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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Welcome to Verity Baptist Church, Manila. Let's take our hymns and turn to hymn number 82. Let's sing the song, How Can I Be Lonely? Hymn number 92. Hymn number 92. Hymn number 92. Hymn number 92. On the first. One is walking with me Over life's uneven way. Constantly supporting me Each moment of the day. How can I be lonely When such fellowship is mine? With my blessed Lord divine. How can I be lonely When such fellowship is mine? With my blessed Lord divine. How can I be lonely Since Jesus saw me Seem to be my companion And the name guide? Why should I be weary Or my paths seem weary When He's walking by my side? On the second. When He's walking by my side? They sleep in their burdens And send their trials. As soon as I go. But my Lord is here And helps to make them light or go. For its losses are increased or increase, Jesus meets them all with peace. How can I be lonely when I Jesus only to be my companion and unfeening guide? Why should I be lonely when I Jesus only to be my companion and unfeening guide? When he's walking by my side, in the hour of sad bereavement or of bitter loss, I can find support and consolation at the cross. Then he walks and talks with me. How can I be lonely when I Jesus only to be my companion and unfeening guide? Why should I be weary or my passing dream? When he's walking by my side, on the last, in life's rosy morning when the skies above are clear, in its moon-tight hours with many cares and problems near, or when evening shadows fall and passing up, Jesus will be there always. How can I be lonely when I Jesus only to be my companion and unfeening guide? Why should I be weary or my passing dream? When he's walking by my side. We thank you, Lord, for this morning. We ask, Lord, that you bless our first service from the Congregational singing, the reading of your word, and the preaching of the sermon. I pray, Lord, that you would help our pastor and bless him, Lord, and tell him your Holy Spirit as he preached a sermon to us, Lord, this morning. I pray that this would edify us, Lord. I pray that you would also help us to be attentive with the sermon, Lord, and remove the distraction of God. I pray that you would just protect the members who are still coming here, and I pray that you would give us a good weather this afternoon and allow us to preach a gospel and do so in this afternoon. We're asking all of these things. We love you. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. All right, good morning. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Take out your bullets and we'll go through some announcements real quickly. Our verse of the week is Acts 2, verse 18. The Bible reads, And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. That's a great verse there. It will tie into our second sermon here today. We are a family-integrated church, meaning children and infants are welcome during the services. We do have a mother-baby room back there for your convenience. Then we have the men's restroom, the ladies' restroom. The basic rules on the mother-baby room are down there below. On the next page, we have our service times listed. First service is at 10 a.m. Second service is at 11.15. The midweek Bible study is at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. Official soul winning times are listed there in the bulletin for Wednesday and Saturday. Of course, we do have soul winning this afternoon. I have not checked the weather schedule. It's a bit cloudy and rainy, so hopefully it doesn't rain. But we do have soul winning scheduled for this afternoon. Our salvations and baptisms are listed there in the bulletin for all of our churches and our monthly church services. That does not include our last week. We've had a very fruitful last week, both in Manila and Pampanga. A lot is saved at the schools and just personal soul winning and everything. So great job everybody. On the next page, we have our Bible memorization challenge. Our book of the year is the book of Ecclesiastes. Once I get through Matthew chapter 14, then we're going to start preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes. So it's going to be coming up here in about a month. I'll start preaching through Ecclesiastes. It's a great book. It's full of wisdom. It's a very interesting book. Upcoming activities. Today is our monthly church service in Cavite. We do have a lot of our church families and brethren there in Cavite today. Next Sunday is our Laguna monthly church service. And then on Sunday, March 23rd, we do have our monthly prayer meeting coming back now that we're kind of done with the mission strips. Current and upcoming series, we are in the book of Matthew. Birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March are listed below. On the back, we have the basic rules of conduct for our church. And then you should have an insert in your bulletin for the sermons here today. Pastor Menes, him and his family had a great time when they were here. You know, one of the things in Sacramento, California, it's not the most receptive area. And so you don't get a lot of opportunities to preach the gospel, especially when you're first learning to preach the gospel. It's really exciting seeing his sons getting very excited during the mission strip, getting more confident. One of his sons preached to one of the school classrooms, you know, on the last day. Got a lot of confidence and everything. So they had a great time. And he's definitely planning to come here more regularly for mission strips and things such as that. We recorded his sermon from Tuesday. We had some people from the church here that were there on Tuesday. It's a great sermon, The Voice of the Lord. Great sermon, memorable because of the weather and everything like that. And we also recorded him three times at schools preaching the gospel. One that I actually posted, the school actually didn't really want to post it, so we kind of ended up taking it down. But we did get three recordings. We're going to send them to him. So we'll get those posted here soon. On Sunday in Sacramento, as far as I know, the plan is he's going to preach a sermon on missions for the first sermon. And for the second sermon, it's going to be testimony time from just the Philippines, not just from his family, but other people that were here from Sacramento. So I'm excited to hear the sermon, so maybe you'll stay up late to hear the sermon. It's like right around midnight or something like that, or you can just check it out tomorrow. But anyways, I believe that is it for announcements. We'll have Brother Marlon lead us in another song. On the third part, it's going to be number 89. It's going to be called, Does Jesus Hear? It's going to be number 89, Does Jesus Hear? On the third, Does Jesus Hear? When my heart is fainting to be a virgin song At the burden's grab, then it hears its breath And the wind goes weary and long Oh yes, he cares, I'll always care His heart is stuck with my fear When the days are weary, the long night's weary I know my Savior cares Does Jesus care when my way is dark With a nameless dread and fear As the daylight fades into deep night's shade Does he care enough to be near Oh yes, he cares, I know he cares His heart is stuck with my fear When the days are weary, the long night's weary I know my Savior cares On the third, Does Jesus care When I've tried and failed To receive some temptation strong When for my deep grief I find no relief So I fear, so hold on, I long Oh yes, he cares, I know he cares His heart is stuck with my grief When the days are weary, the long night's weary I know my Savior cares Everybody on the last, Does Jesus care When I've said goodbye To the deers on earth to me And my sad heart aches till it nearly rings Is it odd to him, Does he see Oh yes, he cares, I know he cares His heart is stuck with my grief When the days are weary, the long night's weary I know my Savior cares Amen, the first 50 readings, please open your Bibles to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 13, and we will only be reading from verse 47 down to verse 58. Matthew chapter 13, 47, 58, please say amen if you're there. Amen. Matthew chapter 13, verse 47, Again the kingdom of heaven is likened to a net, and was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth, and severe the wicked from one's dust, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and nastiness deep. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They saith unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed into the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his present things new and old. And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence, and when it was coming to his own country, he taught them in their synagogues, insomuch as they were astonished, and said, Whence have this man's wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this apart from their son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brother James, and Joseph, and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then have this man all these things? And they were offended in him, that he had said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not have many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. Blessed are ye of God's word that is great. For God in heaven is able to save the universe, I share a word with you, O Lord of the Spirit. Please bless the Lord today with good weather, for a cold and our health is great on. I bear a word with you, O Lord, that is great. But the Lord of the Spirit, we love you, and we pray in Jesus' name. All right, we are here in Matthew chapter 13, and the name of the sermon is Annette Cast into the Sea, Annette Cast into the Sea. This is the fifth sermon from Matthew 13. We're looking at all the parables. And this parable specifically is only four verses, but it has a lot of great information. It's a very important truth that's being said. And what I want to do for this parable is just briefly explain what the earthly example is, and then briefly explain what the spiritual example is, and then we're going to go back and look at a lot of scripture to go in more detail. So here in Matthew chapter 13, let me just read these four verses to start off. So Matthew 13, verse 47. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto Annette that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And he starts by giving an earthly example of fishing. Now I've never gone fishing in this format before. I mean honestly fishing was never, it's a pretty big hobby in West Virginia. It was never really my biggest hobby though. But I've gone fishing before, and even on a small scale, when you throw out the fishing pole, every once in a while you catch on to something, and then you reel it in, and you're hoping you got a fish, and it's trash. It's something that is useless. It's something that is bad, right? And I would imagine because these are professional fishermen that are not just trying to get one fish, or doing it as a hobby, or for fun, but they're casting a net out to try to draw a lot of fish. And of course if you're going to get a lot of fish, you're also going to get a lot of trash. You're also going to get a lot of things that you don't need and you don't want. And that's the earthly example he's giving that when you cast out a net into the ocean or the sea, you're going to get a lot of fish, and you're going to get a lot of bad and useless things as well. That is the earthly example, and he's using it to explain in a spiritual way that when we go out soul winning and cast out the net, symbolically speaking, we're going to collect a lot of good fish. We're going to get a lot of people saved. I mean, our church has been blessed with a lot of great members and even people that we've reached through door-to-door soul winning and people that are new to our church. But along the way, as you collect a lot of good, you also collect a lot of bad as well. Now, of course, the secret to never collecting anything bad is to never throw out a net. You say, well, what's the problem with that? Well, the problem is you're not collecting anything good. But if you throw out the net and you collect a lot of good things with it, you're going to collect a lot of bad as well. That is the example that he's giving in this story. Now, go to Matthew 4. And look, I'll say this, that being a member of Sacramento, California, Verity Baptist Church, you know, for many years, we collected a lot of good as we did the work of God as a church. We got a lot of great new members, a lot of new great people joined the church. You know, we also had a lot of poison that came along as well, a lot of bad along the way as well. A shark or a poison fish or a jellyfish, whatever you want to say, symbolically speaking. But as you collect a lot of good, you're going to collect a lot of bad. And it's just amazing. Somebody could be a member of the church and go soul winning every week. And then once they're gone from the church, they immediately make a YouTube channel and they're trying to attack you, tear you down. Then all of a sudden they're making videos. Is hell really a real place? It's like you went soul winning with us for years. And I am specifically thinking of someone from Sacramento where it's like they were a member going soul winning every week. They got kicked out of church. And then all of a sudden it's like, shortly after that, they don't believe in hell. It's like, what? It's like, I thought you believed these things. Right. But it turned out that they were just a bad fish or a jellyfish or whatever you want to say the entire time along the way. And that's not just for one church. You say, well, you know, why is it you have so many weirdos that come to your church or that have been kicked out? It's because if you collect a lot of good, you're going to collect a lot of bad as well. Right. I mean, obviously, you know, at this point, we're kind of done with our missions trips, but we still have some members from Steadfast Baptist Church here. And look, I love Pastor Shelley. They're a great church, but they've collected a lot of bad along the way at Steadfast Baptist Church. There's a lot of people that had to get kicked out of church or people that leave the church and they're making bizarre YouTube videos, suing churches, trying to split them and tear them apart. And it's like, what? You went sowing with the church for years and we thought you were like us. And then all of a sudden it turned out you were never like us the entire time. Right. But if you're going to collect a lot of good fish, you're going to collect a lot of bad as well. That is just the way that it works. Matthew four, verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew's brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. This is an example that Jesus gives for soul winning. Now, as I said, I was never an avid or zealous fisher. I mean, I've gone, you know, a few times, but it wasn't really my big hobby. But these people are professional fishermen. And so, of course, he's giving examples that they can understand. And I promise you that Andrew and Peter and if you keep reading James and John, which are kind of like the big four, they understood the concept of fishing very well. And I'm sure that they could stand up here right now and say, hey, step aside, Pastor. You missed like 10 points in applications of fishing that make a lot of sense because they directly relate to this story. So fishing is an example that God gives us when it comes to soul winning. Now, one of the obvious examples I can think of is that when you go fishing, you go, the fish don't come to you. And as a church, we get a lot of people saved. But the reason why we get a lot of people saved is because we do a lot of work. We have a lot of people going out to preach the gospel. We have a lot of people that volunteer their times. We have a lot of people casting their net or their pole into the water. And we do collect a lot of fish. You say, how is that possible? Because we do a lot of work. We don't believe in just having a giant rock concert and inviting just a million unsaved people to come and listen to some famous rock artist. And I'm going to just have an altar call. We preach them down the aisle and everybody gets saved because isn't that what they do at a lot of churches? That's what a lot of mega churches do. That's what a lot of non-denominational churches do. And quite honestly, that's what a lot of Baptist churches do. And I've been a member of churches where an altar call was a big part of their evangelism program. And I remember that they'll basically have, and I was new at the church, but they need people to preach the gospel. And this kid comes to the front and I'm trying to give him the gospel and it's loud. I mean, it's just all over the place. And I'm talking to the kid and I see some of the other soul winners getting them saved in like 30 seconds. It's like, boom, salvation, boom, salvation, boom, salvation. Pastor asked me afterwards, how did it go? I was like, you know, I explained the gospel. They didn't believe it. And it's just like this mad house, though, where supposedly all these people are getting saved. And look, I wish that were true. I would love it if I find out I was wrong and all those people are actually getting saved at those altar calls. You know what the reality is? That very few are actually going to get saved in that way. And if we're going to get a lot of people saved, we have got to do the work to cast out that pole, cast out that net, go out. And it's not a one man show. It's not a few people. Our entire church needs to be doing the work of casting that net or that pole into the water. Turn your Bible to Luke chapter five, Luke five, Luke five. I mean, aren't you glad that when it comes to being a Christian, you don't have to be a spectator to the work of God? Because, you know, just think of various examples in this world. There's a lot of people here in the Philippines and they grow up and their dream is to become a professional basketball player. They want to be, you know, in the NBA. They want to be the next Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or, you know, whomever. Right? But here's the reality. They're not tall enough. Ninety nine percent of the time. It's like, I don't care how skilled anyone is in this room. Maybe the guys from Texas, they're pretty tall. OK, but unless you're like pretty tall, you don't have any real chance of making it in the NBA. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a professional soccer player. But the reality is that you reach a certain point where it's like you only have so much skill naturally and you cannot go above that. And unfortunately, most people that want to do that, they're just not good enough. But here's the thing about soul winning. It's not about talent. It's not about ability. It's not about skill. And look, everybody, when they first start, they assume I could never be a soul winner because I don't have the ability. I am not outgoing like you, Pastor. I wasn't outgoing. I don't consider myself naturally outgoing. I mean, I enjoy soul winning because I like seeing people get saved. I enjoy preaching because I love the word of God. I would not have been defined as somebody as being like really outgoing. No, I'm the sort of person work your job, live up on a mountain and never see anybody. That's my natural personality, right? So what I'm saying is it's not about skill. There's people at our church that are very shy people. They're not naturally outgoing. And yet they're very mighty soul winners. And then there's other people you meet that get saved and they're very naturally outgoing. But in reality, they really struggle with actually going and preaching the gospel because it's completely different than anything else. Right? So it's not about skill. It's about dedication. It's about putting in the time, putting the time ahead of time to memorize the soul winning verses. You know, spend some time as a silent partner and you learn from somebody else. And then you know what? You can go out there and do the work of God. Luke chapter five. Let me show you another story about fishing here in the Bible. Luke five, verse one. Luke five, verse one. And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Here in the story, we have Jesus that pretty much preaches a sermon. He's teaching the word of God to this group of people. Now, obviously, we will never have the exact same thing. We don't have Jesus Christ coming here to preach the gospel. But you know, if you were here last week, I think everybody would say that after Pastor Jimenez preached, your spirit was stirred in you, wasn't it? It's like, man, I need to make some changes in my life. Right. That is exactly what I needed to hear. Right. I was listening to the sermon. My spirit was stirred inside me saying, man, that's what I needed to hear. Right. I am sure that as Jesus preaches this sermon, their spirit is stirred. They're excited, saying, man, I need to make some changes. I didn't realize that. I need to apply this to my life. But notice what we see here in verse four. Now, when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draw. Now, when Jesus says this to Simon, Simon Peter, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived, your natural assumption would be after he just heard a sermon from Jesus, it's like, whatever you want. Of course I'm going to do it. Isn't that what you think? But that's not the reaction of Peter. Notice what it says here in verse five. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Now, let me ask you a question in this story. When you're reading these verses, does it sound like Peter has a good attitude or a bad attitude? He's having a bad attitude. He's complaining. Jesus says, let down the nets. And then he's like, hey, we've been toiling or working hard all night already. And we didn't take anything. He's not having much faith. Unfortunately, I wish it was easier than this, but the reality is you hear a great sermon and you're really excited to make changes and then you go home and it's hard to make the changes, isn't it? I wish it was as easy as just that excitement or desire would just last and it would be easy, but it's not. It's hard to actually do what's right. And Simon Peter hears this and then he says, okay, we've toiled all night and have taken nothing. So basically he complains and then he says, nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the nets. Now, this is an example. And, you know, the way I like to think of this is, you know, with kids. And look, I love my kids. My kids are great kids, but my kids are makuli and kids just like every other child. And isn't it true that sometimes with kids you ask them to do something and they'll do it, but they want to complain a little bit before actually doing it? And unfortunately, that's true with us as adults as well. Sometimes we'll do something, but we want to give out a complaint that we're not actually happy that we had to do it. And so Peter says, you know what? We've been toiling all night. We didn't catch anything, but okay, you told us to let down the nets and I will let down the net. Let me ask you a question. Besides having a bad attitude, does Simon Peter obey what Jesus said? No, he doesn't. You say, what are you talking about? I'm talking about there's a difference between nets and net. Do you see that? I mean, our church, we are King James only. We believe every word makes a difference. And Jesus did not say, let down one net. He said, let down the nets. Plural. And then Simon Peter doesn't listen to him. He complains that we've toiled all night, but okay, we'll listen to you. And then he lets down the net. Now, here's the thing. If you go fishing like I've gone fishing, it's pretty easy to just throw the pole into the water, right? But I would imagine with professional fishermen, it's not exactly easy as just the net goes down and it comes back up in half a second. It probably takes some work, right? Common sense would, even with lack of fishing knowledge, common sense would say it probably takes a lot of work. And so Peter doesn't want to do this. Why? It takes a lot of work. And so what does he do? He basically half listens to what Jesus says. He's like, okay, you want me to let down the nets? I'll let down one net. Well, notice what it says in verse six. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. Why is it that that net broke? Because Jesus knew you're going to collect a lot of fish, and if you want to get all those fish, you got to let down the nets, not just one net. It's not enough. And then the net breaks. Why? Because they did not actually listen to the words of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what. You know what? God has our best interests at heart. I mean, if we follow what God says, I mean, the path of the just is shining that's brighter day by day. It's going to help us in the long run. You know what? You got to just obey what God says, even if you don't understand. And look, don't do this half-hearted obedience where God says something and you kind of go halfway. It's like, well, kind of obey, but I don't want to go the whole way. What's going to be the result? It's not going to work. Jesus said, let down the nets. And Simon does not listen. As a result, the net breaks and they're not able to catch the fish. Now, what is this symbolic understanding when it comes to soul winning? Because that's what we're talking about. Here's the idea. If you go all out serving God, you will collect a multitude of fish. But you're not going to collect a multitude of fish by going half-hearted serving God. Now, there's all those fish that you could have caught, but you got to let down the nets. And I would say this, that in this room, we're a soul winning church. People love God and our numbers are big numbers because there's a lot of people doing the work. But the reality is that if you're going to collect a lot of fish, you got to go all out serving God. Look, when we get people saved, I believe people that are newly saved 99% of the time, they do have a desire where they want to do something for God. But the thing is, they're not willing to go all out because let's face it, serving God means you got to make some sacrifice. Serving God means you got to make some changes. Serving God means you've got to make a decision, am I going to go all out or am I going to just stick with the life that I've lived my whole life? And look, anyone in this room that's doing something for God, they've arrived at that same crossroad that was very difficult and they did not want to make those changes in their flesh, but they made the decision, you know what? Everything that this world has to offer is nothing compared to the heavenly things. And they said, you know what? I'm going to let down the nets. I'm going to basically forsake this, get rid of this, make changes here. Why? I want to collect a multitude of fish. Go to Luke chapter 8. Luke 8. That's why just a few verses later, Peter says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, because he realizes I didn't really obey. I complained and I didn't listen. And it's not really the right reaction, but it's an understandable reaction. When we do something wrong, we feel kind of ashamed, especially if you are in the presence of Jesus Christ. Well, the Bible's showing from that story and what Jesus is trying to teach Simon Peter, you know what? You are going to collect a multitude of fish and you don't even realize how many if you're willing to go all out. And I would say this, that when I really made decisions in my life to really go all out serving God, I would have never guessed I'd be able to get as many people saved as I have. Because, of course, when you're newly going soul winning and just kind of learning, you have no idea that it's possible to get hundreds of people saved in a year. That seems kind of insane. I mean, just think in this room right here, I'm sure many people in this room before you were a dedicated soul winner, you wanted to do something for God. And then wouldn't you say that you're kind of shocked about how many people you've actually gotten saved? You say, well, how's that possible? Because you let down the nets. That would not have happened if you went half in serving God. You have to go all the way. Luke chapter eight, verse 15. This is the parable of the sower. Notice what it says in verse 15. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. Now, obviously, we live in a receptive country. And in this country specifically, two salvations per week, even working a full time job is possible. And I give two salvations per week because it kind of gives you a nice round number of 100. Okay? So basically two salvations per week and a couple of weeks during the year, it's either like a major typhoon or you're backslidden. Okay? A hundred salvations in a year. And you do that for 10 years. That's a thousand salvations. If you had given me that number when I first started trying to serve God, I would have been shocked like a thousand. There's no way I could ever get that many people saved. But if you just stay dedicated and do it over and over and over and over again, it's going to add up. Right? Go in your Bible to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. Now, a lot of people do try to count their numbers for salvation, which I think is an awesome thing to do. I used to do that to try to keep track and write down the names. Honestly, I kind of stopped doing that a long time ago. So I really don't know how many salvations I've averaged. Obviously, I've lived in different countries, so it changes things quite a bit. But I've been soul winning for more than 20 years, at least on a weekly basis. And you know what? 20 years? 50 weeks in a year? I mean, it's like that's a thousand weeks. And it's like, you know what? It adds up over time. Right? And so here's the thing. Even if you're a new soul winner here, you say, wow, you know, I just got into this. If you stay dedicated to this and give your life to God and really try to go all out to serve God, you will get a multitude of fish saved. But if you're not willing to go all out, you might be able to hold some fish in that net, but you're not going to be able to hold the amount that you could if you went all out serving God. I think a lot of people, when they first decide to serve God, they try to do this kind of 50-50 thing. Where basically, I'm not going to make any changes in my life, but I'm just going to dedicate a lot of time to God. It's like, well, how is that possible? You cannot just add a couple extra hours out of thin air. You've got to remove the time you're spending on this and dedicate it to God if you're going to end up going all out for God. But a lot of people, they don't want to change their movies. They don't want to change their music. They don't want to change their lifestyle. They don't want to change anything, but they want to serve God and do great things. It's not possible. You cannot go half in and half out and then expect to have big results. Matthew 13, verse 47. It says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. The Bible is saying here that you throw that net out. Look, I've never done this type of fishing before, but I've seen videos online where they've got a lot of fish in this giant net, but that's not the only thing that they have in that net. They've got a lot of refuse. They've got a lot of trash. They've got a lot of just plants or seaweed or whatever, a lot of things that are not useful, that will not sell, that will not make the money. They collect a lot of fish, but they collect a lot of bad things as well, and then what do they have to do? They've got to separate the good from the bad. And here's what I'm saying, that in life, if you really go all out serving God and do a lot of soul winning, you're going to collect a lot of good. But the point of this parable is you're also going to collect a lot of bad as well. And I wish that were not the case, but that is the case according to the Bible. Let me give you an example. Number 16. Number 16. Number 16. Now, it's hard to comprehend this if you're a normal person and you're saved and you love God, but somehow, you know, bad people can sometimes be attracted to the truth. You even think to the story of the man that was possessed by a multitude of demons, and it's kind of like he's going to meet Jesus. And it's kind of like, you know, you're filled full of all these devils, and yet there's part of it that wants to actually be near the truth, right? And here's what it says in number 16. And this is a famous story where basically you have Korah, Dathan, and Abiram that basically try to cause this church split. And it says in number 16, verse one, Now Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on the son of Peyleth, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel. Two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. Now I find these verses humorous because when you read this, it's like Moses didn't want to be the leader, right? He didn't want to be the leader. He did everything he could to not be the leader. And then he's being accused of wanting to just be a dictator or whatever. And what I really find humorous is in verse three where they say, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them. This is not a small congregation. I mean, out of the thousands or however many people are here, every single person in the congregation is holy? Look, I think this is a great church, and I love this church, but I would never say that every single person at our church is holy. I mean, that's ridiculous. Every single person out of thousands of people, everyone's holy, and God is among them. It's like, really? There's nobody in the church that is unholy. There's nobody in the church that is ungodly. I mean, that's ridiculous. But every single one is holy. Every single one has the Spirit of God upon their life, according to Korah, Dathan and Abiram. You say, what are they trying to do? They're trying to flatter the people. They're trying to make them feel really good. I mean, literally, amongst this congregation, I'm sure there's people that are getting drunk and committing all kinds of sins, and it's like, they're holy? I don't think so. But what you see is that these three men are powerful people, men of renown, in leadership, people that are high up, people that are respected, and yet, in reality, they were just a bad apple the entire time. Right? Go in your Bible to Matthew chapter three. Matthew three. Hey, look, we're just expounding upon the Scripture as we go. This has kind of been a theme in the parable of the parables here in Matthew 13 that's mentioned, but it's just reality that as a church, our church right now is better than it's ever been. I think if you've been with us from the beginning, I think that you would agree that, yeah, you know what? Our church is better than it's ever been. We've got a lot of new ministries, the ministries in Cavite and Laguna and churches, and opportunities to preach at the schools. Our church has grown. God has blessed us with this building. I mean, things are going great. But if things are going great, that means that along the way of getting a lot of good fish, there's also going to be a lot of things along the way that get collected that are not so good. That's just common sense. I mean, if you really believe in the devil and you really believe the devil's trying to fight against the work of God, we are way too successful of a church to not have a fight against us. And I don't want anybody to be paranoid about this topic because people can go way overboard and get paranoid or scared or whatever. I don't go about my life or my day at church and just be scared to death of everybody or whatever. I mean, look, trust in God. He'll protect you. You live a godly life. You live a holy life. He's going to protect you. But it's just reality that sometimes bad people are going to come along. That is just reality, and that's what the Bible teaches. And look, we're just too successful to not have a fight against us. The devil's not just going to sit back and just watch as great works are being done and just not even care. Right? Matthew 3, let me give you another example. Matthew 3. And let me just give you an example to help think about this because obviously we don't believe that the devil, I should say, is omnipresent. The devil cannot be everywhere at once, and obviously there are a lot of fallen angels that are out there, but the devil cannot be everywhere at once. And the reality is this, though, that there aren't a lot of churches doing big works for God. And because there aren't a lot of churches doing big works for God, it is a lot easier for the devil to just attack the ones that are doing something for God. We're not the only church doing big things for God, but since it's the vast minority, it's pretty easy for the devil to just come and try to attack the good churches. And it's not, I mean, it's not just here. The same was true when we were in Sacramento, California. And look, even when I went to my church in West Virginia many years ago that was a soul winning church and preaching the truth and it had the right gospel. You know what? We had some weird things that took place at that church. Just like weird visitors out of nowhere that came in that had never heard about the church and then they came in and they were completely nowhere near Baptist, but they're trying to pretend to be similar or whatever. And it's like, you know, what led you here? What brought you here? And I would just say that when a church is doing a lot of soul winning, there's going to be attacks. Matthew three, verse one. In those days came John the Baptist preaching the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, I'm not really preaching on repentance here today, but it's such a hot button issue that I feel like I should just talk about it as we move by it. Although I think we are all with one accord about this. When it comes to salvation, we do not have to make any changes in our life. We do not have to quit drinking. We do not have to quit smoking. We do not have to give our lives to God because God gave his life for us. We don't have to make any changes or repent of any sins. And quite honestly, it is impossible for anyone to repent of older sins. You say, well, why does it say you have to repent? Because the one thing you do have to change is your belief. You've got to change what you're trusting in. And what the Bible is saying is that John was preaching, hey, repent ye and believe the gospel. Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Basically, quit trusting in this to get to heaven and put your trust on Jesus Christ. And that is the same message that we preach today. And I don't have time to go into it, but if you want another scripture to look to, look at the first four verses of Acts 19 where it's explained by Paul what John the Baptist was actually preaching. Okay. Verse number three. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather and girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? I mean, imagine that we're having a church service and then all of a sudden you've got some orthodox Jewish rabbi that walks in here. Or you've got some Buddhist monk that walks in here. Or you've got some Hindu swami dressed really strange with a red dot or three white lines in their head. It's like, how'd you hear about our church? I mean, are you sure this is the right place? What are you doing here? Imagine a Catholic priest walks in here today. I mean, I would have to stop and talk to them and say, I'm sorry, what are you doing? Are you dressed up for Halloween? I mean, what's going on? Why are you here? And the Pharisees and Sadducees come and then John basically says, hey, who gave you the gospel? Who warned you about the wrath of hell for all eternity? Because there's no way that they would be saved unless somebody gave them the gospel and they changed their mind. Basically, when did you stop being a false prophet? Right? Now, I've never dealt with that situation. We've never had a Buddhist monk come in here. We've never had a Catholic priest. But yeah, you know, maybe I'd say something similar. I mean, when did you stop being a false prophet? Because we've never dealt with this situation. It's kind of strange, right? And then it says here in verse eight, bring forth therefore fruits me for repentance and think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And look, all I'm trying to show you is that sometimes bad people are attracted to the truth. It's like, why is there a Pharisee? Why is there a Sadducee that showed up to hear this? And yet that is what you actually see. Look, if you've been with our church from the beginning, we have had first time visitors show up. And look, I'm always happy to have first time visitors and they don't have to understand everything or believe everything or they don't even have to be saved to come to church. I mean, someone's new at church. They're a visitor. Praise God for it. You know, we've had visitors that come and then like immediately it's just kind of like, why is this person here? Because you can just tell this person is not like us at all. And you say, what is taking place? It's like sometimes bad people just get attracted to the truth, right? Go to Matthew 13. Matthew 13. And look, I can say that as a pastor, I mean, I try to be long suffering. Charity believeth all things. Charity suffereth long. I, of course, want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but there's no doubt that we've had, you know, weird people that have come in. I mean, even when this church started back when we met in the hotel, I remember we were meeting just for a couple of weeks. And I mean, all right, I'm going to go on some rabbit trails to tell some stories. OK, my mind's coming back about some old stories before this church started. OK, we had the missions trip in April of 2018. Is that correct? The year April 2018, am I correct? Man, 2019. OK. And, you know, we had the missions trip and then all of a sudden there was somebody who came for the missions trip. I don't remember what this guy's name was, but, you know, a lot of people told me that their gator went off with this guy. OK. And, you know, I can say it's a little bit harder for an American coming here to the Philippines. You know, I didn't necessarily notice and, you know, neither did the guys from Sacramento. That's what some people told me. And, you know, this guy came and then all of a sudden I saw on Facebook, I was his Facebook friend then before the church started, and he made a post making fun of Pastor Jimenez on Facebook. And this is a guy who said he can't wait for the church to start. He can't wait to be a member. And it's like, am I dreaming? Like, you literally, I mean, it's not very discreet. It's a bit bobo. I mean, it wasn't exactly the best settle false prophet. Right. And I, you know, took a screenshot of that and I was just, I messaged him. You know, I talked to Pastor Jimenez like, hey, this guy who wants to be a part of the church, he was just mocking me. I just want to make sure I have the authority to just tell him, no, you're not welcome to come. And I messaged him. He's like, no, no, please, please. It was a mistake. I didn't mean to do it. You accidentally make a post mocking, but it's like, why do you want to be a part of our church? Why do you even want to come to be a part of the church? We hadn't even started the great works yet. We had one missions trip and then he shows up after like a day of the missions trip and he's obviously nothing like us. He's like, why do you even want to be here? And then when the church started, still meeting at the hotel, I mean, just a few weeks in, there's somebody who joined our church and his name was pretty similar to the prophet Jeremiah, right? And for those that were here in the early days, you remember this guy? It's like during the sermon, he would go to the bathroom for an hour. No exaggeration. It's like, and this guy's like the biggest fan ever of our church and our preaching and he literally spoke no English. And look, I'm telling you, every single person in this church spoke a million times better English than this kid. Like literally the word hello, I don't think he understood it because I was just like, hello, my name is Matthew and it's just like, I don't know what was said, right? But here's my point. I'm not trying to mock him for English skills. Here's what I'm saying. Why would you love my preaching so much if you don't understand anything I'm saying? It doesn't make any sense. And for those that were here in the early days, you know who I'm referring to. And here's the thing. He was trying to pretend to be like us and he loved our church and everything. And Brother Jay actually talked to him and basically tricked him into getting his actual opinion of James 2. And it's like, yeah, you're nothing like us, right? But the question is, why do you want to be part of our church? Because the guy was part of the Bible Baptist and he left to be part of us. It's like, well, why did you leave the Bible Baptist to be part of us? What is your point? And I'm just saying sometimes the bad gets attracted to the truth. And we've collected a lot of great people and done a lot of great works through the years. But unfortunately that means the bad is also going to get collected as well. Matthew 13, verse 49. So shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Now if you remember from one of the earlier parables in Matthew 13, it talks about the wheat and the tares. And remember how I explained that wheat and tares look almost identical when they're young and it's only when they get older that you realize, okay, they're different. They look almost identical. And the idea from that parable is just that the bad can very much sometimes blend in with the good. And basically they ask him, should we just remove the tares? And the idea is this, that don't overly get obsessed with this topic. It's like, are there going to be bad people at a church doing great works for God? Yes. It just is what it is. There's bad people everywhere. Now, look, the vast majority of people in this church are great people. I mean, and I don't in my head have suspicions of anyone at our church. Charity, believe with all things. I mean, people go so any, I assume that you love God and you want to be a part of the work of God. But I'm just saying reality has to tell us that, you know what, there will be bad people that come along, whether we have it now or will happen in the future. It is just going to happen. Why? Because when you throw out the net to collect a lot of good, sometimes the bad gets in there as well. It just is the way that it is. Go to 1 Corinthians 5. We'll close out 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians 5. Now, at some point when you think of, you know, people that get removed from the local church, because, you know, I've been, you know, being a member of Sacramento, when you have people that are part of the church and then they leave and they very much change, one of the questions that comes in your head is, are they a saved person that is incredibly bitter or are they just a bad person? And what I would say is it does not really matter whether or not they're a saved person. Whether or not they're a saved person that got really bitter and hates the church, it's like, regardless, for the purposes of our church, it's like, well, they're not going to be useful at our church or whatever. People could have different opinions about someone who leaves or whatever, and that's perfectly fine. But I'm just saying, you know, we've had at our church, when it was smaller, we had a few families that tried to split our church. And it's like, they didn't tell me they were going to do it. And I'm like, well, that's not my fear. And of course, it manifested itself. And you say, well, it doesn't really matter what your opinion is of those people, those families are never welcome back at our church, ever. You try to split our church, there's no point of return. When you try to split a good church, the thing is, not only do I love this church, but all of us ought to love this church. This church is a big blessing to all of our lives. I mean, the closest friends you're going to get to this church, the place you can meet together and grow spiritually is your church. The people who can encourage you and help you make you a better Christian and a better person. The way you're going to raise your kids to love God is being in a church like this. And when someone tries to destroy this, you better believe it makes me mad. And so here's the thing. I mean, when you have situations like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, right, you lost your chance to ever be a member of the church. Right? You say, why? Because they tried to split the church. Why would you ever want them back? And you know what? Just the reality is that regardless of what you think about those people, whether they're saved and bitter people or bad people, it doesn't really matter. It's like, you know what, they're not a good fish. They're not a blessing to our church. They're not a help to our church. They would never be able to see it happen in church. It's kind of shocking because we know about Judas Iscariot. We know about situations like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, but it's kind of like we feel like this is like just this book, but it would never happen in real life. It's like, well, this was real life, you know? And there's nothing new under the sun. So if it would have happened back then, it would happen today as well. And I can say from experience it's happened here, but you know, it happened in Sacramento where certain people were kicked out of the church or left the church. I mean, it's something that happens like every few years, something like that seemed to happen. And then they try to just split the church. You say why? Well, it doesn't matter if they're a bitter person, a safe person that's really bitter or just a bad person. It's like they're trying to destroy the church. And look, when people leave churches, I hope that people are saved and just really bitter because I don't want people to be unsaved devils that are going to be such a hold on you that can cause you to just get destroy your life and just be such a, you know, whatever. But it's like it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. And I would say that bitterness is powerful and like all of us need to just kind of look at our own self, say, hey, let's make sure we don't start walking down the wrong road because the end of that could be just basically the destruction of your life. I'm not talking about your salvation. If you're saved, you're saved forever, we get that. But look, if you leave a great church and just get mad and go to some lame church, I hope you've proved me wrong, but I doubt you're really going to do much for God. I'm not trying to say we're the only church that there is. I'm just saying that if you're going to leave a great church because you get bitter and go to a bad church, I seriously doubt you're going to continue the work of God. First Corinthians chapter five, first Corinthians chapter five. So the Bible tells us from that parable that at the end of the world, the trash is going to be taken out and the trash is going to be revealed. But sometimes the trash goes out earlier, according to first Corinthians chapter five, first Corinthians five verse nine. I wrote into an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or the cabbages or extortioners or with idolaters for then must he needs go out of the world. But now I've written on you not to keep company of any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or cabbages or an idolater or railer or drunk or an extortioner with such and such. I'm not going to judge them that are within. And the Bible is saying that, hey, inside the local church, we form judgments on certain situations. And if somebody is outside the church, it's in God's hands. It says, but them that are without God judges, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now, of course, you know, the sins that are listed here in this list, these are sins that are possible for anybody. Being cabbages, anybody can get cabbages. Fornication or sedation, fornication or sexual sin, I mean, anyone can commit sexual sin. Being an idolater, well, if you're saved, that one's a little bit tough, okay? But I'm just saying in general, I mean, you know, railer, drunkard, extortioner, certain things are probably not going to be what you do. Like, you know, drinking wouldn't be something that I would struggle with. But I'm just saying that it is possible for a safe person to get very backslidden and commit major sins. But I'm just saying that it is possible for a safe person to get very backslidden and commit major sins where they would actually be removed from the local church. Now, in some situations, they could have the opportunity to return. In other situations, it's like there's never a point of return ever. So I don't want you to get the wrong idea because I don't want you to get overly obsessed with this topic. God says in the end He's going to deal with it. But I also want you to realize I'm not saying that I will never deal with situations if they come up. I'm not saying that I will never deal with situations if they come up. Look, we've had people that have been kicked out of our church before. If you've been with us for years, you know that to be the case. And it's not a fun thing to do. I never enjoy it. But it's something that's happened in Manila, something that's happened in Pampanga. And I hope that, you know, it doesn't happen again. But common sense will say that, unfortunately, it probably will someday. And so, look, you say, well, man, I'm really worried. Well, I don't know why you're worried. Number two, I'm just going to verse by verse through the Bible, okay? I just specifically preach this sermon. No, no one's getting kicked out, you know, of our church here today. But, yeah, it's like it is something that we deal with when it comes up and when it's necessary. And I wish that everybody that came here just wanted to be a part of the church and just cared about one another and loved one another and wanted to be a blessing and just wanted to meet, have God's blessing on them. And I wish that everybody that came here just wanted to be a part of the church and just cared about one another and loved one another and loved one another and loved one another and loved one another and just wanted to meet, have good friends and learn the Word of God and grow. And the vast majority of us in this room are like that. Isn't that true? But unfortunately, not everyone that comes along is always going to be like that because the Bible says that when you cast the net out there, you're going to have the good and you're also going to have the bad as well. Let's close the Word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here and be blessed or worried about this topic, but help us also not to be naive and help us to realize that as we're doing a great work for you, we're going to have some problems and bad things that come along the way, God, and it is what it is, God. We ask you to protect us, protect our families, help us just to focus on serving you and loving you and help us just to catch as many fish as we possibly can, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Game number 87. Game number 87. Let's sing the song, Just When I Need Him, Lord. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Jesus is here to comfort and cheer. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him, Jesus is true. Never forsaking all the ways we're through. Caving our burdens as I do. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Jesus is here to comfort and cheer. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him, Jesus is true. Caving my burdens all the days long. For all my sorrow, giving us hope. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Jesus is near to comfort and cheer. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him, He is my hope. Answering when upon a nightfall. Denderly watching, less I could fall. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Jesus is near to comfort and cheer. Just when I need Him most. Jesus is near to comfort and cheer. Just when I need Him most. Just when I need Him most. Jesus is near to comfort and cheer. Thanks for watching!