Song Of Ascent

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Hallelujah! How many of you know it is a little bit of a rush, to get here on Sunday morning? It is like you get up and you have so much to do. How many things do you think of, other than thinking about coming into the presence of God on a Sunday Morning? Quite a few!

If you remember it was about two weeks ago when we talked last time and I read an article about Jesus chasing us through our busy schedules. I don’t know how much you remember of that but,
This morning I want turn the tables and I want to talk about how we can chase God.

There is a Scripture that says, That Jesus was following the Israelites through the wilderness.
Because they weren't following Him, God ended up following them. We don’t want God following us, because His ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts above our thoughts. And how many of you want the God of the universe following you like you are the deal. It doesn't work that well. That’s why they remained in the wilderness for forty years... when they turned around and followed God they went into the promised land.

So what I wanted to talk to you about a little bit this morning is how we pursue the presence of God. I am going to take you back into the Old Testament .

You may not be aware of this all, but three times a year all males 20 years and up were required to make a journey to Jerusalem, to the presence of God. From wherever they farmed, from wherever they ran their business, wherever they did their work, they had to make a trip. 
They had to go up to Jerusalem, the place where God had put His presence and they had to go there physically. Now we know that in the new covenant we do not have to go to Jerusalem. How many people want to have to travel to Jerusalem three times a year? It gets pretty expensive. But in the new covenant, the presence of God has not changed, just where it dwells has changed. Now in the New Testament it says “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." So what I am going to tell you this morning, don’t just apply it to Corporate worship service in this place. But apply it when you go into your prayer closet on Monday morning, Tuesday Morning, Wednesday morning, Thursday night, Saturday in the afternoon, whenever you go to prayer, think about this process.

The commandment was this that they would not come empty handed, but they would come with something in their hand. If you lived close by, these men would have to get up early in the morning, they would take a goat or a sheep or whatever their sacrifice was and they would walk that pathway up to Jerusalem.

Now every man in Israel was walking that pathway up to Jerusalem as well, so they would meet each other along the way and they would sing.  Several Psalms in the book of Psalms, we have today are songs these men sang together as they met in the little byways, highways and pathways coming from the fields and heading toward the main roads, that all lead to Jerusalem. Notice it was men not women who were required to go meet with God, guys listen to this, God calls men to Himself. 

This idea of preparation, is so foreign to our American mindset. We are so instant, so… pop it in the micro wave, hit the button, turn on a dime. But there is something about real things, whether it is romance, marriage, or a relationship with God that takes time, trust takes time, building a relationship takes time. And if we wing in here Sunday morning, with about three seconds of preparation time, and we can miss the deeper relationship God wants to have with us.

How many people prefer frozen microwave pizza, to the really good Italian pizza fresh from a pizzeria?
Raise your hand if you like frozen pizza better than real. (no hands went up) When we come in on Sunday morning with a 'flash in the pan' attitude, we exprerience GodJesus in a frozen pizza, watered down, throw it together mode. And we don’t get the full flavor, that takes time. The wood fired pizza, so to speak. I am way off my topic, aren’t I? but not really because these pictures help us understand God.

Let me paint the picture for you. If you lived too far away to carry your sacrifice with you, then the law provided that you would sell the goat the sheep whatever and turn it into money that would be easier to carry in your pocket. Now this option takes even more preparation because you would have to sell it when it was still a market day. Some people already traveled two or three days to get to Jerusalem. Obviously it will not take you two or three days to get here. And hopefully, it will not take two or three days to get to your prayer closet. But there is a preparation that is required, and what I want you to do this morning, in your hearts, is to turn that little switch off. The switch that turns off the American lifestyle, the instant lifestyle.

And when I finish reading this Song of Ascent of David, when they start playing, I want you to mentally start that journey. Leave your place of business, your place of education, your place of all the family responsibilities, the family farm, the family household. You know what I am talking about, the cluttered closets, the dirty dishes, paying the bills, unfinished homework. Start taking that journey in your heart as they play worship this morning. We are going to someplace and the place we are going is where the presence of God dwells. By the Holy Spirit, by the new covenant, it says, we can come face to face, with the lover of our soul, with our Redeemer, with the One who loved us first. We can love Him because he loved us first. This is David, the king, the psalmist

Psalm 122: A song of ascents of David, 
This is a song written for the men to sing as they came up into Jerusalem. Wouldn’t it be great if …when everybody parked up here in the parking lot and when we saw each other, that we would begin to sing songs, as we walked down the steps and the city would hear it .. of course they would have to be short songs. And we come at such varied times, Can you picture this maybe a million men, or a million and a half men singing as they are coming up to the temple mount in Jerusalem from every side. You can as you get closer, you can hear the guys singing that are coming from the opposite direction. They are singing one of the songs of Zion!

“I was glad when they said unto me let us go up unto the house of the Lord.  

Our feet are standing within your gates Oh Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together where the tribes go up,

the tribes of Lord to the testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the Lord, 

for thrones are set there for judgement, the thrones of the house of David. 

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you”

They are not talking about just a city here. Do you understand what they are talking about?
They are talking about You, the place where his presence dwells. Jerusalem is just the name of the city, but pray for the peace (salem) of God in your life, pray for peace in your busyness.

“May they prosper who love you”

See, now we have turned the tables, we are now pursuing God, He no longer has to pursue us anymore. We are going to the place where He is at.
In a high school romance, we’re going closer to His locker, just to see him one more time.
We’re going to go close to God this morning. We might just catch a glimpse of Him.
We might be able to leave him a little love note this morning. That is what worship is about.

“For the sake of my brethren and my companions, I will now say peace be within you because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good.”

There are other songs of ascents, but they all do this, they all focus us towards getting ready to come into the presence of God. So What I want you to do as they bring this song up, is to close your eyes, and do this. Picture water being poured over your mind, washing away all the cares of this world, all the schedules, all the things you’re thinking about; what’s going to happen today, tomorrow, this week. What happened yesterday, what happened last week.

Begin to check your heart. Is my heart a place where the Holy Spirit would come and dwell with me this morning? Is my heart a place that God would feel comfortable, coming and touching?
Or does my heart need to be cleaned? If your heart needs to be cleaned, then ask Him to come and wash your heart, so He can come and touch you there in your heart, so He can bring it to life....

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