Jeremiah Johnson | Lovers of the Presence PART 2

if you have your Bibles would you turn to second Samuel Chapter six I want to pick up where we left off last night how many of you are here last night so you'll be able to track with me a little bit more if you didn't I believe it's available on the covenant church website or the Facebook page but last night I began to talk about comparing and contrasting the kingdom of Saul with the kingdom of David and how I believe that there is a fresh move of God coming based on fathering and family and I believe that the Lord is raised up the state of West Virginia as a fathering state where the Lord is going to raise up a people that are mature that have been trained and equipped and today I want to talk a little bit about what I believe the Lord is saying to this church so if you're a member of this church that's great if you're just visiting God has a word for you too but I believe what the Lord is saying over this house is that he has called you all to be a group of people a family that are extravagant worshipers that there's a realm of devotion and pouring out our hearts at the feet of Jesus that he's drawing you into now I want to tell you something simple and pure-hearted devotion to Jesus is the greatest threat to the kingdom of darkness simple and pure hearted devotion to Jesus is the greatest threat against the kingdom of darkness we have made Church too hard we have made Christianity way too complex and I believe that you're here today because God is drawing you out of the shallows and out of the shadows of Christianity and he's saying there's more that I have for you and fact I'm here today to ban miserable Christianity we have a hard time getting our friends saved because they're looking at you right so if you don't have joy in your life your Christianity is leaking somewhere right those of us that had a little bit of a background know that the club didn't open up till 1:00 a.m. but you just can't stand getting out of church past noon this is amazing I know I'm gonna step on some toes here it's flied in here so many of us have radical paths and testimonies we got delivered from drugs and alcohol and fornication we've got such a great rap sheet we get saved we come to church and become domesticated we were like a wild lie and out in the world we get saved and now we're a nice little kitty cat who goes to church on Sunday drops a couple of bucks and an offering and thinks we're going to heaven I can just tell you Jesus Christ died for more than an hour on Sunday and a little offering here there now you can stay miserable you can stay depressed you can sit in hypocrisy I know I'm talking to somebody here because I was that guy praise the Lord meanwhile you're still addicted to porn praise the Lord meanwhile your marriage is still a wreck God is looking for a people who are radically going to give themselves all of themselves to him in fact I'll say it another way you're either sold out right now or you're selling out I'm here for the fence riders I'm here for the one foot in the world and one foot in the church I'm telling you God sent me from Florida here today in West Virginia to tell you there is more of God than you're experiencing you might have tried Church but maybe you haven't tried Jesus yet while the church is this well the church is that but have you tried Jesus well the man of God slept with the secretary and ran off that's okay Jesus never did that all they want is your money well I'm here to tell you God wants your money too but he wants more than your money he wants all of you to come in taste and see that I am good there's a real invitation this morning to get delivered from religion going through the motions three songs and a nice message a couple of bucks and going back to our life Jesus is not a salt and pepper shaker that brings flavor to our lives he is the life he is the way he is the truth and there's a systematic Exodus taking place all over America where people are walking out of a dry stale crusty religious system that looks good on the outside and inside we're dying Jesus Christ came to give us life and life more abundantly and there is no high like the Most High telling you today is the day to choose whom you're going to serve coming to a place where the games have got to stop the tomfoolery the shenanigans the religious obstacles I'm I meet so many people they're so worn out they are so worn out on all the religious programs I keep trying to tell people faster the role of church leadership is not to plug people into programs the role of church leadership is to plug you into a man his name is Jesus what are you saying I'm saying we continue to do church without Christ and Christ wants his church back all right how we do and I'm just here in search of an extravagant generation of worshipers who are ready to get delivered from what your friends think about you because I'm telling you everyone wastes their life on something every man and every woman in history has wasted their life on something what I wrote down here this morning is either you waste it in man's eyes by obeying God or you waste it in God's eyes by doing what man says you either waste your life in man's eyes by obeying God or you waste it in God's eyes by doing what men say can tell you I've been wasting my life on Jesus for a number of years now and I've got more joy I didn't say happiness happiness is circumstantial joy is eternal this isn't a gospel of your best life now you know the reason why many people fall away from the gospel is because they never heard the real one in the first place [Music] some of you in here you're not really following God you're not faking me out by the way just by being here because surely we don't believe just because you go to church on Sunday means you're saved okay the gospel is not about winning friends and having influence the gospel is about picking up our cross and following the Lord without eternity and mind the gospel makes no sense without a vision of eternity of what life is all about and what our purpose really is in this life we will settle for temporary pleasures all day long just knowing it's the wrong thing to do isn't going to keep you from premarital sex but a hot love affair with Jesus Christ will say I'm trying to trying to talk you out of just oh I better not do this and I better not do that because God might be angry at me what if you stop doing that stuff because you knew it would break his heart because it was out of an intimate getting to know him a relaying of heart and mind and soul were like Jesus he said for the joy set before me I endured the cross what if there was a place of deliverance and God what if there was so much joy you know it says Jesus was anointed with the oil of joy in fact I don't even know why I'm talking about joy this morning but I've just got to believe someone needs it he was anointed with the oil of joy why because he of the righteousness and he hated wickedness and sin what if there was a place in God where he wanted to pour out so much joy on your life but it's inaccessible until you learn how to love what he loves and hate what he hates anybody breathing this morning all right second samuel six we're going to begin reading and verse 12 last night we talked about david's botched attempt his failed attempt at bringing the ark back into jerusalem but praise God God is a God of second chances no matter your struggle this morning no matter your failures even if you're feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit this morning speaking to your heart God always gives us a second chance but I'd be a liar to tell you what God is ultimately after he's after your heart I'd be lying to tell you if he's after something he doesn't want your behavior modification that's not the gospel be going to church and becoming a chameleon where you just fit in that's not the gospel the Lord is after more than your Sunday best he wants your heart God was after David's heart does the scripture not say David was a man after God's own heart ha ha ha brother he was an adulterer David was no clean man how could the Bible say that David was a man after God's own heart let me solve the mystery for you David was a man after God's own heart not because of the lack of sin in his life but because of the brokenness over his sin in his life you want to be a man or woman after God's own heart he's not looking for a man or woman who's never sinned but he's looking for a man or woman this morning that would say you know what I've messed up you know I'm trying I'm tired of playing games with my boyfriend or my girlfriend I'm tired of faking it till I make it lord I just want to give you my heart and trust that you're the Potter and I'm the clay I'm gonna stop doing it my way and I want to do it your way see David had the new car that we talked about last night he had this new idea that he thought he could just hitch the presence of God to and after the Lord disciplines in fact he releases divine judgment David finally says you know what God I'm gonna do it your way so let's look at this man after God's own heart second samuel 6:12 now it was told to King David now it was told King David saying the Lord has blessed the house of obed-edom and all that belongs to him on account of the Ark of God and David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of obed-edom into the City of David with gladness can you say gladness there's more than miserable Christianity people sit in church wondering what they're missing out on out there when days are coming to the church when people out there are going to wonder what they're missing out on in here listen we have the hope of the world the god of the universe living down on the inside of us for many of you you would be in revival if you just believed who's living on the inside of you is real oh he's glorious he's beautiful he's matchless he's wonderful his name is God he has invited us into an incredible relationship there's no one like my god things of this world satisfy you for a moment but there's a place of enjoying God that frees you from religion and you will never go back God saved my city well he's gonna have to save your church first all those homosexuals all those transgenders out there all those bunch you know who gave the homosexual agenda its power the church because of the heterosexual immorality in here oh so you're sleeping with your girlfriend but it's about the homosexuals no that's called hypocrisy I travel around all over this country brother it's getting dark out there I said actually it feels pretty dark in here there's gonna be revival there's gonna be a harvest the Lord's gonna save my city I'm like well then we better get to work in here what's gonna happen when all the prodigal scum back home and they find a bunch of parents faking it till they make it I meet parents all the time well I'm just believing for my son or daughter to get saved I said ma'am or woman manners ma'am or sir with all due respect if you want your child to have an encounter you should start with one like we're warning other people to have this encounter with God that we don't even have we're wanting the world to come in to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and we can't remember the last time we cried in his presence and well the number one signs that you know the spirit of religion has a stranglehold on you is when you can't remember the last time you cried in his presence have you ever just been undone by him I mean just totally bare and naked before him the god of the universe saying just come and meet with me and you dared to take a step forward and I called it the divine wounding he create a cavity of for himself inside of you he wounded you were you literally you just can't go back when you try to go back and take the taste that sip of alcohol it just doesn't taste the same anymore because you've tasted and seen that God is good and you've begun to realize that there's a realm of pleasure real pleasure what if sin is not the gaining of pleasure but actually the loss of it we were created for eternal glory you're not missing out on anything the world has to offer this is not our home this is why Peter and Paul said we're aliens were strangers we're just passing through it's okay if you don't feel like you fit in because you were born to stand out I mean I'm looking for some West Virginia Jesus freaks I mean I'm looking for some sold out Paul said if I'm in my right mind it's for you if I'm out of my mind it's for Christ I mean I'm looking for some ex partiers who served the devil well I'm inviting you to actually serve God well and again many of you you've just either been lied to or you've just been domesticated you've just become a nice little Polish Christian who knows how to go through the motions and act the part and inwardly there's a war raging inside of your soul and the Lord says today the cage is being opened and it's time to fly religion is not going to cut and clip your wings any longer you were born into the kingdom of God to be a wild one from a drug dealer to a hope dealer come on from a prostitute to a preacher from depressed to filled with the joy of Jesus Christ I wonder if there's anyone here in West Virginia who's willing to serve the Lord who's willing to go the distance who's willing to be a world changer it's what Jesus Christ died for oh hallelujah it is so strange you're like actually telling Christians to be joyful like to actually act like you have God inside of you isn't it amazing like we all don't blow up Paul addressing sexual sin I want to be careful because I know that we have young ears in here but do you know Paul addressing that issue what he talks about is actually the Holy Spirit how could you do that if the Holy Spirit who's living inside of you is real for another time we'll have a will have a sexual purity conference when when the indwelling presence of God when you become aware that the God of the universe actually lives inside of you everything changes you stop calling the pastor to lay hands on someone and you start laying hands on someone you stop going to church to get fed and you feed yourself early in the morning when you wake up well brother I have kids great so do I I've got a seven-year-old a five-year-old a three-year-old and a one-year-old and it has never stopped me waking up early in the morning to meet with God and it's not because I need a sermon it's not because I'm a preacher it's because he has allowed me to know what love sickness is remember getting married I just have to trust this is for someone and waiting and being married and enjoying all that comes with marriage and feeling empty oh I thought this is what my spouse was supposed to fill know your spouse and not one will never feel there's a void in you that only God Himself can fill alright verse thirteen and so it was that when the bearers of the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces David sacrificed an ox and a fatling and David was dancing before the Lord in his Sunday best hoping no one saw him David came to church and couldn't lift up his hands because he was afraid that the girl he brought to church might think he was crazy I got so I got something this morning it's coming and he was wearing a linen ephod I mean basically the dudes in his undies okay this guy is undignified he is out of his mind and everyone's watching see it's one thing to serve the Lord in secret it's another to serve him in your high school it's another thing to serve him in your workplace it's one thing to lift up your hands at church it's a whole nother thing to take a bold stand wherever God sends you see this man after God's own heart this man of the presence was more than Justin this man he before he killed Goliath he had already killed the lion in the bear he had developed a private life in God where he became rock solid but when it come to outward displays of affection David was unashamed he said let's dance in my undies with all my might before the Lord so David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord hoping that the town wouldn't hear them no it was shouting with the sound of a I'm telling you there's a place in God where he gets down on the inside of you and you don't care who hears you shout anymore then it happened as the Ark of the Lord came into the City of David that Michael the daughter of Saul looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord and she thought that was sexy what do you find attractive what are you looking for young person and a man or woman that you want to marry one day what are you attracted to what the world defines as sexy or maybe God could do such a work down on the inside of you that what you find most attractive is a man or woman fully abandoned sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ maybe that's what would get you going I've been doing premarital counseling for 10 years now I talked to couples a lot many of them come from different religious backgrounds usually one of the first questions I ask is this it always hits them strange have you watched them worship yet in fact I counseled a couple in their 50s getting remarried the man came for more of a Pentecostal background she was way more Southern Baptist he said we've gone to the counseling is there anything else I can do before I marry her I said yeah bring her to church I said just not any other old church service bring her to a revival service and I said don't you dare sit there like a statue afraid of what might really happen if she sees your heart brought her to the revival service everyone in the building slain in the spirit including her filled with the Holy Ghost never the same he said my god I said yea my Lord and my God praise the Lord you're gonna have a great marriage man I wish I wish we could get there this morning Jesus I'd encourage you to if you're looking to it for a spouse I wouldn't even date him if they weren't filled with the Holy Ghost because if they're not they won't be a good kisser [Laughter] these teenage girls I he he's not saved I said no he's Baptist note I said you want a tongue talking devil casting out worshiping throwing oil everywhere oh I like his body yeah but can he pray you through in the middle of the night oh I want a man with a lot of money honey that money's going to dry up one day and you need a priest of your home you need a protector you need someone that can look you in the eyes when you don't have makeup on and your breaths tanks and say I see your heart and it's beautiful come on somebody David throws the biggest party in all of Israel he says I'm going for God and I'm not gonna hide anything about my walk I want to encourage you if you have friends if you have relationships where you feel pressured to hide how you really feel about God get away from them well brother I work a job and I can't really share my faith oh so God can't get you another job where we have all these great excuses about why were domesticated about why we're just going through the motions playing Church dead inside I'm just asking is there one person in Fairmont West Virginia that's willing to jump off the cliff with me take a risk it's spelled faith R is K and say Lord I'm not going to worry about what people think I'm not even going to worry about what I failed to do yesterday today on this Sunday I'm jumping off into the depths of who you are I'm gonna be radically defined as someone loved by God and I'm never looking back is there just one person here this morning that's not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ heard is the power of God unto the salvation of all men we have nothing to be ashamed about we can go to our football games and we can shout and week laughs but when we come to church we just got to be quiet the Lord is raising up a generation of extravagant worshipers who are sold out to the purposes of God and their generation let's give him a shout of praise hallelujah Jesus something powerful that happens in your life when you just stopped caring something supernatural that takes place in your life when you just stop worrying about the opinions of men and start following the voice of God but as David found out even his wife even Michael said huh nope too over-the-top too radical voices in your life many of them are closer than you would like to admit don't do that don't share your faith don't act like you're saved don't act born again don't act like you have a new nature so the truth is with the new nature with a new appetite with a relationship with God if people don't think you're nuts I don't even know if we're really living for him yet she despised them in her heart verse 19 he distributed to all the people to all the multitude of Israel both men and women a cake who likes to eat thank you David we just didn't dance and get hot and sweaty we had some mac and cheese and fried chicken in the back everyone left but when David returned to bless his household Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said how the king of Israel has distinguished himself today he uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servant maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself I'm telling you what the world and what religion calls foolish God calls beautiful which voice are you listening to we know that Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist cousin of Jesus Jesus is in the womb of Mary and it says that 1 Mary Ann Elizabeth got together the baby in her womb left just even Jesus in the belly of his mother just in simple proximity to the Son of God a mere baby at the time caused another baby and another woman's wound to leap abortion is such a big hot topic issue in this nation even in Lakeland as part of our ministry school we go out to the abortion clinic there in Lakeland Florida a student asked me how could you do this to us I said what am i doing to you he said how could you take us out to the sidewalk while people flip us off and we have all this hate and all this rage I took them during our revival history course I said I've brought you out here today because in 50 years when your grandchildren asks you about the greatest genocide that's ever hit planet Earth I don't want you to be able to say I was a Christian sleeping through the greatest Holocaust that's ever hint planet Earth no I was alive I was active even if they kill me praise God I've got a better place to go to I'm telling you right here right now where for a lot of us we're talking about you know giving up this and getting a little bit more bold I'll take it into another dimension I'm talking about getting so delivered from the opinions of men you're ready to take a bullet to the head you're ready right here right now at any time to give your life for the sake of the gospel because you've encountered that degree of love fools what voices are you listening to what's the narrative on your life the baby in Mary's womb Jesus gets around John the Baptist's abortion a hot topic issue but I don't hear anybody talking about spiritual abortion like when you get around friends and people that don't serve God that don't honor the call of God on your life and they kill the baby that's inside of you preached a sermon one time to a group of young adults encourage them to get around people that make their baby jump see there's a baby inside of us all there's a calling there's a purpose there's a destiny and I want to call some of you this morning to repent of spiritual abortion I want to call some of you out of the shallowness of friendship with the world and begin to run I see this all the time so many people they come down to the altar they give their life to Jesus but they will not turn away from their friends well I'm just going to the bar I'm the DD I'm just you know talking about God in the bar well why can't you do that somewhere else I feel a mandate I feel the presence of God I don't even know if someone in this room you're dating Michael you're dating this man or woman that's holding you back from your destiny you're enjoying a little of this and a little of that and the Lord is saying today it's over some of us maybe Michael is more than a relationship maybe you have settled for a job maybe you have settled for some inferior pursuit of God and he's here this morning just to give you a big kiss a loving father's kiss that says you know what today it stops come home and let's start over verse 21 so David said to Michael it was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel therefore I will celebrate the Lord and I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humbled in my own eyes you know what he's saying her baby if you think that was something you haven't seen anything yet I wonder if the Spirit of God would just rise up inside of somebody in this room and you would stop settling for why or how you know I feel them of course you're the most radical Christian at your work you're the only Christian some people they have just plateaued in their journey in going deeper because the atmosphere that you're in no one's saved or the atmosphere that you're in they're all baby Christians don't let the environment around you I believe the Lord is saying to some of you your ankle deep your knee deep your waist deep but I feel the Lord is saying today it's time for full water immersion I mean I think some of us literally jump off the cliff dive into the depths of who God is I mean let please no one undress this morning I've had to say that because I had that happen in Colorado it's a whole nother story she did to boy she said Jesus I give you my all but naked in front of the whole church I mean that was definitely a no-no but I said praise the Lord you know it's talked to an Indian pastor you know twenty thirty forty thousand so what's the difference between the Indian Church and the American Church he said that's easy they listen to the messages and actually go home and do them said oh you Americans you create cultures where people hear the word of the Lord and forget it before they walk out the door how we doing if you're taking notes just write this down finish this verse David says you haven't seen anything yet look at verse 23 and Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death you're taking notes extravagant acts of worship and devotion will always draw the criticism of the bear in extravagant acts of worship and devotion will always draw the criticism of the Baron see you're sitting there making fun of the way that someone dances but you don't know about their deliverance see their deliverance is found in their dance actually if you really got delivered - you wouldn't be sitting in the back you would be up here what would this church look like on a Sunday morning if three four five hundred people worship God with total abandonment what if we all actually acted like Jesus is worthy of all the honor all the glory and all the praise what if we got free from domesticated kitty cat religion stuck in a bird cage worrying about what people will think about me what if we just let loose just one time what if we looked like we look like screaming at the television in our underwear like a madman at our home saying go Mountaineer stealers who do you guys root for Oliver come on why is anybody telling your husband's any husband's in here I mean they're just closeted football freaks but you're wondering why they're a statue at church any women in here passionate about that credit card shop till you drop nails and hair and you're just ready to extravagantly give your finances to to ever but you're so upset when your husband says hey babe I feel like we should give to the missionary a woman that loves the Lord is willing to let her nails go a few weeks to let the gospel go forth in a foreign country but again it's we've got to encounter him we have to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ in such a place where we willingly and with love surrender everything see I grew up a pastor's kid half of them are the worst growing up in church going through the motions I'm one of four boys didn't have any sisters I mean in the winter when it snowed we were the church deacon team who shoveled the when it was the summer we cut the church grass I mean we grew up in it but I have a brother right now that's in a federal penitentiary serving a long term prison sentence how did someone like that with the environment that I grew up in how did he end up in a federal prison are you ready he knew about God but he didn't really know God he knew the quote the scriptures he could mouth the songs but internally he had never allowed the Holy Spirit access into the depths of his heart and said Samuel I know who you are and I just can't have left overs I need your very best I remember the night I got the call that he was locked up for good I had to have just released him to the Lord because he was so radically bound it was either the morgue or Prison spirit of travail hit me I said honey I just I need some time I went to my closet shut the door in the dark I'm just crying out to God something rose up on the inside of me and I said you devil I said you might have took one Samuel but I'm gonna travel this nation and recruit 10,000 Samuels I'm gonna go after 10,000 that are playing Church that are going through the motions that are fooling everyone but God but I just need an encounter but it's out of a deep encounter that flows deep worship it's out of recognizing where you came from and what he saved you from we don't have time today but if you remember the woman with the alabaster box it's such a similar story here was a woman a ex prostitute she has this alabaster box worth about $50,000 where she got it probably her parents had passed it was her inheritance it was all that she had and Jesus as is reclining at Simon's house the leper and this woman she pushes through the crowd there's this religious gathering going on see many of us here you're close enough to God because you're in the church but will you draw close enough where you catch the fire she pushes through and she breaks this precious alabaster box all that she has and all of a sudden the whispers come all of a sudden even the followers of G say what a fool michael says to david you idiot what are you doing serving God like that in public maybe we're not going to win as much friends and have as much influence as we thought and David says honey your eyes are on the world my eyes on heaven honey you have plans to waste your life on this life and I've got plans to waste my life on eternity Jesus he silences the religious voices he silences the criticism of the bearing of the religious Pharisees isn't it amazing that Jesus comes to the church in the book of Revelation and he says you have the appearance of being alive but really you're dead you have the appearance of being a Christian and going through the motions but really I know you haven't cried in years really I know your heart is disconnected from the way I captured it years ago it's time

Channel: Covenant Church

Views: 5,810

Rating: 4.8991594 out of 5

Keywords: jeremiah johnson, josh morgan, covenant church, fairmont wv, lovers, presence

Id: B8LaX4Jn490

Length: 49min 7sec (2947 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 25 2019