I'm back with you, I really am. David said, I was glad when they said unto me, let's go unto the house of the Lord. And I mean that too. Don't you? You glad to be here? Psalm 84, go back where Brother Gabe read to us. David wrote this, we believe. David, as you know, wrote of Christ. all through the scriptures, all through the Psalms. And he wrote a great deal about the church. He loved God's church. He loved God's people. The church goes by many names in the Old Testament. Zion, Mount Zion, Jerusalem. When you think of Jerusalem, That's the church, the kingdom of God. Christ came preaching the kingdom of God. That's his church. That's his people. This is a psalm about the church and about her Lord. I love to talk about our Lord. I love to hear someone preach about my Lord. You know, you can't talk about the Lord without talking about his bride. It's like husband and his wife. It's a marriage. When you think of one, you think of the other. When you think of Obie, you think of Stacia. It's almost like one word, Obie Stacia. Henry Doris and Gabe and Hannah, right? That's the way it is. And Christ and his church. Our Lord loves his people. He loves his church. He laid down his life for his church. He told husbands to love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. I love to think about the church. Someone said you don't go to church. You are the church. So when we talk about the church, we're not talking about this building. I call it the church house. But the church is His people, God's people, the house of God. He dwells in His people, and they dwell in Him. It's a mystery, isn't it? He's the temple and yet We are the temple of God. We dwell in him, and he dwells in us, the church. And David said, I was glad when they said unto me, let's go to the house of the Lord. He said in Psalm 26, he said, Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, the place where thine honor dwelleth. Don't you? You love to come here and love to fellowship with God's people and hear Christ preach. That's a sign that you're a member of the church. All right, let's look at this psalm. Don't you love the psalms? He said, how amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hope. How lovely, how lovely are thy tabernacles. This is a lovely place. I preached this a couple of years ago and I titled it, What a Lovely Place This Is. There's another psalm that says how beautiful for situation is Mount Zion. We have a beautiful view, don't we, of our Lord and His Son through the preaching of the gospel. It's a lovely place to be. Our loving Lord, our altogether lovely Lord is proclaimed in this place. In Deuteronomy, beginning in chapter 12 all the way through, I think it's chapter 17, I forget how many times, 17 or 18 times, It says there's a place the Lord has chosen to put his name there. 17, 18 times. Have you ever seen that? All through the book of Deuteronomy. Well, that's his church. A place where he's chosen, his people are chosen to put his name there, to put the name of his son there. They're called Christian. They're called sons of God. And that's where he is. That's where his honor dwells. That's where he dwells in the midst of his people. And that's where I want to dwell. And David said that, I want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire into his temple. That's what we're doing tonight. I hope that's what we're doing. Beholding the beauty of the Lord and inquiring into his temple. Paul wrote this in Ephesians 2. He said, he's made us sit together in heavenly places. This is a foretaste of glory divine. This is a heavenly place. You know it's so when you're out there in Sodom and you come into this place where there's lovely people and you hear a man, a lovely man, preach of your altogether lovely Lord. It's an amiable tabernacle. And you notice it says tabernacles, tabernacle. There was one tabernacle. where the one high priest went in, the Holy of Holies, and put the blood on the mercy seat, okay? That's our Lord in Him we dwell. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. But they're tabernacles, they're little local places where God is, like this place. Don't you love his tabernacles? Don't you love his local churches in Spring Lake and Pikeville and Rocky Mound and Kingsport and Crossfield? Don't you love those places? Down in Mexico, all those tabernacles where our dear brethren are. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Said four times in this one psalm and throughout the psalm. He's Lord over all, but his people are the hosts of heaven and the church in earth and in heaven. And his people, the scripture said, are as the sands of the sea and the stars of the sky. Now, if you enjoy this, try to imagine Just try to imagine what it's going to be like when all the hosts get together. You like Bible conferences? There's going to be one continual, eternal Bible conference. There's going to be some real preaching going on. Our Lord is going to speak to us and we're going to be so glad to be there. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts? Verse 2. He says, my soul longeth, yet even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. David, David was in exile several times during his life. He was on the run from Saul. You remember Saul sought his life. David born in Bethlehem and grew up around there and Jerusalem later, but David was on the run from Saul and David was on the run from his son Absalom. And while he was away, and we believe he was away at this time, he wished he was with God's people in God's house. He longed to be there. He said, my soul long yet even fainted for the courts of the Lord, where God's people are at my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. David went to worship the Lord. Like you and I do like tonight. He, David, though he was a King and a sweet psalmist of Israel, he had to hear a man preach the gospel. He listened to Nathan preach, didn't he? Nathan spoke to him and he blessed him so greatly. Well, when he was away, there's nothing he wanted more than to be back with God's people. Is that you? You've been away for whatever reason, you've been sick or you had to work or whatever. Didn't you not long to be with God's people? That's a sign, that's evidence that you're part of the body. You hate to be away when you're gone. He said, my soul longeth, even fainteth for the courts of God. He said, my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. You have the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. My heart longs for the worship of the Lord. He said, my mouth crieth unto the Lord. Whatever your heart longs for, your flesh will go after. You know that? If your heart and your affection is set on things above, your body will be in the pew where God's people are and where the gospel is spread. It has to, it has to. He looked at verse three, he was away and he said, the sparrow had found a house, a swallow, a nest for herself. David envied the birds that were nesting in the rafters of the house of God. He said, I wish I could just be a bird in the rafters. Years ago, I planted a vine on the side of our church building. It was one of those, it was an ivy, an English ivy. Big mistake. David, Gabe, his name's Dave, Gabe said he had one, your last house, he said, he said, I could hear it taking over the house at night. You're growing, they're prolific growers, aren't they? Well, I planted this vine, it was beautiful. And I loved him. But there was a bird that started building a nest in that vine on the side of the church house. And that year, she built the nest, he, and they raised their young. And then the next year, I believe it had to be the same bird. And I gave strict orders to everybody, don't you touch that bird nest. Don't you disturb that bird. That bird has found a nest, a resting place for itself. Anything or anyone who comes to God's house is going to find a refuge. And our Lord ensures their safety and their peace and their rest. And it says here, the sparrow hath found a house, a swallow, a nest for herself. Do you consider God's house where God's people are, where Christ is preached, Christ our resting place? Do you not consider this your your home, where you want to be, like David said, where I want to be, a nest, a place of rest, where we hear of Christ, our Sabbath, our Red, and it says, where she may lay her young, look at verse three, where she may lay her young, that's the reason she nests there, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my God and my King and my God. A place to lay her young. Brother Brandon read from 1 Samuel 1 and 2 where Hannah asked the Lord for a child and the Lord gave her Samuel. And Hannah told the Lord, she pleaded with the Lord, if you'll give me a child, this child's yours. You give me the child. It's not mine, it belongs to you. I'm gonna give this child back to you. And she did just that, didn't she? The Lord gave her a child. So she brought Samuel to God's house. And she raised her young boy at God's house. And when he was old enough to be weaned, she left him there. And Obie, he stayed right there for the rest of his life. Isn't that what you want when you're young? Have you not, by God's grace, found a place to raise your young? You're so blessed. We're so blessed to be in a place where God's name dwells, where the truth is, where the true man of God that preaches Christ there to raise your young. Thank God every day that your children are not out there passing through the fire. Scripture talks a great deal about that, making their children go through the fire, acquire the fire, and all this false religion. We're so blessed. All this man is doing, all these men are doing, is preaching Christ to you, the truth. And all they want for your children is for them to know Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? Oh, how blessed we are. Oh, Lord of folks, my King and my God. Verse four, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. How blessed. How I bled, to dwell in God's house. God's house, dwelling place. As I quoted Psalm 90, it's a good psalm to read. If you haven't read it in a while, read Psalm 90. Read it once a week. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling. Talks about the infinite God. Talks about finite man. Talks about the sinfulness of man. Talks about the brevity of life. Talks about, teach us to number our days when we apply our hearts to wisdom. It's a wonderful song. But God is our dwelling place. Where does God dwell? He doesn't dwell in buildings, as said in the beginning. This building is not the church, but wherever His people are, that's where He dwells. God, we dwell in Him, in Him we live and move and have our being, and He dwells in us. Like a bottle in smoke, you see. There's smoke in the bottle, or a bottle in the ocean. That's a good illustration. A bottle in the ocean, and the ocean's in the bottle. That's us. That's God's people. Dwell. Best are they that dwell in him, that dwell in his house. Verse four says, they will be still. Praising that. Sela. I love Sela. We don't pronounce that word because it's supposed to be a musical pause. My dad at one time said it meant raise the volume on the next verse. We're not sure. David was a psalm writer. He must have been a wonderful guitar player. But he uses that often. Pause is a good thing in music. and pick it back up again. Think about that. Think about that. Those that in God's house that dwell there, they're going to be still. He maketh us to lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside the still waters of His Word. Christ is the water. It stills our soul. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles. Real quickly, 2 Chronicles. Second Chronicles, chapter 20. This is a wonderful, wonderful story. Gabe probably preached from this, but one of the most poignant, touching, precious scenes in all of Scripture, where Jehoshaphat and all Israel were gathered together to the Lord to ask His help, safety, salvation from their enemies. They were surrounded by enemies. And look at verse 12, 2 Chronicles 20. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 12, it says, oh our God, Jehoshaphat's praying, wilt thou not judge them or deal with our enemies? We have no might against this great company, nor do we have any might against our foes and our adversary that cometh against us. Neither know we what to do. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Well, you know what the Lord did? Look at verse 13. All Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, like you here, their wives and their children. Isn't that a beautiful picture? They're all standing before the Lord, looking to the Lord, needing his help, with their wives and their little ones. That's exactly what we're doing. We have no might, we have no strength. What did the Lord do to still them? What did the Lord do to comfort them? What did the Lord do to assure them that he was with them, that no harm would befall them? He sent a preacher. Look at it, verse 14. A man named Jehaziel. As far as I know, this is the only message he ever prayed. What a message. If you only had one message to pray, this would be it. So Jahaziel stood up to preach verse 15. He said, hearken, hear Judah, hear your soul live. Inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, he needs to hear. We all need to hear from the Lord. Thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed. How many times did it say that? Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will still give thee aid. Read on, be not afraid or dismayed by reason that it's a great multitude. The battle is not yours, it, but it's God's tomorrow. Go down, go out there, go out in the world. Your enemies out there. Yes. All your foes, the adversary, the God of this world is out there, but verse 17, you shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves. Stand still. Have you ever heard that before? You know what Moses said at the Red Sea? That foe that was chasing behind him, that vast gulf fixed between them. One message, stand still. Don't do anything. Trust the Lord. Look to the Lord. You'll see the salvation of the Lord. Oh, they'll be still. Go back to the tent. He said, those that dwell in God's house, that's what they're going to hear from the preacher. He's going to tell them. Trust the Lord. Look to cry. Stand still and see the salvation. Don't do anything. Trust the Lord. That's what I heard. Brother Gabe, I asked him if that message he preached to the people in Africa was recorded. I hope it is. You need to hear it. He preached that here before? He preached it again. I'm sure they remember every poem. But that was wonderful. It was wonderful. And that was his whole message. Just trust Christ. Look to Christ. Don't do anything. Trust Him. Stand still. They will be still. The only thing that will still our hearts and minds and our troubled souls is to hear Christ lifted up. And I like to read it this way. They that dwell in thy house, those that are fixtures planted, Psalm 92, blessed are they that are planted in the house of the Lord. They will be still praising death, even in old age. Those that are planted there, they're not gonna be removed. They're not gonna be plucked up. They're gonna still be there. When it's all over, when Christ come, his people that are planted, and everyone that he doesn't plant, brother, I got your name, Tony. Known you all my life. Everybody that hadn't been planted, the Lord's gonna pluck them up. And we've been planted in Christ. Christ is the vine with the branches. If we don't abide in him, we're gonna be plucked up, gonna be cast down. But every one of those, they're gonna be still there when he comes. Praising him. He's still praising him. My father, My father, when he was in his 90s, he was still in every service up until, you know, he couldn't, we had to put him in a home and for a little while, broke his hip, that's what. He was there until he broke his hip, Alan broke his hip. And he could barely walk in the last, these last few years. He could barely get, he just shuffled. You remember that. He could barely shuffle. And a step that high, going from their garage into their house, he was only about that high. Not even four inches. He had trouble getting his foot up. But there's 16 steps from the base of our church house up into the sanctuary. And I said, Dad, let me drive you around. Nope, ain't gonna do it. He didn't want people to, he didn't want help. But he, it was a struggle for him to walk those 16 steps. He had to do it. And he did it. The other day, he broke his hip. He had to be in God's house. Do you know what that meant to all of us? You know what that meant to everybody else? What a testimony that, that said as much as all those years that he stood behind the pulpit. That says that Christ and the worship of our Lord and the meeting with God's people and the fellowship with God's people is my life. And it ain't worth living if I can't go be with God's people. So there'll be still, praise and thank. And then, Selah. Verse five, blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. People, you know this, and this is what Brandon, your prayer was a blessing. We don't have any strength. Without him, we can do nothing. You have no strength. Faith is another word for strength. And it's not our faith. It's the one we have faith in. We don't have faith in our faith. We don't depend on ourselves for anything. He's our strength. We're strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And what is the power of his might? His word, his promise. It's his gospel. The gospel is the power of God and salvation. We have no strength. It says, but blessed is the man, blessed is the man whose strength is in Christ. How blessed, how blessed. In whose heart, verse five, are the ways of them, or that is those who dwell in God's house, those who are there praising Him. The ways of God, what's that? Well, faith, love, thanksgiving, praise, word of God, worship of God's Son. That's God's ways. That's God's way. Blessed, how blessed are they whose ways, God's ways, he put in them. Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. Verse six, they pass through the valley of Baca and make it a well. This is J.C. Philpott, his daughter wrote a, well, put together a devotional, daily devotional. Some of you have it? It's called Baca's Valley, Baca's Valley. veil and it's a collection daily readings and he said this valley of baka means a valley of tears a valley of sorrows valley of troubles and that fits doesn't it and we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we need not fear evil why well it's psalms 8 the lord is with me David was a fearless man, as a young man, fearless. He faced Goliath through the strength of the Lord. But he said, what time I'm afraid, I'll trust in the Lord. Passed through this valley of Baca, of trouble, of tears, and sorrow, and all of God's people, our Lord said, in the world, you're gonna have tribulation, and sorrows, and trouble, and a lot of tears. But he makes it well. We draw from the wells of salvation, the well of his word, the well of his mercy, the well of his grace, and it's exhaustless, it's endless, it's a bottomless well, the well of his goodness, which is Christ. Christ is the well. When our Lord sat on the well and that woman came to the well, she didn't know. She really did come to the well. Christ was sitting on the well. Christ is the well. The well of salvation. Oh, the rain, verse six. The rain filleth the pools. Scripture says Christ will come down like rain. Come down like rain. And the rain said, refreshing. And we can't live without it. It's the water of life. Well, that's Christ, our Lord. The word, Isaiah 55 talks about the word coming down, giving seed to the soul, bread to the... Christ is the rain. Blessed right, he'll come down, fill the pool, the pool of Bethesda. This is the pool of Bethesda, where the impotent, the haught, the lame can come and hear Christ. And this is the pool, and he fills his pool with his mercy and his grace and his goodness. Where's all the fullness of God anyway? He'll cry, fill up the pool. Verse seven, they go from strength to strength. Strength to strength, we gather our strength. We come in here, those that wait on the Lord, Isaiah said, shall renew their strength. They'll mount up, he said, young people are gonna faint, strong are gonna faint, but those that trust in the Lord shall renew their strength. They're gonna mount up like on wings of eagles. I remember what it's like to work all day on a Wednesday and then come dragging in here. And I remember so many times, I had a faithful pastor preach Christ and preach this. And I'd come dragging in, but I'd go flying out. This is where we renew our strength in it. Again, where is our strength? It's in Him, it's in Him, it's in Christ. They go from strength to strength, our strength. As thy days, so shall thy strength. Every one of them, in Zion, appears before God. Who do we come, who do we come to see tonight? We love to see one another. I love to see, I meant it. Brother Scott used to say, I'm not just preaching, I'm telling you the truth. I meant it when I said I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to see you. I believe you're glad to see me and one another. And that is, those that love him that begat, love them that are begotten of him. That's how you know. By hearing, shall we know that we're of the Lord, we love his brethren, we love his son, we love his gospel. But we come here to see him, don't we? We come here to hear from him. We need him more than anyone or anything else. So we come to appear before our God. Now, look at this. He closes with a prayer. Verse eight. The rest of this is a prayer. Oh, Lord, God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, oh God of Jacob. Think about that. Blessed is he that the God of Jacob is here. He said, I'm the Lord. I've changed not. You sons of Jacob aren't going to be consented. It says, O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Who will the Lord hear? Who does God hear? You know, I remember years ago, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, I don't know if the man knew the Lord or not, but he said this publicly, and it caused a furor, an uproar. He said, God does not hear the Jews when they pray. And if they don't believe Jesus Christ, he doesn't. He doesn't hear them. Scripture says that the Lord is nigh unto them that fear him, fear him, unto them that call upon him in truth. Christ is the truth. God doesn't hear anybody that doesn't call on him in the name of Christ. That's who God will hear. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Sovereign God. Electing God. God of the true God. God of the scripture. What you said in that message today. As he's described in the scripture. The God of the Bible. He's the God of Jacob. Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated. Somebody said, I don't like that. Well then God doesn't love you. Oh God of Jacob, hear us. You'll hear those that bow to him. You'll hear those that believe him. You'll hear those that call upon him in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he hears. You'll hear him. Think about that. Verse nine, look at it. Behold, oh God, our shield, our salvation, our defense. Look upon the face of thine anointed. Who's that? What's the name Christ mean? Anointed. God can't look upon us except through Christ. Look upon the face that I anointed. Look upon me in Christ. God sees his people in Christ, doesn't he? Oh, God. Verse 10. A day in thy courts is better than a thousand, anywhere else. And I think I'm gonna title this, Brandon, if you need a title. There's no place I'd rather be. No place I'd rather be. This is what David said. He said, a day in thy courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. He said, I'd rather be. There's no place I'd rather be. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the lavish tents. Tents, it's all temporary. Just tents, and they're all coming down, of the wicked. I'd rather be no place. I'd rather be than with God's house. I'd just make me a doorkeeper. He said, just let me keep the door. You know that David, when he was giving orders to Solomon about the temple and David provided a lots of money and lots of things, goods for the building of the temple before he died. And David appointed 4,000 porters. You want a Porter? It's a doorkeeper. 4,000 doorkeepers. Tony, what a job that'd be. All you do is stand there at the door and greet people come in. How you doing? Good to see you. Doorkeepers. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God. 4,000 singers, players on instrument that he made. Sounded like he made every one of those instruments. I don't doubt that. 4,000 players on, wouldn't that be a good vocation in God's house? I'd rather be a doorkeeper. No place I'd rather be, nothing I'd rather be doing, David said, than being in God's house with God's people, hearing about my Lord and Savior. How about you? Four, verse 11. The Lord God is the sun. You know, the sun shines on the inside of this building as well as the outside. He does. Son of righteousness with healing in his wing, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a son for life. You can't live without the Son, can you? And he's warmth, healing, and shield. That word kept coming up when the Lord sent that plague four years ago. You couldn't read the scripture without seeing it. He's our shield. He's our safety. He's our salvation. David said, thou only makest me to dwell in safety. Not a thing, not a medicine, but a person. Son, he's a shield. And verse 11 says, no good, no good. The Lord will give grace and glory. What's that? Not a what? The grace of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Christ, the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, no good, this promise, no good. And the word thing is in italic. No good will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. No good, because although we enjoy things, things can be a blessing, but it can be a curse. But the one thing needful that he will not withhold, that he will give his people, the goodness of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel. That's what the gospel means, good news. He will not withhold from them that walk upright, that walk by faith in Christ. Verse 12, O Lord of hosts. Blessed, how blessed is the man that trusteth in death. You trust the Lord, don't you? Let me just close with reading these verses to you. Psalm 62, this is a good way to fit in with that psalm. It says verse eight of Psalm 62. Verse six, he only is my rock, my salvation, he's my defense, I shall not be moved. And God is my salvation, my glory, he's the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Verse eight, trust in him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah. I was thinking about that. May the Lord bless His Word.