The Christian Café
Serving up fresh bread of the word of God. It shows us the path that we should travel in order to be with God. We will study the word of God to help us learn more about Him and all His goodness
The Christian Café
Moving From Anointing To Glory
Welcome back to the Christian Cafe, where we're not just serving up your average cup of spiritual java. Today's brew is a robust blend, rich with the aroma of divine reverence as we explore the journey from anointing to the very weight of God's glory. A.W. Tozer joins us, offering wisdom on handling the holy with the care it demands. Sip slowly, friends, as we immerse ourselves in a discussion that promises to elevate your heart closer to the heavens and deepen your understanding of what it truly means to be in God's sacred presence.
Have you ever felt a stirring within to rediscover the core of your worship? This episode is a sanctuary for reflection as we strip away the excesses of modern church practices to reveal the pure heart of devotion. We'll navigate through biblical times to draw lessons from the high priest's reverence and the dire consequences of losing God's glory. It's a poignant reminder that our spiritual abode's role is not just to exist but to thrive as a beacon of God's presence. By making room for the Almighty, we become vessels for the miraculous, reshaping our understanding of the church's purpose in showcasing God's splendor.
As the world seems to spin into chaos, echoing the biblical prophecies of Matthew 24, we anchor ourselves in the pursuit of what truly matters—God's presence in our church and in our lives. This episode is an invitation to weigh the significance of this divine pursuit against the casual familiarity with which we sometimes dare to approach the holy. Through the sobering tale of Uzzah and the Ark, we're reminded of the gravity of God's standards of holiness and the unique path He has charted for each of us. So, let's join hands and hearts as we seek to carry God's glory with the reverence it deserves, transforming our worship into a true reflection of His majesty.
Music. Hello, this is your host, glenn Kivett, and welcome to today's episode of the Christian Cafe, where the bread is made fresh and delivered right from the Word of God. To keep up to date with what's coming up, be sure to follow me on Facebook, at the Christian Cafe. Also on Twitter, feel free to email me with your prayer request at thechristiancafe2022 at gmailcom. I would love to hear from you. So grab your seat, place your order and we will deliver it fresh and hot, just for you. Welcome everybody. Welcome Welcome to my world, the Christian Cafe. Glad you came. Come on, in, sit down, glad to have you, man, it's good to be back.
Speaker 1:It's been a while since I've been on I guess a couple months or so Been busy Doing a lot of things and just glad to be back with you guys, just getting ready to spread the word with you and talk to you about the goodness of God. I hope you've been doing all right and God's been blessing you and keeping you and just pouring out His blessings upon you, because God is good to us. I don't know what you're having to face, but I do know one thing God is good. He's been good to me and I know he's being good to you. We've just got to put our faith in Him. Again, thank you for tuning in to the podcast. I'm expecting God to minister to us today.
Speaker 1:We're going to continue in our book that we have been talking about and going through the God Chasers. We're going to be getting into Chapter 6 here in a little while and we're going to talk about just moving from the anointing to glory, how to handle the holy. That's a great topic. I'm excited to get into that. First, let me just talk to you just a little bit. I'd like for you too, if you'd like, to subscribe to my podcast. We're on a lot of different venues Apple Podcasts, google and so many others, even Spotify. If you would like to subscribe to us, check us out and just hit that subscribe button and you can send us an email at thechristiancafe2022 at gmailcom. Let us know what you think about the podcast and God is leading you to support us. Oh, by all means, do that. We don't do this for money, but it does cost a little bit and God's providing so far and we'd like to get support. So that would be awesome if we could. If not, we're still going to bring God's goodness to you and bring the Word to you, because I believe that in this day and time that we live in, we need to be telling about good news. We've been hearing so much about bad news across the United States right now. Until you know, good news is a good thing.
Speaker 1:I do not like negativity. I do not like seeing what's going across the news channels. I got any more where I don't even pay attention to the news and that's something important that comes on, because all they talk about is negativity and how this person's doing that and this, that and the other. But I still believe in what the Bible says, that we are subject to God, and he is our leader, he is our Father. He's the one that's going to provide for us, no matter what the world is doing. He's going to provide, and I believe that because, like I said, he is good to us and he'll take care of us.
Speaker 1:So drop us a line, let us know what you think about the podcast, and if there's something you would like for us to talk about, we would love to do that too. We're hoping to have a special guest on here in a few weeks, and that's going to be exciting. We're looking forward to that. So tune in with us and sit back and relax, and we're going to get started here very shortly, back into Chapter 6. And let's talk a little bit about getting into the holies, because that's where we want to be at. Let's take a short break and we will be right back.
Speaker 1:All righty, I had to get me a cup of coffee, something to drink here. I'll sit down here and just relax and get comfortable a little bit. We're going to get back into our book, the God Chasers, and we're going to jump into chapter six. If you've got this book, open it up and follow right along with us. We'll be reading some and commenting a little bit on the other and here and there. If you don't have this book, you can send me an email and I'll be glad to send it out to you free of charge. Like I said in episodes before, I've read this book. You can send me an email and I'll be glad to send it out to you free of charge. Like I said in episodes before, I've read this book two or three times and every single time I read it there's something. I get out of it, something greater, and I'm just excited to share it with you. I know it's taken us a while and I try not to take up too much of your time, but we want to kind of get through this chapter if possible. Probably won't, because it's taken us a while and I try not to take up too much of your time, but we want to kind of get through this chapter if possible. Probably won't, because it's a pretty lengthy chapter, but we're going to get right into it today and it's chapter six, called how to Handle the Holy Moving from Anointing to Glory.
Speaker 1:Do you quietly bow your head in reverence when you step into the average church? I would be surprised if your answer is yes. Ray W Tozer said that my life changed forever on the October weekend in Houston, texas, when God's presence invaded the atmosphere like a thunderbolt and split the podium at the Sunday service. I'll never forget telling my friend the pastor you know God could have killed you. I wasn't laughing when I said it. It was as if God had said I'm here and I want you to respect my presence. A picture of Uzziah's grave had popped into my mind. We didn't know what we were asking for when we said we wanted God. I know I thought I did, but I didn't.
Speaker 1:When God actually showed up, none of us were prepared for the reality of his presence. As I've already mentioned earlier in this book, there was very little preaching because we didn't have a choice. God repossessed his church for a period of time and he wouldn't allow anything to happen that he hadn't specifically ordained for that service. The thick blanket of his tangible presence was so heavy that I received an up-close and personal understanding of what is meant by God's word when it says in 1 Kings, 8, 10, and 11,. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. God came so suddenly and so forcefully into that church building that we were afraid to do anything, unless he specifically told us to do it. His presence was always there, of course, but not the weighty manifest presence we experienced at certain times. In those moments, all we could do was sit there trembling. All we could do was sit there trembling. We were afraid to take an offering without specific permission from God. We kept asking each other Do you think it's okay to take an offering? Do you think we should do this? What about that? Why were we so hesitant about things most of us had done thousands of times before? We were amateurs at handling the holy. We still are.
Speaker 1:I have noticed that early on in visitations of God's manifest presence. He comes suddenly and without warning, but in subsequent visitation he comes only by invitation, in other words, displayed hunger. The crux of the matter is simple Do you really want him to come? Are you willing to pay the cost of becoming a God chaser? Then you will have to learn how to properly reverence, handle and steward the holiness of God. Let me ask those questions again to you Do we really want him to come when we ask him to, to come when we ask him to, and are we willing to pay the price, or pay the cost, of being a God-chaser? And we say that we are, we even testify that we want him to come in a manner that we've never experienced. But if and when he does, are we ready for it? Are we ready? Are we going to properly reverence him? Are we going to be able to handle and steward the holiness of God? That's a topic we'll have to delve into some other time, but we're going to get right back into the book here. Aw Tozer was deeply concerned about our loss of holiness in the church.
Speaker 1:He noticed that the average church was losing that sense of sacredness in their worship services and it grieved him. To him, that lack of reverence meant that people didn't think God's presence was in the church or in their church, and it probably wasn't. Tozer observed that the yearning and desiring of the spiritual life was losing out to worldly secularism, just like today. Such an environment does not produce revival. As a result, tozer felt that God may actually look elsewhere if the church does not come back to him, to a relationship with him and not just his stuff. We can look all around in the religious world today and we can see all these programs and all these light shows and all these other things, thinking that's what God wants to get his attention.
Speaker 1:But I disagree. God's presence can come with no sound in the church, no music playing, and I'm not saying that's what we need to do, I'm just saying we get caught up on that. There's nothing wrong with good praise and worship music or good people or good singing or good music. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think sometimes that we get caught up in those things that we think everything's got to be perfect. But, saints, we're not a perfect church, we just serve a perfect God. And in our attempt to do things perfectly in the church, we mess it up to the fact that we forget about the reason why we do it. And we do it because it's either show or it's just something we're expected to do. But God wants us to worship him from our heart. He wants us to desire his presence. He wants us to desire him from our heart. He wants us to desire his presence. He wants us to desire a spiritual life with him, one that is not focused on tangible things, but one that is focused on a spiritual life with him.
Speaker 1:I now know why the high priest of old would say to their fellow priest tie a rope around my ankle, because I'm going into the place where the glory of God abides. I've done everything I know to make myself ready, but I am in awe of God. I'm not afraid of God, I love him. But I now have a respect for the glory and the holy things of God that I confess I didn't have before. It used to be easy to handle the anointing, but now I know it is a sacred thing.
Speaker 1:Now I am careful to pray two things before I minister. In most cases I pray a prayer of thanksgiving, first of all saying thank you, lord, for visiting us. Then I ask the second part of the prayer. Please stay, lord, if you remember the barren woman who prepared the prophet's room for Elijah in 2 Kings 4, he was rewarded with a son. When Satan took him away in premature death, god sent the prophet to raise him back to life.
Speaker 1:Satan cannot steal what God has birthed. Let me say that again Satan cannot steal what God has birthed. But God will only birth things to people who make room for the miraculous, by faith Strong statement. That is why I am careful to thank the Lord for coming. Then I tell him that we have made provisions for him to come again. Lord, we're going to be here worshiping you on Wednesday, thursday and Friday. Our sole purpose is to praise your name and seek your lovely face. By faith, I believe that God will visit us once again. I know from his word that when God visits someone, he causes new and precious things to be born and even if Satan tries to kill them, god will move heaven and earth to breathe life back into what he has birthed. We need to learn how to handle the holy things of God with greater tenderness and sensitivity. We must remember that the good can quickly become the worst enemy of the best. If you want God's best, then you will have to sacrifice what you think is good and acceptable. If you and I can find out what is acceptable to him the best, then the promise of visitation becomes real. I think I've seen a glimpse of what I think God is doing. He is moving into position.
Speaker 1:Chapter 13 of the book of 1st Chronicles tells us that after David was crowned king over Israel and defeated the Philistines, he decided to move the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, of the covenant back to Jerusalem. There was a move of God in the sense that his Old Testament, abode of the manifest presence of God, was being moved from its interim resting place to the place where his glory belonged. God is wanting to move into his true resting place. Jerusalem is spoken of as a type of shadow, type and shadow of the church. The apostle Paul spoke of Jerusalem, which is above, as the mother of us all, referring allegorically to the church in Galatians 4.26. This is a picture of the church, the spiritual city or a boat of God. God wants his glory in the church on display for the world to see how many believe that. I think God wants to see his church in actions. Let me see if I can find that verse of scripture his church in actions. Let me see if I can find that verse of scripture. It talked about chapter four and 26 in Galatians. Um. It says but the woman, but the other woman, sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman and she is our mother. That was the New Living Translations. The New King James Version says but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. See, jerusalem is free and he wants his church to be free too. He don't want us to be bound.
Speaker 1:There were times when God's glory, his kabod or weighty presence, was moved out of its rightful place through the sin or indifference of men. The grandson of the old priest Eli remains an eternal landmark of God's presence From man's worst laid plans. As the newborn boy's mother lay dying, she told the woman at her side that the boy would be named Incubab, which literally means the glory has departed. Her labor began moments after she learned that the ark of God had been taken by the Philistines in battle and that her husband, phineas, was slain. Eli's son, phineas and Horphani had sinned against God. I think I said that right, if not correct me, please. They had sinned against God even while attending to their priestly duties before the Lord. Is this still the case today in countless ministries. The same fate may well await them. Their legacy may well be remembered under the name Ichabod.
Speaker 1:The glory has departed, and sadly, let me just add here, in a lot of our churches that is the case. The glory of God is gone, no one is being saved, no one's been delivered or set free. And when the glory of God is left the church, it's the same way. Here you might as well write Incubat over the doorway because God's no longer there, god's not performing his miracles any longer. And let me just say, if you're in a church like that now you need to find your place where God's glory is at, so you can be delivered and set free of anything that's bothering you or anything that's binding you from stepping into the next, next, next level, uh, that god has placed in your life. In the 20 years or so that passed after the loss of the ark, saul, the king never showed any interest in bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. But David felt differently. He had a burning passion to see God's presence restored to its proper place in Jerusalem. He wanted to live under the shadow of God's glory. The church has been playing church far too long.
Speaker 1:It is time for someone to stand up and say the era of Saul is over. Saul was a king after the flesh. David was a king after the spirit. Saul was a king chosen because he stood head and shoulders above everyone else according to outward appearances and qualifications, and he appeared to be the right one. He was named king only because the people pressed God for second best. Saul quickly lost his God-given mandate to rule by choosing to please men by his actions instead of God. There is no room for a politician in the stewardship of God. We have only one public to please as children of God, and that is the audience of one who made us for his own pleasure. David, on the other hand, was God's chosen king, a man who had been groomed all his life through intimate relationship.
Speaker 1:When God ripped the kingdom out of Saul's hand to put it into David's hand, david said in essence through his actions, we're not going to pursue God in the fleshly ways any longer. When people like you and me stand up and declare our intentions as god chasers, the church will never be the same again. But we've got to do that, guys, and there's no greater time than right now. I mean, just look at the things around us, look at everything that's taking place. The moral society, I mean there's not even more. It's so immorally.
Speaker 1:Uh, they're allowing things that I don't know about when I was growing up. If it was on tv now, um, what was showing back then? Now it'd be a bit different story. But I mean, you didn't see things like that in my day. Uh, it's so much more publicly aware now. We got. We got people that's doing all this stuff. That's not even right.
Speaker 1:Even inside churches, we have forgot about God and we've started pleasing man. We've allowed certain things inside the church. We've allowed people to minister that have a lifestyle of homosexuality. And yes, I said it. You can get mad all you want to, but that's not God, that's sin. It says so in the scriptures.
Speaker 1:And when we start allowing things like that into the house of God and saying it's Bible, and saying that they love God, well, they may love God and God loves them, but God does not love their sin. It is sin, guys, I don't care which way you slice it, it's still sin and I may lose followers, I may lose people to quit listening, but that's all right. At least you heard it. Just get in the word, because it's there, it's wrong and we need to change. We need to stand up as a church and begin calling sin sin and kick the devil out of our pulpits and have him in a place where he's supposed to be, under our feet.
Speaker 1:But you know, the scripture talks about how things were going to take place, and it's more greater now than it's ever been. And I'm just praying that we as a church will wake up and we'll see what's taking place and and and do something. And I know that a lot of us we can't get out and go and and talk against it. But one thing we can do we can pray. We can, uh, bombard, bombard heaven and pray for those that are lost and pray for our leaders and and our religious leaders that they'll come back to the, to the scriptures and come back to god. Because it's going to take that in this last days for us to stand. We're not going to be able to stand if we keep patting sin on the back and saying it's okay to do this, guys, we'll take a break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 2:Here at the Christian Cafe, we believe in serving up a hot, fresh word for our listeners. We recently read a new book titled Revival Makers Stop Chasing a Move of God and Be One by Pastor Tony Suarez. We would love to send you a copy of this book for free. All you need to do is contact us through email at thechristiancafe2022 at gmailcom with your name and address, and we will send it to you for free. Also, be sure and tune in to all the latest episodes of the Christian Cafe wherever you get your podcasts. Again, email us at vthechristiancafe2022 at gmailcom. Thanks and have a great day.
Speaker 1:We were talking right before we took a break, about things that are taking place in our world, in our nation, and how sin was running rampant. I want to remind you about what it said in Matthew 24. And how sin was running rampant. I want to remind you about what it said in Matthew 24. You know, the disciples had come to Mount Olives and they had arrived there with Jesus and they were sitting with him and they're talking to him and they ask him. You know, what can we expect? What is a sign that we can look for for the end of time, for the completion of the age? And Jesus just simply said I'm going to read this from Matthew 24, from the Passion Translation. It says At that time, deception will run rampant. So beware that you are not fooled, for many will appear on the scene claiming my authority or saying about themselves I am the anointed one, and they will lead many astray. It's already taken place, guys. You will hear wars and revolutions on every side, with more rumors of wars to come. Don't panic or give in to your fears, for the breaking apart of the world's system is destined to happen, but it won't yet be the end. It will still be unfolding, yet nations will go to war against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms, and there will be terrible earthquakes, horrible epidemics and famines in place after place. This is how the birth pains of the new age will begin.
Speaker 1:Remember I said that when God visits and God comes, he comes only to birth something. So you can expect to be persecuted, even killed, for you will be hated by all the nations because of your love for me. Then many will stop following me and fall away, and they will be betrayed one another and hate one another. And many lying prophets will arise, deceiving multitudes and leading them away from the path of truth. There will be such an increase of sin, of lawlessness, that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold.
Speaker 1:Behold your hope. I love this verse. Behold your hope firmly to the end, and you will experience life and deliverance. See, there is a promise at the end of that. It all looks bleak. It's not a pretty picture, but those of us that will hold on to the end, we've got a reward, you know. That's why I said before the break we need to stand up against sin If we're expecting to get into that realm, as the priests did when they went to the Holy of Holies and they was in God's presence and they still survived because they were right, they were in touch with God, they had a relationship with him.
Speaker 1:So if we can get to that place and learn about God, we can experience greater things. Let's continue on. In our book there are steepled buildings all over North America, but no matter what the sign on their manicured front lawn says, god is quite unwelcome in those places. Why those places? Why Because their programs, their dignity and the respectability among men are more important than the presence of God. Yet God is beginning to rain down his grace and mercy and a little bit at a time, his thirsty people are changing. No longer do they care about the imposing appearance of a building or the professional look of a man-made program.
Speaker 1:They are hunting for God. They want the ark of God's presence back in the church. You may be in the same place I am in today. I've been in too many arkless church services. I've endured too many powerless choir songs. I'm even tired of my own ministry. I have preached too many sermons that may have been anointed but didn't usher in the very presence of the one we all long for. Maybe I was doing the best I knew how to do, but all I could do was muster up a faint scent of him, the merest hint of something immeasurably better and more powerful. All I could do under the anointing was make some smoke on the wrong side of the veil, when what we really longed to do was slip underneath and behold his glory beyond the veil. I am thankful for the anointing, but now I know that God has even more for us. That's himself. I struggled and worked at the ministries for decades, but now I've discovered that when the weighty presence of God comes in, everything I can do pales in comparison. Presence Everything, sinners and saints, rich and poor, wise and foolish, young and old alike Everything falls down in all of his glory. We must move from asking for anointing to pursuing his manifest presence. The glory. Anointing empowers the flesh. You preach or sing better Glory flattens flesh. Go for the glory.
Speaker 1:David remembered his intimate fellowship with God in his father's fields. He remembered his supernatural encounters with the Lord as a lowly young shepherd facing lions, bears and the mightiest warrior of Philistia. Now, many years later, as the newly crowned king of both Judah and Israel, david made the first move to fulfill his dream In 1 Chronicles 13,. Then David said to the whole assembly of Israel If you approve and if the Lord, our God, opens a way, let us send to our kinsmen who have stayed behind in all of the districts of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in the cities and towns where they have common land, bidding them join us. Let us fetch the ark of God, for while Saul lived we never resorted to it. For while Saul lived we never resorted to it. The Saul's in the flesh tried to do it long enough.
Speaker 1:Thank God for pastors in church, churches who are hungry enough for the presence of God to lay everything else aside and say we might have a nice building, we might have a tabernacle, but we need him. We need the anointing, we need the presence of God in our churches. We don't need man-made ideas, we don't need man-made programs, but we need his presence. We need the ark of God in our presence Many times. Israel had all the trappings of God but didn't have him. The Jews Of Jesus day had the tabernacle, they performed every ritual Sacrifice to perfection, they went through all the motions of the law and they kept the Levitical priesthood Working around the clock, but the Ark of the Covenant was gone.
Speaker 1:I sometimes wonder if the split veil was also to reveal the emptiness of religion gone awry. The rip revealed that the Holy of Holies was empty. Holy of Holies was empty. That couldn't fathom that. The Holy of Holies, or the Father, had just been ripped by a Roman spear on a hill not far away from the temple. All the activity took place outside the veil, while behind the veil there was only empty silence. There was only empty silence.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you must acknowledge that something is missing and take a trip to get the ark. Pharisees never like to admit that they possess less than everything. In 1 Chronicles 13, chapter 13, again verses 5 and 6, it says so. David gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God from Kirjathor-Jerom, and David went up to bring up thence the ark of God, the Lord that dwelleth between the cherubims whose name is called on it in David's day. If you wanted the glory of then, you had to go to the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was still at Benedet's house, where it was left by the stunned Israelites from Bethshebush after more than 50,000 of them had died. They were killed because they looked upon the sacred Ark of God's Presence as just a common box. They presumed to open the Ark of God's Presence and look inside as if it were nothing more than a pretty toy box.
Speaker 1:Twenty years later, david made a 15-mile pilgrimage to find the missing glory, made a 15-mile pilgrimage to find the missing glory and they set the Ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadad that was in Gibeah. And Uzziah and Ahaz, the sons of Abinadad, drove the new cart and they brought it out of the house of Abinadad, which was at Geb, out of the house of Ben-Hadad, which was at Gebeth, accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark Forgive me for these names, guys, I'm not the best pronouncer of words and David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir, wood, even on harps and on psalteries and on timbrels and on cornets and on cymbals. And when they came to Nashon's thrashing floor, uzziah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzziah and God smote him there for his error and there he died by the ark of God.
Speaker 1:And David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzziah and he called the name of the place. Here is Uzziah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said how shall the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the Lord upon unto him into the city of David, but David carried it aside. Into the city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obededim, the Gittite that's found in 2 Samuel 6, 3-10.
Speaker 1:David and his crew was trying to handle the holy presence and the glory of God with human hands. How do you handle the holiness and glory of God? God will only let you do things your way for just so long. I've heard it said that David's caravan hit a bump in the road at the thrashing floor. Who put that bump in the road? That would be like God. He still has a way of putting speed bumps in the middle of the highway of man's reasoning. They force us to slow down and ask is this the right thing? Us to slow down and ask, is this the right thing? David's problem came when he had his throb, tried to continue on his normal past God's speed bump?
Speaker 1:The Lord never intended for his glory to creak along on the back of man's mechanisms, vehicles or programs, along on the back of man's mechanisms, vehicles or programs. He has always ordained for his glory to be transported by sanctified or set-apart holy human vessels who reverence and respect his holiness. Abinadad's sons had spent up to 20 years around the ark. To them it was an ornate box, but ordinary box or chest. They were probably honored when they were chosen to drive the cart carrying the ark, but neither one of those young men was prepared and they didn't know about the ancient warning concerning God's holiness. When David's possession came to God's holy shaking place, in the road the oxen stumbled and Uzziah reached out to steady the ark. Uzziah's name literally means strength, boldness literally means strength, boldness, majesty, security. The presence of God never needs the assistance or guidance of man's strength to hold his rightful place. Nor will God ever allow the arms of flesh to glory in his presence without tasting death. God's glory broke out on the flesh that drew near to it in a living state, and Uzziah was instantly killed. Only dead men can see God's face and only repentant, dead flesh can touch his glory.
Speaker 1:I don't think any of us have seen the church function. On the order of the church at Jerusalem in the book of Acts, the deaths of Ananias and Sapphire for lying to God, described in Acts 5, should be reexamined by the church today. That same spirit is beginning to visit the church today, and his standards of holiness have not changed. When the glory of God descended upon that young church, it brought fear on the people, but it also brought God's miracle-working power through signs and wonders, causing many to be added to the church. Why? Because the leaders who were submitted to God flowed in his power and authority. You have nothing to fear from God if you haven't done anything bad.
Speaker 1:While dad was gone, as soon as God's presence fell on us in small measures of glory, we began asking ourselves the same questions. David must have asked himself when he saw how serious it was to be the stewards entrusted with God's manifest presence. We began to ask ourselves should we really be the ones to take care of the sacred presence? I distinctly remember saying over and over why me, lord David, the psalmist on the heels of the worry of God, has suddenly discovered another facet of God's character that he had never seen before. Evidently, no one else in Israel had seen this side of God either. Sadly, neither has the church of today. David decided to cancel the trip to Jerusalem and pull aside, to leave the presence he now feared at the home of Obed-Edom in nearby Gath, formerly a Philistine stronghold. The ark stayed there for three months and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom, his family and everything that he owned. Why did David stumble like the oxen pulling the cart? He was in shock. He had been doing everything he knew to do in the most respectful manner that he knew of.
Speaker 1:In fact, david's methods resembled the methods used by the Philistines years earlier to transport the ark into Israelite territory, according to 1 Samuel 6 and verse 7. He was dancing at the head of the procession and around the cart along with the rest of the people, while many played instruments and sang. He obviously believed that god would be pleased with his efforts that day. They were a happy little church taking the presence of god to the place where it belonged. Then they hit a holy bump in the road at the threshing floor of Nishan, a Hebrew word which, ironically, means prepared. They were obviously unprepared. When Uzziah casually reached out to steady God's box from falling off a man's vehicle, god seemed to say look, I've let you come this far in your own manner. Enough is enough. If you really want my presence back in Jerusalem, then you're going to have to do it my way. Then he struck down Uzziah right on the spot and stopped David's parade in its tracks. God broke out of his box and caused man's plans to fall that day, and it would take David three months to recover, repent, research and return for God's glory. The same thing happens today when we encounter God's manifest glory. Too often we reach out in fleshly presumption to stop the God we've carefully contained in a box from falling off of our rickety, man-made ministry program or tradition. We shouldn't be surprised when God's glory breaks out of our doctrinal or traditional boxes and shocks us. Something always dies when God's glory encounters living flesh.
Speaker 1:David's changed his plan and methods because the weightiness of the presence of God suddenly dawned on him. He began to think this is no small matter. What are we doing? Am I really the one who should be doing this? Things are not going the way I envision it in my head and I think that's the way the church world has gotten today. They envision all these things they want to do. They look at other churches and other programs and they see how successful they are and they try to bring them into their house. And it don't work. The reason it don't work is because that's not God's plan for your house.
Speaker 1:God has a plan for you, specifically what you're supposed to be doing in your communities and where you're at. You're not to bring the same thing he's doing someplace else there, because it's not going to work. God's blessing is not going to be upon it, and when we begin to do that, like I said God, don't let us go so far. And then, all of a sudden, he's going to put a halt to it and we're going to start seeing things take place. We're going to start seeing, you know, people leave and programs that we're doing fail and not reaching the people that need to reach. Why? Because we are not taking it seriously enough. We're trying to build, let's just say, a church or a tabernacle, to be maybe a big church, and that's not what God wants. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but I'm just saying that if we're not doing exactly what God wants us to do in our lives, that he's planned for us, then it's going to fail. The glory is not going to be there and if we are expected to do what we are called to do, then we're going to have to find how God wants us to do it. We just can't reach out and grab hold of the ark and take it on and expect us to survive Because, as we found out in Uzziah's time, when they come to that threshing floor, they had a bump in the road. Uzziah died. See, we'll get to a place where we hit a bump in the road and, depending on how we work on that how we handle that bump, it depends on if we survive or not.
Speaker 1:So, guys, we've got to be in tune with God. We've got to know what he wants and how he wants us to do it. You know, we just can't keep doing this ourself. It's time that we make a change. It's time we decide that, hey, god, I'm going to follow your path, regardless of what it does.
Speaker 1:You know, I've tried it myself and I failed. It's not working right and I, can, man, can I preach on that for hours in my own life. I could tell you stories of how I've tried to do things my way and God was nowhere in it. I mean, I had good intentions, yes, but good intentions does not follow what God wants done. God's not going to bless good intentions. God will bless the thing that he has ordained in your life. Let's find out what God has ordained in this life.
Speaker 1:Guys, it's been a great pleasure today to be with you. I hope that you've received something from this today. I know each the deeper we get in this book, we're going to continue in chapter six. Today, I know each the deeper we get in this book, we're going to continue in chapter 6. On the next episode we're going to pick up with. Where do you want to pay the price? And that's the decision you're going to make Are you willing to pay the price to see the glory of God in your life, to see the glory of God in your house? Guys, it's been great and wonderful today.
Speaker 1:Again, I ask you if you would like to support this ministry, feel free to. There's a link on my page to support us. You can follow us on Facebook and on YouTube at the Christian Cafe. You can email me at thechristiancafe2022 at gmailcom. I would love to hear from you Any prayer requests that you might have. Please feel free to send them to me. I'd love to receive emails from you. I hope today has been a great day and you've feasted and you've been fed well, everything's been to your liking, and that you are blessed and highly favored in God. We're praying for you, we love you and I hope you have a blessed day.
Speaker 2:Join us next time right here on the Christian Cafe and see what God is serving up fresh for you.
Speaker 3:Well, you are working, you are working. You are working for the good, and you are working. You are working for the good in all things, in all things, in all things and all things. You're working it out, working it out.
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