In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of following God's will and doing what He asks of us. He highlights the need for commitment, obedience, and walking with the Lord. The speaker also discusses the concept of God's glory returning and the significance of seeking God earnestly. Additionally, the sermon touches on the idea that the Covenant presented to us by God is impossible to keep, as demonstrated by the nation of Israel. The speaker explains that the purpose of the law was to reveal the corruption of the human heart and that through Jesus, we are now free from the old law of sin and death.

I believe God has a specific thing he wants to sing to us every time we gather together. I believe it should be meat in due season. It should be as Jesus said when he said to his disciples, when you pray, say, our father and so forth, give us this day our daily bread. Or give us today the bread of the Lord for today. That's the meaning, I believe. So that the manna that fell in the desert was only sufficient for that day. If they tried to keep it, store it up, it would spoil overnight. And breed worms and stink, it said. Just overnight. But when it fell from heaven fresh, it had the taste of wafers mingled with apple. Very precious food. So precious that it sustained the children of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. Not only sustained them, it kept them healthy, strong. There was no sickness amongst them except when they sinned against God. And yet it seemed, you know, just so very insubstantial, just a fluffy stuff, something like the hoarfrost on the ground, but it just prepared in heaven and became their daily portion. And I believe God wants to feed us with His eternal bread day by day. And He wants to feed His people with knowledge. But not the kind that you get in books or in colleges and universities. I don't mean that kind. Not to say there's anything wrong with books. But no book is profitable if it doesn't lead you beyond knowledge into realms of truth. You say, is there a difference? Yes, there's a difference. There's a knowledge that puffs up and there's a knowledge of God that builds us up. Puffs up or builds up. And so I just trust that what we share tonight, that it will be food for each one of us. That will help us to grow in the things of the Lord. And if it seems a little far out or too high or too difficult, well, just lay it to one side and don't get excited about it. But I do trust everyone will receive their portion. And I believe that's God's will when we come together that no matter what our stature might be in the Lord, that there will be a portion for each one of us. In our home, we had seven children and we all sat at one table. And the little ones might have a little milk or pablum or something. And the older ones would eat stronger food from one table. And so God has His table spread with all kinds of good food for His people. And we don't want to be gluttons trying to store up a lot of knowledge that won't do us any good. But we do want to know what He's saying to us that we might grow thereby. That His Word might be living bread to us. That we might grow thereby and be edified and built up in the things of the Lord. I wanted to talk a little bit tonight about the glory of God. Not so much about the character of God's glory as the fact of it having been lost by the church and how God's desire has always been for His glory to dwell in the midst of His people. Trusting that God will increase our vision in this regard and earnestly seek the Lord for the return of His glory. You say, what is the glory of God? Well, I suppose the whole Bible is written about it. And all creation speaks about it. For David said, the heavens declare the glory of God and firmament showeth His handiwork day after day after His speech. And night into night showeth knowledge. So the whole Bible speaks about God's glory. But just to simplify it as we go on, the glory of God is that manifest presence of God in the midst of His people. That manifest presence of God Himself. And God wants to dwell in the midst of His people. He wants to dwell. He wants you and I to be His habitation. We build churches all over the land, church buildings, church structures, and they're dedicated to the glory of God and they're called the house of God. But they're not. For when Solomon built that great temple, which is probably incomparable to anything that man has been able to build today, at least as far as cost goes, adorned with gold on the walls and even on the floor, and the holiest of all. When he dedicated it to the Lord, he says, Lord, this is not Your dwelling place. He says, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You, how much less this house that I built for You. But he said, Lord, let it be a place where Your name is known so that Your people, any time they're in trouble or in great need, let them turn towards Your holy house and pray to God who dwelleth in heaven and hear from heaven Your dwelling place and forgive Your people their iniquity and heal their land. And he knelt down before that great congregation of people and dedicated the house of the Lord to God as a place where God's name might be known so that even in Jesus' day... Well, before I say that, it wasn't long until the structure became God's house. The structure. And Israel got the notion that we're doing God a favor. You see, Lord, this beautiful house that we built you, don't you think we're pretty good? We built you this big house. And then they'd bring their sacrifices. God, aren't you happy that I brought this lamb or this goat or this bullock? God, You must be pleased with me because I bring these sacrifices. And so it became not an avenue of humility and of meekness and contrition and brokenheartedness when they brought these sacrifices, but they brought them out of a proud heart. And God ordained the sacrifices and the temple and the altar and everything in it and the priesthood for the purpose of reaching His people in their time of need, in their sin, in their iniquity, in their rebellion, that they could come and repent and bring the sacrifices to say, God, I should be lying there in the altar, but here I present this bullock in my stead. And so that which God ordained as a means of grace becomes something that man boasts about. God has to reject it. And so Isaiah the prophet thundered forth denunciation after denunciation against the people of God for their sin and iniquity. And in the midst of it all, coming to worship, bringing sacrifices, and glorying in this great house that they'd given to God. And Isaiah had to cry out, Where is the house that you're going to build me? And where is the place of my rest? Hath not my hands made all these things? But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at my word. See, that's what God's looking for. A people who are poor in spirit and of a contrite spirit and tremble at the word of God. And there's such little of the fear of God left in the church today. Not to talk about the world. Very little of it in the midst of God's people. I mean that real fear of God. Not that tormenting fear, but the fear of God that you love and you fear so much. You don't want to do anything that would displease Him. You want to seek Him earnestly lest you go your own way and dishonor Him. And God said that's what He's looking for. In fact, another prophet said, that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on the behalf of him whose heart is perfect toward me. God is searching. God's looking. God's looking for that right heart. That humble heart. That heart that's set on God. God's looking for it. I know sometimes we think we're looking for God, and God grant that there might be in all of us a seeking heart. But let's always recognize that God always takes the initiative. When we find ourselves seeking after God, it's a good thing. But let's know for sure because God is seeking us out. He's seeking us out. Because God wants a habitation in your heart and mind. That's the only temple God wants. He couldn't find one in the heavens as Isaiah said. Nowhere in the galaxies could He find a habitation. He could only find a habitation for Himself in the hearts of men because man only of all of His creation was made in the image of God. Made to be compatible with the Most High by creation. He is different than all other animals. He made man in His image, in His likeness. That He might have one being in all the universe with whom He could have true fellowship. Not to say He didn't love the angels and the archangels. He created them. He created them to be servants. He has 10,000 times 10,000 we're told that wait on Him, that serve Him. But He needed someone like Himself to be a habitation. To be one that God could communicate with. Have fellowship with. If we once catch a little bit of a vision of what God is really after, it will do much to change our whole way of life and our thinking when we realize what God really is after. I think we should always keep God's objectives in mind. We don't know what God's objective is. We can come up with many objectives of our own. If we know what God's objective is, then I believe we can, by His enabling grace, begin to walk a straight course toward God's objective. And God desires a habitation with men. He desires to inhabit a temple in the earth. Which temple ye are, says the Apostle Paul. God is building a temple. He's building a house. He's been at it for 2,000 years. He hasn't finished it yet. It's going to be finished and it's going to be complete and it's going to be far more glorious than Solomon's temple. And it's going to be by the working of His grace. And He's bringing His temple to a conclusion. He's bringing it to a finish. And so, in saying that, in recognizing and comparing God's temple, God's house, to something that we can relate to as a building on earth, that should give us... it should do something for us. It should cause us to recognize that as God builds His house, from time to time, there'll be something new that wasn't there before. There'll be something new there that wasn't there before. What would you say? Has God changed His mind? No, but you just thought you knew all that God wanted. And so sure enough, there's a foundation laid and it's all according to the blueprints. And someone comes along and starts to build upon the foundation. And we don't do it, but in the church we do it. In the natural, oh, well, there's a superstructure. That's just intended as the foundation. There has to be a building on top of that. Oh, is that right? Yes. And so, other tradesmen come along and they put up the superstructure. Other tradesmen will come in. Electrician or plumber or floor-layer, gyprock people. And we don't say it because we know better. We don't say, well, no, that's not right. Don't you know that this foundation was laid? Yes, I know the foundation was laid, but it was laid for the building of a temple. And the temple isn't finished yet. And so, until that temple's finished, God will continually be doing new things in the earth. People object to that. One man said, God never does anything new. It's all there in the Bible. Well, I know it's there in the Bible. But that's the blueprint of what God's going to do in the earth and in the heavens because this temple that He's building is not only to be the glory of the nations in the earth, but also of the heavens. Paul said right into the Ephesians that God raised Him up to be an apostle to the intent and the outfilling of His ministry that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known through the church the manifold wisdom of God. The greatest thing God ever made, created, was the church of Jesus Christ, which is for display not only in the earth to do a work for God on the earth, but to do something in the heavens that we can't even understand. Paul says to reveal unto principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God. Yes, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. But the greatest piece of God's handiwork is yet to be revealed when He finishes the church of Jesus Christ and God has found for Himself a habitation, a home for Himself to dwell in. And so I believe from the very beginning, and if you read the Scriptures, you will notice, if you read the Scriptures right from Genesis on through, by the help of the Lord, and always remember that, you might gain a tremendous knowledge of understanding of the things of God from the Scriptures without really coming to know God. In all our meditation of truth and our reading of the Scriptures, let's remember that except the Holy Spirit, except we invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to our hearts, we don't really see truth. You say, well, there it is, and that's true. I know. But it has to be quickened, made alive, illuminated by His Spirit or we really don't see what God is saying. You say, you mean that God writes the Bible and we can't understand it? He writes the Bible for us in English or German or French or in the olden days in Greek or Aramaic or Hebrew. But all the time God is giving those words to say. He knows that unless His own Holy Spirit opens that word to the hearts of men, they will not receive it. They will not understand it. They will not know what God is saying. You say, why does God make it difficult? He doesn't make it difficult. He's trying to make it easy. For God, the Infinite One, the Eternal One who dwells in the heavens full of wisdom and understanding and knowledge before which our puny minds just falter completely, has such a great love for the man whom He created in His image and who has now fallen that He tries to relate to that man the realities of the heavenly realm in words that we can understand. He has that difficulty. He who dwells in eternal light and glory wants to communicate His truth to you and I who dwell here on earth. As if, for instance, you go out in your garden and you see that earthworm and you want to communicate with it. What are you going to tell it? What are you going to say? You say, are you comparing me to an earthworm? No, I'm not, but God's people who come to see the greatness of God compare themselves to a worm. David said, I'm a worm and no man. I mean, when God gives them understanding to see the awesomeness of His God, He says, oh God, I'm just but a worm in the dust. So we're not disturbed about that thought. God's men who come to know God, that's the way they feel. But God the Most High wants to communicate to such a one. Let me illustrate God's difficulty. Take the English language, take French language, take German language, ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew. I don't care what language it is. You can communicate to people who know that language. If I'm a foreigner, you can translate that language, even this Bible, from Hebrew into English, from Greek into English. And if you're a master at Hebrew and Greek, well, then maybe you'll say, well, there's a deeper meaning there than our versions bring out. But the chasm between English and Hebrew and English and Greek is very small. Let's refer to it in terms of a few inches. But the light of God's Word that comes to us from heaven is light years away. Let's compare it to one of the distant stars. That's the great chasm that exists between the heart and the mind and the wisdom of God and the heart of man. That great chasm. How can God bridge that? He can't do it with Hebrew and Greek. And we have many translations, and I look into different translations to get a finer understanding of what was said. But in the final analysis, you and I do not come to know the truth except God's Spirit takes that Word that is written there in that book and sheds His light upon it so that we're totally dependent upon the author of the book for understanding concerning that which is written. So that when Paul came to minister to the Ephesian church or wrote this Ephesian letter to the Ephesian church, he prayed that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding and the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. They were Christians. They knew the Lord. They were converted. They were filled with the Spirit. Paul had visited Ephesus. He laid his hands upon many of them and they were filled with the Spirit. They were good Christian believers. But Paul said, I am praying for you that God will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you might know what is the hope of His calling. What is the richness of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all and in all. We can't figure that out. In any words that you can read in any version except the Holy Spirit give us that understanding quickens the Word to our hearts. So always remember that. We must have that quickening of God's Spirit to receive living truth. And so as living truth unfolds within us it takes on greater dimensions. Not that there was anything wrong with that simple gospel message you received when you heard the word of truth and God quickened it to your heart that by grace are we saved through faith and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God. Not that there's anything wrong. It's right. But God grant that we'll have that enlargement in our spirit to know that there's so much more that God wants to reveal concerning Himself and concerning His purposes in man because all of God's eternal purposes are wrapped up in the church of the living God which He created for Himself for His own glory. And let's remember that. Church is God's creation for His own dwelling place His own glory. Does God need a dwelling place? He does. Not a structure to keep Him from the elements that we have but a place that He could find communication and compatibility with some creature. And man was the only one because God specifically made him in His image and likeness. One with whom He could be compatible and have communication and fellowship. So this matter of you and I being called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ is no small thing. God is doing it for His own glory. And let's always remember that. It's for His own glory and praise that He created us in you in Christ Jesus and is now knitting us together by the bonds of His Spirit till He has in the earth a body in whom He can dwell in all His fullness. The church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all and in all. Can you receive that? That Jesus Christ, exalted at God's right hand, is said to have taken up His habitation in church which is the body of Christ and the fullness of the Christ. The full expression of the living Christ. You say, is that a fairy tale? I don't see that. No, I don't see it either. But thank God for the day when I came to understand that that which I don't see in manifestation is a promise. It's a promise from God that this is what He's going to have. I didn't always see that. I used to read some glorious thing like that and too bad it didn't happen, too bad it wasn't working out that way until I realized that God sent forth His Word into the earth giving this glorious promise. It stays on the earth till it happens. That's what Isaiah said again. For the rain that cometh down and the snow from heaven and watereth the earth, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater shall not return to me void or empty, but it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I have sent it. You say, yeah, nice Scripture, but let the Spirit of God quickly into our hearts. God says, when I send My Word into the earth it's like rain from heaven. I won't take it back until it fulfills the purpose for which I sent it forth. And so there's many precious words that have come out of God's mouth that linger in the earth. We read it and say, well, you know, it hasn't happened, has it? I wonder if it ever will. That living Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord will not return to God empty. It will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it forth. So before God let His people into the land of their inheritance having brought them out of Egypt, He caused them to pause at Sinai to learn of God's holiness, God's nature, God's character, that He might be able to come and dwell in the midst of His people. And so He told Moses, He commanded them, tell the children of Israel to build me a tabernacle that I might dwell among them. Did you ever notice that? That the tabernacle is for God's dwelling place? Let them build me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them. We're not going into that in great detail except to say that God kept them there at Sinai for about 11 months to prepare this tabernacle. And that's a whole subject in itself, a beautiful study on New Testament truth, truth concerning the church of Jesus Christ right there in the tabernacle in the wilderness. For every article of furniture, every tent pin, every curtain, every veil, all the bronze and the golden vessels all speak of some aspect of the living Christ relative to His habitation amongst men. And part of that equipment was what was called the Ark of the Covenant. It was just like a box, but it was overlaid with solid gold. It was called the Ark of the Covenant because in that box they put the tables of God's covenant which God had written with His finger on Mount Sinai. He did it twice, but the first time Moses broke them because of the apostasy of the children of Israel. But God doesn't give up because of human failure. God doesn't say, well, I tried at least. He might have to do it again. But when He does it again, He makes provision so that it will be something lasting and permanent. And so when Moses failed and broke the tables, God said, well, get two more tables and bring them up and I'll write my law upon the tables of stone which you break. At this time, He says, put them in the Ark of the Covenant. So Moses brought down the tables of stone and he put them in this golden box. There's something else that went in there. See, all this is... I'm just trying to rush through it because you get into so many different aspects of teaching in all these areas. God was telling us that the covenant that is presented for you and I to keep is impossible. He proved it through a whole nation. He gave them His holy law. And He proved conclusively they couldn't keep it. Paul had to come on the scene in the midst of all that legalism and show the people that God gave that holy law to show them the corruption of their own hearts. And that now the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the old law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and forced Him to condemn sin in the flesh. The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. And so, what's the difference between the Old Testament and the New? The Old Covenant and the New? The one was external. We can't keep it. God says put the tables of the law in the ark. And Paul said, He's written the law upon our hearts. And that's the new covenant. I wish we could understand that. That the New Covenant is not just Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. All that is the written word concerning the New Covenant. But the New Covenant is what God said it is. This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, said the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and on their minds will I write them. And I will be their God and they shall be My people and they shall not teach every man his brother. Every man his neighbor saying, Know the Lord for all shall know Me from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and their transgressions will I remember no more. God says the covenant is God Himself writing His holy will on our hearts and minds. So that must become our vision, our hope, our desire that God writes His holy word within us. On our hearts first, because with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. But on our minds, because our minds have to be renewed. God gave us a mind to use, people say. I've got to use it. Nobody wants that old mind crucified that you might have the mind of Christ. Renewed. Being renewed in the spirit of your mind. God wants to write His holy will upon our hearts and our minds. Anyway, the tables of the covenant were put in the ark. Something else was put in there. Aaron's rod that budded. We can't go into that or it will be another 15, 20 minutes. But when a controversy arose in Israel as to who was God's man, God says bring a rod. All your tribes, bring your rod and put them in by the ark here and we'll let God vindicate who His voice is. And they all brought their rod and Aaron brought his rod. And in the morning, all the rods were the same and he handed out, here's your rod, here's your rod. But Aaron's rod overnight drew an almond tree and blossoms and almonds overnight. God says put that rod in here. You see, all these things tell us what there is in the new covenant and in the place of God's glory because this ark became the place of God's visible presence in Israel. And this ark had to be prepared first because it all speaks in type of our Lord Jesus Christ who was the living expression of God's law and God's covenant and God Himself and the earth. He was that living expression of the Father. Walking in total harmony with the will of God. The covenant of God inscribed in His heart. Having in His heart that resurrection life symbolized by Aaron's rod that budded. And also, Aaron's rod that budded, the tables of the law and a golden pot of manna. We talked about the manna briefly. God says to Moses, take a pot of it and put it in the ark. What would you say? I thought you said it would spoil overnight. Oh, yes. But not when it's put in the ark of God. There's where that living bread remains fresh and eternal as long as it's there in the place of resurrection life. So God wants to feed you and I with that living bread. Even the Lord Jesus Christ. That manna that fell in the desert was but for a season for 40 years. They never had it before or since. God wants you and I to eat upon the living, the eternal bread. The living Word of God. Not just the Bible, but that Bible taken by the Spirit of God and made alive within us. Made to be a living Word within us. So anyway, this was the place where these symbols were put. Over it there was the cherubim of glory, they were called, overshadowing the mercy seat because the cherubim were heavenly creatures who spoke highly of God's holiness and righteousness, His awesomeness, His majesty. And there they were in the place of our redemption at the mercy seat. Their mercy seat sat over top of the ark. And so those cherubim which were placed in the Garden of Eden to keep man away from God and from the tree of life because of his sin are now at the place of redemption to welcome us back into the presence of God. Oh, there's so much to it. But God said, this is what I want to emphasize. God said, when you put the ark in there, He says, Aaron will come in to the holiest of all with the blood of the sin offering and sprinkle it there upon the mercy seat and there I will speak with thee and there will I commune with thee from between the cherubim above the mercy seat. God says, that's where I'm going to dwell. So all that speaks of heavenly reality. Symbols I know, earthly symbols so that you and I can picture it somewhat. But except God reveals it by His Spirit, we still don't see it. But before they could go in and take their inheritance which God had given them, they had to have this sanctuary. And then when the glory of God came down and filled that sanctuary, God Himself hovered over that ark. And the ark of God then becomes a symbol to you and I of God's presence dwelling in the midst of His people. A place of life, a place of resurrection life, a place of redemption, a place of the living truth, a place of that living bread that does not go into corruption. Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. So the glory of God dwells between the cherubim and the mercy seat and the ark of the covenant. And when they went into Canaan, they had to face strong enemies. And God said, the ark of the covenant will go before you into battle. And you will not fail in battle as long as you move in My direction and walk in obedience. The priests shall bear the ark of the covenant as they go into battle and they shall say, Rise up, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered. I said I was going to mention somewhat concerning the departure of the glory. I'm leading up to it. But first of all, I want you to see that the glory of God in the midst of His people is that which gave them life. It gave them protection. It gave them health, physical as well as spiritual. It gave them victory over their enemies. And surely we can recognize that that glory has departed from the church of Christ. It's just not there. And so they took the land and they dwelled in it many years. And God was continuing to do new things. But when man fails, God doesn't give up on His plan or His purpose. That plan or purpose may be delayed, but God doesn't forsake it. But even in the hour of human failure, God is preparing vessels where He can once again come and dwell in the midst of His people. And as is common with man, when they fail, they trust in the structures that God provided in times past. They trust in that. The glory is gone, but they still trust it. It happened in the days of Eli who was one of the priests of the line of Aaron. The priesthood had become corrupt. The sons of the priests who were ministering in the priesthood were immoral. They were covetous. They had no respect for the sacrifices. They had no respect for the hearts of the people. No respect for God. And God warned them that He was going to remove His glory if they didn't repent. I believe God is warning His people. Reminding His people that too long have they been content to do their own thing without the glory of God, without His presence. And that God wants to return to His house, but before He can return to His temple, there must be heart-searching, there must be contrition and humility, there must be a seeking of God. There must be a humbling before God, before His glory can return. But in the day of great apostasy, God is always faithful to prepare a people for a new moving of His Spirit. Let's never forget that. You know, we see much trouble. Most Christian leaders are aware that we're in trouble. And it's good to see that. Even though perhaps in some areas there seems to be sort of a triumphant sound, you know, we're okay because we built a $3 million church and it's full of people and the money's coming in. By and large, I think, in many of God's ministers, there's an awareness that things aren't just working out the way they should. The church is just not what it's supposed to be. It doesn't measure up to New Testament standards. And it's good whenever we see that earnest seeking after God and people become aware something's wrong because God's known that for a long time. And it's good when His people come to recognize it. Eli knew there was something wrong. He was helpless to do anything about it. He was warned by prophets. I'm going to remove the glory of God from this tabernacle if you don't do something about it. But the task seemed so hopeless. He wasn't willing to deal with his rebellious sons. What happened? Anyway, in the meantime, God raises up a Samuel. Remember this. I suppose most of you, as you look abroad upon the church scene, you feel a certain discouragement, a certain sense that, well, it's not what it used to be. It's not what it should be. And what can we do about it? Be encouraged to know that God saw the problem long before you saw it. And that God, when He saw the problem, began to make preparation to do something about it. He's doing it today. And I believe this is another day of transition when God is going to move out of one system into another. Not in any sense changing His plan. Any more than when the foundation is laid and the carpenters come along and start to raise the superstructure. It isn't that God changed His plan. We just don't know what God's plan is. We don't know what the plan of the architect was. So we think, what's going on here? Weren't those concrete men, didn't they know their job? Oh, yes, very well. But now's the time for superstructure. So God is always doing new things. Man comes in and messes things up a little. God comes on the scene and He doesn't get too disturbed about it. He raises up prophets and teachers and apostles and begins to do the work of tearing down the old to make way for the new. That's what He told Jeremiah. Jeremiah said, I'm going to send you to be a prophet to a nation. Jeremiah said, I can't even speak. I'm just a young fellow. God says, I'll put my words in your mouth. And I've sent you to overthrow, to destroy, to tear down, to pull down and to build in the plan. I know a lot of people get discouraged when they look around and they see the coming down of things. Things are coming down. Big ministries are coming down. Big temples that they built for the glory of God are in bankruptcy, taken over by the banks. And we kind of get, you know, what's wrong? God said He's going to tear down, He's going to pull down, He's going to destroy everything that's not of His Spirit, and then He's going to build and He's going to plant according to God's plan and purpose. He's going to do it. He hasn't forsaken His vision, His hope, His purpose in His people. So here was a man rising up right in the tabernacle. That old tabernacle that was once in the wilderness is now a shiloh. Hannah, a godly woman who wanted to be fruitful in Israel, desired to bring forth a son to the glory of God, sought God earnestly for a son. God kept her barren, kept her barren, until the point came where she was almost desperate. And she made a commitment to the Lord that was so heavy, so weighty, so all-inclusive that God immediately heard. She says, Lord, if You will give Thine handmaid a man-child, I'll give him back to You and he'll be Yours all the days of his life. And God heard her and He gave her Samuel. And she called him Samuel because the name means asked for. She had prayed for him. She called him Samuel. God hath heard. She gave him to the Lord. You know the story. She took him down when she could wean him. Took him down and left him there with Eli. And he grew right up in that corrupt system. Grew right up in it. God grooming him for the day when that whole system would collapse and here would be a true voice in Israel. And it happened. And the Philistines were harassing God's people. And in one desperate gamble, they came to Eli and they said, Give us the ark of God. God's enemies always cringed before that ark. Oh, Eli said, I can't let that ark go. But they said, We're in trouble. We're going to be defeated. If you don't, And so fearfully, Eli released the ark. And he sent it out in the front of the battle. The Philistines, What's going on here? They heard a great shout amongst the Israelites. Oh, they said, The ark of God has come back into their camp. And they were afraid. He said, These are the gods that opened up the Red Sea. These are the gods that destroyed enemies. Be strong, you Philistines, and fight. And they fought and they captured the ark. God's living presence was no longer there, but it was the place that was intended to be. The place of God's visible presence. They captured the ark. And a messenger came running back into the camp at Shiloh. Eli was sitting there fearful of what might happen because the battle was raging. And the messenger came back and he says, The ark of God has been captured by the Philistines. Eli fainted, fell backward, broke his neck and died. And then the word spread around the camp and Hophni and Phinehas, his sons, were out there with the ark and they were slain in battle. And the word got around that Hophni and Phinehas were slain. And when Phinehas' wife heard the news, she was heavy with child and the excitement of it, the tragedy of it caused her to immediately bring forth and in her dying moments she said, Call them Ichabod, for the glory has departed from Israel. Call them Ichabod, for the glory has departed. He grew up a priest and had his portion of the priesthood in Israel, but the glory had gone! The presence of God was not there. It's funny, you know. No, it isn't funny, but tragic. Somehow the glory of God can depart from his people and they can carry on, as far as they're concerned, the same as before. The glory of God has departed from the church and the church doesn't know it! At least Eli knew it. At least Phinehas' wife knew it. The glory of God can go out the doors and we don't see anything different because man can come in with all his glory and we don't know the difference. Man can come in with his psychology. He can come in with his entertainment. The church is bringing in musicians that are playing rock and roll and stuff that the devil uses out there. Well, they're using it and they're getting results. We'll bring them in the church and we'll get results. God isn't after results. He's after a people shining forth with his presence and glory. The only way that's going to bring victory to the people of God. So what do we do with our sick? Send them off to psychiatrists and hospitals and doctors. I'm not condemning that. We've used them occasionally, raising seven children. Very rarely, but we have used them. I'm saying that God's way is that we, his people, will have the Lord as our healer. I am the Lord that healeth thee. And you shall have total victory over your enemies and no man shall be able to stand before you for I am Jehovah Nissi. I am Jehovah the conquering one. Let's not deceive ourselves thinking that we're a triumphant and glorious church when we're anything but that. But we don't despair either because we just see God's principles all through the Scripture that when man fails, God is already preparing a people for the day when he will come on the scene and do something about it. This is a day of human failure once again. And once again, God's preparing a people. Not in the colleges and universities and theological seminaries. Preparing people in the ordinary walk of life and calling such ones as he called Moses looking after the sheep to lead a nation. As he called David looking after the sheep there in Bethlehem to make him king in Israel. Now, as he called Joseph, a young lad, zealous for righteousness, putting him through many hard trials because God's prepared ones, God's disciplined ones are not prepared in seminaries and universities. And I'm not saying that there's no place for those things, but when it comes to the knowledge of God, there's no place for it. God's preparing a people in the ordinary walk of life. No matter what your walk is, if God's given you a job to do, be faithful in doing that. And according to your faithfulness and attending to the menial obligations of life, so will God account you to be faithful for a ministry in his kingdom. He calls Moses a shepherd. He calls David a shepherd boy. He calls Amos a farmer. One who looked after sycamore trees. He called Peter a mere fisherman. And why is it that we think that God is calling intellectuals? He does call a few, but Paul says not too many. Not too many that are wise and noble, but God's chosen the foolish things of the world, the base things of the world, the things that are despised, yea, and the things which are not. Did you ever think of that description of yourself and myself? Things that are nothing? For what purpose? So that he can bring to nothing the things that are. It took a long time for the people of God to seek God earnestly enough that that glory could return. Wasn't it that God quit working? Samuel was there giving true words from God, but the people weren't hearing it. And after about 38, 40 years of that, they got tired of it, and they said, we want to have a king like the other nations. Sound very familiar? I guarantee that if this little group here grew a little, and you got a hundred people, there'd be someone saying, we've got to have a king here to run things for us. Moses said, God's been faithful, hasn't he, to lead you? Yea, but we want to be like the nations. So God gave them a king. His name was Saul. And Saul was very active, very wise, very energetic, very prosperous, very victorious in battle. But he was not God's way. Man desired it, so God gave him the thing they desired. And God blessed them. People say, well, it seems to work. When you point out God's way, this other way seems to work better. Have one man there that's the kingpin to run things, and we'll pay your wages and our tithes, and we'll be behind you, but you run the show. We'll support you. I'm surprised how gullible some of God's people can be in supporting some of these kings that are in the church. All that's going to come down. But in the midst of it coming down, God is preparing hearts all over the earth of people who love the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're going to see them rise up out of obscurity and go forth in His name manifesting the glory of God to nations. It's happening in some nations. It hasn't happened here yet because we're too prosperous in the natural things. We have no time for the spiritual. It's happening in third world countries where ordinary people are moving in the power and anointing of God. Great things are happening. God hasn't forsaken His people, but He's preparing a people in the midst of the gross apostasy that the church is in today. Out of the ruins of what seems to be the old church order, God's going to raise up a people for His glory. It's before we close. It took about a hundred years, but now David is on the scene. He went through a lot of hard trials, difficulties, desperate situations where he despaired even of life. God's chosen ones go through hard places. Don't get carried away with the thought, well, I'm a Christian now, so everything's going to work out nice and rosy. That's not the way it is with Christians that are New Testament Christians, Christians after God's order. Paul says you're appointed unto tribulation and affliction. Writing to the Thessalonians, he says it happened to you, you saw it happen, and that's just the way it is. You're appointed unto tribulation. You say, why? Doesn't God love us? Yes, He loves you so much. He wants to test you and prove you. To remove from you and I all self-confidence, all confidence in our own abilities, our own wisdom, our own strength, our own initiatives. When God can rob us of all that, He has found a vessel that He can use for His glory. Read the book of Judges, and you'll see how that invariably God would pick the handicapped one. Pick one who wasn't anything of any account in Israel. Shamgar is the man who drove oxen in his farm work. One day something came upon him, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. He was so angered against the inroads of the enemy against him, he took the oxcoat he had and went out and accomplished a great victory with an oxcoat. Another man was left-handed. Benjamin. Elihu, was it? It says he was left-handed, or the Hebrew says he was bound as to the right hand. In other words, his right hand was sort of, you know, if you're left-handed, you're out of joint with the rest of society. This was made for the right-handed person. I guess nowadays there's so many left-handed people, they're making things for either hand. Here is a left-handed man. Sort of an oddball. Something came upon him, the Spirit of the Lord. Israel was in great difficulty, great trial. Harassed by the enemy. And he goes right down to the king, right down to the palace. Knocks on the door. He says, I've got a message for the king. And so I guess they pressed him down, you know. No sword on his left side, so I guess you're okay, you don't have any weapons. He was left-handed, so his was on the right side. Secret message for the old king. And he went into the parlor where the king was sitting and took out his dagger, which was on his right side, because he was left-handed, and he took it and slew the old fat egg-man who was oppressing the people of God and ran away and blew a trumpet and called Israel to battle and delivered the children of Israel. I mean, just read the judges and you'll see how God uses the insignificant, the poor, the insufficient ones, the handicapped ones, the ones that are nothing, to accomplish God's purposes. Why is it today we've got the notion you've got to be an intellectual, you've got to go to college, you've got to go to university, you've got to have all these studies in philosophy, the philosophies of the ancient Greeks. They're studying that in Bible school these days, the philosophies of the ancient Greeks, and by that they never come to know God and now they're teaching it in Bible schools. God just wants the people that know Him. And you know Him as you follow Him and walk in obedience. Gideon, another one, a good-for-nothing, a nobody, least in his father's house, fearful of the enemy, threshing out grain in the winepress because it wasn't the time of grapes so they wouldn't look in there. It's the time of the harvest of the grain so he was in there. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and hailed him as a mighty man of valor. Who, me? I'm the least in my father's house. And so, Go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel. You know the story. He had 32,000 valiant Israelites to go against 135,000 Midianites, at least that down in the valley below them, described as in numbers the sand of the seashore. He only had 32,000 men. And God said, you've got too many. Why is it if the world has a million, we've got to have a million to match it? You know, if the world can make an impression on Washington, we'll raise a Christian army and we'll go down and we'll march around Washington. We'll show them what we've got. Or Ottawa. And God says, you've got too many. And he sends home 22,000, leaves them with 10,000. And God says, you've still got too many. Bring them down to the water and I'll tell you the ones that are going to be in my army. And 9,700 were sent home. And Gideon was left with 300 men against 135,000 Midianites. Do you know what he gives them as a weapon? A little oil lamp, a pitcher, and a trumpet to fight 135,000 Midianites? You see, God's ways are so different. So different from man's. Man's way isn't working. Why won't we return to God? God says, my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. That's bad enough. But they've hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that don't hold water. So many broken cisterns in the land that don't hold water because they've forsaken the Lord. The fountain! You can't put a fountain in a cistern. You can't put a fountain in a cistern. Try putting the Columbia out here in a cistern. You can't put the river of life in a cistern. You try it and you say, God started our denomination 200 years ago. Oh, Martin Luther or John Wesley or John Knox or Calvin. God started this. No! God's living truth is a mighty river. You don't corral that. You don't put that in a cistern and say, here, this is something God started. God flows as a mighty river. And those denominations start because man says, we better try and control that river. It will get unclean. We better get some of it and put it in this cistern. So you dig a hole there and you put some of the Columbia River in and say, now we're going to keep the Columbia River pure and clean. Because now we've got it under control. It just doesn't work. The only way a river can remain clean is by constantly flowing and constantly receiving that fresh supply from the source. So with a lamp and a pitcher and a trumpet, they went out in the hillside. They didn't go down starting to snipe against the Midianites. Oh, of all the snipers we got in the church today. Do something for God at least. Get out there and snipe. Do something. Yet in an ordinary army you couldn't do it. You're under military orders if you're in one of Earth's armies. You do what you're told. No more and no less. And now it's the case, well, do what you can, you know. Do something to harass the enemy. Gideon says, you stay here in the hillside. There are three companies. He says, you just do what I do. No more. No less. Don't shout. Don't blow with the trumpet. Don't lift up your lamps until I do it and then you do it. Very simple teaching to you and I that we are to do simply and only what the Lord Jesus tells us to do. It's as simple as that. That's why He sent the Holy Spirit when He went away. To dwell in our hearts that He and the Holy Spirit would take of Christ and reveal it to His people. Whatever God is accomplishing in the heavens, whatever He wants done in the heavens, His servants on the earth who are in union with Him hear the voice of the Spirit and they just do what He says. And it's as simple as that. I'd rather mention here how Jesus was down at the pool of Bethesda and there was a multitude of sick folk lying around there and He didn't go around trying to heal them all. He didn't try to heal anybody. The Father led Him there to go and walked down stepping over cripples and saw this man. And He said, would you like to be made whole? He said, impossible. I can't get to the pool fast enough when the waters are troubled. He said, take up your bed and walk. As far as I know, Jesus walked out and never healed anybody else. People say, why would He do that? Because He was in the yoke of the Heavenly Father. He just did what the Father bid Him to do. No more and no less. And He has that simple requirement for you and I. No more and no less. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. First of all, He said, come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. Rest in taking Christ's yoke. Because in Christ's yoke, you just walk with Him and you do anything He says for you to do, but you don't figure out ideas. You don't come up with ideas and opinions and good strategies and innovative methods to try and get a job done. You just do what the Father says. That requires commitment, obedience, walking with the Lord. But it's within our reach. It's in the realm of possibility. It's in God's requirement of us that we understand what the will of the Lord is. God wants us to simply do that. No more, no less. Gideon says, do as I do. At the right moment, Gideon blew his trumpet, shattered the pitcher at his feet. For Paul says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency may be of God and not of ourselves. Lift up the lamp. God wants the people to just shine forth with the presence of the Lord Jesus. His glory is returning. Time is running out. The days of David. When David realized after much affliction and trial that God had established the kingdom in his hand, God put it in his heart to bring back the ark. For they inquired not at it in the days of Saul, a mighty king who ruled 40 years in Israel. They didn't inquire at the ark of God. Why? We have Saul. He's our king. He's wise. He's knowledgeable. He's got power. We're behind him. God did bless him for perhaps 40 years. It wasn't God's way and it wouldn't last. In the meantime, just as God was preparing Samuel in the days of apostate priesthood, so now he was preparing David in the days of an apostate kingdom. And the old kingdom fell flat. God wasn't caught by surprise that David was ready prepared to the Lord through much trial and affliction. And he said, let's bring back the ark of God. For we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. So he sent the priest down and the singers and they got the ark and they made a cart for it, brought it up to Jerusalem or on their way to Jerusalem with singing and shouting. Oh, there was a lot of hilarity. The ark of God's back until two men who were driving the cart, Uzzah and Ahaiah, which means the strong one, and his brother. The oxen stumbled and the ark shook and they grabbed ahold of it to keep it from falling on the rocks and God smote them dead. And David was so disheartened. God, here You've brought me through all these afflictions and now You've made me to be king and here we sin for the ark of God. And you smite a man dead because he inadvertently looked into the ark, touched it. And so it got him seeking God. If somehow God's people would just learn when things go wrong to seek God for the answer instead of brushing it under the carpet and carry on the best we know. Like Saul did. David was a man after God's heart. And when he saw something wrong, he called a halt to it all. Forget the ark. Leave it where it is. Let's find out what's wrong here. It didn't take him too long to discover that the ark of God was to be carried by the priests on their shoulders. It wasn't something you would delegate to a cart. Every time there's a little excitement in the church, we've got a new organization comes up to handle it. A new movement, a new fellowship, a new something to handle it. I don't need to name them. Carts. It's easier. It's on wheels. God says, I want my priests to carry my presence with them. That's your only credential for ministry in the house of God is to carry the presence of God with you on your shoulder. You carry it. You can't delegate it to anybody else. You can't build a cart for God. You be our pastor and you can build all these carts here in the church. You can have a men's society and you can have a women's society and you can have a young people's society and we'll bring in a youth pastor to pastor the young people and it sounds good. It's the kingdom of Saul. God wants anointed people carrying the presence of God with them and that's God's answer. God's total answer. All the problems in the church and in the world. God has provided everything we need to meet every human need. If we're willing to become that broken bread in the hands of the Master. David sought God, found the answer and they brought the ark back on the shoulders of the priests and there was great rejoicing in Israel. God's doing that today. He's preparing a priestly people. You say, I'm a priest because the Bible says so. We're a kingdom of priests. That's true. But the Bible says we are kings and priests unto God. Without going into it in detail, you just read the requirements of a priest in Exodus and Leviticus. They had to walk under the anointing of the holy oil among other things. So the fact that you're a priest because the Bible says so is one thing. Whether or not you can function effectually as a priest in God's house depends upon your consecration and commitment to God and whether you're prepared to go God's way and take responsibility to carry God's presence with you. Which you can only do as you learn to walk in God's ways and become acquainted with Him. Which He wants us all to do. For we're all potential priests in God's house. God wants to clothe us with holy garments. Put off our old garments and put on the new. Anoint us with holy oil. Put a holy crown upon our head. White garments upon our flesh. So that what people see is not our flesh, but the garments of the Lord Jesus Himself. God wants to return to His temple far more than we desire Him. But He must work in our hearts total disillusionment with the ways of man before we're going to come to that place where we say, Oh God, come back to your temple. Come back to your house. I want to dwell in your house forever. I want to inquire in your temple. David said, One thing have I desired of the Lord, one thing will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord to inquire in His temple. I trust that these words will have struck a chord of response in your own heart. I encourage you to seek the Lord earnestly in this day and hour. Because God is doing something great and mighty in the midst of His people in this hour. In obscurity, I mean to say it's not out there in the forefront, but He's preparing a people all over the earth whose hearts are perfect toward Him. And in the midst, when all the kingdoms of man fall in the earth and in the church, as the psalmist said in Psalm 46, Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, there is a river, not a broken cistern. There's a river, the streams are of shall make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of earth. She shall not be moved. May God bless you. This is for you, Jim. Thou art my God, and I will praise Him. Thou art my God, I will exalt Him. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy's endurance forever. Thou art my God, I will exalt Him. Thou art my God, I will exalt Him. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. For His mercy's endurance forever. Lord God, I'm just so thankful tonight for Your Word, Lord. I just pray tonight, Lord, that You seal that Word in our hearts, O God. O Lord, that the devil would not be able to come and pluck it out, Lord God, but it would be in there and it would be working in us, Lord. Enlarging that place, Lord, that You might truly have Your temple, O God. That You might have it holy, Lord. And God, we are a people that are hungry for the return of Your glory, O God. O Lord, we just pray tonight, Lord, that You continue to work, Lord. Continue to do Your work, Lord, that we might be that people where You might be able to dwell in the fullness, Lord God. O Lord God, I just pray again that You seal that Word in our hearts, Lord. Let it do its work, O God. Let it bring us to a zeal of God. Lord, that You might have Your desire, Lord God. That man might not have his, but You might have Yours, O God. Father, You say Your Word to whom?