WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.519 You are listening to the Gateway Franklin Church podcast. 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:13.279 To learn more about Gateway Franklin Church, including our service times here in Franklin, Tennessee, visit us online at gatewayfranklin.com. 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.000 And now, here is this week's message. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.039 I've had three ministry lives. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:15.280 I had uh nine years of being a middle school, high school pastor, and nine years of uh being a missions pastor, and then the last 20 here at Gateway. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:33.599 Um one of the biggest decisions I made as a missions pastor was um was early in my time, it was 1998, I recall, and this young man came to see me and he wanted to attend a school. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:41.120 Uh you if you're familiar with Youth with a Mission, maybe maybe you're not, but a Wawam school in Jerusalem called a School of Frontier Missions. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:48.319 And basically was a training school on training you how to reach least reach people in dangerous parts of the world. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:56.799 And um I had not known him very long, um, but I felt compelled that we were to get behind this young man in his endeavor. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:11.199 Fast forward to summer of 99, I believe it was, when he falls in love with another student at the school, uh, a German young lady, um, and he calls to announce to me that they're engaged. 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:33.360 Um, but his then the sadness hit his voice because um neither of his, neither his family or her family were believers at the time, and they informed them they not only did they not approve of them getting married, an American marrying a German, and a German marrying an American, but they didn't agree with even what they were doing, and so they would not attend. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:34.879 They would not attend their wedding. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:37.280 So for me, the decision was already made. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:41.840 We began trying to book my trip, um, my trip to Jerusalem. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:47.199 So it was my first and only time to go to Jerusalem was for their for their wedding. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:52.240 Um, which it was a quick trip because they weren't going to be there. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:52.719 Right. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:03:00.800 So I land, I land one day, they get married the next day, I leave late in the evening the next day, and I tacked on another missionary to see in Scotland on the way. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.360 So I was in six airports in 10 days to make all of this trip. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:15.120 But I remember um the drive from Tel Aviv into Jerusalem and them putting me at a hotel um on the outside of the Kidron Valley. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:18.960 So they, you know, I I don't know the geography, I know the I know the words, right? 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.240 And so here's your hotel, it's uh the board of the Kidron Valley. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:23.520 I went, oh, Kidron Valley? 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.159 I mean, Jesus went up and down this valley his whole life. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:31.520 In fact, he he crosses the Kidron Valley to get to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his arrest. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:33.840 And I'm like, I was I was two things. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:41.199 I was so amazed at where I was, and I was still so jet-lagged that I couldn't sleep, that I read the entire book of Ezekiel that night. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:48.319 I read it, I read it start to finish because it's like chapter 38, you're getting into the prophecy. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:59.120 Now Israel is in um uh exile, and God asks Ezekiel to describe what he sees in this valley, and it was a valley of dry bones. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:04.960 And he says, Do you believe, prophet of God, do you believe these dry bones can wake? 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.199 And he says, I uh only you know God. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:16.639 He said, Prophesy to the bones, and and breath coming into the bones, and then the bones joining with the sinew and the and the tendons and the muscle. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.959 And so Ezekiel kind of in this prophetic vision sees Israel come back to life. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.000 I mean, that's what was that was going on in my mind. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:28.879 And it that Ezekiel ends, that the book ends. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:31.439 Um, did I even write it down? 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.959 I might not have written it down. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.560 It kind of ends with that this will be my place forevermore. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.560 And so that really gets my attention. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:48.800 The next morning, after not much sleep, the person who was coming to get me to walk me through old Jerusalem to get me to the place where they're married, we hit this kind of crossroads area. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:54.319 And it was just slam packed with people that he was able to get through. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:56.399 And I was having trouble getting through. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.240 Um, and we got to the other side now. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:03.040 We were late, and um, he's really rushing through Jerusalem. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:09.040 And I say, What, what, why were there that many people going in one direction? 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:12.240 I mean, it wasn't two-way traffic, it was one-way traffic. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.920 What why are so many people on that street? 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:20.240 And he says, Well, that's the Via Della Rosa, and those are tourists. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:27.839 Well, the Via Della Rosa was the road Christ carries his cross, the way of sorrows, through the city to Calvary. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.399 And he said, Those are those are tourists on that road. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:34.560 And I said, Look, I know we're late, but I'm gonna need a minute. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:42.480 I I was just the the complexity of the moment was for me was was staggering. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:44.560 I'm I'm trying to get somewhere. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.399 Someone's trying to get me there. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.240 I came for that reason. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:54.240 I didn't I knew there wasn't going to be this sightseeing in Jerusalem because of my limited time. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:57.279 And yet the moment just struck me. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:04.480 So these aren't my pictures, but um this is kind of the traffic we were trying to cross coming from another side. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:14.800 I mean that would be a group of tourists um making their way on the path of Jesus carrying his cross. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:19.519 And then this next picture, this is what it would normally look like without that. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:27.439 You can see what's striking is these shops to our left and right, there would have been shops to the left and right. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:37.360 So this is a this is a normal day in Jerusalem in which Jesus is carrying his cross for another public execution by the Romans. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:54.160 And what struck me was if I didn't pause in that moment, I would have let the hurriedness and the agenda of that day move me past a moment to encounter Christ. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.839 You don't need me to connect the dots there, do you? 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:19.360 Of how how often, two, two, two ways, and how often the hurriedness, the hurriedness, the agenda, the need to move on, the need to get here, the need to do that, that we can miss moments with Christ, that's one side of it. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:24.399 The other side would be how many moments Christ wants to spend with us. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.160 It's a it's a it's a it's a both, it's a both and. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:47.360 So the way I wrote it for the notes that will be on the, you know, if you if you ever miss a message or you want to get back to a message on the we have a podcast, you can just just get the audio, you can watch the whole worship service, and then every note that I put on a screen, all those notes are available on the website. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:49.439 But here's what I wrote for that purpose. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:54.800 I almost missed an amazing experience with Christ because of the hurriedness of the day. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:01.199 So today we pick up um we pick up our series in the Psalms of Ascent with Psalm 122. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:05.199 So if you you brought your Bibles, you want to look directly at the Psalm, that's where we'll get to. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:16.160 Um as a reminder or as a refresher, uh, the Psalms of Ascent are 15 consecutive Psalms from 120 to 134, four written by David, one's written by Solomon 10. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:34.320 Uh we do not know who wrote them, but they were compiled together sequentially for the purpose of being taught generation after generation after generation uh to the families that would go to Jerusalem for the three major uh festivals of the year. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:44.159 Um, I I don't have to tell you that Jerusalem is an historical place, but but do you know how historical of a place? 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:48.559 Um the Temple of Jerusalem sits on Mount Moriah. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:09:03.919 You first read of Mount Moriah as the place in which Abraham, God has led Abraham to for the for the stated purpose of sacrificing his son Isaac. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:07.679 Now, that sounds horrid. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:18.960 But if you if you if you peel the onion back a little bit, God takes this man and he tells them that I'm I'm gonna make you the father of a nation. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:34.720 And to illustrate that point of how vast of an impact this was gonna be, he literally takes him outside at night and says, Look up into the stars, that your descendants will exceed the number. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.600 How's that for a meeting with God? 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:44.799 But don't miss the fact that it was 25 years before Isaac is born. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:49.679 So here's this vast prophecy of how I'm gonna use you, Abraham. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.159 In fact, he's he said, I'm gonna I need to I'm gonna take you to a place you do not know. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.879 Are you going to leave and follow me there? 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:02.639 If you leave and follow me there, this is what this is what's in store. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:11.279 And then Isaac gets to be probably around 12, and then the next thing you know, God's saying, Oh yeah, that son I gave you to start this nation. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:15.360 I I I want to take you to a place where you are to offer him to me. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.080 It wasn't next door. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:21.679 Gets a servant and he gets the wood, he takes his son. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:24.320 The son's like, hey, I see the sacrifice. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:25.679 Like we're going to worship. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:27.200 You say we're going to worship, I see the sacrifice. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:28.720 I see, I mean, I see the wood. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:29.840 Um, I see the fire. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:30.960 I don't see the sacrifice. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:32.080 Son, God will provide. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:38.639 I mean, this is where we get, this is where we get introduced to Jehovah Jireh as the name of God, as God will provide. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.360 Like we're looking for rent, right? 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.159 Abraham's looking for his son, right? 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:45.919 That God would restore. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.759 So, so they make that trek up to Mount Moriah. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:53.759 About a thousand years later, this is where Solomon builds the temple. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.840 This is the promise land. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:07.679 This Mount Moriah is the land in which God promises Israel out of Egypt, a land that he's already been to, right? 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:09.440 We know he created it, right? 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:15.759 A thousand years before and starting the nation, this is where the temple gets built. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:21.519 Well, when Solomon dedicates his temple, you can read it in 1 Kings 8. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.840 There's his prayer is amazing. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:31.039 The the sacrifices given to dedicate this temple are staggering. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:54.399 Um, what the pieces of that passage that that move me the most, it says that after they have Solomon has prayed and they've they've had the worship and the sacrifices that the the Spirit of God descends onto that into that temple at such a density that no one could stand up to perform their duties. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:58.480 I mean, you've been in situations where you feel like it's heavy, right? 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:12.240 I mean, you think that it's so it's so dense that the weight of the presence of God was of the amount that you couldn't you you couldn't stand up, you couldn't try to stand up. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:17.360 It just continued to put everybody in this posture, this posture of worship. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.200 And this is kind of what the presence of God does. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:24.399 I mean, just it just puts you into this this posture of worship. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.799 But what I want to get to is God's response. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:34.080 Then then God doesn't just physically respond to the prayer and to the sacrifices, he verbalizes a response. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:37.039 You pick this up in 1 Kings 9 and 3. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:48.159 So when it says the Lord said to him, the Lord said to said to Solomon, the Lord said to Solomon, I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:53.600 I have consecrated this temple, which means I have set this place apart. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:01.759 I've set it apart, which you have built by putting my name there forever. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:13.600 And the Greek, uh the Hebrew there is the some call the fame name of God, his renown, his character, his reputation name of God. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:18.080 My eyes and my heart will always be there. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:24.879 My attention, my emotion will always be there. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:29.200 Those are pretty significant things. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:31.519 My name will be there forever. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.799 My attention and affections will always be there. 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:46.000 426 years later, the temple is destroyed by Babylon in response to Israel's, get this, ongoing worship malpractice. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:50.559 That's why we have Babylonian captivity. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:53.519 This is why the temple is destroyed. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:58.320 Ezekiel, this is where it was in my notes, and I was just ahead of myself. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:17.039 The end of Ezekiel, so Ezekiel's prophesying to the end of the Babylonian movement, when the when the temple would be restored, and his last words are, and the name of the city from that time on will be the Lord is there. 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.320 So temple's destroyed. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:29.679 It seems as if for 400 and some years Israel is a byword, but God's prophecy through Ezekiel is that the Lord is there. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:31.440 In fact, the Lord was always there. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:36.240 Nehemiah ends up rebuilding this temple on the very same mountain. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:48.879 By the time we get to Christ, 4,000 years later, Christ is crucified on Calvary, which is a ridgeline of Mount Moriah. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:58.720 So although God is not bound by geography, I believe the nation and the city still holds significant spiritual significance. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:05.200 So, with that historical background, yes, I will now do Psalm 122. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.039 Here's how it reads. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.159 Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.879 Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:30.480 That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord according to the statute given to Israel. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.679 There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:37.759 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:39.039 Remember, David's writing this. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:43.440 No one probably would have had the appreciation for Jerusalem the way David would have. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:43.919 Okay. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:46.399 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.879 May those who love you be secure. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:53.039 May there be peace within your walls, security within your citadels. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:57.679 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be within you. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:02.399 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.879 So the text breaks down in three sections. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:06.799 Here's kind of how I've labeled them. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:12.960 Verses one and two is an invitation to worship, is an invitation to joy. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:23.039 Verses three and five, refuge, unity, and justice are found in worship, i.e., they're found in the presence of God. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:25.840 And I'll unpack these. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:33.519 Verses six through nine, peace, security, and prosperity are all petitions that come out of worship. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:35.279 Leave that up just for a second, Kitty. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.440 I see I see pens going. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:43.840 Again, and this this will be on the website in the notes. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:45.679 When does it get up there, Eric? 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:47.039 By Monday. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:49.039 He's fast. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.559 He's fast. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.279 All right, so look, an invitation to worship brings joy. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:57.279 I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.559 Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:06.720 Don't miss that David expresses joy with the mere invitation to go to worship. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:08.480 It's just the invitation. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:09.599 I was glad. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:12.880 I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:19.519 Now, many times I talk about uh the three, the three festivals that every Jewish family were required to attend. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:24.799 Um the Passover, which was a celebration of the deliverance out of Egypt. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:36.880 Um, the Feast of Weeks, also called the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Pentecost, we might know it more by, which was a celebration of the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:43.200 I'm going to do a series at some point on mountains, of so much gets done on mountains. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:46.880 And then it was also the celebration of the first uh wheat harvest. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:18:00.240 And then the third was um booths, the festival of booths, it was to celebrate God's sustaining power through the 40 years of uh wandering in the desert. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:10.240 I mean, scripture is really cool when you when you read that in Exodus, that for 40 years they wandered, and the scripture says that their clothes nor shoes were out. 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:19.039 If you've got if you got boys, I want you to think about how many pairs of sneakers you buy. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:21.920 And and in 40 years it doesn't wear out. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:34.240 So so now generally when I've been when I've studied this, when I've taught this, um my mind unfortunately always kind of drifts a little bit into how inconvenient. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.519 How inconvenient. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:44.240 I mean, like, I want to go to the beach, but I can't afford the beach because three times I got to make my way to Jerusalem. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:44.799 Right? 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:46.400 I mean, it's it had to be. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.240 I mean, isn't it logical? 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:52.000 You go, like, we got a budget for three trips to Jerusalem this year. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:55.680 We got to get the family, all right, you know, hey dad, can we go? 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.640 No, we can't go because that month, you know, we got to go to Jerusalem. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:14.400 And but David is given this instruction and this emotion that's gonna be passed through generations to say, no, no, no, we we get to go to Jerusalem. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:25.039 We get to go into the presence of God, we get to go to worship, we get to celebrate all that he's done and what he's doing and all that he's gonna do, and we can't see all of that. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:27.599 Look, there's a reason why people live in the past. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:30.240 People live in the past because we know the past. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.559 You don't know the future, we barely understand the present. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:39.599 So I can understand why people would, but in this case, this is a good case to live in the past. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:43.599 It's a good case to live in the past of all of what God has done. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.640 Imagine every, maybe every generation, the new things that God had done. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:51.920 And so, and so here comes this trip to Judith. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:53.839 Let me tell you what God did this year. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.759 Let me tell you what God did this month. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:04.079 And it, you know, and so so there is a there's a joy at the invitation of coming into the presence of God. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:13.839 Um He's teaching, David is teaching successive generations that an invitation into the presence of God is an invitation to joy. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:15.759 I rejoiced with those. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:24.160 That worship is an inconvenient or it's not an add-on activity, that worship is central to our identity as a people of God. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:29.359 You'd have to be under a rock or hate soccer to know that it is World Cup. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:43.200 And there are thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people spending a lot of money, a lot of money going to great lengths to attend one of these events. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:55.599 And if you add up all those people in those stadiums during the World Cup, it wouldn't come close to measuring how many people around the world are in worship on the Sabbath today. 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:04.480 Longing to be in the presence of God. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:10.079 I I I can't I can't say it enough. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:14.079 I understand the hurriedness of life. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.640 I I live the same life you live. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.400 I understand the demands of life. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:33.039 It is so easy for everything else to supplant the joy that's possible in the presence of God. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:38.799 I commend all our young families with with little ones. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:44.880 So I I couldn't say this in the first service because my daughter and son and I were here, and they're two kids. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:50.559 So they're staying with us for a couple months while a house is being finished. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:55.519 And so generally speaking, you get to love on grandkids and leave. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.039 Ain't no leaving. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:21.920 I so we're like we're like firsthand watching all the all the the juggle of how do you and so my daughter's a wedding planner, so she works weekends and she had a wedding last night and got home after midnight and I I've stopped years ago I've I've tried to stop saying d you remember I'm the pastor, right? 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:25.839 You need to be in church. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:31.519 Um and to see them both to see them both at nine o'clock service with both the kids. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.200 Um and the kids clean, right? 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:34.559 I mean they look like they had baths. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:45.680 I mean it's just and I spoke to so many young families after service, like like one mom with tears in her eyes saying, You you it the struggle is real. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:58.160 But but the seeds planted, the seeds planted of this is not just this is not a cultural experience, it's not a social experience. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:20.079 This is the place of God with the people of God and the joy of being there is motivation enough to what to anticipate what what could happen if we get in front of God today? 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:30.000 When we we end the and then he ends the second verse and he said, My f our our feet are at the gates of Jerusalem. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:38.240 I I I think about the family pictures I see when people get to where they're going, and you know, they got the picture in front of the sign, you know, the state you just crossed, right? 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:45.920 Or or or where you've landed, and and you know, you want to get a picture of that sign of that national park, you know, because you're excited because your feet are there. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:50.160 So I got here early enough to get a picture for myself here. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:04.720 What you can't see is that was a jump. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:14.559 Um Gina told me I did not get off the ground high enough. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:18.240 So she deleted those pictures. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:24.480 I mean, for those you don't know, I've had a knee replaced, and uh, but um I don't think she was giving me credit for that. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:39.920 So so that was my that was my picture um of you know how you know how easy it would be after 37 years of full-time pastoral ministry to look at a Sunday as another Sunday. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:44.079 And I'm not saying I haven't done that, I'm just saying I haven't done it much. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:46.559 I haven't done it much. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:59.519 Because what a joy and privilege to gather with the people of God and the place of God, opening up the word of God, inviting the Spirit of God to change us. 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:04.799 So David writes this psalm, it's included in the Psalms of Ascent. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:13.279 I think specifically for those families that say we gotta go again, we gotta go again. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:16.480 And then it's early, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:19.759 No, we get we get to be in the presence. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:21.359 We get to be in the presence of God. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:27.039 And then he goes on, the psalm goes on, tells us what what happens, what happens in that. 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:32.640 Um verse three, four, and five. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:34.720 So I'm skipping a little bit, Kitty. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:39.519 Uh refuge, unity, and justice are found in worship. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:41.200 They're found in God's presence. 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:45.839 It says Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:53.680 That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord according to the statutes given to Israel. 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:57.839 There stands the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:00.400 Doesn't look like there's much there, but there's a lot there. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:03.519 Interesting language talking about how the city was constructed. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.119 How, how, why would how the city is constructed matter? 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:15.440 Because when it says it was like a city compacted together, it was speaking of it as a place, it was a safe place. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:16.799 There was safety. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:30.240 I mean, if it wasn't for God taking his hand off of this city multiple times, because again, worship malpractice, it would still, the fact that 4,000 years later we still have stone, I mean, still, I'll show you pictures later. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:32.640 I mean, tells you just how this thing was built. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:38.240 I mean, it was built strategically, specifically, from the tabernacle to the temple. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:48.240 It was done under precise, precise measurement, precise order, because God is speaking to the security that's found when you're in the presence of God. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:56.079 He consistently uses dirt and geography and structures and all this other stuff to speak about his continuity and who he is. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:03.119 What I love the temple, in fact, the scripture says that not one, not one iron tool was to be used in building the temple. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:05.279 That that was going to be a defilement. 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:06.960 Now, I can't explain that. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:15.359 I'm just telling you what the directive was, which meant that every big stone, and when you see there's just huge stones, all these stones were finished at the quarry. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:17.599 Now, I don't know, did they have to put A16? 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:26.400 I mean, I don't know how they put this thing together, but they're they're formed at the quarry, transported to Jerusalem, and put in place and have stood thousands and thousands and thousands of years. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:28.319 Ain't no mortar, there's no rebar. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:35.359 I mean, this this was put and constructed in a way to say, when when I'm a part of constructing your life, it is secure. 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:40.880 It will stay put no matter what kind of forces, what kind of weather, what kind of, it will stay put. 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:48.720 He's communicating that when the presence of God, there is security in this, it's a refuge to be in the presence of God. 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:55.759 And then David, it's unique that David would speak about the unity because David was king during a divided kingdom. 00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:04.880 The twelve tribes were ten and two, and yet when David becomes king in Jerusalem, then that he unites the kingdoms. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:13.680 And now the people of God, who with some even fighting and at war with one another, becomes unified in this place. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:17.519 There is unity that gets brought together in the presence of God. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:36.640 We can be so different in background and story and experience, but we can be unified under the presence of God, that it's his banner that marks us, identifies us, and that and that this is what we kind of unify underneath. 00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:42.799 And then so there's a there's a refuge, there's a unity that being in the presence of God brings. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:54.079 Um I'll say this sometimes I might be overseeing some kind of um dispute and argument, maybe sometimes with me, sometimes as couples, sometimes as other people. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:29:00.079 And I can tell you that when I when I pray, so I don't always pray, so you'll know my secret. 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.039 I don't always pray when first time when you come into my office about something. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:05.519 Like you might be in marriage class, I might not pray. 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:07.200 And you go, that's really strange. 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:14.240 Now I'm strategically waiting for the time where that prayer is going to change the temperature in the room. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.240 And it happens. 00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:20.079 It happens. 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:24.960 The emotion gets out, and here comes a pause. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:29.839 All right, that's an let's remember who we're underneath. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.759 And it changes the dynamic. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:37.039 There is there's a unity even in disunifying moments in the presence of God. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:38.880 And then justice is a unique one. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:41.119 How do you find justice in worship? 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:46.160 Well, they weren't just loading up to go to worship. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:30:01.200 Many times they were loading up, going to worship, and also this was an opportunity to be in Jerusalem to see the king, to see other government officials, to bring their case before the governing body to speak and write justice into what their problem was. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:11.279 So when we're in the presence of God, it's an opportunity for us to petition God on our behalf for justice. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:13.759 That we have his attention and worship. 00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:15.839 And listen, the Psalms are full of it, right? 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:22.000 You know, David's like, I'm not gonna mess with them, but I would really like you to destroy them. 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:22.799 Right? 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:28.079 I mean, the the pit they dug for me, can they fall in it? 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:30.559 The snare they set for me, will you snare? 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.079 It's like you think, oh, those good Christians, we're supposed to keep all this to himself. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:37.599 Well, I would what I would say is you can keep it to yourself, but don't keep it away from God. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:45.200 It's okay to scream to him for justice because we're putting it in the right hands. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:47.119 It's not my hands. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:48.720 I'm not very just. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:52.960 Or I can say I'm just, but it seems like I always win like that, right? 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:55.440 I mean, justice always falls in my corner, right? 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:55.920 Like that. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:58.000 We're putting it in justice. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:11.039 So he's he's excited about bringing them into the presence of God for the refuge, for the security, for the unity, and for the justice. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.200 Then we go to the next part. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:20.240 Peace, security, and prosperity are petitions of worship. 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:25.359 That that these are things by which to pray for. 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:29.039 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:31.839 May those who love you be secure. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:36.319 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.960 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be within you. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:42.559 He's praying for Jerusalem. 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:46.559 For the sake of the house of the Lord, I will seek your prosperity. 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:52.960 There was rarely a time that Israel wasn't underneath some geopolitical force, just like now. 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:58.400 And if you recognize this, when Israel's at war, the world's at war. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:03.039 And when Israel's at peace, the world's at peace. 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:19.119 And I don't want you to fall for the political rhetoric around diminishing the state of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the and the Jewish people. 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:31.200 There is a high, it has been a high, concentrated attempt to paint them in a light other than who they are and what they do. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:37.759 I'm not, I'm not, I can get into a discussion with you that's policy driven, and I'm not getting into you now. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:45.519 What I'm saying is this still applies to Jerusalem, and it still applies for reason. 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:57.279 But this but the dirt of Jerusalem, my dirt at 1288 Lewisburg Pike, and your dirt at 1280 Lewisburg Pike are both equally important to God. 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:03.119 But it doesn't diminish that dirt in Jerusalem. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:04.559 We have personal dirt. 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:05.759 You know, we're made out of dirt. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.359 You kind of breathe into dirt. 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:08.720 So we're dirt. 00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:12.799 I I carry the presence of God in my dirt. 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:19.200 So wherever I worship, whatever dirt I'm on, remarks that as geography for God. 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:21.039 I'm not I'm not losing that. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:25.920 I just don't want us to lose the significance of that other dirt. 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:27.839 So we're supposed to pray for its peace. 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.880 The most comprehensive word, Hebrew word for peace is shalom. 00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:32.640 Wholeness. 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:37.759 We're to pray for the wholeness of the place where we are. 00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:39.359 Right? 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.799 Because when when you're at peace, the people around you are at peace. 00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:45.759 When you're whole, the people around you are whole. 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:48.160 So it is it's a layered prayer. 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:53.200 David writes in terms of, hey, when when Jerusalem is at peace, we're all at peace. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:34:05.920 But we're to pray that I'm pr I should be praying this over Franklin, in Williams County, and Mara County, in Murfersburg, and Springham, Columbia, wherever I am praying the people where I work, my my house address, I'm praying for the wholeness of God. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:12.719 The Hebrew there for security, salah, means an ease. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:15.920 I'm praying for an ease. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:20.800 An ease. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:24.400 The movement would be at ease. 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:36.079 And then prosperity, it does carry the the Hebrew there does carry the the nature of prosperity, but but it also carries a nuance of moral goodness. 00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:38.880 To pray for the moral goodness, right? 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:40.719 So think about it as a people of God. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:53.039 If we are whole, peaceful, at ease, morally good, there is this representation of the presence of God there. 00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:58.719 So when people enter into our presence, they experience the presence of God. 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:06.400 So let me show you, let me show you a couple pictures here of Jerusalem. 00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:10.559 This is uh this is known as the Wailing Wall, the Western Wall. 00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:13.119 You probably have seen things over the years. 00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:24.239 What's really unique here is you see that that's not litter stuffed in those, they're not cracks, these would have been where where whatever would have joined these, you know, of just over 4,000 years, right? 00:35:24.639 --> 00:35:25.440 They're prayers. 00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:26.559 People would have written prayers. 00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:28.719 In the 80s, in fact, there was a fax machine down there. 00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:30.000 You could fax your prayer down. 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:31.039 And you put it in there. 00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:33.119 I'm sure there was a fee involved, but you know. 00:35:33.360 --> 00:35:37.840 Um let's show the let's show the next next picture there. 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:42.480 And so from just a handful to hundredths of praying. 00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:46.400 Well, what makes that piece of geography special? 00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:55.440 Well, it's because it is the closest place, it's the closest place to on the Temple Mount where the Holy of Holies would have been. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:56.960 Holy of Holies. 00:35:57.119 --> 00:36:07.760 This is where the high priest, one time a year, Yom Kippur, would enter behind the veil and offer sacrifice for the sin of a nation. 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:09.599 Happened once a year. 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:25.599 The priest, it would, it would, the priest would have bells woven into the robe, their robe, the bottom of the robe, and there would have been a rope tied to their ankle, because if you were not, if you were not sinless, holy covered, and you entered into the presence of God, you would die. 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:30.880 And so all that was, hey, is he still there, you know? 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:42.880 And so this veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple is the same veil when we read that Christ then says it is finished on the cross that is torn from top to bottom. 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:45.280 This ain't this ain't a little curtain, right? 00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:53.280 This this is would make a theatrical curtain seem small, 40 feet or so ripped from top, top to bottom. 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:59.360 And this is the closest they feel comfortable getting to that place. 00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:02.800 And this is why people flock to that wall. 00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:12.880 They're flocking not to a wall, they're flocking to an historic presence of God that said that my name will be there forever. 00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:19.920 My eyes and heart will be attentive to that place forever. 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:27.920 And I get that that applies to me too, but it hasn't stopped applying to there either. 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:31.360 Let's show the next picture. 00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:33.280 This is the eastern gate. 00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:36.480 You notice there's a cemetery in front of the eastern gate. 00:37:37.679 --> 00:37:40.480 Jesus enters through the eastern gate. 00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:50.639 When he comes into Jerusalem, well he would have, who knows how many hundreds of times he did, but on the weekend of the crucifixion, that's the gate he entered into the temple. 00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:56.559 And when he exited the temple, sometime later, that gate was sealed. 00:37:56.719 --> 00:37:59.679 Ezekiel says the gate would remain sealed. 00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:05.519 But Ezekiel also says that Jesus will return to the Eastern Gate. 00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:12.480 It's been sealed off and on for generations, but it's been sealed for the last 500 years. 00:38:12.559 --> 00:38:16.000 It was sealed by the Ottoman Empire, Islamic movement. 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:25.119 Um and there was a there was a stated um uh safety piece to it. 00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:30.239 There's a valley down there, we limit how many people, we limit the entrance into the city, we can be more secure. 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:40.559 But I mean, there were sources that I read also state to knowing the prophecy and sealing the gate for Jesus not to be able to come back. 00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:45.440 So then you compound that later with an Islamic cemetery. 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:50.480 As if I mean, obviously, we know two different gods, right? 00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:56.480