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I don't think there's something I can't even see the opposite There are savings lies inside when we do When we do, when we do More than me I'm not just dreaming when we do When the storms of life grow in the happy, lonely soul Where the dew, where the heart, where the dew Where the hearts of Jesus be, it's the best we'll ever see In the palace of the deep in the deep Where the sweet, the big, the sweet, the pure, the princess still In the deep, the dew, in the deep In the deep, the sweet, the deep, the pure, the instrumental Is what we are always looking for When the storms of life grow in the happy, lonely soul Where the big, the little, the pure, the pure Where the, the great, the beautiful, the happy, lonely soul Neither or on the happy, lonely shore. Did you leave a good time? Four seven. Four seven. Four seven. Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello, hello. Hello. Hello. 6-0, then we'll do 6-3. 5-0, then we'll do 6-3. 6-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 8-1, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 6-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 7-3, then we'll do 6-3. 4-7. 7-8. 7-9. 7-10. 7-11. 7-12. 7-13. 7-14. 7-15. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. 1-2. And turn to song number 49. Song number 49, let's sing Meet Me There. Song number 49, let's sing Meet Me There. Song number 49, let's sing Meet Me There. Let's sing On the First. On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more When the storms of life are o'er Meet me there Where the night dissolves away Into pure and perfect day I am going home to stay Meet me there Meet me there, meet me there Meet me there, meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are o'er On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more Meet me there On the second, here upon these hopes are vain Dearest things are in between But in heaven, no trouble, meet me there By the river sparkling bright In the city of delight Where our faithful's lost in sight Meet me there Meet me there, meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are o'er On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more Meet me there On the last now, where the harps of angels ring And the blessed forever sing In the palace of the king Meet me there, poor and sweet communion man Heart with heart and friend with friend In our world the dearest man Meet me there Meet me there, meet me there Where the tree of life is blooming Meet me there When the storms of life are o'er On the happy golden shore Where the faithful part no more Meet me there Song number 47, Let the sunshine again in my heart Let's sing it on the first I remember the time when I first knew the Savior When the sunlight of blessing so flooded my heart I prayed that the first thought with Jesus so dear be And I thought such devotion would never be found Let the sunshine again, let the stars bloom again Stare the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit be proved, then embrace me again Let the sunshine again in my heart Then how sweet were the scriptures They spoke to me daily How they guided my steps but my zeal did not last And the sweet place of prayer where I met with my Savior I neglected and so soon my joys were all past Let the sunshine again, let the stars bloom again Stare the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit be proved, then embrace me again Let the sunshine again in my heart Oh, I loved well to walk in the way with God's children When we met we glad hearted of fellowship sweet But the pull of the flesh shed some worthy companions In the past have seemed so sure I cried, said my dear Let the sunshine again, let the stars bloom again Stare the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit be proved, then embrace me again Let the sunshine again in my heart Lord, I come now again for forgiveness and blessing As the penitent child I am seeking Thy peace For the blood, pain, my death and the spirit within me Beat me, come to my Father by one ring to sing Let the sunshine again, let the stars bloom again Stare the embers of love in my heart Holy Spirit be proved, then embrace me again Let the sunshine again in my heart Anybody else? 1-1-3, 113, amen. No, I'm just kidding. That's how we get these numbers, right? That's my math, right? Anyways, also some upcoming activities. Today we do have the prayer meeting after soul winning. So once we get back, we'll divide into small groups and do the prayer meeting. We do have choir practice here today and then choir practice next week because Easter Sunday is our performance in a couple weeks. Next week is going to be the Lord's Supper. So hopefully you'll be able to be here and I'm going to preach a sermon on the Lord's Supper which was kind of right before and it's not really meant to be like that. It's more about the structure of how the Lord's Supper works and so I'll talk about that but we're going to bring extra grape juice so after we do the Lord's Supper during lunch time I love grape juice. I don't usually buy it because it's very expensive but man, isn't that a great tradition, right? Grape juice on the Lord's Supper as a feast, right? So that'll be great after we do the Lord's Supper. We'll have that for lunch next week. We are going forward with our soul-winning marathon. So basically not this week but next week, Wednesday through Sunday, we're planning to have soul-winning available during those time periods in various locations. So there's kind of like four group leaders in our church for different areas. So in the southern metro Manila, Brother Chris will be doing some soul-winning there so get ahold of him. In Bulakan, Brother Raffi's going to be doing some soul-winning so get ahold of him. I don't know the exact dates for everybody. Relatively near this area, Brother Ehrman's going to be in control of that. He's going to be in Pampanga for that week so I'll be doing that down there. And those are going to be our soul-winning. So hopefully, I'd love to break our soul-winning record. I was planning this out and now, I don't know, because I know in Pampanga there's no parks that are open, right? So it's all door-to-door. But you're awarded for the work you do. And I think one thing here in the Philippines, we get so many salvations because it's very receptive. It's kind of like we're getting a taste of living in other parts of the world and we have to go to more unreceptive areas, right? And so that's not bad for us because it's good to keep us humble and everything. But regardless, we're going to do a lot of work during that week. I'm excited and invite people for Easter Sunday. Hopefully, everything will be freely open so we can have a lot of visitors. It's going to be a great Sunday so just in two weeks from now. So I think that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Prince lead us in another song. Song number 6-0. We'll sing Face to Face, song number 60. Face to Face and you get another song number 6-0. Let's sing it on the verse. Face to face with Christ my Savior Face to face what will it be Through every rapture I behold Him Jesus Christ, goodbye for me Face to face and show behold Him Far beyond the starry sky Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by One second now. Only faintly now I see With the dark in vain between But a blessed day is coming When His glory shall be seen Face to face and show behold Him Far beyond the starry sky Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by One second now. Rejoicing in His presence When our balance within came When the crooked ways are straightened And the dark things shall be played Face to face and show behold Him Far beyond the starry sky Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by Let's sing on the last. Face to face the blissful moment Face to face the sea and all Face to face with my Redeemer Jesus Christ who loves me so Face to face and show behold Him Far beyond the starry sky Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by I shall see Him by and by Well, the appeal of Taoism is it's teaching you can have an easy life and all of us would love to have an easier life. The problem is that's just not true though. Genesis 2 verse 8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and it became into four heads. Now, when you're reading Genesis chapter 2, and you're reading the garden of Eden, do you know what you're seeing? You're seeing an easy life. Right? I mean, the plants just kind of grow themselves. I mean, you don't really have to do a lot of work. You're just kind of walking around, eat some strawberries. Right? You get the grape juice. It's really expensive. You get all these nice things. Really easy life. And what happens? Man screws it up. And what the Bible's showing us is having too much free time is not a good thing. If we have too much free time, we're going to ruin our lives. We see that in Genesis 2. Go to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis 3. Genesis chapter 3. I mean, have you ever noticed in your life, you have days where you finally have a day off. You've been so busy, and you're excited you have a day off. Man, I get to relax a little bit, and then the end of the day comes. Man, I just wasted my whole day. It's like I would have been better off working. That's just the way it is. Okay? Genesis 3, verse 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. So they have too much free time. She's not very busy. And she looks at food that looks nice, and she just goes after it, and her husband just does the exact same thing when she gives it to him. Go to verse 17. Verse 17. And on Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. And the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. We see the curse upon man is because they ate of the forbidden fruit. The ground is now cursed. And instead of it being very easy to produce food, it's going to be very hard in the sweat of thy face. You say, Brother Stuckey, when does that end? When can I reach that retirement? Until you return unto the dust of the ground. Right? I mean, until your dying day, he says, You know what? You're going to have to work hard. Life's going to be tough. Life's going to be difficult. And look, this might not be popular to say, but it's reality for all of us. Life's hard. Life's stressful. Life's difficult. It's better to know the truth than just to show up on a Sunday and get lied to and be able to pretend like everything's great. No, it's hard. Life's difficult. That's what the Bible teaches. Verse 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. On to Adam also, and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to no good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword was turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. So what ends up happening is God basically blocks the entrance into the Garden of Eden. He says, You had your chance, man. You screwed up. You're not returning there. Okay? Now one day, when we return onto the dust of the ground, you know what? We're going to go to heaven as believers immediately. But we're not at that point right now. And to accomplish something in life, it takes hard work. Go to Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. Proverbs chapter 15. Look, I would love to be able to stand up here today and tell you, Here's the magic formula for lots of money and an easy life. You'll have the greatest marriage, and you'll do the greatest job raising your kids. Never be stressed if you just take this magic pill, and everything's going to be great. In fact, I could host a seminar and charge you 10,000 pesos to attend, and get rich, and people would attend, and I'd be lying to you. And they have those seminars, don't they? They have a whole religion that hundreds of millions of people follow, and it sounds great. Have an effortless life, but it's not reality, and it's not what the Bible teaches. Okay? Proverbs 15 verse 19. Proverbs 15 verse 19. The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns, but the way of the righteous is made plain. Right? Notice this. The Bible's saying if you're slothful, if you're lazy, it's as an hedge of thorns, but if you're a hard worker, then the way is made plain. And what the Bible's teaching is by trying to live an easy life, your way's going to be a hedge of thorns. It's going to be hard. It's going to be difficult. But by working hard, the way is made plain, and just everything just ends up working out for it. Right? Here's an example of this. In the U.S., if you are a homeless person, it's because you're a lazy drug addict. Right? I don't believe there's any exceptions to that, because the government pays you to not work in the U.S. You could literally not work a day of your life, and they'll give you a house to live in. That's the U.S. government for you. And they never have any motivation to work because they're being paid to not work. Right? Well, here's the thing about this, though. There's people, though, that choose to just live on the streets because they don't want to have, you know, any sort of rules, because you have to go in to get your food stamps and stuff. It takes effort. Right? So they want to live on the streets, and they're homeless. And those same people, you see that they're spending all of their time and effort every day to just get a little bit of money so they can get their drugs. So they're out there in the heat for hours, and their skin is just baked and destroyed from being in the sun, and they'll be carrying a container of cans, like Coke cans, because you get a couple cents when you return every can. And they've got to return enough cans every day so they can get their drug money. Their life is a lot more difficult than mine. They want an easy life, and they end up being in bondage. It's a way of thorns. Right? A hedge of thorns is before them. It's like, man, if you just worked hard, things would be easier for you. Right? Your skin wouldn't get destroyed by being out in the sun for 10 hours, 12 hours. That's a tough life. You know, it's tough if you're sleeping outside in the cold overnight, and it's freezing. That's difficult. They would be better off just working hard. But here's the reality. These false philosophies, they promise you this, and the opposite happens. They promise the easy life, it puts you into bondage. And yet the Bible says if you work hard, your way is made plain. That's what the Bible teaches. Turn in your Bible to Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6. Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs 6. If you try to have too easy of a life, you're going to make things just more difficult for yourself. You're better off just working hard, and you know what? Things are just going to work out for you better. That's what the Bible teaches. Okay? Now, I have three different points here today on areas where this is true. And you can apply this to any area. The secret to success is hard work. If you want to get good at something, if you want to accomplish something, it's just simply hard work. Right? I mean, if you want to get really strong, you've got to work out. You don't just magically get strong unless, you know, I guess there's... Steroid injections, right? But in general, right? If you want to get good at something, you have to work hard. You know, you don't just wake up and say, man, I decided I want to run a marathon. I want to compete and win the Olympics. Well, you have to train and practice to do that. It doesn't just happen. You know what I mean? And it's like, we say, well, what if you catch the Tao? If I can just find this magic Tao or the Tao for Taoism or Taoism, then, man, you know, I'm going to... No, it doesn't work that way. I mean, that's a science fiction movie. Look, I admit, when I was a kid, I loved Star Wars, but that's a movie. It's not real life, okay? There is no magic force that's out there, okay? And so I have three points here today, and I wanted to make this alliterated, so I didn't really have a way to make it alliterated. So for money, it's the cha-ching or ching-ching, right? For the money, it's the cha-ching or ching-ching, right? For money, the C-H sound there, okay? The cha-ching, okay? Proverbs 6, verse 4. What's the secret to success when it comes to the cha-ching, okay? Proverbs 6, verse 4. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids, right? Basically, don't just sleep away your life, because we only have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, and here's the thing. If you spend half that time sleeping, you only have half that time left, right? I mean, you need to use that time wisely. You know, it's funny, because everyone has this attitude, and I do too, that if I only had four more hours of the day, right, I'd just speak every language, I'd be able to play every instrument, I'd be in such great shape. No, actually, the opposite would probably be true. It'd probably destroy your life, right? The Bible says, teach us to number our days. Realize we have an unlimited amount of time, but the reality is, if we had all the free time in the world, you know what? We probably wouldn't do a whole lot with it. It's good to be busy. It's good to have a schedule. It's good to be busy. Verse 5. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Now, let me ask you a question. Does a deer or does a bird know it's about to die? If they're just going about their day, just, you know, a bird's just kind of flying or a deer is traveling, they don't realize they're about to get destroyed. And then all of a sudden, they get shot, right? Here's the thing. The Bible's saying that us, you know, deliver yourself from the hand of the hunter. Before it happens, deliver yourself so you're not in that trap. You're not in bondage to be killed by the hunter or by the fowler, okay? Live your life in a way, work hard where the hunter's not going to get you, basically. Verse 6. Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. And so the Bible says we ought to look at the ant as an example. Now, in verse 6, it says consider her ways. In verse 8, it says provideth her meat, and it says gathereth her food. It sounds like the ant is a female that it's referring to. And the reason why is because worker ants are females. They're not males. Oh, the Bible's so unscientific, and yet thousands of years before science figured that out, the Bible already knew it. You know, female ants are the ones that are the worker ants. So it says, you know, her, her, her. Okay, the Bible says... And look, this is also why you need an every-word Bible. This is why these gender-neutral Bibles that say, well, it's offensive to say her or to say his. You know, and now it's like we got, what is it, 33 different genders? Is that what I saw? 33 different genders. Two are normal, and the other 31 are LGBT or homos, right? It's like all these different genders, we need a gender-neutral Bible. It's like, well, the Bible says her for a reason because worker ants are females, okay? Now, look, I love the ants. You know, I see the Bible has this as an example, and I've watched a lot of documentaries on ants just to be, you know, kind of learn some stuff from a biblical sense. You know, why does the Bible use ants as an example? It's actually, this is my son's favorite animal I learned recently. All right, my son, you know, he's starting to like animals. You know, he used to be kind of afraid, and he wants to go to the zoo. We're like, what do you want to see at the zoo? I want to see ants, Dad. It's just like, because, you know, in the cartoons, the ants are big, right? The ants go marching one by one. It's like, don't worry, son. There will be plenty of ants at our apartment that you can look at every single day, right? And so it says, though, you know, consider the ant as an example. Why? The ant is a hard-working animal. You're never going to see an ant sitting there. If an ant is just sitting there not moving, it's probably dead. I don't even think I've seen an ant stop to eat. I think they eat while they're moving, right, or something. I'm not really sure. Like, an ant is an incredibly hard-working animal, and it says they don't have a guide. They don't have an overseer. They don't have a ruler. They don't have a boss in a structured system saying, ant, go to work. They just go to work. It's just born into them, and that is our example. So, look, we ought to just be busy people. Work hard. If you have too much free time, figure out something to do. And, look, as a Bible-believing Christian, there is always something we can do. If you've got that day off from work, there's probably a lot of tasks you need to get done, but you can always do more soul-winning, always can read the Bible more. You can always study a topic and become educated. There's plenty of stuff to do, right? Go to Genesis 29, Genesis chapter 29, Genesis 29. Look, hard work is the number one determining factor on your financial success. It's the number one determining factor. That's what you see. It doesn't matter how skilled you are. I mean, the question is, though, are you working hard? Have you developed that skill? You might naturally be the best ever at something, but if you never work at it, you're never going to get good at it. I mean, you could even look at professional athletes. It's like, look, Michael Jordan, of course he had skill that probably none of us had in terms of playing basketball and obviously a height advantage, but it's like if he never actually picked up a basketball to practice, he wouldn't have been any good because you become good at stuff by actually practicing. Some people are musically talented. Some are not. Here's the thing, though. Here's the thing, though. Even if you're musically talented, to get good, you have to actually practice. It doesn't just magically happen, right? I mean, I guess there's a couple Mozarts out there, but it's like it's a pretty rare thing, okay? Just these prodigies that are just automatically good without any practice. Genesis 29. So when it comes to moving up in the company, the secret is hard work. Genesis 29 verse 13. And it came to pass when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son, that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house and he told Laban all these things. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh, and he abode with him the space of a month. So Laban tells Jacob, you know what? You can just abide with me for a month. You've got a month. You've got a place to stay. I'm sure he provided the food. And so Jacob is told you get to have a vacation for a month. You're my blood. Stay with me. Have fun for a month. I'm not requiring anything. But then notice this in verse 15. And Laban said unto Jacob, A month has gone by. Okay? When you read this, you can tell. And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for naught? He's saying, You're my brother. You're my blood. Should you serve and do this work for nothing? What is he saying? Well, he's telling Jacob, Over the course of this month, I just told you to kind of hang out. You know, you have a place to stay. And you're out there. You're my best worker. He's like, You don't have to serve me for naught. You're doing all of this. Tell me, what shall thy wages be? Here's the job offer. It's like, You've been with me for a month. It's like, Man, I want to hire you. And he's like, What should I pay you? What do I have to pay you to get you to work here? Right? What do we see? Well, according to the Bible, the secret to success is just hard work, especially when we understand promotion cometh from the Lord. Okay? Go to Genesis 47. Genesis 47. Genesis 47. Now look, of course we understand that, you know what, we strive to be rich. And for a lot of us, probably for most of us, it's good for us not to be rich. If we had too much money, it would get to our head. But God does promise to provide our needs, and He does promise by working hard, it will pay off for you. Okay? Genesis 47, verse 6. The land of Egypt is before thee, and the best of the land make thy father and brethren dwell, and the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. So if there's anybody who's a man of activity, a hard worker, make him a ruler. I should have put this in front of me. I don't have the NIV in front of me. I don't have a false version here that I know of either. But in the NIV, they change men of activity to if there's anyone with a special ability. Is men of activity the same as special ability? Special ability is basically a God-given talent that you have. We're made differently. Some people have talents in different areas. You have skills I just was not born with. I have skills you weren't born with. We're made differently, and that's fine. But that's not the same as men of activity. Men of activity is someone who works hard, and the Bible's telling us by working hard, that's how you become a ruler, not by having a special ability, okay? Now go to Proverbs 13, Proverbs 13. Now, by all means, develop skills so you can have some good abilities, and that's gonna help you as well, but that also goes down to hard work as well, developing skills that people are willing to pay for, okay? Go to Proverbs 13, Proverbs 13. Proverbs chapter 13. And notice what it says in Proverbs 13 verse 11. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase. And so in the book of Proverbs, you know, it's written differently than other books. This is why I think the Proverb a day is a good idea in addition to your Bible reading because you're getting a little bit of everything every day, right? It's not just like, you know, this one story focused on one thing. It's like a little bit of everything, okay? And it says wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. Basically, if you get your wealth in a vain way, then it's gonna be diminished. You're gonna lose it, and this is what the Bible's teaching. A great example is people that win the lottery. When people win the lottery, you can pretty much guarantee that the newspaper's gonna say in a couple years, so-and-so won the lottery, and they're bankrupt. They have no money. Oh, and they also got a divorce. They had problems with their marriage. I mean, their life falls apart. The worst thing that could happen is winning the lottery, right? I mean, you're gonna lose your money, and you're gonna lose your family because it always ruins people. People are so excited. Man, I just wanna win the lottery. Man, I got all this money, and then it destroys their lives. That always happens. You always read about it. But see, the Bible says wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. I remember at my old job just a long time ago, there was a bunch of people talking about this, how, man, this person won the lottery multiple times. They ended up broke, and then they won it again, right? It's like getting struck by lightning twice, and they ended up broke again. They're like, I don't know how that's possible. And I just quoted this verse. I was like, well, the Bible says wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. And they're kinda sitting there, oh, man, that's so profound. That's so wise. I was like, well, that's what the Bible says, right? And I want you to realize something, but it says he that gathereth by labor shall increase. And the promise is by gathering by hard work, the money you get doesn't magically disappear. Now, I want you to realize a lot of people that are rich in this world, which we should not have this goal to be rich, but a lot of people that are rich, in fact, most of them worked very hard to make that money. And what's interesting is they don't just lose the money just immediately. But then you look at, like, musicians, and you look at, like, you know, movie stars, and you look at athletes, and they basically are just guaranteed this massive contract because they're born, like, six foot eight or whatever, right? And it's like, here's $20 million a year, and then 10 years down the road, so-and-so made $280 million in their playing career, and they are bankrupt, right? Like Mike Tyson, like Allen Iverson. It's like, how do you lose hundreds of millions of dollars? I mean, they paid Mike Tyson $50 million per fight. I mean, good night. How do you lose that much money? And it's like he spent, like, $100,000 on a Bengal tiger or something like that. It's like, why are you buying a tiger for $100,000? It's like, you can pay to take a month-long trip to Africa and go to the greatest safaris in the world for less than $100,000. But you had to have a tiger in your house with you. It's like, I guess that's the mind of a fighter. I don't know. But they lose their money, but, you know, oftentimes, it's because they got their wealth in a vain way. And the Bible says if you gather by labor, you increase. That's the secret, okay? Turn to Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6. See, the thing is, if you try to make your life too easy, it ends up hard, but if you live a difficult life, it's going to make it easy. It's the opposite of what the world or what this philosophical system is trying. And look, that makes logical sense. I mean, to say that there's this magic way to not have to put in any effort, it's like you've been trying to swim upstream all your life. Imagine if you could swim downstream. And they've got these cute little sayings, and look, you know, it's entertaining. I saw a documentary on it. It's like a lot of the sayings are like, wow, that's interesting, right? But it's a complete lie, though. Saying that you can live an effortless life and accomplish something, well, you're going to fail in life. And I want you to realize, if you take people that are just born rich, they have all the money in the world, never expected to do anything in life. They end up being the most bitter people, the most upset people. They're not thankful for anything, right? They don't learn the value. I mean, people that just have everything in life, they're not satisfied with something small or something nice. But see, if you work hard, and then all of a sudden, let's say you get a free dinner. Somebody pays for your dinner. It's like, man, praise the Lord. You're thankful. But when you're rich, it's like, you can't be thankful for anything. They hate their lives. Let me tell you something. It's not worth trading lives with these people that are just born rich and just have everything handed to them. It doesn't make them happy. I'm not saying it's a sin to have money. And if God blesses you with money, praise the Lord for that. But what I'm saying is, if you go and just try to have this easy life, it's going to make you in bondage. People that have money, it doesn't make them happy. Proverbs 6, verse 9. Proverbs 6, verse 9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands of sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travelth and thy want as an armored man. And the Bible says, if you always just need sleep, sleep, sleep, you're going to be someone who's traveling, you're going to be poor, and you're one as an armored man. We have all had those times where you wake up in the morning and you're exhausted. It's like, ah, but you got to go to work, right? This is the way it is. It's difficult. It's not easy. But, you know, that's what you have to do. And here's the thing. If you're like, oh, man, I always got to sleep in till 10 a.m. Well, you're not going to get a job, right? Success is based on hard work, okay? Turn your Bible to Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6. Deuteronomy 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6. See, I want you to realize, to get paid good money, you have to either have a skill that people want to pay for that's a very specialized skill, right? For example, if somebody is like an expert computer programmer, well, most of us are not computer programmers, right? It's a specialized skill that's important in today's world where people will pay you money because you've got a skill that is a very rare commodity that you can get a lot of money for. Or you just have to, you know, work very, very hard. Or it's pretty much usually a combination of those things, right? I mean, people have specialized degrees in college. They might make a lot of money. But if you don't have a specialized degree, then you're just not going to get paid. That's just the way it works, right? And that's why I do preach a lot of money because I want to prepare people, especially when they're young, prepare yourself in life. It's difficult in life. It's not easy. I never get up here and say, you know, life's going to be easy for you. But it's also not just that it's not easy. We shouldn't strive to just have an easy life because success is based on hard work. And you know what? It's good for us because otherwise you're going to end up like Adam and Eve who just end up committing sins. You say, well, that's just the Garden of Eden. That's one example. What about David? I'm not going into all the examples in the Bible, but David committed adultery. Why is that? Well, he saw a woman who was bathing. Why was that? Well, he was walking on a roof at night. Now, why would a person walk on a roof in the middle of the night or at midnight or whatever? Probably because they can't sleep. Why is it he couldn't sleep? Well, it says at the time kings go forth to battle, David just stayed home and did nothing. Now, this was not normally what David did, but David in that story, at the time kings go forth to battle, just kind of hanging out. It's like, I'm the king. I got everything I need. And then that's why you ended up committing adultery. Do you see how too much free time is not actually good for you? I mean, that was a man after God's own heart. That's a man who accomplished great things. I mean, most likely, you're never going to kill a Goliath in your life, right? That's a man who did great things, but when he had too much free time, he got into trouble, okay? This would be true for any of us if we have too much free time. It's not good for us. You say, well, that's the men. What about the women? Well, the Bible says women will be saved in childbearing. You say, what does it mean by saved in childbearing? It's not saying their lives physically saved. It's not saying spiritually saved. But if you look at the context in Timothy, it talks about how women can have a problem with being busybodies and gossips. Oh, how dare you say that? That's so sexist. Well, I mean, that is what the Bible says, right? But you know what helps them not do that? Well, they're saved in childbearing, meaning when you raise kids, you're too busy to get into trouble. It's true for men and women. It's reality. If we had too much free time, you know what, we're going to screw up our lives, and we're not going to be happier. We're going to be miserable. Being busy is actually a good thing. I'm not saying it's a sin to go on vacation. I'm not saying it's a sin to have some free time, but what I am saying is you shouldn't be like, oh, I've got to work 40 hours. That's a good thing. It's good to stay busy. It keeps you out of trouble. It's going to keep you happy. It makes you appreciate the small things that you do have. This is Bible, right? Taoism, though. Man, you can have this effortless, easy life. Well, that sounds great, except it's a lie, and it's going to make you miserable and put you into bondage if you go down that road. So with the cha-ching, right, the ching-ching, the secret is hard work, but also raising children. With children, if you want to do a good job raising your children, you know what the secret is? Hard work. I mean, we just talked about how the Bible says women are saved in childbearing. The reason why is by having kids, that takes a lot of time and effort to teach and train those kids. Deuteronomy 6, verse 6. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently onto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And the Bible says we should diligently work hard at teaching and training our children. You say when, Brother Stuckey, when you're sitting in your house. You say when, Brother Stuckey, when you're walking, right? You say when, Brother Stuckey, when you're lying down. You say when, Brother Stuckey, when you rise up from lying down. You say when, Brother Stuckey. It's saying at all times. It's using poetic language to say, hey, you know what, at all times be ready to teach and train your children. Now let me ask you a question. Is it really possible to teach and train your children if you're never around them? Probably not. The indication is you're actually going to be around your children to teach and to train them. And if you're never around your children, how's that going to take place? Here's the thing, though. If you're around your children a lot, it takes a lot of time and effort to train and teach those kids. I mean, people that are not parents, man, you think it's so easy, right? You think, man, it's going to be so easy. When I have kids, it's like the first time I tell them, no, they're never going to do that ever again and everything's going to be great and everything's going to be perfect. It's like I get reminded of this every week, right? My son does a great job of giving me sermon examples. It's just like, you know, we were in Pampanga for a couple days getting stuff together, you know, for our condo that we're going to be moving into and, you know, we got a sofa because it was unfurnished. And it's like, you know, you get a sofa, it's like the first day, it's like I'm watching the kids for a couple minutes, I turn my head for a second and my son got ahold of a pen and it's like all over the sofa. I'm like dumbfounded. You say, Brother Stuckey, were you mad? That is the worst spanking my son has ever gotten in his life. I was angry, right? I was mad, okay? And it's like, man, you know what, it's, and look, we got the stain out. It's like, okay, tied and like, you know, rubbing alcohol and we're able to get rid of it, okay, after scrubbing and scrubbing. Here's the point, though. Watching kids takes time and effort. Say, no, it's so easy, you know, they're just sitting there and you can just relax for 30 minutes and come back, yeah, when they're a couple weeks old, but once they start moving, it doesn't work that way. And here's the thing, it's not that kids are bad, but they're curious, right? I mean, we know foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the thing is kids are just curious. They don't know how things work. It's a whole new world to them. And they're just like, oh, wow, look at this. Man, this thing's moving. It's like, wow, and then they want to put their fingers in there. All kids do that. That's why you got to train and teach them, right? Because otherwise, they could actually get hurt. Say, Brother Sucky, I don't believe in spanking. Okay, would you rather your child accidentally electrocutes themselves because you were too nice to spank them when they're playing with an electrical socket? Well, when my child, when I have a child, they're not going to ever play with electrical sockets. Every child plays with electrical sockets. Every single, they love that. I don't know. I don't know what it is. They love that thing. It's like they're curious. They're like, oh, there's a hole. It's like, man, there's a hole? I got a pen. What will happen if I just like jam that in there, right? That's every kid. That's the way they work. Now, here's the thing. I would rather spank my child to help them avoid having a major danger than end up having a major danger. Look, accidents happen. Things can happen. They can have a problem because no parent is going to claim that they've fully gotten control of their kids where they never do anything makuli, because the Bible says otherwise, right? But what I'm saying is this. If you're going to train your children, it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort. Here's the other thing, though. As a parent, you should love your children more than anybody else. Now, obviously, those kids love their mom and dad more than anybody else, and you should love your kids more than anybody else, and generally, that's going to be true. I want you to realize you're going to do a better job watching your kids than they're going to do at daycare. You say, why? Because that's a job to them. It's not that they love those kids and they know those kids. It's just another kid to them, right? With your own kids, though, you get really scared when things happen. Your child falls, and then they hit their head. You're really scared to see if they really got hurt, right? You don't know, right? You get worried because you love and you care about those kids. It's born into us to love our children, but they're not going to feel the same way at daycare. They're not going to feel the same way at the public school system, but you as an individual parent are going to feel that way, okay? Turn to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. You say, why do you mention daycare? Well, I mention daycare because, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember a daycare in the Bible. What I remember is God commanding us to watch our own children, right? And look, that's difficult. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes both mom and dad working very hard in life, but that is God's system, and God's system works. It's not the effortless way. That's not God's system. It's hard work. That's the answer. Another thing is this. When it comes to having children, a lot of people don't want to have a lot of children today, and there's a couple reasons why. Because it's expensive, and it's difficult. No one's going to say raising kids is easy, and if you say that, you're lying. It's like raising kids is difficult, and you know what? It's very expensive. I'll tell you what. It's very intimidating when you're just like, man, you're trying to provide for your kids. Like, oh, man, expenses add up and everything. So in today's world, people just aren't having a lot of kids anymore, but what does the Bible say? Are kids a blessing or a curse, according to the Bible, a reward or a curse? Well, what does it say in Psalm 127, verse 3? Psalm 127, verse 3. Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. You say, Brother Stuckey, man, I don't know. I'm not going to be happy if I have kids. I'm going to be miserable. It's going to be so hard. Is that what the Bible says? It says in verse 5, Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. The Bible says happy is the man that has a lot of children. Having kids will actually make you happy. Look, my sister has ten kids. My sister's only two years older than me, but she got married when she was 17, when she was graduating college, and you know what? She was a stay-at-home mom, and her husband's a mechanical engineer, and she stayed home and raised the kids, and they had a lot of kids. I'll tell you what. That is a happy family. All the kids are playing together. They're happy. They're having a great time, but is that easy to raise ten kids? Not easy at all. And what's funny is this. My sister's only a couple years older, but obviously she got married a long time before me and had kids before, and when I was younger, I thought, man, it's so easy. It's like when my sister might have difficulties on certain things, I was just thinking, why doesn't she do this? It's so easy. Then all of a sudden when you have kids, it's like, whoa. It's hard. To be successful, though, the secret is hard work. Go to Psalm 101. Psalm 101. Psalm 101. Psalm chapter 101. Psalm chapter 101. Now, here's the thing about this. If you try to make your life too easy raising your kids, you're going to screw up, because the easy method is to shove your kids in front of a television set for eight hours every day. You say, Brother Stuckey, man, I've gotten ahold of this preaching. As a husband, I need to provide and work hard, save up money so my wife can be a stay-at-home mom, and then the mom's like, well, I'll just shove my kid in front of the TV for eight hours. I'm homeschooling. Is that really what the Bible's trying to say? Just shove your kids in front of a TV to avoid the public school system? You'd probably be better off just putting them in the public school system if that's what you're going to do in all reality, because if you're trying to avoid the brainwashing, just have them watch TV all day. That's really going to help avoid the brainwashing. Just shove them in front of a TV for eight hours a day, shove them in front of a computer for eight hours a day, but, man, I'm following what the Bible says of homeschooling. Is that really what the Bible says? It's like, you know, it'd probably be better for them to be in public school if that's your definition or your way of doing homeschooling. And, look, you say, Brother Stuckey, you know, what do you know? Your kids are young. Yeah, but I was homeschooled starting in middle school, okay? I understand a little bit about homeschooling. I know what the Bible says about it. I understand, you know, when it works and when it doesn't work. And I'll tell you what. Many people, many Baptists, they take care of their kids at home, but not really, and the kids grow up without any knowledge, and they're not really very spiritual. Well, there's something that's being done that's wrong, because the Bible says, Train up a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he should not depart from it. That's God's promise, okay? Psalm 101, verse 3, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes, I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me. And what it says here in the book of Psalms is, I'm not going to set anything wicked before mine eyes, okay? Now, a good modern-day application of this verse, in most cases, is the Hellovision set. Now, I'm not saying absolutely everything is sin that's on there, but I am saying most of it is. I mean, if you give your kids, you say, Well, man, my son, you know, he's nine years old, he's ready for his first cell phone. At nine years old? Just, you know, let him watch whatever he wants. I trust my son. At nine years old, you're going to give a nine-year-old access to anything he wants to see without any supervision. Because I remember when I was growing up, we had a computer, but it was in the room where it's like, the public room, not in my own room, where my parents saw and checked everything I did, right? And they knew everything that I was watching. It's foolish to say, I trust my kids to just do whatever. They're too young to realize the problems they can cause in their lives, okay? The easy way would be shove your kids in front of a TV all day, but you're going to screw up raising your kids if that's what you do. Turn your Bible to Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23. Another example of taking the easy way out raising your kids would be to just yell at your kids and not spank your kids. You're too loving to spank, you just yell at your kids all the time. You say, no, no, no, I would never yell. I don't spank, but I don't yell either. I'm always under control. Yeah. Right. You're going to do one or the other. That's reality. And what does the Bible say? Well, the Bible says spanking. Proverbs 23, verse 12. Proverbs 23, verse 12. Apply thine heart unto instruction in thine ears to the words of knowledge. Withhold not correction from the child. The Bible says that if you don't correct your child, you're withholding something. What are you withholding? Well, you're withholding the instruction. Spanking gives instruction to kids. Okay? It says, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. You see, the Bible says beating your kid with the rod, well, that's what it says in Proverbs 23, verse 13. Now, realize this. When we're saying beating, we're not saying hitting on the face. You're not punching your kid. You're not hitting them on the face. But there is a part of the body that causes a lot of pain and no injuries. Right? There's a padded spot on the body that God made specifically for this purpose. The part of your body you use to sit down, that's the spot God gave to punish your children when they act up. And the Bible tells you to beat them with the rod. And that could mean a modern-day application. You could use a wooden spoon for spanking. I personally just use my hand, but my wife has a wooden spoon. And here's the thing. When you tell your kids, do you want me to get the spoon? All of a sudden, they quit acting up. Why? Because they know what the spoon means, and they know what the pain is, right? But here's the thing. You say, I'm too nice to spank, but the Bible says, look, if you spank your children, they're not going to die. I'm too nice. They're not going to die. That's what it says. You say, what does that mean? It means they're not going to die. It's just literal, okay? If you spank your children, they don't die. But what it does is it helps get rid of the foolishness that's bound in the heart of a child, as the Bible speaks about. Verse 14. Thou shalt beat him with a rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Say, how does spanking my children deliver them from hell? Here's the thing. As a parent, what you should do is show that you love your children. And what you teach your children is, here's a loving parent that loves you, but also punishes you. And here's the thing. It makes it very easy to understand a loving God that loves you, but also punishes you when you do wrong. Doesn't it make hell make sense? Right? But here's the thing. If you choose not to do this, there's a chance your child is going to be rebellious and never understand the gospel, never get saved, simply because you refuse to actually punish and correct your child. Go to Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. Proverbs 29. What's interesting about this is it takes a lot of work to raise your children correctly, and yet the Bible says that if you put in effort, the result is rest. That'll make your life easier. You say, that doesn't make sense, but that's what the Bible says. Proverbs 29, verse 17. Correct thy son, referring to spanking. Right? We saw earlier that's what correct means. Correct thy son. And not just spanking, but when your kids do wrong, you tell them, hey, this is what you did wrong. You hug them. You say you love them. But correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest. Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. So the Bible says if you correct your child, they give you rest. You say, how is that possible? It doesn't make sense to me. Here's the thing. If you never correct your children when they do wrong, then they're going to act rebellious their entire lives, and you're never going to have rest. You're always going to be stressed out. You're always going to be miserable, or you could put in more time when they're young, and they will learn to obey. Let me tell you something. I was spanked a lot when I was a kid. Right? I was very, you know, I love to play soccer and basketball, so I'm always throwing basketball in the living room and everything like that, and bouncing balls and everything, and it's just like, you know what? I got in trouble for it a lot, but you know what? I'll be honest. At school, I never got in trouble. They used to count, I don't know if they do check marks here, but they would count check marks on the board. I never got any check marks. The only time I ever got a check mark when I was in public school in grade school, and I was the only kid in my grade, the only time I got a check mark is because a kid, I still got the mark here, he stabbed me with a pencil, and we both got a check mark. And it's this kid who is just a rebellious kid, it's like literally, he just stabbed me, and it's like I got a check mark too. It's like I still got the lead mark in my arm. It's like what in the world did I do wrong? It's like in a basketball game, one guy punches another guy and both get a technical foul. It's like what in the world? Right? It's like I didn't even do anything. Right? But it's just like I obeyed. You know why? Because I knew that if my teacher called my home and told my parents that I was rebellious, man, I would have gotten the rod. I would have got spanked really hard. Okay? Go to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. And that kid that actually stabbed me, he actually serves as a great example for this sermon, for both sermons really. This kid was probably the smartest kid in the city I grew up in. Genius level smart. Super smart. Now this kid I tried to give the gospel to several years ago because this kid became a loser and a derelict. Doesn't work. Right? I mean he literally just like lives off the government and he ran for senator and he's like you don't even have a job and everything. Gets arrested like every other week. I mean if you type in his name you see he gets arrested for beating his girlfriend and everything like that. I mean he just destroyed his life. I tried to give him the gospel one time because I heard that he was suicidal. Like he was talking about committing suicide and so I hadn't talked to him in like 15 years. Right? Because he was a kid just super smart, super talented. I mean he could have done anything he wanted to with the brain he was given and he just did nothing. And his parents were rich. Here's the thing. Both parents were doctors, had all the money in the world, never had to do anything. His parents never spent time with him. What ends up happening? Becomes a bad kid. Easy life and he was probably just mad that his parents never spent time with him and he acted out by just... And when I was a kid we thought he was funny when he did stuff. Like April Fool's Day prank, he took the teacher's books and threw them in the toilet. As kids we thought it was funny and then when that same kid grows up never getting disciplined by his parents, what ends up... You know what they did? Instead of disciplining we'll just send you off to boarding school. We're not going to spend time with you. We're not going to do what the Bible says. Both parents made lots of money and guess what? The kid ended up probably being a rep for me. I tried to give him the gospel I gave him several chances and he ended up just mocking what I believed and it was just like, alright, whatever. It's like I'm not even going to try anymore. But that is the thing of having a lot of ability but not working hard and having too easy of a life. He destroyed his life. It's reality. So with the cha-ching, with money it comes down to hard work, right? With raising children it comes down to hard work. With church, a successful church is only successful by hard work. That is how we're going to be successful as a church. There's different aspects to this. One of that is the leadership and the other aspect is the people, okay? So first on the leadership notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 1. This is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work. The Bible says if you desire to be a pastor it is a good work that you're desiring. You say, Brother Sucky, I have a desire to be a pastor. Praise the Lord. But you better have the desire you better have the desire not to be famous on YouTube but because you want to accomplish something by hard work. Look, I didn't start this church because I want to be famous here in the Philippines as the new IFB preacher. No, it's by hard work you're successful. I want to get people saved here. And to do that it's hard work. That's the answer. You say, Brother Sucky, why is it that most Baptist churches their sermons are terrible? They teach you nothing because the pastors don't know anything. Because they don't read the Bible for themselves. They don't study the Bible. They're too lazy to prepare a sermon and they feed you garbage every week. The churches are terrible. It's a joke. And look, I'm not saying this as a source of comparison. It's sad. I hope there's a lot of great churches in the metro middle in 20 years. But how is it that you can come to the house of God and a book that's this thick and your spiritual leader teaches you nothing every week? They don't know anything. Or they're too afraid to tell you what the Bible actually says. Why? Because all they care about is your money. All they care about is the cha-ching. Exactly. That's all they care about. And they rob the people by lying to them. And it's crazy because honestly this is the story of pretty much everybody I know in Baptist churches in the Philippines. That's what they always say. And here's the thing. They always try to be respectful with their churches which I appreciate because you should try to be respectful. Obviously if you're at that church and that's the authority. But then it's like you just can't help yourself. And I get it. Because I've been at churches where I knew hey, I'm not going to learn anything today but I'm required to come. Right? That's ridiculous. How is it that you can't learn anything? I mean this is a big book. It's like man, studying through Hosea I learned like a hundred things. Studying through Romans I learned a hundred things. How is it that there's nothing to teach because they're not putting in the time, because they're not doing it because it's a good work they desire. They either desire money or fame or whatever. Okay, or they don't really know what they want to do. Verse 2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Now look, I'm not preaching on the qualifications of the ministry but you must be the husband of one wife. So all these single guys running around here calling themselves pastor. Well, quit calling yourself a pastor. Amen. It's like, you know, I mean wouldn't it be weird if your pastor was like dating someone? Right? That's just awkward. This is weird. You know what I mean? And it's just like the husband of one wife, it's not that complicated. But it says at the end of verse 2 they need to be apt to teach, having the ability to teach. Now here's the thing about the ability to teach. Some people might not really have that natural ability. Maybe it's just not for them. And that's okay. You don't have to be a pastor. But the number one thing that gives you the ability to teach is just having knowledge of what you're teaching about. Right. Here's the thing. I don't care how talented you are at teaching. If you don't speak Mandarin Chinese, you're not going to get up here and teach Mandarin Chinese to people and have it make sense. Unless you're lying a lot. Right? This symbol means whatever. Right? It's just like, you know, I couldn't get up here and teach you Mandarin Chinese because I have no skill or knowledge in Mandarin Chinese. Now I could get up here and show you how to solve a calculus problem because, you know, I was a math major. You have an ability to teach if you have knowledge of something. You say, why is it that a lot of pastors don't have an ability to teach? They don't have knowledge about it. This is like the only thing where you can actually say you're an expert at this career field and you have no knowledge of it. I mean, isn't it crazy? I don't know what is because no other book would anybody claim to be an expert at with having never studied it. You know what I mean? Nobody's going to sit here and say, I'm an expert at chemical engineering and you got a degree in something completely different. But, yeah, with the Bible, everybody thinks they're an expert and they've never read it. You would never say that about any other book, but that's what people say about the Bible. Now turn in your Bible to 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2. For the sake of time, some of these verses I'm not going to show you, but the Bible says about church, you know, or what the Bible says about what Jesus did, He said, I must be about my Father's business. Here's the thing. If you have a business, you take it very seriously. You're very diligent. You work very hard at it. And, you know, in the house of God, we ought to treat this as something that's serious. It's important. And here's the reality. What we do in the house of God and going out solely is more important than anything happening in the Philippines. Any like-minded church going out, getting people saved, and the preaching of God's Word, that is more important than anything else happening because that is us rescuing people from hell. It's important. We ought to take it seriously, right? 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So the books of Timothy are part of the Pastoral Epistles, as they're known, and it's basically wisdom on people running churches, and it says, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Now, why does it say needeth not to be ashamed? Because if you stand up behind a pulpit and preach three times a week, and you have no knowledge, you're going to make a lot of mistakes, and you're going to look like a fool. Somebody's going to come to you after the service and ask you about that. You know, you're going to stand up here behind the pulpit. You know, you just got saved a month ago, but you got that calling. So boom, you're immediately in the ministry, right? And then you get up here and say, and in the Old Testament, they got saved by sacrificing animals. And somebody's going to come to you after the service and say, Well, what about here in Acts chapter 10, right, about whosoever believeth, and then it's something that all the prophets taught, or any manner of verses. We're talking about the concept of being born again in the Old Testament as well, and it's not by works. We're not good enough to make it to heaven. Neither were they in the Old Testament. You're going to look like a fool. And you're going to be ashamed. You're going to be embarrassed, right? And the reality is you need to have knowledge if you're actually going to be teaching and instructing people, okay? Turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Say, Brother Stuckey, what's the secret to getting all these salvations? Because we as a church, between our churches over the first two months of this year, we had exactly 1,500 salvations that we counted. We understand that these numbers are not 2 plus 2 equals 4. It's not like we know everybody's heart. There's false converts in there, and we understand that. But the reason why we had a big number was simply hard work. It was simply people going out sowing for a lot of time. It's not that we just said, well, let's just advertise this special service. We're going to invite some famous boxer up here to preach, and we're going to get like a million unbelievers and just preach them down the aisle at this old-fashioned altar call. Is that the method we have in the Bible? God's method is hard work, and a church to be successful to get a lot of people saved, there's no magic formula. It's called work. It's called hard work. And it's called not just one person working, all of us working. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9, Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Now, when you think of labor, you think of not just work, but hard work. You think of a job that really requires you to work very hard. And look, I did a lot of jobs that were desk jobs, Microsoft Excel, math, and it's very mentally exhausting, but quite honestly, it's not a job they call like a laboring job. You think of someone like a farmer who's out in the heat for 12 hours a day and say, man, that is a man who labors and works really hard. By the sweat of his brow, he's bringing forth bread, right? Well, here's the thing. When it comes to us going soul winning, that's hard work. It takes a lot of effort to go out soul winning, especially as it's getting hotter now. Man, yesterday I was like, man, it's hot. It's starting to get hot out there. It takes a lot of hard work. That's how we're successful, and that's how we're accepted of him. Verse 10, We will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, this is not the same as the great white throne judgment because all of our sins are cast as far as the east is from the west. They're gone. We have eternal life. We never have to worry about our salvation. Don't let anybody stand up here and say, well, if you're not reading the Bible, you might not be saved. If you believed on Jesus, you have eternal life. It's a gift. You never have to worry about it. Here's the thing, though. Your rewards are based on the work you do. You say, brother Stuckey, I think I'm going to get a lot of rewards one day because I'm part of a church that gets a lot of salvation. Where does the Bible say being part of a church that gets a lot of salvation automatically gives you rewards just because you're part of that church? It says you're going to appear before God for your own labor, and the question is, what work did you do? Here's the thing. If somebody at this church outworks me for the Lord, they're going to get more rewards, whether or not they're an evangelist or pastor or whatever. It's based on the work you do, and if you labor and you're reading the Bible and you're going sowing and you're serving God, you're going to get rewards, but that doesn't come by just trying to find the Dow. Man, brother Stuckey, I found the Dow. I was meditating outside in a forest for five hours, and I saw these spirits and I found the Dow, and man, it's like I'm floating downstream. It's so easy, right? Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. And this is literally what Taoism or Taoism teaches. I saw part of a documentary the other day on it, trying to just learn a little bit more, which isn't really worth talking about during the sermon too much, but it's just like this general philosophy, but oh, they got those charismatics in there as well, right? When somebody dies, they have someone who acts as an intermediator, like a séance and everything. Then all of a sudden, once he starts like jumping and everything, it's like, oh, the spirit hit him. The spirit of the dead relative entered into him, right? So they got their Pentecostal charismatic mumbo jumbo they add in there as well and stuff like that, but the basic philosophy is just how to live an effortless life. What's the problem with this? The Bible never said you're supposed to live an effortless life. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. Does anybody know the verses that says that we're supposed to have an easy life or that we should try to have an easy life? It doesn't say that. Hard work is what makes us successful. Now, of course, we're not trying to get in fights. We're not trying to cause problems in our life, but we need to realize hard work is what makes the path plain. It's going to make our lives easier, and look, I get the appeal of this because all of us, we get stressed out, we get tired, we get busy, and we would love to have a little bit more free time and peace and things to work out better, but in reality, if we had that time, it probably would be bad for us. Of course, I would love to be less stressed, but I certainly don't want to end up committing a sin like King David and screwing up my whole life, but that's how free time could end up screwing up your life. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 9. He said, Brother Stuckey, why was Paul the apostle the most... I think we'd agree. Paul the apostle was the most successful apostle, the most successful evangelist, missionary, church planner in the history of the world. I mean, he wrote half the New Testament. He wrote over half the New Testament in terms of number of books. You say, why is that, Brother Stuckey? Is it because he was just smarter than the other apostles? Well, he was a very smart man, very educated, spoke many languages. I don't think there's any doubt that Paul was probably one of the most educated people. He was very knowledgeable, but notice why he was so successful. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 9. For I am the least of the apostles that am not me to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. Notice this. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Now, this is part of Scripture, so I believe this is true. According to the Bible, Paul worked harder than any of the other apostles, disciples, followers of Christ, or whatever. He outworked all of them. Why did he accomplish so much? He just outworked everybody else. You say, Brother Stuckey, what's the secret? Now, how do I learn a lot about the Bible? I want to learn the Bible and know the Bible. Just read the Bible a lot. Memorize the Bible a lot. It's called just time. That's the secret. Just spend a lot of time reading and learning and studying this book, and you're going to get that knowledge. Is it the secret to getting a lot of salvation? Is it just this magic talent? No, it's just spend a lot of time soul winning. That's the secret on anything. I mean, as a Bible-believing Christian, this philosophy just seems laughable. I'm like, how could anyone believe that? I get why people want to believe that, but why would anybody think living an effortless life is going to make you accomplish a lot? Isn't that ridiculous? I mean, hard work is what makes you successful, and if you follow a philosophy like this, the opposite ends up happening. You end up being in bondage, right? I understand the appeal of this philosophy, because it's great. It sounds nice to have an easier life, but here's the thing. The benefit of completely rejecting this and realize this is garbage is you're going to accomplish more in life. Or you can just lie to yourself and have this idea, somehow I can reach the Tao and have an easy life. There is no Tao that's out there, my friend. There's Lord God Almighty, and He gave us a book, and this is the answer in life, and the answer is hard work. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see your word on this topic, and help us realize that all of man's philosophies are garbage. They're not what the Bible teaches. They're actually the opposite. Help us to realize as individuals, as a church, as people, as us that are husbands, wives, raising our children, trying to make it in life, that success is really determined by how hard we work, God, and we believe that promotion cometh from the Lord, so I ask you to bless all the people of this church. They're trying to work hard and provide and be successful in life. Help us to be better husbands, better wives, better parents. Help us to work hard and accomplish a lot, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Song number 63, let's sing What a Day That Will Be. What a Day That Will Be, song number 63 in your hymnals. Song number 63, let's sing What a Day That Will Be. Let's sing the two stanzas. Let's sing it on the first. There is coming a day when no heartache shall come. No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye. Always peace forevermore on the happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when by Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, don't want to save me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and lifts me to the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. On the second now, there'll be no sorrow there, no more birth and severe, no more sickness or pain, no more parting over there, and forever I will be with the one denied for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when by Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, don't want to save me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and lifts me to the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. Amen. Amen. All right, we're dismissed.