2 Corinthians 2:17

“For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”

1 Corinthians 9:18-19

“What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it. Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”

1 Timothy 5:17-18

Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and, ‘The worker is worthy of his wages.’”

There is an epidemic of money-chasing that has crept into too many churches over the last few decades. The ‘church’ has become a very profitable business, and there are a lot of men and women who have become very wealthy doing ‘The Lord’s Work.’ Many churches are huge organizations that produce millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. They have multiple campuses that can stretch over continents and across entire nations. Groups like Elevation and others have multiple campuses and even have campuses here in the Toronto, Ontario area. ‘Churches’ like Hillsong actually transcend continents, stretching from Australia to Europe to North America.

These organizations are often top-down ‘ministries’ that often begin with the best of intentions but soon become so big that compromise is inevitable. Fame, money, fortune, influence, and expansion become more important than truth.

Pastors can become dictators, and the church begins to take on their identity and not the identity of Christ. Doctrine becomes watered down, they begin to be viewed through more progressive eyes, and things, stances, and truth are re-interpreted to fit the culture and not to promote the righteousness of God. These churches, not all, but many, become man-centric and not God centric. They want to please man rather than God. Soon, the goal is to get bigger, not more Christ-like, and there is still the assumption in our churches that if one is getting bigger, if people are joining and investing, then God is in it and He must be blessing them. Jesus, on the other hand, left us this warning in the book of Revelation, 3:17-20,

“¹⁷Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

This local church here was so wealthy that they did not need Jesus. They had grown so big they no longer needed Him. Look in verse 17: they ‘have need of nothing.’. What a sad testimony of how our churches’ world is in 2025. Most of our churches have no need, yes, sadly, not even of Jesus. We can go about the ‘business’ just fine without Jesus involved. Yes, we use His name and we invoke His power, BUT in truth, it is merely ceremonial. The drive for more money has crept in, and the god of too many churches is growth. Too many will compromise for numbers in the pew.

Now, there is nothing wrong with money, and if you can build a large, Godly, doctrinally sound ministry without compromise and without dismissing Jesus, then more power to you. There is nothing wrong with a church paying a pastor and paying them well. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 5 that pastors have a right to be paid from the church that they serve. If a church is not able to pay a pastor a decent salary, they should be willing to let him work a secular job to be able to care for his family. But no pastor should bleed his local church dry financially. I have had to work a secular job for the vast majority of my years in ministry. I do not begrudge that one can work full-time, and I am not sure that I would. It may be better if our church could hire another guy and his family, and we also work a secular job to be able to have a team and ministry partner.

There are countless examples of men and, increasingly now, women who obviously do ministry for the money. They have incorporated so much pomp and excess into the services and even into the sermons that it is all about entertainment and certainly not about glorifying God or edifying His people. It should be enough to open the Bible and expound from a passage without fanfare, without fireworks, and without compromise so as to bring glory to God and growth to His people.

Now, does a church need money? Yes, it does. Can ministry be done without money? No, it cannot. But what we learn from Revelation 3:17-20 is that when we put God first, when we make sure that what we are doing is not just right but God ordained, then God will provide the riches for said endeavors. But like many Christians, a lot of churches want to be self-willed and self-powered and self-funded; you see, they see dependence on God as a weakness.

The Bible teaches that total dependence on God is actual wealth; God’s hand is not shortened. I have countless stories of missionaries who have seen God provide in the craziest ways for the needs on the field and personally. God met big needs and small needs, He met immediate needs and long-term goal needs. God did it; God got the glory. These men and their families will never be rich as the world counts richness; they may never be known as the richest persons in the world, but they are rich in Christ. He provides ALL of their needs.

Preach for the glory of God. Preach for the building of the Lord’s people. Shepherd the flock that God has given you, and if you end up pastoring thousands, rejoice. If you end up pastoring hundreds, rejoice, and if you end up pastoring a handful, rejoice. God put you where you are for His glory and to show you His power. The money will come; God is not poor. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your might. Please don’t fall in love with money. Jesus is coming soon, and judgment, we are told, begins with the preachers first.

James 3:1

“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

Matthew 24: 3-14

³ “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ ⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

The world is messed up. Sadly, a lot of modern Christianity is messed up, and a lot of what we see in pulpits each Sunday is messed up. However, those of us who take the Bible seriously and study often so that we can handle it well are growing in confidence in its authenticity and accuracy each and every day. This passage alone has been played out right before our very eyes. If we simply look at some of the statements in this passage, we will see that Jesus gave us a road map to 2025. It looks like He was looking ahead to the NEWS headlines and simply pulling the headlines out of the page.

1. False Prophets, vs 5, 11

Just last week, someone was predicting the Rapture. They and we are still here. This kind of evil has been played out time and time again in history past. But the rise of false prophets among us is crazy. Everywhere online you can hear men and women butchering the Scriptures, taking verses out of context to make some ‘aha’ point that gets them clicks and views, making merchandise of the Gospel. These charlatans are leading people down the road to hell with their claims of special knowledge from God. You can hear them begin each reel with ‘God gave me a word today.’ No, He did not. He wrote His Word, His Bible, and there are no new revelations coming, SOLA SCRIPTURA.

2. Wars and more wars, vs 6-7

Now there are wars in Ukraine, wars in the Middle East, and conflicts in Venezuela, and on and on we can go. Most of us did not know of the wars in Africa and the ones in Asia Minor, for which President Trump was able to negotiate peace. There are wars on the horizon; wars between the woke and the awake peoples, wars between the Muslims and those wanting to keep their freedom from Sharia law. Then there will be the wars between those of us who want to be free and WEF and other global governances that want total control. There are wars of words between the conservative Christians and so-called liberal Christians.

3. Natural Disasters, vs 8

Just last week, we saw an earthquake in California, and then a few days later an even bigger one in the Philippines. One of the two hurricanes sitting off the east coast of the USA is so big that the eye can be seen from space. In fact, there are two hurricanes that are about to hit the East Coast at about the same time, and they are huge. There are other things coming, and I am sure that the winter will bring its own disasters.

4. Tribulation and death, verse 9

There are very hard laws being put into place to limit truthful speech. Make no mistake, it is happening in Europe and in the UK, specifically that people are being arrested for what they said, what they shared online, and what they replied to online. If the authorities think that you were intending hatred or, in their opinion, inciting violence, no matter what you said, they can jail you and restrict your use of the internet. Now, one can publish nude pictures, one can promote sexual activities between adults and children, and one can lie about sex and gender, but one cannot tell the truth without fear of retribution.

True conservative churches have to speak the truth at peril. And one must be aware that you can be arrested in the UK for things that you said or posted in Canada and the US. Right now, they are causing great tribulation, but soon, with the mandatory Digital IDs coming, they will begin to want to kill us. Many of them want to kill us now.

5. Lawlessness and a lovelessness, vs 12

What is being paraded as love is not that it is actually hatred to the highest level. But paired with that lack of love is a natural lawlessness that comes. If you have no love, then you will kill your neighbour (like Charlie Kirk), and you will cheat on your spouse and abuse your kids. You will steal from everyone and cheat everyone. You will only think of self, and you will never consider another. This is where we are at. Jesus tells us that one of the greatest commands is to love your neighbour as yourself. However, if you have no regard for God, no regard for God’s laws, and as a natural outflow, no regard for His creation, including other people, you will never treat them well. We see that running rampant everywhere today.

6. The End is not Yet, vs 8

There is still a long way to go. Set your eyes on Jesus and take heart. Trust Him; He has you and will get you through anything. Jesus is coming; look up. Be ready to share the hope in our hearts.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario