Building David's Tent

Okay, good to go?

Alright, so guys, last time we said that the two things that this church must see as things

to focus on in the new year was one, building David's tent, and the second one was announcing,

igniting, carrying, and raising up inheritors of this global revival that God is going to

strike as a purifier, and it'll spread from nation city to nation city across the earth.

We talked about that. So I just want to focus on building David's tent, because that is

part of what we do, and we said building David's tent is not about worship, but building

David's tent is to be like David was with God, to show the world what it is to be in

relationship with God who is a father, who's a friend, and who dwells in you. And so that's

what I want to talk about today, building David's tent. To build David's tent, you have

to be someone who has David's heart. To build David's tent, you have to have David's heart.

And what was David's heart like? God said he was a man after my heart. A man after my heart.

That also is not explanatory enough. A man after my heart. And so where we begin to see

David as a man after God's heart is perhaps what we'll be exploring, at least today and

maybe next week, I'm not sure. A man after my heart. You see that in the Psalms in particular?

Because the Psalms were his life story. It was during times of pain, joy, sin, guilt,

fear, betrayal, pleasure, good times. And through all these David's Psalms, which is about half

of the book of Psalms, because the other Psalms are written by Moses and Asaph and a few others,

you see the heart of God. You see the heart of a man after God's own heart. And in seeing that,

we'll have an idea of what it takes to have David's heart. And in seeing that, it'll expose gaps

in our lives. In seeing that, it'll give us an idea of how we need to be. Because only someone with

the heart of David can build David's tent. So let's look at Psalm 63, verse 1 and 2 for instance.

Psalms 63:1

Psalm 63, verse 1 and 2.

Psalms 63:1

Yeah, Brandon. Oh, you're putting it up there. God, you are my God.

This is going to be bothersome, eh? Warning you ahead of time. God, you are my God. Honestly, I seek you.

What version is this? NIV. My soul thirsts for you. Can you find another version? Try New King James?

Or ESV? Sorry, Brandon.

It says, God, you are my God. Honestly, I seek you. Or in some versions, it says, early I seek you.

My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you. My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I've looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. So here's my question.

How come my soul and your soul doesn't thirst for him? How come your body doesn't long for him?

I mean, what he's saying is that David equates spiritual longing with a physical sense that his hearers can either see or feel where they begin to long for God.

I was reading this and I suddenly thought to myself, man, I always used to think that I was a man after God's own heart.

But then I look at this and I think to myself, oh God, you are my God. Honestly, I seek you.

And sometimes, honestly seeking is basically early seeking. Not early in terms of time, but before everything else.

Early means before everything else.

We live in a world where these things have become impossible.

So to seek him early, to seek early is to seek before everything else.

Perhaps we can manage that. What about my soul thirsts for you?

How long has that been, man? Your emotions and your will and your passion just can't bear not finding him.

Some of you recently perhaps been married or some of you are still in love with the one you married or some of you who are going to get married perhaps have an idea of this.

But the strange thing is you have an idea of this with a person who is flesh and blood and flawed.

But you don't have an idea of that with this invisible God. You don't.

I see the time you spend with someone you don't yet know that you may have met recently or have met a few times or a few months, but you still don't have that with God.

How come? How come I don't have this?

Why does David have the ability in the Old Testament to write things like,

As the deer pans for the waters, for my soul longs after you? Why?

How does one thirst so much with one's passion and soul and emotions?

Where the body begins to long for the presence of God. What does that look like?

What does that look like?

When will our lives equate spiritual longing with a passion of the soul and a physical longing for God?

David was more removed from God than you and I because he was in the Old Testament. He didn't have the Holy Spirit living in him.

What will happen when people begin to behave like this?

The building of a tent becomes the most natural thing they do.

Because what was building the tent about? At the end of the day, the building of the tent was simply about the presence of God dwelling.

That's all he did. It was a tent with the Ark. That's all. The Ark represented the presence.

There's nothing I can do to make this happen except repent and say,

Father, do something in my life that will begin a new place for me and a new place for us.

In an odd way, this teaching has ruined my estimation of myself because I thought I was much better off.

You can have all the destiny, all the purpose, all the prophetic words you want, but if this is not there, then you're nothing but a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

For God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. Or earnestly I search for you. My soul thirsts for you. My whole body longs for you.

In this parched and weary land where there is no water.

So the first thing David does is David equates. Hey, Jeevan, can you come and just expand this page for me please?

David equates spiritual longing.

That's all? Why could I have done that?

David equates spiritual longing.

Don't show off again like that. Text me so I can do it myself.

David equates spiritual longing. This is like when Derek was doing that.

David equates spiritual longing with a physical sense.

I want to say that his hearers and watchers can see to the point where they long for God.

I don't want to long for a physical feeling. I want to long for God with my soul thirsting for him.

And my body longing for his presence.

The second thing he said was that, early will I or earnestly will I seek you.

Early is before everything. Before everything else.

Early will I seek you.

So we don't crowd him. Not crowding him.

I don't know who said this but someone said, and I've read this before, that spiritual dullness is a result of me treating God like a pigeon in the park to whom I leisurely throw crumbs of my devotion between or after a long day of caring about other things.

I'll read that again.

Spiritual dullness is often a result of me treating God like a pigeon in the park to whom I leisurely throw crumbs of devotion between or after a day of cares and work.

And I think the person touches on something that's happening to our lives.

The other thing that really bothered me was, how come I didn't recognize the parched and dry and weary land?

How come I didn't recognize it?

How come I didn't recognize that winter had crept in?

How come I didn't recognize that the leaves had fallen?

How come I didn't recognize the dryness of the ground?

How come I was okay with what I have right now?

And I am a passionate worshiper. I worship so easily. I love God. You see it in my life.

But how come I didn't realize that around me the ground had grown weary and parched and the leaves had fallen and winter had crept in?

That is bothersome. That is bothersome perhaps for two reasons.

One, because of my blindness. Two, because of being satisfied with what I have.

And I would say the same applies to you. Or maybe not.

I didn't notice winter had crept in the fallen leaves, the dry ground.

This is how marriages fall apart.

This is how couples who paid a high cost to fall in love despite what culture said and got married and then they realized that something has changed.

And it's almost irretrievable.

It's almost irretrievable because there have been so many winters now that have passed that you don't even know, you don't even remember because parched land is normal land.

That's a scary thing to think that that could have happened to me and could have happened to you.

You don't even relate to what David is saying when he says, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you.

So how does David go back to it?

He goes back to it by going to the next verse where he says, I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

That's how he does. He doesn't change his geographical location by saying, okay, let me go sit on a mountaintop.

Maybe there I'll worship. Let me look at the sunrise. There I'll worship.

Now, he does it by remembering how he used to go into the sanctuary and he would gaze upon God's power and glory.

In Psalm 27, verse 2, he does the same thing again.

Psalms 27:2

He says that I may dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon your beauty.

There is something that he calls to memory.

So my question is, do we even have a memory or has it been that long?

It's easy to think down this line and try to create a physical feeling or an emotional feeling.

And if you and I settle for that, then every time we'll have to recreate an emotional feeling.

And that is such a sad substitution for God.

When I was going to the church, I was in the church.

I was in the church.

Substitution for God.

I was going through the library of my mind trying to remember times where I know what it is for my soul to thirst after him.

And I so long for his presence, but I hate the fact that I have to go back a little while.

I thought we were doing well.

We've got to get this back guys, otherwise we can't build David's tent.

We've got to have a heart like his.

I'm thinking to myself, how come I read Psalm 63 and Psalm 42 and Psalm 27 and I haven't seen this longing in his heart that is so beautiful.

So try going down this line.

I'm saying to you that this is not a guilt trip that God is sending you on, but he's saying, listen, don't be satisfied.

I'm inviting you into new places in me.

I've seen you in the sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

So he activates his memory to remember why he longed.

Why did I long for God?

Then he remembers.

Then he remembers.

He remembers God in the sanctuary.

For him, it perhaps was a tent of meeting.

Remembering God in the sanctuary.

For him, it perhaps was a tent of meeting.

Remembering God.

And then he remembers God's power.

And he remembers his glory.

In some versions say, he remembers God's hesed or loving kindness.

How did he remember?

How does a man in the Old Testament remember these things?

Does it happen through just looking at the Ark of the Covenant inside the tent?

Is it because it's made of gold and it has these angels, the cherubim with stretched out wings over the mercy seat?

No, man, I'm sure he saw more than that because how you can stare at gold till gold is just normal.

There's something he saw about God in that makeshift tent on top of a hill with an ark there.

And he somehow was able to experience what it is to gaze upon God's power, God's glory.

Maybe he experienced it when the ark would go out and he would win battles.

I don't know. I really don't know. I'm guessing here.

But this man would probably spend time.

Suddenly the parched desert is now a pool of praise.

Look at Psalm 42 verse 1.

Psalms 42:1

Psalm 42 verse 1.

Psalms 42:1

No, this is good. I'm fine with this.

As the deer pants for water,

So my soul pants for you, my God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Where can I go and meet with God?

We've gotten so used to the Holy Spirit dwelling in us that we don't go seeking him.

As the deer pants for water,

I mean it's panting, it's not even, I need a drink of water.

You know when you don't need a drink of water, you will drink anything liquid.

But it's odd how when you're really thirsty,

you only drink water.

You don't even drink water.

But it's odd how when you're really thirsty,

you only want water.

Water is satisfying only when there's a real need for it, eh?

Water is satisfying only when there's a real need for it.

God is satisfying only when there's a real want for it.

As the deer pants for water, so my soul longs after you.

This longing, this yearning has to come back and it cannot be on a Sunday,

it cannot be during our times of worship.

This is a longing that causes worship. This is not a longing that happens during worship.

This is a longing that results in spontaneous worship.

My soul thirsts for God.

My soul thirsts for God.

And then I ask him to clarify, he says, for the living God,

because he's known him so personally.

What I hate about this is he's in the Old Testament.

Then he says, when can I go and meet with God?

Moses was like this, eh?

He said, when can I go and meet with God?

Moses was like this, eh?

Psalm 27, verse 4.

Psalms 27:4

One thing I have asked from the Lord,

this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

One thing I have asked of the Lord that will I seek after,

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

Again, this idea of gazing upon his beauty.

Gazing upon his beauty.

Gazing upon his beauty.

Ah.

Sure.

When I lose the light of you.

When I find the joy waiting in your hand.

When my will becomes thrown in your blood.

When all things that surround become shadows in the light of you.

One more time from the beginning.

When I look into your holiness.

When I gaze into your love's presence.

When all things that surround become shadows in the light of you.

When I find the joy reaching your heart.

When my will becomes enthroned in your blood.

When all things that surround become shadows in the light of you.

I worship you.

I worship you.

I worship you.

The reason I live is to worship you.

I worship you.

I worship you.

I worship you.

I worship you.

The reason I live is to worship you.

As the days have fallen.

The waters of my soul plops out to you.

You are all that my heart desires.

And I want to worship you.

As the days have fallen.

The waters of my soul plops out to you.

You are all that my heart desires.

And I want to worship you.

You are all my strength, my strength.

You alone are my spirit.

You alone are my heart's desire.

And I long to worship you.

One of the things that I think will be good for us to do

is to begin to fill our homes with dancing in our streets with joy again.

As in, I think the spirit in your homes with your children, with your wife, with your friends

just begin times of gazing upon his beauty and then spilling into worship, eh?

Trying to start that again.

Not come here just on a Sunday or for a house church.

I've got to do this at home.

I took my guitar today and I started singing in the morning.

It's an old Ian White song and it's basically this, that

Oh God, you are my God.

Honestly, I seek you.

My soul longs for you.

My body longs for you.

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

And I was thinking to myself, gosh, I've got to do this more and more, man.

So make your homes over the next week or two weeks for the rest of January

till you become so used to it that you miss it.

Make a place of, make your homes be filled with dancing in your streets with joy.

Because when God has neglected the capacity for worship shrivels,

when God has neglected,

when God has neglected the capacity for worship shrivels,

and joy is diminished.

Joy is diminished or joy is substituted

with other things that are not really joy but will suffice.

So change your homes into places where the neighbors are suddenly thinking

maybe they've had a new baby or something because they're singing a lot.

So every time anyone comes to my home,

I'm going to try and have just a little bit of time where we can do this together.

Because my soul must thirst for Him like it's never thirsted before.

My body must long for Him.

And five days down the line I must miss it and I must remember

gazing upon His beauty, upon His power and His glory.

That'll bring me back to this place.

So some of the things we have to pay attention to is one,

the fact that where your treasure is, there your pleasure and passion is.

Rather than say heart, let me put it that way.

Where your treasure is, where your treasure is, there your pleasure and passion is.

Where your treasure is, there your pleasure and passion is.

And that's where your soul will go when it's thirsty.

That's where your soul will go.

I want to get to a new place in God in this.

What is pleasure?

Pleasure is the joy.

Pleasure is the joy you experience.

Over a treasure, we love so much that we will sell anything for it.

For an addict, it is a high.

For an addict, it is a high.

For believers, it is joy.

For an addict, pleasure is a high he or she experiences,

where he would sell anything for it.

For a believer, pleasure is the joy that you experience over a treasure called God.

We love so much that we will sell anything and everything to experience it.

I remember saying this long ago last January that purity of heart,

purity of heart is to will one thing only.

Purity of heart is to will one thing only.

That's a single-minded pure heart, to will one thing only.

Any questions before we go on?

Anything you want to comment on, anything you want to add or question?

Sin is defined then as rearranging my life around me,

and that begins to fall apart as God begins to,

as you begin to rearrange your life or your existence around God,

things begin to change, but you can't rearrange your life or existence around God

unless he's intentionally, deliberately at the center,

and he has to be at the center on a daily basis.

That's perhaps where I'm missing out.

But I have these moments here when worship is happening,

where I really experience God really well,

but I want to go back to this David-like thing.

Any questions, guys, anything you want to say, add?

Jacob, Dan has asked me what is it to will one thing only?

What is it to will one thing only?

Well, that becomes so central that everything else revolves around it.

So if I were to meet someone tomorrow around whom my life would revolve,

then nothing else takes priority.

She becomes the centerpiece.

She's the one who my time, my treasure, my talent, my strength, my energy revolves around,

and that then defines the purity of my heart towards her.

It's this magnificent obsession that the heart takes on.

I don't think we lack in this, guys.

I just think God is showing a gap that can now be spanned or bridged.

Guys have come to here, but now let's see the gap.

And he's using David as an example.

I'm saying let's beat David Hollow.

How about being unconditional in everything that you do?

Just say that again.

Unconditional in everything that you do.

In everything that you do, yeah.

Where it's so central that everything else becomes shadows.

And that is not where I'm at.

I have a question that when you are involved in a...

Marga, just pull down your mask for a second.

When you are involved in a personal situation, where you are in an unimaginable situation,

and you know that it's the hand of God, then it takes you back to where you came from.

Yeah, because often David would write psalms like this when he was in a dry and parched land.

And sometimes you think to yourself, is that what God will have to do?

Hiya!

Is that what God will have to do to get me back to where he wants me to get me back to where he brings me to a dry and parched land?

And I'm saying, Father, if that is necessary, so be it.

But what if I could do it without having to be taken into a dry and parched land,

where you begin to once again need God desperately?

Then there are psalms that David writes without being in a difficult position, just out of sheer admiration of God.

So, to bring him back to the center again, and I'm not saying let us worship so God comes back to the center.

I'm saying, Father, can I bring you back into the center so that my life then becomes just this continuous place of worship?

Be it when people come home, be it when I'm on my own, where my soul thirsts for you, where my body longs for you,

where I long to dwell in your temple.

The cool thing about our temple is it's a temporary tent that the ark is in.

I don't even know what this looks like, or I can't describe it.

It's abstract enough, and yet it is profound enough for me to know that it can be touched, can be reached.

And it is not a place I've been before, and I want to go there.

So, my hope is that we won't exchange our inseparability with presence.

That's an odd thing. David would go home, and the ark would stay on the tent on a hill, and he'd go home to his palace on Mount Zion.

And there would be this separation, but with us there is no separation.

So, I pray God that I don't this year exchange my inseparability with His presence for idols like my ego, or my past,

or my hurts, or my disappointments, or my personality, or my wealth, or my work, or my security, or my inward and my outward world.

Those are important. God loves taking care of all that.

But not at the cost of exchanging that for this one thing, and this one thing only.

I love this definition, I don't know who said it, but spiritual life, spiritual life is getting so tired,

so bankrupt, and fed up with myself that I happily follow Christ, happily follow Christ.

Spiritual life is getting so tired, so bankrupt, so fed up with myself that I happily follow Christ.

And I think that's where God wants to bring us.

Okay, let's end with this, with a short few points on first love, then see where we need to go with this.

In Revelation chapter 2 verse 4, Jesus says to the church,

Revelation 2:4

that nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love, that you have left your first love.

And in a church like this, when you leave first love, you don't realize it till a dullness sets in.

Because there's enough passion for God in a church like this.

But we mustn't think that passion for God is the continuance of first love.

You can have passion that has grown over the years and yet not been a place of first love.

And so in a church like this, you'll not even realize this dullness sets in.

And perhaps that's one of the things that I was thinking of last night and today,

that hey Jacob, have you suddenly become aware that a dullness has set in and that you cannot relate to David's words?

That was a little bothersome, that I could not relate to David's words.

I could relate to David's words in terms of physical relationships.

As in relationships where you either were in love or love somebody so much that you desire,

your soul thirsts for them and your body longs for them.

But I could not relate it with God and I was surprised that I couldn't.

And one of the things that, I've said this before but it's such a key point,

first love is always measured in both, in time, both qualitatively and quantitative.

As in time spent in terms of how much time spent and the quality of time spent.

First love is always measured in time.

Some lady that I was reading her book and she says this,

I keep my calendar close at hand to justify not attending my master's banquet

and feel like the pressing cares of this world give me an alibi for spiritual laziness.

I keep my calendar close at hand to justify not attending my master's banquet

and feel like the pressing cares of this world give me an alibi for spiritual laziness.

And so I want to say to you, most of you, most of you, not all of you, especially young adults

and I'm including myself among the young adults because of this one quality that I share with you,

you are slaves to your phones.

You are slaves to your phones.

I am a slave to the phone.

I'm like Pavlov's dog.

It goes off and I go for it.

It doesn't matter how deep you are in prayer.

It doesn't matter what I'm teaching or not teaching.

I've seen it here in the church too where you're taking out your phones and you are not writing down notes.

You're not looking up scriptures.

Texts are coming in, messages are coming, you and I have to respond.

I've done this when I'm sitting in other churches.

And we're not realizing this evil that is hollowing out the tree of your faith.

I don't even know if you and I have the power to break away from it after it being so clearly said right now.

It doesn't matter whether you're driving, whether you're in church, whether you're sleeping,

whether you're with your wife or your husband.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Steve Job's legacy.

Not his fault. It's my fault.

I've met people who have iPhones that do quite well.

I would love for us to throw our phones down and stomp on them, but then that's a lot of money lost.

So we won't go there.

Time matters.

Sadly, I avoid discipline and intimacy and ignore him by trusting that his grace will carry me today

and I can repent and be washed in his blood tomorrow.

So time matters.

But time matters because intimacy depends on time.

And so sadly, I avoid the discipline of intimacy and I ignore it.

But I trust that his grace will carry me today and his blood will wash me tomorrow

and then today becomes tomorrow becomes tomorrow becomes tomorrow.

I must change.

You know, you must give me some credit, guys, for being able to stand here

and tell you where my life is yet.

You must learn from it because your lives are not as transparent as mine.

That's just a side point.

Don't dwell on it. It's just a side point.

Think of it later.

Problem is when love gets sluggish or cold, lawlessness increases and autonomous thinking increases.

When love gets sluggish or cold, lawlessness increases.

The Bible says, so in Romans it says when love gets cold, lawlessness increases.

When love gets cold, lawlessness increases.

The Bible says, so in Romans it says when love gets cold, lawlessness increases.

When love gets cold, lawlessness increases and autonomous thinking increases

as in thinking that is an authority unto itself where it decides what's best for me.

And then you make mistakes, eh?

Here's another definition of sin.

I really like this one.

Sin is what I do when my heart is not satisfied with God.

Sin is what I do when my heart is not satisfied with God.

It is impossible for Jacob to sin if his heart is satisfied with God.

Sin is what I do when my heart is not satisfied with God.

We sin because something else holds out a promise of happiness.

We sin because something else holds out a promise of satisfaction or promise of happiness.

We go down that route. We are enslaved by it till God becomes a greater desire.

As I said, sin is beaten in our lives only when God becomes a greater desire.

You only escape sin when God becomes a greater desire.

Otherwise sin is repetitive. It's a cycle.

One more line and then we can repent.

Repentance is to change our way of thinking.

This is very bothersome, this line, because it is so weighty.

You will trust God only as much as you love Him.

You will trust God only as much as you love Him because faith comes by hearing.

You will trust God only as much as you love Him because faith comes by hearing.

Faith comes by hearing.

Trust comes by loving.

You will trust God only as much as you love Him.

I will trust God only as much as I love Him.

The more I love Him, the more I trust Him. Why?

Because faith comes by hearing and trust comes by loving.

You love someone so much, you are so sure of the person, especially someone like God,

that the more you love Him, the more easy it is to trust Him.

Can you put up Psalm 139, 23 and 24?

Hey Jane, you want to come?

Psalm 139, 23 and 24.

Jesus is a master soul-searcher.

He searches our hearts like nobody else.

So I read Army Groupsétique

Buddha Jedi

soul searcher. He searches our hearts like nobody else. I still remember with some degree

of shame how I was at Pilgrim Baptist where we used to meet and there was this guy who

had come back, come from Calgary and this was maybe 20, 22 years ago and he was asking

that we repent of sin and I'm thinking to myself sitting there, got nothing to repent

of. And even today I scratch my head and think what made you so confident that you had no

sin in your life? It still follows in my mind. I'm sitting there saying, Father, as I look

at my life I can't think of anything to repent of. As in there's no shortcoming in my life

and so I didn't and I still don't understand what kind of delusion I was suffering from

where I thought that there was nothing to repent of. As in maybe for the last two hours

of that day before the guy said it, maybe I hadn't done anything wrong. But the thing

that there was nothing in this person that needed repenting of. This was when I used

to work at another church so you guys got the better version. But what I'm trying to

say is this, that Jesus is the master soul searcher. I mean, I don't know if you've

heard of it, some of these verses have gone into himy kind of songs so we don't think

much of them. But today it's worth looking at again. Search me God, know my heart, test

me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in

the way everlasting. And I really am asking the Holy Spirit to help us go back to Psalm

63, 1 and 2. There is some kind of a lack in us, definitely a lack in me and I would

say a lack in this church because if you were different I would have seen it in your lives.

Not a lack of passion, not a lack of desire to run after God. I'm saying there's a gap

we need to bridge. That's all. God is pretty satisfied with us. He said that over and over

again over the last two months many times. Then after he says that he says, okay let

me just prune you a little so that you'll be more fruitful. So come, he's inviting us.

But it begins with the searching. So let him be the master searcher. Search me your God

and know my heart, test me. And so I would suggest that this morning let him meet you

and ask you, do you love me? Let him ask it three, four times. Where necessary, guys,

confess your coldness. Let me just write it so it's on the board. First, do you love me?

Do you love me? Answer it any which way you want. You can answer it saying I do. How would

I answer it? That's it. You know I do. Oh God, I really love you. But then when I think

of what I read today there's something missing. Answer it the way you see best. Do you love

me? Second, confess your coldness if there is any. Confess your love. Do you love me?

Confess your coldness. This is just like Jesus showed up on the beach that day, when Peter

was in a mess. He will show up. God will show up. Starting today, starting now. And for

starting today, starting now and for the next few days of this week.

And my desire is I'll do whatever it takes, I'll do whatever it takes to revive my love.

Can we go back to Psalm 63, verse 1 and 2 from the version that I wanted?

Psalms 63:1

I don't know what version it is. I'll do whatever it takes to revive my love for you.

To revive my love for you.

I don't want to leave till you are my first love.

In Psalm 63, verse 1 and 2, I really think he is your first love, guys.

Psalms 63:1

That when I look at your lives, I've got no doubt.

When I look at your lives, I know that he is your first love.

I don't doubt that. I look around this room and each one I look at, I know that he is your first love.

I've got no doubts about that.

But let's leave knowing him as first love in Psalm 63, verse 1 and 2 away.

Psalms 63:1

I don't know how this is going to work.

Oh God, you are my God. Honestly, I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you.

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Singing.

Singing.

Okay, Jane. Coco is down there.

Hi.

Mama. Mama. My guitar.

Oh God, you are my God.

So father. So father. So father, we just come right now.

And we want to use this time that we are together to begin this process of going where David was able to go.

Please Holy Spirit, quicken our hearts.

Please Holy Spirit, quicken my spirit, quicken my heart, quicken my mind.

That I may humble myself.

Start this fire in my heart.

Please Lord, I want what David had.

Then I want to go further.

Early I will seek you before all else.

Honestly, I will seek you.

My soul will thirst for you.

My flesh will faint for you.

I'll be like the Shunammite woman in Song of Songs.

Always desperate.

Not because you are far away, but because sometimes I'm far away.

You're always near.

I want to easily remember times where I can call to memory your beauty, your glory and your power.

I don't have to go to a certain incident.

I want to be able to gaze upon it.

I gaze upon it by gazing upon you.

I want this recovered for this church.

We had to build David's tent. We had to have David's heart, all of us.

I want to pant like the deer.

Thirsty of God for you.