(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Luke chapter 14. Look down at verse number 26. Luke 14 verse 26. I'm going to read you a few verses. The Bible reads in verse 26. The name of the sermon is, Count the Cost. Count the Cost. Now the context here, Jesus is giving a couple examples. He's saying if you build a tower, it's something that before you start building, you've got to make sure you're able to finish it. Don't start building a tower, and then part way up say, well the foundation's done, but I don't think we're going to finish this job. And so you only did a small part, but what's the purpose? Don't do that unless you're able to finish it. The other example is going out to war. You declare war on another country, and then all of a sudden you say part way in. Let's just have peace. I don't think we're going to win this battle. No, if you declare the war, then you better just go through it. But you better make sure that you're going to win the battle before you do it. You don't decide once it's started. You must decide ahead of time. And so what the Bible's talking about, counting the cost, there are things in life that you should not rush into. You should make sure you know what you're doing ahead of time. And so the first point we have is this. We should have patience with big decisions. Patience with big decisions. Now the two things we mentioned are obviously big decisions. If you're going to build a tower, that will take you a lot of time. It's not something that's going to be done in a week. It's something that will cost a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of effort. If you're going to go to war with another country, it's going to cost a lot of time, a lot of bloodshed, a lot of money. You better think about it ahead of time. Now small decisions are not a big deal. You say, Brother Stuffy, after the service, should I eat at Jollibee or Chow King? Well, if you know me, then you know what the answer is. I'm going to say that Chow King is Mas Kasarab Kai Sasa Jollibee. But you know what, if you want to eat at Jollibee, hey, that's up to you. It's not a big decision. Just eat wherever you want. But if you're deciding, am I going to build a building, then obviously you've got to put a lot of thought into it. It's not something you just rush into it. So small decisions in life, no big deal. Just decide and go on with it. Big decisions, you've got to make sure you're making the right choice. Think about things like getting married to someone. Look, don't just say, wow, so-and-so's a sole winner, I'm a sole winner, we had fun on our one day, let's just get married. I mean, make sure it's who you want to marry. You can't just decide a couple months in, wow, man, I just don't really like them that much. It's like, well, you already promised and vowed before God, till death do us part, then try to stay married. You better actually think about that ahead of time. Some other things you could think of is relocating to a church. We have a lot of people that visit this church that are planning to leave their churches, and they kind of test the waters, and then they decide to go back. And it's like, we should think about that ahead of time. Because when you go back, it's never going to be the same anymore. They will mock you, they will criticize you, and unfortunately, many times, then you'll be too shy to come back to this church. And honestly, let me just say, you're welcome to come back to this church. We've had people that have visited this church that you know aren't really with us right now, they're not in this church today, they're at another church, they are welcome to come back. And I hope that they would be willing and not embarrassed, and we should not make them feel bad if they come back. Praise the Lord, that's great. But those are decisions you need to think about ahead of time, getting married, moving to a great church. Or another thing is, we've had people that have e-mailed this church and they're thinking about moving to this church from another country. Now, look, quite honestly, when people tell me that, I tell them, hey, count the cost. Literally, make sure, count the cost. Make sure you know what you're going to do for work here. Make sure that you visit and you like the area, because look, moving to another country, look, that's not the easiest thing to do. I mean, that's something not everybody's going to fit in here. Even though you have great soul and you think such and such, not everybody's going to fit in here. Now, there's someone who, as I mentioned in the first sermon, is moving here from Denmark, and they wrote a long e-mail. They counted the cost. They're going to be with us in September. They quit their job. They've got money saved up. They've got a real plan. And it's like, if you're going to move, then that's what you need to do, because otherwise, what you're going to do is come here and a couple of weeks later, you're just going to leave, because you didn't count the cost. And see, what the Bible says is, you must count the cost ahead of time with big decisions. Notice verse 28. Look, if you're going to build a tower, it's not even just a house. You're building a tower. That's going to take a lot of time. You better make sure you're going to be able to finish it, because having a half-built tower does you no good, especially here where there's veram and mullah. I mean, you better make sure that you've got the roof closed off there, because otherwise, it's not going to do you any good whatsoever. You better make sure you finish that. So you need to decide ahead of time, am I going to be able to do this? Now, look at verse number 31. When you're making big decisions, one thing you should do is consult with other people, with big decisions in your life. Verse 31. The Bible says that the king, the prime ruler in the country, should consult with other people. This is something that we should do as people. If there's big decisions in your life, you should consult with other people, whether or not you will be successful or not. Now, look, I have seen Pastor Jimenez on big decisions get other men in the church that are sort of leaders, and he gets their advice sometimes on situations. He'd say, I thought Pastor Jimenez made the final decision. Yeah, but in big decisions, it's good to get godly advice from other people. Now, make sure the person you're getting advice from is a godly person. That's not just going to tell you what you want to hear, because a friend loved it at all times, and from time to time, he's going to have to rebuke you. But you should consult with other people if you're making a big decision in life. And look, since I've seen my pastor do that, we're going to do the same thing here. If we have really big decisions, I'm not just going to decide on it 100% by myself. I'm going to get some advice. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to necessarily follow the advice, but I'm certainly going to consult with others, because in the context of counting the cost, that's what you see in verse 31. If you're going to make war with another country, hey, the king better talk to the leader of the army. And if the leader of the army says, hey, we're going to lose this battle, we don't have the same weapons, we don't have as many men, we're not going to win, then the king should say, okay, then we're not going to do it. Turn in your Bible to 1 Chronicles 13. 1 Chronicles 13. And in the Bible, you actually see very godly people that follow this principle. David in the Bible was a very godly man. David was the king, and he was also a great military warrior, but he also consulted with other people. 1 Chronicles 13, verse 1. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader. Notice how David consults with all of the leaders? Now, is he the one who makes the final decision? Absolutely. But at the same time, he still consults with other people that he respects that know what they're talking about. Now, when it comes to basic things around here, I'm just going to make decisions, okay? But if there's big decisions to make, it's smart to get advice from other people. One of the reasons why is usually I might not have the best idea from the answer to questions. I'm not an expert at everything. Look, if we're talking about the math problem, then yeah, you know, I'll probably just take my own advice because that's what my subject is. There's something related to soccer, and then I'll probably just say, hey, I'll just make the decision, okay? But when it comes to other things, look, I'm not an expert at everything. And so it makes sense to consult with other people that know about the topic, okay? And with big decisions, you see David in the Bible. He consults with the other leaders and the other warriors. Turn to Proverbs 24, Proverbs 24. You go to the middle of your Bible, and you get to the book of Psalms, and in the book right after the book of Psalms is the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 24. And as you're turning there, let me read to you in Proverbs 11 where it says, where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. The Bible says there's safety in the multitude of counselors. You say, why? Because if I have some idea and plan, and I talk to a lot of godly people, they all say, hey, that's not a good idea. And they give me reasons why. What's gonna happen is I'll change my mind and realize, maybe I need to think about this a little bit more. That is the reason why you get a multitude of counselors. Now, you're gonna get counsel from people that know about the issue, okay? If it's people that don't really know much about it, then obviously their advice isn't really gonna help that much. Like, for example, if you're someone who is married and you're raising kids and you wanna get advice, the best advice is not gonna come from single people that don't have any kids. Because honestly, they just won't know the answers. At the same time, and I did this at Verity, and it's something we still do today, is our son is young, we have a second one on the way, is that when my wife has questions, I tell her, hey, message the other godly ladies at church and ask them because if they raised kids before, they might know the answers. Because quite honestly, you raise kids and there's a lot of things that are new to you. Like, you know, man, my son isn't sleeping tonight and you're trying to figure out what do I need to do. And quite honestly, there's moms that have already figured that out a long time ago. And it makes it a lot easier. So getting counsel on issues that you don't know about, that is a good idea, especially on big decisions. Proverbs 24 verse six. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war, and in multitude of counselors there is safety. Once again, when you're making war in a multitude of counselors, there is safety. Look, and obviously America's the most powerful country, but if Donald Trump decides to declare war on someone, you know, he better get advice from other people first. And quite honestly, usually America starts wars with innocent countries that they shouldn't be doing that. But you know, he better get advice beforehand and obviously America will win the war, so I guess he doesn't have to get advice or we're gonna win it, but is it something you should even do? You should get advice from godly people, okay? Now turn back to Luke 14. Now a great example in the Bible is Rehoboam. If you know the story of Rehoboam, Solomon basically was a godly king, but then he ended up becoming an ungodly king and his son Rehoboam takes over. But before his son takes over, basically a prophet comes to him and says, because of your sin, the kingdom's being taken away from you. And so basically Jeroboam, who became, was Solomon's man and he became the enemy of Solomon because basically God was choosing him to rule the kingdom of Israel, basically he got most of the kingdom and only a little left over was for Rehoboam. Now Rehoboam, though, at first had everything and Rehoboam got advice from two groups of people, advice from the old people and the young people, okay? Quite honestly, when you get advice from young people, their advice is probably gonna be like, yeah, just go to war, make a difficult, and that's when they told him. They said just make the yoke so difficult and demand so much and what ends up happening when the leader is demanding all this stuff from you? It's gonna cause people to rebel. But some of the people that are younger oftentimes won't necessarily realize that. The older people said, hey, you know what, be nice to them, kind to them, lay down your life for them and then they'll serve you. But he doesn't follow that advice. And what happens, well, people end up leaving because he's basically just a jerk to them. I mean, he says make their yoke like the yoke of scorpions to them. It's like, why would you want that as your leader? Look, if I required you to, and I know some churches do this, they literally have a sign-in sheet of whether or not you come to church. And it's like, hey, you miss church, so you have to do this. You have to do 10 chapters of Bible reading, sign in, make sure you get it done. I don't do that. I preach sermons on my advice, and it's up to you what you do. That is the way you're supposed to do it. But quite honestly, Ray Abone got advice from the wrong group of people. And so when you do get counsel for people on big decisions, well, I mean, obviously make sure it's someone who is gonna be educated about it and usually a godly person is gonna know the idea. You don't want to get advice from people that are not godly. People, if they say, wow, you know, I'm thinking about leaving my wife or leaving my husband, they tend to get advice from someone who they know is gonna say leave them because they're already choosing to rebel and be a wicked person. And they'll get advice from someone they know is gonna tell them, hey, man, just get divorced. It's fine with God, even though it says he hated putting away. Go ahead and get a divorce. No big deal. No, get advice from godly people. Now, back in Luke 14, I want you to see something else. Not only should you have patience with big decisions, but I want you to realize that if you fail, if you are unsuccessful, there will be visual evidence that you failed on big decisions. Everybody will be aware that you failed. Luke 14, verse 28. For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it, thus, happily, after you have laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that beholdeth begin to mock him. So notice all that behold. When it's saying behold, it means with their eyes they can see, hey, there was this tower that was not finished. Look at this. It's a complete failure. They're gonna see that that building was not completed. Now, I actually have a prompt for you to look at here to have Brother JR and Brother Timothy help me here. And I'm gonna give you a perfect example of what I'm talking about. I'll give out one or two per row. And so you see here, Noah's Ark being rebuilt here. Okay, now you say, what exactly is this? Well, growing up in West Virginia, a couple times a year, I would basically, my family would go up to visit my grandmother in Centerville or the Cumberland area in Maryland. And along the way, we passed this, okay? On the side of the road, Noah's Ark is being rebuilt here, okay? When I was a kid, this is what it looked like. Today, this is what it looks like. It has not been complete. Now, this was a Pentecostal adventure. So basically, they're going off donations. Basically, the pastor said, you know, I've got a dream. Literally, actually, let me read this to you. Let me show you where this comes from, okay? And this is a perfect example. I was thinking about this last night because I looked this up because it's been a long time since I've thought about this ark that I always saw on the side of the road. And every year, I'd ask my parents, you know, when are they gonna finish this thing? And it's like, they have a plan by next summer. And then they just keep moving it back. Well, when did this start? On Easter 1976. Wow. We're almost talking about 50 years ago. On Easter 1976, former pastor Richard Green, because, I mean, obviously, this one is no longer passing for a long time, began building a replica of Noah's Ark atop a prominent hillside along what is now Interstate 68, featuring a sign that announces the passing travel. Noah's Ark being rebuilt here. Ground was broken through the ark in September 1976, with over 3,000 tons of concrete. The foundation and earthwork were built to biblical proportions around 450 by 75 by 45 feet, which is about one and a half football fields long. So passing this along the side of the highway, you can't miss it. You see this giant ark that is basically not even started, you can tell in this picture. Very little has been finished. Founding pastor Richard Green had a repeated dream from God in which he saw a large ark located on the hillside with people coming from all over the world to see it. And so, basically, this pastor has this dream. And he basically has a dream about an ark. And, you know, you have to understand that this area of the U.S. is very remote. There's not a lot of people. So, basically, you're building an ark in the middle of nowhere, where there's very small towns and very few people that live there. And his plan was, people from Africa are going to come visit this ark. People from Europe will make the trek just to visit this ark on the side of the highway. It doesn't even rain there very much. I can understand in Manila, I mean, it rains a lot, but it doesn't even rain there very much. You're building an ark. I mean, what in the world? What kind of a dream is that? And he's building an ark. In these repeated dreams, Pastor Green saw the destruction and corruption that was taking place throughout Europe that was taking place throughout the world, just like it was in the biblical days of Noah. God's instructions were to rebuild this modern-day Noah's Ark as a sign to the world that was loved and assumed return of Jesus. So he built this ark and says, it will show people God's love. Do you realize how much money and time this project would actually need? I mean, in the Bible, guess how long it took them to build Noah's Ark? A hundred years? It took them a long time. It wasn't something that was done overnight. It took a long time, so it's like you're literally building Noah's Ark when God said he's never going to flood the world again. He's like, one thing he promised. He never said he won't destroy the world. He's like, I will never flood the world again. So what did he build? I built an ark. It's like, what in the world? And you say, Brother Stuckey, when you look at those Pentecostal churches and they say, hey, touch this screen now. Just do a pledge of $1,000. If God's touching your heart, just give $1,000 now, and whatever you give to God, he's going to give you tenfold. You give $1,000, he'll give you back $10,000. You give $20,000, he gives you back $100,000. Just send this money, and now God will bless you because if you're really saved and you love God, you send in money, then you're going to have lots of health and wealth and your life's going to be perfect. This is what you're spending your money on. Building Noah's Ark on the side of the highway. You say, I got a blessing to build it and I donated $100 to the Pentecostal church. You help them. That's why right here, this is the part that you helped donate. This little part right here of three hours of labor and work, $100 were right there, and there's about 10,000 of you that did the same thing. This would cost so much money to do, and it's absolutely foolish. All I can think is, God wants to show the Pentecostal church that they do that in more ways than just one. I mean, what in the world? But this is exactly what it's talking about in Luke 14. You're building a tower, you're building Noah's Ark, and you see the basic structure, and there's nothing there. Honestly, you look at it, I behold it. Every single time I went by Frostburg growing up, and it's like, what are they doing there? Honestly, I didn't even think about it that much until last night, and I was like, go figure, it's a Pentecostal church. It was some dream that a pastor had. I listened to the testimony last night where he's talking about the dream he had and everything and how God's going to send people from miles away and other countries, send them to do what? To escape the flood that's not going to come on the earth? I mean, they're going to come and say, wow, I saw an ark. What good does that do? Why don't you just send money to get people saved or build a church to do something that's actually productive? Why don't you build a church building? I don't even get a car on it. I mean, what in the world? That's what we're seeing here in Luke 14. Now, turn in your Bible to James 1. James 1. And so look, if it was something small that they were building, I would not have noticed it when I drove by inside the highway. But I noticed it all the time. When I went to church in West Virginia for a while, I lived with my parents. So every single Sunday, every single Wednesday, guess what? I saw this non-finished ark on the side of the highway. And I eventually realized, you know, it's been like 15 years since I was a kid. And I looked up 1976. I mean, it's coming up in 50 years. And they do it on donations alone. So, you know, God's going to finish it. It's not always our time. You know, it's God's time. He got us to start it. And one day, one day it will be finished. And we wouldn't tell them. And so when you make big decisions, you better make sure that you know what you're doing ahead of time. You can't just start a building and not finish it. James 1, verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. You see, the Bible says you should be slow to speak. Swift to hear, but slow to speak. So basically, you ought to really consider things before you. Don't just say things without thinking about them. That's going to get you into a lot of trouble. Don't just make decisions without thinking about them. You see, the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. And so this pastor could have had a foolish thought about willing an ark, but it's not such a foolish thought now because he actually started it and everybody sees it. And so the thought of foolishness is sin, the Bible says. So you have to realize that when you have ideas or big plans for big decisions, if you get counsel from Godly people ahead of time, it could save you from making big mistakes in your life. And quite honestly, a lot of people make certain decisions and they're not going to be able to return to that decision. If it was something small, it wouldn't be a big deal. But when you make a big decision, it's like you made a life-changing decision. You can't just walk away from that. If it's something small, yeah, you can walk away from it. It's not a big deal. If it's something large, though, you're probably not going to be able to walk away from it. And so when it comes to things that are big decisions, there's going to be big visual evidence of the failure if you don't succeed. If it's something that's a small decision, though, people won't even notice if you fail at it. It's not a big deal. The difference comes to whether or not it's a big situation or a small situation. Getting married is a big decision. If you get married and fail at it, I mean, everybody's going to be aware of it. Everyone's going to see it. Everybody's going to know about it. And so with big decisions, you want to consider these things ahead of time. You don't make the decision and just say, well, somehow God's going to work it out. Well, I mean, you can't expect God to bail you out if you make stupid decisions. And so with big decisions, the principle in the Bible is you get advice from other people. You're patient with decisions. Turn back to Luke 14. Turn back to Luke 14. And so with big decisions, you should be patient with those decisions and you realize that if you fail with a big decision, everybody's going to see it. Everybody's going to hear about it. Everybody's going to know it. Every single person. It makes you basically look like a fool if you made a big decision and you fail at it, okay? And so that leads to the third point, and quite simply, people will mock you if you fail at big decisions. Luke 14, verse 29, Lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that beholded begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. And quite honestly, I look at this drawing of Noah's Ark and I am mocking it. This man began, this pastor began in his vision, and guess what? Look at him. He's a fool. And he is. Look, they preach at Paul's Gospel. So I'm not going to feel bad about preaching against this pastor that has this Pentecostal dream where he saw some demon talking to him. Either he made it up or he saw some devil. Either he made it up so he'd get a lot of people to bring in money and basically talk a lot of that money, or he just saw a devil. And that is how a lot of false religion gets started and a lot of stupid things happen. It's like, you see it, and guess what? I promise you, everybody in that area mocks him as they drive by. Because you can't miss it. It's a giant ark in the middle of nowhere in a town where there's nothing. There's hardly any restaurants. There's nothing there except this giant ark on the side of the highway that hasn't even started. You wouldn't even know that was an ark except there's a sign that says this is Noah's Ark. They should really just take that sign down and then people won't have to look at the church and say, what are you doing? Now turn to Mark 15, Mark 15. And so what you need to understand, especially at a church like this, or especially you that are a soul winner and you love God, look, if you fail at things in life, there are people that will mock you. There are people that want to mock you. I promise you, there are so many Baptist churches in the Philippines that would like nothing else than to open up their newspaper and say, oh, you're a very Baptist church, we know it closes down for whatever reason. They would love it if we failed. Is that not true? There are churches that want to see us fail. There are pastors here in the Philippines that hate my guts. They hate my guts. They preach against me funny. They want to see us fail. Look, you don't want to give them ammunition. You've got to be smart with what you're doing, especially with big decisions. At a church like this, we have a lot of goals. We have a lot of plans. Because quite honestly, we want to get work done that has not been getting done in this country. But the problem is, if we rush into things that we might not be able to do, there is visual evidence in the pastors all around this area and churches will mock us because we failed. And so we need to be very careful. Now, I'm not saying that we can't fail at things in life because all of us fail from time to time. I just made a call seven times and get it back up. We're all going to mess up. I'm not saying that's impossible. Quite honestly, our church, I'm sure in the future, will make some decision and it turns out to be a bad decision and it fails. I'm just saying we want to be careful with big decisions. With small decisions, it's no big deal. When we have a family and fun game night, when we decide where to bring the food from, it's not a big deal where we pay. If it ends up being bad food, it's like, well, I don't know, it's not my fault. It just is what it is. Better luck next time. It's still free. But in Mark 15, it says in verse 29, And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocked and said among themselves of the scribes, He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the king of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe, and they that were crucified with him were vile. So this is the story where Jesus Christ is being crucified. Obviously, we know that Jesus allowed himself to be crucified for the sins of the world. But that is not what most people thought. Most people looked at it and said, ha, look at this arrogant preacher sitting here telling us he's the Son of God, and look at him being crucified on a cross. They were mocking him, because in their mind he had failed. It mentions that they mocked him because they do not believe he's the Savior. And so they end up mocking him because they don't believe he's the real deal. And what I want you to understand is that if you fail at things which obviously the Lord Jesus Christ did not fail, that's not what I'm saying, but they think he failed, people will mock you for things such as that. Turn to Luke 8. I'll give you a perfect example from the parable of the sower. And the parable of the sower, especially in Luke 8, is a very important part of scripture. It's a very interesting part. I actually preached a dual sermon series on it in Sacramento. I preached three of the sermons out of the five-part series. And in Luke 8, what we're seeing is basically four different examples of people you preach the gospel to. And the first person is someone who does not get saved. The next three are ones that do get saved. That's very clear in the Bible, but that's a whole other issue. But in Luke 8, verse 13, notice what it says. They on the rock, or they which when they hear, receive the word with joy. And these have no root, which for a while believe any time of temptation fall away. And so it says here in verse 13, these are those that receive the word with joy. Now doesn't the Bible say that when you receive the word, that's salvation? As many as received him in John 1, 12, to them needing power to become the son of God, even to them that believe on his name. So when you receive Jesus, it's synonymous with believing on Jesus. So when it says they received the word with joy, what it's saying is they not only got saved, but they actually had a lot of joy. See, some people get saved, but they're not really that thankful. And so what happens? Well, they don't come back to give Jesus thanks, like the nine letters out of ten. They don't come to church. See, the Bible says in Acts 2 that they that gladly received his word. The implication is some receive the word, but not gladly. Those that receive the word and believe on Jesus and get saved, but they're not that glad or joyful about it, will never see him again, unless we see him out solely. They're not going to come to this church. It does not mean they didn't get saved, though. Because salvation is receiving the word, okay? Now receiving it with joy or gladly receiving the word, that means you get saved. You also come to church and get baptized and you start to live for God. That's what's taking place with this group of people. But notice what it says. And these have no root. Throughout the Bible, it talks about being rooted in church. So these are people that come to a church like this. They're learning all these new things. They're excited. They're like, man, that makes sense. It's great to them. They love it. It says they have no root, which for a while believe in and time of temptation fall away. These are people that come to a church. They believe in Jesus Christ. After they believe, they come to a new church, and they're believing all these new teachings, believing all these new doctrines, and they sound great. But in time of temptation, they fall away from the church. They leave the church, which is why they only believe those things for a while. Because once you leave this church, you're in these woods. That's the way it works. But I've known many people that have backslidden and left churches, and they end up being completely different people. You see pictures on Facebook, and you're like, wow. That person obviously believes different things than they did six months ago. But that is what takes place if you leave a church that's preaching the truth, because the world is going to deceive you, and most churches are going to deceive you. And if you're not constantly hearing it and being reminded, you will change your mind. And so they believe these new things for a while, but in time of temptation, they fall away. Time of temptation is talking about persecution. And so basically when people go through persecution, many of them hit the road. We have had people that have come to this church and they love this church. They're here for the soul winning. They're here. It's exciting. They love this church. They say, man, this sort of preaching, you don't find it in a normal church. And then in time of persecution, they leave. And then what ends up happening? Well, their own church will probably mock them. They're even coming to us. There are people that are good people that I like that I hope will come back to church. And they're not a church. And everyone has various different reasons, but what you have to understand is that when you make big decisions, you better stand fast. You better think about it ahead of time because if you don't, people are going to be aware of it and they will end up mocking you. Why? Because they don't like this church. They don't like, I'm not the most liked person here in the Philippines. That might surprise you. I know I'm very likable, but I'm not the most liked person here in the Philippines. You say, why? Because I preach what the truth is. And quite honestly, sometimes the truth kind of hurts. You preach against sin, you know what, sometimes it hurts people's feelings. Sometimes it makes them feel bad or guilty, and oftentimes they don't like churches like that. Quite honestly, there's a lot of churches that just aren't a fan of our church because we do things differently than the average Baptist church. Amen. Verse 14 of the Bible reads, And that which fell among thorns are they, which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasure, this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. And in verse 14, we love the people that also get saved. Now, the average Baptist church is going to tell you that verses 13 and verse 14 are people that did not get saved. Right. And the reason why they're going to say in verse 13 is, well, they only, you know, believed for a while. That means they didn't have saving faith. They had faith, but not saving faith. No, they said they received the word. And my Bible says, when you get saved, I give unto them eternal life. Amen. Yeah. You cannot lose your salvation. Amen. And so if they receive the word, they are saved forever. Okay. Now, in verse 14, they're going to say they didn't get saved because they don't bring any fruit to perfection. Look, the Bible says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and even when its souls is wild. Bringing forth fruit means basically getting people saved. Yeah. Okay. Now, I agree, most people don't get anybody saved. But that does not affect their personal salvation. Yes. Let me ask you a question. If I had an apple here today, is an apple a fruit? Yes. Yes. Not a trick question. Yes. It is an apple fruit. It's a fruit, right? Let's say, for example, that I drop the fruit on the ground and drop the apple on the ground and just kind of die and nothing happened. Was it a fruit? Yes. It was a fruit. Even though it didn't produce more fruit. It's still a fruit, right? Right. Here's the thing. Some people get saved and they never produce other Christians. They never bring forth fruit. Does that mean they're not a Christian? No, that doesn't mean they're not a Christian. It means they didn't produce forth fruit. Amen. Right. It means they fruit whether or not it produces a tree or not. Look, most apples don't produce other trees. Most apples get eaten and that's the end of them. They don't produce any other trees. They're still a fruit, though. Amen. And so, look, when it says they bring no fruit to perfection, it's saying that they don't win any souls to the Lord. Because, look, if you go half in and half out as a Christian, you will not win souls to the Lord. Right. You can just go all in if you're going to win souls to the Lord. But that does not change the fact of whether or not they got saved. Look, the thief on the cross got saved and then he died and went to heaven. He never produced forth fruit. Right. He never got anybody saved. But guess what? He was still saved. Now, the argument people will have is they'll go to Galatians 5 and they'll say, well, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness. They say, look at the fruits of the Spirit. So it's saying bring forth fruit is when you're basically, you know, you have joy. Now, there's a few reasons why that's very vocal. Number one, because whether you're saved or not, sometimes you have joy in your life. Right. Yeah. Whether you're saved or not, sometimes, guess what? You have love in your life. Sometimes whether you're saved or not, sometimes you are a long-sufferer. When you're saved or not, sometimes you are gentle. Okay. But the other reason why it's foolish is it says the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit. So when you as a saved person are living a very joyful life, you're a very loving person, you're very meek, you're very long-suffering, that is showing that the evidence of the Holy Spirit is in your life. Right. Basically, I'm not saying you need that evidence to be saved. What I'm saying is it's showing that you're really living a godly life. Oh, yeah. Because the evidence we have is our faith. Faith is the evidence. That's what the Bible says. So what you believe determines whether or not you're saved. So the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, but the fruit of the Christian is winning souls to the Lord. Do you see the difference? Right. The fruit of the Spirit versus the fruit of the Christian. When they try to mesh these things together, it shows they just don't really understand what the Bible is talking about. These are different things. Most people never meet anybody in the Lord. And so this idea when they say, well, they don't bring any fruit to perfection, look, if this was referring to being a good person and changing your life, every single person before they're saved does good things as well. So I guess they're bringing forth fruits. Look, before I was saved, I didn't just go around murdering people and just being some wicked person. I did nice things for people. But you know what? That's not referring to the fruit of the Christian because the fruit of the Christian is winning a soul to the Lord. So there's a difference between the fruit of the Christian and the fruit of the Spirit. Look, when you get saved, there might not be any works to show who we're saved. You say why? Because faith is the evidence. What you believe is the evidence. And so when somebody says they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if they're being honest and they understand it, then they got saved. Even if they stay a drunk till the day they die, they believe they go to heaven. Why? Whosoever believeth on them should not perish but have everlasting life. Look, you have to understand, there are drunks here in the Philippines that we will see in heaven one day. Praise the Lord for that because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. There are drug addicts we will see in heaven one day. We know there's also Baptist pastors that we will not see in heaven. Why? Because they're teaching a work of salvation. And so it doesn't matter whether you're the worst sinner that believes on Jesus Christ, you will go to heaven if you believe. Whosoever believeth in. And look, I wish that weren't the case, but doesn't the Bible say narrow is the way, we just need to tell the whole community to find it? Most people are not going to heaven. Is it because it's difficult to get there? No, the Bible compares it to eating a slice of bread. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. How hard is it to eat to not buy? It's not that difficult. How hard is it to drink a glass of water? Look, my son learned how to drink water while holding a cup and he was a couple months old. It's not that hard to drink water and that's what the Bible compares it to. But you know what, living a good life is very difficult. Being a good person is very difficult. You know what, you don't have to be a good person to go to heaven. You just have to believe on Jesus Christ. And so that's what the Bible says. Now go back to Luke 14. Say, brother, what did that have to do with the sermon? Absolutely nothing. This is kind of that fun rabbit trail you like to kick every once in a while to make sure that we understand salvation very clearly. That's why we don't have to preach full length sermons on salvation all the time because you know what, we haven't nailed down the sermons. Because you know, we preach it around here, but we're not going to spend every single sermon just preaching on salvation. Now what I want you to understand also when it comes to counting the costs of big decisions, you need to understand that even if you're going to be a good person, you need to understand that even if you're not able to do it now, that does not mean you won't be able to do it in the future. There are big decisions that you could make right now and you could fail at them. But if you waited six months, you might be successful at them. Luke 14 verse 28, it says, For which of you intending to build a tower, send him not down first and count the cost, whether he hath sufficient to finish it. Now look, spending money on a tower is going to cost a lot of money, and you might not have that money right now. But you might have that money you have now. Look, some people, especially in America, when they first get married, they feel like they need their brand new house and new car and everything like that. It's like, look, you're only 22 years old. You might not be able to afford a new house. And that's okay. You might not be able to afford two cars. That's okay. Because even though you can't do it now, maybe a year from now you can. Maybe you can save up money. But look, if you buy a house, you're going to have to pay that off with all the payments. And if you don't make enough money to do it, don't buy the house. Now, if you can afford it, then go for it. But if you can't, you have to be okay with it. Now, I've mentioned before in sermons that the first place my wife and I moved into when we got married, it was a month-by-month apartment lease in Maryland. And the cost of it, I think, was $350 a month, which is actually very cheap there. I know here that wouldn't really be cheap, but there it was extremely cheap. And you know what? There's a reason why it was cheap. There's a reason why it was the cheapest place I could find. You know why? Because there were places that if you stepped on the ground, a nail would go through your foot. And so, yeah, it wasn't the nicest place to stay. I mean, it was probably the worst in the area. But you know what? I wanted a month-by-month lease so I could eventually move my family to Sacramento. I wanted to make sure I had enough money. And I said, you know what? I can't do this right now. So basically we were there for six months, and then we ended up moving to California. But I waited until we actually had the ability to do that. Look, when you first get married, you don't need the nicest things in life. And quite honestly, if you have everything perfect from day one, you're not going to appreciate the things you get. It might be better to start very simple. And honestly, obviously we want our kids to have nice things. But look, if your child at a young age has everything life has to offer, there's a good chance they're going to end up growing up being a bratty child and a lazy child and not be thankful for anything in life. It's not bad to start off simple. And there's this thing about just comparing one another, competing with the Joneses, so to speak, where basically if somebody has it, I need the same thing. You don't need the same thing as other people. Maybe they can afford it. Maybe they can't. Because there's plenty of people that get big debt because they want to have everything. And on the outside, they put a smile on their face. On the inside, they're very depressed about being grown up. And so look, it's not a bad idea to just be careful with things like that. So realize you might not have now, but you could have later on. Verse 31, what king goeth to make war against another king? Sitteth not down first and consoled, whether he be able with ten thousand, to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand. And so look, if you have ten thousand men, it's going to be tough to fight twenty thousand. But guess what? In a couple years you might have twenty thousand men also. Maybe in a few years you can fight that battle. Look, if there was somebody that was trained at boxing and you know nothing about boxing and you challenge them to a fight, you're probably going to lose. But if you train for a couple years, then yeah, maybe you could win that fight. Now look, I'm not saying just go challenge people in boxing matches on the side of the road. I'm just stating the fact that if you're not trained and ready for something, you might be later on, you just don't have the ability now, and that's what we need. And so realize that some things in life you might not be able to do now, but later on you can build Noah's Ark on the side of the highway. Later on you can build a tower or buy a house or whatever. Later on you might be able to just do that. Now at our church we've made some investments that are expensive, like the air conditioner, those aren't cheap. And so there are things that are a big decision. Now something that's a small decision like getting pandesal every morning, that's not the biggest deal in the world. But in terms of buying something expensive, it was something where I had to really think about, hey, how much money do we have coming in every week? How much money do we have in our account? Is it something we really need? And those are things that you don't just rush into a decision. Because once you buy it, look, you can't resell it at the same price if you change your mind after a couple weeks. It's like you've made a decision, you better go forward with it. And so when it comes to big decisions, you need to take time to make sure it's the right decision. Now look at Luke 14, verses 31 and 32. And I want you to realize the reason why this is so important is because oftentimes in life you only get one chance at something. And see, here's the thing, you could wait and be patient and then do it in six months. But if you do it now and fail, you will never have another opportunity. Luke 14, verses 31 and 32. Or what king goeth to make war against another king? Siteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able, with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him, or twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassador in desire of conditions of peace. So basically they go to fight the battle, and then partway through he says, man, there's a lot of people on the other side. Let's just have peace. Just kind of like you're playing a game of chess, you lost your queen. Hey, you want to offer them a sale, right? We'll just call it a draw, because you realize you're not going to win. Yes, I'm still bitter about the chess game. But you're going to war, and then a long ways off, you realize, man, they have a lot more men than us. And so then you say, wait a minute, let's just call it peace. Let's not have fighting. Well, here's the thing. If you go to fight them six months later, do you think the men that are around you are going to be rallied up and confident that you're in that battle, and you've already failed? They're not going to. They're not going to get behind you again for that battle, because you've already fought that battle, and you gave up immediately. Let me give you a real, real application. This church started on November 25th, 2018. It's been around less than a year. Let us say that my wife and I came here in February of 2018. We came nine months earlier. Now, many of you would have been there from day one and been excited about the church, okay? But let's say, for example, after a couple months, I said, man, this is more difficult than I expected. I don't think I can do this, and I went back to the U.S. But then I came back in November later on, when many of you have already left your old church, talked to your pastors and said, you know, I want to be a very Baptist churchman in L.A. You've already made sacrifices. You moved to the church. And then after a couple months, I say, man, I can't do this. And then I come back seven months later. Will all of you be here then if I already feel that at once? Probably not, because they already ruined your life. Right? You say, brother Stuckey, that would never happen. That happens with churches all the time. The church is starting to fail. Right. It's like, you know, that would have been a big decision to make. Now, here's the thing. When it comes to a decision like moving to another country, moving to the Philippines, my wife and I moving here permanently, yeah, that's a big decision to make. That is something that we counted the cost. That is something where I got advice even just from Pastor Mendez and other godly people. We considered it, because that's a big decision to make. Right. We had a house we had to sell. There was a lot of factors to consider. It wasn't just something where it's like, got that fuzzy feeling. Let's just go for it. No, we actually had a missions trip in April. We saw that there was a big demand, and that helped make the decision easier. Like, yeah, let's go for it. We actually changed the location, because originally we were going to start the church in Pampanga, my wife's own province. And we saw how many people were here in Manila, and we said, you know what, this is where the area is. This is where the big demand is. There are people here looking for a church just like this. And we considered decisions like that. We counted the cost, and we went for it. And if you haven't noticed, we've been around for a while. We haven't quit. Amen. Now, have things been easy since the church started, like every single day? No, they haven't. Look, it's not easy to start a church just in general, but look, it's also a big adjustment moving to another country. Right. There are a lot of things where, in America, guess what? You basically have your car. You type into the GPS. This is where you're going. And then the GPS tells you, turn right, turn left. And then you're there. It's very easy. Here, it's like, wow, we've got all these chimneys. We've got this, like, yeah, what are we doing? Where am I going? I'm lost, you know? And it's just like, things are just different. There are a lot of things. The United States is a very convenient country. It's very convenient. There's a reason why people like the United States so much. Now, the downfalls of places like the US are people who are not that accepted into the gospel. Right. I mean, I don't think you should be envious about people who live in America. Because quite honestly, you're going to get a lot more people saved than you would if you were in America. Right, yeah. So there's benefits and drawbacks to any country. I think the best thing that could happen to the US is if the country became poor. Because then people might actually even care about the gospel. Because they would be rich and increased with goods and have even nothing in their own minds. Let me just say that, you know what? There's changes. You go to another country. And it wasn't the easiest thing. But you know what? When this church started, in the back of my mind, I had already decided, I don't care what happened. I will not quit. That will never be a thought that comes into my mind. Because it's a decision that, once you make that decision, it's opponents. You meant right. And honestly, I got one advice I got from my friend, Pastor Jason Robinson, who's preaching in West Virginia. He said, you know, honestly, he's like, it's tougher than you expect. And he's like, you just got to go with the mindset. I will not quit no matter what. And look, there were weeks when it's just kind of like, hey, it's difficult. It's not the easiest thing. But you know what? You just have to decide you're not going to quit. And part of that comes with counting the cost ahead of time. But here's the thing. I don't know what would have happened if it was earlier on. Now, I was young and zealous, like many of you are still today. I'm 34 now. 10 years ago, I was zealous. And if somebody said, hey, go start a church, I'd be like, all right, I'm ready for it. But would I have been ready when I was 24? Probably not. Now, in my mind, I would have felt like I was ready, maybe. I would have had a lot of zeal. But that doesn't mean that you are ready. And so look, is it the worst thing in the world that maybe the church took six months later to get started? No, because you know what? This is going to be around for another 50 years. And when I'm gone, somebody else is going to be the pastor. The church isn't going to die. But that is a decision where, you know what? You have to think about it ahead of time. Because here's the thing. If you fail, then honestly, you're not going to get another chance. You can't just decide after a couple months, OK? I've worked myself up. I'm ready for it now. It's like, no, that's a permanent decision you make. It's like, if you decide to become a pastor and then you quit, you can't just change your mind later on. It's done. That was your decision. You left. You failed. It's not going to work out. And you're not going to be a pastor. That doesn't mean that you can't be a good church member. But there have been churches through the years over the last decade that started, and then they quit. And it doesn't mean that people are bad people. But it just means that it didn't work out. And there is no second chance out of that. The opportunity was there, and it started. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that the person would have maybe done a great job six months down the road. But it does mean the opportunity there is permanently closed off. Right. It's never going to happen again. And so with big decisions, just wait until the right time. You don't have to rush into everything in life. You don't have to compete against other people. Big decisions for our church, obviously, if we were to start a church one day, that would be a big decision. You say, well, how do you go about that? Well, you do a practice run by having a church service there. You find out if people are really committed. You find out what's going to be the cost, the logistics, the time, the effort, the energy. Look, I'm not saying that you can't fail a thing. I don't want you to misunderstand me. Because when you take big chances in life, you're going to fail along the way. Right. And the average Baptist church doesn't fail at anything because they don't really try anything. And so yeah, I understand you're going to fail from time to time. You know, that is OK. But as much as is humanly possible with big decisions, you want to really consider it. When it comes to moving to a church, it's like that is something where you've got to count the cost. And that's why a policy I have, and I've kept this, is I've never tried to convince people to come to a church. I have never tried. There are people in our room that have moved closer to our church. And you could ask them. And I did not, even in the slightest bit, try to convince them to come. Is that right? I just let them make their own decisions. Because I said there's things you've got to consider. And it needs to be their decision because I don't want to ruin their life. And if things get tough, they could say, well, you know, Brother Stuckey wanted me to move here. And then it didn't work out. When people say that they're going to move here from another country, I say, you better make sure you visit, and you better make sure you're going to figure out what you're going to give to the world. And if they just kind of come and say, hey, you know, I just moved here. It's going to work. It's not going to work out. They're going to fail at it. Because when you make big decisions, you have to be committed and know what you're doing. And so when it comes to big decisions like that, look, I don't try to force people to make their big decisions. Now, if they come to me and ask for advice, I will give my honest advice. And honestly, when it comes down to it, if I give advice and they don't follow it, that's up to them. Oh, yeah. I'm not going to force people to make the decisions I would. Because I'm just giving advice. It doesn't even necessarily mean I have the right advice. No. Just because I give advice, it does not mean that I have the perfect advice. I might not have the right advice. I'm trying to do the best I can, but that doesn't mean it's going to be perfect. With big decisions, though, you know what? You should get counsel from them. Don't just rush into a big decision and you say, wow, I met this new person last week, and I'm going to get married. It's like, if they're safe, I'll do your wedding. But if you want my advice, I'd be like, you might want to calm down a little bit. Because I know that people get emotional, they get excited, and I know that marriage is difficult. And so you make a big decision like that. You better make sure you know what you're doing ahead of time. And any big decision they make, give godly advice from people. Don't rush into it. And don't feel like you need to compete with other people. Don't just be extreme for the sake of being extreme. Make sure when it comes to big decisions that you've thought it through. Because if you fail at that, people are going to see it. People are going to mock you. And honestly, you've destroyed the chance of it all. Let's go to North Carolina.