 Amen all right well thank you very much for being here tonight it's a great great turnout for a Sunday night service we appreciate all of you being here and looking forward to we've been looking forward to this trip looking forward to the potluck at the end and the time of fellowship and we're just very thankful for this church and of course for the Jared and Miss Heidi and the family and all of you who have have just made this possible and made this church plant a success last time I was here I was just in January I preached the sermon on the subject of how to treat your pastor's wife and family and tonight I want to continue kind of that that idea but before I get started let me say this be please be in prayer for my family and I we're gonna be traveling all week we are here tonight I was telling some of the guys before the service we're here tonight and and tomorrow we're gonna be filming we've taken on Verity Baptist Church has taken on the second season of Landmarks so we're gonna be filming with brother Jared and Yosemite and for for the show and actually I was sitting there and I asked my wife I said is that Yosemite I've never actually been to Yosemite and she said yeah that's half dome I thought good this will make it a lot easier we'll just film it here and we don't have to do it tonight and we'll have to take the day off tomorrow but we're gonna be filming in the real Yosemite all right tomorrow and then on Tuesday we're gonna be filming down at one of these big redwood trees on Wednesday my family and I'll be driving down to LA and I'll be doing a Rod of Iron podcast with Pastor Mejia on Thursday I'll be preaching there in first works and on Friday we'll be driving back to Sacramento Saturday we'll be soul winning Sunday we'll have church and then on Monday I'll be in Lake Tahoe with Pastor Jones from Shield of Faith recording for Landmarks so it's a busy busy few days so if you would pray for us and we would appreciate your prayers especially on the road and as we're driving but like I said last time I was here I preach the sermon on the subject of how to treat your pastor's wife and family and later on this year just a few months from now Lord willing I will be ordaining Brother Jared as the pastor of this church of an independent Baptist church here in Fresno at that point this church will no longer be a satellite it'll be an autonomous church and it'll have you have a pastor you have a pastor's wife you have pastor's family all of that and that's why I preached that sermon last time I was here my job as the pastor especially as we as we kind of finish this in August Lord willing we will be cutting the umbilical cord this church will become a an autonomous church and to be honest with you this may be the last time I come before we do that I may have one more trip before that but it's coming very close and my job is to prepare you for that transition from a satellite to a church plant to an independent autonomous church and for that reason I want to preach these sermons not because there is a problem because there is no problem there hasn't been a problem but I want to help you as a church transition from a satellite church with a local leader here under the authority of our church in Sacramento to an autonomous independent church with a pastor and I want to teach you how to treat your pastor how to work with your pastor how to come alongside your pastor so last time I preached a sermon called how to treat your pastor's wife and family tonight I'm preaching on the subject of how to treat your pastor and I want to help you with that you're there in Hebrews 13 I want you to notice that in Hebrews chapter 13 there's a theme that runs through the chapter a little bit if you look at verse 7 Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7 says remember them which have the notice this word rule over you remember them which have the rule over you if you look down to verse number 17 it says obey them that have the rule over you if you look down to verse number 24 it says salute all them that have the rule over you and through this chapter we see this theme and the writer continually brings up this individual who has the rule and I believe this is talking about the pastor and the pastor is the one who rules within the church what I've learned over the last 10 years of ministry is that oftentimes people need to be taught how to treat how to deal how to handle if that's an appropriate word their pastor you know especially our type of churches our type of churches for the most part reach two types of people and I'm not saying these are the only two types of people we reach but primarily when we reach people we reach people right off the streets I mean we knock their doors we preach the gospel we get them saved we invite them to church they come they're un-churched they're maybe haven't gone to a good church or don't know anything about church and then what we also reach is a lot of people that we reach through social media through the YouTube channels and and and and that that arm of our ministry and oftentimes those are people that maybe are already religious they're going to a church but they're not maybe going to a good church maybe they get saved as a result and start learning good doctrine a lot of times those people aren't going to church anywhere they just find us online and they're learning and grasping a lot through the internet ministry but they've never actually been part of an actual church and assembly of believers and what I have found with both of these groups and we love both groups but what I found is that what we often have to do is teach them how to deal with a pastor how to live within a congregation because it's not something that comes natural that's the purpose of these sermons is try to teach you how to treat your pastor how to how to work alongside your pastor here's what I believe and I'm going to get into the sermon here in a minute but let me just finish this introductory point what I believe is this that every Christian should either be a pastor or be supporting a pastor every Christian should either be a pastor and I don't mean that that I think every Christian should be a pastor I would say probably most Christians shouldn't be a pastor there's there's certain people that should be pastors and they've got to meet certain qualifications and we understand that but here's what I believe I believe that you're either a pastor or you're supporting a pastor you're either a pastor or you are putting yourself under the because I believe that God wants every Christian in a local church and therefore God wants you under the authority of a pastor so we should either be a pastor or be supporting a pastor and hopefully you want to support your pastor hopefully you want to support you've supported me as your pastor over the last couple of years and hopefully you'll want to support your pastor once you have an ordained minister here so I want to give you some thoughts tonight I realize we got a potluck so we got to move quickly the snow cones are getting cold is what I'm told so we've got to hurry up so that we can get to those but I want to give you four thoughts tonight in regards to on to how to treat your pastor's back of pastors back pastors how to treat your pastor in the back of your course of the week or in the back of your bulletin I should say there's a place for you to write down some notes maybe you can write these things down how to treat your pastor how to treat your pastor you say one once we have a pastor once he's ordained once we're autonomous we're independent what do we do how do we treat him what what how's this all gonna work number one when it comes to how to treat your pastor you should obey your pastor now I've already probably lost some people there but that's okay that's what the Bible says Hebrew 13 look at verse 17 again obey see that word obey them that have the rule over you that word rule that language means the one who is in charge the one who makes the rules he has the rule because he makes the rules it says obey them that have the rule over you notice this word and submit yourself the word submit means to put yourself under the authority a lot of times in about this church when we see the word submit we only like to bring that up in the context of marriage and make sure we tell those wives you better be submitting to your husband but you know we all are to submit in different areas in our lives of authority absolutely wives should submit to their husband but you know what man you should go to work and submit to your boss and submit under his authority and work under his authority the Bible says ask unto the Lord children should obey their parents to submit their to their parents and and we should all we all have areas where God has given us ordained authority God given authority in our lives and one of those areas is within the local church the Bible says that God has placed the pastor as the authority in the local church and it says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourself you say why here's why and here's what I know about brother Jared and here's what I know about any pastor or future pastor who's worth their salt for they watch for your souls you know what a good pastor does he's watches he's vigilant he's paying attention he he knows what you need he's spending enough time around you to be able to and I don't mean this in a way and I hope you don't take it this way it's not like we're just you know watching people and taking notes and I got a sermon idea right there look at that that's not what we're talking about but you know we can't help but look at the people we've given our lives to we can't help but love the people that God has given us to lead and sometimes God allows us to see things and whether it's in an individual or just a trans that come into churches in general the Bible says that we are to watch for your souls you wait you say why notice as they must give account you say who does God hold accountable for the local church the answer is the answer to that question is always the leader who does God hold accountable in the home the leader who ate of the tree of the garden the tree of the knowledge good and evil Eve did she gave to her husband Adam but who's blamed all throughout the Bible Adam wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world wait a minute what about the woman didn't she eat first wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sin see God always holds the leader accountable and in church it is the leader it is the pastor as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable notice he says why do you want to obey the pastor because the pastor is watching for your souls because he must give an account for what happens here at this church but he says you know what at the end of the day that is unprofitable for you it is in your best interest to obey your spiritual leader and by the way in any area kids let me say something it's in your best interest to obey your parents wives it is in your best interest to submit to the authority of your husband the church members it is in your best interest to submit to your pastor say well how should we treat our pastor well number one you should obey your pastor notice verse seven of the same chapter there Hebrews 13 and verse seven remember them notice the words which have the rule over you they have the rule over you they are the rulers now you say well what exactly is this referring to or talking about i'd like you to keep your place there in Hebrews chapter 13 we're going to come back to Hebrews 13 through the sermon but go with me if you would to the book of Acts Acts chapter number 20 you have Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Acts chapter number 20 Acts chapter number 20 do me a favor when you get to Acts 20 put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it later on in the sermon Acts chapter 20 you should have your place in Hebrews 13 Acts chapter 20 when we say you ought to obey your pastor what do we mean by that well it means that you ought to obey the the the pastor's rules for the church literally you say do you mean you know in a spiritual sense should we obey the pastor no i mean it quite literally the pastor sets the rules he's the ruler he sets the rules you ought to obey his rules obey the pastor's rules for the church see the pastor's authority extends to anything under the canopy of the local church which he pastors are you there in Acts 20 look at verse 28 Acts chapter 20 verse 28 the bible says this take heed therefore unto yourselves this is the apostle Paul speaking to a group of elders he's speaking to a group of pastors he says take heed therefore unto yourselves and then he says this and to all the flock what's the flock the flock is the congregation the the assembly of believers that God has put us over he says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock notice these words over which the holy ghost hath made you overseers the word overseer means to be someone who supervises someone who looks over and by the way let me say this notice who makes the pastor the overseer it is the holy ghost this is why we call it god given authority you say oh no pastor you're gonna make brother Jared the pastor of this church i may be the human vessel that physically lays hands and ordains them into the ministry but it is the holy ghost that will set him here it is the holy ghost it is the spirit of god that has brought him here that has built this place that has brought this congregation together it is god that has done these things when when Paul and Silas were sent off into the ministry yes there were men that physically laid their hands but the bible tells us that the holy ghost said separate unto me Paul and Silas it's god's man god's position god's authority god's the one that's put in there but i want you to notice it says that the holy ghost hath made you Paul speaking to preachers he says hath made you overseer to feed the church of god which he hath purchased with his own blood the context is about the church who's the overseer who's the authority who's in charge who's the one that needs to give an account who's the one that god holds accountable who's the one that god holds responsible see i want you to understand this it is the pastor who sets the rules for the church his authority extends to anything under the canopy of the church keep your place there in acts chapter number 20 go back go to first peter chapter five if you kept your place in hebrus continue to keep your place in hebrus but go to james and then first peter he bruised james first peter let me make this clear and again this is going to be maybe a very educational sermon but i want you to understand you say how do we treat the pastor how does this all work because sometimes people get this idea and people will come to our church and a lot of times they're new christians or they've never just been part of a church that is a strong pastor led church our type of churches independent funnel baptist we are we try to model biblical christianity we try to follow the what the bible says and the bible teaches that churches are to be pastor led we're not we're not elder led in the sense that there's a board of elders we're not deacon led we're dead sure not lady led you know we we have a strong male spiritual leader called a pastor we are a pastor led church but sometimes people come to a church like ours and they don't realize and i'm just trying to help you and make sure you understand this the pastor led church the pastor has the authority over the canopy of anything that falls under the umbrella of the local church because sometimes people get this idea they get the idea it says well pastor just preaches pastor gets up to preach he's the one that writes the sermons he decides what bible study we're going to do he decides what personality he wants to rip on or whatever right i'm an advocate i don't know if you've preached on that yet but you better say nice things and you know he decides all all the things he's he's going to preach about but you know his authority extends to there and then we as church members can just kind of run wild with anything else we can do whatever we want and we can you know do this and do that and start this ministry and have this you know bible study let's start this Friday night bible study in my living room no anything that falls under the authority of this local church what are we talking about we're talking about the preaching of God's word the teaching of God's word soul winning any event anything that falls look if you can do it as a result of your connection to this church that's his authority his authority is not extend only through preaching our influence is done through preaching but his authority his rulership falls into the canopy of the church so you ought to obey the pastor's rules for the church quite literally his authority extends to anything under the canopy of this local church now there's a limit to that what's the limit first Peter chapter five are you there his authority because you say i don't know this sounds a little you know is this like a cult is this a dictatorship you know are they just going to run my life and the pastor's going to tell me everything what to do his authority let me be clear extends to anything under the canopy of the local church and forsake of clarity his authority does not extend to anything outside of the local church first Peter chapter five look at verse one notice peter he says the elders referring to himself peter was a pastor he says the elders which are among you i exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed notice he says feed the flock of god which is among you so this is peter who's an elder talking to other elders he says feed the flock of god which is among you taking the oversight thereof notice it's a consistent theme throughout the bible the pastor is the overseer he's to take the oversight he is the ruler taking the oversight thereof then he says this not by constraint okay we're not a cult we're not going to force you to do anything he says but willingly not for filthy lucre our motivations are right we're not doing it for money but of already mine notice verse three neither as being lords over god's heritage but being in samples to the to the flock what does this mean it means that we are not to dictate into the lives of god's people see at the end of the day a pastor you know we may call it my church and i don't think there's anything wrong with saying that this is my church i should take ownership you know i love verity baptist church in sacramental i love this church as well uh but you know my church the church that the we start these churches with the idea that we will cut the umbilical cord and make them independent the church in sacramental is not getting rid of me that easily and uh you know i love that church it is my church and i don't mean that in an ownership way i mean that in a part that i'm part of the family it's it's part of our church and i love our people and sometimes we as preachers say they're my people aren't doing anything wrong with that but we do have to realize that they really are god's people and our authority extends within the church but not outside the church now we love you but we're not going to tell you what to do at home now we may preach what you should do at home but we're not going to enforce what you should or should not do where or should not wear watch or should not watch we'll preach that with our authority here at church we'll say hey god wants you to not to to not watch certain things and not listen to certain things and not go certain places but we're not going to force you to do that because see the pastor's authority it extends to the local church so anything done in and in and out of the local church falls under the authority of the pastor sometimes people they don't understand that they they they hear that we'll teach that to them anything i don't know you guys are kind of dictators i've had people you know come to our church and say oh we we we want to have a wedding ceremony at uh at very bad the church and pastor we'd like you to do the wedding and it's like okay well we'd like to do that you know let's sit down and talk about some rules right with the ruler and you know you start telling them no we're not going to place alindian and no we're not going to you know have a dance and no we're not going to do this and we're not going to do that and and uh you know young couples look at me all the time and say you're ruining our wedding i said well there's a misunderstanding it's my wedding you just get to be a part of it because the authority of the pastor hey i'm the one that's going to have to give an account to god for the type of music that's played in our church i'm the one that's going to have to stand before god and never account for the dancing that was allowed and and the things that were done and obviously we don't try to ruin i mean it's always fun to ruin you know new new newlywed's weddings or whatever but you know that are the goals not to ruin your life but the point is this that's the authority of the pastor we're you say oh we'd like to have this event or that event at church well we're not going to allow for certain music and we're not going to do we'll have a funeral but you're not going to bring alcohol that's the authority of the church that's the authority of the pastor but we're not going to go to your house and dump out the alcohol now if you had any if you were worth anything as a Christian you'd go home and dump out the alcohol but we're not going to physically show up and and tell you you know do this and do that see the authority of the pastor extends under the canopy of the church but it does not extend outside of the canopy of the church so when we say obey your pastor we mean obey the rules he has for this church obey the things that he's declared that he wants done here but there's another thought go back to Hebrews 13 keep your place there in excuse me you don't have to keep your place there you have your place in Hebrews go back to Hebrews 13 you should have your place in Acts but Hebrews 13 when we say obey the pastor we mean that you ought to obey the pastor's rules for the church literal but we also mean that you should obey the pastor's preaching for the church spiritually Hebrews 13 look at verse 7 remember them which have the rule over you who have notice these words who have spoken unto you the word of God isn't that what a pastor does they have the rule over the church but they also stand up and they speak the word of God brother Jared gets up here three times a week opens up the word of God and expounds it upon unto you the bible says remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of the current their conversation go back to first Peter chapter five if you would you're there in Hebrews just go back James and first Peter first Peter chapter two uh excuse me first Peter chapter five look at verse two first Peter chapter five and verse two notice the word again the words feed the flock of God this is what pastors are told to do the flock is the congregation of believers what are we to do we are to feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight there up go to first Peter chapter number two if you would first Peter chapter number two our job is to feed you the word of God you've heard this before i'm sure you've heard it before and i want you to understand how it works when you got saved we're going to look at a couple verses here in a minute when you got saved you became a you you were a new creature the bible says therefore uh you know when we become when we place our faith in Christ when we receive Christ we become the sons of God we become a new creature and when you became the son of God when you became the daughter of God you were a babe in Christ you were a baby and then our job is to help you grow first Peter chapter two look at verse two as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious go to go back to Hebrews chapter five if you would see you come to church like this and we begin to feed you the word of God this is why we actually preach the bible around here is it all done all churches preach the bible have you been to other churches i mean i'm talking about even good independent federal Baptist churches you get there you get one verse and then 40 minutes of who knows what you know and i'm not against illustrations and i'm not against stories and i'm not against those things but our job is to preach the word of God Paul said preach the word totemities that be instant in season out of season see you say why do you preach the word of God here's why we preach the word of God because we are to feed the flock as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word of God that you may grow thereby see you grow through the word of God Hebrews 5 in verse 13 says this for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe Hebrews 5 13 now look here's how it works you show up to church like this and you start learning things we teach about salvation we teach about baptism we teach you about church membership and and and and as you grow you start off with the milk of the word and then you start learning some heavier things we might start teaching you about separation start teaching about dress standards start teaching you about prophecy and start teaching you all sorts of different things and and things that God wants you to learn and grow see it is the word of God that helps you grow that's why the bible says that the ruler is the one who has spoken unto you the word of God and you grow as you learn and apply the word of God and it's not just learning you must apply it look at verse 13 again Hebrews 5 13 for everyone that uses you see the word use it there it's not enough to have it you got to use it for everyone that use it the milk is unskillful in the word why when how do we know when you're new a babe in Christ and look being a babe in Christ has nothing to do with your physical age has nothing to do with how long you've been saved i'm about to show you you say well how do i know when i'm mature as a christian here's how you know everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word when you're unskillful in the word you can't handle the word of God you you say what do you mean here's what i mean you can't on monday morning get up grab the bible open it and read it for yourself you say well anybody can do that or really are you doing it because most christians haven't read the bible cover to cover one time well anybody can do that that's not what i'm asking i'm not saying can you do it i'm asking are you doing it because when you are skillful in the word that's maturity see a baby has to be fed right children don't feed themselves babies don't feed themselves you got to feed them you got you got to give them the milk and we have no problem doing that you come to a church like this will feed you milk will feed you the word notice for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe but strong need belong it to them that are a full age see eventually a baby doesn't have to be fed milk anymore because they start maturing and growing and they start grabbing for stuff and they start feeding themselves and we as parents teach them how to feed themselves and they become a full age even those how does that happen spiritually here's how even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to serve both good and evil you say pastor man is how do i know if i'm a mature christian you know you're a mature christian when you can start feeding yourself spiritually you're mature when the only time you get the word of god fed to you is when brother jared feeds it to you here at church you're a babe i'm not saying that to offend you i just i'm just wanting i want you to understand where you're at spiritually you say well once i start once i start you know feeding myself i don't ever have to come to church well here's the thing once babies start feeding themselves they might be able to to start you know make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and these you know older kids or whatever and they start feeding themselves but they still need mama right because because just because a six year old can feed themselves doesn't mean they're going to feed themselves well a six year old can go into the cupboard and grab a bag of cheezus and you know put a butt maybe a may an eight year old can put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and eat it but but they need mom and dad there to make sure they eat their green beans and and eat their broccoli and and and get some good protein right so look even in the growth you say well i start i start you know i started uh uh reading the bible on my own well praise the lord i hope you have i hope you will you say i started the book of proverbs great i started with the book of john great i started with the book of psalms awesome i started with the gospels praise the lord but you know you need a brother jared to get you through the book of judges near pastor to get you through a book of ezekiel near pastor to get you through a book of leviticus see we we teach you the word of god we help you grow and then uh this is how you grow as a christian we preach the word of god to feed you the word of god to help you grow we teach the entire word of god act chapter 20 if you can go back there act chapter 20 verse 27 acts chapter 20 verse 27 notice what the apostle paul says he says for i have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of god one of my goals as a pastor very about this church is to preach through every verse of the bible to our church family you say why that i might stand up one day and say i have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of god take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the holy goat that made you overseer to feed the church of god you say how do i treat my pastor well you ought to obey the pastor's rules for the church the pastor may have some things he wants for this church and his authority does not extend outside of this ministry but within this ministry you ought to obey him but you know what else you ought to obey his preaching when he stands up and preaches the word of god you ought to obey it you ought to do it please understand this and don't take this the wrong way and i don't mean for it to sound the wrong way but we do not preach to be heard we preach to be obeyed we preach for application we don't preach to be heard we don't stand up here and preach so that people could stand you know walk up to us after the service and say that was a great sermon i was the greatest sermon i've ever heard now look we appreciate it when people say that don't we're not i'm not i'm not saying it's wrong for you to say that if it's a great sermon it was a blessing to you go ahead and let brother jared know but you know what then go home on monday and do it obey it it's for your benefit obey them that have the rule of you and submit yourselves for they watch for your soul i think pastor i think my brother jared was preaching that at me well who else was he the ghost why why why is he preaching it you know he he presented that and by the way let me just say this anytime a pastor preaches something you're like i think he was preaching that at me there's like five people in the church that that applies to pastors have something about whatever pastors have something about smoking there's like five people in our church that smoke calm down but even if you're the only one you need to hear it for they watch for your souls the thing that must give account that they may do it with joy and that's profitable for you so you say what do i do with my pastor you ought to obey him you ought to obey his rules you ought to obey his preaching he's trying to help you grow he's trying to help you mature go go back to hebrus 13 while you turn there let me just read to you from Ephesians chapter 4 you don't have to turn here i'll read Ephesians chapter 4 you go back to hebrus 13 Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 says this and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers here he's talking about positions of spiritual leadership he says he gave some pastors and teachers for what purpose for the perfecting of the saints the word perfect means to make complete to make whole it's not we use the word perfect like there's it impute like there's no nothing wrong with it that's not the way that our King James Bible use the word perfect the word perfect or uh means to to make it complete to make it whole why did god give you pastors and teachers right you have a pastor his name's pastor Jimenez right now you have a teacher his name's brother Jared one day your teacher will be your pastor but you'll have other teachers why did god give you those for the perfecting for the maturing for the completing of the saints you need to grow you don't have it all put together look and you never will have it all put together the apostle paul probably the greatest christian other than the lord jesus christ the greatest christian whoever lived said i have not yet attained what are we trying to do we're trying to help you grow for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man a complete man by the way that's what that's what the bible says in the book of joe when the bible says that joe was a perfect man it doesn't mean he was sinless it means he was a mature well-balanced christian he was a perfect notice unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that we henceforth be no more children toss to and fro and carried about with every wind the doctrine by the slide of man and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait Jeremiah chapter three and verse 15 don't turn there the bible says this and i will give you pastors according to my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding you ought to obey your pastors preaching let me give you a second one tonight i said number one you should obey your pastor number two you should follow your pastor how to treat your pastor you ought to follow him are you there in Hebrews 13 look at verse 7 again Hebrews 13 verse 7 remember them which have the rule over you who has spoken unto you the word of god notice these words whose faith follow whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation what does that mean it means that you ought to follow the direction of the church notice it says whose faith follow first grandians chapter 11 and verse 1 you have to turn there Paul said this be ye followers of me even as i also am of christ spiritual leadership sometimes people attack pastors and then why should i follow you i you know i need to only follow god well you know i need to only follow christ well you Paul said hey be followers of me even also as i am a follower of christ you ought to follow your spiritual leadership as they follow their leadership their head as they follow of course as we all follow christ and as we follow the the word of god and and and but the bible says here that you have to follow their faith whose faith follow now what does that mean to follow our faith well first of all it means that you ought to follow their direction for the church you know that different churches have different directions different churches have different things that they're doing that's okay now look every church needs to do certain things we all need to be the the the pillar and ground of the truth we all need to preach the word of god we all need to go soul winning we understand that but with that there is some uh uh uh wiggle room for churches to have different uh sorts of things that may they might focus on you know some churches may focus on on on media and and making videos and documentaries and things like that does the bible require us to do that the bible does not require us to do that could somebody be a successful pastor and never put out a video that gets a hundred and seventy three thousand views on youtube of course they could but you know some churches have decided to make that part it's something that god has allowed them to do something that they can reach people with there's nothing wrong with that our church has a little prison ministry and i won't take the time to tell you the story but a lot of it had to do with a family in our church that helped us get that going and you know it started with us writing letters to one person we loved in prison and today up to this point i think we've got 47 people who we send transcribed sermons to every week in prison all over this country and i hope that number one day is a hundred i hope that number one day is 500 i hope that number one day is a thousand we might need some help you know if that happens do it does every church in america have to send transcribed sermons to prisoners no but it's something we're doing there are some things that all churches should be doing and then there's other things that not every church needs to be doing you know different churches have different flavors they have different things that they may want to do as a ministry and you know when it comes to your church you ought to let the pastor set the tone you ought to let him set the direction every year at our church we take a special offering we call it the vision offering well you're taking it this coming sunday we're taking it in sacramental this morning in sacramental i preached my annual vision offering sermon and our vision offering is not us just trying to raise money our vision offering is me really casting a vision for our church what we want to do and the goals we have the things we'd like to accomplish and then of course motivating to raise money to accomplish those things to do those things but let me tell you something sometimes people show up to church and say oh no you know pastor you preach and let's go in this direction let's do this let's do that but you know what you ought to do as a church member is you ought to figure out what direction are you going let me follow your faith whose faith follow you set the direction you cast the vision and let me help you ought to follow your pastor follow his direction there's nothing more frustrating over the last 10 years of ministry we have some great people in sacramental god has given us some of the greatest people in sacramental that has made up our church and very deep after the church but let me tell you something there's something there's nothing more frustrating than having to fight and kind of butt heads with church people that are trying to take the direction of the church in a different way don't do that all churches are different all churches are different and our church is something that we've we've done something that works for us this in sacramental actually does not work here in fresno it may work here in the future you know all churches are transitioning as well brother jared and i had a conversation about this recently but in sacramental i push for saturday soul winning now we have thursday soul winning we have sunday soul winning we have other times for soul winning but i push for our main soul winning group to go out on saturday morning that works for us it works very well for us we get a lot of visitors as a result here in fresno it's a little different sunday seems to be more of the big day and you guys get a lot of visitors on sunday night i wouldn't try to fight that i just realized that's how it is here and i'd get on the man of god's vision and and try to help him with that you know but in sacramental for us i try to push saturday soul winning the lord has blessed us over the last several weeks we've had somewhere between 90 and 110 soul winners out every saturday morning and i appreciate that and i appreciate people following my vision in regards to that over the years though my wife and i've had to confront them people look if people don't want to go on saturday and they want to keep their saturday open for whatever they want to do that's fine with us no problem we got thursday soul winning for you we got sunday soul winning for you that's not a problem at all we're not going to tell you what to do in in your personal life but when people make it their agenda and start going to soul winners and saying hey don't go on saturdays it's all go on sunday don't go on saturday why are you trying to fight the pastor's vision and i'm not saying that every church has to go soul and i'm just saying that's what we've chosen to do so why don't you just get on the pastor's vision you know when brother jerry is the pastor here why don't you just figure out what's he doing what's he pushing what's his agenda what has god called him to do what what what direction is he going and then you get behind that and you say i'm going to follow you who's faith follow you ought to follow his direction you ought to follow your pastor's direction for the church but you ought not only follow his direction for the church you ought to follow his direction in life look down at hebrus 13 again look at verse seven remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of god whose faith follow then he says this considering the end of their conversation the word conversation means their lifestyle their behavior their way of life their personal lifestyle the bible says that you ought to be able to look at your pastor and consider the end of his conversation see a pastor is to be an example go back to first peter if you would you're there in hebrus just uh go to james and first peter first peter chapter five first peter chapter five and look at verse three first peter chapter five and verse three i apologize i'm only on the second point we may need to put those that those ice we might even put those on on ice because i'm going to be a little while first peter chapter five look at verse three neither as being lords over god's heritage notice these words but being in samples to the flock you said what's your job as a pastor one of my jobs is to be an example to the flock my wife is to be an example of a flock for the jared miss heidi their family is to be an example to the flock first timothy chapter four and verse 12 you don't have to turn i'll just read this for you first timothy four twelve says let no man despise thy youth this is paul speaking to timothy this is a pastoral epistle this is paul speaking to a pastor he says let no man despise thy youth and by the way that's why we know that spiritual maturity has nothing to do with physical age timothy was a young man but yet he was an elder when i got into ministry i was a very young man today i like to think i'm a young man but i'm getting older every day but paul told timothy he said hey let no man despise thy youth he says but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity and notice he says be an example not to the believers but of the believers so what does that mean see people think oh the pastor he's an example to the believers so that means that he has to have this high standard in life and and we're going to criticize him if he doesn't and then we all get to kind of you know lack a little bit no no the pastor's not an example to the believers he's an example of the believer which means that you ought to look at him and say hey what pastor's doing with his family that's what i should be doing with my family hey how pastor works that's how i ought to be working hey what pastor's doing that's what i ought to be doing see you say how do i treat my pastor you ought to obey him you ought to follow him you gotta follow his direction for this church and you ought to follow his direction in life be thou an example of the believer go to first Corinthians chapter nine if you would first Corinthians chapter nine matthew mark luke john ax roman's first Corinthians first Corinthians chapter nine i said tonight number one you should obey your pastor number two you should follow your pastor number three you should provide for the physical needs of your pastor now this point i want to give a disclaimer i'm not saying this needs to happen immediately and in some cases it may never happen we're talking of course about a pastor being full time having the church provide for their physical needs a pastor does not need to be full time for the first four years of our ministry in sacramental i worked a full-time job and you know that didn't make us any less of a church and there are situations where a pastor may never go into full time into that full time capacity that doesn't make them any less of a pastor but what i believe is this that if the church grows and if the church is able to and if the pastor wants to the church should not only obey them should not only follow them but the church should provide for their physical needs now paul gives us some arguments for how you know providing for the needs of your pastor look at first Corinthians chapter nine and verse seven first i like paul he's he's he's very good at systematically putting down an argument first he begins with the logical argument the logical argument is just this he says look you ought to pay your pastor you ought to provide for the needs of your pastors he says it just makes logical sense he says first Corinthians nine and verse seven who go to warfare at any time at his own charges i was in the military many of you were in the military and when you're in the military you know nobody nobody says hey go go to qatar go to afghanistan but buy your own ticket and and you know try to get a gun and you know some bullets would be good if you can find one a helmet preferably not a bike helmet but you know something he says who go with who go with a war anytime of his own charges look when somebody sends somebody off the war they provide what they need to go fight that battle paul's just giving the logical argument he's here he says who go with a war at any time at his own charges then he gives another example logical he says who planted the vineyard and he is not the fruit there up anybody planted vineyard and not eat from the fruit that comes from that vineyard now you may not eat all the fruit you might use some of it and sell some of it and do other things but generally speaking when someone plants a vineyard they eat of the fruit there up and who feed at the flock and eat at not of the milk of the flock notice verse eight say I these things as a man see because because paul's given us this logical argument but he says hey don't don't confuse my logical argument as the logic of man he said i'm not just saying this as a man or say it's not the law the same old he said doesn't god's law teach this concept as well he's about to quote the word of god verse eight say I these things as a man or say it's not the law the same also then in verse nine he quotes the old testament he says for it is written in the law of moses thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn he goes back and he pulls out and you know i'm kind of offended at paul because he's like you know let me tell you something god says you gotta provide for the needs of your pastor and people would say well where does the bible say that paul and he says well doesn't the bible say muzzle not the ox that treadeth out the corn and then you know we especially like thanks paul you're calling us an ox but here's what paul's saying paul's saying look when you when an ox goes out into the field and it's plowing and it's working don't muzzle its arc its mouth don't cover its mouth so that it cannot eat he said while it's working allow him to eat provide for its physical needs paul's saying feed the ox he said my pastor's kind of an ox okay we'll feed him now so not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn is paul some sort of like animal rights guy no notice verse nine does god take care for oxen he says paul says look god didn't say that because he's really worried about the oxen although it makes sense to not just work your ox and not feed your ox and give water to your ox look at verse 10 or say if he had all together for our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of this hope look at verse 11 if we have sown unto you spiritual things is a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things you come to church like this you say wow i've learned so much while my life has changed while my life has transformed man ever since i started coming here i've been learning and i've been growing and god's been helping me and the preaching of the word of god has really transformed my life well if we have sown unto you spiritual things is that a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things here's what he's saying if your pastor is providing for you spiritually then why won't you provide for him physically see the biblical argument for providing for the needs of your pastors that you should not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn this concept is found all throughout the bible keep your place right there in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 go with me to 1st Timothy chapter 5 if you would find all the t-books that are all clustered together 1st 2nd Thessalonians 1st 2nd Timothy Titus 1st Timothy chapter 5 look at verse 17 1st Timothy 5 17 1st Timothy 5 17 says this let the elders those are the pastors let the elders that rule well by the way let me just say this not all pastors are created equal some rule better than others i'm i'm very happy when i come to Fresno when i see how well run this church is sometimes and don't ask me where because i won't tell you i go preach the Lord has allowed me to preach in different places and go and sometimes every once in a while i'm just kind of like you know i'm not the pastor here just don't pay attention you know service starts at seven and it actually starts at seven fifteen you know those kind of things you know i don't know if i'm an advocate or type a or what i'll have to listen to brother Jared but um bible says that the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor in the word and doctrine you know you can tell when somebody labors in the word and doctrine for the scripture say it does not muzzle the ox that's right without the corn now there's a context and the laborer is worthy of his reward you have to provide for the needs of your pastor go to first that's the only is chapter five if you wouldn't the church ought to provide for the needs of the pastor eventually if it grows to that place if it's needed it should not be opposed to that sometimes people get this idea we're gonna pay the pastor you know the bible teaches you say how should i treat my pastor well you ought to obey him you ought to follow him you ought to provide for his physical needs and i said this recently i was preaching in boise and i i i i said this and and i don't think it's wrong if people say this but you know people have to say like oh we pay the pastor we pay the pastor to preach sometimes people say to me i'll wait you know you get paid to preach and you know sometimes i joke around people sometimes i don't say anything but you know sometimes i'll joke with people saying what does that even mean you pay me to preach like if the sermon's good you know 49 99 but if it's not good then you get like a 10 discount like what what do you mean you get paid to preach you know every once in a while you get a blue light sale and sermon's 50 off you know you don't pay the pastor to preach you provide for his physical needs so that he can do the work that got us called him to do and our job is to provide while while the ox is working don't muzzle his mouth so we ought to obey the pastor we ought to follow the pastor we ought to provide for the pastor i told you go to first testimonials i'd like you to i'd like you to go there keep your place right there but go back to first Corinthians nine if you would let me just read these verses to you real quickly first Corinthians chapter nine and verse 12 look at verse actually look at verse 13 first Corinthians chapter nine verse 13 do you not know that they he's going to give he gave an argument for providing for the needs of the pastor now he's going to give the process how does this happen he says do you not know that they talk about the Levitical priesthood that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple and they that way that the altar are partakers with the altar he he's talking about the Old Testament Levites the priest he says look in the Old Testament people would bring of their tides and their offerings to the temple to the tabernacle to the storehouse and the spiritual leaders they're the priest and the Levites they would work in that some of that would be used to have a feast days with the congregation some of that would be used for things that needed to be done but they would also eat from that that's how they got paid and he says this is the pattern for how you pay the pastor look at verse 14 even so have the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel see eventually eventually the offerings the tides and offerings that come into a church yes those are used for events yes those are used for this event and that event and and a lady's tea or a married couple sweetheart banquet or whatever but also from that you have to provide for the needs of your pastor and you ought to be generous with your pastor the Bible says they're worthy of double honor especially they that labor and the word in doctrine go back to 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 we're talking about how to treat your pastor number one you ought to obey your pastor you ought to obey his rules he sets the rules for the church but you ought to obey his preaching as well we won't force that but it's in your best interest you ought to follow your pastor you ought to follow his direction for the church and you ought to follow his direction in life you ought to provide for the needs of your pastor let me hear the fourth one we'll finish up how to treat your pastor you should appreciate your pastor 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 look at verse 12 and we beseech you brethren to know them to know them which labor among you don't ever don't ever say this well what does pastor do all week anyway you know what God says that it's your job to know them which labor among you I mean pay attention sometimes people show up to churches they're like wow look at this beautiful event this married couple of sweetheart banquet look at all these decorations and the nice you know we get these nice pictures taken and this and that look at all these things and they think you know did that just come out of nowhere pastor must have some great faith he walked into an empty room got on his knees pray and poof you know it all appeared that'd be nice if it happened that way but you know usually when events happened somebody was there the night before making it happen somebody was there getting it ready when the man of God stands up to preach he spent hours during the week preparing reading thinking writing a good pastor is busy at work the ministry is work the bible says that if any man desire the office of a bishop he desires a good work it's work and we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you that's your spiritual authority in the Lord and admonish you that's the teaching and preaching of God's word and then he says this verse 13 to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake and be at peace among yourselves see y'all appreciate your pastor a good pastor will work hard a good pastor will accomplish much a good pastor will be there when you need him and will make himself available and we understand that there are limits and boundaries and all those things but we we are laboring among you we are over you spiritually and admonishing you with the word of God that's what we do that's what God has called us to do pastors i don't know i don't know if all pastors are like this i know for me it's this way and maybe it's my own inability to to to get this under control i i do believe that God has given me the gift of administration i think that i'm a Lord has allowed me to be able to see things and organize things in a way that that that work well so but maybe this is just and i need to organize but you know i'll be honest with you i don't know the pastors i know we you know and i can tell you for myself we don't take days off it just doesn't really work every you know every time i told my wife you know i'm tired of this we're just gonna i'm gonna take a day off into a 24-hour period nobody bothers me somebody dies you know nobody ever likes to check with me before they die you know if i if i'm taking the day off then some emergency happens there's some there's this and that there's a hospital visit there are things that need to be done and i'm not complaining i'm just telling you the ministry is work acknowledge that realize that you have a man here that works a full-time job has a wife and children and yet gets up and preaches three sermons that help you grow every week and takes you hiking and does this and does that and takes care of you and and has lunch with you and and and and all those things a good pastor works hard accomplishes much and when a good pastor is accomplishing then a good pastor should be appreciated first testimonials five and verse 13 you say how do we appreciate our pastor well let me just give you some thoughts from this verse notice it says and to esteem them the word esteem means to be thoughtful to think a lot of appreciation just has to do with esteeming being thoughtful you know you ought to be thoughtful with the pozarski family for their special days birthdays anniversaries birthdays for brother jared and miss hyde birthdays for the kids anniversaries for the couple just special days in their lives just be thoughtful you ought to be thoughtful from time to time you know is there any way we can help is there a need we can fill is there is there something we can do it says and to esteem them then he says this very highly you ought to be thoughtful you ought to be generous in love for their work sake and then he says and be at peace among yourselves you ought to appreciate your pastor you ought to love on your pastor and love your pastor just you know just on the way here my wife and i were joking and you know you ever have those dark jokes where you're joking but you know it's kind of like you know and we're like man it should be nice if brother jared and miss hyde came back to sacramento you know and then of course it's like yeah that would be nice and it's like no no it wouldn't that wouldn't be good that would mean something went really bad wrong and fresno here's what i'll tell you take care of them we'll take them back we'll take them away from you don't mistreat them love them realize that there's there's work and there's effort and there's heartache and there's hard times they go into ministry appreciate them see this church is getting ready to transition an independent autonomous local church i hope you're excited i i i'm excited for what god is going to do i'm excited to for the for the steps for the jared night even just this trip we'll be start talking about how to transition this into an autonomous autonomous church and and and you know i'm excited to find out things like the name of of this church i really hope it's not you know brother jared baptist church um but you know he's the boss so whatever um but as you transition as you transition remember you say man we have a pastor now that's here how do we treat him you ought to obey him you gotta follow you gotta provide for him and you ought to appreciate him that's why i had to not board a prayer