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

We all have enjoyed our time here and we're going to be going back home tomorrow but honestly this has been a great great trip and I want to just thank you know Verity Baptist Church Manila for just being wonderful and of course Brother Stuckey and Miss Tan are doing a wonderful wonderful job here so we're glad to be to see the work that they're doing and of course Zeph and I is doing the best you know so he's he's the main reason this place is succeeding I think but but we're just glad glad that everybody is is doing great and that the church is doing great I want to thank all the hard work all the people that did just a lot of hard work this week and it's been a wonderful wonderful week I am wearing this barone is that am I saying it right barone and barong and you know I this is my souvenir I'm going home with so Paul said to the Jews I became a Jew right and he said I made all things to all men so to the Filipino I want to become a Filipino and so I'm I'm wearing this and I probably you know I'll probably only wear it here I might wear it at home once or every once in a while but I I'm really glad to really glad to have it so you're there in Acts chapter 16 and if you remember on Sunday morning I preached a sermon about the problems to expect on the mission field and we went on a journey with the Apostle Paul through his missionary journeys and we saw all the troubles and all the problems that he had now you're there in Acts 16 I'd like you to put a ribbon or a bookmark there Acts 16 is going to be our text for or Acts is going to be our text for tonight but go to the book of Romans just real quickly if you flip one book over to the book of Romans and what I'd like to do tonight I realize and let me say this I appreciate everybody being here it's a great crowd for Wednesday night and especially with the traffic in Manila I mean there is traffic in Manila at three in the morning and there's just I can only imagine the work that it took for you guys to get here tonight so I appreciate you being here I figured on a Wednesday night that it would be mainly the church family other than a few zealous soul owners that are still here it'd be mainly the church family so I wanted to preach a sermon for the church family and I want to preach on the subject of the types of members that a new church needs because this is really a new church it's just getting started and if you read the writings of the Apostle Paul you'll find that he often not only the word of God in the book of Acts but Paul in his writings he highlights the new members or the first members of a church or a congregation or somewhere he went to to start he always highlights the people that he first met and the people that kind of helped him get the ministry going let me give you an example of that if you're there in Romans go to chapter 16 and look at verse number five Romans chapter 16 and verse 5 says this likewise greet the church that is in their house salute my well-beloved Epinatus notice he says who is the first fruits of ikei unto Christ and I'm just giving you there an example how the Apostle Paul is highlighting the fact he's saying you know salute Epinatus and then he highlights the fact that he was the first fruits of ikei and the first fruits of ikei meaning he was one of the first converts one of the first members one of the first people there in ikei if you're there in Romans flip one book over to first Corinthians look at chapter 16 and we see it again in verse number 15 first Corinthians 16 and verse 15 says this I beseech you brethren you know the house of Stephanas that is the first fruits of ikei and you just see how Paul is kind of highlighting the fact that these people that this individual was the first fruit and really in this room this evening we have the first fruits of manila we have the the first converts or may if not converts the first members of this church and I believe that this church is going to do great and wonderful things for God but really the people here you guys are the you guys are a special people you know years from now brother Stuckey will be telling stories and saying things you know once he's been in the ministry as far as leading a church for eight years he'll be talking about the first days the beginning days you know I often talk about you know the crowd that we used to meet with us in our living room he'll be talking about the crowd that used to meet with him in a hotel room right he'll be talking about the the first days and and that'll be you guys and and here's what I want you to understand is that you are vital the first members of a new church are instrumental in the success of the new church and tonight what I want to do is I want to preach or teach to you just kind of some characteristics and and specifically five characteristics of great first members and we're going to just travel with the apostle Paul kind of like we did on Sunday morning we were traveling with him on his missionary journeys we were looking at problems on the mission field tonight we're going to travel with the apostle Paul and we're going to meet some of the first members of the different churches that he planted on the mission field and if you're able to take notes I'm big on notes I'd love for you to be able to write some of these things down but I want to give you just five characteristics in regards to the types of members that a new church needs because this is what we need from you these five characteristics need to be embodied by you as the first fruit of Verity Baptist Church Manila so if you'd like to write these statements down I'd appreciate it if you can go back to Acts chapter 16 and the first characteristic that I'd like to show you and the first thing I'd like to write down is this first members needs need to excitedly support the first members of a congregation the first fruits of a congregation they need to excitedly support the work that is being done by that church and we see that represented here by a lady named Lydia of Philippi you're there in Acts 16 look at verse number 11 the bible says this therefore losing from Troas we came straight course to Samothrasaya and the next day to Neapolis so we're seeing Paul as he's traveling on his journey there notice verse 12 and from thence to Philippi now Philippi is a location where a church will be started you're probably familiar with a book that was written to the church at Philippi the book of Philippians but here we see the apostle Paul showing up to Philippi for the first time and it's interesting because as you study the journeys of Paul you'll see that at these major locations where churches were planted you'll you'll see that God always gives us some insight into the people that first helped him that first were there with him notice verse 12 and from thence to Philippi which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia and a colony and we were in that city abiding certain days and on the sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was want to be made and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted hither and a certain woman named Lydia a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira which worshipped God heard us whose heart the Lord opened and she attended the word attended means that she gave attention to she paid attention to unto the things which were spoken of by Paul notice verse 15 and when she was baptized and obviously we know that she believed she got saved she got baptized and her household she besought us saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and abide there I want you to notice this last phrase in verse 15 and she constrained us and I want you to understand that this church in Philippi was started I believe primarily because of a lady named Lydia who was not only faithful but because she was found faithful she constrained the apostle Paul to stay there she constrained the apostle Paul to to go ahead and minister there and of course we know the famous story of the Philippian jailer as well and he goes and he starts this ministry there but the reason that I started is because of this first fruits of Philippi a lady named Lydia and what was it she was found faithful and because she was faithful she was also excited about the work and she was constraining Paul and saying hey come here stay here and you know really this is the story of Verity Baptist Church Manila you know we went and started we had a missions uh uh trip here uh last year and brother Stuckey came and his family came and and and and there was a uh many uh soul winners came from all over the world right and he got to know you guys and he got to meet you guys and he got to learn about the different converts here right and there was I mean this story could be applied to to to many of you I mean it could be said that you know uh brother J and miss Raquel they constrained him right they said if you found us faithful you know come here and start a church and look that's why you say why did we start a church in Manila uh in Manila Philippines we started it because of you because you were found faithful because you were already meeting you were already soul winning you were already excited you were here you were ready to go and and and and we said hey let's go and take that Macedonian call to the Philippines but here's what you need to understand is that if this church is going to succeed you need to stay excited you need to continue to support because here's what you here's what happens is you you come in here right it has been two months now however long it's been since this church started meeting on a regular basis as the stuckies moved here and that was exciting when he first got here and you started getting together you started joining up and then a couple of months later you had this uh Philippines mission strip and we had people come from all over the world and and you know 144 in church on Sunday over 100 soul winners 2 000 salvations in one week and that was exciting and that is exciting but you know what two months from now you need to still be excited and three months from now you need to still be excited and next year you need to still be excited you need to make sure that you don't allow your faithfulness and your excitement to wear off keep your place there in act 16 but go with me the book of revelation uh last book in the bible should be fairly easy to find revelation chapter two I have been involved in several church plans we started our church in Sacramento uh over eight years ago we've started a church in Vancouver Washington we've started this church here in Manila we've started a church in Boise Idaho we have plans of starting uh other churches I plan on starting churches for the rest of my life one of my goals is to end my ministry with somewhere between 30 and 50 churches started by Verity Baptist Church in California in the United States of America and all over the world and but something that I found that it's interesting about church plants is that often you will have people and you know at our church in Sacramento and I know this is true of other churches of like faith and practice we get emails all of the time we get phone calls all the time people saying hey would you start a church here would you consider starting a church in this place or in that place and of course we'd love to start a church in every one of those places logistically and with resources we have to make priorities and make plans and all of those things but something that I have found that is interesting is that sometimes you'll have people say well you start a church in this location and then we actually go and start a church there or another church that I know of goes and starts a church there and then those people don't show up and you're just kind of like well what in the world you know but why is it here's why it is is because the excitement faints eventually the newness wears off and if you're going to be the type of Christian that's going to be in this for the long run if you're going to be the type of soul winner that's not in it for a year or two but for a decade or two for uh for 30 years and 40 years if you're going to be the type of uh of Christian and I hope that there are people in this room right now that 30 years from now you'll be able to say at the 30-year anniversary of whatever this church is called Manila or whatever that you'll be able to say hey I've been here from the beginning I hope that's true but that's not going to happen unless you purpose in your heart to stay excited to get excited and to excitedly support the ministry of this church are you there in revelation two look at verse number one revelation chapter two let me show you an example of a church that lost that excitement and Jesus here speaking to the different churches in Asia he's speaking to this church at Ephesus notice what he says in verse one he says unto the angel of the church of Ephesus right these things say it's he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles that are not has found them lie I want you to notice that this church had the right doctrine they have the right work ethic he says I know thy works I know thy labors I know thy patience he said I uh you've tried them which say they are apostles and are not and as born and as patients and for my name's sake as labor and has not fainted he says all that is good but then he says here's the problem though verse four nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love he said you used to be excited you used to be uh uh excited and you're faithful you're happy you were uh joyous over the things of God and here's what you need to understand is that excitement will naturally wear off you need to purpose in your heart to stay excited say how do you do that notice he says remember uh he says because thou has left thy first love here's what I love about Jesus whenever he preaches is he gives you a problem but then he also gives you the solution you know he gives you the problem but then and this one preaching should be like we should give you the problem and then the application should be here's how to fix it here's what to do about it and he tells him look that was left by first love verse five he gives them three steps notice number one he says remember therefore from whence thou art fallen he said look you should always remember how things used to be you should remember from whence art fallen here's step two and repent now people often accuse us and say you guys are against repenting we're all for repenting of your sin we're all for repenting uh uh uh uh when you're doing wrong we're just not for repenting of your sins to be saved but here he's talking to a church they're already saved and he says remember therefore from whence our pollen and repent here's step three uh you know in my bible i wrote uh and step three is redo step one is remember step two is repent step three is redo he says do the first works or else i will come into the quickly and remove that candlestick out of his place except i'll repent you say pastor he meant is what do i what do i do when i'm not excited about soul winning anymore well you should remember how you used to be excited and why you used to be excited you should repent you should turn away you should choose to turn away from not being excited and then you say what i do and then you just go out and do the first works you say i'm not excited for soul winning what should i do you should go soul winning i'm not excited to read my bible what should i do you should read your bible i'm not excited to pray you should pray i'm not excited to go to church anymore then you need to make sure you're at every service because the way you get back to the things that used to be is you remember you repent and you continue to do what you were doing before but see what we need from you the first fruits of manila is to excitedly support it's just endeavor and purpose in your heart that whatever this church is doing and however large this church gets that you will be excited about the ministry of this church and you will purpose to remember and to repent and to redo your first works because what happens sometimes is in in a church like this when it's new and it's exciting people feel like oh we got to get on board and we got to help but then as the church grows as the church grows something that i had to kind of learn in ministry is that we had some people that were excited when we were in the house when we were in the living room when we were just getting started but then as the church began to grow and as we started averaging 50 and 60 and 80 and 100 and 150 those people it's not that they didn't love us but they just kind of felt like they weren't needed anymore but you know what they're still needed we still need them uh out soul winning we still need them out serving and you need the purpose in your heart you say what do you need from the first members the first fruit of verity baptist church manila we need you to excitedly support this ministry and the purpose in your heart not to forget that but i'd like to give you a second characteristic if you can get back to act chapter 16 not only should you excitedly support and i realize that i'm preaching to the choir at this point but it's always good to be reminded of this the second characteristics of first members the first members need to not only excitedly support but they must get involved in soul winning we see this in the in the example of timothy you're there in act 16 look at verse number one notice what the bible says then came he this is referring about to paul to derby and lystra and behold a certain disciple was there so he gets to lystra and the first person he meets that we're told here is a certain disciple named timotheus the son of a certain woman which was a jewish and believed but his father was a greek which was well reported up by the brethren that were at lystra and iconium notice verse three him referring to timothy would paul have to go forth with him i want you to notice that paul shows up to town there and and and the and he's got his soul winning partner he's got his missionary partner with him but when he meets timotheus he wants timothy to go forth with him as well and of course you know the story timothy joins up timothy goes and you say what did they go to do they went out to go soul winning they went out to go reach people with the gospel and timothy ended up becoming a pastor of a church and of course we got the books of first and second timothy but what this church needs is for you to not only support but for you to get involved in soul winning and for you to stay involved in soul winning and for you to not only do soul winning when it's january and a hundred people showed up from out of the country but for you to do soul winning when it's june or july or however whenever you're the hottest month of of manila and and and when nobody else is out here and you just decide this is what god has called us to do you need to understand the goal of verity baptist church manila is found in the book of acts in fact let's just run some verses real quickly go to acts chapter 5 wednesday nights are bible study nights in sacramento at least they're bible study nights so let's have a little bit of a bible study we say what is the goal of verity baptist church manila well the goal of verity baptist church manila is the same as the goal of verity baptist church in sacramento it's the same as the goal of any other new testament church that actually believes and follows the word of god and it is to preach the gospel to every creature it is for you to reach this city and this island with the gospel of jesus christ and i want you to notice this is what the church in the churches in the first century did are you there in acts chapter 5 look at verse number 28 acts 5 28 the bible says this saying did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name and behold ye have filled jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us i love this is one of my favorite verses in the book of acts where the enemies of the church of jerusalem are saying ye have filled jerusalem with your doctrine and you know what the goal of this church ought to be to fill this city with the doctrine of the lord jesus christ of the real lord jesus christ not the not the jesus of the iglesia ni christo all right with the doctrine of the word of god with real doctrine your job is to fill this city with real true doctrine go to acts 13 look at verse 44 i just want you to notice how what was the goal of the apostle paul what was the goal of the first century church acts 13 first century churches acts 13 look at verse 44 the bible says this and the next sabbath day notice what it says came almost the whole city together to hear the word of god notice verse 45 but when the jews notice these words saw the multitudes they were filled with envy it'd be great if the bible baptists were filled with envy when they saw the multitudes of the people that are getting saved as a result of verity baptist church manila go to chapter 14 look at verse 1 notice what it says and it came to pass an iconium that they were that they went both together into the synagogue of the jews and so spake notice these words that a great multitude both of the jews and also of the greeks believed and look we're already doing this i mean this week there was 2 000 people saved in this city in one week you could say that a great multitude both of jews and also of greeks i don't know how many of those there are in manila but you could say that a great multitude both of you know filipinos and whatever else there is in this city were believed this week and this is what we are trying to accomplish this is our goal go to act 16 look at verse 5 act chapter 16 and verse 5 the bible says this and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily go to act 17 look at verse 4 act 17 and verse 4 and some of them believed and consorted with paul and silas and of the devout greeks notice a great multitude and of the chief women i love how the king james bible puts this he says not a few i love that i love that little phrase there not a few look at verse 12 same chapter therefore many of them believed also of the honorable women which were greeks and of men notice the phrase again not a few look at acts 19 and verse 26 moreover acts 19 and verse 26 says this moreover you see and hear that not alone at ephesus but almost throughout all asia this paul had persuaded and turned away much people saying that they be no gods which are made with hand would to god that it would be said of this church that someone would say hey not all not alone at manila but almost throughout all this island these people are reaching people they're reaching people with the gospel of jesus christ they're having them turn away from idols they're having them turn away from false religion see you need to understand as this church gets started that we need you involved in soul winning and we need you involved in soul winning when there's a big missions trip and we need you involved in soul winning every week and we need you involved in soul winning one day when this church averages 80 and 90 soul winners we still need you involved in soul winning because the goal of this church is to reach this entire region with the gospel of jesus christ that there would that that there would be no way that someone could live in manila without eventually having the opportunity at least to hear the gospel so you say what do we need from the first members of this church well we need you to stay excited we need you to excitedly support this ministry and we need you to stay excited through the weeks through the months through the years through the decades we also need you to get involved in soul winning i realize all of you many of you are involved in soul and we need to stay excited and we need to stay in soul winning and look what i have found is that people do what people see and we need to set the example not just us as leaders not just myself as a pastor and my wife as a pastor's wife in sacramento not not only brother stuckey and miss tan but you know what i have found is that it's much easier see back when we started verde baptist church in sacramento i remember for like it seemed like 10 years we haven't even been there for 10 years it seemed like it was just years and years it was probably just weeks maybe months but i remember thinking to myself like when is someone ever from our church gonna go soul winning because i used to preach about soul winning i used to preach about soul winning i used to preach about soul winning and uh and then i just felt like no one was coming out soul winning and it felt like a really long time it was probably just a few weeks but you know it was really hard to get people excited about soul but you know in sacramento now our church averages between 70 and 80 soul winners every week and you know what i found is that it's really easy to get people to come out soul winging because when people show up and they're like man 80 people went solely last week there must be something to it you know and sometimes just getting everyone involved so look be at every church service you're able to be at be at every so you know be faithful to a soul winning time because your presence there helps encourage others and say well man if they're doing it then there must be something to it if they're doing it then this just must be and look we want to create a culture of soul winning we want to create a culture of separation we want to create a culture of being excited not of complaining not of murmuring but of being excited when when brother stuck he gets up here and says hey we're gonna read nine chapters a day in the month of february or when get involved get involved in that don't say oh well you know i don't know i'm busy just say hey i'm just purposing in my heart to just support whatever the church is doing i support it amen i'm gonna be involved in it i'm gonna you're memorizing verses in the garlic let's memorize them you're reading nine chapters a day let's read them you're going out soloing let's do it you're having a potluck i'll bring food you know whatever you're doing just get involved and get uh stay excited and and get involved in soul winning let me give you a third one go go to first corinthians 16 we already saw this but let's look at it again first corinthians 16. what do we need from first members we need them to excitedly support what do we need from first members we need them to get involved in soul winning but thirdly tonight what do we need from first members we need them to learn to serve we need church members to learn to serve first corinthians 16 15 says this i beseech you brethren you know the house of stefanis we already read this but i want you to notice what he says that it is the first fruits of ikei notice what he says though and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints he said that this this this stefanis not only was he the first fruits but he addicted himself to the ministry you know there's lots of people out there that are addicted to a lot of things they don't need to be addicted to drugs alcohol pornography whatever it might be but you know a great thing to get addicted to is the ministry you gotta get addicted you said the word ministry means to serve and you know what a church needs a great church is a church filled of people that are servants go to romans chapter 16 you're there in first corinthians 16 just go back to roman 16 notice what paul says roman 16 look at verse 1 he says this i commend them to you phoebe our sister notice what he says about this woman phoebe which is a servant of the church which is at synchria that you receive her in the lord as become a saint and that you assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you for she has been a sucker the word sucker means a help a relief and uh an assistance and a she says she has been a sucker of many and of myself also see today many people have this mentality they go to church with their hand out what can the church do for me and i realize i'm in the philippines i'm not in the united states of america but in the usa you know uh we we uh john f kennedy one of the presidents he made this uh famous quote where he said ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country have you ever heard that quote uh famous quote from one of our presidents well you know what as a church ask not what your church can do for you but what you can do for your church you gotta come to church with a servant spirit and when a servant attitude and say you know what i want to get addicted to the ministry and i realize that the church is just getting started you're meeting in a hotel for now but you know what i know this that as this church grows as you get your own uh uh permanent location it's not a hotel room that changes every week or whatever there's going to be things that need to be done you know and and brother stuckey is going to come to you and he's going to say hey we need somebody to help with some of these things and we need somebody to volunteer you got a purpose in your heart that i'm gonna not look it's great to be a soul winner but you know it's better to be a soul winner and a servant someone who goes out and preaches the gospel because people get this idea they think oh well my service is soul winning you know no your soul winning is soul winning and then you need you need to serve you know i remember i have a brother-in-law who uses this analogy but he says a church is like a fire uh firehouse do you guys have firehouses here i don't know if you do i'm sure you do right firefighters you got firefighters i've seen all sorts of ambulances but you know uh in in in he uses this analogy i think it's a good analogy a church is like a firehouse you know the firefighters when they're in their firehouse you know if you ever take a tour of a firehouse you'll go in there and you know what you'll see you'll see some firefighters they're cooking you know because they have to stay in the firehouse for like 24 like 24 48 72 hours at a time you walk in there some of them are cooking some of them are cleaning some of them are washing the truck you know they've got their little jobs that they need to do some of them are taking naps because you know it's not their shift some of them are working out because it's their it's not their shift yet or whatever but some of them are sweeping some of them they're taking care of things but when that alarm goes off and it's time to go fight a fire you know they all get in that truck and they all go fight the fire well you know what in a church you need to have your position where maybe you clean or maybe you fold bulletins or maybe you're an usher or maybe you uh do whatever but when it's time to go soul winning everyone gets in that truck and we go fight the fire everyone goes out and pulls them out of the fire hating the garments even spotted by the flesh and you know let me say this when it comes to serving there's there's you need to understand that there is an order of authority within a church and that there is a structure of authority and you know i'm i'm going to go in and say this because i deal with this and and in our church in sacramento i've talked to many pastors they deal with this but you know you don't want to overstep your boundaries you know make sure that whatever you're doing you've ran that by uh brother stuckey and honestly until brother stuckey is a pastor of this church there's lots of things that he's going to run by me you know and so don't you know the best way to help is for you to just go to brother stuckey and say how can i help and you know he may not have something for you to do right now but he may have something for you to do three months from now sometimes i tell people people say like how can i help and i say you know what i can't think of anything but can i call on you if i need something you know and and just be available and be willing and be ready to serve be like stefanis who addicted themselves to the ministry be like phoebe which is a servant of the church which has been a sucker of many and of myself also go to acts chapter 18 acts chapter 18 what do we need from first members well they need to excitedly support they need to get involved in soul winning they need to learn to serve but number four tonight first members need to be ready to sacrifice notice acts chapter 18 and verse 1 acts 18 and verse 1 says this after these things paul departed from athens and came to corinth so we're with paul on his missionary journey now we're going to a new city corinth now you know of the books first and second corinthians there's a church that got started in corinth where me we're seeing paul go to corinth for the first time and notice when he gets there verse 2 the bible says and found a certain jew named aquila born in pontus lately come from italy with his wife priscilla because that claudius a command that all the jews to depart from rome and came unto them and because he was of the same craft he abode with them and wrought for by their occupation they were tent makers so we see that when paul got to corinth he met the first fruits in corinth the first members of corinth were this uh couple aquila and priscilla now go to roman chapter 16 i want you to notice what paul says about this couple in roman 16 romans chapter 16 look at verse number three romans chapter 16 and verse 3 says this greet priscilla and aquila my helpers in christ jesus notice verse 4 romans chapter 16 and verse 4 who have for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only i give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles i want you to notice that what we can learn from aquila and priscilla is that they were willing to sacrifice it says that he says he says about this couple he says who for my life for who have for my life laid down their own necks and you know uh sacrifice means love because sacrifice the word sacrifice means to surrender or to give up to permit injury or a disadvantage to uh forsake something to give up something and that's really what love is in fact you don't have to turn there and well actually you know what we got time go to john chapter 15 keep your place there and uh in romans we're going to come right back to it but go to john chapter 15 so we read there in roman 16 4 about priscilla and aquila paul said who have for my life laid down their own necks well notice what jesus says about someone being willing to lay down their life john 15 and verse 13 you got matthew mark luke john john 15 and verse 13 says this greater love had no man than this than that a man laid down his life for his friends so let me ask you a question aquila and priscilla did they love the apostle paul well paul said that they were willing for my life they laid down their own necks jesus said greater love had no man than this that a man laid down his life for his friend because here's what you need to understand sacrifice equals love you cannot say i love something or i love someone if i'm not willing to sacrifice greater love had no man than this that a man laid down his life forever and here's the greatest example of love and sacrifice the the most famous verse in the bible john 316 for god so loved the world that he gave right he loved so he gave i realize that the women can't say amen but all the women should be loving this at this point right now listen husband if you love you give right if you love and this is isn't this what we're taught what what our husband's supposed to do they're supposed to love their wives sacrificially they're supposed to uh be willing to lay down their lives for their wives in the same way in the same way that jesus laid down his life for the church and they're supposed to love their wives selfishly they're supposed to love their wives as themselves for the bible says for god so love the world that he gave his only begotten son he sacrificed his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life so you know what we need is we need church members that are ready to sacrifice now go back to roman 16 and let me just bring this down to a very practical sense roman chapter 16 he said oh pastor man is you know how how will how will i know if i'm willing to lay down my life you know for brother stucky or if i'm willing to lay down my life for miss tan if i'm willing to lay down my life for my other sisters and brothers in christ you know what's interesting is that the best way to know where your heart is or what you love the best way to know what you love is to see how you steward your worldly goods and you might not connect those two but here's what's interesting in roman 16 we read there in verse 14 who have for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only i give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles and then in the very next verse in that same context of them loving and sacrificing paul he says this likewise greet the church that is in their house see aquila and priscilla they put their uh their money where their mouth is they were willing they had this house available and they said hey you know what you guys can meet in our house and you know it's a very scriptural thing for churches to meet in your house now obviously once you have a church that's bigger than like 10 or 15 people you can't meet in the house you know and you can get you need to meet in uh you know hotel conference rooms or other church buildings or things like that but what i want to show you is this that aquila and priscilla they go down in history as being the people who are willing to lay down their lives but notice when someone is willing to lay down their life they're willing to lay down everything else and they make even their worldly goods available for the work of god you're there in roman 16 go to go to first corinthian 16 look at verse 19 first corinthian 16 and verse 19 says this the churches of asia salute you aquila and priscilla salute you much in the lord with the church that is in their house here's what i'm trying to tell you here's what jesus said matthew 621 you have to turn there he said this for where your treasure is there where your heart be also say pastor man how can i know what i love it's real easy go on you know grab a computer pull up your online banking if you've got a online banking or if you've got a bank account and look at your statements and just look at where you spend your money and that'll tell us what you love some of you are in love with starbucks you know some of you are in love with uh with the great mall of china over there you know i've never been to the great wall of china but i went to the great mall of china or that whatever it's called the mall of asia over there you know and look wherever your money goes that will show us what you love because that's what you're willing to sacrifice your worldly goods for and you know what this church needs church members that are willing to support financially you say uh verity baptist church is a a church plant a satellite church but one day we're gonna we we want to be independent okay well here's the thing with that if you're going to be independent that means you got to be able to pay the bills it doesn't just mean that someone ordains a pastor autonomous or independence means you're not depending on anyone else now look we're very baptist church in sacramento is committed to this church we will do whatever needs to be done and we will pay all the bills and and this church has already been generous and you're already uh supporting yourselves and doing things like that and that's great but i want to encourage you to continue in that and on the mission field i've noticed that there sometimes can be this mentality uh that oh well the money needs to come from america and we can't you do it you know people are poor in the philippines and people are are poor in manila and you know what i'm sure people are poor in the philippines and in manila but every time i walked into that starbucks it was full i mean i i go to i went to these malls and i couldn't imagine the amount of people i mean i don't know i everybody's poor in the philippines but people are spending something right yeah i i don't know if you call it manila or money la but uh you know there's just it seems like there's a lot of money going around and here's what i'm telling you is in your life look and this is the beautiful thing about tithing is that it's a percentage right right you say oh i don't make a lot well then you don't have to title on it's a percentage but you know what you should be willing to sacrifice you should be ready to sacrifice and you say i'm willing to lay down my life okay how about your checkbook okay how about your pesos you know because where your treasure is they're where your heart be also and don't get this idea you know though some churches they're waiting for this rich church member right well we can just get the rich and powerful the famous church member to come in they'll take care of all the bills no you know what the people in this room need to take care of the bills amen the first fruits of this church need to just decide i'm going to be faithful hey not only in salt winning not only in church services but in my tithes and offerings i'm going to be faithful you know and if a famous church member shows up one day then praise lord in fact there might be a famous church member uh one day i don't know i gotta tell you the story uh a couple of days ago my wife was having breakfast with the kids here in in the in the hotel and i went to go get coffee at starbucks you know because i was uh because i love starbucks and i love coffee i should say but um when i came back my wife said she she kind of you know she was talking to me uh quietly and she kind of uh got my attention that guy over there she's like i don't know what that guy is but i think he's famous and i said well why do you think that guy's famous he said well people are just randomly stopping and taking pictures with him and i looked over and i just saw this guy i mean it's just he looked real trendy you know he had like the trendy clothes on and he had shades on or whatever and and then he had this young kid that i assumed was his assistant you know and and but i saw people kind of stopping just kind of waving at him stop him taking pictures with him or whatever so the guy gets up to use the restroom he hands his bag to the i who i thought was the assistant and and he goes to his restroom and and when he leaves i i i walk up to the assistant i'm like hey you know who's this guy that that you're with and he's like oh that's my father and i'm like what does your father do and he says he's a singer and i i said is he famous and he's like yeah i think he's pretty famous you know because he's like all these people are stopping and talking to him or whatever and i you know and i started trying to talk to him and they had to get going but i gave him a psycho i didn't have a church invitation but i had a psychopath reprobates documentary so i said hey i've got this psychopath reprobate documentary so the documentary our church made you should watch it you know i think you'll like it and at the end there's this uh bible's way to heaven presentation you can know for sure how your only way to heaven i said you should watch it and you should uh make sure your dad watches it and he's like okay thanks you know whatever and then his dad came back and then i saw the kid give it to his dad and his dad sat there and he was looking at the front of it then he turned around and he read the whole back of it you know i was like oh maybe he'll watch it or whatever and then his dad walked up to me and he said thank you sir for the dvd you know i stood up and we shook hands he told me his name was randy i don't really know you know who he was or whatever but um he said he said i'm he said my name is randy thank you i said he said i'm gonna watch this you know and i'm like praise the lord you know so you might have some famous singer show up one day you know but don't expect him to pay all the bills all right you know you uh you it reminds me of a story one time my wife we're out soul winning in sacramento and uh she we were in kind of this nicer neighborhood and she uh started talking to this guy's this guy sitting uh like he was like sitting on like a lounge chair in his front yard and you know she asked him his name he said his name is francisco and she started giving him the gospel and she got him saved and after she got him saved she's like uh you know she's trying to get she's getting his information to follow up on him because we like to follow up on our on our converts and she asked him oh well what do you what do you do for a living and he said i play basketball and she's like oh that's interesting you know she's like you play basketball like like you're like uh like a coach at a high school or whatever and because you know we don't know anything about sports whatever and he's like no i play for the sacramento kings and he was like this like you know just this professional uh basketball player his name was uh he the way he was known as cisco garcia and you know we went back to church and we were telling people like my wife got cisco garcia saved and all our carnal church members were like wow you know and all the spiritual ones were like who's that you know but uh we looked him up you know and he made like six million a year and we're like man we need to get that guy tiving you know so we definitely followed up on that guy but anyway the point that i'm making is this all right the the famous church member that might show up should be that should not be plan a okay let that be a bonus you know if this if if the famous basketball player shows up and tied 600 000 then then praise the lord for that there's going to be a missions trip and i don't know you know i don't know where but uh the whole church is going on a missions trip somewhere but uh but you know honestly though like the likelihood of that happening is very is is very slim but the first fruits of a church the first church members just the regular hard-working people the men that go to work every day and support their wives and support their families these church members are the ones that should be willing to sacrifice and to support the work that's being done here go back to acts chapter 18 let me give you the last one and we'll be done we've been talking about what we need from the first members right we need what do we need we need them to be excitedly supportive supporting this work and not just at the beginning and not just doing a mission strip but just week in week out you know i'm thankful for our church in sacramento and i believe that the church in sacramento is is uh is a great powerhouse of of soul winning and of and of you know just the the work that's been done there has been amazing the churches that we've started and the things that we've done and that's not anything to do with me honestly if you want to know the the strength of verity baptist church is found in its church members i mean i i sometimes get the credit and i'm the one that's up front and making the videos and and preaching the sermons but honestly we could not do what we do if it wasn't for the hard-working men and women that show up week after week sunday after sunday wednesday after wednesday and do the work and this is what we need from you and i believe that this church could be a great church it's already a great church but you could be used mightily of god but we need you to be those first fruits of manila that will not only excitedly support will not only get involved in soul and will not only learn to serve and learn to sacrifice and prove it by where your treasure is but lastly let me just give you this last one if you can go back to acts chapter 18 first members need to be willing to suffer willing to suffer notice acts chapter 18 and verse 7 the bible says this and he departed thence so we're gonna go with paul into a new city new region and entered into a certain man's house named justice one that worshipped god whose house joined hard to the synagogue and crispus i want you to notice because the guy's name changes in the story but it's crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue believed he got saved believed on the lord with all his house and many of the corinthians hearing believed and were baptized notice verse 12 just for sake of time skip down to verse 12 and when galio was the deputy of ikei the jews made insurrection with one accord against paul and brought him to the judgment seat skip down to verse 16 just for sake of time and he this is galio the dep the deputy of ikea drained them from the judgment seat all right so we got paul shows up to ikei he gets this guy crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue saved the jews made insurrection against paul but this galio guy he just doesn't really care so he drives him off he says this is not something i care about and he stops them basically from persecuting paul but notice what they do verse 17 then all the greeks took sostenese okay who's sostenese it's the same guy crispus we read about in verse eight notice the chief ruler of the synagogue right because in verse eight we have and crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue so oftentimes these people had several names they had a jewish name and a greek name or whatever here verse 17 then all the greeks took sostenese the chief ruler of the synagogue is they're like you guys you know the filipinos i i meet these filipinos sometimes and they give me they they they give me a name and i can't pronounce it so then i'm like give me your christian name you know i'm just gonna call you rose all right because uh sometimes i can't you know give me your another name so here we have sostenese the chief ruler of the synagogue noticed and beat him before the judgment seat and galio cared for none of those things why don't you notice this guy crispus paul comes into town he gets saved in verse 8 and in verse 17 he's getting beat down for paul and you say man you know what what a great guy you know he was a first fruits and he was willing to suffer he was the first fruit and he was willing to to go ahead and take a beating to go ahead and suffer persecution and you know you guys and you've already experienced this and you already know it but you guys need to learn and be willing to suffer i mean just before the service started uh one of the brothers here in in church right now just shared with me a story where he was at his church on sunday and they brought they brought up to him one of my videos they said this guy and they started telling him like this guy is this roger jimenez is preaching heresy because i'm preaching that salvation is by grace through faith not of works and you can't lose it you know because we because we believe that once you're saved you're always saved because we believe that you know you cannot lose eternal life that if it's everlasting and it ends that that would make god a liar you know and they're telling them they're like this guy is preaching heresy and you know now they're they're being mean to him and they don't want him around you know and here's what i'm telling you and that story many of you have that story and by the way people in california have that story but great church members are going to be willing to suffer they're going to be willing to get saved in verse 8 and take a beating in verse 17 and hopefully it never comes to that you know hopefully you never have to take a beating uh for for the brother stuckey you know um i'm not sure that i take a beating for brother stuckey no i'm just kidding um but but you know you will you may have to suffer persecution you may have to suffer heartaches you may have to go uh through times in your life when when people are mean to you and look you need to be willing to suffer because this church what this church needs look don't wait don't wait for some better church member to show up one day the the great church members that this church needs to grow and succeed are here right now and it's interesting it's interesting because as you go through the book of acts i mean we were going through it tonight paul shows up to a location and then god highlights the first people there and then he and then we find out that many believed and that many got saved but you know he highlights the first people there because the first people there are the ones that were instrumental in succeeding and seeing success in that place and you know if the book of acts was still being written today and and the chapter of verde baptist church manila came on your names will be mentioned because you were the first people there and i'm not saying that people who come in the future are second rate i'm not saying that at all but what i'm saying is this you're here for a reason god chose this time in this place he chose you for a reason i believe that you will be instrumental in the success of this ministry if you'll stay excited and support the work if you'll continue in soul winning if you'll learn to serve and sacrifice and be willing to suffer for the cause of christ let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer heavenly father thank you lord for your word thank you for these stories in scripture these uh these examples in the bible and lord i pray that you would just encourage this church lord i pray that there will be people in this service uh tonight that would just determine to take these teachings to heart lord that they would purpose in their hearts that they're just going to get excited about everything everything that's going on they're going to support this work they're going to be behind it they're not going to complain they're not going to murmur lord i pray that you would help all of the soul winners to stay excited about soul winning and to continue to be soul winners lord help them to serve and sacrifice and suffer and father i pray that you just have a do a great work with the people in this room tonight lord that we might look back on this church years and decades from now and say wow what a wonderful work has been done in that place what what wonderful uh salvations have came and decide people have been discipled and people have been baptizing churches have been started and lord it's all gonna happen right here it's gonna start right here with these people i pray you'd help them to take that uh honor seriously and that they were just determined to be like the people that helped paul start the different churches in the book of acts that they would be willing to labor and to co-labor not only with you father but that they would co-labor with each other they would they would strive together that they would labor alongside brother stuck in mistan to see this church become a great great church for you in the master's name of christ we pray amen