Women's Breakfast 2026 - Tom Flaherty

[00:00:01] So when I found out it was gonna be 15 below, Angela said, are we gonna. Are we still having it? And I said, absolutely. And here's why. Sometimes it's like that woman with the issue of blood. You gotta press through. And you are here today, so you are a warrior. I wanna tell you what happened on Tuesday morning. We are having our prayer time downstairs as the staff. [00:00:24] And we are praying for this, for you women. And I just start praying from Hagar. Hagar is this woman that got pulled away from her home in Egypt. She was a servant of Sarah. Sarah gave her to Abraham because she couldn't have kids of her own. And then, so she gets pregnant by Abraham. And then she kind of treats Sarah bad with contempt. And then Sarah starts beating her or whatever she's doing. And so she flees. And she goes into the wilderness, this single mom, pregnant, in the wilderness. And this angel appears to her and says, where are you coming from and where are you going? And it's interesting. [00:01:14] She doesn't know where she's going, but she knows where she came from. She said, I'm fleeing my mistress, Sarai. And God speaks to her through this. [00:01:25] He speaks an instruction to her, and then he speaks a blessing over her. And she names this place Beer Lahai Roi, which means, you are the God who sees me. And so I start praying about that. Women would feel seen. Whatever difficulty you're in, whatever problem you're in, whatever circumstance you're in, whatever tragic circumstance you might be in, whatever desert you're in, even if you have no idea where you're going, and you're just out here, God sees you. And so I'm praying into that. I'm just praying, let each woman know that you see them, that you see them right where they are. And so I get done with that prayer and Pastor Joe prays. And he's very prophetic. He said, I've got a picture of the women as three and four year olds. [00:02:17] And they have spilled their milk, they have cut their knee. They were coloring on the paper and it tore the paper. And they feel like they've done something wrong. And the father is coming to them and he's comforting them and he's saying, it's going to be all right. And then he says. And then he puts him up on his shoulders, okay? So that's what he sees. [00:02:42] I'm immediately when he said that about putting you guys up on his shoulders. I saw a parade. [00:02:49] And a parade is when you are. When you're three or four years old, you can't see anything. [00:02:56] There's something going on, but you can't see it. And your father is taller than anyone else and he can see what's actually going on, but you can't see because all you can see is the person next to you and you're bumping up. And the father says, let me. I want you to see what I see. And he puts you on his shoulders so that you can see your life, how God sees your life so today. And let me just pray it. I'm not gonna talk anymore about it. [00:03:23] Lord, I just. I thank you for each woman here. [00:03:27] I do believe they're here by divine appointment. I know they paid a price to be here. I know a decision had to be made to be here. [00:03:36] Lord, would you speak to them, that you see them? Hagar did not feel seen by Abraham or Sarah. Nobody knew what she was going through. But you knew. [00:03:47] You saw her like no one else could see her. Lord, would you let each one of these precious ones know that you see them and whatever mistake they've made, whatever they have done wrong, whatever they blew, and they're maybe waiting to be scolded. That's not your heart. Your heart is. No, no, it's fine. That's fine. Come on. Come on. I forgive that. Come. Come close. Let me heal you. [00:04:13] Let me touch you. [00:04:15] And then, Lord, something way more than just healing us, but putting us on your shoulders so that we can go forward, so that we know where we're going. Because we're seeing our life through the eyes of God, the eyesav of heaven. [00:04:31] Pour out, Lord, your Isaf. [00:04:34] Lord, heal us for where we've come from, and then show us where we're going. [00:04:40] Lord, I just thank you for today. Hide me behind the cross so that we can see Jesus, hear Jesus and respond to Jesus. Fill this place with your glory. We pray in Jesus name. [00:04:52] Amen. [00:04:54] So the scripture today is 2nd Samuel, chapter 6:1 12. [00:05:01] David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel 30,000. [00:05:07] And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal Judah. Now Baal Judah is a synonym for Kiriath Jearim. And first Chronicles 13, it makes that known that Baal Judah and Kiriath Jearim are the same place to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim. [00:05:33] And they carried the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the Ark of God. And Ahio went before the Ark. [00:05:50] And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nakan, Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it. For the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And God struck him down there because of his error. And he died there beside the Ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, how can the Ark of the Lord come to me? [00:06:32] So David was not willing to take the Ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed Edom the gittite. And the Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed Edom the gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed Edom and all his household. And it was told, king David, the Lord has blessed the household of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God. [00:07:01] So David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. So the title of the message is Hosting His Presence. Hosting God's Presence. Point one is Ark History. [00:07:16] So the Ark is made. [00:07:18] God speaks to Moses on the mountain. The ark is a golden box. [00:07:25] And he's instructed to put three things in there. The Ten Commandments, which is the way of living, a jar of manna, which is the way of provision, and the rod of Aaron, which is the way of forgiveness. So all of these are inside the ark. But on top of the ark are these cherubim, these two angels made of gold. [00:07:51] And God says, I am going to manifest my presence between these angels. This is where I will sit enthroned. As it says in our text, God is in heaven. God is omnipresent. All things exist inside of God, but God is his manifest. Glory would be between. This would be the place that God manifests himself on earth. And that's why the tabernacle was set up, was to host this ark. And there was a veil that kept the ark from regular people. And you could only go in once a year. And it was only the high priest. Because of the holiness of God. To be in the manifest presence was a stunning thing. [00:08:35] So the story goes on. The tabernacle is set up in Shiloh, and this young boy named Samuel, very special young boy, dedicated to God. It says this in 1st Samuel 3. 3. [00:08:50] Samuel made his bed in the tabernacle because the Ark of God was there. He just wanted to be as close to the real presence of God as possible. [00:09:05] But Eli. So Samuel's kind of Eli's stepson, but he's got two real sons, Hophni and Phinehas, that are much older than Samuel. And they're the priests, and they are religious in form, but they're not following God. They're doing horrible things. And they get this idea, Israel is going to battle with the Philistines, and they get this idea that they're going to be able to use God for their own purpose. And so they bring the Ark out and they take it into battle against the Philistines. And when this happens, the Israelites are all rejoicing. And the Philistines are like, woe to us, the Ark of God. They've already defeated Egypt. And that day, the Philistines win, and Hophni and Phinehas are killed. Actually, Eli himself dies that same day as well. [00:09:56] And the Ark is taken into Philistine territory. [00:10:01] And so it comes to the city of Ashdod, which is where the Philistine God Dagon is. And so they bring the Ark into Dagon's temple because obviously Dagon has conquered Israel's God. [00:10:15] So next day, the priests of Dagon come in, and Dagon is flat on his face before the Ark. Well, that's problematic. So they get Dagon back up in his spot, and they come the next day. And now Dagon's head is cut off and his hands are cut off. [00:10:33] But it's worse than that. Tumors start breaking out on the people of Ashdod, and people are dying. And so they're like, we need to get rid of the Ark. And so they send it to their friend in Gath, And Gath takes the Ark, and the exact same thing starts happening. Tumors start breaking out. People are dying in Gath. Gath is like, we can't have the Ark, but they have some relatives in Ekron, and they're sending it to Ekron. And the people in Ekron meet them at the city gate, said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And so they get their priests together and they put the Ark on a cart pulled by oxen and take it back to Israelite territory, to Beth Shemesh. [00:11:15] Beth Shemesh is right on the. On the edge of Israel. And so when the Israelites see the ark coming, they are rejoicing. And there's a big party. And 70 men look into the ark and die. [00:11:27] And Beth Shemesh says, we can't have the ark here. [00:11:31] We need to send it to our friends in Kiriath Jearim. And so they send the Ark to Kiriath Jearim, where it lands at a guy's house named Abinadab. 1st Samuel 8:1 says that it's his son Eliezer that is the caretaker of the Ark. [00:11:50] 20 years go past. [00:11:53] And Samuel, who is the seer of Israel, calls Israel to repentance. And they all repent. And they have a little revival. And they say to Samuel, your sons are not serving the way you serve. We need a king. [00:12:09] And so Samuel appoints the first king, Saul. Saul reigns for 40 years. [00:12:17] First Chronicles, which tells the same story. [00:12:20] This is David. This is when David has become king of both Judah and Israel. He's brought the whole nation together. He says, let's bring the Ark back. And in 1st Chronicles 13:3, he says, for we did not see seek it in the days of Saul. So it has been in the house of Abinadab for 20 years, plus 40 years. So 60 years it's been in the house of Abinadab. So when it says Ahio and Uzzah are sons of Abinadab, any descendant was called a son. So these are probably grandsons. Cause it's been there for a long time. And so that's the history of the ark coming into our story. Okay, point two, the dangerous burden. [00:13:08] So David is excited. [00:13:10] The man after God's own heart is bringing the manifest glory of God back to Israel. This is the cornerstone. This is the only thing in his inauguration speech that we're going to do. Let's get the Ark of God back. So he's got 30,000 chosen men that are going to be part of this parade. [00:13:33] It is seven and a half miles from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city of David. And so they are. [00:13:42] They've got 30,000 chosen Israelite men that are carrying this ark. And so you can imagine people along the side. It's a new king. It's a new day. The glory of God, the presence of God, the goodness of God. Everybody's celebrating. They got all kinds of instruments going. Everybody is playing something. This is a day of great rejoicing and celebration. And then the ox stumbles and Uzzah reaches out because the ark might fall. And he touches the ark and God strikes him down. [00:14:18] Party over. [00:14:20] Music all stops David is confused. [00:14:25] He's angry. The Bible says it. He's angry at God for doing this. This was all for him. [00:14:31] He had built a new cart, says that twice this new cart was built just for the ark. [00:14:37] He had made this for the ark. This was especially. This is called the ark cart. He had made a new cart just for the ark. [00:14:45] He had done all this for God. He had these 30,000 chosen men, all special. This is all for God. And now God's gonna kill the guy just because the ark tips and he catches it. And it says that he's angry with God and he's afraid of God. [00:15:03] But it's seven and a half miles. We don't know how far along. But it says they never got to the city of Jerusalem. [00:15:10] So what are you gonna do with the ark? Everybody's looking at David. This is David's thing. So there's this guy there named Obed Edom. And what we know about him is he's a gittite. [00:15:19] Now, a gittite is somebody from Gath. [00:15:22] So Gath is a Philistine place. So he is a converted Philistine, kind of along the lines of Rahab and Ruth. He's a foreigner has come, he's converted to become a Jew. And frankly, he's probably converted because of the Ark, because the Ark has revealed Dagon to be a false God. And he knows the story. The stories are repeated everywhere. This is the true God. And so Obed Edom says this. [00:15:51] I'll volunteer the gittite, the foreigner. [00:15:56] He's already embraced the practices of the Jewish faith. He's already embraced the principles of the Jewish faith. [00:16:05] Now he has an opportunity to host the very presence of the God behind these principles and behind these practices. [00:16:14] And so he says, I'll. We'll take the ark. [00:16:17] So, Dave, this is not ideal to give the Ark to a foreigner. Are you kidding me? [00:16:25] So David looks to his. No, I'm just imagining. [00:16:28] He looks to his 30,000 chosen Israelite men. Like any takers, they're like, if you're not taking. Are you kidding me? If you're not willing to take it, we're not willing to take it. [00:16:42] Let's send it to the foreigner and see what happens. [00:16:46] So Obed Edom takes the Ark home with him. [00:16:50] Now, we know in 1st Chronicles 26 that Obed Edom has a wife and eight sons. [00:16:58] Can you imagine the conversation he has with his wife? [00:17:02] Honey, we're going to have a guest live at our house for a while. [00:17:07] Is it your Uncle Pete? No. [00:17:09] This person is more awesome and more dangerous than Uncle Pete. We are going to have God. [00:17:15] Everybody knows the stories. [00:17:17] She's like, do you think this is a good idea? He's like, I'm the only one that would take it. [00:17:23] So they bring the ark of God. The ark that there's been death everywhere. The ark has gone. David is probably waiting for somebody to die. And Obed eat himself. [00:17:32] And the ark is now in the house. And here's these eight boys. [00:17:36] The very presence of almighty God resting in their home. Could you imagine morning and evening devotions, guys? No one was on their phone. [00:17:47] No one. No one was falling asleep. We are in the presence of God who kills people. [00:17:54] I mean, everyone was paying attention. [00:17:56] Could you imagine their TV watching? [00:17:59] Like, we're not watching that. The ark's here. [00:18:03] Nope, nope, nope, nope. We might get struck down. Nope, we're not gonna. We're not watching that. Could you imagine the relationships? Obed Edom calls his friend Bob. Hey, you guys wanna come over for pizza Friday? Bob is like, at your house? [00:18:18] He's like, actually, we have something else scheduled. I don't know what, but we have something else scheduled. It changes everything. It changes his relationships, changes what he's watching on tv. It's changing his devotional life. [00:18:31] Hosting the very presence of God. And then the unexpected happens. [00:18:36] Instead of people dying, this is point three. A blessing comes on Obed Edom's house. [00:18:45] Now, it's so interesting that we don't know what the blessing was, but here's what we know. [00:18:51] The ark was there three months and it was reported to David that a blessing has come on the house of Obed Edom because of the ark. So people have asked Obed Edom, you know, what are you doing, dude? You got a different diet. You got a new. [00:19:07] Is there a new self help book you can recommend? He's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This has nothing to do. This is. It started when the ark came. And this is because of the ark of God that is with us. [00:19:20] So whatever the blessing is, it's so manifest that David is absolutely convinced this is not man, this is God. Now I'm going to hypothesize that there was healing in this house. I don't know if it was physical healing, emotional healing, or spiritual healing, but there is something that only God could do. So let's take physical. Let's say. Let's say Obed Edom has got one son that's blind or one son that's crippled. [00:19:48] And, you know, their whole life has been around this disabled person. And over the three months, healing starts coming until he's completely made whole. That would convince David that only God could do that. Maybe it was a physical healing, maybe it was an emotional healing. Maybe Obedian had one son that was depressed and on the verge of insanity. Like, he never came out of his room. [00:20:18] He never socialized with anybody. Everybody knew when they saw him. You got to give him distance. Something's not right with him. [00:20:25] And maybe over those 30 days, there was a healing of this son. And pretty soon he's coming outside and he's socializing and he's getting a job and he's in his right mind. And this gets reported back to David and like, yeah, only God could do that. That's that Only God could do that. Or possibly it's a spiritual healing. Possibly eight sons. [00:20:52] These sons could have been like the worst eight sons at the synagogue like these, they always come late. They never pay attention. They're always messing around. We're always having to tell them, pay attention, pay attention, pay attention. [00:21:06] And the ark comes, and all of a sudden they're just transformed. They're the first ones at the synagogue. They're leading Bible studies in their school. They are just on fire for God. David gets the report. Yeah, only God could do that. Only God can change boys. [00:21:23] Every mom knows that if there's a change in those boys, there has been a miracle, especially if you have eight of them. [00:21:31] So I'm going to tell you a couple of dreams that I've had. And for whatever reason, whenever I tell spiritual experiences, people are like, why don't I get that? Well, this is just kind of my language with God. [00:21:43] Old men dream dreams. So it could be because I'm old. [00:21:47] It could be because I'm type A and God can't speak to me during the day. I don't know. But I get dreams. So I'm just gonna share a couple dreams. First one is June 5, 2022. It's early in the morning. [00:22:02] I have this dream where I am watching these people in a hot tub. And this is the most remarkable hot tub. It's got their special salt in the water. [00:22:15] And you just sit in this hot tub and you start being healed. But it's not just physical healing. [00:22:23] I can see it. It makes you love righteousness and hate wickedness just by sitting in this pool. And then I don't know how I know it, but I know we have unlimited access to this water. And all of a sudden I'm like, this is the answer. This is the answer for America. [00:22:40] We just get a hot tub in every home in America. [00:22:44] We get people soaking in the hot tub. We need to get these in every single home. This solves every problem. [00:22:53] And I wake up and then I realized, June 5, 2022. [00:22:58] It's Pentecost. [00:23:00] It is Pentecost. [00:23:01] Now ladies, I want to explain the benefits of the gospel, okay? Number one, it has to do with our past. [00:23:08] Isn't it amazing that Jesus died and rose again so that we can be forgiven of all of our sins? Isn't that great? We are free. Nothing's over us. Nothing. God isn't holding onto things because of the blood of Jesus. We are completely. [00:23:23] Isn't that amazing? [00:23:24] And then because Jesus died and rose again, we have an assurance that when we die, we're gonna go to heaven. We were made not just for time, but for eternity. And God has made a place for us in heaven so there's no darkness hanging over our future because we know we're gonna go to heaven when we die. Isn't that amazing? Jesus died and rose again so that we would be free, forgiven of our past. [00:23:49] We would be assured of our future. But this isn't all he died and rose again for. The Bible says In Acts chapter 2, verse 17, Pentecost, in the last days, I'm going to pour out my spirit on your sons and your daughters. I'm going to pour it out on all flesh. I'm going to pour out my spirit on sons and daughters. And they are going to prophesy, they're going to speak not just about me, but from me. This is the end times plan that for our present. [00:24:20] He has torn the veil. The Bible says that Jesus body was what the veil was pointing to when he was ripped. It was so you and I could come immediately into the presence of God. And what struck me in this trigging was the answer was not. [00:24:41] We could have a health club in every city and the presence of God could be in that hot tub, could be in those health clubs. And so everybody once a week could go and sit in the hot tub. No, no, it was homes. [00:24:55] It's not enough to soak once a week. [00:24:59] It's enough. It's not enough to soak on Sunday morning and Tuesday night. This had to be. [00:25:05] I knew it. I knew it instinctively to get Better. They're gonna have to soak in the morning. They're gonna have to soak at night. It has to be accessible to the family, has to be in the home healing. This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is what we are called to live in right now. [00:25:25] And the presence of God heals us, guys. [00:25:27] All right, so here's the second dream. It is December of 2008. We had come to Madison. I was pastoring Mad City Church at the time. We came in 2007. Now it's the end of 2008. There had been lots of promises, prophetically, that had come about Mad City and Lake City going together and becoming one and becoming City Church. But no one knew those prophecies. I just had a couple friends that knew them and were praying and believed them, and. But mainly I'm at Mad City. [00:26:00] Lake City's got an interim at the time, and we just don't know. But here we are, and we're on vacation. [00:26:07] And I have a dream. In this dream, Alice and I are out to eat at a restaurant. And everyone else that's there is a Vietnam vet or a spouse of a Vietnam vet. And it's just all Vietnam vets. And. And Alice and I. I have no idea why that would be the case. But we are eating dinner. And the Lord speaks to me and says, I want you to stand up. I want you to read this scripture, and I want you to pray for everybody. And I said, no, Lord, this is not a church. This would be so inappropriate. And I'm like, this. God would never ask me to do something so inappropriate. And so I just go back to eating. The thought will not leave me. Stand up, read the scripture, and pray for these people. And I'm still not sure it's God. Cause it seems so inappropriate. But here's what I. Here's what I came to. God knows. I think it's God. And so if it isn't God, that's fine. But at least I will know that I had obeyed. And so I stand up in this restaurant, I pretend like this is normal. I'm like, hey, if I could get everybody's attention, I'm gonna read a scripture and then have a prayer for you. And I read the scripture, read really fast, close my eyes, and I just say, put your hand on your heart. I'm gonna pray. And I pray a very brief prayer to just get it over with. God told me to do this. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it quickly. It will be humiliating. And Embarrassing, but who cares? I wanna please God. [00:27:33] So I get done with the prayer, and I open my eyes. People have got their hands on their heart over there, but there are two ladies over at the side that are so sincere. [00:27:44] And I walk over to them, and I look at the whole room and I say, what's wrong inside of you? No one can heal except God alone. I reach my hand out to these two ladies that are sitting down, and they just fall over. And the presence of God falls on this place. And I wake up and I'm like, cool. [00:28:04] But I have some inside information on Vietnam vets. Like, they got messed up. Like no one else got messed up. It wasn't just the trauma of war. It was when they returned to the United States after serving their country. People were at the airport throwing tomatoes at them, calling them names. It was so horrible and so confusing and so traumatizing. They were. They were serving us, honoring us. And they came back and we rejected them for their. It just. The whole thing was so broken and so confusing. And so I'm like, okay, fast forward 2015. [00:28:40] I've been asked to do a healing service for Ron Brayton, our missionary down in Belize. And we're taking. We've got 30 kids with us, and we're gonna do this healing service. [00:28:51] And it's a Tuesday night, and I have got prepared the message. And the message is a dissertation on the anointing. I mean, I've got it from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and all the examples and all the questions you might have about what the anointing is. And we get to the meeting, and the Lord, just as clearly as can be, says, I only want you to share the Vietnam dream. So that's all I share. [00:29:15] There's probably 60 people there. There's 30 of us. There's probably 30 of them. And we have a line of chairs in the middle. And so I just share that dream. And I say, if you have been broken on the inside and you don't know how to get better, just come and we're gonna worship you. Just go ahead and sit in one of these chairs. We're gonna pray for you. And so that happens. And we're praying for people who are gathered around them. We pray. I would say we prayed at least a half hour or 45 minutes for the first group. And I really felt like the Lord wanted to do physical healing then. And I just said, you know, this group is done. If you need to be physically healed, come and sit. And so I get assigned to this lady right in the end. [00:29:56] And she works for. For Ron and Linda. She's like a housemaid for them. And she doesn't go to church. [00:30:04] And Ron and Linda asks her if she would just come to this one service because she had lost the use of her right arm. Her axe had twisted that arm. [00:30:18] She was pregnant at the time, and a bone was sticking out of her forearm. And they don't have any money for operations or anything like that. And so she was just living with this arm. [00:30:32] She told me a little of the story and just said, it's this arm. I said, all right, I'm going to pray for you. I put a hand on her and I pray. Now, how many know that healing prayer does not heal people? [00:30:44] Faith does not heal people. [00:30:47] Only Jesus heals people. [00:30:49] That's why you don't have to pray long and you don't have to pray hard or you don't have to pray loud. You don't have to scream, scream at anybody. I just pray a very short prayer. I said, how does it feel? She says, there's heat going up and down my arm. I said, that's really good. And I pray some more. And she starts moving it around. She says, pastor Tom, the pain is all gone. She said, but I can see the bone. The bone is still out, but she's healed. And I'm like, you know, healing is a mystery two days later. [00:31:18] And I always check up on. I try to check up on people because I know some people think they're healed and then they're not really healed. And because in the moment, you can feel like something happened. And I saw her at the house. I said, hey, how are you doing? She said, pastor Tom, the most amazing thing has happened. Look, the bone went back inside. [00:31:42] Fast forward three more years. It's 2018. Alice and I are in Branson, Missouri. [00:31:48] Somebody has lent us their timeshare. It's the last day, actually. We're leaving. We're leaving, like within an hour, we're leaving. I get one more stop in the hot tub. And down there, the hot tubs are huge. And so I get down there, I've got my last time in the hot tub. And there is one other man in the hot tub. So I go over near him, and we start chatting. And his name is Mark. [00:32:12] And the craziest thing, he's from Madison, Wisconsin. So here's two guys from Madison, Wisconsin, in this hot tub in Branson, Missouri. Anyway, so I'm just asking him all about himself. He's retired. He's a woodworker he's making gifts for all of his grandchildren, which are clearly his delight. And he's excited about Christmas coming. And then finally he says, well, how about you? What do you do? I said, I'm a pastor, and I tell a little about city church. And I said, how about you? Where's your family? [00:32:43] He says, I don't believe in God. He said, I lost my faith in God in Vietnam. And he says, I just. I just can't believe in a God that would allow such horrors to happen. [00:32:54] And I say, mark, nothing that happened in Vietnam was God's plan. [00:32:59] Man did that, not God. God loves us. And instead of taking away free will and forcing us to do his will, God sent his son Jesus into this world to suffer with us and suffer for us so that we could come back to God without him forcing, we would come freely back. And the Bible says not only did Jesus come into our history, die, and rise again from the dead, but that he is actively seeking people and he's knocking on people's door. I said, mark, do you think Jesus is knocking on your door right now? He said, yep. I said, do you want to open the door? He said, yep. I said, I'm just going to lead you in a prayer and you can open your heart up and let Jesus come and. And forgive you. And so we pray that prayer. I said, mark, no, I want to pray. I want to pray for your healing. And so I just. I don't give him a chance to say yes or no. I just keep my eyes closed and I just start praying that the one that is anointed to bind up the brokenhearted would come and touch Mark. [00:33:58] I look up, he's got tears flowing, and he says, thank you so much. He puts a. I put my hand out, and he swats it away and grabs me. [00:34:09] Two men in swimsuits in a hot tub. [00:34:14] It was so awkward. [00:34:18] Jesus alone can heal what no one else can heal. [00:34:24] That healing comes in his presence. Finally, Obedidom's purpose, or our purpose. [00:34:31] So in 1 Chronicles 26, it says that Obed Edom and all of his sons became gatekeepers for the ark. [00:34:45] Some commentators say, see, he's a Levite. He must be a Levite because he might have lived in Gath, but he's actually a Levite because it's Levites that are supposed to take care of that. Well, it doesn't say that he was a Levite because he didn't carry the ark. When David finally carried it up, the Levites carried it, not Obed Edom. He's not a priest. He can't make sacrifices. But he's included in 1st Chronicles 26. Him and all of his sons are listed as gatekeepers. And it gives the reason why. It says, for they were blessed by God. So I want you to get into the story again of what might have happened. So David comes, takes the ark with Levites. [00:35:31] They carry the ark to the city of Jerusalem. And Oban, Edom and his sons and his wife start missing the presence of God. They're dreaming about it. It's just not the same. [00:35:43] It's not the same, dad. We very much like Samuel used to make his bed in the tabernacle. Because the ark of God, they're like, we need to get near the ark. And so he gets special permission from David. How can David say no? We, we're not asking to be priests or Levites. We're none of that. Could we just be gatekeepers? And they get permission? [00:36:04] And so he moves his whole family. [00:36:09] They leave their home to go to Jerusalem to get near the ark. And they leave their jobs, whatever job they had. We're gonna be gatekeepers now. This is gonna be our full time job to be near the presence of God. [00:36:22] So here's Psalm 84, verse 10. [00:36:26] For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. We have 11 and 12 too. Sean, you added it. Yep. There it is. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. Verse 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord bestows favor. [00:36:53] No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. [00:36:58] O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. [00:37:04] Just to be a doorkeeper. Just to be a gatekeeper. See? Dwelling in the tents of wickedness, the wicked dwell in tents. You know what the tent means? Temporary. Not gonna last forever. [00:37:16] You can get all of this world. Jesus said, what will it profit you to gain the whole, whole world and forfeit your soul? I'd rather be in the house of the Lord as a doorkeeper. To choose to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. And what happens when you make that choice? [00:37:32] You get the blessing of obedidom. The blessing of obedidom? The blessing of the manifest presence of God is available for every believer. It's not forced. [00:37:46] Jesus knocks at the door at Laodicea. [00:37:49] You guys have learned how to do church without my presence. I've got everything you need. You are poor. Wretched and blind spiritually because you're still doing the activity and the principles, but you're not doing it with my presence. I'm standing at the door knocking. We have to choose this. [00:38:08] So here's what happened after my 2008 dream, the Vietnam dream. I had the dream. I'm like, that's cool. [00:38:15] It's early enough. I mean, when I'm on vacation, it doesn't matter if it's 4am it's like, let's do this. Why not? I've got nothing else going. So I get my coffee ready, I get my little lamp, I get all set up, and I sit down for my quiet time. And I sit down and, Lord, ask this question just in my mind, a thought as clear as can be. What do you want? [00:38:36] That was the question. [00:38:38] Now, I don't know how this works, but when that question came, I knew what the two choices were. [00:38:44] One choice was city church. Do you want to be this pastor of these two churches that come together and have the importance and the influence of being this pastor? [00:38:54] Or do you want to live close enough to me that you're willing to stand up in a restaurant and make a fool of yourself? [00:39:03] I'm like, oh, my. Is that what all of this has been? Has this all been a test? [00:39:08] You want to know what I'm about? [00:39:11] I'm like, God, if those are my two choices, I choose you. [00:39:16] I choose your presence. [00:39:19] And it was more than just city church. It was like, do you choose being a pastor over my presence? And I'm like, no, no, no. You just you. [00:39:30] I literally called my friends the next morning, the two friends that knew the prophecies of city church. And I just said, city church isn't happening. God gave me a choice. The whole thing was a setup. He tested me. I passed the test. [00:39:42] City church isn't going to happen. [00:39:45] God pulled city church out of my heart. [00:39:49] He really pulled pastoring out of my heart. I think it's interesting that the anointing came on me, not at church. It was in a restaurant. [00:39:57] It was, do you choose me? I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in tents of wickedness. [00:40:05] Friends, ladies, this doesn't happen randomly. You have to choose this. [00:40:13] You have to choose this above being a mom or being a wife or being an employee or being a successful anything in this world. You have to choose this. [00:40:24] This is between you and God. And the question on the table is, what do you want? [00:40:31] What do you want?