It’s obvious to anyone that has ever read this psalm, that the theme that leaps very obviously at one that is interwoven throughout the fabric of the verses of this short Psalm is the theme of unity. It is believed that this Psalm was written on or for the occasion of the nation’s coming together at the coronation of David becoming the King of both the southern and the northern kingdoms of Israel. Up until this point there had been what is called by scholars the Divided Monarchy. In other words, the people of Israel have now split; and there is the northern kingdom and there is the southern kingdom. David, in 2nd Samuel, around chapter 2, has already become the king of Judah. And now he comes to be crowned the king of Israel, thus becoming the unifying king and once again unifying Israel. And it is the believed that the writing of this Psalm was not only to celebrate what God had done in the kingship of David; but it is believed that David wrote this Psalm ALSO instructively to his sons, who had become antagonistic towards each other. If you remember—Absolom murdered Amon; Adonijah tried to thwart Solomon’s ascension to the throne. And it is believed that David writes this Psalm, not only as a celebration of his coronation in unifying the kingdom; but that he writes this Psalm as a father filled with wisdom, writing it to his sons who are family but acting like their enemies. And this Psalm teaches us that there is power in unity. It suggests that unity produces an atmosphere and ambiance by which the anointing of God can flow. The anointing of God cannot flow where there is strife, division or backbiting. When the people of God begin to walk in unity, then the Spirit of God can begin to move. And when the Spirit of God begins to move, things begin to happen.
• When the Spirit of God begins to move…
o Lives will be transformed
o Sickness and disease will be healed
o Shackles will be broken
When the Spirit of God is allowed the freedom to move, then there is nothing that cannot be broken in the body of Christ.
And this is major thought because what that means is—the reason more miracles may not take place, MIGHT not be because of a lack of faith. But it MIGHT be because of a lack of unity. If there is one thing that needs to return to the church, it is the message of unity. God has called us to work TOGETHER.
• You nor I alone do a kingdom make.
I’m not a kingdom and you are not a kingdom. God has not made any of us to function alone without the necessity of other people in our lives. God has not made us GOOD enough to where we don’t need other people to be connected to us in order for us to flow in who God made us to be. I don’t care if my title is Reverend, Doctor, Deacon, Bishop or Potentate, God has not made ME anointed enough to make a church what is SHOULD be without the connection of other people. It takes unity!!!
He has not made us to function alone. YOU AND I NEED RELATIONSHIPS!!! And we need to understand today the concept of unity. Because in this modern day church, particularly in an age of the mega church era, you run the risk of simply being a collection of strangers that show up at the same place for their own reasons on a given Sunday; and when it’s over we go to our separate lives as we’ve never been there together. And one of the dangers of becoming a clique-ish church is that you run the risk of losing the necessary intimacy that it takes to be connected to each other in order to flow in each other’s lives.
- Tragically, the reason some people go to big crowds is so they can get lost in anonymity. Because they don’t want anybody to know their business. When, in reality, you ought to be in the church to be free to let people know what you’re going through, because you trust that the people there will pray for you when times get rough.
• Unity is the greatest GIFT you and I can give to the Spirit.
o My preaching is not the greatest gift
o Unity is greater than preaching
o Unity is greater than singing
o Unity is greater than vision
o Unity is greater than ministry
o Unity is greater than activity
o Unity is greater than all of the buildings you can come up with
o Unity is greater than any preacher, any deacon, any staff, any trustee, any member or any usher.
o If we don’t work TOGETHER, then nothing will really be accomplished.
The greatest gift we have is to let the anointing of God flow is our unity. And one of the reasons why it is so hard is because we want people to be like us. That’s not unity.
- The testing of unity is not whether or not you can agree with somebody.
- The testing of unity is not whether or not you can find someone that does what you want them to do.
- The test is how do you hang in there with those that God has called you to be apart of; and LOVE them even when you don’t LIKE them.
- Because God is a trip—God will make you love people that you don’t like; NEVER give you a command to not love them; and then measure you maturity on how you handle how they treat you.
• Sometimes the problem is NOT that you want people to be like YOU. Sometimes the issue, if we are honest, is that YOU want to be like THEM, or you want to BE them. OR you want to be WITH them and CAN’T.
o Question: Have you ever wondered why there are some people who don’t even like you and you don’t even know them?
o Have you ever wondered why some people talk about you and lie on you and they don’t even know anything about you?
o Can I help you? It’s called INSECURITY. And the Devil uses it to keep disunity in the church because the Devil knows that if we EVER get TOGETHER, God says in the 11th chapter of the book of Genesis verse 6, that if they get together on one accord with one voice, then whatever they think, they will be able to accomplish.
So if we get on one accord, we can own 100 acres/we can open up a school/we can have businesses surrounding the church/we can do ANYTHING…and there is nothing the Devil would be able to do to stop it!
• One of the reasons the Devil tries to keep factions and separations in the church is because he knows that if we ever get together, we’ll be UNSTOPPABLE.
• One reason why the black community is not further along, especially in my community and vicinity, is because we don’t know how to be unified. We have the crab mentality where if anybody gets more than us, we are going to pull them down, we are going to sell them out, we gone say ain’t nothing to them. And so the reason why we are not further ahead in the city, is because when we had a chance to elect another black mayor, we had somebody get in the race, whose community was more unified than our own. We can’t get together; but if we ever get together—as businessmen and businesswomen, put our money together, put our minds together, get our own bank, own our own businesses. Every other nationality can come together, why can’t we?
And if we could ever get together….our communities wouldn’t be in the shape its in; our schools wouldn’t be in the shape they are in; families wouldn’t be in the shape that they are in. But we can’t come together!
And I’m just determined that the one thing I’m not going to participate in is letter the Devil rip the church apart. I’m just determined that we are going to walk hand in hand, brothers and sisters; we may fuss in the house; but nobody outside the house is going to tear us up. Why? Because we are community.
Unity is something we’ve lost in the community and in the church. We’ve lost it in pursuit of selfish endeavors. Now everybody’s out for me, myself and I in the church. And David says how beautiful and how pleasant it is for people to dwell together in unity. The picture is of someone that is being brought into unity; and then is given the responsibility of keeping what they were brought into. So that if you don’t mess it up, we can keep it’. What David says is that the only people that can mess up the unity you’ve been brought into are the people that got brought into it. He says that the only people that can mess up unity are the people that should be unified. What he’s really saying is that people who are not apart of the community ought not have the power to break it up. The only folk that can break it up are the folk that’s in it.
- If we keep unity, God is going to keep pouring out the oil and commanding the blessings. God says, I am a God Who believes in unity and community.
I. HE SAYS IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE UNITY IS THE UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF YOU
Now when I say the value of you, I don’t mean the value of you, pointing to yourself. But rather, I mean the value of you, pointing to somebody else.
YOU HAVE VALUE TO ME
He said, ‘it is like the oil flowing from the head of Aaron.’ Aaron was the high priest. And whenever they anointed the high priest, they spent expensive and costly oil. One of the points that was being made is—no matter how much the cost, it is not a waste, because he’s not a waste. See, the more I value YOU, the LESS I value things. And I know that this is a foreign word to this generation, because this NEW generation values THINGS more than we value PEOPLE. In fact, we treat God as if God values things more than God values people; which is why we spend an inordinate amount of time in church asking God to give us STUFF.
He says, I can’t do something extravagant for you; and it not be wasteful for me, because if I do it in conjunction with you, then it shows you that you are important to ME. The only way to have value in the church is when we value the OTHER over SELF to the extent that we will do for THEM beyond what we will do for OURSELVES.
He says, ‘it’s like the oil’. Now you must understand the anointing oil. The anointing oil was made up of several ingredients.
- Myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. All of those were used to make of the oil of anointing or the ointment. This was the oil that was used, not only in consecration of the high priest; but this was the oil poured on the dead at a burial.
- The only way you can value somebody else, is for something to die in YOU towards THEM.
- The only way I can value YOU over ME is I’ve got to KILL something in ME that wants to make me value ME over YOU.
- I’ve got to kill selfishness/my personal agenda/my likes and dislikes….because to love YOU over ME means I’ve got to kill what wants to make ME put ME over YOU….so that you can know that I value YOU more than I value myself.
I’ve got to die to self.
o I’ve got to seek to be a blessing to you FIRST.
o Pray for you FIRST
o Encourage you FIRST.
• Because here is what I’ve discovered—when I get my eyes off of ME, and put them on others AROUND me, God will take care of ME while I’m busy blessing somebody else.
I wish I had atleast 2 selfless people in the building who could testify, preacher, when I decided to bless somebody else, by the time I got back to my issues, God had already worked everything out on my behalf.
He says, ‘It is like the anointing upon the head of Aaron. It goes down his beard, shoulders, to his breastplate.’
This is not in the text but in history, according to Josephus and Tacitus, in the breastplate of the high priest, that the oil flows on, were the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. So that as the oil flows down from his head, it flows down to every tribe that has every family that’s apart of the nation that the priest is over. So in other words—God can’t anoint the head without everybody whose apart OF it, receiving the blessing.
That’s why you have to be careful about putting your mouth on me. Because God says if you learn bless the man of God, the oil will flow from the head all the way down. That’s why make sure you tell people, you can talk about a whole lot of stuff, but the one thing you are not going to do is put your mouth on my pastor, because my pastor is the one who has the anointing that will bless my life!
It gets better—flows down from the head; down to the garment. The garment had a CUFF, so that when the oil flows, the oil gathered in the cuff, so that in the CUFF there had gathered a bunch of oil….so that it flows from the HEAD but it gathers in the HEMM. The hemm is the lowest point on the clothes.
- So that the LOWER I go, the more anointing I got!
Somebody needs to understand and identify that when you get at your lowest point, that’s when you’ve got your greatest anointing.
Anybody in the room ever wondered when things got low, you were able to keep on smiling/rejoicing/laughing? Some of you don’t even know how you made it. It’s because when you are at your lowest point, that’s when you receive your GREATEST ANOINTING!!!
II. GOD SAYS THAT WHEN YOU’RE IN UNITY, YOU CAN BE BLESSED BY ASSOCIATION
God says that some of the anointing, power, unguent that you get will have nothing to do with what you’ve earned or what you did.
God says that some of the anointing that you get is because you were smart enough to be connected to the right people.
Now…there is an antithesis to everything so t hat….
- If being connected to the right people can get me blessed
- Then being connected to the wrong people can get me cursed
And don’t assume that just because they are in church they’re the right folk. Because everybody in the church is not spiritual/godly/striving/holy/on God’s page. And you don’t need to just be connected to people that’s got religion. You need to be connected to people who are SPIRITUAL.
And here’s your litmus test (I don’t care who they are)….
- When they come to you with gossip, foolishness….that’s the time for you to delete the number.
- When they email you will silliness….that’s the time to block the email address.
- When they are always coming to you with what they heard about Suzan who works around the corner….it’s time for you to get rid of them.
- When they want to go to lunch with you and all they want to talk about at lunch is everybody else’s life and their life is more jacked up then the folk they talking about….it’s time to cut ‘em off.
- When they can always give you what appears to be a spiritual answer or reason for everything but they can never give you scripture in context or that can be found in the Bible….time to disconnect yourself.
- You’re married, hanging around a bunch of single sisters who think all men are dogs trying to be YOUR life coach and they can’t even get a man….association!
- You hang around wish shopaholics and you are always trying to figure out what you are always broke….association!
Just watch the text….it’s like the dew on Mt. Herman that flows down to Zion. Now…let me help you to understand that Mt. Herman is the highest point in Palestine. So, it is the picture of dew that is so heavy that because Mt. Zion is right beneath, and connected TO Hermann, while the dew does not fall ON Zion, it GETS dew, because it is connected to Herman.
- Zion doesn’t get the dew; Zion gets the residue. So that sometimes, you need to be thankful that you are getting RESIDUE.
- Be careful hating on folk because of what they have. What you are to be smart enough to do is…get connected to them. So that even if you don’t get what they get, you atleast get some of the RESIDUE.
- Herman….Zion….Herman….Zion gets what Herman has, because it flows down from Herman, down to Zion, which means in the midst of unity, in order for you to really be anointed, don’t connect with everybody that’s simply on your level.
- And one of our problems is—we really want to connect with other people we really think are inferior to us. Because if I connect to people that are inferior to me, I don’t have to feel uncomfortable around you with my insecurity.
- So I connect to folk that I can’t talk about….who can make me feel better about ME.
- God says, a sign of maturity is hooking up with people that are higher than you, so you can GET what they HAVE and learn how to be ELEVATED!
One of the things that we need in our community that we don’t have a lot of ARE MENTORS! If we had more men and women who were willing to take their time, to come down from Herman, and get some little boy or girl whose at Zion, and teach them how to go to Herman, then we would have less drugs and killing for our children.
But this day and age….’Child, I’m tired with my own children/I’m tired when I get off work/I’m too scared to walk around them.’
But if we had more men and women who are on Mt. Herman who would come down to Zion, and show our children how to dress/talk/play an instrument…..
• Never only connect to people who are already where you are.
• Connect to people who are higher than where you are.
And one of the reasons the enemy tries to bring jealousy into community is because he wants to keep you at a lower level; because HE has seen what you haven’t seen; and that’s you potential. Because the Devil is not afraid of where you ARE; he is afraid of your potential. So the Devil has to separate you from folk who have what it takes for you to reach your potential.
Herman….down to Zion. In other words, if I’m on Herman, I’m not going to be satisfied until YOU get blessed.
• Unity means I’m shouting when YOU get blessed EVEN if I’m still waiting on mine!
• Unity means that I’m still single, you got married, and I’m shouting because you found a godly man!
• Unity means that we both got married around the same time; mine didn’t work out; yours is flourishing and blessed; but I’m shouting because God’s favor is on you union.
• Unity means I started in ministry before you; yours is flourishing and mind in stagnant; but I am praising God because the kingdom is still moving.
• Because if I can celebrate what God did for YOU it shows God I’ll thank Him when He does it for ME.
It’s like the dew. He says the anointing is like the dew. Dew develops at NIGHT.
- You don’t see it ‘til the morning.
I just want to prophesy to somebody that God is getting ready to bless you with some stuff at night. But you will not see it until the morning comes.
• If dew develops at night; and I need to connect to somebody whose on Herman with the dew, that means I need to connect to people who know how to manage the NIGHT SEASON.
• You don’t always need to connect to people who act like they never had a problem.
• You don’t always need to connect to people who have never had a struggle.
• Who have every I dotted and every T crossed.
• Every now and then, you need to connect to people who have had some night time struggles so that they can show you how to handle when the night season comes.
And is there anybody who can says preacher, everyday hasn’t been great for me. I’ve had some nights/tears/struggles.
• You are in the position to help NOT because you have education/you’ve been to the best schools….but because of what you’ve been through.
• Enough to say I’M QUALIFIED.
I’m qualified to tell somebody
- How to have joy in the time of sorrow
- How to have faith in the time of sickness
- How to trust God when you can’t pay your bills
- How to keep you joy through a divorce
- How to pray for my child even when my child is in jail
- How to keep your mind when people are trying to make you crazy.
I’ve been through some things and can testify that God is able to do exceeding, abundantly…..
I QUALIFY!!!
• People make the mistake of seeing your DEW…because they see your DEW in the MORNING. But the have no idea what you went through IN THE NIGHT!
• But if you want what I have you have to take what I took!
Can I tell you something else about dew?
Dew develops because of ATMOSPHERIC conditions; and dew develops in winter, spring, summer and fall. So that anointing, dew and power—is not about the SEASON that you are in. It’s about the atmosphere you create, no matter what season you are in.
Somebody’s in a broke season. But God says if you set the atmosphere by giving me worship and giving me glory, I’ll keep you when the SEASON wants to BREAK you!
He says, ‘It is THERE…that God commands the blessing!’
Where is there Reverend?
There is where Herman and Zion connect.
Remember I told you that he writes this as the coronation anthem for the unifying of the kingdom. He is now the king of Judah and Israel. It is THERE where Judah and Israel CONNECT.
- Judah means PRAISE.
- Israel means strove with God and survived.
Judah means praise; Israel means SURVIVOR.
GOD SAYS…I bring the blessing THERE where praisers and survivors know how to connect!
• Because when you are unified, praisers teach survivors how to praise over what they survived.
• Survivors teach praisers how to survive without losing their praise.
• Praisers teach survivors how to praise when they come out.
• And survivors teach praisers how to praise until they come out.
Is there anybody in here who can say preacher I’m a praiser! If that is true then you ought to shout over what you survived/went through/Lord delivered you out of.
If you are a survivor….you ought to encouraged somebody else and tell them the hang in there until you come out/until the Lord delivers you.
And when the praisers and the survivors get together, survivors becomes praisers and praisers become survivors.
I’m a praiser and survivor!
Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
