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All right we're here in John chapter 2 and we're going to be covering the whole chapter tonight and this this chapter kind of covers a lot of different types of topics in one chapter but there are oftentimes in the Bible there's kind of a theme that runs through an entire chapter and the name of the sermon is Four Keys to a Successful Church. Four Keys to a Successful Church. And so the Bible's talking about a lot of different things here in this chapter they kind of go together into one theme and when it comes to the first point when it comes to keys to a successful church the first thing we see is this great works that's a key to a successful church now that's what we see at the beginning of the chapter look at John 2 starting at verse number 1. On the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee the mother of Jesus was there and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus saith unto him they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come. Now people will look at John chapter 2 and they'll try to tell you that Jesus turned water into alcoholic wine. That's what people teach. Now I mean talk about something that's pretty blasphemous when you say that the miracle that Jesus did was the fact that he helped people get drunk. How stupid is that? You should stop and think well maybe I'm misunderstanding this because I don't know about you but I know a lot of people have died from alcohol. In America it's an epidemic of people that drive drunk and they crash and they die. I knew people that went to my high school people I knew personally who are dead today because of alcohol and yet people would look at this and say you know what Jesus turned water into alcoholic wine. Now turn to Proverbs 23 Proverbs 23 and you got these people that they claim they really believe in the Bible but they'll never get up here and say that it's wrong to drink any alcohol. I'll take it a step further. I don't believe Jesus would have attended a wedding where people are getting trashed like that because the Bible says you're not supposed to even to make it the appearance of evil. I don't even think Jesus would have been there if people were getting trashed much less would he say man they ran out of it. Let me just add another keg and help me get drunk. How stupid is that? This is what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 23 verses 29 to 35. Who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes. They that tarry along with the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, look not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth its color in the cup when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, thine heart shall utter perverse things. A thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea or as he that lieth upon the top of a mass. They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. When shall I awake I will seek it yet again. It's mind-blowing how you can read this and people go through this cycle and they wake up in their own vomit and they seek it yet again. But the Bible is true. It's the Word of God and everything you're reading here you can preach a whole sermon just from the verses we read. Let's just focus on a few things here real quickly. It says in verse 29 who hath babbling. You know people that just talk mindlessly they don't even know what they're saying they just they're just fools when they're drunk. Who hath wounds without cause. Look so many people they go to clubs they go to bars and they wake up and they've got just a big bruise on their eye. You know what you see in sports sometimes that people die because they're out at 2 in the morning and all of a sudden there's a gun and somebody gets shot. And you know I've mentioned this story in sermons before but it's something that I know personally so it's something I want to mention again when it comes to this topic of alcohol. When I was in college I had a Spanish class and it was a class of about 40 people and we would have a group project every once in a while. We had a group project on just a couple days before this guy died and I was put in his group a group of five people. Now this guy sat behind me and to the left. So he wasn't directly behind or directly beside but he's behind me into the left and we were in the same group and I remember we went to class the next time next week and the teacher said he she had an announcement and she said that so and so you know had died. Now she said it in a nice way and you know I felt really bad when I found out he died and I still feel bad because I'm assuming the guy probably wasn't saved because most people aren't saved in the world. But you know the story actually ended up happening was a big murder trial at West Virginia University. You could find it on Google if you look up the names you know I don't remember the names offhand I could find it because I remember the years I was in college. I'm not gonna mention the names though I don't think there's really a purpose to that. But basically this guy went out on the weekend he got drunk and all of a sudden he was with a group and there's another group and they started just kind of arguing with one another somebody threw a snowball and it turned out he ended up getting stabbed to death and the whole murder trial was whether or not it was his knife or the guy who stabbed him. Did the guy do it in self-defense or did he just cold-blood murder him? And you say now here's the thing if they were sober they would have never done that to begin with. You know what I mean you would have never had the knife would have never had the snowball and then people have the gall to get up and say Jesus turned water into alcoholic wine. That story's not unique. I mean you've heard pastors from our movement people that we love and respect they have those same sorts of stories and this is somebody that I knew that probably is in hell today and it's just like why because alcohol died in his 20s. I mean he's probably 21 years old but alcohol can do that. You know people just drink foolishly and they think nothing of it and it can end up destroying you. Now turn to Song of Solomon 8 2. In that passage we read it also says thine eyes shall behold strange women. I mean if you're a married person do you want your eyes to behold somebody you're not married to because alcohol can do that to you according to the Bible or do you want to be a single person that ends up fornicating and destroy your life because of alcohol and you have many people have done it the Bible speaks about it and many people have done that. Now when it comes to turning water into wine they look at this word wine and they assume that wine is always talking about fermented alcohol. Now if you were to look up wine every time it appears in the Bible it's very obvious that's not the case. Many times it's not referring to fermented alcohol many times it's just referring to juice right. There's only one time in the Bible the word juice appears in the Song of Solomon chapter 8 verse 2. I would lead thee and bring thee into my mother's house who would instruct me. I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. Now the word wine appears 233 in 233 verses in the Bible 233 verses this is the only time you're gonna see the word juice appear. And you say well why does it mention the word juice if wine can refer to to juice. Well here's the one the thing during this time when it was written the word wine was much more common than juice to begin with okay and the common vernacular wine was a very common word that could mean fermented or unfermented alcohol. You can look that up in dictionaries it was a much more common word than juice but also just look at this verse because the King James Bible is not only perfect but it's also very poetic. I mean you can tell it was written by God. Do you think this sounds very good? I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the wine of my pomegranate. If it said wine there instead of juice it wouldn't flow well at all would it? If it just said wine right before that. If it said spiced wine of the wine of my pomegranate that really wouldn't sound that great. There might be a reason why God uses the word juice but a simple looking up and I'll preach a whole sermon on alcohol you know I'm not gonna spend the whole time because that's not really the point of this sermon. I commented on a video on YouTube where Jeff Durbin you know this Calvinist preacher in America how he's talking about how man God made or this guy made Guinness and how he was such a great guy and everything like that and I commented on the video just made a short comment and somebody was like defending alcohol some Calvinist who was defending alcohol and everything like that and I told him you know hey because he wanted to debate because you know these people they're full of debate and I said well I'll be preaching on it in a couple weeks and so he said he's gonna listen you know I'm sorry but that's all I got on one I'm not gonna waste my time preaching on that some other time I'll do that but it's just like you know common sense would tell us that drinking alcohol is wrong and here's the thing the Bible tells you over and over again to be sober be sober be sober now if I drank a little bit of alcohol I'm not drunk but guess what I'm also not not so right and if you drink just a little bit of alcohol you're not sober and the Bible says over and over and over again to be sober right so you want an argument against alcohol there you go the Bible says be sober right we shouldn't drink any amount of alcohol whatsoever to think that God turned that Jesus turned water into alcoholic wine and help people get drunk is retarded that's foolish it's blasphemous to think that this miracle of Jesus Christ was getting people say well what was the miracle why did he turn water into wine well here's the thing in today's world I know grape juice is not as common here in the Philippines as it is in America but grape juice whether it's here in America it's very expensive great juice it's not cheap and here's the thing it's a lot easier to make grape juice in today's world with machines and was back then so when they're having grape juice at a wedding it's a very expensive thing I mean even here in the Philippines I know America is a rich country but honestly we have everything we could ask for compared to what they had in the past I mean we can go to Robinson's and find anything we want at the grocery store can't we they didn't really have that back then and making grape juice would have been a very difficult thing so they have it at the wedding they're spending a lot of money on it and they ran out there's nothing worse than having an event and running out of you know food or drink like we have the soul winning marathon and we just run out of pizza man that's embarrassing that's not a good thing there's hungry people that are putting their time out and soul winning right they ran out of it and see what Jesus does turn water into non-alcoholic wine something that would been very expensive and would have been a very precious commodity during that time period turn back to John 2 and one thing this teaches us which is just kind of a side point though but it's not it's not bad to have something nice for special occasions you know they are spending a lot of money on something for a special occasion it's not bad every once in a while whether you take a vacation where you buy something for your wife or your son or something like that it's not bad to do that every once in a while you know it's a special occasion they are spending a lot of money now I want you to notice though what Mary said in verse number three you know the mother of Jesus referring to Mary saith unto them they have no wine now when you read that it's almost like she's saying hey it's your job to fix that Jesus now Jesus does end up fixing it but notice his response in verse 4 where he says woman what have I to do with thee mine hour is not yet come and he's showing her once again that you know my main goal is not an earthly goal it's a spiritual goal now he does turn the water into wine for his glory but you notice here that Mary is not perfect cousin John 2 she says something kind of foolish now if we had everything written down we ever said we'd say a lot of things foolish so obviously Mary was a great woman and it's a shame that in Catholic countries you almost have to preach against Mary because of how much they glorify her and deify her but you know Mary was not perfect you see her making mistakes in the Bible she was a she's a very godly lady but she was not perfect like many people in this country seem to think notice verse 5 and it says his mother saith unto the servants whatsoever he saith unto you do it and there is set there six waterpots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three firkins apiece Jesus saith unto them fill the water pots with water and they filled them up to the brim and so these water pots think about this goes a water pot being filled up to the brim is the very top of it now being filled up to the very top it makes the miracle a little bit more different difficult right I mean he couldn't there's no extra room to add something to make it become wine or anything like that it was filled up to the very brim he was making it very I mean God oftentimes stacks the odds against miracles you think of like Elijah he stacks the odds against it just to show his power and it's filled up to the brim and then he turns it into wine he always stocks the odds against him to show his glory how powerful he is but I want you to notice here because we're talking about great works obviously we're not going to do any miracles in today's world but we do need to understand that the one big work we can do is a churches we're talking about four keys to a successful church what's the great work it's so when that's the biggest and best work we can possibly do in today's world we're gonna do it on Saturday we're gonna do it on Sunday we're gonna try to do it in our personal lives during the week so winning is always gonna take place and you know you say well you always preach on this the Bible always talks about it or give symbolism for so winning four keys to a successful church what's the first thing we see great works but I want you to notice something in verse 7 does Jesus do this by himself this miracle Jesus saith unto him fill the water pots with water and they fill them up to the brim he gets help performing this miracle right when it comes to soul winning when it comes to a great church it's not a one-man show it's not just one person doing the work this number we have in the bulletin of how many salvations we have that's a lot of people saved with a lot of people putting in a lot of time it's not just a one-man show no you see in the Bible that no matter who it is we need help to accomplish something when it comes to great works being done great works will not be done by me alone and look we have a lot of soul winners at this church we have a lot of people putting in a lot of work but it's not going to get done by one person or a few people in the Philippines we need tons of people out doing the work and if we're gonna have a great church and do great works we need lots of people involved even Jesus here in verse number seven he gets help from other people he gets people to help them out with a miracle when it comes to a church we need a lot of help to do great things and we're getting a lot of help this is a great church right now we're getting a lot of people saying a lot of people so winning when it comes to great works being done we need everybody involved look at John chapter 2 look at verse 8 and he saith unto them draw now and bear unto the governor of the feast and they bear it when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was but the servants which drew the water knew this governor of the feast called the bridegroom and saith unto him every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine and when men have well drunk than that which is worse but that was kept the good wine until now the but this beginning of miracles to Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed on it now in verse 11 it says that Jesus manifested forth his glory see all these miracles that he did was to manifest his glory now turn to John 15 now how do we manifest God's glory in today's world well the Bible is the answer in John 15 but it comes to the great works we're talking about going so when he manifested forth his glory John 15 verse 8 here it is my father glorified so in John 2 it said manifested forth his glory here it is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall you be my disciple we manifest his glory by bearing fruit here's a quote from John Piper I believe he's probably the most famous Calvinist in the world it glorifies God to predestined people to help see the Bible says here it is my father glorified they bear much fruit but you know what John Piper says God's glorified when he predestines people to help how wicked is that right and I'm not trying to over preach this topic but we're talking about manifesting forth his glory it ties into the sermon but that's the mind of the Calvinist power the end of the mind of the Calvinist pastor it glorifies God the predestined people to help with the Bible says the opposite glorifies God we bear people we bear much fruit and help them avoid going to hell Calvinist says well God's you know glorified when people go to hell that he predestines there no God's glorified when we save him from hell he came not to save the lost the Bible says to seek and save the lost that was God's goal turn back to John 2 and so the first thing we see her in John chapter 2 the first key to a successful church is that great works must be done but the second thing we see that is this we must follow God's pattern have a successful church in John 2 let's look at verses 12 through 16 after this he went down to Capernaum he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples and they continued there not many days and the Jews Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changes of the money sitting when he had made a scourge of small cords he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables and said unto them that sold doves take these things hence make not my father's house and house of merchandise say well how does God feel about selling things in church you have the answer here John chapter 2 and how many of us have been to churches where they sold things I have I've been to multiple churches probably everybody in this room you've been to churches where they sold things in church and they have the answer right here in John 2 it blows your mind how you see these people and we have the answer right here in the Bible and they do the exact opposite of what they see yeah it blows your mind turn to Romans 9 Romans 9 1 and we'll go back to John 2 and explain this passage in a bit but I was reading Romans 9 this morning and so let me turn there myself it's not in my sermon notes because you know what this topic of selling in church when I first got saved I didn't know what the Bible said about topics but I went to an independent fundamental Baptist Church and there's a sermon I really liked that the pastor preached and he made copies of his sermons and I asked him if I could get a copy he told me it's three dollars and I'm just like I mean I'm a pretty cheap person you know naturally I don't want to spend money now he was he was actually pretty nice nice to the most pastors because he told me that you know you give me a copy and if I wanted to he didn't tell me you have to he said if you want to you give three dollars because he knew I was a college student you know none of us were rich or whatever but it was just like that's the mentality these pastors they they sell their sermons and you know that the justification I've normally heard for selling in churches well if you give it to people for free they won't appreciate it well it's like you can use your logical wisdom all you want what does the Bible say about it right and you know what's funny about this is I didn't know what the Bible said but it didn't feel right it just felt wrong I remember the first time I heard pastor Anderson preaching this like a decade ago and right when I heard that sermon man I was so excited for it because it had always bugged me that they sold in church and I didn't really know why it was wrong but it's like man it opened up my eyes it's so clear in John 2 but this verse here Romans 9 verse 1 is interesting it says I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost see his conscience through the Holy Ghost just told him something there's certain things that we can hear preached in old churches we're at you just know it's wrong just selling things in church you say I don't know the verse I don't know why but just it just doesn't feel right that's the Holy Ghost telling you that and look I believe that's the way it was with me when this topic of selling in church because I never believed in it I always thought it was wrong and I couldn't have just pointing to the verse that said it was a sin but it just did not feel right many of us in this room probably felt the exact same way with selling in church see why is that because of the fact the Holy Ghost was telling that turned back to John 2 the problem with people is this they don't care what the Bible says and so you know what God doesn't reveal it to them sometimes even say people if they don't care what the Bible says and they won't follow it anyway it might not be revealed to them now for us though we wanted to know what the Bible said we wanted to know what the truth was so God just kind of revealed it to us that's the way I was where I just knew it was wrong even though I didn't know the verse but in John chapter 2 it's so clear that it's wrong now I want you to notice though in verse 16 it's not wrong that they're selling it's where they're selling because in verse 16 it says and said into them that soul doves take these things hints he's saying get this out of here it's like you can sell somewhere else but not here make not my father's house and house of merchandise look there's nothing wrong with selling things but there's something wrong with selling in church that's what the Bible is saying and he tells them to get these things out of here and yet every time in America whenever you have a missionary that comes in he always has his table in the back with all of his books that he's selling every single time I've never seen an exception they're always selling things all the evangelists all these big name preachers they're always selling their books after the service and it's like those people have read this before I don't understand how they don't get this because it means just so clear in the Bible take these things hints and they try to justify and say well it's because they were selling dumps that's what God was mad about and it's just like you can say whatever you want I mean the Bible is very clear Nick make not my father's house and house and merchandise now we will never sell anything to this church but you know what we don't want members either soliciting business at this church and that is something that happens sometimes in America people will come to a church like this they don't care about the preacher they'll put a smile on their face they'll pretend like they like it why because they get good business from the company they own we're not going to allow that at this church look we're not here to make money or to sell in the house of God that's wicked it's ungodly it should be kept out of the house of God the verse number 17 and his disciples remember that it was written the zeal of thine house had eaten me up his disciples realized man this was written in the Word of God it's actually in Psalms chapter 69 verse 9 I turn to Exodus 25 I'll read Psalm 69 return to Exodus 25 and in Psalm 69 verse 9 the Bible reads for the zeal of thine house had eaten me up and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me that's where it's quoted from and so his disciples remember this was written in the Bible it's written in the Word of God now in Exodus chapter 25 verses 8 and 9 it says in verse 8 and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them so God instruction instructs them to make a sanctuary but notice verse 9 according to all that I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle in the pattern of all the instruments thereof even so shall you make it he says after all to all that I show the after the pattern of the tabernacle he gives them specific instructions of what they need to do this is a physical building there's a spiritual application when it comes to the house of God he gives them very specific instructions this is one of those chapters when you read it it's not the most exciting chapter because he's giving very detailed information of I want you to do it like this and this and this and this but it gives us good symbolism when it comes to church when it comes to our modern-day sanctuary our modern-day house of God we need to do it after the pattern that he said in the Bible as much as possible everything we need to do needs to be a specifically close to what the Bible says now churches today though they do things based on tradition they don't have a Bible verse for why they do things now in America the bus ministry is a big thing they have the children's ministries where they pick up all these people in the bus but it's not something that's in the Bible and the children are supposed to be in the service and yet these Baptist churches I don't know about in the Philippines but in America the children are not not allowed in the main service they're kept in some nursery where someone else is watching them or preaching them or something like that but see the Bible says they're supposed to be with us we know that's in the Bible and yet churches see that and they choose to do it their own way they say well this this model helps build a church it doesn't matter what builds a church matters what God says do things exactly like he says say well why don't we have an altar call say an altar call would bring so many people here so many people would get saved I don't care how many people would get saved in an altar call we're not going to do it why it's not in the Bible amen I'll tell you what people don't get saved and older calls by and large they're a failure they don't work it's called us going out there and preaching the gospel and getting people saved not just bringing unsaved people to church but the fact that God doesn't have an altar call he doesn't have children's ministries he doesn't have worldly music we're not gonna have it either and recently when we came here just a couple weeks ago we were talking to someone and I'm not gonna give much details it's not inside this church but I just in case they happen to hear this I don't want them to hear or whatever but they're telling me about CCF and Peter Tan Chi I think I got the name right yeah the leader there and they said you know that all you should go to his church just one time and they and they were pretty conservative they could tell we were too and they said you know they're not as conservative as they used to be you know they kind of changed it to try to reach more people but there's some kind of conservative look we're not gonna change to try to reach new people it's like that might have worked for them to build a big massive church but you know what my goal is not to have a thousand people here that don't love the Lord I would much rather have just 40 50 60 people on a Sunday morning that love the Lord and have 70% of people at our church go out soul-winning rather than having a thousand people and having a big offering of people that don't care about God that's not our goal we want to get people that actually love the Lord so we're gonna follow God's standards now turn to 1st Corinthians 4 1st Corinthians 4 now in this passage when you really think about what Jesus does it's pretty harsh isn't it I mean he makes a whip and he whips them out of there turns over the tables and everything like that I mean it's pretty strong what Jesus does it shows you how mad he is about selling at church and we notice that Jesus takes strong stands in the Bible now in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 let's look at verse number 15 1st Corinthians 4 verse 15 the Bible says this for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ yet have you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have gotten you through the gospel wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me for this cause if I sin unto you to Mothius who's my beloved son and faithful in the Lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways would be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up with the power for the kingdom of God is not in word but in power what will ye shall I come on you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness Paul says do you want me to come and lay down the hammer on you you want me to come with love and meekness and Jesus is the same way in the Bible because Jesus says do you want me to Jesus comes and he preaches hard he's bold he throws over those tables and that's the way we need to be in church you know we need people that take a strong stand for the Word of God that's the third one the leaders need to take a strong stand in today's world and that is not something you see with the pastors that are coming around here in the Philippines or throughout the entire world you see preachers that are afraid to preach the truth they're afraid of the repercussions they won't call out the big names they won't preach against their wicked deeds why because they're afraid of what's gonna happen to them look we're gonna preach against these wicked religions and these wicked people that are deceiving people and I don't care what happens we're gonna preach the truth turn to John 8 I mean in 1st Corinthians 5 the 1st Corinthians 4 he's talking 1st Corinthians 5 Paul is talking about kicking people out of church that's pretty strong in the Bible you see that people that are leaders they take a strong stand and if you want a successful church you need great works you need to follow God's pattern but you also need people to take a strong stand you need leaders to take a strong stand in John 8 verse 44 let's see the words of Jesus Christ the Bible reads year of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he's a liar and the father of it Jesus says year of your father the devil he says you are reprobates basically look you know there's certain people I'm gonna name by name and let it be known that that guy is a child of the devil he's of the devil he's a wicked person and he can preach against me all you want I don't really care you're a bad person you're deceiving Baptist throughout all the Philippines the Baptist Pope we got running around here and then all of a sudden you know you say one thing they're afraid and then they want to sue you they want to get mad at you look we're gonna preach hard against these people why because they're saved people these churches that are getting deceived by these people yeah we need somebody to stand up and call it out these people are not good people they're wicked people and then they get up here then they they get up they're talking about homosexuality boy they take a strong stand man I've got lots of gay friends yeah you really took a strong stand you're the voice of the Baptist here in the Philippines it's like are you kidding me now we need some more new voices if you have a successful church you need somebody to stand up and take a strong stand let the chips fall where they make but this is what the Bible teaches and Jesus in John chapter 2 he's not just love and respect and happiness no he's preaching more that's the way Jesus was amen turn back to John 2 and so the first point we had is this we need great works to be done the second thing we have is we need to follow God's pattern the third thing we need to do is we need to have leaders who are willing to stand up and preach boldly now some people might say this this is kind of you know modern logic or philosophy but it's not a biblical thing they say you know why don't we just focus on doing great works just focus on doing great works but don't worry about being bold behind the pulpit you know don't have to call out all the big names just do so winning lots of soul winning but don't call out the big names don't preach against up look first off you're never gonna find an example of somebody who preaches soft and yes the soul-winning Church will not see it but here's the thing if I soften up the preaching it's gonna make all of you less motivated to go solar that's the truth you know the hard preaching helps the people that are in church to be motivated to live for the Lord and to go so in and look we just focused on so winning so winning so winning and my sermons got really shallow you know what happened the soul winning would drop drastically that is what would happen and look we may not mean we might not be a huge church at the moment but look at our bulletin with how many people we've gotten safe show me the churches in Metro Manila that are doing that none of them are doing it as you know we preach hard against sin we preach hard against the false prophets and that motivates us to go out so that's the truth and you know when you when you realize how bad all these other Baptist churches are it makes you realize man I need to step up my game and really make it an effort to get people say if all those churches were so great we wouldn't be as motivated but the truth is they're not so great they're not doing anything and by and large they're filled with a bunch of unsaved people that don't love the Lord and we need to stand up and preach the truth if we're gonna do the great works we need boldness behind the pulpit as well that's what I see from Jesus John the Baptist Paul whatever name it is you see that in the Bible that's turned back to John 2 and the fourth thing is this when it comes to a successful church not only do we need great works and to follow God's pattern and do we need to preach boldly but we need to use the Word of God that kind of ties in with number two of following God's pattern but I want to kind of go a little bit more in depth of that because notice how I said in verse 17 and his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and so this was written in the Word of God so everything we do is based on what's written in this book now if there was a new idea of something I thought about doing at this church and I thought you know maybe this is a good idea the first thing I would need to do is think about what does the Bible say about it okay and maybe the Bible doesn't directly speak about it but it might have wisdom on whether or not something we should do or shouldn't do because look all of us can have things that seem right to us there's a way we seem it's right under a man and in there over the ways of death right just because it seems right to me doesn't mean it's a good idea there's plenty of things that have seemed right to me through the years and I've learned man the Bible says pretty much the exact opposite of that and so in John chapter 2 let's look at verses 18 through 21 verse 18 then answer the Jews and said unto them what sign showest thou on to us seeing that the thou doest these things look all these unbelievers they always want a sign they say well just if God were to come down from heaven I would believe if I were to see with my own eyes would believe well let's look at Luke 16 let's see if that's the case and throughout the Bible the Bible is very consistent that when you have all these people that want a sign they get none the only sign they get is the sign of the Prophet Jonas as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Wales Valley social the Sun may be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth the sign is Jesus Christ died and pay for your sins that's it that's all they get but in Luke 16 verse 27 through 31 verse 27 then he said I pray thee therefore father that thou would ascend him to my father's house try five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they also come into this place in torment so this guy has died he's in hell still in hell today and this guy is worried about his brother he realizes then hell is a real place and I'm in hell and I don't want my brothers to go to hell notice what it says verse 29 Abraham saith unto them they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said nay father Abraham but if one went on to them from the dead they will repent okay he says if one rises again they will change their mind they'll believe they'll repent if one rose from the dead but notice what the Bible says verse 31 and he said unto them if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead see if they're not going to believe what's written they're not going to be believed if one actually rises again from the dead and look guess who did rise again from the dead later on and guess what a lot of people didn't believe did they I mean you saw these Jews they knew that Jesus rose again from the dead they said you know basically bury the evidence don't let anybody find out they still didn't believe it's like what is wrong with you but you know just because one rose from the dead it didn't change anything they still did not believe turn back to John 2 John chapter 2 verses 19 through 22 and notice these people they want to sign they said how do you have this authority how do you have this power you know some people might ask how do you have the authority to preach against the Baptist pastor who's been here for 30 years as a pastor and he's the most famous Baptist pastor in the Philippines you know I had the authority to preach against him because the Word of God the Word of God gives you the authority and the fact that we believe the true gospel and they don't gives us the authority to preach against them John 2 verses 19 through 22 Jesus answered and said to them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up then said the Jews forty and six years was this temple and building and we'll thought rear it up in three days but he spake of the temple of his body when therefore he was risen from the dead his disciples remember that he had said this unto them and they believe the scripture and the word was Jesus had said so he says you know destroy this temple in three days I'll raise it up they're thinking of a physical building what Jesus is actually saying is this destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up now who did Jesus say was gonna resurrect him does he say the Father is gonna resurrect me when he says destroy this temple in three days I'll raise it up Jesus says he's gonna resurrect himself from the dead I will raise it up you know it's funny because I haven't really run I've seen Jehovah's Witnesses here you know just standing there handing out their books or whatever but I haven't really talked to them here but in America this would be like my big trump card I'd use with Jehovah's Witnesses where if I would just give them one verse I'd ask them you know who do you think resurrected Jesus from the dead and of course they say well the father you know God did and I told them before so if I can show you that Jesus resurrected himself from the dead are you gonna believe it and also they start getting afraid because they're thinking oh maybe he has a verse and then I show him this verse destroy this temple in three days I will raise it up that shows Jesus God he resurrected himself from the dead the bubbles now there's verses that say God the Father resurrected him the Holy Spirit resurrected him why because there's one God and you know what I believe oftentimes they work together in doing things but it's still one God and the fact that Jesus resurrected himself in it proves he's the living God the Bible speaks about and so we have the authority based on the Word of God with the way we preach we're able to preach against the preacher of rapture why because we have verses in the Bible that tell us it's not pretty sure we have the authority to preach against Calvinism why because the Bible speaks against it anything we preach we had the authority we don't have to worry about me the Bible says about Jesus all power was given on heaven and earth right he has given us the authority to preach boldly and throughout the Bible he says cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and here's the truth when you got a big fish that's afraid of a little fish you know what that shows you it shows you that we're accomplishing something right look nobody knows who I am I'm nobody right nobody knows why I mean he's a pretty big fish and you're calling out me at a funeral I mean the other day I said this that there's nothing more arrogant than saying Jesus died for me but not for you now that's pretty arrogant but I thought of something more arrogant something more arrogant is when you're preaching and leading a funeral and you're talking about yourself it's like what in the world you're talking about yourself at a funeral when you're supposed to I mean you're supposed to be paying homage to the person that passed away and you're talking about yourself it's like it boggles my mind it's like are you kidding me how do we have the authority to preach against him what is the Bible saying but I'll be honest we have bigger fish to fry then a dying religion here in the Philippines yeah we do because you know what 90% of people are part of Catholicism which is a false religion that's what I'll be preaching about on Sunday morning I'm gonna be preaching on that topic why because people are deceived by it there's a lot of false religions we're not just gonna simply focus on just one but you know what it shows we're accomplishing something and from what he said it wasn't like it was just me but he talked about well you know all you guys and your little thread and everything like that look great works have been being done for the past year in this country in Metro Manila and they know it and they're afraid because people are rising up and realizing you know what what they're preaching is false and what do we need to keep doing we need to keep doing what we're doing we need great works we need bold preaching we need to follow God's pattern let's finish up the chapter here in verse number 23 now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover on the feast day many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did but Jesus did not commit himself on to them because he knew all men and he did not that he should testify of man for he knew what was in man I think there's a great chapter in the Word of God it's a pretty short chapter it talks about a lot of different things but the theme I see in John chapter 2 is four keys to a successful church and number one is this great works that's what it starts with it's always gonna start with great works that's the whole reason why this church even exists is to go and go soul winning and getting lots of people saved and glorify the Father number two we need to follow God's pattern everything we need to do around here we need to look at what the Bible says and follow with the pattern of the Bible says and honestly on anything we live stream our services to Facebook but honestly when we thought about that I thought in my head is this something that I think I would approve of I stopped to think about and I do think it is because there's people that aren't able to come here on Wednesday they get to listen to sermons people from other countries that are live streaming and listening to sermons edifying them but with anything we got to stop and think okay well this is not something the Bible directly speaks about because they didn't have all this technology is it something that God would approve of and I believe it is that's why we do it we need to follow God's pattern with anything we do we need to preach hard and we need to base everything on the Word of God use the Bible let's go to the word of prayer your Heavenly Father thanks for allow us to be