Staying with the One Thing: Part 2

Christ Restoration Church Sermons

Psalm 84
July 7, 2024
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“We pilgrims walk the tightrope between earth and heaven, feeling trapped in time, yet with eternity beating in our hearts. Our unsatisfied sense of exile is not to be solved or fixed while here on earth. Our pain and longings make sure we will never be content, but that’s good: it is to our benefit that we do not grow comfortable in a world destined for decay.”

~ Joni Eareckson Tada (1949-present), American author & radio host

“The Christian is the most contented man in the world, but he is the least contented with the world. He is like a traveler in an inn, perfectly satisfied with the inn and its accommodation, considering it as an inn, but putting quite out of all consideration the idea of making it his home.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon ( 1834-1892), English pastor and author

“To be lonely is to be aware of an emptiness that takes more than people to fill. It is to sense that something is missing which you cannot name… Maybe in the end it is Zion that we’re lonely for, the place we know best by longing for it, where at last we become who we are, where finally we find home.”

~ Frederick Buechner (1926-2022), American writer and pastor

“All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still ‘about to be’.”

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.”

~ C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and lay theologian

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’”

~ John 19:28 (ESV)

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

~ Revelation 7:16-17 (ESV)

Sermon Passage

Psalm 84 (NIV)

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! ² My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. ³ 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. ⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. ⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. ⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. ⁷ They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. ⁹ Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.

¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ 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. ¹² LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.