Bible Text: Psalm 84 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Lou Saldiveri | Series: Sunday Morning Worship

— Pastor Lou’s Notes —
Intro:

During life’s journey, we all meet special people. These are people who have had and may continue to have a positive influence on us. These are people with whom we enjoy spending time. When we don’t see these special people for awhile, we find ourselves longing to see them. This could be a parent, grand parent, sibling, spouse, close relative or close friend.

When a Christ follower is spending time in the presence of God, something special happens. We find the the more time we spend in the presence of God, the greater our hunger to be with Him. Psalm 84 speaks to this longing to be in the presence of God in worship. In fact, we start to find out that when we spend time in worship, we experience the blessing of joy and happiness.

Look how the Psalmist puts it:

The soul longs to be in the presence of the Lord v. 1-4 The house of the Lord is a place where Christ followers gather to worship The Living God is the object of our worship To be near God brings blessings Worship should start on the way to the place of worship v. 5-7 We are blessed when our strength is in the Lord Sometimes life’s journey takes us through some dry and desert like times Strength: It is the Lord’s strength that helps us through those times Comfort: His blessing even in tough times could make a tough journey more pleasant Prayer that helps us navigate life v. 8-12 The request for the Lord Almighty to hear and listen to our prayer Pray for protection Affirming that , “Better is on day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere”Affirming our humble service before the Lord Experience the blessings of trusting God

The challenge:

Perhaps we need to some adjustment of our priorities. This starts by asking the Lord to help us make individual worship and corporate worship a priority. Practically speaking:

We need to practice the presence of God We need to understand and embrace the need to be in the presence of God together The we are able to receive and enjoy the blessings God has for us

God can only helps us make it a priority by falling deeper in love with the Savior who died for me. The only way to fall deeper in love with Christ is to spend more time with