Never Let Anyone Muddy Your Pool: Why the Devil Hates Church

Sermon outline

The devil fights hardest to keep you out of church because the gathering of God's people is where his work against you is exposed, silenced and cancelled, so press in and do not neglect the assembly.

1. The devil wants to make you a lone ranger

   Recapping the first reason he gave earlier, he says the devil wants to take you out of the flock so that he can devour you. The two tools he uses most to keep people from church are offence and discouragement. Every group of people has issues, families included, and we simply have to keep overcoming them.

   Illustration: On National Geographic the lion leaves the pack alone and goes for the loner.

   “It's the devil creating, and working through people, to get to you.”

   • Hebrews 10:25
   • Ezekiel 34:2

2. 1. Where two or three gather, God manifests His presence

   We gather in the name of Jesus, not in the pastor's name or the church's name, so He is here. When the corporate anointing comes on your life it is harder for the devil to penetrate your heart. God did not institute the church as people praying alone at home or watching television: in Acts they came together with one accord.

   Illustration: When you wake with aches and pains, that is the time to jump out of bed and say, Lord, I'm going to church.

   “Where two or three gather, the presence of God manifests, and Satan hates the presence of God.”

   • Matthew 18:20
   • Acts 1:14
   • Acts 2:46

3. 2. The deception of the devil is exposed and crowded out

   When someone slanders you it is not the person, it is a spirit working to discourage you both until neither of you is in church. In the anointing and tenderness of a service you are able to forgive and release people. People are also deceived into putting riches and the answer to prayer above God, and God tests the heart as He tested Abraham with Isaac.

   Illustration: Now that the ministry is on television he tells nobody about it, because God is testing his heart to see whether pride is seeping in. He asks, what is your test?

   “When there's an assembly, the deception of the devil is laid bare. Light shines, darkness flees.”

   • Revelation 12:9-10
   • Ephesians 6:12
   • Genesis 22:1-12
   • Proverbs 16:18

4. 3. The voice of the devil is lowered in an assembly

   Demons are assigned to wear you down, discourage you and offend you, but they cannot take you out if you stick with God, His Word and prayer. People are never the enemy: Peter spoke by revelation one minute and was rebuked the next. You tell which spirit is speaking by what it carries, love or strife, so do not carry stories from one person to another.

   Illustration: When his mother lived in his house for a while and spoke about somebody every day, he and his wife had to stand up and say that in this house we do not slander people.

   “Do not be an agent for the devil. Be an agent for God because you're a carrier of the presence of God.”

   • Matthew 16:13-23

5. 4. The tricks of the devil are exposed

   The wiles of the devil are his strategies, schemes and methods: offence, hurt and division. He knows your weakness, so be wise, cover it and do not go where your weakness is. Your church is the pool you drink from, so do not let anyone dirty it with slander, because one day you will need to drink from it.

   Illustration: A small pool of water beside your tent in the desert is your only source of life. You would never let a passing caravan wash their feet in it. When people spoke ill of the preachers who fed him, he told them, that's a pool I'm drinking from.

   “Whenever you are being fed by a church, by a man of God, don't let anyone muddy that pool of water.”

   • Ephesians 6:11-12

6. 5. Satan is dealt with directly, personally

   In the presence of God confusion is released and fear goes. Each believer carries the presence of God, and together it becomes a fountain that fills the one who came in nearly empty. We are washed by the Word, so coming to church once a month is like bathing once a month.

   Illustration: If each of us carries one litre of the presence of God, when we come together it is a fountain, and the person who arrives with a quarter litre is filled up.

   “You cannot have a bath once a month.”

   • Ephesians 5:26

7. 6. The existence of an assembly is the cancellation of the devil's work

   The very fact that we assemble in the name of Jesus, praying, fasting, reading the Word and interceding, cancels the enemy's work. The presence of God touches a person and he no longer does the wrong he had in mind.

   “The existence of an assembly is the cancellation of the devil's work.”

8. 7. The devil has no meat to eat

   When someone strays and is alone, the devil has meat. Among God's people you are safe, whether you get on with everyone or not, because each one is praying for the other.

   Illustration: That day a woman had walked the aisles for two hours praying through a list of specific requests for the assembly: businesses, workplaces and marriages.

   “When you're alone, the devil can devour you.”

   • Ezekiel 34:2

9. 8. Starvation ceases: the sheep are fed

   He prepares one message, God moves him to prepare a second, and then changes it again on the day, because God wants His sheep fed with a specific word at a specific time. If that was the service in which God was going to speak to you or give you your miracle and you were not there, you lost it. So do not let anyone distract you while you sit in the assembly.

   Illustration: He prepares the same way for this congregation as he would for a church of ten thousand seats: praying, waiting and seeking God's face.

   “In a moment's time you can lose your destiny.”

10. 9. Hurts and diseases are healed

    You may have prayed, fasted and taken medication at home, but in a moment in the assembly the power of God touches you. People carry hurts no one can see, and it takes God's Spirit to heal them, often through one word spoken to the heart during worship.

    Illustration: He grew up without a father's love after his parents divorced when he was five. While he was worshipping in church God told him that He was the best father he would ever have, and from that day his heart was healed.

    “Just that word set me free.”

11. 10. Satanic agents are exposed

    You may be busy with a deal, a transaction or a relationship that is trying to get hold of you. While you worship and sit under the Word, God can stop you and save you the heartache.

    “But why? All because you came in an assembly.”

12. No excuses: belong to a local church and bring your children

    You cannot be a member of the universal church without being a member of a local church, where prayer power is multiplied. Do not use a crying child, the cold or the flu as an excuse: the house of God is where you get healed, and children who watch their parents stay home will do the same. Put God first and He will open doors for you.

    Illustration: When Wesley was a little boy he would crawl up the aisle, hold the pastor's trousers and fall asleep on the stage, and the pastor simply kept on preaching. His wife took their two sons to church and disciplined them, and today both are in the house of the Lord.

    “We cannot be members of the universal church unless we're members of a local church.”

    • Hebrews 12:1
    • Hebrews 12:23
    • Deuteronomy 32:30
    • James 5:14-15
    • Proverbs 22:6
    • Psalm 122:1
    • Matthew 25:21
    • Matthew 25:26