The House of the Lord

Temple Baptist Church - 3-8-2009

Psalms 92:13-14

Introduction:

A. While the Bible emphasizes the importance of the House of the Lord in the last days, the world minimizes it. Less and less people in American, the Bible Belt included, find less time to go to church. Churches that were once filled Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night have suffered a serious decline in numbers.

B. I understand that many of these unfaithful members are lost but an increasing number of saved have become unfaithful. For a long while, Sunday morning congregations held their own though the evening and mid-week services suffered decline. Now Sunday morning services have empty pews that were normally filled.

C. There are numerous reasons for the “falling away” of the once faithful. There is the sinfulness of our times. There is the apathy of the majority. There is the enemy of covetousness and the love of worldly pleasures. The list could go on but I want to key in on one major problem tonight. A lack of understanding of the importance of God’s house!

D. Church is much more than just sitting on a pew, singing a few songs, giving of the tithes, listening to a boring sermon, suffering through an altar call, and then going home just exactly the way you came in. Most people want nothing, give nothing, and receive nothing in church.

E. What you get out of church is what you put into it. Worship is not a spectator’s sport but an act of involvement! Worship, though most often thought of as corporate endeavor, is an individual matter. It is the personal realization of God’s worth in your life that brings about worship.

F. If God so emphasized the “assembling of ourselves together” in Hebrews 10:25, then it must be of the utmost importance in our personal lives. Here are just a few thoughts on the importance of going to Church. You see, the House of the Lord is a:

1. House of contemplation. Psalms 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. (We come to church to think about Him!)

2. House of Satisfaction. Psalms 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

3. House of Praise. Psalms 135:1-2 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD. 2 Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God,

4. House of Fellowship. Psalms 55:14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

5. House of Offerings. Psalms 66:13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

6. House of Growth. Psalms 92:13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

7. House of Holiness. Psalms 93:5 Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

8. House of Testimony. Psalms 116:18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people, Psalms 116:19 In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

9. House of Blessing. Psalms 118:26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.

10. House of Constraint. Psalms 122:1, 9 A Song of degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. 9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.