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

Alright, we're here in 3 John, and this is to kind of finish up as we did the memorization challenge. And, you know, I'm sorry I know there's a little bit of noise here this morning, and we should be happy to get a loud preacher that I like to yell. We'll see what's louder, the chat camera or we preach. It's gonna be a nice battle here. But we're here in 3 John, and let's just start off here right at the beginning, where the Bible says, the elder, unto the well-beloved, the goddess, whom I love, and the truth. And notice how it says right off the bat, the elder, okay? Now, the word elder means a few different things in the Bible. One thing it refers to is people that are a little bit older. They have a little bit more age, they're not young, okay? Now, when it talks about being elder, or being a little bit older, it could be older in the faith, or just older in general, okay? The Bible speaks about having respect for your elders. We should obviously respect those that are older, but also people that are older in the faith, okay? So when he's saying elder, I believe what he's saying is that he's not a young man at this point. John is coming towards the end of his life. This is 3 John. It's after 1 John, it's after 2 John, okay? This was probably written on the Isle of Patmos, because it's probably happening toward the end of his life, okay? He's saying he's a little bit older, okay? But that's not the only thing elder refers to in the Bible. Elder also is a term given for a pastor, okay? There's basically three terms in the Bible, and they are synonymous. A pastor, a bishop, and an elder, okay? These terms are the same, but they're highlighting different aspects of the same position, okay? So it's the same position, but there's a reason why it says elder instead of pastor. There's a reason why it says elder instead of bishop. You say, well, what does elder really refer to? Well, it basically refers to you being more aged in the faith. Basically, you're not a novice. You're not a new believer. You're someone who's been saved for a while. You have experience. And see, John was not someone who got saved last week, and then he's writing books to the Bible. He didn't just get saved last week and he's preaching sermons. No, he's actually been saved for a while. He's a little bit elder in the faith, okay? But he is a pastor, and that's why we're seeing the elder, okay? Now, I want to prove to you that elder, pastor, and bishop are synonymous. Turn to Titus 1. Titus chapter 1. Because quite honestly, most people don't agree with that. You'll hear a lot of different things about, you know, elders, pastors, bishops. There's a lot of different opinions out there. But honestly, you're going to see in the Bible, these things are the same, okay? Now, let me also say this, that there's another word given which is 100% synonymous with pastor, and that is shepherd, right? And so, pastor and shepherd, when you see shepherd appearing in the Old Testament, not only is it the same, you know, synonymous as the same position, but it's the same role of that position as well. Shepherd and pastor, we're going to see that later on. But notice what it says in Titus chapter 1, verses 5, 6, and 7. So, in verse number 5, it's talking about ordaining elders, okay? For somebody to be a pastor or an elder or a bishop, they must be ordained. Don't ordain yourself. No, it says they were ordained as elders. It's not just a free-for-all where everyone can just say, hey, I just decided to start a church. I mean, do you know how that would work in the secular world if you started advertising, hey, I know how to perform surgery. I'm opening up a surgery business, you know, I can operate on it. It's like, man, you need some experience. You need to learn how to do it, okay? And so, to be a pastor or an elder or a bishop, you need to be ordained, okay? That's what you see in verse number 5. Notice verse 6. So, in verse 5, it's saying ordain elders in every city, but what does it say in verse 7? For a bishop must be blameless. So, I thought we were talking about elders, but now it's saying an elder is the same as a bishop. Why? It is the same. Elders and bishops are the same. That's why they're being used interchangeably, but they highlight different aspects of that position, okay? Elder obviously highlights basically being more aged in the faith and a little bit older. You have experience. Obviously, to be a pastor, you need to have kids, which we'll hit that here in a second. But basically, you have some experience. You're having children and a family. It basically gives you experience, you know? It teaches you things that you're not going to know until you have a family and have kids, okay? That's kind of what elder is highlighting. A bishop, on the other hand, the Bible speaks about the office of a bishop, basically the position of ruling, making decisions, okay? Where you decide what's going on at the church, you decide what to buy, what to do, what activities. If somebody gets kicked out of the church, things like that, that's something we're basically in the position of a bishop. You're an overseer, and you're making sure things are running properly, decently, and in order. So that's what bishop is highlighting, but it's still the same thing, okay? It's highlighting different aspects of the same position, different roles within that position. But you see here that elder and bishop, they're synonymous. They're being used interchangeably here. Turn to 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2. And so we see that elder and bishop are the same, but I'm going to show you that pastor or shepherd is the same as bishop, okay? And it says in 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, verse 25, For ye were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls, okay? Notice how it says the shepherd and the bishop. You say, why does it use both of those things? It's showing those things are basically interchangeable. They do highlight different aspects of that position because we know a bishop is the overseer, the office of a bishop, an actual job or role you're performing, but they're used interchangeably here because it's still the same position. It's just different aspects within that position. So here, shepherd and bishop are used interchangeably, okay? Turn to Jeremiah 23. Let's go to the Old Testament, Jeremiah 23. And so in Jeremiah chapter 23, this is a famous chapter where basically God is speaking against the false pastors and the false prophets. You know, I was preaching the gospel to someone yesterday. It was really interesting because I'm going through the gospel and like 15 minutes in, this girl tells me this. She's like, so based on what you're saying, she's like, it seems to me that somebody that preaches like a false gospel is more wicked than someone that does something evil. I wasn't really talking about that, but I was like, I agree with that. I was like, yeah, if somebody's preaching a false way to get to heaven and they're leading people to hell, yeah, that's pretty wicked. It doesn't really get any more wicked than that, okay? Because you're leading people to hell. There's nothing worse than that. There's nothing worse than a false prophet in this world. That's definitely true. Jeremiah 23 is highlighting the phonies, the false prophets. And notice what it says in verse one. Woe be unto the pastures that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, against the pastures that be my people, ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord. So here in these verses, it talks about pastures destroying and scattering the sheep, okay? What is a shepherd? Someone who takes care of sheep, right? You see, pastor and shepherd are completely interchangeably, okay? Quite honestly, the word pastor doesn't really appear in the Bible very much. That's kind of the more common thing that you're gonna call someone. But honestly, bishop or elder appear more often than pastor. But honestly, you know, we live in a day where obviously pastor is the most common term, and there's nothing wrong with it because it is a biblical term. But here, shepherd and pastor, you can see, are interchangeable. Because a shepherd takes care of sheep and is talking about a pastor not taking care of the people like they should and gives the analogy of basically taking care of sheep. Now turn to 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5. We're looking at a lot of verses here to start up. Then we'll go to 3 John and just kind of go verse by verse. But this is an important topic because there's a lot of confusion on what is an elder, what is a bishop, what is a pastor. Even in this room, there might be some people that are confused by this. Say, what's the difference between them? Well, I mean, they're all highlighted in the exact same position. They're just different aspects. See, a shepherd or pastor takes care of the sheep. See, if you're a pastor, you need to actually care about your members. That means you don't just care about the almighty God. It's not just preach something that's popular, so you get money and he beloved you. No, you actually preach the truth because you care about your members. And quite honestly, in Jeremiah 23, that's the problem because there's a bunch of pastors that don't care about their members. They don't care about feeding the sheep. They don't care about feeding the people of God. They only care about getting money. You know what the secret is to getting a lot of money? All they need to do is just preach positive, only preaching. Just say nice things. No matter what sin you're doing, hey, you know what, it's great, no problem. You know, no problem. There's nothing wrong with doing that. It's okay, you know, we all sinned, no big deal. No, you're expected to actually preach the Bible. This is the pillar and the ground of truth at church. And any church where the pastor is not preaching what the Bible says, that is the wrong church to go to. I should be learning the word of God. And your pastor ought to have some guts to actually say what the Bible says. And if he doesn't have any guts, he's not a pastor in God's eyes. It's a joke, okay? But that's what most pastors care about. They care about money. See, a lot of people get into religion because it's a way to make some money. That's the truth. They're willing to lie and say whatever because they end up getting a lot of money. Was Jesus loved in this life by everybody? No, how did he die crucified? Guess what, his first sermon, what did they try to do? They tried to throw him off a cliff. Does that sound like he was just saying positive things? What happened to John the Baptist? He was beheaded. What happened to a lot of the people in the Bible? They were killed, they were crucified. Look, if people around today are preaching the truth, the world will hate them and reject them. But people don't like being told no. They don't like being told, hey, you know what, it's wrong to be living with your girlfriend. It's wrong to be committing adultery. It's wrong to get drunk. They don't like hearing things like this. And so they get offended by things such as this, okay? What does it say in First Peter chapter five verse one? The Bible reads, the elders which are among you I exhort to them also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Fain the flock of God which is among you, okay? It talks about fainting the flock of God. An elder, the main thing is highlighted as someone who's more aging. But if you're more aging, you should have more knowledge and be able to feed better. But when it comes to feeding and taking care of the flock, the main thing, the term would be pastor or shepherd, but you're seeing these are interchangeable though, okay? It says, feeding the flock of God in verse two which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's parities but being examples to the flock. So the Bible says not for filthy lucre in verse two. So basically, don't just be a pastor or whatever in order to make money. Don't lie to the people in order to make money. You say, why does God always talk about that? Because it happens a lot. You wouldn't have to talk about it if it didn't occur but it occurs a lot and so he talks about that. Also in verse three, he talks about not being lords over God's heritage. What does that mean? Basically, lording over somebody's life is basically making all their decisions for them. I went to a church one time where the pastor said, before you buy a car, you should consult your pastor to see if it's a good idea. And it's just like, before you do anything, you should consult your pastor. Now here's the thing. If my pastor was a mechanic and really knew a lot about cars, then that's great advice. But you know, if he's just an ordinary person, I'll probably consult someone who knows a lot about cars. Should I, you know, if I have a problem, you know, you're in school and you don't know how to solve this capitalist problem, just come to your pastor and say, hey, I don't know how to solve this problem. Can you help me with this? Look, there's some things you need to figure out on your own. Right. You don't have to run every single thing by me. Look, I don't want to run people's lives. Does that mean I agree with every decision people make? Of course not. But do you agree with every decision I make? Probably not. Right. But it's not my place to make your decisions for you. Okay. Look, plenty of people in this room, you have kids that you're raising. I have a son and a second one on the way as well. And guess what? I don't want you making the decisions for my kids. And I won't make the decisions for your kids. Now, here's the thing. It's my job to preach what the Bible says. But see, here's the thing. When I leave the pulpit, I don't go up to you and say, hey, you need to make this change in your life. That's your decision to make. Right. I preach what I believe the Bible says and I show the Bible verses. And I try to give you wisdom from the Bible. And at the end of the day, I let you make your choices in life. You say, why do you do that? God gives us free will. Yep. Even when we do things that are wrong. You have the free will to leave this room today and get drunk after the service. You have the free will to do that. God's not going to stop you from doing that. Now, should you do that? Well, of course not. But it's your decision to make. I'm not going to make your decisions for you just like you're not going to make your decisions for me. Okay. Because I don't want to lure over God's heritage. And that is something that happens a lot of times in churches. Okay. Turn back to Titus 1. Titus 1. So far we've covered two words in 3 John. It's going to be a long sermon. We've covered just two words. It's going to be a lot quicker after we get through the first verse. But I do want to highlight one other thing that I kind of skipped here in Titus chapter 1. So the Bible speaks about elder in verse 5 or a bishop or a pastor. The Bible says there's actually qualifications in order to be a pastor. Right. What does the Bible say here in verse 6? If any be blameless, so the Bible says you need to be blameless. Okay. The husband of one wife. What does the husband of one wife mean? It means you're a man married to a woman. Right. Okay. It means you're not a woman because you're the husband of one wife. Yup. And look, I grew up in a church where basically women can be ministers and ordained. And it's just like well that's not biblical. Because the Bible says you're the husband of one wife. That's what the Bible says. You say well I have a problem with that. Well your problem's not with me though because that's what the Bible says. Yup. The husband of one wife. And look, you know, obviously we just went through the series on the Catholic Church. But you know the Catholic Church has got that right. Because it's a man, it's not a woman. That's what the Bible teaches very clearly. The husband of one wife. Okay. It's not a woman who's married to another woman or a woman married to another guy or a guy married to another guy. It's a crazy world we live in. Yup. It's a husband married to a woman. And yet, aren't there a lot of Baptist pastors running around here that don't have a wife? Right. They're not married? Yup. Well I'm sorry, I'm not a pastor then. Amen. The husband of one wife. You must be married. That's what the Bible clearly teaches. There's no gray area in that. You are the husband of one wife. What does it also say here? Having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. So here the Bible says having faithful children. So to be a bishop, a pastor, an elder, you must have faithful children. Right. Okay. Now let me just say this that there's kind of two different arguments you have on this. Okay. Some people say that you need to have at least one child. And some people say you need to have at least two children. I believe you have to have at least two children. Right. Amen. But I will show you what their argument is. And you know what, I can see where they're coming from even though I'll show you why I'm not going to be wrong. I don't think it's completely vocal. Actually, I do know people who think if you have one child that's okay. And I'll show you their argument for it. Okay. Their argument is this. If I were to say here today that your children need to obey, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have two children. You might just have one. And basically their argument is this, that basically you're preaching to a lot of people and it's just generic children which means you have at least one child. Okay. Now here's the reason why I don't agree with that. I understand where they're coming from. But here's the problem with this. In verse 7 it says, a bishop. It's highlighting a specific single bishop. It's not talking to, hey all of you bishops, he's saying a bishop. Okay. It's using one to represent the whole. It's not talking about the whole. It's using one to represent the whole. So when he says a bishop, a bishop must have faithful children. That's what it teaches. Okay. I understand your argument but honestly I don't agree with that argument. Because you look at an individual, a bishop, and you must have to have, you must have faithful children. Say, Brother Stuckman, why didn't we call you Pastor Stuckman? You don't call me Pastor Stuckman. Right. You know I have one child and a second one on the way but the Bible also speaks about faithful children and quite honestly, you know, when your child is one year old or one and a half, you know, they're already faithful. They haven't proven themselves to be unfaithful. But look, you have to let those children grow up a little bit to find out if they're going to be faithful or not. Right. You say, do you have to wait until they're full grown adults? No, you don't. You say, why don't you have to wait for that? Because the other day I was waiting at an elevator and there was this five or six year old boy who was basically just sitting down like this and just whining and yelling and complaining in public where there's plenty of people around. His dad was completely embarrassed. He said, oh, do you want this snack? Do you want this? And it's like, look, that child is not a faithful child. They're disobedient. They're not obeying. You say, well, how do you fix that? You fix that by doing what Bible says. Take that child outside and you spank that child. That's what you do. Right. And the reason why that child is acting like that is because when the child was four, that child was never spanked. When that child was three, it was never spanked. When it was two, it was never spanked. Look, that's the reason why the child is acting like that. That's the reason why kids today are disrespectful to authority because their parents are not teaching them to respect authority at a young age. That is the job of parents to teach your kids to be obedient. Look, you know, I loved to play sports and I was a very active kid, but I knew there was a time to basically be quiet and not to be quiet. Now, look, we went through kind of seasons of going to church growing up, but when I was in church, I was always extremely quiet. You say, why? Because the one time I wasn't quiet, my dad took me outside and spanked me. You know what that teaches you? It teaches you I've got to be quiet at church. Now, obviously, when children are very young, they need time to get used to this. You say, brother, why is it that one of their own are crying? That's what babies do. A newborn baby, babies cry aloud. That's what they do. When people are new to this church, also, sometimes the kids are disobedient because honestly they're not really following the rules of the Bible and it might take them time to get adjusted. That's one reason why we have the mother baby room back there is for young children and babies so they basically can be used to the services and eventually the goal is that they'll be able to be out here and be quiet and pay attention. Look, my son is 18 months old. Sometimes my son acts up. He's still at that age, one and a half years old, where they're going to act up sometimes. But if he was five years old and crying in the middle of the service, you'd be saying, brother, you're not doing a good job running your home. Your child is acting up. Here's the thing. You have to wait until your children are old enough to see if they're going to obey or not. If your children are five years old, three years old, and they're just really disrespectful and they throw things at you and they swing at you, which you see kids doing today, you're not qualified to be pastor. Why? Your children aren't faithful. Honestly, they're on a fast track of spending their life in prison unless you start actually disciplining them, like the Bible teaches. Look, I know the world likes to tell you, just say, just give them nice toys and things like that. No, there are periods of time where you've got to spank them. Otherwise, guess what? They're not going to obey. That's what the Bible teaches. When people say, I'm a pastor, and they're not married, where they only have one child, or they have two children that are twins that are one week old, well, they're not qualified to be a pastor. You have to actually wait. So you say, what is the proper term to call you? The proper term is brother stuff. I'm an evangelist, you know, sitting here, a missionary, whatever, but brother stuff is probably the best term to call you. Now, sometimes people say pastors. I don't get offended when people call me pastor because I understand they're trying to be respectful. I don't stop them. I will say this, that from time to time, some of the young kids will call me father stuffy. And then it's like, whoa. Brother stuffy's fine. Brother stuffy's fine. But people will call me pastor. I don't get mad at them or yell at them or whatever, correct them immediately. Why? They're just trying to be respectful. When people are trying to be respectful, you don't want to just rip them apart because they said something wrong in the future. But the best way to call me would be brother stuffy. That is a respectful term. That's a term that's in the Bible. That would be the most appropriate term. Now go back to third John. Go back to third John. Now, is there a need to get churches started? Well, absolutely. Because in Titus chapter 1 it says, we're dating elders in every city. There's a great need for churches all across this world. But look, you have to wait until people are actually raised. There's a great need for a million things in this world. But look, if people aren't ready for the job, then they can't do it. So you have to actually wait and do what the Bible actually says. And look, throughout the Philippines, Baptist churches, they don't really care what this verse says. They don't care what the Bible says. They won't call anyone a pastor. But according to the Bible, you must actually be married. You must have faithful children. And look, there's also a lot of other qualifications. It's not just the fact that you're married with kids. It's actually that you're filling everything that is said there in Titus chapter 1. And so to be ordained, you have to actually meet qualifications. Now look, there's people that can find unsafe people to ordain them. And if that's the method they want to use, then go for it. There's people in this room that, you know, people would have ordained you as a pastor before this church started. Even though you didn't meet the qualifications of the Bible. Is God going to bless that, though, if you're just disobeying what the Bible says? I don't believe that. We need to do things the right way, the proper way. And Lord willing here, in a few years, two, three, four years, or whatever, you know, I will be ordained as a pastor, but that day is not now. You say, well, who is the pastor? The pastor of Jimenez in Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento is the pastor of this church. He sent me here because he trusted me to run the church and because I've been preaching that church for a couple of years and I've worked at that church and things such as that. But I don't need the qualifications to be ordained as a pastor. Now, honestly, 95% of the decisions here, you know, I make and I don't have to ask because they're not the biggest things in the world. But from time to time, I do run things by them. You say, why? If you have a boss at work, even if you oversee a group of people, if you have a head boss, you have to run things by them from time to time. So that's the way it works. But honestly, most of the decisions I make, but I'm not a pastor yet. And you know, the Bible Baptist and all these other, you know, Baptists here in the Philippines, they can call themselves pastors all they want, but you know what? I'm going to call them, if they're saved brother, if they're not saved, well, I don't know what I'm calling them. But I'm not going to call them pastor if they're not an ordained pastor. I'll just call them brother. Because that is what would be the biblical term. Now let's look here at 3 John where it says, the elder, let me say this, as I mentioned earlier, I believe that this is when he is on the Isle of Patmos. Because it is highlighted as he's older in life. And if this is the case that it's written on the Isle of Patmos where he also wrote the book of Revelation, I want you to notice that he's still an elder, even though he's no longer actually pastoring the area he was at. You say, why does it work that way? Because he was successful, he didn't fail, okay? He got basically persecuted and he was put on the Isle of Patmos, but he didn't fail, okay? He was successful at what he did. See, when you get ordained, you get ordained for a specific mission. You're ordained to start a church in such and such city. Now if you fail at that, then yeah, you know, probably you wouldn't be a pastor anymore. But John didn't fail, okay? He was persecuted. So what's the application? If I had been thrown in prison tomorrow, I'd still be, you know, why this brother should I be your evangelist? You don't lose that term, okay? And so if somebody's a pastor and they don't do anything wrong, they basically are persecuted, they would still be a pastor. It's not just taken away. Or if you're married and your wife dies, it's not like the next day you're no longer a pastor, okay? It's just completely removed. You can no longer preach discernment. Or if you know you have two kids, one of your children dies at a young age or something like that. It doesn't mean, well, now all of a sudden you're no longer a pastor, okay? There could definitely be some gray areas in there, but what I'm trying to show you is that just because, you know, if you're ordained and then later on you fail one of the qualifications, it doesn't mean that you're no longer ordained. Now here's the thing about this, though. You can't really help the fact that tragically your child dies. You can help the fact, though, if you divorce your wife. And so if you divorce your wife, then obviously you would no longer be qualified because you're proving you can't run your home. And if you can't run your home, how are you going to run the house of God? That is what the Bible teaches. So it says here in 3 John verse 1, the elder unto the well-beloved guys who might love in the truth. Notice how it says the well-beloved guys. What does that mean? It means people liked guys. Everybody liked him. He's the well-beloved. Basically everybody had good things to say about him, okay? That should be our goal as Christians. It's not just that you read the Bible a lot and you love soul winning. You should have a goal that people actually like you. The well-beloved guys. That's what the Bible says. One thing I said before, you know, I came here to serve this church, and I believe this, is that if you're going to be ordained, the church itself must actually like you and believe a good decision is being made. You know, if you're being ordained as a pastor and nobody likes you at church, there's a problem there. Because it's not just being married and having kids or knowing how to purchase a sermon. No, it's actually being a nice person. That's part of it. Because it mentions a lot of characteristics. And see, guys was someone who was well-liked. The well-beloved guys. Now we can overlook that, but honestly it's pretty important because, look, it's important that people actually like you, okay? Outside of church, the Bible says you should seek to be at peace with all men. As best as you can, you want to try to get along with you. Look, you know, if you go to some restaurant and they've got a big statue of Buddha in there, look, don't just pick up the statue and smash it in front of the owner's face. That's a good way to get arrested. That's a good way to act. People should say, why? Because, yeah, is it idolatry? Yeah. Is it wrong? Absolutely. But look, you're trying to be at peace with all men. And look, if you stop to smash all the idols here in the Philippines, I mean, man, you've never even made it, you know, fighting down the streets, okay? Look, you know, people don't know any better is it's not really their fault, okay? So, you know, you should seek to be at peace with people, okay? Not to try to get into fights just because somebody's an unbeliever or whatever. Try to get along with people. Guys is the well-beloved. Well-beloved, but even more so in church, obviously. You want to try to be well-liked by people, okay? You want to get along with people. Now the issues come up from time to time. Of course issues come up. Look, when you're around people all the time, issues are going to come up from time to time. Ask anybody who's married in this room if they fought with their wife before. Everyone's going to say, if they're honest, yes, from time to time, I get into arguments with my spouse. I remember when I was at Verity Baptist Church and somebody at that church was talking to me and they were kind of having some problems in their marriage and then they said to me, they're like, of course, you and this can never fight, do you? Just thinking. I mean, are you joking? There's no temptation that is taken, but such is as common demand. And see, the same things that you struggle with are the same things I struggle with. You know, why? Because everyone goes through those same things, okay? But see, we should seem to be well-liked at church. Look, do some people's personalities rub each other the wrong way? Absolutely. Of course. We've got 50 people here today, or however many people. Look, we're not the same types of people. We have different personalities. From time to time, we might rub each other the wrong way, but our goal in the end is to be well-liked and to get along with you. And so if issues come up, basically you just talk it over, you settle it, and you know, you just move on. You forgive your brother in Christ, your sister in Christ. Even if they did something really bad, you say, well, what if they don't deserve it? Well, we were forgiven by God when we don't deserve it. Right. And see, we should at the end of the day. Now, if you're the person who's done something, you should say, I'm sorry, okay, if you've offended somebody. Even if you don't really think you did something completely wrong, look, in fights, there's always two sides to the story, and neither side is 100% perfect. Every time something happens, I can say, you know what, I could have made it any better, and so I could always apologize at least for that. But basically, you apologize, and you just move on from it. And then if somebody apologizes to you, you forgive them, and you move on. And it's, you know, a new day. Because if we don't forgive one another, you know what, at the end of the year, you're gonna have a lot of people be a punk, okay? So we should seem to be well-liked, a well-beloved Gaius, as the Bible says. Also in verse number one, the Bible says, whom I love in the truth, okay? So Gaius, he says, I love in the truth. The reason why he loved Gaius was because Gaius believed the same things as he did. That's what it says, I love in the truth. I understand this world tells you, just love everybody, okay? You're supposed to love everybody unconditionally no matter what, okay? Mostly that is true. But the Bible is not, you're supposed to love a pedophile. You say, brother, I love the pedophile, and I love the young baby. How do you love the young baby if you love a pedophile? Explain that to me, okay? It doesn't make any sense. And so there are some people that the Bible says, you know what, I'll love them no more. That's what God says. And the big reason why he loved Gaius, though, because Gaius believed the same things he did. Because honestly, what we believe is very important, okay? And if you believe completely different things from someone, it's hard to really have a good fellowship with that culture. And so at our church, look, our church is very united, and honestly the big reason why it's really united is because we believe the same things. Everybody in this room, you know what our position is on the end times. You know what our position is on salvation. You know what our position is on the King James 5 and we're on soul winning. And you know if you're kind of new to this church, you know it won't take long to figure it out. And you don't even have to ask me. You could ask anybody in this room, and they'll tell you, hey, this is why we believe the King James Bible is perfect. This is why we believe salvation is a free gift and you don't have to repent of your sins. This is why we believe one's safe and always safe. In this room, people know that. You say, why? Because it's a bridge, and because people read their Bibles for themselves. And so we're very united because we have the same truth, okay? Look, I understand they want to bridge all these religions together, but what do I have in common with someone who's Islamic that believes Muhammad and Allah is the way to heaven? Now I'll be nice to them in public if I was a coworker with them. You know, I'd have lunch with them on lunch break. I'd say hello to them. I'd be friendly. I wouldn't be rude. I wouldn't be a jerk. But at the same time, I'm not going to spend all my time being out with someone who believes completely different things. My closest friends believe basically the same things I do, at least about salvation and the important things. You say, why? Because that's what's important to me. And so I want to be around people that that's important to them as well, okay? Look, when I was younger, the people I hung out with were all soccer players, every single one. You say, why? Because that's what I spent all my time doing. I would basically either be playing soccer or playing FIFA on PlayStation. I was either playing soccer or I was playing FIFA on PlayStation. It was always soccer, soccer, soccer. I was always on the road during the weekends, going to tournaments, playing games. I was always either playing soccer or watching soccer or playing the video game with soccer. So the people I hung out with were people that loved soccer. See, the people you hang out with are going to be the people that you have things in common with, okay? And he says he loves guys because he has the same truth, the same belief, the same belief on Jesus Christ, but also the main things of the Bible as well, okay? Now let's move on to verse number two. The Bible reads, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper in being held, even as thy soul prospered. So what he says about Gaius is his soul prospers. Basically, spiritually, Gaius was very strong. He was a Godly person. He read his Bible. He prayed. He went soul-willing. He lived a Godly life. He did what he should do, okay? His soul was prospering, but just because your soul prospers, that doesn't mean you're financially going to prosper or have good health, as you were always talking about. He says, I want you to not only your soul to prosper, I want you to financially prosper and be in health. That's not a guarantee though. This health and wealth gospel that if you're living for God, you're automatically going to have lots of money and have great health, that's a lie. Where does the Bible teach that? Look, when you're living for God, that does not mean that everything in your life is perfect. You can be living for God and lose your job. You can be living for God, and you know what? Your health is bad, okay? There are plenty of Godly people that have bad health. There's plenty of people in the Bible that were Godly people, and you know what? They felt ill. They had sickness, okay? Just because you're living a Godly life, that does not mean that you're going to have perfect health. Now, in general, I believe with the rules of organic eating, but just because you need old organic food doesn't mean you're going to have perfect health either. You can still get a disease, and you can still die from that disease, okay? It doesn't guarantee you're going to have perfect health, okay? And so what the Bible says is he wants them to prosper and to be in health. I would wish the same thing upon people in this room. When I pray for people in this room, I want them to have good health. We have a lot of soon-to-be moms in our room, and I pray for those wives to basically have good health and to do good things, and not just my wife, but the other ladies in this room. And also, you know that people financially are prosperous. Now, I'm not saying that we need to be rich, but at the same time, we want people to be able to take care of their needs, and that's what John is saying. I want you to be able to prosper, and I want you to have good health. And that's one reason why at this church, I often preach about taking your career seriously. I say, why? Because I want you to financially be in good shape. I don't want you to just forsake all of everything to just go soloing every single day and just, well, you know, I'm just going to live by faith. No, I mean, in a day, you need to work and make money and things such as that. You need to balance in your life because you're in this for the long haul. It's not just for five years. It's for 50 years. It's for 60 years of serving God, raising your kids and teaching them, okay? Verse number three. Verse number three. For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came to testify to the truth that is in me, even as thou walkest in the truth. And so what does John say here? He rejoiced greatly. He was very happy because the brethren, other saved people, told him of the truth that is in guidance. How did they know the truth that was in guidance? Because he walked in the truth, okay? What is that saying? It's not just saying that, hey, you know, he went to church and in his mind he really loved God and he came into the church. No, he actually was walking in the truth, which means he was out there solely, partially. He was actually walking in the truth, living a good life and doing the things the Bible says. It wasn't just a mental ascent, okay? Look, most people or everybody's gonna say they love God. Right. Yeah. But just because you have a feeling that you love God, that doesn't mean that you love God. Yeah. Just because you listen to, and I don't know what the Christian rock music is today, Jeremy Camp, Third Day, are they still around? Just because you listen to Third Day or Jeremy Camp or the Newsboys or whatever the bands are today, that doesn't mean that you love God. Yeah. Just because you get this fuzzy feeling when you listen to a rock song. Look, before I was saved, I got a fuzzy feeling when I listened to Arrowsmith. That doesn't mean that I'm living a godly life. Right. Just because it felt good, okay? Just that I like the sound of the music. That doesn't mean that I'm living a godly life, okay? And so, look, just because you're listening to music and getting all emotional and you're speaking in tongues, that doesn't mean that you're anything about me. Okay? See, the Bible says you walk in the truth, so the evidence is basically that you're doing the work, that you're out there soul-winning, that you're obviously reading the Bible, that you're doing the work that you're doing and what your concerns are and so there's actual evidence, okay? Verse number four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth and so John is saying here that he led Gaius to the Lord, okay? And his greatest joy is that his children are walking in the truth. I mean, he's so thankful that Gaius is living godly. Why? Because he led him to the Lord and I'm sure he trained him to some degree and it's great to see that the person he led to the Lord is living godly. Why? Because he led him to the Lord and the person he led to the Lord is still going soul-winning and still doing the work of God. Look, if joys in life come from being saved, that's a joyous experience, okay? But also that, you know, if you have children that are walking in the truth, like spiritual children is what we're talking about, that you meet people in the Lord and bring them to church and they grow, there's no greater feeling because it validates everything you do and that is why recently we've been trying to do a follow-up program and try to bring people to church, and it's like that. Why? It's going to make your soul into a lot more excited. When you actually have people at church that you've brought and you've taught the things of God and that is how this church is actually going to grow when we're all working on this to bring people to church. So he says he has no greater joy than that his children walk in truth. Isn't it true that when you have kids that you want your kids to be good kids and be obedient kids? Look, if you have a child, if little Zach grows up and he's a rebellious kid and is in prison and is drunk and things like that, I'm not going to be very happy. I'm going to be pretty disappointed and I'm going to wonder where did I go wrong? Okay? You want your children to actually be obedient and to live Godly, especially spiritually speaking, people you get saying it's exciting if you've got people saying they're in church and they're serving God as well and that's what he's saying to you. Verse number five, Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren and to strangers and so he says thou doest faithfully. What does it mean by faithfully? Basically, that you keep your word is what he's saying. You're faithful. Okay? Basically, you say you're going to do something, you actually keep it. Okay? You're walking the walk. You're not just talking. Okay? But it says to the brethren and to strangers. So it's not just people that are at the church, that are fellow soul winners where basically you're doing this faithfully, but also just to other people as well and in our lives, to the best of our ability, we should try to get along with people as we talked about and you know, you're doing things faithfully. You should be someone that can be trustworthy. Okay? You say you're going to do something, you do it. You know, you don't break your word. It's very easy to make a lot of promises and then just kind of change your mind and not do it but see, the Bible says that we need people to be faithful and this is not just men. Men and women need to be faithful. We say we're faithful. It's better to not say it if you're not going to do it. Basically, that you're trustworthy. You can be pounded on and see guys with someone who's like them. Verse number six, which have worn witness of thy charity before the church who if thou were in court on her journey after the godless Lord, thou shalt flow and what it says in verse six is have worn witness of thy charity. Okay? Now, the word charity we usually associate with money is a lot more than just money. Look at, turn to Colossians three. Colossians three. Because charity actually is referencing basically the full picture. Remember first Corinthians the chapter that's known as the love chapter? It's actually the charity chapter and again, it's a charity chapter and charity is basically the full everything put together and notice what it says in Colossians three verse 14 and above all, it says put on charity which is the bond of perfectness. What does perfect mean in the Bible? Perfect basically means complete. Okay? So the bond of completeness or perfectness, okay? Bond is when things are basically put together. So charity is basically everything put together. What I believe is that love is part of charity and that joy is part of charity is basically the bond of perfectness. Okay? You can look at the fruits of the Spirit or other places in the Bible and those characteristics are 108 charities. I believe that encompasses basically everything because it's the bond of completeness or perfectness. Now turn back to 3 John. But I will say in this context the main thing I believe he is talking about is referring to money because it says whom if thou wert on their journey after a godly sword thou shalt do well. What does it say? It's basically saying people are here, they're starting to have money referring to financially. Now we have to understand the context here because the truth is if you're at a church people will always ask you for money. That's the way churches are. We have had so many people at this church that aren't members and just kind of show up and they just ask for money. They always have their story about how their son like 5 years ago something happened and they just need that one little ride to be able to say why does this sound really good? Because they practice it a hundred times. I mean when you practice something over and over and over and over and over again you get pretty good at it. The things you're good at in life you've probably done a lot of times. You have a lot of experience and you know honestly people will come in here that are just lying half the time and they ask for money and they always have their story. Now are they asking for money just because they need money? The Bible also talks about whether or not that person deserves money as well. Say what are you talking about? Look you know drunks will come in here and ask for money. They need money. Why? Because they can't afford anything because they're spending all their money on liquor and you give them money you're basically helping them be drunk. That's the truth. Now here's the truth living in America I've lived in West Virginia and I have a lot of homes. The reason why we don't is because it's pretty cold in West Virginia. But I remember I was in college one time and this guy came with his story I was a freshman in college and I felt really bad that he was homeless and I remember I gave him $20. I gave him $20 which would be basically like 1100 pesos. I gave him $20 because I felt really bad about his story. I thought man I'm going around drunk. I'm going to help him get that alcohol. You think God wants me to help get somebody drunk? No. See what the Bible teaches is you need to make sure that people actually have a real reason for why they need the money and the truth is sometimes you reap what you sell. And quite honestly then once I moved to California you get a drug addict. If I give you money what are you going to do with that? You're going to be hooked on drugs. Are you saying you don't care about the homeless people? Look I remember somebody I got saved in California someone who was homeless and I let him sleep in my backyard in a tent for a week. Don't tell me I don't care about the homeless I got arrested for trying to rob a house. And look that's the sad reality. I'm glad I put in an effort to try to bring him to church and he did come to church but you know eventually honestly sometimes your bad habits are going to get the best of you and if we just give money to people that are asking we're going to get out of money. Now God has blessed us with the right reason. There are a million people that would love to be full time missionaries and just give money from us. But you know honestly you don't see this in the Bible where basically you just have all these full time missionaries and they're just kind of doing this vigilante soul winning and just living off other churches. So we've started and we trusted we knew we've done so many with them and yeah we'll try to help them out. If somebody from our church one day gets ordained to start a church somewhere our church will try to help them share those financial words that are Baptist missionaries and it's like I've never even met you before. I mean I've never even met you and you're asking me for money. It's like I'm not going around asking people for money. Do I even really preach on money much in all of this church? No. I've not preached a single church before. I've never even been a Christian and I've never even even prayed any prayer I've never even ever even prayed and prayed I've never even prayed Here's my $2,000 pledge. And until they got $10,000, they just kept home service. You're basically in prison for a couple hours until somebody just gave a lot of money. I mean, what a joke. That's not what you see in a bottle. Here what's happening, though, is that speaking about people that are Godly and doing a great work, and there are people like that from time to time, that honestly, you know, we would help. But quite honestly, that's the rare occasion because most people that ask for money are people that just don't deserve money. That's the reality. Verse number seven, because that, for his namesake, they went forth taking nothing of the Gentiles. So when it says taking nothing of the Gentiles, it's speaking about someone who's doing a great work for God, but not taking money from people that are unbelievers or people that aren't Godly. Think of the modern-day mission system where you go into deputation. Who knows what deputation is? Deputation is a two-year process in America, at least, where you go around every Baptist church and beg for money, okay? Now, look, we didn't do that when we started our church. It was funded by a very Baptist church, and quite honestly, we're basically making it self-sufficient. God is definitely blessed us, okay? That's the system that's in the Bible, okay? And so in deputation, you go around for two years and you beg people for money. Well, look, if you go to a church and you wanna get money from them, here's the secret. Don't say anything negative that will offend you. And if you say something negative, you're not gonna get money. So what do they do for two years? For two years, they learn how to be watered down. That's what happens for two years. And honestly, I've seen a lot of people when they were young and they preached, man, they had some fire when they were 16, 17, 18 years old, a young person, but they let it rip behind the pulpit. But after two years of deputation where you learn to be watered down and not say anything, guess what happens after two years when you start your church? You don't start preaching hard. You preach watered down because you've trained yourself for two years, I don't want to offend anyone, money, money, I want the money, money, money, money. And so you learn to basically say nothing negative because you see somebody negative because they get offended and you're thinking, oh, man, this person's got a nice job. I got a lot of money, that's gonna hurt my wallet. I've gotta make sure I never say anything about that again. That's the reality. And it's not just Baptist churches, it's just about any church. That's the reality. Be careful, feel free in what you say. And so you're speaking about someone though who is not a watered down phony. They're not going around and preaching a positive message to get money from people. It's someone who's doing a great work and so it's like, well, that's someone who would want to help out because those are few and far between. Verse number eight, we therefore ought to receive such that we might be fellow-fellowed, verse two, in the truth. And so he says we gotta receive this person who's a godly person. We need to help them spread the message of truth as they walk in the truth. Verse nine, I wrote unto the church but dioceses who love the devil bring eminence among them, receiveth us not. And so diotropies I believe is basically a false prophet. Any church that's not a bad church, it's an interesting situation. You say, why is it or how is it that there's a false prophet in a good church and John is aware of it but maybe other people are not. Look, I've been to a lot of churches and I know churches that I've been to where there's bad people in those churches and you know what, those people don't think they're bad or whatever. My church I went to in West Virginia, our piano player was an open sodomite. But you know, people assumed he wasn't a sodomite because well, he grew up in the church. So he must not be a sodomite. But every single time people visit the church, we bring people to church and the first question they always ask, is that piano player a sodomite? And it's just like, this is very obvious to everyone. And so what I'm trying to say is this, it would be like if I was writing back to that church in West Virginia and I was saying, hey, so and so is basically a false prophet in the church. That's what I believe is going on here. John is aware of this and obviously, John was a god of the person. He's mature in the faith. He's an elder of all dimensions in verse one. He's gonna be more aware of these sorts of things, these red flags and he's basically warning his convert. It makes sense that he's able to warn his convert. Gaius is someone he led more. It's not that they're writing to a random church and saying, hey, I'm gonna be so and so in your church as a false prophet. No, it's his convert that he's trying to warn. There's nothing wrong with that. It's his spiritual type. Verse 10, wherefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, praying against us with malicious words and not contenteth with, neither doth he himself receiveth the brethren and permitted them that would and casteth them out of the church. And so Diatrophes obviously has some power because he has some ability to cast people out of the church. Now I don't believe this is the head pastor of this church but he obviously has some power or influence to cast people out of the church and so basically John is warning Gaius about this and he says basically if I come, hey, that guy's a false prophet. I know he's a false prophet. He's been rejecting us. He won't receive the brethren. He's against anybody who's a soul winner because the context here is people that are doing a great work for God, going soul winning, spreading the truth and Diatrophes hates these people. Say why? Because don't unbelievers that are false prophets hate true believers. False prophets hate true believers. That's the reality. It doesn't really matter what the false religion. You can better believe that the heads of those false religions, if they're not saved, they're gonna hate the truth. That's the reality. That's what we see here. Verse 11, beloved, follow not that which is evil but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. Demetrius hath good report of all men and of the truth itself. Gaius would also bear record and we know that our record is true. So what he's telling his convert Gaius is this. Hey, at that church, don't follow Diatrophes. Follow Demetrius. Demetrius loves the Lord. Demetrius is a soul. Demetrius is serving God. He's a good person. He's telling his convert of that church, hey, watch out for Diatrophes. Demetrius is a guy you should learn from, you should grow from. The sad reality is that even at good churches, there's false prophets and there's good people at those churches. Now on this one, John's very aware of this but honestly, even at churches, you know, sometimes you're not aware that people can act like good people and there are false prophets within the church. There's gonna be good and bad people at churches. That's just the way it is because the devil likes to fight against what the truth is, okay? He's warning his convert, hey, watch out for Diatrophes, follow Demetrius, okay? Verse number 13, I had many things to write but I will not be thinking in writing. So basically John is saying, this is a really short letter but I have a lot I want to say but basically, you know what? It's a lot harder than just typing up a letter in this day so with ink and pen, it's a lot of work to send that letter. Here, it's very easy. You just go on your phone and then just send that Facebook message like that. It's pretty easy. Back then, it probably wasn't as easy so he says, you know what? I wanna write a lot right now but I'm just not able to right now so I'm not gonna write with ink and pen but when we talk face to face, then I'll explain all of these things and so that's what he's saying here in verse number 13. But I trust I shall shortly see thee and we shall speak face to face, peace be to thee, our friends salute thee, three with their friends by name. So the book of 3 John, I love this book. There is a lot of information packed in and I understand this is not our typical Sunday morning sermon. This is one on a Wednesday sermon which is part of our Bible memorization challenge and next week, we'll start a new Bible memorization challenge and then I'll eventually preach on that once we're done with it and so honestly though, every chapter in the Bible, even 3 John, because this is a chapter where you just kind of quickly read and not pay attention to anything you read. Basically, it's only 14 verses and you just read it in one and a half minutes, you're done, you got through one of your chapters for the day but honestly, we need to stop and pay attention to every word because there's a lot of information about where you're just in 3 John. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be in your house here this morning and getting to see your word in this wonderful show of the book 3 John got. Help us to just profit from this and keep the knowledge that we learn here today. God will pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen.