Love Church

You got a Bible this morning.

I want you to turn it to Psalms chapter 84.

Psalms 84 · chapter mention

You got a little ribbon or something in your Bible?

Take a place and put over to 2 Chronicles chapter 20.

2 Chronicles 20 · chapter mention

We're going to be looking at both those passages this morning.

And I want to thank Pastor Danny for allowing me to be in this place.

I never take for granted being behind this pulpit and serving in God's place.

And I'm thankful for my pastor and his wife and all they do.

And listen, I know he doesn't like to not preach, so he didn't not preach, so he did give a mini sermon.

So and when I'm done, if I don't do it right, I know there'll be a little more.

So here we go.

Psalms 84.

As uh this a few weeks ago, Heather and I and the family went to Dallas and then Houston.

And uh man, it felt like they kind of rolled out the red carpet for us.

We had never been to the house in Dallas, and we got to stay sort of in our own little apartment there.

Um when we came in, they had gifts for the kids and and um just treated us really well.

We went and ate and um and ate and ate and ate and ate, and then I got to preach in Dallas, and then we went on to Houston and continued eating, and and you know how good aunts and uncles do, they spoiled the kids, and they had a uh a heated swimming pool, so the kids got in a swimming pool as like we didn't even see them, so we were, you know, that's real vacation.

And so uh we really got to kind of relax and do all that, and it was just a wonderful time with family.

But you know, as we got in the car and began to come back, all we can think is I can't wait to get home.

I can't wait to get back to my bed and my place and where I live, even though this was so great, I just can't wait to get home.

Uh I remember as a college student when spring break would come or summer break and the semester was over, I couldn't wait to, it didn't matter if my last test was at noon or one o'clock, even though my drive was 12 hours, I was getting in and I was driving all the way because I couldn't wait to get home.

An astronaut will go into space and discover some great discoveries and be planning his next mission while he's still there.

But when he lands and people say to him, How are you doing?

He says, It's good to be home.

It's good to be home.

And so, as I take you to Psalms 84, this psalm is written by a man who is reflecting as he's been away from home.

And he's missed something while he's been gone.

And as he reflects through the psalm, it doesn't say that he missed the climate or the temperature, it doesn't say that he missed the scenery or uh his cush living or the economy.

It doesn't even say that he missed a certain group of people, it says that he missed church.

I think we have a problem in America.

We're no longer homesick for church.

If we know Christ, we are the church.

God created us as the body, but he gave us the local church, the New Testament church as the building.

And we have a problem when the body doesn't care about where it's supposed to belong.

The body's made to be where it belongs.

We have an identity crisis.

And in epidemic proportion, you were created as God's creation to relate to Him and glorify and mirror Him, to be His body, the church, and to fill His house, the local church.

So I got a New Year's resolution, and I want you to say it with me.

Love church.

Say that with me.

Love church.

Pastor's been talking about how to have a healthy church, and I think the first step as we get into that is to love church.

So let me pray, and then we're gonna break down the Psalm.

Father, Lord, hide me behind your cross.

Lord, you speak.

I don't have anything that really matters to say, but God, I pray that you would use this speaker, and God, say what you want to say to these people.

Lord, I pray that you will renew our affection for the thing that Christ died for.

The church.

Bless your word.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Psalms 84.

Let's look at verses 1 and 2 as we jump in.

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

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

My heart and my flesh cry out for living God.

Number one, today, our soul craves church.

You were made with a soul, and it craves church.

Our soul is full of passion.

So we have to understand that you've got to understand what a soul is.

The Hebrew word for soul is nefesh, which means a living being.

The nephesh is a living being.

Genesis said it this way, and God breathed into man and he became a living soul.

The nephesh.

The Greek is the pesuke, is the word, and that's the word we get for psychology.

And it reflects consciousness.

The soul is our reason, our rationale, our capability to look into something and reflect.

And because we are able to do those things, it gives way to passion.

Because we can reflect and learn and have emotion.

It's why we get anxious when we're going on a trip.

We get excited, we get passionate about things because we have a soul.

We can anticipate, we can have emotions because we have a soul.

Our soul separates us from all other living kingdoms.

Plants are living, animals are living, but they don't have a soul.

You know why we have a soul?

Because we're an image-bearer of Christ.

We have a soul and it's full of passion.

And the psalmist says, My soul longs.

The psalmist says his soul longs and even faints.

When I was a newlywed Heather, I got a call.

She was working at the YMCA as a lifeguard, and I was dispatching for the moving company, and I got a frantic call from the YMCA, and it says, it said, Your wife has fainted.

And that's all I needed to hear.

I threw down the phone.

I said, I gotta go.

I didn't tell my work anything.

I got in the car, I had a Ford focus.

I took that Ford focus to the max.

It was going 100 miles an hour on Interstate 95.

My work was 22 miles from where from where the hospital was in Elkton, Maryland.

So I flew down.

I was taking shoulders on the interstate.

Okay, we could have both been in the hospital, but I was taking shoulders.

I had to get to my wife, my newlywed, my new bride, because they said she passed out, and I didn't know what happened.

I got to that hospital and she was okay.

But I remember, listen, I remember hearing that my wife had fainted, and that caused me some passion.

That caused me to get after something.

You know, fainting is caused by a lack of air.

When we lack something, do we not say, Man, I long.

I am in need of.

People say, I'm about to faint.

I have hardly heard people say lately that I'm about, I listen, I ain't been to church in a while.

I'm about to faint.

I'm about to fall out right now, Pastor Dan.

If I don't get some church, I'm gonna pass out.

I've heard people say, I gotta get me some Starbucks.

I've heard some people, some men in this room say, I got to get me some barbecue real soon, or I'm gonna lose it.

For real.

I gotta get to Walmart, I gotta make a Walmart run, or I might die.

The psalmist says, I'm gonna give out.

I'm gonna lose it if I don't get to church.

The soul cries out, it says, for church.

David said in Psalm 63, as the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longest for thee.

What makes you laugh so hard it hurts?

What makes you so angry you want to break something?

What passion makes you weep?

Listen, I'm the crier in the family, and it don't take a whole lot.

I cry, I've cried at movies.

I cried at a TV show once that had me weeping.

We didn't have TV for a while, so we watched extreme home makeover house makeover.

And they they had a special needs child who was getting a bath and and and hadn't been able to mom's back was hurting because they couldn't get, and I'm watching this thing, and I'm looking at Heather, and all of a sudden I'm trying to keep it in because I'm the man of the house, and and and this baby gets to take a bath for the first time, and it ain't hurting mom's back.

And I'm trying to keep it in, and I go, she looks over at me like, come, would you be tough?

But listen, my my eyes are sweating, that's all.

It's humid in here, but nothing in my own life have I cried over than my own spiritual well-being.

I have cried out to God because of where I've been out with the Lord.

And I have cried out, and I hope you understand something.

I need church.

I've been homesick for church, and that's what the psalmist says.

He's not talking about society or the economy.

He says, I need church.

Our soul is full of passion.

We're built that way.

Let it be.

Our soul is completed in his presence.

You see, it's about a person, it's not about a place.

You've heard the saying, home is where the heart is.

Dr.

Henry Drummond, a biologist, says that in our heart, there are tiny little octopus-like tentacles that appear when looked at through microscope, that they are reaching out to grab a hold of God and calling God in.

It's about a person, not a place.

Listen, you drove up here this morning, and this is a nice facility.

Okay, we have a nice building that we get to use and praise God for it.

You drove up and you seen some hedges and you seen some nice pictures as you came in, and there's a nice floor that you walked in on and you got to come in and you got to eat some nice food.

And as you walked in, we have top-of-the-line media here.

We've got apple.

Okay, we've got good product.

When you came in, there's nice things.

We've got blue cushion chairs.

Some of y'all know, like me, if you grew up in church, some of y'all used to sit in wooden pews.

Okay.

You didn't know, but people used to, you were supposed to go home with a sore backside.

That was just a part of church.

Okay?

You get to sit in nice blue plush cushion, and I know it gets clean.

I've seen it be okay.

It's clean cushion and it's beautiful.

But listen, it's not about the particulars on the outside or the particulars on the wall.

I like some good crown molding.

I like nice carpet.

But those things are not what it's about.

It's something in the church that's alive.

It's something that's vibrant and it's vital.

It's something about a place of God.

This is not an organization.

It's an organism.

It's alive.

Listen to me.

This is the church.

I come to church, and the Bible says that we can gather together, two or three of us, and guess what?

We got church.

I come to a place where it says that the praise of God brings out his inhabitation.

That's what it says.

He inhabits the praise of his people.

Say something with me.

I love church.

Come on, we need to love some church.

Our soul is completed in his presence.

You see, it's about a person, not a pursuit.

There's a Pharisee who asked him, What's the greatest command?

You know what Jesus said?

He said, Love the Lord God with all thy heart.

And with what else?

Thy soul and with all thy strength.

He said, Love him.

That's the greatest command.

Love him.

The Bible says in Psalms 19, the word of God is perfect.

It revives the soul.

Mark said this that you can gain the whole world, and guess what?

You can lose your own soul.

You can lose your very own soul.

You can gain every pursuit.

You can gain every trophy.

You can gain every crown this world has.

You can gain everything that can fill your wallet, your retirement, the 401.

You can gain it all, but lose your soul.

It's not about a pursuit, it's about a person.

Listen, I brought something with me I need to show you this morning.

So bear with me.

Okay.

This represents something to me.

I've had this a long time, and this will go around the room, okay?

This rope, if I stretch it out, will go around this stage.

Alright.

This I call the eternity rope.

So if we pull this in a full circle, I want you to imagine with me that eternity is in the length of this rope.

We will spend our lives, the Bible says three score and ten, living here.

This represents what's to come.

We'll spend our lives living here.

And what gets me sometimes is people live in here like this is the end all.

What I do in here is the end all.

And what happens when I'm done, it just doesn't matter.

And so why would I live as if the Bible says, lay not for myself treasures on this earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, where thieves can break through and steal.

But it says, lay up eternal treasure.

This is eternity.

And so why would I live like I gotta get my bank so full because this is it?

I gotta do things to be happy in my passion for this life.

When it's the one that counts for eternity, listen, it makes no sense to me that people will look at this and say, maybe another time I'll give God a chance.

Maybe another time, maybe later on down the road.

Listen, 70 years isn't long.

Three score and ten is a good life.

When we're talking about eternity, what are you doing with your eternity?

What is your soul longing for for eternity?

Salma says, I love church.

There are an infinity, G.K.

Chesterton says this, there are an infinity of angles at which a person falls.

But there's only one angle in which a person stands.

Which takes us to number two.

Our stability comes from church.

I want you to look at verses three through five with me.

It says this even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow 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 a pilgrimage.

Our stability comes from church.

Our durability is where we are dwelling.

The Hebrew word here that talks about dwell is lishkan.

Lishkan, and it has the Hebrew meaning to reside.

Kind of the idea to kick off one's shoes.

Stay a while.

Let's marinate in that place.

The psalmist says, if you do that, blessed are you.

Happy are those who will dwell, who will reside.

Dwell is not going to church.

Y'all hear me?

It means taking up residence.

It's not about going, it's about being.

It doesn't say happy are they.

Listen, it doesn't say happy are they who resist church, but who remain.

Not who revise or relocate or who revamp, but those who remain.

Not those who alter or need to adapt or need to adjust or need to amend, but who make it an abode.

Not those who have a shift or need a switch or have a stint, but they're situated.

They're settled and they're standing.

Not easily persuaded, but persistent.

He said, dwell.

That's not a vacation or a variation or a vacillation.

That's a vocation.

It's the place where we work and stay.

He said, dwell.

It's not a social club where you show up every once in a while.

Look, there's a lot better social clubs.

You can go to the Y and get in the spa.

Look, you can go to the movie theater, it's a good social club.

There are a lot better places to have a social club.

But the church is a place where you dwell.

And listen to me.

When you start to dwell in church, the church will start to dwell in you.

Come on, people.

I said, when you start to stay in a place, that place starts to stay in you.

No wonder the psalmist said, How amiable in the KJV are thy tabernacles?

He said, I love this place.

Because that's where I'm durable.

In my dwelling place, it makes me durable.

It makes me accountable.

It makes me balanced.

Dwelling, verse 3 says, Dwelling is nesting.

He said, even the sparrow has found a hole.

Even the birds raised their kids at church.

My parents were very active when I was young in church.

And we went Sunday morning.

We went Sunday night.

We went Wednesday night.

If there was a gospel jubilee, we were there all week.

We got drug up in there.

We were tired when it was over.

If there was some cleanup to do, my dad was in bus mystery.

We had bus mystery every Sunday morning.

We had bus visitation on Saturdays.

And church was an order.

It wasn't an option.

I said church was an order, not an option.

I never got to say, Dad, I don't feel like going.

I got too much homework, you know, Dad.

I never played a ball game once instead of going to church.

If you want stability, you'll have your kids in the house of God where God's presence is.

Because where God's presence is can do a whole lot more for you than a soccer ball, a basketball, a baseball, a football, a volleyball, swimming, cricket, badminton, water polo?

Listen, none of that can do for you what God's presence can do for you.

In 13 years of ministry to youth, there is a false philosophy, a satanic, that says if you make your kids do something, they're gonna grow up and hate you.

That's lies.

Did anyone of you grow up and hate to brush your teeth?

Did anyone of you grow up and hate the bathtub?

Sniff around, somebody.

Nobody here says, oh, I can't wait till I turn 18 and get out of my parents' roof, and then I'm gonna stank, stank, stang.

Your parents made your brush and clean, and they created a habit, and now you like to be clean.

If you create a habit in your children, maybe they'll like to be clean in the presence of an Almighty God.

Oh, I don't want to check on them, I want them organically to do their devotion.

No, you make them.

And then you ask them how it went, if it didn't do good, make them again.

Even the birds, they weren't saved.

Look, I'm gonna tell you something.

Some unsaved people can come in here and get something from the house of God that they're not gonna get nowhere else.

The birds weren't saved, but they said, look, we gotta nest right here around God's people, something about God's people.

Dwelling is durability.

Verse 4 says this that you'll be blessed for dwelling there.

In 37 years, never one time, I had to check my parents to be sure, but never one time on the way to church have I gotten a flat tire.

There's something that correlates with the blessing of God in his house.

Look, I've been in church and preach, and I came out to the lobby one time, a man handed me$100 because of what I was dressed in.

He was glad that a young man would wear a suit.

Look, I should wear a suit every time because that happened.

But listen, look, look, look.

He gave me a hundred.

Where does that happen in the room?

Ain't nobody gave me$100 for wearing my baseball uniform or my work uniform or wearing something out of the soccer field or at the YMCA.

In the house of God.

Somebody blessed me.

Look, I can't even take the time in this place to people that have blessed me.

I got a whole nother message, Pastor Danny, when you'll let me, on the way that the church has blessed me here.

I can't, it's so much, but there's something that correlates with the blessing of God and dwelling where he is.

Look at verse 4.

This is what it says.

If they do that, they will still be praising.

They're still going to be praising.

If you'll put it in them, if you'll train them up, they'll still be praising.

They're going to keep on praising.

I found a cute rendition of a psalm.

This is what it says.

Now it came to pass that spring turned to summer again.

God's people raised their voices and said, Recreation is my shepherd.

I shall not stay at home.

He maketh me to lie down in a sleeping bag.

He leadeth me down the inner state each weekend.

He restoreth my suntan.

He leadeth me to the state parks for comfort.

Sake.

Even though I stray on the Lord's day, I will fear no reprimand, for thou art with me.

My rod and my reel, they comfort me.

I anoint my skin with suntan oil.

My gas tank runneth dry.

Surely my trailer shall follow me all the weekends this summer, and I shall return to the house of the Lord this fall.

But then it's hunting season, and that's another psalm.

Our stability comes from being in God's house.

Sunday, Adelaijah said this: You can do anything in life under one condition.

That is, you must continually abide in Christ.

Where do you do that?

You do it at church.

Which takes us to letter B.

Our strength is where we abide.

Abide.

It's where we abide, it's where we dwell and where we abide.

You know, salvation is a call to abide.

In Revelation 3.20, it says this: Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone will open up, I will come in and I will sup with him.

I will abide with him.

I'll stay with him.

He wants to come in.

Listen, Jesus isn't gonna bust his way through.

He's a gentleman.

But if you'll open up that door, he's gonna come in and dine, and you'll never find anything more loyal in your life, nothing more stable.

He's gonna stay.

He's gonna suck.

He's gonna dine.

He's gonna be there, and you will have something to abide in.

You know, we trust what we can count on, right?

You ever been in a jam?

Who'd you call?

Think about it.

Who you trusted?

Who you thought would be there.

I had a dead battery the other night.

I called Benji.

Benji was there.

He pulled, I didn't have jumper cables.

Lord help me, I gotta get things together.

But I didn't have jumper cables.

He came right over.

There are people I can call because they're trustworthy.

They have a track record in my life.

Look, there's some people in my life that I don't call.

I won't call.

They've broken my trust.

They leave.

They don't stay.

They don't show up.

They won't abide.

But if I open the door of my heart, Jesus said, I'll come in and I'm staying I'm gonna abide.

Our strength is what we abide in.

Abiding in him in John 15, 5 says this that it produces strong fruit.

He says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit.

Then it says further, for without me you can do nothing.

Can't do anything.

He said, But if you abide in me, I'm gonna give you purpose and passion and fulfillment.

I'm gonna produce fruit that's gonna impact you and your people and people around you and the whole church.

I'm gonna put you in a body of people, and the body has all kinds of parts, and it needs your part.

I'll produce fruit in you, but you gotta abide in me.

Well, you can you can find some praise some other places, but there's something special about the place of God where God's people meet.

You can get alone with God on the running track.

You can get alone with God working out, you can get alone with God in the car.

There's something about the house of God where God's people meet.

1 John 3, 6 says this that whoever abides in him does not sin.

Abiding in him defeats sin.

And then it says, whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him.

Paul gave a picture like this of a runner running with weight shackled on him.

He says, It so easily besets us.

Where are you going to abide will get you free of those shackles?

What are you abiding in?

It says it'll set us free of sin.

Pastor John Piper said this: hour by hour abiding in Jesus means hour by hour trusting him with all our needs and all our treasure.

And that leads us to number three.

To trust him means our stresses are comforted at church.

Our stresses will be comforted at church.

I want you to look at verse six through nine.

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

I want you now to go with me to 2 Chronicles.

And I want you to see this cross reference.

You see, they're not a hundred percent sure, but many commentators believe that this psalm was written by Jehoshaphat, David's grandson.

And I tend to kind of lean with their thinking on this as you read through 2 Chronicles 20.

Look at what it says.

It says, and Jehoshaphat, verse 3, feared and set himself to do what?

Seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah.

You see what happened here, the Moabites and Ammonites had joined forces to attack Israel.

Jehoshaphat was at Bekah.

Bekah is a dry valley.

Bekah is a place of tears.

You ever been there?

He's coming into 2019 saying, Pastor Rick, let me tell you.

Man, it's been Baker.

It's been Baker in my life.

It's been a valley of tears.

I'm dried up.

I want to love church, but I'm dried up.

Jehoshaphat is in this place, and these armies are coming against him.

And you know what he does?

He doesn't run.

He says, He feared, but he set himself to seek the Lord.

I want you to look down at verse 5 what he does after he knew he had to seek the Lord.

Look what he does in verse 5.

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court.

He gathered everybody up in church.

This is how you respond to Baka, to a dry valley, to a low place.

He gathered everyone up in church.

This is an instruction manual on what you do when you go through a trial.

He said, We got to go to church and then we're going to pray and then we're going to fast.

My life is a valley.

I'm going through a struggle.

Listen, go to church.

Gather together with God's people.

Pray and fast.

That's what Jehoshaphat does.

And I want you to go on down to verse 14, and we're going to see what happens because Bakah is bad, but burdens are bore, let it be.

Verse 14.

Look at what happens.

Didn't happen to Jehoshaphat, happens to another church member.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Beniah, goes through who they are.

And he says this, verse 15, listen, all of you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And you King Jehoshaphat.

Thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great multitude.

For this battle is not yours but God's.

He says, Tomorrow go down against them.

Verse 17, then he says, You will not even need to fight in this battle.

Position yourself, stand still and see the salvation of God.

Listen to what happens at church.

At church in verse 14, a word came from a godly friend.

That ever happened to you before?

Look, some of you happened in the lobby before you got in.

But look, look, God gave me this this week.

Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Beniah.

Beniah was David's secret service man.

He was the head of David's secret service.

He was the man who leaped in a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.

Can I share a word to some godly parents here?

Some godly grandparents here.

Beniah was a godly man.

And Jahazil, his grandson, is in a position to share a word because he's open to the word, and he's a godly man.

Somebody has been investing and sowing in this young man's life.

And now David, who needed Beniah, David's grandson, Jehoshaphat, is now hearing a word from Beniah's grandson.

He's in a jam.

And guess what?

Some grandparent kept on sowing.

Some parent kept on sowing.

And it came on down.

They were nesting in the house of God.

They were in church.

And he was in a jam, and a word came from a friend.

At church, Jehaziel gives an instruction manual to fight stress.

Look at verse 15 through 17.

I read it.

But look at these action words.

Look at what it says.

Jehoshaphat is in great fear.

He's in fear for his people.

He is in control of this.

And they're going to look to him and look at what the word says.

He says, Don't be afraid or dismayed.

He says this the battle is not yours.

Man, somebody needs to hear that here this morning.

Let me tell you.

We're fighting a battle that's not even ours to fight.

We're getting so anxious, spending so much mind time on something that we can't even change, and we're stressed out and worried.

He said, It's not yours.

Set yourself, remain in position, and watch God work.

God wants to lift your burdens at church.

That's why it says, bear ye one another's burdens.

At church.

Psalms 84, 6 said that he went from strength to strength.

What does that mean?

He went from strength to strength.

In the valley he saw Baker.

And it says, at Baker it became a well.

And they went from strength to strength.

That word literally means from company to company.

They went from strength to strength.

They went from company to company or friend to friend.

From friend to friend.

The Holy Spirit worked and there was strength to strength.

Who came in here and you said, I'm done.

I need help.

And this year, listen, you don't know what's behind that face.

You came in here and you talked to somebody, and some of you behind that face, and there's a whole lot going on.

Behind that face may be a hurting soul.

Behind that marriage might be a rocky home.

Behind that smile might be financial devastation.

Listen, nobody knew when I was a teenager that behind my face there was a great struggle.

Even though my daddy was serving in bus ministry.

I might have looked apart, but I was falling apart.

Behind my face, there was a cry saying, Love me, talk to me, help me.

And in the Valley of Bacer, guess what?

There was a youth pastor.

In the Valley of Bacer, there were some church ladies that was real sweet to me.

There were some Christian school teachers.

There was God's word.

And even though I tried to keep running, I kept going to church.

And in the Valley of Bacah, he filled a pool and he gave me a drink and he refilled me.

So when I woke up one day, hungover, I remembered what I learned in church.

It didn't take me long to find my way back to God.

I started reading every day.

I started serving God at church.

I started to share my faith and led people to Christ.

At church, I exchanged my stress for church.

Guess where I met my wife?

At church.

At church?

At a Christian school, but it was a church school.

Guess where my sweet little girl got saved?

She got saved after a church function.

My son, when we moved here, got saved after I wana at church.

And someday God is gonna save Weston at church because if not, I'll lose myself.

I'm not problem-free.

Life sometimes is baker.

But there's one thing I can tell you.

I'm never leaving church.

I'm never leaving church.

I love church.

Y'all say it.

I love church.

Letter C.

Our breakthroughs are bestowed.

If you go back in 2 Chronicles and see what happens in the story, it didn't end just there.

Look at how the Lord works.

He said, just stand and watch.

You'll see something.

And verse 18.

It says, and Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord.

They worshiped him.

They set a praise to him.

They just believed that he was going to come through.

On down to verse 22.

Now they began to sing and praise the Lord.

And the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, and he came against you, and they were defeated.

The people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and they were utterly killed and destroyed.

So look at this, verse 24.

This is why I believe this might have been Jehoshaphat.

So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, overlooking a valley, they looked toward the multitude, and there were dead bodies fallen all over.

When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables, three days gathering it all.

Verse 26.

And on the fourth day, look, they assembled in the valley.

I think the valley got a new name.

Of Barakah.

It was Bekah, the valley of tears.

Now in the valley of Barakah, they are blessed of the Lord, it says.

Therefore the name of that place was called the Varya Barakah until this day.

Baraka means the place of blessings.

I think the place of tears got exchanged for the place of blessings.

Breakthroughs were bestowed because he gathered his people at church.

The Lord set an ambush.

Let me tell you something.

The Lord can get done for you more in one moment that you'll hustle and struggle through trying to get done on your own strength for years.

We try to hustle so hard.

Look at that.

Man, that's a gift from God.

Waters like the Holy Spirit.

He's reminding us.

You can't, you you'll you'll struggle for years trying to push and press.

You'll try to save up money and do things your own way.

And God, you'll be grinding for years outside of his will.

You know what it says?

Lord set an ambush.

Look, I don't know what that meant or how he set that ambush, but the Lord set an ambush.

He got rid of that problem like this.

It didn't take God a whole lot of time.

He didn't have to come up with a strategy.

It said some people gathered together, they prayed and fast, and guess what?

God let it happen.

That's a breakthrough.

You see, their valley became a well.

A godly heart can make misery a well.

A godly hearted person can take their stresses and look at them and say, Father, I'm thankful for the good times.

The valley of tears became a wellspring of blessings.

Which takes us to number four, our last point.

Our significance comes at church.

Our moment, letter A, is crucial.

The Bible says this back in the Psalms.

Psalms 84, it said, better is one day.

Oh, what a thought?

Better is one day.

For a day in your courts, verse 10, is better than a thousand elsewhere.

I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Our significance comes near.

It says, A day in God's court.

Bible says if we live this life long, we'll have 70 years.

And he says this about time.

He says, Redeem the time, because the days are evil.

He said, better is one day.

In Hebrews it says that Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than live one season in sin.

The psalmist said, one day, one 24-hour period is more valuable than any season outside of church.

It's more valuable.

He says, better to be a doorkeeper here.

That word there, doorkeeper, it doesn't mean the greeter.

It means literally laying at the door, prostrate, begging.

It's better to be a beggar in God's house than one day in the regular world.

It's better to be a servant in God's house than to have all the riches.

You know what I like about church?

You don't have to have a lot of money to come in here and do something for God.

You don't have to have a certain social status to meet in this council.

You don't have to have a certain look about you to get in these doors.

You don't have to be something special, but you can serve here.

Charles Spurgeon said the poorest pauper in heavens is better than the richest in hell.

The poorest pauper in the heavens is better than the richest in hell.

Our moment here is crucial.

What you do in the house of God is so important.

If you're a body member, if you're a believer in Christ, you have an impact on people around you.

You can't even measure the impact that God has given you.

You can't even imagine how much it matters.

It's crucial.

Verse 11 there, it says, For the Lord God is a son and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory.

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

Listen, our ministry is crucial, and let it be, it's critical.

It enables God's purpose for us.

The psalmist uses the word son and shield here about what God will do.

If we'll be the church of God the way that God has us planned to be his church, he will be a son and a shield.

Listen, I don't know if you have thought about the ways the sun impacts your life.

But the sun is very important.

He enlightens as the sun does.

The sun gives a light that illuminates.

Says he'll illuminate your steps.

He'll be like a lamp for you, a light for your path.

He'll give you illumination to your purpose.

He'll give you direction to your steps.

It's critical.

God enlightens us the sun.

You know the sun doesn't only enlighten, but it enlivens things.

The sun gives energy.

We was at the doctor not too long ago, and Heather was getting a real hard time from the doctor about her vitamin D.

He was giving it to her.

Oh, you need your vitamin D.

You haven't been taking your vitamin D.

He said, and he was uh he wasn't uh he was from a foreign country and he was saying, listen, your people, you don't get out in the sun.

You people don't get enough vitamin D.

He said, You don't get enough sun, you don't get enough light.

And he was talking about that vitamin D.

But that vitamin D helps us, it gives nutrients, it gives you energy.

Listen, the sun warms you.

It triggers serotonin through your eye, which gives you what we call happy.

It makes us happy to be out in the sun.

If you've been in a dark place for a long time and you're feeling depressed, go outside.

Look at the sun.

That's why people in Seattle are so miserable, it's so rainy and dark and dreary.

The sun creates that.

The sun creates wind.

I don't know if you know that.

And wind creates power.

God wants to be that power in our life.

Ministry at church activates the enlivening power of God.

It's critical.

It enables God's protection.

The second thing he says that he's like a shield.

Shield is a hedge of defense.

Let me show you all the ways, and I'm about to wrap up that God is a shield.

In Psalms alone.

In the Psalms, it says that in Psalms 3, he's a surrounding shield.

I don't know about you, but I don't want a small shield just over one part.

He will surround you with his shield.

The Bible says he'll go before and behind.

Psalm 7 said he's the saving shield.

Psalms 18, he says the personal shield.

It's for you.

Psalms 18, 2.

The gifted shield, it's a gift to you.

Psalms 18, 35.

The tested shield.

I don't know about you, but I want a shield that's gonna work.

Psalms 28, 7.

He's the tested shield.

This is one of the best ones.

The victorious shield, Psalms 59, 11.

I want to be on the team that wins.

The shield that takes us away from strife in Psalms 31:20.

Psalms 31:20

Look, I had enough strife.

I need a shield.

The divine shield, Psalms 89.

Israel's shield, Psalms 115.

The sheltering shield in Psalms 119.

The shield that subdues all enemies in Psalms 144.

Church, do you need a shield?

He says, go to church.

You will enable the shield of God's protection.

I don't know how you go out in a fight.

We talked about the armor of God.

And as you picture the armor of God in that shield of defense, look, I can hold a shield, I can maybe hold two shields.

But you know what happens when a brother and sister in Christ around me has a shield too?

And they hunker down.

Have you ever seen this in a battle scene?

And they got shields and all around, and then they put them over their head and over.

Nothing breaks through when we all got a shield.

Y'all seeing the picture there?

The arrows of Satan can come flying in, and it ain't hitting me because I got a family at church.

I want to close with this illustration, something that I read about a man named Robert Robinson.

I don't know if you know that name.

But one day Robert Robinson woke up, it was another Sunday, and he was in a bad mood again.

All along the street, there were people hurrying to church.

But in the midst of the crowd, Robinson was a lonely man.

The sound of church bells reminded him of years past when his faith in God was strong.

And the church was at the center of his life.

But Robert hadn't set foot in church for a lot of years.

Wandering, disillusioned, a gradual defection for the things of God.

He became burnt out.

That love for God he once had was fiery and passionate.

It had burned out.

Well, that one morning, Robinson had an encounter with a lovely young lady.

He waved for a cab, and as it slowed, he noticed that the young woman was dressed in what looked like church clothes, so he said, just go on by.

But the lady said, No, you stop this cab.

And she said, You can come on in.

There's plenty of room in here.

And she said, I'd be happy to share this carriage with you.

Are you going to church?

Robinson was about to decline, and he paused for what seemed like minutes, reflecting on that question.

He said, Yes.

You know what?

I need to go to church.

Robinson and the woman exchanged some introductions, and there was a flash of recognition in her eyes as she had remembered after he stated his name that she had been reading something.

She withdrew a small book from her bag, and there was an inspirational verse in it.

She opened it up to a bookmark, and on that page was his name, Robert Robinson.

And she said, Could it be?

He took the book, nodding.

He said, Yes, I wrote these words years ago.

She said, Oh, wonderful.

Imagine I'm sharing a carriage with the author of these very lines.

But Robinson barely heard her.

He was so absorbed in the words that he was reading, his own words, that would one day be set to music and become familiar to generations of Christians.

Those words said this, Come thou fount of every blessing.

Tune my heart to sing thy grace.

Streams of mercy never ceasing.

Call for songs of loudest praise.

His eyes slipped to the bottom of the page where he teared up, and it said this: prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart.

O take and seal it.

Seal it for thy courts above.

He began to weep.

As he got through those lines, his eyes were filled with tears.

And he said, I wrote those words, but I've lived these words.

Prone to wonder, he said.

Prone to leave the God I love, he said.

With the tears in his eyes, he said, I lost my love for the Lord.

The woman suddenly understood.

She said this to him, Mr.

Robinson, you also wrote, Here's my heart.

Oh, take and seal it.

She said, You can offer your heart again to God, Mr.

Robinson.

It's not too late.

And then you'll go to church with me.

It wasn't too late for Robert Robinson.

In that moment, he turned his heart back to God and walked with him and continued going to church and living with God the rest of his life.

And it happened because a lady that day invited him and he was going and she was going to church.

I want to ask you a question.

Or actually maybe give you a plea.

Will you this morning renew your affection for the thing that Christ died for?

A New Testament church.

I love church.

Do you love church?

In 2019, I've got a New Year's resolution.

Love church.

What is your commitment to Christ in 2019?

I could put up here papers that would fill this stage of things that we need done at this local New Testament church.

And we need your gift.

We need your heart to do that.

Are you willing in 2019 to make a commitment to the thing that Christ died for?

For his body, for his dwelling place.

Would you commit to them this morning?