The incarnation is a description of what happened to Christ…

[John1:14]  “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”

And a prescription of what must happen to Christ-follower…

[Phil. 2:5-8]  “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant”

Are you working a minimum-wage, lifeless job, wishing you could own a corporation so that you could really be used by Christ?

Consider Eleazar, one of the three mighty men of David:

He was with David at Pasdammim when the Philistines were gathered together there to battle, and there was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled before the Philistines. They took their stand in the midst of the plot and defended it, and struck down the Philistines; and the LORD saved them by a great victory.  [1 Chronicles 11:13-14]

Notice the bold type. What was Eleazar guarding? A huge mission field? A corporate job and a seat of power? A government position? A holy temple?

No. It was a dumb field of barley.

But it was the Lord’s field!

Here’s what separates Eleazar from many of us: Our ownership of responsibility sometimes stems from the worth of the responsibility itself, but Eleazar’s sense of stewardship arose from the boundless worth of His God.

This is the difference between a lifeless Christian drudging through a boring job from 9-5 without any purpose, and a warrior who feels the weight of glory upon them regardless of the task at hand.

God is unrestrained to do mighty acts of grace amidst ‘drudgery’ if only we would trust him to do so, and prove it with our faith.

So stand firm at your plot of barley.

The Holy Spirit will always exalt Christ…

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me” [John 15:26]

…so if we are in a gathering asking for the Spirit of God to fall, we should always have in mind that the Holy Spirit will seek to put Christ on display over everything else (including us). Is this really our heart’s desire when we ask for the Spirit to come “like a rushing wind” like in the book of Acts?

Now it’s not as though the Holy Spirit needed to add to or magnify Christ’s qualities the way a microscope magnifies something that is really small so that it appears wonderful, for Christ is inexhaustibly wonderful whether we look at Him or not!

The Holy Spirit acts more like a telescope.

A telescope takes things that are already big, bright, and wonderful, but which we of faint eyes cannot see, and it brings them close to our faces so that we might be able to enjoy what is truly there.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit opens human eyes to see the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” by putting Him on a blazing display, thereby allowing us to see Jesus as the treasure that He really is (2 Corinthians 4:6).

A worshipful response to grace:

“what is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?” [2Sam9:8]

A working definition of glorious:

1. “completely enjoyable”

A working definition of blessed:

1. “blissfully happy”

Consider then what Paul taught Timothy…

“It was according to the [completely enjoyable] good news of the [blissfully happy] God,” with which Paul had been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:11)

We have been entrusted with this too. Be happy!

2 Samuel 6:11 - Thus 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.

Several verse previous this this one, Uzzah is struck down for touching the same ark out of irreverence.

• Was it because Obed-edom was more respectful than Uzzah that he was blessed and not killed?

• Was it simply because of grace that God chose NOT to strike down Obed-edom?

• Maybe it was a mixture of His grace and their reverence.

I want the presence of God in MY house.

Self-help is both ungodly and unbiblical.

Even king David had his eyes on grace:

Psalm 61:2 - “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I”

When your boss hates you, be even more of a selfless servant.

Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually. Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed. [1 Samuel 18:29-30]

1 Samuel 12:23
“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you”

Whenever I neglect praying for others, I unknowingly (yet casually) consider it to be simply a spiritual benefit that never reaches others in my forgetfullness.

But Samuel seemed to categorized it with every other sin: offensive to the Lord.

Caleb’s passion was like a fine wine, it grew sweeter with age

“I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God” [Joshua 14:7-8]

1) Don’t let negative people pressure you into retirement.

“And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming” [Joshua 14:10-11]

2) Don’t let old age pressure you into retirement.