 For every historic moment, there are heavenly mantles that God will drop to the earth. I want to talk to that person who desires to be used by God. I want to talk to you if everything within you desires to be spent unto God's glory. If you're someone who says, Lord, whatever it is that you want me to do, I'll do it. Wherever it is that you want me to go, I'll go. Lord, there is no sacrifice that you can ask of me that I will not give. If that's you, I want to talk to you about the power of impartation. You and I today stand on the shoulders of church martyrs. We stand on the shoulders of the early church. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, a great cloud of witnesses. And we owe it to the Lord, yes, unto His glory, unto His purpose. We, of course, expand the kingdom of God because God commanded us to do so. But we also owe it to generations past, to take that torch, to pick up that mantle, to continue with that race, and to fulfill the purpose that God has given to us. It's time to put away distraction. It's time to get serious. The spiritual hour is late. And God is looking for those who will say, Lord, I'm available. Drop that heavenly mantle upon my life. Now, quite simply, the anointing is the power of God. The mantle is the authority. That's how we use these terms. I want to keep it super simple so we can get right into this. Impartation is the spiritual transfer that takes place between believers. Knowledge can be imparted. Ministry can be imparted. Authority can be imparted. Power can be imparted. Spiritual gifts can be imparted. There are certain things in the spirit that are transferred. You've heard it said certain things are not taught or cannot be taught, but they can be caught. There are certain things, certain flows to ministry that I have caught that I know I could not have possibly learned. Because when people ask me, how do you flow in this way or that way, all I can tell them is it's a sense in the spirit. And that's the only way I can explain it to you. So I know that I've greatly benefited from the power of impartation and surrendering to what God wants to do through others. That's a big part of what God wants to do in your life is others. He has created it to where we need each other. Of course, God can do anything He wants, anytime He wants with anyone He wants. We understand this. But God has designed it so that we would work in connectivity. And part of that connectivity is working with those who are further along in their spiritual journey than we are. And that is the power of impartation, in that we can accelerate our spiritual growth by gleaning from those who have gone before us, by learning from their mistakes, by learning from the things that they've learned about the spirit realm, by learning from those things that they've learned about ministry and applying them to our lives, God wants to use you and you're going to be a unique cross-pollination of the people who have influenced your life. I can think of many people who've influenced my life and I can see how their impact has greatly affected the ministry that God has given me to steward today. I can think about those who I've received teachings from, impartation from, training in the scriptures from, and I can see the impact that that has made on my life and ministry. And I can tell you this, there is a great acceleration that takes place when we receive of the mantle from those who have gone before us. Examples of this would be like Elijah and Elisha, Moses and Joshua, Jesus and his disciples. To some degree, and we'll talk about this in a moment, David and Saul. Yes, I know that's an odd one, but it's a real one. Paul and Timothy. These troubled times that we're living in call for anointed people. You may say, well, Lord, I'm praying for you to do something. I'm asking God to touch my generation. I'm asking God to solve the problems in this world. And as I said before, God is sovereign. He can do whatever he wants to do on this earth whenever he wants to do it, by whatever means he desires to do it. But the primary way that the Heavenly Father has chosen to work in this world today is through you. The way that God is going to impact the generations is through your life. You may not feel that. You may not think that. You may doubt it because of your insecurities, because of your past mistakes, and because of what you perceive to be a lack of giftedness. But I'm telling you this right now. It's not a matter of how gifted you are. It's not a matter of how intelligent you are. It's not a matter of how charismatic you are. It's a matter of how surrendered you are to the Holy Spirit. God can take a life of surrender and do limitless things with it. There is no limit to what God can do with a life surrendered to the Holy Spirit. So as I said, the anointing is the power, the mantle is the authority. The anointing is that ability, that flow of that power, the gifts, if you will. And the mantle is the assignment. So then, someone can have the gift of prophecy, but then given a mantle for a certain nation. Someone can have the gift of healing, but then given a mantle for a certain generation. Someone can have the gift of the word of knowledge, but then given a mantle for certain mediums of communication, such as social media. So there are some people who carry a mantle for social media. Some people who carry a mantle for television or radio. Some for local church ministry. Whatever it may be, the assignment is the mantle, and those assignments get passed down from generation to generation. And I'm telling you this right now in the Spirit, there is a changing of the guard. Don't let it pass you by, this wonderful heavenly moment. I want you to write that in the comment section right now. If you're watching live or on the replay, just write those simple words, don't pass me by. I don't want to be someone who gets to heaven and looks back and realizes that there was so much that God could have done with my life. But because of my lack of surrender, because of my lack of willingness, because of my lack of obedience, I missed that mark. I missed that position. I missed that ministry. Ms. Coleman used to talk about the fact that she believed that God had offered her ministry to several other men before he finally offered it to her. They all said no, either directly to him or through their disobedience. I don't want to be passed over. I don't want God to look somewhere else. I don't want God to say to me, well, I was going to use you, but you wouldn't surrender. I was going to give you this ministry, but you wouldn't give up the things of this world. You wouldn't stop compromising. You wouldn't stop playing games. So many of us say, God used my life. I'm ready, yet we're compromising every day in some of the smallest ways. Many of us say, Lord, I'm ready to go to the nations and we won't even cross the street to preach the gospel. Many of us say, God, I'm ready to preach to thousands and we haven't even shared the gospel with one. Many of us say, Lord, I'm ready for great influence and we haven't even developed the character to influence those closest to us. God is looking for people who will surrender and who will say, Lord, here is my life. I lay it down. How you want to use me is none of my business. Whatever you want to do, pour me out like an offering and use me unto your glory. Here's what the Bible says in 1 John 2, 27. But you have received the Holy Spirit and He lives within you so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. Now, I don't have time to get into this, but this is not saying that you don't need teachers or people discipling you. This is basically saying that you don't need someone to come and tell you what is the true gospel when the Holy Spirit has already been the inner witness for the true gospel. In context, this is speaking of people who are trying to bring in a different message. It was a big mess. Bottom line, this is about the anointing of the Holy Spirit that has been deposited in you. Now, this does not mean that we don't need teachers. Why do I know that? Because God gives us teachers. He would not say, here are teachers, but you don't need them. The Bible says here, for the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know and what He teaches is true. It is not a lie. So just as He taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. There we see very clearly that there is an anointing that He has placed in us. And whether you fill it or not, whether you think you're qualified or not, whether you think you have the goods or not, it doesn't matter. If you're surrendered to the Lord, then you can tap into that power that He placed within you. The Holy Spirit within you is your qualification for ministry. So how do you receive this impartation? How do you actually go about laying down your life? Because I'm talking right now to somebody who is a future evangelist. I'm talking to someone who's a future pastor or prophet or teacher. I'm talking to someone who's an apostle that God is raising right this very moment. And even if you don't feel necessarily called to pulpit or public ministry to where you're standing on the platform and teaching, there is still a mantle that God has given to you. There are mantles for prayer warriors. There are mantles for people who will serve in the local church. There are mantles for worshipers. And as we look across the timeline of church history, we can see key moments in which God dropped mantles to the earth. I pray there's someone in the earth to catch the mantles he's dropping today. Because there is a changing of the guard and the spirit. There is a time and a season of change. We are seeing the rise of a new generation. We are seeing the torches being passed. We are seeing the mantles being released. We are seeing impartation being activated now is the time. So you want to do this? You want to walk in the anointing? You want to fulfill what God has for you? Number one, it's going to be time with the Lord. Now, I don't care what anyone tells you. I don't care what you tell yourself. If you're not spending time with Jesus, you're not going to make it. Not in ministry anyway. You talk about the pressures of ministry. You talk about the temptations that come with ministry. You talk about those things that will gnaw at your character or at least attempt to when you're in ministry. If you are not connected to the Lord Himself, if you are not attached to the vine, if you are not abiding in that vine, if you are not receiving of Him, then there will be a great collapse because if what is in you is not strong enough to handle the pressure that will come upon you, there will be a crushing that is not a good form of crushing. There will be a collapse that takes place. If you are not shoring up the foundation within. Now, I know we don't want to hear these things. Many times, I think it's sad, but many times believers dismiss the most basic of truths because they think that the truths that are basic are boring. Don't talk to me about a prayer life. Don't talk to me about devotion to the Word. Don't talk to me about serving daily. Tell me instead the special prayers I can pray that can bring forth the mantle. Tell me instead of oil and scarves and impartation through tangible means. Tell me instead that I can pay $29.99 and take an e-course. Tell me instead that I can pay $250 and go to a conference. Tell me instead that I can go to Bible school and pick up a mantle. My friend, you cannot buy the anointing. You cannot buy the call of God. You cannot purchase His power. It's not available in that way. You want to walk in power. You want to walk in that mantle that God has called you to. You're going to need to get in that prayer closet. When God drops a mantle, He drops it in the prayer rooms. When God drops assignments to the earth, He makes those assignments in the prayer rooms. And if you're not in that prayer room, you're not consecrated, spending time with the Lord, then I'm telling you this right now. You will falter when things get hard. And so you want to catch this mantle. First, it's going to be time with the Lord. Time with Jesus is the foundation of ministry. In fact, I'll say it this way. All true ministry is overflow of your time with Jesus. If you're not spending time with Jesus, you're not a preacher, you're a motivational speaker. If you're not spending time with Jesus, that's not a church, that's a club. If you're not spending time with Jesus, that's not the Holy Spirit's power, that's hype. If you're not spending time with Jesus, it's not a ministry, it's a charity. It's only the presence of Jesus that brings forth that distinction. It's only the presence of Jesus that will sustain you through the difficult times. It's only the presence of Jesus wherein you find the mantle, the power of... Here's the secret right here. I'm going to give you, and I don't even hesitate to call it a secret because sometimes we use the word secret as if it's not readily available or readily apparent in the Scripture. It's very simple. The power of the Holy Spirit is hidden in the presence of the Holy Spirit. You want His power, you need His presence. People ask me all the time, Brother David, what's the key? What's the secret? What's the shortcut? I say, there are no secrets. There are no shortcuts. In fact, nothing will slow you down more than a shortcut. What you need is time in His presence. That's it. There are no gimmicks to this. And in fact, many people try to shortcut their process instead of processing and spending time in His presence. They want to jump right into the promotion and because of that, they step into levels of the anointing. Their character isn't ready to handle. Write it in the comments section. Now, Lord, perfect my character. Let that be your prayer. So that's number one. You want to catch the mantle? Number one, you need to spend time with the Lord. I'm giving you these keys right now and I hope you're writing them down because you need to apply these to your life. Number two, it's teaching. Now again, this is just as probably basic as the first one, but don't mistake basic for unimportant because I think that's something that we do, especially in the day and age of entertainment. We want everything to be entertaining and sometimes the truths of Scripture aren't necessarily entertaining. My job is not to entertain you, people of God. My job is to edify you. I am not here to impress you. I am here to impart to you. And if I'm going to do that, then I have to stay faithful to the core truths of Scripture and so do you because if that foundation isn't solid, then when rough times come and they will, when those times come, you'll be swept away by the storm. Now look at Matthew 28. I'm going to show you something. Matthew 28, I'm going to show you verses 19 and 20. Matthew 28, 19 and 20. Jesus speaking here. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, not members, not clubs, not followers, disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So here we see a picture of God's divine strategy that's to be implemented in the world. And that includes discipleship, true kingdom expansion as multiplication. Now, what my main point is here is about teaching. We see that the great commission involves teaching. It involves impartation through spoken word based on the Scripture. So then you must, you must, you must find good teachers. Now, I know that's not always popular to say again, this is the day in age where everyone wants to be entertaining and it's quite possible that mean you're watching this on YouTube primarily. So it's possible you want to click on a video, I don't know, on some conspiracy theory or something that's entertaining. Maybe some of you are gamers, you see gaming videos around you. But I challenge you to commit your mind to what I'm saying here because the basics, though they aren't always necessarily the most alluring, are the most important. And that first key I gave you was time with the Lord. That's the first part of the foundation. But just because it's the first part doesn't mean it's the least important. In fact, because it is the first part is proof that it is the most important. So if you're spending time with the Lord, you're spending time in the Word, you're spending time in prayer, you're spending time in worship, and you are establishing your devotion to the Lord on a daily basis. What begins to happen is your discernment now becomes sharp. And as your discernment begins to sharpen, you begin to see who God is drawing you to and God will bring to you teachers. Now here's something of the spirit that I have learned. And this might be quite an eye-opener for you. It was for me. God will bring you teachers and God will draw you to ministries that are similar to what He has called you to do. I want to say that again because I want you to get this in your spirit. God will draw you to teachers and ministries that are similar to what He has called you to do. Prophets are attracted to prophetic people. Evangelists are attracted to evangelists. Pastors are attracted to pastors. These are the spiritual dynamics at play. When you begin to be drawn to an individual, even now as you're watching, you feel this drawing, this pool. The Lord brought you here. God connected us for a purpose. And so there's some way I'm supposed to serve you. But in the same way, I remember one time, this was a tremendous experience. I was probably around 14 years old. I want to say the timeline sometimes gets a little muddled because there was a three or four-year period where it was just kind of a really fast-paced spiritual growth season because all I was doing was praying and reading the word. Books and CDs and it's when CDs were a thing and Christian programs and worship music and it all kind of gets jumbled into one season in my life. But around the age of I want to say between 12 and 14, I'm flipping through the television channels and suddenly I see this image on my screen. And the image was of a massive choir singing a beautiful song, Hallelujah. Now, I had watched Christian television before so I was fully expecting to see someone come on right after the worship and begin to teach maybe a simple word, which is good. Simple words are good too, but that's what I was expecting that's not what I saw. Instead, as I began to see this choir sing, as they're repeating that heavenly chorus, as the music is playing and I'm watching the church raptured in heavenly worship, I sensed in the spirit this pooling, this magnetism, this drawing. It was like a magnet in the spirit that pulled me to that screen. And I knew that I knew that I knew that there was a divine connection taking place. I'm watching and I felt almost like I was, like I said, that's the best way I can word it, like I'm being pulled to what was on my screen. And then instead of preaching, suddenly they began to shout about miracles. I heard one gentleman say, pastor, this woman was in a wheelchair. I figured for how many years and I forget what her ailment was. All I know is I saw that woman come out of the wheelchair. And so she's walking with her wheelchair behind her, praising God for her miracle. And then I saw as people began to experience the touch of the Holy Spirit's power. And I knew that there was some divine connection there, all I knew, all I knew was that something about what I was seeing had something to do with what God would call me to do. That's all I knew. And even saying that as a young boy, I just knew. You say, how do you know? I just knew. I knew it within my spirit, within my heart of hearts. There was an inner witness that spoke to me about what I was witnessing. And so God will draw you to key people. God will draw you to key figures. And in so doing, he begins to reveal what your calling is. Now this isn't necessarily the case all the time. Sometimes we're drawn to people just because and that's okay. So I don't want to over spiritualize anything. I don't want to spiritualize things that just so happen to be. But in many instances, that repeat, continual drawing has to do with an impartation that's taking place. And so that's number two. We receive through teachers and mentors. So that's number one is time with the Lord. Now this is why it's so important, by the way, that you spend that time with Jesus. Because if you're not spending the time with the Lord, you're not going to have the discernment that's necessary to be able to tell who you should be around. If you're not in the Word, you're not in prayer, you're not in worship, you don't know the Lord for yourself. You're going to be pulled away by every teaching. Anything that becomes popular, you're going to believe it. Any teacher that comes on the scene, you're going to believe them. Any new fad that approaches the social media scene, you're going to be drawn to it. You're going to be tossed to and fro, unless you are grounded in the Lord. That's why I'm saying, don't even really necessarily look for step number two. Necessarily, I should say, and repeat, I mean. But make sure you're grounded. Make sure you're grounded in the Lord, and then he will begin to draw you to key people. And you will become a unique blend of the different people who impart into your life. I've had prophets, evangelists, apostles, teachers, pastors, counselors, missionaries, worship leaders, you name it, prayer warriors. I had various different types of people in ministry impart into my life in various different ways. And it created the unique blend that I am today. You are also a unique blend. Just like the anointing oil had certain ingredients that they placed in it, different ingredients from different places that accomplished different purposes. So you, as an individual, are collecting various different ingredients to create the aroma that is the anointing on your life. And so God will send you maybe some type of worship leader. God will send you. Maybe he's sending you to me right now. God will connect you with another evangelist. God will connect you with a certain church. And all of these people contribute in one way or another to the unique calling that God has placed on your life. That's the beauty of teachers. So number one is time with the Lord. Number two is teachers. Number three, the laying on of hands. Let me show you here. I'm going to go to 1st Timothy. Pull this up here. Go to 1st Timothy 1. And I'm going to go to verse 6. I hope that when you come to these live streams or even when you watch the replay that you have a Bible nearby. Now 1st Timothy 1. I'm going to show you something here. Excuse me. I have the different... I meant 1st Timothy. 2nd Timothy 1. 6. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. There's something spiritual about laying hands on people. When you have a man or a woman of God placed their hand on you it's possible that spiritual transfer takes place. Now I'm going to tell you what sometimes blocks that or what doesn't cause that in a moment. But first let's look at verse 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power, love, and self-discipline or power, love, and a sound mind. The King James Version puts it. So here Paul the Apostle is writing to Timothy and he's telling him you cannot be afraid to use your teaching gift. Timothy was likely scared or intimidated to use his teaching gift because he was so young. Paul is saying don't be afraid to use it and he says fan it into flames, stir it up, or activate it. Yes, that's a biblical term. Activate it. Do something with it. That's what we mean when we say activate. Do something with it so that you can fulfill the purpose that God gave to you. Now what's the instruction he gave to Timothy? He tells him in order to activate it I want you to use it. And so Paul writes that there was something that was deposited when he laid hands on him. Now make sure you understand this. Impartation doesn't come from individuals. It comes through individuals and God deposits as he will. No man or woman has the power or the ability to say I want to give my mantle to this person. Only when they are instructed by the Holy Spirit to release a portion of that mantle only when they are instructed by the Holy Spirit to lay hands in this way does it actually go through. So it's kind of like a transaction. A transaction has to be approved by the bank. I could write a check to someone but unless the bank approves that transaction it's not going to go through. The bank may find an error. The signature didn't match or this seemed to be a misprint on the account number or this looks like suspicious activity or this check expired. It was written too long ago. There could be several things and factors that contribute to a check not going through. So the bank has to approve it even though the individual wrote it. So as individuals we can lay hands. As individuals we can pray. I prayed for several people who say pray that a portion of your mantle comes on me. I said I can pray it but it's up to God. And so we'll pray. And unless heaven backs that transaction there's nothing that's flowing. Unless heaven actually gets behind this transfer in the spirit there's not anything that can come out of that. So you can stand in line have someone lay hands on you that's wonderful but very likely and some of you won't like this but I have to tell this to you because I love you. If you're not spending time with the Lord you're not devoted to the teaching of God's Word. You're not devoted under a ministry where God has called you. It's very likely that when someone lays hands on you that gift is not going to come to you it's going to pass through you. You may fill the power you may fall and shake on the floor you may sense the anointing on that man or woman's life but that power isn't going to rest that mantle isn't going to rest because heaven didn't back the transaction. And unless heaven backs the transaction there's nothing that can take place. That's why I kind of laugh when I hear so many people tell me oh so and so laid hands on me now I have their mantle. So and so prayed over me now I have a double portion of their spirit. I say really did they tell you that? Did God tell you that? Or are you just assuming that because you stood in a prayer line? Now there's nothing wrong with laying hands there's nothing wrong with praying for people. There's nothing wrong with asking God even to give a portion of this mantle. I've prayed for several people in this regards too. I say Lord give them a portion and most of the time I'm led by the spirit other times they're begging me please pray for me and you know they're asking of the Lord but I just so happen to be there when they want it. But here we see that heaven has to back that transaction. Heaven has to approve that transaction because it's God's to give. God is the one who decides who gets what mantles. And so if you're not committed to the basics you're not spending time with the Lord you're not spending time in the Word you're not devoted to certain teachings that guess what when somebody lays hands on you you'll fill the power you may get breakthrough you may get healing you may get deliverance you may even have your spiritual gifts activated or stirred for the time but there will be no transfer of a mantle there'll be no transfer that takes place in the spirit that has not been approved and cleared by heaven. So number one time with the Lord number two teaching number three the laying on of hands let me know in the chat if you need to up your commitment to the basics. Now number four this is where I want to look at a few things here. Now remember at the top of the lesson chat I told you that we would talk just a little bit about King David and Saul and I want to park it here for a second because there are several dynamics that I want to pull out of this and I I believe this is really going to help open your eyes concerning how the transfers of mantles occur. Now let me show you something in first Samuel I'm going to go to chapter 16 and I'm going to pull up verse number 14 and again pull this up in your scripture reference point whether that be a Bible or a notepad or whatever you have in front of you. Okay so first of all first of all we see that King Saul was being replaced by King David. God had already ordained it to be so. God said I'm done with Saul and now I want to raise David and so there is some tension there there's some conflict there. Saul is very jealous of what God is doing with David. Now I've experienced this in my own life resistance from certain people who are jealous of what God is doing and you know I never really understood jealousy I mean I understand it as a human being because there are certain things that everyone has to fight in terms of jealousy but when it comes to ministry I don't understand it because A there are many souls to be one B there are many people to be discipled and C it's not possible for anyone to take away from your calling if God has ordained you. That's why I don't understand competition and jealousy. I mean it's one thing to be inspired by people and you know maybe they help encourage you to up your game so to speak and maybe produce better videos or do better a job of hosting events and so forth. So it's good to be inspired by people but I don't understand ministry competition and jealousy. I mean whose kingdom are we building? Are we building God's kingdom or personal kingdom? And if we're all building the same kingdom what room is there for jealousy in the first place? So that's something I really looked at here when it came to Saul and David and it got me thinking I know I've experienced jealousy in my life but when people come against me because of the way God's favoring the ministry and I say you know what it doesn't make sense because it's not possible for someone else's blessing to take away from yours. God's not running out of blessings God's not running out of opportunity so we have to shift our perspective don't see it that way just because God is raising someone doesn't mean he has to lower you but if you don't change your attitude he may take you down a few notches you can say amen right there. Now Saul is very jealous of David Saul is upset because David is the new guard Saul is the old guard there's a transfer taking place something is happening Saul is tormented he's upset but notice and this isn't in my notes but we'll touch on it for a second that even though Saul is trying to kill David Saul is trying to capture David and kill him David still will not retaliate by attacking Saul Now this is key because David says I will not touch God's anointed Now some have taken that teaching to go just a little bit too far and some have not taken that teaching far enough there are two extremes that are both unhealthy views of this concept of touching not God's anointed now some imagine on one extreme that when you criticize a leader that you're touching God's anointed that when you have a question for a leader about something that may be confused you that somehow that equates to touching God's anointed but it's okay to question and to criticize respectfully it's okay to challenge people on doctrine respectfully that's one thing so that's not what the scripture is talking about when David wouldn't touch God's anointed now we understand that this is speaking of physical harm David is not going to physically retaliate against Saul he's not going to attack him he's not going to fight back but still the reason David wouldn't fight back is because Saul was anointed so even though this is about doing physical harm it can still apply today in regards to men and women of God some people speak out in very very ungodly immature ways against servants of the Lord I'm not talking about myself I mean I don't mind the criticisms I'm talking about some of these generals who've gone before us and they've become memes or they've become mocked and we kind it's kind of like the joke that stupid people laugh at we just go along with it because everyone else is going along with it all the while we're mocking God's servants who've probably done more for the kingdom than most of us and we feel we have some right to mock them for what because of internet culture but I'd be very careful about the way I speak of servants of the Lord yes questioning is one thing disagreeing is one thing even challenging a little bit is one thing but to completely disrespect dishonor to mock that's where you're getting into major trouble with the Lord and I wouldn't want to be that person who did that so again David not harming Saul has two extreme applications that are both inaccurate some people think that this means you can never question a man or woman of God and some people say well he was just refusing from harming him physically so it has no spiritual application for us today whatsoever no it does because David wouldn't touch God's anointed for the very principle of the fact that he was anointed of God so don't fall into either extreme obviously you can question obviously you can challenge in a respectful way certain leaders that's okay there's nothing wrong with that but on the other side don't completely dismiss this portion of scripture is not being applicable for today also you need to realize that the spiritual principle that David was following when he wouldn't retaliate against Saul still applies to this day now that wasn't in my notes that was just kind of a bonus point but let's look here now 1 Samuel chapter 16 I'm going to show you something in verse 14 through 16 and then we're going to jump down to verse 21 now the spirit of the Lord had left Saul what a terrifying reality in the Old Testament and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear some of Saul's servants said to him a tormenting spirit from God is troubling you verse 16 let us find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you he will play soothing music and you will soon be well again so here we see very clearly that not only has Saul disobeyed not only has Saul been rejected not only has Saul allowed certain points of bitterness in his heart but now Saul is also tormented by a demon here we see a demon oppressed man and then look down now at verse 21 so David went to Saul and began serving him wow Saul loved David very much and David became his armor bearer now again we're talking about an Old Testament reality and even touching again on the point I made about touching not God's anointed of course we acknowledge that David was saying I will not touch God's anointed in regards to physically retaliating against him but the spiritual principle that David was obeying in not physically retaliating applies to us today and that is if God has anointed a servant if God is using a life if God has raised a man or a woman you can criticize them you can question them you can challenge them but be very careful about that fine line between respectfully challenging challenging questioning respectfully even contradicting versus mocking disregarding disdaining slandering oh my goodness be very careful about that so again challenge yes debate sure question absolutely but do not mock God's service do not disdain them do not slander them do not dishonor them you do that you're treading a fine line there and it could affect your life in more ways than you realize but verse 21 we see that even though Saul was demon oh guys he was demon oppressed demon oppressed and David served him so this is number four honor and service serving men and women of God let me say this before we go any further there are many of you and it could be you watching now maybe you've had really bad experiences with spiritual leadership and you're kind of done with the idea all together of spiritual leadership like I don't want anything to do with anything organized any systems that's a whole different lesson unto itself well I acknowledge that some people are abusive some people are controlling some people are manipulative I acknowledge that I also acknowledge that there's something to be said about serving under the ministry of a man or a woman of God I know in my life I benefited from this now here's what happens you begin to serve under a ministry this this is my story I served under a ministry for years before I even had a conversation with the individual I was trying to receive impartation from I'd go to the events they'd hold them in stadiums I would help clean up the wires for the cameras and help move chairs around whatever I could do to help I would be there volunteering working just to be around that anointing wasn't till years later that I connected personally with the person who would help to mentor and guide me and disciple me in the ministry I now carry today but the point is that what begins to happen I want to say this right because I don't want you to miss what I'm saying it's so key that you get this and it could be the difference between you receiving from a man or a woman of God and then not receiving from them there are certain things about individuals that you will learn only as you get closer to them now what I'm going to share with you is is deeper truth this may not be for everyone but if you're ready to go deeper this is for you when you begin to serve a man or woman of God whether that's from a distance or whether that's up close doesn't matter you will begin to see their humanity their humanity will begin to show in ways that you wish it wouldn't from a distance you look and you say wow look how anointed and then you draw in closer and closer and closer as you serve now I'm not saying that you know we justify hypocrisy nor have I necessarily seen hypocrisy thankfully the people I've seen have displayed wonderful character a heart for Jesus a heart for God's people so I have no misgivings there and I'm not talking about spiritual abuse spiritual control those things but what begins to happen is you draw closer and you're going to see a little impatience you're going to see maybe a little harshness sometimes not in every case because nobody is perfect nobody is just like Jesus everyone has ways about them that could be more like Jesus everyone has something in them that God needs to correct and change everyone including your heroes including your leaders including your pastor including me so what begins to happen is you start to serve and now you're getting closer to them you start to serve and you notice little things the humanity begins to show and so when you saw them from a distance you said wow look how anointed and then you get a little closer and you go oh well I didn't see that before oh well well that's something I didn't quite notice last time and then if you're not careful you can allow bitterness to enter your heart now let me be clear I'm going to say this one more time and then I'll continue and then I'll be released from having made this point but I want to make sure you understand me so that I don't put you in a bad situation I'm not talking about spiritual abuse I'm not talking about manipulation I'm not talking about hyper-controlling leaders who want to control every single aspect of your life here's a hint for you if somebody ever tells you that you can't fulfill the call of God without them you can fulfill the call of God without them for sure if anyone ever tells you that if you leave them your cursed they're lying they're manipulative and you should probably not walk but run away from that church or ministry don't believe that nonsense it's garbage and they have to say that because they don't have the anointing to pull people in so what I'm saying to you is legitimate Jesus loving people will have major character flaws that you didn't recognize before and if you're not careful bitterness can enter your heart you can look at them and you can say oh well I thought you were this and now I just see you're that or I thought you were up here and now I see that you're down here be very careful of the expectations that you place on your leaders now the bible does give us a standard obviously if they're getting drunk after service you're going to probably want to distance yourself from them obviously if they're sleeping around with people who are they're not married to obviously you want to distance yourself from them if they're stealing money from their ministries obviously distance yourself I'm talking about just character flaws I'm not talking about abuse you'll begin to see those character flaws if you're not careful that that bitterness begins to enter your heart because you had unrealistic expectations for them because all you ever saw was the mental but you never saw the man all you saw was the power but you didn't see the person behind that power you saw the ministry you didn't see them in everyday life you watched them on a platform for an hour a week you didn't get to know them every day throughout the week and so what begins to happen is as you begin to serve under key leaders your heart will become bitter if you don't have grace for them please hear me now if you hear anything I say about this point if you hear anything I say about this point please hear this if you don't have the grace for them you will not have the grace to receive from them if you do not have grace for them you will not have the grace to receive from them it's as if God in his wisdom has hidden the anointing behind major character flaws now I'm not talking about disqualifying character flaws I'm talking about major ones and you know to be clearer there's a biblical standard they're not meeting that run if they are meeting that but they still have flaws don't allow your heart to be bitter they're human and so we see things from a distance wow how anointed we move in a little closer oh I had no idea you're like that now watch this watch this here's what happened here's what happens from a distance wow how anointed a little closer I wish I didn't see that now watch this now if you will give them grace if you will forgive their flaws if you will guard your heart against bitterness God will draw you even closer and the moment you're drawn closer to them even after having witnessed their humanity you're going to look at them and you're going to say that's why God uses you I see it now and others won't see it others have a surface level knowledge of the of people that God has anointed they don't really know they hear things from other people they hear things repeated they hear mischaracterizations they hear twisted words they hear all sorts of things but when you begin to see for yourself that's a secret that I've learned now I'm convinced that God hides the anointing this is something I wrote here I'll read it to you I'm convinced that God hides the anointing in abrasive humanity I'm convinced that God hides the anointing in abrasive humanity so that only the persistent can receive it you must serve to God's satisfaction not to man's conflict tests your heart conflict tests your heart so that's number four honor and service finally number five is proximity now let me show you this this is quite interesting what Paul the apostle wrote in Romans chapter one verse 11 now keep in mind Paul can write letters Paul can send messengers but look at what he says this is so key this is so key Romans chapter one verses 11 and 12 for I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord when we get together I want to encourage you encourage you in your faith but I also want to be encouraged by yours and watch this for I long to visit why why do I need to go visit you in person why do I need to go and be physically there with you so I can bring you some spiritual gift wait a minute why not just write what you want to say in the letter why not just send the message through one of your disciples and send them to the church to bring it to them why because there are certain things that can only be deposited spiritually with close proximity and actual connection and relationship now this isn't always necessary so don't hear what I'm not saying you can receive impartation from someone and never even talk to them there are many times there are many people I've received from who I've never met I've never had a conversation I've never even shaken their hand but they've imparted greatly into my life there are several that I can name like that but you have to realize that there are some things that require close proximity so Paul writes I want to come to you physically be there that I can deposit a spiritual gift and this is where many of us make the mistakes we're looking to be discipled by somebody famous or popular when we should just be looking for someone who's anointed look look please hear me there are people who don't have YouTube channels and Facebook accounts and emailing lists who are not on television who don't write books who can preach and teach a lot better than I can there are people who don't have a big subscriber base as if that really matters necessarily by God's standards it doesn't it matters in one sense because it's souls numbers represent lives and souls but let's just really boil it down here to the basics you can find a man or a woman of God in any city across the world who's close to the Lord and who you can receive from the problem is we reject hidden treasure oh please hear this people of God please hear this please hear this we reject hidden treasures because they're not famous we reject hidden treasures because they don't have a big Instagram follower as if those things really matter when it comes down to it yes they help yes they're useful yes they matter in the sense that it's people or those numbers represent people being reached unless they're buying the followers but you know there are also people who who are not popular by the world standards who will never write a best-selling book who don't even know how to use the technology to stream but oh they've given their lives for the gospel they love Jesus with every fiber of their being they will lay down their life for a church of 10 if they have to my dad pastored a church for several years and there was a point where he was talking to the Lord about the fruitfulness you know we as ministers we want to make sure we're being effective and we sometimes measure that by the fruit so my dad was just kind of evaluating where he was in ministry and he looked at the church and he said you know Lord I would like it to grow I would like to pastor a larger church not and I know my dad it's not for his own sake he wants to reach more people and so here's what he told the Lord he said Lord if I have to pastor a church of just 50 people for the rest of my life then I will be the best pastor of 50 people that I could possibly be think of my dad and Steve you know this Steven Mock the Zoomer worked at the same company as my dad and Steve will tell you the company my dad worked for highly demanding we're talking this was my dad's schedule get up at three or four in the morning pretty much be gone all day come back in the evening so he'd go work all day come back in the evening have dinner take a quick nap and then go preach his sermon on Wednesday night Thursday he would do the same thing except Thursday he would come back and he would rest spend time with his family then he would go to work on Friday morning three four in the morning get off to work go do his routes come back put together his bible study lesson and teach for Friday night then Saturday when he was off he would sleep in a little bit and he would prepare his sermon for Sunday morning and then he would go and do it again Monday sometimes Monday we had men's meeting sometimes Tuesday he'd be speaking at someone else's conference but he would he would hold down that job there full-time job raising a family pastoring a church all of those full-time and he said Lord if I'm the pastor of 50 people for the rest of my life then I'll be the best pastor of 50 people I could ever be I'll give my life to these people there are people like that in your neighborhood there are people like that look maybe it is the Lord that you and I connect personally one day that happens but you know maybe it is the Lord that you connect with some other other you know minister who's perceived as popular I don't even perceive myself as popular because in the broad scope of things nobody even knows who I am virtually no one knows who I am but sometimes we as Christians we get into these these these mindsets like well they have to be famous so they have to be on YouTube but they have to have best-selling books so they have to be a conference speaker we are missing we are missing we are missing treasures gems some of the best pastors I know in the world nobody knows their name some of the best ministers I know in the world they're not on social media so you have to make sure that when you're receiving impartation build relationship with the people even who no one knows here's something that you may not realize maybe God brought them into your life God put you where he put you for a purpose I'm not talking about abusers I'm talking about legitimate men and women of God God put you where you are for a purpose why don't you receive while you're there how do you know that the treasures that God has for your calling aren't hidden in an individual that you've dismissed because they're not like the people you watch on YouTube number one time with the Lord number two receive through teaching number three the laying on our hands number four honor and service number five proximity I want you to say this out loud say Lord say it I want you to say it say Lord use my life I receive say it say I receive the mantle now what I want you to do is this all of you watching live and even on the replay I want you to put your hands out in front of you like this just like this with faith it's just an act of faith there's nothing more to it I want you to close your eyes right where you are close your eyes and I want you to begin to ask the Lord to deposit the mantle that he has for you on your life I want you to ask him to make you a good steward of what he's placed in Father in the name of Jesus I pray that you would drop the weight of that mantle on their hands now use them for your glory unto your purposes help them to fulfill that heavenly mandate in the mighty name of Jesus we pray I want you to say it because you believe it say amen those of you watching live stick around to the very end but before you go I want to mention something I want to ask you my friend my supporter my viewer I want to ask you if you would prayerfully consider helping our ministry today help us continue to spread the gospel all around the world through the gospel of Jesus Christ by the use of events and media go right now to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate and I want you to prayerfully consider giving a one-time gift or becoming a monthly ministry supporter or doing both many of you watching support a good portion of the people who watch these streams give you are a generous generous generous community and I want to ask you if you haven't done so and if you're not doing so please do your part help us continue to spread the gospel around the world here's how your support helps it funds the production of these live streams it funds the production of the content that we released the prerecorded content it funds the events that we host around the world it funds the holy spirit school online school we do not charge tuition for why because we want to give it away free freely you've received so freely give you've been blessed by this ministry you've been watching me maybe for a while maybe you've seen some of the videos you say you know what I really like what's happening here with this ministry and I ask you my brother my sister would you help me do this would you partner with me would you help me spread this message help me take this ministry all around the world get involved 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you for becoming a monthly supporter I also see Noni Noni thank you for becoming a monthly partner and many of the gifts coming in around the world these are the gifts of the people giving there on the website davidhernandezministries.com slash donate or partner slash donate it's a one-time gift slash partner you become a monthly supporter I see somebody gave a gift and their name is gift thank you gift I appreciate your support Joshua I like your last name Joshua thank you for your gift I appreciate it so I'm just reading some of those that come and I actually see all the gifts that come in on my phone there but again it's very simple you give and you're helping our ministry you're blessed by this ministry you believe in what we're doing you want to help us win souls build believers one more time davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a one-time gift davidhernandezministries.com slash partner that to give a monthly gift sign up to become a monthly supporter today and I really appreciate that look we don't take that for granted I thank you for your support I was walking around the studio today planning some events working with our team we work hard and it's all kingdom work this ministry is expanding rapidly be a part of this movement our movement is growing one more time davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a one-time gift davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter remember this what you do for others God will make happen for you