Psalms Week 6 • Psalm 16

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Well, good morning.

If you've got your Bibles, open them up to Psalm chapter 16.

Psalms 16 · chapter mention

That's where we're going to be this morning.

I want to remind you guys next week of our time of missions and prayer that we're going

to have next Sunday afternoon to evening time.

We're going to start in here at 4 o'clock.

For the most part, it's going to be all of us, all right?

We're going to have the nursery open for our babies and toddlers, but one of the things

that we've held to as a core value is that missions need to be taught, experienced, and

lived out across the generations.

And so our children's ministry and our student ministry embody that and embrace that.

Last Sunday night in student ministry, I had the campus pastor from USC, Jamie Rogers, come

and share here with our students on Sunday night, talking about living life on mission.

And our children's ministry is doing a wonderful job as well with teaching about our different

missionary partners.

And so we want to make this a family experience as much as we can as we come to talk about

missions and pray for our missionaries and our mission partnerships that we have.

As we talk about that, I want to remind everyone we will not be live streaming that service.

In fact, we're not really sharing a lot of the details because one of the missionaries we

will have here, many of you, if not most of you or all of you, except for myself and a few staff,

will be meeting this missionary and his wife, this missionary team, for the very first time as

the country they serve in.

We can't say publicly, but he will be able to share with us the details of us that eat with us

that evening.

And so you will want to be there.

It'll be from around four to five thirty ish, six ish during that time frame.

And so please be here for a wonderful time with us as we talk about missions, as we hear

what God is doing and as we gather for a moment to pray for all that the Lord is doing, not

only in our partnerships, but all over the world.

Well, speaking of missions, I want to kind of connect some of our pieces.

I got back this week from a wonderful time of being up at Black Mountain Children's Home

with some of our men and doing missions work.

And so I wanted to share with you guys, give you guys a quick update of that trip.

I will say the challenge that this, that the Black Mountain leaders gave us to this group

of men was this.

Try to be as good as your middle schoolers, because they've said the level of serving that

they hold everyone accountable to that comes there is based off of the Willow Ridge Church

middle school students who have been serving there faithfully for three summers now.

And so that's big expectations.

I've been there.

In fact, riding in our very first summer that we came up there, they were getting ready to

open up a thrift store and a cafe so that they can teach to these kids that are at the children's

home there.

They can teach them retail skills.

They can teach them restaurant skills so they can take these and build on these.

But they needed some landscaping done.

And so I'm riding in there with a group of men and you see these beautifully green grass

and very neat landscape that's done.

And I said, I just want y'all to know all of this was done by our middle school boys and

girls.

And we weren't out there with heavy machinery.

They were out there getting this done with rakes and shovels and hoes and taking care of

all that.

And one guy in the backseat was like, wow, are you kidding me?

I'm like, no, no, no.

This is the standard that you have to live up to this week.

All right.

Now, God doesn't compare us, but we do.

All right.

And so we want to make sure that you can beat them.

And they didn't beat them, but they met the expectation.

And so that was a wonderful thing.

They hoped that we were going to be able to build a deck over the course of the week.

And at the end of the first day, a deck had been completed.

And so by the end of the week of these men faithfully serving there, a deck was built

onto one of the cabins that needed it, a building that needed to be finished in and kind of sealed

in, weathered in, had been completed.

Both of those jobs, they thought it would take a full week to do.

And they were able to get them done in a day and a half a day.

These men crawled underneath these cabins and fixed plumbing issues that they had.

And I think, and I can get corrected later, but if not, I'm going to say this, they fully

plumbed two of the cabins that were there, as well as fully trimming out two of the cabins

so that they will be ready for people to come up to Black Mountain this summer.

And so it was just a wonderful time, a wonderful experience.

Our Bible study time was great.

There was 10 of us that went.

I believe if my math is correct, five of the men who went, this was their first time serving

on the mission field.

And so it was just a wonderful experience.

And so I thank the men who went and their families who sent them.

I reminded the guys that are there, you know, we were sitting around the campfire that night

and Mike Morgan was leading the Bible study and Mike Morgan was talking to us about what

it means to embrace the Great Commission and to live a life that's sent out for God's mission

and what we were doing there.

And, you know, and we think about those that go, but we also have to remember those that

are sending those that go.

All right.

And so I think all the families that sent us, you know, I get to live in that with my wife

who, when I leave, there's two of us and she has to step up and continue to do above and

beyond what she normally does in a week.

And my kids had to step up and go beyond.

And so I know that's for all of the families that sent as well.

But also you guys, one of the cultural characteristics that we're continuing to try to build in our

church is that we are a sending church that looks to send people onto the mission field.

And I verified my numbers with Joel Van Ham as we get to the end of this giving calendar year.

And we talked about giving a couple of weeks ago, but we budgeted to give over $80,000 to missions.

And for a church, for our size, for a church, for our budget, that's a substantial piece of

what we're doing to send people.

And as you give, and as you give faithfully, and as you give to the mission and vision of

the church, that's what we're given for, not only for partnerships, but for mobilization

of others to be able to go.

And then I checked with Joel as well.

And what we've been able to do as needs and as opportunities become available, we've already

to this day not only fulfilled what we're going to give in the $80,000, but we've given

an additional $18,000 above and beyond that of unbudgeted, but seeing opportunities that

God would allow.

And by the end of the year, we'll be well over $100,000 of what we've been able to give

toward local, national, and foreign missions.

And so that's not us saying what we've done as a staff, that's us saying thank you for what

you do as you partner with us in ministry to make sure that the gospel is carried all

over this world, all right?

So thank you guys as a church so much for what you do, so much for allowing us to be a church

that sends and continue to do that, right?

So many places right now are looking inside and inside only, but we understand and know

the truth of what Mike spoke about that first night that we were there, the truth of what

we know about the Great Commission, that we are called to go, and that's what we want

to do.

So church, thank you, thank you so, so much.

Well, as we look at Psalm chapter 16, I want to kind of give a little bit of background as

Psalms 16 · chapter mention

I can to kind of give a setting.

We've tried to do that each week.

Now, we know from the very beginning what we see added in here is that this is a psalm

written by David.

David has written a little bit over 50% of the psalms.

Some of them that we've looked at during this series have been psalms of David, some of

them have not.

This is a psalm of David.

Now, what we do not know about this is we do not know when in the life of David that he

wrote this psalm.

But what we do know as we read through, and this is going to be a theme that you see, is

David is writing this psalm out of personal joy, out of the joy that he has experienced

in his relationship with God.

Now, I'm going to refer to it as personal joy in Christ, knowing that Christ hasn't come

yet, but Christ is.

And so even as David looks forward, he knows the longing of his Messiah who will come, his

Messiah who will save.

And in fact, in a wonderful first person possessive over and over, over 12 times in this psalm,

as David talks about the joy that's experienced in a relationship with God, he says, my, my.

Now, this doesn't mean this isn't for all of us, but in the intimacy of the moment.

What David knows in the dynamic of his relationship with God is that this is for him, and that this

is for those who were found in Christ.

And what he'll declare and what we'll get to is that everything good of what David's going

to talk about, everything good in his life, everything that you experience that's good, everything

that I experience that is good, all of this comes from God.

All of it flows from him.

And so David is one who's received.

David is one who was the youngest of the brothers, the shepherd, the least likely, but who God

chose, who God called for himself to establish and to put on a throne as king.

David knows that everything good that he's going to experience, everything good from his

life is going to come from God.

And that's going to be the central drive of his joy of what we're going to find out.

But also kind of a neat aspect within this, there's a group of psalms which are looked at

and identified as a messianic psalm, meaning that this, when you look at this, there's a layer

of prophecy that we can find within this psalm as it points to, talks about the coming

Christ who will come and who will save, who will die, who will raise to life again and call

for himself a people.

In fact, in Acts chapter 2, Peter uses this psalm in his message.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I want to read it to you.

It'll be on the screen.

He says this, he says, men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested

to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst.

As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge

of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

But God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him

to be held by it.

And then verse 25, for David says concerning him.

So what Peter's doing here is Peter is affirming to them what he has just proclaimed by using

scripture.

Now remember, there's not New Testament scripture to point back to.

So the scripture that he will reference is Old Testament scripture and he references Psalm

16.

He says, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I might not

be shaken.

Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoice.

My flesh will also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul in Hades or let

your Holy One see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life.

You will make me full of gladness with your presence.

Just as Isaac and Leslie led us in.

In your presence, Lord.

In your presence is where I want to be.

In your presence is where I find goodness.

His presence is where I find life.

So this Psalm written before Christ was born is written celebrating all that God has done

for David in his life.

But as we have the opportunity to look back on it and see through the person of Jesus Christ.

So let's read starting in verse 1 of Psalm 16.

David writes, and he says, preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, you are my Lord.

I have no good apart from you.

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

The sorrow of those who run after another God shall multiply.

Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.

You hold my lot.

So this morning what I want us to do is to look at three types of goodness that come from our relationship

in Christ and my first one that I want us to look at is the goodness of Christ in life.

David begins by saying, preserve me.

And what David is declaring is that he needs to do God, he needs God to do something important in his life.

What he needs God to do is to keep him, to preserve him, right?

Like go back to your grandma's kitchen and her doing preserves and canning things, right?

Why did she do those?

So they wouldn't spoil, they wouldn't go to waste, they wouldn't be ruined, but instead

that they will be kept.

And it's the same imagery that we see with David.

David says to the Lord, preserve me, keep me, keep me here.

And he begins to describe a depth of relationship that he knows that he needs from the Lord.

Now, what I think is really interesting in this, as I think about my mind, as I think about so many times

the request that I make to God, David doesn't say, save me because he's in trouble.

And there are plenty of times where David found himself in trouble.

David doesn't say, reward me because of what he had done right.

And there are plenty of times that David had done what God called him to

and the difficult places that he had found himself in.

He simply looks at God and in his expression of joy, he says, keep me, keep me.

And then what we'll see is this declaration comes out of a depth of relationship of David knowing God.

I want to ask you a question.

And I want you to think about these four words.

Do you know God?

Do you know God?

Now, I didn't ask you, do you believe in God?

I didn't ask you, do you trust God?

I didn't ask, do you do things for God?

The question that I want you to wrestle with in your mind,

whether you're a person here who would open and say,

no, I don't know, I'm just here.

Or a person in a journey of faith, of seeking to grow in your faith.

Do you know God?

Not even do you know about God.

Not do you know things of God.

But in the depth of who you are, do you know God?

David says this, verse 1 and 2, he says,

preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in you.

I say to the Lord, you are my Lord.

I have no good apart from you.

He says, keep me, and I want to be in your presence.

And that is where the depth of knowing comes from, right?

Being away on this mission trip,

I love every mission trip that I've ever had the opportunity to be on.

The group of men that we had, I knew all of them,

but had an opportunity to grow in a depth of relationship with each one of them.

Every day we ate together, we laughed together, probably a little too much.

We worked together, all of them more than me.

I'll talk about that in a minute.

We talked together, and in that, a depth of a relationship was formed.

And I look at so many things for us with God.

And I think what you and I are trying to do,

if you can kind of picture it this way,

is like skim the surface of the egg without breaking the shell

when it comes to a relationship with him, right?

Like, it's enough.

Like, we can say we're there.

We can say that we know him,

but do we know him at a depth that digs down E?

So the question that I ask for you,

do you know God?

If the answer is yes,

then my question for you is this.

Are you skimming the surface,

or are you digging down?

Because David says, preserve me, O God,

for in you I take refuge.

We talked about it the other week

when we had the image of God being the tower

that we find and we seek refuge in, right?

We don't stand by the tower to take our refuge.

We don't go on top of the tower to find our refuge.

We don't know about the tower to find our refuge,

but we go into the tower

in order to experience the refuge.

And so where's our preserving gonna be found?

Where does this depth come from?

It goes from us digging into him.

And that's hard.

And it's difficult, but it's rewarding.

David says in these two verses,

two truths that come from this,

he says, as I've dug into my relationship,

as he preserves me, as I take refuge in him,

he gives these two statements of great and wonder

and power and maturity of faith.

He says, you are my Lord, you alone.

A word that we throw out a lot.

A word that we say, a word that we sing

that Jesus is our Lord.

But do we understand what that word means?

As David says, you are my master and you're my ruler.

So I go where you tell me to go.

I do what you tell me to do.

I'm obedient in what you call me to obey in every single one of these moments.

That's what it means that Jesus is Lord.

Church, it's more than a bumper sticker.

You call me to go, I go.

You call me to obey, then I'm going to obey.

I know it's hard.

I know it's difficult.

But if I am willing to say that you are my Lord,

then I'm saying that you are my master.

All right.

The second thing that he says here, and I love this,

he says, I have no good apart from you.

I have no good apart from you.

King David, who could have stood out and looked over the kingdom.

King David, who had mighty soldiers and warriors.

King David, who had power and money and influence.

And in all of the goodness of his life, of all of the decisions that he had made,

of all of the battles that he had won,

in all of these moments, that David looks at everything that is there in his failures as well

and says, I have no good that's apart from you.

David writes in this and says, it's not a part about what I've grown through

and this is what I've done.

It's not about what I've learned and what I've achieved.

It's not what I've worked hard within myself to push forward to.

He says, in this and in this alone, you are my Lord and I have no good apart from you.

And that this is the first two lines of what it means for us to understand

of what it looks like to live in the goodness of Christ in this life.

That you're my Lord.

And everything that's good.

Everything that's right.

Everything that brings a smile to my face and brings joy to my heart is from you and you alone.

That's the goodness in the life of Christ.

But he continues on.

Verse three and four.

As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

So the goodness in the Lord and knowing him as Lord and knowing him as what he's called to our life,

but also in the relationship with others.

And here in verses three and four, we get two snapshots as David describes them.

Verse three says, as for the saints in the land, the people of God, the family of God.

I read this from an author this week and I wanted to share this with you.

And this is not painting a picture of us boasting about who we are in ourselves, but it's about boasting in who God is and what he wants to do with us.

This author wrote, he said, in spite of our faults and failures, believers are God's elite, his nobility on earth.

That's who we are.

Paul writes in Ephesians chapter two, that we are the poetry of God.

That God in all of the ways and means of what he could do to reveal to the world his holiness, his goodness, his righteousness, and his salvation through Christ and Christ alone.

He chose us.

And that's who we are.

We're saints with the story.

We're saints with hope who have been bought and purchased and redeemed for the glory of God, to live for his name and to draw people to himself.

And then secondly, in verse four, he describes the lost.

And I love David's words.

He says, they chase things, but what they chase lead to them growing in their sorrows.

It's a beautifully sad way to look at lostness in this world.

What they're chasing, they think, will bring them life and bring them hope and bring them goodness.

But all that they chase after, all they pursue, all it's going to continue is to bring them sorrow.

Because in the end, it does not satisfy.

In the end, it does not save.

And it will burn up just like with all of this.

And what they have is their sorrows.

A question, and I really appreciate the guys on the mission trip.

They helped me write this.

One of the questions that was asked one night is, does your life reflect the light of Christ?

Is this who you are?

Is this what you've done?

One day, Brent Hawkins was riding with me to the hardware store.

Brent's going to exactly know the story that I'm talking about now, that I'm saying that he's in the car with me and him alone.

And we are, I found, I love this when I go out of town.

I found a pastor on the radio, all right?

I found me one.

And every time, and most days, our men would get to work and they'd get on jobs.

And then we would realize we didn't have something that we needed.

And so I was the guy with the truck and the credit card that would go and do this.

And so I burned through about a tank of gas in about two and a half days.

And I know where every Lowe's, Home Depot, Ferguson, Tractor Supply.

I know where all that is in the greater Asheville area because that was my job for several days was to get this.

Well, I told Brent, I said, man, I found this preacher on the radio.

And so I want us to listen to him as we're riding back.

It's about a 30-minute drive.

So we were there kind of in between Asheville and where we were staying.

And we were at a red light.

And we were listening to this preacher that was preaching.

And the light turned green.

And all of a sudden, I heard,

I'm going.

So we're going.

We're riding down the road.

What?

Riding down the road a little more.

Hr, hr, hr.

And now I'm starting to have a complex.

Like, that's one of the things that terrifies me, right?

Is that I'm going to be that guy that everybody's having to blow the horn at.

So now I'm looking like, am I losing two by fours as we're riding down the road, you know?

And there's some good Samaritan falling behind me going,

this poor guy, bless his heart, he's losing all of it.

And as I'm riding down the road, I hear, hr, hr, hr, hr.

And then it clicked.

It wasn't outside.

It was on the radio.

And the pastor that's preaching was during the middle of lockdown of COVID.

And they're out in a parking lot.

And instead of saying amen because you're in your car,

everybody was blowing their horns.

And I love that.

I love that.

So if we do sunrise service again this year,

and we go that style, and you're blowing your horns,

just don't do it in here.

Brent said he was going to download an app on his phone

and do that during the message.

Don't do that.

That would throw me off, all right?

But here's what this pastor said one day.

On one of my trips.

He said, do we understand that the most monumental event

in the course of history is the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

That that is the most important thing that has ever happened.

And he asked his church this question.

Does your life reflect every day that Jesus is alive?

Does every moment of your life reflect the fact that he is no longer in the tomb,

that Jesus is alive?

Or does your life reflect death?

That in our practical application of what we say we believe,

he's still in the tomb.

And that struck me.

And that's part of when we see within the lostness of this world.

Church, it's the challenge that I have for you when you go home today.

It's the challenge that I have for you when you step into your office tomorrow.

Students, when you walk onto your hallway at school,

when we're walking through and interacting with our neighbors in our neighborhood,

does your life that you live reflect the truth,

the most important truth that's ever been shared,

that Jesus is alive,

and that in him we find hope and transformation and power and joy in the midst of all of this?

Or do we live our life like he's still in the tomb?

The difference between the saint and the lost.

He continues on, David does in verse 5.

He says,

So when Israel conquered and inherited and went into the promised land,

each tribe was given a special inheritance of land except for the tribe of Levi.

So imagine you're a part of the tribe of Levi,

and you see all the other tribes,

and this is going to be your land,

and this is going to be your land,

and this is going to be your land.

And Levi's like,

What about us, right?

Well, we're just kind of hanging out over here.

We'd like to get somewhere too.

It ain't got to be as much as everybody else's,

but could we get something, you know?

And you see in time and time again that they don't,

but then they're told,

But you're going to get something special.

You're going to get something special.

And what the Levites would get,

what their inheritance would be,

was their service in the temple of the Lord was their inheritance.

And so what they gained,

what they gathered in this,

was that,

No, no, no.

They get the land.

They're going to get the mountains.

They're going to get the rivers.

They're going to get all of this.

But what you are going to get

is you are going to get the Lord.

And that's what David is weaving in through here,

of understanding in the goodness of God.

So was David from Levi?

No, David was not from Levi.

And this is why it's pointing to Christ.

Because he says,

You are my cup.

You are my portion.

And we're going to see this at the very end,

that you are what I get,

and you are what I obtain.

And so if we have the Lord,

then what else do we need?

Nothing.

Nothing.

If we have the Lord,

what else do we need?

But the counter of that,

that brings great tragedy,

is this.

If we have everything,

and do not have the Lord,

then we have nothing.

Then we have nothing.

That's what we begin to see and look at,

of what it means to know God.

My health has left me,

but I have the Lord.

My family is gone,

but I have the Lord.

My money has left me,

but I have the Lord.

But in all of these things,

the depth of what it means to know.

And so these last two verses,

he says,

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel.

In the night also my heart instructs me,

verse eight,

I have set the Lord always before me,

because he is at my right hand.

I shall not be shaken.

So David here in these last two verses,

seven and eight,

he describes what fellowship with God looks like,

of what it means to sit down at the table with God.

You know,

that's when you really begin to have the interactions.

Not through email,

not through social media,

not through text messages,

but when you sit down together.

While I was gone on the mission trip,

a very short mission trip for me,

you can ask my wife,

like we talked every single day.

We would text,

we would talk at night,

we would have these.

But when I got home,

what we both realized really quickly

is that we need to spend time with each other.

We need to be in the presence with one another.

And so what David is saying is,

there's that part where,

where if we're just going through

the religious things that we're supposed to do,

we're missing it.

And so here's what fellowship with God looks like,

of a depth of knowing him.

He says,

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel,

who instructs me,

who says,

this is your plot and path in life

to take and to do.

And that lays out obedience.

He says,

I've set the Lord always before me

because he is at my right hand.

Well,

during the day of David,

who would have known this as a king,

the person who sat at the right hand of the king

was his advocate.

Now,

David's not saying that David is the king over Jesus,

but what David is saying that in here,

what we have in Christ is an advocate

who every single day of every moment

is working for you,

who is working for me,

who is lining out the plan of our life

for us to trust and follow him.

And David,

as we're going to look at these last three verses

really quickly,

David's going to point to the goodness of Christ

in this life

sets a trajectory for the next two areas of goodness

that we're going to see.

It sets a trajectory for us

that you and I oftentimes are afraid of,

that you and I oftentimes

hit an area of sadness

when it's thought about

or when it's discussed

and not only within us,

but also within the world.

And so we're going to see this.

Look at verse 9 and 10.

He says,

What we're going to look at and understand here

is the goodness of Christ in death.

Theologians said,

To delight in the Lord

and his goodness

and then lose all these blessings at death

would be a great tragedy.

This is only possible,

the goodness of Christ in death

because Christ is alive.

If Christ is dead,

then all this is pointless.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians

that if Christ was not resurrected from the dead,

then our faith is pointless

and we ought to be pitied.

Right?

And so that's what is interesting

about certain people

who want to meld and mesh

different faiths together.

Like everything that Jesus says

points to his resurrection

and is fulfilled in his resurrection.

So if you don't believe in the resurrection,

then you don't believe in Christ.

And David says,

since Christ is not dead,

that David can face death

with a glad heart

and a glad soul

because death isn't the end.

It's just a step.

In our world,

I don't want to ignore

the hurt and the pain

and the suffering

and the finality

that death brings.

But it is limited to

and bound to this life

for those of us

who are in Christ Jesus.

And that's what makes the difference.

We've experienced that.

We've experienced that a lot this year.

And what is remarkable for me

when we sit down

and we go through

someone who's experiencing that

in their family,

you've got some family sitting here now

that death is all too fresh to them.

Where the hope comes out,

where the joy is found,

is in the realization

that while death

is the finality

of this life,

you're not going to see him again here.

You're not going to talk to him again.

They're not going to be around

for Christmas or birthdays.

There's going to be pain.

There's going to be suffering.

There's going to be tears.

There's going to be mourning

that goes with that.

But it's not final

for those of us

who are in Christ.

It's not the finality

that everyone sees.

In Christ,

there's a newness

that death brings.

In Christ,

there's a birth

that can take place

because of death.

And it's the last one

that we're going to see

in verse 11.

You make known to me

the path of life.

In your presence,

there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand

are pleasures

and amen to this word

forevermore.

Right?

And it's the goodness

of Christ

in eternity.

I want to ask you

a question.

We started off with one.

We're going to end on one.

When you come to eternity,

what comes to mind?

When you think of eternity,

and you begin

to paint that picture

of what it's going to be like,

what comes to mind?

Some that come to my mind,

people that have gone before us.

As parents,

siblings,

children,

friends.

You can go back

in your mind

to the rawness

of the moment

where you found out

that you would not see

that person anymore,

and then you can find yourself

finding that goodness

of thinking through

eternity

and what it will be

and that being reunited.

You can think of that.

For some of us,

when we think of eternity,

right,

man,

we jump straight

to Revelation,

right?

We think of all those

descriptions of the angels

and the beings,

the heavenly beings

that are there

and trying to get

the imagery

of what John

is talking about

and trying to paint,

and so we think

of those things.

We think of the

ornate descriptions

of what heaven

will be like

with the street

and the gates

and the houses

and the structures

and all of those.

Some of us,

and we were part

of this conversation,

kind of came up,

right?

Like,

we're waiting

for some answered

questions,

right?

Like,

just that moment,

like,

maybe like all of us

can just kind of

have five minutes

where we're like,

all right,

mosquitoes,

fire ants,

right?

Humidity in the south,

like,

could you give them to me?

I need to know

what's the purpose

of all this,

right?

Nats in Lexington,

help me out

with this,

Lord,

right?

We think of all

of these things

that are there,

and all of these things

we can label

if they're gonna happen

or not,

but what David

is pointing us to,

the truth of all

of Scripture,

of what Revelation

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

and chapter 5

points us to,

is that all

of the center

of the joy

that we're going

to experience

in eternity

is not found

in any aspect

of heaven.

It's Jesus himself.

That he's it.

That there doesn't

need to be a sun

because the light

radiates from him.

That all of the goodness

that's there,

of all of the joy

that is found,

of all of the suffering

that has been removed,

of every tear

that has been wiped away,

that all of it

focuses on him

and who he is

and in the goodness

of life

that's found

in him

and him alone.

And that's what

David points us to.

You make known

to me

the path

of your life

and in your presence

there's the fullness

of joy.

not the sampling

of joy

the fullness

of joy

and at your right

hand

are your pleasures

forevermore.

It's Jesus.

I want to ask you

a question

as we wrap up.

Do you know God?

Do you know God?

And are you known

by him?

Let's pray.

Lord,

I come to you

this morning

thanking you

and praising you

Lord

for the opportunities

that we have

to live

in your presence

here on this earth.

Lord,

I pray for us

as echoing

the words

of King David.

Lord,

preserve us

oh God

in you

may we take

refuge.

Lord,

you are our Lord

and we have

no good

apart

from you.

Lord,

I pray for each

and every one

of us

here

that we would

take a depth

of step

of knowing you

getting more

and more

engaged

more and more

desiring

more and more

obedient

more and more

longing

for your presence

in our life

so that we can grow

and that we can mature

and that we can see

as you would have us

to see.

Lord,

I pray for those

of us

in this room

who this year

have experienced

death

and Lord,

while they know

the pain

of death

the brokenness

that comes

with death

Lord,

could they be

reminded this morning

of the goodness

of Christ

in everything

including loss

and Lord,

just take our eyes

in our hearts

and set them

and turn them

toward eternity

and Lord,

may we lose

any secondary

desire

here on this

earth

and secondary

longing

in eternity

that is anything

other than you

because Jesus

you are our cup

and you are

our portion

in you

and you alone

is their life

in you

and you alone

is their faith

is their joy

is their hope

Lord,

you take broken

things and you

make them

new

you take dead

things and you

give them life

you take things

that are dirty

and you make

them clean

Lord,

you restore

and so Lord,

I thank you

for what you've

done in my life

and what you

are continuing

to do

as you take

this broken

busted up

failure ridden

sinful

prideful

lustful

ego driven

man

and you mold

him and shape

him and you

do not call

me by any

of those

but you

call me

a saint

and every

day you

take every

moment of

every aspect

and shape

me more

and more

into the

image and

likeness of

Christ

here on

this earth

so that we

can go

and we

can take

our story

we can

take what

you've

done

and we

can declare

it to

the nations

so that as

they seek

the things

that bring

them sorrow

God

that they

can begin

to look

and see

that you're

the one

that brings

life

that all

of those

things are

dead

and it is

in Christ

in Christ

alone

where life

is found

where joy

is given

and you

do that

not only

in my

life

but everyone

who calls

upon the

name of

the Lord

Jesus I

thank you

for loving

us

thank you

for saving

us

I thank you

for the

fact

Lord

that the

tomb

is

empty

and it's

in Jesus

name we

pray

would you

stand

and respond

to worship

thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly podcast

we hope

that you

enjoyed

listening

to this

week's

message

if you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources

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www.willowridgechurch.com

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