Shane Idleman passionately preaches about the urgent need for the church to awaken and arise, drawing parallels between the prophetic messages of Isaiah and the current state of America. He emphasizes the importance of addressing idolatry, pride, and spiritual apathy, urging believers to engage in heartfelt repentance and to boldly proclaim the truth of God's Word. Idleman calls for a battle cry against the darkness, encouraging Christians to rise up with humility and brokenness, allowing the Holy Spirit to empower them to make a difference in a world filled with sin and confusion. He stresses that true change begins with a heart cry that leads to a battle cry, and that God desires to dwell with those who are contrite and humble. Ultimately, he challenges the church to be a light in the darkness, to repair the breaches in society, and to live out their faith with courage and conviction.

The title is, The Battle Cry of Isaiah. The Battle Cry of Isaiah, Awake and Arise. If I were to choose my top two books of the Bible, they are Isaiah and Jeremiah. My heart resonates with them. I just, everything is highlighted. I just can't get enough of these prophetic voices. The reason is, they parallel with America. It's unbelievable. I mean, before Isaiah 60, you know, you look at Isaiah 57, and God is calling the people out of idolatry. He's saying, you slay your children under the trees, and you chase after the harlots and the prostitutes. And when you cry out for help, let your idols deliver you. And he talks about their idolatry and calling on the name of the Lord. The prophetic books are often not chronological. It's not like exactly this happened here, you know, chapter 57, 58, 59. It's not like a history book, so that makes it difficult. Chapter and verses were only added about 500 years ago. Thank God for that. But that's why you won't see Jesus reference a chapter and a verse. What does he say? It is written. So all these people, negative Nellies that like to email me, where's the chapter and verse? Hey, I'm just following Jesus' example. I'm just preaching from the heart. It is written, it is written, it is written. And when you saturate your mind in the word of God, sometimes it is written just comes out. And so, there's this cry. You see, I mean, I see Isaiah 57, you know, he's building up, but then he doesn't leave the people there. He says, cry aloud and spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Did you know that that is Bible preaching sometimes to get a little loud? Isaiah, cry aloud, lift up your voice like a trumpet, let the people know about their sins. And then of course, Isaiah 59 is my hand not short, my ear heavy that I cannot say, but your sins have hid my face from you. And he talks about, people say, but Lord, we're seeking you and you're not answering. We're even fasting and you're not answering. We're fasting and you're not answering. What's wrong with the equation? He said, because your heart's not right. You're going through the motions. Anybody been there? Going through the motions. But we're doing these things in honor of you, but my heart is not right. They were oppressing the people. They were taking advantage of the people. They were basically mean and nasty, and they had an attitude very prideful. And God said, this is the fast I have chosen. Loose those bonds of wickedness. Loose those, and go and help the people that need you. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Then your light will shine forth. Then you will be called a repairer of the breach. Breach, something has breached in our nation. And I believe we all have, many of us have a yearning to make a difference. There's gotta be, this is perversion. This is corrupt. This is evil. The only thing a third year old, third grader should know about sexual orientation is that girls have cooties. Not all kinds of illicit, perverted things. And you can, I believe we can repair this breach, but it's gonna take a lot of humility and brokenness in seeking the heart of God. And then He goes in to say, arise and shine. The glory of the Lord has come upon you. Make a difference. And I'm gonna talk about that in a minute, but what is a battle cry? A battle cry is something that would summons the army to battle. There's a battle cry. And hopefully the enemies would hear that and they would tremble. You can see that. You could hear even in Jericho as they walked around and other spots in the Old Testament. The Philistines would hear, what is that? That sounds like the land is shaking because the nation of Israel is praising their God. What is going on? There is a battle cry. And I want to encourage you this morning, you need to get that battle cry back again. Don't be shamed into silence. You see that's what's happening, correct? We come against something. Hey, this isn't right. Homophobe, narrow-minded, white supremacist, nationalism, Zionist, what? I don't even know what you're... I'm just reading the Bible. I'm just preaching the Bible. But see if they can shame you, they think they can silence you. We can be proud about America and not be called a nationalist. We can be proud about what God has done in our nation and with our families. We can point out sin and not be called names, but be ready because it's only going to increase. Do not be shamed into silence. I know it's difficult. I know it's hard because it hurts a little bit, but I'm not that kind of person. But I'm not that. Why are you calling me that? Because see, if they can discredit you, they can discredit the message. That's what this is about in our nation. Discredit the messenger, then I don't have to embrace the message. And the media does a darn good job at that as well. But before there's a heart cry, there must be, I'm sorry, before there's a battle cry, there must be a heart cry. Many Christians are angry. Are we not? But we're still arrogant. No yups for that one. I couldn't resist. Well, that was great. Many Christians are angry, but we're still arrogant. We're wound up, but we're not worshipers. And we're haughty, but we're not holy. Funny side story. Haughty, you know, prideful. H-A-U-G-H-T. Before I sent my article that you guys have to an editor, and they said, hey, I don't think you meant this. I spelled it haughty, H-O-T-T-I-E. And I said, I married a holy haughty, so I'm okay. I'm sorry. My kids are like, dad, how do you know what all this means? Because I'm not that old. There's holy haughties, there's baby mama drama. There's lots of things. Okay, let's get serious. 9 a.m., come on. So there is a heart cry first. There's a heart cry. It has to start there. It's good to have a battle cry, but the battle cry actually flows from the heart cry. Awake and arise. Make a difference. And God will work, not with an arrogant heart, but with a broken heart. Look at what He does in the life of brokenness. And as I said in chapter 7, He said, you sons of sorcerers, you offsprings of the adulter. Inflaming yourselves. That's where you've heard that word, inflaming. They inflame themselves with God's under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rock. It was abortion back then. So that's when He said, when you cry, let your idols deliver you. And of course, at this point, I know in the minds of some people, and rightly so, and I get this question sometimes, well, Shane, what about grace and love? What about grace and love? Well, just look at Isaiah 55. God says, everyone who thirsts, come to living water and drink freely. If you're thirsty, come to Me. And if you seek the Lord, He will find you. See, grace and love, and we talk about that, doesn't erase judgment. They work together in harmony together. That's why Paul would encourage Timothy, preach the whole truth. Preach the Word, Timothy. All of the Word. And we've crossed a very dangerous line. They crossed a very dangerous line as well. Their blatant sin demanded a strong rebuke. Can we all agree with that? That we need a spanking from God. Our nation needs a spanking. If He could spank anybody, I would direct Him to Washington, D.C. Or Sacramento. But it's where a person is at, and we've done this at the church, there's love and grace, but sometimes you need to pull out the hammer. And they demand, it demands a strong rebuke. Jesus goes in and turns over the money changers' tables and makes a whip and drives them out. It demands a strong rebuke. And I've shared with this before, but God really, I don't know if He softened, I don't know what even the right word is, but years ago, I was frustrated at my calling. I mean, my mother-in-law's here. She says, well, Shane, let me tell you about Shane. You'll either love him or hate him. Is that true? I mean, so many of you, thank you. We need to hear this. Oh my Lord, I've been changed. And then others, how dare you? You, you, you, you, you. The conviction is tough. And so you're angering and you're helping and you're angering and you're helping and you're angering and you're helping. It's hard. And I began to complain many years ago. And God would just, but this is what I've called you to do. This is, you're going to be John the Baptist, not John the Beloved. And so once you become comfortable with your calling, doesn't mean you're arrogant. Actually, the bolder you are, the more humble you need to be. And it's a very hard balancing act. I haven't arrived. I'm a work in progress. But I can see why now why God would breaks and breaks and breaks, because then you can preach with tears in your eyes the difficult truths of the Bible that need to be preached. They need to be, especially now. And now we, it demands a strong rebuke. And I get frustrated, as do many of you. We look across the landscape, even maybe pastors on TV, and you think we're living in the 1950s. It's all you're, it's just smiling and encouraging and smiling and encouraging. I just talked to a pastor recently and explained the deep state, because there's no deep state. That's all conspiracy theory. Trust me. There are people in highest positions of office that are at odds because they have different worldviews. When past presidents put people in positions of office, it's no secret who Obama appoints, if those appointees are still in office, it's going to be kingdoms colliding. So this is not conspiracy. If it's true, it's not conspiracy theory. And so we do have this evil underpinning working in all these different facets. And it demands a strong rebuke. And we don't need cowards in our pulpit. We need watchmen again. And there has to be that. But it's difficult. It's challenging. But we must arise again. Arise and shine with the pulpits. Arise and shine with missionaries. Arise and shine with the people inside the pew. Would they arise and shine? Because the light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. That word upon in the New Testament is epi. It's a preposition. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you make a difference in the world. That's the only reason I can stand here today is because the Holy Spirit has come upon me and he's anointed me. Jesus said, he quoted Isaiah. When Jesus quoted Isaiah, he said, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me "'to preach the glorious gospel, "'to set the captives free, "'to disintegrate wickedness "'and release those who are bound.'" And that same anointing can fall on a spirit-filled believer if they surrender their life. Okay, I'm done. I can go on vacation now. You guys are ready. And still before we get to 60, look at the heart of God. Yes, some strong words, but then in chapter 57, for thus says the high and lofty One. For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity. I dwell. I dwell with a contrite and a broken people. The best way to go up is to go down. The best way to be used by God is to be unused by yourself. He says, I dwell. I dwell with Him who has a contrite and broken heart. If I could preach one message throughout the United States other than a message of salvation, it would be humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Break under the hammer of God. Church, we need to repent. The biggest need in the church today among Christians is to be filled mindly with the Holy Spirit. There's too much jockeying for position or starting this program, or give me the ministry. If I was on that worship team, I would bring down heaven. No, you wouldn't. You need to be on this altar and crying out to God and let Him change you and wreck you. God can change the course of human history through humility. And I can hear it now. Shane, you talk about this topic often. Well, here's the deal. I'll make you a deal. As soon as I see the church humble themselves, I will stop. As soon as I see this altar full at 6 a.m., do you know we have a third service? Doors open at 6 a.m. We just have worship on for an hour and a half. Number one excuse. Ah, that's tough. I'm tired. And now we know what the problem is. It should be the opposite. Hungry for God. Wanting God to make a difference. Seeking God with all of our strength. What does seeking God with all of our strength and all of our heart mean? What does that mean? Does it mean come to church on Sundays when I don't have anything else on my schedule? As long as I get a good parking lot. As long as He's done within a certain amount of time so I can feed King's stomach. Is that gonna get us through these dire times? I think not. What happened in Isaiah's day and what happened in our day, they crossed a very dangerous line. Haven't we crossed a very dangerous line? Do you know when they promote reconstructive surgery for 12, 13, 14 year olds without telling their parents? To change their gender and all the whore stories that are coming out of the sexual perversion and the transgenderism reading to kids in the kindergarten classes and the pornography in the school libraries and the debauchery, a word we don't hear very much, and sexual perversion. And we've crossed that line, not to mention the little children. And there's thunderous applause in New York and California. Now we can now kill a nine month old. Praise God. We crossed the line, folks. We crossed the line. And anytime you cross the line, there is a demand for a strong rebuke. Anytime you cross that line, you see what happens is we confuse God's patience with His approval. And there's a call to love and a call to mercy and a call to grace. And God even said, when you were born, Israel, you were like a newborn little child and laying there in your own blood and going to die. And I cleaned you up and I nursed you and I brought you to my bosom. But then you begin to grow and you rejected me and committed spiritual adultery. And my love and grace would draw you back and I would send prophets, rising them early and sending them. But they mocked my messenger, they despised my word, they scoffed at my prophets until the anger of the Lord arose against His own people. And there was a call to mercy, a call to grace. But as we find in Romans 1, as we find throughout Scripture, even you keep suppressing the truth, God at some point will say, you want it? You got it. My grace and my mercy abounds and it's still here. But at some point, the judgment hand of God must fall and it demands a strong rebuke on a nation hell-bent on rejecting Him. But then in verse 57, He switches gears again. He says, Thus says the High and Lofty One, just picture that, Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity. His name is holy. His very nature is holy. His character is holy. He calls us to be holy and come out from among them and be separate. Come and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And there's a holy splendor about Him. Thus says the High and Lofty One. You better listen. I dwell. God will dwell with the people with a broken and contrite heart. Could it be if you're disconnected from God, it might be more on you and not Him? I dwell. I will be with. I will consume with passion My Spirit on Him who has a contrite and broken heart. That's the person I want to dwell with. I believe that's what David said. One thing have I desired. One thing have I desired. Above all else, one thing that I have desired. I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart and who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor has he sworn deceitfully. Listen guys, I came here to tell you this morning, God can change the course of human history through humility. See, many people have a battle cry, but not a heart cry. And if anything breaks my heart more than anything in the church, why I write books, why I fast and preach my heart out and pray and I'm a work in progress too, please look to the cross, don't look to me, let me get out of the way. He must increase, I must decrease, but I can at least point you in the right direction. I can at least point you to the right. One thing that breaks my heart more than anything, of course, the salvation of souls. But a lukewarm, timid, cowardly church that has no spiritual power. And I can tell you, out of a thousand people in a church, maybe 50. Am I just being honest? Maybe 50, maybe 100. More here hopefully, more here hopefully, because either, like my mother-in-law says, let me tell you, when she tells people about West Side Christian Fellowship, she says, let me tell you up front, let me just get this out. And I've heard her say it, and I just laugh. You're either going to love it, or you're going to hate it. And isn't that the truth? Who in the world is going to come week in and week out and hear Pastor Shane and Abram just preach their heart out and call out sin and expose compromise unless they're hungry for more of God? Sometimes your spouse drags you, I know, but sometimes, I've had people stumble in and go, what was that? My friend invited me, I've never heard anything like that. I'm offended. And William still said, when people first come under the sound of Holy Ghost preaching, they are mortally offended because they've never been exposed to the white light of the Gospel. See, any time you're preaching with the power and authority of the Word of God, surrender to the Holy Spirit, it's going to cut, it's going to consume, it's going to devour the sin in our hearts and in our lives. And what we choose to do with that is up to us. But that is my biggest concern for the church. Many of you know, many of you have come from other churches. Where's the fire? Where's the unction? Where's the boldness? Good time to remind you, the number one email just came in this week, I just answered this question today. Number one question for over a decade now. Where can we find a church like that in our area? Every state in the union. When I say that, I don't elevate us, I elevate God's Word and show you how important it is for a church to be on fire for God. People are contagious. People want that. There's a holy hunger. There's a desire for more of God. I've got to be fed by God's Word. And that's why, and I say we didn't come to play church. I don't know about you, but we didn't come to play church. We didn't come to have a social activity. Go rent the Elks Lodge if you want that. We came to hear from the living God. Lives might be crushed before they're rebuilt. Addictions might be exposed before they're dealt with. Marriages might break before they're restored. You've got to let the Word of God go. It is called a hammer for a reason. It is called fire because it devours. And the Word of God is sharp like a double-edged sword. So before there's a battle call, there has to be a heart cry. We must repent of apathy, repent of pride, and repent of prayerlessness. It's kind of funny, I am not even worried to preach this message at this church. But some other, like the one I'm going to, I'm like, oh boy, this is going to be interesting. This might go over like a keg of beer in an AA meeting. But God calls us to do those hard things. You'll get that on your way home. Remove things that are distracting you and pulling you away from God. Remove the, this is so important, because Christians, we don't often just jump off the hill. We're led down one step at a time. And if we don't remove the things, the things that are pulling us away from God, the Bible has a word for that. Idolatry. And so things that can pull us away, what they call the old man, or the Adamic nature, or the flesh that is enmity with God, there's these things that will actually pull us away from God. So if we're doing those things, we're entertained by those things, we're living that life, we come to church and we're kind of dead. Because we've been quenching and grieving the Spirit. And the vast majority of people I preach to every Sunday are living that carnal life. That's the hardest thing to witness as a pastor. And some of that carnality maybe comes from wrong thinking. That bitter, angry, upset, always complaining. God's Word has a lot to say about that. Remove grumbling and complaining from you. Let things that are edifying come out of your mouth. And the government's always up to this. And look what's going on now. Always grumbling. Always complaining. Downer Debbie. And God wants to expose that this morning and remove that from your life. So you can have that mighty filling of the Holy Spirit. So many people talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit, but they don't have it. They talk about the fire of God, but they're still eating ice cubes. Remove those things that are pulling you away. And I love when people, you're just, Shane, you are just too radical. Nobody can live up to this. Well, did you know this is historical, biblical, New Testament Christianity I'm preaching? The problem is we've drifted so far away from God's call to holiness that now holiness and righteousness and being filled with the Spirit, now it looks too hard and too weird and too bizarre and too extreme. You can call me a holy roller. You can call me a Jesus freak, but please don't call me lukewarm. There's a difference there that takes place in the heart of a believer. Remember, I'm preaching historical, biblical Christianity. The New Testament church would come in here and say, okay, when was the last healing? When was the last breakthrough? When was the last demon expelled from a person? Well, we don't do that anymore. What do you do? Well, we sing a song, and then we have Brother Bill come up and give us some announcements about the potluck and the men's barbecue. And then we try to get through three other songs, about three minutes each, so we don't go too long. I'll get rid of the accent, I don't know where it came from. And then the pastor, he's down to 25 minutes because we just watched something that shows the attention span of people is now down to 25 minutes. And then we're going to end with one good song, and then we're going to eat our heart's content. Is that going to draw us closer to God? The New Testament church said, that's not church, that's a social club. You might as well go rent the Elks Lodge. I can upset, I'm leaving, so don't want to leave the mess. I'm going to leave the mess for next week. Renew, we've got to renew those spiritual disciplines. Get in the Word of God. Live in the Word of God. Schedule your time, or your time will schedule you. Listen, these things are foundational. As the storms come, as the storms come, the house that will not fall is the house that is built on obedience to Christ and His Word. That is the only house that you will see stand. If for some reason, another virus miraculously appears, and now the government is trying to do other shenanigans and shut down, you're going to see a lot of churches who will not make it. God is, I believe, showing, removing the chaff from the wheat. And with the real church of God, please stand up. That's how God moves in these dire times. Chapter 58, cry aloud, spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell My people their sins. And again, I already alluded to this, but why isn't God answering? Why isn't God answering? They fasted, but they're going through the motions. They didn't remove wickedness. And see, that's a word that kind of throws Christians off. I'm not wicked, Shane. Well, wickedness, if you look in the Hebrew, interpret the word wickedness in the Hebrew language, what does it mean? It just means things that oppose the will and ways of God. So there is a lot of wickedness in the church. Things that are opposing the will and ways of God. And that will draw us away. Break every yoke, he said, which breaks the addiction. Break the besetting sin. See, there's got to be a fight. There's got to be a struggle. Paul doesn't put on a blanket for protection. He says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And having done all, just stand there with your loins girt about with truth, breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit. And we are engaged in a spiritual battle. The sooner we realize that, the better position you'll be in to defeat the enemy. Top three public school problems in the 1970s. Talking too much and making noise. Today, it's rape, robbery, and assault. Bringing deadly weapons. There's a jungle now. It is very sad to see. He said if you turn to Me, if you break this yoke of oppression, if you turn from your wickedness, if you stop this fornication and even spiritual adultery and drunkenness and always just looking for entertainment, things that draw you away from God, if you repent of these things, then your light will shine. Then your light will shine. But I want the light now. No, you've got to break and repent of these things. Then your light will shine. And guess what God will call you? He will call you a repairer of the breach. What does He mean? There's a spiritual breach taking place. The bridge has collapsed spiritually. There's a big void of destruction and darkness. God said I will call you as repairer of that breach. I will put My light in you, but you've got to get back on the right track with Me. Thus saith the Lord. Chapter 59, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from God and He cannot hear. And so see, you see the buildup, right? In Isaiah 57, the idolatry. He's calling out those people. He's saying let your idol save you. And then chapter 58 about calling the nation back and lifting up your voice like a trumpet. And then the great crescendo of Isaiah 60. And again, I don't know if it's chronological order. We don't know exactly because Isaiah would grab certain things. But he would say, Arise and shine, for your light has come. And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Basically, be encouraged. The light is here. The light of Christ is here. The Holy Spirit can come upon you. He's not just in you. Because if He's in you, you could be quenching and grieving the Spirit. But when He comes upon you, and now there's this light and there's this joy and there's this newfound freedom in Christ. But Shane, what about context? Well, good point. Because most theologians agree, and if you keep reading Isaiah 60, the whole chapter, some of it towards the end, would have to do with maybe the millennial reign of Christ. Where there's a time where the Gentiles are going to be drawn to Israel and it could have future application. But there's definitely present application as well. Most theologians would agree on that. So welcome to the mystery of God's Word. How can it apply to the future in many cases, but yet still apply to me? Because God's Word transcends time and space and things like that. He can say something that is prophetic, but He can also say something that is now. He can also say something that was valid 2,000 years ago. You know? The seven churches in Revelation, for example, that was I believe written directly to those seven churches in Asia Minor about 500 miles above Israel. Above Israel. They weren't even in Israel. They're up in a whole different area. Smyrna, Laodicea, Philadelphia, all these churches He's speaking to have relevance still today. It's amazing. I like what commentator Stan Mast said about this whole chapter of Isaiah. And more specifically, this first verse. It's about Israel and it's about us. It's about Jerusalem and it's about Jesus. It's about then and it's about now and it's about the future. It's a text as pregnant with meaning as Mary was pregnant with the Messiah. It's good news is time-bound and timeless and timely. For every time and every place and every person, the good news is that the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. And that brings light into our thick darkness. And every time I read it, to me, it's a battle cry. Do you see that? It's a battle cry. Arise and shine. Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. To me, that seems like a commandment. Hey, I've done all this. Arise, shine, for the light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. And Bible students will know if you keep reading that chapter, it could have something to do with the millennial reign of Christ. It could have a future sense of fulfillment because of the language and how Israel will be a light to the Gentiles and different things. But there's something called present and future application that I just talked about. That this is very relevant for us today. And I like what theologian Stan Mast said. It's about Israel, but it's also about us. It's about Jerusalem and it's about Jesus. It's about then and it's about now. It's a text as pregnant with meaning as Mary was. It's good news. It's good news is time bound and timeless and timely. For every time and every place and every person, the good news is this. The Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. And that brings light into our thick darkness. And I would say again, this is the sticking point for many who call themselves Christians. And let me just say, those who are legitimately Christians, our blessing can become our curse. And so so many people, and I've been there, I can slip in there as well, just as easy as most people can. But there's this constant magnitude that draws us away from God. Anybody can relate? Whether it's sleep or... If you want to know how the enemy's coming at you, it's going to be from three things. You ready for these? You taking notes? Well, we already know. The Bible tells us. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. That's how He shoots at us. And so what these things do, the lust of the flesh, if we cave in and we listen to it and we acknowledge it and we obey it, we begin to quench and grieve the Spirit. And now I don't want to rise and shine because I'm stuck. I'm stuck in failure. The lust of the eye. With the eye, wow, if I could just have that. You could just have, that's where that phrase comes from, keeping up with the Joneses. Anybody hear that? Younger people, bling bling. Got to get that bling bling, got to be it. And now so many young adults want to be YouTubers and make 50,000 a month. And it's the lust of the eye. So see, as we're fulfilling and following these things, we can be drawn away from God. See, we want the haughty, but not the holy part of it. And then the boastful pride of life. Another hard part of my calling, but I've accepted it, is it's as consistent as the sun rising. I know who I upset by the feedback on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, emails. And when you throw a rock into a pile of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit. And so when you're preaching these kind of things, the things that hurt, the conviction, those who want to change, God does miraculous things. But those who get upset, you're just extreme. You're just in my face. You're just mean-spirited. No, I'm just being biblical. It's called conviction. You need to stop running from it. And that's how the enemy will work. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. And so if we're to arise and shine, we've got to repent and keep these things at bay. Oh, they'll knock on the door still. They'll still want to come in. But do you allow them entrance? And now the enemy has a stronghold. And then pride says, it's not me. I can handle this. I can control this. And we can't arise and shine. And it's interesting, he's saying, your light has come. Jesus has already come. As a benefit of Jesus coming, He said, I must go. He told His disciples, I must go so I can send the Helper to come alongside you and to be in you and then to come upon you. In the New Testament, there's three prepositions for the work of the Holy Spirit. Alongside, P-A-R-A, and then in you, E-N, and then epi, upon you, an overfilling of the Holy Spirit. So don't let this stuff scare you. It's all biblical. But many conservative churches are afraid of this topic because they haven't experienced a mighty move of God's Spirit. And many Christians, if there's a couple different topics that upset people, it's the one on the deeper life. Isn't that interesting? When I start to talk about spiritual awakenings and revival and fasting, oh my goodness. Man, the hatred on Facebook. You just stay in your lane. You just preach the Gospel. And I go to their Facebook page. Oh, they're in and out burger. No wonder they don't like me preaching about this topic. Right? And they don't want that deeper life. All night prayer meeting. Count me out. Worship in the morning. Not me. Not my style. And people get it convicted. And then they have to start making excuses and putting me down to hide their lack of spiritual fervor. That's just the bottom line. I'm just shooting you straight. Doesn't mean everything I say is perfect because a lot of it's not. But I'll be the first to admit if I say something off. I'll be first to admit if I push too much. But I don't think the problem now is we're pushing too much towards spiritual disciplines. I think we're drawing away from them. It often takes calamity. How long were the churches full after 9-11? Couple weeks. Couple weeks. You think China's threats to Taiwan are just threats? They're not really anything behind that? I don't know. When you have a 200 million man army and the military now is matched with ours, it wasn't that way in the 1990's. These are interesting times. We need to be seeking God like never before. Shane, why are you trying to scare people? I'm trying to scare the hell out of you. I'm trying to scare the compromise out of you. Because I'd love a church filled with the Spirit of God. So what you think is hurting is actually helping. What person is going to stop a surgeon and say, no, don't remove that cancer. I don't like you. That's going to hurt. Nobody would. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. That word glory is interesting. It's beauty. It's divine glory. It's radiance. It's magnificent. And there's something about a person when the Holy Spirit has just so, I don't even know what the right word is, just so overcome them. They're not perfect. They still have issues, but there's a beauty. There's a radiance because the Holy Spirit is now working in and through them. And there's a call to arise. Shake up off the old man. We are trying to prepare an end times church, not build a country club. We're trying to encourage your children and put the fear of God in them and build up an end times warrior putting on the whole armor of God, not some weak, cowardly, woke church that will do nothing for God. Have you ever noticed that? The woke churches, the woke churches that the pastors aren't going to talk about anything controversial. They're just going to, you know, make everyone feel warm and fuzzy. That will not get them through the difficult times. It just won't. God may close down more churches. Can you imagine? What would be the strongest stench in the nostrils of God? But to have somebody who says we're the church and they're not the church. They're cowards. I just had somebody today, I think the person that asked me those other questions. I'm moving to a certain state and we looked around and we saw so many churches that flew the rainbow flag or the BLM curriculum. They're woke and weak and lost. That's just the truth. I don't have an axe to grind with anyone. But the word, if you're not sure really what woke is, it's just a new word for political correctness. I don't want to offend, so I'm going to tailor my message as not to offend. And we forget in doing that, we just offended the cross. We just offended God. Nobody's left yet. That's a record on these kind of messages. Isn't that true? The darkness hates the light. We're trying to develop children who will be warriors for the faith, might end up dying for the faith, can expose the unfruitful works of darkness, to be gentle and loving and humble, but still able to do battle until He returns. And that does not easy. Why do we always forget that when it comes to spiritual things? Like we think we can just be lazy. We'll be down at Coronado, not too far from Navy SEAL training. Go ask them about laziness. How are the most powerful military people, whether it's Army Rangers, Navy SEALs, whatever it is, because I get Army Rangers mad at me when I say Navy SEALs and vice versa. So, but they prepare for that. Army, they prepare for that. An athlete prepares for that. All these other areas, we don't think it's weird. It's expected that Kobe would work out that much, or Jordan would work out that much, or whoever your favorite athlete. It's expected. Olympic athletes work their heart out year after year for one little thing that perishes. But when it comes to Christians, we think we can just be lazy and lay back and experience the wonderful blessings of God. Let me tell you, no blessing comes without obedience. The fruit comes after the warfare. Any Green Bay Packers fans? Steve, I know, you don't have to raise your hand. Vince Lombardi said to his players, any man's finest hour, the greatest he holds dear is when he lays exhausted on the field of battle victorious. How much more of the Christian, your finest hour is going to be when you lay exhausted on the field of battle victorious? Oh, the regret that might go through the minds of millions. If I would just arose and shine. If I would just fought for the things of God. Not physically. Again, your gun safes are full, but your prayer closets are empty. Am I just preaching truth? It's not coming from arrogance. It's coming from a righteous indignation. I guess Jesus was arrogant too, huh? When he overtook the money changers and threw their tables on the ground and whipped. God, he whipped them. I would love sometimes to whip some, but you can't do that kind of stuff. But he could get away with that. He could get away. Don't worry, it wouldn't be hard. You know how you roll up the wet towel and you just, come on, wake up. Get up, crybaby. Get up. Get up, arise and awaken. Put the spirit of God upon you because the darkness is over. What's gonna come of us if we don't wake up? You're worried about 2024. I'm worried about right now and being on the floor before God. I love what A.W. Tozer said. 1950s. Life is a battleground, not a playground. Isn't it interesting, Paul doesn't say, wrap yourself up by the fire in a comfy blanket. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the wiles, the trickery, the craftiness, the deceit of the enemy. And having done all, stand. Just stand there and fight, Shane. How, Paul? Like a wimp? No, with the breastplate of righteousness, with the belt of truth, with the sword of the Spirit. Shod your feet in the preparation of the Gospel. Protect your mind with the helmet of salvation. Go get ready, get ready. I'm ready for that battle cry to put on the full armor of God. Your children, your children need to hear you. Stop complaining. Stop living in fear and put on the whole armor of God and let them know. I've already told my kids I might die for the Gospel. I might take a bullet in the head for the Gospel, but at least I can die knowing that I serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords with a boldness and a battle cry. Don't, don't look to me. I struggle with cowardliness just like everyone else. Well, what's the difference? The power of the Spirit. I'm telling you, I've been saying that for 12 years. Ever since we started this church, I think my very first message was on Isaiah 57. I opened the MacArthur Study Bible this week and I remember writing that first message of the church, September 25th, 2010. I'm a little more broken now than that time. Little more love in my heart, tears in my eyes, but it's the same truth. That truth transcends time. But on this concept of arising and shining and the glory of God being upon us, it's always God who fills you. And this is where some Christians get their theology wrong, on pneumatology. Pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit. Is they either think God does it all. Let me just go home, have a Netflix binge, and God's Spirit is gonna fall upon me. Okay, let me talk to you after service if that's at you, because we need to talk. But then there's the other side where it is, and I've, you know, I struggle. It's works, works, works, works. I gotta fast again. I gotta do this again. I gotta do this again. I gotta work, I gotta work, I gotta work, I gotta work, I gotta work, I gotta work, I gotta work. It's exhausting. And as always, the middle is the healthy spot. God says, it's my work, but you need to yield. You need to give the right away. You need to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit. God satisfies us, but we must surrender. He pours in when we are empty. He breaks us to rebuild us. He convicts us to change us. So let the hammer of God break you. Let the Savior shape you. Let his fire consume you. Let his love devour you. Let the potter build you. Let the master lead you. And let the bondage breaker release you. See, there's a yielding. There's a yielding. That's why we open the altar up to get Mr. Tough Guy off of the pew and onto this altar. I don't need more of God. You most certainly do. You most certainly do. Let Isaiah's battle cry become your battle cry, and watch what God does in and through you. Arise and shine. What greater call do we have? What greater call do we have? We've got to get rid of wrong thinking as well. What I call stinking thinking. Anybody negative out there? Oh, that was a very good response. Anybody negative out there? It's hard right now, I know. But grumbling and complaining is going to cause God's Spirit to be quenched in grief, because the Bible says give thanks in all things. Not thanks about things, but thanks in all things. So I have the right heart, the right attitude. Yes, I'm fighting this severely dark, demonic agenda in California. I don't like a lot of things that are going on. I'm not a fan of the new proposed budget, whatever, adding like 50,000 more IRS agents. No, no agenda here. No, no, no. Right, these things can get you a little discouraged. How our military is becoming weak and woke. But don't let that put out the fire in your heart. Let it stoke it. Okay, now I'm getting to morning worship. Now I'm getting to church every... Now I'm going to open the Word of God again. I'm going to pray for an hour and read the Word with like... I'm going to let this fuel my fire instead of getting all bent out of shape and doing nothing. What can you do with an arrow that's bent out of shape? Zero. God needs us to straighten up our hearts. And I know at this point a lot of people, but Shane, my marriage, but my finances, but my parenting, but my health. But when you get your arrow straight, when you get your arrow straight, a lot of other things fall into place. So many things fall into place. I think Pastor Abram would attest to this, but I would say close to 90% of all marriage problems would be fixed if both people humbled themselves and got straight with God. The problem is carnality and pride and arrogance. And so many people, well, Shane and Morgan, how do you guys do it? We need God every day. You don't think we'd have big marriage issues? Absolutely. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. If we go back to the old nature, the old way of doing things, that old Adamic prideful nature comes up. So my question is what's it going to take to break you? What's it going to take? You know, I quoted Isaiah 61 earlier where the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus, and He's anointed Him to preach the Gospel and I believe that same anointing can be on us as well. Let me explain again. Jesus said, you will do the same things that I do and even greater. Not greater, nobody can do anything greater than Jesus. Raise the dead. He knew God's will perfectly. But greater in scope where you have millions of people fill the Spirit doing things for God. And this is exactly what a Spirit-filled believer is to do. To preach the good news, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. But something where Jesus actually stopped before He said, and the day of the vengeance of our God. He actually said to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance on our God. And I believe the reason was it wasn't the day of vengeance yet. I didn't come to destroy the world, I came to seek the world. Remember, He came as a lamb, but He's coming back as a lion. Israel was expecting a lion, but they got a lamb. And this day of vengeance on our God, that's why I love Amos too, one of the prophetic voices. He said, prepare to meet your Maker, O Israel. And many people need to be challenged by that today. Don't you agree? America, Christians, prepare to meet your Maker. Prepare to meet your Maker. And before you get all worked up about Amos as being some great prophet that must have went to school and had this great upbringing and this great lineage, he was a sheepherder. He was a sheepherder. I think he was around 210 years after Solomon dedicated the temple. You had a couple kings in Judah and Israel. This was about 30 to 40 years before Israel was invaded by the Assyrians. Almost that same 250 years, almost the same amount of history America has had. There's a lot of parallels. And he comes in and he just says, thus saith the Lord, prepare to meet your Maker, Israel. Put away from me your stringed instruments. Put away the sound of your guitars. I don't want to hear your piano anymore, but let justice run down like a river and righteousness like a mighty string. Let God's people again begin to praise me on their knees and shout out that the glory of the God come upon us and want more of God and desperate for more of God. Listen, in these dire times, passive Christianity is not going to get you anywhere. So number one, you have to look at your heart. Do I truly know the Savior? Have I truly repented of my sin? Have I embraced this incredible life of dying to self and being crucified with Christ who is no longer me, but Christ who liveth in me? Do I truly know the Savior? Because I'm pretty sure a lot of Christians don't. There's no fruit. And if that upsets you, that might apply. That's how it works here. If you haven't been coming very long, what I often like to say is, if you don't like what I'm saying, it's probably because you need to hear what I'm saying. It stirs up the hornet's nest when you confront compromise, when you confront disaster in our personal spiritual life. So that's my challenge to some of you this morning. Some watching, listening later. Do you truly know God? Have you truly repented? Because see, knowing about God is not knowing God. Knowing God is when the heart breaks, there repentance takes place. I see myself as a sinner. I see myself, I'm not right before God. This is not acceptable. God, I am dark and I am evil and I am wicked and I've been trying to do good things and that doesn't cut it anymore. God, I'm repenting. I'm changing my mind with how I see things and as a change of mind, there's a change of action. Repentance. And believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father. I repent of that. And you'll see a lot of Christians finally become Christians. And then of course, the group I was in for so many years and many listening here fall in this camp, it's the Christian who's been grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit. This doesn't apply to you anymore than it applies to a non-believer. You're going to leave here, nothing's going to be different. You're not going to witness to Jesus Christ. You're going to put on the same music. You're going to drink the same alcohol. You're going to have the same lifestyle. Nothing is going to change. Am I just being honest? Come on. I'm not 12. I know how things work. When there's no fire in your heart, there's no fire in your life. And you come here on Sunday wanting more of God. Week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out. But the fire's not there. You've got to make a radical decision to completely surrender everything. And I still do that. I say, Lord, I give you everything. But not that. Can I still be mad at that person? Can I? It's that fully surrender, getting the heart clean. And what I've noticed, full surrender is really deep repentance. I'm repenting deeply of these things. And as a result, I'm filled with the Spirit. So the only way to really arise and shine and be filled with the Spirit is to acknowledge that pride is preventing that, besetting sin. God is not on the front burner. He's not even on the back burner in your life. He's out in the garage, and you might get to Him when you can. Listen, if you think I come here and I like to say these things, I don't. I even struggle, Lord, why do I have to talk about that? Why can't I just talk about Joel Osteen stuff? Wouldn't that be cool? Just smile. No, bear with me. Just smiling, right? You know, and just all the positive, and you can go get them, team, and you're the head, not the tail, and let me just encourage you, and you have a third and fourth chance, and seven steps to financial breakthrough, and 12 steps to rebuild your marriage. Come on, team. We need encouragement sometimes, but America has reached such a point of depravity that sometimes we need the voice in the wilderness crying out and saying, return to God, and He will return to you. Break under the hammer of God, and be broken by the Gospel. Be broken by the hammer of God, and be rebuilt again, because God doesn't break you down to leave you there. He breaks you to build you back up, and say, now you can stand before Me. Let the ashes arise, and the beauty come from the brokenness of God. Amos, the prophet Amos said, he said, prepare to meet your Maker, Israel. Prepare to meet your Maker, and I don't know where all of you are today, those listening later, those listening now, those here, but are you prepared to meet your Maker? Are you prepared to stand before God? Because see, many people have a form of godliness. They go through the motions. They're a good person, and one of my favorites, oh, Shane, I've been a Christian all of my life. From when you came out, yeah, I was already a Christian when I came out. My name is, I was already a Christian. Now, I know sometimes that's, okay, I'm not gonna get, but be careful, because there has to be a point where you repent and believe in the Gospel. I repent of my sin. I'm, see, I'm not a good person. I'm not a Christian just by birth. I'm a Christian because of the new birth in Jesus Christ, and I've repented of my sin, and because of that, I've been set free, and that kind of Christian is the real legitimate Christian because they're the fruit of repentance. But so many people in the churches of America think, think, hey, I'm in church. I'm a good person. I've always had God in my life. I'm good. No, you're not good. Prepare to meet your Maker, oh Israel. Prepare to meet your Maker, oh America. Have you truly repented and believed? If not, this is the time to do that today. Shane, how do I really know? Well, there's a couple easy signs. Number one, you're not prepared to meet your Maker. As much as I don't want to die, because I've got things to do, I have full confidence standing before God because of what Jesus did. There's peace. There's assurance. The fruit. And hopefully there's a little bit of fruit in the life, right? And so if there's no fruit, you don't want to really, ah, I don't know. I hope God sees my, I had a family member tell me this. I hope God sees my good things and outweighs my bad things. Have you ever listened to my sermons? There's no good things. There's no good, even a good thing you think you do is but a filthy rag in the sight of God. There's no good thing. Nothing we can do that is good. And good things often come from bad motives. Watch, let me walk this lady across the street. See, see me, see me? I'm doing a good thing. No, your heart's wrong. I just gave 10,000 to the missions. Your heart's wrong. You did it for your own glory. And then I want to speak to the Christian who's feeling beat up. Anybody share that feeling? Beat up. Can't make a difference. Look what's going on. I've tried. I've failed. God can't use me now. And that is a lie from the pit of hell. Because I can tell you, if anybody shouldn't be up here, it's me. I wasn't sure if I was going to share this because I've shared it before, but so many people have moved and we have so many new people. But it's one of my favorite poems. It's the title is The Race. And I'm just going to read a brief excerpt. It's from a, I pick up where a young boy, he's running this race with others and his dad's watching. But he keeps falling. Instead of first place, he's going to come in last place. He said, I've lost, so what's the use? I'll live with my disgrace. But then he thought about his dad who soon he'd have to face. God wants some of you to get back up. Get up and fight again. Failure is not final. Until your last breath. I shouldn't be up here. My Lord. But God will take a broken vessel and He will rebuild it so He gets all the glory. He gets all the credit, but we get stuck and God can't use me now. I've fallen. I've failed. But soon he heard this voice. It echoed low. Get up. Get up and take your place. You were not meant for failure here. Get up and win this race. With borrowed will, get up it said, you haven't lost at all for winning is no more than this to rise each time you fall. So far behind the others now, the most he'd ever been, still he gave it all he had as though he ran to win. Three times he'd fallen, stumbling. Three times he rose again. Too far behind to hope to win, still he ran to the end. They cheered the winning runner as he crossed the line first place. Head high and proud and happy. No failing, no falling, no disgrace. Be careful of that Christian because their fall is coming. If that's you, be careful. Do not take pride in what God is doing in your life. No fleshly glory in His presence. But when the fallen youngster crossed the line last place, the crowd gave him the greatest cheer for finishing the race. And even though he came in last with head bowed low and unproud, you would have thought he'd won the race to listen to the crowd. And to his dad, I don't know what's wrong with me this morning. I'm telling you. I can relate. But God, I didn't do too well. And to his dad, he said, I didn't do too well. To me, you won, his father said. You rose each time you fell. For all of life is like a race with ups and downs and all. And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall. We hear the word perseverance a lot, don't we? Have you ever broken that word down? Per-severe? Severe? You have to persevere when things get severe. Get up. Get up and take your place. You were not meant for failure here. Get up and win this race. If I could tell one thing to the American church right now, it would be what I just preached. Get up. Get up and finish this race. But it's going to start with deep repentance. Deep repentance. God, I've failed in this area. I've been playing games with You. I haven't fully surrendered my life. I want to arise and shine. I want Your light to come upon me. Because see, it has to start from desperation, doesn't it? It can't just come from good thinking. You know, that pastor made a really good sense today. That's about as far as you'll get. That's as far as you'll get if you leave it there. It's not about making good sense. It's about breaking the heart and being desperate for more of God and setting my alarm clock for tomorrow morning to be in prayer. Throw that TV out the window if you need to and get desperate for more of God. If nothing changes, nothing's going to change. We have a lot of insane Christians right now. You know what insanity means? Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. You know, you listen to messages. You're inspired. But I'm nobody. I'm just a mouthpiece. I'm just a dumb construction worker with no education. And God will use the least likely. When people say, wow, where'd you go to seminary? Nowhere. School of hard knocks. Locking myself in the prayer closet. Because God gets all the glory. Some of you need to come to this altar this morning. Some in the balcony. Some in the back row. Back row, Joe. I used to love sitting in the back row so I could sneak out when worship started. Oh, I can keep preaching. I can keep preaching because I'm going after the carnal Christian this morning. Why am I doing that? Because I'm angry and want to tell you off? No, because I love you and I want you to have the deeper life of Christ. Because I know the carnal Christian is the most miserable spot you can be. Double-minded man. Unstable in all his ways.