Psalm 122 ~ I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for[a] Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 There thrones for judgment were set,
the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
8 For my brothers and companions' sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.


Phillip Phillips - Gone Gone Gone Lyric Video has a few lyrics that don't quite fit, and yet...
the Life and Verve of the Song!!!

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Abundant Life..

Jesus knew something of Rock...vacationing or traveling to Caesarea ...

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

I've done Youth Ministry for ten years now. And volunteering at the Pregnancy Assistance Center, I meet people just as they actually are. And find most people are rather, bumbling around. Looking for fulfillment. Some are bored. Actually a lot of people are bored.

What amazes them is the story of one of my favorite people, Jeremy. Jeremy's parents got marred when he was 10 years old. His dad came to realize his woman, mother to his two children, was basically dying from a needle stick. She was a nurse who contracted Hepatitis from giving a patient a shot. An accident. Then a car accident where she struck her head violently to have Seizure Disorder.

The family of four came to Clark and asked for him to marry the couple. Clark worked to do premarital counseling, baptized three of them and the couple married.

Jeremy was hit by a truck as a Freshman in High School, almost died and as he recovered, his mom died. He struck out on his own after High School and found his fast food career could get him a car payment, rent, insurance, but he could not afford to pay for college tuition. He wasn't one of the fortunate kids who went off to college -

Jeremy stopped in to see the Navy Recruiters. The officer was nice to Jeremy but expressed doubt a slight built young man with a rod in his leg could qualify. Jeremy told the officer frankly - the people left from High School were drug dealers and he really had never hoped to be a drug dealer or run with dealers. That made the Recruiting Officer rather quiet. The Officer said, "Jeremy, there is no way a smoker, built like you, could run ten miles, but when you can, call me and I will run with you - then we will talk about enlistment. What do you think, son, about a year to learn to run ten miles?"

Jeremy went back in weeks. And he ran that ten miles and talked that officer into placing him en route to paramedic training.

Jeremy dated his, now, wife by telephone for three years. And Jeremy chose to find a career, find hard work, go where the roll of the dice took him. (Christians would say God's will.)


Young people are usually quiet when I tell them about Jeremy. A few of them say, "Wow". And I tell them that is what is required. We have to build a life with deliberation and determination.



There is a well known Hymn. In one of the lyrics ... For His Church He fought and died. That might be a bit controversial, but God honors His Church. And the people the Church houses. Being in Church requires some deliberation, not blind obedience, but the determination to make the time.

I've met people who say part of their trouble is the need for more meaningful gatherings and people to meet.

And I have a solution of you.... keep deliberately deciding to go to Church. Sure, we understand physical hunger, but Spiritual hunger is easily mistaken for less enduring things.

Jesus Christ and His Church. Two Thousand Years later... like a drum baby.. never stop beating...

When life leaves you high and dry
I'll be at your door tonight
If you need help, if you need help.
I'll shut down the city lights,

(The day we found out our daughter Isabelle would die, Clark arrived to just visit for an hour. He would return later with Tricia, his wife, and we sat and just wept. Tricia would later invite me to our Needlepoint Group - widening, strengthening, deepening my heart.)

When enemies are at your door
I'll carry you away from war
If you need help, if you need help.
Your hope dangling by a string
I'll share in your suffering
To make you well, to make you well.

(When Hurricane Ike approached our city, Dee and Cindy arrived to place their hands on my huge tummy to pray for a very silent Isabelle. We all knew I couldn't leave because birth was imminent. We prayed for the safety of the house. And Edward survived going upstairs to put pans in the attic as the tornado was ripping up trees. The house and Edward were safe.)

Give me reasons to believe
That you would do the same for me.

(I've seen men give up half of their year long vacation to make sure air conditioners and lights were ready for a new Church. Mornings given up 52 weekends a year, so Church could be made ready.)

And I would do it for you, for you.
Baby, I'm not moving on
I love you long after you're gone.

(I still drive by streets, now not housing loved ones like Randy Mantai, remembering how a Church drew together for a fund raiser to make sure his huge hospital bill was covered. Remember "Grumpy Old Smokers" making sure people could stay and have a delicious meal together. Remember a man who couldn't stand easily, but greeted all the people in the same loving fashion. Remember Randy finding a way to fix the air conditioner in our car. Randy's gone Home to be with His Lord. But he is still loved.)

For you, for you.
You will never sleep alone.
I love you long after you're gone
And long after you're gone, gone, gone.

(Randy was worried about leaving Julie behind, but he's in paradise. And Julie can count on being with Randy again, believing His promises.)

When you fall like a statue
I'm gon' be there to catch you
Put you on your feet, you on your feet.
And if your well is empty
Not a thing will prevent me.
Tell me what you need, what do you need?

(Bob Harris went on home to Detroit and then he went on HOME after a drunken driver took his life; after starting a Prison Ministry I'd have to say we were all a little too immature for. And in stead, in steadfast love, he has Judy remembering Bob with love. Yet there is a wonderful, warm legacy left. Bob would go to his daughter's house, fly in, rent a car, go to the grocery and fix her a meal she would return home from work for. Bob had some wilder younger years, but he did Grow up, Grow towards Him and Go Home. Leaving a memory we will love long after he has gone.)

I surrender honestly.
You've always done the same for me.

(Honestly, we have to be the people not just meeting and greeting the ones who are polished on the surface. The portion of the Word of God saying "I never knew you" is for the people of God turning people away for not being His willing Heart.)

So I would do it for you, for you.
Baby, I'm not moving on,
I love you long after you're gone.

Matthew 28:20
Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

For you, for you.
You will never sleep alone.
I love you long after you're gone
And long after you're gone, gone, gone.

Romans 10:9
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.


You're my back bone.

Exekiel 37
‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.'

You're my cornerstone.

Ephesians 2:20
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone

You're my crutch when my legs stop moving.

Ezekiel 29:6
You and your nation refused to help the people of Israel and were nothing more than a broken stick.

You're my head start.

1 Samuel 15:17-19
And Samuel told him. “When you started out in this, you were nothing—and you knew it. Then God put you at the head of Israel—made you king over Israel.

You're my rugged heart.

Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

You're the poultice that I've always needed.

3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.


Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum my heart never stops beating...
For you, for you.

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Baby, I'm not moving on.
I love you long after you're gone.

Matthew 24:13
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.


For you, for you.
You will never sleep alone.
I love you long after you're gone.

John 15:4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me

For you, for you.
Baby, I'm not moving on,
I love you long after you're gone.

1 John 2:6
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

For you, for you.
You will never sleep alone.
I love you long, long after you're gone.

John 5:30
I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me

Matthew 16:17-19
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”


Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum, baby, don't stop beating.
Like a drum my heart never stops beating for you.

And long after you're gone, gone, gone.
I love you long after you're gone, gone, gone.

+

Luke 21:19
Stand firm, and you will win life.

<><