I Don't Know What You Come To Do
Notes
Transcript
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
From this passage of scripture I’d like to use the subject......
I Don’t Know What You Come To Do.....
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ.....it has been a long time ......since we have gathered togethers in the house of the Lord located at 201 Wayne Street in Badin NC.......because of the pandemic.....we stopped coming into this sanctuary for worship service after March 15th 2020..... it has been 497 days......which is 1 year 4 months and 10 days.....which is also 16 months and 10 days.....or 71 weeks....since we have come together to worship in this edifice.
I’m quiet sure that....... if not all of you....that most of you have in this sanctuary this morning and those of you watching via FB Live.......has been in other houses of the Lord......since this pandemic began.....as a matter of fact ....I know I have also.
But this morning on July 25th 2021......I’m so thankful that we are able to assemble once again here at 201 Wayne Street..........
As my Brother in Ministry....and Good Friend Dr. George Shears would say........
I am hippopotamus happy this morning....
....and I would go on to say........I’m also as glad as a goat......and as joyful as a jack rabbit.......
We have a lot to be thankful for FBC Badin....we have so many reasons to praise God on this morning........
Because during this time of the pandemic......there are many churches......that had to close its doors......
There are many churches that had church members die from COVID-19......one of them being a Catholic church in NY that lost over 63 members.....
One church in Washington State.....that decided to have a choir rehearsal.........ended up with 50 plus people infected with COVID-19....
I’m saying all of this to say First Baptist Church.....that we have a lot to be thankful for.........we have a lot to praise the Lord for.....
This pandemic has caused us to do things differently in the church......not just FBC Badin.....but churches throughout this nation......and this world.......have had to use technology in order to continue to connect and have worship service together.........in order to have Sunday School......Bible Study......and Prayer Calls......yes we have had to do things a little differently over this last year and 4 months...... We were able to worship right from the comfort of our own homes.......wearing casual wear......or even in your pajamas.......
I believe that this pandemic was a blessing in some since…not the pestilence and death....but the pause from our busyness.....
....because even though we were worshipping from our homes......or where ever we were......it caused us to focus on worshipping the Lord......instead of focusing on who was wearing what.........or focusing on what First Lady was wearing.....or who came late to church.....
I admit that it may have been strange a first to have a virtual worship service......and it was an adjustment for me....to preach in front of two people .....First Lady Neal.......and Momma Lovelace.......and sometimes preaching in front of no one......
Yes my brothers and sisters.......there have been many changes that had to take place......and many changes that will take place going forward.......but whatever changes we have to make.....
......there is one thing that should never change......should never be impacted by the change.......and should remain constant.......and that is ...... Worship of the True and Living God......The God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.....
And now that we are back in the edifice here this morning.....we need to continue to Worship the Lord......and do so in Spirit and in Truth......
I Don’t Know What You Come to Do.....
I don’t know about you, but for me coming back into the 201 Wayne Street is a blessing .....and I’m excited about what the Lord has in store for this ministry........
And I now have a far greater understanding and appreciation of what David meant when he said “I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD."
My Brothers and Sisters....... I don’t know what you come to do.......
Our text this morning in Psalm 122.... is identified as “A song of degrees”
Songs of degrees were Psalms that were sung by the Jewish people as they journeyed to Jerusalem to observe the specific feasts.
These Psalms were designed to glorify the Lord and help prepare the hearts of the saints of God for worship. David rejoiced at the opportunity to go and worship the Lord.
You and I have numerous reasons to rejoice today.
We can rejoice because we belong to God; we are redeemed, set free and forgiven; we are Children of God, we are joint heirs with Jesus, we possess eternal life and we have been promised a home in Heaven.
We can also rejoice because we are able to assemble in the house of the Lord and Praise and worship God........
And I don’t know about you........but before the pandemic hit........there were a lot of reasons people came to church.......
Some people came to gossip about this and that......some came to talk about people......some people even came just to hear the choir.........
And now that we are back in the church.......yet still in the midst of this pandemic...........
I Don’t Know What You Came To Do........
But I’m here to tell you......this morning.......to tell you that I hope you came here to Praise the Lord........
It is exciting for us to assemble together once again.
People who truly love to Lord should have an intense desire to worship the Lord, they should have a desire to hear from His word and they should desire to fellowship with His people.
I believe that Psalm 122 gives us the answer on what we should do.......as we come to the house of the Lord.....I believe that there are three points we can glean from our text this morning.
The Bible tells us in verse 4 of this Psalm....
4 To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
I believe this text is telling us that.....We should come to give thanks to the Lord....
Notice that David speaks of “the testimony of Israel”.
This is a reference to God’s command to Israel to gather at the tabernacle, and later at the temple, for the three great Jewish feasts. These are:
1. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
2. The Feast of Pentecost
3. The Feast of Tabernacles
This verse shows one of the most important reasons for going up to the temple, and that is “To give thanks to the name of the LORD.”
The people of Israel had many reasons to give thanks unto the Lord.
And my brothers and sisters..... we have many reasons to give thanks to Him.
We have the opportunity to give thanks unto the Lord.
Not only do we have the opportunity, we have an obligation to worship Him.
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Attending church is a matter of obedience.
And although we did not physically attend due to the pandemic.....we were able worship and fellowship in the virtual space.
One thing we must understand......is that the children of Israel...... made long journeys.....at appointed times to worship the Lord.
They were required to do this, but they were also glad to do this!
David said “I was glad when they said unto me ‘let us go into the house of the Lord”.
Not only should we attend worship… we should be glad to do so!
There are some who would attend when we were coming in person...... but if you saw their faces......it didn’t look like they were glad to do so.......Some of you would look like you were sucking on lemons....or your minds were somewhere else......
When we come to church we have the opportunity to commune with God.
And I don’t know about you.......but That should bring us great joy!
We also have the opportunity to hear from God’s word every time we assemble together...
God’s word is essential!
13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16 But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
16 All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
People who truly love the Lord will have a desire to hear from His word!
The children of Israel..... had a desire to go to the Tabernacle and later to the Temple.
They forged through great difficulty to go and offer their praises to the Lord.
They knew that God was worthy of their praise.
We cannot count the reasons that we have to praise His name.
And I am glad that we have the opportunity to join together praise Him once again.
But I believe we can glean another thing from our text.......and that is......
We should come so we can gather with the Lord’s people
David was not only excited about meeting with the Lord;
He looked forward to meeting with the People of God. In verse one he said, “they said…Let us go”.
Now here in verse 4 he talks about the “Tribes of the Lord”.
There were 12 Tribes of Israel.
All of the people in all of the tribes did not always get along.
There were many disputes and disagreements among the tribes.
But when they gathered at the Tabernacle they could forget about all of their troubles they could put aside their differences and focus on the Lord.
There are many differences among our First Baptist Church family.
We come from different backgrounds.
We have different likes and dislikes, but when we come together ....we ought to focus on praising the Lord and being on one accord!
I believe that we have love for one another at FBC.
The only way that is possible is because we are joined together by the common bond of Jesus Christ!
I know when we were physically separated during this pandemic.......we had a great longing to be together. We wanted to see one another in person....talk to one another in person......hug one another.....and fellowship with one another.....
Now that we are together this the time for great joy and celebration.
Think about this for a moment: as good as this reopening.....and reunion is, it cannot compare to the reunion that we will experience one day.
One day we will reunite with our loved ones who have gone on before us.
We will join with saints of all the ages and we will worship Jesus face to face!
In this Psalm David speaks about the Tribes of Israel. They were a people who were blood relatives… they were family.
The same is true for us! We are brothers and sisters in Christ.
We are redeemed and united by the precious blood of Jesus.
I Don’t know what you come to do.
I believe that there is one other thing that our text is telling us this morning.....
We should come to praise the Lord’s name...
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
All throughout this Psalm David speaks of the Lord. It is clear that God was the focus of this Psalm. In the same way, God was the focus of the people who traveled to Jerusalem. He was the center of all that they did.
We all live busy, often hectic lives. I’m glad for a couple of hours a week we can come together and praise the name of our great God!
God has chosen to reveal Himself to man through His Names. There are over 300 names for God found in scripture. Each one of those names represents His character. There is great significance in the many names of God. In the Old Testament when you see the words "God" "LORD”, and "LORD GOD", each come from different Hebrew words.
They are translated from the words Elohim, Jehovah and Adonai.
Each of these words describe God's character and actions toward man. Notice the name:
ELOHIM
Elohim is God’s official title. Elohim describes what He is...HE IS GOD!
The literal meaning of Elohim means "the source of power, the Strong One."
- Another name for God is:
Jehovah
In most cases when you see GOD & LORD this is translated from the Hebrew word Jehovah.
Jehovah is the personal name of God. When this word is used in scripture it is connected with deliverance from God.
In Exodus the Lord appeared to Moses and directed him to lead the people out of Egypt. Notice Moses' reply - Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God,
Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Jehovah is the eternal "I Am". There is no past, present or future with Jehovah. He is the Self Existent, Eternal Present One. And He is the God that we are privileged to have a personal relationship with.
The third name of God that I would like to consider is:
ADONAI
Adonai means master or owner. This speaks of one who owns or rules. Adonai refers to God's sovereignty. This Hebrew term is usually translated into English as “Lord.” When we use the name "The Lord Jesus Christ" we are saying "Jesus is my Master". Jesus said in - John 13:13 You call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am.
I’m sure some of you would be honest enough to admit that you had reached a place where you came to church out of habit or obligation.
Maybe you came because you love the people and the fellowship.
Maybe you came because you didn’t want to let someone down....
Now that the opportunity to gather in person to worship..... was taken away from us for 71 weeks..... I hope that we have a new perspective.
I hope that we will all come to realize that if we are not here because of our love for the Jesus Christ.....and our desire to Worship the Lord.....then we have come for the wrong reason..... and
I Don’t Know What You Come to Do....
We should come together because He desires our worship, we should come because He deserves our worship, and we should come because He demands our worship!
Yes my Brothers and Sisters.....
I Don’t Know What you come to do.......but I’m some thankful......to be able to come and worship a God who gives.......
GRACE TO THE GUILTY.
MERCY TO THE MISERABLE.
FORGIVENESS TO THE FUGITIVE.
SALVATION TO THE SINNER.
PEACE TO THE PERPLEXED.
BLESSINGS TO THE BURDENED.
.....I Don’t know what you come to do....
But I’m thankful because we serve a God.....who can.....make
DISHONEST..... HONEST.
DRUNKEN......SOBER.
PROUD.....HUMBLE.
WEAK.......STRONG.
I HAVE DISCOVERED THAT BUILDINGS MAY BURN, ORGANIZATIONS MAY DIE, DENOMINATIONS MAY DWINDLE, BUT GOD’S CHURCH WILL:
PROSPER IN SPITE OF PERSECUTION.
ADVANCE IN SPITE OF ADVERSITY.
REJOICE IN SPITE OF OPPOSITION.
FUNCTION IN SPITE OF PROBLEMS.
BE VICTORIOUS IN THE END.