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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Now, I would say, by default, as a Bible-believing Christian living after the time of Jesus Christ, of course you're going to look at the New Testament and say, well, this is what I'm going to believe, right, because this is after what's said in the Old Testament, but at the same time, the Bible says, for I am the Lord, I change not. So why would there be a focus on genealogies in the Old Testament, and then all of a sudden it's like he's against them? I mean, it seems like he's changing his mind. Why is that? Let me show you one of the verses, Titus 3, verse 8. So the question is, well, why is this, okay? Well, there's a couple reasons why genealogies were so significant in the Old Testament. One of them was the fact that if you had a priest, he had to be of the tribe of Levi, right, the Levitical priesthood. And so he had to actually be in that tribe. So it's very different than our modern day. Now, of course, a priest in the Old Testament is not the same thing at all as a pastor in the New Testament. I mean, there's some analogies that you can make, but the Bible never says in the New Testament, it never calls, like, spiritual leaders priests, okay? It's like, you know, you can call me a lot of different names, and, you know, an accurate term would not be Pastor Stuckey, but I'd be like, okay, you know, you're being respectful, but don't call me priest or father or anything like that, okay? And so the terminology is priest in the Old Testament coming from the Levitical priesthood, but it was essential that you came from the tribe of Levi. It didn't mean that the tribe of Levi was better than other tribes, but it was one of the requirements that God gave in the Old Testament to be a priest. And the other thing you have to realize is that when they were entering the Promised Land, they had certain land promised to them based on their genealogies, based on their heritage, based on their family lineage, however you would want to call it, and so you had specific areas depending on what tribe that you were from. And so it would have been very significant, well, what tribe are you from? So you needed to know what your genealogy is, but the thing is, it would not have been that hard to figure out what tribe that you're from. You say, why? Because you're going to be living in the lands of the tribe of your forefathers, right? So it's going to be very easy to trace. It's like, well, what tribe are you from? Well, I mean, I'm living in the tribe of Reuben, so the tribe of Reuben, right? I'm living in the tribe of Simeon, the tribe of Simeon. I mean, it would be very easy because of the fact you're actually living in that land. But see, that's not our modern day situation. In fact, turn to James 1. James 1. James 1. Now, here's the thing. This makes sense to us because we believe that the Jews were replaced as a people. We don't believe that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews today. And so there's no need for a genealogy because the land doesn't belong to them. It's like it goes to other people. It doesn't matter whether they're Jewish or not, right? That land does not belong to them. But of course, in the Old Testament, they had a land promised by God until they rebelled against God, and they broke the covenant with God, right? James 1. James 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes, notice this, which are scattered abroad, greeting. You see, they had various land that was given to them, and then they basically fell into sin. You had the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Eventually, both sides fell into sin. They're completely rejected, and at the point of James 1.1, the Bible says they're scattered abroad, and so there's very few people even at this time that really could trace their genealogy. Now, of course, Paul the Apostle was an exception, but most people even at that time, they're getting scattered abroad. You're intermingling, intermarrying, and it becomes the point where nobody even knows what tribe they're from. If 2,000 years ago they're getting scattered abroad, do you really think someone today could trace their lineage back 2,000 years? Nobody could do it. You couldn't even go a couple hundred years. I mean, when you're scattered abroad, you can't look at the land and say, well, you know what, I'm of the tribe of Simeon because here's where I am, because you're scattered abroad. And then you're intermingling with other tribes and other people and other religions. At this point today, there's not a single person on their planet that could trace their lineage back from their father to their father all the way back 2,000 plus years ago. Nobody knows what tribe they are from today. Okay, now turn in your Bible to Ezra chapter 8. Ezra chapter 8. Now, look, I don't think this means that it's wrong to figure out where your family is from. You know, it's a little bit different maybe here in the Philippines, but in the U.S., people are kind of interested, like what country in Europe did I come from? And they'll ask their parents to figure out what year did the family migrate to America and what country they're from. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It's not really something that interests me that much, but I know I'm part English, French, German, Swedish, and Yugoslavia. And what part of Yugoslavia? I have no idea because it broke apart. Right? But I would say that that's my lineage, but it doesn't really matter where you're from. People in America could be from Italy or Germany or France. I mean, from all over, it doesn't really matter where you come from. It doesn't even matter where your parents come from or what your parents believe. What matters is what do you believe? And here's the thing about this. As far as I know, that's my lineage, but here's to show you how it's easily forgotten. I remember my dad several years ago told me, he's like, actually, you know what, I don't know if it's Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia. And I was like, Dad, which communist country are my roots? Do I come from Slobodan Milosevic or Czechoslovakia? You got to tell me. And it's like, but it doesn't really matter. I mean, it literally wouldn't matter. You might not know who this is. He was a big dictator. But if my grandfather was Slobodan Milosevic, it doesn't matter because I'm a Bible-believing Christian. I'm not some communist. I'm a Bible-believing Christian. It doesn't matter. And here's the thing. There's no promised land based on what tribe you're from and what your genealogy is. It does not matter. Which is why the Bible's saying, you know what, it doesn't matter because in our modern day there is no promised land depending on what your ethnicity is. Now, there are a couple of religions, though, that very much focus on genealogies. One of them are the Latter Day Satans, the Latter Day Satans, the LDS, the Mormons. And here's what it says about the LDS. It says, the Latter Day Saints believe that the eternal joining of families is possible through sacred sealing ceremonies that take place in temples. These temple rites may also be performed by proxy for those who have died. And so what it's saying there by proxy, it's saying that let's say your grandparents were Baptist and you convert to being a Mormon. And you know what, of course you don't want your grandparents to be dwelling in outer darkness for all eternity, right, the terminology that they use. And what you can do is basically by proxy just convert your grandparents to being Mormon after they're dead. And you can also, you know, there's sacred ceremonies where families are joined together, marriages, and they're like spiritual or heavenly marriages. And you can eternally marry your grandparents by proxy for them even though they've been dead for 50 years. And you know, one of the reasons why they have these like spiritual or heavenly marriages is that when Joseph Smith was caught in adultery many times, some of the times he covered it up. It's just a heavenly marriage. It's just a spiritual marriage. And yet he was still partaking in the physical benefits of a spiritual marriage. Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. But they use genealogies, and actually in the United States the Latter Day Saints, the particular denomination of Mormons, they have a more in-depth genealogy tracing system than I believe anywhere in the United States. Perhaps the government has something that's more in-depth, but they really trace it back quite a bit, and it's very significant to them. It's very important to them. And the reason why is because they do baptisms for the dead, they do marriages for the dead, they convert their, you know, families from the dead that have already passed away. I mean all of this nonsense, but genealogies are very important for them. And of course in the past the Latter Day Saints were very racist religions. You better make sure your genealogy has no African blood anywhere in like 2,000 years if you want special rights, certain things such as that. And it says, consequently for Latter Day Saints, genealogical research or family history is the essential forerunner for temple work for the dead. Where you're basically helping dead people. And this sounds like nonsense, but isn't it nonsense to pray your relatives out of purgatory also? It's like, just pay this priest and we'll get him out of purgatory. Isn't it weird how the same bizarre things that are happening in false religions are happening everywhere? I mean praying people out of purgatory? I mean this is nonsense. Luke 16 talks about those that are in hell they can't cross over, those in heaven they can't cross over. Although they would want to to bring people to heaven, but it's too late. When you die the wrath of God abides on you forever as an unsaved person. And it says in Latter Day Saint belief the dead have the choice to accept or reject the services performed for them. So if you baptize somebody who's already dead by proxy, right, like if I got baptized 10 times today by proxy for dead relatives that weren't Mormons, how is it that the dead have the choice to accept or reject this? Apparently after I get baptized I accept that baptism. I no longer want to be in outer darkness. I want to be in one of the levels of heaven. I mean this is nonsense. This is bizarre, right? And the other major religion that really focuses on genealogies is obviously the Jews. And it says here, in later Hebrew as in Aramaic the terminus derivatives, yihas and yuhasen, recur with the implication of legitimacy or nobility of birth. Because it's very important to them, you know, basically what is your genealogy? You know, where did your parents come from? To make sure they came from the right tribe. And it says in modern Hebrew genealogy is generally referred to as shorashim, the Hebrew word for roots, or borrowing from the English, genealogy. And it says here at the end of this article, to this day there are Jews who trace their descent from the ancient tribe of priests and Levites of the Jewish Bible and who still receive special recognition in areas such as the Jewish synagogue service. That is a complete lie. Nobody can trace their genealogy back 2,000 years. And let me explain to you why this is a complete lie. It says there are Jews that trace their descent from the ancient tribe of priests and Levites. Look, the 12 tribes are not the Jews. A Jew is someone in the southern kingdom of Judah. That ain't the Levites, my friend. So I can say I'm a Jew and I trace my lineage back to the Levites. It's like, what are you talking about? Do you not know what a Jew is? I mean, that's your religion. You ought to know that a Jew is someone in the southern kingdom of Judah. I mean, when you're reading your Bible, supposedly they believe in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Those five books, you know the word you don't find in the first five books of the Bible? Jew. You don't find it. It appears much later in the Bible because it's based on if you lived in the southern kingdom of Judah. Look, I'm not an expert at languages, but I can see where Jew comes from Judah. That makes sense, right? So a Jew is not the same as an Israelite. There were the 12 tribes, and then it's divided. And so to say, well, I'm a Jew, and I trace my lineage back to the Levites. It's like, that doesn't make any sense, right? So point number one, we see genealogies. Point two, we see the gravity of a priest. The gravity or importance of a priest. You know, gravity, you think of the word grave, somebody who is buried in a grave. Anyway, a grave and death is not something to joke about, right? When somebody dies, it's something that's very serious. You don't make jokes about it. It would be inappropriate to make a lot of jokes at a funeral because it's very important and very serious. And gravity is a word that means very serious, very important, okay? It's not a joking matter. Notice what it says in Ezra 8, verse 15. And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava, and their abode we incensed three days. And I viewed the people and the priests and found there none of the sons of Levi. Now, why is this significant? Because to be a priest, you had to be from the tribe of Levi. And what he's saying is, we don't have any of the tribe of Levi. We don't have any legitimate priest that's here. Now, if you remember in your Old Testament, you know, Saul got in big trouble because he basically did the job that belonged to Samuel. Samuel was late to make the offering, and then all of a sudden, Saul does it because people are running away from him, and he's worried he's going to lose the battle. People are fleeing. And then right when he sins, Samuel shows up, and it's like, what did you do? Right? And of course, he just kind of makes excuses for it and everything like that. But what I'm saying is, when it comes to doing the work of a Levitical priest, it wasn't something where you could just do it if you're not actually a Levitical priest. You had to be of the tribe of Levi. Verse 16. Then sent I for Eleazar, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jerub, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zachariah, and for Meshulam, chief men also for Jor-Yeb, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. And I sent them with commandment unto Edo the chief at the place Gisehphia, and I told them what they should say unto Edo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Gisehphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Mele, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Cherubiah, with his sons and his brethren eighteen, and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshiah, the sons of Merari, his brethren, and their sons twenty, also of the Nethinims, who David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims, all of them were expressed by name. Turn to Titus 1 in your New Testament. Titus chapter 1. See, we're seeing the gravity or importance, the seriousness of a priest, okay? And, you know, once again, when it comes to a priest, this is completely different than our New Testament, or post-Jesus Christ, completely different than the Catholic Church. In the Old Testament, a priest had to be of the tribe of Levi. But in our modern day, a priest in the Catholic religion has to be a pedophile. Like, that's the difference. Right? It's not the same. Okay? Old Testament, you've got to be of the tribe of Levi. New Testament, you've got to be a pervert, pretty much. And so, here's the application we can make, though. In the Old Testament, they needed a Levitical priest to do the work, the ministering of the work. In our modern day, what we need are ordained men of God to run churches. Okay? They had a need for a Levitical priest, and in our modern day, we have a need for ordained men of God to run churches. Titus 1, verse 4. To Titus, mine own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. For this cause left I thee and create, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. The Bible mentions the things that are wanting. And when it's saying the things that are wanting, it's saying there's people that want a good church, they want a pastor leading them, but these things don't exist. And you know what? It makes sense because 2,000 years ago, after the resurrection of Jesus, don't we see a lot of people converting to Christianity in the book of Acts? I mean, it's exploding in growth. But here's the thing. That doesn't mean that there's people ready to run churches. That's why they've got churches that are like 20,000 people. And it's like, in our modern day, it's just like, you know what? If your church reaches 20,000, it's time to start a new church. That's why God told them in Acts 1, you know, basically, start here, then in all Judea and in Samaria and onto the uttermost part of the earth. Basically, slowly spread out. Right? Which is what every church should do as they grow. I mean, Lord willing, as our church grows, there will be more churches started here throughout Luzon because we can't reach six hours away. Right? We've got a church planned down south, but very few of us have ever been to the church in Bekul because it's just a long distance away. Right? There's a lot of part in between of where churches could be started. I mean, and Bekul itself has, what is it, brother Chris, five million, six million people, something like that. I mean, you need more than one church. I mean, here in Metrominella, it's, I don't even know, what is it, 15 million now or something like that? I mean, that's a lot of people to reach. You say, Brother Stuckey, we've got a lot of people saved at QMC yesterday. You didn't get a million people, though. Right? I mean, there's a lot of people left to get saved. And obviously, you know, it's great work, all the people that are getting saved, but there's a lot of work left to do. One church cannot do that, and so there's a need. And look, things are wanting here in 2023. You say, prove it to me. Well, ask yourself this question. How far of a drive was it for you to come to church today? For a lot of people, it's more than an hour away. You know what that tells me? Things are wanting. There's a lack. And you know what? When I make statements like this, I'm not trying to say this in a puffed up way or try to make myself look good. I'm just speaking the reality. Obviously, if you came an hour away, there wasn't a good church nearby you, or at least one that you considered good. Because realistically, if you had a decent church nearby you, you know what? You would start going to that church immediately, because even though you love the people here, I mean, it's a long distance if you're coming an hour and a half or whatever distance away. But that's just the situation we're in. And what that means is, things are wanting. Here's the thing, though. It doesn't mean you just ordain people in all these areas because things are wanting. The Bible actually gives the template of ordaining elders and getting churches started. And then it says this in verse number six. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife. And when it says blameless, it's saying blameless, and I'm going to mention a lot of things that are going to make you blameless. Okay, these are underneath the umbrella of being blameless. And in verse number five, it's basically, or verse number six I should say, it's basically what I would call familial requirements. Basically with your family. Well, the first requirement we see in verse six is that you are a man. Right? Forget about being married. No, no, no, you missed the first one. That you're a guy. That you're a man. You say, Brother Stuckey, how dare you say it? You do realize the Levitical priests were men? I said of the tribe of Levi, let me clarify. Men that were of the tribe of Levi. And of course, that's just an application we're making. I'm not saying it perfectly correlates, but this is a requirement the Bible says that you must be a guy. You say, Brother Stuckey, you know, what's your opinion of Joyce Meyer? My opinion is, she's not a man. At least, I don't think so. So, what am I saying? I'm saying she's not qualified. It's like the Bible says, the husband of one wife. Now, it also mentions having one wife, and people are going to say, but wait a minute, Paul the Apostle, he wasn't married. Yeah, he wasn't a pastor. What's your point? You're right, he wasn't married. He was just as, I am an evangelist starting churches, which, Lord willing, one day will be ordained as the pastor. It's like that was Paul the Apostle. He was not married, right? But to be a pastor, you must be the husband of one wife. Now, look, this does not mean one wife at a time, and the reason why we know this is, it just said you have to be blameless. Here's the reality. If somebody was divorced, then they wouldn't be blameless. People would look at them and say, ah, you know, I don't trust that person. They've been divorced. It doesn't mean you can't be godly if you're divorced, but it's a requirement that's given in the Bible here of being a pastor, you're the husband of one wife, right? Then it says, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. Now, I do believe it's teaching you must have multiple children. Children, plural. But it also says not accused of riot or unruly. Now, in my opinion, this does not mean you have to wait until they're 20 years old and they legally could be thrown in jail, but here's the thing. It also does not mean that if you're married and then all of a sudden your wife gives birth to twins, it's like, all right, let's ordain you tomorrow as a pastor, because you couldn't say that baby is, you know, basically not going down a wrong road. It's too early. It's too young. You can't really tell that in the first year of a child. At all. There's no way. In my opinion, you can't really tell that in the first two years. And look, we have three kids. This is based on, you know, I have a lot of nephews and nieces, though, but just kids at a young age, some kids are more makulit than others, and it just is what it is. It doesn't mean that they're worse kids. It's just kids are different at the age of one and two than other kids. Anyone who has multiple kids in this room will probably say that. Right? You know, of our two kids that are older, I can clearly say one of them is, you know, mas makulit at that age than the other one. I'm not going to say who, but it's obvious to me. Right? But it's just their kids at a young age. They like to run around. They like to play. There's nothing wrong with that. Okay? So they need to get to an age where you can tell are they going down the correct road or not, and here's the reality. I think you can start telling that once they're three and four and five years old, whether or not they're going down the right road or the wrong road. Now, of course, kids are still going to get spankings at the age of five. Right? Bad news for my son who's about to turn five, but the spankings aren't stopping, you know, after Friday, or Saturday, I should say. It's like I'm sure he's still going to get in trouble sometimes. But at the same time, I could look at my oldest son and say, you know what, he's going down the right road. Right? You know, it's like if you discipline your kids and you show them love and you have that combination, your kids will turn out right. Doesn't mean they're going to be perfect, doesn't mean they're going to be perfect, but they will turn out right. That's the promise the Bible gives. And it says that they're not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, meaning it's not all about you, not soon angry, not given a wine, no striker, not given a filthy lucre. Why does it say not soon angry? Because the ministry can be very frustrating and it can make you mad sometimes, right? I mean, there's a lot of responsibilities. I mean, every single church service, and look, I love being in the ministry. I don't want you to misunderstand this. But at the same time, it's always stressful. There's always things going on. At the end of the day, if you're the boss of a company, you're responsible for stuff. And an employee can show up to work and not be stressed out. It doesn't work that way. The Bible talks about the care of all the churches. That's what Paul said. That's the fear or the worry, and there's always something going on. And here's the thing. You could easily get mad, and I'll be honest with you, I do get mad sometimes, but you have to learn to just... Right? You can't just yell at someone when you're upset or whatever. And here's the thing. I mean, if that's your tendency, then it's like, you know what? You're probably not going to make it in the ministry because you're going to lose your temper too much right? Not soon angry. Of course, probably all of us struggle with anger sometimes, but at the same time, there's kind of a balance here, okay? Not soon angry. Not giving a wine. And of course, not giving a wine, there's the specific not drinking alcohol, but I think it goes more to it than that because wine and oil are used for things that are very expensive in the Bible, and I would say that it's also linked to not giving yourself to just you can live just a basic and modest life. You're not covetous, which of course that makes sense because in the Old Testament, one of the requirements to Moses was leaders should not be covetous, right? Not giving a wine, no striker, not giving a filthy lucre. Filthy lucre would be relatively associated with covetousness as well. No striker. Look, imagine you're going soul winning and you know what? Your pastor gets in a fight and then says, all right, they get mad and they just, and look, I've been out soul winning before where people literally challenge someone to a fight that they got into an argument with. I mean, I literally saw my soul winning partner say, let's just take this out on the street. He's like, all right, let's just calm this down. Right? It's like you gotta keep your cool. I mean, if your pastor's like knocking somebody out, then there's gonna be something wrong there. I mean, it's no striker is something that the Bible says. You gotta be willing to just not soon angry. A lot of these things are similar. Cause look, you go soul winning and people are gonna make you mad sometimes. Rude, obnoxious people, they make you mad sometimes. But you gotta basically just let it go and just ignore it. Don't give the church a bad reputation. Right? But these are some of the requirements that are mentioned. It says, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word of doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. So there's the requirements of your family. And here in the Philippines, Baptist churches disregard verse six in their Bible. They say it doesn't matter if you're married. It doesn't matter. I mean, literally, the first person that ever got kicked out of this church, he became a pastor a couple months later. He's like 22 years old and he's not married. It's like you just got kicked out of a church and now you're a pastor and it's like laughable. You have a Bible college degree. Right? That doesn't make you qualified according to the Bible. Now go in your Bible to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4. I don't really get it. I don't know if it's a competition between various pastors here in the Philippines or church leaders who can ordain or call people the most pastors. We have five pastors at our church. We had 21 pastors. And it's like, well, pastor, pastor, pastor, pastor, pastor. People that aren't married, they don't have kids, they haven't read their Bibles. And it's like, it doesn't make any sense. I mean, there's literally multiple people, I don't know exactly how many, but several people at least in this church have told me before that their churches were willing to send them out as a pastor. And then they said, well, those are the requirements, right? And so, but for some reason here in the Philippines, it's like verse 6 doesn't exist in your Bible, right? In that chapter. Point number one, genealogies. Point two, gravity of a priest. Modern day application, the gravity of good churches, good pastors, church leaders. Point number three, guidance from God. And the church leader then will provide guidance which God is gonna help enable them to run the church, run the ministries. Ephesians 4 verse 11, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So the Bible says there's certain church leaders and they're here for the perfecting or completing of the saints. Meaning a lot of people, they get into this movement and they're very excited and zealous, and a lot of things lacking in their spiritual life. It's like, well, let's get you on a normal vibrating schedule, not just listening to sermons, learn some character, developing these things. And it also says for the work of the ministry. Now, of course, one of the big things of the work of the ministry is soul winning. And this is not, well, wait a minute, we got a pastor and he sends people soul winning but he doesn't go himself. If you want people to follow you, you've gotta actually go. Why is the ministry to follow him? Why? Because he's the one who killed Goliath. He's the one that came in and out amongst the people the Bible says and it inspired people because he's actually doing the work. And then it says, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, the body of Christ is a terminology for any church of God. Not church of God as in church of God, but any bonafide real church, you know what I mean. The church of God versus church of Christ debate. Let the cults figure that out. Okay? What I'm saying is our church here is a body of Christ. And there's many things that are significant here of the terminology. Being a body means that you're together. Part of that is in proximity, that we're actually here in the same room. But we can't just be in the same room together. We have to have the same beliefs. It's part of the reason why we do an alphabet of Bible doctrine series for all of our beliefs because people need to be on the same page. And notice what it says here in verse 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sight of men in cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And a lot of people would say, Why do you talk about beliefs? Why can't it just be listen to music? We all love each other, agree to disagree about stuff. Here's the problem. It says in verse 14, being carried about with every wind of doctrine. If I don't teach doctrine, you're still gonna hear doctrine from other people. And our church, instead of us just fellowshipping in the salvations we get, it's just gonna be argument after argument after soul winning of different beliefs that people have. We're gonna argue about why I believe the post-trip rapture. I believe the pre-trip. I believe the mid-trip. Instead, I just tell you, here's what the Bible says post-trip. And here's why we believe it. And if you got a problem with it, well, this is not the church for you. I mean, you can't just avoid talking about Bible doctrines. And if you try to do that, what is gonna take place is you're gonna be carried about with every wind of doctrine. The only thing I knew was salvation. I knew salvation was a free gift, and it lasted forever. I could have been tossed to and fro by false teachers saying various different things. And the reality is, anybody can if they're not seasoned in the Bible. So it's my job to teach what the Bible says. You say, why? Because we're a body of Christ. We need to be united in the same mind and in the same judgment, the Bible says. Verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, notice this, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body on the edifying of itself in love. Now, the Bible says we need to be fitly joined together, and a large part of that is being united in the same beliefs. Being united on beliefs. That is not the only part of it, though. Because a church must be united together and not getting in fights and having problems with one another all the time. Now, of course, as a church grows, that's going to happen from time to time. But the reality is, if you don't as a church leader deal with these things, you end up having major problems that take place. And look, it's never fun to deal with them. When this church started here in the Philippines, our church, you know, we're a lot smaller then, we were united together on beliefs, right? I mean, we were united together. Repentance of sins is work salvation. Everybody knew that. Everybody was excited about that. Everybody knew what they believed about the rapture and so on, because he came here because of the online movement. But I'll be honest with you, this is from just a few people that ended up getting kicked out over the course of a few years, and it's just like, we weren't united together because of problems. And I was just thinking, man, because when I started this church, I wasn't expecting to have to deal with all kinds of those things, but I'm pretty sure every church leader finds out, well, that's actually what ends up happening. You end up having problems and you have to deal with them. You end up having problems in the church. And I'll tell you what, it will happen at every good church in the world unless the church leader is willing to deal with it. That's just reality, right? Turn your Bible to Ezra 8. Ezra chapter 8. And so we're seeing the church leaders, which in the Old Testament and the Levitical priesthood, those that did the ministering of the work of the Lord, that they're getting guidance from God and they're basically ministering to the people as a result of that. It says in verse 21, Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Aheba, that we might afflict ourselves before our God to seek of Him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. Now it says here in verse 21 that we might afflict ourselves. This is not like in Pampanga we have Magdarame where they beat themselves and they crucify themselves and just torture themselves. That's not what the Bible's referring to. Honestly, when it comes to, you think of other religions, they call it ascetics where basically they harm their body. It's very common in India, a lot of the weird religions out there where they harm their body. And I'll be honest with you, they can't even look because it's just so disgusting and they're just torturing their own bodies. It's like, what are you doing? That's not what the Bible's saying when it says afflict ourselves. It's not saying, all right, pull out the knives and just go to town on yourself. What it's saying is, I proclaimed a fast there at the beginning of verse 21. Because when you fast and you deprive yourself of food, it's basically afflicting yourself. And to get close with God. Now, we have to be realistic about this though. If you decide to go on a fast, you don't have to try to beat the record of Jesus or Gandhi or something like that and try to go two months. For most people, it's probably not going to be healthy for you. There's a pastor in the United States and he went on a 40-day fast and I guess he was really into working out and he was still going running every day and he just passed out in the middle of one of his runs to go to the hospital. That was the end of the fast. It's like, well, if you're going on a fast, you probably shouldn't be running like 10 miles in a day, right? Verse number 22. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way because we had spoken unto the king saying the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So what's being said here in these verses? Verse 22, he's saying, I was embarrassed to ask for help from the king. Now remember, in the previous chapter, the king said, whatever they want, right? Artaxerxes said, whatever they want, whatever they require, however much money they need, but what he's saying is this, we told them God's hand is upon us and if we end up asking for help, it will seem like God did not come through for us. So what he's saying is, instead, let us do a fast and afflict ourselves and basically pray to God, God, we told them that you're gonna come through, we're trusting in you, rather than asking for money, okay? Verse number 23. Ezra 8, verse 23. So we fasted and besought our God for this and he was entreated for us. So point number one is genealogy. Point two, the gravity of a priest. Point three, guidance from God. Point four, giving. What you'll see is, after they pray to God, God provides what they need and what that teaches us is that, whether it's as an individual or as a church, if we do what God says and we really do need help and we pray to God, God will provide what we need. Does not necessarily mean what you want, though. You say, Brother Saki, you know, man, I need, you know, I don't know, a Porsche. You don't need a Porsche. You want a Porsche. That's different. I mean, I need a 20-bedroom house with 10 bathrooms. You want that. You don't need that, right? Verse number 24. Then I separated 12 of the chief of the priests, Cherubiah, Hashabiah, and 10 of their brethren with them in the offering of the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. I even weighed onto their hands 650 talents of silver and silver vessels and 100 talents and of gold and 100 talents, also 20 basins of gold of 1000 drams and two vessels of fine copper, precious is gold, and I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a free will offering unto the Lord God of your fathers. Watch ye and keep them before the chief of the priests and the Levites and chief of the fathers of Israel at Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord. So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. Then we departed from the river of Aheba on the 12th day of the first month to go into Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and of such as lay in wait by the way. So they pray to God, and God is entreated of them, and God provides what they need. That's what we're seeing here the rest of this chapter. And of course we're seeing that, you know what, there's people that are enemies of God's people, and that has always existed. In verse 31 it mentions it always will exist. In our modern day we have enemies of us. We have people that if they could destroy this church they would. If they could make it where it was illegal for our church to meet they would do that. I mean there's people that would do a lot worse than that just to stop our church from existing also. Verse number 32, He went to Jerusalem and abode there three days. Now on the fourth day was the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Merimoth, the son of Uriah the priest. And with them was Eliezer the son of Phinehas, and with them was Josabed the son of Jeshua, and Noah-diah the son of Benue-Levites. By number and by weight of everyone, and all the weight was written at that time, also the children of those that have been carried away which were come out of the captivity offered burnt offerings 12 bullocks for all Israel, 90 and six rams, 70 and seven lambs, 12 egos for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering unto the Lord. And they delivered the king's commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of the river, and they furthered the people and the house of God. So a quick recap of this chapter. Point one was genealogies. In Ezra 8 genealogies mattered. In our modern day they matter not at all because it doesn't matter what tribe you're from in terms of being and you also don't have a promised land for you if you're from a certain tribe. Now, your parents might pass down their house to you or something like that, but what I'm saying is it's not like, well, you know what? We're from the tribe of Judah. Here is our land. No, no, no. The nation of Israel was rejected. They have no right to the promised land in 2023. Point two, the gravity or seriousness of a priest which in our modern day would be like a church leader, okay? Point three, we see guidance from God, and that's what they need. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to help us apply this chapter to our lives, help us to know the entire Bible, help us to understand this book, the book of Ezra, God, and apply these things to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen for our last song. Let's turn to game number 312. Game number 312. Game number 312, open my eyes. Ready on the first. Sing. Open my eyes that I may see fixes of good thou hast for me placed in my hands the wonderful key that shall untest and set me free silently now I pray that I may see fixes of good thou hast for me placed in my hands the wonderful key that shall untest and set me free silently now I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my eyes illumine me spirit divine open my ears that I may hear voices of truth thou saidest dear and while the wind does fall on my ear everything false shall disappear silently now I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my ears illumine me spirit divine On the last, we're gonna do it a cappella. On the last, ready, sing. Open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share silently now I wait for thee ready my God thy will to see open my heart illumine me spirit divine Pray, Rafi, can you pray for us? Amen.