Ric Vargas emphasizes the journey of spiritual development and maturity, using the concept of Ebenezer as a reminder that God can lead us from a place of struggle to a place of establishment in Him. He highlights the life of Samuel, a man of prayer and integrity, whose relationship with God allowed him to keep the enemy at bay and serve as a dwelling place for God's presence. Vargas calls for believers to embody brokenness, submission, and integrity, as these qualities are essential for spiritual warfare and victory over darkness. He stresses that true victory comes from a life fully surrendered to God, reflecting the ultimate triumph of Christ at Calvary. The sermon challenges listeners to cultivate a deep relationship with God to maintain spiritual authority and keep the enemy from reclaiming ground in their lives.

Does it ever look impossible to you, that place of development and maturity? Sometimes it seems like it's way off there, but Ebenezer is the assurance that He can get us there. Hallelujah. That He can get us from Mizpah to Shaddai. That He can work in our lives and develop us until we are established. Hallelujah. As full-grown ones in His house. Hallelujah. Until we are established. Hallelujah. As perfect ones, and by that the word simply means fully developed and mature. Hallelujah. Perfection, maturity. Hallelujah. Development, growth. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That we are growing up, growing up unto Him who is the head. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And verse 13. So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel. And listen to this. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. A warfare and a victory of a life that is so complete, that Samuel's life. The ark is gone, remember? The ark is long gone, but now God has taken up residence in a man, Samuel. Representative of a people that He is going to have in the end of the age of prophetic people. He takes up residence in Samuel, and as long as Samuel is there, the Philistines are held at bay. Just merely by a life that is fully surrendered. He is a man of prayer. He is a man of integrity. And by His life, He is able to war a warfare. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That is the height of warfare that God is wanting to bring us to. Hallelujah. Where it isn't just a warring with our prayer, but my very life is so one with the purpose of God and the will of God. And my life is so pleasing to Him that the enemy is kept in check and cannot come in to the coast of Israel. Imagine that. One man, one man walking with God, holds, hallelujah, subdues the enemy, holds them at bay. They cannot come in. Oh, they tried under the reign of Saul and Jonathan, and they were utterly defeated again and again. Because there was a man, Samuel. Brother Taylor makes quite a statement when he talks about warfare. He talks about principalities and powers and the lords of the Philistines, as we were saying. And he says that demons can be cast out, and devils can be rebuked. He says that principalities and powers have to be displaced. And what he means by that is that someone has to arise to a place of spirituality that displaces the authority that they have in that realm. And that's what Samuel did. Samuel displaced those principalities, those lords of the Philistines that had been ruling for 40 years in the nation of Israel, had been displaced by a life that ascended, hallelujah, into a spiritual realm of victory, of shrine, of integrity, of purity. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And that's what God is after today, that our lives, our lives become a warfare. Hallelujah. Our lives, the way we live, our committal to Him is enough to keep the enemy in check. Hallelujah. And may God do a work within us. As we said before, Samuel, the thing that marks Samuel as a prophet is that he is a man of prayer, and he is a man of integrity. Those two things seem to mark Samuel. No amazing miracles, nothing out of the ordinary that Elijah and Elisha had at work within them. Samuel is noted as a man of prayer. Hallelujah. A man that had a walk with God. A man that had a relationship with God. And a man who was upright, a man of character and integrity. Hallelujah. And that was enough to keep the enemy in check. Imagine that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That is so profound that because of Samuel, because of one man, who had what? He had become the dwelling place of God. He had become that ark. He had become that thing that was missing. It first comes into Samuel, the beginning of that prophetic order of what God is after. My presence, not in a box, but in a people. My glory not residing any longer in that ark, but my glory residing in a people. Hallelujah. He, if you will, is the firstfruits. He births an order that is still on the heart of God for our day. Hallelujah. And may the Lord challenge us this morning. Hallelujah. I've said this many times before. Is that, and brought it out in the story here. What stirs the enemy is the people that are broken and submitted to him. Before Paul ever gets to the chapter of warfare. Read the verses that follow that are just prior to that. He's dealing with what? He's dealing with submission. Submitting to husbands. Servants submitting to leaders. Children to parents. He deals all building up because he knows that that is the foundation for warfare. Peter does the same thing in the book of Peter when he talks about resist the devil, submit to God. Look at what he deals with before that. He deals with the younger. Submit yourselves to the elders. Wives submit, submit, submit. And then he brings us to the place of what again? Warfare again of resisting the devil, of him fleeing from you. But all of it is based upon a right order of submission, humility, brokenness and loneliness. And if those areas are not established within our lives. We can shout and rebuke and dance and march and wave and do all of these things. And he'll not be moved. He won't move an inch. He won't move an inch. We're not making any, we're no threat to the powers of darkness. But when there are a people that are moving in brokenness and submission and loneliness. And out from that comes the victory and the triumph. Hallelujah. Because the victory of God is established where? At Calvary. It was at Calvary that he spoiled principalities and powers in the utter display of weakness. Hallelujah. In his utter display of weakness, submission. It was in that condition that a spoiling was taking place. It was the lamb that brought the victory. And that is always the principle. Hallelujah. And it is the lamb that triumphs forever. Hallelujah. And if that nature and that heart is not at work within us. We're fooling ourselves. In attempting warfare or moving in it. We'll get nowhere fast. But oh to the life like Samuel. That is fully broken, fully submitted, fully obedient. Upright in character. Properly relating to God in fellowship and relationship. Hallelujah. Just as long as Samuel was alive. Hallelujah. The enemy couldn't even regain any ground. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And it's no different in our individual lives. Hallelujah. Begin to walk upright. Begin to walk, begin to be cleansed. Begin to walk with integrity. Begin to walk in purity. Begin to develop a relationship. And these lords of the Philistines that want to claim you again for themselves. These habits, these sins. They'll have no way that they can get in. There's no way that they can make a stronghold or a toehold in your land again. As you begin to walk this out in triumph and victory. Hallelujah. You can keep them at bay. Hallelujah. Oh they may clamor and they may shout. They may make a lot of noise. But they can never come in and lay hold to that territory again. They may want to. But if you're walking in uprightness. Hallelujah. They can make no claim to it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed be your name, Lord. Hallelujah, Lord Jesus. Hallelujah, Lord. Glory, glory to God. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, Lord. Glory, glory to God. Lord, we've seen, Lord, principles for victory. And Lord, the first step, Lord, will be in the putting away. Hallelujah. And Lord, we're asking that Lord Samuel was very specific. He didn't leave it up to them, but he was specific in what needed to be put away. And we know that the Holy Spirit can be very specific. Hallelujah. Samuel didn't leave it up to their own judgment. He had been established as the judge. And so, Lord, we're asking that you, Lord, the righteous judge, the Holy Spirit. That you, Lord, in the days to come will get very specific. And show us exactly what needs to be put away. Hallelujah. What it is, Lord, of mixture. What it is of compromise. What it is we have joined ourselves to, Lord. Father, we're trusting you, Lord, that you will do that. And that, Lord, we will respond, Lord, in this hour. Lord, the hour is too late. Lord, there must be a recovery again, a victory to the camp of Israel. Lord, we have lived, Lord, too long, Father. Lord, in weakness. Lord, we've lived too long as a mockery, Lord, to the heathen, to the nations. Lord, you must have, Lord, a praise in the earth. And, Lord, may we yield, may we yield, Lord, in the days before us. Until you bring us to the fullness of triumph and victory. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah, Lord. Until our foes, Lord, are kept from our coasts. Are driven out, never to be able to return. Lord, as long as Samuel is in residence. And we ask, Lord, that we will give, Lord, that greater prophet, Jesus the Christ. That we will yield to him. And allow him to do his work. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Thank you, Lord. And we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word, by the word of our testimony. And we'll love not our loss again, and we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb. By faith in His blood we're justified, by His word we are cleansed and sanctified. By faith in His grace to save, He will show us the way. And we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word, by the word of our testimony. And we'll love not our loss again, and we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb. Only by the blood of Jesus can we be set free. With His power working in us, overcomers we'll be. And we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word, by the word of our testimony. And we'll love not our loss again, and we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb. By faith in His blood we're justified, by His word we are cleansed and sanctified. By faith in His grace to save, He will show us the way. And we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word, by the word of our testimony. And we'll love not our loss again, and we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb. Only by the blood of Jesus can we be set free. Hallelujah! And we'll overcome Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word, by the word of our testimony. All things seem to be reduced to a bleeding Lamb, who delivers us from all things. He is our hope.