Joy in God's Presence

So a couple years ago in 2014, there was a glut of stories that were about um, some solar activity. Here is the long and the short of it. A bunch of scientists were talking about the idea of the sun uh, in about maybe fourteen, fifteen years would actually be a little dormant or would be going to sleep. So I read some of those with with some interest and if you didn't know, I'm an expert on solar phenomena. Um, if you didn't have your radar, uh, if you didn't have your sarcasm detector on, it's probably time to turn that on real quick. Um, so I'm not, but I did read a study by a professor named Valentina Zharkova, she's a PHD in AstroPhysics and it's from Northumbria University in the U.K. and she was kind of representative of what I saw in the scientific community, I am no expert in these things but I was reading along the lines of what they were talking about, cause it was interesting to me. And it was actually these stories were all over, I mean, you may have read them a couple of years ago, they were all over everywhere and everything, every news cycle, publications, all of that stuff.

So, I ended up reading and she explained it this way. She said the sun basically has about an eleven year heartbeat. That's how she explained it, and she said here soon we've been able to see that within two different layers of the sun there is a contradictory dynamo effect. Don't ask me to explain that for you people who don't understand all the things that I understand about solar phenomena.  So there's this conflicting dynamo effect that's going to happen and as a result it's uh, potentially going to cause like a mini ice age from about 2030 to 2040, according to the scientific community, alright? And we'll see a lot of things. It doesn't mean the sun's going away, it just means things are going to get a lot colder, um, potentially. And this will be something that hasn't been seen actually in kind of uh, you know, solar activity since about 1700 in what they called the Maunder minimum, for those of you who are who are nerds and know those kinds of things, alright? Um, cause I don't, I just read it.

So, in my mind I kind of read that and I was thinking to myself okay, wow, that's interesting stuff, that's pretty cool, and here's what i figured out. Um, I don't actually want the sun to go to sleep. I'm not really interested in that and if the sun does go to sleep, then I would like some way to wake it up. Because I live in Buffalo, man and I just want some sunshine sometimes, right?

Well, it was funny because thinking about waking up, the idea of waking up the sun, there's this children's book and it's called "Wake Up Sun". Some of you may have read it when you were kids or read it to your kids potentially. It's kind of just a little silly, you know, sweet uh, book that's set on a farm. And so you've got all these animals on the farm and by the way the names of the animals that are there are really really cool, really creative. Dog, pig, cow and chicken. Those are the stars of the book, right? Which it's a little kid's book, so I get it. Well they're all, they all went to sleep on the farm, all of them, okay? And they're used to going to sleep and waking up, and it being bright and all those kinds of things. But they went to sleep one time, and in the middle of the night dog was bitten by a flea and woke up. Dog was confused because he's thinking to himself, where's the sun? The sun must be lost because every time I wake up the sun has already woken up. So, dog goes looking for the sun, can't find it, starts waking up the other animals. He you know, checks in with pig and then and then they start making noise, pig makes oink, oink noises asking for where it is and it's fun for kids, right? Cause you're roof, roof, roof, you know, whatever. I don't know what they sound like. Um, that was the worst dog impersonation I've ever done. You know, I've got some good ones I'm just not gonna' share them all, alright?

So, they wake up dog and pig and chick. Dog's awake and he wakes up pig and he wakes up cow and he wakes up chicken, and they're all looking around and they're all making animal noises trying to find the sun. They end up going and exploring, they look down a well to see if the sun's there, they go and see if he's in a lake, they're looking all over the place. And they're making so much noise in terms of calling out to try and wake up the sun, that the farmer actually wakes up and shortly after the farmer wakes up, the farmer's child starts crying and when the child starts crying the sun actually comes up. So all the animals actually thought that the baby crying was what woke up the sun.

I just told you a children's story on Sunday morning to thousands of people, right, and you're going and your point is what? It's this. Whatever else you do with that children's story and there's probably a lot that you could do and particularly in making sound effects that would be awesome. Nobody wants to live in a world where the sun's asleep. Nobody wants to live in that world, right? In my mind, the world that we live in is cold enough and dark enough already. I want the sun. I want to make sure the sun is awakened in our own lives.

And here's the thing. In the world that we live in sometimes, not environmentally, but sometimes in our hearts, have you ever had those moments where you're thinking to yourself, I wish the sun would rise inside of me? Like, I wish that the sun would come up because I feel like I'm in a little bit of a spot that's a little cold and a little bit dark and I'm kinda' wandering around a world that's a little bit cold and a little bit dark and you're just thinking to yourself, I wish I would wake up the sun, man. I wish I could wake up the sun.

Well, there's a way to do that and that's what I want to talk to you about today. The way that you end up waking up the sun in your own heart is joy. That's how it's done. Joy. I'm gonna' try and show you from the passage of Scripture that I'm gonna deal with, I'm gonna try and show you one big idea that I want you to get the whole time. I'm gonna tell you from the outset what I want you to know, and then I'm gonna' unpack it and I'm gonna' tell you again at the end exactly the same thing I told you at the beginning and it's this: True joy only comes in God's presence. That's where you find it. True joy only comes, is only found in God's presence. So if you're gonna' go looking for something to wake up the sun in your life, you might try a million different things that are not going to work, but I can tell you this, if you find yourself in God's presence you will begin to understand what true joy looks like.

Now, where I want to take you is in Psalm 84. Those of you who have a Bible, you can open up to it or if you have a phone or a tablet or whatever you have, you can check that out if you didn't happen to come with one that's no problem. Uh, we'll put those passages up on the screen so that you can see them when I'm talking about them so you can see what I'm talking about.

Now Psalm 84 is an interesting Psalm just as a kind of a quick background, written by some folks called the sons of Korah. Now the sons of Korah are a group of people who are descendants of Korah who was a rebel not a very good guy, you can read about him, kind of in the time of Moses if you want, he kinda' started a rebellion. But they decided to change kinda; the history and the lineage of who they are and it ends up, the sons of Korah are actually kind of a both a musical and a service kind of group that served with King David in the Tabernacle, and then with King Solomon in the Temple. This is what they did. They not only were kind of people who were around the facility but they also led in some of the music around the facility. That's who the sons of Korah are.

And the sons of Korah make the case for us that really true joy is only found in God's presence and when you start to read the Psalm you figure out exactly that they are talking about that very thing and I want to convince you of that today. I want you to understand that today as we look at what the psalmist shares with us. So when you start start unpacking what God's presence is like, you'll start figuring out why you only find joy in God's presence. Because God's presence is so many things that the psalmist shows us.

Let me show you the first thing. God's presence is safe. Let me explain what I mean by that. Verse number 1 of Psalm 84 says this: How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty. Now if there's one thing that I know it's this, we have been trying to kind of, communicate to our church over a lot of years that there are some things that we believe should be seen in the life of a believer. We call them outcomes here, but there are things that should be seen in the life of a believer, and one of those is that there should be a growing kind of intimacy or communion or connection with God. That this is fundamental to who we are as followers of Christ. We can't just kind of do life on our own, we need to understand what it means to to practice the presence of God and to experience His presence in our lives.

And so, in doing that here's what I understand. With intimacy, which it feels that way, right? Kind of this this relationship that's precious and sacred and intimate, with intimacy there's a need for safety. You want to feel safe in the midst of intimacy. That's just kind of a natural thing.

In fact, when you're reading about like marriage relationships in the Scripture, there's one place that's really cool to read about a kind of romantic marriage relationships and that's in the Song of Songs. Like if you're married, you can just read that together and it's like tada tada you know, i mean that's just kinda' how it is, right? You're going, seriously, don't talk like that about the Bible. It's the Bible, man and it's there for us, right? So you've got Solomon getting all kinds of frisky. Did you know that's the Hebrew translation of what's Solomon was? Frisky in Song of Songs, because he's with his true love, right? And in that conversation it's really interesting because his true love is trying to see and sense what Solomon's going to be about and what Solomon's going to do and there's this need in Solomon's true love's life to know there will be safety in the context of intimacy.

In fact, when she's looking for him as he's making his way into town, remember he's the king, right? As he's making his way in, listen to what's said in Song of Songs chapter 3: "Who is this coming up from the wilderness she says, like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? Look! It's Solomon's carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel, all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night."

You know what's interesting about that? Solomon's coming as if on wedding day, and he's going to be with this woman who's his great love and she sees him coming, and she's thinking about spending time with him in their particular chambers or tent, and do you know what's encouraging and comforting? Is that there are sixty warriors that are standing guard so that in the midst of their intimacy they can feel safety. Now the reason that I bring up the idea of being safe in the presence of God is because when it says "how lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty," which is the translation in the NIV, which is actually the term Jehovah Sabaoth, which means God of Angel Armies, Lord of Hosts, the God who is over and above and commander of everything, that's the idea. The reminder is is that when we find ourselves in His presence, we can be in no safer place for our soul than with the God who commands everything.Now why that's so incredible for us, is because if we could only see and sense the nature of how safe and secure our soul is in the presence of God, why would we not want to have our soul in the presence of God? Sometimes we just can't see, right?

You may not remember the story, but in the Old Testament, Elisha was a prophet and he had a servant with him. And there was the king of Aram who didn't really like what was going on in Israel and he kept having his plans thwarted, the king did, and he's like who's telling on me? Who's messing with me? Who's the mole inside of my army who's giving all this away, and they said well, it's not a mole, it's this prophet in Israel, his name's Elisha and he like he hears things from God and kinda' lets them know what's happening. And the king's like well, I don't like that at all. Go capture him. So he sends some guys, a ton of soldiers and horses and chariots in the middle of the night to go surround Elisha and capture him.

Listen to how the story is relayed to us in 2 Kings 6: It says "When the servant of the man of God (in other words Elisha's servant) when he got when he got up and went out early the next morning an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh no, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Now you know, what's funny about that is cause that servant's going yeah, man I'm not real good at math, but there's two of us and there's a lot of them, and I didn't you know, I don't have an advanced degree, but I can do the math, right? And so Elisha said, Elisha says, don't worry about that and here's what he prayed. "Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see." And then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And as the enemy came toward him Elisha prayed to the Lord "Strike this army with blindness" So He struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.

Isn't it interesting that the ones who actually could see ended up not seeing and the ones that you couldn't see you ended up seeing? You see, sometimes we just need eyes to understand that this is the God of Angel Armies. This is the God who is over everything and who commands everything and when our soul is found in His presence it is safe.

But you know what we also know about God's presence from the psalmist? That His presence is beautiful. Because he says in that verse how lovely is your dwelling place, Jehovah Sabaoth. How lovely is your dwelling place, God of Angel Armies. Now I know that you're probably thinking well isn't he just describing the Temple at that point? Well, probably not, actually. We don't even know exactly when the date of this psalm is, so we don't know if it's during the time of the Tabernacle or if it's the time of the Temple. We're not sure. What I would tell you is that when you begin to read the fullness of the psalm, you figure out that actually the psalmists, the sons of Korah are talking about kind of the essence and the nature of who God is and how beautiful exactly God Himself is.

You know, when you start thinking about the idea of God, you realize how much beauty brings joy. If you like art, some of you do, and you see something that's just really, really beautiful? There's joy in that, isn't there? If you like literature, maybe a a great story that you've read and the way that the story unpacks and is told, and you read it and just the words are put together, and it's so beautiful. And it brings joy. Or you see a landscape, right? You see all the things that have been made everywhere that have been created and you just gasp when you look at them, and you see such great incredible beauty, and that beauty brings you great joy. Man, then why in the world wouldn't we want to peel back the layers a little bit and not just absorb just a little bit of refracted beauty but get to the heart of it.

C.S. Lewis said it this way in the book 'Til We Have Faces' he said "The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from." You see, ladies and gentlemen, this is what brings great joy, because ultimately everything that we see that is actually beautiful has a source. And it is in God Himself, because God is the most beautiful being in all of the world. So that when we find ourselves in the presence of that kind of beauty, it brings us incredible exceeding joy. This is how you wake up the sun in your life is by pressing in to the presence of God. Because it's safe and it's beautiful.

Thirdly, it is satisfying. Notice what the Scripture says in verse number 2. The psalmist says "My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my my flesh cry out for the living God." You almost, you hear this idea of thirst and hunger for the presence of God. Now if you have a thirst or a hunger for the presence of God, that's because your soul is thirsty in one, because it's in one of three states. Listen carefully. Either a.), your soul is empty and you've been trying to fill your soul with all kinds of stuff, right? It might be relationships that you have that you're trying to pour into your soul thinking this is gonna' solve it and you know what? Temporarily you forget about the hole that's in your heart and you start pouring down some of these relationships and going this is really what it's gonna' be, this is what it's gonna' be, and you find out that's not fully satisfying.

Or maybe you kind of, you know, you tried some kind of substance because you think, you know what, I'm kind of bored in this life everything's gray for me everything's kinda' dark and cold, and I don't know how to wake up the sun so I'm gonna' try and fill my heart with some other stuff, and you pour in substances as a result of that, or whatever. Or just distraction that you pour into your life so you don't have to think about the emptiness of your soul. But you fail to remember, ladies and gentlemen, that there is a God-sized hole in your soul that only God can fill. Everything else that's being poured in there, it's like a sieve and it's just finding it's way out and you realize you can't satisfy the deepest place in you, because it's God-shaped and only God can fill it. So maybe you have an empty soul and that's why you find yourself thirsting and you go looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places.

Or maybe it's because you have a dry soul. You ever been through one of those seasons? Where maybe just inside of you, you just kind of feel a little bit dry. Like you're thinking to yourself I feel like I'm kind of walking through a desert in my own heart right now. And so as a result, I find myself being thirsty for the presence of God because I know that my soul can only find refreshment in His presence.

Or maybe, maybe, the reason you're thirsty is because you're actually satisfied. This is an interesting thing like the psalmist. The psalmist is actually satisfied in the presence of God, but says he thirsts all the more. Do you know the kind of counter-intuitive thing that this is, is that the more you find yourself satisfied in God, the thirstier for Him you become. This is just what happens. The more you're satisfied in God, the thirstier you actually become. You actually begin to want God more because of the satisfaction that God brings.

Listen to the prayer of one of the Godly saints of old named A.W. Tozer. He said it this way: He said "Oh, God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. Oh God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made thirsty still." eYou see, ultimately the great satisfaction that we have in our hearts with God means that we will become more and more thirsty and more and more hungry for Him. So He is satisfying the Scripture tells us, His presence is.

But the scripture also tells us that His presence is welcoming. This is a beautiful picture that we start to see in verse 3. Notice what it says. It says "Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you".

It's funny because the psalmist is also talking he he's he's almost talking like he's envious of the birds. So in other words, here's the picture. The birds have nested in the place of God, in the sanctuary of God and as a result the psalmist is saying man, I wish I was like you, because you have found your your home and you have found your place in the presence of God and I wish I was like you. He's almost envious that they can rest in the presence of God. But do you know what's also interesting about this text, is that he names two specific birds, a sparrow and a swallow. That's what he names. Isn't it interesting that what we find out?

You know a little bit about sparrows if you've read the New Testament. Jesus actually talked about them. Remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter number 12. He said: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God." You know what we're reminded of? The sparrow didn't have a lot of worth. Not much at all. Five of theem sold for two pennies. Yeah, man, they're like, whatever, right? The sparrow doesn't have a lot of worth. Yet, finds a home in God's presence. I wonder how many of you have ever felt worthless. You felt like you're not worth very much and that you don't deserve to be in the presence of God. Do you know how welcoming God is to people who feel undeserved? It's like sparrows, man. Come and build a nest, have your young.

He also talks about swallows in this text, and if you're read through the proverbs, you've heard something about a swallow as well. Listen to what the scripture says, Proverbs chapter 26: "Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest." You know what a swallow does? Here it is, right here. Everything's fine, I'm not having, nothing nothing's going on, right? This is what a swallow does, [whistles], right? Never coming to rest anywhere, always restless. Except the psalmist says, found a home in the presence of God.

So, whether you feel worthless or whether you feel restless and you just can't find a place for your soul to land, here's the idea. The presence of God is where you'll find true joy. This is where you'll find it. Some of you have hearts that are really restless. Some of you have hearts that feel worthless. I want to remind you the best place you can take those hearts is in to the safe, beautiful, secure, welcoming presence of God.

Let me tell you, let me tell you an additional thing that you see in this passage of Scripture. You'll find that the presence of God is worth the journey. Listen to verse number 5 and 6 and 7. It says: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; and the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, 'til each appears before God in Zion."

So here's the deal. Listen, here's the deal. If everybody can just be seated and not get up anymore that would be awesome. It's like a million of you do and that's, that would be cool. It's really distracting. Thanks. I don't want to have to bust anybody up. That's what I do. I'm part ninja, and I will show it. That's how I roll, alright? I just don't want you to distract the people around you. So, the Valley of, the Valley of Baka means the Valley of Weeping., okay? Here's the idea. The Valley of Weeping is when people lived outside of Jerusalem, they would always have to take a pilgrimage to get to Jerusalem where the Temple was, alright? And when you are going to the Temple, some people were taking long long journeys to be able to get there. It was a long haul for them to get there. They were having to right, pack up their stuff, make a long trip and they were sometimes going through what was called the Valley of Weeping or the Valley of Baka. And as they're making their way, it's kind of a deserted desert type of place, type of atmosphere. So what they would do on their journey is in that desert place they would dig holes, just like this. Why? Because they knew that the latter rains, the autumn rains would come down and would fill them up like pools in the desert so that they would have something to drink. Something to refresh themselves with. You see, sometimes on the journey you're going to walk through places of difficulty, you're going to walk through places that are going to press you but there are still opportunities to be refreshed when you are on your way to the presence of God. It's a great picture that I'll come back to in just a second. But know this, that it is worth the journey. Whatever pilgrimage you're called to to get to the heart of God it's worth the journey.

Let me give you a sixth thing. The presence of God is better. Here's what I mean by that. Verse 8 says "Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, Oh God; look with favor on your anointed one. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless." So after the psalmist actually intercedes for the king when he's talking about look on our shield he's referring at that point to the king, the anointed one. After he does that here's what happens. He says this, one day, one day in your presence is better than a thousand anywhere else. One day. One day in your presence is better than attendance at the Super Bowl. One day in your presence is better than anything anywhere.

In fact, when he starts talking he's reminding himself that I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to be distant from God. Because I know that even if I'm not in the most holy place where God's presence dwells, talking about the idea of the Tabernacle or the Temple, at least if I'm a doorkeeper I know that I'm nearer to the presence of God than if I'm far away. And I would rather just be holding doors for people who are ushered into the presence of God than to be distant from God. That's how serious the psalmist is about knowing that true joy can only be found in the presence of God, the only way you can wake up the sun in your heart is in the presence of God. He's that serious. He understands that when he is in or near the presence of God that it changes everything about him. That is actually changes who he is and what he does.

You see, what we need to understand is this: if we will practice God's presence, His presence will change our practice. We will end up in a place where we will now as the discipline of life, we will be forever altered because we learn what it means to spend time in the presence of God. And He changes everything because He fills our hearts with joy and with love and with peace and with the fruit of His own Spirit in our lives. Some of us have really never pressed in to understand that.

You see, David, when he was writing some of the psalms, he understood this idea of joy in the presence of God. In Psalm 16 verse 11 David said this: "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, and with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

You see, we're trying be, we're trying to be told here God's presence is better than anything. Some of us, some of us don't realize that. We just don't get it. And that's why we don't spend time in His presence. Because we don't get that His presence is better than anything. Anything. Anything. You see, we forget who He is, how beautiful. We forget that our soul is safe. We forget how welcoming He is. We have all kinds of stuff going on in our hearts that we forget that the presence of God is better than anything.

But you know what he says here? He says "The Lord God is a sun and a shield" in verse 11. The Lord God is a sun and a shield. Do you know what brings me such joy here in kind of New Covenant, New Testament times? This was obviously in in the Old Testament. I like reading sometimes things from the Old Testament that just have gospel bombs. That are like the pin is pulled and you're just waiting and it's just like you read it and it just detonates and you go WHAT? Yeah, this is the gospel man, this is the gospel. The psalmist writes "The Lord is a sun and a shield".

I think we can maybe understand a little bit about what it means to say that the Lord God is a sun. There's a lot that we can understand but let me take you maybe in a different place for your mind. You know, if you, if you get too close to the sun you know what happens, right? You die. Right, I'm here all day, I'm here for you, answer all your questions. You get too close to the sun, you die, that's just what happens. The sun scorches. Do you realize that when the Bible talks about God as the sun, there's positive aspects to that, what warms us, what makes us grow. But there's also the reminder of His holiness, that you and I in our brokenness and you and I in our sinfulness, and you and I in all of our mess, we could never in a million years get close to the presence of the Holy One who would scorch us with His holiness. Scorch us.

In fact, in the New Testament even when Paul is writing to Timothy, listen to how he describes this great God. In 1 Timothy chapter 6: "God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, He is like the sun". He dwells in approachable light. So how in the world are you and I, who are in our brokenness, in our sinfulness, how are you and I ever going to get into the presence of that kind of awesomeness? We will never be able to do it on our own any more than we could walk on the sun. We could never do it. It's bad news and the thing is, we try a bunch of different things to try and think that we could do that, but it's crazy to think that way. Well, if I just do a couple of good things then I'll be able to walk on the sun. No amount of good things you do will enable you to walk on the sun. Well, I'm gonna' practice in Florida cause I know it's really hot in Florida, and I'm just gonna' practice there and then once I'm done in Florida I'll be ready to go walk on the sun. You can prepare anywhere you want to prepare, you will never be able to walk on the sun no matter what you do. And no matter what you do, you will never be able to make your way into God's presence on your own. You will never be able to do it because God is the sun.

Here's the good news. He is also the shield. When we could never make our way into the presence of God, here's what God has done on our behalf, God has put skin on in the person of Jesus who has lived sinlessly among us and who went to a cross to die for our sins to take upon Himself the heat of the wrath of the justice of God. And He has done that for us as our shield. Only God can be both sun and shield at the same time. This is why I am reminded ladies and gentlemen, that the psalmist keeps saying to us that it is imperative for us to make sure that we understand that true joy is only going to be found in God's presence, the One who dwells in unapproachable light, who is like the sun, we can now walk in the sun because of what the Son of God has done on our behalf, we now can enter into the most Holy place, the curtain has been torn in two in the Temple and we can enter in by way of the blood of Jesus Christ, by faith in Him we can dwell with God who dwells in unapproachable light. This is staggering. This is staggering.

This is why I'm trying to say to you what I said to you from the very outset. And that's why this passage ends by saying in verse 12: Lord Almighty, blessed, happy, joyful is the one who trusts in you. What did I tell you I was gonna' tell you? True joy is found in God's presence. I told you what I was gonna' tell you from the beginning, I'm telling you what I'm telling you at the end. It's what this passage is trying to communicate to us.

So, let's ask this question: How do we then wake up the sun in our lives? How do we make this practical, how do we wake up the sun in our hearts? Well, for those of us who are thinking about it, here's what it's gonna' require. It's gonna' require a pilgrimage, a journey to the heart of God. This is what's gonna' have to happen. You're gonna' have to set out on a journey to the heart of God to be in God's presence. And do you know what it's gonna' require on that journey? Listen very carefully. You're going to have to dig. You're gonna' have to pick up the shovel of the Word and you're gonna' have to start digging in your own heart in the presence of God as you are journeying to the heart of God you're gonna' have to start digging and some of that is going to be weeds that you're digging into to get out. Sin that you're having to say I'm letting go of that and you're getting out. And let me tell you what God will do when you are willing to surrender yourself in His presence and let His Spirit begin to search your heart and change you as you are digging do you know what He's gonna' do? He's gonna' send rain to refresh your soul and to fill your heart with pools of water that will refresh you in His presence. This is what God is going to do when you begin to journey into His heart.

But some of us, we're too afraid to start the journey because we're afraid of God's presence. Now God is Holy, but when we come by way of relationship with Jesus Christ, Jesus has done all of this on our behalf and here's the great news. You don't have to be afraid anymore because the safest place your soul could ever be is in the presence of God, the God of Angel Armies, the God who commands everything. Your soul was made for Him. It was made for relationship with Him.

I remember when I was a 19 year-old, when I really came to that place of faith and trust in my life and Jesus just radically changed my life. It was between my sophomore and junior year at the University of Georgia. I came back to the same roommates that I was living with before, and they were still doing the same things, um, that you know, people do. And I walked in and I remember saying to them when I got in there, I just had gotten back from school and they were raging and doing all the stuff that they were doing and I said, hey man, I said um, they were like come on, let's get after it and I was like well, here's what I said. I said man, guys, I, I really got serious, gave my life to Christ this summer, and I don't want to break the heart of the One who set me free. I have no idea how that came out of my mouth, I was by myself. I was out-numbered, I was by myself in my own apartment. I genuinely believe the Spirit of God gave me utterance, and I just said what I said, and it was like drawing a line in the sand where you just kinda' go--whew, man, like whoa, what just got said, what just happened, I just drew a line in the sand.

Well, sure enough, these guys were kinda' like okay, cool, whatever, you know, I mean that was oh, yeah, Jerry's a freak, um, you know, it was kinda' one of those deals, right? He's turned into a freak, I'm scared of him. And so they still were going about their business and I still remember very early in that year a loud raging party going on in our apartment. All kinds of mayhem. Whatever else was happening. I'm in my room, by myself, eating my little pizza that I ordered, listening to a cassette tape of Christian music that wasn't even any good, but it's like all I had. And I remember as I was reading what God did in my own heart and He kinda, He kinda' really put two verses, two passages of Scripture on my mind and on my heart and I had an opportunity to read them and they meant so much to me that I actually took out a piece of paper and it was my Dad used to work for Coca-Cola years and years ago and I had these little, you know, kind of, you know a little note pad, Coca-Cola note pad and I just wrote these passages on that note pad and I taped them to my ceiling above my bed.

One of them was in Psalm 63 and it said this: "On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I will sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me." You know why I put that up there? Cause I was a little scared. My heart was a little scared. I was scared cause I felt like I was just one guy and I had no one on this entire campus who would walk with Jesus and follow after Jesus and I'm like some weird dude, you know, with a horn growing out of my head and people think I'm nuts. And I was a little bit nervous and I was nervous about being in God's presence because this was kinda' new for me. But I reminded myself every night, every night I would look and stare at that and remind myself that God, I am, I am sleeping here safely in your presence because of what you have done in and through Jesus Christ and you will uphold me.

Some of us need to repent of our fear of being in God's presence and realize that's the safest place we could ever put our soul. Some of us maybe maybe have felt worthless, or maybe you've been restless, or maybe you've felt like your soul is empty or dry, or maybe it's been satisfied but you find yourself hungering for more. I don't know what it is for you, but I can tell you this, true joy is found only in God's presence, it is the only way to wake up the sun in your heart.

So here's what I'd like for us to do. I want us to bow our heads together for prayer and I want us to take kind of the remaining few moments to kinda' lay ourselves before God in His presence. Here's what I want to give you the opportunity to do. Just for these last few moments I'm gonna' give you the opportunity to just spend some time in God's presence. The altar area up here is open if you want to come and kneel and pray. If you want to stay right where you are great, but if somebody wants to slip out and they say excuse me, just be prepared to move so that they can come out. If you want to come into the aisles that's fine you can do that as well. But I want you to just kind of surrender yourself, surrender your heart in the presence of God in these last few minutes. So wherever you are in this room or in the East Worship Center, right now wherever you are, if you want to get up and you want to come, please do. Just come and kneel right down here. Take some time to pray right where you are. I want to give you a few moments and if that's right in your seat, fine. That can be right in your seat, not a problem. You just take some time to kneel down wherever you are. Think, trust, listen, surrender yourself into the presence of God. As we're spending time in the presence of God just seeking Him Nick's gonna' lead us, sing over us for a moment and then we'll be able to join him in a moment, so kinda' just lay our hearts before God and understand the joy that we can find in His presence.

Ladies and gentlemen, true joy is only found in God's presence. If we will practice His presence, His presence will change our practice. So whether your soul feels worthless or restless or empty or dry or satisfied, the best place your soul can be, the safest, most beautiful, most welcoming, most satisfying place that your soul can be is in His presence. So yes, you can get that on a Sunday morning when we gather together in His presence, but I was in His presence this morning, early. Just spending time with Him, spending time in His Word, spending time listening to His voice in my heart, spending time praising Him for who He is. It will change us and if you want to understand what waking up the sun looks like in your heart you have to find joy, and the only place to find it is the presence of the King. If you're here, and you've never entered into genuine relationship with God through His Son, Jesus, I'm not talking about you just know who He is, or you've been through some kind of religious rituals that didn't do anything to change anything about you, I'm talking about you know what it means to surrender yourself to the Lordship of who He is and enter in by faith to a relationship with Him. If you've never done that, when we dismiss in just a moment, I wish you'd come by the Fireside Room out in the atrium. Some pastors, some friends that are in there who'd love to talk to you for a few minutes about the most important thing you'll ever do in your life and that is to be born from above. To be transformed by the grace that we see in Jesus Christ.

So Father, I pray that we would realize what it means to live and to dwell in your presence because true joy is only found in your presence. You are the One that takes off the garment of heaviness because of the spirit of praise that is found when we enter into your presence. So God, I pray that You would speak that word deeply into our hearts so that we would be willing to dig as we make a pilgrimage to your heart, that You might refresh us with the water from heaven with Your own Word. We trust You to do this by the power of Your own Spirit in Jesus' name. Amen.

Love you folks, have a great day.