WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.040 Okay, we're just going to, for a few minutes today before the baptism, we're going to think 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:11.040 about this Psalm because we like to open and unpack God's word together for a little 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:12.040 while. 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:16.559 And over the last number of weeks, we've been looking at different Psalms and nearly 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:22.559 all of them use the word at different places in them, blessed. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:28.320 And it's a really good word and it's a really important word. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:36.000 If you go on Instagram and do hashtag blessed, I'm told this reliably since I'm not on Instagram, 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.600 but you can get 133 million hits for that particular hashtag. 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.039 And I think in most cases when we see that word, and it's a word that's not just a Bible 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:51.400 word, it's used a lot, it's usually hashtag blessed because of something maybe that a 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:58.439 material possession that someone has got or good times or happy events or new relationships 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:01.719 or holidays that they've had or whatever it might be. 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:03.719 And they say it then hashtag blessed. 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.799 And that's fine, that's good because it's a nice thing to recognize. 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:12.599 But interestingly in the Bible, it's got a slightly different connotation and a different 00:01:12.599 --> 00:01:13.599 idea. 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:20.799 It does mean true happiness and it gives us a key, we believe, for true happiness. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:28.000 And interestingly, it's used 122 times in the New Testament and it never refers to material 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:35.399 things, it never refers to wealth or riches or anything that we can get materially. 00:01:35.399 --> 00:01:43.000 It always refers to relationships and almost entirely, but not exclusively about relationship 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:44.000 with God. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.599 So when we think about being blessed, hashtag blessed, and today we think about that, don't 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:53.759 we, with the baptisms and family and friends who are important to the families of those 00:01:53.759 --> 00:01:57.759 being baptized and the blessing of that and the goodness of that of parents and siblings 00:01:57.759 --> 00:02:00.799 and partners and families and friends. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:06.719 It ultimately is pointing us one step further, even that, even from that, and that is pointing 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:14.560 to the relationship we strive after, we have found as Christians in coming to trust in 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:15.560 Jesus Christ. 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:22.319 We are having a relationship of strength and trust with God, so Jesus is strong and kind 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:26.400 and we sing that because we've come to know that as Christians. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:32.120 That's our Christian experience and that's why we can say hashtag blessed that we have 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:36.480 found happiness in our lives. 00:02:36.480 --> 00:02:39.920 And that's a challenge always for us to remember that. 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:44.439 Now the Old Testament covenant people of God, of which the sons of Korah who wrote this 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:51.359 Psalm were part, they did know that they experienced it in shadows in many ways before Jesus had 00:02:51.359 --> 00:02:52.359 come. 00:02:52.359 --> 00:02:58.240 But often, interestingly, and maybe this is a challenge to us with a deeper insight than 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:03.280 we have, and certainly this Psalm would reflect that. 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:09.439 Because this and many of the Psalms just are a kind of expressive heartbeat for those who 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:13.240 had a relationship with God in their lives and a loving relationship. 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:17.840 It's full of worship, not just this one, but all of the Psalms are full of worship and 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.760 even doubts and emotions and questions and faith. 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:29.960 And they really help express for us what it's like to pursue true happiness in a relationship 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:30.960 with God. 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:35.040 And it's something that I know the parents here today, especially as we think of the 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:38.840 baptism, seek to live out with their children also. 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:43.819 Now maybe if you're not a Christian today or you're an inquirer or maybe you've just 00:03:43.819 --> 00:03:49.680 tuned in online for the first time for whatever reason, the encouragement we always give is 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:58.879 to consider the exclusive and unique claims of God on your life as you pursue the meaning 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:02.280 of true happiness, which I think we all do. 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:05.520 I don't know if there's a greater quest than any of us. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:10.120 Maybe we don't verbalize it, but I'm sure in all of our lives that's what we're looking 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:13.760 for, is it true happiness? 00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:19.160 And Jesus says it's the root issue that we all need to deal with because we have a... 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:27.759 By nature we have a spiritually diseased DNA, which leads to spiritual death if we don't 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:34.879 find healing in Jesus Christ and then true happiness as a result. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:40.000 And there's two really strong images in this Psalm that I think help all of us to associate 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:45.680 with that, with understanding what God means when He talks about true happiness. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:53.519 And you can maybe associate with it as a Christian if you're searching for God and for the meaning 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:57.959 even of life, or even if you've quite self-consciously rejected God. 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:03.199 I'm sure you can still associate with the images of this Psalm. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:07.079 And the first one is home, home. 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:10.759 That's the first image that comes across in the Psalm, really in the first four verses 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:15.399 where it speaks about the temple of God in the Old Testament as home, how lovely is your 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:16.399 dwelling place. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:21.439 Oh, Lord of hosts, my soul faints, we're for the courts of the Lord. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:25.079 Even a sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself. 00:05:25.079 --> 00:05:31.120 Oh, Lord of hosts, blessed are those who dwell in your house. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.000 So this is the image of the first four verses of the Psalm. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:41.319 It's all about home because we all know we've got a homing instinct, really, don't we? 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:43.160 You can all associate with that today. 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:49.639 We can all associate with a place where we're loved or where we long to be loved, a place 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:56.639 where we're safe, where we can be ourselves without any ears and graces or we can relax, 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:02.079 where we can put our slippers on, where we're warm and comfortable and we're satisfied. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:08.439 You know that feeling of coming home and that they're from work or from out in the rain 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:14.639 or from a cold day, lovely, but cold day today you can go home and just relax and be at home. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:22.680 And I'm sure Hamish and Anna and Tense and Emma, when they were just expecting their children, 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:29.959 they made a bedroom at home to prepare a place for Lily and for Wilhelmus. 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:34.360 They did that because that's really what we do, isn't it, so often? 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.319 And home is so important. 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:44.800 And that's why in our lives we recoil when we hear things about destruction in the home 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:49.639 or violence in the home or abuse or robbery. 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.800 If you've ever been robbed in your house, you know you kind of materially feel like 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:55.519 you've been raped. 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.479 Someone has abused the privacy of your life and home. 00:06:59.479 --> 00:07:05.159 And if you know that, it's not a pleasant feeling or homelessness which we recoil from 00:07:05.159 --> 00:07:10.599 in our society where we're also wealthy and warm in our homes. 00:07:10.599 --> 00:07:18.240 We find it strange that we live alongside homelessness in our city or we see the appeals 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:23.439 for children in Yemen who have been made homeless by the ongoing civil. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:25.800 What a terrible, destructive thing. 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:32.759 And that, I believe, taps into our spiritual beings, this reality of home. 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:37.439 And in this Psalm, we have the poetry of the janitors. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:43.680 If I can say that, in verse 10 we're told, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.560 of my God than dwell in the tenths of wickedness. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:52.399 The sons of Korah were those who were set aside by God in the Old Testament to look 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:55.399 after the temple. 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:56.399 Janitors is a bit harsh. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:57.800 There were more than that. 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:00.680 They were also warriors and they were also guards. 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:06.399 But they did have this special place in the physical building, the temple that God had 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.319 in the Old Testament. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:13.840 And that's where God, before the New Testament, that's where He dwelt with His people. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:20.000 He dwelt in that place, the holy of holies, where if they wanted to be in God's presence, 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.199 they went to the temple. 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:25.799 And this poem speaks about that. 00:08:25.799 --> 00:08:32.799 There were not only janitors and guards and those who were fighters. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:37.279 They were also musicians and they were poets. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:43.039 And under divine inspiration, they give us a picture of what God wants us to know for 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:46.519 ourselves today as part of God's Word. 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:53.079 So I remind myself and I remind us as Christians here today that we have found in Christ, we 00:08:53.079 --> 00:08:56.759 have found our true spiritual home. 00:08:56.759 --> 00:09:03.679 What the psalmist speaks of and the sons of Korah speak of kind of in shadow as it were, 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:09.599 we find we have come to know in fullness because of Jesus Christ and who He is. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:20.680 Because in the New Testament, the temple is not a building, the temple is Jesus Christ. 00:09:20.680 --> 00:09:25.159 And you know, when we actually heard it this morning on the video that we share with Tim 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:32.000 Keller on Seven Days of Prayer, when Jesus spoke about the temple being raised to the 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.560 ground and rebuilt in three days, He wasn't talking about the temple in Jerusalem, He 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:39.879 was talking about His body and the resurrection. 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:45.959 And as Christians, when we come to the temple, it's not a building, it's not even a church. 00:09:45.959 --> 00:09:50.199 It's the person and the presence of Jesus Christ. 00:09:50.199 --> 00:09:55.959 And when we come to Him, not only do we see God, but also God comes into our lives and 00:09:55.959 --> 00:10:00.559 hearts in the person of the Holy Spirit so that we become as Christians, as it were, 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.959 with this image, the temple of the Holy Spirit. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:09.840 So we are changed from inside out and not wanting to be in relationship with God or 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:16.120 be part of the temple, we are changed to loving God and wanting to be in relationship with 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:17.120 Him. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:21.920 The best picture I can think of that is from the New Testament, is a parable, and it's 00:10:21.920 --> 00:10:26.840 the parable of the prodigal Son, which many of us know. 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:31.160 And that's a story about salvation and about truth. 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:38.240 And it really says that one of the sons, one of two sons of their father was fed up being 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:39.240 at home. 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:41.240 He didn't like being at home. 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:46.240 And he basically almost said, I want my dad dead so that I can get the inheritance and 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:49.159 really be free and live. 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:52.240 So he asked his dad for his inheritance and his dad gave him it. 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:54.480 And he had all this money and he left home. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:56.439 He got away from it. 00:10:56.439 --> 00:10:58.519 And lived exactly how he wanted. 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:01.840 He didn't have the strictures of home or the responsibilities. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:06.799 He just could do what he liked and he had parties and he had women and he had drink 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:12.159 and he had friends that partied with him until all the money ran out. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:18.199 And we know the story that we ended up in a pigsty, very brutal for a Jewish person 00:11:18.199 --> 00:11:22.399 at that time to use that, for God, Jesus to use that illustration, pigs being unclean 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:23.399 animals. 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:26.360 But not only that, he would have eaten the food that were given to the pigs because 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:32.279 he was so hungry, he came to his senses and said, how many of my father's servants have 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:33.600 food enough to eat? 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:38.919 I'm going to go back and repent of what I've done and ask him if he'll take me even as 00:11:38.919 --> 00:11:39.919 a servant. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:41.720 And of course, what's the story? 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:46.680 Story isn't of the dad standing there with crossed arms saying, well, I told you so. 00:11:46.680 --> 00:11:53.920 He said, dad's lifting up his tunic and running and then putting out his arms and saying, 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:59.439 my son, you are dead and now you're alive, you are lost and now you're found. 00:11:59.439 --> 00:12:01.039 And he takes him home. 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:06.120 And that's the picture, it's the same picture that we're given there of coming home. 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:10.719 And that's what this Samist is saying, all along home is where the heart is. 00:12:10.719 --> 00:12:14.879 In relationship with God, we find a completely different attitude. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:19.719 You see the changes of attitude when the son realized his father loved him and cared for 00:12:19.719 --> 00:12:22.240 him and it was the best place to be. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:29.080 And the Sam expresses that in the language it uses, it talks about how lovely it is. 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:34.080 It talks about joy and singing, about getting stronger all the time in verse 7, talks about 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.320 crying out in prayer and worship. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:42.000 In verse 8, it's being incompatible to anything in verse 10, talks about God is light and 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:43.840 protection in verse 11. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:53.960 That's the whole wording of the Sam, that there's joy and happiness and a homecoming. 00:12:53.960 --> 00:13:01.680 And our priorities we find that that's where we want to be, home is where our heart is. 00:13:01.680 --> 00:13:07.000 And it uses that lovely illustration of the sparrow finds a home there. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:12.040 The sparrow was regarded in the Bible as a really kind of worthless little bird. 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:19.480 It was what poor people would end up using as a sacrifice and it was like Tenapeni. 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:24.439 And yet we've got that great picture that we can maybe feel sometimes absolutely worthless 00:13:24.439 --> 00:13:27.039 in this world that doesn't seem a care. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:32.639 But that we are valuable and we can find a home. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:37.000 And we find the only home of true happiness in relationship with Jesus. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:41.919 So the challenge is I think for us not to take that for granted. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:43.159 We can all do that, can't we? 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:46.479 Maybe we're here today and we can take for granted the homes that we've come from this 00:13:46.479 --> 00:13:51.240 morning or the family that we have or the parents that are maybe a hundred miles away 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.159 or brothers and sisters. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:59.079 We can take our family sometimes, it's easy to do that, isn't it? 00:13:59.079 --> 00:14:04.279 And yet it's important for us as Christians not to take our spiritual relationship with 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:05.879 God for granted. 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:09.039 Can we still connect with that same kind of language in our lives? 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.639 Can we enthuse those around about us? 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:20.519 And can we tell them what a privilege it is as parents to be baptising our children? 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:27.480 And we know that our children as they're baptised will be brought up in a covenant home and we'll 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:35.719 want them to move from just living in a Christian home to having Jesus in their hearts for themselves. 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:40.920 And that's our longing and our prayer, the blessing of being covenant children, which 00:14:40.920 --> 00:14:43.200 we'll mention at the end. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:49.920 And maybe consider if you're not a Christian, maybe you realise you may be a bit like the 00:14:49.920 --> 00:14:53.879 prodigal that you're on the run from God a bit. 00:14:53.879 --> 00:15:00.680 Maybe you're looking for blessing, true happiness in material things or even just in human relationships 00:15:00.680 --> 00:15:02.440 on the run from God. 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:09.200 And from His claims, His authority, His parental oversight as it were, and the explanation He 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:15.480 gives you of your need, your sin, your guilt, your alienation from Him. 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:22.120 But yet, if you're honest, potentially do you know that you're dissatisfied and that 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:31.100 you don't have any answers other than to avoid it or, you know, survive the baptismal service 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:36.680 if you're here in that situation or close your ears? 00:15:36.680 --> 00:15:41.720 I would really encourage you just to consider the claims of Jesus Christ. 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:45.040 Because there's another interesting little picture about the bird here. 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:49.560 There's not only a place for sparrows, but also a place for swallows. 00:15:49.560 --> 00:15:53.040 A place for swallows find a nest for herself. 00:15:53.040 --> 00:15:55.840 And if you've ever seen swallows, they're always darting about. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.120 They're never really at rest. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:01.240 They're always on the move until they're nesting. 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:06.320 And maybe that's how you feel, kind of always on the go, never really finding answers or 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:08.480 satisfaction. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:16.320 And I think there's a picture there of finding a home in relationship with Jesus. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:17.759 So I'm nearly done with it. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:18.759 That's the first thing is home. 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:20.600 That's the first picture we've got that. 00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:27.360 And much more briefly and secondly, we also have an illustration of a journey, verses 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:28.360 5 to 7. 00:16:28.360 --> 00:16:32.680 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are in the highway to Zion. 00:16:32.680 --> 00:16:34.800 They go through the valley of Baker. 00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:36.440 They make it place of strings. 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:38.200 The early rain also covers it with pools. 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:43.399 They go from strength to strength until each one appears before God in Zion. 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:47.200 Now that's a really strong theme in the Old Testament. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:52.480 And the people of God in the Old Testament were always seemed to be... the story revolves 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:59.400 around them being on a journey, whether it's from Egypt to the Promised Land or whether 00:16:59.400 --> 00:17:03.160 out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land or whether it's in the Promised Land 00:17:03.160 --> 00:17:07.400 when they would go up to Jerusalem for the festivals and they would journey from wherever 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:10.080 they lived and celebrate and worship. 00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:14.880 Or whether it was later on when they were exiled in Babylon and a remnant of them journeyed 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:20.640 back to the Holy Land, the land of promise after the rebellion. 00:17:20.640 --> 00:17:22.320 It was always a journey. 00:17:22.320 --> 00:17:25.400 It was really important in that story. 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:27.400 So there's almost a kind of paradox here. 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:31.560 We've got a home, but we've also got a journey. 00:17:31.560 --> 00:17:38.640 It's a dual picture and it's almost a paradox because the Christian life, we've come home. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:41.600 We find true happiness in relationship with Jesus. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:45.519 But we're also on a journey, we're called to follow Jesus and to serve God. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:49.599 We're on His road until He takes us home to glory. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.399 And we need His strength, as this Psalm says. 00:17:52.399 --> 00:17:55.199 We need to move from strength to strength. 00:17:55.199 --> 00:17:56.199 It's tough. 00:17:56.199 --> 00:18:01.759 It's a battle we struggle in our hearts with lots of things. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:02.759 It's steep. 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:04.639 Sometimes we end up low down. 00:18:04.639 --> 00:18:06.240 Sometimes we end up high up. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:07.439 And there's a lovely play in words. 00:18:07.439 --> 00:18:09.480 There are a kind of lovely image here. 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:19.759 It talks about, if they go through the valley of Baker or Baca, and that word just means 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:21.759 would mean balsam trees. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:25.440 So balsam trees, which they would cut and they would take the sap from, so they were 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:26.839 weeping. 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:31.400 So it's really a picture of being in the valley of weeping, a sad place. 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:36.000 And yet it says, even though we go through that valley of weeping, we make it a place 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:43.720 of springs, a place that something positive comes from it, life and fruitfulness. 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:49.319 And that has been our experience as Christians, that we've gone through times of deep, deep 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:52.759 sadness and loss and battle. 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:58.880 But as we've committed it to God, we've found His strength and His courage and His help. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:02.119 There's a great picture for us as we're getting older. 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:07.559 In 2 Corinthians 4, 16, which speaks into that, therefore we don't lose heart on this 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:08.559 journey. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:12.119 Though outwardly we're wasting away, yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day. 00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:20.000 So there's a fantastic inner renewal happening in our lives as we follow and serve Jesus. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:26.319 And that's counterintuitive that in that place of valley, that place of tears, that we can 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.000 actually go from strength to strength. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:34.160 Because we know He is a purpose, He will take us through that and we have hope for the future. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:42.519 It's positive, it's not unrealistic, it's not naive, it's not fluffy and fairy story, 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:46.119 it's recognizing the tears that we often go through here. 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:53.519 But it's reminding us that as we are not self-sufficient, as our strength and trust is in God, we can 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:57.480 see fruitfulness and blessing. 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:03.480 So that dual image of home and not yet home is something, and that journey is something 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:08.120 that I hope the parents today and all of us as parents, and all of us as a congregation 00:20:08.120 --> 00:20:14.480 because remember we vow later on, we vow to pray for and to lead our children together 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:16.220 as a church family. 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:21.680 We have these great words in Deuteronomy 6, 5 to 7, love the Lord your God with all your 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.480 heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. 00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:27.960 We know we can only do that through Jesus and through coming to Him in faith. 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:32.599 These commandments I give you today are to be like on your hearts, impress them on your 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:37.400 children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:39.000 you lie down and when you get up. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:46.279 It's just that great picture of having, recognizing Jesus as the one that we trust on our journey, 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:51.759 knowing Christ as Savior, that we grow with Him, we mature with Him, we stumble at our 00:20:51.759 --> 00:21:00.440 highs and lows, but as we rely on His strength and His beauty and as we pray to Him, we find 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:03.279 His grace in our lives. 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:06.000 He's the only true King that there is. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.759 He's the only true King that we serve. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:12.480 And that is an amazing reality for us. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:18.559 In verse 9 we're told, Behold our shield, O God, look on the face of your anointed. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:23.519 And that was the anointed one was always the King, and the Old Testament people followed 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.919 the King as a representative of their God. 00:21:25.919 --> 00:21:31.960 And of course we find that that's been replaced by King Jesus, the King of the Jews who died 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:37.879 in the cross to be our Redeemer and our Savior, to pay the price for our sins. 00:21:37.879 --> 00:21:44.279 And that's what we teach our children, the King of kings who journeyed to a solitary 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:49.200 cross outside Jerusalem on our behalf for our salvation. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:54.519 And when we trust in Him, we see God face to face at that level. 00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:56.599 And that's an amazing truth. 00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:00.399 We come home, and we come home to be with Him. 00:22:00.399 --> 00:22:05.200 And that is incomparably good. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:11.160 Verse 10 says that, For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. 00:22:11.160 --> 00:22:14.640 I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:19.320 That's not talking about primarily coming to church as if this is the house of God. 00:22:19.320 --> 00:22:21.160 The house of God is His people. 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:27.040 The house of God is His community, is His family with Him as Lord and God. 00:22:27.040 --> 00:22:33.360 And it's incomparably, it says, For a day in your courts is better. 00:22:33.360 --> 00:22:36.840 It's actually the same word that's used in the very beginning of the Bible when God 00:22:36.839 --> 00:22:41.279 made creation and He said, It's really good. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.720 It's great. 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:51.039 Before sin came in to spoil and destroy it, truly good enables us to be truly happy. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:56.039 And the question for all of us again is, In whom do we trust for true happiness? 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:01.119 Who can heal our broken hearts, our sinful hearts? 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:02.879 Who can? 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:06.800 Again in the context of the world in which we're living today with so much insecurity 00:23:06.800 --> 00:23:14.520 about health, about life, about the environment, there is this guaranteed hope that comes through 00:23:14.520 --> 00:23:22.680 knowing and understanding and trusting in God who is our eternal hope and our home. 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:23.680 Let's pray briefly together. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:30.680 Father, we pray that you would bless us as we move in shortly to time of baptism. 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:39.039 And we ask that we would see in that the visible symbols of the gospel, the good news of Jesus 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:43.120 and that that would be significant and important for us. 00:23:43.120 --> 00:23:44.960 We pray that in Jesus' name. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:24:01.039 Amen.