 Welcome everybody to unfiltered with Pastor David. Pastor David. Good afternoon. Hey, John. Again. Thank you for tuning in pastor The question I want to ask today, you know Being able to be serving in the ministry. I'm able to encounter different people that attend different fellowships and one of the things that I've noticed is that oftentimes they're they're stamped with the personality of their pastor and sometimes it has a Distinct stamp and you can often tell who their pastor is as a pastor yourself, is there a stamp that You want to put on the congregation or how is that stamp affect the church? Well, I would be very careful. That's an interesting question in the way in the way you posed it I would first respond by saying I wouldn't want my stamp to be on them at all. I mean, that's not that's not the Obviously, that wouldn't be the reason that I would want to be influencing them. So on the one hand, I don't think that the pastor Necessarily intentionally stamps the congregation and yet on the other hand You know like has a tendency of be getting like and so people will come to a church that has a minister will say who Who they they respect love admire but in many ways will add What's the word I'm looking for? They identify with them because they're similar to him There are things that he may say that they would say well, yes, I agree and things like that and what happens Over time is what they're hearing from the pulpit is either going to appeal to them or it's going to repel them normally we have a tendency of going places and listening to those that That are pretty much like us or like one of our friends So that's just that's pretty much a normal thing and and so you can encounter people from different fellowships and very often You can you can tell where they came from if you're familiar with the churches. I've done that over the years more than once I've prayed with people in the past and I've heard the way they pray and I Recognize this pastor. I've spoken to people and they'll say certain things and I recognize another pastor It's just they learn the ways of and very often they learn the The personality of the pastor it's appealing to them and and and so they're a bit conformed to it So yeah, it's it's a very common thing and it doesn't take a long time for me under normal circumstances if I'm speaking to somebody to To hear that they go to this fellowship and I'll say to myself I'll say yeah, I would have I would have thought that so yeah It's very common that the people begin to be molded into a similar image as the one who influences them the most The things that matter to him are things that they learned to have mattered to them They may have already had a certain sense that this is important, but it only develops it further If he is a very open person Very often they're open if he's if he's angry about something very often They're angry about the same thing if he has a a compassionate heart very often they develop a compassionate heart I've seen that many times and so the interests of the pastor and the way that he teaches and the things that he says and his Opinions that he expresses They will find a ready audience very often and that audience is going to be over time Similar to him and as I have a direct effect on the church itself that particular church It's interesting because as you're mentioning it. I remember when I was attending a specific church many years ago and they went out for evangelism and the church that I was a part of many many years ago as part of the men's home that I was in was a very Hellfire and brimstone And so those who are going out and doing the door-to-door evangelism Was doing that same type of I don't want to say behavior, but what they learned from the pulpit and And not that the the word of God didn't go out It was just the approach and I and I saw something there thinking That's pretty aggressive yet the gospel still went out But yet I understand when when you say that that there is a stamp that can be put on Whether it's unintentional or not it's just going to be the like you said like beget like But does that have a direct effect? To the church itself it certainly does I really feel that the pastor should be seeking the Lord to be conformed To his image and so when you're reading your scriptures from old to the new Especially as it pertains to the methodologies of Jesus the words of Jesus and you know the things that he said When you begin to ask the Lord to mold you into his image to conform you into his image Again a lot of times people will see one thing about him and like that So when Matthew 23 Jesus says you whitewash tombs or you brood of vipers like John the Baptist said they will have a Kinship to that and so yeah, there are there are Churches and I've been around the same ones that you have in that in that regard and and there's only one way And that's with your pedal all the way to the metal And you're going to go to hell. There are others who have a dent a different kind of approach It just depends, you know Pastor Chuck Smith influenced quite a number of people But there there are very few people who can model themselves after his model This is a man who taught so many times through the Bible went Israel 66 times You know so many years of ministry in his life traveled as an evangelist and all he had so much experience And he had such a gentle way and compassion and grace filled way Not everybody has that ability that maturity is capable of doing those kinds of things We have a tendency I think of being influenced by those that again are pretty much like us And so I Admired things in Pastor Chuck. I want to teach through the word, but I'll never be a Chuck Smith I just have to be a David Rosales, you know So I think that it's it's important for us to discover who we are because at one time I When this church began I I didn't know who I was going to be I actually thought that way I thought What is my model I knew that there was no way that I Could be a Chuck Smith. That was 30 years old I didn't want to be an evangelist and I didn't want to be an exhort I didn't know what to be and I prayed a lot John I honestly did father who am I supposed to be and the answer came back very clearly and very obviously be yourself Be yourself, you know Paul speaks concerning the body not every not every portion of it is an eye or an ear Right a hand or whatever The body is made up of many members, but it's one body So you just need to know what portion of the body you are what your gifts may be and Just be be honest with those gifts and just exercise them as you do Again, I encounter people from various fellowships. The central thing is are they being taught the word of God? Are they being conformed into the image of Christ? Because I I will cease I will see either that or I will see and hear the opinions of their pastor Some of them are the most argumentative people you're going to encounter Sometimes there's an I'm sad to say there's an arrogance that you encounter and then there are other times that you You'll encounter a loving grace-filled person And you know that they have a shepherd that has been influencing them to those things and so Yes, you you become conformed pretty much to the one who influences you the most Well, thank you pastor. That's interesting Because as you're saying that there's a As you mentioned there's always a bent to not always but a lot of the people have come across They're either bent to one side and it's kind of their focus in and and so I thought that was something Interesting to ask you about because you can as long as you spend some time with them You can spend see you'll pick it up. You'll pick it up and so well pastor Thank you so much for sharing and want to thank you guys for tuning in just a couple of updates or a couple things that we have coming up We have our December 18th. We have the Coutinas coming out now That's and they'll be doing both our worship services that Sunday morning at 8 30 and 10 45 If you guys have never heard the Coutinas live You guys have to come on out and in what a great opportunity to invite your friends and family To worship with us not only in the word, but in worship and and then after that we have our Christmas Services coming up. We have a Christmas Eve. Yeah, that Saturday night service We'll have it at 6 p.m. And then we have our two services on Sunday that Sunday morning 8 30 10 45 Great opportunity to invite your friends and family to come on out and then this Sunday We do have our regular services at 8 30 a.m. And 10 45 as you're continuing to take us through the book of Mark And so we look forward to having you guys come out always want to make a plug for Israel You can still register for Israel 2023 that will be in March Wanted more information about that you can go to our website and pastor. Thank you so much for your time All right, John. Thank you guys for tuning in and God bless you