"I'm going to be teaching, by God's grace, concerning the atmospheres of joy, the atmosphere of God's presence, what breathes the atmosphere. People of God, as we start reading from the book of Isaiah, from the book of Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet, I read from verse one of chapter 61.
'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach Good Tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our Lord, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beautiful ashes, the oil of joyful morning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called the tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.'"
"They shall rebuild the old ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolation of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers. But you shall be named the priests of the Lord; they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory, you shall boast. Instead of shame, you shall have double honor; instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land, they shall possess double everlasting joy shall be theirs.'"
"For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offerings. I will direct their work in truth; I will make them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known amongst the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them that they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. May the Lord bless the reading of His Word."
"Tonight, we enter into the subtopic, the atmospheres of joy in the place of God's altar, in the place of God's worship. Worshippers need to know that the Spirit of God, which is the leader, the director of worship, which brings us into the place of worship, and directs the route to worship because every individual encounter of worship is unique.
And as much as nobody has a template for worship, we are led each time on how to worship the Lord by the Spirit of God. And the Holy Spirit of God has fruit, one of those fruits being love and also peace and joy. Anyone who is going to go far in God's presence, anyone who is going to advance in God's presence, or who is going to get into far destinations in the presence of the Most High, will have the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. They will have produced the fruit, which is the result, the outcomes of the Holy Spirit, one of which is joy. And the Lord is saying, for many people who have had things stuck for them in January, you are going to be able to get into newer realms; you're going to get access into places where you had been denied access by the virtue called the joy of the Lord."
"Tonight, the Lord is bringing us into different areas, especially when it comes to the atmosphere of God's presence. One of the things the Lord began to speak about when we had a study of joy many years ago was concerning a man called David. David was a singer; he was a musician; he was a writer; he was an author; he was a prophet. David represented everything, such that the Lord called David a man after His own heart. So tonight, we look at some of the things that David did that warmed the heart of the Lord. There's this popular story; we're going to read from the book of 2 Samuel chapter 6. This was about the ark brought back to Jerusalem."
"David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Judah to bring up the ark of God, whose name is called by the name the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart, and they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on systens, and on cymbals."
"And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error, and he died by the ark of God. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. And he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, 'How can the ark of the Lord come to me?' So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David. But David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite."
"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. Now it was told King David, saying, 'The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.' So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. And so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, then he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet."
"Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. So they brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place amid the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to every one a loaf of bread and a piece of meat and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house."
"Then David returned to bless his household, and Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, 'How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!' So David said to Michal, 'It was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father and all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord, and I will even be more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them, I will be held in honor.' Therefore Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no children until the day of her death."
"May the Lord bless the reading of His Word. Tonight, the Lord is bringing worshippers into the place of God's atmosphere of joy. The Lord has a mandate, especially for worshippers. Anytime you set up a worship altar, anytime that you remember that there is the joy of salvation, the joy of Jesus, anytime that you are awakened to the joy, which Jesus told the disciples before He left, saying, 'Let My joy remain in you.' This was the time when He was giving them His farewell speech, praying for them. He says, 'Let My joy remain in you.' The scripture talks about measures of joy. You see, many individuals think that somebody can give you joy or you can get happiness from the next person. Every measure of joy comes from God's presence."s."