How To Carry His Presence | Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. Let's go right into the service. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today. I want to go to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 7. I'll go to 1 Samuel chapter 7.

0:42 And I'm going to preach a message, and it's going to come at Christmas a little different, but I believe it's the word of the Lord. 1 Samuel chapter 7. Verse 1, It was there 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. This was a remarkable experience and moment when God Almighty said that I am going to make a decision to show up on planet Earth the first time we call Christmas.

1:50 but actually God manifest the invisible image of God became visible first before the baby was born in the manger in something called the Ark of the Covenant, which was a God box. It was 45 inches long. It was rectangular. It was 27 inches deep. It was 27 inches wide. It had a crown, and you're going to have to use your imagination with this message. But it was much bigger than this box, but I'm using a box for an illustration. It was crowned. It had a crown around the top that was extended over it. It had two cherubims that were made out of solid gold, and their wings would touch together, and that would create over the lid of the box what was known as the mercy seat.

2:49 God said, I'll dwell on earth. I'll be that box and that mercy seat that will be sprinkled with the blood of a lamb. It will be where I will dwell with men and they will come and they will have their sins pushed off to another year. And inside of the Ark of the Covenant was the tablets of Moses, the Ten Commandments. Inside was the manna, a little pot that had manna that had fed the children of Israel for 40 years. Speaks of God's provision. The Word speaks of God's, the Word that would be made flesh, that would be the bread of life. Jesus made these statements, and they were not random statements.

3:43 They were prophecies. I am the bread of life. I am the manna. I am the word made flesh. And inside also was Aaron's rod that blossomed. It was a dead stick when they put it in there, and it came alive and produced buds and produced almonds, although it had no natural thing that it was connected to giving it life. So that speaks of resurrection of dead things. The presence of God was in a box in the Old Testament. The presence of God was the presence of God, the power of God, resurrection power, the provision of God, the bread. My God will supply, give us this day our daily bread. It was all in the box.

4:36 The protection, the angels were symbolic of divine protection. Mercy was in the gift. The way God first showed up on planet earth, the blood was on the mercy seat. Mercy was available for people who had done wrong. All of this was there in that God box. It was really God saying, in type and shadow, I'm coming to earth one day. The ark was the residence of God. It was the power and the protection, the glory of God, the presence of God. Wherever this God box went, it had the presence, the actual glory of God accompanied it everywhere that it would go. and the manifestation, a physical manifestation that when they saw it, they knew God is there.

5:32 God is in that. God is a part of that. And when you read it, it's really something of how it protected them and it provided for them and it blessed them. It was their success. It was their victory over their enemies. If they had the ark, they were triumphant people. But we see in 1 Samuel chapter 4 the beginning of the end because something tragic happened in Israel. They began to take that box for granted and they began to take the God of that box. They began to merge their faith with other gods and other religions. And they kind of put it in a place of that's there in the temple. There was a place called Shiloh mentioned in the scripture. and Shiloh was the first place that they built a tabernacle in the Old Testament and put the Ark of the Covenant in that tabernacle of Moses and so it was there but it wasn't a part of their life little by little there was great distance and they knew it was there when they needed it and so one day Israel went out to fight the Philistines and the Philistines defeated them completely defeated them on the battlefield. And so they came back and they questioned and they said, what happened? Why did we lose? And somebody said, I know what we're missing. We're missing God. We, we, we forgotten about God. Oh yeah, that's right. Send down to Shiloh and get the ark of the covenant and bring it. And we'll go out against them again tomorrow and we will defeat them. And you know, that's all God is to us. This is kind of their attitude. They even said these words, we can go fetch God. Go fetch him. We don't really want him in our daily lives or anything, but we're in trouble right now. It's 911. We're in an emergency. We want God as a good luck charm.

7:34 We want God as a rabbit's foot. We want God as a four-leaf clover. We want to go open the trunk and get out the spare tire and use it in cases of emergency. We really don't want all of that glory and stuff and power and all of that. Just have him there in the trunk when we need him in case things go flat. So they go and they fetch it and they bring it back. And God said, rather than you have this attitude toward me, I'd rather go home with the Philistines who at least fear me and recognize who I am. They've got more fear of me and recognition of my greatness than you do. I'd rather go home with them than go home with you and you put me back in the trunk and treat me like I'm just something that you turn to in your crisis. And so God let them go out with the Ark of the Covenant and they fought the Philistines.

8:36 And that day, Israel lost 30,000 men on the battlefield. 30,000 were killed. And then the story gets darker because after 30,000 were killed, they ran back and they said to Eli, the high priest, Sir, we're sorry, but two of your sons died. So that's 30,002. And by the way, your son's wife is having a baby, and she's dying. And as soon as she gives birth, on the same day, she sees her child. She hears the glory. The box has been kidnapped by the Philistines. They have taken the Ark of the Covenant back with them. And she dies. The two sons die, 30,003. And then Eli falls backwards, the high priest, and breaks his neck.

9:33 That's 30,004 people dead because under the old covenant, they did not really want to honor and keep that presence in their lives like they should. They just wanted to use it. and Ichabod it kind of ends Ichabod that you never hear of Shiloh again until later and everything changes and the Philistines kidnap God in a box God beginning to show up on earth the invisible God being made visible did not start in Bethlehem it started in a box in type, in shadow. God said, I'll dwell between the wings of the cherubims.

10:30 And they brought, the Philistines brought this God box into the temple of their God, Dagon. Dagon was sitting on the chief seat, a statue, half fish, half man. And they worshiped him because they were seafaring people. And they worshiped him. But they said, we'll put the Hebrews God in a box on a stand and we'll leave them overnight and see how they get along. And they came the next morning, the Bible said. And when they walked in, Dagon had fallen off of his throne and was laying at the feet of the God of the Hebrews that was in the box. bowed down. God had said, there'll be no other gods before me. Get down. And when he did, the God of the Philistines is laying on the ground. The statue is laying on the ground at the feet, the scripture said, of the Ark of the Covenant. And so they explained it away and said, well, there's probably a wind that came out of nowhere. Or, you know, sometimes we have little tremors and earthquakes and come on boys help me pick our God up and get a wrench a winch and and and start pulling and heave ho heave ho pick him up pick him up I don't want a God that I have to pick up I I don't want a God who's fallen and he can't get up I don't want a God that is so weak that he can't pick me up because he's too down and depressed himself and they finally get him back on the throne and they leave him again and they come in 24 hours later the next morning and not only has Dagon fallen off of his throne again but this time he's laying at the feet of Jehovah God in a box and his hands are broken off and his head is broken off and on top of that and I'm just going to preach it like the Bible says it

12:39 on top of that something horrible happens a plague breaks out and all of the men everybody say all of the men every one of them young old whatever all the men had hemorrhoids and they were terrible this is all in the bible you shouldn't mention it it's in the bible and you're laughing about it but they were not laughing about it there was nobody laughing about it it's the craziest thing you ever read if you read the story. And the Bible said they were so convinced that this God in the box was judging them by this horrible, horrible disease that they were in such pain that they said, well, let's get him out of here. We don't want this. Send it with a little note. Thanks, but no thanks. And put him on a cart and get some cows and let them, without a driver, let God lead them back the way they want. We just want him out of here. We don't want this box.

13:37 Get it out. Get it out. Please go away. I mean, this God is a pain. That's better than you let on right there. He's a pain. And I won't say, I mean, this is a problem, this God. Get him out of here. and they even made little gold hemorrhoids, the Bible said. I don't understand this part. I don't know what that means. I don't want to know what that means. I don't like talking about this. Was it like something you'd hang from your rearview mirror? I don't know. I don't know. I don't understand some things of the Bible. It's what the Bible said, and they put them all over there like little decorations and said, please take this God of yours back and all the stuff with it. And this is the story.

14:31 And when they see the Ark of the Covenant coming back, they ran out and they're screaming, yay, yay, we wanted him back, we want him back. And a few of them say, I wonder if the Philistine stole anything out of it. And so they opened the lid up, just treating it casual and opened the lid up. And when they did, the Bible said 50,000 Israelite men were killed instantly. Instantly.

15:04 This is almost like, what in the world? 50,000, now 30,000. 30,000 plus 50,000 80,000 plus two sons 80 and 2,000 plus the mother 80 and 3 80 and 4,000 80 and 4,000 people dead because of that box. There it is. The whole nation is having funerals. 50,000 funerals have to be performed over a box. the Philistines don't want it now the king of Israel says I don't want it find somewhere to put it and that's where we join the story take it to somebody's house and ask them will they take it and take care of it King Saul said I don't want it I'm scared of it get that box out of here it's type and shadow it's a holy God a mighty God who cannot entertain sin, cannot be appeased, except that he is loved with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength.

16:31 And there is no grace here. So if you don't measure up and you don't keep the law and you don't perform the commandments and you don't live it up, then there's nothing that will hit your life but judgment, judgment, judgment. and nobody wants it. It's a disease spreader. It's a widow maker. It's a killing machine, and the Philistines don't want it, and now Israel doesn't want it, so just find somebody in Israel. We want the benefits of it, but just dump it off in somebody's house and tell them to keep it, and they go to this man's house. His name is Abinadab. And I think his wife heard they were coming and probably called the insurance man and said, I need more insurance if my husband's going to keep this thing in our house.

17:28 They had three sons. And the father says, this box, this box that has the angels and the mercy seat and the blood on it. and it's blood-stained, and it's old, and it's old-fashioned. It's got Ten Commandments. It demands a life change to even have it around you. So which one of you boys want to keep it?

17:58 Can you imagine the conversation? Which one of you boys, if you're going to keep it, it's going to have to affect your conduct. And if you're going to keep it, it's going to have to be day in and day out. And if you're going to keep it, we can't just put it up under the bed. This is God showing up on earth. And it's going to require you keeping it. It's going to require watching it and tending it. It's going to require a relationship. You're going to have to confine it to your life. Everywhere you go, it's going to go. It's got to be like a habit. It's got to be watched over. It's going to be preserved. It's got to be you. Who will be the keeper of the ark? Who will be the keeper of the presence? Who will be the keeper of the one who says that I'll protect you with angels and provide with manna and I'll be your provider and your protector and I'll be the presence. Wherever I go, I'm going to be with you.

19:04 wherever this box is, God is with you. He is a part of your life. Can you see those boys? Can you see them? Nobody, nobody, dad, what do you mean? I mean, how long are we talking about? Are we talking about a week? Are we talking about a month? I don't know, boys. All I can tell you is they're bringing it to our house and I need one of you to keep it. Well, dad, I got stuff going on. I mean, I'm not, I'm not a priest and I'm not a preacher and I'm not anointed. We're just boys. I got a girlfriend, and I got school, and I got dreams, and I got things that I got to get done with my life. What do you mean I got to take that box with me everywhere? I mean, if I go out on a date, it's got to be between me and Susie. What if Susie wants to have some fun? You can't have no fun without the box being between you.

20:01 There's nothing, nobody can come into your life that doesn't love the box. If they don't love your God, you sure don't need to walk down the aisle with them and make vows for life. If they don't love your worship, if they don't love the presence, if they don't love the presence, if this goes with me, this is part of me. I'm the keeper of the ark. How can I keep it? This is going to mess up a lot of my friendships, a lot of my relationships. they used to invite me to the party and every time I'd show up they'd say oh you brought that with you we didn't mean for you to bring that I got to invite the other day but they said you can come but you can't bring that with you but you gotta be the keeper of it if you're gonna have his power and his presence and have his provision and have his blessing and have his angels protecting you and all the blessings that come with the box It's got to be a part of you.

21:00 You don't put it in the back of the trunk and pull it out when you need it. It becomes everything to you. It determines who you marry. It determines who you date. It determines where you work. I've come to apply for a job. Well, what is that? Well, this goes with me everywhere. Well, I need somebody that works with two hands. Well, I've got to always hold this with one hand, so I don't know if this job is for me. Well, I need you to drive that liquor truck. I can't do that. I'm going to have to hold this box in one hand. Do you understand? If the job is not, I'm preaching too strong, aren't I? I'm simply saying to you, I don't want any job that I can't take the box with me on and know that the box is okay with me using and taking him into anywhere I go. Come on.

21:54 Well, Dad, I mean, it's just an old-timey relic anyhow. Nobody wants it, Dad. I mean, the Philistines don't want it. The Israel, the church really don't want it.

22:15 They don't want all that power stuff. They don't want that anointing with oil. They don't want the power of the Holy Ghost. They don't believe in miracles anymore. They don't want worship. That's why they don't want presents because they don't want to worship. They want to punch the clock. They don't really want what you've got anymore, Dad. Nobody. Why would we take that into our home? it'll change your plans. It'll change your dreams. It'll require you altering your life. But one boy spoke up and he said, Dad, I'll do it if it's important to you.

22:57 If it's important to God, I'll be the keeper. It's going to alter my relationships. It's going to alter who I date. It's going to alter everything that I get involved with. If I can't take this with me, I am not going to get involved with it. I can't do it. I have to take him with me in everything that I do. And I'm going to forfeit. He didn't know it, but that young boy said, I'm going to be different from all of these others, and I'm going to forfeit 20 years of my life to be a keeper of this amazing. manifestation of the invisible God becoming visible. It took him laying down his life, laying down his agenda.

24:00 This is what Christianity is. It is not you coming to the back of your car and pulling him out for a miracle and putting him back in. It is absolutely daily, daily, daily, daily, daily. And then he's your provider. And then he's your protector. And then he's your blessing. And then he's got angels around you. And then he's with you. Then he's your healer. Then he's your deliverer.

24:28 I will be a keeper of his word. A keeper of his power. A keeper of his glory. A keeper of his presence. A keeper of his provision. What do you mean? I really can't get involved with anybody deeply that doesn't treasure his presence. it goes where you go and you keep it between you and everything in the world. and you only date people who are comfortable with the presence of God. Amen.

25:25 It's kind of hard to get hot and heavy when you got this box between the two of you. Kind of hard to have an affair when you got this box and it talks. It's a talking box. What are you doing here? What are you looking at? What are you listening to? What are you thinking about? Hey I don't know what kind of gods you think you have, but I promise you, you can't just fetch him.

26:01 Just go fetch him. Break the glass in case of emergency. Pull it out, do it, and then put it back. He'll always be there. There's so much more to it. Let me show you. I thank God commands us. because when you understand that in 2 Samuel chapter 6, something happened. The Bible said that all those years, for 20 years, that boy kept that box. For 20 years, he took care of it. Day after day, everywhere he went, he went with it. And listen, there came a day when Saul's kingdom was over and David, a man who loved the presence of God, became king of Israel.

26:58 A new generation now has come on the scene. And the first thing that David says I want to do in 2 Samuel 6 is he said, I want to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. Where is it? And they said, is it in Shiloh? No, it's not in Shiloh. You know where it is? It's in that home that we left it in. that Eleazar kid, he's kept it for 20 years. The only reason that we're going to get the dance around it is because somebody kept it. The only reason that a new generation is going to have the faith and know the power and know the blessing and have the protection and see the provision and see all the blessings that God can bring into your life is because somebody kept it. There was a dad, there was a mom, there was someone who said, I'm going to keep this for a generation that they may not know it now, but one day they're going to need their mercy seat.

27:55 They're going to need blood of forgiveness. They're going to need provision. They're going to need prosperity. They're going to need healing. They're going to need the presence of God that makes people have purpose and meaning. And so David goes and he retrieves and he puts the Ark of the Covenant on a new cart. And it's so interesting when you read the story in 2 Samuel 6. And it talks about how there were the three brothers. And you know about Eleazar. But there was another brother named Ahio. And he went before the Ark because it's showtime now. It's a big parade. Now everybody wants it. Now everybody's excited. So here's the boy who wouldn't keep it for 20 years, but he says, I'll take the front, and I'll go out in front of the ark, and everybody will see me and see, wow, here comes the ark coming back to Israel.

28:52 And as they're screaming, I want them to really see me. And then the other brother named Uzzah said, I'll drive the cart. And I could just see him, and one is waving, and yes, yes, the glory's coming back. And interestingly, the one who kept it, the only boy who kept it for 20 years, he said, I'll stay home. I don't want the glory. I don't want to steal his glory. I don't want it to be about me. You go ahead. What I did, I did in private because I love him. But here's a showboat out front. He's waving. He's happy. And I can see Uza. He's blowing kisses like he's in a parade throwing candy out. hey, hey, I got it, I got it right here. And they hit a bump in the road, and when they did, the ark almost fell, and Uzzah reached up and touched the ark of the covenant, and when he touched the ark of the covenant, it's 80,000 and 480,000 and 5 dead.

29:54 Boom. David said, it's not enough to put it in a new little cart. This is what the church is trying to do. Slick. Just have modern worship that is absence of true keeping of the word, and keeping of the standards, keeping of love and entertaining his presence with worship, his presence, his power, understanding. It's more than that. The new cart couldn't carry it. So they said put it on the shoulders of the priest. And the Bible said that what David did was phenomenal. He said we will never take this box for granted again. so every six paces two three four five six we will stop we will put the box down and we will sacrifice and we will get the instruments out and we will dance and we will praise and we will worship because we're so glad we've got his presence we're so glad that we've got his protection. We're so glad that we've got his provision. We've got his mercy. We've got his grace. He's broken the curse off of our nation. And every six paces, they would do that again and again and again and again and again and again. We will never allow God to think that we don't want him. We will worship when we're in his presence. We will praise him. We will glorify him.

31:44 He is the most precious thing and gift that we have ever received. When you get him, healing is in there. Provision is in there. Miracles for your marriage is in there. I tell you, everything you need is in that gift that God sent in that manger in Bethlehem. And you ought not to be just casual about it. You ought not to just say, well, it's not that big of a deal. It is the biggest deal in the world. If you have this in your home, you are blessed. You may not have money. You may not be able to give expensive gifts. But if you have this in your life, you will never, ever, ever see a day that God does not provide all you need. This is the miracle.

32:43 Jesus born in Bethlehem. And when you understand that, when you understand that the Bible says in Revelation 22, Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps these sayings and prophecies. when you understand that the scripture says in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 13 the conclusion of the whole matter the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments Eliezer was keeping the ark when David was a little kid keeping the sheep. There has to be in every family elders and parents and moms and dads and grandparents who are keeping the word of God, keeping the presence of God so that when a new generation wants to dance around something, something has been preserved that has never changed.

34:04 There are people that I think of at this point in this message that men who gave back, who have gone back to dust, men and women, including my own father, who kept this for me when I was a little child so that one day I could dance around the presence of God and have an ark in my family that hell could not destroy. When we walk through the fire, he's with us. When we go through the lion's den, he is with us. When we go through the hails that life can bring, I am not alone. He is Emmanuel. But the only reason that I have it, now my children have it, and my grandchildren have it, is because my dad and my mom and before them, their dads and their moms kept this, knowing a new generation is coming up.

35:09 So when you have your Christmas gathering this week, man, this thing hit me. I want a traditional thing. I want everything, you know, like we do, the big meal and all of that. I want to make sure that I have in all of our Christmas celebration and ripping gifts open and kids having a wonderful time and fun, I want to be a keeper. I want to be a keeper of the ark, the presence, the power, the mercy, the blood,

35:56 the protection, the provision. Man, this is the greatest thing we can give our families right here. I can't get it up now. I can't get too busy that we don't pray it. Really take a time. I don't know what I'm trying to say, but God, would you visit us this Christmas in our families? Can we have more than a day of Christmas trees and lights and food and fellowship and fun? Could somehow your presence... Could your presence be in the room? Could somebody say something that could pierce beyond the surface and really touch the needs of my family? Because what we really need is we need to get in your presence. What we really need is we need the power of the Holy Ghost in our home again.

36:53 What we really need is your protection because we're really worried about some situations. what we really need is your provision and I want these kids to know that the only reason we have the provision of all these presents is daddy was a tither and a giver and mama was a tither and a giver and we loved God with did things like God said do we had to keep this stuff so that we can pass it on Isaiah said you'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and when he was born in Matthew 2 he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and his name will be called Emmanuel which means God is with us Isn't it something that Uzzah reached up and touched the Ark of the Covenant and he died because he was not pure?

37:58 But under the new covenant, God shows up, and the first hands that touched the Ark of the Covenant in that manger was Mary. She didn't have a handmaiden. You know that man wasn't no good in helping her. She had to have her own baby, And when the baby came out, the hands that touched it, of every other man that touched that box died. But God said, I'm switching things up under the new covenant. Women, you can touch me. I'll put you first. The last shall be first under the new covenant. And so, I just want to encourage you to make the main thing the main thing. and it's not all the hustle and bustle it's it's jesus i think we ought to reverently without a lot of movement this is what christmas is about stand to our feet come on guys let's go and we're gonna just take a moment and say, I want more than a box in the trunk that I run fetch when I need help.

39:28 I really want to say thank you for joining us this week. If you haven't already, make sure you click on the subscription button and leave us a review. It helps this podcast reach even more people when you comment, when you give us your feedback. For more messages...