Pastor Erik West: [00:00:00] We've been talking about a lot of things. We can talk about the glory of God, the presence of God. We've been talking about the river of God. And if you don't mind, I'm going to continue in that vein. And if you do mind, I'm going to continue in that vein anyway. So it's better to obey God than sacrifice. If you don't believe so, just ask Saul if you ever see him. Hope. Hope. Hope you made it. Hope you hope you made the turn. How many know that the river of God is here? How many know that the Third Great Awakening has already taken place? Different parts of the earth. Things are beginning to happen, and many people will tell you who are who are traveling, who are, whether they're missionaries or whether they're evangelists. When they're traveling, they're beginning to see things for the last 2 or 3 years. Uh, that has the change is here. One of the things Andrew Wommack said, I guess it was 2 or 3 years ago, he was really concerned about the place this nation was in. I was watching him about a year and a half ago. And you know what would happen. Things that was happening politically and just seeing some things and how they were shaking loose. And he was really concerned about where this nation could be and what it, you know, could we lose this nation as we know it could could we could just good people who mean well but don't do much allow this nation to be taken from us.
Pastor Erik West: [00:01:18] Wake up one day and it's gone. You say, well, that could never happen. Well, we woke up one day not too long ago, and a few people on the Supreme Court had made some decisions that changed the landscape of this nation. When we just woke up, it was less than ten people. So if that can happen, it can be repeated. Uh, as a plandemic. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. A pandemic that we went through not too long ago, it changed the landscape of this nation. And so I know, and I believe within my heart that we are here, that we are on the precipice of a mighty move of God. Andrew Walker was saying he was. I forgot where he was at. But he went to go see, like a niece and a nephew. And they were they were in a program and they were being acknowledged for some of their achievements at a certain university. And he was there and he was just he was really proud of them. He was proud of all the young people that he was seeing, you know, what they were doing and how these young people, you know, had really he was enjoying seeing this generation, even though when you look in the other place, you could you could be so discouraged. And the Lord and the Lord told him, through all that, in just a many part, uh, he was praying, you know, that that you know, when will this happen? Will we will we have another move of God? Will we have another awakening? And the Lord told him, you're not going to have an awakening.
Pastor Erik West: [00:02:45] The awakening has already begun. He said, never say that again. Well, his friend and Dwayne Sheriff, I believe his name is. Who teaches at carries from time to time. Pastor of the church was writing a book about that, and Andrew said he wasn't. He didn't know that Dwayne was writing a book. And when he got to the book about, he was going to write something about believing God for another, the Third Great Awakening to take place. And the Lord and the Holy Spirit stopped him and would not let him write those words. He said, there's not going to be another third grade awakening to come. The Third Great Awakening has already begun, so you may not see it with your eyes today. You know where you are. It may look like not a great awakening. It may like it may look like the greatest leap. But I'm telling you, it's already begun. Jesus was born in Bethlehem and someone was 25ft away from him in the in the end or less, and didn't even know he was there. So just because you don't see it or you don't feel it doesn't mean it. You know it's not in existence. So we're going to talk about things as if they do.
Pastor Erik West: [00:03:49] And that was why do we worship and praise? Now this is you know, some of this is my opinion, so I'll interject that. But I mean, do you, do you need instruments to praise the Lord? Well, obviously that you don't. Uh, does God enjoy them? I don't know. I find them in the scriptures, I find where, you know, in the Psalms on all kinds of instruments. They they played. But if it was, if it was a if it was a must that we had to have. Uh, musicians and people with ability to sing. Then God would would have made it mandatory when he created all of us that we had the ability to play, play, or sing. Because if you didn't have the ability to sing or play an instrument, then we would never really be able to worship. I believe that they assist us, and I believe they are extension of what we have in our heart as we offer that to God. I suppose if you was measuring heavens, praise and worship on earth, tit for tat, I suppose if you was, you know, if there was like judges like on American Idol, I don't know that America would come very close to heavens, praise and worship. So I don't know that God's come down and he's just enamored by, you know, what he sees and hears and praise and worship. He's not looking at your ability. He's looking at what he's looking at our heart.
Pastor Erik West: [00:05:12] So I don't think the I don't think the the instruments or the singing moves God at all. I think. I think maybe the musicians in some of the singing helps move us. I think we need it more than he needs them. Whatever it takes to move us over there. But we don't want to be able to. We don't want to be in a place where it takes us a whole band to be in the spirit. Do we know I've been in hospitals before where people were getting bad news everywhere, and I'd be down in the chapel and people were sobbing. They were crying out to God. There was no instruments. There was no praise team. It was just them. Maybe a priest was with them. Maybe their pastor was with them. Maybe your friend was with him. They didn't have all the bells and whistles and whatever that we think it takes what we call praise and worship. You can have worship all by yourself. You can have it in the shower. You can have it in the car. You can have it while you're holding out your garden. You can have it, you know, while you're cooking supper or washing the cat. Good luck on washing the cat. But you know. But anyway. So because because it's our heart, it's not our ability. If it was our ability, then he would once again, he had to give us all the ability to, you know, to read music, play music and to be able to sing.
Pastor Erik West: [00:06:28] And some of us, some of us fell short in some of those areas. Thank you. Anyway, so. But there's a river that's flowing, and the river of God is going to cause you to thirst. Actually, the truth is, if you're thirsty today, if you're thirsty right now, it's because you're behind on your water intake. If you're if you're, you know, if you're not used to working outside. Like me, I don't work outside every day. But when I've done products the last two summers, I found out, you know, when you're that busy and you. Was that moving and you was that hot, you just really wasn't that hungry. But she was that thirsty. And not conditioned to do that on a daily basis. You drank a whole lot of water because you just feel parched. Well, when you feel parched, it's because that you're already dehydrated. Right? Well, if you say I'm always thirsty for God, then you're telling God I'm always dehydrated. I'm never taking a Holy Ghost, you know? Um, what do you call it when they hook you up and put the I.V. in there? Well, the river God's always flowing. If the river, God's always flowing, then why would anybody be thirsty? Mm. If the Lord's always feeding them, why would you ever be hungry? Mm. So we want to. I'll give you my title before we get there. But we want you as a people and as a church.
Pastor Erik West: [00:08:03] And I'm talking about the church. We need to move from a mindset of having a visitation to a habitation. Yeah. In other words, the church. I was watching some large church and, well, it didn't matter where it was at. And I, you know, I love the pastors there and respect them and they're real prophetical. But, you know, a lot of the music they were singing was, Lord, fall down, come down, fall, come visit, come and just like, you know, I think about the kind of word that is being preached there, I'm like, well, surely, don't you see that in your music? I mean, you're begging God to come as if he's not here. He's not here. And and look, having a visit from God is better than not having a visit. But if we understand what he's already done. You don't want to visit. You don't want you don't want an experience. You want a lifestyle. That was worth coming for right there. Most people are waiting for, you know, an experience with God instead of having a lifetime of experience with him. You know, the Bible talks about it in Psalms 91 that God has a place called a secret place. It's funny name, isn't it, that God has something, that God has secrets. But he's not keeping secrets from us. But he names this place the secret place. It's the secret place. It's his place. Has to be his place. Because it says the secret place of the Most High.
Pastor Erik West: [00:09:31] And the psalmist said and said that I will dwell in the secret place of the the Most High. Well, dwell is is a place where you don't visit, but that you remain. It said, I shall abide under the the shadow of the Almighty. Well, if you're abiding, that's not a quick visit. That's not a quick in and out. Abiding is remaining is staying is dwelling. We used to sing a song in church. Uh, that it went, uh. Actually, I got it right here. I wrote it down. I actually had three sermons. I didn't know which way to go until I still didn't know which way to go. I'm still waiting on Lord. Tell me that's why there's two books. There's one here. This is the one I thought I was doing Saturday and Friday. And this is the one that came Saturday. Ah, praise the Lord. So it's going to be a mixture of both, I suppose. But but listen here. Um. Lord, how many remember the song? Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary. And it was said, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving I'll be a living sanctuary for you. And so last Sunday, uh, a word was spoken. And then Wednesday, a word was spoken. Last Sunday. The word that came forth, he said. He said, tell the people if they'll make room for me, I will come and fill their place. When he said that.
Pastor Erik West: [00:11:03] I saw a part of what he was saying. You know what he meant by that one? Because he was talking to me about this building and it not being ready. And he said, I'm telling you, you're not ready. Get ready. Physically get ready. But he said, but if the people will make a place for me, I will come and feel this. I will come feel. Them with my presence. Well, we want that spirit, soul and body. We want that our heart, our soul, our mind, our all of our being. In other words, if the Lord was going to come to be with you at your home, would you put him in the attic room? You put him in the basement bedroom. You put him in the little in the little backside over here. We got a little back there and Lord, we got a little coffee to sleep on. Now you give him the best. The best that you got. If your room was the best, then you'd vacate it and you'd dolled up and you'd make it. Everything that could be and should be. And you'd offer that to him, right? Well, that's what, you know, sanctuary. So when we think about sanctuary, we think about people who meet like we are meeting today with all over the world. And they're meeting in in churches, they're meeting in homes. Some are meeting in hotels, schools, community centers. Some people meet at the park sometimes for, you know, for a few hours a week.
Pastor Erik West: [00:12:24] They they meet in some kind of physical place or structure and, and that place in the physical sense, it becomes a sanctuary. It becomes a tabernacle. But when but when he says, he says a sanctuary. For me, he's not talking about a structure. He's talking about a people. Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary. Holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living holy sanctuary for you. Now we know this and we can prove it real easy, but from several scriptures. But I'll just give you one. Don't turn there. But Colossians 415 in the new living Paul said, please give my greetings to my brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and and to Nymphis, and and the church. Who meets in her house. So he says he calls some people out, my brothers, my sisters, to in loyalty to Memphis and the church and the church who meets in her structure. The church is not the is the structure. The church is the people. The church is the sanctuary. He said they meet. Give my greetings when you get there. Tell them Paul said hi, named a few people and said, but tell everyone who meets at her house, the church that Paul said hi and and we find out back in the very beginning that God planted a garden called what? The Garden of Eden in the East, and where he planted it. That's where he put Adam and Eve.
Pastor Erik West: [00:14:00] And it was a sanctuary. It was a place that God created for them. It was a place of work. It was a place of rest. It had it had it had multi-purpose but a place to work, a place to rest. It was a place where the presence of God resided at all times. A sanctuary is a place of purpose. Well, we are the sanctuary, and there in that sanctuary is a place of purpose, but it's a place of work. Also, we know that from Genesis 215 says, the Lord took man and put him in the garden to work it and to keep it. So true, sanctuary always brings. It brings purpose to your work. In other words, you're not just working, but you're working with purpose. And and we know the meaning behind the work. We know the Adam and Eve's work was never was not complete. We know they actually didn't finish the work. Actually, their work had just begun. What was their work to do? Their work was to increase and was to expand, which is, if you go back to the point, our sanctuary is a place of expansion. It's a place of increase because they were to take what God created in the Garden of Eden, and they were to expand it throughout the entire universe. But they got so they got sidetracked, didn't they? So they were supposed to take what God gave them as a place of work, a place of his presence.
Pastor Erik West: [00:15:25] And they were supposed to expand that for the people who was to come. God wants us to take a physical building that would be better for us, but he wants to expand it, to make it better, to make it ready to get ready for those he says will come. We know in Genesis 128 when he told them to expand, make his place of expansion increase. He said, God blessed and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heaven, and over everything that moves upon the earth. They were to be stewards. They were actually little G's, little, little gods, not God, but little gods. Right? And they worked with with him. They worked with him the creation and or the creator, until the rest of the creation matched what God had created for them. He wanted them to replicate that over all the earth, to expand the sanctuary. Now, this secret place that we're here, just think about that. God has a secret place, and he invites you to the secret place to come and live and dwell. I looked up the word um uh uh to dwell. He that dwelleth in the secret place and the Hebrew said it means to sit down, to remain or to abide, to dwell or to inhabit. To inhabit. In other words, we want to go from visitation to habitation.
Pastor Erik West: [00:16:56] Right. So he says, come, dwell in the secret place, and you shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. So it means to sit down, to remain, to abide, and to dwell or inhabit. So when, when we dwell in the place that God calls the secret place, we're protected, what are we protected by him? We're protected by his presence. Amen. By his presence. What is the atmosphere? I wonder what the atmosphere of The Secret Place is like. We know, we know it's the place of shelter. We know it's the place of protection. We know it's a fortress. We know it's a place of rest. From your enemies. We know it's a place of peace. It's a place that God loves. And he says, why don't you come to my secret place? When people says that their life is full of problems and they're they're full of fear. They're they're full of anguish. They're full of whatever they're, you know, that doesn't bring them peace and joy. Then it must be that they have not been to the secret place. Either they don't know about it or they they forgot to. Well, if you're not going to dwell there, at least visit. Sometimes it'd be better to dwell. But if you're not going to dwell, you know, at least take 2 or 3 days and go visit for a while. Verse two said, I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust.
Pastor Erik West: [00:18:20] You could say that, and it would be so true because you are in a secret place. God's secret place. And they shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I mean, you know, just like when I move around, I can I can see part of my shadow from where I am. I can see it to extend about right there. And if you stand up, you could do the same thing. I could see the shadow of these chairs on the on the on the inside of this of this aisle, I could see the shadow of the chairs on the front row. The shadow is not the chair. But he said, when you come into the secret place, he said, you'll abide under the shadow of the Almighty. You remember when they used to for Peter one time they put the sick people out on cots, the paralyzed people, and they and they thought, I don't know where they got this thought. They said, you know, if Peter can't get to him, maybe, maybe, maybe just his shadow will cast over them and they'll be healed. Said the New Testament church doesn't believe anything close to that. But you could be healed with a shadow. Well, when you're. If Dennis were to stand up and he were to come closer, I would see his shadow. And he would see mine. If I stepped into his shadow. I would be not touching him, but I would be in his presence.
Pastor Erik West: [00:19:46] Whatever. You know, whatever the shadow is. Four feet, three feet, six feet, whatever it is, I would be in his presence because I was in his shadow. We could converse. We could see one another. We could have conversation. We could have fellowship because we're in the shadow of one another. And so the Lord invites you to come into the secret place this morning of the Most High. He asked you to dwell there, to remain there. And then he wants us to go from visitation to habitation. Well, I want to get back to the other sermon, if I can. The river of God. Is him. It's not a river. The river is him. God flowed his life into his son. Jesus. Right? Uh. And out of Jesus flowed the river of life. That river is still flowing today. Now, that river is not just in him, but it's where it's. It's in you. Amen. Amen. Uh, through the Holy Spirit's. Who is. Who was the dynamo? Uh, which we get the word dynamite. That river still flowing today. Jesus by invitation. In John chapter seven he said, if anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink. He told the woman at the well, he said, if you knew who you were talking to, he said, you'd ask me for a drink. She says, well, why would I ask you for a drink? She said, you don't have anything to draw with. I bet in heaven she's still laughing.
Pastor Erik West: [00:21:19] She said, you know what? I told that to you. Jesus. She said, that was stupid, wasn't it? He said, well, it's okay. You didn't know anything anyway. So, I mean, she's okay with it now, but, you know, she says, how are you going to how are you going to quench my thirst? You don't even have a pitcher, a pail. You know, you don't even have a what do I call this thing? You remember we moved to Alabama in 68, and we live with our grandmother for a year while they're building the house. And she had that old dipper, that old galvanized aluminum dipper, and, uh, you know, but she still had the. Well, you know, when you move from Detroit and you and and Barbara's just a little bit older than I am, but I never saw a dirt road. I mean, where are you going? To see a dirt road in Detroit. So when I saw dusk come behind a 67 Ford station, I said, well, what's that? And I was like, I know it's stupid, but I never I've never been on a dirt road. And I certainly I certainly in Detroit, house to house to house, had never saw a well with the wheel that you let a bucket down. It was like going up your history book and going back a little ways to the to the east or to the west. I mean, we were going back and I was like, and she had gotten new plumbing, and she was so excited about it.
Pastor Erik West: [00:22:34] And I and we were so excited that she had plumbing, but she didn't have much water. She had water issues. So there was four of us kids. My mom was here. My dad was still working in Detroit waiting for the house to sell. He stayed, I think he was there about ten months and he come visit once a month if he could. So she draw water, but there wasn't a abundant supply on it. So all all of us had to take the bath in the same water. But we'd all, you know, draw sticks, you know, to see who got the first bath, you know, because if you were a kid, number four behind your parents and your grandmother. Well, I don't know if you was cleaner or dirtier. I don't know what it was, but. Yeah. So. So someone before we got there, they, you know, they hooked up plumbing from a well. And boy, it was just like she was so excited. She just watched this. I can just turn this and just comes in here. But you know she she wouldn't get rid of that dipper. Even though she had running water. She still had that dipper. And we thought it was cool. You know, I was I was five, six years old, and so I just drank out of the dipper, you know, like I was an old country boy. I've been doing it all my life.
Pastor Erik West: [00:23:38] All my life, all 60 months I've been doing it, you know, since I was just a lad all 60 months. And I drink out of the dipper. Well, the river of God is full. And the river, God's flowing. There's no stoppage to it. If anything stops, it's going to be on your side. You know, if you feel locked in in your life right now. I want to tell you something. The doorknob with the locks on your. On the handle. It's on your side. All you got to do is open the door. He's ready to come in and flood the place. The river of God is not religion. It's. It's an intimate relationship. The waters of revival and spiritual awakening. They're stirring this morning. Someone's being healed, actually, right now in your body right now. In the name of Jesus. What? I just heard things are being changed. Rearrange and put back in order right now while you're sitting there. Okay. He said. I didn't need to lay hands on him. He said, I can handle it myself. Go ahead and preach. Imagine God can do that without me. How could the audacity of God to heal someone when it's not even time yet? You know you do that at the end of the service. He doesn't know that, you know. And then here he just jumps out, you know, at 1132 and starts healing people. Well, we could either be a casual observer or we could jump in the river. Man.
Speaker2: [00:25:03] Um.
Pastor Erik West: [00:25:04] You could be a fan of Jesus, or you can be a follower. Which one are you? Are you? You're one or the other. Either you're a fan or you're a follower. Either you want to go to his book signing. You know. What would it be like one day? How will you approach worship during the millennium? Or at least once a year? We go to Jerusalem and we and where Jesus ministers and preaches and has praise and worship there. Will you have your hands in your pocket? Then? Will you be doing your grocery list? Will you be cutting your fingernails? We lift your voice, then? When the one you're worshiping is standing in front of you. You see if we can't go there now, if we need him to appear to to move us there, then you couldn't be a person of faith. Hmm'hmm. Now we can go there any time. So when the river moves, it moves with great current. It takes you from one level of glory to another. It's not stagnant. It's not a wading pool. The question is, are you ready? Are you ready? Um. We read the scripture Wednesday from the Passion Translation, and you don't have to go there. But Matthew 1128 through 30 says, are you weary? Are you carrying a heavy burden? Jesus said, get away from me. No, he said, come to me. And I gotta make sure I'm yeah, come to me.
Pastor Erik West: [00:26:41] I got enough problems of my own. How would you like to be happy? Everybody's prayer. No. He said, I will refresh your life. For I am your oasis. I will tell you this, and I know this through prayer. Um, Lord, remind me this is what's happening right now. I don't know if everywhere, I just know here, he said. He says the place that you're in right now, he means today. He said, I'm refreshing my people. Some of us need refreshing more than others. Some some people need, you know, like like acts three talks about the refreshing that comes to Jesus Christ. The he refreshes us in a time or gives us a time refreshing from the effects of the heat. When you've been through stuff, when you've been through life, when you've been through persecution, when you've dealt with what you know, demonic spirits and all the things that you deal with. There's times that he just comes and refreshes. There's a natural rest that we need to take because you're in a physical body. This physical body won't live forever. We know that. Be different ages for different people. It's not so much the age, it's not so much the duration. It is the donation. Some people live more life than 40 years, and some people do if they live to be 150. John G. Lyte lived to be 65 years old. That don't sound like a whole lot for a man who had to shut a city down because everybody was well, he burned his body out.
Pastor Erik West: [00:28:17] They told him. She said, you know, they said, this is your third stroke. If you don't stop, you won't live a year. He said. They said. He said, yeah. And he said, no, doctor Lakey said, you don't understand. I'm telling you, if you don't stop and rest, complete bed rest, he said, you're going to die. And then he said, oh, he said, the problem is, he says, I appreciate what you're trying. You're trying to help me, he said. But the problem is, you think I care. That was the problem, he said, to be better, to be better, to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord and to be present Lord is far better, far better than being here. Well, so he said, he said, come to me, and I will refresh your life, for I'm your oasis. I like that word oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you'll discover that I'm gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find a refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you. Will be pleasant and easy to bear. Some of you, the healing. Healing is still taking place right now in the name of Jesus. Go ahead and go forth throughout the body in Jesus name.
Pastor Erik West: [00:29:33] Someone here or watching has had some inner ear issues. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it causes dizziness or if there's fluid or whatever, but that's being taken care of right now. You're healed. He said, the King James says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and I'm humble at heart. Take my yoke upon you. The word yoke has different meanings, of course, when we think of a yoke, and he used that word because it was symbolic. There was a parallel teaching when he was talking about because, you know, they used oxen to plow with. And when you put two oxen together, then you used a yoke, a harness of sorts. Right. And, and that harness would put the oxen together and they would plow simultaneously. So Jesus says, come to me. He says, hook up with me. Harness with me. Men. Like the auction do become. He should come harness with me. He said, listen, let's be hooked up together. And he says, uh. But but what he's saying, he says I'll be your strength. So even in your time of resting, you're still yoked together with him and even your labors. Even in your labors, since you are yoked together with him, you'll find rest in your labors. I want to remind you, he said, if you'll make room for me. I will come feel this place. Waste, he said. Tell the people. To begin to really expect the unexpected.
Pastor Erik West: [00:31:25] In ancient Israel many years ago, and you'll know the story, and I'll be there in just a moment. Date King David wanted needed to move the Ark of the covenant. You remember that? You know the Ark represented what? The presence and the glory of God in his day. It was. The ark was where God and and it was. If you said, Where's God's address? They said, right there in that ark. And it had to be built a certain way according to every detail that was laid out, it had to be handled in such a way to the most minute detail. But it needed to be. It needed to be moved to Jerusalem. And, uh, one of King David's grace achievements when he when he moved the ark to Jerusalem, except he had a little problem. And, uh, it's a good story, but the whole story is not a happy story. And, uh, King David and his men decided what they would do is they they would put together some innovation. You know, an innovation can be good. But this innovation was not so great. They said, you know, instead of taking these men and who you told who, the men are supposed to move it, he said, what we'll do is instead of using the poles, we come up with this brand new ox cart. And we're going to, you know, use the polls, but we're going to put it on the ox cart and we're going to, you know, let the oxen pull it.
Pastor Erik West: [00:32:56] And, you know, it'll be a good smooth ride. Well, it sounded like a, like a good idea. It sounded like a good innovative idea. I mean, technology at its best in this day, but it turned out not to be that great an idea. So turned out to be one of the worst mistakes that they could have made. And so David said, well, okay, let's do it. And on their their progression to go to Jerusalem, they were walking beside the cart and oxen was pulling it, and one of the big oxen stumbled and began to fall. When he did, it caused the cart, you know, to kind of shift into totter. And there was a man named Uzzah and just out of reaction, thinking, oh my God, it's the ark of God's going to, you may fall off the cart. He reached and touched it to steady it. And when he did, he became a crispy critter. He died instantly. He touched the presence of God with his flesh, with his strength and ability and his might to help God not fall down. Because God is old and he died. Everybody was terrified at what they saw, what they happened. David was upset. David was afraid. He was worried. David didn't know what to do, so they didn't want to go any further. And so they they took this. They they took the covenant.
Pastor Erik West: [00:34:26] And they said, David, you know, what are we going to do? And, uh, he said, we're going to leave it here at this guy's house. So they went to the guy, knocked on the door, and they said he saw it was King David there. And I think he almost passed out. And, uh, so he said, my king and but he told them what had happened. He looked out there and he said, he sees he sees this dead man. So he says, we're not ready to move any further, but we want to leave this at your house, but you don't need to touch it. But we just need to leave at your house. And, uh, and so this guy began to get, uh, he said, okay, King David, it'd be an honor to do that. And so the Ark stayed at his house for three months. Now. Now the ark is what is the place where God resides? The secret place is one of God's places. He likes to hang out. But here God lives this. This is his home. This is his address. This is where you come to worship and praise and to give glory unto him. And so he he was struck dead immediately. Um. You see. Uh, you can't buy your strength. Uh, prop got up. You can't study the presence of God and the glory of God in your own strength and in your own power. Natural might is not what he needs.
Pastor Erik West: [00:36:00] Natural strength is not what he needs. And so David left the ark there for three months at Obadiah's house, and he left. And then the word came to him, um, in second Samuel six, you're going to turn there. But if you want to make a note, you can read it later. 11 to 15. I'm just going to read it to you, says the Lord, because the Ark left there three months. And so they come and told David. It said, the Lord has blessed Obed edom and all his family. The people told David, the Lord has blessed the family of Obed edom, Obed edom, and all things he has are blessed. They said, this is because the ark of the covenant is there. So David went and brought it up from Odom's house to Jerusalem with joy. So they said, you left God in his front yard. Or in the house. And they didn't touch it like you told me not to touch it, but just. Just because God's in the house. Just because. God's present. Amen. Just because Obed obed edom said yes, I'll make room for him in this place. Just because he consented and said, absolutely, there's a place for God in my house. And whatever's necessary for it, for it to be so. Let it be so King David and so King David says. So everything that said, oh yeah, his cattle. He said, he said everything he has is multiplying.
Pastor Erik West: [00:37:41] Everything he has is increasing. He's healthier than you ever seen. He said, he said, uh, he doesn't need any little blue pills. He doesn't need any once a day vitamins. He doesn't need anything. I mean, the every everything that he has and does is increased and blessed. And they said, but it's because the Ark of the covenant is because the presence of God is just in the house. The Lord asked us last Sunday once again he says, tell the people if they will. He asked. Imagine the Lord asking you. Could I come to your house? Would you allow me to come to your house? Would you make room for me? If you will. You can expect the unexpected because everywhere I show up, everything changes for the good. Amen. Are y'all with me? Well, I want to read. I want to read. I got just enough time to do it. But in second. Samuel, you can go there if you want to. Second Samuel, chapter six. I think it's worth our reading. I know it's a familiar story to you. But not everybody's going to be happy about this, and some of us are. Like I said, like some of us are. Like I said, some of us are. Amen. But in second Samuel chapter six. Well, let me give you a little bit more of what happened when you read the whole story. There's a there's a verse that's really important that, you know, gets left out and it's verse 13, it says, uh, and some of the study there, here's, here's what I found out, some of the study, when they were moving the Ark of the covenant, something very important.
Pastor Erik West: [00:39:36] It says, uh, the, the ancient site of Obdam's House to Mount Zion, where the mark was taken, is between 12 to 15km. So David's going to retrieve the Ark of the covenant to bring to Jerusalem. It says 12 to 15km, which is, uh, which takes a man approximately 30,000 footsteps or paces to cover that distance. Um, most commentators because the Bible said that they went six steps and David took the best, uh, the bull, the auction, you know, whatever was the best meat. And he sacrificed it. And most commentators believe that he did that every six steps. Which means if that is how it happened, then David gave God his best offering 3500 times before he got into Jerusalem. Now it doesn't say that. It says he said he took steps. And when you read different commentaries, we really don't know. But when you look at when Solomon, when he made when he made sacrifice to God, I mean, he was sacrificing 22,000 lambs. So it's not hard to believe that David would kill off 3500 oxen. He knew what happened. He knew the travesty that happened. He had three months to think about it. He. He heard the blessing of God with, you know, over Diem's house.
Pastor Erik West: [00:41:09] He went to retrieve it. So he wanted to get it right. So it seemed like every six foot he stopped and began to bless the Lord and thank God for his presence. He made room for me. His heart. He made room for me. His mind. He made room for me and his family. He made room for me in his kingdom. He was, he was. It was constantly on his mind. He wasn't coming to our structure. He wasn't coming to our sanctuary. He wasn't coming to a building. He wasn't coming to sit on a green chair. He wasn't doing church. He wasn't clocking in. He was in a relationship, a loving relationship. He loved the Lord with all his heart, all of his soul and all of his mind. And so they began to make this move and like I said, 12 to 15km. And so he stopped approximately 3500 times to do this, to make sacrifices, which is from Adam's house to Mount Zion. Now, the number six, number six is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day, wasn't he? The ox represents natural strength. Obviously you can see that the fat lines were the finest meat that was served. Uh, to bring the Ark home required a continual sacrifice of the finest meats, using their own strength to do it. From Obadiah's house to Mount Zion. It says left in its wake was a trail of blood and guts as far as the eyes could see.
Pastor Erik West: [00:42:36] It was not a pretty picture. Hmm. Well, you know the story about David. He's so happy because now he. You know, he can see home in Jerusalem. Man. He's coming back to the castle. He's come back to the journey is almost complete. And he's so excited. And they're playing music and they're worshiping. They're praising the Lord. And and and David's just about, you know, pulled, you know, his attire off just about all of it. And he begins dancing. It's a dance with all his might and, uh, but, you know. The. The best ox cart that man can make is not enough to carry the presence of God. The best conferences you go to, the best meetings, the best sermons, the best teachings will never get us from overdose to where we're supposed to go to. Can't get you there. Man. And his effort and ability cannot do it. Under the old covenant. Moses said to God, he said, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know about your ways, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. He said, he said, consider to Moses said to the Lord. He said, consider that this nation is your people. And he said, if your presence doesn't go with us, he said, don't, don't lead us from here. If you're not going to be with us, don't lead us from here.
Pastor Erik West: [00:44:01] Now that's under an old covenant in the New Covenant. Unless you're doing visitations. Instead the habitations. Then you're looking to. You know, Lord, come. And then your your worship will come that way. Lord, come. Let your presence fall. Let your light. And to that point and let's and let's say this. The Spirit of God always lives inside of us, right? Monday, Tuesday. All through the week. The Lord is with you on every day. That ends with the letter Y. That's what the lady at Lowe's told me one time. I was messing with her, and I said she looked like she didn't want to be there. And I said, y'all, I said I came. I came with a chance that y'all take money on Tuesdays. She looked at me. She said, we take money on every day. That ends with Y. And I said, okay, then I did okay. Well, so. What does it mean that the Lord's always manifesting himself, even though he's present? I was thinking about that this morning. When in 2007 to 2011, I had a son in the Marines during war time. Uh, the first 18 months he was in training. The last two and a half years, he was in war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mostly. Mostly war combat. The exchange of gunfire. Lives being killed on both sides. By a boy who's not 21 years old. Women. Children. You know shields. But it all has to go.
Pastor Erik West: [00:45:52] You turn on your TV and because he had snuck a call to me and said, I'm not supposed to call. If they find me, I'm going to be in trouble. But tomorrow you'll probably hear on TV that we're going to take the city of marjah. He said, you are praying, aren't you, dad? I said, oh, you. The next morning I turned on the TV and it said 13 Marines was killed in marjah yesterday when they attacked. It was the craziest thing in the world. I've told this before. It was the worst thing in the world. I picked up my phone because, you know, I was going to text him and just out of habit, I thought, oh, oh, you couldn't call. You couldn't ask. No one would answer your phone call. You didn't know who the 13 was. You could just. Sit there. And think about that. When you have time to think about it, then you make sure you have all kinds of thoughts to think about. You see, it won't be very long. You'll be seeing a black sedan come up the driveway. He's one of the 13. Well, he wasn't, but I remember the day that we picked him up at the airport. The Birmingham airport hadn't saw him in a year. Uh, I remember Thanksgiving. Everybody was there, but there was one empty chair. He wasn't there. He was at war. 21 year old. Chair. Just sitting there.
Pastor Erik West: [00:47:26] Nobody in it. When we got to the airport, um, there was a lot of family members there. Um, Matt, Michelle's mother was there. Uh, between Michelle and Grant, their mother hugging him, I thought they'd break his neck. Well, he was he was home, you know, for ten days to two weeks. And that was a great time. But when that first time that it came at the airport, it was a it was a big celebration to actually see. And your own son who's in war. He's he's 21. He's gunfire is exchanged back and forth. He's well trained, but it still happened. Well, he's home for two weeks, but during that. But you ever been to a surprise party and they tell you, you know, turn the lights off, Joe. You went into a party. She just turned 40, by the way. I probably should have told you that, but she just did. And and that right about 39, 40 somewhere in there. And she thought she was going to a party for somebody else in the event. And her kids did a wonderful job with this. And, you know, and Emily Parker came home early and and Jessica, really she pulled it off. You did awesome. And she thought she's going to go to another event, but actually, it was her birthday surprise birthday party that she wouldn't be expecting. And, you know, weeks of weeks early. And when she opened the door, we all, you know, we all hollered and screamed and we shouted.
Pastor Erik West: [00:49:00] But if we kept doing that, you know, an hour and a half into our birthday, that'd been kind of weird. You know, no one could have talked. No one could have exchange. No one could have relationship. No one could have had conversations if we kept doing that. Well after Taylor was home for a couple of weeks. We weren't doing. We were enjoying him being there because his because he was still present. And he was there the next morning because he was still present. But when he came, it was the first time in a year we saw him. It was like the visitation. We saw it and we felt it. And we celebrated. We were happy. We were sad for the parents whose son didn't come home, but our son was there. I'll never forget this because during praise and worship and I don't know who the guest minister was, and there was a lot of service people dying, and it's kind of hard on. Michelle and I looked over one morning during praise worship and she was getting a bunch of Kleenex, and she was about to. She was losing it. And I thought, you know what I mean? Is it the song? I mean, you know, what is it? Uh, and she couldn't tell me there. So she got when she got home, she started telling me, she said, it's just so heavy on my heart about my son and these attacks in my mind that he's going to be killed.
Pastor Erik West: [00:50:33] And, uh, she said quietly. The Lord spoke to her that morning. I do praise and worship. He said, you don't have to worry about your son being killed. Your son doesn't have to die. Mine already did. Therefore, yours doesn't have to be. And when the Lord speaks to you, that in a way that you hear almost audibly inside. Do you know what kind of peace that can bring you? So we can become accustomed to people being with us. But the person that you love the most, when they're when they're not there for weeks and months or a year and you get to see them, it's quite a celebration. That's what happens to be like quite a celebration. Well, we had the Lord with us all the time. Uh, whether we feel it or whether we don't feel it, he's with us. We're not here to beg him to come to show up, because that's saying you're not here. We're asking him to, uh. I was listening to one of the songs, and if I told you the minister, you know who it is, I won't. I won't do that. But they were singing the song Lord Fall Down on Us. They said, come visit us and fall down. And I thought, you mean you want him to rise up? Or you mean you want him to come down and come up because you're saying if you could, you know, I'm sure they would, you know, have another take on that.
Pastor Erik West: [00:52:00] But I'm not saying they don't know it, but the songs represent that. You don't know it or you don't. You don't have a confidence in it or you don't. You don't have a revelation of it, that you that you're always needing the Lord to come down and visit us. And then we know if we had a good service, if everybody shouted, we knew we had a good service. If Uncle Roy got healed of his crooked nose, we or whatever it was, or or sister, you know, uh, our grandmother's name wasn't involved. You know, she she had a catch and or get along all the time. And so if she got that all helped out somehow, well, that'd be a good service. But he's with you all the time. It's becoming aware of that. And when you become aware of that, you have relationship. You have continual fellowship. It isn't. Stop and start. When we took title back to the airport. We were appreciative for the visit, but we were sending back to war and we wouldn't see him again for another year. So now your emotions would, you know, would be sad. Well, if the Lord was just going to come and go, then you see, we would be on this roller coaster of emotions up and down all the time because we said the Lord came, you know, like it was just, you know, if it was like today, you know, he came to us in the month of February, he won't be back till next February.
Pastor Erik West: [00:53:21] So let's just, you know, do some religious Bible reading and we'll just come and have some casseroles and but he'll come next February when he's not at war or something. You know, he's making his rounds. Am I making any sense to y'all whatsoever. And so just to have that understanding so, you know, David is excited and, uh, uh, he's thrilled because the presence of God is coming home. And so he's dancing, the Bible says, with all of his might. So in Second Corinthians chapter six and in, uh, let me get there myself, verse four. Uh. Am I lost my place? Verse 14 I think it is second Corinthians six. I'm in Second Kings. I'm sorry. Down to second Samuel. I'll get it right after a while. Second Samuel. Second. Samuel. You can't put you can't put him over in Corinthians. You won't find him over there. Okay. Six look at verse 14. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. In most churches, he'd be told to sit down. He would. He was told to sit down, and David was girded with a linen, and he thought, uh oh. Hmm. So wrong. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
Pastor Erik West: [00:54:52] And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, because Saul's daughter looked through the window. This is his wife, Saul's daughter. So she's seeing her husband dancing with all his might. He's wearing his ephod. Kind of like his pajamas, his nightwear. And, uh. So she looked through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. Well, he goes on, and they're still having festivities, he said, but then he wants to come home because he's so excited. He wants to tell about everything. And so in verse 20, he'll pick up there same chapter the David returned to bless his household because the Ark of the covenant here, because the presence has come back. The presence of the Lord has returned. Obadiah. Not such a happy man, I mean Obadiah, and not as happy. He says, pick. He said, pick them taters. Quick! Pick them beans. Quick! Get the watermelons up! They won't be making too much as much as they were. The presence of God is moved. Amen. Thank God we're in this coat. It doesn't move away now. Uh, so he says. She despised him. Then he returned to bless his household, and Mikhail, the daughter of Saul, came to meet David and said, she said, how King, how glorious was the King of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of the servants, and is one of the vain fellows, shamelessly uncovers himself? And David said unto Mikhail, his wife, it was, it was I did this as to you know before the Lord who chose me before your father O brought that up, and before all this house.
Pastor Erik West: [00:56:36] In other words, you remember how your father was the king? Oh, that's right, he's not. And you're correcting me. You remember your daddy? Well, anyway, there's human nature. He appointed me ruler over the people of the Lord of Israel. Therefore I will play before the Lord. Watch verse 22. I will yet be more vile than thus, and I will be based in my own sight. The the new living says, I will become more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. I'm going to humiliate myself. And he says, what's thou hast spoken of in them? Shall I be made an honor? Now, the Bible didn't have to give us this, but it gave us this last verse. Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child unto the day of her death. What was in her heart caused her to be barren all of her life. There's a lot of ways to be barren. It's not just children. When you reject the presence of God, it makes everything barren. You said, well, I'm not rejecting it. Well, there's a lot of ways to reject, you know. I'm not saying we're voting no.
Pastor Erik West: [00:57:51] Someone asked me one time they said, so you started the church. I said, well, basically, yeah, pioneered the work. He said, well, so did he says. So the people don't really vote. I said, oh yeah, yeah they do. He said, well, I thought the church was pioneered. You know, I said, I have a board. Obviously I have to have a board legally. I said, but my board is is a ministers of different ministers from different places. Uh, and they all have more time and experience than me. And they have the liberty to say yes. No. Uh, what in the world would you do that for? No. No minister legally can set his own salary or housing or whatever that has to be done legally. And so they said, well, he said, but so it's not congregation ruled, it's board ruled. I said, okay. He says, so the people don't vote us. Oh yeah, people vote all the time. He said, well, I thought, I thought, I thought it was board rule. I said, no, that's the committee. I said, people vote every week when they come or they don't come, they vote when they give and they don't give, right? They vote with their feet. They vote with the stroke of a pen or no pen. What are they doing? They're casting a vote. So there's a lot of ways to reject whether someone gives you the the authority to do it or not.
Pastor Erik West: [00:59:18] Saul rejected the Lord, who said it said, he is a rebellion to the Lord is the same as witchcraft. He didn't look at it that way, he said, but it was the people, you know. I knew if I would have done what you said, you know, I would have had answers to all the people because they wanted this. And I know you wanted that, and, you know, I was going to fix all that one day. He said, because you rejected me with the spirit of witchcraft. He said, I reject you. And the blessing left him that day. Now we're in a different covenant, but the principle is still the same. The principle. The principle never changes. How God deals with people is different from the old to the new, but the principle generally is always the same. I mean, he gives us grace and mercy instead of under the old covenant where you might have got stoned. But the the Lord is not just okay with sin now. He said, well, it's a new thing, so I don't really care. I mean, you know, sin was really bad then. It's not that big a deal now. I mean, I know it got Jesus killed, but ain't no big deal. You got Grace. Well, is that the Lord's position on sin? He doesn't care anymore. Obviously not. Well at the end of the 6000 years of human history. When the Lord comes back during the army during the tribulation.
Pastor Erik West: [01:00:37] The dispensation of grace will be over. Then you'll know. You'll know when things happen. But the Lord had in mind. For rejecting and despising. Now. So we're finished there. So, uh, so they're back at the house. Everything's flourishing, everything's growing. So we don't want to go from. We want to go from visitation. To a habitation and making a room for him, for his presence. Which means you're making a room for his glory. I mean, I had several scriptures about habitation, but we won't take time to read them this morning. But how many know that the Bible says that we are? Ephesians 222 says that we have become the habitation of the Lord. We are the. The Bible says that we are the temple of God. We are the place where God lives and dwells. The veil was twang ripped from top, top to bottom. So when not speaking to the Lord through a veil anymore. No longer is it Moses putting the veil over his face, because the glory was so brilliant, but bright and brilliant. But it was fading and diminishing all the time. We have a much greater glory. Our surpassing glory. Huh? And the Bible says when we look at him, we reflect that goodness of him from a glory that never fades, but just gets brighter and brighter and brighter. Moses so loved the presence of the Lord, which most people think that Moses was the writer of.
Pastor Erik West: [01:02:16] Psalms 91 don't know that for sure, but I think he was. And so Moses just had this great desire to want to see the Lord. And the Lord said, well, you can't really see me, you know, you can't see me and live. He says, I just I want more of your presence. I want to be able to see you. You know the story in the gospel. Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to I'm going to put you back here behind those rocks, the cleft of the rocks. And then I'm going to pass by in just a moment, and I'm going to let you see my back parts. Physically, I'm assuming that's what actually happened. He passed by and he began to see his back parts. I shared this with you before. The Scripture says, When God, when God passed by and gave Moses a view of his back parts, it says, the Lord showed him all his goodness. When you see God in his glory, you're also seeing him in all of his goodness and his weight and his splendor and his beauty. But you also saw his back parts physically, but you saw the back parts and was revealed of what God was doing behind the scene. See, the scripture says that Moses was given the ability of revelation to know God's ways. Israel knew his acts. Israel could tell you, I saw this, but Moses said, I got invited behind the screen to see how he does it.
Pastor Erik West: [01:03:44] Amen. Moses was the writer of the Pentateuch Genesis, you know, Exodus, numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. Right. He wasn't there for Genesis. How? How could you write about what happened on the day to day basis when you weren't there, unless God revealed to you his back parts? And as God gave you a revelation of where he'd been when you was even on the planet. Although so much here. There's just so much here. It's just. And I will close here. I'm just thought of this. I was about a year ago. I was reading a book, one of the books that they put out on Smith Wigglesworth. He talked about hunger and thirsting for these things. He said, it's just more than you can take in. He said the brother Hagan used to see, the more I see, the more I see, I don't know and the more the more I want to know. Yeah. Amen. Smith. Woodworth. He said he said it's like a it's like a, um, I don't know what kind of bird it was, but, you know, he said he's out on the bay and he's thirsty and he sees a log, you know, out on the bay, and he's thirsty and he's going to land on the, on the the bird's going to land on this branch that's floating. And he reached down because he's so thirsty. He reached down to get some water out of the bay, and he's refreshed and he's thinking, boy, if I hadn't found this water.
Pastor Erik West: [01:05:17] Then he looks around and sees this vast bay that opens to the ocean as far as he can see, there's water. And he said, my bird thought to himself, man, what? I have asked you what access I have, if I could just take it all in. Smith said. You have access to all of it. How much can you take in? How how much do you want? I want to remind you, I might have told you this, but I won't remind you. He said, tell my people. He said, you. You tell my people today, last Sunday, if they'll make room for me. I'll come. He's here. But you know what I'm talking about. He said if they make room for me. He said if they make room for my presence, I will come. And I will be there, and I will inhabit the place. Your praises, your worship, your call, your family, your desires, your future, your health, everything. Just in the covenant where you leave the Ark of God and a man's front living room. We don't touch it because you can die that way. Don't touch it. But just put God in the house. And everything, because just the atmosphere of like being in the secret place, everything gets blessed. Everything increases because God's just in the house. Wow. I don't think I did a very good job of portraying to you what's in my heart.
Pastor Erik West: [01:06:51] I don't have the words to tell you what, what I see and what I feel. If I would have preached it in tongues, it would have been better, but we would have need more interpretation. There's just so much here. There's just so much here. Someone. Someone being healed of a migraine headache right now. Uh, in the name of Jesus. Amen. You know, you might be watching this broadcast now or two years from now. There's no time or distance in the spirit. Amen. Someone else. I don't know, I don't I don't know if it's here, whatever. But someone dealing with kidney stones. They come and they go. And sometimes you, you're dealing with a pain and sometimes they subside. But you've been dealing with that and they're and you're considering, uh, or either you're considering or you're, you're about to have some type of surgery to have them removed in the name of Jesus right now. Through the word of knowledge. I hear that those stones are being crushed right now, being dissolved and being removed from your kidney. That pain go in Jesus name. Now. But he'll. Amen. Well, God is good, isn't he? If you can come, be with us Tuesday night at prayer from 630 to 730, we're going to we're going to continue. We're going to seek to hear, to know and to to know his way, to know his will and to know his plan. Amen. God bless you.
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