BEATEN FOR THE LIGHT
Lev 24: 1-4
The Lord speaks to Mose about establishing the tabernacle and he goes to great length about building it according to pattern. He does things by plans and strategies. I am learning as I walk with God, that if you don’t have a plan or strategy you will never be successful. You can’t just hope to win at life; you have to have a plan for living or you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering aimlessly going nowhere. God does everything by plan; he has methods, a definite agenda. If you don’t have an agenda for life, people will put anywhere they want you to be. Manipulation will take over you life and you spend all of your years trying to figure out who you really our, and by the time you do you will resent all of the people that misappropriated you according to their own devices and agendas. God has a plan in everything that he does and he told Mose to build according to plan.
God had three areas of the tabernacle that he establish: the outer court, which was the yard or playground; the inner court, that was the place where the priest and servants dwelled and the place where consecrations went fourth; then you have the hollies of hollies which was reserved for the royal presence of GOD. The closer you got to God the smaller the crowd; in the yard you had a lot of people and there was a lot going on. In the inner court or holy place it became smaller, just the priesthood, those people that were committed to consecration; just those ministries who have yielded themselves unto service. Then in the hollies of hollies, you had to slip through the veil and go into the room where God was sovereign and God ruled there absolutely. It was in that most holy place that the priest dwelled, that God speaks to Mose to establish the candlesticks. He say something that really interesting, he says that the candle lights are not to go out, that they are to burn continuously, they to burn without stopping or without ceasing. Now you must understand, that in the outer courts you didn’t need any candlelight, because you had daylight. Everybody could see in daylight, whether you are just or unjust, in the kingdom or out. It’s just natural light. But if you come through the outer court, into the most holy place there was the candle light, which was the place for revelation and illumination, no natural light, it was a little bit more select you had to be consecrated to come in there. You moved beyond natural light into the candlelight it represented revelation, for it was the word. David says things like, “thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.” It’s the word of God that lights up your way and shows you what to do next when you don’t know what to do. Then in the holies of holies you didn’t need candlelight, because you had divine light where you walked in the presence of God. And God, his face, his su kinda glory illuminated the room, you don’t need dress it, you don’t need to work it up, you don’t need to prompt it up, you don’t need to plug it up. God’s presence just illuminating in the holies of holies, but when God establish a most holy place, it was the place that the priests were to dwell. He says I want you to put in that place a lamp, a light, a candlestick, a place for revelation symbolic of the word and of those who carry the word. God says I want you to make sure that the light burns all through the night and does not go out. You got to keep it burning; you got to keep it flowing, because that was the place where the table of Shrew bread was and the alter of incense, it lit up the way so the priest could see where to eat and could see how to pray and live. God said what ever you do don’t let the light burn out. You may have to work on it, you may to dress it, you may have to prepare it; but what ever you do, don’t let the light burn out. When I starting thinking about this scripture, I started thinking about something I would get into, but my mother gets on my about preaching two sermons at one time or preaching too long But there some other scriptures I would have read. But there is a time later that God refers to men as light. Like Jesus says he was the light of the world, a city that set up on a hill that cannot be hid and I’m going away, and you shall be lights of the world he talks about that. Then significantly is David, God calls him a light. They referred to David as the light of Israel and sometime when you get home you need to read up on that it’s some awesome things that he said about the light. And when I begin to look at this particular light in the tabernacle which is a shadow of every man or women of God that would be used as a place of revelation or illumination whether it was in the pulpit or with your own family, if you are going to light your environment and effect your atmosphere you have got to have a source to channel the power through that causes you to keep burning. So many people start burning for a moment then they go out. Like flashing lights, blinking lights, or like turning signals. They can give you directions, they pop around for little while, but then they fade out. But if you are going to be able to maintain light; you have to have some source, some hidden access to power that allows you to go through the night. And be illuminated in the darkness of life. So when God got ready to tell Mose about that kind of light, he said I want it to be pure olive oil. Now this is different from olive oil that represents the anointing alone, because whenever they anointed people with oil it was mixed with frankincense, mere, and all types of spices and they consecrated them for varies services. But he said this olive oil is supposed to be pure olive oil, “somebody say pure oil!” It’s supposed to be pure oil, now this pure oil is to be beaten for light. If you don’t beat the olive you will never get the oil, and if you don’t get the oil you won’t have to light. So he said to Mose, I want you to make sure you have pure oil, no twigs, no branches, no root, no bark, no cinnamon, no mere; just pure oil. Now oil had to be extracted from the olive and the olive had to be beaten and when it was beaten it produced oil so pure that the flame wouldn’t flicker and wouldn’t go out, someone say, “Pure oil!” Were are living in a day that we have a lot of light that is contaminated, it’s not really pure oil therefore it will flicker and go out on you sometime, it will change on you, you even have to take there temperature to figure out who they are. You have to ask questions to see who you are today? It takes something to have consistency enough to be stable enough to draw different people from different strings and walks of life who can attest to the authenticity to the oil that causes you to be illuminated. You can’t get this many people to get together and agree on something less you have pure oil. It can’t be diluted, polluted it can’t have hidden agendas it has to be pure oil. I think we are living in a time now, that we have to begin to appreciate, celebrate to a greater degree those that God’s places amongst us because we need some positive role models in our generation and in our culture who are not motivated by peoples opinions, who are not motivated by their own agenda’s, but they are fed by pure oil. Now listen to this, the olive has the oil, but the only way to get the oil is to crush it. Anytime you see anybody that has become very successful in anything, but practically things of God, before you can reach any status in the kingdom you have to go through a beating, a crushing, a stress, a pressure, and a degree of anxiety. Reminds me of what the Apostle Paul said when he wrote to the church, “I would not have you be ignorant brethren when we came through Asia,” he said, “we were pressed above measure and beyond strength,” so much so that we desired life itself. I want you to notice this that somewhere in every great man or women’s of God’s life you will go through a time of extreme pressure. I don’t mean just a bad hair day, I don’t mean someone didn’t speak to you, I don’t mean someone sat in your seat, or cut you off of your parking spot, I am talking about pressure where you know that you are going through a beating. The tragedy about going through a beating is sometimes when God is using you while you are being beating; you have to smile through the beating. You have to be secretly beaten and publicly appropriate. You can’t lose your stance or break your imagine, you have to be up under stress and still function, you have to know all things work together for the good of them who love the Lord, who are called according to his word. You have to reason that God is not abusing you, that he is not molesting you, that he is not mishandling you. That if he has allowed this stress to break out in your life that ultimately something is going to come out of it as you go through the crushing’s of life. That sooner or later it might not be today, it might not be this week, it might not be next month, but sooner or later I am going to see why I had to go through what I had to go through. Beating, pressed, pushed, see what happens is, when it cost that olive it’s life to produce that oil that is when it becomes extremely precious. If I sent you to the grocery store and asked you to get some olive oil, you would go in the store and ask how much does it cost, you would say it is anywhere from $1.89 to $5.00 depending on what size you get. You say that is how much it cost, but that is not really what it cost, if you really want to know how much the olive oil cost, you can’t ask the person in the store, you have to ask the olive. Because the olive is the only one who knows how much it costs to get those few drops of precious oil. The reason we don’t appreciate people more than we do is because we have not ascertained, realize, or recognize what it cost you to be who you are. We’re so busy being envious, that we don’t recognize the extreme expense that goes into a few drops of oil. We don’t understand that you have to be beaten for light, that it doesn’t come on it’s own, that you have to be able to take a licking and keep on ticking, that you have to be up under pressure and not break up under stress and just wait on God to deliver you. By the time you start releasing oil, it cost you so much to get the few drops you got that you don’t have to worry about being arrogant or puffed up, because you have been beaten so bad before you got it. Touch someone and tell them, “He is talking about me!” You been beaten, been beaten, you may not be able to see it because I am dressed up, but I been beaten, got your hair done but you’ve been beaten, Got your face on but you’ve been beaten, got your heals on, but you’ve been beaten, Got your new suit but you’ve been beaten. Every beaten, every opposition, every struggle, produces another drop of oil. If the enemy were smart, he would never allow you to go up under pressure, because pressure is the furnace that produces greatness. He was wise he would just take it easy on you, because people that have it easy don’t have any oil. If he were smart, he would make everything claim and quiet, no stress, because the olive can’t produce oil until it goes through crushing. The devil makes his mistakes when he crushes us. No wonder God says that his strength is made prefect in our weakness. You show me anybody that has had any success in the ministry and I will show you someone that has been beaten for light. Every drop of oil is precious. I am wondering is there anybody in here that has some oil coming through your life, some benefits from your struggles, it is precious to you. Sometimes when the oil is precious to you, you have to be secretly happy you can’t even let anybody know that you are happy. Other people will think that you are arrogant, because they don’t understand that you have been through hell and high water; then there were times that you had to walk by yourself and then finally, finally, finally, at certain stages in your life you get a few drops of oil. After the pain, crying, wiping at night, after the rejection, opposition, and the trials; finally in the master’s hand you start getting a few drops of oil. Somebody say, “Beaten for light!” Listen to this, I want to talk a little bit about David; when ever I start thinking anointing and oil I have to think about David. See David was the eighth son of Jesse and if you know much about the bible you know that eight is the number of new beginning. I believe God is doing something new in the earth right now, there were times where couldn’t get people from different denominations to worship or share there pulpits with other preachers from other churches. In North Dakota the COGIC church has welcomed me with opens arms, in John Wesley I have seen preachers from all over the city preach in this church. I have seen and heard of members going and attending bible studies from other churches, all in the name Jesus of seeking God. Then with the Attack on the east coast, I haven’t seen so many people from different walks of life praying and worshiping together. The President of the United States of America, declared Friday National prayer and reflection day. Our government was on national T.V. praying for our nation. That makes me think about that scripture “where ever two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the mist.” I am telling God is doing something in this nation, if not the world. See God is doing a good thing in the earth. I know everyone is not happy about, some want to hold on the old past. But God is doing something new now that transcends culture, transcends dominations; it’s bigger than race, it’s bigger than theology, it’s bigger than doctrine. It’s bigger than whose has the most members and who has the bigger church, and whom God has given the city too. It’s gone beyond all of that, suddenly we’re starting to understand through the pressures of life God is crushing us together, he is forcing us to come together, because we are all in his hand and all under pressure; he is squeezing us into a place of unity. Touch somebody and say, “Lets get together!” Since your going through trouble and I am going to trouble; your heated and I’m heated; your going through opposition and I’m going through opposition; since your being crushed and I’m being crushed; lets be squeezed together. For remember the bible says if any two of you agree as touching on earth it shall be done in Heaven. See the enemy messes up when he lets be squeezed together, because we fool around and touch each other and it releases power. Somebody say, “Power!” That is the secret of marriage, if you understand that you got to stay together. You can’t allow pressure to divide your marriage, you got to squeeze in tight and stick together. You got to through pressure and get up against each other and say, “I got your back baby we’re coming out of this, I got your comfort, we’re coming out of this. That kind anointing changes lives; it’s the kind of anointing that Samuel used to go after David. David was a rejected son, he was asterisked and on the backside of the desert, he was an eighth son of Jesse. He was kind of a misfit son; he was not in line for the blessing. When Samuel comes to Jesse and says, “I think one of your sons is going to be king, which is it?” Jesse brings all of his sons expect David. Generally the very one that people don’t want is always the one that God does want. He has a way of getting the one that isn’t in the house, that is left out in the field, the one that everybody thinks that will never be nothing and God raises them up. Understand that kind of rejection produces a certain humility in you, a certain consecration in you, a certain thankfulness in you; nobody has to teach you to be thankful when you that if God hadn’t pointed you out men would have left you in the field. Then you don’t need nobody to tell you that, “If it had not been for the Lord on my side” you would have been swallowed up, BUT THANKS BE TO GOD THAT HE GIVES US THE VICTORY THROUGH JESUS! Samuel comes along to anoint David, and David is anointed three times: Prophet, Priest, and King. Samuel anoints him in three dimensions and uses a horn to anoint David. See the difference between Saul who was a wicked king and David who was a chosen King, Saul was anointed to just be king, not prophet and priest. Secondly, Saul was anointed with a bowl, which is a man made instrument, but David was anointed through a horn, which is a God made instrument. There are some anointings that you don’t’ get because of men; you only get them because of God. And when God anointed him, it wasn’t people saw him. See the quality goes in, before the name ever goes out. They anointed David to be King when he was still a shepherd boy, didn’t even know how dress like a king, smelled like sheep, and be hanging out in the woods. David didn’t know whom to bow too in the places and didn’t know when to stand up, or which fork to eat with, but God had anointed him and said you shall be King. Touch somebody and say, “You shall be King!” It was in fact a prophetic anointing, now I want to talk a little bit about a prophetic anointing because some of you have it right now and you don’t understand what it is. A prophetic anointing is when God has equipped you for something that hasn’t even happen yet. It is a post-dated enablement. It’s the grace of God that equips you for a future appointment that doesn’t even fit a current circumstance or dilemma. It will cause you to feel kind of out of place and discombobulated and disjointed because God is not anointing you for where you are, but for where you are going. Look at somebody and say, “You shall be King!” What you are looking at when you start looking at this kind of anointing is the kind of anointing that God puts on a shepherd boy, it’s a kings anointing placed on a boy. It’s the kings anointing placed on a child, it’s a blessed anointing placed on a popper, it’s a successful anointing placed on someone that is a failure, it’s a delivered anointing placed on someone that is rejected, it’s a premature anointing. Some of you don’t’ even understand why God is blessing you, sometimes you get happy and you don’t even know why or what you are happy about. You’re excited and you don’t even know what you are excited about. Your making plans and you don’t even have money for the plans you are making. You got goals, ambitions, and dreams, sometimes when you are visionary you can’t even talk to people about what you are expecting, because they would say you are absolutely crazy. You know you are just a shepherd boy, you know your just tending your sheep, and juggling sheep dun, how dare you think you can be king, but IF GOD SAYS YOU WILL BE KING, YOU WILL BE KING! Touch somebody and say, “wait and see!” I know I don’t look like much now, but wait and see. I know I don’t look like I got it going on now, but wait and see. I know I am not so such and much now, but wait and see. God is getting me ready for something; he is getting me prepared for something. He is getting ready to take me somewhere. YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE FOR ME, BUT HE IS BLESSING ME RIGHT NOW! He anointed him to be King and through that anointing he is able to overcome the lion, overcome the bear, and overcome Goliath, he destroys the giant. See, when you are really anointed, you can do more with less; he didn’t have the shield and sword which the people that weren’t anointed had. When you really anointed you can have less talent and get more results. You may not have a shield and sword; you may only have a rag and a rock. BUT IF YOU’RE REALLY ANOINTED AND YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT YOU, AND YOU ARE NOT WORRIED ABOUT WHOSE LOOKING AT YOU, IF YOU’RE REALLY ANOINTED YOU CAN WHIP THE ENEMY WITH A RAG AND A ROCK! SOME OF YOU GOT RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE NOW ON A RAG AND A ROCK, PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND IT WAS JUST A RAG AND A ROCK, BUT YOU KNEW HOW TO WORK IT, IT WASN’T MUCH, BUT YOU KNEW HOW TO WORK IT. See David uses this and overcomes the enemy. Kills the giant, hits him in the head, knocks him over, falls dead, and cuts his head off with his own sword, then David moves from the background to the front ground on a rag and a rock. We often portray David as if he were some wimpy effemine little boy running around with harps singing and writing poetry, but that is not all what David was, David was a man of war. David went up against one camp of the Philistine and killed hundreds of men, then circumcise and cut their flesh rings. Then he threw down before the king, he was such a man of was he was able to deceive armies of men that were trying to destroy him. You are not dealing with an idiot here, you are dealing with some that is strewed, cunning, and had a plan and strategy for war. Does anybody here have a strategy for war? Somebody thinks you are nice, weak, and frail, but they don’t know up underneath that you are man of war. You got guts and staying power you got tenacity. Look at you, if you weren’t tough you wouldn’t be here, there are people that have lost there mind going through what you’ve gone through, BUT GOD BROUGHT YOU TRHOUGH! Tell your neighbor, “You don’t know who you who you’re fooling with!” I KNOW I DON’T HAVE NOTHING BUT A RAG AND A ROCK BUT YOU DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE FOOLING WITH, LET ME WINED THIS THING UP, I KNOW YOU HAVE MORE TALENT THAN ME, BUT YOU JUST STAND THERE WHILE WINED THIS THING UP, I KNOW YOU LOOK BETTER THAN ME, BUT BE STILL, WAIT ONE MINUTE. David went on, and his second anointing came when he reach a place called, “Hebron.” They anointed him to be King of Judah, now Judah means, “Praise” now almost every church person knows that. But what many don’t know is that Hebron means “fellowship” We’ve been teaching people about praise but we haven’t been teaching people about fellowship. And you cannot unlock the power of praise until you learn how to fellowship with other people. Praise cershindols when you reach out to other people. When David came to Hebron, which is “fellowship” they anointed him king over Judah and he continued to go forward. Then seven years later he gets his third anointing and he is anointed King over Israel. Now listen to this, this is the point I got to get to and I will soon be out of your way. They anointed him King over Israel, and look at somebody and say, “I told you that I was going to make it!” You thought I wasn’t going to past the test, but I told you I was going to make it, you thought I was going to lose my mind over you but I told you I was going to make it. YOU THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE A NERVOUS BREAK DOWN, BUT TOLD YOU. I KNOW YOU WALKED OUT ON ME BUT I TOLD YOU I WOULD MAKE IT! But David did this all by with oil, but they bible says when he came to another giant, look at your neighbor and say, “another giant is coming!” He comes up against another giant named Es-be-nal. And when he comes up against Es-be-nal, Es-be-nal is related to Goliath. Yes, you have related enemies. You are going to have to fight something that is related to something that you fought before. Oh yes, it’s all in the family, same thing different name, different face, and different position, different vocation, different neighborhood, but it’s the same stuff. It’s all related. Only this time, this is what’s significant; when David got ready to fight the next giant he raised up to kill him and the giant almost destroyed King David. In fact if it weren’t for one of his men; Ab-ba-shy rising up and fighting the giant back, he would have killed King David. Ab-ba-shy says something to David that is very significant; he kills the giant that is about to kill David and says, “David do not go out to war anymore less the giant kill the light of Israel.” He called the man “light”. All through David’s life he had been associated with oil, but at this stage his sons look at him and say papa you are not oil any more you have become “light.” When you were operating under your oil you kill your giants, but when you become light you don’t have to sleigh the giant anymore. Now there are a couple important factors I have to drop on you and I will get out of your way. The first thing is when ever God send a great man or women of God in your life, it is important that you learn how to do what they do, because you are next in line to do it. The problem with us is we become cheerleaders. And we cheer what they do, without learning what they do. If you don’t learn what they do, you will kill them just cheering what do. Because real success is when you reproduce after our own kind and raise strong sons and daughters that get up under the ministry and start working. Now step back pastor, we got this one, because you are the light. Let me explain, the young girl grew up watching her mother cook and boy could her mother cook. Her mother couldn’t get anything done without her daughter-asking if could lick the spoon. Finally the girl grew up and got married and her husband asked her if she could cook? It then hit her that she had been watching her mother cook for twenty years, but she never learned how to cook. Church we cannot afford to be exposed to the ministry and salvation power of Jesus Christ and just cheer on the preacher or others reaching out to the unsaved. Because there should be a time that you stand and say, I watch, I saw how you did it, and now I am going to do it too and we are going to covent together in ministry. But what needs to happen is when ever God sends someone great in your life, and I mean your whole span of life you will only met greatness every now and then, it come in all colors, genders, and all social-economical back grounds only every now and then will you met greatness. When every God allows you to be in the presence of greatness, learn all you can, because you are next in line. Remember you are next. You have to learn how to stand up under pressure, you have to learn how to take a licking and keep on ticking, because you are next. Now watch this, now you are not just oil, you are to us the light in the tabernacle. Remember, it did not say beaten for oil, but it said beaten for light. Real success is when you can take the raw substance of what you have been through and transform it into the purpose for which you endured it. So that when you begin to shine, you can say, “Lord I see why I had to go through what I had to go through to get where I go to go. See then you can glory in tribulation. You start getting happy about getting beaten; you look back over your shoulder and say it was good for me that I have been afflicted. You won’t be angry with people; in fact you will walk up to people that didn’t help you and thank them for not helping you. You’ll say, I am so glad that you didn’t help me, because if you helped me I would have thought it was you that made me what I am, BUT BECAUSE YOU REJECTED ME, I DISCOVERED THAT IF GOD BE FOR YOU , HE IS MORE THAN THE WORLD ON YOUR SIDE, THANK YOU FOR HATING ME, THANK YOU FOR FIGHTING ME, THANK YOU FOR REJECTING ME, I DISCOVERED GOD BECAUSE YOU REJECTED ME. I want the devil to know this little light of mine, I am going to let it shine, I made up my mind, I don’t care what anybody says I am going to keep on shinning. Touch three people and say, “keep on shinning!” After all you been through, you better keep on shinning, after all you endured, you better keep on shinning, after all of your pain, keep on shinning, if you want to get even with the devil for all the pressure you been up under, keep on shinning. I am about to set down, but I want the devil to understand, that there are some people, in the kingdom that have made up there mind, if you set me in a dark room, I will light it up. You don’t hear me. I tried of hearing about people who complain about the darkness; if you don’t like the darkness then turn on the light. You better let it shine all in your neighborhood, all in your community, all in your church, you got to let it shine, somebody say, “shine.” You know I was listening to a bunch of Christians who were talking about getting prayer in school, now I all for prayer in school, but I want you to know that I am not upset about it and I refuse going around carrying a sign asking somebody to let my children pray. Because I learned a long time ago, that when I get ready to pray, can’t no body stop me form praying. I learned a long time ago, how to sit there with my lips glued together and pray in my mind. And I want to thank God that if I pray in secret, the Lord will reward me openly. Yes he will. In my conclusion, I just want the enemy to know, that there are some praying people who have lit a light and we are going to let it shine. We are going to shine in the middle of the night. We are going to shine in the middle of trouble. We are going to shine in the middle of adversity. And I want to tell you John Wesley, keep on shinning, the best has yet to come, You are not going to have to go through what you had to go through, because God is raising up strong sons and daughters to kill the giants and move them out of your way. Somebody say, “YES!” I want the devil to know, You should have killed me when you had a chance, you should have killed me, when I was under pressure, you should have killed me when I was about to die, you should have killed me when I was in my oily stage. But the oil is turning to light. And I want to serve notice on him, it is to late devil, it’s too late! You should have knocked my down when I was struggling, but I am learning to stand on God’s word, I found church that if God be for you, he is more than the world against you. Don’t worry about who don’t like it, build what God put in your heart. Before I take my seat, let me tell you something; not only does the pastor have a vision in his heart, but each and everyone of you have a vision in your heart. While you are blessing the pastor, God is going to bless you. Let me say this, before I got back to North Dakota, I want to hang a sign over your heart, put a sign on your computer, put a sign on your refrigerator, Let it read, “UNDER CONTSRUCTION!” Because I can see God raising up the things that are on your heart. They thing that they say you would never get, the thing they said that you would never have, if you hold out little while longer, I got one more thing to say, then I going to sit down. You can be ashamed if you want to, but I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the power of God, under salvation, somebody came here with a lot of things on your heart and you don’t now how in the world you are going to be able to do it, but the Lord told me to give you a message, get your neighbor by the hand and look them square in the eye and say, “ neighbor God said, to get ready, for your BLESSING IS ON THE WAY!”
