Unto the King | Dr. Jerry Mason

Amen. Let's give the Lord some

blessing this morning. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you. Amen.

Lord bless you. If you'll just stand for just

another moment, we'll hasten to the word of the Lord.

Appreciate those overly kind words.

Quick, quick trip down memory lane.

I the next three steps I took made me feel a little older than

what I thought I felt, but it is reality and it is a blessing

from God and we are thankful for the journey.

Give honor to our Bishop and our pastor this morning.

Our youth pastor and brother Alex, sister Grace and brother

Zach and Sister Malen, the ministry families of this

church. My wife who puts up with me.

I am standing here today because of my circle.

Everybody needs a circle. The older I get, the smaller I

want my circle to be. It just feels a little safer

that way sometimes. But I am thankful, thankful,

thankful for them. Piper's about to say her first

word. She doesn't know it yet, but I

can tell by looking at her. She just, she just wants to say

Pops. I just, I just feel it.

I don't, I'm not saying it's spiritual, I'm not saying it's

prophecy, but I'm, I'm just feeling something there that she

and I might have to have a talk later just to just to verify.

Amen. Exodus chapter 30.

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

I won't keep you standing any longer.

It is Ministry Madness, AKA Month of March in spiritual

celebration of March Madness. It is no secret that I am a

sports fan. I bleed Kentucky blue.

And so I am. I'm honored today that without

plan, it must have been in the spirit without plan, my family

showed up in blue today. I am in blue.

I've got my Kentucky socks on and my my favorite pastor's wife

who bleeds orange shows up in blue today and it, it looks blue

to me. So I I don't know what to say

about that other than I think the Lord is the Lord is kind and

and he, he, he, he is gracious and to those that disagree with

each other. Amen.

Exodus chapter 30 and verse #22 says, Moreover, the Lord spake

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto the principal spices

of myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much even

250 shekels, and of sweet calamus 250 shekels, and of

cassia 500 shekels. After the shekel of the

sanctuary and of olive oil and hen.

We talked about shekels in church a lot, but we don't talk

about the hen or the heen. In Hebrew it is translated as a

measurement, liquid measurement of roughly 1 gallon.

So we're talking about a gallon of olive oil with some poundage

of spices mixed in. Verse 25 says, and thou shalt

make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the

art of the apothecary. It shall be an holy anointing

oil very quickly. First Samuel 10 and one.

Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and

kissed him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed

thee to be captain over his inheritance?

First Samuel 1616 and verse 13. My last verse.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the

midst of his brethren, in the spirit of the Lord came upon

David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to

Rhema for a few moments this morning.

I want to minister on a, on a thought and I'm going to

introduce this thought in the most creative way that I, I, I

was able to come up with and our creative arts team really helped

me out here, Brother Alex and brother Trevor, and I appreciate

that. And brother James is going to

help me because I told you I believe blue and this is March

Madness. Whatever.

All right, So I'm trying to be as thematic as I can be, but

he's going to put slide up and we're going to introduce our

subject for today. Now, if you're not a basketball

fan, you probably don't appreciate what just happened,

but there we have it. I want to minister to you this

morning on a subject called unto the King.

All right, let everything we be do that we do be unto him.

Amen. Would you lift your hands and

just ask the Lord to help us this morning?

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, help us today.

God, we give you glory, honor and praise and Thanksgiving in

the name of Jesus. Lord bless you.

This morning you may be seated. That is a courtesy and not a

command. Thank you for standing.

The nation of Israel, also referred to as God's people, was

a people that God never intended to have a king like the other

nations of the world. Yet we find in First Samuel 8

and 19 nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of

Samuel, and they said, nay, but we will have a king over us,

that we may. We also may be like all the

nations, and that our King may judge us and go out before us

and fight our battles in their disobedience to God's desires

for them, which was to be a people separate and unlike other

nations. A people which heard directly

from the living God and depended on Him for their direction,

their policies, their provisions, their health, their

wealth, their education, their homes, their safety, their

skills, their crafts, literally everything they needed would be

given to them by the great provider.

Yet they insisted that they have a natural key.

They insisted that God's people, who, no matter how much they

send, how much they committed sin, remained even to this day,

His people, despite their insistence to pick and choose

where they wanted to be different and where they wanted

to be like the world. Before we consume our minds with

being too critical of Israel today, we must remember that we

are not much different than them.

It is a common issue among humanity today, not just God's

people but humanity, that we often find ourselves in service

to Him more readily when we need Him than when everything is

going well. In her history, Israel had many

kings, but the first 2 might be the most notable among them as

they set the stage of history for an entire nation that has

impacted our world even unto today.

First there was Saul. I read to you from First Samuel

10 and one how Samuel anointed Saul to be the captain over

God's inheritance. And we read in first Samuel 10

and 17 and Samuel called the people together and to the Lord,

to Mizpah, and said to the children of Israel.

Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.

I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of

the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms,

and of them that oppressed you. And you have this day rejected

your God, who Himself saved you out of all your adversities and

your tribulations. And you have said unto him, Nay,

but said a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves

before the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands.

And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come

near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken.

Focus was put in this passage of of happenings up on the tribe of

Benjamin for that is where Saul would be found.

So Samuel could proceed with the next step in the pronouncement

of Saul to be Israel's earthly king, not just any king, the

first earthly king that Israel would have, but the Bible says

that Saul could not be found because Saul hid himself among

the Bible says the stuff. Now, I want to tell you today

that if they had asked my opinion, I would have told them,

stop the interview process right here.

There's red flags here. This is there's a behavioral

issue right here. This is a big red flag.

The act of hiding among the stuff was a trait that would

later contribute to Saul's failures as Israel's king.

Saul was insecure. Samuel had to repeatedly

reassure him and confirm him for him to continue to proceed as

king. This is an indication.

Some call it. Some writers call it humility.

I'll be honest with you today. I call it quiet arrogance.

It was an ego that had to constantly be spoken to.

This measure of hiding shows itself several times in God's

Word, including when they were fighting a battle with Goliath.

Saul had no intentions of going out and protecting God's people

as their chief. Instead he let a 14 or 15 year

old boy do it for him. Now since they didn't ask my

opinion, I'll tell you Saul didn't work out.

We know the story. His weaknesses, his carnality,

his ego, his me. First my Kingdom mentality

became his downfall. Next there was David.

After requiring Jesse's sons to pass before him, Samuel saw

David, the last one, the youngest one, who had been

independently spending time by himself, just tending sheep.

First Samuel, 16 and 12, says, And he sent and brought him in.

Now he was rooting with all of a beautiful countenance, and

goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint

him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil

and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of

the Lord came upon David. From that day forward.

There are three elements of the anointing ritual for Saul and

David that I want to contrast today.

The oil, the container the oil was in, and the anointing

ritual. Let's first look at the the oil

briefly. Both Saul and David were

anointed with oil. They were not just anointed with

oil, they were anointed with the same oil.

They were anointed with oil that since Exodus chapter 30, we have

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

no evidence that the recipe had changed.

It was the exact same wholly anointing oil set apart for very

specific ministry anointings established by God's design.

Same anointing. All right, we'll come back to

that later. The container Saul was anointed

with a vial of oil, but David was anointed with a horn of oil.

There were several steps of confirmation for Saul's

leadership. But as soon as Samuel laid eyes

on David, the Lord spoke to him. Arise and anoint him, for this

is he. Saul had to 1st get into the

company of prophets for the Spirit of God to come upon him.

Yet while tending to, protecting and providing for sheep, it was

natural for David to worship. It was natural for David to give

homage to his God even when no one was watching him.

Sauls reason for worship was based on an agenda.

Davidde reason for worship was because he had a heart after

Almighty God. Well, I feel the Holy Ghost this

morning. The vial which was anointed, was

anointed for Saul was fragile. It was man made, it was man

shaped, it was easily broken. It provided oil for a kingship

that would depend heavily on human stature and human

affirmation, which would soon crack under the pressure.

The horn which David was anointed by was natural.

It was God made, it was strong, it endured the test of time it

represents and a kingship that was rooted in God's strength.

Amen. In Hebrew, the horn, Karen means

one of its definitions, means the corner of the altar.

Let me stop just for a moment and remind us children of God

that when we get an anointing from God, the manner in which

that anointing is delivered needs to be directly connected

to an altar. It needs to be directly portion

it to our time spent in prayer, spent before the face of God.

The altar must accompany my anointing.

So that leads us to the anointing ritual.

David was not distinguished from Saul by a different oil.

We already established that fact.

The oil was the same, the recipe was the same.

The difference between Saul and David was a different anointing

ritual in a different context. Saul was anointed from man, made

vile as a king that the people wanted.

For David's anointing to be carried out and delivered by a

horn, there had to be a sacrifice.

Something had to die, and from this David became the king that

God chose. This defined a clear separation

between the reigns of both kings.

Saul's anointing, same oil, but in fragile container matching A

kingship born out of Israel's demand for an earthly king.

I almost believe and, and I, I, I, I, I can't say this with

fact. The Scripture doesn't

necessarily say this. This is just my imagination, but

I almost hear the voice of God saying, OK, I've been your king.

I've been your guide, I've been your provision.

And if I'm not enough and you demand a king, here's what you

get. Because there is no evidence

that God chose Saul, not in the way that he chose David.

It was a process. There was development that had

to occur for Saul's fragile ego to get him there.

Samuel anointed him with oil because he was trying to do his

best for the face of God. Samuel warned Israel.

Samuel did everything that he could do to warn them about what

they were about to do. But because of your demand,

let's let me, let me tell you this morning, be careful what

you demand from God because it is very possible that just that

I'm afraid that we believe that, well, if it works out, it must

be God. Not everything that works out in

our favor is God ordained because we still have power to

make our own choices. He gave us the ability to make

our own decisions. So we have to be careful in how

we determine what is and what is not God's direction.

And it can't simply just be what we demand.

David's anointing, same oil, born out of sacrifice, born out

of worship, born out of a pure heart rooted in God's choice.

When the man of God saw him, immediately God spoke to him and

said, arise and anoint him. This is him, this is him and to

this day, if you haven't studied Israel or the the word of God

and and how how things unfold for them from that point forward

to this day, the country of Israel still pays homage to

David. David set the stage of history

for an entire nation that over 2500 years later steel looks to

David as part of their history. Saul was man's choice.

David was God's choice, a man after God's own heart.

Saul tried to set up his own legacy.

David established a God centric leadership that would carry

forward with an eternal plan that 14 generations later would

reveal itself in the man Jesus Christ, also referred to as the

Son of David. The unveiling of Saul's kingship

was met with publicity and with pomp and circumstance.

David's anointing the kingship was a private family ceremony

from which results would not be seen publicly for years.

See, there was a difference in the heart, there was a

difference in the mindset, there was a difference in what they

were targeting. David was an after fame, but

Saul needed fame to make himself feel good.

Saul needed signs to confirm God's anointing was with him.

But from the day David was anointed, the Bible says the

Spirit of God came upon him. The Spirit of God left Saul

because of his failures. David retained favor as God's

chosen despite his failures, because of his worship, because

of his repentance, because of his heart to yield himself to

the king. I want to tell somebody today,

your walk with God is not about perfection.

Your walk with God is not about being everything that you try to

be. Your walk with God is not about

man's affirmation. Your walk with God is about a

repentant heart and a worship heart before the throat of God.

I need you Jesus on a Monday. I need to wake up and say I need

you Jesus on a Tuesday. I need to remind myself, I still

need the Lord. Clap your hands to Jesus.

If you're new to church, if you're new to God, please,

please, if you don't hear anything else I've got to say

today or any day after this, please hear this.

God's not looking for perfection.

Church is not a group of people who are perfect that come

together to measure their perfectness together.

Church is a place that we gather together in humility to say

thank God, I'm not what I used to be.

I may not be what I need to be just yet, but every day I'm

trying a little harder. But thank God I'm not, not what

I was yesterday. And that's only because of His

grace. That's only because of his

mercy. Somebody say thank you Jesus.

So two men were anointed. That's that's important for us

to understand. Two men were anointed with the

same oil with different outcomes.

I have often wondered to myself for for years for for since

we've already established the fact that I'm getting old, I'll

say for decades I have wondered Brother Fred for for years upon

years, maybe most of my adult life, I have wondered how in the

world can can. This is going to sound

judgmental, so please forgive me, but how in the world can

that person do that in ministry when outside of the pulpit?

I know how they act. I, I know and, and if, if

anything else, I'm just going to express to you our humanity, all

right, because just because we're standing here doesn't mean

we're saying we're perfect. We are trying to live above

reproach. But I'm telling you, I put my,

my pant legs on the same way you, you gentlemen do.

But I have I have, I have known and and still know some

ministries that man, they stand here and it's powerful here is

representative of any pulpit. OK, not necessarily this

building man, you see them after church, they won't even look at

you wouldn't even talk to you. They are jerk personified.

And I walk away thinking, good Lord, how do you, how do you do

that? How do you walk around without

humility and have anointing? And I realized it.

It was, I realized it through this study.

I realized it because there's a difference in the heart.

Two men anointed with the same oil, but one failed. 1 succeeded

because the motive of our heart, our purpose, our reason for

pursuing our giftings, it matters.

I will say to you this morning, and I say this carefully under,

under God today, I say this sincerely and I say it very

carefully, but we've got to have more than just anointing.

I, I, I am, I am as I am as guilty as, as the next person of

just praying God, God, give us your anointing.

God, give us your anointing. And I think the intention is

right and I won't stop praying that prayer.

But I, I understand a little bit deeper now than what I did

understand is we need to have more than just anointing because

anointing by itself is not what's effective.

We need to have a spirit and an attitude of everything we do

under anointing, everything we pursue, everything we do,

everything we attempt has to be done unto the king.

It can't be for me, it can't be for my Kingdom, it can't be for

my giftings, it can't be for my talent.

It can't be from my education, it can't be from my Polish and

my know how. It has to be me pursuing him.

I need his anointing, but I need his anointing so that while I'm

pursuing him, somebody else might follow.

Saul was marked as a king like the nations, and David was

chosen by God. It don't get any better than

that. God is not looking for us to be

like the nations. God is not looking for us to be

like the world. He's not looking for us to be

like the church on the next street block.

There's, I don't, I don't, I don't know, I haven't done a

study on this, but per capita, I, I feel like Mount Carmel

might have the highest number of churches any place out there.

We got a bunch of churches and I'm not here to slander any of

them. I'm just here to say that as the

people of God, we're not here in competition with them.

We're not here to be like them. God wants us operating in our

callings and our giftings for Him.

And when we present him, our sacrifice, our worship, our

giftings, our talents, whatever those are, our purpose, when

that is presented to Him, God will work on them.

Amen. So being anointed on its own,

it's not enough. We need anointing to have

purpose. It's presentation must have

sacrifice. It's calling and direction must

be God chosen. May our anointing be from a horn

of sacrifice and not a carnal vile or a carnal decision or

carnal mandate. May we give unto the King today

our sacrifice, our self. How do I give him myself?

Surrender your will. I need to give unto him our

worship. I need to give Him my worship.

When I worship, it's not just for show.

When I worship, it has to be sincere from the heart.

Sometimes we worry about what somebody else is going to think

of us. We will worry less about what

others think of our worship if our worship is centered solely

on Him. Our surrender, our giving to

Him, must be unto the King. Would you stand with me this

morning? Every single thing we do needs

to be unto the King. If we aren't presenting

ourselves to the King, then we're like a man anointed from

the fragile nature of a vial. And then this first bit of

pressure starts cracking. But if we can be anointed from a

horn, if we can be anointed from the corner of an altar, if we

can be anointed from a personal sacrifice where we are choosing

him, there's scripture in the Bible that tells us that when we

pray, nevertheless, not my will, but I will be done.

You know, that's an easy pray to prayer to pray whenever you

aren't necessarily wanting something, That's easy when when

there's no consequence to what you're praying, that's an easy

prayer. But when you're facing a

decision and you and your flesh have already determined how you

want it to go, that's a hard prayer to pray.

That prayer requires sacrifice. It requires a certain level of

humility to say, OK, God, you know what I want, but I'm going

to surrender my will to you. I believe anointing flows when

we get when we yield our self to the key.

Would you lift your hands right now?

Let's call on the name of Jesus. Together, let's present

ourselves to him in a a season of worship here.

There's revelation when we worship him.

There's understanding when we worship him.

So I don't, I don't know what's going on here.

That's all right. When we worship him, when we

when we surrender to his word, when we surrender to his voice

and his his desires for us, we start developing understanding.

We Start learning what he wants for us.

There are giftings and talents in this room today that God has

blessed people with and now I believe God has anointed them

with. But that anointing is not enough

if those giftings aren't used for him.

Got to surrender unto the King today.

This altar is open if you need, if you want to come and pray, or

if you just need a season of worship Today let our heart.

My prayer today is let our heart as the people of God, be center,

focused on Him, be center, focused on his word, be center,

focused on His spirit, on His desire for our life.

Order our steps, God, Order my steps, God as a man, as a

husband, as a family leader. Order my steps, Lord, not

according to my will or your purpose, but God.

Order them, God, as I surrender unto the King today.

This offer is open worship.