Thank you for downloading this sermon brought to you by the Preaching Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church of Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. David Tice. For more sermons in both audio and video format, we encourage you to visit experienceliberty.com. Also, for a word of encouragement, insight, and biblical inspiration, follow Pastor David Tice's blog at davidtice.com. So without further ado, let's open our hearts to the Word of God. My name is Jerome Pittman, and I am your missionary. My family are your missionaries to the people of Ireland. And it is a privilege and a joy to be here with you again. I want to thank your pastor for the privilege of being here with you tonight. I hope that the time that we have together will prepare you kind of like John the Baptist for your upcoming missions conference just a little bit. And your pastor is a fine man. He is a godly man. He's fun, too. And anybody that would let me drive that car, wow. Amen. Praise the Lord. I was born in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and I was born into a Roman Catholic family. Are there any folks here that are with us tonight that you are Roman Catholic? Any visitors that you are still you are a Roman Catholic person. I want to thank you for coming. I was born and raised in the Roman Catholic Church. And but one day somebody invited me to come to church and they asked me if I knew I was going to heaven. And, you know, I didn't know if I was going to heaven for sure. And then someone sat me down with an old-fashioned Bible and showed me that if I would trust Jesus Christ, that He died on the cross, that He was buried, and that He rose again to take away my past and my present and my future sins, I could be sure of a home in heaven. And God saved my soul that night. I didn't join a church. I received a savior and it was a great thing. And so I thank God for all the nuns and the priests that were in my life that taught me about Jesus and showed me stories about Christ and about God. But I praise God for the day that Jesus Christ himself came down and saved my soul. I hope that you know that you know that you know that you know that you're safe tonight on this Wednesday night, and I hope that you are. Can I be honest with you? I've learned that half the situation is if the people want to hear from heaven and the preacher's willing to go to God, then we'll meet with God tonight. Would you do that? Would you pray for me as you listen and we preach tonight? I want to show my DVD at this time. and then we'll get a little bit more into it. But I hope that the DVD will be a blessing to your heart and will speak to your heart about the need around the world, beyond the walls of Las Vegas. So, Pastor, at this time, could we please show the video? Thank you again, Pastor. Please pray for me. Thank you. Well, I hope that was a blessing to your heart. We'll get into it a little bit about the message. I have to say, I don't think anyone's ever called me a hero before. That was very kind, Pastor. Thank you. God bless you. Your pastor has been very, very, very kind to me, and you don't even know. I know preachers say that a lot, but he has helped me in a very difficult and awkward circumstance that I'm dealing with right now. I want to give glory to God and thank Him personally for that position with some family issues I'm dealing with. And I want to thank you, Pastor, for being a friend on an emergency in a spot, and I appreciate it. God bless you. Would you please turn with me in your copy of God's Word? We're going to look at the book of Philippians this evening, the book of Philippians. We're gonna turn to the fourth chapter, which is the last chapter of the book of Philippians, and I hope you don't mind turning a little tonight. If you don't mind turning your Bible, can you say amen? Amen. All right, we'll do a little bit of a turning, but we're gonna start here in the book of Philippians, and we're going to look at some familiar ground, maybe to many of you, maybe some of you this will be the very first time. We're gonna read Philippians, and I'd like to read verse number 19. The Bible says this in Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 19, the Bible says, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The first time I ever heard that verse, I was on the streets of Oceanside, California with a friend of mine by the name of Steve, who I just ran into, by the way, in Lancaster after 30 years. And he said to me he was going to be a preacher. And I said, Steve, you can't be a preacher. You don't have a wife. Nobody will marry you. You ain't got a wife. He looked at me. He opened his Bible. He turned to Philippians 4, verse 19, and he showed me, But my God shall supply all your needs. And I said, Steve, I thought you were the president of the BTR club. Does anyone remember the ancient BTR club? No, anyone on the BT bachelor to the rapture. Amen. That's what we used to say. The BTR club, he's a bachelor to the rapture guy. And so Steve, well, praise God, Steve has a wife and he has five children and he served in the Lord today in Louisiana. And so, you know, I mean, I was glad when Steve showed me that verse. But you know what I've learned over the years? You can't take one single Bible verse and take a pen knife and cut it out of the Bible and pull it out of the Bible and use it like a fortune cookie and say, I can claim this promise. You have to do something that we're getting a lot better at in Independent Baptist Circles, at looking at the Bible in context. Context who's speaking? Who is he speaking to and what are they speaking about? And so tonight we're gonna read up to verse 19 in context and then I want to have a word of prayer with you if we can please look with me and let's back up to verse number 12 and would you stand with me as we read God's word together, please in Philippians chapter 4 We'll begin reading our verse, number 12, we'll add a word of prayer and then you may be seated. The Bible says this, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Now, verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Let's pray to the God of heaven together, please. Father, we thank you for the words of God. We thank you for the Bible that we have to hold in our hand. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would bless the Liberty Baptist Church. I pray, God, that you'd put a protection about this place against distractions, against the devil. We plead the blood of Jesus. Find the strong man, Father, if thou wouldst. And we ask that you'd bless your people, Father, help me to speak, help the people to listen, help me to help your congregation, your golden candlestick in the Las Vegas area. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God bless you, you may be seated this evening. So we have to read the Bible, as I was saying, we have to read it within the context of who is speaking. And I want to begin by just mentioning that this was a book written, as many of you, and most of you, because you're the Wednesday night crowd, you know, you go to Sunday school, you go Sunday night, Sunday morning, you study the Bible. We know that it was written by the Apostle Paul. We know that it was also written by Paul to the believers, the born-again, blood-washed believers in the city of Philippi. He was writing to them after he had started this church. But I want you to note with me this evening. Look with me at verse number 15, what the Bible says. Now, you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. I want you to notice the phrase, in the beginning of the gospel. When Paul says the beginning of the gospel, he's not referring back to the time of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when Jesus and the twelve walked in Israel. He's not talking about the literal beginning of the gospel. He's talking about when the gospel made its way to the place called Macedonia. Macedonia would be like a country or a region, if you picture in your mind, say, like our Midwest area. It would be a place like with some major cities like Chicago and maybe it would have cities like Minneapolis and cities like Indianapolis, a certain area. And Paul says in this chapter, he says, in the beginning of the gospel in Macedonia. Now, when did this take place? Now, this book was approximately written around 60 AD. But the beginning of the gospel coming to the place called Macedonia took 10 years prior to this place So what you have to do is you have to go back in time in the Bible to the beginning of the gospel in Macedonia So please if you would keep your place in Philippians because we're gonna come back here soon But we want to go back in the gospel to Acts chapter number 16 Acts chapter 16. We're gonna look there this evening Matthew Mark Luke John Acts chapter And we'll begin reading in Acts chapter number 16 this evening. We'll begin in Acts chapter 16. I want you to look with me please now in verse number six. Acts chapter 16 verse number 6. We went back to the book of Acts, but I want you to also chronologically understand we've just gone back in time 10 years earlier from the book of the Philippians. But begin your reading in God's Word with me in Acts chapter 16 verse number 6. And the Bible says this, Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbid of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mycenae, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but I'd like to see that next phrase, but the spirit suffered them not. Let me fill in a little bit of blanks for the sake of time this evening. What we have here is we have Paul and he wants to go to Asia. He wants to preach to the east, if you allow me. He wants to go, say, this direction toward the east. I don't know if that's east or not, but for now it's east. And he wants to preach to these people. But the Holy Spirit of God comes upon him and says, I am forbidding you to go east. I do not want you to go east. And I believe for all intents and purposes that God did not want the Bible to go east because the Bible has always made its way. The gospel has always continued a path from the east to the West, and friends, sitting here in Las Vegas tonight, we are a product of that direction of the Gospel. Do you follow what I'm saying? The Gospel made its way from the Middle East up into Europe and to the West. It then made its way up to a little bitty island called England, where God had the Bible translated into the English language. That little island sent ships to Australia, but it made its way across America, and they landed on the East Coast. And the Gospel, over time and translation and transportation, has made its way from the east to the west. And bless God, we sit here saying amen, holding Bibles in our hands and on our way to heaven because the gospel, because the Holy Spirit of God told Paul, I want you to go from the east to the west. And so let's continue our reading now as the Bible says. So he forbid them to go from the east to the west. Now look with me in verse number 9. And the Bible says, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. And there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering. I'd like you to say the next word with me that the Lord had. Let's do that again. Ready? Gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Can I pause and just talk to you for just a minute? Just as much as I believe with all my heart that pastor was called to preach the gospel in the city of Las Vegas, the Apostle Paul was to go at that time to Macedonia. I believe a man ought to know that he's called if he's going to go. Can you say amen? I think a man ought to know he's called. And I believe just as much as Paul was called, pastor was called, and many other of the brethren were called, I know that God called me to go to Ireland. You say, how do you know? Well, you see, one day I was walking down the street, and I was saying, God, where do you want me to go? And there were these blackbirds flying in the sky. And these blackboards, they begin to make this formation of this letter I-R-E-L, and then a shamrock. People want that kind of stuff, but you know, I'm only kidding. Do you know how God called me? He didn't call me with leprechauns and shamrocks in the sky. Do you know how the Lord spoke to my heart? I was just upstairs in the attic and I've been praying for years and this is how I pray. This is what I would do. I begin to pace and I just started talking to the Lord outside out loud and I'm up in the attic and it's hot up there and I'm saying, Lord, You know, you saved my soul, and there's a lot of people preaching here in the Cleveland area, but God, you know what? I don't know hardly anybody that's preaching to those Irish people, Lord. Surely you want them saved more than I want them saved. And surely Lord, you, you want to send laborers. And then I stopped and I said, God, you told me in the Bible in Luke chapter number 10, that I'm to pray for laborers. I said, okay, God, send laborers Ireland, send people to Ireland. Please call preachers and missionaries to the land of Ireland. They're going to die and go to hell. And I got so desperate. I said, Lord, if you won't send me, please send somebody. And I stopped. And there came a peace in my heart and what we would call a concrete conviction that I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew that God wanted me to go to the people of Ireland. And I believe a man ought to know that he knows that he knows that he called to preach the word of God and that God will tell him where to go. Now, sometimes God will change where he calls that man to go. But we know that Paul was called at this time to go to the Macedonian people. Now, would you look with me, please, in Acts chapter 16, verse number 12. And the Bible says this. And from Thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, we were in that city, abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women, which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Now what I want you to see with me is that God called Paul to that place, and not only did he call Paul to that place, God directed people, God directed Paul to people that's hearts were tender and ready to hear the truth of the gospel. And so God brought a woman into his path named Lydia, and praise God, this woman, Lydia, got saved. But that's the first converts in the city of Philippi. But notice it doesn't stop there. Let's go on and look at verse number 17 in the same chapter. Now I know this sermon right now is not a real amen-er, but I hope that I can help tonight just a little bit to understand that we need to get outside and go beyond the walls. All right, let's look at verse 17. The same, I want you to, let's pick it up, verse 16. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, A certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her master much gain, sooth saying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These are the servants of the Most High God, which show thee unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. I want you to look up here for just a moment. So can you picture these two Baptist preachers? They're going around from place to place. They're preaching the Bible. And here comes this girl. These are the servants of the Most High God, which show us the way to salvation. These are the servants of the Most High God. Day after day. Oy vey, I'm telling you, man. Day after day. These are the servants of the Most High God. Talk about OCD, huh? These are the servants of the Most High God, which show us the way of salvation. And Paul says, enough! And I command you in the name of Jesus to come out of her. And he left. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us if she got saved. But if you'll allow me to make a presumption, I'm going to if if I were a betting man, this is the wrong time to say that. Sorry, if I were. a man that was going to take a wager, I would say she probably got saved after that. Wouldn't you be thankful to God if the demons came out of you and someone showed you the way how to get saved? And so I'm going to just inject that possibly this woman became a blood-washed, born-again believer. But I want you to notice that people were not happy when the gospel started getting preached. You see, because Paul came and Paul preached, everybody didn't want anything to do with idols and idolatry, and the Jewish religion was getting in an uproar, and things were getting messed up in the city of Philippi. And so the people had the preacher named Paul thrown into prison. And so you know the story, and I'm just going to fill in for the sake of time some of these facts. You know that Paul was thrown into the jail and he was locked in the jail, and the Philippian jailer had his sword and he kept guard. And you know the God of heaven says when he wants somebody to do a mission, God's going to make sure that they get out and do their mission. Can I get amen right about there? You know it's right. And so what happens is God shakes the place and bakes the place, an earthquake happens, the doors open, the chains fall, and this Philippian soldier comes in and he sees the doors are open. He figures they're all gone. It's a mass breakout. It's a riot. They're all gone. My life is over. The Bible says he draws his sword, and he's about to take that sword, and he's about to commit suicide because he knows they're going to kill him anyway. But Paul says, stop, don't do it, we're all here. And you know the Bible says that the Philippian jailer, he fell down upon his knees and he looked into Paul's eyes and he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now I don't know about you, but I've never had a lot of people do that for me. But I can tell you about one kid named Patrick, not one that was in the slides tonight, his photo was in there, not a video. He came to Bible study for a few weeks and old Patrick looked up and he said to me, it was very interesting. And he said, it was very informative. And Patrick, I said, you know, you've been coming for a while and you've listened. You've heard me tell that you have got to be born again. You've heard me say that you've got to be saved. I said, do you have any questions? He goes, just one. He says, what do I need to do to be saved? That's as close as to a Philippian jailer experience as I've ever seen. So I was able to sit down with that 20-year-old young man and lead him to Jesus Christ. I was able to lead his father to Christ, his mother to Christ, and his younger brother to Christ and baptize them as a family in the ocean. It was a blessing. Paul Malin family. It was a privilege to be able to see that happen. And that's what missions is really all about. So Paul did the same thing. He won a woman named Lydia, who was a seller of purple. He probably won the demon-possessed girl to the Lord. And he also won a Philippian jailer, probably Mrs. Jailer, and all the little convict kids of theirs, right? He leaves them all to the Lord. They get saved. The servants in their houses get saved. All of a sudden, there's a bunch of New Testament, blood-washed, born-again believers. But the job doesn't stop there. What do they need to do after they get saved? They need to get baptized. And when people get baptized, they come together and they formulate a New Testament church. And so how do you know that a church was formulated in the city of Philippi and people not just being saved? And I'm for everybody getting saved, amen? I'm for anybody and everybody getting on their way to heaven. I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to die and go to hell. I want everyone to be saved. I hope that's your heart as well. And so these people got saved, but they formulate into a church. You say, how do you know? Because there's a book. called Philippians, and it says to the believers, to the church at the city of Philippi. And so there was a New Testament church established because somebody obeyed the call of God upon their life. And so not only did that happen, but the Bible goes on and says, look with me, turn me to Acts chapter 17. Let's look at another one. I would like to look at another passage today in Acts chapter 17. Let me read to you verses 1, 2, and 3 in Acts chapter 17. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, and as his men are wise, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days, 21 days, reasoned with them out of the Scripture, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preached unto you is Christ. And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas of the devout Greeks, a great multitude of the chief women, not a few. I'd like you to notice with me that Paul led people to the Lord in the city of Philippi, but now he's moved on to the city of Thessalonica. But do we know for sure that there was a church started in the city of Thessalonica? Yes. How do we know that? Because there's two books written to them later on called, You Tell Me, First and Second. to the church at Thessalonica. Do you see how that works? God had Paul go to a place, lead people to Christ, see them assembled and called out and formulated into an immersionist local New Testament church, leave the city of Philippi, move on to the city of Thessalonica, and do it all over again. That, my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is what we call New Testament missions. So what I want to do is now, I'm going to need some help, all right? I'm going to get started here. All right, Josh, you ready, buddy? Come on up, I need some help. Josh and I, we work out together, can't you tell? Do we not work out together? They think I'm telling stories. Tell them I'm not preaching, I'm telling the truth. See, we worked out at the gym together, at the gym. But the next day I said, hey, I'll see you at the gym tomorrow. Where was he? Oh, sleeping. But you know, it's all right. But anyway, okay, so here we have the people at Philippi, okay? Here he is. He's the Philippian jailor. I'm gonna get a couple people to help out. I'm gonna get all right Where are you? I know I have a child here. Come on child. There you go Come be the demon-possessed woman come be me your grandmother My mother-in-law don't tell my wife I said that Okay, so that's a joke. I love my wife's mother-in-law. It's okay. All right, you go stand over there. All right, can I get another gentleman to help me, please? Anyone? My mother-in-law is a wonderful woman. Yes, sir, would you come please stand up here? Okay. Do you see what we have here? We have a demon-possessed woman. We have a demon-possessed woman that gets saved. We have a Philippian jailer who's on the verge of suicide, helping hurting people, amen? Right? Right? Seriously. And now he's saved, and now we have... Wait a minute, I did that wrong, didn't I? No, you're fine. Just stay there. You're just an unknown character at this stage in our drama. All right? And so, and we have the unknown character. And so, what we have is now, Paul has left the city of, what did we call this city, please, again, to start with? Let's do that together. One more time, please. All right, well, please help me out. I'm a junior church kind of guy. One more time, please. Amen. All right, can I get another gentleman to help me that will come up real quick, please, and be a blessing. Anyone, can I, pastor, I don't remember who those guys were. Can I get, here he comes, I love it, motivation, I love it, it's a blessing. All right, so. Yes, sir, can you please come here? All right, you know what? Because you're UPS, you gotta go do his job. Can you come here? You gotta go do his job. You stand here, all right? Okay, this gentleman, this unbeknownst brother to thee, the unknown heroes of the faith, is now the city of Thessalonica. He represents the believers in Thessalonica. They represent the people in Philippi. But let's keep reading what the Bible has to say, all right? I want you to see with me that the Bible goes on, and we continue reading now. I'm sorry, I need to get my bifocals checked here. Turn with me to chapter 18 real quick. Look at verse number 1. The Bible says this. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. Can I get two more gentlemen to just come up here and stand up here like this? That would help me real quick. Any two fellas? Good man. Thank you, brother. Praise the Lord. We won't be too much longer. All right, I need to go eat a sloppy ice cream sundae soon, so we won't be too long. I don't know, the pastor said this is lovely place. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. If you could stand here, okay. I want you to look with me real quickly at the Bible. It says, after these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. So here's the city of Athens. Brother, can you move down just a little bit? Here's the city of Corinth. Now we don't know, probably not for sure, but we know that Paul went to Athens and he saw statue after statue and his soul was pressed within him. And boy, if you've ever been to Europe, you're gonna find city after city with statue after statue, after statue, after statue, after statue. And it will move your soul that people need the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we go over to the city of Corinth, and we know that when Paul went there, people were saved, people were baptized, people congregated into what we call a local New Testament church. How do we know a church was started in Corinth for sure? First and second? Do you see how this all works? This was a letter from a missionary back to the churches that he planted in various cities on what to do and how to live under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Think of it as a prayer letter. Seriously, and you say, why would you say that? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's go back to where we started. We're gonna tie this all together here real soon. Look with me in Philippians. Look with me in Philippians and we'll begin our reading again. And we'll begin our reading in verse number 15 this time. Now, 10 years back into the future, after the church is established, now, ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving. I want you to see, but ye only. Look at that, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Now these folks represent the church at Philippi. They were saved probably under Paul. He was saved under Paul and his family, saved under Paul and his family. And they got together and said, you know what? We owe a great debt. We owe a great debt to Paul. We owe a great debt to all the work he did. If it wasn't for Paul, I'd probably still be demon possessed. If it wasn't for Paul and his preaching of Christ, to Christ be the praise. If it wasn't for Paul, I probably would have killed myself. If it wasn't for Paul, I wouldn't be on my way to heaven. I'd be on my way to hell. And we need to be a thankful people here in the city of Philippi. So what we're going to do is, you're Thessalonians, right? So I want you to just kind of move down here for just a second. You guys kind of just shift that way. You're the further end of the deal. Stay here, brother. Can you stay here? We need to take up an offering. You say, where does it say that in the Bible? Look at what the Bible goes on and says. It says now in verse 16, for even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my, can you say that last word please? Ah, so here's my sermon. That was all backdrop and introduction. Here's my sermon. Point number one, the church gave. That's it. Point number one, the church gave. We love Paul. We believe in the work that Paul's doing. You know what, brother, can you represent Paul? I want you to stand here in Thessalonians. You're preaching the gospel. You're getting him under conviction. You're telling him what's right, what's wrong, what to do. He's preaching. So what we need to do is here. Take that. Take that. Okay, he's preaching, he's laying on hands, he's speaking in tongues, and all these wonderful things are happening. What we as the Philippian Christians need to do, we love Paul, and we need to give to him. The Bible says, for ye communicated unto my necessity. All right? So let's take up an offering. Let's take up an offering from all the Christians. No, you hold on to that. You are UPS. For the Bible says, ye sent once. Now you give him those two and hang on to yours and come back. Send it to Paul, put it in his hand. Ye sent once. Come back home now, brother. Keep preaching. Don't let him, you know, souls are dying, men are crying, okay? Ye sent once, Philippian church. But it doesn't stop there. Look at what the Bible goes on and says. For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once. What's the next word? And? Ah! You guys still got that money? I'm done giving you money, brother. Okay. All right, listen. Ye sent one, let's take up another offering. Let's send it on the UPS truck. Let's scan it in. Let's get a barcode. Put it on the brownie truck. Take it to Paul. Ye sent once and again. So, can you hold up the money in two different hands? What I want you to see is that church that loved God, that loved the Bible, that loved the truth, that loved Jesus, took up a collection and sent unto Paul's necessity and communicated with him financially, but not a one-time offering, once and again. I think that's a pretty good picture of faith promise giving, don't you? That's why we do what we do. And by the way, I promise you, Pastor, before Jesus and the Lord, those people said that we give to missions. I promise you, they give to missions. We support 18 missionaries for about $100 a month each. I don't know how we're doing it, but they're doing it. We're struggling. They're doing it. About 60 people are doing that. We keep those guys in the field because it really is hell down there. And they really are going there. And somebody's got to get the money, not for a gift, but for his necessity, so that he can have food, so that he can have clothes, so that he can preach the gospel, so that this guy can get saved and that guy can save, because he can't make tents and preach properly and teach them and give his life to them the way he should if they don't send once and send again. And I want to say to you, thank you. for your support. Thank you for giving to our ministry. Thank you for all the years of faithfulness. Do you know how much, and I mean it with all my heart, thank you for your offering. But it touched me today when Brother Neil looked at me, he said, I'm telling you, Brother Pittman, my kids, my wife, we pray for you all the time. They said my kids like to pick your picture because you got all those kids That's what missionaries do we have lots of kids. You can't win them. You just have your own church. It's really easy It's a blessing and say amen kid. That's why you're here. Amen. All right, so he said once and again unto my Point number one, here's your sermon, the church gave, Lydia gave, the demon possessed girl probably gave, the Philippian jailer and his family and his servants gave, but that's not a tithe, that was to a missionary, say amen. Right? That's not missions, that's not a tithe, that's missions. But point number two in the sermon is simply this, the missionary received. You sent once, and you sent again. But look at verse 17, the Bible says, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit. that may abound to your account. Number two, the missionary received. Let's change this just a little bit. Brother, if you could just stand over here. Okay, let's say you preach and you lead him to Christ. That is fruit to their account. Are you with me? They gave, they get fruit. But the Bible doesn't say it was just fruit. It says fruit that may abound. to your account. That's beyond fruit and beyond fruit. And so maybe this man leads this man to Christ, but they only gave to Paul. That is fruit that will abound to their account. That's what missions is all about giving. It's about the fruit. Now you may not see the people and know the people, but there's fruit. And I have people that have led people to the Lord that have maybe three generations for sure have led people to Christ. We have three young men that are not in the video pastor, but we're getting ready to put it together. My wife's working on it. We got three guys that are called to preach. Do you folks know Tim Tyler in Romania? missionary to Romania. He has a Bible college. One guy's gonna be going to Tim Tyler. He's from Lancaster. He's a missionary there. He's gonna go to Bible college there. One boy is taking over the church that you saw in the video, and he'll win people to Christ, and he has won people to Christ. And as you have supported me, I have won your fruit, but your fruit is continuously abounding as the work of God goes on. Because we have got to do something that the rest of Christianity has forgot. Keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is you go soul winning here, and I'll go soul winning there, and he'll win him to Christ there, but he'll win him beyond. Are you with me? Say amen. Number one, the church gave, but number two, the missionary received. But what does this package put it all together? It's as simple as this. Number three, the God of heaven is pleased. Let's look at the Bible in verse 18. But I have all. Paul speaking, I'm good with what you gave me. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus, who works for UPS, that's in the Greek. I have received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, look at this, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing to God. God is pleased when the church gives to missions and fruit will abound to your account. This is my New Testament. This is the one that I use. to win people to Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you for just a second, if you'll let me pause for my sermon, that you have some fruit in your life for me. And I want to thank you. But I want to tell you about Bobo, who's a gypsy man from Romania that I led to Jesus Christ. He's a man that had a broken life and his wife had left him. He is saved from hell. He's now on his way to heaven. I want to tell you about a little girl from South Africa whose mommy and daddy were in the slides. Her name was Amy. She knelt down and wept tears. Beautiful little blonde girl with me and her daddy were able to lead her to Christ. I was able to teach her daddy how to win people to Christ. I was able to reach a gypsy man named Radu to Jesus Christ on the streets whose wife was ready to leave him. I was able to lead a homeless guy named James to Jesus Christ on the streets. I was able to lead that South African man's friend Brent on vacation to Ireland to the Lord Jesus Christ. I was able to lead a man named John Skelly and lead him to Christ. An Irishman saved and baptized. I was able to lead Justin, Andy, Thomas, Connie, David, follow Stephen Magda. from Poland, Catherine O'Malley from Ireland, Cal Finn from Ireland, Devin from Ireland, Stephen from Ireland, Istvan from Romania, Eli from Romania, Boyu from Romania, and now we're into 2013, Damian from Ireland, Damian's wife Joanne from Ireland, Damian's daughter Emma Jane, and we're still praying for a son. They're all baptized, they're all members of the church at this time. Brian O'Malley was saved, who was Catherine's husband. Manasseh's a little boy. Let me tell you about Manasseh. He's a little boy. Well, he's not a little boy. He's about that big. He's from French Congo. He speaks French. Of course, he's an African boy. But he came up to my house, and he knocked on my door, and he's kind of reserved. He looks at me and goes, Jerome, I just want to come talk to you. I says, yeah, what's up, Manasseh? You know I'm leaving tomorrow. He says, You're a great friend and I'm gonna miss you." And he threw his arms around me and started crying his eyes out. You can't put a price tag on that stuff. He wept when I was leaving. I'm glad somebody wept because I'm sure there were others rejoicing. But I was able to lead him to Jesus Christ. Joe Kennedy, now living in Australia, and his girlfriend Karen are now married. I was able to lead a guy named Zolt on an airplane back to Ireland from Hungary. Vera Kennedy in her 80s was saved. Clodagh Haggerty was saved in our church. My wife was able to lead her to Jesus with me. Morris. Man, there's just person after person. There's Andrew, there's Brian Wade, Hannah McGee was saved. That's my daughter's best friend. Where is she? There. I was able to lead her while she was at West Coast. I was finally able to lead her best friend to Jesus Christ, my wife and I. My wife and I were able to lead Hannah to the Lord. We were able to lead Nico to the Lord, Colin to the Lord, Richie to the Lord, Josh to the Lord. Most of these people I have a reference here with SBA, saved, baptized, and added to the church. Patrick Hodep from Germany. Philip Notenaugle was raised a communist East German under the Iron Curtain. He came to church and he said, no, I do not believe in gods. There's no God, pastor. He came the next week. He said, well, maybe there's a God. He came the third week. He says, I am now reading my Bible and I'm thinking maybe there's a God. I says, I'll know how to get rid of this guy. We're having a baptism after church down the ocean. He'd never been to church in his life. He was raised a communist. His father was a East German diplomat. I took those folks in the water. I baptized them. I said, that's the end of Philip. He won't be antagonizing me anymore. He comes back next week. Hello, pastor. I'm ready to get saved now. So I was able to lead an East German man who was raised in atheistic communism to Jesus Christ and Liberty Baptist Church. not me, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is fruit to your account because you give to me and support my family and all the people that these people will lead to Jesus Christ are fruit that is continuously abounding and abounding and someone is going to come up to you one day in glory and God's going to do all the bookkeeping and record keeping, no book cooking, no cheating, no chiseling, no nothing. It's all going to be accurately laid out and we're all going to see the blessings that we had to be involved in missions. Number one, the church gave. Number two, here's point number two in the sermon, the missionary received. But number three, the God of heaven is well-pleased. The God of heaven is well-pleased. The Bible says that when they gave, he received. It was an odor, a sweet smell, a sacrifice. God calls the church the bride of Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know about the bride of Jesus Christ, but I do know this. I have a bride, and she puts on a little perfume, and I walk up and I go, and I go, woo, an odor of a sweet smell, well-pleasing, well-pleasing. You should see my wife. She is well-pleasing unto me, and I love my wife. But somehow, God says, when you give, Bride of Christ, it is an odor of a sacrifice well-pleasing to God. And we'll conclude with verse number 19. Now that we've looked in context and seen a backdrop, look at verse 19. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this night. Thank you for the local New Testament golden candlestick in Las Vegas. Father, we pray that you would please speak to the hearts of the people. We pray that you would challenge your church. Father, we pray you'd bless your people. We pray that we were faithful to your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Every head bowed, every eye closed, no one standing, no one looking around at this time. I would ask pastor to come and close as he sees fit. We hope that message was an encouragement to your heart. Now, for weekly updates and for information about Liberty Baptist Church, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at LBCofLasVegas. Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, God bless.