You must first embrace your identity as a child of God through surrendering to Jesus' authority. This transformation empowers you to honor His presence in your home and carry His authority into the world. Walk in obedience today to avoid a barren life and see revival in your community.
God is the father of the house. God is God is our father. And and he fathers people spiritually through people. And so if you're you're have led somebody to Jesus and you're discipling them, you're like a spiritual father to them, or an older brother, if you will, both and. And the goal of discipleship is not to cause people to look to us.
The goal of discipleship is to cause people to look to Jesus and follow him just like we do or even better. Amen? Amen. Jesus said, you'll do the same things I do and even greater. You hear me say that all the time at Real Church, on purpose because it's the way that we lead.
You'll do the same things we do and even greater. Praise the Lord. And if you go a little higher than we do, so what? That's awesome. We get to be a Barnabas instead of a Paul.
Wonderful. Amen? Amen. Would you mind grabbing this? Because this is in my walk zone.
So happy Father's Day. You too. Happy Father's Day. And and with that in mind, maybe oh, sorry. I see I see stuff.
I can't just throw it on the ground. Baby, will you come get this? I love you. She's amazing. But with with, happy Father's Day, if you're in the house and you've been "born again", if you're in the house, and and what it means to be born again is is you've given your life to Jesus.
You believe. The Bible says in John-1:12-13, to all who believe in his name, he gives the rights to become children of God. Not children born of a natural descent or of a husband's will or or born of the flesh, but born of God, a "child of God".
And I'm not just that's not
talking about the believe the belief in the the way that we think about it as Americans. Oh, I believe that that is real. I believe that he exists. I'm talking about belief in the purest sense where you believe that Jesus is who he says he is so much that you reorient your life to demonstrate that he is who he says he is.
You say, I'm gonna follow you instead of myself.
I'm gonna follow what you say instead of what I think and what I feel. That's what it really means to believe in the name of Jesus. Believing in the name
of Jesus means that you believe in his authority and you surrender to his will. When you do that, then you
are born again. Born of the father. *God becomes your heavenly* father. Everybody thinks, I'm a child
of God. No. In the world, there are children of Satan and "children of God".
And the only ones that are children of God are the ones who
have been born again. Everyone else is feeling desperate in some areas of their life or insecure or prideful because they think they have it all together in and of themselves, and they're being resisted by the heavenly father because he loves them so much because he doesn't want them to die a child of Satan and go to be with their father. He wants you to know him. That was a big spit.
Thank the Lord we don't have a
row right here. He wants you to know him. He wants you to *surrender* your life to him so that you can be transitioned from a child of
the devil to a child of God. It's a lie that everybody believes that everybody's children of God. It's not true.
Jesus came to "seek and save" the lost. Seek and save those who were created by him to know him, but have been running and living their own way on their own. God loves you and he cares for you. He's not mad at you. Jesus was a rescue mission to rescue you and to bring you back into sonship or daughtership with the heavenly father.
He cares
and he wants to be your father. So we're just gonna do this at the beginning of the service because I believe that there
are people in here right now that have been going to church, maybe even all of their life, or you grew up in church, maybe even you were baptized as a baby, but it really didn't mean anything to you because you didn't surrender your life to him. It was just a ritual, just a thing. Maybe you've experienced God and most of you probably have because he's been on the outside pulling at your heartstrings, trying to to to get your attention to show you that he's real and he loves you and he desires to have a real relationship with you. And it's more than just having an experience when you come to church on a Sunday, but it overflows when you really know know him. That you walk in that experience day in and day out because when you're born of the spirit, he puts his Holy Spirit, the kinda like the DNA of our daddy on the inside of us to lead us and empower us to look like our heavenly father.
That's why it says to be imitators of God as dearly loved children. So
if you're in here and you're just ready to really surrender it all and really to become a child of God, I'm not gonna ask you to come up here because I got a lot more preaching to do. But I wanna give you the opportunity now because I'm not gonna give it later in the service. I wanna give you the opportunity to confess before men, not coming up here, but say, man, I'm ready to be born again. I'm ready to give my life to Jesus. I've never experienced that, pastor.
I've never experienced the weight of shame and guilt and sin falling off my shoulders. I've never experienced the living God, the Holy Spirit coming to live inside of me. I've been I've been doing other things and thinking I had it all together. But I realized right now, Holy Spirit's working my heart. I don't, and I'm ready to be born again.
If that's you, would you slip your hand up right now? Just be bold. That's me. I need Jesus. Praise the Lord.
Come on. Who else? That's 4. Who else? Praise the Lord.
Alright. Let's say this, and just just you guys. Okay? Everybody doesn't have to repeat this prayer. I'm I'm assuming all the rest of you are born again.
Is there anybody else that would say it's this is me? Because we're this what we're about to do is holy. Anybody else? Come on, Jesus loves you. I'm compelling you.
Raise your hand. If you felt his presence and you know you've never been born again, raise your hand. You're about to become a child of God. Okay. Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again?
If you raise your hand, I want you to shake your head. Yes or no? Yeah. Do you believe? Yes.
Young man, do you believe? Yes. In the back, do you believe that Jesus died and rose again? Yes. Okay.
Praise the Lord. And once again, said, even demons believe that. Now we're going to confess him as Lord. Right? We're gonna pray a prayer, and you're saying I'm going to follow him instead of myself from this moment forward.
I may not always get it right, but he's got grace and mercy for that, but I'm going to not fall back anymore. I'm gonna fall forward into his heavenly arms trusting him. I don't know what it's gonna look like, but I'm gonna trust him and follow him. Are you willing to say that, if you are? Are you willing to say that?
Yes? Yes? Yes. Praise the Lord. Alright.
Let's pray this prayer. I want those you 4, I want you to close
your eyes and imagine a good heavenly father before you because he's the best of the best. And say just say this, say Jesus. You 4, say it out loud. Say Jesus, I believe you died for my sin, and I believe you rose again. I've been "living for myself".
Only say it if you believe it. Say it again, I've been living for myself. I ask you to forgive me. Right now, here's a big 1, I choose to follow you instead of me. Thank you, Jesus.
I give you my life and I receive yours. Holy Spirit, come to live inside of me. Teach me how to follow you. Let me pray for you. Father, I thank
you for these 4. I thank you that you love them. Let them experience your presence and just the "weight of guilt" and shame falling off. Lord God, mark them today. You've sealed them by your presence.
You've sealed them with the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord Jesus, they are they are forgiven completely.
They're clean in you. Their past, present,
and future *Sins* washed away by your goodness because you did it on the cross 2000 years ago. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Would you guys give a big old hand clap? Now, I wanted to do that then because I wanted us all, praise the Lord, we're children of God.
He loves you and he cares for you. This is the beginning, guys. Those of you that just gave your life to Jesus, it's the beginning. Like born again means you're born, spiritually you're an infant. And this is for you guys.
Okay? My my 3 year old when she was an infant, she knew my presence, but she didn't know what I was saying. Right? And I would speak to her to soothe her and calm her, give her peace, but she didn't really know what I was saying. When she spent time in my presence, got to know my word, and spent time around older brothers and sisters that she learned how to interact with me, now as a 3 year old in a month, she knows exactly what I'm saying and is growing to know my ways so that she can reflect me.
Amen? So for you, this is new. And the enemy doesn't want you to stand. *God*'s gonna protect you. Stay in his presence.
Get in his word. Baptism, it's a declaration. I'm unashamed. I'm ready. I'm giving my life to you, and I don't care who knows it.
The old me is gone. And get connected with other believers. You're welcome here at this church so you can grow and mature in him. Amen? Amen.
Now the reason I did that then is because I want us as a congregation to tell him happy Father's Day. Amen? Amen.
Let's stand up and just give him honor. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, heavenly Father. We love you. Thank you for sending your 1 and only son so that we could become sons and daughters of you.
Thank you heavenly father. Happy Father's Day. Teach us how to honor you in every aspect of our life. We honor you now. Lord God, let let when nobody's looking, let our life honor you.
We give weight to what you say. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, heavenly Father. Thank you, Holy Spirit. We love you.
Before you
sit down, just so you know, it's the will of the Father, the word of the Son, and the working of the Holy Spirit. We operate and we're able to to to even know the thoughts of the Father, as it says in 1 Corinthians-2, because of the working of the Holy Spirit in us and through us. We know the know the word of the Son because of the working of the Holy Spirit. Your relation to God is based on the Holy Spirit. And those religious people that minimize the work of the Holy Spirit miss out on a whole lot of what he wants to do in this world.
And if that's you, repent. Amen? Amen. You may be seated. Okay.
So, I'm excited about this message. This message came out of last week. Last week, if you were here, you know this. If you're not, you missed out. The Holy Spirit moved in amazing ways.
*God* really wrecked some people in the best of ways. I'd encourage you, don't flippantly miss service. If you're just visiting here, praise the Lord, don't flippantly miss your service, but be really excited about it and expect it that God's gonna move in amazing ways, because he did last week. And out of last week, see, I said these words, I said, there are people in here that are Christians that are oppressed by demons and they don't even know it. And about 50%, I'd shared a testimony of deliverance that had happened the week before, and I said, least 50% of people that are oppressed are because of unforgiveness in their life.
Unforgiveness opens the door to "demonic oppression". And and spontaneously, as a result of the word going out and people honoring the word that God gave, they started forgiving and getting set free all throughout the week. It's amazing. And then others, something I didn't even speak on, I I didn't even speak on honor, and people were repenting of dishonor. Dishonor to each other, dishonor towards the church, dishonor to others, and the Lord said, you need to speak on honor.
And so I want you to know as I'm speaking on this, 2 things. Number 1, this is not coming from a place of need, or lack, or emptiness, or brokenness. I feel like I'm the most honored pastor in the world. You guys honor well, and I believe you honor 1 another well. You honor you honor *God* well.
It's a joy and an honor to get to be your pastor, and and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. So, man, I celebrate the way that you honor, and he's having me speak on this for a reason. So praise the Lord. He's press pushing us forward, teaching us to learn even more how to honor because it's important. I will warn you, if you have rebellious tendencies in you, if there's aspects of your heart that struggle with rebellion, you will not like aspects of this message.
When that happens, I'm telling you now, so you can judge it against the word and then repent for those feelings. Take it to the Lord, don't tell me, surrender it to the Lord. Repent, and then change your attitude. Because honor's not about just giving lip service, or even actions. Honor is about a heart motive that overflows out of what you say, and how you act.
And if it's not the heart motive, then it's not real honor, it's just flattery, or manipulation. And we don't wanna be those that flatter or manipulate. We wanna be those that honor from the depths of our heart because it's vital. There's a principle I have I live by. I have it in my list of principles in my journal.
It says, **what you honor multiplies**. What you dishonor dwindles in your life. The things that you honor what does it mean to honor? It means to give weight to, to give value to. The things that you give weight and value to when somebody speaks, if you give weight and value to their words, they're they're probably the other other aspect of the principle is what you honor attracts, and what you dishonor pushes away.
So those those people that you're honoring, they're going to be attracted to your life, and what they're walking in will be attracted to your life too. What they're walking in will multiply in your life because it's a principle of honor. What you dishonor will dwindle, and you will be disconnected from what you dishonor eventually. So, I
wanna learn to honor the body of Christ with all my heart because Jesus died for it for it. Amen? I wanna learn to honor the bride of Christ is another way that he says it because Jesus died for it. Amen? I wanna learn to honor each other too Because
you were created in the image of God**. So a lot of people say, well, how can I honor somebody that doesn't doesn't do honorable things? Because scripture tells you to. That's how. You don't honor them based on what they did or didn't do.
You honor them based on who they are. They are created in the image of God**. *2 Corinthians-5:16* says, we no longer look at people through a worldly perspective. I wanna look and see all of you through the eyes of God, and what he says about you, and who you can be, and speak to you from that place, because I might be saying something about you that you don't even believe in yourself. Lord God, show me how you see this congregation.
Father, show me how you see this person before I hang out with them. Let me see them through your eyes. And now I'm speaking to them through the eyes of the Lord instead of through what I see and don't see, you know, in their life and what they've done and haven't done for me. Speaking to them about from a from a position of of giving weight to what he says about them, and it will honor them up. They'll begin to believe what Jesus says about them even more than they already do.
Honor creates faith. Let me give you some scripture. Let's go to let's go to first Peter. This is gonna be tough, guys. This this this this is gonna be tough, especially in the political culture that we have.
*1 Peter-2:13*. Be subject **for the Lord's sake**. Everybody say, for the Lord's sake. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake. I guess I'm reading the ESV, but NIV is great too.
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution or every human authority, whether it be the emperor as supreme or the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil or to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God**, that by doing good, you should put to "silence the ignorance" of foolish people. How could I honor the president right now? He's doing so many things and and and promoting so many things that are anti God and downright evil. Abortion's evil.
If you've had an abortion, God loves you and he cares for it and he wants to restore you, but it doesn't change the fact that abortion is evil. How could we honor a man like that? That seems to be doing so many foolish things. How could Peter write this about the emperor when the emperor was Nero who's persecuting Christians, burning them at the stake? All your jokes, they're not of God.
All of your down talk and downplay from the heart, not of God. Repent and stop. You don't have to agree, but you do have to honor the authority and the position with all your heart as unto the Lord. Now, it says honor your father and mother, and I'll I'll I'll put it in perspective, and and kinda show some practical ways how this works. But in honoring your father and your mother, There's a lot of people's fathers who were terrible, didn't treat them right.
I mean, did some horrible things. It doesn't take away the command to honor your father and your mother. And you can only do that if you *forgive* and live from a place of forgiveness. Because Jesus, you didn't deserve to be forgiven and Jesus forgave you. That doesn't mean by honoring them, you're giving weight to their position that God put them in your life.
Doesn't mean that by honoring them, you have to hang out with them all the time. Doesn't mean that you can't put up boundaries. Boundaries are important. I will I will not let an authority that God puts in my life lead me into sin. I will not.
And I will do what is the most honoring for them and to them. And sometimes, that most honoring, let's say let's say, if some of you had like a a parent that was an alcoholic. Sometimes the most honoring thing for them is to prevent them from seeing your kids. It's because they're making a fool of themselves in front of your kids, they're gonna lead your kids astray. So I wanna I wanna honor and love them.
I'm not gonna speak bad about them to my kids. I'm not gonna speak bad or anything, but I'm gonna do what it takes to love and protect my kids while still honoring my father as my father. If your father hurts you as a kid, and he's still in that same vein and in that same direction, You need to forgive so it doesn't create wounds in you where you repeat the same thing, or or or lorded over by the the the wound that happened to you. But at the same time, wouldn't say it's healthy for you to to hang out with them. You can love them from a distance by praying for them and honor them in your heart with prayer.
Lord, do whatever it takes, but my daddy gives his life to Jesus. Do whatever it takes. Have mercy on him, Lord God. And in such a way, Lord God, that he comes to know you and experiences you. That's honoring him from your heart.
Lord God, let him know your forgiveness. Let him know your healing. Lord God, let him know chain I I know you make you can make anyone a "new creation". What I pray for my dad, that you make him into a new creation, whatever the cost. Love him with your prayers at the very least.
Learn to honor him that way. Because if you're not willing to, you have unforgiveness, and you're probably coming under some demonic oppression in different areas of your life, and destined to repeat some of the same mistakes your dad did because it's attached to you from that wound. It's tough, but man is truth, and the truth will set you free if you'll remain in it. But if you dismiss it, because that peach preacher don't know what he's talking about, go read the word. I do.
And if it's in the word, start living it, and you'll walk in freedom in every way. Some of you are like, but my dad's dead. Forgive him anyway. Forgive him anyway. Let it go.
So that you can be maybe the father that they were never capable of being. On the same way, that's how you honor authorities. That's how you honor the president when you don't disagree. Lord, do whatever it takes for president Biden to come to know you in a real way where it changes every aspect of his life. Father, do whatever it takes to show him mercy and grace so that he can he can see you and and begin living and leading from wisdom.
Whatever it takes, Lord. And begin to to speak over the presidency in that way. I was a I was a I wasn't going here. I don't. This is not where I was going.
Was I, Bart? No. Because I spoke about the message with him last night. I was an officer in the navy as a 23 year old, And because I went through OCS after college, I was commissioned, officially commissioned by the president. Right?
He wasn't there, but it's what it says. And so now, as a young punk officer, 23 years old, I'm walking around in the navy, and these guys who have been in the navy for 15 and 17 years that are enlisted are saluting me. And I feel awkward because I don't I don't deserve that. Right? I haven't done any I I don't know anything.
Why are they saluting me? Because they're honoring the authority. That was placed there. Even though I didn't earn it, they're honoring the office. When you dishonor the authority, it signals rebellion in your heart, which is the same as the sin of witchcraft.
The bible says, because it's doing your own thing instead of trusting him. Let's read let's read a couple more sentences. For this is the will of God** that by doing good, you should silence, put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but "living as servants" of God. Do not use your freedom as a cover up for evil.
That's evil in itself. Amen? Amen. Y'all don't do that. **honor everyone**.
Oh my gosh. Hold on. Who do we honor? Everyone.
Even the guy that annoys you so bad. I'm sorry. Even that person. No.
Even that person that doesn't deserve it in your life. Honor everyone. Because honoring creates faith in people. Jesus Jesus called the way
that the centurion honored him faith. And he said, I've not seen this amount of
*faith* in all of Israel. Talking about a non Jew, a Roman. You want more faith in your life? Learn to honor more. To honor what God's doing, to honor people, his people.
Honor everyone. Now now there's there is a a twisted aspect of this that I want to make sure that is not communicated and that you don't walk away from thinking this because I've seen this in people's life when it comes to authorities or or mentors in their life or others. And, man, you you you better believe I honor the mentors that God has put in my life and the authorities that God has put over me. The bible says, consider their faith, the leaders. Consider your leaders.
Consider their faith. Consider their way of life and imitate their faith. That's what it says. For God's the same yesterday and today and forever. What do we say in our culture?
Imitation is the "highest form of honor". Right? Our our flat imitation is the highest Flattery. But flattery. I'm gonna change
it to honor. It's a compliment, but it's honoring. Candy.
Doctor Leon, *God*'s put him in my life. He's 40 years ahead of me, man. I wanna be like him when I grow up. And so when he puts out a lesson, I study it. I look at it.
I judge it against scripture, man, and it's in line with scripture. I learn things, and I put it put it into practice in my life. When I get to talk on the phone with him, man, I'm listening to him, honoring his words by putting it into practice in our church because I want the same results in my life, and that's a product of honor. But, once again, there's a twisted thing where you can oh, I'm biblically following this. I'm honoring everyone, and honoring the Paul said in Romans-12:10, I believe it is, that that we are even to outdo 1 another in honor.
Honor others above ourselves. So I'm supposed to give more weight to you than I am to
my own self. And here's where it
can get twisted. People, well, I'm honoring them, can almost become like people pleasers and and afraid of what the leader's gonna say, or the mentor's gonna say, or the you know, because I I wanna please them and I wanna make them happy, and that's fear of man. That's a problem. That needs to be repented of too. Because we honor other people over ourself, but first, we honor God over them.
We honor what our father thinks, our heavenly father thinks. We honor his word over others. When we honor, we get this right, we honor him first, and we understand that he leads a kingdom. When we honor him first, we'll begin to honor authorities the way that we should. We'll begin to honor our parents the way that we should, and we'll begin to honor other people as created in his image, because by dishonoring them, we're dishonoring him.
So, man, in everything, I wanna first honor God and honor him by the way that I treat everyone he puts in my life. Practical aspect of this with Courtney, I've learned. I don't think she knows this. I've been doing it for learning and growing in it for at least 5, if not 10 years. The way that I honor her with my words is every positive thought I think about her when she's in the room, I tell her.
When I think about how beautiful she is, of course, might have a 100 thoughts flashed by my mind about how beautiful she is, I just I tell her in the moment, hey, I believe you're beautiful. Everyone. I don't hold it back because I'm honoring her with my words. And then the negative ones, 95% of them I don't say. I judge them first in my heart.
Is this critical or negative thing that seems negative, is it to get for me to get my own way, or is it to better her? If it's for me to get my own way, I don't say it. If it's to better her, then I find the right time to say it. Intentionally, because it's a a matter of honor. And you should get better at this husband's as your marriage matures because "familiarity breeds" *Jesus*, in Matthew-13, Jesus went to Nazareth, and he's doing all these things, the the people in Nazareth, and just so you can go back and read about it, it's *Matthew-13:53* and on.
But he's doing all these amazing miracles, and the people of Nazareth Nazareth were astonished in awe. Not an awe and astonishment as like, wow, but like an awe and astonishment like, oh my gosh. Isn't this the Jesus that was Joseph's sons, the carpenter? Because of their lack of honor, Jesus it says Jesus was unable to do many miracles there because of their unbelief. So their familiarity with Jesus, grow him growing up there caused them to dishonor him because they were familiar and caused unbelief.
They weren't able to receive the gifting and the glory that was on him for his purpose. They weren't able to enjoy the work that God called him to do because they dishonored him to what they were familiar with. Man, number 1, the verse says, verse 57, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and his own household, which is talking about that. I wanna honor those who honor a prophet receive a prophet's reward. Man, I wanna honor you for what the way that God speaks about you and says about you so that I can experience the work of God through you to the extent that that he's created you to do.
The supernatural work of God. Amen? But if I dishonor you, it could create unbelief and discouragement in you because we're affected by words around us, but it also will distance me from what God's doing through you. That's why prophecy is 1 of the or it's it's the most important gift is because prophecy honors what God says about someone and calls it out and call and builds faith. Remember, honor builds faith.
How does honor build faith? *Jesus said it. Matthew-8*. It was the principle, the faith of the centurion.
He came to Jesus, Lord, my servant is lying, paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he
said to him, it will I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man am a man under authority with soldiers under me, and I say to 1, go and he goes, and I say to another, come and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it.
*Jesus* had already said, I'm gonna come heal him.
And the centurion honored him even greater than that, and received the greater miracle because of the greater honor. So what did Jesus do? He commented on his faith that was connected with honor of authority. Truly, I tell you, with no 1 in Israel have I found such faith. To tell you the truth, many will come from the East and the West and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness.
In that place, there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth", and then to the centurion, by the way, hell's rule, and then to the centurion, he said, go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. Man, it's amazing. I wanna honor what Jesus is doing in every way because I'm going after him. I'm seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness.
And the bible says in Romans-10:17 that his kingdom is found in righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy spirit, which means his kingdom's in the holy spirit. Righteousness in the holy spirit, peace in the holy spirit, and joy in the holy spirit. So if I diminish the movement in the presence of the holy spirit, I'm gonna diminish his working in my life. I don't wanna do that. I'm seeking him first, his kingdom, and his righteousness, trusting that all the other things are added to me, but I'm not even concerned with all the other things.
I'm concerned about going after him with everything that I have. Everything that I have. Amen? Amen. So in that vein and in that line, we've talked about honoring people and and honoring authorities, and and it all comes as a reflection of our learning to honor our heavenly father.
I wanna talk about that. You know that song, show me your face, Lord. Show me your face. How is that even possible? The bible says that the the I will not hide my face from them anymore for I will pour out my spirit on them.
Which means the face of the Lord. There was another spittle. Anyway, the face of the Lord is is in the I distracted myself. The face of the Lord is is revealed in the out outpoured Holy Spirit. The out in his outpoured presence.
That's amazing. When you think about the presence of God in the Old Testament, you think about the ark of the covenant. For those of you that don't know, the Old Testament, right, Israel was physically going through what we're a lot of us are spiritually, the Christians are spiritually going through today. Those that follow Jesus as Lord or Messiah. The Old Testament is Jesus concealed.
The New Testament is Jesus revealed, so it all points to him, or to his coming in some way, shape, or form. So I wanna go to 2 Samuel-6 to make this point. Talking about the ark. And just to clarify what the the ark is and how it points to Jesus. I've done this before in here, but there's a lot of newer people or people maybe that you missed that Sunday, so I'm just gonna real quick blow through it.
The ark represents Jesus. The ark is made of acacia wood. Acacia wood was so dense and so hard that it that it's like, disease can't get through it, into it, representing flawless man. Jesus is the only sinless, flawless man ever. The ark is also overlaid in pure gold.
Gold in the old testament represents *God*, purity of God. So you have a 100% man, a 100% God. There were 3 things put inside of the ark. The 3 things were the jar of manna, the 10 commandments, and Aaron's rod. Now, for those of you that I know I'm flying through this, so I'm not showing you all the scriptures.
Go back, listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If we end up putting up the video, look at it. Google jar of manna in the ark. When you Google that phrase, it will 3 different things will show up on what verses it is, or jar of manna in the ark verse. Anything I'm saying, just go Google the phrase and put verse, and you'll see where it is in scripture, and study it for yourself.
Don't believe me if you don't see it. K? Amen? Amen. The jar of manna, the the 10 commandments, and Aaron's rod that budded.
The 10 commandments were put in the ark as a "testimony against mankind". It was showing that mankind had broke God's commandments. It was a testimony that that our sin nature will cause us to break God's commandments. The the the jar of manna was put in the ark of the covenant in the same way as the the 10 commandments showing that of man's inability to receive God's provision. And then the Aaron's rod that budded, same way Aaron's rod, the mankind rebelled against the chosen Levitical priesthood, and they tried to put their own leadership, spiritual leadership up.
And they were rejected when they put their staffs up, but Aaron's rod supernaturally budded, showing it was God's chosen priesthood. But it was put in the ark as a as a showing of man's man's rejection of God's chosen leadership. So in the ark, you have these 3 things. Man's A testimony showing man's rejection of God's laws, man's rejection of God's blessing, and man's rejection of God's leadership. It represents man's sin in the ark.
The thing that represents Jesus. Perfectly man, wood, overlaid in gold, perfectly God. You know what covers the ark? The mercy seat. Pure gold.
I'm glad it's not the judgment seat. It's the mercy seat. You know what's put on top of the ark? The blood of the lamb, showing Jesus is the ark. Jesus covers us in his mercy, and his blood, not only did he take our sin in him, he became our sin, 2 Corinthians-5:21, Whenever whenever the ark was going, the presence of God was there, and it's where they had victory.
It's where they they saw victory in battle. It was a big deal. And the way that you operated with the ark of the covenant, the presence of *God* was vital. And I hope out of this, you get what it looks like to honor the manifest presence of God and the presence of the
Holy Spirit moving in your life. I hope we
grow in this together as a church. Amen? Do you know Ezekiel, I think it's 44 or 45. Go look
it up. But, it says the only ones that were supposed to minister
in the sanctuary, which would be
the holy of holies where the presence of the ark was, the only ones that
were meant to minister there were the sons of Zadok, or Zadek, or Zadok, however you say it. Okay? The sons of Zadok. I'll just I'll explain what I mean. But, these were these were priests
that had walked in *righteousness* and didn't rebel, and they were the only ones supposed to minister. And you know what? Today, it's the same. The only ones that are supposed to minister in the presence of God. When you were born again, you became a priest and he is your high priest.
You guys follow me? I know it's a lot, but he's your high priest.
And, you know what Zadok means? The name Zadok, the Hebrew name for Zadok means righteousness. *Jesus*
became sin. 2 Corinthians-5:21. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that in him, are you in him? Yes. You've been placed in him.
You might become the righteousness of God. He credited his righteousness to you so that you can boldly walk into the presence of God. His outpoured presence, he he he tore the veil and poured out presence on all flesh so that anyone could confidently and boldly walk in his presence, but it's still the same principle. It's only those who are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And if you gave your life to Jesus, that's you.
You can freely and boldly walk into his presence knowing that. The problem is a lot of people in the church minimize what Jesus did and call themselves unrighteous sinners. So they're acting like the rest of the Levites, not able to go into the presence of *God* because their their their guilty and shame conscience hasn't been cleared. They haven't allowed it to be cleared by the blood of the lamb. I'm just a filthy, rotten sinner.
No, you're not. Unless you hadn't given your life to Jesus. When you gave your life to Jesus, you became a new creation in Christ Jesus. He credited his righteousness to your account. So if you violate your conscience, don't walk in a violated conscience.
Repent of what you did. Fall forward into your heavenly father's arms and get back in his presence.
If that offends you, I'm sorry. Not sorry. You need to know the gospel and read Galatians. But in this verse, is it okay if I just continue just a little bit? Only got a little bit more.
David defeats the Philistines, and he and he takes he takes the ark that was there with the Philistines, and he's bringing it back to Jerusalem. This is a big deal. It's a joyous time. David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. This is 2 Samuel-6, start, verse 1, here's 2.
And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim. I told you it was his throne. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart. Everybody say, new cart. New cart.
Yeah. So that means
they made it for this occasion. They're excited. They're doing the best they can. Oh, I I got a great idea. Let's make a new cart for the ark.
Let's put the ark on the cart, and then
we're gonna celebrate in a big way. God will be happy. They carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all of the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs, and lyres, and harps, and tambourines, and castanets, and cymbals. You can worship God and still be "out of order".
You can sing songs and praise and and do the little dance and still be out of order. Man, I wanna worship him in *holiness* the way that he commands me to because of Jesus. Watch this. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah, I guess it dipped in the little bump in the threshing floor, maybe. Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen stumbled.
It was. Oxen stumbled. Let me let me steady. And the anger of the Lord kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there before beside the ark. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day.
And David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David was not willing to take the ark into the of the Lord into the city of David, but David took it aside to the house of Obadiah the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obadiah the Gittite for 3 months, and the Lord blessed Obadiah and his household. You know why?
Because wherever the presence of God is, it's gonna be blessed. *Righteousness*, peace, and joy in the presence of God, because he's his his presence carries his glory, and his glory is what we need to accomplish the work that God's called us to do. And when we do the work that God's called us to do, we push that glory back to him. Alright. And it was told to king David, the Lord has blessed the household of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.
So David went out and bought brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord, there's no cart this time, there's people bearing it. There's people carrying it. You guys alright? Yeah.
Shake yourself. Wake up. Here we go. This is important. Last point.
Those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone 6 steps. He sacrificed an ox and a fattened cow, animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod, which is a priest's undergarment. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the horn.
There were there was great worship there. This time, David went back and researched how the ark is supposed to be carried because the first time, they were carrying the presence of the Lord in their way. The the ark was never meant to be put on a new cart. It was commanded by the ark to be carried by the priests. Real church, the systems that we have, and they're they're beautiful things to to help and support, but the presence of the Lord doesn't ride on the institution of real church.
The presence of the Lord rides on the people. You are priests in his holy priesthood. Now, wasn't just anybody that was supposed to carry the ark. Here's the last point, and I want you to get it. It wasn't just anybody.
It wasn't just any old priest that was supposed to carry the ark. It was the Kohathites, the sons of Kohath, which is the division of the liturgical priesthood. The sons of Kohath. This is important. When they carried the ark, they would carry it when the tabernacle would move from place to place, and they would carry the ark also into battle.
It would go before them, a lot of times followed by the worshipers. Right? Because they're worshiping *God* because of what he's about to do. And then God would "fight their battles". Many battles, they didn't even have to lift a sword because God was fighting their battles, because his presence went before them properly in the way that God had ordered it and ordained it.
And it was the sons of Coath that carried the ark. I wanna encourage you, you're sons of Koath, and if you're not, then be. Koath, the Hebrew name, Koath, means
In the New Testament, *Jesus* took our judgment.
If you've given your life to Jesus, you've received that gift. That's amazing, but he still disciplines us as sons and daughters. He disciplines for our benefit and for our good. If you're walking in disobedience, a lot of times, he's gonna let the consequences of that disobedience play out so you can learn your lesson and not walk forward in pride because all disobedience is the result of pride and God resists the proud. He's literally resisting you in your disobedience to break you of the pride you can walk in humility and be promoted.
That's good. *Obedience*. If you got areas of your life where you're willfully being disobedient, don't expect victory. Go repent. *God* loves you.
He created you to be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And so when you understand that that's who you are, you do righteous things. And if you're walking in unrighteousness and disobedience, that means you don't understand who you are and how forgiven you really are, and you need to go back to the basics of the gospel and begin walking in obedience again and fall forward into your heavenly father's arms. Amen? Amen.
Obedient, but it also has 2 other meanings.
It was a weird way to say 2. Obedient and it means assembly, congregation. This is what carried the ark of the covenant into battle, to enemy lines, to take down the enemy. So obedience and assembly and congregation. I promise you, if you're a loner, you're not gonna see a lot of victory in your life.
You might see some personally because God's working in you and trying to move you forward, but you will not will not accomplish the aspect of the great commission that God has for you because you are not walking in connection and synergy with the congregation he's called you to. Those who carry the ark of the Lord into battle to win behind enemy lines, they're ones that are obedient and are walking in in sync with the congregation he's called them to. When you start doing that, man, there's a synergy that happens in the body of Christ that will empower you to more victory because God works in unity in his body and synergistic like a synergistic effect for the unity in his body. The more his body is unified, the more the more you'll see the outpoured presence of the Lord and victory in that area. The more his body is disunified, the more division and strife, and the less you'll see the the movement of the Holy Spirit, the miracles of the Holy Spirit, because there's a lack of honor for what God's saying to happen.
Man, I wanna see his outward presence. I wanna continue. You
you guys have learned to honor, and it's amazing. And we're honoring 1 another, and honoring God, and honoring honoring the least of these, and the greatest of these,
and it's and it's amazing, and not considering equality with each other, something to be grasped because that's the way that we're supposed to relate with 1 another. And man, let's do it
all the more because I wanna see him move all the more. I wanna see revival in the youth. I wanna see revival in the children. I wanna see revival in the drug addicts being set free day in and day out. I wanna see I wanna be a city on a hill, like we're called to be, so that the community says, man, what's going on there?
And the the lost and the broken and the hurting are running to what God's doing. Why? Because we're honoring his presence, and we're walking in obedience, unified in the congregation and the assembly, and it's causing others to know the love that we have for Jesus and for
1 another and desire it. Sons of Zadakk, *righteousness*, or Zedek, but also it's the sons of Kohath that carry the ark. Obedient,
congregation and assembly.
Those are the ones that really carry his presence into victory. See, Jesus, the reason he came was to destroy the works of the devil. And then he said, I want you to go. Gave us authority, his authority, and he's waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool. Who is the 1 that makes his enemies his footstool, you think?
Us. By his authority. So our commission, your life's calling is to storm the enemy lines, carrying the presence of God and the kingdom of God, and changing the atmosphere to reflect the culture of the kingdom of heaven. So that when you go to work and everybody's complaining, you're not whining and complaining that you're in a dark place. You're being the light in that place because you're walking in obedience, connected with the body, and taking what God's doing into your workplace, and the atmosphere is shifting.
Amen? Amen. I'm done. 1 little thing. Read the rest of 2 Samuel-6.
Because when you read it, you'll see that Michael, the daughter of Saul, it specifically says daughter of Saul, dishonored David's worship. When people walk in obedience, there will be extravagant worship. Not to get something, but because of who God is and what he's doing. And those her being a daughter of Saul meant that she had the same characteristic Saul did in her. That's why it said that.
Saul dishonored the way of the Lord. And so with that same dishonoring the presence or the way of the Lord, she dishonored David's worship of the Lord because of it wasn't what she was used to. Don't be that guy. Don't be the person that sits in the back dishonoring what you don't understand. Instead, seek the Lord first, and seek to understand, and learn to worship him with all your heart because you're walking in obedience and in connection with the body.
Because what you dishonor will dwindle in your life, and Michael died fruitless, barren. Don't live a barren life because you dishonored his presence. Amen? I want the the the response today. We're not gonna we're not gonna have the altar ministry team come up and and you guys pray, although I think there's probably people that need that.
The response today is I want you to honor God in the quietness of your home. I want you to learn to go back and be obedient in the things that you've been disobedient in, that he's been calling you to if you have that. I want you to go repent for talking bad about his church, or talking bad about authorities, and begin to honor him by giving weight to what he says in every area of your life, and then let that overflow into a sacrifice of praise when nobody's looking in prayer. And next week when we come back, man, we'll be all the more unified and honoring him, there'll be an overflow of worship like never before. Amen?
Amen. Once again, this didn't come from a place of brokenness. This is just God challenging us forward and what a lot of we're already walking in. Amen.