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

Alright, well it's great to be here tonight, and let me just, you know, reiterate the fact that my wife and I have had a really great time this weekend, and everyone's been so hospitable. We've had a great time fellowshiping with people, going out to dinner, and everyone's been paying for our meals. It's like, man, we really appreciate that. And honestly, events like this kind of, you know, bump up your zeal. That's at least the way I feel. Like, I feel like I'm gonna go back home, be more excited for Soul Winning, more excited to bring people to church, more excited to read the Bible. You know, I think events like these are great, and this church is doing great things. Now the first thing we see in 2 Samuel chapter 21 is just the fact that you reap what you sow. Because of the bloody house of Saul, seven sons get put to death. You reap what you sow. Imagine how terrible that is for your sons to be put to death, but you reap what you sow. He had a bloody house, seven sons get put to death. But what I really want to focus on here is starting in verse number eight, where the Bible reads, But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armani and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michael, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzilai the Maholothite. And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord. And they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. So in these verses, you see two different women. You see Rizpah, and you see Michael. Now Rizpah has two sons that are put to death. Michael has five sons that are put to death. Now here's the difference. Rizpah's sons were her own biological kids. Michael's five sons were not her kids, she raised them. Now let me just say this up front. I believe, we have plenty of people of Airety Baptist Church, that they have kids where they are the parents, and they are not their biological kids, but they put just as much love, just as much affection, just as much care into those kids. And I believe those kids are going to grow up, and serve the Lord, because they have parents who love them. And in the Bible, you see with Isaac and Rebecca, how one parent likes one son more than the other, and vice versa. And so even if they are your biological kids, you might not put all of your care, and love, and affection in some of your kids. And so I just want to say that up front, because I don't want to offend anyone. But in this story, you can see that Michael treats these five kids as if they're not really her own. It's just that she's raising these kids for somebody else. She doesn't really look at them like they're her own kids. Whereas Rizpah, these two kids, she pours her heart and soul into these kids. She loves these sons. We can see that from the story. Now there's a lot of symbolism you could pull from these verses, but the name of this sermon is, Rizpah versus Michael, a tale of two pastors. Rizpah versus Michael, a tale of two pastors. We're going to see a lot of symbolism here from a good pastor, a Rizpah, and in a bad pastor, a Michael. Now here's the thing. Obviously if somebody is like a Jehovah's Witness pastor, or a Church of Christ, or a Pentecostal pastor, I mean they're not even saved. So I mean I'm not comparing like a Baptist versus a Pentecostal, because obviously they're already, you know, they're not even at the Michael level. I don't know what level they're at, but you know they're more at the Jezebel level of being a pastor I guess. But you know when we're looking at Rizpah versus Michael, I'm really just looking at IFB pastors, okay. And here's the thing, the vast majority of pastors, they're a bunch of Michaels. They do not really care about their congregation. They don't really care about the people that they're preaching to. They kind of just look at it as a job. I'm just kind of here to put in my time so I've got a full-time position. I've got my house paid for. I've got my bills paid for. Hey, not too many people got saved. You know seven people got saved all year long. No big deal because you know what, I'm covered. That is the way Michael was. That's the way most pastors are. They look at their congregation as just kind of, this is just like a job. You know people go to a job and most people don't take their jobs as seriously. You know they work their 40 hours, they work their 50 hours, they come home, it's no big deal. But you know if you're gonna be a pastor, you ought to take it really seriously. And you know most pastors, they kind of just look at it like, well you know I'm just kind of here you know raising these people. No big deal. They don't put their care. They don't put their love into the congregation like they should, like they ought to. And so the first thing I want to look at is in verse number 10 where it says, And Rizpah the daughter of Ayah took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven. Now notice it says she took sackcloth. What is sackcloth representation of in the Bible? It's a representation of being in mourning. Her sons are put to death. She's in mourning. She's sad. It doesn't say here, but I'm sure she was crying. I'm sure she was grieved. Have you ever seen a mom who even if their son doesn't die, you know you visited someone at the hospital that's a church member and they're worried about their daughter, their son's life. They're so grieved. They're so sad. And that's what this woman was, Rizpah. She is grieving over her sons that have been put to death. And so the first thing you see about a good pastor, they need to mourn and care for their congregation. Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 5. Now when it comes to mourning for your congregation, there's a lot of different reasons why you need to mourn and a lot of different areas which would cause you to mourn. Now one thing that should make pastors mourn is when there's sin in the church. They should mourn over that. They should care about that. They should have the attitude, man I need to get up here and preach a little bit harder on that. You know we got we got fornication in the church. I need to lay down the hammer and get rid of that. I need to preach hard because I care about my members. I don't want them to destroy their lives. That's not most pastors. Most IFB pastors, they don't really care if there's sin in the church. Look at what it says in 1st Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse number 1. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and you're puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. Paul says you as a church you ought to mourn when your church is in sin. That's a big deal. That's an embarrassment. If all of a sudden just this major sin was here at Steadfast Baptist Church, talk about an embarrassment for the cause of Christ. Talk about an embarrassment for all the members. You better believe that your pastor's gonna get up here and preach hard against that. But you as members, you need to be mourning over that. And how much more as a pastor if you're the leader of this and there's sin in the church. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2. And as you're turning there, let me read in 3rd John verses 3 and 4 where it says, For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. John said I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth that they're not involved in sin. Now if you remember the book of James, it says let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. So laughter and joy is kind of contrasted with mourning and heaviness. And so here's the thing, John said my greatest joy is that you're walking in truth. So if they were living in sin, it would be a great mourning to him. He would be very sad about that, right? And so here's the thing, if your people are in sin, you know, you, especially John, being a leader, he was very sad about that. Paul the Apostle, he was mourning over the fact there was sin at the church of Corinth. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, starting in verse 1. But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. So he came in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? And I wrote the same unto you, lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all that my joy is a joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears. I don't think Paul's lying about this. I think he means it with many tears. He was deeply grieved about the sin. Many tears, not that he should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. And if you're a pastor, if you're a Rizpah, you're gonna grieve over sin coming into your church. You're gonna deeply care about that. And you're gonna get up and preach hard against it. Now here's the thing about this. Most pastors that are IFB, I can prove to you they're not a Rizpah, because do they preach hard against sin? They don't do it. And if they really cared about their church members, if they really mourn for their church members, they would preach hard against it so it didn't even come up in the first place. They would preach hard against it. And I'll tell you the truth, like I moved to Verity Baptist Church, but if I felt like my church was really ripping face and they were really zealous for soul winning, I would not have left. Even though they were pre-trib. I would have stayed at that church if I really felt like they were just getting up and ripping hard against sin. But I really felt like if I bring visitors to this church, their lives aren't going to be changed. Because I mean, I'm gonna have to teach them everything outside of church. Like me and my friends, I mean, their lives aren't gonna be changed to their preaching. Because what changes your life? Hard preaching against your sins. You know why I don't listen to rock music today? Because I heard IFB preaching ripping my face off about the music I listen to. Man, I used to listen to Aerosmith, AC DC, and it's just like, you know, hard preaching that ripped my face off. And I was like, man, this is garbage. And I threw it in the trash. You know why I don't watch TV today? Hard preaching that ripped my face off. That's why I don't watch movies. That's, I mean, you make sin exceedingly sinful. That is the job as a pastor. But you know, most IFB pastors, they preach nothing at all. And you know what's really frustrating? They've got this down to a science. They have learned how to pretend to preach hard without actually preaching hard. I mean, like, you'll have these guys get up and say, man, sin is bad! It's like, what does that mean? It's like, why don't you tell us the television's bad? Why don't you be specific? They get up and say sin is bad to make it look like they're a real preacher, but they're a joke. They're a Michael. They're just there because it's their job, because they need to get paid. They're not there because they really care about their numbers or their members. Let me say this, that if you're gonna be a pastor or leader one day, you must learn to care about the people you're preaching to. Don't be this internet preacher. You're gonna make a fool out of yourself. You have to actually care about the members at your church. Turn to 2 Samuel, chapter 1. And honestly, all these other points we're gonna look at are really following through after this, because if pastors really cared about their members, everything would change. They really cared, everything would change. They'd be like, man, I gotta do everything I can to get sin out of this church. I remember at a church I went to in West Virginia, there was this guy that I invited to church, and you know, it was a really weird situation, because when I met him, he was around a sodomite, someone who was a drug addict, and someone who I don't know what they were. There's like four of them, and you know, but this guy gave me the right answers about salvation, and I'm just like, you got to be kidding me. He's like, I'm gonna come to church tonight, and I was thinking, yeah right, you know, he's not gonna come. But you know, he ended up coming to church. You know, I called him up, I picked him up, and it turned out that he had actually gotten saved like 20 years earlier before his life was just in shambles, because here's the thing, just because you're saved doesn't mean you won't fall into sin. Look, here's the truth, that you as a saved person, you can commit the same sins you did before you were saved. There are people that are gonna be drug addicts till the day they die, and they will go to heaven. There are people that are gonna be drunks till the day they die, and they're gonna go to heaven. Why? Because salvation is not about repenting of your sins. Show me the pastors that are gonna get up here behind the pulpit and say what I just said. And that's not even that intense. That's just basic whosoever believeth, but they won't even say that, because they don't want to run off their unsaved repentance heretics at their church. I mean, what a joke. But you know, this guy, you know, he started coming to church, and he seemed like he was really growing, and I found out, you know, he was living, you know, with his girlfriend. So yeah, what we did is, I talked to the assistant pastor who's, you know, just like us. He listens to tons of sermons and everything, soul winner loves the Lord. And so what we did is, you know, like a week later, we went over to the house, and, you know, he won her to the Lord. And so then we talked to him about, you know, getting married. You know, how about, hey, you know, you're saved, your girlfriend's saved. This is what the Bible says. You should get married. And, you know, he was just kind of delighted. And I was the guy giving this guy a ride to church, you know, since I had first met him and everything like that. And he was still living, you know, with his girlfriend. And it got to the point where I was just like, I don't feel comfortable giving this guy a ride to church. And I talked to the pastor, you know, very respectfully, just told him, hey, you know, he's living with his girlfriend. I know it's not known in the congregation, but, you know, he knows what the Bible says. You know, I think we need to do something. And it reached a point where I just told the pastor, I was like, you know, I can't give this guy a ride to church anymore. I was like, I don't feel comfortable with doing that, because I feel like I'm a partaker in his sins, because he's not. And he kept saying he was gonna get married, and then he was just delaying it, and he never did. But, you know, the pastor never, you know, never talked to him about it, and just said, hey, you need to get married. Get in or get out. That could have changed that guy's life, because I know people that they were in that situation, and they are living for the Lord as a soul winner now. And I'm not gonna name their name, because I don't even want you to know, because the fact they're living for the Lord now, why bring up past sins? But, you know, if that pastor had been willing to talk to them or preach hard about it, maybe they would have fixed it. But he didn't do that, and that guy, as far as I know now, he's out of church completely, because of the fact, you know, he ended up fading out. I didn't give him rides. Somebody else did after that, but, you know, I didn't want to be a partaker of it. And, you know, this was a guy who I put him on a Bible reading plan, and for like six months, he was on that plan, just reading, reading, reading, to get through the Bible once a year. I mean, he had a, you know, he was trying to live for the Lord. He needed his pastor to step in there and help him out, and the pastor didn't do that. But that's what you have with most pastors. Turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 1. Did you turn there? 2nd Samuel chapter 1. And so the first thing we saw is, when it comes to mourning and caring about your church members, with sin in the church, pastors need to care for their church members. Number two, though, look at what it says in verse 12 of 2nd Samuel chapter 1. And they mourned and wept and fasted until even for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword. These people are mourning because of the death of Saul and Jonathan. They're mourning due to death, and when it comes to deaths or illnesses, a good pastor is going to mourn and care for his church members. You got to realize that a church this size, you know, all the time there are people that have a cousin that's in the hospital that the pastor has to visit. There's a death from a relative, and you know what? When people have situations like this, they're going to be grieving for it. They're going to be sad, and they need to know that people actually care about them. You know, the last Sunday that, you know, I was at church, we just had one of our members who, just like the van route, went to pick them up, and they were unconscious on the floor. And, you know, there are right now, they're at the hospital recovering, but there's always situations like that where there's problems, where people have illness, or they have death. And here's the thing, if they don't have a pastor that actually shows them that they care, they're going to probably leave this church. I don't care how zealous they are for the Lord. If they feel like people don't care about them, they're probably going to leave. And these people, they're mourning because of this. And a good pastor, they will mourn in that situation. You know, at a church this size, you know, praise the Lord, this church is growing. So many ladies are having children. But, you know, the truth is, you know, giving birth can be a dangerous thing. And there are always ladies at churches that end up having a miscarriage. It happens. My wife and I have been through that. And when that situation happens, I'll just be honest to you, even as a guy, you get pretty emotional about that. I'll be honest with you, when we went through that, there was this bad thought that went in my head where I just thought, you know, God, why is it these wicked whores out there are able to have kids all the time? That's a thought that went in my head. I'm just being honest with you. And let me tell you something. How much more for the wife who's grieving? And there are always church members that are going to be grieving. They have illnesses. They have debts. They need a pastor that actually cares about them. Not a pastor who's just kind of like, eh, the sons are dead. No big deal. I'll just go on with my life. That was Michael. That wasn't Rizpah. Rizpah cared about her sons. And honestly, we don't know a whole lot about Rizpah in the Bible. Other than this, we just have the story with Abner, which doesn't paint her in a good light. But we know that she loved her sons. She cared about her sons. She grieved over her sons. And a good pastor, not only for sin in the church, but also with deaths and illnesses, he will mourn and greatly care for his members. Turn to Isaiah chapter 19. One thing that Pastor Hemen has taught me over the last couple years is this, that, you know, when people are going through, you know, trials and transition in their life, that's a great time to reach people to get them into church because they might be thinking about spiritual things, but it's also a time where you lose church members. Because people either turn to God or away from God in situations like that. You think of Job's wife. I don't believe Job's wife was a bad woman. I don't believe that. I mean, look at her situation. That's worse than probably anyone in here has ever gone through. But, you know, you have to realize when people go through things like that, they're gonna be very emotional. And that's a time period where church members quit because they're mad. They're bitter because they don't feel like the pastor loves them or cares about them. That's why it's so important for the pastor to care for those church members when they're going through these things. But another thing is this, with financial problems, a pastor needs to really care and mourn for his church members. Look at what it says in verse 7 of Isaiah chapter 19. It says, The paper reads by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle to the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the water shall languish, languisheth. Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks shall be confounded. I know the book of Isaiah is extremely confusing. I can't say I understand everything in this, but I'll tell you this. When the fishers are mourning, they're mourning because they can't catch any fish. So basically, they're not getting their sustenance. They're not able to provide for their needs. If you look at the longer passage, you can see that. Also in verse 9, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks shall be confounded. So they can't provide for themselves financially. So the fishers are mourning. And here's the thing. If you're a pastor, you're laying down your life for your church members. So when they mourn, you need to mourn with them. You know, when a church member is joyous, you need to be joyous with them. When they mourn, you need to mourn with them. And a good pastor, he will mourn with his members when they're mourning. He's gonna come for them. And here's the thing. If you're a pastor, you go through the same trials that everyone else does. I mean, probably more. Because you're the one who gets those death threats. But here's the thing. If you're gonna be a pastor, you have to be able to mourn with others. Even if you're going through mourning. It's like when we had the protest in Orlando, there were, I mean, Pastor Menes had a lot going on, obviously, in his life, and things that people didn't even know about. But there was a lot of church members that were mourning at that time, and they needed a pastor to step in there and help them out. And he did that. And he cared more about them than himself. And that's what a good pastor is gonna do. He's gonna mourn for his church members when it comes to sin in the church, deaths and illnesses, or when it comes to financial problems. He's gonna lay down his life and care about them more than he cares about himself. Turn back to 2nd Samuel chapter 21. And the first thing is pretty basic. But, you know, obviously a pastor needs to just care about his members. I mean, it sounds pretty obvious. But honestly, most IFB pastors, they just don't care about their members that much. They just don't love them that much. They don't have, it's something that you don't get taught in Bible college. They go to Bible college for four years, but they don't even learn to love their members. And I've been a member of several IFB churches. You know, I know how the IFB world works. I've been IFB for a long time. And honestly, and I've gone to a lot of revivals in West Virginia. I know the pastors, you know, you meet them, and it's like, you know, the vast majority of them, they just don't care. What they care about is getting that tied so they can still be full time. That's what most of them care about. That's the truth. You cannot say that the pastors in our movement, you can't say Pastor Amera cares about that. He cares. I mean, he came here and he was working a full time job when he came to start this church, working 40, 50, 60, 70 hours a week and pouring out his heart and soul into building this church. And now he is full time and praise the Lord for that. I hope that all the pastors in our movement are able to be full time and devote themselves to the Lord. He poured his heart and soul into it. Most IFB pastors, they don't pour their heart and soul into it. I mean, most IFB pastors, they don't have a goal to get churches planted like none of them do. That should be your goal as a pastor. You shouldn't just be like, well, I'm good to go. I got my church. No, your goal should be to reproduce yourself. And the reason why they don't have that goal is because it takes work. It takes a lot of hard work, not just to preach the sermons and get people in church, but train up people so they're ready because it's a tough job that most people are not cut out for and most people aren't going to work hard enough for. And so most pastors, they just don't care that much. They just care about themselves. Second Samuel 21. Look at this in verse 10. And Rizpo, the daughter of Ayah, took sackcloth and spread it from her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in them by day nor the beasts of the field by night. Now, the second thing is this. Not only should they mourn for their members, but they need to defend their church members. They need to defend their church members. That is something big time lacking in the IFB world where pastors actually defend their church members. Now there's many things we can learn. A lot of symbolism with the birds of the air by day and the beast by night. One thing is this. Attacks happen at all times of day. It happens during the day. It happens at night. You know, my old job in Cumberland, Maryland. You know, my job. One thing I really liked about it is when I got home from work, I didn't have to worry about getting a text message or a call like, Oh, you know, we got this problem. You need to help me fix that. When I was off the clock, I was off the clock. Now here's the thing. If you're a pastor, you're never off the clock. You never have. It's just like, well, you know, I'm completely good to go. I'm off the clock. I don't have to worry about, you know, my member call me. No, you have members that are going to call you at midnight. You got members gonna call you say, I can't get my windows rolled up. You know, you never know. You never know what they're gonna ask you, right? These things are happening at all times of day. It's gonna happen during the day. It happens at night. Things can happen at five in the morning. You don't know when someone might have a heart attack and all of a sudden you get that call at two in the morning and you might have to just wake up and go down to that hospital and help a grieving family. That happens. That's reality. And, you know, we see things were here at church. You don't see everything that happens behind the scenes. You know, I feel thankful and grateful that I get to see some of these things working for a church. Let me tell you something. There's a lot of stuff that happens off the clock. A lot of times where something comes up, you know, at 10 o'clock at night, it's like, man, we gotta get this worked out. We gotta deal with this. You just don't know it can happen during the day. It can happen at night. You don't know when your online donations are gonna shut down. It could happen at five in the morning. Could happen at midnight. Make it happen at any time. Things like that happen all the time, and it's only gonna get worse because the devil is gonna attack. Why? Because we're doing bigger and better things, and she's gonna try to attack us, and we gotta just be more diligent than him. So these attacks can happen at all times of day. They can also happen from all directions. Think about this. The birds are attacking from above the beasts from the ground. These attacks can come from all directions. They can come from family members mocking you for how you're raising your kids as church members. Most of you have family members that do not approve of what you're doing. They don't approve of your church. They don't approve you homeschooling your kids. They don't approve of you, how you raise them, the decisions you make with the hospital medications, things like that. They don't approve it. Attacks come from family members all the time, and it's really frustrating because most people I know don't really bring the fight to their family members. Usually the family members bring that fight to you. That's a frustrating thing. It's like, Man, I want to be close to you. You know, I'd like to be able to spend time with you, but it's just like you always have to tell me why we need a TV. It's like, Why are you doing that? You know, these attacks happened from family members all the time. They also can come from friends, friends that people have that are unbelievers, not part of this church, people that they should just cut off. People get attacks from their friends. They get attacks from co workers. You get attacks from church members. These attacks can come from all different sources, every direction. And as a pastor, you have to be here to help out your church members because you got church members that are grieving over the fact that their parents don't want to talk to him anymore. Now, you know, one thing I find funny. I've mentioned this in a lot of sermons, but it's funny when someone will come to you and they'll tell you their story about how their family basically disowned them. They'll go on and on, and they think it's just them. And it's just like, No, that happens to everybody. Everybody's family disowned them. It's you don't know too many people whose families love the Lord. You know, I'm very thankful I have saved parents, you know, praise the Lord for that. You know, very few people can really say that they have family that approve anything they're doing. And so attacks come from family members all the time. And as a pastor, you got to be there to help out your church members that are going through this. And unfortunately, there's always fights that happen within church. There's fights that happen where there's gossiping, there's busy bodies, there's people that are getting involved in things they ought not. And unfortunately, those fights happen all the time as well. And people need to just mind their own business. But unfortunately, those fights happen. Unfortunately, as a pastor, you have to get involved sometimes and help out the situation. That's the reality. Unfortunately, there's attacks all the time. Husbands and wives going through problems, and you have to help them out not to make foolish decisions that will ruin their entire life. That stuff happens all the time. There's also just different types of attacks in terms of not coming from all directions, but you know, things like hospital visits, like I mentioned, financial struggles, which we mentioned, church fights, depression, backsliding. These things happen. Your donations being shut down, protests. All these things happen. They come all times of day. They come from every direction. They're different types of attacks. But there's something more interesting in this verse I want to focus on. I think it's really interesting where it says that the birds are attacking by day, and the beasts are attacking by night. So in this, the symbolism with a bird, I believe, is basically just talking about your general everyday person. Basically, an unbeliever or a Christian, so to speak. Just your general attack. You know, here's the thing. It happens by day because the birds aren't trying to hide anything. They're doing it for anybody to see. They don't have to be subtle at all. They're just coming down. They're going to quickly swoop down, get food. They're trying to eat her sons. The birds and the beasts are trying to eat her sons, and she's protecting her sons from this. And so the birds will come at day. They're not trying to hide anything. They're just trying to swoop down quickly and get that. And you know, honestly, you can go on Facebook or YouTube and see, and these Christians will say, you're so hateful. They don't try to hide it. They just put it out there for anybody to see. Because they think what they're saying makes a lot of sense, and everybody will get on board. They're not subtle about it. They just say it like they think it is. And so the birds are going to attack by day. It says in Genesis 15 11, you don't have to turn there, but it says, And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. So Abram drives away the fowls that are trying to eat up the carcasses. Now here's the truth. These attacks happen by day, and everybody can see them, but very few pastors deal with it. There's problems in just about any IFB church you go to. How many pastors really get up and deal with those problems? Very few. These attacks are there for anybody to see. It's an embarrassment for the church, and yet they don't deal with it. Sodomites that everybody knows is a sodomite, and yet they do not deal with that problem. They just don't, you know, preach it, yet kick the person out of church. Just attacks happening by the day, and it's visible for everyone. But then it says the beasts are attacking by night. Now what does a beast represent in the Bible? A beast represents a reprobate. And see, it says they are attacking at night. Now turn to Jude chapter 1. When it comes to birds attacking, one thing that makes me sick is when you see believers start acting like a bird. They join in on the attacks, and Pastor Romero mentioned it this morning, but you know one thing I find interesting in the Bible is that sometimes God's people really screw up, and you know what? God sticks in and defends them. Think about Abraham. God defended Abraham who lied about his wife and put himself in a terrible position, and whose side did God take? He took Abraham's side. And I'll tell you what, I don't believe any of the pastors in our movement are perfect. Obviously they're all sinners, but you know what? I'm gonna defend the pastors in this movement. I'm gonna defend Pastor Romero if there's some problem. I'm gonna defend Pastor Mendez. Does it mean they handled everything a hundred percent perfectly? Who cares? Because they're still the good person in the battle. You still stick to the side of the good person. You don't join in on the attack and say, well, you know, I agree with you. I think Pastor Romero messed up too. No, you defend the pastor. That's what God does. That's what I'm gonna do. That's what you should do as well. You ought to defend your pastor. You ought to defend the man of God. Even if he does screw up, everyone screws up. I'm sure that if you go to a church for 20 years, you're gonna see your pastor make some mistakes. He's gonna preach some things he was a little bit off on. He's gonna be a little bit rude sometimes. He's gonna say some things a little bit off, but you know what? You defend the pastor. Now obviously I'm not talking about if your pastor ends up being like Jack Scott. Obviously then, good night. I mean, the old IFB, they do defend them. How many of you talked to this say, well, Jack Scott, you know, yeah, you know, David got caught up in sin as well, you know. It's like, good night. They won't defend our pastors, but they'll defend Jack Scott. It's like, are you kidding me? Sometimes I think I'm living in like, you know, the Twilight Zone, you know what I mean? It's like, is this real? And it's like, it's real. This is the truth. But as you're turning to Jude 1, it says in 1 Corinthians 15 32, if after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus. Now when it said Paul fought at beasts, do you think he's talking about fighting like a lion or a tiger or a bear, oh my? Does that happen? No. You know, it's talking about fighting a reprobate. He fought with beasts. Anyway, these attacks are gonna come wherever you go. There's reprobates everywhere you go. There's bad people, and our movement's gonna bring them in. Why? Because the devil's trying to destroy this movement. That's why you say, man, I've heard this sermon so many times. Everyone keeps preaching. I mean, my wife was tuning in to the sermon from Pastor Mendez today, and you know, part of the sermon he's talking about reprobates. But you know what? Paul warned people night and day because the battles happen. And honestly, this sermon was written several months ago. It was before you guys kicked out someone recently. I had already had this sermon. This was a sermon I've been wanting to preach for a while, and it's all throughout the Bible. And the symbolism of fighting against reprobates, it's there. It's right there, plain as day to see. The beasts attack by night because they want to be subtle. They don't want it to be obvious. They don't want people to realize. You can see what's happening during the day, but it's like when we leave here, I don't know if it's gonna be dark, but when you drive at night, it's harder to see what's going on. Think about if there's a person in the broad middle of the day. We have a lot of homeless people, you know, near where we live. So they're just kind of randomly walking sometimes in the street where you gotta pay attention so you don't hit them sometimes. You know, they're drunk or drugged out of their mind. But it's like during the day, it's not too hard. But then at night, it's like, man, at last second you're slamming on the brakes and everything like that because it's just harder to see at night. And so these attacks are happening by night because the beasts are trying to be subtle. They're trying to creep in and get their food. The birds aren't trying to be subtle. They just go down. The beasts are trying to be subtle about it. So look at what it says in Jude chapter 1. Let me make this just very obvious that it's talking about reprobates because it says in Jude 1 verse 10, But these speak evil those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts, and those things they corrupt themselves. So we're talking about false prophets and reprobates. If I were to refer to them as beasts, as brute beasts, okay? So look at what it says in verse 16. Look at what it says. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lust. You know, if you're someone who always likes to complain and murmur, let me just say that's an attribute of reprobates. That doesn't make you a reprobate, but you might want to think about just shutting your mouth. And quit complaining about how, man, my life is so miserable. Learn to be content. Yeah, you know, all of us can have bad days. Just learn to be content. Quit murmuring. Quit complaining. And the last thing I want to hear is somebody complaining to me about something. It's like you're gonna go complain to somebody else. Complain to your wife. Complain to your husband. I don't want to hear it. Who likes to hear somebody complaining all the time. It's annoying. That's an attribute of reprobates that they always murmur. They complain. Why? They're trying to cause problems. They're subtly bringing something up like, man, I wish Pastor Romero would do it a little bit like this. And they'll do it subtly. They don't make it obvious for you to be able to see real clearly and just point out, hey, you're a reprobate. They'll do it kind of subtly. Why? Because they're intentionally doing it by night because they're trying to creep in. Then it says, in their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. What does it mean to speak great swelling words? An example would be like, oh, Brother Jesse, man, your sermon the other day, that was probably the greatest sermon ever at a men's preaching night. Man, was it good. That's speaking great swelling words. Now look, when people preach at preaching nights, I'll tell them, hey, you know, good job. You know, I learned something from your sermon like from 1 Kings or whatever. But you know what? There's a level to that compliment. You better make sure it's sincere. For one, don't be a phony. If you're going to compliment someone, make it real. Don't just say, well, you know, I'm going to tell everybody good job no matter what. You know, they preached a repentance of sins, pro-repentance of sin, sermon behind the pulpit. Man, good job, brother. I learned from your sermon. It's like, well, don't compliment them for that. Make sure your compliments are sincere, but even still, make sure your compliment's not over the top because even if you are trying to be sincere, you are doing that person a disservice. Because I'll tell you what a sin that all of us struggle with is pride. And I'll tell you what, you know, nothing can fill you full of pride more than when someone tells you you're the greatest thing since sliced bread. When they tell you, man, you're the greatest preacher. You're the greatest soul winner. That's pumping you full of pride. You're doing a disservice. But the reprobate, it's not accidental. It's intentional. Flattery is one of the big attributes you're going to see from a reprobate. Every single one who ends up being a reprobate, they end up being a huge flatterer. When somebody's a huge flatterer, man, I put a big, massive, you know, worry sign there. Big, massive check mark where I'm just like, that's, that's one check. That's one strike, right? It's like, three strikes, you're out, buddy. But it's like, they have, they're a huge flatterer. All of a sudden, man, that is a big strike. And that's a strike I usually don't forget when it's ridiculously over the top. It's just like, and honestly, one thing I've learned over the last year, and I'll admit, you know, I was more naive about this topic than I realized, I'll admit that. Because I thought that, you know, I was good at catching people. Because there's a lot of people, you know, I've had worry signs before and they ended up being bad. I'll be honest, you know, just because it's been 10 years doesn't mean that you're good. Because I kind of used to figure, man, if it's been a long time, obviously, you know, they're good. Because Judas was three years. Well, that was, that's been disproven, hasn't it? It can be a long time and they can just stay in there and be one of your best members and turn out to be the devil. And let me tell you something, if your pastor kicks somebody out of this church for being the devil, I don't care if they're the number one preacher of this church that he calls on, you better trust your pastor. You better trust he's making the right... I mean, if you go to this church because you trust his spiritual guidance, you ought to trust him when he kicks someone out of church. And that's something that we see within this movement, so to speak. And it's like, you know, it's ridiculous to get in another church's business where you disagree with what the pastor did and then you criticize them online. It's like, are you kidding me? It's just like, for one, just keep your mouth shut. We don't care about your opinion. It's like, you know, what difference does it make? I don't care whether you think it's wrong that we kick that person out. It's none of your business. It's another church. You know, if you're if you're gonna say anything, just get on board and trust the pastor. But just going on the side of the devil, it's like, what is wrong with you? And that's what we see within our movement where people just get involved in business that doesn't belong to them. Look, I mean, that's a local church matter. That's this church's deal. When someone gets kicked out, that affected this church. And if somebody doesn't say anything, they better get on board with what's being said. Let me tell you something. When you basically say that a pastor is wrong for kicking someone out, you are basically saying that they're either lying... Let me give you an example. Let's say I told, you know, Brother Duncan, let's say I said, let's say he told me he went out camping on the weekend, okay? And let's say he told me, man, I fought a wolf on the weekend. And he came and he attacked me. I was scared for my life. And he goes on and on. He's being sincere. He fought a wolf. And I'm like, yeah, you know, I think it was a house cat. I'm calling him just... I'm either doing one of two things. I'm calling him a bold-faced liar, or I'm saying he's just an idiot who has no discernment whatsoever when things happen at nighttime because he can't see clearly. And so here's the thing, when somebody disagrees with Pastor O'Meara about that, you're saying one of two things. You're saying he's a liar about all the signs that happen, or you're saying he's an idiot and he doesn't have any spiritual discernment whatsoever. And it's like, why in the world would you listen to somebody's sermon if they think they have such little spiritual discernment? Does that make any sense? It's like, people listen to all the sermons, and then they'll just disagree with the pastor's decision for kicking someone out. It's like, I mean, you trust them for spiritual guidance, and then you think they have no discernment whatsoever to kick somebody out. No, you have to understand, these battles happen at night, so they're hard to see. So you might not see all the signs. And one thing you have to realize is, you might not know everything the pastor knows. See, if like five people have come to the pastor and told him about a worry sign, you might not have seen those things. You know, honestly, the last person that was kicked out of Verity Baptist Church, I didn't know, like, most of the things that had happened. Because, honestly, they didn't come to me and try to change the King James Bible to me, because they know, you know, obviously that I work for church. They went to other people that were just kind of, they thought were newer, they thought they could trick, and unfortunately they got in that business a little bit too much, and those things were reported back to the pastor. That's the way reprobates operate. But you have to realize, if somebody gets kicked out, you don't know all the facts. And it's not like your pastor's gonna stand up here every single time someone gets kicked out and just mention every single thing they did. Because we don't want this church just to fall into being like just this big gossip thing, or where everyone knows this business. Unfortunately, if it's someone who's known, so to speak, by so many people, it has to be rebuked publicly, you know. But I'll be honest with you, I know a situation where people kicked out of churches, the pastor just didn't say anything about it, you know, because the person wasn't known. So it's just easier just having them kicked out, they never come back, they're not ever welcome back, but not something you have to mention by name. So people have to realize they don't know all the facts, and it's amazing how people think they know everything. It's like, oh, I went soloing with that person! He's such a great guy! It's just like, you know, you're sounding like the old IFB. Because, you know, the old IFB, they hear a case about somebody being a pedophile, and they're like, there's no way. This guy couldn't have been a pedophile! I mean, I've been soloing with him for years, and as they just brush off that immediately, it's like, are you kidding me? I mean, obviously there's a reason, because it's not like a pastor wants to kick people out of church. You want church members, and these are church members that you prayed for, and cared about for so long. It's not like you made that decision lightly, but unfortunately, when you're the leader, eventually you have to reach the point where you do have to kick somebody out. Notice what it says in verse 19 of Jude 1. Jude 1 verse 19. Another important attribute you see of reprobates here is this, these be they who separate themselves. Sensual, having not the Spirit. These be they who separate themselves. It always kind of concerns me when I see a certain person always trying to show somebody something from the Bible one on one, and I can kind of see it from a distance. You know, this recently happened during the Red Out Preaching Conference. One of the members came up to me, and he just had a worry sign. I was glad he told it to me, so we can have that as, you know, potentially an eventual thing, where that's one of the red marks. You know, I talked to Pastor Mendez about it, where you see somebody privately talking to someone one-on-one about the Bible, and it wasn't the first time, and it's like, you know, you're starting to make us worry, when it's not something you feel comfortable talking about to everybody. Even though we've heard you say before that, you know, you don't believe all sodomites are reprobates, and you've already put up those red flags, but when people separate themselves, they have motives for doing that. They don't want everybody to know that. You know, there will be evil people that will creep in a church, and they'll be talented. They'll learn how to do this, causing problems between the husband and the wife, and they'll cause problems, and make that wife think that, well, you know, maybe this isn't the best church for you. Maybe you shouldn't be here. There are reprobates that do that. They're trying to cause problems, because how do you destroy people? Hey, if you destroy families, that's gonna destroy churches. We need strong families that have kids that we train up and raise, and reprobates do this stuff. They'll always do these things. They separate themselves. They don't do this in front of the pastor, and so when somebody comes to you and tries to bring you something, somebody comes to you, and it's a big red flag. You need to tell your pastor about it, and people will have this idea. They'll go around and tell everybody else at church, and they don't tell the pastor. It's like, no, that's not a good idea. Go to the pastor and tell him about the red flag. You have to understand, he might already have some red flags about this person, so you don't have this attitude, man, he didn't kick them out. It was a waste of time. No, it wasn't a waste of time, because once those things get added up, eventually it can reach the point where he says, now I've got to lay down the hammer, because I have enough evidence. It's obvious this person's a bad person, but you know, sometimes he might be waiting for more evidence, and so you trust in your pastor to have wisdom and guidance, because honestly, even as believers, we can do things that are just wrong as sinners, and someone could misinterpret it. Maybe we did something really wrong. They say, wow, you know, that person might be a bad person. Maybe they just did, you know, a terrible sin or something like that, or maybe you misunderstood. That can happen, but when you see something, you must come to the pastor and let him know, because these people get kicked out of church, and then all of a sudden they've done like 50 things, and the pastor had no idea, because nobody ever came to the pastor to tell them about it. No, you have to come and tell the pastor about that. You know, one thing that people see is, they'll see somebody getting kicked out of church. They'll see this. They'll watch the video, and they'll be like, man, I think Pastor Romero was just way too harsh with him. Yeah, that's something you saw, but let me share with you something you didn't see. You didn't see this pastor opening the Bible for an hour every day and reading it. You didn't see that. You didn't see the pastor down on his knees praying for that same person he kicked out every day, over and over and over again. You didn't see him memorizing the Bible all the time. You didn't see him soul-winding all the time. You didn't see him up at midnight doing a hospital visit. You just saw one thing, and you just jumped on the gun to criticize him. It's a joke. It's like, are you kidding me? It's like the pastor, he's been praying for that person for so, I guarantee you, everyone has ever been kicked out of this church that was here for a length of time. That's someone Pastor Romero prayed about for a long time, and he prayed about that decision, and he knew it was the right decision. If there's anything the pastors might be a little bit too lenient in our movement, because they want to care about people. They want to love them. They don't want to think somebody's a wolf. I don't want to think people are bad people. If I've gone soul-winding with someone, even if there's flags, I just want to think, man, maybe they need to grow more. And here's one of the unfortunate things. When people first come to a church like this, if they're a bad person, at first they don't really know how to fit in. They're just playing a part. You know, they're just like an actor, and eventually over time they start to fit in a little bit better, right? You know, we've had people like the person we kicked out when they first came, it's like, whoa, it's like so many red flags. Then they start to, you know, it's like, well, maybe they're growing. But in reality, they're just learning how to act a little bit better. And they realize, okay, this is... and then every once in a while, they'll just make some stupid mistake. And here's the thing, the Bible says your folly is going to be manifest to all men. And that ought to be a great comfort to you as a member. If there's someone you think's a bad person in this church, you know, you tell Pastor Romero the things that, you know, make you question them, realize their folly is going to be manifest onto all men. So don't worry about, oh man, you know, this person's here, they're a bad person. Look, their folly is going to be manifest. It's going to happen. It's going to be found out. She attacks, defends the beasts by night. Turn to 2 Samuel 21. Turn back there. Now I'll be honest, I don't think Rizpah did a perfect job defending her sons. I mean, there's no way she did a perfect job, but at least she defended. I mean, who did a better job, Rizpah or Michael? How long do you think Michael's sons lasted out there? Probably not a whole lot of time. You know why? Because Michael wasn't defending them at all. You know, I don't think Rizpah did a perfect job defending, but at least she defended. You say, well, you know, I don't think Pastor Romero does a perfect job. Well, at least he defends, though. He is willing to kick people out. He might not do a perfect job, but you know what? None of us are Jesus Christ. We're not, nobody's a perfect pastor, but at least he's defending, though. At least he's putting in his best effort to defend this congregation. Why does he defend this congregation so hard? Because of the fact he really cares about this congregation. Going back to the first point, and here's the thing, you look at these pastors that are most IFB, they don't fight the battles by day, and they certainly don't fight them by night, because they just don't care about their members that much. You know, it's either, you know, pretty much both or not. Most of these IFB pastors, they won't kick you out for anything unless you're post-trib. I mean, literally, you can be an open sodomite. They won't kick you out. I mean, once again, you know, we're living in the twilight zone. I don't know, but it's just like, they won't kick you out for anything unless you're post-trib, or you're too zealous of a soul winner. I mean, and honestly, you know, a few years ago when I heard about people getting kicked out of church, usually I felt like most people got kicked out of church because they were a little bit overboard by trying to convert their pastor, and I believe that was the case. But honestly, it's kind of switched now. Most people that get kicked out, honestly, it's the pastors and the members that are attacking them for being post-trib. So many good people have been kicked out of churches now, and it's like, I mean, are you kidding me? It's like, what in the world? In 2 Samuel 21, verse 10, I want you to notice where it says that Rizpah, the daughter of Ayah, took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest in them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. And the third point is this, a good pastor, a Rizpah, is going to work very hard. Now I want you to realize, she is doing this all day long. She's doing this at morning, and she's doing this at night. And I don't know the exact time frame of how long she's doing this, but I tried to figure it out the best I could because it says that it happens until water drops upon them out of heaven. It tells us that it starts at the beginning of harvest. I believe the time period is probably from around November to February, okay? This is a long time based on when it says rain starts raining. When we went to the Philippines, one reason why we picked April was because it was before it ever rains, but it actually did rain a little bit when we were in the Philippines. Usually there's a little bit in May, but it never happens in April, but it did happen. So the time could be a little bit off. Like, it could be a month more either way. You know, sometimes the weather can be weird. You don't know. Every once in a while it would snow in, like, October in West Virginia. That was rare, but sometimes it would happen. But I believe it's probably from around the time period of November to February. So we're talking, like, three months, and she's defending, you know, during the day. She's defending, does that sound like an easy job? Defend off fowls and beasts for three months? I mean, that is hard work. Turn to First Timothy chapter 3. I remember my wife and I visited a family of ours at the hospital, and they had a baby they were really worried wasn't gonna make it. You know, they really thought, you know, their child wasn't gonna make it. And, you know, thankfully, thankfully they recovered and everything. A lot of people visited and prayed for them and everything like that. But she had been there for, like, four days. And, you know, the husband looked really tired and everything too, but, like, the mom just, you know, looked like a wreck, you know. She hadn't slept for, like, four days. Why? Because a grieving mom isn't gonna sleep at all, right? She's not gonna sleep at all. Just imagine what she looks like for three months. I mean, she's literally like a homeless person for three months. She's just living out there by faith. I mean, it doesn't say how she got food, but, I mean, it's not like she could just go home and, you know, cook a steak and then go back out there. No, I mean, she's just relying on God to provide her food. I mean, this is three months throughout the day. I'm sure she looked like a ragged mess after three months, but she loved her son that much. And here's the truth. A good pastor, he's gonna really care about his church members. He's gonna work very hard. Because running a church is extremely hard work. It's not easy. You know, honestly, writing a sermon is not easy. That takes a lot of work, but there's a lot more to it than that. I mean, if it was just preaching sermons, then, honestly, a lot more people. If it was just so many preaching sermons, there'd be a lot more people that would sign up for the job. But, honestly, I've seen some people that sign up for the job, they're getting trained, and then all of a sudden it's just too much for them. They're like, oh man, I didn't realize there was all this stuff, too. It says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, I know you know this verse, but we need a reminder of these things. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. One thing that really needs to be preached in today's world is just being a hard worker. Because that's just something that's sorely lacking here in America. People are just lazy deadbeats. They don't work hard at all. It's like, man, I don't have any time to read the Bible. It's like, you don't have any time whatsoever. It's like you watch the NFL for six hours on Sundays. It's like you watch every sporting event. I mean, you go to these concerts. You don't have any time to read the Bible at all. It's like no time whatsoever. But, you know, you spend two hours on Facebook every single day. Man, talk about a lazy world we live in, where people just don't find any time to do things for God. They're just lazy. Here's the thing, if you're gonna be a pastor, you can't be lazy. One of the requirements is to be a hard worker. Now, understand, if you want to be a Michael, you don't have to work hard. You could be a lazy deadbeat, but good luck getting ordained by Pastor Romero. I mean, you might just want to go down to some church down the road, some IFB church, because honestly, some of these churches, it's like these drive-by ordinations. I mean, literally, you know, my friend in the Philippines, Brother Richard Simes, he said, you know, his church, his old church, he's like, they would just say, it's just kind of like, man, I got the call from God. Man, you got the call from God, brother. Let's lay hands on you right now. That's the way it is. It's like, you got the call from God. It doesn't even matter if you've read the Bible. I mean, most pastors in the Philippines have never read the Bible cover to cover, one time, and they'll admit that because it's not embarrassing to them. It's like, wow. I mean, there's probably people in this church that are like seven, eight, nine years old that have read through the entire Bible. People are lazy, and unfortunately, pastors have a big reputation of being lazy deadbeats. That's a reputation they have. You know, God forbid that would happen in our movement, though. You know, we need to get hard work brought back. I mean, 40 hours. We do live in a rich country compared to the rest of the world where you can get by on 40 hours of work. You can provide for your family. You know, in some places, you got to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week to provide. That's not like that here in America for most people. It depends, obviously, you know, what your job is and things like that, but people are like, man, 40 hours a week. Now, this is going to sound worldly, but it just made me think of this, you know, because a long time ago, I watched the movie Dumb and Dumber, but I just remember that part where he asked him how it went on the job search. He's like, man, he's like, I can't find a job. Like, everyone expects you to work like 40 hours a week. He's like, I can't find something. I just put in a few hours, but that's the way a lot of people are, and honestly, the reason why this needs to be preached so hard, the truth is a lot of people found this movement because they were lazy deadbeats who spent all the time on YouTube, and they found this movement because they spent all their time just searching, you know, whatever they could hear, and they just happened to stumble across something good. Honestly, there's a lot of people that come to this movement where it's just like, man, are they lazy, and unfortunately, that is something that's really hard to fix, and that's why it needs to be preached a lot, but if you're going to be a pastor, you need to learn to work hard. You say, man, I got to read the Bible 10, 15 times to get ordained. Look, that's not that much, because if you're saved for five years, you can read through the Bible two or three times a year, and, you know, you're gonna probably be saved more than five years before you're ordained. I mean, honestly, two times, I mean, that's 30 minutes a day for two times, depending, obviously, at your reading level, and things like that, but it's just like, you know, ten times the requirement we have at Verity. That's not much. Ten times is pretty small, but people are lazy. Look, if you're gonna be a pastor, you got to work hard. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5, look at what it says in verse 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word of doctrine. The word labor, that implies really hard work. They labor in the word of doctrine. You got a pastor at this church who labors in the word, and the reason why I know that is because I listen to a lot of sermons from this church, and I learn from the preaching, and so when you're learning constantly from the end, look, many of us, probably most of us, have listened to a lot of sermons online. There's a lot of things we've already heard, but, you know, I've heard plenty of things Pastor Marist preached. He's like, man, I've never heard that. Never noticed that in the Bible. Why? Because he's laboring in the word. He's laboring the doctrine. Laboring in soul winning. Verse 18. For the Scriptures say, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. When it's talking about double honors, it's talking about financially. Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear. People will receive an accusation about an elder, it seems like, with like one accusation all the time. But the Bible says before, you know, with two or three accusations, we're talking about something like really serious. But here's the thing, I, you know, if you come with something about Pastor Marist like he did this, look, I'm just not gonna believe you. That's just the way I'm gonna be. I'm just gonna assume that what you're saying is not true. Now obviously I'm not talking about if there's something major where someone's like, you know, a jackscop situation. That's a different sort of situation. You got to take that very seriously. But people complain and criticize about pastors for like nothing. It's like, man, he was too mean. He did this. He did that. He didn't let us run this Bible study outside of the church at the same time of the Wednesday night service. You know, I'm leaving this church. It's like, man, are you kidding me? It's like people literally will walk into church and they think they're just gonna walk up here and just tell the pastor what they're gonna do. It's like, you know, I don't know if that's that's what they did where you came from. This is a pastor-run church. You don't just come up here and tell us how you're gonna sing a special, you know, before Sunday morning service. That's not the way it works here. There's actually, this is done decently and in order at this church. But you know, pastors, they deserve to get paid. And you know what? People will put all these accusations about these pastors. You got pastors that are working hard to study the Bible, read the Bible, memorize the Bible, have great soul-winning events. And for a church to thrive like this, you got to put in a lot of work to get all this stuff done. It doesn't just happen magically. All the pastors, this pastor, Pastor Romero, he's working very hard and it's evident by the results of this church. Great things are happening. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Now I kind of got ahead of myself in the third point, but the fourth point is basically the pastor needs to be able to accept rough conditions, okay? And with this story of Rizpup, she's basically sleeping in the wilderness. I mean, she's sleeping on like a rock. You know, I don't know, the Bible doesn't really say, but she's just sleeping out there. And you know, I don't know what the temperature was, but you know, just sleeping, I mean, it's nice just to be in a bed, you know? Nice and cozy and comfortable bed. What is she sleeping on? I don't think that she, you know, had a mattress delivered out there in the wilderness. I don't know what she's sleeping on, like a rock. You know, it's just, man, that's pretty terrible. Night and day, those are pretty rough conditions and she loves her sons that much that she's willing to do that. And you know, a good pastor, a Rizpup, you know what, he's gonna care about his members that he's willing to have a rough condition of a life, maybe less money than he deserves, in order to help out this church and help it grow and help it build. I promise you, the pastor's in our movement, if they work secular jobs and they poured as much heart and soul and energy and time into those jobs as they do with these churches, they would make good money. Because here's the thing, in America, whether you work a blue collar or white collar job, if you work hard, you'll make money. Now it's not like that in every country, but in America, whether it's blue collar or white collar, you work hard, you will make money. And any of these pastors, they could just, you know, work 70, 80 hours a week like they do for this church, pour out their heart and soul into that, and they'd have some pretty nice conditions. But you know, if you're gonna be a good pastor, if you're gonna be a Rizpup, it's not gonna be like that. And if you want to be a Michael, you know, sure, you don't have to work hard, you don't have to accept rough conditions, but if you're gonna be a Rizpup, you got to work hard. Look at what it says in Philippians 2, verse 25. Yet I suppose it necessary to send you a Paphrodite as my brother and companion and labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all and was full of heaviness, because that he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore, that more carefully, that when you see him again, he may rejoice, and I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to supply your lack of service toward me. Paphroditus doesn't even care about his own life. I mean, he is literally at the point of death, and he cares about other people more than himself, and that's what you have at this church. You got a pastor who, you know what, if he only gets three hours of sleep because he's got to deal with church things, that's okay, because he cares about this congregation more than himself. He puts his heart and soul and his energy to work hard. That's the way Rizpah was. She didn't care about her own conditions. I mean, I would really be interested, honestly, in seeing what she looked like after three months, and actually seeing this, because, you know, it would be really cool if you could actually have, like, good people put movies to the Bible that you could actually see what's taking place, which that's never gonna happen, but it would be really be cool to actually see this, and I'd see men, I mean, for months, I believe, probably for around three months, maybe more or less, she's out there just in the wilderness. What did she look like after three months? I mean, it's not like she had a marriage, just everyday look and say, oh, I gotta fix my hair here, you know. I mean, no, she wasn't putting on makeup every day or anything like that. I mean, after three months, she probably looked pretty bad, but she cared about her son so much that she did not care about that. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 21. Turn back there. I do think one thing needs to be said, because I think this is obvious, but I feel like there'll be some idiot who says something on YouTube, so I'll just say this. When it says, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon the Mount of Heaven, I could hear some idiot say, well, you know, she really left when it got really tough and the water started to fall, didn't she? That'd be a really stupid thing to say. The point God's making about from the beginning of harvest until the water dropped upon the Mount of Heaven is the fact that it's a really long amount of time, and basically, it just reached the point you have to go on with your life eventually. I mean, it's like, do you really expect her to just be out there like her entire life? I mean, she was out there for a long time, and basically, it's not that she left because it got too tough. It just left because at some point, you have to go on with your life. When people are mourning for a lost loved one, some people are gonna mourn longer than others. That's why if that ever happens at this church, you got to realize, give a person a chance to grieve. They might take it more, you know, it might take more time than it would take with you. She really grieves about her son. She spends a long time. It's not that, oh wow, it got really tough. Now it's raining. I got to leave. No. I mean, she was out there for a long time, and eventually, you have to move on with your life. Now, so far in this sermon, you know, I don't know if this sounds encouraging or not, but you know, the last point is very encouraging because notice what it says in verse 11. And it was told David what Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. You know, when we go through our lives and we're living for the Lord, sometimes you feel like, man, I'm putting in so much labor reading the Bible, so much labor, you know, you know, going soul-witting, and nobody's taking notice of me. Nothing. Nobody realizes what I'm doing. You know, David was a very godly person, and here's the truth. If you're working really hard, maybe not everyone's gonna notice it, but you know what's usually gonna happen? The really godly people are gonna realize that. You know, I hope everyone at this church realizes how hard Pastor Romero works, but I'll tell you what, I realize that Pastor Romero puts in a lot of time. You know, I mean this sermon from my heart. I'm not just saying this to preach a sermon, to preach a cool sermon. No, I realize he puts in a lot of time, and this is a thriving, very successful church. And honestly, oftentimes the people that realize this are just the people that are really zealous, and I believe many people, hopefully all of you realize, you know, how much of work he's putting in and how successful this church is, but I'll tell you what, the godly people, they'll realize what you're doing. They're gonna realize how hard it is for the stands you're taking and what you're doing. And honestly, most people at this church, you go soul-winning, you do love the works. You do realize that. But we need a reminder about this. You need to realize this church has been successful for four years, and one of the big reasons is because you have a godly pastor who cares about his members, who works really hard. He'll fight the battles that need to be fought. And I'll tell you what, we as church members, you as church members, you need to realize how hard that he's working. Now here's the thing, I don't believe that Rizpa just sounded a trumpet in the wilderness and said, hey David, guess what I'm doing? I don't believe she did that. But David somehow found out. And I'll tell you what, for young men that are here, that you say, man, I want to be a pastor one day, I want more opportunities to preach, you need to realize you're not trying to impress Pastor Romero, okay? There's someone above that you're trying to impress, because God knows what you do. And here's the thing, even if the Davids don't realize or don't find out what you're doing, you know who always, because Dave is also a type of Christ, isn't he? And God will always know about the work you're doing. You're gonna be rewarded. If you don't get rewards here, you're gonna get the rewards up in heaven. Usually the godly people, the Davids of this world, will find out. But in the symbolism of David being a type of Christ, even if nobody knows, you know who knows the work you're putting in? God knows that work. He knows what's happening. So you don't have to lift yourself up. Allow God to lift you up. If you deserve it, God will lift you up. He'll give you those opportunities. You should be trying to impress God. When you read the Bible for an hour in the morning, look, God looks down and says, man, that person's doing a good job. You don't have to tell everybody at church, hey, guess how much I read the Bible this morning? You know, God sees the work you're doing. You don't have to tell Pastor Romero. God's gonna know. And I believe that when, you know, Pastor Romero selects someone to preach a sermon, I believe God's guiding him in that selection. I believe God guided him to send Brother Adam Fanon to Jacksonville. And it's not like, you know, Brother Fanon was just always bragging about what he was doing. It's just like, no, everybody saw it. It was obvious, you know, people could see it. And, you know, obviously Pastor Romero was guided by God. God knew everything that he was doing, and he deserved it. And, you know, great things are happening down there. Turn to 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5. And this will be the last place we turn this evening. But this is what it says in 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 12. When it says beseech, that's like a really strong term to find out. You know, we beseech you. Like, it's very important for you to know this. You as members, you need to really need to realize how much great work Pastor Romero is doing. That's what the Bible says here at 1 Thessalonians, Chapter 5, Verse 12. And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now, I firmly believe this, that if you cannot feel this way about your pastor, then you probably need to go somewhere else. Because you need to love your pastor. You need to care about your pastor. And, unfortunately, when it comes to the Michaels out there, a lot of those pastors you can't love. Because, honestly, they just don't care about their members that much. And if they don't care about you, then you're probably not going to care about them. And I believe people should move if they don't have a pastor that's... I believe if you don't have a Rizpah for a pastor, you should move. That's what I believe. You should find a way to move. You should save up the money, set the date, and make the move. I believe that. I don't regret for one second moving to California, you know. And I don't think anybody in this room regrets moving here to Fort Worth, Texas. You know, if you don't have a Rizpah behind the pulpit, and there's a lot of Rizpahs rising up. And praise the Lord for that. You have a lot of options now. You don't necessarily have to move all the way across the country. You know, move to whichever one you want. There's a lot of Rizpahs. This church, you have a Rizpah behind the pulpit. Now, in conclusion, I'll be honest with you. You know, we don't really know a whole lot about Rizpah in the Bible. We really don't. But one thing we know for sure, she loved her children. And honestly, this was thousands of years ago. And, you know, this is a testament to her. I mean, it's still written. I really... I don't know whether she was saved or not. I really hope she was. I mean, man, this is a lady who really cared about her sons. Man, did she love them. And I want you to realize, you know, that Pastor Romero, he really cares about you. He really loves you as well. Let's close in a word of prayer.