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

Alright, we are in Hebrews chapter 11, and the name of the sermon is Heroes of the Bible. Now, I've never really preached a National Heroes Day themed sermon, so this is the first year that I'm going to do it. Obviously, Monday is National Heroes Day, where they celebrate primarily Filipinos that are around for the late 19th century with a battle with Spain. And let me just read you a few things about National Heroes Day. National Heroes Day is celebrated on Mondays. In 2007, they made the switch from doing it the last Sunday of August to the last Monday of August. So ever since then, since 2007, it's been the last Monday of August. And National Heroes Day, or Pomban Sang Araw Nang Mangabayani, is a holiday in the Philippines dedicated to Filipino heroes. Now, what I want you to understand is that our definition of what a hero is, is going to be very different than the world's definition of a hero. And I'll be honest, as I was preparing this sermon, I really kind of studied some things in Filipino history. And you can't help but speak the things you have seen and heard. But at the same time, you've got to be very careful about the things that you say publicly here in the Philippines. But I would just encourage you to do your own research, and you're going to see that these famous Filipino heroes are not actually people that we should be looking at as an example. I don't think anybody would make an argument that any of the major Filipino heroes believed on Jesus Christ for salvation. And I would never make a hero in the life of my kids to be someone that is in hell today. It does not make any sense to me why you would do that. And I would also say this, I grew up with a poster of Michael Jordan on my wall. I don't believe that Michael Jordan ought to be the hero for your kids or anybody else either. Now this word hero itself, it's not a Bible word. And so depending on how this word is used, you might be okay with it, you might not. Obviously we're against having idols in your life, shows like American Idol. So if that's what you mean by hero, there's a problem. I am also against the term superhero because you're attributing God-like attributes to a human being, which is wrong. I personally don't have a problem with the word hero if you're basically saying someone to look at as an example. And my definition of hero would be found in Hebrews 11 verse 38 where it says, Of whom the world was not worthy. My definition of a hero, and you might disagree with me, that's fine. My definition is someone whom the world was not worthy of. And the Bible speaks of people that were so courageous, showed such strong faith as believers. The Bible says the world was not worthy of people like this. And you've got a chapter of people like Moses and Noah and Abraham. These people serve as an example to us today. Now of course people would look at people like Noah and Abraham and Moses and you see them doing wrong. You see them making mistakes. And what they'll say is with people that live today, well just like characters in the Bible, they were not perfect, they also sinned. Here's the difference. People that live today or in popular secular history, the world makes excuses for the sins that they do. The Bible does not make excuses for the sins of Moses or Abraham or Noah. We see the end result. But if you look at famous people in Filipino history, excuses for committing adultery with a bunch of women. Explain to me what the valid excuse for that is. There is no valid excuse. I mean, as I said, I'm very tempted to just ask me after the service my opinions of all these people and I will tell you I'm going to stop it there for safety purposes. I would just say that people that you should look up to are not the heroes here from this country, the so-called heroes. And it's not just here in the Philippines. In the U.S. one of the big heroes is Martin Luther King Jr. The guy was an adulterer, a Baptist pastor that didn't believe in the Trinity, didn't believe in the virgin birth, and there's a holiday dedicated to that man. Explain to me how that makes him a hero. Explain to me how Gandhi, who was a sexual pervert, is a hero. Explain to me how Nelson Mandela, who happened to be racist on both sides, and you can see chants on YouTube of him saying, Down with the white man, kill the white man, and yet he plays both sides of the fence. Explain to me how that's a hero. And what you have to understand is the world's heroes are going to be very different than God's heroes. God's heroes are not 33rd degree Masons like the heroes here from this country. The Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse 38, Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, and these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. And the Bible speaks of people the world was not worthy of. Now point number one, being a hero, or being someone that you can be an example on to other people, the Bible says you act on things not seen. You walk by faith and not by sight. Notice what it says in verse 7, Hebrews 11, verse 7, By faith Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet. Now what was Noah warned about? There's going to be a flood that destroys the world. Things not seen. No evidence that a flood was about to take place. No evidence whatsoever, and yet he was warned by God there's going to be a flood to destroy the world. The Bible says, Moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Look, I can imagine that as Noah was building this ark, every single day people walked by and just said, Look at what he's doing. What an idiot. What a fool. Ooh, God's going to flood the world. I mean, isn't that the way that you picture it in your head? Isn't that the way that you would think that people were acting? Mocking Noah saying, What are you doing? Oh, there's going to be a flood. Well, show me where this big flood's coming from. I'm sure he got mocked every single day. He was acting on things not seen. He was walking by faith and not by sight. No evidence of what was about to take place, but he was living by faith and acting on things not seen. Go to Genesis 2. Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. See, if you're going to be a hero in 2023 and an example in other people, you're going to have to live by faith and not by sight. You're going to have to trust in what God says and walk by faith and not walk by sight. But see, that's not what the world does. The world's like, Show me a sign. Show me the evidence. It's like, Once there's the evidence, then I'm going to do it. But the Bible says you walk by faith and not by sight. You do what the Bible says even if you don't have the physical proof in front of you, but you walk by faith and not by sight. Act on things not seen. Genesis 2, verse 4. At the point of Genesis 2, it had not yet rained. Now, I'm not going to say dogmatically whether it did or didn't rain before the flood took place, but there was no indication of a worldwide flood that was going to destroy the world. There was no physical evidence that it was going to take place. There was no proof of it. And you have to realize that during this time period, God spoke and interacted with man differently. So it's like, Oh wow, God came down and talked to you, Noah? God told you he's going to flood the world? I mean, maybe you've been doing whatever, too many drugs or something. I'm sure people made fun of him like that. It's like, Yeah, there's going to be a flood that destroyed the world. Right? And look, here's the thing. Often times people give in to peer pressure, don't they? They know what's right. They know what the Bible says, but they're afraid what man is going to say about them. So they back down because they're afraid of man more than they're afraid and fear God. Go back to Hebrews 11, I should say. Go back to Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 11. The Bible says in Hebrews 11, verse 7, By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet. Notice this. Moved with fear. What was the motivation for Noah? Fear. Fear was his motivation. You think of the word moved, and the implication is basically that you're doing nothing, you're staying still, and as a result of fear, he was moved to accomplish something. Right? We use that expression in today's world, I was moved, saying that you're emotionally moved to make some sort of change or do something. And the Bible says Noah was moved with fear. What was he afraid of? He was afraid of a flood, the wrath of God, to destroy the world. And number one, he wanted his whole family to be saved. And number two, I'm sure Noah wanted people to say, Okay, I'm sorry, I've messed up, and I'm going to come in the ark, too. I believe what God's saying. This is not a matter of spiritual salvation, because I promise you there is more than eight people inside of that ark that were actually saved. I mean, probably in moments in history, that's probably the moment where more people went to heaven immediately than any other moment. A lot of saved people that just chose not to follow what God said and chose not to do what God said. But you know what? Here's the thing. Because of fear, Noah was moved. He was motivated to accomplish something. And I'll tell you what. The fear of man is wrong, but you better be moved with the fear of God. Because the same God that flooded the world 2,000 years ago is also going to destroy the world by some other method coming in the future, and it's the same God that's going to judge his people. Judgment must begin at the house of God, the Bible says. Hebrews 11, verse 8. Let me give you another example. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went. Now, my family's going to be leaving in a week and a half, and I'll be honest, I don't like traveling. I don't like airports. I don't mind being inside of a plane, but just the whole process. You make sure the flight's not late. You've got everything organized. You go to another country that all your cards are going to work and all these possibilities of things that could go wrong, but the reality is, even though I get stressed by this, I can tell you the exact time that we're going to leave, the exact airport. I can tell you how long the flight's going to be. I can tell you our interconnecting flight. I can tell you the rental car agency we're going to get a car, where we're going to stay. I mean, it's all mapped out. That's the way travel is in 2023. That's not the way it was for Abraham. He went out not knowing whether he went. What am I going to do for work? I guess I'll figure it out. I'll just trust in God. Walking by faith and not by sight, because by sight you'd say, what are you doing? I mean, you've got to be more planned out. You've got to be more organized. You can't just do it on a whim or because you're motivated. You've got to be more sensical and logical than that. You see, if you're going to accomplish great things for God, you must walk by faith and not by sight. Go to Luke 16. Luke 16. Luke chapter 16. What are some examples of this? How about soul winning? Soul winning is an example where we walk by faith, not by sight. I've never been to heaven. I've never been to hell. I haven't seen it. I mean, I've seen volcanoes erupt from the earth, and that reminds me of hell because that's where hell is located. But I've never been to hell. There's no evidence. I mean, I don't believe that a bunch of people in Russia dug down to hell, and we heard the voices there either. And if you do, I'm sorry. That's just a hoax. It's false. And to let you know why that is, because if you actually dug into hell, which I believe is impossible, you wouldn't hear one voice screaming above others. You'd have a unison of screaming because there's billions of people in hell, okay? But what I'm saying is I haven't been to heaven. I haven't been to hell. Neither have you. All we have is the Bible to go off of, but we're walking by faith, not by sight, because we haven't seen this. We haven't experienced it. We have no empirical evidence. If somebody says, Prove to me hell is real. I'll show them Bible verses. That's all I got. I don't have the evidence that they want to prove it. I don't have a physical, empirical evidence to prove it. Prove to me heaven's real. I'll show you what the Bible says. I don't have the evidence that the world would want, and neither do you. But we know 100% for sure that heaven is real, and hell is real. See, when we go soul winning, we are walking by faith, not by sight, because we haven't experienced these things. Right? I mean, one day we're going to die, and hopefully you're saved because then you're going to go to heaven, but we haven't experienced that yet. The Bible says in Luke 16, verse 19, There is a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. However, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. This is probably the most clear description of hell in the Bible, I would say. And we see that hell is a literal and real place. This is a real event with people's names, and this shows you it's a real event and not merely a parable. It's not just a story. This man Lazarus was real. This man Abraham was real. The rich man is not given a name because my sheep are in my voice, and I know them, and he wasn't a child of God, so we don't see his name. But he's a real person that existed. He's a real person that is still in hell today. Well, show me the evidence of this, Brother Stuckey. I mean, the Bible is your evidence. Yes! You say, why? Because I walk by faith and not by sight. I have faith in the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And this is how I determine what's right, what's wrong, what's true, what's not true. And look, don't be embarrassed about living your life by faith and not by sight. You are going to be mocked by the world if you serve God in 2023. They will laugh at you. They will say you're foolish. I mean, why do you spend all of your time on Sundays going soul winning? Just let people believe whatever they want. You know why? Because I believe Luke 16 is a real story that happened. And I believe people every single day die and drop straight into hell straight into hell for all eternity. And I walk by faith, not by sight. No, I've never seen it. But I believe every single word found in this book. You say, why is it so important? Well, if you go on with the story in Luke 16, and let me turn there myself. Verse 25, But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed. So first he says, remember, you had a nice life, rich man, and Lazarus had a poor life. But now you're in hell, and he's in heaven. And there is a great gulf fixed. Fixed meaning it can't be changed or moved, meaning there's no going from heaven to hell or hell to heaven. By the way, there is no purgatory in Luke 16 because there's no purgatory in the Bible because it's either heaven or hell. You're spiritually alive or you're spiritually dead. There is no spiritual zombie state, I'm half alive, half dead. It's either alive or dead. Right? And the Bible says there's a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot. And what he's saying here is there are people in heaven that would pass from here to you in hell. Now, why would someone in heaven want to go to hell? Because they have lost loved ones that died and went to hell. I mean, isn't it true probably everybody in this room, you know of relatives or neighbors or co-workers or friends or people that died that to the best of your knowledge they were unsaved. And you can do nothing for them at this point. Well, I'm just going to pray them out of purgatory. Well, I'll just be baptized for them like the Mormons. Doesn't work that way, my friend. There's no passing from heaven to hell or hell to heaven after you die. It's forever wherever you are. But I'll tell you what, all of us that are saved we would love the opportunity to give those in hell another chance. That's what the rich man's begging for. Give my brothers a chance before they go here. It's like, you know, it doesn't work that way. Lazarus is not going to pop out of heaven and go back to earth and try to get people saved. It doesn't work that way. Our chance to get people saved is now here on earth. And after that it's too late. Every single one of us has relatives that died that are unsaved. You know, my grandparents, my granddad on my dad's side died before I was born. But then when I got saved, I had two of my three remaining grandparents died within like six months after I got saved. One was an atheist. Didn't believe in God. I have no indication whatsoever that he ended up believing on Christ on his deathbed. And I remember the conversation I had with my grandmother on my dad's side. And I had just gotten saved. You know, I didn't know that much about the Bible, but I knew and understood salvation. And I knew that, you know what, you must believe salvation is a free gift. No works on this side or this side of salvation. I understood you must believe it's eternal life. And so I remember my grandmother called, you know, every week she'd call the house and she wanted to talk to me. She's like, I'm so excited. I heard you became a born again Christian and you're really zealous and you're talking about the Bible. She's like, this is great. And, you know, she said, I'm also very zealous. She's like, you know, I go to the Church of the Nazarene, which I didn't know anything about the Church of the Nazarene at the time. I mean, I had just gotten saved. And she said, I'm very excited and I heard that you're a Baptist. And she's like, that's great. She's like, I love the Baptist. They're very excited. They're very zealous. They're different than others. There's just one thing about the Baptist I don't like. Once saved, always saved. You know, it felt like I got stabbed with a sword when she said that because as she's talking, I'm thinking, man, maybe she's saved. And then she said, I reject eternal security. And, of course, if you're a soul winner, you understand you must believe salvation is a free gift on both sides of salvation. You don't have to live a certain lifestyle to keep your salvation. And you must put your full trust on Jesus to be saved. And if you don't, you're not saved. And I remember she said those words and it hurt. Now, I never saw my grandmother again because she died shortly after. We lived a long ways away from her. But I'm just saying all of us have stories like that of people that you know that died Catholic probably. I mean, if you grew up here in the Philippines, you have relatives that died Catholic. And to the best of your knowledge, they did not believe on Jesus. Anyway, it's too late. You can do nothing about that to fix that. Now, look, I understand when you have lost loved ones that die, whether they're saved or not, there's a grieving period that takes place. If they die unsaved, there's really no comfort that we can give. I mean, they're unsaved. But let me just say this. That uncomfortable feeling is actually a good thing for you, even though we don't like it. You say, why? Because it motivates us to preach the gospel while there's a chance. It's like, God, I'm not going to let this happen again. I didn't preach the gospel before. I will not let a lost loved one die without giving them a chance. Give them a chance. I mean, because if you don't, who's going to? I mean, the rest of your family is Catholic. Right? It's your job. It's your responsibility to preach the gospel to them. And if we don't, they have no hope. We are their hope to throw out the lifeline, as we say, to give them a chance to believe on Christ for their salvation. Because there's coming a day when, you know what, you're going to want to pass to them, and you can't. It's too late. Go to Jude 1. Jude 1. Jude 1. I mean, soul winning is about walking by faith and not by sight. Now, there are people that are saved, and they take this attitude in their life, well, I'm saved, so who cares about anybody else? And they might not say that audibly, but the way they live their life, that really shows what they believe, right? They don't really care about other people. They have a very little amount of love inside their heart and compassion for other people. And the Bible says this in Jude 1 verse 22. And if some have compassion making a difference, we ought to have compassion for lost loved ones and realize, hey, they were born with a false religion. They've been lied to. I want to give them a chance. I want to give them hope to believe and be saved. We ought to have compassion for the lost loved ones that are out there and give them a chance. But if you don't have enough love and compassion inside your heart, let me say this. Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh, the Bible says in the next verse. See, we ought to have compassion to get people saved, but if not, be moved with fear as Noah was. Because here's the thing about this. The Bible says pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh, when we knock on a door and somebody says that they're not saved or they don't know for sure, we understand they're basically in a burning building and they're going to die and go to hell, spiritually speaking. But they're not aware of it. And the Bible's saying do everything you can to give them a chance to pull them out of the fire. Imagine you knock on someone's door, you see a fire in a house nearby. So you knock on their door and you say, hey, is anybody in there? Hey, is anybody in there? And then all of a sudden somebody opens a door. What? I was sleeping, man. What are you doing? There's a fire! Don't you see the smoke? It's like, what are you talking about? And they slam the door in your face. What would you do if you literally saw a fire in the background? You would grab them and say, get out of there! Now, I'm not saying when you go soul-winning, just grab them, scream, believe! Right? That's not what I'm saying. We're not street breachers, okay? What I'm saying is that if you don't have enough compassion, say with fear, be moved with fear, be motivated to say, hey, they might not understand the reality of hell, but I do understand. And I want to give them a chance to be saved while it's not too late. Be moved with fear. Walk by faith, not by sight. You know what? I believe that in the late 19th century here in the Philippines there were saved people that lived here because there were saved people everywhere. And I believe there's people that lived here in the Philippines, and I don't know their names because when you're serving God, you're unknown yet well-known. You're unknown on Earth. But I believe that over 100 years ago, there were true heroes that lived in the Philippines that loved God and were serving God and wanted to see people get saved. Now, if I knew their names, I'd say, hey, look at that person as an example. But I'm sorry, when I study the history of the heroes here in the Philippines, I just don't see in the life of José Rizal that he was a soul winner. I don't see in the life of Andrés Bonifacio that he was a soul winner. I don't see in the life of Emilio Aguinaldo that he was a soul winner. So I don't see how you can look at those people as heroes. It doesn't make any sense to me. Nor do I understand why a Bible-believing Christian would want the hero in their life of their kids to be an unsaved person. It doesn't make sense to me. And what I would say is there's heroes in the Bible like Moses that you can live from their life. And did Moses do wrong? Yes, he did. But when he did wrong, you see the repercussions, and the Bible makes no excuses for the sin of Moses. And you can learn from the good and the bad of Bible characters. But the life of celebrities here or heroes or athletes or musicians, I'm sorry, I don't want those to be the heroes in the life of my kids. Turn your Bible to Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. Proverbs chapter 22. I mean, it really shouldn't be a surprise to us. Isn't the world's opinion different than ours on basically everything? Doesn't it logically make sense that the heroes of the world are not going to be the heroes here? And look, when I lived in the U.S., I was not nationalistic at all, nor do I look at the heroes of the U.S. as being people that are examples either. This is not me, this American pride coming out like last week. It's like, no, the heroes of the U.S. in the early days of the U.S., they were also 33rd degree Masons. Yeah, I'm sorry, but they're not my heroes, nor would they be the heroes in the life of my kids. Now, studying history can be interesting, but realize, hey, none of these people are people that we should look at as characters to worship. I mean, there's literally religions based on these heroes, where they believed that they were God on Earth. I mean, are you kidding me? That's absurd. And look, I'm sure it's like that in every country around the world, people that are way too obsessed with where they live. You know, you can serve God no matter where you live. If you've got a good church to be a part of, you can fully serve God no matter where you live, regardless of what country you live in, regardless of where you are. It's like, you know, quit looking at people by their skin color and their hair color and their eye color, and realize, my brothers and sisters in Christ are not people of the same bloodline, but are those that love God. I mean, didn't Jesus say, it's like, hey, you know, your mom's here, and it's like, and He says that basically His family are those that are serving God. Because your spiritual family in the eyes of God is the most important thing. One thing is soul winning. When we go soul winning, we walk by faith and not by sight. Another thing is raising children. Raising children, you're walking by faith and not by sight. The Bible says in Proverbs 22 verse 6, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. My kids are five years old, three years old, and one year old. They're not old. What proof do I have that this is true? I haven't seen it with my kids. I mean, they're still young. Obviously, as you raise your kids, you can start seeing signs of whether your kids are going the right direction or the wrong direction. And to all of us as parents, we see our kids go in the wrong direction in various areas, and you need to be honest with yourself and fix the problem. But here's the thing. My kids are not old, but I take this by faith that if I do what the Bible says, they will turn out right. Number one, they'll get saved. Number two, they'll get engaged. They will believe on Christ for salvation. I believe that. Number two, that if my wife and I raise our kids correctly, that they're going to grow up and love God. I believe that. Now, there's no guarantee my kids are going to grow up and love God, but here's the reality. If they grow up and don't love God, it's my fault, my wife's fault, or both of us, and probably both of us. Because God's Word is true. My kids should go when they're old. They won't depart from it. And I can take that to the bank. You say, why? Because I walk by faith and not by sight. This is what God says. Now, of course, when it comes to training children, it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort. I'm not preaching a whole sermon on that specifically alone here today, but yeah, you know what? It takes a lot of work and effort. One thing is spanking. Now, if you don't spank your kids and they turn out wrong, well, you didn't train them up the way God said. And it's strange to me, but I preach that all the time, and it's like, that's the last advice anybody ever wants. And it's like, well, you can do whatever you want. I just want the makalit behavior to be less and less as they get older rather than just getting extreme where then I've got to deal with it. Because that's what God says. And that's not the only part of raising your kids. I mean, you need to spend time and love your kids. You know what your kids need as a father? They need you to come home from work and they need to realize you care more about them than social media. You care more about them than the PBA. You care more about them than entertainment or whatever you want to do. You care more about them than online new IFB preaching also. That you come home and spend time with your kids and show them, hey, this is a love I'm not a perfect father, but I'm giving you an example of how God is to us. Not a father that comes home and never spends time with her kids. Or a mom that spends five hours a day on her cell phone and never spends any time with her kids. And it's a burden, not a blessing, to be around your kids. Look, you need to train your children in the right way. Show them that you care. Show them that you love them. Realize it's a blessing to raise young kids. And here's the thing, your kids are not going to be young forever. I don't know how my son's F is so tall. It's like, when did you get this tall? Right, it's like the years are flying by. Right, and you're only going to have that opportunity for so long. You better invest in it, because you're going to realize I don't think anybody on their deathbed says I wish I had watched more TV. Man, my dying wish I didn't see that final episode of Friends or Seinfeld or whatever the new shows are the last 20 years. Right, I don't think anyone's like, man, I never saw Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 1980 whatever, right? I don't think anybody says that. You know what I think we have, though, in this world that oftentimes takes place? You have parents that grieve as their kids grew up and they didn't end up the way they wanted them to. Why? Because they didn't put in the time and the effort to raise them properly. Go in your Bible to Titus 2. Titus 2. Titus 2. If you're going to raise your kids correctly, you've got to walk by faith, not by sight. Say why? Because you don't have the end product in front of you. Your kids are not fully grown, but you can take to the bank that what God says is correct. And I'll tell you what, it's important to put your trust and your faith in the Word of God because here's the reality. The advice from the world is wrong on pretty much everything. Just about everything they say the opposite of what God says. Well, I mean, I know this is what brother Stuckey said, but all my friends are doing this. Okay, then just follow their advice. Do whatever you want. You have free will. You can make up your own mind. Just reject what God says and do what all of your friends are doing and you know what, you can have your kids turn out like every kid in this world. Are kids in 2023 respectful? Not at all. It's funny because I think 50 years ago people actually applied the Bible. Do they anymore? Not really. So if you want to have your kids turn out like every other kid in the world, then go for it. Just reject what I say. Reject what God says. But if you want your kids to grow up and love God and be good kids that also love you because I'll tell you what, parents that discipline and also spend time, nurture and admonition to their kids, those kids grow up and they love their parents. It's a fact. That's the way it works. Another thing is waiting for the return of Jesus where we walk by faith and not by sight. The Bible says in Titus 2 verse 11, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Now this is clearly saying that Jesus died for everybody. The grace of God has appeared to everybody. But then it says this, teaching us. Now, notice how there's a distinction between all men and us in verse 12. Who's the us referring to? The us is referring to saved people. So what Paul's saying is Jesus died for everybody but it teaches us that are saved that denying ungodliness and worldly lust is not a good thing. Jesus died for everybody but denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Now it does not say that you will live soberly. It does not say that you will live righteously. It does not say that you will live godly. But it does say that if you're saved you understand that you should. And isn't this true that when a person gets saved they start to have a better understanding of these things? I remember when I first got saved I listened to rock music I liked and I just immediately was feeling guilty about it. And I used to think hey, I don't do drugs so no big deal singing about drugs. And then after I was saved I was thinking man, this is not right. I immediately understood that. Now that's not a guarantee you're not going to listen to rock music but I realized that I should not listen to rock music. And you realize it matters how you live your life. I mean if you have unsaved co-workers they'll say yeah, you know it's fine, don't drink but just come hang out with us while we're drinking. But as a saved person you realize there's something not right about this. I don't like the atmosphere. It's not right. Now your unsaved co-workers they don't get it. But as a saved person you do get it. You get it that I should live soberly, righteously, and godly. I should live differently than the world. Looking for that blessed hope in the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now here's the thing. Have I seen the return of Jesus? No I haven't. Now the Bible's very clear that every eye shall see him when he does return so it's not some secret rapture where oh man I missed it but he saw it. No, no, no. Everyone's going to see him. Every eye shall see. Now whether it happens in our life or not we'll find out. I've always said I do not believe it's going to take place in my life but the way the world's going I could be wrong. Right? But the thing is we take this by faith. We don't have this visibly in front of us. I haven't seen the return of Jesus. And look if you say yeah you know what I've seen it. Like you know what is it in Catholicism people see appearances of Mary or whatever. What do they call that? They see like images of Mary in the sky or they see like blood dripping like oh I saw Jesus bleeding in the sky. Look if that's what you saw you're probably possessed by a devil. Okay. You haven't seen this. I haven't seen this. But we know it's going to take place. You say why? Because we walk by faith and not by sight. The Bible says in verse 14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. You see if you're saved you realize God wants you to be a little bit different. He wants you to be peculiar. He wants you to live godly and soberly. But the world does not get this. Now what would motivate us to serve God and live different than the world? Because we walk by faith not by sight. That we truly believe that we will see the return of Jesus Christ. Even though the world's saying where's the promise of his coming? For all things continue as they were since the beginning of the creation. I mean you got the LGBT now you say there's going to be the return of Jesus. We're even going to make the rainbow our symbol that mocks Genesis where God said he's never going to flood the world anymore. And they put it in the face of God saying you Christians say he's going to come back and judge the world. I've never seen it take place. But we walk by faith not by sight. When they say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them the Bible says. Turn your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And look heroes of the Bible of whom the world was not worthy they acted on things not seen. They walked by faith and not by sight. They walked by faith. And Hebrews 11 is known as the hall of faith but it's not really known as the hall of faith because it's giving you a list of people that believed on Christ. Millions upon millions if not tens of millions or hundreds of millions or whatever people have believed on Christ for salvation. But they lived their life by faith. The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please him in Hebrews 11. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that's the salvation. You must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. That is walking by faith. Living your life by faith. Now salvation is believing that he is who he said he was. You believe that he is as the Bible says. But if you want to please God you've got to walk by faith when you live your life and not by sight. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 6 Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident I say and to be present with the Lord. Now what's the result of walking by faith and not by sight? Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. Because we believe in heaven and hell. We believe in the return of Jesus. We believe these things. As a result it motivates us to labor. To work hard. Did you know that serving God is labor? Takes work. We sing songs in our hymnal sweet hour of prayer. Tis the blessed hour of prayer. You know why we don't pray for an hour? Because it's work. It's hard. After five minutes your mind wonders about something that doesn't even matter. Right? It's hard. Do you know it takes a lot of effort to read the Bible and just put aside all distractions? I mean it seems so easy. When you're in church and you're hearing the Word of God preached you're thinking yeah it's so easy. I'm just going to read the Bible and pray for thirty minutes and then once you try to do it it's like your sinful flesh is going to attack you the whole time and just try to get you distracted with all these things that don't matter. Soul winning is labor. Right? It takes work to go soul winning. And why do we do this? Because we walk by faith and not by sight. And if you want to do great things for God in 2023 because I believe that the characters in the Bible we might not do the exact same things they did but we can be just as close to God today in 2023 as they were. So how do you do that? By walking by faith and not by sight. Go to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 11. One thing that heroes do in the Bible the Hall of Faith of whom the world is not worthy they act on things not seen. They walk by faith and not by sight. Another thing they do is they did difficult things. Very difficult. And in some cases impossible. Logically scientifically whatever impossible. It cannot actually happen. And they did it. Because they walk by faith and not by sight. But they did difficult if not impossible things. I'll give you an example. Hebrews 11 verse 17. You know what? And go to Genesis 22. I want to show you this a little bit more in detail. But sometimes we read stories of the Bible and sometimes you see characters make mistakes and you think to yourself what's wrong with you? I mean this would be so easy to do. It wouldn't be hard for me. Which I think it's easy to say that if we're not in the days of the Bible and living through it ourselves. But this is a story in the Bible where I could never see myself doing this. I just cannot imagine myself being willing to sacrifice my son. I mean when my wife and I got married it took us a few years before God blessed us with our first child. And it felt like a long time. But it wasn't as long as Abraham and Sarah waited. And I'll tell you what. I would not have been about ready to sacrifice my son. I'd be like, no. I'm not going to do it. That's a very difficult thing isn't it? But it's interesting because when you notice what it says in Genesis 22 verse 5 it gives us more detail. And in verse 5 it's a very key verse. And Abraham said unto his young men Abide ye here with the ass. Now if you've ever seen animated videos on this story or you've heard people talk about it you always picture Abraham and Isaac. Abraham and Isaac. Just those two people. And you know it's accurate because it was only Abraham and Isaac that went to the sacrifice. But on the journey there was people with them. And Abraham said abide ye here. Meaning stay behind. Then it says this and I am the lad so me and Isaac will go yonder and worship and notice this and come again to you. What's Abraham saying? You stay behind. Me and my son are going to go worship and the two of us are going to come back. Now look I don't think that Abraham understood exactly what was going to take place. I don't think he knew the exact details. But he had faith that you know what? Because here's the thing God promised that through my son there's going to be a blessing of a multitude of people. He said I don't know how this is going to take place but what I know is me and my son we are going to return. And he's doing something that is I mean that's impossible. If you kill someone they don't come back. A resurrection is impossible logically. It's impossible medically scientifically whatever you want to say. It's impossible. It's a miracle. Now of course he doesn't sacrifice his son something else takes place but he had confidence that I just believe in what God promised that we are going to return. Right? Go back to Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Now one thing I do wonder is how much of this did he tell his wife? Like God told me to sacrifice our son. Right? Because not only do I think that I would not be willing to do that. I don't think my wife would be willing to let her son be sacrificed either. But Abraham had faith and of course God did not have him sacrifice his son. This is obviously a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he would one day do. But he was walking by faith and he was doing something that's not even just difficult. It's impossible. It doesn't logically make sense. You sacrifice someone they're not going to come back. They're dead. But he walked by faith not by sight. He did difficult things. For sake of time because I'm already preaching long I'm not going to go into the other stories we had in Hebrews 11 but the Bible speaks about Moses and Moses gave up a nice life to serve God. He had a nice life and he threw it all away. That's what the world would say. You've worked for years. You got that college degree. You can make so much money and now you're throwing it away. What are you doing? Isn't that what a lot of people hear in 2023? You're wasting your life. You worked so hard and now you're just throwing it down the drain. What are you doing? But we walk by faith not by sight. We believe what the Bible says. I'm not going to mention examples but honestly I know a lot of people in this room that have made major sacrifices financially to serve God. And here's what Moses said. He believed that the reproaches of Christ were greater riches because he believed there was a reward waiting for him for the sacrifice he made. And I believe the same is true for people who live today that are making sacrifices to serve God. I believe God will bless you for the sacrifice that you make. Some of the other things it says in Hebrews 11 it says in verse 37 this one always kind of comes to mind it says, they were stoned they were sawn asunder sawn asunder they were cut in half. That's what the Bible is saying. Did you know that there's parts of the world today that if you say that you believe on Jesus Christ you might get killed? I mean in Muslim countries you might get killed for saying that you believe on Jesus. I mean you go soul winning in some of these countries they'll kill you. It's not safe. And I mean probably over half the world if you freely win soul winning you're going to get in big time trouble. We don't have to worry about that here. We don't live in a Muslim country. We don't live in a Hindu country. We don't live in Russia where it's illegal or North Korea. I mean you can freely serve God and you don't have to worry. But I'll tell you what, how about some examples in history of people that were martyred for what they believed. That's a good example for my kids. Throughout history, I mean 500 years ago when the Catholic Church ruled the world they would kill you if you got baptized. These are facts. And I'll tell you what there's a lot of great characters in history we can look at as an example. Yeah it reminds me of the story from hundreds of years ago. I don't remember the guy's name but it's a famous story. They've got a recreated picture of the event. Obviously it was way before they had pictures. This man who escaped from prison because he was serving God and a soul winner and this guy's running after him and he's going to kill him and the guy running after him falls into the water through ice and he sees it and he realizes that guy's going to die. And this man who's a believer who's saved who's going to be killed, he turns around and saves that man's life. As a result they capture him and then they murder him. And he said I cannot bear the sight of someone dying unsaved right in front of my eyes. Regardless of my own life. That's a person as an example for my kids that had more love for the loss than they had in their own life. Because what is the central theme found in the Bible? Your life is not about you. That's the central theme. When Jesus came he didn't come to be ministered onto but to give his life a ransom for many the Bible says. And if you make your life about yourself you will be miserable, you're going to be depressed and you're going to live a worthless life and get no rewards in heaven. If you make your life all about you. I mean think about it. When you get married it teaches you my life's not about me but it's actually about my spouse. Certainly when you have kids you learn it's not about me. No parent at two in the morning wants to wake up to help their child that's crying in the night. Look at two in the morning you know what I like to do at two in the morning? I like to sleep. But sometimes that's not possible if you have young kids. Especially if they get sick. The worst time is when young kids get sick because they're not going to sleep during the night and that means mom and dad are not sleeping during the night. But see here's the thing you can't just say wow whatever they'll figure it out. No actually they won't. And see God teaches us our lives are not about us it's about other people. Point number one they walk by faith not by sight. They acted on things not seen. Number two they did difficult if not impossible things. Number three and finally they overcame human frailties. See when we're reading Hebrews 11 these are merely men and women that were sinners just like us. They were not superheroes. They're heroes. They're not these superheroes with God-like attributes. They were sinners just like us. And they had to overcome human frailties to do great things for God. I'll give you an example. Hebrews 11 verse 11. Through faith also Sarah self received strength to conceive seed. And was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged and faithful had promised. You know Sarah believed that God was going to bless her with the child even though she was past age. What does it mean by past age? Because obviously women reach a point where they can no longer have children. Sarah was long past that point. She wasn't going to have kids. But she believed that she was. But here's the thing. Turn back to Genesis chapter 18. Let's look at this a little bit more in detail. And we're just going to close up here in Genesis 18. Genesis 18. And you think of other examples in that chapter. I mean Abraham obeyed God going out. But if you pay close attention, he didn't obey God immediately. He did not leave his father. He waited for his father to die. He was told to leave his kindred. If you go to Genesis 11, Genesis 12, cross reference to Acts 7, it's very clear that Abraham did not obey immediately. You say why? Because he was a human with frailty and weakness just like us. And Sarah believed. But did she believe initially? Well, what does it say in Genesis 18 verse 10? And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard at the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age. And it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself saying, After I am waxed- behold, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? I mean Sarah is laughing within herself. She's not doing it audibly. But she's just like, yeah, I'm going to have a kid. I've heard that promise for decades. Then it says in verse 13, And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I have a surety bare child which am old? And notice these next eight words. And look, I believe that these eight words are words that you ought to commit to memory. I have quoted the next eight words as much as just about anything in the Bible. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I mean the God that created the world, that gave us life, the God that will one day come back, the God that keeps everything in balance in the world, the God that created hell, created heaven. Is anything too hard for Him? And of course, this is a rhetorical question. The answer is no. Nothing's too hard for God. Now the promise that He's giving to Sarah is impossible. But is it impossible? Because my Bible says with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. It's another great thing to commit to memory. See, there are things that are impossible for us, but all things are possible with God. Is anything too hard for the Lord? And see, Sarah had human frailty and weakness, and she does not believe at first. But she reaches a point where she trusts what God says. You say, Brother Stuckey, I just don't have that strong faith like the characters in the Bible. I could never live that sort of life to do great things for God. I just have these weaknesses. I have these sins. I have these problems. It kind of reminds me of Moses when God first chose him, and Moses is like, choose somebody else. I can't speak. I'm slow of speech. I can't do it. Actually, that kind of reminds me of the way I thought when my friend said, hey, we should give the gospel to someone every day when I was 19 years old. I was like, it's not my gift. I can't do it. In fact, that's probably how everybody felt when they first started serving God. You start doing things that you would never do in your flesh. Look, I never considered myself a public speaker. I had a desire to go in the ministry, but I was not a good public speaker when I was in college. I just wasn't. I got incredibly nervous, and I talked extremely fast, and I would just start sweating like crazy. I was really embarrassed, and I was just like, oh, please let this be over. It's not something I would have considered a natural gift, but the thing is with men this is impossible. With God, all things are possible. Our room is filled full of people that go soul winning. I'm sure that probably most people in this room you're not naturally the sort of person that walks up to a random person and talks to them. It feels weird. It's strange. It isn't something I would have done 20 years ago before I was saved. I generally prefer talking to small groups. We were talking to people in Nepo Park, and pretty much everybody had been talked to. I saw a group of seven guys that were standing up on a hill. I had to encourage myself to do it. I was literally in my head quoting verses to go talk to them. Here's what I'm thinking. They might make fun of me. They might mock me. They might criticize me. When I look back, it's like, how foolish. What difference does it make if they mock me? I'm never going to see them again anyway. Right? It's just like, I felt discouraged. I can't do this. We all feel this way. They didn't end up getting saved, but I gave the Gospel very clearly to them. At least that they were left. There were some of them that were actually very much thinking about it. It's just when you're around seven people there's always a few that mock. No, we don't have that ability. But is anything too hard for the Lord? If you want to be a hero in 2023, and make no mistake about it, it doesn't matter who you are in this room, you're an example to other people in this room. Let me help you understand something. If somebody's new to our church, this is generally the way that they're going to feel. I can never be like Brother Stocky and preach sermons. If people visit Verity Baptist in Sacramento, that's what they feel about Pastor Jimenez. I can never be like him. Even though he also started off at a beginning point like I did also. But if you've only been at the church for six months, they can still look at you as an example and say, you know, I can be like Brother So-and-So. I can be like Sister So-and-So. This is a fact. If you're a member of this church, you are an example to other people. They will look at you and say, hey, I saw somebody else that was shy and embarrassed, and they stepped out on faith, so I can too. You are an example to other people in this room, whether you realize it or not. Are you a good example? Are you living by faith? Can you be looked at as an example of someone to follow? See, true heroes, biblically speaking, number one, they walk by faith, not by sight. They act on things not seen. Number two, they do difficult things and sometimes impossible. Man, I don't have the ability to go soul winning. Yeah, you do difficult things if you're going to be a true hero. Number three, you overcome human weakness, but you don't understand, Brother Secchi, I don't have the ability like you do. That's the way everybody feels. Everybody feels that way. I doubt there's a person in this room that when they first started serving God, it just came easy to them. It doesn't come easy. It's contrary to everything else you do in life. It's difficult. It's hard. You know, the characters in Hebrews 11, they were sinners just like us. Moses was merely a man. Abraham was merely a man. Noah was merely a man. Sarah was merely a woman. All of these characters in the Bible, they were sinners that struggled just like we do. It's time we step out in faith, walking by faith and not by sight. Let's close in Word of Prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to be here today and I ask You to help us to apply this sermon to our lives and help all of us overcome our human weakness and frailties and help us be people that can be an example unto others, help us to live by faith and do difficult things and realize that everybody has to overcome human weakness and that we can trust in You in times of fear, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. For our last song, let's turn to hymn number 310. Hymn number 310, let's sing the song, Footprints of Jesus. Hymn number 310. On the first, everybody sing. Sweetly, Lord, have we heard the calling of God, O we. And we see where Thy foot prints falling, lead us to Thee. Footprints of Jesus, that makes the pathway go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. Once again. Though they lean o'er the cold, our mountain's seeking His sheep. O'er our long, mighty loaves' mountain, helping the weak. Footprints of Jesus, that makes the pathway go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. If they lead to the temple, holy, preaching the Word, or in hopes of the poor and lowly, serving the Lord. Footprints of Jesus, that makes the pathway go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. On the last, then at last, when on come, He sees us hard, or He done. We will rest where the steps of Jesus can at His throne. Footprints of Jesus, that makes the pathway go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. We will follow the steps of Jesus, wherever they go. We will follow the steps of Jesus,