Carrying the Presence of God

You. All right, 2 Samuel chapter 6. We're going to take our text today,

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

and luckily Ashley had me change my slide color a little bit.

I had it a little bit lighter, and she said, you can't see that,

and so I changed it a little bit.

I always need that woman's eye to take a look at everything, don't you?

Every man say amen, all right, because yeah, it'll serve you well when you get

home if you say amen right now, all right.

2 Samuel chapter 6. Rob, did you say amen?

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

Okay, I'm just making sure. I'm making sure Connie heard it too. All right. All right.

And it was told King David, the Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom

and all that belongs to him. Why?

Because of the ark of God, the ark of God, the ark of the covenant had been

placed in the house of Obed-Edom. We'll talk about that in just a moment.

So David, he said, I don't want just the house of Obed-Edom to be blessed.

He said, I want to be blessed. I want all of Israel to be blessed.

So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the

city of David with rejoicing.

And when those who were bored the ark, this is how he's doing it.

We'll talk about why he did it this way in just a moment.

And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps,

he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.

And David danced before the Lord with all his might. and David was wearing a linen ephod.

So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting

and with the sound of the horn. Amen.

I don't know about you, but I would love to have seen what that was like.

I don't think that probably some of the movies that we've made about it over

the years, I don't think it could do it justice at what it was like bringing

the presence of God back into the city of God, into the city of Jerusalem.

For a few minutes this morning, Here's what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about carrying the presence of God, carrying the presence of God.

Because I have a concern as a pastor, as a father, as someone who cares about

people that we're connected with.

I have a concern that maybe we are not stewarding, we are not carrying,

we are not presenting the presence of God the way that we need to on a daily basis in our lives.

And I want to talk to you for a few moments this morning on this thought of

carrying the presence of God.

Let's pray as we get started. Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before you.

We thank you for your Holy Spirit.

We thank you for your presence in this place. We thank you for your voice in this place.

Because, Holy Spirit, we know that you can say things that no man can say.

We know that you can take one word that's spoken out of my mouth and speak individually

to every soul in this room. So, Holy Spirit, speak to us.

Lord, I pray, Holy Spirit, speak to me. Come on, make that personal right there

in your life. Say, Holy Spirit, speak to me.

Yeah, Holy Spirit, speak to me. every person in this house speak to

us in your name we pray and we thank you

for it in jesus name amen amen um if

as i as i get started this morning really my main point that i'm trying to convey

is this it's the presence of god is not carried on carts you'll see what i'm

meaning by that in just a moment but the presence of god is not carried on carts

of convenience but on the.

The presence of God is not carried on carts of convenience, but on the shoulders

of commitment. We'll talk about what that looks like in just a moment.

Me and Ashley, we're on spring break this week, which means we got to catch

up on a lot of the projects that we've let go for a few months now.

But on Monday and Tuesday, we went down to Black Mountain, North Carolina.

It's near Asheville, North Carolina.

And we were in a little hardware store down there. We like to go to those little

places and look around. Ashley likes to buy used junk. And I mean, she does.

She buys, I don't know. I'm just weird about buying some used stuff.

She had a water bottle yesterday and I said, where'd you get that water bottle from?

She said, don't ask. Because I knew somebody else's lips had been on that water

bottle before she bought it.

I'm sorry. It just kind of weirds me out. But we're in the hardware store nonetheless.

Let me get back there. I digress. But we were in this hardware store and we're

in this hardware store looking around and I got a little bit nostalgic before

I got a little bit reasonable. I got a little bit nostalgic.

I was looking around and a blast from the past hits me and I saw a couple of

things from my childhood.

All right. I know if you're under 25 years old right now, this seems really weird.

All right. Yes. You guys see if you're under 25 years old right now,

this seems really weird because what we would do years ago is we had candy cigarettes.

How many of you guys as a five-year-old had a candy cigarette in your mouth

acting like you were, I mean, to be honest, this is before the Marlboro man died of cancer.

We didn't know what happened with all of that, right?

So we were walking around with candy cigarettes in

our lips and have boys be honest and

maybe some of you girls I don't know don't be honest with you but but maybe

but how many of us men in here did we have

big league chew and we would because I know yes see I mean people all over this

building we got the big I still remember getting it out like I was getting a

chew a beach nut because that's what my the men of my family chewed was beach

nut actually my grandpa did Levi Garrett it was a constant debate at family reunions.

But anyway, I remember getting big league chew out and I didn't even chew it.

I put it over in the corner of my jaw and I was looking, I was feeling nostalgic.

And then reality set in and I said, no wonder we raised up a generation with addiction problems.

No wonder we have had a lot of people that had to be treated of cancer because of.

Not because the cigarette, I wonder who even, I'm not even going to see who

even manufactured these, but I got to wonder when they market this stuff,

did the big tobacco market? I don't know. I'm not preaching against big tobacco.

I'm just saying that we developed habits early on through playing around as

children that some of those habits were not healthy habits and they plagued

some of us for the rest of our lives.

I was thinking about that because I was thinking the other day on Wednesday

night, it was here in praise and worship, and little Maddox Rose,

he sits right back there with his mom and dad, Mike and Cassie.

He was sitting back there with them, and he came up to the altar,

and he was worshiping the Lord right there, just a little guy worshiping the Lord.

I see J.R.'s kids over here worshiping the Lord.

I mean, they bring microphones and everything, and just worship the Lord, and I look at all of that.

I look at all that. I was at a birthday party of a little fellow yesterday,

and he wanted to sing a praise and worship song into a microphone before the party.

And I thought, those are the habits that we want to raise our kids up.

We want to, and listen, if they're going to, if they're going to play,

because I know I was talking to somebody the other day and they said,

well, they're just in there, they're playing, playing around.

I said, what are they playing? They said, playing church.

And I'm thinking, you know what? If they're going to play anything,

I'd rather them get in there and somebody be the preacher and somebody be the

singers and somebody be whatever and teach them that healthy habit.

Because if we're not careful, we start forming habits.

We start forming foundational attitudes and foundational behaviors that are

not leading our children into the presence of God,

but maybe even some things that can be a barrier or an obstacle for them coming

into the presence of God.

So this morning when we talk about this carrying the presence of God,

I want to relate to you that it's not an easy thing to live a life that's pleasing

to God and that's a demonstration of the power of the Holy spirit to somebody else.

And it's not carried on the card of convenience. You don't put a bumper sticker on you.

You don't buy a t-shirt from Freedom of Worship Church and say,

I'm a Christian and everybody knows it because of my t-shirt.

Because the reality is I got an email on a church email this week from a guy

in Salem, Virginia, trying to track down somebody wearing a Freedom Worship

sweatshirt that had vandalized their house.

It wasn't one of our members. They had taken it from one of our members.

So I'm just saying though, a church sweatshirt, I know I got your attention right there, didn't I?

I noticed the website traffic was up. I thought that it was just the billboards and Easter.

And really it's just ring doorbell people trying to track us down.

But you know, the reality is a church sweatshirt does not make you a believer

and it does not necessarily convey the message that we're trying to convey to the world.

It takes a committed lifestyle to do that.

So throughout this sermon, we're going to talk about carrying the presence of

God, living a life that stewards that presence of God requires responsibility.

It requires preparation and it requires sacrifice.

See, the Bible tells us of a generation of people in the book of Judges.

Judges chapter 21, it speaks of a generation. It says, in those days,

Judges 21 · chapter mention

there were no king in Israel. This is before Saul. There was no king.

There was only judges. The Bible says that everyone did what was right in his

own eyes, his or her own eyes.

It's showing us, it paints a tragic picture of what it looks like when you're

a leaderless generation,

when there is no spiritual leadership, when nobody is taking responsibility,

not just in the marketplace or in the public square,

but also in the home as well.

Doesn't that describe the world today? Don't you think that's a lot of the way

that we live, that everybody does what is right in their own eyes?

Truth has become subjective.

You talk to somebody about truth and they'll say, well, that's not my truth.

And they act as if there's not absolute truth anymore.

Churches seek entertainment over transformation.

They're more worried about where's the fog going to land when we start the worship

service so that the fog lands in the right low.

I was talking to a preacher this week, and he was talking about this church,

and he says, we're trying to figure out if we want haze to stay in the rafters

or fog to float on the floor.

And I'm thinking, I don't care about the haze or the fog.

Give me the presence of God and revival to where souls are saved,

and people come to the truth and revelation of who Jesus Christ really is.

But we live in a generation where people are doing what's right in their own

eyes and they're living without the fire of God in the midst of our generation.

You know this has been on my heart for a few weeks now because we must give

our children, we must give our community evidence of what the presence of God

and the passion of God and the Spirit of God,

the mark of it, what it looks like in a believer.

Why? But why does that even matter? You say, Scott, you're awful excited here

at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning.

You know, you've barely even had your coffee and we've not had ours and you're

still excited about this.

Well, it matters to me and it matters to you because spiritual blindness is

not something that just plagues our community,

but spiritual blindness is going to plague our families and your children and

your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren if we don't do something to stop it.

The compromise of sin is going to plague generations if we don't do something

to carry the presence of God.

We're going to raise up, and this is, listen, not while we're here. That's why I'm praying.

God, not while we're here. But I don't want to raise up a defeated and powerless

church generation in the church. I was over talking to Sister Sue the other

day, Sister Stu Adams over in the hospital over there, the rehabilitation center over there.

She's, she's getting stronger. She was showing us she's getting stronger.

And, and, but she said, she said, she started talking about as a little girl coming to church.

She, she's the only, well, she's one of the few people. She's one of the few

people in this church that has seen that that sat under all four pastors,

this church, she said under a brother Freeman, who was the first pastor of our church.

And, and listen, she told some stories.

Okay. So don't hold this against us. All right. But she was telling the story.

She said, man, she said, when I was a little girl, Scott, she said,

I'll tell you, she said, I was running the pews.

I'm thinking, man, they must've been having Pentecostal revival.

She said, oh, it wasn't the spirit. I said, really? I said, what was it?

She said, they had snakes crawling on the floor.

Anyway, she said, Glenn got rid of all the snakes though. And so trust me,

no snakes. All right. No snakes.

But anyway, but she was talking to me and she said, Scott, she said the same

presence and power of God that I felt. My God.

Then and with Pastor Glenn and Pastor Robbie, she said, I still feel that same power.

We started praying right there in that hospital room. The spirit fell.

The Holy Ghost moved right in the middle of that room. See, that's what we need

to be training up and raising up is a powerful generation, not a powerless generation,

because God desires to dwell among his people.

Just like in the days that we read about where the people were doing what was

right in their own eyes, God still desired to dwell among his people.

And so what the Bible tells us was that the presence, the manifest presence

of God was carried around in a box that we call the Ark of the Covenant.

That Ark remained with Israel until it was lost to the Philistines.

The Philistines held the Ark for about seven months. And what the Philistines

realized was you don't play around with the presence of God.

After seven months of plagues, they were plagued with tumors.

Some theologians believe that it could, well, I won't get into that,

but they were plagued with tumors and they were plagued with rats.

And finally, after seven months, the Philistines said, not only do we not want

to mess around with the presence of God, we're bringing it back to you.

And we're even going to bring some gifts and some gold and some fine things

to you because we just don't want to mess around with your God.

So he gives, they give the presence of God back to Israel.

The presence of God, this Ark of the Covenant, it wasn't just a sacred object,

but it was the tangible presence of God in the Old Testament.

This is before Jesus Christ. This is before a new, what the Bible calls a new

and better covenant to where we have the Spirit of God on the inside of us.

And on the inside of that ark, that big box, there was three items.

There were the stone tablets. That's the Ten Commandments. That's God's law

was on the inside of that ark.

There was a jar of manna. Remember that? They were out there in the wilderness

and they wanted food and God allowed manna to come down every morning for them.

It represented God's provision.

But also there was Aaron's rod that budded, blossomed, and bloomed right there inside of that ark.

That was a sign of God's authority and power.

So there it was, the Ark of the Covenant, God's law, God's provision,

God's authority, God's power, everything they needed was right there.

The Ark was in the Old Testament was placed in the Holy of Holies,

and every year on the Day of Atonement, they would come in and make atonement

for the sins of the people.

But for years, they had abandoned the Ark. As a matter of fact,

when it was returned to the people of God, it was taken to a place called Kadesh

Barnea, and a man named Abinadab had cared for it.

For 20 years, the people of Israel had the ark back.

But they did not even go and entertain the ark.

They did not consult with the ark. They didn't go and worship before the ark.

For 20 years, the people of God had the presence of God, and yet they continued

to struggle under King Saul.

See, I believe it's really similar to where we are in our church age today because

there is a true power of God. There is a true change that comes through salvation in Jesus Christ.

There is through a true power in the Holy Ghost. and yet we tend to be more

entertained by the things of this world, but we know that the power of God is over there somewhere.

But David, when David took over as king, David said, I've heard,

I've heard that the presence of God is down there in Kadesh Barnea.

He said, so I'm going to bring it back to Jerusalem. He said, I want to be blessed.

I know Saul didn't consult with God, but I want to hear from the Lord.

The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. And so David,

he began to try to bring the Ark back, the Ark of the Covenant, back to Jerusalem.

In 1 Chronicles 13, it says it this way.

It says, And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon,

Uzzah, which is one of the men that were helping to carry the Ark.

Uzzah put out his hand to take a hold of the Ark, for the oxen stumbled,

and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah because no one was supposed to touch the ark.

The ark was unsteady. It was on a cart. It started to fall and he put his hand on it.

And the Bible says that God struck him down because he put out his hand to the

ark and he died before the Lord.

Uzzah's mistake was he treated the presence of God casually.

I want to get to you this morning that we cannot treat the presence of God casually.

The presence of God is not something

casual. It is something that we could have every day. It really is.

It's something that can be with us always, but it's never casual.

It's always supernatural.

It's always something to be coveted. It's always something to be desired.

The presence of God is something special because this teaches us.

See, what they did was they had placed, I don't want to get ahead of myself,

but they had placed the ark on a cart and tried to cart the ark back to the city of Jerusalem.

In the old law, it said that the ark had to be borne on the shoulders of the Levites.

They tried to do it the wrong way. They tried to teach it casually.

They tried to put on their Christian sweatshirt.

They tried to put on the bumper sticker on the back of their car.

They tried to watch a TikTok video about somebody preaching a 30-second snippet

and act like they got spiritual instead of,

I know, I know, I'm preaching this at 9 a.m., but I'm hoping it marinades and

sinks in by 6 o'clock tonight, all right?

See, what I'm trying to tell you is this.

The presence of God is not carried on the carts of convenience. It's not casual.

Jesus is, I know I used to preach on this back in the day when I youth pastored.

It was popular back then.

There was t-shirts that says, Jesus is my homeboy. No, Jesus is not casual to me.

He's the Lord of my life. He's the author of salvation.

He's the King of glory. He's the Prince of Peace.

And to treat Him casually is to treat Him as less than He really is. He is Jesus.

Amen. Amen. See, we've forgotten here that this manifest presence of God,

I started thinking about doctrine that is related to this, because the presence

of God is revealed in two primary ways in Scripture.

And the first one is God's omnipresence, which if you read the book of Psalms,

you know that means that God is everywhere all at the same time.

In the Old Testament, they said he's Jehovah Shama, that wherever I go, he's there.

He's God right there. Amen. man, Jehovah Shammah, I walk into my darkest hour. He's already there.

I don't have to look for him. He says, feel not far, just feel for him because I'm not far from you.

That's where he is right now. But the Bible also says that there is a God,

there's a manifest presence of God, that he makes himself known in tangible ways.

We see that through the book of Exodus. We see that in the New Testament,

in the book of Acts, and in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was that

tangible way that God was known.

But when the Israelites began to treat his presence lightly,

they lost the presence of God.

I want to say this right now. There are many in our church world today that

they have lost the presence of God.

There are churches that have lost the presence of God because they have treated

the presence of God lightly, and the presence of God is nothing to be taken lightly.

Three things I want you to take home with you this morning. Number one,

it's this. The presence of God must be carried, not carded.

The presence of God must be carried, not carded.

See, here's what the Bible says, because the first attempt for David to bring

back the ark was a disaster.

David was a man after God's own heart, but the first attempt was a disaster.

He had his heart in the right place, but he didn't approach it the right way.

Can I say this right now? There's a lot of people that would love to have the

presence of God in their life, but they may not be willing to make the sacrifice

it takes to have the presence of God in their life.

And so the Bible says this, 1 Chronicles 13 says, And they carried the ark of

God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab.

And Uzzah, and they were driving the cart. And when they came to the threshing

floor of Chidon, we read this.

Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled.

The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. He struck him down because

he put out his hand to the ark, and he died right there before the Lord.

It shows us that the ark was never meant to be handled that way.

The ark was never to be carried on a cart.

As a matter of fact, 1 Chronicles 15, verse 15, says it was designed to be carried

1 Chronicles 15:15

on the shoulders of the priest.

Uzzah died not just because he touched the ark. It wasn't a matter of touching the ark.

It was a matter of he handled God's presence improperly.

The reason the anger of the Lord

was kindled was because he handled the presence of the Lord improperly.

See, we look at this. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew chapter 16,

Matthew 16:24

verse 24, said, if any man would come after, if anyone would come after me,

let him first deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

In other words, there's got to be a sense of self-sacrifice if we want the presence of God.

Too many people in today's world, they want anointing, but they don't want to pray.

They want power, but they don't want consecration. They want revival,

but they want nothing to do with repentance.

And the only way we see the presence of God is through prayer,

through consecration, through repentance, through bringing ourselves to where

we're worthy for the presence of God.

People say, well, doesn't Jesus love me the way I am? He does,

but he loves you too much to keep you that way. Amen.

He does. He loves you enough to meet you where you are, but he loves you too

much to leave you that way.

All right. That's why I preach on that one song. It says he sees me.

What is it? He looks at me, wouldn't change a thing.

Listen, I love Christian music, but that song right there, they can take it

out of the radio because he looks at me and he sees my frailty and he sees my weaknesses.

And it's not his desire that they stay in there. And that's why I got to seek

his face. I got to pray and I got to fast.

I got to see what God is saying concerning my life so that I allow him to carve that out.

Okay, I'm going to go on because Ashley, she's like quit preaching that song

right there. But that's where we are.

Many people today, though, here's what we got to be careful of.

Number one, that we got to prepare ourselves.

Remember, I said this. I said the presence of God cannot be carted.

It has to be carried. I said that because the truth is many people today,

they think the presence of God is a worship song.

Many people today, they think that the presence of God is a high note that somebody hits.

I know I heard somebody say one time, they said, ooh, they sung that note.

And when she sang it like that, they said, I got Holy Ghost goosey bumps.

What does that even mean? What does that even mean? You know,

the presence of God is not a cold chill on the back of your neck when somebody

sings a song that you like. That's not the presence of God.

It's not even a church service where people are running around the building and shouting.

That's not necessarily the presence of God. The presence of God is no— Listen,

I know you can't get emotional.

I know you can't experience God without getting emotional, but you can get emotional

without experiencing God.

So we got to be able to separate the two because the reality is God's presence

is much more than emotional high.

It's much more than that. It has to be carried. It has to be stewarded.

It had to be appreciated.

In David's day, they tried to do it the wrong. As a matter of fact,

you know why they tried to carry it on a cart?

Does anybody know why they try to carry it on a cart?

Preachers, theologians, they try to carry it on a cart because that's the way

the Philistines brought it back to Israel.

See, it was one thing for the Philistines, because I know, I know how you are,

you're like, well, you know, so-and-so can do this, and they get by.

It's one thing for the Philistines to put the presence of God on a cart and

roll that thing back to Israel, but it's something different when those that

are supposed to be called by his name treat the presence of God as casually.

That's why we can't be Philistines, and we can't be like David was on that first

trip, and we can't be, see what David said was, I'll just do it the way that the world did it.

I'll just do it the way that the Philistines did it.

And I want to say this right now, freedom of worship church,

the way, the path to revival, it's not by playing the latest,

greatest, whatever that the world loves.

It's not by imitating the world and everything we say and do.

We must be consecrated.

We must pray. We must fast.

We must seek the heart of God. Amen.

So number one, the presence of God must be carried, carried,

stewarded, hosted, appreciated, not carded.

Some people treat it like they stick it in the back of their trunk,

bring it to church with them.

The presence of God is not your suit jacket you put on when you come to church on Sunday.

Amen. I'm not mad. I'm just passionate. Okay.

People's like, why is that preacher so bad? I'm so mad because the devil is sending people to hell.

That's why I'm mad. There's a scripture in the Word of God that says that hell

hath enlarged himself. You know why?

Because church is not preaching the gospel. We got to get back to preaching the gospel.

Okay. All right. Ashley's saying, move on before you say something that's going to be on YouTube.

All right. See, this is what we get down to is God's presence transforms us, not just moves us.

Can I just say this morning, can I go ahead and just preach the way that I feel

like preaching this morning?

Because JR's like, well, haven't you been doing that? But David himself,

because what we see is emotion is not a bad thing.

David himself was so overcome with joy when he starts bringing it in the second

time that he began dancing before the Lord.

It is natural to feel overwhelmed when we get into God's presence.

Let me educate you. Let me teach you on this. Because what I found in traveling

around the world and preaching the gospel is this.

When I grew up in a Pentecostal church on Thacker's Branch, and when people

got happy, that's what we called it, when the Spirit of God moved on people,

when they got happy, man, they'd run around the building, they'd fall on the floor, they'd do.

I go to Mexico, and I'm preaching in Mexico,

and the same presence of God that I felt in that little church up on Thacker's

Branch falls in Mexico, and little girls with tambourines started dancing around

the building as people weep and cry and shudder under the presence of God.

Same presence, different manifestation.

I go down to Honduras, and the same way people began to dance under the presence

of God, fall out under the presence of God.

Same anointing that I felt on Thacker's Branch where people were running around

and dancing and doing our,

mountain Pentecost thing was the same one as the little girls with tambourines

in Mexico, was the same one with the shuddering and dancing in Honduras,

which the same one when I'm in Tanzania,

Africa, several years back, and the Holy Spirit starts to move,

and they begin to dance all across that building. They were dancing everywhere.

But you know what? Different manifestations, same Holy Ghost.

What we got to be careful of, we cannot label a manifestation the Holy Ghost.

Because your response to the move of the Spirit may be different than somebody else's response.

Because I've got to be honest with you, man. I'll get fired up. I'll run.

I did a few months back. I about fell off that stage right there.

I thought I broke my ankle.

They used to start running when I was at Community Family Church in Northern

Kentucky. And Pastor Tom said, we got a speed limit up here so nobody gets hurt.

But the same Holy Spirit that makes me want to run, I see that Ashley starts crying.

Is her manifestation worse? Is it less than mine?

No. It is a different manifestation to the same power.

The manifestation is not the important part. The power is the important part.

We get so hung up on the manifestation that we're looking for all the different

manifestations the way that we think that it should happen, that we miss the power.

What we got to get back to is realizing that we got to carry the presence of God.

And in today's, listen, today's culture, they jump. And the old church,

we used to have neck injuries because people are bobbing their heads around.

That was the old church. Now they jump. Is it wrong? Is it, no,

no, it's a different manifestation of the same Holy Spirit.

That's more, the manifestation may be cultural, but you cannot exchange the Holy Spirit.

Okay. We needed that because we see this.

If all we ever get is emotion without transformation, we're missing the real

reason for his presence.

I got to say that again. If all we get is emotional without transformation,

we're missing the real reason for his presence.

Here's what the Bible says about Moses on Sinai. It says, when Moses came down

from Mount Sinai, when the two tablets, that was the Ten Commandments,

the two tablets of the testimony in his hands, he came down from the mountain.

Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been taught.

In other words, there was something that had transformed about him because he

had been in the presence of God.

In other words, if you're really in the presence of God, then something is going

to happen to you and through you that everybody is going to notice.

Moses could not hide the transformation from the experience that he had with

God. And I want to say this right now.

You can't either, no matter how much you try to hide it, no matter how much you don't want to be.

There's something about that. We used to sing the song in the old church,

something on the inside, working on the outside, Oh, what a change in my life.

That's what I'm talking about right there.

There's something that happens. There's transformation that you can't hide.

And of course, I had to put that screen, that scripture up every time,

but there's where we are. We can't be conformed. We got to be transformed.

We've got to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So number one,

can't be carded. It's got to be carried.

Number two is the presence of God. These are shorter than the other to,

I promise. The presence of God requires preparation.

David learned from his first mistake. He tried to cart that ark in.

Uzzah died. David was afraid, and so he puts it in the house of Obed-Edom is what the Bible tells us.

And the Bible says that when David heard how the house of Obed-Edom had been

blessed, because the next thing you know, the house of Obed-Edom,

They had more tomatoes than they'd ever had in their life. Next thing you know,

the house of Obed-Edom, they're digging up potatoes, and those potatoes are

bigger than they've been.

The house of Obed-Edom is blessed, blessed. Probably all their kids were born with red hair.

I mean, I'm talking about super blessed, super blessed.

David heard about the blessing of the house of Obed-Edom, and he said,

I'm not leaving it there.

I know I may have done it the wrong way the first time.

Somebody needs to hear that right now. because some of you in this building,

you have felt the presence of God before. Maybe you're not living there right now.

Don't let that be the last time you experience the presence of God.

Just know there's blessing for you that that blessing is still there.

You know where that blessing is? The same place you left it, amen.

He's still right there. You can go back again and get it again.

Here's what the Bible says. The Bible says, so the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves.

They said, we're going back ready this time and to bring up the ark of the Lord. to the God of Israel.

And the Levites, notice this, carried the ark of God on their shoulders with

poles. King James says staves.

And as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

In other words, they sanctified themselves and they started living what they read in the scripture.

That's all we gotta do today. You say, Pastor Scott, how is it that we get in contact?

All we gotta do is sanctify ourselves, get that mess out of your life.

Let the Holy Spirit purge it from you, and you live according to the Word of

God. That's what the Bible says.

They followed God's instructions, not their own idea, and the presence of God was walking with them.

Here's what Hebrews chapter 12 says it this way.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

In other words, the only way you're going to see God is to live a holy life,

to strive for his presence, to consecrate yourself and live according to the word of God.

As a matter of fact, not only does the Bible point this out,

not only am I preaching about it, but according to Barna research,

research shows that churches that emphasize consecration and spiritual disciplines,

they see more spiritual growth in their membership and more actual numerical

growth in their churches than those who do not preach sanctification and spiritual disciplines.

See, why does it matter? Because we've got to be a people that's prepared.

Prepared how do we prepare spend time in prayer daily you

need to do that you need to pray every day live holy live

a life that you know to don't be acting a fool that's what

we're saying right there i feel need to say it one more time

from my recent email and phone calls this week if you if you buy if you buy

a church sweatshirt don't be acting a fool i'm gonna start making people come

to church for eight months before they buy a church now i'm just joking i'm

just joking and you got to stay in the word of God. You got to stay in the word of God.

And then finally, finally, the presence of God requires sacrifice and praise.

This is that part we can't get, we can't get away from, you know,

because as much as I want us to be in the word and studying and I don't want

us to be the frozen chosen either because the power of God, the spirit of God, it's alive and active.

The Bible says it's sharper than any two-edged sword.

When David had finally had successfully carried the ark of God,

had the right people in the right place with those poles on their shoulders.

The Bible says this, 2 Samuel chapter six says, and when those who bore the

ark of the Lord had gone six steps,

he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal and David danced before the Lord with

all his might and David was wearing a linen ephah.

See, what David realized was, I've got something now that money can't buy.

I've got something now that Saul could never do with his armies.

I got something right now that I cherish more than anything that I have. I've got the presence.

I'm telling you, church, when you start realizing the presence of God in your

life, it makes you want to stand up and shout.

It makes you want to lift your hands and wave them to the Lord.

It makes you want to say hallelujah because you realize there's something different

about this presence of God.

Every six steps, they stopped and offered a sacrifice and David danced.

The Bible says, as a matter of fact, he danced before the Lord with all of his mind.

He had married Saul's daughter, and Saul's daughter looked at him and mocked

him, said, oh, hasn't the king of Israel behaved himself before the people of

Israel today? And you know what? David didn't care.

That means it doesn't matter what your relatives think. It doesn't matter what

the people at work think.

It doesn't matter what the people in this community think. When you have the

presence of God. It's something to be celebrated.

Man, I've been down to Tennessee football games, and I look around,

and there's people out there.

It could be snowing, and it could be raining, and there's people out there with

their shirts off, with a power of tea painted on their chest,

and people look at them and say, Man, they're sold out. Man, they're a real fan.

Man, they love their team. And yet you come into church, and you lift your hands

to the Lord, and you say hallelujah, and people say, I don't think it takes all of it. You know why?

It's that bunch out there that I don't think it takes all that bunch are the

ones that try to put it on a cart and put it on a T-shirt and put it on a bumper

sticker, but that's not the presence of God.

You can try to commercialize it and you can try to do it every other way.

Listen, we're going to get them in with bumper stickers and we're going to get

them in with T-shirts. We're going to show people who we, but that's not who we really are.

Who we really are is lived every day of our lives. Let me say this right now.

Oh, man, the Holy Ghost just, you know how it is. He's preaching to me while I'm preaching to you.

And, you know, the reason why we need the presence of God is so that when we

wear that sweatshirt out there,

then that community says, I knew there was something different about them.

I knew there had to be something that was, I could sense it already,

there was something different about them.

You know why we do it? Because when we pop up a billboard or we put out an advertisement

on social media, People see it, and they say, I've heard something about those people down there.

I felt a rumbling in my spirit. I felt conviction, and I know that's the place that I've got to go.

But they don't know unless we steward the presence of God, unless we carry it

in our own life. Ashley, if you'll come help me.

Hebrews chapter 13 says it this way. Through him, let's continually offer up

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

a sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge his name.

We've got to offer up praise. There's a sacrifice of praise.

I know I've heard people say, well, I just didn't really feel like lifting my

hands. Well, that's why it's called a sacrifice.

Yeah. Well, that's really not my personality. That's why it's called a sacrifice.

It's a sacrifice of praise. It's a sacrifice of praise that we owe him, that he's worthy of.

As a matter of fact, our feelings don't make him worthy.

Amen. Amen. I should put a disclaimer on this message, shouldn't I?

It was going to be a little tough today. It's okay, guys. I still love you. I still love you.

We'll go eat ice cream after this if you want to. You're buying. All right.

In 1906, William Seymour prayed for five to seven hours a day for revival.

Five to seven hours a day for revival.

He refused to be a part of a powerless movement.

See, the hunger that he had, it led to the Azusa Street Revival.

I heard this the other day. I didn't know this. I'd never heard this fact before.

That within the first two months of the Azusa Street Revival,

they had produced 50 missionaries that went out into other countries.

Within the first two years of the Azusa Street Revival, they had sent missionaries into 58 countries.

And they called it, oh, what was it?

The walk of no return. Is that what it was? The walk of no return.

Because they said they knew they'd given their heart to something that when

they went on the mission field, they'd never be back.

Because God had called them to it.

And I wish some of us, we came to the altar. We'd made the walk of no return.

That we told the world we ain't coming back. back we told that lifestyle we

ain't coming back we told that habit we're not coming back.

Not going back because I found something better I found the presence of God

I found the presence of God so the reality is the presence of God is not carried

on the carts of convenience,

you can't come in here and just shake the preacher's hand and get it,

if you went to a church that told you that I'm sorry it's not right,

but it's carried on the shoulders of commitment it's something we gotta do every

day it's gotta be something we're committed to every day of our life every hour

of our life every encounter of our life showing people Jesus Christ,

so where do we go where do we go from here where do we go from here,

don't chase after feelings pursue transformation,

don't chase after pursue, you know what if you pursue transformation,

feelings will come I got saved, I just knew I needed changed I tell you,

my feelings have changed too,

I've got joy that right now I could never have before don't settle for a moment,

abide in his presence daily,

finally Don't confuse excitement with obedience.

See, I've been around people in the past that they got in the midst of a lot

of other people being blessed and they mistook it for their own seal of approval.

When they were just in the middle of a church where things were going on.

You know, they say the rising tide raises all ships, right? Some people feel

like they got something. Maybe you don't.

Don't confuse excitement with commitment. There's got to be change there.

There's got to be change there.

Let's do it this way. Let's all stand up all over this building.

Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

Can we just pray before I make my call right now? Holy Spirit,

I just, I thank you for your presence. I thank you for what you're doing in

our lives. I thank you for what you're doing in this building.

I thank you for what you're doing in the hearts of people right now.

Holy Spirit, I just ask you to tear down every barrier, every wall that's trying

to hinder people from knowing you right now.

I just speak the name of Jesus in this place I speak the name of Jesus in this

place, thank you Holy Spirit thank you,

if you're here today every head bowed, every eye closed if you're here today,

my first call is this, if you don't know Jesus for yourself,

maybe you're a backslider we're not going to pull you out make a spectacle of

you you can get saved right where you are,

but if you're here right now and you don't know Jesus maybe you're a backslider

and you'd say Pastor Scott, I want to know him If that's you,

I just want you to raise your hand and say, that's me I want to know the Lord.

I want to give my heart to the Lord I want to know Jesus for myself Is there

anybody here who'd say, I'd like to know Him I'd like to know Him.

Thank you, Jesus. Well, here's my main call this morning.

If you're here this morning, you'd say, I want to carry the presence of God for myself.

I want to steward the presence of God the way that's been preached today.

I want to feel that tangible experience where I know that he's real.

If that's you, I just want you to raise your hand. I know there's people who

already raised their hands. That's me too. I want to know the power of God.

I want to feel the tangible presence of God.

Can we just pray this morning right now? Let's pray that God allow us to live

a life, empower us, give us the grace to live a life, to carry your presence.

And God, help us with the commitment to steward that presence. Can we do that right now?

Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before you. We thank you for your Holy Spirit.

And God, right now, we pray that every believer in this place,

every person in this place, Lord,

Lord, would be a resting place for your anointing, a resting place for your spirit,

God, that you would come in that you would transform us

that there would be real change god change that's

not just temporary but lasting change change that's not just emotional but that

is transformational god let there be change in every person's life in the name

of jesus in the name of jesus amen amen this is communion sunday.