Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, everybody.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Glad to have you here tonight.
Let's go ahead and take out our hymnals for the first song.
Go ahead and turn to song number 346.
Bring your vessels, not a few.
This should be a new one for us.
Hopefully you know it.
But if not, you can learn it tonight.
Song number 346.
346.
Bring your vessels, not a few.
All together.
Are you looking for the fullness of the blessing of the Lord in your heart and life?
Are you looking for the fullness of the blessing of the Lord in your heart and life today?
Claim the promise of your father.
Come according to his word in the blessed all-time way.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing as the Lord commandeth you.
Bring your vessels, not a few.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing with the Holy Ghost and power.
Bring your empty earth and vessels clean through Jesus' precious blood.
Come ye needy one and all.
And in human consecration, wait before the throne of God till the Holy Ghost shall fall.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing as the Lord commandeth you.
Bring your vessels, not a few.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing with the Holy Ghost and power.
Like the cruise of old unfailing, is His grace forevermore, and His love unchanging still.
And according to His promise with the Holy Ghost and power, He will every vessel fill.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing as the Lord commandeth you.
Bring your vessels, not a few.
He will fill your heart today to overflowing with the Holy Ghost and power.
Amen. Great singing. Let's pray a prayer.
Dear Father, we're just thankful that we can be gathered together again to have good fellowship and hear the preaching of your word.
I just pray to help the sermon to strengthen our faith in you and to serve you better.
And please fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit right now.
Give him boldness and clarity so he can preach unto us a edifying message.
And just please continue to bless our church with soul winners and bless us as we go out preaching the gospel.
We love you, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Next song is going to be song number 296. Follow on.
Song number 296.
Song 296, follow on.
Down in the valley with my Savior I would go
Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow
Everywhere He leads me I would follow, follow, walk
Walking in His footsteps till the crown be won
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere I would follow on
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on
Down in the valley with my Savior I would go
When the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow
With His hand to lead me I will never, never fear
Danger cannot fright me if my Lord is near
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere I would follow on
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on
Down in the valley or upon the mountain steep
Close beside my Savior would my soul ever keep
He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod
Up to where they gather on the hills of God
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere I would follow on
Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus
Anywhere He leads me I would follow on
And then I'm going to go ahead and get a count for the last few days
Was there anything on Thursday to report for soul winning?
Five for Thursday, what about Friday? Anything on Friday by chance?
Two for Friday, what about Saturday? Anything?
Four for yesterday, what about today?
I don't even think, was our van, we had four, okay
Anything else?
Is that five? Okay.
Alright, 23 for today, praise the Lord on that
And keep up the good work on our soul winning
Also on the right we have the list of expecting ladies
Please keep all of them in your prayers
We have our prayer list as well if you have any prayer requests
You can submit those via our email or you can submit a communication card
We have the baby shower that's mentioned there below
We have on the back the ladies tea
Please make sure to sign up on the sign up sheet over here
And it is for all ladies and their daughters
And even if you want to invite a guest
If you want to invite your mother or your aunt or whoever
You can definitely do that, just please make sure to sign up
That way we just have everything set up for everybody
We know exactly how many people to plan for
And we can have everything accommodated
If you did not get an email, you're not going
So you need to get the email
If your name's not on the list, how are you going to get in the door?
I know you're not once you are
And so if you did not get an email and you said
I thought I put my name on that list
You got to make sure it's spelled correctly
See my wife or make sure you sign it up
If you did not sign up and you try to get the email
Worst case scenario, just email us
Then we'll have your email
Pastor Jones is preaching May 16th
Please make sure to come out for that
It's going to be a great time of preaching
And then also we have several sports days
And our soloing marathons
Just keep an eye on those things
With that, let's go to our third song for the evening
261, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, 261
In that song number 261, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
All together
O soul, are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There's light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Through death into life everlasting
He passed and we follow Him there
Over us sin no more at dominion
For more than conquers beyond
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
His Word shall not fail you
He promised, believe Him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
His Word shall not fail you
1 Corinthians chapter 9 the Bible reads
Am I not an apostle? Am I not free?
Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?
Are not ye my work in the Lord?
If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you
For the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord
Mine answer to them that do examine me is this
Have we not power to eat and to drink?
Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles
And as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas?
Or I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working?
Who goeth the warfare any time at his own charges?
Who planteth the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof?
Or who feedeth the flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
Say I these things as a man? Or sayeth not the law the same also?
For it is written in the law of Moses
Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn
Doth God take care for oxen?
Or sayeth he it all together for our sakes?
For our sakes no doubt this is written
That he that ploweth should plow in hope
And that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope
If we have sown unto you spiritual things
Is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
If others be partakers of this power over you
Are not we rather?
Nevertheless we have not used this power
But suffer all things
As we should hinder the gospel of Christ
Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things
Live of the things of the temple?
And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
Even so hath the Lord ordained
That they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel
But I have used none of these things
Neither have I written these things
That it should be so done unto me
For it were better for me to die
Than that any man should make my glorying void
For though I preach the gospel I have nothing to glory of
For necessity is laid upon me
Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel
For if I do this thing willingly I have a reward
But if against my will a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me
What is my reward then?
Barely that when I preach the gospel
I may make the gospel of Christ without charge
That I abuse not my power in the gospel
For though I be free from all men
Yet have I made myself servant unto all
That I might gain the more
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew
That I might gain the Jews
To them that are under the law as under the law
That I might gain them that are under the law
To them that are without law as without law
Being not without law to God
But under the law to Christ
That I might gain them that are without law
To the weak became I as weak
That I might gain the weak
I am made all things to all men
That I might by all means save some
And this I do for the gospel's sake
That I might be partaker thereof with you
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all
But one receiveth the prize
So run that ye may obtain
And every man that striveth for the mastery
Is temperate in all things
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown
But we an incorruptible
I therefore so run not as uncertainly
So fight I not as one that beateth the air
But I keep under my body
And bring it into a subjection
Lest that by any means
When I have preached to others
I myself should be a castaway
Let's bow our heads for a quick word of prayer
Father we thank you for this service here
This evening at Steadfast Baptist Church
I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit
And enable him to preach his sermon for us tonight
With boldness
Give him clarity of mind Lord
And also I pray that you would
Minimize distraction for us
Give us ears to hear tonight
So we can learn as much as possible
From the message that our pastor has prepared for us
We thank you for the soul winning that we did
Earlier today and Lord I pray that you would bless
Our future soul winning times
And enable our church to continue doing the work of the Lord
And in Jesus name I pray Amen
Amen
Look at verse number 1 again
The Bible says this
Am I not an apostle
Am I not free
Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord
Are not ye my work in the Lord
If I be not an apostle unto others
Yet doubtless I am to you
For the seal of mine apostleship
Are ye in the Lord
My answer to them that do examine me in this
Have we not power to eat and to drink
And we see here in
First Corinthians chapter number 9
The apostle Paul is talking to the church
At Corinth and
He's bringing up this fact that some people
Are attacking who the apostle Paul is
They're attacking the motives
They're attacking the fact that
Some people are getting paid by the church
There's a lot of different accusations
That are being kind of hurled here
Or things that he's at least addressing
And specifically verse 3
He's saying my answer to them that do examine me
Is this
So there's a lot of people that are trying to
Poke at the apostle Paul
And they're questioning is this guy really an apostle
Or you know they're asking questions like
You know who is this guy
You know why are we giving money to the church
There's just a lot of naysayers
And people kind of attacking his
Position and the reality is
There's no new thing under the sun
This happens all the time
Where people are questioning the authority
And the legitimacy of a pastor
Or can pastors get paid
Or the legitimacy of ministry
And the apostle Paul
Is making it clear like to this church
He's saying you know
If I'm not an apostle to other people
So be it but I'm obviously
An apostle to you guys
I mean there's no doubt or question whether or not
I'm an apostle to you guys
I got you guys saved
I've reached the gospel
I've done all kinds of wonders and works
You've seen the works that I've done
You know that I'm an apostle
And if I'm an apostle
Then he's saying in verse 4
Have we not power to eat and to drink
Now he's not saying do I have the ability
To physically eat food or to drink
What he's talking about is money
For the things that he needs
Like eating and drinking
We all need to eat and we all need to drink
And he says in verse 5
Have we not power to lead about a sister
A wife as well as other apostles
And as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas
So he's saying not only should I be able
To have money
To provide for eating and drinking
I should have the money to provide
For a wife
I should have the money
Like other apostles
Like Cephas which is Peter
This is the apostle Peter
And he's saying these guys have families
These guys have to provide for their needs
And I should have the same right
The same privilege
Of being able to be paid
To take care of that
Verse 6
So he's pointing out
Not only should they have the ability
To get paid to eat and to drink
And even provide for their family
But even here specifically
Not even having to work at all
For bear means to not
Or to stop doing something
He's saying I should have the ability or the power
To even just completely stop
Making money
And just being provided for
By the church
He says in verse 7
Who goeth the warfare at any time
At his own charges
Or who planted the vineyard and eateth not
Of the fruit thereof
Or who feedeth the flock
Say I of these things is a man
Or sayeth not the law the same also
So he's saying
Who signs up for the military
And they're like alright we're going to need you to buy some boots
We're going to need you to buy some camo
You need to buy a gun
You need to buy some bullets
Buy a tank
We need you to buy a plane ticket to the Middle East
Like nobody's going to the military
And paying their way
He's saying they're going to pay for the things they need
Don't they feed the military?
Don't they even pay them wages
On top of all the needs
And the things that they're giving them
He's saying not only that
If you were to plant a vineyard
Aren't you going to be able to eat
Of the fruit of that vineyard that you planted
I mean if you go out and you plant
Some kind of an orchard
Or you plant for tomatoes or whatever
Shouldn't you have the right to then eat
Some of those tomatoes and eat some of the food
That's coming from that vineyard
Or if you're taking care of a flock
Or whatever
Is it not okay for that guy to at least milk the cow
And take some of the milk of the cow
That he's literally providing for
And then he says
Am I just saying these things like it's my personal opinion
Or just what I think
He's saying doesn't the law of God also say this?
Verse 9
For it is written in the law of Moses
Thou shall not muzzle the mouths of the ox
That treadeth out the corn
He says, doth God take care of the ox
And that's a good verse
He didn't really care about cows so much
That he was like, I want to give you guys
This law of God
I mean the law of God given by Moses
Because he's just so
He's just so concerned about cows
Making sure they get fed
Or is he saying it's another reason
Well, let's see
He says, or say thee it all together for our sakes
For our sakes, no doubt
He's saying, this was not about cows here
I'm just proving a point
Through a carnal example
He's saying, this is written
That he that ploweth should plow in hope
And that he that threshest in hope
Should be partaker of his hope
If we have sown in you spiritual things
Is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things
He's saying, man, if I'm coming here giving you
Carnal blessings
And I'm benefiting people carnally
Or I'm sorry, spiritually
How much less is it for me to reap something carnally
From you
He's saying the spiritual things are way more beneficial
More of value than carnal things
So why is it such a big deal
If I reap a carnal thing back
When I'm sowing unto you spiritual things
Verse 12
If others be partakers of this power over you
Are not we rather?
Nevertheless, we have not used this power
But suffer all things
Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ
And this is where I want to kind of focus
My sermon on this evening
Is this last little verse here
But I'm just kind of building up the context
And I'm helping you understand this chapter
But he's saying, man, if
If other people are able
To take advantage of this opportunity
Take advantage of being paid carnally
Or taking care of their needs carnally
He's like, then how are we not
Able to take care of that
But the apostle Paul says
I didn't do that though
He's saying I didn't get any money
For my food
I didn't get any money for my drink
I didn't get any money to pay for my family
I didn't get any money to stop working
He says the reason why I didn't do that
Is because I didn't want to hinder
The gospel of Jesus Christ
And the title of my sermon this evening
Is this
The problems with deputation
Okay
Now what do you
You may not know what deputation even is
But what I'm talking about
Is specific to missionaries
Now a lot of churches have missionaries today
And when we talk about
Independent fundamental Baptists
Deputation is a big deal
It's a big thing
It's really only in independent fundamental Baptist circles
That deputation exists
But I'll tell you
I get emails
I would say for sure every week
Usually multiple times a week
I get emails from missionaries
Wanting to come present at my church
Because they're on deputation
Or they're trying to go into deputation
Or they're wanting to do this
And they're like hey I'm going to be
Of course there's like a thousand Baptist churches
In the Dallas-Fort Worth area
So they literally hit up every single Baptist church
In that area because they want to go to like four or five
Or ten as many as they can while they're here
Okay
And if they're hitting me up
They're hitting everybody up okay
Just FYI alright
But I get hit up a lot
And I get calls
I mean I've gotten all kinds of calls
Emails, we've had them show up
Like hey brother, hey pastor
Can I present tonight, can I
You know go in front of the congregation
And I have yet to do that
To allow that to happen
But here's the thing
I have a lot of problems with deputation
Okay
And here's my number one point
For this evening is it's not biblical
I'm sorry
But deputation is not found in your Bible
Okay
I don't believe in it, I don't agree with it
I believe you probably do
But deputation is where a church
Has a particular missionary
And they want to send them out
But the church cannot provide
For that missionary
Okay
The church doesn't have enough money to provide for that missionary
And the missionary is unwilling
To work
So what he does is
He goes to other churches
And basically tells them his plan
Of what he wants to do
Where he's gonna serve, where he's gonna go
Whatever
And hope that they'll also
Provide him with support financially
They'll also give him money
And so essentially
You have people go on what's called deputation
Where they'll take a year or two years
And they'll literally travel across America
To as many independent fundamental Baptist churches
As they possibly can
And they'll present their plan
Of what they're gonna do
Asking for money
For support
Then they'll go and do their missionary work
And then they'll go to this country or whatever
A lot of them are told
That they need to have like a scouting mission
Initially where they go
And they just kind of visit
Take a bunch of pictures so they have something to put in their slideshow
Okay
But
Where in the Bible
Do you find this example
Nowhere
There is nowhere in the Bible
And he's like okay I need to wait
And I'm gonna try and raise money from a whole bunch of people
Before I go
And in fact this passage
Teaches the exact opposite of
Deputation
The apostle Paul
Who has every right, privilege
And reason to take money from the church
Is not taking it
Okay
Now I'm not saying that it's wrong to take money
He's over emphasizing that it's totally fine
To take money
Look at the verses I just read to you again
Okay what did he say
He said in verse number 7
Who planted the vineyard and eateth not the fruit thereof
He didn't say
Who eats fruits and then later plants a vineyard
He's saying
He's eating the fruit of the vineyard
That he planted right
Or it doesn't say who's drinking milk
And then later gets a flock
No you feed the flock then you eat
Look what he says in verse number 10
He that ploweth should plow in hope
Now plowing in hope means
You're doing work
Hoping that you'll get a return
Out of that plowing
But again it's not receiving something
And then planning to do future work
Imagine you're going to your boss
Or imagine going to a company and saying
I'd really like to work for you guys in the future
Would you be willing to pay me my salary now
It's like
What? Nobody does that
Almost no one ever gets paid
Before they do any work
You go and work for two weeks
And then you get a paycheck
Maybe there's a signing bonus
But it's usually still attached to that paycheck
After you've done some work
So why is it that a missionary
Is then going to do the exact opposite
Of every single one of these examples
The exact opposite
Of what the Apostle Paul is doing
It doesn't make any sense
Verse 13 says this
Do you not know that they which minister
About holy things
Live of the things of the temple
And they which wait at the altar
Are partakers with the altar
Even so that the Lord ordained
That they which preach the gospel
Should live of the gospel
And you say well Pastor Shelley
They're preaching the gospel
Here's my problem with the deputation
They're not preaching the gospel
They're going around telling everybody
How they're going to preach the gospel in the future
It's like
Why don't you just go and do it now
What's stopping somebody
From going ahead and preaching the gospel
Now go to Acts chapter 13 for a moment
Now that we've kind of got an idea
Of what we're talking about
They raise support before they're going to be a missionary
But this is because
They don't understand
That according to the Bible
Every single person in this room
That is saved is already a missionary
You're already a missionary
And there's no one stopping you
From being a missionary
The only person stopping you
From being a missionary right now is you
You are the only person
Stopping you from being a missionary
It's not like well if I get money
Look you can go up and down your neighborhood
And preach the gospel for free
You can show up at church
And we'll give you everything
We'll give you a ride
We'll give you water
We'll give you the Bibles
We'll give you the tracts
And you can go out and preach the gospel
I've never charged anybody to preach the gospel
At my church
Never will
You realize that you're a missionary
And here's the thing
A soul is a soul
Why is a soul in Africa worth more than a soul over here?
And it's like
Well I just have a burden for souls
And it's like okay
Well there's a lot over here
There's a lot right outside
Why do you have to just go to Africa
To preach the gospel to people
And it's like well everybody here is saved
Whoa no
Everybody here is already a Christian
It's like what?
Wake up
Our country is not Christian
Even Barack Obama
Said it's not Christian
It's not
I think that there was some article I saw recently
It said finally
According to some poll
Less than half of the country even claims to be Christian
We're talking about claims
Like legitimately
And honestly when we knock on doors
Most of these people are not going to church
Most of the people haven't got
You ask them hey do you go to church
Yeah which one
It's like something
It's like you don't go to church
You can't even come up with the name of the church
It's like where is it
It's like over there
Do you just drive by it
And think that you go there every once in a while
Did you think about
Did you get a mailer one time
That doesn't mean you're a member
The reality is
There's so many people that you can be preaching the gospel to
While you're here
It blows my mind
These people that are like
Man I need to spend years raising support
So I can finally preach the gospel to someone
It's like
Right here
You don't need any money
Homeless people can preach the gospel
Acts 13 verse 1
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch
Certain prophets and teachers
Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger
And Lucius of Cyrena and Manan
Which had been brought up with Herod the tea-chark
And Saul
As they ministered to the Lord and fasted
The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul
For the work where into I have called them
And when they fasted and prayed
They laid their hands on them
They sent them away
And then they went to all kinds of churches
That verse doesn't exist does it?
Then the apostle Paul went
Now here's the thing
How much deputation did Paul do?
Zero
How is Paul going to go out and preach the gospel if nobody gives him money?
He's going to work
They didn't say hey Paul
We have a special job for you to preach the gospel
And he was just like
Well I'm not going to do it unless people are going to pay me to do it
Unless I'm going to get a ton of money
And it's completely free to me
And I don't want to do any work while I'm there
You know
I don't want to have to get my hands dirty or do anything
This is a ridiculous idea
This is so contrary to so many Bible verses
Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3
And I love the fact that the apostle Paul
Having every right
To take a paycheck while he's out there
Didn't even want to take a dime from so many different people
To set some kind of an example
Yet the biggest group of missionaries today
They won't lift a finger
Unless they have everything paid for
It's like
Paul is our example
Not in any way
We're going to follow the apostle Paul
Not in this way
2 Thessalonians chapter 3
Look at verse number 6
Now we command you brethren
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
That you withdraw yourselves from every brother
That walketh this orderly
And not after the tradition
Which he received of us
For yourselves know how you ought to follow us
For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you
Neither did we eat any man's bread for naught
But wrought with labor and travail night and day
That we might not be chargeable to any of you
Not because we have not a power
But to make ourselves an ensemble unto you
To follow us
So he's saying you know what
When I showed up
I sent from a single person
That I didn't work for
He's saying everything that I had
I literally worked for
I'm not taking any money of you guys
I don't even want a dollar
He says even though I had all the power
And all the right to do so
And he says you know why?
Because I want you to do exactly like I'm doing
Yet then you have a whole group of missionaries today
Coming around on deputation
Saying they're going to do the exact opposite
Saying oh come give me money
To go preach the gospel
And it's like oh we got soul winning at two
Well I don't have time to show up for that
You can't even go with me to preach the gospel now
But you expect me to pay you to do it supposedly in the future
What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?
I'm not going to do that
That's not biblical
Hey if you really want to be the apostle Paul
Why don't you find a way to work where you're going to do evangelism
You know it doesn't make any sense to say I want to go on
I want to go to this country
I want to go to Hawaii and be an evangelist
I want to work while I'm there
That's called vacation
That's called an all expense paid vacation
That's not called missionary work
That's not called being an evangelist
It's certainly not following the steps of Paul
He worked
And not only did he preach the gospel
And do just an amazing amount of work
He worked with his own hands too
Go to Acts chapter 18
Acts chapter 18
And you say well how do you expect them to travel to all these different places
If they're paying their way
Well how did Paul do it?
Hey let me give you a list of some places Paul went
Rome
Corinth
Ephesus
Philippi
Colossi
Thessalonica
Berea
Seleucia
Cyprus
Salamis
Paphos
Antioch
Pisidia
Iconium
Lystra
Derby
Athaliah
Phinnis
Samaria
Cilicia
Phrygia
Mygia
Troas
Samothracia
Neapolis
I said Philippi
Amphipolis
Ampolonia
Thyatira
Greece
Assos
Mydalene
Cayo
Samos
Trogillium
Miletus
They'd be like I need ten billion dollars or whatever
Paul did it all for free!
And a bunch of
missionaries want to come
and take money from a local
church when they won't even walk outside
and preach the gospel in many cases
In many cases they're too
lazy to even go out
and preach the gospel to their neighbor
but you expect me to believe
that they're going to go into some
foreign country, some foreign
land and be an on fire evangelist
Look
You play like you practice
Practice?
We're talking about practice?
Yeah we're talking about practice
Hey show me
show me some practice
Hey you want to go to Africa?
I know some apartments
Let's go there
Show me how you're going to preach them the gospel
Hey you can reach any
continent you want here in Dallas-Fort Worth area
We got it all
You going to go reach the Hindus?
Come show me
I'm going to reach the Muslims
Good luck, let's go
I want to see it
You can come with me
You know the apostle Paul
was working a full time secular job
Look at Acts 18 verse number 1
After these things Paul departed from
Athens and came to Corinth
and found a certain Jew named Akila
born in Pontus
Lately come from Italy with his wife
Priscilla because that Claudius had commanded
all Jews to depart from Rome
I don't know it was because of the money lending or something
He says and came unto them
and because he was of the same craft
He abode with them and wrought for by their
occupation they were tent makers
So does the apostle Paul stand with
Akila and Priscilla because they're tent makers
So we have the apostle Paul
We have Akila and Priscilla
Some of the greatest evangelists mentioned in the Bible
And they all work a regular job
And you know what? Some of the greatest
evangelists in our church, they work a regular job
They're a tent maker
They're a plumber, they're an electrician
They deliver mail, they do whatever
Why?
Because the same people that know how to work
in the secular world are the same people that know
how to work in the spiritual world
And the same people that know how to be lazy
in the secular world are the same people that know
how to be lazy in the spiritual world
And you know what? I'm sick
and tired of all these
muchinaries stealing
money from churches
You're the worst scum when you're getting
paid by the church and you're not
doing the work of God
What a jerk
I mean it's one thing
to be lazy when you work for McDonald's
or something, it's one thing to be
lazy when you work for
Target over here, but it's way
worse to be lazy when you work for the church
When you're working for God
What a shame
And you know what?
There's nothing wrong with a church
paying a missionary
100%
There's nothing wrong with a church
paying a missionary a really good wage
I have no problem
You know what?
If the church is going to pay their way, they should
take that very seriously
And you know what? They should do things according to the Bible
And if you want to be
paid, well you better start plowing
and plowing hope
You better start threshing and threshing
and hope
You better start doing the work. Look, if you can't be great
now, why would you be great
later?
And hey, I want
I'd love to pay for an evangelist
or a missionary to go out and
do the work of the Lord, but let me tell you what
You better show yourself
worthy here
If you want that
out there
Here's my point number two
of the problem I have with
deputation
is it's a carnal preparation
instead of a spiritual preparation
It's a carnal preparation
instead of a spiritual preparation
And here's the thing
I'm not up here just giving you problems
I'm giving you solutions
I have no problem with sending out missionaries
Hey, if we have somebody that's on fire that's going to
turn the whole world upside down with the gospel
Let's pay his entire way
I don't have a problem
But you know what? There's nothing wrong with
anybody in this room at any point saying, you know what?
I'm just going to move to this place and work
and just preach the gospel for the rest of my life
You could be the Apostle Paul
No one's going to stop you
from being the Apostle Paul by yourself whenever you want
So go for it
But you know what? If you want me to pay for you
You better do some great things here
You better show yourself
to be a faithful evangelist here
You say, I've brought zero people to church here
Well, why would I believe you're going to
bring people to church somewhere else then?
That's weird
You know, it's weird
what these people are proposing
And in fact, when they show up
they're not showing up saying, hey, Pastor Shelley
We want to go in the neighborhood
and preach the gospel and try to bring as many people
to your church to show you
how interested we are in
growing churches and that in the future
maybe you would maybe help us
or maybe you could provide support for us
We're not doing that. You know what? They're coming
They're coming to show me a PowerPoint presentation
that's boring
Here's us with our hats
at Disney World in Europe
Oh, cool
Here's us
building a well
Here's us talking to somebody
We didn't even speak their language
They didn't speak ours, but it was a really friendly conversation
You think I'm joking
They'll show this stuff
And then they'll just show
these pictures of just land
The hills of wherever
They'll show you just people walking
in a busy area
And you're just like, okay
And then they'll show you
all the TV commercials
Poor kid playing in a puddle
You know, and it's like
Little Timmy needs
someone to preach him the gospel
or whatever, and I'm just thinking like
What does this have to do
with the Bible?
This is just a
carnal presentation
I've been through sales pitches before
I've seen the sad
Sarah McLaughlin video for the puppy
You know, they're way more
sad than the African
The puppies
and they're like
It's like, who's
gonna save it? Who's gonna rescue it?
You know
It's just a joke, it's a scam
They're just tugging on your heartstrings
pretending like they're gonna save somebody
You think that they save puppies when you give them
money, they don't, they're just laughing all the way to the bank
They don't
really care about puppies, they're not saving any
puppies, and they're not saving anybody in Africa
And if you want to save somebody in Africa, there's
an African apartment over here, let's go preach
the gospel to them then
Since you care so much
They just travel to churches
to sell themselves
They travel to churches to sell them
the idea of preaching the gospel
And it's just a
joke, my friend
Why would I spend two years traveling
around to a bunch of churches
that I don't know them, they don't know me
I'm just gonna get up and I'm gonna present
the idea of preaching the gospel to a foreign land
And sometimes they're like
We want to go to North Korea
And I'm like, what?
They're like, we don't even know how we're
gonna get in yet, but just
think of how much they need the gospel
And you're like
Everyone needs the gospel
Good luck getting over there
Good luck
I remember this guy, he's like
Hispanic, speaks Spanish
And he wants to go to like Morocco
Where they don't speak
Spanish
And I'm thinking like, how about Mexico
Mexico
He's like, I'm Juan Carlos
There was another guy who was Hispanic, he wanted to go to Japan
And I'm like, do you speak
Japanese? No
Do you speak Spanish? Yes
I'm like, I feel like the Lord's calling
you to a different area of the world, buddy
It's like it doesn't
even make sense
And so, why would it make sense to take someone
that speaks Spanish and be like
well let's spend a bunch of money trying to get you
to learn Japanese to go to Japan
Rather than
you can just go to the apartment complex
with me that speaks Spanish right now and get a
bunch of people saved right now
Well that sounds like
doing something spiritual, you're right
Why don't you have a spiritual
preparation instead of a carnal preparation
My problem with
deputation is it's no spiritual
preparation, it's a carnal preparation
Raising money, asking for money
Going around begging for money
You're really a glorified panhandler
And I don't like panhandlers
Going around begging for money
Not doing any work
We'll work really hard when we show up at the one service
We'll lead a song
It's like, wow
How much money
Let's just start loading your pockets up with dollars now
Let's just give you
the whole, let's give you
thousands to come sing us a song
The come preach here are just
one little sermonette that you preach every single
church that you go and visit
And it's going to be about how to get
people saved and you won't tell us how to get people saved
while you do it
Hey you know if you really want to be a missionary
you know what you should be doing? Reading the Bible
Memorizing scripture
Being fluent in the language that you're
going to go
Cause you already speak English
Why don't, there's plenty of English people
to give the gospel to
Cause you want to go to an area where you're less
effective at preaching the gospel
That doesn't even make sense
How about just go soul winning
How about bringing people in the church you're already attending
If you can't bring
somebody into a thriving church
Why would I expect you to bring
people into a church that has nobody
That doesn't even
make sense
Hey you want to be a Spanish missionary
Why don't you get them to come to Spanish service
We already have a great
opportunity to bring people
to a Spanish service and you're like
well I'd just love to go to Mexico
and go on the beach
and drink pina coladas
It's like well that's not the work of the Lord
You, go do that
on your time off
But hey if you want to be a Spanish
missionary it's right here
In fact a majority, a large percentage
of the people that live here are Spanish speaking
I run into them all the time
I'm going soul winning
I think I get more people saved in Spanish than English
honestly
And I'm not great at preaching the gospel in Spanish
I'm just barely good enough
I'm a gringo okay
I get it
They laugh when I say that
I'm like I'm soy gringo
But the reality is
Why would you not work spiritually
instead of carnally
Go to Matthew chapter 10
Let's just think about the Bible
What did Jesus Christ do?
Did he get 12 guys to go around with them
and beg for money for three and a half years?
Or were they doing spiritual works
for three and a half years?
He was about to prepare them
to be the greatest missionaries ever
What'd they do for three and a half years?
Umm
Spiritual things
They're sitting there with the word of God
Learning from the word of God on a daily
regular basis
And you know what they're also doing
Look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 1
So he's giving his 12 disciples
a bunch of power and authority
Look what he says in verse number 7
Notice this
He's saying hey come with me
and let's do a bunch of work
The disciples worked
They went out and preached the gospel
That's what they were doing
They weren't getting an extra paycheck either
They're just basically getting their needs met for
while they're with Jesus Christ
He says freely received
Freely give
They're going out and just making the gospel
free to every single person
Go to John chapter number 3
Not only are they preaching the gospel
Not only are they doing great works
They're traveling everywhere
Look what it says in John chapter number 3
and look at verse number 22
John chapter 3 look at verse number 22
So the Bible says that Jesus and his disciples were baptizing
Look at chapter 4 verse 1
Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples
Not only are the disciples
going out and preaching the gospel
They're literally baptizing people
They're literally doing the spiritual works
I want to know how many of these
missionaries show up
and have baptized a single person
in their life
How many of these people are they getting saved
and baptized on a regular basis here
but they're going to baptize hordes
in this foreign country, this foreign land
that they're going to go to
Why don't you do it here?
Notice what Jesus and his disciples are doing
They're doing the works here
Go to Acts chapter number 1
Now when they're looking for a replacement
for Judas
because Judas was not a superstar apostle
He was not doing anything beneficial
He was wicked
and he went straight to hell
when he killed himself
That was the only benefit
he did to society is killing himself
I wish every other false prophet
would kill themselves
Acts chapter 1, look at verse 21
Wherefore of these men
which have accompanied with us
all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us
beginning from the baptism of John
in the same day that he was taken up from us
must one be ordained to be witness with us
of his resurrection
So they're trying to pick a replacement for Jesus Christ
What are the qualifications?
The guy that's been working for three and a half years
The guy that's been baptizing
and been preaching and been doing all the works
and has been with us
and been laboring
That's the guy that we're going to ordain
That's the guy that we're going to send out with us
That's the guy that's going to do the great works
Don't tell me all the great works you're going to do
Show me all the great works you're doing
Why don't you do the works here?
Go if you went to
Acts chapter 6
Acts chapter number 6
Here's another group of people they want to ordain
send out and do works for the Lord
What are they looking for?
And they give a list of other men
But it's like who are they looking for when they're going to ordain somebody?
Somebody that's already awesome already
Somebody that's already doing the great works now
Somebody that's already full of the Holy Ghost
Somebody that's already preaching great sermons
and doing all the works here
It's like let's take this guy that's doing awesome
and commission him to do even more
and allow him to do it
at full force
Doing it even greater
Go to 2 Timothy chapter number 2
Instead of having all these carnal preparations
why not spiritual preparations?
I mean imagine, a person comes to me
and says, hey, I want to be an evangelist in two years from now
and I say, ok, well travel the whole
United States and ask for money
What's different between them
and a bum?
And look
all the bums that come to our church
they tell us that God sent them here
They're like, I'm on a mission and God told me to come here
and I feel like I'm led to be here
and I'm going to do great works
and I'm so excited to start going soul winning
but then they never show up at soul winning time
and then they're never getting anybody saved
and they're never doing it
They're going to tell you about all the great things they're doing
Hey, it reminds me of somebody
Oh yeah, muchinaries
Going around telling you all the works they're going to do
Look, there's two kinds of people
People that work and people that tell you they're going to work
The people that tell you that you're going to work
aren't working
Hey, in all labor there's profit
but the talk of the lips tends only to penury
Don't tell
If you need to have someone just tell you
how good they are
and if they don't show you it's because they're not good
People that are doing great works
don't even need to tell you
You can just see it
You can just experience it
by being in their presence
2 Timothy 2, look at verse 1
Notice, he says, hey, I want you to
commission other people
I want you to ordain other people
but who does he say you need to do it to?
Faithful men
Now here's the thing
How can I literally commission and give money to somebody
that I just met five minutes ago?
How do I even know this guy's faithful?
Faithful in what?
Show me that you're faithful
before you want me to do anything with you
He says
Now here's the thing
He says if you're going to go do a spiritual war
you're not going to entangle yourself
with the affairs of this life
But what are they doing?
They're entangling themselves with the affairs of life
They're just going and asking for money
A glorified sales pitch
And they're entangling themselves with all these churches
They're entangling themselves with all these different affairs
Look, that's not a good preparation
if you're going to go out and do great works for the Lord
Going around begging for money
asking for money
No
Also, it says in verse 6
So it's saying the guy that's doing all this work
He's entitled to
enjoying the fruit of his work
the fruit of his labor first
But here's the thing
They're not enjoying the fruit of their labor
Other men's labors
The work that other men have done
And the apostle Paul, when he's talking to the Corinthian church
That's a church he founded
That's a church that he built up
And he's saying, I have power, of course
to take of your carnal things here
You know, it's not like I don't
But at the end of the day, why would some
random yahoo get to come in here
and just reap the benefits of other ministers
and other laborers when they've done nothing
They've done no work
No effort, no energy
This is like a rich parent
giving all of their money to their kid
who's done nothing
That is a recipe for disaster
Look, it's nothing wrong
with giving your children lots of money
You know what? You need to make them work for it
And you should make it hard on them
And you should teach them
how to earn the stuff that they work for
Because if you just give people
a bunch of money and they didn't earn it
They won't care for it
They won't treat it with respect
And you know what? It's a sick
carnal preparation to have
people get all this money
to go and do the work of the Lord
Hey, why don't you do the work of the Lord for free for a while
And then we'll see if we want to pay you to do it
And because you want faithful men
You know, the last thing you want is a compromiser
And let me tell you what, these missionaries are all compromisers
Because they have to go around
And they have to get money from multiple churches
And so their doctrinal statement
is the lowest common denominator
of all those churches
That's a bad preparation
Point number one, it's not biblical
Point two, it's a carnal prep
Point three, they're a bunch of compromisers
These missionaries
You know, they never come and ask me questions
about doctrine
They're never concerned about doctrine
In fact, I can believe a completely different gospel
than them, but as long as I give them money
they're fine with that
And it's interesting
When I come and I start asking them questions about salvation
They just start saying everything
Until I start saying something
And then they just hone in on what I'm saying
I remember this family came
And they came to our service
And they sat through it and smiled
And acted like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread
And then he's coming up and asking me for money
And I'm like
So what do you believe someone has to do to get saved
And what do you teach about salvation
He's like, well you got to repent of your sins
And you know, you really got to
You really got to surrender
And serve the Lord
And I let him say that for like five minutes straight
Before I said anything
Then I'm just like, well don't you think it's like faith alone
Yeah, it's absolutely faith
It has nothing to do
You don't have to repent of your sins
Just totally 180
Why?
Because these people just say whatever you want to hear
So that you'll give them money
They've learned to be a compromiser
They've learned to be someone
This is the worst person to send out
To go take the world upside down
With the gospel as a compromiser
Hey, I want somebody
That actually believes what they say
That doesn't care
What other people think
They know what the Bible says
And they're going to stand firm on the word of God
They're a faithful man
They're not going to be taken off of the doctrine
They're not going to be persuaded in another direction
They're not some reed shaking with the wind
They're a John the Baptist
Hey, they'll get their head taken off
Before they'll change on doctrine
Look in 2 Timothy 1 verse 13
Hey, it's your job
To keep the things that you've been ordained with
To keep the instructions
To keep the doctrine
Not go out and reinvent it
Not go out and compromise
At the quickest drop of a hat
But rather to be faithful
To what you've been taught
To stick with what you've been taught
What a shame if you get ordained as a Baptist
And become a Pentecostal
You get ordained as someone that believes in faith alone
And you become a Pentecostal
That's not a faithful person
That's not someone that's keeping honest
With what they've been taught
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 1
1 Timothy chapter 1
How can I have respect for anybody that comes to my church
And doesn't even ask a single doctrinal question
When they don't even know us?
How can I sit here and think
That you have any doctrinal integrity
When you don't even care to ask me doctrinal questions?
That's not someone that cares about doctrine
That's someone that cares only about money
The only wants to know how much money I can give them
How much financial support I can give them
1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3
That thou mightest charge some
That they teach no other doctrine
Neither give heed to fables
And endless genealogies
Which minister questions
Rather than godly edifying witches in faith so do
Now the end of the commandment is charity
Out of a pure heart and of a good conscience
And of faith unfeigned
From which some having swerved
Turn aside into vain jingling
Desiring to be teachers of the law
Understanding neither what they say
Nor whereof they affirm
There's all these pretenders out there
There's all these yahoos
That don't even have the right doctrine out there Timothy
Don't be like that
And tell your men to not be like that
Well if you're constantly hammering people
Like have the right doctrine
Don't compromise
Don't associate with the pretenders
Then don't you think it'd make sense
That someone that's going out
Would maybe test people that they don't know
On what they believe
Like I don't know 1 John chapter 4 verse 1
You know what I've never heard of
I've never heard of a missionary
Going to a church on deputation
And saying I didn't want their money
Because they're not doctrinally sound
Isn't that interesting
The Bible's telling us that the majority are
Compromisers and there's all these false prophets
And false teachers
Yet these missionaries seem to have no problem
Every church they show up
They'll take their money
Isn't that interesting
Yeah and obviously they're not going to Joel Osteen
But every independent fundamental Baptist church
Is not a good church my friend
And to say that you can have fellowship
With every single independent fundamental Baptist
Is just a compromiser
There I said it
There's some bad independent fundamental Baptist
There are some wicked unsaved independent fundamental Baptist
They should take Baptist
Off of the sign probably too
Look at verse number 18
This charge I commit unto thee son Timothy
According to the prophets as you went before on thee
That thou by them mightest war a good warfare
Holding faith and of a good conscience
Which some having put away concerning faith
Have made shipwreck
Of whom is I am an ace in Alexander
Whom I have delivered unto Satan
That they may not learn to blaspheme
He's saying look there's these guys
They just shipwreck the faith
Destroying the faith
Yet these evangelists
These missionaries they don't seem to care about that
I never seem to be bombarded with questions
Like hey pastor Shelly
We would really like to know what you believe about anything
They don't care
I guarantee if they looked at our doctrinal statement
They probably wouldn't have sent me the email in the first place
They don't care about doctrinal integrity
They don't care about what the word of God says
They're not going to hold fast the faithful word
Look at chapter 4 verse 16
Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine
Continue in them
For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself
And them that hear thee
The instruction to a pastor
The instruction to the leader
The instruction to the person that's going to go out
And plant churches and start churches
And lead people spiritually
You notice the most important thing that they are
Doctrinally sound
Not willing to compromise on doctrine
Yet these people
They're such compromisers
And they think they're going to go out and lead people spiritually
Who cares that you have the money to go out and see them
If you don't have a good message to give them
Look it's all about the message
Why are you going to go out and start a church
When you don't even care what the doctrine is
Look we need people that care about the doctrine more than the money
We need people that care about the truth more than the money
Those are going to be the people that turn the world upside down with the gospel
Not the guy that's concerned if he gets his paycheck taken care of
That guy is going to quickly change his doctrine
That guy is going to quickly compromise
That guy has no integrity
Go to second Timothy chapter four
Second Timothy chapter number four
Look at verse number two
Look there's going to be so many people that don't want to hear the truth
It's your job to preach the truth
And whenever you've already shown that you're just going to take the paycheck
Over preaching what people need to hear
And saying what people need to hear
Why would you do it when it's your own congregation
You're not
The same compromiser here is the same compromiser there
And the same guy that will preach you the hard truth here is the same guy that will preach you the hard truth there
And look the pastor is supposed to be like an evangelist
So if he's supposed to do the work of an evangelist
I'm assuming the evangelist needs to be in the same like manner of not being a compromiser
Of preaching the word
Of preaching the gospel
Go if you would to Titus chapter number three
It might be flip a page once
Point number four I have last two points quickly that I want to finish on
Number one problem I have with deputation is not biblical
Number two it's a carnal prep not a spiritual prep
Number three it's a compromise
They compromise to get as much money as possible from as many hands as give it to them
Whereas the Bible is teaching the exact opposite
The Bible is teaching you to start standing firm on the doctrines you've been taught
On getting away from the high menaces and alexanders
Of dividing away from the false prophets
Of marking and avoiding them
It's not telling you to join hands with as many people as you can
It's telling you to preach the truth no matter who's on your side
You should be becoming more independent
Not more dependent
I thought we were independent fundamental Baptist churches
Yet the missionaries are dependent missionaries aren't they
Dependent on all these churches to give them their handouts
Here's my fourth point
Of why I have a problem with
Deputation is where's the accountability
Where's the accountability
You know who's the missionary really accountable to
And you know these these churches they don't really keep tabs on all their missionaries
I mean like the church I was going to that 150 missionaries
You can't keep tabs on 150 missionaries
Good luck
They're not checking up on them and they send them letters
And I read the letter and I'm thinking like if I read that letter
I'd fire you in a second
It's like they get these letters and it's like
Well Susie she cleaned the whole house this month
And you know little Timmy
He's starting to say his first Japanese word
And you know I'm in my third year of language school
I've almost gotten to the point where I can say I love you Jesus
And you know
So and so you know Billy
He was going to come to and it's not Billy
Because it's you know it's like
But it's like little Billy
Billy he got an invite
And he really said he said he was going to come to church
Who's heard that?
Please pray with us that Billy's going to come to church on Sunday
And we'll get a chance to give him the gospel
And it's like you talk to this guy and you didn't even give him the gospel
I'm not joking
This is read before the whole church
As the example
As the model of an evangelist
And you're thinking like what in the world
And you know what it discourages all the young people from becoming an evangelist
Because they're like wow it's that hard
I don't want to do that
I don't want to go to Japan and struggle for years to try to learn the language
And hope that little Billy's going to come
You know
They're like reading the book of Acts where people are getting saved on every single page
And it's like you know no one ever gets saved
In Siberia or Japan or wherever they're at
Nicaragua
Wherever they're going
It's ridiculous
Here's another thing
Shouldn't the church have some accountability for the money that they give it to?
And how responsible is it for me to give money to a random person I just met five minutes ago
That claims they're going to do work
Does that sound like a good idea?
Does that sound like I'm being very responsible with God's money
When I'm just willing to give it to any random person that just shows up?
Look at Titus chapter 3 verse 10
A man that is an heretic after the first and second ammunition reject
Hey some of these missionaries they show up
They're literal heretics
And you know you find out you ask them doctrinal questions
But I guarantee these people are not used to being grilled on all the things that they believe
I remember there was a guy he called me from Germany
And I didn't realize this
Don't answer calls from Germany because you get like $20 charge of your phone bill
This guy charged me $20
I'm just getting a call I just answered I didn't realize it was from Germany
Some missionary got her phone number somehow
Calling me from Germany
And he's like you know trying to get me to give him money or whatever
In a couple years I'll come back to the United States
Can I come preach for you or something?
And I'm like okay well tell me about you know your church or whatever
And he's like well my father started this church 20 years ago
He was in a German village
And I said okay well how many is your church running?
He said 12
So you've been you've had this church for 20 years and you're running 12
He's like yeah we're in a village of 600
And I was like well do you go solo winning?
And he's like yeah
And he's like but we've already talked to every single person in the village
And I'm just like have you thought about going to a bigger area?
Thought about going to another area?
He's like yeah I've thought about that
And I'm thinking like what?
So I started asking him questions on how to get saved
And he's like well you've got to repent of your sins
You've got to turn over your life
He says in fact I don't really like the solo winning
Because I don't want to just go to a door and pray with someone
And they don't really mean it
Because if they don't really mean it they're not going to get saved
I only want to pray with people when they really mean it
So they need to get in church for six months
And start coming and being faithful or whatever
And I'm just thinking like this guy is such a heretic
And I kind of was asking these questions
And I was like so where in the Bible says you have to repent of your sins?
To be saved
This is his next statement
Do you believe in the pre-trib rapture?
And I said what does that have to do with the gospel?
And he's like are you post-trib?
And I was like yeah I'm post-trib
And he's like I got to go bye and hung up on me
I kid you not
These guys are such losers
He knew who he was talking to after he asked that question didn't he?
Are you pre-trib?
He probably doesn't even care about the rapture
But he realizes look he's a fraud
Why would I give money to a guy that's been in an area of 600 people?
He can't even give the gospel right
They have 12 people coming to church after 20 years
Yet I guarantee there's dozens of other churches giving him money
Because he still exists
How can you expect me to want to give that person money?
This person has no accountability
How could any of those churches giving him money still support that?
And still say like okay I want to let you know about a missionary
We're giving this guy a bunch of money
He's been there for 20 years
They have 12 people in their church
They don't even have the right gospel
Everybody in the church would be like why are we giving him money?
Why do they give him money?
Because they want to have a list in their bulletin of 150 names
And tell you how great they are and how much money they give
We give $500,000 to missionaries every year
You give $500,000 to a bunch of lazy heretics is what you do
And that's not being good with God's money
That's not being a good steward
And how many people are literally sacrificially giving to their church to support missionaries
And just go into their Greek vacation
Go into their German vacation
Go into their vacation to Japan
You know a lot of missionaries get a bunch of money to do deputation and they never even do it
They end up just not going
They end up just failing or quitting or whatever
It's ridiculous
Where's the accountability?
Go to Revelation 2 for a second
I'll have you one more verse after this
Revelation chapter number 2
The Bible says that if someone's coming unto you and they don't have the right gospel and you bid them Godspeed
You're a partaker of their evil deeds
Why would I want a bunch of heretics showing up and just giving them money without asking them questions
I'm literally blessing the devil
I think the devil's brilliant because he gets people to come into Baptist churches and suck all their money out for the gospel
And they do nothing with it
But there is so many millions of dollars given to these missionaries every single year
And I don't see the gospel thriving from all these missionaries
You should go show them to me
They're a bunch of frauds, they're a bunch of fakes
You want to know who a real missionary is?
It's Matthew Stuckey
That's somebody our church gives money to
And look that guy is turning the world upside down with the gospel
That guy gets so many people saved
Every time he gives his monthly update it seems like a 10 year update
It's just like we got 5,000 saved this week and it's just like what?
I don't know, don't quote me on that number but it's like huge numbers
I mean they're just getting thousands saved and just tons of people getting in their church
He's starting churches
It's like the real book of Acts
Cause he's a real missionary
Cause he's a real evangelist
And would to God we just get one person that wants to do that
Hey I'll pay your way
You know what? Don't tell me how great you're going to be
Show me how great you're going to be
You want to be an evangelist for my church?
I'm all for it
But you know what? How about you start showing me how great you are at evangelism
How about you be an evangelist and then we'll start paying you for doing what you've been doing
Why don't you plow in hope
Thresh in hope
Revelation chapter 2 look at verse number 1
Under the angel of the church of Ephesus write
These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand
Who walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks
I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience
And thou shalt not bear them which are evil
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars
Look there's a lot of people that will just pretend to be righteous
Pretend to be of God and they're not
You know what? It's our job to find the frauds
Hey you're an evangelist, oh really? Get me saved
Pastor Anderson has a story he had an evangelist show up and he's like get me saved
The guy couldn't even give the gospel
You're an evangelist?
Look there's little children in this church that can give me the gospel right now
They're real evangelists, you're a fraud, you're a fake, you're evil
Coming and asking money from me, telling me how you're an evangelist
And look it's not just them, I mean there's so many people
They want to be a pastor, they want to do this
They'll come tell you what they want to do
But then it's like, okay, what does this book of the Bible say?
And they're like, I don't know what that book is about, you want to be a pastor?
You know?
It's like, how many books are in the Bible? I don't know
Do I have to know that to be a pastor?
It's like, how many times do you go soul winning?
What does this verse mean?
Convince me to be baptized right now
It's like, it's called a Baptist church
You think I'm lying, look there's tons of people that want to do something
Everybody wants to be in the NBA, everybody wants to be a football player
But then it's like you look at it and you're like, you probably can't even run to the 50 yard line, bro
And look there's tons of people that will tell you all the things they want to do
That's great and wonderful, why don't you show me what you're going to do
We need some accountability and missions
This is God's money, this is God's work
We don't want to just ordain some yahoo
We don't want to just ordain some bozo
We don't want to take God's money and just give it to anybody
We want to find the right person and give that person the money
And look, I'm all for, hey I'll pay you handsomely
You're not going to suffer carnally if you're a great spiritual asset to this church
You know what, if you're not a great spiritual asset, you're not going to get paid
That doesn't make sense
You want to do the work of the Lord, show us how good you are
Go to Luke chapter 6
The results speak for themselves
Look, I guarantee if the Apostle Paul came back and he just sat in our church and just started serving in our church
We would eventually ordain him and send him out
He wouldn't have to tell us he was the Apostle Paul
We would just be able to tell
The Apostles of Jesus Christ, the disciples of the church, they would be the best person in the church automatically
They would already be preaching the best sermons
They would be getting up and preaching sermons just like, let's just keep letting this guy preach
Show me how to go soul winning
Show me how to get things done
Luke chapter 6 verse 43
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither does the corrupt tree bring forth good fruit
For every tree is known by its own fruit
Now obviously in this context it's talking about the things that they say
But you can take this principle and apply it to anything
That you can tell a tree by its fruit
And if a muchinary comes to me and they have no fruit
And they just want, hey my name is Jimmy, I'll take all you give me
I know your fruit
I know what you're like
That German missionary
You're not a missionary, where's your fruit bro?
Twelve people?
That's ridiculous
You failed
And hey, you know what, not everybody that gets saved comes to church and I get that
And if he had told me, you know what, we went to this village
There were 600 people, we preached them all the gospel
Only 12 people want to come to church
So we went to another village
So we went to another town
So we went to the biggest city in Germany
So we found, like
Find something to do
Find someone to give the gospel to
Find, look you're going to produce fruit
You know, not every branch of a tree bears fruit
You know what, some of them do
And hey, in your life, if you're bearing no fruit
Chop that branch off
And start working on the branches that are producing fruit, spiritually
And the reality is
Look, there's too many problems with this deputation program
We need to say no
And not be afraid to say no
Hey, when they email me or call me
I just say, I don't do deputation
I don't support it
I said, if you want to be a missionary
Come to my church and serve with me for a couple years
And show me how faithful you are
And I said, I will pay your way 100%
But they don't do that
You're guaranteed
Hey, if you're awesome, I'll pay 100%
What they would rather do
Is go around for two years
And not have to prove anything
And just get all the money anyways
Isn't that interesting
Instead of proving how good you are
You just want us to trust that you're faithful
No, we need to
Prove people
We need to inspire people to work hard here
And then commission and send them out
That's the real missionary program
Hey, you're already a missionary
How good are you doing right now
You want to be a full-time missionary
Alright, show me
Let your work speak
Let your fruit speak
Let's close in prayer
Thank you Father so much for your word
Thank you for your commandments
I want you all to go out and preach the gospel of the whole world
And work at the same time
Not even taking a paycheck so many times
I mean the incredible example
The example of your son
He had nowhere to lay his head
And he just went out and just worked
And just did all these great works
And all the great apostles and disciples
And all the men before us
They freely received and they freely gave
I pray that you would just stir men's hearts today
Decide to just work
And not worry about how things are going to be provided for
But rather they would just work
And they would just plow in hope
And they would just thresh in hope
And realize that if they're
You know, going to follow you
You're going to make them a fisher of men
And I pray that you would just use this church to do great works
And that you would bless brother Matthew Stuckey
In the evangelism that he does
And that if we could just stir the heart
Of just one person
To be like the apostle Paul
That he could just do great works
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Amen, let's close it out with one more song
Go ahead and take out your hymnal
To song number 123
The Christian's Good Night
Song number 123
Sleep on Beloved
Sleep and take thy rest
Thy head upon thy Savior's breast
We love thee well
But Jesus loves thee best
Good night
Calm is thy slumber
As an infant sleep
But thou shalt wake
No more to toil and weep
Thine is a perfect
Rest secure and deep
Good night
Until eternal
Glory lights the skies
Until the dead
In Jesus shall arise
And he shall come
But not in lonely guise
Good night
Only good night
Beloved not farewell
A little while
And all his saints shall dwell
In hallowed union
Indivisible
Good night
Until we meet again
Before his throne
Oh then the spotless
Robey gives his own
Until we know
Even as we are known
Good night
Amen. Good singing. Thank you all for being here tonight. God bless. You are dismissed.
Thank you.