This sermon focuses on the importance of surrendering to God and the need to confront and put away the sins and hindrances in our lives that hold us back from experiencing God's victory and blessings. It contrasts the stories of King David and King Ahab, highlighting the consequences of yielding to sin versus repentance and seeking God's forgiveness and victory. The message emphasizes the urgency of moving to higher ground in Christ, especially in a world filled with deception and moral decay.

I'd like you to go with me to Psalm 6 please and also 1st Kings chapter 20. Psalm 6, 1st Kings chapter 20 and I want to speak to you today about the sudden shaming of your enemies, the sudden shaming of your enemies. Father God Almighty. Lord this morning we simply lift up people in Texas who might be trapped by this flood, by the hurricane Lord. God we ask for mercy for people Lord. We ask for mercy for those who have done the best they can to get to higher ground. We ask for mercy for those who were warned but didn't listen. Have mercy oh God have mercy. Lord speak to hearts, let there be a cry go up to you for righteousness, for freedom, for deliverance. And God help us here in your house, help your own people as we hear these words today to go to higher ground now. As the flood of ungodliness begins to invade this world, you have called us to higher ground that we might be safe in you. Give us the grace Lord to escape the defenses that we have built against righteousness in our own hearts. I ask you Father for an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Give me a voice, give me hands like a skilled surgeon. For so many of your people have built strong layers of defense in their own hearts against truth. God I ask Lord that you would take my hands and these words and you would go deep into every heart. I ask you Father to give weight to every word because you love the people that are called by your name. It is not your will that any should perish but that all should have health and everlasting life in you. God let these words count today. I thank you for the privilege of standing as an oracle of your kingdom. Lord Jesus Christ override my frailty, override Lord even my own thoughts and speak to your people. This is your house, these are your people, this is your time, this is your testimony. Jesus Christ be glorified and we ask it in your precious name. Amen. Praise God. You may feel a bit squirmy as I speak this message today but I want to encourage you to hold through to the end. If I didn't care, if the pastors of this church didn't care about you I wouldn't preach like this. But because I do, because God does, this message is a call in a sense I've given it another title but it's a call to higher ground in Christ. You need to go there and I need to go there and we need to go there now. The society around us is quickly devolving into something that was unimaginable even a few years ago. This world is going into a colossal tailspin socially, morally and economically very, very soon. It's a difficult day. Deception is going to arise, false Christs, false voices are going to be pointing the direction of people who are trying to get home into places that do not satisfy or bring life. This is the time now. Today if you can hear his voice don't harden your heart. If you can hear his voice have the grace of God to simply move to higher ground in Christ. Psalm 6, a Psalm of David. Oh Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. Have mercy on me, oh Lord, for I am weak. Oh Lord, heal me for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, oh Lord, how long? Return, oh Lord, deliver me. Oh, save me for your mercy's sake. For in death there is no remembrance of you. In the grave, who will give you thanks? I'm weary with my groaning. All night I make my bed swim. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my enemies. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer. Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled. Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly. The sudden shaming of your enemies. Now Psalm 6 is about a good and a godly man, King David. We know that from the story. We know that from his history. He made the mistake of thinking that a little bit of indulgence in what by then he had to have known was wrong in the sight of God. It's not even debatable. He knew that what he was doing or what he had done was wrong. But he believed that somehow it would have little or no adverse effect on the blessing of God that had come on him and on his house. You know, as we walk with God, we can get so accustomed to the blessing that we can forget we still have an enemy. We can forget that our enemy still has power. He still can cause great grief to come into our heart and into our home. Now, the Reese Chronological Bible puts this Psalm 6 prayer at the moment when David was interceding for the child that had been born of his sin with a woman who was another man's wife. And it was the first in his house that would die and lose their way because of what seemed to start by such a small thing, just a little bit of laziness and a little bit of lust in David's life. And look at what it led to. The sorrow that would now be a part of his heart and home. And the sad thing is that it didn't have to be that way. But he made small choices, small concessions along the way. And it looks so small, maybe in the sight of what others might have been doing and seemingly getting away with. Now, the warning in the story is this, though you might already have won great victories, beware now of what is still traveling with you. Beware. Now turn with me to first Kings chapter 20, which is probably the best example in the entire Bible of what I'm speaking to you about this morning. It's the King of Israel. His name is Ahab. He's a man who could be moved upon by God. When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and the fire of God came down on the altar, he rushed back to the city to tell his wife of what he had seen. He was the type of a person who's moved in those spiritual moments, but not moved enough to bring about a total change of lifestyle. God drew and was drawing this man because he had that potential, at least in his heart. It didn't materialize in the end, but he had that potential to turn to God. And the turning, of course, of the king in those days would have brought great blessing, not into his own home only, but also into the nation. Now, suddenly it says in chapter 20, verse 1, Ben Hadad, remember that name, the King of Syria, gathered all his forces together. 32 Kings were with him, horses and chariots and he went up and besieged Samaria and made war against it. He sent messengers in the city to Ahab, the King of Israel and said to him, thus says Ben Hadad, your silver and your gold are mine. Your loveliest wives and children are mine. And the King of Israel answered and said, my Lord, O King, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours. And so here comes this enemy against a King of Israel who is supposed to represent the blessing, the strength, the provision, character, the future of God upon the earth. That's his initial calling. At least he's strayed quite considerably from it, obviously. But an enemy comes against him and says, I'm going to take all your future provision. I'm going to take your family. I'm going to take everything you've got. Do you remember here this morning when your enemies were so powerful that you had no power to resist them? Maybe you don't, but I do. In my life, I remember. Do you remember when sin had a hold of your life? Do you remember when it led you by the nose and you were powerless to do anything about it? And these voices kept coming to you. I'm taking your provision for today. How many of you here today, you spent all your money on alcohol. You spent your money on drugs. I saw a guy in the store the other day, lay down, I forget what it was. I'm guessing at it, but about $150 on some lottery that was happening when he could have been using that money for his family, for his kids. The devil is a mean taskmaster, folks. I'll tell you that right now. And you had no power to resist. In verse six, that's not enough. The devil's never satisfied. He says, but I'll send my messengers to you tomorrow about this time, they will search your house and the houses of your servants, and it shall be whatever is pleasant in your eyes. They'll put their hands and take it. In other words, not just your wives or your husband, not just your family, not just your provision, not just your future, but everything that could possibly give you a sense that tomorrow will be better than today. Do you remember when the sin in your life was driving you into a continual and deepening hopelessness? Maybe you don't, but I do. I do remember those days. I do remember the sense of hopelessness in my heart. I do remember the encroaching darkness coming into my mind and into my life. In verse eight, the King of course of Israel called for counselors for maybe the first time in a long time. In verse eight says, all the elders and all the people said to him, do not listen or consent. Do you remember the first time you heard that you didn't have to yield to darkness any longer? Do you remember the first time that you heard that your life could be changed? You could be a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old things could pass away and all things could become new. I remember when I had a counselor come to my house before I came to Christ, another police officer sat there and told me that if Christ, if I would open my heart to Christ, the darkness would be pushed back. The old things in my life would be put away and all things would become new and I would become a new creation in Christ Jesus. I remember sitting there thinking, is this true? Could this be possible? For I know that in myself, I have no power to resist the things that are in my life. The selflessness in the core of my being is destroying my marriage. It's going to destroy my home. I'm turning to drink more than I ever have before for refuge and suddenly this voice, a counselor is telling me that I don't have to yield to this any longer. Do you remember the first time you heard that? Maybe this is the first time you're hearing it is right now. That you don't have to yield to darkness anymore. It does not have to govern your life. The devil is not the one who writes the ticket for your future. Your past doesn't govern anymore what you will be tomorrow. Your past in Christ has no future. May I put it that way? Verses 13 and 14, it says, suddenly a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel, saying, thus says the Lord, have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today and you shall know that I am the Lord. And Ahab said, by whom? And he said, thus said the Lord, by the young leaders. In other words, by the weakest of leadership that's around you. Then he said, who will set the battle in order? And he answered, thou. Do you remember when God gave you the standing and power to fight back against darkness? Do you remember it? Do you remember when you finally stood up and you cried out to God and he gave you the power? Yes, God gives the victory, but we have to take the first step and we take the second step and we have to, James says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. We have to stand up. You all know my story, son. For once I'm going to give you a break and I'm not going to repeat it. But you know that God set me free from nine years of hell and fear and panic in a moment of time that when God put in my heart the power and ability to stand up and fight back. And many, many of us that are here today, we know what this victory looks like when suddenly we stand up and fight back. And in verse 20 it says, each one killed his man and the Syrians fled and Israel pursued them. And Ben Hadad, remember him, the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the cavalry. Do you remember the joy of those first victories? Do you remember when you came into the house of God and in your heart you said, only God could have done this. Only God could have given me the power to forgive that person or those persons. Only God could have given me the power to put away this substance that I was leaning on. Only God could have given me the power to break away from those old relationships that were simply dragging me down and I was dragging them down as well. Only God could have given me the power to think differently and to see differently and to have a new hope and to have a new future. How many of you can look back and you remember the joy of that first victory and you knew it was supernatural. It was not of anything of power. It was not anything of intellect. It was not you pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. You knew that God had come and done for you what you could not do for yourself. And it caused you to come to the house of God and caused you to clap your hands and it caused you to rejoice and it caused you to say in your heart, oh, truly with God, all things are possible. Truly there is a future before me. Truly I have this promise of new life in Christ and it is being made known inside my physical body, in my mind, my home. Truly there is a future for me. Now you were warned and others were warned and Ahab was warned that your enemy is not going to give you up without a fight. Do you understand that? We warn people who come to this altar on Sunday night, giving their lives to Christ. And we tell them as soon as you leave this sanctuary and go on the street, the devil's coming against your mind and trying to tell you this whole thing is for other people is not for you or the whole thing was just an emotional experience and it's not going to last. Give it up. Don't even bother trying to fight the fight. If you walk with God for any amount of time, you know that Satan comes back with a fury. He doesn't like giving up what he wants owned. He doesn't like giving up the rights to your life, your family, your house, everything about you. He hates the kingdom of God and everyone created in the image of God. And so a man of God came, a prophet of God and warned this king, you've won a victory and Ahab knew it was a supernatural victory. There's no way he could have won it in the natural, but this enemy king is going to regroup and in a short season, he's coming back after you and he's coming back with a fury. And it happened just as the word of God said in verse 27, a little way through the verse that says the children of Israel and camp before that's the Syrians like two little flocks of goats while the Syrians filled the countryside. Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever gotten to that point in your life and say, Oh God, you better help me now because I don't have the power to stand against this. Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel and said, verse 28, thus says the Lord, because the Syrians have said, the Lord is God of the hills, but he's not God of the valleys. In other words, he's his God is God. When you're in the high place, feeling real good, but God isn't God. When you're down low feeling like, Oh God, I have no power to stand, have no power to continue this journey. Therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand and you shall know that I am the Lord. And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. And so it was on the seventh day, the battle was joined and the children of Israel killed 100,000 foot soldiers of the Syrians. In one day, the rest fled to eight fact into the city and a wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left and Ben Hadad, the king of Syria. Now remember that fled and went into the city into an inner chamber. Ben Hadad was completely defeated. Now he knew he was up against something and a man who had made a choice up to this point in his life to listen to the word of God and to trust God. And he knew he had no power against it. Now something really incredible happens. Ahab makes a fatal mistake, not just a mistake. He had made a lot of them. When you read his history, he made a lot of mistakes, but this one was fatal. Ben Hadad sent out emissaries and they humbly came to Ahab and they had sackcloth on and ropes around their necks. In other words, we are now your servants and we will serve you. We recognize that you have defeated us. And they brought a message from Ben Hadad. Now who is Ben Hadad? Let me just remind you. He's the guy that said, I'm going to take your provision, your family, your future, your wellbeing. I'm going to take everything from you that you've got. That's who this man was. Now he says, please let me live. Please let me live. And listen to what Ahab says. Is he yet alive? He is my brother. Now the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him. And they quickly grasped at his word and said, your brother, Ben Hadad. He said, go bring him. Then Ben Hadad came to him and he had him come up into his chariot. So you got to picture this. He's a victorious king now. He's won the victory. He's won it supernaturally from a man who was going to take everything from him, everything and leave him nothing. He brings him up into his chariot now. So Ben Hadad said to him, the cities, which my father took from your father, I will restore. And you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. And Ahab said, I will send you away with this treaty. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away. In other words, listen, it's now the Syrian king who's dictating the terms of this treaty. It's not Ahab. It's not the conqueror. It's the conquered. It's like a bottle of whiskey that says, you just leave me in your cupboard and take a little sip once in a while, and I will not hurt you anymore. It's like the internet that says, well, you used to be an adulterer and you used to be a womanizer and you used to go to strip clubs and used to do all this stuff. But just let me ride with you a little bit. Remember with David, it was just a little bit of lust, a little bit of laziness, having no idea what this was going to bring into his life and into his home. And so he made a treaty and sent him away. I guess my question this morning is who needs to be kicked out of your chariot this morning? What have you made a treaty with? What's still riding with you? Even as you profess to be a Christian and living in victory and coming into the house of God, what seductive power of sin has found a lodging place in your heart? I'm just going to read this to you. Don't turn there. It's from Proverbs chapter seven. And all commentators agree that this whole chapter is about the seductive power of sin. For out the window of my house, I looked through my lattice and saw among the simple. I perceived the youths, a young man among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding. Passing along the street near her corner, he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And there met him with the attire of a harlot, a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious. Her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside. At times she was in the open square lurking at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him with an impudent face. She said to him, I have peace offerings with me today. I've paid my vows. So I came out to meet you diligently to seek your face. And I have found you. In other words, you see, you can have the worship of God and me too. This is what the seductive power of sin says. You can go to the house of God. I go to the house of God. I have made peace offerings with God. I have paid my vows. So I've come out to meet you diligently to seek your face. And I found you. I've spread my bed with tapestry, colored carvings of Egyptian linen. I've perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let's take our fill of love until the morning. You can have me and you can have a relationship with God as well. The husband is not at home. He's gone on a long journey. In other words, even if it's wrong and you know it is, there's a lot of time to get right. He's taken a bag of money with him. He's gone. He's on a journey. He's off doing things throughout other places. And he will come home on an appointed day with her enticing speech. She caused him to yield with her flattering lips. She seduced him immediately when after as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till an arrow struck his liver as a bird hastens to the snare. And he did not know that it would cost his life. After Ahab sent Ben-Hadad away, a prophet came to him, a man who spoke for God. And he said, thus says the Lord, because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I'm appointed to utter destruction. Therefore, your life shall go for his life and your people for his people. Now we fast forward to chapter 22, where Ahab in verse three, or starting at the beginning, he calls Jehoshaphat, who's a righteous man, the king of the Southern part of Israel called Judah. And he goes, Jehoshaphat goes down to visit him. And the king of Israel said to his servants in verse three of chapter 22, do you not know, or do you know that Ramoth Gilead is ours, but we hesitate to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria. Now Ramoth Gilead is part of the land that Ben-Hadad in the chariot had promised to give back to Ahab. Four years later, he still hasn't given it back. The devil is a liar. Sin is a liar. It promises something that it will never deliver. It had no intention of delivering it to you. It only had the intention of ultimately taking away from you the victory that you know, and taking back from you the life that God had given to you. And so now Ahab finds himself going into a battle that he didn't have to go into in the first place. The battle was already won. Four years before he should have put down forever this oppression that had come to take away his future, but instead he made a treaty with it. You don't hurt me. I won't hurt you. And I believe that you're going to give me back what you took away. Now, how many have fallen into that trap in this generation? I believe that this little bit of whatever it is that I let into my life, this little bit of bitterness, this little bit of gossip, this little bit of theft, this little bit of immorality, this, this little bit of drink, this little bit of drugs, this little bit of just this little bit of whatever it is. I can let it back into my life and it's not going to hurt me. It's not going to hurt my family. It's not going to hurt my future. And you end up in a battle that you don't have to be in. And some people today I'm speaking to you, you're in a battle that was won long ago, except that you made a treaty with something you shouldn't have made a treaty with. And so Ahab goes into this battle, but he's because he's pushing away the voice of God, he's not hearing from God anymore. And he's got 400 voices telling him round about his throne, go and prosper. There's no shortage of voices that will tell you that everything's going to be well, just live in sin, live with a double heart, live with a double mind, make an allegiance with that which God says is wrong and everything will be well, carry on. It'll be fine. God, folks, if you don't believe me, they're all over the television, all these voices rising up at this last hour of time. And so he heads into this battle and 400 false voices are telling him, go, go and prosper. It will be well. You'll, you'll push the Syrian king into the sea. The Zedekiah, the son of Chennai makes iron horns and makes a big display. Go, he says, with these, you're going to push the Syrian king into the sea. All these false voices and all they just want access to power and money. And he says, there's a, there's something in the heart of Jehoshaphat, the righteous. He says, is there anybody else? Well, there's 400 of them. Why do you need another voice? Ahab says, there's one voice left. And that's how dull the conscience can become. That there's only one chance left to hear in the final days. It's a prophet called Micaiah. And he says, but I hate him. Doesn't tell me what I want to hear. He always claims to speak for God. That always makes me uncomfortable. Always implies that there needs to be changed in my life. Jehoshaphat says, well, don't say that. Bring him, let us hear. And so they bring Micaiah to the throne. I love this scene. Micaiah comes walking in the guy that brings Micaiah, who is the only one left speaking for God. He says, listen, all the prophets are saying the same thing to the King. For goodness sake, for once in your life, can't you just agree? So Micaiah comes walking into the court and he says, Ahab says, what does the Lord say? He says, go and prosper. And Ahab looks at him. He says, how many times have I told you when you speak to me to tell me the truth? Isn't that amazing? So Micaiah is the last voice. Can't help but wonder for somebody here today, is my voice the last one you're going to hear in your journey? Is my warning this morning, the last warning that's going to come your way before this compromise in your life swallows you? And so he rejects the voice of God. Goes into the battle, but something very curious happens. He says to Jehoshaphat, you wear your kingly robes, but I will disguise myself. It's amazing. Now two Kings are going into battle. One is going in as a King and the other is going in disguised. You will know that the word I've got this morning from the Lord applies to you because you have disguised yourself. You disguise your conversation. You disguise your actions. You disguise your behavior when you come into the house of God. Nobody comes in this morning and says, hi, I'm Frank. I'm an adulterer. How are you? No, you come in. Praise the Lord. Wonderful day. Isn't God good? Disguised. Going into the battle. You see Ahab knew that Ben Hadad had it out for him. He had humiliated Ben Hadad and he knew that Ben Hadad was going to, was going to send his entire force to kill him, which is exactly what he did. He had 32 generals and he said to his generals, don't fight with anybody on that field, except the King of Israel. Focus on him, kill him because Ben Hadad had been humiliated and you have, you humiliated the devil the day that you came to Christ and Jesus Christ made an open display. But if you have allowed the enemy, any portion in your life, his focus is on you, especially if you come into the house of God in a disguise, pretending to be walking in righteousness, pretending to be one of the people, unwilling to come into the open, unwilling to be real, unwilling to be vulnerable. You see, to, to declare yourself to be a child of God, will you be as Jehoshaphat who made himself vulnerable because everybody could identify him for who he was. But Ahab tried to kind of mix himself in with the people. So I wouldn't be singled out, but it didn't work. Remember in Proverbs, it says, he thinks he's going to get away with it until an arrow strikes his liver. And suddenly the scripture says, somebody just drew a bow at adventure. Wasn't even shooting at him, just threw an arrow up into the air and it went right in the middle of his gut. He ends up held up in his chariot until sundown and he dies. It's amazing. You see, he was mortally wounded by an enemy that he let live. Listen to me. It's time to get to higher ground. It's time to leave these things and move to where the cross is. It's time to be real. It's time to be humbled before God. It's, it's time as the scripture says, confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you might be healed. It's time to put off the disguise and declare who you really are. Then you watch the victory come back. You see, that's the difference between Ahab and David. Ahab went into the battle, refusing to hear the voice of God and wearing a disguise. And I can't help, but think of how many people that applies to in the church of Jesus Christ today, no longer willing to hear the voice of God and wearing a disguise, a disguise of victory, a disguise of kingship, a disguise of I'm just like the rest of the people are. I'm one of you guys. We're all in this together, but it's just a disguise. He's not willing to hear the reproof of God, but not so with King David. King David was like you and I deeply flawed, but he had one strong characteristic in his heart that we should aspire to today. God could still speak to this man in spite of what he had done. He did horrific things. He committed adultery, fathered an illegitimate child, murdered the woman's husband. Yet Nathan, the prophet came to him, pointed the finger at him and said, you are the man. And immediately out of his heart, he said, I've sinned against the Lord. He had enough integrity left in his heart that God could still speak to him. And he said in Psalm six verse eight, depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer. You see, David said, I've turned back to God. Yes, I've made mistakes and yes, I'm on my face. And yes, I realize there's going to be a measure of sorrow because of what I've done, but I'm not giving hell access to my life. I'm not yielding to former enemies. I'm not laying down and letting them roll over me because I have a God who's willing to defend me and forgive me and restore me and call me a man after his own heart. The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. And so all you enemies of hell that want to come against my mind and my heart and my home and my family depart from me. The Lord has heard my voice. The Lord has heard my prayer. He's heard my supplication. David said, let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled and let them, let them turn back and be ashamed. Suddenly I'm going to walk in truth. I'm going to be a man of truth. I'm not going to be afraid of truth. I'm going to higher ground that I'm on right now. Yes, I'm on my face, but I'm going to higher ground. I'm going to worship again in Jerusalem. And let every enemy that's been sent of hell to destroy me, let them turn back, let them be suddenly ashamed. But I'm going to go to the house of God and I'm going to praise him in spirit and in truth. I'm going to praise him as my victorious conqueror. I'm going to praise him as the lamb of God who forgives my sin. David was not willing to wear a disguise, but he was willing to approach God in truth. And so he lived. And today we know him as a man after God's heart. And Ahab said to say, in spite of all that God did for him and spoke to him, we only know him as a wicked king of Israel. You couldn't get a greater contrast. Two men who both were flawed, except one had an open heart. It requires honesty to walk in victory. It requires a humble heart. God draws near to the humble and the broken heart. God draws near to the man or the woman who says, Lord, I'm sorry for what I have allowed to remain in my life. I'm sorry for thinking that it could somehow still give me a measure of happiness and peace. When your word tells me otherwise, it's a foolish thing that I've done. And so God, in Jesus name, I'm asking you for a full and a final victory. I'm kicking this enemy out of my chariot. I'm not taking this practice home in my car, the subway, the train. I'm not taking this home with me today. I'm kicking it out and I'm accepting the victory. Father, I thank you for giving me the ability to share your heart. Just as the rain has come and many are trapped. I pray that as the flood of evil touches this world, that we will have the sense to heed your warnings, that we will have the sense to go to higher ground than where we are, that we will leave what needs to be left behind and embrace what ought to be embraced. Help us to be the people of God. I ask you Lord for men and women who are here today and listening online that no longer would any wear a disguise, that we would be open, honest, vulnerable, and recognize that we are called to be kings and priests with our God. I pray Lord Jesus Christ that there'd be a demolishing of darkness today, a destruction of that which could destroy us. I ask for mercy on every heart. Some hearts are so thick now that voices like mine today are just a squeak in a hurricane, but if there's still a chance they can hear, I pray Lord God that they might. Have mercy Lord, have mercy. God have mercy on your people. Turn us Lord towards you. Let righteousness run down like a mighty stream again. Let your name be honored through those of us who are called by your name. I thank you for it with all my heart and I praise you in Jesus name. Now, listen to me. Praise God. You know what needs to be put away. You already know, I don't have to tell you, I don't have to start going down the list, you already know. Holy Spirit's been speaking to your heart the whole time I've been speaking. That's why your heart's been pounding the way it has. You know what needs to go. So it's time to kick Ben-Hadad out of your chariot. And say no deal with you, no treaty with you. You are a liar. You will not keep your promise. You will not make me happy. And ultimately if I let you remain, you will kill me. And so I'm evicting you and I'm going with God. That's my altar call. You know what it is that God's speaking. The balcony, main sanctuary in the annex, North Jersey, God bless you there in North Jersey and at home. The Lord's speaking to your heart. I'm going to ask you to stand with me, please. And those that God's speaking to, would you meet me here at this altar or step between the screens where you are in the overflow rooms. And we're going to pray for a mighty victory, a mighty deliverance, a return of strength and the shout of God. Slip out of wherever you are and just make your way down here. Young people, older people, doesn't matter who you are, make your way here. Let's believe God. We'll worship for a few moments. Let's believe God for an incredible victory today. An incredible victory. You will leave here changed, strengthened, empowered with grace. Just come, move in closer, make your way down. It's time folks, it's time. Time to get to higher ground. Don't put this off for another day. It's time. Remember the people who didn't listen. Now they're stuck in the flood in many cases, not all, but many. It's time. You can hear his voice. Please don't harden your heart. You know what you need to put away. You know, slip out, have the courage, you know, you know. Praise God. Praise God. Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters that are here at the altar physically and at the altar in their hearts. Lord, I ask you God for mercy. I ask you for the ability Lord to lay down things that we can't in our own strength. And we can't fight this in our own strength Lord. We recognize Lord that it's got to be your victory that you give to us and that you manifest through our lives. God, for us to walk as the people that you call us to be, and you already declared that we are. Help us Lord to put away these things, God. Jesus, I thank you Lord that not only do you give us the grace to put them away, but you give us the grace to take up a pathway that you have ordained for each of our lives where we've become the fullest expression of what you have determined to do through us. Thank you for covering us by your new covenant Lord in the times of our failure. And even though we fall short, you still call us your own. Help us Lord Jesus Christ to not give access to our enemies and yours Lord. Help us to put it away. All of us Lord, all of us God. The children of Israel needed to be circumcised again before they went into the promised land under Joshua. They had to be set apart for God before they could win the victory that was theirs. So we make that choice Lord to allow you to touch our hearts and go deep and cut away that which needs to be cut away from our minds, from our hearts, from our inward parts Lord. Those things God that you know will weaken us and in some cases leave us vulnerable to the enemy. God strengthen us as a people as we move into our 30th year as a church Lord. Strengthen us as a people, as a congregation. Not only individually but collectively Lord that we would not lose out God on the best that you have for us because of some laziness, something we've allowed into our heart. Keep us alive oh God. I pray for the pastors of this church, for the elders, the musicians, the choir, the leaders, everybody from the front to the back of the church. I pray Lord that you would give us an awareness of the hour we live in, calling of your heart to higher ground and your willingness Lord to make us a testimony and a song to a generation that live in the dark and so desperately need to know the way home and to safety. Let our lights burn bright oh God. May we not be a dull testimony of who you are and may we never have to disguise ourselves in the house of God. Father I thank you Lord with all my heart. Bring about freedom today Lord. Open every prison door and give sight to every blinded eye. Heal every wounded heart. Make every crooked thing straight. Bring every lofty place down oh God and make a highway Lord that we may find you and allow you in fullness to occupy us as your temple. Lord we thank you for this with all of our heart today and we praise you for it. Let this be the first of a day's Lord of total victory Lord in your kingdom. Amen. May we not turn back and we ask it in Jesus name. Amen and amen.