Pull Down The High Places (Video) — Shane Idleman

Fatherlessness and the Spiritual Crisis in Families

Obviously, it's Father's Day, but this message applies to everyone in this room and everyone that will be hearing it later. Just looking around, marriages are crumbling. Men are forsaking their God-given role as spiritual leaders often.

Of course, there's wonderful men out there, wonderful churches. But overall, what you see, the climate in our nation is simply reflected in the climate of the homes. As the homes go, so go the nation.

And on Father's Day, I wanted to be real encouraging, but God also convicted me to be a little convicting. I wanted to read something to you. I actually just printed it up this morning. I couldn't get it off my mind the whole morning, worship.

This is statistics on fatherless children in America, the most recent statistics. Young men who grow up in homes without fathers are twice as likely to end up in jail. 63 of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.

80 of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders, 85 come from fatherless homes. 71 of all high school dropouts, fatherless homes. 70 of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from, you guessed it, fatherless homes.

I'm surprised they put this, but they did. Confused identities, boys who grow up in father-absent homes are so much more likely to be confused about their gender. And we see this huge movement. Much of what you're seeing is not necessarily something that's really happening inside.

It's a movement. It's in fashion to switch identities. It's trendy. Hollywood's doing it. Well, why shouldn't we? Well, if Hollywood's doing something, I should be careful here. There's people here that work in Hollywood.

Up in the balcony, I noticed some of you as well. But you know what I'm saying. We need godly people in all areas of service. Hollywood to state officials. The likelihood that a young male will engage in criminal activity actually doubles when the father's gone.

And I remember something. It's not on here, but a while back when I looked into this. Rape, the percentage of rape increases dramatically. Displaced anger in fatherless homes. Do you see a trend here?

I could really have the tears start flowing if you want me to read the statistics on how it affects daughters. Teen pregnancy skyrockets. Promiscuity. You know what really promiscuity is? They're looking for something that should have been fulfilled at home in a genuine relationship.

Not the sexual aspect. Don't misunderstand. But a father holding them and saying, you're worth something. I value you. I love you. And investing in them and building that relationship. Then they don't go outside and look for that necessarily.

Of course there's exceptions to any rule. The deep emotional wounds. I read a few letters online that daughters wrote to their fathers and it was painful. The hurt, the abandonment. The percentage of them that they feel devalued.

The suicide result. The percentages of women because of fatherless homes. It's skyrocketing. So it is a call to men primarily this morning. And I know what a lot of people are thinking. I've said this before and I actually preached on this a few years ago.

That our excuse is, well, I'm not absent. I'm still around. And I heard something 20 years ago that still stuck with me. The preacher said, you don't have to leave home to be an absent father. That's really what's happening in our nation.

You don't have to leave home to be an absent father. You can be absent emotionally, physically, of course, spiritually. How many fathers are absent spiritually? It's a battle. Trust me. I'm not. I could be sitting in the audience right now.

For me to pull four little rascals around and try to do a devotional. It's like, I'll just get a root canal. But it's hard because the enemy is working overtime. So it is a call to men, even to women, fight.

Fight for your families. Well, my kids are growing up. No, you can intercede. You can intercede. Our grandchildren need your prayers like never before. And I try not to think about it too much. But if you think about where we're going and what kind of world your children are going to be, your grandchildren are going to be living in, that should motivate us to pray.

And it's a very hard balance because, on one hand, we feel the passion. We feel the concern. But we also should have tremendous joy because the darker it is, the lighter the light shines. And trust in God.

God, you're going to see my kids through this. If we would talk about the Roman Empire in the days of Paul, you would be shocked at some of the things that happened there. This is not uncommon what's happening in our culture.

Fathers Must Fight for Their Families

So what I want to do is I'm going to talk about, well, before I do that, I wrote this down this morning, so I want to share this with you. Men don't have to leave home to be absent. Here's how they're absent in many areas.

They're either focusing so much on sports or hobbies or work or themselves. And I know it's difficult because sometimes I get home and it's like, this is daddy time. This is daddy day. I need what? To do whatever.

And self. But sometimes we have to put self on the back burner. Quite often, actually, we need to. And start to focus on our grandkids and on our kids and on our spouses. Invest in them. This is a spiritual battle.

I love what Vance Havner said. He said salvation is a helmet, not a nightcap. Think about that. Salvation. When you are saved, men and women, you are saved to do battle. And what's happening is the church is cowering back and becoming a passive and a doormat.

And we don't want to battle. Salvation. We're saved. Just leave us alone. It's not a nightcap. It's a helmet. It's a call to battle. When Paul gives the image of spiritual warfare, he doesn't paint a very passive picture.

The Armor of God and Daily Spiritual Warfare

Put on the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, the belt of truth and shod. Cover your feet with the preparation of the gospel and put on the helmet of salvation.

That tells me I'm going to battle. And let me remind you, it's a daily battle. Not a weekly battle. Not a monthly battle. It's a daily battle. Every day we need to wake up and say, Lord, put this armor on.

I'm going to battle for my children and for others and for my spouse and for our marriage and for our nation. Oh, if God's people would just call out. If my people would humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

I'll hear their prayers. I'm convinced that God will hear our prayers. So the message this morning is pull down the high places. We're taking a detour away from 1 Corinthians. As I shared with some of you, God just put this all in my heart Monday morning early.

High Places, Idolatry, and False Worship

Pull down the high places. I found myself in 2 Chronicles 14 reading the story of King Asa. But I want to first set it up a little bit. What is a high place? What is a high place? If you're any reader of the Old Testament, you're probably just as frustrated as I am.

Because you read, this king did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. All right, we're going in a great direction. He pulled down the high places. He broke down the wooden images. And then the next king, he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

And he rebuilt the high places. He rebuilt the statues to Ashtoreth and Baal. And I'm like, what's wrong with these kings? I want to slap them in the face. Didn't you learn from the other one? And there's more evil kings than good kings.

And then there's kings where God would say, no evil has any king ever done to the degree this king has done. And he said, because of the sins of Manasseh was one. He said, I have to judge Israel. See, this is why I have a passion for our nation.

I have a passion for those in positions of leadership. Because if I know anything from reading the Old Testament, I know this. Leadership matters. Leadership matters. When a king and the laws and the judges went in an ungodly direction, God says, there's judgment coming.

Leadership matters. Well, we're in a new dispensation now, Shane. We're under the grace and not the law. And it's a different God now. And no, it's not. It's the same story. It's not the God of the Old Testament, God of the New Testament.

The God of the New Testament is the same God. So there's a passion for that and directing our leaders to at least fear God again. So what is a high place? Well, a high place was very interesting. Jeremiah actually talked about a high place being built in a valley.

But the majority of the time, a high place was built on a high place, on a hilltop, where they would go. God says, you worship me this way. And what would they do? They would say, no, we're going to build a high place on top of this hill so it would overlook other areas.

And up there, up on those high places, ungodly things took place. Very ungodly things took place, from the sacrificing of their own children to sexual exploitation. All these things. They would go up and they would worship what they thought was God, but it wasn't God.

It was a seduction. It was seducing the people away. It was idolatry, child sacrifice, false worship. And every single instance you will find of a high place, it always appeals to the flesh. What the flesh wants to do.

Most people have no problem with God. In case you haven't figured out, there's no problem with God. It's the God of the Bible they have a problem with. It's Jesus Christ they have a problem with. They say, well, God's in trees.

There's a cosmic ball of love. God's in everything. I have no problem with the concept of God. And they worship God however they want. And that's false worship. We don't worship God according to the worship prescribed and described in the scriptures.

And worshiping God with our whole heart and mind and loving him and putting him first as a priority. Presenting our bodies as living sacrifices on the altar. So God's people, long story short, they learned how to worship from pagan nations.

They would, oh, look at how the Canaanites worship. Look at how the Moabites worship. Look at what they're doing. Let's worship like that. And it would always draw the children of Israel away from God by false worship.

By these high places. And it's a good reminder to us this morning. We don't follow the standard. We change the standard. That's what a Christian community is supposed to do. You don't follow the standard.

You change the standard. You don't just get into the school district and go, okay, well, we'll be a robot. Let's let our kids have transgenders read to kindergarten kids. No, we change the standard. We make a difference.

We love all people, but we stand for the truth and we say not on our watch. I love you enough to tell you the truth. I love our kids enough to tell you that we have to stand for the truth. We don't go with the flow.

We interrupt the flow. Amen? We don't follow the crowd. We come out among the crowd. So many people, we just want to follow the crowd. And God says, come out from among them. Be separate. And we do not build high places.

We pull them down. That's what needs to happen. We need to start pulling down high places, places of false worship. And I know if you're like me, you feel like Elisha sometimes. I'm studying the life of Elisha, and I can relate to that guy.

When he was in despair, he saw the nation around him falling apart. He's looking at the people saying, what are you doing? Nobody's following God. He actually cried out to God, and he said, Lord, I only am left.

God, all your prophets are gone, and I only am left. Oh, God, and he's so despondent and full of despair. And the Lord said, Elisha, be quiet. I have 7 ,000 that you do not know about. They have not bowed their knee to Baal, nor have they kissed his image.

I've got my remnant, and I will work through them. Strengthen yourself. Pick yourself back up and fight again. And that's what I'm learning. No matter what the news is, no matter what the surveys say, no matter who's coming against you, you are called to stand because you plus the living God is a majority, and you pull down those high places.

So what is a high place? Well, I'm glad you asked. A high place is anything we have built in our lives that pull us away from God, pull us away from worship. And it's sad because I see so many people, and I can pretty much spot them on Facebook because they're into everything but God, even though they have the Christian little symbol.

One man, I finally had to do it today. I Facebooked him, messaged him. He's been here a few times. There's pictures now where he's there a lot with his kids, enjoying this trip with his kids. Never his wife's in the picture.

And she's in other pictures without him. So what's happening is I'm pretty sure they're going through a divorce. In their 30s. What does that do to the kids? Well, they're resilient. They'll bounce back.

No. No, it affects them. Another friend of ours got married the same time we did. Same time. Christians. Well, irreconcilable differences. I'm out of here. I met Plan B. Kids will be fine. What's happening in all these cases?

High places. There are thoughts. You could call them strongholds. Anything that draws us away, we go to a place. They would go to a high place to worship. So people go to a high place, whatever that is in their hearts, in their homes, and it begins to draw them away from God.

Removing High Places from the Home

So here's a few lessons from King Asa, 2 Chronicles 14. I don't know if we have those on the screen because I sent them a little late, but just listen. 2 Chronicles 14 .2. Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord, his God.

Oh, I read it. I say, praise God for this king. For he removed the altars of the foreign gods. So I want you to notice something here. First, he's identifying good and right. What is right and wrong? Truth and error.

You identify this is good. This is godly. This is according to God's will. And then he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and he broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.

He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment. The commandment there means the commandments overall. So something has to be removed. Something has to be broken down.

Once you identify with it, you can't play around with it. You have to break it down. Our cry should be, Lord, Lord, make sin appalling, not appealing. Just a twist, just spell that word a little bit differently.

Make sin appalling, not appealing to us. That should be our cry. God, what is right? What is wrong? And I'm going to break down the strongholds. Are there things in your home that are destroying your family?

Remove it. Break it down. No questions asked. Once you begin to encourage your family to seek God and the commandments and the laws of God and obey God, you've got to remove some things. You've got to break down those things that are pulling your kids away or your family away.

Well, Shane, how do I know? Well, I have a feeling most of us know. I don't think we're that naive. I think we know if Netflix and YouTube is drawing in a lot of attention. Are they looking at pornography on their phones and their devices?

What kind of family dynamics are we allowing? And I know the easy route is this. Well, just let them continue. Isn't that easier? Who wants to argue with a 12-year-old that's upset that their phone is taken away?

Not me. So, see, we take the easy route. Okay, kids, you run the home. You tell us what to eat. You tell us when we're going to go to sleep. You tell us who your friends are. You tell us what you want to watch.

I just want to be comfortable. God says enough. That's foolishness. You're not to be their best friend. You're their father. You're their mother. You lead them. You're the watchman. You're the guard. You're the warrior.

You shape. You say, as for me and my house, there we go, Joshua. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. When you turn 18, you can take that little self-centered attitude and do whatever you want.

But when you're under this roof and you're not paying the bills, I'm paying the bills. You have a comfortable bed. You have a full refrigerator. Guess what? Who's calling the shots? You might not like that now, but you will remember that later.

Amen to that. I remember. I've told you guys a few times. I saw my mom back here, and I just remembered this. I used to have all those bad, bad albums. You know, I'll date myself. ACDC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth.

No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, I just love that screaming. The demons. You could just hear the demons screaming as you're pounding that 40. You just love this darkness. And then there's a Bible on them.

What's going on? Bible. We're taking authority in this house. We're putting the Word of God. I'm praying for you. And I say, don't pray for me. I'd leave the house. I'd slam the door shut. Don't pray for me.

I want to have fun tonight. And the kingdoms collide because you're not to be a best friend. You're supposed to defend your family and guard your family. They might not listen, but that does not relieve you of responsibility.

You're called to lead and guard and shepherd. And I'm tired of passive parents who allow the children to run the home. Pin drop. Right? Now, I just upset all the kids in the audience. But you have to know something.

We love you enough to speak the truth. Sex trafficking in America is an alarming rate. And it's a growing. Can you believe this? I'm reading studies. It's a million, a billion dollar industry. It's a growing industry.

I'm like, how does that work? How are we allowing these things? Predators. Praying on our children. But we're like, duh, duh, duh. Al Bundy. Remember that guy? That's who I think of when I think of the modern day.

You remember Al Bundy on what was it called? America with Children. Not a good show at all. Go watch. Leave it to Beaver instead. But that guy's an idiot. He puts his hand in his pants and just lets the kids do what he wants.

He's clueless. They paint the picture of the American father. But the Bible says that you're to be a watchman. That you contend for your family. You pray. You worship. But I don't see anything happening.

Remember strongholds are taken down one brick at a time. Sometimes the whole wall doesn't fall down. It takes brick to build them. It takes one brick at a time to destroy them. So fathers, if you say, God, I've been wrong.

I've not been leading my family. I'm weak in this area. I'm saying that. This is hard for me. You get four, now five little stinkers. They don't want to sit and do daily devotionals. They want to argue all day and look at computers.

Where is my laptop? Where is my iPad? I'm addicted. I'm addicted. I must have. I must have. And you need to break them from that addiction. Just like you're addicted to caffeine. They're addicted to their phones.

Try pulling a cup of coffee away from a mom in the morning. You'll see the same exact thing. So we too must remove, break down, and rebuild in our hearts and in our homes. Like I said, Vance Havner said, salvation is a helmet, not a nightcap.

Persevering Through Fear, Discouragement, and Suffering

There is a fight. It's a battle. It's warfare. I know it's difficult. Life is difficult. And you feel like giving up. I do. My flesh wants to give up. Not quit pastoring and go move to Las Vegas or something.

But, you know, like, just whatever. I'm not looking at the news. I'm just, I'm not going to be concerned. I'm just going to, Lord, this is too much. A couple thoughts. I don't think we were created to absorb everything that's going on in the news.

I don't think it's healthy to be informed with everything that's going on. Because it goes against a lot of scriptural texts that talk about finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and lovely and noble and honest and upright, you just eliminate most news sources.

Right there. Yes, know what's going on, of course. And I know I talk about this a lot, but I think it's very important because Christians now are becoming very anxious and very fearful and very worried.

And we should be spending more time in the word of God. That's what builds you up. That's what strengthens you when the blows come. They come to all of us. Maybe I'll just share this. I don't know. I've been praying about it all week.

Or actually four days now, three days. But some of you know, my back went out Monday. And sciatic nerve got pinched. And Lord have mercy, my tears start coming. There's so much pain. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, finally started to get better.

Thursday, the pain is unbearable. My foot goes numb and just this pain. And then I have a dentist appointment where they say your tooth is infected by the root canal. I'm like, well, might as well get that out too because I don't like a dead tooth in my mouth.

So now I've got this root canal infected. And then I go to dermatology once a year. And the doctor goes, oh, my, this looks like melanoma. I'm going to have to have this taken off and sent to the lab.

I'll let you know Tuesday. That was Thursday. So I'm like, okay. And he's like, do you understand? I'm like, I understand. We're going to have surgery on your back, remove this. Hey, it's okay. How about this?

What's going on? And one of the nurses, she's like, it's going to be okay. I'm like, I know. I saw your Bible by the printing copier. Oh, yeah, it's okay. But see, all those blows are coming. All those blows are coming.

And I know people are going to say, but you're the health pastor. No, I am now. I was not the health guy. I used to put hydraulic oil on my skin for suntan lotion. And a lot of steroids I've talked about.

Ecopoids and Winstrel V, they're veterinarian drugs. Sustanon 250, testosterone, Dianabol, Anivar, Anadrol. Very toxic on the liver. I've drank enough for 10 people in my life. I've done a lot of damage to my body.

And it's by the grace of God that he still keeps us going. And that's why I became more health-focused. Because I do believe it's important. And I do believe that we can make a difference. I think a lot of people are sick because they're not caring for their body.

Now, that was a big rabbit trail, so let's get back on track. And to observe the law and the commandment. J .C. Ryle, I love what he wrote. He said, oh, let not one of us linger. Oh, let not one of us linger.

Time does not linger. Death does not linger. Judgment does not linger. The devil does not linger. The world does not linger. Neither let the children of God linger. What is lingering? Linger means wake up.

Wake up. Pick up your warfare. Begin to worship God again. Pray like life depends upon it. Because it does. And seek God again with all your heart. Elijah stood between the people. And I sometimes feel that way in our nation.

He said, hey, wake up. How long will you waver? How long will you linger? How long will you falter between two opinions? If God is God, follow him. But if Baal be God, follow him. People, make a decision.

This is not the God of maybe I'll squeeze him in. Or I'll put him on the back burner. Or I'll worship him on Sunday. This is a God who demands all of our obedience and all of our worship on an hourly basis.

Jesus Christ, I give you all of me every day, every morning. I need you, God, to move in my life. That's the God we serve. And you have to get back to that. Listen, you have to get back to that. Lukewarm living accomplishes nothing.

Oh, simple obedience. Simple obedience to God and surrender. That's the Christian life. Why don't like that? Well, that means you're full of the world. And not full of the spirit. Because those full of the spirit hate the things of the world.

The corruption. The decline. The perversion. Do you realize we have pedophiles running for office? Openly admitting it. I think it's Virginia. They'll eventually lower the age of sexual consent. You have to wake up, people.

This is a time to serve God with all of our hearts. And all of our strength. And to say, God, not on our watch. Something that always sticks out when I read it in the book of Judges. The scripture says, and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord.

Asa’s Victory and the Battle Belonging to God

And that's when the decline starts. And then verse 9. Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots. I don't know what you're going through, but you don't have a million people wanting to destroy you.

And there's a valley they would look out. And you could see the army. A million men. Think of the Rose Bowl filled ten times. It's a lot of people out there. And they're not nice to kings when they capture them.

I won't go into detail what usually happens. But suffice it to say, it's not unlike what ISIS would do. And so Asa cried out to the Lord his God. Oh, this is our only hope. Guys, this scripture meant so much to me this week.

Because you have to praise Him in the calm. You have to praise Him in the storm. You praise Him in abundance. You praise Him in lack. You praise Him when you're confused. And you praise Him when there's clarity.

Our praise and our worship can't be contingent upon how I'm feeling. That's happiness. Happenstance. What's happening to me has to be joy. Like Job. Can you imagine the words of Job? Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

Though he takes me through hell, I'm relying on heaven. And so he's surrounded by this army. He cried out to God. He said, Lord, it is nothing for you. And is that not true? Lord, it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power.

And then he did something very humiliating, which many people won't do, especially men. See that four-letter word in there? Help. Help. Help. God, help. We don't like to say that, do we? This is a side note.

I've never understood this, but people always say, oh, men hate to ask for directions. And I'm like the complete opposite. If I'm lost, in two minutes I'm pulling over and getting directions because I want to get where I'm going.

But we often don't want to say help. I got this. I'll fix this. And I will tell you, according to the word of God, we cannot fix what's going on in our culture. 2020 won't fix it, no matter what side of the aisle you're on.

Legislation sure won't fix it. It's good to have all those things in place. But the only thing is when our nation can cry out or the church or the remnant can cry out and say, God, help us. We need you.

Oh, Lord, our God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude. Oh, Lord, you are God. Do not let man prevail against you. He reminded God who he was. You're God. Do not let man prevail against you.

We're your people. Don't let man prevail against us, Lord. Do something there. So pulling down high places always involves a battle. Isn't it interesting? He's doing all this for God. This is what Christians have to understand.

I'm doing all this for God. I'm pulling down these images. I'm restoring genuine worship. Now there's an army coming after me? What's going on? Pulling down strongholds, getting back on track with God always involves a battle.

Because there's an enemy of your soul who will not give up. The thief cometh but not to kill, to steal, and to destroy. Goes about as a roaring lamb? Roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Well, Shane, this is very discouraging.

It actually should be very encouraging. Because there is a God that we can pray to just like Asa prayed. Lord, there's nothing for you. You can help us with many or with little. Nothing is too big for you.

Spiritual Weapons for Pulling Down Strongholds

What you have to do is align your heart with God's. See, we have to get on God's side. That's the key. Get on God's side. 2 Corinthians 10 reminds us, For though we walk in the flesh, What? We do not war according to the flesh.

Now it's something I talk about all the time, but it's a great reminder. This is why prayer and worship and the word of God and fasting, all those spiritual disciplines, this is where they come into play.

That's your warfare. That's your battle. That's your armor. And a stronghold or a high place is built just one brick at a time. Have you ever thought about that? I'm trying to remember who it was. Maybe Jensen Franklin.

I was listening to the message. He was right on the money. He talked about thoughts. And we build these high places in our lives one brick at a time. Negative thinking, sin, entertaining sin, whatever, critical spirit.

I mean, we can just camp out here on the bricks if you want. And you just build that brick. You build a stronghold one brick at a time. Now remember, though, often the high place, the stronghold has to come down one brick at a time.

And we get frustrated when the whole wall doesn't come crumbling down. It's one brick at a time. One sledgehammer hit at a time. Boom. Boom. And you take it down. So whatever that programming is, because that's really where it is.

The verse goes on to say, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are what? They're not this. They're not carnal. But they're mighty through God.

For the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments, something that comes into your mind that's not right, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and you bring that thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Here's the battle. I'm preparing for the Health Expo in July. Many of you know that. It's coming up. Many of you signed up for it. And I came across an interesting saying, and it's so true. It's like the body wants to heal itself.

It's the mind that will get you into trouble. It's the mind, the thought process. So that's where your warfare is. You tell the flesh I'm going to worship. You tell the flesh I'm going to read God's Word.

I'm going to trust in God despite my circumstances, despite what he gives me. This idea that we love God based on what he gives us has hurt a lot of people. So you can remove whatever the stronghold is in your life, whatever the high place is, you can remove it one brick at a time.

And Asa called on God, in your name, in your name. Let me remind you this morning. If you leave here, remember this. You can highlight it. You can tweet it, whatever you want. As a child of God, if you're a child of God, the battle actually is not yours.

That brings a lot of relief in my life. I don't have to, okay, okay, I've got to do this. I've got to pray. I've got to, oh, Lord. The battle is yours. God, it's yours. It's often he wouldn't say during battle, go, go, Moses, you've got to do this.

What did he say? He said, having done all, stand. You stand and you hold the ground. You stand in commitment and obedience and the love of Christ and you worship and then Asa's son, actually, Jehoshaphat, actually went into battle, if you can believe this, with the worship team.

Just stand there, having done all. Stand there and hold your ground. That's how we're going to defeat what's going on in our perversion, our nation. You stand and you say, not on my watch. We're going to pray.

We're going to fast. It's not my battle. I don't know what's happening, but God does, and we're aligning our hearts with his. Any child of God, the battle is not yours. Where does my help come from? My 401K, my visa, my gun safe is full.

Yeah, but your prayer closet is empty. It comes from my strength? No, God's strength. As a child of God, the battle is not yours. In case you're wondering if I'm trying to offend people, this morning I am a little bit.

Complacency, Prophetic Warnings, and Finishing Well

Long story short, God delivered the people. He saved them because they called on him. But guess what? Peace and complacency and comfort set in. Sometimes you should thank God for disruptions. Thank God for distractions, disruptions, because peace and comfort and complacency can actually be our downfall if we're not careful.

What happened? Chapter 15. The king became complacent, and the spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Obed. He was a prophet. The spirit of God came upon him. We've talked about that before. In the Old Testament, the spirit of God would come upon a person.

Now in the New Testament, as a believer, you have the Holy Spirit in you, but I still believe the Holy Spirit can come mightily upon believers as they're filled with the spirit of God. That's what we need.