A Royal Priesthood — David Davis

Israel’s Call to Be a Kingdom of Priests

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, Shemot, Exodus 19, Pesuch Arba, verse four. Verse four. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

If you know the Lord, he came and got you and bore you out of the stuff you were doing on eagle's wings into freedom. Hallelujah. Moses is talking to the children of Israel just as the Ten Commandments are about to be given down at Sinai.

Verse five. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my covenant and keep my covenant and obey my voice, then you will be a special treasure to me and love all the people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel. This is God's holy call on our nation of Israel. It has not been fulfilled, as you well know, but one day it will. We will be a holy nation.

Hallelujah. I want to talk to you about the royal priesthood. Lord, I ask you to help me now, by the power of your spirit, you have called us to be part of the priesthood of all believers, to minister to you, to worship you, to lead people into the presence of God.

The call on Israel is irrevocable, and one day it will happen all across this land. Let it be soon. Amen. Last week, I spoke about our great high priest, and we saw how wonderful and awesome God Yeshua is, is our great high priest.

He ever lives to make intercession for those who draw near him. This great high priest, as we have drawn near to him, he is praying for you and me right now. You have a divine prayer partner, hallelujah.

Hezekiah’s Revival and Worship at the Center

Now, let's go to 2 Chronicles. As I study the revivals in the Bible, I mean when the Holy Spirit comes and really wakes up the people and a whole new move of God happens, it's very clear to me that the revival that worship is in the center of revival, and the people who don't really worship the Lord, they'll never experience revival.

Maybe they're believers, but they won't be revived. Every one of these moves of God in the Old Testament, worship is right in the middle of it. 2 Chronicles chapter 29, verse 1, Hezekiah became king when he was 25 years old.

Hezekiah's father was a backslidden king who got rid of worship, and did terrible things all over Jerusalem, all over the nation, and this little boy, Hezekiah, grew up seeing all the stuff the father was doing, so he becomes king at 25.

And all of a sudden, things start to change, because we have a young king on fire for the Lord. For me, it's a great picture of the younger generation getting on fire for the Lord. We go places where there have been moves of God, and the people are old, and they don't really worship anymore, but there's a youth meeting happening.

Praise God. Let's look at a couple of things that Hezekiah did. He got all the priests together, the Levites. He got all the people that were supposed to be worshiping and leading the people into.

The presence of God.

In verse 5, the bottom of the verse, he says, go into the temple and carry all the junk out. His father put all this garbage and idolatry in the temple of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He wanted to renew the covenant with God.

He's 25 years old. It's a youth movement. He was on fire for the Lord, and he said, I'm not going to do what my father did. I'm going to worship the Lord the way we're supposed to. Verse 11, my sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, that you should minister to him and burn incense.

The priests were chosen to stand before God in holiness, to minister to him and then minister to other people. He was restoring this whole thing in Jerusalem. Verse 16, then the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the garbage that they found in the temple of the Lord to the court of the house of the Lord, and the Levites took it, and they carried it down, and they threw it in the river, the Brook Kidron.

If you want to be part of this end-time royal priesthood, where is the temple? You're the temple. I'm the temple. Get the garbage out. The garbage has to go. If you're spending more time watching Facebook, and you're not in the Word of God, you've got garbage in you.

This young king said, get the garbage, clean the house, and we're going to fill it with the power of God. These priests must have been so excited. Our young leaders are on fire for the Lord. Hallelujah.

Look at verse 26. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Once you clean the house, the singers come in. Those that play on instruments come in, and they begin to work.

And you can't do it in a house full of garbage. They sanctified themselves, and they sanctified the house. And look at this. They were prepared. When Hezekiah, verse 27, commanded them to bring the burnt offering on the altar, to burn the burnt offering on the altar.

When the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began with the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel. When they brought the sacrifice in, and they put it on the altar, this sacrifice for sin, it's for us, it's the cross.

You come to an encounter with the Lord at the cross. They had their instruments, and I've studied this in Hebrew over and over again, and usually it's translated wrong in English. They sang the song of the Lord.

You can sing about the Lord. You can sing to the Lord, but we need to sing the song of the Lord. When He comes and shows up, and He's ministering in our midst, we need to ask the Lord to help you with knowing when you have the song of the Lord.

You know, because I live with a worship leader who writes music, I'm doubly blessed. I'm sure your wives, all you worship leaders, they feel the same thing. I'm sure Danny probably says, wow, where did Luanne get that song?

I'm in my prayer room a few months ago. My wife's at her keyboard in the secret place, and I came out, and I realized she's got a new song. I need to get out of here. Then I hear her going, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

We just did it. The joy of the Lord, as I said, the joy of the Lord was all over our house. It wasn't her joy, it was His joy. It's the song of the Lord. Hallelujah. It'll change everything. He comes in and permeates the whole place.

It doesn't happen until you're prepared, until you really want more of the Lord. He'll come and sing with you. A great revival broke out in Jerusalem because one 25-year-old took the steps that needed to be taken.

The Levites were coming back to the temple. The worship was being restored. Hallelujah. Look at the next verse. Verse 28. All the assembly worshiped. The singers sang. The shofar sounded. They continued until the burnt offering was finished.

All the assembly started worshiping the Lord. It's not just the people up here singing. It's everybody. One of the things about the Korean groups besides the other ones I've been involved with, they all worship the Lord.

They all pray until somebody rings the bell and they stop. They're all praying together. Hallelujah. It permeates the country. It's the countryside. So here we have it in the Tanakh. These are the steps to revival, and worship is right in the middle.

Verse 29. When they had finished offering the king and all who were present, they bowed and worshiped the Lord. Verse 36. Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people since the events took place so suddenly.

They were prepared. They're in the right places. And all of a sudden, boom, revival came. How many of you want this? Anybody want this in here besides me? This is what Israel needs. This is what America needs.

Nehemiah’s Worshiping Community and the Removal of Defilement

We need a move of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Let's look at Nehemiah for a moment. Nehemiah was the leader of the remnant that came back from Babylon. He was restoring the walls and the temple. Nehemiah chapter 12, verse 29.

From the house of Gilgal and from the fields of Geva, the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem. The temple was being restored. Worship was being restored. The people all over the land heard about it, and they said, I'm moving to Jerusalem and I'm going to build a village.

I'm going to live there. Hallelujah. When we have all these hundreds of people here next summer, we had a meeting about it yesterday. We don't know where we're going to put them. They may be sleeping on the roof or downstairs or tents.

We don't know, but they're coming. Hallelujah. The Lord has given us a mandate to worship the Lord of all nations on the top of Mount Carmel. The hungry, the thirsty come. Glory to God. You know it when you meet them.

These people are sold out to the Lord, and they love to worship the Lord. In Indonesia, they'll worship forever unless you stop them. And they're all young, and they were all Muslims. They love the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Karen sings Kaddosh, and you think they're going to be all raptured. Hallelujah. Because they came out of this terrible darkness, and they love the presence of God. Let's go on and look at this again.

Verse 30. The priests and the Levites purified themselves, purified the people, the gates, and the wall. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

Verse 31. So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed two large Thanksgiving choirs, one to the right on the wall, over the garbage gate, the dung gate, the refuge gate. There were two large Thanksgiving choirs on the wall.

Wouldn't it be great if we had two large Thanksgiving choirs up here as you came up from the parking lot? Blowing shofars, hallelujah. Permeating the town here, permeating the environment. One of these choirs went one way and went over the dung gate, the garbage, the zebel gate.

I don't know what it is. That's the place where you threw all the garbage. If you want revival, you've got to get the garbage out. If you want revival, you've got to get the garbage out. The other huge choir, and they were blowing shofars and worshiping the Lord, they went the other way on the walls of Jerusalem, and they went over the water gate.

Clean, pure water, hallelujah. They went over the fountain gate, the fountain of the Holy Spirit springing up. Then they went over the fish gate where they brought all the fish in, hallelujah. We need to go fishing and bring in the fish, praise the Lord.

This is a picture of what a congregation should be today, where the people love to get there and just worship the Lord until he shows up and something awesome happens. And it will be sudden. Now, look at verse 43.

That day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. Isn't that awesome? God made them rejoice with great joy. Hallelujah. So that the joy of the Lord was heard all the way to Syria, all the way to Jordan, all the way to Lebanon.

The West Bank got the joy of the Lord. It was heard far off. People were hearing it. They weren't even in Jerusalem. What are these people shouting and blowing shofar? Why are they worshiping like that?

The joy of the Lord had been released. Look, every nation needs to know the joy of the Lord. But if there's a nation that needs to know it more than anyone else, it's this nation. Our nation needs to know the joy of the Lord.

Because of the Holocaust, a large percentage of Jews don't believe in God. Where was he? I loved it when we opened this meeting and we just had the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Now, let me say this. There are many others. There's great revivals in the old covenant. The joy of the Lord was permeating the whole area. People were running to the Lord, running to the temple. If that's true, what about today?

The Chosen Generation and the Royal Priesthood

What about the congregations today? Do we have anything like this? We need the presence of God to saturate our meeting so that we get transformed. Hallelujah. Go to 1 Peter. The new covenant. 1 Peter.

Peter, you know, was a Jew from Galilee. 1 Peter chapter 2. Verse 9. Verse 8. He's talking about the Jewish people, how they missed their Messiah. Then he says this. But you, verse 9. He's talking to Jews and Gentiles.

He's saying, the Jewish people, my people, most of them missed the Lord. And now it's very emphatic in the original language. But you, it's emphasized, but you, he's saying. Who was he writing to? Jews and Gentiles.

He's saying to Jews and Gentiles together here in our era. But you are a chosen generation. We're not just a Levitical priesthood whose name is Levi. We are a new generation. The word for generation. It comes from something that's been born.

Those of us that are born again are a new generation. We have a spiritual generation. I'm not born in the flesh. I'm born of the Spirit. I'm a new creation. I'm part of this new generation. He says, but you, look what it says.

You're a chosen generation. You've been picked out for special service. Not just the way the Levites were in the Old Testament. We've all been picked out. We're all called to be a royal priesthood. Not just the people up here.

Everybody should be worshiping the Lord. We're chosen for such a time as this. We've been picked. We've been gathered. We have service to do. We have responsibility before the Lord. Look, in the days of Nehemiah, there were the special singers.

They were all trained, and all the musicians. But the people flocked there from all over to get into the worship. That's what we need, and that's what we're after. Hallelujah. Let's go on. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

You're chosen to be a royal priest. You're chosen to be a royal priest. You know, the priesthood has been so abused in the last 2 ,000 years. Most of Christianity thinks it's a guy who wears a black robe and has a white thing.

That's not what a priest is at all. When we planted a Lebanese congregation up in Nahariya 15 years ago, these people, most of them, there were some Muslims, but most of them were nominal Christians. They started to get saved.

They got born again. We baptized them in Jordan. We were threatened by the Catholic priests. So they came to me and said, are you our priest? And I said, we're all called to be priests. They had no idea what I was talking about.

So the Lord wants you to know you are called to be part of a royal priesthood. He's the king. We're the king's kids. Hallelujah. You have a crown on your head, whether you know it or not. We've been crowned with goodness by the Messiah.

He says, you're a royal priesthood. Are you in union with the king of kings? Most of you in here probably never looked at this thing up here. You know why we designed that that way? We almost put some Hebrew words around there until he pours his spirit out on Carmel.

We were going to put that up there. That's a crown. And the rays of the king's glory are going out. There's four windows. They're going to the four gospels of the ends of the earth. I want to be part of the royal priesthood.

Not just the kids in YWAM be king's kids. We're king's kids. If you're born again of the spirit, you have the spiritual DNA of the Messiah in you. We are a new generation, the one new man of Jew and Gentile in one body.

All that is being restored in these days. You need to be in union with the king. In union with the king. Belonging to the king. It's not just a priestly tribe of Levi anymore. It's all of us. I think I said last week, I said to an Orthodox Jew once, if you do rebuild the third temple, how are you going to know who the priests are?

All the records have been destroyed. He said, anybody named Cohen is a priest. I said, I just read in the newspaper the biggest drug bust in the history of Israel in Tel Aviv was the man that was the main crook that went to jail was named Cohen.

Cohen means priest. Cohen means priest in Hebrew. So I said to him, you're going to get this guy out of jail and make him the high priest? What are you talking about? We are a chosen generation for now to sing the praises of the king of kings and the lord as the king's kids.

Of course Israel has a special call. The call is irrevocable. The gifts and calling of God on Israel and on any of us is irrevocable. God never takes back his call. And one day this nation will be a nation of priests.

But it will be impacting the whole world. Hallelujah. Isn't this wonderful?

I don't think I'm getting there. I don't think I'm getting through to you. Look, this is awesome.

That we can be the king's kids and worship the king in spirit and in truth and he can come in this meeting and worship with us. Hallelujah. Glory and legend. I'm going to run around this place. I'm a priest.

A royal priest. In the spirit because I worship the lord because I'm a prayer warrior priests pray. Priests praise. Priests proclaim the word of God. That's who we all are. A holy priesthood. A royal priesthood.

Hallelujah. A holy nation. The word in the original is ethnos. It's also a word for Gentiles. It's Jews and Gentiles together. The priesthood of all believers. He says, you are my own special people. Yeshua looks at you, the king, and says you are mine.

You are mine. You are mine and I am yours. Hallelujah. We're his special people. Glory to the privileges we have. All the promises of him are yes and amen and messiah. Look at the next verse. Verse ten.

Proclaiming the Praises of the One Who Calls Us From Darkness

Well, the end of verse nine. You are his own special people to hide your light under a basket. You are his own special people that you may proclaim the praises that you may praise him. That's what we do in this place.

Hallelujah. That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his fabulous, marvelous light. Hallelujah. You are his own special people to hide your light under a basket. You are his own special people to hide your light under a basket.

We need to be worshipers. We proclaim the goodness of the Lord. That's why we have worship watches up here during the week. People are in here just worshiping the Lord. Hallelujah. That's why Thursday night we had this big worship meeting here.

Because the Lord shows up and opens the heavens over Haifa and Galilee. Hallelujah. We go over the dung gate and get rid of the dung. We go to the water gate and get some water of the Holy Spirit. We go over the fountain gate and the fountain springs up.

And here come the fish. You know that Ariel here, my wonderful translator, he has a video that our communities have put together. And it's on the internet in Hebrew with also English subtitles. He's interviewing people and having these Jewish people read from Isaiah 53.

Person after person says, he says, who is that? Person, and they say, must be Yeshua, Jesus. You correct me if I'm wrong. 1 .2 million Israelis have viewed this video. 1 .2 total, including others. Okay.

Yeah, there's still a lot of Israelis. Listen, this is a new generation. Whoever heard of a million Jews hearing about Isaiah 53 when they don't even read it in the synagogue, we tell these young guys, I don't know much about the internet and all that.

I'm one of the few people in this room that reads books. I know you all have Spindle Kindle and whatever you have. This guy says, I'm on Kindle. I said to Karen, what's that? So I told these younger people, you go get the fish.

I don't know how to do the internet. You use it. So we worship the Lord. We go to the water gate. We go to the fountain gate, and here come the fish. Hallelujah. Eric Benson takes a team to Tel Aviv to the drug dens of Tel Aviv once a week, and some of them are sitting there.

They've been fished out of the dirty waters, and they've come into the kingdom of God. Hallelujah. He called you out of darkness. Were you in darkness before you knew the Lord? I was in deep darkness, believe me.

The call is a summons. It's not just saying, would you like to be a believer on the telephone? It's like a summons from the king of kings. You've been summoned to the court of glory. Here's your invitation.

Yeshua wants to bring you into the courts of glory. Hallelujah. He summoned us for this. He summoned to be in the courts of glory and be a royal priesthood into his marvelous, inconceivable light. This is where we need to live.

We need to reside in the light. Don't turn there, but in Revelation chapter one, the Lord shows up in his glory and he talks to the apostle John and he says, tell them you are kings and priests. The great high priest calls you to be a king in his kingdom.

Not anywhere near as big as him, but a king. One of the king's kids. You are kings and priests. We contend with the darkness. We battle the darkness in praise and prayer. We're in a spiritual war. We are a new breed of people who have a delegated authority from the king of kings.

Hallelujah. We should be walking in our inheritance right now. You have been delegated with authority and power from the king. Worship. It's foundational to kingdom advance. Where you see the great revivals or the congregations around the world that are in revival, worship is the key.

Worship as the Engine of Kingdom Advance

This great movement we've been involved with in Indonesia. There's hundreds, I don't know how many hundreds, pastors all over these islands. Every one of them is a worship leader. The apostle is a worship leader.

He wrote a song about love. They all sing it all over the Indonesian island. It's the largest Muslim nation in the world. And they hear that God loves them and they get saved. Worship brings kingdom advance.

Listen to me. Be a worshiper. I love what you guys do. You worship leaders. Praise the Lord. The two pastors with this group, they're worship leaders. Hallelujah. If I could sing a little better, I'd try to be a worship leader.

My wife said, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't go that far. Turn to Hebrews chapter two. Now that you know you're a king and a priest, turn to Hebrews. Glory to God. Glory to God. I've had such a wonderful time soaking in this royal priesthood.

Christ Worshiping With His Brothers

Hebrews chapter two. Verse eleven. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one. We are a new born again generation. A chosen generation. We are all of one with the king.

Because he is sanctified and he's sanctifying us, his children. Look at this. Let's read it again. For both he who sanctified and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren.

We're his brothers. We're brothers of Yeshua in the spirit. Hallelujah. We're in the royal family. Not the way nations do royal families, the way the kingdom of God does royal families. Look at verse twelve.

I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you. Who is speaking to whom? Yeshua is speaking. These words come from Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is the psalm about crucifixion.

Yeshua was, this was in his heart as he died for us that he would come into assemblies that want him and worship with us with his brethren. It's been on his heart for centuries. He's talking to the father.

I will declare your name to my brethren. That's us. In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to you. It's the song of the Lord. Yeshua is here. He's worshiping the father with us and he's moving in the midst of those people that want to get close to him.

We're his brethren. Hallelujah. Look at the next verse. And again, I will put my trust in him and again, here am I and the children whom God has given me. When I first saw this years ago that on the cross he said to the father one day I will be worshiping with Jews and Gentiles in my assembly, in my congregation.

I'll be worshiping with my brothers. We have Yeshua worshiping with us. We have the Holy Spirit worshiping with us and we have the father blessing the whole thing saying, look at my kids. Look at my kids.

You need to know the joy of the Lord. You need to know the song of the Lord. This is the song of the Lord. I will worship with them, my brethren. Hallelujah. That's the song of Yeshua. How many of you want to go deeper in worship?

A Call to Become Worshipers

I mean, you're really hungry to be a worshiper. I don't just mean once a week. I mean in your home, in your car, walking down the street worshiping the Lord. How many of you really want to be like that?

Raise your hand. Those of you that want to stand, everybody stand up. If you want to make a declaration today, I'm going to be a worshiper like never before. I'm going to ask you to come up here and we're going to pray with you.

You just come to the altar and say, I am going to be part of the royal priesthood. I heard it. I believe it. I'll walk in it. I will be a worshiper. Worship drives out the demons. Worship drives out depression.

The darkness flees. The enemy can't stay in the presence of pure worship. The power of the kingdom advances in worship. The word and worship together. Now worship him. Tell him how much you love him. Worship is just adoring the adorable one.

In Italy, they call worship adoration. They adore the Lord. Hallelujah. Worship the Lord. Tell him how much you love him. Have you told him today? Did you tell him this morning? Look what he did for you.

Here, I paid for these children. I bought these children. I brought these children. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Just open your mouth and praise him. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

He inhabits the praises of his people Israel. He's here. He's living right in this place right now. In us. He's manifesting himself right here. Hallelujah. We are a royal priesthood. A chosen generation.

Jews, Arabs, Gentiles, all together. Ooh, hallelujah. Ooh, shakalama. Look, say this from your heart. Don't let this just be another altar call. The garbage has to go. The house has to be clean. He who is sanctified and those who are being sanctified are all one.

When we get the garbage out and say, Lord, I don't want this anymore. Why waste our time when we could be worshiping the Lord? Glory to God. We want a movement of the Holy Spirit on this mountain, and we know it's coming, and worship is a key.

We are worshipers. Take the fire of Carmel back to where we are from. Hallelujah. Let's praise him.