I want to first start off by thanking Pastor Jonathan Shelley for the opportunity to be here.
It really means a lot that he would give me this chance. He's our pastor. I'm from Steadfast
Baptist Church, for those of you who don't know. My name is Benjamin Naim, and he's the pastor of
Steadfast. Obviously, you all know that, and he's also your pastor. But I consider him to be a friend
and a mentor as well, and I look forward to being under his leadership for years to come.
So you're there in Jude. Let's focus on verse three in this book. The Bible says in Jude,
verse three, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend
for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. So the Bible says here that we should
contend for the faith that was delivered unto the saints. And here's the thing, folks,
when you're going to contend for the faith, when you're going to live the Christian life,
one thing you'll notice, in fact, perhaps the first thing you'll notice is that the Christian
life consists of battle after battle after battle after battle. And that's why the title of my
sermon this morning is Prepare for Battle. Prepare for Battle. We must prepare to contend for the
faith. We must put ourselves in the best position possible to contend for the faith,
to fight the good fight of faith, because there's no more important time than right now to be
prepared to fight the good fight of faith, to be prepared to contend for the faith. I mean,
look at this plaza alone. Just a few storefront, just a few stores down, you've got these wacky
Pentecostals with their rock music, juking and jiving in there. That's not church. Those people
aren't contending for the faith. This church is contending for the faith, because it's this
church that goes out each and every week with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the goal to get people
saved. This is the church that has men of God standing behind this pulpit, preaching the word
of God, not flopping around like psychopaths over there. And so we have to prepare, we have to put
ourselves in the best position possible to contend. Now the Bible, or I should say the
dictionary definition of the word contend is to exert an intense or strenuous effort on behalf of
something, to struggle for something, to fight for something. And folks, we need a righteous remnant
today to contend for the truth of God's word, because at the end of the day, if it's not going
to be us, then who will it be? The majority of churches have fallen away. I believe we are living
right now in the falling away, which must come first before the rapture. And we can't rely on
these bunch of lame Baptist churches to get the job done. They're too busy acting like a bunch of
queer baits, inviting the perverts and the sodomites and the God haters into their church.
They're too busy hanging door hangers and wasting their time. We can't rely on them. We have to do
the work. We have to be ready. We have to be prepared for battle. You say, how do we do that?
Well, the first step is that we must hate every false way. We must hate every false way. You can't
fight for what's right if you don't hate that which is false. I'm going to repeat that one
more time if you're taking notes. You can't fight for what's right if you don't hate that
which is false. If you love the truth, you hate lies. You hate false religion. You hate false
doctrine. If you would go to 2 Chronicles chapter 34. Thank you. 2 Chronicles chapter number 34.
Let's look at an example of a man who hated every false way. You say, where's that phrase come from?
Psalm 119 says, while you're turning to 2 Chronicles chapter number 34, the Bible says in
Psalm 119, therefore, I love thy commandments above gold, yea above fine gold. Therefore,
I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. And I hate every false way. We must
hate sin today. We must hate that which opposes God. And here's an example of that. It's something
we dealt with in Jacksonville. For whatever reason, Jacksonville seems to be ground zero
for heretics. And one of them is valiant Baptist so-called pretend Pentecostal Church. This oneness
doctrine, we must hate the oneness doctrine. We must hate doctrines that oppose that which is
right, that oppose what the Bible actually teaches. Oneness isn't just another way at
looking at the nature of God, folks. It's a serious heresy. It's damnable heresy. It's satanic
false doctrine. And we need to with every fiber of our being stand against it. We must hate oneness.
We must hate work salvation. We must hate false doctrine. We must hate everything that these false
prophets are permeating because they're doing it to pull people down to hell with them, to make
others do fold more the child of hell than themselves. Galatians chapter one says, but though
we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say now again, if any man preach any other
gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. There is no fellowship
with false teachers. Let them be accursed. And here's an example of somebody who hated
every false way. Second Chronicles chapter number 34. We're going to look at King Josiah
who hated lies. He brought revival back to Judah. He broke down the satanic groves. Look at verse
one. The Bible reads there. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned
in Jerusalem one in 30 years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and
walked in the ways of David, his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the
left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God
of David, his father. And in the 12th year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high
places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images. So much for ecumenicalism,
right? These false religions brought down, these satanic groves brought down by Josiah and the
Bible says he did that which was right because he hated every false way and he put himself in
a position as a result to contend for the faith and to be prepared for battle. These groves are
wiped out because Josiah hated Luciferianism. Look at verse number four in this chapter. The
Bible reads and they break down the altars of Balaam in his presence and the images that were
on high above them, he cut down and the groves and the carved images and the molten images,
he break in pieces and made dust of them and strode it upon the graves of them that had
sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah
and Jerusalem. Folks, if you hate the false religions out there, it will be rocket fuel
that will help you to proclaim and defend that which is righteous to contend for the faith.
Josiah didn't play nice with these people. He broke down their groves. He broke down their
altars. He hated the satanic cult that was in the land at the time. And we do that spiritually when
we debunk what these false religions teach. We do that from a spiritual standpoint when we're
debunking Islam, however you pronounce it, when we're debunking the false religion of Judaism,
which says blasphemous things about the Lord Jesus Christ in their Talmud, which belongs in
a garbage can, which should be burned. When we debunk Mormonism, when we debunk the Jehovah's
Witnesses, we're breaking down these groves, we're breaking down these satanic idols in a spiritual
sense. Go to 1 Kings 18. Let's look at another example of a great man of God who hated every
false way. And this particular person, Elijah, we see that the prophecy of him coming before
Jesus Christ was fulfilled by John the Baptist, who came by the spirit and power of Elijah.
In 1 Kings 18, he convinces Ahab to gather the prophets of Baal together. He tests the legitimacy
of their cult. And look what the Bible says in verse number 25. 1 Kings 18 and verse number 25,
the Bible says there, and Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for
yourselves and dress it first, for you are many and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire
under. And they took the bullock which was given them and they dressed it and called on the name
of Baal from morning even until noon saying, O Baal hear us. But there was no voice nor any that
answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah
mocked them and said, cry aloud for he is a God. Either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is
in a journey or a pair adventure, he sleepeth and must be awake. Elijah is mocking their false
God. He doesn't have any respect for their religion. He has no respect whatsoever because
it's a lie. You know, people will say, oh you can't say Muhammad was a pedophile. That's mean.
That's going to hurt people's feelings. Well, Muhammad was a pedophile, slept with a nine-year-old
girl. And Allah is a false God. Allah will lead people to hell. The Mormon God will lead people
to hell. The God of Judaism will lead people to hell. These are false satanic lies and there's
nothing wrong with mocking them just like Elijah did here. Elijah hated every false way and he was
equipped to contend for the faith as a result. Look, I don't want you to get confused. I love
people who are deceived by these false religions. I want them to be saved. I love the common man
stuck in the Islamic world who doesn't know any better. I love the deceived, but I hate
the deceivers and that's the mentality we should have. Love the deceived, hate the deceivers,
hate the people at the top of these false religions. Skip down to verse number 38 for
sake of time. So Elijah here, he proves that the God of Israel is true. It says in verse 38,
then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and
the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell
on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said unto
them, take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them and Elijah brought
them down to the Brook Kaishon and slew them there. Now folks, here's what I want you to take
out of this. Elijah doesn't have any fellowship time with these prophets of the devil. They're
slain. Yes. Why? Because Elijah hated that which is false. He hated deception. Okay. Here's the
reality of the situation. He didn't go out and have tea with these people. He didn't go out
and you know, have lunch with them, hang out for a cup of coffee. He destroyed them.
Go back, go to Acts chapter 13. Let's look at one other example here.
Acts chapter 13 as I move on to my next point. If you want to equip yourself to prepare for battle,
if you want to be prepared to contend for the faith, the first thing you must do is hate that
which is false. We looked at Josiah, we looked at Elijah, but the next thing we should do to
be prepared for battle is clothe ourselves with boldness. And we're going to look at the boldness
of Paul here. Remember the Christian life is a series of battles and we cannot be prepared to
fight those battles if we're acting like a bunch of cowards. You say, how do I go soul winning and
proclaim the gospel? Boldness. How do I preach from the highest hilltop I can find that which
is righteous? Boldness. See, how do I take a stand against these sodomite perverts who've ruined our
culture? And the answer is the same, boldness. You take a stand. You fill yourself with the
Holy Spirit. You allow God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, I should say, and you take a stand
and you're bold. You clothe yourself with boldness. Look at verse number four. Let's see how Paul did
this. Look what the Bible says. So they, talking about Paul and Barnabas, being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed into Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they had
gone through the aisle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose
name was Bar-Jesus. Now the Jew Bar-Jesus, the Bible refers to him as a false prophet. He comes
in contact with Paul and Barnabas here. Let's see how they react. And we should also pay attention
to what this false prophet is doing. What's he doing here? Look at verse seven. Which was with
the deputy of the country, Sergus Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul
and desired to hear the word of God. But Elemis the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation,
withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Notice what the Bible says,
that he was seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. And that's what these false prophets
do. That's why I refer to them as spiritual predators. They're spiritual predators and
their prey are those they believe they can beguile, those they believe they can deceive,
those they believe they can lead down a bobsled straight to hell. They hunt for unstable souls,
they hunt for people they can confuse. The devil himself, the Bible says, is the author of
confusion. Elemis the sorcerer here, bar Jesus, was no exception to this rule. And the Bible says
that Paul had the boldness to stand up to him. He looked into his eyes. He called him a child
of the devil. We're going to read it here in moments. John the Baptist did the same thing
to the political establishment at the time. These men of God, man, have they set the bar high. I
don't know if we'll ever reach it, but we should try. Look at verse nine. Then Saul, who also is
called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him and said, O full of all subtlety and
all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to
pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee,
and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist
and a darkness. And he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. This false prophet struck
with blindness. And it kind of reminds me about these people who would reject the gospel over and
over again, who hate and reject the Lord. God strikes them with blindness in a spiritual sense.
They will never see. They will never open their eyes. Paul says, thou enemy of all righteousness.
He says, thou child of the devil. And that should be our mentality. Tyler Baker,
enemy of all righteousness. Ray Comfort, that's another one, likes to prance around like he's
this nice friendly guy, but he's an enemy of all righteousness. He's an enemy of the gospel. He's
a child of the devil. How about Jesse Lee Peterson? Guy can barely string a sentence
together. He's got a radio show telling Pastor Anderson that he stopped sinning.
Meanwhile, he's wearing a t-shirt designed by a faggot, enemy of all righteousness. Don't hold
back. These people deserve it. They deserve all of your vitriol. Now notice how the deputy responds
to Paul's boldness. He asks, why are you doing that? Are you just telling me to be mean to people
for the sake of it? No, I'm not. Look at what happens as a direct result of Paul's boldness.
Look at verse number 12. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished
at the doctrine of the Lord. It was Paul's boldness, his willingness to contend for the
faith, which he had because of his boldness. And it led to the deputy being astonished at the
doctrine of the Lord. And that should be us because here's the thing. When people see your zeal,
when people see your boldness, when people see just how much you care about the word of God,
for the sake of the hearer, they might say, wow, I'm astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Show
me the gospel. I want to be saved. I want to see what this is all about. And the reason why Paul
was in this position is because he contended for the faith. He contended for the gospel.
He contended for the truth. Ultimately, Paul was ready for battle in Acts chapter number 13.
And my goal for you this morning is that you similarly would be prepared for battle as well.
You say, how do I acquire boldness? I referred to this just a few moments ago. Be filled with
the Holy Spirit of God. You don't have to turn there. In Acts chapter four, the Bible reads,
and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they spake the word of God with boldness. So Peter,
John, and the other believers, the Bible says they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
And folks, the result of that isn't flopping around like a fish out of water. When you're
filled with the Holy Spirit, the result, the fruit of that is boldness. You say, man, I just can't
work up the courage to go door knocking. I can't, you know, I get too nervous. I'm just,
it's not for me. I'm too shy. Well, why don't you try getting filled with the Spirit first?
How do I do that? You walk in the Spirit rather than the flesh. You come and you listen to the
word of God being preached, and then you'll work up the boldness. You'll be filled with the Spirit,
and you'll be equipped to go out and preach the gospel. And you know, would to God that more men
and women of God would purge themselves from this, from the sins of this world. They would
purge themselves from the filth and the degeneracy of this world. And they would choose to serve God
with their lives and walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit because only then can you
acquire the boldness. We saw Paul exhibit in Acts chapter 13, and only then can you be prepared for
battle. Only then can you be prepared to do mighty works for God. The sermon is called
Prepare for Battle. So far, I've talked about how we must hate every false way. I talked about how
we must clothe ourselves with boldness. We must be bold. And in order to do that, we have to be
filled with the Spirit. Next, I'm going to talk about how we must cast out fear. This is the
number one thing I believe that holds people back from fighting the good fight of faith. Fear. You
cannot be a contender for the faith if you're acting like a coward. You cannot be a contender
for the faith if you don't stand on Bible doctrine. You cannot be a contender for the faith
if you're too afraid to stand up, if you're too afraid to speak up, if you're too afraid to
proclaim what this says, whether the world makes fun of you for it or not. You say, well, what if
people start calling me names? If I take this Christianity thing seriously, my friends might
make fun of me because I don't go drinking at the bar with them anymore. Good. You know what
that means? You're doing something right. You say, what if my family starts discouraging me about
this lifestyle I'm trying to live? They start making fun of me for going to church
three times a week. I've had it happen. It seems like every time someone from my family calls,
I'm either on my way to church or leaving church. And so they'll ask me, man, are you there all the
time? They'll try and discourage me. I think you're taking this a little too seriously.
Here's the best one. I think you're an extremist. You're turning into an extremist. Well, thanks for
the compliment. I like being an extremist. God's an extremist. He that believeth on the
sun hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the sun shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him. It's pretty extreme. Now, if your family tries to discourage
you, if you've got unsafe family or even worldly family members who are trying to discourage you
from what you're doing, then you know what? Good. You're doing something right. Don't be discouraged
by that. Don't be afraid. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 20. Deuteronomy chapter number 20.
If people give you a hard time because you're a little bit peculiar,
then that means you're filled with the spirit. That means you're walking in the spirit.
Don't be afraid of that. Cast out fear. Let's look at the laws concerning warfare that was given to
the children of Israel. The Bible says in Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. God is our refuge, folks. Therefore, we should cast
out fear because what can man really do to us? Not even a 10th of what God can do. Deuteronomy
chapter 20. Look at verse one. The Bible says, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies
and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them. For the Lord thy
God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. So the Israelites, the Bible says,
they were commissioned to wipe out the heathen nations completely. And God told them, be not
afraid of your enemies. Be not afraid of those who are currently occupying the promised land,
because I'm going to give you the power to destroy them. And folks, whether it's sin
in your life, or whether it's people who are trying to discourage you from coming to church,
or whether it's some form, any form of obstacle in your way, preventing you from walking in the
spirit and being an on fire Christian and servant for the Lord, fear not, because if you place your
trust in God, he will help you to overcome that, just like he helped the Israelites to overcome
a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, which was to wipe out these strong heathen nations that were
occupying the land at this time. You say, well, we're outnumbered. There are way more false
churches than there are good churches. There are way more wicked people than there are
righteous people. It doesn't matter. God's with us. And if the Lord is with us, who can be against
us? Look at verse number two. And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the
priest shall approach and speak unto the people and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach
this day unto battle against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint. Fear not and do not tremble,
neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he, excuse me, for the Lord your
God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies. The Lord will fight for the
Israelites is what he's saying here. He will help them against their enemies. And folks, if you're
seeking God, if you're putting him first, God will fight for you too, no matter who your opposition
is. Skip down to verse number eight. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 20 verse eight, and the officer
shall speak further unto the people and they shall say, what man is there that is fearful and
faint-hearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well
as his heart. And it shall be when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people,
that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. So if a man is fearful,
if a man is faint-hearted, he's commanded to go back home. He's commanded to go sit on the bench
and not take part in this battle. Why? Because that fear might spread throughout the congregation.
It might permeate through the congregation and other people might be discouraged at that one man
and his faint-heartedness and his fear, okay? The Israelites, remember, they were commanded to
destroy the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites,
and that's not a job for cowards. That's a true physical battle and God needed men of fortitude
who were ready to fight. Well here in the New Testament, God needs men and women of fortitude
to be ready to fight this spiritual battle because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
Now it was carnal back then but it's not anymore. So if you want to be on the front lines of
Christianity at a church like this, at a church like Pure Words Baptist Church, you have to
contend or I should say you have to cast out fear because contending for the faith, like I said
already, it means that you're not afraid of personal attacks. So what if they call you names?
So what if they try and discourage you? So what if they mock you? Christians have been
mocked for centuries. Don't be afraid of the protesters. Don't be afraid of the discouragement
from friends or family or those that you thought were closest to you. Don't be afraid of standing
against even the Judas Iscariots who might uncloak themselves within your congregation.
Don't be afraid at all. Cast out fear and then you'll put yourself in a position to be prepared
for battle. Okay, the problem with the men who had fear in Deuteronomy chapter 20
is they were told to go sit on the bench. They were told to go home because, like I said,
that fear might permeate the rest of the congregation and the reason why I'm preaching
this this morning is because if you have fear, God might send you home. God might bench you.
God might not use you to accomplish amazing things. If you want to be a vessel under honor,
cast out fear. If you don't want to be benched, like the men in Deuteronomy 20 who were fearful
were benched, they were sent home. If you don't want to be that guy, cast out fear.
Go to 1 Samuel 17. The Bible says in Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The Bible asks the
question, of whom shall I be afraid? And the answer is no one, no man, no circumstance.
You guys have been tried by fire here at Pure Words Baptist Church. We have as well. What
happened a few months ago was something none of us saw coming, but you're still here. You still
came to church. You're still sitting in the pew on a Sunday morning because it's not about the
messenger. It's about the message and you love the Lord. So keep it up. You're here,
even though I'm here. Okay. That tells me that you have, you know, dedication. Okay.
Look at 1 Samuel 17. This is a famous story. David and Goliath. Look at verse number two.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched by the Valley of Elah
and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood
on a mountain on the one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side.
And there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the
Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. So notice the Bible
says that Goliath was a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, his height, six cubits and a
span. We're talking over nine feet tall here. Nine, over nine feet tall. This was a big guy.
Skip down to verse number 10. And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the
Philistine, they were dismayed. And listen to this and greatly afraid. Saul and Israel
greatly afraid at this wicked Philistine who defied Israel. He defied the armies of Israel.
Now despite being much smaller in stature, despite not having the same strength as Goliath
being much smaller, probably much skinnier, probably doesn't have the carnal strength that
Goliath had, no doubt about that, David still stepped up to the plate and said, I'll take him
on. I'll do it. Look at verse 22. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the
carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with
them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Goliath, or I should say the
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according to
the same words. And David heard them and all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him
and were sore afraid. So everyone else is too afraid to face Goliath. Everyone else is too
afraid to look at the opposition head on. And there are a lot of churches today who are too
afraid to face the Goliath that is the world, the entire world, folks, the entire world's
against us. And there are too many churches out there who are too afraid to look on the opposition
head on like David did. But pure words, Baptist church isn't afraid. How about David? How does
he react? Look at verse 25. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that has come up?
Surely to defy Israel as he come up. And it shall be that the man who killeth him, the king will
enrich him with great riches and will give him his father's house free in Israel. And David
spake to the men that stood by him saying, what shall be done to the man that killeth this
Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine
that he should defy the armies of the living God. David is asking here, who is this wicked man
who's defying the armies of God. He wants to contend. He wants to fight. He casts out fear
to prepare for battle. He trusted in God and cast out fear. That's what we should do. Trust in the
Lord, cast out fear. Look at verse 41. And the Philistine came and drew near unto David. Skip
down to verse 41. And the man that bared the shield went before him. And when the Philistine
looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair
countenance. But he disdained him because, you know, David didn't have this fancy look.
It kind of reminds me of how our churches, they're in storefronts. We don't have the
fancy building. We don't have the giant tower steeple, whatever it's called. We're here in
a storefront and we're happy to be here. Look at verse number 43. And the Philistine said unto
David, am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his
gods. And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the
air and to the beasts of the field. So the arrogance of this Philistine Goliath is on
display here. The Bible says in first Samuel chapter 17, he says, I will give thy flesh
unto the fowls of the air. He's already assuming that he's going to slay David,
that he's going to defeat David and that the fowls, the birds of the air will feast on his
dead body. Look at verse 45. Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and
with a spear and with a shield. But I came to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. So David says, you defied the armies of Israel. And you
know what? That's God's army. He takes it personally. He takes it personally that Goliath
defied the armies of God. And let me tell you something right now. If anyone were to talk the
smack that Goliath did here in first Samuel chapter 17 against anyone in this church,
our mentality should be, if you're talking smack about Nick Gomez, you're talking smack about me.
If you're defying our brothers and sisters in Christ, we're God's spiritual army. Anybody who
would defy this spiritual army I'm looking at this morning is defying God. And we should take
it just as personally as David did in first Samuel chapter 17. We should take it personally. It's a
commandment of God to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. And just as sure as I enjoy
preaching Leviticus 2013 is just as sure as we should all enjoy standing for the tons of
scriptures in the Bible that command us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. And if anyone
is mocked here, our mentality should be, hey, you mock him, you're mocking me. I don't know very
too many people's names here, but I know Nick Gomez. That's why I used him as an example.
Look at verse 46. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and I will smite thee and take
thine head from thee and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the
fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is
a God in Israel and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear for
the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands and it came to pass when the Philistine
arose and came and drew nigh to meet David that David hasted and ran toward the enemy to meet the
Philistine and David put his hand in his bag and took fence of stone and slang it and smote the
Philistine in his forehead that the stone sunk in his forehead and he fell upon the face of the
earth Goliath is slain here his head is eventually cut off by David the courage of David the uh
you know David dedicating himself to casting fear it paid off he won this battle he destroyed
Goliath he cut his head off he decapitated him despite the fact that Goliath was a huge opponent
our opposition in a spiritual sense it's pretty big as well how about the entire world folks
but David because he trusted in God because he cast out fear he was prepared for battle and he
won he stood up to a mocker he stood up to a wicked man who defied the armies of Israel and he took it
personally just like we should if somebody were to disrespect anybody in this church
first chronicles 12 the bible says you don't have to turn there and the Gadites there separated
themselves unto David into the hold of to the wilderness men of might and men of war fit for
the battle that could handle shield and buckler whose faces were like the faces of lions and were
as swift as the rose upon the mountains these are mighty men prepared for war and what what I wanted
you to notice is that they had shield they had buckler and in the new testament like I said the
like I said the weapons of a warfare are not carnal we should arm ourselves with the shield
of faith with the helmet of salvation if you would go to first Samuel chapter 19 first Samuel
chapter 19 we need to put on valor we need to put on the shield of faith we need to be prepared for
battle and so I've talked about how if you want to be prepared for battle you're going to first
Samuel chapter 19 if you want to be prepared for battle if you want to be prepared to contend for
the faith to fight the good fight of faith like the bible commands us to do in Jude verse 3 and
other places you must hate every false way just like Elijah did Josiah was another example I gave
you must be bold as bold as Paul was who rebuked barred Jesus to his face as bold as John the
Baptist was I didn't go over that but you all know the story he rebuked the political establishment
at the time we must clothe ourselves with that boldness and in order to do that we should be
filled with the spirit because one of the fruits of the spirit is boldness cast out fear like David
did with Goliath despite the fact that he was at a severe disadvantage he won because he cast out
fear and he trust the Lord he was prepared for battle and finally don't be distracted this world
is full of distractions this world is full of things that could divert your attention from the
battle that actually matters the spiritual battle folks look I struggle with this too
but we can't be super zealous on Facebook and just only post spiritual things and talk about how much
you love the bible but then not actually read the bible because what you're doing behind closed
doors that's what really matters not what you're saying outwardly in public what are you doing
behind closed doors if you're posting incessantly on social media about how much you love God's word
about how much you love your church well are you reading God's word are you coming to church we
should walk the walk not just talk the talk I almost forgot that so folks to prepare for battle
we can't be distracted but you know what else we need to do we need to purge
ourselves from the sins that might be holding us back the bible says in proverbs chapter 28
they that forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law contend with them
so those who forsake the law they praise the wicked these are the milquetoast christians
praising the wicked god haters of this world why because they've forsaken God's law but those who
keep God's law the bible says they contend with them you want to be prepared to contend for the
faith then the bible says keep God's law we should be keeping God's law not for salvation
but if you want to be blessed if you want to earn rewards in heaven if you want to be prepared
for the faith I'll be the first one to admit if I spent the week and I didn't read my bible like
I should which has happened before well I'll go through a week and because of work and because
of the fact that I'm just thinking about carnal things throughout the week you're at work most
of the day if you're a man right and if you're not at work and you're a man that's a problem
but anyway that's a different sermon for a different time you're at work all week you're
thinking about carnal things you might slack off in your bible reading I've been there I've done it
and the weeks where I'm slacking off on reading this the weeks where I'm not praying like I should
be the weeks where I'm not spending as much time memorizing scripture you know what I noticed I
don't feel as prepared to go soul winning that week I don't feel as prepared to preach the word
of God behind the pulpit I don't feel as prepared to serve the Lord on the weekend for church
because I didn't spend enough time throughout the week being filled with the spirit and walking with
the spirit and so we can't allow ourselves to fall back into carnality the bible says in second
you're still in first samuel where I told you to turn chapter 19 the bible says in second timothy
2 study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly
dividing the word of truth we have to study why we believe what we believe we can't be distracted
from study time you know I can tell people who don't study their bible like the pre-tribbers of
our world because they can't give you a single verse most of the time all they can give you are
slogans right the pre-tribulation rapture believers all they got are slogans well God God not a
white beater I don't know why I gave him a southern accent but God not a white beater man folks they
don't know why they believe what they believe they just go by stupid commentaries and books
written by people who aren't even saved half the time they don't know why they believe the
pre-tribulation rapture they don't know why they believe in Zionism they don't know why they keep
repeating ad nauseam you got pray for Israel pray for well why have you read galatians chapter 3
have you read galatians chapter 4 have you studied what Jesus Christ said when he said the kingdom
shall be taken from you and given forth to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof or given
to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Jesus believe in replacement theology now the
sermon's not about replacement theology but I'm kind of venting a little bit here at these people
who don't study their bible all they do is regurgitate these slogans you here's why folks
they're not reading the bible they're not studying the bible they're distracted by things of the
world I was at work the other day somebody asked me came up to me like hey did you see game of
thrones apparently game of thrones is ending or ended or uh the last episode aired and I said no
okay I was nice about it in my head I'm like you mean pornography that's what it is and you know
what there are Christians today instead of studying their bible they're watching game of thrones
okay they're watching these these these filthy tv shows filled with a bunch of smut and degeneracy
and deviancy and wickedness and sin and they're wasting their time sitting there watching hbo
while their bible collects dust you know there are people who would die to be able to own one of
these but here in the united states we have the freedom to own one and for most Christians it's
just sitting on the desk sitting on the nightstand collecting dust they're not studying the bible
because if they were they'd be able to actually give you a verse to defend what they believe
not just these innocuous slogans okay but they're too busy watching their little tv shows
just like the world or they're too busy watching sean hannity or they're too busy listening to rush
limbaugh get in your bible turn that crap off we can't be distracted by worldliness the bible says
in james chapter four i'm going to read it real quick you don't have to turn there in james
chapter number four it says ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of
the world is enmity with god whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of god
saul was the enemy of god it's possible for a saved christian to find themselves in that
predicament and saul was saved and so those who are consumed with worldliness are distracted and
we can't be distracted if we're going to be prepared for battle we can't be distracted by
the television set we can't be distracted by social media i can't tell you how many times
i sat down to read my bible and i'm like let me just check facebook for a little bit first
and then 30 minutes later i'm still scrolling through facebook okay we can't be distracted by
social media we can't be distracted by anything that would divert our attention from what really
matters the battle that really matters let's look at king saul here first samuel chapter 19
and let's see if saul was distracted look what it says in verse number one and saul spake to
jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill david but jonathan saul's son
delighted much in david and jonathan told david saying saul my father seek it to kill thee now
therefore i pray thee take heed to thyself until the morning and abide in a secret place and hide
thyself and i will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art and i will
commune with my father of thee and what i see that will i tell thee and jonathan spake good to
of david unto saul his father and said unto him let not the king sin against his servant against
david because he hath not sinned against thee and because his works have been to the word very good
so saul is targeting david out of envy remember david slew goliath david
had a very good notoriety amongst the children of israel david was someone who was getting the
acclaim rightfully so saul didn't like that he was envious of that and so he seeks to kill him
which is wicked as hell look at look at verse four one more time and jonathan spake good of
david unto saul his father and sent him let not the king sin against his servant jonathan tries
to defend his buddy jonathan tries to defend his his friend here and actually what it works
because saul repents temporarily he changes his mind about chasing david to kill him temporarily
but look down at verse number 10 skip down to verse number 10 saul just goes back and forth
okay i'm going to kill them i'm going to get rid of this guy out of envy but then you know he'll
repent and then you'll go right back to wanting to kill him again he can't figure out what he
wants to do verse number 10 and saul sought to smite david even to the wall with the javelin so
obviously he went right back to wanting to kill him but he slipped away out of saul's presence
and he smoked the javelin into the wall and david fled and escaped that night saul also sent
messengers into david's house to watch him and to slay him in the morning and michael david's wife
told him saying if thou save not thy life tonight tomorrow thou shalt be slain so saul throws a
javelin at david he misses him he sends messengers to watch him and slay him in the morning and it
was david who was warned of this imminent threat that's why he flees go to first samuel chapter 24
first samuel chapter 24 and i'll get to my point here in a moment the reason why i want to cover
the story is to show you how distracted saul really was from the battle that actually matters
look at verse one in first samuel chapter 24 the bible says and it came to pass when saul was
returned from following the philistines that it was told him saying behold david is in the
wilderness of engedi then saul took three thousand chosen men of all israel you hear that three
thousand chosen men of all out of all israel and went to seek david and his men upon the rocks of
the wild goats and he came to the sheep coats by the way where was a cave and saul went in to cover
his feet and david and his men remained in the sides of the cave so saul is pursuing david out
of envy he wants to kill him but i want you to notice it says he took three thousand men out of
all israel now was that really necessary was it really necessary to waste the time of these three
thousand men who could have been fighting a battle that actually matters instead they're going after
a man after god's own heart because they're distracted with something they shouldn't be
distracted with and it reminds me of these churches today who even though they're saved
and they preach the right gospel just like us they'll attack us why because of our beliefs on
the timing of the rapture because of our beliefs on the reprobate doctrine because of our beliefs
on the jews and it's a waste of time they're wasting their resources saul wasted the resources
of the kingdom of israel here three thousand men to seek out a man after god's own heart makes me
sick and it was all done out of envy
folks when the israelites were commissioned to go wipe out the heat of the nations like i talked
about earlier on in this sermon that was a battle that truly mattered because they were procuring
the promised land but saul distracted with something that's totally useless now if you would
turn to ephishians chapter six and we'll be done ephishians chapter six you say what's the point
of that instead of contending for the faith instead of fighting the good fight of faith
instead of this defending the god of israel saul's chasing after david saul's totally wasting his
time and these other baptist churches who agree with us on salvation who agree with us on the
essential fundamental truths of the christian faith they're too distracted fighting us they
won't join forces with us at the you know for the mega marathon they won't join forces with us
to put together soul-winning marathons soul-winning days where we can go out
and reach the gospel of jesus christ together because of pettiness and you know what i think
it is they're also envious they're envious of the fact that our churches are filled with young men
and women young and old young and old every demographic black white green yellow doesn't
matter young old people who love the lord and their churches are struggling heavily for that
severely for that that's why they think they're in the land to see in church age
so how about speak for yourself buddy we're not in the land to see in church age we're in the
on fire for god church age they don't like that so they're envious that's why saul out of envy
chased david and these lame milk toast baptist churches are fighting us and they're attacking
us and they won't join forces with us to fight a battle that actually matters
now there are other battles that we as christians can get distracted with that might prevent us from
being prepared to contend for the faith to fight the good fight of faith and i'm gonna get one now
i'm gonna mention one now that might offend some people but i'm gonna do it anyway look i believe
9 11 is an inside job okay i have look i've studied it out and and i believe it with all
my heart it was a total inside job designed as a pretext to get us into the war in iraq
but we can't allow ourselves to be completely distracted with trying to evangelize 9 11 truth
we can't allow ourselves to be completely distracted with trying to get everyone to
believe that 9 11 was an inside job and when i first found out about it that's what i was doing
i'd go around with my little 9 11 truth hat everywhere within my community and you know how
we try and evangelize the gospel of jesus christ we'll walk up to people hey uh here's a church
invite you go to church anywhere and we try and lead it to the gospel well i used to do the same
thing with 9 11 truth i'd walk around my hat hey uh so you hear about the how you know 9 11 is an
inside job check check out these videos that's like totally useless because if people think
about this folks if they change their mind about that but they go to hell they die and go to hell
anyway what did you really accomplish nothing and so i'm not against conspiracies i think they're
great i don't have an issue with people who would research them but we can't let it take over our
lives to the point that we're totally distracted by them here's another one that christians get
distracted with a battle that we shouldn't be fighting a battle that's distracting us from
being prepared to contend for the faith how about politics how about all these flag-waving american
flag-waving fox news baptist getting involved in politics getting involved trying to get everyone
to go vote that's their gospel vote for the republican party well news flash for you they're
both wicked they both serve the devil another battle that christians get distracted with here's
another example how about these christians who spend all their time doing apologetics
and debating a bunch of atheists with these pseudo-intellectual arguments
here's how you win somebody to the lord you go to romans chapter 3 you go to romans chapter 3
verse 10 romans chapter 3 verse 23 i prefer the romans road not the apologetics road which
doesn't lead anybody to salvation all it does is give you an opportunity to look good in front
of people it's a battle we shouldn't be involved with it's a battle that distracts us from the
battle that actually matters because guess what no matter what pseudo-intellectual argument you make
that atheist who hates and rejects god ain't gonna change his mind folks
ain't gonna change his mind it's a distraction and so if we want to be prepared for battle if
we want to be prepared to fight the good fight of faith don't get distracted by fighting people
that we shouldn't be fighting like saul did with david don't waste your resources don't get
involved in battles that don't profit anything evangelizing the conspiracies evangelizing you
know the apologetics these little argument debates people have bible says reprobates
are full of debate okay i have no interest in debating anyway i get those requests all the time
debate me you could be no i have better things to do go to ephesians chapter 6 i already told you
to do that the devil wants you to go off into the corner and be distracted by something doesn't
matter because then you're not soul winning then you're not learning bible doctrine okay so in
conclusion you want to be prepared for battle you want to be prepared to contend for the faith
take these steps hate every false way be bold by being filled with the holy spirit cast out fear
and don't be distracted by things that don't matter and waste your resources like saul did
with the three thousand men of israel now you're there in ephesians 6 look what the bible says in
verse 11 as we come to a close here this morning thank you for your attentiveness look at verse
number 11 put on the whole armor of god so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against
the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places this is not a
physical war folks it's a spiritual one and i'm glad to see people here even though this church
has been tried by fire even though this church went through something that you all didn't sign
up for you're still here keep up the fight you guys are prepared for battle my goal here is just
to exhort you to keep going down this road look at verse 13 wherefore take unto you the whole armor
of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand
therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of
faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all
saints and for me the utterance may be given unto me that i may open my mouth boldly to make known
the mystery of the gospel you want to be prepared put on the shield of faith
put on the helmet of salvation and arm yourself with the sword of the spirit
arm yourself with the word of god but you got to be able to use it in order to actually
accomplish something and that takes study which we talked about moments ago but something else that
ephesians chapter 6 referred to is pray pray we have to be in constant prayer with the lord the
bible says pray without ceasing we should do that if we want to be prepared for the faith
the old testament men of valor we read about it earlier on in the sermon they put on physical
equipment they put on the physical weapons of war well we should put on the spiritual paraphernalia
described here in ephesians chapter 6 if we want to be ready to fight the spiritual battle
commissioned for us to fight in the new testament so in conclusion folks the reason why i preached
the sermon is because i want you to be prepared to contend for the faith i want you to be prepared
to fight this spiritual battle that we find ourselves in why because folks here's the thing
okay there's nothing more important today i said it to start you have all these full false churches
deceiving people you've got these false churches making a mockery of the word of god and if you
ever find yourself slipping back into carnality getting a little lukewarm getting a little you
know milk toast i want you to remember this your brothers and sisters here at pure words baptist
church they need you to be on fire for the lord they need you they need you to be plugged in
they need you for fellowship the bible says iron sharpens iron your brothers and sisters in christ
here at pure words baptist church needs you pastor jonathan shelley our pastor myself included he
needs us and he needs you to go out and reach the lost he needs you to go out and knock each and
every solitary solitary door in the city of houston he needs you to hold the fort here at
pure words baptist church he needs you to be plugged in he needs you to go proclaim righteousness
and proclaim the gospel but you know what else it doesn't end with your brothers and
sisters in christ it doesn't end with pastor shelley you know who else needs you god
god needs you
to destroy the lies that are out there in the world god needs you to be on fire for him
god needs you to be prepared for battle and so my prayer for this church and my hope is that after
this sermon if you did feel yourself kind of slipping back that you say in your mind hey
today's a new day the sun is up i'm going to be prepared for battle i'm going to be prepared to
contend for the faith i'm going to be prepared to fight the good fight of faith pastor shelley
our brothers and sisters in christ and god himself needs us together myself included
to be on fire and to prepare for battle let's pray father god i thank you so much for this church
i love this church i pray that everyone here would keep going not fall back and lord that
you would help us to take these steps to cast out fear to hate every false way to
not be distracted by sin and worldliness and battles that don't actually matter
and instead get in your world and preach and teach and get people saved and come to church
each and every week and be on fire because we know you need us we know pastor shelley needs us
and we know our fellow brethren need us to do that which is right because there's no more
important time than now with the falling away going on all around us for us to be plugged in
i pray this prayer in the name of jesus christ amen