God With Us // With us in the Valleys

Today we're going to be in Psalm 84, psalm 84.

And it's been a couple of weeks since I've preached, so I am ready to get back at it.

We're starting a new series today entitled God With Us.

You guys hear something, a little music behind me or something, a pad, ok, something, just kind of throw me off a little bit.

It's OK, god With Us.

Now.

Last week, dr John Harris gave a message that said what separates Christianity from every other religion is this truth that God is with us.

Now you might have thought you might be thinking you guys planned this, didn't you?

Dr John gave a message.

You gave a message.

You planned.

Actually, we didn't plan this at all.

It was like, completely it just so happened that I'm preaching on the same thing and I will say this if you were not here last week and you missed Dr John's message, do yourself a favor and go and check out that message.

If you were here, can you say amen to that message?

It was good.

So check it out on YouTube or check it out on the podcast.

It was that good and as we're in this time of the year, we really remember that the reason we have this time of years is because of Jesus like.

Jesus is the reason for the season.

He's the reason for the season.

Now.

Do we like Christmas lights?

Of course we like Christmas lights.

Do we like Christmas parties?

Yeah, we do.

Do we like Christmas movies?

The front row loves some Christmas movies.

Right, we love Christmas movies.

Any Home Alone fans in the room Guys, classic, classic unit that's one of the movies I got to watch every year.

Anybody with me?

Yes, ok, I feel it right.

Home Alone.

I like Christmas movies, much of everybody.

We like Christmas movies.

But Jesus is the reason for the season.

In fact, in Matthew, chapter 1, it says this.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

It says the virgin will become pregnant and will give birth to a son and they will name him Emmanuel, which is translated let's say it together.

It's translated God is with us.

So what are the names of Jesus?

It's Emmanuel, which means God with us.

Now, I don't know if you're thinking like me, but on the mountain tops of life, it's far easier to remember that God is with me than when I'm in the valleys of life.

In the mountain tops of life, when you get the pay raise, when you get the new job, when family's going well, when you're on the beach, on vacation, god is good, he is with me.

But sometimes, when we get down into the valleys of life, it's harder to realize that when we're in the emergency room, in the ICU, in the doctor's office, at the funeral, in the therapy session, in the relational conflict, in the job loss, it's hard to remember that God is with us.

But if you're a follower of Jesus, he's with us.

And here's something that's really important to know Is that God isn't just like aware of you.

God is actually with you.

God is not just aware of us.

God is actually with us.

Because you think like there's a difference between being aware of something and actually being with someone.

I can be aware that somebody's over here, they're doing this, they're at the hospital, I can be aware of that, but it's different to know that God.

It's different than if I'm actually with them and God isn't just aware of us, but God is actually with us.

He's with us in the valleys.

Now, when you look at scripture, valleys were times of difficulty, they were times of hardship, they were not times of ease and comfort.

And a question for you this morning how many of you would say, hey, nate, I got a difficulty or two in my life right now, maybe somewhere at home, at work, somewhere something going on.

Like I have a difficulty or two.

Go raise up your hand.

If that's you, majority of people raise their hands.

Here's the thing, guys.

You are not alone.

You are not alone.

Maybe you're in a valley right now, maybe you have a difficulty.

A valley would be a time of hardship.

A valley, a time of maybe loneliness or a time of pain.

But God is with us in the valley and today what we're going to see in Psalm 84 is because God is with us in the valley.

How do we get through the valley?

How do we get through what we're going through?

How do we get through a valley that might be so deep you can't even see light?

How do we get through a valley where it's like I don't even know what to do?

Today we're gonna see what to do in the valley from Psalm 84.

And if you're ready for it this morning, would you say amen.

Psalm 84, verse five says this.

It says happy are the people whose strength is in you.

That is God.

Happier the people whose strength is in God, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

Can we say that underline phrase together ready Hearts are set, hearts are set on pilgrimage.

What is this talking about?

Well, for these people here, every year, a couple of times, they would have to go to Jerusalem.

They would have to take a pilgrimage there to take part in the sacrifices, to take part in the feasts.

This is where they went to worship God.

So their hearts were set on going to worship God.

Their hearts were set on God, which is great, which is awesome.

But there was a challenge To get there.

They had to go through the valley.

In verse number six, it says this.

It says as they pass through the valley of Baca, the valley of Baca they make it a source of spring water.

Even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings.

Now some of you are thinking what kind of a name is Baca?

My Star Wars people in the room, yeah, how many of y'all were thinking Chewbacca?

That's right, that's right.

Some of y'all were thinking Chewbacca is called the valley of Baca because they would actually have these trees in this valley called Baca trees, and these trees would ooze out sap.

Now, when I was a kid and I would try to climb a tree, I would hate the trees that would ooze out sap that get all of my hands and clothes.

I don't know if any of you guys were clean were tree climbers when you were younger.

Maybe you're still a tree climber.

That was me right Climbing up on the tree and I'm like, ooh, sap, whatever this Baca tree would have sap that would ooze out of it and it looked like the tree was crying.

So in your translation, instead of saying valley of Baca, it might say the valley of weeping or it might say the valley of tears.

And here's why Because this tree, it looked like it was crying.

And in this valley of hardship, in this valley of difficulty, they would say man, this is tough.

We're just gonna call it the valley of Baca because that tree's crying, it looks like it's crying.

I feel like crying like this is a hard place.

They call it the valley of Baca but interesting it says they make it a source of spring water.

So, oddly enough, in this dangerous and unwanted place, there would be a place, a source of spring water, where they would prepare for the autumn rain that God was gonna send.

In fact, in the King James translation it says they would dig a well.

They would dig a well why?

Because they believed that God was going to bring the provision of rain.

In verse seven it says they go from strength to strength.

Each appears before God in Zion.

So they would go to Zion.

That was where the temple was at.

They would find strength there.

They would also find strength here in the valley, which, if you think about it, doesn't completely make sense, because when I'm in the valley it doesn't seem like I'm very strong, it doesn't seem like I can find strength.

I can find strength up on the mountaintop, but in the valley I I don't know.

But how you go through the valley determines if you find strength in the valley.

In verse 8 it says Lord, god of armies, hear my prayer.

Listen, god of Jacob, consider our shield.

God, look on the face of your anointed one.

Better a day in your courts than a thousand anywhere else.

I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than live in the tent of wicked people.

He said I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God.

I would rather be on the first Christian church welcome team giving people a high five coming in, than being anywhere else.

He says better a day in your courts, better a day at the temple, better a day gathering with the people of God.

Can I just stop here and say this?

There is power in the gathered church.

There is power when God's people commit to worshiping God together.

There is power when you're sitting here and maybe you've come in, maybe you've had a rough week, maybe you had a tough time.

You come in and you see the worship team just lifting our hearts up to God.

You come in and somebody gives you a smile.

You come in, you hear the word of God.

I tell you, last couple of Sundays I haven't preached and it's been a blast for me.

You know why?

Because my soul has been fed.

It's been great.

I didn't know to sit in the front row, take notes, be in both services, like, listen and grow.

Because there's power in the gathered church, there's importance in gathering with the people of God In a world that, honestly, is like fighting against us.

Gathering together when we believe that we are better than me, when we believe that gathering matters because we worship God and we honor God, it makes a difference.

And this is what the Psalmist says better a day in your courts with your people than a thousand anywhere else.

I want to be there.

I don't want to miss out on what God wants to do For the Lord verse 11 is a son in a shield.

The Lord grants favor and honor.

He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity.

He's a son, he brings light.

He brings light to us in the darkness.

He's a shield.

He brings protection when you feel like attacks are coming.

Happy verse 12 is the person who trust in you, lord of armies, those who trust in him, even in the valleys.

Now you look at this text.

There's a couple of crucial, crucial decisions that we have to make when we're going through the valley.

I'm going to say this A lot of people don't make these two decisions when we go through the valley.

In fact, when you go through the valley a lot of times because we don't make these decisions, we can get hardened, we can get bitter, we can get angry, which I totally understand.

We can go through the valley and not get what God wants us to get.

But if we will make these two crucial decisions, we'll be able to get through what we're going through and we'll be able to grow through what we're growing through and we'll be able to be who God wants us to be, because God is with us.

Here's the first crucial decision that we have to make is when we're in the valley, we have to set our hearts on God.

When you're in the valley, set your heart on God.

Now I don't know about you guys, but I kind of like living in 2023.

Now here's why because there's a lot of conveniences and comforts that we have today that past generations haven't had.

Now, 2023 is not perfect.

In fact, there's a lot of junk going on out there, but hey, there's a nice convenience of still living here.

For example, I'll talk to my grandpa one time and he was telling me how he used to pay his bills.

He said so what we used to do to pay my bills is I'd go sit right over there he's lived in the same house his entire adult life, the last 70 plus years Right over there at the table, out of all my bills lined up right here, and I take out my checkbook.

Grandpa, what's a checkbook?

I'm not that young.

I take out my checkbook and I'd write all the checks to all the different places, and some of the places were local businesses.

So what I would do is I would go and I would drop the checks off at all the individual local businesses every month to pay for my bills, he's like, but sometimes they weren't local.

So what I would have to do is I would have to put them in an envelope and I'd have to actually mail them out to these different companies and things to pay my bills, grandpa, we have auto pay now.

That's what he used to do.

It's a whole lot easier to pay bills now.

We don't even think about it, it just comes out right.

I think about Christmas shopping.

Do you guys remember when you used to actually have to go somewhere to get Christmas presents?

I know I'm talking about the dark ages here.

I know.

Right, you get in your car, you fight traffic.

You drive around a parking lot about five times to find a parking spot.

You're praying God, please give me a parking spot.

Still don't have a parking spot.

You find one.

You're about to pull in then another knucklehead comes and pulls in right in front of you.

You say a cuss word under your breath and you ask God for forgiveness.

Then you finally get into the mall and you can't find what you're looking for, right, okay, but when you're walking out you're like, oh, you see a little something like oh, I should get this for that person.

You go to grab it.

Then you look at the line that's wrapped all the way around the store and even worth it Now.

So we do.

We're off for Christmas with this.

Okay, it'll be here tomorrow.

It's.

I'm think things have gotten.

Things have got a little easier.

Things have got a little more convenient.

I don't want to come stuff Like food go home.

You're tired a long day, you worked hard and you're hungry but you don't feel like making anything.

I mean so back in the day, like you have to make something or you have to get in your car, go back out, go to McDonald's or go to wherever.

You have to get food.

What I want to do Don't want to make dinner.

I don't feel like I mean dinner.

I don't feel like going out of the house and picking something out.

Can we just say like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or something.

Right these days, these days, what I do, we can pull out our phone Right, pull out the app Uber, eats or whatever, whatever you know, and within 30 minutes you have it.

And while you're at it, you can go your next step and you can order groceries, and they'll be at your front door too.

So you got food for the rest of the week.

I Mean come on.

It's where we live in.

In some ways it's a pretty comfortable, it's pretty convenient, and what's happened is, because our world is filled with comfort and convenience and ease, when we're in a valley season or in a difficult season, we have no idea what to do, because what we think is life is about comfort and Convenience and ease.

So now I go through this valley season, I'm like, oh no, no, no, what do I do?

I Don't know.

Like there's valley season, like life is about my personal comfort, life is about my personal convenience, life is about my personal happiness, life is about all of these things.

Like like I'm in this valley season, I got to run away from this, I got, I got, I got to escape it.

You're like a little panic.

We have a little right.

Just the other day it was really silly.

This is a fuse gun.

Now I Got my car Just worked out this year.

I went to turn the keys on the ignition, nothing.

And For like 15 seconds I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

I do what I do.

I do oh, oh, bro, get a jump, go to the auto parts store and get a new battery.

If that's what you need to do.

Calm down, nate.

I'm like, oh, what do I do?

What do I do?

We Like we are averse to valleys, we are averse to difficulties, like we don't know how to handle them.

But here's the reality about valleys, in a way that only God can work, is valleys are actually tools to that God uses to draw us to himself.

Values are tools for God to draw us to himself.

So life we like, life being comfortable, convenient, easy.

We're in a valley season.

We don't like it.

What God does is he uses these tools to cause us to depend deeper on him.

He uses the valley to show that sometimes we're self-righteous and sometimes we're very self-sufficient.

He uses the valley sometimes to show that we have idols in our hearts idols of money, idols of power, idols of position, idols of relationships, idols of you name it over here.

And God takes us to the valley to reveal that these saviors that we have created are insufficient and cause us to rely deeper on him.

This is what valleys do, and God uses valleys as tools for us to come to him and to set our hearts on him.

Now you might say, okay, so, nate, you're talking about setting our heart on God in the valley.

What does this even look like?

How can we set our hearts on God in the valley?

So I want to illustrate this a little bit so we can kind of have an idea what this looks like.

I need a volunteer.

Bobby, shash your hand up, come on up here.

Come on up here.

Welcome Bobby to the stage.

Go, bobby, can you stand right over here?

And Bobby's my guy.

We've been coming to FCC for a couple of years now in the young adult group, serving in some different places.

It's great having you.

This is Bobby.

Bobby, you're going to represent all of us in this room, right, all walks of life, different backgrounds, different ages.

You are the representation of all these people.

Okay, I have this Bible over here.

This is going to represent where God wants you to go.

This is going to represent spiritual maturity in your life.

This is going to represent callings in you that maybe you don't even realize right now that God has for you.

This is going to represent answered prayers that God wants to answer with a yes.

This represents this.

Okay, now here's the challenge.

Scripture says that we see things like a glass, dimly lit.

So on this side of heaven we don't see things accurately.

We don't always see things as they actually are.

We see things as a glass that's dimly lit, it's not fully bright, so we can look at this and we're like hey, bobby, bro, just take two steps.

It takes me three steps because my legs are short.

It's easy.

But, but it's not, because we see things as a glass, dimly lit.

And on top of this, when you're going through a valley, emotions are all over the place, things are all over the place.

You don't even know what to do.

So the idea of getting from here to there is I don't even do this.

So we're going to illustrate this.

So, bobby, this is what I'm asking you to do.

I'm going to have you not yet, but you're going to cover your eyes and you're going to spin around.

Now I'm going to ask you guys how many times do you think we should have Bobby spin around?

It says four, five.

She says five, but it says five 40 times.

Who says at least seven times, seven times?

Okay, all right, let's do this.

We'll start with seven.

Okay, bobby, I want you to.

Okay, can't see anything?

Right, not at all.

Okay, here we go, guys Ready, spin around.

Okay, one, two, three, four, five.

We'll just stop at six.

One more.

Okay now, bobby, keep your eyes closed.

Okay, keep your hands over your eyes.

Okay, now I want you to go to the Bible.

Go find the Bible.

See, now you got to be.

Okay, bobby, you can look.

Okay, sorry about that.

Can I say this?

This is like us on our best days.

Stay here, bobby, stay here.

And then we got all of these random people yelling at us telling us what to do Go there, do this, do that, and it's like hold on, hold on, hold on.

I'm trying to get to where God wants me to be.

I want to mature in this.

I want God to answer this prayer.

I want to get to where God wants me to go.

I know there's callings in my life and things out.

I want to get there, but we're so.

This is what this looks like To set our hearts on Him in the midst of the valley.

Remember answer prayer, spiritual maturity, callings.

Okay, bobby, take a step towards me, take another step, keep walking.

I'm right here with you.

Take another step, keep going One more step.

Stop.

Open your eyes.

Bobby, you listened to my voice.

You walked with me.

You could have gone that way.

You could have gone that way.

You could have gone all over the place.

It's what you did.

You set your heart on me and now I've taken you to this place of spiritual maturity.

I've taken you to this place of answered prayer.

I've taken you to this place where things in your life that you dreamed of I'm making happen in your life, but it's happened because you set your heart on me.

Now here's the thing, church.

Here's the thing, friend you will never go where God wants you to go and grow how God wants you to grow unless you set your heart on Him.

You will never go where God wants you to go.

You will never grow how God wants you to grow unless you set your heart on Him.

Now, in this world, this is really hard to do it, because you hear all these voices.

Remember those voices?

But he listened to me and I was with Him.

And if we will listen to Him and walk closely with Him and set our hearts on Him, we will get to where he wants us to go.

Thanks, bobby, you can have a seat.

Thank you, bob, and we have to set our heart on Him.

That's the crucial decision we have to make.

I wonder, right now in your life, if you're honest, what is your heart set on.

Some of us in the Valley are hardest set on getting out of the Valley, rather than our heart set on the one who wants to lead us through the Valley.

Set your heart.

And number two, when you're in the Valley, dig a well.

Dig a well, it says in verse 6, they make it a source of spring water.

They're in a valley, they're in an unwanted place, they're in a place of difficulty, they're in a place of challenge.

This is what they do.

They're going to make this a source of spring water.

As the King James says.

They're going to dig a well.

They're going to put themselves in a position where God can bring provision.

They're going to put themselves in a position where God can bring provision to them.

It'd be like this let's say you were thirsty and I had a pitcher of water and you wanted some water, want some water.

He said I want a drink.

Now, if you came to me without a cup, it would be hard for me to give you a drink.

I could say, okay, get on your knees, open your mouth really wide Now get maybe some in there, and then probably get some in your nose, some on your clothes.

But if you came to me and you're like hey, can I have a drink of water?

And you got a cup.

This cup would be the place where the provision could come and can meet the need that you have.

Okay, now, this is what happens sometimes.

We want God to provide for us things in our heart, things that we're going through, things that we're experiencing.

We want God to provide.

But this is what we have to do.

We have to put ourselves in the posture for God to provide.

We have to dig some well so God could bring the rain, because, remember, that verse talks about how the autumn rain is going to come.

But without a well, without these springs here, dig up, where's the water going to go?

But if we will position ourselves in a place, god can bring provision.

You might say, like, how can I position myself?

Like, what's the posture?

This is the posture that God brings the provision.

Obedience, dependence and surrender.

This is the posture.

I'm in the valley Obedience, dependence and surrender.

God, even though I'm in this valley, what I'm going to do is I'm going to choose to obey you, no matter what, even though I'm in this valley.

I'm going to depend on you, no matter what, even though I'm in this valley, I'm going to live my life in surrender to you.

Now, this is what happens when we're in their valley.

We're in their valley.

It's so hard because we're feeling some sort of way.

These are all over the place.

We're like I just want out.

But this is what we do in the valley.

We say, god, I'm going to obey you.

This is what I'm going to do.

I'm going to be in the scripture, whether I feel like it or not.

I'm going to jump on that you version Bible app and I'm going to make myself go through a you version devotional, whether I'm feeling it or not, because I know this is what you want me to do.

This is obedience to you, god, I know, I know that right now I need people in my life and I'm going to rent a Christian community and I'm going to rent some Christian counselors.

I'm not going to run in those knuckleheads that kind of got me in some places in the past and I shouldn't have been anyways.

I'm going to position myself in a place where I'm going to be obedient to you.

I'm going to do what you, what I know you want me to do, whether it's popular or whether it's not popular, I'm going to be obedient, I'm going to be dependent and I'm going to live a surrendered life.

To you, god, I say this is really hard.

This is a hard place to be, this place of surrender, this place of like.

Lord, your will not mind be done.

And then what can happen is, as you're in this place and you're walking through this valley, you have the peanut gallery.

Like what are you doing?

What?

Why are you doing that?

Like you've been taking the God thing a little too seriously.

Have some fun, live a little Like you.

You realize, like you look kind of foolish over there, like being independent.

Hey, this, what is it, lord?

Here am I.

It's Lord, here am I.

Lord, I'm going to be surrendered to you, lord, I'm going to obey you, lord, I'm going to be, I'm going to be filled with faith.

You guys remember when Jesus in the New Testament, he would go and do these miracles.

Oftentimes he didn't just heal people, but people had to take a step of faith first.

Like remember this, okay, the man with the withered hand.

Jesus didn't just say your hand is healed, he said this stretch out your hand.

Like stretch it out, right.

Pastor Cody talked to a couple weeks ago.

He was talking about somebody, how they were.

They take a step of faith.

They had to get to Jesus.

They had to have enough faith to get to him and then he met them there with his faithfulness.

Now here's what we have to want to do.

We're in this valley right now and we're like I just want to get out of it.

Like it's uncomfortable, like God, rescue me right now, get it.

But this is what God wants.

God wants your obedience, your dependence and your surrender in the midst of the valley.

This is what God wants.

And if you will have this posture of Lord, I'm going to surrender, I'm going to be obedient, I'm going to be dependent on you.

He will.

This is the posture that God uses.

And I wonder right now in your life, I wonder what is your posture in your valley season?

I wonder, are you digging a well of obedience?

I wonder, are you digging a well of dependence?

I wonder, is our surrender to God kind of like this?

I think I'm kind of surrendered, but I'm kind of we're like Lord, lord, here I am.

Here I am Now.

I want to think about this message and think about this, and I'll say about some of us in the room that we've been waiting on God for a long time for some things.

I think about somebody in the room that you have had this posture of obedience and you've had this posture of surrender and you've had this posture of dependence.

And it's like God, how much longer, like some of you, have been praying for your children.

You've been praying for things like faithfully, and it's when God, when are you going to come through?

And you've been waiting and waiting and waiting is where faith actually becomes necessary.

Think about this, guys Waiting is where faith actually becomes necessary.

If we can get that next slide up.

It's in our waiting season when we learn to depend on Him deeper.

It's in our waiting season when we learn that he is a better Savior than anything else.

It's in our waiting season where faith actually becomes necessary.

If God was a God of instant gratification, how much faith would that take?

Like, right away it's happened, it wouldn't take any faith.

But God is gracious and makes us wait because he wants our faith to grow and he wants our faith to be deepened.

And if you're in this season right now, where you're just like man, I'm holding on, like I'm waiting, can I just say Waiting, obedient, like, keep being faithful, keep planting seeds of obedience, because one day a harvest is coming.

Keep planting seeds of dependence on God, because one day the fruit is going to come.

And right now you might be in the valley and you might just be like I'm in a planting season, on a planting season Great, because harvest is going to come.

But harvest is only going to come when we're planting and when we're faithful here.

So two questions and we're done this morning.

Here's my first question is what is your heart set on?

Every person in the room and online?

Your heart is set on something Like maybe your heart is set on getting out of the valley.

Maybe your heart is set on money.

Maybe your heart is set on a position.

Maybe your heart is set on if I just want to retire and move somewhere.

I don't know.

But what is your heart set on?

What is your heart set on God?

And then number two is this how can you dig a?

Well?

Where's the place of obedience that needs to happen in your life?

Where's the place of surrender that needs to happen in your life?

Where's the place that you need to depend on God in your life?

Where is that place?

Like somebody you know, like you know like God is speaking to you and could I say, while you're in this valley, see some, dig a well of obedience, dig a well of surrender, dig a well of dependence.

The natural thing for us to do in the valley is to run and say I'm going to a temporary painter lever, I'm running into alcohol, I'm running into drugs, I'm running into sex, I'm running into gambling, I'm running into I just want to get out of the valley.

But can I just say if you'll set your heart in the valley, if you'll dig a well in the valley, god's going to take you to where he wants you to go.

But you have to decide to do that.

We can do that because God is with us in the valley.

Let me preview this.