“Going UP”

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Psalm 121 ESV

A Song of Ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Prayer

Introduction to PILGRIMAGE: From Despair to Delight

From a Promise, to a Promised Land

From Despair, to Delight.

GODS PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS HAD A RYTHYM.

three times a year faithful hebrews made the journye, the trip…. the pilgrimage, to the holy land. to Jerusalem. It was a parrallel Journey that reminded them of their own salvation in exodus, to the presevation of their people in the wandering of the wilderness, to the promised land of canaan. It refreshed their memories on a routine basis of their election, their identity… their purpose.

They were a set apart, redeemed people. A commanded people, a blessed people

Gods covenant people.

These true covenant realities were taught and were preached at these feasts after these long journeys.

GODS PEOPLE TODAY STILL HAVE A RYTHYM.

These Journeys are captured & talked about in a collection of songs in the Psalms that we will read with also other passages that illustrate and teach us that this is the pathway of Gods people.

My hope for this series is simple: that you will learn either for the first time or all over again how precious your life is and that he indeed has a journey, a path and pilgrimage for you that while unique to you - mirrors all of what we see in scripture as Gods people motion forward towards our eternal reality coming in the Lord Jesus

Let me give you a few of the themes i hope we will cover:

Series Themes:

Deliverance & rescue:

Sacrifice & Atonement, Consecration Destiny….Promise

Old Despair, New Direction.

“Going UP”

1.PILGRIMAGE

LIFE WITH GOD IS A PILGRIMAGE NOT AN EVENT

a journey

**the world doesnt understand this** because the world says “why bother?

Oswald Chambers viewed the Christian life as an unplanned, faith-driven journey of total surrender to God, not a fixed destination. True pilgrimage involves uprooting self-will, embracing obscurity, walking in light, and finding strength in daily obedience rather than mountaintops. It is a continuous, Holy Spirit-led stride toward union with Him

Isaiah 2:3 ESV

3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

YOU HAVENT MISSED THE EVENT - YOUR JUST ON A JOURNEY

(LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT AN EVENT)

Its not a moment, its a collection of days, Months, Seasons lived with him.

Gods people have always been taught this truth.

Proverbs 15:24 “24 The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.”

Psalm 121:1 “1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?”

Acts 2:28 “28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’”

Psalm 16:11 “11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

WE ARE PEOPLE OF ASCENT, OF PRILGRIMAGE

WE WALK WITH GOD WE DONT RUN BY OURSELVES.

Wait on his pace and walk with him dont run ahead. dont lag behind.

But we have a choice in the matter:

Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

WE know that Jesus from an early age would also do this journey - this ascent. It was actually a FEATURE HIS CHILDHOOD.

Luke 2:41–42 ESV

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

We identify with the disciples in so many ways - thats one of the reasons Jesus had them, so that we as the body of Christ would also see this patern this following

But they would journey with Jesus. They would want to know - Where are we going?

Mark 10:32 ESV

32 And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him,

John 6 ESV

64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

2.ENCOUNTER

LIFE FOR GODS PEOPLE WE SEE IS A JOURNEY

A PILGRIMAGE

A Pathway…

But along the way - it HAS ENCOUNTERS.

write this down: My time in this life is meant to be a series of encounters with God while i journey with God to my final destination.

an example of this is whats found as part

John 4 ESV

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” 43 After the two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. 46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

The Pilgrimage

With encounter

Leads to..

3.HOPE

WE ALL BEGIN WITHOUT HOPE, BUT WE BY GRACE CAN FIND IT IN JESUS CHRIST.

or hope-filled living

purpose.

eventual destiny.

the point of the pilgrimage, the ascent, is that it would stir up the HOPE WITHIN US.

The world wants the picture - But God is the master film maker - hes making a beautiful motion picture of your life and the best part is His son Jesus is the starring role.

Ephesians 2:12 ESV

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 2:19 ESV

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Has Jesus entered the journey of yoru life?

Lets pray.

Notes:

"A Long Obedience in the Same Direction": This is the core theme. Peterson argues that Christian growth is a marathon, not a sprint, countering modern desires for instant gratification with the need for slow, steady, daily faithfulness.

Life as an Ascent: He interprets the literal journey of Hebrew pilgrims to Jerusalem as a metaphor for a "life lived upward toward God," advancing in maturity.

Songs for the Journey: He calls them "dog-eared Hebrew songbooks"—practical tunes for encouragement, guidance, and remembering who we are and where we are going.

Repentance as the Starting Point: Peterson notes that the journey begins in Psalm 120 with a cry out of distress, marking a turning away from the world's lies toward God.

Community over Solitude: He emphasizes that this journey is done with others, not alone. 

Key Takeaways

Antidote to Consumer Christianity: Peterson uses these psalms to fight against "tourist" mentalities that just want high points; he promotes a mature, sustained lifestyle of discipleship.

Practical Application: They are meant to be used as a vade mecum (a guidebook) for daily life. 

For Peterson, these 15 psalms are the ultimate guide to maintaining a functional, growing, and meaningful faith in a chaotic world