the bible says remember them which have the rule over you
who have spoken unto you the word of god whose faith follow considering the
end of their conversation so it sounds to me like in this new
testament church somebody's in charge
right the bible says remember them that have the rule over you
the bible even goes as far as to say obey them
that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for
your souls so the bible is literally telling us
that there is a person in the local church
that we are supposed to have allegiance to and that we are supposed to have
obedience under and that person is obviously talking about a pastor now if
the house church movement was correct if there's no authority in the church
would this scripture here really make any sense we
grew up in what's known as the house church movement now the house
church movement what they teach people
is that there is no pastor okay and you're going to eventually come across
people in this movement god literally says you're supposed to have a pastor
obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves but they'll say
nobody has the rule in the church there's no leader it's just a free for
all and one of these guys when when we
were getting into the house church said i'm so glad that we've escaped
organized religion what do you want a disorganized world where there's chaos
everywhere just take the logical conclusion of
that statement to where it goes and you'll see it's not of god
it's not logical it's not biblical to say that you shouldn't have a pastor
the bible says salute all them that have the rule over you and all the
saints they of italy salute you they say
there's no pastor in the new testament there's no authority
what it comes down to is they want to be their own authority
it takes power to be able to submit to the man of god now obviously if the
man of god oversteps his bounds pastor and i were talking about this last
night if he starts preaching bad heresies or bad doctrines
it is our job to tell him well pastor you also have to submit to the
authority of god's model and preach what's appropriate preach
what's right for the flock of god but notice what the bible says here
it says and i will give you pastors according to mine heart
which shall what which shall feed you a lot of them say well my only
shepherd is jesus christ well that's good that you're shepherd he's
the great shepherd the ultimate shepherd but the bible says
that there are shepherds who will feed us
with knowledge and understanding in the new testament it says the same thing it
says feed the flock of god doing what
taking the oversight now it sounds to me again
like in the old and new testament that there is somebody that's in
charge that there's somebody who's leading
this local church don't let youtube teachers
and people that don't know the bible come along and put together a well
edited video and put it in your face and say well here's why
there's no pastor in the new testament look you need to be
aware of this and you need to be aware of what the bible says so that you
don't get tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine
what the house church movement says is that well we don't have pastors we
have elders well the bible makes it clear
and these titles are used interchangeably bishop elder and
pastor the bible says that jesus is the chief shepherd
that he's the bishop of our souls it uses these words
interchangeably think of this too the mormon church
says that we have elders right but what does the bible say about an
elder that he's supposed to be the what
the husband of one wife now you notice these young guys
with the mormon tags they say i'm elder so and so but they're like
you know 10 years younger than me it's just mind-blowing
now in the catholic church they say that you cannot be married to be a
pastor you to be a bishop you can't be married
the exact opposite of what the bible says the bible says
that you have to be the husband of one wife having faithful children
why give the qualifications for a pastor if there's no pastor
why would he go spend all this time saying this is what the pastor's got
to be he's got to be vigilant sober not given to filthy lucre not
given to wine no striker why would he give all these
examples of what a pastor is supposed to be if all well in the new testament
there's no pastor it's a free-for-all every dad is a pastor well you're
supposed to be a pastor to your family perhaps
you're supposed to be a leader to your family but not to the church
there's one man that god has chosen to ordain
and this is what god's system is is that there's a pastor who leads
the local church and so that is under attack when i was in the house
church they would they would try to get us to
trick pastors they'd say here's how you trick a pastor
and they made it their goal to shut down the one that i was a part of our
goal was to shut down one independent fundamental baptist
church per year so one of this type of
church per year it was our goal to shut it down now
why why was it the independent baptist why wasn't it the pentecostals why
wasn't it the mormons why wasn't it the jehovah what about
islam islam's a growing religion you notice how satan only wants to
attack that which is legitimate he was john the baptist amen
not john the catholic not john the lutheran
john the seventh day adventist it's john the baptist
let's talk about the house church and the arguments that they use to try
to get people in because remember they're very tricky
and they'll take these scriptures out of context so this is a verse they
use they say well at acts they met in a house we've got to get back to
the book of acts where they're meeting from house to house
well let's look at the scriptures that they have in acts
that we also use the bible says when they were come in they went into an
upper room and they say well see there's an
upper room this is a house that they're meeting in right in the book
of acts where abode peter james john and all
the apostles a bunch of the apostles but notice what the bible says it says
and in those days peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said
the number of names together were about 120
who here could fit 120 people in their house
in the upper room of your house right there you go there you go so when 120
people were in the upper room do you know
what that means that this chapter the very first chapter in the book of
acts is showing us that there was a large infrastructure
that they were meeting in and it was the upper room of this
large piece of infrastructure it wasn't a whole a house church a home church
now pastor and i were talking eventually our goal at liberty
his vision is that we start a independent fundamental baptist church
in the city of coleman the town of coleman and i believe that church will
probably start out in a house meeting in a
house isn't bad but if you're scriptural you'll outgrow
the house in acts chapter 2 then they that gladly received his word
were baptized and the same day they were added
unto them about three thousand souls it's definitely time to get a bigger
house
three thousand souls were added to the church
and some make the argument well they split up they they went their own ways
and did their own house churches no false read the next verse it says and
they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship
and in breaking of bread and in prayers they were all together
as a church as an over 3 000 member church
meeting together with the apostles being trained by the apostles
of christ the disciples it's incredible that the
the scriptures the book of acts which they claim proves the house church it
proves we shouldn't have a building with four walls
when they're really meeting in a building with four walls as well
and think of this they say well it takes money to to have the
infrastructure this is what they'll say when you're knocking doors and
you're trying to witness to them because a lot of them aren't saved
they'll say well your church costs money to keep the doors open
well your house also takes money to be able to keep the doors open as well
it's not a good argument and so uh like i was saying
the apostles were teaching the new believers
and they had the authority in the church whenever people would come to our
church our house church growing up we oh it wasn't ours we went to a
different one and it got so big that
we hit a point where we couldn't fit everybody in the house
and so we had to go through a literal church split
to be able and it was very painful for a lot of people there was a lot of
contention and this guy who says i'm so glad
we've escaped organized religion to live in his disorganized home
fellowship with no leadership he turned around and said well we we
need to have no official start time we'll just tell
people to show up between 10 and 12 and people are showing up in their
pajamas right they're not they're not showing up in
in a professional manner not all people were but some were
and you know it just wasn't right the bible says we're ambassadors for
christ we should be professional paid leadership and now a lot of people
say pastors should not be paid it's okay to have a pastor some of
them will admit this but then they'll say
the pastor should just not be paid well let's look at what the bible says
let's look at what god's will is the bible says in those days when the
number of the disciples was multiplied
there arose a murmuring of the gracians against the hebrews because
their widows were neglected in the daily ministration
the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said
it is not reason that we should leave the word of god
and serve tables you know what they're saying
it's not reasonable that we go out and get a secular job
and go be a waiter at ihop or you know whatever restaurant cracker barrel
what's reasonable is that we don't leave the word of god and do that but
that we stick with teaching the word of god and the bible says
wherefore brethren look you out among you seven men of honest report
full of the holy ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint
over this business so god says that we shouldn't leave the word of
god as pastors to serve tables to work a secular job but what would
the house church tell us have the pastor go work at tables
somewhere go be a waiter over at a restaurant
go work a secular job now i understand
certain pastors have to work a secular job and that's okay
but ultimately god's plan is that a pastor
is to be paid and a pastor is to be taken care of
by the flock bible says do you not know that they which minister about
holy things live of the things of the temple so
he's referring back to the old testament
and he says and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the
altar so people who are serving at the altar
the levitical priests were partaking of the sacrifices
the people were taking care of them the bible says even so
hath the lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel so god is saying in the same way that they took
care of the levitical priests in the old testament and they fed
them from the tithes that's how we're going to take care
of a pastor in the new testament we're going to feed them and take care
of them and pay them bible says if we have
sown unto you spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap
your what carnal things so paul by inspiration of the holy ghost
is saying that it's okay for him as an apostle even to reap carnal
things if he's giving to the flock as the shepherd of the flock he should
be able to reap back a small benefit from the flock bible
says let the elders that rule be counted
worthy of double honor especially they who what
labor in the word and doctrine it is hard work being a pastor some of
you may notice i'm not a pastor but i get up here and i'm sweating i
turn red as a tomato because it is hard work to put
together a message and then bring it forth to the
congregation that's actually hard work and if you try it you'll see what i
mean it takes time the bible says study to show thyself approved unto
god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed
rightly dividing the word of truth especially they who labor in the word and
doctrine this is a true saying if any man
desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work
it is work to serve god it's one of the hardest jobs
people criticize pastors and they say well
he's a hireling and he shouldn't be paid and he's in it for money and he
wants fame pastors die the youngest they
usually get paid the least they have the most difficult job that
that's known in the whole usa some people say it's the second most
difficult job because of all the stresses of having
to deal with let's say you guys were having marriage issues or
we're having financial issues or or the grottens are having
issues with the kids being lazy you know i don't think they would ever have
that issue but you know these issues and he's got to
deal with all of that right that's very stressful
it's one of the most difficult jobs there is
pastors give the most statistically to the congregation
financially they give the most out of anybody
but pastors they're bad they're in it for the money look when people say
stuff like that they should be afraid of what god
thinks of that god literally said a pastor is to have the rule in a
congregation and i if i'm going to obey god have
to be willing to say god i'm going to go with your program i'm
going to go with your model i'm going to go with your plan that's why liberty
baptist church follows the model that god gave not
because we wanted a dictator but because we
want to follow god and being a pastor is actually one of
the most humbling things that you could do
because you have to get down and dirty in the mud with all the sheep
and try to help them to get out of the mess that they've gotten
themselves into half the time but people today in the house church
movement they say oh the pastor he's a hireling he shouldn't be paid
and there is a verse in scripture that they take out of context where the
bible talks about hirelings who are in it for money well the
fact that you have somebody in the bible that could be called a hireling
means by definition that position is paid position
think about it how could you be a hireling
if the position isn't paid are you following me so far
they say oh you know and whenever the pastor would come to our church
we would say oh here comes the hireling he's coming the hireling
look you shouldn't ever say something like that about a man of god
that's like i mean imagine saying something like that when you're living
in the old testament about the priesthood
god took that very serious and he takes the new testament just as serious
the bible says jesus christ is the same yesterday
today and forever remember when jesus called simon peter and the different
apostles he said give up your secular work give up
the nets give up your secular jobs and come
and follow me he says henceforth you will catch men
the bible says they left their nets behind and followed christ
jesus was the first pastor and think of this
when peter back slid and when he turned his back on god he denied the lord
three times this is what peter said at his lowest
point in his life simon peter said unto them the
disciples i go with fishing what was peter doing he was going back
to what his secular job the disciples said this
we also go with thee peter and they went forth and entered into his ship
immediately and that night they caught nothing god wasn't blessing it
when you turn your back on god you're going to take some people with you
notice how peter took people with him there were people
disciples of christ that forsook god and went back to their secular
job when they were supposed to be overseeing the church i mean it just to
me is incredible that this happened in the bible so what
that tells me is even strong christians could get caught
up in this peter said i go of fishing he turned his back on what god told him
to do tithing in the house church they are
against tithing bible says in matthew 23 23
this is when jesus is rebuking the pharisees
and he says woe unto you scribes and pharisees hypocrite
for ye pay tithe of mint innocent cumin house church just stop right there
they say see jesus was mad at the pharisees because they were tithing
no that's not what it says read on it says and have omitted the what
the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy faith
these ought you to have done and not left the others undone so he's saying
yes you should have tithed you should do that
but not leave the others undone so what did jesus just teach right here
in the new testament tithing jesus christ
our lord and savior our messiah god in the flesh
taught that we are supposed to tithe the bible literally says in the new
testament that tithing is not bad jesus says these
things ought you to have done will a man rob god yet ye have
robbed me this is god speaking but ye say wherein have we robbed
thee we were at the house church and this pastor came here he says you guys
are robbing god man you're supposed to be supporting missions
you're supposed to be helping your local church out
not just meeting in your living room for a social club and coffee time
this one lady got up and she's like um she's like well how can you say
that i've robbed god well that's the same question these
people are asking right and malachi mankind hasn't really changed and the
bible says god said in tithes and offerings
so tithing absolutely is biblical the bible says in the next verse you are
cursed with a curse for he have robbed me even this whole
nation god said this in the very next verse again
he says bring ye all the tithes into the where the storehouse
what's the storehouse in the new testament the church
all right a lot of people teach well i just give my tithe as a as an offering
to you know whoever but what does the
bible specifically say that we're to bring the tithes into
the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house
and prove me now herewith saith the lord of hosts if i will not open
the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room
enough to receive it so god is saying if you tithe if you give to him what
what he has given you if you give it back to him
the bible literally says that he'll open the windows of heaven
and pour out a blessing upon you in so much that you won't even be able
to receive it amen now the house church movement you'll hear this well
they'll say well did you know that tithing
is not biblical in the new testament because tithing in the old testament was
food so the increase was food matt well what was the monetary system of
the day back then they were plowing fields
they were farming they didn't really use a lot of
legal tenders so when the bible says give a tithe of all thine increase yes
that might have been talking about the field but
food was the monetary system of the day
pastor matt leithley was just in the congo
in the congo they don't really have a lot of legal tender
but what he noticed was that people were bringing pumpkins to church
they were bringing squash to church he's like well what's this about this
is the way they tithed over there because that was their increase that
was their only income and so they were just doing that to
be right with the lord now i want to talk about
one of the most important parts of this movement
what's going to happen if you have people coming into a house church
and there's no leader
chaos and what did the apostle paul warn he says with tears i warn people
please guys understand that there's going to be
ravenous wolves who come in after my departure
and that's why the bible says that god's plan is to ordain
elders in every single city to be able to keep the ravenous wolves
out and away from the flock in the house church
they embrace basically all religions growing up we
fellowshipped with the examish the meninites
the uh we we fellowshipped even there was some muslims who came in
judaism had crept in there was a family that practiced full-blown
judaism i'm not i know it sounds probably like the twilight zone to
some of you but this actually happened but they
practice in the house church ecumenicalism which means that just
anything goes and it appeals to our flesh right
because we you know it's kind of exciting to just say
well jamie anything goes it's all good just believe what you
want come as you are leave as you came
that feels good to our flesh and you know what excites a lot of people
right is starbucks i don't know about you i get excited when i have a coffee
i'm not gonna lie i'm human just like everybody else love
coffee but they'll use that they'll say
well we get around and have coffee around the table i'm sorry that's not
church they say well where two or three are
gathered in his name there christ is in the midst yes but
that's talking about when we come together to pray that's not
church that's just getting together and having fellowship
there's a difference between fellowship and being fed feed the flock
of god taking the oversight thereof there's a difference all right
a house church usually has no leader a lot of them go into
some really really different stuff some of which i'm not even going to get
into but the bible tells us now we command you brethren in the name of
our lord jesus christ that you withdraw
yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly
so there are even saved christians who we should separate from
you know if if mark heaven forbid was getting drunk and and beating his
wife heaven forbid don't think he ever
would but if he did my my job is to say mark i have to
separate fellowship and people say oh that's so hateful
matt oh the preacher is so mean
look you know what would be mean is if i say oh i'll be your friend anyway
i don't have a problem with it and create more victims exactly
the most loving thing we can do is stand up and say
you're wrong about something sometimes i don't like to do it anybody that knows
me knows i don't like to go around and tell people they're wrong
but you know what sometimes you have to withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition
which he received of us now i beseech you brethren by the name
of our lord jesus christ that you all speak the same thing
in house church they don't all speak the same thing it's all different
religions coming together how can you speak the same thing
how can you have unity if the house is divided against itself
notice this we're going to end kind of with this here the bible says for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved right
very famous verse that we use but then it says this
at the end of this verse it says how shall they hear without a preacher
and how shall they preach except they be what
is the house church sending missionaries out
no they say let's be recluses we're supposed to
hide our light under a bushel and not tell anybody where we meet because of
fear of the government and i've heard this stuff
and a lot of them will say your church is a 501c3
so because it's a 501c3 therefore we're not going to have anything to do
with it well and then they'll say 501c3 means
that the government can come and shut you down
actually that's not what 501c3 is 501c3 is just a tax exempt status
and the most that the government can do is what revoke our status
they can't shut us down if the government's coming to shut us down
what that means is that we're under communism at that point 501c3 doesn't
matter at that point my wife's family was trying to escape
communism when they came over here from romania
and yes some of the churches were forced to go underground
but just because and a lot of the house churches will come to you and say
well we're going to meet underground anyway someday folks we're going to
meet in a house anyway so let's just go ahead and start now
well i mean you're going to have to ration someday probably
why not start now you might have to i don't know not have electricity
someday why don't you start now do you see how it makes no sense
because it's not true because the house church movement is literally
of the devil because they're attacking what god has said that there should be
preachers who are sent out of where out of the local
church to preach the gospel to every single
creature since there's no leadership in the
house church it is open to the attacks of satan and eventually somebody
will come in and like what happened with me when i was a young man
17 years old there was a group within the house church
that went into the hebrew roots movement and i was a part of
messianic judaism part of the hebrew roots movement as a young man
and i did not know the truth why because there was no man of god to
hold me accountable there was no pastor
and the pastors that would talk to us they were the most nice people that i
had ever met and that's one of the things that
changed my heart towards them and somebody told me recently well why does this
matter why is this so important i'm going to put this down here so you all
know i'm getting close to being done okay
so a lot of people say well why does this matter
i don't know maybe because hell is a real place now a lot of people say how
can you say that hell exists that's such a far stretch for me
well noah's flood is a fact okay i'm going somewhere with this
noah's flood happened we covered it last week
we find whales on the top of mountains we find clams on the top of mountains
how does a whale get to the top of a mountain the flood
so what that means is that god did flood the earth
that noah was a real person that shem ham and japheth were real people
adam and eve were real people i mean what makes more sense on a
practical level that we all descended from fish and primates
or that we all descended from two people but if hell exists
and if noah's flood happened that means that everything in the bible is
true and we can trust it and i can trust that
the fact that jesus said that the moment the rich man died
and in hell the bible says he lifted up his eyes it was immediate
and in hell he lived up his eyes being in torments
because hell is so important to get people to avoid
we need to speak out against movements that send people there
and ecumenicalism saying well all paths lead to god
oprah is a lie jesus says i am the way the truth and the life
no man cometh unto the father but by me there's only one way to go to heaven
and that's through jesus there's not many ways to heaven
there's only one way the bible says for god so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have what everlasting life now a lot of people
say well i got saved but it wasn't everlasting i could lose it tomorrow
well then they didn't get saved to get saved you have to realize that
jesus is offering a gift of eternal life and you believe it and
you receive it by faith