2012 Church Servants Two 0520: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 Now he goes into the attendees, the members, and devoted leaders. A different area of leadership. We had the young leader, we had the skilled leader, and now we got devoted leaders. And he talks to the congregation and says, “Be alert.” Congregation, you are to what? Be alert. You’re not supposed to come just to wait for the minister to get you into the third heaven and all that. You’re to come in alert. Hallelujah. You’re supposed to live on Monday alert, wide awake. “Stand fast in the faith.” That’s your job, to stand fast in the faith. What faith? The Scriptures, in Jesus Christ. Amen. Don’t be swaying, don’t be swerving. “Be brave,” and “be strong.” Have the courage of your convictions. Have the guts to stand up for what the Scriptures say. The Bible says homosexuality is wrong. Then have the guts to stand up and say, “Jesus and the Bible says this is wrong. I don’t care what Obama says, Bush says, Oprah says, or anybody else. Jesus said it’s wrong, the apostles said it’s wrong. By golly, it’s wrong.”

▶ 1:16 See, have courage to stand up for truth. Amen. “Let all that you do be done with love.” Love, not works, no harm. “I urge you, brethren,” talking to the church, you know, “the household of Stephanas, the first fruits of [unclear], that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” They’re not Apollos, a skilled minister. They’re not the apostles that he talked about earlier with signs and wonders and so forth. They’re not a young minister. They’re just devoted ministers. They’re committed. One definition of the word is they’re addicted. They’re addicted to ministry, that they can’t do without it. How many would like to have that kind of desire in your heart, where you miss the church when you’re gone, even for a good reason, because you’re addicted to it?

▶ 2:33 Hallelujah. These are devoted. They’re committed leaders. Every church needs them and every church should have them. And he tells the congregation to submit to such, “and all who work and labor with us.” See, and then he gives two others: Fortunatus, [unclear]. Yeah. Uh, “refreshed.” See, he said they refreshed me, they supplied what was lacking. It’s like being out plowing the field, you know, and somebody, your wife, comes and brings you a nice cold glass of lemonade. Whoa, refreshes you, and you can get your strength and keep going. Or one of your sons comes out and takes the plow: “Dad, go sit under the tree, I’ll plow for a while.” That would be unique in our homes, wouldn’t it? They can’t even make their bed, let alone plow a field.

▶ 3:33 They think it’s, they think it’s really mean when you ask them, “Take out the garbage.” My gosh, you have to leave your Nintendo game for two minutes to take out the garbage. How horrible! But see, that’s what “refresh” means. It means you relieve someone of the burden, you refresh them. And this is what devoted people do. Without the devoted leaders in a church, the other leaders are very limited in what can be done. Are you there? And so devoted leaders are very important. Committed leaders. You can call them subordinate leaders or whatever you want. Paul calls them devoted, committed people. They clean the church, they clean the bathrooms, they do the books, they, you know, they mow the lawn, they, you know, they do things all the time. They visit the sick, they, you know, they encourage people to come to church and they encourage them after service and so forth. Invite them over to their house. These are devoted leaders.

▶ 4:37 Most American Christians are selfish people. They don’t want their basketball game interfered with. “I, leave me alone. I ain’t invite nobody over.” They never invite anybody over. They don’t know where the hospitality is. And the Bible tells us that we are to be what? Hospitable. Am I talking to the right group? Yeah. See, these are devoted people. I tell you, it was those devoted people. I was telling my brother Gary, the [unclear] were a couple back there that took me under their wing as a young Christian and got me through the hump where Satan was trying to say, “Ah, nothing happened. You know, you just, you know, that’s a bunch of [unclear]. You’re not different,” and all the rest. Man, they took me, invited me over their house, and, you know, they fed me, and we sang songs, and they shared the word with me. And they would call me up and said, “Are you coming to church?” And I tell you, I was in bed fast asleep. “Oh yeah, I’m coming.” I wasn’t planning on coming to church, but they called me early Sunday morning: “Are you coming to church today?” “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” Man, I had to get out of that bed and [unclear]. I needed that. They never spoke that I know of, they never preached a message. I never heard one of them prophesy or speak in tongues and interpret or anything else. But let me tell you, without them I don’t know if I would have made it over the hump. I needed those kind of

▶ 6:06 people. And when I got to their home, they were an example of a Christian. And I love those people, and I tell you, I’m going to greet them heavily when I get to heaven. They were very important to my growth in God. Leadership is important, very important. Don’t think it’s not important where you choose to go to church and the leadership there. Very important. “My people, children are their oppressors.” You know, children are running most homes today. Oh man, we go to little leagues, we go to dance recitals, we, you know, the Americans think that they are going to ingrain character in their kids by all this secular involvement.

▶ 7:01 I grew up in Detroit. I was in those baseball leagues and football leagues and so forth. I didn’t see one kid change. Not one. We just played sports, and when we got done we went back to our neighborhood and dared anybody to bother us. You know it’s true. Children, I mean, the husband in most American homes is one of the most neglected members of the home, because the kids, even though he may work six days a week, the kids just consume their time. Are you out there? Hallelujah, that’s one for the men.

▶ 8:02 “Women rule over them.” Now here’s one, not for the men. Man, if you don’t let Jesus run your life, your woman will. God created us to be men. A good woman wants a good man who’s got control of his life, heading somewhere down the road, following the examples that the Bible says. And if you don’t do it, you’re going to be following your woman, and they’re going to be following their emotions, and I tell you, disaster after disaster comes when that’s set in motions. Hallelujah. Now, for you women looking at me like that, you want me to balance this out? Well, you know, those women can lead too. Yes you can, and you are a leader in the home.

▶ 9:03 Let me tell you, if you’re going to be a good leader, you got to be teachable, and you got to learn to submit to God’s structure. You got to learn to expect God to make that man what he’s supposed to be. It’s not your job to make him what he’s supposed to be. Boy, that was good. That turns us off. Say, “You be an example. Show us. You don’t be telling us to do things that you’re not doing.” Yeah. Hallelujah. “Oh my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths.” Again in Isaiah 9:16, “The leaders of these people cause them to err, and they that are led of them are,” what? Destroyed. Who your leader is is important. Who you’re following, the doctrine. That’s why I tell you, go back to the apostles, go back to Jesus. Like the Berean church. They didn’t believe those apostles. They took what they said and went to the Scriptures to see if the apostles were telling them the

▶ 10:22 truth. Amen. “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard,” Jeremiah 12:10. You think leadership isn’t important? Leadership is very important, and having the essentials, and having the skills is very important, and every leader has to start somewhere in their youth and work their way up. Jeremiah 5:31, “The prophets prophesy falsely.” Good Lord, is that ever true, whether it’s in us Pentecostal circles where we believe in prophecy and we have tongues and interpretation, I hear a lot of junk, or whether you are Baptist and you believe prophecy is just an inspired preacher, I hear a lot of junk. How many have heard a lot of junk? How can you be a prophet? Prophecy means spoken by the inspiration of the Holy

▶ 11:24 Ghost. And if you’re not speaking by the leading of the Holy Ghost, that’s not a, you’re a self-made prophet, you’re not a real one. I don’t care what denomination you’re in. “My people love to have it so.” Here’s the kicker, that’s what the people want to hear. The churches are filling up with preachers that tell them what they want to hear, so you can’t blame leaders only, because that’s what they want to hear. So they find leaders that tell them what they want to hear. But what will you do in the end? What’s the end? The judgment. You got to stand before Christ. What are you going to do? You’re going to say, “Well, I, you know, I followed this guy and he led me astray”? You’re supposed to follow Christ. You’re supposed to follow Paul and Peter and these apostles. You’re not supposed to follow some preacher. He is supposed to follow Christ himself

▶ 12:29 and preach the Scriptures. Amen. Jeremiah 3:15, “I will give you pastors according to my heart, which will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” They are out there. You need to find them. Can I hear an amen? Young believers need to especially find somebody that can teach them the word of God, whether it’s devoted leaders that know the word of God, whether it’s young leaders that know the word of God, or whether it’s skilled leaders that know the word of God. They got to seek out that thing and get under good teaching so they can grow and be strong. Now, you can have a good leader and you can still live a wrong life. 2 Chronicles 27:2, King Jotham “did what was right in the sight of the Lord,” but the people still acted corruptly. They didn’t follow the leader, they did their own thing.

▶ 13:39 Paul’s church growth seminar to the Corinthian church. Was Paul a good leader? Absolutely. Does this letter to the Corinthian church show us they’re following him? No, they’re doing incest, idols. Oh man, they’re doing all kinds of things, and they had a great leader. The bottom line, church, is the choice is yours. You can choose to get a good leader and you can choose to follow the instructions of the Bible that that leader teaches, or you can choose to do your own thing. And what will you do in the end? You got to stand before Christ and give an answer, and you’re going to say, “Well, I’m a believer.” How you think that’s going to go

▶ 14:34 over? That’s what Americans have us thinking: because I’m a believer, everything’s okay. See, I have eight kids, and all of them believe that I’m their dad, and they know my standards, but that doesn’t make them one that lives right. They have to choose to live right, and so do we. See, faith in being a son of God is not the end of it. Let me show you the power in unity, when the congregation, the young leaders, the devoted leaders, and the skilled leaders get together and become one. Genesis 7, “the people are one.” Genesis 11:6, “the people are one, they have one language,” and this is what they began to do, and “now nothing that they purpose to do will be” what? Withheld or impossible for

▶ 15:45 them. So what’s the real problem with the church in America? Disunity. Now, let’s continue. 2 Chronicles 5:13, “As the trumpeters and cymbals and instruments of music and singers were as one in praising and thanking the Lord, the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” The presence of God came and filled the house of God, and God spoke. That’s where you got the message, “If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their nation.” So what’s the source of the healing of America? Is it the Democrats or

▶ 16:39 Republicans? No. Is it the rich people or the poor people? No. It’s God’s people getting their act together. Now, church, that was good. I don’t know if that got into you, but that’s good. Now listen, God does not need music. He has chosen to use music and use singing, and this church should be filled with instruments because God ordained it, but you have to take time to learn one. We should have good singers. You say, “We’re a small,” I don’t care, there’s enough here to get the job

▶ 17:36 done. All you have to do is take some TV time and learn an instrument. Are you out there? See, Timothy cared for the church, so he spent time. And church, I’m telling you, I keep telling you year after year, singing and music can do more than my messages can. There’s something about connecting a message with music that God anoints and gets into people, and they’re singing, singing, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” Remember when Fanny came out with that song, everybody in America was singing it, and they forgot Billy Sunday’s message after they left that day, but they got the [unclear] in them. Are you there? Do you understand that he inhabits the praises of his people? Do you understand he really comes when we get together with our music and our voices, and together we worship the Lord? No, looky-loose, we worship the Lord, he will come, and he will speak to people, and he will touch

▶ 18:55 people. See, it’s not only important that we’re in unity around doctrine and structure of the church, it’s important we’re in unity in worship and praising God and getting involved. Now, in closing, Paul’s going to turn to the leader of leaders, Jesus Christ, and this is what he says, and this is a powerful statement. I don’t know if you’re ready for this, but here it comes. Paul says, “If anyone,” in verse 22, “does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema. Maranatha.” Anathema means excommunicated, banned, something devoted. You see, when I accept Christ, I’m what? Devoted unto him. Something devoted that is banned.

▶ 20:09 And why are they banned? Why are they excommunicated? Why are they separated from Jesus? Because they don’t love him. Now, let’s watch the use of the word real quickly. Watch the use of the word, 1 Corinthians 12:3, we read, “No one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed.” You see, the Muslims who say Jesus didn’t die on the cross and Jesus is not God, and the Mormons who have their little thing about Jesus, you are not speaking by the Spirit of God, because nothing can separate Jesus from God, because Jesus is God. Amen. See, that’s how it’s used. You’re not speaking by the Spirit, you’re speaking from head knowledge. Romans 9:3, “I wish,” Paul said, “I wish that myself were anathema,” a curse, separated from God, from Christ, “for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” He wished he could die and go to hell and be separated from God and all of Israel would come to God. That’s how much he knew the

▶ 21:25 seriousness of not loving Jesus. Are you getting that? He was willing to go to hell for a whole nation. Now, folks, that’s compassion. Of course he couldn’t. He says, “I wish I could.” He knew that couldn’t be, but that was his heart. He didn’t want anybody going to hell. He didn’t know anybody separated from Jesus Christ. I mean, I would raise my hand and say, “Lord, I need a little bit of that kind of compassion and care.” Yeah, I need a little bit. If I just had a little bit. [unclear] 1:8, “Though we, the apostles,” any man, any woman, any man here is any

▶ 22:23 person “or an angel from heaven.” Now, let me ask you, who started the Muslim religion? A guy supposedly encountering an angel from heaven. Who started the Mormon religion? Some guy supposedly encountering an angel from heaven. How many you know, angels from heaven don’t make mistakes? How many of you know, in the Book of Mormon, that he said they had horses in America back there when Moroni was over here? How you know horses didn’t come to America until the 1400s, when the Spaniards, 1500s when the Spaniards brought them over, got loose, they bred, and they kept breeding, and they kept importing horses from the, uh, West Indies and so forth, and then the Indians got a hold of them. And boy, how many know angels know

▶ 23:17 that? How many know angels would know that? How many you know he ain’t talking to no angel? And I could give you other problems. See, he says, “though an angel.” If he saw anything, it was a demon giving him wrong instruction. And why anybody would want to be part of that religion, if they read this Bible, is beyond my cranial understanding. Hallelujah. That’s why he said he give you pastors to feed you with knowledge and understanding. That’s truth, is what’s going to set you free. Knowledge is what’s going to keep you from being destroyed. “If they preach any other gospel than that which we have preached to you and you have received, let them be anathema.” Let them be banned, let them be excommunicated, get them

▶ 24:19 out. Now, folks, that’s a serious statement he’s making, and that’s the way it’s used in the Scriptures. And then he says, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ.” Man, Paul said some things that’s not politically correct today. Nobody in the Protestant church feels like they’re going to hell. You ever go to a funeral where they say, “This guy’s going to hell,” or “This is a bad guy”? No, never. We all live in this delusion. Now, so would it be important to know how to love Jesus? It would be very important. John 14:15, “If you love me,” what do you do? “Keep my commandments.” Duh. Again, John 14:23, “If anyone loves me,” he will what? “Keep my commandments.” John 14:24, “He who does not love me does

▶ 25:24 not keep my commandments.” Now, does it take Greek and Hebrew to understand that? Why did Jesus come? To teach us how to get along with each other, how to live with each other. That’s what his commandments is all about. That’s why he died on the cross, to change the way you acted toward other people. Galatians 5:14, “The law is fulfilled in one word,” you shall what? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So the whole law, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill,” blah blah blah blah blah blah, is what? Love each other. That’s why he died on the cross. He had to die on the cross to forgive you of hating other people and mistreating other people, and he also died to change you and to teach you how to treat other people.

▶ 26:28 It’s not, listen to me, it’s not prosperity like these people preach. He didn’t come to make you rich. They’re lying to you. There’s [unclear] in the Scriptures. The Bible says the poor you will always have with you. There’s nothing wrong with being poor if that’s your lot in life, you’ve done everything you can not to be poor. You know, you’re not a second-class citizen. These people that preach prosperity, and you give them your money and they live rich and you live poor, that’s not scriptural. “Gain is godliness” is what? Not to be followed. Paul said it plainly, and yet that’s what Christians are into now: prosperity, faith, and, “Well, I believe, and so I’m going to receive.” Faith, faith, faith, the faith camp, or have you in a delusion that all you do is believe, and, man, you’re going to get rich, and you’re going to be president, and you’re going to be a famous basketball player and a football player and a musician or whatever, because you believe in God.

▶ 27:28 That isn’t it. Possibility thinking and positive thinking, you can think all you want that you’re going to be some great singer or musician. That is not scriptural, that because you think so, it’s going to be so. Are you with me? He came to die that you might learn how to treat those next to you. [unclear] That’s why he died. And that’s the whole purpose of the law, is to teach you how to treat one another. Healing. You know, in our charismatic Pentecostal circles, you know, we’re a Spirit-filled church, they fabricate healings. You can’t fabricate healings. You can’t get the people worked up, and, you know, [unclear] comes up and, you know, they got muscular [unclear] and all this, they’re walking like this, and then you [unclear] them and they shake, and then they walk across the stage like this, and they, “Oh, God healed,” and he ain’t healed. That leg’s still

▶ 28:34 lame. Folks, healing is real, but it’s real when it’s real. You can’t pretend it happened because your faith is so worked up. Are you with me? He would rather you learn how to treat other people. That’s why he died. Now that’s good preaching. Psychology has crept into the church. It’s horrible. Nowhere did Christ preach psychology. “Poor is a priority.” You give me one scripture where Jesus took one time and gave to the poor. But you’re a great Christian if you give to the poor and you help the drunkard and you help the drug addict and, you know, the down-and-outer. Not one time did Jesus do it. Are you

▶ 29:42 there? Did he tell us to remember the poor? Yes. But he did not make it a priority. He made it one segment of the church. And Christians really get high off helping people, down and out and the poor and all the rest, and all we do is give them money to go to the casinos and live, drink their booze and get their drugs. Are you out there? I mean, no, we better help them by teaching them a job skill, and they learn how to work in one fashion or another. And are we to really remember those who are poor, in need, really poor? Yes. But, folks, we can’t make a church out of it. Christ came to teach you how to treat others, and that’s his priority, and we got to get it right. Our children supposed to honor their parents. Our parents supposed to raise their children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and be an example of disciplining and handling the money. Yes. Ain’t that right? That’s why Christ

▶ 30:52 died. It starts right in the home. Are husbands and wives supposed to love each other? Yeah. What’s the greatest thing you can give your kid? Seeing you guys enjoying one another. A marriage that works, you’re happy, you’re sacrificing for each other, the children see it. That’s why he died on the cross. Luke 19:14, in the parable of the Lord going to war to win a kingdom, speaking of Jesus. He come to win us. Hallelujah. We are his kingdom, his citizens. The Lord went off to war, and his citizens, what? Hated him and said, “We don’t want this man ruling over us.” See, Jesus is the leader that you really need in your life.

▶ 32:06 “We will not have this man to rule over us.” So then the Lord comes back, as you know, the parable, and he deals with those that he gave talents to, and then he says this: “Bring those enemies of mine,” and then he says who the enemies are, who did not want me to rule over them, “and slay them before me.” Church, it’s vitally important that you make Jesus Lord of your life. If you let him lead you, false leaders can’t lead you astray.