And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:6
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00:00okay good morning everyone i've said that already haven't i so once again okay just after i prayed
00:11johnston showed me a clip he got through on the whatsapp whatever it is saying that hamas has
00:17actually decided they're going to start releasing the hostages today so so praise the lord let's
00:24pray that that will go through and that all will come to a good conclusion
00:30i have a lot of doubts whether it will come to a totally good conclusion actually
00:38if you want to know the reasons why you could listen to my talk last week on the
00:42peace process from daniel chapter 9 but i'm not going to do on to that today so we're going to
00:49look at some of the events to do with the life of king david got it up there and i'm going to
00:56address this issue of encouragement and discouragement it's a verse in chapter in 1
01:04samuel chapter 30 verse 6 time when david actually lost everything it said that david was greatly
01:10distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved
01:15for every man for his sons and his daughters but david encouraged himself in the lord is god
01:20we'll look a bit at that background to that story later on but the first one i'll look at today is
01:26david encouraged himself strengthened himself in the lord is god if you look through the life of david
01:32you find that he had a lot of ups and downs some of his finest hours were way beyond anything that
01:38you or i have ever attempted or achieved in the spiritual realm some of his worst hours were
01:45probably way below anything hopefully that you or i have done in the flesh
01:51and sometimes we had difficult to explain how the bible contains
01:56stories of the heroes of faith which contain things which they do so well and also things which
02:03they do so badly i guess the reason is because the bible is actually honest it tells us how it is
02:09tells us not only how god deals with humans but how humans deal with god and it tells us the good and
02:16the bad and the bible characters are real people like you and me not superheroes not flawless
02:21and all the things which we learn about them we can learn something for our own lives
02:26first read about david in 1 samuel chapter 15 i'm going to quote from some of these passages
02:32and i won't put them up on the board so if you want to
02:35check your bibles out and follow through we're going to look at some passages from
02:391 samuel in particular 1 samuel 15 you find that after saul
02:44israel's first king had proved himself to be a disappointment to god
02:48not doing his will god rejected saul and his line and chose david instead
02:55on samuel 16 we see how god sent samuel to go and anoint
03:01saul's successor and he goes to the man called jesse who has eight sons he chose the eight sons
03:09of jesse to pass before him and each one who comes before him he says this isn't the right one
03:13and he says lord says to samuel don't look at his appearance or his physical stature because i've
03:20refused him the lord does not see as man sees man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks
03:26at the heart that god's looking at what you look at on the outside how fine you might appear he's
03:31looking at what's going on on the inside he's looking for a man after his own heart
03:34and when the youngest comes before him that's david
03:37god says this is the one anoint him and samuel anoints him
03:44and he as he anoints him then the holy spirit comes upon him
03:51said in verse 13 verse 16 13 then samuel took the horn of the oil anointed him in the midst of his
03:57brothers and the spirit of the lord came upon david from that time forward
04:01finding the old testament that when god anoints someone for a task the holy spirit comes upon them
04:07and anoints them to do that task the next verse says the spirit of the lord departed from saul
04:13and a distressing spirit came upon him and the lord troubled him so as the spirit of the lord
04:19comes upon david the spirit of the lord departs from saul and a distressing spirit comes upon him
04:25david then comes to saul and he plays the harp to him to remove the distressing spirit
04:30and it's another interesting little detail there
04:33i guess as he's playing the harp and he's playing it in the spirit and he's
04:39bringing it some kind of worship to the lord and one of the lessons which tells us is that as we come
04:44we find the evil one trying to oppress us in some way one of the ways we can resist him is by
04:51praising the lord bringing our praise and worship to the lord especially praising the name of jesus
04:56in the name of jesus we have the victory in the name of jesus demons will have to flee
05:01so this music becomes our instrument for ministering to saul against this distressing spirit this evil
05:09spirit has come upon him and david is the one who brings it david who's in the spirit has the holy
05:16spirit upon him and then we come to the most important and the most well-known story of david we'll
05:22look at a little bit of detail the story of david and goliath you know the story probably one of the
05:29best-known stories in the bible goliath the champion of the philistines comes to confront the armies of
05:37israel and as he confronts the armies of israel he challenges them to send out someone to fight
05:41against him and everyone's afraid because he's a huge giant he's nine foot tall and he's clothed in
05:47all the armor and everyone's afraid to go and fight with goliath and david goes there not to
05:53fight he goes there to bring some food for his brothers who are in the army and as he comes he
05:58hears what's happening and david says who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the
06:04armies of the living god here again you see the holy spirit is upon david and he's understanding what
06:10is going on in the spiritual realm here this isn't just a physical battle here's somebody who's coming
06:15in the name of false gods to confront the true god and david's on the side of the true god so he
06:21says what's this guy doing he's confronting the armies of the living god surely we can
06:25fight against him because we are the armies of the living god we've got god on our side and truly they
06:31did have god on their side because god had chosen israel and the philistines were coming to
06:35oppress them and to drive them out of the land if possible so david comes and he volunteers to go and
06:42fight against the giant brothers mock him and say what are you doing here you trying to upstage us
06:50and show what a big deal you are uh saul says okay you can go but you better put my armor on
06:56and david puts saul's armor on the armor just inhibits him and he says it's not going to work so he
07:02takes off the army he renounces the armor and he says i'm going to trust in the lord and his armor
07:07instead the armor didn't fit it's too big didn't fit him spiritually because he was relying on the
07:16lord and there's a lesson for us there as well he puts off these things and he takes on his takes
07:22up his shepherd's weapons his sling and his five stones and he goes to confront the giant and we read
07:28on them that goliath mocks him as he comes towards him verse 43 so the philistine said to david am i a
07:38dog that you come to me with sticks and the philistine cursed david by his gods and the philistine
07:44said to david come to me and i will fill give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the
07:49field he sees david coming and he looks fewly and feeble and he's just doesn't even got any weapons
07:55with him he says am i a dog you're coming to attack me i'll just give you curses him by his gods and
08:01again once he curses him by his gods he's also bringing in now the spiritual dimension this isn't
08:07just one man against another man this is the one who represents the armies of the living god
08:13coming against the one who is representing the gods of the philistines who are no gods
08:18and so it's not just goliath and his armor against david it's goliath and his armor against the god of
08:28israel and david comes in the name of the lord he comes with a testimony to israel and to the world
08:36tells them that there is a god in israel and we come to the verse which up here in verse 45
08:44then david said to the philistine you come to me with a sword and a spear and with a javelin
08:51but i come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of israel whom you have
08:56defied this day the lord will deliver you into my hand and i will strike you and take your head
09:01from you and this day i will give the carcasses of the camp of the philistines to the birds of the
09:05air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a god in israel
09:11then all this assembly shall know that the lord does not save with sword and spear for the battle
09:17is the lord's and he will give you into our hands it's an amazing statement of faith that isn't it
09:24i mean he's not just saying that in a church building he's saying that confronting this
09:29huge giant and saying i'm coming to you in the name of the lord of hosts and i'm going to cut off
09:33your head and give it to the birds imagine i mean it's sort of almost funny isn't it but
09:40think about he's actually standing there saying this he's got to really believe it hasn't he
09:46got to really believe it's going to happen because he believes in the god of israel he doesn't say
09:53i'm going to deliver you into my hands he says the lord is going to deliver you into my hands so he's
09:59very bold he's very courageous and he's bold in god it's only god who's giving him that strength
10:04for just in his own strength i guess he'd be totally terrified and run away as you and i would
10:11but he also says that all the earth may know that there is a god in israel
10:15and his purpose in doing this is that the world may know that god actually exists that there is a god
10:20and boy did he succeed in that here we are what is it two thousand three thousand years later
10:26telling this story which is probably the best known story in the bible one of the best known
10:30stories in the bible even the unbelievers know about david and goliath and somehow this event which
10:37took place has been told over and over again and david has shown that there is a god there is a god
10:42if you trust in him he's going to give you the victory over the enemy who comes against you
10:47it's an amazing story and it tells you just how david trusts in the lord and he believes that there is
10:53a god there really is a god who is able to defeat and overcome all the powers of darkness which come
10:59against you and in this story you see satan really behind goliath coming against israel mocking their
11:07gods and saying that i'm going to defeat you you can't stand against me and david comes in the faith
11:14in the trust in the lord and he comes with faith and he overcomes and he creates this wonderful victory
11:21if you go from there david goes from strength to strength he defeats the philistines becomes a
11:26friend of saul's son jonathan marris marris saul's daughter michael and he goes out against the
11:33philistines and it's said of him david saul has slain his thousands but david his tens of thousands
11:41and as a result of this he has a place in the king's court he's one of the in crowd if you like he's
11:45certainly lorded by the people by everybody else got everything going for him but unfortunately in
11:52that phrase saul is playing his thousands david his tens of thousands he rouses the jealousy of seeing
12:01saul and saul maybe has some understanding that the kingdom has departed from him and it's now gone to
12:09david and he begins to he becomes david's enemy and they they saw becomes jealous of him he tries
12:17to kill him hells his spirit him while he's playing his harp tries to turn jonathan against him
12:24jonathan doesn't because jonathan remains loyal to david
12:28and he tells jonathan that if you don't turn against david then david's going to take your place
12:33as the king after i die and as a rod of all this david becomes a fugitive and he ends up
12:41in the cave of adunam 1 samuel chapter 2 22 verse 1 says therefore david departed from there and escaped
12:48to the cave of adunam so when his brothers and all his father's house heard of it they went down there
12:53to him and everyone who was in distress everyone who was in debt and everyone who was discontented
12:58gathered to him so he became captain over them and there were about 400 men with him
13:04and david goes out and he becomes the leader of a rebel band of fugitives
13:09far from being the favored insider he's now the outsider
13:13saul seeks him saul seeks to kill him or to remove him he has a number of adventures and near escapes
13:20but he stays alive and throughout this time he also stays faithful to god you see that david seeks god
13:26when he has the opportunity to kill kings kill king saul he says he won't touch the lord's anointed
13:33he won't sin against god by touching the lord's anointed because the lord has already has anointed
13:38saul as king and he's not going to sin against him by taking his life
13:44and so david acts in some distress but also continues to act with faith to the lord
13:52so then we're going to come to our second encounter which comes back to the verse which we started
13:58with
13:58go to chapter 26 we find that uh again david's on the run saul is seeking him and saul encamps in a place
14:11where he goes to sleep
14:12and david comes down to the camp and in 26 verse 7 we see that david and abishai came to the place
14:22people by night and there saul lay sleeping within the camp with his spear stuck in the ground in his
14:28head and abner all the people lay around him then abishai said to david god has delivered your enemy
14:35into your hand this day now therefore please struck let me strike him at once with the spear right to the
14:41earth and i will not have to strike him a second time but david said to abishai do not destroy him
14:47for who can stretch out his hand against the lord's anointed and be guiltless david said therefore as the
14:52lord lives the lord shall
14:57the lord shall strike him or his day shall come to die and he shall go out in the battle the lord
15:02forbid that i should stretch out my hand against the lord's anointed please take now the spear and
15:07the jug of water that by his head and let us go so abishai says to david look you've got him
15:13called it now he's he's asleep everyone around him asleep there's a sword there take the spear put it
15:19through his head and you're free david says no i'm not going to do that that would be sinful not going
15:23to touch the lord's anointed what he does he then wakes up saul shows him the spear and the
15:30jug of water and he says look i could have killed you saul i didn't do that so why are you chasing after
15:35me i don't seek your life why do you seek my life i'm just like a flea he says don't come after me
15:45and apparently saul has a change of heart go to the end of the chapter
15:49see that verse 21 and saul said i have sinned return my son david i will harm you no more because
16:05my life was precious in your eyes this day indeed i played the fool and earned exceedingly
16:12so it seems that saul has changed his mind he says come back it's all right i won't go after you
16:16anymore so up to now david has followed the lord he's done what god told him and it appears that
16:22saul has said he's not going to go after him anymore now that's the next bit i want to concentrate for
16:29the rest of this talk go to chapter 27 david does something very strange you think you might say well
16:37okay it's all right now i can go back and live with saul but what does he do
16:44verse 27 then said david said in his heart now i shall surely perish someday by the hand of saul
16:50there's nothing better for me that i should speedily escape to the land of the philistines
16:55and saul would despair of me to seek me anymore in any part of israel so i should escape out of his hand
17:00and david arose and went over with six hundred men that were with him to achish the son of maoch king
17:08of gath and david dwelt with achish and gath he and his men each man with his household
17:15and so on in verse 4 it said it was told saul that david had fled to gath so he sought him no more
17:23it says there that saul says he sought him no more so david actually had some inkling that perhaps
17:28saul hadn't really changed his mind and that saul was unreliable as some world leaders are today
17:36they'll be saying one thing one day and then they'll say the next thing the next day
17:40and so port saul david departs and he flees to the land of the philistines
17:46now one of the things you notice if you follow through the story from chapter verse 27 through to
17:51verse chapter 30 which we're going to look at in a moment during this time david never seeks the lord
17:58there's no mention of god there's no mention of praying to god and what david does now he goes
18:03over to the philistines he goes and lives with the philistines he's now actually living with the enemy
18:08the enemies of israel even more strange if you go to verse 28 chapter 28
18:14he goes he goes on a raid with the philistines then in chapter 28 it says now it happened in those
18:27days that the philistines gathered their armies together for war to fight with israel and akish
18:32said to david you surely know you assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle and your
18:39men so david said to akish surely you know what your servant can do so akish said to david therefore
18:47i make you one of my chief guardians forever
18:52can you see how strange that is really strange behavior he's not only now with the philistines
18:58he's actually going out to battle with the philistines against israel he's in the enemy camp
19:05he's fighting with the enemy how can this possibly happen what's happened to david the one who slain
19:12the philistines now he's fighting with the philistines really strange behavior he's gone
19:20from being the one who confronted the philistines in the name of the living god to be with them
19:28and as i said if you look through this section of the book of samuel you'll find that at no point
19:32does david seek the lord so he goes off with the philistines the philistines actually tell him
19:39sorry you can't go with us we know who you are maybe when you enter the battle your turn against us
19:47and he goes back to his place which he's been given a place called ziklag which incidentally is not
19:54far from gaza today where he set up his camp we kept to verse 30 chapter 30 verse 1
20:02now it happened when david and his men came to ziklag on the third day that the amalekites had invaded
20:07the south and ziklag attacked ziklag and burned it with fire and had taken captive the women and
20:12those who were there from small to great they did not kill anyone but carried them away and went their
20:18way so david his men came to the city and there it was burned with fire and their wives their sons and
20:25their daughters had been taken captive and david and the men who were with him lifted up their voices
20:30and wept until they had no more power to weep and david's two wives ahinoam the jezreelites and
20:37abigail the wife widow of nabal the carmelite had been taken captive now david was greatly distressed
20:44for the people spoke of showing him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and daughters
20:50i'll leave it there for the moment okay david now has reached the lowest point in this story
20:59he's trusted in the philistines he's set up his camp in a place called ziklag and while he's away
21:07the amalekites who are the big enemies of israel live further south from the philistines even they've
21:13come and captured his town he's taken his wives and his families captive and all the people who
21:20are with him have gone into captivity and he's lost everything
21:28must have been a terrible day for david
21:31very dead he's lost everything
21:35disaster struck
21:36and even now all the people who are with him are turning against him and talking about stoning him
21:44to death
21:46so at this point david's got to make a choice
21:50he could say well that's it i'm finished okay stone me to death i've lost everything
21:56but what does he do says david strengthened himself in the lord so this is the first mention you have
22:03of david doing anything to do with the lord from chapter 26 right through to this point
22:08and everything's gone wrong for him he's ended up in the enemy camp he's lost everything
22:13then it says he strengthened himself in the lord he turned to the lord
22:21so
22:25in all these chapters said there's been no mention of david looking to the lord now he looks to the lord
22:30so the david who came before goliath proclaiming his faith in the living god
22:36and winning victory over the enemies of israel not once mentioned god in these chapters
22:42lost everything
22:47didn't work out his plan to go to the philistines
22:51lost everything and he's in danger of losing his life he's about to be stoned to death
22:55so he encourages himself in the lord and the next verse it says then abby david verse seven then
23:02david said to abiathar the priest ahimelech's son please bring the ephod here to me and david brought
23:08the ephod to go to david so david inquired of the lord saying shall i pursue this troop shall i overtake
23:13them and he answered him pursue for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all
23:20isn't the lord gracious he could have said david you've blown it i've forgotten with you you've
23:26lost everything you've gone over to the wrong side
23:30forget it but david encourages himself in the lord and he seeks the lord he seeks the
23:34lord with the ephod that's the way by which they determine the will of the lord in the old testament
23:40and the lord says to him go after this troop you shall overtake them and recover all
23:44he prays to god and god answers him and tells him what to do he may have lost everything in the
23:50physical realm but he remembers that there is a spiritual realm where he was once very powerful
23:55linked to the living god maybe some of us can get into such a state as well we've known the lord's
24:01presence and then we depart and we begin to backslide and go away from the lord maybe we think it's all
24:07over we've lost it but if we turn to the lord and ask god to help us ask god to meet us in our point of
24:12need he's there and he will meet us at our point of need the lord says you will surely overtake them
24:18and without fail recover all and he then goes with his 600 men who are with him and came to the brook
24:25besor crosses over the brook and finds an egyptian a slave of the amalekites been left behind without
24:33food or water they give this man food and water and he's able to direct them to the place where the
24:40the the people of lust people are held captive and then david and his men recover all that's lost
24:48he comes to the brook besor
24:52probably most of you don't know any hebrew but if you do know the hebrew you may know that the word
24:56besor actually means something it means good news in fact the hebrew term for the gospel is
25:03the gospel the good news of jesus the messiah so he comes to the brook besor and he gets some good
25:12news the way he's going to find the answer when we come to the end of ourselves and we realize that
25:17everything's gone wrong we come to the good news that there is a god in heaven who loves us who gave
25:24us jesus the messiah and we come to him and he's able to help us to recover what we have lost
25:29and he does so crosses over the brook besor good news and he recovers everything that's lost both the
25:39people and the goods returns them to his people then he learns that saul has died in battle goes up
25:45to hebron claims the kingdom and gains control in the following chapters you read how there was a long
25:52war between the house of saul and the house of david but david grew stronger and stronger and the house
25:57of saul became strong weak weaker and weaker house of saul representing the flesh the house of david
26:03representing now the spirit becomes stronger and stronger and david ends up uniting the whole country
26:11in the kingdom under him becoming israel's greatest king and the ancestor of the messiah and it all
26:19turned on that one verse david encouraged himself in the lord he hadn't done so he'd have been dead and
26:24forgotten the disaster which had befallen him jolted him out of his backslidden state and unbelief which
26:31had caused him to end up in the camp of the enemy he obeyed the lord came to the brook besor good news
26:39and began to recover all that was lost they asked the question why did he get into that situation in the
26:46the first place the fact that he encouraged himself in the lord suggests to me that he was discouraged
26:56something had happened to cause him to lose that
27:00faith which he exercised when he confronted goliath
27:05he didn't believe saul when he told him he'd stopped pursuing him and perhaps he stopped believing
27:10in the lord discouragement led him to believe that his situation was hopeless and so he fled from
27:15saul and went into the camp of the enemy been told by samuel the prophet that he'd been anointed as
27:22the next king of israel but he'd seen himself ending up as a fugitive been the favorite of the king dining
27:28at the king's palace the victor in the conflicts with the philistines a hero to the people then he ended
27:35up living in a cave with a band of outlaws and then in the camp of the enemy
27:43and this occurred to me what happens when we give in to discouragement
27:47and we lose our faith in our walk with the lord
27:51let's have a look at some of the things which happen what can cause us to be discouraged
27:59some of the things there poor results from our faith
28:02uh things not happen happening the way that we thought they did we end up in a bad place instead
28:09of being in a good place if you're a preacher an evangelist you can end up feeling disappointment
28:15if you don't get many results from what you're doing
28:19fiery darts of the enemy can come upon you and say you're not doing it right
28:23you can be discouraged and sometimes people can discourage you as well fellow christians can
28:28discourage you as well i remember once when i was starting off uh there was somebody actually
28:34somebody in this church one of the older members didn't like me actually didn't want me to take
28:38over and he was very skeptical about the work i was doing he said it's a strange fisherman who
28:43doesn't catch any fish because i didn't seem to bring any people to the lord and he was kind of
28:48discouraging me you can have other people who discourage you remember someone else once said to me
28:53you weren't jesus won't say to you well done good and faithful servant when you come before the lord
28:59and people can discourage you christians can discourage you as well sometimes hopefully not
29:03but it can happen and you know there's an old phrase sticks and stones may hurt your bones but
29:09names will never hurt you but it's not true you can be really hurt by things which people say to you
29:14and they can stay in your mind and cause you to be discouraged and depressed
29:17it can happen as a road of rejection lack of support poor resources
29:26it can happen also as a result of personal failures david had his failures and those caused him perhaps
29:32to feel discouraged it can happen also because of sin and evil in the world we can look around the
29:38world and see so much evil capping ten places and think well where's god how can we believe that god's
29:43going to have the victory cap and also being let down by others especially those who think should
29:50be on your side and a lot of people get hurt by things that happen even inside the church
29:56and lose their faith or lose their not their faith but sometimes their walk with the lord
30:03and ultimately comes as a result of demonic attacks it's clear that saul was actually under the
30:08influence of demonic spirits and so all his attacks on david were actually coming from the evil one
30:15so all those things can happen to discourage you
30:19as a result of what happens of discouragement you use find a loss of motivation sometimes tiredness
30:25and weariness you don't want to do anything come to introspection you look at yourselves and you
30:30compare yourselves unfavorably with others
30:32it's first in the book of corinthians which says they measuring themselves by themselves and
30:39comparing themselves among others are not wise uh you can always look at someone who's doing better
30:44than you and think i'm not doing very well because they're doing better than i am you can look at
30:49people who are doing worse than you and think well i'm doing pretty well i'm doing better than they
30:52are we're not actually told to compare ourselves with others we're told to compare ourselves with
30:57jesus if we compare ourselves with jesus then we're all failures but he also gives us the way in which
31:03we can be restored to him by faith in him as a result of discouragement you can also end up with a
31:10critical spirit feeling unforgiveness as well towards people who hurt you end up with guilt and depression
31:18and a lack of confidence leads to isolation not wanting to go out and meet people one of the big
31:25problems today among young people is that they're many of them are so disappointed and so discouraged
31:29that they don't actually don't want to go out and do anything got a whole generation of what they
31:33call neat so not in education not in uh training not doing anything just sitting at home living on
31:39benefits because they've lost confidence and the result of disappointment they're doing nothing with
31:45their lives which is not what god wants us to do god wants to encourage us and to help us to do
31:52things with our lives to have confidence and even if we're not the most intelligent or the most
31:57beautiful or the most wonderful of people we still have value in the sight of god and god's able to use
32:01us for his purpose and for his glory you also end up with pretense and covering up hypocrisy and what
32:10appears to happen to david here prayerlessness and loss of faith all those things can happen as a result
32:16of discouragement and they're things which can attack us as christians as believers
32:23so what's the answer
32:26well i said one of the big discouragers of course is the devil
32:30the devil wants to discourage people discourage people from following the lord that's his job
32:34sometimes we complain about the devil but he's got his job to do and we've got our job to do
32:39our job is to resist him on peter chapter 5 it says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the
32:46devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour resist him steadfast in the faith
32:52knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world
32:58there's a devil who does go around and he wants to discourage and to he doesn't want just want to
33:03discover he wants to devour us actually he wants to destroy our faith and he says he's if you
33:09experience some kind of attacks from the devil don't be surprised because that's the thing which
33:13happens to all of your brethren in the world so so he's common to man once you step out for jesus
33:20then you have god on your side but you also have the devil against you
33:24what do we do submit to god resist the devil and he will flee from you we're not stronger than he is
33:34but there is one who is stronger much stronger that's the lord jesus who's defeated him at the
33:38cross through his resurrection so if we face the devil trying to discourage us and trying to destroy us
33:44then what do we have to do we don't have to sort of argue with him we turn to the lord and ask him to
33:50to defend us and to deliver us from the power of darkness and he would do that because as it says
33:57in one john four you are of god little children you've overcome them because greater is he that
34:01is in you than he who is in the world there's greater power available to every christian who
34:07stands on the face of the earth than the power that's in the world that's the power of the risen
34:11christ the risen lord jesus christ so when we face the devil we face attacks we face difficulties
34:18and troubles in our lives don't argue with the devil don't try and fight him in your own strength
34:23but fight him in the strength of the lord because greater is he that's in you jesus christ than he
34:29that is in the world next situation next one accept situations that we can't change
34:40sometimes there are things which come against us which actually we can't do anything about
34:43we just have to expect except that they're there and we have to overcome in those situations but we
34:50can't actually change the situation which we're in famous verse in habakkuk which says
34:57though the fig tree may not blossom nor plant fruit beyond the vines though the labor of the olive
35:02may fail and the free fields of the field yield no fruit food though the flock may be cut off from
35:08the fold and there be no herd in the stalls yet i will rejoice in the lord probably wishes he could
35:14do something about the fact that there was a apparently a famine in the land there was no
35:18fruit on the trees and the flocks were dying in the field but actually he wasn't able to change that
35:24what he could do is change his response to it instead of being in despair and blaming god and saying
35:29why have you allowed this to happen he says yet i will rejoice in the lord and there's a great
35:35power in praising god in the midst of difficult situations because as we praise god in the midst
35:39of difficult situations we're affirming that god has the ultimate answer and he's going to bring us
35:43through this time so when you're going through the tough times don't give in but praise the lord in
35:53those circumstances and the verse which i quoted earlier in the prayer the time will come when they
36:00will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears
36:04they'll heap up for themselves teachers they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned
36:10aside to fables but you be watchful in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist
36:16fulfill your ministry i wish we could change the situation in the church so that we don't have all these
36:23apostates in high places undermining the church but actually the bible says it's going to happen in the
36:28last days i'm afraid we can't stop it from happening it's happening now it will happen it will continue
36:35to happen until jesus returns what we can do is stand up for the truth and preach the gospel
36:43none of us is ever going to be elected to be bishops or heart bishops in the church of england
36:48it's all a rigged process by the way and the people who choose them are themselves apostates who make sure
36:52that they get apostates into the high positions that's my understanding i have you're not going
36:58to be able to change it what we can change is our response to it our response to it has to be to
37:03stand up for the truth to hold on to the truth of jesus christ and to resist the enemy resist all the
37:09false teaching which goes on in the name of jesus christ preach the truth and preach the gospel of jesus christ
37:16work on things which you can change one of the things which you can change is you and me
37:29philippians chapter 2 it says therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not only in my presence
37:34only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
37:39for his god who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure
37:42that's something which we can change ourselves
37:49as we submit ourselves to god we can work out our salvation work out our salvation through god who
37:56works in us to willing to do his good pleasure that involves a mindset that we set our minds to do that
38:05what happened just by accident what happened by being passive happens by being active and seeking god and
38:11allowing god to work his work in us to change us from the person we were when we became a believer in
38:15jesus to the person he wants us to be to allow god to change us from the inside out that we might obey him and
38:22do his will we can also change the destiny of other people by preaching the gospel
38:28matthew 28 jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth
38:35go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of
38:40the son of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all things that i've commanded you
38:44and know i'm with you always even to the end of the age
38:49not everyone's called to be a great preacher but everyone can in some way support the work of evangelism
38:54or do some modest works ourselves to spread the gospel of jesus christ everybody here everybody
39:01listening online spoke to one person about jesus in a month you'd reach a thousand people
39:10if you did every week you'd reach 4 000 people in a month
39:16think about the potential each one of you have to share the good news of jesus christ
39:21one of the great gifts we have is our availability that we're here on the earth we're able to
39:29be used by god to spread his message and that's the method which method which god has used from the
39:36beginning and jesus says if we do this i'm with you always even to the end of the age
39:42and many people won't listen to us if we share the gospel with them but there may be one or two who do
39:46and we shouldn't be discouraged by a lack of results we should be encouraged with the potential
39:53that as we sow the seed of the gospel we're sowing the seed which can bring
39:56a lost sinner to eternal life through faith in jesus the messiah
40:03and everyone can do that you can take a gospel tract and give it to people and pass it out to
40:06people as you go around your life every one of us can share the good news of jesus the messiah
40:11and there are certain people who are called to do that full-time and we can support them and help
40:17them in their ministry so that they can be used of god and set aside their time to preach the gospel of
40:23jesus christ
40:27okay next big change is repentance actually repentance actually means to change change our mind change our
40:34direction first message of jesus mark chapter one the time is fulfilled the kingdom of god is at
40:41hand repent and believe the gospel repent turn around turn from your sins believe the gospel
40:49believe the good news follow jesus the messiah
40:53say the greek word for repentance is metanoia which means to change your mind to change your
40:57thinking so it comes in line with god's thinking
41:01hebrew word is teshuvah which means to change your direction you're going in one direction turn around
41:06and go the opposite direction going away from god turn to go towards god i guess david had been going
41:13away from god and then he encouraged himself in the lord and he turned around and began to go god's way
41:20god's always calling us right through our lives to repent to turn to him because all the time we can
41:26continually fall short of the glory of god so it's a process it's not just a one-off thing when you become
41:31a christian something which goes right through your life and in acts chapter 17 it says the times of
41:37ignorance god overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he's appointed
41:42a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained
41:47given assurance of this by tracing him from the dead one of the reasons why we should repent is
41:53because there's a day coming when god's going to judge us going to judge us on how many good deeds or
41:58bad deeds we've done he's going to judge us on how we've responded to the message of jesus christ repent
42:03believe the gospel and he's now commanding all people everywhere he's not suggesting it he's
42:10commanding it and he's applying this to everybody in the whole world
42:17so that's the way which we can overcome
42:19then continue in the faith philippians he has begun a good work and you will complete it until the day
42:28of jesus christ said this before that once you become a christian you haven't reached the conclusion
42:34you've reached the starting point continue in the faith continue in the faith until you're going to be
42:40with the lord and whoever's begun if he's begun a good work in you his desire is to bring it to completion
42:47in the day of jesus christ one of the ways we do this is to continue in fellowship
42:55let's read in acts 2 verse 22 they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship
43:01breaking of bread and in prayers if you want to be discouraged then break off doing those things
43:09sooner or later your faith will become weak you'll stop believing the things which you
43:14used to believe you'll stop putting in practice we need to meet together with one another we need
43:18to build up our faith we need to strengthen ourselves in the lord they continued steadfastly
43:24in the apostles doctrine the apostles doctrine not added teachings from the church which have come in
43:29later as i spoke about last week we have to teach the things which are written in the new
43:35testament in the scriptures and continue in those things and philippians 2 do things all things all
43:43things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of god
43:48without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the
43:53world holding fast the word of life so that i may rejoice in the day of christ that i have not run in vain
43:58or labored in vain
44:05next point positive confession word of faith our words do have power and if we speak speaking out
44:11negative words discouraging words lack of faith words it actually works in our lives to cause us to
44:18lose faith and to be discouraged Romans 10 says what does it say the word is near you in your mouth and
44:24in your heart that's the word of faith which we preach that if you confess with your mouth
44:29the lord jesus and believe in your heart that god has raised him from the dead you will be saved
44:33with the heart one believes unto righteousness with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
44:39so the more we confess positive words and words about salvation the more that we're building
44:43up ourselves and encouraging ourselves in the lord more that we express discouraging words and
44:49doubt words as they're doing in canterbury cathedral right now you're discouraging people from going
44:54on with the lord sowing doubt in their minds the very opposite of what the church should be doing
45:00we should be encouraging ourselves with positive words about faith that's not the word of faith
45:04movement by the way which makes you claim things that you haven't got by faith which is another
45:11error in the church i won't go into that one but it is written here to have positive words to speak
45:17our word of faith in the lord build up ourselves in the lord
45:23and then we have the fear of god and not of man jesus said do not fear those who kill the body
45:28but cannot kill the soul rather fear him who's able to destroy both body and soul in hell
45:34ultimately we don't fear what man can do unto us we fear what god can do unto us and we turn to god in
45:40faith believing that he has a perfect way for us and he's going to take us not to hell but to heaven
45:47and so we should believe on the lord trust in him and as it says in hebrews let your conduct be
45:53without covetous be content with such things as you have for he himself has said i will never leave
45:58you or forsake you so you boldly say the lord is my helper i will not fear what can man do unto me
46:05really believe this and we have a god who's there who helps us who wants to be with us and wants to help
46:09us and if we don't have to fear man we fear god and we believe god and we believe that god is able to
46:17meet us at our point of need
46:21i guess we can all look through our lives as i can in my life and see times when we have
46:25fallen short of what god wants and we failed him we can also see times when we have been walking in
46:31faith and victory believe that as we live in very difficult times it's going to get more difficult
46:37as we live in the end times it's going to get increasingly pressure upon believers pressure
46:42the enemy is going to do what he can to try to destroy our testimony god wants us to encourage
46:48ourselves in the lord not be like david when he went away from the lord and started going into the
46:54camp of the enemy but to be like david as he encouraged himself in the lord turned back to
47:00the lord and was then able to win the victory through the name of the lord
47:07and we have one who's greater than all the powers of darkness in us
47:12and finally just one example of positive confession and negative confession which we find in the old
47:18testament the event when moses sent the spies into the promised land to spy it out ten of them came
47:27back with a bad report and two came back with a good report
47:33and we read as the
47:37spies came back to moses to report
47:40the ten gave a bad report and they said we can't go up there because there are giants in the land
47:44and we read in numbers chapter 14 verse 30 then caleb quieted the people before moses and said let
47:54us go up at once and take possession we're well able to overcome it the men who had gone up with him
48:00said no we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we are
48:05verse 33 there we saw the giants the descendants of anak who came from the giants and we were like
48:11grasshoppers in our own sight so we were in their sight here's an ultimate expression of negative
48:18confession see these great giants and we see ourselves and we're like grasshoppers in our own
48:23sight that's what we look like in our own sight notice that they're trusting in themselves they're
48:30looking at themselves they're looking at the situation and saying well we can't fight against
48:33these people there they're much more powerful than we are we're like grasshoppers we're like just
48:39little insects with no power to fight against the enemy and then we have the positive confession
48:47joshua the son of nun and caleb the son of jephunneh who were among those who had spied out the land
48:52tore their clothes and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of israel saying the
48:56land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land if the lord delights in us then he will
49:02give bring us into the land and give it to us a land that flows with milk and honey
49:07only do not rebel against the lord nor fear the people of the land for they are our bread their
49:12protection is departed from them the lord is with us do not fear them
49:18pretty similar to david confronting julyeth saying the lord is with us we have one who's great greater
49:25on our side as we look at all the powers of darkness all the evil in the world today we can feel
49:30fearful and think well there's much more of them than there are of us they're much more powerful than
49:34we are but we've got god on our side and anyone and one person with god on their side is already
49:43the majority because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and we should ask god to
49:50give us that faith that confidence that strength to stand in these days against all the powers of the
49:55enemy because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world god is with us jesus is the
50:02victor jesus overcame at the cross he defeated satan when he died and rose again from the dead
50:09ascended to heaven and he sent the holy spirit to be with us always even to the end of the age
50:14and he wants his church to be strong in these days to stand against the enemy
50:18and to be victorious through faith in jesus christ our lord and let's just ask god to make us those
50:25people to fill us anew with the holy spirit and to empower us to go forth into this dark world with
50:31victory in jesus amen
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