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

Alright, thank you for that reading brother. I was just thinking about what to preach this morning. I am going to this afternoon, I'll be preaching through the Psalms, you know, we're going through the Psalms. But this morning I wanted to just preach on a topical sermon. I was thinking, you know, what kind of sermon does the church need? You know, often as a pastor, I'm thinking of something topical. What is it that the church needs? But this time I thought, well, I'm going to flip the tables a little bit. What does the pastor need? What does the pastor need? And so, of course, it's for the church. But, basically, I decided to call this sermon this morning, Support Your Pastor. Support Your Pastor, okay? And I don't often preach these kinds of sermons. And, you know, it sounds a bit weird to preach it. But listen, it's coming from God's Word. We'll see a few things, a few parallels with my life, with my ministry, with the ministry of New Life Baptist Church, and Blessed Hope Baptist Church down in Sydney. And, you know, I realised, you know, becoming a pastor is something that I never kind of envisioned. Like, as a child, my parents thought I'd become a pastor. Because I had a love for God, I had a love for the Bible, maybe more so than the average person. And they just thought, if someone's going to be a pastor in the family, it's probably going to be Kevin. And I remember as a child that just frustrated me. You know, it's not like, you know, you don't want to have, like, your life planned out. Like, you know, it's my decision to decide what I'm going to do with my life. But, I don't know, I guess my parents got their way somehow. But, and then, you know, I look at the pastors preach, I look at churches, and I think, I'll never be able to do that. You know, I love the Lord, and I can't really do that. And, you know, you don't really know. Like, obviously, you can read your Bible, you can kind of observe and see how the pastors are, and maybe you're, you know, you get a bit of the behind-the-scenes look if you get into ministry. You don't really know until you actually do the job. It's like any other job. Like, you know what the job is, you know the company, maybe. But, you don't really know until you start doing the job. You know, and you start learning a lot about what it is like to be a pastor. And, there's something here in 1 Samuel 7 that I want us to look at, in verse 15. Verse 15, and I know Samuel wasn't a pastor necessarily, okay. But, he was definitely a man of God, a man of God that he was using to preach to Israel. And, not only was Samuel a prophet, we often know him as a prophet, but Samuel was also a judge. Okay, he had authority. You know, he was like part of the government, as it were, the government of Israel. And so, when disputes would arise, when issues would arise, you know, Samuel would not only be preaching, teaching the Bible, but he would be going there, sorting out issues amongst the nation. And so, we look at verse 15 here, 1 Samuel 7, 15, it says, And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Let me just stop there for a moment. And, you know, when I decided to become a pastor, I did not envision, I thought, and say, well, you know, I'll do it for five years and let's see how it goes. You know, let's do it for 20 years and see how it goes. You know, when I decided to become a pastor, I set aside my career. You know, I set aside my career growth and all that kind of stuff. I know that if I serve as a pastor for 20 years, let's say, and then I can't be a pastor and I have to step down, it's going to be hard to get back into the workforce. Because now I've got 20 years where I've not been doing, you know, secular kind of work. So, you know, when you decide to become a pastor, you have to realise this is for the long haul. Just like Samuel, he judged Israel all the days of his life. That's what it's like, you know, when you decide to become a pastor, it's not like, well, I can just quit my job and find another job, you know, if it doesn't work out. No, you know, your heart, your mind ought to be, I'm going to be a pastor all the days of my life. Verse number 16, it says, and he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpi and judged Israel in all those places. Now, this is what I liked about this because that's what I think about myself right now. Again, it wasn't my goal to have a circuit, okay. It wasn't my goal, you know, when I started a church and became a pastor to go, well, you know, once a week I'm going to have to travel down to Sydney and blessed up Baptist Church and three years in I'm going to have to find myself located down there and I'm going to have to travel back up. But, you know, this is something that we see in the Bible that there are few men, okay, where you would need to basically take one of these men, someone like a Samuel, and he's going to develop a circuit going from town to town, from city to city, to be a judge, to be a preacher, to serve God. And this is the reality, I suppose. It wasn't, again, not my desire. It wasn't my goal when I became a pastor, but we find ourselves in this situation and, you know, I'm traveling back and forth between Sydney and Sunshine Coast. It wears you out a little bit, you know. Every week it's, you know, that constant travel. It doesn't seem like much, but it is service. You know, I know when I get to heaven God's going to reward me a little bit just to sit on a plane for how many hours, you know, every single week. There's going to be something there for that, right. You know, it's not, you know, it might sound great, oh man, it must be so good traveling, you know. After a while it gets old, I'm telling you. You know, yeah, it was great the first week, it was great the first month maybe. The only thing that keeps me going is just the blessings of being in fellowship with other brethren, to be able to serve the Lord and to love the brethren. That's what keeps you going, right, to just know that there are very few men that are there and, you know, like Samuel, you know, in my situation I've had to develop a circuit from the Sydney to the Sunshine Coast. But notice verse number 17. So you notice that Samuel, even though he was traveling from city to city, town to town, you know, being a judge, he did have one central location. You know, Ramah where there was his house. And let me just reinforce once again that, you know, the Sunshine Coast, this is my home. I moved here and said this is where my house is going to be, this is where my home is going to be. You know, you guys now know that I was trying to search for a house, trying to find a place, because this is where I need to be stationed. This is where God has sent me, this is where my heart is, this is my priority. You need to understand that, you know, even though Samuel had all these circuits and all these places he had to travel, there was one place that he was really established, one place where his family was, where his home was, and you know what, that's our goal. In four months to get back up here, and I want you to know that. I don't have any desire to stay in Sydney, you know, it's God's will, I mean, you know, at the end of the day it's God's will, but you know, it's not my desire. My desire is to get back up here, you know, finish the work that God has called me to do, and just for the time being I'm just going to have to continue that circuit, okay. Maybe one day God's going to open up another place, right, a Melbourne, a Brisbane, who knows, and then I'm going to have to add to the circuit there, okay. Anyway, this is the situation, and as you guys know, not every pastor has this situation. You know, it's happened, there was a necessity, I felt that I could achieve that need, I could fulfil that need, and this is where we find ourselves. Now, I'm not preaching this so you can like feel sorry for me, or what a great pastor we have, I'm just a man. I have my faults, I look at some of you guys, and I think you guys are better than me anyway, like so many times, that's just my mindset, I just look at some of you guys, I don't know why you made me a pastor, Lord, but you know, there are other great men here that could probably serve you in a better capacity, I don't know, but you know, it's in the Lord's hands, but I'm not preaching this so you guys can like, you know, think highly of me or anything like this, but I just want you to understand, there are stresses, there are things that you don't necessarily know about, and I don't need to even share those necessarily, okay, but you know, you ought to be praying for your pastor, you ought to understand that it actually takes a toll, you know, physically, mentally, spiritually, and I need your support, and you have been supporting, I'm not preaching this because you haven't been supporting me, I just hope that, you know, by preaching this, if there ever comes a time when you're like, ah, that pastor Kevin is letting us down, that you just remember this sermon, right, and you get back on the support for your pastor, especially, you know, if you know that my heart is to serve the Lord, to serve the brethren, I'm not in some, you know, major sin or something like that, obviously that's a different thing, but you know, I do need your support, I need to hear it from time to time, you know, just honestly, just as a man, that you guys are behind me, that you guys are praying for me, those kinds of things just encourages me, because I am made of the same flesh and blood, you know, I do go through the same kind of doubts and worries and stresses that anyone else does, you know, but notice the next chapter, 1 Samuel 8, verse number 1, I want you to see the kind of toll it took on Samuel, because we know Samuel was a godly man, we know God used Samuel in a mighty way, a mighty, mighty way, okay, but as he's trying to serve the Lord with all his heart, you'll notice that he took a significant risk in taking on this ministry, because in verse number 1 it says, And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel, and then it says in verse number 2, Now the name of the first one was Joel, and the name of the second, Abiah, look at this, and they were judges in Beersheba, okay, so Samuel takes his sons, puts them as judges, hey, you can work for the Lord, you can work for this nation that God has established, he sets them as judges in Beersheba, I like that, because over here we have like Biwah, and like Bibarim, well they had Beersheba, okay, so I don't know, it must have been the Sunshine Coast or something, right, so think about my sons growing up in this area, maybe we need churches in these other B places, I never wanted to live in those suburbs, by the way, because I just think, man, B, you know, I don't want to be associated with that, but anyway, it's in the Bible, okay, maybe they're following biblical names here, okay, but look at the signs in verse number 3, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Luca, and took Luca's money, and took bribes and perverted judgement, that's amazing, it's so sad for me to read that, right, and you know, it's not just Bible, I've seen this, I've seen godly men, you know, men that you know just trying to serve the Lord, love the Lord, you know, and sometimes the family gets sacrificed, you know, sometimes you see there's cracks developing in the family, I'm not just talking about any family, like every family there's some drama, right, I mean you guys know, you guys are all part of a family, right, every family there's going to be some contention, some arguments, and that's just, that's part of life, okay, but it makes me really sad when I see this take place, where Samuel's just faithfully serving the Lord, and we don't know much about Samuel, you know, you could kind of say, well maybe he failed as a father to some extent here, definitely, but he didn't fail as a father because he was like a drunkard, he didn't fail as a father because he was some, you know, wicked man and you know, living after money and chasing wealth, he didn't fail as a father because of that, he failed as a father because his attention was on the church, his attention was on the people, his attention was on all these towns and places that he would travel and visit, and you know, this is in the Bible so we can look at this, we can understand that ministry takes a toll on the pastor's family, okay, and you know, there are increased risks to being a circuit preacher or circuit pastor, there are increased risks, okay, because as you guys know, if I'm going there every week, I'm not seeing my family seven days a week, I'm seeing them six days a week, you know, and if there's some type of delay, some type of cancellation, it might be that week, five times a week that I see my family, and so the less you see, you know, your wife and your children, the less influential you can be, right, or your mind might be busy on other matters, other issues, and you may not necessarily see the kind of cracks that are developing in your family. Now again, I'm not preaching this because I'm seeing cracks developing in my family, okay, I'm preaching this because I don't want it to become that, you understand that, you know, and we need to look at the Bible and just understand this is a reality of the kind of position that I have and the travel that I do, which is why I need your support, you know, I need your support, and you need to understand that, you know, yes, I'm the pastor, but I'm also a family man, you know, I'm a pastor, but I'm also a husband, I'm a pastor, but I'm also a father, you know, and I've got parents, and I've got family, and I've got other people that I think about and love and I'm concerned about beyond just the two churches, New Life Baptist Church and Blessed Hope Baptist Church. Now, I want you to notice what happens, so, actually before we keep going, I want you to notice about the sons. So it says, his sons are walked not in his ways, so what they're doing is not the ways of Samuel, okay, the sons, yeah, they turned aside after Luca, and took bribes, okay, perverted judgement, so what were they interested in becoming a judge? They were interested in the money, they were interested in how much are we going to make, and it's not going to be enough, let's take some bribes and let's pervert judgement so we can get rich, basically being these judges and people in authority. You know, and this is again a reality in the past, I'm telling you, you guys know, I mean there are pastors that are just filthy rich, with their own private jets, you know, why do you think they became a pastor? Do you think they're a Samuel or one of Samuel's kids, behaving that way? I don't know if Samuel's children were, you know, reprobate, you know, or just wicked Christians, I mean, you know, Christians can be wicked, they can be saved, but you know, if they don't grow, they just live in the flesh, they can just be the same, they can be affected by the same temptations that anyone that is unsaved can have, can face, which is why it's so important that, you know, when we choose a pastor, when we look at a pastor, we need to understand this man's not doing it for the money. You know, it's got to be so clear that he's not doing it for the money, right? And again, that's one of the things that, you know, probably one of the things that frustrates me the most, being a pastor, is like, you know, how much is he making? You know, I bet you, you know, he's, you know, it's like, why doesn't he get a job or something like that? Like, you know, it's like, are you kidding me? Are you like, honestly kidding me? Like, if you want to have an independent, fundamental Baptist church, and preach the doctrines that we preach, you're not, you know, I'm telling you now, you're not doing it for the money. You know, you're just better off just working any hospital, like, you make money anywhere else, I'm telling you. You know, what I'm saying to you Brevin, I've never done this for the money, you know, and what frustrates me is when people start, you know, using money as some type of like, oh, you said this or you said that, man, you know, I don't know, I don't know what the future holds, right? When we started this church, I had no idea whether I would be able to get some type of paycheck here. I didn't start the church for that, okay? But the reality is, just like any job, like, if you go, like, imagine you going to work, and someone's saying to you, I know why you come to work. You come to get paid, don't you? It's like, well, obviously. But you know what, to a pastor, it's like, that's like a bad thing almost. It's like, don't you know what I've got to provide? I've got to pay rent or pay a mortgage or provide for my family. Of course I've got to do it for the money to some extent. Okay? But that's not what's, you know, but really, if that's all I was chasing, the last thing I would do is be a pastor. It's the poorest job I've ever had. I've earned more job as a teenager in my early 20s than I have as a pastor. You know, if you, you know, calculate inflation and stuff like that, you know, this is a low-paying job, brethren. But I'm not complaining. I love it. I love this job. I love this job, right? It's helped me to walk in faith, you know, more than I ever have. So I hate that kind of talk, like, oh, there's ulterior motives for being a pastor. You know what? Then you become the pastor. You know what? If that's really what you think, like, you know, honestly, you know, it's frustrating. But anyway, let's keep going. Verse number four. Second Samuel chapter eight, verse number four. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Rhema, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in peace. And thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now, make us a king to judge us like all the nations. I want you to notice that. Everyone sees the children of Samuel, okay? And, yeah, they're wicked. They're not doing right. And they're saying, well, because of your kids, Samuel, and you're getting old as well, you know what? There's this system of judges that God has instituted. We don't want that anymore. We want to be like the other nations. We want to be like, we want to have a king. But notice why they're blaming. Like, what's their reason for it? They're blaming Samuel. They're blaming Samuel's kids. You're too old. Your kids are wicked. So we want a king. Okay, now I want you to notice that. Because, you know, quite often when you read this quickly, that's the reason you think that they want a king. Because they realize Samuel has failed. And to some extent, Samuel has failed. And again, this is a reality of a pastor that people are watching your family. They're watching your kids. They're watching your life. And people are just itching to find something to blame you for. Just something, you know, that the pastor has done something wrong. Did you hear what his child said? Right? And it's like, well, you know, this is not working anymore. We need another system. We need another king. We need someone else. You know, we need something else. Or they're out of church. Why'd you leave church? Oh, it's pastors. You know, pastor's wife. Pastor's kids are out of church. You know, there's always a reason, right? They're finding the reason. That's what they're saying. They're saying, Samuel, it's your fault. Samuel, it's your fault. You and your kids, you messed it up. We want a king. Okay? But I want you to notice what God says. Okay? It says in verse number six, Look at this. You see, it wasn't about Samuel and his kids, really, at the end of the day. The people in this nation, the Israelites, had rejected God. Okay? And now they're trying to find a reason. Instead of saying, hey, I reject God, they go, well, let's wait for Samuel to mess up. Let's wait for him to stuff up. Now we stuff, yes! Samuel, now we can say, now we can get out of church. Now we can get out of the ministry. Now we can get outside of God's will, and we can just blame Samuel and his kids. Okay? But God says, no, it's not that. That's not right. The reason is, Samuel, relax. They rejected me. Okay? It's not you, Samuel. And, you know, this is the, you know, again, this is part of being a pastor. If someone's to be a pastor, you have to understand people are going to look to you like to blame you and to blame your family. You know? Not because, really, they have anything against you. It's like they're not right with God. That's the reason why. That's ultimately the reason why. You know, again, I'm not talking about major sins of a pastor. There's, you know, a proper process for all of that. I'm just talking about, you know, this is what happens. You know, churches. I once heard the saying, you know, from somebody. I can't remember who. And they would often say, you know, people come and people go. And I just thought, man, I don't want to think like that as a church. People come and people go. It just seems so, you know, I don't know. It just seems so insensitive or uncaring, unloving. But then I realized that's just, that's what happens. People come and people go. And they'll find, and look, when people want to go, they want to go and they'll just find something to, they'll find some reason. Okay? But really the reason is I'm not right with God and I need to go. Okay? But they won't say that. They won't say that. They'll find a reason, somebody, some issue to blame. And look at verse number eight. It says, according to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, where if they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Okay? So God's saying, look, don't worry. He's giving, same with some comfort. He didn't mess up that bad, Samuel. Okay? You messed up a little bit as a parent. But that's, you know, I guess Samuel was very burdened. He thought the reason they're walking away from the Lord is because he's stuffed up. Lord's saying, no, they've done it from the very beginning. Since the time they left Egypt till this time, they've been rejecting me. Okay? So as I was saying, brethren, you know, being a pastor, there are sort of stresses and worries that probably you don't really expect or think about until you do the job. And that's okay. That's part of the job, right? I remember when I was working in a business, and one of my, he wasn't my manager, but he was a manager that I got along with really well, and he had all these problems, all these issues. And I said to him once, man, how do you handle all this stuff? I feel sorry for you. He goes, don't feel sorry for me. That's why I earned the big bucks. All right, yeah, okay, makes sense, yeah. You earn the big bucks, then you get all the stress. Makes sense. But here's the thing about being, you're not gonna earn big bucks here on the earth, right? So I'm hoping God's just earning me the big bucks in heaven. Hopefully that's where I'm gonna get the big bucks, right? It's all being saved up there in heaven. So I'm not downcast. I'm not preaching this because I'm downcast or anything like that, but again, I need your support because I know that I have the man, the old man, I have the new man, and quite often I'm in the new man right now. I feel like I'm in the new man. I'm happy, but there can be times when I'm in the old man and be downcast and frustrated and worried about different things where really the Lord's just earning me the big bucks in heaven. I need to remind myself about that, okay? But in saying this, you need to understand that I have priorities, and one thing you guys know, as I said, New Life Baptist Church as a church is my priority. Blessed Out Baptist Church is a priority as well, but at the end of the day, this is where the Lord has called me to come. This church is my priority, but I have a greater priority than New Life Baptist Church, and that's my family, okay? And I don't know if that sounds unusual. I've never really heard any other pastor say this. I'm just being honest with you. My family's my priority. They were my ministry before New Life Baptist Church, and if I didn't have them, I would not be a pastor. We would not have New Life Baptist Church, okay? And I say this because I want you to understand I'm not like this pastor. I'm not like this guy that's just hell-bent on being a pastor no matter what. You know what? If I find that I can't, like I'm having cracks and problems in my marriage or with my children, major issues, then I'll probably just say to you, I'll just honestly, Reverend, thanks for having me as a pastor, but I'm gonna have to step down. I've got a greater ministry to take care of or maybe even a temporary period. Guys, give me three months. I'll step down just for three months for now. Let me sort out some of these things. If we get that working, I'll get back on the program, something like that. Who knows, right? But I want you to understand my family is my priority, okay? And really, at the end of the day, each one of us with our families, that ought to be your priority. That's how it ought to be, okay? I've always said a strong church requires strong families, okay, and so the stronger your family, the stronger this church will be. I recall back again in the workplace and I was getting different promotions and I was growing in my career and there was a meeting and I heard about it because they were talking about me. I wasn't in that meeting. They were talking about me and basically the assessment that people left of me was basically if Kevin had to choose between his career and his family, he'd choose his family. And I heard that feedback from somebody there, okay? And I don't know if they're kind of like maybe mocking me or not. I don't know. I don't know why that was an issue. But I'm like, absolutely, 100%. Praise God, they understand that about me, right? That I'm not chasing filthy Luca. Look, if money comes, great, money goes as well, right? But at the end of the day, if I had to choose between these two things, it's definitely gonna be my family. It's always been that way. I'm a family man, okay? I love my family. And yeah, as I said, outside of normal family issues, if my family was breaking down, for me, I would step down as a pastor, okay? So I'm saying this because I don't want that to happen. And it may never happen, I don't know. But then I look at pastors and it happens. I look at pastors in independent fundamental Baptist church, then it happens. I see children of independent fundamental Baptist pastors in the name of the world and they don't care about God and they don't care about church. It happens. So even though I don't think it'll happen, I don't want it to happen, it could happen. It happens to Samuel. So I need your support, you know? I need your support. You know, I became a pastor out of necessity, honestly. I just thought, man, where are these churches? Soul winning. You know, preaching without compromise, without fear. Where are these churches? Great, I can see some in America, but where are they in Australia? I'm not saying they're all bad. I'm not saying, I'm sure people are doing the best they can, but where's that zeal, where's that passion, where's that love for the lost? You know? And I looked, there's a need. And I was like, well, no one's doing it. Okay? And yes, I had a desire to become a pastor. Of course I had a desire, but really more than the desire was the need. Why did we start Blessed Hope Baptist Church? A need developed. Look, I wasn't excited to get on a plane every week and travel and add more preaching and more stress and worries and more families to think about and pray, but I wasn't looking for that. I saw a need. A need. Well, who's going to do it? I guess it's me. That's what happens, right? In Isaiah 6-8, I'll just read it to you. Isaiah 6-8. Isaiah says, Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me. Here am I, send me. That's ultimately what it is, right? You see a need. God says there's a need. Who am I going to send? Okay. I'll be the guy, God, if you want me to be the guy. That's basically why I became a pastor. Again, I wasn't hell-bent. I would have loved others to be the ones that get up and say, Well, there's some brethren on the Sunshine Coast. I'm going to go and start that church. Praise God. I'll support you. I'll pray for you. I'll encourage you. Praise God. I wish it was someone else, you know? But praise God it's me, you know? Praise God. You know, Sydney, praise God. Yeah, send me, Lord, if that's where you need me to go. Send me. What about the calling? Did you get called by God? Well, I mean, isn't the necessity the calling? There's a need. There it is. There's the calling. All right, God, I'll go then. I mean, I don't have to see dreams and visions. I mean, there's a need. There's a need. And if I meet the qualifications and it can happen, then let's do it, you know? Again, I'm not preaching this, complaining or whining or anything. I'm happy. I love my job. It's the best job I've ever had. I love my job. It's the best job I've ever had, okay? Except in my bank account, but it's the best job I've ever had, okay? Now, can you please turn to Psalm 12 for me? Psalm 12 in verse number one. Psalm 12 in verse number one. Again, I'm not preaching this to puff myself up. I'm not. I'm not, you know? I just realized there aren't many pastors these days, like faithful pastors that love the Lord and love the lost. It's rare, and I don't know why it's rare. Maybe I do know why it's rare, but anyway, it's rare, okay? And this is one main reason why you should support your pastor, okay? And look, one day you might be in another church and have another pastor. I'm not saying this is the reason why you should support me necessarily, but any pastors that are faithfully serving the Lord, why you should support them. Hey, you know what? Pastor Stevenson comes here to preach. I love Pastor Stevenson. He's got some different ideas, has some funny jokes, makes me cringe sometimes. I love him, but he's a pastor. He's trying to serve the Lord. He's trying to love the brethren. He loves New Life Baptist Church. I know he prays for us, and he prays for me. I'm going to support him. You know what? I'm going to support him, because look at Psalm 12 in verse number one. Psalm 12 in verse number one. The psalmist says, The psalmist is saying, there is very few godly men. It's see sin. Where are they, Lord? This is why I'm just going to support a pastor. You know what? You're doing the best you can. You might be a little bit different to me in this area, that area. Hey, but if you're saved, you love the Lord, you love the brethren. You know, you're my brother in Christ, and you're just doing the best you can with what you have, your experiences, you know, and how you are trained, and you, okay, well, you know, I'm going to support you. You know, because there's so few. The faithful fail from among the children of men. There are so few faithful men. Verse number two. And this is what you've got to be careful of as a pastor. With flattering lips and with a double heart. Double heart is like the backstabber, right? They speak to you nicely on one side, and then behind your back they're stabbing you, but all the time they'll flatten you with their lips. This is something hard to manage as a pastor. Because people say, you know, that was a good sermon. Thank you for being a pastor. Thank you for that. Again, support your pastor. That's a great way to support your pastor, isn't it? Give good feedback if you've learnt something from God's word. But then there is something just overboard in it. You know, you don't want to, you know, necessarily, you know, think wrongly of someone that might be a little bit overboard, because they just might be a little bit overboard. They might be just truly excited and truly, but then there are those with ulterior motives and harmful purposes that will flatter you as well, and it can be hard sometimes to work out who they are, you know? Verse number three. I love verse number three, because sometimes I don't have to worry about it. It says, the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speak of proud things. So, you know what, I might not be the best judge of character. I don't know. I might not always see the red flags that everyone else sees, but the Lord's going to take care of it. Okay? That's awesome. Okay? Now, can you turn to Philippians chapter two? Philippians chapter two. The reason we looked at Psalm just then, I just wanted to show you, this is a good reason to support your pastor. The godly man seeseth, right? The faithful fail from among the children of men. There's very few that want the job, and will be faithful toward the job is what I'm trying to say. You know, very few that will be faithful toward the job and do things the way the Lord wants it to be done. Philippians chapter two, verse number 19. Again, I'm not reading this to puff myself up, Reverend, because I know my weaknesses. I know I'm just a man. I know my sins. Okay? I know I'm not that great, honestly. Okay? But Philippians chapter two, verse number 19. Philippians chapter two, verse number 19, it says, But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. I've read this before, before I left, I read this passage to you, but it says, For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. This boggles my mind, this passage. What? You know, when I read the Bible, the New Testament, I read all these names, I see Paul and Timotheus and Silas and these men on these journeys starting churches, being sent by the Antioch church, right? There are apostles and they're doing miracles and, you know, it just seems like, man, what a great place to be. The beginning of the New Testament churches and I'm sure it was a great time to be, to live. But then we get to this point in Philippians and Paul says, Look, I've only got Timotheus to send to you. You know? And, you know, if you ever have, you know, man, why did Kevin have to go to Sydney? You know? Or maybe the people in Sydney are thinking, I hope he stays. I don't know. I'm not going to stay. I'm coming up here. But, you know, if there's any kind of thoughts, it's, you know, I'm not trying to stop people from progressing. I'm not trying to stop people from maybe becoming a pastor or a servant. It's just that there's very few that will naturally care for your state. There's actually few people like that. Paul only had Timotheus. He goes, Everyone else? You know what? Everyone else? And he's talking about people that he's with in his churches. And I'm not saying this about you guys. I'm just saying, like, this is just the reality of the Bible. He goes, Everyone else for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. It's a sad, it's a sad state that Paul was in. And again, there's nothing new under the sun. It's not like that was real then. It's not real today. You know? The reason there are very few men that are able to get into that position, they just don't naturally care. Okay? They don't just naturally care for the things of the Lord. Okay? I mean, it might take a lot of effort to care for those things of the Lord. Right? It might take more. But there are some people that just naturally care. You know? And maybe that's part of just growing up and maturing and maybe I had the benefit of growing up. A lot of you guys didn't have the benefit of growing up in a Christian home. You know? And Christian parents and being in church. And, you know, my pastor's in, a couple of my uncles and chillier pastors. Maybe just that. Just growing up in a Christian environment, being in church, I just already as a child just had that natural care for the brethren. Maybe that's what it is. I don't know. You know? I don't think I'm special. But as we look at this, we see that most people are looking, okay, I'll become a pastor if I get X, Y, and Z. You know, when I came past, I had no idea. I was like, what's it going to be like in the Sunshine Coast? Never lived there before. Okay? It doesn't look very multicultural. We're going to stand out, you know? South American, Portuguese, European, you know, my kid's half, are my kids going to stand out? And look, in Sydney, obviously, it's all multicultural. Are we going to have a place to meet for church? I don't know. Are we going to have a place to live? I don't know. Is there going to be anything in the offering besides what I give? I don't know. But at the end of the day, I know there are brethren praying. They want a church up there and, Lord, you've shown me this. And it's just a natural care. You know, but, you know, I'm willing to risk it. I'm willing to put it all on the line. I'm willing to get egg on my face if it fails, you know, and that's where the natural caring comes from. You know, a lot of people don't want that kind of risk. It requires a lot of faith. And, you know, it's much easier to basically, all right, I know I'm going to go here. I'm going to earn this much and I'm going to have this house and I'm going to have this and I'll be just fine. Then that's most likely where somebody may want to take up that position. Boy, if you go from scratch, you just don't know. You know, honestly, you just don't know. You know, and, but then you rely heavily upon the Lord. You know, heavily upon the Lord and it increases your faith. Okay. And again, this idea where, you know, maybe he's doing it for the money, it just frustrates me because I know I naturally care. You know, again, I'm not trying to boast. I just, I naturally care for you guys, for these families here at New Life and also Blessed Hope Baptist Church. I want the best. You know, I can't wait for a second pastor to turn up. A man who naturally cares. I can't wait for that man to turn up. Okay. Because I know that church will flourish with a good pastor. You know, but it's got to be the right man. You know, it's got to be one that naturally cares for the state of the people and it's not just their own desires and their own dreams and their own ambitions or whatever. You know, you really have to set those aside and think about the people that, you know, you'll be serving. You know, I remember once I was at, I was at Baptist Union Church. It was, I won't name the church. But anyway, so there was a pastor there and if you guys know the Baptist Union way, they basically cycle through pastors every few years. I don't know why they do that. I don't know if the pastor runs out of sermons and it's like, well, let's get another man and he can preach you your sermons, you know, to this other church. I don't know why they do that. But anyway, there was one pastor that served there for a while and the pastor, just because he, I think he retired kind of thing. Anyway, so he becomes just a regular church member and I think it was his first Sunday just as a regular member. They took up the offering and one of the men who, you know, because they walk around with offering plates and one of the men went up to the pastor and said, well, now it's your time to put money in the offering plate. I was like, what? Now it's your turn to put money in the offering plate. What? You know, I find it funny. Like, is that what you thought? That, you know, you just take all the money and you don't actually put anything in there. But I guess that's what some people think. You know, I've never stopped tithing. Never. You know, when I first started tithing in my early 20s, till today, I've never stopped tithing. You know, I've never stopped giving to the house of God. Even if it does come back into my pocket to some extent. But, you know, it's frustrating when people think you have ulterior motives. You know, it's weird. Can you please turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse number 23. This is a passage we read quite often, talking about the sufferings of Paul, how much he suffered for the Lord, right? And we focus on a lot of these verses. Let's read the verses. Verse number 23. 2 Corinthians 11, 23. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labor's more abundance. In strife's more abundance. I speak as a fool. I speak as a fool. I am more. In labor's more abundance. In strife's more abundance. In strife's, that's whipping, above measure. In prison's more frequent. In death's oft. Of the Jews, five times, received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I have been in the deep. I hope one of those Jetstar planes never ends up in the ocean, man. I don't want to suffer shipwreck like this. I don't think that plane will survive anyway. Verse number 26. In journey's often. In perils of water. In perils of robbers. In perils of mine own countrymen. In perils by the heathen. In perils in the city. In perils in the wilderness. In perils in the sea. In perils among false brethren. And I hope I don't have false brethren in this church. Or blessed up at this church. That would break my heart. False brethren. But it's a reality. It could be. Right? In weariness and painfulness. In watchings often. In hunger and thirst. In fastings often. In cold and nakedness. So we often read about how much Paul suffered. Right? But he does it because he loves the Lord. He loves the brethren. Right? He's doing it for the kingdom of God. And we talk about hey, hey you know in Australia we're comfortable. And we are comfortable aren't we? We don't get beaten and shipwrecked and all these kind of dramas. Right? And so we read it and it motivates us. Yeah. Praise God. You know what? Look what he suffered. And what are we suffering? Hey. Let's not be comfortable. Let's get off our seats. Let's go serve the Lord. Let's go preach the gospel. We encourage ourselves with that. Right? And these are major things. These aren't easy things to go through are they? But I don't want you to miss verse number 28. Because then he says, besides those things which are without. Okay without. Then he says that which cometh upon me daily. The care of all the churches. What Paul? Are you comparing your care for all the churches? The burden of caring for churches? In the same paragraph? In the same line of thoughts of being shipwrecked and being beaten and being striped and being close to death? You're comparing your love and care for churches in the same regard? We often think we miss that don't we? But that's actually what he's comparing. Because that's without. That's outside of the church. But you know I also have all these things that bother me in the same way. These burdens. These things. Which come upon me daily. Yeah okay these other things were really horrible but once it passes it passes. You know when you're looking after a church or even churches. You know what? This is a daily thing that's on your mind. My wife knows every day I'm thinking about church. Right? I mean my kids know I'm eating dinner and they're like dad you're preparing a sermon aren't you? Because they just see my brain working. You're thinking about something at church. It's just how it is. I didn't expect that to be the case. You know I kind of thought well you know Monday or you know get a sermon done and then I won't have to worry about it till Wednesday and Tuesday I kind of can do other. No Tuesday still thinking about something at church. So it's just how it is. Right? It's this burden. But again you know I'm not saying it's a horrible thing. It's wonderful. It's wonderful to serve the Lord. Right? I mean the Apostle Paul was the champion at praising God in all kinds of infirmities. All kinds of troubles. All kinds of troubles. Right? He praised the Lord no matter what. He was encouraging. I feel the same way. You know yeah it can be a struggle sometimes every day thinking about the churches but really I enjoy it. I enjoy it. I know the Lord is pleased. But I want you to you know keep that in mind that yeah okay Pastor Kevin's never been shipwrecked. Pastor Kevin's never been whipped or imprisoned. All right? But yeah I mean guess what? Something that happens to me daily is the care of all the churches that's on my mind. So I need your support. You know I need you guys praying for me. I need you to remember that. You know if I haven't spoken to you or visited you or something and Pastor Kevin doesn't care about me. Daily. I care about you daily. I pray about you daily. Okay? Sometimes I might not have stood on the outside. I don't know you know. There's things to do. There's enough people to talk to and get around. I want you to know that you're in my heart and in my mind daily. Okay? I need your support. I don't want you thinking that I don't care about you or care about the church. I do. I do. All right? Can you please turn to Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number seven. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number seven. This is not just my message to this church. It's also the Lord's message to you. Okay? In Hebrews chapter 13 verse number seven the Bible reads Remember them which have the rule over you. Okay? To remember. Bring to remembrance. Okay? And we'll soon see this is the pastor. Okay? He has the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. Okay? So you know this is the guy the one that has the rule of you in this context is the one who has spoken unto you the word of God. Okay? That's the pastor's job. Okay? And yes I have rule in the house of God. I don't have rule in your life. You know I can't come to your house and tell you what to do. I can't tell your wife what to cook for dinner. I can't tell you what to watch on the TV or look on the computer. That's your territory. Right? But in the house of God yes I have rule in the house of God. Okay? I'm glad I don't have rule anywhere else. It's too much. Too much. Okay? House of God is enough. Two churches right now it's enough. I'm learning enough. Maybe one day there'll be three. Maybe one day there'll be four. But it's only once I've learned the lessons of having two. Okay? There's enough to learn. Alright. So I'm reading that to you because God is telling us church members you know remember them which have the rule of your meaning you can forget. You can forget about the one that has the rule of you. Alright there's Pastor Kevin. He's preaching Sunday. He's coming Wednesday and that's kind of it. Not remember. Bring to remembrance your pastor. I need your support. I need you guys to be thinking about me because I know if you're thinking about me that's gonna lead you to pray for me. I need your prayers. I really do. The more people praying the more the Lord's hearing from a united church lifting up their pastor he's gonna answer prayers. He's gonna help me. He's gonna give me wisdom. And if he helps me it's gonna help the church. It's gonna help you all. You know? You know to destroy new life about this church Satan just has to go after one guy. You know? Me. Satan destroys me can really hurt our church. Alright? And he can destroy two churches if he comes after me. So please support me. Keep me in your prayers. And I can now turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And again I'm not preaching this because there's a shortage of this or I don't feel like you're supporting me. Again it's all making sure that we don't get to this state as a church. Okay? It's better to do preventive action than corrective action. It's much harder to correct things when they go bad. Okay? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 11. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 11. Again these are the words of God toward a church. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also ye do. So look, St. Paul is saying you already do this. You already comfort each other and edify one another but I'm still going to have to tell you to do it. Understand? So I'm not preaching this because there's some lapse or some problem that I'm addressing. I'm not. Okay? I'm just preaching to you and I can be like Paul and say even as also ye do. So support me even as you're already doing it. Just keep doing it. Keep supporting me. But look, not just me. Comfort each other. Edify one another. Okay? And again, please keep in mind that what you do to the brethren you're doing it as unto the Lord. Okay? Please think about that. You know, the brethren need fellowship. The brethren need to know that you love them. That you support them. You know? And again, you're doing it as unto the Lord. Verse number 12. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you that's like the ruling over you over you in the Lord and admonish you. Okay? So admonish is basically to correct as well. Okay? Sometimes the pastor has to correct you. Okay? But even then, you know, keep that pastor in mind. That's part of the job. You know, if I ever have to correct you, you might get offended. But please, when you get offended, say, I got offended by knowing my pastor loves me. It's fine to get offended. Everyone gets offended. Who cares? Okay? I get offended before you lose control and my pastor does it because he loves me. You know, my pastor preached his sermon and he knows my position in life and this kind of embarrasses me because everyone in church knows my mistake and he preached it anyway and you might get frustrated if the pastor don't. I preach because I love the church. I love the children. I love the people that have not made the same mistakes that maybe you have made. You know? Look at verse number 13. And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves. I don't know. I feel weird saying this to you but that's what the Bible says. Okay? You're commanded to esteem me very highly in love. You know? For the work's sake. Verse number 14. And we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man but ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and to all men. Okay? So we see, yeah, you ought to support your pastor, you ought to esteem him very highly but hey, we ought to not just be like that to a pastor because we shouldn't be respecter of persons. Right? We should love the brethren. We should love all men. We should do, seek to do good to all men. We should not render evil for evil. Okay? If someone has done you evil, what do you do? Good. That's easier said than done. But that's what the Bible teaches. Someone has done you wrong, you do them right. It's very easy to just automatically try to do them evil in return. I know what the flesh is like. I know what the flesh thinks. Do them evil! It's like, new man, is that right? New man goes, no, you're meant to do them good. Yeah, but I like that guy. The evil guy. That's the one I prefer to do. New man says, no, no, no, the Bible says do them good. Okay? To all men. So it's not just esteem the pastor, the brethren but anyone you come across. You know? Seek to be a blessing to others. You're in Hebrews, oh no, sorry. Please go to Hebrews 13. Sorry, I've got these verses mixed up in my notes. Go to Hebrews 13. I know we were there just a while ago. Hebrews 13 in verse number 17. This is a sermon. I didn't have any notes. I'm preaching from my heart basically, you know, today. I'm not preaching so much with my mind. Just with my heart because I, you know, I love this church. You guys know that. I love Blessed Help Baptist Church. I love the work that God has given me to do. I love being a pastor. It's awesome. Well, what a, it's wonderful. My favorite job I've ever had. Okay. But I wanted to end here in Hebrews 13 verses number 17 because it's not just support pastor for pastor's sake. This is good for you too. Okay. Hebrews 13 verse number 17 says, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. Why? Why would you do that? For they watch for your souls. Do you believe that, brethren? Like do you believe I'm watching for your soul? Do you believe I love you that much that, you know what, this gig of being a pastor is not actually for me? I don't know. Do you believe that? You know, I hope so. It's not just for me. I'm doing it because I'm watching for your souls. I care for you. You know, the sermons I preach is for you. It's not really for me. It is for me, of course, but it's really for the church. My mind is always what does New Life Baptist Church have to hear? What do I need to preach? What do I need to cover? You know, I'm not thinking what's the popular topic right now hitting the airwaves? And what's the, you know, that's not, I'm thinking what does my church need? And when I'm down in Sydney blessed by the church, what do they need to hear? Okay? Because my desire is to watch for your souls. My desire is to feed you God's word to help you when you need it the most. And then it says this, as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. When I face God and I have to one day, I don't know when this is exactly brethren, you know, when God's going to ask me, hey, you need to give me an account for New Life Baptist Church from 2017 to 2021 and whoever, how long it goes. It's time for me, Pastor Kevin, give me an account for what happened. I want to do it with joy. I want to do it with grief. Oh man, God, yeah, I said I was going to pass that church, but man, we really messed that one up, didn't we Lord? I really messed up there, right? You know, my kids made a mistake and you know, I had some family issues and people are pointing them out and they're leaving church and they're leaving you and you know, I thought it wasn't that. Oh good, thank you for the writing about Samuel. I realised I was actually far from God to begin with, right? And you know, with grief, I don't want to, why do I want that? I didn't come into this job just to, oh man, this is the worst job. I want to be happy. You know, I heard recently, Pastor Kevin preaches with a smile on his face. That's not good. What are you talking about? Maybe the smile on my face proves I actually enjoy my job. I actually enjoy serving the brethren. I actually love the Lord and I praise the Lord. I want to do it with joy. Why shouldn't I preach with a smile on my face? I can't take it off my face. It's there. There's a smile on my face because I want to, yeah, because I'm happy. That's why. I'm happy serving the Lord. Why would I want to just come here with a grumpy face and get everyone cast down with a grumpy face? You know, there's a time to get grumpy. There's a time to get frustrated and mad and all that kind of stuff but listen, you know, I want to be happy. You know, being a pastor, it gives me a lot of joy. You know, so if it comes out of my face, it just proves the truth that I actually enjoy the job. Okay, but I want to give an account with joy. I want to say, brother, you know, Jason was a blessing. You know, when I was down in Sydney, you know, at Blessed Hope Baptist Church, you know, he was there ready to preach for us and brother Sam was there and you know, they were there and you know, I know they work full-time jobs and they've got a family and brother Sam just had a baby but they were there. They loved the Lord. They were serving the Lord. They were there to preach God's Word and you know, the et cetera, et cetera. You know, you know, brother Caleb doesn't like getting up in front of everybody. I know that but you know what? He knew pastor was going to be away and he said, you know, I'm going to strongly no matter what. That's the, I want to give that kind of account. All right, the soul winning continued. You know, brother Michael's putting the maps together and they're out there knocking doors and you know, they don't see pastor going soul winning but they continued anyway because they love you and they love the gospel. They love the word. That's what, that's the kind of account I want to give. Boy, it's profitable to you. God's going to reward you in heaven for the service you do for this church. It really begins by supporting your pastor, understanding that you need to obey. You need to be submissive to the authority of the pastor. I need your support. You know, I need your support. I need you to know that I'm doing the best I can for both churches. You know, the best I can without sacrificing my family. You know, without causing too much, you know, unnecessary risks. But look at verse number 18. Hebrews 13, verse number 18. It says, pray for us. That's what I need. For we trust we have a good conscience and in all things willingly to live honestly. That's, that's my goal. I want to go to the grave with a clear conscience, a good conscience. You know, because if my conscience is defiled as a pastor, that's when I'll step down. You know, when I'm like, not if I've made a mistake or something like that. We all make mistakes. You know, but if I know that I just cannot preach God's word with a clear conscience, I know I cannot serve with a clear conscience. You know, I know I cannot travel between city and central coast with a clean conscience. I'm done. At that point, I'd just rather step down. Say thank you Lord for allowing me to serve the church for X amount of years in this amount of time. You know, like, like Paul says, pray for us. You know, we trust, we trust we have a good conscience in all things. Willing to live honestly. You know, I want this to be an honest job. The most honest job I've ever worked. That, that's what I want for my position as a pastor. Look at verse number 19, and I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Okay, so I liked how that ended because I want to be restored, not just me, my wife, my family. Restored back to you the sooner. The sooner. You guys know we planned the 12 months trip. You know, our goal, our desire is to be back here second week of October, have our church anniversary four years. Four years, praise God. There's been other IFB churches that have tried to plant themselves on the Sunshine Coast and they're gone. We're going strong. You know, four years into it, that's when we want to be back and I want to be restored to you the sooner. You guys know the situation we're in. Trying to find a place, a house. So that's why I need your support as well, to be praying about that. You know, I don't want our restoration back to you guys here to be delayed for any reason. It might be delayed, I don't know, it's outside of my hands, but keep praying, keep praying that the Lord will restore to the Sepulveda family back to New Life Baptist Church the sooner. Okay, let's pray.