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

I want to focus here on verse 24 that we read already the Bible says for who will harken unto you in this matter But as his part is that goeth down to the battle so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff They shall part alike and I want to take this phrase here that we find in first Samuel chapter 30 Where it says the last part of this verse they shall part alike That's the title of my sermon this morning is they shall part Alike now in this story we have David returning from a battle He didn't actually get to end up participating And he was kind of rejected, but the troops nevertheless had left to go to the battle and as they returned they end up Finding that all of their women all the wives and the women that were with them all the children that were with them have been captured by enemy forces the Amalekites, and if you look at verse number nine it says so David went and The six hundred men that were with them and came to the book besor were those that were left behind stayed now This is an important Crossroads here because at first everyone wanted to just kill David, but David ended up strengthening himself by Reading the Bible he encouraged himself in the Lord by thinking about the Bible by meditating on the Word of God he allowed God to strengthen him and What's interesting about this chapter in the Bible is it's kind of like the biggest transition in David's life in the sense that this is like the lowest point in David's life and As we transition here It's gonna just be like all good for David for a long period of time David is gonna have victory after victory after victory And this is kind of his low point in the chapter and in his low point He is trying to rally his troops but you know it's gonna be hard because they've already been traveling and working and And trying to do the battle But they come to this point where they need to rescue their wives and their children and of course if you think about the context Here there's not a single soldier that doesn't want to go to the battle Every single soldier went I mean we're talking about his own wife and his own children here No, man is not wanting to give it all and put it all on the line. It's not like a lack of desire It's just that a couple hundred of them. Just physically can't and if they go they're gonna die So it's gonna. It's gonna ruin the situation if they keep going because a dead soldier is not beneficial in any way yet a soldier staying behind and Watching the stuff at least adds benefit to the campaign So it ends up here at this brook-besor that some go and some stay says in verse 10 But David pursued he and 400 men for 200 abode behind which were so faint That they could not go over the brook-besor notice It's not saying that they are lazy. It's not saying they have the wrong attitude It's just saying they just they physically can't and you know it would be like working out You know you can work out to a point where you can no longer do the reps anymore like you might be doing the bench Press, but it just gets to a point where after you've done enough reps I mean you just get fatigued, and you just literally can't Push the bar anymore you can get to a point where you preach the gospel so much that you just literally can't even speak anymore It's not that you wouldn't even want to get someone saved It's just you're not even physically capable of doing it And so that's the essence here of this chapter of the these men. It's not like they're bad men It's not like they're weak men necessarily. It's just it happens. It happens to anyone Maybe they even attempted. We don't know maybe they tried to go in the water But the current was too strong or the water they just they just literally just weren't able to and so Instead of just dying for no reason they stay behind Now it says in verse 11 they found an egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread He did eat and they made him drink water now. They get a double agent here they end up capturing someone that is going to turn on the Amalekites and take them to them and Praise God they ended up winning the battle in fact verse 18 says and David recovered all That the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his two wives So of course the great fear is that you would have lost your wife lost her children Permanently or something bad would have happened to them But notice this story ends up being great and that nothing was lost whatsoever Everything was recovered a hundred percent and So they basically have a complete and full recovery, which is a glorious victory I mean you lost all this but then you got it all back. You'd be excited and Here's what you have to understand. Not only did they recover everything that they personally lost this band this army armies are going to be carrying a lot of Spoil with them because the armies are going around spoiling a town and taking all the gold silver camel Asses just all kinds of goods and then they go to the next town They spoil it and this makes it easier for David and them to catch up because think about it They're having to take captives cattle good silver gold So they're not traveling very fast and typically they would have to hide that's what the benefit was with the Egyptian Giving them that information so they can finding them They slaughter the Amalekites and now they're out of the not only have they recovered their wives and their children They've got a lot of riches now, too. They've recovered all kinds of excess wealth from the spoils of this war Now as they return it says in verse 21 and David came to the 200 men which were so faint that they could not follow David whom they had made also to abide at the brook be sore and They went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with him and when David came near to the people he saluted them then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial of those that went with David and said because They went not with us We will not give them aught of the spoil that we have recovered Save to every man his wife and his children that they may lead them away and depart Now think about what happened essentially they win this great victory They get all this extra gold silver goods, and they're saying look we'll give them their wives and kids And then they need to hit it. They can't even stay with us. They're just completely kicked out of the club Now notice who did this it was the men of Belial And let me tell you something if there was men of Belial hanging out with David we should not be so naive to think the men of Belia wouldn't hang out with us and There can always be a Judas in fact I would not even be surprised at all if we had Judas's in the room right now, okay now I don't know who you are because if I did you wouldn't be here That's the whole point of being a Judas, okay? But notice that Judas has always seemed to kind of have similar characteristics, okay? And and here's another thing you have to understand about Judas's notice the Judas's weren't the ones staying behind were they? They were the ones that actually went to the battle and so a lot of times Judas's or even on the front lines They're going out and preaching the gospel and doing work and everything like that But they're not really sincere and of course they have bad motives And they're you know just trying to make a show of it They want people to think that they're really spiritual or really godly so they have to put themselves on the front line And they think by being on the front line that makes them more spiritual than those that stayed behind And I'll tell you something there is a bad attitude out there Where people who think they're on the front lines are more important than people that stay behind And you know what that is not the message of the Bible that is not what David believes And you know what that is a poor attitude that discourages the heart of our brethren And it's coming from a place that would be from the men of Belial it comes from a Judas type heart It comes from a wicked type heart To say hey you can't even have any of this spoil look what it says in verse 23 then said David He shall not do so my brethren With that which the Lord have given us who hath preserved us and delivered the company that came against us into our hand Why does David say this doesn't make any sense? Why is David against this attitude? Because he says we didn't win this battle God won the battle So then so then why am I gonna sit here and pretend like I'm better than this other guy When God's the one that were out the victory anyways if it wasn't for God we wouldn't have been preserved We would have been slaughtered and they would have been preserved, but you know what we were preserved by God's blessing Let us not think so wickedly as to not share the spoil with those that tarried and stayed by the stuff Look at verse 24 for who will hearken unto you in this matter meaning This is this is a dumb idea But as his part is that goeth down to the battle so shall his part be that tarryeth by the stuff They shall part notice this alike What is the word alike mean it means the exact same? It means the guy that went to the battle is gonna get the exact same Amount of spoil as the guy that tarried by the stuff is gonna get the exact same amount of spoil They're equal in this exchange and what people have to understand Is that when we do great works as a church those that are tearing by the stuff are gonna part alike? Those that are gonna tear you by the stuff are gonna part alike, and you know what there is a There's a lot more people involved in a war than just the front soldiers than the frontline soldiers and We need to make sure that we have the right attitude go if you would to Matthew Chapter number 10 Matthew chapter number 10. I want to show you a lot of places in the scripture this morning, but You know we did a big work in Bahamas This last week a giant work. I mean we had over 600 people saved Just face-to-face just one-on-one normal soul winning, and then we had hundreds of students also saved in group settings I mean almost a thousand people saved that we confirmed in some way or another And there's still even people there right now that they might even get a few more people saved and that number might even trickle up I mean basically a thousand souls I mean almost guaranteed we know we got saved this last week on top of the fact that all kinds of extra seeds were planted And I mean there was thousands and thousands of people that heard the gospel this week So you know who knows what the real numbers are entirely? But you could have this attitude or this this mindset of well Look what I did and look at the rewards that I get because I was on the front lines, but wait a minute No, there was a lot of people involved that got you there There's a lot of people that helped you get to that and that came alongside And you know what they're not gonna lose out on their reward either Look what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 10 look at what it says in verse number 40 He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward You know what the good teachers and the good principles and the good Teach like leaders of the Bahamas that received us and brought in the missionaries And it helped assist us to preach the gospel to their students. Hey, they're gonna receive a prophet's reward That's what the Bible says not only that he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man receive a righteous man's reward not only that many of them are gonna receive a righteous man's reward for Receiving us and treating us as godly men as people to be respected I mean we were way better treated than anywhere in America I mean, it's not even close you see the difference of how people treat you But then look at this and whosoever Shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple Verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward In fact, one of the schools gave us all water as soon as we were done preaching the gospel and let me tell you something They got rewarded as well But you know who also gave you a lot of water on this trip all the people that come to our church and tithe And give money to this church. They also did because let me tell you something this trip was expensive And many of our soul winners benefited from the church being able to help finance this trip you know if people are happening to pay for everything on their own a lot of people wouldn't have gone and So a lot of people ended up help financing this trip Supporting this trip and blessing people to be able to go on this trip You know what? They're not gonna lose out on their reward And you know, we shouldn't look at us going and doing these great works and thinking look how wonderful I am You know what? I think how wonderful God is Because I'm thinking like how did we even get here? How do we get this opportunity? I didn't do it You know, it wasn't some it wasn't one person, you know It wasn't just the guy that went and set up the appointment because if it wasn't for the fact that 60 International missionaries were coming they wouldn't have cared they'd been like go away, you know, we don't care about you But it's that hey 60 international missionaries are coming to the schools like well, we got to bring these people in You know, it was everybody it was a whole joint effort It's all these different people all working together being used by God and you know What God is gonna bless all of them. They're gonna part alike We're gonna all benefit. We're gonna all be blessed by it. And you know the people that had to Terry by the stuff It's not like you're not gonna enjoy the spoils of our warfare. No, you're gonna part alike with us The OV would to 1st Corinthians chapter number 3 go to 1st Corinthians chapter 3 There's also this attitude that people get and just regular soul winning and you know what it's a wicked attitude where they think They go soul winning and they have a silent partner and they say I got the person saved Now here's the thing It's kind of based on the tone and context because that could be true in The sense that maybe you were the one that preached in the gospel and you helped them call upon the name of the Lord But you know, it is a it's a poor attitude If in your mindset you're thinking I did in my silent partner didn't help or anybody else didn't help You know, that's a bad attitude because you know when it comes to soul winning Almost every single time you show up and you give someone the gospel. They already know something that you're gonna teach them and No one will mistake this going to Bahamas No one will mistake the fact I mean when you go to the Bahamas, you know, you don't have to teach them the Trinity. I Never I never a single time. I mean I explained it every single time But you know what? I never had to convince anybody of it. I never had to convince anybody that they were a sinner I mean, they knew there were sinners. I didn't have to convince them that they deserved help for sin In fact, I would say how many sins you have to commit deserve health is one. I Mean they're just like they were just nailing it. I didn't have to convince them that Jesus Christ was the Son of God I didn't have to convince them. They was born of a virgin Mary I didn't have to convince them that he died on the cross I didn't have to convince him that he'd pay for all of our sins I didn't have to convince him of a lot of things some things I did You know, someone's already labored for these people and you know what the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter number 3 Look what it says in verse number 5 It says who then is Paul and who is Apollos But ministers by whom you believed even as that as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos water, but God gave the increase so then neither is he that planteth anything Neither he that waterth but God that giveth the increase, you know the Apostle Paul doing he's trying to squash a carnal attitude Where some soul winners or evangelists or people are getting this weird attitude about how important they are And he's trying to say no. No, I'm not anything You're not anything. God is the one that gave us the increase. We're just the tools in his hand We're just the vessels by which he used and you know what? It's important for us to be a soul winner It's important for us to be a soldier. It's important for us to do the work But at the end of the day, it's not about us. It's about him Because we're not even special anyways folks, I mean if you were to really look at the world's best We're not the tallest. We're not the strongest. We're not the fastest. We're not the most eloquent. We're not the most educated We're just willing to do the work We're just humble servants just saying here my Lord send me and with stammering lips I mean he's gonna speak unto these people I mean some of you aren't even that great at speaking but you're great at giving the gospel because you're willing You know with your hick accent you can get them saved You know with your broken poor English, I mean whatever I mean there's there's all kinds of people going out They're just thinking like there's nothing really special about our group Physically speaking carnally speaking, you know, it makes our group So special is that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us is that we have God as I do But so many people they want to brag and they want a glory in themselves about the work that they're doing Instead of giving that honor and glory to God And Of course, it's easy for the soldiers to get that attitude. But let me tell you something It's not even just the soldiers that are on the front lines. It's the soldiers in every part of the battle It's the silent partner, you know being a silent partner. You're gonna part alike folks Don't don't get this attitude or this thought process of well only the talkers matter. That's it No, no, no silent partners matter, too everyone matters and We don't want to think like only Paul matters. No, Apollos matters, too But in the in the scheme of this context, none of them really matter because it's all about God Okay, God is the one that's really giving us the work look at verse 9 for we are laborers together with God You're God's husbandry. You're God's building According to the grace of God which is given unto me now think about it this way If someone had some really great grapes that you had I mean, you know and we got I got to eat some really good grapes on this trip But if you had some really good grapes, how many people have you ever heard? No, that was a really good vine that made these grapes No one thinks about the vine because no one cares They think about the guy that the husband men They think about the guy that actually was the farmer the person that produced the crops and guess what you're the vine God's the husband men Stop getting all you know Prideful about you being a vine. Nobody cares. Okay, folks. It's about the husband men. It's about his honor It's about his glory, but notice. Hey, we're gonna all benefit We're gonna all part alike and we're gonna all receive a reward, you know This is kind of a two-part thought for this sermon, but number one don't get prideful About Doing the work, but here's the second thing don't get discouraged that you're not on the front lines Don't think like well, I only I only planted well Praise God for all the people that planted so that I can come and just reap a harvest Praise God for all the people that planted and watered and I just get to walk through the field and just pick up grapes on the ground in Fact most of our soul winning wasn't even gleaning It was just simply just picking up handfuls from off the ground and just putting them into a basket But how prideful would I have to be to think that I'm the only reason why that grape exists? No, no, no, there was a lot of work put involved that someone had to till that ground Someone had to plant that seed someone had to water that seed someone had to come and prune those men those vines And you know what then someone had to come and pluck those grapes off of that vine But you know what don't be so prideful because you're the oh I plucked them off ooh That's the easy job. Anyways, really you really think that plucking grapes off of a vine is the hardest process and producing grapes Tilling the grounds way harder folks Tilling ground and you know what we till ground in lots of places We go out soul winning and we're just dropping a verse or just putting things out there And you know what? We're breaking up the fallow ground We're just getting seeds planted and you know, sometimes you go out soul winning and just think like I didn't accomplish anything Well, maybe you're just telling the ground Don't don't get this negative attitude and think that you're not accomplishing anything the people that are not accomplishing anything aren't in church The people that aren't accomplishing thing are doing nothing Okay, but don't get this prideful attitude of thinking like well, I'm on the front lines I'm the only person that matters in this church. You're wrong You are wrong, you know, we need lots of soldiers and the soldiers have lots of different jobs In fact, even in the military, there's a lot of soldiers that don't go on the front lines There's the ones that are producing the material supplying things. You've got artillery. You've got the Air Force You've got the commanders you've got I mean you got a lot of people all working together as a team you don't want to get this prideful attitude and think like well, you know what I'm the only one that matters or Get this attitude of wolf. I'm not on the front lines. Then what I'm doing is not important. No, no, no You're gonna part alike Because if we think about our first story How did they even get in the situation in the first place? They had no one tearing by the stuff There was no one tearing by the stuff. So they lost it all so don't think like oh, well The guys tearing by the stuff doesn't accomplish anything. No when they came back all their stuff was still there And you know what we need people to tear you by the stuff so that things can continue and go forward and they have their Part to play go to judges chapter 7 for a moment go to judges chapter 7 You know, it's gonna part alike soldiers. All the soldiers are gonna part alike all the soldiers of God's kingdom Those who plant are gonna part alike with those who watered with those who reaped You know and don't get this attitude of your only you're the only special one because you reaped Or don't get this attitude that you're not special because all you did was plant no say hey I'm here to serve God and I don't care what job I get You want me to you want me to break up fallow ground? I'll break it up You want me to plant I'll plant you want me to water all water you want me to reap all reap But you know what? Just put me in coach. I just want to do something. Okay, and You know, not everybody's gonna be David David was not the only person alive in his life Okay There Moses wasn't the only person alive in his life David couldn't accomplish David couldn't get all of the Amalekites slaughtered by himself. He needed the other 400 men to go with him Okay, and how prideful would it be if David was like look I got it. I Rescued everyone know who did he give the credit to he gave it to God every single time didn't know God's the reason why? We got this mission accomplished. Look what it says in Judges chapter 7 verse 10 This is a pretty great guy in the Bible Gideon But notice what the Bible says in verse 10 But if thou fear to go down go that with Thura thy servant down to the host now Here's here's something that's interesting to me Gideon is kind of recognizing the Bible as being a courageous guy Someone who's really bold. I mean he took only 300 soldiers and they ended up slaughtering a great host and And he's known as being this great warrior but but think about this He really was kind of a weakling in some parts of his life. He's too. He's too afraid to just go down and Actually, just kind of spy on the enemy But but notice he's saying hey if you're afraid just take your friend just take Fura okay, now it says in verse number 11 and Thou shalt hear what they say and afterward shall the hands be strengthened to go down under the host Then when he down the Fura his servant under the outside of the armed men that were in the host You know what? There's two verses told me Number one it told me that Gideon was afraid Because they said hey if you're afraid take your friend and then what do we read? He took his friend? You know and here's the thing about men men They don't want to be known as being afraid Okay, like they want to act tough, but here's the thing when you can't act tough You're just gonna succumb so it's like if he if he was capable of acting tough. He would have just gone by himself He was just like come on He needs through but notice How did how did Gideon have strength? He had strength because of Fura if it wasn't for Fura Gideon wouldn't even be the strong guy that we look to He needed a Fura in his life so that he could be strong and notice he then went down He heard the enemy and the enemy's terrified of these guys They're terrified of Gideon and then he just becomes really emboldened really strengthened to go in and fight the battle But you know what? There would be no Gideon without Fura There would be no great story of Gideon without a Fura there and you know Fura is just barely I mean how many people even know that name very few people know that name But let me tell you something Fura and Gideon are gonna part alike They're gonna part alike and don't let the name recognition Discourage you from being a Fura in someone's life you know if we didn't have Fura's we wouldn't have Gideon's and Some people are gonna be a Fura some people in fact in the Bible. They're not even I mean Fura's at least named Some people in the Bible. We don't even know their name But we know they were there we know that they helped we know that they did great exploits and even being named How much does that really benefit us? I mean Fura. It's like that means it could be any name It could be Perez it could be you know anything and it wouldn't it wouldn't change anything It's not like we're like, hey Fura. What's up, man? Yeah, I mean in heaven But right now it's just kind of like whatever It's meaning name recognition is meaningless folks don't chase after it don't want don't desire don't do works for that Just help getting it find a Gideon out there and help him encourage it You know maybe there's someone out there. That would be a really good soul winner but they're just not willing to go on their own and They need someone to just come alongside them and say like hey I want to go so any with you or be that Fura or go into that place or go to that area You know maybe somebody even on a foreign missions trip a lot of people don't want to even go by themselves Because it's just a it's a foreign place I know especially we had a lot of single ladies going and a lot of the single ladies They like to go with a friend and you know what just the fact that a friend went Helped encourage them or strengthen them or give them the reason to go and to be with someone else and you know what you don't even realize how much of a Fura you are to other people and How much you're encouraging other people and giving them strength so that they can go out and do the battle and you know what? Sometimes we could have a prideful attitude where we're the Gideon in this story And we forget about the fact that Fura is the whole reason we're even there Who is the whole reason we even have the strength that we have? Through is the whole reason I'm so encouraged and I'm doing the work that I you know what we should be willing to be a Fura and we should be willing to strengthen the hands of others and we should be willing to say You know what? We're gonna part alike anyways Who cares who cares? Are you the Gideon or the fear? Let's just get the job done Let's win the battle because at the end of the day, let's get rid of the Philistines, let's get rid of the Amalekite Let's get you know, let's drive the sodomites out of the land I mean if the question was hey, you can't be Gideon you have to be Fura, but you're gonna eliminate the sodomites I mean, what kind of person isn't gonna be like let's I'll be Fura right now Hey, you don't even have to know my name Get him out of the land though, right? I Mean when it comes to getting someone saved, you know, just be there to encourage people You know when we went to preach at the school some people are maybe a little bit more Intimidated and and and we had people that want to be a silent partner. It's like hey, you're gonna go along this guy You're gonna strengthen them. You're gonna encourage them They're gonna have more boldness to walk into the classroom to be in an uncomfortable environment And you know what? We needed those people those people help those people are gonna part alike Why because all the soldiers are gonna part alike Don't don't listen to the wicked sons of Bela. Well, what did you do? Well, how many did you get saved? Who cares? Who cares You know what? Well, what did food I do, you know, they didn't talk about who look food was amazing Who was a great guy? I wish we had more food was in this world Go if you would to Titus chapter number one go to Titus chapter one People only want to serve if they're the leader And you know what? That's a bad attitude. In fact, you shouldn't even be a leader if that's your attitude The worst leaders are the ones that have to be the leader and You know, that's that's kind of a mark of also evil wicked people have the same attitude because they only they want to climb to the top and They don't care who they step on. They don't really care about serving. They don't really care about the mission being accomplished They just simply want to be in charge And so, you know when you see that in a person it should be a red flag and we we could have that attitude ourselves It's not like only wicked people have that attitude Anybody can get that attitude because just pride is just a temptation to all of us and we could all have this this Thought process of like well if I can't be the leader and then I don't really want to do it anymore You know, there could be men out there and I've seen it men that are like I want to be a pastor but as soon as they can't be a pastor then they just stop serving God and it's like Why do you have to be a pastor to serve God? Sounds like you weren't really wanting to serve God You know, not everybody gets to be a pastor and that's okay It's not like well, I was gonna be able to serve God greatly with my life and do a lot of great works You know, but I just can't be a pastor. So I guess it's off the table. That's dumb That's silly If you think if you think that it's just gonna be like all of the the the best rewarded people in heaven are pastors You're you're fooling yourself Because I think there's a lot of saved pastors. They're gonna be the least in the kingdom of heaven You know, they might They might be fooling you right now But there's gonna be a lot of pastors that didn't really do a lot of great works that weren't really humble servants And you know what? They had their joy in this life but think about what the Bible said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 19 of the people that are breaking the least Commandments and teaching men to Do so I wonder who's teaching people teachers you know is teaching a lot of real pastors and And notice what is the Bible you said the least Commandments people get all mad at us They're like, why do you have to preach on that topic? Why you have to preach that verse pastors? Hallie, why do you have well look I don't want to be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Okay? So I have to preach the least Commandments to all right whether you like them or not, I don't care Because you know what? I got my marching orders and I don't want to start breaking them and then start teaching you how to break them too Because it's important for me as God's servant to humble myself and say it doesn't matter what I think or how popular I'm gonna get or how liked I am to just say whatever this says and At the end of the day, you know you serving God humbly and just submitting to his will you can be so much more greatly rewarded than all these leaders out there and even amongst leaders Sometimes people don't even want to be a leader Unless they're the leader of the leaders You know, it's like you got to be you can't even just be an evangelist or you couldn't just be a deacon You got to be the pastor or not. Only that maybe you're a pastor, but you have a pastor a small church And it's like but I got to be the pastor of the biggest church And I got to be the pastor of the pastors of the pastors, you know It's like there's people with this attitude out there and it's wicked. It's a it's a prideful attitude and You know when I became a pastor a long time ago I started a church and of course a very humble church very small church, but great people periods Baptist Church and I remember thinking about church growth because every pastor is gonna think about that That's a that's something you want to dress is something you want to happen because of course You're not in the ministry to not minister to anyone you want people to minister to that's a little point But I kept thinking about this thought and I said well You know if I'm not even being a good pastor to the small flock that I have why would God want to give me more I Mean if you're not faithful in that which is least you're not gonna be faithful in that which is much So why would God want to even give me more to manage when I'm not even managing what I have that's good you know, you should be a great manager of what you already have if you really want more and So my attitude completely changed at that point and I said You know what? My only goal is to just be the best manager of what I have and I said if I believe that's how I'll have church growth Because if I'm doing great with what I have then God will be like I want to give this guy more Just like the guy that had ten talents and he got ten other then God's like hey take the one from him and give it To this guy because this guy is doing really good with the ten that he has And you the same even comes with the qualifications of a bishop, you know, you want to be a pastor one day Well, why don't you start passing your family really well? But if you can't even pass your own family very well Why in the world would God want to give you a position in his church, you know? so we want to be good leaders of what we have and Just because you're not the top leader doesn't mean you don't have an important job You know, we have so many captains and so many lieutenants and and all kinds of people you're important You know, I can't preach in this pulpit every single service and we have other people get up and preaching sermons. They're important they're a leader and Sometimes leaders have to stay behind look what it says in Titus chapter 1 verse 4 to Titus my own son after the common faith grace mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior for this cause Left I thee in Crete That thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee Think about this You're on the front lines with the Apostle Paul doing Arguably some of the greatest work that's ever been done. But now Paul's like hey, I got to leave you behind And couldn't there be this attitude of like well Now I'm not serving God. I'm not on the front lines. I'm not with Paul. I'm not doing this work No, no his job just as important to stay behind with the stuff and Hey, you just started this church. But you know, we need people to stick around behind and start discipling that those group of people and and Cultivating these these Christians and helping their church to grow and then have good pastors, you know soul winning Is is the first works soul winning is arguably the most important thing that we could possibly do but it is not the only thing There's also baptism There's also teaching them all things what's over Christ commanded and you know We're gonna make a big difference in the world if we preach the gospel and we get people saved But that's not gonna fix things You know, we still need to get people then plugged in a church reading the Bible growing Doing the work and you know, sometimes we need people to stay behind in these areas and get people saved Or not. Sorry get people say but disciple them as well, you know fulfill the Great Commission with them You know people get mad at us because sometimes we don't always have a great church or great Discipleship program to give them and that shouldn't stop you from soul winning, but we shouldn't also neglect that completely We should want people to even be left behind and have to do that kind of work And so as we have this ministry, you know, our church should also consider the fact that sometimes people are gonna be left behind There's people here that still had church service on Wednesday praise God for all the people that came to church on Wednesday night, even though we were on the front lines and the Bahamas and you know what praise God for the Evangelist that we have in pure words and praise God for the evangelists that we have and steadfast Okc and you know what? I guarantee both of them would have loved to gone on the Bahamas trip You know what? They're tearing by the stuff to make sure that these other churches keep going and we keep Discipling people and building new soul winners and building more people to go out and guess what? They're gonna part alike folks You know what Titus is doing a really important job here, even though the Apostle Paul's going and doing more, you know planting and more Breaking up fallow ground and more reaping, you know Don't get this attitude that your job is not important because it's maybe not as glamorous or doesn't get all the recognition Or there wasn't all the cool photos I mean, I guarantee the Apostle Paul's photos on Instagram are a lot cooler than Titus just hanging out When is someone gonna finally meet the qualifications, you know, we had just another service and it's just like, you know I mean Titus's job isn't as cool. Maybe you know isn't as fun. There's not as much pizzazz. There's not as much riots There's not as much stonings. There's not I mean, okay, but But wait a minute is this job not important now? No, and sometimes people have to be left behind to do that work people are gonna have all kinds of different jobs Go if you would to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 go to 2nd to me chapter 1 For sake of time. I'm not even gonna go to everything that I wanted to but just to remind you, you know in Exodus there's a real famous story of where Moses is sending out Joshua to the battle and As they're fighting Moses is kind of lifting up his hands and prayer and You know as Moses lift up his hands, they're winning the battle But as his hands go down they start losing the battle and the Bible says that Aaron and her put a rock underneath Moses so he could sit and One on one hand and one on the other and they helped lift up his hands so they could win the battle And if you think about this this also illustrates the fact that there's many people that are interceded that help you be Victorious in the war effort, you know in that battle. It wasn't just Joshua that mattered It's also the soldiers. It's also Moses. It's also Aaron. It's also her It's everybody and let me tell you something how many people got saved this week because someone here was praying for you We don't even know but let me tell you something. I guarantee it made a huge impact I Guarantee that people lifting up their hands and praying and interceding to the Father and asking for us to be safe and have victory and Reach people with the gospel made a big impact, you know What if Joshua came back and it's like man we did a really good job and Moses is sitting over here Just like his arms. It's like, uh-huh, you know, it's like what what about Moses? What did he do? What about Aaron and what about her and what about all the work that they did? I mean, they're moving the rock and they're praying. Yeah, they're not down in the battle Yeah, they're far away from the battle. But you know what their prayer is actually what gave them the victory They wouldn't even one without Moses and here's the thing what if we had gone over there and then the schools just started shutting us down didn't let us enter and Then we start going around and the cops are rounding us up and we get deported. We could have totally had zero victory but what about all the people like Moses lifting up their hands and praying and just Giving us all these open doors that we just keep walking through and getting victory after victory You know what? You might think that you're special but stop thinking you're special and start praising God for the work that he did through us And you know what those who are here just praying don't think like well I wasn't on the front lines No, your prayers made a difference No, we're gonna part alike and you know what we're all together as the body of Christ Doing the same work together, you know, it's not like the eyes are the only part important part of your body You know your eyes would be meaningless without your legs and your feet and everything else because how eyes on the ground are gonna see much You know what helps those eyes is the fact that your whole body is lifted up So now you have a high view vantage point. You can actually see and you can do these things Plus your eyelids help constantly cleansing that eye, right? Your eyelash is protecting you from dust and pollen and all kinds of different things that are going on Your hands and your arms constantly protecting your face and your eyes from damage or things that can harm you I mean, it's it's all working together Just like in the Christian war effort. We're all working together Not only that I mentioned this briefly but you know Without the generous gifts of several people in this church The trip would have never happened in the way that it did Yeah, maybe an individual might have gone there every once in a while or a person but I mean we're talking Thousands and thousands of dollars for someone to travel over there I mean the church spent just tons and tons of money to have to have this happen and to make it easy And you know if that maybe the church you say well, what if the church didn't pay for anything? What if we just made people you have to get your own plane ticket your own transportation You have to pay for your own housing your own everything your own food and all this other stuff How many people would have gone on that trip? Still probably less how many people after that trip would have said I can go back in the next time That might have been a big dent to their personal finances that might have been something that they may not have been able to recover from as Quickly or to be able to go on the next one and you know The fact that people are giving generously and plugged in at church, you know Even if you can't be a soul winner physically at least just give your money to a church that's doing so winning I Mean the last thing you want to do is be giving your money to Saul who's attacking soul winners Hey, you know what? There are Saul churches out there that they're not so winning and they're criticizing so winning What what kind of a shame to give your money and support a church that's not even doing so winning And look not everybody's gonna be able to physically cross the river, right You're gonna have elderly people sick people people that maybe their job doesn't accommodate it at that particular time You can have all kinds of different scenarios events life birth new children sick children All kinds of illnesses all kinds of different reasons why people can't go at that particular time. You know what they're gonna still part alike When they're joined with us and they're they're giving to the same church and praying for the same church and they're part of the same program You know, we're gonna all benefit from that all of us Look at 2nd Timothy chapter number 1 Verse number 5 Here's some people that tarried by the stuff that I was thinking of is all the mothers and the wives in this room a lot of them Tarried by the stuff and you say well, I didn't get to be Used in the same way Okay Obviously, you're not doing the exact same job, but you're still doing a very important job Look what the Bible says in verse 5 when I called remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee This is Paul talking about Timothy which dwelt first and thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice And I am persuaded that in thee also, you know, it made Timothy such a great a great Christian such a great pastor his grandmother You know made Timothy such a great godly pastor used by God a great godly mother And you say well, I can't ever be a pastor as a lady and a fundamental Baptist Church That's you know, at least of our stripe, I don't know anymore, you know Maybe there's fundamental Baptist Church. They'll have women pastor someday. I don't know. That's a shame, but You're not gonna be a pastor of this church, okay But you know what you could raise the next pastor of a future generation So why is that less important? It's not less important. I Mean because without godly grandmothers and godly mothers. We wouldn't have any men. They're gonna end up becoming pastors You know what praise God for my mother that she loved church so much and she was so Dedicated to Jesus her whole life and read the Bible every single day and drug me to church my whole life And made it so important to me. The most important thing to her was just Christianity for me She's like I don't care what job you have what you do I just want you to love Jesus is what she would tell me over and over and You know what that made an impact in my life You know what? Why I don't I wouldn't be here if my mom was some crack whore or some selfish Feminist or some woman going out and just not even caring about me never taking me to church Or what if she took me to the Mormon Church? You know what godly mothers make such an impact to the next generation We're reaping the benefits of the mothers of the previous generation and you say well, I don't like we're reaping Well, then change it Give the next generation something great by you Training and teaching those children, you know my child. I couldn't teach and train my children this week I wasn't around them and you know what they need development every single day. They need nourishment. They need love they need attention You know, my wife was able to drag them to church My wife was able to put them in the car. My wife was the one who took them out soul winning this week I couldn't do that. You know what? She's training up future soul winners to do such a great work for God in the future You know what? Praise God for women that are dragging their children out soul winning dragging their children to church That they're disciplining them on a regular basis that they're reading to them the Bible that they're influencing them to be a godly Christian Because they're making such a big impact Well, I'm not on the front lines. Who cares that you're not on the front lines That's vain anyways No, no, you're gonna part alike You're gonna part alike with the spoils and with the riches of God and you want I'm not trying to discourage women from being soul Winners praise God for all the women that were so winners on our trip But you know what some women couldn't go across the river Some women were left behind and that doesn't mean that they weren't special. It doesn't mean that they weren't important It doesn't mean that they didn't have a big task to do. It's that hey, we're all working together on this folks Praise God that I come home to a clean house So I don't have to clean it so I don't have to waste time on all the other things I come home to great meals and I come home to all of I mean your wife is doing so much for you Don't come home and think like I have arrived. I'm so amazing worship me now, you know Think like hey your wife was doing a lot of hard work to it's probably even harder folks You you jet skiing was not as hard as Raising all these children folks, okay You may maybe you give your wife a break All right and You know if you didn't have such a great wife You probably wouldn't be able to go on that trip and get a bunch of people saved and do all the work that you're doing You know, why don't you love your wife as the Bible commands, right? Go if you would to Romans chapter 16 Romans chapter number 16 Praise God for all the women in this in this church that prayed for their husband while they were out soul-winning And not being bitter like oh he's jet skiing well, you know, we got people saved while we're there How about that And I'm sure that you looked at some tick-tock video or Instagram video or something during the week We're not mad at you for that. You know, it's like unless it was bad. Okay, then we're mad Obviously everybody's gonna have moments of time just relax or whatever But at the end of the day, you know Stop worrying about what everybody else is doing and just see how you can help just be a Fura Just be someone that can just is plugged in and just say here am I how can I be used say Terry by the stuff? great I'm gonna then I'm gonna make sure all the stuff is clean. I'm gonna make sure all the stuffs organized I'm gonna make sure that all this stuff is in good shape I'm gonna make sure that no animals come and destroy any of the stuff I'm gonna make sure that no enemies come and get the stuff I'm gonna make sure that when you come back you're ready to use the stuff. Hey, you guys just came back in the battle Here's a canteen of water. We got for you ready to go You know praise God for the wives that said hey, we're tearing by the stuff We're gonna do the best that we can tearing by the stuff Because guess what? We're gonna part alike I Can say by the staff Cares, you know what? That's an important job Romans chapter 16 look at verse number three Greet, Priscilla and a kill up my helpers and Christ Jesus who have for my life laid down their own necks Under whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles. I love this phrase. Okay, because He's saying look There was a couple times where I was gonna die But Priscilla and Aquila were willing to sacrifice their life just so that I could survive that encounter Just so I could get through this horrible experience or or whatever the danger was Basically just saying here's two people that are willing to sacrifice their entire life just so that I could continue to do my work And you know who's thankful for that? Not just me every single one of these churches that I set up Because all those churches wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Priscilla and Aquila and And how much how much do you think the people in those churches were thinking like oh, yeah Our church is here because of Priscilla and Aquila Many of them probably didn't recognize that or realize that or know that they just look at Paul and Paul gets all the honor and the glory but you know what the glory should really go to God and There's so many people that have done so many great works that are never gonna be recognized Let me tell you something, I don't even know how many how much you guys prayed for us I'll never know and I'll never be able to reward you or thank you enough But you know what God noticed and God will reward you God is going to bless you God is God is not unrighteous to forget our work and labor of love what you do show toward his name and when we minister to the Saints Let us minister to the Saints and love the Saints and just care about the body of Christ and not worry about who's getting the Recognition but rather that we just win Let's just win the game the worst player on a team is the one that has to score as opposed to the team winning the game Don't be don't be the selfish person that just has to be the one that scores Go to Luke chapter 15 go to Luke chapter 15. You know, here's another thing that Not everybody's gonna get the opportunity to not everyone in this room is gonna baptize someone Now my children they baptize each other all the time, but They're just having fun folks Okay, false prophets, you know, just get people wet all the time, too. They're not really baptizing anyone, you know what's cool is when we were there on the beach and I had gotten this young man Hakeem saved and we were going in there and And we kind of you know Some people were just kind of swimming and playing they kind of move out of the way so we could end up baptizing him It it was the moment that he came out of the water Because the moment he came out of the water Just every one of our soul winners just like you let out like the biggest shout of joy that you've ever heard And it just it just sounded like tons and tons of people because it's just like dozens and those people. They're just all like And I mean it was like one of the coolest things and They're all shouting for joy. And you know what? It made me think of is Luke 15 Look where the Bible says in verse number seven. I Say unto you that likewise Joy shall be in heaven Over one sinner that repenteth More than over 99 just persons. There's no repentance, you know If we could if we could see the spiritual realm when we do a great work for God There's all these people in heaven just like Yeah They're just so excited because someone did some great and it's just it just it was like you got a little glimpse of What it was like when you had this baptism just all these people just so excited And just the joy and think about a sporting event How many people are celebrating when their team wins and scores a touchdown that aren't even at the game? They're just watching on television or they're just watching on their phone or they're just watching on their app And that's how it is when it comes to the work that we're doing right now Go to Hebrews chapter 12. I want to go to one more place. Look there is a great cloud of witnesses that the Bible says There's all these people like paying attention everything that we are doing and They're looking down from heaven there and they get so excited when we go out and do the work of God And you know what? They're not sitting here thinking like well, I didn't I didn't score I Mean how many people are sitting just at home on their couch watching some lame sporting event today and when their team wins, you know, they say we won and They did nothing There might even be a bandwagon, you know fan where they don't even like the team They're just they just decided to pick them today because they just you know arbitrary I just want to pick the one that's gonna win, you know, but they're all screaming and shouting for joy, you know They don't have the wrong attitude of like well I would be excited if I had scored the touchdown if I had shot the buck if I had you know dunk the ball or Whatever. No, they get all excited. I mean if you're been in a sporting event in your life Everybody's screaming and yelling and hollering and they're so excited when their team does something good Why is it that the world can get so excited about men and tights? scoring a touchdown and then Christians Can't even get excited About other Christians when they do a great work for God. I Mean how pathetic is that that they can get excited about a bunch of druggies and thugs Scoring touchdowns That are prideful arrogant jerks that wouldn't even give them the time of day and you can't even be excited about your brothers and sisters In Christ when they do a great work for God We should be so much more happy so much more joy so much more ready to Enjoy the the spoils of war together He here is chapter number 12 Look at verse number one Wherefore Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run With patience the race that is set before you know what God wants us to realize. There's so many people counting on us There's so many people looking to us There's so many people that want to joy with us that we should just continually run that race and notice with patience You know It's a long game You know, it's not it's not three hours It's not six hours It's it's our lives our lives. We're still in the game and you know for some of you young people you're in the first quarter Some of us that are older we're around halftime some of us are in the fourth quarter, okay but at the end of the day they want you to make it all the way to the end of the game and To just keep fighting and to realize look we're gonna all part alike. You know, what's gonna happen We're gonna all win against evil and then we're gonna all part the earth the new heaven in the earth alike We're gonna all rule and reign with Christ and we're all going to get the spoil of those riches But you know the people that are gonna get the lease or the ones that were selfish and prideful and doing it for wrong Reasons and all the ones that were humble and in their heart doing it to just serve God they're gonna be the most greatly rewarded and There's gonna be a lot of people that frankly speaking the majority of them that just didn't even do anything Obviously, they're not getting any rewards But let us have the right attitude and let us not think that the job that we have isn't important Let us not think that God isn't wanting to reward us No, there's a great work to be done, but we can't do it alone Bahamas is not a one-man job So winning this afternoon is not a one-man job. This church is not a one-man job Me having godly children is not a one-man job Me doing anything is not a one-man job. We need other people. We need food rows in our lives. And if you're a Fura You know take glory and God that you're a Fura. You have something to do. They are these friends with Gideon, you know They'll find you Gideon to be someone's Fura. And you know what if you're a Gideon Don't get prideful, but rather appreciate the Fura's that you have in your life Let's close in prayer Thank You Heavenly Father so much for giving us the victory this past week and Allowing us to touch so many souls and and to preach the gospel so effectively I pray that those that have Terry that you would bring them home safely as well I pray that those who got saved that someone would come alongside and would continue to water and That those people would grow and they would mature and that we could see many other Laborers entering into the harvester could see many more soul winners being grown in the the island of Bahamas I pray that the works that we did would bring honor and glory to you That you would encourage and motivate other people to get into the fight and I pray that those who were not on the front Lines those who don't get all the recognition or glory That they would realize they're just as important They would realize the importance of their job and their role and they wouldn't be discouraged to keep serving God They wouldn't be encouraged. They wouldn't be discouraged to not pray I pray that they would just be strengthened to keep lifting up their hands that they would lift up the hands of others That they would continue to give of their finances their time their money their effort their energy all for you So that we can continue to give as much honor and glory to your son Jesus and in his name we pray and