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I do have the numbers in front of me, just kind of the results, not all the last several days from Thursday to Saturday, but just the results for yesterday. Honestly, we have so much sowing in so many locations now, it's really hard to get it all organized and everything, so I don't know all the results the last three days. We'll figure that out here coming up. But in terms of just our three churches in Manila, Pampanga, and Biko, and the accompanying ministries underneath them, we had 86 soulwinners yesterday, just yesterday, 86 soulwinners, over 200 salvations, so those are great results, great work, everybody, and obviously a lot of people did soulwinning also on Thursday and Friday. I don't know about you, but I was exhausted yesterday. I'm like, man, soulwinning is, I'm not as young as I used to be, right? Soulwinning is very tiring, but great work, everybody, and I know that they're reporting the final results on the Baptist Bias. You can check that out. I actually just popped in on the program for a couple minutes outside right before church started here, but a lot of other areas, they did a lot of soulwinning. The reason this year we didn't try to tally up results over several days is because we're trying to highlight one specific day to try to motivate other areas of the world, other countries, other places, to just kind of make a push for one day. Obviously, for us here in the Philippines, we have several days that are holidays, and our tradition is just kind of soulwinning on every holiday, but it's great to highlight one day to try to motivate other people, so great job, everybody, from our church. There are great results overall, so a lot of times people see these numbers, and it seems hard to believe, but when you have over 80 soulwinners, it's less than three salvations per person, so it's not like 50 salvations for one person. It's averaged out, and you know what? You get good results, and you have a lot of people soulwinning, so great job, everybody. Next page, bottom memorization challenge, is the book of Ecclesiastes. Next Sunday, I will start the book of Ecclesiastes. I am excited. It is one of my favorite books I've ever memorized and studied before. There's so much great wisdom that is in there, so make sure to try to read and study that as we go along with that series. Upcoming activities, today is Easter Sunday. The second sermon is the Easter sermon. We do have a gift for those that are under the age of 13 that are here today. Next week, we have our monthly service in Laguna. Also the monthly Steadfast Resolve service will be starting next week, so we might have a lighter attendance here next week, and our monthly prayer meeting is next week. Next week, we're also going to have, after the soulwinning time, and then after the monthly prayer meeting, we're going to have basketball, badminton, volleyball fellowship again at the nearby courts, and so if you want to join in that, that would be great. It's open for both men and women, the men playing basketball. The ladies can play volleyball, badminton on the other side. Our family, we're actually going to be up here for a month now, or at least until whenever the baby is born, so I hope to join the basketball next week, but I know just with the results of our family, our child's probably going to be born on a Sunday, so we'll see. So I do ask the men, I ask the men that like to preach, try to have a sermon ready because it is kind of unpredictable. It's very possible it could happen on a Sunday or Wednesday. I'm planning to preach all the Wednesday services while I'm here, but obviously if my wife's about to give birth, then we need somebody to step up, so if you're a man that likes to preach, try to have a sermon ready, and let's see. I don't have this in the bulletin, but we do have a soulwinning marathon coming up. May 1st is a holiday, Labor Day. It's a Thursday, so it's like we're not yet done with the soulwinning push, I guess. Obviously this time of year, it is a lot hotter, so use wisdom. You're welcome to take breaks. You don't have to feel like you've got to push it as much as you do during the non-really hot times, but we will have a soulwinning marathon for Labor Day. It kind of brings back memories, like our first big soulwinning event for those that were at the church during this time was the Labor Day soulwinning event in Cavite, right? That was so hot, it was absolutely brutal. I was like, who is the idiot that came up with this idea, right? It was a cool event, good memories and everything, but we will have soulwinning on May 1st, Labor Day. Birthdays and anniversaries are down there in the bulletin for the month of April. On the back we have the basic rules of conduct for a church, and you should have an insert in your bulletin to take notes for both of the sermons here today. So I believe that's it for announcements, while Brother Marlon lead us in another song. Hallelujah, sing ye the tender King God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, sing ye the tender King God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, sing ye the tender King God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, sing ye the tender King God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, sing ye the tender King God, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. For our script reading, please open your Bible to John chapter number four. John chapter number four, we will read beginning from verse number 25 to verse number 42. John chapter number four, beginning from verse 25, the Bible reads, the woman said unto him, I know that Messiah scomet, who is called Christ, when is come he will tell us all things. He so said unto her, I have speak unto thee, and he. And upon this came his disciples, and marveled, that I talk with the woman, yet no man said, What seekest thou? or I talkest thou with her. The woman then left her water, water-fat, and went her way into the city, and said to the man, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. And meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat, that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Had any man brought him o'er to eat? He so said unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and the fittest work. They not either are yet four months, and then came at her bed. Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth the seed with wages, and gathered fruit unto life, it turn out that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, one soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap, that were only bestowed no labor, other men labored, and you entered into their labors. And men of the Samaritans of the city believed in him, for the sake of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and abode their two things. And many more believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy staying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Amen. All right, we're here in John chapter 4. As I mentioned, this first sermon is not really the Easter sermon. The second sermon is going to be the Easter themed sermon. And the sermon is a bit unique, because I'm kind of gearing it toward our church in Beekle. And obviously, Beekle is a long distance away. Obviously there's a transition where they don't have a live preacher anymore. And I do think the sermon can be edifying to us as well, but just from time to time I want to preach sermons that are kind of geared toward them, sermons that can be helpful to the ministry that is there. And the name of the sermon is, There is No Substitute for Zeal. There is no substitute for zeal. Now let me give you the definition of zeal. Zeal is great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. And in terms of when our spiritual walk in serving God as fundamental Baptists, when we think of a church that is zealous, what do we think of? A church that does a lot of soul winning, right? That is what we mean by being a zealous church. I mean, you could have a church where you say they're doing so many events, getting a lot of people saved. And you say, hey, I don't know much about that church, but one thing I know, they are very zealous, right? They are fully into doing the first works. They are very zealous for the things of God. And of course, you can use the term zealous in other forms of Christianity, like if a pastor, you know, preaches with excitement, man, he's very zealous, he's very bold, he's very excited about that topic or whatever. But when we think of zeal and the way I'm kind of using this is in terms of soul winning being zealous. Now, the first point I want us to realize is that zeal is not necessarily dependent on your knowledge. Because you might have this mindset, you know, pastor, I know I should be more zealous. I know I should do more soul winning. It's just I don't have as much knowledge as other people. Maybe after five years, then I'm going to get that zeal. And I would just say, well, in John chapter four, you have a woman that was really not a very godly woman. And I would say she doesn't seem to know a whole lot spiritually. She just got saved and then boom, she's filled full of zeal. Isn't that true? And what you learn from this story is that zeal is not necessarily dependent on knowledge. You can have great zeal without having a lot of knowledge, and you can have a lot of knowledge and not necessarily have a lot of zeal. Notice what it says in John four, verse 25. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things. Now, in the Old Testament, you know, you talk about the Messiah coming, the Messiah coming. Jews today will say, we're looking forward to the Messiah. And in John four, verse 25, it tells us that Messiah and Christ are the same thing. And when you're saying Jesus Christ, what you're basically saying is that Jesus is the Christ. And of course, we've attached that title to the name of Jesus. And I think that's a good thing to do. The Bible does it. But when you're saying Jesus Christ, you're saying, I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one that was prophesied, which is obviously true. And so the Christ is the Messiah. It's not a common thing in Baptist churches. But there are some Baptist churches that will say, you know, hey, you know, the Jews are still waiting for their Messiah as if there's an actual Messiah coming. It's like, no, Jesus was the Messiah. And he is my Messiah. Because Messiah and Christ is the same thing as, well, you know, my Messiah is not Jesus. I mean, that's weird. That is absurd. It's like, no, Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Christ. And if you're saved, he is your Messiah, and he is your Christ. And if you say he's not, then I don't think you're saved. Because yes, saying Jesus Christ, you're saying he is the Messiah. Okay? Now, I've heard people say, well, you know, Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah. John 4, verse 26, Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. Jesus never said he was, no, he never said the exact words, I am the Messiah, but he said, I am he, referring back to the Messiah, referring back to the Christ. So Jesus said very clearly, I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. Now, look, obviously, when Jesus lived his life, he didn't walk around everywhere he go and say, you know what, I am the Messiah. I am the Christ. No, honestly, his works testified of who he was. Just like, for example, the King of England is not going to just walk up to people and say, hey, I'm the King. I'm the King. It's like people already know that you're the King. Right? I mean, with Jesus, no, he didn't always walk around saying, I am God. I am the Messiah. You say, why? Jesus testified of who he was, but he certainly didn't deny it, and here he flat out says, I am the Messiah. I am he. Verse 27, and upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with a woman, yet no man said, what seekest thou or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Is not this the Messiah? Here's a woman that was living a pretty sinful life before she got saved, and honestly, we don't really know what kind of life she lived after she got saved, and for a lot of people that are saved, if you have a past life of sin, you could allow that to embarrass you and make you too shy to preach the gospel and be bold about what you believe, and here's a woman that doesn't have a lot of knowledge. She doesn't have a lot of knowledge. She was living a sinful life. The people around the area knew who she was, and it didn't stop her. She just went up and said, hey, come see the Christ. This is the one we've been waiting for. There's a lot of people that said, who are you to tell me anything spiritually, right? And maybe there's some people in this room that when you got saved and zealous and you started talking about the Bible, people might have said, you know, I mean, he used to drink alcohol all the time, and you're going to tell me about spiritual things? But this is a woman that does not allow a sinful past to stop her, and she does not allow a lack of knowledge to stop her. Verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did. And the Bible's saying that this woman, right when she got saved, she's like the world's quickest soul winner, right? She's getting people saved immediately. Now, I'm sure that during this time period, a lot of people are thinking about spiritual things. Obviously, Jesus is there, and people are hearing the Word of God. And so I don't think that she gave a detailed 20-minute Gospel presentation. She probably didn't have to say as much as we do when we give the Gospel, but the Bible is saying that she was able to say enough that people got it, and you know what? People got saved. Verse 40, so when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard of ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. The Messiah, the Christ, is the Savior. Go to Acts 18. Acts 18. Acts 18. Now, there's two areas of zeal that you see from this woman. One area is she's preaching the Gospel immediately, and what I would say is that if you get saved, we can pair you up with someone out soul winning. You don't have to say anything. And honestly, with just a little bit of experience and a little bit of knowledge, you can be effective pretty soon. Now look, obviously, more knowledge and more experience is going to make you better. I mean, if somebody's been saved for a month, they might, if they're listening to how people are giving the Gospel, they might be able to get people saved even at that time. But are they going to get a Jehovah's Witness saved? Probably not. So I'm not trying to downplay knowledge. I'm not trying to downplay experience. What I'm trying to do is motivate somebody that maybe you're kind of new at this, and you say, Man, I just don't have enough knowledge. And yet in John 4, we see a woman with little knowledge, and she immediately jumps into the things of God. Lack of knowledge is not an excuse for lack of zeal, according to John chapter 4. Acts chapter 18, let me show you another example. By the way, this woman, she also is bringing people to Jesus immediately. And you know what, you could have gotten saved five minutes ago, and you can invite people to church, can't you? Maybe you say, I can't explain to people how to get to heaven. I remember that when I got saved, I had a roommate in college, and I told him the next day, I was like, Hey, you got to talk to this guy. He'll tell you how to get to heaven. I didn't know how to tell him how to get to heaven, but he's like, you know what, I can lead him to hearing the Gospel. And he heard the Gospel. I mean, he didn't end up getting saved, but at least I led him to hearing the Gospel. And if you're kind of new, maybe you say, Man, I'm just not ready. I can be a silent partner. I can't tell my friends or my family how to get saved. But you know what, you can invite them to church, and there's a lot of people here that would love to try to get your family and your friends saved or your co-workers saved. So here's the thing. Maybe you don't have a lot of knowledge. It's not an excuse or reason not to have zeal, according to what we see in the Bible. Acts 18, verse 24, And a certain Jew named Napaulus born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit, meaning he's excited, he's zealous, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. Now there are a lot of opinions about what's being referred to here, and I don't have time to go into great detail of what I think. But I would say that only a few verses later at the beginning of Acts 19, it talks about the baptism of repentance that John preached, teaching people that they should believe on him. And so I think what it's referring to here at the end of Acts 18 is what the beginning of Acts 19 is referring to, about that John the Baptist was preaching to people to believe on Christ, right? And so I think when it's saying this about this man, Apollos, I believe Apollos is already saved. And he's fervent in the Spirit, he's excited, but he only knows about salvation and really not much afterwards. He gets saved, he gets baptized, doesn't really know any doctrine or whatever. Verse 26, and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took on to them and expounded on them the way of God more perfectly. Aquila and Priscilla see this man Apollos, and here's a man fervent in the Spirit. He's excited, he's zealous, and they see that, and they also realize, but this guy needs to kind of learn a little bit more information. And look, the reality is probably most of us, or at least a lot of us, that was us at one time. We had a lot of zeal, but we just didn't really know how to use that zeal in the proper way. I remember my early days, and I was trying everything to get people saved, I didn't really have great techniques, I hadn't really had any training, and I remember this was the early days of Facebook, I just posted the Gospel on all of my friend's wall on Facebook, you know? It's like, I'll just try something. Now, is that the best way to get people saved? No. Is that what I would recommend you doing? No. But you know what that's called? Having zeal. And when God sees people having zeal with the right heart, God can help redirect that zeal in the proper way. Verse 27, and when he was disposed to pass unto Aquila, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come helped them much which I believed through grace, for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ. When I see people that are filled full of zeal, that maybe their knowledge or experience or the way they're going about things is not perfect, I do not try to destroy their zeal. I try to redirect that zeal into the proper way. I mean, when people are young and zealous, maybe they make some mistakes, but it's like, I try to redirect that zeal because I don't want them to lose their zeal. Now, I definitely believe that people can be very zealous and make some mistakes where it's like, hey, that's not the wisest thing to do. But I don't want to destroy somebody's zeal, though. You say, why? Because if somebody has zeal, there is no substitute for that. Look, if the sermons of this church were the greatest knowledge ever and everybody knew the Bible oh so well, but we never did any soul winning, what's the point? What is the point of gathering a bunch of people together to learn a lot and do nothing with it? And yet a small group of people with zeal can accomplish big things. There is no substitute for zeal. And somebody, maybe they've been saved for a long time, but if they're not actually going soul winning, no matter how many times they've read the Bible, means nothing. And yet sometimes you'll see people that are newly saved and they are just filled full of excitement, filled full of fire, filled full of zeal. It's like, praise God for that. Turn your Bible to Judges 14, Judges 14. Now let me give you a story from myself and kind of my earlier days of serving God. You know, I got saved in college and I was maybe 20 years old at the time and for a couple of summers, I actually stayed in Utah and I was staying at a Baptist pastor's house and just kind of helping him with the ministry, trying to invite people to church. I preached some sermons and I was, you know, basically trying to get Mormon saved pretty much all day long, which I realized after a couple of summers, it's like, you know what? This is very, very difficult. It's like, you know, not for me, okay? It's very hard to get Mormon, especially when you're right by Salt Lake City, Utah, West Jordan, Utah, 15 minutes from Salt Lake City, Utah, which is like the center of Mormonism. And I was with, you know, for a couple of weeks, there's other Baptists that were staying at the house of the pastor. So there was three of us young men that, you know, would preach sermons and go soul winning. And you know, we went to the temple, the biggest Mormon temple in the world in Salt Lake City, Utah. And of course we had a lot of zeal, but we didn't really know what we were doing. And the three of us were getting into a street preaching argument with these Mormon leaders across from the other side of their temple, and we're shouting back and forth and people are watching. This is the only time I've ever gone street preaching, okay? And I'm kind of glad I did because it's an interesting story and I think, man, how foolish was I? And we are screaming back and forth. And I don't know about now, but I actually know that because the pastor's house we stayed at, they will ban you if, you know, they have like facial recognition even back then. I don't know if I'm still banned from the temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, but I was at the time. But we're screaming back and forth. And I remember just, you know, thinking that it was a bit foolish, but I was like, man, I just need more zeal, more excitement. We're screaming back and forth. And you know, it was like for an hour, we take turns, you know, between the three of us. And I remember, you know, we're taking a bit of a break and this guy walks up to us and he's like, man, I appreciate your zeal. I think it's great. He's like, I used to do this also. He said, but, you know, there's a street like right over there where there's a lot of people. He's like, what I found is you can actually stop and talk to a lot of people that are Mormons that will stop and listen to you and you can explain, you know, how to go to heaven. And he's like, you know, I think it would be, you know, a better way, you know, to give people the gospel. And you know, we tried it and then I was, I've never been street preaching again. Because isn't it a much better way to just walk up to people and ask them if they're interested in listening? I mean, when we were at the mob durame a couple of days ago in Pampanga, there were street preachers out there just screaming at the people. But, you know, we got a lot of people saved just stopping and not the people beating themselves, okay? But we got a lot of the people saved that were just there at the event. And isn't that a much more effective way? And what I would say is I had a lot of zeal in my early days, but I was kind of like a polis. I needed people to kind of redirect that zeal in the proper way. Now, from my experience and what happened with me, having zeal is what changed me to want to do what was right. I had zeal to try to talk to people about the Bible, and after talking to people about the Bible, it changed my heart to want to do what was right. Because you might have the mindset, well, you know what, I just need to learn a bunch of knowledge and then I'll get the zeal. That's not my experience. For me, I had zeal, and at the time, I didn't really want to change the music I listened to. I didn't really want to change the movies that I listened to. But, you know, as you go soul winning and you're trying to get people saved and do something for God, it changed my heart to want to do what was right. And what I would say is if people have a lot of zeal to do what's right, I mean, zeal to preach the gospel and to talk to people, it can change their heart to want to do what's right and change their actions. In the Bible, I want to give you two examples of people that were filled full of boldness and zeal. And one of those characters is a man by the name of Samson. Notice what it says in Judges 14. Judges 14, verse 5. Then went Samson down and his father and his mother to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath, and behold, a young lion roared against him. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand, but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. And the Bible says this phrase in verse 6, the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. In the Old Testament, people were not in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God. I mean, if you remember, Jesus said, unless I leave, the Comforter is not going to come. And of course, we sing that song in our hymnal, the Comforter is come, the Comforter is come, referring to the Holy Ghost, right? And so they were not in dwell with the Holy Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost. What you're going to see is the Spirit of God comes upon people to do great works. Now, a wrong mindset is that in our modern day, getting in dwell with the Holy Ghost replaces the Holy Spirit coming upon you. That is not true. Now, in the Old Testament, they were saved eternally, but they were not in dwell with the Holy Ghost. So, yes, they were saved forever. They were not in dwell with the Holy Ghost. But here's the thing, just as the Spirit came upon them in the Old Testament, the Spirit of God can come upon you in your life as well to do great things also. Now, the difference is this, the Holy Spirit does not come upon you forever, no matter what, like the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. And so the thing is, the Holy Spirit can come upon you like Samson, and he rips apart a lion like he would a kid, the Bible says, right? Now, look, don't take the sermon and say, hey, Pastor, I'm going to go out and just approach a bear in the wilderness and just try to rip him apart. I'm not confident the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you to do that, okay? In the Bible what you really see is the Holy Spirit coming upon people to go out soul winning, get people saved, or to preach sermons is kind of the way that we would apply it, although there's other areas the Holy Spirit could come upon you as well, okay? And it says that he rips that lion apart. Is that something he could do in his normal flesh? No, it's not, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Let's go to 1 Samuel 10, 1 Samuel chapter 10. Now, on a side point I'll say this, that if you looked at Samson, I do not think that he would have been particularly impressive in terms of his physique or how strong he looked. And here's the thing about this, they were, you know, confused. How does this man have such great strength? If he looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger, if he looked like a pro athlete on steroids, or a body builder on steroids, then yeah, you know, they'd probably say, well, look at the muscle, right? But Samson was kind of an ordinary looking guy. I'm sure he's a hard worker, he probably was in decent shape, but he didn't have these massive muscles that would make it very obvious why he was so strong. He was an ordinary looking guy and yet the Spirit came upon him and he was able to rent apart that lion. Another example is King Saul, 1 Samuel chapter 10. And I bring these two characters up because as far as I can see, the Bible uses the phrase the Spirit of God coming upon these men more than anybody else that we see in the Bible. We see it often with Samson, we see it often with King Saul as well. 1 Samuel 10 verse 6, and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. The Bible says the Spirit of God is going to come upon you and you are going to be preaching like everybody else. I believe this is referring to preaching the Gospel and getting people saved, and it says you're going to be turned into another man. And why does it say turned into another man? Because here's the thing, us normally in our flesh, we are probably not the type of people that are going to walk up to random people and tell them how to get to heaven. I don't consider myself a particularly outgoing person. I'm not the sort of person that would just randomly walk up to people before I started becoming a sower or before I was saved. I didn't do that. And here's the thing about this, you'll see people that might be shy people, not outgoing people, and yet they're very zealous to preach the Gospel. You say, well, what's the explanation for that? The explanation is the Holy Spirit came upon them and turned them into another man. And they made them become a completely different person than they normally were. Verse number seven, and let it be when these signs are come on to thee that thou do as occasion serve thee, for God is with thee. And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I will come down onto thee to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrificings of peace offerings. Seven days shalt thou tarry till I come to thee and show thee what thou shalt do. And it was so that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart and all those signs came to pass that day. Obviously, when it says another heart, it's not saying that God literally took the heart out of his body and replaced it with another heart. What it's saying is he became a different person. Verse 10, and when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him and the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them. The Holy Spirit comes upon him to help him do great things. Now look, I state this, and this is completely true, and I am not just saying this, but right now our church in Bekal is honestly better than it's ever been. You say, why? They have more zeal and they are doing far more soul winning than they've ever done. And it just kind of reminds me, there's no substitute for zeal. It's like they're doing soul winning marathons every single week. They did soul winning marathon, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday this week, but over the last several weeks, soul winning marathon, soul winning marathon, soul winning marathon, and it just kind of reminds you that there is no substitute for zeal. Now look, don't misunderstand me. Experience is important. Knowledge is important. But there is no substitute for zeal, because without zeal, everything means nothing. What makes our church a great church is the fact we have a lot of zeal to preach the gospel, right? We do a lot of soul winning. We get a lot of people saved. And that is the primary reason why churches exist is to go out and preach the gospel and win people to Jesus Christ. And there is no substitute for having zeal, whether it be a church or individually in your life. Now, I mentioned Samson and King Saul, and part of it is because of the fact the Bible mentions the Spirit coming upon them quite a bit. But that's not the only similarity that Samson and King Saul have. Think inside your head about the similarities between Samson and King Saul besides the fact the Spirit of God comes upon them. Would you look at Samson or King Saul as the example of really living a godly life and being very obedient to God's rules? I wouldn't. I mean, Samson is a bit of a loose cannon. And it's like, praise God when the Spirit comes upon him. But it's like, man, that guy made a lot of mistakes. His life was just like all over the place. And of course, you don't want your life to be all over the place like Samson. But the fact is Samson did a lot. Why? Because he had zeal despite all of his problems. He accomplished a lot. King Saul started off pretty good. Started off humble. But guess what? He just became rebellious and disobeyed God, and God had to replace him. But you know, a prominent similarity between Samson and King Saul is how they ended their life. I mean, when we explain the Gospel and explain eternal security, aren't the two people you're going to bring up the most when it comes to committing suicide and going to heaven Samson and King Saul, right? Now I personally believe Ahithophel was saved. To me, it's pretty obvious he was saved, but it's not the character you're going to bring up as much. And, you know, the armor bearer of King Saul, maybe he was saved, maybe he wasn't, right? We don't really know anything about him. Obviously, there's a couple of people that committed suicide that were not saved. But Samson and King Saul are proof that spiritual salvation is forever and committing suicide only kills your body, not your soul. But here's what I want you to understand. Zeal is not necessarily dependent on knowledge, but I want you to realize that your zeal can be lost. One reason it mentions the Spirit of God coming upon Samson and Saul so much is because of the fact they also lost the Spirit of God upon their life quite a bit, and they had to get it back. Other people that were maybe more balanced, they didn't necessarily lose the Holy Spirit upon their life to do great things, whereas Samson and King Saul, it's like they're serving God, the Spirit's upon them, they get into sin, they lose that, and then all of a sudden they get it back and they lose it, they get it back. Look, once again, we're not talking about salvation. They were saved eternally. But in terms of the Spirit filling them to do great things, it would come upon them and they'd get into sin and they'd lose it. See, point number one is that the zeal is not necessarily dependent on your knowledge, but point number two is that zeal can be lost. Go to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. And this is important for us to realize because if you're a very zealous person now and you're doing great things for God, do not get this arrogant attitude that no matter what, you're just going to do great things for God, because it can feel that way. I mean, you might get this attitude, you know what, I can do whatever I want and I'm just going to be successful, I'm going to do great things, but your zeal can be lost. And there are many examples in the Bible of this. One great example is King David, Psalm 51 verse 7, Psalm 51 verse 7, and the Bible says in Psalm 51 verse 7, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Now, let me say the context of this Psalm in specific is David writing about the fact after he's rebuked by Nathan, this is basically his thoughts as he's gotten right with God. We basically see the mindset as he's gotten right with God, he's gotten sin out of his life, he said, I messed up, I'm the one, I have sinned, there's no excuse. Verse 8, make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice and he's saying, I've lost my joy, I've lost my gladness. Isn't it true that there's nothing that can destroy your zeal and your joy for the things of God than sin? I mean, when you commit sin, it's like your zeal can be up here and it can be zapped immediately. I mean, you can do, have a great day of soul winning, all day soul winning marathon, you're excited, you're zealous, then you commit a few sins and all of a sudden you can't even bring yourself to read the Bible, right? I mean, I wish this weren't the case. I mean, I wish that I don't struggle with this, but we all do. And you can be zealous, but if you let sin get in your life, it will kill and destroy that zeal. So do not think that, man, I'm zealous, I'm doing great things for God, no matter what, I'm going to keep doing it. And when you get that mindset, you can allow sin and worldliness to get in your life, and then all of a sudden you can find yourself just dropping out of the things of God. And it started with just allowing a little bit of sin and a little bit of worldliness in your life. Now with David, it became very grievous sin, obviously. Verse number nine, hide thy face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities, create me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. He says, I want a right spirit and a right attitude back. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Now obviously when it says take not thy Holy Spirit from me, he's not saying don't take away my salvation because of the fact in the Old Testament they were not indwelled with the Holy Ghost. So he's not saying, man, I'm afraid I'm going to lose my salvation. That's not what he's saying, okay? Now I don't think it's very complicated, but it's amazing with unsaved people when they try to interpret verses in the Bible, it's like they don't get it. It's like this guy on my Facebook when I post this, he's like, oh, you can't get saved without the Holy Spirit. It's like they didn't get indwelled with the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. What are you talking about? Right? But what he's saying is I've lost the power of God upon my life. He's like I am no longer filled with the Spirit of God. He says restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Notice he does not say I need to get my salvation back. What did he lose according to verse 12? His joy, his excitement. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. And then it says in verse 13, then once he gets his joy back, once the Spirit fills him, then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. He said, you know what? When I get my zeal back, when I get my joy back, then you know what? I'm going to go out and get people saved like I used to get people saved. I will teach sinners their ways and transgressors. They will be converted. They will get saved, right? Look, don't have this mindset, you know what? I can do whatever I want, I'll still be zealous, because according to David, as he lost the power of God upon his life, he didn't get people saved. And how long of a period was that? Well, he committed adultery. About nine months go by, right? And a baby's born, then the baby gets sick. I mean, you know, you're talking about around a year. But I was showing you that if you allow sin to get in your life, if you allow warliness to get in your life, it can kill and destroy your zeal. Your zeal is not guaranteed no matter what. And honestly, I've been really thinking about zeal recently, trying to fully wrap my mind around this and understand this, because it's a bit of a confusing thing when you think about it. There can be people like the woman at the well in John 4, and you wouldn't argue that the woman at the well in John 4 was the most spiritual or most godly person or the closest to God, and yet she has zeal immediately, and it seems like she just naturally has a lot of zeal in her life, and praise God for it. And then there can be other people that have read the Bible quite a bit, and in many ways they've made a lot of changes, they're close to God, and yet they don't have as much zeal to do the things of God. Look, obviously God made us different, and it's not a comparison between any people. God's going to be the one that gives out the rewards. Honestly, we have no idea who's going to get the most rewards or the least. Everyone should just do the best with what they have. But I want you to realize that if you're someone who naturally has zeal, don't get this attitude you're better than other people that aren't as zealous, and realize your zeal can be lost if you don't stay right with God. Maybe you naturally have zeal that others don't have, but that does not mean it's going to be forever no matter what you do. If you do not stay right with God, you will lose that zeal, and you will not continue to do great things for God. So praise God if you're very zealous to go soul winning and get people saved now, but realize that doesn't mean you can just go out and do whatever you want and still be very successful. It doesn't work that way. Turn in the Bible to Judges 14. Judges chapter 14. Now, I think this should be very obvious. I mean, this is very basic Christianity 101, not even Baptist 101, but in the story we read in Psalm 51, and this is not a trick question. What is it that caused David to lose his zeal for the things of God? Was it Nathan rebuking him? Is that what caused him to not do anything because he felt guilty? Or was it his sin that caused him to be backslidden and not do anything for God? Pretty simple, right? It's his sin. Wouldn't everybody agree on that? See, this is why when I preach sermons, you know what I do? I cry aloud and lift up my voice like a trumpet to show people their transgressions and their sins. You say, why? Because if we allow sin to get in our lives, it's going to destroy us. And look, in this life, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap. And look, we are a Baptist church. This is the very fundamentals of being a Baptist. We get up and we preach against sin. This is not complicated. Everybody should understand this. And for the life of me, I've never in my life until a few days ago ever heard any Baptist say anything really contrary to that. But let me tell you something, that there's a Joseph Prince theology that's out there, if you've ever listened to Joseph Prince, the Singaporean megachurch pastor, that we should not preach against sin. We should not make people feel guilty. You should never criticize someone. Do not judge. You've got to just lift people up, and then that's going to make them feel more encouraged and do more for God. But if you criticize, if you preach against sin, it's going to make people feel guilty and they'll never accomplish anything for God. Well, that's kind of funny, because in this story in Psalms, it seems like it's the sin of David that causes him to do nothing. It's not a matter of the fact, well, you know, Nathan rebuked David. It's Nathan's fault. David's not doing anything. And we should make sure we don't preach against sin, and then people will accomplish more. Well, you know what, if that's your philosophy, let me just explain something to you. There are plenty of Pentecostal churches you can go to. But we are a fundamental Baptist church. And let me tell you something. That theology is actually exactly what Jude 1 is talking about, of teaching the grace of God with lasciviousness. Now we understand we're saved forever no matter what we do. Nothing can take away our salvation. But that does not mean, hey, you're free in Christ, man. Just go out and do whatever you want, and God doesn't care. What kind of nonsense is that? That is not Baptist, and I'm not even being strict with being Baptist. Do you ever hear Baptist say anything like that? It's ridiculous. And is that how you raise your kids? I can never criticize my kids, because if I do, they'll never accomplish anything. It's like, what? It's like, no, as a parent, you've got to rebuke your kids when they do wrong. And if you do, then it can help them. You say, well, but I don't want my kids to obey me out of fear. Okay, well, good luck raising your kids then, because let me tell you something, your kids ought to have a healthy and proper respect and fear for you as parents. And let me tell you something, you better have a healthy and proper respect and fear for Almighty God, because our God is a consuming fire. Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Jesus said, here, my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. That's not a guarantee. No, God is not happy if you're destroying your life with sin, no matter what, He's still happy with you. That is a lie. That is not what the Bible teaches. Go to Judges 14. And let me just say, you know, if you have no idea why I'm going on this rabbit trail, that's perfectly fine. But let me just say, I listened to that sermon twice in one of the other sermons. And you know what, don't have this mindset, well, you know, for me, I kind of line up on this other side of these arguments between pastors, so I'm going to side with him. It's like, no, if you listen to that sermon, it's like, I'm sorry, it's far worse than I ever expected. And I heard it multiple times. Not out of context. And yeah, it completely shocks me myself. It's like, what? I mean, literally, that is direct quotes from what Joseph Prince would say. I literally typed in one of these quotes on Google, where it's just like, you know, we work from our sanctification, not for our sanctification. You know what AI Overview says? Joseph Prince is very famous for the theology, saying that we have unlimited sanctification because we're under God's grace, where, you know, it doesn't matter what we do. It's like, Joseph Prince is the name that immediately popped up, and it's like, yeah, you know, I wonder where you're getting this theology. Judges 14, let me show you another example. And you can look at the Bible. I mean, with David, his sin is what destroyed him. I mean, isn't it true that preaching against sin can often scare us out of making stupid decisions that would have wrecked our lives, right? We need the hard preaching. If we don't get hard preaching in our life, we are liable to destroy our lives. Because we have a sin nature, and I'll tell you what, being in church is the reminder. And yeah, you know what, sometimes it's a good kick in the pants that reminds us, I better make sure that I stay in the straight and narrow. I better make sure I'm doing what's right. Not about my salvation, but I better make sure I'm on the hand of God's blessing. Otherwise I'm going to get my life destroyed, right? This is just very basics of Christianity. It's not that complicated. You say, well, I don't think that we should serve God out of fear or obey our parents out of fear. Well, here's the thing. Perfect love casteth out fear. But do you have perfect love for God that you're going to do everything He says no matter what because you just love Him so much? No you don't, and neither do I. And if you have perfect love, you're right. You don't have to worry about somebody telling you not to do this. But since we don't have perfect love, you know what, we need hard preaching that makes us afraid. And look, let me say this, as a preacher, I am afraid to disobey God and get into a life of sin. You say, why? Because I'm afraid God will destroy me. And if you don't feel that way, you are a fool. Because if you get into sin, God will destroy your life. Judges 14 verse 16. Judges 14 verse 16. And it came to pass when she pressed Him daily with her words and urged Him so that His soul was vexed unto death, that He told her all His heart and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God for my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. When Delilah saw that He had told her all His heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for He hath showed me all His heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came upon her and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. And she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. She said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, and he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself, and he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. You see, we can develop this attitude in our lives where basically, you know what, I can get in sin, but I can just get right with God, and then God's Spirit will fill me, and it doesn't even matter how I live my life. And sometimes God is long suffering, and He's merciful, and we get away with stuff, and we get away with stuff, and we get away with stuff, and we can develop this attitude. He said, Pastor, you know, I can just, you know, sin and do whatever I want, and just, I'm going to watch whatever movie, and listen to whatever music, and then right when I leave to go to soul winning, I'm going to just go on my knees and say, God, forgive me, just fill me with your Spirit to be a great soul winner today. Is that how you live your life? Because look, I'd say a lot of us in my early days of trying to go soul winning when I still had a lot of sin and problems in my life, here's the thing about this, I had a lot of areas I needed to fix, and guess what, when you are not right with God, you are not going to have as much boldness. So don't get this attitude, I can just do whatever I want, and then just go down to my knees and say, God, forgive me. It's like, Pastor, you know what, I get to preach up here every once in a while, and you know what I do? I just, you know, I commit a lot of sins that day, and then five minutes before I preach, I just really get right with God, and then boom, I'm going to have a powerful sermon. Good luck. God is not the way it works, and don't treat God like he's Santa Claus or some genie in a lamp that you can just ask for whatever after you've lived some sort of sinful life. Doesn't work that way. It's like, you better have a proper and healthy respect and fear for almighty God, and if you do not, your zeal is going to vanish, and when you try to shake yourself, you're like, man, I don't understand. I wasn't zealous or bold to preach the gospel today. It's like, yeah, because God is merciful only for so long, and eventually it's going to be gone. Turn your Bible to Ephesians 6, Ephesians 6, Ephesians chapter 6. Number one, zeal is not necessarily dependent upon knowledge. There can be people with little knowledge and yet have a lot of zeal. Now I don't want you to misunderstand me because knowledge is very important in our lives, and if you don't get knowledge and you just go off zeal, that's probably going to end either due to sin or just you're going to fall into some stupid doctrines or whatever because you're tossed to and fro because you don't have knowledge, but you do see examples in the Bible of people that are zealous immediately and they don't have a lot of knowledge. So if you're here today and you say, man, I just don't have a lot of knowledge, and that's why I don't have a lot of zeal, that's actually not a good excuse for not having zeal. Number two, maybe you're someone here and you do have a lot of zeal. That's great. I'm glad you're doing a lot for God. I hope you continue to do it, but you need to realize that your zeal can be lost. There are plenty of examples. Demas is an example of the Bible. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved the present world. He was used to be zealous for the things of God, and it died out. And you could be the most zealous person in the world, but you know what? If you allow sin to get in your lives, your zeal is going to die out. But you know, there's also good news because you might say, Pastor, I'm just not a zealous person. How do I fix it? Well, zeal can be gained. Maybe you're here today and inside your head because you need to be honest with yourself. Don't compare yourself to anybody else. Don't look down on anybody else, but you have to be honest with yourself, and if you are not that zealous and other people are far more zealous than you, you just can't really bring yourself to preach the gospel. You're not that motivated. You have to be honest with yourself and ask yourself, well, what's wrong or how can I fix this? Because maybe naturally you just don't have as much zeal. Obviously some people, like the woman at the well, she's just zealous right when she gets saved. That's not necessarily the normal situation, right? But here's the thing. If you don't have a lot of zeal, zeal can be gained. You say, well, how do you gain zeal? Well, number one, pray for boldness. Pray for zeal. It says here in Ephesians 6 verse 18, Ephesians 6 verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me, praying for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Even Paul the apostle said, hey, you want to do something for my ministry? Pray for me to be bold to preach the gospel and not back down. What I would say is, you know, people sometimes look at our church, maybe they tune in from another country or they know about the soul-winding we do. It's like, here's what you can do to help us. Pray for us to remain bold. Pray for us to remain zealous because that is not a guarantee that it's going to be forever. It's not a guarantee as an individual, but we also have a church in the Bible where they leave their first works. Of course, I don't plan our church to ever back down from soul-winding. I don't plan our church to ever lose our zeal, but I've got to be honest and say it does happen to a lot of people in a lot of churches, right? So there's no guarantee our church is going to be super zealous forever or super bold forever. It's like, no, this is something we need to make sure that even if we are already zealous, we should still be praying for it. But I would say that if you're here today and you are not super zealous, I would say this should be a very normal prayer request that you have with God, God, please help me be more zealous. Look, whatever areas you are weak in the Christian life, I mean, you have to be honest with yourself. I know areas that I am weak at, I'm not that great at. And guess what I often will pray about? The areas that I'm weak at. Now, of course, you know, we should pray for all things, but if there's something you're weak at, that is something you should really be praying to God. God help me to get better at this. And if you are not a super zealous person, you need to pray, God help me become more zealous. Go in your Bible to 2 Kings chapter 10, 2 Kings 10. Now, one thing I've found to be effective when I'm struggling for zeal is I have just, you know, a few verses in my mind I will just quote repeatedly, like, if I know I should preach the gospel to someone, but I'm afraid or I don't want to for whatever reason, I will often quote, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. And I'll just quote that several times. It's like, all right, I'm going to go preach the gospel, right? Because I'll be honest, you know, when I go soul winning, there are times when I just don't feel like it. I'm not bold for whatever reason and everything. And I, you know, the Bible talks about thy word of thy hidden mind heart that I might not sin against. And quoting the Bible can actually help you do what's right. And I would say that if you struggle with this, if there's often times where you should have preached the gospel to someone and you choose not to, I would think of a verse such as that that you can quote in your head that can help encourage you in that moment to do what's right. And that is what I will quote, the righteous are as bold as a lion, the righteous are as bold as a lion, the righteous are as bold as a lion. And oftentimes I'll find that quoting that will help give me the motivation where it's like, all right, I'm going to preach the gospel to this person, right? I wish that I never got afraid, but the reality is we think of peer pressure. We think of people laughing, making fun of us or whatever. And I would say that no matter who you are in this room, I'm sure there are times when you should talk to someone and you don't feel like it and you got to step outside the ship, so to speak, right? I would recommend find a verse you can quote in your head. So one thing you can do to give yourself more zeal is just pray for boldness. But then the other thing you can do is get around people that have zeal, get around others that are very zealous. And by the way, this is why we need church, because when you're in church, you're around a lot of people that are very zealous. It's like, man, people are going soul winning all the time, then on Sundays we have a lot of people that go soul winning. I mean, most of our church goes soul winning. I mean, yesterday in Pampanga, every single person at church went soul winning yesterday. That is not normal for churches. And at our church here in Manila, it's like most people after coming to church, they go soul winning. You say, what is that called? It's called zeal. It's called excitement. And it's hard. It's hard not to get zealous and excited when the people around you are very zealous and excited. Isn't that true? I mean, I would say that, you know, for many people in this room, maybe you were listening to this kind of preaching a long time ago before you came to this church. But isn't it true that now that you're at this church and there's a lot of soul winning going on, that, you know, just being around other people that have zeal, it just helps you become more zealous, right? Here's an example of the Bible. Second Kings chapter 10, verse 11. Second Kings 10, verse 11. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab and Jezreel and all his great men and his kinsfolk and priests until he left him, none remaining. And he rose and departed and came to Samaria, and he was at the sharing house in the way. Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah, and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen. And he said, Take them alive, and they took them alive. And slew them at the pit of the sharing house, even two and forty men, neither left he any of them. When he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rahab, coming to meet him. And he saluted him and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is, if it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot, and he said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. And here we have an example of a man, Jehu, that is incredibly zealous and incredibly bold in the Bible. Now, I don't know about you, but the first time I really discovered Jehu when I was reading the Bible, because he's not really a character that's preached on as much as some other characters in the Bible. And I remember the first time I was really paying attention, and I'm like, Why is this guy not talked about like Moses? Why is this guy not talked about like Noah and Elijah? I mean, this guy is like the greatest character in the Bible. And of course, as you keep reading, he's a man who didn't actually fully set his heart to seek God. So he's a man that allowed sin to destroy his life, basically, which is what I just talked about. Zeal can be lost. Okay? But he's a man that has a lot of zeal, and he makes a statement, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. And isn't that true, that people can often come to a church like this, and even though they already know the doctrines, they've been saved for a long time, you're around people with zeal, and it helps fill you with zeal. Isn't that true? I mean, there's times when I go out soul winning, and we're in a group of people going soul winning, and you give the Gospel a couple times, and at some point you're just like, Okay, I'm willing to rest now, I'm tired, I've already talked to a few groups. And then all of a sudden, somebody else from your church goes up and talks to someone new, and you're like, Alright, I'm going to find somebody else to talk to again. Right? Happens to me all the time. I'm like, I'm comfortable. It's like, you know, I've already talked to a lot of people, and then somebody else is going out and saying, Alright, I'll go out again too then. Okay? And what is that called? It's called zeal rubbing off on you. And I would say no matter how zealous you are, we all need to be around people that are zealous to help keep that fire going. Turn your body over to Leviticus chapter 26. Leviticus 26. Look, I'm very encouraged in the church in Bekal over the last month. I mean, they're doing so many soul winning marathons, they're going soul winning a lot every single week, they're getting a lot of people saved. I mean, you might have noticed in the bulletin, their salvation numbers are pretty solid recently. I mean, April salvation is 112, we say, man, they got that many salvations recently. They've been doing so many marathons all the time. And it's kind of a reminder of this idea, there's no substitute for zeal, is there? I mean, what does a new church need? What does a small church need? Big churches need this too, but what does a small church need? They need zeal. They need excitement. That's what you need. I'm not downplaying the other things. You know, people can be new in the faith and not know as much and not have experience and not have the knowledge, but if they're zealous and say, hey, I'm going to try to get people saved and bring people to church, that is what you need in a church to be successful. You need zeal. Another thing that's encouraging to me is the fact that the way math works is very different in the Bible versus real life. And let me show this to you in Leviticus chapter 26 verse 8. It says in the Leviticus chapter 26 verse 8, and five of you shall chase in hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight. So five people will chase a hundred. So how many people is that per person? Twenty. Right? A hundred divided by five, twenty people per person. Five people will chase a hundred. Well then it mentions, and a hundred of you. So if there's a hundred people at that rate, how many should you be able to chase away? Two thousand. Right? What's a hundred times twenty? Two thousand. Right? Right? We know this math, right? It's okay. I try to add math as much as I can in sermons. This is a math church. My name's Matthew for a reason, okay? Five of you chase a hundred. You would think that a hundred would chase two thousand, but is that what it says? A hundred of you put ten thousand to flight. Instead of twenty to one, it's a hundred to one. You say, why? Because when you actually deal with excitement and zeal, it's not just times by twenty times as many people, twenty times more that you chase away, but actually the way it works is it's multiplicative. You start dealing with exponents. And isn't that true as a church? We've been soul winning since day one, but isn't it true that our salvations are really starting to skyrocket? I mean, when you add just a little bit, it's like our church recently in Pampanga has gotten a little bit bigger, and it's like the amount of salvations, it's like, how are the salvations like fifty percent bigger? Because it's not coming from that one family. I mean, they're doing soul winning, but it's not one family that's making the salvations fifty percent bigger. You know what it is? It's called zeal rubbing off on other people. And just having more, all of a sudden, it starts really just really shooting up very quickly. Look, I'm excited as a church, I mean, you look at our salvations for the year, and not this year, but last year, we had a big bump with our salvations because at the missions trip we had a lot of people here and a lot of results from that. We didn't have anywhere near as many people here for the missions trip this year. And so you would think our numbers would be lower, but did you know that our numbers are actually higher for all of our churches already at the same point last year? Even without getting, you know, two thousand five hundred extra salvations last year for the people that were here? We're already higher in Manila, Pampanga, Bicol, it's like, I mean, we look like we're going to smash all of our results from last year. And part of that is you just add a few more families, and all of a sudden it just causes the deal to just skyrocket, and just more and more and more and more is being done for God. Look, obviously since day one of our church, we've had soul winning, and we've been zealous doing the first works, and I believe God has always blessed our church because of that. But there's no doubt about it, there's so much more soul winning going on now. We have more people involved, more people excited, our salvations are skyrocketing, and it's not because we have just a couple people that are reporting a million salvations in 50 seconds of soul winning, okay? I mean, at this soul winning event just yesterday, 86 soul winners and 200 some salvations from our church? Yeah, that's a lot of salvations, but it wasn't 10 people that got 200 salvations, it's 86. It's a lot of people. And so we're seeing the excitement, and you know what you're seeing? There's no substitute for zeal. Now look, I don't want to downplay the other areas of our Christian life and say they do not matter, but there is no substitute for zeal. And I believe this is the best church in this area by a long shot. You say, why? Because we're just more zealous. We just do a lot of soul winning. We just love getting people saved. So many soul winning events, just soul winning all over the place. I originally, for this event, I was really trying to organize it into set areas. Let's try to get everybody in one area, but then I realized there's just too many people soul winning. Just go wherever you want, we'll pay for your lunch, it's just too many soul winners at this point to organize, right? And praise God for that. And we have so much soul winning going on. But you know, we need to realize zeal can be lost. No matter how zealous we are as a church, no matter how zealous you are as an individual, if you allow sin and worldliness to get in your life, there's going to come a point you can no longer shake yourself like Samson and your zeal will be gone. Maybe you're here and you don't have as much zeal as other people. The good news is zeal can be gained. You can pray for boldness and be around other people that are doing the work. And maybe you'll never be as zealous as other people because you're just not naturally that way. And that is what it is. It doesn't mean you're going to get less rewards in heaven. God's going to figure that out. I have no idea how it really is going to work. But here's the thing. You can increase your zeal. So do not use it as an excuse. I'm just not naturally the sort of person that can go out and get people saved. Join the club because that's most of us. But you get turned into a new man and there is no substitute for zeal. Let's close one word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us to apply this sermon to our lives, God. Help us to always be a church that is zealous to preach the gospel. Help us to always be individuals that are zealous. And not just zealous for preaching the gospel, help us to be zealous to learn the Bible, zealous to bring people to church, zealous to defend what we believe in all of those things, God. We just ask you to pray. You'll continue to bless our church, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hymn number 31, let's sing the song, He Lives. On a verse. I serve a race, the singer is in the world today. I know that He is saving whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of fear. Just the time I need Him is always near. He lives, He lives, my Jesus lives with Him. He walks with me, He crawls with me, I'll always tear away. He lives, He lives, salvation to me, Lord. You have seen how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. On a second. In all the world around me, I see His loving ears. And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair. I know that He is saving for all the stormy past. After all His appearing, will God now clash? He lives, He lives, my Jesus lives today. He walks with me and crawls with me, I'll always tear away. He lives, He lives, salvation to me, Lord. You have seen how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. One last rejoice, rejoice, oh, listen. Turn up your voice and sing, eternal hallelujah, to Jesus Christ the King. The hope of all to see, in the dark of all to find. The number is so lovely, so good and kind. He lives, He lives, my Jesus lives today. He walks with me and crawls with me, I'll always tear away. He lives, He lives, salvation to me, Lord. You have seen how I know He lives. He lives within my heart. He lives, He lives, salvation to me, Lord.