Psalm 84 Sermon 5/2013

Sermon Psalm 84 05/2013…

Psalm 84

Psalm 84:1 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

I’m sure you’ve had a memory of a church service or a revival when God’s blessings was being poured out and the Holy Spirit seem to be in control of everything from the singers to the fellowship with others and when the Preacher began to preach it seemed as though your heart was opened and all of the troubles and heart breaks of life just seem to disappear …

And you just didn’t want it to end.

But, when it did and you returned home and the memory of it just wouldn’t go away.

Then you couldn’t wait until you got to church the next time to see what God had in store

…that was the joy of this Psalmist in Psalm 84 was experiencing.

***But, every trip to Gods house should be filled with joy….because joy is not a product of the world…joy can only be produced by the Holy Spirit.

*Psalm 84 is about a journey to the temple in Jerusalem and the writer was remembering the year before when he made the same trip to a festival there called The Feast of Tabernacles.

Every year around late September or early October thousands would go to Jerusalem for this feast.

**The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrating the end of a harvest and thanking God for His blessings upon their crop.

It is also a memorial in remembrance when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, living in tents on their way to the Promised Land.

It had to be a joyous time because thousands would make the journey from every part of Israel to worship at the Temple during the festival.

There would be great fellowship and everyone looking forward to praising God and thanking Him together for their blessings and harvest……there would be sacrifices to God…..singing and praising Him.

As a matter of fact Psalm 84 was written to the musician that played the Gittith..a string instrument like a harp…(verse 1)…some think it was King David who wrote this Psalm….but, no one knows for sure….but whoever it was it was a song written for the sons of Korah which were singers in the Temple.

…..Psalm 84 is a great Psalm….. It’s been called a “Psalm of Pilgrimage” or “Psalm of journey”…..

We are going to look at what the Bible says in Psalm 84 that will help on our journey….

The journey we are traveling through this earth....

The Bible says we are Pilgrims and strangers.

On any journey we are aped to have trouble....like any other vehicle the older it is the more problems we are subject to have.

****We are on a journey in these fragile bodies of ours ..

Apostle Paul called them many times in the New Testament a tabernacle or tent.

Have you ever wondered why Apostle Paul called our bodies a tabernacle or tent?

Paul understood what a tent was because, he made tents to make a few dollars to survive and help support his missions.

*****A tent is a temporary dwelling place...our body is a temporary dwelling place for us traveling through this world.

It’s also a place where our soul is united with the Holy Spirit when we except Jesus as our Saviour…. to be with us Jesus said in John 14…forever!