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Amen. All right. Well, thank you very much for being here this morning. And before we get into the sermon, let me just make a couple of statements. First of all, thank you, everybody. It's been a wonderful, wonderful week. And it's because of all of you making it happen and making it possible. And, you know, this is my first time in the Philippines. I know I look Filipino, but I'm not. Now, do me a favor, though. When we're out in public, if somebody asks you if I'm Filipino, just say I am, all right? And just leave it at that. Because I've noticed, at least in the States, the Filipinos treat you a lot better if they think you're a Filipino. There's like this Filipino love, you know? And I want to be a part of that. So I appreciate that. But, you know, I've heard a lot about the Philippines. I've heard a lot about soul winning in the Philippines and evangelism in the Philippines. And now that I've been here and I've experienced it, I feel like the Queen of Sheba, you know? I believe not the words till I came and saw for myself and the half was not told me. And it's really just a wonderful place. And I'm excited to be here. I want to thank Brother Stuckey, of course, and Ms. Tan for coming out here and leading this church plant. And we're excited for the work that they're doing. And I do want to thank Brother Stuckey and Brother Jared for preaching some wonderful sermons on Wednesday night. And that was some good preaching that edified me. So I was thankful for that. And, you know, I also just want to thank Pastor Logan Robertson for being with us this week. I'm looking forward to his sermon from the second service. I'm thankful Brother Symes has been with us this week. And all of you that took time and energy. And, you know, this is a unique thing. When you think about the fact that the number that I was given is there's 137 people here this morning, and we had over a hundred soul winners. And the vast majority of the soul winners here this week are people that are not full-time evangelists, are not full-time in ministry. You took your own time, money, time off of work to travel to a different country, to preach the gospel. And that's pretty amazing. That says a lot about the love that you have for souls. And, you know, it says a lot about our type of churches and what we're trying to accomplish in places like this. And I do want to say this. I'm going to be here till Thursday. So I'm thankful to be preaching this morning but I will be preaching on Wednesday night. I realize that most of you will be gone by then but for the VBC Manila family, I'd love for you to make it. I know Wednesday nights can be difficult for some of you but if you're able to make it for the Wednesday night service, I'm going to be preaching a different type of sermon on Wednesday night. It's what I like to call more of a pastoral type sermon where I want to kind of speak to the church family and give you some thoughts in regards to what we need from you if this church plan is going to succeed. It's not just on brother Stuckey and Ms. Tan, it's on you to make it happen. And I want to talk to you about that on Wednesday night. So I hope you can make it to that service. And this morning I'm preaching on the subject of problems to expect on the mission field. And the reason that I'm preaching this sermon is for a couple of reasons. The first one is because we have several full-time missionaries, evangelists here this morning and I want to try to kind of encourage them and help them with some of those thoughts about things that they should expect on the mission field. But also we have several men here this morning. I've talked to several men who have told me that they have a desire to one day be in full-time ministry to be an evangelist, a missionary, a pastor or something like that. And I want to encourage you along the way. And then for those of us that are not Filipino, this is a mission field, right? This is a mission church. And I realize if you're a Filipino, this might not feel like a mission church. This feels like home to you. But for us, this is missions. So I want to talk about problems to expect on the mission field. But let me just say this. If you don't feel like you're on the mission field or maybe you're watching the sermon online or on YouTube or whatever, and you're not on the mission field, then you can just change the title in your mind to problems to expect in ministry. Because it's really all the same thing. We're dealing with people, whether it's in the Philippines or in Sacramento, California, you're going to have to expect issues while on the mission field. And what I would like to do this morning, I'd just like you to join me and we're going to join the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys. And we're going to look at some of the problems that he faced on his missionary journeys and make application in regards to problems that you and I can expect on the mission field that we can expect in ministry in general. If you are able to write down some notes, I'd love for you to take some notes. If you've got somewhere to write there, if you've got a baby on your lap, I can understand why you might not be able to, but if you've got a pen, I'd like you to write some of these statements down. But I want you to notice the first problem that we see Paul run into on his missionary journey is the problem of a defiant false prophet. Are you there in Acts 13? Look at verse number six, notice what the Bible says. And when they had gone through the isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, which was with the deputy of the country. Now it's interesting how the false prophets in the Bible are often connected to the politicians. Here you have this false prophet and he was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. So here you have Paul on his missionary journey, he's out and he finds this man and this man is seeking the truth. He desired to hear the word. What does the false prophet do? The false prophet does what false prophets do. Look at verse eight. But Elymas, the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. If you ask the question, what is it, what is the goal of false prophets? Why is it that Satan and the devil has commissioned these false teachers? And by the way, I want you to notice that false prophets are demonic. They're from the devil. Notice this man here. We're told that he was a sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus. But what is it that they're trying to accomplish? And often we see the big organizations, we see the money, we see the covetousness, we see all of that. But honestly, those are just benefits of the job of the false prophet. It's not necessarily that their sole motivation is to get rich, although that is their motivation. It's not only that their sole motivation is to be able to grow an empire, to grow an influence, although that is their motivation. But their real motivation, their devil-given motivation, it's to withstand those who are preaching the gospel and to turn away the people that want to get saved from the faith. That is what false prophets are trying to accomplish. Keep your place there in Acts 13. That's where we're gonna be for the sermon. But go with me to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 23, Matthew chapter 23, and look at verse number 13. Matthew chapter 23 and verse 13. First book in the New Testament should be fairly easy to find. Matthew chapter, excuse me, chapter 23 and verse 13. Matthew 23 and verse 13. Notice what Jesus said about the false prophets that he had to deal with. He says this, but woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Notice what he says. For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. He says, you don't go in and you don't suffer. The word suffer means allow them that are entering to go in. What is the goal of a false prophet? What is it that they're trying to accomplish? Thank you so much, brother Scott. I appreciate it. They know me. They know I need water. What they're trying to accomplish is to keep people from entering into the kingdom of God, to keep people from getting saved. Go back to Acts chapter 13. So how do you fight a false prophet? You know, you said, Pastor Mendez, what is it that you, if we're going to be dealing with these defiant, these opposing false prophets, these false prophets that are gonna fight us along the way, then what does it mean for us to withstand them, to fight them, to beat them? And here's what you need to understand. The way that you beat a false prophet is not by beating them in court. Right. Right. The way that you beat a false prophet is not by beating him on social media. The way that you beat a false prophet is not by beating him in the media, is not by beating him in person. The way that you beat a false prophet, notice Acts chapter 13, we saw there that the false prophet Elamis, the sorcerer, would stop them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Notice verse number nine there in Acts chapter 13, the Bible says this, then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, O fool of all subtlety and mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right way of the Lord? Verse 11, and now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season, and immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Now, we know that Paul was an apostle. Obviously, he had been given power by God to be able to do these things. I'm not sure that Brother Stuckey is able to just make someone blind by calling it. I don't know, maybe he should try it. Maybe Brother Simes can try that, I'm not sure. But you say, well, how do you beat a false prophet? I want you to notice what they did. Notice there in verse number 12, then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. See, the goal of a false prophet is to withstand those who are seeking to turn to the faith. They want to turn away those from the faith. You say, how do you beat a false prophet? You don't let them stop you. Amen. You say, how do you beat the Iglesia Ni Cristo? You go and get as many people from the Iglesia Ni Cristo saved, that's how you do it. How do you beat the dispensational rutmanites? Is you get as many of those people saved on the true gospel, get them in a good church, get them out solely. That's how you beat the false prophet. You say, how are we gonna fight Apollo 13 or whatever his name is? You say, how do you beat him? Here's how you beat him. You don't have to beat him in the courts. You don't have to beat him in politics. Just take his followers, get them saved. Don't let them stop you. What they're trying to do is to stop you and withstand you from reaching people with the gospel. You say, how do you beat a false prophet? You don't let them stop you. Amen. You say, how do you destroy them? You just take their converts. See, they have shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for they neither go in themselves and they are not suffering them that are entering to go in. So look, if you're on the mission field and you've had some run-ins with a false prophet, I think this church has already had that. You know, you're in good company. You say, the apostle Paul, greatest missionary had ever lived. On the mission field, the first problem we see is a defiant false prophet, but he didn't let him stop him. He continued on, he pressed forward. He still got someone saved. I want you to notice the second problem that Paul has on the mission field. Not only do we see a defiant false prophet, but I'd like you to notice secondly, we see a deserting friend. If you're there in Acts 13, I want you to look back at verse number five. Notice what the Bible says in verse five. It says this, and then when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. I want you to notice this last part of verse five. It says this, and they had also John to their minister. The Bible tells us here in verse five that they had John. Now, this is who we would know as Mark. His name was John Mark. We'll see later on here that his name was John, but his surname was Mark. And they had this young man, John Mark, with them on the ministry in the mission field. But I want you to notice what happens in verse number 13 or what's mentioned in verse 13 there. Acts chapter 13 and verse 13 says this. Now, when Paul and his company lose from Papphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John, notice what it says, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. Here you have this young man, John Mark, and he quits on Paul in the ministry. Here you've got John Mark. You've got Paul and Barnabas on this missionary journey, and they've got this young man that's with them. They're encouraged by John Mark. John Mark is helping them. He's their minister, and praise the Lord that there are always those John Marks that are with us in the ministry. We could not do it. Those of us that are leading ministries and preaching and motivating and mobilizing, we could not do it without the John Marks coming alongside us, and just kind of helping us and being with us and ministering to us, but sometimes those John Marks desert us. They leave us. Keep your place there in Acts 13. Go to John chapter two. The John Marks will sometimes quit and abandon the Pauls and the Barnabas in their ministry, and I would like to say this to VBC Manila. As you begin this church, you need to understand this. You should write this down. You need to put this somewhere and just remember this that people come and people go. People will be here today at the grand opening service of this church, and they will not be here next year at the one year anniversary. Now, I hope that's not the case. I hope everyone that's here will be here. I hope everyone that's here will be here and be encouraged and be growing in the Lord, but just realize that in ministry, people come and go. I have now pastored a church, Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California for over eight years now, and to be honest with you, I feel like sometimes I feel like I've pastored three or four different churches, and I thank the Lord for, we've got members that have been with us. There are several members here right now that have been with us in Sacramento since we were meeting in our living room eight years ago, and we've got members that have been with us for five years and six years and been with us for a long time, and I'm thankful for all of those, but you know what? There are lots of people and many people that have came and have gone, that have came and have gone, that have came and gone. There have been the John Marks that were with us. They were soul-witting with us. They were connected with us. They were in the ministry with us, and they're not with us anymore, and just realize that in ministry and on the mission field, you may not only deal with a problem of defiant false prophets, but you may have to deal with the discouragement of deserting friends. Of people quitting on you, and you need to just decide right now. Look, you need to just purpose in your heart that when people quit, it might hurt. When people quit, it might upset you. When people quit, it might be sad, and your heart might be broken because they quit on God, but you've gotta determine that you're not gonna let it stop you, that you're not gonna let it discourage you to the place, that you're not gonna let it discourage you to the place where you yourself would quit on God. John chapter two, notice verse 23. Why don't you notice what the Lord Jesus Christ thought about people? In John chapter two and verse 23, the Bible says this. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast of days, many believed in his name, this is Jesus, when they saw the miracles which he did. There's many people there that believed on Jesus when they saw his miracle, a big crowd, many people encouraging him and complimenting him excited for his ministry, but I want you to notice the wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 24. The Bible says, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them. You say, what does that mean? Here's what that means. That means that Jesus purposed in his heart that when the crowds were there, that when the compliments were there, that when the people were there encouraging him that he would be thankful for it, but he was not committed. He was not in ministry. He was not doing what he was doing for those people. You say, why? Because he knew all men. Verse 25, and need not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man. Listen to me. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? And here's what I'm telling you. If you wake up someday and you find out that some pastor that you loved, that you respected, that you cared for has fallen in sin, you got to determine in your heart that I will be sad for that. My heart will break for that. I will pray for that situation. I'll pray for those that are involved, but I will not let that discourage me from keeping on. Why? Because you just have to expect the fact that people are gonna come and people are gonna go. That there will be people who will desert you. There will be people who will quit on you. There will be people that will go back to the world and you've got to just realize here at the beginning that on the mission field and in the ministry, you'll deal with defiant false prophets and you'll deal with deserting friends. Like you to notice thirdly, go back to Acts chapter 15. You can make your way back to the book of Acts. Go to Acts chapter 15. Not only did Paul deal with these defiant false prophets and these deserting friends, I want you to notice there was a third problem that came to Paul on his missionary journeys and actually when we fast forward to Acts 15, we are actually having have ended Paul's first missionary journey. If you remember Paul, he did several missionary journeys and he'd always go back to his home base of Antioch and report unto them how the journey went because Paul was accountable to his home church in Antioch. And that's the same model that we're following here at Verity Baptist Church Manila until one day we ordained our brother Stuckey as the pastor of this church. He is accountable to us there in Sacramento as the sending church and we see that Paul will often do that and go back to Antioch. Maybe as you read through Acts, you might notice him continually to go back to Antioch, his sending church. Here in verse 15, he's getting, in chapter 15, he's getting ready to go on his second missionary journey. Look at verse 36. And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, now remember Barnabas was his missionary partner for the first mission work that he did. He said, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. Verse 37, and Barnabas determined to take with them John. Remember that guy? The quitter, the guy who quit on them. Barnabas, now that they're back in Antioch, he got back in connection with John and he followed up with him. He says, John, what's going on? John, how you doing? John, let me encourage you. Let me get you back in the work of God. Paul comes along and says to Barnabas, hey, Barnabas, listen, I think we should go back. We should confirm the churches. We should go see how people are doing. And Barnabas says, great. Hey, I was thinking that we take John with us. Notice what it says in verse 37, whose surname was Mark, verse 38. But Paul thought not good to take him with them. Why? Notice, who departed from them from Pamphylia. Paul says, John, Mark's a quitter. Listen, Barnabas, I'm glad you got him back in church and I'm glad you've been encouraging him. I'm glad you've been with him, but I don't think we should take him with us. And I want you to notice that the third problem that Paul faced on the mission field was not only defying false prophets and not only deserting friends, but there was a disagreement between good men. Here you have Barnabas saying, let's take John. And then you've got Paul saying, I don't think so. He departed from them, from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. Verse 39, notice this disagreement became an argument and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed onto Cyprus. I want you to notice that on the mission field and in the ministry, sometimes there will be disagreements between good men. Sometimes there's going to be arguments between good people. They're going to not see things eye to eye. Now I know those of us that live in this generation, those of us that live in the Facebook generation, whenever we see disagreements between two people, we always want to answer this question. And the question that is always asked is this, well, who's right? You know, let me just take a moment from the sermon and kind of talk about that. Who was right? In fact, let's take a survey, all right? Now I'm going to ask you to raise your hand and just say, you know, realize this, the camera is, I think this is a camera, right? Camera is in front of all of you. So we're not going to record your answer. We're not going to hold it against you, all right? But let's just take a quick survey. You've got two men here. One says, take John. One says, no, all right? Let's say, who thinks Paul was right with saying no? Raise your hand if you think Paul was right saying no. A few of you, all right? And look, there's no right or wrong answer, honestly. I'm just curious, you know. Who thinks Barnabas was right? Let's take Barnabas, okay? Some of you, all right? Who does not understand the question? No, I'm just kidding. Who says I don't know? I'm not sure. I'm not sure. All right, good. And the rest of you are asleep, all right. Well, let me give you, you know, let me give you some thoughts. Because I've thought about this and I've preached it to our church people. I'm sure our church people know my thoughts on this, but you know, let me give you some reasons why you might think that Paul was right, all right? In fact, the main reason to think Paul was right is in verse 40. And Paul chose Silas and departed, notice this, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. Paul is the one who received the recommendation from the church in Antioch. Because remember, the church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas as a team to go out in the mission field. But when there was a split between Paul and Barnabas, the Bible tells us that the brethren recommended Paul and his new partner Silas unto the grace of God. Notice verse 41, and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. But I want you to notice that there's no recommendation for Barnabas and John Mark. And not only that, we don't read about Barnabas or John Mark anymore in the book of Acts. The rest of the book of Acts is the Apostle Paul show. It's all about Paul and his second missionary journey and his third missionary journey and everything that he did. So you might look at that and say, well, I think that tells us that Paul was right because the church commissioned him, the church, the brethren recommended him. And then the rest of the book of Acts continues on with Paul. There's another reason why you might think that Paul was correct in this situation. Let me show it to you real quickly. If you're there in Acts, go to Colossians, Colossians chapter four. Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Colossians chapter four. Look at verse 10. Something you should know about Barnabas is that he was related to John Mark. Let me show it to you. Colossians chapter four, verse 10. Colossians 4, 10 says this. And Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, saluteth you. Notice, and Marcus, this is John Mark. We read in Acts that he was John whose surname was Mark. And Marcus, notice what it says, sister's son to Barnabas. Now, John Mark was the son of Barnabas's sister that makes him his nephew. Barnabas was his uncle. So someone might look at this situation and say, Barnabas, I think you're just trying to make an exception here for your nephew, you know? And the church, the brethren recommended Paul and Silas, they didn't recommend you. We don't hear about you for the rest of the book of Acts. So, you know, there's a good argument to be made that Paul was right in this dispute. But let me say this. There's some arguments that you should consider in regards to Barnabas being correct in this. You say, what are those? Well, go to 2 Timothy chapter four. You're there in Colossians. You go past 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy into the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter four. You say, what is a good argument that Barnabas was correct in wanting to take John Mark with him back on the mission field? Well, one of the main arguments that you can make on behalf of Barnabas is that not only was Timothy restored, excuse me, John Mark restored, and he goes on to do great things, but even Paul himself later on will ask for Mark to come. And Paul says, notice there in 2 Timothy four verse 11, only Luke is with me. Take Mark, John Mark. The same Mark that Paul earlier said, I want nothing to do with him, he's a quitter. Take notice what Paul is saying now towards the end of his life. He says, take Mark and bring him with thee. Notice, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. So why was John Mark profitable for the ministry? Well, because of a godly uncle named Barnabas who didn't give up on him, who didn't quit on him, who restored him. Here's another argument for Barnabas being correct and taking John Mark, and it's this, that John Mark did not only become profitable for the ministry, but John Mark ended up becoming a great writer. You might have read one of his books. You ever heard of the Gospel According to Mark? I mean, we have the Gospel According to Mark because Barnabas was not willing to quit on John Mark. And you say, Pastor Jimenez, I'm confused. You're supposed to be telling us who's right. Was Paul right? Well, it sure seems like it when the brethren recommended him to the ministry, when we don't hear about Barnabas and John Mark in the book of Acts anymore, when God's power continues to be on the life of Paul as he goes on and he continues on and does some great things for God. You say, was Barnabas wrong then? Well, it seems like Barnabas was right because of the fact that he restored him, because of the fact that he became profitable for the ministry, because of the fact that we have a gospel written by a young man named John Mark. You say, well, which one was right? Here's what I'm trying to tell you. They're both right. And here's what I'm trying to tell you. They're both wrong. Because we often get this idea in our minds is that when it's our calling to do one thing, then everyone else has to do that same thing. But I want you to understand that I believe Paul was right in not taking John Mark with him. You say, why? Because Paul was a type A personality. Paul was the type of guy, he looked, Paul did not have time to be coddling some young kid who was missing mama back in Jerusalem. Paul was busy, he was working, he was fighting. He was building churches and starting churches and doing great thing. And that wasn't Paul's job, but you know whose job it was? It was Barnabas. I would submit to you this morning that Barnabas actually had a God given gift to help and restore those who others had given up on. In fact, not only was John Mark the first person that Barnabas had ministered to who had fallen, there was someone else, another famous character in scripture who others had given up on, who others did not want to even touch with a 10 foot pole. And everyone had quit on him and everybody had given up on him except for Barnabas. You know who that character was? It was Paul himself. You remember that? Go to Acts chapter nine, let me just show it to you. Acts chapter nine. Acts chapter nine in verse 26. You remember Paul, our hero? When he first got saved, his name was still Saul. Acts 9 26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, this is shortly after his conversion, he has saved, the word has saved means he attempted to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. And look, with good reason. This is the guy who was imprisoning people, guiding people put to death. This is the guy who stood there as Stephen the first martyr was put to death. They were all afraid of him and believe not that he was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared him to them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to them and how he had preached boldly at the masochist in the name of Jesus. I want you to notice Barnabas seems to have this God given gift. When others give up on someone, he takes them alongside and he encourages them and he disciples them and he strengthens them and he gets them back in the ministry. That seems to be the calling of Barnabas in his life. In fact, it seems like the apostles themselves had noticed this about Barnabas. Go to Acts chapter four, look at verse 36. Acts chapter four and verse 36. Acts 4, 36 says this, And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, his name was Joseph, the apostles gave him the name Barnabas. Why did they give him the name Barnabas? Notice, which is being interpreted the son of consolation. The word consolation means to console, to comfort. They looked at this man, Joseph. They said, man, this guy has a gift for comfort. This man has a gift for consolation. This man has a gift for reaching out to people that others don't want to reach out to, that others have given up on. In fact, let's not call him Joseph anymore. Let's call him Barnabas, which means the son of consolation. Here's what I'm telling you. I believe that it would have been wrong for Barnabas to go on with Paul and to give up on John Mark. Why? It was his God-given gift to reach out to those who others had given up on. He did it for Paul, and Paul became the greatest evangelist the world's ever known. He did it for John Mark, and he ended up writing the gospel according to Mark. He ended up being profitable for the ministry. But Paul was not that man. And here's all I'm trying to tell you, is that good men can disagree, is that good men can even have different callings. Is that different men can have different ministries, and not all of us have to be doing the same things. And we need to understand that in ministry, you might find yourself at odds with another brother in Christ. You might find yourself not able to work with another brother in Christ. You might find yourself saying he wants to do this, and I want to do this, and you just need to understand that that is okay. And that in ministry, and that on the mission field, there might be disagreements between good men. And let me just say this, because something I've noticed about the churches of like faith and practice, the churches, our type of churches, is that I think inadvertently we might have developed this culture. We're just kind of on this hair trigger that anybody we don't like is a reprobate. Let me just tell you something. I'd be careful about just everyone we don't like becoming a reprobate. It cheapens the reprobate doctrine. I understand that there are some false prophets out there that are child of the devil. I get that, I'm not defending those people. But I am telling you this, that there may be someone you don't like, there may be someone you can't work with, there may be someone you don't want to support, or you don't want to follow. That doesn't mean they're a reprobate. It might just mean that you don't get along with them. And that's okay. That's all right. Just realize that in ministry, in ministry, there may be disagreements between good men. I hope everybody here in the Philippines gets along. I hope all the new IFB-ers or whatever we want to call ourselves in the Philippines love each other and work together and get along. But you know what? If you come to the point where you don't see eye to eye, where you don't think you're doing the right thing or doing the same thing, just realize that it might be okay for someone to take a John Mark aside while you go on and do something else. I'm just telling you in ministry, there might be disagreements between good men. And sometimes in a situation, both people could be right. Both people could be doing the right thing that God called them to do. And by the way, let me say this. In a situation, sometimes both people could be wrong. Sometimes they want you to take sides. Well, who's right and who's wrong? Sometimes they look at situations and think, both sides are so wrong, I don't want anything to do with it. And you say, well, Pastor, are you discouraged about? No, I'm just telling you in ministry, there might be disagreement between good men. That's okay. You just do what God has called you to do. You just do the God-given gift that God gave you, what you believe God has called you, the spiritual gifts that he's given you. You go on with those and you don't need everyone else to just be on your agenda, on your plan, on your onboard with you. Sometimes it's okay to part ways. Say, whoa, whoa, whoa. Is God gonna continue to use Paul? Yes, he will. Is God gonna continue to use Barnabas? Yes, he will. We see on Paul's missionary journeys, you go back to Acts, go back to Acts chapter 16. Not only do we see defiant false prophets, not only do we see deserting friends, not only do we see disagreement between good men. Why don't you notice, fourthly, a problem that Paul had on his missionary journeys was disapproval from friends and family. Notice Acts 16, look at verse 16. And it came to pass as he went to prayer, a certain damsel with a spear of divination met us, which brought her master much gain by suit, saying. And the same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And thus did she many days. But Paul being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I commend thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her and he came out at the same hour. And when her master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers and brought them to the magistrate saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans and the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded them to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailers to keep them safely. Here you have a young lady with a spirit of divination. She's possessed with a devil and the apostle Paul cast the devil out of her. And instead of those around her saying, praise the Lord, they say, oh my, they say, wow. They say, we do not approve of the change that you have made in the life of this individual. It reminds me of the story of Legion. Remember that story? Go to Mark chapter five, just real quickly. Matthew, Mark, Mark chapter five. Mark chapter five. Let me tell you something. In ministry, you may have to deal with disapproval of friends and family. Something that has astonished me over the last eight plus years of ministry at Verity Baptist Church is the fact that we will take somebody, we will take a man who's unemployed, a drunkard, a bad husband, bad father, not serious about things. We get him saved. We get him in church. We get him reading the Bible, praying, soul winning. He's coming to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. He gets a job. He stops drinking. He starts being discipled and the things are gone. You'd think the wife would be sending me gift cards to restaurants and saying thank you for fixing my husband. You know what happens? Wife's mad. Turns out they liked him better when he was a drug addict. Turns out they'd rather have an unemployed drunkard for a husband than a Bible thumper who goes to church on Sunday morning. It turns out, you know, and look, some of you are gonna deal with this. You've already dealt with it. You get saved. You start coming to church like this and your friends don't like it and your parents don't like it and your family don't like it and they disown you. And for some of you here in the Philippines, coming to a church like this is not just coming to a church like this. For some of you here in the Philippines, coming to a church like this means forsaking your family because they will not understand and they will not accept. And you say, Pastor, I'm in that position. I'm here this morning. Pastor, I'm here this morning. I told my parents I was gonna be at that SeaWorld thing over there. I came to church. You know, I'm here this morning but I hope people don't find out. I'm glad the camera's up front. I'm here this morning. If my mom finds out and if my dad finds out and if my husband finds out or if my wife finds out, you say, Pastor, what do I do? I'm just here to tell you, you're in good company because many have had to forsake their families to serve the Lord. Many have had to forsake their families who are all involved in cults and wrong religions to serve God. In fact, Jesus said if you're not willing to forsake father and mother, if you're not willing to deny self, if you're not willing to forsake all and to take up your cross and to follow me, he says, you're not worthy of me. And that doesn't mean that you're not saved. It just means that God can't use you. And I realize that on this side of that decision, I realize that as a pastor who grew up in an independent, fundamental Baptist home, I realize that as a man who's had his entire family be saved and Baptist his whole life, I realize that as a pastor starting a satellite church in Manila, Philippines, having a mission trip and having my mom and my dad and my sister and my nephews and nieces here with me right now, I realize that I'm blessed. And it might seem, well, it's easy for you to say, you don't have to give up anything. But I will tell you, people have. I'll tell you, my wife has. There's people my wife has had to forsake. She didn't have the privilege growing up in a church like I did, growing up with a family like I did. She has family members that are saved and all the family members that are saved are saved because she got them saved. And there's some family members that she had to forsake. And I'm not telling you it's easy, I'm just telling you, you're not the only one. You're there in Mark chapter five, look at verse 15. Mark five and verse 15 says this, and they came to Jesus, seeing him that was possessed with the devil. Remember, this guy was naked. This guy was breaking chains. This guy was cutting himself. This guy was out of control. They saw him that was possessed with the devils and had legion, notice, sitting and clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. They weren't afraid when he was on drugs. They weren't afraid when he was an adulterer. They weren't afraid when he was a drunkard. They weren't afraid when he was unemployed, when he was a loser, but now that he's sitting there clothed in his right mind, now they're afraid. Some of you, your family's gonna freak out. Because you go to church and you read the Bible and you pray, because you're sober and you're working, you're supporting your wife. That made them afraid. It's interesting what the world's afraid of, isn't it? In verse 16, and they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine, verse 17, and they began to pray him to depart out of their coast. Instead of saying, hey, can you do that to my dad? Can you do that to my wife? Can you help me with my kids? They said, get out of here. Get out of here. You know what some people are saying to BBC Manila? They're saying, get out of here. The change that we're seeing in our family members makes us afraid, and here's all I'm telling you. Expect it. Because on the mission field, you'll have defiant false prophets. On the mission field, you'll have deserting friends. On the mission field, you'll have disagreements between good men, and on the mission field, you'll have disapproval from friends and family. Let me give you a last one if you go back to Acts 17. Acts chapter 17. Last problem we see for the Apostle Paul on the mission field. We see that he had some determined persecutors of his ministry. I want you to understand, he did not just have persecutors, he had determined persecutors. He did not just have people who didn't like him, he had people who made their life to try to stop them. And we can look at a lot of this, let me just give you one example. Acts 17 verse 13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica, all right, had knowledge that the word of God was preached at Berea, all right, we got two different places here. The Jews in Thessalonica, here are Paul getting people saved in Berea, notice, they came hither also. They already got Paul thrown out of Thessalonica, they already persecuted Paul in Thessalonica, they already stirred up problems for Paul in Thessalonica, but then they hear that Paul's in Berea doing the same thing, and they got on a little jeepney and got themselves down there, and they came hither also and stirred up the people. Go to Acts 24, notice what the apostle Paul, Paul is under judgment in prison. Notice what he says, he says when he was in Jerusalem, Acts 24 and verse 18, it says, whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple. Where's the temple? Jerusalem. He's in the temple in Jerusalem, and he says, not the Jews in Jerusalem, not the Jews in Judea, but my fan club, the certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, and neither with multitude nor with turmoil, he said, and they're the ones that got everybody round up. And here's what I'm trying to tell you, you know what, BBC Manila? You're going to have not only people who are gonna persecute you, but you're gonna have people who are determined to persecute you and destroy you. They're gonna follow you, and they're gonna watch every sermon, they're gonna be aware of every event. They're not just enemies, you know? We've got them in Sacramento, I call them my fan club. We've also called them haters, haters gonna hate, right? I mean, you know what, we've got people, and pastors like us have people who their whole ministry, their whole ministry is just to attack us, just to attack our church, just to make videos about us, videos, and you say, man, you know, isn't that crazy? No, actually, there's no new thing under the sun. Paul had a little fan club of Jews following him around, persecuting him too. Determined persecutors of his personal ministry. You say, Pastor Mendez, we have that here. I know. We have that here. Welcome to the mission field. Welcome to the ministry. Welcome to what God has called you to do. See, and here's what I want you to understand, and we'll finish up here. Let me give you a couple of references on what we've done. Go to First Corinthians chapter 10. You're there to ask, go to Romans, First Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. We know this verse, we could quote it, but I just want you to look at it. Here's what I'd like you to understand. You say, Pastor Mendez, we've got these problems, defiant false prophets, discerning friends, disagreement between good men, disapproval from the friends and family, determined persecutors of our ministry. We've got these things. What does that mean? Here's what that means. If you have problems on the mission field, you're not alone. First Corinthians 10, 13 says this, there have no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. The word temptation, we often think of, and it's an accurate interpretation of being tempted to sin, but the word temptation can also speak of trials, of tryings, of hard and difficult times that tempt you to quit. And here's all I wanna tell VBC Manila is that when you deal with defiant false prophets, there have no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. There is no new thing under the sun. When you deal with deserting friends and church members, there have no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. When you deal with disagreements between good men, there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. When you deal with a backlash of disapproving friends and families, there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. And when you deal with a hater fan club, when you deal with determined persecutors that are not just persecuting Christians, but are persecuting you, their goal is to destroy you. Their goal is to end this church. I want you to know that there has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. You're in good company. You say, why? Notice, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted. Above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape. Don't miss this, that ye may be able to bear it. If you're having problems on the mission field, you're not alone, but let me just say this. Go to 1 Corinthians 16, verse nine. We're done right here. 1 Corinthians 16, verse nine. If you're having problems on the mission field, you're not alone, there's no new thing under the sun. But let me say this, if you're having problems on the mission field, it's because you're doing a great work for God. 1 Corinthians 16, verse nine says this, for a great door and effectual is opened unto me. Don't we like that? A great door and effectual. I mean, you can say that about the Philippines. A great door and effectual is opened unto me in the Philippines. But don't forget. But don't forget, and there are many adversaries. With a great door and effectual, there come adversaries. With great door and effectual, you'll have quitting people, you'll have discouraging people, you'll have disrespectful people. You just keep on. You just stay at it. Because you're doing a great work for God. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father. Lord, we thank you for this church. And Lord, I pray that you would do a mighty work here in Manila. I pray, Lord, that there'd be a special unction of the Holy Spirit that would come upon Brother Stuckey. Lord, I pray for Pastor Robertson and Brother Simes. Lord, I pray for the other pastors in this country that are doing great things, attempting great things, taking strong stands. Lord, I pray you to bless them. I know at times it can be scary. It can feel dark. But Lord, I pray you'd help them to be encouraged in the fact that they are walking in the same steps as great men like the Apostle Paul. And Lord, I just pray you to encourage them. I pray you'd use this church, Lord, to turn this city upside down. Amen. Father, the enemies are already crying. They're already saying these which have turned the world upside down are come hither also. And Lord, we just pray that you'd use this place, that you'd bless this place, that you would do a great work here. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.