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

All right before I forget I did want to mention again we do have baptisms after this church service so when I get done with the sermon and I'm in praying right after the sermon before the final song you can get changed and we'll do the baptisms and if you're here and you want to get baptized maybe you weren't planning on it it's like we've got water ready you know right out here we can baptize you after the service. Now one of the biggest nightmares of a preacher is to follow a great sermon right and so it's one of the disadvantages of having back-to-back church services because if there's a gap people kind of forget about it but when it's like right after it it's like oh my voice is kind of weak today can somebody fill in right but that was a great sermon and you know obviously prayer is something that is is helpful for all of us it's something that I could definitely work on it's a great thing for our lives and we need to get better at it and I'm trying to preach an edifying sermon here today and I'll give you the title here in a little bit and let's just start here verse number 29 though the Bible says come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ now this is a pretty amazing story in John 4 where you have a woman who gets saved and right after she gets saved she starts preaching the gospel and you know if you've started coming to our church and maybe you haven't jumped into soul winning I mean soul winning seems kind of intimidating because you think about well what if I run into some you know Jehovah's Witness or INC and they start asking me questions I don't know everything about the Bible I don't know about end times prophecy but the reality is for soul winning all you need to know is that salvation is a free gift that lasts forever and so the reality is that even if you know very little about the Bible you can actually if you have zeal just go out and start preaching the gospel obviously the more practice you get the better you're gonna get you know it's exciting to see newly saved people that are just going out there by faith and just have a lot of zeal and with everything practice makes you better right that is the secret to actually getting better at it and this woman she's newly saved and even just with her zeal and explaining the basics of the Bible she is actually able to get people saved we see in this passage says in verse number 30 then they went out of the city and came on to him in the meanwhile his disciples prayed him saying master eat but he said unto them I have meat to eat that ye know not of therefore said the disciples one to another hath any man brought him ought to eat Jesus saith unto them my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish the work now Jesus says this and it kind of transitions back to what the context of the chapter and the passage was about because it kind of takes a break from this woman and it kind of gets back into her story a little bit and it says here in verse 35 say not ye there yet four months and then come at the harvest behold I say unto you lift up your eyes and look in the fields for they are white already to harvest and he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together now what he's referring to here is referring to going out and preaching the gospel going out and getting people saved you know we as a church get a lot of people saved we do a lot of soul winning we have mission strips we have a lot of people joined in the work and yet the vast majority of people I run into will say I do not know for sure if I'm going to heaven because as many people as we get saved it's really like a drop in the bucket and I'm not trying to make us feel bad for the work we're doing because we're doing a lot of work but that work is never going to end because the vast majority of people here in the Philippines and all over the world are unsafe people that need the gospel it says here in verse number 37 and here and is that saying true one soweth and another reapeth I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor other men labored and ye are entered into their labors I want to preach on this idea of entering into the labor of other people entering into the labor of other people now I'm going to read these next couple verses and then I'm going to give you three points here verse 39 and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did so when the Samaritans were come on to him they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days and many more believed because of his own word and said unto the woman now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard of ourselves and know that this indeed is indeed the Christ the Savior of the world and the Bible saying here that by her own words being newly saved in knowing very little she was able to get some people saved and then others that she did not personally get saved she brought to the Savior right and I remember you know when I first got saved and I started to share the gospel and give the gospel I hadn't really been trained on how to do it so it was a bit and I tried my best and I had no idea if I was really successful or not and then years later as I got really formal training and knew what I was doing I ran into some of the same people at college I talked to and some of them are like yeah I know I'm going to heaven you already talked to me about this a couple years ago I'm like praise God you know I had no idea that they had gotten saved right and so that's kind of like this woman here she's very zealous and she does get people saved and then others she brings to the Savior and they end up getting saved as a result of hearing Jesus themselves go back to verse number seven verse seven and I'm gonna give you three points here of how we enter into the labor of other people meaning other people do the groundwork and we basically take that groundwork and build upon what has already been built by other people and one example of this is found in this chapter and it is simply getting saved and what I mean by that is this nobody in this room got themselves saved nobody I stand before you today as someone who heard the gospel as an 18 year old college student and he got me saved and then being saved what does that mean there's the Ministry of Reconciliation that I can enter into but I did not do the work to get myself saved number one Jesus did the work but number two somebody threw out the lifeline as we sing I did not get myself saved somebody gave me the gospel and if you are here today and you are saved you are saved because somebody gave the gospel to you verse number seven there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Jesus saith on her give me to drink for his disciples were gone away onto the city to buy meat then saith the woman of Samaria onto him how is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me which I'm a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans Jesus answered and said unto her if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water he's saying you know if you understand what salvation is and who is the person that paid for the sins of the world speaking of himself you would ask for that gift right now he says these words but it goes completely over her head she does not understand what he's saying and obviously you know we give the gospel to people and isn't it true that that some people it's very smooth and very easy and other people it's kind of like it takes longer right you know my wife and I will often take turns soul winning all what's the kids still go or vice versa and then I know how long my wife's gospel generally is and sometimes I'm like what's going on over there it's like you know and I'll be like hey and did they get saved like yes it's like okay what was the problem right because I know it took an extra 10 minutes or extra 15 minutes because obviously you know some people it takes a little bit of time and quite honestly when I heard the gospel it took a long time because I was very you know thick-headed right it's very stubborn it took a while to actually hear the gospel for it to make sense to me verse number 11 the woman saith unto him sir that was nothing to draw with and the well is deep from Winston hast thou that living water art thou greater than our father Jacob which gave us the well and drank there of himself and his children and his cattle Jesus answered and said unto her whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life it would be like for example if I said I'm gonna fill this bottle with water and you can drink it and drink it and drink it and it will always be full so how many times you need to fill it up only one time because it is everlasting it is not going to end and that is what salvation is regardless of how many times you sin after being saved regardless of how big of sins you commit after being saved it is everlasting life and all your sins are forgiven you have a home in heaven that is secure and then in verse 15 this woman basically asks for this but once again she doesn't understand what's being said exactly and you know one thing it shows us is this that as we go out soul winning if somebody prays and asks Jesus to save them but they have no idea what salvation is they don't understand they still think they have to live a good life it's like they just said words it meant absolutely nothing right and so you know I've done so winning with a lot of different people over the last couple decades and you know there are some Baptist churches where it's just like a two-minute gospel presentation right I remember going so with someone a long time ago and you know it was literally less than a minute and then basically starts praying with this person and I'm like what's going on right it's just like you know you didn't explain anything and it's like obviously you know we believe in praying to ask Jesus to save you but what's the emphasis in the Bible well what do you believe because words mean nothing just because you said the right thing you have to actually believe it and of course there's others in the Bible that don't really express something the best but since they believe the right thing in the heart obviously God answers that prayer right then it says here verse 19 the woman saith unto him sir I perceive that thou art a prophet our fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Jesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father and notice this ye worship verse 22 ye worship ye know not what and isn't this true about unsafe people they don't know what they're doing they don't know what they're worshipping I mean the majority of people in this room grew up in the Roman Catholic Church right my wife grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Roman Catholic Church you follow a bunch of traditions and you know you can probably remember as a kid doing these things you didn't know why it didn't make sense to you it seemed kind of strange about this Pope that is like the head of this religion it seemed kind of strange these statues you know that are just made out of wood and stone but you just kind of did what you were taught but you know what's interesting about this is I grew up in a Protestant home and I've always thought that the Roman Catholic Church was strange I remember I went to the Roman Catholic Church once for a funeral when I was a young kid and I was afraid because I looked at it as being like a cult and I'm just like this is this is weird this is strange but the thing is I thought that since I realized that that I was at the truth but the reality is that I wasn't saved right and regardless of what your religion is it's not just Catholics but I mean Hindus they worship they know not what Buddhist they worship they know not what and you can look at any false religion and people are just kind of following what they were taught following what their parents said trying to do what's right and then they assume in their head it seems strange to me but obviously my spiritual teachers know more than me I'm sure they're not lying to me right I'm sure that what they're saying is true because very few people that are unsaved actually read the Bible for themselves and if you actually do read the Bible for yourself as an unsaved person all of a sudden I think God's going to actually direct you to the truth and show you that this is actually the right way you know what takes place this woman does not know what she's worshiping she's not saved and Jesus gives her the gospel she gets saved and in the same chapter she's in her enters into the labor of soul winning she enters into the work of soul winning she got saved not of herself and then she's doing the same work getting other people saved as well good about a Titus chapter 3 Titus 3 the Bible is very clear that nobody gets saved on their own and I could preach a whole sermon on that topic I believe in our church we all understand this we all believe this but let me just kind of give you a couple examples of this because we're not going to go to the book of Acts you turn to Titus chapter 3 but in the book of Acts we have two different examples that I think of that would be the perfect example of someone that would get saved on their own if it were possible the first one is the Ethiopian eunuch I mean he's reading the scripture he seems like a pretty decent guy and then all of a sudden the soul winner runs over and starts talking to him and it's like understandest thou what thou readest it's like how can I except some man should guide me and he's literally reading about a prophecy of Jesus Christ and then he's like what is this about and I'm not insulting this man's intelligence I'm just showing you the natural man receiveth not the things of God they do not understand on their own I tried before I was saved to pick up the Bible and read it on a few occasions and I felt like I was reading Mandarin Chinese I was like I just I just don't get it you know I just didn't understand it and of course you know this is a common thing and then people generally kind of quit reading because they feel like I'm not trained I didn't get a degree in Bible college so how could I understand that's what I used to think when I was a lot younger right I was raised in a very strict home a very moral home and so I was trying to do what was right and I considered myself a Christian but I wasn't saved and so I try to read the Bible thinking it's the right thing to do but when I tried I just said no I just can't understand it right and that's the same story with a lot of people but Jesus he gets this woman saved and then she enters into the work of soul winning immediately another great example is Cornelius in the Bible just a few chapters laid later you have a man that is unsaved in the Bible says he fears God because God gave every single person a conscience that teaches them right and wrong and this unsaved man Cornelius he fears God and not just him along with his entire house the Bible says and he's trying to do what's right he's he's giving alms to the people he's praying to God but he's not saved now here's the thing a man who fears God and is trying to do what's right I mean this is a man that would have gotten saved on his own if it were possible but he didn't get saved on his own what ends up taking place I mean with the Ethiopian eunuch God sends a soul winner to like run after him and the way I imagine that story is that Philip gets there and he's like understand is that what thou readest I mean it's tiring to run and then with Peter Peter goes a long way to give the gospel to Cornelius I mean neither the Ethiopian eunuch nor Cornelius gets saved on their own but somebody gives the gospel to them you know I understand that we have a record crowd not because of me today but because pastor Menes is here and of course he's a great friend of our family we're happy to have him here but but here's the reality in this room there are people that are incredibly excited to meet pastor Menes even if you're too shy to approach him on the inside of yourself you're like you're thinking about it you know you're excited on the inside even if you're nervous on the outside but did you know that in this room is the man that got pastor Menes saved brother Felix is here with us today and you know ever since I started going to Verity he's a zealous soul winner he goes on like every missions trip around the world he's been so winning for probably more longer than anybody in this room maybe 50 years I don't know the exact amount but a long time and here's the thing pastor Menes and I might mess up this story a little bit but I don't know the exact age but as a young boy brother Felix talked to his son and gave him the gospel and got him saved and the great work that pastor Menes is doing he's entering into the labor that his father and his mother set before him at a young age getting him saved and teaching him the Word of God nobody in this world is a self-made man or a self-made woman if you are saved in this room it's because somebody got you saved when you were worshiping you know not what you had no idea what you were doing and sometimes you look back and you think man how foolish was I but nobody gets saved on their own Titus chapter 3 verse 3 Titus 3 verse 3 for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers less than pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us not by the which he saved saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and the Bible says here in Titus 3 verses 3 through 5 we were also sometimes foolish before you were saved you were foolish and look you know I look at this and you know in a comparison between other people my age when I was a kid because I've never smoked a cigarette before I mean I grew up with parents where they've never smoked they didn't drink I've never I do not recall a single time in my life ever hearing either of my parents say a curse word my I was raised in a very strict home I was homeschooled starting in middle school I wasn't allowed to watch like MTV for those that are Americans here is like not allowed it's bad music it's not for your ears I was raised in a very strict home you know the reality is that I was serving diverse lusts and pleasures before I was saved you don't necessarily feel like that if you try to compare yourself with other people but I had the wrong belief I was foolish I had the wrong understanding but then the gospel came to me when somebody talked to me and then all of a sudden it's like it makes sense nobody gets saved on their own what takes place is others labor to get you saved and then you have the opportunity to enter into that same labor of soul winning go to Acts chapter 18 acts 18 acts chapter 18 let me say this I believe that all of us should should forever be very thankful to the person that gave the gospel to us but not only should you be forever thankful to the person that got you saved but you should feel an obligation to help other people out that are essentially drowning and they have no hope unless somebody actually throws out the lifeline to them and praise God for all of the soul winning we do but I also think back to stories in my life where maybe I wasn't fully right with God and I knew God wants me to talk to this person it's the perfect opportunity and I let them walk right by me and then I'm praying God please send somebody else and I wish that we're not the case but it's not like every single opportunity I've ever taken but we have an obligation you say why because somebody labored into us to get us saved it's time for us to enter into that labor also you know if you're in this room and maybe you've never gone so winning or you're shy or afraid to do it you know we will pair you up with someone at this church and you can be a silent partner and you can just listen to them talk and you can do that as long as you need to to get used to it and and have a better understanding and feel more confident and the reality is that almost everybody in this room before they were a speaker were a silent partner and I remember when I first made an agreement to start being a silent partner I never really thought I'd be a speaker but then all of a sudden you just you just see the excitement and it just kind of changes your heart right number one one area where we enter into the labor of others is just simply getting saved we do not get saved on our own but we have the opportunity to enter into that labor after we hear the gospel and get others saved another area not just getting saved but also growing spiritually because it's very rare to meet someone who got saved and they were never in church never around other Christians and then just by themselves they became a mighty soul winner and mighty Christian and very godly person I've never heard of that happening in real life here's what it says in acts 18 verse 24 and a certain Jew named Apollos born at Alexandria an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus this man was instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in the spirit so he's excited he's zealous he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord knowing only the baptism of John what the Bible saying here here's a man that's very zealous he wants to talk about God he wants to teach people but he just doesn't know much and he's trying he's excited he's doing his best but he knows very little and then it says in verse 26 and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard they took him on to them and expounded on him the way of God more perfectly you have Aquila and Priscilla and these they see a young man that's very zealous and very excited that clearly needs more training right and they say you know what hey let us help you out and then they expound on in the way of God more perfectly and then Apollos is is kind of one of the right-hand men of Paul that you see in the Word of God doing some great things but here's the thing he became that when he got around other Christians and other soul winners that taught him and brought him along says in verse 27 and when he was disposed to pass into a chia the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him who when he was come helped them much which had believed through grace for he mightily convinced the Jews and that publicly showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ turn your Bible to Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4 you know many ways I read about Apollos it kind of reminds me of myself because I actually started to try to give the gospel and start soul winning before I had really gotten involved in church and in West Virginia University they have at the college campus they call it the mountain lair and people on the weekends they the the university because the big drinking school they basically set up the mountain lair so people can get free food and just kind of hang out there to try to lessen the drinking at the campus and it becomes a great area for soul winning because you go there there's a lot of people that are not drinking they're just kind of hanging out and on Friday nights and Saturday nights I would just go from table to table and of course you know if you're a soul winner we know that that age 18 19 20 it's a great age to get people saved and so I would just regularly do that and I remember though you know my early days I'm very excited and very zealous and I remember I ran into someone who who was an atheist and I had no idea how to answer him because I just didn't know much and then there's someone that actually heard that conversation he came over and kind of took over and then you know I learned from him and he said hey you know what and he invited me to a Baptist Church on Sunday and I agreed to him I'd go to church and then I eventually started going to church and I learned and then as I started going to church I started hearing preaching I started learning a lot more things I got you know other people at church were teaching me things that were new they helped me get you know a better understanding of soul winning and knowing what I was doing and then that made me grow and become better and what I'm saying is I don't stand before you today as a self-made man that just by myself just man I became so righteous and so spiritual and learn so much no I've heard a lot of great sermons in the last two decades I've met a lot of great people that have taught me things from the Bible nobody is a self-made man now it's true we have the Bible and we can learn these things on our own but you know when people tell you I don't really go to church you know I just kind of worship God on my own does anybody ever become a super godly and righteous person that way it never happens the reality is that yes you know what you read the Bible and the scriptures on your own but you also learn a lot of great things of people that have come before you and learn these things and why did they learn a lot of these things well often because they learned it from somebody else because they are entering into the labors of those that came before them and those people entered into the labors of those that came before them and they help people grow spiritually they help people grow spiritually I stand before you day entering into the labors of them of other people we were at Verity Baptist for three and a half years before we came here we learned great things we learned the Word of God I learned how to become a more mature person a godly person a well-rounded person and then the knowledge I'm giving you are things I learned from other people you say why because I'm entering into the labors of other people and there's no shame in that I mean if I get great training and learn great things from other people there's no shame in just admitting I learned it from somebody else sometimes people come up to me they're like man what an awesome thought from that sermon where did you learn that from it's like well you know I learned it from Pastor Menace or I learned it from whomever right it's like there's no shame in the fact that hey you know I've gotten great teaching from people and then now I can stand before you today and try to help others that are newer in the faith that are just learning these things newly saved or maybe not spiritually grown as much and I learn these things from others and then maybe you're gonna hear these things and you're gonna help teach them to other people as well turning your Bible to Ephesians 4 and and notice what the Bible says here in verse 11 Ephesians 4 verse 11 it says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man onto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and God speaks about here specifically Paul speaks about spiritual leadership at churches and when it comes to churches God has set up a system of spiritual leadership of people obviously men not women getting up and teaching the Word of God this church was started more than six years ago when Pastor Menace ordained me as an evangelist and I came down here with my family in this room there's probably around 15 people that were here from day one of the church now some of those families have more kids so that 15 becomes 20 or 25 or whatever but then there's a lot of new people that are out of church right and what the Bible is teaching and I can say this from our early days that when this church first started it was a very zealous church from day one and I got to hit the ground running entering in the labor of others that came before me because it's not like I just showed up and then people are like I've been listening to you for years it's like no I mean people knew Pastor Menace they listen to online preaching and there was already a group of people but at the same time even though our church was a soul-winning church from day one if you talk to the people that have been here from day one there were some issues in the early days where people had a lot of zeal it's like okay let's let's let's get this united into one let's let's calm these things down let's let's redirect that zeal into the proper way and what the Bible teaches is God gives spiritual leadership to help people become united and learn the Word of God and help build a great church Bible says in verse 14 that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the truth and love may grow up unto him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body the the local church body fitly joins together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body on the edifying of itself in love never get this idea that you do not need church you need church I need church all of us we need church and God set up a system of church to learn to grow and look here's how it works in sermons because I'm preaching a sermon that's going to be 40 45 minutes long or so but here's the thing I spent more than 40 minutes learning this information as I studied the sermon and what takes place as a pastor is you study you learn you reread the passages you memorize you cross reference maybe you spend eight hours and then you basically combine it all together in a simple format that people can take away and then in 45 minutes you can kind of learn what it took me a long time to learn and basically there's labor that is done as the Word of God is studied and then all of a sudden you get to enter into the labor of what's come before you and what you can do is take that information you say well you know who am I going to teach well if you're a father or mother teach your kids how about teaching them the Word of God but you know another thing is this when people come to a church like this they're often intimidated to ask the past pastor questions now that might not be true with you but it's true with a lot of people and you know somebody might not come to me but they might come to you people at the church have told me before that brother so-and-so you know a new person came to them and asked this question and they'll say this is what I told them what was that a good answer right and so the thing is you learn great information and you can use that to help other people that have questions along the way as well turn your Bible to Acts 1 Acts 1 see nobody gets saved on their own nobody grows spiritually on their own you have people that are trained leaders that have learned from other people and they help you grow they help you learn and one thing that I've noticed in the Bible is God set up a system to try to eliminate pride from ourselves I didn't pay for my sins so I can't boast about it as it says in Ephesians 2 I didn't get myself saved I didn't get saved by reading the Bible on my own I can't boast about that I didn't become you know a pastor just on my own I learned things from other people and God set up a system where it's like hey you should remove boasting from your life because you're not self-made you learn from other people whether you're a man in this room or a woman you learn from other people you don't just arrive at everything by yourself and look I'm only giving you three points but you can think of a lot of other things I mean if you see you know young kids that grow up and become godly people it's because there's a godly mom and a godly father 99% of the time that took the time and energy to train and teach their kids I mean I I pray for my kids to grow up and love God and be very zealous people you know and one thing that motivates me is I think back to a father and a mother that put in a lot of time and energy and effort to train me and teach me and obviously you know I live on the other side of the world so I talked to my mom three times a week my dad went home to heaven you know several months back last year but I stand before you today trying to be the best father I can be you say why because I had a godly father who was teaching me the rules and Commandments and how to be a good person and it's like I didn't become it by myself if you see kids that are left to themselves they bring their father and the mother to shame the Bible says and if you see kids grow up that are mature and godly it's because there was a father and there was a mother who invested time and energy into raising them but aside from getting saved and growing spiritually and this is I tried my best with pastor men as being here to make this sermon alliterated and you know I like to alliterate my sermons sometimes it's hard but the advantage you have here in the Philippines is you can mix English and Tagalog together okay and you know I guess generate starts with a G although it doesn't have that guh sound but generate manga simbahan and simbahan is the word for church so basically getting churches started is what I'm saying here's the thing this church didn't just start itself we in Verde Baptist Church Manila are entering into the labor of a church that started in Sacramento California in September of 2010 September 5th 2010 almost 15 years ago a church that started in the home with maybe 10 people or so and then a lot of labor was put in because I can tell you this I mean we have a lot of Americans here and I can say that if you talk to Americans in this room many of them are going to tell you how it is frustrating trying to get people saved in the u.s. you knock the door slammed in your face I mean it's common if you go out so winning for an hour and a half that you get no conversations I mean America was once built on Christianity and I believe it's it's a country that sells a lot of great churches and was once a very conservative and godly place but that's that's not what America is now you look at a country that just does not care that much about church and the reality is that if you try to talk to people in America about the Bible most aren't interested they don't care it's one of the things that amazes Americans when they come here it's it's why I first fell in love with the Philippines how all of a sudden you walk up to people and they're not rude it's like oh do you have ten minutes sure it's like really Wow it's amazing right and it's it's so different than what you see in America but the reality is this church started from a very tough battleground in Sacramento California with a small number of people knocking the doors knocking the doors slowly adding slowly adding slowly adding I don't know the exact number of people that were at the church when my wife and I started going you know maybe a hundred I'm not really sure and the church has definitely grown since then but you know a lot of work had already been done and when I got married I decided to move my family and I with with my wife and I and I talked her about I said I think Sacramento is where we should go and I said you know basically I I threw away my career and I just said well I'll find something as one of the best decisions I ever made just stepping out in faith like that and then we were there for several years and then I was ordained as an evangelist to start this church and but but but what I want us to understand here is that this work is being done simply because we are entering into the labor of work that came before us and no matter how big our church ever gets no how matter how many churches we start we must always remember that we are merely entering into the labor of work that came before us Bible says in Acts 1 verse 8 but he shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and he should be witnesses on to me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and on to the uttermost part of the earth look wait right before Jesus went up to heaven he said I want you to do a great work here in Jerusalem but I want you to get all Judea and I want you to get Samaria and as far as you can get get to the uttermost part of the earth and we are literally standing on the other opposite side of the earth as Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento California go to Luke chapter 12 we'll close up Luke 12 Luke 12 we've been able to start several churches here from our church here in Manila of course we have our members from Verity Baptist Church Beekle we have the church in Pampanga we have the church in Warsaw Poland and look I would love it if the churches we've started become bigger than us and more successful I think that would be great I'm not I don't feel like I'm in a competition with other people that are doing a great work but no matter how big your church becomes or our church becomes or any church becomes everyone must always remember I'm just entering into the labor that somebody else did before me and of course here in the Philippines it's a receptive country so you know some of these numbers especially if people have never gone soul winning on the mission field or another place it almost seems impossible to people they're like a thousand salvations in a month it sounds crazy to them and of course you know at our church it's like it's not like I'm getting a thousand salvations per month I mean we've got a lot of people that go soul winning we've got a lot of people that volunteer their time and energy and effort to put countless hours in but what we're doing is merely entering into the labor of Verdi Baptist Church in Sacramento that set the groundwork before we came here and no matter because look I believe right now our church is better than it's ever been I think that the members of our church would say yes I believe that's the case we've grown as a church we've been able to start other churches we've got our monthly church services in Cavite and Laguna there's now an open door to get into the schools I mean people are doing a lot of soul winning I mean things are going great here we're growing God has blessed us with a building and all of these things but all of this work that we're doing we need to remember we're entering into the labor of work that was done before us never allow this prideful attitude to get inside your head like you that work I'm a self-made man I'm a self-made woman or we're a self-made church we are just single-handed no it's like we just entered into the labor of what others have done Luke chapter 12 let's close up Luke 12 verse 48 Luke 12 verse 48 when I look at my life I I look at someone that had a great opportunity to get trained by you know even before I was going to a great church the person who got me saved taught me about the poster of rapture when I was 19 years old I mean I've never been pre trip I mean I learned a lot of great doctrine the person who got me saved taught me a lot of great things and then I was around a lot of great Christians I mean in college the group of friends I had it's like hey what do you want to do on Friday night it's like you know you want to do Bible trivia or you want to just read the Bible and talk about I mean that's what we did just talked about the Bible and so I think to myself it's like well you know who knows where I would be if I wasn't put in a position of those opportunities to grow and I look at my life and I just think man a lot of investments have been made into me in my life and and you know sometimes it makes you wonder am I really you know worthy of this because I feel like I've had so many opportunities and maybe you're in this room right now and you feel the same way like man I've had chances or maybe you don't feel this way but you should think this way because I want you to realize around the world there are not churches like this everywhere there's a lot of countries around the world where there is like nothing for church and I'm not I'm not trying to think too highly of ourselves I just want to help you realize that there's not a church like this everywhere around the world that's why at our church you know we have people I mean obviously we have a lot of people that are visiting day for to listen to Pastor Mendez but we have people at our church that come every week that come from hours away I'm thinking man that's dedication but I also think to myself how sad that there's not a great church that they can be a part of that's nearby them right Luke 12 verse 48 the Bible says but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more the Bible speaks about if you've been given a lot a lot is required of you and I would say that you know if you're in this room and you love God now if you stop to think you can probably look back to a lot of people in your life you can probably think back to a father and a mother at a very young age and maybe they didn't know all these things about the Bible but they led you down the right path maybe you can think about just various people you know getting in church and then people that taught you things not just my sermons but other people at church that have had an impact on you and what we need to realize is that if a lot has been given to us because I believe a lot has been given to our church I believe a lot has been given to me I believe I am entering into the labor of what other people have done before me but to whom much is given much is required and no matter how much you do for God in this life you can always do more if you've been given a lot be thankful and devote your life to serving God let's close in word of prayer your Heavenly Father thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to help us to apply the sermon to our lives including myself and my family God help us to be thankful for all the labor that has been invested into us God and help us in turn do everything we can to get as many people saved as we can and be dedicated to church and and and raise our families for the glory of God we pray these things in Jesus name Amen