Open your Bibles of Psalms 127 as we continue our series of summer called summer in the Psalms as we're looking at different Psalms we have What was that oh dismissing the kids? Thank you third through fifth grade kids those there are welcome to be dismissed now to children's church those that went to
Again, we've been looking at a different Psalms to the course of the summer here and today We're looking at Psalm 127 which similar to last week. You might remember if you were here Daniel preached from Psalm 133 I think it was but another psalm of a scent and this is this as well Remember a psalm of a scent is a psalm that was sung and used by the Israelites as they were traveling to Jerusalem and Jerusalem is built up on a hill So they were ascending and it was a way they would come and sing together perhaps you've been on a family trip Growing up or maybe if you have a family now you might sing along in a car You know, especially if it starts to get long and you need to need to make it there to the end Well, this technique was used centuries ago by families and by groups of families Clans of families tribes coming in into Israel as well, too And so this was a psalm that comes from that but that's a very important thing to realize Because it sets up the picture for you. It sets with what's going on and what's happening here? Well before we get more into that One of my we talked about Harry Potter earlier. Thank you There big news this weekend But another story that has been around much longer is Alice's adventures in Wonderland And you might remember Alice at one point comes to the Cheshire cat and she asked them this She says would you tell me please which way I ought to go from here and the cat responds and says well That depends a good deal on where you want to get to I don't care much as long as I get somewhere said Alice Then the Cheshire cat said then it doesn't matter which way you go And as we come and as we look at this psalm this morning as we come we look at and study God's word here I want to encourage you is realizing that this was a psalm that was meant to be focused on to be meditated upon as they were going somewhere And as we've talked about several times we've already done this is like the third time we've done a done a song of a sin There's 15 of them in the book of Psalms Psalm 120 through once Psalm 134 as we look at that These were ones that were intentionally supposed to help you reflect and focus about coming to the temple which represented the presence of God Now we talk about coming to church representing you know coming and being a worshipping God's presence Well the New Testament through Jesus Christ and his work Jesus says look I've made my temple my tabernacle in your heart and as important as this coming to church We have the presence of God by his Holy Spirit living in us today Well back during the Old Testament times it really was Really focused around the temple and the worship happening there in Jerusalem and even though God's presence was with them in some ways It wasn't there like it is for us now, but the Holy Spirit having been poured out freely Through Jesus' work on the cross So this was a big deal to come to the temple and it was very important for them to be meditating on certain things So they knew where they were going they knew what they were going to do as they got there Some of us sent was focused on Jerusalem the temple and the presence of God and it inspired them to help guide them as they prepare their hearts to come worship God in the temple Both in this actual experience when they got to the temple But it also helped them train them about what it meant to worship God on a daily basis Daniel mentioned this last week So we got two ways to think about the psalm what it meant to come specifically on this journey to Jerusalem to worship God But it also gave a blue parent and a pattern of what it means to worship God in general What did it mean to be a worshiper of God? Because God didn't call them just to worship him when they were at the temple That was a very special sacred time when they were coming visiting their sacrifices But he wanted it also be a blueprint and a grid for them as they went back To wherever they they lived in the in the country of Israel wherever their tribe was located So getting that idea and that understanding I want us to think about that as well too Has it influenced and teach us about how to worship God in the context of corporate worship? But how does it teach us the other 24 hours a day the other six days a week as we live and walk as believers here today So as we look at that let's realize that as we come here and as I read the text read along the quietness of your heart with me But let's read Psalm 27 God's holy and inspired word Unless the Lord builds the house its laborers. I'm sorry its builders labor in vain Unless the Lord watches over the city the watchmen stand guard in vain In vain you rise early and stay up late toiling for food to eat For he grants sleep to those he loves Sons are a heritage from the Lord Children a reward from him Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are sons born in one's youth Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate Let's pray God as we look at your word here this morning as we have even read it right now God we ask that it would become alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword God, they would pierce our hearts. We invite you holy spirit to come and to speak to our hearts this morning Because if you do not speak this is a wasted effort. This is a wasted half-hour time But God if you were to speak and if your spirit would touch our hearts here this morning It would become the most precious moment of our week So we ask that you would make it and transform it Into that for your glory and for your honor so that we might better reflect Your glory and bring your kingdom here to earth as is in heaven We pray this in Christ's name. Amen Well again as I've already mentioned this is a sum of a cent here And I wanted you to get a picture of this if you look at the next slide here These are the southern temple stairs. This is what it looks like actually today in Jerusalem But it gives you kind of a picture and by the way the building up there. This is not Part of the temple but this these steps were there for the original temple And there's 15 steps and many scholars historians theologians believe that There's 15 songs of a cent that on each step As they did as part their meditation they would reflect they would recite one of the one of each of those songs So not only on the journey which for some could have been days traveling from some of the northern tribe area Down to Jerusalem days they traveled But even when they got here again, it was a time to reflect again That maybe even with each step as they entered the temple they reflected again on a sum of a cent So Psalm 127 would have been one of those and one of those steps that they would have been thinking about They would have had a picture in their head here That's also important to know that Psalm 127 was written by Solomon Solomon son of David King of Israel and why the why the two tribes were still united Here together and Solomon represents the very height Of the nation of Israel there was no time in Israel's history where it was more Successful where there was more power where there was more glorious steam In fact, we're told and we'll talk about a little bit more later how this was appeared a time that there was there was no battles Pretty much going on the entire country was at peace David's battle and David's journeys to come and conquer the Philistines and establish the kingdom Here in the Old Testament here in the nation of Israel is entered into a season of peace with Solomon And it's important to know that Solomon is the one that's writing this He's writing this during this period of time at some point or another Also remember how Solomon's reign and part of the reason why his kingdom was so blessed Is that when he first became king even even as a young man very young man He prayed to God and he asked God not for riches not for power Not for glorious steam, but he asked God for what He prayed and he asked God for wisdom To give him wisdom of how he can govern and rule God's people And because of that God answered his prayer and we know from reading the Old Testament at Solomon and we know from reading the Proverbs And so on ecclesiastes that Solomon was the wisest of all in the land during that time People would travel to come and visit and to sit under him and to hear his wisdom God answered that and God also then gave him what he didn't ask for God bless them God gave him all those other things that he could have asked for at the same time So it's important to realize who's the one writing this who the Holy Spirit is speaking through it's through Solomon So in that humility and that dependence on God God taught Solomon things like number one. We're going to look at here Even though he chose to use Solomon to build his temple Solomon was the one that constructed it the very first temple Solomon was always aware that God was the ultimate builder Point number one in your outline. God is the builder And he always is first one says unless the Lord builds the house It's builders labor in vain Now if you think back to that picture that we had a second ago about the steps there As people are focusing here as they're reflecting on this psalm here and even as Solomon is writing it here There's no question probably in their mind What building is he talking about unless the Lord builds the house who's house Who's house God's house the temple Unless the Lord builds it you know the temple was built it took seven years to build a temple There's some amazing things and we don't have time to get into it today You know, they're not a single rock that was quarried out Not a single one was chiseled on site, but it was all done away from the site There was not a single hammer Scripture tells us heard on site It was constructed the stone's off site precisely transported in and placed In position it took seven years to build this temple It was magnificent you get a little picture here of one artistic rendering here You see Jerusalem all across there this whole section this whole corner As though rendition and I know it's exactly what it looked like It's it's not clear how to how to interpret some of the things in scripture, but it was massive You get a picture of what the temple would look like So as Solomon is writing this as Israelites are reflecting upon this unless the Lord builds the house They would have said look look at this temple that God has built and God has made it was by his power It's by his plan that it came together Proverbs 1921 says many are the plans in a man's heart But it is the Lord's purpose that prevails Oh, there's lots of buildings out there. There's lots of plans out here, but it's only gods That prevail and fulfill his ultimate purpose And the Israelites as they were coming along would have would have agreed this They would at their hearts would have known this because there was no building in their mind It would have been more magnificent Then they come to the temple and be reminded that it was a Lord that built this it was a Lord that established this It was a Lord that had taken them out of Egypt It was a Lord that has spread the red seas And the Lord it was the Lord who provided for them during the desert It was the Lord who had taken Joshua and delivered them into the land tearing down the walls of Jericho and giving them this blessing as inheritance And this represented his presence But at the same time they had a choice to make at the same time here because they could choose to build their life on God Or they could choose not to as a magnificent as the temple was Be reminded that first kings had told had told them this But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I've given you and go off to serve other gods and worship then Then I will cut off Israel from this land. I've given them and I will reject this temple I have consecrated for my name Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among the peoples And though this temple is now inspiring all who pass by and will be applauded Some will scoff and say why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple People will answer because they have forsaken the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of Egypt and have embraced other gods Worshiping and serving them that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them You see the Israelites and part of their worship would have been interesting This was God's temple but God built and established his temple and he establishes his plans But his plans the blessing they can be for all of us are come with contingencies That we would be faithful to obey to honor God You see in 586 BC this amazing temple is destroyed by the Babylonians It's desecrated and not because God wasn't powerful and strong enough to maintain it But because it represented God with drawing his presence as this people had turned and rebelling and they got into worship other gods You see there's always a choice in the worship of God the Israelites had that choice You and I had this life choice will we build our lives among The plans of God the works of God or we make other choices to do something different Some of the choice I want you to think about will you make God a central point and the reference point in your life? Or is he just one piece of the pie is he just a marginal thing in your life Will you pursue his calling or your own self-centered plans And I'm looking at here. I'm seeing a lot of students I'm talking to you if you middle schoolers high school. Do you've got choices to make? Will you center your life on God's plans and God's purposes or will you make it about what you see on mtv What your friends talk about at school who don't follow and don't love God You have incredible choices and you're at the beginning of making many of them and we still have them here as adults as well too Will you build a marriage in a family around truth and holiness or will you build it on convenancy and relative opinions Does the word of God Take more authority in shaping your decisions in your family or is it really your personal preference at the time
You know, I should have asked Laura. I can't even share this ahead of time. I hope she won't get mad at me here But she was out shopping a few weeks ago and she got overcharged Okay, I'm sorry. She got undercharged the worst kind in some ways. She got undercharged And so she began to think you know, I'm pretty sure they didn't charge me enough. Should I go back And should I come in and be honest about it knowing that I might have to pay that the difference in the amount Anyway, she went back in and yesterday and did that you know and you kind of go in and you kind of hope that well They'll be nice. I don't worry about it They're like thank you We'll take 47 more dollars Ouch That's hard But we made a decision that gods were it was going to be more important than convenience at the time even though Emotionally, we've been much rather have just said let this is up that slide You know, and even the people said well, yeah, that person made a mistake all day long tons of other people got the benefit of that as well too Well, why couldn't we have been one of them? Well because there's something else that's shaping and building our lives and our choices Even when it's not convenient We live your life investing in his kingdom or trying to build your own And I think about you men in particular who are sitting out here today like me because I can do this as a pastor Is it the kingdom of God that you're really about building? Or is it your own personal career ladder that you're climbing is your own personal convenience
Your own 401k What are you investing? What are you concerned about? Well, you live your life investing for his kingdom or not We live to make his name great and honored or draw attention to your own glory to your own greatness Well, I think of one person who's become popular in recent days a guy named William Wilberforce who lived from 1759 to 1833 And if you saw the movie amazing grace you saw a story that was talking about making a rendition of his life here But there's books that he's been written about him But he's just become because of this movie real popular again here lately or relatively speaking He was the one that took a stand in England back during that period of time to say look there is a problem with slavery slavery does not line up with the reality of who we are as human beings and with what God's words Said and he's invested his life To work towards that end and it would take all his life pretty much to get to the place where slavery would really come and be abolished in England And this is before we even had got to that place here in America But God used a guy like William Wilberforce who decided you know what I'm going to build and line my life with what God's plans are And trusting his plans to prevail and that paved the way For what happened here eventually here in the United States of America and we'll be continuing to see spreading around the world now Civil liberties the value the dignity of human beings no matter what's your race no matter what this color of your skin is Well God is the builder and in Jesus Christ. He's building his church for you and me today Jesus said in John John chapter 2 Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days The Jews replied it has taken 46 years to build this temple they're talking about the temple of Herod at this time A second temple and you're going to raise it up in three days But the temple that he had spoken of was his body God is still building His temple and he's building his church and it is in comes and it happens through Jesus Christ and him alone Well, not only see the builder but number two. He's also the defender Number two god is the defender Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain unless the Lord watches over the city the washmen Stand guard in vain Now I want you to think about the Israelites here as well, too. They're journeering there I mean Journeying to Jerusalem and along the way they would have come through and they would come up on the big city of Jerusalem And they would have seen here's a an old city here. They would have seen like a guard post They would have seen guards posted around the city It was common for every city to have one in case because you never know when an invading army is going to come in All right, there wasn't satellite images. There wasn't radar There wasn't telecommunications to let you know they're on your way You had to post guards to guard and protect your city And they would have seen this as part of the journey. He would have been part of the scenic route Gosh, you know, we're getting close to the city. They're look you can see the city. You can see the guards posted And no doubt Jerusalem would have had those and they would have been part of that scene that they would have been reminded About the defense that was important to protect your capital city of your country your city that held your temple Jerusalem They had a choice as Israelites Were they going to stand in the protection of God or they were they were they're going to rely on their own self-defences First Chronicles 22 said this David said the Solomon My son I had it in my heart to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, but this word of the Lord came to me God said to David you have shed much blood and have fought many wars You are not to build a house for my name because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side His name will be Solomon and I will grant Israel peace and quiet quiet during his reign These are the words that David spoke to Solomon. Solomon's the one writing this Solomon knows because Solomon's experiencing this peace and reign that Israel had never even experienced until that point And by the way if you know Israel history they won't experience it after this point Never is there going to be a time of peace quite like this Ever in the Old Testament Solomon's experiencing this and Solomon knows it was because God had said I was going to protect Because of David's faithfulness and Solomon walking in his steps that God was going to be the one that was going to protect the city Did Jerusalem have guards posted? Oh, I'm sure they did But the defender of the city is God and it always is God We know that because we know that when they stand not in God and look to him for his defense first Kings tells us chapter 11 what can happen And this happened in Solomon's life. The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord The God of Israel who had appeared to him twice Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods Solomon did not keep the Lord's command So the Lord said to Solomon since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant in my decrees Which I commanded you I will certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates God comes in judgment when Solomon turns away and he says my protection is going to be withdrawn And even though Solomon didn't experience that in his life his son right if I own wood And the 10 tribes of Israel split off from the two tribes of Israel and that begins a divisive year I mean a divisive season of time for the Israelite community One they'll never have like they did with Solomon again We had choices here today Or we're going to stand with God or we're going to stand apart from God It's really true that there's no safer place anywhere to be than in the center of God's will Never is there any place safer You know in 2 Kings 6 there's an incredible encounter there where we have a lysha the prophet one of the greatest Prophets in the Old Testament greatest prophets ever a lysha who followed a lysha But he's there and the king of ahram who's getting really ticked off Because every time he sins and has some kind of strategy to defeat Israel God speaks to lysha tells a lysha what's going to happen and lysha tells the king of Israel And they make to appropriate defense mechanisms and and they They always get away So the king of ahram is going man and he finally hears about this He's like you know if I can take out a lysha if I can take out their channel their prophet Then they won't know what's going on They won't be able to protect themselves when I come and I sneak and I try to invade and it catcher them The only problem is when this entire army comes to a lysha a lysha servant comes to the door and looks out front He's like this hillside is covered with King King ahram's military Uh, he comes in and says a lysha we got trouble me lysha. I'm sorry a lysha comes to the door and says You kind of miss in the picture here and he prays to guys says God open up my servants eyes so that he might see I remember a lysha was with a lied jug When a lysha got taken up to heaven by that a chariot of fire Never experienced human death He knows what a chariot of fire looks like The text says the hillside was covered as the servants eyes were open with chariots of fire God's army was there And a lysha prays he says you know blind this these troops and they're blinded and he leads them into the center of uh There I think in samaria where the king of israel is and he basically delivers them up And god totally protected them there and basically the king of israel sends them back kind of with their tail type between their legs here And never again did a king ahram sending body after a lysha here But a lysha was just him and a servant But two outnumbered an entire army of another country Because god was defending them god was protecting them We have to make these same kinds of choices. Let me ask you today is god your front line of defense this morning Or is he your last resort Are you trusting in your finances? More than god are you trusting in your friends who you know More than god this morning are you trusting in your insurance policies More than god and he says the last resort if those fall through are you trusting in your doctors More than god are you trusting in your education More than god for your primary source of protection or is the god who created the universe with the spoken word Your front line of defense Martin Luther King had a choice to make Would god be the one that he would trust in for his protection for his defense Or would it be to simply recant his views Simply say well, you know, this is just my opinion and if you guys want to have a different opinion, that's okay Well here you got a picture of him there the diet of worms there where he was called to give account And it was it was common during this day by the way when you didn't recount Re-cant on the spot there they were pretty swift in judgment Okay, I think if I'm the nearest tree outside there and you could be huh you could be burned at the state That was the real popular one at the time being burned at the stake Need though he had been promised safe passage to come and appear and to get his testimony at the same time He knew What was commonly the case is that the safe passage would not be guaranteed or enforced He could be here in his last day and as many of you know As he stood up during that time he said here I stand. I can do no other god help me Amen He took a stand. He said no, I'm not going to read re-can unless you can prove to me in the scriptures I'm going to trust and it'll be true to god And trust that he can defend me whether it's an eternal life Ultimately or whether it's here on earth And god did defend him He he was delivered safely there. He would continue to rise up and delete the the reformation That we are so grateful for here today because you have the Bible probably in English largely in part to do With guys like Martin Luther You have the ability to worship to worship god is spirit and truth in a ways that you would not have had if it wasn't for god like Martin Luther But his trust was not In himself his trust was not in the safety of his own efforts his trust was in god to be faithful to do that Well worshiping life is one that's lived in Christ where he is your defender Nothing else We're not only see a bit the builder not only see a defender, but three god is the provider God is the provider look at verse two In vain and he's already talked about vain right start about building you can build in vain You can protect your city in vain So why he's on the topic of vanity he's going to continue it In vain you rise up early and stay up late Toiling for food to eat for he grant sleep to those he loves
Along this journey as well too remember you're in israelite you're traveling to the temple Now this would have been for least for the very least unless you lived in Jerusalem you're probably talking a couple hour walk If you're living farther up in the northern part of the kingdom there This could be days it could be a full week for you traveling So as you're traveling there you're thinking about this not only are we hungry not only that we have our family with us here As we're going to make sacrifice to be to provide for but you know what there's nobody we're not back Harvesting the harvest either our work is waiting for us. I mean it was it was a step of faith to abandon and the your normal course of life To go to the temple to present your sacrifices to worship god It wasn't like we have today where it's real convenient hop in your car and come to church worship experience Believers and the corporate worship here and then hop back in in your home This took a step of faith for them on their part So for them to be thinking about the provision it was it was great here for them to have Psalm 127 and say look look You know we could rise up early we could stay up late we could be told you for the food that we're going to eat but God's gonna take care of us God's can provide for us In israelites always had to trust God with provision think about back In their choices in the in the desert. Were they going to trust God to provide food for them? He did Remember the mana that he provided every morning when they woke up Basically honey wafers covering the covering the ground Did God provide water when they needed it? He did He took it from a rock He didn't need a river. Did God provide for them meat When they got grumpy and they were tired with the mana. Yeah, he did He had the meat coming was right out there on the ground with them Did God provide for them? Yes Although they were diligent to be faithful to obey God God gave them rest and peace When it came to provisions God took care of them And interestingly this verse talks about God giving sleep to those he loves Peaceful sleep Something that's becoming more and more scarce in our western society today People can't get to sleep early enough People don't get enough hours of sleep when they do get there they can't sleep They have insomnia they have to take drugs to sleep And is it really just some physical problem or is it really Hearts that don't trust in the provision of God is it really anxiety That creeps in when we struggle with wondering will God be faithful to provide The Israelites had often seasons where they didn't trust in God And interestingly famine was one of the tools God would use to chase in his people God would send a famine God would say hey look you're not gonna look and worship me and trust me Then realize I'm gonna let you realize who's the one that provides food for you And God would bring a famine on the land for years sometimes and he would help get their attention I think of one story in first king 17 This is Elijah now the other prophet Great prophet where he comes in and he he's met with a widow And she has a son And he comes in and God tells her look you're gonna find a widow and she's gonna make make a meal for you I mean Elijah's living during the famine too although Elijah was the one that prophesied the famine Elijah wasn't sure where his food was gonna come from He probably wasn't thinking that the first widow that he came across was gonna be the source of it So he trusts God he goes in there and she says well I have one little bit of flour and oil left that was gonna make for the last meal for me and my son before we die
And Elijah's telling her hey God's told you to fix that for me So she in faith fixes it for him her last meal Not just for her but for her son You moms out there know how you would feel if it was the last bit of food in a famine And God blesses that The next day when she goes there's more flour there's more oil the next day when she goes there's more flour There's more oil God continue to provide For her because in her faith and trust even the midst of this famine Let me ask you this morning. Who is your trust and when it comes to provision When you think about that what is your attitude and think about it in relation to work Because it talks about that it talks about rising up early staying up late toiling for food to eat I want you to think about this Do you choose to overwork in order to make sure you are provided for Or do you work reasonable hours and trust God for your needs
I don't know who all here works outside the home and who doesn't you could be working over working inside the home moms if that's your case but as you're Is your plan is your practice to overwork because you can't trust God's provision Will you sacrifice the needs of your young children or even decide to to not have children at all Due to being consumed providing for your own needs rather than trusting God that he'll provide for you Do you believe that if you achieve a certain goal in your work Then you will finally be happy and finally be at rest Do you struggle with sleep at night because of anxiety regarding God's provision or is your sleep sweet As you rest confident that God will provide for you This verse in this passage says he grants sleep to those he loves God promises that provision You know as I was thinking about this I thought of a guy Got him any Stanley a guy who is still alive today guy who's pastor at North Point community church up in Atlanta And I think about him. I think he's in the next slide there There he is I mean probably many of you even heard of him But I like him as an example here because I grew up in Atlanta In fact, we went to first Baptist church where Charles Stanley his father was pastoring for a little while We probably would have gone there for a while except it was a little bit of a long drive from where we were living in Atlanta So I knew about this guy growing up and I have trusted and seen him from a distance Okay, well any Stanley is now a member of a church of 17,000 people He had three different campuses in Atlanta and just 2006 was ranked as the 13th most influential pastor in Christendom And his churches ranked third as the most influential church in Christendom in 2006 But he was the one that I've heard him tell the story and it's in his book called choosing to cheat You can read as well too when he was first planning on leaving first Baptist church He was the youth pastor underneath his dad at first Baptist Atlanta chose to leave there with a group of people that wanted to start a church With a little different vision slightly different vision You know he basically that had a group of people that really wanted to do it He went back and he thought you know my kids are young I have a lot demands my wife has a lot of demands on her And he basically came back after talking with her and praying with her and they said look The way I look at it, this is going to be a big undertaking I've got about 45 hours that I can commit to every week My wife needs me home by 4 p.m Because that goes into the most difficult time of the day for her with young kids Getting ready for dinner and kids activities or homework And so here's what I can do about 45 hours a week coming home at 4 p.m. every day And if you guys think that you still want me to be the pastor of this church then let's continue to talk Well, they were convinced he was the guy to pastor this church and they continue to talk He has been faithful to that he's been faithful to trusting God's provision And so that's why I gave you the stats up front here's a very influential pastor and very influential church But somebody who has made a choice to not overwork And he requires it of his staff to not overwork To trust in God's provision rather than try to make it happen on your own and I believe God honors that And worshiping life is lived in Jesus Christ where he is the provider and source of rest But not only is he a builder not only is he the defender not only is he the provider lastly he is the blesser They're a journey to worship as they were traveling to the temple You got to imagine yourselves here on the trip they're on a road trip They got the family probably with them. They definitely probably have kids with them Okay, so all you parents out there who have kids and all you kids travel you know what it's like the road trip right Puckets are about to go on vacation this week. We're gonna road trip Um, fortunately it's a short road trip But we know what it's like to have a car full of kids and things going on the kids are part of your environment atmosphere Going to worship God in the temple. You're also gonna pass the city gates You can't get into the temple you can't get into the city where the temple is unless you go pass the city gates Now in light of that and thinking about that Let's read the last couple verses verses three through five After saying this Solomon writes inspired by the Holy Spirit sons are a heritage from the Lord Children every ward from him like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth Blessed as the man whose quivers full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies at the gate Genesis 17 and God said the very beginning he said he was gonna bless Abraham And was this blessing just for Abraham? Was it No, he says I will establish Genesis 17 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants Your children After you for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your Descendants your children After you God has made a promise. God has promised to bless Abraham And how is he gonna bless Abraham to be a god his not only his god, but to be a god his children
Short little parentheses. This is why we baptize children In our denomination because we believe that that is pointing to it and being a reminder to us of God's covenant promise And light circumcision was being a reminding of that to the eight-day-year-old baby Baptism for children here today is reminding they're coming under the covenant promises of God That if they are faithful to follow and trust God's commands As we are as their parents that God will be a god of them. He will be faithful He will carry on this promise of faithfulness to our children It's why children are one of our stated values as a church here Because we believe that we should be not just passionate about Sharing Christ with our community. Well, we got to be passionate about sharing Christ with the kids that live in our home Because to them are given the promise just as much to us And if we're not faithful to share and be evangelists with our children We have missed the very most in most people that we can influence the most anywhere The ones that live in our home Greg you and I were talking the other day and you told me An interesting quote Well, what was it about who's gonna remember you
Exactly, I'm gonna repeat that for a recording sake Greg said that you know he had heard and thought about that it that No more than three generations after you will even remember your name or know anything about you The people at your work You know, even if your name is on a plaque on the wall. Let me just tell you right now. They're not gonna be going over They're going wow John Doe He was the man back in 76 what neat 1876. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. They're not okay because you don't do it You're employing me neither do you you don't sit there and think about it nobody's gonna remember that But you know what your children and even to some extent your grandchildren Your involvement your impact is huge And God says they are your primary blessing here on earth And we missed this and I think Satan has us missing this in many ways the role and the importance of children And that's why this fits in here because some people you read this Psalm here and you're like thinking okay I see the train of thought here and now all of a sudden we start going to parenting what's up with that Where does that fit in the worship of God Is this just like kind of a appendix to Psalm 127? No The worship of God Always involves blessing to his people And God's saying don't miss the biggest blessing that I have for you and that is children Your children if he chooses to bless you with the ability to have them Even other people's children. That's why we're a covenant community. You have a chance to be around other people's children people want to buy homes and neighborhoods Okay, maybe not with rebellious children, but they want children You want to see kids playing in the neighborhood park Not at empty and resting Children are a blessing to communities. They're a blessing to nations. They are our future They carry the baton to the next generation Well, let me ask you some questions here today Do you believe that children are the greatest blessing that God will give you on earth or just one option in family planning It's financial security a great career or a prized possession more of a perceived blessing To you than children are Do you invest in your children if you happen to have them like they are a heritage like they are the heritage that God says they are Do you wrestle now? I'm gonna step on some toes here right now. I'm gonna do that on purpose Do you wrestle with the decision of whether to homeschool private school or public school your children? Do you wrestle with it? I don't care what you decide if you've wrestled with it and if you prayed about it And if you're letting the Holy Spirit guide you But let me tell you right now you are in sin if you are a parent and you do not wrestle With what should I do if it's just a fault That I know is a sin God could lead you to do any three of those But to not wrestle with it. It's clearly a sin if you ever pray sincerely about the timing of having children I was talking to my vet this just this week at a past week at a lunch appointment Have you prayed about that? Do you even consult God about the timing of having children? Or is it just something on your agenda somewhere that you might get around to when you want to? I'm gonna be honest with you that is a sin and if I was a parent and I had a credible blessing for my child You know something that they couldn't even understand at the moment about but I wanted what I'd want them to trust me and say look Trust me This investment we're doing for your college fund one day. You will thank me for it Trust me when you're taking piano lessons right now because I wish I had taken them But you're gonna thank me for it. There are all kinds of things that we want our kids to trust us for that they don't understand at the moment But we want them to trust us Because we have something much bigger picture in mind that will bless them Don't miss that children or God saying look you gotta try to trust me on this Are they gonna interfere with your life in some ways? Yeah, it's gonna make things busy. Yeah What they bring you the greatest joy What they teach you the most about me than anything you possibly can have yeah They will Would they be a source of blessing to you that you can ever imagine? Yeah, they will Trust me try me on that Have you prayed about I'm sorry. I'm gonna keep pushing on this. Have you prayed about the number of children you're gonna have Or be just to say hello. This is just the number we're comfortable with Have you asked God? Have you thought about it? Have you made it a place of prayer? Have you prayerfully considered adoption ever You know, I don't say say you got four kids already say you have none. I don't know But have you prayed and considered it simply because There are so many children that need homes. There are so many blessings waiting to come into my life Simply because God has adopted you spiritually
And the spirit of adoption is a part of who we are as a Christian community Have you even prayed about it? God will not tell everybody to adopt but I'm telling you You should pray about it You should pray for people who are adopting You might say hey, that's not my thing. That's not my call. I'm you know At the age of retirement Invest in people who are adopting Lorenau are so blessed to have people investing in our lives when we were adopting Gracie from Guatemala It could not have happened and people got to share in our joy in the process of it They were such a blessing to us be a part of that because it's dear to the heart of God widows and orphans he says Being cared for is true and undefiled religion It's close to the heart of God Are you primarily concerned with loving your children? Another thing to parents or wanting them to like you There's a big difference Love your children That's the sin of abortion grieve your heart to prayer and spirit-led action I know it's not politically correct But you've got to understand if God says this is your greatest blessing here on earth But the spirit of the world is saying what it encourages and it promotes Abortion And it's not a political issue It's a holiness issue To be like God or not Does it have political ramifications? Sure every holiness issue does but don't make it a political issue It's a holiness issue I think of a dick hoiit and rick hoiit Next slide If you've been to our new members class what we call a previous class I even share a video on this because it's so inspiring but here's a father Who had a son with cerebral palsy and very extreme cerebral palsy So much so that he was encouraged to institutionalize his son because he would never be able to read You never be able to go to school You would be only a burden and a weight on the family and the family has two other children already This is them participating in a triathlon
You obviously rick as the one is the son who is in the wheelchair He has to pick up rick. He has to put him into a raft to do the swimming part He has to put him on especially made bike riding on the front They're the top. He's running behind him I believe maybe I'm running behind him or biking that but he has to do all that for that on this But I will tell you and you can read about it Dick will tell you that he is the one that's being blessed And I picked this example because nobody would have thought Rick would have blessed any family, any parent Do you realize that back in I think it was 2003 Dick Had a heart attack and the doctor said this was massive. You had 95% blockage But if it wasn't for your incredible being in shape and having run You would have had this heart attack 15 years ago and it would have killed you And heart attacks ran in his genetics ran in the family. They know that So Rick Not only was an emotional blessing to his dad Rick had a big part and Because Rick was the one that wanted to get him into triathlons in the first place Rick was a blessing to his dad he didn't even realize until he had the heart attack 20 years later Children are a blessing Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs as such as these A worshiping life is a life in Christ Jesus where he is the source of all blessing Where he is the one who is the builder where he is the one who is the The defender where he's the one that's the provider where he is the one that's blessing in all his own ways Let me just ask you here this morning Where are you going Are you like Allison Wonderland has no clue Are you going to the temple are you worshiping God are you trusting in God You are headed somewhere the question is where Is your life lived in Jesus Christ Unless the Lord Could that be a banner of your life here this morning Let me close with this verse as I pray Colossians 1 25 says this I had become it servant by the commission God gave me Palsy Paul says here to present you the word of God in its fullness the mystery that has been kept him for ages and generations But is now disclosed to the saints to them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches Of this mystery Which is Christ in you the hope of glory. Let's pray Father we just come to you this morning in desperate need of your glory to be revealed God to be finding ourselves in you in your temple worshiping you for who you are and all that you are So God come and work in our midst here this morning God come be the builder May our lives be aligned with you God come be The one that defends us may our trust be in you May our source of hope in our provision come and be focused on you And God may we look to you to be the blesser and the blessing That we so long for So God come and work in our hearts now. We pray this in Jesus name in it