Sermon Podcast
Laughter (Video)
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Good morning everyone, it's great to have you here with us and great to be here with you this morning. We also have an event coming up this coming Friday evening. We're going to have a night of worship and baptism. We initially said we're going to do it outdoors, but because of a variety of issues, we're actually going to move it indoors. So we're actually being this space here. So if you enjoy doing what we just did over the last 20, 30 minutes, we would love to have you come and spend some time with us on Friday evening doing that together as a church community. So as we get started this morning, I want to ask you this question. Have you or are you living the dream? Have you or are you living the dream? I think I got a little taste of that last week as I was on vacation with my wife, my kids, their spouses, significant others, and grandkids. And we stayed in nice Airbnb, had lots of things for that, lots of things for the kids, I didn't have a lot of responsibilities and maybe that's why I was living the dream, you know? But my responsibilities were to grill food on occasion, carry stuff to the beach, and reply to my grandson's request, will you play with me? That's pretty much what I got asked to do, and I did that a lot. We build towers, we read books, we dug holes. But I discovered there now rules on the beach. Did you know that? You can't dig holes more than a foot deep on some beaches. They have guys in green shirts to tell you, fill in that hole, it's too deep. Didn't know that my grandkids also take naps in the middle of the day, which is a great opportunity for me to do the same, can't pass that up. And so when I thought of this statement, living the dream, I thought, I got a little taste of that last week, a lot of little taste of it. And it's based on the idea of what would be the best possible scenario for my life and then having an opportunity to do that, have an opportunity to do that. Have you had a chance to do that? Maybe it doesn't happen all day every day, but maybe you've gotten a glimpse of living the dream. Maybe you'd have a dinner with some friends and you really enjoy yourself. Watching your favorite sports team trounse their opponent, which I did not have the opportunity to do it, can be in yards yesterday. Relax with a good book for a few hours, feed in the sand, and enjoying the sun, hiking on a mountain trail, take your pick. What would it look like for you to say, I'm living the dream? What does that look like for you? But for some of you, as I talk about that this morning, you're like, John, my life is far from a dream. That's not where my life is at at all, at all. I'm not living a dream. As a matter of fact, I had a health diagnosis that I just got that was not good. My partner is walking out of my marriage. My boss told me to pack my stuff in the child and family that I long for is not become a reality. I am far from living my dream. And you see other people and you battle jealousy and resentment toward God. And your dreams are far from being enjoyed, they're unfulfilled. And it feels like they've come crashing down. This morning, regardless of your experience of life, and what it feels like even in this moment, I want to remind you that if you're a follower of Jesus, someone who's decided to put God first in your life, that God is doing something in your life. He's actively at work in your life. And we're going to get a snapshot of that this morning in our series. Our summer series is entitled Help. Help, and we've been in a group of Psalms called The Psalms of Ascent from 120 to 134. They're basically the Jewish playlists is what the Psalms are. These would be read, sung, or chanted as they would make their way to Jerusalem three times a year. They would repeat these on their journey of anywhere between 15, 20 or up to 90 miles to get to Jerusalem. And then on the day of the feast, the seven days of the feast, the priests, the religious leaders, they would stay on the first step on the temple and they would recite the first one. Then they would step to the next step, recite the next one. They'd do that and work their way all the way up till they got to the temple, the place of God's presence. Let's take a look at what we've discovered this summer that in Psalm 120, we can cry out to God for help. Psalm 121, God is watching over me. Psalm 122, anticipate coming to God's house. 123, looking up when I'm ready to let go. 124, who is for you, not who is against you? And then last week, 125, God will surround, protect, and provide for you. And what we discovered in these Psalms is not new truth, not revolutionary truth, but simple reminders that if you are a person of faith that are designed to support you as a pilgrim in this journey called life. And if you're exploring faith, trying to make some sense out of faith, maybe someone invited you or you've been coming for a few weeks, it allows you to see who God is and what God offers in a relationship with those that follow Him. These Psalms that we've been in this morning, we've heard from you consistently, those of us that have been speaking, how relevant these are, how they connect with places in your life and in your story. And I suspect they connect not only with places in your life and your story, but other people around you. And we're going to be continuing this series all the way through the end of the summer. And our ushers are going to come, they have a car that looks like that just says help, it just says help, and we're going to give one to everybody in this room. Because I'm pretty confident that people in this room are going to be talking to people this week who are going to say, I just need some help. And we would encourage you to pull out this car and say, why don't you come with me on Sunday? Why don't you hear how God can provide help in your life? So take one of those cards, put it somewhere, and see who God brings into your life that might need some help that you can bring along to join us next week. Well, if you have your Bibles, if you haven't already done so, turn to Psalm 126, turn to Psalm 126, that's where we're going to jump in. You can follow along on your device or on the screen, Psalm 126. And as we've done every week, we're going to read the Psalm together, and then we're going to walk our way through that. And if you don't have a regular plan to read in your Bibles, this is the seventh Psalm we have done so far this summer. So there's seven days of the week. So if you're not sure what to do in your Bible reading, why don't you just tomorrow morning, start with Psalm 120 and read that a couple times. And then on Tuesday, go to 121 and just do that every single day over the next week to review the Psalms that we've been in. And as you read them, just say, God, what do you have for me today? All right, everybody there, Psalm 126. Okay, let's read it out loud together. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy. Return our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. The first place this Psalmist takes us as he goes back in time. He kind of takes us backwards and looks at God keeping his word. He looks back at God keeping his word. And this Psalm is likely a post-exilic song. You're like, what does post-exilic mean? Exile is when the people of Israel were taken out of their land. They were captured by a foreign enemy, Babylon. And they were taken from their land and they lived in the land of Babylon. They were in that land for 70 years. Babylon was defeated by Assyria and by the Medo-Persians. After 70 years, they came back to their land. So this is after their exile. They're brought back into this land. It feels a little out of order chronologically for this being the life of David because this happens many years after David. You're like, how does that work, John? The way it works is that when the Bible was put together, they brought together sources from a variety of times in the life of the people of Israel. And this is one that was actually likely written afterwards and this will make a little more sense as we jump into it. It says when the Lord restored the forces of Zion, you're like, who is Zion? Who is Zion? Zion is a word that refers to the Jewish people and their history. You might have heard the phrase Zionist. That's referring to the Jewish people and their history. And he's saying, when the Lord restored our fortunes, it's literally when we got back our stuff, when we got back our stuff. They didn't come back to much when they came back to the land of Israel. It was somewhat like the people of Germany when they came back after the Allies had bombed their land and had wiped out Hitler. They came back or the people of Ukraine what they would come back to. They weren't coming back to much. But God did something remarkable. Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 23, he says, "I looked at the earth and it was formless and empty. At the heavens and the light was gone. I looked at the mountains. They were quaking. I looked. There were no people. Every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked in the fruitful land. It was a desert. All its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. And when the people were taken out of the land, they weren't just captured, but the land was stripped. The buildings were destroyed, the treasures were taken, the land was burned to the ground. It was barren. It was barren." And he said, "When the Lord restored our fortunes, it was like a dream. It was like a dream sequence. It was like, did that just really happen? Have you ever woken up for a dream and you're like, is that real or has that imagined? Anybody ever had that experience? You woke up from a dream. You know, yeah, we've all had that, right? What in the world? Wait a minute. You know? I mean, one of my friends recently told me that they had a dream and I was in the dream and I had, you know, James Gaiman's gray beard down to here. You know, like, that's a dream. That's not me, buddy, you know? And so there's this dream as they're an exile that somehow God would restore their fortune. And somehow could we go back to our land? Is there any way that, and that just felt like a dream? God had promised it. But would God come through? Would God come through? It reminded me of a TV show that was on for a while called Extreme Makeover with this guy, Ty Pennington. And they would take a homeowner whose home was in disrepair. Sometimes they had a special needs child or they taking care of aging parents and the home was in disrepair. They couldn't take care of it and they would move these people out of their home and they would bring these crews in and they would completely renovate that house and then they would have this big huge bus and the people would be on the other side of the bus and what would they say on the TV show? Move that bus, right? Move that bus. And when that bus got moved, what they dreamed might be, what they dreamed, never imagined when was possible, actually happened, actually happened. And that's what happened to the people of Israel. It had been their dream that they would come back to their land. It had been their dream that it would have all been restored. But how would that even happen? In Joel chapter 2, if you're taking notes on your outline, I would encourage you to write Joel chapter 2 on your notes and read that a little bit later because the words in Joel chapter 2, they sound like someone who wrote and then this song was written afterwards. But in part of Joel chapter 2, this is what God says is going to happen to their land. I will drive out the northern herd, perched in a parched in barren land, pushing them into the, and they will drown in the Dead Sea. The trees will then bear fruits. The fig tree will yield riches. He will send, I will send abundant showers, autumn and spring rains. The threshing floors will be filled with grain. The vats will overflow with new wine and oil. I will repay you for the years the locusts had eaten, the great locusts. You will have plenty to eat, eat until you're full and you will praise the name of the Lord. What happened to the people of Israel is they were returned to their land after 70 years. And when they returned to their land, it was filled with joy. I can feel when your voices are filled with joy. I can feel it. I can sense it even in this space. And we pray every week as a worship team when we huddle before our services. We pray that God will fill your hearts with joy, that you will overflow with delight, that he will loosen your tongues, that you will sing with great joy to him because of what he's done. And not only will we be filled with joy, but we will tell everyone who will listen. We will tell everyone who will listen. You know, when you have good news, you realize you only tell three people. When you have bad news, tell seven, or a bunch of complainers. We are, we are. But it says when God shows up, tell everyone who will listen, that he has. When God shows up, tell everyone that will listen, that he has. Say, can I tell you something amazing God did in my life recently? Turn to someone that you're sitting near right now, I'll just say that to him. Turn to something, do it right now. Can I tell you something amazing God has done in my life? Okay, you all got a chance to practice. Not that hard. It's not that weird, right? But imagine what would happen if in our lives, this next week, we told somebody something God has shown up and done. We told somebody something God has shown up and done. And Israel told everybody, it says, this was said among the nations. Everybody knew about this. Everybody knew it. They're like, what happened? They're like, it's God, it's God, it's God. The Word has done great amazing things for them, they were saying. The Word has done that you said, great amazing things for us. And what happened? We are so full of joy. We can barely contain ourselves. I love the fact that the joy just keeps spilling over and spilling over and spilling over. You know, in some of our Christian circles, we often hear this phrase of pursuing joy or finding joy or chasing joy or choosing joy. No joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It kind of spills out when you are amazed and overwhelmed with all that God has done. And you can't contain it on the inside. And so what has God done recently in your life? Where has God shown up? How has He answered a prayer? How has He kept His Word? How has He blessed you? How has He blessed you? I was driving in this morning and I ought to have some kind of worship music and I couldn't even tell you what song it was on. But the song was something about God's goodness similar to what we were singing this morning. And I found myself getting choked up, just listening to the song, I wasn't even singing. And it tears in my eyes as I think of some of God's goodness and some of His gifts that He's blessed me with. So how has God kept His Word? And can you tell someone about that this next week? He said, "But John, that's not where I'm at right now." It's as if the psalmist knew that because he stopped looking backwards at his amazing past and he starts looking forward at what we're longing for God to do. And that's the second half of the psalmist looking ahead at what God might do. Looking ahead at what God might do. Look at verse 4, He says, "Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev." He kind of changes the language. In verse 1, it was the Lord restored, kind of past tense. It's what He's done. But in verse 4, it says, "Restore." It's a future request. It's a future desire. God do this. One is looking back and one is looking forward. And He gave a comparison that both Mike and Jeremy referenced and that's like the streams in the Negev. The Negev is the southern part of the land of Israel. It's the desert region into land of Israel. This is a southern portion. I think I read they get eight inches of rainfall a year, eight inches of rainfall. And when you travel in that part of Israel, you'll see these large waddies, as Mike was describing a couple of weeks ago. And their signs on the road do not enter danger. Floods can come at any time. And when they show up, they can take your life. And Mike talked two weeks ago about the life-threatening power when these streams are filled and it feels like you're drowning. And in Psalm 1, 26, he talks about the life-giving power when they're filled with water. And what happens then is what is barren, what is desolate, what seems like it's dead suddenly comes back to life. And what God does is He brings what looks dead back to life. He brings what looks dead back to life. And water can do that, can it? A couple of weeks ago, when we had that really, really extreme, severe heat, I would go out and I would look at our hydrangeas and they were like, eh, you know. And they'd just pour some water on them all and they're like, eh, you know. They kind of come back to life. All they need is a little water, right? Give them a little water in like 20, 30 minutes. And all of a sudden, they come back to life. And that's what it does. And the psalmist is saying, God, you've done amazing things, but there's still some things I long for. Just like the streams of the negative, God, can you bring what looks like it's dead back to life? Can you bring what it looks like it's dead back to life? And God can do that and He promises and offers to do that in our lives. And not only does He offer to bring it back to life, but it will produce a great harvest. It will produce a great harvest. And when you think about a harvest, there's three critical components that the psalmist writes about. When he talks about the harvest, he says, those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go weeping, carrying seed to sow will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. Kind of describes three components. There's a sowing component. We all know about that in the springtime, we put seeds in the ground, we plant plants. And then there's the waiting component, the waiting component, days, weeks. My wife went out to look at the raspberry bushes. I'm like expecting some fresh raspberries. Nope, no fresh raspberries. Not today. We're waiting, waiting, waiting. God does not produce fruit overnight. It takes a week. It takes a month. Sometimes it takes years. And as he describes this process, he describes it in a bit of a gut-wrenching way, a gut-wrenching way. He says, those who sow with tears, this is something you are longing for that brings tears to your eyes. Those who go out with weeping, with weeping. And you're when you are waiting for God to show up, when you are waiting for God to restore what has been lost, when you are waiting for God to change your heart, to open a womb, to heal a disease, to restore a relationship, it is agonizing for days, for nights, waiting for an answer. We don't like to wait. We don't want to wait. We believe it has to be solved today. The number of times I sat with someone and they say to me, "John, I know what's going on. Something has to be done." As they know about a struggle in their friend's life, and I say to them, "You're just going to have to wait on God. But can't you do something? There's nothing I could do that would be better than what God is going to do." And people come to us expecting us to do something. And my words off to them are, "Pray and wait, and God will show up." Pray and wait, and God will show up. Pray and wait, and God will show up. And the Psalmist says that even though we long for these things, we have this historical data that God has done amazing things that leaves us with a sense of what hope that God still has things He longs to do, still has lives He longs to save, still has marriages He longs to restore, relationships to be healed, pain to be soothed, and if I'm totally honest with you, sometimes it's hard to believe that that's going to happen. It's sometimes hard for me to believe that some deeply fractured family relationships I have will ever be restored with family members who are followers of Jesus. And I'm like, "Why can't we restore this?" Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that people that I prayed for for years who don't know Jesus, I'm like, "Will they ever come to Jesus? Will they ever come to Jesus?" Henry Mountain now reminds us of this, "By inviting God into our difficulties, we ground life even at sad moments in joy and in hope." And the Psalmist reminds us that we can look back and see what God has done. We can look forward and anticipate with hope of what God might do. And so my question for you is what are you deeply longing for God to do today? What if you sat and talked with me about it? It would probably bring some tears to your eyes. And even if you didn't show them, it would be an ache right here, right here. What is it that's doing that in your heart and in your soul right now? What is it that's doing that? And the psalmist says, "You can have hope. You can have hope." He says, "Those that sow with tears, they will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping will turn with songs of joy carrying sheaves with them." And that's the hope that God offers to each of us. And as we close this morning, I want to ask you a couple of questions just for you to sit with, just for you to reflect on. What has God done in your life that brings you great joy? I asked you this question earlier. What has God done in your life that brings you great joy? And it could be something that happened this past week, could be something that happened in the past month, in the past few years, could be blessings of God in your life. And will you share that with someone? Can I tell you something kind of amazing that we had a chance to do? And you give God the credit for it. God, it was a nice thing. It was a cool thing. It was a fun thing. It was a God thing. And I don't know when you tell them, maybe you'll tell somebody before you leave the building. Maybe just turn to someone afterwards, as soon as I say, "Hey men, dismiss you," and say, "Hey can I tell you something cool that God has done?" Maybe it'll be over lunch and you sit at the table and say, "What's something amazing God has done," or maybe it will be this week. But not only what has God done, but what do you long for Him to do? What do you long for God to do so much that it brings tears to your eyes? That your heart aches, that your heart aches. It's interesting because this concept of sowing and reaping, sowing and reaping is used all throughout the Bible, especially in the teachings of Jesus. Not so much about things we want, but about us sharing the gospel with other people. Sharing the gospel with other people. And part of what we're going to do on Friday is we're going to hear some stories of some young women who they receive this message of salvation, and it's changed their lives as they're out to begin and move on in the next season and phase of their lives. And so as we close, I want you to just ask this question, who do you long for God to rescue, redeem and save? Rescue, redeem and save. You know, a few weeks ago, we gave out this card, it says, "Who you pray and will give their life to Jesus." Remember that? We did that a few weeks ago. If you weren't here with us, our ushers have some of these cards, they're just going to walk through, and if you want one of these, just kind of get their attention, they'll give you one of these. If you lost that card, you're like, "Oh, I don't know what I did with that card." Get their attention, look, I've got a couple names, I'm going to cover them up. I've got a couple names here, guys that I'm praying for, I sit at my desk, and I'm just praying every day and say, "God, who are the people in my life that need Jesus? Who are they?" And as we close this Psalm, I just want us to not lose sight of the fact that while there amazing things God has done, and there amazing things that we will ask God to do, but part of the most amazing thing is when God transforms the heart of a person, God changes the heart of a person. I'm always amazed when someone says to me, "I can't believe that person's a follower of Jesus." I'm like, "Why?" They're like, "You didn't go to high school with them, did you?" I'm like, "No." They're like, "I did, and I can't believe they're sitting next to me in church today." That's what God does. It takes things that are dead, that are lifeless, where there appears to be no hope, and it gives life to them. That's what He longs to do for us. When we gave out these cars, I asked the question, I said, "What if, what if?" In the next three years, we each prayed for three people, and one of them came to Jesus, and they told their story and got baptized. What if a couple hundred people did that? That might seem like God was really giving life to places that appeared to be dead. Let's bow our heads and ask God to use us to do that. Father, we thank You for this psalm. The psalm that just gives us a chance to say, "God, what are You up to?" And in saying, "What are You up to?" We reflect, and we're like, "God, You've done some amazing things. I'm so blessed, so grateful, so thankful. Man, God, there are some things I really long for, and if I sit with these, my heart aches over them, and there are some people that I really long for You to use me to introduce them to Jesus, for them to say, "Yes, Jesus." So God, as we walk from this space, may our hearts be filled with joy, overflowing with joy, and curious with hope of what You will do. I ask all these things in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus, and everyone said together, Amen. Amen. It has been great to have you here with us this morning. As I mentioned, we will be having our night of worship and baptism on Friday night. We'd love to have you come and join us for that event. Our prayer team will be down here in front. There are things heavy on your heart. They would love to take a few minutes and pray with you. Hope you have a great week, and share with somebody what God has done in your lives. Have a great day, everybody. Love you all. (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]