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

Ephesians 6, which is the end of this letter by Paul to the church at Ephesus. And verse 10 in Ephesians 6 says this, it says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So did he say, be strong on your own here? He didn't, did he? He said, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Paul saying that there's a power of the Lord's that's available to us. And verse 11 tells us what that is. It says in verse 11, put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So the whole armour of God, what's its purpose? To enable us to stand against the wiles of the devil. What's a wile, if anyone's wondered? It's basically a trick or a stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception, a sly, insidious artifice. This is all according to Webster's. So basically sneaky entrapment sort of tactics, clever trickery. And that's the sort of enemy that we're up against. And for those of you that are like me and would prefer a straight fight to all this sort of sneaking around, well, tough. Unfortunately, that's not how it always is and often is in life as a Christian. It's a spiritual battle. And we face a foe that doesn't often give us just a straight fight. It is a lot of sneaky, treacherous type, just horrible kind of sly, insidious behaviour. And that's the fight that we're in. Verse 12 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. It's a spiritual battle. And over the last two years, I've really come to understand this more. Now, don't get me wrong, I've still got a lot to learn, I'm sure. But I feel like I've really understood this a lot more than I ever did before in the last two years of actually having a proper church, serving a proper church, doing, you know, real things for God, you know. And when you look at this verse, many people have used this and kind of come with the kind of, you know, explanation, which is, oh, well, what he means is that we're battling against the evil devils behind our government. Yeah, everyone's probably heard people quote this verse. We wrestle not against pressure. And I've done this as well. Obviously, you can apply it like that. There are devils everywhere, especially in the higher echelons of society, aren't there? Yeah, there are devils all over the place. And I'm sure, you know, look, there's some devils right up. There's devils behind the scene. There's all sorts of wickedness going on. But I believe that the spiritual battle is actually probably hottest right now in Wickford. I honestly believe that. I think that in Wickford, Essex, I think that it was hot probably in Basildon today, in Pitsy. And I think that it's probably hot in all your hometowns and your neighbourhoods where each and every one of you lives. And I think that that right now, especially the spiritual battle is hot in Wickford. And the spiritual battle is hot in the UK because the UK has a church going out and preaching the gospel en masse. The real gospel going out and preaching the gospel of the Bible week in, week out. Preaching the word of God and has faithful people coming here and serving God and doing the things of the Lord. And look, you know, and again, it's not it's not because I just want to knock churches. It's not because I'm trying to, like, blow my own trumpet. But you don't there aren't other churches like this in the UK. I've tried most of the churches. You know, I've tried a lot that at least qualify for a church. And there's nothing like this. And it's not because of me. It's not because of anyone here. It's not it's just because because we've got a group of people here that are zealous for the Lord and going out and preaching the gospel and doing the things of God. And for that reason, that's that's a real spiritual battle. You know, there are principalities and powers battling with us right here, right now. OK. And you know what? I'm more concerned with them than the ones to do with Bohemian Grove or whatever it is. Seriously, like we like look, don't get me wrong, the conspiracy candy can be fun. Yeah, those devils. But but what's the real spiritual battle? It's it's where the things are going on for God. It's where they're taking place. It's it's in this church and in our lives. That's a real spiritual battle because the devil wants the devil wants each and every one of you out of this church. Yeah, the devil wants me taken down, my family. It wants other other members of this church taken down. Look, that's a real spiritual battle. Yeah. And you know what that verse tells me? It tells me that it's not just two Bob Lane devils doing it either that got the bum job dealing with those pesky Baptists. He said in verse 12, for we we and he's talking to the believers at Ephesus there, that church and including himself. 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. Was he talking about spiritual wickedness in the Roman government? No, we're up against the high end ones. We are. Yeah, the rulers of the darkness of this world in this nation, in this area. They're the ones we battle with. It's the ones at the top. That's who we're up against as a church, as church members of members of the church. It's not just some kind of, oh yeah, we'll just send those useless old devils and let's let's put the real high end ones over with like Rishi Sunak or whoever it is. These guys are already wicked. The battles here, the battles with you, the battles with all of us. I'm thinking of it kind of like, you know, one of these sort of action kung fu type movies. Or if you're not familiar with that or if you are familiar with another example, kind of like an arcade game. You've got, you basically, to get saved, you've got past like the lower level. You've kind of think like Street Fighter. You've taken on, I don't know, like the easy ones. You've taken on a couple of kind of lower level. Was it Bullrog was like the boxer guy. Maybe E. Honda with his hundred hand slap. Yeah, you've taken on those easy ones. And as this and those of you just looking at me blankly, don't worry. OK, basically, they were like they were like the easy opponents. But the more you progress in the spiritual life, the higher, the higher opponent you have to take on, you know. And here's the thing with that is that you kind of keep going and keep going. And then eventually you up against Sagat and then Sagat was good. And then you got M. Bison. Yeah, and it's kind of like borderline impossible. In fact, it is impossible. That's the truth of it. OK, you can't in your own flesh, you can't beat them. OK, basically, it's just game over, insert coin. If you try and do it yourself, game over, insert coin, game over, insert coin. Yeah, it's just like just you're just pumping money into the thing. You can't get anywhere. How many hadoukens you do or whatever else? Yeah, how many kind of how quick you are with that joystick? You ain't getting nowhere because they're too good. We're battling against against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. That's a battle you and I and everyone else is battling against. But what we do have is we have the cheat code. Again, any kind of old gamers here kind of got an idea. Especially the old games, so you could get the cheat code. Yeah, there'd be people, I got a cheat code for like this arcade and stuff a lot of time. It didn't really work. But they would give you the cheat code. The cheat code could give you some sort of maybe it would like make you invincible or it would give you some sort of extra power or something else. And we have the cheat code and cheat codes here in this chapter of how we can actually be able to survive against these people, how it's not just insert game over every time that you, you know, game over insert coin every time that you play. He said in verse 13, he told us what that cheat code is. He said, wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that he may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So did he say take unto you some of the armour of God? Is that what he said? Take unto you some of the armour of God. Take unto you the easiest bits that you find to put on. The bits that you can kind of deal with. No, he said take unto you the whole armour of God, didn't he? Think of like soldiers going to war. Do they go, well, yeah, I don't know, that's a bit uncomfortable. You know, that flak jacket, I find that one a bit uncomfortable with my size. We'll leave that at home. Forget the helmet because, you know, I get a bit of a sweaty head with a helmet, so I'll just go with the boots. No, they take unto themselves the whole armour. If they've got any sense, they do, don't they? And same if you look back in, you look back in history with all sorts of armours and battles and everything else, you'd be a bit silly to go on the battlefield with only half your armour, wouldn't you? You'd be a bit silly to go and leave even one item of armour out, wouldn't you? And in your mind, you'd be thinking that one item of armour is going to be what kills me. And it's the same here. He said, take up to you the whole armour of God. You need the whole armour. And he said the same thing in verse 11, didn't he? Every part of it is important for you to be able to stand in. So many Christians, they have part of the armour and they just ignore the other part. And then they wonder why things aren't going well for them in life. They wonder why they just seem to keep losing those spiritual battles while they keep slipping because they're not taking unto themselves the whole armour of God. And we've got this great passage of scripture where we're told what the whole armour of God. He says in verse 14, Stand therefore, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And in case you're wondering, well, you know, is this a new series? Is he just preaching a sermon? Well, we're starting a new Sunday evening series and it's called The Whole Armour of God. The Whole Armour of God, that's our new Sunday evening series. And tonight we're going to focus on the first part, which is the belt. So the title is The Whole Armour of God. Number one, the belt. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, just this chapter of the Bible and this passage of this chapter of the Bible that just gives us so much of what we need to be able to survive in this spiritual battle that every single one of us is in. Lord, I pray that you just fill with your spirit right now and just help me to preach this clearly. Help me to preach this whole series as you'd want it preached. Help me to edify the church. Help me to strengthen the church. Help me to protect the church, Lord, with what your word's got to say to them. In Jesus' name, prolly this. Amen. Right, so some of you may have been caught out by the spiritual battle that you entered when you started attending this church. I don't know. Some of you might have been a bit shocked by it, maybe a bit surprised by it. And the reason I want to preach this series is because this is important stuff, okay? And this is something I haven't seen this kind of taken apart one by one before. And, you know, I think that there's a lot there to even cover in one sermon. And I want to really go through all of these articles of the arm because it's so, it's such a strength to us, such a help to us. And if we can really get to understand what each part of this armour is, it's going to help us all. It's going to help us as a church. It's going to help us individually. And we're given this armour, right? We're given this ability to stand against a very strong foe. And not just a strong foe, a strong foe and all his, all his, whatever you want to call them, army of devils as well. We cannot do it without this armour, right? And some of you might have been wondering what all of these fighting war and battle analogies are all about in the Bible. Maybe many people are, because we come, many have come for different backgrounds. You come into Christianity and you're thinking, well, yeah, but isn't it just kind of, you know, kind of a few kind of people just meeting up and, you know, a little chat and sing a few hymns and go home and feel spiritual and, you know, and get to know God and all that. Look, we want to get to know God. Yeah, we want to get to know God. But ultimately, when you really get to know God, you do that by actually going through some persecution and tribulation and some battles. That's when we really get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? And look, church, many of you might have been like, well, what on earth? Once you started really getting involved and really starting to go out and preach the gospel, do things and think, well, this is a bit of a battle. And if you're not, you're probably going to go into one. OK, because that's just the Christian life and it's hot. And look, I was shocked by it as well. And, you know, sometimes I still am. Sometimes, you know, me and my wife are just like, wow, this is intense. It's intense. And I don't mean it in a way like, oh, can we do this? Look, you know, bring it on. Yeah. However, it's intense. It's it. Look, the spiritual battle is real and we need the whole armour of God to be able to last through it, right? Christianity isn't the quiet life floating around not offending anyone. OK, some people believe it. You want to live like that. Great. You know, but you ain't doing nothing for God. But when you're doing stuff for God, you're going to come up against adversaries. It's a war. It's a battle. And we're on the front line here. You're on the front line. In the UK, you're on the front line. You attend this church, you go out soul winning. You're on the front line. OK, and that means that we need the whole armour of God because we're on the front line. You want to go on the front line without the whole armour of God? You're crazy. You need the whole armour of God. And first part on the list is the belt. He said in verse 14, Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth. Now, the loins are your central area. OK, girt is to surround, which is why, a belt is a nice, simple description. OK, and it's an easy one to remember. However, we are talking armour here. OK, and the obvious reference in what was a Roman occupied world, pretty much, was the Roman soldier. OK, that was the obvious kind of picture. When you thought of someone with armour and thought of a soldier, you're going to pretty much in most of the world at that point, when Paul was writing this, would have thought of the Roman soldier. And there are differing styles of armour over the different time periods of the Roman Empire. And also, even in regions, you know, of where the Roman Empire went, there were slightly differing styles of armour, etc. But the central area, the loins, for me, were given some protection. Now, there's a bit of debate about this. Some debate the function of, you might maybe be able to picture the classic leather studded, sort of, there was a belt with these leather studded tassels over the kind of going over what is the groin area, right? And some argue, oh, they couldn't have been for protection, everything else. And, you know, admittedly, the Roman army did seem to, you know, being majority predominantly foot soldiers, they weren't necessarily done up like the classic English knight, for example. Yeah, because that would have been pretty tough to be carrying all of that armour, etc. However, there was something that was common in various forms and it was called the Theries, okay? And I think I've pronounced that right, but it's spelt, if anyone's wondering, P-T-E-R-U-G-E-S, but I think it's pronounced Theries, which was basically this sort of feathered skirt style belt protecting the loins. If anyone could picture that, it was kind of almost like feathers and they would overlap and often in leather going over the tunic. And just in case anyone's wondering, because I've been looking into this over the last couple of days, they all wore basically shorts underneath, yeah, breeches underneath the tunic, okay? Because nowadays, again, the movies and these people re-enacted, just love to wear like the Roman miniskirt with like their hairy legs on the show, it just looks horrendous, yeah? However, it was a tunic, yeah? It was a tunic and they had breeches underneath, yeah? Now, apparently actually there was a bit of a thing where they felt trousers which were skin tight were very effeminate and there was actually a rule banning trousers, I think you'd write apparently, to this certain point. However, it's because they were wearing shorts in this was obviously warmer climate and then higher-anchored sandals. They weren't just walking around with kind of a pair of underpants and a tunic, okay, in case anyone's confused by this. So you've got the classic was a belt and this kind of tassels over top. However, there was commonly this, it was basically like an armoured belt with these overlapping kind of feathers of leather usually and tough leather to give them some protection but whilst also being mobile, yeah? Remember they're marching and going on long distances on foot. And the ferries often went all the way around the hip and legs and for me, therefore, that's what Paul, I believe, is picturing here in this sort of picture of your loins being girt about with truth. Your loins being protected by the surrounding armour, okay? Which in our spiritual battle, the spiritual armour is us being surrounded by truth, okay? That's why he said having your loins girt about with truth. He said stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and if we're going to stand, stand against the wiles of the devil, we need to put on the armour of God and item number one is this belt of truth is what we're going to call it. So the question here is then how does that work? Does that mean just being kind of honest in life? Is that what he's talking about? Because maybe people have glossed over this before. Maybe people have gone, oh yeah, yeah, a bit of truth, yeah, just being a bit honest, etc. How do we surround ourselves with truth? Well, turn to Romans chapter three. Pilate said to Jesus in John 18 38, what is truth? Well, Pilate, you were standing right in front of it. Yeah, you were standing right in front of truth. Romans chapter three and verse four says, God forbid, yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged. So he said, let God be true. It's God that's true. It's God that's truth. John 14, six out of ten, it says, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Everyone else is a liar. Everyone else is a liar, but God is truth. Jesus Christ is God, the Son, and he's the only way to the Father, right? And if you're saved, then you've acknowledged that God is true. Okay, that's what I see. If you turn to Ephesians one, well, you turn there. I'm going to read John 3 33, where John the Baptist, speaking of Christ, said, He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true. So if you've received Jesus Christ's testimony, then you have believed that God is true, and you were then sealed with the Spirit of truth. Okay, so just putting your faith in the Gospel, putting your faith in the Word of God, is setting to your seal that God is true. You've received his testimony, and that's referring to Jesus Christ's testimony there. Ephesians 1 13, referring to Christ, says, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. You were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, and John 15 26 calls him the Spirit of truth. You don't have to turn to it, it says, But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. The Spirit of truth, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, the Spirit of truth, when you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to John 16. So you got saved, you got sealed with the indwelling Holy Spirit, does that mean you're now girt about the truth then? Does that mean that you're now surrounded by truth because you're saved? Well, it means that you have the ability to discern the truth. You will have the ability to discern it. You're able to understand the truth. Okay, everyone here is able to understand the truth. And in John 16 verses, well, let's look at verse 13 first. Jesus said, Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth, that's the Holy Spirit is come, he will guide you, and by the way, this is before then it all believers are indwelt with it. Now we all are indwelt with that Spirit of truth. Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will, did he say force you? Say force you? Let's say give you automatic understanding because you're so clever and wise, you spirit, no. He said he will guide you, guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. So he's got to hear it to then speak it, to show it, doesn't he? He hears it, he speaks it, he shows it. He said in verse 14, he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. What is it that the Holy Spirit receives and shows? What is this truth that he guides you into? It's the words of God. It's the words of God. It's the inspired, preserved words of God, because they're all truth. They are all truth, and we have them in our hands. We have the truth here. This is the truth, okay? It's all truth. Every single word of this is true. Every single word. Psalm 119, you don't have to turn there, verse 160 says, thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. His word is true, and it endures forever. That's amazing, isn't it? That's amazing. We have this enduring word of truth, endurance forever, and every single word is true. What an amazing book we have here. How do we surround ourselves with it though? Do you just kind of like put King James's everywhere you go, just kind of like surround you in your room, in your bedroom, just kind of have a few around? Well, no, we immerse ourselves in the word of God. We surround ourselves by the word of God. It's not talking about just kind of walking around with a ring of bibles around you. It's talking about being surrounded in life by the word of God. Turn to John 17. John chapter 17. We surround ourselves. We bathe in it. We bathe in the word of truth. John 17 says in verse 17, John 17, 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. Sanctify them. How does it protect us? It cleanses us. It purifies us. It filters out the impurities. When you're immersed in the truth, you're cleansed by the truth, the dirt, the filth shows up that much easier, doesn't it? And let's use a biblical analogy. Think about white clothing. Think about white raiment. Yeah, when it's, if it had dirt on it, it would show up pretty quickly, wouldn't it? Yeah, and the word of God, the word of God, look, we're all going to receive white raiment, obviously, when we're saved and we're, you know, well, when we're in heaven at the end, but look, before that, when you're surrounded by truth, the falsehoods, the lies, the dirt, it's going to show up. And they're that bit easier to spot when you're immersed in truth. The lies will show up easier, don't they? Yeah, the lies show up easier. Now, turn to John 8, because it's a choice we make to either be in that truth, surrounded by it, go out about with it, or not. That's our choice, yeah? Look, you got saved, okay? You got saved when you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope everyone here put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You're saved, okay? Nothing can change that. However, look, being surrounded by the truth, that's your choice to make, isn't it? Do you want to surround yourselves by the truth? Therefore, it's going to show up. You're going to see, you're going to see the dirt, you're going to see the filth more, or do you just want to kind of, well, I'll just go through life as I choose. You're turning to John 8. It's a choice we make. John 8, Jesus is preaching to this group of people, including the Pharisees and other Jews. He says this in verse 30, as he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. What does it take to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish from everlasting life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in him hath everlasting life. It's a belief. It's believing on him, believing in him. That's what gets you saved. It said here, many believed on him, then said Jesus, those Jews which believed in him, they're saved. They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, yeah? Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. What does it take to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. What does it take to be a disciple? Continuing in his word. Two different things. Sadly, it seems to be lost on most so-called churches around the world, but two different things. Continuing in his word is what you need to do to be a disciple. And look at verse 32 and it says, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So that word helps you to differentiate between truth and falsehoods. Knowing the truth, he said, if ye continue my word. Being saved doesn't mean, well, I know all the truth now. Okay? Being saved doesn't mean that you're just, oh, it's done. It's done now. Oh, well, I'm going to eventually get there. No, no. If ye continue my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Referring to people that have continued in his word. The word helps you see the difference between the truth and the falsehoods, right? It frees you from all those lying traps out there. It's a word that does that. The word is what shines a light on all those traps, just waiting to make you stumble, waiting to make you fall. The whispers of false doctrine. Yeah? If you're continuing in the word, if you're surrounded by the word, if you're girt about with the truth, then you're going to recognise the whispers of false doctrine. The seducing of sin. You're going to recognise it for what it is. The hooks of false prophets. You're going to recognise those hooks when you're immersed in the word of God. How do you continue in it? Immerse yourself in it, surround yourself with it. How do you have your loins girt about with truth? That's what we're being told. This is his first article of the armour of God. You read it, you learn it, you memorise it, you love it. Yeah? That's how you surround yourself. It's not automatic. It's not just by being saved. Yeah? You need to be saved. Okay? However, you need to be in it. You need to be learning. You need to be reading it. You need to be studying it. You need to be loving the word of God. You need to have it surrounding you. You need to get disciplined. Like I said, it's no good going to battle, not having your armour on that day, is it? What would be the point in that? You'd think someone's nuts. I mean, if you think about, and look, sometimes people can have like a funny idea of battle. Believe it or not, it's not like muscly bodybuilders in vests holding a machine gun in each hand, walking around bolt upright, shooting people while everyone runs at their gun and gets shot. In case anyone's wondering, I grew up with 80s action movies like myself, yeah? That's not the reality of battle. The reality of battle is you don't want to get shot, yeah? Nowadays and previously before guns, you didn't want to get shot by an arrow and you didn't want to get speared and you didn't want to get cut in two by swords. And do you know what stopped you doing that was armour. Yeah, look, from as early as people were fighting, there was armour, all right? Look, people aren't silly, okay? Armour helps you not get cut up, shot and everything else. And you'd be mad going into any sort of battle without armour, wouldn't you? Okay, however like, you know, cool your skills might be in your sort of imaginary world, the truth is you need armour. And look, just the belt alone, if you think about that, if you think about the belt alone and we think about our Roman armour, just the belt, even if you go, okay, well, that fairies, you know, I don't know if it's that, maybe it's just talking about a belt. Well, okay, do you want to go into war without your belt? Do you know what your belt carries? Your sword. You could kind of make, well, I could probably go into depth with this, couldn't you? We're talking about being immersed in the truth and what's the sword of the spirit which is the word of God? Without your belt, without your belt, without being immersed, you don't even have it to fight with and we're going to be talking about the sword of the spirit later in a few weeks time, okay? Because you won't even be able to access it because you can't hold it because you don't have your belt because you're not immersed in truth. Psalm 40 verse 11 says, Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, our Lord, let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. He said, let thy truth continually preserve me and the word of God will preserve you, it will protect you. That's what it does but you have to be immersed in it, you really have to, if you're just like reading a verse a day, if you're now and again picking up your Bible, that's not being surrounded by it, that's not going to protect you then. And here's the thing with that as well, how many belts can you realistically wear? How many belts do you think you're really wearing to battle if we're talking about around your loins? Yeah, I don't think it'd be very comfortable kind of putting one over another one, would it? Yeah, I don't think it would be that great and it's not really so great having like double layers of armor, you know why? Because then you're slow, you're sluggish, it's cumbersome, you're not mobile or anything else and it's the same with this, can you surround yourself with truth and lies at the same time? Yeah, I don't think you can have both. You're either going to surround yourself with truth or you're surrounding yourself with lies. You're not going to have both on at the same time. What are you girt about with? So what surrounds you? What surrounds you? So we're looking for this, we want this number one article of armor, okay? We want to be girt about with truth. Are you girt about with truth or are you girt about with fear-mongering news channels? Is that what half your days spent being girt about with? Just like more news telling me about the agenda 2030 is coming or whatever else or they're coming to get us, man, coming to get us. Is that what you're girt about with? Because I tell you what, if you're girt about with that, I don't think you're girt about with truth then because I don't care whether they're underground, overground, halfway through the ground, whatever they are, yeah? Look, there's so much lies in all these because they're not the truth. There's only one ultimate truth, isn't there? This is the truth. And the rest of it, there's going to be an amount of lies because let God be true in every man a liar. So you ain't any of this stuff, that's what's surrounding you. If that's what you're immersed in, you ain't surrounded by the truth. Conspiracy black holes, the same thing. Maybe, well, you know, maybe it's not the news channels, maybe it's just conspiracy black holes, that's what you're immersed in, that's what you need to learn about, I need to find out more about, you know, what the government papers, get those government papers, they've got government paper written on the top, it must be true. But really, what are you immersed in? Because you're not immersed in the truth. You're immersed in something else. And look, you could go completely the other way, okay, you're going okay, brother, and you're getting on, look, look, don't get me wrong, yeah, I've said this many times, you don't believe in conspiracies, you're a fool, there are conspiracies out there, but do we want to be immersed in them? Is it really helping us in our spiritual battle? Because if you're serving God, you're in a spiritual battle. If you haven't realised it yet, well, it's coming, okay, if you're serving God, you're doing things to God, you're in a spiritual battle, and being immersed and surrounded, I didn't see it say having your lawyers go about with every conspiracy. And look, some of that stuff will be useful, and some of that stuff, yeah, look, we kind of, we have our eyes open, and we see things going wrong, but ultimately, it's got to drive with the word of God, doesn't it? And how are you going to know that if you're not immersed in the word of God? And then you could go completely the other way, and go, what about if you're immersed in, you know, and whether it's the latest TV series you're into, or even, because people go, well, it's a book, a book's alright, isn't it? Because that makes you look like intelligent or something, it makes you look like you've rejected, you know, the media, and I'm immersed in a romance novel. By the way, I'm not immersed in a romance novel, in case anyone's wondering. That was last week. Oh, kidding, okay. But a lot of people are. And really, are you immersed in truth? Because, you know, when you get into, like, novels and things like that, time just goes, doesn't it? Time goes. It's something we've had to kind of be careful with our kids, because, oh, great, they read a book, great. They're not watching TV, but suddenly, it's like ours. Just, they just want to be immersed in it, and suddenly, they're not really immersed in the truth, are they? Because they're surrounded. That's what the majority, what they're thinking about, and what they're into. And there are many adults the same in many, many areas of life, right? You don't have to tell them, but 1 Corinthians 13, 6 says that ultimate charity, which is our goal, yeah, that's kind of like where we're looking to be towards our ultimate charity, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. And so much of what people are rejoicing in isn't the word of God. So much of what they rejoice in, and what they're surrounded by, and what they're immersed in is iniquity, in one way or another. But we're gonna, we're gonna move on though, because we're gonna, we're gonna really hit the word of God as well, when we talk about the sword of the spirit, but we have to be immersed in it first. But there's other ways that we can be immersed or not in the word of God. Another way that we can be surrounded by truth, turn to 2 Corinthians 6, who are the people that surround us? Now, like I've said, look, every man's a liar, right? But there's very, you know, there's kind of varying lies, and there's varying amounts of truth that come from different people. You can read your Bible every day, you can memorize it, you can study it, but spend the rest of every day yoked up with the world, can't you? Look, you can get up in the morning, I've got a good routine, I read my Bible, I do a bit of Bible memory afterwards, you know, even maybe I do a bit of Bible study at some point as well, but I'm yoked up with the world. What am I surrounded by? What am I girt with? Well, 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 14 says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial, and what parteth he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in him, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Did Paul say not to speak to unsaved people? Is that what he said there? No? Did he say to cut off all unsaved family and friends? People do weird stuff like that, they're like, I'm still not even saved, I don't have nothing to do with them anymore. No, he didn't say that. He said to not be unequally yoked. What does it mean to be yoked? It's to be basically on the same level, it's like a best friend, for example. A best friend would be basically like being yoked together. If you're best friend, the people that you're spending the majority of your time with, purposely, I'm not talking about like in the workplace, but if you're then yoking up as this sort of best friend sort of thing, that's being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Marrying, and I'll say it and I'll keep saying it, because I'll tell you what, the sad truth is that there'll be kids that come out of this church who will eventually grow up and there'll be singles in the church, eventually go and marry an unbeliever. Because people do crazy stuff, okay? And if you're yoked up with an unbeliever, well, again, are you really girt surrounded by truth? And what about business partners? Business partners is another one. Yeah, but like if I go into business with them, you know, then I'm going to have more money. It's going to work out. I know it never works out. The partnerships don't really work out anyway. There has to be a high authority, let alone being unequally yoked with unbelievers. Proverbs 13 20 says, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. You're thinking, okay, brother, but wait a second. You know, I can't help this necessarily. If I'm in this situation where I'm here, I'm suddenly going to be surrounded by the world. We have to be in the world, don't we? Many people say, you know, we've got to be in the world, but not of the world. Look, you could control many things, yeah, but it's hard to control what people are talking to you about, isn't it? So, yeah, look, you're in the world, okay? You have to be in the world. Yeah, you're going to have to obviously talk to and have some sort of exposure and more with the world. Yeah, that's life. We're in the world. We live in the world, okay? We're shining lights in the world. We're not trying to just escape from everyone. However, when you're yoked up with them, when you're in a partnership, when you're married to them, when you're best friends with them, when they're all your friends that you're going to hang around with outside of church and everything else, you can't then control what they're saying to you, and then you're so often just going to be surrounded by, well, at least not the truth, right? And when it comes to people, there's something that we really need to watch out for, and what with social media too, and that's false prophets, okay? Look, they're everywhere. Okay? The false prophets are everywhere. Would you consider me, for example, surrounded by truth, if in my spare time I told you I listened to John MacArthur? Would everyone go, yeah, brother, he's got his Bible, he reads his Bible every day, he's immersed in the word of God, he just likes a bit of a dabble with John MacArthur in the evenings. Am I surrounded by truth? Am my loins girt about the truth? Of course they're not. He's a false prophet. He's a blood of Christ, rejecting, lordship, salvationist, false prophet. If I'm listening to that guy, if I've got some sort of, you know, I'm going on his channel and listening to him, I'm not surrounded by truth. I'm surrounded by the worst type, because it sounds like truth to many, but really he's just washing down the poison with a certain amount of truth, yeah? And I'm surrounded myself by that sort of thing, aren't I? That's what I'm girt with, if that's what I'm listening to. Oh, well, yeah, but I'll just kind of flick around between this one and that one. Yeah, but what are you listening to? What are you surrounded by? How about if I just listen to him once a week? Once a month? Would you say I'm girt by truth if I listen to John MacArthur once a month? Yeah? My loins girt about... It's only once a month? Just a little once a month-a. A little bit of Calvinism once a month, you know? Hey, the rest of the time I'm listening to good preaching. Am I surrounded by truth? No, of course not, and it's not just John. What about Paul Washer? Paul Washer, how about that? Oh, no, no, it's all right. He claims to be a Baptist. He's a Lordship Salvationist. Am I girt about the truth listening to Paul Washer? No, he's another wicked Fogg's prophet, and these ones are subtle Fogg's prophets. Oh, well, it's only now and again. Oh, well, I just like the way he kind of preaches on this. I just like the way he bangs on about this particular sin. He sounds good. No, am I girt about the truth? No, he's a false prophet. These guys have... Oh, you can't say that. He's a false prophet. Do me a favour. They're all Lordship Salvationists. They're all preaching that you've got to basically make him Lord of your life and all of this sort of stuff. You've got to continue in the faith, all that sort of stuff. They preach it. They preach from both sides of their mouth, these guys. Look, you call me a fool, wouldn't you? You go, you fool, brother, what are you doing? And you wouldn't tell me. You would definitely not say to me, oh, yeah, but you're definitely surrounded by truth. Now, whether... Look, turn to Titus 1. What about that it's not a famous false prophet? OK, at least some people have exposed. How about it's some bloke in his bedroom that's made it look a bit more professional than his bedroom. Now, look, you might have wondered, like, you might be sitting and go, look, brother, you've been banging on about this a bit recently. It's because, look, because our church has varying kind of people in it, OK? And I've had these questions from people before. And in case you're looking around, which one? Look, people are inured to faith. People are coming in now and again. People that maybe aren't so often in here and everything else who are like, oh, what do you think of it? Oh, I was listening to this person. You know, like, suddenly you're like, doo, doo, doo, doo. You're listening to it, you know. Oh, well, I don't know the channel it was like, you know, and it said some really good stuff and you go on it. It's like, what on earth, you know? Because, like, it's really hard to really understand it, isn't it? And at the beginning, you know, it's hard. Like, you're saved. You might even come in now and again and you're like, well, brother Ian's saying, listen, he's probably... He just probably thinks that they're like, you know, going to show him up or, you know, they're going to be a bit easier to listen to. No, no, it's because there's so many wicked people out there. Just because someone's got a channel on YouTube, just because someone claims to be preaching some sort of... It doesn't mean that they're preaching the truth. And it doesn't mean... Oh, well, it's just kind of like Christian chat. Just kind of gives the Christian, who is he? Who is he? Where does he come from? What is he teaching you? And so often people will be listening to people before they know any of that. Oh, well, he's got a channel. So he's a Christian. He said something about grace through faith. Must be all right, eh? We need to be careful. Is that Gert about the truth? How about we don't know either way? How about you listen to a guy? Well, I listen to him on my way to work because, you know, he sounds good. He said some good stuff. He said... Look, there are Christians out there who listen to Andrew Tate. Anyone know who Andrew Tate is? Like absolute clown, yeah? Like just complete poison. Oh, because he talks about masculinity. Oh, because he's like... I mean, I'm not even going to go into one of Andrew Tate yet. However, there are Christians out there like, well, someone's saying it how it is, man, you know? And again, I had a question. It's a well-meaning question from someone, you know, who I love. He's saved and he's like, you know, what do you think about this guy Andrew Tate? I say he's wicked, yeah? And he's getting people into covetousness and fornication and all this. Oh, but he says some things that are true. He knocks, you know, the mainstream liberal narrative. Oh, so he must be all right. And there's so many... And there's a million Andrew Tates out there just wanting you on their channels, wanting you to listen. And sadly, Christians get pulled into this stuff. There are warnings time and time again about these people in the Bible. Time and time and time again. We're just getting warned, warned, warned, warned, warned. And then we're like, yeah, I'm just going to listen to this person. Oh, sounds all right, doesn't it? Titus 1 and verse 10 says, For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. Deceivers doesn't sound like truth to me. They don't sound like you're going to be girt about the truth if you're listening to one of these deceivers, right? Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucas say. So it's often about the money, okay? That's what it's so often about with these people. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. The witness is about these people saying it's not about the Cretans. Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Talking about the people that are listening to them. Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. So again, these people, these fables, these commandments of men, it's turning from the truth. What's the truth? The word of God. But it's very clever and subtle the way. People will quote a verse in the Bible and then teach you a falsehood. I'll go, oh, like I was talking about last week with the tithing. Oh, well, like it says in chapter whatever. And it's like, you didn't say that in that chapter. What are you talking about? This people do and it gives it credibility if you're apparently quoting Bible verses. He said unto the pure, all things are pure, but unto them that defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God. Yeah, there's a lot of people that profess that they know God, but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work, reprobate. So you've got people out there that profess that they know God like it says here. But how do you know what they really like from the other end of YouTube? How do you know? Do you have any idea what they really are like, what they really do from the other end of YouTube? Well, I'm recommending it, it sounds all right. Nonsense. And look, if you like listening to good preaching, okay, there are some great preachers out there, aren't there? There are some great, if you like preaching, I love preaching. Yeah, I love good preaching. And there are some great preachers to listen to. But I tell you what, yeah, especially, especially if, I don't even want to say new to the, in fact, no, not even especially. I would just say, I tell you what, why not just stick to some good NIFB preachers? How about that? Yeah, look, there's the odd like, I'm going to hold my hand up and say, look, now and again, I like listening to a Jack Holes sermon. Okay. I find that sometimes he just inspires me to just preach something hard and he preached and I've got no doubt Jack Holes has saved. Okay. Okay. He's dead now. And that's some good independent fundamental Baptist preaching. Okay. And there are some other good, I mean, Curtis Hudson, he can preach. Yeah. And I like that sort of bit. I mean, he's had some classic preachers. Yeah. But I would say if you're in a bit of doubt or you're not really, like who even are these people? Look, look, how about some NIFB preachers? You go, oh, well, it's all the same. They're not the same. They all preach different. They all have different styles. They all preach different types of sermons. They're all sound because if they weren't, then they're going to get exposed pretty quickly because all this stuff's on YouTube, everything they preach. And I tell you what, they all preach. They all, they all actually preach a bit different. Now, thank God they don't preach differently on salvation, on the Trinity, on things such as that, on the King James Bible. However, because they're just truths, they're eternal truths. However, they will interpret passages differently. Okay. And yeah, some of them are going to be, look, no, in fact, not some of them. Every single one of those preachers is going to be wrong from time to time. Did you know that? Well, how are you getting yourself? How are you being girt about the truth? I tell you how, because the vast majority of what they say is right. And because what they preach is true and because preaching is one of the ways that God wants to get truth into you. Okay. But if you're going to do that, why don't you take a safe bet and go with people that you know, you know are preaching the truth. And look, if you want to, look, you need to go and listen to other stuff. You want to go and listen. You love some good preaching. Go and listen to some good preachers. Yeah. Never had a problem with that. What I would tell you not to do is don't go to the guy in their basement. Don't go to the guy who's like, I've got a channel and I'm preaching. Yet there's a church around the corner for me. What's all that about? There's some great preachers, listen to the great pastors, the great preachers out there, the guys that are preaching the truth, the guys that have been sent out by an ordained man of God to plant a church or to be part of a church to preach from a church. Yeah. How about that? Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. We're looking at the whole armour of God. Okay. Number one is this verse, is this, sorry, sermon today is the belt. Okay. This is a series, a whole armour of God. Number one is a belt, which is being surrounded by truth. That's the word of God. That's the people of God. Okay. And that's the preachers of God. And that's the house of God. That's the house of God, isn't it? 1 Timothy 3 and verse 14 says this, 1 Timothy 3, 14. These things writing unto you, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou altars to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The truth. Are you surrounded by truth when you're reading your Bible with your safe spouse, your safe family member or friend down at the local pub? Are you surrounded by truth? Well, I've got the Bible. We've actually got King James's everywhere while we're sitting in a booth. They're usually booths now, aren't they? We're sitting in a booth at the pub. Are you surrounded by truth? You're surrounded by truth? Oh, how about the local McDonald's? How about the local McDonald's? Are you surrounded by truth? No, no, no, don't worry, brother. And we get like a private little area in the local McDonald's. We get the laptop out and we listen to preaching down at McDonald's. Are you girt about with truth there? How about at home on YouTube sifting through adverts and recommended videos? Are you girt about with truth there? Are you really girt about with truth when you're at home sitting watching to a live stream, watching a live stream, tuning in? You're not now. It's better than being nowhere at all. But why are you not? Because the local pub isn't the pillar and ground of the truth. McDonald's isn't the pillar and ground of the truth. Whatever coffee shop isn't the pillar and ground of the truth. Your home, your front room isn't the pillar and ground of the truth. It's the church that's the pillar and ground of the truth, isn't it? The church, the congregation. That's what church means. It's the church of the living God. And in England, in Essex, in Wickford, it's here. This is a pillar and ground of the truth. We're told the first item of our armour is to be surrounded by truth and the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. So whatever your excuse is, whatever your reason is for sitting at home and watching or even not watching or whatever else, you're not girt about with truth, are you? You're not surrounded by truth. And then I bet so many of those people are like, Oh, I just don't know what's going on, God. I just can't, you know, I just keep failing. I keep just losing. I just can't, I just can't win this spiritual battle. Every day I'm just failing with this. I'm failing with that. I'm just feeling, I can't, why? Because you're not surrounded by truth. But is it any old place calling itself a church? That's the church of the living God. That's what it said. The church of the living God. Is the local Roman Catholic church, the church of the living God? No. It's the church of dead men's bones, literally. Is repent of your sins Baptist, the church of the living God? Oh, well, you know, you kind of say repent your sins on the statement of faith. However, I know they don't believe it because he said he doesn't really believe it. It's kind of like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. No, it's not the church of the living God. Is the vague statement of faith, false Bible perversion church, the church of the living God? Oh, well, it's all right because they don't really say much. Okay, well, they use the NIV, but, you know, they seem to be all right. No, it's not. It's not church. You can go there if you want and hang out there. But I tell you what, you're not getting about with truth, are you? It's not the pillar and ground of the truth if it doesn't even preach the truth. If that, look, and look, this is like point number one, yeah? And again, if anyone watching here or anyone in the... Look, it is a just quick point. Anyone in the future here, maybe after this, I don't know, says, look, I don't really want to be a part of the church anymore. Yeah, I want to leave church, but I still want to serve God. Yeah? Okay, point number one, when you find a church or for anyone online, who's like, look, I can't get here, whatever, is the King James Bible. Yeah, like without the King James Bible, it's not a church. Like, how can it be the church if it doesn't have the truth? It can't be. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth. So look, straight away, like, that's just like a non-starter. That's just, bang, gone. And you've just now cut off the vast majority of churches in this country, haven't you? Okay, but then it's like, right, okay, right, King James Bible, now they've got to have the gospel, right? And now you've suddenly written off the vast majority of the other churches. And like I said, some of them are a bit tricky with this, so you need to kind of get to the bottom of what they believe, right? But look, I'm getting, look, especially like when there's, when for me, there's a church where the things are gone, I can now be even just strict on this. If their statement of faith doesn't just say clearly that it's grace through faith, for me, you're going to eventually find out they don't believe it's grace through faith. Like, how hard is it? In this day and age, you've got false prophets everywhere, you've got people perverting the gospel everywhere. How hard is it to have a statement of faith that says it's grace through faith? How hard is that? Surely now's the time, more than ever in this nation, to make it clear what you believe that it's that. And if you don't, why? They've got to have the gospel, and they've got to go out and preach the gospel. Now look, they're not necessarily going to have soul winning written. I understand some people have to make do with the church, which maybe, you know, they have an outreach. Or maybe they're at least, sometimes you've got to go really like, okay, well at least they're open to me going out and preaching the gospel. And that for me, like that's a real grey area, because do they really have the candle light if they're not doing it until you turn up? Does the candle light come back? I don't really know. It's a bit weird, isn't it? Okay, but I'm talking about people somewhere where they just can't get a church. But look, straight away, you've written off most churches. Okay, however, how are you going to serve God and have your spiritual armour if you're not in somewhere that God calls a pillar and ground of the truth? And being in a church isn't just being there on a Sunday. It's not just being there on a Sunday and a Wednesday. It's not just being there on a Sunday and a Wednesday and turning up to a soul winning night. Being in a church is being part of the church. You're therefore part of the congregation, the church, yeah? You are the church, yeah? That's being surrounded by the truth. It's not about that day you're there. It's not about that sermon. It's not about that Bible reading. It's about the whole thing. It's about just being a part of that. And that's Gert being surrounded by the truth, okay? And that kind of narrows it down a bit, doesn't it? It does narrow it down a bit. But he said in Ephesians 6 13, Wherefore take unto you the whole, the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand an evil day, and having done the best you can, having done a little bit, and having done all to stand, having done all to stand. And the first part of that armour is to have your loins girt about with truth, yeah? Church is the pillar and ground of the truth, right? He said having done all to stand. All to stand, yeah? Got the whole armour, having done all to stand. And because, why? Because the devil's looking for chinks in your armour. He's looking for the chinks. And as we go through the series, you're going to see how easy it is to have chinks in your armour. And we don't want chinks in our armour. He's looking for the chinks. He's probing for the chinks. And when he has the chink, he's got you. No, it's not that, oh, right, he's got me. That's it, I'm done forever. But I tell you what, you don't want to be giving him the chinks to attack you with, yeah? Verse 11 said, Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. He's much better than you. Did you know that? Yeah, he's better than you. He's stronger than you. He's much more cunning than you, in your flesh. But we have access to the armour. But if we have access to the armour, we don't want to ignore part of it. And you can't look, you go, oh, well, okay, I'll just read my Bible at home. Every day, I'm girt about it. No, that's not being girt about the truth. It's a whole thing. It's a whole part of it. It's being girt about with the word of God, with the people of God. And where are you going to get all of that? At the house of God. And look, I'm going to keep, I'll be preaching this sort of message about being in church for as long as we have this church. And I'll tell you why. Because there'll be, the cynic will maybe sit there or watch, go, he just wants to busy a church. Yeah, I do. He just wants people in church. He just doesn't want you to leave church. No, yeah, I agree with all of that. But it's for your own good. It's for everyone's own good. Okay, if you're not in church, you don't have the armour. That's why we need, look, look, that's why you have to be in church. That's part of the armour. It's just being in church at first place. And look, you're in a spiritual battle. And if you want to try and quit the battle, good luck to you. Because you just cannon fodder then. You're saved, you're in a battle. You can either be the pawns. In the chess analogy, we've got a few chess players here. You can be a pawn and just be basically just easily expendable. Or you can be one of the main pieces. And you can be one of the main pieces and you're going to be protected more when you're one of the main pieces. But you have, look, it's so important to be surrounded by truth and where are you going to get that in church? Around God's people singing doctrinally sound hymns like we talked about this morning in the house of God. Around people with the Holy Spirit, people that at least want to be a part of God's army. Now, what if I preach something wrong? What about that? By the way, we all preach something wrong. Yeah, shock horror. Yeah, we all get things wrong. Yeah, everyone, your favourite part. If you've got a pedestal pastor up there, I guarantee you would get stuff wrong. Did you know that? And look, you've got to make sure you understand how it's going to crush you when it happens. Or you just won't accept it. Look, we all get stuff wrong. And I know I'm not your pedestal pastor. I'm just an evangelist anyway. But however, we're all going to get stuff wrong. And that doesn't mean that you're no longer in the pillar and ground of the truth, OK? Because you know what, with all these guys out there and all these churches out there, do you know what they're going to get, what the majority of what you hear is going to be? It's the truth. Do you know why? Because we're a Bible believing church. We preach the Bible. Yeah, and I'm going to interpret passages wrong now and again. And I'm going to sometimes interpret it different to how you'd interpret it. And I might make an application that you don't agree with. It doesn't matter. You know what? Go to the other churches around this station and you'll see how bad it is, OK? And even if not, it doesn't really matter because the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. It's not the preacher that's the pillar and ground of the truth. What if there's some false brethren here? Again, there's false brethren in all churches. Shock already earned. It's not because we don't need to do a witch hunt. Yeah, they get manifest at some point. There's false brethren in every church. You know that, yeah? OK, and if they're not in here, they'll be coming in here. OK, that's just the way it is. But what you do, is that the pillar and ground of the truth now? Yeah, it's still the pillar and ground of the truth. Because, look, they get exposed and the rest and the vast majority of the church, you would hope, is going to be God's people. What if some carnal Christian is talking nonsense all day or a false brother or whoever else? Or am I about the truth? Well, talk to someone else. You know, if you're surrounded in the word of God and you're listening to people and you just think, oh, I don't know about all that. Well, just kind of, you know, make your excuse and talk to someone else. By the way, don't be offended if I make excuses. I'm always busy here, OK? It's hard to nail me down, right? OK, but you know what? You'll still be surrounded by more truth in a proper church than anywhere else on a Sunday evening. Name me somewhere on a Sunday evening in this country right now where you're surrounded by more truth. Nowhere. It ain't happening. There's nowhere else you could be right now where you're not going to hear more truth. And it's, no, I'm not trying to lift myself up, I'm lifting up the word of God. Because we preach the word of God here, because we preach the principles of God, because you're surrounded by the people of God, because you're hearing doctrinally sound hymns of God, because this is the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Even on a midweek evening, oh, it's only a couple of hours by the end, look. There's nowhere else you're going to be around more truth than on a midweek evening in this church. David said in Psalm 27 before, you have to know one thing of our desire to the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Look, David made it clear, didn't he? And do you know when he wrote this, do you know what? He was filled with the Spirit. When David wrote that, he was a Spirit-filled Christian. Do you know what a Spirit-filled Christian says? He says, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And I submit to you this, is that if you don't desire to be in church, then you're not right with God. Now, look, you might, no, no, it's you, brother, and I don't like the preaching. Well, you better get right or go to a church where you do, because if you don't want to be in church, then you're not right with God. If you don't want to be here as much as you can, then there's a problem. Now, look, church can be hard sometimes. It really can, you know? Church can sometimes be a struggle. Look, for some of the, look, some of the mums here, and sometimes when the kids are in that awkward phase and they're crying and screaming, you're up and down and in and out and here, there and everywhere. It can be a hard day, right? It can be a hard day, church. Some days, look, they could be a tough, you're preparing things the night before and everything else. But I tell you what, I reckon for David, it could have been hard. I mean, he's surrounded by people wanting to gnash on him with their teeth. He was surrounded by people in the house of the Lord as well that wanted to kill him, that wanted to destroy him, yet he still desired to be in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord to inquire in his temple. And look, if you're saved, you need to get your heart right where you want to be in church. You want to be in the house of the Lord. And if you don't, then look, straight away, firstly, you need to work out what that problem is. And secondly, you need to understand that therefore, your loins aren't going to be true if you're not in church. And you have a weakness there and the devils can have fun with your weakness, okay? Now, this is an enemy, you can't deal with him. He's not just some blind archer somewhere, just firing at will. He knows exactly where you're... You know he knows exactly where every one of your weak spots is. Do you know that? Do you know that all those devils and you go, oh, you're giving too much credit. Oh, he just saved the devil. There's a lot of devils. There's multiple millions of devils out there. And you know what? They know where your weak spots are. They know your weaknesses. They study you. And they even have people, the flesh and blood with devils in them, that know your weak spots, that are studying you, constantly studying you, constantly trying to see where your weaknesses are, constantly trying to see how they can attack you, constantly trying to probe. Look, you need to make sure that you have all your armour on. And the first part of that armour is being girt about with truth. That's the word of God, that's the people of God, and that's in the house of God. Ephesians 6 13 said this, Wherefore take unto you the whole, the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, done all to stand, stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth. And that's the first bit of armour, okay? The belt, that's the belt. And next week we'll be looking at the breastplate of righteousness. And all these articles of armour are different, okay? When you look into them they're different, and they all, and we need every single part of it. That was a belt, on that we're going to pray. Father, thank you, well, thank you for our spiritual armour, Lord, thank you that we have access to it, thank you that we can choose to put it on if we so desire, but help us all to want that, Lord, help us all to not just want to put it on, but to want to live in it, Lord, to want to just be in it the whole time. Help us to make those decisions, to overcome those hurdles in our life that maybe prevent us reaching for certain items. On this list of armour, we've started today with being surrounded by the truth, and help us to want to read our Bibles, help us to want to be around the Word of God, help us to get away all those lies that we so often immerse ourselves in, immerse ourselves in the things of God, into preaching, into the Word of God, into the music of God, into prayer life, into the people of God, and into church life, Lord, help us to just want to be immersed in it, surrounded by it, help us to have our loins girt about with truth, Lord, help everyone to do that, not just today, but going forward this week, Lord, being a part of your church, being one of your children, help us to just want to just live for you, Lord, live with our loins girt about the truth, help us to all do that this week, to return on Wednesday for the Bible study, and for those where it's impossible to be here on Sunday for another day in your house. In Jesus' name, pray all of this. Amen.