Blessed to Bless - Brad Jones

We're going to be in Psalm 84. And as we were coming off the heels and closed the collection of no longer me and the labels from the last few weeks from Pastor Louis, anybody grateful for that collection or talk, by the way? Can we just honor that word, those words? I kept feeling led to come to the Psalms today. And I hope that you and I spend a lot of time in the Psalms because it gives us language for our worship, that we would be not consumers. That's one of our hopes around here, that we wouldn't be raising up a bunch of consumers, but that we would be raising up worshipers. Worshipers are the one true God. And the Psalms are so helpful for that because you get into this language and it's a lot of personal, heartfelt, deep language. And you're like, "Man, is that me? Do I have that kind of language? Do I have that kind of vocabulary when it comes to my relationship with God? Is that stuff coming out of my heart and out of my mouth? It's helpful for you and I to spend time in the Psalms so we can get our vocabulary. Heading in the right direction about a personal, worshipful relationship with God. So I want to be in the Psalms and honestly, I kind of avoided Psalm 84. I was just like, I don't know if the people want Psalm 84 because we talk about being a door holder a lot.

I mean, Corey just invited everybody, being a door holder at Passion Conference, Passion 2027. You're like, "Hey, we talk about being a door holder a lot." Well, not everyone knows that this is where that passage is. And I just want to give us a fresh reminder about what this whole thing is about. That it would be more than a sign up and show up, but it would be a mindset and a lifestyle and something that's in the core and the DNA of every single person that calls Passion City Church home. So let's read the whole thing and then we'll break it down. Psalm 84, this is beautiful language. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty? My soul yearns and even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow is found a home in the swallow and nest for herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar. Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are ever praising you. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. The autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God and Zion. Hear my prayer, Lord Almighty.

Listen to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, O God. Look with favor on your anointed one. Better as one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I pause right there hoping I'd get amen, something. Anybody believe that? Better as 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. For the Lord God is the son and the shield, the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, bless is the one who trust in you. Thanks be to God for the power of his word. This is beautiful language. I want this to be my language. I want this to be my heart. I want this to be the stuff that flows out of me. And as we are reading this, a lot of you probably started singing that song better as one day. Anybody want a vote that we sing that as the response to this talk? This is how I get my song request into the worship team. I just preach on what I want them to sing. And then if they don't sing it, then it's on them, not me. I've got, based on this song, three questions I want you to consider. Three questions I want you to think about.

I want to think about, as I was preparing this, I was thinking about what's the real honest answer in my life to these people. I want you to be honest about it. And I know longing is a weird word and it might not be in our vocabulary too often, but what is the one thing or the main thing that I, I'm not going to talk about it, not you for a minute, but me. What's the thing I desire, desperately desire more than anything else? What's the thing that you desperately desire more than anything else? And like, how do I determine that? How do I figure that out? Well, what's the thing that you think about the most? What's the thing that you talk about the most? What's the thing that you scheme about the most? That would give you clues to what it is you're longing for. It's a little easier to talk about my kids than it's talk about me and the things that I talk about and think about the most, but right right now we have one child, I won't call him out. Oh, I guess I already did Caleb, our son. He does have a little obsessive streak in him. Anybody got that obsessive streak? You get locked in on something and like, that's all you care about and we have to be mindful. But right now, my man wants a cowboy hat. I don't know. I mean, I grew up in West Texas, but I didn't grow up with boots in a cowboy hat. So I'm not really a West Texas boy, if we're honest, like in the real sense of the word, but like somehow Caleb's got his mind on a cowboy hat. So that's what we're talking about. We're going to look at we're trying on. He's all over Facebook marketplace. We've been in this for a few weeks and you're like, Brad, just buy him the cowboy hat. And I'm like, no, I'm just not sure if he really has any reason to wear it whatsoever in his current flow in Atlanta, Georgia, but but it's driving everything he's thinking about. But come on, for all of us deep down, I think there's something that is ruling and controlling the way that we live. And in this language of the Psalms is convicting, challenging, but it's also hopeful. He says that my, how lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty? My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. And I chose longing for instead of fainting for and crying out, but it's all in the same word, same language. And the Psalmist was, he wasn't just longing to be in a building or be in a place he was, he was longing to have an encounter with God, longing to be in the presence of God, longing to know more of God, yearning, fainting for, crying out. And I just wonder for us today, because I know deep down in our soul, that's what all of our souls are longing for,

because our souls were made by God and for God. And the deepest desires of our soul can only be met by one thing and one thing alone or one person and one person alone. And that is God. But are we choosing to activate that longing and to join in the true longing of our hearts and say, God, I just, I want more of you, the living God. Is there expectation among us when we come to church, when we show up with God's people to sing God's songs and to be under God's word? Is it, is there a thought in us today? I can't wait to meet with God today. I want, I want to touch from heaven today. I want God's hand to be on my life. And this is the Old Testament context, right? So he was thinking about a place where the presence of God was. And this was in the context of festivals where three times a year the people of God, the people of Israel would make their journey. But that he was like, he was just thinking about how lovely that place was and how he couldn't wait to get back because it wasn't just about being among the people or being amongst all the things that were happening. It was about being in the presence of God. And I want to long for more of God. I want you to long for more of God. The Scripture is real clear. It says, It's activating in the longing. Paul says it in Philippians chapter 3. I want to know Christ. So simple, we prayed it in Ephesians chapter 1. We're praying it all year that God would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we would know Him better. What are you longing for? The second question I have for you today is, do you realize how blessed you are? Amen. We got one person that realizes they're blessed. What's your name? Yolanda, do you have a cat named Buford? You do not. OK, just making sure.

If you missed last week, go back and check out Pastor Louis' message. But Yolanda realizes how blessed she is, because she was the one person that said amen. But the psalmist, he's talking about being blessed. And I know we're not in the no longer me collection anymore. But I will say, I think Pastor Louis missed a label in there. I could have gone with it myself. I was a little also intimidated to use the label maker. But we're a blessed people. That's right, Yolanda. It's just still me and you, right here. All right, can you come to the 1145? Can I tell you every time I preach? And even if I preach in a different city, Yolanda, can you go? You got me? OK, great. Don't lie in church, though. So you are coming to the 1145? Oh, see, you got to go to welcome to church after this. OK, you want a job here. You're just honestly the best in whatever you want. We're a blessed people. God's favor has been poured out on us. And I don't think we often think about it and realize the blessings that we have. And this is what the psalmist saying. He says, blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are ever praising you. And he's talking about some people that were the temple workers,

the Levites, the ones that were actually always at the house of God. And he wasn't there at the time, but he just kept thinking about like some of you were like, maybe it's awesome to work at Passion City Church. Or maybe I'm going to be a door holder. If they would just let me put my RV or my camper out here, I would just be blessed. Well, that's not what it's about anymore. It's about the fact that the dwelling place of God isn't in a place far off. It's the dwelling place of God is in us. That through Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection and our faith in him, we've been given right. We've been talking about the deposit of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance where the temple of God, his presence is with us everywhere we go. We are no longer foreigners and aliens. We're no longer far away. We've been brought near. And through this spirit, we have access to God. What a blessing. A few verses really quickly. I'll go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 3. Think we're going to verse 16. Says, don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in your midst? I mean, keep going to verse 17. If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person.

For God's temple is sacred and you together are that temple. We don't go to the physical temple. We're the temple. And Paul's writing to the Corinthians, the church and Corinth, full of a bunch of Gentiles, full of a bunch of people that were far from God that worked in the promised nation of Israel, the Israelites. But now the gospel through Jesus has gone to the whole world and he's writing to the church in Corinth and it says, don't you know? Do you really know how blessed you are? That together is God's people? You're a host of the Holy Ghost. in worship because it's not just people gathering, it's God's spirit gathering because we house God's spirit in us. Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 because that was about the church, but then he starts talking about people and he's getting in verse 19 to 20, he's talking about fleeing from sexual immorality and the sexual sins, he says, "The reason is don't you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you've received from God? You are not your own, you were bought with the price, therefore honor God with your bodies." Yolanda, we're blessed. Way more blessed than we realize because if we're honest, it's pride takes over. And the real, the reason I think I don't recognize them as blessed as I am is because I don't turn back and give God credit and thanks for the blessings he's given. And that's pride. That's me thinking or you thinking that I've sorted this out or I've got to this place or I've achieved something on my own and yes, there are things that come to us based on our hard work and dedication, but it all starts with the very breath in our lungs and the salvation given to us by Jesus and the place and the time on planet earth God has put us on and he pours out every good and perfect gift.

He's blessed us. But the greatest blessing of all, thank you one person wanted to join Yolanda and Clap, but this is getting crazy. I cannot wait for the 1145, they're going to be going nuts right here Yolanda. But the other flip side of that with blessings is kind of like how I sometimes travel and my wife gets a little frustrated with me because I get caught up in one word when I travel, I get consumed by it and it's the word upgrade. And if I'm going to a hotel and I booked the lowest room, then the day before I check and make sure the highest rooms are still available, I show up at the front desk with one word in mind and that's the word upgrade. And I'll spend a lot of time, Brittany, keep quiet over there, don't call me out, but I'll call myself out and you'll probably reference this talk back next time I do it and I receive that because I need it because I'll scheme and I'll think and I'll try to get more instead of just being happy with what I've got. The fact that we're getting to go to a hotel on a trip and do something fun and Brittany is a lot more godly than I am and she's just like let's just enjoy the trip instead of thinking about what we don't have or maybe could get and just be content. And doesn't scripture say godliness with contentment is great gain? And when it comes to God's blessing, we're either prideful and like don't thank Him for it or we spend so much time comparing our blessings with other people's blessings or wanting different blessings than the ones that we have or maybe getting a little bit better and frustrated with God because so and so has more than you. But the greatest blessings that we've got, the Holy Spirit of God living in us through the work of Jesus in our lives, let's remember how blessed we are. There's more. It says in verse 5, "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage as they pass through the valley of Baka, that they make it a place of springs." Oh, this has changed my life. We're blessed people because we have access if we choose to seek it and accept it. We have access to the strengths, the unending strengths, the incomparably great power of

the Almighty God. Blessed. [BLANK_AUDIO] Not the people who are trying to live life without God's help. No, God's favor is on those who are looking for God's help. Who are seeking God's help. Blessed are those whose strength isn't in me, or strength isn't in you. Blessed are those whose strength isn't you, God. And that's what we have in Jesus. Come on, what is it? Philippians 4, 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Ephesians 6, 1, B, or 6, 10, be strong in the Lord, and in his mighty power or strength. It was 2 Corinthians chapter 9, or chapter 12, verse 9 and 10. My grace is what's sufficient for you because my power is made perfect in weakness. God's power is made perfect in weakness. We're blessed people. And are we choosing to operate and activate in those blessings? Are we remembering how blessed we really are? The Valley of Baka, when the psalmist is saying, blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage. He says, as they walk through the Valley of Baka, so it's hard to tell. Some people would say, I tend to agree

that this was a physical place 'cause these journeys, these three times a year's journeys to the temples, or to the tabernacles, to the place where God's presence was, was not an easy journey. It wasn't comfortable to get there, a required effort, required sacrifice, required planning. A lot of us are like, I don't know if I can get to church on the day that there's a 10 mile race 'cause I'm gonna have to wait, or I don't know if I can get to passion, see church. Can you believe I got a park at Rollins? Like, we're like, you don't actually anymore 'cause right across the way we have a brand new law. Can we get a praise, report for that? But I do, a small comment, this isn't in my note, we still do use Rollins. I do want to seriously thank them and favor them because they've let us use that law for years, for free. God bless that company and their generosity towards our house. (audience applauds) But you and I are like, ah! These people, they're putting in sacrifice to get to God. It wasn't gonna be easy, and the psalmist said they're blessed and they're gonna make it through these valleys that were dry land, that were hard to get through. So it could have been a physical place, but bakah also means weeping or tears. Could be talking about the valley of tears,

the valley of weeping. So the journey to get closer to God isn't always an easy journey. It's not gonna be perfect, it's not gonna be comfortable. Following Jesus doesn't mean all your problems disappear, there's gonna be valleys, there's gonna be droughts. But our blessings aren't based on circumstances. And our worship shouldn't be based on just feelings or the temporary blessings that we receive on earth. No, our worship is based on the reality that God is on a throne in heaven. And our worship is based on the fact that he's sent his one and only son to do for us what we can never do for ourselves. And yes, circumstances may change, but the reality is our salvation will not, 'cause it's secure in Jesus forever. And we can find strength in Jesus who sits at the right hand of the throne of God. So you might be in a valley. You might be going through seasons of weeping or tears. And I don't minimize what you're going through and I'm not here to be like, "Ah, everything's rosy and amazing." And just like put a smile on your face. I'm not saying that, but I am still saying you're blessed. In Jesus, you're blessed. And he's given everything you need. He's giving you everything you need to live a life of godliness.

He's given you a source of strength that you can tap into no matter. Don't forget how blessed you are. Last question. Are you hoarding or ignoring God's greatest blessings in your life? Oh, what do you think about it? Are you hoarding? I'm just going to keep it all to myself as long as I got what I need, as long as my people got what they need, I'm good. It reminds me of, we got to get football in there. I've moved on from college football. I no longer care about college football as a Texas A&M fan. So I'll go to the Chicago Bears, who Allison convicted me or tried to reprimand me last week for rooting against our hometown team. But I grew up as a lifelong bear fan. We had a great game last week, so thank you for watching. And I grew up going to the games with my dad and now my son's going to the games and there's a huge tailgate scene when we get up there. But we're from out of town. So we don't have a parking pass. We don't have a car. We don't have the nice grill. We don't have the tricked out van or RV or camper. We're just a few people that want to be in the action. And so we'll walk through the tailgates

and we'll scope out the spreads of all, have you done this or is it just me? And we'll look around and we'll see who's got the good stuff. Who has the table with a lot of food that's overflowing that looks like the hot dogs that were bought at Costco? No, thank you. But the filet mignon and the bacon wrapped shrimp and the true Chicago style hot dog that they're smoking on the grill, we'll just linger. We'll linger. I'll pick up conversation. Now I've set my son in like, hey, get in there. Make sure you tell him from Atlanta. Make sure you tell him you've always dreamed of a moment like this and see if they'll say, hey, do you want a little bit? Because we have some extra true story, zero exaggeration. I'm not looking for the hoarders. I'm looking for those who are willing to bless somebody that is in need of great food with God's blessing. Do we hoard or do we share? Because we've been blessed to bless. We've been blessed by God not just to receive it for ourselves but to look around and see people who are in need and say, hey, I've got more than I need. I've got a lot. I've been blessed. Let me help you. Let me share with you. Let me pass along to you.

And this isn't a financial message. This is a lifestyle message. And if I'm honest and if we're not careful as the people of God, we are in danger of becoming orders. Are we good? Are we inside? Do we have the friends that we need? Do we have the church that we need? Do we have the group that we need? All that is important. All that matters. But it can't be selfish in me center because we are blessed to bless. So once we receive, then we look at and go, well, who else has need? And how can I extend? How can I share? Let's not be hoarders of God's greatest blessings. But let's not ignore it either, right? This is what the Psalm is saying. It's just really great language. Skip down to verse 10. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a son and shield. For the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. I'm gonna read it again.

And I pray, I might not even add to the words because there's, I'm gonna go both. Even though they sent the keys out to warn me it's time to wrap up, I'm going both directions. And I just couldn't help get a group of people off my mind as I was preparing this talk. And it wasn't the main point of the talk. But some of you, even though you know it's better to be in God's house and in God's presence and following the things of God and embracing the ways of God, some of you are ignoring that invitation, that opportunity. And you might be in church today or you might be listening to this talk later, but you're dwelling in the tents of the wicked. You're living a life cozying up to the ways of this world. And it's doing damage. You might be medicating or numbing or skipping over that damage, but it is damaged nonetheless. It is damaging your family. It is damaging your relationships. It's damaging your future. It's damaging your soul. (soft music) It's the tents of the wicked. I could get a little umbrella up here and you know when you're in a huge storm

and you got that puny umbrella and it just gives away. Or you're in a hail storm, you're not going to get under like a tailgating tent. You're going to get under a solid, sturdy structure. But some of you are walking through life with a flimsy umbrella in the tents of the wicked. And it's time to leave that behind because better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. If that's you, that it's living in the tents of the wicked, this is God's promise. 'Cause what you've signed up for and what you're buying into is lies. For the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. And no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless. It's true. I believe it. No good thing. No good thing does He want to hold back from you. Sure, it'd be nice to have some different earthly blessings. Sure, there are dreams in your heart that aren't bad. Sure are things that you're hoping God gives you that are good and I hope He does. But the greatest blessings we already have in Christ. Don't ignore that.

Just because you're consumed by everything else. And then come on. This heartbeat. And these verses makes me think of two things. Worship and service. Worship is the language of the Psalms. The psalmist is passing back the blessing to God. 'Cause we like to ask for the blessing. But when we receive the blessing, we should bless back. Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of His benefits. God thank you, praise you. God, do you be the glory? I'm a worshipper. I'm not just lifting my hands at the bridge of the song. No, I'm with the fruit of my lips and the way I live my life. I'm saying bless you, God. Bless you, God. I'm a worshiper, worshiper better as one day, God. Better as one day in your courts. There's no one like you. There's no one like you. You're high and exalted. You're a son and a shield. You're holy and blameless. You're the living God. You're the Almighty God. I just-- I worship you. And then I'd rather be a doorkeeper. I'm going to give you some practical things in a moment.

I mean them with all my heart. We're going to lean in. But it's not just, oh, will you sign up at Passion Conference? We do need you. We want you there. It's not just will you sign up to serve at Passion City Church? Yes, you should. If I'm honest, you're like, there's a lot of things that makes the Passion movement so special. But I think other than being a theological moment that always is pointing people to the glory of God right underneath that is this mindset of what it means to be a door holder. Because since the beginning, I remember for me, I've been around for 19 years at Passion. We did a world tour in 2008. I got to circle the world with a small band. And then we planted Passion City Church. I've got to take on more and more. And it's just seen not all of the journey, but a lot of it. And it's this mindset, right? That I would rather be a door holder or a doorkeeper. It comes from right there. And it's a mindset because door holders have been on the inside. But they choose to stand in a place that helps those that are on the outside get on the inside. Because it's not just about me being inside. But there's a whole lot of people that don't know Jesus, that aren't walking with God, that aren't encountering Him.

And so, yes, I want to be a worshipper. Bless you, God. You've blessed me. I want to bless you. But I also want to be a door holder in life. I want to think about those who don't know you. And I want to share the blessings. I want to walk through life, sharing the blessings with people. That's what it's all about. When the practical comes, this is the practical. We're kind of moving towards a response. One is a practical response. But what we're doing in a little over two months' time in Dallas Fort Worth is unheard of. Yeah, well, we did it last year. We did. That was unheard of, too. Gathering stadiums of college students from all over the world, all 50 states, over 1,000 campuses, 70, 80 countries would be represented. Crazy. Not easy, but unbelievable. Then a month later to be in Atlanta, Georgia, it Mercedes-Benz, a place that Texas A&M has never played and probably never will, sadly. But with another tens of thousands of college students, and it's been our hope since God led Pastor Louis and Shelley to plant this church and a team of people started surrounding them because it came out of the soil of passion conference.

It's been our hope since day one that it wouldn't be just what a few people are doing. But it'd be what we're doing. And so many of you lean into that, and I'm grateful. One of my favorite moments of conference every single year is our door holder rally. I think we have a few pictures of it. This is a globe-life field. This is hours before 45,000 students were going to show up in a baseball stadium. This was a couple of thousand door holders strong. And what we're doing there is we're not giving instruction right away. We're not just passing out assignments. You know what we're doing? We're worshiping. We're praying. We're believing for. We're contending. We're linking arms and say, how great is this that God is using us to make a way for college students right across roads of their life to have an encounter with Jesus that might just change them forever? We were praying this morning, and one of the girls They were standing at Shelby Farms where Passion hosted one day in 2000. She was still, she heard from people this week that can look back to 2000 and say that their lives were changed from being on that field. That same thing is still happening by the grace of God.

And if I can be so direct in this crazy journey, we need you. (gentle music) We, to pull off something crazy, it's gotta be a we. We need you to invite some students. From all over the country, call the people that you know that have college students that you don't want to miss what's gonna happen at Globe Life Field in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. We need you to serve, it's already been mentioned. And if you want to give, that is fantastic as well, 'cause those go towards scholarships and closing the gap because we do not make money ever on these gatherings. We don't lose money, we invest a lot of money. AKA, we lose money. Let it be a we. That's response number one. Response number two is to back to the three questions. What are you longing for? Do you realize how much you're blessed? But the main thing is, are you hoarding or ignoring God's greatest blessings on your life? I'm gonna pray for us. And if some of you are ready to leave the tents of the wicked, to embrace the goodness of God and the plans of God for your life, I wanna pray for you. 'Cause better is one day in his courts. And no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) You [BLANK_AUDIO]