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

added to the church daily such as should be saved. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for everyone here, Lord. I just pray that you fill pastor with your Holy Spirit as he preaches out of your word, Lord, and give the people here ears to hear, and just bless this service and bless the rest of the time we have together, Lord. And it's all this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Okay, amen, we're in Acts chapter two, look at verse number 46 of Acts chapter two. It says, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. And what I wanna preach on this evening is how a church grows, how a church grows. And much of the sermon tonight will be focused on the practical things that you and I can do to grow our church numerically, okay? But before I do that, I'm gonna give you some assumptions that you should already have going into the sermon, okay? And the reason I want you to have these assumptions or I hope you already have these assumptions is because, you know, more often than not, I preach a sermon like this and someone's gonna say, well, what are you trying to say? You're trying to say, you know, God is actually the one who grows the church. Well, duh, I know that already. So I'm assuming that when I preach this, you already know that, okay? So assumption number one that I expect for you to have when I preach something like this is, I'm assuming you know that God is ultimately the one who grows the church, all right? Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter three, if you would, 1 Corinthians chapter three. The famous verse in Matthew chapter 16, you're going to 1 Corinthians chapter three. Matthew 16 verse 18 says, And I say unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus said to Peter, I'm the one who's going to build the church. I'm the one who's going to bring people. And in fact, in Acts chapter two, we see that the Lord added people to the church, such as should be saved. It's God who does the work, obviously, ultimately. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse five, and it says, who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom he believed? Even as the Lord gave to every man, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. He said, well, that's actually just referring to soul winning, pastor. Well, yeah, it is referring to soul winning, but guess who he's talking to? The Corinthian church. And obviously the will of God is for people to be saved, added to the church, baptized, and to continue in the apostles doctrine. He goes on to say in verse nine, for we are laborers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. So when we talk about church growth, we got to assume number one, obviously, God is the one who ultimately grows the church, but not at the exclusion of our efforts, not at the exclusion of the responsibilities that we have to go out and reach people for Christ, bring them into the church, get them baptized, teach them all things whatsoever, God has commanded them, et cetera. But God is ultimately the one who builds this church. I want you to assume that already going into the sermon. Assumption number two is this, I'm assuming that you know that spiritual growth is superior to numerical growth, okay? More superior than numerical growth. Do we want to add people just for the sake of adding people? No. The most important thing is this, is that they grow spiritually, okay? And look, folks, just because something grows doesn't mean it's actually healthy, okay? You know, I remember going down the 710 freeway one time, going to the church plant that I was a part of, and there was a pit bull on the side of the road. It was dead, okay? It was a dead pit bull. It was nice and stiff, okay? I was like, well, look at that, you know? And then we drive back, and then the following week, it was still there, and it was like, oh, it got a little bigger, okay? Why is that? Because when something dies, it begins to swell up. Now, you wouldn't necessarily say, hey, that thing is thriving, it's living, that thing is just healthy. No, it's swelling because it's dead. All the chemicals and all the rigor mortis or whatever you want to call it, all the decanes taking place, it's causing it to swell, and ultimately it's going to blow up or something. You know, it's going to be very bad, okay? But we wouldn't look at something like that and say, oh, it's growing, therefore it's healthy. And you know what? That illustration of that pit bull swelling up and growing is a perfect example of like liberal churches, for example. Because though they're big, though they have a lot of people, guess what, most of those people are not even saved, okay? It's like a whited sepulcher, you know, they're beautiful on the outside, but inwardly they're full of dead men's bones and all unrighteousness and wickedness. And so what is the goal? Well, the goal obviously should be spiritual growth, right? When you come to church, obviously, that's why when visitors come, we try to give them the gospel, we try to get them saved, we try to get them baptized, and then we want them to assimilate to the church and teach them doctrine, help them to grow, help the wives to submit to their husbands, amen? Help the husbands to love their wives as Christ also loved the church, help the children to obey their parents, help the single young men to prepare for marriage and to be good employees at their job, to be a good testimony, to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We want people to grow. We want people to learn how to read the Bible. We want people to learn how to pray. We want people to learn how to go and preach the gospel. We want them to learn how to be godly, okay? This is spiritual growth. And let me say this. I prefer to have a church of 10 people who are growing spiritually than have a church of 500 people, of people who are just not saved, don't care about the Bible, they just see church as a social club, okay? So I'm assuming you know that as I'm preaching this, that spiritual growth is far more superior than numerical growth. Third John chapter one, verse one, excuse me, says the elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. John is saying, the greatest joy that I have is to know that people are growing spiritually. You know what the joy and the rejoicing of my heart is as a pastor? It's seeing people change. I love to see that. There's people in our church that have been in our church since the beginning, or maybe they've come within the last year, two years, and I can point people out, I'm not gonna do it right now because I don't want to embarrass them. I don't feel like doing that tonight. I typically, you know, I'm in the mood, but not tonight. And you know, you see them as like, man, this person has changed dramatically. They've grown so much. They, you can tell that they're reading their Bible based upon their conversation, the words that come out of their mouth. You know, you can tell that they are being sanctified, so to speak, because, you know, the way they dress changes. The way they act changes. The way they think and talk and carry themselves. There's a transformation there. You know what that does? That rejoices my heart. Because it shows this person is not just being a Christian when they come on Sundays or on Thursdays, they're obviously working on their Christianity Monday through Saturday. Amen. They're obviously walking with God, they're praying, they're walking with the Lord, they're trying to live a life that's pleasing unto God. That is spiritual growth, and that's far more important than numerical growth. But let me say this, I want both. Amen. Right? So I'd rather have 10 spiritual people than 500 carnal people, worldly people, fleshly driven people, but hey, if we could get 500 spiritual people, all the better. That's right. But if I had to choose, obviously, I'd go with the 10 rather than the 500, okay? Assumption number three, I'm assuming you know that numerical growth is not the end game, okay? Now there's a lot of pastors out there that want to make numerical growth the end game, and what happens when they have that as a goal? They compromise. They bring out the purple lights and the smoke and the CCM music and all the gayness and all that. They start doing all these things that appeals to the flesh, it appeals to the world, and they try to push that instead because they want to reach people just for the sake of reaching them, okay? On Friday, we went to go eat pupusas. And it was like a pupusa truck, okay? And my family and I went there, and it was in Lakewood, actually. And we get there, we order our food, and there's a bunch of taco trucks, a lot of food trucks there. But they had a DJ, okay? And DJ was playing music and stuff. And my son comes out, and it's just blazing music, just blasting the music there. And he comes out, and he's like, I think they're playing rock music because they want to reach people. He makes this assessment, and he's like, I think they're playing rock music because they want people to come. I'm like, well yeah, you're absolutely right, son. And you know what, they're taco trucks, whatever, who cares what they do, but you know what's sad is when Christians do that, right? They bring out the electric guitar, they bring out the gay music or whatever, and use that, try to use that to try to reach people. That's bad, okay? Numerical growth is not the end game. What is the end game? Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13 says, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. So folks, regardless of how big our congregation gets, regardless of how big the church gets, numerically, our duty is to what? Fear God and keep his commandments. Our job as Christians is to walk with him, fear God, keep his commandments, live a life that's pleasing unto him. Micah 6a says, he hath showed the old man what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God, okay? So numerical growth is not the end game. That should not be the end game for any of us. It should be a goal, but not the ultimate goal, okay? Now, with that being said, numerical growth is important, okay? Now, why is it important? Well, turn with me if you would to go to Ephesians, or go to Matthew chapter nine, if you would actually, Matthew chapter nine. Why is numerical growth important? It's not the most important, but why is it important? Well, let me say this, it's because it means that we're reaching people, right? And our goal as a church, our goal as Christians should be to reach people. We don't never want to have this, we never want to have this attitude of us four and no more. You got to fit our mold, you got to be just like us, it can only be us, we can't have any outsiders. Folks, we're not Amish, okay? We want to be able to reach the people who has a face like it looked like it just fell into a tackle box. We want to reach people who are tatted from head to toe, we want to reach the gangsters and the prostitutes, we want to reach the people who are open to the gospel, no matter what walk of life they come from, we want to reach people, okay? The Bible tells us in Acts chapter two, you're in Matthew, then they that gladly receive this word were baptized in the same day that were added unto them about 3,000 souls. So this is obviously showing us that numerical growth of a local New Testament church is important to God, because he's specifically telling us, hey, there's 3,000 that were added to the local New Testament church, it's important, okay? So it's important because of the fact that it shows that we're reaching people, we never want to be a dead church, we're not reaching anybody. You know, there's good, well-meaning, independent, fundamental Baptist churches out there, but let me tell you what's wrong with them. They're all old. They're filled with elderly people, and God bless them. You know, it's not wrong to be old, obviously, we're all gonna get old, but when it's only old people, and there's no young people, that means they're not reaching anybody, okay? And I believe that God wants us to reach every spectrum, okay, from the elderly, to the young couple, to the couple that's been around the block for X amount of years, to the teenager, every single one of them, okay? But when you only have a church of elderly people, that church is gonna die, because they're not reaching the next generation, they're not reaching new people, there's no life, there's no fervor in that church. So church growth is important because it shows that we're reaching people, but it also means that the word of God is increasing, okay? Because here's the thing, when we get people into church, we get them saved, they get baptized, and they stay in church, what does that mean? It means that they're growing in their knowledge of God's word. So the message of not just the gospel, but the message of the Bible is spreading to other people. And that's important. You know, we not only wanna win people to Christ, that's the most important, we wanna teach them doctrine. We wanna teach them what the Bible says about sin, what the Bible says about their marriage, what the Bible says about child-rearing, what the Bible says about sodomy, what the Bible says about murder and lying, we wanna cover the entire spectrum of the Bible and teach them those things, why? Because the Bible commands us to. That they would observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded us. And when people remain in the church, and they're listening to the Bible being preached, and they're accepting it, it's showing that the word of God is increasing in their lives, okay? But how about this? Church growth is important because it creates more labors for the harvest. Right? The more people we reach, the more people we can train, the more people that can go out and preach the gospel to every creature. So church growth is important because we're creating, you know, we're not just reaching people just to fill up the auditorium. We wanna reach people to fill up the auditorium with soul winners. Labors, okay? Matthew 9, verse 37, familiar verse says, "'Then saith he unto his disciples, "'The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.'" That's weird because there's plenty of churches out there that are filled with people. Why is that? That's interesting because isn't there like a stadium in Texas? Joe Olstein's church doesn't even have a football stadium filled with people? But yet the Bible tells us that the laborers are few. There's plenty of churches out there that are over 1,000. Plenty of churches out there that maybe even run a little less than that filled, but the laborers are still few. Why is that? Because the churches are not teaching their people how to be soul winners. So when we reach people, when we get them saved, we get them baptized, we begin to teach them the Bible, we also want to equip them to be soul winners, to reach their family. Teach them how to preach the gospel to their parents, to their siblings, to their cousins, to their neighbors, to the stranger. Make them a soul winner. Help them to follow Christ and the result of that will be that they become fishers of men. That's the goal. More labors for the harvest as the church grows. Acts chapter 16, go to Acts chapter 16 if you would. There are pastors out there that want to impose growth on their church through compromise and pragmatic methods and obviously that's wrong, okay? Our desire should never be, well, we're gonna grow by any means necessary. Chevy, I know Chevy, you got electric guitar, maybe you can bring that over every once in a while. Maybe we can rent a little smoke machine or something like that. Get a praise band up here. Garbage, folks. It's unbiblical. And let me say this, what you reach them with, you have to keep doing to keep them. So if you reach them with hoochie mamas, dancing on stage, you're gonna have to have a whole lineup of hoochie mamas each week to keep them. It's true. But you know if you reach them with hard preaching, all you gotta do is keep preaching hard and you'll keep them. It's a win-win situation. If you win them with fleshly things, you're gonna have to keep doing fleshly things to keep them. But if you win them with spiritual things, you just have to keep doing the spiritual things in order to keep them in church. Keep feeding them the word of God, keep helping their marriages, keep helping them to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, keep helping them to become better Christians, and they will remain in the ways of the Lord. Acts 16 verse one says, Then came he to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised them because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep that were ordained to the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and look what it says, an increase in number daily. This is another reason why it's important that we grow our church so we can start churches. You see, I hope this church continues to grow and there's no cap on it, but you know what I also desire, is to start more churches. It's great to have a church here, but wouldn't it be great to have a church in San Diego? National city. Riverside. You know, someone throw out a city. Far from here. Vegas? Who said Vegas? Did you say Vegas? Oh, Bakersfield. Lancaster. Yeah, Oxnard. All right, stop. I'm just kidding. The church is increased when believers increase. And I guarantee you within the next couple years we're gonna be starting churches. Because if we're reaching people, people are getting saved, people are getting baptized, they're being taught the word of God, men shall be inspired, men shall be trained, men shall be ordained, men shall be sent out, churches shall be started. This is why it's important that we grow as a church. You say, well what does our church growth have to do with starting other churches? Well, the more people you reach, the more likely you're gonna reach a man who wants to be a pastor. I don't know if you noticed this, but there's a shortage of pastors. So what do we have to do? We'll keep reaching people because the more we reach, the more likely we're gonna reach someone who wants to be a pastor and is willing to be trained. Turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four. How does a church grow? Let me give you a couple things this evening on how a church grows. It's not through purple lights, it's not through skinny jeans, it's not through the music, it's not through any of those things. Number one, a church grows through our soul-winning efforts. Now let me make this disclaimer is that soul-winning, although a great tool to use to reach people to bring them to church, is not the best way. That's why I'm actually mentioning it first. Because the main purpose of soul-winning is not to get people to come to church, it's to get people saved. And people have been disillusioned, Baptists have become disillusioned with soul-winning because they view it as a tool to get people into church and to grow their church. Well in 2021, that's not really happening a whole lot. It might have happened in the days of Jack Hiles, it might have happened in the 50s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, and maybe even in the 80s and 90s, but today it's not gonna happen. Not saying it won't happen at all, but very little of it will come from soul-winning. The purpose of soul-winning is to get people saved, okay? The Bible tells us that there were, in Acts chapter two, you're in Matthew chapter four, verse 41 of Acts chapter two, then they that gladly received this word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Verse 46 is then they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Soul-winning was never intended to build membership in a church. But here's the thing, actively going out and preaching the gospel, giving people invitations, it's the law of numbers. You're gonna get people to come to church. Putting a sign out there, wherever it's at, that massive sign out there, where it says First Works, even that gets people to come to the church, because on Thursday we had a visitor from the sign. Brand new person came, how'd you hear about it at church? I saw your sign. Okay, cool. Oh man, it works. That's cool. But you know what? Tons of people drive by here and they're always looking at the sign. Now, your pastor's a little paranoid right now, so anytime someone slows down and they all look, I'm like. I'm like, oh wait, they're just looking at the sign. So, where am I at here? So what I'm saying is this, is that preaching the gospel, it's the law of numbers. You're gonna end up reaching someone who comes to church to get baptized, to get plugged into the church. It definitely happens, okay? And part of that is just the fact that you're getting the word out about our church. The more you get the word out, the more people hear about church. People who used to go to church, they get that invitation, they're going through the season of the soul. They're like, oh you know what, I've been thinking about going back to church, I'm gonna go to this church. They come, they get saved, or maybe they're already saved, they're already baptized, but then they begin to grow in the Lord. They basically get renewed in the ways of God. And so, sowing is definitely a tool to use to bring people to church. It's just that that's not necessarily what it's meant for. It's meant to get people saved. So don't ever become disillusioned and say, why don't people come to church when we go out and preach the gospel? Well, because that's not what it's for necessarily. Don't become disillusioned with sowing and think that it doesn't work just because people don't come to church. Preaching the gospel is meant to bring people to the house of God, which is in heaven. Amen. The kingdom of God. It's meant to bring people to salvation, get them saved. That's what it's meant to do. Now, we'll say this. You know, one of the best ways to get people to church when you go out there and preach the gospel is let them know about baptism, right? And in our church, we emphasize this a lot, that when you get someone saved, you tell them about baptism. And when you tell them about baptism, you say, hey, you get baptized on Sunday, come to church. They come to church, they get baptized, they hear me preach, and they never come back ever again. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding about that, sometimes. But what I'm saying is, you know, that's a good way to get people to come to church. Amen. You understand? But don't become disillusioned with sowing because it's not the primary way of how to build a church. Okay? And a lot of pastors, like I mentioned, become disillusioned with that. Like, well, sowing doesn't work anymore. What do you mean it doesn't work? The gospel's the power of God and it's the salvation to everyone that believe it. Amen. Sowing will always get people saved. Preaching the gospel will always get people saved. It won't always bring people to your church, but it will get people saved. Okay? What's another way to grow a church? Through the printed paper and the internet. Okay? Now, the internet has been a major blessing to us because it's allowed us to get the word out so much further about our church, about the preaching, about what's going on here at our church. Where do I have you turn? Matthew chapter four? Hold your place or go to Acts chapter five, if you would. Hold your place in Matthew four and go to Acts chapter five. You see, I believe the great works are being done at First Works Baptist Church. I believe it. And I don't believe it's me just doing the great works. I believe you are doing the great works. Our church is doing great works for God. It's doing great works. It's doing miraculous things. I believe God's hand is upon our church. We're reaching a ton of people for Christ. We're getting persecuted. You know, we're getting reviled for the name of Christ. God's blessing is with us. And you know what happens when you have the internet? We're able to publish that. And when you publish that, people see what's going on. They see the miraculous works and they want to be a part of it. Look at Acts chapter five, verse 12. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. And of the rest there's no man joined himself to them, but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about into Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed every one. So what do we see? The apostles are doing a great work. They're doing a lot of signs and wonders and people catch wind of this. And what happens when people catch wind of this? Believers are the more added to the Lord. Multitudes both of men and women. Now, we don't have these special abilities today, okay? We can't just heal someone and touch someone on the forehead or whatever, regardless of what anybody might teach. We don't have these apostolic abilities. A lot of those gifts are null and void today for us because these signs and wonders were given to the apostles to confirm the message that they were giving, okay? As the catalyst to the New Testament church. But here's the thing, we could apply that to today with the works that we're doing with soul winning, the works that we're doing with preaching the gospel, the works that we're accomplishing with being persecuted, people hear about these things, they get inspired and they want to come visit the church, okay? They want to be added to the church, they want to see what's going on, they want to be a part of the team, okay? Mark 1, 43 says, and he straightly charged them and forthwith sent him away and saith unto him, go to Matthew chapter four, I'm reading to you from Mark chapter one, saith unto him, see thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them. But he went down and began to publish it much and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city most without in desert places than they came to him from every quarter. So they see the works that Jesus is doing and what do they do? They begin to blaze abroad the matter to the point where he couldn't even enter into the city anymore. You know, this is a city I can't go into anymore. Oh yeah, it's called Omani. Why, why? Because it's been blazed abroad, that which is being done in that city. It's blazed abroad what First Works Baptist Church is doing in the city of Omani. So I don't have to go there anymore. What for? I'm already there. My message is already there. Our sowing has already been done. Yep. And you know, people think that by exposing us, that they're actually damaging us. But we love any type of publicity that we can have. Amen. Any publicity is good publicity. Right. Say the most wicked, vile, evil thing about us you want. We'll take it. Amen. Go tell the LA Times about us. Let them write a hit piece on me. We'll take it. It's expensive to get yourself into LA Times. We got it for free. Fox 11 News, KTLA, all these news stations that blazed abroad the matter of First Works Baptist Church. You see, they thought, well, if we do this, we're gonna scare him. And if he's scared, he's not gonna preach anymore. He's just gonna step down, he's gonna go away. We're just like, ha ha ha ha ha. This is great. You guys ever seen that meme of that guy who's behind the tree? And he's like. That's how I was. Soon as I'm like, yes, this is good. Because they're doing the work that we wanted to do. To blaze abroad the matter. Yeah, but we're gonna be able to slander and lie about you and say all manner of evil. Yeah, but anybody with two brain cells to rub together will know that what you're saying is stupid. They're gonna type in First Works Baptist Church. They're gonna type in Bruce Mejia. Oh, evil pastor Bruce Mejia. Listen to my sermon and be like, hey, actually, this guy's right. It's pretty good. Hey, this is, what are they talking about? They just lied. Blaze abroad the matter. How does the church grow? It grows when you get the word out. It grows when our enemies get the word out about us. I'll give you an example of this, recent example. The lady who got baptized today, she got saved about three weeks ago. I got her saved over the phone. And she was not a fan of our church because of the incidents that took place in January. She was not a fan of our church at all. She was actually very much against what we were doing. She was against moi, my preaching. And it caused a lot of contention between her and her family. Because her family, her sister actually goes to sure foundations. And she just didn't really like her church. But God touched her heart, began to move her, and she was going through some difficult situation, and she began to seek out the truth. So she decided to visit First Works Baptist Church in Omani though, not here, because she didn't know we were here. So she drove over there, and then it's red taped or whatever, church blown up, oh okay, obviously. And they let me know, and I was like, well give me her number, and I'll give her a call. And she drove from very far, very, very far away. Two hours away or so. And I gave her a call, and she was like, I was trying to come visit your church, but it's closed down. I was like, yeah, we're in a different location. I'm sure you know why. She goes, yeah, I saw you on the news, and all that. I saw what happened. And she didn't disclose how she really felt about her church initially. But I just took the opportunity to give her the gospel, and she ended up getting saved over the phone, as I was in the drive-through, you know. I'm like, and then the Bible says, number four. But she got saved. She's a point number four, or, I was like, I don't know. But she got saved. And you know what, it was great. And I said, come to church next week. We hope to see you there. And she came, and she came for Easter with her husband. And her husband got saved. And I'm like, man, this is awesome, you know, that God saved, it's always a blessing to see people just come to church to get saved, to bring their family, to get saved. Rejoices the heart, amen. Well today, you know, because I was trying to convince them to get baptized on Easter, they're like, well, we're not ready, you know. And then they came today, and you know me, I'm very, like, I'm very just blunt. You know what I mean? I'm just very blunt with what people say. And I was just talking, I was just like, you guys just need to get baptized today. Come on, let's go. Let's go get baptized. I'll baptize both of you today. You guys just need to do it, because God commanded you to do it. So you just gotta do it. Let's go, let's go. So we go, and you know, they get baptized. And her husband's about to get baptized first. And I'm talking to her, and you know, I'm just saying like, hey, you know, we're here for you, and you know, I heard you're going through a tough time. And so, you know, we're here for you. If you need anything, you need advice, counsel, just know that as your pastor, I'm here for you. Like, just let me know. And she's like, we are going through a tough time. And you know, the first thing that comes to mind is like, oh, you know, maybe they're having marital problems, financial issues, and she's like, well, just let me know, what's going on? She's like, well, it's because of you. What do you mean? She's like, well, you know, my family's just like, persecuting me right now, because I'm coming here. I'm like, whoa. That was like, from left, I'm like, really? She's like, yeah, they know about your church, they know about you, and they're not happy with us being here at all. And it's causing a lot of tension and contention between my family and I, a lot. And she was like in tears, you know what I mean? Because it's heartbreaking when your family is kind of like ostracizing you for coming to church. And I just told her, I said, you know, I commend you for what you're doing. You know, it says a lot. And I said, obviously, you're not coming for me, you're not coming for necessarily the church, you're coming for God. You're coming for the Lord, you're coming for your family. And so I just said, just stick it out, they'll come around, you know what I mean? They'll either be won over to the Lord like you are, like you were, right? Because she was like, against our church, but now she's for her, she's here, you know? And maybe that can happen to your family. I said, but worst case scenario is, they begin to tolerate you coming to our church. And you'll be able to win them over later on. And so what I'm saying is this, is that she caught some of that bad news from us, right? She caught some of that railing about us, some of the lies about us, and that fame blazed the broad, and she caught wind of it, and it caused her to have a bad attitude about her church, but you know what, God worked it together for good. Because she got saved, she got baptized, she's in our church, her husband got saved. I mean, their eternal destiny has forever changed. Because someone blazed the broad, the matter, through the internet. So what I'm saying is that, or look at Matthew 4, 24, and his fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them. Now, what does fame mean? Well, fame is the state of being known or talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements. You know what we want? We do want fame. But not to glory in ourselves, we want the fame to go out so people can be added to the Lord. So people can be saved, so people can come to church, so they can grow, so their lives can be changed. We want the fame of Jesus to be blazed the broad. Forget me, forget who I am, forget my sermons, as long as I can just lead people to the Lord and say, here's the answer, this is what you need, that's all that matters. Blazed the broad, the matter, how does the church grow? By the internet. And we're gonna keep using YouTube, we're gonna keep using these platforms. Obviously, it's not always gonna be there. You know, they're gonna eventually just shut us all down. But until then, we'll keep using it. Go to Acts chapter 14. We're talking about church growth, okay? Don't grow it by purple lights, don't grow it with smoke and mirrors, don't grow it with worldly music, grow it with biblical ways, biblical methods. Sowning, hey, blazing abroad the matter. Number three, church grows, a church grows, listen to this, through church transfers. Yeah, you heard, right? Church transfers, what is a church transfer? It's when someone goes to another church and then they transfer to your church. That's how a church grows. Now, old IFB pastors hate this. Unless people are transferring to their church. Then it's okay. But if people are leaving their church to come to like, I don't know, our church, then it's sheep stealing. Right. But folks, every single church, not just IFB churches, every single church grows with church transfers. Happens all the time. Okay? I can list multitudes of churches. How about this, how about just churches that have like a Bible college? Let me go ahead and get on Bible college for a little bit. Okay? These churches like North Valley Baptist Church. Jack Treiber and his little whining little videos about Governor Newsom. Him, and then you got Paul Chapel and Lancaster Baptist Church. Their entire church is made up of church transfers. Why, because they have a massive Bible college where they take the young people from different churches, they go to Lancaster, they go to North Valley, and they're so enamored with the bells and whistles of that church that they end up switching their membership. They end up staying there, getting hired on staff, and staying there forever. What's that called? It's called a church transfer. It's just a glorified church transfer. Okay? And you know, if that's what they want to do, then let them do it. But don't criticize me because people come to my church from different churches, you do the same thing. Okay? And here's the thing, they say, well, you're sheep stealing. I don't go out, first and foremost, they're not even your sheep. Right? They're God's sheep. They're not Jesus. You understand? Second of all, I'm not out there like, hey, come to my church. Whistling. Trying to get the sheep, putting out grass and stuff, like come here, come here. Now! And then you just snatch them and just. That's how they're making it seem or something. How do we get people to come to our church? We post our sermons and if people like it, they sometimes visit our church. Right. And look, we try to make it hard for people to come to our church sometimes. That's why I put like the hottest clips on YouTube. So people are like, whoa, I don't want to go there. Or at least they know what they're getting into when they come. Okay? But look, church transfer has been happening since the Bible. Show me in the Bible where there's a church transfer, Pastor McGee, okay, look at Acts 14, verse one. And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. Now let me just say this, a synagogue is simply another term for an assembly. The only difference is it's an assembly of Jews. Now there's certain synagogues in the New Testament that had saved people in it. Because they're preaching the word of God. You know, the equivalent would be like a Presbyterian church or something today. So you don't really expect to find a whole lot of saved people there, but I'm sure maybe there's a couple, right? And here we see that they go to the church, they preach the word of God, and a lot of Jews and also of the Greeks believe. Verse two, but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. Long time therefore are both they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony to the word of his grace and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, in part held with the Jews, in part with the apostles. So look folks, and this is what I tell people when I'm out sowing, if I get them saved, they go to a different church. I say, look, now if your church did not tell you of this, they didn't tell you of the right salvation, you probably should leave that church. Where should I go? My church. Because I'm giving you the truth. I'm giving you the gospel. You've been at that church for 20 years, then they re-told you that salvation is eternal. You've doubted your salvation this entire time. That is a church transfer. So when we go on and preach the gospel, and we give the gospel to someone, they get saved, we try to transfer them to our church, why not? They're not giving them the gospel over there. Go to Acts 17. Look at Acts 17, verse one. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews? And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. So we see that Paul's kind of going around, just kind of preaching the word of God in these synagogues, which obviously is not even a sanctioned assembly by God, but it is an assembly of some who are believers, and some who are not, and he's given them the gospel, he's not doing anything unbiblical, he's getting people saved, and what are they doing? They're being converted to the ways of the Lord. And I guarantee you, many of these people, and we looked at it when we were studying the Book of Acts, many of these people joined themselves to a local New Testament church, and they forsook the synagogue. They left the Catholic church, they left whatever church that was teaching a false gospel, and they joined themselves to a Bible believing church. And this is known as a church transfer. That's how a church grows, okay? And sometimes they go to a good church, maybe it's another Baptist church, but their job transfers them to a different place, a different state, and they go to a different church, they switch locations, or they just need a change in spiritual location. It's like, I feel like I'm not growing here, I feel like I can't really respect the pastor for whatever reason, or it's time to move on. And they move on to a different church where they feel like they can grow, they feel like they can raise their family, and that's definitely justifiable. And look, folks, you know, old I.P. had this attitude, it was just like, you can never leave me. Your soul is mine. You have this thing where it's just like, you belong here, you can't leave here, and if you leave, you're not right with God. It's like, what? Ew, get away. People can go anywhere they want, folks. You know, listen to the sermon this morning about submitting to the pastor, there's an extreme to that where the pastor's just like, you can never leave. If you leave here, this is the only place that God needs. Go anywhere else, you're not right with God. That is so stupid, it's wicked, and that person has, you know, a lot of insecurity in his leadership, okay? If someone comes to me and says, hey, I'm transferring churches, I'm going to Pastor Jimenez's, Pastor Anderson's, I'm like, yeah, amen, great. Great friends of mine, you're gonna get fed well over there. Thank you so much for being in our church, we're gonna miss you, and we'll see you. You know, we'll see you at another conference or something. I'm not gonna be like, nah, what do you mean? That's in Arizona. Why are you going to Pastor Jimenez's for, what's up with that? What, you don't love me? What are you trying to say about my preaching? That'd be weird, folks. Never have this attitude, those of you who are planning to be pastors, that, oh, you know, they just have to love you and follow you. No, folks, that's weird, okay? That's right. Go to Acts chapter six. What's another way that a church grows? How about this, through family and friends? And let me say this, this is actually the way that the church grows the most sometimes, okay? This is the way our church has grown, for the most part, is through family and friends. So what do you mean? We encourage our church members to invite their family and their friends to church. Now look, when you win someone to Christ at the door, you've just met them. They come to church, they might not be like, this pastor's crazy. He's the one who got bombed. I'm not coming back. And you don't really have a close relationship with them, right? So you kind of risk that. However, when you invite your family and friends, you kind of prime them, you know what I mean? Just to let you know, he was on the news, the church, this is that church, or whatever. And you sit down with them in the service, they hear me preach, or they're a part of the service, and you know what happens is, if they have questions, they can ask you. And you tell them, well, this is what he meant by when he taught this, or this is what the Bible says. And they already have an established relationship with you at that point. Because you know, it's kind of awkward when someone comes to church by themselves. They don't really have friends, they have to make friends, if the church is not very friendly. And I think our church is a very friendly church. But still, even then, it's hard for a new person to get assimilated if they're by themselves. So we have to really go out of our way to try to help that person assimilate well, especially if they're not necessarily an extrovert, okay? But if they're invited by their family or their friends, it's a lot easier to assimilate to the church. Because at least when they come to church, they're always with their family. And as the day or the weeks go by, the months go by, they begin to gravitate towards other people in the church. Because they begin to build friendships with other people. And I've seen that in our church. I've seen it in our church where it's just like, you look at the group of guys, and there's someone there who would typically only be with their family. But now it's just like, well, I got friends here now. And I'm hanging out with them now, or whatever, you know? With the ladies, same thing with the ladies, et cetera. And this is a great way to grow the church. And this is why I always encourage you, invite your family and friends. Especially for big days like Easter. It's a great day to invite just your family and friends, help them to get assimilated. Be a good testimony. Look, that's why it's important. One of the best reasons why it's good to invite your family and friends to church is that it's kind of like accountability for you. Because now you gotta make sure you're a good testimony before your family. You gotta make sure you behave yourself. You gotta make sure you're on your Ps and Qs. You gotta make sure you're on your toes and you're paying attention and you're living a godly life, you're not doing anything questionable. You're living a life that's above reproach. You're doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord, because you know that your family's watching you and they know you come to this church. And you don't wanna be a bad testimony to your family. Amen? But think about, you know, well let me read it to you. From John chapter one, verse 48, verse 38 says, "'Then Jesus turned and saw them following "'and saith unto him, What seek ye?' "'They said unto him, Rabbi,' "'which is to say, being interpreted, Master, "'where dwelleth thou?' "'He saith unto him, Come and see.' "'They came and saw where he dwelt "'and abode with him that day for as about the tenth hour. "'One of the two which heard John speak "'and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. "'He first findeth his own brother, Simon, "'and saith unto him, We have found the Messiahs, "'which is being interpreted, the Christ, "'and he brought him to Jesus.'" I wanna encourage you, bring your family to Jesus. Bring your parents, your brothers, your cousins, bring them to Jesus. And I thought you talked about church growth. Well, they can find Christ here as well. And wouldn't you agree that sometimes it's hard for you to witness to your family because maybe they're a little close to you, right? You know, a prophet is not without honor, save it his own country. You might be without honor with your family, but if you bring them to church, someone else can witness to them. In our church, they can get saved, get assimilated, and recognize that, you know, they're not the only crazy people, you know, in this world. Just kidding. Acts chapter six, what's another way of growing a church? And this one's important, okay? And I'm gonna focus on the men here. By raising leaders. We grow a church by raising leaders, okay? Now, I'm the pastor here, obviously, and I'm like the main leader, but it's important that as a church, we have men in our church who are willing to grow up, step it up, and become a leader. Whether that's becoming a team leader, or it's becoming a pastor, or having some sort of vision for your life. And man, let me just say this, get a vision for your life. And if it's like, well, I don't desire to be a pastor. And you say, well, how does that grow a church? I can't really explain how that works. I just know that the more leaders that are raised in a local church, the more the church has a tendency to grow. And it's possibly because it creates more security in the church when it's not just one man calling the shots, but there's multiple people who are submitted to the one man. But they're also leaders of their homes, they're leaders of their wives, they're leaders of their children. It creates an atmosphere of security knowing this is a strong church because the men are strong in our church. Okay, look at Acts six, verse one. And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the same pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. Look what it says, and the word of God increased. And the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem, a little bit? No, greatly. And a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. So we see the byproduct of men being raised up to become leaders is that the word of God increases, the number of the disciples multiplies, and a great company of the priests become obedient to the faith. And here's my message to the men, let's grow up. Here's my message to the men, hey, be a man. Grow up, get some vision, become a man, become a leader, work towards that goal. Don't be a Toys R Us kid. Don't be the, I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid. No Toys R Us kids in our church, other than the little ones. No Toys R Us men in our church. It's time to grow up. And you know why I think we got strong men in our church, but it's time for the men to get a vision for their life. And so you know what, I wanna work towards a goal. I've only one life to live. I've only this life to live, I have one opportunity to do something great for God, I need to take it, and attempt something, to be a leader. You know what happens is, you will benefit your church in the long run when that happens. And I hope that within the next five years, that there's a lot of pastors in our church, future pastors, that I would just say, all right, let's start these churches, because now we have the leaders. I would hate to think that in five years or 10 years, it's just like, still nothing. And I don't think that's gonna happen. I would hope that that wouldn't happen. I would hope that you'd get a vision for your life, and grow as a man, grow as a leader, and thereby growing the church. Go to Exodus chapter one, here's my last point. So these are different ways to grow a church. Soul winning, you know, the media, social media, the internet, inviting your family and friends to church, by raising leaders. But let me just show you the best way to grow a church, okay? This is a for sure way. Like ironclad, it will always work. No matter where you're at, it will work. If we did none of these, if we didn't do any soul winning, if we didn't do the YouTube, if we didn't invite family and friends, if we didn't raise godly leaders, this for sure will work. What is that? Having babies. It's the for sure way to grow. Like I'm not a good soul winner, but can you have babies? Be a good soul winner, but have babies. That's a for sure way to grow. So even if like, you know, some pastor is in some like really bad area, and his church is really small or something like that, you know, and you know, it's not a whole lot of attentions, you know, from the cities coming to that church, they're not really growing numerically from outside sources. Maybe they're doing soul winning, but you know, they're just not growing. It's okay, the pastor just needs to teach their people to have babies, and over the years, it will grow. Our church has done all these and they've grown, but you know one thing that we've just capitalized on is this one right here. There's always new babies in the church, always. Sometimes I forget who's pregnant, who's already had the baby, it's just like, wait, did they already have their, I can't remember. Is she still in the hospital, or like who, you know, and that's a good problem to have. Having children is a blessing, folks. It's a blessing for a family, but it's a blessing for a church as well. It's great to have babies crying out and sparing not in the service. Yeah, look at James, Moses. He just looks straight at him. Hey, I love it when James cries out. That's great. Yeah, you know, he's just like screaming, amen. When my son screams out, because it reminds me that there's babies in the church. You know, sometimes you'll have a parent that's like way over here, and their kid is just going buck wild, and they just kind of slowly walk through the service, like, yeah, like all the way through. It's great. Now, older I be hate that. They want the ushers to escort that child outside of the, you know, for me, it's just like, it reminds me that God is blessing the womb of the people in our church, okay? Now look, I understand that there's couples in our church that maybe can have children, okay? And, you know, obviously if that's the case with you, then invest in other people, have spiritual children. You can still do great things for God. You can still have spiritual children, and that's how you ought to view it. But to those who can have children, and you don't want to have children, first of all, that's wicked, because you probably, if you're using birth control, it's contraceptives, these wicked means of killing babies in your womb, first of all, that's evil, that's wicked. It's murder, you understand? But take into consideration, there's people who would love to have that opportunity to have just one child. You understand? Let me read to you from Psalm 127, verse one, it says, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. So God, when you're pregnant, it's like God is rewarding you. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. 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. Hey, Avar, are you happy? Yeah, he's happy. Why is he happy? Because he's got to grip a kid, it takes up the whole road. Takes up the whole road. And you know what, I've never met a person who has a large family who's not happy. Children are a blessing. And so, you know, this is important, and I hope that you take this to heart, and I don't think there's anybody here who would be against this point, but this is something we have to emphasize, and recognize that children are a blessing. They're a reward from God to you. Never look upon bearing children as a burden. It should never be, well, you know, how are we gonna provide? If God rewards you with a child, he's gonna provide a way for you to provide for your family. It's gonna happen. And just know this, birth control is wicked as hell. You should never partake of that, okay? It should never be a part of your agenda, or your marriage to say, well, we need to stop having children, okay? For whatever reason. That's not God's will. Look at Exodus chapter one. And one of the reasons I'm bringing this up is because, you know, especially now, our church is being afflicted. You know, your pastor's being afflicted. We are being persecuted. And look what the Bible says in Exodus chapter one, in verse nine, regarding that concept. It says in verse nine, And he said unto his people, behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Python and Ramses. Notice verse 12, But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were greed because of the children of Israel. Now, we often take the spiritual application to this. And the spiritual application is, the more Satan afflicts us, the more we grow spiritually. But the literal interpretation of this is the more they afflicted the children of Israel, the more they actually, the more babies they had. That's actually what it's talking about. They actually multiplied and grew. Why? Because often, in a time of difficulty and trial, spouses find solace in coming together, and the natural result of that is babies. So the more they afflicted them, the more they actually grew because of it, and it was a sign of God's blessing. How does a church grow? Having children. And I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon, for example, like an old church, not reaching new people, and you know what? Not having children. And sometimes, though those churches are well-meaning, it's almost as if God allows them to die out. Why? Because they stopped following the mandate to be fruitful and multiply. And the result of that is the death of the church. Folks, we're trying to raise it up a second, third, and fourth generation here. And raise up a, you see, we want a church that is reaching new people, someone who's tatted from head to toe, someone who has tattoos on their eyelids, and just worldly, but they get saved. But we also want to reach the person, which is our children, who grows up in church, and knows nothing of that. We want both. We want to raise our daughters here. We want our daughters to marry the young boys that are raised here as well. Now, that's my desire, that my son would marry, you know, one of the girls that grows up in this church. I think that'd be great. Are you guys okay with that, or what? Sorry, Bruce, I guess we'll work on it, son. I'm just kidding. That would be my vision. But my vision for this church is this. Let's reach new people, people that are in their 20s, people that are teenagers, in their 20s, in their 30s, in their 40s, and 50s, but let's reach the child that's in the womb as well. Create a church where they can grow up in, and it's just like, well, I was born in church, basically. I've been hearing preaching since I was in the womb. You guys freak out? Well, Pastor Mejia says, I've been listening to this since I was in my mother's womb. I heard the sirens and the sodomites and all this. I heard all that. I grew up in church. We want both. Amen. Church growth is not the end game, but it is important, and sometimes it's just a natural result of us following God's mandates of sowning, of blazing abroad the matter, reaching our friends and family, raising up godly leaders, and having children. Amen. So basically, my entire sermon is just this. Keep having babies. Keep having babies. Why not? It's a blessing. That's right. It's a marker for us to see, okay, God's hand is still on us, because he's opening the wombs, and he's allowing us to have children, and that is a sign of God's blessing. Amen. Spire heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the church growth. And since the time we started with 30 people, 30 plus people, and now to see where we're at right now, it's obviously it's your doing. It's not mine. It's not ours necessarily, but obviously we understand that you bring the increase. But I pray that you'd help us to do our part, and help us to continue to preach the gospel, to reach more people, to create more laborers, to equip more men, to equip the young men in our church as well. And Lord, please continue to open the wombs of the wives, Lord. Please continue to bless us with more children. I would love to have more children. So thankful for my daughter who's coming in June. What a blessing it is. I'm so thankful for my son Bruce, and my daughter Kyla, my son Isaias. And I pray that you would bless us with so many more children, Lord. And we never have this attitude that children are a burden. And sometimes people get this attitude that how are we gonna love all our children if we have so many, but really our love increases more. I feel like I love my children more the more than I have. And I pray that you'd help us to have that attitude, Lord. So we would reach the person in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.