember what did he say?
Trash can doctrine prevails, period.
This is their initial response.
I'm afraid of you, Sean, whether you're not also one of those traitors crept in unawares.
The world cannot hate you, Sean, but us it hates because we testify of it that the works
thereof are evil.
Let this chaff too be driven away with the wind of man's unbiblical tradition.
So basically Sean is now the chaff.
He's of this world.
He's not of the father.
He's kicking against the pricks.
They're afraid that he's not saved.
They're afraid that he's a Judas Iscariot because he doesn't accept their new doctrine
that they're coming out with three months ago.
I mean is this wild or what?
Now let me say this.
Let me say this to the McPhails.
Whoops, I was trying not to name them just because they're so insignificant that what's
the point?
But I think I've named them several times.
I'm not very good at this.
But here's the funny thing about this is that they went to church here for years.
Hey guys, do you remember when they went to church here for years?
Do you guys remember all the visitors they were constantly bringing?
Do you guys remember all the people that they got baptized?
You guys remember them just packing whole sections of the church with their converts?
Me neither because it never happened.
It didn't happen folks.
Isn't it funny how they went to church here for years?
I don't remember them bringing a bunch of visitors.
I don't remember them having a bunch of their converts baptized.
I don't remember.
I mean sure they went out so many like everybody else.
But I don't remember them bringing in all these converts and discipling people and just
doing all this stuff.
But now they go over to Africa and all of a sudden they have all this success over in
Africa and now it's gone to their heads and now all of a sudden they're just super awesome
and okay show us your fruit Sean.
Show me your fruit when you were here for several years.
How about that?
Try that on.
And here's the thing, I don't have this in my notes, but these guys said that their discipleship
methods are superior to Pastor Roger Jimenez so people should follow their methods because
their methods are so much better than Pastor Jimenez's methods.
That was a text message that was showed me by Varen right?
Their methods are better than Roger Jimenez's.
Let me just explain and part of the reason why I'm talking about this tonight is because
it's so important that you understand that this competitive garbage in regard to winning
souls is trash and should not, we can't let this be our culture.
This is not our culture at this church, this competitive comparing and whatever, you know,
it's wicked and I'm against it.
That's reason number one.
But number two, you know, I want you to understand this concept that I'm about to lay down for
you in case you don't know this, but let me explain something to you.
Going soul winning in Africa is different than going soul winning in the United States.
You know, newsflash, anybody who's been there knows that.
And let me just promise you something, if we were to pick up Pastor Roger Jimenez right
now and drop him off in Uganda for a couple of years, he'll be running a thousand in a
couple of years.
Fact.
Easy.
He'll be running a thousand in a couple of years.
Easy.
Fact.
But you know what?
If we dropped off these bozos in Sacramento, California, you think they're going to start
a thriving, red hot, battle tested, soul winning church that's running over 200 in Northern
California?
Nope.
And it's funny how I didn't see them just tearing it up when they were here in Arizona.
I don't see them going to Northern California and just tearing it up.
But then in their hubris and arrogance, see, they're going to compare themselves to Pastor
Roger Jimenez, who's been in the ministry for over a decade, who has pastored a successful
soul winning church in the belly of the beast.
You know, he's in Northern California is in the capital of California.
He's fighting all kinds of battle.
He has people confronting him in restaurants and at the grocery store angrily.
He's been persecuted.
He's stood tall.
And he has started from scratch in his living room and founded a church.
And in fact, folks, this was before either he or I had a big internet following or something.
I mean, he started like I did.
We started our living room and just knocking doors and dragging people in.
And he started I mean, on his like one one year, I remember like one year into his church,
there were services when there'd be like two or three people there, plus his family.
And he kept working at it and working at it.
And now he's running like over 200.
Even after taking all these hard stands, being maligned in the media.
But it's like you go over to Africa and get a bunch of people saved.
And now all of a sudden, well, our methods are better than Pastor Jimenez.
That's funny because I didn't see your methods in Arizona and I didn't see them in Northern
California.
And guess what?
I could go to Africa right now and well, OK, I'm banned.
But no, I'm not I'm not banned from everywhere.
But here's the thing.
You know, when I was in Botswana, we went to Botswana and we started a church.
And you know, we have our first service Sunday morning.
That afternoon, just a few of us, just a handful of us go out soul winning.
And we have like two or three families visiting that night in the service.
It's like you just got so many for a couple of hours, just boom, like a couple of families
show up that night.
Because guess what?
It's a totally different world over there.
It's way, way, way easier to get people saved over there.
Way easier to get people baptized.
Way easier to get people to go to church.
That's why we go there.
That's why we take a missions trip.
If it was if it wasn't easier, we would just stay home.
We go to these really receptive places because we can get a ton of people saved.
And look, maybe what I'm going to say is going to offend some people right now, but
I don't really care because it's the truth and it needs to be said.
Let me explain to you why.
Because I'm a white American and when I go to Africa, I'm an instant rock star for two
reasons.
Because I'm white American, period.
You can get offended by that.
You can get upset about that.
You can twist that however you want.
But anybody who's actually gone on these mission trips to Africa or the Philippines or whatever
knows that if you're an American, you're a rock star, who will testify that they agree
with what I just said?
Yeah, the people who go on the mission trips.
Instant rock star.
And you know what?
If you're an identical twin, you're probably a superstar.
I'm telling you, like people, and I haven't had missionaries tell me when I'm over there,
they're like, well, you know, people are just going to listen to you more.
They're just going to want to, when you offer to give them the gospel, they're just going
to say yes because you're an American.
And by the way, even if a black American goes over there, they're a star.
You know?
Because you're an American.
But I'm telling you, my friend, that these people, it's exotic unto them.
It's exotic.
Like, wow, an American is here, you know?
And they also, it's sort of like, and look, I know what I'm saying might offend people,
but sorry, I'm just laying down facts right now, okay?
I know on a cartoon where like they see somebody coming through the door and all of a sudden
the cartoon character turns into like a little lollipop, like a sucker.
Or like, or like Sylvester looks at Tweety Bird and Tweety Bird's just like a little
rotisserie chicken just like swinging on the swing.
Or like the car dealer like sees somebody walk in and it's just like a dollar sign walking
in.
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Guess what?
And I'm not saying everybody's like this, but I'm saying you got to watch out.
When you go to these third world countries, oops, is that not even allowed to even call
it that anymore?
Sorry, the developing world.
When you go to the developing world, they just see you, you're like this dollar sign
walking around because they know that you have more money in your pocket than they make
in a month or something that, you know, so they just, they want to get a piece of it.
That's another thing that's going on.
So people want your money or they just want to just hang out with you because it's cool.
It's like, it's like if a Hollywood stars around, some people would just want to be
around them, not even to get something from them, but just because they're just, you're
famous.
Wow.
You know, I don't feel that way, but a lot of people feel that way about Hollywood people,
right?
They want to go backstage at the rock concert and just kind of get next to these stars.
Okay.
Well guess what?
If you're an American and you go to these countries, you'll get treated that way.
You get treated that way.
It's just a fact and I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it's true.
Okay.
And anybody who's actually been there knows that I'm telling the truth.
I was in Botswana and we were driving to the airport.
There's a lady in the car with us, a single young lady.
We're picking up a guy at the airport from New Zealand and she doesn't, she hasn't seen
a picture of this guy.
She doesn't know what the guy looks like.
She knew very little about the guy, almost nothing about the guy, and this is what she
said to me.
We're going to the airport to pick up my husband.
This is a pretty young girl in Botswana.
Doesn't know anything about this guy and it's just like, we're going to pick up my husband.
That's the attitude.
Some of you single guys are like, well, you know, when's the next flight?
And I'm not saying everybody's like that.
I'm just kind of, am I over generalizing?
Yes, I am over generalizing, but I'm trying to, and you know what?
And by the way, these guys, these two guys have called me a racist as well, you know,
because I'm basically just laying down the things that I'm laying down to you right now,
which are true things.
And again, I'm not saying everybody's like that.
I'm not saying everywhere you go is going to be like that, okay?
So choose your flight ticket carefully, young dudes.
But the point is, I'm saying that this is a thing and people who've traveled the world
as an American know that this is a thing.
You're treated differently.
You go to the front of the line, call it white privilege if you want, but when you travel,
it becomes real when you travel to these places, okay?
And now here's the thing, if you want to get a bunch of people saved and people are
more likely to listen to you because you're an American, then there's nothing wrong with
using that to get people to listen to the true gospel.
It could be used for good or evil.
It could be used by a false prophet to teach them about the Mormon church or it could be
used by a legitimate soul winner.
People think you're cool and they want to hear what you have to say and you give them
the gospel and get a bunch of people saved, amen.
But look, that's not what I'm criticizing.
If these guys went over there and there are a couple of American identical twins and everybody
thinks it's cool to listen to them and whatever, amen, amen, good, use that.
And also I want to say I'm not making light of the achievements because of the fact that
going over there and winning souls, even if it's easy, is still an achievement because
we've all gone on these mission strips to the easy places, but it was still hard work,
am I right?
In fact, it's harder work in some ways because you're just giving the gospel nonstop because
everybody's saying yes.
At least in America when people say no, you get a little break, kind of catch your breath
between preaching the gospel, right?
Over there everybody's saying yes, it's hard work, it's tiring.
And let me use this illustration.
There was a missionary who came and spoke at Howells Anderson College when I was there
and he was a missionary to Nigeria and here's what he said.
He said, you know what, people talk about Nigeria being a really easy mission field
and he said it is a really easy mission field in the sense that it's really easy to get
people saved and it's really easy to get them baptized, it's really easy to get them to
come to church and join the church.
So in that sense it's an easy mission field, but he said also a month ago I took a beating
in an alley and was robbed.
So he said, is that easy?
Is it easy for me to live in a place where I get robbed and beaten up in an alley?
So again, I'm not saying that, oh, it's just so easy, it's nothing, nothing to it.
Me and Pastor Jimenez, we could just go there and do the same thing.
No, because we don't want to live there, we want to live here.
We like it here in Arizona, that's what we like and California for him.
So look, here's the thing about, yeah, you can go to these really rough places that are
rough economically and do some really great, easy soul winning and it's great, but here's
the catch, you have to live there.
And it's not necessarily the nicest place to live.
And it's not where you're from, it's not your home.
So I understand a missionary who goes to these places, I don't want anybody to misunderstand
what I'm saying.
I'm not downplaying the sacrifice of going over there.
Listen, if anybody goes to Africa as a missionary, they're making a sacrifice.
That's what I believe.
If somebody goes there and sets up over there and wins souls over there, they're making
a sacrifice.
They're doing hard work because it is hard, soul winning's hard, even if people are receptive,
it's still hard.
They're doing a hard work, they're making a sacrifice, they're doing great things for
the Lord.
I'm not saying that these two guys are or aren't because I'm not over there, I don't
know what's going on over there.
But let's just assume, let's just assume for a minute that yeah, they're over there and
they're just winning all these people, Lord, amen.
But here's what's wicked is when then you're going to turn around and start comparing yourself
to other people and start lording over other people and getting proud and arrogant, oh,
look at all the success that we had.
We're up there with the greatest missionaries in the world and our methods are superior
to Pastor Jimenez's methods.
No, maybe your mission field is just superior to Pastor Jimenez's mission field.
But guess what?
You've got your field and he's got his field.
And let me say this too because I really want to drive this in because I want to make sure
that we're all on the same page here, okay.
If we send out a missionary and one of them founds a church that's running 500 and one
of them founds a church that's running 50, they're both a success, amen.
I mean if we ordain a pastor in the United States and he's running 300 and we ordain
another pastor in the United States and he's running 50, they're both a success.
If he starts a church from scratch and he's running 50, that's a big success, it's a huge
success.
How about this, if our church members go out soul winning and one of them wins 30 people
to the Lord in a year and one of them wins 60 people to the Lord in a year and another
person wins 100 people to the Lord, they're all a success.
And if one even just goes out and just wins a handful of people to the Lord, they're a
success.
You can't just get in this carnal competition of proclaiming how much better you are because
your number is higher than somebody else's number.
That's not what it's about, my friend.
That's not what it's about and it's ungodly and it needs to be called out.
It's super proud.
And folks, this isn't minor.
This isn't like, I think they're a little proud, just a little arrogant.
It's like to the level of clinical.
It's clinical with them.
It's psychosis.
It's insane.
I mean, do I need to read all that stuff again?
It's insane.
It's crazy.
Okay.
So, let me get to some more scriptures here before we close down.
Go if you would do a second Corinthians chapter 10.
Second Corinthians chapter 10.
Folks, it's just not the same, right?
Soul winning in the mission field in third world countries is not the same as soul winning
at home.
You can't compare the results.
Let's talk to our buddy Anselm here.
You know, we got Anselm here from Germany, right?
You know, do you think that these guys, if we put them in Germany, are going to have
the same results they're having in Uganda right now?
I mean, and here's the thing.
We got, you know, brother Anselm and brother Moses and their crew out in Germany, they're
working their butts off in January and February and into March doing a bunch of soul winning,
holding soul winning events where they get other people out soul winning, and going out
soul winning themselves.
And they were doing a lot of soul winning.
They weren't just doing a little bit, they were doing a lot.
And I believe that you said that you guys had 13 people saved year to date.
13?
Oh, 14.
Oh, 14 people, did 14 people saved over the course of like two and a half months.
And you know what?
That's a great success because that's hard work.
And that's them going out and trying and trying and trying and preaching and preaching and
preaching.
But you know what, folks, you know, I've gone soul winning in Germany.
I've gone soul winning in Germany.
And you know what?
I was over there for months and I won way less than 14 people to the Lord in the months
that I was there.
I was, I mean, I don't, I don't remember how many people that I won to the Lord, but I
could count it on one hand.
Okay.
I mean, I'm telling you, it's hard over there.
You know what I'm saying?
I went to, I went to Norway, uh, maybe like 2011 or something.
I don't remember exactly.
Or 2008 or something.
I don't know.
Who cares?
It was a long time ago.
You know, I went to Seoul.
I went soul winning in Norway over a decade ago.
How about that?
And, you know, I spent like four days there and did a ton of soul.
I did like an eight.
I did an eight and a half hour day of soul winning one day and had zero saved.
Okay.
And over the course of four days, I want to say I had like five or six people saved over
the course of four days of just, that's all I was there for.
I was just doing soul winning and just cycling through silent partners from the church there.
And uh, the, the pastor would go with me or he would supply me with silent partners.
And I just did like a bunch of soul winning, but so, and I felt like that was like a huge
success and I had like some serious divine appointments where, you know, God really worked
things out.
And I felt like God was just really moving in that trip so that, so that I could get
like six people saved in this, you know, four days of soul winning in Norway.
You know, but I mean, that's just a joke.
I mean, six, I mean, that's just child's play.
I mean, you know, we, I mean, that's, that's what our converts, converts, convert will
do.
You know, his first day out, so winning or whatever, you know, folks that's, that's absurd.
You can't compare that.
You can't compare Germany and Uganda.
You can't compare the United States with Botswana.
You can't compare Mexico with Canada or what.
It's all different.
I mean, are you listening to me?
It's like, it's all different.
And by the way, we're different people too.
And we have different talents and abilities and don't ever feel bad because you see someone
else doing a great work for God and you feel like, oh man, they're doing so much more than
me because we're not in a competition.
And so when you see someone else accomplishing something great, praise the Lord for it.
Be thankful for it.
Be happy about it.
But don't be down on yourself and try to compare yourself, okay?
Because we're all doing our own service for God.
We all have a role to play.
We all have our calling.
And you know what?
Those guys over in Germany, they're, you know, they, they are, they have advantages that
the people in Uganda don't have.
But then they have disadvantages of an unreceptive mission field and so everybody's got their
own pros and cons and whatever, okay?
And I'm all for going to the receptive places.
That's why when we do mission strips, how many mission strips have we done to Germany?
Oh yeah, zero, okay?
You know, we're, because we're typically trying to pick, if we're going to bring a bunch of
people somewhere, we try to pick a place where we're going to get the most people saved.
But you know what we're not going to do?
We're not going to start grandstanding and lording over others and getting all prideful
and arrogant and saying, well, our methods are superior to Anselm's, you know?
That's why we had to bring him out here to show him how it's really done.
You know, that, that 14 number, we got to bring him out here and take him to school.
Folks, that's garbage.
It's a wicked attitude.
And look, I'm not saying that these guys aren't saved.
I'm not saying that they're, I mean, they're saying that about all their critics, but I'm
not saying that they're not saved.
I'm not saying, and you know what?
Hey, maybe they are getting a ton of people saved over there.
Great.
But you know what?
Pride goes before destruction unless you win a lot of souls.
Is that what the Bible says?
No, pride just goes before destruction, my friend.
Okay.
And I believe that it's even possible that even for a saved Christian who's legitimately
winning souls to still get puffed up, to still get full of themselves, to still get
arrogant and prideful and start comparing themselves and lording over other people.
And it's still just as wicked and it's still going to ultimately lead to their downfall.
Now I've got some questions too.
Here's a, here's some, here's a question of, uh, why, why weren't you such a wunderkind
when you were here?
You know, you were here for, uh, you were here for years.
I don't remember you bringing throngs of converts to be baptized and filling our church
pews.
Right?
So that's one question.
Right?
Here's my other question.
If you have just hundreds of zealous followers that just put brother Nick to shame, then
why, why do you need our money?
Because why aren't these people tithing?
If you're over there with hundreds of followers, then you know, there's your tithe, there's
your money.
What do you need?
You just don't make a lot of money.
Well, here's the thing about that.
The tithe is a percentage.
So if you make a ton of money, the tithe is a lot, but you can afford it because you make
a lot of money.
And if you make very little money, you can't afford stuff, but the tithe is really small
because your paycheck is small.
You see how that works?
It's a percentage.
So that's why people could say like, I can't afford to tithe, but it's like, well, hold
on a second.
The tithe is based upon your income.
It's just, it's 10% for everybody.
And obviously God promises to bless people if they honor the Lord with their first fruits
and whatever.
So, you know, the tithe is there, but it's like, oh yeah, but they make so little, then
their tithe is not enough.
But here's the thing.
If you're going to live in a foreign country, you're not necessarily going to have the same
standard of living that you're going to have in the United States.
Doesn't that kind of come with the territory?
I can't be like, okay, I want to be a missionary to the deepest, darkest jungle of Africa,
but I want to save that same house and swimming pool and vehicles over there that I have here.
You know, and then you just have to build like a 15 foot wall around it with barbed
wire and whatever because there's, you know, so many people would, would see that and,
and covet that.
So here's the thing, you know, if you've got, if you've got basically the way it kind of
works is that like if you've got like 10 families in the church, 10 tithes equals a
paycheck.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Like 10 people's tithe equals one person's paycheck.
Obviously there's other expenses though.
There's the, you know, the building and the, the lights and the books and the chairs and
the gas and the tank and obviously there's tons of other expenses, materials, whatever.
But the point is that when I became full time pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church, our
church was running about like 80 or 90 people.
Okay.
And it's true.
We get stuff from, you know, people mail in donations and stuff like that.
But my point is like if you're running over a hundred, most churches that are running
like over a hundred typically have a full time pastor if they're running like over a
hundred.
I mean, certainly if you're running like 150.
Certainly if you're running 200, I mean, let's talk about our buddy Pastor Jimenez.
Pastor Jimenez is running over 200.
Well let's see.
He's a full time pastor, but not only that, he has several full time staff members, right?
Our church runs over 300 on Sunday mornings and we have several full time staff members,
right?
We have myself, we have Corbin Russell, we have Chris Segura and we have Raymond Cooper.
In addition to all of our other expenses, we have four people on staff full time and
all the other things that we do, all the money we're spending on these soul winning marathons
and missions trips and all this.
And we have four full time staff members.
But these guys over there, their methods are so much superior to Pastor Jimenez.
But I don't see Pastor Jimenez writing to my church members, you know, trying to get
money from them.
I mean, if you are just over there walking on water and starting three mega churches
and founding thousands of churches and your converts would just out soul win every member
of FWBC, what do you need our help for?
What do you need us for?
And look, hey, you know what?
Go ahead.
You know, we don't need this man's approval.
We're approved by God.
We don't need man's approval.
Okay.
We don't need faithful word baptizers.
Okay.
All right.
Go do whatever you want.
Go do what you want.
But that's not what you're doing.
What you're doing is you are saying, hey, you guys better cleave unto us or else you
don't love Jesus.
Right?
Does everybody see what we're talking about here?
You either need people's approval and money or you don't.
If you don't need their approval and you don't need their money, why did you write them a
22 page letter?
It looks like you're looking for somebody's approval and somebody's money.
And you know, when I looked down that list of people, I didn't see anybody agreeing with
them.
All I saw was people saying, take me off the mailing list.
I've been contacted by like 10 people that's before this kind of was brought out publicly.
I had like 10 people come to me separately and say, have you heard this garbage from
the Macphails?
Have you seen this, this junk from the Macphails?
Nobody came to me and said, Hey, you know, you need to think about what they're saying
cause they're right.
I haven't had one person, not one person has come to me and said they're right.
So let's think about this.
So in the good old US of A here doesn't seem like they have much support, do they?
Because their whole mailing list is made up of either church members here or people
who listen to me online, it seemed like.
And then all of those people are saying, this is junk, this is weird, what's going on?
I don't see anybody jumping to their defense.
I don't see any, nobody has come to me and said that it's, that they're right.
Everybody has come and said that they're wrong.
So isn't it amazing how you can have hundreds of people following you over in Africa, but
it's amazing how you can't get a following over here.
I wonder if there's a difference between the work of the Lord here and the work of the
Lord in Africa.
And maybe it's not that your methods are superior to Pastor Jimenez's, maybe it's just that
you're in Africa and Pastor Jimenez is in Northern California, you think?
So look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12, 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.
They're commending themselves, they're praising themselves, they're comparing themselves amongst
themselves.
And then he goes on to say this to the Apostle Paul, but we will not boast of things without
our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us,
a measure to reach even unto you.
The Apostle Paul is saying, we actually have authority over you.
We're not going out of bounds.
But my friend, when you're just writing to people who gave you money and lording over
them and you're their king and they better be found of you such as they would, and if
they want to be removed from the mailing list, if they don't want to support you, if they
think your new doctrine is squirrelly, they're just declared a reprobate, but you are exactly
what this verse 12 is talking about.
And when you're turning in, when you're turning soul winning into this peeing match between
you and other people and you're going to sit there and just talk about your numbers in
comparison with their numbers, you're an idiot.
That's from the translation of not wise, you're an idiot.
Because you know what, anybody who hears Brother Anselm say, hey, we've been working
our butts off for two and a half months out here.
We've been holding these soul winning marathons with people from all over Germany.
We got people coming from other parts of Europe.
We're out there multiple times in the week.
We're out soul winning.
And so far this year, we had 14 people saved in that two and a half months in a hard mission
field.
You know, if you look at that and be like, well, that's not much, you're an idiot.
You're an idiot.
You should be praising God and saying, man, it's so great that even in a place as spiritually
dark as Germany, these guys are getting people saved.
They're getting people saved in a difficult place, not just like, and then somebody goes
out soul winning for a couple hours like you didn't even do anything.
Folks, this gets me mad.
It gets me mad and I've rebuked it sharply.
And anybody who's gone on a mission strip with our church has heard the talk that I
give before the mission strip, no competitive attitude.
Don't try to push people into doing more soul winning than they want to do.
I give a huge speech about it and I'm serious about that.
And if that ever happens at any of our soul winning times or at any of our mission strips,
I want to know about it because I want to put a stop to it.
This junk of I'm better than you.
I do more soul winning than you.
I'm more, in fact, it's garbage.
And it's people, they're preaching Christ of envy and strife.
Hey, you know what?
Christ is preached and I there and do rejoice.
I'm not saying that those people didn't get saved.
I hope with all my heart that every single person that they said got saved in those letters,
I hope that that all really happened the way they said.
And I hope that it's a hundred percent accurate, but it really wouldn't change anything.
And I'm not saying it isn't.
I'm not even, I'm not even trying to cast doubt on it because I just don't know one
way or the other, but I'm willing to just assume that it's true.
And that changes nothing about what I'm saying tonight because going out and winning a bunch
of people to Christ doesn't give you a license to start talking down to everybody, being
super prideful, super arrogant, no more than it would give somebody a license.
Oh, I want a thousand people to Lord, so I'm going to commit adultery.
I want a thousand people to Lord, I'm going to go commit murder and I'm going to get drunk
because, Hey, I mean, I'm the super soul winner, so I, you know, I got some leeway.
Folks, pride is a wicked sin and this is super incredibly arrogant to brag about your works.
And let's say that all those people did get saved and everything that they're saying is
a hundred percent accurate.
Then I'll say this, they lost their reward by bragging about it, by boasting about it.
Well, you know, we're missionaries, we have to do it to get the support.
Why do you need the support when you have hundreds of followers, when you have hundreds
of people following you, why do you need this?
Are they not giving money?
Are they not paying their tithe?
Well, then maybe you're not quite as good of a leader as Pastor Ximena is because his
people are actually giving.
What if I told you there's more to pastoring than just getting people saved?
Pastor Ximena is a great pastor.
He's a huge success.
And by the way, that's not him saying that you won't hear him saying that because he's
not a braggart because he's not prideful, he's not arrogant, I'll say it.
He is a big success.
I'll even say this, he is a better pastor than I am.
He is a great preacher, a great pastor, and I look at him and say he is a better pastor
than me.
I don't think that there's any competition between us.
We had a family just leave our church and go to his church, I think that's great.
If a hundred people walked out here tonight and said we're all going to Pastor Ximena's
church because Pastor Anderson said he's better, I'm just like, okay, we might have
to let like one staff member go, but we'll keep on trucking.
It's not going to be me, I go last, okay?
All right, who's the newest hire?
All right, sorry Raymond, you got to go.
Yes, Pastor Ximena is a great man of God.
I've never gotten a letter from Pastor Ximena's telling me how great he is though.
I've never gotten a letter from Pastor Ximena's listing his achievements.
I've never gotten a letter from Pastor Ximena's where he compares himself to other pastors
and talks about how he's better and I've never heard Pastor Ximena's say that the men who
trained him were reprobates or that they're bad or that that church is a bad church or
you know that I've never heard him get up and say, hey, just want you to know the pastor
who trained me is a racist.
Anyway I preach too long, but I really hope that you get you and some of you are like,
I don't even know who these people are.
What just happened for the last hour of preaching?
I don't even know what, but you know what, I don't care if you know these people or not.
They're a great example here of pride, arrogance, envy, strife, and comparing yourselves among
yourselves and notice what it says, just look down at your Bible there real quick.
You know, they commend themselves, right?
They compare themselves among themselves.
The purpose is to commend themselves and it's ungodly and I don't care what your achievements
are.
It never gives you the right to brag.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much Lord for your word and Lord, we pray that you would help
us to win many souls unto Christ.
Help us to get people baptized, Lord, and help us to teach people to observe all things
that Christ commanded, but Lord, help our success never to go to our head, Lord.
Help us to be successful, Lord.
We want to be personally successful.
We want our church to be successful, but Lord, please don't let that success go to our head
where we become these blowhard, arrogant, prideful jerks, Lord.
Help us to stay humble and to give you all the glory, Lord, and help us to love and respect
people who are doing less than us because we should just be happy for anybody who's
doing anything for you, Lord, and just be praising God for whatever souls are saved.
Lord, help us not to make it a competition and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.