The Church of Zion

The driving force behind David's church was total dependence upon the Holy Spirit. “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13, NKJV).

When David was on his deathbed, he said to his son Solomon, “I want to tell you why God has blessed me. I want you to know the secret of my ministry.” Listen to David's last words to his son. “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2). David was saying, “I didn't trust in my knowledge and wisdom. I didn't trust in any part of my flesh. I was a weak man, but I depended on the Holy Spirit! Every word I spoke was under his anointing. His words filled my mouth.”

When we opened the ministry doors at Teen Challenge here in New York City, our motto was “The Holy Ghost is in charge here.” It wasn't “how to cope” preaching that saved gang members. They didn't fall on their knees because we preached concise, pithy sermons. They weren't convicted by pointed illustrations and nature stories. No, these former drug addicts testified to their friends, “I once was on the street like you, but look at me now! The Spirit of God changed me.”

Solomon spoke of trees, hyssop, beasts, fish, creeping things; but David spoke of intimacy with the Lord, of brokenness and contriteness. David was convicted and changed by his own preaching. He so valued the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life that he asked the Lord never to take his Spirit from him. David knew he was nothing without the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul agreed when he said, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). “We also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches… But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him: nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14).