Shane Idleman addresses the alarming moral decline in society, emphasizing the need for Christians to be 'Armed and Ready' in their faith. He highlights the importance of prioritizing God in our lives, engaging in spiritual warfare through prayer, and being filled with the Holy Spirit to combat the rising evil. Idleman calls for a revival of passion and commitment among believers, urging them to take a stand for truth and righteousness in a world that increasingly mocks God. He stresses that silence is complicity and encourages active participation in spiritual engagement to reclaim lost ground for the Kingdom of God.

Like many of you, I'm concerned, I mean, just in the news, this week we see that Maryland might pass a law to where it's okay to allow a baby who's been born to die, even if it's four weeks old, and not do anything to save that child and let it die. They're getting ready to pass that in Maryland. We also see RuPaul, the cross-dresser, encouraging boys, you can be like me someday, and Disney and the new Pixar is gonna let a same-sex attraction kiss take place, and it's just the mocking of God and the ridicule. We see what's going on, you know, obviously in Ukraine, and a lot of the innocent lives that are being killed there. No matter what your view is on that, I've heard some disturbing things on some people thinking Russia's good and things that are just interesting, but innocent people are dying, and they're bombing shelters and civilians, and that's not the just war theory. It's not really the right way to do things. Not that war's ever right, but the government here in America has been a deterrent to evil, and by our silence, you're gonna see evil rising up, even I believe China, Iran, and Russia even pushing because we are silent, we are cowardly in our nation right now, and we've never been in that position before, and that's what concerns me a little bit is people keep pushing envelopes, and so what does it have to do with tonight? Well, the title is Armed and Ready. Armed and Ready, and it's part two of Is This Our Last Stand? I spoke a few weeks ago on Is This Our Last Stand? The message really got out there. We're hearing from a lot of people that were really moved by it and encouraged by it, and so I wanna finish up where I left off. I missed the most important point two Sundays ago because of the time factor, but many of you realize this is not the world we used to live in. Things are changing. We're not as certain anymore of the stock market and real estate investments or just even God's word being honored. I'm not really concerned as much with the economics as I am God's word being honored and God being feared again, and we can see, I mean, is there, because you get to a place where if you don't take a stand, it's hard to recapture or regain what you lost. It usually doesn't happen. That's why in the military they would say this is a hill on which to die. You've gotta hold this hill or the whole battle falls apart, and so I believe Christians need to keep contending for the truth, honoring God, praying for a revival, a spiritual awakening, and my concern is that if this is our last stand to some degree, there's a season of grace here, and God's really wanting to draw the church in. Why aren't we acting like it? Why aren't we acting like it? And I run into people, I ran into a couple this week, I don't know if I can go to church gas prices. Well, you go to Starbucks just fine. Five, $7, the average purchase every day at Starbucks. I just saved you $200. But see, priorities. It's really about priorities. We're gonna have to shift our priorities, and that's what I mentioned a couple weeks ago. We have to reprioritize our priorities. What I would encourage you to do, what I did, is sit down and say what is important? What is first and foremost? And that better be God at the top of your list. And so once now that's my priority, now everything else can come around that priority, but we've been putting him on the back burner, and we've been cooking enchiladas up front here. Like, oh yeah, I guess the beans are in back. But we've gotta put him back on the front burner and the priority, and then you begin to develop your life around him, your prayer time, your worship time, of course, church and fellowship and obedience to God's word. And he's the priority, and it can happen easily in the Christian walk, is he begins to be removed from that center stage position. And I'm not preaching at you, I'm preaching to all of us. Because I've got his, you know, you point a finger, you got four pointing back at you. This can happen in all of our lives. That's why this is so hard. The Christian walk is so hard because it's that fight of wanting to honor God, but the flesh is strong until the day we die. And we're gonna be fighting that. So if I don't, you know what, I'm not gonna do anything. Let's see what happens. Just like a magnet, I will gravitate towards the flesh, towards laziness. Gonna make the camera guy nervous. Right, I'm gonna keep, I don't have to do anything. And I'll just gravitate towards the flesh, the lust of the flesh. And that's why we lose that passion for God, we lose that zeal, we don't really take a stand for the things of God. And I will say, to your credit, to West Side Christian Fellowship, we've said it before, it is actually a privilege to lead this type of church. You guys are probably the most on fire people I have ever met. And I've went to a lot of conferences and churches. How many times I've spoken and said, where is West Side? Well, the Hispanic church in Texas is pretty fired up. They were. But you know what I'm talking about, there's not a hunger. There's like, well, let's go to church. It's what good people do. And let me check it off my checklist. I made it twice this month and there's no passion, there's no real desire, there's no zeal. And so we have to get back to the, what is the main priority? And then also two weeks ago, I talked about this is getting so important right now. I'm preaching myself, but we have to listen to the narrow voice. Because the road is narrow, you have to listen to the narrow voice. There's a lot of fake news out there. There's a lot of false narratives. There's a lot of people believing some interesting things that really doesn't matter. And we're making it the focal point and we're getting distracted. And we're reading these fake news sites or these false narratives and we're getting all worked up and we're forgetting that God sits on the throne. God is in control. And so you've got to really narrow your focus, but it's hard, isn't it? Who doesn't like to read a good news story? I mean, it's intriguing. And it draws us in. And I mentioned, like with where the world's going, the globalists are controlling the world or Illuminati or the Cabal or Deep State. And a lot of those things, there's some truth in there, but I'm looking to the one who has all the answers, not all these weird conspiracy theories. And so what happens is we listen to people who probably don't even know the Lord themselves. We're allowing them, blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. And we're allowing this ungodly influence to infiltrate our hearts and our minds. And we're fearful and we're getting divisive because somebody doesn't agree just like you agree. And now there's conflict and there's division. Listen to the narrow voice that's still small voice of God. Get rid of a lot of those things that are, well, Shane, how do I know? How do I know? Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and true and honest and noble and upright, meditate on these things. Now that's gonna get rid of a lot of news sites out there. A lot of fake news sites. Some of you need to turn off YouTube and TikTok and just take time seeking God. Let me tell you, I'm right there with you because I get probably more video sent than anyone else and I just, I don't have time to watch them. But it's like if you watch all this stuff, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. The globalists are taking agenda. You're gonna have to get a chip and you're gonna have to bow to their system. They're gonna cut everything off. Your children are gonna live in poverty and they're coming after Christians. They're gonna lock you up in some camps built out in Wisconsin somewhere. I don't know. I just have to lead the church. I have to lead my family. Stop filling my mind with all this stuff. Do you remember that? These camps out there for the people who wouldn't get the jab and COVID and all these things. I look back and like, where's all this stuff at you guys talked about a couple years ago? Now it may be there. I don't know. I'm just saying you don't wanna focus on these things. How many people stockpiled food and bought generators and not a bad idea, but we allowed fear sometimes instead of faith. God wants us to be using wisdom and prepared. I think it's good to have some extra things, of course. But if we're going out and buying a $500 dehydrator and tons of storage and tons of this and my AR-15 with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, but your prayer closet's empty. Your gun stays full, but your prayer closet's empty. So you see how we're not following the narrow voice. And then of course, we talked about involvement and silence is not silent. Our silence speaks volumes. When we're not saying anything, we say something. And then the point I didn't get to, which is so important, spiritual engagement. If this is our last stand, we've got to be engaged spiritually. Now, you can clap. Thank you. Now, here's the key. I'm not gonna tell you anything new tonight. I know you might've come in for some new truth. There's no new truth. What's the old saying? If it's new, it's not true. If it's true, it's not new. But a lot of times we need to reinforce. We need to get reinforcements. We're out of ammunition. We need to get built back up with the same ammunition. That being the word of God, worship, obedience, and prayer. That is where we're going to get in this area of spiritual engagement. This is your weaponry. This is how you fight these battles. Make these four things your focal point going forward. And as you see, walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walking, I put here, but it's a little bit different. Walking is choosing to be filled with the Spirit. So what happens is when we don't walk in the Spirit, it's like we're hopping back and forth into enemy territory. We don't walk in the Spirit, so we're kind of hopping on the enemy's territory, hopping on his side of the fence, and then, like Ukraine and Russia. You're on one, and you're hopping, and it's double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So he says, walk. There's this command to walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now, I've got an image up there I want to show you. We can put that up there about this. There's your choices every day. There's your choices. We can go this direction, or we can fulfill the lust of the flesh. So everything I'm talking about tonight has to do with this, making choices. And so when we look at the, and we can keep this up for just a minute, I'm gonna talk about the, you know, I want to wait till the end on this, but it keeps coming up. And this whole concept of the Holy Spirit, I'm gonna submit to you tonight, I'm going on a rabbit trail. I don't know where God's going to take me on this, but we know what is the first greatest need out there in the world? It's to be saved. Do you know what the greatest need in the church, the greatest need without a close second, the greatest need in the church is? To be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, it's easy to say amen and clap, but it's very hard to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. Because what it is, it's dying to self. It's putting our hard hearts on the altar. Being opinionated is not a gift, a spiritual gift. Being prideful and arrogant. Many of you have heard of D.L. Moody, correct? But I don't know if you've ever heard of the two ladies who confronted D.L. Moody when he was young. In the ministry, I believe he was a pastor. They said, Mr. Moody, we're praying for you. And he said, thank you very much. Do you know what they said their prayer was? We're praying that you'd be filled with the Spirit. I'm a pastor. I've got this ministry going here in Chicago. And he was upset. Upset every day, waking up upset. How could they? That's pride. That's conviction. And I remember reading his biography when he finally submitted. And said, Lord, I've been doing the ministry, building up my own name. I've been critical, I've been arrogant. And the Spirit of God came upon him so powerfully. And that's why we hear of him today. I've mentioned praying John Hyde before. Have any of you read his books? Praying John Hyde. It's so interesting because actually he worked with missionaries in India. A lot of the missionaries didn't talk very well of him for a little while. Said, that guy's always in the prayer room. That's all he does. But that was his gift. He was an intercessor. But when he was younger, he went to India. He was in the ministry. His father's friend wrote him a letter. Said, John, I'm praying for you. On that mission field, I'm praying for you that you'd be filled with the Spirit. He ripped up the letter. And for a couple days, he fought that conviction. But he realized he wasn't really filled with the Spirit. And that's one of the hardest things I bear pastoring is I could go through our attendance roster and our member roster, and I know those who need to be filled with the Spirit. There's a lot of people. There's a lot of people that need to be filled but they're missing that fullness of the Spirit. The Word of God is not in their heart like a burning fire. There's not a passion to tell people about Jesus. There's not a boldness. There's not a brokenness. The one thing many of you need is the one thing you're lacking. That is the fullness of the Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit. That's how we're gonna get through these dire times. In the case you're getting, maybe in your heart, a little upset like, well, okay, Mr. Perfect. No. No, I'm a leaky vessel. Like D.L. Moody said, I have to sit underneath the fountain of living water every day to get refueled and refilled back up. I'm not looking down on you. We're all in the same boat. But there's a difference in those who say, God, I need to have that at all costs, whatever it costs me. I want that fullness of the Spirit. I'm not gonna jockey for position. I'm not gonna worry about finances. I'm not gonna look for notoriety. I'm not gonna have an attitude. I'm not gonna argue and be Mr. Theologian. And Lord, I just want the fullness of your Spirit. And through a broken, humble, tender vessel, God will begin to fill you. And what comes out of that is not weirdness. It's boldness. It's boldness. It's counter-cultural. Actually, a lot of your Christian friends aren't gonna understand you. Did you know that? When you take it up a level with the Holy Spirit, again, not weirdness, just zeal for Christ and say, I can't live like that anymore. I can't live like that anymore. I can't do those things anymore. People don't understand. You know how many pastors I upset when we decided to stay open during COVID and they didn't? And all the people are like, why aren't you staying open like that, church? I'm like, oh goodness, don't do that. But they don't understand. It wasn't an arrogance, the ha-ha, arrogance. It was a boldness from the Holy Spirit after a couple months of saying, this is shenanigans. We've been tricked, we've been fooled. We're gonna be that voice of truth. And so that's where the fullness of the Spirit comes from. We need that like never before. And so this command in Galatians is clear. Walk in the Spirit. What does that mean? We make choices that are gonna be God honoring. The things I'm gonna talk about tonight. Obeying God's word, laying our opinions down and our pride down at the altar, and we're walking in the Spirit. It's interesting, it says, and then you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That doesn't say you won't be tempted. Did you know I can walk in the Spirit and still struggle sometimes with getting angry? Or upset? Or things not working the way we thought? Anybody been there? But see, it's the attitude of repentance that keeps the fullness there. Lord, that's not right. Lord, I don't wanna act like that. I don't wanna treat people like that. Lord, please, that's wrong, that's pride. And you put it at the foot of the cross, and you repent, and that's walking in the Spirit. Some people think it's like you're walking on a cloud and acting perfect all day. It's really tripping and getting back up and getting back up and walking in the Spirit, contending for truth, contending for unity. Even though I fell, I'm gonna get up and fall forward again, and because I'm walking in that direction and the things we're gonna talk about tonight, I'm not gonna fulfill. The flesh is not gonna win. It's not gonna come to completion. You're not gonna struggle with that addiction forever. You're not gonna fall back into that lifestyle. You're not gonna fulfill the lust if you're walking in the Spirit. And so that's what this is really about. And I've had questions come in. I can tell online, people, they're asking, Shane, is this, I mean, does this mean I have to, walking in the Spirit, I'm living perfectly every day? I hope not, because I'm in trouble. Anybody come to church in a bad mood, have a bad day? Say the wrong thing? Do the wrong thing, get upset, get irritated? Maybe they'll be honest tomorrow. You guys, that's right, I'm not preaching tomorrow, but next time, the potential and power of the Word of God. So I'm gonna just talk about spiritual engagement. We are in dire times, I'll shoot you straight. I try not to let my mind go too many places with what we're leaving our children, let alone our grandchildren, but I think God never tells us to worry or complain or get afraid. He tells us, you make a stand. You plus God is a majority. You make the difference. Who is gonna stop God Almighty? See, sometimes we need to remind ourselves of that. Who's gonna stop God Almighty? Nothing, no army can defeat Him. What army right now, 100 million man army in China, is God worried? One breath, it's amazing. The potential and power of the Word of God. We need to go back to this, Psalm 107.20. He sent His, He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Now, if we had time, obviously the context here is God's sending His Word and there's different, the word translated, you know, the literal word, logos and different things, and God prophesied that they would be restored and there's different principles, contextually you can make this scripture fit, but the bottom line is His Word heals, His Word delivers, His Word sets people free and that's why I love Hebrews 4.12. For the Word of God is dead and lifeless. I have to be careful when I do that. Some lady took it out of the context a couple, remember a couple weeks ago when I said the Bible's not crystal clear on end times theology? They just took, Shane said, this pastor said the Bible is not crystal clear. God judges people. See, I get mad too sometimes. I'm gonna tell you and then I have to erase my text message because, you know, that's just, that's wrong. So I'm gonna be careful there, let me just read it. For the Word of God is living and powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of the joint and marrow. Many times people don't know why is he talking about joint and marrow? I believe and commentators agree that he's talking about the hidden areas, the joint and the marrow were hard, they're hidden areas that's hard to get to. It says God's Word, when you open it up, when you obey it, it is living, it is powerful. It cuts even the deepest areas, the deepest issues of the heart. This is how people are being radically changed. They're being radically changed by the Word of God going out through vessels filled with the Spirit of God and letting the Word of God cut and divide and discern the thoughts and the intents of the heart and the heart says, I'm wrong with God and I repent of my sin and I cry out to him and healing takes place. Physically can heal too. The Word of God can heal us physically too. Anybody still believe that or is that just me? I believe that God's Word can heal people and set them free. You have not because you ask not. See, desperate people do desperate things. They might not run to Kaiser or high desert medical first. They might run to God Almighty and say, God, you take care of this. You are my healer, you are my redeemer. You set me free, your Word will heal me as I meditate on your Word. I've noticed so many people being set free in the area of mental illness and different things because they meditated on God's Word. I'm not saying mental illness and things, there's not legitimate chemistry and brain chemistry issues because I believe there are from serotonin to different biochemical pathways of the brain. I understand that but often we have to allow the Word of God to saturate our mind and what happens is it transforms our thinking. Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by renewing your mind and you let God's Word and just soak in the Psalms and you realize that God is my healer, God is my redeemer. What army can defeat him? Though a thousand may come after me, God will slay them. He will lift me up. What can man do to me if God is on my side? And you begin to allow God's Word to change your hearts. It's a discerner in the thoughts and the intents of the heart, it discerns. Can you imagine if we got back to God's Word? That's why we're so confused. Do you ever look at things and say, what in the world is going, how can a six foot tall guy win women's swimming? Like I just, do you see, it's in the news. He won these medals. He's like six foot two and he's winning. It's like, what is women's sports anymore? See, this is wrong. I'll be careful with my words but it's just, it's mm. And again, I'm not making fun. This is just the truth. They have lost their mind. You think I've lost my mind because I believe in a God. You've lost your mind when you call a girl a woman, a woman a boy and a boy a woman and that they can compete, that's wrong. How dare you? How dare you push that junk on the minds of our children? How dare you do you push that lies and that deceit from Disney to AT&T? How dare you corporate America? A boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. We're here to help. We're here to love but this is wrong. Why is nobody saying anything? I know we are but like, I mean all these big corporations. Oh, good for him. I mean, good for her. It's like, what planet are we on? Musk isn't on Mars yet. Elon Musk. We're not, Lord help me here. See, without the word of God, there is no stability. They're a double-minded man, unstable in all their ways. There's so much confusion. And if you, boy, DeSantis in Florida's being misrepresented. What he's trying to pass in the schools and they're saying this is an anti-LGBTQ. No, he's just saying you can't let a fifth of kindergarten kids choose their sex. That's child abuse that what we're doing with our children and it's okay to say because it's the truth. You have to nurture young minds. You have to show them the truth. I mean, I do, sometimes I just, my eyes well up with tears. There's a Hollywood actress like last year and she had this little girl and she's like, well, I don't know what she is yet. I'm gonna let her choose. Reprobate under strong delusion. Their conscious has been seared with a hot iron. I mean, this isn't even rational. And so I believe that's why our church is one of our goals is to get God's word out there. Get on the radio, get on YouTube. We don't know how much time we have to get it out there. Let the word of God penetrate the heart. Let it do what it does best. Just let it go. Just let God's word go. Let it, as long as it's coming from the right heart. See, that's a whole nother problem we have. It's not coming from the right heart many times. It's coming from an angry, arrogant heart, texting and shoving scriptures down their throat and trying to show how right you are. And it says you miss the love. If it's not undergirded by love, it loses its effectiveness. And then you have the other side, the churches or Christians who don't say anything about anything, nothing. Hey, if it's controversial, I don't go there. Well, guess what? That's not Christianity. Biblical Christianity is controversial. It cuts, it divides, it discerns the thoughts in the intents of the heart. And so the battle right now is for the mind. Second Corinthians 10, I believe we have that one up there as well, Second Corinthians 10. Again, we're doing spiritual warfare. This is how you get armed and ready. When all the fake news is coming, all the things that are gonna be coming at us, this is how you gird yourself up and you prepare for battle. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Now, this is a military fortress. Paul is using the language of military and warfare. So the weapons of our warfare are not AR-15s and a full gun safe. The weapons of our warfare, I'm all for the Second Amendment, don't get me wrong, but the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God, not me. What do they do? They actually literally pulled down, like a military fortress, they pulled down the strongholds. See, these spiritual weapons cause damage and they change the landscape of the battle. You really wanna change the landscape of what's going on? You wanna change this atmosphere? You don't think this church has changed the atmosphere of the Antelope Valley, of even of California, with all of us going out? I guarantee it has. I get emails from one of our senators who represents our area up in Sacramento. And man, please keep doing what you're doing. Please keep doing it. We need it, we need it, we need it, we need it, we need it. People driving on the five freeway. We need it, thank you, we need this, we need this, we need this, and you're making a difference. And sometimes we don't see that as much and we get discouraged, but it will change the landscape. I truly believe that the reason we haven't totally caved off and fell off the abyss is God is hearing the prayers of his remnant. I believe that. And I'm not just saying it. You take some blood, it'll come out, and it'll say, Shane believes this. I believe God tilts the things in favor of his people. The remnant, if my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, he's actually, did you know he's looking for the remnant? It's not for, if Hollywood would just turn back to God, it's not gonna happen. If Washington, D.C., if we could just get post-politicians, that darn House and Senate, if we could just, no, my remnant, if my people, the power of God's people to make a difference. See, here's what happens when it comes to spiritual warfare. Remember this, you pull the trigger, but it's God who hits the target. See, that's, I don't worry about the target. Oh, look what's going on, I've gotta hit that target. Sacramento, I've gotta make a difference here. Look at this legislature, look at these laws. I just get down on my knees and call down Almighty God, and I just pull the trigger with spiritual warfare. God hits the target. The word of God is sharp. It divides, it discerns the thoughts, and it, get back to the prayer closet. Would you get in your word again, begin quoting scripture and meditating on scripture. When all hell breaks loose, it will not overcome the Christian who is on their knees, praying and pulling down heaven, casting down arguments. What does that mean? Casting down arguments, every wrong thought and teaching that draws people away. That's why I can't, I believe, under the authority of God's word, stand up here and say, that is not right with what happened with that swimmer who identifies to be a female, and why I'm casting down all these things. A she is a she, and a he is a he. There are no other genders. I'm casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, I'm saying that is not right. That lifestyle is not right. Rejecting God is not right. That's blasphemous, that's not right. I'm casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Oh, I'm just glad I don't have to preach tomorrow, because I'm exhausted. But we're in spiritual battle. That's what this is. Anybody on the prayer team, do you ever leave here exhausted? Why? You just prayed with people. But when you really pray, right, Yvette? When you really pray, you're changing the atmosphere. You're speaking life into the person. You're casting down arguments, wrong thoughts and teachings that draw people away. We need to be that voice of truth on our campuses, in our universities. I believe that's one reason God blesses with 91.9 FM, is to get that out there. Put it on buses. You know how many people say, I saw it and I tuned in, and oh my goodness, I just got hit by the word of God. Because you're casting down, see, that's what God's word does. When God's word is proclaimed in the power of the spirit, what can overcome that? Nothing. Nothing. My word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. My word is like a fire that devours. And you have to bring the word of God out in these areas. And then it also will crush every high thing. Every high thing. Now this is interesting. I looked into this a little bit. Many of you won't know what a turret is. Some of you will, but you remember the old fortresses? They would have those little things at the top, spiral, and there'd be little narrow windows out of them? What was that for? It was so they could shoot arrows through those little holes and not be hit from arrows and weaponry coming up. It was, they were up, down shooting at those armies. And that's what the imagery Paul's using. So he said, you cast down, you cast down every high thing, everything that's up high, trying to shoot your children, trying to shoot our kids next door in the youth ministry, trying to shoot our families, that enemy that's trying to, you pull that down with the word of God. Everything, anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And the image is throw it down. Throw it down to the ground. And in the Old Testament, you know what they used to do to the kings? They would put them on the ground. What would they do with their foot? They would put their foot on their throat as a sign of submission. I've conquered. That's why David ran over to Goliath. Give me a sword. Cut off his head. He wasn't done. Probably Goliath was already dead. But see, that final blow, let the word of God go and bring these things down. And how do I do that, Shane? Well, I'm glad you asked. Bring every, we're gonna have to sit there for a minute. Bring some thoughts. Oh, there's some thoughts you don't want to bring into captivity, do you? You like those thoughts. Those thoughts are getting you in trouble. I don't need to go down the list. You know what those thoughts are. The enemy's been watching you since you were born. He knows exactly where to shoot those fiery darts. Where he shoots you, he doesn't shoot me. Where he shoots me, he doesn't shoot some of you. Like I've told you before, my worst enemy, I'm not as worried about Satan as I am the old Shane Idleman. He needs to stay in the coffin, dead, and not try to lift the lid up and say, remember the good old days? Remember the good old days? Remember the old Shane Idleman? That's who I'm worried about. And the devil will shoot those fiery darts. Take every thought captive and then do what? Bring it under the obedience of Christ. In other words, I think I even put that in there. In other words, would Christ be happy with our thought life? Is Christ pleased with my thoughts and where they're going? And this last sentence, some people don't read it. They kind of have ellipses or they don't quite understand it. But to me, it's very powerful. I love it when I really, when God really brought this to my mind and looking up commentaries, of course. And if you think, if you ever think you get something from the word of God, and it's different from everyone else, you're probably wrong. You know, you wanna check commentaries. You wanna make sure it's balanced. But this one, I just really felt led to share with you. And being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. In short, once you begin to obey God, it's time for you to get up and take action and fight back. It's time for you now to regain lost ground. You are to go and defeat these enemies. So now I'm going to punish disobedience when my obedience is fulfilled. And isn't that what you do when you begin to obey God's word? Now you become, now you're, instead of on the defense, now you're on the offense. Now you're charging against the enemy. Now I'm gonna sucker punch you, devil. Now that my obedience has been fulfilled, I'm gonna take action. And now because my thoughts are under God's sovereignty and under his control and taking those thoughts captive, I'm going to be able to deliver a blow to the enemy. God will punish the wicked principalities once we obey. I wanna share with you briefly on this point, the power of meditation. The power of meditation. I defined it here for you. And if you remember, when you think of meditation, I have to clarify it because some people say, oh yeah, I do that with my new age belief. Or whatever, you know, I don't know what they're meditating on. Somebody's probably gonna take a camera still of that saying I'm, but this word meditation is powerful. Let me take you back to Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in it he does meditate day and night. See, this is different from reading the word of God. I've read the word of God and didn't really meditate. Have you ever read it and go, well, what did I just read? My mind's going 100 miles an hour, I don't really, that happens to me a lot. That's one reason I gave up caffeine. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And what, what, what, next chapter, next chapter, next chapter, next chapter. And I've been, I just gotta meditate. Sorry, this is a conviction alert. So to quietly, to quietly repeat and reflect on God's word while avoiding any outside distractions and thoughts. Airplane mode. News media. Go somewhere, even if you have to sit in your car, something where you remove the outside distractions. And I'm gonna talk about this this coming Wednesday. This coming Wednesday, Wednesday service in Psalms. We're gonna meditate. I'm gonna teach you, show you more how to meditate on the Psalms. But to quietly repeat, it's not like you're repeating one thing coming out of Roman Catholicism. Many of you, you know, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Like, what, 13 times? What is that? That's more repetition. That's vain repetition. But this type of meditation and repeating is reflect, you repeat, does the scripture ever just speak to you? And you're like, oh God, thank you for that nugget. Well, just hang out there. Hang out there. And just let it saturate your heart, especially in the Psalms. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul. Oh God, would you restore my soul tonight? Lord, our children need you. Our nation needs you. God, I just meditate the shepherd, the shepherd who is calm and comes alongside and keeps the animals, the bear and the wolf and different things away from me. And just this good, you are the good shepherd. Sometimes, like the shepherds who do, you break my leg and then you carry me around so I become dependent on you. And the Lord is my shepherd. Meditating on the goodness of God and letting it saturate your mind. Nothing else begins to penetrate your mind because you're meditating on God's word. This is why we get so distracted. This is why attention spans are decreasing. And we open the word and we say, okay, I wonder what the weather's like. Go check the weather. I gotta do this, I gotta do this, I gotta do this. And we lose the power of meditation. That's really where the word of God comes alive. Because if you just read it, it's good, but you really have to let it soak in. Psalm 19. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. What about if we just committed tomorrow morning to memorizing that and just put on worship. Let it speak to you. Let the words of my mouth, Lord, what comes out of my mouth today and the meditations of my heart, what my heart focuses on, let it be acceptable to you, Lord. That might change what you view on your computer or your phone. That might change how you treat people. See, that's why it's so important. You have to safeguard your mornings. You have to, that's the most precious time many times for a lot of us is to get that meditation going and then that's the foundation on which I can build the rest of my day. Philippians 4.8. Oh, I knew I read it somewhere when I quoted it earlier. Finally, brethren, what things are false narratives, whatever is dishonorable, whatever is wrong, whatever is evil, whatever is gross and perverted, whatever is a bad, you know, meditate. This is what we're meditating on. That's what most people, you realize you're meditating on the opposite of what we're supposed to be meditating on. If you just look at most news sources, most, you ever get around negative Nelly or depressing Debbie? He's going, here goes that call again for 30 minutes and we're doing anything but that. Finally, brethren, finally, brethren, what's he, the end of, I wrote, I'm writing to the church in Philippi. These are my last words to the church in Philippi, Paul. Finally, I'm gonna leave you with this. Whatever is true, be careful in these times. Be careful to embrace these false narratives on YouTube and TikTok. People are watching all these things. You gotta watch this, gotta watch. No, I don't have to watch this. You have to read this. Get your mind back on this. Whatever is true, whatever is true, whatever is honorable. Man, can we, do you ever wanna get back to what was honorable? Remember when it was, you would walk, remember, I remember going to the public schools. Yes, Mr. Robertson. Okay, I understand, yes, uh-huh. Respectful, quiet. Now it's like a battleground. There's nothing honorable. There's nothing respectful. Remember when law enforcement was respected? Don't say there's a few bad apples so we have to disrespect. No, when it, honorable. There was reverence. There was, people cared for one another. There was, but as we know, in the last days, there will be lovers of themselves, boastful, proud, arrogant, despisers, haters of good, despising even their parents. Boastful, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. And so whatever, how are you doing on this area? Whatever is right, whatever is pure. That word pure, the word in the Greek, purity, it's from moral, moral cleanness. Whatever is pure, that means a lot of us need to be disconnecting a lot of what's on the computer and lovely and what is good and of good repute and a good reputation. If there's anything excellent, if there's anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. This is why some of you, your parents used to say, if you can't say something, don't say anything at all. I've been saying that a lot lately. But we have to get our minds back on whatever pure. Can you imagine focusing on these things throughout the day? You'd have the lifting of the spirit. You'd be gracious, you'd be loving, you'd be understanding, you wouldn't get upset in traffic. And want to go ram people with your car and getting upset, it's because what we're doing a lot of times, we're acting out what the mind's been programmed with. We're acting out what the mind has been programmed with. And then the next point, the power of obedience. 1 Peter 1.14, as obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. Now, I have to tell you, this word obedience is interesting. I've never seen more people get upset off this topic. It's usually when they're in disobedience, they don't like you talking about obedience. You're legalistic, you're rigid. Oh, obey, obey, obey, obey. God is love, Shane. Yeah, but he's also holy. Don't take that out of context. There's a lot of attributes to God. Don't just say the one you like. And actually, God is love doesn't mean you can do sin however you want. That's out of context. Why does the Bible spend a lot of time on personal disciplines? Have you thought about that? Obedience, obedience, what does it mean? Obey, trust and obey. That old hymn, remember that old hymn? Trust and obey. But see, the power of obedience, that's how we're filled with the Holy Spirit. I've learned a long time ago, God isn't saying let's make a deal. He says this is the deal. And the more you fight and the more you fight and the more you fight, the more worn down you'll get. God doesn't bend. He's not flexible. Truth is not flexible. And there's power in obeying God's word. I know I need to get that relationship right. I'm gonna fix that. I know I need to give up this addiction. I'm gonna fix that. I need to give up this sin. I need to do that. God is wanting me to get rid of this bitterness and this critical spirit and this arrogance he's been convicting me. I need to obey him in these areas. And you'll see so much power, so much fruit, and that's why the Bible spends so much time on obedience. Think about it. Put away this, put on this. Let this mind be in you. Make no provision for the flesh. As obedient children, do not be conformed to your former self, and why? Because, as I said earlier, your greatest enemy is within. Your greatest enemy is within. James 4, many of you can read amplified version. Come close to God and he will come close to you. Recognize that you are sinners. Get your soiled hands cleaned. Realize that you have been disloyal, wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery. Now, that's the Bible. The amplified version is very point on on this. That's exactly what Peter is saying here. I'm sorry, James 4, eight is saying here. And then we can't forget about the wonder of worship. Worship invites us into the presence of God. When we worship, there is joy unspeakable. And here's what's happening in a lot of churches. A worker, a worker, anybody serving in ministry, we have a lot of people, well over 100 volunteers serving in ministry here. A worker without worship is often harsh, gruff, and cranky. Hey, I'm a worker, but I better be a worshiper. See, worship is when heaven meets earth. And we begin to worship, we begin to cry out to God. Psalm 95, six, oh come, let us worship the Lord and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. First Chronicles, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness, in the beauty of holiness. Isaiah, oh Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you, I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things. You've planned, the plans you've formed, they are faithful, they are sure. See, here's the thing, folks. We are called to be soldiers, correct? But also saints. You're called to be bold, but you're also called to be broken. You have to find balance there. Be tenacious, but tender. Doesn't sound like those two words should go together, but they do. Tenacious, right, zeal. Like Jesus, well he said, zeal for your house is consume me. When they saw, when Jesus saw they were mocking God by the way they were over abusing and paying for the, abusing the poor and taking extra money and what God's house has became, he was tenacious. Zeal for your house is consume me. Oh, I'm so broken to see what people have made of God's house. So it's okay to be tenacious. It's okay to be fired up, but it has to be underscored with tenderness. Jesus was the perfect example of this. I wanna say something to you truth guys. You know who you are. Maybe those listening, truth, truth, truth, truth, truth. Thank God for the truth. We love the truth, but the truth must be carried by love, undergirded by humility and supported by brokenness. And I found the bolder, the bolder you are, the more loving you need to be. Please don't look at me for this example. Look there. Look there. But I will tell you, I will die trying. I will die trying. You ask my wife, is he the same at home? I hope so. It's very hard to be bold and loving. It takes the brokenness of the spirit and not being the one who wants to cast the first stone, loving the person through their sin. You can find that balance with the grace of God. And then the final point, the priority of prayer, the priority of prayer. And I just added about six hours ago and fasting. I tried to get out of it, sorry. I've really dropped the ball in this area. God's been ministering to my own heart. So if I start to look a little thinner in the weeks to come, it's spiritual health. We need to get desperate again. Our appetites have overrun us. King's stomach is still on the throne. Fasting has always been something that God's people would turn to. 1 John 5.14, this is the confidence we have. Did you know you can have confidence in God? Did you know that? If you are a believer here tonight, you can have confidence in approaching God. That if you ask anything, anything according to his will, he hears you. Parents, you praying for your children, that is according to God's will. What you want to see in them, do not give up. Look up in your grandchildren. Don't get discouraged, but Shane, they're running. They're running to the devil. They are living for the devil. They are so lost. Don't give up. Don't give up. Pray according to God's will. God can just change that overnight. He can change that whole situation overnight. He can redirect the course of their life overnight with one dream, one vivid dream from God. They will wake up crying, Mommy, take me to church tomorrow. Take me to church tomorrow. Don't you remember that story I told you? It's out there on YouTube. Jim Cimbala with the Brooklyn Tabernacle. His daughter Chrissy was on the streets of New York. Heroin, I believe it was. She's lost and they had a prayer meeting and he came home from that prayer meeting. He said it was like a woman in travail. He told his wife, if she doesn't come home, there's not a God in heaven. See, I believe in a God that still answers prayers and God gave her a visit, a vivid dream where she was standing over the abyss of hell, getting ready to fall in and she ran back home and she said her mom, dad, and she's falling on his knees and legs and falls on the kitchen floor and said, I'm coming back to God. See, she was lost, but now she's found. I was blind, but now I see. It is grace that's brought me here this far and it'll be grace that takes me home. Oh, amazing grace of God. We gotta get back to being intercessors. Do you know it doesn't matter what they're doing, it matters what you're doing. How many stories in the Bible, the person didn't even know about Jesus, but a mother would come and plead, a father would come and plead, a ruler would come and plead. You don't need to come to my house, just speak the word. I'm a man in authority and under authority and I just speak the word and my servants obey. How much more the risen Savior, well, he wasn't a risen Savior yet, but he was, how much more the Savior when he just speaks the word. See, if we could get back into passionate prayer, if we believe that God really heard our prayers, we would keep the church open throughout the day. People coming knowing that God is gonna hear their prayers. And this is why sometimes people don't understand why I mention fasting often. Is it because it gauges desperation. It gauges desperation. Are you desperate enough to miss some meals? Or does King's stomach have that strong of a rain in your heart? Isn't that the truth? Let's be completely honest. That's the truth. Fasting sounds the alarm. Our lack of hunger, our lack of hunger for fasting reveals our lack of hunger for God. And a lot of you are new, so I can do this again. But what fasting does, let me give you an illustration. Okay, prayer, this is prayer. You know where this is going, Phil, don't you? This is prayer. You can get some stuff done. Any guys that use this at home? You can get some stuff done. But sometimes, sometimes, sometimes you gotta, sometimes this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. Sometimes you gotta hit the enemy over the head with a big sledgehammer. Sometimes you gotta break the concrete, the rock and the strongholds of the addiction. This'll do it sometimes, but sometimes I gotta get out the big guns. I gotta get on my face before God Almighty. I gotta do some damage to the enemy's kingdom. Sometimes this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. It is like a sledgehammer to the enemy's plans. It's like hitting a block wall. I can break down a block wall with this. It's gonna take me a long time. You just keep hitting those cinder blocks. You get a little hole, little hole gets bigger, bigger, bigger. So I'm gonna have to come back tomorrow. But sometimes you get right to the point. You add a little emphasis. And that's what prayer does, prayer and fasting. I'm gonna leave that just for illustration so you don't forget that. That's 25 pounds, that thing is heavy. My dad used to do that all the time. He'd say, go get the sledgehammer. I'd come back with a little hammer. He'd go, no, son, that's not gonna work. That's not gonna work. Guys, what we've been doing is not gonna work. Five minute devotionals, quick little prayers. They're not bad, but sometimes, sometimes you gotta pull down heaven. The principalities that have been unleashed on this nation. Joel prayed, and Joel fasted. Remember Joel, we talked about the book of Joel? Sound the alarm, call the sacred assembly, and cry out to God, call a fast. See, there was desperation. What about Esther? Before there was destruction on the Jewish people, call a fast. Nehemiah, call a fast. Ezra, call a fast. Jeremiah, call a fast. Jesus, why did Jesus fast before he began his ministry? Is it just, hey, I'm just gonna try this out for 40 days. Let's see what happens. I'm getting a little bit overweight. Let me have some autophagy take place. Get rid of some of this extra weight, and just hit the ministry field a little bit lighter. I believe it prepared him for ministry. There's something about submitting the flesh in this area of fasting, and I get discouraged just like you do. That's why I don't read comments anymore on social media. But they go something like this. There's no hope for America. There's no hope for California. And I say, says who? I mean, let's be honest. Says who? Because I know the darker the darkness, the greater the light. I know that God often, God often gets us down to that last hour. God's not worried. He's not, oh, I got hit by a right hook by the enemy. Now what am I gonna do? God's not worried. That the power of prayer and fasting with intercession. Do you know what intercession is? Do we have Jeremiah? There it is. This is God. This is God talking to Jeremiah. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah interceded. God said, I'm gonna do this to the people. But Jeremiah, if the remnant just calls on me, if they call on me, that remnant, that's a voice I will not turn away. He told Moses, get away from these people. I'm gonna wipe them out. And Moses says, no, God, stay your hand. I'm interceding on behalf of the people throughout church history, throughout biblical history. When God's people interceded on behalf of the land, God said, I will stay my hand of judgment. Is there not 50 men in Sodom and Gomorrah? I will not destroy it because of 50 men, the righteous, the remnant, taking a stand. It's weary, it's difficult, but it can be done. See, it's the atmosphere of prayer and the language of heaven that changes the game. Think about this. In the temple of God, in the Old Testament, the temple had one room so sacred, so sacred that no one could go in there except one person once a year. And he better have his ducks in a row and everything done right, or he's gonna die in that room. This room's so sacred where God's presence was, so sacred, gonna intercede on behalf of the people. God said, you come here, I'll dwell with you, I'll meet you here in this tabernacle, this holies of holies, I'll meet you there. And that's one thing that's wonderful about the resurrection when Jesus said, it is finished, and that veil that separated that room, it was tore. And God basically said, now you have access to the Father. That sacred room, now you have access to the Father. Wouldn't that change the way you pray? God hears the prayers of his people. So I expect all of you tomorrow at 8.30, we're having corporate prayer. The prayer room's probably not gonna be big enough, maybe next door, here in this multipurpose room. We're gonna pray. I believe in a God, it's not to come to church, hear a sermon, go home, and go to In-N-Out Burger. That's not the scriptural course. Actually, have nothing, try to fast tonight, go home and open the word of God, and be hungry for God, and begin to cry out for him. He hears that desperate call. And that's why Joel said, blow the trumpet, blow the trumpet, sound the alarm. Call a fast, and see, there has to be a desperation, and pardon me, if you're looking for a nice, quiet church, I can recommend one. But some of us are so hungry for more of God, we understand that unless God's moved, unless God's moved, we are lost. Unless God comes and rips open the hearts of our nation, we are lost. God is our only hope. I'm not counting on cryptocurrency, or the stock market, or in the next election in 2022, or 2024. You might go all red, but we need to look at the red, the crimson blood of Jesus Christ. Listen, listen, our children are being shot by demonic snipers. Marriages are being steamrolled. Sexuality is being perverted, and leaving a wake of devastation in its path. The church needs to rise up again. As I said before, as for me in my house, as for me in this church, we will fuel the flames of revival. Yes, even in California, we will till the soil of our hearts and prepare the downpour of the spirit. We will continue crying out to God that he would run the heavens and come down and visit his people. While we wait, we will worship. We will look this storm in the eye because we are armed and ready. I'm gonna put some prayer reflections up on the screen. These are so important. I actually borrowed them from John Hyde's book, Praying John Hyde on Prayer. Listen, many of you need to pray these things and mean them. Pray for a mighty filling of the Holy Spirit in your life and in the life of your family and in the life of our church. Did you catch that? Pray for a mighty filling of the Holy Spirit to be filled with God's spirit. Long for greater power. Long for greater power of the Holy Spirit and be convinced that you cannot go on without this power. See, there's desperation. Isn't that the truth? If we were coming here tomorrow morning and find ourself on this altar at 6.30 in the morning when worship starts and say, God, I can't go on. I don't know about you, but I can't go on until a greater anointing of the Holy Spirit keeps coming upon my heart. I need God's spirit to move upon me. You don't wanna hear me preach without the spirit of God. It'll fall on deaf ears. I need the spirit's power. Pray that you will not be ashamed of Jesus Christ and ask for boldness. Are you ashamed? Are you embarrassed tonight? And I don't know, everyone here, everyone listening, but could it be that you don't know the Good Shepherd? This is your time to get right with God. The Bible says, repent and believe in the gospel. Repent and believe. Understand that you are a sinner. You've sinned, you've fallen short, and God redeemed you through the cross. And then believe that prayer is the greatest means for securing another spiritual awakening. Did you know that? I'm fully convinced prayer, prayer is the greatest means for securing a spiritual awakening. I just preach my heart out for an hour and that's not gonna do anything without prayer. Nothing. Not much. My goal is to prime that pump and to get you motivated in this area of prayer. God is trying to get our attention right now. God is trying to get our attention. I've got a book, the top 150 old hymns, and who wrote them. Very, very encouraging book. But there's one hymn, I'll never forget the story. The hymn is called Revive Us Again. Do we need that today? Revive Us Again. It was written by a doctor in the 1800s. He ran from God. He actually cursed God. His mom gave him this Bible with his name on it, in it, inscribed, and he sold it to a secondhand store for money, for alcohol. Ran from God, cursed God, became a doctor. Working at the hospital in this labor, the story says that this labor came in. He was injured. He only was gonna live about four or five more days. And the doctor was talking to him, and he said, what can I get you? He said, I just need to fix this debt I have with my landlord. And would you have her bring the book? Just bring the book. And so a couple days went by. The man was getting worse and getting worse. He finally died. And the doctor said to the nurse, what was this book? What was this book that he requested? And she said, oh, it's right here. And wouldn't you know, it was the Bible his mom gave him that this person who died picked up in a secondhand store. It still had the doctor's name inscribed in it, and the doctor began to weep. Moments in history. And then he wrote the famous hymn, we praise thee, oh God, for the son of thy love, for Jesus who died and has gone above. Hallelujah, thine glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, oh God, for thy spirit of light who has shown us our savior and scattered our night. Hallelujah, thine glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thy glory. Oh God, revive us again. See, that's my prayer tonight. Oh God, revive us again. Revive us again. See, this is the reason why some of you don't have a song in your heart. You don't have worship in your soul because God has never touched you at a very deep level. He has not turned that heart of stone to a heart of flesh where you've been rocked and wrecked by the power of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I would encourage you, come to this altar tonight and cry out to God for a fresh filling of that spirit. And God say, I can't go on without you. I can't go on parenting or leading in these dire times without the moving of your spirit upon my life. We talked about armed and ready, but now you're gonna be armed and dangerous when you go to apply these things. If you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, it's not a weird thing. It's just surrendering your life to God. You need more of God's spirit. I don't have to pray for you. We don't need some anointed person to pray for you. You need to do business with God. Come forward, you don't have to kneel. You can stand or whatever you'd like to do, but there has to be some type of demonstration of desperation for God to move in your heart.