The Battle Cry of Isaiah - Awake & Arise! — Shane Idleman

Isaiah’s Prophetic Call Against Idolatry

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. 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 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, 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.

Isaiah’s Call to Cry Aloud Against Sin

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.

Repairing the Breach Through Humility

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 is 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 it even in Jericho as they walked around it 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. 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 battle cry, there must be a heart cry.

From Anger and Pride to Heartfelt Repentance

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. 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 adulterer, inflaming yourselves.

That's where you've heard that word, inflaming. They inflame themselves with gods 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.

The Necessity of Strong Rebuke

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 with the church, there's love and grace, but sometimes you need to pull out the hammer. And 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 gonna 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, 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 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.

The Holy Spirit’s Anointing for Gospel Ministry

That's the only reason I can stand here today is because the Holy Spirit has come upon me and he has 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.

God Dwells With the Contrite and Humble

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 mightily 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 going to get us through these dire times? I think not. What? What happened in Isaiah's day and what happened in our day?

Confronting Cultural Sin and Spiritual Rebellion

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 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 their 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 any time you cross the line, there is a demand for a strong rebuke. Any time 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 demands a strong rebuke on a nation hell-bent on rejecting Him. But then 57, He switches gears again. He says, thus says the high and lofty one.

Holiness, Worship, and the Presence of God

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 to 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.

A Lukewarm Church Needs the Fire of God

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 gonna love it or you're gonna hate it. And isn't that the truth? Who in the world, who in the world is gonna 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 gonna cut, it's gonna consume, it's gonna 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.

Repentance From Apathy, Pride, and Prayerlessness

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 feeling of the Holy Spirit.

So many people talk about the feeling 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 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. 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.

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 gonna end with one good song, and then we're gonna eat our heart's content. Is that gonna 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 I'm gonna leave the mess. I'm gonna leave the mess for next week. Renew, we've gotta 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 gonna 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. 58, 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, define, 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 gotta be a fight. There's gotta be a struggle. Paul doesn't say 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.

Spiritual Warfare and Repairing the Breach

Top three, 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 gotta 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 gotta get back on the right track with Me.

Isaiah 59 and the Promise to Arise and Shine

Thus saith the Lord. 59, 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, where 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. 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.

The Lust of the Flesh, the Eyes, and the Pride of Life

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, I mean, it's really, 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. Gotta get that bling, bling. Gotta be, 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.