Amen. Will you whisper a word of prayer with me tonight as we begin to share into the word of God as our musicians play softly. Lord, we thank you for this day. We bless you for another precious privilege that you give us to honor you in spirit and in truth.
And even more, especially during this week of Holy Week, time that we commemorate the suffering of our Savior. That as he walks the dusty roads of Palestine, as he shares the long arduous journey towards Jerusalem, and ultimately as he takes on the nails and the cross for our redemption, even though we know how the story ends, we're still grateful to know that the tomb is empty. So Lord, we celebrate this moment and we celebrate this pastor and we thank you again for his rest. It's good to be back in his presence. God, we pray that you continually restore him and build him up.
Thank you for his wife and partner in ministry. We pray that you will continually lift her up and support her and thank you for what she provides, not to this local body but to the kingdom at large to the staff that has stood strong in his absence and has done an incredible job to the leadership and followership of this amazing church FCBC. Now, God, as I come, I pray tonight that you'll give me preaching and teaching power.
I studied, but I need you. I prayed, but I need you. Send the anointing that makes preaching and teaching easy.
It will be so mindful for all the things that go well in this place tonight. You get all the glory. You're the sole center of our show tonight, so we celebrate you. Anoint me afresh. In the precious name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen. Come on, let's give God the absolute best praise you can tonight. Is that your... Best praise. Come on, New York.
I need to hear you tonight. Thank you once again to those who've come in, but also to those who've tapped in. It is good for us to be here to share.
Can y'all celebrate one of God's absolute best pastors, preachers, theologians, my big brother, someone I love so much. Can y'all thank God for Pastor Mike Warren? Come on, give it up for him. It looks so refreshed. I told him in the back he just getting off this six weeks.
I said big bro you do know six weeks ain't long enough right? But FCBC let me just applaud you because it takes a mature congregation to allow your pastor to rest. Let me say that. Here's the challenge in some of our churches.
We love our pastors to death. Let me say that again. We love our pastors and our leaders to death, but we need time because we're going through the same things that you're going through.
And once again, I applaud you for allowing your pastor a few moments of respite. and to refuge. And so, Big Bro, thank you again for always being a trailblazer, an amazing man of God, a thinker, par excellence, resident theologian.
He the bro, sees everything. So, Big Bro, always publicly acknowledge you and thank God for you too. To your wife and to others who serve in this great ministry, it's good for us to be here. To my tag team partners this week, to Dr. Courtney Clayton Jenkins who blessed us on last night. My goodness, what a preacher.
Such insight. And then on tomorrow night, you know who Dr. John Faison is. I don't have to tell you what kind of preacher he is.
So listen, I'm the middle. So that means my job is simply just get on base. Amen. I'm just going to get on base.
You know, it's so interesting coming here because I always come. Amen. never bring what preachers would call sticks to this place because you're such a mature congregation you like to be challenged and stretched and as we consider what this holy week means we understand the triumphs and the tragedies that this means for lord and savior jesus christ i hope that you do not minimize this moment it's more than just coming to easter service to put on your best church clothes but it is something that ought to spend some time in contemplation and reflection to think about what you Jesus endured so that you and I can have life. There's no way to beautify it. It was an ugly situation that produced a beautiful outcome in our lives.
And how we think about how the week ends on Friday with him on the cross, but it begins with this whole triumphant entry, this parade, if you will. And as we think about what that looks like, there was a passage of scripture I want to look at that kind of puts in correspondence to me in 2 Samuel chapter 6. You know, when I think about the the triumphant entry of Jesus and how he managed that moment, I want to suggest tonight, because I really feel my assignment is not really to be that rah-rah type of message tonight, but I see that your theme this year is I'm ready. And that raises me to ask the question, ready for what? For many of us, oftentimes we claim to be ready for something but never put in the foresight nor the insight to understand that there is something that we must do. Being ready does not mean just is the opportunity ahead of me, but am I ready for the accountability and responsibility of the opportunity?
See, too many of us are praying for blessings that you ain't mature enough to handle. And part of that is that if I'm asking God for something, if I'm believing that's in my future, what if I told you a lot of times the problem isn't some hater, it isn't somebody that's trying to put you down. Sometimes you're just not ready for it yourself. There's a passage that is found in 2 Samuel. you chapter six.
I want to lift up a few of these verses tonight and I hope it makes a little bit of sense. I really want to prepare you and propel you for what I sense, especially in this season, that God wants to do in your life, not just in your now, but also in your not yet. 2 Samuel chapter 6, I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
This is the word of God for us on tonight. Beginning around verse 1 and I'll commence at verse 7. This is the truth of God's word. Then David had gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. He led them to Balaam, Judah, to bring back the ark of God.
which bears the name of the Lord of Heaven's armies, who was enthroned between the cherubim. They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadad's house, which was a hill, was on a hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadad's sons, were guiding the cart as it left the house, carrying the Ark of God. Ahio walking in front of the Ark.
David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments, lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. But when they arrived, at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled. And Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the ark of God. Then the Lord's anger was aroused against Uzzah and God struck him dead because of this.
So Uzzah died right there beside the ark of God. But when they arrived At the threshing floor of Nican, the ox stumbled, and Elza reached out his hand and steadied the ark of God. And then the Lord's anger was roused against Elza, and God struck him dead because of this. For a few moments tonight, as we are engaged in this revival, I want to preach from this thought tonight.
It all depends on how you handle it. It all depends on how you handle it. Look at someone and say, neighbor, it's on you.
Lift those hands toward heaven and say, Lord, speak. we need to hear. You may be seated in the presence of our God.
The interesting moment that surrounds our particular narrative tonight that finds it in this book of 2 Samuel. We come to what should be an exuberant time in the life of Israel, but more specifically in the life of his newly minted king. David has now come...
to the throne and now it has been the fulfillment of a promise that was once called upon him as he was just minding his business handling the sheep in the back of his father's house. Some years earlier a prophet by the name of Samuel had been commissioned to come and unbeknownst to David that while he was in the back, Samuel and his father Jesse were trying to negotiate and navigate which one of the older brothers of David would be the next king. If you know that story, you recognize what took place that for seven sons, they came and stood in front of Samuel, but each time each son stood with their own profile, their own prototype, what they thought was going to be the look of the new king, the oil that was in the ram's horn of Samuel. Samuel did not flow.
It wasn't until finally Samuel asked a very inquisitive but yet powerful question. He raised it to Jesse. After seven no's, he asked Jesse, do you have another son?
Jesse in that moment said, yeah, there's another son, but he's not worthy to be king. He's the ruddy one. He's the young one that's in the back.
And Samuel wouldn't leave until Jesse called David into the house. Isn't it interesting, my brothers and sisters, that oftentimes God's chosen are also those that are often overlooked. Those who are on the margins and who are ostracized are oftentimes the one that God calls to do amazing and incredible things. And you know the story, what took place.
David comes in, and what's always intriguing to me, Pastor Warren, is that when he stands in front of Samuel, still smelling of the stench of the sheep, God's oil that would not flow on the seven older brothers flowed on David. David now becomes the new king. He is minted. However, there's a challenge that takes place in this passage because he does not accompany Samuel to the palace. They do not...
abdicate the throne from Saul, what happens is as soon as he's anointed to be the next king, he goes right back outside to hang around with the sheep. I want to talk to someone tonight that knows what it is to smell like a king or queen, but still have to hang around with some sheep. Because in that process, my brothers and sisters, we learn something about God's plan, because oftentimes we always want to celebrate God's promise, but we never want to talk about God's process.
And every promise that God places in you and our lives has to be attached to some process because what God is trying to groom out of you, to mature out of you, can only come when you submit to the process. I don't know who needs to hear this tonight, but I believe there's someone that's sitting in frustration and tension because you're saying, I've got this promise, I know what God has said. However, the issue is not the promise, it's the process. And whenever you decide that you don't want to submit to the process, you're simply delaying the fulfillment of the promise. For a period of time, Pastor Warren, that's what takes place.
David has to go through the process. He has to learn. He has to groom. He has to grow as a leader. He goes through the periods of time.
And as we see him go through the promise after some period of time, knocking a giant down with a rock and a rag, able to galvanize some people at a cave called a dulem, learning how to navigate even the hard tension. of bad leadership, finally we get the fulfillment of the promise. David now comes to being the king of all of Israel. And after his first war, his first battle against the Philistines at a place called Ramadah, the text is clear in 2 Samuel chapter 6 that now is David's plan. He wants to make sure that God is the center of their lives.
And that's when we begin to understand Jerusalem has now been the newly minted center. of Israel's place matter of fact he chose Jerusalem because it was a non-threatening space within a territory so none of the 12 tribes could claim this piece of land this parcel of land of Jerusalem would be where David and Israel now have their capital but one thing he needed to make sure that it was going to happen in order for them to have a capital they needed the presence of God because you must see for a period of time the ark of God had not been with the children of Israel It's interesting that somehow under the leadership of Saul, they had once again lost and floundered the ark of God. The presence of God had been taken away from the people of God.
It had been close to 20 some years since the people had even seen the ark of God. And isn't that interesting? The ark of God, that physical representation and manifestation of God's presence was not amongst the people, but ask me if you will, did they stop having time of sacrifice and temple?
No, they continued to go about their business. They continued to act like they were holy. They continued to act like they were in relationship with God without the presence of God. And I don't know who understands this tonight, but I want to suggest... That if we're not careful, we can be like the children of Israel, trying to go through the motions of relationship, but missing the presence of God.
For 20 years, that's what has taken place. For 20 years, the ark of God was not amongst the people. And the first thing on the list for David is David understood, I've got to bring the presence of God back to the people.
So that's what we see in 2 Samuel chapter 6. His intentions are to do this way. His intentions is right. He brings out 30,000 of some of their best troops.
He brings out the largest orchestra and symphony and band that he can and he decides to go and get the ark. From the place of Abinadaz's house. Abinadaz's house was on the outskirts of Israel's territory.
It was on the farthest margins that you could ever get to and not still be in Israel's territory. They marched all the way to Abinadaz's house. They then decided that we're going to bring the ark of God into Jerusalem.
They placed it on a brand new cart, had it being steered by an oxen, and they were on their way to Jerusalem. His intentions were right, but he did it all wrong. And by the time we end this particular pericope around verse 7, the text is clear that an oxen stumbles and a man named Uzzah who tries to steady the ark of God dies in that moment.
If you keep reading these verses around verse 8 and 9, David is so distraught. David is so angry. David does not want to do. David is despondent.
Why? Because his intentions were good. He wanted to bring the people and the ark of God into Jerusalem. However, now God had taken a man's life.
And my brothers and sisters, because of this moment of dismay and disapproval, he gets so angry. He discards God's presence at a man by the name of Obed Edom's house for three months. He leaves it there.
He doesn't want to do anything. with God's presence. His ideas have been wrecked. His mind has been warped all because of this mismanagement of this moment. And my brothers and sisters, I think it gives you and I warning because there's a lot that transpires between verses 1 and verse 7. A lot that takes place that here is David at this particular moment.
He wants to do right. His aim is to do right. He wants to bring God back in the middle, but because he mishandles God's presence.
Someone loses their life. David becomes despondent. And for 90 days, there was a delay in their plans.
I don't know why God would have me to preach this tonight, but I want to suggest that just having good intentions is not something that always honors God. Just because you claim to have a good heart and you claim that your aim is to do well, that just claiming those things and having a good heart is not always what honors God. I know that's what you have a hard time hearing tonight.
And I know you didn't show up on the second night of revival but... to hear that because you want to just think that God honors your intentions but let me tell you something God's instructions always trump your intentions I don't care how well you think you're doing I don't care how well and manicure you think your motives are at some point child of God if you mishandle this moment destruction can be found And if we think about that, my brothers and sisters, I want to share a couple things tonight. What was the folly that we find in this text? What is it that you and I can guard ourselves again?
What is it that we must make sure that we can handle in this moment? I know we're all trying to navigate this. next norm and I know we're all trying to get back to some routine and some rhythm when it comes to worship we're trying to come and forge our way out of this pandemic which is now becoming endemic we're still trying to figure out what life is going to be we want to maximize our best moments we want to give God our absolute best in our service we thankful to have a rested pastor ready to engage in ministry this is the year to be ready but if you mishandle this moment If you don't do what you're supposed to do, then I want to suggest that you could end up like David in verse 8 and 9, distraught, despondent, and the only recourse you believe is that you need to put distance between you and God.
Let me share a couple things tonight. I think our text here in these first couple of verses, Pastor, gives you and I some incredible insight. It allows us to understand what was it that David mishandled? What was it that we need to make sure that we're careful about in this next season? The first thing I want to say is that we need to be careful about what we're going to say next season.
to suggest that our text gives us good clarity on if we're going to handle this season correctly in the midst of this holy week. The first thing I need you to write down is we must first of all be careful not to imitate foreign practices. What I'm here to suggest tonight is that you got to be careful.
Guard yourself, if you will, from trying to imitate foreign practices. It's right here in our passage. My brothers and sisters said on the on the uncount, I've told you that this was David's mindset.
David wanted to bring back the ark of God, this physical manifested presence. He wanted to bring back into Israel. And notice what he did. He finds where it is.
It's been stashed for the last 20 years in Abedad's house. He takes 30,000 of their best troops. He brings a chorus and he brings a symphony, an orchestra, and he takes them there. He can't wait to get this large piece of furniture, which is the manifestation of God's presence.
You do know what the ark of God is. This is what we find in the book of Exodus. Exodus, this large piece of wood, wooden box that's overlaid with gold.
It has inside of it three items, an omer of manna, the rutted, the budded rod of Aaron, and the decalogue. On top of the Ark of Covenant was the cherubims and the mercy seat. Whenever the people of God would go out in battle, they would let the Ark of God lead them first. It was God's manifested presence. That's what David wanted to bring back into the Israel.
So what does he do? When he gets to Abinadaz's house, He grabs the ark of God and guess what he does? They start making their way to Jerusalem.
They have a destination. They have a place that they're going. They have what will ultimately be their final resting spot for the ark of God.
But notice the folly of the text. I hope that you read it closely. The text tells us that this is what David decides to do in order to transport the ark of God. He places it on a new cart. Brand new shiny cart, got nice big wheels and spinners.
Can you see this art that this cart that he puts this art on and they start to move it towards Jerusalem. They have an oxen that is leading it. This absolute brand new cart looks good.
It's shiny. is helping them to transport this rather large and heavy piece of furniture. Some scholars have suggested that the Ark of God was one of the heaviest pieces of furniture in antiquity.
This large thing that was made of wood and glass. gold and they decided that we're going to place it on the cart it's going to be easy for us to move it from a bitter dance house all the way to jerusalem these 10 miles it'll be easy for us to just go ahead and put this ark on a cart but i'm come to warn you child of god because i can almost see some of your expressions through your face mask tonight i can already tell some who've already tapped in why is that a big deal tonight pg why i mean they we learn that you don't always want to work harder you ought to work smart. I don't see what the big problem is.
He put it on the cart. This was going to make transporting this rather large piece of furniture easy. However, child of God, God had never instructed them to carry the ark on a cart.
No, God had never told them that I want you to move me with easy. No, this is what he told them, that if you're going to move the ark of God, you need to have some priest that can put some poles in the rings on the ark of God. And what I need you to do is If you're going to move the presence of God, you got to carry it on your shoulder. Somebody need to hear what I'm saying tonight.
Because I want to suggest the first way that David mishandled this moment is he decided to cart God when God said, you got to carry me. You can't just assume that you can go the easy way. You can't assume that you can go with it because you're trying to work smarter. No, this is not what I have ordained, nor what I have quantified. Which means that if I'm to move from port.
A to point B. You got to carry me on your shoulders. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I think this is a word for the contemporary church as we're trying to navigate into the next normal, as we're trying to figure out what we shall do next.
Can I tell you, I know that all these nice things are happening in the world. We got all of these wonderful secular methodologies that assume to be working now, but can I tell you God's way are still tried and true, and don't let us get cute in this. season thinking that we can cart God and just do the easy way but I need some folk here tonight that said I've decided that I don't want the easy way out that I've decided that if I'm going to move with God I got to do it God's way I got to carry what God wants me to carry for the challenge that I think God wants me to impress upon this body of believers is that in this moment, you can't get lazy.
In this moment, child of God, you can't assume that just because other people are doing it a certain way, each of us has an own particular and specific assignment that God calls us to do and will be unto us if you assume that just because somebody else did it, that God will allow you to do it. That's not how God operates. Because I could make the argument tonight.
Where in the world did they get this idea to place the ark on a cart? That's not how God had gave them instructions. Well, you'll note if you go back just a few chapters, you'll note that perhaps they got this idea from the Philistines. Their mortal enemies who throughout their history had been in constant tension and battle with Israel. And when they moved the ark that they had captured, they had allowed the ark to rise.
rolled on a cart. And even when the cart was returned to Israel, they rolled it on a cart. So we can assume that perhaps David and Israel had seen how the Philistines moved God's presence. And they thought to themselves, well, God didn't punish them.
Maybe he changed his mind. If I had some time tonight, I would tell you, be careful. Trying to emulate. and do what other people do and think that God won't punish you. Please, child of God, hear me tonight.
I know it's easy to sometimes assume that just because other people get away with certain things and other people don't get chastised or other people don't get judged a certain way, please. warning you tonight be careful because just because they got away with it don't mean God will let you get away with it I'm from Greensboro North Carolina and uh that's home for me I was raised by my grandparents and I'll never forget um when I was growing up um We had a couple dudes that was in my neighborhood, Pastor, that was my homeboys. I love my man Keon and Putt and Big Mac and Little Mac, but my absolute best friend was my homeboy by the name of Willie.
Willie tragically passed our senior year of high school. I still think about him to this day, but Willie was my homeboy growing up. But I got to admit to you, when I was with Willie, we always got in trouble.
You ever had them people that's just in your life, your friends? But whenever y'all together, trouble comes. always seems to find you.
We would get caught doing the craziest kind of things, and if I can be honest, a lot of times I was just following what Willie said, dude. Never forget one time, this is what happened. We were doing something. I was just following after Willie, and we ended up getting caught by my grandmother. I was raised by my grandparents.
I came from a house that didn't believe in sparing the rod. They believed in corporate punishment. They believed in switches and belts, knives, y'all ain't trying to hear me, and brass.
knuckles and elbows. Y'all ain't trying to hear me. That's the home I grew up in. And I'll never forget that when I finally found myself there and we got in trouble and my grandmother caught us doing something. She motioned for both of us to come in the house.
I already knew it was going to go down, y'all. I already knew that grandma was going to start to whipping and stripping and I already knew all that was going to happen. So I already had my speech in line. I was going to tell her Willie did it.
It was Willie's fault. I was just following after Willie because I assumed that if my argument was plausible, I would have to go to the hospital. I was going to enough if my argument had the real logistics to it then then I would just sit back and let Willie get beat and I would just sit on the side because I really was only doing what I saw Willie do but I learned a valuable lesson that moment guys that as soon as I tried to come up with my speech as soon as I try to say I was only doing what Willie did I was only trying to follow Dylan my grandmother just kept looking at me she pulled out that belt and she just told me to pull my pants down y'all ain't trying to hear me I was trying to tell her it was Willie. I was just doing what Willie did. I was just following after Willie, but she just began to start whipping me and hitting me, and Willie was on the side laughing and having a good time.
Y'all, I was heartbroken, and I was hurt to the point where I did a cardinal sin. I grabbed the belt because I'm like, Grandma, this ain't right. Why are you whipping me? It was Willie's fault. It's Willie that did it, and she looked at me like she was ready to tear a hole inside of me, and she said something I'll never forget.
She said, Charlie, the reason I'm whipping you is because you're my child, and he's... not I wish I had someone to hear me tonight because every now and again you want to plead your case to God and say God it's on them God why don't you get them God why ain't you handling them and God said listen they ain't my child you know my instructions and you know what matters to me help you tonight one of the things you got to make sure you do you got to be careful not to imitate foreign practices That can I get you FCBC tonight to commit to carrying and not carting. That the easy way is not always God's way. There's something else in this passage.
That not only do I believe that we're being challenged to be careful not to imitate foreign practices, but there's another layer to this as well, and that is number two, be careful not to be distracted by what's familiar. The interesting thing, Pastor, in the passage is as they're making this transition, this parade, if you will, from Abinadad's house to Jerusalem, everything starts out well. They're going along. It's a large party. There's no issue.
Now here's the interesting thing. Even though they're wrong, God doesn't stop them. Even though they're disobeying God's commands, God keeps letting them go.
If I had time tonight, I would tell you that's why you got to be careful trying to judge God's prospering of you with progression. Because sometimes you can assume that God is pleased just because you're progressing and that's not always how God operates. God doesn't stop them.
God does not tell them to wrong. He just lets them keep on going and they just continue to push the ark on the cart. But the text says they get to somewhere.
They pass this place called Nikon and they pass this place called Nikon and when they get to a place called Nikon the text says something that intrigues me it says the oxen stumbled. Y'all I had to pause there I know I'm like your pastor he's a nosy reader of the bible there's always stuff in there if you read real close you you'll begin to get some stuff there's some tension that oftentimes happen and I must admit to you I was thrown off because very rarely do you see those two words in the same phrase, oxen stumbling. If you know anything about oxen, they're sturdy animals. They're known for their strength. They are known for their vitality.
They are known to be typically animals that you can depend on to always be sure-footed. So the question is raised, what causes this sure-footed, steady, sturdy, consistent animal to stumble? It's right there in the text.
It passes a threshing floor. Now for those of you who don't know what a threshing floor is, this is important because you must understand threshing floors in those days were places of separation. It is where they would take the wheat and... and it would be the place where you would separate the wheat from the shaft.
They would take the grain, and this was a major place of separation. But how they did the separating is they would throw the grain on the ground, and they would allow a large boulder or a large rock to once again roll. over the grain while the large boulder would roll over the grain the grain will begin to be crushed and it would start to separate the shaft and the wheat then they would throw it up and the wind would take the difference but here's the thing that I need you to remember tonight that this rock that was crushing the grain was typically being run by an oxen they would typically tie an oxen to the rock and they were allowing the oxen to walk in a circle pulling this large boulder and large rock while they crushed the grain that caused the separation.
So here is what I believe happened, my brothers and sisters, that this sturdy and sturdy and sure-footed oxen, it passed a threshing floor, something that it used to be a part of, something that it used to be connected to. And because as it was headed to Jerusalem, it caught out of its side eye, a threshing floor, it stumbled because of something familiar. I wish I could have some help tonight because I want to let you know that oftentimes we always want to complain and we assume that our stumbling is because of some demonic presence but what if I told you that often the thing that gets you off center the thing that causes you to stumble is threshing floors That thing that's just been going in a circle, that thing that you used to be tied to, that thing that made a routine in your life, that thing that was a rhythm that you used to be a part of, but now you got a new assignment. But if you're not careful, you can be headed to Jerusalem and still want or crave for your threshing floors. I wish I had some real people in FCBC tonight that can testify that oftentimes in your walk with God, you have stumbled.
It ain't always been some evil. There ain't always been something done. demonic but because there are some things that you used to be tied to it could be ministry it could be a way of life it could be a perspective and if we're not careful tonight child of God you will stumble when you pass your threshing floor can I ask you a question tonight what is your threshing floor what is it that God has moved you beyond but you still got a taste for What's your threshing floor? What is it that wasn't taking you anywhere but in circles, but now that you're headed to Jerusalem, you still can't get that rhythm out of your life? What is your threshing floor?
Ooh, I wish I had some real people tonight. Maybe they real quiet in the sanctuary. I hope that you're hollering back at your preacher online because I'm here to tell you that all of us need to know and be aware of what our threshing floors are.
Because if you're not aware of your threshing floor, then you're going to wonder why you keep stumbling at the same place. Maybe your prayer. tonight is God deliver me from my desire to want to go back to what you brought me out of Lord tonight deliver me from threshing floors the things that you promoted me from I wish I had someone here tonight that said you know what I need God to help me move beyond my threshing floor what is your threshing floor tonight What is that thing that for that season that you were a part of it wasn't doing nothing but taking you in circles?
And are you so addicted to going in circles that you can't go towards your Jerusalem? I wish I had some help here tonight. And every now and again, you got to make sure, hear me clearly tonight, FCBC, God is telling you, don't get distracted.
Don't allow what's familiar to cause you to miss out on your Jerusalem. Don't allow what you assume is part of your routine to make you stumble tonight. This COVID quarantine caused me to make some decisions I typically would not have ever done if we weren't in COVID.
Y'all don't look at me like that. Y'all did the same thing. Because before COVID, my schedule was so crazy. On the road almost every week. But when the world shut down...
and we were forced to be at home, I got bored. Getting bored, I started buying stuff I shouldn't have bought. Okay, don't look at me funny.
I believe y'all some judgy people tonight. Don't do that. And I decided to do something, Pastor Warren, that my staff warned me not to do. That while in quarantine, I made a decision to buy a dog. I'm busy y'all.
I'm on the road all the time, but I always wanted a dog. I grew up with a dog, but I grew up with them dogs that were outside. Mutts is what we would call them in the south. And the dogs I grew up with always stayed outside, but I decided in quarantine, in COVID, to buy a dog. My staff told me, Pastor, don't do it, but I want a dog.
How bad could it be? Ain't none of y'all helped me out. No one said nothing to me. Y'all didn't tell me that dogs is like little kids that don't grow up. Y'all didn't tell me.
Y'all didn't tell me there's a process of training the dog where to use the bathroom, man. Okay, am I the only one? I was a novice at this. I assume that they already came trained. I already assume that they knew to go outside to handle their business.
I already assume. Oh, I had to learn the hard way. And we had some rough moments. Matter of fact, right now, I don't even have my dog anymore. It's complicated.
I'm in a co-parenting situation with my staff. I do see him a couple of months. Y'all don't look at me judging. I tried.
I gave it my best effort. I'm telling you, I really did. But the reason I raised that is that there was a lot of things that I struggled with with Deacon.
His name was Deacon that I struggled with, Pastor, because I realized that with Deacon, And he didn't like new stuff. But when I got him, I got him with this old yellow towel. That's what I brought him home with, this old yellow towel. And here's what's crazy, guys, that no matter what happened in the year that I had him, he would always default to that.
that yellow tower. I would try to bring him new toys. I would try to introduce new things to him, but he would always, if he ever saw this old, beat-up, chewed-up yellow tower, he would leave the new stuff, the nice, shiny stuff, and run to this old, beat-up. I mean, it didn't matter how nice it was, how much money I invested, because y'all didn't tell me how much you had to invest in dogs and all the stuff they wanted to do. But if I brought around this old, beat-up yellow tower, he would run from everything else that looked good to this old, beat-up yellow tower.
And I can tell y'all are right. already judging me but I want to ask you the question how many of you are like my dog Deacon that no matter what God puts out there for you no matter what God progresses in your life you keep running back to that same old same old you keep going back it may be Deacon's old yellow tower and the oxen it might be his threshing floor but all of us got something that if we're not careful we can make us stumble Be careful that you don't imitate foreign practices. Be careful tonight that you don't get distracted by what's familiar.
But there's something else I see in this passage. Be careful tonight that you don't get betrayed by your preferences. I wish I had good news tonight. I wish I could close with a better illustration. Y'all gonna get some shouting and hooping tomorrow with Dr. John facing.
My aim tonight is to challenge you. Because there's something else that takes place. Watch the progression.
They put the ark on a cart, which they were not supposed to do. And while the oxen was leading it to Jerusalem, it stumbles by a threshing floor. And by the stumbling of the ox, the ark begins to falter on the cart.
And the text tells us around verse 6 and 7 that a man that was following after the ark, his name is Uzzah, puts out his hands to steady the ark. And God kills him right there. He's just trying to make sure that the ark doesn't fall on the ground.
But when he puts his hand on the ark, God kills him. Now I know for many of you who read the Old Testament, this is alarming, but this oftentimes seems to flow with the same psychology of God, especially in the Old Testament. This almost seems real harsh.
Why is God killing this man Uzzah who only was trying to steady the ark? But see, there's something you must understand, my brothers and sisters, is as I told you before, God has rules and regulations. God has instructions.
And one of the things that he said was that you got to carry the ark on the shoulders of the priest. But he had also dictated that no one is to touch the ark but the priest. Now here's what you must put into play. This person by the name of Uzzah was a son of Abinadad. He was the son of Abinadad, the one who had been housing the Ark of God for the last 20 years.
Abinadad was in the home or in the lineage. of the Levites, Ahio, his son, who was in the front, and Uzzah, his son, were in the back. They were Levites, but they were not priests.
For the last 20 years, they had got familiar with the ark of God. For the last 20 years, they had woke up in the morning and seen the ark of God sitting in prominence in their father's house. For the last 20 years, they had knew the power and the prestige of the ark.
For the last 20 years, they had got comfortable with the ark. But just because they got comfortable, God still didn't say they could touch it. And in this moment, when the ark is starting to fall off of the car, he sticks out his hand and does something he knew for the last 20 years he was never able to do. And when he did it, God punished him.
And I want to suggest tonight, I wish I had a better way to close this, but I'm here to tell you tonight that you've got to be careful that you don't allow your preference to overstep into God's authority. Thank And God in this moment made a judgment call because God was willing, based upon how he treated us, I'd rather my ark be on the ground than unauthorized hands being touching it. Ooh, I wish I had time tonight because y'all don't want to hear this. And I understand because you've been attending FCBC for the last 20 years. You've been attending that you know how this thing ought to go.
And you know how pastors should roll. And you know how the worship should go. And I know that you've gotten comfortable with certain things over this last course of time. but be careful child of God not just to put your hand but your mouth on God's anointed be careful because there's a fine line between preference and authority and if you're not careful tonight God says listen I know you got close to it but you ain't authorized to touch it you ain't authorized to do something about it you ain't authorized to move it and because he disobeyed God struck him there And I don't know who needs to hear this tonight, but be careful. Allow in your preference to get you in trouble.
Thinking you can tell God or tell this or that, that this is how you want things to happen. Be careful tonight. Because if we're not mindful, our preference could cause us to lose everything. It was 1995. I'm dumb and I'll tell you this.
The World Championships was happening in Germany. And they had finally brought to the forefront a woman who was blazing trails during this particular year. year, Gwen Torrance.
She was in essence who they considered would be the next great female track star. She was in the same line and lineage of Flojo. I mean, she was going to bring home the gold. This was our next best hope. She was great in the 100, great in the 200, and great in the 400. And there she was in the qualifying match.
And she got in her box and boom, when the when the gun went off, she blew out and she was going down the track. You could see smoke coming from out her shoes. And by the time she crossed the line, pastor, the time was 21.77 seconds, a new record that year. Crowd was going crazy.
Everyone was excited. You could see her lifting her arms in victory. Everyone was like, yes, the crowd was going crazy. But then a hush came over the crowd. That next to that blazing time, 21.77 seconds.
two letters appeared. And if you ever run track, there's two letters you never want to see on the scoreboard. DQ.
DQ stands for disqualified. People were shocked what was happening. She had surely outran everyone else.
She was the best runner on the field, on the track that day. What could have happened until they went to the TV replay and they zoomed in to Gwen Torrance's feet. And as she was making the turn on the 200, she did something that every track and field person knows you can't do.
She stepped outside her lane. And even though she was first across the finish line, she got disqualified because she stepped out her lane. I wish I had time tonight.
I'm done at FCBC, but that's what this entire week is all about, is that you got to make sure... that you stay within your lane. You got to make sure that when God assigns you to something and authorizes you to do it, you got to make sure you stay within your lane.
I don't know who needs to hear this tonight, but there's too much involved that God wants to do for you, and you got to make sure that you handle it. Don't everyone stand in. I wish I had a better message for you tonight, but I need you to know.
Hear my heart, don't mishandle this opportunity. God has given us, as our musicians play softly, God has given you and I an amazing opportunity to get it right this time. And how disrespectful are we going to be to God? That in the midst of this restart, we choose to try to do it our way and not God's way.
Out of what we've learned over the last two years, Pastor, I made a decision. I told my church, I am now more than ever committed to doing it God's way. It may not be flashy, and it may. It may not be as shiny as others would have it, but they can have all that.
You keep those cards. Because this season, God says, I'm rewarding those who choose faithfulness over anything else. I'm rewarding those in this season who are choosing my way versus their way. I don't know why God wanted me to say this for you tonight, but God sent me to challenge you. We've had to come to the realization that church was not going to be what it used to be, and that's not a bad thing.
But what God is challenging us is that in this restart, can we carry like we're supposed to? Can we not be distracted? And can we stay in our lane?
As soon as you step out of lane, I'm here to tell you tonight, that's when disqualification comes. And I would hate to cross the finish line and still be disqualified. I would hate to run my fastest. and still be disqualified.
Every hand lifted all over this building tonight. I feel your presence tonight, God. This is the week that Christ took our sins to the cross.
It wasn't a glamorous trip. There were many people that told him to get down from the cross, but he stayed faithful to his assignment. And as your hands are lifted tonight, I need you to make that pledge to God. Through it all, I'm just going to stay faithful.
I'm not going to take the easy way this time, God. I'm going to stay faithful. I'm not going to judge my progress and my process based upon how other people decide to do it. I'm going to stay faithful.
God, I'm going to be singularly focused this time. It's on my Jerusalem that I don't have time to focus on no threshing floors. So Lord, keep me focused this year and the years to come. God, in the name of Jesus, we thank you.
We bless you in this moment. We come. The clarion call in this house is that we're ready.
The word that has prophetically been pushed into our spirit this year is we're ready. And God, with readiness comes responsibility. So tonight we thank you for the wake-up call to know that it is in our hands to handle it correctly. So Lord, what we simply ask is that there's anything in us that does not honor you and glorify you, move it out of the way.
If there's anything that's meant to make us misstep and stumble, Get it out of our perspective now. God, you got ministry for us to do. You got lives to save.
You got people to be transformed. And you want to use us, oh Lord. I prophetically declare that this is the day that FCBC continues to hold up the banner of what it means to be faithful. Lord, we pray for our pastor.
Lord, we thank you for the rest you allowed him to have. Continue to cover him right now. Strengthen his mind. Bring restoration to his body.
Enlarge his vision. Amplify his voice now. He's a voice we need to hear in a season like this. Thank you for what he means to this church, and thank you what he means to the kingdom, but ultimately, God, thank you for what he means to you.
Cover him and protect him, keep him and sustain him. God, cover his family with the blood. We pray no hurt, harm, or danger would come their way.
Lord, we also pray that protection amongst the leadership and followership of this house. We different here. We walk different.
We love different. We serve different. We different here. God, we thank you for the opportunity to love you and to get it right.
So Lord, release us. Release us to better tonight. Release us to greater tonight.
Release us. In the name of Jesus, we do pray. Amen. Look at three people and tell them, you better handle it better. You better handle it better.
Come on, let's give our pastor a hand. God bless you.