CHAPTER 21 APPOINTED AND ANOINTED FOR GOD HIMSELF This chapter deals with the heart of the Scriptures.  For those in the Saul Church the concept that we will discuss here is particularly difficult to grasp.  We have come to believe either directly or indirectly that the Scriptures are there essentially for man’s sake.  They are about the creation of man and his earth, man’s fall, man’s sin, man’s forgiveness, man’s redemption and man’s ultimate state of glory with God.  This totally counters the intent of Scripture.  The holy Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation are about: 1) God’s sovereign rule over His creation, particularly man.   2) God’s love for man. 3) God’s character, 4) God’s power, 5) God’s purpose, 6) God’s glory.   The Westminster Confession put it so well: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”   Another thought is, “The chief end of man is know God and to glorify Him forever.”   The Scriptures are clear, we are not the primary issue, God is the primary issue.  It is not what man is, what man thinks what man says or what man does for God.  Rather it is who God IS, what He thinks, what He says and what He does.  Jesus is the perfect example of the perfect Man, and we are to emulate Him.  Everything that Jesus was, everything He thought, everything He said, everything He did emanated from what He knew about His Father.  He only did what He knew His Father would do.  John 5:30 says of Jesus, “I can do nothing on My own initiative.  As I hear I judge; and MY judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  He only did what He saw His Father do.  John 5:19 says, “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”  His life was and is the perfect expression of the Father’s will and ways and thought.  Everything that Jesus did and said was first and foremost FOR the Father.  He was anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit principally to glorify the Father.   It is not the powerful prayers of men that change the world.  It is the great God who answers these prayers.  It is the grace of God that makes the difference.  The more we truly know Him, His ways and His will, the more we can trust Him, depend upon Him completely and do His will where He places us.  Even in our warfare against the enemy, our armor according to Ephesians 6 is the Word and Words of God, the thoughts, ways and expression of His being, His character, His desires and His will.  We will never defeat the enemy by using formula prayers that seem to fit a moment or the circumstance.  We can only defeat the enemy with an intimate knowledge of God and trust in His character, His power and His desire.  The issue is always to trust in His intimate personal love and His desire, power and will for each situation.   Psalms 103:7 says, “He (God) made known His WAYS to Moses, His ACTS to the sons of Israel.”  We are more like the Children of Israel whom the Psalms say knew His acts or deeds; we are not nearly enough like Moses who knew the ways of God.  Our needs, our desires, our power, our abilities are not the essential issues.  HE is the issue and our focus must always be on Him.  Everything we do must be for His sake, whether it is prophesying, evangelizing, pastoring or teaching.  When our hearts are set on pleasing Him and only Him, THEN we are much more likely to see hearts changed to love Him and to see many people being filled with the Holy Spirit.  We are more likely to see many move in all that God has for them and the enemy being driven back and conquered completely.   Saul's reign as king seemed destined from the very beginning to be only temporary.  The whole foundation of the house of his reign was faulty.  The first crack in the foundation was that he was chosen against God's best desire.  God wanted Israel to want only Himself as King.  The second crack was that the desire for a king emerged as an effort to imitate the Gentiles.  The third crack was that God did not choose Saul for Himself but the people chose him for themselves and God allowed this apparent override of His will because the heart of the people had to be revealed for what it was.  Not once did Saul show any evidence of truly loving God.  In fact when Saul spoke to Samuel or David he continuously referred to Jehovah as "the Lord your God.”  Saul was not God's choice; he, like the people who chose him, was shallow in his relationship with God.  He did not have a heart after God and he certainly did not love God enough to obey Him when he did not want to obey Him.  Saul was the rebel king of a rebellious people, and eventually this rebellion caused Saul to not receive the conditional promise that his house would rule over Israel forever.  Rebellion cost him the power to rule and eventually cost him his life.  And it cost Israel their king. The People's Choice was not able to endure. Eventually he fell on his own sword and the nation was defeated by the enemy and was left in a shambles.  The ignoble experiment failed and the Theocracy was renewed with God's own choice on the throne.  We see God's anointed man waiting patiently and faithfully for God to raise him up and place him on the throne.  David, who was God’s anointed choice, NEVER strove to be king.  David was a man after God's own heart. This man was not chosen to satisfy any of the people's shallow, carnal desires to be like the nations, prosper materially, or be a strong military presence in the Middle East.  This man was appointed by God, for God Himself with God's powerful anointing to do all of God's will.  This man was chosen because of his loyalty to, his trust in, his desire for, and his relationship with Jehovah Himself.  This was a divinely appointed and deeply anointed man chosen to do His will using His power for His glory.   I Samuel 13:14, 16:1, & 15:13 says, "But now your (speaking of Saul) kingdom shall not endure.  The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you (Saul) have not kept what the Lord commanded you.  Now the Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected Him from being king over Israel?  Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons’.  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.  And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.”   This man was sought out by God to be the ruler of Israel.  God searched the hearts of hundreds of thousands of men in Israel but David’s heart was the heart that He saw that would do all His will and glorify Him.  He knew that David would not take lightly God’s instructions.  David was not a double minded religious man who was only interested in appearing spiritual.  David's desire for God was not skin deep or reserved only for special occasions.  His desire for God came from the depths of his being, from the heart of his heart; his love was for God and his desire was for His glory.  David knew that it was God's love and grace that had given him this heart after Himself and he knew that he would have to trust that God's awesome wisdom and power would be given to him to guide the Lord's people.  David totally depended upon God's power to deliver and God's wisdom to guide.   David completely trusted in the character, the holiness and the love of this Majestic Jehovah, and David wanted to do nothing else but to carry out His plan for His glory.  David wanted to be Israel's ruler for God's glory.  David wanted to seek God's favor and please His heart alone.  David, the appointed one of God, was truly anointed FOR God, to bring Him glory through His people. Even as God sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, during the time that Saul was showing himself to be a rebel, so today God is seeking out for Himself a people who are after His own heart whom He will use to rule for Him on this planet.  He has allowed the people pleasing Saul Church to almost fully reveal their rebellion and shallowness.  Their cup is almost full.  He is now removing the precious Holy Spirit from their midst and is searching for a people who do not love the world nor cater to the flesh.  He is seeking a people who are not concerned about their own self-image, but are concerned about God’s glory, and will not seek to please men because they fear losing money, love, or respect.  He is looking for a people who are concerned about God's honor and pleasing Him, a people who only fear losing God's Holy Spirit, His love and His approval. He is look- ing for a people who will spend as much or more time on their faces before Him as the Saul Church does indulging its senses at concerts, ski lodges, beach retreats, and “Christian Night” at Disneyland.  He is looking for a people who will love His law and devour His Word, letting the Word break them into little pieces and reform them into His image.  He is looking for a people who will ingest His Word with the same fervor that the Saul Church eats up books on self-help, instant answers, material success and church growth. While millions of Charismatics in the Saul Church seek signs, wonders and money to build a strong movement, God is looking for a remnant that will seek God Himself as the only and complete answer.  He is looking for a people who will not presume upon His grace and His power but still trust completely in the totality of His Word and the magnificent power of His Holy Spirit.  He is looking for a people that are so filled with the Holy Spirit of God that they only minister as God directs their hearts.  They will only do as they see the Father do, and only speak the words that He gives them to speak.  No more shot gun approaches to the ministries of healing and miracles.  He is looking for a people that know Him intimately and know His voice!  People will lay hands on the sick because God tells them to, and because they really hear God, the people WILL BE HEALED.  He is looking for a people that have been purified from their many Saulish errors and have deeply repented of speaking in the flesh with no REAL results because God did not speak to them.  He is looking for a Church that prays for the sick and listens intently to God’s voice, not so they can build the church larger, but so they can please the heart of God.  No more using the power of God to build the kingdoms, churches or denominations of men.  He is look- ing for a Church with a heart like David's.  He is looking for and will find the David Church, even in the midst of Saul. Who and what is the David Church?  The answer is fairly obvious from our earlier study of Saul and David.   Certainly we can make relevant comparisons between Saul's ministry and the visible Church as it exists today with the superficial anointing, the worldliness, the shallowness, the religiosity, the reliance on the material and the involvement with the demonic.  It is very easy to call today's visible Church the Saul Church.   But what about the David Church?  Can we really expect God to raise up a Church comprised of people who (single-mindedly) love Him, depend upon Him completely, and move in such undeniable spiritual power as David did? When we stop and think with our hearts and our minds about this issue, the real question becomes, "Could we expect God to do anything else, knowing His character, His ways and His Word?"  How could God close this present age while allowing His name to be so thoroughly besmirched by such a shallow representation of Himself?  He has always been concerned for His holy Name.  The Lord declares in Ezekiel 36:21-23, ""But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.   Therefore, say to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord God, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations (non-Christians) will know that I am the Lord," declares the Lord God, "when I prove Myself holy AMONG YOU IN THEIR SIGHT.”"  God will always manifest Himself as holy and powerful, through His people to the world. It is important to understand that the basic difference between the Saul Church and the David Church is their attitude about man and God.  The Saul Church believes that man was damaged greatly at the Fall but still possesses great powers to build the kingdom of God.  They believe in the freedom of man’s free will and his ability to choose God by exercising that free will.  They believe in the nobility of man and evangelize because they love men and do not want to see men go to hell.  It is good to love men, even as God loves the world, however, the David Church evangelizes because it knows that this activity will please God.  The Saul Church wants to see America return to the glory years of 100 years ago when most people in the country believed in being law biding, chaste citizens.  They want to see conservative, God fearing political parties that choose morally upright men to make scriptural decisions concerning abortion, homosexuality, immigration laws, drug laws and proper treatment of God’s people. The David Church is not concerned about the glory days of America but is concerned about the glory of God, and the days when men in America will glorify God. The Scriptures give example after example of God's people failing Him completely and God manifesting His glory through His new appointed leadership.  Moses, David, and Josiah are three good examples.  The centuries-long bondage to Egypt and idolatry was broken through Moses' leadership.  David led the Israelites to victory after victory, following the embarrassing reign and defeat of Saul.  Josiah became Judah's most righteous ruler and led the people temporarily out of idolatry after the depraved reigns of Manasseh and his son Amon.  Even church history shows us that the Dark Ages, with its salvation by works, rampant idolatry, greed and lust was followed by The Reformation in Europe in the sixteenth century. Today's shallowness is not unlike those other periods of shallowness both in the Scripture and in the history of the Church.   God, now as then, will not leave His name to be a joke upon the lips of the heathen. He will raise up a holy people who love Him enough to obey Him. God will build a Church which will bring honor to his name. Years ago the Lord showed me that the shallow man-pleasing ministry that has been prominent in the visible Church was, in many cases, actually anointed by Him.  He also told me that He was in the process of withdrawing that anointing from those Saul Church ministries.  God revealed that He was looking through the small churches and the large churches.  He was looking at the flashy ministries and the apparently humble ministries.  He was searching the pews and the classrooms.  He was allowing each man to be tested so that his heart would be exposed.  He was dealing with many individuals and trying them as a smelter of metals would try gold in the crucible.  He heard the cries from the hearts of His people and TESTED the legitimacy of their words.   He was and STILL IS searching for men and women who are single-mindedly after His own heart.  He is raising up prophets to challenge the false theologies and sins of His people and their leadership.  He will not stop until He has found a people after His own heart and He will appoint and anoint that people to love Him even more, live for Him without regard to their own well-being, and bear His life and His glory with the fear of the Lord and with the greatest concern for His Name. He showed me that some in the Saul Church would be desperately convicted of their double-minded living and their people-pleasing ministries which so misrepresented Him, and that they would break away from these ministries.  He showed me that from some of the most self-advertising, gimmicky, cool, and hip rock-and-roll bands would come forth men who would become worship leaders in His great Church.  Their music would still be loud and have the same beat in some cases, but not one note would be played to please the people.  Not one word would be spoken to attract attention to SELF. All would be done for God's glory.  He let me hear with my mind men who still played heavy-metal style music warning the people of the coming judgment of the lukewarm Church and the world.  There were no special effects, no attention-getting hair cuts or dress, no fleshly hand-clapping and remarks of how cool the music was; only a sense of AWE generated by the anointing of God through electric guitars and synthesizers that pounded out the message of a coming sentence of God's judgment on an unrepentant Church and the who-the-hell-cares world.  The words of the singers were clear and easily understood.  The crowds were learning the fear of the Lord.  Some were weeping under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  Others walked out unable to stand in God's presence.  No one thought of who was playing and the musicians and singers were glad because of this.  God and only God was presented to the hearers and God and only God was being glorified.  The music changed to soft music and even the style changed to fit what God was doing.  No one was bound by style.  The style had become servant to the glory of God.  Young people throughout the audience were on their faces seeking God's forgiveness.  Men and women stayed all night to pray to God and to praise Him from their hearts.  The service, for it was not fit to call this ministry a concert, lasted until morning and many met the Real Jesus for the first time.  Many had been self-conscious attention- getting rockers from the Saul Church, but they had finally come to know the Real Jesus Christ through the awesome anointing of God.  They were becoming men and women with hearts like David's heart.  The admiss- ion was free but the people left understanding the cost.  For the first time they realized the cost was their hearts and minds and souls.  The cost was their own lives.  But they were joyfully willing to wholly and completely give their lives to this awesome God of judgment and forgiveness; this magnificently Holy Hater of Sin and Lover of all who would come to Him on His terms only. The David Church will be filled with many such men and women, musicians, preachers, ex-Christian television personalities, ex-stars, and ex-athletes; all manner of people whose identities are not defined by who they WERE but by whose they ARE.  The David Church, like the Saul Church before it, is not a denomination or movement but really a shared attitude of the heart manifested both individually and corporately.  It is comprised of people who would gladly rather lose their physical life, possessions or earthly loved ones than lose His precious Holy Spirit.  It is a people who sin and stumble into error but know that the way out is through an honest, excuse-free recognition of the fact that sin is sin and that sin is what caused the stumbling or the bondage.   They are willing to acknowledge every sin and turn repentantly away from each one, cutting off all avenues which would allow a return to that sin, regardless of what anyone else may think.  They understand that com- plete forgiveness is in the Blood of Jesus Christ.  The David Church trusts God like the Church of the Book of Acts.  The David Church knows that it is not only unnecessary but evil to manipulate or bait people into following Jesus Christ.  The David Church cares little for either success or failure.  This Church neither values The Big or the Little but only desires to do His will for His glory.  The David Church covets the best gifts but only in obedience to Him, in His time, for the purpose of showing people the Real Jesus Christ and bringing glory to God.  The David Church is quick to defend God's honor and trusts that when God is involved in an undertaking, He will take care of it without having His people resort to begging or bribing.  The people in the David Church are uncompromising but merciful, persistent, and patient.  Like David in the Old Testament, they are utterly and absolutely dependent upon God to save them from their sin, walk a holy life and minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The God of the David Church is a totally sovereign God who is in complete control of the destiny of His Church and this planet.  This Church, like David, when judgment comes is quick to recognize their own responsibility and in no way blame the devil, men or God.  They are quick to see the other side of judgment as they repent and ask for God’s forgiveness.   The David Church is utterly and absolutely dependent upon God.  This Church trusts that it is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit working through God’s people that will defeat the enemy and establish the kingdom.   This Church understands that our part in this is to listen carefully and heed quickly, both from the Holy Scriptures and in our prayer life.    The David Church is God’s CHURCH for the last days!

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