Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of putting on the breastplate of righteousness as a means to protect ourselves from the enemy's schemes. He explains that while receiving the gift of righteousness through Jesus is essential, it is equally important to live righteously as a lifestyle to close the doors of access to darkness. Bickle stresses that believers must actively say 'no' to sin and temptation, even before experiencing freedom, as this cooperation with God is crucial for spiritual victory. He warns against the dangers of presumption in spiritual warfare, highlighting that true discipleship requires a heart commitment to righteousness and self-denial. Ultimately, the message calls for a return to the basics of faith, emphasizing the need for discernment and integrity in the Christian walk.

Father, I thank you in the name of Jesus for the Word of God. Lord, we love the Word that's in your heart. We ask that the Word of your heart would strengthen our hearts, even now, to strengthen this spiritual family by the Word of God and by the Spirit. And Lord, take this little session here to build up the body of Christ in our midst here in the name of Jesus. Amen. In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 to 18, is one of the most well-known passages about standing against the schemes of darkness. And I want to, there are six different dimensions of the armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6, verse 10 to 18, and they're well-known, but I want to focus on one of them this morning, and that being the breastplate of righteousness. And though all six of them are very important in each of them, but they're pretty simple ideas of what the body of Christ is called to do. But I want to, again, focus in on one of them, and that being closing the door to the enemy, the legal points of access to the enemy, closing that door through righteousness, through receiving the gift of righteousness initially through Jesus. But it doesn't stop there. The breastplate of righteousness is more than the gift of righteousness. It's walking in righteousness as a lifestyle. And when we refuse to do that, we actually give legal access points to the enemy in our lives. And the enemy uses the door we open, he uses it to heighten the temptation and the harassment and the destruction in our lives. When we open a door, he comes in and doubles the temptation, and then he has legal access to torment and hassle and bring destruction, and we give him that access. And we can cry out to the Lord, and the Lord's answer is, I will help you, but I will help you in context to you doing it my way. And you must rise up and shut the doors of access that you have given the powers of darkness. Nobody can do it for you. No one can do it for me. It must be done. It must be done. There's a place where even in the presence of strong, sinful, dark desires, we must say no. We must say no. It's easy to say, Lord, set me free, then I will say no. The Lord says, I want you to say no before you're free. And in the last 20 years of the body of Christ, there's a lot that's been said about, it's, you know, it's not enough just to say no. We have to get these other dimensions, uh, you know, other dimensions of truth, etc, etc. And that is a true point. It's not enough to say no, but neither is it insufficient to go forward without saying, neither is it sufficient to go forward without saying no as well. Let, let, let me say that again, is that there's been a lot said in the last 20 years of the body of Christ that saying no is not enough. And it's, uh, you know, I, I guess for, for many decades, the preachers of holiness just told people to say no. And that was about the extent of it. And so there's been a strong voice in the land saying, you know, that's never, ever going to get the job done. We need this ministry and that ministry and this ministry and that ministry saying no, uh, in the last 10 or 20, 30 years that, that, that I have observed has taken a back seat in our struggle against sin because by itself, it is not sufficient. The concept itself has been deemed insufficient and it's a critical, uh, part of our armor in getting breakthrough and S and shutting the doors of darkness, the access points. We have to say no, before we have Liberty, before we get the breakthrough before we're set free, there is a determined resolved no to darkness that the Lord requires saying no again, it's not enough by itself, but it's substantial part of our cooperation with the Lord. And we need to see that dimension of the armor of God brought, uh, brought back into center stage, exercising the dignity of the human soul of free will and saying no is an absolute critical part of Liberty. Well, let's read it. Verse 10, Ephesians chapter six, verse 10. Finally, my brethren be strong in the Lord. He's talking about operating the anointing seize your destiny to have godly emotions. It is our destiny and our inheritance to love righteousness, to be strong, not just in the anointing and ministry to have our hearts bold and strong and alive and vibrant and righteousness. So Paul's calling them to their inheritance here. Be strong in the Lord is more than ministry. It's more than power over sickness though. That is that's certainly involved here and I don't certainly want to minimize that and walking in the power of his might is a heart issue as well as a ministry issue. Now he's calling them in verse 10 to their inheritance. He's calling them to their to their destiny. Every believer has the opportunity to be strong in the ministry level and to be strong at the heart level. Then he says in verse 11 he gives the summary point. It's a very simple point but it's one of the most overlooked points. He says you have to put on the whole armor and the operative word there is the word whole. It's not enough to pick the three favorite dimensions. All six elements and again these six elements are not mysterious. They're the basic main and plain principles of the scripture. So I'm not going to take time and go through each one of them but the point I want to make is that we will never be strong in the heart level if we if we draw back on elements of the armor. It's not enough to do prayer and fasting. It's not enough to worship. It's not enough to get revelation about the end times. It's not enough to be in relationship. It's not enough to even just say no to sin. All of them operating together continually. Verse 11 put on the whole armor and here's the here's the reason that you might be able to stand. That's an interesting phrase that you might be able to stand against the schemes or the wiles of of the devil. And in verse 13 he's going to be able to he's going to elaborate this idea of standing. Standing in the evil day. There is a thing the scripture calls the evil day. The evil day. We'll look at that in just a moment but I want to highlight that Paul is telling them they will be able to stand. In Joel chapter 2 verse 11 when Joel prophesies about the coming of the day of the Lord the operative question or the or the main question the most relevant question in the earth will be who is able to stand. What man or what woman when the day of the Lord events the glory and the crisis begin to mount up in the land who is able to stand. That's what Joel said. That will be the number one question in the earth. Who will be able to experience the favor of God and operate in the anointing with the Lord to bring the crisis and the glory. That will be the main question and they are and Paul actually directly he answers that right here. It's in Joel chapter 2 verse 11. Malachi chapter 3 says the same thing. The day of the Lord is coming. Who will be able to stand? John the apostle in the book of Revelation picks up on Joel and Malachi and he says it in Revelation chapter 6 verse 17. He goes who is able to stand not just to make it to escape by the skin of their teeth so to speak. Who is going to be able to move in the favor of God when the zeal of God is breaking in upon the earth and who is going to be able to operate to release the crisis and the glory in partnership with God. Paul the apostle answers that critical question in the most definitive way right here in that passage. He says I'll tell you who can stand but it won't be half-hearted. All six dimensions of the armor of God will be necessary. Verse 12 he says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Now we all know that but it's easy to know the concept but then to lose sight of it with urgency in our heart. What he's telling us in verse 12 is that there is a supernatural invisible element to our struggle. There is a supernatural invisible element. It's powerful. It transcends just human logic and reason meaning it's going to take a supernatural answer to this supernatural enemy. Our hearts have to connect in the realm of the spirit. We have to be holy spirit people to withstand a spiritual enemy. Our enemy just isn't sinful desire but it's sinful desire energized by demonic powers as well. What he's saying in verse 12 when he says we don't wrestle just against flesh and blood he's letting them know that this there's a this supernatural this powerful invisible element that transcends human thinking and human logic and this enemy heightens our temptation and this enemy harasses and seeks to destroy us. So this power doesn't only tempt us this power seeks to harass us and in some occasions it's the harassment that we're warring against and other occasions it's a heightened temptation. Those are different dimensions of satan's schemes and wiles against us. There is a place where we take a stand against the attack the harassment it touches our body our relationships our finances our ministry the members of our body I mean our physical body with sickness but there's a place where it assaults our heart as well with sinful dark desires. And Paul is telling us in verse 12 here he's calling us not to be he's basically saying don't be casual about this this is an invisible element so it's not readily apparent the whole attack that's coming against you. Somebody might think well the attack is mostly the fact I have a problem in this area. Paul's saying that is true you have a contribution in your own sinful dark desires but there is a heightened element that you must be aware of. It's invisible so it's not readily apparent and it's supernatural it has more power than you will be able to resist if you don't position yourself to be a man or woman of the Spirit. Saying no is not enough but saying no is a critical part of our cooperation with the Lord. We need to be people who have a vibrant communication with the Holy Spirit. Very easy thing to say but probably the most neglected thing in the body of Christ. To live with a vibrant relationship with the Spirit is the only way with supernatural dimension that we can withstand a supernatural enemy. When I think of the immorality that's just breaking forth across the earth through the internet as being one of the major frontline attacks against the human race and how the book of Revelation says immorality is going to just go to whole new levels and immorality certainly more than being involved with the internet but know this there are demonic powers assigned to make sure that this takes root in the earth in a dynamic way and we can say no and we can turn the other way and that's actually the focus of what I'm talking about today. However there is a suit we have to be people who have some kind of a supernatural communication with the Lord more than just the fact we're forgiven at a distance living with a dull heart and Paul is alerting them he's saying the battle's serious the battle's invisible the battle's powerful you open doors of access the temptations will only get stronger they won't go away you won't just kind of manage them one day get in a different mood they will get stronger and more terrifying the harassment will increase it will ebb and flow in seasons it's a supernatural power you must have a supernatural dimension to your life at the heart level verse 13 he says he says it again he says it twice verse 11 and verse 13 the whole armor take the whole armor up and he says it verse 11 and verse 13 basically summer let me say the same thing twice Paul's emphasizing it he says you know this this uh invisible element this supernatural element of verse 12 of a struggle against powers and principalities he goes you are still able to stand and he takes it to the ultimate he goes even in the evil day now the evil day has two applications it has a a practical i mean a personal application that would apply to any time frame of history and then it has an eschatological or an end time application speaking of the great tribulation the time when evil will reach all time proportions in the earth the it's that's called the evil day in the ultimate sense but the evil day in a secondary sense is when this is when the devil strategically is setting us up he's setting things into motion and there's a moment where it said that the devil drew back from jesus until an opportune time the devil is strategic he lets the context be set up he lets uh small compromises the little foxes that ruin the vineyard work their way in he lets spiritual dullness set in he creates fatigue and depression it or not necessarily uh always uh he creates it but he allows that all to set in a little bit of rejection a little bit of isolation a little bit of fatigue a little bit of condemnation in an opportune time that is the evil day there are strategic times where he comes like a flood of temptation and harassment he comes in seasons that's the evil day in the secondary sense but paul is talking actually in an eschatological sense in an end time sense there uh because he he's he's quoting this who is able to stand from joel and from malachi and he says beloved we can be bold in that day if we do it god's way but there is no substitute for doing it's god's way there is no kind of automatic kind of like the holy spirit's going to move in such power that he will supersede our cooperation with them we will just wake up with flowing hearts of righteousness and it will be taken care of for us there is no substitute for our active participation in these six issues there is absolutely no substitute nobody can do it for you god himself will not do this for you then he goes on he says verse 14 he now begins to lay out the six issues he goes stand therefore gird your waist with truth and here's the one i want to speak to specifically put on the breastplate of righteousness that's that's confidence in the gift of righteousness so we don't draw back in condemnation hopelessness and just quit more people quit out of hopelessness i'm so far gone i might as well just quit so this first application of the brush plate of righteousness is confidence in the finished work of the cross confidence that he who knew no sin became sin that we might become as a gift the righteousness of god we would receive the ability in our weakness to stand before god in confidence but in the place of repentance by the way in our weakness but in agreement with god's heart where we're declaring war against the areas of darkness not just succumbing to them or or just acclimating to them well you know we're just going to live with this for a while we have confidence in as much as we are believing in the gift of righteousness and we are in agreement to wage war against the thing that we're stumbling and we might still be stumbling but we're warring against it that's the first application of the breastplate of righteousness but the second application is is uh not more important but equally important it's the place in the human spirit where we exercise our option and ability to say no before our heart is set free and over the years i've said lord when my heart gets set free it will be so so awesome it'll be so awesome and the lord whispers back and says my assignment for you right now is to say no before your emotions are free oh lord i want to be free and the lord says i want you free but you have another assignment it's part of your destiny to be free god has given every one of us a divine assignment to say no before we're free lord i i don't want to exercise choice under the pressure of negative desires i want to be free and when i get free i am never going back there again and the word of god says you won't be free as a rule there's that one situation with that one guy just showed up one day and god set free that's not normally the case normally the case is it's a process and we cooperate with it we have a divine assignment from the lord to say no in the presence of conflicting desires that want us to say yes it's part of our assignment and every one of us are built in a different way where our assignment is different no one fully understands the weight of the other person's assignment we look at our own assignment to say no we go this is the hard one this is the big one we look at the other guy and go that's an easy one i can say no to that but everyone has their own assignment before set free in the in the presence of desires that are conflicting with righteousness and to say no again there's no substitute for that nobody can do that for you it's not enough to say no but nor is it enough to go forward without saying no it is true the last 20 30 years the uh the voice has come forth it's not enough just to say no but it's almost kind of in a uh kind of in a mocking way putting down the value of saying no because we all know it's not enough just to say no but beloved it's not enough to go forward without a a resolved no in our spirit even in the presence of desires that say yes that's what jesus meant by carry the cross deny yourself there's no self-denial when the heart's freed lord i'll quit when i'm free free me and i'll quit and we just expect one day to wake up on monday morning free and then we'll quit lord says no i want you in the presence of the conflicting desire to say no it produces humility because there's a no and failure a no and a failure or known if it produces gratitude produces she's the whole struggle the assignment itself produces the gratitude and the humility that protects us decades down the road actually it's a brilliant strategy although you know and i'm you know in some moods i say lord just give me that holy spirit injection let's skip that step even though i agree with it biblically it's a brilliant strategy because the very process works humility and gratitude in our spirit and it gives us revelation on how to help others you know if we just woke up free on monday you know we go to sunday church and sunday hear the word wake up monday it's free the very struggle equips us to help others through the struggle so it gives us revelation gives us great humility think of the areas that you've struggled with in the last years and how the lord has given you a little bit of victory you you have victory but with humility oh the whole story isn't that great the lord says you don't have to tell everybody that but remember that you don't have to uh tell every detail of everything you've gone through but the lord says remember that you did get free but it wasn't that wasn't that great all the way through it and it produces awesome gratitude before god and it and it produces understanding and revelation to equip others to bring others with tenderness and sympathy and empathy to bring others into breakthrough themselves the breastplate of righteousness in other words shut the doors of legal access and then shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel verse 16 above all taking the shield of faith he says even above the other five he goes the shield of faith that's the confidence to use the word the shield of faith is the confidence to use it it's the revelation of the word and then the confidence to actually use it and the perseverance to use it you know people get uh understanding of the word but then they get in a jam and they don't persevere they just they don't speak the word of god against the temptation or against the harassment they are passive they kick into a passive mode paul said you know the the first five here are very very important but he goes above everything get revelation of what the word of god the promises of god for victory get a revelation but it's not enough to get revelation you need to confidently use them because we can have revelation and then get into a uh a season where we're feeling a little low and despairing and feeling lethargic and and con and condemned and we lose our confidence to use the word that we know so well from former times so much of the body of christ doesn't have revelation of the word they don't have revelation of the promises of god that he would break through if we declare the word of the lord against temptation and against the harassment and the destruction but it's not enough to get revelation of it that's where it starts we got to have confidence when we're in a bad mood in a bad season how many of you know about the bad season where what we know we're just not in the mood for it right now we're just kind of we just want to somehow get through it but we approach it passively we gotta confidently use the word as well and we have to use it with perseverance we have to do what jesus did thus says the lord it is written it is written it is written thus says the lord it is written and we got to speak to the temptation and we quote the word of god and we speak to the to the harassment and we speak the word of god we have to persevere in using the shield of faith and he goes on he talks about uh the helmet of salvation and you know verse 18 praying always here we are at ihop and i'm not gonna talk on that one but uh i want to focus again on the subject of the breastplate of righteousness let's turn to luke chapter 14 for a moment luke chapter 14 i think the breastplate i don't know which one is the most neglected you know out of the six i don't know but i know the breastplace of righteousness is really at an all-time low right now again the idea is set me free from my addiction set me free from my compulsions then i then i will not do them and the lord says no my assignment is for you to say no while you desire them it produces humility produces gratitude and produces living understanding it equips you to help others in their struggle with sympathy and with true compassion the very process itself revelation i mean uh not revelation uh luke chapter 14 luke chapter 14 verse 25 says now a great multitude went to jesus and he turned to them and said if anyone comes to me he doesn't hate his father mother wife children brother sister his own life he cannot be my disciple i mean talking about a massive statement and obviously he's talking about hating comparison of love uh to jesus i mean i i don't know you know this this might be one of the most important concepts in the kingdom of god that is perhaps the most neglected in church history is this truth right here he says you can't be a disciple you can't operate in the things of god in your full capacity until you've decided this you can't he says it three times by the way that you can't in verse 26 and verse 27 and then in verse 33 he says you cannot be my disciple you cannot be a person who operates in the fullness of what i called you to do you can't it's impossible it's not that you shouldn't it's impossible to do it see our our ministry here the god has called us as a spiritual family our destiny our ministry are the very essence of why we're here is to operate in the fullness of what god has given us as a people that's called discipleship again i i have this idea that verse 26 is probably one of the most important principles in the whole bible and probably certainly if it's not the most it's one or two or three or four it's probably the most neglected one in 2 000 years of church history this this reality right here verse 26 i've looked at this reality and again it's not talking about hating people it's talking about an abounding loyalty to god and to his purpose to your life and his purpose first and foremost is our heart connect with him i'm not talking about uh uh you know wearing out your family because you're going to another conference so that you can get more well known and network more that's not what i'm talking about here i'm talking about a uh profound place of wanting to do the will of god at the heart level he says verse 27 he goes if you if you don't do this if you don't bear your cross if you don't say no when your desire says yes that's what bearing the cross is at the end of the day it's when you want to go right and the lord says go left well let's switch it around you want to go the lord wants you to go right and you want to go left how's that says you can't you absolutely cannot be a disciple you're in delusionary thinking to think you're in discipleship it's a delusion it's a deception you can't be and again though the idea of disciple uh in our context i mean i'm just putting it uh in different language it's operating in the fullness of what god has for us it's being like him and word and deed etc etc you know what i mean by that but it's it's operating in the fullness we're not talking about you can't make it to heaven by the skin of your teeth saved as though by fire is what paul said in first corinthians 3 he says you can't operate in that which i have given you this is a nobody can do this for your husband can't do it for you and your wife can't do it for you your children can't do it for you nobody can do this reality for you you might have a family member that's a disciple of the lord and you not be one and your association with them does not change that now verse 28 this gets real personal here well to it to every ministry but i'm thinking of ihop i like to always take the word of god personally for us not just for them out there he goes verse 28 for which one of you intend to build a tower in other words you're you're going to endeavor to do something for god in your generation you're going to build build the tower you're going to you're going to get the vision and you're going to go forward with the vision to to to have this this impact for god in your generation you're going to he says okay so you want to build a tower you want to you want to build ihop you want to plant a church you want to start a business you want to reach your neighborhood what whatever it is you want to build something that doesn't exist in the will of god and do it with god he goes that that's a good thing that's a good thing you want to make an impact he says sit down and count the cost now the cost he's talking about is more than this but but this is it's at the very core of it it's the cost of our own mature obedience you know it's not just the cost well i'll pay i'll go the hours you know i'm gonna be tired i'm gonna have accusations and people aren't gonna like me all those are part of the cost but the profound centerpiece of the cost is it is my food to do the will of god that's how jesus said it he says will you pay the price of saying no to conflicting dark desires to do my will when you don't want my will he says you're gonna go build ihop will you do this before you build ihop because ihop will never be built i'm just talking about our context in the most general sense we all have different mandates besides ihop ihop is our primary mandate as a spiritual family but we have secondary mandates that are very important but it's all of those mandates he goes uh you got to sit down and count the cost whether you can finish it you get all excited you get the prophecy you get the action plan you make the brochure you call the meeting you start the ministry he goes that's only the beginning of the race do you have the resolve to finish it in righteousness in the midst of the fray of the battle and the temptations and the disappointments and the people who treat you wrong can you finish it in sermon on the mount kind of righteousness well i'm not even worried about whether i do the sermon on the mount matthew five six and seven that's the ultimate statement of obedience to god of the lifestyle of the kingdom most of us go build the tower we think we got you know do we got good leaders with us we have enough money do we have a good brochure we've got an action plan do we have some enthusiasm by others and the ultimate issue of finishing the tower is our commitment at the heart level to be sermon on the mount people that's not the only issue but that is the core issue can you finish it over the years it's one thing to start a ministry whether it's in the marketplace or a church planning or an ihop planning or whatever it is it's one thing to start one it's another thing to finish it two three four five six seven decades later in righteousness and he goes on and he says uh verse 29 he says lest after he's laid the foundation and the years on you know unfold he's not able to finish it he hasn't really decided if he truly is a man of righteousness when no one's looking you can't finish it it's not just about the staff kind of got discouraged and quit it's the heart of the builders not just their resources to work with it's actually their heart it is the resources but it's more than that it's the heart verse 31 he's going to say the same thing but he's going to give a different paradigm instead of building a tower which is more you know plans and and it's something that's going to be very dynamic this is uh an aggressive hostile takeover of the powers of darkness it's it's much more militant uh view of the same principle you know verse 28 is more of a kind of a nice peaceful thing and verse 31 is the same concept but it's a more militant and there's a cry in the land today to be militant he says what king going to go to war doesn't sit down and consider if he's able there's that word able again who is able to stand who is able to finish in agreement with god's heart he goes what man is if he doesn't sit down and consider if he's able with 10 000 to meet the one who's coming with 20 and the only way we're able to go to war is if we really do the whole council of god all six elements in our private life and again it's not like you need some deep teaching on them it's it's the normal things bless your enemies use your money right use your time right say no to righteousness believe the word it's the normal stuff don't don't kind of delay this until you get some five-week teaching on the armor it's the stuff you already know it's just put in military terms verse 32 jesus gives this very interesting uh statement i mean it's it's like no but jesus knows what he's talking about he says tell you what if you're not able to start this war and finish it he goes here's what's better off while the opposing army is a great way a far away in verse 32 send a delegation and get terms of peace he goes back off of the attack mode this is jesus saying don't attack the enemy because what he's saying is this that attacking the enemy presumptuously is a greater evil than not than then backing away and getting your life in order it's a lesser of evils now i'm not saying that a person has to have a breakthrough in every other life before they start but there's a there's a cry in the land we're gonna spoil the enemy's kingdom we're gonna topple kingdoms and we're gonna do this and that and jesus says you know what if you're doing this presumptuously if you are going to spoil the kingdom of darkness while living overtly in agreement with darkness in your heart you will be destroyed in the process that's called presumptuous it's a presumptuous thing jesus actually counsels them to do the lesser of evils it's an evil to back away but it's a greater evil to attack and get destroyed and lose all the ground that could be taken if you're sober about your lack of ability to go forward and the ability isn't training the ability isn't isn't about i gotta go to school a few more years the ability is not mostly in the realm of money and training the ability is at the issue of the heart resolve don't say you know i mean you can cast out a devil and lead someone to the lord and build a mighty church in weeks after your conversion that happened in the book of acts those kinds of things and all over the world that happens so i'm not talking about skill and resource i'm talking about an inability because of the heart response there's a lot of rhetoric today about warfare while people are entrenched in darkness the cry is going out in the land attack let's go to first samuel 4 we're gonna end with this passage first samuel chapter 4 a lot of rhetoric today about attacking it's kind of really the cool thing and i like it i'm not demeaning that i mean i'm i i think it's cool i i say in the sincere sense but it's it's kind of the cool thing to just be militant we're going to go forward and that's a biblical thing it's it's cool and righteous but beloved full-on attack in the building mode the aggressive take down the powers of darkness mode while in our private life living in conscious deliberate intentional compromise in darkness is called a presumptuous sin so david prayed against in psalm 19 verse 13 psalm 19 david the great warrior king he said lord deliver me from presumptuous sins because he attacked a few times while living in sin and it was disastrous he saw that happen in israel's uh in israel's uh i mean in his uh history in israel even in his own kingship he did some things in sin presumptuously he prayed psalm 19 verse 13 i don't want to endeavor to be the great man of god the great tower builder of luke 14 the great war wager of luke 14 when i'm living in agreement with darkness in my private life that's called presumptuous sins 1 samuel 14 i mean 1 samuel 4 this is a picture of going to war that's what ihop is the very presence of ihop a perpetual solemn assembly we are going to war in this issue of fasting and prayer in the spirit i can't think of too many situations that is called to perpetual intense warfare not just a music ministry not just singing songs our mandate is to war in the spirit i don't mean every meeting is a warring meeting that's that that's not what i mean but i mean our mandate it's a perpetual solemn assembly there's an intimacy dimension there's a warring dimension but the whole of it is warring is what i'm trying to say i'm not picking one verse the other both of them will go together what happens is first samuel 4 it's the story of eli the priest and his sons hoffney and phineas hoffney and phineas now the context well i i mean the message of this chapter we're gonna look at a couple verses and close the context is is going to war in presumption first samuel 2 and 3 gives us the context the chapter 2 and 3 before chapter 4 and what's happening in chapter 2 is that eli's sons who were priests chapter 2 verse 12 they were corrupt they didn't know the lord first samuel chapter 2 verse 12 the the priesthood the leadership was corrupt they didn't have a deep connect with the lord but they were in the position and they're going to go to war they're the ones that are going to lead the war chapter 2 verse 12 they're corrupt chapter 2 verse 22 they're living in immorality but they're going to go into the attack mode but they're living in conscious deliberate immorality but they're going to attack and fight the the enemies of the lord this is what you call a presumptuous sin and here's the sin of eli first samuel 22 22 his sons were living in immorality but eli knew it as a leader and turned his face the other way said ah boys will be boys you know those guys i warned them they get too carried away they're gonna cause trouble and the lord was angry at eli he said you are going to attack the enemies of god while living as an enemy of god in the midst of the attack james 4-4 says when we are in friendship with the world we make ourselves enemies of god we are in an adversarial relationship with the god who loves us and even the god that we do love in measure we put ourself in an adversarial relationship james 4-4 when we when the spirit of the world we're drinking of that well he says you make yourself an enemy you put yourself in an adversarial place with the god that loves you and the god that you're trying to love don't do that break your alliance with that so what goes on is that at the same time of first samuel 2 and 3 is not just the evil priesthood of hoffman phineas it's young samuel there's a young prophetic movement it's just a boy he's growing up in the land beloved i i don't know of a passage that it more clearly says where the charismatic church in america is right now there's a young samuel prophetic movement that's in its youth right now in the land and yet the uh the leadership across the land all kinds of compromise but a rhetoric of war and the crowds applauding and foolish enough to join in with the war cry while living themselves in darkness in private areas of their life again i'm not talking about getting fully free before you serve i'm talking about declaring war on the issue fully you may not get the breakthrough you may stumble but you rise up and you declare war on it get god's forgiveness uh set your soul against it make it an enemy of your heart make uh go to war with that issue and you are qualified even before your breakthrough to stay in the battle but it's when we make peace with our sin and we go on the attack we kind of acclimate i'm going to deal with that issue in a few months but you know for now i'm just kind of enjoying it and the lord's favor seems to be on me it just kind of let's let's go the other way that's the presumption presumptuous sin okay what verse one the word of samuel came to all of israel and israel went out to do battle against the philistines now again they're under this ungodly leadership but the word of samuel there's this young prophetic movement in the land verse two because samuel's just uh just a boy growing up verse two then the philistines put themselves in battle array against israel and then they joined the battle and israel was defeated in verse two four thousand israelis die here you know they're going to war against the enemies that they they have a mandate from uh back from moses and joshua to defeat the philistines they're doing the will of god they have bible verses to attack the philistines to be in war against them but now they they lose they lose i mean they're they're under they they got bible verses to attack they got prophetic utterances from moses and joshua four thousand so there's an initial defeat in verse two verse three here's the question of the hour this question needs to be asked by the body of christ and then answered accurately they asked the question in verse three but they answer it falsely the people coming to the camp of israel and the elders verse three and they said why has the lord defeated us today great question a lot of folks won't even acknowledge that there's defeat and those that are acknowledging it that's step one that's not enough though the acknowledging of defeat is not enough and here's what they came up with they came up with a ministry endeavor i tell you what let's go with the ark of the covenant and it will save us from the hand of our enemies let's in let's build an eye hop get people to pray and fast they're living in a little bit of darkness that doesn't matter let's get an ihop going let's get an ark ministry going we'll win there's more uh folks that i talked to that are enamored by ihop by its outward expression and the novelty of hey let's do it without understanding there's a cost at the heart level called righteousness called denying ourselves didn't and i don't mean a cost that we have no one else has that's not what i mean in all building of the tower and waging war in every part of the earth the cost is the same it's not unique i'm just making it personal i hear people all the time and and they're oh we want to do one we want to call the people and they go how do we do it and let's pray and let's get the literature and the impartation and the this and that and the other and let's get going and and it's always mostly about the core people's heart encounter with god in righteousness and intimacy long term and that you can't lay hands on to give somebody well okay they asked the right question and their answer was wrong let's go with the ark of the covenant let's get a new ministry endeavor let's get a a warring let's get a kind of a let's put a militant twist on our brochures and our conferences and that ought to do it let's put a school of warfare into our bible school that will do it let's let's let's go for it let's let's stir things up beloved this question is never going to be answered right by people living in darkness without uh without their own lives breaking through okay israel goes to war they don't know that god's already left them they're like samuel it says i mean samson samson went to war and it says he knew not the spirit left him there's a little bit of the holy spirit moving but beloved the what the body of christ is calling the anointing of the holy spirit almost the show would go on whether he was there or not and the church doesn't hardly even know it they didn't know just like samson the spirit wasn't even with them they had the ark it became evident at the end of the chapter when ichabod in verse 19 to 21 okay let's look at verse 20 let's look at her for so all the people they went to shiloh they got the ark glory to god i mean they got everybody signed up for ihop i mean they got the brochure ready they got the conference they got it all lined up they got it on the internet they got a website everybody's coming oh it's happening they got the ark it's an ark ministry verse 5 let me add my own words they had a conference they brought the ark of the covenant look at this all of israel shouted so loudly the earth shook here's this i mean there's thousands of them in the arena glory to god there's so much momentum and applause but it's serious deception and presumption and they even have the ark and everyone's shouting hoffman phidias they're living in darkness they're the leaders and they're shouting and leading the procession and every nobody has any discernment whatsoever what's going on so they're shouting verse 5 the charismatic shout many are shouting about the ark today all over the land we got to get the presence back or the ark ministries prayer fasting the ark but so much of it is novelty and rhetoric without private reality it's rhetoric it's a charismatic shout there's a old pentecostal statement they talk about a shout without clout and that you know they say oh glory to god they gave the shout but they had no clout you know everybody cheers and doing the kind of more the same beloved we can fill an auditorium the holy spirit isn't in our midst if angels and demons aren't moving when we shout the shout is about nothing the shout itself creates more deception in the midst of the people who think the momentum and the agreement and the enthusiasm is the sign of the presence of the lord people talk to me all the time and i'm just being with some of these leaders they go oh it must be awesome you have foreign staff members and this is that i go i love what i'm doing but it's not that awesome i said there's all kinds of pockets of darkness and compromise in our midst and that's not my point and they have as much as well so i'm not trying to put us down more than others i go my goal isn't to get 1 000 5 000 phil stadiums my goal is for to be real and profound in the sight of god it's not about getting a whole bunch of people and filling up auditoriums and and getting the testimony and they say it must be awesome maybe awesome i go it's only awesome and as much as it's real at the heart level so they went to war beloved the shout is not enough crowds are not enough i hope growing to 5 000 means nothing if the 5 000 aren't connecting with god in their private life hoffman phineas even shouted look at verse 6 the philistines heard it there i mean the whole earth shook it says you know obviously you know it's that it's poetic language in verse 6 the philistines on the other side of the you know over on the other side of the river whatever and they go oh my goodness they misinterpret they don't have any more discernment than the than the israel israel's israelis do they go what is this sound of the great shout a shout they say god's in the camp they thought what israel thought that the shout and the ark was enough but they're living in darkness it's called presumptions verse 10 enemy israel lost verse 10 look at that great slaughter 30 000 they go to war but they go presumptuously they lost i mean we're talking about a shocking turn of events verse 11 the i mean talking about disaster the ark is captured and the two main leaders die hoffman phineas wait a second we had the ark we had the shout we had glory to god everybody was in unity we were going forward the ark's gone and the men the leaders died beloved this is so clearly where the charismatic church in america is and the non-charismatic church it's beyond that it's not whatever it's the body of christ in the west it's we're so inundated with our culture we can't hardly see our right hand from our left hand with keen discernment as to what the issues are in front of us we're so much more american than we are kingdom but it's hard for me to see it i am you are we're born that way that's part of our assignment is to break through the fog of our culture and see truth and we're doing better than other american churches and ministries and christians and so we're happy the fog of our culture is so heavy on my eyes and your eyes we think because we're a little more lively than the group on the other side of town that somehow that's enough beloved we are in this thing at the end of the age for real and in truth verse 12 the report comes back to heli this man of benjamin runs in verse 12 from the battle lines comes to verse 13 and uh eli's sitting on a seat by the wayside he's watching and the man coming he told him the whole city cries now look at this in verse 13 the whole city's crying verse 5 they were shouting now they're shouting again but it's a total different shout there's a giant difference between the shout of verse 5 and the shout of verse 13 this disaster all to the land just another disaster propped up by charismatic hype verse 14 eli heard the noise verse 15 you know he says what's what's going on look at verse 15 he's pictured in verse 15 and again in verse 18 this is the famous portrayal of eli that you hear all the time his eyes are dim so he cannot see he's a man without discernment that's the that's what's intended to be understood in this picture in verse 15 his eyes are dim he's a man without discernment in verse 18 it says that he's heavy he's self-indulgent and without discernment the leadership of the body of christ in this hour even in our midst we have to resist lack of discernment and self-indulgence and getting caught up in our own press reports with the shouting crowds eli he can't you know he let his sons get away with a little this little that he grew into a scandal in the land he didn't do anything about it verse 17 he hears that his sons have died and the ark is captured verse 18 look he fell off of his seat backward he died for the man was old and heavy and he had judged israel for 40 years he's a picture of 40 years of ministry a patriarch one of the old timers but he doesn't have discernment and he's self-indulgent and self-indulgent leaders can't call the next generation into abandonment can't do it i can only call the next generation into that which i am pursuing when no one is looking lack of discernment and self-indulgence produces it in the next generation and his own sons were testimony of it beloved we need uh moms and dads to raise up and i'm telling you the moms and dads at ihop start in your late 20s if you're 27 28 29 30 31 you're you're in the mom and dad category not go find me a mom and dad category you are one you're in the place where you're becoming the moms and the dads everybody older for sure it's a youth movement we're gonna we're supposed to call the 15 and the 18 and the 22 year olds into discernment into holy lives and we can't do it like eli we don't have the zeal we don't have the insight we don't have the resolve for it we're gonna have big meetings and everybody shout it's just and believe our own press reports and all the momentum and it's a disaster verse 19 we'll end to 21 phineas his wife she had she was she was pregnant not to deliver i mean what a horrible day she heard the ark is gone so the ministry's over her father-in-law died her husband died she's giving birth to a baby right then she named the baby ichabod there's no glory the glory is departed there's a lot of ministry a lot of activity going on but it's birthing ichabod activism produces activism beloved the opposite of activism isn't escapism and isolationism being active in ministry is a biblical mandate activism i'm talking about a frenzied activity devoid of encounter or true mandate i'm not interested in frenzied activity i'm not interested in getting everybody shouting and glory to god we're going to war if we're not denying ourself so we can finish the war we start in righteousness well i could go on and on i think i'll just end there let's uh stand before the lord lord's calling us to put on the breastplate of righteousness the lord is calling us to put on the breastplate of righteousness right now he's wanting us to say no to the doors of access the legal asset access points to the enemy he wants us to say no to those access points i'm going to call people forward you like always you can repent in your chair i repent all the time up here you don't have to go down here to repent but sometimes people there's an issue in your life unsettled issues maybe a bitterness issue maybe an immorality issue maybe a money issue maybe an envy issue maybe my time is just so misspent all the time just lack of life management issue which is a disastrous way to live so many do that that issue needs to be settled life management with our time whatever whatever issue we need to get lined up right you want to come forward and ask the lord lord have mercy help me lord i want to make that decision we want to pray for you and ask for strength on your heart if that if you want to do that come on forward i'm going to repent your chair that's as good as that's good too so i invite you to come forward now if you want you can stand you can kneel you can do what you want the lord wants us to shut the doors of darkness in our lives