If you have your Bibles, come with me to Psalm 149. 149. The second to the last psalm. We'll read a few verses in this psalm. I love the psalms. Sometimes we read the psalms just because they're short, don't we? I read a chapter before I go to bed tonight. Oh, there's a psalm I know that's only three or four verses. I'll run over there and read that. But don't pick Psalm 119. There's about 170 some verses in it, I believe. But it's all about the Word of God. But the last few psalms, as most of the psalms are, are full of praise. Psalms are psalms, psalms of worship, psalms of praise. The Old Testament Jews would sing these in worship to God. They would sing them in the temple or tabernacle or wherever. There's a little statement in this psalm that really gripped my heart this morning, and that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. Psalm 149. Let's begin in verse 1. Praise the Lord. Or, that could be translated into Hebrew, Hallelujah. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song and His praise in the assembly of saints. That's what we just did, isn't it? Let Israel rejoice in their Maker. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name with the dance. Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes pleasure in His people. He will beautify the humble with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the written judgment. This honor have all the saints. Praise the Lord. And the little line that I want you to notice is in verse 4. And I don't know about you, but this sometimes jumps off the page at me because it seems, in my own experience and in my own heart, it almost seems kind of unbelievable. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't believe it if God hadn't said it. And here's what He said, The Lord takes pleasure in His people. And I want to talk to you about that for a little while this morning. And I want to begin by asking you a question, and you know how I do many times. I ask you a question not because I want you to answer it, but because I want you to just think about it in the quietness of your own heart. And the question that I want to ask you this morning is, how do you think God feels about you? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever sat down at home with your Bible? Have you ever sat down in the quietness? Or maybe when you were laying down in your bed at night before you went to sleep in the quietness when there was really nobody there but you and your thoughts alone with God? Have you ever sat down and just said, how do I understand God and how do I think, how do I feel that, or how do I think that God feels about me? The way you would answer that question if you were to answer it honestly has tremendous implications upon your life. Because I know the religious answer to the question and I know the answer that most of us would give if this morning I were to put you or you were to put me on the spot And let's say in Sunday School, Brother Joe had said, Grover, stand up and tell us how you think God feels about you. Well, I would do what probably most of you would do. I would have got up and said, well, I believe that God loves me. And we would all do that. We would do that because we know what the Bible says about the love of God and about the love of God to His own people. But if we would think a little bit more and maybe dig a little bit deeper, and maybe contemplate a little bit longer, I think that probably this is probably more true to what we really think about how God feels about us. Most of us, on an intellectual level, we believe that God loves us. But on another level, we really don't believe that God likes us. Because most of us, because of our own failings, our own weaknesses, and our own sins, we really have a hard time believing that God really could delight in us, or that God could really enjoy us, or that God could really take pleasure in us. I don't know whether you think that way, but many times in my Christian life, that's exactly how I felt. Many times I've come to God in prayer and I would have acknowledged the fact that God loved me and I would have said, God, I know you love me. But in reality, because I was so focused upon my failures and my sins and my weaknesses and all of the blemishes in my character and all of the things that I've done that dishonored God and all the times I've hurt other people, I would come before God with this terrible sense of unworthiness, which can be a good thing. but also can be a debilitating thing and a destructive thing. And I would come to God as if to say, God, I know you love me, but really, I can't imagine that you would like me. I can't imagine that you would want me to come into your presence to spend time in fellowship with you. I think a lot of people, that's exactly where they're at. I know I've been there many times in my spiritual life. Intellectually, yes, I know God loves me. But experientially, Does God really want me to come into His presence? And does God really want me to be intimate with Him? Does God really want to reveal the wonders of His person to someone as full of failings and sins and weaknesses as me? And I would have probably, if I had been honest, said no. God may love me, but God could never, ever, ever take pleasure in someone as weak and failing and erring as I am. And you see, if you view God that way, it destroys any possibility of intimacy with God. Because how can you ever really love a God that you're not so convinced likes you? And how can you ever continually come to God and grow in the knowledge of God if you always feel that God has a frown on His face and not a smile. Now some of you are like me, you were raised in a church background where whether it was taught to you or not, somehow along the way you picked up that God is always sitting in heaven with His Arms crossed, a frown on his face, a furrow between his eyebrows, looking down upon us, always critical, always judgmental, always looking at us, always pointing out our faults, our blemishes, and our weaknesses. And can I tell you, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying it doesn't matter how we live. It does matter how we live. When the Bible says, keep yourself in the love of God, What it's saying is, keep yourself in a position where God can shower His love upon you. It doesn't mean that God will quit loving you if you fail, or that God will quit loving you if you sin. But it means that the way we live matters. And by obeying God and walking with God and depending on God, I can keep myself in a place where God can shower the abundance of His love upon me. But in reality, you and I know that many times, many of us, we've been raised with this concept of God where God has this austere frown upon His face and we're afraid to come to Him. And when we do come to Him, we can't learn to love Him and develop intimacy with Him because we always feel like we're too worthless to ever receive of the bounty of the goodness of God. Now if you have viewed God that way and if you feel that way about yourself, probably this little statement that the Lord takes pleasure in His people probably comes as a shock to you. And it comes as a shock to me as I thought about it and meditated on it several times throughout my Christian life. This is a verse that I have marked, I guess, in all of the Bibles I have. Whenever I'm reading through the book of Psalms, I come to this, and once again, I stop and think, the Lord takes pleasure in me? The Lord would delight in me? The Lord would enjoy me? I mean, I understand that I could enjoy Him, but that He could enjoy me. I understand that I could delight in Him, but that He could delight in me. I understand that I could take pleasure in Him, but I really have trouble with the concept that He could take pleasure. in someone as full of faults and sins and blemishes as me. That's exactly what the Scripture said. Now, you may look at that and say, well, what that means is the Lord takes pleasure in the most mature of His people. No, it doesn't say that. The Lord takes pleasure in all of His people. The weak, the erring, the failing, Those who don't have it all together because do any of us really have it all together? Aren't you glad that the Lord doesn't wait until we get it all figured out to love us and to bless us and to shower His goodness upon us? Aren't you glad that the Lord looks on the heart and not the head because a lot of times our heart is in a lot better shape than our head? Isn't that true? Not that we license ignorance, but isn't it true that the Lord will bless us for sincerity even though we might not always have all of the doctrinal things figured out and everything lined up maybe the way it should be? I'm glad it's that way. I'm glad it's that way because there'd be no hope for any of us if it were not that way. But that concept is so hard, I think, for many of us to grasp because we think of God as looking into our hearts and finding fault after fault after fault after fault, blemish after blemish after blemish, and we can't seem to grasp the fact that He loves us in a very real and genuine way, and that His love, which was an electing love, His love for us causes Him to enjoy us, to delight in us. Now think about your own children. Did you delight in your children when they were small as well as when they grow up? Well, of course we did. We delight in our children. Listen, you know, you have your children for so many years and they go through all different types of growth stages and different stages of maturity. But can I tell you, I delighted just as much in Morgan when she was a little bitty toddler crawling across the floor and she couldn't pronounce her words correctly as I delight in her now. I've delighted just as much in her then as I delight in her now. I don't delight in her because she's got everything together, understands everything because she's so intelligent, even though she is intelligent. I didn't wait until she got a certain age to begin to delight in her. But the moment she became ours, I began to delight in her, to take pleasure in her. And throughout the course of her life, at different stages of maturity and growth, I have found great enjoyment and great pleasure in my relationship with her. And that's the thing that I think we have trouble grasping about God. We can see that, yes, God loves us, but, you know, look at what a mess I am. And we base it on our performance, don't we? In reality, we base God's love and God's taking pleasure in us upon our performance. And we say, well, if I perform good, then God likes me today. But if I don't perform good, well, then God doesn't like me. Now, you know what that'll do? That'll put you in bondage, is what that'll do. It'll make a slave out of you. If you read enough verses in the Bible today, God will be happy with me today, right? But if I don't read enough verses, then He won't be happy with me. That's exactly the way we think, and that's exactly the concept that we have of God so many times in our lives. Now, you know what that'll do to you? When you get down to the end of the day, and you look at your list and you begin to check off what you did do and what you didn't do that day, you'll be so discouraged you won't even be able to pray and worship God because you'll feel like such a pathetic failure. There's no way God could want my worship, my love, or my prayers today. That's exactly what it does. It's legalism in a very subtle form. puts people in bondage, and it destroys any possibility of intimacy with God, which is the very thing that you and I were saved to experience. Not a ticket out of hell and into heaven, but to live in the wonder of a relationship with God. to get up every day in the excitement and the enjoyment of walking with God, worshiping God, loving God, knowing God, and that relationship deepening over time as we grow in our understanding of the wonders of this person. You see, that's exactly where we're missing it in the church world today. A lot of places, the first thing they want to do is set you under a bunch of rules and laws. But can I tell you, When we're living under the control of the Holy Spirit and when we're living in a love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no law. There's no need for law because you will live in obedience to God and enjoyment of his presence. And the reason you will do what is right is because you love him and you don't want to grieve him. Right. That's exactly where we miss it. But the Bible said the Lord takes pleasure in His people. And I want you to think with me about that for just a few minutes this morning, and then I'll be done. How could the Lord take pleasure in His people, people like me and people like you? How could the Lord look upon my life and smile and love me and favor me with His blessings? And how could I ever come into the presence of God each and every day knowing that I will find an open heaven? A God that loves me and a God that desires me and a God that takes pleasure in me and delights in me? Well, let's think a little bit about that. Well, first of all, I believe that the Bible makes it plain that the Lord takes pleasure in us because of our relationship to Him. Now, go with me to Romans chapter 8, and I know that you know these verses very well. These are some familiar verses that are quoted often. But these verses talk about our adoption. Romans chapter 8. Go and ask all you fathers and all you mothers. Do you delight in your children just because they're your children? Or do they have to jump through hoops to get you to delight in them and to take pleasure in them? For instance, I like all of your children. As far as I know, there's not a child in this place that I don't like. But I'd be a liar If I said that I enjoyed them and delighted in them as much as I delight in Morgan and Luke. Because even though I may enjoy them and delight in them, and I enjoy watching them run around here and relate to one another and relate to the adults, and on Thursday nights and Wednesday nights I enjoy watching the kids and I kid with them and I'm always going on with them or aggravate them about something. Even though I enjoy them, you know that that can never be the same as my enjoyment of Luke and Morgan for the simple reason of the special relationship that I have with them, me being their father and they being my child. Well, according to the Bible, all of us who have been born again, we've been adopted and we've become sons of God. And the Lord takes pleasure in us because of the special, unique relationship that we have with Him. Here's what it says in Romans chapter 8, verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. How do you know a son of God? They're led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God lives within them, leads them, guides them, directs them. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And you know what it says in 1 John? Beloved, now are we the sons of God. If you're here and you're born again, the Lord takes pleasure in you for the simple reason that you are His son or you are His daughter. Now isn't it true that God created all men? He is the giver of life to all men? There's not a person on this planet that was not placed here by the hand of God. God is the giver of life. God is the sustainer of life. According to the Bible, God is the only one that has the right to take life. God is the author of life. So every human being was created by God. But that doesn't mean that every human being is a son or a daughter of God. You are only a son or a daughter of God by adoption. And adoption takes place solely on the basis of God's grace. God's unmerited favor. And if you're here and you're born again, the reason you're born again is because God chose before the foundation of the world to adopt you and to make you His son or His daughter. Now think about that. Let that weigh in. Take some time this afternoon and quietly think about that particular truth, that particular concept, that out of all the billions of people on this planet, that God chose to adopt you. I heard a funny story one time about two preachers who were friends. And they were kidding around. One of them had a regular family in the sense that he had a regular mom and dad. The other one, he had been adopted. And he is raising a family, and he had become a member of this family by adoption. And they were kidding around about their families, and the one that had been adopted looked at the other preacher. He said, you know what your problem is? He said, what? He said, your problem is that your parents just had you. Mine picked me out. That's pretty good, isn't it? And the reality is that God didn't have to have us, did He? He picked us out. By grace. Amazing grace. Matchless grace. And He called us by the Spirit of God to Christ. And when we were converted, the Spirit of God came to live within us, identifying us with the family of God. And because of that indwelling Spirit, we look up to heaven and we call God Father. And He delights in us. because we're his children. We have a unique relationship to him that nobody else has. And you understand that? You understand that because you know how you feel about your children, do you not? I think probably everybody in this room, I could say probably everybody in this room without qualification, you love my kids. Everybody in this room. Tammy was saying some very kind things about Morgan and Luke this morning as Sunday school began. But I'm not crazy enough to say that you love my kids or that you take pleasure in my children in the same way you take pleasure in your children. That would be foolish of me to think that. God takes pleasure in us because of our unique relationship to Him. Another reason the Lord takes pleasure in us is because of our likeness to Him. Do you remember Romans 8, 28, 29, and 30? All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be what? To be conformed to the image of His Son. So when the Lord Jesus saves us, Does He save us just to get us out of hell and to get us into heaven? Or does He save us so that He might restore us to the image of God that was lost in the fall of Adam? Now think about that. Someone said one time, in every true Christian, Christ is present. That's true. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. In every true Christian, Christ is present. He lives in them in the person of the Holy Spirit. But then the man said, in every true Christian, Christ is present. In some, He is prominent. And he said, in others, all too few, He is preeminent. The reality is, Christ lives in every one of His people, but He wants to be preeminent in us. He wants to conform us to the likeness, the moral character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we understand that when we're born again, that work is not complete, is it? Salvation is the miracle of a moment, but remember that the making of the saint is the work of a lifetime. The Lord converts you by His grace, His Spirit comes to live within you, and then He begins that work of using the circumstances of life to conform us to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Now, that work will not be done until we go to be with Him, and then the Bible said, we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. But until that time, the Spirit of God is progressively doing a work in us of conforming us to the likeness and the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in every true Christian, there are traces of the nature of God, right? If the Spirit of God lives within you, what does the Spirit of God produce through you? The fruit of the Spirit. Which is what? The nature of God. What does the Bible say? We know we pass from death unto life because we love the Brethren. Why does the Bible say that? Because that kind of love is the supernatural love of God wrought in us by the Holy Spirit that has come to live within us when we were born again. So, in every Christian, there is some likeness to God, right? It's imperfect. It's not complete. It's not mature, but it's there. And when God looks into our hearts, He takes pleasure in us, because when He looks into our heart, He sees who? Himself. Have you ever thought about this? It's something that I learned a long time ago. Did you know that there's only two people in the Bible that God ever said was good? The first one being Adam. before he sinned. Remember Genesis? The Lord God made everything, including the man, and he looked upon it all and he said, it's very good. The only other one he ever said was good was the Lord Jesus Christ. Who in the book of 1 Corinthians is called who? The second Adam, or the last Adam, and the second man? He looked upon him and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And you know what God says about every other human being that's ever lived? There is none that does good, no not one. Now why would God call Adam and Christ good and nobody else? You know why? Because Adam was made in the likeness of God. And before Adam sinned, when God looked at Adam, what did God see? A reflection of His own character. And Jesus was the sinless Son of God. The second man. Why does the Bible call Him the second man? Because He was only the second man that was ever on this earth that was a man as God intended man to be. the last Adam, the second man, and when the father looked at Christ, he saw his own self, his own moral likeness, his own character, and God said, these two are good, but nobody else. But the good news is that when you were born again, the Spirit of God come to live within you. He placed the nature of God within your human spirit. And as you healed your life to Him, He will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit through your life so that by your behavior, others can see Christ in you, but also God Himself can look into your life and see His own image, His own likeness. Now, can I tell you, I understand that. You know why? Because hardly a week goes by that I don't hear two things. The first one is, Luke looks just like you. A week doesn't go by that that doesn't happen. The other one is, Morgan acts just like you. I hear it every week. A week doesn't go by that I don't hear that. She'll continue to say, Morgan is just like you. Now she's not saying that probably in a positive way all the time. She's probably saying she's stubborn like me. She's hard-headed like me. She's difficult like me. She flies off the handle like me. And if I go around anybody that I went to school with or anybody I know and they've never seen Luke, they'll go, Grover, he looks exactly like you did when you were at that age. Now, you and I did it in both cases. I go, I don't do it out loud, but I go, do it. That pleases me. Not that I'm anything to look at, but I'm glad Luke looks like me. And I'm glad, although I hope she grows out of most of it, Morgan acts like me. I take pleasure in them because of their likeness to me. You understand that, can't you? Have you ever looked into your own child's life and seen them doing things, thinking the way you think, behaving the way you would have behaved? And some of those things you know that you're praying God will get out of them because God had to get it out of you, but yet you look at them and yet you take pleasure in them because you can see the family likeness in them. I believe God does that with us. Another reason God takes delight in us is because of our love for Him. The Bible says in 1 John 4, 19, we love Him because He first loved us. And you parents know this, and I think you would know this. Isn't it true that all you really desire from your children is their love? I mean, you know, if this were to ever happen, if my children were to grow up and become wealthy and come back later in life and say, you know, Dad, I want to buy you this or build this for you or do this for you because, you know, You know, pray God that they would love me that much, but really what I really want is just their heart. That's what I really want. I want their love. And those times in our life and in our relationship when they've expressed their love to me have been great days in my life. Times when they said things in very sincere and humble ways that made me know that they weren't just saying that they love me, but they really love me. And those are very precious moments in my life. And I can think in my mind of different times where Luke and Morgan have said something or written me a note. And when they wrote the note or said something, it was just filled with their love for me. And that pleased me and honored me in such a wonderful way. And you think that God doesn't take pleasure in our expressions of love to Him? Oh, absolutely. Had God rather you build Him a Christo Caprigo or love Him? He doesn't love Him. Had God rather you commit yourself to some religious group and do some great religious work or try to somehow earn His favor? Or would God rather you accept His gracious love and then to express that love back to Him? That's what God wants. He wants a heart. And when God gets our heart, He takes great pleasure in it. He delights in it. Another thing that I think causes Him to take pleasure in us is our dependence on Him. The Bible said, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Now, do you know that dependence honors God? Now, think about that. We're getting ready to start school, and you know what my kids are not doing? They're not worrying about whether they'll have lunch money all year. They're not worried about whether they'll have money for school supplies. They're not worried about whether they'll have clothing. You know why? Because they know it'll be taken care of. They know that I will buy their lunch all year long at school. They depend on me for that. They know that if they need clothing, they'll have clothing. They depend on me for that. They know that if they need books or they need school supplies, they'll be able to get that. They depend on me for that. And can I tell you, their dependence pleases me. That they would depend on me and that they would have confidence in me. Now you know what would grieve my heart? If I were to come home this afternoon and Kim were to say, you know, Morgan's been in the back room all day crying, and I were to go back there and say, Morgan, what are you crying about? I'm afraid that you're not going to buy my lunch in school all year. That would grieve my heart. That would break my heart. Because that would say that she knows so little about me that she has no confidence. in me and no dependence in me and she lives in fear because she's afraid that I won't take care of her. Do you see how dependence can be pleasing? It pleases me that they don't worry about those things because that shows that they have confidence in me. And don't you think it pleases God when we depend on Him and rely on Him for everything and we don't fret and we don't worry and we don't agonize? But we say the Lord is in control. He'll take care of this. We just live in dependence on Him. Another thing that I think causes us to take pleasure is our obedience. Doesn't it bless you when your kids gladly obey you. Some of you are saying it would if it ever happened. But on occasion, not nearly often enough, but on occasion, I've asked the kids to do something and they gladly did it with joy. I mean, they kind of just hopped off to do it like they were happy to do it. And I thought, man, I like that. I could use a lot more of that in life. Now, if our obedience or if the obedience of our children causes us to take pleasure in them, do you think that our obedience to God pleases Him? What does the Bible say in 1 Samuel 15, verse 22? To obey is better than what? Sacrifice. God wants us to obey Him. Gladly to obey Him. I've talked to some people just recently about this subject. You know, it's easy for us to sit with our lives, to look at our lives and say, if everything goes the way I want it to go, well then, you know, I'll be glad in my circumstances. But Brother Joe talked about it Sunday through this morning. What about when life doesn't go according to your plans? Which is usually the case, isn't it? We were talking about it in Sunday School in reference to John the Baptist. It's evident from the scripture that John knew that he was called to be the forerunner for the Lord Jesus to prepare the people for the coming of Christ, but there's no evidence that God told him, oh, by the way, you will also be put in prison and your head will be cut off. So it's very likely that as he began his ministry, like most of us, he probably had some preconceived idea of how he expected his ministry to end. And it probably didn't include prison and execution. So when he's put in prison, it's a real blow to his faith. Not that he ever turned his back on the Lord, but can you imagine that happening to you? I mean, can you imagine me coming here and about three Sundays in the past from here, and each Sunday me get them saying, God called me to come here. I'm so blessed to be here. And then all of a sudden they come and arrest me and put me in prison. Can you imagine what an attack that would be upon my faith? And that's what happened to John. And more than likely because life didn't turn out the way he expected it to turn out, there were questions that came into his mind. And you see, the real question is, are we obeying when our obedience causes us to go down a path that we never planned on going down, that we didn't want to go down? I told somebody, I think yesterday afternoon, I said, I'm in a place in my life where I'm somewhere, not here at the church, don't misunderstand me, where I'm somewhere that I'm not happy to be there, but I know God wants me to be there. And every time I'm unhappy in my circumstances and I groan and complain to God, the Holy Spirit whispers in my heart, you get up every Sunday and preach to people that they are to be content with where I place them. Now you listen to your own preaching and be content with where I place you. Now, there's two ways of doing it though, isn't there? Doing it and grumbling. or doing it and rejoicing. The grumbling is easy. The rejoicing is tough. Now, don't you think obedience in the difficult places of life brings delight to the heart of God? For instance, we've been studying the life of Joseph. Do you suppose that when Joseph was mistreated by his brothers and sold as a slave down into Egypt, and then he works for his slave owner and does the best he can do and honors his slave owner, and then he's accused of trying to rape his slave owner's wife and put in prison for a crime he doesn't commit, and yet he honors God? Do you suppose maybe God was delighted in that? Do you suppose when Job gets the news that all of his property has been destroyed and his family has been killed, and the Bible said that Job sits down and he worships God anyway, do you suppose it may be God delighted in him? You say, how do you know that? Because God told the devil, look at my servant Job. Obedience. God delights in us and takes pleasure in us because of our fellowship with Him. You know, one of the things I miss about driving the truck, or the feed truck, was that I'd go by the house and get the kids. And boy, I just always enjoyed, it cost me an arm and a leg. Because if you take Morgan and Luke anywhere, you've got to go get them a sandwich, a country store sandwich, Turkey that thick. And you got to get them the drinks, you know. By the time you get them fed, they're thirsty. By the time you get them the thirst satisfied, they're hungry. Then they got to go to the bathroom. And, you know, it's different with kids going to the bathroom than it is a man driving a feed truck. So it's a lot bigger deal. But you know what? I never looked at those times that they went with me as a task. I always delighted in it. We'd talk, we'd kid around, we'd laugh. And just being in their presence delighted me. Do you reckon maybe the Lord, when we rise up in the morning and get our Bible and go to that secret place and we say, Lord, I just want to spend some time with you before I go out into the day. And we begin to pray and fellowship and read the Word of God and just spend time with Him. Do you suppose that when we're driving down the road during the day and we're just lifting our heart up to the Lord and talking to Him and worshiping Him and just spending time with Him, do you suppose maybe that that delights the heart of God? And then last of all, I believe the Lord takes pleasure in His people because of our worship. You heard me tell the story here. I remember one day we were in the house sitting there and we were kidding around and I'd been playing the lute. He was little, he's too big now, but when we were little we'd get on the floor and wrestle. I quit wrestling when he got big enough that he could take me. When we were little we'd get on the floor and we'd wrestle and we'd play. We'd been on the floor wrestling, playing, laughing. And I got up and sat in the chair. And as I was sitting in the chair, he walked up to me. I was sitting there. He grabbed my cheeks like this. And he pulled me over to his face and he goes, Dad, you're the best. And my heart leaped right out of my chest. He couldn't have given me anything that compared to that. Do you suppose that when we worship our Lord, when we tell Him how wonderful He is, how much we love Him, how much we value Him, how much we honor Him, when we tell Him how great He is, how wonderful He is, do you suppose maybe the Lord takes pleasure in that? I believe He does. I believe He does. Who would have thought that the God who created the heavens, who is so holy that even the seraphim cover their faces in His presence, that He would take pleasure in someone like me? Put that in your computer and it will never compute. It just won't compute. You say, if you can't understand it, then how do you know it's true? Because He said so. And because all throughout my life as a Christian, ever so often, You know this to be true. Every so often he takes me aside and he moves on my heart and he says, I love you. And those have been the most wonderful, powerful, life changing events of my life. Not up here. I mean, I've had times where I've taught the Word of God and I left church just resourcing in the presence of God. But those do not compare with the times when I was alone in the presence of God and the Spirit of God swept over my heart and I began to understand just a glimpse, just a small glimpse of the great love that He has for me. And that's why I do what I do. That's why I preach. Because how could I disobey Him in the light of such a wonderful love? I'm not saying it doesn't matter how we live. It does matter. But I'm saying that we need to get the frown off of God's face in our heart and realize how much He loves us, takes pleasure in us. And if that truth ever gets out of Psalm 149, verse 4, and into your heart, you will run to Him in desire of intimacy with Him. Amen? See, too many of us, we walk with God at a distance, don't we? We keep God at a distance. Part of that's because of our wrong thinking. God's out there. God's up here. God's over there. God's way up there. But God says, I want to come near. I want to be real. I want you to know how much I care. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. Lord, I feel so incapable. So weak when it comes to presenting it. And I know in my heart this morning, Lord, that I didn't do this justice, I couldn't do it justice. I know that I couldn't communicate it adequately. There aren't words to communicate it adequately. But I beg of you that your spirit would do what I cannot do, that you would take the truth. As stumblingly as I preached it this morning, I pray that you will take this truth and that you would help your people this morning. Please help your people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.