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🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening Find a seat find a handle close to you turn to page number 412 Song number 412 we will open the service with onward Christian soldiers, song number 412 Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first onward Christian soldiers marching As to war with the cross of Jesus going on before Christ the royal master Leads against the foe forward into battle see his banner go Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before Song number 412 on the second At the sign of triumph Satan's host that flee On then Christian soldiers on to victory Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before Christ the royal master Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first onward Christian soldiers marching as to war With the cross of Jesus going on before Sing it out on the third Like a mighty army, church of God Brothers we are treading where the saints have trod We are not divided or one body weak One in hope and doctrine, one in charity Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus Going on before Song number 412 I'm going to ask you guys to sing out for this last one The song is called Onward Christian Soldiers so we have to sing like we're soldiers Song number 412 sing it out on the last Onward then ye people join our happy throng Then with our sure voices in the triumph song Glory, Lord, and honor unto Christ the King This through countless ages men and angels sing One last time Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war With the cross of Jesus going on before Amen, great singing, welcome to Verity Baptist Church here on our Sunday evening service We are so glad to see everyone here this evening Let's open the service with a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father we love you and thank you for the opportunity to be in your house this evening Dear people who would come Lord and sing praises to your name We ask Lord that you would bless the service We pray for the singing, the preaching, the fellowship We hope Lord that everything that is said and done this evening Would only bring glory and honor to your name We love you in Jesus' name I pray, Amen Alright it's now time for favorites where if you're selected We will sing a stanza from the song that you picked Go ahead 188 on the last Song number 188 The love of God, song number 188 We're gonna sing it out on the last Could be within the ocean fill and fill the skies A parchment made where every star on earth a quill And every man a scribe I train To write the love of God above Who trained the ocean dry Nor could a scroll contain the hope Contain the hopes just from sky to sky Oh love of God how rich and pure How measureless and strong It shall forever more endure The saints and angels song Brother Matt go ahead Ship Ahoy 473 473 This is an epic song so if you know it You'll have to sing this one out alright Song number 473 sing it out on the first I was drifting away on life's fallacy And the angry ways that ruined to be Went away out my sight There I dimly descried A hosseilio vasto Loudly I cried Ship Ahoy, Ship Ahoy Loudly I cried Ship Ahoy Amen Just say it go ahead 437 Song number 437 Battle Hymn of the Republic Song number 437 so go ahead and sing it out On the first Mind eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord He is trampling out the vincence where the graves of wrath are stored He hath loosed the faithful lining of his terrible sweet sword His truth is marching on Glory Glory Hallelujah Glory Glory Hallelujah Glory Glory Hallelujah His truth is marching on Ah Miss Ava God 451 Song number 451 Where could I go? Not too familiar with this but let's try it 451 sing it out on the first Living below in this old sinful world Hardly a comfort can afford Striving alone to face temptation sore Where could I go but to the Lord? Where could I go? Oh where could I go? Seeking a refuge for my soul Needing a friend to help me in the end Where could I go but to the Lord? Either one of you 143 Blessed assurance Jesus is mine Song number 143 sing it out on the first Blessed assurance Jesus is mine Oh what a foretaste of glory divine Heir of salvation, riches of God Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all that day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all that day long Sing one more song Go ahead, 145 It is well with my soul Amen, let's finish strong, alright, we can sing it out On the last And Lord, haze a day When my face shall be sad The clouds be rolled back As I scroll The trump shall resound And the Lord shall descend Even so It is well with my soul Sing it out ladies Men Ladies Men Everyone It is well, it is well with my soul Amen Amen, alright, we welcome you to the Sunday evening service Let's take our bulletins and we'll look at some announcements real quickly If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we'll get one for you The verse this week, Psalm 119.35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments For therein do I delight That's a good verse there We like that, if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10.30 AM And we had a wonderful service this morning We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service We do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the midweek Bible study And if you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 AM Then we have soul winning on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 PM as well And if you are a soul winner, please don't forget to add your salvations on your communication card So that we can get that added into the bulletin And if you have a map that you did not finish, please clearly mark what was done and what was not done And put it in the bin in the foyer so that we can get that finished up And then also if you're running late, don't forget to call us at the number there 916-868-9080 Let us know that you plan on being there but you're running late That way we can make sure we have a partner and a map and everything that you need If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course we've got our three sermon series that we're in On Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night We hope you'll be a part of all of those And tonight we're going to get back into the Declaring Doctrines sermon series for a little bit So we're glad you're here for that And then all the ladies are invited to a baby shower for Ms. Rizal Lee Wilson This Saturday, August 10th at 3 PM here in the auditorium And she is having a boy, she's registered on Amazon And it is a potluck so if you can, please bring it there just to share And if you'd like to attend, please sign up on your communication card And then of course there was choir practice today There's other things there for you to look at Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of August Today is my daughter Lydia Jimenez's birthday, August 4th, she's 10 years old And then also today is Ms. Brandy Barrett's birthday So happy birthday to both of them And then later this week we have Daisy O'Toole's birthday on August 5th Abigail Deacon's birthday on August 7th Brother Christian Groenberg has a birthday on August 8th And Cristiano Perez has a birthday on August 9th Praise report, money matters, all of those things are there for you to look at And if you are a guest, we're so glad that you're with us We have a gift we'd like to give you if it's your first time here at Ready Baptist Church As you walk out of our church building, you'll see a little table set up And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest this evening There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made It's called Being Baptist, very well made, very interesting We think you'll like it So please make sure you grab one of these on your way out And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card Which is inserted in your bulletin If you need a pen, you can raise your hand And one of our ushers will be happy to bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen We'd love to have a record of your attendance And we would like to send you something So please take a moment to fill the card out When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering And as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate And I think that's it for all of the announcements I know that we're supposed to sing the Chorus of the Week But can I change that up on you? Is that alright? I don't know why, but we sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic I just felt like singing it some more If that's okay with you I don't know why, it's not a patriotic anything right now Not 4th of July or anything like that What number was that? Was that 437? I think that's what it was Does anybody know? Yeah, 437 Let's go James, let's go ahead and sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic You know what I like about this song? When you sing it, this is a patriotic song This is a song that was sung during the Civil War And I just want you to notice the words that are written These are the types of songs that were considered patriotic songs in our country at one time I want you to notice these words as we sing it out Let's sing it out on the first, 437 On the first, mine eyes have seen the glory of the King of the Lord He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored He hath loosed the faithful mind in his terrible swift sword His truth is marching on Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah His truth is marching on 437, I just want you to notice, notice the second stanza, just notice these words I have seen him, referring to God, in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps They have built him an altar in the evening dews and damps I can read his righteous sentence by his dim and flaring lamps His day is marching on I just want you to notice that it's a reference to the fact the writer is talking about the fact that he has seen him, Jesus, in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps Cause they're reading the word of God and Jesus is the word of God And you know we're starting back up our Declaring Doctrine series tonight And I think it's just important to notice the doctrine that is in these songs So look at it as you sing it out on the second I have seen him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps Sing it out on the second I have seen him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps They have built him an altar in the evening dews and damps I can read his righteous sentence by his dim and flaring lamps His day is marching on Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah His day is marching on We're gonna sing it on the third I don't know if you know this, I'm talking a lot about this song But this song was actually in competition to be the national anthem It was between this and the Star-Spangled Banner It just kinda shows you something about our country Sing it out on the third He has sounded forth a trumpet that shall never sound retreat He is sifting out the hearts of men before his righteous feet Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him Be jubilant, my feet Our God is marching on Good, sing it out Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah God is marching on We're gonna sing it on the last one I'm gonna ask, can we just slow it down? Let's sing it out on the fourth Let's slow it down Sing it with passion, sing it on purpose Think of these words as you sing them On the last In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea With the glory in his bosom That transfigures you and me As he died to make men whole Let us die to make men free While God is marching on Good, sing it out Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory, glory, hallelujah While God is marching on Amen Good singing The guys, come up and help us with the offering at this time And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight Lord, we pray you'd bless the offering, the gift and the giver We pray you'd meet with us as we open up your word Study the Bible together In Jesus' name we pray Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen It is referring to the fact that we should not be selling to the people of God to the congregation of God to the Church of God The Bible says you don't have to turn here in Psalm 22 in verse 22 It says I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation Will I praise thee Hebrews 2 12 quotes that verse and says this saying? I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church Will I sing praise unto thee? So the Old Testament which was translated from the Hebrew says in the midst of the congregation Will I praise thee? The New Testament which was translated from Greek says in the midst of the church Will I sing praise unto thee? The word congregation and church are used synonymously or Interchangeably because of the fact that the Bible is its own dictionary and the word church means congregation So a building is not a church I'm thankful for the property we have the Lord has blessed us with this beautiful building and beautiful property But this building is not the church the church is you the church is me and we could be meeting in this beautiful 400 seat auditorium or we could be meeting under an oak tree somewhere and the Congregation is the church this this is just the church house the church building This is the building that houses the church, but you and I are the church So the first thing we see when we see the problems with selling his church Is that it's wrong for churches to sell to their own people? And churches should not sell to their own people and again, let me be clear about this I don't I'm not saying that any church that has a bookstore that sells DVDs or whatever that they're Antichrist and they're reprobates and they're wicked I'm not saying that there's a lot of good churches that do it But what I am saying is that we're never gonna do that here at Verity Baptist Church because it's wrong Because we should not sell merchandise and again keep this in mind. The problem is not having merchandise We have a whole lot of merchandise we give away The problem is when you're selling merchandise. So the first problem with selling in church is that it's wrong for churches to sell to Their own people but then there's a second view When it comes to this and I'd like you to keep your place there in John Put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're gonna leave it and we're gonna come back to it I'd like you to notice the second Aspect of the same idea from a different view goes maybe would to second Peter chapter number two If you go backwards from Revelation You'll go past the book of Jude third second and first John into second Peter second Peter chapter number two And let me say this not only is it wrong for churches to sell to their own people But it is also wrong for someone to come to church With the sole intention of selling to the church people Do you understand what I just said? Not only is it wrong For the house of God to become a house of merchandise Where the church is selling to the congregation the church is as it as a ministry is selling to Their own people but it is also wrong and this is just as common if not more common for someone to come to church With the sole intention of selling to the church people. Are you there in second Peter chapter two? Look at verse three second Peter chapter two in verse three. The Bible says this and through covetousness Shall they with feign words now, we're going to come back and look at those that phrase here in a minute But I just want you to notice this phrase the Bible says shall they with feign words notice this phrase make merchandise of you So there's one instance Where the house of God is being made a house of merchandise and that is because the house of God is Selling merchandise to the people but then there's another instance where people are coming and they are Looking at the people in the church and they are making merchandise of you Merchandise of the people and let me just say this. It's wrong. It's wrong It's wrong It's unethical It's dishonest For someone to come to church with the sole intention of selling to the church people I'm talking about people who go to church And they're not going to church because they're looking for a home church. They're looking for a community of believers that they can Serve with and soul win with and and grow with and be a part of but they're just coming to church Just because they've got a product to peddle they've got something to sell and They just know that if they go to church They can begin to meet people and start selling things that is wrong selling merchandise going to church to sell merchandise is wrong You say what am I talking about? I'm talking about people and look this is a very common thing Where and I'm gonna name off some companies just to make sure you understand what I'm talking about And let me just say this. I don't know of anyone in our church that sells any of these things if you do I Don't know it and God bless you. I don't think there's anything wrong with selling these things I just think it's wrong for you to go to church and try to sell these things But I'm talking about like companies like Amway Mary Kay Pampered chef Avon Herbalife Tupperware, I'm sure there's others I don't know I literally I have to google these because I have no clue what these a lot of these companies are But look I know for a fact That there are companies out there like Amway Like these types of things where people will get sucked in and they start saying again if you sell these products god bless you Good, you know I know with Mary Kay if you sell a certain amount of money or whatever products They give you like a pink Cadillac or something. You know. I hope you get the pink Cadillac and and and god bless you But here's the thing a lot of times these companies will say hey You know now that you're selling this now that you're selling Amway now that you're saying you what you should do is start going to church So you can start getting to know people and you can start selling and look when you're showing up to church With the sole intention of just selling a product. That's wrong. I remember years ago This was back when we were still in our I want to say it was our first building was a long time ago but we were Just a small church. I mean I we moved into our first building I don't know. We probably had like 30 people coming to our churches. I'm 35 people And I remember this guy shows up this real estate agent And he's literally just telling me He's like yeah I just became a real estate agent and they told me that I should go to church and try to like Sell to church, and I'm thinking myself. Why did they not tell you that you probably shouldn't be telling me this Like and I have to tell a guy like no That's not that's that's unethical That's wrong. You know what's interesting to me it's just what's interesting to me is that we live in such a covetous and such a dishonest Society that I find myself, and I'm not saying these people are bad people or wicked people or whatever But I find myself having to explain things to people and I'm thinking myself like I don't this isn't that complicated Dishonesty is a problem in our society Not being ethical is a problem in our society and look I'm telling you it is unethical To come to church with the intention of trying to sell your product and pedal your product to the church people and you say well, why is it unethical I want to explain this to you and I'll explain to you not using the church because here's what I believe Let's just turn it around Let's let's use the church because this is something that people often do as well I Think and and I and the Bible backs us up if you just read the Bible understand the Bible But I believe that it would be unethical our church. We are a soul winning church This last week. I don't know we had about 120 of our church members out there knocking doors preaching the gospel Getting people saved and praise the Lord for it, but you know I think that it would be unethical for our church To go stand in front of Walmart or stand in front of Target and just hand out Invitations and try to talk to people as they're coming in or going out of that business I Think that'd be wrong now the exception is unless Walmart gives you permission to that You know if Walmart or Target gives you permission to do that then great, then there is no problem there But I think it'd be wrong and I've seen churches do this without permission they'll just go stand in front of a Walmart and Hand invitations to people as they're coming in and and and and I think that would be wrong Because of the fact because obviously you're trying to talk to people as they're coming into the door of Walmart We're coming into the tour of Target because of the fact that That company paid a lot of money and put a lot of work and effort and advertising Into trying to get people to walk through that door your sound I'm saying I'm not talking about you met them on the street or out in a parking lot or whatever I'm saying there. There's a door that leads them into a business a Company paid money to get people to come through that door to purchase their merchandise And you're blocking that door and making them come to you first That's wrong because it's unethical because they put a lot of work into getting people to come into their business You understand I'm saying to you and in the same way Verity Baptist Church We have a hundred and twenty soul winners that Have volunteered an hour two hours three hours a week Going out knocking doors preaching the gospel inviting people to church Following up on converts getting people to come here, and then you're like oh, I'm selling Mary Kay So now no why don't you go knock all those doors? Why don't you go meet all those people? Why don't you go make all those connections? You're using the work and the resources that have been made to bring people into the house of God And then you're trying to make money off that you're trying to make merchandise off that so that's wrong it's wrong for someone to come to church with the sole intention of selling to church people and Selling merchandise, and you know signing people out for these multi-level Pyramid marketing things all of that is not something that you should be coming to church To do now here's what's interesting is that this is actually a primary characteristic of a false prophet We read their second Peter chapter 2 and verse 3, but just to get the context look at verse 1 2nd Peter chapter 2 and verse 1 the Bible says this but there were false prophets also among the people Even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring in damnable heresies Even denying the Lord that brought them and bring upon themselves with destruction So second Peter 2 1 is about what false prophets false teachers that are bringing in damnable heresies Look at verse 3 and through covetousness Shall they with feign words you still would feign there that means deceptive not real Not authentic with feign words make merchandise of you And this is what false prophets are known for what are the false prophets out there on the radio on TV? What are they doing? They're peddling their merchandise They're peddling all their things They're trying to get you to call in and buy their book and buy this and buy that and look all I'm saying is If you're a man of God in this and you are your ministry is a house of God Then why don't you just give all that away? I? Mean literally there are people on the radio would you've got some Pentecostal who take some rag and wipes his nose on it? Sneezes into a rag a rag filled with his snot, and he's like this rug will heal you You just buy a call right now 1-800-1999 for the next 30 minutes You're gonna have this rag for night. Well look if you really thought that snot nose racket heal somebody Why don't you ship them off to everyone in the hospitals? For free I don't think you should be buying snot nose rags, and I don't think you should be buying any of it But this is something that falls this is something that bad people do they try to make a merchandise of you So selling merchandise doing these things are not things that we should be doing as Christians Let me give you another verse go to Philippians chapter 3 Philippians chapter 3 if you start from the beginning of the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Philippians chapter 3 look at verse 18 Philippians 3 18 The Bible says from any walk of whom I have told you often and I'll tell you even weeping that they are Look at these words Philippians 3 18 the enemies of the cross of Christ Look at verse 19 Well verse 18 says that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ verse 19 whose end is destruction Look at these words whose God is their belly Who's really the God of Joel Osteen? Who's really the God of TD Jakes? Who's really the God of these false prophets that are just making? bit millions of dollars By selling their product to two people, you know, their God is their belly They serve themselves They serve God to serve their own bellies and whose glories and their shame who mind earthly things So it's wrong To do those things Let me let me just throw something else in there go to Romans chapter 16 If you're going keep your place and do me a favor keep your place in Philippians I actually keep your place in John also keep your place in Philippians because we're gonna come back and forth but from Philippians You can go backwards past Ephesians Galatians 2nd and 1st Corinthians into the book of Romans keep your place in Philippians But go backwards into Romans Ephesians Galatians 2nd and 1st Corinthians Romans Romans chapter 16. Let me say this Not only and this isn't having to do with this but it it's falls under the same guys So I want to I want to mention it Not only is it wrong Cuz look don't you think it'd be wrong if you're if you're Burger King and You're just standing right at the door of the McDonald's entryway Try to sell your whoppers. That's wrong McDonald's paid a lot of money put a lot of effort You know and did whatever they didn't to to get people to come through that door and in the same way when a church has put a lot of effort and a lot of resources into Getting people through this door and our goal is just to teach them the Word of God and to help them grow And then you're like, oh, let me show you my Tupperware That's wrong That's unethical But let me say this it's also wrong when people Want to come to a church not just to peddle their merchandise, but also to peddle their false doctrine The Bible says in Romans 16 17 now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses Contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ But they're notice the the same things being said as Philippians, but their own belly Remember Philippians said whose God is their belly and my good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple and This happens here every once in a while. I mean, I think it probably happens once every two or three months We'll have some quote-unquote preacher Come in on a Sunday morning or on a Sunday night and They'll be here in our in the service and then after the service they want to sit there and try to talk to people About how we're wrong about eternal security or try to argue with us about Salvation being my grace to the faith or whatever try to bring some we're wrong about the King James Bible or whatever might be and I'm thinking myself Look, you can believe whatever you want But you don't you don't get to let us Work for 14 years to get 250 people to show up at our Sunday morning Just so you can walk in and now you can teach everyone Now I think you're stupid and I think your doctors are stupid I don't think they make any sense, but why don't you go out knock doors work hard gather a crowd of 250 people and then you teach them whatever you want But people were just like oh there's an established church there's a church that's got some people in it Someone has already worked hard put money put sweat put blood put resources and to bringing up Getting a congregation off the ground and getting go now, let me just walk in and be lazy and Pedal my doctrines pedal my merchandise. No, why don't you go build your own? Following in your own Group and get your own network and do those things So look the problem with selling in church is that it's wrong for churches To sell to their own people because the house of God should not be a house of merchandise But it's also wrong for someone to come to church with the sole purpose of selling to The church people and look if you start your own business We've got tons of business owners in our church and God bless them I think if you don't know what to do with your life start a business. We've got so many business owners here I think part of it is that God is just blessed with a lot of Men and ladies that have initiative and hard work and and and praise God for I'm all for people having businesses But when you start a business don't don't decide Oh, I need to try to sell to everyone in church now That's wrong That is not of the Lord is that it's not something that God wants you to do And it just makes everything awkward and uncomfortable When you're just constantly trying to it's like they're like, I don't want your makeup Okay, you know so we see the problem with selling in church. It's wrong for churches to sell to their own people It's wrong for someone to come to church with the sole intention of selling to church people Now let me just shift gears a little bit and kind of deal with another Issue that is similar to this go back to John if you would in John chapter 6 So number one we talked about the problem with selling in church the problem with selling in church And I hope you see both views. It's wrong for churches to sell to their people It's also wrong for people to come in with the sole intention of selling to the church Let's talk about number two the plight of being a freeloader in church The plight of being a freeloader in church, and I use the word plight number one Just because I like a literated sermon so I went with problems for selling and plight the word plight means a dangerous difficult or unfortunate situation and When freeloaders show up in church it is an unfortunate situation now you're there in John chapter 6 and And you know keep your place there in John before before we do that go to Galatians. Let me just share verse with you real quick Galatians Galatians chapter number six If you're there in John you have Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Galatians chapter 6 before we get into this point let me just say this I Believe and and our church has always practiced this That it is our job to try to help people as much as possible the Bible says here in Galatians chapter 6 in verse 10 as We have therefore opportunity Let us do good unto all men Especially unto them who are of the household of faith So the Bible says look if you have the ability if you have the resources if you're able to Then you should strive to do good unto all men Especially unto them who are of the household of faith, so I think that if we can we should try to help Anyone we can but especially Christians other believers those of the household of faith Then we should try to help them and look we don't talk a lot about it I don't talk a lot about it from the pulpit in fact I talked very little about it, but you can you can ask the staff they know that our church helps a lot of people I mean we we have helped people in all sorts of situations when they find themselves struggling and And we have been it's not something we talk about it's not something we ever mentioned or hold over people's heads or whatever But we help a lot of people, and I think that's a good Christian thing to do I believe the Bible when it says as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men Especially unto them who are of the household of faith, and and we actually do good we try to do good unto all men and The staff knows that when they answer the phone we we have Just a policy that will pretty much buy groceries for anybody If somebody calls and says hey my kids are hungry, and I don't have any we we buy groceries for anybody now We help other people in other areas and when it's something that's not groceries And we do take that and look at it and consider it and pray about it and whatever But I've pretty much sold the staff anybody asked for groceries. We buy groceries for anybody No problem, I don't even care if they're a drug addict whatever and people need to eat You know we're not gonna give money to a drunkard But what biker, but here's the only thing that I tell people because people are takers and people are lazy So here's what we tell people hey they call because we get calls. I don't know I will I don't know I should have asked the guys, but probably every day We get calls people asking for stuff, and this is what we tell people you want groceries You can have groceries. We've been more than happy to buy you Groceries you know several days for the groceries. Here's the only thing that we tell people that that don't come to our churches Just come to the next church service. We'll have it here for you You know they call on a Monday, and it's like hey, Wednesday night. We have church 7 p.m.. Just let us know If you're gonna come we'll have the groceries here for you And you can come pick them up come to the church service come pick them up and just putting that little Extra effort makes it so that like virtually no one ever comes I mean, it's a wreck. We bought a lot of groceries for our own church people, but you know as far as people out there We just tell them what my groceries are anybody just come to church Come to church on Sunday, and you know what are we going to do? we're gonna try to feed them the five loaves and two fishes while trying to get them saved of course and But but look I believe If we're able to if we have the opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them Who are of the household of faith so our church has been very generous we have helped people They've maybe lost their jobs, or they're just struggling or whatever and and and and if you know our church And if you know people you know that's true So we've helped people a lot and and I only bring that up to say this That if if we have helped you. I'm not talking about you Okay, you went through some problem. You lost your job, and you were struggling and we helped you out in some way I'm not talking about you I don't want you to walk away say pastors preaching about me if you walk away thinking that I've got another sermon for you that You can listen to about when you think the sermons about you. I'm not talking about you, okay We've helped a lot of people and I just because we've helped you if we have helped you in the past I'm not talking about you but I do want you to know this that there are many people who show up to churches, and they're just takers and They are freeloaders, and they are just there to take what they can and this is not new There is no new thing under the sun. Do you know that? Nothing is new There are no temptations taking you, but that which is common to man and in John 6 We actually see a story of this where Jesus dealt with this John chapter 6 look at verse number 10 John chapter 6 in verse 10 Did I make it clear that I'm not talking about you we've helped you okay I don't want to have that conversation with you Just listen to the sermon about when you think the sermons about you and grow up But in John 6 10 the Bible says this and Jesus said Make the men sit down Now there was much grass in the place so that so the men sat down in number about five thousand of course This is a famous feeding of the five thousand and Jesus took the loaves when he had given things He distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were sat down and likewise of the fishes as much as They would and there's so much in this story so many beautiful truths that are illustrated in the sermon in this story Then I should probably just preach a sermon from the story sometime soon, but of course we have here the feeding of the five thousand and Of course Jesus feeds these five thousand and the Bible tells us that it was five thousand men They counted the men and there was five thousand of them Not including women and children so there might have been 15,000 20,000 people there that were fed But look down at verse 22 so in John 610 begins the famous story of the feeding of five thousand and Then in John 6 22 the Bible says this the day following So in John 6 22 excuse me In John 6 22 we have the next day The the day following so I just want you to get the context it's the day after Jesus fed the five thousand look at verse 24 John 6 24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there And I don't have time to go through the whole story you can read it on your own if you'd like But what happened was Jesus fed the five thousand I've just got something in my in my throat When Jesus fed the five thousand That night He walked on water we have the famous miracle of Jesus walking around he sends the disciples remember There's a storm he walks on water. He helps them and now they're on the other side of Galilee That's that's the context I just want you to get that look at verse 24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there Neither his disciples they also took shipping and came to Capernaum Seeking for Jesus and when they had found him on the other side of the sea they said unto him rabbi When cameest thou hither so they're asking when did you come here because again? Jesus crossed over in the middle of the night, and he literally walked on water look at verse 26 Jesus answered them and said verily verily I say unto you now notice what Jesus says to these people because he just got done feeding them the day before and Now he's with disciples on the other side of Capernaum, and they're following after him They they like figure out where he's at they get in ships They go that way John 6 26 Jesus answered them and said verily verily I say unto you Ye seek me look at what he says not because you saw the miracles but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled and What Jesus is rebuking them for he's saying you're not following me because you care about me Or you care about the ministry or you saw the miracles and you see the power of God He said you know why you're following me because I fed you the day before and you're hungry again He says ye seek me not because you saw the miracles but because he did eat of the loaves and were filled these people we know what they're looking for they were looking for another free meal and These are the types of people that show up to churches and look again we as a church want to be generous and kind and and be giving and help people and to an extent we do You know help people and there are some things that we'll just do for Anyone and everyone and we do lots of things for lots of people, but we also as a church as a church we need to Understand this and as a congregation you need to be aware that there are people that show up to church for the sole purposes of being a taker Not because they saw the miracles But because they did eat of the loaves and were filled they're just looking for Another free meal and look there are people that show up to churches and their takers and We need to be aware of that go to 2nd Kings chapter 5 in The Old Testament you've got the books of 1st and 2nd The 1 and 2 books 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles go to 2nd Kings chapter 5 And You need to be careful about When people are asking you for things Look I I believe and and I realize we don't talk a lot about this So I just want to talk about it and train our church people if it's good We have really generous people in our church, and I and I'm thinking and I thank you for that I'm thankful for that, but if people are constantly asking you for things over and over you need to let my wife and I know and and even today praise the Lord there was a man in our church that reached out to me and You know said hey, we there was an individual is asking for something in the first time They you know they just kind of dealt with it But then they're asking again and asking again, and it's like they're they're letting me know and that was the right thing to do That's that's good thing to do and here's why? You know let me explain to you. Why it is that you need to do that again We want to be generous you understand what I'm saying we need to balance the spirit of like Generosity want to be there for people want to help people But when it starts to seem like the same person just keeps asking for things over and over You need to start communicating that to us because here's what people will often do They'll call the church office, and they'll ask for some sort of help groceries or whatever something and Because we try to be generous and try to help people will provide them will provide the assistance will provide the groceries But then they'll go around and call church people and ask for the same thing and Nobody talks to each other You know and then eventually we find out and it's like well I bought groceries for this individual on this day, and I'm thinking myself, but we bought groceries for that individual on that day So what is that? Would you know what that is that's called? That's double dipping Because we have people that work hard and They generously give to the church of their incomes their tithes and their offerings and as a result There's me in my house the Bible says so we've got resources that we can help people with and we help people with but then the same church people are just out of their own pocket helping people again and You say well, that's dishonest. Yeah, they're takers So you just have to realize that people like this exist and They're just there for a free meal And they're trying to get as much as they can and you just have to be careful and I and God bless you for being generous and God bless you for all of that, but You know you you have to be careful, and here's the part that really pisses me off about this is That of course they're not telling anybody that we've bought groceries and put them up in hotels or paid rent or whatever So then people are making comments to my wife, and I like well We have to help this person because nobody else is helping them. It's like are you kidding me? Look, it's good, and I'm not saying everybody that helps has an attitude I'm just saying it's good for a church to understand we want to be generous We want to help people we want to love people But you also have to have enough discernment like Jesus to be able to know you seek me not because you saw the miracles But because you did eat of the loaves and were filled And sometimes that's what you need to say to people on the phone you're not calling me because you saw the miracles You're calling me because you're hungry you did eat of the loaves and were filled and Sometimes people are takers you look and this is a mentality That people have and look again. We live in a culture. I often tell people and I don't mean this in a rude way I hope you understand what I'm saying to you But I often think to myself and I tell people our job is to teach you all the things that your parents failed to Teach you now some of you have some great parents and God bless you, but some of you didn't and and you know We have to teach you these things and try to help you But we should not you should not have this mentality It says I'm just trying to take as much as I can from the church and from church people That is not a good thing. Let me give you another example of something. That's less serious But I think it still is this taker mentality And you know our church We have a lot of events and we put on events where we are feet feeding people. We just fed 80 cleaners You know a meal on on Friday night, and and we didn't expect them to bring anything We don't want them to bring anything they could eat as much as they want there was so much You know that you could take home Plates full I mean it was like feeding the 5,000 there was 12 baskets left You know I mean I took the sweet and sour chicken, and I prayed over it And then I just kept you know breaking it and and we just ate fried rice and chicken until everyone was full and then there was all this left, and we're just giving it away and Praise God for it. You know we put on big events, and we'll have pizza or whatever we we give away food But then every once in a while though. We'll do an event where we're like okay Let's try to have the church save some money instead of the church is feeding everybody Let's all come together as a community and let's all bring something. You know what that's called. It's called a potluck And and I often joke with people and it's not a joke I tell people like this is the only way the potluck works you need to bring enough food for yourself and to share and The point is you bring enough for yourself and to share everyone else brings enough For themselves and to share and everybody can have a little bit of everyone's and it works out But you know what a taker mentality is you bring nothing to the potluck You load your plate up load a second plate up load a plate to go home And then it's like pastor Jimenez and miss Joanne are stuck in their offices talking to people whatever and then we come out to the thing and it's all gone and It's like you know and look. I'm not I'm not saying that to say any other this that's a taker mentality That is not in the mentality of someone is saying I want to pitch in I want to help I want to participate in this thing So we need to be Understand that there are takers, and you need to understand that as a church That I want you to help people But the same person is coming back to you a second time and a third time you might want to mention that to the staff or mention that to me because you might find that a lot of people have been helping and And you want to be careful with that, but there's a second type of person When it comes to this point because we talked about the problem of selling in church, right? It's wrong for churches to sell to their own people and it's wrong for someone to come to church What the sole intention of selling to people now we're talking about the plight of being a freeloader in church And when it comes to being a freeloader, there's the takers We saw that in John 6 Ye seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled But then I want you to notice there's a second type of individual and this is the expector There's the taker and then there's the expector The person who just expects everything and there's actually a story of this in the Bible look at it second Kings chapter 5 Look at verse 1 Now Naaman captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and honorable Because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria He was also a mighty man in valor But he was a leper and the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away Captive out of the land of Israel a little maid and she waited on Naaman's wife and she said unto her mistress What God my lord she's referring to Naaman Were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy So here's the story a little maid gets kidnapped. She's taking captive from her home and she's serving Naaman she finds out Naaman has leprosy and she's not bitter at God She's not bitter at Naaman In fact, she says to her mistress to Naaman's wife would God my lord were with the prophet That is in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy. So she's telling Naaman There's a prophet in Samaria that could heal you So, of course Naaman goes down to that prophet. And of course, this is the prophet Elisha. Look at verse 9 second Kings chapter 5 verse 9 so Naaman came With his horses and with his chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha So Naaman not remember Naaman in verse 1 says he was a great man He was honorable. He was a mighty man in valor He was he was like a decorated war hero He was famous and and and he had a lot of prestige a lot of clout, but he was a leper So he's used to being treated a certain way and in verse 9 the Bible says so Naaman came with his horses and with his Chairs, of course he comes with his big entourage and stood at the door of the house of Elisha and Elisha look at what it says sent a messenger unto him So Elisha is like look I'm working on my Sunday morning sermon right now. Talk to my staff guy That's what because some of you guys some of you sometimes you get upset with me because I'm like, hey I'm having my staff guy return this call. Sometimes Elisha is busy and I'm not saying that I'm Elisha or anything I'm just saying that sometimes the guy in charge is busy and Elisha sent a messenger unto him saying well look at verse 9 so Naaman came with his Horses and with his chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha and Elisha sent a messenger unto him Saying so Elisha sends a messenger and just gives him the answer He says go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee And thou shalt be clean verse 11 But Naaman was wroth so Elisha tells them through a messenger go do this and then you'll be healed and Naaman the Bible says in verse 11. He was wroth the word wroth means angry and Went away and said behold now. Why is he angry? Here's why he's angry Notice these words. He says I thought You know what that means when he says I thought it means that he had an expectation He expected that Elisha was going to do something that Elisha never said he was going to do Elisha never said he was gonna meet with Naaman Elisha never said he was gonna do. Naaman just had this expectation. He's all angry Look, he says I thought he will surely come out to me. I mean doesn't he know who I am? Why is his son Shaw to talk to me? Why is his son brother David talk to me or brother Oliver talk to me? I thought he will surely come out to me and Stand and call on the name of the Lord is God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper So Naaman has all these expectations. He just expects that certain things are gonna happen for him and those things don't happen Elisha says do this I'm busy right now. I'm dealing with other things and He's upset. He's rough I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord is God and strike his hand Over the place and recover the leper look at verse 12 are not Abana and Farfa Rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel may not wash in them and be clean So he returned and went away look at these words in a rage He's just angry and upset Because he had these Expectations now, of course, you know the end of the story his servants talking down and they're like look if he would have asked you To do some major thing you would have done it. He's just telling you to go dip in the Jordan River We're already here. Why don't you just try it, you know, and of course Naaman is healed You know the story, but I want you to see that Naaman is angry because of an unmet expectation Look you and I need to be careful with our expectations And we need to realize that nobody owes you anything People well, I don't deserve you know what you deserve, you know what you deserve and what I deserve is to die and go to hell That's all we deserve and anything we get that's better than that. We should be thankful for and the thing about expectations Is this that expectations kill gratitude? See instead of him being thankful to Elisha like wow Elisha Thank you for telling me what to do to heal my leprosy instead of being Grateful for what's been given to him because he had this expectation. Nobody told him he's gonna be treated that way Nobody told him Elisha was gonna meet with him But he has this expectation. He's all angry. The Bible says he's rough and he went away in a rage and here's what I've learned and Again, we believe in not selling anything. We give everything away for free We don't charge for anything none of that Well, what I've learned is this that if you give stuff away for free people will learn to stir they'll start expecting it and Expectation kills appreciation and you know what happens is that people begin to expect things and Then they stop appreciating things They start expecting that something is going to be done. They start expecting that this was going to happen They start expecting that of course, they would do this don't they know who I am and when that doesn't happen, they're not appreciative of it So what's the answer? Well the answer is not for us to start selling stuff Because that would be a sin the answer is for you to fix your heart and For you to realize just because you're getting stuff from this church for free number one You shouldn't expect it and you shouldn't let that expectation kill your appreciation And And you know one thing that that that I it's just it's it's it's a thing And you know, let me say this and I don't think that this is right I don't think that churches should do this. I don't think that churches should charge But honestly after passing for 14 years, I understand why churches charge for things like I grew up in churches every church I grew up in as A kid and when I was in the military my wife and I would travel around every church I went to charge for events Charles, I mean you you you have a you know, I was a teenager. You went to a youth conference You paid 230 bucks to go to youth conference. I was 20 years ago. It's probably like $500 now We put on this whole big youth conference for free And and we put on all these events for free but look I understand I remember my wife and I We we put on this we have these married couples sweetheart banquets where we have a nice Italian dinner and a nice game and all these things Free I Remember when my wife and I were were younger before I was a pastor We went to a church that was having a married couple sweetheart banquet and we have to pay $20 a ticket each To get in and we were young and broke it was kind of it was a lot for us at the time But you know, we wanted to go once versus me We so we paid $40 $20 for a ticket for me $20 to take from my wife We went to the married couples. We are back What you know what they fed us a six-inch subway sandwich a Six inch subway sandwich And at the time they were on sale for like $5.99 Or something, you know and was I upset about I wasn't upset about it because I you know I I've always just thought like hey if the church is making money, whatever God bless them I hope they use it whatever I wasn't upset about it But I'm just I'm telling you that to tell you like some of you. This is the only church you've ever known This is not normal I mean when I grew up As a teenager, we are having a teen activity. You want to go to the teen activity five bucks You want to go to the laser? Oh, it's a laser targetivity 20 bucks No, we just pay for everyone. We just cover all that We just we don't charge for anything But here's all I'm saying is just because we do that don't begin to expect that and then lose appreciation Now look again the the problem of preaching a sermon like this is that people start getting this idea like oh well You're just you don't want to start you don't want to keep doing these things that's not the point the point is that you we all need to understand what it means to be a Christian and how we should act and Look, we're happy to put on events. My wife puts on baby showers and brown. She put on a baby shower like two weeks ago She's putting on a baby shower this Saturday and please don't misunderstand what I'm saying to you. We're happy to do it She's had my wife's like a professional event planner I Mean, you know if the ministry doesn't work out for us We're just gonna go into the event planning business because that's pretty much what we do You know and she puts on all the events We pay for them You know and we're happy to do it and we've got ladies in this church That serve and they're faithful and God bless them and we want to bless them with baby showers We want to bless them with bridal showers We want to do all that stuff, but you know literally we've put on events baby showers. We're like No one even said thank you not even once and it's just kind of like well you the problem is you expect this an expectation kills appreciation I Mean we've had situations where where we put on my wife puts on a baby shower for some lady And of course our church is super generous so she just gets loaded up with all these gifts and Then we just never see her again Just after you know comes to our church for a while. It's like oh you've been coming to church for a while You know We'll throw you a baby shower or whatever you know your new member want to be a blessing to you And then you just get like thousands dollars worth of gifts and just never see him again Had situation with my wife. You understand my wife has six children. She homeschools and She doesn't get paid. She doesn't she's not a staff member. She doesn't work for the church But she puts time and energy into planning these things and let me just and you know I'm gonna upset my wife because she doesn't like me talking about these things But I don't care because she's not the pastor I am Okay But let me just let you in on a little secret because people people get this idea like oh Well, you have the the Christmas party or the ladies tea like it must have been easy because you had all these women show up the day before It's like look look. We're thankful that all these women show up the day before to help set up But that's not the hard part The hard part is like the three months before Where you're planning everything getting everything situated where you're getting you know people they go well Help must have been easy. Yeah, well you tried doing it you try putting on a ladies tea for 120 ladies With all the free stuff and all the events and all that stuff look and here's again I'm just I'm just trying to help you understand You know literally we've had situations where my wife puts on a baby shower for someone you know baby shower takes like two hours two and a half hours and Literally this happened more than once where the person we're throwing the baby shower for is like an hour or more late To their own baby shower It's like the baby showers only two and a half hours, and you show up like an hour and 15 minutes late And you think to yourself. What is that, but I'll tell you exactly what that is. You know what that is It's not being grateful It's just this expectation. Well of course. They're gonna. Throw me a baby shower look at me. I'm amazing Don't have that mentality You know where you're just like the church is gives and gives and gives and then you just expect it And and you just often a rage or something Expectation kills gratitude, and you should guard gratitude You know the Bible says the Bible says that the will of God is that we be thankful That we should be people that are thankful and grateful and look this is true of church But it's true in every area of life at work men don't just expect that the bottle of course He's gonna give us this day off of course. He's going to do this or do that don't expect that He pays you If you get a paycheck to work you should expect anything, but your paycheck So anything else that's done for you be thankful. Oh I didn't do anything for Thanksgiving bonus well nobody promised you a Thanksgiving bonus. You understand what I'm saying to you You know wives don't just have these expectation where your husband just supposed to Fulfill every need and pay every bill and do hey be thankful You young people I mean someone's paying for all the things you do Someone's paying for all the clothes you wear someone's playing for all the The activities you're in people someone's you have a mom and a dad somebody's paying for those things Don't just expect it be grateful be thankful Appreciate it nothing wrong with having people do things for you But do not become this person who says well I thought that they would have no that's called being you're a taker and you're an expector and You should not be either one of those You should not expect anything, and you should look and you should not be a taker I Think it was JFK who famously said? Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country And I am NOT a Democrat But it's a good quote and you know I would I would say the the quote for us Would be this that's not what your church can do for you Ask what you can do for your church Instead of being a taker why don't you say well? Where can I give where can I? Be a part where can I participate how can I be a blessing how can I help others? All right, I got to finish this up Let me give you the third the third point point number one was the problem with selling in church It's wrong for churches to tell to their own people It's wrong for someone to come to church with the sole intention of selling to the church people Then we talked about the plight of being a freeloader in church Let's talk about being a taker and talking about being an expector again We want to help people we want to be generous, but make sure you're not a taker Who's just trying to take from everyone? doing everything and if you're a church member realize that there are takers out there and You just have to be aware of that and sometimes you you know We don't want to enable people in their sin, and then don't be an expector don't just expect That something is owed to you. That's not the case when people do things for you You should be thankful you should be appreciative all of that. It's just called being a normal Christian person Okay, number three. Well. I'll try to move through this one quickly Let's talk about the principles of doing business in church the principles of doing business in church Now let me just as quickly as I can I'm not even gonna have you turn to any of these passages I'm just gonna run through these But let me just read some principles here so first of all like we've already been talking about we do not believe in Someone coming to church for the sole purpose of selling in church. That's wrong but comma however With that said I hope I've been clear about the whole selling in church We do not believe that's good. We don't really believe that's right We don't think you should be coming to church for the sole purpose of selling however with that said let me say this it is natural that as a church member Becomes a part of a congregation as they develop within the family of a congregation It's not it's it's it's just natural that you are going to get to know People and the types of work that they do and they might get to know the type of work that you do and it's natural That you're just going to want to do business with other church members, and let me just be clear about that There's nothing wrong with that Do you understand what I'm saying to you? There's nothing wrong. There's nothing in the world wrong with you saying oh brother So-and-so has a business that does X Y & Z I'd like to hire them, and I'd like to work with them That's that's fine Now there is something wrong if you just show up just to get prospects for your business, but you you're coming to church You've been part of this congregation You're just been here for months or weeks or years you know people they know you and then you start doing business There's nothing wrong with that. I think that's good. I think that's fine. I think that's natural that a church member That church members just get to know each other and they start doing business with each other okay. I think that's fine There's nothing wrong with doing business with church people I don't want you to walk away from the sermon saying like I can't do business with any church people There's nothing wrong with that as long as they're not it's not just like they're trying to sell you something just That's the only reason for the relationship But let me just say this there's nothing wrong with doing business with church people But there are some dangers that you should be aware of and I think that you and I just want to make you aware of some of these things In regards to to it Before you go into business Or hire someone in church and look obviously you're an adult you do whatever you want I'm not here to tell you what to do But I would just say this that Before you go into business with someone or hire someone you might want to talk to the pastor There just may be something that you don't know about that individual or whatever and again I'm never gonna cross confidentiality lines or whatever But I You know I might just say hey, you know, maybe you might want to check out his work or whatever, you know And it's just you don't know What's going on? You don't know everything and sometimes it's just good to communicate. I value communication. I think communication is good either way Let me just say this and these are principles for doing business as church if you decide that You're going to do business with somebody in church Then you need to go into that relationship with this idea of a steaming other better than yourself Philippians 2 3 says let nothing be done through strive for vainglory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves and you need to just decide look and I Have hired people in our church to do things and and we have great workers here And I'm always super happy with every of the work that people do but whenever I do hire someone To do work for me or for the church or whatever. I always think to myself Even if it's a complete disaster, you know I'm gonna steam them better than myself. I'm not just gonna make a big deal about this I'm not gonna fight and if you're the type of person that fights with people about money and things like that Then don't just don't hire someone in church. You understand what I'm saying? Because then it gets awkward When you're like you're yelling at them on Friday about it I think you're ripping me off on this and then you get partnered with them on Saturday for someone and it gets a little awkward You see what I'm saying doesn't that just make sense? So if you like yelling at people or fighting with people or whatever just find someone off a craigslist So you can yell at them all you want But if you're gonna do work with church people you should go into with this and obviously you shouldn't get ripped off Matthew 18 is there to protect people from ripping people off in church. We understand all those things I preached the whole sermon on Matthew 18 in the declaring doctrine series but what I'm saying is this you should go in with this attitude that says I'm gonna steam other better than myself and You should go into it deciding that this business relationship is Not going to cause you to have a bad relationship with a fellow church member and that if needed you will allow yourself to be Defrauded the Bible says this you don't have to turn here I'm already way past time, but let me just read this to you first Corinthians 6 7 now Therefore there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one with another why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? May you do wrong and defraud and that your brethren So if you're going to do work with and I want you to do work with church people I think it's good to do work with church people But if you're going to do work with church people you should just go into it with this mentality that says I'm gonna suffer myself to be defrauded I'm gonna steam other better myself and listen to me I'm not up here like some hypocrite telling you to do something that I haven't done I Mean before my wife and I started Verity Baptist Church we were members at another church and We were purchasing we're trying to purchase a house which we ended up purchasing here in Sacramento to start a church in and You know at the time somebody in our church that we were a part of was was a real estate agent and they were recommended to us as this real Estate agent and and I remember having this conversation my wife And I had this conversation because we're like should we hire her should we do this or whatever we didn't know we were you know 14 years ago, whatever, but I remember my wife, and I we just told ourselves well, whatever you know let's just hire this individual and Whatever happens if anything bad happens. We're just gonna steam her better than ourselves We're gonna suffer ourselves to be defrauded and it's gonna be fine like we're not gonna Let this become a problem if it becomes a problem. Let me tell you something it was a nightmare This lady God bless her and she's actually passed away now But she was brand new as a as a real estate agent, and she made several mistakes that cost us thousands of dollars and You know she apologized and whatever and we just said God bless you, and we were just happy and be just because we already had decided You know being a Christian and having a good relationship with fellow believers is more important to me People are should be more important to you than money And you know we were just we're I mean we're just like it's fine You know everybody makes mistakes whatever God bless you We just moved on but you know the Lord actually blessed us like a year later After we'd already been in the house for you. I'm not gonna go into all the details, but There was a situation because of her mix-up or somebody else's mix-up the title company messed up or whatever and there was this thing Where they ended up just giving us a bunch of money just because so many mistakes were made That and then it was like the Lord even just blessed us and kind of allowed us to recoup that like a year later But at the time you know we're like struggling. We're a young couple. We're trying to start a church We're just literally forking over thousand dollars because this person's making mistakes, but look we just decided We're gonna love people We're gonna sub ourselves to be the fraud in We're gonna see mother better than ourselves And I think that's one of the reasons that God has blessed us and God has blessed this church And that's how you should be Don't allow business relationships to conflict with church relationships people are more important than money And we should not love money. We should not care about money I had a whole other page of things that I needed to go over. I'm not gonna do that I'm just gonna read this to you real quick. I've got verses, but I'm not gonna go to those verses Let me just give you some concluding statements number one the only money exchange that exchanges hands here at our church is during the offering We don't sell anything We don't charge for anything We're not gonna sell you root beer floats if we ever have root beer floats. We're just gonna give them to you for free We're probably not gonna have root beer floats. Don't get your hopes up But if we have anything we're just gonna give it to you for free our philosophy is to give away what we have and let God take care of our needs and you know the Bible says my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory and And our churches financial needs if you all know well How do we pay for things our churches financial needs are met by the faithful tithes and offerings of God's people and And you should give and you should tithe the Bible says bring you all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be me At my house, and I just believe if God's people tithe if God's people are generously give to the work of God Then we could buy buildings we could have events we could have pizza We could do all sorts of things and and it's all covered by The money that God's people give and that's how it should be And we don't sell anything and our philosophy is that we do not sell or charge money for anything Activities events all of it. It's free Matthew 10 18 says this heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out devils Here's kind of our philosophy when it comes to this idea of house of merchandise Matthew 10 18 the last part of the verse says this Freely ye have received freely give That's why I had to have order prayer Heavenly Father Lord We do love you, and we thank you for your word and Lord We thank you for these thoughts and these ideas these philosophies that guide the way we do things and Lord I just pray you'd help us to know that and to believe those things as a church and also to just as Individuals Lord I hope that people in church do business with each other I hope that they give each other businesses and business and references and all those things I think all those things are good things they're natural things But help us to do it with the right Expectations help us do it with the right Philosophy the right idea and at the end of day if things don't go well help us to suffer ourselves to be defrauded to esteem Others better than ourselves to value people and relationships more than money and Lord I pray that you would help us to live these things out in our Christian walk in Jesus name we pray Amen all right We're gonna have brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song and we just want to thank you for being here Of course tonight. I want to encourage you to be back on Wednesday night for the midweek service We're gonna be in Psalm Chapter 2 it's a very famous song that's quoted in the book of Acts I want to encourage you to read Psalm 2 And be with us on Wednesday night as we study it together if you would not mind looking around your area and kind of Cleaning up if your kids made a mess or whatever It helps the cleaners in the morning if you can do that and of course we always want you to know that my wife And I love you all we're praying for you We're here for you if there's ever anything that we can do for you Please let us know my brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song Email Scarborough psalm books and turn to page number 228 Song number 228 I love to tell the story, song number 228 Go ahead and sing it out On the first I love to tell the story of unscent things above Of Jesus and his glory Of Jesus and his love I love to tell the story Because I know it's true It satisfies my longing As nothing else can do I love to tell the story Dwell be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story Of Jesus and his love Song number 228 On the second I love to tell the story How wonderful it seems That all the golden can seem Of all the golden dreams I love to tell the story It did so much for me And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee I love to tell the story Dwell be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story Of Jesus and his love I love to tell the story So to me be What seems each time I tell it More wonderfully sweet I love to tell the story For some have never heard The message of salvation From God's own holy word I love to tell the story Dwell be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story Of Jesus and his love Sing it out on the last I love to tell the story For those who know it best Seem hungering and thirsting To hear it like the rest Then when in scenes of glory I sing the new, new song Dwell be the old, old story That I have loved so long Sing it out I love to tell the story Dwell be my theme in glory To tell the old, old story Of Jesus and his love Amen, great singing. If anyone here has questions about salvation, baptism, or church membership, a pastor will be at the door. He would love to talk to you directly to someone who's trained to do that as well. I'm going to ask Brother Johnny, would you dismiss the video or prayer? Heavenly Father God, thank you for the day, Lord. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you for the very good, Lord. Thank you for all the years. And those who left after, wife and family, thank you for everything. We thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen.