 devil's weapons are activated by his voice his voice of condemnation we see that in Isaiah 54 17 no weapon formed against me shall prosper and no tongue that rises against us we says we will condemn in judgment this is the heritage of the Lord and their righteousness is from me the reason why the weapon could not prosper is because the voice of condemnation was stopped when we stop the devil's voice we disarm his weapon the way Satan attacked the humanity he couldn't unleash the weapon of sickness he couldn't unleash the weapon of curse until he first activated that weapon by opening up his mouth and a woman and the man believed the voice of devil and by that they open the power of the devil to be unleashed on the earth the same thing he tried with Jesus he didn't attack Jesus with a weapon he first attacked Jesus with his voice and because Jesus stopped his voice and says no no no that's not gonna happen how you say it Satan's weapons could no longer be activated in the life of Jesus to stop the devil's weapon in our life we first have to stop his voice and his best voice is the voice of doubt like he came to Eve did God really say a question mark his voice is the voice of shame his voice is the voice of guilt and his voice is the voice of fear and when we stop that next thing that happens is the enemy becomes crippled in our life and we become empowered by the promise and the word of God Satan his real goal is not to make you sin his real goal is to make you live in shame guilt doubt and fear and sin is his method because sin Eve sin lasted five minutes I mean how long does it take to eat a fruit 10 minutes 15 minutes but the shame Eve lived in lasted rejection lasted for the rest of her life because she and her husband were cast out from the garden they lived hiding in the garden for some time and then they were removed from the garden so the feelings the residue that happens after sin lasts for years and for some people for the rest of their life the sin is an act but the sin is a method Satan uses to really throw us into shame and guilt where we spend most of our days you don't spend all of your life in sin sin is very short that's why the Bible says pleasures of sin are very temporary but the guilt of sin they last for the rest of your life and that's why Jesus didn't come only to forgive us of sin but he comes to deliver us from the consequences and the power of sin can somebody shout amen if you have your Bible we will open together to Job chapter 27 verse 3 4 5 and sick and Job said while all while my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils my lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue are deceit God forbid that I should justify you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live Job's friends were accusing him of not being righteous his wife told him his life has no purpose to curse God and die his circumstances rose up against Job and said Job your life is a mess and you are a failure circumstantial evidence his wife his closest friends the devil reproaching Job and then there comes a point where Job's heart started to judge him and said Job you are no good you are a failure and I want you to see this man and he says this he says as long as I am breathing he says I won't speak wickedness and you would think well what is wickedness what kind of wickedness is he referring to is he talking about cursing is he talking about ref throwing off bombs no no no he's saying my tongue should not speak this seed his way of wickedness he said God forbid I should justify you means my friends my wife my circumstances and the devil he says I will die before I give up my righteousness and my position that I'm not a failure imagine that when a man held on to his own righteousness so strong in the face of circumstantial evidence in the face of accusing voice of his friends in the face of the devil bringing evidence against him in the face of his own wife saying you something you did wrong just now give up in the face of his own heart rising up and says Job something must be wrong and Job says it will be wickedness to agree with the devil I will hold on to my righteousness as long as I live if Job could do that holding on to his righteousness how much more should you and I hold on to the righteousness God gives us as a gift how much more should you and I hold on to the righteousness Jesus blood died and rose again and put his own blood as a stamp to give it to you when you go through hardships when you go through difficulties when you go through your moments of weakness the accusing voice of the devil the circumstantial evidence other friends and people your own heart rising up against you to condemn you what do you do then do you know that it is a wickedness not only to do something wicked but to agree with the voice of the accuser that you are a failure that because you failed you are a failure because you have sinned you are a sinner because you have poverty you are a poor person because you have weakness you are a weak person that is wickedness because failure is an event not a person as a Christian I can stumble but I am righteous in Jesus I hold on to the righteousness Jesus has given me can somebody shout amen let's take notes and write down righteousness must be received and warned righteousness must be received from Jesus and must be warned we see that in the Bible the righteousness for us as Christians is a breastplate breastplate meaning it covers our heart righteousness is bulletproof righteousness is something that we receive from God as a gift but righteousness is something we have to wear as an armor meaning you have to be conscious that you are righteous for half of the service I wasn't wearing this jacket and partially other reasons but my wife went and brought this jacket this jacket I own I have this jacket but for the worship I wasn't wearing this jacket during the message I do many people have received the righteousness of Jesus and they keep it in the closet of their theological belief system righteousness is not a jacket that's supposed to stay in the closet of your theological preferences pulses righteousness is an armor I wear as a soldier because life is a war and without this righteousness the arrows of the wicked one will penetrate my heart and make my heart reproach me people's approaches reproach me and that's why righteousness is not something I get from God is something I put on every single day means I update my consciousness that I am righteous can somebody shout amen it's something not only you receive it's something that you and I have to also wear the scripture says that our righteousness means our human righteousness what we do when we pray when we read the Bible when we give to the charity when we help when we don't do certain bad things our righteousness it says that is like filthy rags the word filthy rags in that original language it's the cloths a woman uses during her menstrual period let us say it's not very clean human righteousness is filthy rags in the original word your own righteousness before God the one that you feel good about like when you wake up and you read those three chapters when you finally that day you know instead of watching just Netflix you just turn on a Christian channel for just three minutes you feel good about it you want to morning prayer you feel good about it the Bible says our righteousness is not good that's why we should never aim to be conscious of it every single day we should put on the one that Jesus gave it to us as a gift and wear it don't let it lay in the closet of your theological perspective the theologically I believe I am righteous but practically I walk around like a person who is unworthy a person who is no good and a person who is a loser I as just a just just a weak warm of the dust I'm just a scumbag that's all I am and nobody oh but theologically I am righteous that's like having a jacket in your closet but not having it wearing it every single day can somebody say man can somebody shout amen I will correct myself I want us to write down number two righteousness protects our heart righteousness protects our heart we see that the breastplate protects the heart when you wear every police officer law enforcement they wear a vest a bulletproof vest because one of the things the vest protects you have very vital organs that are protected by the vest we have the lungs we have the kidneys we have the we have the heart we also have the vessels in the blood you have the the rib the the the the all the ribs that are in the front that protect also the very vital organs in your body without which when they are injured or affected a person will die because certain nerves from the brain are connected to those important parts of your body and God gives righteousness specifically to protect your heart righteousness is not something I have to protect it protects me when I am conscious that I am righteous through the blood of Jesus no matter how I feel I begin to teach my heart how to to feel I don't get clues from my heart I get clues from the Calvary I don't follow my heart like Oprah says I follow the Calvary and my heart I drag with me otherwise whatever my heart feels I have to follow and my heart is unpredictable sometimes it comes against me sometimes it's confused sometimes it thinks God doesn't love me that's why my heart is not the vest my heart needs to be protected by the power of the righteousness of Jesus Apostle Paul says in one of the verses where in first John chapter 3 verse 19 and he says our heart he says it he said we are sure our heart before God we are sure our heart before God he says if our heart judges us our God is bigger than our heart for he says God knows all things your heart when it speaks to you it only speaks what it takes into account which is you you and more you God when he speaks to you he takes you into the account the blood the cross the resurrection and the Holy Spirit your heart is very narrow-minded it only takes what you done what you are struggling with into account so when he speaks it speaks to you base of your own reference which is very limited when God looks at you when God speaks at you he puts the cross into picture so he sees your heart he sees your sin and he also sees the blood and he sees the cross and based on that God looks at you that's why the Bible says don't let your heart make the final decision it's narrow-minded God has the final decision God is bigger than our heart now the Bible tells us that God uses our heart to condemn us David counted the Israel something he should not done and the scripture says and his heart condemned him and it was a way of God reaching out to him I'm not referring to that today I am referring to that when you are as a person asked the Lord for forgiveness but you're carrying the residue of your past you're carrying the residue you allow guilt to stay longer than the sin for Jesus forgave us and your heart continues to linger and judge you tell you you're a failure you're no good because look at your circumstances because look at you look your skin is itching job your children are dead job all of your stock market portfolio got milk to the ground job used to walk and the elders would keep their mouths shut and now even their children mock you and laugh at you job your servants used to just the desires of your heart would be fulfilled and now you beg them and they don't listen to you job you are a failure you must have done something wrong and Job says no no no I am righteous I am righteous I am righteous I am righteous I'll hold on to my righteousness and when the friends left Job's heart begins to whisper and say you're not righteous look at you your body is paining you your wife is abhorred by the breath from your mouth you don't have nothing that God you brag about he abandoned you he left you and his heart begins to judge him and this is what Job said I don't know who told him the secret he says I will not let my heart reproach me as long as I live if Job can do that not knowing the blood how much more you have to teach your heart as a child sometimes say listen I know I've done this I know this is how my life is not turning around I know that this is where things failed and I know this this is what I dropped the ball I know what this didn't work out and I don't have the answer about this but listen hard you are playing right now with the tunes by the devil I have to educate you my God has not forsaken me he has not abandoned me because the Bible says the righteous will not be forsaken and I am righteous the Bible says the righteous is as bold as a lion fear in my heart heart you have to get rid of this fear why because I am righteous and this fear is illegal in this hard I am bold and I am fearless and I'm wild and hard you educate your heart otherwise your heart will throw you into a roller coaster of unpredictable emotions and then at the end it will drop you squash you and offer to you as a victim in the hands of the devil to torment I will not let my heart reproach me David's Job said as long as I live a righteous man will fall seven times but get up a righteous man the Bible says that many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them oh somebody say oh God delivers me out all of them means I can go through many afflictions but because I am righteous God will see me through the Bible says the righteous will not be shaken and the righteous man he will not be forsaken his children will not be left begging for bread why because he is righteous you are the righteous if Job could do that with his human righteousness you are committing sin if you're holding on to something else then the righteousness Jesus paid for with his precious blood and somebody shout amen and the third point and we are going to come to prayer when we don't hold on to our righteousness means to who we are in Jesus we end up clenching to riches by riches I mean the things that are secondary in life things that are important things that our life is really all about on this earth for Job riches was his children for Job riches was a great relationship with his wife it was the health and the strength of his body for Job the riches was the thousands flocks that he owned and the great reputation that Job enjoyed and when the riches were gone when the children were gone when his health was gone and all happened around the same time that Job instead of holding on to those things that were gone he held on to the righteousness and he kept on holding on to the righteousness meaning he was holding on to who he was he wasn't trying to hold on to something he did he had or what people thought of him and what kind of a place he occupied on the most richest man in Middle East at the time he was holding on to something that would matter when he would be dead and he was holding on to something that would matter when he was rich or when he was poor and that is righteousness when the spotlight is gone off of you when you're no longer the cream of the crop when you're no longer on the top if your identity is not anchored in righteousness but in riches in fame in the great possessions in your health when it leaves it will take your identity and your life becomes vulnerable to the demonic intrusion King Saul is a prime example of that King Saul from the beginning struggled with his identity he didn't know who he was though he was good-looking he was taller than anyone else he was so handsome the Bible says there was no one like him in Israel he was the Mr. Olympian of that day he was the Mr. Handsome of that day but he was more insecure that it was anybody probably more insecure than any girl in Israel that time should have not said that when it was this day of inauguration the Bible says King Saul was hiding behind baggage so handsome so tall he had to hide behind baggage and when he became a king the Bible says that when the time came to make decisions he was so crippled by the opinions of people that he would disobey God and his mentor and his prophet just to please few people he was so insecure he had the position he had the looks he had the fame he had everything but he wasn't holding on to who he was in God so he ended up holding on to the position holding on to the fame holding on to his other things and those things were not providing that security to him because he still felt empty to that point until his own son-in-law started to rise up his own son-in-law started to steal the show and take the spotlight he started to win more wars and things was working so good for him and this is where Saul reached the peak of holding on to the extra things what the Bible says distressing spirit came upon Saul he became oppressed by demons by the result of holding on to things that were not his identity and he chased David most of his life and he became so possessed by demons that he actually end up killing priests talking to witches and ended his life by suicide a king who had a destiny but who was ruled by fear ruled by anxiety and the reason why is that when David started rising up instead of saying what David said if it's the will of God to put someone else as a king let God's will be done I'm here to serve and the only confident people can do that only secure people in God can from the last supper get up from the table take the towel and come to the disciples feet that were dirty get on the knees and say may I wash your feet people who are insecure will die before they do that because when you are confident in who you are in Christ whether you drive a Mercedes or you took a transit to church yes it feels different but inside you're the same whether you wear an expensive clothes that you won't tell the price because people will get offended by that or you had to literally go to Goodwill and ask for a discount of the clothes but on inside you're the same on inside you're no different whether you're the healthiest or honestly you feel sickness in your body and you feel faint in your body but on inside you're like Job I know who I am and I will never let it go of that you know the man that I contrast King Saul with is John the Baptist John the Baptist started a movement of baptizing people it was so radical because Jewish people they did baptizing of people but they only baptized the Gentiles if you wanted to become part of the Jewish religion one of the things that you would do if you are male you will get circumcised and you will get ceremonially cleansed by water being poured on you or you going into water so this was actually very normal the act of baptism John the Baptist comes and he tells all the Jewish people he says all of you need to get also cleansed ceremonially because your heart is as messed up as those Gentiles he said don't think just because Abraham was your father you're gonna be saved he says you're your sinners that was radical and people start getting baptized people start getting saved a movement the Bible says the whole Judea come start coming up people start leaving their jobs and coming because of this revival and John was on the top until Jesus came the first two disciples of John first disciples of Jesus left from John's ministry and then they came to John and told him Johnny did you know that people are leaving you now your attendance has dropped the offerings have dropped your popularity has you're no longer trending on Twitter and by the way this whole dunking of the water Jesus picked up that on from you and now he's baptizing more people and by the way he also has healings miracles and deliverances and so Johnny your ministry is coming to an end you're no longer the guy in the spotlight and if Johnny would have been like Saul he would gotten demons you know what John said he said he must increase I decrease only a man who holds on to his righteousness can say that you know how I know that John held on to his righteousness because when he was on the peak of the revival baptizing the most people having a greatest revival and they came to John and they say John who are you he didn't say my name is John they said are you the Messiah are you are you Jesus are you Christ he says no I'm not him are you Elijah no no I'm not him who are you John we need to tell people who send us to ask who you are and this is what John said I am who and he quotes prophet Isaiah John said I am who God says I am I'm not the famous preacher I'm not the baptizer and I'm not the guy who invented this new movement of baptizing people he says I am who prophet Isaiah said I am I am what God's word says I am and that's why when people were leaving and going to Jesus John could stand securely applauding Jesus instead of trying to kill Jesus his ministry why because he was secure not in the fame God gave him not in the riches God gave him but in the position God gave him in his word and somebody shout amen and there came a point and John got to jail his ministry completely shut down nobody was no longer talking about John his message seemed to die and you know what the Lord Jesus Christ said in the moment where John's reputation was honestly unzero and Jesus says there was been no greater man born on this earth up to now that was greater than John the Baptist Jesus says heaven will not remember as a John the preacher or John in jail heaven will remember John as the man who is the greatest prophet till this day we still baptize people just like John last month three four weeks ago we did exactly same thing most of you don't realize but who started a baptism thing who made it popular was John till this day people all around the world over two billion people practice the very thing John started but John's ministry ended with his head being caught up from him at a very early age but because he was anchored not in what he did he wasn't anchored in what people thought of him but he was anchored in the righteousness his legacy outlives him if I've been in church long enough to find out that you don't shine all the time you don't be on the top all the time and that not supposed to be our highest aim our highest aim supposed to be is that what whatever I am doing I know who I am my identity doesn't come from the applause or the criticism my identity comes from the blood spilled on a Calvary the Bible says riches do not profit in the day of wrath meaning your fame your reputation how many songs you write how good you are how good you look what people think of you all of that stuff is not gonna matter when your heart is gonna be beating its last but righteousness delivers from death I'm gonna tell you one thing that I've seen from our pastor and from even from Stefan I'm gonna make a reference to Stefan Stefan in Ukraine was a great preacher we were going to the same church where it was about two to something thousand member church huge church and Stefan was preaching there very regularly actually he was one of my best preachers he preached very good in that church when we moved to America Stefan preached in our church every single Sunday along with pastor and others there came a point pastor asked him if he could start training us how to preach he would bring these manuals and train us how to preach there came a point where pastor wanted the church to be more where we rise up because we spoke English or we would learn English and that would mean Stefan would no longer have a place to preach I have never once heard a complaint never once and he was a phenomenal preacher that I enjoyed listening to myself he would correct me all the time because he knew the Bible from in and out he was very good theologically sound and he would sit there never once he complained never once he saw a sad face never once he felt like somebody stole the light actually he was rejoicing most of us remember Stefan you can put the picture up where when we would have a prayer line and this was Stefan we were praying for deliverance and Stefan was helping holding people when this man was more educated more equipped than probably half of us in here put together and he was there you didn't see his like oh they took me out from preaching and they put me in there for Stefan what mattered is this I'm in the house of God and I'll do whatever it takes he would fix the toilet service to be over the toilet got flooded we call Stefan Stefan could you come and fix the toll he didn't say well I'm a preacher I preach the 2000 member church you dare to ask me to fix the toilet he says I'll be there in few minutes and that's why when he passed away there's one thing that I know about that man he wasn't anchored and what people what he did in the church he wasn't anchored in the kind of title he had he was anchored in who he was and that's why he could easily pick up a towel or jump from a towel to a title any single moment but he wasn't defined by that he was defined by the arms they were pierced on the Calvary and that's why people loved him and that's why his life was more enjoyable you can enjoy life if you don't define your life by who gets the spotlight who gets the credit the kind of title you own or the kind of riches that you have the kind of thing that you have all of these things they good but in a day of wrath they don't matter my car my car is being fixed for last four months we're gonna do a special intercession and pray for my car his deliverance when Stefan passed away and I'm thinking I don't even know what's the car step and drove I know the house that he lived in that doesn't matter somehow those things we work so hard for those things we sweat so hard for on the day of wrath and the day we have to come and stand before God none of that matters righteousness does are you holding on to that today maybe you are here with us today and you don't have that righteousness maybe Jesus is not the source of your life something else is I want to tell you something you will you're living already a miserable life you're chasing the wind if you seek the righteousness Jesus says and the kingdom all things people seek will begin to be added to you will begin to be added to you they will begin to come that doesn't mean you're not gonna care you gonna still work on them but they could this is gonna be easier but you're gonna be secure and enjoying who you are in Christ nothing how you look how you perform or how you do can somebody shout amen