Partial Obedience Costs Everything | 01/04/2026

We released the word of the Lord.

What we felt like is a word for this year.

It was intense, so I'm glad that a lot of you are back this this Sunday.

I was like, Lord, your will be done.

I have been pondering and thinking on this word.

I understand I'm the one that gave it, but this was not something I thought up, okay?

And so I was even surprised by a number of things in that, and it has convicted me personally.

I've been I've been looking at that word, reading it, praying into it, feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit in a good way.

Because anytime he prunes something, that means he's desiring more fruit.

Anytime he tears at us, it's because there's growth there intended.

Amen.

So anytime we feel the pain in the spiritual, understand that is going to produce something.

So I'm excited for this year.

I'm excited for the user, but I'm also approaching this with a sober mind and a sober heart.

Lord, I want to be serious about your word.

I want to be serious about your will, and I don't want to mess this up.

Okay?

Okay.

Let's go ahead.

We're going to read in 1 Samuel 15.

If you want to turn in your Bibles, I typically use the NLT translation when I preach and just read.

I do have a King James translation for the verse at the end, so that'll be exciting.

It's actually the King James version 1900 version.

Fancy, right?

Very fancy.

Yeah.

1 Samuel 15, we're going to start at verse 1.

And also, Gary, I'll click through the slides.

I'm not putting all the verses up there, so I'll click through the ones that I need.

So 1 Samuel 15, verse 1, it says, One day Samuel said to Saul, It was the Lord who told me to anoint you, as king of his people.

1 Samuel 15:1

I'm sorry, as King of Israel.

Now listen to this message from the Lord.

I want to now I'm going to put verse two up here.

It says, This is what the Lord of heaven's armies has declared.

I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt.

If we go to the next verse, it says, Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation.

Men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.

Samuel, as you all know, is a prophet of God.

Saul is the first king of God's people.

Back in the Old Testament, you had prophets, you had priests, and you had kings.

The prophets, the priests, they they they interceded on the people's half.

They were kind of like the middleman of the people towards God, and then God would relay things to them to minister to the people.

You had the king who carried out the will of God.

The two were different, and they were not allowed to do each other's role.

Okay?

Samuel.

Basically, you had priests and kings.

Kings were not allowed to do the services of the priests.

They weren't allowed to do their job, okay?

And vice versa.

They were very distinct and different.

Okay.

Now in Revelation 1, it says that we are a kingdom of priests.

There's an aspect where we carry this kingship.

We carry the responsibility to hear the will of the Lord and carry it out, where we also have the responsibility to personally hear the Lord to say his truth.

Amen?

Okay, so we carry this both.

So what's interesting is that when we read the Old Testament, we can I kind of do this.

I kind of say, you know, all this stuff kind of applies to me.

It can apply symbolically.

Does that make sense?

We're not necessarily going out and killing a bunch of people now today, but in the Old Testament, you know, that's how God had them do things.

So make sure you understand that.

Don't go kill people.

I'm looking for who's writing that down.

Don't go kill people.

Lord Jesus help me today.

So the point is that Samuel comes to Saul and Saul's the king, and he says, Saul, this is God's will.

This is God's plan.

This is what I want you to do.

The point of this is that Saul was supposed to say, Okay, that's what you want.

I'm going to do that.

That's how this was meant to work.

Okay.

This whole thing, the nation of Amalek, the Amalekites is an enemy of God's people.

And this is what's interesting is God says, I'm going to settle accounts.

I'm going to deal with them for something that they did.

Now, what they did is we actually have to go back to Exodus chapter 17.

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

And what we see is that when God's people were following Moses through the wilderness, they had just left Egypt.

Egypt is symbolic of our old life of sin.

Before we were saved, we were in bondage.

We were slaves to sin.

We were in Egypt.

But now, because of God's supernatural power, we have been freed from Egypt.

So they're freed from slavery, but they're in the wilderness.

They're in that middle time between bondage and promise.

Okay?

Y'all following?

That's the symbolism of that.

God's leading them to a promised land.

In their promised land, they're going to have purpose.

In their promised land, they're going to have full provision.

Okay?

It's God's perfect will for them in that time.

But there's a journey from Egypt to the promised land.

They're in the wilderness, they're in the desert, they're in the time of testing.

Now, all of us, this is symbolically applies to us in our lives in various ways.

Overarchingly, we can look at our life from salvation to stepping into God's promises in our life.

There's a journey, there's a wilderness, there's testing.

And I would like to propose this that in the wilderness, the testing season is some of the hardest.

It's not fun.

It's the testing, it's the wilderness season that sometimes will make us want to quit.

It'll make us question everything.

Why am I even doing is this really real?

But the testing season is one of the most profound and important in our development in our Christian walk.

It's where we learn to trust the Lord.

It's where we learn to lay down ourselves.

But it's not fun, and things get messy.

God's people, we see this, and I think it's even in Exodus 16, is that they are thirsty in the wilderness.

This is a desert.

There's not water everywhere, they're dying of thirst.

And so God cries Moses cries out to God, and God says, I want you to hit a big stone.

And when you hit this rock, water's going to come out of it supernaturally.

So he does that.

Y'all know this story.

He hits the rock, water comes out.

And the people drink.

Moses names that place Masa, M-A-S-S-H-A-H, and it means test, because this is where the people of God ask the question, Is God really with us?

Some of us have been at this place, and maybe you're here today and you're at this place in your life, you're saying, Is God really with me?

Is God really watching?

You're at a time of testing.

You're learning to trust the Lord.

You're learning to understand that even though you don't see him, he's still ever present.

That's your wilderness.

Okay?

The Amlekites in Exodus 17, right after the people of God have been tested, they drank of the water, they've been refreshed, they've just left this place.

The Amalekites come and attack them while they are tired and weary.

And what they did is that imagine this, this big group of people is walking, there would be stragglers who are extra tired.

Maybe they were older or something.

They were straggling.

The Amalekites would come and take them out.

Okay?

This is what God's talking about.

He's gonna pay them back.

He's gonna pay back the Amalekites.

The Amalekites, Amalek, is a descendant of Esau.

It's Esau.

Okay, y'all know who Esau is?

Jacob and Esau.

Esau is the brother who gave up his birthright for a bowl of soup.

He's hungry.

He's a hunter.

He's the firstborn.

He has a birthright.

He comes to Jacob.

Jacob's cooking some soup.

It must have been some good soup.

Now I'm a soup guy.

I love soup.

It must have been really good because he gave up his birthright.

He traded his birthright for a bowl of soup.

I want you to catch this.

And then Esau has a son, Eliphaz.

And then Eliphaz has a son, Emelech.

Emelech is a son born of Eliphaz's concubines, not even his wife.

Okay.

And Emelech, the Amalekites, are descendants of that.

I want to say this is that Esau traded his birthright for soup.

Esau had spiritual short-sightedness.

Esau's making decisions today with today's problems in mind that's having long-term spiritual consequences in his life.

Are y'all catching this?

The Amlekites, we could say symbolically, represent, they symbolize this enemy, these things in our life where we're making these decisions that are having major consequences because we're only making decisions based on what we perceive today.

And my question is, is what are the things that we're forfeiting today for a bowl of soup?

Because we're hungry, because we're fearful.

Okay?

These are the Amalekites in our life.

This is what is attacking God's people at the time of testing.

Your wilderness is going to have Amlekites in it.

When you're asking, is God really with me?

This is the time that the Amalekites are going to try to attack you.

This is the time you're going to feel beaten down, and all of a sudden the enemy's going to kick you when you're down.

This is what they do to God's people.

And I want you to hear something, the heart of God.

I want you to see the heart of God is God is vengeful.

What does he say?

Vengeance is sometimes we don't believe that.

Sometimes we think we gotta make things right.

I gotta take this into my own hands.

I gotta get vengeance.

The Lord says, Vengeance is mine.

God doesn't forget.

He doesn't forget.

This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies.

Notice how he announces himself.

This is what the Lord of Heaven's armies.

You think you've seen big armies?

Imagine heaven's armies.

This is the Lord of the heaven's armies.

That's who's talking.

Some of you need to hear that right now.

You look at you're intimidated by your enemies.

You're intimidated by these foes in your life.

You're intimidated by these Amalekites.

The Lord of heaven's armies wants you to get your eyes off the enemy, the eyes off of discouragement, your eyes off of fear, and look and say, Who is my Lord?

Vengeance is mine.

He says, I want you to go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation.

I want you to hear this.

I want you to destroy this.

Think about this.

I want you to go and I want you to destroy that side of yourself that keeps making these short-term decisions that's having spiritual consequences.

Wow.

Did y'all get that?

Yeah.

I I do this, so I know exactly what this is like.

I'm making decisions that's costing me in the spirit.

I'm making decisions of compromise because I'm afraid.

I'm making decisions now because I'm hungry.

My flesh desires certain things.

I'm allowing sin to remain in my life that is having spiritual consequences because I just want to satisfy my own cravings.

I want to satisfy my own fleshly desires.

Paul tells us the flesh does not want what the Spirit of God wants.

But these decisions we're making as people of God is having consequences just like Esau.

You know, Esau, you know, sometimes people might think, oh, Esau got a bad rep.

You know what Hebrews chapter 12 says?

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

It says, make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau.

Who traded his birthright as the firstborn son for a single meal.

This is going to be a year where we've got to be honest with ourselves and saying, Hey, have I been trading my birthright?

As New Testament Christians, you know what our birthright is?

It's the presence.

But Jesus says, if you remain in me, then I'll remain in you.

But sometimes, you know, his presence is available and it's there if you wanted.

If you want to remain in Christ, but sometimes what we're making is these decisions where we're cutting off the presence in our life.

We're Esau in that thing.

We need to saw off Esau's.

Try to say that.

Saw off Esau.

That's a shirt idea.

Okay, fine.

Whatever.

Leave little faith.

Saul is living after Moses, obviously.

Okay.

This is this is after all this.

Moses writes Deuteronomy, and so this is what it says in Deuteronomy.

This is something that Saul would have known.

Deuteronomy 25, 17 through 19, it says, Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from Egypt.

They attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck down those who were straggling behind.

They had no fear of God.

Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies in the land he's given you as a special possession, you must destroy the Amalekites and erase their memory from under heaven.

Never forget this.

When it says never forget this, in my translation, it has an exclamation point.

I don't know if Hebrew had exclamation points, but it's saying that this is important.

Never forget this.

This has to be destroyed.

Follow this.

And don't forget this.

Saul gets the command.

I want you to go destroy them.

Saul is not a new king.

Okay, he's about halfway through his kingship.

He was king for around 40, 42 years.

He's around 20 years into his kingship.

He's not a rookie.

He's got experience.

He understands how this works.

I hear from the Lord.

I'm anointed, appointed grace, strength from God.

He gives me a command.

When I obey him, there's victory.

He's been in this for 20 years.

His kingdom is established.

Okay?

Easy.

You tell me what to do.

I'll do it.

Easy peasy.

We flourish.

That's how this works.

Go destroy the Amalekites.

Okay, let's read on.

Verse 4 says, So Saul mobilized his army at Telame.

There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and 2,000 from Judah.

The Saul and his armies went down to the town of Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley.

Saul sent this warning to the Kenites.

The Kenites are descendants of Moses' father-in-law.

Isn't his name Jethro?

Is that right?

The Kenites are descendants of him, and it says they actually warned the Kenites to say, Move away from where the Amalekites live, or you will die with them, for your for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt.

So the Kenites packed up and left.

He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else.

Verse 9, it says, Saul and his men spared King Agag's life.

Are y'all catching this?

Saul and his men spared King Agag's life and kept the best of the sheep and goats and the cattle and the fat and the calves and the lambs and everything.

In fact, that in fact that appealed to them.

They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.

He's been a king twenty years.

There's a verse earlier that says that God's intention for Saul, and we don't probably know this or think about this.

God's intention was for Saul's kingship, his legacy to continue on.

You all know how David's throne never, you know, his throne stays in forever.

Jesus comes to the line of David, his throne is established forever.

That was intended for Saul.

Saul doesn't fully disobey or reject God's command.

He edits his command.

Saul is is he's he's doing his part, but he's operating in partial obedience.

This to Saul's men there, I want you to put yourself in the army.

To Saul's men there looking at this, I think that in their minds, they they're probably thinking Saul's doing a really good job.

It makes a lot of sense.

Why kill all these things?

Why kill the king when we could take him as prisoner and show him to all the people and show the might of God?

Look at the king of our enemies is now under our control.

That will really amp up the enthusiasm of God's people.

That makes practical sense.

That could even a lot of people would say that's wisdom.

I imagine there maybe there was a little board of directors around Saul saying, you know what?

Instead of killing him, let's just take him prisoner.

In fact, they've got a lot of good livestock, and we know that God likes sacrifices, so why don't we just capture those and then we can sacrifice them to the Lord?

That's very practical.

Wow.

Wow.

And again, our intentions are good.

We want to serve the Lord, we want to please God, we want to have a fruitful life, we just, you know, want to do the right thing.

This makes way more sense.

So let's go ahead and edit the command.

He's called, he's appointed, he's anointed, he's had success, he's been in this for the long haul.

He's not a new Christian, I'll put it that way.

This is the very thing that is going to disqualify Saul.

It's going to cause him and his line to be killed off.

He's not going to be king anymore.

This is the big mistake.

This is the thing.

He did not outright reject God.

He edited God's command to his life.

We don't think today, because we're New Testament, there's an idea that, oh, his blood covers everything.

Does it?

When we repent, it does.

When to confess a sin, that means you have to admit you're wrong.

But you can live your life not admitting you're wrong, and you've got sin and junk in your life that's not forgiven.

We don't think of ourselves as like Esau forfeiting our birthright, something intended for us.

We don't think about missing the mark.

We don't think about seasons of opportunity where there's a simple window of time for us to say yes or God may move on.

We think that, oh, you know, the Bible says that God takes everything and turns it for good.

It says that for a reason, because God knows that we're going to make mistakes.

It says that God's patient with us.

God's been patient with me many, many, many, many, many times.

There's many times I thought I've forfeited things in my life because I've just been stubborn, messing up, messing up.

Y'all have no idea.

And God's been so faithful and gracious, and He showed loving, kindness, and mercy.

But there is a reality too, that there's things that maybe we've missed in our life because we've been stubborn or we've changed what God told us to do.

We've had partial obedience.

I'm gonna do this right, but I'm not going to address this in my life.

And we don't think those have consequences.

And God wants us to destroy this side of us that's willing to compromise because we've justified it in ourselves.

That's willing to compromise things that we're doing.

Little rules we're breaking.

I get it.

We're not, maybe we were finally set free and we're not sleeping around anymore.

And maybe we've worked so hard and we've gotten much better at that addiction to pornography and we're not looking at those things anymore.

And maybe we've got a New Year's resolution and all of a sudden we're spending less time on social media, and maybe we finally started working where we can read a chapter of the Bible today, and maybe we pray for five minutes.

We're walking in holiness.

But when the Spirit of God starts to touch something that is small in our life that maybe we don't want him to touch, we all of a sudden begin to edit God's commands.

Well, at least I'm serving in church.

No, I didn't I didn't talk to you about serving.

I talked to you about working at this one thing.

I want you to stop gossiping.

I want you to stop, I want you to start operating in generosity.

I want you to quit being lazy at your job.

I want you to quit calling in sick when you're not sick.

I want you to quit playing video games till three in the morning.

You're a father and you're a husband, and you need to get serious about your life.

These areas that we don't want God to touch, and so we say, I'm doing this, God, isn't this enough?

And we don't realize what we're forfeiting.

We're Esau in that thing, and we need to saw the Esau.

Write that down.

Verse 10.

Then the Lord said to Samuel, I'm sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me.

He has refused to obey my command.

Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night.

Early the next morning, Samuel went to find Saul.

Someone told him Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself.

Then he went to Gilgal when Samuel finally found him.

I'm going to go back to that.

I heard y'all saying the woos.

I saw that, and it's a big deal, but I'm not going to talk about it yet.

Saul greeted him cheerfully.

May the Lord bless you, he said.

I have carried out the Lord's command.

Verse 14, then what is all the bleeding of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle?

I hear, Samuel demanded.

It's true that the armies varied the best, the sheep and goats and cattle, Saul admitted, but they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God.

We have destroyed everything else.

Y'all seeing this language here.

This is something I find my I've caught myself doing with the Lord.

Well, Lord, I know you're pointing to that one thing, but look at all the stuff I've done.

Lord, I I just work so hard and I've been spend, you know, preaching every Sunday, playing keyboard, and I've been serving my family, and I've and I've been nice to my wife and taking my baby.

Well, David, I've been talking about this thing, and you're not touching it.

I'm giving God lip service, self-justifying, making excuses.

Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop.

Listen to what the Lord told me last night.

What did he tell you?

Saul asked, and Samuel said, Told him, Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel?

The Lord has anointed you king of Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.

Why haven't you obeyed the Lord?

Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?

That's a lot there.

Let me go ahead and sum it up.

Samuel comes to Saul.

Saul says, Hey, I did cool stuff.

Samuel says, Not cool, bro.

Let's continue on.

Verse 20.

But I did obey the Lord.

Saul insisted.

I carry out the mission he gave me.

I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else.

Then my troops brought it, and the best sheep, ghosts, cattle, plunder, the sacrifice of the Lord, Uragon and Gilgal.

I want us to catch something right here, okay?

That Saul the prophet, I mean Samuel the prophet is coming to correct Saul.

He says, This is what the Lord says.

You did not obey me.

Notice Saul's reaction.

I believe this right here.

This is my own thought, but I believe that this verse, this response of Saul, is what is going to cost him his kingdom, his future, his inheritance from the Lord, this legacy.

It's his response.

Instead of saying, I'm sorry, Lord, I messed up.

He pushes back and says, No, I did what was right.

And this is the danger that we are in this season, church.

This is the danger I found myself in.

Is that I have not been responding to the specifics of his call.

I've not been saying yes to the things that I don't want him to touch.

I am looking at everything that I'm doing good, and I'm looking at my intentions, and I'm justifying the place where I've disobeyed the Lord.

And when he comes to me and says, David, you're not doing this right, I'm saying, Yes, I am.

He says, We got all these animals to sacrifice to the Lord your God.

There's what's happening in Saul's heart right here, and maybe he doesn't know this, is that there's there's starting to happen is relational distance between him and God.

Because compromise in your life, partial obedience will create separation.

And you can still come here and you can go to whatever church and you can do your prayer and your Bible walks and all that little stuff.

But that separation is going to get bigger and bigger the more we continue compromise.

These short-sighted decisions, because we just it makes us feel better.

Verse 21, versor 22.

But Samuel replied, What is more pleasing to the Lord?

Your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?

This is the I I I've been reading this prophetic word last week and I was surprised by some things.

I was surprised by the tone of the Lord.

I was surprised.

I was expecting more of a hey, you're doing it, good job.

I went, I went and also studied this week because part of the prophetic word, especially when you're releasing one, you feel vulnerable and you want to make sure that you didn't mess it up.

And I started, I went to the letters in Revelation 2 and 3 where Jesus writes to his church.

And um, I actually woke up with this this morning on this heart, and he writes this to the to Revelation 3 verse 1, he writes to the church of Sardis, and it says, You think you're alive, but you're dead.

Revelation 3:1

This is how Jesus is, you know, sometimes if we think, oh, that's not God's heart, God's full of love and nice, sometimes he's very, very stern.

And God loves us so much that he's going to be honest and truthful with us.

You think you're alive, but you're dead.

Saul in this story thinks he's alive.

He thinks that he's in the will of God, he thinks he's doing a good job.

This is what scares me is that we say, Lord, we want you to come in those doors and we want you to come in the door of our heart.

And maybe we convince ourselves, this is what I tell myself, David, have you convinced yourself that you're actually in the will of the Lord?

Have you convinced yourself that you're actually doing this right?

Have you convinced yourself that you're actually alive?

What if you're dead?

What if you are self-deceived?

What if you are simply just like Saul, operating in partial obedience and justifying it to yourself?

Listen, obedience is better than sacrifice.

This is the heart of God.

This is something important, church.

I believe that what is going to help us this year is getting this verse right.

Obedience to his voice is better than sacrifice.

Like, Paul says it like this like, if you give all your money away and you have visions and you do a lot of spiritual things, healings, prophesying, you can say the most profound prophecies, but if you don't have love, it means nothing.

This is the idea of love, is God's love, is that when we operate in God's love, we're we're walking according to his ways.

Not my will, but your will be done, okay?

That's what this is hitting here.

Obedience to him and his word, obedience to the leading of his voice, obedience to the things that he's pointing in our life.

There's certain areas that I don't I feel vulnerable with God, and there's certain areas I don't want to put on the altar because I'm afraid of what he'll do if I do.

Y'all connect with that at all?

There's certain things that I'm like, if I ask you about this, you might tell me to get rid of this or change this, and I'm not ready to do that.

Do you know you can have addictions to things, and addictions can become like a relationship, you become emotionally connected to it, and you don't know what your life would be without it?

People who've had addictions before know what I'm talking about.

Trying to break it.

It's not just a physical thing where you have headaches and you don't feel good, it's an emotional thing that can stay with you for a while.

I don't know what my life will be like if I don't have this in my life.

Obedience is better than sacrifice, submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

This was interesting.

I looked up this the fat of rams is is a special sacrifice.

Leviticus 3 tells us that the fat is reserved for the Lord.

It's a pleasing aroma, it's a special food for him.

But when they would do a ram, a ram is a very costly sacrifice.

It's because it's more, it's a it's a bigger ram, like it's a bigger sheet, it's it's bigger, it's more food.

It would actually cost you more to sacrifice this.

So this was like a special sacrifice that was very costly, and it was reserved for the Lord to offer up the fat, okay?

And when they would do this, the goal of doing this was to gain God's favor.

Y'all catching this?

Yeah.

Big sacrifice to gain his favor.

I want you to connect the dots here.

What are the things that we're doing in our life, the big sacrifices?

Oh man, Lord, I just I come to CCC and I help set up the communion in the back every week.

Here's the fat of my ram.

We're thankful.

We're very thankful.

Lord, I give people rides in my document.

Here's the fat of my ram, literally.

I just made that up on the spot.

Thank you.

Y'all catching this here.

This is what I find myself doing.

When I feel the conviction, like I come before the Lord and I get before him and I say, Lord, I really want to know your heart.

And I really want to please you.

I don't want to fake this, I don't want to just play a part, and I don't want to miss what you want to do.

I know that you want to pour out your spirit.

I know that you have a will for my life, so please show me.

And then I feel conviction for this area, and I'm like, Lord, you just it's like all of a sudden I start making excuses.

But here's the fat of my ram.

Here's the thing where I've been sacrificing and doing things well for so long, and I've been working so hard, and it's and I've just been trying to do this as a pleasing aroma to you.

And the Lord's like, I'm not interested in your sacrifice, I want your obedience.

I want your obedience in the little things in your life that you keep allowing that you know that I'm addressing.

Verse 23, rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness is bad as worshiping idols.

So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.

This is going to be a year and that I feel that the Lord is wanting to take back what the enemy's stolen.

Thank you, Jesus.

The Lord is going after the younger generation, the Lord is going to operate in deliverance.

We are going to see the deliverance of Jesus Christ happening more in our midst.

All this revolves around the authority.

All this revolves around authority.

Saul is only as good as the authority and the anointing of God in his life.

Jesus would say it like this: without me, you cannot really do anything.

Okay?

This revolves around authority.

If we want victory, we want breakthrough, this is authority.

This is what's scary, is that you can be saved and not walk in the authority of the Lord.

You can have the gifts of the Spirit but not operate in the authority of Jesus.

Authority comes with obedience.

What this symbolically to me is when he says, I reject him as king, it's because he is operating in rebellion to the Lord.

When God says, I want you to take it all out, and we only take partial out, that is rebellion.

That's me all of a sudden saying, Lord, you're not fully in control.

I'm going to edit your commands.

I'm going to control this.

He's dealing with it with the control in him.

When you look at witchcraft, okay, it says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

Witchcraft is not just hocus pocus.

Witchcraft, at the foundation of it, is control.

I'm trying to control something.

Listen, it's in our Christian wall.

We can operate in witchcraft every day.

We in our Christian homes, we can have witchcraft every day.

In our jobs, in our Christian friendships and relationships, we can have witchcraft operating every day because we're trying to control things.

We're trying to manipulate things.

You see, Saul's coming here and he's saying, Listen, I did all this.

I've actually done God's work.

That's manipulation.

Even when the man of God comes, giving you the voice of the Lord, giving you the instruction of God, giving you the correction of God, you're still trying to manipulate it so you don't have to confront the reality that you're actually wrong.

Come on.

When we start the new year, the big thing is to make a new year's resolution.

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not do something.

Saul decides, I'm going, I've got I've heard God's command, okay, but I'm going to do it this way.

Do you know that God cares not just what we do, but how we do it?

Do you know He cares?

The ends do not justify the means.

He cares about the means too.

And some of us become mean when we're trying to justify and get to what we're trying to get to, but God doesn't want us to be mean.

Did y'all get that?

When we try to control things in our life, we're going to try to take, we're going to try to intervene.

When God tells us to wait on Him and trust Him, we're going to get our hands in it because you know what?

We're just fearful and we cannot handle not getting involved.

I just got to fix this on my own.

I gotta I gotta intervene.

I gotta I see this person, I see my spouse, I gotta fix them.

So let me just intervene when the Lord says, why don't you sit and work on yourself?

I did this whole study.

I I dove into this because what Saul does is he's not happy just receiving commands and obeying.

He's gotta edit them, he's gotta have a little bit of buy-in.

Now it's common, okay?

It's a it's a common leadership teaching that if you want to like, if you're trying to build momentum in your organization, you've got to let people have buy-in.

You gotta let them start adding to it, let them come up with some ideas, okay?

That's common leadership.

But when we're following God, it's not necessarily like that.

God actually just expects us, I'm going to give you a command and I want you to do it.

And this is not a debate, and this is not a question of is this the best.

You see, Saul thought, you know what, this is a better idea.

I did this psychology study on this idea of control.

This is what's interesting.

When we determine the terms, like when we start making plans for our life, and we're like, I this is what I want to focus on, and this is what I'm gonna do.

In the new years, we're like making our plans, like I'm gonna really focus on changing this, and none of us have actually gone and talked to the Lord.

What is it you want of me this year?

When we do this, the psychology is that actually has a physical effect on us.

It actually releases the chemical dopamine, which is the brain's reward system, when I can come up with my own way of doing something.

And they studied this, and then what they found is that when someone receives a simple instruction just to obey, they don't get that same release of dopamine.

Y'all catching this?

It doesn't feel good.

Y'all know what I'm talking about.

I want to come up with the idea and I want to do what I want to do.

I don't want to be told what to do.

That's not as fun because that doesn't release the dopamine.

Saul is coming in.

He's got God's command, but he's coming in changing things up because he wants to feel good about it.

When I actually come up with the idea, when I come up with the process, it makes me feel strong.

It makes me feel capable because I came up with it.

God's saying I'm not wanting that.

I'm wanting obedience.

I've told you what to do, I've told you how to do it.

Now I want you to do it.

But instead, we're trying to control our life because we're fearful.

Control, you're gonna find control where you find a lack of trust.

If you don't trust the Lord to provide for you, then you're gonna intervene, you're gonna take matters in your own hands when God's told you to wait.

When you're praying and contending for that person and you don't see breakthrough yet, and maybe things get worse, you're gonna try to get your hands in it, and you're gonna end up making a bigger mess.

Because you can't just trust the Lord, and you can't just trust his process, and you can't trust that he's able to reach even the hardest of hearts.

It's anxiety.

This is how you tend to anxiety.

Anxiety levels are out the window, is that we try to control it.

What if that's not how God wants to do things?

In God's eyes, a someone who's struggling with control is going to be very active, they're gonna be very strategic, and it's gonna out from the outside it's gonna look like they're doing wonderful things.

Okay?

God looks at this as witchcraft.

This is what's convicting me personally, Lord.

And have I have I have I deceived myself?

Have I bewitched myself?

To justify not obeying him, to justify taking control of things that he never told me to take control of, to justify my simple simple lack of faith.

And he says this stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols.

Stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols.

You know what stubbornness is?

I did a search on this as well.

Stubbornness is our attempt to protect our self-image.

I'm protecting my self-image.

This convicted me a lot.

And let me go ahead, let me go ahead and tell you a little bit about this story.

In in 2 Samuel, it's in verse, the end of verse the chapter 5 and into chapter 6, David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant back into the city of David.

Okay?

Y'all know the story.

The Ark of the Covenant, that's where the power was.

That's where the presence of God was.

The idea was as long as that his presence is with you, you're going to have success.

Y'all following?

Y'all know this, okay?

This is how our lives are.

Lord, I can't do anything without you.

So if I'm going to actually operate in success, if there's going to be breakthrough, if there's going to be provision, it's all going to be within you and your way.

If you're going to answer my prayers, Jesus says, listen, ask for whatever you want.

In my name.

You can ask for whatever you want, I'll do it.

As long as what you ask for is in my name.

In my name means in my will and according to my ways.

David's bringing the presence back in.

Jesus in his letter to a church, a stubborn church, a church that is trying to control, a church that is trying to do things their way, but a church that is lukewarm, he says, I'm standing at the door and knocking.

This is what I want to say is as we're bringing God back in.

That's been our heart with contending for revival.

That's the idea behind all this.

That's what we're continuing for in worship.

Lord, we want you to come back in.

The doors are open.

But when he comes back in, he's coming in as a king.

And what does a king do?

A king rules, a king gets his way.

A king doesn't have people bashing heads against him and saying, Oh, I don't want to do this.

People just obey the king.

This has been my conviction.

This is what I feel like was in the word.

God's just saying, I'm looking for people that are just going to obey me.

I don't care about your sacrifices.

I don't care that you're on your knees and crying.

I don't care that you got all these things right.

I want you to simply obey my voice and all of it.

You want revival.

I want obedience.

You want an outpouring?

Obey me.

Listen to me even when it hurts.

Let me go to those areas of your life where you've been stubborn holding on.

Stop making excuses.

Stop self-justifying.

Let me cleanse you.

David is bringing the ark back into the city of David.

And I've been hitting this every week because I've been convicted and I've been getting breakthrough in it.

They're bringing the ark.

They would take six steps.

Stop.

Kill a bull, kill a fatty calf.

And then it says David would dance undignified.

David would dance.

Just undignified.

David is a warrior.

David's king.

Like David is the man.

If anyone's supposed to be acting like they got their stuff together, it's the leader of God's people.

He's acting undignified.

He's wearing a priestly garment.

He's ministering to the Lord.

Because they're bringing the presence back in.

They're bringing victory back in.

David, when he dances undignified, you know what he's doing?

He's putting his self-image on the altar.

That's it.

That's it.

We try to protect our image.

Well, this is what people think of me.

I want people to think I got my life together.

I want them to think that I operate in spiritual authority.

Maybe you don't at all.

I want them to think that I'm holy and righteous.

I want them to think that I've got wisdom and I've got the answers.

I've got to protect this image.

David's like, listen, I understand that I'm king, but everything I have comes from God.

I'm going to be undignified as we bring him back in.

I'm going to tell you this, man, because this has been a conviction, and I hope you heard it in the prophetic word.

You're trying to protect your self-image.

You're trying to say, I don't want people to know that I'm emotional.

I don't want people to know that I'm hurting, and you don't have any desperation for the Lord, and you don't dance, you don't shout, you don't, you're not willing to be undignified, and you're going to stay without the presence.

Wow.

Wow.

How much for it?

This is a southern Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida.

This is the Bible Belt.

It's very religious.

People don't aren't exuberant praisers.

You understand, a lot of you probably been raised in this.

This is not the reality of the kingdom of God.

David danced undignified.

And then he gets in, and you know what his wife sees him, and it says Michael looks at him and she shows she has contempt for it.

Some of us wear some Michaels here.

We see it and we're like, I don't want to do that.

I want to be undignified.

And all of a sudden, Michael comes to David and she says, Why do you?

I'm sure that looked great.

All of a sudden, everyone's seeing the leader of God's people looking so embarrassing, looking like a fool.

And David said, Listen, I'll even look more like a fool.

I'll look even more like this for my God.

Because he's the one that calls me, he's the one that chose me, he's the one that's anointed me.

Everything I have is his.

All my success is his.

I'll be undignified.

And this, let me read the verse to you.

2 Samuel 6.22 says, Yes, and I'm willing to look even more foolish than this.

Even to be humiliated in my own eyes.

To be humiliated.

Do you guys get the key of this?

If you want to break this stalemate that we have, this thing that's causing there's a starvation of the spirit.

There's a starvation of authority.

There's a starvation of power.

Is that we've got to get past this self image, we've got to get past this stubbornness and be willing to look undignified.

What does that mean?

I'm going to be embarrassed.

I'm going to feel uncomfortable.

I'm going to worry what people think of me because I'm dancing and I'm being crazy before the Lord.

You want to get the presence back in your life?

Get some pep in your step.

Get humble before the Lord.

This is what he's looking for.

And listen, I know.

I know I'm being intent here.

I need you to hear something because this is just how this church is going to function.

I don't care if you leave here offended.

There's going to be an outpouring of God coming from this place, not because we're special, but because we realize we're desperate for him.

And we're going to be undignified.

But I need, I want you to hear this, men.

The men, there's going to be a revival in them.

There's going to be a revival in their spirits.

But I see the altars flooded with men.

I see the altars flooded with the tears of men.

I see the altars flooded with the worship of men.

Where we're not stubborn like Saul.

Disregarding this birthright to simply protect our self-image.

I don't want anyone to know that I need God's help.

I want to look like I have everything together.

I don't have everything together.

Listen, I've got a bachelor's degree.

I've got a master's degree in computer engineering.

I've got a good job.

And yet I still look at this, and everything, every single thing that I have comes from him.

I'm desperate for him.

I cannot do this without him.

I cannot be a good husband without him.

I can't be a good father without him.

I can't pass for a church without him.

What I need you if you're not here, I don't want it.

If you're not here, I don't want it.

I want to be real.

I want to be free.

I'm burning up over here.

But there's an agenda right now with the men.

I've got been doing this study.

And and it's caused men to be disinterested because they don't want to play women church.

What we're being called into is warfare.

This is not plain.

If you want to play, there's other churches you can go play church.

This is not going to be one of them.

But man, God wants praisers.

God wants you.

You want to see your children operate in spiritual authority.

You want to see them operate in breakthrough.

They need to see that undignified David come out.

It says that Michael was barren the rest of her life.

That response, that religious response, that prideful response that has clinched the Spirit of God for years and years and generations and generations.

We're breaking that ground.

But it looks like something.

And Hebrews tells us, what does Hebrews tell us?

Offer up a sacrifice of.

Sacrifice of.

That means it's not going to feel good.

There's times, this is what I'll do.

I'll even I'll have to come off the keyboard.

We're trying to build up our worship team and stuff.

But you know what?

I have to preach and play the keyboard because we're trying to get people to simply volunteer.

We're trying to get musicians to show up and be consistent.

All of a sudden, but you know what?

I'll happily do it.

But even I'll jump off there and I'll come down and dance.

Do you know that I feel embarrassed when I do that?

I feel embarrassed though.

It's killing my self-image.

I love you, Mr.

Anne.

The Lord is healing this.

I have to think of protecting self-image, and I'm realizing this has to die.

The world is trying to kill the masculine.

And everything and revival in this move of God that He's bringing, you're going to see men leading the charge.

And women, you're going to be very happy with how things work out.

God loves you, but you're going to see men leading the charge.

And it's going to be a it's going to be a kingdom of David's.

It's going to be a kingdom that's saying, listen, I know that I'm worried of what people think about me.

I'm afraid of what people think about me.

Do you know that?

Do you know I pray every day, Lord?

I'm sorry for being afraid of what people think about me.

I'm sorry when I've let man's opinion of me control me.

I repent of this every day, and it's still not fully out, but I want it fully gone.

I want it crucified.

I want that Amalekite completely destroyed in my life.

I I when I think about Jesus on a cross naked, he was naked by the way.

He wasn't covered up.

You want to talk about being exposed?

You want to talk about being shamed, the king of kings on a cross, and we can't even lift up our freaking hands.

That makes me sick.

It makes me sick.

We could be in a church like this and not show exuberant praise.

It makes me sick.

We come to God with our request, and we're so stale in His presence, just expecting handouts.

God is reviving us, men.

He's reviving us to be the leaders that we were meant to be, He's reviving us to lead our families.

Lord, pierce our hearts, pierce our hearts, God.

Pierce our hearts, God.

Man, let's pray.

Say, Lord, here I am.

Here's my image.

You can have it.

I want you.

I'm opening the door.

I'm opening the door.

And I'm saying, Jesus, come in.

I'm saying, Jesus, come in.

Let's lift up our hands, man.

Lifting your hands is a sign of submission.

This is not hocus pocus.

This is a spiritual posture.

This is I want you, Lord.

I want you, Lord.

I need you.

I need your help, God.

I don't want to be like Saul rejecting your voice.

I want to be like David.

You know what David said?

This is the David messed up.

David messed up bad.

And the prophet comes to David.

But David doesn't lose his throne.

He does not lose his throne because David has a different response.

Psalm 51, 16, it says, You do not desire sacrifice.

This is David.

After he's been caught.

Adultery.

Murder.

Yeah, sure, you never shot anybody, but you commit murder every day by hating your brother.

In your heart.

You commit adultery every day by entertaining lust in your heart.

Fantasizing about things that you should be fantasizing about.

Looking at things you should be looking about.

God sees that.

He wants those Ambakites out of our life, men.

And He doesn't want an excuse.

He doesn't want self-justification.

David gives us the key here in Psalm 51.

You do not desire a sacrifice or I'd offer one.

You do not want a burnt offering.

The sacrifice you desire desire is a broken spirit.

You want a broken spirit.

This is what God wants from us, men.

It's brokenness.

You carry the pressure to have all the answers.

You know what Saul was struggling with?

Insecurity.

He's trying to prove to his men, his army, and the nation that I have what it takes.

He doesn't.

That's the point.

You're trying to prove to your family, you're trying to prove to your coworkers, you're trying to approve all your friends.

Hey, I have what it takes.

You don't.

The only strength that we will ever pass on to anybody is our reliance on him, our dependence upon him.

How much we need his voice operating in our life.

Sacrifice your desires of broken spirit.

You will not reject a broken and repentant heart.

God rejected Saul because he wasn't broken.

The prophetic word this year, men, is that God is coming after you.

He's coming to revive you.

He's coming to heal you.

He's coming to put a fire in you because it is wartime.

And the army does not need to be slumbering.

The army does not need to be out of shape.

God is calling us back in.

We're getting into spiritual boot camp, man.

We're getting on our knees before God, saying, Lord, what is it you want of me?

I am tired of trying to convince and play patty cake with you.

You either say yes, Lord, or go somewhere else and play church.

We're contending for revival.

And listen, life and death is at stake here because the enemy comes to steal, the enemy comes to kill, and he wants to destroy you, your family, and your whole legacy.

But it stops here.

It stops at the altar.

It stops in our praise where we let our self-image die.

Let your pride die.

Let your stubbornness die.

And the Lord is putting authority in you, and so you are stepping into that.

My eyes are on you, my son, and I am brushing away the past.

I'm brushing away failure.

I'm brushing all these things off of you, and I'm making you mighty in me.

I am making you mighty in me because there is a lot of work to do, and I've called you for this work, and I'm going to use you in this work.

So get ready and trust me, and I'm going to take care of the rest of the details.

All this provision stuff, all these fears.

I'm taking care of that because I'm calling you my son.

Sweet breath of God and wind of God flow.

Sweet breath of God flow through him.

Thank you for this warrior.

Okay, okay.

Thank you, Jesus.

Yeah, Lord, we got someone here that's willing, Father.

The Lord says, I see your heart, you're willing, and you don't play.

And you've gotten so tired of fake.

It's it's na it's nasty in your mouth.

You're so tired of fake.

You've had fake people in your life.

You have fake things.

You say, Lord, I don't want that.

The Lord says, I'm calling you something that's real.

I'm calling you into something that's sacrificial.

I'm calling you into purpose.

The Lord sees that your heart is very serious about him.

I don't want anything fake.

That's that's that's it.

Lord, I thank you for legitimate power.

I thank you, Lord.

I just see that see preaching and evangelism on him.

There's anointing on him, there's a chainbreaker on him.

You don't care what people think, the Lord says, I like that.

I can use that, and I'm gonna use that.

We say in the name of Jesus, Lord, that he is stepping into calling.

We say in the name of Jesus, this is a new chapter on his life.

We say in the name of Jesus that this is going to be a strategic strike and a mission of the Lord.

In the mighty name of Jesus, in the mighty name of Jesus, Father, I thank you, Lord, for the Father's heart on this man.

I thank you, Lord, there's gonna be both boldness but also compassion.

You're gonna operate in healing, Lord.

I thank you, there's healing on his hands.

So we say in the name of Jesus, he's mighty.

He carries healing in his hands, but he also carries boldness in the name of Jesus.

Come up here, my brother.

Come up here.

Phil, get behind you, put your hands up, Lord.

I thank you.

The Lord's just gonna reiterate some things to you in case you forgot.

But I am calling you forth today.

I'm recruiting you once again.

I am calling you forth today into purpose, and I'm going to make it very clear, and I'm going to define it.

You are a leader, and you are going to lead, and I'm going to make that way in the mighty name of Jesus.

You are anointed, you are appointed for such a time as this.

And I've called you.

Okay, it's also spiritual.

You carry some spiritual stuff going on.

The Lord said, I'm just getting started.

So we say, let that come forth in the name of Jesus.

Lord, I thank you for Phil, Father.

There's strength, there's a strength in him to carry a heavy foundation and a heavy weight.

And the Lord says, I've given you strength and grace to carry many things, and you are going to carry many things.

And you're a captain, and the Lord's given you eyes to see and giving you strategy.

You're a captain, the Lord's given you eyes to see, but he's given you strategy, strategy upon strategy.

Lord, I thank you for this man of God.

I thank you for this man of God.

The Lord says, This is not new for you.

You've already walked in this, you know this.

This is not new for you.

But there's a struggle with time.

There's struggle having time for things in your heart.

There's struggle to have time.

There's too many things.

The Lord says you're very responsible.

And you you you're very responsible.

That's it.

You don't let go of things, you don't carelessly let go of things, you're very sacrificial, you do stuff for others.

But the Lord, I just your hands are postured, it's very interesting.

The Lord, your hands are postured to receive.

The Lord says, I'm bringing provision to free up time.

Because I do have a plan, and there are other things that I have that I want you to do.

And I'm going to free up your time.

So trust me, keep doing what you're doing.

I'm going to free up your time.

Lord, I thank you for this man of God, and I thank you for fire, and I thank you, God.

You're going to capture the sound of rivers and fire.

You're going to capture the sound of rivers and fire.

And the Lord said, The Lord said, I called you for this, my son.

You're going to capture the sound of rivers and fire.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Father, I thmm.

Thank you, Jesus.

I came up to you, man, my man, and I just saw this question.

Lord, I feel like a stranger to you.

Lord, do you even see me?

There's a story of Zacchaeus.

He's on the side and he's just trying to get a view of Jesus.

He's not even expecting to get, he's not expecting a conversation.

The Lord says, I'm coming to your house for dinner.

I'm coming to you.

My eyes are on you.

And we're going to talk.

I've got some things to show you, and I've got some things for you.

There's gonna be more I feel for you, but the Lord says, not time.

I just see him coming in.

He's coming in.

You're letting him in, and you're realizing how much you matter to him.

Father, I thank you for Bill.

I thank you for the sweet man, Lord, and we just we just proclaim quick healing over his body.

I thank you for his generosity.

I thank you for his kindness, God.

We ask that you would bless him in the name of Jesus.

We thank you, Father, for this place for him, Lord.

We say complete healing in the name of Jesus over his mind, over his brain, over his physical body.

In the name of Jesus.

In the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Father.

Um right when I took your hand, I saw you picking up a sniper rifle.

And um, you're someone that sees things from far away, and um you're very needed.

I think you're a watchman.

I think that you carry prayer, and I think you're an intercessor.

And the the big thing is that this is the enemy's attack against you, is that you don't matter.

And the it what the what the demonic does, there's demonic in people around you.

They say things, even it doesn't seem bad, but it makes you feel like you just don't matter.

I break that off in the name of Jesus.

I break that off in the name of Jesus.

I Lord, I He's crucial.

You're crucial for what He's wanting to do, and and that enemy always comes in the opposite of what God's trying to do.

You do matter.

That's the point.

You do matter.

We break that off in the name of Jesus.

Every lie, every curse, every demonic thing, even said through human mouths in the name of Jesus, we break it off of him.

Thank you, Father.

And I say this too.

I speak success over you, and you're going to be on the wall, and you're going to do a lot of damage at the enemy.

And there's the Lord says, as you focus on this, he's going to restore things around you in your life.

I see you doing this.

You're taking care of what he says to do, and I see all these things added to you, either around you, beside you, behind you.

Focus on this.

Quit worrying about all this other stuff.

Focus on my word and my voice.

And I'm gonna there's the Lord's doing some crazy stuff between you and your wife, and he's gonna show more.

There's a lot of transition and transformation happening, and the Lord says, It's good.

Keep putting putting wood on that fire, keep putting wood on that fire.

That's you back there.

I see you.

The Lord says, keep doing what you're doing.

You're hearing my voice.

This is good.

This is very good.

In the name of Jesus, Lord, I thank you for Elijah.

Lord, I thank you, God.

He is going to be doing so much he has no idea yet.

You're a man of worship, but you're a man of technology.

You're going to be carrying.

Um, Elijah, can I this is gonna be kind of bold.

I'm gonna say this.

I hope you're is your mom here or is she in children's church?

Well, she can she can watch, she can watch online, your dad can watch online.

This is a this is similar to what I've carried for years.

I carry this creative side, but technical.

It's the left and right brain.

You carry that.

You carry that.

You're gonna be able to flow in the presence, but all of a sudden step into the admin, step into the technology, be a troubleshooter, fix things.

You're gonna know how to do a lot of things, so get ready.

The Lord says, I'm giving you a grace to learn things quick.

I'm giving you a grace to learn things quick, and you're going to advance far beyond your years.

So we say in the name of Jesus, let it come forth.

In the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Father, for Joey.

I just heard a thought.

Let me go ahead and address it.

Why are we taking so long?

You the door's right there.

Go get your cracker barrel.

I'm not trying to be mean.

I'm trying to show us is that that when the king of kings shows up, how dare we ever try to hurry him?

I'm so guilty of that.

I'm like, oh God, look, I'm ready to move on.

The King of Kings has showed up.

We have the nerve.

That's just not how revival's gonna happen, church.

That's not what the water's stirring, it's not gonna be like that.

I have no idea, but I'm willing to put it all on the altar as much as I can.

And the areas that I'm not willing to put it on the altar, I need to repent.

Father, I thank you for Joey.

Man, oh man, oh man.

Oh, the Lord is can I just show you this?

Just look at me.

This is what the Lord's doing.

This is his posture.

I love this.

He's going so excited for the plans that he has for you.

And he has for you, Noelle.

He is so excited.

You're like this big package that's wrapped, and you don't know what it is.

There is so much in store for you, and this is what this is.

I feel like this is what the enemy wants you to think.

None of this is for me.

Like, all of this, like, I'll come and I'll play a part and I'll help because he's got a he's got a beautiful servant's heart.

He'll step in and do whatever you need.

Okay, he'll just take he'll take care of other people's stuff, you'll give away your money, you'll give rides, whatever.

You've lived your life.

None of this, nothing's for me.

It's all for everyone else.

The Lord says, I've got a calling and a Plan for your life.

I've got provision and blessing for your life.

Lord, let's surround this, let's surround him, guys.

Lord, we thank you that you're bringing revival to this man of God.

I say that you are a man of God.

I thank you that you're bringing provision to this man of God.

I thank you that there is calling and purpose and passion to this man of God.

I thank you everything the enemy's tried to steal, you're going to recover in the mighty name of Jesus.

Everything that the enemy has tried to steal, you're going to recover in the name of Jesus.

We speak life over him.

We speak blessing.

Let's pray out loud, man.

Let's contend.

We speak life.

You know, the Bible says life and death is in your tongue.

You can get a lot of work done, and you don't have to have a big bank account.

You don't have to have skills and talents and abilities.

You don't have to have network connections.

You need to have a tongue and use it to bring life, not death.

We say in the name of Jesus, you're returning what the enemy has taken.

We say in the name of Jesus that he is stepping into calling.

He's stepping into purpose in the mighty name of Jesus.

Kudra Bashandi and Adabashaka.

In Exodus 17, when they're fighting the Amalekites, listen to this.

When they're fighting the Amalekites, this is the story where Moses is on a hilltop.

He's got a staff raised above his head.

And whenever he would lower the staff, they would be losing the battle.

But as long as he kept up his staff above his head, they would win the battle.

I want you to hear this.

Moses got tired.

So Aaron and his brother-in-law, her, come and keep his arms raised up.

What does this tell us, guys?

When we're fighting those Amalekites, when we're fighting those areas of bondage, we cannot do this on our own.

But we need our brothers around us to say, brother, I've got you.

I will help you hold the staff above your head.

I will help you as you're contending for things.

You were not meant to be a lone wolf, Chuck Norris.

You're not meant to be a lone wolf.

You're not meant to be alone in all this.

You're meant to have a family, an army of men around you.

In the name of Jesus.

Let's get around this man right here.

They have caused this cobweb in your head, and it leaves you paralyzed.

It's a cobweb in your head that leaves you paralyzed.

Because the Lord has gifted you a grace of being very smart.

You're a deep thinker, but the enemy has taken this and twisted this and caused a cobweb of lies.

And this started through rejection.

I don't know where this, I don't know exactly the relationship, but I hear this rejection happens and it causes cobweb.

I rebuke you right now with a s a spirit of rejection.

I cast you off of him in the mighty name of Jesus, off of his mind.

I say get off of him.

I speak the authority of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says God is not a God of confusion.

I rebuke you, you spirit of confusion, off of him.

That has kept him bound, that has kept him paralyzed in the mighty name of Jesus.

I say, get off of him, in the mighty name of Jesus.

I thank you, Father, that this is a man of God who walks in purpose, Father.

And that thing that tries to keep him on the outsides, we call him in.

We call him into the army of God.

We call him into family.

We say he's not an orphan in the mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for what you're doing today.

We thank you for what you're doing with the men.

Kudrama, Shanda.

I am not up here for show.

I'm not up here to waste my time.

And I know I'm not saying that pridefully.

Some of the things I do might seem prideful.

It's not.

At least if it is, I'll repent.

Privately.

The Lord is waking up the men.

This is not going to be church's normal.

The atmosphere of church, like what's going to work, is not going to be what you've watched for the last 20, 30 years.

The secret sensitive church is declining.

Understand, that's not going to work.

We're in a different, this is a different time.

Look at the world.

The uncertainty and the anxiety in the world is ever so high.

The attack, all this stuff.

LGBTQ, transgender, all this junk going on.

This is a distraction so that the enemy can take out men.

Y'all hearing this?

It's a distraction.

And I need you to hear this, ladies, because we're gonna deal with this this year, okay?

The world has taught you to treat your men like they're not heads, to treat them with disrespect, to talk down to them.

The Bible says the older women, the ones mature in faith, teach younger women how to love their husbands.

There's a Jezebel spirit that has come to try to silence the voice of the prophet.

The Jezebel spirit is going to say, Listen, I'm going to rule you, man.

You're just a side commodity with my life.

I could talk to you however I want to talk to you.

I could try to control you and I could try to dominate you.

The Lord is going to sever the head of that.

Do you want you hear me?

You're going to watch as revival comes, as the men of God start stepping up to their posts, you're going to see Jezebel die.

When the men of God step into their posts, it's not going to suppress women, it's going to lift them up.

It's going to lift them up.

In the name of Jesus.

Oh, he can minister to you right there.

I see you, little Lucian, in the name of Jesus.

We say yes, Lord.

Pastor Apostle Pete.

I just hear the Lord, hear the Lord saying, more than prophecy, more than visions, more than dreams, I am the God who heals you.

And so I'm just sensing this right now.

Even the present, this is a gathering of people expecting miracles.

Expecting signs and wonders.

Not for show, not for glory, not for anybody's reputation, but for the glory of the Son of God.

So right now, right now, I believe the Lord is going to begin healing particular things that some men have been struggled with.

And what the Lord showed me particularly is shoulder problems.

And the way that I know that is all of a sudden my shoulder started hurting.

And he's done this before.

Rotator cuffs.

And those all associated with your shoulder.

So right now, everybody just lift your hands up to receive right now.

These men, there are men in this room.

God wants to glorify his son by a supernatural healing.

So, Father, we just say yes.

Minister to our physical bodies, and you you you architect, you you architect in a way that will heal, restore better than before.

We thank you, Lord, that you are moving in this house in many ways, but this house will not be a house devoid of miracles.

It will not be a house devoid of signs and wonders.

It will be a holy mountain, it will be a holy mountain where people stream into the house of the Lord.

It will be a holy place, it will be a place of joy, it will be a place of restoration, it will be a place of physical healing in Jesus' name.

Happy New Year, everybody.

This is going to be a year that God's going to recover a lot that's stolen and we're going to contend for it.

We're going to get our hands dirty.

We're going to get into the trenches with the enemy, okay?

Listen, I'm not telling every single one of you to look like or act like me, okay?

Your outward things, you can act however, you can act charismatic and be void of the spirit on the inside of you, okay?

But I am saying this: if this is us, we need to let this image thing die.

That stubbornness in his presence.

This is what I've been working on.

I'm not doing I don't come down here and dance.

I don't act a fool to show off.

I don't like doing that.

It's for him.

Honey, will you pray, just pray dismiss this service and pray, pray a blessing over so let me hold Hayden.

Um, what I love too, and this is the last thing, with that picture of David dancing undignified.

Uh when a king was conquered, a sign that a king was conquered is they would strip him down and they would force him to dance.

And so there's this picture of David, and he's saying, I've been conquered by the King.

And and in Jesus' name, Lord, in 2026, let that be all of our postures.

Hallelujah, we've been conquered by the King.

Hallelujah, he is Lord of our lives.

So we speak a blessing in Jesus' name.

We speak hope for the new year, we speak joy.

We decree the plan of God is going to go forth and be fulfilled in the generations represented here and in the families represented here.

And everybody says, Amen and amen.

We love you guys.

Love y'all.

Have a good week.

Happy New Year.

We'll see you here next week.