Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Sermon Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist where it means basically a harp. This psalm was a song that was sung being accompanied by a harp. A psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable, or loved, beloved, are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. Do you feel that way on Saturday night? For a church on Sunday, I long for it. Some of you it's basically, it's long we sit there.

Can I be real personal and honest? There's some Saturday nights I don't long for it. There's some times you're tired, you're weary, you're hurt. You're like, oh, man.

I don't know if I feel like this in the morning. But you know, I think a lot of times we confuse people with God's house. We don't come here because of people.

And we don't not come here because of people. We come here and continue to come here because we love the Lord. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

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. Be it maybe this has nothing to do with our message, if you misunderstand that verse. What he is saying is this, that just like a sparrow has found a place for her children, and just like a swallow has found a place to house her family, I have chosen to put my family in the house of God. God bless you for choosing to keep your home and your family in God's house. Look at verse four if you would. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They will still be praising thee, Selah.

Now that's a hint. That word, they will still be praising thee, that's a hint of what is getting ready to take place in the next few verses. Why would, when it says that you would still be praising thee, it's almost insinuating the word in spite.

Or the two words in spite of. What is he talking about here? Look at verse five. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, and whose heart are the ways of them.

Now we hear it. Who passing through the valley of Baka, make it a well. The rain also filleth the pools.

They go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appearth before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, Selah.

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

You ushers ought to love that. He said, I'd rather be an usher in God's house than to be anywhere else. What a joy it is to serve in God's house. Verse 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. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. That's a great chapter, isn't it? Let me preface to say this before we pray. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were always on the mountain tops? Wouldn't that be great? Just every day you wake up and things are great.

Everybody's healthy. You're rolling in dough. I don't mean like you're a doughnut maker. I mean money. Although that would be great too. Wouldn't it be wonderful if life was just always positive and mountain top experiences?

In fact there are actually, I'm not here to criticize, there are a few preachers that if you listen to them they'll tell you that the Christian life is supposed to be that. You always have victory. You're always well. You're always bountiful. You're always making money.

Wouldn't it be great if life was like that? But we find in verse 6 that even individuals that have chosen to put their family in the house of God, even individuals that love God in verse 1 and 2, even individuals that can't wait to get to God's house, that love serving God, that feel that they are blessed by being in God's house, all these things in verse 1 through 5, and all the things in verse 9 all the way down through verse 12, of all the things that God has done, even people like that have to go through valleys in verse 6. That word baka means weeping. Actually this valley of baka is a valley of brush and thorns, a very difficult area in Palestine. It cannot normally be passed through without somebody getting cut or hurt.

It's very hard. In fact this area is where a lot of turmoil is because it's hard for what we would call the good guys to get at the bad guys because the terrain is so bad. This valley of weeping. What is interesting here is that you'll find later on in the passage in verse 7 that they're going to Zion. What you don't understand about this chapter is that they were literally going through the valley of weeping trying to get to the house of God. How many times during a week do we go through valleys just trying to make it to Sunday? By the time we meet next Sunday we've had a rough day, we've gone through valleys, we've been crying, we've had to deal with circumstances and family and disappointment and all these things and then a preacher gets up and blasts us. Thank you for not saying amen right there. Wouldn't it be great if life was lived on the mountain and never in the valley but dear friend if life was always lived on the mountain and we never went through the valleys we would be sorry Christians.

We would be spoiled rotten Christians who would not need God. This morning I want to talk to us about what to do when you're traveling through. I want to talk about valleys today. The Bible's full of metaphors, there's a lot of them, but what I find interesting is that God talks about the valley. One of the most famous passages of scripture, Psalm 23. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Even in verse one the Lord is my shepherd, that means even those saved individuals sometimes have to go through the valleys of the shadow of death. You might be in a valley this morning, you might be coming out of a valley this morning, you might be heading into one. Let's ask God to help us as we think about this when you're going through the valley remember these things that this passage teaches us. I'm excited about this this morning. If for no other reason you just sit and do your duty by your time at church while Daniel Hotry preaches to myself because I had something else planned for this till yesterday.

Sent Ben another outline last night, said I apologize, I'm sorry. This is what God has led for this morning. Lord we love you, bless us as we talk about things that we should remember while we're walking through the valley of Baca. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The valley of weeping. Number one, when you are passing through this valley that was described in chapter 84, number one, I want you to look at verse five. It says blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, notice this, in whose heart are the ways of them. Now for English let's look at this because you've got to understand what's going on in verse five. It says blessed are they, and in English the subject here is they, it's the understood subject, and the verb is given in the first word of the sentence. So we would say it this way, they are blessed that dwell in thy house. Now house here is a noun and thy is obviously a word that's describing this word house, but it's talking about God's house, thy house. So we're talking about God, it's blessed are they, are those, they are blessed that dwell in God's house, notice this last phrase, in whose heart are the ways of them.

Who are we talking about in whose heart? In God's heart. In God's heart are the ways of them.

Number one, when you're passing through the valley, what do we remember? Number one, remember that God chose this route. God chose this route. Now I will tell you this, God does not choose sin. And there are times that you and I go through difficulty because of our sin.

Now don't blame God for that. That's like somebody going out and getting drunk and killing somebody with a car and then we say why does God, why did God choose this route for me? He didn't choose that route for you. Sometimes we choose the routes for ourselves because of our sin. But you understand what I'm saying here, you've got to understand as you go through these valleys of life that you've got to remember that God chose this route. It is in his heart are the ways of us. That means this, it's not that God's just sitting here making us go through things for no purpose. Our ways are in his heart. Not his mind, in his heart.

He loves us. And God knows that the valley sometimes are the best place for us. John chapter 10 verse 27 says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You've got to remember folks as you go through valleys and difficult things that God chose this route. It's not an easy road but Jesus is leading the way. There might be trials, there might be troubles, there might be sickness, there might be sorrow, there might be pain, there might even be death.

It's a route that requires faith but you've got to remember that God is in control and if he led you to this then he chose this route. I think of Mary and Martha, we always bring them up. But here they are, Lazarus was dead. They said where is Jesus? He hadn't showed up. They thought if he got here in time he could keep Lazarus from dying and Jesus showed up late they thought and they're all in a tizzy and yet then Jesus just rose Lazarus from the dead.

He was right on time the entire process. I'll tell you who else I think of, I think about Joseph. Oh what a route God chose for him. Went through a pit, went to a prison, bad thing after bad thing, brothers try to kill him. Isn't that a great family? You think you have a dysfunctional family.

Don't talk about dysfunctional, did your brothers dig a hole and throw you in and try to kill you? There might be one in here that's like yeah yeah that happened, I don't know. I think about Noah. What a route God chose for him. We always talk about how it must have been to be ridiculed like Noah was all those years. But just think about what it was to have to work on that arc all those years. Think of the physical labor that Noah had to put forth. Then he got his sons involved and imagine how difficult it was to make them work.

You ever try to get teenagers to work? Take that trash out. Break those leaves. Here's Noah, all this work, being ridiculed, all these things, looking like an idiot. What a route. You need to remember and I need to remember that our way is in the heart of God.

He chose this route. Number two, I want you to remember this, that it is for the glory of God and for your good. It is for God's glory and your good, this valley. Going through the valley of Baca and going through this weeping and we've preached on this passage before but you've got to remember as you go through these valleys and you face these difficult times that it is about the glory of God and not your glory and it is about your good and not what we want. Notice if you would, verse five. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee and whose heart are the ways of them. Verse seven, they go from strength to strength. Every one of them in Zion appearth before God. Notice verse four. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house.

They will be still praising who? So notice in verse four, blessed, that's for our good. Notice the end, praising thee, it's for his glory. I'm here to tell you if God brings you through a valley, it's for your good and it's for his glory. I'm going to tell you something, I've watched some of you go through some valleys recently and God's gotten the glory for it. It's been amazing. I've watched some of you struggle in the sickness and the cancer and the treatments and all these things and I know probably not a lot of folks say a lot of things.

They don't know what to say and they don't really know how to help. They just pray and you're on our minds and things but I'm here to tell you as you watch that you realize that man alive, they have given God the glory and God has gotten the glory out of this and it doesn't even really matter what happens to us. Whatever God allows, we know it's for our good and we know that he will get the glory out of it. We've got to remember that. You know it's in the valley where the presence of the shepherd is so wonderful. You know when you don't have problems, who needs a shepherd? When you're in a valley, you need the shepherd. Do you know it's in the valley where the grass is greener? There's more water there. You know it's in the valley where we find still waters? Do you know it's in the valley where you and I are drawn closer to the Lord? It's in the valley where we grow our faith. It's in the valley where we see God working. It's in the valley where we learn God's perfect will. It's in the valley that we realize God will bring us out. The valley is so important. It's important for God to get the glory and it's important for our good.

I want you to notice number three. When you're walking through the valley, number three, remember to rely on God's strength, not your own. Look at verse five. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. Notice if you would, verse seven, they go from strength to strength.

The Bible puts it this way. You and I are to move from faith to faith. Oftentimes, you and I, we go through these valleys and we think I just can't handle it and you're right. And we think I just can't deal with this and you're right. And we think I can't take anymore and you're right. But if we rely on the strength of God as we go through these things, we'll find out that his strength is sufficient. You and I forget sometimes we weren't made to be able to go through the valleys. Jesus was. So we've got to let him do the work.

We can't. I don't know about you, but you need to rely on God's strength, not your own. What's interesting, look at verse five. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. That means this. If you want to be blessed in your life, you stay dependent upon God.

Isn't that amazing? This verse teaches us that being blessed is directly related to being dependent. Being blessed is not related to being independent. You think you can do things on our own and we think we can do things without the help of God.

And we think we've learned it now and we've figured it out now. And we can just go through life and we can make these decisions without getting down on our face and pleading before God to help us make a right decision. You think you can go through life like that? Then we're not going to live a blessed life. But if you and I stay totally, 100%, absolutely dependent upon God, He'll bless us. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. In fact, the Bible says this, that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness.

I wanted to read this to you. Matthew Henry, not Kerwin's Matthew Henry, the commentator Matthew Henry. He said this, those who are truly happy, who go forth and go on not in their own strength, but in the strength of the grace of Jesus Christ, from whom all our sufficiency is, they are the blessed individuals. The Bible says blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. The Bible says blessed is the man that makes God his strength. The Bible says blessed is the man who stays himself upon thee. The Bible says blessed is the man who makes God their strong tower. The Bible says blessed is the man who runs to God for safety.

Proverbs chapter 18 says happy is the man whose hope is in the Lord his God. Dear friends, as you and I go through the valleys, we've got to rely on his strength, not our own. You say, how do you know if I'm relying on his strength or my strength? That's pretty easy to see, isn't it?

Pretty easy to see. I want you to notice, fourthly, as you walk through the valley, remember, listen to this, stay in God's house. Look at verse four. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. That word dwell means to reside permanently. That means that we've made a decision, I don't care if valleys come or mountains come, we're going to dwell in the house of God. Look at verse one. This is what David says, how amiable are thy tabernacles.

That word amiable means loved or beloved. He's saying how we love to be in God's house, how we have determined that we are always going to be in God's house. Come hell or high water, we're going to be in God's house. What's amazing is that oftentimes when folks go through the valleys is exactly the time they get out of God's house.

And then I'm not trying to make you feel guilty or bad or anything. If you're here this morning, it means you've obviously won a moral victory in your own life because if all of us were honest, all of us have times where we don't want to go to church. You and I have got to determine, we are going to stay in God's house. Listen to me, valleys often make vacant the house of God.

Number five, that's all I'll say about that. I'm afraid people would think that you're just getting on them for not coming to church. Let me tell you something folks, I understand.

I do. I would feel sorry for you if you had a pastor that didn't understand how difficult it is to go to church sometimes. You don't feel like staring at people. You don't feel like people staring at you. You don't feel like answering the questions.

You don't feel like having to put on a front so that you can act happy and that everything's okay. And you're hurting and usually somebody there has said something to hurt you or whatever the case might be also. And I'm going to tell you something, if you're not careful, we get our eyes on people and we walk through these valleys and we have those old briars and those old thorns that attack us and we're crying and we're weeping and we're hurting and we go through that valley and we say I'm just not going to go to church this week. But I'm here to tell you, you've got to rely on God's strength, not your strength and you've got to come to church not because of you or others but because of God.

You've got to stay in God's house. Number five. When you're going through the valley you've got to remember, number five, to keep working in the valley.

To keep working in the valley. I find this very interesting. Look at verse six. Who passeth through the valley of Baca or weeping, notice this, they make it a well. The rain also filleth the pools. Now last time I checked, pools dug out and valleys aren't a natural thing.

Somebody's got to do that work. And as he's saying this and talks about the house of God and how I love the house of God but now we're going through a valley and it's not just a valley, it's a painful valley, it's a mournful valley, it's a weeping valley. But while we're going through the valley this passage says that you've got to make it a well. And what they often did in this valley in Palestine is that they would begin to dig and it was difficult to get through there and there's a couple reasons why they would dig. Number one, they would dig to try to make a path for the next people that come. Number two, they would dig where they could finally reach water. You say, well that's, you know, I got a well at my house, I forget 100 something feet they had to go down.

You've got to remember they don't have to go down too far because they're already in a what? In a valley. You know when you walk through the valley as a Christian, guess what? You can get to water pretty easy. Because you're already low.

You're already on the bottom. Let me tell you something, what he's saying is this, while you're in the valley he said, well you just get that old shovel, you get that old stick or you get whatever you've got. And you just begin to dig down until you hit some water. Because as you go through this valley it's going to be hard and it's going to be tiresome and it's going to be confusing and you're going to have to face briars and bushes and rough terrain.

But you're going to need some water, you're going to need some refreshment, you're going to need some nourishment, you're going to need something that will help you keep going. You've got to find something that will help you while you're in the valley to make it possible for you to get out of the valley. So while you're there, instead of complaining and crying and hurting, get a shovel and dig a well. Now why was it important for them to dig a well? Well, number one, they dug the well for the now, for the present. They needed water then, they needed refreshment then, so often times it would be difficult, they wouldn't make it all the way through there in one day and stuff, and so they would dig a well and they would dig holes sometimes when they couldn't get to water.

And what they would do is they would dig down and if they couldn't get the water then they would just leave that hole there and it would often rain and that rain would fill up those holes and it would make pools of water. And so they did it, why? For the now, because they needed it now. Number two, they did it for later. Because they would have to come back through that valley again, because they were going to come to God's house again, and they were going to travel to Mount Zion again, so next time they came through, because they did the work now, there would be that nourishment, there would be that water, there would be that place where they could find what they needed to get through that valley.

They did it for now, they did it for later, but number three, they did it for others. Because there might be somebody else going to come through this valley soon, so I'm going to dig me a well so I can get some water now, and if I have to travel back through I'll get some water now, but if I don't even make it out of here, or if I never make it back, there's going to be somebody else traveling through this exact same valley, there's going to be somebody else going through the exact same thing, so I want to make it where they can get nourished. Let me put it this way, you build the pool, God will fill it.

I love this, it said they built wells, which means they actually reached water, but they also just dug holes when they couldn't, and God filled them. Let me tell you what you and I need to do, buddy, you're going through the valley and you're having a hard time, and you say I just can't hit water, then you just dig a hole, and if you build the pool, God will fill it. God will give you exactly what you need, when you need it the most.

Remember, He's the one that chose this route for you. He knows exactly where you are. I want you to notice this, number six, keep praying in the valley. Look if you would at verse eight.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob, Selah. I don't have time this morning, but I would love to tell you why He said, O God of Jacob.

I could take you through some instances, because they knew Old Testament history, and they knew what had transpired, and what He was basically saying was this, there's some valleys that Jacob had to go through, and there's some mistakes that Jacob made in his life, but God, you heard his prayer in those valleys, and you heard his prayer despite his mistakes, and if you did that, then I need you to hear mine now. You know what we often do when we go through the valleys and we're hurt, and we're damaged, we quit praying. We withdraw from God's people, and we withdraw from God Himself. We quit praying. You know, oftentimes I think sometimes we quit praying. You know why? Because we're guilty.

We're like, you know, I've got a rotten attitude right now. Why would I go talk to God? You know, I'm mad at others right now, and I'm not doing right, and I'm not living right, and I've made some mistakes, and I sinned, and I went right back to that life last weekend where I came out of, and I feel rotten, and we feel so bad, and we feel so guilty that now we just won't even talk to God, just like Adam did in the Garden of Eden when he sinned.

He withdrew. He didn't come out and talk to God like before, and yet that's the one time he needed to talk to God more than any other. And dear friend, I'm here to tell you, you've got to remember, God knows exactly where you're hiding. You're not going to surprise Him. You're not going to disappoint Him.

He saw it. You just keep praying. You just come to Him and say, God, my attitude's rotten right now, and I'm in sin right now, and I know I'm wrong, but God, I need your help. I'm in this valley, and I can't get out. Keep praying in the valley.

What I find interesting, let me say this. Look at verse 8. He says first, O Lord God of hosts, then He says, hear my prayer.

What he is saying there first, he acknowledges that you know what? You are God to a lot of people, and there's a lot of people that are calling on you right now at the same time maybe, and Lord knows that many people are on the earth right now is so huge compared to what we're in, and I'm going to tell you something right now. I know when I get down and pray that God's probably listening to prayers of hundreds of thousands of individuals, but what he is saying is this. Listen, I know you're Lord of hosts, and I know you've got a lot of people to take care of, but I need you to hear my prayer, and I'm here to tell you while God is powerful to meet the needs of so many people, He is personal to love you, and He hears your prayer. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.