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

I thought I'd give brother Dan a break from some of those tricky names, and Andre took up the challenge there, he'd done well. Well done, Andre, that was some tongue twisters in there. Good work, brother. Okay, so that was 2 Samuel 23, and I just want to focus on a few verses in 2 Samuel 23. So we're going to look from verse 8 again, 2 Samuel 23 and verse 8, which reads, These be the names of the mighty men whom David had, the Tachmanite, the satin, the sea chief among the captains, the same was Adino, the Esnite. He lifted up his spear against 800, whom he slew at one time. And after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, and they defied the Philistines that were there, gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil. Now, I'd like to start a new series, and it's going to be one of those series that we've done before, where we kind of just revisit it from time to time. The series is going to be lessons from heroes, so lessons from heroes in the Bible. It's going to be, and this first one is going to be lessons from heroes, Eliezer, the son of Dodo the Ahohite. And I'd like to pray before we get started with this first sermon in this series. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the great lessons we get out of the Bible, Lord, the great lessons we get, the great examples to us, great men, like we see here with this Eliezer here. And, Lord, just help us here to just learn from him, learn from this small amount of information we're given about him. Help us to, Lord, just focus on what your word's saying, Lord, to be able to apply it to our lives today here in 2023. Lord, just help me to preach accurately and boldly and clearly. Full of your spirit, please, Lord, and Jesus, don't dwell on this. Amen. And like I said, it's going to be one of those where we visit. Like, if you remember, we did Weapons of the Enemy, and we kind of every now and again, we do one of these sermons in this series. This is going to be one of those ones we're going to do over a course of time. I'm calling it Lessons from Heroes because there are some great characters in history that we can learn from, aren't there? And there's nothing more accurate when it comes to history than the word of God, the preserved word of God, the Bible. The 66 books of the Bible are just clear as day, aren't they? And this is history that you don't have to question. This isn't the sort of history that, well, I don't know, this guy said it this way. You know, the victor wrote the history on this one, and that's what we're looking at. No, this is 100% accurate and truth. And with that, there's stuff, therefore, that we can learn and know that we're learning something that's accurate here as well. As well as many negatives, many bad examples of behavior in the Bible, because there are that. Just because we're reading about someone in the Bible doesn't mean, oh, okay, well, that must be what God wanted to happen or how God wanted them to be. There are some great examples, though, aren't there? And amongst the many great examples that we often think of, there are some lesser known great examples in the Bible. In 2 Samuel 23 here, there's this list of probably some of the toughest guys that have ever lived. Okay, these are some of the toughest, hardest, if you want to use that word, just whatever you want to say, yeah? These are guys who are literally slaying hundreds of people at one time, themselves on their own. Again, this is 100% truth, yeah? Every single word of God is pure, isn't it? So I have no doubt that this happened. This is what was going on at this time. There was a guy here that killed 800 people with a spear. Now, you go, how on earth did that happen? I'll tell you how, because he was filled with the Spirit, wasn't he? Because this was a guy that was used by God to do this. So we've got, for example, here, Adino the Esnite, he killed 800. That's a lot of people, right? That's a lot of people, 800. But then we've got the others, this is Shamar and Abishai and Benaiah, it talked about in a bit more detail. Tough guys, they brought great victories in battle. But amongst them all was Eliezer, the son of Dodo the Ahai, one of just three that stood with David on their own against the Philistines. So it said here in verse 9, And after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo the Ahai, one of the three mighty men with David, and they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil. So what does it mean, his hand clave to the sword, if you've ever read this and wondered it? It basically means that it stuck, it held it tight. It almost made the sword like an extra limb. It's just class tight on this sword, on this sword handle. It gives you the image of a weary hand really that's probably fatigued into this position, doesn't it? You know, that's got to the point where he can't even maybe un-grip it, he's just been gripping so tight for so long. He got so tired that he couldn't let go of that sword. So weary that he couldn't drop that sword. And this isn't just some fun story about a tough guy of old that we can only admire and then hope that he's a good storyteller in heaven, you know, and hope that he's not one of those guys that just kind of plays it down, that he can really, you know, get into the nitty-gritty of it. This is recorded in God's preserved words for us to learn from, isn't it? It's recorded for us to be able to apply it to our lives. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6. Now, the sword play is pretty much done with, okay? So in case you're getting excited here, no, the sword play is done with, unless we add the Sikhs to sort of Southend's growing list of evangelistic false prophets that we've been coming across. Because we've come across a few, haven't we, so far? We've had the Pentecostals out knocking doors, we've had Catholics knocking doors out here. I mean, that is, for me, still probably the most standout one. We had Jehovah's Witness set up a stand outside our church last week and then got fortunately told to move on and they moved on. We've had, what other? Mormons. You came across the Mormons. We've had the Mormons out as well. So they're all out here right now, okay? They seem to have finally got over Covid and the fear of it and they're out knocking doors and everything again. But unless we come across Sikhs, I don't think there's going to be much sword play, okay? So sorry to disappoint you guys. But the lessons about sword play are still very relevant to us today, aren't they? You say, why? Well, it's not a physical battle, is it? We're in, but it is a spiritual one, yeah? We're in a spiritual battle and Ephesians 6 verse 12 makes that clear where it says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And in verse 17 we're told what our sword is in this spiritual battle. Verse 17 says of Ephesians 6, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. The Word of God. It's the words of our Almighty God, isn't it? Revelation 19, 15, you don't have to turn there, it says of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and out of His, His mouth, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. That's the real Jesus Christ, by the way. And it's not just a sword, it's a sharp sword too. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. The sword of the spirit is the sharpest sword you can get, okay? Sharper than Eliezer's sword, sharper than Benaiah's sword, sharper than Adino the Esnite's spear, even pre the 800. It had to be sharp to get through 800 people, by the way. Hebrews 4.12 tells us how sharp the Word of God is. Hebrews 4.12 says, for the Word of God is quick, that means it's alive, by the way, and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's the Word of God. It's quick, it's alive, it's powerful, it's sharper than anything else out there. It pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, it is a discerner of the thoughts, intents and the heart. And I've gone into that in depth before, and obviously when we've gone through our sermon series on the armour of God and the sword, look, it discerns, you can just preach one verse of the Bible and you can just see it just cut through people, can't you? You can just see their thoughts and their heart almost just laid bare to you once you do that. Well, it's for a reason, isn't it, that we're told, therefore, the detail about Eliezer's sword, don't you think? Because when we apply the Old Testament to today and we're seeing it's so clear about this sword, what do we believe it's talking about? It's the Word of God. And Eliezer, the son of Dodo the Erechite, his sword he clung to, and it's for a reason that we're told about this. Turn to 2 Timothy 3. Paul said of the children of Israel, by the way, in 1 Corinthians 10-11, Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. And by the way, that didn't end when they entered the Promised Land, okay? The Old Testament has tons of stories, events, even just snippets of information for us to learn from, okay? It's not like a whole story necessarily. Sometimes just a couple of verses like we've seen here. That's why 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 says, All scripture, all scripture, does it say some scripture or all scripture? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. This is our verse of the week. And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. All scripture is profitable for that. Not just the Gospels, by the way. A lot of pastors or preachers out there are being told that. It's not just the Gospels that were given for us. It's not just the Gospel, because some of those churches just preach the Gospel every week to people that theoretically are meant to be saved while they're being preached the Gospel to every week. It's not just end times prophecy either, because there are those, even amongst our sort of groups, who all they want to know about is end times, end times, end times, obsessing over what's going to happen and what's not going to happen, but they're not interested in the rest of it. Not just the parts about reprobate, sadly. Because I know a lot of people like to just read about that stuff and hear about that stuff, and you might think that's all you want to preach about. It's not, OK? It's not all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction of righteousness. That, that. Why? That the man of God may be perfect. That's whole, complete, throughly furnished unto all good works. So if you're not learning from all scripture, then you won't be complete, will you? That goes that sound, doesn't it? You won't be throughly furnished. It's all there for a reason. So if you only read the New Testament, you're like, no, no, we're New Testament Christians. Well, for me, you're not going to be complete. You're not going to be perfect. You're not going to be throughly furnished unto all good works. Now, don't get me wrong, the New Testament's amazing. You learn so much from New Testament. But the Old Testament's there for a reason as well. We can learn so much from the Old Testament because all scripture is given by inspiration of God. All scripture is profitable. And back in 2 Samuel 23, there's some things to learn from Eliezer. Besides the maybe more obvious bit about the sword. And there's some obvious stuff you can learn there about the sword. We'll look at it shortly. But Eliezer was one of the mighty men. And I hope that everyone here would like to be considered a mighty Christian. That should be our goal, shouldn't it? I hope everyone sitting here is, well, I've ticked off Sunday back to being a mighty worldly person. No, the goal is we want to be mighty Christians, don't we? Yeah, so we want to learn how to be like Eliezer, the mighty man here. It says in verse 9, And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there, gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword, and the Lord ruled a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil. The title is Lessons from Heroes. Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahohite, and lesson number one. Eliezer stood with his leader. Eliezer stood with his leader. Look at verse 9. And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there, gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. Now, it sounds like there are only three of these men with David, doesn't it? That's how that reads to me. Three of these men at this time. And the Philistines were gathered together to battle. That to me sounds like they were outnumbered, doesn't it? They were outnumbered. And they were probably vastly outnumbered at this point, and there were three guys that were with David, King David here at this point. But he was one of the three with their leader. And I'll tell you something, as a leader in this spiritual battle, you need those that you know are with you. Okay, you really do. You need those that you just know would be one of those three that just stood with you. And sometimes you look out and you look out at a church, you look out in your sort of spiritual life, you look out at people, sort of whether it's, you know, in this church, people outside this church, who you say, I know they would be one of those three. Okay, that's what you want. No, you want to look out at people and just go, I know that you would be one of those three. Even when we're outnumbered. Even when everyone's firing shots at you from every angle, you know there are people that would just stand there and say, no, I'm with you on this, yeah? I'm with you, I'm going to stand with you, I'm going to stand strong. And sometimes, look, you need to look around and say, I know brother so-and-so is solid. I know sister so-and-so has got my back, yeah? You need that. Okay, we all need that, don't we? I hope everyone else needs that as well. You're like, well, okay, this is about you. No, look, all of us. You need people that you just know they're with me, they've got me. But especially in leadership, especially when you're leading a church and you know the attacks come forever, you just want to look around and go, I know that person's solid. I've got no doubts about that one. I've got no issues with that person, I know. And the sad truth is you're not going to have that with everyone, are you? But if you're saved and you're in a church, that's the goal. You want to be an aliaser, don't you? You want to be someone that you know the leader will just turn around and look at and go, they're solid. They'll be there even if there's three of us left in here and everyone else has legged it because we've got gangs of sodomites outside saying, bring them out. You're still going to be standing there going, I'm with you, brother, I'm there. Yeah, and that's what we should be. That should be our goal, shouldn't it? It's not just church life where the leadership needs support as well, did you know that? It's not just church life. Men, how about men out here? Support your boss at work, yeah? Support your boss at work, be an aliaser. Yeah, aliaser, do you know what? If he had a secular job, I bet he supported his boss at work as well, didn't he? Not just trying to find excuses to complain about him. Because that's what all the world does, doesn't it? That's all they ever do, just complain about the boss. Complain about the boss. That's what most workplace, I reckon the majority of conversation is complaining about the boss. Finding something to moan about, complain about, some sort of bitterness, some sort of issue, some sort of problem. Don't be like that, men. You could be the difference, can't you? You could be the aliaser in the workplace as well. Wives, you could stand by your husbands, can't you? Stand by your leader. Look, maybe the aliaser didn't like the decision to go four versus an army. Maybe he would have had a, you know, a good reason to think, yeah, I don't think this is a wise decision by David here. Maybe we should regroup and get the guys together again for this battle. But you know what, he stood with him, though, didn't he? Wives, stand by your husbands, they're your leaders. Yeah, stand by them. He didn't mumble, grumble and question. I bet the aliaser, while he was slaying however many hundreds of people with that sword, I bet he wasn't mumbling and grumbling through it because I don't think he would have been successful. Support your husbands. Yeah, just support them and be there, stand by them. Kids, at least you think you're getting off the hook. You can learn from aliasers as well, can't you? Stand with your parents against, for example, the ungodly family interference, because we get a lot of those, don't we? The ungodly family interference, who like to just stick a little oar in there, try and just sow a little seed with you there, how terrible it is that we don't dress our daughters like whores. You know, I just can't believe it. Don't they let you wear these things? Or don't they let you boys just act like all those little scumbags out there? Or where's your boyfriend, where's your girlfriend? All that sort of junk that you get, right? And the rest of it. You know, are you happy being homeschooled, not going to school and getting poisoned? And you know what, kids, you could just stand up and go, yeah, I am. Yeah, I am. Yeah? Yeah, I'm a Christian. We had this the other day in the barbers, and it was just great to hear that someone asked my son, the woman said, what music are you into? While she's playing like classic rock or something on the thing, yeah? He's like, Christian hymns. He's like, oh. I was like, that's what you want to hear, don't you? Not sort of, oh, I'm not really into music. You know, or sort of like, daddy, you answer. It's like, no, I like Christian hymns. Yeah, because I don't want to hear a lot of people talking about fornication, singing about all sorts of wickedness. I want to hear a load of just pointless, just nonsense, bad rhyme, yeah, because it's so cool, people just pumping out a load of junk and memorising all sorts of filth, because it's cool, because, oh, isn't that cool? Oh, it's so cool to just listen to filth, filth by people that you wouldn't even have around your house. But it's all right, they can talk to my kids all day every day through a speaker or whatever else. No, I like listening to Christian hymns. How about that? And whether it's, look, turn to Exodus 17, whether it's a home, the workplace or the church, leadership is much easier, and you know what, much more effective with support. So whether it's a husband at home, whether it's parents at home, whether it's a mum trying to raise their children, whether it's a leader at work or whether it's a leader in a church, you know what, it's much easier to do your job when you're getting support, when you can see that support, when you know there's people that stand by you like Eliezer. And in Exodus 17, the children of Israel, they have their first battle after the Exodus. So we've had the Exodus, they've got their first battle now. It says in verse 8, Exodus 17 and verse 8. When Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. The importance of leadership here, right? Okay, it's all basically resting on Moses. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And you know what it was? It was that support that won them the victory. Look at verse 13. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. So it wasn't Moses that won the victory, it was the support of the leadership that won that. And you could apply that to all areas of life, couldn't you? You need support in leadership. And those of you who, whether you're in some form of leadership or not, whatever leadership you have in your life, you need to support that leader, right? Go back to 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23, Eliezer won the three mighty men with David. Number 1, lesson number 1 from Eliezer. Eliezer stood with his leader. Lesson number 2 from Eliezer. Eliezer stood against the tide. He stood against the tide. Look at verse 9. And after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, and when they defied the Philistines that were there, gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. So they were expected to back up, weren't they? To flee, or maybe even to surrender. But four of them, just four of them, defied the Philistines. And look, we need to be prepared to defy the Philistines here, yeah? If you're living for God, you want to live for God, you want to be a real Bible-believing Christian, but you need to be prepared to defy the Philistines, defy the worldliness, because there's a lot of worldliness out there, isn't there? Defy the latest ridiculous parenting trend. For example, the latest think-tank nonsense, the latest sicko, psycho, socio, claptrap. The kids are chuckling because I got that from somewhere else. But it's true, isn't it? You've got to be prepared to defy that stuff and go, no, this is some newfangled nonsense. What does the word of God say? The word of God says to chasten thy son while there is hope, not sit them down on a spot and go, no, little, little, little, and start telling them how sweet they are after they've just done something horrendous. The Bible says that foolishness has banned the heart of a child and erotic correction shall drive it far from them. Yet there's so much nonsense out there, isn't there? So much rubbish. And what's the goal? Oh, what a surprise. What do we see out there? Just a mess. A mess like the kids out there. Just unbelievable, aren't they, now? I mean, we were down at the hospital yesterday, down A&E. I mean, it was sobering, just looking at... I mean, we're in the children's ward and these kids just demanding this, forcing that, just creating a racket, leg it around. One of them's just got a wheelchair running around the thing, and the mum's just saying... Are you sure? Stop it. It just... It starts, isn't it? And I'm not saying, oh, we're so much men. No, we're not, but we should be, shouldn't we? We should. We got the word of God. We should be at something different, shouldn't we? We should. We're not going to be, necessarily, but we should. We should defy the world stereotype of how Christians should think and behave, shouldn't we? We should. We should defy... We don't have to have the world tell us what a Christian should be. We have the word of God tell us what a Christian should be. We don't need the world to tell us that we should all kind of, you know, never say a crossword to anyone and that we should all be very effeminate and that we should all be very, you know, unmanly and everything. No, no, because the Bible says that we should quit ourselves like men. The Bible says that we should actually be an example to others of how a man should behave in that. I'm not talking about going around being an idiot. I'm talking about actually the qualities of a man, how they should be. Be able to lead their family. Be able to actually stand up and say what you believe. To actually stand up and preach the gospel to people. We should be an example, shouldn't we? We don't have to be like they try and tell us to be. We don't have to... Oh, yeah, no, no, we just... We love everyone. Well, the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible says, do not... I hate them that hate thee. Do not account them mine enemies. We need to defy the LGBT bullies, don't we? Because who else is? The rest of them are folding like a cheap deck of cards, aren't they? But we should be defying them. We should be there. We're men of God, aren't we? We're men of God and women of God here that should be able to stand up and say, no, it's filth. It's absolutely vile. It's disgusting. The word of God says they're reprobate. They're given over. We should be able to defy them. We should be able to stand here and preach loud and clear and not fear. Oh, no, but what if people don't agree with what we say? Oh, well, when I'm with the family member, I won't say anything even though their kid's getting babysat by some sort of raging sodomite. How about you warn them? How about you say, you do realise that that person's been given over to a reprobate mind and you've got them babysitting your kid. What's wrong with you? Sending them off somewhere where they've got some just full-on sodomite, open as you like, just with their kid eight hours a day at school or something. It's nuts. Absolutely nuts. And you go, oh, well, I don't think anything's going to happen. There's 30 however many. What are they, 38 in a class now, isn't it? I don't know. There's all these kids. Don't worry, nothing will happen to them. Yeah, but what's going to happen somewhere else when they think sodomites are safe? Because the one at school who is camping around all over the place, well, they were all right. Mum and dad sent me there every day. So what's the problem when the next sodomite is trying to invite me to do this or do that or anything? Look, you need to warn people, don't you, about these types of people, because the world isn't doing it. We need to stand up against people and we need to stand up when they start trying to shut a place like us down and say no. No, we're going to carry on preaching. We're going to carry on standing on the word of God. We need to defy the Zionist mainstream as well, don't we? Because the mainstream Christianity is all trying to tell us to worship Jews, worship the synagogue of Satan, worship the way the Bible says, clear enemies of God. Yet the whole world is trying to tell us, oh, no, no, you know, no, no, they're the chosen people, the chosen nation. It's complete nonsense. It's laughable. It's ridiculous. Some bloke that converted to Judaism is suddenly some chosen person who suddenly inherited some genetics. I mean, it's madness, absolute madness. And we need to be able to defy that and stand up and go, no, we don't believe that. No, the Bible says something different. Turn to Acts 5. And sometimes we're called to defy the government too. It's not just the churches out there. It's not just the kind of mainstream media. It's not just the family and friends who want to push their ridiculous liberalism on us, which has grown exponentially in the last few decades. Sometimes we're called to defy the government. In Acts 5, the apostles have been in prison for preaching the gospel, but they've broken out, OK? So they've broken out of prison. It says in verse 27, And when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. And do you know what? It takes some guts nowadays to obey God rather than men, doesn't it? They say, we're not obeying what the man... No, we're not... Look, if the government doesn't say something against God, yeah, we should obey the government, OK? We obey the higher power, but the highest power is God. They tell us to do something which God tells us not to do, or vice versa. We don't do it, or we do do it, depending on what God tells us to do, right? Go back to 2 Samuel 23. Eleazar defied the Philistines. Lesson number 1, Eleazar stood with his leader. Lesson number 2, Eleazar stood against the Tidal. Lesson number 3, Eleazar stood when others didn't. Eleazar stood when others didn't. It says in verse 9, And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, defied the Philistines that were there, gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. Had the men of Israel gone somewhere better? Were they busy fighting another battle? Was that what was going on here? Well, turn to 1 Chronicles 11. 1 Chronicles 11. You're in 2 Samuel, so after 1 2 Kings, you've got 1 Chronicles 11, for the other passage describing the mighty men. 1 Chronicles 11, and we're going to look from verse 9. 1 Chronicles 11, 9 says, So David waxed greater and greater, for the Lord of hosts was with him. These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, this is 1 Chronicles 11, 10, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel to make him king according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. So the mighty men, by the way, if you look at those verses, they were a key part of David's kingdom, weren't they? They strengthened him, they're the reason, they're one of the reasons, he needed those mighty men, didn't he? Verse 11, and this is the number of the mighty men whom David had. And Hackmanite, the chief of the captains, he lifted up his spear, he goes 300, slain by him at one time. This is Adino the Esnite for 2 Samuel 23, by the way. The Hackmanite, or Tachmanite, we saw him described as, for me it's the same person, he killed, he also killed 300 at once too, I just think this is another situation. Oh, it's only 300, it's still 300. This is just saying about 300, maybe this was like a rougher 300 that he killed. He also killed 800 at once. Verse 12 says, and after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahahite, who was one of the three mighties. Now here's our man, okay, this is our man that we're talking about today, and I believe that this is likely the same event. It says in verse 13, he was with David at Pazdamim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley, and the people fled from before the Philistines. So do you know why the children of Israel weren't there? Because they fled, they legged it. And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel and delivered it and slew the Philistines, and the Lord saved them by a great deliverance. So when 2 Samuel 23 said that men of Israel were gone away, they basically legged it, okay, they'd run off scared. But not Eliezer, Eliezer stood when others didn't. And when it comes to spiritual battle, if you follow the majority of Christianity, you won't be standing for much at all. Like most people, people who just don't understand really Christianity, people who aren't saved especially, but people even that are, and have just never heard proper preaching, actually read the Bible and actually been in the proper church. For most of them, when they look at Christianity, they think it's kind of like a social club, where you just kind of pat each other on the back, tell each other how much you love each other, how loving God is, how loving Jesus is, and go home and then just kind of talk about being a Christian now and again, you know, if someone asks you, but don't be too offensive in people's faces, right? They don't really stand on anything. They don't stand on the truths of the Bible. They don't stand on the morals of the Bible. They don't stand on the Gospel, do they? Most of these places, it doesn't matter if you preach a slightly different Gospel, it's all different paths to God. Well, it's not, because Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's only one way and there's only one Jesus. So, sadly, most of Christianity won't be standing on much, they won't be standing for the KJV, will they? Will they be standing on the King James Bible? Because most churches around here won't use the King James Bible. They're too busy with the Bible of the Month Club. Oh, well, this one looks good. This one's a bit new. Oh, this one apparently is easier to understand. What could be the problem? Well, I'll tell you what could be the problem, that Jesus Christ said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. So if I'm going to live by every word, I need an every word Bible. And they can't all be every word if they all say something different for someone to make a quid out of. But we have our King James Bible and we stand on the King James Bible to the point where we'll wrestle a Bible out of your hands and you come in without one. That's how much we'll stand on it. Our ushers are under, they have instructions to give people a King James Bible when they come into this church because we don't want that filth polluting our church. Even if that person never came back at least for one hour of their life, they're going to hear the King James Bible preached without being polluted by their filthy whatever perversions of the Bible because that's what they are. They alter, they change, they poison, they destroy the Word of God as much as is possible because you can't really destroy the Word of God because it's preserved. It's preserved. You won't be standing for biblical morality if you went to most churches around here. You won't be standing, for example, for churches just being open during the latest illness. They won't even stand on that, will they? Most churches just shut up shop. Oh, quick, people have got a flu, quick, shut everything. Close down. You know, we don't want to have church services. But no, they'll understand. Some churches at the beginning when they were a bit unsure, they didn't really know what was going on. You know, I understand that. They might be okay or maybe we need to make a decision for the safety of our church. But after that, when you start to see, wait a second, people are just kind of getting a sore throat and a cough and a bit of a fever. Why would you shut church? So you stay open, don't you? But comparing to the liberal compromises and the false churches, okay, that's easy, isn't it? If we compared to, like, just false churches and it's easy, okay, we can make ourselves shine like a diamond. But Eliezer was one of three men that stood when the men of Israel, God's people, fled. Now, this is a bit different. Eliezer didn't stand while all the sons of Belion, some of them were infiltrated amongst them, but it wasn't when the Baal worshippers fled. It was when, theoretically, it was meant to be the children of Israel. It was meant to be God's people fled. And what are you going to do when God's people start dropping out? Because God's people will start dropping out, okay? God's people have dropped out, will drop out. What will you do when the persecution picks up? When more and more just is coming from one angle or another, what are you going to do on a Wednesday night, all these faulty pluses that have been turning up, when the weather gets cold? Then it gets rough, then we've got the test. That's a real test, isn't it? When the weather's cold, when the backsliders find an excuse. Backsliders love an excuse. Not many people go, I'm out of church because I'm a backslider. Do you know what they do? They go, I'm out of church because of, and then it'll be something that they'll try and pick upon. Someone in the church, something that they can blame, instead of just going, I'm out because I'm a backslider. But what are you going to do when all that starts building up? Because it's going to build up. We'll get more, and the bigger our church gets, the more of that you're going to see. The more you're going to be like, what's happened to so-and-so? Where's this? But are you going to run away as well? Here, the children of Israel are legged here, but not Eliezer. Go back to 2 Samuel 23. Eliezer stood when the men of Israel were gone away. We're learning lessons from Eliezer. Number one, Eliezer stood with his leader. Number two, Eliezer stood against the tide. Number three, Eliezer stood when others didn't. And number four, Eliezer stood. Eliezer stood. Verse 10 says, he arose. He says, he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary. And his hand clay-run to the sword, and the Lord walked a great victory that day, and the people turned after him only to spoil. You say, well, of course he did. Well, of course he stood. What are you talking about? Well, I see a lot of Christians out there still sitting around and not doing anything, don't you? There's a lot of Christians that don't get up off their lazy backsides. They're literally surrounded by the Philistines. Maybe they're not fleeing. Maybe they haven't legged it, but they're not actually standing either. They're just not doing anything. They're not standing on anything. They're not making a stand. They're not getting up and getting busy. They're not doing anything. Because the whole point is that we're part of a fight. We're part of a battle. The whole point in so much of the Old Testament, these wars, these battles, people like Eliezer, is an example to us to get stuck into that spiritual battle, get stuck into that spiritual fight. You've got a short life. What are you going to do with it? Pack yourself on the back, go, well, I turned up at church? Or are you going to actually do something? Get out there, preach the gospel, make a stand, learn to preach, get by in the pulpit, do all these things, do things for God. Raise a godly family. Home school your kids, teach them the things of God, encourage them to go out and do the same. That's standing for the Lord, isn't it? But somebody don't. Most of them can't even get up off their lazy backsides to get into church. I mean, that's the easiest part, isn't it? Just get up and go to church. Most of them can't even do that. I'm talking about saved people now. There are saved people around this country. Most of the people you've got saved since this church started don't go to church or they don't go to a real church. They go to a church where they don't even preach the gospel. They go to a church where they're telling them either to repent of their sins, to repent of some sins, to turn from sins, to stop sinning in the future, to give up sins from the past or whatever it is to go to heaven. That's not the gospel. It's all the same, it's all work, salvation, yet so many people are just going to those churches just there. Well, that's all right, isn't it? Because they don't really, you know, they don't really challenge us. Well, how do they even preach the gospel? They don't even go out and preach the gospel most of the places, although we're starting to see a difference around here. Some of these false prophets are getting out. But it's all just work, salvation, isn't it? Or it's no church at all. And we have many people, we have many people that are like-minded as a church like ours, yeah, who have listened to this sort of preaching, you know, from their heroes abroad and everything else, who can't even turn up at a church like ours. Once, once in nearly three years to just give some support. It's like, okay, you don't have to, look, you might live a little way. You might, you might not, look, understood, you might not want to be a part of our church. You might be like, no, well, I don't like the way they do this or that, you know, they're not pastor, whoever, or whatever, you know, they might have some reason, but how about just come and support the brethren? You know, when people come from afar, it's great, isn't it? It's like, wow, yeah, you came from all the way over there to come and just say hi and come and be a part of our church to give us some support for a day where no one else is doing it. It's great, yet how many can't even turn up? They sit, and do you know what most of them are doing? Sitting on their backsides, doing nothing. They're not even standing, but is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? There's a cause, isn't there? There's a cause. Whether or not you like the way we do that cause, we're doing the cause, aren't we? There's a battle raging. Israel is fleeing by the droves, but sitting still isn't going to win anything, is it? Yeah, we're not going to win anything if we sit still. You've got to rise up and smite those Philistines, and the first place to smite them is where? Outsole winning. I mean, that's the obvious one, isn't it? To get outsole winning. And I'm not talking about, oh, we'll go on a marathon once every, you know, six months or something else. That ain't smiting the Philistines. You're missing the weekly battles. You're only turning up to the big one. In fact, it's not even a big one. You're just turning up to one out of however many. No, smiting the Philistines is to go sole winning. You've got to get out there with your sword, don't you? Get out there with your Bible, with the word of God, and go out and slay some devils, right? Go out there and preach the gospel, get some people saved. But you know that's not the only place where we fight, either. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. It's not the only place. You know we fight from behind this pulpit. Look, this is a spiritual fight. This sermon, you're battling right now. And it's not just me. It's not just me preaching, all right, yeah, you know, Brother Ian, woo, he's preaching some verses out of the Bible and trying to encourage us. No, everyone here. Because you're in a spiritual battle yourself. And being in church is part of that. Just being here, just being here supports a message. Those are men just coming out for people, those rights, those yeah, whatever. You know you're supporting that message. You're part of that battle. You support the fight being here. Just being in church supports the fight. But we also sometimes fight in the church. And it can be the sodomites outside, okay? And that might happen with time. And it can be the wicked inside. And just being one of the solid people in church, you're part of that fight, you're part of that battle. Soul winning is the front lines, okay? But it's not the only line. Look at 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3. 2 Corinthians 10 and 3 says, It's not a physical battle, it's spiritual. But there are strongholds, aren't there? There are strongholds out in the streets, but there are strongholds in your lives as well. There's strongholds in people's lives in this church which need tearing down by preaching. Says verse 5, Everything that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. There's a battle with the flesh too. And you're going to have more chance to win that battle when you're in the house of God, doing the things of God, doing what God tells you to do, commands you to be in church and listen to the word of God preach. Verse 6 says, The spiritual battle rages and we need to get up and take that battle to the enemy. He's our God up and took that battle to the enemy. He got up and said, He arose. Basically, He arose and He fought. Go back to 2 Samuel 23 again. He arose and smote the Philistines. Lesson number 1, Eleazar stood with his leader. Lesson number 2, Eleazar stood against the tired. Lesson number 3, Eleazar stood when others didn't. Lesson number 4, Eleazar stood. And lesson number 5, Eleazar stood when tired. Eleazar stood when tired. Verse 10 says, His hand was weary until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword and the Lord ruled to great victory that day and the people returned after him only to sport. Eleazar didn't give up when it got tiring, did he? He didn't stop halfway and go home to get a good night's sleep. Eleazar didn't miss the battle because he needed a lion after staying up too late the night before. You say, well, of course not. This was real warfare. Is our warfare not real? Anyone think our warfare isn't real? Believe me, it's real. This is a real battle we're in. We're in real spiritual warfare. This church has been in warfare since it began, in various different ways. Are the unsaved not really going to hell? Anyone think the unsaved aren't really going to hell? Go on and put your hands up. We might have to kind of shut down the church. Oh, no, there's too many of them that don't believe the Bible. But they are, aren't they? That's what the Bible says. The Bible says that the wages of sin is dead and everyone's a sinner. So unless they get saved, unless they get forgiven for their sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, not by their own works, but by him, by his death, burial and resurrection, they're going to hell. And do you know what? When I go out there and I talk to most people, do you know what I find? The vast majority of people are unsaved. Like it's a shock when someone's saved. It's a shock when someone says, yeah, no, I put my faith in Christ X amount of years ago, or whatever it is ago. It's rare. Are God's enemies not really attacking this church? Anyone think they're not really? They are attacking this church, believe me. And there are ways they attack that you don't even know about. And there are ways that you will know about. And there are ways maybe you know about that I don't know about. OK, there are many ways that God's enemies attack this church. Are you not really fighting a battle to stay in the things of God? Every single one of you is fighting a battle to stay in the Word, to stay in church, to stay in the things of God, to get out soul-willing, to read their Bible, to pray to God, to put away all those old sins where the door's still that little bit of jar. You all fight a battle. Yet how many stop at the first sign of weariness? How many don't even turn up to the obvious place because they didn't get a sweet eight-hour sleep the night before? Oh, I just couldn't get to sleep. How many Christians don't pick up the sword because they fancied an extra 30 minutes in bed? How many can't even read their Bible because, yeah, but I could get another 30-minute sleep instead? Yeah, and there's a lot of people in here I'm sure that applies to today. Some of you are trying not to give it away with your face. Poker face. Eliezer smoked the Philistines until his hand was weary, which is why he was one of the mighty men. That's why he was one of the mighty men. You say, well, you don't understand, I travel from far, I suffer from insomnia, you know. I just can't fall asleep, and then I just have to keep staring at YouTube for another few hours. I just can't work out why I can't sleep. It's not happening for me, you know. I'm just staring at videos. I just don't know what's going on. Well, then don't be one of the mighty men. Fine. But hopefully the goal at the beginning of this sermon, everyone I think agreed to, at least paid lip service to, was, yeah, they want to be a mighty Christian. They want to be one of the mighty men. And do you know what I believe? I believe that God wants every single person here to be mighty. I do. I believe that he thinks you... In fact, he knows you all have the ability to be mighty. Okay? He knows that you can be mighty. He knows that you are able to be mighty. It's down to you, because he gives you everything you need. Turn to Galatians 6. Because there are those that, barring illness, come to every service. Did you know that? There are those that, barring illness, sow within the weak every week. There are those that read their Bible every morning with illness. With illness as well. Do you think that they don't get weary as well? Do you think that those in church, those amongst us that do that, do you think they don't get weary? Do you think that they don't fancy a light? That they're not sometimes up all night with the kids? Or maybe they're up all night for other reasons? Maybe they've got other issues and problems in their lives? But do you know something? The more they dig in, the more spiritual they become. And there are those, aren't there, that you're just... You know they're going to be here. It's a shock when they're not. And then there are those where it's sometimes a bit of a shock when they are here. And I'm not just talking about distance. Okay? And what's the difference between those people? You know, one of those people is much more likely to be considered a mighty man. That's the difference. But I think both are able. And like I said, the more they do, the more you do, the more you just make it your routine. The more you just make your Bible, really, your routine. Your prayer life, your routine. The more you just focus on God and it becomes a part of your life, the easier it is. The easier it is to stay in that. And the more spiritual you become... Verse 7 in Galatians 6 says, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth through his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the spiritual of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Basically, he's saying don't give up, don't faint. Keep battling and you will reap. You will reap the things of God if you keep battling. You're going to have times. You're going to have times when it's tiring, when you're fatigued, when you don't want to. You might have many times, most mornings. I mean, I complain I'm only in my 40s now, but it just feels a bit more tiring, feels a little bit more painful. It feels a bit hard to get up, but when you do it, when you just plough through, let alone all the other stuff, you do reap, don't you? You reap spiritually. Ultimately, you're going to be more content as well. The more you do for God. Go back to 2 Samuel 23. Eliezer smote the Philistines until his hand was weary. Lesson number one about Eliezer, he stood with his leader. Number two, he stood against the tide. Number three, he stood when others didn't. Number four, he stood. Number five, he stood when tired. And number six, he stood with the sword. He stood with the sword. Verse 10 says he arose to smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword. And the Lord ruled a great victory that day, and the people were turned after him only to spoil. He didn't just tentatively hold it, did he? He didn't pick it up now and then. His hand clave unto the sword. And we know what that's just clear as day how we're applying that, isn't it? If you've read the Bible, if you've listened to just a little bit of preaching, just a small amount of biblical breach, you know that when we're looking at the sword, we're applying that to the Word of God in New Testament church, right? Okay, his hand clave unto the sword. Does your hand clave unto the sword? You go, what do you mean? Well, is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and ever-present in your life? Is it at the center of what you do? Or do you drop it when it doesn't suit you? Do you drop those words? Do you know what it says? That it doesn't really fit with what I want to do, so I put it to one side, I put that sword down, so I can do my own thing. A lot of people do that. Do you automatically attack and defend with it, or do you opt for worldly wisdom instead? A lot of people do that, don't they? They could use the Word of God, but instead, well, yeah, but what does so-and-so say? Well, yeah, but, you know, the worldly wisdom of this might give me an excuse to do something I shouldn't really be doing. Are you reaching for the sermon library because you don't know how to use your sword? A lot of people do that, don't they? I don't know what to do in this part of my life. What did Pastor so-and-so preach about it? I hate using your sword. Now, don't get me wrong, I like listening to good preaching, but you need to learn how to use your sword. No, no, no, open your Bible and read your Bible yourself, yeah, learn from your Bible. And then you can then listen to preacher go, is that biblical? Not just trust it blindly because we're all going to make mistakes, aren't we? Every pastor, every preacher, anyone behind a pulpit is going to make mistakes. They're going to get things wrong, they're going to apply something wrong now and again, but if you're reading your sword, you're going to be able to take all the good stuff and you're going to be able to spit out the bones, the bits that may be worse likely off. Try talking for three hours a week behind a pulpit. You're going to say you're going to get stuff wrong sometimes, that's just life, okay? However, if you know your sword, you know when it's right or not, don't you? And if you've got nothing else out of this sermon, if you've just, okay, so anyone here who's switched off, anyone here? Wakey, wakey, right, okay. Okay, everyone's awake, right, okay. You've got nothing out of this sermon, you've been drifting off, you've been thinking about battles or something, or not, not, not another battle sermon. Well, that's the Bible, all right? The Bible's got a lot of battles in it, deal with it, yeah? Ah, man, if only we had a woman preaching, less about battles. No, there won't ever be a woman preaching, because the Bible says, unless you keep silence in the church. That's what the Bible says. But if you've got nothing else out of this sermon, then the image of cleaving to your sword, and you just got disciplined with your Bible reading, what a result this sermon would be. If you just sat there and you went, oh, okay, just picture now someone whose hand won't let go of that sword, yeah? That sword is class-tight, his hand, he can't even ungrip it, he's literally got to peel back his fingers, because he holds it so tight, it's with him everywhere he goes. It's a big part of his life. Be like that with your sword. Read your Bibles. Read it daily. Oh, yeah, but, you know, I'm going through whatever, I'm going through the genealogy at the beginning, you know, first quality, it's not doing anything for me. Yeah, but it will, and things will start to pop out from that, the more you read. Be disciplined, you've got to be disciplined. You know, look, you want to be a success, you want to be one of the mighty men, you need to be disciplined. Okay, and you need to read it, just read it, read it, read it, read it. And, look, for me, there is, you'd have to have a good reason not to read it in the morning, right? We were talking before, sometimes, you know, when you work in central London, it can be a bit, man, like, you know, if you take out that half hour to read the Bible as well, suddenly you might be getting up at 4 a.m. to get in there in time, yeah? But, you know, we were saying, look, there's a good way you can do it. You can literally get up, jump in your car, drive into London, get there early for work, and sit down and read your Bible. Yeah, okay, there's not a rule. It has to be when you rub the sleep out of your eyes, yeah? However, for me, that is the best time. If you can do it that way, that, for me, is great. Open your eyes, pray to God, and read your Bible, and it will make such a difference to your life. It really will. And there is, how many Christians, do you know what? The vast majority of Christians, the vast majority of Christians, that they have never read the Bible through once. If you read it half hour a day, you read it through twice a year. You can read it through literally scores of times in a lifetime, and it's there for a reason, isn't it? And here we see that picture of Eleazar cleaving to it. But it's not just reading. It's reading and applying. He's using that sword. He's not just holding the sword. He's chopping with the sword. He's cutting with the sword. He's defending with the sword, because that word of God will defend you from all sorts, won't it? Turn to Titus 1, because it will defend you by helping you to see the attacks coming, because the Bible is true to the state of everything you can apply so much. You see the attacks in the Bible, you can apply it to now. It will help you to see the attacks coming. It will help you to understand the opponent, because the Bible makes it clear that anything else will, but your hand cleaving to it will also help you with your offensive game too, won't it? In Titus 1, Paul's giving the qualifications for a bishop, and says that he has to be holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, this is verse 9, Titus 1.9, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. So that word is there both to encourage some, and I believe these are two different types of people, to encourage some and also to convince or convict the contradictors or opposers. And you go, what do you mean by that? What if they're like, if they're the bad people, the people that don't want to hear it? The word smashes these people. I've lost count of the amount of times that some attack's coming, something's going on, some battle, something either in the background or something open and clear, and we're going for a Bible study. And it's just like, wow. I mean, literally, you can't make it up. I say to my wife often, I'll be like, you wouldn't believe it. You know, with so and so and this is going on right now, and then suddenly it's just like, chapter, bang, and it just smashes them. It's like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces, isn't it? And it's like a fire. The word of God is unbelievable like that. And the timing, I don't even know how it works. I can't even get my head around how that works. Just so often, something that needs smashing in the church will just come up in a Bible verse, in a Bible study we're doing at that time when you need it. And it's amazing. And it does, it exhorts, but it also convinces. And here it's, talk about convicting. It shows the error of the latest attack by someone, the latest slander, the latest whisper, the latest attempt to push false doctrine or something, and the word of God just smashes it. Time and time and time again. It's amazing. He said in verse 10, for there are many, many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, okay, let's talk about the Jews at that time, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy Luca's sake. Okay, filthy Luca, basically talking about money, wealth, riches, gain. You've got to use it though, don't you? If you're going to convince, you're going to convict, another way of saying that, the gain says, you've got to use it in the way you're going to be able to use it if you cleave to it. Okay, you want to be able to smash that stuff, you want to be able to just answer. You know, we've had funny stuff over time, and you'll have someone, you know, maybe they'll come into the church, and then they just try and say this to someone, and I've heard of this stuff happening, and I'm not going to give specific examples, but I'll just answer with a verse straight away, going, that's not biblical, bang. And it's like, whoa, you know why? Because they cleave to their sword. Because it's not just for me, it's for all of you. Because people will try, they will try and pull you out, they will try and find ways of weakening you. Go back to 2 Samuel 23. Eliezer's hand, excuse me, cleave unto the sword. Lesson number one, Eliezer stood with his leader. Number two, he stood against the tide. Number three, he stood when others didn't. Number four, he stood. Number five, he stood when tired. Number six, he stood with the sword. Number seven, Eliezer stood with God. Eliezer stood with God. Look at verse 10, it says he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary. At his hand, cleave unto the sword. Now look at this bit. And the Lord, the Lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil. Hold on, why isn't Eliezer getting the credit? Is this fair? Because without God, he could have done none of this. Because without God, he could do nothing. Because when you stand with your leader, when you stand against the tide, you stand when others didn't, when you stand, when you ignore being tired, when you use the sword, God can do amazing things with you, can't he? God can do all sorts with you if you're willing. If you just give yourself to God and go, look, I'm just going to do what you clearly tell me to do. I'm just going to follow the word and you just use me. He could do amazing things. Now, we are giving Eliezer some credit, but you know who got the victory? Who was there beside Eliezer? It was God. It was all God. The Lord wrought or produced, he worked the victory through a few willing men. We see many examples of that in the Bible, don't we? Where he wants to reduce it down to the bare minimum so that we can see it's clearly God doing the work. Turn to Deuteronomy 20. And that's what it comes down to, really. How willing are you? Because God can and will use you if you're willing. Look, we all have weaknesses, we all have many failings in life, every single one of us here, but God can and will use you if you're just saying, look, here am I, send me. When you go to battle for God, he's there with you. Look at Deuteronomy 20 and verse 1. Deuteronomy 20 and verse 1 says, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be when ye have come nigh unto the battle that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Here, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them, for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. And that's why Eliezer was a mighty man, because he fought alongside God. That's why he was able to be one of the mighty men, because it was God that was fighting with him. But you have to choose to do that, don't you? I think it's that passage. Go back to 2 Samuel 23. There are many in the Old Testament where he then even says, However, if you're a bit scared, go back. If you're this, go back, because he's not going to use those people. He's going to use the people that are like, I'm here for you, God. I'm going to work for you. I want to do what you want me to do. And then God will use those for you to get great victories. We've had 2,000-something salvations in mainly this town in Basildon and a few soul-willing marathons around with what's ultimately a few people, with a few just willing people, just week in, week out, going out and preaching the Gospel. God will do great things with few. No, we'll never be a megachurch here because we're preaching the truth. We'll never have 10,000 in here because we're preaching the Word of God. And we're not just preaching ear-tickling messages telling people how great they are. No, we're trying to encourage them to actually live for God and do things for God, and we're preaching the actual Gospel and not just another version of work salvation. However, God will use a small church like this to do amazing things. But you've got to be willing to be a part of that. And sitting here isn't just being a part of it. It's being willing to do the whole thing. Right, 2 Samuel 23, right, last part of the list, okay. You all know that Eleazar stood with his leader. He stood against the tide. He stood when others didn't. He stood. He stood when tired. He stood with the sword. He stood with God. And number eight, last one. He stood for the people to benefit. He stood for the people to benefit. Look at verse 10. It said here, Moses spoke the Philistines till his hand was weary and his hand clamoured unto the sword. And the Lord ruled a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to spoil. So the people, those that legged it, don't forget they all ran off, yeah. They didn't have to lift a finger. They just reaped the benefits, the treasures, the spoils of war. You say, well, that's not very fair. But isn't that just the way it goes? That is just the way it goes in the Christian life. They say, I passed the time of this a long time ago. In most churches, the old saying is that 90% of the work is done by 10% of the people. Now, I don't think we have that here. And it's something that I want to try and I want to go against that status quo. And we do have a lot of people here that try and get involved and do stuff. But maybe as we grow, it might feel a bit more like that. And many will then benefit without doing much. But is that a bad thing? Is it a bad thing that they still benefit? Who do you want to benefit from your hard work? Just a load of God haters? Because when you go to work and you work hard, your boss and maybe the shareholders and everyone else will benefit. And we should still be working hard, by the way, if you go to work. We'll be talking about that later. But is it a bad thing if your brothers and sisters in Christ benefit from your hard work? If all that happened was that the people benefited here, at least they're family, right? At least they're brothers and sisters in Christ. They're God's children. The reality is that although our brothers and sisters benefit when we go to battle, when we grow off of God, when we don't faint, the reality, though, you'd still rather be an Eliezer than a receiver, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you rather be an Eliezer than one that fled and then came back and benefited? I hope everyone here would. You'd rather be a mighty man of God, a mighty woman of God, a mighty child of God than someone who's just, well, they're getting the freebies. Thank God for brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so out there preaching the gospel and God's blessing this church. You'd rather be able to say, no, I'm a part of that, right? I'm one of those, I'm one of the mighty. You'd rather be a mighty man than only benefiting from the mighty men, yeah? And I believe that everyone has potential to be an Eliezer. I really do. I think everyone has that. I think God can use you. God will use you with what little or what much you have and God can do great things with you. Are you willing to just say, look, yeah, I'm here. Here am I, send me, Lord. I want to be a mighty man. I want to be a mighty woman. I want to be a mighty child. So that was the first one of our Lessons from Heroes. What a great amount. You could just get out a couple of verses, right? A couple of verses about an obscure character in the Bible that we often glance through and go, wow, those mighty men. Often, because you can't remember most of their names, you just go, man, those mighty men, 800 and cleaving swords and stuff, and that's kind of it, isn't it? Yeah, like lion-like man, he slew and plucked the spear out of someone's hand. Yeah, great, yeah. But isn't it, there's actually so much more in there, isn't there? It was all for us. It was all, they were 100% real things that happened, yet then the recording of them is used for us and for the edification of God's people. And again, one of the many things it just shows, how amazing is the word of God, right? You get two verses out of the Bible that can give you so much application for your spiritual life, and as we know, that's not just the only two verses in the Old Testament. It's like so much the Old Testament gives you that, doesn't it? And just amazing, that's why, like, you need to read your whole Bible, right? Okay, make sure you read the whole Bible. That was Lessons from Heroes. Eliezer, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite. He stood with his leader. He stood against the tide. He stood when others didn't. He stood. He stood when tired. He stood with the sword. He stood with God, and he stood for the people to benefit. And let's finish up in a word of God. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for just how awesome the word of God is, Lord, just the amazing lessons we can get from it. And thank you for those people of old, those heroes from the past, Lord, that we can learn so much from, we can get so many great examples from. Lord, and here we've looked at Eliezer, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, and Lord, just help us to appreciate what you've given us there, that story for us to not just read and go, yeah, that was cool, but to read and actually apply to our lives. Help us to do that. Help us to do that. Starting this afternoon, Lord, we've got a soul-winning time after this service. Help us to go out and get many people saved, Lord, and to encourage them to want to get involved and be a part of your army here in Southend and help us to return for this evening's service. In Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.