Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / An Overflowing Blessing (Psalm 67) - Rev. Oliver Pierce

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An Overflowing Blessing (Psalm 67) - Rev. Oliver Pierce · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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Well, it's great to be here. It's certainly been
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on my list to get out to Fairview. I just want
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to express my gratitude for your church supporting
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us generously during our time at Wofford. We
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really, RUF could not exist without so many churches
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sacrificially and generously giving and individuals
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as well. So just thank you for that. And again,
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as I mentioned, I got to share this morning in
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more detail about this new call that the Lord
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has laid on our family and has really captured
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our hearts. It's amazing that RUF is at 180 campuses
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all over this country. And that is a beautiful
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thing. We've seen how that's helped contribute
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to the growth of the PCA. But as I look at Europe
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and see there's right now only one ministry,
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one RUF global ministry there actually in Ukraine
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and yet there are twice as many students. It's
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just the fields are white for harvest and the
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Lord has laid on our hearts to go out there.
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So we appreciate your prayers. I would love to
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share more. I will be hanging out, sticking around
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after the service. I can go in more detail. For
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those of you who weren't there this morning at
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Sunday School, if you're curious about what God's
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doing in our lives and calling us there and what
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it might look like to help us along there. But
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with that in mind, we're going to be looking
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at a text this morning that Troy said earlier.
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You guys are a missionary church. This is a great
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text to go to, to return to, to answer the question,
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why are we a missionary church? Why are we outward
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focused? Why is that the way God has called us
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to live? And why is that actually a good thing
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for our own hearts and our own joy. So if you
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want to look in your own Bibles this morning
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and read along with me Psalm 67, I'll read that
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for us and then pray for the Lord's blessing
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on the preaching of His Word. So Psalm 67, a
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psalm, a song. Give you guys a moment. You're
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in some rustling. So Psalm 67. May God be gracious
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to us and bless us and make his face to shine
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upon us. that your way may be known on earth,
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your saving power among all nations. Let the
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peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples
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praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing
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for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity
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and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples
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praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise
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you. The earth has yielded its increased God,
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Our God shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let
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all the ends of the earth fear Him. Join me as
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we pray the preaching of God's Word. Father in
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heaven, we thank you for this day that you give
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us every week to come and to rest, to come and
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to be in your presence together with your people.
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And we know many of us are coming to this service
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this morning with all kinds of baggage, with
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really hard things that we have had to go through,
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with tiring weeks, maybe with joyful weeks on
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the other hand. And yet we praise you, we thank
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you that we know that you will meet us with what
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we need in your word that you have promised to
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be. especially active by your spirit there and
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so we ask that that you might illuminate our
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minds that you might open our hearts by your
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spirit that you might refresh us that you might
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help us to pay attention to your word and to
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receive the truth of it with faith and love and
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humility so that it would bear fruit in our daily
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lives. We ask most of all that you would help
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us to see the beauty and the glory of your son,
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the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
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Amen. Well, if you are a human being here this
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morning, I can guess that you've had some version
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of this kind of experience. You've come across
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something in your life. It could be a musician.
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It could be a book. It could be some new hobby.
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It could be a place you went to on vacation.
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It could be a restaurant. It could be something
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even as simple as some video, funny video you
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saw online. Whatever it is, it's so interesting,
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it's so compelling, it's so beautiful, it's so
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funny that you just have to go talk to other
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people about it. And maybe it's not a thing,
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maybe it's even a person that you met. Many years
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ago when I was on a hike in the Nashville area,
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I went to undergraduate in Middle Tennessee State.
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And I was out hiking and suddenly I turn a corner
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and I never would have guessed what I was going
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to see. I saw the front man from one of my favorite
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bands at the time, the band Wilco, and his name
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is Jeff Tweedy, the lead guitarist and songwriter
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and singer. just walking along the path in the
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forest. It was such a surreal experience. I didn't
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want to bother him as a fellow introvert. I knew
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he probably didn't want to be talking with one
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of his fans on the hike, but this was a once
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-in -a -lifetime thing, so I had to go talk to
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him. He was very gracious with me. He even let
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me do what so many of us do if we meet someone
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famous. Got to take a selfie with them. Why?
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Because we want to go show it to people we want
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to prove that we had this experience that we
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met this amazing Person and that's what I did.
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I went home to the house I lived at with five
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other guys and showed all my roommates regardless
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of whether or not they cared about the band Wilco
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or even knew What that band was I had to share
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we can't help but share about the things or the
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people that really excite us When our hearts
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are truly thrilled with something We don't keep
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that inside. It inevitably overflows. And that's
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what we see in this psalm. The psalmist has experienced
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a blessing, is longing for more of a blessing
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that he is too thrilled with to keep to himself.
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And so as we think through, consider this psalm
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this morning, I hope that we can see that this
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same overflowing blessing that the psalmist has
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received We can experience it too, and it can
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have the same effect in our lives and overflow
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to those around us as well. And that's what our
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three points are going to be. We're going to
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look at what is this blessing? Why is it overflowing?
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Secondly, and lastly, to what extent does it
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overflow? So first, what is this blessing? What
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is the psalmist so thrilled with that he has
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to share? Look back. those opening words in verse
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one, may God be gracious to us and bless us and
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make his face to shine upon us. It's a short
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verse and it's immediately followed by a say
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law, which is a little unusual. This was likely
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a deliberate musical pause or just silent pause
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that was there for reflection. It was as if the
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psalmist said, wait, stop there. There's so much
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to reflect about. In this first verse, I have
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to make everyone singing, praying this Psalm
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stop and think about it. Why? Because he was
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probably thinking about a very crucial, very
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familiar passage to the Israelites and maybe
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to many of you from number six, the Aaronic blessing,
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where the Lord told Moses, to tell Aaron and
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his sons, this is how you shall bless the people
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of Israel. You'll say to them, the Lord bless
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you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine
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upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift
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up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
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The psalmist would have heard that again and
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again, proclaimed over God's people. And it's
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as if he, as he marinated in that promise, It
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turned from these dusty formal words into this
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living and active reality in his life and he's
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overflowing in this song of praise here as he
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meditates on it. But what is number six promising?
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What is this blessing from the Lord look like?
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Is the psalmist thinking, yes, I'm gonna have
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this big beautiful brand new house. I'm going
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to get that job that I love and also pays really
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well. I'm going to have plenty of friends. I'm
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going to have a beautiful neighborhood to live
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in, healthy kids, a perfect marriage. Those are
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blessings from God for sure, and we should thank
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God if we have those in our lives. But I don't
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think that's what the psalmist is really the
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most thrilled with here. The blessing that number
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six is really promising is the blessing of God
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Himself, His personal presence in our life, the
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reality of Emmanuel, God with us. The psalmist
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doesn't just want God's gifts. He wants God Himself.
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Because He knows that's the greatest thing you
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can receive. Every speck of joy and blessing
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in our lives comes straight from Him, is tied
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to Him. And so the Psalm is asking us this morning
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as we reflect, is this what we are seeking? Is
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this what we're seeking in the middle of the
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week? It's easy to say this is what we're seeking
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right now, but what about in the middle of the
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week? Maybe we're really, if we're honest, fixated
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on other things. Some of those things I mentioned,
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on the happiness and success of our children
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or our grandchildren, on the next home we might
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get, on the next renovation of that on the next
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vacation on just having more time to Have what
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I want and peace and quiet and comfort But do
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those things really give us what we're seeking
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Do they deliver I'll be so bold to answer for
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all of us by merely looking at my own life that
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I know so often I have had something on that
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list just getting married, having kids, moving,
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buying a house for the first time, getting the
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job, buying a new guitar, and I'm always just
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moving on to the next thing. It never gives me
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deep soul satisfaction. And that's because the
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reality is the only thing that's going to give
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us that satisfaction, the most fundamental, most
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lasting blessing we could receive. is God truly
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being deeply present in our lives, in our hearts.
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And that's what I hope you're here this morning
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seeking. That's why we're here, to sit in God's
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means of grace, to have communion with Him, with
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His people, to experience more of His face shining
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upon us so that we might go out into the week
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with that more a reality of our lives. So this
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is what the blessing that the psalmist is fixed
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on, and in some ways we could just stop there.
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That's such a profound reality in its own right.
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You know, the psalmist could be like, okay, this
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is what I really need. I'm gonna be a monk and
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just go off and spend my days in the wilderness
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or in the monastery just being with God and being
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with His people. But the psalmist doesn't go
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that way. He shows us that actually this blessing
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has a very different effect in our lives. We're
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only on verse 1 and as we go on after that mid
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-sentence reflection, if you look back at verse
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2, this is what we hear. That your way may be
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known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
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The peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples
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praise you. Let the nations be glad. and sing
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for joy. It's as if, as he meditated on that
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promise, it suddenly hit him. This is too amazing
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to stay to us. This must go out. It's so massive.
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It cannot stay in the walls of Jerusalem. It
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needs to go to the ends of the earth, to all
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the nations. And maybe he was also reflecting
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on another crucial passage for the people of
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God from Genesis 12, if you remember, where the
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Lord tells Abram, go from your country and your
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kindred and your father's house to the land that
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I will show you. And I will make of you a great
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nation and I will bless you and make your name
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great so that you will be a blessing. that priestly
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blessing that Israel was to hear again and again
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and to soak in was not meant to stop with them.
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It was meant to become this opening of this great
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fountain that would overflow to the ends of the
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earth. The people of God from the very beginning
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were blessed to be a blessing. Back when I was,
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before I was at Wofford, I was actually in Western
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Pennsylvania starting an RUF at a school that
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actually someone here went to, Indiana University
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of Pennsylvania. It's named after the town it
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is in, very confusing. But I was up there and
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we're always thinking of new events to do with
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students and we had heard about this. these falls
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that were up in the mountains kind of you had
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to go on a hike and there was this deep part
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of it where you could actually jump off the waterfalls
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into the water and so I went out to scout it
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out with another student and when we got up there
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there were some locals that were kind of hanging
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out and they said hey okay here's here's the
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way that you need to jump in the water and I
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remember when I jumped into that water It was
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so refreshing. I got out and it felt like I had
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just taken a shower. I walked back up to the
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top of the falls again and was talking to the
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locals there and they were like, yeah, this is
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fresh mountain water. It's constantly flowing.
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It's perfectly fine to drink. Now there was another
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body of water that those falls eventually flowed
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into that was down the way called Yellow Creek
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or crick as they call it in western, Pennsylvania
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I need people would fish there there be boats
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people kayaking But very few people were swimming
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in it. No one would dare drink from it. It was
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stagnant and gross and you'd see those large
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bodies of algae everywhere floating around That
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is the difference between having God's blessing
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flowing through us and us just stockpiling it
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up for ourselves. When we just keep it there
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and stock it up, it gets stagnant, it begins
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to rot, it grows the algae. That's not how God
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designed his blessing to work. The blessing that
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we experience in knowing Jesus through the gospel
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is meant to transform us into the stream of water
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that's constantly fresh. Because it's flowing
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into the lives of other people around us There
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was actually a study that was done a while ago
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that looked at families that were really well
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-to -do White -collar professionals and they
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watched what happened to the kids over a 20 -year
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period in these families and the surprising thing
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they saw was just these escalating problems with
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mental health and Even teen suicides had doubled
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in that group And they concluded in that study,
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complete financial security, excessive freedom
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to learn and explore, provision of very wide
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opportunities for entertainment, recreation,
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and education. Good things. Things I think I'd
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want for my kids that I'm often striving for
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them. These things have been discovered to lead
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to apathy, laziness, inability to commit to goals,
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attitudes of entitlement, indecisiveness, moodiness,
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irritability, low self -confidence, and insecurity.
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What? What in the world? What is that showing
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us? It's saying when we make all the blessings
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that God gives us about us, about just our most
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intimate circle, it doesn't work. it backfires.
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The waters of blessings become a curse. And this
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is the case not because God just wanted to make
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the world this way, this is the case because
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it is his very nature as this overflowing triune
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God. I love what the Puritan Richard Sibbes says
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about this reality and God, he says the father
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the Son and the Holy Spirit, were happy in themselves,
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by themselves, and enjoyed one another before
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the world was created, but that God delights
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to communicate and spread his goodness, there
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would have never been a creation or a redemption.
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The blessings that we have just been singing
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and praising God for, His beauty in creation,
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His beauty in redeeming us in Christ, they're
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not there because God had to love us, He had
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to create us. They're merely because He is an
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overflowing God, that it's not in His nature
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to keep His blessedness to Himself. He's not
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this stagnant pond. He's this infinitely pure
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flowing stream going outward. And so when we
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think of our call as a missionary church, a missionary
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people, we're really imitating the God who created
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us and redeemed us. We're designed to do this.
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That's what I was hitting at the beginning. When
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we delight in something, We want to share it
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with other people. That's really what evangelism,
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what missionary work is all about. We're all
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already evangelists and missionaries. It just
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happens to be for whatever you're really worshiping
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at the moment, what you're really thrilled with.
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Maybe it is what's going on with your family,
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some amazing thing your kid or grandkids did.
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You've got to post it on Facebook. You got to
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tell people about it. Maybe it is the vacation.
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or even something as silly as just a football
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game or a play that you saw. We have no problem
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sharing about the things that we love. But why
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then can it feel strange or not natural to share
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about Jesus with others? Why do we often as Christians
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feel faked and forced when we think about evangelism
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and trying to do that. Maybe we do need to think
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about how we do that, how we communicate, think
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about things from a practical, technical perspective,
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but I think, again and again, the most, the biggest
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problem when the church becomes not a missionary
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church, when we move away from an evangelistic
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posture, it's because we've stopped delighting
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in God and resting in his presence. How could
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we sell a product, to say it crassly, that we're
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not buying, that we don't want, that we're not
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delighting in? And so I know when I have found
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myself slipping into passivity, it is so often
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rooted in this. And what I need to do is to go
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back into prayer, into God's word, into relationship
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with God's people, and ask God to renew my heart."
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That's what Jesus does. In Matthew 9, when he
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sees that there's such a need for workers to
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go in the harvest, he doesn't just say, you guys
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get out there, do that, work harder. What are
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you doing? No, he says pray. Pray that God would
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send workers out into the harvest. So the blessing
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of God, when we truly experience it, it should
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flow out. to those around us. But what does it
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look like when it flows out and how far does
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it flow out? And that's what the psalmist gives
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us, the tail end of the psalm, a little glimpse
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of what this blessing looks like. That it is
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actually a very earthy blessing. God gets his
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hands dirty in blessing us. You see that in verses
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six through seven. The earth has yielded its
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increase. God our God shall bless us. God shall
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bless us. Let the ends of the earth fear him.
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I have to backtrack and actually qualify my very
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first earlier point that while the psalmist is
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not just seeking God's gifts, but God himself,
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God's blessing is connected to the real world,
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to material blessing. Maybe that's why it's so
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easy to mistake God's gifts for himself. The
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imagery here is harvest imagery. That language
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of the earth has yielded its increase. You could
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translate it, the earth has produced its harvest.
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And what the psalmist is showing us is that God
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does not show up in this abstract way in our
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life. When He shows up, He's not at the door
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empty -handed. He's there with a giant bouquet
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of flowers and a lavish meal that He's brought
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for us to come and enjoy. The God, His presence
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in our lives and the world makes the world fruitful.
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It brings a harvest. And we see this in the just
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earlier Psalm, Psalm 65. This vivid picture of
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God's overflowing presence in the world, where
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the psalmist sings, God, you visit the earth
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and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river
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of God is full of water. You provide their grain,
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for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows
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abundantly. settling its ridges, softening it
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with showers, and blessing its growth. The pastures
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of the wilderness overflow. The hills gird themselves
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with joy. The meadows clothe themselves with
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flocks. The valleys deck themselves with grain.
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They shout and sing together for joy. And the
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significance of this for us is that as we seek
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to Be these channels, be God's overflowing presence
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in this world out towards others. It's not only
25:10
about merely evangelism and what we say to people,
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but it's about what we do. It's about how we
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use the gifts and talents God has given us. It's
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about how we cultivate this earth and serve others
25:23
with it. That this adorns this message of the
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gospel, our good works. Again with the harvest,
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God is not out there picking the grain. Ordinary
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people like all of us in this room are doing
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that. And so don't undermine the really simple
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things, all the simple things that went in this
25:46
morning to make this service happen. All the
25:48
people that are serving and ways that go unnoticed,
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God notices it. And that's you being a part of
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this overflowing blessing to others through the
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practical things that you do. One of my favorite
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aspects of campus ministry so far is hospitality.
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That is the heartbeat of our ministry that RUF
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does not show up to campus empty -handed. We
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show up at the beginning of the semester with
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Wofford last year with a huge ice cream social
26:26
and a barbecue. With our student leaders, we
26:29
have them over every week and we make desserts.
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I'm pretty into cooking and always trying to
26:34
come up with new desserts. In fact, when I had
26:36
to tell them about this news that we're moving
26:39
on and taking this new call in Belgium, I looked
26:41
up very carefully and tried to make an authentic
26:44
Belgian waffle recipe and had a Belgian waffle
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bar for them. And one of my, the events that
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I look forward to every single year is during
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Wofford's interim term in January where a lot
26:58
of students are studying abroad and then some
27:00
are here in town taking kind of... I call them
27:04
kind of joke classes. There's like a class on
27:07
coffee or a class on like scuba diving or something,
27:12
all kinds of crazy things. They have a lot of
27:14
more free time. And so what we do that month
27:16
is we have students over every Monday night for
27:20
dinner and have 30, 40 students in our house.
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And it's this beautiful moment, especially those
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on the fringes, those that would never come to
27:27
church, would never come to large group. They'll
27:29
come over for a free meal. And as we think about
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that, how we're going to do that, we could just
27:36
be like, OK, how do we do this as quickly and
27:38
cheaply as possible? But Kim and I don't do that.
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We want this to be a really great meal. That's
27:45
a factor. But we want to put some effort and
27:48
energy and thought into it. And sure, maybe it
27:51
is nice to get some compliments on our cooking
27:54
some. But on a deeper level we do this because
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that is how our God shows up. He's a lavish,
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He's abundant. And that's what we see in the
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ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ too. When God
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wanted to communicate the blessing of His presence
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in the most profound way to send Emmanuel God
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with us. He sends his son not only to preach
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and to repent, though as central as that was
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to his ministry, but to heal the sick, to feed
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thousands. What was Jesus' first miracle? It
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was turning gallons and gallons of water into
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not just okay boxed wine, but fine, expensive
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wine. It was better than all the wine they had
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had before to keep this wedding party going.
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That was the opening miracle of Jesus's ministry.
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Jesus is the answer to what this psalmist is
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looking for, longing for. He brings God's presence
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with this fruitful harvest. It's interesting
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in Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah in Chapter
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61, where we hear the voice of Christ, we also
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hear harvest imagery. We hear these familiar
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words, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because
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the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to
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the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
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to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
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of the prison to those who are bound. As the
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earth brings forth its sprouts, And as the garden
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causes what is in sown in it to sprout up, so
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the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
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to sprout up before all the nations. And that's
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what we see happening in the gospel in Jesus.
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That God the Father is pouring out the blessing
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of his presence through his spirit on Jesus and
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all its fullness. and through him that blessing
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is overflowing from God's people to the ends
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of the earth. He will cause the earth to yield
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its increase but not as just this temporary harvest
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but this eternal lasting one through his resurrection
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from the dead. Righteousness and praise sprouting
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out before all nations in Jesus. That's what
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we see at the end of the biblical story in Revelation.
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Yet in order for that to happen, the Father had
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to turn His face away from His Son. On the cross,
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what do we see happening? Jesus is not receiving
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the covenantal blessing of God's presence. He's
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receiving the answer to this prayer, to this
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psalm that we deserve because of our sin. No,
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I will not bless you. You are not worthy of my
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presence. I will not make my face to shine upon
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you. You've rebelled against me. Jesus received
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that answer. He was rejected so that we could
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actually pray the psalm confidently and just
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know, say with the psalmist, God will bless us.
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Overflowing curse was poured out on Christ on
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the cross so that overflowing blessing might
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be poured out. on us when we have faith in him.
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And through him, through his death and resurrection,
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this promise that Jesus himself gave in John
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7 is true. If anyone thirsts, let him come to
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me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the
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scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
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rivers of living water. Psalm 67, that is the
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message of it. That is what it is trying to get
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us to, that through Jesus we can become these
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streams of living water and bless others as we
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are blessed ourselves. Let me close as, join
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me in prayer.