(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. Okay, so Psalm chapter 92, and let's just have a little look at a few verses there for a second. So Psalm chapter 92 and from verse 12 which reads, The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing, to show that the Lord is upright, he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. And the title of my sermon today is Planted in the House of the Lord, Planted in the House of the Lord. I'd also like to go to the Lord in a word of prayer before we get started. So Father, I thank you for this great new building that you've given us and thank you for helping us get it all prepared for today. I pray that you just help me now to preach clearly, preach loudly, boldly, preach exactly what you want me to preach. Help me to have understanding, hearts and ears, and just to want to hear what your word has to say. Please fill me with your spirit. Help me to preach boldly and accurately. In Jesus' name we pray all this. Amen. Okay, so we've finally got a long-term church building. Yeah, we've finally got a long-term church building and when I say finally, look, it's been a struggle. It's been really hard to find somewhere that's willing to be a church and I think ultimately God had a plan because, you know, just even getting this prepared and the costs of a lot of the stuff wouldn't have been possible without that building we'd had before. Look, so much wouldn't have been possible. We managed to have a place for 18 months nearly which was amazing and in fact more than that from when we first started meeting there and then just to find somewhere, it seemed to be getting harder and harder to just find someone that would take us without planning permission, then to find somewhere, you know, within a couple of weeks of being told we had to be out was just amazing and the whole thing's been amazing and just been a great kind of, you know, for me just a great strength builder and faith and a strengthener and everything else and it's been a great journey and look, now we're in a great building, we're in a place which hopefully we can just really make our home now in the long term and many people probably never thought that we would get this far. That's the truth, there are many people around this country that didn't think we'd get this far, there might even be people in this room that didn't think we'd get this far, people that have been sitting with us before that didn't think we'd get this far. Why did they not think we'd get this far? Well, for a few reasons and maybe it was, maybe part of it was a building issue, just thinking how are you going to get somewhere brother Ian, how are you going to get somewhere that you could turn into a church, maybe it was a few other things, maybe the fact that we stayed open, the fact that we stayed open a year and a half ago when every other church was shutting, maybe people thought no chance, when we started this church it was in the middle of what some would call a pandemic and others would call a pandemic and others would say was a load of nonsense and others maybe don't think that, but either way we managed to keep going, we managed to keep preaching, not only did we keep preaching but pretty much everyone here kept soul winning, or the people that were here at the beginning and we had our doors open, we were soul winning and people I'm sure didn't think that was going to last and they probably thought you're going to get shut down, we're going to get shut down, but God didn't let us get shut down did he, he didn't let us get shut down and look there were some tests that came with that, there were some challenges, we kept soul winning, we kept preaching, we're what they call an NIFB church aren't we, we're a new independent fundamental baptist church and no that doesn't mean that we're a carbon copy of any other church, in fact the closest church we are is obviously our sending church or foundation baptist church, but we still do things slightly differently in some ways we're a unique church but we're part of a unique group of churches as well and a unique group of churches which again people think wouldn't last in a nation like this, how many people thought that we could even have an NIFB church in this nation, I remember a few years back just thinking anyone comes here to preach they're just going to get sent home aren't they and they're not going to be allowed to preach, preach what the word of God commands us to preach and when you're saying well what are you talking about brother Ian because you're not preaching YouTube messages on sodomites every week, well you know there's a lot of things that get a church like us shut down and there's a lot of things that people hate and a lot of things which result in a church like this not being able to run a church which preaches the word of God basically the truth and that's what we preach here don't we the truth we preach about the Zionism fraud don't we yeah we preach about the Zionism fraud how many churches in this nation are preaching about the Zionism fraud how many churches are preaching about these wicked jews that say they're jews but are not but at the synagogue of satan they're not preaching about it are they why are they not preaching about it because they're scared but a lot of people didn't think we'd be able to preach about that did they and look we happen to have studied the book of Romans it came up a lot in the book of Romans isn't it okay but that's that's the way it is isn't it and a church which does still preach the truth about the sodomite agenda and look we preach the truth about that don't we and we've had you know we preach passages like Romans 1 from here we've had men preach the truth about the sodomites in the men's preaching nights and i've preached about the sodomites many times here behind this pulpit and we're still going aren't we yeah we're still going but people probably didn't think we would still be running they thought that you'd be getting banged up already you'd be in you'd be in prison maybe some sadly were hoping that but no we're still preaching about the perversion in this nation the perversion absolutely everywhere and we preach about that haven't we yeah and this church we you've come here you've sat here you're part of a church which preaches about all the wickedness that goes on here about the false vaccine science again how many churches are preaching about that preach about that live on youtube and look okay maybe oh well you're such a small channel brother and it doesn't matter yeah we'll we'll still preach it aren't we and people didn't think we'd be preaching it and we're preaching about the wickedness out there all these lies out there all these all these money-making shams out there what about the baby murder industry again do people think we'd be able to preach about that for a year and a half preach sermons dedicated to that preach parts of sermons on that about the amount of babies getting murdered but we're still here aren't we we're still here and we now have a permanent building and we're still here what about false religions many people say that one of the reasons pastor stephen anderson's banned from here it seems is he starts on islam on that wicked wicked vile false religion called islam but we preach about that here don't we yeah and no one's getting sent away from here yet and i haven't been arrested yet because i'm preaching the word of god because it's the word of god and it's the truth and it's the truth that that is a wicked false religion a wicked false religion who whose major number one prophet is an open paedophile and we'll preach that from this pulpit and we'll preach the truth won't we yeah and we're still preaching it and that means that we have had and we'll continue to have opposition we're going to continue to have opposition in this church aren't we okay and we've had opposition such as from the beginning and some of it is becoming a bit of a distant memory but we did have the covid police out if you could call them that i don't really know what they were but we had on our first service we have we had them out we had real police not plastic police but we had real police out when we were soul winning and and they came out a couple of times a couple of people have had issues with the police i had them called on me for daring to try and preach the gospel with my family to two teenage girls when i had children with me but apparently that's that's wicked we've had council representatives trying contact trying to get involved trying to trying to tell us we have to prove this and show that we're still here aren't we we've had the local media on us that was quite fun the local media doing a piece of this just as we were becoming a church and and again the criticism for going out because that's the truth isn't it is the rest of it the rest of it is look they use it as a reason but what do they really hate it's the soul winning what they really hate it's the soul winning church yeah they'll blame it on the sodomites yeah they'll blame it on the jews yeah they'll blame it on preach the truth about islam they'll blame it on covid but the truth is it's so winning isn't it it's so winning but we're still preaching we're still going out and preaching the gospel we've had local media we've had fly tippers do you remember the the fly tipping debacle in our old building guy would just and again it was someone that had access to the building it was just dumping piles of rubbish in our car park but we're still here aren't we and we still got in and we still ended up so we had people trying to that just reminded we had someone like blocking our gate once didn't we on a sunday just parked across our gate for the day but that car got moved didn't it one way or another we've had we've had stalkers we've had online stalkers not many but we've had a few we've had we've had infiltrators come into the church we've had various weirdos and am i right in thinking that we had a catholic priest here last week was he definitely a catholic priest can anyone vouch for that he was actually a priest yeah a minister in a catholic church came here and then while i was talking to someone else started telling everyone that we need to be more ecumenical apparently and just for the record he is banned all right so ushers please don't ever let this guy back in but we've had we've had a few funny ones in here haven't we over the time and look all of that will increase yeah and it will get worse and we are going to get more and more of this sort of stuff so how in fact have we actually got this far because we have had some weirdos haven't we we've had some opposition we haven't had it hasn't been crazy yet and it's going to probably get worse isn't it because that's the nature of this thing well first off it's because it's because god built our church yeah god built this church didn't he yeah it's not it's not about me it's not about pastor thompson it's not about everyone in here ultimately it's god that built our church yeah god's building our church he's continued to build it you'd have to turn a bit in matthew 16 18 the lord jesus christ said and i say also unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and god's built his church and that does mean that the opposition will increase okay so if you're thinking well you know maybe some people sitting here thinking oh i hope we don't get anything else we are going to get some more stuff come happen yeah okay we're going to get stuff from the inside we're going to get stuff from the outside we're going to get all sorts of things will come up and and and try and destabilize and try and destroy us but god's building our church isn't he yeah god's given us a new building god's planted us in wickford but there are also there are also many of god's people here yeah and god uses his people that have helped keep this ship sailing okay many people here and look everyone who's just been turning up to church to some degree has kept this ship sailing if i was turning up here and there's no one here maybe maybe this this church wouldn't have i probably wouldn't have turned up myself after a little while but look look everyone here has done that but there've been some some people as well and look you know this is for me this is a moment to stay okay this is a moment to stay and for many it might not be they're coming okay yeah yeah cool we've got a new building a bit annoying that we're not across the road from sainsbury's anymore and it's a bit and we've got to walk an extra five ten minutes yeah some they might be thinking at least i've got to drive a bit less time yeah it's a bit a bit less of a drive some people are probably just need neither or it's just like yeah cool okay let's crack on yeah but for me this is a massive day okay because i through blood sweat and tears i've tried to find a building for 18 months and we finally i'm finally preaching out of a new building okay and to finally have a new building and feel like we finally have a home to be able to plan around this to be able to plan around hopefully people getting planted in this church it's been monumental so on that on that there is someone that i haven't made a point to thank you before because she doesn't like me talking about it in public but my wife has been such a great help with all of this she's been absolutely amazing she's going red already now and staring at the ground because that's what she does but look this i couldn't have done this without her the support the prayers the help all the stuff she does behind the scenes basically being a single mum for a lot of the time that she's here is and and half the week and in fact the last few weeks especially i've nearly forgotten my kids names and i did forget my wife's name a couple of times okay so look it's and and it's not just it's not just in the build up to this it's been over the last 18 months and the great support but also my children as well and my my oldest children especially the amount of hard work they've put in i mean they were here till borderline midnight last night just sweeping and cleaning and helping and tidying and that there's been there's been a lot a lot of support but there's also it's not just my family and my family have done a lot to help this happen and they've put in a lot of work but there there's a lot of people around here who have just been just been a great support a great support with with whether it's kind words whether it's just just supportive just being good church members just people that have just wanted to muck in want to help out want to do stuff want to just be a help no no ulterior motives just getting stuck in just just even if it's just the pleasant faces so some people look they live fast some people aren't able to necessarily help so much hands on but even if it's just looking around and seeing friendly faces when you're preaching seeing people that just want to hear seeing people that aren't mumbling muttering under their breasts people that just aren't complaining the rest of it people that just cause you no trouble okay and that it's been great and so many people here have been a great help to having this church running as it is to get to this point like i said this is a momentous occasion for me to be here and look thank you for everyone here thank you for everyone that's that's coming thank you for everyone you know how much you've helped you know if you have i haven't you know if you've you've been praying for us every single bit just really helps and i hope you are i hope that you are supporting i hope everyone here wants to support because this is a big deal okay this church is a big deal we're now a big deal in wickford okay we're a big deal in the uk yeah if if you're wondering are we a big deal in the uk yeah we're a big deal in the uk and it's not because i'm a big deal because people go brother ian lift himself up no it's just because we're one of the few churches preaching the truth okay because we're one of the few churches going out soul winning we have people coming from all over the country we had someone come last week just to get baptized from up in leeds just to get baptized we had people visit from invanest we've had people visit from holland we've had people visit from switzerland we've had people visit from from poland we've had people visit from over europe to come to this nation we've got more still wanting to come and visit probably some of them didn't think we'd still be here and now we are they want to come here this is a big deal okay and where it's a big deal it means it needs your support yeah it needs every single person's support here in this church and i thank you for everyone that has because it is a relief isn't it it's a relief to have a church here that even goes soul winning isn't it that even just goes so winning a church which if you try and go so winning you don't start getting frowns and and little digs and little comments from the pastor at the church for daring to even want to go so winning yeah it's a great thing isn't it great thing to have a church like that a church that actually believes the gospel how about that a church that believes what is said in black and white in the bible yeah a church that believes the gospel isn't that nice to have because yeah i believe the gospel yeah and and i will tell you time and time again if i ever said i didn't believe the gospel then you'd have every right to just walk out of here as fast as you could but i believe the gospel and i'll make it clear and i'll never start saying one thing out of one side of my mouth and then start whispering repent of your sins out the other side and how many churches do that you can't even believe that when they say they believe the gospel because deep down they don't but yeah we believe the gospel here and i hope everyone here believes the gospel we believe the bible isn't it nice to have a church that believes the bible not just believes bits of peace but believes the whole word of god and i believe every word of god and i hope everyone here believes every word of god is it a relief to have it it's something to be appreciated something to say i'm at a church which preaches the bible which preaches the heart look yeah you might not like my preaching you might maybe not like the way i there might be things i say a bit weird there might be things you know little catchphrases i have little fillers and the rest of it that every preacher has when you sit and listen to someone for three hours a week plus you're gonna sometimes find things that you're gonna be a bit oh he's you know that's his little in in filler word or something else but is it just nice to just hear the word of god preached is it nice to hear the gospel do not wonder when's the repent of your sins going to come out or any of the rest of it look it's just look it's great just to have a church isn't it and do you know what makes what what what that makes this place do you know what that makes this place to have a place which has the word of god which preaches the gospel which which sends you out soul winning which believes the bible that makes this the house of the lord doesn't it the house of the lord or the house of god you're in the house of god right now and i would hazard a guess and say there's very few houses of the lord left in this nation and you're sitting in in one of the remaining ones okay you're sitting in there and i don't think there's another one on fire like this church is i don't see any other church in this nation where that many people are going out week in week out soul winning you are in the ultimate house of the lord in the uk okay and you're sitting in there in some industrial building in wickford and it's the house of god it's the house of the lord yeah it doesn't have pretty pictures of graven images there yeah yeah it doesn't have people wearing dresses wandering around and young boys dressed as women singing like girls yeah yeah it doesn't have any of that but it's the house of god because you're coming to the house of lord not the house of bale aren't you yeah and isn't that a great thing to come to the house of the lord but it's one thing being here yeah you come here good on you you made the trip you made the journey for some it's a big journey it's another thing to be planted in the house of the lord okay you want to be planted in the house of the lord don't you well that's what the psalmist said psalm 92 in verse 13 it said those that be planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of our god they shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing so how do we get planted how do we get planted well think of yourself like a like a young tree or a plant or a bush or something like that when it's time to plant that tree there are certain criteria for successful planting aren't there yeah there's certain criteria you can't just grab something just shove it any which way you can a lot of the time it's not gonna it's not gonna take is it there's certain criteria and when it comes to us we want to be successfully planted so to be successfully planted in the house of lord number one you need the right conditions okay you need the right conditions if you take certain plants and put them in the wrong soil they won't survive you know that yeah okay i'm giving you a little lesson here on horticulture and i'm no expert on horticulture but i know a little if you put them in the wrong temperature yeah they won't necessarily survive yeah you put them in the wrong amount of sunlight they won't survive yeah and sometimes it can be a bit of trial and error with things you think you've killed another one oh why is this one not taking and sometimes that's what happens you need to be in the right conditions you need to be planted in the right conditions and that's the same with us we need to be planted in the right place don't we psalm 92 look at verse one here it's the psalm or song for the sabbath day and no this is not a sabbath day the sabbath has has been fulfilled but this is the first day of the week and that's when we worship and this is quite fitting i think here because that's when they worship was on the sabbath day it is a good thing to give thanks unto the lord and to sing praises unto thy name oh most high so that's why we thank god here in prayer isn't it yeah it's not just that in song it's also in prayer as well isn't it yeah and we want to thank god we want to praise god we want to give thanks unto the lord but that's why we sing to the lord as well and you know the indwelling holy spirit inside you wants that the flesh doesn't always want that the flesh might want the rock music the flesh might not want to be praying the flesh might want to be doing other things the flesh might want to be planning what you're doing tomorrow what you're eating for dinner tonight when the prayers are going on but the spirit wants to pray it's the spirit that wants to pray the spirit wants to sing fitting praise unto the lord yeah verse two says to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night so those conditions need to be consistent don't they when you plant when you plant something the conditions need to be consistent it's no good well i've got i've got a plant that needs really hot temperatures so well it's a hot day today it's going to be fine because as soon as it gets cold at night i mean you put a you put a young plant out and it starts getting the frost that's the end of those plants i mean that can be frustrating can't it waiting for that last frost especially in the uk where the weather changes every you know every year you don't know okay april's going to be safe to put out those young vegetable plants and then they all die because we had a sudden you get frost in may can't you in the uk you've got to keep an eye on the weather forecast because you got to start covering things bringing them in etc well they need with us as well those conditions need to be consistent don't they yeah we need to consistently praise the lord here we need to consistently sing fitting praises to the lord for us to be planted properly in the house of god right for the holy spirit to be comfortable and happy being planted in the house of lord verse three says upon an instrument of 10 strings and upon the psaltery upon the harp with a solemn sound not upon the drums with the rock music is it amen okay not upon the drums not upon the electric guitar and all this and it's amazing how they've palmed that off to most of the world to think that that's actually a nice sound isn't it i mean it's amazing isn't it it's that's quite a good sham but no it's not on any of that is it it's upon instruments of 10 strings the the the psaltery the heart it's a solemn sound isn't it a solemn sound it's not some sort of discotheque we're not in a discotheque here in case you're wondering because sometimes they convert industrial units into discotheques yeah but we're not doing that here are we this isn't some sort of squat party is it i know it's a bit rough around the edges still we're not finished yet okay but it's not a squat party here right it's not some sort of rave yeah no we're in the house of the lord and the house of the lord he wants us to to to show forth his loving kindness in the morning his faithfulness every night upon an instrument of 10 strings upon the sultry upon the heart of the solemn sound that's why the words of the hymns are important yeah that's why you want to be planted properly you need to make sure you're in the house of god which has proper doctrine in the hymns yeah that's showing forth that his loving kindness his faithfulness every night that's morning and night by the way isn't it yeah notice that they didn't just turn up on the sabbath day yeah tick the box and then that was the end of it yeah that was morning and night romans 12 to that of turn it says and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god why would a church want to be conformed to this wicked world why would a church want to be conformed why would they why would they want to sit there and go we need to be a bit more like the world we need to get a bit more worldly music going because people will like that more that's it is wicked isn't it amen but how many of them are like that but here's the thing yeah if you're planted in the house of the lord and you want to be planted there do you think you should be going home and listening to that junk no do you think it's just when you're in the church well when you're in church you listen to the hymns when you're in church the doctrine's strong in the hymns the hymns are nice it's a solemn sound and everything else but when you get home when you're in the car on the way home now it's time for the rock music now it's time for the worldly music do you think that's going to help you get plants in the house of lord how hard is that going to be to be planted here if you're just constantly feeding the flesh with the junk feeding the flesh with the trash feeding the flesh with the with the mtv then and let's be honest most pretty much all christian rock all that crock of you know what all that christian rap all that crap all of that rubbish you're feeding your flesh with that do you think you're going to be happily planted in the house of lord when it's when it's when it's a hymns when it's clear doctrine when it's just nice nice reverent praise of the lord and worship of the lord no you need to cut that out of your life don't you you need to cut that out you want to be planted properly so at the end of the day basically what you're doing you're being planted here and then you're just heaping on top of that plant piles of filthy no good soil that's what you're doing you're you're just heaping just the worst grade soil on top and wondering why that plant isn't flourishing why that tree isn't growing oh but but i've been but i'm in the right soil once a week once a week but the rest of the time it's just junk it's rubbish you're just filling it up with that cheap stuff that you got from the guy down at down in the field someone that said don't worry i've got some good soil for you yeah sure it's good soil you know i remember i used to do uh landscape sometimes and the cheapest stuff you could get for topsoil we used to get this stuff oh don't worry screen soil it was like 20 pound a meter and a cubic meters a lot okay you talk about a couple of tons of soil here for 20 quid when they'll charge you know they would have charged for the lone topsoil 75 pound a ton so you get this stuff and you you'd get it on the back of your truck and you tip it off and you'd be putting it out and you just you know you and really like grass grows on anything okay so some of the topsoil is a bit of a sham when it comes to grass anyway okay but you're raking this stuff out and it's got bits of bark and plastic and just everything but soil in it and you're trying to drag this stuff level you're screening it level and you're thinking if my customer comes out here you have to explain to them look it doesn't matter yeah it really doesn't matter because people think it should be like powder you know and it should just fall through the hands and everything else but you can get some real rubbish did you know that you can get some real rubbish soil and that's what you're doing when you're coming to the house of the lord when you're coming to plant yourself in the house of lord and then you're just going home and listening to all that worldly music you're just getting that cheap rubbish soil and some plants need good soil okay not all plants are like nice turf cut and and already got the soil underneath it and you're just putting it on top of something else for the roots to go down into you know we all need some we all need some some good soil don't we yeah we need some good surroundings okay he said uh he said here in verse four for thou lord has made me glad through thy work i will triumph in the works of thy hands the right conditions for a believer is a place that triumphs in the works of god's hands yeah but that is all the works yeah so we triumph in the works of god's hands when we're behind this pulpit when we're singing hymns when we're praying when we're chatting when we're going out soul winning when we're coming back from soul winning but they're all the works of god's hands aren't they yeah so for the right conditions to be planted in the right place in the right conditions we need to make sure in a church like this that we continue to to triumph in all the works of god's hands such as his death on the cross paying for all our sins yeah every single one of our sins that's a triumph isn't it that's a triumph for the works of god's hands such as his creation that's why we don't want anyone here going around whispering about gap theories yeah or you know or millions and billions of years and well it's just some sort of it's more of a just a general story that no we believe in a literal six-day creation don't we yeah and and we believe in a young earth don't we we might believe in what was made an old earth but it was a young earth yeah it was only here six thousand odd years ago because that's what the word of god says and we believe that here we're not going to be whispering anything else around this church are we and we'll be catching people out let do but we believe in that and because we triumph in the works of god's hands his righteous judgments we triumph in as well don't we yeah all the righteous judgments and that includes every single word of the old testament we triumph in don't we yeah they're bits that don't apply to us yeah the meats drinks and diverse washings and car illnesses don't apply to us but there's nothing wrong with them are there and we triumph in the works of god's hands we definitely triumph in in his moral law don't we yeah we try we're not embarrassed about that are we and we're and our the holy spirit inside you want to be in surroundings which agree with the holy spirit right and that comes from the word of god we triumph in the works god's hands such as sodom and gomorrah don't we yeah that was a work of god's hands wasn't it yeah was it not god that rained down fire and brimstone on those wicked perverts yeah we triumph in that don't we we try and think that was a just judgment of god wasn't it on a wicked place and we're not embarrassed about that are we oh well you know some of that stuff is old testament no no i hope no one here says that i hope no one here comes out with that sort of rubbish when they're in the wrong sort of company the company that they're a bit embarrassed look you don't have to go and start spouting off to everyone and hi pleased to meet you i'm i'm ian let me tell you about sodom and gomorrah yeah but when it comes up in conversation i hope you triumph in the work of god's hands yeah because it's not just me it's the surroundings of the church isn't it yeah those roots go far with the plant don't they you want to be planted those roots go far and it's about the surroundings as well it's about the people in the church as well he said in verse five oh lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep because the right conditions aren't ashamed of his works are they they're not ashamed of his works but that soil is deep too isn't it yeah you need some deep soil you need some deep good quality soil if you're going to be planted properly and that's why we do bible studies here as well that's why it's not always you know just motivational sermons but that's why you need to be here for the bible studies as well okay because it's one thing turning up on a sunday morning and hearing on a sunday morning maybe it's more of a kind of general you know what what some might call a topical sermon and it's preaching encouragement things like that sometimes it's discouragement but you know it's still part and parcel of it yeah but you need to be coming to bible studies as well yeah you need to be hearing the deeper things of the word of god his thoughts are very deep and look the more we go through verse by verse how deep are the thoughts of the of the lord hey they're so deep and when you dwell on those verses you see how deep they are and wow we've just been going through through the gospel of matthew and there's some some layers you can just keep unpeeling and unpeeling can't you and look and i can't do it justice myself but look you need to be here and at least go through those verses verse by verse because planting can have challenges can't it okay planting can have challenges turn to mark chapter four young trees need protection by the way yeah young trees need protection parents don't forget that but don't forget that with new believers as well you put and you put some young tree out there and the wind's battering it and the rain's battering it and the sun's battering it a lot of them they won't survive yeah they need protection we need to make sure that we protect the new people in this church that we're kind to them that we're loving to them that we're kind and loving to the children in this church as well older trees how about older trees can be really hard successfully transplant can't they ever tried that before ever tried putting an older tree in a pot into something new and a lot of time it's pot bound isn't it those roots are just so just in they won't go any further sometimes you're trying to peel those roots away and that could be what it's like having someone who's been in bad churches for a long time coming into a church like this someone that's set in their old ways someone that's been in some sort of old bad churches coming to church like this can be hard for them can't it it can be hard it can be hard to release those roots and get them to spread and get them to start being a healthy plant again but again we we need to try and do that we need to be patient with people don't we we need to be loving to people we need to be calm with people we need to not obviously just someone news come in they they've been at some badge they must be they must be some sort of reprobate because they're they're spouting you know they don't sound exactly like we sound yeah and we ought to be careful that sometimes sometimes you want someone to go you know exactly how we preach the gospel to show the same it's not always like that is it okay but yeah we need to we need to we need to look out for those challenges and like i said we all have a responsibility here to keep the conditions right okay everyone here it's everyone's responsibility plants need nutrient rich soil and our plants need nutrient rich soil with full sun yeah we need full sun full nutrient we need the best soil that's the sort of plant we are what happens if the conditions are wrong you turn to mark chapter four didn't you look at verse one and he began again to teach by the seaside and it was gathered unto him a great multitude so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land and he taught them many things by parables and said unto them in his doctrine hearken behold there went out of so it's so and it came to pass as he sowed some fell by the wayside and the fowls of the air came and devoured up and some fell on stony ground where it had not much earth and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth but when the sun was up it was scorching because it had no root it withered away and some fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no fruit another fell on good ground and he'd yield fruit that sprang up and increased and brought forth some 30 and some 60 some 100 and he said unto them he that have ears to hear let him hear and when he was alone they that were about him with the 12 asked of him the parable so he's told him this parable yeah he's told him this parable and praise god we have we have the explanation to the parable here and in fact we have the explanation to the parable in three different gospels so we can really compare as well and really get to the bottom of this parable we were just reading mark 4 here and he says here in verse 11 and he said unto them unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of god but unto them that are without all these things are done in parables that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand lest at any time they should be they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them and he said unto them no you're not this parable and how then will you know all parables the sower soweth the word and these are they these are they by the wayside where the word is sown but when they have heard satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness and have no root in themselves and so endure but for a time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake immediately they are offended if the conditions are wrong and the roots won't grow like the seed here on stony ground then it says here when they've heard the word immediately they receive it with gladness but they have no roots themselves they endure for time and then when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake immediately they are offended we want to make sure the conditions are right here for the roots to grow for the roots to flourish so when the persecution affliction comes in all of your lives which it will if you're serving god and you're living righteously and you're doing things for god you will suffer persecution you will have affliction but if your roots are spread your roots are healthy you're healthily planted then you're less likely to be offended you're less likely to fall away in that time you're less likely to drop out of church so to be successfully planted in the house of lord number one you need the right conditions number two you need to remove the weeds okay number two you need to remove the weeds because the right conditions attract weeds too and there are many different types of weeds so you're in mark four we're going to look there because for starters there are the thorns aren't that the thorns he says here mark 4 verse 18 and these are they which are sown among thorns such as hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word and it become unfruitful and of course you don't want to be planted among thorns to start with do you okay and that would happen if you got saved you went to church and you just went to some wicked worldly church some wicked what just full of worldly people full of unsaved full of worldly christians full of all sorts of different types of thorns just choking the word encouraging covetousness encouraging the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh all that sort of stuff you wouldn't you don't want to be there do you because you're going to get choked straight away and then you're going to become unfruitful but thorns just seem to keep coming back if you notice that you ever dug up brambles in your garden try and cut them even digging them up it's hard enough a lot of the time isn't it but you cut them as low as you can you think you've got the whole thing out and they just come back don't they and they come back and come back and you have to remember that that's one of the reasons why a church like this has to keep preaching on those thorns on those deceitfulness of riches on those lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes that's why you're going to hear it preach time and time again that's why you're going to sit here thinking oh you know where's the love where's the love he's preaching onto yeah that's that's the love he's preaching on sin he's getting the the sin out of your lives because otherwise you're going to get choked and you don't want to get choked getting choked isn't very fun is it where's brother john is he is he out here brother john here was i think he did some bjj tournament didn't he i'm sure some people tried to choke him yesterday and i bet it wasn't very fun that part of it oh god it's fun when you get out of the choke but it's not nice getting choked is it okay and you don't want to be getting choked by these things and it can feel like you're choking when you're surrounded by all this sin and you feel like you're losing that battle with sin it can feel like you're just being choked being choked by these wicked things around and there are so many of them aren't there there's so many of them and you don't want them there in the first place you need them preaching out but you also have to take responsibility too don't you okay everyone here look i could preach behind this pulpit okay and that's kind of as as far as it's going to go i can help you out if you come to me for help okay and other people can help you out but look you need to take responsibility at home you need to set things in your life whatever it is what your issues are and everyone here is going to have individual problems and issues and temptations those thorns will keep growing back and you've got to keep chopping them down you've got to hack them down you've got to cut them away and you've got to make sure you do it with a sharp tool as well yeah the sharpest tool the word of god but you can't you got to keep doing it you can't well i've got rid of that thing now i'm all right now i've got rid of the booze yeah i had a problem with booze but i got rid of the booze now i'm all right to go and hang around with my unsafe friends in the pub do you think you're all right to hang around with the unsafe friends in the pub no i got i'm all right yeah i got rid of the booze but you know well i'm just you know they're drinking they're not safe so it's all right do you think that's all right but you think that that's that might not creep up on you well i got rid of the marijuana maybe it was a marijuana i got rid of smoking weed yeah i got rid of that i don't do that anymore but you know it's all right to just go and see those people isn't it because i might get a chance to preach the gospel to them well they're kind of sitting there spaced out going yeah man sounds great yeah anyway because really you're not going to really do much pre you're not going to get much much saving going on there are you okay but whatever your issue is maybe maybe you had an issue with porn yeah because a lot of people have an issue with porn i preached about this before mate and i'm going to be careful i'm scanning i'm not trying to focus on anyone because uh i hope no one did but the chance on a room like this there might be people that have and if you have had that issue you need to set some limits especially on your online surf you need to make sure you need to get off pretty much all social media i'll be honest with you okay because if you've had a problem like that you're going to have all that stuff in your face look let's be honest the way just any women dress nowadays is is was pornography not many years ago you can't be staring at that stuff if you've had a problem with that you need to cut that out of your life and look we could go through a list of common sins that you need to make sure you distance yourself from okay you need to make sure that you keep those thorns away you cut those thorns down any which way you can okay go back to psalm 92 because there are other types of weeds too there are other types of weeds verse five in psalm 92 says oh lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep a brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this these are not only unbelievers but the wicked this is the devil's children when the wicked spring as the grass and when all the works of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed forever when grass goes to seed it gets everywhere have you noticed that yeah when it go you just get grass growing up all over the place it's sometimes it seems like it doesn't even need soil it just needs like a tiny little layer of dirt and suddenly you've got grass growing up it gets everywhere and so do the wicked okay even the house of the lord and i'm not going to go off on one with that but i'll regularly warn you about that because people just seem to forget that even the house of lord now these sorts of weeds will destroy you okay they will destroy you that's what their goal is they'll take the nutrients okay they'll take away your new they'll attract the bugs as well you notice that with weeds they just always see the loads of bugs around them and then the bugs start getting on the plant they take away the nutrients of the plants they shade the plants sometimes they even wrap around the plants they do many many different things and look we need to keep the weeds out of our life the ivy will literally suck the life out of you won't it yeah you've seen ivy when it's destroyed a tree just just terrible is it you look at the tree it's so green no it's the ivy the ivy's green the tree's dead yeah because it will they will they will surround you they'll choke you they'll suck the life out of you but they're everywhere they do spring as the grass they flourish it says here the workers of iniquity do flourish and they need regular removal from your life okay and that includes outside the church you want to be planted in the house of the lord you need to make sure that you're removing these sorts of people from your life okay we're not talking about the unsaved we're talking about the wicked we're talking about the workers of iniquity we're talking about reprobates you need to remove them how do you remove them from your life well you need to recognize them first and when you recognize them you get rid of them okay and look they have many areas of life where christians sitting in a church like this will then go home and go well you know but it's cousin whoever they're all right they're harmless even though they're a flaming sodomite yeah or it's you know well it's just the teacher at my kid's school but there's some viral reprobate or well it's just some you know i you know they're a family member yeah they go around preaching a false gospel but i just think they're unsaved they're still savable i just debate with them week after week month after month yeah look people are going and preaching false gospels they're going out and bringing a false gospel to you look the bible says what those types of people are yeah let them be accursed let them be accursed and we have to make we have to draw lines in our life don't we okay these types of people you have to draw those lines turn aside to turn some 101 turn to some 101 david's talking about these types of people in psalm 101 101 it's the psalm of david and from verse 1 psalm 101 verse 1 reads i will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee oh lord will i sing i will behave myself wisely in a perfect way oh when wilt thou come unto me i will walk within my house with a perfect heart i will set no wicked thing before mine eyes i hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me now many go to this verse to as a good example about not watching tv don't they yeah they say i will set no wicked thing before mine eyes yeah and that is a wicked thing isn't it there's very little you'll find on the television that isn't wicked okay if you're sitting there just staring at all sorts not i would say 90 of what you're looking at is wicked okay so i will set no wicked thing before my eyes now that would for me include a lot of social media that would include a lot of a lot of internet watching is wickedness let's be honest a lot of stuff that people then eventually start going towards they go down these youtube rabbit trails the next thing you know they can't they're setting wickedness before their eyes okay now that's true isn't it but here's the thing with that he says i hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me then he says a froward's heart shall depart from me i will not know a wicked person you want to be planted in the house of lord yeah but you know more about some sort of vile reprobate who's all over tv some celebrity sodomite you know more about them a lot of the time you know about jesus christ don't you there are people here i'm sure that know more about some wicked vile reprobate out than they do about jesus christ that know everything about and what they do where they eat where they go who they who they're with and everything else and and they're wicked people aren't they all these people in the public eye the vast majority of wicked people aren't they and and yet how many people are still following their lives still care about who it is they're dating who it is they know who it is that they're you know that they're hanging around with who it is that they fell out with recently and all this stuff and that doesn't have to be on the tv does it that could just be reading about these people how about read the word of god eh how about read stuff which actually has any substance because we don't want to know a wicked person do we i will not know a wicked person and that includes what comes through your tv so you could sit there and go well yeah but you know i'm gonna i'm it's not that bad it's not that's it and you're just watching all these reprobates and sodomites playing some sort of you know some sort of game of acting where they're doing all sorts of wicked stuff it's all sort of blood and gore and filth and innuendo and smut and the rest of it oh well yeah it's not that bad is it no it's bad yeah you're getting to know that wicked person aren't you yeah you're watching some sort of show some sort of series and know more about that than you know about the word of god you want to be planted in the house of the lord yeah you need to make sure you get those weeds away from you don't you yeah cut those weeds down pluck them out get them out of your life forward heart shall depart me i will not know a wicked person who so privily slandereth his neighbor him will i cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not i suffer and those weeds need cutting down and these are sort of classic traits of these types of people he says mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight these are these are classic traits as i said yeah these are the sorts of things you see of these types of people now he's talking clearly here about reprobates about the wicked i will early destroy all the wicked of the land i may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the lord and we need them out of our lives don't we okay get them out of your lives get them out of your lives go back to psalm 92 and verse 7 when the wicked spring as the grass psalm 92 and verse 7 when the wicked spring as the grass when all the works of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed forever okay their end is coming isn't it their end is coming but thou lord art most high forevermore for lo thine enemies oh lord for lo thine enemies shall perish all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered yes they're god's enemies which makes them our enemies yeah okay which makes them our enemies too but they're god's enemies first and foremost okay so to be successfully planting the house lord number one you need the right conditions number two you need to remove the weeds and look seriously i'm not just ah well he's just coming out with some you know analogies for planting it look it's for real look people who just surround themselves with those sorts of people eventually will drop out of church people that that are in just just bad churches churches which become the poor conditions of bad conditions people won't end up being able to be planting those churches and number three you need to uh you need to regularly water okay you need to regularly water to be successfully planting the house of the lord you you can have the right conditions can't you you could dig out all of those weeds you could get the perfect soil you plant something in there you get it all right you've got the right amount of sun you've got the right amount of shade you've got the right amount of wind and you don't want to that plant what's going to happen it's going to die yeah it's going to die it's not going to survive it's going to it's if you don't water it enough it's going to be a weak and sickly plant isn't it you plant you plant that tree even if you just water it you water it once at the beginning okay great i've given it a really good water if you look that's not enough once a week isn't it twice three times a week three to five it's not enough is it it's not enough you need watering you know the sort of plant we are the sort of tree we are it has on the label must water every day cannot have enough water drown it cannot be drowned yeah more and more and more water does our plant need yeah okay it needs a lot of sun as well it needs the face of the lord shining down but it needs water it needs water more than anything else it needs water what's our water the word of god the word of god and our like i said our label does save plenty of water it now it's not just that we need water it's not just that we need like the ground being hosed with water do you know what we need as well we need our whole body covered in it we're that plant that needs soaking with water it just needs to be sprayed you get these plants like that and you don't want to do it in full sun by the way okay then they get scorched yeah but you need to you need to spray that plant with water that sort of plant that we are you have turn ephesians 5 26 talks about christ loving the church that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word by the word it's the word of god isn't it it's the word of god turn of revelation 22 because the word of god isn't just any old water is it and we can't just have any old water and you know there are gardeners there they're really fussy about the water they use you know that they won't just they won't just spray it straight out of tap they find they don't want the chlorine they don't want the other things in the tap water there are there are gardeners out there that will actually use a little thermostat a little thermal like an aquarium heater to get the the water temperature just right for their plants and do you know what water they like the most stuff that comes from up there it's rain water isn't it the stuff that comes from god yeah they want the real wood they want the pure water not man's version of the water revelation 22 verse 1 says and he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of god and of the lamb i'll tell you on a hot day like that that sounds nice isn't it clear as crystal pure water that's the pure water but for it to be pure i heard our pastor talk about this once i think i actually saw him doing analogy of this he had a glass of water and he said like this he had like this really pure lovely water and he just put a drop of of mud in it just a drop and what happened to that glass brown yeah would you drink it just a drop just a tiny little crumb of mud in there and the whole thing went brown you wouldn't touch it would you and that's the same with the word of god isn't it yeah the same with the word of god when you when you when you want that pure water it can't even have one bit of corruption in it because one bit of corruption corrupts a whole lot doesn't it just again you don't have to turn there first peter 123 says being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of god which liveth and abide forever that's what's so important that we have every word of god isn't it yeah it's so important that we have the king james bible because if you're going to be watered by the by the pure the pure water crystal clear water well it has to be pure doesn't it if you're going to live by every word of god it has to be pure if there was one bit of corruption in there it's going to corrupt the whole lot isn't it and that's why we know that every word of god is is pure isn't it yeah it's it's a buckler to us it's a shield to us it's absolutely everything we need we have it in this word of god and there's not one error in this word of god is there now turn it back to psalm 92 because that regular watering then revives our spirit so we water with the pure water and then our spirit the holy spirit there it likes that pure water verse 10 where you are in psalm 92 says but my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn i shall be anointed with fresh oil now the anointing with oil is a picture of being filled with the spirit yeah now just for a second here in case anyone it raised an eyebrow there what's this about unicorns said yeah it's the word of god talking about those little pink and white and things flying around is that what it means oh it's got unicorns in there oh look you know i want to laugh you know yeah anyone heard these sort of attacks a bit about the unicorns yeah the god haters like this one you know oh the king jay's bible talks about unicorns like somehow the writers of the bible were talking about these like flying are they ponies types thing ponies with one horn some of the some of the ladies okay yeah so they're ponies ponies with with a single horn is that what the word of god's talking about though no turn a uh job turn a job 39 so unicorn is an animal i believe with one horn like a unicycle now some people argue this but the numbers 23 22 i'm going to read well you turn a job 39 which reads god brought them out of egypt he had as it were the strength of an unicorn does it sound like one of those little my little pony types does it the strength of a unicorn are they known for being strong they're not known for being strong so what are we talking about here well look at job 39 where we see the same thing will the unicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy crib this is job 39 and from verse 9 and we're into verse 10 canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow or will he harrow the valleys after thee wilt thou trust him because his strength is great or wilt thou leave thy labor to him definitely rules out the pink flying ponies doesn't it his strength is great well i believe that's the rhinoceros okay that's what i believe some people debate this some say it's a certain type of oxen or something else but basically it's a strong animal yeah it's a strong animal i believe with one horn i believe it's a rhinoceros and look just because it was called something different it doesn't mean that they must have therefore been talking about something which has been created more recently mythical flying creatures uh that's not what it's talking about here i think the rhinos so back in psalm 92 and that's just a quick kind of advertising break there for unicorns back in psalm 92 the psalmist is talking about being lifted up in strength and honor being anointed with the spirit and for that you need regular watering with the word of god don't you if you're going to be lifted up you're going to have the spirit come upon you if you're going to be filled with the spirit you need some regular watering don't you yeah you need the regular watering with the pure water of the word and and look that does include a church too yeah yeah you have to turn there psalm 134 verse 1 says behold bless you the lord all you servants of the lord which by night stand in the house of the lord because like i've said before you need to be reading your bibles okay if anyone's come here today and they haven't read their bible you're already out of god's will i believe i believe start your day with it yeah look up to god yeah and and and you should be praying to god in the morning you should be reading your bibles in the morning okay and i'm not going to do a show of hands because i don't want you all to have to lie but i bet there's probably quite a lot of people here that haven't read the bibles this morning you should be reading your bibles okay you should be reading your bibles daily okay there has to be a daily bible reading plan because if there isn't you're missing out on so much of what god's got to say to you and then what are you listening to instead what you're reading instead but but again on top of reading the bible you need to hear the bible preached to you okay you need to hear the bible preached you need to hear things preached and expounded and and dwelt upon that maybe you wouldn't have done when you were skin reading maybe your flesh wouldn't have dwelt on that verse while you were while you were reading through the bible in the morning maybe your mind was wandering on that verse which would have really hit you because you were too busy thinking about something else okay but when you're here and the pulpit's getting thumped and and the words are getting louder sometimes you can't hide from it can you sometimes you can some people maybe do block their ears some people maybe do wander off or think about other things but now and again i give it a little whack you know and hopefully wake people up i saw a few jumps there and you can hear the word you need to read the word of god you need to hear the word of god okay everyone here needs to hear the word of god being preached but doesn't that mean you should be here as much as you can you should be in church as much as you possibly can to hear the word of god preach there's a big difference between hearing the word of god live with a preacher who hopefully the word that god's putting something on their heart to preach that might really make a difference to you and and tuning in on youtube to something okay there's a big differences you all know okay it's a big difference so yeah we need to we need to be regularly watered that includes in church so when you're successfully planted number one you have the right conditions number two you've removed the weeds number three you've regularly watered okay you're going to be successfully planted here now look at verse 11 in psalm 92 verse 11 says mine eye also shall see my desire of mine enemies and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree he shall grow like a cedar in lebanon who are the righteous verse 13 those that be planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of our god you know it doesn't matter how many old ladies you help how many soup kitchens you volunteer at yeah how many how many kind loving words you say to people if you're not in the house of god i don't think god looks down and sees you as righteous unfortunately obviously you're you're you're christ righteous this is imputed unto you yeah spiritually you are but i think when he looks your day-to-day life if you don't go to church if you're not turning up at church if you're not trying to find a way of turning up at church if you're not not like we spoke about the other week if you're in a place where there is no church you're not trying to tooth and nail to get a church get away of getting a church in that country you're in then i don't think you're you're right with god and i don't think you're righteous he said here the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree shall grow like cedar lebanon those that be planted in the house of the lord shall flourish in the courts of god that's the same person isn't it and it's not and i don't think if you're just turning up at church and you're just disconnected you're just a problem you just don't even want to be here you're just here because you just want to find fault or something else you're not planted you're not righteous yeah the righteous are planted in the house of the lord planted secure roots are growing you're you're getting watered you're you're you're getting rid of the weeds you're regularly getting weeds out of your life yeah they're the righteous okay you need to be like that you want to be planted it doesn't matter what else you do that's the main thing it all comes from the house of god look i've thought about this a lot and you know it dawned on me more and more the more i read when we study first corinthians and and you know just going through that book and just seeing how everything basically starts and finishes with the house of god in a christian's life doesn't it and look we you know it was hard before it was hard with like i've said many times with the lack of you know decent churches around but we have a church and you know we've got a church we've got no excuses it all starts and finishes with the church doesn't it it's all about the church all like all these letters he's talking to churches people in churches he's not going oh to you who doesn't really fancy going to church uh oh you know the letter to the church of the sorry the letter to the non-church goers of ephesus because it's a bit of a long drive the letter to the lot to the non-church goes or whatever because you know it would mean maybe changing your life a little bit and actually moving to somewhere where there's a church look and again i know it's not easy and it's not easy to hear that for people but if you if you've literally moved away from church or you've literally decided yeah well you know i don't really my job's a bit more important something else there find a way of being in church and and if it's not our church go to another church but be in a church and look again i'm not saying we're the only one if you can find a church that you think actually no i don't want to move to i don't want to be near wickford brother ian i don't even like essex yeah i thought the only way isn't essex yeah okay fine go somewhere though go to a church please please find a church though that you can and and not just that you can turn up at that you can be planted in a church that you can just support a church that you're going to sit there and just want the best for that church a church that you're going to pray for a church that you just want to be a big part of a church that you just want to be planted in because if it's not here you need to find somewhere because that's god's will for your life yeah yeah that that's that's what god wants that's what it's all about that's all all the letters of the new testament are all about church members in churches and otherwise you're missing out so much of that life for the lord he says here in verse 14 they shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing and obviously there it's a good thing being fat and flourishing mark 4 20 says and the and you don't have to turn it but mark 4 20 says and these are they which are sown on good ground such as hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit some 30 fold some 60 and some and hundred and that's the whole point isn't it that's the whole point and like i've said many times before those that are out of church it's not long before the soul winning stops it's not long before it dwindles it's not long before it peters out and it'll be the odd time now and again and because really the whole point of it is being in a church serving the lord getting people saved making disciples getting people baptized and growing his army and if we're not we're not here doing it well you're not part you're not part of the team are you so being planted in the house of god we look guys we we've got we've got a church we've got a place that we consider to be now a permanent area where uh if we outgrow this like i said before we could get a mezzanine up here in the future we could get a lot of people in here by the way but even if if uh if we got to that point and this whole estate is owned by the same landlord as long as we don't upset them too much then hopefully they will just give us a bigger unit in the future they told me they have a new one come up a couple of times a year 5 000 square feet 6 000 square feet if we grow we're all right we don't it doesn't look like we're just going to have to move i think the change of use would be easy if we're on the same estate as well i don't think that would be an issue we'd literally just take it with us so it looks like we're in wickford and wickford i didn't even know where wickford was a year ago but i didn't even know where wickford was probably six months ago even though we were coming to south ed and driving part i just saw a side post saying wickford and i don't think i even took it in but um this is where god wants us let's get planted here yeah everyone here let's be planted in the house of god and then what happens then the glory goes to god verse 15 says to show that the lord is upright he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him and that's what happens you're bringing forth fruit in old age even when you're planting the house of god you're going to be here till the end do you sometimes wonder that because we're quite a young group here aren't we you think like where are you going to be in in 40 50 years time some of you i hope you're just going to be in the church in the church of god still bringing forth fruit still getting people saved still soul winning still serving the lord just being that good and faithful servant yeah and that's where we all want to be but you need to get planted if you want that to happen yeah because the the the trees that live the longest are the ones with the healthiest roots aren't they yeah yeah and that's that's the whole point and then what happens with that the glory goes to god to show that the lord is upright he is my rock and there's no unrighteousness in him because really it all comes from god doesn't it this church has come from god everyone here it's all come of god and this building's come of god and it's all glory to him isn't it on that let's pray father i thank you for this building i thank you for this for for these great people here i thank you for all the help we've had all the support all the prayers everything that's that's culminating us now having what seems to be a permanent building now and you know for for a long time at least in in in wickford essex and um i pray that you just help us to to be a shining light from here that you help us to go out and preach the light of the gloss gospel out to to you know those surrounding us starting this afternoon down in down in basildon and just just all the areas that we just preach the gospel just preach the word preach the truth um help us to to all want to be planted here to be that you know that planted healthy tree in in the house of the lord and lord we we pray that you bless our day bless the afternoon bless our food uh we pray that you just bless it we thank you for that as it comes as well in jesus name we pray all of this amen