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All right, so, title of this message this morning is Less is More. Throughout the last couple of Sundays, right, I have little famous proverbs that I like to use in my house. I have little short one-liners and sayings that I think are good one-liners and short sayings. One of them we preached two Sundays ago was doing something gets something done, right? Yes, last Sunday we preached on slowing down to speed up. Another principle that I have in my house is less is more. Now, that seems like a contradiction of terms, right, like less equals more. But especially if you think about it in the secular world, right? Think about like a chef, you know, sometimes chefs they want to make amazing masterpiece, right? They want to make an amazing dish for loved ones. And anyone who's been, you know, in the cooking industry or as a chef understands that less equals more. You can add more ingredient and the dish will actually come out flat or it's too much contradicting flavors or there's too many things. Haven't you heard the saying, you know, master of none and a jack of all trades? So you can be kind of decent at a lot of things or you can be really good at one thing. And I believe that the Bible really wants us to be obviously well-rounded as Christians, but it'd be better to master or perfect one thing at a time. As children, when we educate our kids growing up, right, we want them to get one simple truth at a time, right? You don't want to throw them into algebra one right away. You need to get a foundation, a fundamental truth. One plus one equals two. After that, you go into minus. After that, you go into division and multiplication and these fundamental truths. And remember, we are independent, fundamental Baptists, right? So we will always emphasize the fundamentals. That's what I said last week. Bounce passes, remember in basketball, right? But here's the thing. Inevitably, once you've set the foundation, you move on. But nevertheless, let's first focus on taking on less responsibility. The old church I was a part of in Arizona, Faithful Word Baptist Church, our pastor's wife, she has 10 children, 11 children now. And, you know, people at the ending of New Year's, they like to make New Year's resolutions and like, I want to be into fitness or I want to read more books. Or they try to add to their life a new challenge or a new skill that they want to go into the next year. And I remember my pastor's wife saying that her New Year's resolution was to do less because it's easy for a mother with more than five or so many kids to try to take on more responsibility. But inevitably you will burn out, period. That's just the facts of life. You can't try to take upon you too much because if you do, I mean, it's just inevitable that you can't. I mean, we're only human. You know, we're not superheroes. We're not, you know, like we can make mistakes and it's better to just specialize or slow down to speed up doing something, get something done and less is more. That's not to say you can't add to your arsenal of either your Christianity or your job. But specifically, we need to remember to slow down. And that comes with this thought. Notice if you would look down at your Bible in Judges Chapter 7. I think this is a very appropriate passage of the Bible to get what I'm trying to say across. Notice what it says in verse 2. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand hath saved me. Pause. So the Lord, get the picture, right? The Midianites and the Amalekites are coming to war against Israel, right? And Gideon was the judge at this time who is to deliver. Judges are also known as Deliverers to deliver the children of Israel out of, you know, harm from these people. And God wants the people of Israel to know that it's not them that's saving the nation. It's God that's saving the nation. And of course, when this battle went forward, right, it's appropriate to get as many soldiers as you can possibly together. But you got to remember the Old Testament, right? We look through a glass darkly or they look through a glass darkly in the Old Testament. And there's lots of symbolisms in the Old Testament that with the lens of the New Testament, we can look at, apply into a spiritual understanding. That's another good rule of Bible interpretation is we let the New Testament interpret the Old Testament. We take the Bible literally when it said, you know, God, you know, used so many people, right? But what's the symbolic application to us today as New Testament Christians? Well, the Bible does say, right, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, against principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. So we need to not take it upon ourselves to create a Christian nation and go out and conquering people physically. They did that in the Old Testament. God commanded them to do that, which is back to what I'm talking about. Remember, when he established the Kingdom of Israel, right, he was not trying to make heaven on earth. What he was trying to do is show other people who he is. The nation of Israel was supposed to be a light unto the Gentiles. They failed at their task. That's why the New Testament talks a lot about how the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. We as Bible believing Christians, us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are the children of God. The nation of Israel used to be the children of God or the chosen people, but they failed in their task. Nevertheless, right, if you could imagine, right, and elsewhere in the chapter it talks about the Midianites and the Amalekites are an innumerable number. Could you imagine looking out into the valley right now and you see an army and you can't even count how many heads there are? Because the Bible talks a lot about different wars that went on and different people groups, and it mentions big numbers like 10,000, 100,000, and so many other people groups. But in this it says, couldn't even be numbered, meaning that it was a ridiculous amount of people. And it's very appropriate to be like, okay everyone, let's get together and defend our nation, right? But here's the thing, God did not want them to take glory in the victory of this battle. That's why it says in the ending of verse 2, Lest Israel vought themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. It's not you and me. The horse is prepared unto the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. And take it to the bank, if a nation, an army, a general, or anyone is not right with God, take it to the bank. If God wants to destroy you, you will be destroyed, period. We see an example of that with the nation of Egypt, right? Egypt was the great empire at that time. And the Israeli people were slaves in bondage in Egypt. And God was trying to share to the people of Israel, I, God, will be the one that pulls you out of the land, using Moses, obviously, his instrument. But nevertheless, God is trying to drill a point right now. It's the quality that matters, not the quantity. I said when I first got here two years ago, right, my very first sermon preached here in Oahu, I explained, I'd rather there be five of us who are genuine, legitimate, bona fide, certified, soul winning, fire-breathing Christians than a congregation of 50 million people who don't want nothing to do with the Bible, don't care about the things of God, don't care about sharing their faith with their neighbor. It makes more sense that God gets more glory with less because if a huge group of Christians, right, a group of, let's say, 500 people go around evangelizing, right, it's not that impressive in the world's perspective. It's like, yeah, well, the law of averages will play out, lots of people get lots of people saved, that makes sense. But what do they say in the New Testament, right? It says of the apostles, these men turned the world upside down, there were 12 apostles, and the whole entire world that we exist in today was a result of Jesus Christ coming, establishing his church, and the disciples picking up the mantle and moving forward. We are in the year 2021, why? Because Jesus Christ was born 2021 years ago. So this is what the Bible is trying to emphasize, let's keep going on and reading. Notice what it says in verse 3, Now therefore, go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return, and depart early from Mount Gilead, and their return of the people twenty and two thousand, and the remained ten thousand. Pause. So right away, God is trying to, you know, weed out people. He's saying, anyone who's afraid, get out of here. Because here's the thing, we are in a spiritual war, whether you know that, like that or not, look around. I don't think I need to explain to you that the world's going to hell in a handbasket. And people are confused out there. We're not at war with the sons of Adam, we're at war with the sons of the devil. They're going around trying to make one proselytite twofold more a child of hell than themselves. But we're going around spreading the message of salvation, not only to get new converts saved, but to recruit people in the Lord's army to fight the battles of Christianity. And that's why we emphasize in this church the quality. Let's do something, doing something, get something done. Let's slow down to speed up. Less is more. I'd rather us understand the importance, what is bestowed upon us, you know. Elsewhere in the Bible it says, it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is given unto us the reconciliation of salvation to reconcile a lost world to Jesus Christ. And this is what's important for us to emphasize because God is emphasizing this point. I'd rather I use a smaller group of people. Because look, we can go around right now in Honolulu and find a church with 100 plus people, right? What are they doing? What are they doing for God? What are they doing for the community here in Oahu? Because you know what I see? I see a lot of churches going around feeding a bunch of derelict, degenerate crackheads who aren't willing to do anything, go to work or contribute to the people of Hawaii. And they're going around thinking they're doing Jesus Christ's work by feeding them. What does the Bible say? It says simply, if a man doesn't work, neither shall he eat. You know, I've heard this said before and I'm sure you understand this concept. If I had a little bit of sugar on this table, right, what's going to come to it? Ants will find their way to the sugar, right? What if I took the sugar away? The ants are going to go find somewhere else to get food. So our, you know, island is giving out too much to derelicts. And if they stopped doing this, then we wouldn't have this problem. And I mentioned already before that the crackhead demographic here is like quadrupled since I've been back. But regardless of that, what good is it that you give a man a fish, but you don't teach him how to fish? What good is it if you give someone food, but then they die because they've not taken in the bread of life, the word of God? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This is what I'm trying to get at. 990,000 people on this island, right? We're a group of, as of right now, some 20 of us, right? And if the Lord chooses to, He can use us to turn this island upside down. I'm not saying He will. I'm not saying it's a guaranteed, but we need to do our part to see that come to fruition. And if the Lord chooses, He'll use us. And if not, blessed be the name of the Lord anyways. Let's keep going on and reading. Notice what it says in verse 4. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many. Bring them down under the water, and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, they shall go with thee, and the same shall go with thee. And of whomsoever I say unto thee, they shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people under the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lapeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lapeth, him shall thou set by himself. Likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men. But all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped, will I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go, every man, unto his place. Now let me pause there really quickly. Give me a second to formulate what I'm trying to get at. This passage of the Bible is unique. I've heard different people interpret this differently. But how I see this passage, because remember what just happened before, right? God says, If you are fearful, get out of here. Because in war, right, especially like ancient warfare, and Hawaiian, you know, soldiers or Hawaiian warriors shouldn't understand this, right? What did we do the Hakka for, right? Hakka was to scare the other opponent, to get them to be afraid. There is a psychological aspect to war. So obviously, if you have a bunch of guys lined up in a row, and one guy's afraid, he's going to break rank, and then the whole chink in the armor will destroy it. So basically, God is saying, if you're afraid, get out of here. Twenty-two thousand people leave. There's still ten thousand people. So God's like, still too many, because still it could be said that you saved yourselves. He tells the people to go to the river and to see how they drink the water. Now the way I see this passage, I believe that those who were willing to lap the water like a dog lapsed, because that's pretty weird, right? It's like, why would a person like lap the water like a dog? It just seems kind of like, you know, I don't want to say inhumane, it just seems kind of barbaric. It just seems kind of weird. And those who are willing to get on their knees and drink water, he said, get rid of those guys. I believe there's symbolism in this, because getting on your knees is a humiliating position, right? It's to humble yourself. That's not to say these guys were bad people. Because remember, he just said to the other people who are afraid to get out of here. These people stayed, so they weren't afraid. They trusted in God that he was going to deliver them. But these people must have, I believe, had a more humble approach to warfare, because they, when thirsty, were willing to get down. And you know, when you're on the job site, right, what is one of the qualifications when you apply for a job? They mentioned like, oh, can you lift 50 pounds? You've got to be willing to be on your feet for eight hours of the day and all these other things, right? So if you're a soldier, you need to be willing to stay on your feet when hard things come. And I'm not saying that these 10,000 or these other people weren't going to fight the Lord's battle. They weren't afraid. But I believe that they were just a little bit not completely in it. The other 300 individuals, once again, it seems barbaric to just grab water and lap it. But their mindsets different. They're thinking like, drink water, okay, next fight. You know, they're on a forward pressing motion. It's not to say that the other people were less aggressive. It's just more so that they were probably, I believe, less qualified to defend the people of Israel. So that's how I see that passage. Let's keep going and reading. Because remember, what's the title of this message? Less is More. I'm sure the Lord could have used two people to deliver the whole nation if he wanted to. He chose 300. Raise your hand if you've seen that movie, 300. I mean, a lot of us have seen it. I've seen it, you know. And it's about the Spartan army fighting off the Persian empire. At that time, they used 300 Spartans. And mind you, we should not be glorifying this film. I used to think that was such a cool film. And, you know, the Greco-Roman fighting style and the Spartan defense system is such an amazing military feat. And mind you, they were barbaric. The Grecians, the people of Greece, were really aggressive. And they were really good warriors and fighters. But you didn't know this, that the Spartans were also sodomites. They were sick, twisted animals. They were people who were barbaric to nature. And that's what I'm trying to get at. We don't need to be glorifying that. I believe that that story actually probably could find itself here. Have you ever heard that legends come from previous stories? I believe that the Spartan people, and maybe there wasn't an exact 300 people that defended Greece at that time from the Persian empire. But I believe they probably looked at the Bible and were like, Oh wow, Gideon and his 300 soldiers defended Israel. Let's just put a Greek spin on it and say the Spartans did it. I can't prove that. But nevertheless, what I'm trying to get at is this is the real 300. This is the people of God who, mind you, remember, it's innumerable. I mean, I can't... We read past the Bible quickly a lot and we just kind of like, Oh, and there's an innumerable amount of people and these 300 guys killed them. Oh, that's amazing. Like, could you imagine like looking out right now and just seeing an amount of people you can't even imagine. Remember, less is more. God wants to use less so he gets the glory. No flesh shall glory in his presence. But look what it says, it keeps... Let's go on to read in verse 8. So the people took victuals in their hand and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel, every man, into his tent and retained those 300 men. And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, For I will deliver it into thine hands. So God is telling him, I will do this. Take it to the bank. Thus saith the Lord, you will succeed. Do not be afraid. No one else is afraid. You are going to win this battle. And let's skip down to verse 16 for sake of time. But notice what it says in verse 16. And he divided the 300 men into three companies. And he put a trumpet in every man's hand, an empty pitcher, and lamps within the pitchers. Pause. Once again, we look through the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. This is symbolic. They physically did this. There is actually symbolism built in this story because what is a trumpet? It is an instrument to sing or to, you know, as the Bible says in Isaiah 58 one, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their sins. And the house of Jacob, their transgression. The trumpet represents, as Jesus said in the New Testament, That what I give you in the ear, that preach ye on the housetops. We are to proclaim the gospel to people. And we are to exalt in it and lift up our voices to do so. Too much today. Christian churches have pastors, preachers, and people who are just soft-spoken. And they're just, you know, everybody, let's, if you would, turn to, you know, they sound like Mr. Rogers from the neighborhood for crying out loud. We need leather-lung men of God. John the Baptist, Jeremiah the prophet, Jesus Christ himself, lifted up their voice constantly, and he's commanding us to do that as preachers. And this symbolizes, mind you, you have Gideon and 300 people, a core elite group of Christian soldiers who have a trumpet, and what's on the other hand, with empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers. The pitcher represents the physical body, the tabernacle. And the lamp, or the lantern, pictures the Holy Spirit, right? Because remember the parable of the ten virgins, and they had different lamps. Those represent the Holy Spirit dwell inside of them, right? So, basically, this is a symbolic representation of people going out and preaching the gospel to make known the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to open their mouths boldly, and to show people what the glorious light of the gospel is. Salvation by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, plus nothing, minus nothing. You don't need to continue in righteousness. You don't need to stop doing your sin. Just trust alone in Christ. And if you amplify that out loud, then it will happen. Now, I'm going to move on for the sake of time to other passages in the Bible that I think truly explain that less is more. And think of it like this. If we take it too much upon ourselves, right? Turn, actually, if you would, to Exodus chapter 18. This is a prime example of what I'm talking about. If we take too much upon ourselves, we will crash and burn, period, right? We all know the parable of the sower, right? You have a man going out and sowing seeds, and he sows some on stony ground, he sows some on thorny ground, and he sows some on the good ground. The seed represents the word of God, the ground represents the heart. So the seeds that were sown on the good ground are the person, when they hear the word of God, they understand it, and they realize what is given unto them to preach the gospel and bring forth fruit, share the message, get other people to be saved. The one that's sown on thorny ground, it says that when the cares of this world came, it choked the word and it became unfruitful because they're so mixed up in things in this world, their career, their family, or what else, or whatever it is, that's not as important as eternal things. But then the seed that's sown on stony ground, it grew up, and when tribulation and persecution arise, by and by he was offended. We know this term here at this church and others, you know, the Roman candle Christian, right? A Roman candle, right? That firework that when you light it, it has a big old show, and then it just disappears. And we don't want in our Christian lives to do a bunch for God in a short period of time, and then we fade out and go away. We want to stay consistent. And if you, you know, I mentioned last week that I'm a sprinter naturally. I like to sprint. I like marathon running. I think it's unhealthy, and that's another message for another time, but I like sprinting, short distance runs, right? But when it comes to Christianity, we need to be marathon runners, not sprinters. Because basically, you know, of the church, the seven churches in Asia Minor, right? One of the sins that they fell into is you had a name, you used to do great things, but now you're not. So this is a bad attribute of your church. But notice if you would, look down at Exodus chapter 18 verse 13. It reads, And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone? And all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening, or even? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God. When they have a matter, they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee, for this thing is too heavy for thee. Thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee. Be thou for the people to Godward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God. And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of ten. And let them judge the people at all seasons. And it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge. So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure. And all these people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened unto the voice of his father in love, and in all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons. The hard cases they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land. So here's the thing. Moses led the children out of the land of Egypt, right, into the desert of Sinai for forty years. And while he's doing this, he himself individually is judging every problem that the people of Israel had. And, you know, Moses' father-in-law walks up to him and is like, What are you doing, dude? There are way too many people for you to be judging. You need to delegate your work. Less is more. Delegation. This is an important philosophy that we need to have as Christians. I am the preacher here, right? But I take orders from my pastor. And there's only a handful of us here. There's not a lot of us here. But notice there's rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of thousands. I think I fall into the category of rulers of fifties, because any small matter I should be able to handle. But if our church grows, we should have other spiritual leaders like deacons and evangelists who delegate the work, because it's too much for one person to take on too much for himself. Because if he does, I mean, for crying out loud, if you apply to the secular world, right? I work for a moving company, right? And let's say in my moving company, my boss is like, Hey, go to this place and move these things, right? And then I get there, but he goes, you can go by yourself and take care of it on your own. And it's like a five bedroom mansion with like, you know, china cabinets and chandeliers and mattresses and beds and all these things. And he's like, okay, move it all out by yourself. By you, it's a normal doorframe. It's a, you know, eight by three and a half doorframe. You got it, right? Like, obviously, could I do it? Maybe, probably not. But be better to delegate the work. Have an assistant, have someone help me. Because if not, I will wear away. And let's say he goes, okay. And we as Christians believe six days shalt thou labor, one shalt thou rest. If we do not as men provide for our families and be at least willing to work sun up to sun down six days a week, then we're not doing our job as husbands, as fathers, as, you know, people who are ruling our house. But if you need a break from time to time, because obviously a physical job is, you know, you can't, you can't, you know, work physically long forever. Because if you do, you will break down. It's okay to take a break every now and again. Take five, drink some water, stretch out, like just relax a little bit. Get your bearings together. You can either go to work, you know, 70% of the time six days a week or you can go at it 100% of the time five days a week. And then on that sixth day, you can just kind of, you know, maybe use mental power or something like that. But that's what I'm trying to get at. God explains through Moses' father-in-law to him, you're taking too much on you. And Moses was the leader. God ordained Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He told him, this is for you. Now notice the whole time, Moses elsewhere in the book of Numbers is known as the meekest man in the earth. He was humble. He was meek. He was lowly. People think of Moses as like, you know, some like intense guy and he was intense, mind you. Remember the story when, you know, he goes up to Mount Sinai to get the tablets of stone and on his way down, he sees the nation of Israel offering up sacrifices to idols, the two calves, and he grinds the idols to powder and makes them drink it. So obviously Moses was intense, but he was considered the meekest man in the earth. So that tells me it's okay to get raw every now and again when people are going south. And basically when God, when he leads the people of Israel out of Egypt, he's trying to, you ever heard the saying, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Like obviously that's true. Like if you know what you're doing, it is better you do it, but you could be wear thin and then next thing you know, you're helping no one. I remember when I go on an airplane, they always talk about, you know, if God forbid the plane crashes, you know, grab the oxygen thing, put it on yourself, then put it on your kids. I remember growing up, it's like, no, put it on the kid first because, you know, forget me, like the kid will be fine, right? But it's like, if you can't help yourself, you can't help them. Slow down to speed up, doing something, get something done and less is more. But not only that, turn to your Bible, if you would, to Matthew chapter 21. While you turn to Matthew chapter 21, I will mention this one thing. It's not that God does not want all of his children working. That does not mean it is my responsibility to go evangelizing only. It is all of our responsibility. It's not like, okay, David, less is more. You got the soul winning on your own, right? Go figure it out. No, no, no. It's for all of us. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, right? And there's a passage in the Bible, Numbers 11, 27. You don't need to turn there. Stay if you would in Matthew chapter 21. Numbers 11, 27 through 30 says, And there ran a young man and told Moses and said, Eliad, Eliadad, and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men answered and said, My Lord Moses forbid them. He's telling them, he's telling Moses, Hey, these guys are prophesying. Stop them from this. And what is Moses' response? And Moses said unto him, Envious thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. And Moses got him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. So like I said, right? In the New Testament, we've heard it said, The harvest truly is plenteous. It's the laborers that are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send forth his laborers. We all have to take upon ourselves a little bit of work. It's not my job. It's not only the pastor's job to go preaching the gospel. It's your job. It's all of our jobs to do this. And that's why if we all understand as Gideon's men understood that we're all in this fight together, then that is how we are able to win the Lord's battle. That's not to say there won't be problems and persecutions along the way. The Bible clearly teaches, Yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live godly, if you are choosing to be sanctified, be separated, go to church, preach the gospel to your loved ones, you will be persecuted, period. Take that to the bank. But, you know, for those who are willing to stretch forth their hands against the Lord's anointed, plead for joy. The Bible says, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted are the prophets which were before you. So obviously there's no new thing under the sun. There's no new thing under the sun. They persecuted Moses. They persecuted Gideon. They persecuted Jesus. The disciples, they will persecute us if we are willing to be different and preach the gospel. Because it's obnoxious to them when we're loud, right? Because remember, we've got that trumpet in our hand. If you die in your sins, you will go to hell. People don't want to hear that. But because we love them, we tell them this, right? Matthew chapter 21. This is another thing I want you to understand. Jesus Christ spoke in parables. So what is a parable? It is a poetic or symbolic teaching. What I've always said, a heavenly truth explained in an earthly way. So Jesus Christ, you know, came into the scene, and people would ask him hard questions. And when they asked him hard questions, they don't know the answer. And they're trying to trick Jesus, right? They're trying to trick him up on, like, what the right answer is. And he doesn't give them long answers. You know those guys, you know those people at work when you're like, hey, where is this? Or hey, where is that? And they give you some long answer. Well, I saw John, and John told me not to tell so-and-so, and so-and-so went over, and he put it there. But then, you know, it's okay just to give a simple answer. And Jesus gives simple answers to people who would challenge him. Notice what it says in Matthew 21, verse 23. It reads, And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John. Once was it, from heaven or of men. And they reasoned with him, And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say of men, we fear the people, for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered to Jesus and said, We cannot tell, and he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. So you see right there, right, they're trying to trick him up. They're trying to like, Well, was John's baptism from heaven or of earth? And he's like, Well, let me ask you one question. I'm going to ask, I'll answer your, because some people think of this and they're like, Oh, that's Jesus avoiding the answer. No, no. He's answering their question with the answer that would apply to him. He goes, John's baptism, was it from heaven or of men? And they're like, Well, see back to that beating around the bush. They're going to beat around the bush and be like, Well, we can't say it's from heaven because then, well, they're going to hold John as a prophet and so on and so forth. So obviously he gave them a witty answer and it was just less. Jesus could have explained himself, right, and been like, Well, let me explain this to you, right? But he didn't. He chose to use less to get more done. Matthew chapter 22, notice what it says in verse 23, just one chapter over. Matthew chapter 22 verse 23, it reads, The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection and asked him, This is a funny thing I learned a long time ago from my wife. The Sadducees don't believe in a resurrection or angels and spirits, right? But if you break down the words, they're sad, you see. I thought that was funny. No wonder because they don't believe in heaven and hell. They're sad. I see that. The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and rise obscene unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren, and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third unto the seventh, and last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven, that as touching the resurrection of the dead, ye have not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. So obviously, notice in verse 33, And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. Because once again, these people are trying to trick Jesus, right? They're like, well, this guy had a wife and then he died, he didn't leave her a son or a child, so she marries the brother, marries the next brother, marries the next brother, then she dies. Such a non-realistic scenario, but you know what? You got to play extremes when it comes to mental sparring and it's like, okay, so in the resurrection, whose wife is she going to be? And he's like, are you an idiot? Did you not read what the Bible says? God's not the God of the dead, but of the living. They're neither given in marriage or they're neither married nor given in marriage. So he's just showing them simply how stupid they really are. Do you know that guy who always tries to like make everything more complicated, right? And like I said at work, I remember when I, you know, would like have an employee who is over-complicating things and it's like, dude, just slow down to speed up, doing something, get something done, and less is more. And with that next point, I'm going to go into let your communication be yay, yay, and nay, nay. The Bible elsewhere talks about, you know, a soft voice turns down wrath. You know, when someone's like super angry with you if you're out evangelizing and they're ready to like lose their mind, you don't need to explain yourself. Look, for crying out loud, walking up to a door with a Bible in your hand, they've already passed judgment. They're already upset. It's not you they're upset at. They're shooting the messenger. They're angry with the message. But they're shooting the messenger in the process. So obviously, you know, we need to have sympathy for those who would be angry for us preaching the gospel, but at the same time, think about like creation science evangelism, right? Because I believe strongly that it's good always to be ready to give an answer to any man that asketh you of the hope, of the reason that is in you with meekness and fear. But I also believe, an heretic after the first and second admonition, reject and move on, right? Because I'm not trying to argue with people. But it's okay to give simple answers. And so many like rabid atheists out there are trying to like hem up Christians, right? They're trying to be like, oh, you know, here's a contradiction or here's a problem and here's an issue, right? And they want you to give them like some theological answer or some long go around explanation. Here's a good example. You know, how do you know that's the word of God? Well, it says it's the word of God. Yeah, but so does the Quran. Yeah, the Quran says not the word of God though. What about the Book of Mormon? That's not the word of God. Well, how do you know? Because that's the word. You see what I'm saying? Like you can answer it simply and that just drives them wild. It drives them wild that you're not giving them some like elaborate answer. Like, you know, I go and I study history and I notice the preserved text following a narrative throughout time and blah, blah, blah, which is true. We can explain the truths of the preserved word of God in a long go about way. But that's for us as believers. We first believe the word of God that it's preserved. Then we look back into history and understand the truths. We don't look around in the scientific community and when they find things that disprove God, just be like, oh, okay, well then that means the Bible is not true. No, we believe the Bible and if science contradicts the Bible that science is not true. And the Bible talks about people who have called science science falsely so called. So we need to remember that let your communication be yay, yay, and nay, nay. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This is what I'm trying to get at. The apostle Paul understood this and he explains this very clearly in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. While you turn there, let me quote from you from Matthew chapter 5, the Beatitudes, right? It says, you know, thou shall not swear at all neither by thy head nor by thy, you know, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be yay, yay, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Because the world's trying to paint everything gray. But the Bible makes everything black and white. There is gray. I'm not going to sit here and say there's no gray areas. I'm not going to say in life we can't walk around and not see, you know, shades of gray. But at the same time, we can't have gray without black and white, right and wrong, up and down, left and right, truth, not truth. So we believe the truth, right? The truth will make you free. But there are people out there who are trying to muddy the waters as Satan did in the Garden of Eden. Yea hath God said? You know, he's obviously trying to cause doubt. But notice what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 15. It reads, And in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before that ye might have a second benefit, and to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you. And of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness or the things that I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. So even Paul realized, you don't need to like, when it comes to the promises of God, we don't need to explain ourselves. If it says it, we just say, yep, it's gonna happen. When it talks about the second coming, it's gonna happen. Take it to the bank. When it talks about praying fervently, the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, we believe in the miracles. I don't know about you, I believe that God is able to heal sick people. I believe God is able to do amazing things in our lives. I believe God will be willing to change the lives of everyone around us if we're willing to do our part. He's not gonna from heaven speak in an audible voice and make it happen. He's using us as his instruments to get things done, as he did with Moses, as he did with Gideon, as he did with the disciples. But nevertheless, James 5 verse 12, you don't need to turn there, it reads, The Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So let's not us follow that pattern. Let's not us when people ask us like questions that have simple answers to give them some go around beating around the bush answer. Let's not us be like a politician for crying out loud. In today's world, people try to like bring Christianity into politicians and politicians into Christianity. Not such a joke because what is a politician? Well, the word poly means many, right? And what's a tick? A bloodthirsty animal. So a bunch of bloodthirsty animals going around telling the Democrats what they want to hear, telling the Republicans what they want to hear so they get votes and they get exalted. We don't believe in the left-right paradigm of our nation. We understand that Republicans got issues, Democrats got issues. And if you're here to hear messages about political issues, you're in the wrong place. This is the house of God. This is for the preaching of the cross. To them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So that's another thing. You know, people try to, once again, they just speak out of two sides of their mouth because they want to appeal to a bigger demographic. Think of it like this, right? We here are independent, fundamental Baptists, right? We are independent from any greater denomination. We don't adhere to another church. We adhere to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church statement of faith. We are independent. No one tells Sherr Foundation how they're supposed to be governed. We are fundamentals because we believe in the fundamental truths of the faith, the Trinity, salvation by faith, the preserved text and things like that. And independent, fundamental Baptists, we believe in Baptist doctrine, and that's another message for another time. But there are people who are independent, fundamental Baptists who will say, oh yeah, faith is sufficient to save you, but also if you believe you live in righteousness, it will also save you. I say that the King James is the perfect word of God and also the modern translations are good. So they're speaking out of both sides of their mouth to get more people into their church because it's not about the truth to them. It's about living their best life now. They're trying to create their heaven on earth. The Bible talks about beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, which, you know, preach things which they ought not for filthy, lucre's sake. They're in it for the money. They don't care about you, me or any of us to truly know the truth because Jesus says if you want to know the truth, you will find out the truth, period. And, you know, that's another discussion for another time about how, you know, we need to remember the importance of doing less, right? But not only that, here's the conclusion. Think big. Wait a second, David. You just said do less. So now you're telling me to think big. Well, 2 Kings 2, verse 9 reads, And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou has asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so. So Elisha asked Elijah for a double portion of his spirit, right? Which he said, this is not a small thing you're asking for. You're asking for a big thing because Elijah the prophet did a bunch of amazing miracles and he changed the known world where he was at the time. But Elisha once again realized the importance of what was bestowed upon him, right? And with that being said, just because we can take on less doesn't mean you stay simple. Once you've mastered something, master another thing. Once you've mastered two things, master three things. Once you've mastered three things, but this is what I'm trying to get at, slowing down, because you could try a bunch of things and fail at a bunch of things or you could perfect one thing, then perfect another thing, then perfect another thing and then so on and so forth because our Christian life is broad. There's a lot we have to learn, right? You know, Bible memorization, let alone how to defend our faith, preaching the gospel. There are so many attributes to our faith that we could apply. And if you don't think big, then you won't get big things. Gideon in the 300, right? The beginning of this sermon was about God using a small number of people to beat this army. And we are a small number of people, arguably, and we can take back Oahu for the truth of the gospel and win our brothers, our sisters, our loved ones to the Lord and show them the truth of God's word. Help them change their lives. Help them to get right with God. And the only way we can do that is if we think big. Jesus says in John 14, verse 12, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. It's not to say that the quality of work that we do is greater than Jesus. Nothing we do is obviously greater or better than Jesus. When he says greater there, he means more amount, more volume. Because Jesus Christ was only here for three years in his ministry, right? You and I have a lifetime. So if we do a bunch of little things back to that marathon, right? We can get a lot more done. Obviously, all things are done. Like Jesus Christ will get all credit for what we do. He is the author and finisher of our faith. But he had a limited time. And he's telling the disciples and everyone else, you have a long time. You can do what I'm doing and more if you're willing to just do something, getting something, get something done. Slow down to speed up. Do less. Not in light of try to not accomplish a lot, but back to the slowing down to speed up. Don't take upon you too much. Just make sure you get good at this one thing. I mean, for crying out loud, right? There's a huge Filipino demographic here in these Hawaiian islands. Can anyone here speak Filipino? I can't. But if someone slowed down and taught themselves Filipino and perfected their Filipino, they can go and preach the gospel to the Filipino community because now they have the ability to hear the message of salvation. Judy, you speak Cantonese and Mandarin, right? So you can speak the gospel to a people that will understand. I mean, no one really speaks Hawaiian anymore. So it's not like we have to learn Hawaiian to give the gospel. But, you know, we here in Hawaii have a multiplicity of people groups that come from all around the world, and there's a huge Asian culture here, whether it's Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, or something. And if you just stop throughout your day and take it upon yourself to learn a second foreign language, you can actually get more done for God in the long haul. But not only that, the Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 13, right? Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and though I have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. So we always do these things through love. Love is the fulfilling of the commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. When you do this, then you will see the bigger picture of taking not too much upon yourself. And even me included. Look, since we've been back, I've been doing a lot. I had to get a job. I had to find a house. I had to get a car. I had to run this church. I had to get a lot of things going together. And I'm finally at a point where I can start slowing down. I need to start. I got the job. I got the house, and I got the car. So now I need to focus on the church. And that's why last week I was preaching to the kids. I wanted them to know that we're here for them. You guys are just as much of this congregation as any one of us. And I don't want what I say to go right through your ear. This isn't a game. This is all for the glory of Jesus Christ and His message. So let us make sure to not take too much upon ourselves, and less is more.