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All right, let's get to the word of God, the book of Luke, chapter number seven. Beginning at verse number 36, I'm gonna read a couple of verses. Niv, this is week eight. Y' all don't know either. I think it's week eight, week eight of this series. Alterations. We've been in it since 1999. It's. We just. We. Here we goed it. Amen. Luke, chapter 7, verse 36, says, when one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined on the table. A woman in that town who had lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house. So she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. And as she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. The NIV translators use the word jar. Other translators use the word box, which seems to be more consistent with what the woman actually carried. So I want to talk from this subject in our time together. Break the box. Clap your hands, 12:30, if you're ready for God's word. Break the box. I'm going to see how many amens I can get even at this introduction as I start this sermon making a claim for your consideration. Here it is. When Satan knows he can't win, his next goal is to make you quit. When Satan knows that he can't win, his next goal is to make you quit. Therefore, an individual's ability to accomplish their goals is going to be determined by their willingness to overcome their obstacles. All of the promises of God are occupied with opposition. And your willingness to overthrow the opposition is a revelation of whether or not you will possess the promise. And I believe if you have a spiritual goal, if you have an emotional goal, if you have a relational goal, if you have a financial goal, if you have a professional goal, your ability to reach your goal is not just going to be determined by your passion for the goal. It's going to be determined by your preparedness for the opposition. The question isn't, do you have the want to. The question is, do you have the will to handle the warfare? And the enemy understands this reality, which is why I am arguing he intentionally orchestrates obstacles and uses obstacles as a tool of intimidation to get us to not fight a fight that is already fixed. Obs, did you hear what I just said? Obstacles are used by the enemy as a tool of intimidation. Because he knows when God has decided and determined to do something for you, to do something in you, and to do something through you, that decision is a sovereign decision. And because God is sovereign. Sovereign. Listen to me. Because God is sovereign, something else may have a say, but it doesn't have the last say. Come on here. Sovereignty is connected to authority and the righteous judge's ability to overrule somebody else's objection. Y' all miss it. The enemy has some objections to what God wants to do in and through your life. But because God. God is sovereign and a righteous judge, God can overrule that objection. And the enemy knows that. He can't use an obstacle to stop you, but he can use an obstacle to intimidate you not to fight a fight you will win if you just try. And I came to tell somebody today. It's time to get your try back. Something is taking your try and your zeal and your. And your fervor and your passion. I want to remind you that when the prophet Isaiah said, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, he might not have been talking to you, but it was said for you. And when he said no weapon, he meant no weapons. Did you hear what I just said? And here's why. He says, it is I. God says, it is I who formed the blacksmith, who formed the weapon and has put the weapon in. In the flames to force the sword that will be used against you. And because I created the blacksmith that created the weapon, I can look at it and say, no weapon. So my ability to accomplish any goal isn't tied to my passion for the goal is tied to my preparedness to handle the opposition. Many people lose because they quit. But I wish I had a Pentecostal church at the 12:30 that would shout, I'm a survivor. I'm here today because I didn't quit. I'm saying in the membrane because I didn't quit. I'm gonna get honest. We're still married because I didn't quit. You're still in the business because you didn't let the enemy use obstacles as a tool of intimidation. Am I making sense? I said, am I making sense? Yep. Here's what's interesting. Here's what's interesting. Family. The enemy here in Luke 7 exposes us to a very specific way. He uses obstacles to inhibit us from experiencing a very specific spiritual goal. It's right Here in Luke 7, we see the enemy using an obstacle in a very specific way to inhibit us from experiencing a very specific goal. You see, the Scriptures teach Faith without works is dead. Now, when the Bible says faith without works is dead, does that mean all work? Work? The word for work there means corresponding action. It means that there must be action that corresponds with what I say I'm believing for. So he's saying belief without corresponding action is dead. Am I making sense here? So it's not just working. It is working the right thing. Are you following me? So how does my faith work? What does that look like? My faith works by putting into practice the principle God attaches to a promise and my willingness to work. The principle is me working my faith. So James, when he says faith without works is dead, is not saying believe and grind. That's not the. That's not the text. He's not just saying have belief and then go over here and grind in every area. Destroying yourself in an attempt to reach a goal you can't enjoy when you reach it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose your. So you can reach your goals without losing your soul if you do it God's way? I wish I had somebody that had lived long enough that you know what it feels like to live without peace. And your testimony is, if it cost me, my peace is too expensive. You can keep it. You can have it. I don't want it. Faith without words. So God's promises have a principle attached to it. Does God promise peace? I say, does God promise peace? Okay. Is there a principle attached to the promise of peace? Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed. The promise is peace. The principle is not letting my mind operate without discipline. That's the principle. If there be any virtue, if there be anything praiseworthy, think on these things. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and keep your mind. Peace is the promise. Where I put my mind is the principle. So working my faith is looking at the principle God attaches to a promise and say, I'm gonna work that principle until it worked for me. I felt a little Pentecostal push right there. I'm going to work that principle until it works for me. Now, the writer says in James, the testing of your faith produces patience. Hallelujah. It means that God now tests my faith not with the enormity of the obstacle, but with the length of time. So the question is not how big can you believe? The question is, how long can you believe? And can you keep working a principle until the principle start working for you? I want somebody to make up your mind that if God said it, I'm gonna work it. I'm gonna work it until it worked for me. I' ma forgive until he healed my heart Imma give Until he opens up heaven. So the enemy tries to set up obstacles, Pastor Darren, from us actually executing or putting into practice the principles that are attached to certain promises. If he can't stop you from hearing, he stops you from doing. It's not the sermon notes you put in your phone that change you. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Deshaun, I need you to back your bishop up today. I said it's not the notes that you put in your phone that change you. It's the notes you apply to your life that change you. And when you can't get Revelation, the enemy comes after your application. Do you know the failure to consistently execute is an indication of spiritual warfare? The Devil. The Devil got you stuck because he's got you unable and unwilling to execute. He's scared of what's gonna happen when you start executing. He's nervous about what's going to happen when you start executing. He's anxious about what's going to happen. If you got this far and your execution is weak, what is God getting ready to do when execution gets strong? So in Luke 7, we see the enemy throwing obstacles to stop a woman from executing. A principle called the principle of environment. Pastor, what is that? That's a principle in the Bible. It's a principle. Where is it at in the Bible? It's in my Bible. Yep, it's in your Bible, too. Principle of environment. Here's what it says. It suggests your welfare and your well being is not just determined by who you are. It is equally impacted by where you are, that your condition is impacted by your location. Okay, okay. All right. Y' all don't believe me. All right, here it is. Fish only grow in proportion to the size of the tank you put it in. And some of you are thinking, something's wrong with your fish. There's nothing wrong with your fish. Something might be wrong with the tank, because the tank either creates the space and the environment for you to multiply who God's called you to be, or you will have to minimize who God's called you to be. And when you find yourself chronically playing small, it's because you have committed to stay stuck in a tank that you have outgrown. It's in the Bible. I said this is in the Bible. This is in the Bible. This is in a place in the Bible called the creation narrative. In the Book of Beginnings, Genesis, that details how not just not just that God was responsible for creation, but how God created. If you read the creation narrative, you will see an order to the creation of things. You will see he did not create fish and then create sea. It's not in there. He created the sea, then created the fish. He did not create birds and then create the sky. He created the sky and then created birds. He didn't create cattle and then create the ground. He created the ground, and then he created cattle. He created the space first and the species second because he knew in order for the species to survive, in order for the species to thrive, the species needs to be in the right space. Gosh, am I making sense? And I'm not just talking about the right place geographically. I'm talking about the right place sociologically. I'm talking about the right place relationally because you can be in a good environment, and you let the wrong people in a good environment and the wrong people. I got Bible. So if the fish need to see, if cattle need the ground, if birds need the sky, what do humans need? Help us. Help us. If fish need the sea, if birds need the sky, if cattle needs the ground, Adam needs Eden. Now, I. I know you probably thinking now, Pastor, I don't know how to get to. Do they have a flight? I don't know how to. How do I get to Eden? Then a bunch of people arguing about where Eden is. No, no, no, no, no. The first Adam had to go to Eden, but because of the sacrificial and atoning work of the second Adam, named Jesus, you no longer have to go to Eden. You bring Eden to you. Did you hear what I just said? Eden is a metaphor for his presence. Fish need sea, cattle need ground, birds need the sky. You and I need his presence. Am I making sense? And everybody gets omnipresence, but everybody doesn't get manifest presence. We see this in Genesis, chapter number three, in Genesis 3, verse 24. This is something that's so interesting now. And I'm not talking about this today, so I can't bother this the way I want to bother this. But I got. I got to come back one day and bother this, because this is a biblical blueprint for boundaries. And I don't understand why God set boundaries and humans thinks they don't have to. God set boundaries. When Adam and Eve irresponsibly mismanaged access, he didn't wait for them to get a revelation that they needed to be out. He drove them out. Did you hear what I just said? Okay, let me let. You got it. Didn't you? Okay, I'm gonna say it one more time. When Adam and Eve mismanaged the access that they had in the Garden of Eden, God did not wait on them to get a revelation that they needed to be put out. Did you hear what I just said? Because there are many people responsible for contributing to some of the dysfunction and disruption in your life. They don't even have a revelation of how much they're contributing to the dysfunction and disruption of your life. So they don't have a revelation of the problem that they are causing. So they're not taking responsibility to be a part of the solution. They're not trying to fix what they don't see as broken. He drove them out. Oh, I don't have time, y'. All. And he. He. He placed them on the east side of the Garden of Eden. So he didn't let them decide what place they were going to have. See, this is too. Is this too real? He decided you got to be on the east side because you mismanaged what I wasn't obligated to even give you. So you are upset that I took what I didn't have to give. You hadn't been wrong. We even. You hadn't been wrong. This is right. But he put a cherubim with a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Somebody say cherubim. Now, this is not because people be like, I ain't got time to. I don't want to argue. You want to argue? I don't want to argue with you. You mad? You big mad. People want to argue. I'm not about to argue with you online. Who are you? Your avatar. Not even real. I'm not about to argue. You don't even have the courage to show up as your real self. You don't meet the criteria for argument. So, generally speaking, there are three types of angels featured in scripture. Not exclusively, but primarily, because somebody gonna demon know there are seven. It's three primarily. You have what's called archangels, right? See that in Daniel 10. You see that with Gabriel, who's primarily a messaging angel. You see seraphims and cherubim. Those are the three types that are featured not exclusively, but primarily in scripture. And so we see seraphim here in Genesis, but then we also see it in Exodus, when God is instructing Moses to create a piece of furniture that's supposed to occupy or be in the temple. He says, I want you to create a piece of furniture. It's like a box. And this box is going to represent an elaborate box. It's going to represent my presence. It's called the Ark of the Covenant. And this box is going to have a covering on top. Inside of this box is going to be three things. It's going to be the Ten Commandments engraved in stone. It's going to be manna, and it's going to be Aaron's rod that budded. Got me. So there's message in the ark, there's manna in the ark, and Aaron's rod that was still budding. There's a miracle in the ark. It's a metaphor that some miracles you need, some messages you need, and some manna which represents provision you need is in the ark. The ark represents his presence. It's like God saying, you trying to get miracles without getting me. The miracle is in me. Chase the miracle, chase me. Don't chase the message, chase me. But on top of that ark, covering and protecting the presence is too terrible. Same ones that are outside the Garden of Eden. You see that? I said, you see that? Same ones. Because this is about God demonstrating his value for his manifest presence. This isn't about exclusivity. This is about value. And when people don't understand that, they will. They will judge your selectivity and they will confuse and conflate you with being stuck up. Because anybody that gives everybody access to anything is somebody with no standards. And no standards is an identity issue. You are not operating in the fullness of the revelation of who you are in Christ. Y' all following me here? Now this manifest presence we're talking about, there's a word that a rabbis would use. This word's not in the Bible. You'll see it in the Bible. It's a word that rabbis would use to describe this visible, manifest presence of God. It's a Hebrew concept word called shekinah. Are you here? It is a post biblical rabbinic term used to describe the manifest, visible dwelling of God's presence with his people. Now, here's the issue with Shekinah. Shekinah doesn't just give you shekinah. Shekinah gives you shalom. Now, shalom has been reduced in many church circles to mean peace. I'm not quite sure where that came from. I don't know if that's a Greco Roman, but the Hebraic understanding of this word is not just peace. It may include peace, but that's reductionist. Shalom means here it is wholeness, completeness, harmony. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Am I talking to anybody that wants Some wholeness, some completeness, some harmony, Nothing missing, nothing broke. Is it your season for some wholeness? Completeness, some harmony, Nothing missing? Is it your turn for some wholeness? Shekinah brings the shalom. Now let's reverse engineer. So shekinah brings shalom. Worship brings shekinah. So the enemy knows that if I worship, I get shekinah, and if I get Shekinah, I get shalom. So he can't stop me from shalom, and he can't stop me from shekinah, so he tries to stop me from worshiping. Pastor, when are you going to get to the text? You got two minutes left. I've been preaching the text because in this text, we see the enemy trying to use an obstacle to stop a woman from giving God worship. That will get her shekinah, that gets her shalom. And she's a woman that has some rough seasons, and she was due for some shalom. Text says that Jesus is invited to a Pharisee's house to have dinner with him. Now, this seems like it's nice, but this is really nasty work. Because what seems like an invitation for a sit down was actually an invitation to a setup. In this culture, this people group, Pharisees, would use dinners as a place for social sparring. So this Pharisee invited other Pharisees to be there so that they could publicly debate and attempt to discredit Jesus. We know this is the case because when you read later in the narrative, it says that when this woman with this alabaster box comes in, the Pharisee that invited Jesus sits back and says, if this man were a real prophet, he would know that this woman that is coming up to him is a sinner. So here's what's interesting. You got this Pharisee that's inviting other Pharisees to set up Jesus. Because people that don't even like each other will come together. When they don't like you, we y' all get cool, y'. All. Y' all just throwing subliminals all at each other online, y'. All. Jesus so unbothered. The text says he's omniscient, so he knows what they up to. But he's so unbothered. The text says he go anyway. And he not only sit down, read the text, he lay back. He said, I'm not ducking no smoke. Somebody say Pharisees. This group was very hostile. I want you to see the kind of environment this woman walked in. This group is a religious sect. They're characterized by spiritual elitism that says I'm more spiritual than you, ignorant arrogance, I'm more knowledgeable than you, and life draining legalism, I'm more holy than you. This group was not just a benign traditionalist second way group. They were hostile, they were predatory, they were exploitive and manipulative, they were power hungry, they were control freaks. And they were partly responsible for the death of Jesus. Second way is partly responsible for killing Jesus. And you gotta make sure you don't let second way Christians kill your Jesus joy. So when this woman read the text, it says she heard she wasn't even invited. She wasn't even invited. When I get to heaven, I'm like, where that woman at? This is now tell me what was you thinking? Were you just, did you knock or did you just walk in there? A woman in that town who had lived a sinful life learned Jesus was eating at the Pharisees house. So she came there. So she's walking into an environment with people who suffer from spiritual elitism, arrogant ignorance and life draining legalism. She walks right in there, text says, first she starts behind Jesus, then she starts weeping and it says her tears are on his feet. And she begins to take her hair and wipe his feet. Why would Luke tell us she took her hair and wiped her feet? Luke just could have said she wiped his feet. She's getting ready to put some perfume, some ointment on her feet. Luke just could have said she wiped her feet. But Luke says, and Luke is a physician. So the writer of the book of Luke, Luke wrote Luke in Acts. So Luke is a physician. And a physician has to be detailed. So Luke said, no, no, no, no, she just didn't clean his feet, she wiped his feet with a hair. Now in first century Jewish culture here, Paul actually deals with this with believers in Corinth too. He says in first Corinthians that the glory of a woman is her hair. So metaphorically, when she, when she was giving him her hair, she was giving him glory, she was saying, there's nothing that I have that you can get. My hair, my time, you can get that. My hair, my talent, you can get that. My hair, my treasure, you can get that. There is nothing that I have. And once you give him your hair, then you can give him the perfume because you can't really give God worship until you give God you. We done taro. Here it is. Let me ask y' all something. What you think it was like for her to walk in that room dealing with spiritual elitism, ignorant arrogance and life draining legalism? In a woman in a cultural context where she's unprotected. Did you hear what I said? And then you got the man in there saying, this man Jesus was a prophet. He would know what kind of woman this was. And I want to know how he know how. You know, Bro, you got experience. Like how you. Before she broke her alabaster box, there was some other things she had to break. And until you break those other things, you won't ever be able to break your alabaster box. The box I'm talking about is not the alabaster box. The box I'm talking about is the box you stay stuck in that keeps you from giving God what he deserves. Your hair said, I don't just want your shout. I want your hair. You're telling me you're worthy, but I don't get your time. You fit me in. I'm not a priority. You organize everything and then me around everything instead of putting me at the center and organizing everything around me. And he said, I ain't even asking to be for all your time. I just want first. I just want priority. That's your hair, your talent. He says, I want first right of refusal with your gifts. You don't get to tell me what to do with gifts I gave you. You don't even know why I gave them to you. I got to tell you why I gave them to you. It's called purpose. They're not yours. And gift utilization is not just how much you do with your gifts, but when you give God your hair, your testimony is, I will do as much or as little. Now, I knew it was gonna get quiet there, but I mean, everything I just said, no. No, it. No. Because we assume God using my gifts means God doing more. What happens when you get a John the Baptist assignment in a John the Baptist season where God says you decrease? John said I must decrease, that he must increase. That's your hair. Love that. Your treasure. Everything I got, you gave it to me. It gave me the ability to get it. God, when you give them your hair time, talent, treasure, then you can really give them perfume. Them hands lifted mean something. When you gave him your hair already. Ah, I clap different. When I gave him my hair already. I sing with more fervor and passion when I've given him my hair already. What boxes does she have to break to be able to give her hair? Probably the box of shame. I don't know what it felt like to walk in a room full of people who knew who you used to be. And some People refuse to let you outlive your last season. She probably dealt with some shame she had to break that box. And you know what the enemy is called in the Bible? Satan is called the accuser of the brother. Repeating accusations to you regularly. There's a godly shame that leads to repentance. That's what Adam and Eve felt when they were naked. I mean, when they recognized they were naked, they got. At first they were naked and unashamed, right? Then after they ate the fruit, they got shame and they tried to hide. I'm not gonna bother this. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, right? But then the Bible says God covered them with animal skin. You can't get animal skin. They shine without blood. So we even see in Genesis a picture of the Gospel with God covering sin by the shedding of blood. But it wants to use shame to get you to run from the only one who can heal you of it. Shame to keep you at a distance from the God who can set you free from it. This is the heart of worship, guys. The heart of worship is I don't worship because I've been good to God. I worship because he's been good to me. I'm not a hypocrite. I'm grateful. I'm not a hypocrite. I'm a grace case. I'm not a hypocrite. I'm forgiven. I'm not a hypocrite. I've been washed in the blood of the lamb. I'm not a hypocrite. But the Son has set me free and I am free indeed. We're done, Tario. She had to get free from shame. She had to get free from the box of selfishness. Because when I won't give God what he deserves because of what I think other people are thinking of me, that's selfish. God, you deserve this praise, but because I'm thinking about what somebody else is thinking of me, I'm not going to give you what you deserve because of what somebody else know about who I used to be. And then three spectators. This woman. I don't care what her past was like. God used her past to give her the kind of deliverance she needed before she got the deliverance that set her free from her past. You don't walk in this room like she walked in that room unless you already delivered from people she walked in. Y' all don't like me. And I don't like y' all either. Come here. Jesus. I didn't come to see see you. I came to see him. I didn't come for what you think. I came for what he thinks. Break the box. And may God break the box of shame, selfishness and the box of spectators so that we can give him worship that gives us Shekinah. And when we get the Shekinah, we get the shalom. Anybody after it today, raise your voice all over this building.