Can You Carry God? The Ark of the Covenant

Cleaned from the live recording. Lightly edited for reading.

Opening

Good morning. Thank you for that warm welcome. You may have your seat. Thank you very much, worship team. You guys sound so cool this morning. Good to see each and every one of you. It's a long time I haven't heard that song. Thank you very much, Minister.

Is He your lover? It don't sound so. He's my lover. Or should I say He's our lover? Some of you still not too sure. If anybody have to tell me to love them like that, I'll question the love. If I talk to my wife and I have to say "you love me," I'll question her love, or I'll start to wonder what I did wrong. But I know Jesus didn't do us anything wrong. We don't have to question that. He is always good.

I'm studying how to get into the message this morning, because it's a message that started Wednesday night and continued on Friday. For those who weren't here, you may be at a loss. Those who were part of the prayer and fasting, those who met at 12 midnight, got the prayer point and a few of the scriptures. I sent it into the mentorship group about two something this morning. Some of you notice when I send things. Once you're in leadership you'll see messages coming through at those hours. Excuse me for that. Anytime after 12 into 5 or 6 in the morning, that's when I'm brightest, so sometimes that's when I'm responding.

Lord, we bless Your name. We thank You for Your presence and I thank You for Your mind. Lord, help me to articulate what You want to say, and help the congregation to be able to hear and assimilate what is being said, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Have you prepared a place for the ark?

Let's start at 1 Chronicles 15:1 (1 Chronicles 15:1). David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. So he not only built houses for himself. He prepared a place for the ark of God.

I asked Friday, have you prepared a place for the ark of God? And I'm asking this morning, have you prepared a place for the ark of God? Then you want to know, what ark can I prepare for the Lord? So my question is, what is the ark? I'm talking about the ark of the covenant.

When you're not there in the previous service, that's how you end up confused. And that's why you see me standing on the stage sometimes looking a little confused, because when I look at your faces I'm asking myself, how do I get them up to speed? How do I get persons up to speed who weren't there, but at the same time don't bore and waste the time of the persons who are diligently coming to those meetings? So I hope during the service you will get unconfused.

Recap: the ark goes into battle

In 1 Samuel chapter 4 (1 Samuel 4), the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines, and they were defeated. And they decided, since we were defeated, let us do something differently. Let us bring in the ark of the covenant and take it into battle with us.

When they brought the ark of the covenant in, the Bible said the children of Israel shouted for joy, and as they shouted, the earth trembled (1 Samuel 4:5). When the Philistines heard the shout and felt the rumbling of the earth, they asked, "What is this?" And somebody said, "The ark of the covenant of their God just entered their camp." Somebody said, the God that defeated Pharaoh, the God that drowned Pharaoh and his armies, the God that destroyed the different nations in the wilderness, the God that destroyed Og, the great giant, the king of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:1-11). That's the God that came into their camp.

But I mentioned Friday night, the Philistines said to themselves, even though the God of Israel has come into the camp, be strong. They will not make us servants. We will fight (1 Samuel 4:9).

And I was saying to the church, God can be your presence, but the enemy will still fight. You can shout, you can make noise, you can sing, but after the singing, the shouting and the screaming, there must be a demonstration of the power and the presence of God.

The Bible said God came into their midst, and they went out to battle with all the noise they made that caused the earth to tremble, and they were sorely defeated. They lost 30,000 soldiers that day (1 Samuel 4:10). Thirty thousand died even though God was in their midst.

I said to the church Friday night, God can be in your midst and you can still be defeated. The presence of God can be moving, and you can be shouting and screaming, but slaughtered, destroyed, taken down by the enemy the next day, because the enemy is not moved by your screams and your shout. The enemy is not moved by how loud you worship.

I know Elder Washington would laugh. He's not here this morning. When you stomp the ground, I remember those scenarios. Earthquake. But the enemy is not moved by that. Just like how the Philistines said, let us encourage ourselves and let us go out to battle. They will not make us their slaves. The enemy is still fighting. Principalities and powers are still in position, saying they will not be dethroned.

Let me say this again. Screaming and shouting and worship don't dethrone principalities and powers. Church quiet this morning.

Satan also came

Why were they defeated? The Bible said one man ran back from the battle, tore his clothes, and ran to the city wailing that the army of God had been defeated (1 Samuel 4:12). This was unknown. This don't happen to the army of Israel. Something tragic took place on the battlefield with the ark of the covenant in their midst. Something tragic took place with the presence of God in their midst. Something tragic took place with the glory of God in their midst.

If you don't understand me, when you read your Bible, Job 1: when the sons of God presented themselves, Satan also appeared and presented himself (Job 1:6). Don't think because the glory of God is present, Satan will not appear.

Jesus was baptized. The Holy Ghost came down on Him like a dove and remained. He heard a voice from heaven saying, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17). And the same Spirit took Him into the wilderness, and the devil asked Him, "If You are the Son of God" (Luke 4:1-3). The Holy Ghost was still upon Him. He was still baptized in the Spirit. But the enemy showed up and said, "If You are the Son of God." The Father just said You are My Son, and not only My Son, You're My Jedidiah, My beloved one, the apple of My eye.

Challenge accepted

Let me put it a way you won't read in the translation. Satan had tried to establish his place among the stars. Those that fell, the ones Genesis 6 talks about, came down and slept with the daughters of men and caused the whole world to be corrupted (Genesis 6:1-4). They wanted to establish seed after their own kind. Their kind produced giants that decimated the earth and brought havoc. God flooded the earth and destroyed them. The whole battle in the wilderness was between the bloodlines of the giants, the bloodlines of the fallen angels, and the children of God. So when God told them to go and wipe out an entire city, all the cities were not designated for destruction. There was a few. If you check those few, they were ruled and reigned by giants like Og, descendants of that bloodline.

So at that same place where they fell, Jesus was baptized, the Holy Ghost came upon Him, and God said, "You are My Son." You are the inheritor. You are the right person to represent Me and My household and My kingdom.

Sonship, the way it is mentioned there, wasn't about a little child. It was a person coming to a certain age where the father confers authority upon him, and he's able to enter legal transactions on behalf of the family, and it's ratified by the father. He represents the father.

So when God said "You are My beloved Son," He was saying You are a champion. Those fallen angels tried. Lucifer tried. But right now God threw out a war challenge. He's saying, this is the King of heaven and earth. This is the ruler of the cosmos. This is the one I have anointed and established to be King forever.

The challenge went out. And the devil said, "Challenge accepted." When He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and the devil appeared, it was challenge accepted.

The Philistines heard a noise: challenge accepted. God might be in your midst, but challenge accepted. After you finish dancing and screaming and shouting how the Holy Ghost has come upon you, the enemy says, "Challenge accepted."

Eli and Ichabod

So we have two contrasting pictures. One man ran back in shame and in tears, sand upon his head and his clothes torn to express distress. And we have Eli the high priest watching what's going on. This is just a quick recap if you weren't here. Thank God for His grace, because you would have been lost in this sermon.

When Eli saw him, Eli asked, "What happened?" He said, Israel has been smitten in battle. They have been decimated. They have been annihilated. He may have been exaggerating, or I'm exaggerating it one or two, but what he was saying is they were sorely beaten. The Philistines put a licking on them. The Philistines put a trashing on them. And he said, your two sons have been killed. And the father asked, "What about the ark of the covenant?" The man said, "The ark of the covenant has been captured."

The Bible said it was not when he heard his sons died. When he heard the ark of the covenant had been captured, he fell backward, broke his neck and died (1 Samuel 4:17-18).

The news reached one of his sons' households, and the wife was pregnant. They told her, your husband and your brother-in-law were killed in the battle. She asked, what about the ark of the covenant? Captured. The Bible said when she heard that the ark of the covenant was captured, her water broke. She pushed out the child and named the child before she died: Ichabod, for the glory of God has departed (1 Samuel 4:19-22). She didn't even name the child after its father.

I'm saying this so you could understand the place the ark of the covenant held in those people's esteem and regard. The father-in-law fell backward and broke his neck. The daughter-in-law's water broke right away. She looked at the child and said, your name shall be called "the glory has departed." Not "your father died," not "your uncle died," not "your grandfather just died." Even though they're important, what really matters is the glory of God. It's the ark of the covenant. And because it was captured, it affected people's lives.

And I ask the question: has the enemy captured the glory of God upon you?

Don't read the Bible like a novel

So we go back now. What is this ark of the covenant? Let me see all the Sunday school and Bible club children. Give me a wave. Children and teachers, what is the ark of the covenant?

I ask these questions because too often Christians read the Bible and just read it as though it's a novel. Have you ever been in an exam where you read one of the questions and you say to yourself, I know this. I saw this when I was doing my revision. But the reason you can't answer the question now is when you were doing your revision, you saw a word there and you ignored it. You didn't check it out in the dictionary. You read the paragraph, you noticed a word you don't know, and you decided to pass it over. Now you see the question, you say "I read it," but now you don't have an opportunity to go and get a dictionary.

So many Christians miss what God is trying to say to them. They miss the revelation. They miss the answer to their problems because they refuse to take time to search it out.

It's the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out (Proverbs 25:2). When you're asking for answers, it's there. But the Bible said what? Seek. God don't throw things on the floor to be found. Ask and it will be given (Matthew 7:7). You need to ask. You need to seek. You need to knock. God don't open doors for people who don't knock. Tell your neighbor, it takes effort.

Many times we think because you get the prophetic word, it comes to pass. No. It takes effort. It takes work. Seek, ask, knock. There's a doing on your part.

What is the ark? A container

Let me hear those who were here Friday night. What is the ark of the covenant? "It's a box." I love that. I was operating like a real teacher. Friday night somebody said it's the presence. Somebody said the glory. See what happened when I asked what is the ark of the covenant? People told me what it does. We don't take that in school, right? When I ask what the ark of the covenant is, people give me a verb. An adjective.

It's a box. It's a container. It was made with earthly elements, wood, and overlaid with gold. It had a body. The elements that were used in those things are always saying something about the contents. A body, and inside the body it had some things. Some organs.

What was inside? The tablets. Tell your neighbor, in that container that's resting on the chair there, you need to have the word of God inside. Put your hand on your head and say, "In this container we need to have the Word." That's what the tablets represent: the word of God inside. And God said, I will no longer write on tablets of stone, but I'll write by My Spirit on the hearts of men (Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3). So inside this container we must have the Word written in the heart.

What else? A bowl of manna. You must have something that brings you sustenance. Anybody know what the Bible describes manna as? You want to tell me it was like coriander seed (Exodus 16:31). But the Bible also calls it angels' food (Psalm 78:25). You must have something that brings the nourishment of God inside. The Bible said you have an anointing inside that teaches you (1 John 2:27). Tell them, there's an anointing inside. If you're not too sure, say, "Lord, let it be." We must be filled.

What else? It had Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 17:8; Hebrews 9:4). Tell your neighbor, there must be something that represents God's covenant with me, God's plan, God's promises toward me, inside. What is it inside of you that's fueling the supernatural? Aaron's rod, even though it was cut off from a natural source, was empowered by a supernatural source. It budded supernaturally.

I hope you're understanding the purpose of the prophetic. I hope you're understanding the purpose of the rhema word. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds (Matthew 4:4). Proceeds, continuously. Which means God is ever speaking. His word is ever active. His word is always alive. Are you hearing Him?

So they're all in there. I hope you can do some introspection and look inside of you and see if you can see those elements in this container.

The mercy seat and the Shekinah

But what made the ark of the covenant extra special? It was the covering on top, made with pure gold. And carved out of pure gold, two cherubim, two angels. And between the two angels, something special: the Shekinah, the weighty, tangible presence of God (Exodus 25:17-22).

Somebody please help me by making a note of some of these things I'm saying, so at some time I can do a teaching to unpack them.

In the outer court there was furnishing. In the holy place there was the menorah, the golden candlestick, that gives light. But when you reach the most holy place, it was totally sealed away from light, and it was the brightest part of the tabernacle. What gave it light was the manifest presence of God that came down and dwelt between the two cherubim, what you call the Shekinah, the glory of God.

In Hebrews it said, let us come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). In the Old Testament it's called a mercy seat. In the New Testament it's called a throne of grace. In the old covenant they needed mercy: steady killing, steady killing of animals. But when Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God, came, the name changed from a mercy seat to a throne of grace. I need to leave that there. We'll pick that up.

Blood sacrifices were offered by the high priest once a year. When Jesus died and He arose from the dead, He told Mary not to touch Him, because He had not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). Why? As the eternal High Priest, He had to go with His blood toward heaven. Not the tabernacle with the outer court, the inner court and the most holy place. He had to go beyond the first heaven, the stars and the birds, beyond the second heaven, the seat of Satan and principalities and powers, to the third heaven, the throne of God. Not the representative Shekinah on the earth, but the real throne that is depicted on that ark. The Bible said He went and presented His blood once and for all as High Priest (Hebrews 9:11-12).

That's a whole teaching by itself. But I'm trying to connect the dots, because when we read these things we are so detached. You read the Old Testament and you detach it from the entire book. The entire book is one book.

So the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat on top of it was representative of the very throne of God. Go to Ezekiel chapter 1, chapter 8, chapter 10. Ezekiel saw in an open vision a wheel within a wheel, carried by four living creatures, and on it he saw God, and he gave the description (Ezekiel 1; Ezekiel 10). And the description looks like the Son of Man in Daniel being brought in on the clouds (Daniel 7:13). Now you're taking me into a different sermon. I think I'm giving you too much.

You are the container

We're talking about this box. This container. This place where the glory of God resides. Tell your neighbor, he's talking about you. Touch somebody and say, "He's talking about you." Know you not that you are the temple (1 Corinthians 3:16)?

What resides in a temple? If you go to a Hindu temple, what will you see? A number of gods. We have one, and He's enthroned. Yeshua. Those who were here Friday night will know that when the Bible talks about the heart, it is not talking about this organ here. God resides in the heart. Let's leave it there.

What I'm trying to convey is this glory. This God that sits in the heavens, Revelation 4 and 5, the twenty-four elders around Him, the four living creatures full of eyes all around (Revelation 4-5). The Bible said He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16). The top of the ark of the covenant had a light on it depicting the true and eternal throne in heaven. Don't worry. There are so many teachings in this, so many weeks' worth.

Defeat because of wickedness in the camp

This glory was on the earth. They took it into battle and should have experienced victory, but experienced defeat, all because of some hardened people. All because of a few wicked people in the camp: Hophni and Phinehas. Read what they used to do in the temple, not just with the offerings, but with the women (1 Samuel 2:12-22).

God spoke to the father, the high priest Eli. I hope you guys are listening. I'm talking to my sons now. God spoke to them and they continued to do evil. And God woke up Samuel in the night and told him, you see your mentor out there? I'm going to do a thing in this nation that will cause people's ears to tingle when they hear what I do to him and his offspring (1 Samuel 3:11-14). I'm going to wipe him out and wipe out his descendants because of this evil. I don't want to say he was encouraging it, but because of this evil that he's not stamping out in My church.

God don't care if you're an elder, you're an apostle, you're a prophet. He don't care who you are. If you bring disrepute to His name and His work, He deals with you.

Moses understood that. God told him speak to the rock, and he struck it (Numbers 20:8-12).

David understood that. The Bible said Satan incited him to do a census in the land to count the soldiers (1 Chronicles 21:1). And when he carried out the census, the judgment came and people started dying, because his might and his strength wasn't in soldiers. It was in the God of Israel. It was something God told them not to do, but he wanted to check his military might and power.

There was another story where one of the men of Israel was sleeping with a foreign woman in the midst of the camp, and a plague broke out and killed thousands of them. And Phinehas, Aaron's grandson, realized what was going on, ran out with a spear and drove it through him and the woman, and the plague stopped (Numbers 25:6-8).

In the midst of where God dwells, you can be experiencing the glory. But when people take it for granted and decide to live anyhow, you can be experiencing defeat.

Achan and the fake gold

Achan (Joshua 7). The city was designated for destruction. He went in and he saw gold and clothes. I don't know, but guys like gold, right? Look at my wife. We got to do something about that. I'm just teasing.

I won't call his name, but a guy who is now doing really well, in his young days as a Christian in a church we used to go to, used to wear plenty of fake gold. You know why he stopped wearing it? Because one time some guys went to rob him, and while they were robbing him they realized it was fake, and they put a good trashing on him for wasting their time. That's a true story.

I'm just saying Achan loved gold and he loved nice things, and he took it and he hid it. And the army of Israel kept going out to battle and they kept losing, and they were confused. Tell your neighbor, when you are a winner, losing makes you confused. When you're the head, being behind makes you confused.

You ever have plenty money, and when you go to the bank you see zeros coming out? It makes you confused. You're accustomed to putting in the card and the money coming out, but this time you just hear the machine and then a receipt comes out: zero. It makes you confused. So they were confused because they were not accustomed to losing.

Here in 1 Samuel 4 they shouted, they screamed, they had a great prayer session, but the enemy decided, we're going to fight. I hope I have some Christians in the house who say, "I'll fight to the end. I'm accustomed to winning, so I will fight."

Samson flexed and nothing happened

Look at Samson. He was accustomed to waking up, flexing his muscles and destroying the Philistines. One night he wakes up and flexes, but just a joint cracks. That's what happened to Samson. No power (Judges 16:20). He just flexed and it was like arthritis. He got cramp. No muscle.

The very people he was accustomed to defeating. One time he walked through the desert, found the jawbone of a donkey, saw thousands of soldiers, picked up the bone and put a licking in them, killed them with it (Judges 15:15). This time he was bound and taken captive, and they gouged out his eyes (Judges 16:21). Why? Because he played with the glory. He played with the anointing. He played with God.

Don't look at nobody, but just say, "Stop playing with God." Stop making joke with His presence. Stop making joke with His glory. It don't last forever. You don't escape forever. Sometimes you end up paying for it, and it might be at the wrong time.

It was okay for Samson. He was in some remote place when he woke up and flexed and nothing happened. But if you have a gun and you think you're untouchable, and during the night bandits break into your house and you pull it out, and you decide you're not going to shoot them, you're just going to bluff them. Wait a minute. Nothing. The weapon that's supposed to protect you did not go off. It stuck. That's when people get beat with their own weapon. That's when they take it out of your hand and give you two hits to your head with your own weapon. You ever see people get beat with their own cutlass?

The glory that was meant to protect them worked against them just by not working for them. The thing that should give you the advantage ends up working against you by not working for you.

Dagon loses his head

That was just the recap. Now 1 Samuel 5 (1 Samuel 5:1-5). The Philistines captured the ark, celebrated, and placed it in the temple of Dagon. When they returned in the morning, this false god had bowed down to worship the God of Israel. They saw Dagon the statue fallen down. And they said, no, no, no. You should not be bowing to the God of Israel. It's because of you we were able to capture the God of Israel. Because of you we defeated the army of Israel. I'm paraphrasing so as not to keep you longer. So they propped him back up and said, you are a god. We have to sing some praises today. Praises of victory. Thanksgiving for the great battle, destroying 30,000 Israeli soldiers.

But when they returned the next day, Dagon was there with just a torso. The God of Israel put one slap in him and his head fell off. He tried to raise his hands, and God knocked them off too. One slap. When they came back in the morning, the Bible said they tiptoed around the threshold, and unto this day they don't step on the threshold, because they found their god's head there.

God is still slapping demons. He's still rendering them powerless and harmless by knocking off the hands and the feet and leaving them a torso. That's what you do to a snake. Chop off the head, throw it in a bin, and watch it wiggle all day with no teeth to bite. God put a good licking on him, and they decided this is not good.

A clash of gods

When they're putting some of y'all Christians out of certain meetings and off of certain boards, this is what's happening to their god. When they're in school and they say, "Let us pray a silent prayer," it's because from the time you call on the name of Jesus, every knee must bow (Philippians 2:10). When you open up your mouth, you're causing problems. So the silent prayer is not because they're trying to accommodate people. There's a clash of gods.

In the temple of Dagon they had a container that housed a spirit. Dagon housed a demon. And then they took another container that housed the very presence of the God of heaven and earth and put them together.

That's why I have problems when interfaith meetings don't break up. Because if I am a container of God, I don't have a problem with you praying. I would do like Elijah did with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:25-39). Call upon your god. Go ahead. Take all the time you want. Just give me the final act. My God don't take long to react. He's not on vacation. He's not sleeping. He's not sick. He can answer right away.

The ark of the covenant is a container that carries the presence of God. Idols are containers for evil spirits. If you understand why they put a hole in the carving, it is so the entity they made it for can enter it. They were both stored in a temple, but the presence of one decimated the other.

You are temples of the living God, and you live among temples of all the demons. You work among temples of all the spirits. Something got to give.

God doesn't need anybody to defend Him

I'll give you something else I said as a wrap-up Friday night. They went in with the ark of the covenant and they got a trashing. Thirty thousand died. But God don't need anybody to defend Him.

The same army that killed 30,000 of them captured the ark that represents the presence of God. And if you read to the end of 1 Samuel 5 and 6, after God finished dealing with their god, the communities started getting tumors (1 Samuel 5:6-12). When they started getting tumors, they sent for their lords and said, what should we do? They said, move the ark of the covenant. When they brought it, more sickness broke out in that city. So they said send it to another city. From the time that city heard the ark of the covenant was coming, they said, "No, you want to kill us." You ever hear demons complain like that before you show up at a house? They said, "No, don't bring it here." They sent it to another city and there was panic and confusion in that city. They didn't want it either.

Then they sent for their priests and their diviners, the spirit people, the kind of people you go to to read your palm and tell you about your dead relatives (1 Samuel 6:2). They asked what should we do, and they said, boys, I can tell you, you got to get rid of Him. This God destroyed the Egyptians. If we keep Him here, we're in trouble. He'll decimate this entire nation. Get Him out early.

Why they keep you out

See why they get rid of some of you from certain jobs? You guys don't understand why they try to keep some of you from certain positions. Because you're causing disruption. They can't function properly.

Sometimes you're going for an interview, and from the time you walk in the door, or before you walk in the door, you are denied. Not because you're not qualified. You might be the most qualified person. But when your God steps into the building, confusion. Demons start running. Things start falling. Things start shaking. You see people panicking, running to hide skeletons in the building. It's you and your God. They can't settle. They said, we need to get Him out of here. Send Him back where He belongs.

And they gave some descriptions: gold tumors and gold mice. You got to send it back. And they said, we can't send Him back empty-handed. Read your Bible. They said we need to send Him back with a guilt offering (1 Samuel 6:3-5). The enemies of God giving sacrifices to the God of Israel.

You know why some persons from other places send offerings to the church? You go some places, and even though they're not Christians, they contribute to what you're doing, and you ask yourself, how come they don't believe like I believe, but they're giving? Because they know the God that lives inside of you, like the God that rested upon the ark of the covenant. They know He's powerful. He's the Most High. Treat Him nice. But don't bring Him close.

Make room for Him

Lift your hands. Early this year we sang a song, "I Will Make Room for You." David made room for Him (1 Chronicles 15:1). Then David moved Him into that room (1 Chronicles 16:1). That's for some other time. Is there room inside there for Him? You need to respond.

A drunk guy came yesterday talking. He wants God to do things for him. This not working, that not working. And he wants God, God, God. So I said, if God help you, what are you going to do for Him? He said, "Boy, that's the question." He couldn't answer that one. But he said in tears, "I was a Christian. I used to go to the and pray for people." He don't know how 1 Samuel 4 happened to him. How the glory was captured. He don't know how he is in bondage right now, but he once had the glory.

Check your life right now to ensure you're living a lifestyle that can sustain the glory and the victory, so the enemy doesn't capture you. He came to capture Jesus in the wilderness with a trick question: if You're the Son of God, turn these stones into bread (Matthew 4:3). He's still looking for how to capture people from worship.

It's time to make room. Tell your neighbor, can you carry God inside of here? Is it okay for Him to move in and live?

Defacing the temple

I remember in my early Christian life, a guy came in to church talking. He said he's a Christian, and I could smell the cigarette in his mouth and some other things going on. And he was really going on. And when he finished, I said, how would you feel if somebody came to your church and messed up the wall and messed up the flooring? He said, "What? That could never happen." And he started going on, a big guy, really zealous for his church. When he was done, I asked, "So why are you defacing the temple of God? Don't you know your body is the temple of the living God (1 Corinthians 6:19)?" He started looking at me. He didn't realize the cigarette and the alcohol he was using were doing the same thing he was so passionate about in a physical church. He said, "No, nobody could do that. My mama would never allow that." I asked, so why are you defacing God's temple?

I'm asking you that indirectly. That's what Hophni and Phinehas were doing. Giving people a bad taste of church when they go to church. Setting a bad example.

Normalizing sin in church

You ever go to some church and you see what's happening, and you say, I didn't know I could do all of that as a Christian? They normalize sin in the church. Normalize thiefing in the church. Y'all don't know Christians normalize thiefing in church? Read Malachi again and see what you're doing when you don't give your tithes (Malachi 3:8-10). You normalize thiefing in church, and you think it's okay because some preacher said something. If he said it, we could ignore the Bible and thief.

God watches, and then He responds. And you wonder how people are always sick in your house. You keep the tithe, but you're paying heavy hospital bills.

We hear people talking when they put in the meter. We pay GPL to fix this meter, but our bill keeps coming higher, higher. Meanwhile others tampered with the meter. When we look at ours, it's light. When they look at theirs, it's heavy. You see what I'm talking about? There's so much we could normalize in church and think it's good, and think God is not seeing. But whatever a man sows, that he reaps (Galatians 6:7). I've never seen nobody plant pumpkin and go out and expect mango. You got to be mad, right?

We treat God a certain way and expect Him to treat us a certain way. They treated God a certain way and went out to battle thinking they were going to win all the time. And God said, okay, you want to do things your own way, I could do things My own way too. I just won't fight for you.

God don't need you

In chapter 4 they fought and they lost. God was with them, and 30,000 died. In chapter 6 none of them were around, and God fought the entire city, and the entire nation, by Himself.

Tell your neighbor, God don't need you. That's what God was showing them. They need Him. I don't think you understand. God don't need you. You need God. Everything you're doing and think you're doing for God, God can do it by Himself.

They were fighting, thinking it was the army. But God showed them: some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord (Psalm 20:7). It's the being that carries My name. It's not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

Lift your hands and say, "Lord, I need Your Spirit." Mary asked, how will this be, since I don't know a man? And the angel said, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1:34-35). What's impossible with men, the Spirit of God makes possible (Luke 1:37).

You need to make room for Him.

Altar call (about 1:55:53 to 2:23:30)

There's someone here, or more than one person here: your Christian life is so cold. Either last night or this morning you've been talking to the Lord about it. It's like the temperature needs to go a little higher. You think you're a Christian, but you're feeling boxed in. You're coming to church, whether online or in the building, but you feel dead. Please come to the altar.

I know that's vivid. That's strong. But it's no time to play church anymore. Here, I'll put it this way: you feel like a Christian corpse. That's how strong it is. Don't play with God this morning. Some of you may be turned off because of how I said it. Like how humans have blood and they're alive, you don't seem to have the presence of God in you. You come to church because you know you need to be there. But if a doctor were to do surgery on you, it would be like a post-mortem. God just wants to help you this morning. He wants to resuscitate you.

There's another group of persons. Minister Sharon, the Lord showed her there's another group. You have reached a certain level, and it felt like the pinnacle. You know there is more, there is another level to go, but for some reason you're feeling stuck there. You can come forward.

It's not whether God is in the house. I am a container that carries Him. There's no time to speculate. Just like the mercy seat, where I mentioned the Shekinah rested on it, God is resting upon you right now. The power of God is resting upon you right now. He's rekindling that fire.

No praying. Don't ask God for anything. Don't repent right now. Just close your eyes and receive. There are times we work hard, and I don't want you to work to get what God wants to give you. God is here. Some of you, when you leave, you'll deal with the things you need to deal with. But right now He's giving you a jump start, a new lease of life. So right now, just take it. Fresh grace. A fresh anointing. A fresh infusion of life.

All my leaders, come quickly. Where are we heading? It starts with leaders. The presence of God is increasing. It's getting stronger. Just take it.

I declare a fresh baptism of fire now. I stir the gifts. I stir the graces. I stir that which has been imparted to you. Come alive. Come alive.

Leaders, you've been receiving. It's time to give. More Holy Ghost. I release life. It's time to open up your mouths. It's time to speak. It's time to do what I've asked you to do, says the Spirit of the living God.

All those in the mentorship program, come quickly.

Sometimes I just do this call because many times we talk about God's glory resting upon us, and this is a little demonstration of how much He responds to yielding. A few years ago I was in a church and a lady who was sick told me she felt the same way, freezing, the entire day into the night. She woke up healed the next morning. Some people feel fire, and some feel like they're freezing. It's a totally different experience.

I command the cancer cells right now to die, in Jesus' name. Every organ that is damaged, we speak life to it right now in Jesus' name. I reverse the works of death in this body now in Jesus' name. I command the spirit of death to get out now in Jesus' name. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is resurrecting everybody (Romans 8:11), in Jesus' name. Amen.