 Amen. All right, well thank you very much for being here tonight. We are very glad I'm glad to be here and of course brother Jared and miss Heidi. Thank you For everything you do. We love you and miss you and your family of course my wife sends her apologies She was supposed to be here with me tonight I was supposed to be here with my wife and all my kids and we were driving up here and we got a flat tire and And then you know, we got her all changed and everything but the tire that we had to spare is those little tiny Little tiny spare tire and we weren't able to drive the van up to Fresno on that little tire So brother Oliver Came and picked me up and brought me the rest of the way and my wife and kids have to have to go back home So she wishes she could be here. She's planning on being here and and we apologize for that You know, you have a good employee when they show up to pick you up And it's like hey, you're spending the night in Fresno and he's like, okay And you know then he didn't know so we'll have to probably get him a shirt something But I appreciate that. I'm glad that I've got my family here, too Just my parents are here my siblings and nieces and nephews and and all of that and a lot a lot of you came up From Sacramento and I do need to apologize to those of you from Sacramento I'm sorry. All right, you came up here to get a break from me and I follow you up here And you're stuck listening to me and and I got two apologies because I'm the sermon I'm preaching tonight I'm planning on preaching it in Sacramento. So I don't know if God just felt you really needed it or what but I Apologize for that. We're there in Hebrews chapter number 12 And I am glad that you're here and appreciate you being here We're praying for you here in this location and we are we appreciate you and I appreciate those of you from Sacramento That are here. I noticed brother George is wearing a tie and I'll I'll try not to be offended you come you come to Fresno and put a tie on I don't I guess that's good But Hebrews chapter 12 once you notice there in verse number 23 the Bible says this Hebrews chapter 12 verse 23 Can I drink this this mine? All right, great. Thank you If it is now all right and if it wasn't before hopefully whoever doesn't have coronavirus, but Hebrews chapter 12 verse 23 the Bible says this to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirit of just men made Perfect and of course this church is is a newer church a younger church I think the next time I come will probably be for your one year in August So I'm thankful for that and I'm glad for that and we're really happy with how things are going here in Fresno And the work that's being done and all those innovations, but you know when a church is young You want to give it a lot of training you want to try to help people in a young church? And I want you to notice here that God has called us together To be church members that make up his church and by the way This is God's will for your life today to be once you're saved God's will is that you would be put into the body of Christ that you would get Connected to a local church, but for all of eternity you're going to be part of a church And that's what we read there in verse 23 where it says to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn Which are written in heaven in heaven We're going to be gathered together as an assembly of called out believers It's going to be a church. We're going to be experiencing church life for all of eternity and you know God has a plan for you to be part of this local church here in Fresno And God has a plan for church for believers in Sacramento to be part of a local church But whenever you start a church you want to try to provide training, you know Paul said this But if I tell you long that I may know how about odd is to behave myself in the house of God Which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground the truth. I think a couple of Times ago when I was here. I've reached a sermon on how to get the most out of your family integrated church We talked about being family integrated tonight I want to preach a sermon on the subject of how to be a great church member How to be a great church member and I was sitting sitting there During the singing and I was thinking about this as I'm watching these young guys lead the music and I'm watching the Men take the offering and everything was done very professionally and very orderly now sing about the fact that I grew up You know, I'm a church kid. I grew up in church my my whole life. I mean I was a Baptist before I was even saved You know, I just grew up in church But when we start churches, that's not the case for all of you for all of you for many of you Church is a new thing. We get you connected in church So we've got to provide training to help you know how you are to act what you are supposed to do Like Paul said how about is to behave myself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God And I believe that God is going to is using this church and it's going to continue to use this church to do great things For for him of course and here in this location, but I want to help you to understand You know, what does God expect from you as a church member? How can you be a great church member and of course that encourage you to take notes and you can write some of these statements down As we work through it number one tonight I want you to notice that in order to be a great church member you ought to get involved in church You ought to make the decision that you're going to get involved in church and when we talk about getting involved What does that mean? What does that look like? Well, first of all, you ought to get involved in the church services You're there in Hebrews chapter 12 flip back to Hebrews chapter 10 and look at verse number 24 Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24 Very well-known passage in regards to church Tendence and being part of a church Hebrews 10 24 the Bible says this and let us consider You see how we're consider there the word consider means to think about he says let us stop for a moment and think about a few things He says let us consider one another. He says, you know, you ought to stop and consider one another You ought to consider your fellow church member He says let us stop and consider. He says let us consider one another. Why do we want to consider one another notice to provoke? The word provoke means to stimulate to stir up to provoke unto love and to good works Then he says this in verse 25 and I want you to notice the context leading into verse 25 Is that we should consider one another to provoke one another unto love and good works verse 25? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the matter of some is he says but exhorting the word exhort means to Strongly encourage to urge he says but exhorting one another and then he says and so much the more as you see the day Approaching see the main reason why you want to come to church is because coming to church Benefits you when you come to church you can be exhorted You can be provoked by others others can come alongside you and help you And provoke you unto love and good work So to be a good church member you got to make this decision that you're just going to get involved And the first place you need to get involved is in the church services You ought to make a choice that you're going to be faithful and consistent to the church services Because here's the thing if you come to a church like this, you know And oftentimes people will say this to me in Sacramento I'm sure people say it to brother Jared here all the time But you know people come to a church service on a Sunday mornings for a while and And I'll stand at the back door and greet people on the way out something that people are always saying to me And I always take this as a great compliment, of course, but people will say something like this They'll say man. I'm learning so much, you know, I've never learned so much of the Bible You know, I've gone to other churches. I've never learned so much of the Bible as I'm learning in this church You know on Sunday mornings and I never say this of course because I'm not a rude person All right, but I always think to myself, you know, you'd learn more if you showed up on Sunday night You know, you'd learn more if you showed up on Wednesday night I mean it just it's just math, right? If you're learning so much coming one time a week Hey, you can learn three times as much coming three times a week and you say, oh, everybody's really friendly You know, I'm developed as a friendship But you know that you would be more likely to develop friendships even not much faster if you showed up Sunday night If you showed up Wednesday night, if you want to be part of a church and say I want to get on Involved in this thing, you know, you ought to make a choice and you and I'll just kind of let you in on the secret You know, what is the secret of being a great church member? I want to be a great churchman Here's a secret make the decision to be in church make the decision to just say I remember when we were growing up We used to say it this way we say whenever the church doors are open We're gonna be there if the church doors are open We're gonna go if it's Sunday morning and for Sunday night if it's Wednesday night if it's a special Meeting or special conference or whatever it is if it's available for us. We're gonna go. We're just gonna be there We're gonna get involved in the services. You ought to get involved in the church services Of the church go to book of Philippians if you would if you start in the book of Matthew I've Matthew Mark Luke John Axe Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians You know you ought to be consistent You should just make the decision You should just make the choice that I'm you know to the best of my ability I'm not gonna allow anything to stop me from going to church The best church members make this choice that I'm not gonna allow anything to stop me from going to church now Obviously if God providentially, you know stops you from going to church And and if you get sick and you're so sick in bed, you know You're dying of coronavirus or whatever and you can't make it we understand that we get that But don't be the type person just any little thing, you know just any little excuse You know just a blown-out tire on the freeway or whatever is gonna keep you from getting to church You know and look in your life. You got to make it a habit of just being in church And that's why I'm so I'm so thankful to see a lot of our Families from Sacramento here because you know what they don't have to come to Sacramento when you're on vacation I want our church families to go on vacation, but you know what when you go on vacation go to church Find a church in your area and go there You know and just decide that I'm gonna be the type of person who is going to be faithful to the church service We ought to live our lives We're gonna live our lives in a way that if you don't show up to Sunday night church people are worried like where's brother? So I mean is he dead? You know what happened? He's always here and when he's not here he calls and let somebody know what's going on You ought to live you ought to be so faithful and so consistent sometimes people leave our church Verity Baptist Church They leave our church and they don't and and they don't come to church for like eight weeks and nobody notices And then you hear you hear about them, you know, and they're all upset I didn't go to church for eight weeks and nobody contacted me But it's like it was a normal thing for you to not show up for two months Like why would we notice that you're the type of person? You know you it's going six weeks without being in church was a common occurrence in your life, you know Yeah, don't let that be you Look if you if you die in your apartment, you know, I hope really Jared shows up on Monday, you know like he's something I happen to him Something happened to that because they're always in church, you know You got to live your life back consistently where you're just there Because he and here's what I'm telling you if you allow the devil to give you an excuse to skip church You know, whatever that excuse is he's gonna put that excuse in front of you every week, you know every week Whatever lame thing, you know, I woke up with a headache or whatever, you know He's gonna make sure you have that every week if you're looking for an excuse to skip church You can find an excuse to skip church to skip church, but a great church member decides I'm getting involved and the first step is in the church services not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together But the second place that you ought to get involved in in in church world is not just in the church services You ought to get involved in soul winning Philippians chapter one. Are you there? Look at verse number four Philippians chapter one and verse four the Bible says this always and every prayer of mine for you All making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day Until now see one of the great things about soul winning other than the fact that we get to go out and preach the gospel And get people saved look do you realize that we get to work alongside God that we can work with God? To bring people to the saving knowledge of his son the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean that's a great reason to go That's the main reason to go But you know a great reason to go soul winning is that when you go soul winning you get to fellowship with other church members You get to know other people you get to go out there and serve the Lord together and get partnered And it's a great way to get to know people for your fellowship Paul said of the gospel your fellowship in the gospel From the first day until now so a great church member is one who decides to get involved Say well, how do I do that? Well, you ought to do it in the church. Look. It's not complicated Just say Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night three to thrive. I'm gonna be there Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night I'm gonna be faithful. I'm gonna be consistent I'm gonna go and I'm gonna learn the Bible and I'm the fellowship with other believers. They're gonna exhort me They're gonna consider me. I'm gonna exhort them. I'm gonna consider them I'm gonna live my life in Community with other believers. That's what God wants for you Then you ought to get involved in soul winning reaching people with the gospel and Fellowship being with other believers. Look, there's a reason why military people who go out into war You know the the band of brothers the camaraderie there and the fellow There's a reason why these men who go out there's something about just going out to battle together that will connect you Well, you know a spirit to the same thing There's something about going out in spiritual warfare and fighting the battles of Lord and soul winning that'll just get you get Your heart in it with other believers in the church. So you ought to get involved not only in the church services You ought to get involved in soul winning Thirdly, you ought to get involved in the serving go to the book of Colossians chapter 4 if you would you there in Philippians Just flip over to the book of Colossians Colossians chapter 4 And look at verse number 7 Philippians Colossians Colossians chapter 4 All my state shall tickeous declare unto you Who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and? fellow Servant in the Lord. I want you to notice that Paul referred to this man tickeous who was a faithful minister, but he said he was a fellow servant He was a fellow servant in the Lord. Look at verse number 11 verse number 11 The Bible says this and Jesus Which is called justice who are of the circumcision this is not of course Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ This is a different Jesus who's called justice, but notice it says these only are my fellow Workers unto the kingdom of God which have been comfort unto me see a great church Member is one who not only decides to be consistent with the church services who not only gets involved in soul winning It's also someone who gets involved in the serving. You know that that church world requires a lot of serving There's a lot of work needs to be done in in in church and there's a lot of things that needs to be accomplished I mean there's songly it needs to be done. There's offering that needs to be taken. There's audio and video. There's cleaning There's cleaning. There's always cleaning. All right. There's cleaning that can be done Look, there's all sorts of things that you can get involved in and if you want to know Hey, what's the secret to get being a great church member you get involved in serving and you'll be a great church member You want your pastor love you, you know, you want your satellite leader to love you You want your future pastor love you get involved in serving and you'll become a great church member, you know Our church in Sacramento in September will be 10 years old and in those 10 years The Lord has allowed us to of course plant our church in Sacramento But we've also planted a church in Vancouver, Washington. We've also planted a church in Boise, Idaho We've also planted a church in Fresno, California. We've also planted a church in Manila, Philippines We've also planted a church in Pampanga, Philippines You know, we've done a lot of church planning over the last 10 years and I'll tell you something about church planning It's this bittersweet thing. It's exciting to start churches and get new works going and get new works growing But it's always bittersweet because the thing about church playing is this you spend all your time Developing, you know, some great church members and then you take your best church members and send them away You know and you you send them to Fresno to go start church And and and that's good for me because that means I always need to be developing good church members Which is why we preach sermons like these you say why you're preaching a sermon like this because we want to develop you Into the best church members that you can be so that you can help this church grow and some of you Especially you young men one day can get married and go do this somewhere else And the way you say how do I start a great church by being by first being a great church member and you know get involved No, sir. I remember we're sending The Pazarski family here You know and and and I hope is okay for me to say this but you know in in in my flesh You know, obviously spiritually we love we want to stand them out in my flesh and think myself good night. What are we gonna do? I mean brother Jared and miss Heidi. I mean they did so much I mean we obviously we love them as friends and just for brothers is Christ But I think myself like I'm gonna have to hire like six people just to fill in what miss Heidi did as a volunteer I mean brother Jared can go but can miss Heidi stay, you know, it's like good night You know what makes you a great church member is when you just decide. Hey, you know what? I'm just gonna serve Bobble talks about getting addicted to the ministry the Bible talks about serving the church Y'all get involved in service. You gotta find somewhere, you know, and you gotta ask yourself And I'm not trying to make you feel guilty, but once you've been here for a while You say I just showed up. Okay, look Then just you worry about Getting yourself to church Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night. All right, that's your goal Once you've done that for a while, then you gotta y'all start asking yourself. What am I doing? And I'm not saying that, you know, just generically. I'm asking you should ask yourself. What am I doing? To serve in church, you say, oh, I'm not very spiritual. I'm a new Christian I don't think you have to be a spiritual to push a broom around. I Don't think it requires a lot of discipleship to to push a vacuum, you know to to take out the trash You gotta ask yourself. What am I doing and you ought to get involved? You got to find somewhere where you can serve and get yourself involved You got to be a fellow worker. Why because look it will help you. I don't know. I don't know why it is I don't get what it is but the Apostle Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians that God has given you pastors and teachers and Prophets he gave you these gifts of spiritual leadership for the perfecting of the saints The word perfecting there that means the maturing The the growing of the saints and then he says this for the work of the ministry There is something about getting involved in the work of the ministry that grows you spiritually So you ought to get involved in the church services. Yeah, I get involved in soul winning You ought to get involved in service. Lastly, you ought to get involved in stewardship now. Keep your place in Colossians In fact go to Colossians chapter 1 and while you go there. I'll just quote this to you Matthew 621 the Bible says this for where your treasure is there where your heart be also You know you ought to get financially invested in your local church You ought to get financially invested because you say why because where your treasure is there where your heart be? Also, you know the way to get your heart in your local church is to get yourself Financially invested in the church and I'm not teaching on tithing and all that but you ought to be giving to your local church Obviously costs money to run a church, but that's not even the reason why you should give you ought to give because it'll tie your heart to That ministry she ought to get involved with the church and if you say well, I don't know how to get involved We'll get involved in stewardship Get involved in serving get involved in soul winning get involved in the church services But just decide I want to be a great church member I mean, I don't know about you, but anything that I do I want to be the best at it I want to be good at it. You know if I'm gonna go get a job I want to try to be the best of that job that I can be and if I'm gonna be part of a local church Then I want to be the best church member I can be what does that mean? It means you ought to show up to church that means you ought to show up to soul winning That means you ought to find somewhere to serve that means you ought to get yourself financially Involved and invested in the stewardship of the church so I get involved in the church But I want to give you secondly tonight We talked about how to be a great church member You ought to get involved in church point number one point number two is this not only should you get involved in church But I want to say this you ought to get on board with church And I'll let you in on a little secret. You say well, what do you mean? I thought that was it? I mean, you know, that was an alliterated outline. I thought we're gonna you're gonna pray and we're gonna have pizza now Well, you know the sermon is not over because you know what you'll find as a pastor Is that you can find people who do all those things that I just talked about faithful to all the church services Faithful to soul winning faithful to serving faithful in their stewardship and they can still be a pain in your neck There's more to being a church member than just those things. I look that's the start Now how do I how do I be a great church member get involved in church? If you're not involved in church, you're not even on at the first base. All right, that's where you need to start But there's another aspect of being a great church member One is that you get involved in church. Then there's another aspect which is you get on board with church So what do you mean by that? Well, let me let me give you an illustration here from the Bible Colossians chapter 1 look at verse 18 Colossians 1 18 kind of teaches us the purpose of church Colossians 1 18 says this and he that's Jesus is the head of the body Notice these words the church. Who's the head of Verity Baptist Church here in Fresno? It's not pastor He matters. It's not brother Pizarmski. It is the Lord Jesus Christ Now you say okay. Well Jesus ahead but practically speaking. What does that look like or how does that mean? Well? Here's the thing Jesus is the word I've got the word of God So he is the head but practically speaking he runs this church through his word Right brother Jared doesn't just get to get up and preach whatever he wants Everything he preaches needs to come straight out of this King James Bible everything I preach and teach everything We do needs to be filtered through the word of God because I'm not the head of the church Jesus Christ is the head of the church through his word So I've got to submit myself as a pastor to the word of God The preachers have to submit themselves to the word of God see the local church is the pillar and ground of the truth The Bible says sanctify them through thy truth thy word is true This is the pillar and ground of God's word This is the pillar and ground of the Lord Jesus Christ the local church The purpose of the church is to uphold and to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ When you see it that way you understand verse 18 and he is the head of the body the church See the body holds up the the head Who is the beginning the first born from the dead notice? That in all things he that's Jesus might have the preeminence see the purpose of church is that in church in All things Jesus might have the preeminence that Jesus might be glorified The purpose of church is to push the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ is to push The thought of the Lord Jesus Christ say why do we go so any because Jesus told us to go so when he Mean he said he said go you therefore and teach all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I've commanded you law and with you always even into the end of the world Amen Hey, Jesus said that our job as a church is to lift up is that to make sure he has preeminence So we just go and do what he tells us to do You understand that the purpose of the church is to uphold the agenda of Jesus Christ By the way when you think that way when you realize that way then you can filter everything in your church to say Does this bring glory to Jesus Christ? I mean there sometimes you can have musicians come in and they play real nice You can have singers come in and they sing real nice You can have certain things come in and and if you start thinking well, man, that sounds really nice And I think the crowd's really gonna like it And I think people are gonna like it if we let that music in but see you're asking the wrong question Because the question is not will the crowd like it the question is will Jesus like it? Because the purpose of the church is that he might have the preeminence among them that he might have the preeminence in all Things he might have the preeminence We are here to push the agenda of the Lord Jesus Christ go to the book of 3rd John chapter 1 Third John chapter 1 you start at the end of the New Testament book of Revelation and you had back You have the book of Jude and then you have the book of 3rd John 3rd John chapter 1 So what's the purpose of the church that he is the head of the body the church? Who's the beginning the first born from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence here's what's interesting Sometimes people show up to church and they decide that they want to have the preeminence 3rd John chapter 1 look verse 9. I Wrote unto the church. This is a church matter. This is John the beloved Writing to the church notice, but diatrophies notice these words who love it to have the preeminence Among them now wait a minute the Bible says that he might have the preeminence That he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the first born from the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence, but here we're told that John says I wrote him to the church But diatrophies who love it to have the preeminence among them receive it us not Notice here. There's a guy in the church and he wants to have preeminence He wants to push his agenda He wants to do what get the church to do what he wants to do and look I'm here to tell you as a church member. What makes you a great church member number one y'all to get involved in church What does that mean in the church services in the soul winning in the serving in the stewardship? But number two y'all get on board with church. What does that mean? They you don't come to a church like this one and then try to have your try to have the preeminence We're gonna do it my way We're gonna do it. This is how I think we should do it now. Wait a minute. We're here to uphold the Lord Jesus Christ And you say okay, well practically speaking though What does that look like? Well, you know what practically speaking it looks like we submit ourselves to the word of God But practically speaking it means that we submit ourselves to the man of God To the pastor to the leadership you say what because that's what Jesus ordained Look Jesus ordained Pastoral leadership Jesus ordained deacons and evangelists Jesus ordained the leadership in the church Look, he died for the church. He builds the church He's the head of the church and then he said I want to set up leadership in the church So look when you say I want to get on Jesus agenda Then you better get on the pastor's agenda And you better get on the satellite leaders agenda You better get on the on the agenda of the spiritual leadership. Why because that is it's not enough to get involved You also need to get on board Like it on board with the church, what does that mean well look getting on the church's agenda means you do not push your own agenda And by and by the way, let me just say this this will help you at work, too Work isn't spiritual for some of you, you know brother Oliver's work isn't spiritual either, but I'm I'm kidding his work is spiritual, but you know you go to work to say I'm just a mechanic I'm just an electrician. I'm just whatever You know what hey, let me use some advice figure out what the boss of the agenda is and get on that Well, if I ran the shop, well, you don't run the shop Well, if I ran the crew, but you don't run the crew But if I got to be the super but you're not the supervisor You want to be a great employee? Look just change change the descriptions You want to be a great employee figure out what the agenda the boss is and get on that agenda Whatever the boss wants just get that done Whatever you want me a great church member get on the church's agenda and do not push your agenda Let me give you an example. Sometimes you preach these things and people don't they're like, oh, yeah, amen I guess I'm not sure what that means. Let me give you some practical examples You know at our church if you come to our church You'll hear me every week every week. I'll get up and I'll say You know, we'd love for you to visit or come come to our soul winning and I'll explain just like like brother Jared Does the soul winning is when we got in the community we knock doors we invite people to church We preach the gospel to anyone who who's interested our main so many times on Saturday morning And we'd love for you to join us on Saturday morning for soul And we have additional so many times on Thursdays at 2 p.m. And on Sunday at 2 p.m The reason we announced it that way is because my agenda as a pastor very de-baptist church is to get as many of Our soul winners to show up on Saturday morning Because I believe that Saturday morning soul winning is the best and most effective and most productive soul winning that you can do Now I'm not against other soul winning and we have soul winning on Sundays and we have so we're on Thursdays We have so many on other on other things and in different areas and in different places. It works differently. I understand that I'm just telling you in Sacramento. I have found that if we could get soul winners out on Saturday morning They will not only get people saved, but they will also get visitors in church the next day So we push so you say well Why do you have Sunday so we well we have Sunday so we're because we also have a lot of commuters that come in And we don't want to ask them to drive three hours to Saturday soul winning and then You know three hours to church on Sunday. So for our commuters, it's easier for them to come Be there for the Sunday morning be there during the afternoon soul winning be there for evening They just make one big day of it. We understand that we have other we have other people who just want to do more Soul winning they go on Saturday and Sunday We understand some people work on Saturday So they go on Sunday We understand that there are reasons why you couldn't go on Saturday But if you have a choice if you have a choice the agenda I'm pushing Because is that you show up for Saturday soul winning. I'm not saying here in Fresno I'm saying in Sacramento and Fresno figure out whatever brother Jared wants and do that I'm just telling you this if somebody said hey, I could come on Saturday or on Sunday I would say come on Saturday Because then you're more likely to have a visitor in church and we're trying to push the agenda of Jesus christ Which is to get people saved and get people baptized and help them observe all things Whatever I've commanded you and since we're trying to push his agenda Then let's do it the way that'll get his agenda done the best. So we push Saturday soul winning There's a reason why we have you know just last Saturday. We had 72 soul winners on Saturday morning This this afternoon. I'm sure we had 20 25 30 soul winners on Sunday on Thursday We had 15 soul winners or whatever 10 15 soul winners on Thursday There's a reason why we have the vast majority of our soul winners on Saturday because that's how we push it And when I say we push it that way. I'm not saying we force anybody, but that's how I encourage people That's what I tell people. That's what I push We a couple of years ago. We had a Couple that came to our church. They don't come to our church anymore This was a couple as a pain in our neck. I'll just be frank with you They were a pain in our neck They were involved in the services and the soul winning and the serving and the stewardship But they just could not get on board with the agenda You know they they went on this on this campaign Where they tried to get everyone who went soul winning on Saturday to stop going soul winning on Saturday and to start going on Sunday And they were literally just one up to be one saying, you know What we found is that Saturday is a great day for the family and Saturday's this and Saturday that you got to take the whole day Saturday and and and you say oh, that's you're being nitpicky. Here's what I'm telling you Just figure out what the pastor wants and do that If you can't go on Saturday, then you can't go on Saturday But here's the point that I'm making get on the church's agenda Do not push your agenda and when your agenda conflicts the church's agenda, then don't make a big deal about it Do you understand what I just said? If you got 80 soul winners showing up on Saturday And you want to have a family day then go have your family day But why do you have to try to get everybody on your agenda? Why don't you just let everybody do whatever they're doing let the pastor do whatever he's doing and get on board See a great church member gets on board with the church's agenda when they can and they do not push Their own agenda and when your agenda does not match the church's agenda. You know what a great church member does They just don't make a big deal about it They don't they don't try to fight the pastor They don't try to fight the the satellite leader. They don't try to get everybody. No, let's do let's do this instead They just get on board with whatever the church is doing. I remember when my wife and I we went to a old IFB church before I was a pastor and um In this church we we tried to be the best church members I mean Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night. We were there soul winning. We were there We served in different capacities and we gave and we just tried to be the best church members We could be as an old IFB church not a new IFB church And didn't have the doctrines and beliefs that that we have as As new IFB, but it was the best church in our area. We just got involved. I remember the first year we were there They announced football Sunday, you know super ball football sundae and it was the the the the Sunday and look as a pastor I get it, you know, I wish they'd play that stupid game on saturday I wish they'd play that stupid game on monday and people skip church People skip work instead of church You know, but they had you you have the super bowl every sundae And they were trying to get people to not skip church So they had this idea of super bowl sundae and what they were pushing was that on You know instead of skipping church on sundae to watch the super bowl What they were going to do is they were going to have this football sundae They were going to record the super bowl. They told everybody don't watch it You know, we're going to record it then you come to church on sundae night And then you come in your in your in your teams in your favorite teams jersey You know the 49ers the raiders the whatever you come in your jersey We're going to have a church service and then afterwards we're going to have popcorn We're going to put the screen down and we're all going to watch the super bowl together at the end Now, let me tell you something. I don't agree with that. I don't like that idea. I hate professional sports I like playing football. I don't like watching football. I and and don't sit there and try to convince me Okay, you got a bunch of naked half naked cheerleaders running around in those football games There's nothing in a football game that a christian man should be watching. I'm against it You know, but here's the thing. We were at this church and that's what they were pushing That's what they were doing And and I didn't I didn't want any part of it. My wife didn't want any part of it So you say what would you do? Well, I mean we did whatever a good christian would do We went on a facebook campaign and started ripping the pastor apart and split the church, right? Because that's what a good christian does No, you know what my wife and I just thought about it We prayed about it And we thought, you know, I don't there's a couple of things we could do We we could not show up to church that night, but we don't want to do that because we go to church When doors are open we go to church We could just show up in our regular clothes and that's probably what we were going to do show up in our regular clothes But then that would be real obvious that we just weren't involved In what we were doing then my wife precious, you know Intelligent christian She got this idea and she said how about this Because they want you to bring your jerseys and they were going to have a little contest about the best jerseys or whatever My wife got this idea. She went out and bought the material and she sewed up Some football jerseys. She actually made some some jerseys and she got some uh, Stenso, I don't know what it is. She stuff stuff you iron on and so on or whatever And she made these team Jimenez jerseys For me and for her and for our kids and they had our names on the back and it was team Jimenez You know what? We showed up the church on Saturday night with that jersey and everybody loved it Like oh, you got the best team and everybody was happy whatever, you know what? We got to be involved without sinning against our conscience And at the end of the service when they brought out the popcorn and the screen came down We just kind of you know drifted out the back door and went home and here's what i'm telling you Here's what i'm telling you. You know what a good church member does? They get on board wherever they can And then they don't make a big deal about it when they can't You don't sit there and try to make you know now when we started Verity Baptist Church Did I have football suddenly? No when we started Verity Baptist Church I started preaching against the stinking Super Bowl And tell people that they either get right with God and show up to church instead of watching a stupid football game That's my position But you know what as a church member I didn't sit there and rip the pastor apart We got on board on on board where we could get on board And where we could not get on board We just we did our best We did our best to support our church See, you know what a great church member does they get involved in church But you know what else they do they get on board with church They're trying to hurt their church You get on the church's agenda And you don't you don't push Your other agendas You don't make a big deal about when you can't get on board You know at that church my wife and I we never went to Sunday school never show up to Sunday school Because we didn't want they were real strict about Sunday school and they were like these You know nursery Nazis they didn't they would not allow you have the kids and you know this and that or whatever So we never show up to Sunday school And there was times when things would happen at Sunday school and people would talk You know when people walked up to us and oh man the funniest thing happened at Sunday school and they were telling You know we didn't sit there like well, we weren't there because you know, we take a stand again Sunday school. Let me tell you You know people said some of my say come on. That's great And we just people didn't even notice we weren't there. Here's all i'm telling you. You know what a great church member does they get on board They just figure out what what is the church? What is the church pushing and where you can get on board you get on board and in the areas that you can't push What the church is doing you know what a great church member does they don't make a big deal about it They don't make a big fuss about it They don't they don't make a big a big uh, you know uproar about it They figure out what they can do without sitting against their conscience and they just get on Board let me give you a third one tonight go go go to first Corinthians chapter one if you would first Corinthians chapter one You have matthew mark luke john ax romans first Corinthians. We're talking about how to be a great church member number one You ought to get involved In church first Corinthians chapter one Number one you ought to get involved in church number two you ought to get on board In church and number three you ought to get along in church first Corinthians one look at verse number 11 First Corinthians one eleven the bible says this For it has been declared unto me of you my brethren By them which are of the house of chloe that there are Contensions among you You know the truth is this what i've learned over the last 10 years of ministry is this That we cannot spend as much time as we spend together without there being conflict from time to time And you understand that i can't ask people and i do ask people But i can't ask people to show up the church sunday morning sunday night wednesday night to show up the Soul winning to show up the red hot preaching conference Which we hope you'll come to on thursday night and friday morning and friday night To show up to this event to show up to that event to show up to this picnic to show up to the Look we can't ask people to show up to as many things as we ask people to show up to and not expect that from time to time There's going to be conflict You know from time to time People are are going to rub you the wrong way and and they're going to do things to offend you and you're going to do Things to offend them. That's just life It's it's the truth of life You cannot say i'm going to go to church and just get along with everybody look i'm the pastor of the church and i don't Like everybody Now i'm not going to tell you who i don't like okay You know for the right price but anyway, um, but you and and look i'm the pastor of the church and some people don't like me Now i don't understand that but you know it's true So the point is this we cannot spend as much time as we spend together And not have conflict and not be contentions you say well, how do we deal with that? What do we do about that go to romans chapter 12? Keep your place there in first Corinthians. We're going to come back to it and go backwards to the book of romans Right before first Corinthians. Well, there's a couple of things that you should do The first thing is the best thing you can do It's also the hardest thing you can do and this is not something that can be done about everything But it can be done probably about most things and it's this to just be the bigger person Just decide you know what i'm going to be the bigger person I'm going to be the more mature person What does it mean to be the bigger person? It means this to be the opposite of petty Roman chapter 12 look at verse 9 notice what the bible says let love be without dissimulation Let love be without dissimulation the word dissimulation means the concealment of one's through True thoughts or feelings the bible says you should not feign yourself to love someone when you don't You say oh, yeah, well, I don't I let them know no that's not what it's saying either It's saying you need to figure out how to make sure that you actually love everyone in church You should try to love everybody. He says let love be without dissimulation Abhor of that which is evil cleave to that which is good notice verse 10 Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love and then notice these words in honor Preferring one another the word prefer means to promote or advance the other See the best thing that you could do is just to decide i'm going to be the bigger person and in honor I'm going to prefer One another i'm going to be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor Preferring one another go to philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 look at verse 3 you're there in romans You know go first second koreanians galatians visions philippians philippians chapter 2 my kids are starting a new Curriculum my wife's doing a new curriculum for our kids this year when they start back up after summer And there's all these books that they're supposed to read and i was looking through the list My wife was looking through the list and we thought it was super interesting some of these books and we said You know we're going to read through some of these ourselves I started reading through one of them called the life of george washington It was really interesting because it talks about how george washington He when he was a very young young man I mean a kid a teenager and they they don't know where he got this list from if he made it himself Or if he got it from someone but he made this list of like i think it was 120 Rules that he had for himself. I mean that's that's a great Thing for young people to do sit down and say you know here's a hundred rules for myself 120 rules For myself. It's really interesting the 120 things that george washington had as rules for himself I've been trying to apply some of them To me to to my life one of them was this always be the first to say hello Always be the first to say hello. It's one of the rules he had for himself. I walked the dog Every every day. That's my prayer time I take the dog out and I'll walk the dog for about 30 40 minutes and I'll pray during that time That'll be my the major part of my prayer time during the day as I walk the dog and as I walk the dog I'm I'm praying so I'm sometimes distracted and you know, I'll walk by someone someone say hello And I'll be like, oh man, I failed again. I'm supposed to be the first to say hello, you know and But but george winds up about Always be the first to say hello. He'll one of his rules was this never criticize someone when they're not there Never criticize someone when they're not there He said if you have a problem with someone then you should take it to them But if they're not there you shouldn't criticize them and the bible teaches these things philippians 2 look verse 3 Let nothing be done through strive Or vain glory But in lowliness of mind notice these words let each esteem other better than themselves He says let each esteem other better themselves and look let me tell you something Church life would change your work environment would change your marriage would change If everyone involved said i'm going to esteem other better than myself Let nothing be done through strive for vain glory But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better themselves look at verse 4 Look not every man to his own things, but every man also on the things of other now So what does that mean look not every man on his own things? It means this don't be concerned For your own interest He says don't be concerned for your own interest But be concerned in the interest of others look not every man on his own things But every man also on the things of other he says you have to esteem other better than yourself You have to be preferring one another you have to decide In this relationship if someone has to lose and someone has to win Then i will choose to lose so that you can win He says that's how you have to live your life and that's how you can be the the bigger person Now look this doesn't come without some heartache go to the book of matthew if you would matthew chapter 5 Because being of the bigger person can be difficult at times Being the bigger person can be uh difficult at time we had a lady One time coming to our church and she had all these weird beliefs She was that person that didn't want to get on board with church She wanted to get us on board with her all her weird beliefs And she would submit these prayer requests, you know and We do this thing in our church. We're on the communication card you You write in a prayer request and then you mark whether it's private or it's public and I always saw people as private And only I will see if it's public she was amid these prayer requests They were always private and it was that the eyes of the pastor would be opened You know it's really hard when somebody submits a prayer request that the eyes of the pastor would be open That the pastor's eyes would be open to the foolishness of the dog, you know of all these stupid garbage And then and then you have to shake their hand and say oh god bless you you have a good day It was nice to see you You say what do you do? Well, you just tell you know what? I'm gonna steam others better than myself In honor of preferring one another, you know, sometimes people are jerks It's true Sometimes people rub you the wrong way Sometimes people do things just rude You know, it's like we've been I'm pastor just for 10 years now We've been doing these certain things for 10 years. You just showed up last week You want us to change everything we're doing and you're gonna submit a prayer request private that the pastor's gonna see You know that the eyes of the pastor would be open These foolish doctrines that he's pushing, you know What do you do? Well, you look not every man on his own things but every man on things of others You choose to be the bigger person Now look when you become the bigger person when you choose to be the bigger person I'm not always done, you know, right in this and I failed from time to time But what does it mean? Well, it means that the bigger person turns the other cheek go to matthew 5 look verse 38 You have heard That it had been said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth But I say unto you that he resists not evil But whose over shall smite thee on my right cheek turn to him the other also And if any man will sue thee at the law and take thy coat let him have thy cloak also And whose over shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain See the bible says look if someone smites you he says He says but whose over shall smite thee on my right cheek turn to him the other also like I don't know about you But somebody's smacking you on the face. I think one of the rudest things that you could do And you say what and see here's the thing when someone smacks you in the face your Reaction your reflect that is I'm gonna smack you back. You know what Jesus says Jesus has turned the other cheek See the bigger person will turn you know what that means you take the hurt And you don't return it You take the hurt And you don't return it see the bigger person turns the other cheek Let me give you another example go to 1st Corinthians 6 if you go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 6 The bigger person suffers himself to be defrauded 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 6 1st Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 6 the bible says this but brother go with to law with brother And that before the unbelievers He's talking about the fact that christian brethren are taking each other to to court. They're stewing each other over money He says now therefore there is utterly a fault among you Because you go to law one with another he says why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourself to be defrauded? He says look maybe he did try to rip you off. Maybe she did try to rip you off Maybe they did try to steal from you. Maybe they did try to offend you. Why don't you suffer the word suffer mean allow yourself To be defrauded He says may you do wrong in defraud? And that your brethren Like I can tell you over the years of very Baptist church There has there have been times an archer. I can tell you of a time in our church when two people were fighting about money Two of our church people went into some sort of business thing together, and that's not always the best thing either They go into some business thing together And and there was a couple hundred dollars that they were in a disagreement about and they were fighting with each other You know, I literally you know how I got resolved. I took 200 dollars out of my personal account. I said here I don't want to hear about this anymore And and you say wow, why would you have you know the bible says that you ought to suffer yourself to be defrauded Bible says that you that you ought to you know if you get if they spot you on the cheek If they sue you for your coat give them your cloak also He says who's ever so compelled you to go a mile go with them Twain see the bigger person turns the other cheek the bigger person suffers themselves to be defrauded the bigger person Will be preferring one another and esteem other better themselves go back to the book of matthew matthew chapter 18 You ought to try to get along in church You can't imagine that we're going to spend as much time as we spend together and that there's not going to be any conflict So what do you do? Well, the best thing and the hardest thing and not always the possible thing is to be the bigger person But I'll just be honest with you. That's not always possible Sometimes Things cannot get resolved by someone just being the bigger person. It's just not possible. It's just too it's too serious It's too hard You know that thing that burdens me One of the things that burdens my wife And and and and really bothers us is when people feel uncomfortable coming to church You know because how they're being treated And and I've had situations where my wife and I were being targeted by certain individuals And and they're just being really mean to us and doing things and you know if you're targeting others It's like no big deal But they start targeting other people in church and making them feel uncomfortable and it's like no this This is not gonna we're not gonna play this game You know, we don't we don't we don't want you look if there's one place you gotta you ought to be able to go And and feel comfortable You know, it's not cheers. Okay. It's not the bar You know somewhere you ought to go where everybody knows your name ought to be the local new testament church All right, ought to be the house of god Somewhere you can go where people love you and care for you and you feel accepted and you feel comfortable Out of be the local new testament church. So when that doesn't happen, that's a big deal You shouldn't have to feel uncomfortable going to church. You didn't have to feel like you're being targeted At church. So you think well, well, how do you deal with that? Well, you know, the bible tells us how to deal with it Matthew chapter 18 look at verse 15 Matthew chapter 18 and verse 15 The bible says this moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee What does that mean? That means that they hurt you That they did something against you that they sinned against you And by the way, let me just say this because people always try to bring up Matthew 18 Sometimes when you kick people out of church, it's not a Matthew 18 thing Okay, first Corinthians 6 and there's certain things in the bible when you do you cross that line you're out All right, if you're a reprobate, we're not going to go through the Matthew 18 process We're going to throw you out All right, did you say well, when does Matthew 18 apply it applies when somebody offends you When somebody hurts you He says moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee notice there's a three step process here He says go and tell the entire church's fault That what it says Go and just post it on social media and let everybody know is that what it says Look, you can go on social media right now and find all sorts of drama Of local new testament churches upset with things that are happening. Is that what the bible says? Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone What the bible says If he shall hear thee and by the way, this is the purpose If he shall hear thee that was gained thy brother The purpose is you don't go to them because you want to just start a fight You go because you want to try to make things right That was gained by a brother But if he will not hear thee Then take with thee one or two more than in the mouth of two or three witnesses Every word may be established and you know what? Let me just say this by the time you get to step two you better be involving, you know the church leadership You know you better be involving brother Jared before you start gathering up your two witnesses or whatever And let let them know what's going on for this with bible says if somebody offends you to the point where you say No, it's too much. It's too big. It's too long. It's too bad Then how do you deal with it and you go to them alone and you try to resolve it? And if that doesn't work, then you bring one or two more And then in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established look at verse 17 This is how serious god takes it and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church But if you neglect to hear the church, let him be Unto thee as a heathen and a publican God cares about Unresolved matters in church so much that he says if it can't be resolved and someone ends up getting thrown out So look you say I I got a problem with someone or you know, I've got an issue Well, look if you can then just esteem either the better yourself suffer yourself to be defrauded But if you say it's too big it's too and look I'm here to tell you there are some issues that are too big There are some things that it's not something you just suffer yourself to be defrauded. It's wrong It needs to be dealt with it's not okay What they're doing and how they're treating you but then the bible tells you what to do You go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone You don't go be a gossip and tell everybody else. Here's what here's what our flesh wants to do We want to tell everybody except the person we have a problem But god says no you go to them And you try to solve it and if that doesn't work then you bring One or two more with you and if that doesn't work then you then you tell it to the church and if that doesn't work If they neglect to hear the church then you to make him a heathen and a publican go to first Corinthians chapter one First Corinthians chapter one See you're not supposed to you're not supposed to Dislike coming to church A lot of times what people do is in situations like this They just they don't deal with it and look i'm here to tell you you know what a great church member does They try to deal with their problems And and i'm not just saying oh so so i just let it go no if it's a big deal then god Jesus actually look if you have a red letter edition bible I don't even notice Matthew 18 15 60 70 it's in red letters. This is what jesus said Jesus said here's how you deal with it Here's how uh you deal with it first chrindians chapter three and verse one the bible says this first chrindians three and verse one An i brethren Could not speak unto you as unto spiritual But as unto cardinal even as unto babes and christ i fed you with milk and not with me For hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able notice verse three For ye are yet carnal For whereas there is among you and being and strive and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men For while one sayeth i am a paul and another i am of paul is are ye not carnal Now i want you to notice that the apostle paul He's connecting these two thoughts. He says this in verse one He says i could not speak unto you as unto spiritual But as unto carnal why are they carnal because they're babes and christ And then in verse three he says because you're a babe in christ because you're carnal He says for ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you and being and strive and divisions Let me explain something to you If you and i are going to go out in this community and reach people with the gospel of jesus christ and bring in New christians into this church then you know what in our church We're going to have strife and divisions and end being you say why because that's what carnal people do She said well, what what do we do about it? Then we try to preach sermons to try to help carnal people become spiritual people And ye that are spiritual we want you to help us don't be surprised when New christians when worldly christians act like worldly people. That's what they do We want to help them grow You know what i've learned over the years of ministry is this that spiritual people will make take a big deal and they'll make it small Spiritual people take a big problem sometimes there's a big i catch wind of a big problem And i think i got to step into this i can't just let this be and i walk in on that and say hey You know what i'm sorry about that i just heard about this i can't believe that happened and whatever spiritual people They'll say you know a pastor's no big deal. It's no problem. They'll take something that's big and they'll make it small You know what carnal people do they'll take something that's small and they'll make it big And there's no big deal and they'll say i'm leaving the church i'm playing the church I'm gonna spend the rest of my days making youtube videos about you They'll take something small and make it big Spiritual people take something big and make it small See you don't want to know how to be a great church member But you got to get involved Sunday morning sunday night wednesday night soul winning Serving giving You need to get on board figure out what you can do Figure out what the church is doing and get in that direction And in the areas that you can't get on board then don't make a big deal And if you can't get on board with anything then you need to just go find another church Do you understand that obviously you're never gonna agree with any church 100 percent do you understand that? I don't agree with the church 100 percent. I'm the pastor All right, somebody said if you get three baptists together you get four opinions All right, you're not there's always going to be you know different thoughts and different ideas that people think But you have to figure out where can I get on board and just get on board And where you can't get on board just try to be spiritual don't make a big deal a lot of something small Super Bowl sunday. I'm not gonna make a big deal about that I figure out a way to Get on board and do what I got to do And yet I get along in church And what that means is that sometimes you need to just be the bigger person and suffer yourself to be defrauded and Turn the other cheek and sometimes it means the mature person in a In a bad situation is the one that says no, you know what we can't live like this I can't live like this my family can't live like this and they're going to address it in a mature way To the individual that they have a problem with they're going to go to them and try to fix it And if they can't be fixed then they're going to bring two witnesses and if that can't be fixed They're going to involve the whole church and and and they're going to do it the way that the bible said to do because god Has given us a format So you got to get along You got to get on board and you got to get involved in your local new testament church. That's about our heads and I