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Good morning.
Glad that you guys are here.
Hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving.
Well, before we go into the message, I want to go ahead and address something.
I've had a lot of questions this morning be asked to me from different people, and they've
asked the question, are you okay?
If you're not from South Carolina, let me explain to you about something that happened yesterday.
My University of South Carolina Gamecocks lost again to that team from the upstate.
So no, I'm not okay.
I'm not okay.
I'm not okay at all.
But I'm going to change.
I heard this this morning from someone.
We as Carolina fans are known to have a phrase that we use after a loss.
I just heard somebody say it.
If you know it, say it with me.
Wait till next year, right?
Well, I'm going to alter that a little bit.
Wait till next decade, all right?
2031 is on, right?
We got it.
All right.
It's good to be here with you guys this morning.
I do hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving.
Ours was a great time.
Spilled, spilled too.
We did that, but filled with family and lots of food and good times.
And so we're grateful that we could all be here this morning.
If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Psalm 92.
That's where we're going to be this morning.
As you turn there, if you weren't able to be with us this past Sunday night,
we had a wonderful night for our missions and prayer.
It was fantastic as we had our missionaries that were here with us
from somewhere far away that we can't talk about publicly,
at least while we're live streaming,
but had a wonderful time just kind of hear the story of what God's doing all over the world.
And for the people who were there, we had a great crowd show up.
A lot of people asked that night,
will we have more opportunities, more things like this?
And to answer that, absolutely we will.
It was just wonderful seeing all that God was doing
as we talked more and more about unreached people groups
and what it takes and what God's doing.
You know, I think sometimes our focus in our lives
can just be what we can see, what we hear, what we know about, right?
Because we can't get outside of that.
We can't know what we don't know.
We can't see what we can't see.
But when we have these moments, when we have these opportunities,
God just opens up for so much more of what he's doing.
And so we're looking forward for more opportunities with that.
Something that came out of this night or leading up to this night
as we talked about how can we take this season
and continue to keep missions and prayer on our minds and in our hearts.
And so we as the staff came up with an idea.
As you walked into building one or building two,
you'll notice there's a Christmas tree that's up
and it's got these little paper Christmas ornaments all over them.
And so for this Christmas season,
what we're going to challenge all of us to do as a Willow Ridge Church family
is to embrace what we're calling our prayer trees.
Now, these paper ornaments that are up,
we had some students that came up on one of their days off this week
and cut these out for us.
They've got prayer requests from different missionary partners that we have.
And so what we're going to challenge you to do is to stop by there,
grab one of these ornaments, hang it on your tree.
And when you walk by it every morning,
that you would see your prayer request,
that you would be reminded to pray for that missionary
in that specific prayer request
and in that area in which they are serving.
And so parents, I know that's something we were challenging our kids to do.
Dawn's talking with them about that as well this morning.
And so if they come with one also, then great.
We'd love for each and every one to do that.
We do have more ornaments.
And so if every single one of you go and take one off, that's fine.
We've got more.
We'll put them up and we'll keep going.
Now, what we've done before in the past
is what you're probably used to different organizations.
Like we'd have gifts that you could buy for different people
or different places or organizations
that we've partnered before in the past.
And so since we're not doing that with gifts on the tree,
we do recognize that some of us,
I know our family likes to think of how we can help others,
particularly financially during this time of year.
And so maybe you've already budgeted for that.
Maybe you've already accounted for that.
And so what we'll have in building one and building two,
in fact, this is the box for building one,
is we have these boxes right beside our Christmas trees,
right beside our prayer trees.
And so out there in the lobby, you'll see these as you walk through
and they've got a little hole right here at the top.
And so if you've budgeted, if you would like to give,
we're going to ask that you give in, financially speaking,
that you give and you can place your check,
you can place your envelope, you can place that in the box here.
Now, this isn't your offering that you give.
This is above and beyond.
Dave's actually going to run that back there now.
So y'all can all fill it up when you leave here this morning.
But all of the funds that are put in those boxes above and beyond
are going to go to bless the Stopman family in Hope Valley Church
so that they can continue on in the ministry for what they're doing.
Now, I know that you guys know this.
This time of year in your family, right, it gets more expensive, right?
There's more meals to plan.
There's more things to do.
There's more gifts to buy.
And a church is often just like your family.
And things get more expensive as we do the different things.
And so as the Stopmans are continuing on and to plant Hope Valley Church,
there are a lot of things that are coming up.
And so we want to take this opportunity to bless them.
And so what we're going to do is we're going to leave that box
with the pearl ornaments out all the way through our Christmas Eve service.
And so you're going to have time to be able to go.
And maybe it's a check that you want to write.
Maybe you want to have a couple of bills in your pocket and drop that in there.
But then everything that we'll collect after our Christmas Eve service,
we'll get Joel Van Ham, we'll cut them a check,
and we'll send it on over there so that they can use it for the ministry that God has for them.
And we are excited about that opportunity to bless them as a church.
And we thank you for your willingness to partner with us in that.
So we're going to, in our psalm series, we've been in this for about eight weeks now.
And as we've studied through, if this is your first week,
I know we've got some families who are visiting with us.
We haven't moved, you know, one by one through the psalms.
But each week we've looked at a different psalm.
And as we've looked at that psalm, our worship team has led us in worship with that psalm.
And so it's been neat as we go through.
This morning I sat down in my office.
I got here a little bit earlier than normal.
And I was just looking at the different psalms that we had done.
And a cool thing of what we did was because there's so many different ones that we can set to music,
I actually released control of it to Berger, which was a big deal for me
when it comes to choosing what passages I'm going to preach out of.
And so he, like, gave me a pocket or a sampling of psalms.
Like, hey, man, these have got some good music that we can pull from and do this with.
And so we picked and chose which ones that we wanted to do, that we felt led to do.
And so there wasn't any particular rhyme or reason other than it kind of fits where we're at
and what we want to accomplish.
And so there's been some themes that we've seen, some differences between all of them.
You know, they've had different authors.
We've looked at a lot that David wrote because David wrote half of the psalms.
But then there's been some where we don't know the authors.
Or Moses even wrote the one that we looked at, I believe, last week.
As we read through these psalms, some are more somber, right?
And some are more joyful.
And so you feel that difference in them.
Some of them, now while they're all written as poetry,
some of them, you read them, and really quickly, like, you can see,
like, this feels like a songwriter wrote it.
Like, it feels like this is easy to set to music,
while others kind of give you that feel of going all the way back to, like,
your British literature class, like, where you're reading,
like Shakespeare and poetry, right?
Like, you have a hard time placing, like, how would I exactly sing this psalm?
In these psalms, some have focused on the past,
while others have focused on the future.
Some of the psalms have been written from a perspective of the individual.
So we hear words like I and me as it talks about the relationship with God
and what God was doing in the life of that author.
But some of the psalms have been written from the perspective of Israel.
And so we are what God has done for this whole people.
And as we go through the psalms, we see these differences that are there.
But all of them, as we've read through them, have two things in common.
And I want to kind of talk about this before we get into Psalm 92 this morning.
And here's the two things that all of them have in common.
Number one, they were written out of a personal relationship with God
and not a religious relationship with God.
And I want to talk about that really, really quickly.
Here's what I mean about a personal relationship with God.
I think that's a phrase that we throw out oftentimes,
but we don't explain what we mean by that.
By personal relationship with God,
what we mean is that there's depth to the relationship.
There's a growing knowing of one another in that.
So it's not that I know God, meaning I just know things about God,
but I know God and I'm knowing Him more every single day.
There's a depth of a relationship.
It's not that you're an acquaintance,
but you're a mingling together.
There's an intimacy that we see.
There's words that we notice that come from the heart
that are not shared between strangers,
but words that are delivered to individuals
who have depth of relationship,
who care about one another,
and who are also willing to be honest
in their relationship with one another.
But also that they're interactive.
That we see that this carries on from moment by moment,
day by day in their life.
And that's what I mean by personal relationship with God.
When we read this, we can see this with David.
We can see this with Moses.
We can see this with the different writers of the Psalms.
And not a religious relationship with God.
So let me define that.
Religious relationship with God is,
these are the rules.
Let me make sure that I do them.
And I check the boxes.
This is what is expected of me,
but I'm not going to give anything more.
And then on that, not only am I checking the boxes,
not only am I pausing myself from going beyond,
but also within that, I want the recognition for it.
If we notice so much of these Psalms,
what's dealt with is the personal relationship,
not the religious relationship.
And because of this, another common theme
that's come from these
is that we notice that the authors
focus on what God has done and what God is doing.
It's not their biography that they're writing.
It's not their time for them to step back
and praise themselves,
but it is a reflection of the heart
that understands all that God has done
and all that God is doing in their life.
And then they praise them for it.
Like, as we've read through this
and as you've been through this with us,
excuse me, I'm sorry.
Not all of these have been written
out of times of prosperity,
but all of these have been written
out of the praise for the Lord
for all that he has done
and all that he's going to do.
And that comes out of a heart
of a personal relationship,
not a religious relationship.
And so I just want to ask you this question this morning
as we get going.
What type of relationship do you have with the Lord?
Do you have a personal relationship with God,
one that's marked by depth
and growing to know him
and desiring every day to encounter him?
Is it marked by intimacy with him?
That what is in your heart
and what comes from your heart
is a reflection of that?
That's interactive in the points
to where you notice every single day
God's goodness
and God's blessing
and God's faithfulness
and the good and the bad
and everywhere in between.
or do you feel like you just have a religious relationship with God?
Well, I'm here.
Check.
I opened my Bible this week.
Check.
Somebody recognized me for it.
Check.
Right?
If someone came up to you today
and said,
hey, could you tell me
what a relationship with the Lord looks like?
Tell me what your time with him looks like.
How would you describe that?
What would you point to?
What would you draw from?
You know, it's really easy here this morning
to say that we want,
that we have a personal relationship with Jesus.
But if a perfect stranger comes out to you on the street
and says,
what does your walk with Christ look like?
What does your walk with Christ look like?
Does it reflect a personal
or religious relationship with Christ?
So we're going to look at Psalm 92 this morning
that is going to be an overflow of that relationship.
For my coffin,
I ran in a race yesterday.
I'll never do that again.
Okay.
All right.
Learn my lesson.
All right.
Now, Psalm 92.
Here's what we're going to notice within here.
It's a psalm for the Sabbath.
So it's a psalm for worship.
All right.
So everything that we're going to look in here
is going to be a psalm
that is going to describe an attitude
and atmosphere of corporate worship
amongst God's people.
All right.
Now, we don't know who the writer of this is,
but what we're going to see from
and what you would amen and notice
is that it is definitely one
that is written
out of a personal relationship with the Lord.
Start reading verse one.
Glad I didn't have much to cheer about last night, right?
Sorry.
I thank y'all that I'm at a church
that that's not awkward for me.
So I appreciate that.
Verse one.
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name,
O Most High,
to declare your steadfast love
in the morning
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute
and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord,
have made me glad by your work.
At the works of your hands,
I sing for joy.
How great are your works, O Lord.
Your thoughts are very deep.
One thing that I want us to see here
and to notice here
is that we're going to describe
God's people worship.
We're going to see three different aspects
that describe God's people
in worship throughout Psalm 92.
But the first thing
that we're going to notice in this,
in worship,
all right,
this is key,
in worship is that God's people worship.
That's important.
In worship,
we worship.
Not in worship we sit here.
Not in worship we show up.
But in worship we worship.
And the gathering of God's people
has always been central to his faith.
We see it all throughout God's word.
The second psalm that we studied
in this series was Psalm 134,
a psalm of ascent,
that the people would say
as they walked up the hill
to the temple in Jerusalem
what they would sing
for what they knew to expect
when they encountered and to worship.
Before God's people built the temple
that God called them to,
God's people would build places of worship
where they would recognize
what God has done.
God would call for himself
in the Old Testament
a group of people,
a tribe called the Levites.
And from this tribe,
God would select his priest
who would help the people
in worshiping him.
God would create festivals
and holidays
so that people would come together
and travel from far away
to worship him.
In the New Testament,
Jesus not only went
to the temple courts to teach,
but also to the temple
to worship himself.
In Acts,
people were saved,
churches were formed,
and people were gathered together
for worship.
God's word never veers away
that God calls his people
together to worship.
It's the desire of his heart.
Now, there are those
who think differently
and who will say,
but worship is supposed
to be a lifestyle.
Worship is supposed
to be what we do every day.
And to that,
I would say yes and amen
in full agreeance with that.
We are to live
a lifestyle of worship.
I'm to worship God
when I'm here
and when I'm not here.
Monday through Saturday
and all that I have.
But we cannot use that
as an excuse
for not gathering together,
to not having the family here.
I asked if you had
a good Thanksgiving
and I hope that you all did.
We had a great Thanksgiving.
And if your Thanksgiving
was like mine,
it was a little loud,
it was a little messy,
it was a little chaotic.
Why?
Because we were all together.
And when God's people
come together
in his name
as his family
to worship,
it brings that sense together.
It's a little loud,
it's a little messy,
it's a little chaotic,
but it's good
because we're together.
And so when we worship,
what we see
in these first several verses
in Psalm 92
is that God is calling us
to do some things.
Now,
when I talk about worship
this morning,
of us being in worship
that God's people worship,
I am speaking musically.
All right?
So what we just did
and what we will do
is what we're going to talk about
in these several verses.
And there's three things
that I find in this
that the psalmist
encourages us
or challenges us to.
All right?
Number one is this,
we need to sing.
We need to sing.
There's too many verses
in the Bible
to go through
where God calls
and demands
his people to sing
from Psalms,
Colossians,
Ephesians,
and everywhere in between.
Sing.
Verse one says,
it is good
to give thanks
to the Lord
to sing praises
to your name.
Now,
some of you
are gifted
in singing.
A lot of us,
me included,
are not.
Right?
That's right.
We just get crazy
on the day
after Thanksgiving,
right Tim?
But God calls us
to that.
And I want to challenge you
if you're here this morning
and you gather in here
and you say,
well,
I'm here for the fellowship,
I'm here for the message,
I'm here for the time
that we can be together,
but when the music
and things start,
that's just not my thing.
Can I plead with you
for the heart of God
to understand
that I don't know why
God didn't give us
something else to do,
but God says
to sing to him
a new song.
And in Colossians 3,
he commands
that would the churches
gather together
to sing psalms
and hymns to him.
That he calls us
to sing,
to bring forth
a song from our mouth.
And so when this team
gets up here,
this isn't American Idol
to sit back
and watch them
and applaud them,
but what they're doing
is they're leading us,
not performing for us.
And they're leading us
into worship.
And so sound ugly with me
because God is glorified
because that's what
he longs for
and that's what he desires.
And I don't know
why it had to be song.
I don't know,
but he's God and he does.
And the tendency
for some of us
is this.
And I just challenge you,
maybe in a whisper
that only you and God
can hear,
to be willing
to sing before the Lord.
Number two,
when we sing,
and let me say this
about Joel Berger.
These next two things,
I believe he does
better than any worship leader
that I've ever been around.
Number two,
when we worship,
we need to declare
God's faithfulness
not our own.
All right.
God is both the subject
and the object
of our worship,
not us.
We are not singing songs
about ourselves.
We are not singing songs
to ourselves.
Verse two,
to declare your steadfast love
in the morning
and your faithfulness
at night.
Who are we singing
about God's faithfulness?
Not how well we've done,
not what we've accomplished,
not how we have been
faithful to him,
but how he has been
faithful to us.
Number three,
connected together,
but notice what he is doing
and not what we have done.
Verse three and four,
for you,
O Lord,
have made me glad
by your work
at the works of your hands.
I sing for joy.
How great are your works,
O Lord.
Your thoughts are very deep
to notice the goodness
of what God has done.
I'm guilty of this,
but we miss the blessings
of God continually.
This morning,
I was on the way here to work
and was driving down
Nazareth Road
and kind of in a more populated
area of the road,
and all of a sudden
I realized
and I looked down
at my speedometer
and it's like 45 miles per hour
but for whatever reason
I was going 30 miles an hour
and I don't know why
I was going so slow
but I was going so slow
and I went to speed up
and all of a sudden
a deer shot across the road.
Right?
And maybe it's because
I'm a slow driver
but is it the goodness
and the faithfulness of God
there in that moment?
Right?
And what do we choose to notice
and what do we choose to do?
To notice what God is doing
and not what we have done
and to boast on Him.
For you, O Lord,
have made me glad
by your works
and at the works
of your hand
I sing for joy.
And so as we see this,
as we journey through,
as we gather in here
for worship,
what we are to do
is to worship
and not ourselves
and in the songs
that we sing
are intentional
and they direct us
and point our eyes
and our hearts
to who God is
and what God has done
and if you don't know Him
and you're here,
the beauty of the songs
that we sing
is to tell His story
of the gospel of Christ
and not our own story.
Let's keep reading
verses 6 through 12.
I'm sorry,
6 through 11.
As we read these verses,
I want this to kind of
sink into our brain
that when we worship,
we worship as victors
in Christ
and no longer as victims.
All right?
Verse 6.
The stupid man cannot know.
The fool cannot understand this,
that though the wicked
sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed
to destruction forever.
But you, O Lord,
are on high forever.
For behold,
your enemies, O Lord,
for behold,
your enemies
shall perish.
All evildoers
shall be scattered.
But you have exalted
my horn
like that
of the wild ox.
You have poured
over me
fresh oil.
My eyes have seen
the downfall
of my enemies.
My ears have heard
the doom
of my evil assailants.
And so as we gather
into worship
as victors
and no longer victims,
we need to know
that in worship,
God's people overcome.
The psalmist draws
to comparison
of two different people
in the world.
The people of God
and the people
who are not of God.
It's been a theme
throughout all of Scripture,
primarily in the psalms,
that we see this.
You stupid man,
you fool.
And what these words,
what they're portraying
is to those
who do not know God.
Verse six,
the stupid man
cannot know,
the fool cannot
understand this,
that though the wicked
sprout like grass
and all the evildoers
flourished,
they are doomed
to destruction forever.
Now I know in this world,
and people say
that the world changes,
I don't think
the world changes,
we just rinse
and repeat
over and over again.
Wickedness and evil
appeared and appear
to be all around us.
And it's not hard to see.
And the psalmist
uses an illustration
that it's like grass.
It says the evil
and the wickedness
are like grass.
It grows quickly.
And if you think about this,
if you've had the opportunity
to travel around
to different parts
of the world,
all right,
most people
don't treat grass
and really pine straw
the way that people
here do,
both of them
are considered inconveniences,
not things to use
to make our houses pretty.
So when you hear this grass,
it's what's everywhere.
And they acknowledge
because grass grows quickly.
And if you're not trying
to produce high dollar zoysia,
right,
if you just let it go,
you know,
it's all the weeds
and everything
that will come through there.
That's what they're talking about.
That grass grows quickly.
Grass grows easily.
But they do not last.
We saw this this past week, right?
Let the frost of the morning come
and they're gone.
And the psalmist writes,
and he says,
here's what the fool,
here's what the person
far from God
cannot understand.
That this is what they are like.
That we see them
and we think they're flourishing.
We see them,
we think that they're growing.
But there's just destruction.
And it's not depth that's there.
And it's not life.
But we as believers,
we don't fall into this.
We as believers,
this does not define us.
Instead,
verse eight begins for us
and tells us that we overcome.
And we are here to worship him today
because we overcome in Christ.
But you,
oh Lord,
are on high forever,
verse eight says.
For behold your enemies,
oh Lord,
for behold your enemies
shall perish.
All evildoers
shall be scattered.
But you have exalted
my horn like that
of the wild ox.
You have poured over me
fresh oil.
My eyes have seen
the downfall
of my enemies
and my ears have heard
the doom
of my evil assailants.
We overcome church
because we are in him.
Verse eight says,
but you,
oh Lord,
are on high
forever.
Forever.
Not like the grass
who will come and go.
Not like a season
who will change.
But the Lord
sits on high
exalted
as ruler
forever.
And then as this,
what the psalmist
does is that
as he sits on high,
he does something
that God is working
and that he works
for us.
Now,
he uses a couple
of illustrations
that are hard
for us to understand.
When we look down
to see in verse 10,
he describes this.
He says,
but you have exalted
my horn
like that of the wild ox.
All right,
so the wild ox
was considered
the animal
that was associated
with a warrior.
And so if you saw
a warrior
and you want to describe
how fierce they were
in battle
and how strong
they were in battle,
you would describe
them as the wild ox.
And when you were out
in nature,
when you were out
and you would see
the wild ox,
what would stand out
that would embrace
their power
and their domination
was the horns
that they had.
And that the psalmist
writes and says
that this is who
we are
when we are found
in him.
That the authority
and the power
that we have
in God
and because
of who he is
and because
what he has done.
And then the psalmist
says also,
and you have
poured oil
over me,
fresh oil.
Now this oil
was used
to anoint people,
special people,
prophets,
priests,
kings.
And I don't know
if the psalmist
was one of these,
but he says
that this is
what he does
for us.
And it was
as a form
of a symbol
of blessing
that God
as he sits
on high
is empowering
and blessing
his people.
And so because
of that
we are not like
the foolishness
of this world
that comes
and looks powerful
and looks appealing
but then dies
and fades away.
Instead that we
are beyond that.
And so we're
to worship him
for that.
And then one
last way
that we
worship him.
Verse 12
through 15.
It says,
the righteous
flourish like
the palm tree
and grow
like a cedar
in Lebanon.
They are planted
in the house
of the Lord.
They flourish
in the courts
of our God.
They still bear
fruit in old age.
They are ever
full of sap
and green.
To declare
that the Lord
is upright.
He is my rock
and there is
no unrighteousness
in him.
And the last thing
that we see
is that God's
people,
we don't just
simply overcome
that God's
people flourish.
So much
of growth
in Christ
is learning
to see
ourselves
in the way
that God
sees us.
To see
how God
looks at his
people
that he sent
his son
to die for.
to see
and to be
able to
understand
that.
And when we
understand
how God
sees us,
then this is
what it can
mean to
flourish
in this
life.
Because it's
no longer
my self-esteem
that I need
to figure out,
but it's
who I am
in Christ.
It's no longer
defined by the
things that I've
done,
but it's
defined by
what Christ
has done
and now
I partake
in that,
I receive
that,
I am
known for
that in
Christ.
And so
we see
that God's
people
flourished.
And the
psalmist
understands
this and
he writes
this in
verse 12.
He says,
the righteous
flourish
like the
palm tree
and grow
like a
cedar
in Lebanon.
Now think
back to the
verses that
we just
read.
The wicked
are like
the grass
that comes
and grows.
It's
everywhere.
It's not
special.
But the
righteous
people,
there's value
in God's
people.
And the
psalmist
says that
we are
like the
palm trees
and the
cedar trees.
Now during
the time
that the
psalmist
would have
written this,
these two
trees would
have been
considered
very valuable
and they
would have
flourished in
the area
that this
would have
been written.
And they
were valuable
for three
reasons.
And as we
understand these
trees,
we will
understand how
we are seen
by God.
Number one,
they were
valuable because
both of these
trees were
planted for
a purpose.
For a
purpose.
a palm tree
for its
fruit and
a cedar
tree for
its wood.
And so both
of these
trees would
have been
very valuable
to those
of whom
they
belonged.
And that
we understand
that when
God saves
us,
that there's
value in
us because
God gives
us purpose
in our
salvation.
To live
a life to
glorify Him
in declaring
His greatness.
So just like
the grass,
what's it here
for?
It's just
there.
It's going
to burn
up.
More is
going to
come back.
And it's
just this
cycle.
But there's
the palm
and there's
the cedar.
And in
that there's
great value
because of
the purpose
that it
brings.
Because of
the life
that it
brings.
The second
thing is
this.
Both of
these trees
were seen
as beautiful.
Right?
I don't
know about
you, but
we got
roses planted
at our
house.
We got
azaleas
planted
at our
house.
And we
don't plant
them for
any other
purpose
except for
when they
bloom.
They're
beautiful.
We'll look
at them as
we walk
in and when
we're out
working in
the yard
and during
this time
people would
look at
palm trees
and the
cedar trees
and they
would notice
them just
because they're
beautiful.
Maybe you
need to hear
this this
morning.
Maybe you've
walked through
some things in
your life and
in your
past.
You've
made some
decisions that
you're not
proud of,
that you're
ashamed of.
But when
God sees
you, God
sees you as
beautiful because
he sees you
in Christ.
He doesn't
see us in
the way that
we define
ourselves.
He doesn't
see us in
the way that
the world
defines us.
But he
sees us as
his.
I was
watching a
documentary one
time and
it was about
a girl who
had made
some very
bad decisions
in her life
and she
ended up
being murdered
and her
dad was the
police officer
who found
her.
And they
asked him
in the
interview,
what did
you see
when you
walked up
to her?
And he
said,
you know,
my daughter
had lived
a rough
life.
She had
made a lot
of bad
decisions and
a lot of
bad choices.
But when I
walked up there
that day,
I hadn't seen
her in five
or six years.
But when I
walked up and
saw her,
all I saw
was my
beautiful little
girl.
When God
sees you,
he doesn't
see your
failures,
he doesn't
see your
sin,
he doesn't
see your
ugly,
he doesn't
see your
regret.
When God
looks at
you,
he sees
the beauty
of Christ.
The last
thing about
these trees
is these
trees survive.
We planted
peach trees in
our yard.
We love our
peach trees and
every year our
peach trees
produce fruit
for us.
We get
peaches off
of them and
it's been a
wonderful blessing
every springtime.
But what we
know is every
five to six
years we
got to cut
them peach
trees down
and we
got to
plant new
peach trees.
They're not
trees that
survive and
stand the
test of time.
But palm
trees and
cedar trees,
they stand
the test of
time.
They're known
as trees that
survive.
And so when
the psalmist
writes this and
this is who
we are in
Christ,
we're reminded
that in him
we stand the
test of time
as well.
In him,
death is just
but a moment.
In him we
survive for
all of
eternity and
in him we
thrive and
we flourish
because we
are in
Christ.
I'm going to
close with this
question.
You came to
worship this
morning,
but have you
worshiped?
have you
worshipped?
Have you
gathered?
Yeah.
Have you
been here
while music
is played?
Yeah.
Have you
listened to a
message?
Yeah.
Has someone
prayed?
Absolutely.
Is there a
call when there
be a challenge?
You bet.
But none
of those
answers the
position of
your heart
of have you
worshipped?
Have you
worshipped in
song of the
declaration of
who he is and
what he's done?
And as a
well overflows
with the water
that's in it,
so too our
hearts overflow
with the story
and the goodness
of God and
who he is.
It's not about
the notes we
sing, it's about
the declaration
of Christ.
Have we
lived, have
we worshipped
out of the
nature because
we're flourishing
in him?
That we are
a life with
a purpose, we
are a life
of value, we
are a life
forever because
of Christ and
Christ alone.
And lastly,
and there's
people who
walked in here
this morning
with struggles.
There's people
who are walking
in this morning
bringing the
tons and
tons of
baggage that
they have.
But are you
worshipping in
the victory
in Christ?
That because
he has
overcome, so
too we have
overcome.
And we are
not like the
grass that
dies and
fades away,
but we are
like the
trees who
have been
planted and
who are
there.
Would you
pray with
me?
Lord, I
thank you for
your goodness,
Lord.
I thank you
for your
grace on
me this
morning and
your protection
as I got
here.
Lord, I
thank you for
giving me the
opportunity to
be able to
communicate your
word and with
a voice that's
cracking and
coughing, Lord,
that you
endured me
through this.
And Lord, I
praise you for
what you've
done.
Lord, I
thank you that
when we were
singing just a
few moments
ago, Lord, we
could hear the
voices of the
redeemed saints
singing about
your goodness,
Lord.
I thank you for
the wonderful
privilege that it
is, Lord, that
we can worship
away from here,
but Lord, we
get to worship
here together
as a family
with our
brothers and
sisters in
Christ.
Lord, this
season we're
reminded of
all the many
things that we
have to be
thankful for.
Thankful for
family and for
friends, for
good food, for
fellowship.
Lord, we're
thankful that for
a few hours on a
Saturday, for a
lot of us, we
can cut on a
game that in
the scope of
eternity means
nothing, but we
can enjoy
ourselves and
laugh and have
that time.
But most
importantly, Lord,
we're thankful
for you and all
that you've done
in your grace and
your goodness.
Lord, you didn't
have to do any
of it, but you
chose to.
Lord, and we
stand in the
wave of that
blessing.
Lord, it's my
prayer for us
in the moment
that we'll
stand and that
we won't just
sing.
We won't just
raise our
hands.
We won't just
read the words.
We won't just
play the
instruments, but
we'll worship
you as if the
words of the
screen were our
very own,
declaring who
you are and
what you've
done.
Lord, you're
who it's
about, and
you're who
we're singing
to.
May our
worship be a
sweet offering.
Lord, may you
be glorified in
it.
It's in Jesus'
name we pray.
Amen.
In just a
moment, when we
stand, we got
prayer encouragers
on either side of
our auditorium.
Maybe you're
here this
morning, and
maybe it was a
tough Thanksgiving.
It's been a
tough weekend.
It's been a
tough year.
Maybe you came
in here this
morning, and you
want to talk to
someone about a
relationship with
Christ, about
what it means to
follow Him.
They'd love to
pray with you.
They'd love to
talk with you.
I don't want you
to respond to me.
I don't want you
to respond to the
team.
I just want you
to respond to
God as He draws
your heart to
His, who
worshiped this
morning.
So would you
stand and
worship Him?
Thanks again for
listening to the
Willow Ridge Church
weekly podcast.
We hope that you
enjoyed listening to
this week's message.
If you'd like to
learn more about
who we are, or
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