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

Alright, we're here in 1 Kings chapter 10, and we're going to be starting this new series on the perfect church, and it's going to be a three-week series, but the next sermon we're going to cover two things as opposed to one. And what you see here, one thing to mention right off the bat is this is the Old Testament, and yet this isn't just myself, but other people I know that I respect, other pastors would say that this is the best chapter to find out what a perfect church is, to see what sort of church we need to be. That right there just kind of shows you the foolishness of dispensationalism. They basically say, well, you can't apply this to a church because of the fact it's the Old Testament. Well, I mean, that's not what you see in the Bible. You see that throughout the Bible, there's things in the Old Testament we need to apply that are helpful for us to apply, to help us to understand. And this is kind of the toughest sermon in this sermon series to preach, because I'm talking about kind of the leader. And because you preach a sermon like this, and you don't want to sound like you're bragging or anything like that, you don't want people to think that you're boasting. But obviously, when it comes to a church, it's very important that the leader is presenting wisdom. And the leader is teaching you something from the Word of God. And we can see this phrase, the perfect church, thy wisdom, from verse 8. And that's one thing the Queen of Sheba noticed was the wisdom of Solomon. So the first thing we're really talking about today is thy wisdom, basically coming from the person preaching. And this is obviously a very key part of what a perfect church or an ideal church or what a great church is going to be. And so I want you to notice verse number 3 to start off. It says in verse number 3, And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not. So the Bible says there was not anything hid from the king. It says in 1 Kings chapter 10, verse 3. And so the first thing we see is this, that Solomon has knowledge and wisdom. Solomon has knowledge and wisdom. The Bible is very clear there is not anything hid from the king. So she comes with these tough questions. She's trying to prove him. She's testing him with difficult questions. And there is not anything hid from the king. He knew the answers to every single one of those questions. And that's the first thing we see when it comes to thy wisdom is this. Solomon, the leader, he had knowledge. He had wisdom. Turn to 1 Kings 2. And I want you to understand something, that when you're preaching sermons, when you're the leader, or if you're a leader in any sort of capacity, you need to have the answers to the tough questions. You need to know what the truth is. And even more so than anything, obviously at a church, we need to know the truth that's coming from the Word of God. We need to know the answers that are coming from this book. I need to know the answers when people come to me with difficult questions. Now obviously, nobody knows all the answers. There's going to be certain things you come to me with and I don't know what the answer is. I'm not going to lie to you or be dishonest like some people and pretend like I know the answer. What I'm going to do is say, you know, I'm not sure about that. Let me study that out and I'll get back to you about that. I think that's the right response. That's my job. I need to be able to study and learn and find out what the Bible says if I don't know the answers. But, you know, there'd be a problem if every single time somebody comes to me with a question, I have no idea whatsoever. And I say, well, you know, I think Pastor Mendez has preached on that before. It's like, no, I need to know those answers as the leader. And if I don't know the answers, as we said with the quote from the bulletin, you will lose respect for me. You'll start thinking, well, you know, he doesn't really know what he's talking about. He just knows how to yell in sermons, right? That's what you'll start thinking. I need to know the difficult questions. Now, when it comes to most churches in the Philippines, do you think most of those pastors know the answers to those questions? They don't know the answer. They don't even know how to explain why they believe in a preacher rapture. It's like, are you kidding me? It's such a dogma to you. This is something that you believe, you know, it's a fact. And if you don't believe this, you're inheriting. And you can't give me one verse to show why you believe in a preacher rapture? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And I'm just being honest. Before my wife and I were married, and my wife came from a church that was very dispensational, very much into the preacher rapture. And I remember she had watched After the Tribulation a few times, and we were still talking about this preacher rapture topic. And I remember I was out for a walk, and I remember I was on the phone with her. And for a couple hours, I did not have a Bible with me, because I was on the phone talking. My Bible was in my car. For a couple hours, I told her every passage she needed to turn to. I said turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. There's this verse, there's this. I said turn to Matthew 24. And for two hours, and you can ask her, it was more than two hours, I explained to her the poster rapture left, right, and down the center. And after that conversation, she said, I can't believe I believed in this preacher rapture for so long. You know, I didn't have a Bible in front of me. But you know, we need to know what the Bible says. And it doesn't just come to me. Obviously, I'm the one preaching the sermons, but we all need knowledge. We all need wisdom, because you know what, we're all leaders in some form or another. There's people that are going to look up to you and look at you as a leader. You have a younger brother, you have a younger sister, you have kids, you have people that you're preaching the gospel to, right? You need to have knowledge, you need to have wisdom, you need to know what the Bible says. And you know what, Solomon, he had that wisdom. As you're in 1 Kings 2, let me just read this where it says in Hosea 4, Why people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Boy, don't people just screw up their lives because they're ignorant? Because they don't know what the answers are to questions. They don't know what the Bible teaches. They have no clue. I mean, people raise their kids and they never spank them. Why? They have no idea that the Bible says they need to do that. Right? They're just ignorant and they destroy their lives. They destroy their kids' lives because they lack knowledge. We have no excuse in 2018 for not having knowledge of God's Word. Because we can all afford a Bible. Most all of us probably have it on our cell phones where we can just pull it up and at any second we have the Bible right there. We have no excuse for lack of knowledge. We need to know this book. Now I want you to understand something about King Solomon, though. If you remember, God comes to Solomon and says, What do you want, basically? And Solomon asks for wisdom and instruction. Because he says, I'm leading such a great group of people. I need wisdom in order to do a good job. But I want you to understand that before Solomon asked for wisdom, he already had wisdom. Look at 1 Kings 2, verse 8. And behold thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gerah, a Vegemite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I sent him to Mahanim. This is David talking to his son Solomon. But he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swear to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with a sword. Now therefore, hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him, but his forehead bring thou down to the grave with blood. We don't know the exact age of Solomon, but I don't think he was an old man at this time. I think he was a young man who already had wisdom. He already had knowledge of what the Bible taught. He was already a wise man, and it's 1 Kings 3 where he asks for wisdom. But he already has wisdom. Now this makes perfect sense if you know the Bible. For one, just think about this. It takes a wise man to realize you need wisdom. Isn't that the truth? The Bible says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win its souls is wise. And I promise you, everybody who's a soul winner in this room, once you became a soul winner, you started to realize, man, I need more wisdom. Now before you were a soul winner, you didn't really realize that. But once you start reading this book, once you start growing in the Lord, once you become a soul winner, you start realizing, I don't really know this book that well. There's so much in this book, I don't know. Before I was saved, I thought I knew this book really well, and I'd never read it. Now, after being saved for years, I'm just like, man, every single day there's new mysteries to learn in this book. I need more wisdom. You realize in life that it's so easy to be guided by the world's wisdom, and you're going to screw up your life if you don't beg God for wisdom to help guide you and instruct you. So Solomon was a man who asked for more wisdom, which proved he already had some wisdom to begin with. But not only that, doesn't the Bible say to whom has a lot, he's going to get more? See, somebody who has wisdom and is actually using that wisdom, guess what God's going to do? He's going to give them more wisdom. For those people out there that don't go soul winning, they don't read the Bible, you know what? God's going to take away any wisdom they have. And that's the truth, and I don't care if these pastors have been pastors for 25 years. They'll talk about, well, you know what? I've had people say this to me before. Well, they'll say, well, you know what? I've been in the ministry for 35 years. That doesn't make you right. And if you're not a soul winner, you're definitely not right. And I don't care if you're three times my age. The fact is, if you don't go soul winning, you don't read the Bible, what can I learn from you? Right, Solomon was a young man, but he had wisdom. Why? Because he spent time with God every single day. He read the Bible, he prayed, he got a hold of God's word, and he grew. And he already had wisdom in 1 Kings 2. And since he already had wisdom, guess what? God looked down at him and said, you know what? This is someone I can trust with wisdom. I'm going to give him what he wants. Look at 1 Kings 3. 1 Kings chapter 3, and let's look at verse number 7. In verse number 7, Now we have to stop and ask ourselves this question. If we were Solomon, is this what we would ask for? It would be very easy to ask for a lot of money, wouldn't it? Because you feel like, man, if I have a lot of money, I can just kind of retire, and I'm good to go. But you know what? Solomon was someone God could actually really trust. And he asked for something that was really valuable. Because he understood that this book, the words of this book are much more valuable than gold and silver that perishes and gives you no rewards in heaven. We know God will provide our needs. He provides our food. He provides our clothing. We don't need to be rich. And Solomon doesn't ask to be rich. Now God does bless him and gives him money, which shows just having money doesn't make you bad. But what Solomon asked for was wisdom. Because he realized, if I'm going to judge so great a people, I will screw up unless I have God's wisdom. Now I want to read to you a couple of quotes from the wisest man in the world today. The Dalai Lama. Who here knows who the Dalai Lama is? He's considered, he's like the leader of Buddhism. He's considered the wisest man in the world by a lot of people. Let's see how wise he is. Here's a quote from the Dalai Lama. The purpose of our lives is to be happy. Now that sounds real good to 95% of the world. They love hearing that, man, the purpose of our lives is to be happy. Is that what the Bible says? The purpose of our lives is to be happy? No. Now first off, Mr. Dalai Lama, you're not even saying you're going to go to hell one day. First thing, before anything, doesn't the Bible say in John 6.40, And this is the will of him that saith me, that everyone would see at the sun, And believeth on him may an everlasting life? The first will of God is just that you believe on him. The first thing is just to get saved, Mr. Dalai Lama. But after that, guess what, your life is not about being happy. And here's the great thing though. When you serve God that will make you happy. When you serve and obey God. But our lives is not about happiness. It's not about gratituting the flesh, making yourself happy. Oh, I want to watch this movie because it's funny. Vice God is just so funny, so I'm going to watch the movie. I'm not going to watch that movie because my life is not about being happy. My life is about serving God. I believe that's what the Bible teaches. Our goal here is to win souls to the Lord, to serve God, to learn the Bible, And do something mighty for God in our lives. It's not to be happy. If you would say our goal is to be happy, our purpose, you're a fool. You're a moron. And anybody that would listen to you for advice is being deceived. It's very foolish. I remember listening to the Dalai Lama one time for a couple minutes, answering this question. I can't remember the name of the video. I put it up on a Verity Baptist channel before it got taken down. I can't remember what the question was. But it was so obvious he had no idea. It was something about being patient or something like that. Something that Buddhists are supposed to be experts at. These men that you see wearing dresses in the airport, these Buddhist monks, They're the experts at being patient. And he had no idea how to answer the question. It was embarrassing how little knowledge he had. I'm very confident anyone in this room could have done a much better job answering the question. He had no idea, and that's what he's supposed to be an expert at. Here's another quote from the wisest man in the world. The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, and forgiveness. Now is that the point of religion? What do you think he means by tolerance? We all know what you mean by that. Basically, love the LGBT, right? We're supposed to love people like you who we know. You're a pervert, you're a false prophet. We know what the Bible says about you. Being tolerant. Is that what we're supposed to be? No. Was Jesus very tolerant in the Bible? No. No, he wasn't. Did he come to just bring everybody together or to divide? He came to divide. That's what the Bible says. Our goal is not to be tolerant. And look, we ought to have love. We ought to have compassion. There's some truth mixed in with lies in his statement there. But his understanding of it is completely false. Because he says, except everybody, except all religions. Basically, according to him, any religion that is helping you get love is a good religion. I'm sorry, but no religion is good except true Christianity. I don't care how loving they become. It's garbage when they end up going to hell and spending forever there. And so this Dalai Lama, the wisest man in the world, this is an example of the world's wisdom. Turn to 1 Kings 10. Turn back to 1 Kings 10. And the truth is that the world's wisdom is absolutely garbage. That's why we have that picture on the front page of our bulletin. God's wisdom versus the world's wisdom. The world's wisdom is foolishness. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. That's what the Bible says. And we're in this world and we get brainwashed by the world. But if we go down the world's philosophies for wisdom, we will destroy our lives. We must have God's wisdom. Now I want you to notice in verse number 1 as well, I want you to notice also not only did Solomon have wisdom and knowledge, but also Solomon is prepared. Notice what it says in verse 1. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart, and Solomon told her all her questions. So Solomon answers every tough question she has. Solomon is prepared. Here's what we have to understand. That when tough questions in life come our way, it's not like we get a six month warning that it's coming. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's not like for example you find out six months ahead of time, hey I have this question, what should I do? Usually when it comes to difficult situations where you really need wisdom, you need to know immediately. When people are really about to screw up their lives, you need to already know what the answer to that question is. You don't get a heads up six months ahead of time to figure it out. You have to be prepared. That's why we need to read this book more and more and more and more. Because honestly we're still learning. And there's questions people could ask that we don't know the answers to. We need to be ready. All of us need to be ready for that. Especially everybody in this room as a soul winner, as someone who loves the Lord. People will look at you as a spiritual leader, even in your families, in your extended families. You're going to be the person. We just spent our Christmas in Pampanga. There's like 60 people there and I didn't know most of my wife's relatives, but I was the one who prayed before we ate. Why? Because I'm the religious guy in the family, so to speak, right? And I'm sure it's going to be the same with everybody here in this room. They're going to look at you and say, man, you're really devoted to God. You're going to be looked at when they do have real questions about the Bible, real questions about religion or wisdom, they will come to you. I promise you that. You need to be prepared. Don't just rely on church to feed you with the answers. You need to read the Bible for yourself. And I am not afraid at this church of you reading the Bible and you figuring out what the Bible teaches. Most pastors are afraid of their members reading the Bible. That's the truth. They don't want them to read the Bible because they're afraid they're going to come to a different conclusion. I'm not afraid. And look, you know, if you do come to a different conclusion and you believe that's what the Holy Spirit teaches you, I'm not against you. That's fine. As long as it's not heresy, that's fine. I'm not claiming to know everything. I'm just doing my best job to try to learn as much as I can and pass on instruction. And you know what? I'll learn something new and find out I was wrong. I just preached recently on the sermon on Matthew 10 and I admitted this is something I did not understand a month ago. Didn't I say that in that sermon? I said this is something I didn't understand, this is something I learned, and then I passed on that knowledge. I'm going to continue to learn and grow and all of us need to as well. And so we see that Solomon is ready. Now turn to 1 Kings 3. And so I'm sure there's going to be new topics that come up here at this church from time to time, things that I need to preach on or things I need to address. I need to be prepared, but I want you to realize that all of us need to be prepared as well, not just myself. It says here in 1 Kings 3, it says in 1 Peter 3, One thing that's very sad to me, and I don't think this is a problem with at least 85% of people in this room, but I've had people send me text messages when I lived in the United States, and they would say, hey, my dad is on his deathbed, how do I tell him how to get to heaven? And you know what, if I were to send an honest text back, I would say, you know what, honestly, it's probably too late for you to figure that out. Now I don't send that message, I'm not a jerk, I'm just trying to be honest to you guys. That people ask that question, how do I win my dad to the Lord? Look, if you haven't learned how to go soul winning through trial and error out there on people that you don't care about that much, it's going to be too late to win your family member to the Lord on their death. That's the truth. When I was saved, within six months after I got saved, one of my grandparents died before I was born. He had a lot of heart attacks, my dad's father. And then I had three grandparents, and two of them died within six months after I got saved. Now one of them who died, my mom's dad was, at least he claimed to be an atheist. I'm not saying I would have won him to the Lord, because I don't think he would have ended up leaving. But I just remember feeling like, man, I got to try to give him the Gospel. And he lived a few hours away, so I was able to see him, he was on his deathbed, and I just kind of left an invitation on his bed. And I know, I don't believe that that invitation is going to win him to the Lord, but I was just newly saved. I was just trying to do the best I could. But honestly, you know what, it was just kind of too late for me at that point to even preach him the Gospel. Why? Because I didn't know how to preach the Gospel. And you know what, when those times come, you need to be already prepared. It's going to be too late. And not just that though, when you have a relative come to you, and talk about they've got a crisis in their marriage, you need to be able to answer that question immediately. Because otherwise, their life's going to be screwed up. We need to be prepared. Solomon was prepared. Now right after he asked for wisdom, we're here at 1 Kings 3, he ends up getting a very difficult situation in front of him. 1 Kings 3 verse 16, Then came there two women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him. And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered. But this woman was delivered also, and we were together, there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaids slept, and laid her in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead. And when I had considered it in the morning, behold it was not my son which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay, but the living son is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. So basically, the king's got a really difficult situation. He's got two brawling women in front of him. Now that's never a good thing. That is a very difficult situation, right? But there's these two women that are harlots. These are not the godliest people, okay? I want you to understand though in this story that even though these two women are harlots, a mom has a natural love for children when they're born. Even though they're not the godliest people, the real mom really cares about her child. She loves her child. Solomon was a wise person. He was aware of that. That even though these women are harlots, obviously they're going to really care about their child. There's just this natural love you're going to have for your son or your daughter when they're born. It's something that honestly is not fully describable. Like when my son was born, you just realize, I have to protect him. I have to take care of him. There's the natural love that just is between the two of you, between your child and between yourself, especially even more so with a mom. Because when a baby's born, they're completely just one mom. My son still is at that point. Oftentimes I go to pick him up, and then he cries and he just reaches out for his mom. He just loves his mom. That's the way kids are when they're young. So here's a very difficult situation. Solomon does not have the time to say, well, let's just throw this baby in daycare for six months and we'll figure out what the answer is. He's not able to do that. He needs to be prepared and have the answer to this question. Verse 23, Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead. And the other saith, Nay, but thy son is the dead and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king, and the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. So he says, Let's just divide this child in two and give half to one and half. Would Solomon have actually done that? No, he would not have. Obviously, he wouldn't do that. But here's what Solomon knew because he was a wise person. He knew that the real mom loved her child and would make sure that didn't happen. What he also knew was the mom who lost her child, it's not that she wanted a different child because her child was already dead, but she did not want the other woman to be happy. Isn't it true that we don't like to see other people's success in life? Isn't that true? I mean, there's part of us, when your best friend gets a raise and you don't, part of you is envious that they got that raise. That's the truth. Part of us is not fully happy that someone else is succeeding and we're not succeeding. Even when it comes to soul winning, honestly, sometimes there's this tendency, you go out and have a big soul winning day and you come back and you got one person saved. Somebody else gets five people saved. There's part of you that wishes you got the five. And I'm just being honest with you, that this is something that creeps up. That just kind of shows our sinful flesh and how we're all still working on our sinful flesh because we as people, we don't like seeing others happy unless we're happy. And that's a bad attitude to have, but it's something that creeps up with all of us at various times. We have to remember, and obviously we know this, but that number in the bulletin, that's a joint effort. And praise the Lord for whoever got whoever saved, as long as they're on their way to heaven, that's what counts. But Solomon is aware that inside of a human is an enviousness towards those that would succeed when you don't succeed. And he realized this woman doesn't really want the child, doesn't really care about the child, doesn't really love the child, but she doesn't want this other woman to be happy because she lost her child. And so obviously he's not gonna actually divide this child, but he was smart enough, he was wise enough to know what would happen. Now I can't say that in this situation I would've come up with this, I don't think I would've. But Solomon was, I'm sure, the only one in the room who realized exactly what was gonna take place. Then it says in verse number 26, Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, Oh my Lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. So the one woman says, You know what, I want, spare the child. Just give the child to the other lady. And the other lady says, You know, just divide it. Now would any mom really say that, just divide the child? But here's the thing, you can't help but speak the things that are inside your heart. Now if she had really stopped to think about it, she would've realized this is a very foolish thing to say out loud. But that was actually what was in her heart. Now talk about how wicked of an attitude that is that someone else's child ends up dying because your child died. But that is what was inside of her heart, and you can't help but speak the things that are inside of your heart. That's what the Bible says. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. That's what the Bible teaches. And so that was what was inside of her heart. She didn't want this other woman to have the child, so this is the best case scenario for her. Just the child's killed and neither one of us is happy. But yet the other woman wants to spare her child. It's very obvious at this point who's the real mom, isn't it? Solomon was very wise. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child and in no wise slay it. She is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king. For they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment. They all realized, I would have never come up with this. And they realized, man, this guy is very wise. And they realized the wisdom of God was upon him. And turned back to 1 Kings 10. 1 Kings 10. And so the first thing we saw is just that Solomon had knowledge and wisdom. Solomon was prepared. But I want you to see something else. Solomon is not afraid to say what the truth is. Notice what it says. In Solomon, verse 3, Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. Now, the wording in this verse is kind of funny, but what it's saying is Solomon basically has all the answers and there's nothing he didn't tell her. He wasn't afraid to tell her anything. There's nothing he told her not. So not only did he have the answers, he actually gave her the answers. Now that might sound obvious, but I'm sure that there's some questions that she asked that if he were just honest like he was, it could possibly offend her. The truth is when it comes to a church and you're preaching sermons, there are pastors and I don't know. It's like, are you ignorant of the truth or are you scared? We don't really know what the answer is. They might know the truth, but what good does it for you to know what the answer is if you don't say it? Isn't that the truth? And with pastors here in the Philippines, hey, I hope they have some wisdom, especially the ones that are saved, but I have no idea because they would never tell us what the actual answer is. They're afraid to preach the truth. And we, when we preach sermons, we better not be afraid at what the repercussions are. We better just preach the truth and show people what the Bible says. Turn to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. You want to think of one word that describes most Baptist pastors in the Philippines? Afraid would probably be the answer. Afraid. They're afraid to just say what the Bible teaches. And you cannot tell me that all these pastors don't know any of these answers. I promise you they know what the Bible says in a lot of this stuff, but they refuse to say what the answer is. Isaiah 58 verse 1. Now, it says cry aloud. That's obviously you're yelling behind the pulpit, but spare not. Basically, don't hold anything back. Spare not. You've heard the phrase, spare the rod, spoil the child. Basically, if you don't spank your kid, you're going to destroy that kid's life. You know, if we spare, if we hold back words, we're going to destroy everybody who's listening. It says spare not. It says show my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins. The job of a preacher is to spare not but just preach what the Bible says. Look, nobody will quit listening to rock music unless they hear it preached from the pulpit. That's the truth. People quit listening to rock music because it gets preached out of them. That's the truth. That's why I quit listening to rock music because I heard it preached, and it steps on your toes. Now, most people, when they have the preaching step on their toes, they end up getting offended, and they'll leave a church like this. We know that's the truth. Most people just aren't going to like a church like this, but I'm not going to water down the message just because it's going to cause people to leave. I'm not going to just make it this garbage, God loves you sort of message all the time so this church will grow. I promise you it would grow. If we went soul-winding and just told everybody, hey, God loves you, man, He loves everything you're doing, this church would grow really quickly, but I'm not interested in a big church and people that don't love the Lord. I'm going to preach the truth, and people that don't want to hear the truth, they're welcome to leave. That's fine, because you know what? God's still going to bless us. We're still going to get a ton of people saved. God has been blessing this church, and He's going to continue, and we're still going to be the church here in Metro Manila that wins more souls to the Lord than any other church because who else is actually doing that? And you will always see this hard preaching and great soul-winding go together. And so if I cut out the preaching, you say, well, why don't you just focus on the soul-winding? You know why? Because if I don't focus on hard preaching, there won't be any soul-winding. That's the way it works. I mean, time has proven that over and over and over again, and churches always try this thing where they cut back on how hard they preach and say, well, just focus on soul-winding and the love of God more, and guess what? Those churches end up quitting soul-winding, and they don't love the Lord. The job of a preacher is to spare a knot. Turn to Jeremiah 6, Jeremiah 6. I mean, you look throughout the Bible, and when you look at God's people, God's prophets, those preaching, so often they end up getting killed where people try to kill them. They get thrown in jail. They get persecuted. Why? Because when you preach the truth, it offends people. That's just the way it is. And you know what? God's people, they preach the truth, and throughout history, people have been murdered for the cause of Christ because they stood up and they preached what the Bible said. Jeremiah 6, verse 13. It's interesting, in verse 13, where it says, every one of them is given to covetousness. All of them are given to money. They want money. Boy, I mean, if there was one verse that would really be fitting for the pastors here in the Philippines, I think Jeremiah 6, 13 would be a pretty good one. Aren't they just all given to covetousness? I mean, it's almost laughable. The sermons they preach, because I've scanned the websites of these pastors, and you would not find Baptist pastors in America preaching sermons like this all the time. You'd find very few. You'd find the Pentecostals doing that. The TV preachers where they say, just donate $1,000 now. God will bless you. God will make you rich. You wouldn't see the Baptists doing that in America, at least most of them. Here in the Philippines, though, you look at their websites, and they're always preaching on giving. It's like, are you kidding me? I mean, do you really believe the Bible talks about it that much? But that's all they preach on. Why? It shows what's inside their heart. They're given to covetousness. And look, they're rich. And go ahead. As I mentioned before on Wednesday night, go ahead in this life, you're the one standing, giving instruction, and you'll be the one on your knees begging for mercy, false prophets. That's the truth. That's a hard saying, but that's the truth when it comes to most of these Baptist pastors. Most of these Baptist pastors in the Philippines, most of them don't believe the Gospel. You know what they really did believe the Gospel? God would be severely making them reap what they've sowed here in this life by being saved and given to covetousness. But most of these ones, we know they're preaching a false gospel. They're preaching this repentance of sins garbage that the Bible doesn't talk about. And it also says in that verse, from the prophet even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely their liars, their deceivers. It says in verse 14, They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people, slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Now this verse people can get confused on when he says, slightly, because usually we think of slightly as basically being just kind of a little bit. But when you notice right after that, it says, peace, peace, when there is no peace. It's not that they're being kind of truthful. They're being complete frauds, complete liars. You've heard of a slight of hand from a magician. That's an expression used where basically they're deceiving you. They're trying to make you think something that isn't true to deceive you from the trick that they're doing. These preachers, these prophets, these so-called prophets, they're dealing slightly. They're lying. They're saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. There's no peace. They're being complete liars. They're lying about it. Why would they do that? Because they want money and because people like to hear, Oh, God's really blessing this country. Look, God's not blessing this country in the Philippines. And that might be a hard saying. God's not blessing America either. They're both wicked countries. I'm not ashamed to say that. When I lived in America, a million babies get aborted every year in the United States. You think God's blessing that? A million babies per year, more than a million get aborted? Yeah, God's really going to bless the country that sheds more blood than any country in the world, the United States of America. No country is causing more destruction than the United States. But that doesn't mean that this country is so great either. We got a lot of issues in this country. And we all know that's the truth. It's my job to just preach the truth. One thing we need to be careful of is not getting this overly love for your specific country. Obviously, we've got to feel like a burden. We live here. God has placed us here to do a great work for God. But don't have this attitude that if somebody says something bad about this country, Oh, how dare them say that. There's a lot of things that need to be preached against in this country. And God's people always preach against the countries they lived in. Isn't that the truth? They always preach against the country they lived in. Now, I'm not saying I want to live in a month. There's no country I'd rather live in than this country. This is a soul-winding paradise. I love living here. But you know what? That doesn't mean that there aren't problems that need to be fixed. And I'm just going to pretend like everything's so great about this country. I mean, look at all the problems there are, not just with the Sodomite agenda, but there's a lot of things, especially here specifically in Manila. There's a lot of things that need to be fixed. It says in verse number 15, Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed. Neither could they blush. Isn't that amazing? They're not even ashamed that they're lying and preaching falsely. Now, when we do wrong, don't we feel bad about it usually? We feel guilty, especially if we were deceiving. Like, if I were intentionally deceiving everybody in this room so I could become rich, that's pretty wicked. Now, why don't they feel ashamed? Because they have no conscience. They have no conscience. There are people out there that don't have a conscience. It doesn't make sense to me because of the fact I do have a conscience. And I do feel bad when I do wrong. You guys have a conscience. You feel bad when you do wrong. But there's people that have no conscience. They don't feel bad at all. That's the reason why they don't feel bad. They don't feel bad at all. They're not ashamed. They're not ashamed that they're a false prophet. All they care about. And they'll even take all their pictures and show that they're at the golf course all the time to show. Look at how rich we are, right? They're not ashamed of it. They're not. Why? Because they're false prophets. And they're given to covetousness. And this is the answer to a lot of these Baptist pastors here in the Philippines. And all over the world. Over 90% of preachers, so called, are just bad people. That's the truth. They're not ashamed at all. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, sayeth the Lord. Verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way and walk therein. Ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. He says, ask for the old paths. I thought that Am Dat Ting Da An was the old path. That's not the old path. That's not the sort of preaching that they had in the Old Testament here in the book of Jeremiah. This is the sort of preaching that they had. Now I'm not trying to say this to lift myself up at all. Because I believe any time the word of God is being preached, people are being edified. I think the Sunday afternoon sermons we have are great. It's the preaching from the word of God and people will learn and grow from that preaching. I think it's awesome. Any time the word of God is being preached without apology, that's the old paths. This is the old time religion right here where we have at this church. This is the sort of preaching in Isaiah's day, in Jeremiah's day. The same from John the Baptist, from Jesus. This is what we have today. Just preaching what the Bible says. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 10. You know what I really hate? And this takes talent. It takes practice. But if you preach a lot of sermons, you have an ability to preach and pretend like you're preaching hard. Without actually preaching hard. And the Baptist pastors you have in the Philippines, that's what they do. They pretend to preach hard. They'll preach against the LGBT so-called. They make it sound like they're really on the firing lines. And they're not. They're lying. They're being deceptive. They pretend to preach hard, but they're just lying about it. They do it intentionally. I hate that. Just be honest that you have no guts and you're not going to preach it. Don't pretend to preach against it. Either preach against it or don't preach against it. And they pretend to preach against it. There's nothing that makes you more angry. We are meant, as preachers, to preach without apology, not to be afraid. Let's look at the fourth point though. The fourth thing I want you to see is this, that when it comes to the preaching of God's word, people will come to visit because of the preaching of God's word. Verse 1, And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem. She's coming from a great distance to prove him with tough questions. And you have to realize that this sort of preaching, this will draw people from a long distance away to come hear the preaching of God's word. And obviously in this missions trip in January, it's not just the sermons or this church specifically. We're going to have people from all over the world here in January. Do you realize how amazing that is? The week of the missions trip here in January, that is the most important event happening in the entire world. And I'm not exaggerating. That is the biggest, most important event in the entire world. There will be more souls saved here in Manila than anywhere in the entire world. Isn't it amazing you get to be a part of that? Amen. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a pro athlete. That's what I love. That's what I'm obsessed about. I dreamed about game seven, NBA Finals, down by one point. I got the ball. I would hit the last second shot. Everyone takes the pictures. I'm famous. Front page of the newspaper. Vainglory, but here's the thing. We honestly get to be involved in the greatest work in the world. Amen. We're part of one of the greatest churches in the entire world. That's exciting. And when people are going to come to visit the church, especially as the church goes on, we will have people visiting. We have people that come here regularly to church that come more than a couple hours away. Why? Because they love the preaching of God's word. Amen. That's the truth. And I want you to notice, turn to Matthew 3. Now here's the thing about this. If people are going to come from a really long distance away, isn't it important that I actually have a sermon that can help change their lives? I believe it's very important to spend real time on your sermons. I'll be honest. When I used to preach ten-minute sermons, when I first moved to Verity, I got chances to preach every once in a while, but most of the time I was preaching ten-minute sermons that never went online. It was just on Saturdays we had regular preaching. But I put my heart and soul into those ten-minute sermons. Because I said, I want to prove that I'm going to put in the time, and I want to preach a sermon that can help people. And even so much more now, preaching regularly every week. People come from a long distance to come to this church. It's very important I spend real time on my sermons that can help change your lives. Both of these sermons that I'm preaching today, I practiced both of them yesterday audibly for over an hour. And you say, why would you spend so much time on your sermons? Because people are coming from a long distance and expecting to be edified. I'm not just going to get up here and be lazy with my sermons and not spend any time. So obviously I do spend a lot of time on soul winning, but at the same time, I need to spend a lot of time on the sermons as well. Because of the fact there's a lot of people counting on hearing something on a Sunday morning. You come from a long distance away. If I just come here and pat you on your back and give you some ten-minute sermon, that's ridiculous, isn't it? I need to preach a sermon that can help change your life. It says in Matthew chapter 3 verses 4 through 6, And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathery 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 and Jordan, confessing their sins. People are coming from all over to hear the preaching of John the Baptist. Now this is before they had cars. This is before they had, you know, rap. This is before they had Uber or anything where they could just say, Oh, you know, I just got my ride and I'll just go. This is before they had gympies. This is when it took a lot of effort to come hear the preaching. Honestly, you know, you see in the Bible, these people are literally putting their life on the line because they don't know where the food's coming from. They don't know where their drink's coming from, their sustenance. They don't know where they're going to sleep, but they say, you know what, the preaching of God's word is that important. Now I'm not comparing myself to John the Baptist here today because I think John the Baptist was obviously a better man than I'll probably ever be. He's a good man to try to strive to be like, but I'm not saying I'm ever going to be like John the Baptist. What I am saying is any time the preaching of the word of God is done, people will visit from a long distance away. Why? Because throughout history, there's never been a time where in most places the preaching of the word of God is getting done. It's always been like this, that there aren't great churches everywhere, and you have to travel a distance to hear the preaching of God's word. It's always been like that. They're coming out to the wilderness to hear John the Baptist. I mean, honestly, if there was a great church that was nearby you, guess where you go to church on Sunday morning? You go to your local church, right? I mean, look at the Catholics out here. There's no traffic on Sundays because every Catholic goes to church, but they go to their church that's right beside them. It's not like they travel 45 minutes and say, man, I just love this one Catholic church, right? They don't do that. But, you know, people in this room will travel a long distance because you know the Baptist church right beside you is not the same as this church. We've all been asked that question by our parents and relatives. It's like, there's like a dozen Baptist churches within 10 minutes of you. Why don't you just go to that church? Because it's not the same thing. You might as well just take the name Baptist off their signs right now because it's not the old paths. It's not a real Baptist church. It's not the preaching of God's word. Turn to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. The great thing is, though, despite the fact that there aren't a lot of great churches, there are always people who want to hear the preaching of God's word. It's always been like that. Now, we could feel like, I mean, think about the story of Elijah, how he felt he was the only one. It was like, man, there's thousands of people who haven't bowed their knee to Baal. I'm sure probably a year ago, before anyone knew this church was going to start, a lot of you probably felt like, man, I'm the only one. There's so few of us. But don't we realize here this morning that you're not the only one? I'm not the only one. That there's a lot of us. And don't we realize that there's a lot of people here in the Philippines that are going to eventually come to this church and start growing and learning and be edified? There's a lot of people out there that want to hear the preaching of God's word. It's not just in the Philippines. It's throughout the entire world. Churches can get started because people do want to hear the truth. There are some people. In Matthew 15, it says in verse 29, And Jesus departed from thence and came nigh into the Sea of Galilee and went up into a mountain and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him. Great multitudes are coming to him. And notice what it says in verse 32. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I will not send them away fast unless they faint in the light. These people, they have nothing to eat. Three days, they go just to hear the preaching of God's word. They have no clue how they're getting their food. Now, I don't want to go three days without eating. That's a long time, isn't it? Three days without eating, but they cared about the word of God. There are people that are willing to travel distances to come to hear the preaching of God's word. All throughout Luzon, there are people that want to be a part of this church. And I hope maybe God will lay it on their heart to move so they can't come to this church one day. There are people that are out there that are willing to travel a great distance to come to a church like this. We're not unique. There's lots of us like this. Obviously, it's the minority. Obviously, it is a big sacrifice, but I want you to realize we're not the only one, though. There are plenty of people in this room that are coming along just to be a part of this church because we love the preaching of God's word. Turn back to 1 Kings 10. And the last thing I want you to see is this from this story. I want you to realize it is obvious which people have knowledge, which people have wisdom, and which don't. Notice what it said in verse 4. The Queen of Sheba is coming from a long distance because she's heard that Solomon is really wise. And when she gets there, she says, Man, you're a lot wiser than I thought. Now, it's not just Solomon's wisdom. This is a three-part series. We're going to be talking about the people in church. His followers here are mentioned. Obviously, we're going to talk about that. That's next week's sermon, though, right? But when she gets here, one thing she's amazed by, and she's amazed by a lot. We're going to talk about these things, but one thing she's amazed by is the wisdom of Solomon. It exceeds what she expected. Honestly, the truth is this, that people listen to sermons online all the time, but a sermon in person is a lot different than a sermon online. That's the truth. And that is one reason why I believe everybody ought to love the church they're at if it's a church that's preaching the truth. Because honestly, you're going to be edified more from that preaching than just listening online. That's the truth. Because there's a difference between it being in person. And I don't think I'm the greatest preacher in the world. I'm not. But I do believe that God has placed us here, and we will all grow from the sermons that are preached at this church. And the Queen of Sheba visits, and she hears it, and it exceeds her expectations. Me as a preacher, this is kind of a convicting verse where I need to live up to the standards, that when people visit this church, they're like, wow, I knew it was going to be better than my Baptist church, but that sermon was a lot better than the sermon I heard at my Baptist church. That's something that I need to live up to, and I look at it and say, man, I need to read the Bible and know the Bible and teach something. But this is what we see with the Queen of Sheba. She comes, and it exceeds her expectations. Turn to John 7. Now, we've all been to churches that were lame, where you learn nothing. And we thought in our heads, boy, I want to bring visitors to this church, but if I bring a visitor to this church, they're not going to learn anything. Haven't we all felt like that before? I've been at churches like that. I really felt like if I bring someone to church, hey, praise the Lord, but I still have to teach them everything, right? On the car ride there, I'll give them a ride and spend 30 minutes teaching them this and that. The great thing is at this church that, you know what, if you get people to come to visit this church, they will learn and grow from the preaching of God's Word. And I'm not saying that to be arrogant, because like I said, any time the preaching of God's Word is being done, people are going to grow. But that is great to be at a church. And that's the way I felt at Verity. I was so thankful to be at a church where I knew if I bring people to church, it can change their lives. Because I've seen it happen at Verity. I've seen it happen. The preaching of God's Word changes people's lives. At this church, if we get people to come, it will change their lives. That's why we ought to really strive to bring visitors, because of the fact we need to realize that if they do come to a church like this, it will change their life if they want to hear the truth. They still have their free will, but if they really want to hear the truth, they will grow, they will learn, they will get instructed each and every Sunday, each and every Sunday, each and every Wednesday. John 7, John 7, and it says, Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said of a truth, This is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of it. So there's a division. Some people hear the truth, and they believe it, and some don't. And that's always the way it is. When the truth is preached, some believe it, and some don't. That's the way it is. It says in verse number 44, And some of them would have taken it, but no man laid hands on it. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never a man spake like this man. Now let me just be very clear, because I'm sure somebody would take a snippet of this. I'm not comparing myself to Jesus Christ. But what I've said over and over again in this sermon is that when the preaching of the Word of God is done, people will have the reaction, I've never heard anybody preach like this. I've never heard a sermon like this. I've never heard anyone speak like this. Not just my sermons, the Sunday afternoon sermons as well. Because when the preaching of the Word of God is actually done, which is not done in any churches, people are going to be amazed and say, Whoa! I mean, he used more than two Bible verses? I'm amazed. I mean, I didn't even think I needed to bring my Bible. I need to bring my Bible next Sunday, right? They're going to be amazed because of the fact you never hear the preaching of God's Word in most churches. You'll never hear it. At this church, you will hear the preaching of God's Word. And people will walk away and say, Wow, I've never heard a sermon like that. Now, some people walk away very angrily, just get out of here and be mad and want to kill me, right? A lot of people will be like that. They'll still say no one's ever spoken like this before. But they'll be mad. Others will say, You know what? Man, that's what God's Word said. I want to learn God's Word, and they're going to love a church like this. This church is going to grow. It's going to take time because this is not a weed. It's something that's actually going to be rooted in the ground. It's going to last. But there are people all throughout Metro Manila that do want to hear the preaching of God's Word, and we need to deliver. Turn to Hebrews 4. This story is funny because the Pharisees are angry that people want to hear the preaching of God's Word. They say, Are you also deceived? Honestly, you look throughout the Philippines, and there's a lot of pastors that are angry because they're saying, Man, all these young people are being deceived. It's like, really? All these young people are now reading their Bibles every day. They're going so in and getting lots of people saved. Yeah, they're just all deceived. They know nothing, right? And they're getting angry about it. Why are people being deceived? Because they're amazed somebody's actually preaching the Bible, and now people are starting to believe the Word of God. They're amazed by it because we've never heard preaching like this in the Philippines. This preaching did not exist a decade ago in the Philippines. This preaching has not existed for people. But God is opening up the doors here in the Philippines, and we see that. Why? Because people that are soul winners are turning back to God and wanting to love the Lord, and God's going to bless this country, and it is going to grow. And in ten years, we're not just going to have a small handful of churches here in the Philippines. We're going to have a lot of churches in the Philippines. And we're going to strive to do everything as our church here at Verity Baptist Church Manila to get churches started. So we're going to be preaching three areas. We're going to have the mega marathon. And in my heart, I would like to see church plans started there in the next, you know, three years. I don't know the exact time frame. But there's a reason why we picked those three areas because those three areas I really want to put a harvest in because I think those are kind of the three best areas. Obviously, we have our church, but I really believe both in southern Metro Manila and Pampanga, we could really see churches that could really flourish. And obviously, there's people we know who are in the preaching in those areas that honestly, this is a long drive. And they might not be able to come. But if we get a church started there, that's kind of what's in my heart. And I believe it will happen because of the fact I believe there's people that want to hear the truth of God's word and we're going to do everything we can as a church that God's blessing will be upon us. And in His time frame, I believe it is going to happen. Whether it's three years, whether it's more, whether it's less, I don't exactly know, but I do believe it's going to happen. And I do believe all throughout the Philippines, not even just Luzon. I think God's going to bless those areas as the Word of God gets out more and more. Are you in Hebrews 4? This is the last place we'll look. Verse 12, I know it's a famous verse, but it's a great verse. For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even in the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God has power. The Word of God has power that somebody could get saved even when they hear the preaching of God's Word in a one-on-one conversation. But it also has power in the terms of the fact when it's preached behind the pulpit, it can change people's lives. The Word of God is quick. It's powerful. It changes your life. I look at who I am now. I would have never guessed this over ten years ago. I would have never guessed I made some of the changes in my life. I didn't even want to make those changes over a decade ago. But the preaching of God's Word, it changes who you are and what you desire and what you want. The problem is we've got a lot of pastors here in the Philippines that they don't know the answers. They don't have any knowledge or wisdom. They can't preach a sermon that can actually change people's lives. They're not prepared, and they don't have any guts at all. They have no guts whatsoever. They're afraid. Even if they know the answers, they're afraid to give the answer. That's the truth. It's sad, but that is the truth that we are just afraid to preach God's Word. We will not be afraid to preach God's Word at this church. We will preach all of this Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We'll preach the Genesis 19 and see what the Bible actually says. We'll preach Leviticus 20, which the Bible actually says, and we'll preach on other things as well because obviously there's some sermons like us being long-suffering, not being bitter. Those are the sermons that are tough for us to hear. We don't mind the Genesis 19, but those ones in our personal attributes, like on our toes, including myself, we'll preach it all because of the fact all of God's Word is great, and we're not going to be afraid to preach any of it. And you know what? If it's this sort of preaching that takes place at this church, God will bless this church. And people are going to come in here and visit and say, wow, you know what? I really haven't heard preaching like this. This is a unique church. And you know what? We're going to talk the next several weeks about not just the preaching, but also the members and things like that. But one of the big things is Thy wisdom. All of us in this room, though, we're all leaders in some form or another. Don't just say, well, I go to a church where the Word of God's being preached. And the pastor, you know, not the pastor, but the evangelist, he knows what the Bible says. Don't just say, well, I'm at a church where the Word of God's being preached. But you personally need to read this book every single day. You need to read it cover to cover as much as you can. You need to know the Word of God. Let's close with a word of prayer. Let's be here today.