SPEAKER_00: We're in the summer of Psalms and we're going through the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bible, you can turn to Psalm 84.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, welcome to the church.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Clayton.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the pastor here at the Ark.
SPEAKER_00: We believe God is doing some great things.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning it's our prayer that you would receive a word from Him that you'd be encouraged and strengthened in your faith.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Alright, hold your hands up.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to your neighbor, make sure they still got all their fingers.
SPEAKER_00: I know my neighbors don't.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to make sure that you do.
SPEAKER_00: I uh as we uh come into worship this morning, I want to tell you this story.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I I asked that for good reason.
SPEAKER_00: Um I have a great uncle who does not have all of his parts.
SPEAKER_00: Um he uh uh loved to go fishing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the only problem was he didn't like to use a fishing pole, he liked to use dynamite.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't go so well for him one time.
SPEAKER_00: And uh he lost his arm, his he lost his hand, and so he had a fake arm.
SPEAKER_00: And and back before technology and a lot of the advancements, right?
SPEAKER_00: Do you guys remember the arms that were controlled by the straps across the back, and it didn't have a hand on it, it had a claw on it.
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody know what I'm talking about, the metal claw?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just telling you, there's nothing scarier as a seven-year-old than watching your great uncle with a claw smoke a cigarette in the corner of the room.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I know we're at church, but um and uh I mean, those are the things that seven-year-olds' nightmares are made of, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but uh every once in a while, my family, we had a family tradition, uh, all the men in the family, great uncles, grandfathers, fathers, sons, we'd go fishing in Canada.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and so we would always go as a big group, maybe 10, 15 people, and and and we go to Canada, we go fishing, and and great Uncle Les was about 300 pounds, and he always had to sit in the front of the boat.
SPEAKER_00: Now these boats are no yachts, these are you know beautiful 14-foot uh John boats with about a 30 horsepower motor on the back.
SPEAKER_00: Great Uncle John, or Uncle Les, as we were going down the lake, here's what happened: he fell asleep.
SPEAKER_00: No big deal, except for when he fell asleep, all 300 pounds of him fell over into the boat and turned the boat till we were going like this.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that as a young preteen boy, I was more scared than I care to admit today.
SPEAKER_00: But I'll never forget that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been in a troubling situation that is etched on your mind?
SPEAKER_00: You can't shake it.
SPEAKER_00: It's like just the mention of it or the thought of it takes you right back to that moment.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget because in that moment, everything was out of control.
SPEAKER_00: The boat was spinning, doing circles.
SPEAKER_00: I remember we were all thrown to the side, but I'll never forget what my dad did in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know what it is about dads, they just had this superhero hat they put on from time to time.
SPEAKER_00: He grabbed me by the back of my shirt and he threw me to the other side of the boat and he dove over with me.
SPEAKER_00: We're laying on the other side to counterbalance the weight so that we would not catch water on the edge of the boat.
SPEAKER_00: In that moment, he reached over and he pulled the kill switch on the boat, and we just stopped and sat right there in the middle of the lake.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been in a troubling situation?
SPEAKER_00: And you are so thankful for the people who were in the boat with you.
SPEAKER_00: See, his presence in the boat made all the difference in the outcome that day.
SPEAKER_00: His presence in the boat made the difference between being left stranded in the water or being safe in the boat.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you this morning about the troubles of life because Psalm 84, I think, is the answer and the solution that we've all been looking for.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it doesn't have the name of your trouble on it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have any examples today, but here's what I believe: that when you embrace Psalm 84, when it's not just something you hear at church, but it's something that you live by throughout your week, I believe Psalm 84 has the power to help you navigate whatever troubled waters you experience.
SPEAKER_00: But what I've learned, and as we study this, here's the root of it all.
SPEAKER_00: You have to understand this.
SPEAKER_00: A great life is not the absence of troubles.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes we can go and think, if my life didn't have XYZ, then I'd be living a great life.
SPEAKER_00: If I didn't have to go through hard stuff, then how many of you know I'd be having a great life?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't promise a great life like that.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he gave quite the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: In this world you'll have trouble, but take heart, he says, because I've already overcome the world.
SPEAKER_00: What's he saying?
SPEAKER_00: It's not about the absence of trouble that makes your life great, it's about who's in the boat with you when trouble comes.
SPEAKER_00: A great life is not the absence of trouble, it's about the presence of someone.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of someone is Jesus himself.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of someone is God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The presence is the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
SPEAKER_00: And as we go through Psalm 84 this morning, here's what I love.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 84 is all about people who found themselves in trouble, but were overwhelmed by the power in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all remember back to COVID.
SPEAKER_00: COVID was about six years ago now.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a few years, and how many of y'all remember thinking, the world can't even shut down for Christmas Day?
SPEAKER_00: There is no way this place is gonna shut down for 30 days, 60 days, nine days.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all remember that feeling?
SPEAKER_00: And you know how everybody got online and now all of a sudden they were experts about everything?
SPEAKER_00: And uh we would just all be sitting at home watching videos of people pontificating about life and what the world was gonna be like and how it was gonna be forever changed, right?
SPEAKER_00: And like one of those things was this they said there would be no more movie theaters.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_00: They were like, no more.
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody been to a movie theater since COVID, right?
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are like, no.
SPEAKER_00: You know, got out of my house.
SPEAKER_00: I still love going to the movies.
SPEAKER_00: So I remember in COVID, them saying, No more movie theaters.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, that's that's my happy place.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want to watch it at home.
SPEAKER_00: I got things to do at home.
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll be mowing the yard.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I want to go to the movie theater and watch the movies.
SPEAKER_00: They all these things they said would never make a comeback.
SPEAKER_00: One of those in church circles we began to watch as people would begin to pontificate on the life of the church.
SPEAKER_00: What would happen after COVID?
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they were so adamant, some of these people, that they would say, Listen, now the church is online.
SPEAKER_00: There's no need to go back.
SPEAKER_00: We can watch it from home eating Fruit Loops in our underwear.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how good is that?
SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking in this season, it has to come back.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't know about you, but to me, there's something different about being in the room.
SPEAKER_00: There's something different.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you go on vacation, please watch online, listen to other pastors throughout the week, listen to podcasts, do these things.
SPEAKER_00: They're strengthening you.
SPEAKER_00: But don't ever neglect being in the room.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm preaching to the choir today.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are here after 4th of July, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: I already talked to Jesus this morning.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You get a bigger mansion in heaven, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's not in the Bible, but just tell them when you get there.
SPEAKER_00: It's like there's something different about being in the room.
SPEAKER_00: I made a decision at the end of COVID as church began to kick off because how many of you know the Bible says that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.
SPEAKER_00: What happens is what we quickly realized is there are some things you can get at home that look different, but there are some things that when you experience it for yourself, it's all the more different.
SPEAKER_00: It makes all the more change.
SPEAKER_00: Three things that became a conviction for me when before we started the church as a result of COVID, and that is this three things.
SPEAKER_00: The people of God, the power of God, and the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I dream in alliteration.
SPEAKER_00: This is what happens to pastors.
SPEAKER_00: Three things.
SPEAKER_00: People of God, the power of God, and presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: The three things you don't experience on the other side of a screen the way you do when you just worshiped the way you just worshiped.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about Psalm 84 that we're getting ready to read is it was the people of God trying to figure out life's troubles.
SPEAKER_00: And what it's what they're searching for is the power of God in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes in my life I make things so complicated.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but uh, Lord, I need an answer about this specific thing and this thing over here and this thing over here, and what I find is sometimes when I just walk into the room with the people of God, I meet the power of God and the presence of God, and all of a sudden my question that used to be so big is pretty small.
SPEAKER_00: It's why what can happen in this room is sometimes I'll hear people tell a testimony and say, I just came to worship him, I just started crying.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: I just started crying.
SPEAKER_00: And I walked out, and when I walked out, it's like everything felt different for me.
SPEAKER_00: And almost the way they're telling me is they're saying, Pastor, like, am I making this stuff up, or does this really happen?
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, you're not the only one.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the presence of God and the power of God can be answers for you that your mind doesn't need, your spirit does.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God and the power of God going with you on a Monday, you may not be the smartest person in the room that you walk into, but if you walk into a room with the presence of God, you have what you need.
SPEAKER_00: The power of God.
SPEAKER_00: You may have a diagnosis or a situation that you're going through in life that's pretty hard and pretty troubling waters, but when you know the power of God is behind you, how many of you know it changes the way you walk into the doctor's office?
SPEAKER_00: It changes the way you walk into your home when things are falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: It changes the way you pray for your kids when they're navigating some turbulent waters.
SPEAKER_00: It it changes things.
SPEAKER_00: And so the heart of Psalm 84 is this today.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have a practical message for you.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to taste what the psalmist is writing about.
SPEAKER_00: And when you taste what it is that he's writing about, you'll be hungry for it yourself.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all know I love bluebell ice cream?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to wave it in front of my face for very long.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I already know what it tastes like.
SPEAKER_00: And because I already know what it tastes like, I already have a built-up double portioned hunger for it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I will eat it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I already have an appetite for it.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 84 is all about your appetite.
SPEAKER_00: I can't teach you about today.
SPEAKER_00: I can only help you experience today's message.
SPEAKER_00: Don't walk out of here and say, you know, the pastor didn't give me anything to do this week.
SPEAKER_00: Come up with something on your own, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to walk out today, and if you experience it, you'll want it for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: If you taste it, I don't have to give you 10 steps to do.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because when you wake up in the morning with the Spirit of God, the presence and power of God residing heavily on you like a cloud, then you'll wake up in the morning and do whatever He tells you to do.
SPEAKER_00: And quite honestly, it's far better than anything I could ever tell you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read to you Psalm 84 if you're ready.
SPEAKER_00: Say, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: My heart and my flesh they sing for joy to the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, and whose heart are the highways to Zion.
SPEAKER_00: As they go through the valley of Backah, they make it a place of springs.
SPEAKER_00: The early rain also covers it with pools.
SPEAKER_00: They go from strength to strength.
SPEAKER_00: Each one appears before God in Zion.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 O Lord of hosts, hear my prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Give ear, O God of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, our shield, our God, look on the face of your anointed.
SPEAKER_00: For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00: I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord God is a son and he is a shield.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord bestows favor and he bestows honor.
SPEAKER_00: No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord of hosts, here it is.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the one who trusts in you.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about the Psalms is they're so relatable to me.
SPEAKER_00: It's man's word to God.
SPEAKER_00: God packaged it up in the Bible and made it his word to you.
SPEAKER_00: And as you read it, you can understand it and relate to it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we've all been through the valley of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what it's like to be in a place we wish we weren't.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what it's like to wish things to be a little bit different than their current situation.
SPEAKER_00: But there's something about the man who is writing the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It's like this idea that he's on a pilgrimage or a journey.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the idea.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what Zion is like.
SPEAKER_00: Zion was Jerusalem where the temple was.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the presence of the Lord dwelt.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been somewhere before and you can remember it today as if you were still there?
SPEAKER_00: The smell, something, you smell something, and all of a sudden it triggers you back to a house you've been in before.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it's like for the psalmist.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, I've been there and I know what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, But I'm not there now, and my heart is longing and yearning to be there.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what it's like.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what the choirs of Jerusalem sounded like as they were worshiping in their temple, in their church.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what it was like to be in the city of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not there at the present moment, but here's what he's saying: But my heart longs to be there.
SPEAKER_00: What is he saying?
SPEAKER_00: The cry of his heart is, I want to be in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be where God is.
SPEAKER_00: I want to go where God is going.
SPEAKER_00: I want to do the things that God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: And so there is this sense that the psalmist, as he is writing, although he is not physically there, he is still there.
SPEAKER_00: There's this sense that in his mind and in his heart, he's visualizing what it's like to be in that place.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody right now is visualizing the Arctic cold.
SPEAKER_00: You're wondering, oh, if I could get out of this heat and go somewhere refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are visualizing vacation, if I could get out of work and only, if my circumcision, then I would be sitting on a beach somewhere, sitting on the beach enjoying the water in the waves.
SPEAKER_00: We all know what it's like to visualize a place that we're not.
SPEAKER_00: In the psalmist, what he's doing is he's visualizing in his heart, he's making a highway in his heart to Zion.
SPEAKER_00: What's the highway of his heart?
SPEAKER_00: The highway of his heart is, Lord, I want to be in your presence.
SPEAKER_00: I want to dwell with you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to go where you are going.
SPEAKER_00: I listen, how many of y'all remember going to church growing up?
SPEAKER_00: I remember, I remember when I would go spend time with my grandparents.
SPEAKER_00: They uh went to a cute little old church steeple, not in a barn like today, not the fancy innovations we have today, right?
SPEAKER_00: And it was in a downtown Presbyterian church on a on a city block.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh you'd have to parallel park and walk it.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all wouldn't even be able to go to church.
SPEAKER_00: You got a parallel park, and and um, but there are two things I remember when I'd stay with my grandparents, I always remember going to the church, right?
SPEAKER_00: You got the red carpet or the green carpet.
SPEAKER_00: Take your choice, right?
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but the other thing they had is uh uh I'll never forget they had uh a church bell.
SPEAKER_00: You remember the bell in the in the steeple?
SPEAKER_00: And and I remember if you got there early enough, you got to be the one that would ring the bell that church was starting.
SPEAKER_00: And what was it?
SPEAKER_00: It was it was to be a sign or a call.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, all come.
SPEAKER_00: Like church is beginning, have an expectation, come in, come receive.
SPEAKER_00: And I I remember ringing that what is it for me?
SPEAKER_00: It's a memory.
SPEAKER_00: I I went back uh to visit and I was there with my grandfather, and and a 50-year-old lady got asked to ring the bell.
SPEAKER_00: You would have thought she was seven years old.
SPEAKER_00: She was jumping up, swinging all that.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I realized: the excitement is the same.
SPEAKER_00: And what I wonder is, listen, uh what I wonder, we remember what it's like to be excited for something like that.
SPEAKER_00: But what the Lord is asking us is, do you have that same excitement today?
SPEAKER_00: And listen to what Charles Spurgeon said of Psalm 84 about ringing the church bells.
SPEAKER_00: He said this the Psalms declared that they could not remain silent in their desires, and they began to cry out for God and his house.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, they wept, they sighed, and they pleaded for the privilege, just like your kid did this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They wept to go to church.
SPEAKER_00: Please let me go.
SPEAKER_00: I know everybody after a late last night, they're like, oh, I can't wait to get up and go to church.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's like, I'm gonna do this.
SPEAKER_00: And what he's saying in Psalm 84 is their heart was crying to be in the place where God and his people were.
SPEAKER_00: There is a hunger there.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, some people needed to be whipped to church, drugged to church.
SPEAKER_00: Well, here are the sons of Korah, the writers of the psalm, and they are crying for it.
SPEAKER_00: They needed no clatter of bells from the belfry to ring them in.
SPEAKER_00: They carried their bell in their own bosom.
SPEAKER_00: Their holy appetite is a better call to worship than a full chime.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, talk about some powerful words.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying the appetite of their heart was a cry for work, a cry to be in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: I talked to a gentleman recently in our church and I was asking him about his vacation.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Oh no, I made sure to be back in time for church.
SPEAKER_00: I said, What?
SPEAKER_00: And I he said, Yeah, when I plan my vacation, I make sure we can still make it to church.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Why?
SPEAKER_00: Embarrassed?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just being truthful.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, why didn't you stay in Hawaii for an extra day?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Because what happens in the room is too powerful to miss.
SPEAKER_00: It was a conviction.
SPEAKER_00: He was preaching to me.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes I can get in a routine.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I can get in a rhythm.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I can, God, I've already sang that song.
SPEAKER_00: God, I've already read that verse.
SPEAKER_00: God, I've already it is a reminder that the chime or the bell, listen, I know this illustration doesn't work too well for us because we don't have beautiful church bells anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We just have Syrian iPhone telling us, get out of bed.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying is there is a reminder on their heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a bell of a church that invites them to come into the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, are you hungry to be in the presence of God?
SPEAKER_00: What I love in Matthew 18, 20, where two or three are gathered, he says, There I am with them in the midst of them.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love is we're celebrating the 4th of July this week.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of y'all are thankful for your freedom to worship God?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, the best way you can celebrate the 4th of July had nothing to do with the fireworks you popped last night and nothing to do with the barbecue yet.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the greatest way to celebrate your freedom was exactly what you just did the last 30 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: There's this sense inside, you're celebrating the freedom to worship.
SPEAKER_00: We're the greatest country in the world, and what makes us great is not our prosperity, it's not our policies, it's not our parties.
SPEAKER_00: What makes us great is the fact that we have the freedom to worship God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in Nigeria, last year in 2025, 3,500 people were killed doing just what you're doing just right now.
SPEAKER_00: Just doing what you did in coming into the presence of God to worship with God's people in his presence, in his power, in Nigeria alone, 3,500 people were killed for doing that.
SPEAKER_00: You read of these countries all over the world, Iran and Sudan and North Korea, all these places.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have the same freedom.
SPEAKER_00: But we get to celebrate the fact that I just wonder is our hunger and desire.
SPEAKER_00: Have we grown dull to the fact that this is a privilege to be in his presence?
SPEAKER_00: And as we read this, I want to give you some things.
SPEAKER_00: I've titled today's message The Power of His Presence.
SPEAKER_00: The power of His Presence.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you three things out of Psalm 84 that I think can help cultivate an appetite and a longing to be in God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: I want to make something clear this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't do this last service.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just referring to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: There is an idea that one day when we die, that we know for a fact, because we are believers in Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, that he paid for our sins, we will spend eternity in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Where?
SPEAKER_00: In his presence.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God, right?
SPEAKER_00: There is that sense that I'm talking about today, but I don't want you to neglect the ever-present reality of today, just thinking I'm only talking about one day.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it says that when Jesus entered the world, it said, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says in the gospels.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means the second that Jesus took a step, took a breath on earth, that heaven was begun to be pulled down by Jesus into our earth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you don't have to wait for the one day to experience the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: You experience the presence of God in your day today.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus says, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he says, He'll be in you, and I will be in you and I will dwell with you.
SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He pulled the presence of God and he placed it right here inside of us.
SPEAKER_00: So I got three things for you.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, this morning is this His presence is your strength.
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle the troubles?
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle the Water.
SPEAKER_00: You have to know this.
SPEAKER_00: God's presence and being in God's presence is the greatest weapon you have.
SPEAKER_00: It is the greatest tool on your tool belt.
SPEAKER_00: It is your strength.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 through 7.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those whose strength is in you and whose heart are highways to Zion.
SPEAKER_00: As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.
SPEAKER_00: The early rain also covers it with pools, and they go from strength, underline this, from strength to strength.
SPEAKER_00: Each one appears before God in Zion.
SPEAKER_00: The valley of Bacca, the idea of the Baca, it was a type of tree, and it only resided in this certain area, and it was a very arid and dry place.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all ever been to West Texas and thanked God for your promised land right here in Magnolia?
SPEAKER_00: You've been to West Texas and the hot air hits you, the wind hits you, and it's hotter than the air.
SPEAKER_00: And you're thinking, yep, this is not the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: This is the idea behind this passage.
SPEAKER_00: It's a dry place.
SPEAKER_00: It's an arid place.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever been in the valley of trouble, you know that it can feel dry.
SPEAKER_00: You know that you can feel parts.
SPEAKER_00: You know that there are places of our lives that can be in a in a in a valley of trouble.
SPEAKER_00: And what the psalmist is saying here is he's saying, I'm out here in a dry place, and I'm longing to be in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about the ill- the way that he writes this is he says, he's gonna make it a place of springs and rain and pools.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know God can take the dry places and make them fresh and new again?
SPEAKER_00: God can take the dried up, hard places of our life.
SPEAKER_00: He can file them down, he can soften them up, he can make them new again.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Psalm 84 is referring to.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, in the places where it was dry for you, I'm going to fill it.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, you might live in my neighborhood and you're about to find out where I live here.
SPEAKER_00: We had a billboard in our neighborhood, said, um, it said, pool coming summer of 2025.
SPEAKER_00: You miss it?
SPEAKER_00: Coming summer of 2025.
SPEAKER_00: The billboard's still up.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they gave us an expectation that in our neighborhood, listen, if you live in Houston, you just need some water to get into.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like I I went out the other morning at 6.30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: I thought I'm gonna go walk and read and pray.
SPEAKER_00: I went at 6.30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: thinking I'll be cooler.
SPEAKER_00: I was sweating at 6.30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know when you get hot and you're tired, and you just need a place to cool off?
SPEAKER_00: You need the waters.
SPEAKER_00: The waters are refreshing.
SPEAKER_00: The billboard said pool coming summer of 2025.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all know that has been my worst nightmare?
SPEAKER_00: Because my kids every day ask me when that pool is gonna be done.
SPEAKER_00: Coming summer of 2025.
SPEAKER_00: It created an expectation that relief was coming, that that water was coming, that it would be fresh and it has not been met.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in life we get in those dry places and we feel the same way.
SPEAKER_00: So what the billboard said.
SPEAKER_00: But the roadmap said, but I always dreamed that it would be and what what what are we what are we grieving?
SPEAKER_00: The lack of met expectation.
SPEAKER_00: The feeling that we're not in the place we wish that we were.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of y'all know just miraculously the other day drove by?
SPEAKER_00: There was a hole in the ground and they filled it with water in my neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: It may not have come when we thought it would come, but it's here.
SPEAKER_00: A place in the ground that was empty before has now been filled with water.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the psalmist is getting at.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying the dry place, one day you'll wake up and you'll realize there is water raining in this place.
SPEAKER_00: The dry place is be he he calls it a pool, uh, springs.
SPEAKER_00: The early rain is bringing springs and pools of water.
SPEAKER_00: What is he saying?
SPEAKER_00: The dry places are being filled, the hard places of our life can be eased with the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he's saying: that the thing that you need is the strength of the Lord, and the strength of the Lord comes from being in the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get this.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get this in our American culture.
SPEAKER_00: I don't get this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I'll be the first to admit why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we live in a culture and we live in a world that says you work harder, you work smarter, you put in your effort, if you want to make more money, you work harder, you get a promotion, you'll make more money.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture, in a world that says if you don't have it, you better work hard for.
SPEAKER_00: We're all about effort around here.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, I uh y'all should go to work and work hard.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: You do everything as unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But let me tell you something: the kingdom of God works upside down.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work the way that our kingdom works right here.
SPEAKER_00: The strength of the Lord does not come by you working harder.
SPEAKER_00: The strength of the Lord is not, oh, you were a good Christian, you read your Bible seven days in a row, and now strength can come.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, reading the Word of God will bring you strength, but listen, it's not by your effort that the strength of the Lord comes.
SPEAKER_00: The strength of the Lord comes in the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So if you need strength, if you are weak in an area of your life, if there's something in you that feels frail or fragile, the strength comes to you not in what you do, but in how you be.
SPEAKER_00: Not in what you do.
SPEAKER_00: That I don't even know if this grammatically makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even really care.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna preach it anyway.
SPEAKER_00: It comes in how you be.
SPEAKER_00: When you can be in the presence of the Lord, what he says is strength comes to you.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all need this word today because you're going through the troubling waters.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all need this word because you're on that boat that I was on physically, doing circles, wondering who's gonna pull the kill switch on this thing.
SPEAKER_00: What the Lord says is the strength will come in the presence.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's important to come to church on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's not to hear me preach, it's not to hear a new song, it's not because you just like the people that come here, don't like the people.
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not why we come.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 10 says, don't neglect the gathering of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: He says, don't stop.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he knows you need the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but Pastor, I can have the presence of the Lord in my car in 1488.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you know?
SPEAKER_00: There's different flavors, there's different styles, there's different expressions.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what you need to know: the Lord is with you everywhere that you go.
SPEAKER_00: But when two or three are gathered together in his name, here's what happens: there is a release from heaven, a revelation from heaven that comes and supplies the strength that you need.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but Pastor, I'm not in a lot of trouble today.
SPEAKER_00: Good, I'm glad, but guess what?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say that, but maybe.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not in trouble today.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You still need the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because every man who thinks he's strong finds out one day when the fire is on, or when the waves get bigger, what's on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the faith-filled side.
SPEAKER_00: The faith-filled side is Psalm 84 says this that in the presence of the Lord, in his dwelling, strength comes to you.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he says: from strength to strength.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it continues.
SPEAKER_00: Strength to strength has this implication.
SPEAKER_00: It's growing, it's multiplying, it's compounding.
SPEAKER_00: The idea is more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: I know some of y'all maybe sing that song and you thought, man, we sing more and more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of got excited about it.
SPEAKER_00: I had to sing it two services.
SPEAKER_00: More and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: What am I doing?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just reminding myself that God doesn't run out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just reminding myself that, man, I may get tired, but but the Lord ain't getting tired.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just reminding myself that just when I think I got all that he has for me, there's always more with God.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I love Ephesians chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He can do exceedingly abundantly more than all we ever asked, think, or imagine.
SPEAKER_00: It's the idea that his well and his pool and his rain never runs dry.
SPEAKER_00: It's from strength to strength, but you have to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to exchange your strength in his presence for his strength?
SPEAKER_00: The source of your strength determines the strength of your strength.
SPEAKER_00: The source of your strength, where you get your strength from, determines just how strong it really is.
SPEAKER_00: How do I know?
SPEAKER_00: Because I do a lot in the water.
SPEAKER_00: I spent 4th of July just yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: I was in the lake and I was swimming and I was swimming and I was swimming.
SPEAKER_00: I got little kids.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you know those little kids get tired of swimming?
SPEAKER_00: And a phrase like this always comes out.
SPEAKER_00: Dad, I can't swim any farther.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just hold on to you?
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you know?
SPEAKER_00: I'm swimming across that lake, and I got a four-year-old on one side and a seven-year-old on one side, and I tell them, keep kicking.
SPEAKER_00: Do they keep kicking?
SPEAKER_00: No, what are they doing?
SPEAKER_00: They're saying, when my strength to keep going has worn out, I'm going to exchange or trade my strength, and I'm going to hold on to dad's strength.
SPEAKER_00: They're going to get places in the water with me that they would never get on their own.
SPEAKER_00: But it requires an exchanging, a changing of source of strength.
SPEAKER_00: They have to no longer depend on their strength, so that they can depend on my strength, and they will get places in the water they would never get on their own.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 84 says, the early rain is coming for you in your life.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, which pool are you going to swim in?
SPEAKER_00: What spring are you going to hang out in?
SPEAKER_00: And you can hang out in your own, or you can exchange your strength in his presence for his strength.
SPEAKER_00: Where's your strength coming from today?
SPEAKER_00: Number two is this his presence is your shield.
SPEAKER_00: His presence is your shield.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 84, 11 and 12.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord God is a son and shield.
SPEAKER_00: He bestows favor and honor.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: No good thing does he withhold.
SPEAKER_00: No good thing.
SPEAKER_00: He's not holding back.
SPEAKER_00: Nah, not for you, just for them.
SPEAKER_00: He's not holding back.
SPEAKER_00: No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
SPEAKER_00: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what you gotta understand about Psalm 84.
SPEAKER_00: There are beatitudes in Psalm 84.
SPEAKER_00: If you ever remember Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, he had the beatitudes, what we call the beatitudes.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Blessed is the man who does fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There's different beatitudes.
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 84, there's three of those.
SPEAKER_00: One of those we just read, one of those is that blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why would you trust in the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: The only reason you're gonna trust in someone or something is because you believe they have the power to protect you.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen, I know we live in Magnolia, Texas, and chances are 99.9% of the room is packing.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: If I come to you and I say, Will you protect me?
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I know that you have a strength that exceeds my current situation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trusting in you to be my shield, to be my protector.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is saying, Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When you get in the presence of the Lord, here's what you're doing: you're trusting him to be your shield and your protector.
SPEAKER_00: That matters for the day that the boat goes awry.
SPEAKER_00: That matters for the day that water's coming in over the sides.
SPEAKER_00: That matters on the day when you're not sure if I should go to the right or to the left.
SPEAKER_00: That matters on the day when the marriage gets hard.
SPEAKER_00: It matters on the day when your kids aren't coming out the way you thought they might come out.
SPEAKER_00: It matters on the day when you're not sure what to do about the finances.
SPEAKER_00: What is the shield of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Or better said, who is the shield of your life?
SPEAKER_00: I um I love the line.
SPEAKER_00: He says, no good thing does he withhold.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I'm a grown bald man.
SPEAKER_00: I've not lived at home for over 20 years.
SPEAKER_00: But every time I go home, I want you to know I act just like a kid again.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, don't lie, you do it too.
SPEAKER_00: There is no age to when you go home, you're just like, Yep.
SPEAKER_00: I I think I'm just going to enjoy everything in their pantry, and I'm not even going to ask.
SPEAKER_00: And so some of y'all know this because you're like, I can be at my dad's house and I can go to the pantry and pack whatever I want in the bag I want and take it home with me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I we go to dinner, my wife does not like this.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even pay to offer to pay for dinner anymore.
SPEAKER_00: My wife is like, that is so rude.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hey, my sister lives in town with him and she gets it all the time, so I'm just making up for all the blessings I'm missing out on.
SPEAKER_00: Like what my dad doesn't send me a bill for the things I eat in his house.
SPEAKER_00: If I need to borrow, if I'm at his house, we fly in often, and I say, hey dad, can I borrow a car?
SPEAKER_00: I want to go see some people.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: He gives me the keys to his car.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't send me a bill for the nights that I stayed in his house.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: He's my father.
SPEAKER_00: He's my dad.
SPEAKER_00: And when I am in his house, I receive the blessing or the benefit of his covering, of his shield, of his protection, and of his dwelling.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, I get something there that I wouldn't get elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to know who's going to lunch today.
SPEAKER_00: And are you buying?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to come to your house and I'm going to rave your pantry.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have the same results.
SPEAKER_00: When we think about this, I want you to remember this because this is the way it works with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Are you not his son?
SPEAKER_00: Are you not his daughter?
SPEAKER_00: And when you get in his presence, there is a shield of his dwelling.
SPEAKER_00: He is the son and the shield.
SPEAKER_00: No good thing does he withhold from those who seek his faith.
SPEAKER_00: No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't just mean you have a perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say if you have a perfect life and never fail, then he'll be your shield.
SPEAKER_00: No, what it's saying is those who walk with him in his dwelling, in his presence, they receive the benefit or the blessing of those who trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to ask you this morning as we go, are you trusting the Lord's shield in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Are you trusting him for your provision and your protection?
SPEAKER_00: Are you trusting him over your kids?
SPEAKER_00: Are you worrying about what's going to happen to your kids?
SPEAKER_00: You know this infiltrates every area of your life, right?
SPEAKER_00: This isn't just about your finding.
SPEAKER_00: This is, you send your kids out on Friday night and all you can do is worry about what might happen to them and what might Did you know that the Holy Spirit of God is a shield that can protect your anxious, worrying thoughts and worrying mind?
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that the same Holy Spirit who can protect you when your kids are out on Friday night can give you peace in your heart can also be a shield that covers over them and their life wherever they go?
SPEAKER_00: The idea is this are you in the presence of God so that you begin to experience what it's like for Him to be your shield.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to Psalm 91.
SPEAKER_00: I say this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: This is my favorite verse.
SPEAKER_00: I can have a new favorite verse every minute, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's just how this is gonna go.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High, who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you, and no plague will come near your dwelling.
SPEAKER_00: We pray that over our kids every night.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, no evil is allowed to befall them and no plague will come near their dwelling.
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing?
SPEAKER_00: We're praying scripture.
SPEAKER_00: We're believing God in his word for his shield and protection over their life.
SPEAKER_00: For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
SPEAKER_00: On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
SPEAKER_00: You will tread on the lion and the otter, the young lion and the serpent, you will trample under feet.
SPEAKER_00: Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him.
SPEAKER_00: I will protect you, the Lord says.
SPEAKER_00: Because why?
SPEAKER_00: You know my name.
SPEAKER_00: And when you call on me, I will answer you, I will be with you in trouble, I will rescue you, I will honor you.
SPEAKER_00: With long life, I will satisfy you and show you my salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are like, you're not, you don't know how to read.
SPEAKER_00: No, I know how to read.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the psalmist who wrote it.
SPEAKER_00: If it works for him, it works for you.
SPEAKER_00: When you read scripture, if you don't see your life written in the pages, then guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You're not reading it right.
SPEAKER_00: Because the Holy Spirit, the word of God is living and active, and it's coming to you.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is your shield.
SPEAKER_00: Get in his presence, you'll experience it.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, his presence is your sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: His presence is your sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed, here's the third Beatitude.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are those who dwell in your house.
SPEAKER_00: Ever singing your praise.
SPEAKER_00: I love this because it has the idea that if God will take care of a bird, how much more will he not take care of you?
SPEAKER_00: That's why I love what Jesus says when he talks about worry and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: He says this if God clothes the grass of the field and he feeds the birds of the air, I think it's Matthew 6, he says, How much more will he not take care of you?
SPEAKER_00: The implication is if he can take care of a little bird, he can take care of you.
SPEAKER_00: The implication is this that the sparrow finds herself at the altar.
SPEAKER_00: The sparrow comes to the altar.
SPEAKER_00: It is at the altar.
SPEAKER_00: This is really important.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't just, you know, hey, free-for-all.
SPEAKER_00: This is at the altar.
SPEAKER_00: She finds the Lord as a shield, a safe place, a dwelling place.
SPEAKER_00: I love this idea of altar because here's what it reminds me of.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, you would see people would create an altar to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you've read some of this, you'll jog some of your memory here.
SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't, it's okay, I just want to catch you up.
SPEAKER_00: Every time they had an encounter with the Lord, they would create an altar to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Every time the presence of God was sensed in a place where God did something supernaturally beyond their own strength and beyond the power of their own shield, they would create an altar.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham created altars, Moses created altars.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua, they led the people across the river.
SPEAKER_00: They come across the river, and what did they do?
SPEAKER_00: That river was way too tall for them to get through.
SPEAKER_00: They came to the other side, and on the other side, they took the rocks out of the middle of the river and they set them up as an altar to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because how many of you know you're gonna keep going on your journey?
SPEAKER_00: In Psalm 84, he was on a pilgrimage and on a journey.
SPEAKER_00: Where was he going?
SPEAKER_00: He was going from strength to strength, glory to glory.
SPEAKER_00: He was going to the dwelling place of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So what happens is you create the altar and you come down here always and you're living your life and you're going, and one day you have a kid and you say, I want you to see something.
SPEAKER_00: You see that altar right back there?
SPEAKER_00: That's where God met me.
SPEAKER_00: You see that altar right there?
SPEAKER_00: That's where I knew the presence of the Lord was with me.
SPEAKER_00: And if he was with me then, guess what, son?
SPEAKER_00: He'll be with us now.
SPEAKER_00: And you're looking back at the altar.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the altar does.
SPEAKER_00: This is why this is so important in the Psalm 84.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, At the altar of the Lord, the dwelling place of the Lord, you're gonna be able to see the blessing of God in a way you've never seen before.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, it went from an altar of rocks and stones to they created a tabernacle for the Lord to dwell in.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they went camping.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody like to go camping?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you lie up in here.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all take your campers and go glamping, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That's not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: They created a tabernacle for the Lord, and the Lord dwelled in the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_00: It was made out of ropes and tent-like materials.
SPEAKER_00: And what they're saying is this is the dwelling place of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then they go further, and David instructs Solomon, and Solomon builds the temple, the first church, okay?
SPEAKER_00: They build a temple, and the temple had the dwelling place of God, and there was a place called the Holy of Holies.
SPEAKER_00: They had altars, they would come, they would cleanse themselves before coming in, they would offer sacrifices unto the Lord, much like your worship unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing about the the uh the temple is that this it had an eighty-foot-tall curtain in it.
SPEAKER_00: And they believed that on the other side, and this was true, that the presence of the Lord dwelt, but there was a curtain in their way until eventually Jesus came.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus came, here's what it says that curtain did not tear from the bottom up, it tore from the top down.
SPEAKER_00: What's that saying?
SPEAKER_00: Man, by his own strength and by his own shield and by his own power did not rip the curtain.
SPEAKER_00: God ripped it from heaven down with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And at that moment, the Holy of Holies was no longer in a church building, it was no longer about a bunch of rocks.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of God came to dwell with man, which is why Jesus said in John chapter 14, I am with you and I will be in you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's why this is really important because here's what it means: it means you don't have to create a place with rocks, it means you don't have to go before the temple in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It means that, like the psalmist in Psalm 84, you don't have to long for a physical place because God's already made his home in you and your life when you say yes to him.
SPEAKER_00: That the dwelling of place of the Lord is right here on the inside of you through the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Why is this important?
SPEAKER_00: Because it changes everything about the way you step into his presence.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I'm coming into your presence.
SPEAKER_00: I'm stepping in, I'm leaning in, I'm longing to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 27, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to choir of his temple.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you look at people in the Bible and you think, man, it'd be nice if I was them in their shoes and could see it the way they saw it.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you, you have it better than this psalmist today?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you don't have to long to go to Zion.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to long to go to the temple, you don't have to long to go to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Holy Spirit indwells you as a believer.
SPEAKER_00: That his presence is with you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to wait for a cloud to lead you and guide you and direct you.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is within you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to tie a pastor to your right hand and have a pastor walk with you everywhere you go to give direction.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the word of God already lives on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: Is that not the blessing of heaven?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Blessed is the person who stays there.
SPEAKER_00: But the question is this.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think they would create an altar and they would lay that altar there and they would go and they would live their life and they would forget that that altar was ever there.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know just because you've been somewhere before doesn't mean it's your place now?
SPEAKER_00: And the reality is this the sparrow went to the altar and found her home.
SPEAKER_00: The question today is when's the last time you've been to the altar?
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean at the front of the church.
SPEAKER_00: I mean that's that's great, and you should do that from time to time, but I'm talking about when have you been to the altar with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever moved from a house?
SPEAKER_00: You lived in that house?
SPEAKER_00: You take some people back, you say, I'm gonna show them our old house.
SPEAKER_00: You show your kids our old house, don't stop too long.
SPEAKER_00: You're kind of a creeper.
SPEAKER_00: You're sitting outside and you're looking in and you're like, hey, we lived here, this was our home.
SPEAKER_00: You have memories of that place, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: You know what it's like on the inside, you know what it smells like, you know the layout, the floor plan.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you had access to it, but that doesn't make it your home.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the people that are inside of it are not the same people that were before.
SPEAKER_00: And I just wonder this morning, have you recalled the altar of the Lord as if it's still the place you reside?
SPEAKER_00: But yet your heart has moved on.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord is saying, Come on, come on, there's a pile of rocks right here on the ground.
SPEAKER_00: Let's get the dirt off of them.
SPEAKER_00: And let's recall the day that we put them here.
SPEAKER_00: And let's talk about what God did for us then and let's step into his presence.
SPEAKER_00: When I moved away to college, my mom had a really hard time.
SPEAKER_00: My mom and I really close.
SPEAKER_00: We always have been.
SPEAKER_00: I packed all my stuff up in my room.
SPEAKER_00: I put it in boxes, loaded in my truck, headed for Texas, God's promised land.
SPEAKER_00: I was on my way, but it was hard for mama.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember putting my boxes in the truck, and I went back up to my room, and I found my mom in my room taking all the pictures off the wall and off the nightstands and putting them in the dresser upside down.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Mom, why are you taking everything out of my room?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, this is nothing like Hallmark, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Like in Hallmark, you know, you they leave the Hallmark movies, they leave for 20 years and they come back and their room looks just the same.
SPEAKER_00: The ribbons on the wall, you know, they come home to start a bakery or save the vineyard or something, you know.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't know because I never watched them ever.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh but when they come home, listen, all the ribbons are still on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: All the pictures, all the things.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like that.
SPEAKER_00: I walked up to my room and my mom had already whitewashed my room.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Mom, why would you take all the stuff out of the room?
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, You already took all the stuff out of the room.
SPEAKER_00: I said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: She goes, The second you took you out of this room, it no longer was the same as being your room.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember crying.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what she was saying: the same thing God's been saying all along.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a room.
SPEAKER_00: What makes it a dwelling place is you being there.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord says, My presence is here.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to dwell for a while?
SPEAKER_00: Would you bow your heads and close your eyes?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe put your hands out for a minute if you've never said yes to Jesus.