According to the Bible, all these things exist. Right? And so what we've done is we've taken it and we've made light of it and we've turned it into Halloween and now we can get our little darlings to dress up like Satan and go ask for candy. That's not how you deal with these things or spiritual things. The thing that you need to do is you need to read the Bible and understand what the Bible says about it. Are there curses in the Bible? Absolutely. Are there witches in the Bible? Absolutely. Are there people that try to curse other people through witchcraft in the Bible and divination and enchantments? Absolutely. Are you worried about it? Not at all. Amen. And so this stuff is real. And listen, I'm not talking about seeing a black cat run in front of you. That's not what I'm talking about this morning. Hey, listen, when I was working at the nursing home, there was a lot of people there that were superstitious. Okay. And they said, I'd be happy and I'd be walking down the hall and I'm like, I'm trying to whistle. I'm not very good at it, but I'm whistling, you know, about Jesus or something. They're like, don't whistle in the hallway. That's bad luck. I'm like, what? And so then I made sure to whistle in the hallway from then on out. The other thing is, is I was sweeping one time, and I swept, and I swept across this lady's feet, and she like flipped out, jumped backwards, said, don't sweep across my feet. You're gonna curse me. I said, what are you talking about? Right? And so what has happened in our culture is a lot of times people have taken stupid things to try to protect themselves from this. And it's not biblical. Okay, so I want you to look at Numbers chapter 23. And now what Balaam's trying to do, we learned from last week, is Balaam is trying to curse God's people. And in chapter 22 and verse 41, it came to pass on the morrow that Balak took Balaam and brought him into the high places of Baal, that's the devil-worshipping place, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people. And Balaam said unto Balak, Prepare me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had spoken. And Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. Balaam said unto Balaak, stand by the burnt offering and I will go peradventure. The Lord will come to meet me and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to a high place and God met Balaam and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars. I have offered upon on every altar a bullock and a ram. And the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, return unto Balaak, thus shalt thou speak. And he returned to him, and lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice and all the princes of Moab, and he took up a parable and said to Balak, the king of Moab, hath brought me from Amram out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me, Jacob, and come defy Israel. And he said, How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? How shall I bless, defy whom God hath not defied? And then look at this in verse 9, For from the top of the rocks I see him. And from the hills I behold him, and lo, the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. And you know the story. Balaam went on three mountains. And every mountain, he went to this one, and he went to the top of Pisgah, and then he went to the top of another mountain. there and he looked over them and he tried to bribe God and allow him to curse God's people and it did not happen. Let me ask Brother Lassiter, can you stand and ask the blessing on the message this morning? Amen. So I want you to picture this. that Israel is camping in a valley beside Jordan. Beside the river Jordan, right at the top of the Dead Sea, they're camping there. And to the east of there, there's the mountains, the mountains of Pisgah, where Moses viewed the promised land, looked over Jordan, and then he died and he went over there. And so they're camping there in the valley. They're minding their own business. And way up on the mountain, over there where they can't see him. Here's Balaam, okay? And he looks up and he sees the campment of Israel and he sees their smoke from their campfires and he's way up on the mountain and he can just see the outline of the utmost people. He can just see a little bit of them. And Balaam's up there and he has seven altars and he's saying, God, I'm gonna give you all this. Now, God, would you do me a favor and would you let me curse these people? And Balak's there saying, if you get him cursed, I'll pay you, right? Now, did Israel know what was going on? They had no idea this was happening. And then a little while later, Balaam goes over here, and he goes on top of another mountain, and he builds seven more altars, and he's trying everything he can to curse the people that he sees down there. Now, did the people know that Balaam moved? Did they know that he was trying to do this? Okay? And then Balaam can't get it done there, so he goes all the way over here, and he goes and he gets on top of another mountain, as high as he can, and he says, uh, I want to curse these people. Now, did the people know that any of this was happening? They had no idea this was happening. What were they doing? They were going to H-E-B and they were getting their ribs and their barbecue and they were getting ready for Labor Day. They were changing their children's diapers. They were sitting in front of the tent. They were bringing sacrifices to God. They were cooking their food. They were doing all these things that they do every day and they had no idea that at that very moment, Balaam was up there trying to curse them. Okay? Now, there's a spiritual world around us that we can't see. There's a spiritual world around us that we cannot see, and Balaam could not see that angel until God opened his eyes. There's the spirit of Antichrist, there's devils, there's unclean spirits, there's angels, there's fallen angels, and we're not, the Bible says that we behold them, that we're unaware of their presence. We can't see it. Balaam was experienced in the dark side of the spiritual world and he knew about it. He knew how to contact these different spirits, but he could not see them with his physical eyes until God opened his eyes and he saw them, the angel that was standing there. So there's a battle that is raging in the heavens and you have on one corner you have the devil over there and he's trying everything he can to curse God's people. In the other corner you have the angel and you have the Lord over there protecting him. Okay? Now the reality is that every morning that you and I wake up and we go to work, we face this same battle. And with this passage, what God does is He pulls the curtain back and He lets you see in the scripture what is happening every day spiritually in our lives. This happens every day, whether you know it or not, it's happened. Let's consider some verses, so in case you think I'm nuts, you will consider some verses, and we'll see what's going on here. The reality is, is there's a spiritual battle, and you and I are in the middle of this battle, and the devil is still alive and well on planet Earth, and he has more control today than he did in the days of Balaam. And if you do not think that you're affected by this battle, you are very naive. Look at first Peter chapter 5 in verse 8 and I want you to turn to these scriptures because I want the reality of what is happening in your lives spiritually to sink in and you know It's not some preacher up here just being nuts or being dramatic but if you are ignorant of this battle, you're going to be affected by this battle in a very negative way and Because it happens first peter chapter 5 and verse 8. Uh, if you're wondering where that is, that's right before second peter And uh when you get there, I say amen Okay, first peter chapter 5 and verse 8 now read this carefully be sober Say I think it's okay to drink. Okay The bible says to be sober Because when you drink you let down your guard right and be vigilant. You're not very vigilant when you're relaxed. Why? Why should we be sober? Why should we be vigilant? Why should we be on guard? Why should we drink a lot of coffee? Because your adversary, the devil. What's an adversary? Your enemy. Peter said this is happening in your life right now. Your adversary, the devil. As a roaring lion, a hungry roaring lion in the African safari, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Circle or underline the word may. Why did it say may? Because there's a specific set of rules that the devil has to follow. There's a specific criteria that the devil knows and most of you don't know. And if you break these rules, he gets permission to trap you. And you know what the devil's doing? He's looking around and he's examining your life and your life and he's examining my life and he's examining my wife's life. And he's looking and he's looking at you and he says, aha! Lord, can I get him? And the Lord says, yep. Why? Because the devil knows the criteria. He knows whom he may devour. And you ought to know whom he may devour, too. He's talking to Christians, isn't he? I just say that because you're saved, the devil can no longer affect your life as very ignorant, naive, and against the Scripture. He knows the rules to play by. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Ephesians chapter 6 in verse 10 And if you Can't find it write it down and look it up later He says this finally my brethren he's talking to Christians, okay Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of his might Put on the whole armor of God. He didn't say put on part of it. I Did he? He said, put it all on. And why should you have all your armor on? That you may be able to stand against what? The wiles of the devil. You'll notice that same word here in the book of Numbers in chapter 25. And then look at verse 12. This is active, this is present tense, this is present active indicative. Okay. Um, for we rep, I don't even know what that means. Okay. So forgive me. I just wanted to sound dumb. So English it's present tense. Do you get that? It's active tense. This is what's happening now for we wrestle, not we have wrestled. We wrestled. We, it's, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. but against principalities? What's a principality? It's a sovereign or supreme power. It's a prince. It's a territory or a country that gives a title to the principality of the Prince of Wales, right? It's a place, it's a person, it's a power. When Daniel was fighting, he was fighting with the Prince of Persia, and that was the devil that had control over Persia. You understand that? So that's what we're wrestling against. That we're up against, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. If you do not look around and read your news and find out what happens to little children and people in alleyways, then you're ignorant. There is some darkness that's happening in this world, and there is a spirit, and there's rulers behind that darkness, and the people that commit that darkness are just puppets. Against spiritual wickedness in high places. Where's Balaam at? He's in a high place. Amen? High government offices. High places. High spiritual offices. The Pope. Amen? Against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore take you onto you the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand So let me ask you this question. The bible is very clear that we are in this battle, right? And if you've been saved for a long time you've been fighting this battle for a long time now I want you to do me a favor and I want you to um in your mind turn around and look back in history over your life And let me ask you this, can you identify those battles? You're fighting them. Can you identify them? See, we can't always identify them. We can say, I remember this thing that happened there, and I think that's what that was, and maybe it was, and maybe it wasn't, but we don't always know where those battles are because we have the veil pulled over, and that thing is hidden from us. So since we don't know how to have the specific battles, and we don't know where they're happening, you know what we need to do? We need to do like they do in video games, and we need to put an energy shield around them. We would need to put on the whole armor of God to protect ourselves because we can't see when the missiles are coming We can't see when the fiery darts are coming. We can't see when the wiles are coming You know what we need to do. We need to put a spiritual iron dome around our Jerusalem Right because you can't see it. So let me ask you a question. How do you? Let me if the devil gets permission. He can sift you as wheat and He can try you. You know what the devil does? He looks for impurities in your life and says, ah, Lord, look at that. The Bible says, Jesus said to Peter, Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat. Now, how did the Lord know that? Because the devil was communicating with him. You see that? I see a little impurity there in Peter and I wanna try him and I wanna test him. And did he do it? Yes, he did test him. The Lord said, get me behind me, Satan, to Peter, for thou art an offense. And you know what the devil did? He had permission and he tested Peter. You know why it's so important to live a pure and clean life? God, listen, he wants to get the impurities out of you. And if you have just a little mark, it's not good. God wants to get it all out. He wants to get all the junk out, right? Because that junk is what gave the devil permission to sift Peter. And you know what else the devil can do if he gets permission? He can fill your heart to lie against the Holy Ghost like Ananias. And that led to his death. You know what else the devil can have permission to do? He said, turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. You see, you got to remember that the devil is still God's servant, whether he wants to be or not. And the Lord gets him to do his dirty work and take some people out. He says this to whom you forgive anything. I also forgive anything whom I forgave it for your sakes I forgave in the person of Christ lest Satan should give advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices You know the devil can look in your heart and he can say Unforgiveness in your heart and he can take advantage of you because of that unforgiveness. Oh Well that puts a whole different light on holding grudges against people doesn't it? See, that's one of the devices of the devil. He finds impurities and he gets permission from God to sift us. He has to follow rules. Okay, so number one to have the protection of God Numbers chapter 22 in verse 12 numbers chapter 22 in verse 12 number one and all these things work together Okay, number one and they all tie in with the whole armor of God 22 in verse 12. I want you to write it down. Here's the sentence to have protection. You must be saved You must be saved He says in verse 12 and God said unto Balaam thou shalt not go with them for thou shalt not curse the people for they are blessed a look at chapter 23 in verse 20 He said this behold I have received commandment to bless and have blessed and I cannot reverse it He hath blessed and I cannot reverse it. I Listen if you're saved then you are definitely blessed of God and that is called the helmet of salvation and if you're not saved you have no protection against the devil because you are already a child of the devil and the Bible says Year of your father the devil and the reason lot was not protected When the lots of children were not protected with excuse me when lot Was in sodom and sodom was destroyed Remember lot got brought out a lot of sodom and then sodom was destroyed And you know what lot had the protection but the sodomites didn't have the protection Because they weren't god's people The angels came to get him, but they had no protection. Uh, remember that that verse in first john 4 It says year of god little children and have overcome them Because greater is he that is in you than greater than he that is in the world. Remember that verse? Who's them? You have overcome them. In the context, he's talking about spirits and the spirit of Antichrist. How do you overcome them? You overcome them through the Lord Jesus Christ, because greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world. If you're not saved, you have no protection from evil spirits and from curses. And listen, I'm saved, and if the witch doctor or the devil himself wants to curse me, then you know what he has to do? He has to go to my master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and get permission from him to do it. And if you're not saved, he doesn't have to. Listen, if you're worried about getting a curse on you and stuff like that, listen, the last thing that you need to do is go down to HEB and buy a candle. You know what, I ask every time I'm at Dollar Tree and the person there, I ask them this question. I say, you know, I notice you have these candles and they're two for a dollar here at Dollar Tree. And at H-E-B, they have the same candle and they're a dollar each. I said, so would Mary be happier if I got two candles for a dollar or one candle for a dollar? Is it about the amount of candles or about the money you spend? I can't figure it out. You don't think that's funny, I really think that's funny. Amen? But listen, I will tell you this, and you need to understand this 100%, is that if you want protection, you don't need to go light candles and get a crucifix, because if you're not saved, it doesn't matter how much tinfoil you put on your head, and how many rabbit feet you put around your neck, and it doesn't matter how many crucifixes or candles you get and light, and you can get a silver stake, and that will offer you absolutely no protection, because the only protection you can have is when you're covered by the blood of the Lamb, and you're born again, and you're saved, and Jesus Christ is in you, and the Holy Spirit of God is in you. So you know what you need to do? You need to throw all your tinfoil away, and your candles, and your crucifixes, and your bracelets away, and you need to get born again, and you need to get saved. Listen every time if you if you ever look at it or if you ever seen it and you see these people that worship the devil, you know how they start all their services with candles and necklaces and Crucifixes and stuff like that those things. I think they actually invite them and provide no protection against them You have to be saved number two to have protection you must be separated chapter 23 in verse 9 For from the tops of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him, and lo, the people shall not dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations. The whole armor of God includes your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Doesn't it? Now listen. If you want to be protected, then you have to be separated. If you don't want to go to jail, don't hang out with a bunch of criminals. If you don't want to have a curse on you, then don't hang out with a bunch of people that are not saved and they don't even have the blessing of God on them or in their life in the first place. You know what happens to these people in this passage? They lost their protection, didn't they? How did they lose their protection look at chapter 25 in verse 3 25 in verse 3 and Israel? 25 in verse 1 excuse me and Israel bowed and shit him and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab and they called the people unto the Sacrifices of their gods and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods and look at this and Israel joined himself to Baal Peor and They lost their protection because they ceased to be separated. And if you study the nation of Israel, every time they cease to be separated, they lose the protection of God. And you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to be separated from this world. And if you don't want the earth to swallow you up, then you don't hang out with Korah and his company. And you know what happens is a lot of times God's people, the reason their lives are so messed up and all that stuff happens and this spiritual battle is going on that they have no idea and they are losing the battle, just being defeated. And you know why you're being defeated? Because you will not separate yourselves when God has asked you to separate yourself. You have no business being bosom buddies with somebody that's not even on their way to heaven. Say, what are you trying to do? You're trying to, now listen, I am trying to wake you up to there's a spiritual battle that's going on for your soul and the souls of the people that are around you and God put certain criteria and the devil knows that if you're messing around with lost people and you're hanging around with them and they're your friends and you're not even with God's people, you're not friends with God's people, then you don't have the protection of God. Why was Lot in danger? He was in danger because he was in Sodom and Gomorrah. Let me ask you this. Was God after Lot's children to kill them? He wasn't. They were invited to leave the city. And you know why they were destroyed of the destroyer? You know why they were destroyed? Because they were not separated. And when the fire fell on Sodom, it also fell on Lot's children that remained with them. And God is going to judge this world. And he is angry with the wicked every day. And there's a battle happening. And listen, you stop being naive and stop thinking that it doesn't matter. It matters. It matters in eternity. It matters. And you need to stop it. You need to separate yourselves from this present evil world because we are in the world, but we are not of the world. But if you look at the church, it looks like they are in the world and they are of the world. And you can't tell any difference between most of the church members and the world. He said, I've called you out. Come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing. What communion hath light with darkness? What communion hath he that believeth with an infidel? What communion hath Christ with Belial? None. There is no communion there. And you think that you're, you know what you're doing? You're opening yourself up for spiritual attack and spiritual destruction. You're losing your protection. You don't have your energy shield around you. You don't have your armor on, and the devil is shooting at you. He's like a sniper up there in the rocks. You can't even see him shooting at you. The fiery darts are hitting you, and they're destroying you. Why? You refuse to be separated. To have protection? You have to not be reckoned among the nations. Because when God brings judgment on the nation, if you're reckoned among them, then he's going to bring judgment on you. Ananias died, and his wife also died. Why? She lost her protection because of her company. Every Christian that I've ever seen that refuses to separate himself from the wicked ends up in a bad place Number three to have protection look at chapter 23 in verse 21 To have protection He said This in verse 20, I've received commandment to bless. So Balaam, you know the interesting thing about Balaam is he tried to curse them and God turned his cursings into blessings. I think it's very interesting if you study where Balaam tried to curse him from. You know where he tried to curse him from? From the top of Mount Pisgah. And that's where God showed Moses the promised land. And so he tries to take away those blessings, and God says, okay, you try to curse them from Pisgah, well, I'm gonna show Moses the blessing from Mount Pisgah. You know where he tried to curse him? He tried to curse him from Baal Peor, and down there in Peor, that's where Moses' body was buried, and Satan came to argue with Michael the archangel about that body, and the Lord Jesus Christ won there too. I just think it's interesting that if you follow the Lord, then God will take those curses and turn them into blessings, but you can lose your protection. Number three, to have the protection of God, you must be sanctified. Look at verse 21, he hath not, why couldn't he curse them? I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. And here's the reason he couldn't get permission to curse them. He hath not beheld iniquity, that's sin. And Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with them, and the shout of the king is among them. You know why he could not curse them is because they were right with God. They were sanctified. They had on the breastplate of righteousness. You know why the first the guy in first Corinthians chapter five was turned over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh? Because he lost his breastplate. He was not sanctified. He was committing fornication and he wasn't living how God wanted him to live. So he lost his protection. And God says, you turn him over to the devil and I'll have the devil destroy his flesh. So his spirit will be saved in the day of Jesus Christ. The God says, turn him over there and let the devil do some work for me and straighten out someone. Listen if you don't want To be effective in a negative way by this battle then you have to be sanctified He says this to whom I forgave anything I forgave it also for I gave look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 10 I want you to see it 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 in verse 10 everyone take your Bible turn there and And when you get there, say amen. To whom ye forgive anything, 2 Corinthians 2.10, I forgave also. If I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes I forgave it, in the person of Christ. Why? Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. He can get advantage of you if you are not sanctified, if you're not righteous, if you don't have the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness covers all your spiritual vital organs. And the reason all this bad stuff happened to Israel, look at chapter 25 and verse 18 of Numbers. It says, for they vex you with their wiles. Doesn't that verse stand out? You stand against the wiles of the devil? They vex you with their wiles which they have beguiled you. Satan beguile you, you see how these things go together? In the matter of Peor and the matter of Cosby and the daughter of the Prince of Midian, their sisters, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake. They lost their protection because they lost their righteousness. And you lose your protection and the devil has permission to get you if you are not living right, you're not living for the Lord. It goes like this. What do you want today, devil? I want to go against Michael Cruz. Based on what? Well, I see some things he's been doing and he's not been keeping his vessel clean. Now, I'm not accusing Michael of anything. Please understand that. He's not been keeping his vessel clean. And the Lord says, okay. He gives them permission and they're taken captive of him at his will. And the way you recover yourself from the snare of the devil is God grants you repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. I wanna go against Joe. What's he doing? He's been looking at some stuff on the internet that he's not supposed to be looking at. He's been looking at pornography. And so he's been involved in fornication. And because of that, I now have permission to go against Him and throw my darts against Him, and there's no protection there. You see, when the Lord says to do things, like live righteously, it's not to take your fun away, it's to keep you safe. It's to keep you safe. Hey listen, I want the protection of God because I can't even see where the devil's sniping at me from. I can't see it. I don't know if it's coming from there. He came from different areas and it's crossfire. And I don't know which one's shooting at me. I can't see it. So you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to live righteously and I'm going to keep my breastplate on. And I can tell you from experience that when I take it off, I get attacked. Absolutely. And there's nothing there to deflect it. Number four, to lose your protection, I mean to have protection, you must be steadfast. You have to be where God planted you. Chapter 24 in verse two. Chapter 24 in verse two. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes, right where God put them. And the spirit of God came upon him. And he says this in verse four, the words of an almighty, and then verse five, how goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel, as the valleys, they are spread forth as the gardens by the riverside, as the tree of the line aloes, which the Lord hath planted as a cedar tree beside the water. You know why they had protection? Because they were right where God wanted them to be and right where God put them. And when a lion gets a gazelle, and there's a herd of gazelles running, he never gets the lion that's in the center of the pack. He gets the one that's straggling behind. Right? When the lion wants to attack somebody and wants to eat somebody, he doesn't get the strongest member at the front, at the middle of the pack, but he gets the one that is not there on Wednesday night. He gets the one that's not there on Sunday night. He gets the one that's not in his Bible and the ones that not where he's supposed to be. And he gets the one that's lost his interest in spiritual thing. And he has his tent set over there towards Sodom in the world. And that's the one that the lion goes after. And that's the one that the lion gets. The Bible says where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst. And when Thomas doubted the Lord Jesus Christ, he wasn't with the other apostles when the Lord came. You say, why is it a good idea to stay in church and go to church and study the Bible? Because that's where God wants you to be, and it helps you keep your breastplate on, and it helps you stay right with God, and it helps you have protection against the wiles of the devil. And it says there in Ephesians chapter 6 that pray in all ways with all supplication. And you know what I do when I see people around here and I notice that things are happening in their life? I get on my knees and I go before the Lord and the Lord dispatches help from heaven. And if you're out there by themselves, you don't have anybody praying for you. You don't have anybody there worshiping God and helping you to bring up the spiritual defenses and put a hedge of protection around. You know what I pray every Sunday, every single Sunday, every time before I get up here and preach? I say this, I say, Lord, would you put ahead your protection about this place? Would you wash this place in your blood? Would you keep out the spirits that would try to hinder people from getting the message that you want them to have that could be a hope in their life? Would you do that, God? God, would something that's said here give somebody some strength and some protection to go on? Before you came in here this morning, you were prayed for. You know what happens? A people, you get together and there's the protection of being where God wanted you to be. Have you ever heard of the cities of refuge? Let's say you make a mistake and you accidentally kill somebody and the guy's out and he's like, man, that's my mama and I'm gonna get you. You know what you could do? You could say, hey, man, it was an accident. The axe head just fell off, and I didn't mean to do it. He's like, I don't care. That's my mama, and I'm going to get you. You know what you could do? You could run to a city of refuge. And as long as you remained inside that city of refuge, the avenger of blood could not get you. But as soon as you stepped outside that city, you know what could happen? He could slay you. He could get you. Remember Shimei? There was a man in the Bible named Shimei. One time David was real depressed, and he's walking along, and Shimei put up rocks, and he starts throwing them at David, and he starts cursing David. And Abishai says, let me go and take his head off and kill him. And David said, nah, maybe God will recrite me good for his cursing this day. And he just let him curse. But when he died, he said, Solomon, you take care of Shimei. You get them. So Solomon calls Shimei and he says, Shimei, I'm gonna make a deal with you. I want you to build a house in Jerusalem. And if you stay in Jerusalem, you will be okay and I'll let you live. But as soon as you cross the Kidron Valley, as soon as you step outside of Jerusalem, it's gonna be your head, buddy. Two years went by, and Shimei stayed in Jerusalem. And then one day, Shimei woke up, and two of his servants were gone. They ran away. They said, Shimei can't leave, so all we have to do is get outside of Jordan, and he can't come get us. What a great deal, amen? And so they got, and they ran, and they went and crossed the border, and crossed that. And Shimei woke up and said, I had work for him to do. Where are those guys? And he got his donkey and he went and he crossed the Kidron Valley. And he lost his protection. As soon as he crossed that, he lost his protection. Solomon called him in and he says, Hey, didn't I tell you? The day you leave Jerusalem, it's going to be your blood and it's going to be your head. They said, Come here, buddy, follow in this guy. And he went and took him out. He lost his protection. You know what Christians have done? I've seen it so many times. They come to church and they start going and living for God, and they get mad about something stupid, about someone's casserole dish, or somebody didn't shake their hand the right way, or whatever the stinking excuse you're looking for to stay out of church. You'll give yourself an excuse, amen? Hey, listen, you're coming here for the Lord. You're not coming here for other people. And if you're part of the team and part of God's church and you want to see it go forward, you don't care that people talk to you the wrong way because you're part of God's team. That's just an excuse to give yourself to live out the wickedness in your own heart and lose the protection of God. And they come here, and they leave, and they get outside the church, and you know what happens? The destroyer comes and destroys them because they weren't inside the city of refuge where God placed them, where God put them, and where God's protection is. Amen? Listen, do you want the protection of God? Then you have to dwell in the tents and be beside the river that He planted you at, or you're not going to have the protection of God. And those examples are all through the scripture. So, remember this. The devil could not curse them, right? But they still got cursed. Now the devil's very smart and he's very subtle. And you know what he'll do? He knows that he can't curse you. So you know what the devil does? He puts some cheese on top of a mousetrap. You know, one day I stepped out of my house to mow the lawn I'm mowing along, and I look down, and right there is a bag of marijuana. Right in my front yard. And I said, I know who put that there. It's a trap. One day I was walking along on my way to school, and I look over there in the ditch, and there's a Playboy magazine. You know what that is? That's a trap. Sometimes I'll log into my Gmail account, and it says, so-and-so added you to their circles and sent you a message. And you know what it is? It's a trap. You know what the devil does? He knows you very well because he watches you from the top of the mountains. And he sees your impurities. And he designs the traps specifically for you. So you know what you gotta do? You gotta keep your armor on. You gotta keep your armor on. You gotta put on the helmet of salvation. the breastplate of righteousness, you have to have the shield of the faith, you have to have the sword of the spirit, you have to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and you protect your knees by praying with all prayer. And you know what that'll do? That'll put a protection around you that cannot be penetrated. Now, Satan may hinder you, and he may stop you, and he may vex you, but he can't curse you. Let's stand. Have the musicians come forward. And if you'll bow your head and you close your eyes, remember, to have the protection of God, you have to be saved.