The Key of David: The Sacrifice of Praise
   (The Threshing Floor)

Speaker: M.Noorhoff

In the last sermon we focused on the fears that hold us back from having the kind of life that God wants for us, the kind of life that we want for ourselves. A life that moves toward the complete joy that is promised to us. We looked at how fear held Saul captive, held him back; he couldn’t escape his own fears and this lead to jealousy, paranoia, vengefulness, spite, anger, and depression eventually to the point where he fell on his own sword, killing himself. Today, we are going to continue to search for the key of David that is talked about in Revelations 3:7, the key that helped him to unlock the joy, the blessing, the satisfaction and the revelation. How can our lives be less like Saul and more like David?

We did something else as well, each of us wrote down the things that were hampering our walk that were keeping us away from a deeper, closer walk with Him. Things that were interfering with our relationship with Him and holding us back from the complete joy that comes from being in the father and having the father in us. Inhabiting us. As we put each of these things into the fire we promised to die to them, and ask God to remove them from our lives as far as east in from west. We put each of these things on the crucifix to die. We allow that part of our lives to die

And so we say

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So have you noticed a change within you? I hope you have at least as much as I have, for me it was a turning point, although it is not finished I must continue to die daily so that these things do not come back and take hold of me again, that they do not form that wall back up between myself and the God I love.　Work with God to keep that promise, he will be faithful if you are. I pray that you are released.

But this is only the start, Today we continue to look at the life of David to find his key.

 As I’ve stated before David was not perfect and I’ll tell you he was not even a great king. For it was the times that he acted like a king that well he acted like a king, these were the times he fell into sin and separation from God, these are the times he felt the insecurity, these are the times he became selfish. David was greatest when he was less when he lowered himself, when he was a servant, when his whole heart desired to serve God. And he was always restored when he returned to serving the true King, the Lord of the heavens and the Earth.

David had no qualification to be king, he was just a son in a family of Sheppard. He was not a great warrior. He was not rich or from a prominent family. He was just a boy in many ways but it was this boy that God called “a man after my own heart”. David was a pursuer of God, he loved God he chased after him, he courted God with songs of love, praise and thanksgiving. He sought God’s face, He pursued and appreciated God. He had an attitude of gratitude even when he had a lot to complain about. It wasn’t just the words that he said it was the attitude he had, it was the song of his heart

Matthew 12: 35-37

for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Action and words comes from the body but attitude comes from the heart. If are words are empty they are meaningless and I some ways no better then lies. I’m sure you have had this experience when someone say thank you but it just sounds like dead words. The bible actually warns against this so we need to change our hearts so that our attitude is always that of appreciation. Pure praise is an attitude of Gratitude, an attitude of appreciation. You must start this now you can’t wait until everything is perfect you must be appreciative, you must give praise and thank just where you are. This is the key of David His pursuing appreciation heart that does not wait until the situation is all roses but even when there are a few weeds because he has faith.

 You not perfect I’m not perfect our lives aren’t perfect and probably will never reach you standard of perfection because as you know that bar will just keep moving up each and every time. So lets not waste any more time, lets not wait any more for things to become perfect but let us be grateful and appreciative of what is good. I know we tend to notice what is wrong what is disagreeable but lets notice what is right and good, praising God for what you have and where your life is now because there are a lot of people who would lok at your life with all its trouble and consider it a dream. So lets stop whining about the 3 percent that is not to your liking and lets started appreciating and praising for the 97% that is good. The devil works in the 3 percent driving a wedge between you a God.

 Our generation is the worst for this, we have been miseducated my the media world we live in to always look at bad this, So I am going to challenge you to say to yourself every time you hear something bad or disappointing to try to think of the good side. For every corrupt businessman or politician let us remember all the ones who are not corrupt.　Every time we hear something bad consider all the good. I’m not asking you to avoid reality but simply to balance it. And be thankful for all the good there is.

 This brings us to the threshing room.

 As they were carrying the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem、 they came to the threshing floor of Obed- Edom when they hit a bump Uzzah reaches out and touches to steady the ark and he instantly dies. At this David has lost a good friend because of his mistake because he was impatient because he did not prepare properly and honour God properly. David wanted the glory　of God he wanted the blessings of God but He did not offer the appropriate sacrifice he did not properly sanctify himself and those that were trying to carry the ark. First the ox stumbled the David stumbled. What had he done wrong hadn’t the philistines carried the arc in this same way. Why did God strike down Uzzah. Well simply enough we can say it was because they did not fully appreciate the power of God and they failed to believe that God could take care of himself he needed no support. This was the same thing that Saul had done. He did things his way and not God and so God lost favour with him. David becomes fearful and discouraged until he sees the blessing that occurs in the land of Obed Edom and decides that he must bring it to Jerusalem so that the city may be blessed.

 One thing that I really love about the bible is the levels at which you can read it and this is one of those passages. It reminds us that we must always trust in God to take care of us. Our own strength will not get us where we need to be, it will not bring us to that place of contentment, to that place of complete joy.

 Buit it is when you hit that bump at the threshing floor of preparation that you realize. This song and dance we have been doing for most of our lives just won’t work any more. Before the bump you were satisfied for the most part with the way your life was going but the bump is telling you that it aint going to work that way from this point on and unless you change what you are doing you are never going to be able to move on on the road to complete joy. You have been doing things your way for too long. And once you have decided you want that joy these bump will come to remind you of the true joy giver.

 
So David decided that he needed to learn how to bring the bring the ark back . The second time around David did what he should have done the first time. He studied the history of past moves of God in the Word. How did they move the ark of the covenant from one place to another in Moses’ day? He rediscovered the true purpose and function of the Levites and the Aaronic priests and he noticed for the first time how wooden staves were meant to be used to carry the ark not a carried. It was meant to get carried on the shoulders and backs of men. You to have to devote yourself to reading the word to knowing how to get past the bumps and how to bring the glory home.

 Now all the priests needed to purify themselves to sanctify themselves to die in many ways before the touched the ark so they started by removing sin from there lives then there ceremonially died by pacing blood on the tips of their fingers and toes. You see nothing living can approach God, flesh can not approach god it is incompatible with Him and so all flesh must die. This was the reason for the blood on the fingers. Oh how scarey it must have been for the first of the priests to touch the ark after all the fresh grave of Uzzah was still fresh in their minds. Then before moving at all David sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. Some actually say that there was continual sacrifice to God every six step they took resting on the seventh. I’m not sure about this but it can be assume that the sacrifice was continual.

And with sanctification sacrifice, singing and praises they brought the ark home.

As I said before is that this can be read on different levels. In a simple way we can say that when you hit that bump in the threshing floor and become discouraged don’t try to use your own strength to make it through, it is impossible. Take some time of reflection and study of the word of God, remove the things that are not of God in your life, you have to sacrifice, this is what we did last week. We died to these sins we placed ourselves on the cross to died to our sins so that we may approach God. We must then walk forward with caution, sacrificing continuously, continuously dying to ourselves and our desire to do things our way. And then we must be thankful and grateful for every step of the journey home. It can take a long time but you will get there.

But looking at how this story applies to our spiritual life. To bringing the Glory of God into the temple that is us

1 Corinthian 3:16,17

 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

We must purify our selves from all that keeps us from approaching God the New testament equivalent to death is repentance we die to our sin we die to our flesh we are transformed and we are Crucified

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Through our faith we are born again not of flesh but of Spirit. Our job is to continually shed off this flesh to sacrifice those things we hold strongly and dearly to that are holding us back from truly approaching God from truly seeking his face because we are afraid. And once we have done all this once we have grabbed on to the glory of God we are to bring out the key of David a heart of thanksgiving for every step for every second and attitude of Complete gratitude. So much that we want to wrap our arms around God thanking him. How would you thank someone that saved your life How would you thank someone who saved the life of your child this is the feeling we should have of God our rock and our salvation for he has saved of from the wages of our sin. He has brought us salvation through His blood and as we cover ourselves in the blood of Christ we may approach him. And we shout praises to God and the amazing thing every time we praise his name, Halleluiah Glory to God、 he inhabits that praise and comes to make his dwelling place with in us. Yes Glory be to God for he inhabits our praise and Immanuel comes to be with us The father in us as we are completely in the father intertwined in arms of love we pursue him we praise him we are grateful for all the blessings he has given us and we shout out to the Lord、Praise to the true King. We gain hearts like David We become men and women after Gods heart praising Him.

 And David danced before the ark in complete joy. He didn’t care what he looked like in the eyes of man but he only wanted to sing and dance for the Lord. Can you do the same even though the fingers are pointing the eyes are wide the moth dropping open. David was a king. David was the king of Israel how could he behave like this how undignified. Ell I’ll tell you I’ll pass up dignified for for sanctified any day I’ll pass up the respect of man for the love of God any day. I will dance through the street in nothing but an ephod in praise and worship of my God for he means that much to me and I must have him Glory I must have his presence I do not want to continue with an empty temple I want to be filled with the Spirit I want Christ to live through me and I will praise his name for I fear God more than I fear man.

I will praise him for everything in my life.

 My Life may not be perfect but I praise him for what I have.

I don’t think about what I can’t do I am thankful for what I can

I appreciate all he has done in my life and never think about what I haven’t done

I think of all the things that could have happened

I thank Him for all the time His unseen hand has protected me

I thank Him for all the times He walked before me clearing my path

Making my roads straight opening up doors of opportunity

I will no longer be bitter for the things I think I should have had

For the things others had

Add up all the times that god has been there for you

For he was with you even in you mothers womb

He wove you together

I praise him because I am fearfully and wonderfully made

No one else can do this for you it must come from your lips

but more than that it must come from your heart

It comes up out of your spirit

It must leak out constantly

Rising up to your lips rising up to Heavens

Only you can do this It is your choice today

Are you satisfied with the life you are living now

Or do you want a life of blessing

A life filled with the glory

Stop raising your fists to God and raise your open arms

To entwine together with him

Thank him for being your friend

Thank him for being your comforter

Thank Him for his mercy

Thank him for salvation

Thank you for His son

I am determined to have an attitude of gratitude

I pursue Him with songs of love and thanksgiving

I give Him the sacrifice of Praise