Amen. All right.
Well, thank you very much for being here this morning.
And before we get into the sermon,
let me just make a couple of statements.
First of all, thank you, everybody.
It's been a wonderful, wonderful week.
And it's because of all of you making it happen
and making it possible.
And, you know, this is my first time in the Philippines.
I know I look Filipino, but I'm not.
Now, do me a favor, though.
When we're out in public, if somebody asks you
if I'm Filipino, just say I am, all right?
And just leave it at that.
Because I've noticed, at least in the States,
the Filipinos treat you a lot better
if they think you're a Filipino.
There's like this Filipino love, you know?
And I want to be a part of that.
So I appreciate that.
But, you know, I've heard a lot about the Philippines.
I've heard a lot about soul winning in the Philippines
and evangelism in the Philippines.
And now that I've been here and I've experienced it,
I feel like the Queen of Sheba, you know?
I believe not the words till I came and saw for myself
and the half was not told me.
And it's really just a wonderful place.
And I'm excited to be here.
I want to thank Brother Stuckey, of course,
and Ms. Tan for coming out here
and leading this church plant.
And we're excited for the work that they're doing.
And I do want to thank Brother Stuckey and Brother Jared
for preaching some wonderful sermons on Wednesday night.
And that was some good preaching that edified me.
So I was thankful for that.
And, you know, I also just want to thank
Pastor Logan Robertson for being with us this week.
I'm looking forward to his sermon from the second service.
I'm thankful Brother Symes has been with us this week.
And all of you that took time and energy.
And, you know, this is a unique thing.
When you think about the fact that
the number that I was given is there's 137 people here
this morning, and we had over a hundred soul winners.
And the vast majority of the soul winners here this week
are people that are not full-time evangelists,
are not full-time in ministry.
You took your own time, money, time off of work
to travel to a different country, to preach the gospel.
And that's pretty amazing.
That says a lot about the love that you have for souls.
And, you know, it says a lot about our type of churches
and what we're trying to accomplish in places like this.
And I do want to say this.
I'm going to be here till Thursday.
So I'm thankful to be preaching this morning
but I will be preaching on Wednesday night.
I realize that most of you will be gone by then
but for the VBC Manila family, I'd love for you to make it.
I know Wednesday nights can be difficult for some of you
but if you're able to make it for the Wednesday night
service, I'm going to be preaching a different type
of sermon on Wednesday night.
It's what I like to call more of a pastoral type sermon
where I want to kind of speak to the church family
and give you some thoughts in regards to what we need
from you if this church plan is going to succeed.
It's not just on brother Stuckey and Ms. Tan,
it's on you to make it happen.
And I want to talk to you about that on Wednesday night.
So I hope you can make it to that service.
And this morning I'm preaching on the subject
of problems to expect on the mission field.
And the reason that I'm preaching this sermon
is for a couple of reasons.
The first one is because we have several full-time
missionaries, evangelists here this morning
and I want to try to kind of encourage them
and help them with some of those thoughts
about things that they should expect on the mission field.
But also we have several men here this morning.
I've talked to several men who have told me
that they have a desire to one day be in full-time ministry
to be an evangelist, a missionary, a pastor
or something like that.
And I want to encourage you along the way.
And then for those of us that are not Filipino,
this is a mission field, right?
This is a mission church.
And I realize if you're a Filipino,
this might not feel like a mission church.
This feels like home to you.
But for us, this is missions.
So I want to talk about problems to expect
on the mission field.
But let me just say this.
If you don't feel like you're on the mission field
or maybe you're watching the sermon online
or on YouTube or whatever,
and you're not on the mission field,
then you can just change the title in your mind
to problems to expect in ministry.
Because it's really all the same thing.
We're dealing with people,
whether it's in the Philippines
or in Sacramento, California,
you're going to have to expect issues
while on the mission field.
And what I would like to do this morning,
I'd just like you to join me
and we're going to join the Apostle Paul
on his missionary journeys.
And we're going to look at some of the problems
that he faced on his missionary journeys
and make application in regards to problems
that you and I can expect on the mission field
that we can expect in ministry in general.
If you are able to write down some notes,
I'd love for you to take some notes.
If you've got somewhere to write there,
if you've got a baby on your lap,
I can understand why you might not be able to,
but if you've got a pen,
I'd like you to write some of these statements down.
But I want you to notice the first problem
that we see Paul run into on his missionary journey
is the problem of a defiant false prophet.
Are you there in Acts 13?
Look at verse number six, notice what the Bible says.
And when they had gone through the isle of Paphos,
they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet,
a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus,
which was with the deputy of the country.
Now it's interesting how the false prophets in the Bible
are often connected to the politicians.
Here you have this false prophet
and he was with the deputy of the country,
Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas
and Saul and desired to hear the word of God.
So here you have Paul on his missionary journey,
he's out and he finds this man
and this man is seeking the truth.
He desired to hear the word.
What does the false prophet do?
The false prophet does what false prophets do.
Look at verse eight.
But Elymas, the sorcerer, for so is his name
by interpretation, withstood them,
seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
If you ask the question,
what is it, what is the goal of false prophets?
Why is it that Satan and the devil
has commissioned these false teachers?
And by the way, I want you to notice
that false prophets are demonic.
They're from the devil.
Notice this man here.
We're told that he was a sorcerer, a false prophet,
a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus.
But what is it that they're trying to accomplish?
And often we see the big organizations,
we see the money, we see the covetousness,
we see all of that.
But honestly, those are just benefits
of the job of the false prophet.
It's not necessarily that their sole motivation
is to get rich, although that is their motivation.
It's not only that their sole motivation
is to be able to grow an empire, to grow an influence,
although that is their motivation.
But their real motivation, their devil-given motivation,
it's to withstand those who are preaching the gospel
and to turn away the people that want to get saved
from the faith.
That is what false prophets are trying to accomplish.
Keep your place there in Acts 13.
That's where we're gonna be for the sermon.
But go with me to the book of Matthew,
Matthew chapter 23, Matthew chapter 23,
and look at verse number 13.
Matthew chapter 23 and verse 13.
First book in the New Testament
should be fairly easy to find.
Matthew chapter, excuse me, chapter 23 and verse 13.
Matthew 23 and verse 13.
Notice what Jesus said about the false prophets
that he had to deal with.
He says this, but woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
Notice what he says.
For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men,
for ye neither go in, neither suffer ye them
that are entering to go in.
He says, you don't go in and you don't suffer.
The word suffer means allow them that are entering to go in.
What is the goal of a false prophet?
What is it that they're trying to accomplish?
Thank you so much, brother Scott.
I appreciate it.
They know me.
They know I need water.
What they're trying to accomplish is to keep people
from entering into the kingdom of God,
to keep people from getting saved.
Go back to Acts chapter 13.
So how do you fight a false prophet?
You know, you said, Pastor Mendez, what is it that you,
if we're going to be dealing with these defiant,
these opposing false prophets,
these false prophets that are gonna fight us along the way,
then what does it mean for us to withstand them,
to fight them, to beat them?
And here's what you need to understand.
The way that you beat a false prophet
is not by beating them in court.
Right.
The way that you beat a false prophet
is not by beating him on social media.
The way that you beat a false prophet
is not by beating him in the media,
is not by beating him in person.
The way that you beat a false prophet,
notice Acts chapter 13,
we saw there that the false prophet Elamis, the sorcerer,
would stop them seeking to turn away the deputy
from the faith.
Notice verse number nine there in Acts chapter 13,
the Bible says this,
then Saul, who also is called Paul,
filled with the Holy Ghost,
set his eyes on him and said,
O fool of all subtlety and mischief,
thou child of the devil,
thou enemy of all righteousness,
wilt thou not cease to pervert
the right way of the Lord?
Verse 11, and now behold,
the hand of the Lord is upon thee,
and thou shalt be blind,
not seeing the sun for a season,
and immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness,
and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
Now, we know that Paul was an apostle.
Obviously, he had been given power by God
to be able to do these things.
I'm not sure that Brother Stuckey
is able to just make someone blind by calling it.
I don't know, maybe he should try it.
Maybe Brother Simes can try that, I'm not sure.
But you say, well, how do you beat a false prophet?
I want you to notice what they did.
Notice there in verse number 12,
then the deputy, when he saw what was done,
believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
See, the goal of a false prophet
is to withstand those who are seeking to turn to the faith.
They want to turn away those from the faith.
You say, how do you beat a false prophet?
You don't let them stop you.
Amen.
You say, how do you beat the Iglesia Ni Cristo?
You go and get as many people
from the Iglesia Ni Cristo saved, that's how you do it.
How do you beat the dispensational rutmanites?
Is you get as many of those people saved on the true gospel,
get them in a good church, get them out solely.
That's how you beat the false prophet.
You say, how are we gonna fight Apollo 13
or whatever his name is?
You say, how do you beat him?
Here's how you beat him.
You don't have to beat him in the courts.
You don't have to beat him in politics.
Just take his followers, get them saved.
Don't let them stop you.
What they're trying to do is to stop you
and withstand you from reaching people with the gospel.
You say, how do you beat a false prophet?
You don't let them stop you.
Amen.
You say, how do you destroy them?
You just take their converts.
See, they have shut up the kingdom of heaven against men
for they neither go in themselves
and they are not suffering them that are entering to go in.
So look, if you're on the mission field
and you've had some run-ins with a false prophet,
I think this church has already had that.
You know, you're in good company.
You say, the apostle Paul, greatest missionary
had ever lived.
On the mission field, the first problem we see
is a defiant false prophet, but he didn't let him stop him.
He continued on, he pressed forward.
He still got someone saved.
I want you to notice the second problem
that Paul has on the mission field.
Not only do we see a defiant false prophet,
but I'd like you to notice secondly,
we see a deserting friend.
If you're there in Acts 13,
I want you to look back at verse number five.
Notice what the Bible says in verse five.
It says this, and then when they were at Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews.
I want you to notice this last part of verse five.
It says this, and they had also John to their minister.
The Bible tells us here in verse five that they had John.
Now, this is who we would know as Mark.
His name was John Mark.
We'll see later on here that his name was John,
but his surname was Mark.
And they had this young man, John Mark,
with them on the ministry in the mission field.
But I want you to notice what happens in verse number 13
or what's mentioned in verse 13 there.
Acts chapter 13 and verse 13 says this.
Now, when Paul and his company lose from Papphos,
they came to Perga in Pamphylia,
and John, notice what it says,
departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.
Here you have this young man, John Mark,
and he quits on Paul in the ministry.
Here you've got John Mark.
You've got Paul and Barnabas on this missionary journey,
and they've got this young man that's with them.
They're encouraged by John Mark.
John Mark is helping them.
He's their minister, and praise the Lord
that there are always those John Marks
that are with us in the ministry.
We could not do it.
Those of us that are leading ministries and preaching
and motivating and mobilizing, we could not do it
without the John Marks coming alongside us,
and just kind of helping us and being with us
and ministering to us,
but sometimes those John Marks desert us.
They leave us.
Keep your place there in Acts 13.
Go to John chapter two.
The John Marks will sometimes quit and abandon
the Pauls and the Barnabas in their ministry,
and I would like to say this to VBC Manila.
As you begin this church, you need to understand this.
You should write this down.
You need to put this somewhere and just remember this
that people come and people go.
People will be here today at the grand opening service
of this church, and they will not be here next year
at the one year anniversary.
Now, I hope that's not the case.
I hope everyone that's here will be here.
I hope everyone that's here will be here
and be encouraged and be growing in the Lord,
but just realize that in ministry, people come and go.
I have now pastored a church, Verity Baptist Church
in Sacramento, California for over eight years now,
and to be honest with you, I feel like sometimes
I feel like I've pastored three or four different churches,
and I thank the Lord for, we've got members
that have been with us.
There are several members here right now
that have been with us in Sacramento
since we were meeting in our living room eight years ago,
and we've got members that have been with us
for five years and six years and been with us
for a long time, and I'm thankful for all of those,
but you know what?
There are lots of people and many people
that have came and have gone, that have came and have gone,
that have came and gone.
There have been the John Marks that were with us.
They were soul-witting with us.
They were connected with us.
They were in the ministry with us,
and they're not with us anymore,
and just realize that in ministry and on the mission field,
you may not only deal with a problem
of defiant false prophets, but you may have to deal
with the discouragement of deserting friends.
Of people quitting on you,
and you need to just decide right now.
Look, you need to just purpose in your heart
that when people quit, it might hurt.
When people quit, it might upset you.
When people quit, it might be sad,
and your heart might be broken because they quit on God,
but you've gotta determine
that you're not gonna let it stop you,
that you're not gonna let it discourage you to the place,
that you're not gonna let it discourage you to the place
where you yourself would quit on God.
John chapter two, notice verse 23.
Why don't you notice what the Lord Jesus Christ
thought about people?
In John chapter two and verse 23, the Bible says this.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover,
in the feast of days, many believed in his name,
this is Jesus, when they saw the miracles which he did.
There's many people there that believed on Jesus
when they saw his miracle, a big crowd,
many people encouraging him and complimenting him
excited for his ministry, but I want you to notice
the wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 24.
The Bible says, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them.
You say, what does that mean?
Here's what that means.
That means that Jesus purposed in his heart
that when the crowds were there,
that when the compliments were there,
that when the people were there encouraging him
that he would be thankful for it, but he was not committed.
He was not in ministry.
He was not doing what he was doing for those people.
You say, why?
Because he knew all men.
Verse 25, and need not that any should testify of man
for he knew what was in man.
Listen to me.
The Bible says that the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?
And here's what I'm telling you.
If you wake up someday and you find out
that some pastor that you loved, that you respected,
that you cared for has fallen in sin,
you got to determine in your heart
that I will be sad for that.
My heart will break for that.
I will pray for that situation.
I'll pray for those that are involved,
but I will not let that discourage me from keeping on.
Why?
Because you just have to expect the fact
that people are gonna come and people are gonna go.
That there will be people who will desert you.
There will be people who will quit on you.
There will be people that will go back to the world
and you've got to just realize here at the beginning
that on the mission field and in the ministry,
you'll deal with defiant false prophets
and you'll deal with deserting friends.
Like you to notice thirdly, go back to Acts chapter 15.
You can make your way back to the book of Acts.
Go to Acts chapter 15.
Not only did Paul deal with these defiant false prophets
and these deserting friends, I want you to notice
there was a third problem that came to Paul
on his missionary journeys and actually
when we fast forward to Acts 15,
we are actually having have ended
Paul's first missionary journey.
If you remember Paul, he did several missionary journeys
and he'd always go back to his home base of Antioch
and report unto them how the journey went
because Paul was accountable to his home church in Antioch.
And that's the same model that we're following here
at Verity Baptist Church Manila
until one day we ordained our brother Stuckey
as the pastor of this church.
He is accountable to us there in Sacramento
as the sending church
and we see that Paul will often do that
and go back to Antioch.
Maybe as you read through Acts, you might notice him
continually to go back to Antioch, his sending church.
Here in verse 15, he's getting, in chapter 15,
he's getting ready to go on his second missionary journey.
Look at verse 36.
And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas,
now remember Barnabas was his missionary partner
for the first mission work that he did.
He said, let us go again
and visit our brethren in every city
where we have preached the word of the Lord
and see how they do.
Verse 37, and Barnabas determined to take with them John.
Remember that guy?
The quitter, the guy who quit on them.
Barnabas, now that they're back in Antioch,
he got back in connection with John
and he followed up with him.
He says, John, what's going on?
John, how you doing?
John, let me encourage you.
Let me get you back in the work of God.
Paul comes along and says to Barnabas,
hey, Barnabas, listen, I think we should go back.
We should confirm the churches.
We should go see how people are doing.
And Barnabas says, great.
Hey, I was thinking that we take John with us.
Notice what it says in verse 37,
whose surname was Mark, verse 38.
But Paul thought not good to take him with them.
Why?
Notice, who departed from them from Pamphylia.
Paul says, John, Mark's a quitter.
Listen, Barnabas, I'm glad you got him back in church
and I'm glad you've been encouraging him.
I'm glad you've been with him,
but I don't think we should take him with us.
And I want you to notice that the third problem
that Paul faced on the mission field
was not only defying false prophets
and not only deserting friends,
but there was a disagreement between good men.
Here you have Barnabas saying, let's take John.
And then you've got Paul saying, I don't think so.
He departed from them, from Pamphylia
and went not with them to the work.
Verse 39, notice this disagreement became an argument
and the contention was so sharp between them
that they departed asunder one from the other.
And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed onto Cyprus.
I want you to notice that on the mission field
and in the ministry, sometimes there will be disagreements
between good men.
Sometimes there's going to be arguments
between good people.
They're going to not see things eye to eye.
Now I know those of us that live in this generation,
those of us that live in the Facebook generation,
whenever we see disagreements between two people,
we always want to answer this question.
And the question that is always asked is this,
well, who's right?
You know, let me just take a moment from the sermon
and kind of talk about that.
Who was right?
In fact, let's take a survey, all right?
Now I'm going to ask you to raise your hand
and just say, you know, realize this, the camera is,
I think this is a camera, right?
Camera is in front of all of you.
So we're not going to record your answer.
We're not going to hold it against you, all right?
But let's just take a quick survey.
You've got two men here.
One says, take John.
One says, no, all right?
Let's say, who thinks Paul was right with saying no?
Raise your hand if you think Paul was right saying no.
A few of you, all right?
And look, there's no right or wrong answer, honestly.
I'm just curious, you know.
Who thinks Barnabas was right?
Let's take Barnabas, okay?
Some of you, all right?
Who does not understand the question?
No, I'm just kidding.
Who says I don't know?
I'm not sure.
All right, good.
And the rest of you are asleep, all right.
Well, let me give you, you know,
let me give you some thoughts.
Because I've thought about this
and I've preached it to our church people.
I'm sure our church people know my thoughts on this,
but you know, let me give you some reasons
why you might think that Paul was right, all right?
In fact, the main reason to think Paul was right
is in verse 40.
And Paul chose Silas and departed, notice this,
being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
Paul is the one who received the recommendation
from the church in Antioch.
Because remember, the church in Antioch
sent Paul and Barnabas as a team
to go out in the mission field.
But when there was a split between Paul and Barnabas,
the Bible tells us that the brethren recommended Paul
and his new partner Silas unto the grace of God.
Notice verse 41, and he went through Syria and Cilicia,
confirming the churches.
But I want you to notice that there's no recommendation
for Barnabas and John Mark.
And not only that, we don't read about Barnabas
or John Mark anymore in the book of Acts.
The rest of the book of Acts is the Apostle Paul show.
It's all about Paul and his second missionary journey
and his third missionary journey and everything that he did.
So you might look at that and say, well,
I think that tells us that Paul was right
because the church commissioned him,
the church, the brethren recommended him.
And then the rest of the book of Acts
continues on with Paul.
There's another reason why you might think that Paul
was correct in this situation.
Let me show it to you real quickly.
If you're there in Acts, go to Colossians,
Colossians chapter four.
Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, Colossians chapter four.
Look at verse 10.
Something you should know about Barnabas
is that he was related to John Mark.
Let me show it to you.
Colossians chapter four, verse 10.
Colossians 4, 10 says this.
And Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you.
Notice, and Marcus, this is John Mark.
We read in Acts that he was John whose surname was Mark.
And Marcus, notice what it says, sister's son to Barnabas.
Now, John Mark was the son of Barnabas's sister
that makes him his nephew.
Barnabas was his uncle.
So someone might look at this situation and say,
Barnabas, I think you're just trying to make an exception
here for your nephew, you know?
And the church, the brethren recommended Paul
and Silas, they didn't recommend you.
We don't hear about you for the rest of the book of Acts.
So, you know, there's a good argument to be made
that Paul was right in this dispute.
But let me say this.
There's some arguments that you should consider
in regards to Barnabas being correct in this.
You say, what are those?
Well, go to 2 Timothy chapter four.
You're there in Colossians.
You go past 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy
into the book of 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy chapter four.
You say, what is a good argument that Barnabas was correct
in wanting to take John Mark with him
back on the mission field?
Well, one of the main arguments that you can make
on behalf of Barnabas is that not only was Timothy restored,
excuse me, John Mark restored,
and he goes on to do great things,
but even Paul himself later on
will ask for Mark to come.
And Paul says, notice there in 2 Timothy four
verse 11, only Luke is with me.
Take Mark, John Mark.
The same Mark that Paul earlier said,
I want nothing to do with him, he's a quitter.
Take notice what Paul is saying now
towards the end of his life.
He says, take Mark and bring him with thee.
Notice, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
So why was John Mark profitable for the ministry?
Well, because of a godly uncle named Barnabas
who didn't give up on him, who didn't quit on him,
who restored him.
Here's another argument for Barnabas being correct
and taking John Mark, and it's this,
that John Mark did not only become profitable
for the ministry, but John Mark ended up
becoming a great writer.
You might have read one of his books.
You ever heard of the Gospel According to Mark?
I mean, we have the Gospel According to Mark
because Barnabas was not willing to quit on John Mark.
And you say, Pastor Jimenez, I'm confused.
You're supposed to be telling us who's right.
Was Paul right?
Well, it sure seems like it when the brethren
recommended him to the ministry,
when we don't hear about Barnabas and John Mark
in the book of Acts anymore, when God's power
continues to be on the life of Paul as he goes on
and he continues on and does some great things for God.
You say, was Barnabas wrong then?
Well, it seems like Barnabas was right
because of the fact that he restored him,
because of the fact that he became profitable
for the ministry, because of the fact that we have
a gospel written by a young man named John Mark.
You say, well, which one was right?
Here's what I'm trying to tell you.
They're both right.
And here's what I'm trying to tell you.
They're both wrong.
Because we often get this idea in our minds
is that when it's our calling to do one thing,
then everyone else has to do that same thing.
But I want you to understand that I believe Paul was right
in not taking John Mark with him.
You say, why?
Because Paul was a type A personality.
Paul was the type of guy, he looked,
Paul did not have time to be coddling some young kid
who was missing mama back in Jerusalem.
Paul was busy, he was working, he was fighting.
He was building churches and starting churches
and doing great thing.
And that wasn't Paul's job, but you know whose job it was?
It was Barnabas.
I would submit to you this morning
that Barnabas actually had a God given gift
to help and restore those who others had given up on.
In fact, not only was John Mark the first person
that Barnabas had ministered to who had fallen,
there was someone else, another famous character
in scripture who others had given up on,
who others did not want to even touch with a 10 foot pole.
And everyone had quit on him
and everybody had given up on him except for Barnabas.
You know who that character was?
It was Paul himself.
You remember that?
Go to Acts chapter nine, let me just show it to you.
Acts chapter nine.
Acts chapter nine in verse 26.
You remember Paul, our hero?
When he first got saved, his name was still Saul.
Acts 9 26.
And when Saul was come to Jerusalem,
this is shortly after his conversion,
he has saved, the word has saved means
he attempted to join himself to the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him.
And look, with good reason.
This is the guy who was imprisoning people,
guiding people put to death.
This is the guy who stood there
as Stephen the first martyr was put to death.
They were all afraid of him
and believe not that he was a disciple,
but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles
and declared him to them how he had seen the Lord in the way
and that he had spoken to them
and how he had preached boldly at the masochist
in the name of Jesus.
I want you to notice Barnabas seems
to have this God given gift.
When others give up on someone,
he takes them alongside and he encourages them
and he disciples them and he strengthens them
and he gets them back in the ministry.
That seems to be the calling of Barnabas in his life.
In fact, it seems like the apostles themselves
had noticed this about Barnabas.
Go to Acts chapter four, look at verse 36.
Acts chapter four and verse 36.
Acts 4, 36 says this,
And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas,
his name was Joseph,
the apostles gave him the name Barnabas.
Why did they give him the name Barnabas?
Notice, which is being interpreted the son of consolation.
The word consolation means to console, to comfort.
They looked at this man, Joseph.
They said, man, this guy has a gift for comfort.
This man has a gift for consolation.
This man has a gift for reaching out to people
that others don't want to reach out to,
that others have given up on.
In fact, let's not call him Joseph anymore.
Let's call him Barnabas,
which means the son of consolation.
Here's what I'm telling you.
I believe that it would have been wrong
for Barnabas to go on with Paul and to give up on John Mark.
Why?
It was his God-given gift to reach out
to those who others had given up on.
He did it for Paul,
and Paul became the greatest evangelist
the world's ever known.
He did it for John Mark,
and he ended up writing the gospel according to Mark.
He ended up being profitable for the ministry.
But Paul was not that man.
And here's all I'm trying to tell you,
is that good men can disagree,
is that good men can even have different callings.
Is that different men can have different ministries,
and not all of us have to be doing the same things.
And we need to understand that in ministry,
you might find yourself at odds
with another brother in Christ.
You might find yourself not able to work
with another brother in Christ.
You might find yourself saying he wants to do this,
and I want to do this,
and you just need to understand that that is okay.
And that in ministry, and that on the mission field,
there might be disagreements between good men.
And let me just say this,
because something I've noticed about the churches
of like faith and practice,
the churches, our type of churches,
is that I think inadvertently
we might have developed this culture.
We're just kind of on this hair trigger
that anybody we don't like is a reprobate.
Let me just tell you something.
I'd be careful about just everyone we don't like
becoming a reprobate.
It cheapens the reprobate doctrine.
I understand that there are some false prophets out there
that are child of the devil.
I get that, I'm not defending those people.
But I am telling you this,
that there may be someone you don't like,
there may be someone you can't work with,
there may be someone you don't want to support,
or you don't want to follow.
That doesn't mean they're a reprobate.
It might just mean that you don't get along with them.
And that's okay.
That's all right.
Just realize that in ministry, in ministry,
there may be disagreements between good men.
I hope everybody here in the Philippines gets along.
I hope all the new IFB-ers
or whatever we want to call ourselves in the Philippines
love each other and work together and get along.
But you know what?
If you come to the point where you don't see eye to eye,
where you don't think you're doing the right thing
or doing the same thing,
just realize that it might be okay
for someone to take a John Mark aside
while you go on and do something else.
I'm just telling you in ministry,
there might be disagreements between good men.
And sometimes in a situation, both people could be right.
Both people could be doing the right thing
that God called them to do.
And by the way, let me say this.
In a situation, sometimes both people could be wrong.
Sometimes they want you to take sides.
Well, who's right and who's wrong?
Sometimes they look at situations and think,
both sides are so wrong, I don't want anything to do with it.
And you say, well, Pastor, are you discouraged about?
No, I'm just telling you in ministry,
there might be disagreement between good men.
That's okay.
You just do what God has called you to do.
You just do the God-given gift that God gave you,
what you believe God has called you,
the spiritual gifts that he's given you.
You go on with those and you don't need everyone else
to just be on your agenda, on your plan,
on your onboard with you.
Sometimes it's okay to part ways.
Say, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Is God gonna continue to use Paul?
Yes, he will.
Is God gonna continue to use Barnabas?
Yes, he will.
We see on Paul's missionary journeys,
you go back to Acts, go back to Acts chapter 16.
Not only do we see defiant false prophets,
not only do we see deserting friends,
not only do we see disagreement between good men.
Why don't you notice, fourthly,
a problem that Paul had on his missionary journeys
was disapproval from friends and family.
Notice Acts 16, look at verse 16.
And it came to pass as he went to prayer,
a certain damsel with a spear of divination met us,
which brought her master much gain by suit, saying.
And the same followed Paul and us and cried,
saying, these men are the servants of the most high God,
which show unto us the way of salvation.
And thus did she many days.
But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit,
I commend thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her and he came out at the same hour.
And when her master saw that the hope of their gains
was gone, they caught Paul and Silas
and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers
and brought them to the magistrate saying,
these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city
and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive,
neither to observe being Romans
and the multitude rose up together against them
and the magistrates rent off their clothes
and commanded them to beat them.
And when they had laid many stripes upon them,
they cast them into prison,
charging the jailers to keep them safely.
Here you have a young lady with a spirit of divination.
She's possessed with a devil
and the apostle Paul cast the devil out of her.
And instead of those around her saying, praise the Lord,
they say, oh my, they say, wow.
They say, we do not approve of the change that you have made
in the life of this individual.
It reminds me of the story of Legion.
Remember that story?
Go to Mark chapter five, just real quickly.
Matthew, Mark, Mark chapter five.
Mark chapter five.
Let me tell you something.
In ministry, you may have to deal with disapproval
of friends and family.
Something that has astonished me
over the last eight plus years of ministry
at Verity Baptist Church
is the fact that we will take somebody,
we will take a man who's unemployed,
a drunkard, a bad husband, bad father,
not serious about things.
We get him saved.
We get him in church.
We get him reading the Bible, praying, soul winning.
He's coming to church Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night.
He gets a job.
He stops drinking.
He starts being discipled and the things are gone.
You'd think the wife would be sending me gift cards
to restaurants and saying thank you for fixing my husband.
You know what happens?
Wife's mad.
Turns out they liked him better when he was a drug addict.
Turns out they'd rather have an unemployed drunkard
for a husband than a Bible thumper
who goes to church on Sunday morning.
It turns out, you know, and look,
some of you are gonna deal with this.
You've already dealt with it.
You get saved.
You start coming to church like this
and your friends don't like it
and your parents don't like it
and your family don't like it
and they disown you.
And for some of you here in the Philippines,
coming to a church like this
is not just coming to a church like this.
For some of you here in the Philippines,
coming to a church like this
means forsaking your family
because they will not understand
and they will not accept.
And you say, Pastor, I'm in that position.
I'm here this morning.
Pastor, I'm here this morning.
I told my parents I was gonna be
at that SeaWorld thing over there.
I came to church.
You know, I'm here this morning
but I hope people don't find out.
I'm glad the camera's up front.
I'm here this morning.
If my mom finds out and if my dad finds out
and if my husband finds out or if my wife finds out,
you say, Pastor, what do I do?
I'm just here to tell you, you're in good company
because many have had to forsake their families
to serve the Lord.
Many have had to forsake their families
who are all involved in cults
and wrong religions to serve God.
In fact, Jesus said if you're not willing
to forsake father and mother,
if you're not willing to deny self,
if you're not willing to forsake all
and to take up your cross and to follow me,
he says, you're not worthy of me.
And that doesn't mean that you're not saved.
It just means that God can't use you.
And I realize that on this side of that decision,
I realize that as a pastor who grew up
in an independent, fundamental Baptist home,
I realize that as a man who's had his entire family
be saved and Baptist his whole life,
I realize that as a pastor starting a satellite church
in Manila, Philippines, having a mission trip
and having my mom and my dad and my sister
and my nephews and nieces here with me right now,
I realize that I'm blessed.
And it might seem, well, it's easy for you to say,
you don't have to give up anything.
But I will tell you, people have.
I'll tell you, my wife has.
There's people my wife has had to forsake.
She didn't have the privilege growing up in a church
like I did, growing up with a family like I did.
She has family members that are saved
and all the family members that are saved are saved
because she got them saved.
And there's some family members that she had to forsake.
And I'm not telling you it's easy,
I'm just telling you, you're not the only one.
You're there in Mark chapter five, look at verse 15.
Mark five and verse 15 says this,
and they came to Jesus,
seeing him that was possessed with the devil.
Remember, this guy was naked.
This guy was breaking chains.
This guy was cutting himself.
This guy was out of control.
They saw him that was possessed with the devils
and had legion, notice, sitting and clothed
and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
They weren't afraid when he was on drugs.
They weren't afraid when he was an adulterer.
They weren't afraid when he was a drunkard.
They weren't afraid when he was unemployed,
when he was a loser, but now that he's sitting there
clothed in his right mind, now they're afraid.
Some of you, your family's gonna freak out.
Because you go to church and you read the Bible
and you pray, because you're sober and you're working,
you're supporting your wife.
That made them afraid.
It's interesting what the world's afraid of, isn't it?
In verse 16, and they that saw it told them
how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil
and also concerning the swine, verse 17,
and they began to pray him to depart out of their coast.
Instead of saying, hey, can you do that to my dad?
Can you do that to my wife?
Can you help me with my kids?
They said, get out of here.
Get out of here.
You know what some people are saying to BBC Manila?
They're saying, get out of here.
The change that we're seeing in our family members
makes us afraid, and here's all I'm telling you.
Expect it.
Because on the mission field,
you'll have defiant false prophets.
On the mission field, you'll have deserting friends.
On the mission field, you'll have disagreements
between good men, and on the mission field,
you'll have disapproval from friends and family.
Let me give you a last one if you go back to Acts 17.
Acts chapter 17.
Last problem we see for the Apostle Paul
on the mission field.
We see that he had some determined persecutors
of his ministry.
I want you to understand, he did not just have persecutors,
he had determined persecutors.
He did not just have people who didn't like him,
he had people who made their life to try to stop them.
And we can look at a lot of this,
let me just give you one example.
Acts 17 verse 13.
But when the Jews of Thessalonica, all right,
had knowledge that the word of God
was preached at Berea, all right,
we got two different places here.
The Jews in Thessalonica, here are Paul getting people
saved in Berea, notice, they came hither also.
They already got Paul thrown out of Thessalonica,
they already persecuted Paul in Thessalonica,
they already stirred up problems for Paul in Thessalonica,
but then they hear that Paul's in Berea
doing the same thing, and they got on a little jeepney
and got themselves down there,
and they came hither also and stirred up the people.
Go to Acts 24, notice what the apostle Paul,
Paul is under judgment in prison.
Notice what he says, he says when he was in Jerusalem,
Acts 24 and verse 18, it says,
whereupon certain Jews from Asia
found me purified in the temple.
Where's the temple? Jerusalem.
He's in the temple in Jerusalem,
and he says, not the Jews in Jerusalem,
not the Jews in Judea, but my fan club,
the certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple,
and neither with multitude nor with turmoil,
he said, and they're the ones that got everybody round up.
And here's what I'm trying to tell you,
you know what, BBC Manila?
You're going to have not only people
who are gonna persecute you, but you're gonna have people
who are determined to persecute you and destroy you.
They're gonna follow you, and they're gonna watch
every sermon, they're gonna be aware of every event.
They're not just enemies, you know?
We've got them in Sacramento, I call them my fan club.
We've also called them haters, haters gonna hate, right?
I mean, you know what, we've got people,
and pastors like us have people who their whole ministry,
their whole ministry is just to attack us,
just to attack our church, just to make videos about us,
videos, and you say, man, you know, isn't that crazy?
No, actually, there's no new thing under the sun.
Paul had a little fan club of Jews following him around,
persecuting him too.
Determined persecutors of his personal ministry.
You say, Pastor Mendez, we have that here.
I know.
We have that here.
Welcome to the mission field.
Welcome to the ministry.
Welcome to what God has called you to do.
See, and here's what I want you to understand,
and we'll finish up here.
Let me give you a couple of references on what we've done.
Go to First Corinthians chapter 10.
You're there to ask, go to Romans, First Corinthians.
First Corinthians chapter 10.
First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13.
We know this verse, we could quote it,
but I just want you to look at it.
Here's what I'd like you to understand.
You say, Pastor Mendez, we've got these problems,
defiant false prophets, discerning friends,
disagreement between good men,
disapproval from the friends and family,
determined persecutors of our ministry.
We've got these things.
What does that mean?
Here's what that means.
If you have problems on the mission field,
you're not alone.
First Corinthians 10, 13 says this,
there have no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
The word temptation, we often think of,
and it's an accurate interpretation
of being tempted to sin,
but the word temptation can also speak of trials,
of tryings, of hard and difficult times
that tempt you to quit.
And here's all I wanna tell VBC Manila
is that when you deal with defiant false prophets,
there have no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
There is no new thing under the sun.
When you deal with deserting friends and church members,
there have no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
When you deal with disagreements between good men,
there has no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
When you deal with a backlash
of disapproving friends and families,
there has no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
And when you deal with a hater fan club,
when you deal with determined persecutors
that are not just persecuting Christians,
but are persecuting you,
their goal is to destroy you.
Their goal is to end this church.
I want you to know that there has no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man.
You're in good company.
You say, why?
Notice, but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted.
Above that ye are able,
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape.
Don't miss this, that ye may be able to bear it.
If you're having problems on the mission field,
you're not alone, but let me just say this.
Go to 1 Corinthians 16, verse nine.
We're done right here.
1 Corinthians 16, verse nine.
If you're having problems on the mission field,
you're not alone, there's no new thing under the sun.
But let me say this,
if you're having problems on the mission field,
it's because you're doing a great work for God.
1 Corinthians 16, verse nine says this,
for a great door and effectual is opened unto me.
Don't we like that?
A great door and effectual.
I mean, you can say that about the Philippines.
A great door and effectual is opened unto me
in the Philippines.
But don't forget.
But don't forget, and there are many adversaries.
With a great door and effectual, there come adversaries.
With great door and effectual, you'll have quitting people,
you'll have discouraging people,
you'll have disrespectful people.
You just keep on.
You just stay at it.
Because you're doing a great work for God.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father.
Lord, we thank you for this church.
And Lord, I pray that you would
do a mighty work here in Manila.
I pray, Lord, that there'd be a special unction
of the Holy Spirit that would come upon Brother Stuckey.
Lord, I pray for Pastor Robertson and Brother Simes.
Lord, I pray for the other pastors in this country
that are doing great things, attempting great things,
taking strong stands.
Lord, I pray you to bless them.
I know at times it can be scary.
It can feel dark.
But Lord, I pray you'd help them to be encouraged
in the fact that they are walking in the same steps
as great men like the Apostle Paul.
And Lord, I just pray you to encourage them.
I pray you'd use this church, Lord,
to turn this city upside down.
Amen.
Father, the enemies are already crying.
They're already saying these which have turned
the world upside down are come hither also.
And Lord, we just pray that you'd use this place,
that you'd bless this place,
that you would do a great work here.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray.
Amen.