This morning with God's help we continue our series of sermons in the subject of worship. We have paused our consecutive series on the book of Acts and we are considering specifically this topic of worship so that we may again be rekindled to this glorious purpose for which the Lord has saved His people. That was exactly what we considered last Lord's Day as we studied together Exodus chapter 5. The purpose of God's salvation, the purpose of God saving a people to Himself is so that they may worship Him in the wilderness. We turn then this morning to Psalm 84. Psalm 84 as we then consider other aspects of worship. This morning we are reminded that worship is not only our calling, but worship is also a desire of the believer. The Spirit of God now renewing the believer, transforming the believer, the sinner now redeemed by grace alone, through faith alone, through the power of the Holy Spirit, now he desires to be in worship. There is that longing. that can only be satiated, that can only find its fulfillment when he comes together to the gathering of God's people in worship and praise to Yahweh. That's what we see this morning then in Psalm 84. Please turn with me to Psalm 84. This is God's holy, inerrant and infallible Word. People of God, hear it with faith. To the chief musician, on an instrument of Goth, a psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home and to swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They will still be praising you. Salem. Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the vale of Baca, they make it a spring. The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength. Each one appears before God and Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You." Thus far, the reading of God's Holy Word. Let us pray together. Great God in heaven, we thank You, O Lord, again for another day of rest, another day of worship, another day when You bring Your people, Lord, to Your house to feed their souls. And that's what we pray this morning once again, Father. that as you come to meet with your people, that in this holy assembly, this blessed gathering, you will indeed, O Lord, through the proclamation of your word, feed the souls of your people. Bless us, O Lord, this morning as we consider the inspired words of Psalm 84. Lord, we pray especially, may we see Christ in these verses. May we feed ourselves. May we feast in Him and in the salvation that the Anointed One has brought to His people. In His name, Lord, we pray. Amen. I'm sure you have already considered the challenge of wrestling with desires. Desires are a powerful thing. They're a powerful thing to the point that even the chemical, the medical industry try to control our desires. Several of the medications out there available to withhold people from behaviors that will harm themselves is about controlling impulses, controlling desires. Misplaced desires can lead us to a lot of trouble, but right-placed desires. may lead us to true bliss. You see, an old Presbyterian minister, a Scottish Presbyterian minister called Thomas Chalmers, he lived from 1780 to 1847, he wrote a little treatise about desires and how powerful they are in the life of the believer. If you have never heard or read The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, let me encourage you to go online and download this document. It's freely available and it's a short treatise on how desires now affect the life of the believer. And this is what Chalmers proposes in his little article. He says, one way or the way, the only way that our desires may be geared towards the right place and truly grant us a spiritual profit is when we have this new blessed and holy object as the center and the focus of our desires. That's the only way that true change, actually you will argue, can help in the life of anyone. is when his affections and desires are geared towards a new goal, a new object, a new person. He says, "...setting for than other object, even God, as more worthy of the attachment of the desire than any other thing, the heart shall prevail upon and not to resign for old affections, which shall have nothing to succeed in us." but to exchange a notification for a new one that leads us to this new goal. You see, when we turn together to Psalm 84 this morning, we notice that it is precisely what the psalmist is communicating to us here, isn't it? His desire and his affection, his longing is completely designed to a specific, higher, self-sufficient, and satisfying goal and object, the Lord himself and his worship. That is the longing of the Christian. That is the longing of the psalmist. The desire that sets, as a compass, sets the direction of a ship, it sets the entire life now, the entire existence of the believer in such a way now that And true delight in the worship of God is granted to the one who desires to be in the presence of the Lord. Christian, that's your new desire. Christian, that's the desire that the Holy Spirit has given you through conversion. The desire to address the Lord in praise. The desire to be with His people in worship. The desire we read in Psalm 84 is your desire. It must be. for the desire of a converted soul. And therefore, as we consider these verses this morning, this is what we learn. Clearly, the text teaches us that the people of God have been saved and now are constantly aspiring for God's presence. The people that God has saved are constantly aspiring for His presence. And as they come to His presence, they are blessed. They are blessed when they seek for it. This is what we learned this morning. The people God saved are constantly aspiring for His presence, and they are blessed when they seek for it. We consider this Psalm under three headings this morning. Number one, verses one through four, we notice that God's redeemed people are intensely desiring to be in His presence. Then in verses 5-7, we consider that God's redeemed people are constantly seeking to be in His presence. And lastly, in the larger portion of the text, verses 8-12, we notice that God's redeemed people are richly blessed when they come to the Lord's presence. God's people intensely desires to be in God's presence. God's people constantly seeks to be in God's presence. God's people are richly blessed. when they seek God's presence. Well, as we turn now our attention to the text, we notice that this clearly has been to us a psalm of praise, a psalm of worship, and a psalm of longing. Verse 1 begins with this note of admiration. how the sanctuary of the Lord, how the place where the Lord is worshipped, how it is lovely, how it is wonderful. This is a reference to the dwelling of the Lord, but here's the reason why the tabernacle or the place of worship is so lovely. It's because the Lord is there. Look at verse 1, he says, how lovely is your tabernacle. How lovely it is the place where you are present, where you come to meet with your people. The tabernacle of the Lord is a blessed place, is a desirable place, is a lovely place because the Lord of hosts is there. You see, there's an expression about the all-power sovereignty of the Lord. He owns all forces. To Him belongs all power. All armies are at His service. And because He is the Lord of hosts and He is in the sanctuary, then that makes the sanctuary a blessed and lovely place. It is the dwelling of the Lord. He meets there with His people. And therefore, now we read in verse 2 about this longing. Because I know that the Lord is there, and it's the Lord of lords, the Lord of hosts, the one who controls all armies in heaven and earth. How can I not desire to be there? How can I not desire to be in His presence? And then He says, my soul longs and faints. And let me draw your attention to this expression, faints. Because it's more than desiring. You see, the word faints here has been translated in Isaiah 56 as the grass fails. The psalmist's soul, perhaps of some sort of hindrance, is crying because it cannot, at this moment, address the Lord in worship. Go to the sanctuary, delight in His presence. So when he says, my heart even faints, or my soul even faints, he's saying, when there is any hindrance for me to address you in worship and enter your courts of praise, I grieve. Christian, is that your reality? Describe the desire of your heart this morning. A couple of weeks ago, or three weeks ago, we were hindered due to whether to gather together for worship. Now, boys and girls, how did you react when that took place? Were you cheering and saying, yay? Or were you fainting? where your heart and soul are grieving, oh, we can't go to the house of the Lord. Oh no, my heart desires to be there. Actually, look at verse 2. Not only the soul longs, the heart longs, but at the end of the verse, even my flesh cries out for the living God. It's the entire person. Every fiber of my being desires to be with the Lord. And if anything hinders that communion, I grieve. Well, I don't only want to visit the house of the Lord. I want to live there forever. The psalmist in verse 3 expresses his admiration, his evaluation of how blessed are the sparrows and the swallows. This is a reference to those little birds who, after the construction of the temple, would find places in the structure of the temple to build their nests there. Isn't that fascinating? Sometimes we drive by in this area and we find owls and eagles. And it's not uncommon for owls, for birds, to set their nests at the church's building, maybe in the tower or in... Have you ever considered them as more fortunate than you? Because they're constantly in the house of adoration of the Lord? They're constantly present in the place where God's people gather together to worship the Lord. That's what the psalmist is saying. He's looking at these nests, he's observing and he says, the sparrows found a home, they swallow a nest. Look at the end of verse 3, even your altars. This is a reference again to these little birds setting their nest in the place where worship is performed. The altars are the place where the burning sacrifice is offered, or the incense sacrifice where prayers are lifted up to the Lord. Those are the altars that were present at the temple. And the psalmist is saying, wow, look at these birds. They have more privilege than I. I can visit the house, but I can't live. I can't dwell in there. And that's exactly His longing. Look at verse 4. It says, blessed are those who dwell in your house. And all the young ladies and young lads, from time to time, boys, and on their turns, girls, do like nights in the church, right? They spend one night to another, and so the girls together with supervision stays, and they enjoy their time together of fellowship as they slip from one day to another together. I don't know if the boys has ever known that, but I know the girls have done that here in this congregation. And that's kind of the idea of verse 4. You're not simply visiting. The desire is not simply, okay, I'll go, but I'll come back home. No, I want to go and I want to stay. I don't want, the psalmist is saying, this state of praise ever to stop. Christian, is this your longing? Is this your desire? To dwell, to make a nest in the house of the Lord? and to enjoy His praise and worship all the time. You see, for us who are in the New Covenant, this text has an entirely new and more powerful connotation. Think about this. The psalmist is saying this towards that which was only types and shadows of the One who for us now is a reality. While the old Hebrew, the old Israelite would look at the temple and see only the figures pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian, you have the Christ! And so should you and myself have more excitement, more desire than the psalmist in Psalm 84? We don't have the times and types and shadows anymore. We don't come before the Lord with the old sacrifices and with the old vestments. No, we come addressing the one who is our prophet, priest, and king, not relying on the typification of those offices in David, in Moses, but see clearly in the blessed person of the risen Savior who is in heaven forever and who has come to judge the living and the dead. Does that not stir up your desire? Oh, if you are a child of the new covenant, it must. It must make you drooling from Monday to Saturday to come before the courts of the Lord, in the public gathering, in the public assembly of the Lord, just like the psalmist then says, blessed are those who dwell in this place. Christian, examine your heart this morning. Where is your desire? What is your desire geared toward? The Canons of Dorian chapter 16, of the third and fourth headings, describe our desire in a beautiful manner. Remember? It describes the desire of the believer now converted, now regenerated, as one whose desire has been quickened. It was dead, but now it's alive. It was asleep, but now it's sound, awake. It is a desire that was sick, but now has been healed. It is a desire that was geared towards that which was wrong, but now it's corrected. It's a desire that puffed up itself and said, I am the ruler of my life, but now it has been sweetly and powerfully subdued to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if that's a description of your desire, how can that desire not be transferred to the desire to praise, the desire to worship, to be with God's people? You see, there are so many differences between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant. Two things remain. I would like to bring that to your attention. It's still in verses 1-4. The first thing is God's presence. What makes me desire to come and praise? Well, boys and girls, sometimes what makes you desire to come to church is because of meeting your friends, meeting your brothers and sisters here. And that's a wonderful desire. That's a wonderful, delightful desire. But that must not be the only desire. That must not only be the first desire. The first desire is that you are coming to worship the living God. And the same to you, fathers and mothers. The same to you, heads of the households and wives. The same must be real of all of us. The very same thing remains true in the Old Covenant and in the New Covenant. When we come to public worship, we come to God's presence. It is the Lord of hosts that we are addressing, as the psalmist says in verse 2. Let us therefore stir up our souls to worship with this truth, with this knowledge, with this reality. Let us open our spiritual eyes through the power of the Spirit. Let us pray that the Spirit would open our eyes so that we may see this spiritual reality. That we are engaging and entering the presence of the Lord of hosts. But notice, there is also a second element in verses 1-4 that you must not neglect. This is corporate worship. Do you notice how the third person plural is used over and over again in this text? Look at verse four, for example. Look, the psalmist doesn't say, blessed is he, as if worship was an individual thing. I am going to worship. It doesn't matter who is there. I am going to worship. I'm going to praise. I go into the house of praise. Then worship is done. Benediction has been pronounced. Off I go. No. Look at the text. Blessed are those. It's in the plural. They will still be praising you. The expectation, the longing, the desire of the psalmist is for corporate worship. It's to be together with God's people. It is not he alone who perhaps isolated He's going to offer worship and he is going to be satisfied in that state of loneliness. No! It is they together, together worshiping. They are blessed and they will be praising. Christian, delight in corporate worship. Delight in God's presence. May the new desire that the Spirit of God has granted you through your conversion, through your restoration, the subduing, the quickening, the healing, the sweetly and powerfully bending, may all that be channeled to this great goal to praise God. But secondly, as we move on in the text, we notice that not only the people of God desires intensely for His presence, Because they desire, they seek His presence. And that's what we see now in verses five through seven. In verses five through seven, the psalmist says that blessed is those whose heart is set in pilgrimage. Now perhaps you are very excited when time for traveling preparations come. Organizing your luggage, separating specific objects and putting everything in a backpack, getting your sleeping bag. I'm not very excited for those times. It's just a lot of work. But look at this. Verse 5 says, Blessed is the man whose heart is set on pilgrimage. Why is his heart set on pilgrimage? Look again at verse 5. Because the strength of the Lord is in him. In other words, you see what the psalmist is saying? It's not only a desire, but there is an acting upon the desire. It's not simply like, oh, I love to worship the Lord, but it's kind of a lot of work to go to church. No. It is I love to worship the Lord and whatever it is necessary to set my way towards that direction, towards that pilgrimage, I will organize all the affairs of my life so that the priority, the center is praise. That's the man whose heart is set in pilgrimage. That's the ultimate desire and that's the ultimate planning. How does he do that? You do that with a lot of suffering. Because the pilgrimage is described as one who crosses a dry valley, the Valley of Baca. When we sing that portion, do you notice that? When we sing that portion in Selection 162, our lyrics says, the veil of tears. Reminds me of the Heidelberg Catechism. I hope it does remind you as well. What is our desire and delight and this veil of tears that sometimes life can be? It's worship. It's praise. Being together with God's people, the same people that God has saved through the blood of Christ. Your brothers and sisters, your fathers and mothers, and together with them, open our mouths and praise the Lord to the top of our lungs. That's the desire of the psalmist. He says the one who sets his mind, who sets his way on pilgrimage, he is blessed. And even in the midst of the dryness of life, he finds an oasis. And Christian, you know how life can be dry, don't you? With the ins and outs of daily life, with the commuting times, stopped in traffic, The difficulties of labor, working in the fields, sometimes there's troubles in the family. The disappointments we have with our country, political life. Life can be dry. And where do we find some juice for our soul? The psalmist says, As they cross the veil of Baka, they make it a spring. Isn't that fascinating? The veil is dry, but it turns into a juicy, satisfying journey because of the ultimate destination. The valley of Baca is made into a spring. The rain also covers it with pools. Also, some commentators believe that this is a reference to the season when the pilgrimages would take place. It would take place in a specific time of the year when those areas which were super dry, because of the rains that the Lord in His providence would bring upon the land, would turn those areas into oases, making it easy for the pilgrims to move from their places all the way down to Jerusalem and praise. Well, that can be so. But it seems to me that the psalmist here is dealing more than that. He's talking about the dryness of life. And how can we hoist the dryness of life? going to worship. Look at verse 7. They go from strength to strength. Each one appears before God and Zion. Once again, the idea that the Lord is there waiting for them to come, that the Lord is present in their midst as they're coming to worship is repeated. And now the text describes the disposition of the believer. He's strengthening one another and going from one encouragement to another encouragement. They are with renewed strength, week by week, returning to the Lord, returning to the praise, returning to the worship. They desire it and they work upon their desire. They continually seek the Lord. Christian, is that your description here as well this morning? It's your constant quest in your life to praise. Are you organizing the affairs of your life, whatever they are, so that you may be together with the people of God in the day that the Lord has set to enjoy Him and praise Him? Are you taking every single opportunity this local congregation gives you to address the Lord in prayer as you organize the affairs of your life so that your heart Responding to the desire will say, I will be there. I desire to be there. I am tired. I am done with the dryness of life. I'm going to be there. You see, there may be a lot of joy in different activities. You may find a lot of joy in cooking and in baking. You find a lot of joy with sports, with football or basketball. You may find a lot of joy with trips and vacation. You may find that these things are refreshing. But the Word of God reminds you this morning that there is nothing as refreshing from your veil of baker than coming to worship. Organize your life, Christian. Make your worship a priority. Drink from this endless fountain of refreshment that it is the public worship of the Lord. If there is worship in the morning, set your affairs so that you may be there. Is there worship in the evening? Set your affairs so that you may be there. Is there worship in the midweek? Set your affairs so that you may refresh your soul in strength after strength as the Lord injects upon you once again and over and over again, the reality of your salvation, the forgiveness of your sins, the great King that now He has brought you to live under, that you may be refreshed and renewed. And even if the dryness of life tries to dry you away, you are always moist because of the presence of Yahweh, because of the joy of worship. Christian, God's people not only intensively desires to worship, God's people constantly seeks to worship. Isn't that what we see in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you remember the Gospel of Luke? The very first visit of the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem, Luke chapter 2, what happens? It disappears. It's time to go back. Mary and Joseph are all packed up in the middle of the road. Where is Jesus? They rush to come back and what is the response and where do they find the Lord? They find the Lord in the house of His Father. That is Jesus' longing. Shouldn't that be your longing? Weren't you saved to be Christ's imitators? It should be your longing. It must be your longing. And even in the Gospel of Luke, later on, Luke chapter 4, we are reminded that every Sabbath the Lord was in the synagogue. The Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, the Word incarnate felt the need to be in the house of the Lord, worshiping with the Lord. The text says that it was His custom to go every Sabbath to worship the Lord. Shouldn't that be your desire? Shouldn't that be that what you aspire for? Christian, act upon your desire. If the desire is not there, pray for it. If the desire is there, act upon it. Let us make worship our priority. out of this new, blessed, ever-guiding desire that the Spirit of God grants us in our conversion and regeneration. We make worship the priority of our lives. We make worship the priority of our homes. We make worship the priority of all my endeavors, cultivating in my children the desire to praise, and cultivating in myself the desire to praise. But lastly, as we come to the conclusion of this text, we notice that as we come to worship, that's where blessing is found. Christian, do you want to be blessed? Do you want to receive gifts from the hands of the Almighty? Come to worship. Come to praise. That's what now the psalmist is going to teach us in verses 8 through 12. The psalmist then reaches the end of the pilgrimage. And he begins now in verse 8 to address the Lord in prayer. Look, verse 8 says, O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob. A couple of things here to observe in verse 8. Notice again how the covenantal Lord is constantly addressed throughout the psalm and particularly here. It's not a distant, a far Lord, it's the God of the covenant. He's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's not only the super powerful, everlasting, living Lord, but He's the close Lord. And as we come before His presence, what does the psalmist do? He prays. He prays to bless the Anointed One. That's the prayer. Verse 9 tells us that the prayer of the psalmist is that Yahweh would bless the Messiah. Look at the text. Oh God, behold our shield and look upon the face of your anointed. The desire of the worshiper is to bless the Messiah. The purpose and desire of the worshipper as he comes to praise the Lord is so that the Anointed One, the Messiah, that's the word in Hebrew, right? The Messiah or Mashiach, the Anointed One will be blessed. That's his prayer. That's his desire. He not only prays for the king, but did you notice he praised the king? Verse 8, we have what is called in Hebrew parallelism. So, look, in the first portion of the verse, he says, O God, behold our shield. Who is the shield? We know that through the second portion. The shield of your anointed. The anointed one is the shield of God's people. That's what the psalmist is saying. The shield here is a metaphor for protection, for care. The Messiah one, the king here, then is faced with this description. He's described as the one who protects, he's described as the one who defends, and therefore they pray, may he be blessed. May the Messiah be blessed for his protection and care, for his defense and being always promptly ready to take his sword and shield to defend his people. That's his desire. That's his praise, that's his call. But as he asks for the Messiah to be blessed, he then declares that the worshipers are blessed. They pray for a blessing. upon the Messiah, but they say, the one who comes to your place, the one who comes to your presence, he indeed enjoys brightness and protection. He talks about the privilege, the blessedness and the delight that it is to be in the house of the Lord. A thousand days anywhere else is not to be compared to one day in your sanctuary. There is nothing like it. There is nothing like it. Christian, is that your view of worship? Boys and girls, do you sit here today delighting in the reality that there is nothing like praise? Not even your tablet, not even your video games, not even the board games or the books you like to read. What about you adults here present? Do you sit here treasuring worship and saying with the psalmist, A thousand days needing is not as delightful as one day in the house of the Lord. A thousand days with my books and in my library is not to be compared to one day in the house of the Lord. A thousand days doing trips elsewhere or watching my favorite team is not to be compared to being in the house of the Lord. That's the soulless desire. Is that your desire? Is that true of you? It must. Because we adore the same Lord, the Lord of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. It's our Lord. And more than that, we know by His name. And it's not only Yahweh, it is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. How can not one day at the feet of the Blessed One be more delightful and treasured than anything else in my life? It is a true blessing. Why is it a true blessing? Look at the text again. Because when that is experienced, when we dwell in the presence of the Lord, then we experience His brightness. Verse 11 describes the Lord God, Yahweh Adonai, as the Son. He is the source of life. Without Him, everything dries out. Without Him, everything fades away. But with that bright shining sun, my soul lives. My body is not aching anymore, but it's ready to serve Him. With every single breath He gives me, to the very last second, He grants me. The Lord is my shield, He's my protection, and whomever seeks to deter me from worshiping Him will not be successful. Not even my own desires and inclinations, for He is my shield against myself. And when I come to Him, look at the end of verse 11, then I experience grace. And Christian, isn't that what you need? Yes, that's what you need. You need grace. We need the grace of the Lord to come upon us as a balm, as He has come, incarnate. And His grace and His salvation has been poured upon us, those who believe. And we are being taken, look at the end of verse 11, to glory. That's the reason why we come to worship. Verse 12 then summarizes the whole content saying, blessed is the man who trusts in You. Verse 12 is really this big summer, isn't it? It began with the expectation, remember? Verses 1-4, I want to be in the house of the Lord. Then verses 5-7, the realization. We have come to the house of the Lord. I desire to be there. I have act upon my desire. I have reached. Now I pray for the anointed one. Now I experience the blessing. Now that I've come to the sanctuary, true blessedness exists. As I trust in the promises of Yahweh, as I address Him in worship and praise, as He subdues myself to Him, that's when I am blessed. And Christian, this is who you are. You are blessed. You are blessed for the Lord has not left you in the pit of sin and perdition. But you're blessed because He has rescued you and brought you to the kingdom of love of His Son. Let us understand this morning that nothing can be compared to worship. Nothing can be compared to addressing the Lord as a congregation in praise. In worship, we are truly blessed. We are truly blessed for when we come, then we are reminded that the Lord is our protection. He's our shield. He shielded us against Satan. He shielded us against our own sin. He shielded us against His wrath as Christ at the cross died for sinners and brings sinners to Himself. He reminds us of His glory, glory revealed in His beloved one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He draws us then to His glory, indwelling us through His Holy Spirit and making us see and delight in the blessed one He has given us. It is together that we come to bless the Messiah. Different from the psalmist, we don't need to pray that the Messiah will be blessed. We bless the Messiah. We bless Him, not in the sense that we pronounce a benediction upon Him, but we bless Him because we come before Him to worship Him. That's the language of the Psalms that sometimes throw us off, doesn't it? Sometimes we're thrown off for reading the text and all of a sudden we read, Blessed be you, O great God in heaven. Blessed be you, O Yahweh. And we say, well, the Lord is the one who blesses. How can we bless Him? Well, we bless Him not in the sense, not in the meaning that we grant Him a benediction. We bless Him in the sense that we open our mouths and with transformed hearts we come to Him and we bow before Him and we say, Worthy are You, O blessed and powerful ever-living Lamb, to receive all glory, all praise, all honor, and all adoration. Christian, let us examine our hearts this morning. Do we burn with this intense desire to be in the presence of Yahweh? Are we acting upon this burning? Are we taking all opportunities we are granted in this local church to address Him in praise and adoration? Are we organizing seriously the affairs of our homes? Are we, heads of the households, parents, fathers, setting the example of what true fervent desire to worship is in our households? Are we delighting in the blessings that public worship grants us? May we examine our hearts in these things this morning, and may Psalm 84 be a reality in our lives, for that's why we were saved. Let us pray together. Great God in heaven, we thank You for Your blessed Word. And Lord, as You will remind us of this new desire You have given us through Your Holy Spirit, Father, we pray that we will act upon it. Father, if we sit here this morning in indifference or lack in desire to worship You, Lord, be merciful with us. Show that to us, O Lord, and lead us to true repentance and confession of sin this morning. And may You, O Lord, lead us to the power of Your Holy Spirit to put to death this apathy, this lack of desire. Deliver us, O Lord, from lousy excuses. for not delighting in worship and organizing our affairs to worship and praise You. O Lord, grant us wisdom so that this organization of our life and of our affairs may indeed lead us to the center of the purpose for which You have saved us to worship and praise You. And Father, we pray as we come to worship, bless our souls, strengthen our hearts. O Lord, we are a needy people. We are a people that struggle with sin and struggle with the maladies of our hearts and our minds sometimes. Lord, we pray, bless us richly. Bless us through Your Word. Bless us through singing. Bless us through the communion of the saints. So that indeed, with the psalmist, in verse 12, we may say, blessed is the man who trusts in You. In Jesus' name, Father, we pray.