Passion Conference 2018
A Life in Alignment

Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer – Passion Conference 2018

Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is Christian entertainer Anthony Evans.
The daughter of Tony Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas,[1] Priscilla grew up well acquainted with the Bible. As a freshman at the University of Houston, she interned with a Christian radio station. Soon listeners were calling the station, inviting Priscilla to speak at their Bible study groups and other events. Soon she was invited to lead a weekly Bible study at the Zig Ziglar Corporation and then to join its speaker team. Priscilla has worked as an independent contractor for CBS and hosted a local television show, but recently she has focused solely on Christian ministry opportunities. She calls Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, her mentor in ministry.

Together the Shirers established Going Beyond Ministries, a speaking bureau featuring Priscilla. The parents of three young boys, the Shirers share ministry and family responsibilities. While Priscilla continues to minister full-time, Jerry manages his schedule and other business aspects of Going Beyond Ministries.

Priscilla speaks around the world at churches and other events, including the LifeWay Christian Resources-sponsored Going Beyond conference and Deeper Still: The Event, where she shares the stage with Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. She has also authored several books.

Shirer graduated from Duncanville High School and Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree from the latter in Biblical Studies.

In 1993, Shirer was a freshman at the University of Houston. Shirer was married in 1999 to Jerry Shirer, former Hilton Hotels executive. The couple has three sons.

In 2013, Shirer was a speaker at the 2013 Women of Faith conference. In 2015, Shirer made her film debut in the Kendrick Brothers film War Room. In October 2016, Shirer was recognized as one of four prominent women of faith during the 10th anniversary of God’s Leading Ladies Life Enrichment Program at The Potter’s House.[1] Shirer also featured at the 47th GMA Dove Awards.

[Applause]

I cannot even begin to tell you how

excited I am to be here thrilled

finally to be a passion this is my first

time being at passion I I’m the new kid

on the block thank you for making the

new kid feel welcome it is a privilege

to be a part of what God has already

been doing through this movement for

these years these decades that God has

been sowing seed into the lives of of

you I was being a bit nostalgic as I was

here last night listening to Bishop

Louie bringing the word to us but I was

nostalgic because it was about two

decades plus ago that I was in Atlanta

and I was sitting in a conference that

was about the size of just this one

section right here on the floor for a

group that at the time was called the

impact movement and is a little arm of

Campus Crusade for Christ that would

gather together a group of young people

in Atlanta high school and college age

the last years of high school and the

beginning of my college years I would

come to the impact movement in Atlanta

and sit just like you are and someone

that had walked the road a little bit

longer than I had would stand on the

platform and tell me that I was going to

be an arrow that the Lord would shoot

out that the impact that my life could

have if I would just follow Jesus would

be an impact the likes of which I could

never imagine

I came to echo what it is that that

Louie has said y’all don’t even know

what it is that the Lord has in store

for you can’t even imagine I’m trying to

tell you that whatever is in your mind

right now about what God might do with

your life it is too small for what he’s

actually planning to do

too small you cannot fathom what God has

in mind for you the reason why I can say

that with that much boldness it’s

because while there are 30-plus thousand

of us that are gathered together in

these three arenas and then those that

are on the other side of the screen in

their homes 30,000 sounds like a big

number unless you consider the fact that

was seven plus billion people on the

planet the fact that he’d let us be the

ones that are recipients of what he’s

done over these last few weekends really

it’s just or last few days really it’s

just a drop in the bucket 30,000 sounds

like a lot but in the grand scheme of

all the people that could have been here

y’all he chose us that means he intended

for you to know you’re an arrow that

your expectation is that you’re getting

ready to go places the likes of which

you could never imagine

I’ve asked the Lord to put an

exclamation point on our conference

together in this last session to just

feel what it is whatever it is he’s been

doing in your heart that he wants to

continue to do and I’m gonna ask him to

do that in Jesus name would you bow your

heads with me Lord I thank you so much

for this privilege I thank you that you

speak and that we your daughters and

sons have the privilege to hear I thank

you Lord for the great gift that it is

to know that you have allowed us to be

arrows in your hands and we say right

now collectively wherever you send us we

will go whatever mission you send us on

Lord we’re we’re game for it father we

surrender to you and now Lord do what

you always do open up the windows of

heaven and come in here and speak to us

father we’re so glad each other is here

but we didn’t come to see each other we

came to see you and so father speak

somebody say sweet Lord say speak Lord

we are your sons we’re your daughters

and we came to hear a word take this

simple message would you divide it about

35,000 different ways so that every

person

the sound of my voice will know that

today they have been in the presence of

God in Jesus name everybody agreed when

they said amen amen

oh I like y’all y’all talk back to me I

go to that kind of a church where they

talk but you know I go to the kind of

church where if the preaching gets

really good to us we might throw

something at the pastor a shoe a baby

anything might go flying up there y’all

are my people y’all came to have church

so I have three boys it’s a little bit

scary to me that they are nearly and

will be very soon in the next few years

will be about your age three sons the

distinguishing characteristic about my

boys is that they are giants they are

huge voice my 15 year old is 6 foot 2

inches tall he wears a size 14 men’s

shoe my 13 year old is about 6 1 he was

a 13 men’s shoe and they towered over me

I have a 9 year old who’s coming up in

the ranks with his brothers they are

tall boys somebody come help me feed

these people and one of the

distinguishing characteristics about or

what makes their size work for them

rather is that they do love sports so

whatever sport is sort of in season

that’s what we’re playing at the time

my second son for a lot of years he’s in

a basketball now but for a lot of years

baseball was this thing and I enjoyed

that

I enjoyed baseball season I liked going

out there for spring ball I liked spring

ball cuz you go sit in the cool of the

evening while your kid is practicing I

remember all those years of Little

League when he was just coming up and

we’d sit out there and the cool of the

spring evening under the lights of the

bleachers watching him practice and

enjoying just that that whole atmosphere

I like spring ball so much the only

problem with spring ball is that it is

going to become summer ball and I don’t

know what happens where you live

wherever you’re coming from but I can’t

tell you in Dallas Texas which is where

I still live

and where I was born and raised in

Dallas Texas in the summer time it

doesn’t warm up slightly it gets hot

I’m talking about slap your mama hot

that kind of hot the kind of hot where

you feel like the Sun must be mad at you

about something like you did something

to the Sun and the Sun is trying to get

you back all summer long that’s what it

feels like and you’re sitting out there

at a game trying to enjoy your kids game

and it really still is okay when there’s

just one game the problem is that at the

end of every season there’s a tournament

so you got to be out there on a Thursday

at 8 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and noon and

2:00 p.m. and then depending upon how

your kids team did you’re gonna have to

come back on Friday at 8 a.m. and 10

a.m. and then they give you a little

lunch break but you got to come back for

the 2 p.m. game the 4 p.m. game and then

if your kids team had the nerve to do

well you got to come back again on

Saturday for the 8 a.m. game in 10 a.m.

and noon and 2:00 and man you’re sitting

out there under the Blazing Sun trying

to be happy that your kid is doing well

really you’re wondering if it’s ever

okay to preyde lose so you can go home

I will never confirm nor deny that I

have ever done that but I will tell you

that we were sitting out there at a

tournament so several years ago Sun was

blazing we were so excited for the lunch

break just because that meant we would

be able to go to a restaurant where

there would be air conditioned and ice

water that actually had ice in it

we got refreshed we came back we drove

our SUV up into the parking lot opened

up the back of the SUV so that we could

pull out all the gear that we needed to

go to the next game in the tournament we

were three days into the tournament hot

sweaty they were doing well we were

trying to be excited about it ready for

the next game I was walking behind my

son to get from where we had parked the

car over toward the dugout where the

next game was going to be played and so

I gathered up all the stuff you know the

ice chests that you have and the

umbrella that you might have to go over

your head and you know the water bottles

the the backpacks the the baseballs the

mitts all that stuff and I was following

behind my son my second son Jerry jr. is

a fairly Gregory

personality he’s outgoing he’s excited

for a challenge so I could see that in

his step as I followed behind him I

could see a skip and his step his chin

was up his shoulders were back he was

excited about the next game and I gotta

tell you he’s pretty good in baseball he

has a natural knack for it I remember at

10 years old was the first time he got a

good hit and sent it sailing over the

fence line at 10 years old

and I think it’s partly because of his

size just a lot of power behind his

swing a great as a first baseman so we

were really excited about his success in

baseball and and I watched him as he

kind of hopped and skipped over to the

next game just excited about the next

challenge in the tournament but because

I was following behind him I had my eyes

glued on him and I could see when

something changed I could see that as we

took the short walk from where we parked

the car over to the dugout I could see

that his shoulders started to hunched

over and his head hung down I could see

that that that skip that had been in his

step at changed he was kind of walking

like he was nervous he was wringing his

hands a little bit I saw that he was

looking around his eyes darting and

looking a little bit sketchy I was

trying to figure out what happened to my

boy it was a short walk from where we

packed a car over to the dugout and all

of a sudden his countenance had

completely changed so I started looking

around trying to figure out what was

going on why did he look so insecure and

fearful all of a sudden I realized that

as we were going toward the dugout we

were walking past some kids from another

team they were all laying on the grass

underneath the shade of an oak tree

getting ready for the next game as I

passed them I could see this was the

team we were about to play next kept

walking and I kept getting a look at

these boys and when I looked at them I

realized what my son’s problem was we

had faced this team before we had faced

them earlier in the season and when this

team had played my son’s team earlier in

the season they had annihilated us it

had been a complete embarrassment a

complete upset this team right here

y’all they were serious baseball players

you know the kind of players that had

the serious parents

ain’t nobody got time for all that these

are kind of parents you know when they

gave birth to their son they put a mint

on one hand a baseball in the other

they’ve been waiting for this their

whole lives and these boys weren’t good

they’ve been playing since they were

toddlers I mean really little this was

one of those elite teams they were

amazing and so my boy saw this was the

team he was about to play and the closer

he got to the dugout the more he passed

them and realized that they were the

players I watched his countenance change

in response to that but we had to walk

right by them to get to the dugout as we

walked past there were two players they

were talking to each other one was

whispering to the other I think he

thought he was whispering but we could

hear him he leaned over to the other one

and he said there goes that big kid from

the Red Sox team is he the one that hit

the ball and it went over the fence yeah

he was the one at first base the one

that caught any of the outs that we got

in the game that was him so that’s Gerry

Shire when my boy I heard his name

crossed the lips of the opposing team

members those shoulders that had been

hanging down all of a sudden I watched

him pop back again I watched his chin go

up I watched him get a little swag back

in his step as he headed over toward the

dugout in fact we had to bring him down

a few notches before the game started

it’s amazing really how your countenance

changes when you’re really over here and

understand what the enemy thinks about

you when he sees you coming it doesn’t

mean that the challenge goes away it

means that in the face of it you’re

different your stance is different

because you recognize that when the

enemy sees a door or a son of God coming

his way he’s shaking in his boots not

because of you but because of the Holy

Spirit of God that lives on the inside

of me

can’t to tell somebody the day but even

if you don’t believe what it is that the

Word of God declares to be true about

you you need to know that the enemy does

he knows that every single thing that

God’s Word declares to be true about you

every word that has been declared over

you in these last few days of this

conference even if you’re not convinced

about it the enemy is he knows that you

have been forgiven he knows that there

is therefore now no condemnation for

those of us who are in Christ Jesus he

knows that you have been given the

victory he knows that you have been made

competent by the Spirit of God he knows

that there is therefore now no

condemnation for you or for me no shame

no guilt he knows that you have not been

given a spirit of fear but of power and

love and of a sound mind and y’all he

knows that in the end we win

and I’m saying what ashamed it would be

for the enemy to believe more about your

potential than you do what ashamed it

would be for us to go out of here with

all of this inspiration that we have

been given this investment of God’s Word

that he has gathered us together over

the course of these days to worship in

spirit and in truth and to hear his word

declared true over our lives what a

tragedy it would be for us to walk out

of here and still live like we were

before we came through these doors so

what the enemy will do is scatter

challenge in front of your life because

listen you’re going back home to

challenge y’all do know we going back

home in a little while right and don’t

we wish we can wake up to this every

single day don’t we wish that we could

have God’s Word spoken over our lives

with this much authority and power every

single day and be in the presence of

leaders who can lead us into the

presence of God in worship every single

day like this but the reality is we

going back home the challenges of your

university campus the challenges of your

home

relationships your friendships on your

job those challenges will be sprawled

out in front of you when you get home

and let me tell you something what the

enemy hopes is that the sight of them

will cause you to shrink back in so much

fear and insecurity that you’ll never

step up to the plate of being who God

has called you to be listen if you’ve

placed faith in Jesus Christ I hope you

know that the enemy understands he

cannot destroy you

he knows his chances are over of

destroying you so he is going to spend

the rest of his time and the rest of his

energy just trying to discourage you

trying to distract you so that you’ll

shrink back in fear and insecurity and

not step up to the plate and be who God

has called you to be it is at least in

part to this end that the Apostle Paul

gives us a passage of scripture that has

become a lifeline for me in fact I was

talking with Christine yesterday Chris

and I have known each other for a very

long time very close friends and she was

asking me what I was gonna speak on and

I had several thoughts of directions

that I was leaning toward but in the end

we as we were talking the question came

up if there was only one thing you could

say to them if there’s only one message

that you ever have the opportunity to

tell these students these young people

that will be gathered together on this

occasion what would that message be and

there was one thing that immediately

popped into my heart and my mind for you

at the end of this year’s passions

passion conference the words of the

Apostle Paul he writes them in the book

of Ephesians listen let me just tell you

quickly before I read this passage you

got if you’ve not read the book of

Ephesians you don’t have to read the

book of Ephesians yeah listen it’s it’s

like for real

the Apostle Paul y’all know he was a bad

boy he gave us most of what would become

the New Testament letters written to

first century believers that now

disciple us and help us to mature as

believers and as the body of Christ

and scholars say that of all of Paul’s

writing really the cream of the crop the

cherry on top of the cake is Ephesians

because in the book of Ephesians y’all

he just spends the first half of the

book just rehearsing who you are as a

daughter or a son he wants to make sure

you step up to the plate rise to the

occasion of who you’ve been recreated in

Christ to become those of you who place

faith in Jesus Christ last night who

stood to your feet at the end of pastor

Louie’s message and you placed faith in

Jesus listen the old has gone in the

newest car Bob you’re a daughter you

were silent and you have full rights and

privileges that have been granted to you

the Apostle Paul wants you to know what

is the hope of his calling and choosing

you he writes in the 1st and 2nd and 3rd

chapter about the treasure that you have

he wants you to know about the mercy

that has been lavished upon you the

grace that has been given to you he

wants you to know that if you’ve been

rejected by everybody else you’ve been

hand-picked chosen and adopted by the

one true God he wants you to know that

if you’ve dug a pit of sin for yourself

that is so deep you can’t find your way

out of it that the mercy of God is so

great and so grand that it can reach

down into any pit and snatch you up out

of it once and for all

in fact Paul gets so worked up that by

the time he gets to the middle of the

first chapter he bursts out in a prayer

and he says I’m praying that the eyes of

your heart would be open so that you

would just know what is the hope of his

calling and choosing you and after going

over and over and on and on about the

lavishness the richness the grace the

mercy the goodness the adoption that has

been poured out over us the forgiveness

that has been granted to us he’s trying

to figure out how do I close this letter

to make sure they step up to the plate

how do I put an exclamation point on

passion 20-18 to make sure that what God

has given them they don’t hand over to

the enemy as soon as they walk out the

door and the Apostle Paul writes these

words to us in Ephesians chapter 6

beginning in verse 2

he says finally you be strong in the

Lord and in the strength of his might he

says put on the full armor of God so

that you may be able to stand firm

against the scheme

somebody say schemes against the schemes

of the devil he says we wrestle not we

struggle not against flesh and blood but

against the rulers against the powers

against the world Force’s of this

darkness against the spiritual forces of

wickedness that are in the heavenly

places he says so therefore you might as

well just go ahead and put down all the

weapons of this world that aren’t

working for you anyway and take up some

weapons that actually have some power he

says take up the full armor of God so

that you may be able to resist in the

evil day and having done everything to

stand firm

he says you ought to just stand firm

therefore in these few verses of

Scripture the Apostle Paul begins to

introduce to us a concept that has not

been at least in the context of thus far

in church development at that time had

not been as overtly described as it is

right now in Paul’s letter he brings up

the topic of spiritual warfare

he says you have an enemy he says I want

to make sure that it’s loud and clear

there are other places in the Old

Testament and throughout throughout the

new y’all where we can infer that we

have a spiritual unseen battle going on

but this is the first time that an

author comes right out and says you have

an enemy and he is scheming against you

that when you leave this place and just

go in a while when I leave this place in

just a little while you need to know

that there is an enemy he is against you

he is not for you he plans to do

anything and everything in his power to

stir up challenge in your life enough to

cause you to shrink back and not rise up

and stand firm and the victory that you

have been given in Christ Jesus that’s

why the Apostle Paul says

and firm cuz you have an enemy an enemy

that wants you to think that just

because he is invisible he is also

fictional he wants to be chalked up to

nothing more than a caricature a cartoon

picture a myth a character for a kids

Nursery Rhyme he doesn’t want you to

recognize the influence that he has over

your life possibly to to cause you to

never walk into the full expression of

God’s grace and goodness in your life he

is sinister he is a master illusionist

and he is a deceiver and he hopes to

cleverly disguise himself behind life’s

most pressing problems to where you will

forget he is even there he wants you to

point fingers at him or at her at your

boss at your parent at that particular

professor or your RA in your dorm he

wants you to think it’s that advisor

it’s that financial problem anything

flesh-and-blood because he knows as long

as we’re looking at the flesh-and-blood

we will direct all the wrong weapons at

the wrong culprit will sink her money

will work we’ll think our rationale and

logic will actually work we think that

the Diploma we’re about to to achieve

and receive will think the diploma will

be work worth it we’ll think that the

connections will work anything natural

cannot take care of the supernatural

when your problem is unseen and

spiritual you need weapons that work in

that realm so the Apostle Paul says you

got to know first of all that your enemy

is not the person you were sitting next

to today that your enemy is not your

parent at home your enemy is not that

professor that is difficult to work with

your real enemy is not your boss on your

part-time job your real enemy is unseen

he is hoping y’all that we will forget

he’s there he is the master deceiver so

there’s a little church around the

corner from my house in Dallas I’ve been

taking my kids there since they were

little to Harvest Festival that’s

basically this church’s answer to

Halloween so we will go there for

Harvest Festival and this church has a

good old-fashioned trunk-or-treat does

anybody know what I mean when I say

trunk-or-treat

okay all right so trunk-or-treat for

those of you who are not clear on what

that is that’s what members of the

congregation volunteer they volunteer to

bring their cars into the parking lot on

Harvest Festival night so that they can

open up the trunk of their car so you go

into the parking lot all the trunks are

open and each person has basically

crafted a carnival game or some sort of

fair game out of the trunk of the car so

kids line up one trunk after the other

they play whatever the game is and then

most of the time whether they win or

lose the person that owns that car gives

them a whole bunch of candy and sends

them home we’re always so grateful so we

stand in line one car after the other

waiting on bags the candy and we play

one game after the other a few years ago

the biggest line the longest line that

the carnival wasn’t behind the car it

was behind the bed of a truck it was

really clever a huge truck had been

parked in the parking lot and they put a

stepladder right at the bed of the truck

so that a kid could walk into the bed of

the truck

they had attached a table top which was

about the same size as the bed of the

truck

they had attached it to the side of the

truck cut six holes into it put some

fabric some drapery over it and out from

those holes every few seconds a puppet

would pop through they gave the kid a

huge plastic mallet and the job of the

kid was to run up and down the inside of

the bed of the truck as he tried to hit

the puppets on top of the head it was a

homemade whack-a-mole game as what it

was and it was the longest line me and

Jude at the time he was like four Jude

is my youngest me and Jude are standing

in line were waiting on our turn behind

us there’s another kid he’s with us his

mom he’s probably four or five as well

and y’all he was hysterical because he

was annoyed at this whole situation and

he was making sure she knew it he was

first of all in the way cuz mom I don’t

understand why I gotta stand in this

long line didn’t we come to the carnival

to have fun this ain’t fun standing in

line ain’t fun I have an idea mom how

about this how about I go play all these

other games while you stand in line and

hold our place and then when it’s our

turn I’ll come back and join you in life

but he was not only annoyed about the

line the four-year-old was

so annoyed because mom I don’t even

understand this game why in the world

would I waste all my energy running up

and down the inside of that truck to hit

the puppets on the top of the head if

when I hit them on the head they’re

gonna disappear with them they’re just

gonna come back as soon as I hit them on

the head what’s the point of this game

so everybody in the line is laughing

hysterically because this four-year-old

this five-year-old is talking so much

about all of his frustrations finally he

gets so frustrated that he works himself

into a frenzy to where all I saw out of

my peripheral vision was a four year old

flash running past me as he ran forward

and he grabbed the drapery off of the

tabletop and pulled it clean off

underneath there were three adults with

puppets on each hand that day we all got

a good laugh but we also got a good

lesson there is always something you

can’t see

influencing what you can and if you

spend all of your time your energy your

effort trying to hit at what you see

pumping up in your life you’re gonna be

so frustrated and by the way exhausted

because as soon as you take care of one

thing another one is coming back unless

you do what the Apostle Paul says pull

back the curtain and let the enemy know

we got our eyes on you

and we’re gonna use some weapons that

actually work back there behind the

curtain y’all I wish I had learned this

when I was 18 19 20 21 years old that

that person that physical problem isn’t

really where you need to invest your

energy pull back the curtain use the

weapons that actually have power

the Apostle Paul wants you to know that

the tactics of the enemy are serious

business and so he uses a specific word

to describe them he says schemes

somebody say schemes come on y’all say

schemes I think that the people who know

me would echo this I think but I’m a

pretty easygoing personality it’s just

my nature I’m kind of bent that way I’m

just kind of like it’ll be okay if

somebody offends me or does something

ill

towards me hurts my feelings it’s kind

of easy for me to get over like I don’t

harbor offence as long somebody asks for

forgiveness

you’re forgiven no big deal let’s move

on I’m easy to forgive but if I find out

that somebody has been planning to do me

wrong like you know what in a mistake

you thought about it this was

premeditated you’ve been sitting back

studying me trying to figure out what my

weaknesses are trying to determine where

you can take best advantage you’ve been

watching to see when I come and when I

go you’ve been trying to figure out what

tender issues I have in my heart when

maybe what past abuses I suffered in my

history so that you can push those hot

buttons and make me erupt and anger or

frustration or take advantage of

specific things when I find out that

you’ve been studying me looking into my

presence and into my history so that you

can take full advantage inand I find out

you’ve not just been doing it with me

but you’ve also had your eyes on this

man that the Lord has given me to be

married to for the past 18 19 years now

you’ve been studying him so that you can

figure out how to take advantage of him

how to lead him astray so that he will

not be who you’ve called him to be in

our home as a husband and as a father

and when I find out that not only have

you been scheming against me and my

spouse but you had the nerve to have

your eyes on these three boys that the

Lord has given us to rear into mighty

men of valor and they will be men of

valor or I will spank them when I find

out you enemy have had the nerve to be

watching my kids barely old enough to

know what’s going on you’ve already been

studying them to find out what their

fears and insecurities are what their

weaknesses are so that you can trip them

up so that you can find out how to cause

them to become emotionally or physically

entangled so that they cannot walk the

road of victory that the Lord has for

them when I find out you’ve been

scheming against me and the family and

the people that I love well if it’s

you want it’s a war you go have because

I don’t know about y’all but I’m not

just gonna sit back and let the enemy

run roughshod over me over my family

over the people that I lost over the

destiny that he has for you do you

understand that the enemy is scheming

against you he’s watching you he has a

plan that is specific to you of course

the enemy can oftentimes plan against

entities nations churches communities

but he’s also personally targeted in his

assaults listen to me he knows your

weaknesses he knows how to dangle what

carrot at the right time in the right

way to make sure you are snagged in

particular have you ever wondered or

found curious as that particular carrot

is always dangled in front of you when

you are most tired when you are most

vulnerable when you happen to be most

hungry most alone most weak that

particular carrot the one that wouldn’t

mess with your friend because it’s not

her deal it’s not his deal he’s not

enticed by that but the one that entices

you always shows up at the right time

y’all that’s not coincidence that’s a

scheme the enemy is trying to derail you

he’s trying to make sure that you don’t

walk in a manner worthy pleasing of the

Lord that you come in here but that you

don’t go out of here did not purpose to

live for the glory of God he’s trying to

trip you up not only for his own benefit

but because he does not want you having

access to everything that you are privy

to as a rightful heir to the king of

kings and the Lord of lords it’s a

scheme so if he’s got tactics we need

tactics

the Apostle Paul outlines them for us

I’m just gonna read them to you because

he says in verse 13 you need the full

armor and here’s what they are verse 14

he says make sure that your loins are

girded with truth then he says you need

a breastplate and the breastplate is

called righteousness and then he says in

verse 15 you gotta have something for

your feet if you want any hope of being

able to

move forward successfully so your feet

need to be shod with the preparation of

the gospel of peace and then not only

that but he says there are some flaming

missiles of the evil one that he fully

intends to send sailing into your path

you gonna need a shield and the shield

is your faith and then you know there

are lies

there are strongholds that he’s going to

try to erect in your mind you’re gonna

need something to protect your mind he

says you need a helmet and the helmet is

your salvation but not only that he says

that you were going to need a sword

really a dagger of the Spirit it was

about 18 inches long or so the one the

Apostle Paul is referring to you need a

dagger so that when the enemy is all up

in your space you’ve got something close

at hand to make sure that he stays at

bay you need a dagger of the Spirit and

the dagger is called the what the Word

of God but y’all he doesn’t stop it

those six can I just say that there is

one more in 18 verse 18 traditionally

it’s taught as 6 I really believe there

are seven pieces of armor because in

verse 18 he says pray he says pray not

like you know a prayer a day to keep the

devil away not like a prayer over your

meal just because that’s what your momma

did in your grandmama did and that’s

what you’re supposed to do not something

quick and casual fervent prioritised

prayer y’all you can’t have victory if

you don’t pray do you hear what I’m

saying to you

prayer is the key that unlocks the

resources of heaven so that they can be

unleashed on planet Earth prayer is the

key he’s actually giving you to get all

the good stuff down here cuz I don’t

know about you but I don’t want to wait

to get to heaven to experience all that

God has for me any bits of heaven he

plans to give me on earth I want it

right now

prayer accesses the bits of heaven he

intends to give you now

and prayer listen prayer is what pushes

the kingdom of darkness back it’s what

pushes it back that’s why Jesus said my

house shall be called not a house of

good preaching not a house of good

singing not a house of great spotlights

and production not a house of great

cafes I hope you have all of that enjoy

it

but jesus said at the end of the day my

house better be called a house of prayer

because smoke lights and fog machines

and great singing and great preaching

that won’t necessarily push the kingdom

of darkness back but win my people who

are called by my name when they will

humble themselves and when they’ll pray

he says that I will hear from heaven I’m

gonna heal the land the enemy will have

to bend the knee at the name of Jesus in

prayer so pray there’s one other piece

of armor I couldn’t get by without

talking to you about it for a few

moments y’all still awake everybody gain

[Applause]

its in verse 14 he says put on a

breastplate called what righteousness

Jerry and I live in a fairly rural part

of Dallas Fort Worth we like it that way

close enough to the city we can get

there quick but it’s quiet and lazy we

live on a little two-lane sleepy Road

somebody’s got some horses over there

there’s some cows over there and one of

my closest friends lives across the

street that’s why we like it because

she’s got a pond in the front of her

property so I’ll get the boys and the

two fishing poles I bought on sale at

the local Walmart I have a tackle box

too that I got on sale there cuz you

know we need things we need extra hooks

cuz the boys always lose the hooks extra

bobber thingies you know cuz we need

extras of those I also have gloves in

the tackle box because y’all know I

don’t mind going fishing but I ain’t

gonna actually touch no fish

so we walked across the street with

whatever hot dog meat we’ve got left

from the week cuz you know we’re

professional fishermen so our hot dog

meat is our bait we walk across the

street we stand in this little cove

underneath some trees and we fished just

right there most of the time just little

sun perch stuff like that we can catch

quick in an hour we can catch like ten

or twelve fish just a little quick easy

little fishing trip every now and then

though I’m feeling adventurous what that

means is is that we will get into my

friend’s little rowboat they bought on

Craigslist it’s metal it’s not a big

deal it’s just a little it’s seaworthy

it can hold us up that’s all we need

I’ll swim we’ll go out into the middle

and we’ll fish from there every now and

then but I always think twice before I

do it and here’s the reason because in

order to get in it we first have to turn

it over they leave it upside down as

they should to drain water while

nobody’s using it so I got to turn it

over to get in it and what I do know for

sure is that when I turn this thing over

something is either gonna hop out from

underneath it someone’s gonna waddle out

from underneath it or worst of all oh

something’s gonna slither out from

underneath that boat because the

environment under there is moist and

damp and perfect for critters do you

know what I’ve noticed every single time

we turn it over something comes out and

never once have I had to write a golden

sealed invitation and send it into the

brush nearby to invite the critters to

come and join us at one o’clock today

you’re welcome

never once have I had to invite them

because the environment created by the

upside-down boat is invitation enough

righteousness is right side up living

that invites the sunlight of God’s favor

and blessing upon your life

unrighteousness is upside down behavior

that is out of alignment with the truth

of God that you’ve been sitting

underneath for the last few days it’s

behavior that is out of alignment with

the truth of God to where you have to

invite the enemy and come and make

himself at home in your life you just

keep living upside down and the

environment created by upside down

behavior is invitation enough listen to

me

you can pray against the enemy till

you’re blue in the face but if you and I

leave passion and we do not walk in

holiness we do not live in a lifestyle

that is in alignment with the truth of

God we will have wasted our breath in

prayer Pal says somebody’s got to live

right it’s flat-out straight-up holiness

it’s a word that our grandmothers and

our grandfathers back in the good old

days when you went to church and you sat

on a wooden Pew it’s before some

churches became so pretty

seeker-sensitive

I remember y’all I wouldn’t listen I’m

off the track listen I went to a church

and they said we are a priest

seeker-sensitive Church and so we

actually want to sort of in a way they

said dull down the actual literal name

of Jesus just so we can get people in

first then we will we will be more

direct later on I said oh you have

invited the wrong person because there

used to be a day in time where it was

just black and white where there were

fewer gray areas and tolerance yes come

as you are but don’t stay as you are

holiness

brothers and sisters I implore you by

the mercies of God to walk in a manner

worthy of this calling by which you have

been called then every bit of truth that

you have received this weekend to align

your lifestyle to it to not determine

that you will still dip your heels into

the ground and live immorally or speak

immorally or do the things habits and

lifestyles and choices and relationships

that you know are outside of alignment

with the truth of God turn the boat

right-side up so that you can invite the

favor of God on your life the Apostle

Paul says righteousness is your

breastplate the roman army in the first

century they had many pieces of armor as

you know but the breastplate would have

been one of the most critical the reason

why was because it obviously protected

the most vital organ they had their

heart the heart is the lifeline for your

physical well-being all of the blood

flow the vitality the energy that you

need to function in every level of your

life comes from the vitality of your

physical heart what the physical heart

is to the physical life your spiritual

heart is to your spiritual life all of

the vitality the energy that you need to

be who God has created you to be to have

fervency in your prayer life to follow

him with passion and with fire to read

the Bible and and not just be ink on a

page but you hear his voice speaking to

you to have clear reception between you

and the Holy Spirit you need a vital

spiritual heart that’s why if I were

your enemy more than all else I’d be

after your heart because one shot to the

spiritual heart will wipe you out your

spiritual heart is comprised of four

things your mind the way you think your

emotions the way you feel your ambitions

what you purpose to do and your

conscience your conscience is not the

voice of God but your conscience is like

this wiring that helps this microphone

amplify my voice the the conscience is

the microphone that the Holy Spirit uses

to help you hear the voice of God so if

I were your enemy

be after your heart because if I could

get to your heart that would mean I

would have automatic access to your mind

now I could tinker with your thinking

I’d have automatic access to your

emotions I can mess with the way you

feel and make sure they’re out of

alignment with the truth of God I can

mess with your ambitions to where what

you want to do is totally out of

alignment with what God wants you to do

and more than all else

I don’t want to make it sure I have a

shot to your heart so that I can

short-circuit the wires between you and

the Holy Spirit now you can’t even hear

God speak to you cuz you didn’t have a

breastplate on the Apostle Paul says

holiness is your breastplate holiness

blocks you from a full frontal attack of

the enemy holiness keeps the enemy had

made to wear when he comes looking

around for some people that he can

infiltrate some upside down environments

that he can fester him he can’t find

that with me or with you because we’ve

chosen right-side up living aligning

ourselves with the truth of God

breastplates in place securing us

against the schemes of the enemy

holiness is your breastplate I came to

tell you to live right I came to tell

you not to just have heard all of this

to go home and live in accordance with

it be ye not by your power not by your

might but by the Spirit of God there is

no relationship you’re in that if it is

out of alignment with the truth of God

that the Holy Spirit Himself won’t help

you to sever so that you can walk in

holiness

there is no lifestyle you are living

that is – I bet you’re too wound up in

that you can’t break free from no matter

how you feel in this moment you can walk

in holiness there is no way you have

been speaking no addiction that you have

no habit that you have been festering in

your life that you have been harboring

in your life that the holy spirit won’t

empower you to break free from so that

you can walk underneath the banner the

favor of holiness and your life be ye

holy y’all listen listen back in our

grandmama and our grandparents days

great-grandparents they wanted to honor

God more than they wanted to impress

people see the problem with Instagram

and Twitter and social media if there’s

a problem y’all the problem is we want

this we want to be impressive and if I’m

worried for our generation it is that we

are impressive but we don’t have

breastplates on it is that we have the

applause of people and our selfies are

perfectly lit and we have a whole bunch

of friends and a whole bunch of

Instagram likes and people are following

us and the enemy is thrilled because we

have sacrificed holiness on the altar of

impressing people you gotta live for the

applause of heaven you got to decide I

will not be politically correct before I

will choose to be holy I will not be

impressive before I will choose to be

holy I may not be the the person that

everybody wants to be around I may not

be the most impressive but what I will

be is holy because of time is coming

y’all where we are gonna see our Savior

face to face and when we see him he will

not ask us how many Instagram followers

we had he will not ask us how many

friends liked our post he will not want

to see the selfies that we took when we

see him face to face he’s gonna ask us

did we do business with His Son Jesus

Christ

and then and then we’re gonna give an

account and I don’t know about y’all but

I’m looking for I want a well done I

want Jesus to look at me and say you did

the thing girl not because they bought

the books they bought the Bible study

they saw the movie no you did the thing

because you honored me whether it was an

audience of one or an audience of 30,000

you honor to me I came to tell you

brothers and sisters walk with integrity

be in the dark who you are in the light

everything that your God has entrusted

to you over these last few days the

enemy does not mind he doesn’t like but

he doesn’t mind that you heard him he

didn’t mind you came here what he Minds

is if you leave here and live by what

you are

crazy father

if you’re here if you’re in this room

stay standing if you’re in this room or

one of the other arenas that are at home

and you know you were living in a way

that is out of alignment with the truth

of God your breastplate is not in place

you are open to full frontal attack by

the enemy because you haven’t girded

yourself with holy living and maybe

you’re in a situation where you’ve been

trying to live right but by your own

strength and power you just can’t seem

to pull it off and you need the Holy

Spirit to do what he does to set you

free to empower you to rise up in

victory to step up to the plate and hit

a homerun for the kingdom of God if

you’re tired of being shackled you’re

tired of being breastplate less and you

want to get that thing in place once and

for all so you can walk out of here and

have some victory in Jesus name if you

need victory and you need freedom even

while you’re standing or wherever you

are listen just raise your hand because

we’re gonna pray right now that the

chains will be broken we’re gonna walk

out of here free there’s gonna be

breastplates in place

pray for some accountability in your

life gonna pray that you would walk

Galatians 5:1 says it is for freedom

that you’ve been set free therefore

stand firm and don’t be subject again to

any yoke of slavery so Lord right now in

the matchless name of Jesus Christ I

pray over every hand that is raised

every heart that is raised to you and I

pray right now in Jesus name that if

there is any assignment that the enemy

has against these young brothers and

these young sisters I pray that that

assignment would be canceled in Jesus

name I pray that by your blood that has

been shed on Calvary you would loosen

thee the assaults the attack of the

enemy on their lives father and then I’m

playing you would get some breastplates

refit it over the lives of your people

Lord I’m praying if there’s any

relationship that is holding my brothers

and sisters back from living holy you

would loosen their the balance of the

relationship on their life Lord I’m

praying that you would taste take the

taste for the drug or the alcohol out of

somebody’s mouth in Jesus name I’m

playing Lord that the habit would not be

a habit that they have a taste for any

longer father I’m playing that you would

replace their will with your will Lord

I’m praying that you would change our

want to so that I want to wants to do

what you want it to do change I want to

father put your desires in our heart

lord help us to walk in victory Lord I

pray you would not let these people who

have their hands raised in specific God

I’m asking you would not let them walk

in on holiness I’m

and let your spirit soak on victim so

challenge them that they cannot sleep

well at night if they are out of

alignment with you Father I’m asking

Lord that they can’t eat well in the day

I’m asking that the relationships would

be on dis Eve or that things just won’t

be right until they are in alignment

with you get the breastplate on Lord

send the Hound of heaven after them

father so that we have no choice but to

walk in alignment with your word Lord

that I’m praying that when the enemy

comes looking for some folks to mess

with he won’t see anybody that came to

passion 2018 because we got breastplates

on we are fortified by the Spirit of God

to walk in holiness and strength and

power in Jesus name

y’all remember y’all remember in the

Lion King Simba’s messing with the

hyenas and he’s like rare and they’re

like seriously he does it again Wow

and they’re like you gotta be kiddin he

does it again and they’re like no you’ll

never take us down you’re too weak

you’re too small you’re too puny by

yourself he tries it one more time he

lets out his best roar but it sounds

like something big and giant and it

echoes off of the mountains nearby and

the enemy enemies go running away not

because he was the roar but because his

daddy

[Applause]

the roar of the father is behind you

walk in victory in Jesus name Amen

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]