1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:05,280 God inhabits the praises of his people and his presence becomes 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,760 manifest. It becomes there's an increase 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:12,120 where we sense his presence and a desire for that is not an 4 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:16,040 expression of immaturity. All right, we're going to jump 5 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,920 into the word turn with me to First Chronicles chapter 13. 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,480 Last week we addressed some of the exposures in the body of 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,720 Christ that are going on right now. 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:32,800 There's there's a lot of controversy exposures and as 9 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,880 your pastor, it was incumbent upon me to address some of that. 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,080 Some of you know, one of those individuals that has been in the 11 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:40,800 news was in our pulpit this year. 12 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:43,760 So we wanted to talk about that. You can go back and look at that 13 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,640 next week, But I want to what I want to do is I want to jump 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,040 into where we left off last week. 15 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:54,640 I was asking the Lord if he could just if he could give me a 16 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,840 passage to hang what I was feeling on. 17 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,600 I believe the word of God is a living. 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,440 It's living. It's alive, not a living. 19 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,240 It's living and alive. And it's, it speaks to our 20 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,800 current situations. You know, there's you can 21 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,880 approach the Bible as an academic book and that's a valid 22 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,760 way to approach it. But it's also alive and it's a 23 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:20,200 prophetic book and the knowledge of God speaks into the now of 24 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,480 your circumstances. And so we ask the Lord God, what 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,360 are you saying to us? And and I really felt like the 26 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,560 Lord impressed upon me. Second Samuel chapter 5, which 27 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,920 is the sister passage to this very passage here. 28 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,080 There was, there's two versions of this story that and, and you 29 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,960 know, the amazing thing about God is he never leaves all the 30 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:44,600 details in one passage. You know that he's going to hide 31 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,640 things in another passage for you because the Lord he, he's 32 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,120 never going to give the whole meal right in one passage. 33 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,520 It'd be too easy because what he's wanting to know is, are you 34 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,280 hungry? Do will you search it out? 35 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,000 Will you begin to connect the dots? 36 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,160 And it's an amazing thing that the Lord will take you on a 37 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,640 revelatory journey if you get in the word, if you begin to search 38 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,919 in the word and, and for me, it's like I'll be have you ever 39 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:12,600 been reading the word and it feels dry? 40 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,160 Don't look at me that way. I'm not the only one. 41 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,320 Sometimes I'll feel like I'm reading the Bible. 42 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:22,280 And if I hit it, it'd be it's just dusty and dry, but the Lord 43 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,960 is just drawing you in. And if you'll keep looking and 44 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,480 you'll keep looking, God's going to speak something to you. 45 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,320 And it's like you're walking down a dusty trail. 46 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:33,000 And also just a little flash, a glint of light over there. 47 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,880 And then it's gone. And it's like, man, I think I 48 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,200 saw a nugget. And you go over and you start 49 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,280 digging and all of a sudden you find a nugget and there's 50 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,680 another one. And you mind that vein out until 51 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,800 you wear that thing out and the Lord longs to take you into 52 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,000 those revelatory journeys in His Word. 53 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,960 Listen, that is not just for preachers. 54 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:59,600 If your time in the Word is relegated to sit in here reading 55 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,960 along while I preach, then you are leaving your inheritance on 56 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,640 the table unclaimed. There is so much more for you. 57 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,080 God wants to speak to you out of his word. 58 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,400 That's why John says and 1st John, he said you have no need 59 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:15,640 of a teacher. Now that's that's a big deal for 60 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:17,520 me because I kind of make my living doing this. 61 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,000 You know that like jobs, I'm threatening my own job security 62 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,640 when I tell you, you don't need a preacher, you don't need a 63 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:26,240 teacher. You're not dependent on that. 64 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:30,280 You have an anointing within you that will teach you all. 65 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,040 I'm going to, I'm up here to confirm what God is saying and 66 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:34,840 add some things that you didn't get. 67 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,760 But the fact is, you will get things I didn't get because 68 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,440 God's going to speak through your history, through your 69 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,440 experiences. He's going to show you things He 70 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:44,480 doesn't show me. That's why we need to be 71 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,960 fellowshipping over the Word. And listen, God's word, it, it 72 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,640 is an amazing thing. Just like I was talking when I 73 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,800 was an 18 year old kid and all of a sudden that tongues and 74 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:55,400 interpretation came into that meeting. 75 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,240 It's an amazing thing that God will speak to us through His 76 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,480 Word. I love to teach and preach the 77 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,600 word. I, I, I really, I got to pinch 78 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:07,840 myself. I can't believe I got more to 79 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,680 pinch these days, by the way. But I, I, I can't believe I get 80 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:16,200 to do this for a living. But there's something better 81 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,079 than delivering the Word, and that is getting something from 82 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:23,960 the Lord in private. And that is that is the blood 83 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:28,760 bot inheritance for all of us. God wants to speak to you out of 84 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,920 his word. He wants to open it up. 85 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,240 And it's, it's an amazing thing that the God of the universe 86 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:40,000 will drop into your quiet time and begin to speak to you and 87 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,960 you'll know. There's no way I would have 88 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,920 known, I would have never seen that had God not highlighted it. 89 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,160 And if you've never experienced that, I'm telling you, you're 90 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,600 leaving your inheritance unclaimed. 91 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,600 That is what God has for every one of us. 92 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:57,600 He wants to speak to you out of his. 93 00:04:57,800 --> 00:04:59,480 He wants that book to come alive. 94 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,920 And every one of us have had dry times in the word. 95 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:10,240 But if you'll stay persistent and keep saying God, Proverbs 2 96 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,400 says cry aloud for wisdom, cry out for understanding. 97 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,320 Search for it as hidden treasure. 98 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,120 I'm going to tell you the ground to search for it is in the 99 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,680 between the pages of your Bible. Search for hidden treasure and 100 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,320 God will begin to speak to you the the creator. 101 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,320 God wants to speak directly to you, not not through a radio 102 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,760 preacher or a pastor and a pulpit, but he wants to speak to 103 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,120 you through your word. And once that begins to happen, 104 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,600 you're off and running you, you will be ruined forever when he 105 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,360 begins to speak to you out of his word. 106 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:47,760 Now, I don't know about you. When I first got saved, I looked 107 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:49,960 at that book and I thought, oh man, how am I ever going to 108 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:51,880 figure this out? That's a big book. 109 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,000 And it's an ancient book and it's in King James at the time. 110 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,120 And you know, I'm, I'm struggling with English and this 111 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,160 is Old English. And, and you think, man, these 112 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:02,640 guys are talking about what kind of helmets the Hittites wore. 113 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,080 How am I going to figure that stuff out? 114 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:08,560 And, and what I realize now is that as you get into the word, 115 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,280 knowledge will breed knowledge. And what will happen is you're, 116 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,400 you're seeking the Lord and you're asking God will drop 117 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:16,840 something. You'll see something like that 118 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:19,760 changed my life. But the beautiful thing is when 119 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,240 you cross the threshold into that room of revelation and you 120 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,480 come to this divine conclusion, Oh my goodness, this is amazing. 121 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:28,560 Once you start looking around that room, you're going to 122 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:30,560 realize there's five other doors to walk through. 123 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,160 And now there's five other things you got to chase down. 124 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,760 And you'll spend the rest of your life searching through this 125 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:38,680 book. And I believe we're going to be 126 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:41,600 doing that for eternity. I believe we're going to be 127 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,640 sitting in classes in heaven. And we're going to be sitting 128 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:47,040 the apostle Paul's going to say, you know what? 129 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:51,400 When I was writing Philippians right here, I didn't realize 130 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,440 what I was saying. I only realized the surface. 131 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,440 But there's so much more I've discovered since being here. 132 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,640 And we're going to be digging through the word for all 133 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:02,280 eternity. It's an amazing book. 134 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:08,360 And I want to encourage you don't don't limit your intake of 135 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,360 the word to listen to sermons. God wants to speak to you 136 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,640 directly from his word. And the people I know that are 137 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:20,120 on fire for God are people of the word, people that 138 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,560 consistently keep the fire burning. 139 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,040 One of the logs that they're throwing on that fire is the 140 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,880 word of God. And so let God minister to you. 141 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:31,320 Let God challenge you, let him speak to you. 142 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,880 It's an amazing, amazing book. So in light of that, let's look 143 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,880 at verse one of first Chronicles chapter 13. 144 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,920 David consulted with the commanders of thousands and of 145 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,560 hundreds and and with every leader. 146 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:47,840 And David said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems 147 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,040 good to you from the Lord our God, let us send abroad to our 148 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,400 brothers who remain in all the lands of Israel, as well as to 149 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:56,080 the priests and the Levites in the cities. 150 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,320 Do that have pastor lands that they may be gathered to us. 151 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:03,320 And then listen to this. Let us bring again the ark of 152 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,000 God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. 153 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,880 What an indictment against Saul's leadership. 154 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,600 He's saying in the days of Saul we didn't care about the ark. 155 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:18,720 Now for those of you that are not familiar with what the ark 156 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:23,480 was, the ark was a cedar box that God had shown Moses the 157 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:25,520 blueprint for on the mount of God. 158 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,400 And God gave him this download and he had him build this cedar 159 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,159 box and then he covered it in gold and he molded A lid that 160 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:37,679 had two cherubim, these angelic creatures whose wings were 161 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,400 pointed inwards. And God, this lid with these 162 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,840 cherubims carved on it, it was called the mercy seat. 163 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,400 And God said, I will dwell between the cherubim, literally. 164 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:50,480 God said, if you want to meet with me, I'm I'll live on the 165 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,320 lid. I'm going to, that's where my 166 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,200 presence will reside on the mercy seat. 167 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,080 Isn't that beautiful? God sat on the mercy seat. 168 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:01,800 He didn't sit on the judgement seat. 169 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,280 He sat on the mercy seat. And then it had rings. 170 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,200 And they would carry that wherever they would go. 171 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,560 And so there was this understanding that there was the 172 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:14,800 manifest presence of God among us, and God gave them a physical 173 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,480 representation to lock their eyes on and know where God was. 174 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,800 That's the ark of the covenant. And David says, listen, we got 175 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,960 to get this thing back. We got to put this front and 176 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,320 center because under the regime of Saul, his predecessor, he 177 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:29,640 said, we didn't inquire of the Lord. 178 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,200 We didn't pursue the ark. The ark was in the House of 179 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:37,440 Abinadab, A Levite for 20 years, relegated to the sidelines. 180 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,080 In fact, let me give you a little history of the ark. 181 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,000 This is this is interesting to me. 182 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,120 The ark resided in the Tabernacle or at the Tabernacle 183 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:52,680 in Shiloh with Eli. So you know that we know Moses, 184 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:55,520 they had the ark made, they took it with them. 185 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:59,360 And then during the days of the judges, the final judge of which 186 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:07,240 was Samuel and, and Eli, the priest had this this ark and it 187 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,520 was at the place called Shiloh. It was retrieved by Saul for the 188 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:17,000 purpose of war in the 29th year of Saul's 42nd year reign, 42 189 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,760 year reign. The 29th year not to wasn't till 190 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,920 the end of his reign that he went and retrieved the ark and 191 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,760 it was captured and retained by the Philistines for seven 192 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:28,760 months. And so they lost the ark because 193 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,040 they were using it as a means to an end, as if the presence of 194 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,280 God was just a means to get what they really wanted, rather than 195 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,360 the presence of God being what they wanted. 196 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,760 And so the Philistines captured it and then it caused a problem 197 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,440 for the Philistines. It depends on the translation 198 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,800 you read. What happened is that they began 199 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,240 to break out in tumors. Some translations say tumors. 200 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,200 But if you follow the little, the little sideline, it'll it'll 201 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,440 all the translations will say could be hemorrhoids. 202 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,600 Let's just suffice it to say that the presence of God without 203 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,080 the fear of God will make you uncomfortable. 204 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:12,120 And we'll leave it at that, OK? It requires handling it with 205 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,600 reverence. And so they broke out. 206 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,320 And so they, they figured out how to send it back, which is a 207 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:19,480 fascinating passage in and of itself. 208 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,840 We don't have time to get into. And so then they sent it, it 209 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:27,240 came to Beth Shamesh and the Israelites opened it and 50,000 210 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,480 people died. That's where, you know, the 211 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,480 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark with Harrison Ford. 212 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,080 Remember that one? And they open it up and people 213 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,480 are dying. That's OK, that's Hollywood 214 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:41,480 version, but that's it was a it was a holy thing and it had to 215 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:46,760 be carried in the right way. And so this is a very sobering 216 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:50,000 thing. And so then it was brought to 217 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:55,640 Jar or Kariath Jerem, and it stayed in the House of Abinadab 218 00:11:55,640 --> 00:12:00,000 for 20 years in the rain during the reign of Saul, 20 years. 219 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,680 So Abinadab was there. There were three different 220 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:04,680 people that show up in scripture named Benedab. 221 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:08,040 David had a brother of Benedab. Saul had a son of Benedab. 222 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,240 But there was a Levite named Benedab, and most likely it was 223 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,440 the Levite. It was at his house. 224 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,080 And Abinadab had two sons, Aza and Ohio. 225 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,280 He might have had more kids, we don't know, but we know he had 226 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:24,400 those too, Aza and Ohio. And so David attempted to bring 227 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,680 it from Abinadab's house in Koriath, Jerem, but Aza was 228 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:31,920 smitten and he abandoned the idea that ended up at Obed 229 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,600 Eden's house for three years until it finally came to 230 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,320 Jerusalem. So David, in this passage, it's 231 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:43,080 fascinating, David, he said, let's bring the ark of God to us 232 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:45,560 for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. 233 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,200 David was of a different heart posture than Saul. 234 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:53,080 Saul looked at the the presence of God as a means to an end. 235 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,280 David felt this is the end. This is what we want. 236 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,560 We want to be near the Lord and see, it begs the question, where 237 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:02,680 did David come up with this value system for the ark of the 238 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:04,600 covenant and the presence of God? 239 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,360 And we get a clue in Psalm 132 and Psalm 132. 240 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,360 It's a fascinating passage and it's, I am convinced you're 241 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,120 going to find out when we get to heaven that I'm right. 242 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:17,960 Solomon wrote Psalm 132 and he's, he begins it with this 243 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,440 fascinating verse. He said, oh Lord, remember David 244 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:26,080 and the suffering he endured. So he's reminding God of the 245 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:31,040 price his daddy paid to provide a place for the presence of God. 246 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,080 He's saying that, oh Lord, remember my dad, remember the 247 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,960 suffering he endured, remember the affliction that he went 248 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:39,880 through so he could make a place for you. 249 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:45,280 And he's moving the heart of God in the present by reminding God 250 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,840 of the price paid in the past by a dead guy. 251 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:53,800 Isn't that fascinating? And in in so doing, he reveals a 252 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,960 weapon or a tool and intercession that very few of us 253 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,160 understand is available to us, that we can actually move the 254 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,760 heart of God now by reminding him of those in our lineage that 255 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,320 that served him and paid a price and it moved the heart of God. 256 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,920 And so David reminds the Lord, and then it says in that 257 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,400 passage, it says he, it's, and, and we know that Solomon must 258 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,400 have heard this at David's knee, because Solomon talks in the 259 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:22,960 book of Proverbs. He said, he said, I'd sit up my 260 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,320 father's knee and he would share wisdom with me. 261 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,280 And undoubtedly he heard this story from his daddy David. 262 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,880 David tells him, we heard of it, the ark. 263 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:37,840 We heard of it in Coriath, Jerem. 264 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,560 We came upon it in the fields of Jar. 265 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:47,080 And he's talking about the area of Bethlehem. 266 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,480 David was raised in the area of Bethlehem. 267 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:53,160 And if when you begin to piece all these pieces together, 268 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,800 gathering these Nuggets from all these other passages, you 269 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:02,800 realize David was about 14 to 16 years old when the ark arrived 270 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,680 in the vicinity of his home. And he tells his son, he said, 271 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,120 listen, I heard about it in Bethlehem. 272 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,320 I heard the rumor it's arrived in our area. 273 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,200 And then he said, we came upon it in the fields of Jar. 274 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,560 David wasn't satisfied just to hear about the things of God. 275 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:20,480 He thought, man, I want to see this thing. 276 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,960 I've heard that God dwells between the cherubim. 277 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,000 And so David goes and it says he saw it in the fields of jar. 278 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:32,120 And then David in that passage of Psalm 132, it pulls out the 279 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,080 story of David and how David made a vow to the Lord. 280 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:36,320 I'm going to build a place for you. 281 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,840 I'm going to build a habitation for the Lord and it passed to 282 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,440 Solomon and Solomon is now using that to move the heart of God. 283 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,920 God bless what I've built for you, that it's the dedication 284 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:52,040 prayer of the temple. But he's talking about how David 285 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,880 was ruined for life once he encountered the presence of God. 286 00:15:56,120 --> 00:16:01,160 Now we know that Samuel uncorked a horn of oil and poured the oil 287 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:02,640 over him and he was anointed king. 288 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:07,360 But that's not the only reason David was so ruined for the 289 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,520 things of God. It's because David had 290 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,280 encountered in that one encounter, ruined his life. 291 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,040 He was fixated. We've got to get the ark of God 292 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:21,120 unto us. And let me just say that I I, I 293 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,320 listen to preachers all the time. 294 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,000 I want to learn, but I also want to just keep my finger on the 295 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,800 pulse of what's being said to the body of Christ. 296 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,200 And there is a troubling sentiment I've been hearing 297 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,240 coming out of preachers mouths as of late, and that is they 298 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,680 I've, I've heard some that I respect some Pentecostal 299 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:45,720 preachers degrading in, in, in a chastising churches that are 300 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:49,840 about the presence of God and saying, Oh, people get all 301 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,920 fixated. We're we're a presence church. 302 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,320 Well, you, you might notice around here, we start, we've 303 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,320 started using the phrase we're a pet presence based church. 304 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,840 That's what we're about. And I say that unashamedly. 305 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,040 And see what they've done is they've psychologized that 306 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,440 they've patronized those who have a hunger for the presence 307 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,000 as if it's just some kind of psychological fascination. 308 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,079 And it's an it's an expression of immaturity that you want to 309 00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:20,760 feel something. So then these same people would 310 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,359 say, no, we need to be people of the book and know the word as if 311 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:30,600 those are mutually exclusive. That book that I've given the 312 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:36,720 last 40 some years of my life to learning tells me that the 313 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:41,120 people in that book had a hunger for the manifest presence of God 314 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,920 in their life. See, David understood that there 315 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,480 was the omnipresence of God. David was the one who wrote, he 316 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,200 said even in hell I cannot escape you. 317 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:53,680 What he's saying is God, you're everywhere. 318 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,520 Even in hell people talk about a crisis, eternity, There's no 319 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,600 such thing because he is there. He is everywhere present. 320 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,360 David understood that. In spite of that, David, David 321 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:09,240 was hungry for the manifest present because God is 322 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,040 everywhere, but He's not everywhere to the same degree. 323 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,040 I don't know about you, but I experienced His presence during 324 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,520 worship to a greater degree than when I walked through the door 325 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,400 early this morning. Because God inhabits the praises 326 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:29,160 of His people and His presence becomes manifest. 327 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:33,080 It becomes there's an increase where we sense His presence, and 328 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,240 a desire for that is not an expression of immaturity. 329 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:44,120 Moses, so much so Moses was so hungry for God's manifest 330 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:46,400 present. You think Moses understood that 331 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,920 of God's omnipresence? Do you think someone had to set 332 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,040 him down and correct him? Moses, sit down. 333 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:54,360 We need to teach you some things. 334 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:55,840 You're kind of immature in the faith. 335 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,040 You need to understand God is everywhere present. 336 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,520 So for you to say, we're not going into the promised line 337 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,840 unless you go with you, you go with us, God's always with you. 338 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:07,080 Well, the problem is God was the one who told Moses, I'm not 339 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,520 going with you. And Moses said, God, if you're 340 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:12,560 not going, I'm not going. We're none of us are. 341 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:15,800 We don't want the promise, then we don't want real estate 342 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,960 without you. And God said, OK, then I'll go 343 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,840 with you. David was the one who wanted to 344 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:26,360 be around the ark, not because he was enamored with a metal 345 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:30,920 box, but because he wanted the presence that God promised dwelt 346 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,800 between the cherubim. That is not an expression of 347 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,440 immaturity. And don't let anybody ever 348 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,160 patronize you with some by degrading your hunger and saying 349 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:46,560 that's just some immature desire for feelings as opposed to what 350 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:48,120 you're really supposed to be after. 351 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:52,040 We need to be a people of the Word and the presence of God. 352 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,960 Matter of fact, Moses told God, he said. 353 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:59,040 God, what else is going to set us aside from all the peoples of 354 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,160 the earth? What's going to make us 355 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,200 different? And I'm going to tell you, it's 356 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,520 not teaching and it's not morality. 357 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,640 You know, there are some very moral atheists out there. 358 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:12,920 They're very moral people. They pay their bills, they love 359 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,080 their spouse, they love their kids, they help the poor. 360 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:18,760 They're very moral people, but they don't know God. 361 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,920 What sets us apart from the peoples of all the earth is the 362 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,840 presence of God on our life. And that's what people should 363 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,840 encounter when they encounter us, that they should be saying 364 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,960 things like there's something I can't figure out about you, you 365 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,520 are different. And that's the open door. 366 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:38,960 And we can tell them it's the presence of God on my life. 367 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,160 See that? That's what makes Moses said 368 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,040 that's what makes us different. You say, well, pastor, that's 369 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:50,240 old covenant. So you're telling me that Moses 370 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:55,560 under an inferior covenant has access to greater presence than 371 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,640 you and I in the new covenant? No way. 372 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,280 In fact, we get something he didn't get. 373 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:07,560 We have God living inside of us, residing within us. 374 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,400 We become partakers of the divine nature, according to 375 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:12,920 Peter. Man, that's an amazing thing. 376 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:18,800 So listen, we need to be like David, hungry for his presence. 377 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,160 And David tells it tells the people of Israel. 378 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,200 He said, listen, we've we've got to get the ark of God unto us. 379 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,480 In the days of Saul, we relegated it to the sidelines. 380 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,440 I want it front and center. And David was still in pursuit 381 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:38,240 of something he had experienced well over a decade earlier as a 382 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:42,440 young man. And it's not a coincidence that 383 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:48,480 David confronts Goliath around the time that the ark arrived in 384 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,400 his vicinity. Now, yes, I I know it was the 385 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,640 anointing that Saul poured out upon him, yes. 386 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,640 But I would propose to you that that encounter with God's 387 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:05,520 presence also gives us an idea of why David found the courage 388 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,080 to go and confront Goliath, because he had been transformed 389 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,920 by the presence of God. So David says, he says let us 390 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,040 bring the ark of God to us, for he didn't. 391 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,080 We did not seek it in the days of Saul. 392 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,920 And so they all they decide they're going to do that. 393 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,760 David assembled verse 5, all of Israel from the Nile of Egypt to 394 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:30,760 late Libo Hemath to bring the ark of God from Koriath Jerem 395 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,640 and David and all of Israel went up to Bilal, that is to Koriath 396 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,560 Jerem that belongs to Judah to bring up the ark of God, which 397 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,880 is called by the name of the Lord who sits and throned above 398 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,720 the cherubim. There it is right there. 399 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,800 It's an amazing statement. See, David really believed that 400 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,520 because it was in the word, David said. 401 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,360 I believe that and I want that and I want that in the center of 402 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:57,480 the nation. I want it in the capital. 403 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,320 And so, and they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the 404 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:05,280 House of Abenadab. And Uzza and Ohio were driving 405 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,760 the cart and David and all of Israel were celebrating for God 406 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,080 with all their might, with songs and liars and harps and 407 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,520 tambourines and cymbals and trumpets. 408 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,800 And so they they had a whole orchestra amassed. 409 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,520 And if you read the text, Chronicles gives us some details 410 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:26,760 that Samuel didn't. And they had he had amassed all 411 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:31,240 these prophetic seers that wrote the Psalms along with David. 412 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,640 You had Asaph, you had Ethan, you had all of these guys were 413 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,040 with him and they were celebrating to the Lord. 414 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:41,360 And this is an amazing thing. And then verse 9. 415 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:45,960 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chaidan, or 416 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,280 the Samuel calls it the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzza 417 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,400 put out his hand to take hold of the ark. 418 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,040 For the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled 419 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,360 against Uzza, and he struck him down because he had put his hand 420 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:01,320 to the ark, and he died there before the Lord. 421 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:08,760 And what is so very, very sobering about this passage is 422 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:10,880 they had no I'll intent in their heart. 423 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,840 They weren't excited. David's value system was 424 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,880 correct. David was hungry for the things 425 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,560 of God. They were all very sincere. 426 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,440 The problem is they were sincere but ignorant of the protocol 427 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,200 that was required. They didn't understand how to 428 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,240 handle the Presence and in fact, the one that was struck dead, 429 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,320 Aza was one of the primary caretakers of the Ark when it 430 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,400 was at his dad's house for 20 years. 431 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:45,480 The guy who was a great steward of the presence when it was 432 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,520 stationary was killed by the presence when it was on the move 433 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,840 because it there was they had to handle it in a certain way and 434 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,400 they were ignorant. Now we don't know because later 435 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,200 on David says in this passage, and it doesn't say this in the 436 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:05,520 book of Samuel, we know from the Pentateuch that there was a, a 437 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:07,960 prescribed way in which they could carry it. 438 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:10,720 They couldn't carry it on a new cart like they were doing. 439 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,360 They would never be able to carry it on some mechanism made 440 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:17,200 by man. It needed to be carried by a man 441 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,800 the, the priests and they would, they put the poles through the 442 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,520 rings and they would have to carry it and it couldn't be 443 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:25,520 carried on a mechanism made by man. 444 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,560 It took men of God to carry the presence. 445 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,200 And it later on, David says this, he said, Hey, we, we got, 446 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:35,960 we're going to bring the presence of God to us. 447 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,680 We got it. God said the Levites have to 448 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:44,680 carry it, but before David gets to that point and wants to do it 449 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,040 again, there's several statements that are made of 450 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:48,640 David. I mentioned this last week, but 451 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,120 I want to just kind of dig down on this for a moment. 452 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:55,120 Look at verse 11. And David was angry because the 453 00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:59,400 Lord had broken out against Aza. And that place is called Perez 454 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,760 Aza to this day. The very next verse, and it's 455 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,640 the same outline in the book of Samuel. 456 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,160 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, How can I 457 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,760 bring the ark of God unto me? And so the very next verse, 13. 458 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:20,800 So David did not take the ark home to the city of David, but 459 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,200 to the House of Obed Edom the Getite. 460 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:29,760 And so David was angry, David was afraid, and David was 461 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:34,480 unwilling. David got offended by God. 462 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:39,200 You ever been offended by God? You ever been walking along with 463 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:40,640 God? Man you're, you're, you're 464 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,320 excited, you're sincere as a heart attack. 465 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:45,920 You're man, this is great. God's doing great things. 466 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,760 And all of a sudden something is introduced in your life and it 467 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:50,920 was out of left field. And it's like man, you're 468 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,000 offended by what God did or what God allowed. 469 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,240 Whenever I've been offended by God, it's because of my own 470 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,760 ignorance. I didn't understand what was 471 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:07,040 going on. I'm going to tell you when the 472 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:13,440 when God is on the move, in your walk with God, there will always 473 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,480 be a threshing floor. And the threshing floor is where 474 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:22,480 he separates the wheat from the the chaff, that which is usable 475 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,880 from that which isn't. There's always a threshold. 476 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,040 There's no Rd. that will bypass the threshing floor. 477 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,280 There's not another route in the journey with God. 478 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,480 His, his prescribed path for you will always go by a threshing 479 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:40,200 floor. And those times there's an 480 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,880 opportunity for us to be offended by God. 481 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:49,880 And there are a lot of people. In fact, everyone does what 482 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,280 David did for a season. Listen, what happens here, it 483 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,360 can be a short season, it can be a long season. 484 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,120 I would recommend a short one. Verse 13. 485 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:02,200 So David did not take the ark of God to the city of David, but 486 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,280 took it home to the House of Obed Edom to get tight. 487 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,400 And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed Edom in 488 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,080 his house three months. And the Lord bless the House of 489 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,880 Obed Edom and all that he had. So like I said last week, David 490 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:20,480 is he's angry, he's afraid, and now he's unwilling. 491 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,120 And look at Vert chapter 14 in the ESV. 492 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,160 There's this heading, David's Wives and children. 493 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:28,960 Every translation will have a different heading. 494 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,840 But essentially what we need to understand is that the writers 495 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,920 of the Bible are communicating things all the time. 496 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,640 And this is a way for the writer to communicate David's wives and 497 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:41,920 children. And if you read the next 498 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,520 chapter, it's all about David took on more wives and had more 499 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,560 kids and built houses. And what it's communicating is 500 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,000 that once David stopped his pursuit, he was offended. 501 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:56,200 He backed away and he got caught up in all these other things. 502 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,680 He backed away and he got caught up in not, not bad things. 503 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,920 Having a wife, having plural wives is a bad thing, by the 504 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,560 way. But that's the sermon for 505 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,960 another day. But David, he, he had, he got 506 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:12,600 caught up in just doing his own thing because he was offended. 507 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,680 And then he heard about Obed Edom's house. 508 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,880 You heard about is the big tomatoes and the, the fluffy 509 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,880 lambs and the great brisket. He's put, he's got like Wagyu 510 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,320 briskets coming out of his farm. And, and I, you knew what I'd go 511 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,120 there, didn't you? And and so he, he says, I've got 512 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,720 to, I've got to get in on this. And this hunger begins to rise 513 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,640 up and David once again. And what happened is when David 514 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,640 said, how can I bring the ark of God unto me? 515 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,440 And he was angry and he was unwilling. 516 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:51,640 What he didn't realize is God was already answering the cry of 517 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,840 his heart. He was laying the groundwork of 518 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:59,880 the necessity of David's life. David had to become enlightened. 519 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,880 He had to understand how to handle the presence of God. 520 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,640 And the first criterion to getting there was the fear of 521 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,880 the Lord. The fear of the OR the presence 522 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,240 of God without the fear of God is a dangerous thing. 523 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:19,000 You know in the New Testament, God with Moses and the children 524 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,080 of Israel, let's go there. God says I'm not 525 00:30:34,810 --> 00:30:35,850 got it. There we go. 526 00:30:38,130 --> 00:30:41,370 Or the Lord tells him, I'm not going to go with you lest I kill 527 00:30:41,370 --> 00:30:45,650 the people of Israel. In other words, I'm going to 528 00:30:45,650 --> 00:30:49,530 withdraw my presence because it's dangerous for a stiff 529 00:30:49,530 --> 00:30:54,720 necked people. So if we want to attract God's 530 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,680 presence, we've got to be a people that understand how to 531 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,680 steward the presence. We've got to be a people that 532 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,320 because God in his mercy says, you know what, I'm going to have 533 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,080 to withdraw. My dad when I was 16 years old 534 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,560 withdrew his presence from me lest he kill me. 535 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,080 OK. I was a rebellious kid that I 536 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,480 was unmanageable. So the way he withdrew his 537 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:21,920 presence is he invited me to find another place to live and 538 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,360 he did so with a clenched fist into my jaw. 539 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:29,480 When I got back up, he invited me once again with one more hit 540 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,120 and I deserved that probably 2 years earlier. 541 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,440 And I withdrew his presence because it had gotten to the 542 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,080 place where we could not dwell together. 543 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:42,560 I was so belligerent, so rebellious that he said, OK, we 544 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:44,320 don't have, we're not living together anymore. 545 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,880 And the consequences of that broke me and brought me back to 546 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:52,800 Jesus two years later. God loves us enough that he will 547 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,200 withdraw his presence. And that's why if you look in 548 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:59,560 the in the book of Acts where Ananias and Sapphira died, it 549 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,800 was because it was an hour of tremendous outpouring. 550 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,040 When God is on the move, this the stakes get higher. 551 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,520 And we don't talk about this in the American church. 552 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,160 We don't look at the things of God this way. 553 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,160 Well, God's a God of grace. Yes, he is. 554 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:17,880 And you know how he'll exercise that grace? 555 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:22,840 By withdrawing his presence. And if you want his presence, 556 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,440 then there needs to be a level of fear in our life. 557 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,080 And that's what David was or God was doing with David's. 558 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,560 He was instructing him. And then what it did is it 559 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,040 caused David to go back to the scrolls and look through the 560 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,200 scrolls and find out what is the protocol to carry the ark. 561 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:43,560 And so David tells them after he hears about Benedabs or Obed 562 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:47,760 Edom's tomatoes, he says, man, we got to figure this out, I 563 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,320 want them tomatoes. And so he goes into the scroll 564 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,160 and he begins to study. And he realized, he tells him, 565 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,440 listen, there's a prescribed way to carry the ark. 566 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:02,200 See Scripture says Proverbs 10 or 9, verse 10. 567 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:07,400 It says this knowledge of the holy is understanding and the 568 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,440 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 569 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,240 I've always looked at it that God withholds his wisdom from 570 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:18,480 those who do not fear him. And I believe there's an element 571 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,600 of that being true. But what I didn't realize till 572 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,720 this morning, early this morning, is that there's also 573 00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:30,800 the converse is true that the beginning or the first stages of 574 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:34,000 wisdom is the fear of the Lord because the fear of the Lord 575 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,400 awakens you to your need for wisdom. 576 00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,560 See, David, David didn't think he needed to seek the Lord on 577 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,400 how to move the ark. He just figured, hey, God, God 578 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,280 will overlook our ignorance because we're sincere. 579 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:55,200 And it wasn't the case. And so God caused fear and 580 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,080 hesitation in David and then reintroduced that hunger. 581 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,000 And it got to the point where David said, I'm willing to go 582 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,240 and take another run at it. Can you imagine, think about 583 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:09,600 this? Can you imagine the hunger that 584 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,600 it took for them to pick up that ark after what happened to Aza? 585 00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,920 He was split open like a ballpark, Frank sitting next to 586 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:24,920 the ark. It's a sobering thing. 587 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,639 And and then what they're going to do is they're going to pick 588 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:30,239 this thing up with poles and put it on their shoulders. 589 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,560 It took an act of faith in God's prescribed method to carry it. 590 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:41,159 And it also took a tremendous amount of hunger to say we're 591 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:44,880 still wanting this ark to come with us. 592 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,800 And what they did is they picked it up by the poles and they 593 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,719 would take, I think it says 3 steps and they would sacrifice 594 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,080 another bull and they'd sacrifice another ram and 595 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,400 another few steps. And if you do the math, there 596 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,480 was there was a lot of livestock that was sacrificed, sent to the 597 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,280 Lord that day. And David is dancing with all 598 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:05,160 his might. It took him three months to 599 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:09,960 overcome this thing, but David is dancing with all his might. 600 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:14,040 He's so excited, so much so his wife was embarrassed and rebuked 601 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,120 him. David was dancing like a 602 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,280 Wildman. Don't ever judge someone that's 603 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:24,520 dancing before the Lord. You don't know their story. 604 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:26,840 You don't know where they came from. 605 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:30,400 You don't know what God delivered. 606 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,160 Hey, thanks for watching. At Heartland Church, we love to 607 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:36,920 worship the Lord and we love His Word. 608 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,880 In fact, if you could jump on and subscribe to our YouTube 609 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,120 channel, you could make sure that you don't miss any of the 610 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:45,240 services. We'd love to have you join us 611 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:48,320 live or in person every week. See you next time.