Amen. All right. Well thank you very much everybody for being here tonight. We are definitely excited to be here.
And I want to say congratulations of course to Brother Jared and Miss Heidi and the family.
And congratulations to the Holdfast Baptist Church family.
And two years ago we started this church as a church plant.
And it's been a wonderful ride. And you know I'm always thankful that whenever we come here the church family even this afternoon is always thanking us for starting this church.
And I appreciate that. But I want to thank you for getting on board and for being a part of it.
We appreciate you working alongside us.
And of course tonight we are cutting the umbilical cord. And this will no longer be Verity Baptist Church.
It'll be an independent Baptist Church, Holdfast Baptist Church. And of course tonight I'll be ordaining Brother Jared as the pastor of the church.
And he'll be Pastor Przarnski. And of course we love the Przarnski family. I feel like it's a little echo if you could help me with that. I'd appreciate it.
We love Brother Jared and Miss Heidi and all the kids. Except for Garrett of course. But we love all the whole family.
And we're thankful for them. And I do have to before I preach the sermon. Because I'm going to preach the sermon and then I'm going to ordain them.
So I do have to give this last try. You know Brother Jared are you sure you don't want to come back? Alright.
We can put somebody else in charge. Maybe put Jacob in charge. You guys can come back and be part.
My wife said I had to try at least one last time to get them to come back. But we're glad they came here.
And we believe this is where they should be of course. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you to all of you. Thank you for the work.
I know that it's work to start a church. This is the fifth church that we've started. And we're thankful for that.
But thank you for the work you do. Thank you for the church family getting behind it.
I want to thank our Verity Baptist Church, our sacramental family for being here tonight. Many of you came.
I know there's some looks like there's some of you from First Works as well. Thank you for being here tonight.
And tonight I'm preaching a sermon entitled Hold Fast. And of course this is the name of the church going forward is going to be Hold Fast Baptist Church.
And I'm preaching a sermon on the subject or on the title of the church Hold Fast.
But really since it's Brother Jared's ordination service I want to just let you know I'm preaching a sermon for Brother Jared tonight.
I'm preaching to the future pastor of Hold Fast Baptist Church. And all of you get to listen in of course.
And I'm not just preaching to Brother Jared but I'm preaching to Miss Heidi and the family.
By the way after tonight it's not Brother Jared anymore alright. It's Pastor Pizarnsky. So just make sure you know that.
And I want to preach to the Hold Fast Baptist Church family tonight. The name of the church is Hold Fast.
And that phrase Hold Fast is found throughout the New Testament.
We started here in Revelation chapter 3 because this is probably the most famous area where this term is known for in the Bible.
If you look at Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 the Bible says,
And unto the angel of the church and Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. Of course this is a reference to a church that's dying.
They have a name, they have a reputation that they were living but they're dead.
He says, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.
For I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard.
And then notice what he says, he says, And hold fast and repent. He says, I want you to hold fast to the things that you've had.
If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know an hour I will come upon thee.
If you look down at verse number 11 of the same chapter he says, Behold I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown.
The word hold fast or the term hold fast means to grip firmly or to grasp strongly.
The word hold means to grasp or to grip. The word fast means firmly or fixed in a strong way.
And the Bible uses this term throughout. Notice you're there in Revelation 3.
If you flip back to Revelation chapter 2 and look at verse 24 the Bible says,
But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thy tower, as many as of not this doctrine, which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak,
I will put upon you none of the burden, verse 25, but that which ye have already, notice the words, hold fast till I come.
We are told throughout the Bible to hold fast, to take a strong grip, to grip firmly, to grasp strongly certain things.
And tonight, like I said, it's my honor to ordain Brother Jared as the pastor of Hold Fast Baptist Church.
And I want to preach to Brother Jared tonight on the subject of things to hold fast to in ministry.
There are some things that as the pastor of the church you should hold fast to.
And again, I'm going to preach to Brother Jared tonight, but I'm really going to speak to his entire family.
And I want to speak to the entire church family tonight.
Some things, I want to give you three thoughts tonight in regards to things you ought to hold fast in ministry.
Now if you would go with me to the book of Job in the Old Testament.
If you open your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms.
And right before Psalms, you have the book of Job, Job chapter 2.
Let me give you three thoughts tonight, three things you ought to hold fast to in ministry.
And if you're taking notes tonight, I'd encourage you to take notes.
I noticed on the back of the bulletin, there's a place for you to write down some things.
And maybe you can write these things down.
Number one, in ministry you must hold fast to personal integrity.
In ministry, and I know I would not be ordaining Brother Jared tonight as the pastor of this church.
If I did not know and am trusting that he is a man of character and a man of integrity.
The church family here, you've gotten to know Brother Jared.
You've heard him preach. You know that he is what he says he is.
He is a man of his word. He's a man of integrity.
His family is the real thing.
They love the Lord and they love each other.
And that's why we wouldn't even consider ordaining them if it wasn't for that.
But in ministry we must remember, and I want to challenge the Pazarski family and Pastor Pazarski
to always remember that in ministry we must hold fast to personal integrity.
Notice with Job, if you remember the story of Job.
Job was a man who, the Bible says he was upright, he was perfect, he was a godly man.
And of course that brought about, there was trials that came in his life and that God allowed in his life.
I want you to notice what God said about Job, Job chapter 2.
After he'd already lost all his wealth and he'd lost his children.
In Job chapter 2 and verse 3 the Bible says this,
And the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth,
a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and is true with evil.
Notice these words.
And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou moveth me against him, to destroy him without cause.
Here the Bible tells us that God here is speaking about Job.
And if you remember, it was God who said to Satan, when Satan appeared,
God said, Has thou considered my servant Job?
And that's the life that you and I should want to live.
The type of life that God would be willing to highlight us or to give us as an example.
He says, Has thou considered my servant Job?
And then of course Satan, the false accuser, brings this accusation.
He says, Well Job's only serving you because you blessed him.
Job's only serving you because you put a hedge of protection around him.
If you take those things away, he'll curse you to your face.
And of course God allowed for those things to come.
And I want you to notice that God highlights here right before round two of the trials of Job.
He says, Look, he still holdeth fast his integrity.
Job had decided that he would hold fast to his personal integrity.
You're there in Job chapter 2, go to Job 27 if you would.
I want you to notice the words of Job himself.
Job 27, because if you remember, Job's three friends show up and they begin to falsely accuse Job.
They begin to say, Job, this happened to you because of sin in your life.
These trials that are happening are happening because you're a bad person.
You're wicked, you're ungodly.
Notice Job's response, Job 27 verse 6.
He says, My righteousness I hold fast.
I will not let it go.
My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job said, not only do I hold fast to personal integrity,
he says, but I'll also defend the fact that I've lived right.
He says, I'll defend the fact that I've been a righteous person.
He says, my righteousness I hold fast.
Go with me if you would to the book of 1 Timothy in the New Testament.
If you find the T-books in the New Testament, they're all clustered together.
1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Titus, 1 Timothy chapter 3.
As preachers and as people in ministry, as men of God,
and as pastors and pastor's wives and pastor's kids,
we must remember that in ministry we must hold fast to personal integrity.
What does that mean? It means that we should live righteously.
Now please understand this.
There's often this misconception in ministry that
a pastor and a pastor's wife are supposed to be sinless.
That is incorrect.
Obviously nobody's sinless other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that we're all sinners.
The Bible says there's none that doeth good, no not one.
And we create this false idea that the pastor and the pastor's wife must be sinless.
Well let me help you out with something.
If that's what you believe, you're going to be disappointed.
Because we're all human beings, we all make mistakes,
we all sin, we all do things we shouldn't do
and say things we shouldn't say and lose our temper and all those things.
We understand that.
So we're not asking a pastor and his family to be perfect.
By the way, don't ever put this standard on the pastor's family that they've got to be perfect.
They can't make a mistake.
We often put these expectations and it's this pharisaical attitude.
We put these expectations on others, things that we would not do ourselves
or expect of ourselves or expect of our own kids.
Don't fall into this idea that the pastor must be sinless,
the pastor's wife must be sinless, the children must be sinless.
But let me say this, we should live righteously.
1 Timothy chapter 3, look at verse 1.
Here we have the qualifications of a pastor or a bishop.
1 Timothy 3 verse 1, the Bible says this,
this is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.
By the way, let me tell the whole fast family,
pastoring a church, and I understand that brother Jared is becoming the pastor now officially,
but he's been playing the role and doing the work and it is work.
This is why the Bible says if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.
Then the Bible says this, a bishop then must be blameless.
Notice it doesn't say sinless, but it says blameless.
What does that mean?
It means to live above board.
It means to live above reproach.
It means that you can't be blamed or there's no major sin in your life that you could be blamed for
and we as men of God should live righteously, should live blamelessly,
but our church family should never expect anyone to live sinlessly.
We should hold fast to personal integrity.
What does that mean?
That we as preachers and as men of God have to take our testimony seriously and we ought to live righteously,
but it means that our church families should not expect more than what the Bible expects,
which is to live a blameless life, not a sinless life.
2 Timothy, if you would, you're there in 1 Timothy, go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy chapter 3, look at verse 10.
2 Timothy 3, 10, the Bible says this,
Notice what Paul says, he's writing this letter to Timothy.
He says, but thou has fully known my doctrine.
He says, you know what I believe, you know where I stand, you know the positions I take.
Then he says this, manner of life.
He says, you know the type of life that I live.
You know my behavior, my conduct.
He says, you've fully known my doctrine, my manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience.
Look, we need to hold fast to personal integrity.
What does that mean?
It means that we should live righteously, but it also means this, that we should defend our righteousness.
You're there in 2 Timothy, go with me if you would to 1 Peter chapter 3.
2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter.
And do me a favor, keep your finger there in 2 Timothy or put a ribbon or a bookmark there,
because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it.
But go to 1 Peter chapter 3, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 3.
See, not only should we live righteously, but we should also defend our righteousness in ministry.
You say, why?
Here's why, because in ministry, you're going to be falsely accused.
Brother Jared, I'm here to tell you.
I'm going to lay my hands on you and ordain you as the pastor of this church.
And I believe great things are ahead for you.
I believe God's going to use you and God is using you.
God's going to continue to use you in a mighty way.
But let me make you a promise, with this ordination will come false accusations.
Against you, against your family, against your children.
By the way, this is why the Bible says, see God understood this.
This is why God said, against an elder, receive not an accusation.
But before two or three witnesses.
You're not even supposed to receive it, you're not even supposed to hear it out.
You're not even supposed to click on the video and watch it on YouTube.
Unless you've got the two or three witnesses.
And you say, well the two or three witnesses.
This is not two witnesses, one guy tells another guy.
What did you witness?
See, we are to defend our righteousness.
Why? Because false accusations, the darts of the devil will come our way.
And how do we fight that off?
We fight it off by living right and doing right.
And eventually our lives will speak for themselves.
1 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 16.
Notice what the Bible says, having a good conscience.
Having a good conscience.
The word conscience is talking about someone who has a clear conscience.
Not someone who is sinless, not someone who doesn't make mistakes.
But someone who is doing right in their heart, having a good conscience.
That whereas they speak evil, notice.
Whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers.
That they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Notice he says, they speak evil of you as of evildoers.
Okay, let me say this.
Brother Jared said this in the announcements.
You know, just mark it down.
When there are people who have made it their job to,
I'm going to bring this pastor down.
Let me tell you all the bad things about this pastor.
They are speaking evil.
They speak evil of you as of evildoers.
What does that mean?
It says they speak evil because they are evil.
They're bitter, they're wicked.
They're trying to hurt the cause of Christ.
Whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers.
That they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
See, sometimes in ministry people will attack you.
They'll attack you falsely.
They'll attack your family.
And we need to live in such a way that it doesn't stick.
We're blameless.
We live righteously.
But we also defend our righteousness.
Go to Proverbs if you would.
Proverbs chapter 26.
Keep your place in 2 Timothy.
We're going to come back to it.
But go to Proverbs.
If you remember, you open up your Bible just right in the center.
You more than likely fall in the book of Psalms.
Right after Psalms you have the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs chapter 26.
Now, brother Jared, and again I'm going to address you a lot tonight because I'm preaching to you, all right?
You get to preach to all of them, you know, three times a week.
So now you're going to get a little bit of your own medicine.
You say, you know, how do I deal with this when the false accusations come
because they're going to come.
How do you deal with it?
Well, let me explain.
Sometimes you answer and sometimes you don't.
Notice the seeming contradiction in the Bible.
Proverbs 26 4 and 5.
It seems like it's a contradiction except for the fact that Solomon put the verses right next to each other.
So it's obviously not a contradiction.
Proverbs 26 4 says, answer not a fool according to his folly.
Sometimes you don't answer the fool.
Why?
Lest thou also be like unto him.
Then in verse 5 he says, answer a fool according to his folly.
You say, why?
Lest he be wise in his own conceit.
See, sometimes the accusations come and you just don't answer them.
You just ignore them.
And look, in ministry you need to know this and you need to understand this.
That if a pastor who's doing what he's supposed to be doing decided to just confront every accusation,
attack every accusation, I'm going to make everything right,
then that's all you're going to do all day long.
You don't have time to do nothing else.
So a lot of times you don't answer.
Answer not a fool according to his folly.
Lest thou also be like unto him.
But sometimes you do answer a fool according to his folly.
Lest he be wise in his own conceit.
You say, well how do you know the difference?
Look at the context.
But look, sometimes you just ignore it.
Sometimes you answer it.
Either way you must defend your own righteousness.
You must live righteous bliss.
You must defend your righteousness.
In ministry you must hold fast to personal integrity.
I remember, I don't know, this was maybe a year or two ago.
We had these people who made a video exposing Pastor Jimenez.
Financial fraud, Pastor Jimenez.
Verity Baptist Church.
You know, big major conspiracy.
And what they did was they took this form that as a nonprofit
we fill out every year, every couple of years
for the state of California.
And it's a form that's public record.
It's available to anyone who wants it.
And it's just updating that the nonprofit is still in existence,
that we're still, we haven't folded or whatever, canceled or stopped.
In that it gives you a place to list different people.
We put our staff there.
And it gives you a place to list their addresses.
And you had my name and other staff people's names.
One of the names on there was Brother Stuckey.
And this was during the time when Brother Stuckey
was transitioning to the Philippines.
We just sent him to the Philippines to start a church there, Verity Baptist Church Manila.
And he was living in a hotel.
He'd just gotten there and he was living in a hotel.
Hadn't got a house yet.
And we were waiting a little bit because we wanted to kind of figure out where the church was going to be.
And he wanted to get the church building secured first.
And then find a place to live near that and all of that.
So for that reason we put the church address under his name.
Now here's the thing.
These people bring this thing out and they're like,
look at this financial fraud.
Brother Stuckey doesn't live at Verity Baptist Church.
Therefore these people are wicked and they're just exposing us for all this stupidity.
And you say, well what'd you do?
Well for a while we ignored it because I just kind of laughed and shook my head and thought these people are idiots.
But you know, eventually this verse applied.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
And I never actually responded to it but I did write a little, somebody asked me about it.
I wrote a little email and it got posted on Facebook somewhere.
And all I said was this.
Look, if you're going to take the time to expose a church based off a financial document,
you might want to take the time to actually read the financial document before you expose them.
Because if you look at the instructions it says that you can put the employee's personal address
or the address of the church, which is what we did.
But here's all I'm saying is things like this come up all the time
where people just want to expose you and just want to show.
And by the way, even if it was wrong, and it wasn't wrong,
but even if it was wrong, what does that prove?
What does that show?
How does that disqualify you from the ministry?
And the only reason we even answer this is because these people are so stupid.
It was just more to show the stupidity that maybe you should take the time to actually read the document
that you're going to use to expose somebody with before you expose them with it.
Sometimes, here's all I'm saying, sometimes you answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest thou also be like unto him.
Sometimes you answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
So what must we do in ministry?
We must hold fast to personal integrity.
We must live righteously and defend our righteousness.
But let me give you a second one tonight.
Go to Proverbs chapter 4 if you're there in Proverbs, I believe.
Go to Proverbs chapter 4.
Proverbs chapter number 4.
You're in Proverbs 26, so go back to Proverbs 4.
I said number 1, you must hold fast in ministry.
You must hold fast to personal integrity.
Number 2, in ministry, you must hold fast to proper instruction.
Proverbs 4 and verse 13, notice what the Bible says, it says,
Take fast hold.
Hold fast, fast hold, same thing.
Take fast hold of instruction.
Let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life.
Here we're told that we must take fast hold of instruction.
Go to 2 Timothy if you would, 2 Timothy chapter 1.
Hopefully you get your place there in 1 Timothy.
2 Timothy chapter 1, notice what the apostle Paul says here in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 13.
Proverbs says, take fast hold of instruction.
And look, in 2 Timothy 1, 13 we'll see the same thing.
And let me just say this, the listener, the one being instructed should hold fast to proper instruction.
Look what the Bible is teaching.
You should be ready to hear and to receive.
2 Timothy 1 verse 13, hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
As the listener, as the church member, I'm talking to the whole fast Baptist church family,
as the listener, your job is to hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou hast heard of me, the apostle Paul says.
Your job is to be like the Bereans, remember the Bereans in the book of Acts?
The Bereans, the Bible says that they received the word with all readiness of mind.
They were ready to receive it, they wanted to hear it.
But they also searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.
Let me say something to you, whole fast Baptist church, something you can help your pastor with.
When your pastor stands up to preach, be ready to hear and to receive what he has to say.
But don't be just constantly examining him for every little thing that he said wrong
and what he shouldn't have said and you said this and it was incorrect.
Let me tell you something, he's a man. He's going to make mistakes.
You try getting up and preaching for an hour three times a week for ten years
and let's see how your track record is. Let's see if you don't say something stupid.
Let's see if you don't say something wrong. Let's see if you don't get something incorrect.
See look, we're all going to make mistakes.
You say, well, some people, you think some of these church members,
they think their whole job is to show up to church and just sit there
and they're just going to, I'm just going to wait until he messes up.
He said, Jonah, he meant no, I'm going to get him on out.
I'm going to expose him. Got the video ready to go.
You say, what is your job? As a listener, here's your job.
Hold fast the forms of sound word which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
Notice verse four, that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter five. You're there in 2 Timothy, just go backwards.
Past 1 Timothy, past 2 Thessalonians into 1 Thessalonians, Thessalonians chapter five.
Look at verse twenty, excuse me, 1 Thessalonians five verse twenty, despise not prophesying.
The word prophesying there is being used in the way that you and I would use the word preaching.
Despise not preaching. Look, you ought not despise preaching.
You ought to appreciate preaching. You ought to encourage preaching.
You ought to show up every time the Bibles open and the man of God stands up to preach the word of God.
You ought to show up and be ready to receive.
Now notice, despise not prophesying, prove all things.
Does everything that brother Jude say, is everything he's going to say correct?
Possibly not. Is everything I say correct? Possibly not.
Your job is to prove all things. This isn't a cult.
People tell us, you know, you're a cult. Well, if we were a cult, we wouldn't be encouraging to go home and search the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
You ought to prove all things. Okay, so I'll despise not prophesying. I'll prove all things.
Then what do I do if I find out that maybe something that was said was incorrect?
Here's what you do. Hold fast that which is good. You keep the good.
And if something was said was wrong, incorrect, whatever, you say, he's just a man. He's a human being.
If I sit up and preach for an hour a week, 52 weeks a year, 10-11 years, I'm sure I'd say stupid things too.
Is the way you should think. We ought to hold fast to proper, and I'm not talking about brother Jude. I mean brother Jude is a smart guy.
Obviously, you listen to the man speak. You can tell he's an intelligent man.
I'm talking about all preachers. You ought never show up to church with this just attitude like, let's see what he has to say this time.
Why don't you be ready to receive the word? And maybe you'll find that God doesn't work in you.
So in ministry, we must hold fast to personal integrity. We must hold fast to proper instruction.
The listener should hold fast to proper instruction. But let me say this, brother Jared, the preacher, and I know you know this,
but I want to remind you on the day of your ordination, the preacher should hold fast to proper instruction.
See, proper instruction means it needs to be complete. Go back to 2 Timothy if you would. You're there in 1 Thessalonians.
Go past 2 Thessalonians into 1 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 4, look at verse 1.
Tonight I'm giving a charge to brother Jared. I'm charging him as the pastor of Whole Fast Baptist Church to hold fast to personal integrity
and to hold fast to proper instruction. Well, here's what Paul said to Timothy, a preacher. He says,
I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom,
preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season. The word be instant, that term means be ready, be prepared, in season, out of season.
What does that mean? Whether it's popular or not. Whether people like it or not. You preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season.
Then he tells us, here's what that looks like. Reprove, that's negative. Rebuke, that's negative. Exhort, that's positive.
With all longsuffering and doctrine. You'll find that God is often telling us that when it comes to preaching, it'll be two-thirds negative, one-third positive.
And I believe this should happen in a sermon. I'm not saying two of the sermons should be negative, one should be positive.
I'm saying every sermon should have some negative aspects to it, some positive aspects to it. But we as preachers, brother Jared,
need to remember that we need to hold fast to proper instruction. What's proper instruction? That means that it's negative.
What's wrong with the false TV preachers? What's wrong with the Joel Osteens and the TD Jakes and the Rick Warrens?
What's wrong with those guys? Here's what's wrong with those guys. It's not what necessarily all of the time, it's not what they say, it's what they don't say.
They're these positive only preachers. And we need to remember as Bible-believing Baptist preachers that we must hold fast to proper instruction.
What does that mean? Sometimes it's going to be negative. And by the way, not only in the preaching.
As leaders, sometimes we're going to be negative. As leaders, sometimes as the pastor of the church, sometimes you're going to have to tell people, no.
Pastor, I have this great idea. I was thinking that we could start this Bible study at my house and I was going to invite all, you know, some 60-year-old guy.
I was going to start this Bible study for single young ladies at my house? Uh, no.
I mean, here's what I'm saying. Sometimes as the pastor, you got to say, no. No, we're not doing that. No, we're not going there. No, we're not going in that direction.
No, I'm sorry. That's not going to happen. By the way, not just the pastor. Sometimes the pastor's wife. No. I'm sorry. We're not going to do that.
That's not going to happen here. We love you. We care for you. But no, the answer is no. And here's the tendency.
The tendency is to want to become this like positive only. Go to Matthew. Matthew chapter 13 if you would.
First book on the New Testament should be fairly easy to find. Matthew 13. The tendency is to not want to be negative sometimes because here's the thing, we're all human beings.
We all want to be light. We all want to be loved. We as preachers cannot. We as leaders cannot. We as pastors, pastor's wives cannot be positive only.
Sometimes we have to correct. Sometimes we have to be negative. Sometimes we have to say no.
And here's the problem with that. Is that sometimes when you correct people, they don't like it. And sometimes when you correct people, they don't like you.
I want to explain this to brother Jared and Miss Heidi. And I want to explain it to the whole fast Baptist church family. And I hope you'll understand.
But there is this common experience among pastors and pastor's wives. This realization that comes about once you've been in ministry for a while.
And Jesus spoke about it. Jesus explained it. Let me show it to you. Matthew 13 verse 57. This is something that all pastors talk about.
Maybe I shouldn't say all but many pastors and the pastors that I know personally, my personal friends, we've talked about this and it's kind of just an interesting realization.
Matthew 13 verse 57 says this, And they were offended in Him. Jesus is in His hometown preaching to the home crowd. And they were offended in Him.
They were offended at Jesus. But Jesus said unto them. Notice this statement. Brother Jared, I'm sure you've seen it. I know you've seen it. But I want you to consider it.
Notice what Jesus says. A prophet. The word prophet there is referring to a preacher. A preacher, a prophet is not without honor.
Now the word honor means respect, reverence, admiration, appreciation. Jesus said a prophet is not without honor.
Now the way that that's worded is in the negative but when it says is not without honor, it means that a prophet gets honor.
A prophet, a preacher goes to preach somewhere and they are oftentimes honored, reverence, admired, appreciated.
People want them to sign their Bibles. People want them to take pictures with them. People want them to talk to them. And those are good things.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. Jesus says a prophet is not without honor. But he says this, save. The word save means accept or except for.
Notice this. In his own country and in his own house. Now this is Jesus. Remember the sinless son of God talking about his ministry.
He says I'm here in my hometown talking to the people I grew up with, the people that saw me grow up. I mean if there's anybody who should understand that I'm the sinless son of God,
that I never sinned, that I never did anything wrong, it should be these people. He says but they're offended in me and he says here's why. Jesus says here's why.
A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. Here's what he means by that. And go with me to 2 Corinthians if you would.
2 Corinthians chapter 12. You're there in Matthew. You have Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians.
A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. There's this common experience and I feel like I would be doing you a disservice if I did not take the time to explain this to you and your wife.
And look, Jesus said it and that's good enough. But I can tell you I know that it's true because I've experienced it. I know many of my pastor friends, we talk about this and it's just this common realization that virtually all pastors and their wives experience and it is this.
It is when not all, and please understand that not all, but sometimes it feels like many of your own church people seem to love or respect or admire or reverence other pastors and other pastors' wives more than their pastor and their pastor's wife.
And this is what Jesus is talking about. He says, look, a prophet is not without honor. They have honor except, Jesus says, in his own country and in his own house.
Now here brother Jared, here's why this can be bewildering at times or it can be confusing at times. Because you think to yourself, my wife and I are the ones that spend time with these people.
My wife and I are the ones that are there in their time of need. We're there in the middle of the night. We're there at the hospital bed. We're there to counsel them.
We show up at their lowest points. We're the ones that are there when they need us. We're the ones that are there. We're the ones that preach to them every week, that talk to them on the phone.
We take the call early in the morning. We take the call late at night. We weep with them and we rejoice with them. We're there. And sometimes you just kind of wonder at the lack of loyalty.
And it feels like other pastors sometimes are more loved and appreciated and respected by the people that you give your life to. And you just kind of think to yourself, what is that?
And Jesus talked about it. He said, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. And I want you to notice brother Jared, Paul talked about it. 2 Corinthians 12, look at verse 15.
He says, and I, notice this, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. This is what Paul says. I'll be there when you need me. I'll pick up the phone.
I'll be there early in the morning, late at night. I'll be there at the funeral home. I'll be there at the hospital bed. I'll be there to perform the funerals. I'll be there to perform the weddings.
I'll be there to do the counseling. I'll be there to do the premarital counseling, the not so premarital counseling. I'll be there. I'm very gladly to spend and be spent for you.
Though the more abundantly I love you, Paul says, the less I be loved. And you think to yourself, where does this come from?
And you come to the place, and look, I'm just telling you, this is a conversation sometimes pastors and pastors' wives have. You want to know what we talk about at these pastors' meetings sometimes?
You think, have you noticed that? You're like, yeah, it's kind of weird. It's kind of like what Jesus said. It's kind of like what Paul said.
And you reserve yourself, you reserve yourself to this idea that maybe that's just the way it works. Maybe because you spend so much time with people,
you just become so familiar to them that the other pastor in the other state, the other pastor in the other city, he's the superstar. He never makes mistakes.
But if they were around them like they are around you, they would see that they're people too. And by the way, other pastors say this to me.
We joke around and they say to me, it seems like my people just think you're the greatest thing ever and you show up and you're just amazing and this and that.
And I say to them, well, that's how my people act about you. My people are always at the men's preaching nights, always bringing up your sermons.
And I'm thinking to myself, well, they're always bringing up your sermons. That's just how it is. So you reserve yourself to this idea, maybe that's just how it is.
The grass is always greener on the other side, right? The pastor down the street is always just the better guy. And then you hire staff.
I'm just trying to help you, brother Jay. Then you hire staff. You'll hire staff one day. And you'll be surprised how it seems like the church family,
and by the way, you're thankful for this because you love your staff and you want your staff to be loved. And you'll see how the church family,
sometimes it seems like they're tripping all over themselves to love the staff, take care of the staff, remember their birthdays, remember their anniversaries,
just flood them with gifts, just make sure that they're highly cared for and loved for. And you think, okay, maybe it's carnal of me to think that the pastor and the pastor's wife
should be loved more than the staff, but you think they should at least be loved as much as the staff. And you're just kind of like, are we not friendly?
Are we just, what's the deal here? I was talking about this with my wife, and she made this statement, and I feel like I knew this statement,
I understood this statement, but she made this statement and it kind of just brought clarity to the whole thing. Go to Galatians chapter 4, if you would.
You're there in 2 Corinthians, go to Galatians. It brought clarity to this whole idea. And brother Jared, it took me 11 years to figure this out.
I'm trying to help you out. I'm giving you a head start, okay? My wife brought this up to me and she said, well, here's the thing,
the reason that those other people are so loved is because they don't correct these people. See, here's the thing, you listen to a sermon from the pastor in another city,
in another state, and they're screaming and yelling and blah, blah, blah. They're screaming at their church people or whatever, their church people are getting offended,
saying that about me, but you don't feel like that. But when your pastor gets up and screams and yells and whatever, you're like, he's preaching that about me,
and you're probably right. See, the other pastor doesn't correct my people. Who corrects my people? I do, my wife does.
I go to their church, they want to take pictures with me and sign their Bible and do those things, but you know what, I don't correct them.
I don't know them. But their pastor knows them, their pastor prays for them, I don't pray for them. You know who I get on my knees and pray for? Our church family.
But their pastor corrects them. You know what the staff, you know what the staff gets to do, and I love our staff, we have a great staff, you know what the staff guys,
you know what the staff wives get to do? They get to have our church people walk up to them and say the stupidest thing. I have a great idea.
We should, and you know what the staff and the staff wives do? They go, and then they call me or my wife and say, you ain't got a problem,
you got to take care of this, this guy's crazy. You know what I get to do and what my wife gets to do? Hey brother, hey sister, you know,
somebody told me that you brought X, Y, and Z up, and I just want to tell you that that's not appropriate. You had a question about this doctrine,
let me tell you, that's not what we believe here. See, here's what Paul said. Galatians 4 16. Am I therefore become your enemy? Am I therefore become
your enemy because I tell you the truth? I hope you love all the other pastors in the new IFB. I hope this church one day gets staff and you love them
and you care for them and you appreciate them and you reverence them. But before you start dissing your pastor and dissing your pastor's wife,
remember that that staff family and that other pastor, they get to slide on something that your pastor and your pastor's wife doesn't get to slide on.
They have to correct you. And by the way, the Bible says faithful are the wound of a friend. They correct you because they love you.
They correct you because they care about you. And you sit there and say, oh well, I love the staff but pastor, you know, he's always this and Mr. Lance,
he's always that. Let me tell you something, that's because we're the leaders. That's because when you say something stupid, we don't get to sit there and go,
we have to say, no, no, no, no, no, no. You say, what are the takeaways? Here's the takeaways. Brother Jared, Ms. Heidi, you need to be clear about your job.
Your job is to tell the truth. Your job is to keep this church straight, keep this church right and if that means that you don't get that many anniversary cards
and you don't get that many birthday cards and people don't like you as much as they like the other pastor or they don't fall over your special days as they do for all the staff,
that doesn't matter because your job is to hold fast to proper instruction. But let me just give a little hint to the Holdfast family. Don't be like my baby Hannah.
I have a daughter, she's two, two and a half years old, she's a baby and Hannah is the most loving thing. I mean, she loves me, she loves my wife,
she always wants to be on us, she wants to be hugging us, she's whatever but we're her parents so we have to correct her. And you know what Hannah says to us when we correct her?
She said, no, you're not my best friend. You know that's how some church members are. Hey listen sister, listen brother, we love you but no, you're not my best friend.
Maybe you got to realize, you say, oh I'm so excited, I'm getting a pastor, I'm getting a pastor. Well, here's the thing, you're not getting a pastor that will preach to you,
so that he can preach to you, although a pastor should preach to you. But you know what, anybody can preach to you. And you're not getting a pastor to say yes and affirm you in everything.
Because anybody could do that. You know what you're getting when you get a pastor and a leader? You know what you're getting when you get a pastor and a pastor's wife?
You're actually getting someone whose life, whose ministry is to be vigilant to watch you in your life and come alongside you. And sometimes say hey, you're doing great, hey you're doing wonderful.
And sometimes say what no one else will say. That's a problem. You're going in the wrong direction. I know you're probably not going to want to be my friend anymore.
But I've got to tell you, you're ruining your marriage. You're ruining your children. You're ruining your testimony. That's what a pastor does.
That's what a pastor's wife does. So when you feel like, oh I wish you were more like Pastor Jimenez. I wish you were like Pastor Anderson. Just remember, their church people don't like them either.
What must we hold fast to in ministry? We must hold fast to personal integrity. What must we hold fast to in ministry? We must hold fast to proper instruction.
What must we hold fast to in ministry? Go to Hebrews chapter 10 if you would. You're there in 2 Timothy. Go past Titus, Philemon, into the book of Hebrews. 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews.
I said number one, personal integrity. Number two, proper instruction. Number three, in ministry we must hold fast to our professed ideology.
The word ideology means what we believe. A set of doctrines. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 23, notice these words. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. Here's the key words, without wavering.
The word waver means to falter, to be unsteady. For he is faithful, that promise. In ministry, sometimes the ministry gets hard and we cannot waver in what we believe.
We've got to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Now if we're wrong about something, then we should fix what we're wrong about.
But once we've studied something out and we clearly in the Bible, hey, we've got to be instant, in season, out of season. You've got to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.
Without quitting. When it gets hard. When it gets difficult. When the sermons go viral. When the news media shows up. When people start questioning and saying, do you really believe?
You've got to stand up and say, yeah, I really believe it. I'm going to hold fast to the profession of our faith and I'm not going to waver.
This isn't a game. This isn't our first rodeo. We've been doing this. We've been in it. That's one of the things I love about the satellite ministry is that you get to watch a man and his wife and his family play the role of a pastor before they are the pastor.
And you get to see it becomes real clear. Go to James, if you would. You're there in Hebrews. Go to James. It becomes real clear in the satellite ministry. Just after a few weeks and a few months, it becomes clear.
They've got it. They've got the pastor's heart. They've got the pastor's wife's heart. Brother Jared calls me. We text every week and he calls me every few weeks.
And Miss Heidi calls my wife every once in a while. And you can tell by their questions. And what do we do in this situation? And what do you think about this? And have you experienced this before?
You can tell by their questions that they've got the pastor's heart. They love their people. We have to hold fast and say this is what we believe and we're not changing.
Today we're cutting the umbilical cord from Whole Fast Baptist Church. It will not be connected to Verity Baptist Church. But I believe and I pray and I hope that 10 years from now, 20 years from now, we'll be able to say this church and that man has held fast to the profession of his faith without wavering.
James 1.5 says if any of you like wisdom let him ask of God to give it to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him but let him ask in faith. Nothing wavering. Nothing to sway back and forth. Nothing to become unsteady.
Ephesians says that we should not be tossed about with every wind of doctrine. We should hold fast to the profession of our faith.
For he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of our Lord. A double binded man is unstable in all his ways.
This is who we are and this is what we believe. I mean we should be honest with people and say look we believe salvation is by grace through faith not of works. We don't believe you've got to repent of your sins to be saved.
We believe in eternal security. We believe the King James Bible is the word of God. We believe in soul winning. We believe in sanctification. We believe in holiness. We believe in separation. We believe women shouldn't wear pants and we believe that men should look like men and women should look like women.
We're against the homosexual agenda today and God puts the death penalty on. Look we're just telling you this is who we are. We ought to hold fast and we ought to hold fast to that profession and say I believe the Bible.
I'm a Baptist and when things get difficult, see when things get difficult we must, we cannot waver what we believe. Go to Hebrews chapter 4.
When the trials come, the persecution comes, when things get hard, we can't waver what we believe and we must remember in whom we believe.
Hebrews 4 verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession.
See our profession is connected to the fact that he resurrected and ascended and is passed into heaven. Jesus the Son of God. Go to Hebrews chapter 3. Look at verse 6.
But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Here's what I can tell you about ministry. Jared I'm talking to you and you know this. That sometimes you get to go somewhere. Sometimes you get to preach somewhere.
You might be invited to like a red hot preaching conference or a fundamentalist conference or a fire breathing conference. You might be asked to be the guest speaker at some event or something.
And you go there and for about 60 minutes people tell you how great you are and how your ministry has helped them and how your preaching has helped them.
And they want to take pictures with you and they want you to sign their Bibles and they want you to do all those things and we appreciate all that and we're thankful for that.
But that will not get you through the ministry. The red hot preaching conference and all the hype will not get you through the trials, the battles, the difficulties.
The hard work that is called the ministry. You say well what do you do? Well you do what David did when he was a leader and he felt lonely. He encouraged himself in the Lord.
See we must remember why we got into ministry to begin with. It wasn't for the people because we got into ministry before there were any people.
It's not for the YouTube subscribers because we got into ministry before there were YouTube subscribers.
It's not for the accolades, it's not for the pats on the back although we appreciate all of that. We got into it for one man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when things get hard, we must hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. And that hope is Christ.
Go with me just real quickly to 1 Timothy chapter 4 if you would. You kept your place there 1 Timothy chapter 4.
Look at verse 14. We're about to transition into the ordination part of this service. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14 says,
Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
The presbytery is a reference to the elders, the bishops, the spiritual leaders. The Bible talks about this laying on of hands.
It is a giving of authority. It is a vote of confidence. It is a commission to do the work of God as an ordained minister.
Acts chapter 13 if you would, let me show you a couple of verses. Acts chapter 13 and verse 1. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
Acts 13 verse 1. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene
and Meneah which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord. That's what brother Jared has been doing.
That's what his whole family has been doing for the last two years here. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said,
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And of course these men are being called into the work of evangelism.
But notice what it says here in verse 3. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
The laying on of hands is a commissioning. It is an endorsement. It is a giving of authority. The Bible says to lay hands suddenly on no man.
This is not something that should be done quickly or swiftly. It needs to be earned. It needs to be a man that has met the qualifications,
that has showed himself faithful, that has done the work of an evangelist. And it is my honor tonight to lay hands on brother Jared and ordain him as a pastor of Hold Fast Baptist Church.
Brother Jared, I'm going to ask that you would come up here at this time.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this man, brother Jared. I thank you for his personal friendship to me. I thank you for his wife, his children,
the blessing they've been to me and my family, the blessing they were at our church in Sacramento, and the work they've done here.
Lord, he's shown himself faithful. He's a man of character and integrity. Lord, I pray that you would give him your power.
Lord, I know he's filled with the Holy Spirit, but I pray that you'd anoint him with fresh oil for this work that you've called him to do,
to be the pastor. From his height, he'd be the pastor's wife of Hold Fast Baptist Church. Lord, through this action of laying on of hands,
we ordain him tonight. This is our vote of confidence. This is our giving of authority that he would lead this church.
We love you, Lord. We pray you'd use him mightily, you'd bless him, you'd give him wisdom. And I ask for his family that you'd bless them,
you'd protect them in ministry. I ask for this church family that they would come around their pastor and love him and support him
and love his family, support his family, and that you would do great things here.
And Lord, I pray that this church would be true to their name, that they would hold fast to the things that have been given unto them.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
Amen.