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you you All right, good morning everyone welcome again to Verity Baptist Church, Manila We're gonna start now our second service. Please take your seats and grab your hymnals Open in psalm number 392 psalm number three nine two psalm number three hundred ninety two We'll sing a soul winner for Jesus 392 a soul winner for Jesus I want today the lost sinner to leave his every way And be from bondage free A soul winner, a soul winner for Jesus A soul winner for Jesus You let me be his name A soul winner for Jesus A soul winner for Jesus He's done so much for me Sing it out a second I want to be a soul winner and bring the lost to pride That day is great, may know I want to live for Christ ever and do his best and will Because he loves me so A soul winner for Jesus A soul winner for Jesus You let me be his name A soul winner for Jesus A soul winner for Jesus He's done so much for me I want to be a soul winner till Jesus calls for me To lay my burdens down I want to hear him say Serve as a gathered man he shares, receives A star he grabs A soul winner for Jesus A soul winner for Jesus You let me be his name A soul winner for Jesus Jesus, a soul winner for Jesus He's done so much for me Let's pray, dear Heavenly Father. Lord, thank you for this day that you have given to us, that you have allowed us to be in your house. To praise and worship you, Lord God. We pray that you would bless the service, Lord God. Bless the singing, Lord God. Bless the Bible reading and the preaching of your word. He's a man of God that will be standing here, Lord, to preach your word, giving boldness to preach your word. And bless the day moving forward as we go, win souls for you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Alright, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church and take out your bulletin. We'll go through a couple of things real quickly. First, let's count up any salvations that we have to report that I'm unaware of. So, let's start in the back. Are there any salvations to report? Four? Anybody else? Alright, how about in this section? Salvations. Anybody? Two? Two? Alright. Anybody else in this section? Salvations. Two? Three? So, thirteen. Anybody I'm missing? Alright. Well, great job everybody. And, I'd say of course we do have soul winning at 1.45 here today. Obviously this time of year you never know what the weather's going to be like. If the same thing happens, I think it was last week or the week before that, we'll just sing hymns until the weather calms down, until the storm passes over, right? And so, and I'll also say this that, you know, if you have like young kids and, you know, you want to just go close to the church just if ever you have to come back because it's raining, just let us know. I understand that. Obviously we have a lot of young kids and, you know, last week we had the kids out there because it seemed like the rain was gone. And then trying to get all three kids back into the car, I mean, it's like a disaster. So, I get it. If you want to just be nearby or whatever because you have young kids or whatever, that's perfectly fine. Just let us know. Obviously, you know, be wise about how the weather's going to be. Hopefully we'll have a fair weather later on, but you never know. But anyways, we'll have Brother Chris lead us in another song. All right, for the next song, song number 396. 396. Song number 396 So Little Time. So, let's sing this out with pass run. Song number 396, So Little Time. So Little Time. Ready? On the first. So little time The harvest will be over Our weeping clock, we reapers take and hold. Report our birth To Jesus, Lord of Harvest And hope does fly, and death will save us all today. Today we weep, or miss our golden harvest Today is given us Souls to weep All dead to save, so dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go To bring some singer in. On the second. So many times, I should have strongly pleaded I'll often live, I feel so strangely harmed. The spirit moved Oh, had I planned for Jesus The greatest hope, when lost was not before. Today we weep, or miss our golden harvest Today is given us Souls to weep All dead to save, so dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go To bring some singer in Despite the heat, does his list The hardship, the broken heart Or those we cannot win Misunderstood, because we're all peculiar. Still no regret will happen for our sin Today we weep, or miss our golden harvest Today is given us Souls to weep All dead to save, so dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go To bring some singer in. On the fourth. A day of pleasure, or a feast Of friendship, a house or car Of garments, fair or faint We'll all be dead, when souls are brought to Heaven. And then, how sad To face this lack of sleep Today we weep, or miss our golden harvest. Today is given Us, but souls to weep All dead to save, so dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go To bring some singer in The harvest fly With reapers fewest wasted And many souls will die and never know. The love of Christ The joy of sins forgiven Will let us be, and love and pray. Today we weep, or miss our golden harvest Today is given Us, but souls to weep All dead to save, so dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go To bring some singer in. Good singing, let's take our offering. Good singing, let's take our offering. Amen. Amen for scripture reading. Please open your Bibles to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4, and we will only be reading verses 12 down to verse 25. Matthew chapter 4 verses 12 to 25. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Matthew chapter 4 verse 12. Now when Jesus heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast and the borders of Zabulun and Nephilim. But it might be fulfilled with the spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, The land of Zabulun and the land of Nephilim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them who sat in the region, and shadowed yet lighted strung up. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting an end to the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And he straightway left their nest and followed me, and going on from thence he saw their two brethren, James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, and I shook with Zebedee their father, manning their nest, and they called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Jesus went about all galloping, preaching in the sin of God, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and handing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went right off Syria, and they brought him to him all sick people that were taken of diverse diseases and hormones, and those who could possess the devil, and those who could lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and healed them, and the quality and greatness of Jews of people from Galilee, and from the capitalist, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. Blessed be God's will, let us pray, for God, in heaven, we pray that the Lord will give it to us, and for us to be pleased by his day, and to be blessed by his holy name, Lord Jesus Christ, holy name of Christ, holy name of Jesus Christ. All right, we're in Matthew chapter 4. We're going to finish up Matthew 4. And as I said, we're not going to start the Sermon on the Mount next week. We'll wait until after my wife and I get back from the U.S., which we're going to in a few months. And so this will be the last sermon in the book of Matthew for at least a little while. And the name of the sermon is, Follow Me, Follow Me. And notice what it says in Matthew 4, verse 12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtelum. And it says he came and dwelt in Capernaum. Keep your finger here in Matthew 4. Go to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11 in your Bible. Matthew 11. Matthew 11. And I want to show you a reference here to Capernaum later on in the book of Matthew. The Bible says in Matthew 11, verse 20, Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. So these are pretty harsh words to the location of Capernaum, because he said it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom. Now when the Bible is saying that Sodom would have remained, what it's saying is before Sodom and Gomorrah became like it was in Genesis 19, it was an area that actually could have been reached. Like you see the reference to repenting in sackcloth and ashes. You think of like Assyria and Nineveh in the Bible. And it's an area that you think is just so wicked, they'll never change. And yet when the message came from Jonah, they actually did change. And the Bible is saying that there was a point for Sodom that they would have changed also. Now of course it reached a point where God's like, I've got to just destroy them. What he's saying here about Capernaum is you're hearing the word of God and you're completely rejecting it. And you know what, when we go soul winning, you go soul winning in some locations and some areas are receptive and some are not receptive. Some areas want to hear the word of God and some areas don't want to hear the word of God. You go to some neighborhoods and people are friendly. They're listening. A lot of people get saved. Then you go to other neighborhoods or other streets and they're extremely unreceptive. Right? That area right behind that church, that entire subdivision, is extremely unreceptive. I have five hours knocking there with zero salvations. Which in America that's kind of normal, but here in the Philippines that's not that normal. And it's just like very unreceptive to the message. I'm glad that it's been knocked. It's like that is on the last on the list of re-knocking. In Pampanga we had this area. There was a gated area and we walk up to it because we're trying to knock all the doors. And there's nobody at the front to let people in or out. So we just walked in, started knocking the doors. Every other door there's like a Lenny poster. Lenny Robredo for president. And we had so many people. There's like 50 doors. So many people told us, you're not allowed to do this here. You're not allowed to do this here. They were really mad at us. And then we get to the end and then the guard's back and he's like, how'd you guys get in? I was like, we walked in. And he's like, you guys aren't allowed to do this here. I was like, don't worry. We're never coming back. Because it was extremely unreceptive. Literally we knocked the 50 doors in like 30 minutes. As a church we're like, all right, shake the dust off our feet. We're never returning here. Just extremely unreceptive to the gospel. And so that tells you what it's like with people that are obsessed with Lenny for president. They're just unreceptive to the gospel from my experience. But some areas are receptive and some aren't. Now, there are countries in this world that are receptive and some that aren't. This country is a receptive country. There are countries that are not receptive to the gospel. You look at countries that have a very dominant false religion. They're not going to be that receptive to the gospel. But there are countries like this that are receptive. But even within this country, there are areas that are not receptive. Now, we try to knock every door once, but when you find areas that don't listen, you just move on. And here's the truth. We do a lot of soul winning in parks, and there's one reason for it. It is not because it's a better atmosphere. Now, it is a better atmosphere. It's great for families, but we knock those areas or talk to the people there because we get more salvations. If we got more salvations door to door here in the areas, it doesn't matter how dirty the streets are. We're going to knock these areas because that's where the salvations are. We go to the parks simply because we get a lot of salvations. And the Bible is saying here about Capernaum, this was an area, they heard the word of God, and they just rejected the word of God. Go back to Matthew 4. Matthew 4. And that teaches us that when people hear the word of God a lot and they reject it, they're going to be held more accountable for it. People that hear the Gospel many times in their life and they reject it, they reject it, and they reject it, and they reject it, God is going to be a lot less long suffering with them when they get thrown into the lake of fire. They're going to be punished a lot more because they had opportunities and they rejected it. The sad thing is there's people in this world that are going to die and go to hell without having ever heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. And I'm not even just talking about countries with false religions. You know, I grew up in the United States of America, and I never heard the true Gospel until I was 18 years old. 18 years old. I had no hope of getting saved until I heard the Gospel. I had no chance. Now, I wanted to hear the Gospel. I mean, I was worried about my eternal destiny for a long time before that. Never heard the Gospel until I was 18 years old. You know, the Bible says that God has given somebody to give the Gospel to every single person in the book of 2 Corinthians or 1 Corinthians that says that. And so here's the thing. Everybody is meant in this world to hear the Gospel. Does that mean that everybody's going to get saved? No, but God wants everybody to get an opportunity. He's not willing that any should perish, the Bible says. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Right? He died for everybody for a reason. He's the Savior of all men, the Bible says. And yet some people die, and they never hear the Gospel. Now, what I would say is that if you're in this room, and you have lost relatives, you've got Catholic relatives in your family, you've got Catholic co-workers and friends, here's the truth. It's unlikely that I will give them the Gospel. It's unlikely that anybody else at this church is going to give them the Gospel. It's your job. It's your job. And if you don't do it, it's like the blood's on your hands. Because you're the one who has the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them. You know, I went to a church a long time ago, and they had a list of people in their bulletin that they were praying for to get saved. And there's a list of like 25 people, you saw their names on there, and they were relatives of people at the church. And I think it's great to pray for lost people to get saved. If you've got lost relatives, pray for them on a daily basis. Don't give up. Do everything you can to get them saved. But the reality is, a lot of the names on the list, nobody had even preached to them. Because we started to go through the list and give the Gospel, and that list got a lot smaller. Because they're here in the Gospel. And it's great that you pray for lost people to get saved, but it's like, you know, God, please help my friend to get saved. Please help my friend to get saved. Please help my friend to get saved. They show up, you go out to the gym, you lift, you go home. Please help them get saved. It's like, you didn't preach the Gospel to them. How are they going to get saved if you don't give them a chance? And as a saved person, you are the chance. You are the hope. You are the person meant to give them the Gospel. Matthew 4, verse 14. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the region in shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, I've talked about this word a lot recently because it's come up in the Bible, but every time we see this word repent, I like to take time to explain what it means and what it does not mean because there's a lot of confusion about this word. And so I want you to go to John 20 in the Bible. Let us see what Jesus was preaching about salvation. John 20. John 20. And the Bible says in John 20, verse 28, And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Wow, it sounds like Thomas realized that Jesus was God. Right? I mean, when you show people this, they'll say, Well, Thomas said that. It doesn't mean it's true. It's like, well, why didn't Jesus rebuke him? Look, if somebody came up to me and said, Man, you know, Brother Stuckey, I like your preaching so much. You're my God. It's like, Excuse me? I want to rebuke that person and say, What are you talking about? Right? Jesus doesn't rebuke Thomas. You say, Why? Because Jesus is God. And throughout the Bible, He lets people, allows people to worship Him because He is God. Now, if you're a normal man, stand up, I myself also am a man. But Jesus lets people worship Him. Why? Because He's God. Right? It says in verse 29, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are written in this book. In the book of John, these things are written. But these, which are not written in the book of John, I should say. But it's referring to the book of John. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name. So the Bible is saying that in the book of John, this book was written for the primary purpose of showing people salvation. Because books have different purposes. Right? I mean, I love the Song of Solomon. I think it's a great book. I've preached through that book. But if I'm trying to get somebody saved, I'm not going to the Song of Solomon. You say, why? Because that's not going to help somebody get saved. There's nothing in that book about salvation. But when you think about books that are about salvation, you think of the book of John. And the book was written for that purpose. So if the book of John is written so that people can get saved, then it should be the book that should shed some light on what you have to do to be saved, and what you have to repent of, and what does that mean in terms of salvation. And so I want to be fair to the Bible here today. So I'm going to go through the book of John. This might take a long time. We're going to look up every single reference to repent in the book of John. Now, if it takes five hours, we're going to be here five hours. Okay? So let me start at the beginning of the book. Hold on one second. All right. Let's look through John 1. All right. It's not in John 1. Not in John 1. John 2. Not in John 2. John 3. No, not in John 3. John 4. Nope. John 5. John 6. John 7. You say, brother, I've got the word repent in those chapters. Okay, throw away your NIV, right? You obviously don't have a King James. John 8. John 9. By the way, you guys don't have to turn there. John 10. I hear the pages turning. John 11. John 12. Man, where is this word? John 13. John 14. John 15. John 16. John 17. John 18. John 19. John 20. John 21. It's not in there. I mean, look, if you had to turn from your sins and quit drinking to be saved and repent of all your sins to be saved, and repent of all your sins to be saved, don't you think that the book that tells you how to get to heaven would use that word one time? And it doesn't use repent. It doesn't use repente. It doesn't use repente. It doesn't use repente. It doesn't use any form of that word. You say, how is that possible? Because you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. You say, what do I have to do to be saved? What must I do? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Or in John 3, whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Look, Jesus did all the work for you already. Now, yes, God wants you to read the Bible every day. Yes, God wants you to go to church every week. Yes, He wants you to pray without ceasing. Yes, He wants you to keep the commandments. Yes, He wants to confess your sins on a daily basis. But you don't have to do all these things to go to heaven. What must I do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyway, here's the thing. Before I was saved, every single night for a couple of years, I would pray to God and say, God, I hope you'll forgive me. Please forgive me. I want to go to heaven. Every day, every night I said that because I was afraid God would not forgive me. I was like, I've sinned. I don't know if He'll forgive me. And I was hoping. And I had no assurance because I was looking at my lifestyle and I thought, I do good. I do bad. I hope it's enough. And isn't that the way that you felt before you were saved? I do good. I do bad. I hope it's enough. This is why people say, I don't know for sure if I'm going to heaven because they think I've done good, I've done bad, and I hope it's enough. And when I heard the message of salvation, I was so thankful because I had been trying to quit things for years. There were things that I knew that were wrong. I was like, why do I keep making the same mistakes? And then I realized there's a God that loves me that does not make it difficult to get to heaven. Now the Bible says, narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, but not because it's difficult. It's not hard to be saved because all it is is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as easy as just one, two, three, believe on Jesus Christ. That's how simple it is. But here's the thing, quitting your sins is difficult. I mean, we still struggle with the same things on a daily basis. You say, why? Because we're sinners. And we're going to struggle with the old man until the day that we die. Let me show you a few verses, though, about what Jesus did preach. Go to John 6. John 6. John 6. I guess that didn't take five hours. There's a lot less verses that talked about repentance in John than I thought. John 6. And the Bible says in John 6, verse 47, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. So what did Jesus preach he had to do to be saved? He said, you've got to believe on me, not Muhammad, not Buddha, not Apollo Kibiloy, not Felix Manalo, not Eli Soriano, but just believing on Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Believe on me and you receive everlasting life. Now what's interesting is the next verse says, I am that bread of life. Now the Catholic Church sees John 6, and this is their chapter, where they say and teach transubstantiation. They teach you've got to take communion, and the bread turns into the body of Jesus inside of your mouth. And you drink, well, they use wine. We obviously don't use wine. We use grape juice. But they'll say the wine of Jesus turns into his blood, and you must drink his blood to be saved. You must eat his flesh to be saved. And they'll say it literally turns into his body inside of your mouth. And probably, I did not grow up Catholic, but probably a lot of you tried this as a kid. Let me take it out and see if it's the body of Jesus. And it's not the body of Jesus. But they'll say, well, when you take it out, it's no longer the body of Jesus. Then it becomes the body of Jesus. Then it's not the body of Jesus. It's like, that's retarded. That's stupid. But here's the thing. What is the Bible saying? Is the Bible saying, I mean, is Jesus saying, I am Tinapai? It's an example. I mean, it's obvious. It's an example. I mean, Jesus also said, I am the door. Oh, man, I believe that God is literally a door. I mean, he might be that door. He might be that door. I think it's an example. So what is Jesus trying to say? He's saying, being saved, because it's right after John 6, 47, is as easy as just eating a slice of bread. You know, it's pretty easy to eat a slice of bread. I mean, my youngest son, Ezra, is 14 months old. He eats food on his own. Right? If you want to make him happy, give him a cracker, give him a piece of bread, and then he'll quit crying. I mean, that's the secret. He learned to eat on his own. He could eat bread on his own at a very young age. Look, we're not talking about using chopsticks to eat rice or something. We're talking about just eating a piece of bread. It's pretty easy. Jesus also said, I am the door. Opening a door, pretty easy. He said, I'm the living water. Drinking water, pretty easy. But you know what's not easy? Always obeying God's commandments. Never lying. Never being envious. Never covetous. Never prideful. Always hardworking. That's actually pretty hard. And we struggle with that every single day of our lives. But here's the thing. You don't have to make changes. All you have to do is just believe on Jesus Christ. It's as easy as eating a slice of bread. Go to John 11. I'll show you one more reference to what Jesus preached. And there's other churches where they'll preach a message that salvation's a free gift, but then it's like they want you to be in fear of your salvation all the time. Well, wait a minute. If you didn't go to church last week, you might not be saved. I'm not saying you're not saved. I'm just saying you might want to check your salvation. Well, I mean, how do you check it? This is not something where you look if your name's on a list online or something like that. What do they mean by that? It's like, you know, I'm not saying you're not saved because you didn't read your Bible this morning. I'm just saying you better check. I'm not saying that you're not saved because you listened to rock music last night. I'm just saying if you're really saved, it's like, no, the Bible says salvation is by believing, and we have free will. We have free will to do right or to do wrong. And here's the thing. A lot of people get saved because here's the thing. We go soul winning, and we get a lot of people saved. And isn't it amazing how quickly and how easily people embrace the message of salvation when they hear it preached? A lot of people get saved, especially in this country, and we don't believe in shallow soul winning. I always say, if your gospel is one, two, three, repeat after me, it's like you need to go more in depth and make sure they understand and believe in things. Because salvation's not just saying words. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. We need to make sure that they believe it. Spend real time to make sure they understand and believe the gospel. And if anybody goes souling with me, you know my gospel presentation is not less than 10 minutes. I mean, I spend real time talking to people. I want to make sure that they get it. And you talk to some people, and you're not sure. It's like, okay, we're not going to count that because we're not sure. So we believe in being thorough, but here's the thing. It's not hard for them to get saved because all they've got to do is believe. What makes it difficult for some people is that when you've heard something false for 20 years, it is hard to humble yourself and admit that you were wrong. But what you have to actually do is actually pretty easy because you don't have to throw that bottle of booze away. All you've got to do is just believe on Jesus Christ because he did the work for you. John 11, verse 25. Jesus said under, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this? And Jesus says, do you believe this? Do you believe that salvation is only in me and you're never going to die because it's eternal life? It's everlasting life. And you know what? That's what we ask people when we go soul winning. We go through the Gospel and many times at the end of the conversation, I'll say, well, you know, before you told me that you were Catholic and you believed this. And what I'm explaining is different. It's very different. I'll be like, which do you believe? Do you believe what I'm showing you? Or do you still believe it's by living a good life and keeping the commandments? Or are you not sure? And there's plenty of times I'll say, hindi akosher, right? I'm not sure. Or sometimes I'll say, you know what? I still believe you have to be a good person. You cannot just believe and go to heaven. Right? So there's a lot of people that just reject what we say. And you know what? That's fine. Hopefully in the future, you know, that can be watered, that seed, and they can end up getting saved. But they must believe. And that's what Jesus said. He's like, hey, salvation is only in me. Do you believe this? And here's the thing. Before somebody's saved, what do they think salvation is? Living a good life, saying you're sorry, obeying God's commandments. That's what people think salvation is. Right? Turn to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew 4. Matthew 4. When I was 18 years old and a freshman in college, on our dorm floor, there was like a campus crusade program. And I was a member of campus crusades when I first got saved. Actually, before I was saved. Because this is before I was saved. Because when I went to college, I didn't want to drink. I didn't want to party. So it's like, okay, well, who am I going to hang out with now that I'm in college? Because everyone is just getting trashed. Because where I went to college is always voted the number one drinking school in the nation. Cheers, beers, and mountaineers is the expression. They always say it with that hillbilly accent. Cheers, beers, and mountaineers. But it's like everyone just drinks alcohol. It's always voted the number one drinking school. So I went to college, and it's like, you know what? I don't want to drink alcohol. So I remember my freshman year, I would play table tennis with the Chinese people downstairs that were in engineering and stuff. Or play basketball, but most people were out drinking. And so I started going to various Christian groups. And I was never super religious before I went to college. I tried to be moral, but I wasn't involved in church or anything like that. So I started to go to these Christian non-denominational groups. And I remember they had a floor program on our level in the engineering dorm. And they were asking people. They fed everybody pizza, and they asked this question, you know, what do you think it takes to get to heaven? Now, I was a member of Campus Crusade along with my roommate. We're the only two. I was not saved. But I felt obligated to answer because I'm the one going to a Christian group. And I remember saying that as long as you think what you're doing is correct. I literally use this example. Even if you're like Saddam Hussein, as long as you're doing what you think is correct, God will let you into heaven. Now, what's amazing is this Christian group heard me say that. The leader of the program heard me say that. He never gave me the gospel after that. And it's like I got saved from a friend several months later. You would think with that horrible of an answer, even if they have the wrong gospel, actually, you know, Matthew, that's not correct, right? But it's just like that's what I thought. I thought as long as you're trying to do what's right, God will let you into heaven. Because I thought it's not fair if you live in a Muslim country and you don't believe in Jesus. And it's like here's the thing. What people think before they're saved is something similar. Try to do right, try to be a good person, and God will let you into heaven. But the message of salvation is actually very simple. Just believe on Jesus Christ. The problem for people is even though I wanted to be saved, I didn't know how. And I didn't hear the gospel until somebody gave it to me. And there are people in these streets here, they want to be saved right now, but they don't know how. They want to go to heaven. They're trying to do what's right. But they have absolutely no idea how to get to heaven. You say, well, Brother Saki, I'll just pray for them to get saved. Yeah, it's great to pray for them to get saved. But if we pray and nobody actually talks to them, they're not going to get saved. They're not going to get saved on their own because we've got to be fishers for men as this chapter focuses on in Matthew 4. Verse number 18, Matthew 4, verse 18. Matthew 4, verse 18. And Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. Now, you know what? It's interesting that when you look at the Bible and when Jesus is calling people to be apostles, what kind of people does He call to be apostles? Just kind of normal, average, everyday people. Not super rich. Not super poor either. Right? Now, turn to Matthew 11. What's interesting about this is the Bible does tell us to focus on the poor areas to preach the gospel, and we believe that. Because we never like going to rich neighborhoods. You know, when we were in Sacramento, it's like you get your soul-winning map and it says North Natomas. It's like, right? We had a schedule to knock all areas, but that's the rich area. Right? So people get North Natomas, they're like, why can't we go to South Natomas? Right? Why can't we go to Del Paso Heights? Because everybody knows in North Natomas, it's a very rich neighborhood and few people get saved. And primarily, like any church, you know, we focus on the poor areas because those are more receptive to the gospel. But here's the thing about this. When you preach in poor areas, you'll get a lot of people saved, but you won't get a lot of people to start coming to church. Because most people that get dedicated to serving God are just everyday people. They work jobs. They're not rich. They're not poor. They work jobs and they just kind of get by. Right? They're kind of in between. Just everyday people. Anyway, in this room, obviously there's a lot of different people from different backgrounds, different levels of success financially or in the career world. But pretty much everybody in this room is in that middle group of people. Where you work a job, you're paying your bills, you're not rich, but you're not super poor either. It's just kind of in between. Anyway, generally those are the people that end up serving God. Because people that are really rich, they're increased with goods and have need of nothing in their own mind. And even if they are saved, they're too busy doing whatever to be at church on the weekends. That's the way they look at it. But oftentimes people that are really poor, oftentimes they're poor for a reason. And oftentimes they're unsuccessful for a reason. Now obviously there's exceptions to this, but what I'm saying is in general, people that are serving God are usually people that work full time jobs. And it's not like they're super rich where they can retire when they're 30 or 40 years old. But at the same time, they're not worried necessarily from week to week of whether or not they're going to be able to eat. Now I would say that in the Bible days, a lot of people are very much struggling week to week. We live in a much richer time now where most people, we do have our meads net. We're not at the point where it's like there's no more oil. It's like I'll make you this and I'm going to die because I don't have any food. It's like most of us are not at that point. We might not be able to eat at the fancy restaurants, but we're capable of providing for our needs. Notice what it says in Matthew 11, verse 4. Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do here and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And what Jesus says is, you know what, we focus on areas with the poor. You say why? Because people often get saved in those areas. If you focus on the rich areas, they're less likely to get saved. I helped build a Baptist church in Utah, like literally construction, several years ago, like 15 years ago or whatever. It was part of a denomination where they would build churches and then try to get people to attend, but they didn't already have people. See, we have the opposite problem at this church. We've got plenty of people, but we've got to build. But what they would do is build a building first, and the denomination funded it. And literally what the pastor would tell me is, if we can get one millionaire to join this church, one millionaire, then we're going to be okay. And it's like, you know, I'm sorry, but that's not our philosophy at Verity Baptist Church. It's like our philosophy is we preach to everybody, but we primarily focus on areas that are lesser in income, not the super rich. You say why? Because the rich aren't going to get saved. Are there exceptions? Yes, they are, but it's also easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. There's not that many needles that are bigger enough for a camel. And I'm not sure how big a baby camel is, but you know, they're still pretty big, I would assume, right? But here's what's interesting about this. I remember when I first got saved and I heard this concept preached in every Baptist church I've been to, focus on the poor, you know, the gospel to the poor. But I didn't really realize that, you know, there's a difference between being poor and being lazy. Because when we go soul winning in neighborhoods that are not rich and people are just kind of, you know, trying to get by, it's like they're very receptive. But then you go to certain areas, which oftentimes they'll be in squatters areas, that are often very unreceptive to the gospel. That area over there is very unreceptive, probably because it's near that church and it's kind of a richer area in general, but very unreceptive. But you know, the most unreceptive area I've ever been soul winning in the Philippines was a Bajau community. They were not rich, right? They were all living in tents. They had no bathrooms. It's the poorest area I've ever seen in my life in person. It's also the least receptive. I mean, literally, as we were trying to talk to those people, you know, just, it's like the middle of the afternoon. You know, we did soul winning in the morning. We take lunch. We go in the afternoon. It's like two in the afternoon and then everybody's asleep in this community at two in the afternoon. And it's like you start the conversation, you know, just very basic things. And they listened, but they were not receptive. It's like, nakasala kannabadati hindi. It's like, naksinawaling kannabadati? I mean, because, and it's like, hindi. I'm just like, I'm wondering, it's like, I was looking like, Brother Raja, can you help? I mean, do they not understand Tagalog? I mean, what's going on? And it's like, but that's literally what all of them said. It's like, no, I've never sinned before. And it's like, look, I'm willing to preach the gospel to anyone, and I'm not trying to judge after the outward appearance, but I'm sorry, but laziness is a sin. And it's something that's very apparent throughout that entire community we talk to, but I've never sinned before. I've never lied before. It's like, what? Super poor area, but you know what? They're actually unreceptive to the gospel. I grew up in West Virginia, and West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the United States. But it is not receptive to the gospel compared to a lot of other states. You say, why, Brother Stuckey? Because it also has one of the highest percentages of people that live off welfare where the government pays them not to work. And so you talk to people. They don't have much. They're poor, but it's like they're lazy, though. They get this sense they've got everything, and they're unwilling to work. And look, in the United States, you don't have to work a job a day in your life, and you will have a home to live in and food to eat that the government will give you. When my wife first came to the U.S., I was explaining the welfare system where the government will pay you to not work. And when it comes to all the amount they get in, I don't know how much the amount would be, but it's a decent amount of money where they'll get paid to not work. And I remember I was telling my wife this system, and I said, well, the plan of the government is that if you give them money without working, then they'll be able to get set on their feet, and they'll get a job and start working. My wife said this. She's like, why would they start working if they're getting paid not to work? I'm like, exactly. It's like it makes no common sense. I mean, think about this. If somebody paid you 40,000 pesos a month to not work, why would you work? Why would you work 60, 70 hours a week if the government's going to pay you to do nothing? Right? I mean, just common sense. But here's what I'm saying. Those areas, they're actually not receptive. And we see the same thing here when we go to squatters' areas. They're actually not usually receptive. We go to poor areas, they're receptive. But you go to areas where they don't even live there and they don't work jobs. I mean, literally, they're drunk during the day, they're gambling, and they're not receptive. They often will mock us as we preach the gospel to them, and it's just like, man, we're telling you salvation is a free gift. You would think that when people aren't really living the greatest life in the world and you offer them a free gift, they'll be like, yes, I believe that. But actually, that's not really what you see, because they're very prideful. And they don't want to be told, wow, you know what, we're all sinners, we deserve help. They think they're so special, even though they're actually often very lazy. Now, look, obviously there's exceptions. I'm not saying everyone. Obviously there's people in squatter communities that are hard workers and just life hasn't fallen for them or whatever. But I'm just saying in general, you go to poor areas that's receptive, but you go to lazy poor areas, it's not receptive. Because those that are receptive to the gospel are those that are working hard and just struggling. Turn in your Bible to 2 Thessalonians 3. 2 Thessalonians 3. And it's certainly true that when it comes to people actually serving God with their life, it's usually people that are just everyday normal people that are just trying to work hard and do what they can to make it in this world. It's like there's a lot of people that have all the free time in the world, but they're not going to start coming to church. And they'll literally say, well, I'm too busy to come. And it's like, you don't have a job, what do you mean you're too busy? But they're just not going to come, because it's not at the top of their priorities. And we go soul winning, and it's just like someone's playing Mobile Legends, you're trying to talk to them, oh, I'm busy, I'm busy. It's like busy doing what? Is that what you want your life to be about, just playing Mobile Legends and singing karaoke while you're drunk? I mean, it's like do something with your life. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10, For even when we are with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. You say, Brother Stuckey, do you believe in a welfare system where you pay people that are unwilling to work? I'm not talking about people that have disabilities. We're talking about people that are too lazy to work. Do I believe in that? Well, no, actually the Bible says, Paul the Apostle, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe I'm not interpreting this well, but I think he says you ought to starve to death. Neither should he eat. If you're unwilling to work, then you shouldn't eat, the Bible says. And not only that, the Bible says those that are not working, they are busybodies. They cause problems. Look, people that we've had problems with at our church before that are no longer at our church, does this not fit them exactly? Were they busybodies causing problems? Yes, but also laziness, right? It's not just here at this church, it's like that at every church. I remember when we had a situation in Sacramento where there was a group of people that were just causing all kinds of problems, and they end up getting removed from church, and I think they thought, man, we're going to be such a loss to the church, it's like, none of you work jobs. I mean, it's like you're at the church, you're sitting in a seat, but you're not helping pay for that seat, right? I mean, it's just like, and they didn't work, but they were also busybodies. And look, if you're someone who is just sitting around with a lot of free time, you're going to get into trouble. What about David that had too much free time? David was a man after God's own heart. David was a hard worker. David was humble. He was all of those things. And yet at the time kings go forth to battle, he just sat there and did nothing. And then all of a sudden, boom, he's committing adultery. You say, why? Because when you have nothing to do and you're sitting around, you end up getting into trouble. The Bible says in verse 12, Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. Not somebody else's bread. You eat your own bread. Right? It's like, you know, from situations like that before, it's like a year after COVID started. Well, it's because of COVID. Look, it's like, look, you can't make the COVID excuse for the rest of your life. It's like, I just need money because of COVID. You can't use that your entire life. You got to learn how to adapt to it. Right? Go in your Bible to First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy chapter two. First Timothy two. But it's not just men. It is also women as well. Because notice what it says in First Timothy chapter two, verse 13, For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Now, this is only like a side point of the sermon. I'm not going to go into it. This is only like a side point of the sermon. I'm not going to go into this to prove this. But you say, what does it mean to be saved in childbearing? It's not saying to be saved from the pain of childbearing because that's a curse upon women because of Eve. Don't get mad at me. It's Eve's fault. Right? That's the punishment in Genesis chapter three where there's pain in childbearing. It just is what it is. Right? I'll greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception that it says. And so it's not saying you're saved from the pain of childbearing. It's also not saying that she's going to be saved and not have problems because a lot of godly people have problems in pregnancy. That happens all the time. It's not what the Bible's referring to. Obviously, we don't always know why things happen, but there's good godly people that have problems during childbearing. Right? When it says saved in childbearing, what it's saying in the context is that she will be saved because she has kids. It's saying the kids will save her from being a busy body and getting into trouble. That's what it's saying. Because the Bible says for the younger women to marry, bear children, and guide the house. Because here's the thing. If you have too much free time, whether you're a man or a woman, you're going to get into trouble. I mean, think about when you have a day off from work and you just plan to relax. What do you end up doing? Right? I mean, it's just reality that too much free time is not actually a good thing for men or women. It's going to get you into trouble. Now, here's the thing. When you have kids, you don't have to worry about having too much free time. You don't have free time. You're going to be busy. Right? I mean, there's no real free time. You're going to be busy 24-7. That's the way it works. Now, for men, it's like let's say you got rich. Well, I'm rich. I'm just going to quit my job. That is the worst thing that you could do if you get rich, to quit your job and sit around and watch TV for eight hours a day. You're going to destroy your life. You say, why? Because anybody, whether it's men or women, if you have too much free time, you're going to get into trouble. That's the way it works. Turn your Bible to Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Matthew 4. When it comes to people that serve God, they're usually just hardworking people that are not rich, not poor. They're just working hard to survive. At our church, it's filled full of people that just work different types of jobs. You're not rich. You're not poor. You're just doing what you have to to survive. You're not wasting your money. What makes you poor? We often would use that word poor. It's just kind of thrown around very lightly. We're really talking about people that are really, really struggling. One of the big things that makes you poor is gambling, drinking, smoking. When we go soul winning in those areas, when we go soul winning in squatters areas, what do you see people doing? Gambling, drinking, and smoking. I'm just thinking, man, I knew somebody. I worked at a pizza place a long time ago at Little Caesars in college. I had a coworker. We were talking about this couple at the job. They were boyfriend, girlfriend. They lived together. They weren't married. They were older. Every single day, they would go to the store next door and buy a 24-pack of beer. They would spend all their money on beer. Here's the thing. They didn't make much money at the job. I remember telling my coworker. I was like, man, I don't know how they afford that. It's a lot of money to buy beer every single day. Every single night, just drinking and drinking and drinking. My coworker said, well, I don't know about that. This is a guy that lives with his parents. He says, you know what? I spend probably about $80 a week on alcohol. I'm able to make it. This is a guy that spends 40 percent of his money on alcohol, lives with his parents, doesn't pay any rent. He's like, I don't know about that. That's the way people are because he's living off other people. He's too lazy to make it himself. When you get free money, you don't value it. You value things that you work for. Then you're very careful how you actually spend them. Matthew 4, verse 19. He saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Keep in mind the context. He's talking to fishermen, people that fish for fish for a living. He's giving them an example that instead of being fishermen for fish, you're going to fish for men. I do want to say this, that you'll see these people forsake their jobs immediately and follow God. This is not trying to tell you to quit your job. Brother Stuckey, I'm so motivated from this sermon. I'm going to quit my job and just follow Jesus with my life. These are ordained apostles that were called to the ministry. This is not an example for us to just quit our jobs. I would say this, that they're willing to make sacrifices to serve God. We ought to be willing to make sacrifices also. He's saying, you ought to be a fisher of men. What he's referring to is getting people saved. There's a famous children's song, which I think is a great song, based on this verse where it's like, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. It's a great song to teach your kids and explain what that means, saying, hey, you know what? If you follow Christ, you're going to be a fisher of men. When you look at this verse, let me ask you a question. Is it possible to follow Christ and not to be a fisher of men? No. Now, here's the thing. I understand there are people that have health concerns and health reasons, and obviously as you get older, it's more difficult, and we understand that. I understand there are some people that are not capable of going sowing. You're not capable of going sowing as much, but if you are able to, you have the health to do it, but you do not do it, you're not following Christ, because if you follow Christ, you will be a fisher of men. Now, it's funny because if we were to talk to people today out sowing and ask them, are you following God? Everybody's going to say yes. They don't know for sure if they're going to heaven, but they know they're following God. And how do they know that they're following God? Because everybody is righteous in their own eyes. It's like, well, how do you know that you're following Christ? I listen to casting crowds. And then they start singing Who Am I karaoke style in front of you or whatever. That's the most recent CCM song I know. But it's like because they listen to Christian contemporary music. This is what the non-denominational churches do. They listen to CCM rock music, and it makes them feel spiritual. How do you know you're following Christ? Because I listen to CCM music. Because I feel like I'm close to God. Well, is that a determination of whether or not you're close to God if you feel like you're close to God? Just because you feel something. I mean, look, you can feel and think that you're really great at basketball. Doesn't mean it's true, my friend. You can think things all the time. It doesn't make it true. You say, Well, brother, how do I know if I'm following Christ? Well, one test is this. Are you a fisher of men? Do you go soul winning? Do you seek to get people saved? Do you do any sort of evangelism in your life? Are you doing something to help get people to heaven? Because if you're not, you're not a follower of Christ. Because Jesus did not say follow me and you might become a fisher of men if that's your special ability. News flash. Going soul winning is not about an ability. It's not. It's not a natural skill. Nobody is naturally skilled at preaching the gospel. Everybody, when they first preach the gospel, this is how it is. My name's Matthew. You're scared. Nobody is just naturally, the first time they do it, just really confident and suave. I mean, it doesn't work that way. Because it's new to you. It doesn't matter whether you're outgoing or you're introverted. It doesn't come naturally. It's hard. But here's the thing. It's not about a special ability. Now, look, I get it. If you're not a soul winner in this room, inside your head you're thinking, I don't have the ability. But here's the thing. I also said the same thing to my friend a long time ago. He said, you know, we should try to preach the gospel to one person every day. And I told him, I said, you know what, Mike, that's not my ability. I'm not outgoing. I'm not confident. Naturally, I'm not. I didn't think of myself very quiet or introverted, but I'm also not an extroverted person either. I'm kind of like in between. But I didn't think of myself as being someone. There's a character in the Bible that has a similar attitude. Moses said, send somebody else. I can't do the job, God. I can't speak. I'm slow of a speech. I can't do it. And yet, when you're reading through Exodus, who's the one doing all the talking? It's not Aaron. It's Moses. It's a matter of just being obedient to what God says. And here's the thing. The fish are not going to be caught on their own. Nobody goes out fishing. They catch like 20 fish. How did you do it? You know, what kind of bait did you use? And I don't know anything about fishing, so if I sound like an idiot, then okay, forgive me, right? But it's like, how did you do it? What's your secret? Well, here's my secret. I woke up and there was all these fish. Is that the way it works? Now I'm pretty sure you've got to actually do the work to get the fish. And here's the thing. You're not going to get a bunch of people saved if you sit around and do nothing. You have to go get the people. They're not going to come to you. How often do we have people come to our church and then just fall down and say, what must I do to be saved? Does that ever happen? What happens is we go out at 1.45 and we get people saved. We find people to get saved. They don't come to us. That's the way it works. And what the Bible's saying is if you're following Christ, you will be a fisher of men. Now look, I get it. When you first start off, you're shy. You're quiet. And it's difficult. We don't try to tell you your first time you go, you've got to, you know, get somebody saved. We say come on out and we will pair you with somebody and you don't have to say a single word. You're just a silent partner and you're just there to kind of learn and support the soul winner. Look, when I first started going soul winning, I started as a silent partner. I'm sure pretty much everybody in this room for the most part, that's probably how you started. You started off, you didn't know what to say. You're trying to learn. You're trying to memorize verses. What do I say here? What do I do here? And maybe you started going soul winning and there were a lot of conversations where you had to stop and let the other person know what to say. Yeah, that's how you start. But is that what you want to be the rest of your life where you just never try to preach the gospel to anybody? You've got to take that step and say, you know what, I'm not excited or confident about this. I don't know if I can do it, but I'm going to trust in God and just do what he says. Right, because there are a lot of gifts listed in the Bible. Going soul winning is not a gift. It's a command. It's not a natural gift that people have. It takes work. It takes something that's easy. Go to John. Actually, for sake of time, we're not going to look there. Go to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Now, I'm not going to go here for sake of time. Your turn to 2 Corinthians 5. But in John 15, there's a parable and it's a parable about people that are soul winners and then people that are not soul winners. And it will talk about basically the reason that they are burned, they're gotten rid of. And it's not an example or symbolism of going to hell. That's not the point of the parable. When I was growing up, my granddad had several acres of land and so a few times a year, my dad and I would go to the land because he had gotten older in age and what you'd do is you'd have a burn pile and you'd have a wheelbarrow and you'd gather all the sticks and leaves and branches that are dead, falling off the tree, they're not doing anything and then you set it all on fire to get rid of them. Why? Because if they're not producing anything, they're getting in the way. Look, if you have an apple tree and there's branches that are just dead branches, they're not producing any apples, what are you going to do? You cut that branch off. Get it out of the way because it's just preventing the other branches from flourishing. And look, many of you go to religious churches where there's a big group of people but very few soul winners. Right? You go to a church with 150 people and there's like 5 soul winners or 10 soul winners. Here's the thing. It's not just that there's 100 people that are not doing anything. They also criticize those that are doing something. They also get in the way of those that are doing something. I mean, it'd be one thing to get some people saved. Right. I mean, don't you think it's kind of arrogant to say that you got some people saved even though that direct wording is used in the Bible? Look, we get it. We're not the Savior, but we're still part of the process as we preach the gospel. And that terminology, I mean, Paul says that I might by all means save some. Literally, those that don't do the work, maybe they believe different things or whatever, but it's not just that they're there. And here's the thing. At our church, we're not just trying to build a big church. We're trying to build a church of people that love God and are serving God. Most people at this church go soul winning on a weekly basis. We're not a small church anymore. We're not a huge church, but we're not a small church anymore. But here's the thing. We have 500 people with 50 going soul winning. It'd be much better to have a small church with a high percentage of soul winners. And that's what we have at our church. There's a lot of Baptist churches here in passing that are a lot bigger than us. And they have very few people that are actually soul winning. Very few people doing the work. And what I would say is, well, those people that are not going soul winning, they're not following Christ. Because what the Bible says is, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18, In all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. God didn't give the ministry of reconciliation to the angels. Before I was saved, this question went through my mind. I thought to myself, what is the purpose of life? Now obviously I wanted to go to heaven. I was unsaved. But I thought, what's the real purpose of life? And I thought, I'm going to college. I'm getting a degree. I'm going to work a job. I'm going to get married one day. Have a family. But I'm like, what's the purpose? It didn't really make sense to me. After I got saved, I didn't have to have anybody teach me what the purpose of life was. I understood what the purpose was. Immediately I understood, well, you know what, my purpose is to try to get other people to heaven. Now I didn't know what that meant at the time because my goal in my life was to get two people saved in my life. And the reason why I said two people is number one, I wasn't a soul winner at the time, so I didn't realize how easy it was often for people to get saved. But I thought, you know what, if I get two people saved, I replace myself, and I add one more saved person. So I said, basically I helped the percentage of saved people in this world get a little bit higher than two people saved. So my goal was to live another 70 years and get two people saved. You know what, that's not my goal anymore. You say, why? Because I've gotten a lot more than two people saved. Because the great thing is, the promise in the Bible is that if you are a fish or a man, you don't just get people saved, but you actually get a lot of people saved. You bear much fruit. The Bible says that He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. He wants us to just grow old and die and that's it. No, God has you here for a reason. He wants you to do something with your life. And primarily that's called helping get more people saved, bringing people to the Savior. The Bible says in verse 20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. What does it mean to be an ambassador for Christ? It means that you are a representative, an ambassador for a country, and gives the news and reports on behalf of that country. We are ambassadors for Christ. I said on Friday at that preaching event, I told the guys this in a joking way. I said, how does it feel to be a witness for Jehovah? How does it feel to be a Jehovah's Witness? Because we are actually the literal people that are witnessing for Jehovah. Not the Jehovah's Witnesses, so-called. The Jehovah's false witnesses. We are actually the ones that are witnessing and representing and being ambassadors for God on earth. Right? So whether you like it or not, you are a Jehovah's Witness, my friend. Or you better be. You should be a Jehovah's Witness. Right? And if you're not a Jehovah's Witness, you should be a Jehovah's Witness. Turn back to Matthew. That's the sort of statement that was sent out in the experiment. It was like, oh, he admitted to being Jehovah's Witness. That's the sort of statement. That's the sort of statement. In a great way, that's the message that was sent out in the experiment. Now, unfortunately, it didn't last forever because you remember after the resurrection, they all kind of gave up. Simon Peter obviously is going to get a lot more awards in heaven than I'm going to get, I'm sure. So it's not me stating this to try to rip him apart or act like I'm better than him. But the reality is he said, hey, though all men forsake thee, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. But the reality is he said, hey, though all men forsake thee, I'm not going to. And yet he did. Because as I said, it's possible for any of us to slide back. It's possible for any of us to stand up for the things of God and then to actually slide back from that and to just give up on the things of God. Now, praise the Lord that if you give up on the things of God, you're still saved because it's eternal life. But you're going to be like Demas who just is doing nothing and then from then he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them. And they immediately left their ship and their father and followed him. Now, look, I don't believe they just permanently left their parents and never saw them again. But what you're seeing in this verse, it kind of reminds you of Elisha in the Bible where basically they forsake their career and they basically forsake their family Now, as I said, I don't think they just never talked to their parents again but there is this idea in the Bible that you need to put God above your family and above your work. Now, of course you need to work a job to make money but the idea is that you know what, we're going to put God first in our lives. And when you put God first in your lives, that might mean you have to make some sacrifices. I mean, you might have relatives in your family that you might have to separate from. And you can make your own decisions about what you want to do but it's like for us in our family with our kids, it's like if we're around family members that are drinking alcohol, we're just going to leave and say, no, we don't want our kids to be around that atmosphere. Now, I'm glad we don't, as far as I know, have to worry about that. We haven't dealt with that. But if we had to deal with that, we'd have to say, hey, I've got to separate a little bit because I don't want to influence my kids in a bad way from this. And the idea is, you know what, you need to put God above your family because it's a great job opportunity but you're never going to be able to come to church, never going to be able to serve God but you'll make a lot of money. It's like, Brother Stuckey, what should I do? Don't ask me questions you already know the answer to. Don't try to get me to give you the okay to backslide. You know what the answer is. Right? Because you put God first above your work and above your family. Turn, actually, turn to 1 Kings 19 real quickly. 1 Kings 19. I want to show you a great example of a character that really is doing exactly what I'm talking about here. And notice what it says in 1 Kings 19, verse 19. So he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphad who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him and he with the 12th and Elisha passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. Now when you read this verse, do you walk away and say Elisha is a rich man? Doesn't seem to be. What he seems to be is a hardworking person that's just middle of the road getting by. He is plowing with the oxen. Right? And those that serve God are people that work hard. And notice what it says in verse 20. Verse 21. Notice verse 21. So what's going on there in that verse? He's basically forsaking his career. He's saying I've been called in the ministry. I'm going to forsake this. Now look, I don't believe that you have to quit your jobs to serve God. I will say this though that if you're planning to go into the ministry, you do have to make sacrifices. It's like when we made the decision to move to Sacramento to get trained for the ministry, it's like I had a career that I'd spent many years on and a lot of time studying and preparing for and it's like well, I got to make a choice. And I basically just said well, I'll just forsake that because I want to serve God and I believe that the calling upon my life was to serve God and become a pastor and you know what? And I believe I made the right choice. I believe this is what God wants me to do and I don't regret it for one second. But I'm just saying it's like I looked at that and I said man, this is a lot of money I'm throwing away. It's my job. It's my career. And of course if this doesn't work out, it kind of makes it hard to go back into that field. There's a lot of things that you're thinking but here's the thing, Elisha's like this. You know what he does? He just says forget it. I'm done with it. I'm going to take it by faith and it is going to work out. And it says he slew them and gave unto the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him and he also basically said hey, let me kiss my father and my mother goodbye. So basically he's saying I'm leaving my family and I'm leaving my job in order to serve God. Now once again, I'm not telling you to quit your job here today. But I will say this that if anybody wants to become a pastor at our church and you want to get ordained, I'm not going to ordain you to start a church right across the street from us. You're going to have to go somewhere else and that might mean you have to get a different job because I'm not going to be in competition with a church across the street. Go back to Matthew 4. We'll close up Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Now here's the thing. I'm not saying it's the calling for most of you to become pastors or start churches or whatever, but here's the thing. Are you willing to forsake something for God? Man, brother, I don't have time to read the Bible. I'm so busy. Are you willing to forsake your social media for 30 minutes? Are you willing to forsake? Because here's the thing. The reality is when you're younger, you tend to have a lot of free time. When I was in college, I had a lot of free time. And so here's the thing. After you graduate, you start having to make choices. It's like, okay, I've got God or I've got this hobby that I enjoy and you've got to make a choice. I had a lot of friends in college that were serving God and then they graduated from college and they just kind of quit serving God. You say, why? Because you've got to make a choice. And the reality is when you serve God, it takes up a lot of time. Going soul winning, reading the Bible. I mean, it takes up a lot of your time. Right? And you've got to make that choice. But here's my question. I'm not saying you've got to quit your job, but are you willing to forsake something to serve God? Because there is a sacrifice if you're going to serve God. Right? I mean, if you're going to serve God, and part of it is just you're probably going to have a different set of friends if you start serving God because the old you is different than the new you that you want to be. Right? Matthew 4, verse 23. Matthew 4, verse 23. That if you're following Christ, you are going to be a soul winner. If you're following Christ, you're going to be seeking to win the loss. And at our church, like I always say, if you've never gone soul winning before, that's perfectly fine. You can be paired up with someone. We can pair you up at a place nearby or depending on what the need is. And we can pair you up with someone that can do all the talking. You don't have to say anything. It's perfectly fine. I get it. When you first start, you're shy. Here's the thing. I tell you that I'm not an outgoing person and nobody really believes me because you hear me preaching every week and you're like, well, you're very outgoing. You're always preaching. And you know what? You can believe me or not believe me. I'm just telling you the truth that I was a shy person. When I was in college, I was not a good public speaker. It's like, what if I run into someone and they say something and I don't know how to answer? What if I run into someone that's part of a cult and they start asking questions I don't know how to answer? Let me help you with this. People that are parts of cults, they know nothing about the Bible. They don't. You run into INC or Jehovah's Witness or Mormons, they don't know anything about the Bible. You don't have to worry. Trust me. And I'm not just saying that. It's really fine if you don't know the answer. You'll say, hey, you know what? I've never come across that before. I'm kind of new at this. I'll have to think about that or whatever. It's not the end of the world. And if somebody wants to argue with you, you just go on to the next door anyway because they're not going to get saved. So what I'm saying is make it a point in your mind to say, you know what? I'm going to become a soul winner and maybe I'm not at that point of speaking. I don't know what to say. I haven't memorized the verses. I just want to be here today. And thank you for this great church that we're blessed to be a part of with so many people that love you and want to go soul winning, God. And I ask you to help us always to put soul winning first at our church. We ask you to help our church grow and send us more laborers so we can do more soul winning and get more people saved, God. And we also ask you to hold off the weather later for a time of soul winning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Song number 258 in Christ, received by the sinful man. We'll sing the whole song. Sinners Jesus will receive. Ready? On the first. Sinners Jesus will receive the saddest word of grace to all through the heavenly path we lead. All will remember, all will fall. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful man. Come and hear me, give me rest. Crossing for his wordless play. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful man. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful man. I've learned now my heart condemns me God. Here before the law I stand. He who plans will always fall. Satisfied, he's lasting now. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful man. I'm the last. Christ receiveth sinful man. Even if he is all my sin. Where's he gone? Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful man. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful man. Christ receiveth sinful man. Christ receiveth sinful man. Christ receiveth sinful man. Copyright © 2017 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.