Jentezen Franklin - It's Time to Stand Up - Part 3
And I'll begin reading with 1 Samuel 6:1. I'm not gonna preach long this morning. But we're gonna get in His presence. Verse 1, "Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners," the soothsayers, the witch doctors, the occult teams, the devil worshipers. "Saying, 'What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.' For they said if we send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but return with it a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.'"
And so, verse 10 says, "Then the men did so, they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home". So, "They set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and images of their tumors," that they had been afflicted with. "And then the cows headed straight," everybody say: Straight. "The cows headed straight," the King James said, "They went the straight way". They went straight way, I like that. "They headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway lowing," you know, people cry but cows low when they're sad, mad, or want something.
"And they're lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh. Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat," these are the Israelis, "They were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes and they saw the ark, and they rejoiced to see it". "They rejoiced," King James said, "Greatly". "Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there for large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord".
I wanna talk to you for a few moments about this remarkable story because I think it speaks to where we are today in this nation and in our world. And many of you in your own lives. Because the children of Israel had turned away from God, God empowered their enemies. The Philistines attacked, and not only did they do great damage and a great warfare that took place that cost many lives. But most importantly, the ark of the covenant was stolen by the Philistines. They lost the ark of the covenant under the Old Testament. In the Old Testament was symbolic and tangible concerning the presence of God Almighty. Wherever the ark of the covenant was, His protection, His blessing, His favor, His provision was.
And so, the Philistines noticed that when they brought the ark of the covenant back to their nation and back to their God, they put it in the temple of Dagon, their god, a statue god. And they left it overnight and came in, and the Bible said the statue was knocked over, and his face was broken up and his hands were broken off and his head rolled off. Don't mess with God. He said, "There will be no other gods above me," and they had placed the ark down here and this god up there on a pedestal, and God just threw him over. And they had to heave and ho, and pick their god up, and get some super glue or something and put his nose back on, and God did it again the next night.
And they couldn't understand, and they started asking one another, "'Is this supernatural? Is this a supernatural thing? Is this God of the Israeli people? Jehovah? Does He have the power to cast our God down or was it just maybe a breeze or something came through? Or maybe it's just a freak thing of nature.'" And so, they were asking the question in this text because they had also, their economy had crashed, and physically, they had been hit with a plague, and it was devastating to them, and they were all suffering and in pain and sickness and economically ruined. The fields were drying up, the harvest was gone. And so, they said, "Is this natural or is this supernatural"? Sometimes a nation needs to ask those questions to itself. Is what's going on natural or is it supernatural? And then, they said:
"Let's create a test for this God and this God who lives in this box. Let's get a cart and let's hitch up some milk cows who have just had calves dripping with milk, and let's put their calves, their new born calves in stalls and keep them separated, and put the mother cows over here, and let them be hitched to the wagon. And then, take that ark of the covenant and put it on that wagon that they're tied to. And then let's not put a driver in the seat, and the baby calves will cry out to their mothers and the mother has no greater instinct. Something in both of those mother cows will make them go in the direction of their own flesh and their will and their wants will be to go toward their little calves. But if they don't and they turn and go the opposite direction of their wills and their wants and what their flesh is crying out for, and they start moving in the opposite direction away from what they ought to naturally go to and they turn because that God in the box that they've got, and they start moving back toward going to the border, back into the nation of Israel where it came from, then we will know that this is not natural. This is going against nature. This is supernatural what is going on".
And sure enough, they hitched those cows up, and sure enough, the Bible said they were lowing and crying for one another. And I could see those mother cows just mooing and lowing and crying for their babies, and the babies are crying, and their mouths open and crying for their mamas. And those cows, something happened when they loaded that ark on the back of that wagon. The glory of God went through the wood, the glory of God went through that wagon and it hit those cows. And what was natural for them to go to, what was normal for them to go to, suddenly they turned in a complete, opposite way.
The Bible called it the straight way. And they started marching into the Promised Land leaving behind that which they thought they could never walk away from, and even their flesh was so connected to it that it could never be freed, they could never go away. That's unnatural, but that's what the presence of God can do. The presence of God is so powerful. In the ark, we had the Ten Commandments. The Commandments written in stone by the finger of God, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me". They represent the holiness of God. It was there inside of that wagon, inside of that box. And then inside of that box, secondly, was not only the stone tablets, but it was the rod that Aaron had put in there that was a dead stick and God said, "The one that I choose will come to life supernaturally".
Naturally, if a stick is cut off from the ground and cut off from life and you lay it inside of a box and there's nothing in there that can give life to it, the stick will dry up and die. But this stick, not only was alive, it was blossoming and producing supernatural almonds and fruit on a dead stick. That represents the Holy Spirit. The Commandments represented the holiness of God, but that supernatural, life-giving force of the Holy Spirit that takes dead things and makes them come alive, that takes people's lives that... And marriages, and homes, and families that have no hope, and suddenly the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has life giving power. The Holy Spirit can heal your body. The Holy Spirit can renew your mind. The Holy Spirit can sever you from generational curses and addictions and bondages, and it can take that which is dried up and dead and bring it back to life.
"It is not by might, it is not by power, it's by My Spirit," sayeth the Lord of hosts. It is the Holy Spirit that produces miracles, and gives life sustaining power to that which the world says should die. And then, there was a little pot that had a piece of manna from the wilderness days, when they got by with just enough every day to make it. And God said, "I don't ever want you to forget that wherever my presence is, my provision will be. I want you to always remember that I am the bread of life come down from Heaven. I want you to always remember that when you didn't have nothing, and you turned your life over to Me, I didn't bless you overnight.
Sometimes, I gave you just enough to get by. But you always had food and you always had clothes. You might have been eating some spam and crackers, you might have been eating some second quality this and that, but glory to God, you made it. And don't you ever forget that I am your Jehovah Jireh, your provider. Why would you doubt me now"? I don't care what the economy does, if He's the God of your life and your finances, He said, "I will rebuke the devourer for your sake. I will open up the windows of Heaven. I will make you the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath. I will cause men to give unto your bosom. I will make a way where there seems to be no way".
If He's your provider, praise Him right now. Praise Him because He's got a house, He's got a car, He's got everything that you need, hallelujah. It's all in His presence, from His presence. There's no stronger instinct than that of a mother. When the presence came on those cows, the old, natural nature had no more hold on them. Those milk cows took the straight way. You can take the straight way. You can walk away from it all and be free. You begin to let the world in and go back to the filth that God set you free from that almost destroyed you and killed you, then you begin to experience a diminishing of the anointing, and this world does not need a diminished anointing, it needs a double portion anointed church.
God, give us a double portion this Sunday morning at Free Chapel because the world is watching us and we need to show them what a changed life looks like, a free life looks like, a joyful life looks like. And the Bible said that when they saw those cows pulling that wagon loaded with the ark of the covenant, and the Israelites were in the fields reaping the harvest, and they looked up, and they saw the cows coming with no driver, no driver, that the people in the fields started to greatly rejoice. It's coming back. These pitiful little dried-up corn cob of a harvest, it's about to explode. These fields are... oh my God, the grapes are coming. Oh my God, the joy is coming. And they started rejoicing, "Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's back, it's back".
And those old cows came, and you know, looks like you'd give 'em some oats and some sugar cubes or something. I don't know what you give cows, but man, I appreciate 'em bringing it back on their own, voluntarily. But instead, you know what? They got so carried away that when they came and said it was a big rock, and they said, "We got the ark of the covenant back," that they took the wagon and tore it up, broke it to pieces and built an altar on top of the rock. And then, they turned and looked at those cows. Those leaking cows, the milk still dropping out and they said, "You would make a mighty good sacrifice unto the Lord".
And they slew those cows. "Present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service to give Him your body and say, 'These hands belong to Jesus, these feet belong to Jesus, these ears don't listen to no blankety blank blankety blank-blank blankety blank songs, and do this, and get all down, or shake it around and hey-uh.'" Hallelujah. I'd rather hear, "Your name is the highest. Your name is the greatest". What's happened? I got the presence and it's turned me the straight way. I believe today that the ark is coming back. And we are gonna remember what church is really all about. It's about what we're feeling right now.
A joy unspeakable that supersedes all of our problems. You can have it. His presence is ready to touch you this morning. If you're in the overflow, wherever you are, at every campus. I have not lost my mind. I love Jesus. I still love Him. I still really, really, really love Him. And I feel this. If you've lost your joy, if you feel kinda beat down and hurting, if you wanna get your convictions back and you want that holiness of God, and that presence of God, and that provision of God, and that supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that makes dead things come to life, dead dreams to live again. He's standing here with nail scarred hands saying, "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden".
You're under it. You're taking the whole thing as though you have to solve it. "Come unto me. I'll give you rest. I'll give you peace. I'll give you joy". And the joy of the Lord is your strength. Now, who am I preaching to this morning? I want every person in this room who would say, "My wagon is empty and I need to fill it up with God".
I want you to get out of your seat and come down here as quick as you can come and stand right down here. I don't care who you are, I don't care if you've ever been here before, if you never been here before. If you got some natural tendencies that you'd like to see God deal with, if you've just been struggling, if you've just been in a hard place, and it feels so dry and feels so empty and you're doing the best you can or your wouldn't be in church, but you really need a touch of God. That's what I felt. God really wants to touch His people. God really wants to touch His people. God really wants His presence in your home, and in your family, and in your car, and on your way to work.
Come on, they're coming, they're coming, they're coming. Come on, come on. I want the church to greatly rejoice. Some are coming back to God, some are coming back to God. Come on, bring Him your emptiness, bring Him your brokenness, bring Him your inability to say no to it. And say, "God, I just need more of your presence".
I pray for every person under the sound of my voice that's been tormented with a fear, and a worry, and concern. We just cast it at your feet now, Jesus. We just unload it off of our wagon, and we put your ark on our wagon. And wherever that ark goes, victory comes. And we praise you today for your abiding presence, for the comforter has come. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit that gives life to dead things in Jesus' name.
Everybody say:
Jesus, I surrender all. I yield you the reins, I give you the reins. And where you lead me I'll follow. Goodbye, world. Goodbye, addiction. Goodbye, depression. Goodbye, iniquity. I'm going the straight way by God's grace. I'm going the straight way. I'm not going left, I'm not going right. I'm going the straight way. In Jesus' name. I am free. I am a child of God:
Rejoice greatly. That means the ark has come. The ark has come back to your life. Rejoice. The proper response is to rejoice greatly.