Well, I invite you to take your Bibles this evening and turn with me to the Old Testament book of Numbers and the New Testament book of Jude. The Old Testament book of Numbers and the New Testament book of Jude. Numbers chapter 11, and with Jude having only one chapter, I guess we could say Jude chapter one. And in the continuation of our consideration of the need to be discerning and the need to be discerning as it relates to the gospel and its influence upon the church, this evening I want to preach a message I've entitled The Killing Effects of Lost People in the Church. The killing effects of lost people within the church. Numbers chapter 11, we will look at the first 10 verses. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. And the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses. And when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taborah, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bedellum. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was greatly kindled, and Moses also was displeased. I want you to notice verse four in chapter number 11 again. Verse four says that the mixed multitude, which some Bible scholars translate as rabble, which is resemblance of our usage riffraff. They, this mixed multitude fell a lusting, which then caused the children of Israel also to complain to God again. This mob of people, Speaking of non-Jewish people that followed God out of Egypt, who had comparatively little knowledge of God, encouraged the Israelites to sin against God. Now it seems that verse one indicates that Israel complained against God in the first place, which kindled the wrath of God toward them to kindle, but it also appears by the quick murmurings of this mixed multitude in verse four, that this mixed multitude did not take the judgment of God as serious as God's people did because Immediately after the fire of the Lord burned among them, we find that the mixed multitude fell a lusting which tempted God's people to join them in their complaints. Do you see that? The two principles I want to establish from this account is first, the plain reality that not all of those who came out of Egypt with Moses were Israelites. Which means that not all who were among the community of God's people had a relationship with God. And then second, We see that their absence, the absence of the mixed multitude of not knowing God and not loving God personally affected Israel negatively. So number one, we see in this text that not all Physical Israel are spiritual Israel, and then number two, those who did not know the Lord affected those who knew the Lord negatively. Now, if you will, turn over with me to the New Testament book of Jude, the New Testament book of Jude. And from Jude 3 and 4, I want you to carefully listen to what Jude says about what he saw among the fellowship of God's people. Jude, verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Now pausing here for a moment, let's consider the purpose of Jude's letter. Why is Jude writing this to the Christian community? Well, there in verse three, we find that Jude feels that it is imperative that he writes this letter to the Christian community so that Christian people might firmly believe and boldly proclaim the fundamental truths of the Christian faith that has been given to them by God through God's messengers. Do you see that? Jude says, as I look at the current condition of the Christian faith, as I see Christianity as it is in the world, I am pressing you, God's people, I am exhorting you with the great responsibility to earnestly contend for the pure teaching of the gospel and the faith that it brings. Why does Jude feel this pressing need to exhort God's people in such a way? Carry on, verse four. Jude is calling on Christian people to earnestly contend for the faith for there are certain men crept in unawares. There are certain people who have crept in unnoticed, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now think about this for a moment. Jude says there are unconverted people who've crept among the fellowship of Christ's church unnoticed who are ungodly, who are distorting the message of God's people. They're distorting the message of the gospel. Now Jude does not say that such people can be easily spotted by their appearance. Jude does not say that these false teachers go around causing major problems. No, on the contrary, those who are among the church who are false teachers who have crept in unawares seem to fit in, fellowship, and influence the church in a very subtle manner. They've crept in so slyly that others did not notice until it was too late. And the principles I want to establish here in Jude are virtually the same principles I established from Numbers chapter 11. And the first principle staring us in the face is the incontestable reality that there are lost people among the church. There are those who profess to know Christ who are strangers to the truth of the gospel. and such strangers preach a gospel that is contrary to the true message of the gospel given in scripture. The second principle in this text is the pressing need then for God's people to know the truth of the gospel and to do everything they can to contend for the gospel earnestly. Do you see the connection? What I want you to recognize here is that Jude is calling on Christians to be discerning. This is his Sunday evening series on discernment. He's calling on Christians to be watchful. Watchful of what? Watchful of wolves who are dressed in sheep's clothing. He's calling on Christians to test all things by the truths of God's Word, to test all things by that which has been delivered to them through the revelation of Scripture. Jude is arousing God's people to carefully examine the faith, the motives, behaviors, and messages of everyone among the fellowship of the flock and to stand firm in what they know to be true. So if we could boil the principles of these two texts down to two points, I think it's safe to say that we see, number one, an unfortunate reality, and number two, an unrelenting requirement. an unfortunate reality and an unrelenting requirement. And the unfortunate reality that we've been looking at for weeks now is the reality that among the community of God's people, there will always be goats among the sheep. There will always be tares among the wheat. There will always be hearers of God's word who are not doers of God's word. There will always be professors of faith who are not possessors of faith. If there's one truth that both old and New Testament scriptures affirm repeatedly is the truth that Satan is doing everything he can to attack the cause of Christ through counterfeits. So this being so, the unrelenting requirement, the earnest expectation given to God's people in scripture is the crucial need to exercise biblical discernment and to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Jews looking over the church. He sees the battle for what it is, and he's calling God's true soldiers to hold fast the faithful word, to stand firm in the truths of the gospel. And by now I'm hoping that you will see the nature and the seriousness of the battle that we are in. Do you remember what Paul says in Ephesians chapter six? Paul says, for we, Speaking to Christians, wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The battle that we are in is a spiritual battle, not a physical battle. The battle that meets us at the doorsteps of our church is a battle that often arises from within. Satan's primary method of discouraging and distracting God's people from honoring God as they should often comes by infiltration and deception. Are you with me? If we are going to be successful in this spiritual war that we are in, it is essential that we recognize the specific ways the enemy attacks. We cannot be ignorant to his devices. We cannot be ignorant to the devil's schemes. And if we are, He'll take us down a path of great destruction. And I'm submitting to you this evening that the most common, most subtle, most camouflaged way Satan attacks the Christian faith is through the sowing of false converts within Christ's church. I'm firmly convinced that Christianity is where it is today in our nation because our churches, for the most part, are filled with unsaved people who think themselves to be Christian. I'm thoroughly persuaded that the main cause most churches are dead and dying is because most churches are filled with dead people, spiritually dead people. Our churches are dead and dying and filled with so many worldly practices because we have so many unconverted pastors, missionaries, deacons, pulpit committees, church members, seminary professors, and leaders of Christian ministries. We are where we are because we've let our guard down. We are where we are because we have not done what Jude has told us to do. We are where we are today because our sermons are filled with fluff and not doctrine. We are where we are today because the average Christian is not earnestly contending for the faith. They think that's the pastor's job. We are where we are today because Most Christians don't know what the gospel is and what the gospel does. We are where we are today because we are more concerned about people wanting the church to be a place of happy fun than a place where God is rightly known in worship through the revelation of His word. Think about it. How did we come to this place in our nation where the average church looks more like a nightclub than a place of worship? Lost people among the flock. Now to prove my point further, I want to set before you five ways Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the life of the church. It kills the cause of Christ. It kills our evangelistic efforts. Point number one, Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the purity of the church. Now I want you to engage your mind in every point. Satan's method of sowing goats among the sheep kills the purity of Christ's church, beginning with its membership. When Christian churches let their guard down and quickly accept any person who says that they are Christian into the membership of the church without proper examination of their testimony, you will soon have a church filled with lost people who are worshiping and serving God void of a true love for God. When Christian churches are confused regarding what the new birth is and what true biblical conversion consists of, you will have unconverted pastors leading a congregation of unconverted members who are void of the Holy Spirit of God and void of a true desire to do God's will. So what you will have is a bunch of people externally, heartlessly, traditionally saying that they love Jesus while their hearts are far from the things of God. This was the problem of the Pharisees in Jesus' day. With their mouth they showed much love. With their habits, they maintained their tradition. They recited the Shema, they observed the Sabbath day, they went to synagogue, they gave of their tithe, but they were void of true love for God and others. Jesus himself pointed to the hypocrites, these Pharisees, who professed to know God but didn't, and said that they were nothing but children of hell. Children of hell were bringing spiritual blindness to the nation of Israel. And that's why when Jesus looked over at the multitudes, his heart was moved with compassion because people were being deceived by a false message. And the same thing has happened today in our nation. We have Pharisees filled in our church, filled in our churches, the blind leading the blind, externally going through all the motions, but they do not have love for God and others. When we are not careful to contend for the faith of the gospel, when we let our guard down regarding gospel expectations, we will have lost people filled within the church, and you will have a church that looks more like a business than a church. You will have a place where people want a nice warm place to make moral friends, but not a place to worship God. And listen, when the purity of the membership goes, the purity of the worship will go. When you have lost people in the leadership of the church and lost people in the membership of the church, inevitably, you will have lost people wanting to conform to the world's ways. And this is precisely what we find in mainstream Christianity today. In mainstream Christianity today, you have so-called churches trying to win the world by being like the world. You have unconverted pastors encouraging unconverted people to bring rock and roll music into the church. You have unconverted pastors wearing t-shirts with ACDC and Metallica on it. That's the world, that's darkness, that's satanic, and yet it's crept into the church. Now, this is not to say that every pastor and every church member in a Christian church is lost. That's not my main point. My main point is that the mixed multitude who have crept in unawares have been successful in encouraging God's people to accept carnal means and worldly methods as acceptable ways that we can worship God. Now, just so that we are all on the same page regarding what God says about worship, Let me give to you the truth of scripture. God says that he is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in the way that he prescribes, in spirit, from the heart, and in truth, by what he's revealed to us in scripture. It's not for us to decide. God's word tells us that he expects his people to worship him in the beauty of his holiness. God's word tells us that Christian people are to worship the Lord in reverence and in godly fear, not in casualness, not in flippancy, not as we would at the rock concert or the hip hop concert of some secular artist. God's word tells us that God's house is not to be a business, it is to be a house of prayer. Are you with me? That should strike an illustration in your head. Why did Jesus get angry and flip over the tables? Because the zeal of God's house was eating him up. Men have crept in unawares, perverting the worship of God and perverting the truth of the gospel. Oh, you think Jesus is just some nice, cuddly character who doesn't offend anyone? He was angry, flipping over the tables of the money changers, driving them out with a whip. Why? Because he was concerned for the glory of God. So you wonder why the pastor preaches the way he does sometimes? This is why. What have we done? Why are we making the church into a Starbucks? Who are we to take the holy things of God and make them common? How foolish we are. So that being so, when we see all the nonsensical things being done in the name of Jesus, when we see unholy men leading unholy people within the church, which leads to a casual, flippant, lighthearted estimation of God, you can be sure that Satan is actively seeking to diminish the purity of God's church. Where does that come from? It comes from Satan. I've seen it before. Mega church pastor, internet preacher success, wearing a T-shirt saying Jesus is my homeboy. How blasphemous. Same pastor is known as the cussing pastor. Thousands and tens and thousands, I would even dare say millions have been attracted to his ministry. The man who wears a t-shirt that says Jesus is my homeboy. The man who has been known to be the cussing pastor. The man who encourages his congregation to go to the bars and drink beer to invite others to Christ. Worldly. Profane, ungodly, and yet most accepted as okay. Because we're becoming all things to all men so that we might win some. And that's what the devil wants. He wants to destroy the purity of the church, the purity of the membership of the church, and the purity of the worship of the church. That's point number one, Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the purity of God's church. Point number two, Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the testimony of the church. When a pastor and a church lets down its guard and is focused on numerical success more than having a regenerate church membership. When they fail to listen to and examine the salvation testimony of those who desire to be members, when they let anybody go into the work of the ministry within the church, mark my words, You are going to have lost people who are void of the fruit of the Spirit, who are still looking like the world, speaking like the world, dressing like the world, acting like the world, and infatuated with what the world loves. And so now you have two different voices within the church. You have the voice of the true gospel calling us out of the world and then you have this deceiving voice that says you can love Jesus and love the world at the same time. Whose voice is that? It's Satan's. Because God says if any man loved the world and the things of this world, the love of the Father is not in him. God says to be a friend. of the world is to be at enmity with God. God says to come out from the world and be ye separate. So when this happens, when lost people come and infiltrate the church, one of two things will take place. Either the true lost world will look at the church and think, finally, a comfortable place where I can belong. Or they will say, if that's what Christianity is all about, I want nothing to do with it because they act no different than I do. You see, when the mixed multitude find a comfortable place within a church, eventually the testimony of the church is going to diminish. When unconverted people fill the sanctuary, the standards of holiness are going to drop and hypocrisy is going to prevail. Listen, I am persuaded that most church scandals, most church splits, and most divorces that occur within the fellowship of the church involve people who've never been born again. Now, lest I'm taken out of context, let me emphasize what I just said. Again, I said most, not all. Most church scandals, most stories of abuse and heavy shepherding, most of the stories of legalistic standards being pushed, most church splits that occur, Most divorces that take place within the membership of the church will show in time that someone does not have the spirit of Christ living within them, which only makes sense because somebody who does not have the spirit of Christ living within them is naturally proud, selfish, bitter, impatient, unwilling to love and forgive as Christ commands His people in His word. Make the connections. So what happens? The lost world hears the stories of abuse. The true lost world hears the drama that's happening within the community of God's people, and such people say, I don't want to be a part of that. Those people say they love Jesus, but I know it's reality. You see, where's the attack come from? Satan infiltrating through counterfeits. And how many are the times have we heard from others, non-church goers, that this is the primary reason why they don't want to come to church. They want nothing to do with Christianity. They say, I don't want to go to church because the church is filled with Hypocrites. I work with a Christian man, and his Facebook is full of perversities. My neighbor claims to be Christian, and yet my neighbor yells at his wife and his children all day. My cousin says he's a Christian, yet he's out partying at the clubs every weekend. You see, Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the testimony of the church. Point number three, Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the focus of the church. It kills the focus. And do you know what the biblical focus of the church is supposed to be? Number one, it's supposed to be on loving, obeying, and glorifying God, right? What's the whole duty of man? To fear God and to keep His commandments. What is the greatest law? The greatest law is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as yourself. That is the primary goal, the primary focus of the church. We come to love God for who he is. That's number one. Number two, the secondary focus is to be the edification of the believer. We come Sunday by Sunday. We submit ourselves to the teaching and preaching of the word so that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Our sanctification is so important in our coming together as a church. And then number three, the third focus of the church is to be the evangelization of the world. Number one, loving God. Number two, growing in Christ. Number three, preaching the gospel. And as we look at the biblical model of the first century church, We find that our focus is to be on holy living, prayer, preaching, growing in Christ, provoking one another into love and good works, and warning others of the wrath to come. Just read the end of Acts chapter two and find out what they were so busy about. They were so busy about prayer, the doctrine of the apostles, the breaking of bread, the encouraging of one another, praising God daily. That was it. Now question, do you know what the focus of the church has become today? Let me give you three words. Entertainment, food, fun. That is the primary focus of most Christian churches today. Entertainment, food, and fun. So the question that needs to be asked is, how did we come to this place? How did we come to a place where entertaining others has replaced exhorting and edifying others? How did we come to a place where churchgoers want the pastor to model his preaching and his pastoral ministry after Joel Osteen? How did we come to a place where supposed Christian people have turned away their ears from the truth and want every sort of exciting program and ministry to attract people to the church? Answer, the mixed multitude. The mixed multitude. The mixed multitude don't want to worship God. They want to have fun. The mixed multitude do not want to hear Jesus teaching doctrine, they want Jesus to fill their bellies, remember? Jesus turns to his disciples, are you going to go away too? They say no, we're not following you just for the physical meal, we're following you because we believe that you are the Christ, you have the words of life. And then the Pharisees were offended at Jesus' message. Jesus tells his disciples, let them be. If they don't want sheep food, they're goats. That's Jesus. Listen, the mixed multitudes don't want to come to a prayer meeting, they want the potlucks. They want movie nights. They want coffee stands. They want softball teams. They want bowling leagues. They want a youth group with a hip, cool youth pastor who wears skinny jeans and plays Xbox with the teens on the weekends. That's what they want. Think through it. Where did we come to believe that all these extracurricular things are vital to the focus of the church? Show me one place in scripture. Where in the Bible does it tell us that it is the pastor's job to make sure that Christian people have something fun to do on the weekends? Since when did he become the social coordinator? When did he become the activities director? Why do we feel like we need to turn the church into a circus to win others for Christ? I'll tell you where it came from. It came from pastors going to lost people in the world and taking a survey from lost people regarding what they want in a church. It's true. Bill Hybels, you've heard that name? He actually did that. Planting a new church, going door to door. We're planting a new church in your community. What would you like in a church? Oh, you want coffee? You want a motorcycle club? You want preaching that's only 10 minutes? You want a sermon that's unoffensive? Okay, we can do that. You come, we'll do it. Rather than implementing truths given to us in scripture. And now we have Christians who are saying, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with having motorcycle ministry? What's wrong with canceling our church services on every holiday? What's wrong with having the deacons dress up like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus? What's wrong with showing movie clips and the sermon? What's wrong with having dinners and lunches every week? What's wrong with bribing kids with candy so that they come to the youth group? The problem is that people will come to church so long as you give them fun things. People followed Christ just merely for his miracles. He was an entertainer to them. That's what they wanted. They didn't want a savior, they wanted an entertainer. So you take away the fun things, and guess what? People are gone. What you win people with is what you keep people with. And this is why the church prayer meeting, in every church I know, is the least attended service of the week. You call a prayer meeting, few desire to come. You call a movie night, you call a steak dinner night, you call a church carnival, and people will come out from the woodwork. Call a prayer meeting, crickets. Have an hour long choir practice, they're there. An hour long, even music. Well, what's wrong with music? Well, nothing. But is our focus where it should be? Is that the primary goal? What I'm trying to say is the mixed multitude has distracted Christian people from the church's primary goal in encouraging others to fear God and keep His commandments. Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the focus of the church. Are you still with me? Point number four, Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the unity of the church. And we see this alluded to in Numbers chapter 11 in Jude 3 and 4. When the mixed multitude started complaining, the Israelites started complaining. When certain men crept in the Christian community with their false message unnoticed, They began to sow seeds of disharmony regarding what message is the true message. So likewise, listen, when churches split over the color of the carpet, when church members vote out the new pastor because he dared to take out the arts and crafts out of the baptistry and replace it with water, When there are continual wars and murmurings and bickerings, when unkindness, unforgiveness, and bitterness prevails, you can be sure that there are unregenerate members in the midst. Now this is not to say that Christians don't struggle with sin. This is not to say that a Christian can't become angry and bitter and unforgiving at times, but a true Christian, when confronted with truth regarding their attitude, like David being confronted by Nathan the prophet, they should humble themselves eventually and admit their faults. But the goat, who's confronted with their ungodly attitude will only kick against it more and more and more and more and kicking against it, they will cause disunity. Disunity. Why? Because God's sheep hear his voice and they follow him. In their heart, they do want to do God's will. They may struggle, the just man falls seven times, but he gets up again. Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the unity of the church. Point number five, our last point. Satan's method of sowing false converts into the church kills the faithfulness of the church. And we consider this point this morning in our Sunday school class. Examining Paul's words in Galatians 6, 9, we find that the true church, the church in Galatia, became weary and well doing because of the constant attacks which came by the Judaizers. The Judaizers came in preaching a gospel that was no gospel at all. They came into the church in Galatia preaching that one must be circumcised in order to be saved. And those who were faithful, those who were born again became weary in the battle. They became tired, mentally tired, physically tired, spiritually tired of contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints. So what did they do? They let down their guard. They gave up. They gave in. And when they let down their guard, false teachers became more energized. and false teachings started to spread. And the same problem exists within the church today. When those who profess to be saved, who are not, begin excusing away why they believe the Lord's day is not important. Why being faithful to the preaching services is insignificant? Why sacrificial service for the Lord is optional in the Christian life? Those who are truly saved will become discouraged through their unfaithfulness. What I'm trying to say in this last point is that it is easy to give in to what lost people expect of us and what lost people are doing. It's easy to let our guard down. It's easy to excuse ourselves and others regarding how things should be. When church members start looking around at others, start comparing themselves among themselves who are not dedicated to the work of the Lord, they begin to think naturally, why should I be so dedicated? It's the 10% doing 90% of the work. when we fail to recognize that a great percentage really doesn't know the Lord. When true Christians start looking around at the fickleness and unfaithfulness of those who claim to be Christian, sometimes that spirit rubs off on the faithful remnant. And that's exactly what Satan wants of the faithful remnant. Satan wants us to lower our standards and lower our expectations. And that's why Hebrews says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. Don't be like them. Don't be unfaithful. Don't be weary in well-doing. Continue on. But Satan wants us to think that most Christians are careless and apathetic. to the things of God. Satan wants us to become so weary in the battle that we throw up our hands and say, I am done contending for the faith. I'm done being steadfast and unmovable. And I can tell you, I feel this temptation every single week. Every week, especially after meetings with people who do not have a credible testimony of faith, They tell me all their problems. And I ask them over and over, tell me how you came to the Lord. And they say, literally, quote, I've always known the Lord. I've always gone to church. And I give them the benefit of the doubt. I poke, I prod people who sit in these pews every week. Well, I was baptized. Well, I'm a good person. These are real testimonies I get. And I'm tempted to think, how easy would it be to quit offending people by telling them what the Bible says? How easy would it be just to smile and tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear? And by the way, this is why I believe so many pastors are so discouraged in the ministry. They are discouraged because not only are they shepherding Christian people with their problems, they are discouraged because they are constantly listening to the complaints of lost people. They're trying to mold lost people into being Christians. That's why we need discernment as pastors. Pastors are continually giving their time and energy to people who do not love God and they do not want to do God's will. They'll serve in a ministry, but they don't want to do God's will. They don't want to strive towards holiness. Do you see the discouragement? Search the statistics of pastors who quit every week. Here's where it comes. because pastors want big ministry, and that's how they're taught in Bible college. You've got to do whatever it takes to get people in the church, so the church fills with lost people, they think it's God's work, and then after a time, they find the church is filled with carnal people, and now the pastor's dealing with not only struggling Christians, but lost people who want nothing to do with God. That's the battle, see where the attack is. Do you see how sly the devil is? Do you see how he strikes from within? Satan sows false converts among the church to kill every aspect of the church, to destroy the purity of the church, the testimony of the church, the focus of the church, the unity of the church, the faithfulness of the church. Don't forget what Jesus called our enemy, the devil. He is a thief. who has come to steal, kill, and destroy. Destroy what? Destroy everything that is pleasing to the Lord. To destroy all these things that I've mentioned thus far. So the final question then is, what can we do to prevent Satan from killing our church? We see how sly he is. We see how deceiving his methods are. So what can we do to keep him from sowing false converts in our midst? What is needed? What is the cure? I believe the answer is recorded for us, 2 Timothy 4, verses one through five. Listen to what it said. Paul, the preacher, the senior apostle teaching Timothy, the preacher who is going to pastor God's people. Paul says to Timothy, I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Timothy, preach the word. Now, pause. Paul did not say, Timothy, start a drama team, show a movie, cancel your evening services so people can stay at home and scroll on their phone. He did not say, Timothy, perform a musical. Preach political reform, preach social reform, preach a nice, fluffy, soft, unoffending lecture. Paul says, Timothy, preach, lift up your voice, herald, not your opinion, not the traditions of the elders, but the word. Be instant, in season, out of season. What does preaching consist of? He goes on, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. In other words, Timothy, you tell God's people what God's word says. Timothy, you tell God's people what's wrong with their life. Get in there. Poke and prod. Step on their toes if needed. They're not perfect angels. Tell them what's wrong and tell them how to get right. Why? He goes on. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But you, Timothy, watch, there's that warring theme. There's that soldier word, watch. Watch. The devil is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Watch, Timothy, be careful. Wolves are among you, watch in all things. Endure afflictions, do the work of evangelists, make full proof of thy ministry. That's the cure. That's the cure to the enemy's attacks. Putting on the whole armor of God and be ready to fight with the sword of the Spirit in our hand. So what do we need to prevent Satan from killing our church? Three things. Number one, we need regenerate pastors who will preach the word faithfully without compromise, without apology, whether or not others like it and whether or not people want to hear it. Timothy, there will be people who have itching ears. There will be people who come to your church and they won't like what you say, but deal with it, it's okay. You just worry about preaching the word. That's what I've called you to do. That's what we need. We need regenerate pastors who will faithfully declare, thus saith the Lord. Number two, we need regenerate church members praying for, supporting, encouraging, listening to, and following such pastors and preachers who are overseeing the flock. We need those who will uplift the hands of Moses in the midst of the battle. We need those who will come alongside the pastor in prayer and say, we're not focused on numbers, we're just focused on doing what God wants us to do. So be faithful, even if it's the 300 of Gideon's men. And then number three, we need to know our Bibles. If we know our Bibles, we will know the gospel. If we know our Bibles, we will see the battle for what it is. And if we see the battle for what it is, we will earnestly contend for the faith as God expects of us.