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

Alright, we're here in Matthew chapter 16, and turn to Mark 9 real quickly. Mark chapter 9. We're continuing our series on unwise comparisons, and what we're going to be talking about now is comparing churches amongst one another. And the Bible, remember, says that it's unwise to compare yourselves among yourselves. That is definitely true when it comes to the individual and your personal walk with God, like we talked about last week. But it's also true when it comes to comparing your church to another church, okay? But to understand exactly what I'm saying, I need to give you a bit of an introduction. Because in Mark chapter 9, let me turn there myself, Mark chapter 9, we have a story where the followers of Jesus, his disciples, are a little bit overly zealous. And quite honestly, all of us from time to time can be overly zealous. Notice what it says in verse 38. Mark 9, verse 38. Now, I want you to understand, this is not some Pentecostal going around casting out devils out. This is someone who truly loves the Lord and is a good person, and he's actually doing a miracle. And his disciples say, hey, you've got to forbid him. He needs to do it exactly like us. He needs to follow us. And Jesus says, don't forbid him. Why, he that is not against us is on our part, okay? So what you need to understand is this. When I say don't compare churches to one another, I just preached a five-part series on the Roman Catholic Church. You better believe I'm going to criticize the Roman Catholic Church, because they're not on our part. They're not on our side. You know, we preached a sermon series against the Pentecostals. Why? They have a different gospel than us. They don't believe the same thing as us. There's nothing wrong with comparing and saying, hey, their church is doing it wrong. They're a wicked church. That is different than a church that's actually preaching the truth and it's a good church, okay? So when it comes to a church that's a good church, I'm not going to criticize other good churches that are doing the work. Now, I'll criticize the Roman Catholic Church. I'll criticize the Pentecostal Church. Why? They have a different gospel. They don't believe the same thing. I'll criticize most Bible Baptist churches, because most of them are preaching a different gospel. It's not the same thing as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But what I will not do is criticize some other churches doing things a little bit differently that's not just like us. Now, here's what you need to understand about this, though. No matter what the church is, the person leading the church has to set a strong standard for this is what we believe. It does not mean they're preaching against some other good church, though. They're just trying to set a strong standard. This is how we do things here. It doesn't mean they're against other churches that are doing good things but do things different. Let me give you an example. Within like-minded churches, the topic of the Lord's Supper, there's a lot of different opinions. There are a lot of different opinions. Now, it's important when I preach on the Lord's Supper to make it very clear, this is what we believe. Now, I'll tell you what we believe, because I preach on the Lord's Supper once per year, a full length sermon, and that's my plan, because we believe the Lord's Supper is to be taken one time per year. Because the Lord's Supper replaced the Passover, the Passover was one time per year to remember the death of Jesus Christ, and so the Lord's Supper is done one time per year to remember the death of Jesus Christ. Now, what we believe very strongly is that the Lord's Supper is taken in church, not at your house. Now, there are pastors and churches that believe it's done in the house. I'm fine with that. That's up to them because that's not our church. But if I'm going to preach on it, I'm going to make it very clear this is what we believe. You say, why? Just as I wouldn't allow someone to just randomly baptize people at their house, say, hey, this new conference at church, you're going to come over to my house and we're going to baptize you, the same thing with the Lord's Supper. Because we believe that's something administered by the church, so we don't believe it's right to just bring friends over and say, hey, we're going to do the Lord's Supper here, away from the church, because that is something that's administered by the church. Now, I preach against rock music, and it's up to you whether you listen to rock music. I won't tell you not to, because that's not something that's administered by the church. But we believe the Lord's Supper is administered by the church, and we believe that should be done in church. Does that mean I'm preaching against other churches right now that are doing it differently? No, I'm just telling you how we do things here. And honestly, if you have a preacher or pastor, you don't have to agree 100% on everything they say, that's fine. You could have a different opinion than me, and that's fine. I preached a full length sermon, so I'm not going to re-preach that now. You're welcome to listen to it right around Easter time. But obviously, you want somebody who's going to preach to say, this is what we believe. That does not mean that person's preaching against other churches, though. They're just trying to make it very clear, this is our standard, this is how we do things here. Now go back to Matthew 16. Because what we believe is not just that we're Baptist churches, but that we're independent Baptist churches. Now obviously, we're underneath the wing of every Baptist church, so obviously we adhere to what they believe and what they do. But churches are supposed to be independent from one another. So other churches can do things differently, and that's fine. And as long as they're a good church and a godly church, I'm not preaching against that church just because I'm telling you how we do things here. I'm just making it very clear, hey, this is what we believe, because you need to set down a strong standard for what you believe and what you teach. It does not mean you're preaching against other churches. So what I'm saying, don't compare your church to another church. I don't want to compare our church to other godly churches that do some things differently than us. Now look, when it comes to what I believe, 99% of what I believe is exactly like Pastor Mendez. There are a few topics that we have slightly different views on, and guess what? I don't preach my view in this church. On those churches I have a different opinion. You say, why? Because I respect Pastor Mendez, and he's entrusted me to come here and not go rogue and just do things my own way. Now there are very minor things, and there are very few things, but look, on those things, I will preach on them because honestly, we're underneath the wing of very vast church. And so just as I would not do that, it's the same thing with you guys. If there's something that I preach and you say, I don't agree with Brother Stuckey, I think we should take communion or Lord's Supper in the house. Look, you don't have the right to go around and tell other people about it. Because look, if that's what I believe, I wouldn't go around. I wouldn't preach that either. If I disagree with Pastor Mendez, which I don't, I agree 100% with him on that topic, look, I wouldn't preach that view because it would be disrespectful when he's entrusted me. It would be like, for example, if you're at a company and your boss gives you an assignment, you don't have the right to just go your own way and say, well, I don't care what the boss says. I'm just going to do things the way I want. No, you have to do things the way the boss asked you to do. And so I don't know that being a problem here, but I'm just bringing up a topic that there are different views within like-minded churches. And so there's nothing wrong with churches doing it that way. If that's the way they believe, they should preach with authority just as we preach with authority the things we believe as well. But I will preach against the Roman Catholic Church. I will preach against the false churches because you know what, they're not on our part. They're not doing the same thing as us. They believe different things. Now, in Matthew chapter 16, verse 18, it's a very common verse we read because obviously this is the Roman Catholic Church's big verse. But it says in Matthew 16, verse 18, and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You know, even in the song we sung today, we mentioned that the Lord is our rock. And so in Matthew 16, verse 18, it's not that confusing. Throughout the Bible, the Lord is our rock. So Peter is not the rock, the Lord is the rock. So that's why the Catholics are wrong about this. But I want you to notice how it says, I will build my church. And the first unwise comparison amongst good churches is comparing the size of the church, how many members actually come to that church. It is an unwise and foolish thing to compare the size of this church to another church that's godly that either could be growing faster or slower than us. It's an unwise comparison. Now, turn to Exodus 23. I'll show you why. Exodus 23. What we have to understand is God's promise is that He will build the church. But He does not promise He's going to build it very quickly. He does not promise you're going to skyrocket in size. And He does not promise you're going to grow at the same rate as some other church. And so honestly, we don't have to worry about what our other church is doing or how much they're growing. We worry about our own church. Now, when it comes to church growth, churches will have good days and bad days. There will be people out of town, there will be people gone. During July, every single day we had at least 50 people. Now, today you can look around, we don't have 50 people here today. But churches have good days and bad days, and church growth is not just like this. Church growth is like you have a good day, you get a little bit prideful and arrogant. And then all of a sudden, it's like up and down. And the goal is that you're slowly increasing. But you're going to have ups and you're going to have downs, and that's fine. God promises He's going to build the church, but that does not mean it's going to happen overnight. Exodus 23, verse 28. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the hippite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee. Exodus 23, verse 29. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. And so what God promises, I will drive out the enemies, but it's going to be little by little. It's not going to be immediately. Why? Because you're just not ready to inherit the land. And what you have to understand is even though God is promising to build a church, He might decide we're not ready to be 60 people every single service. We're not ready to be 70 people. And we have to be okay with that. Because we're still doing a lot of soul winning more than any other church around this area. So it doesn't really matter whether or not we're growing really fast or slow. We just might not be ready to inherit the land. Now, I didn't even think about this application until just now, but it kind of makes me think of the Bible Baptist, how little by little they're being driven out of the Bible Baptist churches to come to our church. Little by little it's going to be happening, but it might not happen in a few weeks. I promise you over the next couple years, slowly more people will leave those churches and come to ours because it becomes more common and people realize there's better friends here, more soul winning and things such as that. But you know, honestly it's not going to come overnight. And there's people that are good people, that are safe people, that love the Lord, but right now they just choose not to come here. Now, I hope they decide to come here, but honestly it's probably going to be little by little. And it's going to be little by little we reach new people soul winning. And little by little maybe people move to this church. Somebody's moving here from Denmark in September. Little by little this church is going to grow. And that's okay because we want to make sure the soul winning is staying pure and the doctrine is staying pure and we might not be ready to inherit the land overnight. Now here's the thing, if another church is ready to inherit the land, praise the Lord. That's great. We're not comparing our church to other churches that are preaching the truth. Whether or not they're growing more or less, what we need to worry about is are we doing the work that God's called us to do in this area. Turn to Luke 17. I hope all the like minded churches in the Philippines are growing. Even if they're not 100% like us, if they're preaching the right gospel. I mean even a church that preaches the right gospel and goes soul winning, if I disagree with them on end times doctrine, I hope their church grows. Why? Because I can promise you they're going to be the best church in that area if they're going soul winning and have a right salvation message. Look, churches don't have to be exactly like us. Well you've got to be the new IFB on every point. I mean if a church is preaching the right gospel and doing the work, then I'd be happy with that. The problem is very few churches are actually doing the work and preaching hard against sin. That is a very rare thing. But if there's other churches that are doing that, I hope they grow. Even if they grow faster than us, even if I disagree with them on a lot of different things. And one thing you have to realize with the size of church is that churches have just existed for a different amount of time. That's one reason. If you're going to compare the size of one church to another, well did you start on the exact same day with the exact same amount of people? Because already it's a foolish comparison if you don't have the same standard. You can't compare two things. Let's say you had two trees and you say well this tree over here is a lot bigger than this one. But this one's been around for twice as long. Or this one's in better ground than this one. Well of course it's going to be bigger then. And so realize that you don't have the same standard. It's not necessarily the exact same ground. It's not the same amount of time. And look, churches, not only have they been around for a different amount of time, they're in different locations as well. Now I understand that this is the Philippines and there's the U.S. and there's a big difference there. But even in the Philippines, different areas are just different. And churches are not in the same location. It's not like there's a church just like ours across the street that got started on November 25th. And they're right across the street from us. They have the exact same doctrine. They're going, so then maybe we could compare and see. But honestly, that's not the case. I do know there was a Bible Baptist church started behind the gates of the INC church there recently. Because I ran into someone. But quite honestly, assuming that the mom of the pastor accurately believed the same things as him, we kind of had a bit of an argument about repentance. And it's like, I don't think it's the same type of church. And so quite honestly, we don't really have the same style of church right around us. But churches are in different locations. Luke 17, verse 15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks that he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger. And so in this story, there's ten lepers that get healed, that get cleansed, and one comes back to give thanks. Isn't that the way so many works? You go out and get a lot of people saved, and do most people come to church? No. See, churches will test out so many for a couple weeks, and when their church doesn't double in size, oh, so many doesn't work. They're winning souls. We didn't say that you're building the church. If you want to build the church, then basically, I need to stop preaching the way I do. We need to have a rock concert up here, and we will double in size in six months. But all of you will probably be gone, except the backslid worldly ones. And so look, that's how you grow a church. But look, I don't want to have a massive church of people that don't love the Lord. I'd rather have a slow, steady growth of people that do love the Lord and do want to know the truth. And so honestly, churches are in different locations. Now, very rarely do people come to church when they get saved. But quite honestly, some areas, people are more likely to come to church than others. Let me give you an example. I was guest preaching in Steadfast Baptist Church, and I was there for the weekend. This was about a year ago. And so I was there on Saturday and Sunday, and we went out souling on Saturday. I got somebody saved. And guess what? We came to church the next day and got baptized. And I was like, wow, that doesn't seem to happen much in Sacramento. It's like being in Sacramento. I'm trying and trying and trying. I come here. I go souling for an hour and a half to come to church, get baptized. And they had been coming to church for a couple months after that. I don't know if they still are. But I was like, man, you know, I wish it worked that easily in Sacramento. But, you know, obviously that's just one example. But I have heard that people are more likely to visit church in Texas because it's more of a culture. And so areas are just different. Turn to Matthew 10. Matthew 10. And so when it comes to unwise comparison, it starts with the size of the church. That's just a foolish comparison. And there's no need for us to compare ourselves to someone else or some other church that's doing the work that is either bigger or smaller than us. And another example here of this is Matthew 10, starting at verse 11. This is the soul winning chapter here in Matthew 10. And it says in verse 11, and into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and thereby to the offense. And when you come into a house saluted, if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And so here in Matthew 10, basically if the house is worthy, that's someone who's willing to hear the gospel. And don't we preach the gospel to anyone who wants to hear the gospel? But if they don't want to hear the gospel, you let your peace return to you. The gospel of peace, you don't force them. It's up to them whether or not they want to listen. You don't force them. Verse 14, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. And so the Bible speaks about departing out of that house or city. Not just an individual house, but also a city as well. Verse 15, verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Here's what you need to understand. Some cities are more receptive than others, even in the Philippines. Some areas, they're more likely to get saved. Some areas, they're more likely to come to church. Just because it's the same country, it doesn't mean it's the exact same situation. Some areas, they're more likely to come to church in other areas. That's just the way it is. And I don't know every single area like a ranking of the best areas to bring people. From my experience, as I've gone sowing in Pampanga many times, is that in Pampanga, they're more likely to get saved in here. From my personal experience, you know, I'm going sowing there probably 15 hours of my life, and that's a small sample size, so I could be wrong. And Pampanga is a big province, so it could vary within that province as well. There's a lot of different cities. So what I want you to understand is, according to Matthew 10, there are certain cities that are just less receptive, and they're less likely to come to church in other areas. Now, we'll turn to Acts 19. And so this is true when it comes to a church growing in the size of the church, but not just the size of the church. Another foolish comparison is how many souls a church gets saved versus another church that is doing the work. Once again, different locations, as we just saw in Matthew 10, affect this. Look, when our church met in the Mayview Park Hotel, and we had services in Armita, didn't we get more souls saved on Sundays than we do now? We got a lot more souls saved. You say, why don't you stay there? Because it's mahalo namahalo. It's very expensive. And not only that, everybody who gets saved is a tourist, so the opportunity to build a church is probably not that likely. And so that's the reason why we left. Now, would we be getting more souls saved if we were still there? Yeah, we probably would, because it's a lot more receptive. But I do believe this is a better area to go to church, and I believe this is a great building God has blessed us with. But that right there shows you different areas are just plain different. result Park is a wonderful place to go to, but I don't think it's the best place to build a church. And so different areas are going to change that even within the same metro Manila. There's different areas that are more receptive than others. And so in Acts chapter 19, I want you to understand one other thing. Another reason why it's foolish to compare the souls saved from our church to another church is, quite honestly, the way people count their salvation is completely different. Some people would preach the gospel to 10 kids that are 5 years old and count every single one of them as saved. Some people would count none of them as saved. And that even varies within a church. Now, at our church, I've not really noticed a problem with this. I've noticed that our church is very thorough with gospel, and I've talked about that recently. But, you know, other people might not be as thorough, or they might be more generous with who they count as saved. It varies depending on the person. You say, Brother Stuckey, if I don't put that name down to someone I got saved, and they're not in the bulletin, then they won't make it into that book. It doesn't matter if they made it into our souls saved list here, okay? If they got saved, God knows that. And quite honestly, if we count somebody as saved and they didn't really believe, guess what? They don't end up going to heaven. And so, honestly, I believe the best thing is to be very careful with who you count. And the reason why is, as we report results, I want them to be accurate. I want to be as honest as possible, but we don't know 100% for sure. And quite honestly, how people count results are very different from church to church or person to person, even within a church. In Acts 19, we see here in verse 1, So John baptized people that didn't really get saved. Look, I promise you that I will baptize people that didn't really get saved because we don't know necessarily what they believe. We don't know 2 plus 2 equals 4, like a sure thing. By the way, Acts 19, verse 4, you want to know what repentance is? That's a good verse to memorize and know where it's at. Because what does it mean, the baptism of repentance, that they should believe? So basically, you change your mind about what you believe and believe on Jesus Christ. In my Bible, it does not say the baptism of repentance. And it defines exactly what repentance is, and that is changing your mind, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. So you grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, you hear the Gospel, and you change your mind about what you believe, and you no longer believe the seven sacraments get you saved. You no longer believe that baptism gets you saved. Now you believe on Jesus Christ. You put your faith in Him. Acts 19, verse 4 is a great verse to prove that. Verse 5, when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So basically, they end up getting re-baptized because they really didn't get it the first time. And sometimes this happens because you're talking to a group of people, and it's hard to tell when you're talking to a group, did all of them get it? Because one person answers the questions, and then the next person answers the same thing, because they just kind of go along with one another. And you don't necessarily know, did they all get it? Now, when I talk to a large group, I'm very careful with counting. Yesterday I gave the Gospel to six kings, and it was going very well, until they were doing, like the police or the government was doing road work, and they started to get distracted. And so one guy especially, he just like buried his head in the cupboard, and so I'm thinking, are the police after you or something? Because he was really attentive, and he's like, man, this is great. All you've got to do is believe that's a great message. I love that message. Oh, the police are coming. And so they kind of stopped paying attention. And one person answered right at the end, but honestly, I didn't count any of them as safe, because I don't really know. Because they were very distracted, and it was really kind of hard to tell. But honestly, you know, a lot of people would have probably talked to the same six, and they might have counted a lot of them as safe. But I believe in being very careful with your numbers. Now, one thing I've noticed, even being in the U.S. for a while, is that when people leave their old Baptist churches and come to a church that has a thorough gospel presentation, usually there's so many needs a lot of improvement. And I've visited a lot of churches and been in a lot of conferences, and quite honestly, I've been the silent partner sometimes at the door, and I'm just thinking, oh, man, that person did not get saved. And not even a gray area situation, but eternal security wasn't mentioned at all. They didn't go in-depth at all. And look, am I against those people? No, because they're trying, they're learning, they're growing. That's fine. People are coming from different backgrounds, and people do things differently. But what I want you to understand is the numbers that are counted that are not going to be the same from church to church, because quite honestly, the way people present the gospels differently, and some people are more generous or less generous with how many they count. The key is, is your church actually preaching the gospel zealously? And if you're preaching zealously and you have big results, great. If you have less results, great. Whatever's fine. Look, yesterday, with our church that I know of, we had five people out soul winning. We only had three salvations. It was a rough day. But all the people that were soul winners, I know that they do a very thorough job, so I'm very confident in those three souls that did get saved. But honestly, other churches I know, they might be a lot more generous with their results. But I'm still happy they're doing the soul winning, even if I think their numbers need to go down quite a bit. I hope you understand what I'm saying. So at our church, I do preach about being thorough with soul winning, because I really want to set a strong standard. And I've been soul winning for 14, 15 years, and I've seen a lot of bad soul winning. I don't want shallow soul winning to come in here. I want to make sure we're doing a thorough job. And when we're preaching the gospel, everybody you preach to, pretend it's your mom that's listening to the gospel. Pretend it's your dad that's listening to the gospel. How thorough would you be if your dad was willing to listen to you? Would you only spend a couple minutes? You'd make sure they got it, wouldn't you? And that's how much we ought to care about the people that we're talking to. But we still don't know a perfect science 2 plus 2 equals 4. We don't know if they got it or not. We do the best we can. But at the same time, it would be foolish for us to compare what we're counting versus other churches, because we do things differently. And the way people count numbers is different. Now turn to Isaiah 58. Now this is not really like-minded church, but I heard of someone coming here to the Philippines, and they preached to 800 kids at a school, and they counted every single one to save her. And it's just like, well, I guess they're doing a lot better than us, because we have to go a few months, several months to get 800 souls saved. But they got it in like 15 minutes. Probably like five minutes. It's probably like the teachers are like, hey, we give you 30 minutes to present your message. You only teach two. I'll be done in two minutes. I'll explain everything. But honestly, I've been at Baptist churches where people have so many days, and they count just crazy numbers. And I read the stories where they come back with over 100 souls saved in one day. And I'm just thinking, what are you doing out there? How do you even run into 100 people? Did you just start screaming on the side of the corner of the street, and just 40 people surrounded you, throwing trash at you, and you counted every single one to save? I mean, literally, what are you doing out there? How many people count salvation is just different. But another thing that's foolish to compare, it's also foolish to compare the preaching from good church to good church. Isaiah 58, verse 1, the Bible reads, Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Notice how it says, show my people their transgression. What does that mean? Their specific transgression or sin that they have a problem with. Then it says, the house of Jacob their sins. Realize that between different churches, there could be different issues. Look, if people regularly listen to my preaching, they're going to say, why does Brother Stuckey hate the Roman Catholic Church so much? And it's like, until I came to the Philippines, I had never preached a sermon against Catholicism, ever. Say why? I grew up in an area where there were more Protestants than Catholics. It wasn't really a big issue. You say, why do you preach it against them all the time now? Because it's the Philippines. And so people could listen to the preaching and say, man, he really hates the Pope. Well, that is true. I do really hate the Pope, but it's like, I never even preached against the Catholic Church until I came here. But you preach against the issues of the place you live. Turn to Galatians 1, Galatians 1. Even amongst the same country, though, churches can have different things that they need to preach on. Throughout the Bible, the churches have different messages. In the book of Galatians, what was the issue? They were confused on salvation. Look, if there ends up being a big confusion about one saved, always saved around here, if there ends up being a big confusion about baptismal regeneration, there ends up being a big confusion on repentance of sins, guess what I'm going to be preaching on a lot? Salvation. You say, why don't you always preach on salvation? Because, honestly, it's not really an issue right now. But in Galatians, it had become an issue, the church of Galatians. Galatians 1, verse 6. I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preached any other gospel on you than that which we have preached on you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say it now again, if any man preached any other gospel on you than that he had received, let him be accursed. Let me give you modern language for let him be accursed. Let him go to hell. For the false prophet, let him go to hell. Look, if somebody comes into our church and they start spreading Calvinism, they can just hit the road. That's not going on at this church. They come in here preaching some damnable heresy, it won't be too long until they get kicked out of this church. Now look, somebody can come to this church and believe different things, but when they cross the line and they start teaching something different, then we've got a problem. Look, I'm fine with even unsafe people visiting our church and coming for a while. If some Catholic has someone who says, hey, I'm not sure if I believe that, but it's interesting, and they want to visit our church and they're coming for a couple months and thinking about it, they're welcome to stay. But if they start teaching that you have to keep the seven sacraments to get saved, it's like, well, you need to hit the road. Because there's plenty of Catholic churches you can go to where I can send you to the church down the road or some other church, but it's not going to be going on around here. And so in the Church of Galatia, what's the issue? Salvation is the issue. So what is every sermon going to be about? It's going to be about salvation until the problem is fixed. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3. And so what you have to trust is that the person running your church is being guided by the Lord to preach the sermons that need to be preached at the proper time. Look, when you're preaching sermons, and I use a preaching calendar, like my sermons are, actually all my sermons over the next month and a half are already written, but my ideas for a couple months are already a couple months in advance. And quite honestly, I was looking at the second sermon here today, and it was a sermon I wrote a while ago, but I just kept moving it back. I had it for a day to preach, like in June, and then I moved it back a few weeks, and I was like, I just, I don't know. And then I looked today and I was like, man, this is the perfect time for this sermon. But the trust is that the Lord is guiding you when you write sermons to preach what needs to be preached and how people need to be edified. Now, in the Church of Court, what is the issue? A man has his father's wife. There's major sin in that church, plus there's a lot of fighting. So what is Paul going to talk about? He's going to talk about the issues they have. And in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1, And I, brethren, could not speak on you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are ye able, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envy and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? See, the Church of Court was a very carnal church. What do they need? Do they need the strong meat or the milk of the Word? They need the milk, because they're babes in Christ. What they don't need is a 20-part end time series. Now, the end times is great to preach about. We'll preach sermons like that, but if there's issues about salvation at the church, who cares what your view on the rapture is? If there's issues with fighting or people committing gross sin in the church, look, the things that need to be preached are not about the end times. They need the milk of the Word here in the Church of Court. So here are two different churches that they need different messages. Now, the Church of Thessalonica, what did they need? Well, they were very spiritual, and so Paul was preaching about the end times to them. You say, why? They're used as a comparison with the gradients as being very spiritual. The gradients were even more noble, but the Church of Thessalonica was a very godly church as you read I and II Thessalonians. So what does Paul talk about? He talks about some of the deeper doctrines, because the church is ready for them. But different churches have different issues. Turn to Ephesians 4. Now, obviously, some issues are kind of universal. Like, it doesn't matter whether you're in the Philippines or America, issues of bitterness and pride and things such as that, those are things that are going to be issues at every church. You say, why? We're all sinners, right? And all of us have struggles that we're working on. But issues like salvation, that's not necessarily going to be an issue at every church. Some churches are going to have that need, and some churches might not. And so it depends on the church. Now, in Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, this is talking about a local church body. So you think of a local church, and God says that he's given some churches apostles, and he's given some churches apostles, and God says that he's given some churches apostles, obviously not in today's world, some churches apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Now, I am here as the evangelist of this church, but I'm not the pastor of this church yet. I don't need those qualifications. But I'm given as the evangelist for this church, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. So basically, God gives specific people that are designed for that area to do the work. Now, look, I like the Philippines, but quite honestly, there are probably people that are very godly people that this would just not be the right area for them. They just probably wouldn't like the Philippines that much. Why? Because they're just different. They have different personalities, and they just might not fit here. And I might not fit in the area that they are, okay? There's certain areas where I probably wouldn't want to be a pastor. I wouldn't want to run a church. I hate cold weather. Look, I would not want to live in an area where it's always cold. It's like, forget about that for me. I'd rather that it was hot every single day like it is here. For other people, they might like the cold weather. They might like the Four Seasons. It's different. And so certain people are given to different churches, and you have to trust that the sermon's being preached. God is guiding those sermons for the proper things that people need to hear. Now, turn to 1 Kings 19. And so the next thing that is foolish to compare amongst churches, it's foolish to compare not only the preaching but the preachers or the people preaching those sermons, okay? And I want you to understand that in 1 Kings 19, the chapter before 1 Kings 18, it's one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible. Elijah versus the 850 false prophets, the false prophets of Baal, Haman, and Gethro. One man against 850, a man who prayed that it would not rain on the earth for several years, a man who the power of God was upon him to stand against all those false prophets. I mean, it's right there with 1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath as the most exciting chapters in the Bible. Every time you read it, it's exciting. And you finish 1 Kings 18, and you think, man, this guy is, like, perfect. I mean, this guy's never going to make any mistakes. He's always going to be bold. He's never going to have any problems. But then you get to the next chapter, and it says in verse 1, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger on to Elijah, saying, so let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. So Jezebel threatens to kill Elijah. Now, wait a minute. Elijah just stood against 850 false prophets. He had already been on the run for several years where the king was trying to kill him. I mean, he's not going to be afraid of some woman at this point, is he? He stood against 850 false prophets. What does it say in verse 3? And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. What does Elijah do? He runs away scared. And he even leaves his servant behind him. His faithful follower basically says, you know, forget about Shewan. He just goes. He's just scared because one woman threatened his life. Now, this is someone who at times in his life did such mighty things, such mighty that I believe he's one of the two witnesses during the end time. Right. Then you're literally looking at perhaps the best or the second best person throughout the entire Old Testament. Right. I mean, it doesn't really even get any better than Elijah. And here he is running away scared, no boldness at all. And he's as scared of this woman. And he leaves his servant behind. Verse 4. But he himself went a day's journey to the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, O Lord. Take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. Because he lay and slept under a juniper tree. Behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, arise and eat. I love this story because when you're reading 1 Kings 18, it's really exciting. And Elijah is such a hero. But quite honestly, you read that story and think, man, I can never be Elijah. I mean, how do you even compare to someone like that? I mean, every second of the day, he's just motivated to live for God. No fear. He's bold. He's doing the work of the Lord. I actually like the next chapter even better because it shows you the humanity of someone who is all sorts. Amen. And because it gives you confidence that, you know what? At times in my life, I will get down. At times, I'm a mighty soul winner. And at times, I'm a little bit afraid. I back down. I make mistakes. And so one reason why it's foolish to compare preachers to one another is because quite honestly, they all have their offices down. Now, this is quite a big down that Elijah has. And if you were to look at like-minded pastors and you see everything they preach and all their comments, from time to time, they will say things. And in the back of your head, you think, that is watered down. That is weak. Or I wouldn't do that. And you know what? You might be right. Right. But you have to realize that it's a man. It's not a God. Right. And so realize they're going to have their ups. And they're going to have their downs. And look, you know, people might look on the outside and they might criticize the decision or what you preached. You know, I preached a sermon a long time back about, you know, hardcore versus wise and harmless. And I kind of changed my perspective. And I just basically said, there are calls I will not preach against in the Philippines. And I did. I remember somebody messaged me. And they apologized later on, so I'm not upset about them. But they basically told me I was watered down. And it's just like, I'm not from the Philippines. It's a good way to end up getting kicked out. And it's just like, they're welcome to think what they want, though. But what I want you to understand is this, that we look at certain preachers and they make decisions. For one, you don't know all the facts. And you're not necessarily thinking about everything involved. But also, even if they're having a down moment, they might just be having a down moment. Now, we're not talking about, well, you know, the pastor just committed adultery. Yet, I mean, the pastor is a pedophile. But you know, it's just a bias that he struggles with. Isn't that what the Catholic church says? It's just a bias, not a sin. It's just something from time to time, you know, that they struggle with. Now, obviously, something like that, it's like, you know, that person's removed from being the pastor, evangelist, or whatever. They're not welcome to be running that church, according to the Bible. But you know, if the pastor, evangelist, or whatever, maybe they get mad one day and kind of yell at someone. You know, you don't have to go around and gossip to everyone at church. Maybe there's a reason why they're in a bad mood. Maybe there's problems they're dealing with. You don't know. You don't know all the issues. Now, I come to church every single week. And I preach the sermons. And no matter what's going on in my life, I do the best, to the best of my ability, I do what the Bible says to play the man. But do you think that every single week I preach I'm in a good mood? There are times when, just as you have days where you don't feel like coming to church, guess what? I have days I don't feel like coming to church. Right. An example I know about is, I remember when I was back in Sacramento, and Pastor Menes was out of town in Vancouver, and I was the one preaching the morning sermon. And my wife and I had been waiting for a child, and we found out that weekend that my wife and I had been lost for a child. And I was preaching a day and a half later. Do you really think I'm going to preach that sermon on Sunday morning? There are times where you get up behind the pulpit and you preach, and you've got to play the man. And you have to realize that, you know what? If you're pastoring, you catch him in a moment where he's in a bad mood, he's frustrated, he does something wrong. He might just be having an off day, because guess what? You have those days as well. Now turn in your Bible to Proverbs 29. And I want you to realize in that story with Elijah, does the Lord rip Elijah's head off from being watered down at that moment, from being backslidden? No, he doesn't. It says, arise, and he, does the Lord rip Abraham's head off when he basically lies, and he goes down to Egypt and says, she's just my sister? No, he doesn't. You know why? Because even though Abraham did mess up, and even though Elijah was backslidden, the pattern you see in the Bible is that God defends the man of God, as long as it's not some wicked sin. Now look, when I look from the outside at various churches, sometimes they do things I don't agree with. But at the same time, you know what? You defend the man of God. Amen. You certainly don't criticize them publicly. You should defend the man of God, unless it's an issue that's a wicked sin, where the Bible says you're not welcome to be at the church. There's a big difference there. But if they made some sort of mistake, you don't just rip them publicly. If they're a devil or a heretic, yeah, that's different. But if they just made some mistake, and they yelled at someone or whatever, they did something wrong, or they were too lazy to go soul-eating this week or whatever, you don't have to rip them publicly. And look, I've been at churches where, honestly, there was a lot of things I did not agree with my pastors on. But you know what? I never ripped them publicly. I was always respectful of them. I was always a blessing to them. And there are multiple churches in West Virginia that would have ordained me and sent me out to start a church. I just chose to move my family to Sacramento, California to be underneath Verity Baptist Church. But I had a great relationship with a few of my pastors. Now, the difference between my pastors and some of your pastors before you came here is my pastors were saved. So it's a big difference between my pastor was saved and maybe off on some things versus, wow, get along with your unsaved pastor. That's a different thing. I was able to go soul-eating with my pastor, and I knew he was going to preach the right gospel. And I could see them get people saved. That's obviously a different situation. Return to Proverbs 29 and look at one last place here this morning. And so not only is it foolish to compare the size of our church, not only is it foolish to compare the preachers and the sermons and things such as that for the soul's sake, we also have to understand that the strategies of churches are not necessarily 100% the same. Right. Now, look, obviously the goal of a church like this is to win souls to the Lord. Any church that's doing the work, their goal is to win souls to the Lord. And that's going to be in common. But it does not necessarily mean that the methods they do are going to be the exact same to do that. Right. You say, well, who's right? It doesn't matter. Because as long as your church is still preaching the gospel, it's what matters. Right. See, one thing I think we need to be careful about is this. When you leave a bad church and come to a good church, at first you're just so happy. But then as months go on, you start to say, well, I don't think they should do this. I don't think they should do this. I mean, remember what it's like out there when you're at a church. Yep. And so if there's something you don't agree with me on, hey, that's fine. But remember what it was like at your old church where you don't even know if the pastor is safe. Or you preach a sermon against hell and say, hey, people die. I'm saved. They go to hell. And the pastor's like, we don't believe that. We don't believe unsaved people go to hell. Or you're teaching like a Bible study. And you say that, hey, even if someone commits suicide, they'll go to heaven because it's eternal life. And the pastor's like, we don't believe that. You say, why are you using those examples? Because from people at our church, they have those examples. That is what the Baptist churches are like here. Yep, right. It's sad, but it's the truth. Proverbs 29, verse 18, the Bible reads, where there is no vision, the people perish. But he that keepeth the law hath he is he. And the Bible says, if there's no vision, the people perish. This was kind of the theme for our first service here at Verity Baptist Church Manila. And I preached on the vision of Verity Baptist Church Manila. And I went very much in detail about what our vision is. Now, the vision I have for this church is not necessarily the exact same vision that other people might have, that are still doing great works, but they might structure their church in a different way. But you have to understand, they might have a different team goal. And even if they have the same end goal, they might just have different ideas about what the best way is to get to that end goal. That doesn't mean that they're doing anything better or worse, because obviously, God is going to guide them. And we trust in that. And we need to worry about our church. Now, as I've mentioned before, our number one goal is to basically get churches started. And that's a generic goal, but you have to understand that when you have a goal like that, there are steps you have to take along the way. Today, I'll be going right after the second service to Pomponga to preach at a preaching event. You say, why? Because you know what? If the Lord would bless us, we're considering potentially doing a church project sometime. And you know what? It might not be now. It might be later on. But we're kind of testing the waters to see how things go. But it's not just something you just do overnight. It's something you've got to think about and decide, is this something that's going to work or not? And it might not. It might be something where we have to say, you know what? It's just not the right time. And I'll talk about that here in the second sermon. But what I want you to understand is the vision of churches can be different. And honestly, that's OK. As long as it's still a like-minded church that's preaching the same gospel and has the right message. So let me give you one example. Let's say, for example, I set a new goal in my life to run a marathon. That's an athletic goal. And that's going to take me doing a lot of running, less eating, more gulai, more fructose, less sugar. So I'm going to have to do certain things to reach that goal. Or let's say I decided, you know what? My goal is to pitch 400 pounds. Guess what? I'm going to do things a little bit different. If I'm benching 400 pounds, guess what I'm going to do a lot? I'm going to lift a lot of weights, drink a lot of protein. And I'll be trying to gain weights. If I'm trying to run a marathon, I'll basically be trying to lose weight. When I was a kid, I played two sports. I'm not the tallest person in the union. My family tree is not the tallest. I'm actually taller than anybody in my family by quite a bit. And so when I was a kid, my dad basically told me, son, basketball's not going to be your sport. He's like, you know, we're just not the tallest family. He's like, you know, my dad was a baseball player. He said, baseball or soccer? And so I played baseball and soccer. I love to play basketball. And I ended up being taller than expected. But it was not the sport I played growing up. But you have to realize, baseball and soccer are very different sports. And so I love both sports. But quite honestly, I was in soccer shape. I looked like Brother Erwin. He's still a soccer player. That's why. It's like I was very, very thin. I was like Pinaka Mapayat. I was like the thinnest person in baseball. So I would play soccer. And I would be very thin. And I was running 40 miles a week. And I was basically eating a certain diet and everything. And then my baseball coach was saying, hey, you know what? I need you to gain 20 pounds. I was like nine years old. And he's telling me I need to gain 20 pounds. But quite honestly, even though I always hit the ball, when you don't weigh much, guess what? You don't hit it very hard. Because there are different goals that you have. And I ended up quitting after a couple years of baseball to play soccer full time because I kind of had to make a decision. You have to understand that with churches, they might have different goals of what they're trying to achieve. Now obviously, we have a goal to get people saved. That's a goal that any church that we would fellowship with, that has to be a goal. But that does not necessarily mean we do it the exact same way. Where we have the exact same systems, and honestly, we need to be OK with that. Now I do want to reiterate this, though, because I preach very hard about what I believe and what the Bible teaches and what I believe. I am not going to preach against churches that are like-minded and that are good churches. I might be preaching a standard that this is how we do things in this church, but I will not preach against a like-minded church that's a good church. That doesn't mean that I agree with everything they do, though. Look, Verity Baptist Church is a great church, aren't they? Faithful Word's a great church, aren't they? Do they believe the exact same thing? Do they do things the exact same way? They don't do things the exact same way. And honestly, that's OK because of the fact we're still doing the work. And so honestly, when it comes to churches, yeah, you know what? A false church, yeah, there's nothing wrong with preaching against a false church. Because you see that throughout the Bible. But when it comes to churches that are true churches, look, we need to not compare ourselves with them. Because as long as they're doing the work, what we need to do is just pray for them that God will bless that church. Father, thanks for allowing us to be here today.