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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Building A Strong Local Church, Part 5 | Edwin Anderson | Holy Ghost Meetings 2021 | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
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Father, we thank you today for the entrance of your word. We know the entrance of your word gives light. Hallelujah. It lightens us, enlightens us, directs us. Father, we thank you for that. Glory to God. We pray, Father, that each of us will have open ears and open hearts, open eyes, spiritually, to see and to hear and to know, Father, what you're saying to our spirits about the local church. Glory to God. Thank you, Father, today for utterance, Father. That I'll say what needs to be said the way it needs to be said, Father. And that in everything that's said and done, Jesus will be magnified and glorified. We pray that in his wonderful name. The name of Jesus. Amen. Praise God. Pastor Nancy, I'm so thankful that you invited me and asked me to come and share on the local church. I really counted a great opportunity. And like I said before, I want you to agree with me that this book, it's not because I've just written a book and want to sell copies. Because if you've ever done this, you know, you don't make any money selling books unless you've sold a bunch of books. I mean, like a million books. And so. But I don't. I don't pretend to know everything about the local church, not by a long shot. And there are a lot of good books out in the local church. But I believe the Lord has given me some insight, and I think these things would be beneficial, particularly to young ministers. And so what I'm really believing God for is an opportunity to get my book into Bible schools. You know, there are hundreds, if not thousands of Bible schools all over America, and, you know, spirit filled Bible schools. And I don't really know how to do it, but I'm trusting God to help me because if I can get this into the hands of young ministers, I believe it would be a help. Amen. So, you know, we can. We can learn things from other people. Amen. That's the best way to learn prayer. Praise God. Hallelujah. Yesterday I was talking about the dangers of false ministers that come into your congregation, but, you know, that's not the only problem that can present itself. There's also false brethren. Amen. Somebody that resonated. Praise the Lord. Galatians 2, verse 4. Galatians 2, 4 says, and this occurred because of false brethren noticely secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out Our liberty, which we have in Christ. Now listen to the next part. That they might bring us into bondage. God sends people to local churches and they come in by stealth. They come in secretly under pretense, and they seem so nice. But they're sent there by the devil for two things. That they might spy out your liberty, which you have in Christ, and that they might bring you into bondage. Amen. Pastors, God and I know you know this, but sometimes we have to be reminded because young pastors particularly sometimes fall into this, into this trap, because they don't understand God is not sending lay people to your church to straighten you out, to straighten your church out because your church doesn't know enough and they've come from a place they know more. God's not sending lay people to you to straighten you out as a pastor. Straighten your church out. In fact, it's just the opposite. God put pastors over their churches to straighten people out. And when visitors come, they're supposed to come and be corrected by you, not the other way around. Amen. I've never had success with people who come to my church, but they don't want to know what we know. They already think they know everything. But there's not a church like theirs, maybe in the area, or maybe there's some relatives of theirs that attend our church. And so they start coming, but they're still in their hearts. They're still tied to where they came from. And if they don't open their heart to receive the revelation we have, it never works out. Good people need to open their heart to the church where they are. Amen. Like I said yesterday, the pastor is the door to the sheepfold. And we're not supposed to let just anybody in. Amen. Some people, they come with other doctrines. They come with other agendas. They have their own. A lot of people want to come to a church, like I said. I think earlier I said this. They want to come to a church where they can use the church for their own purposes and they have their own vision. All that will do will bring confusion to the flock. If you allow people to sort of do their thing, come in, and if you don't, if you don't deal with it, they will begin to gain influence in the church because people will not perceive that you don't agree with certain things. There might be somebody in your church or something going on that you don't really. You're not really in support of. But if you. And I'm not talking about, you know, just the way Somebody looks or, you know, some insignificant thing. But I'm talking about things that, that go against your vision and against the direction and the agenda God's given your Ch. Church. If you don't deal with those things, the people in your church, they don't, they don't see. And they will think you're okay with those things. And then those things will begin. Those people will pick up a following. They'll develop a following around, around their, you know, so called ministry. And so you have to be careful about that, about false brethren. Turn with me to see. I've got three passages here. Go to second Timothy three. I hear you turning, but I want you to go back. Hold your placement together. I want us to go back to Galatians where we were before we leave that passage. So go ahead and find second Timothy three. And when you find it, go back to Galatians, chapter two. Huh? Does it come off again? You want to fix this? I fixed this twice already. It came off twice, so I guess I didn't fix it. Try that. Praise the Lord. Galatians 2. We read Paul talking about these people who. False brethren who came in notice, verse 5. To whom we did not yield submission even for an hour. Why that the truth might continue. The truth is what's important. It's not about pride. It's about, not about, you know, insecurities or anything like that. It's about the truth. When things challenge the truth, you have to, you have to stand against that. Amen. Now go over to second Timothy, chapter three. Let's read quite a few verses here. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without self control, brutal despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, halty, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness but denying its power. You ought to underscore that thought. Having a form of godliness but denying its power. From such people turn away of this sort are those who creep into households and make captive of gullible women, loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts. Now, I don't believe this is talking about individual people's homes. You understand that the early church met in homes. And so I believe that this is just my opinion, but I believe this is, this is talking about local home churches, local congregations. These, these people of which we're talking about. Don't creep into just such and such a street. You know, house down at the end of the street. Just talking about little congregations. They creep. They creep into households and make captive of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapproved concerning the faith. But their progress, they will progress no further. And their folly will be made manifest to all as theirs Jannes and. Jannes and Jambres was. And they go down to verse number 13. Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Notice that imposters. Evil men and imposters. Imposters are people who present themselves one way, but that's not who they really are. They deceive themselves, but they also deceive others. And that's the purpose that they have. Go with me to Romans, chapter 6, Romans 16, and look at verse 17. I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. It's the pastor's job to make sure that the hearts of the simple are not deceived. Amen. Worldliness and an anything goes mentality has crept into the church. False grace has compromised the church in regard to sin. Largely, largely compromised the church. People are afraid today to call sin sin. The most debasing sins and lifestyles are infiltrating and polluting the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the pastor must take an unwavering yet compassionate stand against these things. See, the pastor has to strike a balance between creating an environment that is welcoming to sinners and yet at the same time upholds standards of holiness for the congregation. Jesus was a man that sinners flocked to. They loved him because he wasn't religious. He was compassionate, but he did not fool around with sin. His stand for righteousness and for holy living didn't run people off. It drew people to Him. And so the pastor has to strike a balance. Like I said, you have to create an environment in the church where sinners will want to come. They'll sense the compassion, the love of God. But you can't turn a blind eye to things that are not right in your church in fear that you Might run people off. It can be a pretty small needle to thread. Sometimes it takes some real finesse on the, on the, on the part of the pastor to pull it off. When someone is bound by any sin, I don't care what it is, but truly desires in their heart to be free, then the church must be patient as the Holy Spirit brings that person to a place of free, full surrender to Christ. And this can often take a while. And if you don't believe it, just remember your own history. When people are saved, they don't just become mature Christians overnight. They still have to grow in the Lord. And the church has to be patient with people while the Holy Spirit is working on them. But you can tell when the Holy Spirit is working on them because they do begin to take steps. And if they're not taking any steps, then that's an indication that they're really not sincere in wanting to change and to live right. Well, it's the truth, The church. When a person is really wanting to change and you can see that the church has to be patient and demonstrate genuine love and acceptance of that individual as the Spirit works with him. We must be willing to help anyone who wants help. God accepted us like we were, but he didn't expect us to stay like. He didn't allow us to stay like we were. Amen. Those who want to be accepted by the church while refusing to acknowledge the truth about their sin or about their false doctrine, for that matter, have to be confronted and confronted and turned away if necessary. It's not pleasant. But Jesus said, so I, I told you about the man, you know, that tried to split my, you know, he was running the youth ministry into the ground and tried to split my church. And so he was going around talking to everybody in the church and so forth, a lot of people. And so when I confronted him, he said, I know this isn't God because you, you're threatening me. Because I told him, if you come in that door and if you haven't repented, I'll know if you've repented, I'll know it when you come in. And if you haven't, by the Holy Ghost, I'll know it and I'll bring you right down to the front. And he said, that couldn't be God because you're threatening me. I said, well, have you ever read the Book of Revelation? Jesus said, repent or else. That sounds like a threat to me. And he didn't just say, or else I'll embarrass you in front of the church. His or else was, was much worse than that. Paul talked about, you know, confronting people that have that. That won't change. Just like in Corinth, where the man shamelessly flaunted his sin, the pastor. If the pastor doesn't condemn it and put it away from the flock, it'll open the door for more ungodliness than the flock. A little leaven leavens the whole lump, right? Amen. There was a. Well. And before I say that, let me say this. As pastors, we cannot afford to indulge deceived people and unrepentant people and allow them to stay in our congregation under the misplaced notion of showing love and tolerance. Now, not all sins are the same, and not all sins rise to the same level of implication for a church that others do. Some things that people are struggling with do not threaten to infect the rest of the church. Other things do. And a pastor has to know the difference. Now, I'm going to talk about a woman about two years ago started attending our church and she was of an alternative preference. And I'm not afraid of calling sin sin, but for the sake of parents who aren't ready to answer questions that their children might rise up. That's the reason I talk this way. I had to learn that, had some parents come to me and say, pastor, thanks a lot. Mommy, what's a. Yeah, this lady started attending our church. She was invited to our church. Just. This just happened a couple of years ago. And a co worker of hers, you know, attends our church. So our lady in our church invited her. She came and it was obvious the very first time anybody laid eyes on her, it was obvious what her sin was. She wore it on her sleeve, so to speak. In other words, she was out there and she was very charming. She's very charming. She wasn't, you know, a difficult person to, you know, for people to talk to. She's very charming, very likable, but she was very overt in her. In her presentation of her sin, you know. And now when she was around me, I note, I watched her in the congregation. She was very friendly. And our church, you know, we've always taught our people to welcome sinners and welcome people, you know, but the flock sometimes don't. Don't discern things like they should. And though I don't mean they didn't discern her sin because everybody knew it. But when she was around me, she was. She was kind of standoffish, a little bit rebellious, acting. When she. She came for two or three weeks And I noticed every Sunday morning, every service that I preached, she sat in her seat and cried all during the service. So I knew the Spirit of God was dealing with her. Holy Ghost was working on her. And so I don't remember how many weeks. It was only two or three weeks on a Sunday morning. She responded to the invitation, and it was a salvation invitation. She came forward. I prayed the sinner's prayer with her, sent her to the prayer room. My prayer room workers told me later that she claimed that she was saved, but she was just, you know, out of fellowship, backslidden, and she wanted to come back, you know, into fellowship with the Lord and, you know, go to church again. So I watched her, and I didn't. I watched her for two or three more weeks after that. I'm looking for some indication that she. That the Lord is working on her and she's responding. I did not expect. And I would never expect everything to look normal overnight, but that arrogance and that pride in her, in her orientation was still up front. And so I was just. Now my congregation started. I'll tell you more about this a little later. But my congregation began to get the wrong impression of what was going on because of the time it took me to deal with it. So I'm watching this woman. I gave her another couple of weeks. I couldn't see any evidence when she was around me. She was still very sort of arrogant, acting and, you know, in your face. So on a. I think it was a Sunday night after church. I caught up with her right as church was over, and there was nobody that could hear our conversation, just the two of us standing together. And I said, now I am so glad that you've come to Christ and you want to surrender your heart to the Lord and follow him. I said, I'm so glad. I said, I just want you to know that I'm for you. I will work with you, and I can help you get over the problem you have now. I don't ordinarily use the word problem. I'm just trying to be gentle with her. And as God is my witness, that was the way I talked. I said, I just want you to know we love you. We're for you, and I'll help you. And she said, what problem? Well, there's no way that that individual who faces judgment all the time in society, there's no way. She didn't know what I was talking about. No way on the planet I knew she was being coy with me. She said, what? What. What problem? So I just Said real, real clearly. I said, your sin and gave it the name, you know, said your sin. And I said, I want you to know that God loves you and he wants you to. He wants to deliver you and I will help you. You can absolutely get free. Amen. She said, I don't need to get free. God loves me like, just like I am. I believe he loves me. I said, he does love you, but he doesn't love your lifestyle. Your lifestyle is contrary to the word of God. No, God loves me and I don't need, I don't need any help. I said, well, yes, you do. And she began to get pretty angry at this point. And so I just, you know, we. The conversation ended and she, she walked out. So I waited until Wednesday night and I saw her again. I come up to her after church and she was sitting in the back and I said, have you thought anymore about our conversation from Sunday? She said, yes. And she said, I don't believe in your interpretation of the scriptures. And she started saying those scriptures over. And so she started misinterpreting the script. I just cut her off and said, I am the pastor of this church and I will not allow you to stand here and twist the scriptures to me. You don't know what you're talking about. I know the Bible and this sin is sin. Now I said, I told you, like I told you on Sunday, I'm not here to condemn you. I'm here to help you. But you have to be willing to acknowledge that you need help. She said something very interesting to me. She said, there are a lot of churches that accept help us. And because of that, that tells me that God must be okay with this. That's a sin from those churches. Those churches did wrong. They're justifying people in their sin because of not dealing with. Because they don't deal with it and just say, well, they don't have to preach that it's right. Just by not confronting it and welcoming those people, it validates to them that there are right, you know, we're going to have to stop sweeping these things under the rug. Amen. Papering over them, you know, afraid we're going to offend somebody. And I said, called her by name. I said, I'm reiterating, I'm here to help you. I don't need any help. And I said, well, if that's your stance that you don't need any help and you're determined to stay like you are, you can't come to church here. Oh, she wasn't Prepared for that. She just. She was. What are you saying? Are you throwing out? I said, I'm telling you, you are welcome if you want God's will in your life, but you're not welcome to come here and flaunt your sin in our church. I won't allow it. She stormed out. Oh, she was so mad. She stormed out of the auditorium, went through the doors, into the lobby, yelled out, because somebody in the lobby told me they didn't know what was going on. Said she came out and yelled, the pastor's just thrown me out of my church. And went out the front door, slammed the door. Her church. Well, I knew because she was yelling like that that this would get around. I knew the rumor mill would start working on this. And our church had been very loving and very, you know, polite to her and friendly to her. And like I said, she was very charming. So I knew this would get out and people would be talking about it. So this was on Wednesday. So on Sunday morning I just talked about it. We don't have any small children in our service on Sunday mornings. We have middle school age teenagers, you know, so it was okay. So I talked about this and explained what I did, and everybody said, oh, that's okay. What I didn't know was what was going on in my church during this. About a month, maybe six weeks, maybe five, six weeks this was going on. I had personal person after person come to me and tell me different things of how they perceived what was going on. This one woman came and she said, pastor, I am so glad you dealt with this. She said, I have somebody, a niece in my family that's come out. And she said, the parents, I guess it was her brother or sister, the parents of this niece had announced to the family, everyone will accept my daughter or we'll cut you off. We won't have any. We won't be family anymore. And she said, and she said, we left that state and moved to Florida for the purpose of getting our daughters out of that. Because we knew that if we stayed there and, you know, yielded to that demand that our children would grow up with a twisted view of sexuality. And she said, we left there to come here. She said, but when you didn't deal, see, they didn't know I was monitoring this. She said, when this lady came and everybody in the church was so welcoming and you were friendly and welcoming, she said, I began to think, well, maybe I'm wrong. No, she wasn't wrong. She said, I'm so. That just. She said, I was thinking, well, Our church is a non compromise. We preach the non compromised word of God and if our pastor is okay, then I guess I need to become more tolerant. Well, we do need to be helpful and tolerant, like I said, of people who want to change, change. Another man come came to me and he said, pastor, he said, I'm so glad you dealt with this. He said, I didn't realize how I was being led astray. Now this is not, this is not an immature man. This is a. This is a man that's been in our church a number of years. Strong believer actually in leadership for a long time. You know, solid man. He said now, he said, I knew this was wrong. I knew this sin was wrong. But after she stayed a while and everything was fine, he said, I began. He said, I didn't realize I was being deceived. I began to think, well, you know what? This is, this is what we should do. We ought to be tolerant and accepting of people and no, that's, that's not what we do. Paul said a little leaven will these people will, will lead other people astray. Two different women came to me in the next week and said, pastor, just want you to know, called this, this woman's name, said she's been. They've made, she's made overtures to us, put it that way. Two different women in my church, divorced women. This woman had been already. Already. I didn't know that. I didn't know it. Spirit of God knew it. Holy Ghost knew it. When you're pastoring, you know, not every case is the same in any category. You have to be led by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit. This is my point, pastors, the Holy Spirit will help you keep your church safe. But you're going to have to have the courage. Have to have the courage because this is very politically incorrect. Amen. What happens in situations like that is someone finds acceptance. They begin to share with their friends. We have a haven at XYZ Church. More will come. This is what happens. More come. No one does anything. The biblically devout people in the church begin to be very threatened and very. They begin to be silenced because the leadership won't allow any, anybody to do anything about it. And so the sound people sometimes leave and you have a church that begins to take on that spirit. And over time, those people begin to be. They just start coming and they start participating in church. Before you know it, they're in the choir. Then they're in the front worship team and then they're working with children. Then they're ushers and greeters. And before you know it, they move into leadership in a church and it's entrenched in that church. And in denominational churches, they move into leadership in the denomination. All of these denominations that we are so shocked when we hear, you know, that they've endorsed this or that. You know where it started? In a local church. That's where it started. And it started in a local church. But because a pastor wouldn't do his job, because he was afraid of whatever, he just wouldn't do his job, we have to, we have to guard our flock. When the devil sends people to your church, pastors, to corrupt it, destroy its witness and rob it of its power, it's your job to stand up to them and protect the people entrusted to your career. You must guard your flock like it says in second Peter 2, against those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority, Having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin. Enticing unstable souls, they allure through the lust of the flesh through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. That's what happens. Jude says these are spots. The margin of my Bible says hidden reefs, they're rocks. They're like rocks right under the water and they can. And they can absolutely knock a hole in the bottom of your church. He said these are spots. Your love feast while they feast with you out without fear. Serving themselves. Now it's interesting that word serving is literally in the Greek. It's the word for pastoring. Poimaeno. Pastoring themselves. That's what this woman wanted to do. She wanted to pastor herself. Well, there's only going to be one pastor. And sweetheart, it's not to going. Going to be you. Amen. They want to be a law unto themselves. Like I said, not every sin that, that people in the church, because, you know, let's be frank, local church got a lot of sin in it. Yeah, exactly right. Come on. Yeah. Mine and I won't say yours, but these other churches.
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People.
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People are people. Paul wrote to Ephesus and Ephesus, he was able to bring some real revelation to Ephesus. They had to have some maturity. He said, stop lying to one another. Stop lying to one another. Why would he have to say that to it? Because people lie. Christians lie. Stop stealing. He said, stop stealing. I'm thinking these. Aren't these people saved? Yes, saved people will steal. What I'm saying is people have flesh, but there are some things that Will that will attach itself to your church. If you don't correct it, it will poison that church. Amen. Well, that's the truth. Amen. Glory to God. I want to turn to the next. To the last chapter that was the previous chapter. I want to go to the next chapter, and there's only one more. I want to talk just for a few minutes, about inner church ethics. Go with a minute. Go with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians, chapter 2. No church will long prosper unless it behaves itself honorably within the greater community of churches, especially neighboring or nearby churches. No church will long prosper if it's dishonorable. Where other churches in the community are concerned, we've been focusing on the local church, but we need to understand there is a universal church and there is a close relationship between the local church and the universal church. We're not minimizing the importance of the universal church. And there are other churches besides ourselves and our church and what we're doing, that we have to be honorable. I was telling Pastor Morgan this morning, there's a church that developed, you know, was. Was birthed in our community when she was just a little girl. But, you know, it didn't start right. There was a lot of proselytizing going on. And I've watched churches. I've been doing this for a long time. I've watched churches that start like that and that conduct themselves that way. They mistreat other churches and they send their members out to target other church. I watch it. This church was. When it. When it happened, it split off of the big first church. And boy, it was the going thing. It was the. All of the, you know, of the important people in town started going to it. I remember they'd hide, even though they didn't need it. They'd hire a police car out in front of their church on Sunday mornings to direct traffic because, you know, they just paid. They didn't need. Wasn't that big of traffic. But it creates this, you know, this, you know, sense that, oh, boy, look what we're doing, you know. How many years ago was that? I don't know, 25 years ago. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. They had this big Christmas thing that they did every year outside and people came from counties around. The realtor in my church just sent me a message early this week, said that entire property, that church ever. That entire property is up for sale. Now that church has gone down to nothing. Because if you don't treat other churches right, it comes back to roost. Amen. And I've had to sit by and watch some churches come up in our community and draw members off. And I. There's nothing really you can do. Just sit and watch it. But listen, payday's coming. I'm going to stay right? I'm going to stay clean. I'm going to stay honorable. I teach our people, don't be involved in that. Don't be involved in proselytizing other church members. Go after the unchurched, the unsaved and the saved. Unchurched. Lot of saved people out there aren't going anywhere. Amen. Inner church ethics is in short supply today. Turn with me to Romans chapter 15. Well, say amen if you can. Romans 15, verse 20. Paul said so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ was named. Still hearing pages. Let everybody get there so you can see the punchline. So I've made it. This is Romans 15:20. I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ was named. Lest I should build on another man's foundation. Now in another place, Paul talks about building on another man's foundation. Said I planted Apollos watered and other people built. In one sense we are, all of us are building on another man's foundation. We're building on the word and the ministry that's gone before. That's true. Where the gospel message is concerned, the preaching is concerned. Paul was. That's not what he was talking about here. He was talking about. About his ministry, the development of his ministry. He said, I've made it my aim to preach the gospel where it hasn't gone before. Lest I should build on another man's foundation. This, this reveals an important and guiding principle in Paul's life and ministry and that is that he would not encroach on another man's work. He just wouldn't do it. Some other translations and versions of this are helpful. The New Living Bible says my ambition has always been to preach the good news where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. New Century Version I always want to preach the good news in places where people have never heard of Christ. I do this because I do not want to build on the work that someone else has already started. The bbe, which I finally figured out, that's the Bible in basic English, Says making it my purpose not to take the good news where Christ was named so that my work might not be resting on that of others. The author s way translation says my ambition has been all along to proclaim the glad tidings. Not in places where Messiah's name, Jesus was already named, was already known. Notice this. He said, I am not the man to usurp for my building another man's foundation. I've seen times where pastors have come in and perhaps had a, you know, some notoriety as a, as a pastor or as a minister. And they go in and, and, and they're maybe they're even on tv. And so they go into another part of the country and plant a church. And, and I've seen that, that sometimes the other churches in the area suffer because people are. Are drawn away. This one man friend of mine, he told me, he said, you go on TV and you see someone preaching up there. He'd call this particular man. He said the funny thing, he said, you see all of his worship team and all of his. He said, they were all my ministry of helps. They were in my church. Well, now there's another side to that. I'm not stupid enough to believe there's not two sides to it. The other side to it, how were they so easily led away? Okay, so there are other sides to this, but there's still a principle when it comes to planting new churches. Some people have the idea that Jesus has forgotten his own golden rule, you know, doing others as you would have them do unto you. Amen. Start. Now, listen, starting a church down the street, or in some situations even in the same town from a similar church is too close. Sometimes starting a church down the street, or even sometimes in the same town from a similar church, yours is too close. And just because the other churches, the other church is not a part of your group or your camp does not relieve you of the obligation of good ethics. Notice I'm talking about churches. Similar churches. What do I mean by similar churches? I was an RMEI director. I was a regional director for 10 years for Rhema Ministerial association. And we ran into this all the time because rhema churches were spreading and people were planting churches and rhema grads would go out and they'd start a church. Thought I was closer to that than I was. They would go out and start a church in the same town as an existing rhema church, and the existing pastor would get mad. They'd call the national office and they'd contact the regional director and get us involved. And really the way it eventually sorted out is Pastor Hagin said, I'm not franchising churches. I'm not getting involved in this. It just is what it is. And so the ministry wouldn't do anything about it. And the argument though of the new pastor went like this. I heard it over and over again. Listen, in this county or in this city, there are so many hundreds of thousands of people. There's one word of faith church. And maybe there's, you know, in this, in this community it's 250,000 people. There's plenty of people for another church. Well, that may be true. It sounds good. But here's the thing about, about demographics. You can use stats to prove anything. In any given community, generally speaking, there are only so many people who will ever go to church. Now. Now, apart from an epic outpouring of the Spirit which we believe can take place and so forth, but how many of us are experiencing revival to the extent that hundreds and thousands of unchurched people are? There's such a move of God in our community that most of the time that's not happening. So in a given, I know this sounds like unbelief, this is just pure statistical analysis. In any given community, there are only so many people who will ever go to church. Apart from some epic move of those numbers of people who will go to church, there are only so many people who will ever go to a church of a particular stripe, particular doctrine or worship style or emphasis. There's the. And, and when it comes to Spirit filled Holy Ghost churches in some parts of the country, that sliver of the population can be very, very small. So when you. So it's not fair to say, well, there are all these thousands of people out there. Well, you know, if someone is in that community and they're doing and the full gospel, word of faith, word and spirit message is faithfully being presented and God's working. Find a community where that's not happening. Well, hallelujah. Praise God. There are a lot of reasons our church is really growing. You do realize that most of the so called church growth is the result of a reshuffling of the existing Christian community, often as a result of aggressive proselytizing. That's where most of the growth is coming from. It's really not coming from that many people being saved. Go to. I'm going to be done soon. Second Corinthians, chapter 10. Second Corinthians, chapter 10. Praise the Lord. Can't say amen, say oh me. Pastor Morgan can clean it up after I leave. Second Corinthians 10, verse 13. We however will not boast. Let you get over there. These are not refrigerator scripts, Scriptures. Nobody has these posted on their refrigerator. We, however, verse 13 will not boast. Did I? Yeah. We will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us. A sphere which. Which especially includes you. For we are not overextending ourselves as though our authority did not extend to you. For it was to you that we came with the gospel, not boasting of things beyond measure, that is in other men's labors, but having hope that as you your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you and our sphere.
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Am I the only person that's ever read that scripture and went, what is he talking about? Spheres? And the Weymouth's translation said in verse 15, we do not exceed our due limits and take credit for other men's labors. Verse 16. And shall tell the good news in the districts beyond you. Not boasting in another man's sphere about work already done by him. BBB BBE better Bible in basic English. Not taking credit to ourselves for what is not our business, that is for the work of others. Message Bible says we are not. We're not barging in on the right for white rightful work of others, interfering with their ministries, demanding a place in the sun with them. And we will all still be within the limits of God sets as we proclaim the message in. In countries beyond Corinth. But we have no intention of moving in on what others have done and taking credit for it. Author s way says I'm not a man to filch. Filch, that means to steal or to pilfer. I'm not the man to filch the fruits of another's toil and then boast of my gain. But in any case, I shall not trespass on another man's field of work and then boast of results achieved ere I ever came on the scene. Well, praise the Lord. We just need to be principled ministers, that's what I'm saying. And guided by the law of love instead of greed, pride and arrogance. Yeah, there's a little word of faith church in that town. But. But they've been there for 30 years and they're not really doing anything. So God's called me in there to do it. Right. Really? Come on now. Well, praise God. Every situation is different, but these are principles. That's all these are principles. We need to be guided by the law of love. Love does no harm to it its neighbor. And love is the fulfilling of the law. Well, praise the Lord. I want to. I want to close this out today and I want to read from the Last chapter of my book, and it's a page and a half in the book, so this is very short. Now, the backstory to this, in. In the introduction in my book, I talked about the fact that when my oldest son graduated from college, what year was that he graduated? 93. 93. Graduated from college in 93. In his graduating class was the daughter of General Norman Schwarzkopf. Storm and Morton. You remember Stormin Norman. He read. He led, you know, U.S. forces in the first Gulf War. This is in Tampa. It wasn't a private university. It was just a public university. And his daughter was going to university, and she happened to be in the same class my son was in. Well, General Schwarzkopf had retired, and the McDill Air Force Base there in Tampa is where that war was administered. That's where it was run, was out of that base. So he led all of us and coalition forces in that war. So they, you know, know. That's pretty good. Commencement speaker to have Storm and Norman as your commencement speaker, you know, and so he didn't talk very long. He hadn't been around me, so he didn't know to talk a long time. His daughter threatened him, keep it short, Daddy. And so he told the story, though. He told the story that when he had. When he was first appointed as a general, you know, achieved the status of a general. General and assigned to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. that's a very intimidating environment. And so when he first was assigned there, he sought out the counsel of a general that had been there a long time. He said, listen, what do I have to do to keep from ruining my career doing something really dumb? Can you give me some insight? He said that general fought for just a minute and then looked at him and said, always do the right thing. Always do the right thing. And that was his advice to the graduate sector. Always do the right thing. Well, if pastors will do the right thing, right things will happen. I want to. I'll just read my last chapter. I believe it'll help you. My wife liked this. Pastors, if you want your church to reap a good harvest, then do what is right. The seemingly small things often have the most impact down the road. It would be easy if there was one monumental secret key to success in pastoral ministry, but there isn't. There is a sweet place in ministry, however, it is akin to. To the sweet spot on the face of a golf club. How many golfers we have in here? No golfers. Brother Mitch was our golfer. One golfer back here, you'll know what I'm talking about, does anybody play tennis or racquetball? You'll relate as well. I said it's akin to the sweet spot on the face of a golf club. When everything perfectly aligns in his swing, causing the face of the club to contact the ball at the precise point and angle and with just the right amount of power and follow through. There is a feeling. It's happened to me, like three times. I'm a terrible golfer. But when it happens, you know it. There is a fear feeling that radiates up that club into your hands, your arms and shoulders, and goes into your brain. It creates a moment of immense awareness. And it's just like the sweet spot on a racket. If you're a tennis player, when, when you, when you, when that racket hits that ball just right, you know that's going to be a good shot. And that golfer, you know, he could, without even know, without even looking, he knows the ball and his trajectory is going to be awesome. And he stands there and he watches. Go back to my book here. At that moment, he would know even if his eyes were somehow closed. Oh, boy, I just jumped to the front of the book again. I'm not very good at this. Somebody have a book handy I can just read from? All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Is this on, Kendall? Yes. Okay. I can't mess this one up. At that moment, he would know, even if his eyes were somehow closed, that the flight of the ball was going to be good. And for a few wonderful seconds, he watches as the ball rockets majestically into that long sloping arc and drops effortlessly onto the green as if escorted by an angel. It is those moments that keep the golfer coming back. Well, when God calls a local church together and when the pastor and the people know why they have been called together and begin to pursue that calling, the long ascent to its ordained birth, B E R T H birth begins as the pastor continues to love his flock, faithfully feeding it the pure word of God, guiding its course and protecting it from every assault from the enemy. And as the congregation loves its pastor, honoring him and following his lead, and treats other churches in the community with respect, the church grows and remains strong in the plan of God. Like a skilled golfer. When the pastor puts these elements in place, his church will soar ever so gradually but surely into the ark of God's design, eventually completing its course. God never intended pastoral ministry to be anxious, conflicted, doubtful, or frustrating. There is a sweet place where the awareness of God's favor and provision brings peace and Assurance. In my introduction, I told how General Schwarzkopf had challenged my son's college graduating class to always do the right thing. No, Pastor, you will not always do the right thing. But if you will be courageous, always endeavoring to follow the Spirit's leading, you will most often do what needs to be done and your church will fulfill its divine destiny. Like Habakkuk2.3 says, though it tarries, wait for it, it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Praise God. Pastors just. Just endeavor to do the right thing. Even in the small things. Even, like I said in, in, in that, in that conclusion, there is. Sometimes it's the small things that pay the biggest dividends over time because it's heart issues. Heart issues. Amen. I tell you, I love the local church. And God is building. Jesus is building. And God the Father is building the church today. That's what he's doing. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. I have certainly enjoyed my. My time here. Thank you, Pastor Nancy, for the invitation, and thank you, all of you for your attention and your graciousness and so forth. Praise the Lord. God's doing great things. Amen. He's with us. He's among us. He's working. Great things are happening. In spite of everything that's going around in the world, God is still building his church. I remember back in the 1970s, when I first got back into fellowship the Lord, there was the threat of secularism. You remember that? It came back in the 70s. Secularism. The society is turning secular. We think 70s and you think now, but people were alarmed about it. And this woman, one night, she was a little mentally off, and I was had, you know, been back in church about three or four years, and I had been given the Wednesday night of sort of emceeing the Wednesday night service. I wasn't teaching. I was just kind of opening the service and calling people up due to friends, things, you know, this woman stood up in the choir behind me, and I don't know if it was a testimony service or what it was. I don't, I don't know why she spoke this out, but she said, oh, you know, something to the effect. I can't quote it, but something to the effect of the church is going under, you know, that the secularism is taking over and the church. And I'm telling you, the Holy Ghost came upon me and I said, the church is not going under. We're going over. We are the Triumphant Church, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just preached her back down into her seat and I, you know, I didn't have the authority to do. The pastor came to me after service. She said, thank you, thank you, thank you for doing that. The church has been threatened every way imaginable, and the church always triumphs. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord.
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