Shane Idleman emphasizes the power of worship as a weapon against spiritual darkness, urging believers to engage in fervent worship and prayer during times of crisis. He draws parallels from the story of Jehoshaphat, who sent worshipers to face the enemy, illustrating that true worship can lead to divine intervention and victory. Idleman challenges the notion that worship is merely emotional, asserting that it is a vital response to God's call and a means to humble ourselves before Him. He encourages the congregation to seek God with desperation, reminding them that the battle belongs to the Lord and that worship can transform lives and circumstances. Ultimately, he calls for a return to authentic worship and a commitment to surrendering fully to God.

quite a while and that topic has been actually worship as warfare. Worship as warfare and it's no secret that our nation is experiencing stage four spiritual cancer right now. It seems like everything's falling apart, correct? But I'm very hopeful and here's why. Anytime darkness is moving, darkness seems to be overcoming all areas of society, God's word, God's light is still going out even stronger. If you read about the history of revivals, you'll see that God would bring a revival, a spiritual awakening in times of crisis and I think it's a good reminder that there is only one hope right now. Only one remedy, only one solution for this type of spiritual cancer and it's for God's people to get on fire again and begin to worship him and pray like never before. But I want to, is it okay to go on this? I don't know, it looks plastic, right? It's okay, all right. That'd be funny, right, if I fell through this. But I've got a confession to make and I think men can relate, but for many years, even as a Christian, I was not really a worshiper, I was a worker. I was working hard, I was serving, but it's hard to get men to worship and we would say, well, I'm just not emotional. Ever heard that? Well, you express anger real well. Is anger not an emotion? We express different types of emotion and if we could get men back again to being worshipers and on fire for God and leading their family, that is contagious. And so briefly on this topic, I've never preached from my phone before, but I was able to hold notes. So let's see how it works. Worship as warfare. Many of you know the verse about spiritual warfare. The weapons of our warfare are what? Not carnal, but they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds and casting down arguments. In other words, your gun safes are full, but your prayer closets are empty. Oh, I can go deeper if you want. Convicting, convicting, convicting to get us back on our face before God. And it's a wonderful story about many, how many of you heard of Jehoshaphat? Well, Jehoshaphat did something you don't do. Instead of sending out seal team six, he sent out the worship team to go fight the enemy. This is how I fight my battles on my face before God. So if you want to contend for your family, if you want to contend for your prodigal son and your daughter, do not give up. Find yourself on the floor in your prayer closet calling out to God and saying, God, oh, unless you hear my prayers, I'm not going to leave. I'm desperate for you. Worship is not only a battle cry. Worship is a prayer. Did you know that when you get into your worship and you press in and you can find this, read this tonight or tomorrow, 2 Chronicles chapter 20. They said a great multitude is coming against us. Anyone relate? And Jehoshaphat, he feared. And here's the key. He set himself to seek the Lord. Sometimes it doesn't matter what your friends are doing or your family doing or what's going on around you. You've got to set yourself to seek the Lord. You've got to strengthen yourself in the Lord. Although all hell is breaking loose, I will get up tomorrow and I will seek God like never before. God, you'll find me on my knees crying out to you because you are our only hope. And it's a seeking God. And people who go to Westside Christian Fellowship, they've heard me say this before, but I think it's so important. That word seek in the Old Testament has been just a treasure for me over the years. And if you look it up in the Hebrew language, it's a word called bakash. And it means to find, to look for something until you find it. You don't give up. How many of you parents right now, if you couldn't find your two or three year old, would keep listening to me? I hope not. You would get up and you would what? You would find that child. Nothing else mattered. I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to rest. I'm not going to stay. I'm not going to run errands. I'm going to find that child. And so that's what he said here. He sought the Lord. He began to press in. And here's a secret to the victorious Christian life. Press in even when you don't feel like it. I have found that that's often when God moves the most is when I don't feel like it. And I have to tell my feelings, come on, we're going to begin to seek and worship God like never before. And so it says he set himself to seek the Lord. And he proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah. And I do think it's a time that we need to get back to praying and fasting. It's a one, two combination in the Bible that is very powerful. Starving the flesh to be filled with the spirit. And he goes on, it goes on to say, Jehoshaphat reminded God of his promises. I love that. You ever remind God of his promises to you? Lord, your word says this. You said, if I seek you, I will find you. Your word says, the more I seek you, the more I love you, the more I love you, the more I want to worship you. And Lord, your word says that you will fill me with the fire of the spirit. And he reminded God of his promises. He said, if disaster comes upon us and we cry out to you, you will hear and you will save. Folks, we've got to get back to being desperate for more of God. Desperate for more of God, like the cry of Isaiah. Oh God, would you rend the heavens? Oh God, would you rip open the heavens and come down and visit your people? Lord, we need you like never before. And there's a desperation there. He hears the desperate cries of his people. And what's so important here is his faith. His faith overruled his fear. Folks, I know it's hard right now. We're living in some very interesting times. And if you look at the news, does fear ever rise up in you? Like me as well, you've got kids. You look at what's going on. What are we leaving them? But faith must push out that fear or fear will begin to control and dominate your life. So you have to take those thoughts captive and say, Lord, I'm trusting in you. I'm casting these thoughts away. And you push fear out. And you have to remind yourself. I pulled this from an old sermon. What demon can beat God? What power can overcome God? What force can discourage God? What agenda can stop God? What ruler can control God? And what situation can confuse God? None, no one, nothing. That's the God you serve. And so he cried out, oh, our God. Oh, our God, we have no power. We have no power against this multitude and especially men. Did you know it's okay to say, God, I have no power over what's going on. It seems that maybe my family's falling apart, my situation, my finances. Lord, I can't try to fix this. I humble myself before you. God, you are my only solution. You humble yourself before God. Watch what God does with humility. Watch what God does with humility. As a matter of fact, he will raise up the humble. But he will, what? Push down, abase the proud. And getting us to a spot of humility. And so he cried out, Lord, we've got this great army coming against us. And we don't know what to do. But our eyes are upon you. Our eyes are upon you. And how relevant for tonight. Now, all of the people of Israel, all of their little ones, all of their wives, all of the children stood before the Lord, just like tonight. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel. And he said, do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great battle, for the battle is not yours, but God's. You need to remind yourself of that. Listen, I didn't come up here just as a motivational speaker and kind of get the crowd fired up and I'll see you later. I've lived this close to hell. I've been so close to hell, I can still smell the smoke on my clothes. I've walked through that valley of the shadow of death. I have seen God move in powerful ways. This isn't some pep rally. This is the truth of a life that's been radically changed by the power of God. But I don't want to miss this. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him. Now, I don't want to get deep into this topic. But I do want to say this. You have all of the Holy Spirit at conversion, but does he have all of you? Don't leave here tonight. With that question unanswered, you have all of the Holy Spirit at conversion, I believe, but does he have all of you? The fully surrendered life. And many times we read about people just this mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit just fills them and many people can't relate. It's because they have not fully surrendered their life. Once you fully surrender and you come in humble and brokenness, God begins to fill you and fuel you with boldness. You become bold for the things of God. There is one acid test of someone filled with the Spirit of God. Do you love Jesus Christ and do you talk about him often? Is he an all-consuming thought in your life and you want to do more for God? That is a byproduct of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit came upon this individual and he reminded the people, for the battle is not yours but God's. So no matter what you're going through tonight, some of you here are going through a divorce or health issues or financial situations. And I want to remind you, the battle is not yours, it's God's. Just make sure you're on the right side of the battle. Stop trying to fix things in your own strength. God's had to just shut me up and quiet me out and get me out of the way before he moves sometimes. Because I'm a fixer. Man, any fixers out there? I'm going to fix this. And God says, no, I'm going to humble you. I'm going to take away all that you were trusting in and then see if you finally trust me. It's not your battle, it's God's. But then he goes on to say, and I just want to throw this out there, worship demands a response. Worship demands a response. So Jehoshaphat, what did he do? He bowed his head. He put his face to the ground. And the people and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem did the same. And what did they begin to do? They began to worship the Lord. They cried out to God. And I know worship, it can get a little confusing. And really, worship is a lifestyle. But it's also the posture of my heart. Usually in the Old Testament, they would fall down in the holy presence of God. They would say, raise up holy hands to the Lord. There's a reaching up to the Father. There's God, I need you. There's a desperation. See, desperate people do desperate things. Desperate people do desperate things. Could it be that we're not desperate enough to truly see God with all of our heart and with all of our strength? Desperate people do desperate things. And so they begin to worship the Lord. They responded to his call. Folks, did you know you can go and listen to a great worship set and great sermon and never change week after week, month after month? Because there has to be a response to the call. There has to be that desire to want to seek God. So I'm going to throw this out there in just a minute. I'm going to give you the opportunity to be baptized tonight. I'm going to baptize you. I'd love to baptize you. We've got towels. It's not cold. The Jordan River where Jesus was baptized was very cold. It's not cold. So I'm going to be right back there by the baptismal. I want to encourage you to make that response. If you need to give your life to the Lord tonight, fully surrender. Don't play games like I did. Don't play games like I did. I would worship and say I was a Christian on Sunday, but come Monday, I live like hell. I live like hell. And it wasn't until God finally broke me and filled me with the spirit that I can come and testify of that. And so here's the key. They begin worshiping the Lord. They begin worshiping the Lord. What do they do? Worshiping the Lord. I love prayer. I love prayer. But there's something powerful when men and God of worship and they lift up his holy name. There's something powerful and profound that takes place when we empty ourselves of self and we cry out to God Almighty. And you see, you sit on the throne. You are our only hope. God, we humble ourselves before you. He hears the desperate cries of his children, a humble and broken and contrite heart. I will in no way cast away. I hear the cries of my children and they begin to worship him. Now, when they begin to sing and to praise the Lord, what did God do? He fought their enemies. He set up ambushes and the enemy started to fight themselves. Don't you love to see that? We're watching in our nation, our enemies start to fight themselves. God will confuse the whole situation. He'll watch out for his remnant bride. Oh, there's something about the remnant churches on fire for God. I can't prove this, but I guarantee the millions of Christians around the United States are the only reason America has not been judged more severely than it has today. Because there's a remnant, God says, because there's 50 in the land. There's not 50, there's 500,000. I will spare that land because they cry out to me and they humble themselves before me. So the Lord set the ambushes against the enemies. And when you set your heart upon him, he will set his eyes upon you. Never forget that. You can tweet that out tonight. When you set your heart upon him, he will set his eyes upon you. And they look toward the multitude and there were all the dead bodies fallen on the earth. No one had escaped from God because God went before them. Worship is powerful, is it not? Let me just testify what it's done in my own life. Worship is a great sin killer. Worship is a fear quencher. Worship is a power bringer. Worship is a victory giver. Worship is a holiness promoter. Worship is a lust eliminator. Worship is an obstacle remover. Worship is a demon slayer. Worship is a wisdom giver, a peace promoter, a depression lifter. Worship is an anger suppressor, a weakness remover, a strength booster. And thank God, worship is a revival stimulator. God will revive his people. I'm just telling you, it wasn't until I found my face on the floor before God weeping and crying out to him. He said, that's a young man I can use. A country boy from California who barely graduated high school? I can't go and talk, God. Watch what I will do with those that I humble and break. Because when God breaks you, then he can use you. If you're going through the breaking process, the best thing to do is submit. Submit. God, break me, fill me, humble me. I need you. And watch what he will do with humility. It's amazing. So I'm going to actually have John and Richard come back up. And they're going to close with a few songs. But I want to read a verse that many of you have heard before. But it's so important right now. I actually heard it earlier from one of you out in the audience. But the hour is coming and is now here. Now here, Jesus said this, when true worshipers, true, Jesus said true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. You don't change truth, folk. Truth, you don't change truth. Truth changes you. And I'm absolutely convinced we've got to get back to the authority and truth of God's word. It is the gauge. It is, it is what we, it's the mark of a true ministry. Men and women standing on the truth of God's word. Truth is not flexible. Truth is not debatable. I don't care how a person feels. I want to know what the truth is. And our nation is so caught up in not offending. Did you know the truth offends? The truth offends. It offends our pride. That's a good one too. I heard that somewhere. Times change. Truth does not. That is the slogan of our ministry. You know, I just feel this is so important. God is looking for those who are looking for Him. Because Jesus goes on to say, those who worship Him in spirit and truth, the Father is seeking some to worship Him. The Father is seeking some to worship Him. And you're waiting on God, but it could be that God is waiting on you. You're waiting on God, but could it be that God is waiting on you? Let me tell you, I'll never forget 23 years ago. Oh, by my voice, I have to preach in Torrance, LA, Sunday. So I'm saving my voice here. But I was reading the Bible 23 years ago. And it said, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him. But then in that same day, I read these words. The devil roars about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And the thought came to me, who finds you? Who finds you? The enemy goes about as a roaring lion, and God goes about seeking those who are worshiping Him. One or the other will find you. We've got to get fully surrendered and fully submitted to God. And so let me just tell you about a God who rescues and revives. A God who restores and renews. Set your heart upon Him tonight. Seek Him while He may be found. And you've got a well up inside of you like David. Who can say like David? As a deer that panteth after the water brook. Oh, my soul pants for thee. Oh, God, I humble myself before you. I want to be like that deer searching for that brook and that refreshing water, that living water. I need that like never before. And so do you. Turn completely over to Christ tonight. And so this is a call to the broken and the battered. It's a call to the lost and the lonely. It's a call to the fearful and to the weak. And so what I want to do is something a little bit different tonight. Is I want to have the prayer team. They're going to make their way up here. And I want you to get up and come forward. If you're fully surrendering your life to the Lord, you're repenting. You're getting back on track. The prodigal son's coming home. You're done playing church. You want to make that confession of faith. Then I want you, I want to ask you to come forward. Listen, if I knew what I knew back then, if I knew now, I would have ran to this altar. I would have not played games with God. The time is getting dark. And it's getting, it's getting, the times are getting dark. And of course, evil is prevailing. So make that decision. But let's go ahead and all stand up. And I want to ask those who need prayer. If you need to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, come to one of the prayer team members. If it's a prodigal son or the wayward daughter, you need to come home. You need to come back to God and find your way up here as well. And then finally, finally, if you need prayer for any type of situation, healing, deliverance, breakthroughs, anybody have strongholds of addiction and bondage, and you just can't seem to get a breakthrough, they want to pray with you as well. They would love to pray with you. And then finally, remember, where am I going to be? Back there doing baptisms. So if you want to get baptized, we're going to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I would love to pray with you. And I would love to baptize you and just make your way back to the back or the prayer team or do both. Come up and pray and then go and get baptized. And again, moms, dads, anybody contending for the prodigal son or their wayward daughter, come and let a prayer team member pray with you as well. You go and come forward as well and let them pray with you. Intercede, intercede. Oh, I look for a man from among them who would stand in the gap and intercede. God is looking for intercessors. So I either see you up front or back there.