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If you'll turn in your Bibles, please, to
the Old Testament, Book of 2 Samuel, Chapter
6.
I want to speak to you today about
the glorious, uncovered King of Israel.
The glorious, uncovered King of Israel.
Father, thank you for the anointing of the
Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, if you don't anoint these words,
then they're not meaningless, but they have no
power to grip the heart and to cause
faith to arise that you may transform people's
lives.
I pray, God, today for an anointing, a
quickening anointing, firstly, on me, that I may
clearly convey the truth that you've spoken in
my heart.
And secondly, to those that you have ordained
should hear this word today.
God, may it be heard deep in the
inner man and may it bring about the
fruit that comes through faith in the finished
work of Jesus Christ.
And Father, I ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Second Samuel, Chapter 6, beginning at verse 14,
the glorious, uncovered King of Israel.
And David danced before the Lord with all
his might.
And David was girded with a linen ephod.
So David and all the house of Israel
brought up the ark of the Lord with
shouting and the sound of the trumpet.
And as the ark of the Lord came
into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter,
looked through a window and saw David leaping
and dancing before the Lord.
And she despised him in her heart.
And they brought in the ark of the
Lord and set it in his place in
the midst of the tabernacle that David had
pitched for it.
And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
before the Lord.
And as soon as David had made an
end of burnt offerings and peace offerings, he
blessed the people in the name of the
Lord of hosts, or the God as it
is of strength.
And he dealt among all the people, even
among the whole multitude of Israel, as well
to the women as to the men, everyone
a good one cake of bread and a
good piece of flesh and a flagon of
wine.
So the people departed, everyone to his house.
Then David returned to bless his household.
And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out
to meet David and said, How glorious was
the King of Israel today, who uncovered himself
today in the eyes of the handmaids of
his servants.
As one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers
himself.
And David said to Michael, It was before
the Lord which chose me before thy father
and before all his house to appoint me
ruler over the people of the Lord, over
Israel.
Therefore will I play before the Lord.
And I will yet be more vile than
thus and will be base in mine own
sight.
And of the maidservants which thou hast spoken
of, of them shall I be had in
honor.
Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no
child until the day of her death.
Now, in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is
referred to as the son of David.
Luke chapter 1, verse 27.
And when the angel appeared, tells us that
Joseph, who was to be the stepfather of
Jesus, was of the house of David.
Now, he was of the physical, as it
is lineage in that instance of David, but
also the spiritual lineage of David.
Luke chapter 1, verse 32, says that Gabriel
speaking to Mary about Jesus said, He shall
be great.
He shall be called the son of the
highest.
And the Lord God shall give to him
the throne of his father David.
Now, this is very significant when we begin
to progress deeper into this message.
Now, in Matthew chapter 21, as Jesus riding
a donkey triumphantly enters into Jerusalem, the crowd
begins to cry, Hosanna to the son of
David.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
Now, the people of Israel knew that God
had established David, the king of Israel, a
physical king who was a foreshadowing, as it
is, of another king who would come, a
king whose kingdom would never end and who
would reign and rule forever.
The people loved King David.
They remembered the history of King David.
They remembered him as a man who had
an incredible integrity as it is in his
desire to worship God.
In Psalm 22, we see David who is
inspired by the Holy Spirit.
And under this inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
he pens the very words spoken by Jesus
Christ when he was in anguish on the
cross.
And, of course, at the end of that
psalm, he also pens the triumphant faith that
was in the heart of Christ as he
trusted in the faithfulness of God the Father's
promises to him.
David was a man who intimately, as it
is, knew the Holy Spirit to the point
where the Holy Spirit was able to express
through him, through his songs and through his
pen, the very anguish, the very thoughts that
would be in the heart of a Messiah
who was one day to be born, who
would be God incarnate in the body of
a man.
And historically, as it is through the pen
of David, the people of that generation could
actually know, if they had the spiritual insight
to see it, the thoughts that would be
in the heart of the Messiah as God
allowed them to flow through the pen of
this servant David.
He would be, in a sense, the son
of David because he would have the same
passion for his father that David had for
God.
Now, David's life, of course, was a foreshadow
of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
And one of the greatest accomplishments, historians say,
of the reign of David was to bring
the worship of God into a central place,
the place where he knew by the Spirit
that God desired it to be.
He knew that the central place of worship
in Israel was to be in a city
at that time called Jerusalem, still, of course,
called that today.
It was the central core of a nation.
David knew that God doesn't want to be
worshipped just on the periphery of any place.
And the same for you and I today.
Christ is not to be just sort of
part of our life, an add-on that
we kind of paste into our busy schedule
throughout the week and come to church and
give him that little periphery portion of worship,
as so many do who call themselves by
his name.
No, David knew that the worship of God
was to be at the very center of
the nation.
It was to be in the highest plateau,
as it is, of the nation.
It was to be something visible, tangible, as
you and I are called to worship Christ
in a similar manner in our generation.
David knew this.
This is what this passage is about.
David is bringing the ark, which is simply
a representation of God, from a house where
the man who had been caring for it
had been deeply blessed.
And he's bringing the ark into the very
central core of Israel, where he knows that
God longs to be.
He doesn't have the full view, as you
and I have today, but he knows in
his heart that God doesn't want to be
worshipped just in one house on the periphery.
He is to be at the center of
all things.
And as he's bringing the ark into the
very core of Israel, there's a glory and
a joy that begins to hit him.
And he begins to dance before God his
Father, unashamedly, unreservedly.
You always know a man or woman who
is moving to the heart of worship, there's
an unreserved joy that comes into them.
You always know when a man or woman
has placed Christ at the very center of
their heart, their circumstances around might not be
changing, but something within them is changing, because
they're making an inward choice that every person
has to make, who's called by the name
of Christ.
The choice is just simply this.
I'm not content to ride just the edges
of this incredible relationship that God has called
me into with himself through Jesus Christ.
I'm going into the very core of what
this relationship is all about.
And no matter what it costs me, no
matter if people around me think I'm crazy,
if my own family rejects me, I really
don't care.
I'm going into the center of the heart
of where God wants me to worship.
And folks, when you start moving that way,
there's an inner joy that is inexplicable, apart
from the fact that it's birthed in the
Spirit.
There's no other way to describe it.
Everyone around you is all bogged down by
their circumstances.
They're all offended if the choir doesn't hit
the right note on a particular Sunday service.
But you don't really care.
There's a worship in your heart that was
not...
You did not get it because you came
into a sanctuary like this one.
You brought it with you.
You are walking with him.
There's a deep inner worship in your heart.
There's a joy in you that just wants
to cry out.
And David did.
He knew he's walking before what he knew
was the will of God.
God, you want to be worshipped.
You want to be worshipped in the central
core of a nation that you have set
apart for yourself.
And when the realization of it hit him,
he began unashamedly to worship God before the
people.
Just as Jesus Christ did the same thing.
That's why, in effect, he's called, in some
measure, the son of David.
Because as David moved to bring the worship
of God to the central core of a
nation as it is, Jesus Christ moved to
bring the worship of God to the central
core of humanity.
Right into the inward parts of you and
I.
So that our worship is much deeper than
just a place.
Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, The
Father, it's no longer going to be Jerusalem
or any other place.
Now the time is coming.
The Father has sent me because he's looking
for people to worship him in spirit and
in truth.
In other words, God wants to come and
find a lodging place at the inner core,
right at the center of the heart and
motives of those that are called by his
name.
Now, 2 Samuel 6 and verse 14 records
that as the ark was moving towards Jerusalem,
David danced before the Lord with all his
might.
And in Psalm 69 and verse 8, David
pens these words.
He says, I'm become a stranger to my
brethren and an alien to my mother's children.
Folks, I'm telling you, you'll become a stranger
to those who used to be the closest
to you.
When you begin to worship God like this,
and even your own mother's children will look
at you as if you're from another planet.
You'll become an alien as it is.
You're from another land.
As you begin to worship God, it's another
realm completely.
It's a supernatural realm.
And in verse 9, he says, For the
zeal of thine house has eaten me up.
I am consumed with a desire to see
God honored.
I want to see God honored.
I want to see God honored in me.
I want to see God honored in my
home.
I want to see God honored in my
family.
I want to see God honored in children
of my lineage that are not even yet
born into this world.
I want to see God honored in this
church.
I want to see God honored in every
pulpit.
I want to see God honoured.
And David had this desire, and the zeal
of it began to consume him.
He was consumed with this passion to see
God Almighty honoured among the people one more
time.
Beloved, hear me in this.
This has to be the inner core desire
of every Christian in our generation.
We're too late for arguments.
It's too late for parades.
It's too late for gimmicks in the house
of God.
There has to be in the inner core
of every Christian this burning desire that says,
Jesus Christ, King of the universe, be honoured.
Be honoured through me.
Be honoured in my life.
And if I become an alien to people
around me, if I look like a stranger
to those who are intertwined with the things
of this world, then so be it.
But, oh God, I'm going to live for
you.
I'm going to praise you.
I'm going to love you.
Remember one time years ago when my kids
were really young, we were having devotions in
the morning.
And school started very early in those days.
So we're sitting at the table about six
thirty in the morning or six o'clock.
And I had a devotional book that I
would read to them from.
And at the end of this one was
about the joy of the Lord.
And I remember closing the book and I
said, now let's worship God.
And my one of my sons looked at
me and he said, Dad, you are weird.
That's what he said to me.
He said, it's it's six fifteen in the
morning.
We can hardly keep our eyes open.
We have to go get ready for school.
And I said, well, you think what you
want about me and you sit there on
your hands if you want.
But I'm going to close the book and
I'm going to take five minutes and I'm
going to praise God.
And that's exactly what I did.
You know, David said there's a time when
you're going to seem like an alien to
people in your own house.
But oh, yes, maybe only for a season.
Listen to me, mothers that are here today,
only for a season, only for a season.
And then trouble comes to those who are
not living right for God.
It comes to everybody and especially to those
who are not living right for God.
Trouble comes.
And you want to bet the very first
thing they remember.
As I remember my dad sitting at the
table at six fifteen in the morning with
his hands in the air with not just
a forced song, but a genuine joy in
his heart.
And when trouble comes, your sons and your
daughters will say, I don't it seems strange
to me at the time, but all of
a sudden it's become very attractive to me.
All of a sudden I want to raise
my hands and I want to begin to
sing to God.
And I want an abiding joy that can't
be taken away from me because it's six
fifteen in the morning.
David said, the zeal of thine house has
eaten me up and the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen on me.
In other words, David is saying there are
people out there who do not believe that
worship should be taken to such an extreme
and they will reproach me.
You start living for God, you start praising
God and you are going to come under
the lashing tongue of a society that wants
to govern itself.
They do not want the government of God.
They don't want anything but more than just
a peripheral knowledge as it is of God
going to church, stand up, sit down a
few times, repeat a few prayers, go home,
feel like everything is OK.
But then somebody walks into the midst of
them who knows how to worship God.
And all of a sudden they are reproached.
Isn't it strange?
You can go to work.
You can have been out all weekend.
You can be getting drunk.
You can be living in fornication.
You come into the office on Monday morning
and everybody seems to be OK with that.
And even your family to some extent thinks
that is quite normal to live that way.
But go to Times Square church three times
on Sunday.
Sing the songs of Zion.
Begin to deal honestly with people.
Deal rightly in your finances.
Tell the truth when even if it hurts
you to say so.
Become a man or woman of your word.
Live for God.
And then all of a sudden you walk
into the office Sunday morning and everything is
changed.
All of a sudden the reproaches as it
is of those who really do deep down
despise the government of God begin to fall
upon you.
John chapter 2 verse 17 tells us that
after Jesus cleansed the temple, you remember he
walked in and there was all types of
buying and selling going on in the temple.
And he took a scourge and began to
overthrow the tables.
And I don't know exactly how that scenario
happened.
But I do know that nobody dared even
try to stop him.
And the disciples remembered that it was written
the zeal of thine house has eaten me
up.
Jesus son of David the blind man would
cry have mercy on me.
Jesus son of David have mercy on me.
In 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 17 says
when he brought in the ark of the
Lord and put it in its rightful place
in the midst of the tabernacle that David
had pitched for it, that David offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
This is one of the first things he
did when in the restoration of worship to
the place where God desired it to be.
Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14 tells us
that Christ through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God.
Remember David is bringing an ark into a
physical place.
But Christ is bringing God into the very
center of his own creation.
You and I the worship of God right
into the heart.
David offered before God Christ offered himself without
spot to God.
In chapter 6 and verse 18 as soon
as David made an end of offering burnt
offerings and peace offerings.
He blessed the people in the name of
the Lord of hosts.
He blessed them.
He made an offering and then he blessed
them.
Christ offered himself on the cross on Calvary
2,000 years ago.
So that you and I may have the
capability today of worshiping God in spirit and
in truth.
As David blessed the people, Jesus Christ at
this moment of sacrifice also blessed the people.
In Luke chapter 23 verse 24 the scripture
says he said father forgive them for they
know not what they do.
Think of it now.
Humanity is crucified.
The Christ who simply came to bless them
in the name of his father and now
he's on a cross.
And even from the cross he is blessing
the people who have rejected him and despised
him.
Father he says forgive them.
So we see forgiveness flowing from the cross.
Oh thank God that he chose to bless
us from the cross.
Thank God that the cross is the place
that you and I have to come to
to find forgiveness for our sins.
Thank God that on the cross there is
forgiveness.
Thank God that it was on the cross
that God the father poured out his legitimate
wrath that you and I deserve upon his
own son that we through his sacrifice might
be made free.
And not just free but we might be
also the righteousness that God is through our
savior Jesus Christ.
On the cross in John 19 verses 26
and 27 Jesus is concerned about families.
He looks down at his mother and says
woman behold your son.
He looks down at John the disciple and
says behold your mother.
And we see this blessing coming from the
cross of Christ of families being put back
together.
Of those that are outcasts finding shelter now
in the body of Jesus Christ.
Of those that have no hope and no
life and no provider finding all of the
provision they will ever know becoming part of
a much larger family of whom God is
the head.
In John 19 verses 23 and 24 we
see Jesus Christ even providing clothing for people
at the cross.
Amazing.
It tells us that the soldiers took his
clothing and divided it into four parts.
We can assume there were four soldiers at
the foot of the cross I suppose from
this.
But they divided his clothing into four parts.
And when you understand that he willfully laid
his life down.
That means also that he willfully let people
take his clothes.
He willfully provided covering as it is for
those that were crucifying him.
And even this one garment that was woven
without seam.
And they didn't want to tear it apart
because it was such a nice garment.
And so the soldiers decided to have a
little bit of a gambling thing for it.
And they cast lots and one of the
soldiers obviously won this garment.
And you wonder how many today are parting
his garments.
I can't help but wonder as I see
this how many today are meeting in his
name.
And claiming that they have various giftings of
the Holy Ghost.
Claiming that they have genuine words of knowledge.
Claiming that they have the gift of prophecy.
Claiming all of these ill-gotten garments of
clothing.
They've not legitimately gotten these things.
They've never understood what the cross is all
about.
But they claim to have been there.
And they claim now that they have all
of these garments.
I got this from God.
I got this from the Son of God.
They claim these gifts.
They claim this covering.
Can you imagine this one soldier leaving the
cross in the days after.
People coming to him and saying to him,
Well, that's a nice covering.
It covers you from head to toe virtually.
And it's without seam.
Of course, it's a type of the blood
of Jesus Christ.
How did you get that coat?
And to have the soldier say, well, I
won it in a lottery.
And that's exactly how people see Christ even
today.
And the cross, it's coming into church.
And Jesus Christ is presented not as this
God who demands, as it is, to be
worshipped in the very center core of his
own people.
But a God who's content, as it is,
to just kind of live on the periphery.
And passes out these lottery gifts to people
who have no intention on ever really living
for him.
These soldiers would leave with particles of his
clothing.
But they would never intend on really living
for him.
All they would have is clothing that people
could say, Well, that looks a little bit
like Jesus.
What are you doing wearing that thing?
They're completely unaware as they're parting these garments
of Christ of the passion and the sacrifice
and the calling of Christ that's happening just
above their heads.
It's just on top of them, but yet
it's eluding them.
We have so many people today who are
denying the cross of Jesus Christ, yet claiming
to be part of his family.
Not fully understanding what salvation is all about.
Having come in to somehow, somewhere that claims
to be his house, and having gotten these
cheap garments that cost absolutely nothing.
They cause no sense of identification with Christ.
They bring absolutely no persecution.
They're completely unaware of the calling of Jesus
Christ that is theirs and was happening just
above their heads.
In 2 Samuel 6, 19, it says that
David gave everyone, he gave all the people,
a cake of bread, a good piece of
flesh, and a flagon of wine.
And that's exactly what Jesus Christ did.
1 Corinthians 11, 23 and 24, what did
he say?
He took the bread and he broke it
and said, Take, eat, this is my body
which is broken for you.
This do in remembrance of me.
Scripture says David gave the people a good
piece of flesh.
Well, that's exactly what God did when he
sent his son to die for our sins.
In Isaiah 56, chapter 50, verse 6, Jesus
says, I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off
the hair.
I hid not my face from shame and
spitting.
I gave what was needed to bring about
redemption to a fallen generation.
I did not hide my face.
I turned my back and allowed my own
creation to beat my own back.
Of course, this is God, through his son
Jesus Christ, allowing a fallen creation to beat
him into a bloody mess.
And he said, I didn't hide my face.
I am awestruck at the humility of God.
I'm awestruck, I'm overwhelmed.
The more I begin to dig into the
Scriptures, and can even imagine God allowing his
own creation, the infinitely higher God, the infinitely
more intelligent God, the infinitely more compassionate God,
the infinitely more righteous God, allowing his own
fallen and darkened creation to spit in his
face and rip the hair off of his
beard, and that he did not turn away
his face.
He allows soldiers to part his garments and
gamble for his clothing.
I'm awestruck at the humility of God.
I'm awestruck at all that he allows to
go on in his name, even.
And there's so little dedication comes back to
him quite often, out of all that he
does for so many.
There's so little.
People sit in his house, looking at their
watches, wondering who's going to get out first
to get to the feeding trough before some
other church gets out.
So little.
So little true worship in the hearts of
God's people.
And David gave them all, this is a
flagon of wine.
Again, in 1 Corinthians 11, 25, he says,
this cup is the New Testament in my
blood.
This do you use off as you drink
it in remembrance of me.
He gave his body.
He gave his back.
He gave his blood.
There's no more that God could give to
you and I to prove his love to
us.
And the only thing he's ever asked us
in return is, would you turn from your
sin and would you trust me for the
power to live a new life?
Would you let me come to the center
core of your being?
Would you open this book?
Would you read my promises to you?
Would you let my Holy Spirit come and
begin to quicken you and enable you to
be a light to those who sit in
darkness in this generation?
That others may know that there is a
God who passionately loves them.
And 2 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 19
says, all the people departed, everyone to his
house.
And I think of Calvary when it was
all over.
He said, it is finished.
You see the people leaving and many are
discouraged.
We know this because of the men on
the road to Emmaus.
We're so downhearted, downcast.
But then in verse 20, it says, then
David returned to bless his household.
Now, remember, we're speaking about Christ as the
son of David.
The type that David is the type of
Christ.
And he returned to bless his household.
And folks, Christ, too, returned.
And in John chapter 20, verse 22, he
came to where the disciples were gathered together
in a closed room because they were afraid
of the people.
And in that room, the very first thing
he says to them is, peace, be still.
He had returned to bless his house.
And the scripture says he breathed on them
and said to them, received ye the Holy
Ghost.
He came, he returned and he will return
again.
Acts chapter 1, verse 11.
The angels in white said, why do you
stand here gazing up into heaven?
The Christ that you've seen leave will come
back in the same manner that you're watching
him go.
He will come back again.
Hallelujah.
But I think of how sad it must
have been for David to come home to
a bride who once loved him, because in
First Samuel 18, 28, it says clearly that
Michal, the daughter of Saul, loved David.
She loved him.
And of course, there was a history.
This was the bride that with David would
have to go through some rough waters.
Saul, I guess you could say, is a
type of the devil came after him and
he had to escape.
And Michal and David spent quite a season
apart from each other.
I can hear David's parting words to Michal
saying, just hold on.
This was a couple who loved each other.
I will come back for you again.
You are my bride.
We will be together again.
No matter what you have to go through
and I have to go through, God will
be faithful to us.
Can you picture the words as she creates
a disguise as it is, pretending that he's
in the house and has to lower him
down so he can escape from the town,
not to see him again for a significant
amount of time, but having had to live
based on his promises.
I will come for you.
I'll not fail you.
I'll not forsake you.
Just as Jesus Christ promises you and I,
in spite of our difficulties and trials and
rough water, he will come for us again.
He's going to build a mansion for us.
I can almost hear David telling Michal, yeah,
there's rough days ahead.
But God told me that I'm going to
rule and reign one day.
And Michal, you're going to rule and reign
with me.
So just hold on.
Trust God.
We will be together again.
And we know that's exactly what happened.
A long series of events happened.
But one day she was brought back again
to her lawful and rightful husband.
And how sad it must have been for
David to come back home to a bride
who is now ashamed of him.
And it says, I believe it's in verse
16.
It says, she saw King David leaping and
dancing before the Lord, and she despised him
in her heart.
She despised this worship of God.
Who knows why it had happened?
There are so many reasons why.
Her life had been a hard one.
And it's certainly conceivable that she was saying,
well, I don't know why you're dancing so
hard.
It doesn't seem to have done very much
for me.
And David returned in verse 20 to bless
his house.
And Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out
to meet David and said, How glorious was
the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself
today in the eyes of the handmaids of
his servants, as one of the vain fellows
shamelessly uncovers himself.
How sad it must be for David to
come home and find a bride as ashamed
in the way that he has honored his
God.
And offended at how he has presented himself.
She said to him, in other words, you've
uncovered or you've unveiled yourself to women who
serve your servants.
It's amazing.
There's a revelation in this, but Michal didn't
see it.
You've danced.
And as it is, you're wearing a linen
ephod.
And the skirt that David was wearing most
likely was flaring up in the air as
it is, as he's leaping and dancing.
And she says, this is such a despicable
way for a king to be acting.
And I am so ashamed to be associated
with such a king.
Incredible when you think of how many people
today are ashamed of the cross of Jesus
Christ.
Christ is coming for a church without spot
and without wrinkle.
He's coming for his bride, a bride who
once said, I love you, Jesus.
And I believe truly meant it at an
altar somewhere.
But somewhere along the line, got it in
her head that I'm a daughter of a
king myself.
And thought that I'd rather be associated with
people who act in a dignified manner.
I'd rather fit in with mainstream society.
I really don't like this way that my
husband, King David, is presenting himself.
You see, Jesus Christ was stripped down to
a loincloth and he was nailed to a
cross.
And he was exposed to public shame and
ridicule.
It affected that generation.
He was naked, considered naked before the world.
Beaten, despised, loathed, yet coming back for a
church one day.
Oh God, I pray with all my heart
that I never be found among those who
are ashamed of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Ashamed.
Oh, we live in a generation when they're
now sanitizing the Bible and they're putting away
the cross.
They consider this vile.
They're putting away all mention of the blood
of Jesus Christ.
Putting away all talk of repentance, all talk
of association with anything that isn't palatable to
the world.
And recreating Jesus Christ in an image that
would greatly have pleased, my call, the daughter
of Saul.
But you see, no, the vulgarity as it
is, the cruelty of the cross must never
be hidden from this generation.
Because in this you find the passion of
God for a lost and a dying world.
We see the humility of God, that He
would come to this world, and that He
would be willing to be sacrificed for those
who spit upon Him and wounded Him and
cared little about Him.
No, we must never be ashamed of the
cross of Jesus Christ.
We must never be ashamed of the truths
and the realities.
There are truths in the Word of God
that are simply not negotiable.
Christ died.
Christ rose from the dead.
Christ is coming again.
A blood sacrifice had to be made for
the sins of all humanity.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no
remission of sins.
Christ took upon Him the shame that you
and I deserve for the wrong things that
we have done.
Thanks be to God that we are covered.
Thanks be to God we are sons and
daughters of the King today.
But we're only such because Jesus took upon
Himself the shame that is rightfully ours for
all of eternity.
David says to this bride, I will be...
Verse 21, David said to Michael, It was
before the Lord which chose me before your
father and all his house to appoint me
ruler over the people of the Lord, over
Israel.
Therefore will I play before the Lord.
And I will yet be more vile than
this, and will be more base in my
own sight.
And of the maidservants which thou hast spoken
of, of them shall I be had in
honor.
And therefore Michael, the daughter of Saul, had
no child unto the day of her death.
He says, I will be a servant who
is given to the needs of the people.
Michael, this is something you have no heart
for.
In Christ we find the servant heart of
God.
He Himself said, the Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to be
a servant.
And to give His life as a ransom
for many.
And He says, I will be a servant.
I will be given to the needs of
the people.
I'm not going to sit in an ivory
tower somewhere and let all of humanity fend
for itself.
No, I'm going to put a towel.
I'm going to have a bride.
My bride's going to put a towel around
her waist.
And she's going to find the neediest of
the world.
She's going to wash the feet of my
children that are all over the world.
She's going to light a candle.
She's going to sweep the house.
She's going to search for the lost coin.
She's going to go to the lamb who's
caught in the thicket because of his own
ignorance and strength.
She's going to be found walking where I
am.
But, Michael, you and I will grow farther
and farther apart as time goes on, until
the day that you die childless.
This was the curse of God on this
attitude of heart.
Any church that is ashamed of the cross
of Jesus Christ, any Christian who is ashamed
of how God has chosen to present himself
to this generation through Christ, will die childless.
You'll have people who will agree.
They'll agree with your theology.
They'll agree with your good time gospel.
But they will not be born again into
the kingdom of God.
For without the shedding of blood and without
repentance, there is no remission of sin.
There's no forgiveness of sin.
You may gather a group of people, but
you will die childless.
He says, yet, but I will be honored
by those which you have despised.
I am going to be unveiled, as it
is.
There's going to be a glorious unveiling to
the maidservants of servants.
You said, oh, what a despicable thing that
you have done, David.
You have unveiled yourself to the servants of
your servants.
Or the handmaidens, as it is, of your
servants.
You've unveiled yourself to the lowest of the
low.
And God says, yes, that's exactly what I'm
going to do.
I'm going to unveil myself.
There's going to be a glorious revelation of
who I am and what I have done
and the power that's available and the glory
of the living Christ and the worship that
comes to the very center of the heart
of all who embrace me.
And this revelation is going to come to
the lowest of the low, to those who
are servants to the servants of God.
Now, if you can hear this, it's to
the mothers that are here today, who are
servants to their children.
You are servants to your families.
You are servants to your homes.
And quite often, you are servants in the
house of God.
And there's a crier.
I said, God, is there anything for me?
And the Lord says, no, not just anything.
Everything is for you.
Everything.
There will be an unveiling to you of
who I am, of what I've done, of
what I do, of how I think you're
going to be like David.
You're not going to care.
You're going to have such a revelation of
Christ that you'll be found leaping and dancing
in the morning, in spite of the fact
that your children are struggling, in spite of
the fact that some seem to be falling
astray.
I will unveil a confidence in your heart.
You will know the things that I've done
for you.
And you will be able to worship me.
You will hold on to me.
And when everyone else around is fighting for
the king's palace and offended at Jesus Christ,
you will be the very hand that begins
to form the next generation of Christians.
He said, I'll be honored by those you
have despised.
Hallelujah.
Every generation, it repeats itself.
Revival comes.
And then, God, something happens to the church
of Jesus Christ.
People become proud.
They want to be associated with royalty.
Not of the spirit, but of the world.
They want to be accepted.
They want their Christianity to be palatable in
the workplace.
And they begin to gravitate to preachers that
preach this kind of a theology, not realizing
that they're moving to dying childless.
Think about the apostle Paul, virtually cast off
by the religious of his generation.
All they ever wanted to do was kill
him for the good that he did.
But Paul was among those in Romans 116
who said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
It's the power of God unto salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first and
then to the Gentile.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
Folks, get it in your heart, deep in
your heart.
If you really want to learn how to
worship God, you've got to get the shame
out.
It's no shame to be associated with a
living Savior.
It's no shame to identify with the cross
on Calvary.
It's shameful to be drunken on Friday night.
It's shameful to cheat on your income tax.
It's shameful to be living in adultery.
It's shameful to have a mouth that's filled
with cursing and deceit and fraud.
It's not shameful to have the praises of
God in the center of your heart and
the truth of God on your lips.
Paul said in Galatians 6.14, I glory
in the cross of Jesus Christ through which
I'm crucified to the world and the world
is crucified to me.
I glory in the cross and I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And lastly, in 2 Corinthians 12.15, Paul
says, I will gladly be spent and I
will gladly spend and be spent for you.
And you see, these are the people that
have this revelation.
They're not ashamed of the gospel, the glory
in the cross of Christ, and are willing
to spend and be spent for others.
The gospel that they gravitate to is not
to make themselves more wealthy or famous or
powerful or to have a bigger slice of
the socioeconomic pie.
But the gospel they come to is a
gospel that has an embodiment of the very
heart of God at the center of it,
reaching out through them to fallen humanity all
around them, spending and being spent, giving and
getting to give more, so that Christ above
all things might be honored and glorified, so
that Jesus Christ may move into the center
of the hearts of all humanity that he
has created in his own image, so that
men, women and children in this world that
we live in might be as many as
possible one to the saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ.
Hallelujah.
If you are moving there, there's a glory
in your heart.
There's a joy in you that has got
nothing to do with this world.
There's a worship that springs forth from your
heart like a fountain of living water, because
God himself bears witness to those who are
walking in the Spirit.
Look at the legacy of the life of
Paul.
Look at the spiritual children he birthed into
God's kingdom.
In Galatians 4.19 he writes, My little
children, of whom I travail and birth again
until Christ be formed in you.
Paul said, I travailed, and because I had
the travail of God within me, you were
born into the kingdom of God.
He saw the Galatian church being led in
a path that was not good, and Paul
said, no, I'm travailing again.
You are my children, and I'm not giving
up on you.
I'm not letting the devil get advantage over
you.
I am going to be there for you.
I'm going to spend for you.
I'm going to be spent for you.
I'm going to travail for you until I
see Christ formed in you.
You see, you have a work like Paul,
and the greatest empowerment of God comes to
the servant of his servants.
And that's a truth that nobody will ever
be able to come against.
The greatest empowerment of God, the greatest revelation,
doesn't come to those who lust for power,
doesn't come to those who love ivory towers,
doesn't come to those who just live their
Christianity looking for an easy way out of
life.
The greatest empowerment comes to the servants, or
the handmaids, as Michael said, of the servants
of God.
The servants of the servants.
Do you know that, ladies that are here
today, that mothers, you are raising the future
servants of God in your own house.
You will be long gone, perhaps, and your
sons and daughters, whether or not they even
live under your roof, you still have an
influence over their lives.
And they will be the servants of God.
And they will have an incredible revelation, but
the greatest revelation of all will be given
to you, because you are the servant to
God's future servants.
The greatest position you can ever find in
the kingdom of God is the position of
a servant.
I have given you an example, Jesus said
to his disciples.
He washed their feet and he said, you'll
be happy if you do these things.
If you learn what it is to serve,
you will be happy.
You'll be indwelt, actually, is what it means,
and fully satisfied by God.
The greatest revelation.
I've lately been seeing these things in a
deeper way, and I've been praying, God, help
me to be a servant to your servants.
Help me to find a low place, and
then after finding it, to find a lower
place.
Because here is where the revelation is.
The revelation comes to the servants of God's
servants.
Folks, if you've not heard a thing that
I've spoken this morning, hear this one.
This is where the true revelation of God
is found.
Now, there are some here who need strength
for the work that God's given you.
The work to serve.
And it's not an easy work.
Everybody would like to reign, and that's coming
one day.
You will reign.
But till that day you serve.
And I serve.
That's where unity comes in the body.
That's where we learn to prefer one another,
prefer another before ourselves.
And there's some others here today you need
to be confirmed in your work.
You've been a servant, and the enemies come
against this in your heart and try to
convince you that this is somehow ineffective or
worthless.
But yet, strangely, you seem to have this
revelation in your devotions that nobody around you
has.
You see this book beginning to open up
to you.
While others are offended at the cross, you're
not offended at all.
You say, don't they realize this is the
power of God to salvation?
Do they not see the humility of God
in this?
Do they not see the grace of God?
Do they not see the passion of God?
Pouring out his wrath on his own son
that we might be free?
Do they not understand these things?
How come I'm turning on the television or
going to Christian meetings, and they seem to
be so devoid of the simplest understanding of
what the gospel is all about?
Why the blindness?
And, folks, this is the irony, I guess
if I can call it, of the secret
of God.
There's an Old Testament scripture that calls God's
work a strange act.
It's secret because the things of God are
hidden from the wise and prudent in their
own sight.
And those who try to figure it all
out and create some kind of a palatable
Christ for the masses, and those who are
just in their own sight are nothing.
And all of a sudden they open their
Bible, they begin to read it, and the
scripture just starts coming alive.
And they begin to have things to share
with their children.
Faith comes into their heart.
They can go in the prayer closet, and
they can travail.
How many preachers have stood in this pulpit
over the years, if you've heard them, that
you know have been prayed into the kingdom
of God through their mother?
Pastor Ben Crandall, who speaks here, is one
of them, who was off living the life
of drunkenness, and his mother went to her
face for three days, began to intercede, and
he was on his way home from a
bar, half drunk, got to a corner under
a lamppost and fell on his knees and
cried out to God, God forgive me, God
save me, God cleanse me, God change me.
And the Lord has used him all over
the world since that moment of his conversion.
His mother tapped into something of God that
so few religious ever find, because she was
a servant, if you know the story, to
the servants of God.
And there's just simply others here today who
you need to get back to work.
I speak specifically to mothers today, but to
others as well, that you've given up heart.
You've given up heart even for your own
children.
You've looked at the circumstance and not the
Savior.
You've forgotten what God is able to do
for your children.
You need to get back to work again.
You need to get back to work.
You need to get that towel back on.
I'm speaking figuratively now, please understand me.
You need to start washing feet again.
You need to start serving.
Don't give up because you're in the greatest
position of influence in the kingdom of God.
It's not the $5,000 suited silver-tooth
preacher that's going to win your son or
daughter to Christ.
It's you in the house, opening your Bible,
and God will put a weight in your
words.
You just say, I'll be praying for you
when they go out Friday night.
That's all you have to say, I'll be
praying for you.
And it haunts them, it haunts them all
night.
It haunts them where they go.
Sticks on the back of their jacket like
Velcro.
And they can't shake it, I'll be praying
for you.
And they can't reach it, they can't get
it off.
It's right in that spot that you can't
reach with your hands.
I'll be praying for you.
And they sit in a bar somewhere, they
go to a club they shouldn't be in,
and they're sitting there thinking, I'll be praying
for you, I'll be praying for you, I'll
be praying for you.
A spiritual influence and authority that is given
to those who serve the servants of God.
If the Lord is speaking to your heart,
you need strength for this work.
You need to be just confirmed in the
work, or you need to get back to
work again.
I want to open this altar to you.
In the annex, you can rise momentarily and
stand between the screens.
And I just want to pray for you
today.
Just pray the blessing of God into your
life.
If we'd stand together, if you'd make your
way here, and then we're going to dedicate
some babies this morning before we leave this
service.
Mothers especially, please, you need to get back
to work.
You need strength.
Men too as well.
Come.
We're going to pray together.
I want to introduce you.
Well, we have only two babies today.
Hi.
Hi there.
Hi sweetie.
Praise God.
Are you comfortable coming here with me?
Can you walk over?
Not yet, eh?
Do you want to stay with your mommy?
Not quite sure.
Okay, well.
This baby I hold in my hands is
a miracle.
This is Sarah.
Her name means princess.
Sarah Sage Williams.
Donovan and Sondra Williams, who work here at
Times Square Church, were told by medical people
after many years of trying that they were
incapable of ever having a child.
But one day, a word of knowledge came
to them from the Lord that they were
going to be given a child.
She would be a girl.
Her name would be Sarah.
And so here she is.
She's a miracle baby.
You see, it's by the word of the
Lord that life comes.
And those that are at this altar today,
you have the same word of the Lord
given to you.
God has brought a word to you today.
You're going to bear life too as well.
Your children are not going to be failures.
And your past failures are not going to
be the epitaph when it's all done for
you.
It's not going to be what's written over
your life.
No, no.
As servants to the servants of God, God
is going to write something phenomenal through your
life, in the lives and hearts of others
that he has given you influence over.
Mothers, this is going to be our little
secret today, but you are the most powerful
influence that Jesus Christ has in his entire
church body.
It's you.
It's not the Sunday school.
Thank God for that.
It's not the preachers.
Thank God for them.
But it's the mothers.
It's the servants to the servants.
God is going to open his word to
you.
And through you, he's going to bring life.
Hallelujah.
Life, you have quite a future ahead of
you.
You're a miracle baby.
Medical people said you couldn't be, but here
you are.
Oh, you've come back.
Well, hi there.
Can I hold your hand now?
That's such a nice girl.
All right.
Father, we thank you for these children.
God, I pray today for all the mothers
and fathers and aunts and uncles in the
body of Christ.
I pray, Father, that you give us the
courage to realize that as we serve, just
simply serve, you give us a revelation that
will bring life into the hearts of our
sons and daughters.
I pray as David did, that as we
see your life coming by faith into our
children, that we can leap and dance before
you and give you glory because we know
this is the very center of your heart
is to dwell in the midst of your
people.
God, thank you.
I pray now for these children.
I pray, Father, you build a hedge of
fire round about them.
Satan, we resist you in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We stand against you.
You cannot touch.
You cannot harm.
You cannot take away what God has given
to us.
We make a declaration to you like Moses
did to Pharaoh.
We're all going to heaven.
Every last one of us are going.
Nobody's left behind.
Father, we thank you for this.
God Almighty, we give you praise and glory.
Thank you, Jesus.
I pray for the mothers at this altar
today and the fathers.
Oh, God, I pray for great strength to
be given them.
Oh, God, and an awareness, an awareness, Lord,
that you have a wonderful plan for every
life.
Father, we thank you for this with all
of our hearts in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen and amen.
God bless you.
This is the conclusion of the message.