In this sermon, the preacher highlights various concerning practices and beliefs within the church. He mentions instances of people claiming to have encounters with angels and supernatural experiences, such as having their intestines replaced with gold. He also discusses a man caught planting fake jewels in a church to increase people's faith. The preacher emphasizes the need for judgment and discernment within the church, as well as the importance of being attentive and focused on God's word. He criticizes churches that have become complacent, lacking spiritual discernment and indulging in luxury. The preacher calls for a stripping away of hindrances and distractions, such as materialism and celebrity culture, and emphasizes the importance of true beauty and authenticity. He also criticizes false prophets who are stubbornly fixed in their own opinions and agendas. The preacher urges the church to be vigilant and watchful, exposing false teachings and staying true to the Word of God.

1 Samuel 16. For the last few weeks, we have been looking at this chapter, looking at the life of David, the beginnings of David and his ascension to the throne. And we have observed the rejection of Saul in his house and that God has chosen another one. And what I want to look at this morning is the prophet of God and a few things from his life. In fact, the title of my message is Judges and Gestures. And sometimes, as you very well know, I go off on a rant and a rave and I believe this morning that God wants me to speak some things and to show some things from this precious book pertaining to us and how we should walk and how we should observe in these days the coming of the prophet of God and the coming of the false prophet. 1 Samuel 16 verse 4. So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably? They trembled at his coming. The elders of the town trembled. That word trembled means to quake. We think of a mountain quaking. It also means terrified. So here we have God's gunslinger and he's coming into town. And when the elders see him, when the people see him, they tremble at his appearance. They tremble at his coming. Why? Well, because Samuel was a judge of God. He was a judge in Israel and Bethlehem was an obscure time. So why would the judge be coming to us? And they trembled and they were fearful because they believed that Samuel may possibly be pronounced some judgment on Bethlehem. Some evil would befall them. But we know that Samuel had come to anoint David. The elders trembled at the coming of the man of God. And do you know something church this morning? I think today in the body of Christ, we have desensitized ourselves to the coming of God's servant. When God's servant comes and brings forth the message, we need to tremble. We need to recognize he's been sent by God. Instead of fear today in the body of Christ, there is an over familiarity with the servant. You know, one doesn't see, I believe, too many judges today in the body of Christ, but there are plenty of jesters or jokers. You see, the prophets of God, for the most part, pronounced judgment. They pronounced death and destruction. When we look at the Old Testament, that's what we see. When I think of a judge in times gone by, and even probably today in some countries of the world, before they would pronounce a sentence of death, they would place a black handkerchief on their heads. Then they would pronounce the sentence of death on the guilty party. But friends, I don't see any of that today in the body of Christ. I see lots of jokers or jesters running about, and they have on their heads the jester's hat. And for us that don't know this morning, the jester's hat is floppy with three points, and each has a bell. And those three points represent the ears of the donkey and the tail of the donkey. They wear a hat of a donkey. And for anybody that doesn't know again this morning, the main characteristic of a donkey is stubbornness. They are prophets, self-confessed prophets who are stubborn. Stubborn. You see, the definition of stubbornness is one fixed or set in purpose or opinion. And these men or women are set or fixed in their purpose, in their opinion, in their agenda. And they go from church to church, and they wear the jester's hat, and they prophesy good times. That's all that they do. In Jeremiah 14, we read of such prophets. Jeremiah himself encountered such men. And from verse 13, it says, Jeremiah speaking, then I said, ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets said to them, you shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. And the Lord said to me, the prophets prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, and who say a sword and famine shall not be in this land. By sword and famine, those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them, them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them. So these obstinate false prophets refused to budge. They refused to budge from their own agendas. They refused to do what was right in the eyes of God. They wore their jester's hats and they jingled their bells. They prophesied peace and prosperity. They jingled their bells and the people listened and the people heard and the people embraced. While the judge of God prophesied death and destruction. You see, nothing much has changed today. There are those who prophesy peace and prosperity. Then there are a few that prophesy death and destruction. And I know whom I believe in for I will be identified surely with the latter. 1 John 4 says, Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Try the spirit. You see, Jeremiah here in the scriptures which we have just read expresses to God that it was the false prophets that deceived the people. Lord, it was the false prophets. They prophesied peace. They prophesied gold. They prophesied prosperity. It's their fault and it was their fault. It was their fault. But friends, God does not admit Jeremiah's plea because the people believed the false prophets without any proof of their divine mission. Adam Clarke goes on to say the people should know their character and avoid them but they love to have it so and will not be undeceived. They love to have it so and they will not be undeceived. How true today when we look at the body of Christ. They love to have it so. The people in the churches and the congregations, they love to have it so and will not be undeceived. They will be, friends, certainly deceived by the false prophet. You see, they love to hear the bells jingle. A jingle of prosperity and a jingle of peace. A jingle of gold dust and a jingle of angel's feathers. A jingle of precious jewels and so on and so forth. Friends, I believe this morning that there must be judgment in the house of the Lord. There must be judgment in the house of God. 1 Peter 4 17 says, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us, what shall the aim be of them that obey not the gospel of God? You see, I believe we need to see some judgment in the house of God. I believe we need to see some prophets who are wearing the black handkerchiefs on their heads. They need to prophesy death and destruction because I believe God's house needs a shake. There needs to be a shake down in the house of God. Do we need judgment or do we need prosperity? I know what we need this morning. You see, prosperity makes one bloated. Prosperity makes one bloated with indifference and with apathy. Judgment makes one tremble and repent. Remember Nineveh? Let's ascertain this morning what we need to take place in the body of Christ. Friends, we need God. We need God to move. We need God truly to raise up those that would honor him and his word and speak forth the truth of God without deviating from that. We need him to move because, friends, at the end of the day, when I look at the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's a force. It's an absolute force. As I shared on Wednesday night regarding the Church of Scotland and what's happening there, mainline denominations ordaining homosexuals. Homosexuals and priestly God fronting their abominable ways. That's what they do. They flaunt it. It's so open these days. The homosexual were in the car and they were embraced, but the people love to have it so and they will remain in the place of deception. We think of those so-called theologians that deny the very existence of hell, a literal hell. Those so-called theologians, friends, that deny the miraculous birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. They hire critics and they take the word of God and they strip it down. That's those in the mainline denominations. What about those in the charismatic stroke Pentecostal churches? We are a Pentecostal church, but I'm ashamed to be honest with you this morning to observe what goes on. Man, you certainly get the weird and the wonderful in the charismatic and Pentecostal church. I believe even this morning that the church has descended into a bit of a freak show. A freak show. We can remember even, I'm sure, when we think of Victorian times when the freak show would come into town. You would have the bearded lady, you would have the Siamese twins, the tattooed man, whatever, and people would line up and pay top dollar to see the freaks. Once the curtains were drawn, then those who had paid their dollar to look at the freaks, they would either laugh hysterically or that they would be shocked. It saddens me this morning, friends, that the ungodly, the sinners out there, when they switch on Christian television, it saddens me what they see. It will either cause them to laugh hysterically or to be shocked at what they see, and I don't blame them. I don't blame them. Let me give you some examples this morning. A particular editor of a Pentecostal or charismatic magazine shares some things which are happening today. He says he knew a guy that went to a recent worship event while one of the musicians, being careful how to word this, stimulated something which adults would only do on stage. While whispering sensual phrases to the Lord Jesus, that's what's happening. Some in the so-called prophetic movement are claiming to have visitations from the dead. Particular evangelists from the past, Amy Sample Macpherson, I think her name is, John Wimber, William Branham, people who are dead who were controversial, plus other various biblical characters. In Deuteronomy 18, 11, God speaks about some things. God forbids anyone to consult a charmer. God forbids the consulter with familiar spirits, the wizard and the necromancer, and these people say that they're talking to dead saints, which is contrary to the very word of a living God. What does God say about those people in Deuteronomy? They will be cut off from the grace of God, the covenants of God. There are those who look at acts when the Holy Ghost fell. Pentecost. Spoken other tongues and they said that they were drunk. They use this spiritual drunkenness. What they do is they get high in the Holy Ghost. They toke the Holy Ghost like you would smoke a marijuana joint. That's what they're doing in meetings. Some are going down to the altar at the front and you know what they're doing? They're pretending to shoot needles into their arms. They get high in the Holy Ghost. Now, I don't know what to say to that. I really don't know what to say to that. During the whole Lakeland revival, what a force that was. A man from Germany claimed an angel walked into a restaurant while he was eating a hamburger and removed his intestines and replaced them with gold. Others have testified to angels taking them to heaven and operating on them. It's a circus, but the people are sitting there in the pews. They're sitting there and they love to have it so. They love to have it so. Lastly, a man was caught planting fake jewels on the floor of a church. When he was confronted, he said he was seating the room in order to lift people's faith. That's what's happening in the church. I tell you something this morning, friends. We need judgment in the house of God. We need God to move. We need God to shake that the bark that's loose will be removed. That which is dead will be removed from the house of God. We need God to move. We need him to move. Friends, when we look at our website, the church website, we look at the home page, we can read that how I allude obviously the church to be in a hospital. We all know that. You've heard it so many times before. The church is like a hospital, a place where someone comes to get a healing, a place where someone comes to get bandage, where the Lord does his work, where he binds up the wounds of the broken. But friends, I want to tell you this morning that it's become a mental hospital. That's what it is, full of deranged clowns walking about and doing their thing, but hey, the people love to have it so. They love to have it so. We need God to move in thunder and lightnings. We need God to move in thunder and lightnings that we might tremble, that the people in the church might tremble. Jeremiah 5.22, fear you not me, sayeth the Lord, will you not tremble at my presence? Will you not tremble at my presence? The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 32, 9 to 11, rise up you women who are at ease. Hear my voice, you complacent daughters. Give ear to my speech. In a year and some days, you will be troubled, you complacent women, for the vintage will fail, the gathering will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease. Be troubled, you complacent ones. Strip yourselves bare and guard sackcloth on your waists. Now when we look at this scripture, the prophet is really speaking about the cities and the villages of Judea. They have lived a life of self-indulgence. They have lived in luxury and the trappings of prosperity, just like the western church today. And they perceive peace when in fact judgment is coming, for it appears in these scriptures the foretelling of the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans. Oh friends, there are churches today that are obese with self-indulgence and luxury, and they have become complacent, and they lack any spiritual discernment whatsoever. The watchmen are not on the walls, but they're on the golf courses, having a good time, when they should be in the word of God. They should be watching for the false prophets. They should be watching for the spirit of antichrist to expose it. We need to strip ourselves of all that is a hindrance to no one God. We as churches need to be bare of all the tinsel, and all the glitter, and all the glamour, and all the celebrity. Women wear makeup, and the reason why they wear makeup is that they might make themselves a little prettier. But you see, the beauty is not real, it's a facade. Isn't that true? It's not real beauty, it's a facade. The natural look is the best look. Some girls don't need it. Maybe you're saying this morning, but you haven't met my wife. The natural look is the best look, and there are those who try their best to beautify the church, to dress it up, to paint it, and make it look attractive to the masses, make it look attractive to the congregations, like a whore. God is not happy, is not pleased. We need to be dressed in a contrite spirit and a penitent heart. We need to be clothed with humility and prostrate before a holy God. We need authentic prophets. We need an authentic voice that resounds truth, that reverberates through the body of Christ, that the body of Christ would shake, would quake, would tremble with the very word of the living God. Friends, we need authentic prophets and not shysters or Satan's spin doctors this morning. May the Lord place upon us this morning the spirit of Samuel. May we have tongues like the Baptist, which was ferocious as words, friend. Cut the king in two. May we have God's words like fire in our bones, the way it was in Jeremiah. It was deep, friend, the word of God, the truth of God, the judgment of God was in his bones. Oh how he had to preach the word. Oh how he had to let go of the word of God and declare what God had given him. May he grant us wisdom to hear what the spirit is saying, sensitivity to what the spirit is saying, discernment to expose the enemies of Christ's gospel. Friends, there are enemies within the church. There are enemies of Christ's gospel. They have been sent by Satan. They are deceivers. They are workers of iniquity. That's who they are. We're told in John that they went out from them but were not of them. And they are in the body of Christ. Matthew 7 15, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. False prophets dressed in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are dark. The Lord says beware. He says beware. I've walked around the streets of Corcoran and Redmondville. We did it this week, inviting people to come to the kids meeting Saturday night and tonight's meeting or outreach to come and hear good news. And we have walked the streets. We have went to many homes. I'm sure you have noticed on occasion when you've been out, you might come up to a gate and there's a sign that says beware. It says beware of the rottweiler. And friends, if we are not attentive, if we are not switched on, if we are thinking of other things, if we are distracted because of other things that are going on, then we won't see the sign and we walk right through and then we become lunch for the rottweiler because you see we're not switched on. We're not switched on to the detail. As I've said before, the false prophet doesn't come with horns but rather a halo. The false prophet doesn't come, friends, with a pitchfork but a Bible. And if we're not in the book and if we're not worshipping with God, where will we be? Where will we be? If we're not sitting under an anointed ministry that preaches that good old gospel, that old time religion, where would we be but for the grace of God. You know, if someone was to plant me in the middle of the prairies of Canada, it's just snowed. Say it was the ranger or the forester and there were tracks, fresh tracks on that snow. If he asked me, is that a wolf or a sheep? I couldn't, I couldn't give him a right answer. Now you might say this one, well Scott, of course you would know there's a big difference between sheep's hoof and dog's foot or dog's paw. There's a big difference there. You should spot that straight away. I don't know if I could, you know. I don't know if I could spot the wolf's tracks because you see I haven't studied it. I haven't lifted up the paw. I haven't lifted up the hoof to have a little look. I've stayed away from that, you know. I have no interest in that. Brothers and sisters, this morning we need to read this book because this book is a light under our path, lamp under our path and a light under our feet and it shows us the prince of the devil. It shows us the tracks of the devil and we get the book in us. We're able to discern, we're able to recognize the prince of the devil, the tracks of the wolf in the church. Have no fellowship within fruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them or expose them and it is our job this morning as leaders in this church to be watchmen, to watch over you, to watch over your soul for one day we will be accountable unto the living God. But friends, this morning we preach Christ crucified, hallelujah, because there's not many that do. There's not many that preach Christ crucified. There's not many that preach the blood this morning, friends. They've got their jesters hats on behind the pulpits and they're shaking their bells and they're jingling their bells and oh how the people love to have it so. Oh how the people love to hear the jingle, a jingle of that, a jingle of the other, a jingle of excitement, a jingle of prosperity and wealth and good times. Put up your feet, build bigger barns, pull down the smaller ones and build bigger barns. Sit in your recliner and enjoy life, enjoy church. Isn't it lovely in church? Isn't it great in church? But friends I want to tell you the church of the Lord Jesus Christ needs to be stripped bare. It needs to be stripped and we need to be clothed in sacrifice. We need to be clothed in repentance and humility. You know I really didn't anticipate just what I've been sharing on this morning. I had an idea, my notes are there, but I felt very strongly that God has been speaking here. Maybe not just for our sake, but for whoever hears that CD or whoever hears the message online. Because friends, listen we are living in days, the days of Noah. Nothing has changed. When we look at the Old Testament or the New Testament and we see the spirit of Antichrist in the new, we see those that opposed God, the defiant ones, the rebellious ones, the prophets that prophesied lies and the vanity of their own hearts, the deceit of their own hearts and oh how they do it today. They haven't left. But God has a remnant. God has his people and we will stand in the light and not in darkness. We will stand with Moses and not with those that rebel. We will stand with Jesus, not with the devil. Hallelujah. Praise his name. Amen. Let's pray. Holy God of heaven, the angels, the beasts cry holy, holy, holy. You are holy. We cannot even imagine, my God, in our finite, limited minds, the grand and perfect holiness of a living God. Lord, even your servant could not see into the face of God, only the back part, because you are so holy. You are an all-consuming fire. Oh my God. Lord, we pray that you would indeed shake the church. Lord, that the heart, oh God, of Samuel would be our heart, to obey the words of the Lord. And God, we pray that you would expose those that have the heart of Saul, those, God, who have their own agendas, those who have the spirit of witchcraft, those, oh God, that seek to do what is right in their own eyes. And God, we pray that you would continue, Lord, to lead us, your church. Lead us, God, by your Holy Spirit. Lead us in your ways, oh God, we pray. We give you the glory, Holy One, for you are worthy to be praised and honoured in this place. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.