Commissioned to Carry His Presence

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Word.

Remain standing. Take your Bibles and turn to second Samuel. We've been in a series on David and it just so happens that we are right in line with the series of David as well as the word of the Lord. For these who are being honored tonight in the commencement of KSM. 2nd Samuel, chapter 6.

Reading from the new King James tonight.

From verse six through verse 15. Let's go. And when they came to Nakon threshing floor, Uzziah put his hand out to the Ark of God took hold of it. For the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah. And God struck him there for his error and he died there by the Ark of God.

And David became angry because the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah and he called the name of that place Perez Uzza to this day. Verse 9. David was afraid of the Lord that day. I bet. And he said, how can the Ark of the Lord come to me?

So David would not move the Ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed Edom. The gittite. The Ark of the Lord remained at the house of Obed Eden the gittite three months. The Lord blessed Obed Edom and all his household. Verse 12.

Now it was told King David saying, the Lord has blessed the house of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God. So David went and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David with gladness. And so it was when those bearing the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.

So David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. Gracious, awesome, mighty God, we stand in awe of who you are. I thank you for these who've graduate tonight and for the move of the Spirit of God that's taking place in our midst, not only here, but all around the world. I ask, we ask that you'd speak to us with living understanding that you would burn faith in our hearts, that you would quicken us and awaken us to the reality, the hour in which we live. And that you Lord, would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of God and that we would move forward from this place into all that you have.

We thank you for it. May the effects of this service be far reaching even to eternity. In Jesus name, amen. You may be seated.

We've been doing a study in the life of David and it comes right to this section of scripture. And as I prayed over this past week for you graduates and the commencement message that I would bring you, I kept hearing numerous references to the Ark of the Lord and hearing numerous references to this Uzzah who was killed by God's presence. And then even Dr. Morocco making a reference to the Ark and how is captured by the Philistines and what took there, how God by his own power dealt with the Philistines. I want to look at the Ark related to our lives tonight and commission you to be those who would carry God's presence and power, even to cover the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

Brief history of the ark in 1st Samuel chapter 4. The ark is a Shiloh and you'll see that it's captured by the Philistines in 1st Samuel chapter 4 and 5. It's captured by the Philistines because they brought it out like a, like a rabbit foot. And anybody have a rabbit foot when you were growing up? You're like, all right, I didn't grow up in a Christian home.

They were Catholics. And then eventually we all got born again. But rabbit, a rabbit was a lucky like talisman. Some people wear charms. It was like that.

They took the Ark, which is a visible place where God dwelt in the earth, the Ark of the Covenant. And they took it like it's a rabbit foot. They had no relationship with God really. They were apostate. They had fallen away from the Lord.

Things were not right. Eli, the high priest kids were not serving the Lord. He didn't correct them. And so the Ark is captured. I mean, how do you capture God?

The Philistines capture the Ark and they're like, yeah, we captured the Ark. They brought the Ark into the, into the temple of Dagon. And Dagon basically is beheaded. They do twice. He loses his hands, he loses his head.

And they're terrified of God because their little half man fish God is now flat on his face. And they realize the Lord is the Lord. And so they discuss how they should bring it back. And with good effort they put it on a new cart. And you can look at this whole story of how the ark is leaves the Philistines and they.

They put an offering in there. They ended up with emrons. You go look that up if you want. It's. It's hemorrhoids.

They ended up with hemorrhoids. You don't serve God right, you're going to end up okay. Anyway, they are tormented by God's power. And they. They're like, get rid of the ark, send the God box back to Israel.

And it's a beautiful picture of what. What God does and bringing it back all by himself. It ends up in a man's house by the name of Abinadab. And I'm shortening the story ends up in Abinadab's house. And it stays there for 20 years.

And it stays there during the period of time that Saul is the king. We've talked about the seminary of Saul. It is truly amazing that the Ark is in Israel. And Saul never does anything to bring the Ark back to the center of government, the seat of worship there. And there's a number of things to be learned from that.

The Ark again was. Was lost in an attempt to manipulate God to seek his will. You can't manipulate God. And by the way, before his throne, in the end, all excuses will fall flat before his throne as we give an account. You can't manipulate him now, you can't manipulate him later.

You can't manipulate God. Rather than seek his will and deal with sin, you must seek his will and we must deal with sin again. Eli. It's amazing. The prophet Samuel, who's the one who.

Noise anoints David. The prophet Samuel, raised in the house of the Lord, brings correction to the high priest. God had already corrected the high priest. And it's his children, his two sons are ripping off the offering. That's what's taking place.

And he doesn't fix it. He speaks to me, corrects him, but he doesn't change it. He allows him to continue to rob and steal from God. And what ended up happening is again, the ark is lost. He falls over, breaks his neck, and his two sons are dead.

And that's where that. That boy is born. They call Ichabod, which is the glory of the Lord, is departed. It's a horrible time of apostasy in scripture. Saul becomes king, and again, no desire for God's power, God's presence, for God to lead to God to direct.

It does remind me of some places throughout the earth where there is a form of religion, but no power There's. There's a form of religion, but not the power of his presence. I remember a number of years ago, we had someone moved away from Kings and they went to another church in the lower, lower 48. They came back to visit and they said, pastor, there's no church like ours. We're forever.

We're forever ruined. We can't find a church like ours. I'm just like, oh, I'm so sorry. They said we were at a church and I raised my hand in worship and they asked me if I had a question.

It's a picture of glorifying the past and not living in the present. I'm so thankful for Azusa Street. I'm so thankful for the revival in the Hebrides. I'm so thankful for the outpouring of the Spirit that took place right before the American Revolution. I'm so thankful for great outpourings throughout history.

But it's time, high time, in fact, to have an outpouring now. It's time now to have God's power and presence in our lives and in our churches and in our homes and certainly in our schools. I love the motto of King's Christian School, Alaska, one of them. Redefining education. It's sad that we would even have to say that, but education drifted from the biblical mandate to know God and to make him known.

Education is more than just about learning facts and figures. It's being educated into a way of life. And that's what King's Christian School of Ministry is. It's facts, it's tests. Yes, it's scripture memorization, it's prayer, it's all those things.

But it's living it out day in, day out. The real test is not what you took last week. The real test is your life.

This picture of Uzzah said Obed edom's house for 20 years. Saul doesn't ever call for it. David, as we bring you into his story again, for those of you who have been participating in that, what a powerful series. Yes. This prophetic word from Samuel that he's going to be the next king over Israel, but has to wait 14, 15 years for it to come to pass.

He's anointed at 17, 16, 17 years old. He's brought to Gibeah to be the worship leader. Quick review. He leads, prays the harp and sings to the Lord and brings peace to the now demonized Saul, who didn't wait for the prophet, didn't obey the word of the Lord and. And as a result, the anointing is left him and he's left on his own.

And Saul was demonized and David was anointed. Dave was, David was empowered and it was expressed in worship at Gibeah, which is like Washington D.C. it was the center of the government there for Israel. And he was brought there to, to, to worship and bring peace. Because when he would play, demons would leave Saul alone. Then he would go back home and he would tend to the sheep and his father in Bethlehem.

And then he's called upon by his father to bring bread and cheese to the war, the battle. Goliath defying Israel and mocking God. And he shows up and by a miracle and the anointing of God, he sinks a stone in the head of Goliath and cuts off Goliath's head with Goliath's sword and becomes a national hero. I mean, major celebrity. David is elevated from the little shepherd boy who played the cute little harp.

Elevated all the way. He goes to the White House now for the rest of his life. I mean, it's not the White House, it's Gibbia, but I'm just giving you a picture of the superstardom. And God used him to break off slavery and to protect God's people. God used him.

And then his father in law doesn't like him. He's jealous. Saul killed his thousands, but David killed his ten thousands. Oh, and all the maidens are in love with David. And he gets married to Mikhail.

He got Texas tax exempt status for dropping the fat headed, uncircumcised Philistine. And he got the, he got the wife, his whole family got tax exempt status. And you've, we've followed his life and he goes into the wilderness and he runs and he hides. And Jonathan, his covenant brother, saves him. Jonathan, who should have been the next king, realizes that the anointing, the power of God is on David to be the next king.

So he supports him. That's incredible maturity, really. And they have this covenant relationship and David goes and he runs and he hides and he lies and he, and he does things that causes all kinds of problems. The death of 85 priests at Knob was really his fault. And he ends up in the cave of Adullam.

And I'm missing some of the details, but if you've been to the messages we've been covering those. He ends up in the cave of Adullam. And he's there, He's. He's there for years. 3000 people are hunting him down.

Saul. Well, Ziklag comes, is burned with fire. He loses his wife, he loses wives. He's loses his children. It's almost over.

It's three days before he becomes king. He inquires of the Lord, he encourages himself in the Lord. He inquires of the Lord. He pursues, he overtakes, he recovers all. And David becomes king of one twelfth of the prophetic promise he gets.

He gets one tribe. Judah, I don't know about you, but when God gives me a word, prophesies over me, I want the whole thing. I don't want 1/12. He gets 1/12. How would you like to have the 12th of a slice of birthday cake?

No, I want the whole cake. Anybody know what I'm talking about? So he gets 1:12. The promise of God and the timings of God are two separate things. And God gives you a promise.

And the fulfillment of that sometimes takes years. We talked about Saul this morning. He's called to be the chosen vessel to the Gentiles. But 14 years, he has to wait 14 years. He's being prepared.

We don't usually like the preparation phase, but without the preparation phase, you will utterly fail. When you get to a place of fulfillment, God's more interested in your character than the anointing. That's arrest upon you. And if the anointing upon you exceeds your character, you will blow up and destroy your life and destroy others as well, for which we have seen happen numerous times.

So he becomes king. Seven years, he rules Judah, and eventually there's like civil war and problems and quickly moving along, he becomes king over all of Jerusalem, over all of Israel. He has all the tribes now, and he's the king. So he goes straight to good, go straight to Zion. He goes straight to the place where the Jebusites were to finish what Joshua started.

And he kicks the Jebusites off of the, of the. Of Zion, the kicks the Jebusites off of it. That then becomes the city of David. And a very unique strategy. Couple different wars, Philistines show up.

He beats them too. So now he's. He's king, there's no war. And. And what does he do?

He says, okay, now let's go do it. Let's go get the ark. It is absolutely a beautiful picture of the heart of God and with the kind of heart that we should have. What he says, how can the ark come to me? How can I walk in a greater anointing?

How can I be closer with the Lord? How can I fulfill his plan? How can the glory the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the Sea. How can I be. How can I be closer to the Lord?

Now, this is the Old Testament, but it's a picture of the New Testament, certainly God's power, God's presence. And so he purposes to get the ark. So he says, all right, everybody, let's go get the ark. So they go to get the ark, and Uzziah, one of the sons of Abinadab, is with the ark, and it's on a cart. And when you read that and you know scripture, you realized, hey, that's not how that's supposed to happen, because the ark is not supposed to be on a cart.

Everybody say that the ark is not supposed to be on a. Absolutely. Was a new car. It was a great effort. Got the new Escalade to put the ark in.

That's a nice thought.

And Uzziah reaches his hands out because it's gonna fall. So understand the picture. There's a cart. The Ark of the Covenant is on the cart. It hits a frost heaven.

I remember first being was like one of our second year being here. I think I had this nightmare truck and we drove to Delta Junction with our one staff person. And I don't know, I was going the speed limit, which I think was 75, 80. And I hit a frost heaven. Everybody, the dog, the two kids, Crystal Garma at the time, she got married.

Since then, we all. All in the air. I mean, the lunch, everything, all our food, all our stuff in the air. When we came down, I broke my seat. I mean, it was.

You know, you're not supposed to drive that fast. And I don't even know what frost heaves were. But I then knew hits a bump in the road and the ark goes to fall over. So well, meaning Uzzah's like, let me. Let me study that.

And he reached his hands out, and when he did Perez Uzzah, he was burst open.

He's burst open and he dies now. Can you imagine the horror? Can you imagine the horror of the guy reaching then? And he's lying there. Is entrel smoking.

How many of you know what entrails are? He's dead. And David's like, oh, God. I mean, that's a rough service right there. I've had some rough services, but I don't think I've had anybody split open in the altar.

He's dead. Come on. Somebody say he's dead. Yeah, he's dead. It was a nice effort.

But you know what? Familiarity breeds contempt. He grew up with the. He grew up with the ark. You go look at his life.

I think he just saw it. It was not. It was not a big deal. In fact, you could do a study between a bit of dad's house and then Obed Edom, which is where the. Which is where the Ark goes to.

The Ark goes to Obed Edom's house. Two very different responses. The Ark at Abinadab's house. We don't really hear anything about it. In fact, Uza gets killed.

That's not good at. And yet the Ark goes to Obed Edom's house. And we see that everything changes. For. For 90 days, Obed Edom's house is prospered.

You can read that in a text. And I've imagined this story and shared it at other times here. But can you imagine Obed Edom? David's like, okay, we got to. We got to put the box somewhere.

He's angry, he's upset. And he says, lord, how can the Ark come to me? Oh, something's wrong, something's wrong. I need a volunteer. Obed.

He's like, yes, King, this going to your house, okay? And I imagine Obed going and getting his wife and getting his children, who maybe weren't all that disciplined, and bringing them all around. Uncle Uzzah with the smoking entrails. You children need to listen to me. This is the Ark.

It's coming to our house. Mess up. That's what's going to happen to you right there. And the smell.

You better obey. You better obey me. Come on. Somebody say, man.

And it goes off to Obed Edom's house. And you know, he's just super blessed. Everything in his life is blessed. And we. I've talked to life group leaders, and I've used this as a text to encourage people to have life groups in their homes.

But it's really about having Jesus in your heart. When Jesus comes into your heart, he brings blessing over your whole life. If you'll. If you'll. If you'll learn and you'll grow about God's presence and God's word and God's power.

So Obed Edoms super blessed. And they discovered that God's power and God's presence is also dangerous, and that his presence is to be carried the right way.

A corresponding text, parallel text, that talks about this. 1st Chronicles 15, you can read 1st Chronicles 13, 14 in 1st Chronicles 15, verse 2. And David said, no one may carry the Ark of God but the Levites, when Lord has chosen to carry the Ark of God and minister before him forever. First Chronicles 15:12 says this. And he said to them, you are the heads of the Father's houses of the Levites.

Sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, new King James, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I prepared for it for. Because you did not do it the first time the Lord God broke out against us. That's Uzzah, Uncle. Uzzah. Because we did not consult him about proper order.

When I was praying, I saw God's power being manifested upon you students and upon our school and our educational arm, including our, our, our school going into high school now and the, the school of ministry. And really what it's about is, it's about the Lord and how to live for Him a whole lifetime, how to serve him, how to worship Him. You see, they didn't, these guys, David, they didn't go to the King School of Ministry. That's why they got split open.

They didn't learn about God's presence and power. There was a right way to bring his presence and power, and it's on the shoulders of men. The ark is never supposed to be carried by a card. The ark, the power of God is carried on the shoulders of men. It is the only way.

It's a beautiful picture of what we must do. You want to carry God's presence and power, you got to get involved. You're involved right now. There's some other ministry organizations that I've esteemed highly over the years without giving names, specifically the ones that are parachurch ministries. I'll tell you what I've seen mostly, although there are some example, some exceptions to the rule, I've seen people that are a part of parachute church ministry organizations many times never embrace division of a local church ever again.

And that, that bothers me because the local church is his method. I think the power of church missions organizations, different ones have arisen because the church wasn't doing their job. And I'm so thankful for God pouring out his spirit and using people that he's using. But it's so important to be a part of a local vision all your life, be a part of a local church. It's crucial.

You got to get involved. But God's work has got to be done. God's way and his glory doesn't isn't carried by an ark. It's carried by you. We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the excellency of his glory may be seen.

First Corinthians 6:19. Do you not know that your body is A temple of the Holy Spirit. And I believe, as it says at Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 14, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Let me ask you how. How?

Listen closely to this question. All of our graduates tonight, all of the family, all those online, every single person here. Let me read it again. Habakkuk 2, verse 14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the.

With the knowledge of the glory. With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. How do you think that happens? It happens by Levites. It happens by people who carry God's knowledge, who carry God's power.

Now I know that God will pour out his spirit. And there's a sovereign aspect to God showing up in the dream of a Muslim man who then sees Jesus as the Messiah and gives his life to Christ. And that happening all around the world, supernatural things like that are happening. How will they know unless someone. Unless someone is sent?

You've. You're graduating tonight. Now. Now what? What will you do with it now?

Will you carry God's power or will you be reduced to a religious person with a familiarity? You know, this familiarity thing's a big deal for me. Pastor Kimmy, Pastor Kirsten, they know and they feel the same way. We don't let kids just run roughshod all over the altar and just play and do whatever you want in here. You're not allowed to do that.

Why is that? Because we never want your children to become familiar with Just. Oh, yeah, that's just the altar. I love the precious little boy we were worshiping. And he comes up front, he's like, tonight he looks right and left.

He's like.

There was a fear of the Lord. That's good. Don't let your kids just do anything you teach them, don't you? Don't you let them color with crayons in your Bible, you know, and just scribble on stuff. God's word is holy.

His presence is holy. Church is holy. This pulpit, all of these things. A sacred desk. They used to call this a sacred desk where the word comes forth, the.

That changes and transforms life. God's presence should never become familiar. And I think sometimes in Pentecostal spirit filled circles, we can just take his presence for granted. Come on, lift your hands to heaven. Oh, I never want to take you for granted.

I don't ever want to take you for granted. Lord, you will be used by God to bring the knowledge of the glory of the Lord all over the earth. Can you say Amen? That is what God's plan is. And not just for our graduates.

Every single person here would sign up and say, yes, number seven in verse nine. It carried them on their shoulders. David should have known it. You would think the Levi should have known it. They were backslidden.

They didn't have a. They didn't have a pastor, a leader that would teach them. And David didn't know. Now you look, they go and they find out, oh, that's not a new car. We blew it.

Wow.

Must repent of sin. Talking about how to carry the glory of the Lord, how to carry his presence. And say that the first thing here is you got to repent of sin.

And David does that in. In a way of. He repents for not carrying it, right? But he comes back and he moves the ark. Can you imagine being David?

They're trying to figure it out. They figured out and they're like, oh, by the way, you were right. He's like, what was I right about? Obed, Eat him, dude. His crops are exploding.

His marriage was on the rocks and now it's healed. His kids were little rebellious hellions, and now they're all serving God. And 90 days, like a 90 day wonder, man. And it's like, there's like sunshine where it's rain everywhere else. It's just.

He's got it all. He's got it. He's got it going on. And David's like, I knew it. Get that thing back to the center of our nation.

Get it back to where we're supposed to be. And what does he do? Think about what he does. He goes back and he has sacrifices every six steps. So six steps got the ark.

They take six steps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. They slaughter. Fatted calf, they slaughter. They slaughter unto the Lord.

They have this massive offering every six steps. It's eight to ten miles from Jerusalem. How long does it take you every six steps to go 10 miles. Anybody ever walk 10 miles? It takes a long time.

Somebody said, well, it's pretty close to Jerusalem. Okay? Yeah, pretty close. Some. Some scholars said it's not 10, it's five.

Whatever. How about three? Three, three miles every six steps? Try that every six steps. They would slaughter.

They would sacrifice. They'd worship. When they're done, six more. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Stop.

Art comes a little bit further. Six more steps, they slaughter again. Hallelujah. Come on. Somebody say hallelujah.

Look what the Lord had done. And David's like six more steps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I think I. I think I have to take one more extra step just to make sure. That was six, right?

You guys counting what has happened here? If we're having a massive slaughter, a massive act of worship, sacrificing unto the Lord every six steps, what is all through here? It is a river of blood. It's a river of blood from the, from that threshing for that place or Obed, Obed Edom's house all the way to Jerusalem. And it is a picture that the power and the presence of God and the blood of Jesus, it cleanses us from all sin.

Six steps, six is a number of humanity, number of man.

God's presence and power doesn't just come because you graduated from ksm. God's presence and power doesn't come just because you name the name of Jesus. The anointing of God is poured out for, for certain, everyone can move in an unction and anointing and the power of God, but not everybody does because some people still want to use their escalade with the cartoon.

Some people, some. Some people want to walk and live for the Lord without prayer, without. Without faithfulness to church, faithfulness to the Lord. They want one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom. They want the fire, the power, and they want the hey, on the other side.

We must worship, must repent of sin, live for the Lord and worship him. I love that. A David, David with the ephod. He's spinning around, worshiping with all his mind. He's criticized by his wife, and to know her whole story, you would need healing too.

She was a political pawn with a broken heart. That's why she criticizes worship. And some say, yeah, well, I've heard it preached too, but after Pastor Karen studied it and shared her insights with me, I see that whole text differently. He comes into into Jerusalem and his wife's looking at him going, oh, great, good job, O king. She's angry, she's bitter.

She criticizes. Oh, criticizes worship. He said, I'll yet become more undignified before the Lord. And then it says, and she was barren. Could it be that they weren't intimate ever again?

I mean, we've got kids here. Their marriage had issues and problems. It wasn't that she was just barren. However, you want to be very careful to criticize people's worship because it's unto the Lord. And if it isn't, just leave that between them and God.

You graduating class of KSM 2026 will be used to cover the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Because you're carrying his power, carrying his presence, be sure to do it. Holiness matters, righteousness matters, tithing matters, prayer matters. Study the word rightly dividing the word matters, theology matters, these things matter. Your life now may it launch forth into all that God has for you.

We're very proud of you and we commend you. Be like Obed Edom don't be like Uzzah, be like King David. How can they ark come to me? But now that you've gone to KSM you understand it's not carried on a cart, you are the ones that carry it.

Well I hope you were encouraged by God's word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska podcast. God bless you. For more great content go to kcalaska.com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.