========================================================================
  WORSHIP IS A WEAPON (VIDEO)
  by Shane Idleman
========================================================================

Summary: This sermon emphasizes the power of worship as warfare in the
face of spiritual challenges, urging believers to seek God fervently
through worship and prayer. It highlights the need for men to be true
worshipers, surrendering fully to God, and leading their families in
worship. The message underscores the importance of humility,
desperation, and faith in seeking God's intervention and promises in
times of crisis.

Topics: "Worship as Warfare", "Leading in Worship"
Scripture References: 2 Chronicles 20:15, John 4:23, James 4:8, Psalm 42:1, 1 Peter 5:6, Isaiah 55:6, Ephesians 6:12, Psalm 51:17, Mark 1:35

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This sermon emphasizes the power of worship as warfare in the face of
spiritual challenges, urging believers to seek God fervently through
worship and prayer. It highlights the need for men to be true
worshipers, surrendering fully to God, and leading their families in
worship. The message underscores the importance of humility,
desperation, and faith in seeking God's intervention and promises in
times of crisis.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quite a while and that topic is has been actually worship as warfare
Worship as warfare and it's no secret That our nation is experiencing
stage four spiritual cancer right now It seems like everything's falling
apart, correct? But i'm very hopeful and here's why any time Darkness is
moving darkness seems to be overcoming all areas of society God's word
god's light is still going out even stronger if you read about the
history of revivals You'll you'll see that god would bring a revival a
spiritual awakening in times of crisis And I think it's a good reminder
that there is only one hope right now Only one remedy only one solution
for this type of spiritual cancer And it's for god's people to get on
fire again and begin to worship him and pray like never before But I
want to is okay to go on this. I don't know. It looks plastic, right?
It's okay.

All right That'd be funny, right if I fell through this But i've got a
confession, uh to make and I think I think men can relate but for many
years as even as a christian I was not really a worshiper. I was a
worker I was working hard. I was serving but it's hard to get men to
worship And we would say well i'm just not emotional Ever heard that?
Well, you express anger real well Is anger not an emotion? We express
different types of emotion and if we could get men back again to being
worshipers And on fire for god and leading their family that is
contagious And so briefly on this topic i've never preached from my
phone before but I was able to hold hold notes So, let's see how it
works worship as warfare Many of you know the verse about spiritual
warfare the weapons of our warfare are What? Not carnal, but they are
mighty through god for the pulling down of strongholds and casting down
arguments In other words your gun safes are full but your prayer closets
are empty Oh, I can go deeper if you want Convicting convicting
convicting to get us back on our face before god and it's a wonderful
story About many how many of you heard of jehoshaphat? Well jehoshaphat
did something you don't do Instead of sending out seal team six He sent
out the worship team To go fight the enemy This is how I fight my
battles on my face before god So if you want to contend for your family
If you want to contend for your prodigal son and your daughter do not
give up find yourself On the floor in your prayer closet calling out to
god and saying god.

Oh unless you hear my prayers I'm not going to leave i'm desperate for
you Worship is not only a battle cry worship is a prayer Did you know
that when you get in and worship and you press in and you can find this
read this tonight or tomorrow second chronicles Chapter 20. They said a
great multitude is coming against us. Anyone relate? And jehoshaphat he
feared and here's a key he set himself to seek the lord Sometimes it
doesn't matter what your friends are doing or your family doing or
what's going on around you You've got to set yourself to seek the lord
you've got to strengthen yourself in the lord Although all hell is
breaking loose.

I will get up tomorrow and I will seek god like never before god You
will find me on my knees crying out to you because you are our only hope
And it's a seeking god And people who go to westside christian
fellowship, they've heard me say this before but I think it's so
important that word seek in the old testament has been just a A treasure
for me over the years and if you look it up in the hebrew language It's
it's a word called bakash and it means to find to look for something
until you find it You don't give up How many of you parents right now if
you couldn't find your two or three year old would keep listening to me?
I hope not You would get up and you would what you would find that child
that nothing else mattered. I'm not going to eat I'm not going to rest.
I'm not going to stay.

I'm not going to run errands. I'm going to find that child And so that's
what he said here. He he sought the lord He began to press in and here's
a secret to the victorious christian life press in even when you don't
feel like it I have found that that's often when god moves the most is
when I don't feel like it I have to tell my feelings.

Come on. That's we're going to begin to seek and worship god like never
before And so it says he set himself to seek the lord and he proclaimed
a fast throughout all of judah And I do think it's a time that we need
to get back to praying and fasting It's a it's a one two combination in
the bible. That is is very powerful starving the flesh to be filled with
the spirit And he goes on it goes on to say josephat reminded god of his
promises I love that you ever remind god of your of your of his promises
to you Lord your word says this you said if you if I seek you I will
find you your word says the more I Seek you the more I love you the more
I love you the more I want to worship you and lord Your word says that
you will fill me with the fire of the spirit And he reminded god of his
promises He said if disaster comes upon us and we cry out to you you
will hear and you will save Folks we've got to get back to being
desperate for more of god Desperate for more of god like the cry of
isaiah.

Oh god. Would you rend the heavens? Oh god, would you rip open the
heavens and come down and visit your people lord? We need you like never
before And there's a desperation there. Here's the desperate cries of
his people And what's so important here is his faith His faith overruled
his fear Folks I know it's hard right now We're living in some very
interesting times and and if you look at the news does fear ever rise up
in you? Like me as well.

You've got kids you look what's going on What are we leaving them? But
faith must push out that fear or fear will begin to control and dominate
your life So you have to take those thoughts captive and say i'm lord
i'm trusting in you I'm casting these thoughts away and you push fear
out and you have to remind yourself. I pulled this from an old sermon
What demon can beat god? What power can overcome god what force can
discourage god what agenda can stop god? What ruler can control god and
what situation can confuse god? None, no one nothing. That's the god you
serve And so he cried out Oh our god Oh our god, we have no power.

We have no power against this multitude and especially men Did you know
it's okay to say god? I have no power over what's going on It seems that
maybe my family's falling apart my situation my finances lord. I can't
trying to fix this. I humble myself before you God, you are my only
solution you humble yourself before god watch what god does with
humility Watch what god does with humility as a matter of fact, he will
raise up the humble But he will what push down abase the proud And
getting us to a spot of humility And so he cried out lord We've got this
great army coming against us and we don't know what to do, but our eyes
are upon you Our eyes are upon you And how how relevant for tonight Now
all of the people of israel all of their little ones all of their wives
all of the children stood before the lord Just like tonight Then the
spirit of the lord came upon Jahaziel and he said do not be afraid or
dismayed because of this great battle for the battle is not yours but
gods You need to remind yourself of that Listen I didn't come up here
just as a motivational Motivational speaker and kind of get the crowd
fired up and i'll see you later.

I've lived this close to hell I can i've been so close to hell. I can
still smell the smoke on my clothes I've i've i've walked through that
valley of the shadow of death. I have seen god move in powerful ways
This isn't some pep rally.

This is the truth that of a life that's been radically changed by the
power of god But I I don't want to over I don't want to miss this then
the spirit of the lord came upon him Now I want to I want to I don't
want to get deep into this topic But I do want to say this you have all
of the holy spirit at conversion, but does he have all of you? Don't
leave here tonight With that question unanswered you have all of the
holy spirit at conversion, I believe but does he have all of you the
fully surrendered life And many times we read about people just this
might mighty anointing of the holy spirit This this this holy spirit
just fills them and and many people can't relate. It's because they have
not fully surrendered their life Once you fully surrender and you come
in humble and brokenness god begins to fill you and fuel you with
boldness You become bold for the things of god There is one acid test as
someone fill with the spirit of god Do you love jesus christ and do you
talk about him often? Is he is he an all-consuming thought in your life
and you want to do more for god? That is a byproduct of being filled
with the holy spirit And the holy spirit came upon this individual This
individual and he reminded the people for the battle is not yours, but
god's so no matter what you're going through tonight Some of you here
are going through a divorce Or health issues or financial situations and
I want to remind you the battle is not yours It's god's just make sure
you're on the right side of the battle Stop trying to fix things in your
own strength God's had to just shut me up and quiet me out and get me
out of the way before he moves sometimes Because i'm a fixer man anybody
any fixers out there i'm gonna fix this And god says no you're gonna i'm
gonna humble you i'm gonna take away All that you were trusting in and
then see if you finally trust me It's not your battle it's god's But
then he goes on to say And I just want to throw this out there worship
demands a response Worship demands a response. So jehoshaphat What did
he do he bowed his head He put his face to the ground and the people and
all the inhabitants of jerusalem did the same And what did they begin to
do they begin to worship the lord? They cried out to god and I know
worship is it it can get a little confusing and really worship is a
lifestyle But it's also the posture of my heart Usually in the old
testament, they would fall down in the holy presence of god They would
say raise up holy hands to the lord.

There's a there's a reaching up to the father. There's god. I need you
There's a desperation see desperate people do desperate things Desperate
people do desperate things could it be that we're not desperate enough
to truly see god with all of our heart and with all of our strength
Desperate people do desperate things And so they begin to worship the
lord The worst they responded to his call Folks did you know you can go
and listen to a great worship set and great sermon and never change week
after week Month after month because there has to be a response to the
call There has to be that that desire to want to seek god So i'm going
to throw this out there in just a minute i'm going to give you the
opportunity to be baptized tonight I'm going to baptize you.

I'd love to baptize you. We've got towels It's not cold the jordan river
where jesus was baptized was very cold. It's not cold So i'm going to be
right back there by the baptismal I want to encourage you to make that
response if you need to give your life to the lord tonight fully
surrender Don't play games like I did don't play games like I did I I
would I would worship and say I was a christian on sunday, but come
monday.

I live like hell I live like hell and it was it wasn't till god finally
broke me And filled me with the spirit that I could come and testify of
that And so here's the key They began worshiping the lord They began
worshiping the lord. What do they do? Worshiping the lord. I love
prayer.

I love prayer But there's something powerful when men and god of worship
and they lift up his holy name There's something powerful and profound
that takes place when we empty ourselves of self and we cry out to god
almighty And you say you sit on the throne. You are our only hope god.
We humble ourselves before you He hears the desperate cries of his
children a humble and broken a contrite heart I will in no way cast
away.

I hear the cries of my children and they begin to worship him Now when
they begin to sing and to praise The lord what did god do? He fought
their enemies He set up ambushes and the enemy started to fight
themselves Don't you love to see that we're watching in our nation. Our
enemies start to fight themselves God will confuse the whole situation.
He'll watch out for his remnant bride Oh, there's something about the
remnant churches on fire for god I can't prove this but I guarantee the
millions of christians around the united states are the only threes and
America has not been judged more serious severely than it has today
Because there's a remnant god says because there's 50 in the land.

There's not 50. There's 500 I will spare that land because they cry out
to me and they humble themselves before me So the lord set the ambushes
against the enemies And when you set your heart upon him, he will set
his eyes upon you Never forget that you can tweet that out tonight when
you set your heart upon him He will set his eyes upon you And they look
toward the multitude and there were all the dead bodies fallen on the
earth. No one had escaped from god Because god went before them Worship
is powerful.

Is it not? Let me just testify what it's done in my own life worship is
a great sin killer Worship is a fear quencher worship is a power bringer
worship is a victory giver worship is a holiness promoter Worship is a
lust eliminator worship is an obstacle remover worship is a demon slayer
Worship is a wisdom giver a peace promoter a depression lifter Worship
is an anger suppressor a weakness remover a strength booster and thank
god worship is a revival stimulator God will revive his people I'm just
telling you it wasn't until I found my face on the floor before god
weeping and crying out to him He said that's a young man. I can use a
country boy from california who barely graduated high school I I I can't
go and talk god. I'll watch what I will do with with with with those
that I humble and break Because when god breaks you then he can use you
If you're going through the breaking process the best thing to do is
submit Submit god break me fill me humble me.

I need you And watch what he will do with humility. It's amazing So i'm
going to actually have john and richard come back up and they're going
to close with a few songs But I want to read a verse that many of you
have heard before But it's so important right now. I actually heard it
earlier from one of you out in the audience But the hour is coming And
is now here Now here jesus said this when true worshippers True what
jesus said true worshippers Will worship the father in spirit And in
truth You don't change truth folk truth.

You don't change truth truth changes you And i'm absolutely convinced
we've got to get back to the authority and truth of god's word it is the
gauge It is it is what we it's the mark of a true ministry men and women
standing on the truth of god's word Truth is not flexible truth is not
debated debatable. I don't care how a person feels I want to know what
the truth is And our nation is so caught up and not offending. Did you
know the truth offends? the truth offends It offends our pride That's a
good one, too.

I heard that somewhere Times change truth does not that is the slogan of
our ministry You know, I just feel this is so important god is looking
for those who are looking for him Because jesus goes on to say those who
worship him in spirit and truth. The father is seeking some to worship
him The father is seeking some to worship him And you're waiting on god,
but it could be that god is waiting on you You're waiting on god, but
could it be that god is waiting on you? Let me tell you i'll never
forget 23 years ago I'll buy my voice. I have to preach in torrents la
sunday.

So i'm saving my voice here But I was I was reading the bible 23 years
ago, and it said the eyes of the lord Go to and fro throughout the whole
earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal
to him But then in that same day I read these words The devil roars
about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour And the thought came
to me who finds you? Who finds you? The enemy goes about as a roaring
lion and god goes about seeking those who are worshiping him. One of the
other will find you We've got to get fully surrendered and fully
submitted to god And so let me just tell you about a god who rescues and
revives a god who restores and renews Set your heart upon him tonight
Seek him while he may be found and you've got a well up inside of you
like david who can say like david As a deer that panted after the water
brook. Oh my soul pants for thee.

Oh god I humble myself before you I want to be like that that deer
searching for that brook and that refreshing water that living water I
need that like never before and so do you turn completely over to christ
tonight? And so this is a call to the broken and the battered. It's a
call to the lost and the lonely It's a call to the fearful and to the
weak And so what I want to do is something a little bit different
tonight Is I want to have the prayer team They're going to they're going
to make their way up here and I want you to to get up and come forward
If you're fully surrendering your life to the lord you're repenting
you're getting back on track the prodigal son's coming home You're done
playing playing church. You want to make that confession of faith that I
want you.

I want to ask you to come forward Listen if I knew what I knew back then
if I knew now I would have ran to this altar I would have not played
games with god. The time is getting dark And it's getting it's getting
uh The times are getting dark and of course evil is is prevailing so
make that decision But let's go ahead and all stand up and I want to ask
those who need prayer If you need to you need to confess jesus christ as
lord and savior come to one of the prayer team members If it's a
prodigal son or the wayward daughter, you need to come home You need to
come back to god then find your way up here as well and then finally
Finally if you need prayer for any type of situation healing Deliverance
breakthroughs anybody have strongholds of addiction and bondage and you
just can't seem to get a breakthrough They want to pray with you as
well. They would love to pray with you And then finally remember where
am I where am I going to be? Back there doing baptisms So if you want to
get baptized, we're going to baptize you in the name of the father the
son and the holy spirit I would love to pray with you and I would love
to baptize you and just make your way back to the back Or the prayer
prayer team or do both come up and pray and then go and get baptized And
again moms dads anybody contending for the prodigal son or their wayward
daughter Come and let a prayer team member pray with you as well You go
and come forward as well and let them pray with you intercede Intercede.

Oh, I look for a man from among them who would stand in the gap and
intercede god is looking for intercessors So i'll either see you up
front or back there

========================================================================
Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/ug4mjL2wdHE.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/worship-is-a-weapon-video/
========================================================================