August 2026
Sermon Transcript
We are finishing up 1 Corinthians chapter 3. At the beginning of the chapter we talked about the carnal Christian and preached quite a bit against Calvinism, because it is very possible to live in the flesh as a saved person. Then we talked about the judgment seat of Christ. The end of 1 Corinthians 3 is a bit of a new section, so I wanted to have a new sermon for it even though it covers fewer verses. The name of the sermon is All Things Are Yours — a phrase mentioned in these last several verses.
Let No Man Deceive Himself
It says here in verse 18: "Let no man deceive himself." When you think of deceiving yourself or being deceptive, the Bible says do not lie to yourself, do not be deceptive to yourself. That is an interesting phrase. Keep your finger in 1 Corinthians 3 — we are going to be going back here for the sermon — but go to James chapter 3.
I want to take some time to explain what it means to be deceptive to yourself, to lie to yourself, to be dishonest with yourself.
James 3:13: "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth." The Bible says that people often know the truth and lie against it. I talked about this a few weeks ago — if you have got envying and strife in your hearts, do not lie to yourself, because you know it is in there. But you have to realise this is a common thing people do. They lie to themselves. They deceive themselves. They are not honest with themselves.
One thing I have learned through the ministry and through life is that people believe what they want to believe. It is not a matter of what the truth is. Think about the religions here in the Philippines. You think of Iglesia ni Cristo — the church that does not have Christ. People will join that church for the purposes of job opportunities, for making money. They do not really believe in the church. They do not believe some of the strange things the church teaches. But I believe that when they stick at that church for a while, they want to have a clear conscience, they want to justify their actions, and so they deceive themselves. They lie to themselves. They let themselves be deceived. Why? Because they want to pretend they are actually following the church that has the truth. They want to pretend that what they are doing is correct. And people will always do this in life.
People will be drunks and make every excuse to lie to themselves and not admit they have got a real problem. Man, it is 7 in the morning and the first thing you did when you woke up is open a beer. You have a problem. No, no, I am not a drunk, I just like to have something to kind of get me going in the morning, I do not really have a problem. No, you have a problem. Drug addicts on the street have excuses for their problems.
The Bible says lie not against the truth. And one way we can apply this is — do not pretend you are right with God if you are not. Deep down, people know whether or not what they are doing is correct. You know if you are reading the Bible. You know you are supposed to read the Bible. You know whether you are doing it. You know whether or not you are obeying God's commandments. I do not know that. Other people do not know that. But you know what you are doing in your free time. You know whether you are serving God. You know whether you are worldly. You know whether you are right with God. And the Bible says lie not against the truth.
Go to Jeremiah 17.
I will just read this to you as you are turning there. The Bible says in 1 John 3: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." The Bible says if inside our heart condemns us — and deep down on the inside you know whether you are right with God, you know if what you are doing is correct — what we do is just lie to ourselves and pretend everything is okay. But deep down on the inside, you truly know. And God is greater and knoweth all things.
There are things that are not right with God in my life that I am not even aware of, because God is greater and knoweth all things. But people will know certain things about their life they need to fix, and they lie to themselves. They make excuses for it because they do not want to make the change. And guess what? God is greater. He knoweth all things.
Jeremiah 17:9–10: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Jeremiah 17:9 is a very famous verse and a great one to commit to memory. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Because your heart will lie to you. It is deceitful. It will lie to you because it wants to get something, and it is going to deceive you so you can get what you want. And it is going to destroy your life.
Now this is not like the Calvinist who says that if you are unsaved you are reprobate according to this verse. That is not what it teaches. What it teaches is that we have a sinful heart and we have a part of us that wants to do what is wrong. We have desires that are wrong and sinful, and we have got to cast down the sin and do what is right. You cannot just give yourself everything that you want in life.
In a somewhat silly and small example — I just recently preached on the sins of the belly. There are things we want to eat that we know we should not eat. Sometimes you have got to just say no to yourself. But on bigger things, you might have a desire to do something really wrong. Maybe you find some woman attractive and you have lustful and sinful desires. Whether you are married or not, it is wrong. You cannot just give your heart everything it wants. If every time you desire something you give yourself what you desire, you will destroy your life. There are people that desire to drink — if you give yourself that, you are going to destroy your life. Your heart is deceitful. And your heart is going to go after what it wants. So what is it going to do? It is going to lie to you and deceive you. You start justifying your actions because you have this battle you have got to fight against.
Go to Romans chapter 6.
The Bible says let no man deceive himself. Do not lie to yourself. The truth is the truth. Sometimes it is ugly. Sometimes it is not fun. Sometimes it is not what we want. But the truth is the truth. And the thing is, you do not magically turn the truth into something no longer true just because you do not like it. This is what people do. This is why churches like ours are not going to be mega churches. They are just not. This kind of preaching — there are definitely people that want it, people that love it and want the truth. But a lot of people want to lie to themselves. They want to pretend that everything they are doing is okay, and they get mad at the person delivering the message that says no, thus sayeth the Lord, this is sin and this is wrong.
Romans 6:17: "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." In life, you have got to fix the inside. You have got to fix your heart. Your heart is desperately wicked — who can know it? You have got to fix what is on the inside because if you do not fix what is on the inside, it is going to bubble out to the outside. People say the heart wants what the heart wants, but the heart does not have to get what the heart wants. Yes, it wants what it wants, but you can change that.
Let me give you some examples because people need to realise that your feelings will follow your actions. When people first start going soul-winning, maybe they do not enjoy it that much. Maybe it is hard. But you know what? You start to enjoy it. Maybe you do not enjoy reading the Bible at first. But you start doing it and you are going to start to enjoy it. People have New Year's resolutions of getting in shape and exercising. When they first start going to the gym it is painful and they do not like it. No pain, no gain. But what happens? They start to enjoy it. You start doing what is right and then you start to develop more of an interest in it. So instead of just giving in to what you desire, do what is right and the feelings are going to follow. But your heart will lie to you and deceive you. The Bible says let no man deceive himself. Do not let yourself be lied to and deceived by yourself. It is bad enough when you let somebody else lie to you and you get deceived by them, but when you lie to yourself to get what your feelings and your heart want, it is foolishness.
Go to Hebrews chapter 4.
This is a hard concept for us to fully understand — the battle on the inside. Obviously our physical heart is just a part of our body, but the Bible uses this analogy of the heart just like we do in our modern day when we talk about our feelings and emotions. And the Bible says you have on the inside where your flesh wants something that is wrong, and it is going to lie to you about it. You have got to fight against it.
Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The word of God is a very sharp sword symbolically speaking, and it is able to pierce and divide the soul and spirit. The soul and the spirit are two things that are very closely connected. Imagine you are cutting a piece of cheese and you are trying to cut a very precise slice — you would need a thinner knife to make the cut you want because a thicker knife just does not have room for it. And obviously a better example is surgery, because preaching the word of God is like spiritual surgery. That is kind of the analogy the Bible is giving, because the word of God is like a sword that hits on the inside. Surgeons often have to use very fine, thin, precise instruments because you cannot make a bigger cut than is necessary — you are dealing with the inside of someone's body, which is very dangerous.
The word of God has the ability to cut between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow — two very connected things. And notice this — it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Your thoughts and your intents are like synonyms, pretty similar. The Bible says the word of God has the ability to cut between the thoughts and intents — to get to the inside in a way no human tool could ever do.
And if you want to fix your heart, the secret is you need the word of God. The word of God has the ability to fix your wrong desires. Your heart wants something, but instead of giving it what it wants, you know what you do? You read the Bible. You go soul-winning. You do what is right. And that can actually change the desires of your heart away from the wrong things it desires. But if you just give in to what you desire, you are going to destroy your life.
Go to Luke chapter 8.
The Parable of the Sower — An Honest and Good Heart
The parable of the sower is a very important parable. I do not have time right now to preach through all of it, but there are four groups of people. The first group are those that do not get saved. Groups 2, 3, and 4 are those that do get saved. Now the wording is a little bit tricky, especially with the second group. The third group is not that tricky for us that are saved and specifically us that are soul winners. People say, well, the third group did not get saved because they did not bring forth fruit. But what do you mean by bring forth fruit? Because when I think of fruit, I think the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. The fruit of the Christian is winning souls to the Lord. So when the Bible says they are not bringing forth fruit to perfection, what it is basically saying is that because of worldliness they are not really a soul winner. Because to be a soul winner, you really have to be right with God, and to be a more effective soul winner you get more right with God. But I really want to focus on verse 15 for the idea I am bringing forth.
Everybody agrees that group number four in verse 15 are saved people that do something for God. Of course you could be a saved person that does not serve God — and that is why we know the third group is saved, whereas other people do not think they are saved because a lot of people think if you are really saved you are going to do the works. That is not what the Bible teaches.
Luke 8:15: "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." When the Bible says having heard the word, it is not saying they heard the gospel and therefore they are bringing forth fruit with patience. What the Bible is saying is more than just that they heard the gospel or the word of God one time. It is saying that every time they hear the word, they have an honest and good heart. Having heard the word is past tense, and in an honest and good heart — even though it comes before in the sentence — is actually after having the word in terms of time frame. So every time they hear the word of God, they have an honest and good heart to what they hear, they keep it, and they bring forth fruit with patience. The result is you become a soul winner, because every time you hear the word of God you have an honest and good heart. What does that mean? You are honest with yourself. When sermons come or when you read the Bible, be honest with yourself. If you are guilty, you change it. Every time you hear the word — on Sunday, on Wednesday, in your Bible reading — have an honest heart to it. But not only an honest heart, you have got to have a good heart. What does that mean? It means you actually do something about it. Because you can be honest and say I am guilty, but you have got to actually make the change. Have an honest heart and a good heart, then keep it. Every time you hear something new, keep it. And then you are going to get closer and closer to God.
But here is a key point — having an honest heart. You have to be honest with yourself. We like to lie to ourselves and deceive ourselves. You have to be honest with yourself.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:18: "Let no man deceive himself." It is bad when the media lies to you, when the TV lies to you. Hopefully you are at a church that is the pillar and ground of the truth — they do not lie to you, they tell you the truth even if it hurts. I get it, some sermons step on your toes. They hurt. But we need the truth. Do not lie to yourself.
I am committed as your pastor and as the leader of these churches — I am not going to lie to you. To the best of my ability, I will tell you the truth even if it hurts. But you have got to decide you are not going to lie to yourself. That you are going to be honest with yourself. Because it is not going to do any good if I am honest but you are not honest with yourself. And look, I have to do this with myself. I get up here and preach hard, but it is not like my life is perfectly put together. I need to be honest with myself each and every week. Every time I read the Bible, every time I am writing a sermon, I know what I am writing. I know the words I am saying. I have got to be honest with myself.
The Wisdom of This World Is Foolishness
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise." The Bible speaks about people that appear to be wise, but are not actually wise. The world lifts up a lot of people as geniuses, as smart people, as experts — when in reality they are fools. They are stupid. They are dumb.
Now sometimes these people are doubly dumb — not only are they foolish but their IQ is not even high. But other times you have people with a high IQ who are nonetheless fools. These are the atheists. Not all atheists, because there are a lot of very intelligent Christians who are educated and intelligent, and there are plenty of dumb atheists. But there are atheists that have a high IQ. I think Richard Dawkins is an idiot. I think Stephen Hawking was an idiot. I have read a few books by Richard Dawkins. He is a fool. I have read a book by Stephen Hawking. He is an idiot. I would not say they have a low IQ, but they are still fools. Because where does wisdom really start from? "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." You want to be wise? You had better read this book, serve God, love God, obey his commandments, and do what is right. Read this book and you can have true wisdom. There are people in this world that have intelligence and know certain things, but they are actually fools.
One example of the wisdom of the world I want to speak about is something from the past called spontaneous generation. This was an idea that scientists came up with because they did not believe what the Bible said and they wanted to be wise in this world. The so-called experts of the world determined that animals just appear out of thin air — they spontaneously generate from some other object. The idea was that there is rotten meat and all of a sudden you see animals eating the rotten meat. Therefore the animals must have come from the rotten meat because the rotten meat is gone and the animals are there. Rotten meat turns into animals. I am sorry, but that is stupid. That is dumb. That is foolishness.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle — 384 to 322 BC, so he lived roughly 62 years — was one of the earliest recorded scholars to articulate the theory of spontaneous generation: the notion that life can arise from non-living matter. Aristotle proposed that life arose from non-living material if the material contained what he called vital heat. As evidence he noted several instances of the appearance of animals in environments previously devoid of such animals, such as the seemingly sudden appearance of fish in a new puddle of water. Basically, you have got animals that appear where there were no animals before because of this vital heat.
And you know, it is like — you will have trash that sits outside and all of a sudden you see a bunch of maggots on it. Wow, that means old food turns into maggots. That is what they taught. That is the genius of the world — they see food gone and all of a sudden there are animals. Therefore the animals must have spontaneously generated. This is science fiction, folks. Nowadays we look at this as being stupid, but this was the wisdom of the world at one time. There was the word of God that taught us in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But people want to disregard Genesis 1 and mock it and laugh at it. And then they teach and believe spontaneous generation. It is foolishness. It is madness. And any Christian can look at this and say this is stupid. But Aristotle was considered one of the wisest people in the world. I have no doubt Aristotle had a high IQ. But this is not the only stupid theory he had. By the world's standards he was a genius. But according to the Bible, let him become a fool that he may be wise.
This theory persisted into the 17th century — meaning as late as the 1600s, science was still teaching that animals spontaneously generated from inanimate objects. Just out of nowhere, animals appear. This was believed in the 1600s. That was not that long ago. There are so many things in the scientific and medical industry that were taught relatively recently and have finally been disproven by modern science. The Bible disproved it thousands of years ago and they did not want to believe it.
By this time, proponents of the theory cited how frogs simply seem to appear along the muddy banks of the Nile River in Egypt during the annual flooding. So once flooding takes place, we see frogs. Therefore frogs must have spontaneously generated from the water or the mud. Others observed that mice simply appeared among grains stored in barns with thatched roofs. We do not know where the mice came from or how they got in, therefore they must have spontaneously generated. Folks, I do not know how the cockroaches get into my house. Therefore they must have spontaneously generated. I do not know how the ants get into my house. They must have spontaneously generated from a crumb of food. I believe cockroaches come from crackers that fall on the ground and it is hot in the Philippines. Therefore there are a lot of cockroaches. That is the wisdom of the world. That is the foolishness they were pushing. Of course you are not going to believe that if you believe the Bible. When the roof leaked and the grain moulded, mice appeared.
John Baptista von Helmont, a 17th century Flemish scientist, proposed that mice could arise from rags and wheat kernels left in an open container for three weeks. A scientist. Where is the knowledge? In reality, such habitats provided ideal food resources and shelter for mouse populations to flourish. This theory was finally disproved permanently in the 19th century — the 1800s — but was still being pushed before that. It is crazy.
And by the way, usually when these stupid theories are disproved, they are disproved by people that are Christians. I am not necessarily saying they are saved, but they are people that believe the Bible, because the Bible gives insight on these things. Louis Pasteur's set of experiments irrefutably disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and earned him the prestigious Alhumbert prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1862. In a subsequent lecture in 1864, Pasteur articulated — life only comes from life. What an amazing discovery, that life comes from life. I am not mocking Louis Pasteur because he thought the previous theory was stupid too and he disproved it. I am mocking the scientists of the world that believed this garbage. In this lecture, Pasteur recounted his famous swan neck flask experiment stating: life is a germ and a germ is life. Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow of this simple experiment. To Pasteur's credit, it never has.
So the science and medical industry has been wrong for thousands of years. And yet today, they are not wrong about anything. Everything they say about vaccines is 100% correct. Everything the doctors say is always right. Now I am not saying all these doctors or scientists are intentionally trying to deceive. I am just saying the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If you want to have real wisdom, you start with the Bible.
The Bible says this in 1 Corinthians 3:18–19: "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness."
This is an interesting phrase — he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. The way I understand and apply this is that when people are wise in a certain area by the world's system, but it is not actually true wisdom, it ends up being the opposite of what they are seeking.
Let me give some examples so it makes more sense. What is the religion of Buddhism about? It is all about removing suffering. Getting rid of suffering. Wait a minute — what are the areas of the world where Buddhism flourishes? All they have is suffering and a miserable life. These are always communist countries. That is where Buddhism flourishes. It is all about removing suffering, and yet they have more suffering than anybody else in the world. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
Take Hinduism. The purpose of Hinduism is actually the search for wisdom. If you study Hinduism, that is what it is all about — this secret hidden wisdom written in the Vedas, in the scriptures. Let me ask you a question: would you consider Hinduism one of the wisest and most intelligent religions in the world? They bow down to cows. They have cow dung fights. It is the dumbest religion you could think of. It is crazy. But it is all about wisdom. Because he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. You are all about wisdom, so you are going to be the opposite. You are all about removing suffering, so God is going to give you more suffering than anyone, because you are rejecting him.
Communism. Communism is about equality — equality for everybody. And yet communism does the opposite. It puts you in bondage.
How about hedonism? Hedonism is the search for pleasure and happiness. Basically you just give in to every lustful desire. Not just to enjoy life, but to give in to every lustful desire. And what does giving in to every lustful desire give you? Does it give you happiness? It actually gives you misery and depression. Because living a sinful life does not make you happy. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
And really what the Bible says is, hey, if you want to really have what is out there, deny yourself, take up the cross daily, and you will actually find you gain a lot of great things in this world. But you have got to put God first.
Verse 20: "And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." People that think they are so special and so smart — in reality they have vain thoughts and foolishness. What you are seeing is pride coming from them. "Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours."
All Things Are Yours
Now this phrase — all things are yours — is the name of this sermon. I remember memorising 1 Corinthians 3 and being like, what are we saying here? All things are yours. And I think there are multiple ways to apply this, but I think in the context of what is being said, let me go back to 1 Corinthians 2 and show you this so it is going to make sense.
1 Corinthians 2:6–8: "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." The Bible talks about the natural man not understanding these things, but the spiritual man — the one that is saved — can understand. Why? Because God has given you the Holy Spirit of God that can interpret it.
And I believe the main context there from 1 Corinthians 3, all things are yours, is the fact that as a saved person you have the ability to understand anything the Bible says. There are things in life that maybe you cannot become an expert at — maybe you do not have the ability, whatever it is. But when it comes to the word of God, this is freely given to anybody that is saved, that reads the Bible and serves God. You can actually learn the great and hidden wisdom of God. All things are yours. It is right there for you.
There are things in life I could never do no matter what. When I was growing up, my big desire as a young kid was to become the greatest soccer player in the world. I wanted to play in the World Cup, win it for the United States, and be voted the best player in the world. But the reality is you are given a certain ability. You cannot do anything about that. I did not have the ability. I was not good enough to do it. It is what it is. There are people that want to be professional basketball players but they are not tall enough. It is not possible. There are people that want to do things in life and they just do not have the ability. Look, despite what the world teaches you, you cannot do anything you want. You can accomplish a lot, but you cannot accomplish anything and everything you want. There are certain things you just do not have the ability for. I am not really a musician. I used to play a little piano, but even if that was my biggest hobby and I did it all the time, I just would not have the ability. I do not have the aptitude. I am the world's worst Pictionary player. I cannot draw just basic things. When I have a Pictionary card, I cannot draw the simplest things. I cannot think in my head creatively in that way. Certain things come naturally to some people and not to others. It is what it is.
Sometimes I think people get this idea when they first get saved. They listen to preachers that love God and are serving God and doing great things for God, getting a lot of people saved and really knowing the Bible. And they think to themselves, man, I wish I could do something like that, but I could never do that. Here is the reality — you can actually really learn what the Bible says. All things are yours. God has given them to you. You have the Holy Spirit of God. You can learn these things.
Maybe you could not have become the greatest goal scorer in soccer. Maybe you could not have become the greatest point scorer in basketball. But here is the thing — you can be a great soul winner. Because you do not have to have an IQ of 180 to be a great soul winner, because you are explaining something very simple. You just have to know what the Bible says, practice a bit, memorise the verses. You can do great things for God. All things are yours. God has given them to us. You can become an awesome Christian. It is available to any of us as a saved person. You have got the Holy Spirit of God. You have got your King James Bible. You can read it and learn what it says. You can become an awesome Christian if you want to. There are a lot of things in life you could never do — but when it comes to serving God in a big way, it is right there for you. You can go on a missions trip and get a lot of people saved. All things are yours. They are right there for you if you want them. It is up to you if you want to be a great Christian. It is up to you if you really want to learn the word of God.
A lot of people think they cannot memorise the Bible. Here is the reality — memorising is hard, it is not easy, and you might not be able to memorise at the same rate as somebody else. But you could actually memorise chapters of the Bible if you put in the time. A lot of people hear that and do not think it is true. It is true, though. It takes a lot of time. You might have to figure out what your technique is. I go out for a walk and vainly repeat. I know other people that will outline the chapters. I know people that do it different ways. But you can learn. You say, well, chapters are so hard. What about memorising important verses? For sure — memorise the soul-winning verses on salvation that you can use out soul-winning. But how about memorising some verses for godly living? That will help you change your life. What about the verse I read earlier in the sermon — the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? That is a good verse to memorise. There are a lot of great verses that can help change your life. And it is freely available if you put in the time.
Now obviously some of us have more time than others, and some have more ability. I get that. But I want you to realise you can be a great Christian if you want to. It is not like Paul the Apostle did great things for God but you never could. No — you do have the ability to become as great a Christian as anyone who has lived, if you put in the time and effort. Now, realistically, I do not think I am ever going to be as great a Christian as John the Baptist or Paul the Apostle. I am not saying I am or that I am anywhere near that level. But I am saying we do have the ability because you have got the Holy Spirit, you have got the Bible, you can be super dedicated and do great things. You can.
And that does not mean you have to become a pastor. There are women that love God and are serving God. Obviously they are not pastors. And you can be a man where it is not your ability to be a pastor or preacher, but you know what? You can still serve God in a big way and do big things for God.
1 Corinthians 3:22: "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."
Go to 2 Peter chapter 1.
One way you can apply this — the Bible says in the great commission, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth, and Jesus says therefore go ye — basically all power belongs to Jesus, and he is commanding us to preach the gospel to everybody, to preach the gospel to anyone who wants to hear. Even if the government says no, God told me to go. You say no. God says go. I am going to listen to God. Now obviously there is wisdom in this, and you do not want to necessarily get arrested. Maybe you have to use wisdom, especially if you are in a very dangerous area. Maybe go to another area where they are not going to kick you out. You get kicked out at this mall, go to a different mall. We get it. But God says hey, just go out and preach the gospel.
And I do believe that in 2026 and at any point in time, if you want to greatly serve God — if you memorise the Bible, if you want to be a soul winner and stand up for the things of God — God can open up doors for you to preach the gospel and do awesome things even if it does not feel like that right now. If you live in a very wicked country where they will put you to death or arrest you for something like that, either God will open up those doors there, or you know what he is going to do? Find a way to get you out of that country so you can serve God somewhere else. Are there some martyrs along the way of Christianity? Of course. But I do believe in the vast majority of cases God will open up doors for you to preach the gospel and do great things. Because the power belongs to God. And God says I am giving it to you. All things are yours. You can do great things for God. You can memorise the Bible and learn anything the Bible says. All the wisdom, the deep things of God, belongs to you.
2 Peter 1:1–3: "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." The Bible says here God hath given us all things. This is a good cross reference with very similar wording — he has given us all things that pertain to becoming the greatest athlete ever. Nope, it does not say that. That pertain to becoming the richest person ever. Nope, it does not say that. But that pertain unto life and godliness. So God has freely given us the things — all things are yours — to do great things for God.
If you really want to serve God, you can learn the great things by reading the Bible. And what I have found in life, and it is true with other people as well — if you are someone who wants to do something big for God, you very rarely if ever meet someone who is a self-made man. You certainly did not get saved on your own. I have never met someone who greatly knows the Bible and is doing great works for God who just learned it all on their own. Every time I hear about someone like that, you know what happened? They learned it from other people that came before them and did great things. And I believe that if you want to do great things for God, God is going to put you in a position to learn from other people that have already learned things they can teach you. And then in turn, even if you never become a pastor, you can teach those things to other people. Certainly with salvation, but even other things as well. And God can use you in the same way someone else was used to reach you and teach you.
All things are yours. So look, we should be encouraged in 2026. We can do great things for God even in Melbourne, Australia. No, it is not the most receptive place in the world. You know what it is? It is the place that God has placed you to labour and do great things for God. God has placed you in that location. You are already getting a lot of people saved. You are already doing big things. You are already preaching the truth. And I do believe there are going to be more people around Melbourne that join up with the church, join up with soul-winning, and hear about the great works for God you are doing. And God has given you the ability to do it in Melbourne. Whether it is Melbourne, whether it is Pampanga, wherever you are — God has given us the ability to do great things in this world.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. Thank you for the wonderful chapter in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 3, and all the lessons we have learned. Ask you to help us to apply these things to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.