I want to focus here on verse 24 that we read already the Bible says for who will harken unto you in this matter
But as his part is that goeth down to the battle so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff
They shall part
alike and I want to take this phrase here that we find in first Samuel chapter 30
Where it says the last part of this verse they shall part alike
That's the title of my sermon this morning is they shall part
Alike now in this story we have David returning from a battle
He didn't actually get to end up participating
And he was kind of rejected, but the troops nevertheless had left to go to the battle and as they returned they end up
Finding that all of their women all the wives and the women that were with them all the children that were with them have been
captured by
enemy forces the Amalekites, and if you look at verse number nine it says so David went and
The six hundred men that were with them and came to the book besor were those that were left behind stayed now
This is an important
Crossroads here because at first everyone wanted to just kill David, but David ended up strengthening himself by
Reading the Bible he encouraged himself in the Lord by thinking about the Bible by meditating on the Word of God
he allowed God to strengthen him and
What's interesting about this chapter in the Bible is it's kind of like the biggest
transition in David's life in the sense that this is like the lowest point in David's life and
As we transition here
It's gonna just be like all good for David for a long period of time David is gonna have victory after victory after victory
And this is kind of his low point in the chapter and in his low point
He is trying to rally his troops
but you know it's gonna be hard because they've already been traveling and working and
And trying to do the battle
But they come to this point where they need to rescue their wives and their children and of course if you think about the context
Here there's not a single soldier that doesn't want to go to the battle
Every single soldier went I mean we're talking about his own wife and his own children here
No, man is not wanting to give it all and put it all on the line. It's not like a lack of desire
It's just that a couple hundred of them. Just physically can't and if they go they're gonna die
So it's gonna. It's gonna ruin the situation if they keep going because a dead soldier is not beneficial in any way
yet a soldier staying behind and
Watching the stuff at least adds benefit to the campaign
So it ends up here at this brook-besor that some go and some stay
says in verse 10
But David pursued he and 400 men for 200 abode behind which were so faint
That they could not go over the brook-besor notice
It's not saying that they are lazy. It's not saying they have the wrong attitude
It's just saying they just they physically can't and you know it would be like working out
You know you can work out to a point where you can no longer do the reps anymore like you might be doing the bench
Press, but it just gets to a point where after you've done enough reps
I mean you just get fatigued, and you just literally can't
Push the bar anymore you can get to a point where you preach the gospel so much that you just literally can't even speak anymore
It's not that you wouldn't even want to get someone saved
It's just you're not even physically capable of doing it
And so that's the essence here of this chapter of the these men. It's not like they're bad men
It's not like they're weak men necessarily. It's just it happens. It happens to anyone
Maybe they even attempted. We don't know maybe they tried to go in the water
But the current was too strong or the water they just they just literally just weren't able to and so
Instead of just dying for no reason they stay behind
Now it says in verse 11 they found an egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread
He did eat and they made him drink water now. They get a double agent here
they end up capturing someone that is going to turn on the Amalekites and take them to them and
Praise God they ended up winning the battle in fact verse 18 says and David recovered all
That the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his two wives
So of course the great fear is that you would have lost your wife lost her children
Permanently or something bad would have happened to them
But notice this story ends up being great and that nothing was lost whatsoever
Everything was recovered a hundred percent and
So they basically have a complete and full recovery, which is a glorious victory
I mean you lost all this but then you got it all back. You'd be excited and
Here's what you have to understand. Not only did they recover everything that they
personally lost this band this army
armies are going to be carrying a lot of
Spoil with them because the armies are going around spoiling a town and taking all the gold silver camel
Asses just all kinds of goods and then they go to the next town
They spoil it and this makes it easier for David and them to catch up because think about it
They're having to take captives cattle good silver gold
So they're not traveling very fast and typically they would have to hide that's what the benefit was with the Egyptian
Giving them that information so they can finding them
They slaughter the Amalekites and now they're out of the not only have they recovered their wives and their children
They've got a lot of riches now, too. They've recovered all kinds of excess wealth from the spoils of this war
Now as they return it says in verse 21 and David came to the 200 men which were so faint that they could not follow
David whom they had made also to abide at the brook be sore and
They went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with him and when David came near to the people he saluted
them
then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial of those that went with David and said because
They went not with us
We will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered
Save to every man his wife and his children that they may lead them away and depart
Now think about what happened essentially they win this great victory
They get all this extra gold silver goods, and they're saying look we'll give them their wives and kids
And then they need to hit it. They can't even stay with us. They're just completely kicked out of the club
Now notice who did this it was the men of Belial
And let me tell you something if there was men of Belial hanging out with David
we should not be so naive to think the men of Belia wouldn't hang out with us and
There can always be a Judas in fact
I would not even be surprised at all if we had Judas's in the room right now, okay now
I don't know who you are because if I did you wouldn't be here
That's the whole point of being a Judas, okay?
But notice that Judas has always seemed to kind of have similar characteristics, okay?
And and here's another thing you have to understand about Judas's notice the Judas's weren't the ones staying behind were they?
They were the ones that actually went to the battle and so a lot of times Judas's or even on the front lines
They're going out and preaching the gospel and doing work and everything like that
But they're not really sincere and of course they have bad motives
And they're you know just trying to make a show of it
They want people to think that they're really spiritual or really godly so they have to put themselves on the front line
And they think by being on the front line that makes them more spiritual than those that stayed behind
And I'll tell you something there is a bad attitude out there
Where people who think they're on the front lines are more important than people that stay behind
And you know what that is not the message of the Bible that is not what David believes
And you know what that is a poor attitude that discourages the heart of our brethren
And it's coming from a place that would be from the men of Belial it comes from a Judas type heart
It comes from a wicked type heart
To say hey you can't even have any of this spoil look what it says in verse 23 then said David
He shall not do so my brethren
With that which the Lord have given us who hath preserved us and delivered the company that came against us into our hand
Why does David say this doesn't make any sense? Why is David against this attitude?
Because he says we didn't win this battle
God won the battle
So then so then why am I gonna sit here and pretend like I'm better than this other guy
When God's the one that were out the victory anyways if it wasn't for God we wouldn't have been preserved
We would have been slaughtered and they would have been preserved, but you know what we were preserved by God's blessing
Let us not think so wickedly as to not share the spoil with those that tarried and stayed by the stuff
Look at verse 24 for who will hearken unto you in this matter meaning
This is this is a dumb idea
But as his part is that goeth down to the battle so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff
They shall part notice this alike
What is the word alike mean it means the exact same?
It means the guy that went to the battle is gonna get the exact same
Amount of spoil as the guy that tarried by the stuff is gonna get the exact same amount of spoil
They're equal in this exchange and what people have to understand
Is that when we do great works as a church those that are tearing by the stuff are gonna part alike?
Those that are gonna tear you by the stuff are gonna part alike, and you know what there is a
There's a lot more people involved in a war than just the front soldiers than the frontline
soldiers and
We need to make sure that we have the right attitude go if you would to Matthew
Chapter number 10 Matthew chapter number 10. I want to show you a lot of places in the scripture this morning, but
You know we did a big work in Bahamas
This last week a giant work. I mean we had over 600 people saved
Just face-to-face just one-on-one normal soul winning, and then we had hundreds of students also saved in group settings
I mean almost a thousand people saved that we confirmed in some way or another
And there's still even people there right now that they might even get a few more people saved and that number might even trickle up
I mean basically a thousand souls
I mean almost guaranteed we know we got saved this last week on top of the fact that all kinds of extra seeds were planted
And I mean there was thousands and thousands of people that heard the gospel this week
So you know who knows what the real numbers are entirely?
But you could have this attitude or this this mindset of well
Look what I did and look at the rewards that I get because I was on the front lines, but wait a minute
No, there was a lot of people involved that got you there
There's a lot of people that helped you get to that and that came alongside
And you know what they're not gonna lose out on their reward either
Look what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 10 look at what it says in verse number 40
He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward
You know what the good teachers and the good principles and the good
Teach like leaders of the Bahamas that received us and brought in the missionaries
And it helped assist us to preach the gospel to their students. Hey, they're gonna receive a prophet's reward
That's what the Bible says not only that he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man
receive a righteous man's reward not only that many of them are gonna receive a righteous man's reward for
Receiving us and treating us as godly men as people to be respected
I mean we were way better treated than anywhere in America
I mean, it's not even close you see the difference of how people treat you
But then look at this and whosoever
Shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple
Verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward
In fact, one of the schools gave us all water as soon as we were done preaching the gospel and let me tell you something
They got rewarded as well
But you know who also gave you a lot of water on this trip all the people that come to our church and tithe
And give money to this church. They also did because let me tell you something this trip was expensive
And many of our soul winners benefited from the church being able to help finance this trip
you know if people are happening to pay for everything on their own a lot of people wouldn't have gone and
So a lot of people ended up help financing this trip
Supporting this trip and blessing people to be able to go on this trip
You know what? They're not gonna lose out on their reward
And you know, we shouldn't look at us going and doing these great works and thinking look how wonderful I am
You know what? I think how wonderful God is
Because I'm thinking like how did we even get here? How do we get this opportunity? I didn't do it
You know, it wasn't some it wasn't one person, you know
It wasn't just the guy that went and set up the appointment because if it wasn't for the fact that 60
International missionaries were coming they wouldn't have cared they'd been like go away, you know, we don't care about you
But it's that hey 60 international missionaries are coming to the schools like well, we got to bring these people in
You know, it was everybody it was a whole joint effort
It's all these different people all working together being used by God and you know
What God is gonna bless all of them. They're gonna part alike
We're gonna all benefit. We're gonna all be blessed by it. And you know the people that had to Terry by the stuff
It's not like you're not gonna enjoy the spoils of our warfare. No, you're gonna part alike with us
The OV would to 1st Corinthians chapter number 3 go to 1st Corinthians chapter 3
There's also this attitude that people get and just regular soul winning and you know what it's a wicked attitude
where they think
They go soul winning and they have a silent partner and they say I got the person saved
Now here's the thing
It's kind of based on the tone and context because that could be true in
The sense that maybe you were the one that preached in the gospel and you helped them call upon the name of the Lord
But you know, it is a it's a poor attitude
If in your mindset you're thinking I did in my silent partner didn't help or anybody else didn't help
You know, that's a bad attitude because you know when it comes to soul winning
Almost every single time you show up and you give someone the gospel. They already know something that you're gonna teach them
and
No one will mistake this going to Bahamas
No one will mistake the fact I mean when you go to the Bahamas, you know, you don't have to teach them the Trinity. I
Never I never a single time. I mean I explained it every single time
But you know what? I never had to convince anybody of it. I never had to convince anybody that they were a sinner
I mean, they knew there were sinners. I didn't have to convince them that they deserved help for sin
In fact, I would say how many sins you have to commit deserve health is one. I
Mean they're just like they were just nailing it. I didn't have to convince them that Jesus Christ was the Son of God
I didn't have to convince them. They was born of a virgin Mary
I didn't have to convince them that he died on the cross
I didn't have to convince him that he'd pay for all of our sins
I didn't have to convince him of a lot of things some things I did
You know, someone's already labored for these people and you know what the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter number 3
Look what it says in verse number 5
It says who then is Paul and who is Apollos
But ministers by whom you believed even as that as the Lord gave to every man
I have planted Apollos water, but God gave the increase so then neither is he that planteth anything
Neither he that waterth but God that giveth the increase, you know the Apostle Paul doing he's trying to squash a carnal attitude
Where some soul winners or evangelists or people are getting this weird attitude about how important they are
And he's trying to say no. No, I'm not anything
You're not anything. God is the one that gave us the increase. We're just the tools in his hand
We're just the vessels by which he used and you know what? It's important for us to be a soul winner
It's important for us to be a soldier. It's important for us to do the work
But at the end of the day, it's not about us. It's about him
Because we're not even special anyways folks, I mean if you were to really look at the world's best
We're not the tallest. We're not the strongest. We're not the fastest. We're not the most eloquent. We're not the most educated
We're just willing to do the work
We're just humble servants just saying here my Lord send me and with stammering lips
I mean he's gonna speak unto these people
I mean some of you aren't even that great at speaking but you're great at giving the gospel because you're willing
You know with your hick accent you can get them saved
You know with your broken poor English, I mean whatever I mean there's there's all kinds of people going out
They're just thinking like there's nothing really special about our group
Physically speaking carnally speaking, you know, it makes our group
So special is that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us is that we have God as I do
But so many people they want to brag and they want a glory in themselves about the work that they're doing
Instead of giving that honor and glory to God
And
Of course, it's easy for the soldiers to get that attitude. But let me tell you something
It's not even just the soldiers that are on the front lines. It's the soldiers in every part of the battle
It's the silent partner, you know being a silent partner. You're gonna part alike folks
Don't don't get this attitude or this thought process of well only the talkers matter. That's it
No, no, no silent partners matter, too
everyone matters and
We don't want to think like only Paul matters. No, Apollos matters, too
But in the in the scheme of this context, none of them really matter because it's all about God
Okay, God is the one that's really giving us the work look at verse 9 for we are laborers together with God
You're God's husbandry. You're God's building
According to the grace of God which is given unto me now think about it this way
If someone had some really great grapes that you had
I mean, you know and we got I got to eat some really good grapes on this trip
But if you had some really good grapes, how many people have you ever heard?
No, that was a really good vine that made these grapes
No one thinks about the vine because no one cares
They think about the guy that the husband men
They think about the guy that actually was the farmer the person that produced the crops and guess what you're the vine
God's the husband men
Stop getting all you know
Prideful about you being a vine. Nobody cares. Okay, folks. It's about the husband men. It's about his honor
It's about his glory, but notice. Hey, we're gonna all benefit
We're gonna all part alike and we're gonna all receive a reward, you know
This is kind of a two-part thought for this sermon, but number one don't get prideful
About
Doing the work, but here's the second thing don't get discouraged that you're not on the front lines
Don't think like well, I only I only planted well
Praise God for all the people that planted so that I can come and just reap a harvest
Praise God for all the people that planted and watered and I just get to walk through the field and just pick up grapes on
the ground in
Fact most of our soul winning wasn't even gleaning
It was just simply just picking up handfuls from off the ground and just putting them into a basket
But how prideful would I have to be to think that I'm the only reason why that grape exists?
No, no, no, there was a lot of work put involved that someone had to till that ground
Someone had to plant that seed someone had to water that seed someone had to come and prune those men those vines
And you know what then someone had to come and pluck those grapes off of that vine
But you know what don't be so prideful because you're the oh I plucked them off
ooh
That's the easy job. Anyways, really you really think that plucking grapes off of a vine is the hardest process and producing grapes
Tilling the grounds way harder folks
Tilling ground and you know what we till ground in lots of places
We go out soul winning and we're just dropping a verse or just putting things out there
And you know what? We're breaking up the fallow ground
We're just getting seeds planted and you know, sometimes you go out soul winning and just think like I didn't accomplish anything
Well, maybe you're just telling the ground
Don't don't get this negative attitude and think that you're not accomplishing anything the people that are not accomplishing anything aren't in church
The people that aren't accomplishing thing are doing nothing
Okay, but don't get this prideful attitude of thinking like well, I'm on the front lines
I'm the only person that matters in this church. You're wrong
You are wrong, you know, we need lots of soldiers and the soldiers have lots of different jobs
In fact, even in the military, there's a lot of soldiers that don't go on the front lines
There's the ones that are producing the material supplying things. You've got artillery. You've got the Air Force
You've got the commanders you've got I mean you got a lot of people all working together as a team
you don't want to get this prideful attitude and think like well, you know what I'm the only one that matters or
Get this attitude of wolf. I'm not on the front lines. Then what I'm doing is not important. No, no, no
You're gonna part alike
Because if we think about our first story
How did they even get in the situation in the first place? They had no one tearing by the stuff
There was no one tearing by the stuff. So they lost it all so don't think like oh, well
The guys tearing by the stuff doesn't accomplish anything. No when they came back all their stuff was still there
And you know what we need people to tear you by the stuff so that things can continue and go forward and they have their
Part to play go to judges chapter 7 for a moment go to judges chapter 7
You know, it's gonna part alike soldiers. All the soldiers are gonna part alike all the soldiers of God's kingdom
Those who plant are gonna part alike with those who watered with those who reaped
You know and don't get this attitude of your only you're the only special one because you reaped
Or don't get this attitude that you're not special because all you did was plant no say hey
I'm here to serve God and I don't care what job I get
You want me to you want me to break up fallow ground? I'll break it up
You want me to plant I'll plant you want me to water all water you want me to reap all reap
But you know what? Just put me in coach. I just want to do something. Okay, and
You know, not everybody's gonna be
David
David was not the only person alive in his life
Okay
There Moses wasn't the only person alive in his life
David couldn't accomplish David couldn't get all of the Amalekites slaughtered by himself. He needed the other 400 men to go with him
Okay, and how prideful would it be if David was like look I got it. I
Rescued everyone know who did he give the credit to he gave it to God every single time didn't know God's the reason why?
We got this mission accomplished. Look what it says in Judges chapter 7 verse 10
This is a pretty great guy in the Bible Gideon
But notice what the Bible says in verse 10
But if thou fear to go down go that with Thura thy servant down to the host now
Here's here's something that's interesting to me
Gideon is kind of recognizing the Bible as being a courageous guy
Someone who's really bold. I mean he took only 300 soldiers and they ended up slaughtering a great host and
And he's known as being this great warrior but but think about this
He really was kind of a weakling in some parts of his life. He's too. He's too afraid to just go down and
Actually, just kind of spy on the enemy
But but notice he's saying hey if you're afraid just take your friend just take Fura
okay, now it says in verse number 11 and
Thou shalt hear what they say and afterward shall the hands be strengthened to go down under the host
Then when he down the Fura his servant under the outside of the armed men that were in the host
You know what? There's two verses told me
Number one it told me that Gideon was afraid
Because they said hey if you're afraid take your friend and then what do we read? He took his friend?
You know and here's the thing about men men
They don't want to be known as being afraid
Okay, like they want to act tough, but here's the thing when you can't act tough
You're just gonna succumb so it's like if he if he was capable of acting tough. He would have just gone by himself
He was just like come on
He needs through but notice
How did how did Gideon have strength? He had strength because of Fura if it wasn't for Fura
Gideon wouldn't even be the strong guy that we look to
He needed a Fura in his life so that he could be strong and notice he then went down
He heard the enemy and the enemy's terrified of these guys
They're terrified of Gideon and then he just becomes really emboldened really strengthened to go in and fight the battle
But you know what? There would be no Gideon
without Fura
There would be no great story of Gideon without a Fura there and you know Fura is just barely
I mean how many people even know that name very few people know that name
But let me tell you something Fura and Gideon are gonna part alike
They're gonna part alike and don't let the name recognition
Discourage you from being a Fura in someone's life
you know if we didn't have Fura's we wouldn't have Gideon's and
Some people are gonna be a Fura some people in fact in the Bible. They're not even I mean Fura's at least named
Some people in the Bible. We don't even know their name
But we know they were there we know that they helped we know that they did great exploits and even being named
How much does that really benefit us? I mean Fura. It's like that means it could be any name
It could be Perez it could be you know anything and it wouldn't it wouldn't change anything
It's not like we're like, hey Fura. What's up, man? Yeah, I mean in heaven
But right now it's just kind of like whatever
It's meaning name recognition is meaningless folks don't chase after it don't want don't desire don't do works for that
Just help getting it find a Gideon out there and help him encourage it
You know maybe there's someone out there. That would be a really good soul winner
but they're just not willing to go on their own and
They need someone to just come alongside them and say like hey
I want to go so any with you or be that Fura or go into that place or go to that area
You know maybe somebody even on a foreign missions trip a lot of people don't want to even go by themselves
Because it's just a it's a foreign place
I know especially we had a lot of single ladies going and a lot of the single ladies
They like to go with a friend
and you know what just the fact that a friend went
Helped encourage them or strengthen them or give them the reason to go and to be with someone else and you know what you don't
even realize how much of a Fura you are to other people and
How much you're encouraging other people and giving them strength so that they can go out and do the battle and you know what?
Sometimes we could have a prideful attitude where we're the Gideon in this story
And we forget about the fact that Fura is the whole reason we're even there
Who is the whole reason we even have the strength that we have?
Through is the whole reason I'm so encouraged and I'm doing the work that I you know what we should be willing to be a
Fura and we should be willing to strengthen the hands of others and we should be willing to say
You know what? We're gonna part alike anyways
Who cares who cares? Are you the Gideon or the fear? Let's just get the job done
Let's win the battle because at the end of the day, let's get rid of the Philistines, let's get rid of the Amalekite
Let's get you know, let's drive the sodomites out of the land
I mean if the question was hey, you can't be Gideon you have to be Fura, but you're gonna eliminate the sodomites
I mean, what kind of person isn't gonna be like let's I'll be Fura right now
Hey, you don't even have to know my name
Get him out of the land though, right? I
Mean when it comes to getting someone saved, you know, just be there to encourage people
You know when we went to preach at the school some people are maybe a little bit more
Intimidated and and and we had people that want to be a silent partner. It's like hey, you're gonna go along this guy
You're gonna strengthen them. You're gonna encourage them
They're gonna have more boldness to walk into the classroom to be in an uncomfortable environment
And you know what? We needed those people those people help those people are gonna part alike
Why because all the soldiers are gonna part alike
Don't don't listen to the wicked sons of Bela. Well, what did you do? Well, how many did you get saved? Who cares?
Who cares
You know what? Well, what did food I do, you know, they didn't talk about who look food was amazing
Who was a great guy? I wish we had more food was in this world
Go if you would to Titus chapter number one go to Titus chapter one
People only want to serve if they're the leader
And you know what? That's a bad attitude. In fact, you shouldn't even be a leader if that's your attitude
The worst leaders are the ones that have to be the leader and
You know, that's that's kind of a mark of
also evil wicked people have the same attitude because they only they want to climb to the top and
They don't care who they step on. They don't really care about serving. They don't really care about the mission being accomplished
They just simply want to be in charge
And so, you know when you see that in a person it should be a red flag and we we could have that attitude ourselves
It's not like only wicked people have that attitude
Anybody can get that attitude because just pride is just a temptation to all of us and we could all have this this
Thought process of like well if I can't be the leader and then I don't really want to do it anymore
You know, there could be men out there and I've seen it men that are like I want to be a pastor
but as soon as they can't be a pastor then they just stop serving God and it's like
Why do you have to be a pastor to serve God?
Sounds like you weren't really wanting to serve God
You know, not everybody gets to be a pastor and that's okay
It's not like well, I was gonna be able to serve God greatly with my life and do a lot of great works
You know, but I just can't be a pastor. So I guess it's off the table. That's dumb
That's silly
If you think if you think that it's just gonna be like all of the the the best rewarded people in heaven are pastors
You're you're fooling yourself
Because I think there's a lot of saved pastors. They're gonna be the least in the kingdom of heaven
You know, they might
They might be fooling you right now
But there's gonna be a lot of pastors that didn't really do a lot of great works that weren't really humble servants
And you know what?
They had their joy in this life
but think about what the Bible said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 19 of the people that are breaking the least Commandments and teaching men to
Do so I wonder who's teaching people
teachers
you know is teaching a lot of real pastors and
And notice what is the Bible you said the least Commandments people get all mad at us
They're like, why do you have to preach on that topic? Why you have to preach that verse pastors?
Hallie, why do you have well look I don't want to be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Okay?
So I have to preach the least Commandments to all right whether you like them or not, I don't care
Because you know what? I got my marching orders and I don't want to start breaking them and then start teaching you how to break
them too
Because it's important for me as God's servant to humble myself and say it doesn't matter what I think or how popular
I'm gonna get or how liked I am to just say whatever this says
and
At the end of the day, you know you serving God humbly and just submitting to his will
you can be so much more greatly rewarded than all these leaders out there and
even amongst leaders
Sometimes people don't even want to be a leader
Unless they're the leader of the leaders
You know, it's like you got to be you can't even just be an evangelist or you couldn't just be a deacon
You got to be the pastor or not. Only that maybe you're a pastor, but you have a pastor a small church
And it's like but I got to be the pastor of the biggest church
And I got to be the pastor of the pastors of the pastors, you know
It's like there's people with this attitude out there and it's wicked. It's a it's a prideful attitude and
You know when I became a pastor a long time ago
I started a church and of course a very humble church very small church, but great people periods Baptist Church and
I remember thinking about church growth because every pastor is gonna think about that
That's a that's something you want to dress is something you want to happen because of course
You're not in the ministry to not minister to anyone you want people to minister to that's a little point
But I kept thinking about this thought and I said well
You know if I'm not even being a good pastor to the small flock that I have why would God want to give me more I
Mean if you're not faithful in that which is least you're not gonna be faithful in that which is much
So why would God want to even give me more to manage when I'm not even managing what I have that's good
you know, you should be a great manager of what you already have if you really want more and
So my attitude completely changed at that point and I said
You know what?
My only goal is to just be the best manager of what I have and I said if I believe that's how I'll have church growth
Because if I'm doing great with what I have then God will be like I want to give this guy more
Just like the guy that had ten talents and he got ten other then God's like hey take the one from him and give it
To this guy because this guy is doing really good with the ten that he has
And you the same even comes with the qualifications of a bishop, you know, you want to be a pastor one day
Well, why don't you start passing your family really well?
But if you can't even pass your own family very well
Why in the world would God want to give you a position in his church, you know?
so we want to be good leaders of what we have and
Just because you're not the top leader doesn't mean you don't have an important job
You know, we have so many captains and so many lieutenants and and all kinds of people you're important
You know, I can't preach in this pulpit every single service and we have other people get up and preaching sermons. They're important
they're a leader and
Sometimes leaders have to stay behind look what it says in Titus chapter 1 verse 4 to Titus my own son
after the common faith grace mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior for this cause
Left I thee in Crete
That thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee
Think about this
You're on the front lines with the Apostle Paul doing
Arguably some of the greatest work that's ever been done. But now Paul's like hey, I got to leave you behind
And couldn't there be this attitude of like well
Now I'm not serving God. I'm not on the front lines. I'm not with Paul. I'm not doing this work
No, no his job just as important to stay behind with the stuff
and
Hey, you just started this church. But you know, we need people to stick around behind and start
discipling that those group of people and and
Cultivating these these Christians and helping their church to grow and then have good pastors, you know soul winning
Is is the first works soul winning is arguably the most important thing that we could possibly do but it is not the only thing
There's also baptism
There's also teaching them all things what's over Christ commanded and you know
We're gonna make a big difference in the world if we preach the gospel and we get people saved
But that's not gonna fix things
You know, we still need to get people then plugged in a church reading the Bible
growing
Doing the work and you know, sometimes we need people to stay behind in these areas and get people saved
Or not. Sorry get people say but disciple them as well, you know fulfill the Great Commission with them
You know people get mad at us because sometimes we don't always have a great church or great
Discipleship program to give them and that shouldn't stop you from soul winning, but we shouldn't also neglect that completely
We should want people to even be left behind and have to do that kind of work
And so as we have this ministry, you know, our church should also consider the fact that sometimes people are gonna be left behind
There's people here that still had church service on Wednesday
praise God for all the people that came to church on Wednesday night, even though we were on the front lines and
the Bahamas and you know what praise God for the
Evangelist that we have in pure words and praise God for the evangelists that we have and steadfast
Okc and you know what? I guarantee both of them would have loved to gone on the Bahamas trip
You know what?
They're tearing by the stuff to make sure that these other churches keep going and we keep
Discipling people and building new soul winners and building more people to go out and guess what? They're gonna part alike folks
You know what Titus is doing a really important job here, even though the Apostle Paul's going and doing more, you know
planting and more
Breaking up fallow ground and more reaping, you know
Don't get this attitude that your job is not important because it's maybe not as glamorous or doesn't get all the recognition
Or there wasn't all the cool photos
I mean, I guarantee the Apostle Paul's photos on Instagram are a lot cooler than Titus just hanging out
When is someone gonna finally meet the qualifications, you know, we had just another service and it's just like, you know
I mean Titus's job isn't as cool. Maybe you know isn't as fun. There's not as much pizzazz. There's not as much riots
There's not as much stonings. There's not I mean, okay, but
But wait a minute is this job not important now?
No, and sometimes people have to be left behind to do that work people are gonna have all kinds of different jobs
Go if you would to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 go to 2nd to me chapter 1
For sake of time. I'm not even gonna go to everything that I wanted to but just to remind you, you know in
Exodus there's a real famous story of where Moses is sending out Joshua to the battle and
As they're fighting
Moses is kind of lifting up his hands and prayer and
You know as Moses lift up his hands, they're winning the battle
But as his hands go down they start losing the battle and the Bible says that Aaron and her put a rock
underneath Moses so he could sit and
One on one hand and one on the other and they helped lift up his hands so they could win the battle
And if you think about this this also illustrates the fact that there's many people that are interceded
that help you be
Victorious in the war effort, you know in that battle. It wasn't just Joshua that mattered
It's also the soldiers. It's also Moses. It's also Aaron. It's also her
It's everybody and let me tell you something how many people got saved this week because someone here was praying for you
We don't even know but let me tell you something. I guarantee it made a huge impact I
Guarantee that people lifting up their hands and praying and
interceding to the Father and asking for us to be safe and have victory and
Reach people with the gospel made a big impact, you know
What if Joshua came back and it's like man we did a really good job and Moses is sitting over here
Just like his arms. It's like, uh-huh, you know, it's like what what about Moses? What did he do?
What about Aaron and what about her and what about all the work that they did?
I mean, they're moving the rock and they're praying. Yeah, they're not down in the battle
Yeah, they're far away from the battle. But you know what their prayer is actually what gave them the victory
They wouldn't even one without Moses and here's the thing
what if we had gone over there and then the schools just started shutting us down didn't let us enter and
Then we start going around and the cops are rounding us up and we get deported. We could have totally had zero victory
but what about all the people like Moses lifting up their hands and praying and just
Giving us all these open doors that we just keep walking through and getting victory after victory
You know what?
You might think that you're special but stop thinking you're special and start praising God for the work that he did through us
And you know what those who are here just praying don't think like well I wasn't on the front lines
No, your prayers made a difference
No, we're gonna part alike and you know what we're all together as the body of Christ
Doing the same work together, you know, it's not like the eyes are the only part important part of your body
You know your eyes would be meaningless without your legs and your feet and everything else because how eyes on the ground are gonna see
much
You know what helps those eyes is the fact that your whole body is lifted up
So now you have a high view vantage point. You can actually see and you can do these things
Plus your eyelids help constantly cleansing that eye, right?
Your eyelash is protecting you from dust and pollen and all kinds of different things that are going on
Your hands and your arms constantly protecting your face and your eyes from damage or things that can harm you
I mean, it's it's all working together
Just like in the Christian war effort. We're all working together
Not only that I mentioned this briefly but you know
Without the generous gifts of several people in this church
The trip would have never happened in the way that it did
Yeah, maybe an individual might have gone there every once in a while or a person but I mean we're talking
Thousands and thousands of dollars for someone to travel over there
I mean the church spent just tons and tons of money to have to have this happen and to make it easy
And you know if that maybe the church you say well, what if the church didn't pay for anything?
What if we just made people you have to get your own plane ticket your own transportation
You have to pay for your own housing your own everything your own food and all this other stuff
How many people would have gone on that trip?
Still probably less how many people after that trip would have said I can go back in the next time
That might have been a big dent to their personal finances
that might have been something that they may not have been able to recover from as
Quickly or to be able to go on the next one and you know
The fact that people are giving generously and plugged in at church, you know
Even if you can't be a soul winner physically at least just give your money to a church that's doing so winning
I
Mean the last thing you want to do is be giving your money to Saul who's attacking soul winners
Hey, you know what? There are Saul churches out there that they're not so winning and they're criticizing so winning
What what kind of a shame to give your money and support a church that's not even doing so winning
And look not everybody's gonna be able to physically cross the river, right
You're gonna have elderly people sick people people that maybe their job doesn't accommodate it at that particular time
You can have all kinds of different scenarios events life birth new children sick children
All kinds of illnesses all kinds of different reasons why people can't go at that particular time. You know what they're gonna still part alike
When they're joined with us and they're they're giving to the same church and praying for the same church and they're part of the same program
You know, we're gonna all benefit from that
all of us
Look at 2nd Timothy chapter number 1
Verse number 5
Here's some people that tarried by the stuff that I was thinking of is all the mothers and the wives in this room a lot of them
Tarried by the stuff and you say well, I didn't get to be
Used in the same way
Okay
Obviously, you're not doing the exact same job, but you're still doing a very important job
Look what the Bible says in verse 5 when I called remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee
This is Paul talking about Timothy which dwelt first and thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice
And I am persuaded that in thee also, you know, it made Timothy such a great a great Christian such a great pastor his
grandmother
You know made Timothy such a great godly pastor used by God a great godly mother
And you say well, I can't ever be a pastor as a lady and a fundamental Baptist Church
That's you know, at least of our stripe, I don't know anymore, you know
Maybe there's fundamental Baptist Church. They'll have women pastor someday. I don't know. That's a shame, but
You're not gonna be a pastor of this church, okay
But you know what you could raise the next pastor of a future generation
So why is that less important? It's not less important. I
Mean because without godly grandmothers and godly mothers. We wouldn't have any men. They're gonna end up becoming pastors
You know what praise God for my mother
that she loved church so much and she was so
Dedicated to Jesus her whole life and read the Bible every single day and drug me to church my whole life
And made it so important to me. The most important thing to her was just Christianity for me
She's like I don't care what job you have what you do
I just want you to love Jesus is what she would tell me over and over and
You know what that made an impact in my life
You know what? Why I don't I wouldn't be here if my mom was some crack whore or some selfish
Feminist or some woman going out and just not even caring about me never taking me to church
Or what if she took me to the Mormon Church?
You know what godly mothers make such an impact to the next generation
We're reaping the benefits of the mothers of the previous generation and you say well, I don't like we're reaping
Well, then change it
Give the next generation
something great by you
Training and teaching those children, you know my child. I couldn't teach and train my children this week
I wasn't around them and you know what they need development every single day. They need nourishment. They need love they need attention
You know, my wife was able to drag them to church
My wife was able to put them in the car. My wife was the one who took them out soul winning this week
I couldn't do that. You know what? She's training up future soul winners to do such a great work for God in the future
You know what? Praise God for women that are dragging their children out soul winning dragging their children to church
That they're disciplining them on a regular basis that they're reading to them the Bible that they're influencing them to be a godly Christian
Because they're making such a big impact
Well, I'm not on the front lines. Who cares that you're not on the front lines
That's vain anyways
No, no, you're gonna part alike
You're gonna part alike with the spoils and with the riches of God and you want I'm not trying to discourage women from being soul
Winners praise God for all the women that were so winners on our trip
But you know what some women couldn't go across the river
Some women were left behind and that doesn't mean that they weren't special. It doesn't mean that they weren't important
It doesn't mean that they didn't have a big task to do. It's that hey, we're all working together on this folks
Praise God that I come home to a clean house
So I don't have to clean it so I don't have to waste time on all the other things
I come home to great meals and I come home to all of I mean your wife is doing so much for you
Don't come home and think like I have arrived. I'm so amazing worship me now, you know
Think like hey your wife was doing a lot of hard work to it's probably even harder folks
You you jet skiing was not as hard as
Raising all these children folks, okay
You may maybe you give your wife a break
All right
and
You know if you didn't have such a great wife
You probably wouldn't be able to go on that trip and get a bunch of people saved and do all the work that you're doing
You know, why don't you love your wife as the Bible commands, right?
Go if you would to Romans chapter 16 Romans chapter number 16
Praise God for all the women in this in this church that prayed for their husband while they were out soul-winning
And not being bitter like oh he's jet skiing well, you know, we got people saved while we're there
How about that
And I'm sure that you looked at some tick-tock video or Instagram video or something during the week
We're not mad at you for that. You know, it's like unless it was bad. Okay, then we're mad
Obviously everybody's gonna have moments of time just relax or whatever
But at the end of the day, you know
Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing and just see how you can help just be a Fura
Just be someone that can just is plugged in and just say here am I how can I be used say Terry by the stuff?
great
I'm gonna then I'm gonna make sure all the stuff is clean. I'm gonna make sure all the stuffs organized
I'm gonna make sure that all this stuff is in good shape
I'm gonna make sure that no animals come and destroy any of the stuff
I'm gonna make sure that no enemies come and get the stuff
I'm gonna make sure that when you come back you're ready to use the stuff. Hey, you guys just came back in the battle
Here's a canteen of water. We got for you ready to go
You know praise God for the wives that said hey, we're tearing by the stuff
We're gonna do the best that we can tearing by the stuff
Because guess what? We're gonna part alike
I
Can say by the staff
Cares, you know what? That's an important job
Romans chapter 16 look at verse number three
Greet, Priscilla and a kill up my helpers and Christ Jesus who have for my life
laid down their own necks
Under whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles. I love this phrase. Okay, because
He's saying look
There was a couple times where I was gonna die
But Priscilla and Aquila were willing to sacrifice their life just so that I could survive that encounter
Just so I could get through this horrible experience or or whatever the danger was
Basically just saying here's two people that are willing to sacrifice their entire life just so that I could continue to do my work
And you know who's thankful for that?
Not just me every single one of these churches that I set up
Because all those churches wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Priscilla and Aquila and
And how much how much do you think the people in those churches were thinking like oh, yeah
Our church is here because of Priscilla and Aquila
Many of them probably didn't recognize that or realize that or know that
they just look at Paul and Paul gets all the honor and the glory but you know what the glory should really go to God and
There's so many people that have done so many great works that are never gonna be recognized
Let me tell you something, I don't even know how many how much you guys prayed for us
I'll never know and I'll never be able to reward you or thank you enough
But you know what God noticed and God will reward you God is going to bless you
God is God is not unrighteous to forget our work and labor of love what you do show toward his name and when we minister
to the Saints
Let us minister to the Saints and love the Saints and just care about the body of Christ and not worry about who's getting the
Recognition but rather that we just win
Let's just win the game the worst player on a team is the one that has to score as
opposed to the team winning the game
Don't be don't be the selfish person that just has to be the one that scores
Go to Luke chapter 15 go to Luke chapter 15. You know, here's another thing that
Not everybody's gonna get the opportunity to not everyone in this room is gonna baptize someone
Now my children they baptize each other all the time, but
They're just having fun folks
Okay, false prophets, you know, just get people wet all the time, too. They're not really baptizing anyone, you know
what's cool is when we were there on the beach and I
had gotten this young man Hakeem saved and we were going in there and
And we kind of you know
Some people were just kind of swimming and playing they kind of move out of the way so we could end up baptizing him
It it was the moment that he came out of the water
Because the moment he came out of the water
Just every one of our soul winners just like you let out like the biggest shout of joy that you've ever heard
And it just it just sounded like tons and tons of people because it's just like dozens and those people. They're just all like
And I mean it was like one of the coolest things and
They're all shouting for joy. And you know what? It made me think of is Luke 15
Look where the Bible says in verse number seven. I
Say unto you that likewise
Joy shall be in heaven
Over one sinner that repenteth
More than over 99 just persons. There's no repentance, you know
If we could if we could see the spiritual realm when we do a great work for God
There's all these people in heaven just like
Yeah
They're just so excited
because someone did some great and it's just it just it was like you got a little glimpse of
What it was like when you had this baptism just all these people just so excited
And just the joy and think about a sporting event
How many people are celebrating when their team wins and scores a touchdown that aren't even at the game?
They're just watching on television or they're just watching on their phone or they're just watching on their app
And that's how it is when it comes to the work that we're doing right now
Go to Hebrews chapter 12. I want to go to one more place. Look there is a great
cloud of witnesses that the Bible says
There's all these people like paying attention everything that we are doing and
They're looking down from heaven there and they get so excited when we go out and do the work of God
And you know what? They're not sitting here thinking like well, I didn't I didn't score I
Mean how many people are sitting just at home on their couch watching some lame sporting event today and
when their team wins, you know, they say we won and
They did nothing
There might even be a bandwagon, you know fan where they don't even like the team
They're just they just decided to pick them today because they just you know arbitrary
I just want to pick the one that's gonna win, you know, but they're all screaming and shouting for joy, you know
They don't have the wrong attitude of like well
I would be excited if I had scored the touchdown if I had shot the buck if I had you know dunk the ball or
Whatever. No, they get all excited. I mean if you're been in a sporting event in your life
Everybody's screaming and yelling and hollering and they're so excited when their team does something good
Why is it that the world can get so excited about men and tights?
scoring a touchdown and then
Christians
Can't even get excited
About other Christians when they do a great work for God. I
Mean how pathetic is that that they can get excited about a bunch of druggies and thugs
Scoring touchdowns
That are prideful arrogant jerks that wouldn't even give them the time of day and you can't even be excited about your brothers and sisters
In Christ when they do a great work for God
We should be so much more happy so much more joy so much more ready to
Enjoy the the spoils of war together
He here is chapter number 12
Look at verse number one
Wherefore
Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run
With patience the race that is set before you know what God wants us to realize. There's so many people counting on us
There's so many people looking to us
There's so many people that want to joy with us that we should just continually run that race and notice with patience
You know
It's a long game
You know, it's not it's not three hours
It's not six hours
It's it's our lives our lives. We're still in the game and you know for some of you young people you're in the first quarter
Some of us that are older we're around halftime some of us are in the fourth quarter, okay
but at the end of the day they want you to make it all the way to the end of the game and
To just keep fighting and to realize look we're gonna all part alike. You know, what's gonna happen
We're gonna all win against evil and then we're gonna all part the earth the new heaven in the earth alike
We're gonna all rule and reign with Christ and we're all going to get the spoil of those riches
But you know the people that are gonna get the lease or the ones that were selfish and prideful and doing it for wrong
Reasons and all the ones that were humble and in their heart doing it to just serve God
they're gonna be the most greatly rewarded and
There's gonna be a lot of people that frankly speaking the majority of them that just didn't even do anything
Obviously, they're not getting any rewards
But let us have the right attitude and let us not think that the job that we have isn't important
Let us not think that God isn't wanting to reward us
No, there's a great work to be done, but we can't do it alone
Bahamas is not a one-man job
So winning this afternoon is not a one-man job. This church is not a one-man job
Me having godly children is not a one-man job
Me doing anything is not a one-man job. We need other people. We need food rows in our lives. And if you're a Fura
You know take glory and God that you're a Fura. You have something to do. They are these friends with Gideon, you know
They'll find you Gideon to be someone's Fura. And you know what if you're a Gideon
Don't get prideful, but rather appreciate the Fura's that you have in your life
Let's close in prayer
Thank You Heavenly Father so much for giving us
the victory this past week and
Allowing us to touch so many souls and and to preach the gospel so effectively
I pray that those that have Terry that you would bring them home safely as well
I pray that those who got saved that someone would come alongside and would continue to water and
That those people would grow and they would mature and that we could see many other
Laborers entering into the harvester could see many more soul winners being grown in the the island of Bahamas
I pray that the works that we did would bring honor and glory to you
That you would encourage and motivate other people to get into the fight and I pray that those who were not on the front
Lines those who don't get all the recognition or glory
That they would realize they're just as important
They would realize the importance of their job and their role and they wouldn't be discouraged to keep serving God
They wouldn't be encouraged. They wouldn't be discouraged to not pray
I pray that they would just be strengthened to keep lifting up their hands that they would lift up the hands of others
That they would continue to give of their finances their time their money their effort their energy all for you
So that we can continue to give as much honor and glory to your son Jesus and in his name we pray
and