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

Right, this morning I want to continue the series that I started which was called Weapons of the Enemy. So we did the first one a few weeks back which was Weapons of the Enemy and that was Fear. What's the point of this series? Well, to give us basically more of a knowledge of our opponents, okay, and that's a pretty sensible thing to do, that's something that we see in many other areas of battle, in sports. I was thinking about it with fight sports a lot of the time, you want to get that balance right between studying the opponent, studying maybe if you're coaching someone, studying the opponent that they're going to be up against, studying them if you're about to go into some sort of fight sport or something like that, a combat sport against someone, and obviously going too far and just dwelling and focusing too much on their strengths and not on anything else. But we want to study them, we want to see what they have, we want to see the sort of things that are going to be used against us, the weapons that are going to be used against us, but not to the point where we get fearful about it as well. So the trick is to get that right balance between knowing your opponent and then obviously focusing too much on their strengths. These sermons, they're not here to worry you but hopefully to empower you to recognise common attacks and how to deal with them, okay, and the Bible gives us many, many, many different examples of ways that men of God and things that we can apply to our life to help us in these areas. Because in warfare it's common for an army to study their opposition's weaponry, okay, that's very common to do that. Today we're going to study another weapon used against Bible-believing Christians such as ourselves because we're in a war, okay, if you're newly saved or maybe you've been saved for a while but you're not used to this sort of terminology in a church, you mean it's not just a social club where we all just meet and slap each other on the back and say how much better our lives are because we're saved? No, when you got saved, when you got saved you were enlisted. Now a lot of people sadly go AWOL, yeah, and a lot of people get saved and don't do anything for God and they're not in the war but if you want to live for God you're in a war, okay, you're in a spiritual war, you're in a war, you're fighting for God and this is in the UK, this is headquarters, okay, this is headquarters and when you're turning up here on a Sunday you're turning up to say, yep, I'm part of the forces, I'm in a war and that's everyone here, that's from young to old, whoever's here you're in a war, okay, we have a very equal opportunities like God there, he's happy to have women in his spiritual army, he's happy to have children in his spiritual army and we're all in this spiritual army. The title of my sermon today is Weapons of the Enemy, demoralisation, weapons of the enemy and the weapon today is demoralisation, let's go to the Lord in the word of prayer before we get started, Father I thank you for your word, I thank you for this church, I thank you for this room full of warriors, I mean that in a good sense, full of this army of the Lord and I hope that you'll just help me now, I pray that you'll help me to just show clearly the sort of weapons that are used against us, to fill me with your spirit, to help me to preach boldly, accurately, to help people to take this message in and to want to act upon this message as well and I pray all of these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, so what does it mean to demoralise? Because it's not actually a word in the Bible, demoralise, a dictionary definition here is to deprive a person or persons of spirit, courage, discipline etc, destroy the morale of, so an example is a continuous barrage demoralising infantry, to throw a person into disorder or confusion, bewilder is another way to use it, to corrupt or undermine the morals of, so like I said we don't see this in the Bible, we do see the words discouraged and dismayed used and I think as an alternative to them, in fact demoralisation used to mean a bit different, it was basically to just lower the morals of and whereas now we see it in, we use it in our modern day like I just said there, to deprive a personal person of spirit, courage, discipline, destroy the morale of, but that term the continuous barrage demoralised the infantry, demoralisation is also a weapon used in physical warfare isn't it, propaganda campaigns are waged to win the battle of mines aren't they, yeah we've seen that throughout war, many people who have looked into war, study war will see that, Joan of Arc said all battles are first won or lost in the mind and you could probably apply that to many areas of life couldn't you, the battleground in the Christian life is often in our minds isn't it, yeah the battleground is often in our minds, now look down the book of Numbers where it all appears to be a bit of a mess there in chapter 14 yeah, that was a pretty strong chapter wasn't it, how did it get to that point for the children of Israel, to that point where they're now banned for 40 years, all this punishment, all this anger from God, well go back to chapter 13, so God's commanded Moses to send 12 leaders out, one from each tribe beside Levi that is, to spy out the promised land okay, and from Numbers chapter 13 and verse 17 we see this, and Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said unto them get ye up this way southward and go up into the mountain and see the land what it is and the people that dwelleth therein whether they be strong or weak few or many and what the land is that they dwell in whether it be good or bad and what cities they be that they dwell in whether in tents or in strongholds and what the land is whether it be fat or lean whether there be wood therein or not and be ye of good courage and bring of the fruit of the land now the time was a time of the first ripe grapes, so basically Moses commanded them to see how strong the people are, how accessible the land is, how good their defences are, how fruitful the land is, look at verse 21, so they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob as men come to Hamath and they ascended by the south and came unto Hebron where Ahima and Shishai and Talmai the children of Anak were, now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt and they came unto the brook of Eshkol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes and they bare it between two upon a staff and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs and place was called the brook Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence and they returned from searching the land after 40 days, so these 12 men they spent 40 days searching the land and they returned with grapes pomegranates and figs and they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel unto the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh and brought back word unto them and unto all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land and they told him and said we came unto the land whither thou sent us and surely it floweth with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it, so they're saying yes it's a fertile productive land. Nevertheless verse 28 the people be strong that dwell in the land the cities are walled and very great and moreover we saw the children of Anak there the Amalekites dwell in the land of the south and the Hittites and the Jebusites then the Amorites dwell in the mountains and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan, so they're saying the people are strong the cities are big and well defended and there are the Anakims there. There are multiple wicked nations that we'll have to fight and Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it I like Caleb here yeah he's a sight calm down lads yeah calm down let's get stuck in yeah he's just like one of those guys you have around it's just positive he's just he's not worried about these people at all he's he's just saying come on let's get stuck in verse 31 but the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people for they're stronger than we so Caleb has tried to rally everyone so they're now stepping it up again now aren't they they said we be not able yeah they are stronger than us so first it was well it doesn't look that great they're they're strong now it's look we're not able we're stronger so they've ramped it up now verse 32 and they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel saying the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants there of and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature so they're now saying in fact the land is hazardous you won't you know you won't get out of there alive is what they're saying all the people are huge they're going no no no wait a second they're not just they're this big yeah they're so big I mean every single one of them they're scary they're big that we got no chance they said in verse 33 and there we saw the Giants the sons of Anak which come of the Giants and we were in our own site as grasshoppers and so we were in their site and this is where now you know the the the people that love to make out like they're these 50-foot Giants take this super literally no but look there's a lot of people are look at and I think that person's a giant yeah and there are some people there were nations where there are a lot of big people yeah and when we look at our pastor I suppose a lot of people here look up and think that's a giant yeah and and these guys according to the men here are Giants now whether or not they're telling the truth well we'll see but so basically they said they're so big that we we're like insects compared to them yeah we're they're so big we're like insects now look at the result Numbers chapter 14 verse 1 and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night so they're demoralized aren't they yeah they're demoralized their spirit courage discipline morale all destroyed yeah and all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would God that we had died in the land of Egypt or would God we had died in this wilderness so the Tony on Moses and Aaron and basically the Tony on God here yeah verse 3 and therefore had the Lord brought us in unto this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were it not better for us to return into Egypt don't forget what their life was like in Egypt but they seem to have done and they said one to another let us make it captain and let us return into Egypt and that's rebellion verse 5 the most and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel and Joshua the son of none and Caleb the son of Jephani which were of them that search the land rent their clothes so these are the two good guys out of them all yeah and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying the land which we pass through to search it is an exceeding good land if the Lord delighted us and he will bring us into this land and give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey only rebelled not ye against the Lord neither fear ye the people of the land for they are bred for us their defenses departed for them and the Lord is with us fear them not that should have done it shouldn't it that should have done it these guys were there these guys were witnesses to the land a bit of straight talking well no because the demoralization already done its job by this point verse 10 but all the congregation bade stone them with stones and the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before the children of Israel and the Lord said unto Moses how long will this people provoke me and how long will it be here they believe me for all these signs which I have showed among them I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they now you can look at this and think oh well sometimes these things happen people just get a bit spooked they've gone over there they've probably seen these you know these strong nations they've seen these big guys and they just saw no maybe they just reported what they saw because you could look at this at first glance just go what the guys just reported what they saw and it was just there they were a little bit negative weren't they well not according to verses 36 to 37 in Numbers 14 there where it says and the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up a slander upon the land they were lying okay they were lying they brought up a slander now whether or not it was just absolutely an outright outright lie or probably more likely an exaggeration and a little changing a little exaggeration of the truth even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died by the plague before the Lord pretty clear what God thought about them yeah they lied they exaggerated they did it on purpose didn't they turn over to numbers 32 because there was nothing accidental about this in Numbers chapter 32 and from verse 6 it's 40 years later the children of Gad and Reuben don't want to cross Jordan into the promised land and instead want to basically just take the land that's before the crossing over Jordan so they kind of they're like look we fancy staying in this land we don't want to go over into the promised land it's now 40 years down the line and look at verse 6 and Moses said unto the children of Gad unto the children of Reuben shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here and wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord had given them so and then what he says now is I saw this behavior 40 years ago thus did your fathers when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land for when they went up unto the valley of Eshkol saw the land they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them reading that for me it was on purpose yeah it was on purpose they did not want them to go and they discouraged them on purpose they brought up a slander they brought up an evil report so according to Moses back in number 13 that's what they were doing yeah they were doing that they were they discouraged the heart the children of Israel and they succeeded too because even though these wicked men were to blame initially the children of Israel were still responsible for their own actions weren't they okay because they weren't there was still the voice of reason and truth there in Joshua and Caleb but no they accepted it and in fact they then went into pure wickedness themselves for example because people can look at this guy well the poor things they got deceived but I don't know if if the Russians now got so demoralized by the lack of McDonald's yeah and and all the rest of the uh all the rest of the propaganda we're seeing in the media yeah they got so demoralized end up just capitulating would everyone go oh the poor things they were just victims of the propaganda campaign they go you idiots what are you doing what happened they go what why did you why did you let that get to you a week they would be saying wouldn't they you're weak you didn't able to resist the propaganda well it's the same with us we have a we have a manual here we have a manual here to warn us about this weapon of the enemy we have preaching like this to warn us there is no excuses there's no excuse when we get demoralized by the enemy because we need to be aware of it don't we need to be aware of it the title is weapons of the enemy demoralization how do we get demoralized as god's spiritual army in the 20 what are we 21st century 21st how do we get demoralized now in modern day britain and and just in the world as a whole what are the areas where we're targeted then well there's nothing new under the sun and it's still the same ways yeah it's always the same ways and these that's why the bible's just so amazing because you can look at things from thousands of years ago and see that relevant to our day to day look at numbers chapter 13 and verse 26 says and they went and came to moses and to aaron and to all the congregation of the children of israel unto the wilderness of paren to kadesh and brought back word unto them and unto all the congregation showed them the fruit of the land and they told him and said we came unto the land with our census and surely it should flow through milk and honey and it's the fruit of it nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land the cities are walled and very great and moreover we saw the children of anak there so like i said weapons of the enemy demoralization number one demoralized about the word of god demoralized about the word of god in verse 26 there it's looking good isn't it look at the fruit they showed them the fruit of the land verse 27 they're going oh yeah yeah god was right god was right about it being a fruitful land surely it floweth with milk and honey this is the fruit of it look at verse 28 nevertheless yeah never the less they're saying but they're saying regardless regardless of all of that regardless of what god said turn to genesis chapter three they're saying yes god's word in exodus 6 8 was and i will bring you into the land concerned that which i did swear to give it to abraham to isaac and to jacob and i will give you for an inheritance for an heritage sorry i am the lord they're saying yes in exodus 13 11 when he said and it shall be when the lord shall bring thee into the land of the kain knights as he swear unto thee and to thy fathers and shall give it thee but nevertheless he was wrong nevertheless you can't trust his word yes god's swear unto your fathers but nevertheless nevertheless we know better yes god's swear through the psalmist in psalm 12 verse 6 that the words of the lord are pure words as silver tried in the furnace purified seven times thou shalt keep them oh lord thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever he swore that didn't he he swore that yeah he might have sworn that but he can't really trust his word but he can't really trust him but he didn't really mean that but well yeah that bit was right but this bit was wrong of course the attack on god's word has gone on from the beginning hasn't it yeah it's gone on from the beginning the demoralization about the word of god has gone on from the beginning look at genesis chapter 3 and verse 1 where it says now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord god had made he said unto the woman yea hath god said you shall not eat of the of of every tree of the garden so this is the first appearance of the devil in the bible the first thing he says is yea hath god said yea hath god said are you sure that's what he said are you sure that god really said that you sure that's what he really meant and first appearances are important aren't they first spirits in life are important a lot of the time you you a lot of the time we'll make a judgment on something in first appearance won't we and the devil's giving us a clear way to make a judgment of him here the first thing he did a tactic of the devil the first tactic we see in the bible is questioning god's word and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden god has said ye shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die so first he said did he really said that did he really say that now it's you can't trust what god says you cannot trust what god says you can't trust those preserved words of god trusted for over 400 years in this country yeah you can't trust them you can't trust that word of god that's been used for 400 years in this country you can't trust those manuscripts that have been used for over 2 000 years no no we got something better we got something better we got something older that we found it no what no one was using no no we got something better in fact we've got something that will really help you understand it better yeah well it's easier to read easier to understand it's much easier look at verse five for god does know that in a day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be open you shall be as god's knowing good and evil we will help you understand good and evil with our easier to read version verse six and when a woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat and nothing has changed has it the attack on god's word continued to this day yeah turn to first peter one because this is what it boils down to for me when jesus said in matthew four four man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of god amen he was saying that we need every word he was saying that we need every word of god wasn't he yeah that's what he was saying when jesus said in matthew 24 35 heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away he was saying that he will preserve every single word wasn't he every single word not not every gist not every general sort of you know just just similarity he said every word every word he said my words shall not pass away and here in first peter one and verse 23 it says being born again not a corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of god which liveth and abideth for and abideth forever he's saying you need that incorruptible word of god to get saved don't you for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower grass the grass with and the flower thereof falleth away but the word of the lord endureth forever and this is a word which by the gospel is preached unto you basically it boils down to this point you either believe that god is able to keep his promise to preserve his words or you call him a liar that's what it comes down to you either believe that when god said he preserved his word that he was able to do it or you believe that he was lying when he said he was doing it or you're just going to accept it yeah what are you going to do you're going to accept it you're just going to accept god for what he says because he promised to preserve it he promised to keep it can you show me someone saved in inverted commas by the niv the esv the rsv the nrsv the abcdefg you name it and i'll show you someone that believes that they've got to repent of their sins and i'll show you someone that believes they've got to make jesus lord of their life that they've got to endure till the end and the rest of the false work salvations out there and that's what it comes down to doesn't it that's what it comes down to what do you believe but for most of us here we're not going to go down we're not going to go and you know drop our king james bibles and pick up the easiest to read latest fad yeah i hope most people here are grounded enough to pick up the latest error strewn fad yeah because they are all error strewn as well aren't they yeah but there are more subtle attacks so than that for example anyone been to a church where their king james bible preferred anyone seen that yeah i've been to a church yeah well we prefer we think it's an excellent translation so they pull you in because you're like well at least they use the king james bible but then that that those same preachers all every few sermons or so just start correcting the bible just start saying what it should have said and in fact no no because when you go back to the greek because that guy you know he's such an expert isn't he in greek yeah can't even speak greek but when you go back to the greek apparently basically when you go back to a concordance of someone else who's not one of the translators that that did the king james well when you go back to them they say something else and i'm going to make out like i say something else because then i sound really intelligent and then everyone in the church would be like well thus said the pastor and then they're basically giving more credibility to what the pastor says and not to what the word of god says kjv preferred and i was at a church like that and it didn't wind me up and it really made me angry when you're sitting there and he's going yeah well the king james bible when they use the word baptize you know they were basically they weren't strong enough to to use a word immerse it's like what are you talking about no they use the word baptize and we all know that baptizing is immersion because the bible is clear about that and many other sort of subtle attacks on the word of god and again i don't think you're going to get any of that you know any that nonsense around anyone here but we have to watch out for the inside demoralizers as well okay with this and that will happen there'll be people that want to just shake your faith a little bit have you ever noticed just this little discrepancy you know ever know oh well i was studying the bible i just noticed well how do you explain this how do you explain that to just random church members in the church why would people do that why do people do that people do do that in churches you know they they they want to well well you know i don't know i was just just having to read through my bible i noticed you think there's an area go and study it yeah first things first before you go up to anyone and start trying to demoralize them go home yeah study your bible and if you can't work it out come and see me and go and if i can't work it out i'll go and study it yeah and i'll tell you what every single attack of the king james bible is always always proven wrong yeah always because it's the pure word of god but it's easy to go up on an internet list like you get these muslim samples they're trying to preach the gospel to them and they start going on their phone and go what about and they're trying to come up with like the latest list of so-called discrepancies or something else yeah but they're all answerable sometimes you might need a bit of time to go and answer it if you're not aware of that latest attack but don't start discussing it you know like you're just just wondering just wondering what half the church thinks about that yeah just wondering what half the church thinks about this just wondering you know what about this one though well you know i did it the christian way but it all went wrong yeah how about that one to demoralize you about the word of god yeah well i did what the bible says and my life went but did you really do what the bible says yeah because that's another way people will demoralize christians you know well well you know i i submitted to my husband and he walked all over me and cheated on me oh funny that because you married an unsafe person yeah oh funny that because yeah because that guy's wicked he wasn't doing what he should have done yeah like and and you'll see it the other way well you know i i did everything i was told to do and she just ended up being a wicked witch okay but did you really do everything you're told to do because every single one of us gets it wrong okay the word of god's not the problem we're the problem oh i raised much i raised my children exactly i i smacked their bottom yeah but you didn't give them any love yeah you just came them for like 15 years and then you wonder why they hate you yeah oh well it's the word of god no it's not the word of god it's you yeah you're the problem yeah and again you know that's ways and i'm not saying everyone that's going to come up with that stuff is is that's it they're the most wicked you know infiltrator because we can all be used can't we we can all be used by the devil our own sin our own pride and everything else can make us be used by the devil to demoralize others um how about you know i gave up work i gave up work and was a stay-at-home mum and we're just always skin yeah funny that because you you online shop every day yeah or whatever else and there's many different ways aren't there's many different ways where people can basically use what the word of god how the word of god tells us to live and start trying to then demoralize people about putting their faith in that and we've got to be careful of things like that because psalm 1830 says as for god his way is perfect the word of the lord is tried he is a buckler to all those that trusted him his word's not the problem you're the problem yeah we're the problem look back at number 13 in verse 27 number 13 27 says and they told him and said we came unto the lamb whether thou sent us and surely it floweth with milk and honey and this is the fruit of it nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land the cities are walled and very great and moreover we saw the children of anak there the amalekites dwell in the land of the south and the hitites and the jebuzites and the amorites dwell in the mountains and the kain knights dwell by the sea and by the coast of jordan and caleb stilled the people before moses and said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it but the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we and the title of my sermon like you know is weapons of the enemy demoralization number one was demoralized about the word of god demoralized about the word of god number two is demoralized about working for god demoralized about working for god because god here promised to give them the land but these demoralizers are saying you can't succeed you can't see they're much stronger than us that's what they're saying here you can't plant a church there the godless are just so many there's too many there's too many there or you can't succeed as a bible preaching church they're stronger than us in that nation or you can't go soul winning there it's too dangerous yeah people get a bit like that sometimes you want to go there start trying to demoralize you about that turn over to first samuel 17 for a famous story where the enemy tried to demoralize a man of god if the enemies failed at stopping you getting saved they failed at demoralize you about the weapon you've been given well they'll try to demoralize you about the mission at hand that's their next their next target demoralize you about the mission at hand first samuel 17 and from verse four and there went out a champion out of the camp of the philistine named goliath of gath whose height was six cubits and a span this is a big guy okay he's like the best part of ten foot here that's a big guy and he had an helmet of brass upon his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass and he had greaves of brass upon his legs and the target of brass between his shoulders and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron and one bearing a shield went before him and he stood and cried unto the armies of israel and said unto them why are you come out to set your battle in array am not i a philistine and ye servants to saul choose you a man for you and let him come down to me if he be able to fight me and to kill me then will we be your servants but if i prevail against him and kill him then shall ye be our servants and serve us and the philistine 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 philistine they were dismayed and greatly afraid so saul and israel are dismayed you could say demoralized here they're also greatly afraid but then what happens well the young david who's been sent with some food for his older brothers who are fighting in the battle he turns up jump forward to 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 talking about goliath here and it shall be that the man who killeth him the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make 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 philistine and take away the reproach from israel for who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living god it seems like david is saying wow there's a reward he's like this guy is nothing we're baptists so we're baptists who is this guy yeah he's going to come up against us verse 27 and the people answer him after this man is saying so shall it be done to the man that killeth him and eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men eliab's anger was kindled against david and he said why came with sow down hither and with whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness i know thy pride in the naughtiness of thine heart for thou come down that thou mightest see the battle so what's eliab saying he's saying you're just a shepherd who are you to fight for god yeah who are you to fight in the armies of israel you're just uh you know you name it you're you're just uh you name the job in this room yeah you name the job in this room and i don't think many people here have this glorious job where everyone's like wow what a what an intellect or anything else yeah we're just one of the mill people aren't we yeah you're just a you name it you're just a mum you're just a stay-at-home mum they love that one just a stay-at-home mum are you just a stay-at-home mum you know you're just you're just a kid you're just a kid you're just a child you're just who are you you're not even an adult who are you to tell me the gospel and we get that sometimes who are you to tell me the gospel because or what did dr so-and-so say yeah well what about what or what do the theologians say yeah what what did nelson i had a woman once yeah i was talking about this it was years ago some homeschool thing so well yeah but nelson darby said that you could lose your salvation oh well oh solved then nelson darby said it you know and this is but this is this is the logic isn't it but but but that guy's really well known and and he's written some books what did he in fact he wrote his own bible didn't he the wicked reprobate but but what did they say what did he say what does the guy with a theology degree say yeah what does he say because he's got a degree he must know better yeah he must know better because he's been trained by the world he's been trained in a worldly institution about the word of god he must know and look on that quickly if you're sitting there going wait a second brother ian are you not university educated are you qualified to be up behind a pulpit with the word of god and you haven't read a thousand books about the word of god and been poisoned with a load of damnable heresy and just lies and wickedness and pride to make me think that i somehow know the bible better than the translators i know the language better because i did a little bit of greek there or maybe because i i've been told some other intellectual sounding things no going to university when it comes to the word of god is completely the opposite yeah for us here and for bible believing christians we look at it and we go you went to university to study the word of god and usually that person's closely being written off aren't they yeah a lot of the time and they better show that they haven't been poisoned by that junk yeah anyway david's then brought before king saul and david said to saul let no man's heart fail because of him thy servant will go and fight with this philistine so he's saying yeah don't you know don't worry you know forget all those theology degree educated people he said i'll go and deal with this i'll go and deal deal with this because i know the word of god yeah because i know god verse 33 and saul said to david thou art not able to go against this philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth so it's the same old thing here isn't it and here it's the king of israel saying it isn't it so it's the king of israel and at this point you know saul's not into full wickedness as he does get go pretty off the rails doesn't he but he's a saved man of god and here he he's again he's demoralizing david isn't he but you're just a man of you know you're just a youth you're just young who are you to take on this guy jump forward to verse 42 because it's not just the king of israel obviously the enemies do it as well verse 42 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 we get a bit of that when we knock on doors don't we a bit of disdain yeah yeah yeah you all had a bit of disdain it varies doesn't it the sort of disdain you get i had a i had a funny one last week and the lady say to me i knocked on the door and she was kind of trying to just cut me off quickly and i just said okay well lost you know because she said she wanted interest in church or something and then i said well look more importantly what we do like to ask people is this question you know if you die today you're 100 sure you go to heaven she said oh how fun how fun how fun no not interesting bye bye but how fun how fun actually as she was as she went to say no she said well it's a lot more fun than down there but look how fun how fun you know what a fun thing what a fun conversation to have that'd be utterly utterly fun wouldn't it but that's what she would say how fun how you know what a quaint what a cute thing to talk about you moron that's what she's really saying you idiot you're brainwashed idiot yeah yeah yeah because you know how how could i believe the preserved word of god but yeah people like to demoralize you i like to disdain you don't they like to mock you in various ways they like to demoralize us verse 43 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 to the beasts of the field so then david gets slapped about a bit doesn't he embarrassed for trusting god is that what happens no it's not he cuts goliath's head off yeah he ends up cutting goliath's head off and after all of that though you could have understood that david just packed up and gone home couldn't you yeah he's got his older brother he's got the king of israel he's then got goliath just everyone's just mocking him mocking him demoralizing him and like i said it's something that can affect us when we're out soul winning yeah i bet most people here i'm sure many here have had times where you're feeling a bit demoralized when those rejections are just that little bit harsh when sometimes it can be demoralizing when you you think you're getting to the end with someone and then the fowls just come in swoop in and you're like wow i nearly got that person saved and it can there are many times so winning when we can feel demoralized can't we and look he like i said he got it from three different angles there and it was obvious but it could be subtle too can't it so the demoralization when you're working for god can be subtle it's not just about soul winning and there are other ways it's done turn to ezekiel chapter two soul winning obviously is our primary job for christ but there's other ways that people work for god aren't there you might have a job to do at church where the enemy will try to demoralize you maybe our music team have had demoralization at times through through various ways i'm not saying it's always by someone evil is doing it but there'll be ways that they'll be demoralized at times the enemy wants to demoralize us maybe some of our bible readers have had times that they felt a bit demoralized before there's maybe a reason sometimes it might be that they're up here and maybe maybe there could be people out there trying to demoralize them maybe smirking when someone makes an error or maybe maybe with the music something there could be times when a little look a little face and it might just be that they they're not really thinking what they're doing can demoralize people when you're doing things for the church when you do things when when when ladies here maybe have decided to to out of their own free time and money bake a load of stuff for the church and then people are making loud insulting comments and things like that it's it could be demoralizing couldn't it you're trying to do something for the church you're doing something people who you know they they maybe set up something someone set up something for people here or try to do something nice for someone and there'll be some nasty comment nasty dig weird comments weird behavior about it bizarre but ordained leaders obviously will be major targets too for this yeah okay we are we have a sign on our back yeah anyone leading preaching is going to have that okay anyone preaching regularly is going to have that i remember before the first ever service here the first official service that night i got messages on on through youtube and then then they were deleted straight after basically attacking our pastor attacking our pastor's friends attacking myself attacking my family just all of that the first before that first official service and i'm not saying get the little violin out because it was water off a duck's back you know it's going to happen don't you the word of god warns you it's going to happen um and you get that in many different ways as well and and there are various ways that the enemy will try to demoralize pastors leaders preachers etc ezekiel here in ezekiel 2 he's being sent to what's a rebellious people and ezekiel 2 and verse 1 it says and he said unto me son of man talking to ezekiel here stand upon thy feet and i will speak unto thee and the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet that i heard him that spake unto me and he said unto me son of man i send thee to the children of israel to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me they and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day for they are impudent children and stiff-hearted i do send thee unto them for thou shalt say unto them thus saith the lord god and they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are rebellious house yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them and thou son of man be not afraid of them neither be afraid of their words though brides and thorns be with thee and thou does dwell among scorpions be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house so even through their looks here yeah even through their looks that he can be dismayed he could be demoralized by their looks yeah and look it's an um i don't know any of you guys that have preached here and preached especially when you got the whole church here and not when we just had like sort of seven or eight of us before the men's preaching that it could be pretty interesting watching the faces can't it yeah and and i'm not saying you're studying and coming up to a conclusion but it it can make a difference to you can't it yeah and i'll be honest here i've had people literally when i've preached do things like this i just give you a couple of things now now i'm not saying you have to have a complete poker face although it would help yeah that's hell yeah and i'm not saying you can't support or anything else yeah nothing wrong with it i've had people go like this go but honestly yeah i've had people go like this go i've had people go to someone next to them yeah people go when i've made what could be a contentious point i've had people i've had people like make a little chuckle or something else as well i've had people um this is one when when it's something that's clearly like you know when you're preaching something which if you're preaching wrong would be a damnable heresy so i'm preaching on the trinity i'm preaching on something to his salvation eternal security or something else suddenly like this at me while i'm doing it just like yeah like they're just like come on come on make my day i'm not saying they're all just you know and sometimes it might just be it's a serious subject yeah but you get some really weird stuff yeah really weird stuff when you're preaching okay and you've got to not be demoralized by that yeah you've got to not be dismayed by that and everyone here when you start preaching more and you're preaching even when you're preaching you know that 10-minute service you need to make sure you're not being demoralized by the look because people sometimes will demoralize you yeah and obviously if you're preaching some complete nonsense and tough yeah you need demoralizing yeah but but but it does doesn't it now here it's through their looks he says and thou shalt speak my words unto them whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are most rebellious but thou son and man hear what i send for they be not their rebellious like that rebellious house open thy mouth and eat that i give thee and really let's let's be honest talk about the word of god here so regardless we have to preach the word of god don't we and sometimes the word of god is going to hurt people sometimes when you apply it to their lives you're showing them their sin it's going to hurt them it's going to affect them they're going to react they're going to sometimes try and demoralize you from from literally a few meters away i'm thinking about calling it out sometimes actually i'm getting to that point now where now and again when i say i'm just going to problem everything all right there but it does happen now again this isn't to get the violin out i actually find it quite amusing okay and it for me it just makes it makes me want to preach harder okay but back to numbers chapter imagine what they're doing behind the screen there you know okay go back to numbers chapter 13 so that's demoralizing about about working for god about your job for god that could be in many different ways can't it but but obviously soul winning is a big one there we get that a lot back to number 13 and caleb stilled the people uh verse 30 sorry number 13 verse 30 and caleb stilled the people before moses said let us go up at once and possess it for we are well able to overcome it but the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we and they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of israel saying the land through which we have gone to search in is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature and there we saw the giants the sons of anak which come of the giants and we were in our own site as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight so like i said it's weapons of the enemy demoralization number one was demoralized about the word of god number two was demoralized about working for god and number three is demoralized about where you worship god demoralized about where you worship god verse 32 they're saying that the place that god has given us is no good yeah the land through which we've gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof that it's a waste of time that we've got no chance thriving there turn of second kings 18 because the demoralized will attack the place that god has given you to worship him it's a cult because they don't believe in work salvation like every other false religion in the world yeah there are only two religions and we must be a cult because broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in their act right because we believe what the word of god says and we don't change it to fit in with the world's false work salvation repent of your sins give your life to christ or whatever other cute way they've got of saying it it's a cult they try that one don't they it's a cult because we believe that god preserved his word when he said i'm going to preserve my word yeah it's not a real church because the building doesn't cost millions of pounds yeah it's not a real church you haven't got stained glass windows it's not a real church because someone hasn't spent millions and millions of pounds on on on some sort of listed building it's a dictatorship because they won't let you do as you please like every other old ifb church anyone's been in here where you couldn't do what you please but now now at least oh now it's a dictatorship yeah because i can't just do what i want here because there are rules yeah there are rules in a church aren't there in second kings 18 here the king of asiria has laid siege to jerusalem and he sends basically his top men to demoralize king hezekiah and his army says in verse 19 and rab shaky so second kings 18 and verse 19 and rab shaky said unto them speak ye now to hezekiah thus saith the great king the king of asiria what confidence is this we're in now trust this thou sayest but they are but vain words i have counsel strength for the war now and whom does thou trust that thou rebelest against me now behold thou trust us upon the staff of this bruised reed even upon egypt on which if a man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it so is pharaoh king of egypt unto all that that trust on him but if you say unto me we trust in the lord our god it's not that he whose high places and whose altars hezekiah have taken away and has said to juda and jerusalem you shall worship before this altar in jerusalem so he's saying he's saying well you might trust in god but your leader is controlling you he's making you worship only in jerusalem yeah he's not letting you do the high places verse 23 now therefore i pray thee give pledges to my lord the king of asiria and i will deliver thee two thousand horses if they'll be able on thy part to set riders upon them how will them wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the lease and my master servants put thy trust in egypt for chariots and for horsemen am i now come up without the lord against this place destroy it the lord said to me go up against this land and destroy it because the demoralizer here is trying to claim that he's of god isn't he that speaking against their god ordained leader is actually god's will yeah it's actually god's will that he does this verse 26 he's actually very holy he's a holy person yeah you've got to trust what he's saying here verse 26 then said alike him the son of hilcar and shebner and joe unto rabshakhi speak i pray thee to thy servants in the syrian language for we understand it and talk not with us in the jews language in the ears of the people that are on the wall so saying we don't want our people to hear this but the the enemies often know how to speak like one of god's people don't they okay they often know how to speak and appear to be like one of god's people verse 27 but rabshakhi said unto them have my master sent me to thy master to lead speak these words it's not about it's not about him is it's not about it's not about hezekiah what's it about have you not sent me to the men which sit on the wall that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you i swore no i didn't i'm preaching the words of god here yeah there's nothing wrong with the word piss because it's one of god's preserved words okay he said he said here that basically he wasn't just sent he wasn't sent to their master it's about the people isn't it's about the people okay then rabshakhi stood and cried with a loud voice in the jews language saying hear the word of the great king the king of asyria thus saith the king let not hezekiah deceive you for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand neither let hezekiah make you trust in the lord saying the lord will surely deliver us and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of asyria hearken not to hezekiah for thus saith the king of asyria make an agreement with me by a present and come out to me and then eat ye every man of his own vine every one of his fig tree and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern until i come and take your way to a land like your own land a land of corn and wine a land of bread and vineyards a land of all olive and of honey that you may live and not die and harken not unto hezekiah when he persuadeth you saying the lord will deliver us so he's saying leave jerusalem come with me and you'll be much happier yeah that's what he's saying well we see that today from the outside don't we like hearing second kings 18 the worldly family members trying to demoralize you trying to demean do you really have to go to church do you have to go every week do you really have to go on a sunday yeah eventually it'll be you go to three times a week you know what sort of weirdo are you yeah what sort of church is this what sort of cult is this yeah and that's the sort of stuff we we get don't we and many people have had similar stuff the demoralization from the outside so-called christians on the outside trying to demoralize you about our sort of church don't they and that's what a lot of the kind of if anyone's interested in the sort of youtube and i'd imagine it's the same on facebook for the facebook comments trying to demoralize you trying to criticize what we believe here and everything else and usually very badly but they're like a dog with a bone they just won't stop and they'll just get more deceitful with the word of god and more insulting and it's a lot of the times that honderman that hominem sorry attacks and it's always just just you know they always got a new angle a new attack a new attack and sometimes you've just got to not bother with them but you also get it from the inside like in number 13 okay you will also get it from the inside like in number 13 so turn back there turn back to number 13 that was from the outside there in second kings 18 those 10 of the 12 spies were supposed to be men of god weren't they weren't they and they did their best to look like it look at verse 23 they make a show of their so-called fruits don't they and they came unto the brook of eschol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes and bear it between two upon a staff and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs so basically it looks like they're you know they're fruitful christians aren't they in verse 26 jump forward they're showing their fruits the whole congregation and they went and came to moses and to aaron and to all the congregation of the children of israel under the wilderness of paren to cadish and brought that word unto them and unto all the congregation showed them the fruit of the land it's convincing they've tried their best but really it was all for show jump forward to chapter 14 to see what their desired result was chapter 14 verse 1 and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night and all the children of israel murmured against moses and against aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would god that we had died in the land of egypt or would god we had died in this wilderness and wherefore had the lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were it not better for us to return into egypt and they said one to another let us make a captain let us return into egypt so they basically all turned on moses aaron god and the goal is to rebel isn't it and ultimately end up back in egypt yeah ultimately to end up back in egypt which is a common picture in the bible of going back to the world okay so basically it's really to scatter the sheep yeah that's a long-term goal it seems oh well they'll have their own leader it will be better they'll go back and they'll be happier but really the ultimate goal is to scatter the sheep and these sorts of people these demoralizers that want to scatter the sheep they work inside churches okay they work inside churches demoralizing people causing division whispering about other church members the church the leadership and sometimes there can be a lot of them here it was 10 out of the 12 spies that were lying okay they were chosen from each tribe 10 out of 12 were lying now were all of them completely wicked do you think do you think every single one was a literal secret child abelial i don't think so i think there were probably a few maybe there were and i think they all eventually went up against god though didn't they so some were wicked and some were just willing idiots yeah some of them got deceived by these guys however it was didn't fancy it wanted just just got involved in it got involved in the slander and everything else and look what happens in the end to them so they all end up dying by the plague it's not like well he only took the worst ones he only took the most influential ones no they all ended up dying by the plague so i'm going to tell you about a couple of tactics used in our church here okay so a couple of tactics that that have come to light that have been used in our church now it's so pathetic yeah that it wouldn't even be worth mentioning if it wasn't for what the goal of it is okay because it's so pathetic you would just think what on earth yeah because we're talking real scraping the barrel type stuff here yeah but it's worth it's worth mentioning because of the motivation of it okay so just to give you a quick background here and again this isn't this isn't to get praise just to explain to you like what what happens on a weekly basis and many people are aware of this so from about 9am me and my family turn up here every sunday and my family start preparing the church between us we get things done we get the church prepared until pretty much until the service starts yeah at the end of the day yeah in the evening at the end of a long hard day my family my children and my wife they clean the church okay they clean the church we tidy the church we we do everything and usually this goes on if anyone's ever been back here with us before till probably around half seven between half seven and eight yeah okay and like i said this is something we chose to do because there was this bizarre situation at the beginning when we had when we first started the church where we just had this rotor and it you know what could be more simple just a road to put your name down if you want to help but it just got really weird really political yeah there was just bizarre just it was just bizarre and people then started to try and re-plan it and do all this weird stuff we're just like look just forget it if you want to help in a day helping today we'll just do the evening clean okay so that's how it's always been if you want to do anything in the church yeah if you want to do anything you're welcome yeah never said no if you want to in terms of any clean you see something that needs cleaning you see an area clean it by all means yeah no problem and and look at the end of the evening though at 6 30 once the doors are closed we do the last bit because it's again it was dangerous people like hoovering with people around and wires out and everything else so we try and get people to come into this part start doing the back sometimes so we're not here too late okay so that's the background here so apparently this this is a funny bit yeah someone in our church is claiming that the reason during cold and flu season yeah during cold and flu bear mind we've at the end of cold and flu season the reason apparently that people have been getting ill in our church and let me just explain something quickly people are getting ill all over the country yeah so many family members and friends that we speak to are like had another illness had this now whether or not that's to do with everyone being cooped up for two years whether it's to do with some people just walking around with some dodgy vaccine inside them or whether it's a combination of those two and the fact that it's flu season i don't know yeah i don't know but someone is claiming that the reason that people are getting ill is because the church isn't clean enough yeah the church isn't clean enough yeah which is why people are getting ill yeah now there has been another little rumor that apparently because the church is big enough as well yeah and obviously that was slight what part of that angle was about you know it still hasn't got a new church and we've just explained where that has eventually ended up now yeah which has been a great blessing from god but regardless the main one that we're hearing right now is because the church isn't clean enough so i mean it's hardly some sort of festering bacteria cesspit yeah okay is it yeah is anyone looking around going wow you could just see the bacteria breeding people coming home with like these weird like strap is it straffle staph infections and just weird bacterial infection no okay it's ridiculous yeah absolutely ridiculous but what what's their motivation anyone here what's the motivation of going around telling people from the church that they're getting ill demoralization and what's the ultimate goal people not to want to come to church yeah it's to start putting in your head that i'm going to get sick and ill if i come to church yeah that is wicked isn't it but isn't that like those like those 10 men yeah like those 10 men uh the spies do you know what's as wicked is if anyone said that to you is not coming and seeing me because what's the goal what's the goal to get you out of church to stop you wanting to come to church to demoralize you to talk back to demoralize my wife and my kids my kid like by the way when we have the downstairs my kids are no longer cleaning this church yeah because it's too big we're going to have to have people we're going to we're going to try again to actually have some sort of rotor and some sort of team and not have people start trying to complain and make new roads and everything else and just put their name down and clean when they say so or don't yeah okay but we're going to have that but because i don't want my kids to look back at church and start resenting coming to church but but look at the end of day it just got to the point where it's like this is ridiculous we'll just do it okay because it just became weird okay now okay but regardless yeah is anyone really getting ill from the church i mean yes it's a bit of a rundown building but it gets cleaned yeah yeah and if you're really that worried wouldn't you just come with your marigolds and clean it yeah stay back one day go sole winning in the week stay back on a sunday and clean the church great idea do some nooks and crannies and corners because no we can't always do that and some churches do a spring clean actually yeah and they'll do like once a year i remember i was at one church where they kind of get lots of people to get them to do once a year but we just never thought we're going to be here so we just never really but now we're going to be here yeah we do want it we want it nice we want it to be presentable now we know we've got six to nine months okay but again like i said it's to demoralize about going to church and like i said it's not it doesn't matter how scraping the barrel it is yeah it doesn't matter how pathetic and and just ridiculous and laughable the attempt is it's a motivation because they don't care about you okay it's not that they're oh well they just won't they don't care they want you out of church you've got to understand that when people do this stuff it's not oh well brother ian's just a bit worried that they're trying to discredit him no it's not it's it's you it's you they want it's the sheep they want out of church and people have to get that through the head it doesn't matter how good of friends you feel you are with someone if they're whispering to you stuff about the church stuff about the leadership stuff about my family stuff about other people in the church they hate you they want you out of church yeah they want you out of the only proper church that we've got in this nation pretty much yeah i don't want to sell oh there's no such other they're an absolute joke the other churches they won't they want you out okay it's oh but but they're my friend they told me about when someone was talking about me and wouldn't tell me who what yeah great friend great friend they're demoralizing you they're trying to pull you out of church yeah you understand that yeah okay because then here's another one i heard here's another one so does anyone remember on our group chat on um or the other week that absolute clown yeah that absolute clown called costa yeah who was just textbook bad infiltrator we've had a couple of bad ones just to get us warmed up haven't we because you couldn't even make it into the church building yeah you can't even make any friendships with anyone to for them to like put more trust in him and then be shocked and not accept it when he's exposed yeah okay so this guy this guy he he um he basically he said um if if you didn't get this this is this is basically a summary at 12 30 at night he said oh um i've uh i've got a question okay hey everyone i've got a question okay now when someone says i have a question singular how long do you think that message is likely to be sentence maybe a paragraph at best if he really needs to explain the sentence okay cue what was it about a dozen paragraphs scriptures basically a thesis yeah cure thesis on why basically we're all work salvationists and that calling on the name of the lord is actually a work and that when you have faith in christ you calling him is apparently a work yeah and it's work salvation yeah ridiculous yeah funny that because the bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved but forget that yeah so this guy comes on at 12 30 leaves this long thing okay now like i said he says i have a question then just proceeds to basically not only come up with this nonsense yeah he's then railing on men of god yeah he's railing on them basically saying they're preaching this at their works basically their work salvationists railing on the nifb which is what we're categorized as our sort of church with our beliefs etc um and then finishes it with oh my question is by the way you know people now saying this is required for salvation you know blah blah blah okay what was the sensible response of our pastor rebuke remove yeah pretty sensible wouldn't you say yeah anyone what anyone look at that and go that was a bit harsh he just removed him from our group he's like who on earth is this guy yeah who on earth this guy and like i said to you hands up when it when he when he joined uh sorry when i let him come onto our group i actually thought that he was going to be part of our church that he was i didn't even realize he lives in china he didn't even come to the uk yeah so it's bizarre but he knew a lot of people from our church then it got to the point where you have to be careful leadership because if i just said pull him off the guy was already sob stories before and everything else i thought then he's going to try and poison those people he does know and go how mean it was to not let him be involved but he was already there were a lot of red flags him already so anyway someone from our church apparently seems to think that um that our pastor that it made him think wouldn't want to ask our pastor a question and said that to another church member so what's their motivation that's cringe it's cringe demoralize that person about our pastor yeah demoralize people in the church and i hope to god they haven't said it to other people again if they if someone said that to you if someone's gone to you going well that was a bit harsh or that was they're talking back they're talking smack about our pastor yeah yeah who who look the guy and it was even more loveable is it the guy afterwards sure enough he had a he had a an attack video sort of an out and what was it a day later yeah within a few hours he's messaging people privately off our church group chat then he's got his stupid lying attack video not happening to mention that he's never actually been to our church what a surprise so he's clear as hell boss was 100 right but who on earth comes away from that just looks at that and turns around says this i don't know you know it doesn't make me want to ask our pastor question what's that person's motivation huh division yeah demoralize you about your leadership demoralize you about your pastor pull you out and again anyone complicit is just as bad as the people in that anyone not coming up to me and saying this is what people are saying this is what someone said you're a problem as well do you understand that yeah yeah you understand that anyone who's had someone whispering to them about the church being dirty or something else you're a problem yeah you're a problem either if some if you really believe that get your marigolds out do some cleaning or shut up yeah shut up and stop trying to pull people out of our church because we've worked i've worked hard a lot of people here have worked hard to have this church yeah to make this church work and we're not having people poisoned and ruined over like with this nonsense when it could have easier being sold by someone just coming up and saying look yeah but but but but they had fruits they brought back fruits above their head they're such a good christian it doesn't matter it doesn't matter they want you out of church they want to demoralize you you understand that yeah and and it will go from a couple to 10 out of 12 very quickly very quickly and then to the point where there's a couple of people then the two out of 12 saying but that's a lie that's rubbish buried yeah does anyone here believe that that sort of thing is just innocent is that just innocent oh just a bit annoyed about you know i i saw like a dirty surface i'm just a bit annoyed that a carpet which by the way i steam cleaned back in september yeah most of the stains didn't even come out of it okay they're old stains but we had it steam cleaned there's all sorts of it's not yeah you would never have this carpet if you chose a church yeah but like i said it was always a temporary building yeah now that we're going to have downstairs we're going to try and make it a bit better we've got a bit longer it's worth putting the time and effort into it okay maybe i was maybe yeah i'll hold my hand up maybe i was in error a year ago or whatever else we first came in and maybe i should have just said right all hands to deck let's just make it nice even if we're only here for a couple of months yeah maybe i should have done but but regardless now i know that we're here longer term yeah we're going to make it nice but regardless no one's getting ill because of that yeah no one's getting ill because well they're they're not shampooing the carpet every week yeah no one's getting ill because there's a bit of paint peeling off the wall and anyone who suggests that it's not only a complete imbecile yeah because but but what's again what's their motivation to demoralize you to pull you out of church and i don't care i don't care if it's your best friend yeah you come and see me or you're a problem as well okay like i said we've worked hard we're not having it poisoned so title of my sermon today was weapons of the enemy demoralization demoralized about the word of god number two is demoralized about working for god number three is demoralized about where you worship god three w's there for weapons hopefully it's easy to remember what are our defenses and sorry we've gone a little bit over time today but it was worthwhile yeah what are our defenses what is the answer to the propaganda campaign do we spread our own disinformation is that the answer do we shut off from all forms of communication no turn to first kings 19 when we see one of the greatest prophets in the bible feeling demoralized so elijah here has just had 450 prophets of bale killed it's the equivalent of if only you could just round up 450 false prophets and have them all strung up yeah yeah wouldn't it be great well elijah's just done that great job okay he's just had it had it done he's overseen it so he's done a great work of god here and now he's being hunted down look at first kings chapter 19 and verse 1 and ahab told jezebel all that elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword then jezebel sent a messenger unto elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if i make not thy life as a life of one of them by tomorrow about this time and when he saw that he arose and went for his life and came to be a shiva which belongeth to judah and left his servants there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said it is enough now oh lord take away my life for i am not better than my father so he's asking to die he's giving up isn't he he's basically got the queen of israel in effect swearing to kill him within a day okay she's hunting him he knows it's going to be gruesome and he's just thinking i've done i've done it i've done what i can he's tired he's probably worn out he's demoralized yeah what's the answer verse five and as he lay and slept under a juniper tree behold then an angel touched him and said unto him arise and eat so basically get up and get prepared for some more yeah look at verse six and he looked and behold there was a cake baking on the coals and a cruiser walter at his head and he did eat and drink and laid him down again so look he gets a quick feeding and then look verse seven and the angel of the lord came again the second time and touched him and said arise and eat because the journey is too great for you said you need to get you need to eat again and it's time for work yeah time for work i don't care how demoralized you are get prepared get ready and he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights under horrib the mount of god so you're feeling a bit demoralized are you time to get busy and you might as well go on a 40-day fast while you're at it yeah you could say you could say get spiritual yeah get spiritual you're feeling demoralized get spiritual because i think a 40-day fast you're going to be feeling pretty spiritual right yeah well god then speaks to him yeah god then speaks to him and elijah answers in verse 14 yeah and he said i have been very jealous for the lord god of hosts because the children of israel have forsaken thy covenant throw down their altars and slain thy prophets with the sword and i even i only am left and they seek my life to take it away and the lord said unto him go return on their way to the wilderness of damascus and when thou comest anoint hasael to be king over syria and jahu the son of nimshi shout thou anoint to be king over israel and elijah the son of shafat of albema hola shout thou anoint to be prophet in thy room and it shall come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of hasael shall jahu slay and him that escapes from the sword of jahu shall elijah slay so the lord says to him yeah you might be feeling a bit discouraged yeah so go and get busy for me go and get busy and get some good fellowship when you're in there too look at verse 18 he says yeah i have left me seven thousand in israel all the knees which have not bowed unto bale and every mouth which has not kissed him god said basically there's more of you out there you're not alone yeah you're not alone when you're demoralized yeah when you're sitting there in the christian life in the christian wall and you're feeling demoralized realize you're not alone yeah you're not the only one and there's plenty of us out here plenty about out and where are you going to find those people in church when you're feeling demoralized you need to be in the in the house of god you need to be around those others that haven't bad there need to bail yeah you need to be around those other people to get strengthened to get that camaraderie to get that morale boosted up and not to then be demoralized yeah and that could be whether it's about the word of god that could be whether it's about your work of god and that could be whether it's about where you worship god get there get your morale up yeah get around other people and and get busy make sure you're busy because the most demoralized you'll feel is when you're sitting there languishing when you're sitting there staring at a wall just feeling crap about yourself you're going to feel worse and worse and worse aren't you get busy get up get busy get spiritual get around other people get around other people of god and that for me is a solution to all three of those points yeah get when people are trying to demoralize you about the word of god get around other people that know about the word of god when people are trying to demoralize you about doing the work of god get around other people that work for god yeah don't get around the the false lazy christians the part-time believer yeah when you're feeling demoralized about the place where you worship god go to that place where you worship god be around other people that are happy to come here and serve and worship god yeah get around those other people that have not bad they need to bail yeah and for me that that's the that's the answer don't let them pull you out of church because that's ultimately the goal that's where the work's being done we've said this time and time again you've got many people around the world that think they're such a great christian because they've read the bible however many times because they can memorize some scripture because they can answer a few debates or something else but what's the real work the real work comes from the church sending you out to preach the gospel yeah and that's that's why they don't want you here that's why ultimately it's all to weaken you to pull you out of church that what that's what it's all about and that's why the answer is to make sure you're in church yeah make sure you're in church make sure you're doing the things for god like i said weapons of the enemy demoralization number one was about the word of god number two is about work for god number three was about where you worship god and the answer is to get moralized around god's people yeah let's get moralized around god's people on that let's pray father i thank you for all the great lessons we get in the bible all the great examples of things that we go through in our modern day um i thank you that you make it clear how the enemy likes to attack us the different ways of attacking us the different slightly just subtle differences between fear and demoralization and we're going to see other other ways as we go forward over the next couple of months and just how we can how we can defend against and help everyone here to not only to want to defend themselves against that and i need to have a strong mind to also to want to defend the rest of the church to care about the church to care about the people to care about what god thinks of them to when people do this to come and come and expose them to come and come to me come to the leadership for me for me between myself and pastor thompson to then be able to then take action and and look without people doing that unfortunately people can carry on carry on with this sort of work and this sort of wickedness and we pray that you just help expose those types of people as and when they come into our church but also lord that you you just help us all not to be just on a hair trigger to to want to just get you know to accuse people left right and center as well help us to to love each other as well to want to be around other believers to want to just be good church members to want this church to thrive to help this church to thrive um obviously going forward with a new building now as well to at least a new way of having this building and a bigger part of this building help us to to just make that what you'd want it to be to to make it a great place where people enjoy coming and they're happy to come and worship you and um in jesus name we pray all of this amen