Sermon

Psalm 121: Worship Your Way To Worship

New Heights Fellowship Baptist church of East Toledo

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  1. Alright.

  2. So as you can see, there aren't a ton of blanks.

  3. So it's a kind of medium sized worksheet.

  4. Also, as you can imagine, I did not draw this worksheet.

  5. You can tell that it's kind of neat looking.

  6. It's kind of a little bit different than what I normally make.

  7. And I like it. Pretty cool.

  8. So if you want to draw the worksheet for next week, or any upcoming week,

  9. I can tell you what it is.

  10. I know what the lesson is for next week.

  11. So I can tell you what it is today, and you can draw it.

  12. But the rule is, it has to be to me by Friday.

  13. Because that works good for me because then I can get it ready to go by Monday or Tuesday of next week.

  14. No problem and all good.

  15. Alright.

  16. So right down to the left of the box where it says danger, there's a scroll.

  17. And in the scroll, you're going to write Psalm 121.

  18. Psalm 121. And that's what we're going to be looking at today.

  19. Psalm 121. So Psalm is spelled P-S-A-L-M.

  20. What is a Psalm?

  21. That's one. One thing a Psalm can be is a song or a prayer.

  22. Song or a prayer.

  23. And that is the vast majority of them.

  24. Probably all of them are sometimes song or prayer.

  25. Alright. So we're looking at Psalm 121.

  26. I'm going to read Psalm 121.

  27. It's eight verses. It's not particularly long.

  28. Or came forward.

  29. Or anything like that.

  30. And it's very simple.

  31. There's not a ton of big words in it.

  32. It's pretty well understandable as you read it.

  33. Right above where it says 1-2-1 in my Bible, it says a song of assents.

  34. And the word assents is spelled A-S-C-E-N-T-S.

  35. And I will come back later and we will talk about that before we are through.

  36. Alright. Here we go. It says Psalm 121.

  37. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains.

  38. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

  39. He will not allow your foot to slip.

  40. He who keeps you will not slumber.

  41. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

  42. The Lord is your keeper.

  43. The Lord is your sheep. Is your shade on your right hand.

  44. The sun will not spike you by day nor the moon by night.

  45. The Lord will protect you from all evil.

  46. He will keep your soul.

  47. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.

  48. Okay.

  49. And so the very first thing under the scroll above the castle in the center,

  50. which could be the title but it's not but it could be,

  51. is a question.

  52. Did you hear a question in the whole of what I just read?

  53. It was one. Exactly one.

  54. Where does my help come from?

  55. So the actual is, from where shall my help come?

  56. From where or in the New American standards, from whence,

  57. which is like where and when and when, sort of,

  58. from whence or where shall my help come?

  59. That's what goes in those blanks.

  60. From where shall my help come?

  61. Okay. And then from there we're going to go either to God or to man.

  62. Which would you like to do first?

  63. Anybody have a preference? God?

  64. Did somebody say God?

  65. Okay. We're going to do God.

  66. So we're going to go left, down to where you see the knight's helmet,

  67. and right under the knight's helmet is a box,

  68. and you're going to write God in the box.

  69. Okay. And so then what we just read about God,

  70. think about God, two words, W-A.

  71. Anybody want to take a stab at it?

  72. I can read the verses that particularly pertain to it again.

  73. It says,

  74. You will not allow your foot to slip.

  75. He who keeps you will not slumber.

  76. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

  77. W-A, wide awake.

  78. God is wide awake.

  79. He has been wide awake, is wide awake, and always will be wide awake.

  80. For a person who has fallen asleep at the wheel

  81. and caused at least two car accidents over the years,

  82. I can tell you that that is a blessing to know that God is wide awake.

  83. Okay.

  84. The next one down is four words.

  85. The first word starts with the W, you can see.

  86. The last word starts with the K, and that's all you get.

  87. Anyone want to take a stab at it?

  88. About God, from the verses that we read.

  89. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

  90. The Lord is your keeper.

  91. Say that again?

  92. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

  93. Say it not as a question, though.

  94. The Lord is our keeper.

  95. Okay, okay, that's not a question.

  96. Yes, you can do that.

  97. Who is our keeper?

  98. Or, Isaac will be our keeper.

  99. You can put it however you want it.

  100. Will be our keeper.

  101. Who is our keeper?

  102. God is our keeper is what we're going for there, but it starts with will.

  103. Okay.

  104. And then, thinking along that same line, the next one is four words,

  105. and it starts with a W on the first word and an S on the fourth word.

  106. Stab at it?

  107. Will be our sleep.

  108. Nope.

  109. Will be our shame.

  110. Nope.

  111. That could fit, but nope.

  112. What God will do?

  113. He will not let us sleep.

  114. That will fit there.

  115. Will keep?

  116. The second word keep is correct?

  117. What will he keep?

  118. Your soul.

  119. Say it again?

  120. Your soul.

  121. Soul is correct.

  122. What was the middle word?

  123. Your or our, either one.

  124. Will keep your soul or our souls.

  125. That's correct.

  126. Perfect.

  127. And it's in verse seven.

  128. It says the Lord will protect you from all evil.

  129. He will keep your soul.

  130. He will keep your soul.

  131. What version do you mean?

  132. That was in verse seven.

  133. What version?

  134. A New American Standard.

  135. Because you asked, you had time to ask, why am I using the New American Standard?

  136. Is the New American Standard the best version?

  137. No.

  138. There is no best translation, right?

  139. So, I use the New American Standard.

  140. I use the New American Standard, I like it because two reasons, one, it stays pretty close to the original language.

  141. So that when I go look at it in the Greek, I don't find like a lot of difference.

  142. Like, you know, that I have to puzzle through.

  143. So that's good for me.

  144. And there are a couple of others that are like that too.

  145. And the other reason is because it's written at a sophomore and college reading level.

  146. And that's about where I feel like my reading level is.

  147. So, whether that's good or bad.

  148. Josh reads at a much higher level than I do, so.

  149. But, RJ reads so low, low, low, low, like it's on the mission.

  150. So, nope, nothing bad then about that.

  151. So, find one that fits where you are.

  152. Okay?

  153. Alright, so about God, this much we know.

  154. He is wide awake.

  155. He will be our keeper.

  156. And he will keep your soul.

  157. Okay?

  158. Real quick before we go any further, what is your soul?

  159. Huge philosophical question, right?

  160. Like, people have been debating this for ages.

  161. But according to the Bible, what is your soul?

  162. What's the difference between your soul and your mind?

  163. For example.

  164. Say it again.

  165. Hey, let me just say this.

  166. I would say who you are, what makes you you.

  167. That's really good.

  168. I like that.

  169. Your identity or who you are, what makes you you internally.

  170. I would agree with that.

  171. In fact, I would say that what people talk about is not to get off on a tangent about theology, right?

  172. But if you die, your current body does not go to heaven.

  173. What does?

  174. Your soul.

  175. Right?

  176. Your mind doesn't go.

  177. Your heart doesn't go.

  178. Your kidneys don't go.

  179. Right?

  180. Not yet, anyway.

  181. Right?

  182. But then when you get your new body, you'll get a new set of all whatever that looks like exactly.

  183. Right?

  184. New kidneys, new heart, new mind, new everything.

  185. But your soul is like your identity.

  186. It's the person we're so known that is inside you.

  187. If that makes any sense.

  188. It's what rides in your body.

  189. Okay?

  190. And it is what will make when you're in your when you're truly in control, it is what will make your decisions.

  191. Your soul needs certain things and will make a decision based on what it needs.

  192. And those will be good decisions.

  193. Unless, of course, your soul is under generated.

  194. Your soul is lost.

  195. Your soul is seeking for God.

  196. You're refusing to allow your soul to have God.

  197. Then your soul is going to seek after something to replace God.

  198. And that's never good.

  199. Right?

  200. But if you're saved, then your soul, you want your soul to have as much control as possible.

  201. If your soul is regenerated in God.

  202. Not only that, but God who is wide awake will be our keeper and will keep our soul.

  203. So that's awesome.

  204. Right?

  205. Flip over to man.

  206. Right?

  207. So what does the Bible tell us in Psalm 121 about?

  208. For, mind you, this is a man who is following God or a man who is of God.

  209. Right?

  210. What does it say about his foot?

  211. Two words.

  212. No slip.

  213. Right?

  214. Now, we have a bit of a difficulty there, don't we?

  215. Because we know the Bible says that a rice man falls seven times, up seven times.

  216. We know that we do make mistakes.

  217. So what does it mean to say that God will make it so that your foot will not slip?

  218. How can that be true based on the fact that we know we do make mistakes?

  219. So what does that mean?

  220. That's for sure true, yes.

  221. Go ahead.

  222. Is it lying about salvation?

  223. It's not really talking about salvation, is it?

  224. I should say it is there talking about salvation where it says a righteous man falls seven times, gets up seven times.

  225. That's not talking about salvation.

  226. Right?

  227. So you don't lose your salvation seven times and get your salvation back seven times.

  228. You physically fall, you make a mistake, you make a bad decision, etc.

  229. But you always come back up.

  230. And because it's seven, but you actually rise eight times, you're up and stay up.

  231. Right?

  232. So that is not...

  233. We don't fall in our salvation.

  234. And this is saying we will not fall in our salvation.

  235. Okay?

  236. There is no slip of your foot when it comes to being saved and in the Lord.

  237. Bear in mind there is quite a bit of scripture that supports that God will guide your paths.

  238. Right?

  239. If you lean not on your own understanding, you will be able to make the right decision.

  240. Right?

  241. So people do make mistakes.

  242. But when it comes to making a decision, you should not make a wrong decision.

  243. You should not intentionally make a wrong decision because you want what the Lord wants.

  244. You know these facts that we're studying and therefore if you want what the Lord wants,

  245. then you're not going to intentionally do what God would not want you to do,

  246. if you are a man of God.

  247. Right?

  248. There's a difference between making an intentional decision of something wrong

  249. and making an unintentional decision of something wrong.

  250. We talked about that.

  251. We talked about last week, we talked about how sin gets grip on you.

  252. And how willfully making a bad decision is more like a trap that you're putting yourself in your stuff there.

  253. Right?

  254. Than it is attempting to do something bad and then you slip and do that.

  255. That's different.

  256. Okay.

  257. So foot, no slip.

  258. Okay?

  259. The next one, I think I just gave you the P first.

  260. It's four letters, four words I should say.

  261. I'll read over it.

  262. I'll start real before it and I'll read over it.

  263. The Lord...

  264. Protect you from evil.

  265. Say it again.

  266. Protect you from evil.

  267. Protect you from evil.

  268. That's right.

  269. What protects from all evil?

  270. The all is important.

  271. Does anybody know why it's important?

  272. There's no kind of evil.

  273. What kinds of evil are there?

  274. There are evil with an enemy and there are evil with man.

  275. Yeah.

  276. There's essentially four divisions.

  277. Okay?

  278. The world, evil spirits and demons.

  279. Right?

  280. Blasher, wicked desires and self.

  281. Right?

  282. But how many evils are there really?

  283. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

  284. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

  285. Right?

  286. Protect us from...

  287. Say it again.

  288. The evil one.

  289. The evil one.

  290. Okay.

  291. Does anybody know why it says the evil one in that translation?

  292. It's all one evil.

  293. It's actually all one evil.

  294. Right?

  295. So like, because this is a mistake that you make.

  296. Here's a demon.

  297. Here's an evil spirit.

  298. The evil spirit plays to your lust.

  299. You already want whatever it is.

  300. You're just saying, hey, you can have this.

  301. Go after this and you'll have it.

  302. Evil spirit.

  303. Demon comes in your life and screws with your head, takes over your body, controls you, makes

  304. you do things you don't want to do.

  305. That's bad.

  306. Right?

  307. That looks really bad.

  308. This doesn't look as bad.

  309. Is one worse than the other?

  310. No, they're just evil.

  311. It's just evil.

  312. There is no difference in evil.

  313. Right?

  314. The Bible even goes so far as to say that whosoever keeps the whole law and yet offends in one

  315. point, he is guilty of all.

  316. There is just one evil.

  317. It has divisions.

  318. Right?

  319. And that evil spirit might be subject to that demon.

  320. So if the two of them come after you at the same time, this guy might get precedence.

  321. He's in charge.

  322. You might say, oh, just let him go before then I got him.

  323. And the other guy's got to do what he says.

  324. It's kind of bad.

  325. There is a hierarchy in evil.

  326. But the bottom line is it's just one evil.

  327. And actually in the Greek where it says protect us from the evil one, and you could read another

  328. translation and say protect us from evil.

  329. Right?

  330. And it's an evil, but it is a singular word.

  331. So just as good as the evil one would be the one evil.

  332. Either one works.

  333. And to say, for example, there that he's praying to protect him from Satan is actually not

  334. accurate because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

  335. You don't actually have to pray to be protected from Satan.

  336. Satan is weaker than Jesus.

  337. Jesus is in you.

  338. So you're safe.

  339. Right?

  340. But there is one evil.

  341. And in that evil is the evil that I do.

  342. And I need to be protected from that because I'm by doing that evil, I'm throwing down

  343. my protections.

  344. Right?

  345. So without my shield of faith, I whip off my helmet and I go and do something stupid

  346. because I want it, because I need it, or I deserve it, because I've asserted myself

  347. with self-justice or getting vengeance or whatever.

  348. So the point is, protecting from all evil is important because in the original language

  349. here, when it says evil, it's not two different words.

  350. It's not all evil.

  351. It's an evil that includes all evil.

  352. Right?

  353. It's an evil of all kinds, evil of all types that come back.

  354. And God protects us from that.

  355. Let's say for example, you did something evil and your result was you died and went to heaven.

  356. See it?

  357. You do something evil, if you're not saved, you die and go to hell.

  358. If you do something evil and you are saved, you die and go to heaven.

  359. Therefore, you are protected from the ramifications of the evil that you did.

  360. See?

  361. So that's what God is doing.

  362. He will literally protect us from all evil, even the evil that we ourselves originally

  363. had.

  364. My conversation with somebody working on that is a square of a dollar that occurs how once

  365. or something, there's no way it's happening.

  366. Yeah, you know what's going to happen?

  367. Is we're going to go to heaven someday.

  368. We're going to find all kinds of crazy people in heaven that we would never think any possible

  369. way we'd hear.

  370. The story that always comes to mind every time I think about that is Jeffrey Dahmer.

  371. You know Jeffrey Dahmer, right?

  372. Everybody kind of knows a little bit about him.

  373. He's the guy who would eat people.

  374. He was convinced that it was okay to eat people.

  375. In the last week of his life on the earth, he'd eat for best price.

  376. And people say that there was an amazing change in him.

  377. That before he was just wicked and nasty and just being in the room as a lady, feel dirty

  378. and like that, that he was remorseful, he was changed, he was contrite, he was respectful,

  379. he was peaceful, he was all kind of completely a different person overnight.

  380. So was he saved?

  381. Not my place to judge, right?

  382. Not our place at all.

  383. But you're going to find people who go to work every day, pay their bills every day,

  384. work very hard, try to be honest, try to be good, try to be gentle, try to be kind, try

  385. to do all these things, and they're going to get to the throne of judgment.

  386. And Jesus is going to say, get away from me, I never knew you.

  387. Oh, Jeffrey, come on in.

  388. So game, it's very serious, right?

  389. God is the protector of our souls.

  390. And then that leads us to the final one, under man.

  391. And soul equals, this is your easy weapon, kept, right?

  392. Or saved or whatever, whatever it was up there.

  393. But God is the keeper of our soul.

  394. The Lord will guard you.

  395. Okay?

  396. Now we're going to go down to the middle, right above the gate.

  397. And I put it right above the gate because this is where we do this.

  398. We got two words, one is G and one is C.

  399. What do you think?

  400. Hard?

  401. Nope.

  402. The next G, it goes, the next G is guarded.

  403. So I'll give you that.

  404. Put one down below.

  405. So the top is G or C.

  406. Oh, there's two.

  407. Everybody at the gate is doing either this or this or hanging out.

  408. Going or coming.

  409. Going or coming or hanging out, right?

  410. But the truth is in life, everyone is going or coming.

  411. Everyone.

  412. Even the guy that looks like he's just sitting there doing nothing.

  413. We're all going or coming, right?

  414. And then RJ already said the next one down, you go down, straight down in the middle is guarded.

  415. That is correct, forever, yeah.

  416. And so this is what it says, the Lord will protect you from all evil.

  417. He will keep your soul.

  418. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.

  419. And so if you are a follower of the Lord, if you are a child of God, when you go out, God is with you.

  420. When you come in, God comes in with you, right?

  421. This was the psalmist's best understanding, best attempt to understand what it means to have the Holy Spirit indwell you.

  422. It had happened.

  423. Nobody had had the Holy Spirit indwell them back in the day.

  424. But here he's getting a hundreds of years prior picture of what it's going to be like to be walking in the Lord after Jesus comes, dies,

  425. resurrects, goes back to heaven and sends the Holy Spirit.

  426. Jesus is with us always.

  427. He's guarding our coming and going.

  428. Like the poem, Footsteps, where he looks back and he says, oh man, there were the hardest times of my life.

  429. There's only one set of footsteps.

  430. You deserted me at the hardest times of my life.

  431. The man says to Jesus, you deserted me at the hardest times of my life.

  432. Why would you do that?

  433. And Jesus says, my son, oh no, it's not that I deserted you, but rather those are the times in which I carried you.

  434. There's only one set of footsteps because those are my footsteps.

  435. And the psalmist was getting that picture hundreds of years before the coming of the Holy Spirit.

  436. He would understand that wherever we go, he's already there.

  437. David already had that.

  438. Wherever you can go, God would already be there.

  439. Wherever you come to, you find God there.

  440. But now he's explaining, no, he's guarding our coming and going.

  441. He's going to be with us always and forever.

  442. So he was getting an understanding of the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is pretty cool that God did that.

  443. But who is the he?

  444. Who sang this song?

  445. So we're over on the right hand side of that last little section.

  446. OK, I read it to you at the beginning, which is not part of the Bible, not part of the scripture.

  447. It says a song of a sense.

  448. Does anybody know what a song of a sense is?

  449. Josh, tell us what the word assent means to go up.

  450. So this is a song of going up.

  451. That's what it is.

  452. It's a song of going up.

  453. Going up where?

  454. Yeah, that's exactly right.

  455. When they were marching up to Jerusalem.

  456. So remember, they had these festivals in Jerusalem surrounding the temple.

  457. They're in the temple and surrounding the temple.

  458. And people would come from all over the land and they would go up.

  459. And so the first blank that you have there, I'll just give it to you.

  460. It's up to Mount, you can just abbreviate that.

  461. That's what I did.

  462. MT period Moriah.

  463. M-O-R-I-A-H.

  464. Side note, does anybody know what's on Mount Moriah right now?

  465. It still exists.

  466. So Jerusalem is still up there.

  467. But at the very pinnacle on the Temple Mount is what?

  468. The Dome of the Rock.

  469. Probably Gipshah.

  470. The Dome of the Rock, which is the Muslim holy place.

  471. Long story short, here's how it goes.

  472. The Quran was translated in a dream to a place, Mount Moriah, where he saw the tablets that contained the Quran.

  473. Later, the military conquests stole the whole area and built the Dome of the Rock on top of the Temple Mount,

  474. which is where the temple previously had been, but then by that time it had been torn down.

  475. So right now, the Muslims own the pinnacle of Mount Moriah, which is where the temple is.

  476. And Mr. Tindy doesn't have this conversation with me another time.

  477. He knows a lot more about it than I do.

  478. But that being said, the songs were being sung, songs of ascent.

  479. I think there's 20 of them.

  480. I can't be sure, but there's 20 of them throughout the Psalms that are Psalms of ascent.

  481. And they would be sung as the believers were going up Mount Moriah to go to the Temple and Jerusalem around the Temple.

  482. So the next one just under that is up to Jerusalem.

  483. Very good, up to Jerusalem. So they were singing the song as they were going up to Mount Moriah.

  484. So they were going up to Jerusalem.

  485. And then they were going towards T.W.

  486. They were going to worship. That's right. That's what they were doing.

  487. They were going to worship.

  488. So these feasts and festivals they were having were all about worshipping God.

  489. What is worship? What does the word worship mean?

  490. Where does it come from? The Old English means what?

  491. It means praise. It comes from worship.

  492. That's where it actually comes from. Worship. Show work.

  493. So you can praise, you can speak, whatever, but you're declaring the word with someone.

  494. So worship is declaring the word with something in its very components.

  495. So they were going up to Mount Moriah, specifically to Jerusalem and around the Temple to declare the word of God.

  496. So that was to worship.

  497. And then it says I, H, and P.

  498. Now this one you got to kind of know this from Bible history a little bit.

  499. You want to take a stab at it?

  500. Very good. Into His presence.

  501. Why do we say they were going to the Temple to go into God's presence?

  502. Why does that make any sense?

  503. What historically was in the Temple?

  504. Originally, it's not there by the time mostly Psalms were written, but the Ark of the Covenant.

  505. The Ark of the Covenant would have had the horrendous Ten Commandments in it, the tumors of the rats,

  506. I think the Rod of Aaron, some things in there, relics of the faith.

  507. But then there was the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be what?

  508. It was in the Holy of Holies.

  509. But what did it represent with regards to God?

  510. Say it again.

  511. That's perfect.

  512. That's exactly what they would say.

  513. The Ark of the Covenant was the footstool of God.

  514. And so it was in the Holy of Holies.

  515. And so they were going up into His presence.

  516. You understand the symbolism we're getting at now?

  517. So going up Mount Moriah, up Jerusalem, up into the presence of God.

  518. So now we have a song of ascent, a song that arguably could be a song of worship.

  519. God's totally declaring His word.

  520. That's what this whole song is about, declaring His word to the man.

  521. And we're singing that as we're going up into His presence, up Mount Moriah, up into Jerusalem.

  522. Alright, and so we've got just this last little bit left, starts with a W.

  523. It's the word we've been using.

  524. Worship.

  525. Worship.

  526. Good.

  527. Why?

  528. That's a why.

  529. Worship.

  530. Worship your?

  531. Worship.

  532. Nope.

  533. Okay, the last W is also worship.

  534. So it's worship your way to worship.

  535. Not that you worship the way you worship, right?

  536. But you worship your way there.

  537. Alright, so you're walking.

  538. How do I get there?

  539. I walk.

  540. How do you?

  541. So the question is this.

  542. How do you get to worshiping God?

  543. How do you do it?

  544. How do you get from not worshiping God to worshiping God?

  545. Say it again.

  546. Okay, so you're going to church and this classic example, I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm

  547. agreeing with you, but this classic example, you're going to church and you're getting ready

  548. to go out of the house and the kids made you late and you spilled coffee on your shirt.

  549. And all the way to church you're fuming, you're cleaning off the coffee or soda or whatever

  550. it is, and you're trying to calm the kids down and then you walk in the door of the

  551. church and all of a sudden everything's got to be fine.

  552. Right?

  553. Because we can't walk in fuming at each other because we're going to worship.

  554. So we can't be all mad at each other when we go, nobody can know what's going on at

  555. home, right?

  556. Nobody does this, right?

  557. I hope not because that's not the way to get to worship.

  558. Right?

  559. Rather, if you want to get to worship, do it, say it again.

  560. Start worshiping.

  561. That's the key.

  562. How you get to worship, start worshiping.

  563. Now, let me go back on what Dolly said, okay?

  564. So let's say for example, it's Friday, Saturday, right?

  565. You're not really thinking about God at all.

  566. You're busy.

  567. You're working, you're cooking, you're cleaning, you're playing.

  568. You do all the things that you do, right?

  569. And then Saturday night you go to bed about 11 o'clock at night, whatever, maybe midnight

  570. maybe 4 a.m.

  571. You go to bed and you think, oh, I've got to get up and go to church in the morning.

  572. And then you get up and you've got a few last things you've got to do.

  573. You've got to get dressed and you're rushing out the house and you're coming to church.

  574. And then you get there and it doesn't feel very much like church.

  575. You know why that is?

  576. It's not because the other people aren't being in the church.

  577. It's because you're not being in the church.

  578. How do you get to be in the church?

  579. Be in the church, right?

  580. How do you get to serving Jesus?

  581. Serve Jesus, right?

  582. So you're like, well, I want to serve Jesus more.

  583. Okay, well then serve Jesus in what you know to serve Jesus.

  584. And then build on that, right?

  585. And you'll get to do more and more and more.

  586. Growth works like that.

  587. You don't get a tree, you don't get an oak tree from an olive seed, right?

  588. You don't get a rose from a dandelion seed.

  589. You get a rose from a rose seed and it grows up to be a rose plant

  590. which then eventually blossoms and makes a rose.

  591. And by the way, when it makes a rose, it makes more seeds so you can do it again later.

  592. Right?

  593. So what's to be learned from Psalm 121 fits God.

  594. And that is that God is always wide awake and He will be our keeper and He will keep your soul.

  595. To which I would say He deserves your worship.

  596. And then it also says about man, our foot will not slip, will be protected from all evil,

  597. of all kinds and that one evil that there is, right?

  598. Our soul will be kept.

  599. Our going and our coming will be guarded forever.

  600. But if you want to worship, you get there by worshiping.

  601. That's how we do it.

  602. Is He worth your life?

  603. Is He worth your money?

  604. Is He worth your time?

  605. Is He worth your effort?

  606. Is He worth your relationships?

  607. Is He worth your health?

  608. Is He worth anything?

  609. He gave it all to us.

  610. Therefore, He is worth all of it and more because He can take it all away and give it all back again

  611. seven more times if He wants to.

  612. Alright?

  613. So He's worthy of all of that worship.

  614. And the key to getting to worship is to worship, to arrive at worshiping.

  615. Now there's a worldly saying that says, I'm going to make it.

  616. And if I don't, I'm going to fake it until I make it.

  617. And that does not fit here.

  618. Your attitude of worship has to be real.

  619. And when you start worshiping God, you'll go, wait, I'm worshiping God.

  620. I feel like, you know, I knew He was that good.

  621. I knew He deserves the worship.

  622. I'll give you two illustrations and then I'll be through.

  623. The first one is this.

  624. Many times over the last 20 years, I would say at least a half dozen or 10 times,

  625. I got up on a Sunday morning.

  626. I had a rough week.

  627. Maybe I wasn't feeling well.

  628. Things weren't quite right.

  629. And disagreement with my family members or something.

  630. And I don't want to go to church.

  631. I don't want to worship.

  632. I don't want to preach.

  633. I had a couple of those times, most of them probably.

  634. I had a great sermon.

  635. I was excited about preaching it, but I didn't want to go to church.

  636. I don't want to deal with the people.

  637. I don't want to deal with the relationships.

  638. I still want to be here.

  639. I don't want to be here and somewhere back on Main Street or wherever.

  640. I still want to do it.

  641. But I did it anyway.

  642. In fact, usually I would turn music on in the car, meditate on God,

  643. maybe even sing to a song on my playlist or something about God or whatever.

  644. And then I would get in here and by the first or second song, all of that goes away.

  645. All of it.

  646. I'm so glad to be exactly where I'm supposed to be.

  647. And typically when I'm worshiping, I tune everybody else out as much as I possibly can.

  648. I have a lot of responsibilities and stuff like that.

  649. I'll be like, oh, I've got to take care of this.

  650. Oh, a kid needs this or whatever.

  651. But most I tune everybody out and I'm just focused on God.

  652. That's worship.

  653. You can do that on the way to church.

  654. And if you do it on the way to church, you'll be worshiping when you get to church.

  655. You can do it before you get in the car.

  656. And if you do, you'll be worshiping when you're in the car.

  657. You can do it before you get in the shower.

  658. And if you do, you'll be doing it when you're in the shower.

  659. And you'll probably sound better in there too, because that's how that usually works.

  660. Just start worshiping.

  661. He is worthy of it.

  662. And you'll find yourself worshiping.

  663. Second illustration is kind of scary.

  664. There are angels that surround heaven, surround God in heaven right now.

  665. And it's said that basically they're holding back the wrath of God.

  666. You realize that God is not pleased with a lot of things that are happening on earth now.

  667. Some of them are things that we're doing.

  668. Or certainly that we're allowing.

  669. So there are angels that circle God.

  670. And they sing all day, what?

  671. Holy, holy, holy.

  672. They have wings that they fly on.

  673. And then they have wings that cover their feet.

  674. If it means literally their feet.

  675. But it covers their lower body.

  676. They are in His presence.

  677. And something is protecting them.

  678. And I submit to you that it is their worship.

  679. More than that, I submit to you, their worship is protecting us.

  680. Because it says later they stop.

  681. When do they stop?

  682. When the wrath of God is ready to be poured out.

  683. When the book is brought.

  684. When Jesus opens the seal sweater.

  685. When all sorts of things in the world is going away as we know it.

  686. That's when they stop singing, holy, holy, holy.

  687. We are protected from God's wrath now by worshipers of God.

  688. Now our worship probably in and of itself without Christ would not be good enough to protect us or anyone from the wrath of God.

  689. But it is good enough to bring us into the presence of God.

  690. It is good enough to remind us that we, that God is worthy.

  691. That He guards our coming and going if you are a followed Lord, that's true.

  692. And that He will do so forever wide awake and make sure your foot never slips and your soul is kept.

  693. We can't buy that for a dollar.

  694. But you can experience it first hand by worship.

  695. We are going to close in prayer at this time. Does anybody have any questions before we do?

  696. Okay. I have candy.

  697. There is not as much candy up here as there was I left it last Tuesday because people eat my candy in between.

  698. But I have lots of candy in my office so it's okay.

  699. Alright, well let's close in prayer.

  700. Brother Tim, thank you for being here.

  701. Would you close us in prayer?

  702. What better than one of our primary worship servants to do that under this body.

  703. Thank you.

  704. I learn father and your office is great to me.

  705. Thank you.