 I believe this is going to help somebody and I believe it's going to bring deliverance and freedom to some people's lives. So 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 3. So they set the Ark of God on the new card and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahayu, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new card. That's the only verse I'm going to read from this whole portion of the scripture. The background is this. David goes into Jerusalem, sets his house in there, but prior to David's reign, Israel had this Ark. The Ark is, think of like a God box. It's like this box where they had the 10 commandments and where Israel believed God really had his presence in that box. They would take this Ark with them to battles and see battles being won. And Samuel was a little young guy. He was under the leadership of Eli, this priest who wasn't serving God, and they took this box and they lost the battle. And Philistines took the box and Philistines kept this box, God box, among their gods. As they left and put God box with their gods, God box broke their gods. And in the morning, their gods fell in front of the Ark of God. So they realized, oh my goodness, this is serious. They went to another city, tumors broke out. Interestingly, Philistines had more fear of God for this God box than the people of God. And so next thing that happened, they decided to bring this God box back to Israel, because they said, this God is angry with us and rightly so. They didn't know better. So what they did is they found some golden rats, made some rats made out of gold and shipped it as a gift to the God of Israel. They didn't know better. So they took cows and put a card and put God box on the card and let the cows go to Israel. So the Ark came back to Israel and it was brought on a cart. Years later, this Ark is in Israel and David becomes a king, decides to bring the Ark of God, the God box, into Jerusalem. And David, instead of looking into the scripture of how it's supposed to be done, he simply builds, the Bible says, a new cart and puts the Ark on a new cart. And as they're driving this God box from the house of Abinadep, and Abinadep has had this God box for so long, I think for over about 20 years, this God box have lived in this house. His sons Uzair, Uzah and Ohio has watched over this Ark. They got used to this. So as the oxen is going and the God box is about to fall from the cart, you know, Uzah trying to help the box and holding it and bam, he drops dead. David got scared. He says, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is serious. And this is the story that we've read. I want to highlight just five simple principles from this chapter. Number one, God's presence rests on men, not on methods. God's power rests on people, not on programs. The mistake David made is he borrowed the Philistines concept of how God's presence is supposed to be carried. The Philistines put God's box on the cart. God always meant for his Ark to be on the shoulders of the priest. See, God's presence and anointing rests on people, not on programs. People have programs, but God has people. That's why Jesus didn't say, for the Spirit of the Lord is upon a program, a system, a strategy. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. We always look for better programs. God is always looking for better people. That's why the Bible says that God has sought a man who will stand in the gap. God seeks such that will worship him in spirit and in truth. While we are always looking for better methods, we are looking for better ideas, better houses, better workplaces, God is always looking for better people. Because the right people will make right things work. So I want to let you know that God is looking not for better strategies. God is looking for better men. God is looking for us. He wants his presence to rest upon us. God doesn't want his presence to rest on the Sunday service. He wants to rest his presence on the saints, on you. God doesn't put his presence on the song. He puts his presence on the worshipper. God doesn't put his presence on the church. He puts his presence on the people of God in the church. God's glory wants to rest upon your life. And see, God is not the only one that wants to put his presence on your shoulders. The devil wants to put heaviness on your shoulders. The devil wants to put depression on your shoulders. He wants to put guilt, shame and embarrassment. And that's why God says, instead of Spirit of heaviness, I will give you the garment of praise. So I can put my presence on your life. Come on, somebody. Give God some praise right now in this house. If you believe your shoulders is for the presence of God, your mind is not for depression. Your mind is for peace. Your heart is for joy. Your heart is for righteousness. Your heart is for the presence of God. You're not a trashcan. You are a temple of the Holy Ghost. You are not just an ash tray for ashes. You are a place for the Holy Spirit. You are a portable temple, a walking temple. The second thing that I would like to highlight, actually, Ian Bounds said, The church is looking for better methods. God is looking for better men. The second thing I would like to highlight, and that is this, the threshing floor is what separates the chaff from the grain. I want you to notice where this ousa touched the God box. The scripture says in 2 Samuel 6.6, When they came to Nachon's threshing floor, ousa put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it for the oxen stumbled. Something that I would like to highlight here about the threshing floor. Now, most of us do not participate in this type of agriculture today. So the threshing floor is not a familiar concept to us. The threshing floor is where the grain was processed. It involved two parts or two steps. The first one was threshing. It's when you beat the grain manually with flails. Animals were used to tread over the grain. The weight and the movement of the animals helped to separate grain from the chaff. The second step of the threshing floor was the winnowing. Now winnowing involves tossing the threshed material into the air. And the heavier grains would fall straight down while the wind carried away the lighter chaff. So pretty much you have the harvest, the grain. You take this grain through a threshing floor. On this threshing floor, what you're doing is number one, you are beating the grain. It's not because you're punishing the grain. It's because you're trying to separate it. That's the word for somebody. You're not being punished, you're being pruned. You're not going through the water because God is trying to drown you. It's because He's trying to cleanse you. He's trying to separate you from that thing that's not supposed to be in your life. And just because you are true harvest of God and you're true grain, it does not mean you also have some false things that God wants to separate from our life. And so the threshing that you would thresh, you would beat the grain so that it separates the chaff from the grain, but you don't stop there. Then you take this material that you just beat and you drop it up and you throw it up in the air and then the wind takes the lighter things and it flies away. But the heavier things fall down. The scripture uses the terminology for that to actually say that threshing is God's judgment separating the righteous from the wicked. Micah 4-12, Matthew 3-12 talks about Jesus and Psalm 1-4. Remember the Psalm 1-4 where it says that the wicked are like chaff which are driven by the wind. But the righteous, that they will be planted, that they will endure, they will inherit the land. The threshing that happens to each and every one of us is not only what God does to the wicked to separate them from the righteous, but God allows threshing, sifting, struggles, trials and difficulties to separate the righteous people from unrighteous things in their life. Luke 22, verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as weed. And the next verse he says, but I prayed for you, that your faith will not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. Job 23-10, Job says, he knows the way I take. When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. See, when you're going through a threshing floor spiritually, the devil is trying to prove that you are a chaff, but God is trying to prove that you are a grain. Satan will yell, curse God and die, fly away with the wind, but the Holy Spirit will whisper, bless God and live. Satan will yell for you to yield to your feelings and let your feelings take you with the wind, but the Holy Spirit will say, no, fall back on the truth, fall back on the facts, fall back on what you know to be true, don't run. Hebrews 12-27, it says, and yet once more, indicates the removal of things which are being shaken as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain, meaning God will allow the shaking of the things that can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken falls back on the ground and remains. If you go through the threshing floor, if you go through the sifting, the shifting, the troubles in your life and you fly with the wind, perhaps you are not a grain. What I want to encourage you today is don't allow the trials in your life to cause you to fly away from your faith. Fly away from the church community, fly away from your family, fly away from your convictions and say, I've tried that, I've done that and this is just difficult and this is hard. Maybe you've fallen into sin like Peter, you denied Jesus, you did some things you're not proud of and the devil is whispering and saying, well, it's time to leave the church, it's time to leave your family, it's time to leave your convictions because look at what you did. But Jesus tells Peter, Satan will try to sift you like weed, but he says, Peter, when all the shaking is done, make sure you fall back on the ground, fall back on the truth, fall back on your Savior, fall back on your God. Don't fly away like the wicked, fall back like the righteous person. Two people, Peter had a bad day, Judas had a bad heart, Peter fell back on the truth after he committed sin and Jesus restored him, Judas flew with the wind and fell away from Jesus and Jesus never restored him. David had a bad day, he committed sin, but he fell back on the truth, create in me a clean heart of God, renew a steadfast spirit, never blamed anybody for his sin, never accused anybody for his sin, took ownership, dealt with his sin and God brought him back greater than he was before he fell back, he fell down instead of flying away with the wind. Saul, on the other hand, commits a lesser sin, but Saul was a chaff, Saul had a wicked heart and he flew away with the wind, making excuses, blaming other people, forfeiting his relationship with God. Each person in this room is going to go through a sifting, they will go through a shifting, it could happen in your family, it could happen in your church, it could happen in your relationships, it could happen in your purity, it could happen in your finances and in your business, it can happen with your children, it's when your bottom falls out, it's when everything you believe in gets shaken to the core and you feel like you're flying in the air and what's happening, you can't control anything and the devil will whisper to you, curse God and die, meaning get away from this thing, this doesn't work, don't be a chaff, be a grain, fall back on the truth, get on your knees, get on the word of God, don't fly with your feelings, fall on the facts, fall on the truth of God's word, don't trust what you feel when the world is being shaken in your life, your feelings are misleading, your mood is cannot be trusted, you must trust not in yourself, your heart is wicked, it will deceive you, your mood will mislead you, trust in what you know, not in what you feel and Job says, I know my Redeemer lives, he didn't say I feel my Redeemer lives, I know my feelings are against me but my God is with me, I don't see him but I trust in him, when I cannot trace him, I trust in him and when you fall back on the ground, on the somethings fall it, on the truth, you are the grain, maybe you lost the child to miscarriage and you're confused, perhaps your spouse walked away from you, maybe your child backslid and you rose him, you taught him in the way of the Lord and now they completely walked away from your Christian faith and you're distraught, you're broken, perhaps a business partner that you were with has lied to you and cheated you and you left without the promised resources that you were promised and you feel like everything is shaken, perhaps the person was a believer and you say how can I trust in God, I do not feel where is God in all of this, I can tell you where God is in all of this, you being tested and when you being tested, don't fly with your feelings, fall on the truth, fall on the facts that you know, that you know he is with me, he hasn't forsaken me, he loves me, the proof of God's love for me, it's not that everything went well with me, it's the fact that Jesus died on a cross two thousand years ago and he has taken care of my sin, he rose from the dead and by his spirit he lives inside of me, so that's why Job says when I am being tested I'll come out as gold, as pure as gold, come on somebody, when you being tried, when you being sifted, when you being broken, don't fall, don't fly away, fall on your feet, fall on your knees, go to church, be like Peter, Peter went back to Jesus and Jesus restored him, be like David, David came back to God and the Lord forgave him, be like Job, he got in his knees and the Bible says he worshipped him and God restored him, run to the stronghold and the stronghold is not a fence, the stronghold is not accusing voices, the stronghold is the name of our God and the Bible says even, yes even today says the Lord I will restore double to you, if you run to God, not from God, everything within you will scream, run from God, run from the church, look it doesn't work, listen God is not someone that works for you, God is someone you worship and he starts working behind the scenes when you don't even see it, don't let the devil deceive you and trick you when you hit the threshing floor because while you're there thinking oh I feel like I'm being punished, you're not being punished you're being pruned, I feel like I'm going backwards, you're an arrow in the hand of an archer, God is pulling you back to release you forward, I feel like I'm being buried, no you're like a seed that's being planted in the ground, I feel like I'm gonna drown in this sea, no God is separating you from the Egyptians that enslaved you, I feel like I'm in a furnace of fire, no my God is purging me, he's not killing me, he's just killing the shaft in me, my pride, my independence, my offense, my hate and other stuff, God is separating me come on somebody if you ever been separated through the stuff you went through, give God some praise right now, the Bible teaches us that testing strengthens our character, the Bible teaches us that testing proves our faith is genuine, tested faith gives honor to God, testing gets rid of unrefined qualities in our lives, testing proves believers are God's children, number three do not reduce God, do not reduce your expectation of God to your previous experience with him, it's very important what I'm about to share with you because David sees God punishing Uzzah, he comes to the conclusion God always punishes, I will keep a distance from this God because he's angry, Obed Edom takes this God box into his house and the scripture says, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom, God is not just somebody who punishes sin, he's also somebody who rewards righteousness, God is not somebody who just has the cross, he also has the empty tomb, God is not just a God of justice, he's also a God of mercy, our God is not just a God who visits the iniquity of the fathers to war for generations but he also gives mercy to thousands of generations to those who love him, I want to let you know, do not reduce God to only one experience that you had when you walked with him because God is greater than that and bigger than that, do not reduce God to the last incident that you had when you served God and always label it, oh that must be God, sometimes that's not God, Uzzah should have not touched the God box and God box should have never been on the cart, that's not God's fault, to blame God for everything that's wrong in our life is like blaming the secretary of transportation for every accident on the highway, it's not fair and it's not right and most of us take credit for all that is good, blame God for all that is bad and leave the devil undetected, the devil is bad, God is good and you're not that great, you're not that great, God is good and the devil is not good, that's theology 101, when bad things happen, we quickly run and say God did it, but my Bible says weeping may endure for the night, the joy comes in the morning, my Bible says his anger is but for a moment, his favor is for life, my Bible tells me that there are moments please understand our God is not a vending machine, if you punch in the right numbers you're gonna get what you want, our God is a just God but he's also merciful, our God is a righteous God but he's also gracious, our God is a God of justice but he's also God of grace, do not reduce your life to an incident where you walked with God and something did not go right and say well this must be because I walked with God, perhaps you didn't walk right with God, we're not saying to take a guilt trip right now into your past what we're saying is don't reduce God to only one experience, the God that maybe about 11 years ago gave me a picture when I was in the Ukraine in Kiev that I will have a baby boy and it was that I will have a son, I took a picture from Google at that moment sent to my wife, still have it on my phone and you know I felt that I received that prompting or that image but nothing happened after that for next 10 to 12 years, it's easy to take a snapshot of a period of your life and to say God is responsible for this and to reduce God to an incident or a period where you didn't see his activity or you saw negative things happen but all but is experiencing blessing while David experienced death, please understand there's more to God than when you experienced, our God is not just saver, he's our healer, he's our deliverer, he's the God that gives breakthrough, he's the light in darkness, he's the rose of Sharon, the lily of alleys, the first and the last beginning and the end, he's the alpha and the omega, he's the God the empty the grave and he's the God that heals, he's the God that restores, he's the God of second chances, third chances, fourth chances, fifth chances, our God is the great God, all other gods are idols, all other gods they cannot hear, they cannot see but our God made the heavens, our God rose his son from the dead, our God sits on the throne, our God is to be trusted, he is to be greatly praised, come on anybody here who has had tasted and knew that God is good, put your hands together in the second sanctuary, online, drop that clapping emoji, give God some praise. What Obedidum experienced was different than what David experienced which made David jealous, the God of breaking is also the God of breakthrough, the God in my shaking is also the God in my supernatural, the God of the cross is also the God of the empty tomb, the God of justice is also the God of mercy, the God of the Old Testament is also the God in the New Testament, the God of the Law is also the God of grace. What does that tell me? That means that just because I've experienced death when I walked with him, I shouldn't walk away from God because I'm about, I can still experience breakthrough and life walking with him. So many people quits too soon, like Jerryus says, Jerryus came to Jesus says Jesus my daughter is sick as they're walking together with Jesus the daughter gets worse and she dies and the people come to Jerryus and they says trouble not the teacher, leave him alone meaning drop him, look we're walking with Jesus got you, things were bad they just got worse and some of you that's exactly what happened to you start walking with God and life was hard it got hellish and the voice of the enemy says trouble not the teacher meaning distance yourself like David he tried to bring the box into the Jerusalem things died and he says no no no I I need to stay away from this I cannot be as committed I cannot put all my hope up in God I cannot be praying as much as I used to pray why because things are not getting better things are getting worse and Jesus grabbed Jerryus's hand and says do not be afraid only believe meaning don't be afraid to keep walking with me when things get worse don't be afraid to keep walking with me through the shaking don't be afraid to keep walking with me through the sifting don't be afraid to keep walking many with me through the valley of the shadow of death because I am with you fear no evil I will lead you to the other side I will take you out of the furnace of fire you will see your daughter not heal but raise from the dead you came for healing I have resurrection for you yes I didn't meet your expectation but trust me I can exceed your expectation because I'm the God of miracles do not reduce God to just one incident number four when David finally hears what God did to Obedetum he says I'm gonna give God one more chance I'm gonna go and do this right do it again do it right and do it better second Samuel 6 13 is so it was those who were bearing the Ark of the Lord has gone had gone six paces and he sacrificed oxen and fatter sheep the next verse it says David dance before the Lord with all his mind David was wearing a linen effort ether next verse it says David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of a trumpet in chronicles it says that David put the Ark of the Covenant on the shoulders of the priest meaning David realized the Uzzah didn't die because God was just playing mini mini money and just decided to kill Uzzah we did something wrong we gotta do we had right intentions we didn't have right way see most of us think me and my boyfriend living together sleeping around but our heart is right you can have a heart right good intentions but you can live wrong before God and because of that God is not pleased intentions don't matter I can have a good intention to drive to Seattle but my car is taking me to the opposite direction your intentions don't matter your direction does your your decisions they matter and David's directions David's decisions were not right and David learns that you know what I did it the wrong way I didn't put God's box on the shoulders of the priest I put it like the Philistines taught us I put it on the card that's not right God wasn't pleased with that and Uzzah died as a result of that I'm not gonna blame God for this I'm gonna do it again meaning I'm gonna bring the back into the city I'm gonna do this right and I'm gonna do this better I'm not gonna walk with God with reservation I'm not gonna walk with God and now really not dance not clap not shout why because I've done it before and it didn't work it backfired so I'm gonna do it again now just kind of really reserved no I'm gonna go all the way after God I'm gonna do it again I'm gonna do it right and I'm gonna do it better somebody with me say this I'm gonna do it again come on somebody say I will do it better and somebody say I will do it right somebody in this room when you were young you were on fire for God you burned for God your home was a place for a life group and then Uzzah happened threshing floor happened maybe it was your mistake or perhaps it was a mistake of other people that traumatize your life and you took a step back from God you took a distance you still believe him you love him you just don't trust as much and you and God have a distance in fact the new church you came into happens to be hungry Jen and your heart is reserved and I don't blame you nor am I gonna ask you to swing your heart open what I'm just gonna say is first open your heart to God again trust in him again this time do it right this time do it again and this time do it better no no no the best times cannot be when you were 16 and you didn't know better now you know better now you've seen the bad the ugly and the church politics and you've got burned by it so now you don't play safe with God you go all the way with God can God's people have a tendency of hurting you you bet they do but God will never hurt you and if you do it for him in this new season of your life you will see the glory of the Lord you will see the power of the Lord you will see the promises of God being fulfilled the word of the Lord that I have in my spirit for you is do it again some of you could not have children try again some of you maybe you lost your marriage and you're afraid of relationships do it again maybe you had a business that failed during COVID and you're like I'm not going into business again I have had so much trauma in that area do it again if you feel that it's the right thing for you and there's a desire in your heart may your desires be greater than your fears may your dreams be greater than your memories may your destiny be greater than your disappointment do it again but do it with God and do it better and lastly I want to mention about a person who didn't do it again she listened to a sermon and said you know what it was a lot to take in her name was Michael and this chapter ends you see David doing it again but you see his wife verse 23 it says now Michael the daughter of Saul had no children to the day after her death if you're taking notes right down the last thing where there is no passion there will be no intimacy where there is no intimacy there will be no fruit and the Bible says this about her she had no children to the day of her death while David over there is overcoming his fear overcoming his disappointment dancing sacrificing Michael she didn't go with David her husband to bring the Ark of God the scripture says she was watching at the window as David was going crazy and judging David the Bible tells us about three women who watched from windows all three suffered judgment from God one of them was Jezebel the other one was the mother of Cicera and this is a third one the wife of David now I want you to notice the verse we've read what it says about Michael it doesn't say Michael was the wife of David it says she was a daughter of Saul why doesn't say that she was the wife of David because at this point of her life she didn't reflect a passion of her husband she reflect passivity of her father at this point of her life she didn't reflect the desire to please God she reflected the addiction to police people at this point of her life she didn't reflect the passion of her husband she was a daughter of a King she was a wife of the King but she failed to be the mother of the King God positioned her to produce something because she was from the royal lineage but the scripture connects her passivity not explicitly but it says that because of her passivity you can read between the lines it says now she had no children I wonder sometime while we have an excuse for being passive and we say well you don't understand what I've been through you don't understand how I got hurt you don't understand what people did to me I might never understand but you don't understand how much your passivity is stealing not only your past but also your future when she was young she fell in love with David and the bible says she had to pretend that her David was threatening her life put a mask there David escaped so she loses her husband gets married to somebody else then she finds out her dad gets killed in the battle finds out her brothers are killed in the battle her other brother becomes a king gets his head chopped off this girl had trauma she need not only therapy counseling she need the deliverance on the top of the she had a lot of issues and honestly I don't blame her for the passivity that she had but see your future doesn't care what reasons you have for being passive in the present your future does not care about your reasons because if you are passive today you may have all the reasons to be passive it justifies your past but it can paralyze your future that's one of the reasons I cannot afford not to be on fire for God I cannot afford not to be hungry for God I cannot afford to allow drama and trauma on my past now they might have stolen my past I'm not letting them steal my future they might have stolen my childhood but they cannot stole my adulthood they cannot steal my adulthood and they cannot steal my future that's why I want to challenge every person unhinge yourself from your past I want to challenge every person lose those things I'm not saying this is gonna solve all the pain and trauma but it's gonna begin to pave a way to healing when you say I'm gonna trust in God again I'm gonna love again I'm gonna open the scriptures again I'm gonna pray again I'm gonna go to a life group again I'm gonna get me a consular again I'm gonna get healed I'm gonna get whole wide I'm not gonna be defined by what happened in my past I am going to be defined by what happened on the cross I will not live passive I will not live lukewarm I will not live complacent I will not live glorifying the good old days today is the day of salvation today is the day to be on fire for God today is the day to serve God today is the day to dream today is the day to believe for miracles today is the day where God can do his great work in my life today is the day I don't live imprisoned by yesterday I don't live by the fears of tomorrow today is my day I will not be a window watcher I will not be a spectator I will be a participator I'm a worshiper I'm a warrior I'm a person that will be engaged in what God is doing aspectate watch and criticize come on close that window and come undoubt and be a part of what God is doing there was a guy in the New Testament he was sitting too long at the window and fell asleep when you are a window watcher you become a sleeping saint and every sleeping sleeping sleeping saint becomes a sleeping saint the scripture says the young man fell and he fell and he died if you sit too long at the window rehearsing your drama rehearsing your pain rehearsing your bad that happened to you you sit too long there you're either gonna end up birthing nothing that's the worst case scenario the best case scenario the worst case scenario you start spiritually falling asleep and when you start spiritually falling asleep then you start spiritually falling down and then it could lead to spiritual death I'm not excusing the past I'm not minimizing under I'm not one of those people who say no pretended didn't happen the devil is a liar no no no no no do you think David never felt hurt and pain and struggles but he knew one thing in the middle of the valley I'm gonna praise him I'm gonna trust in him the Lord is not guilty satan is not innocent and I'm not worthy all the glory goes to God I will love him pursue him and burn for him as you have passion you will produce results come on somebody as you have passion you will have intimacy as you have intimacy you will have results