Who am I...the Church

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Good morning, church.

Amen.

Take your Bibles and turn them to Psalms 84.

Thank you, Amanda, for those words.

And the only response to any of that is to God.

Be the glory.

For all he has done.

And I'm thankful that I have a Savior who died on a cross for my sins, who loved me enough to save me and to call me and my family.

And so there's no one that stands behind a place like this worthy of what he's done, but it is sure exciting to share his truths.

So thank God and thank you.

That meant a lot.

And anyone that's been with me that long deserves some praise.

Amen.

I love you.

Psalms 84.

We talked last week about our identity in Christ, and now we're looking at who am I, the church.

Psalms 84, starting verse 1 and 2, says, How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts.

My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

You've probably heard the statement, everybody's watched this movie, there's no place like home.

This psalm is a pilgrimage psalm, somebody going on a journey back to where they belong, and you know the phrase, there's no place like home.

And why is home like that?

When I'm gone from home, man, I sure miss my wife.

When I'm gone from home, what do you all say when you're about to be home?

You say, Oh, I can't wait to get in my bed.

It's like that bed knows you.

Am I right?

There's nothing like the bed at home.

There's no food like food at home.

A home-cooked meal?

There's nothing like a home-cooked meal.

And in my home, I've got my children that I miss when I'm going from.

I've got a special recliner in my home.

Man?

Do you got a recliner?

I mean, if you don't, you need one.

It knows my body just right.

Okay?

I've got a recliner at home.

I've got things at home that are in no other place.

I got my Epsom salts at home, if you hear me.

I'm of that age.

Okay, I need them sometimes.

They're at home.

They're not with me when I'm gone.

I got a favorite coffee cup.

Y'all got a favorite coffee mug?

Helen's got this little bitty coffee cup.

That's her favorite cup.

I know things in the junk drawer at my home.

Right?

I can't come to your junk drawer and know what's in there and what I need, but I know what's in my junk drawer.

Every comfort that I can think of hits me at home.

I got my little dog at home.

Right?

At home, we miss these things when we're gone from, but on this pilgrimage, the psalmist of all the things that he could have missed as he was traveling back toward home, he said, My soul longs for church.

Thank you, Lord.

He missed church.

Pray with me.

Father, we love you, and God, we exalt your name above any other thing.

God, in this place, this is your place.

In our hearts, our hearts are yours.

And so, God, this morning I pray that you would bring us to your throne.

God, that any distraction that we came in with, God, I pray for the next few moments that only you would speak.

Have our ears, have our hearts, have our minds in Jesus' name.

Amen.

The first point this morning is this: our soul seeks church.

As I read, he said, How lovely is your tabernacle, my soul longs.

The word for soul, the Greek word is pesuke, which is where we get our word for psychology.

And uh the other word we looked at last week is nefesh, and that's when God breathed into man and he became a living being.

That nefesh is our consciousness, and it's what separates us from other living things.

The soul is not in a plant, the soul is not in an animal.

We are a living being.

And he says, My soul, that part of me longs, even faints for you.

We long for things today, right?

Some of you woke up and you longed for some caffeine, didn't you?

Some of you came in and you had to have the 7B.

Am I right?

Starbucks 7B, some of you scooters, right?

You had to have that thing that you longed for.

Now, in my house, sometimes if things have gone a little while, we start to long for some Station 31 ranch dressing.

Can I get an Amen?

I mean, we got a jar like this one time, and I wasn't ashamed walking out with it.

It is so good.

Like you just long for certain things.

How many of you today you're like, already I know I need to make a Walmart run?

Right?

It's already the list is starting to calculate because you gotta go and you gotta do these things.

I gotta tell you, this church has uh put something into me that I never had before.

Okay?

And I'm just admitting I'm gonna confess before you too today.

I've got I've got a slight addiction.

Okay, in my house we call them poppin' peps.

You seen these little bratches?

You see these little peppermints?

I got a problem because of the church.

The church did it to me.

I don't know who started, if it was my wife or who, but we started having peppermints.

Look, I if I hadn't been to church in a few days, I'm like, I need a peppermint.

I need a bratches.

Like, I start to long for these things.

Heather finds the wrappers in the laundry, they're all over the house.

I got a little problem popping peps.

But what does your soul long for?

It's an important question this morning.

The psalmist on his pilgrimage said, My soul longs and even faints for the house of the Lord.

Well, let's talk about the difference in Big C Little C church.

Letter A.

The church, big C, is the body of Christ.

Take your Bibles and turn them to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

The church is the body of Christ.

It says this, chapter 2, verse 19 through 21.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in my spirit.

You see, the body of Christ, Big C, is every saved individual in the body, the fellowship of church, Big C is everyone who's come to know Christ.

You see, this is important because it says strangers, strangers had no legal rights, but citizens had protection and inheritance.

The word for citizens there is the same, talking about inclusivity and equal.

They were joined together.

And that word that says joined together is used only here, and it means they were fitted piece by piece.

How many of you like to make a puzzle?

One, two?

I mean, you can be proud of it.

It's okay.

We don't we won't look down on you around here.

Okay.

Puzzle makers.

I got some puzzles.

On great occasion, Heather will pull out a puzzle.

And uh, y'all know what happened in 2020.

I think we did about 35 puzzles.

And um, anyway, these puzzles will come out, and this one's a good one.

Look, I mean, what's better than a puzzle with candy bars on it?

I don't even know if we've done this puzzle.

I was looking at trying to figure it out.

But anyhow, when you look at these puzzles, how many of you?

I mean, put your hand back up if you're a puzzle person.

If I took these and just threw them, how bad would that bother you?

Pretty bad, right?

Like, if I took one, would it bother you even more?

Like, you got 99% done, and then this happens to us almost every puzzle.

I don't know why it's only one, but there's always one.

And sometimes Weston will steal it and have a good time with himself, and he'll have the one.

But I want you to get this picture.

The church, the body, big C, is something that God has painted together.

And listen to me, every single piece matters.

Every single piece is the full picture.

And so we are the body joined together, fitted piece by piece.

Being in the household means that you belong to the family.

The church has many, hear me, many members, but we have one identity.

And it says that the foundation, the cornerstone, holds everything together.

In him, everything is held together.

He is the great uniter of many different pieces.

That's why you can go and meet somebody, have nothing in common with them, and all of a sudden you feel this bond.

I can usually in like five minutes, I feel like I know somebody knows Christ.

We have this unspoken bond.

It's the way that they talk, it's the way they carry themselves.

It's on their face.

I want to tell you, you may have come in here today and you might come in feeling insignificant.

But every piece in the body of Christ makes the whole picture work.

Every piece makes it work.

So the church is the body, the universal assembly of all Christian.

Letter be.

The church is a building for communion.

Go back to Psalms 84.

He says, How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts.

Exodus 25, 8.

Listen to what was happening there in the wilderness.

Exodus 25.8, the Lord told Moses and the Israelites, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.

Make me a place that is my place.

It's a place about me and my presence.

He said, Make me a sanctuary.

Back in the 90s when Heather and I, were not 90s, we were 2000s.

I almost cut us short.

Two thousands, we were in college, and we would often sing this song, Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true.

And with thanksgiving, I will be a living sanctuary for you.

It is a place in us, and it is a place that we come.

The church is a building for communion, it is a person and a place.

You see, the Bible says God inhabits the praise of his people.

You want to find the presence of God, find his people together in praise.

When I think about this church and all that God has blessed, we've got a beautiful building right here.

There's a kid's chapel to the left of us.

There's a kitchen now to the center of us.

We've got 92 acres and a beautiful soccer field.

And we've got a lot of things as a place where God can be.

But the New Testament local church is not about some corporation.

It's a creation.

It's about the living, breathing God.

It's about a person and persons in a place.

Mark 16, 15 said that man can gain the whole world and lose his soul.

I want you to grasp that.

Man can have the title deed to planet earth.

And it says if he exchanges his soul for that, he is lost.

But if a man will give his soul to Christ, he can become a part of a body.

And our soul church is incomplete without the presence of God.

And we find communion in a local New Testament church.

That's what Amanda was talking about.

We find that in the place.

In the Lord's Supper, which will be partaking later on this morning, the other name that you hear often called for is communion.

The Greek word there for communion is fellowship.

And it reinforces our connectedness to the body of Jesus Christ.

We're celebrating and remembering what Jesus Christ did and bonded us together.

Well, in the Old Testament, they called it a tabernacle.

He said, How lovely is thy tabernacle?

Today we call it church.

When we come to church, it's coming to a place that celebrates God as supreme.

I thought about if you take my life and you subtract church from it.

Think about that for you.

I don't know what I am if you take my life and subtract church.

The family that I grew up in, I know this that I would not be who I am if you took my life and you subtracted church.

It's no wonder that the psalmist said, as he looked longingly, how lovely are thy tabernacles.

When we come to the house of God, we come to a place that celebrates the person of God.

I love church.

The building and the body.

Point number two this morning is this our strength stands as church.

I want to show you a picture of the Colosseum.

This building has stood the test of time for over 2,000 years.

They say it stands because it has tremendous durability.

It was built with a rare substance called lime clasts.

And these lime clasts have within it self-healing properties.

So when it cracks or something begins to crumble and then rain hits it, it begins to self-absorb back into a rock formation.

It's pretty impressive and well ahead of its time.

And because of the thought put into its durability, its rock is standing today.

Edward Moat wrote this song, and here's the words to it.

He said, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust on Jesus' name.

On Christ, the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking stand.

And it says in another verse, When darkness seems to hide his face, I rest on his unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.

He says, That is the rock that we need to stand on as a church.

I want you to look at letter A this morning.

The church is a people of durability.

Look there at Psalms 84, verses 3 through 5.

Psalms 84:3–5

It says, Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallows a nest for herself where she may lay her young.

Even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God, blessed are those who dwell in your house, they will still be praising you.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on the pilgrimage.

And so it gives this interesting idea, right?

You open that up, and he says, even the birds.

Now the psalmist is not just trying to be comical here or write something without a meeting, a meaning to it.

He said, even the birds raise their nest at church.

By the way, I can verify this happens.

In this church, we still have birds that nest out front.

And we've tried, but they just keep coming back.

They love the church.

The psalmist is making this point.

Church is good for the growth of your family.

My parents, when I grew up, maybe some of you grew up like this, were very active in church when I grew up.

I mean, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, that was the magical formula for parenting.

If we had what was called the Mason Dixon Gospel Jubilee, buckle up.

Because 6 o'clock till 9 o'clock all week long, we were at the Jubilee hearing the Southern Gospel music and five preachers.

I don't know.

It was all week long, and then we had bus ministry on Saturdays that I went with my dad from 9 o'clock till who knows?

All I knew was it was it ended when we were at the farmer's market sometime for lunch.

Okay.

And that went on.

And then Sundays we were on the bus with a bus ministry.

We had all of this stuff going on with church.

And when I think back about that as a child and a teen, my parents never said once, hey Rick, it's nine o'clock.

What are your thoughts on church?

Not one time.

Never heard this.

Me and Dad are about to go into the car, and we would love for you to attend.

But if you want to stay home, it's up to you.

I never heard those words.

We always want him to make his own decisions.

I never heard that.

I never heard, they never consulted me one time about church.

If you want durability, have your family in the house of God where they can feel the presence of God.

There's sort of a false philosophy today that says if you make your kids do something when they grow up, they are going to hate it.

You know what I don't hate?

I do not hate deodorant.

My parents made me, and I'm sure glad they did.

I don't hate toothpaste at all.

My parents made me.

I don't hate a bath.

What do you think?

I put my Epsom salts in.

I don't hate a bedtime, y'all.

I love bedtime.

Are you with me?

I don't hate any of those things, not even clothes.

And you know what else?

I don't hate.

I don't hate church.

Not even a little bit.

I was made to go to church, I think, over 10,000 times.

I mean it.

I did some math as a child over 10,000 times.

And I love church.

I love it today.

It didn't create in me some hate.

Church is a place where even the birds raise their nest.

It's a place that will give you durability, the word of God.

The world is trying to get to the ears of you and your family and your kids and give all kinds of philosophies and meanings.

What about their faith journey?

We got sports journeys.

We got intellectual journeys.

We got education journeys.

And what about your job and your income journey?

But what about your faith journey?

Don't hear too much about people going to extra faith camps all summer long.

Hear about a lot other.

What about our faith journey?

Durability.

You want durability?

Raise your family in church.

Let it be.

By the way, you might be sitting here and going, man, that's heavy.

But don't hear it in judgment.

There's no time like right now.

It's not judgment.

Start right now.

Okay?

We're not here to judge.

Listen, we all got our stuff, but start right now.

Let it be, the church is a place of dwelling.

A place of dwelling.

The presence of God isn't a place to visit, it's to dwell.

How many of you have been to recently an Airbnb or hotel room and you weren't that satisfied with it?

Anybody have an experience like this?

Okay.

Airbnb is a little tricky because you're looking online.

At the very best of photos.

Heather and I have been to one good one.

We've been to one that I wasn't sure wasn't the place for a murder scene.

Okay?

The basement was locked up, couldn't go down there, and I'm like, I don't know about this place, right?

Some of you, every one of you been to a hotel and you're like, oh man, this is not what I thought, right?

Even if you've been to the nicest of those places, do any of you sit in those places and go, you know what?

I think I want to take up residency here.

I'll just climb around these beds and I'll work.

I want to live in this place.

No, they're not a place to dwell.

Well, the psalmist said.

I love this tabernacle.

You know the word tabernacle means lexon.

It means to reside.

Tabernacle means to dwell in a place.

Has the picture of sitting back and throwing off your shoes and remaining in a place?

The psalmist said, blessed, happy are they who dwell.

Once you start, hear me, to dwell in a place, that place will start to dwell in you.

That's good right there.

Once you start to dwell in a place, that place will start to dwell in you.

No wonder the psalmist said, How lovely are thy tabernacles.

When a man answers Christ's call, it's an invitation to slow down, to dwell, to marinate in him.

The scripture says, Let me come in and sup.

When you read through in the Lord's Supper, the word for sup there is Depneo.

And he took the cup after he had supped, and he had shared an intimate moment.

The picture of his broken body on the cross, and what Jesus was sharing with the disciples is I want more than an affiliation with you.

I want more.

And you need more than just knowing about me or seeing about me.

You need an abidance with me.

Says he wanted to suffer, he wants to dine, he wants you to debneo, to pause.

I don't know what your week gave you this week, but what God wants you to do when you come to this place is to have a pause with him, to dwell.

It means something more than to show up, to dwell.

John 1:14 says that the word became flesh and he tabernacled among us.

John 1:14

He dwelt among us.

Jesus came to dwell with us.

And I want you to hear me today.

If you're here today and you've never opened the door of your heart, Jesus Christ came and he wants to dwell with you.

He wants you to open up the door of that heart.

Listen, you can't praise and inhabit his praise if he doesn't dwell in you.

He wants to dwell and abide in this heart.

Ephesians 2.22, that I read earlier, says, of whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Your body is called the temple of the Holy Spirit, a sanctuary.

So let me ask you, Christian, if you have been dwelling with God.

We dwell with a whole lot of things, right?

And life has a whole lot of pools on us.

And I want to tell you the one thing that matters above all those things is how we're dwelling with Him.

Are you dwelling with God?

The church is a place of dwelling.

Well, point number three this morning: our struggles are soothed as church.

Look at verses six and seven of Psalms eighty-four.

It says, As they pass through the valley of Baka, they make it a spring.

The rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength.

Each one appears before God in Zion.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer.

Give ear, O God of Jacob.

Letter A is this valleys are for shaping.

Valleys are for shaping.

Baka is a valley.

The word Baka is the Hebrew word for weeping valley.

Many believe that the location of Baka was on the walk, this journey, this pilgrimage to the temple.

But regardless, Baka is a picture of your valley, your low place, a place of discouragement, a place of dryness, a place of tears.

Bekah is an obstacle on the journey to God that tries to keep us from God.

Bekah.

The valley.

Psalms 23 talks about a valley.

It says, in the valley of the shadow of death.

But the psalm ends with, you will be comforted in that valley.

In Ezekiel 37, there's a valley of dry bones.

And in that valley there is a resurrection of those dry bones.

In Hosea 2.15, there's a valley called Acor.

And in Acor, the valley becomes a door of hope.

I've had many valleys.

And I know that you today have had many valleys.

And you've come today, and maybe right now you're in a valley.

Maybe you're waiting on a health result.

Some job situation has you nervous, weary.

Maybe you're in a family trial and there's tension and there's struggle and you just wish it weren't so.

Maybe some danger, maybe something came to you and it just seems like it came up out of nowhere.

Baca is looking around and the world feels like it's closing in on you.

When we were at Tennessee Temple one day, a couple of guys said, Rick, do you want to go cliff jumping?

Sounds like a good joke.

You want to go jump off a cliff?

Yeah.

So we went to Lake Nick, and just side note, sidebar, I am not a good swimmer.

I am a good jumper off of rocks into water.

I'm not a good swimmer.

So my friends are taken off, and they and I did observe and look, and I'm like, that's a long swim across there to that rope swing.

And uh, but I didn't pay any attention to that feeling.

I jumped right into the water and I began to swim, and they were going, going, going, and I realized at like halfway, I'm not gonna make it.

And I started to have a little bit of inner panic, and because halfway's the worst point to figure out you're not gonna make something.

Okay?

And I started to have this panic within, and I'm like, do I scream?

I truly felt in a moment like I'm gonna look like a nerd if I scream.

I had that thought, which is a terrible thought.

Let me just help you, church.

If something's bad is happening, yell, scream.

Don't worry about how you're gonna look.

But I had that thought, and I'm I started to go underwater.

Water starts, it's like getting to my mouth, and I'm and and I'm I'm waiting, and I'm I'm I'm going under.

All this is happening, and a speed boat starts coming, and I'm like, that's this is it.

Water's in me, and I'm going under and I'm back, and I'm up and down, and I'm telling you, the stuff that goes through your mind quickly, like I thought I'm drowning.

I thought I this is going to be the end.

And I'm going underwater, and this boat's coming, and I had this thought.

Should I push myself as far as I can under, because it's headed right towards me, so that I miss the boat that's coming at me?

Or do I just scream?

And at the last second, the thing that should have taken me out swirled around in front of my face.

I screamed to the top of my lungs, and they had a lifesaver.

And I'm telling you, they were they were from here to there spinning the boat around.

It was coming at me.

They threw a lifesaver, and the thing that anybody would have been watching would have thought would have taken me out, would have taken me under, would have killed me, that same thing had a lifesaver and threw it out to me.

Church, sometimes the valley seems like you're going to drown right away.

And I want to tell you that's not where the scripture ends.

Because in the valley, I want you to know Jesus saves.

I was thinking about that this week.

Because Baker's not the end of the journey.

It says, look at the verse, don't miss it.

It says, as they pass through.

Did you hear that?

As they passed through Baekah, it wasn't a place to dwell.

It wasn't a place to stay.

As they passed through, it wasn't the end.

They were going to go through.

Church, what we need to dwell on, what we always need to focus on, is the one who can save us.

Once I screamed, and once that life preserver was thrown to me, my life was completely different.

Do you remember the story of Peter?

Peter saw Jesus.

The disciples saw what they thought was a ghost, and it was walking across the waters.

And as they looked up, he said, Don't be afraid, it is I.

So they heard the voice of God.

They saw what looked like Jesus.

The miraculous had happened previous to this, so this was a big miracle.

And Peter said, If it's you, let me come out with you.

And he said, Come on out.

And Peter stepped out of the boat and onto the water.

And everybody saw this miracle that was happening.

The disciples saw it, Peter saw it, Jesus saw what was happening, and it was all good until what happened?

Peter started to look at the wind, and he started to look at the waves, and he started to look at all of these things.

And by the way, there was no absence of those things.

The miraculous was happening.

Jesus was there, but there was no absence of wind or waves.

And Peter, when he took his focus off of Jesus, began to sink.

Church, CCW, I want to tell you something.

Our focus here is Jesus.

Our focus tomorrow is Jesus.

And our focus forever is going to be Jesus Christ.

Amen.

John 16, 33 says, In the world, you'll have tribulation.

But be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world.

As you go through, I want you to notice this because you cannot avoid Baker.

It says, as you go through.

So when you go through Baker, what do you do?

By the way, I don't want my valley, my frustrations, my griefs to make me bitter.

I want to learn, I want to grow, and I want to encourage others when I go through Baekah.

A pastor named John Dice came to my church one day and he gave this illustration that I've never been able to forget.

And he said, When God gives you a burden, he's given you a burden on purpose.

God doesn't do anything out of confusion.

We have a God that is not of the author of confusion.

God is a God of order.

And so God will give you a burden.

And what he wants to do in you with your burden is let your burden build a bridge.

He said, You're going to go over to the other side of that bridge because nobody has been through what you've been through like you.

And you're going to be able to go to the other side and help somebody who's going through something like you went through.

Amen.

He said, Let your burden build a bridge.

So when we go through, Bacon, which as you go through, you will.

He says, learn.

And grow.

And take what you've learned and grown.

Make it practical.

Okay.

Nobody has been through alcoholism like an alcoholic.

And so somebody who's been broken free of that shame can walk over to the other side and they can help somebody like them.

Somebody that's gone through cancer knows what it's like to go through cancer, and they can go on the other side and help somebody who's going through that trial.

Maybe you were a child and your parents were divorced.

He says, Let your burden build a bridge.

You go on the other side and you help somebody to grow.

Because Bacon's not going away.

And church, I want you to hear, I want my life, no matter what, no matter how hard, to glorify God and bless others.

I want to live in joy and I want to make any valley of weeping into what this says a place of cold, refreshing springs that give life and joy to my family, to my church family.

I will walk through the valley because it lets me give my God glory.

But it says, don't stay there.

That's not the dwelling place.

We go through it.

Paul said it this way: don't get weary in well-doing.

But in due season you shall reap if you faint not.

Don't quit.

Don't give up.

Keep walking.

It says, we will go through.

Let's continue.

Letter B.

How?

How do we do that?

That's the key.

It's not because I did anything or you did anything.

How?

Letter B.

Our very present help is our shield.

We're gonna there's a bunch of verses that hits this idea of the shield.

So verse 5, 7, 9, and 11, it says, Blessed is the man whose strength is in you.

Key.

Highlight that.

Who's our strength and it's in God.

Okay, verse 7.

They go from strength to strength.

Each one appears before God in Zion.

Verse 9.

O God, behold our shield and look upon the face of your anointed.

And verse 11.

For the Lord God is a son and a shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

He is our shield, church.

The psalmist wanted us to get this idea.

It's not my strength.

And I'm thankful to have been at this church in 10 years.

This church has not grown because of me.

This church has grown because of Jesus Christ, the rock and strength of this church.

And it will continue because He is the very centerpiece.

He's our shield.

Boston University did a research study on 66 people, which included 14 centurions.

That's people who have lived over a hundred years old.

And they found this among the centurions that their immune system adaptation was different.

That because of a particular strength within their cells, their immune system responded to infection quicker and better.

That was a correlation that they found in these 14.

Your immune system is your body's defense to bacteria.

Church, God, like our immune system, is a very present help.

He is our help today.

He is my help.

The psalmist said this in a different place.

I will lift up mine eyes and to the hills from whence comes my help.

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

He is our shield.

That word shield is magain.

And it means he's our defender.

He is our defender.

Remember verse 5, it says, Happy is a man whose strength is in you.

Our strength is in the Lord.

Psalms 3:3 says, Lord, you are a shield around me.

Psalms 3:3

You are the one who lifts my head.

Psalms 28:7 says, The Lord is my strength and my shield.

Psalms 28:7

Psalms 18.30 says, The way of the Lord is perfect, the word of the Lord rings true.

He is a shield.

Psalms 91 says, His faithfulness will be your shield.

The church has within its identity an advocate that is a shield.

He says, and I've read it, from strength to strength.

So he says, Well, go through Baker and it will be strength to strength.

This is an interesting play on words, because in the pilgrimage context, if I told you that you had to go run a marathon, it would be hard for some of you to imagine that somewhere on mile 10, you were going to get stronger.

And somewhere on mile 15, you were going to get even stronger.

And then somewhere on mile 20, I don't even know how many miles there are, you will get even stronger.

That's a hard concept to understand.

But he says here, you will go from strength to strength as you pass through Baca, strength to strength, what does that mean?

Instead of losing strength, as some might expect from walking a long journey, going through a lot of trial or travail, those who walk with God can expect to go from strength to strength.

As we make it through something, God gives us more strength.

Isaiah 40, 31 said it this way: They who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get weary.

They'll walk and not faint.

Strength in our shield.

He is that church.

And nothing short of that.

Letter see.

Look at verses 10 through 12.

Value through surrendered service.

We're trying to find out about identity, what makes us who we are.

And the psalmist says in verses 10 through 12 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a son and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will he withhold from those who walk up rightly.

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

He says, a doorkeeper in God's house is better than thousands anywhere else.

Did you hear that?

In the temple of God, if you will give your time in God's house for one day, the psalmist said that's better than making millions somewhere else.

Better is one day.

Moses said that he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than live one season in sin.

He said, one day, one 24-hour period, being a doorkeeper is more valuable than being a C A O outside of God's hand.

You find value.

Amanda said this.

I found value in my giftedness, in God's place, in his house, in his church, within his body.

God wants to give you value, and I want to challenge you.

Maybe you're here this morning, and you've sort of been floundering there, looking, searching, and find a way to serve him.

Use your passion, use your giftedness.

But serve him.

There's identity in it.

If you don't know where to start, just start.

Ask somebody.

Hey, where's the need?

Charles Spurgeon said, I'd rather be the poorest pauper in heaven than the richest man in hell.

And I want you to know this.

It's not saying that a doorkeeper is some small thing.

To the contrary, some of the most realist and most important happenings happen at church.

Maybe a doorkeeper, a greeter, an usher.

Maybe work in media today, kids' ministry, working with our children, some people holding babies.

But it's saying that for you as the body.

As well.

When you leave this place, better as one day to make an impact where you work, better as one day, taking the church.

We are here, and it's yes, it's good to serve, but the church goes with you where you go.

Better as one day.

Your ministry is critical.

I've thought through this this week, and church has been so important in my life.

If I'm just being real as a teenager, I knew the Lord, but I was on the fence.

And I was set to run off that fence and run the other way.

And in the Valley of Baca, there were some church ladies that kept loving me, not knowing all that was going on.

Some of them were lunch ladies at my Christian school, and they kept saying, You come here and you give me that hug, boy.

They have no idea.

I had a teacher calling my house because my senior year, I just stopped caring.

And she was like, You've got to get in here, not because you need it for your grades, but there's other kids that you're missing out on impacting.

And Miss Thomas impacted my heart with her constant phone calls when I just wanted to sleep in.

I kept going to church.

And there were valleys, and some of them were self-made valleys, but in those valleys, he gave a pool and gave me a drink.

Sometimes it was through a hug, sometimes it was through a handshake.

Even though I created my valley, God kept trying to point me to the well.

And let me tell you what happened in church.

I confessed my sin to God in church.

I got my heart right in church.

I started reading my Bible because of church.

I started serving for the first time in my life at church, and I exchanged my stresses at church.

Guess where I met my wife?

Well, Tennessee Temple, which was close to church.

It was affiliated with a church.

I was called to preach at church.

My children have been brought up in church.

Every one of my children have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Guess where?

At church.

They've been baptized in church.

I'm not problem-free.

I'm human and you're human.

And sometimes life is baker.

How many of you say, Pastor Rick?

Man, life has been baker for me this week.

I've been in it, it's been a valley.

Amen, church.

You know, the other day a man texted me three words.

He said, Love you, preach.

He had no idea.

He had no idea what that meant.

He was church for me.

In a dry moment, the living God in him was speaking through him.

Life sometimes is baker.

But I want to tell you, on that journey, on that pilgrimage, God will make a well of water.

Living water.

Life can be baker, but I'm going to tell you something.

I can't be away from church.

I understand what the psalmist said.

The psalmist cried, My heart and my soul longs.

I love the place that inhabits the presence of God.

I'm not ever leaving church.

I love the people who have tabernacled the Holy Spirit of God.

I love church.

I love my Savior in church.

I love the church of God.

I love the local New Testament church.

And I love you, CCW.

I love church.

Well, many here today, church, maybe feeling like you're in Baca.

And I want to encourage you.

There's a well of living water.

There's a well when you're in Baca.

Can you stand to your feet this morning?

Hands were raised this morning.

Maybe say, Pastor, I'm in a dry space.

I'm in a hard space.

My heart has been torn.

I want to go through it and I want to focus on Jesus.

But Pastor, right now it's hard.

I want to ask you and invite you these next few moments to come join me at the altar.

We're going to pray.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes?

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community to grow with one another and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.