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

Amen. So in chapter 14, if you remember, we looked at the minor non-sin issues that people like to debate over, didn't we? And just because other people maybe avoid debating with you, it doesn't mean that you're not contentious. So just bear that in mind, yeah? So we just don't want to be contentious. We don't need to debate nonsense, minor things which have nothing to do with, you know, with what the Word of God says. And there are weaker Christians out there, we saw that in chapter 14, we spoke about that, they just want to push and debate all of these unimportant things, and often they're in some other blatant serious sin, aren't they? And again, it's just bizarre. So we want to avoid that. We also saw how there are stronger and weaker Christians, and we want to be considerate of the weaker Christian, don't we? So from that, we then go into verse, sorry, to chapter 15 of verse 1, where it then says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves, that every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. I'd also like to go to the Lord in the word of prayer before I get started. Father, thank you for your word, thank you, thank you for the King James Bible, thank you that we have the preserved Word of God here. Please help me to just preach it loudly, clearly, accurately, help me to edify the church here, help them to have open ears, to be wide awake, to be alert, and just, you know, help me to just preach things which they can apply to their lives as well. In Jesus' name we pray all of this. Amen. So bearing their infirmities, putting up with a weaker Christian, is it to make ourselves look good though, is it? To make ourselves look holy to others, because look how, you know, how friendly we are to others, and we want to make sure that's not our motivation. It's for their own good, yeah? So that's the goal, it's for other people's good. That's a mentality shift that I would say everyone has to work on, yeah? We'll have to work on that where we're thinking of others good, not how we appear, not so we get blessings for it, just their own good. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification, it's not to please ourselves, it says in verse one. Because we live in a particularly narcissistic promoting society, don't we? A society, look, even if you're not a total narcissist, which by the way goes hand in hand with reprobation, look, we've got it all over the place, haven't we? Like, this society is something else, it's unbelievable. And the thing is, is even if you're not what we call a total narcissist, even if you're not a reprobate, which hopefully no one is, many people could still display those tendencies, okay? There are still parts of that that's all over this world right now. And look, there are some people that are bad for it, and you've probably all been around people that are just total narcissists, and it's amazing, isn't it, when you're around these types of people. And look, if you're sitting there thinking, what's he on about reprobates and things like that? Well, the Bible teaches that there are, look, whosoever believeth, okay, from when you come into this world, every single person had the ability at a point in their life to get saved, yeah? Everyone had that ability to put their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are people that choose to reject that, not only reject that truth, and it's not necessarily that they had the gospel clearly preached to them, they rejected that truth of God, and they changed the truth of God into a lie. And there are people that the Bible says are what's called reprobates, and they are incapable of getting saved. They are unable to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they have chosen basically to be a child of the devil. And these people, sadly, are also narcissists as well, and some of them cover it better than others. And like I said, you see these people where, for example, every conversation, if you've been around these types of people, has to come back to them, yeah, being around people like that. And again, just because someone's like that doesn't mean no reprobate, but this is sort of the worst type, every conversation always ends up coming back to them. They have to be at the center of absolutely everything, so everything has to center around them, they need to be that center figure. They always have to go one better or one worse, so when you're talking to people like this and you tell them about a situation you've been in, well, they've had much worse. You tell them about another situation, they've done much better than you, it's always about them, everything comes back to them. They can't display real empathy, these people, so they sometimes pretend they can fake it, but they don't really have it. And sometimes you see that in people as well, you've been around these people in life, look, these people are everywhere. Yeah, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, and there are these people that they cannot show empathy, they cannot put themselves in someone else's shoes, they cannot be sympathetic to others. That's again the sign of a reprobate, and sadly, that's part of the narcissistic tendencies of that. They can't deal with the attention being on other people, so you get this as well, and I'm just giving you an introduction here, because it's something that we want to steer as far away from as possible. You don't want people to go, I wonder if that person is like that, or at least he shows something, look, we want to be as far away from that as possible, because it is the opposite to how God wants us to be. And people like that cannot take it, the focus is on someone else, it has to be brought back to them any which way, they're angry, they're upset, they do not like it on other people. Now, conversations always come back to them, like I said, and some are more blatant than others. Now turn to 2 Timothy 3, which is describing a reprobate, and while you turn around, I'm going to read Romans 1.31, which talks about the same type of people, it says, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Okay, they don't have the natural affection, that's the empathy, that's the affection for others. Normal affection, also they obviously, it goes the other way as well with perversions. They're implacable, they're unmerciful, they can't be merciful to people. 2 Timothy 3 verse 2 says, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. This is 2 Timothy 3 verse 2, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. And look, of course there are many of these kinds of people around. We see these types of people around, and obviously, like I explained, and if you're wondering still, these are the opposite to God's people. These are the devil's people, these are the enemies of God, and they are our enemies. They are our enemies in life. But I would also say that's the extreme, there's lower-level narcissism we see everywhere. Our society is absolutely full of it, it is massively on the increase. People are just to some degree like this, maybe not this full-on type, but it almost feels like it's structured so that these people can blend in a bit more. Do you sometimes wonder that? You just think it's kind of structured so then when you see these people in government, in high-end society, you see these people around, it's kind of not as extreme as probably it would have been. Because look, if you've gone back a few years, can you imagine many years ago, and anyone here, in fact everyone pretty much behind the young children, could probably go back, don't even have to go back far, and imagine a friend opening up a photo album, and just showing you tons of photos of them. Could you imagine that? When I was young it was photo albums, and you didn't walk around with a photo, can you imagine someone walking around with a photo album and going, hey, look at all these photos of me. Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. It's not even based on what the background is, just look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me. But isn't that pretty much a lot of social media nowadays? Just look at me. Me on my own, in different poses. Me on my own, it's nuts, isn't it? I wonder if maybe kids growing up now, they don't even see how nuts it is. But it's gone extreme, hasn't it, in a short amount of time. Photos of themselves, let alone, could you imagine years ago some of you older guys here, someone going, hey, have a look at my photo album, and all the photos were them, like this. I mean, you would have been like, what are you doing, mate? Wouldn't you? You would be like, you absolute lunatic, like, what are you doing? I don't want to see that. Show me something, show me a nice scenery, show me something. But that's what it is, isn't it? Just different angles of yourself in different outfits with different facial expressions where you look like an idiot. Photos of what meal they ate. Could you imagine that? Brother Gary, imagine, you know, not picking on you here, but Brother Gary could go back a few years here, could you imagine that? The black and white photo album, Brother Gary. Can you imagine if someone had come up to you, okay, sorry, sorry. Okay, let's go back, say, a few years, and someone came up to you like, hey, Brother Gary, look at my photo album of all the food I ate this last week. Get that away, I don't care what you ate. You would have called them weird, and now we have a nation of weirdos, a nation of weirdos, but it's not only that, their gains at the gym. Imagine that. Someone came up to you back when you were young, photo album, hey, look at me before and after, look at my gains, look at my guns, man, and everything else. You've been like, get that rubbish away, I don't care about it. People would have been embarrassed to do it, wouldn't they? But no, that's what you see, their before and after, weight loss photos, like everyone wants to see it, but it's not just going up to someone you know. Nowadays, it's people that they probably, a lot of the time, haven't even met. It's basically like going up to someone you've just met and going, hey, have a look at this. That's basically what people are doing, aren't they? They'll add up anyone on this, it doesn't matter. They're more friends and more popular, you look like, yeah? They're more followers and everything else, look at photos of me. It's nuts, yeah, it's absolutely nuts, and look, okay, look, that's not going to turn someone reprobate, but I'll tell you what, it helps the reprobates blend in, doesn't it? Helps the narcissists blend in when everyone seems to be at least infected, if not completely partaking in it, yeah? Well, look, you might sit here and go, well, that's the wicked world, brother Ian, yeah? We're saved men and women, children of God here, but how many saved Christians do the same? They do. I bet there's people here that to some degree are still doing some of this junk, still to some degree wanting people to, you know, it's about them, photos of them, videos of them, pictures of the kids, pictures of whatever it is, and look, some will go, well, it's nice for a family and friends to see that, but how many, who else is just seeing all that? Is it really? Why? What's really your motivation? What's your motivation on your social media? What really is it about? I'll tell you what most of the time it's about, it's about you. It's about you. Look, so many are so infected by this, and there are others, aren't there? There's those that think that there are saved Christians that have decided that the world wants to hear them expound the Bible on their YouTube channel, on their YouTube channel even though they don't go to church, yeah? So they're not even slightly qualified. In fact, they're not even qualified to teach the Bible, yet there are Christians, seem to be saved, yeah, who just, even, I'm not saying, you know, I'm not talking about, by the way, I'm not talking about, just in case you're wondering, I'm not talking about countries where there aren't any proper churches around, where people are put together maybe a channel and try to get people out so only there's nothing in their language or maybe they're translating some stuff. I'm talking about there are English speaking people, not only hear people out in the US, people in places where there are churches teaching people the Bible, yet they don't even go to church. That's weird, isn't it? Like, who wants to hear you, yeah? Look, and again, Christians, you want to make sure you don't start getting pulled into that, oh, I'll just have my little channel to teach everyone. Look, if it's something completely unconnected and it's something that maybe you can bring to people, great. When it's the Bible, when it's the Word of God, let the churches do that, yeah? And look, it's all over the place, and again, people wouldn't have done that years ago, would they? Can you imagine, the Apostle Paul's planting churches, oh, just, you know, Epaphroditus, he's just going to do his own thing on the side. Yeah, he does his own thing just in case someone wants edifying outside of the church. Wouldn't have happened, would it? Do you think the Apostle Paul would have put up with that? No, he wouldn't either. And sadly, that's what we see around, don't we? But, look, maybe some want to just edify others, maybe there is that going on. I'm not saying it's all narcissistic reasons, maybe some just want to edify people, they've got a reason why they think, but I reckon that's few and far between. And we do live in a bizarre world. Now, like I said, many are at the least infected by this self-important world, and the Lord Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of how we should be, isn't he? Yeah, he's the example. So look at verse 3 there, where it says, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. Now, this is from Psalm 69, you don't have to turn there, prophesying of Christ taking all of the reproaches aimed at God onto himself, rather than coming as a big celebrity, which he could have done, couldn't he? Jesus came to be reproached, mocked and scorned, yet he was God in the flesh, yeah? And he didn't come to try and impress others, to try and be the big I am or anything else, he came to take the reproaches of them that, well, that were approaching him, they fell off, that reproach God, because this is a prophecy of Christ, obviously it's David prophesying there, it's ultimately the reproaches of God he took on himself, being God in the flesh. Now, it was also King David though taking those reproaches too, and that is something as Christians, look, you've just got to get your head around, you have to deal with, yeah? Okay? You don't have to turn there, but 2 Timothy 3.12 says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Okay? They shall. If you're going to live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution. That's standard, that's par for the course, and praise God that he helps us through that, but look, the reproaches of them that were approaching fellow me, David said, and hopefully, if you're doing things right, that's going to happen to you, and I know that sounds a bit weird, what, you want persecution? Yeah, because it means basically you're living for God. All, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And it's funny because people look at Christianity, they look at, you know, save, you know, men and women of God and think that maybe they're just having this sort of meek, quiet life, you know, just, you know, it's like a social club and everything's very just non, you know, no confrontation, everything. It's the opposite, isn't it? What an exciting life it is. What an exciting life serving the Lord. There's nothing else like it, is there? Soul winning alone this afternoon. Amen. Soul winning alone, how exciting was that? Amen. Yeah, just the sorts of people you get on the doors, you know, the door slams, the rudeness, the stuff that most people are not, would never even dare to knock on a door. To even, most people wouldn't even want to go and knock on a door in a sales job or something, let alone knock on the door when you're trying to preach the gospel to people that hate God, that don't want anything to do with God at the least. And look, you've got to be bold for it, haven't you? And where does that boldness come from though? From the Lord, yeah. The Lord does that, doesn't he? To just approach people and preach them the gospel. And when you do that and when you're doing things for God, you will suffer persecution. But that's a good thing because you're blessed with that. He said in verse 4 where you are, for whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. And it sure does give you hope as you go through the tests, the trials of the Christian life to see great men of God going through the same, doesn't it? But also, it's not just to give you hope. Many of these stories, and they are true stories by the way, were also written for us to learn from, yeah? Again, you have to turn to 1 Corinthians 11 says, now all these things happened unto them for ensembles, another word for examples, and they are written for our admonition, that's our warning, our teaching, our instruction upon whom the ends of the world are come. Okay, so examples, warnings of what can and does happen to, yeah? And, you know, it's a great thing, isn't it? Reading through the word of God and seeing people going through things and you can see how that applies to your life and things you're going through, tests, trials, whether it's attacks, whether it's whatever different types of things, and that all the men of God in the Bible all went through the same, didn't they? Yeah, and it does, it helps us, it strengthens us, it encourages us. Verse 5 where you are says, now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, like-minded as the example of Jesus Christ, patient, consoling those that need it, and then that then helps the unity in the church, doesn't it? And that's what we want, don't we? We want unity in the church. Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Okay, so we should obviously be nice, welcoming to each other. Verse 8, now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. Have you heard those claims before? People trying to claim that Jesus Christ visited Britain or India or you ever seen this sort of rubbish online before? No, he didn't. Okay, no he didn't. Well, Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. He's a minister of the circumcision, they're the Jews in case anyone's wondering there, yeah? So Jews, you know, you could say the house of Israel there, the remnant of, but that wasn't because they were better people, was it? It wasn't to, you know, it wasn't, sorry, because they are, you know, some sort of higher people that just deserved it more. It wasn't because they're the only people who wanted to get saved. It was like it says here, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. You have to turn to Matthew 15, 24, Jesus is speaking there, it says, but he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Okay, why though? To confirm the promises because they were then sent out to the world, yeah? It was to confirm the word of God, it was, it was the prophecies confirmed, it was everything, it was basically showing that he was the Christ, he was the son of God and their job was to go out to the world. They were then sent out to the world, weren't they? He says at the end of the gospels to each and go ye out into all the world, yeah? He says in Matthew chapter 28, he says, teaching all nations. Mark 16, he says, go ye out into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. But unfortunately they didn't necessarily do that, did they? Some did, some didn't, but it wasn't some sort of plan B. It wasn't that Jesus Christ, oh well I tried, they've rejected me, now let's go, anyone heard that rubbish preached before? By these, yeah, these dispensation lists who like to preach, well the Gentiles were plan B. Plan A was the Jews and any, oh now the, no, no, Jesus Christ's goal of coming was to fulfil all the prophecy and for the gospel to go out to the whole world, ultimately through the Gentiles eventually because Israel had failed at that. That's really what it comes down to. Now, where are we? Turn over to, sorry, keep going, we'll go to verse nine because it then resulted in the Gentiles glorifying God. Verse nine says, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written for this cause, I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name. Now this was David in Psalm 18, Gentiles can also, is used interchangeably the word is nations there. Verse 10, and again he saith, rejoice ye Gentiles with his people. This was the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, again you have to turn there. Verse 11, and again praise the Lord all ye Gentiles allowed him all ye people. This was an unknown Psalmist but Psalm 117, and again Isaiah saith, there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles and him shall the Gentiles trust. This was Isaiah and Isaiah 11. So Paul is basically listing different prophecies of the Gentiles being saved, always being the plan, yeah? This has always been the plan. He's just mentioned David, Moses, Isaiah, yeah? All prophesying of the Gentiles getting saved, of the Gospel going out to the Gentiles, it wasn't a plan B, okay? And this is a great, great chapter just to show that as well, it's a shame, all these different prophecies. Now verse 13 says, now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. And there should be a joy and peace that comes from being saved, shouldn't there? Yeah? And like I keep saying it, remind yourself, remind yourself in hard times, remind yourself of the joy that you have in being saved, the joy that you had when you got saved, the joy that you should continue to have, that peace you have knowing that you're saved, you're going to heaven, nothing can change that. Yeah? It's a great thing to know, isn't it? Verse 14, and I myself also am persuaded of you my brethren that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Admonish is to warn or notify of a fault, but it's also to caution, advise, instruct or direct. And that's one of the reasons you come to church. That's one of the reasons you're sitting here on a Sunday evening listening to this guy at the front here preaching out of the Bible. It's to be admonished by the word of God. Yeah? That's like I said, to be cautioned, advised, instructed, directed. That's the job of a guy preaching behind a pulpit. Yeah? It's not that it always needs to be screaming and shouting. It's not that it always needs to be a really hard message that makes you squirm in your seat, makes you go bright red, and then makes you storm out at the end of the service, but sometimes it will be that. And other times, other times it might be that, you know, that you're sitting there and you're just kind of being encouraged that, yeah, I am doing something right. Yeah, this part of what I'm doing is right. But that's the goal of the word of God, isn't it? That's the goal of preaching. And that's why these soft as you know what, just weak little sissified people that can't sit down and take the word of God being preached at them have no place in the church like this. Yeah? You come here, the people are here are here because they're tough enough, they're bold enough, they're strong enough to hear the word of God preached, to hear themselves have their sins preached about, and they get up to dust themselves off and come back into this church next week and say, I'm here for more. Yeah? Pick themselves up and go, yeah, I'm going to get that right and I want to hear more. Yeah? And I want to get myself right. That's why the word of God has to be preached. Because if it doesn't, if I just sat here and told you how lovely you all are every week, you're not really going to be lovely. Yeah? You're going to actually be a lot worse, aren't you? So look, there's a reason we come here and we should be able to admonish one another and that comes from the pulpit here, doesn't it? Okay. Verse 15 says, Nevertheless, brethren, I have written them all boldly unto you in some sort that's putting you in mine because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ of the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. So Paul spent many years going and preaching to the Gentiles or nations, didn't he? But also planting churches. Okay, don't forget that. He was planting churches and he obviously ordained other men to plant churches as well. He obviously says to Timothy as well to ordain elders in every city, sorry, to Titus. The result being many salvations and the gospel continuing around the world. And it's an important thing to do with it because if we're not planting churches, if we don't eventually start planting churches around this nation, around other places, then the gospel isn't going to go around, is it? And that's the job of every church to do that and because it would be easier not to, wouldn't it? It would have been easier for our pastor not to. What did he gain from this himself? Well, I'm sure he's gained some rewards in heaven for this, but really a lot of probably just more work, more strife, more headache. You know, I'm not just trying to flatter past stonks because it's the same with all these pastors that are planting churches. How important is that? And they have to do it, don't they? And we will have to do that ourselves as well. Okay, once we become an independent church, we need to continue to plant churches around this nation, to plant churches in Europe, otherwise the gospel isn't going to get out, is it? And it's going to be hard work and it's going to be more work and it's going to be, there's going to be failures that come with that sometimes. Sadly, I hope there won't, but there will be. There'll be problems, there'll be issues, there'll be strifes, there'll be griefs, but how important is it? And it's what Paul did and Paul spent that time going out and planting churches and trying, he didn't just preach the gospel, he went and then taught other people to go out and preach the gospel and that is, it's one of the most important jobs of a church, isn't it? To eventually then plant other churches because a church should beget another church. Yeah, it's from faith to faith and it's from church to church and that's the example we see in the scriptures and we need to continue that as well here, don't we? And that's why, look, you know, whether or not you're sitting here thinking, yeah, maybe I fancy that job in the future, maybe I think I could do that, maybe I'd like to do that, maybe I think I'm able to do that, or whether you're sitting here thinking, I don't want any part of that, that's not really something for me or I don't think I'll ever be qualified to do that. Look, all of us need to get in our heads that we want to support those in the future, we want to help people to be lifted up to be able to do that, we want to train people up from here, we want to also be able to, it might be that we locate in a nation somewhere some people that we think might be able to do that themselves and we train them up from afar, but either way, look, that should be something that we should be thinking about, praying for, our goal will be to help others to be able to do that as well. He says here, I have thereof way of I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. So nothing wrong with glorying about God, is there? And if you want to glory, if you're a glorier, glory about God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Illaricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. So Paul's saying that he doesn't need to tell them, I believe this is what he's saying, of all of the other amazing signs and wonders done by others, he's just gone out preaching the gospel. I think that's what he's basically saying. Illaricum seems to be the northernmost point that he got to. So it's where you would now be on the Croatian coastline, not far from Split, so if you're looking just directly at a map, a little bit northeastward of Rome, but on that coastline of what we now know as Croatia. Basically, Paul went on some long trip soul winning, so Paul didn't just go, well, you know, let's just focus on this area now, let's just focus on the south end, and no, Paul didn't come to the south end, in case anyone's still wondering. Okay, but he didn't just go, okay, well this is the only area, that's it, no, Paul went far and wide, in a time when going far and wide wasn't so easy. I mean, I was moaning the other week about putting a mask on, getting on a flight, and having to put some stupid swab up your nose, and having a mask on while you're not eating and drinking on the flight, you can see that's a real bugbear of mine, but what about Paul? Paul was doing months on sailing on ships where they're having a winter somewhere, and all the stuff that happened with that as well, and the shipwrecks and everything else, so he went on, and he carried on though, oh man, God doesn't want me travelling, because there was a shipwreck. No, he went, I'm going to carry on, I'm going to crack on, and I'm going to go further and farther afield, and that's what Paul did, and we should all be willing to do that as well, shouldn't we? We'll be willing to go far afield and preach the Gospel, when we do plant churches, have other churches, go and visit those churches, to edify, to strengthen them, but we need to be willing to travel, we need to be willing to do stuff, it's not just about our own little area, is it? Okay, so, verse 20, yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation, but as it is written, to whom he has not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. So, he went where no one else had been, and he's saying here not to build another man's foundation, basically he went to people that just hadn't heard anything, hadn't heard the Gospel, hadn't even heard of probably most of the fundamentals of the faith, of God, and to some, the idea of preaching to someone that has no idea sounds daunting. Some people think, oh, well it's quite handy when they know a bit about God or something else, I disagree, really, as long as obviously they want to hear, and you might find that someone from some sort of church background will want to hear, but how much harder is it when they've been brainwashed in some wicked false church about work salvation in one of its various forms, to get them saved, whereas you get someone who's just had none of that at all, but just a blank canvas, and you preach them the Word of God, it's easy to get them saved, isn't it? You find a kid who just doesn't really know much about it, and you just preach them the Word of God, they get saved. They don't need to have some sort of false teaching background, do they? They don't even need to have necessarily a good teaching background, do they? Because, look, a lot of the time there are things, hang-ups and stumbling blocks which stop them. It always reminds me of a guy I knocked on a door, it was about a year or two ago now, I think in Grays, and I knocked on this door, and the guy answered the door, and he had quite a strong Indian accent, but his English was pretty good, and look, I believed him, the guy was, I think he was maybe a computer programmer or something along those lines, he didn't know anything about it, he didn't know who Jesus Christ was, he didn't know, he said, I might have heard the name, type attitude, that was, look, he'd learnt English well, he'd learnt some stuff on the computer well, he'd come over here to take on some sort of job or some sort of study or something else, didn't have a clue about any of it. Not a clue, 30, 40 minutes later he saved, praising the Lord and everything else, and the power of the Word of God, and that's not me, like any other soul winner here could have done the same, it's just the Word of God, and the Word of God is so powerful, isn't it, that even someone that has no idea at all, and he didn't need, you know, week after week of sitting down and some sort of alpha course, of course he didn't, but you know, that version, we don't write, we need to really get, look, he just needed to hear the Word of God, he needed to hear the Word of God, and when you hear it, you know it's the Word of God, and it's up to you whether you put your faith in it or not, and he put his faith in it, and Paul here, he's saying, not where Christ was nameless, I shall build upon another man's foundation, but as it is written, whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand, and people that have not heard do understand when you preach the Word of God, just make sure you preach them the Word of God and not your own opinions. Verse 22 says, for which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. Now, I don't know if that's maybe the persecution in those places, or maybe it's just where there's been so much soul winning that he's been doing as well, but either way it hindered him from coming to them, but now having no more place in these parts and having a great desire these many years to come unto you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you, for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. Now, Paul was planning to journey to Spain and to visit them on the way, but he never ends up making that trip, but he does end up under house arrest in Rome, so I'd imagine that he did end up hopefully seeing them and being around them. Verse 25 says, but now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints, for it is pleased them with Macedonia and Nicaea to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. Now, there's some form of church still at Jerusalem, but you can imagine that it's pretty hostile there, yeah? I mean, we sometimes go, oh, pretty hostile because someone slammed a door in our face. Pretty hostile down this road because, you know, there are a few rude people and we were chatting about it earlier. You seem to get areas, don't you? Sometimes you get like sections of a road where it just suddenly becomes really hostile, and then you kind of get out and it's like the sun lights, and then suddenly you get like people say, it's weird, isn't it? You get like these weird little areas. Sometimes it just suddenly like everything's just dark, everyone's angry and everything else, and then you just need to get out of there, but we could complain about these places, but can you imagine sowing in Jerusalem? Yeah, with the high priest and all his gang about, and wow, that must have been tough, yeah? That must have been not only tough, that must have been highly dangerous, and there were some poor saints there, and I don't think the church was probably having people coming from far and wide, and it's probably hard to get many people there and for it to be funded and everything else. Now turn to Acts chapter 8, where the hostility really ramped up after the stoning of Stephen over in Jerusalem at this time. So Acts 8 and from verse 1, so Acts chapter 8 and verse 1, okay, and Acts 8, 1, and Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. So the apostles here chose to stay in Jerusalem, yeah? So the rest are scattered abroad. Verse 2 says, and devout men carried Stephen to his burial, remember Stephen's just been stoned to death, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. So God used it for good, and God often does that, doesn't he? Persecution on the church often makes people the stronger, or the strong ones there, the ones strong enough to endure, get even stronger, and they dig their heels and they go out and preach the word properly, don't they, and go out and do things and fight back by getting more people saved. But the apostles chose to stay at Jerusalem, it said here, except the apostles. Against the Lord's command, I believe, if you turn to Luke 24, and while you turn there, I'm going to read from Matthew 28 19. Matthew 28 19, they're told, this is the apostles here, go ye therefore, and I believe everyone else as well, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. So the apostles in Matthew 28 19 are told to go and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. In Mark 16 15, you don't have to turn there, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preached a gospel to every creature. Okay, so you've got Matthew in Matthew's gospel, teach all nations, Mark's gospel, go into all the world, and in Luke chapter 24 from verse 46, it says, and said unto them, thus it is written, this is verse 46, and said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Okay, that repentance is that change of mind to faith in Jesus Christ, remission of sins comes from faith in Jesus Christ, that should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem, endure witnesses of these things, and behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until, until ye be endued with power from on high. So they were told to wait in Jerusalem until they're, they're endued with power from on high. Okay, this was reconfirmed in the Acts 1 account where Jesus said to them, and you don't have to turn about Acts 1 8, he says, it says, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Yeah, clearly told what to do, to go out. Okay, this lines up with the, with Matthew's, Matthew chapter 28, with Mark 16, that Holy Ghost coming upon them. It's not the indwelling that happened in John chapter 20, but this is, this happened in Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost. This is not long after this. Now, what I'm reading you here, these events are 25 years before Paul wrote the book of Romans. Okay, 25 years earlier what, what we've just been reading here, when they were told to go out to all the world. They were told when you're endued with power from on high to go out and preach your gospel, go out unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Now, with that in mind, I don't believe that probably the saints should have still been there. I might be wrong there, maybe there should have still been some just, you know, kind of still doing their bit in Jerusalem. I don't think so. I don't think they should necessarily still be there, but they were still brothers and sisters in need, weren't they? Yeah. So at this point, 25 years down the line, there were poor saints in Jerusalem and there's being a collection made for them. And they were obviously finding it hard there financially. Yeah. Okay. Obviously, and you could imagine all the reasons why that would be the case. Hard to, to, to even have a church functioning there, let alone the rest of it. Okay. My point of this is because people can get pretty judgmental when it comes to parting with cash, can't they? Don't they? They can get pretty judgmental when it comes to that. You see a need, maybe it's a church in need. Maybe it's a couple that need help with medical bills. You know, you see these kind of requests sometimes go out from churches that we know, and it's easy to find a reason to blame them. And I think there was a good reason to say, well, you shouldn't even be in Jerusalem to these people, but we should still want to help them. Shouldn't we? Oh, well tough. You made, you should have left. You made the wrong decision. I don't know. Maybe, maybe, maybe I'm going, maybe I'm wrong there. Maybe there should have still been a few there, but I think, I think that they shouldn't have been in Jerusalem, but they still want to do a collection for them, didn't they? And we should want the same, shouldn't we? Because we're all going to make errors. We as a church, I'm going to make errors. Yeah. I'm going to maybe, maybe choose, make the wrong decision at times. And other churches are going to do that as well. And we should still want, we should still want to help them, shouldn't we? And a lot of the time it's not necessarily even that they've made a bad decision. A lot of the time they're going to get problems. They're going to have issues. They're going to have stripes. They're going to have trials and tribulations, but we should still just want to help them because they're brothers and sisters in Christ. Verse 27, if you go back to Romans chapter 15 and verse 27 says, it has pleased them verily and their debtors they are for if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. And I think there's a really good principle there. For example, if one of the churches in the US that some people here have watched maybe hundreds of hours of sermons of yeah, ran into some sort of financial difficulty, would it be a problem helping them? Whatever the reason, whether or not you say, oh, they might be to blame or not. Yeah. Whatever you, you know, because there's a holy of the nows that like to go, well, they brought it on themselves or something else. Whether you know that or not, should you want to help them? Yeah. And whether or not really, even if you haven't been made partakers, they're a brother or sister in need, but can you put a price on that Bible way to heaven that got you saved? Can you put a price on that? Can you put a price on that sermon that convicted you to stop drinking? Can you put a price on that sermon that convicted you to love your wife as Jesus loved the church? Can you put, can you put a price on all those hours of teaching that you've had from these, from these people, all those spiritual things you'd be made a partaker of? What if Shaw Foundation Baptist Church over in the USA ran into difficulty? Could you put a price on the spiritual things that we've all been made partaker of there? We've got a proper church here. We finally don't have to be going if, if we're even able to still just, just hope that they're saved. That, you know, that pastor doesn't actually believe that you got to repent of your sins or something like that, even though he seems to buddy up with everyone else it does. Yeah. Well, at least finally we don't have to go to those places anymore. Can you put a price on that? On just having a proper church, a church where you know when you come here, you're not going to get some false gospel preached at you. You're not going to get put down for going out and preaching the gospel. You're not going to get, you know, you're not going to just hear week after week, just sermons about false doctrine and everything else. Can you put a price on that? I don't think you can now because we've all been spiritual. We've all partaken of the spiritual things, aren't we? And that's why if, if and when people come, you know, brothers and sisters in Christ, especially places, churches that we've all benefited from, ran into difficulty, we'd want to help them. Yeah. And the principle, and it's not because, look, I've preached it clearly and I don't want to go on about tithing because I, you know, it's not something I want to preach on and I haven't really hardly at all since I've been preaching, but I believe the principle is to pay back to God what you owe. But even if you believe, no, it's not at all. You believe, no, no, it's not 10%. You're not paying God anymore, you know, for whatever reason. And I've seen, I saw a guy recently some, some channel trying to, trying to knock tithing and everything else. It was some, it was just some, some guy out of church anyway, you know, obviously. But look, even if you really believe that, can you like really put a price on the spiritual things you get from a church anyway? Because look, even if you were, I don't know, say you, you, you were earning well, same you say you were earning, I don't know, say you were earning 10,000 pounds a month. Imagine that. Yeah. 10,000 pounds a month. So maybe some people do, maybe they don't. Yeah. And say you were giving the church a thousand pounds a month in a tithe and people would go, it's extortion. These people are like, oh, you shouldn't tithe. You know, it's wicked as anything. Well, if you think about it, if you're coming to a church, what, three times, three services a week. Yeah. So, so you broke that down to 250 pound a week and you had, and I know this is getting very carnal, but just, just out of interest sake. Yeah. And you said, okay, well you're paying 80 pounds for a service to come in. You know, people pay 80 pounds for absolute worldly junk. Yeah. People pay 80 quid to sit in a pub and get a headache the next day and to risk getting arrested and the rest of it. People pay 80 pounds to have some terrible come down from whatever drug that they thought was a good idea at the time. But look, you can't put a price on what you get. And look again, I'm not trying to preach, right? So for that you got to pay more. I'm not saying that, but what I am saying is it's just always interested me how people, and a lot of the time it's people that just hate parting with cash if you think about it. And I believe the tithes, for me, I have no doubt the tithe is biblical, but even if it wasn't, look, you can't put a price on that stuff. And that's, look, when, when people running to run into difficulties, when churches run into difficulties, if they're proper churches, I want to help them. Yeah, I sure want to help them. I'm not sitting there going, you know, I don't know about them and then trying to find reasons why you shouldn't. And it's just weird, isn't it? It's weird. And we're going to, we're going to, we're going to, I want to, I want to mention someone else in that as well, because just something I preached the other day, and just to make this clear, because I was thinking afterwards how that might sound, because I wasn't even thinking about these churches at the time. I preached, I preached about not going back to Egypt. And I was preaching that about when they come out of Egypt, that they didn't just go directly into war. And I was saying that it wouldn't be sensible if we went down to the pride parade and started preaching, you know, I've got a little soapbox there and stood up there and started shouting at the sodomites and everything else. And we were all, you know, trying to soul win sodomites and getting all this contention. I was saying, it would just be a waste of time. It'd be a waste of time and it'd be worse. We'd end up in a war that we weren't led into. And what I just want to make a point there is that those churches that are in those wars, yeah, obviously that, those people there, they've made decisions, which are probably good decisions as well. They're just preaching, they're preaching hard, they're preaching the truth. And if they're in persecution and tribulation, then, you know, good on them. Yeah, good on them. And I like that. My point was it not like anyone who gets into this clearly, you know, they were out of God's will because we're going to have that come here. We are going to have that come here. And I might decide, I might decide that right now it's time to start preaching, you know, like other pastors might have done and preach week in, week out, you know, or maybe not week out, or going for a pride month. Like Pastor Shelley, hats off to that guy. Yeah. Every day of pride. And he's doing a clip on why they are wicked filthy sodomites and good on him. Yeah. Good on him. Hats off to him. Yeah. And, and look, he feels, he feels he wants to do that. He feels there's a need to do that. Good on him. Yeah. Good on him. And I'll tell you what, if he, if they ran into more difficulty and I would be the first one in line to send some money over there and help them out because look, they're brothers and sisters in Christ. He's made a good decision there because sadly that, you know, what instead people, so-called Christians look at him going to some, you know, and again, good on him. He went to the, to the local council meeting or whatever they call it there. And basically, I mean, that was amazing. Wasn't it? Yeah. Was it four of those guys gave a three minute from a different angle, each one he's gone again and just explain exactly why pride is an absolute abomination. Yeah. And it is wicked. It's of the devil and he made it clear as day. They went from all four different angles on why, on why God says that sodomites should be rounded up by a government and they should be put to death because they're, they're abusers because they're, because they're predators because the Bible is clear about that and God's right and our wicked perverted government isn't. And they went and they said that and look, good on him. Good on him. Yeah. And look, hats off to them. They run into difficulty, happily help them out, stand with them. No problem at all. Yeah. My point is, is that what we don't want to do is try and do it for the wrong reasons. And I was saying as a church, because I've had people at the church try and almost try and encourage me like, because they want to see me do something, which I haven't made decision. I want to preach that I'm praying and I'm preaching things a lot of the time. I was talking to some of the other day about this is that we've had a lot to deal with in this church, just trying to, trying to help people just to become good church members at a church because most people here are new to being part of a proper church. So that stuff's needed preaching a lot. And as we go on, there'll be times when we'll have to preach on things which are going to be contentious at times where they're going to bring us heat. And when I feel the Holy Spirit guides me to do that, that's what I want to preach. And that's what I believe Pastor Shelley's doing. And that's what Pastor Mahir did. And how many wicked so-called Christians just turned on them and started, oh well they brought it upon themselves. Yeah, oh Pastor Mahir when he got his church bombed for daring to preach about the sodomites, well it's his own fault. And people started trying, like siding with, siding with reprobates against men of God that are bold enough to preach the truth, that are bold enough to do that job and to stand up there and preach that stuff and be, and have the hatred, have the death threats, have the rest of it. How wicked are they? And there are people that people even knew of in our circles that then turned on them, started trying to criticise them, started trying to go, well it's his own fault and everything else. Then I hope that no one here will ever be like that. Not only when it comes here, but when we see brothers and sisters go through trouble. Because even there, in there, where even I think that was a case where they were in the wrong. And I'm not saying these, you know, any of our, the pastor we love out in the States are, but here I think they were. And even then, they were still collecting for them, weren't they? They were still helping them. Because look, we don't know any of it, we don't know the situations out there, do we? We don't know what and when and how and what, you know, what's of God and what's not. All we know is that they're people just fighting the fight, they're preaching the truth, they're going and preaching the word of God boldly, loudly, clearly. And look, we want to support every single one of them, don't we? And we don't want to, when the chips are down, start turning on those pastors as well. Because you'll find right now, with Pastor Shelley, there'll be attacks after attack after attack. Someone was showing me one the other day, just people just trying to find anything they can because when they're getting the persecution, that's when they want to try and break them, that's when they want to crush them, that's when they want other people to be put off them. We want to be the opposite, don't we? We want to be preaching loud and clear and supporting our brothers and sisters in Christ when these things happen, don't we? Okay, let's continue. So verse 28 there says, When therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. And I am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in you, dear, that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now look at verse 30 there. Did Paul say, I beseech you to do a quick five second prayer? So I beseech you to just, you know, quickly in your head do a five second prayer. He's beseeching them that they strive in their prayers. This is effort, exertion, labouring heart, yeah? Now you might sit there and go, wait a minute, how's prayer, labour, or hard work? Well, if you're really praying properly, yeah, you're putting your heart, your soul into it, you're constantly knocking on the door, then it is, isn't it? And that's why I think we see sort of an analogy of that with Jacob wrestling in prayer with the Lord Jesus Christ back in Genesis, and look, it can and should be sometimes when you're really praying for someone, when you're really praying for someone, look, sometimes it's going to be, it should feel like hard work, it should be praying and praying and praying. You have to turn to Colossians 4.12, Paul's talking of his friend Epaphras, and he says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. So Epaphras labours fervently in prayers for the Colossian church. That's quite an interesting description, isn't it? Labouring fervently. I hope that there are people here that God would look down and say, they labour fervently in prayer for our church, for other people's churches, we should be labouring fervently in prayer for those churches I was just talking about, especially when they're under persecution, when they got the sodomites camped outside getting their windows smashed and everything else for just preaching the word of God, they're bold enough to do it, like sadly, hardly any churches left in this nation, there aren't any, you're sitting in it, and in most other nations in the world, there's hardly any churches that will just stand up and preach the word of God. And look, when there's a church that does that, look, I just want to bless them, we should be praying for them, remember to add them to your prayers, we should be constantly praying, we should be labouring fervently in prayer for proper churches, shouldn't we? Rather than, you know, that we want to, what colour car should we get next? Or rather, you know, sure, if you want to pray for your next car, pray for your next car, but labour fervently in prayer for proper things, yeah? Well, like I said, if you're really putting your effort into it, then you're labouring in prayer, and like I said, this church needs that, some prayer labourers, yeah, so people sitting here today, you know, you might think, well, I just don't bring much to, maybe I just don't seem to get as many people saved, or maybe, look, I find it hard to get here, maybe some of our online watchers from around the UK, maybe even around Europe, are sitting there going, look, I can't even get here that often, I can't, I find it hard to be able to do a work for God, I can't just snap my fingers and suddenly live in, you know, Southend, or live in Essex, or something else like that. Well, you know what you can do, is you can labour fervently in prayer, you can labour fervently in prayer for me, look, labour fervently in prayer, I covet your prayers, for my family, for my church family, labour fervently in prayer for everyone in here, because the devil wants them out of here, the devil wants every single one of you out of this church and back in the world, yeah? The devil wants to destroy this church, labour fervently in prayer for all of us, yeah, labour fervently in prayer for this church, for the protection of this church, for all the things of this church, for everyone in this church, and, look, just, that's what Paul's asking for here, he said, now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, who's it for? For Lord Jesus Christ's sake, for the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, yeah? He's beseeching them to pray for him, oh, that's a bit rich, Paul, you know, how dare you, Paul? What, a bit of a narcissist, no, look, you know why? Why is Paul saying that? Because he's doing it for the Lord, yeah? Because it's the Lord's work being done, and if the Lord's work's being done, we should be praying for that. Paul beseech them to strive together with him in prayers for himself, and he's praying for that as well, isn't he? And, like I said, it's not for the new car equivalent, it wasn't for the new, I don't know where he was right now, pony, donkey, new chariot, I don't know, for a better boat to end up going across the seas in. He should have prayed for that, actually. I'm joking. For a better sailor. Wow, didn't they grind one of them to the floor? Something went wrong, didn't it? They ended up with holes in their boats and stuff, but it was not to get arrested and put to death in Judea, wasn't it? To be able to give the collection of the saints there, and to then be with the church at Rome as well, yeah? And it was all just things, work, work for God, and it was basically to be able to keep doing the things of God, and that's what we need our prayer warriors doing, yeah? And look, everyone here is capable of being able to say, oh, well, I'm doing, yeah, well, that's all right, brother, you know, I'm more of a sole winner. I'm more of a sole winner than a, look, we all have a lot of time to pray, don't we? Yeah? We have a lot of time, there's a lot of time when you can pray, when you're going to sleep at night, when you're up in the morning, throughout the day, when you're doing things, you know, when you're in the shower, when you're in the collet, there's plenty of time that you can add to prayer, and there's time when you should be getting down on your knees and focusing on the Lord and praying to Him, and we should all be doing that, and kids, you should all be doing that as well, yeah? Make sure that you have set time when you're praying, and make sure when you have spare time that you're praying as well, and pray for the church, yeah? This church is doing a mighty work. It's doing a mighty work, isn't it? Yeah? Pray for everyone in this church, because, look, this is unprecedented right now, isn't it? I mean, all these sell-out liberal, you know, sorry excuses for pastors around this nation, the ones that are saved, I'm talking about, not the reprobate false prophets, who are doing quite a good job, but the ones that are saved, who are doing nothing, who are just sitting on their hands doing nothing, yeah? Can't be bothered to go out and preach the Gospel to anyone, can't be bothered to just preach the Word of God, can't be bothered to do anything, yeah? Look, this is something else here, isn't it? And again, it's because of the Lord, it's because of everyone here, I'm not trying to give myself credit here, it's just because we're trying to do things properly, and when you do things properly, great things happen, great things are happening, but that means we need the prayers, yeah? We need the prayers, and if you take nothing else away from this chapter but that, please pray for this church, please pray for this church, pray for every aspect of the ministry, pray that we continue to do good things for God, pray for our protection, pray for our strength. And the verse 33 says, now the God of peace be with you, all our men. The God of peace should be with us when we know that we're being prayed for and that we're doing things right. On that, let's pray. Father, I thank you for your, for, you know, a great chapter in the Bible there, which just reminds us of the need to want to help each other, the need to want to put each other first, to put brothers and sisters first and not ourselves, to resist this sort of narcissistic world that we live in, to not be like, be like the world, but to be separate, be holy, but to also to want to pray for each other, to want to pray for this church, to want to labour fervently in prayer as well, and we, you know, Paul beseeched the church in Rome there to do that for him and for the work of God. And I'm beseeching the church here to do that for myself and for everyone else here. So many people here are doing a great work for God, and we need your prayers, we need the church prayed for, we just need constant prayer, and we pray for that right now, Lord, that you just protect us, that you put your hedge of protection around us, that you'll just help us, help us with our, you know, to be able to secure a new building, a permanent building that we'll be able to just make our home, that we'll be able to, you know, to show clearly what we are and what we believe and what we are here, and to shine that light, to have that light out there and for people to come to it, and knowing that when you shine a light, you're going to get the bugs come as well, we're going to get the, we're going to get some of those unpleasant come to that light, and we pray for your protection with that, we pray for your strength, and we pray that we get boldness with that as well, to be able to fight away those powers, those evil powers, those wicked powers, and we pray that you help us to do that going forward this week as well, to keep us all just in your will, to keep us all just trying to live righteously this week, to be able to make it for the Wednesday evening service and to be able to return back safely and soundly next weekend as well, in Jesus' name we pray all of this, Amen.