David's Worship and God's Presence

Audio Recording:

Summary:

2 Samuel 6:13 And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. 2Sa 6:14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 2Sa 6:15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. 2Sa 6:16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. 2Sa 6:17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 2Sa 6:18 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. 2Sa 6:19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed every one to his house. 2Sa 6:20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! 2Sa 6:21 And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, who chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel; therefore will I play before the LORD. 2Sa 6:22 And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight; and of the maidservants that thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. 2Sa 6:23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. 2Sa 7:1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;

We can summarise the reasons why David was not disturbed by the enemies surrounding him into several aspects:

• The Ark of the Covenant was welcomed into Jerusalem
• Sacrifices were offered before the Ark
• David was a man who fervently worshipped God
• David blessed the people and his household
• David humbled himself before God

1 Reviewing last Sunday's topic: All this in writing from the hand of the LORD, who made me understand all the works of the plan.

Let us review last Sunday's topic: All this in writing from the hand of the LORD God, who made me understand all the works of the plan.

I encourage everyone to establish this concept no matter what. What concept? To establish a church, it must be built according to God's revelation, it must be a church with God's presence and God's glory. Only such a church can solve our problems, enabling us to resist the devil and not be disturbed by the enemy. To establish a business, people can do it, it does not require God's revelation. In fact, God does not really care about those things. To establish a school, a hospital, or any worldly institution, does not require God's revelation. But to establish a church, that is a heavenly institution, that is to build a temple for God to dwell in, it must have God's revelation. Not only that, but it must also be built entirely according to God's revelation, because that is where God dwells. Our God is a jealous God, a holy God, a righteous God, a living God, a God of great power, therefore, the temple He wants to dwell in is not an ordinary temple, it must be built according to His will. If it is not built according to His revelation, the labour is in vain. Moreover, there is no presence of God in what is built.

The Power of the Church and God's Presence

Can you imagine? A Christian reads the Bible every day, yet the church can do very little of what is written about Jesus. What a great perplexity! Every time I hear Christians giving testimonies of how God heals, how God delivers, and how God's power is manifested, but I rarely see it or experience it myself. If one is under the control of the devil, often experiencing the torment of the devil, but receives little help in the church, only occasionally hearing a few words of encouragement, and never seeing similar cases being healed or delivered. And then every time reading the Bible, reading about what the Lord Jesus did, reading about the miraculous things in the Book of Acts, what a perplexity in the heart! Is God different today from that time? Does God no longer heal and deliver people? Staying in such a church for a long time, every time hearing theological explanations that are inconsistent with the Bible to explain why the church is different from the one recorded in the Bible, and then the heart begins to think that it is normal, permitted by God, and given by God to be controlled by these things, and endures this pain without any glory in helplessness. Moreover, preaching such a gospel to others, describing God as a cruel God. Isn't that very sad? Is that biblical teaching? It is not biblical. That is explaining God's word by forcibly taking it out of context according to one's own experience!

Yesterday, a sister contacted me online. She is a lukewarm Christian who has been baptised. She has always had many voices inside her, male and female, very noisy, which makes her very annoyed, and she thought they were people, but they were actually demons. This situation happened after she went to church. But the church she went to rarely or did not teach these spiritual knowledge. As a result, she contacted our brothers and sisters, and then found me. I simply explained what the gospel in the Bible says, and encouraged her to attend the meetings, hoping that she could be delivered among us. I could directly feel the demon immediately starting to deceive her. Seven or eight weeks ago, a sister studying in Beijing used to attend a church in Beijing, but when faced with the control and deception of the devil, almost collapsed, and the church could not help her at all! She did not even know that this was a problem that the church should solve. But coming among us, in just a few weeks, she saw the manifestation of God's power! Now she can return to normal life! Although there are still battles from time to time, every battle is a victory! I think in every corner of the world, there are countless people who are experiencing the pain caused by the oppression and disturbance of the devil!

How I long for those who are controlled by demons to be delivered and see the glory of God! How I long for this world to have more churches like the church established by the Apostle Paul in the era of the Book of Acts, full of power! Let all those who are oppressed by the devil be set free! Isn't that God's purpose in the church! Brothers and sisters, a gospel that cannot deliver people and cannot cast out demons is not the gospel preached by the Apostle Paul! Nor is it the gospel preached by the Lord Jesus. If the gospel preached is different from that preached by Paul, according to Paul, they are all accursed.

Wouldn't you find it strange? Although they are all churches, how come some churches have power and some do not! Originally, a church built according to God's revelation must have power! Those without power must be building churches with insufficient materials or taking them out of context, or building churches according to human intentions. If you do not believe me, go back to the Bible and see! Or go back and listen to the content of my sermon last Sunday. Thank the Lord, when we fully believe and build the church according to the revelation of the Bible, God's power is manifested! When we do this, the wonderful promise God gave to David is also fulfilled among us: Wherever you go, God is always with you, cutting off all your enemies!

Say to the person next to you again: Wherever you go, God is always with you, cutting off all your enemies!

God's Protection and Peace

2 Today I want to talk to you about: And the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies.

Why talk about this topic? Because this is the wonderful work of God that we have experienced. I also hope to encourage those who are often disturbed by the devil to experience the God whom David served like we do! That is indeed a good thing. Not being disturbed by the enemies around, and being able to live a comfortable life, is certainly very good!

Thank God, our God has heard our prayers, and is constantly adding faithful, good, and fruitful disciples to us. Every brother and sister can grow up normally in the spirit without the need for many individual services from pastors. Just by following us in Bible study, prayer, and meetings, and receiving spiritual nourishment, they see growth. Six months ago, a sister found us online and simply followed us to believe in the Lord. It was also very miraculous that she experienced the grace of our God as soon as she came among us. Then, she really wanted to preach the gospel to her father, brother, and sister-in-law. As a result, they refused, all thinking that they were doing well, but in fact they were not doing well at all. A few days ago, she had to travel a long way to see her father. Her father fell and hit the back of his head, was hospitalised, and her brother was taking care of him in the hospital 24 hours a day. Her sister-in-law smashed everything at home and was making a fuss about divorce, or threatening to commit suicide if she did not divorce. The days were in a mess. The words her father and sister-in-law said, we knew at a glance that they were full of demonic lies. In their own eyes, it was just bad luck, how could everything start to go wrong all at once. In people's eyes, that's how life is. What else do you want? But in my eyes, that is being controlled and disturbed by the devil. As a result, I called her brother, and her brother said, I don't have time! It's true that they have time to be disturbed by the devil, but no time to resist! If this continues, when will it end? Did they see the demons? No, they didn't. But we can see them. Isn't that clearly a demonic attack!

Coincidentally, one of my own relatives, when we preached the gospel to them, they hated us instead. The things they said sounded ridiculous. It was also obviously being controlled and disturbed by demons, but they kept saying that they were materialists, and they even had an ideology! What happened? The old man got cancer. He weighed a hundred kilograms. He fainted a few days ago and crushed the old lady underneath him. Fortunately, his son arrived in time. Otherwise, someone would have died. The family was in a mess. The eldest son, the eldest daughter-in-law, the younger son, the younger daughter-in-law, it was a tangled mess! Did they see the demons? No, but wasn't that living a hellish life?

What do they use to resist? Nothing. They keep saying that they are materialists and we are idealists, and they even feel proud of themselves, but they are helpless in the face of their own chaotic situation! But we know that if we were not trusting in the LORD God whom David served, and if we were not protected by God and saved from the disturbance of the devil, we would also be living that kind of life! Seeing these things, I said in my heart, I will never leave our God in my whole life. The reason I can live a comfortable life today is because God has given me peace and has not allowed me to be disturbed by the enemies around!

Recently, I often hear brothers and sisters saying that it is a blessing to have such a church. If we did not have such a church, how could we live our lives! Indeed, without such a church, our lives would be disturbed by the devils around us! Haven't we all come out of those days of enemy disturbance? I am really grateful! Thank God that God has given us all a comfortable life and has not allowed us to be disturbed by the enemies around!

Let us read today's scripture:

3 Today's scripture: 2 Samuel 7:1

7:1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;

4 Prayer – God’s inspired prayer!

David's Attitude and the Presence of God

…..(Impromptu prayer)…

In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen!

5 The revelation of this passage – a continuation of 2 Samuel Chapter 6

2Sa 6:13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 2Sa 6:14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 2Sa 6:15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. 2Sa 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. 2Sa 6:17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. 2Sa 6:18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. 2Sa 6:19 He gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And everyone went home. 2Sa 6:20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, How distinguished the king of Israel has made himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would! 2Sa 6:21 David said to Michal, It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. 2Sa 6:22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor. 2Sa 6:23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. 2Sa 7:1 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,

We can summarize David not being disturbed by the surrounding enemies into several aspects:

• The Ark of the Covenant was welcomed into Jerusalem.

• Sacrifices were offered before the Ark of the Covenant.

• David was a person who worshipped God with all his might.

• David blessed the people and his own household.

• David was humble before God.

6 Welcoming the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem

The Ark of the Covenant represents the presence of God. But the Ark of the Covenant has a peculiar characteristic.

The same Ark of the Covenant, before David, seventy or eighty years ago, the sons of old Eli took the Ark of the Covenant to battle, and they were defeated. For old Eli and his sons, the Ark of the Covenant was of no use at all. Later, King Saul also had this Ark of the Covenant, but it could not help Saul win battles, nor could it give Saul a peaceful life, nor could it prevent the surrounding enemies from disturbing the nation of Israel. But when it came into David's hands, how could this Ark of the Covenant be so powerful?

In fact, it is the same today. The same name of Jesus Christ, the same church of Jesus Christ, how come some churches have power and some churches do not? How come some churches, relying on the cross of Jesus Christ, bless brothers and sisters, can live a comfortable life, can resist the devil and the enemies, and can prevent the surrounding enemies from disturbing us, while some churches cannot? What is the key?

Brothers and sisters, God's mighty arm has never been shortened, God's faithfulness has never changed, God's promises have never been abolished. The problem lies in our attitude. Our attitude towards God is the attitude we receive from God. David's attitude determined that when the Ark of the Covenant was carried into Jerusalem, God prevented the surrounding enemies from disturbing the kingdom David ruled.

Paying the Price and Worshiping God with All Your Might

The safety of a person is determined by spiritual events. The safety of a family is determined by spiritual events. The safety of a nation is determined by spiritual events!

Since we are released from the bondage of the devil through the Lord, we can also live a victorious life through the Lord!

7 Paying the Price of Sacrifice Represents Your Attitude!

If you don't pay the price, just talk with your mouth, you can't tell people's attitude towards God. When something happens, it will be revealed. The attitude towards God cannot be hidden.

• Giving birth to a child, unable to worship God.
• I have found that many brothers and sisters return to their country, booking flights specifically on Sundays, so that they can return to work on Monday. I don't know what you are thinking, but the fact proves that you think the time to worship God is not as important as your working time.

In this way, how can you not be disturbed by the devil!

David was a man who loved the LORD his God. All that he did was because he loved the LORD God. Therefore, David never felt that worshiping God was a troublesome thing. In fact, let's take a look at the specifications of David's worship of God today, which is simply not something ordinary people can do. That is to love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul and strength! Worship, guarding the gate, handling the sacrifices, all strictly according to God's revelation! David never cut corners, and never thought those things were troublesome. This is what we should learn today. Although David managed a country and was very busy with his work, he never saved time in worshiping God. Because he knew that the key was God.

8 Dancing and Worshiping God with All Your Might Before the Ark of the Covenant

The appearance of worship is also the same.

We have come to the temple to worship God, why are we like...

With All Your Might is a sign. Only you know whether you are doing your best with all your heart, soul and strength, and your God also knows.

With All Your Might - write it down in your Bible - With All Your Might! Do your very best!

Worship God, pray to God, do it with all your might. Never be lukewarm.

There was a missionary, Li Meilan, who went to Afghanistan to do missionary work to help refugees in the war. After returning, she suddenly fainted and was paralyzed all over. This is a disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome. Her weight dropped to 34 kilograms. Except for her head, her hands, feet, and all her nerves were paralyzed. She couldn't use her own hands, her mouth was also paralyzed, she couldn't drink water, and her tongue became stiff. Even if she spoke, no one could understand her. In other words, she was a living corpse that could do nothing but lie down and breathe. However, she, who had followed her mother to believe in the Lord in her womb, began to imagine that her body was being healed. In medicine, she was clearly in despair, but she held a positive belief that she could recover and was convinced that she could recover. Lying in bed, she imagined her body returning to normal. I have recovered my health and stood up. Seeing her own appearance with her heart, various good hormones were secreted in her brain, imagining them scattered throughout her body, and the good hormones secreted swallowed all the disease. She imagined all this in her mind. The germs that paralyze my body are dying, and the nerve cells are coming back to life! My legs are growing strength and can walk! Not only that, we cheer and jump, and can live happily with many people. In this way, she began to imagine healing in her heart, using the spirituality of the fourth dimension. Imagining herself becoming healthy and strong, holding a dream of being able to live a normal life, believing in this way, and shouting in her heart. She continued this life for two years. People around her said, Don't do these useless things, you have been abandoned now, you have no hope. But she did not despair, but practiced the spirituality of the fourth dimension, and was completely healed after two years.

Faith that Pays the Price and God's Preservation

My mother recently suffered from heart failure. The doctor told my second sister that the situation was not optimistic. We ignored that and prayed with all our might, and the disease was cured. The examination results did not show any major problems. She was discharged from the hospital in a few days.

9 Blessing the People and Your Own Household

10 Being Humble Before God

11 Be Careful to Resist the Temptation of the Devil

12 Summary - David loved God, and recognized that God was everything to him, and God would give you rest and not be disturbed by the surrounding enemies!

The best gift David gave his son Solomon was to teach him to love God wholeheartedly!

Before David handed over the throne to his son Solomon, he constantly admonished Solomon, 1Ch 28:9 And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Some people give their children property, some people give their children money, but David gave his children the LORD God!

David's words to Solomon had a great influence on his son Solomon. Although David had many sons, David also wrote his own experiences into poems and passed them on among the Israelites and his sons, but only his son Solomon received them seriously. So God chose Solomon to succeed David as king and complete the mission of building the temple. Later, Solomon said: “Psalm 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. What a brilliant exposition! Can you remember it? Let's recite it together.

Let's recite together: Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

David recognized that God was everything to him! Even if he became king, he still recognized that God was everything to him! So God preserved David and David's country from being disturbed by the surrounding enemies! This is the key! Brothers and sisters, do you know what I am going to share today? If we love the Lord as David did, we will not be disturbed by the surrounding enemies! Do you want to be disturbed by the surrounding enemies? If you don't want to, learn from David and pay the price to believe in the Lord! Recognize that God is everything to us. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength! That is not a difficult thing to do. Just set your mind on it! So the Bible says, this way is not difficult, it is in your heart and in your mouth! Just like building a temple and building a church, we must abide by God's revelation. We must also pay the price to believe in the Lord. Paying such a price is better than paying the price of being disturbed by the devil and the enemies!

Why not say to the person next to you: I want to be a Christian who pays the price!