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Well, good morning. It is good to be back. And thank you for all of you who said that you're glad that I'm back, not sad that I'm back. So that does my heart good. I'll be reading from Psalm 84. Look at verse 5 and 6 today. Let me go ahead and read those to you.

Psalm 84, beginning in verse 5. How blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring. The early rain also covers it with blessings. The thought that I want to focus on today is really one thought.

How blessed is the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion? That's the emphasis really of the Psalm. How blessed is the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion. That's the portion I'll be emphasizing this morning. But this message is intended to be sort of an introduction to revival nights.

And to motivate you to come out and to participate and to help us with revival nights, help us put it on. And so, this thought I'd take this day. I intend to be back in Galatians next week, but I thought it would be good to take this time and just lay a foundation for what we are doing with this thing we've called revival nights.

It's not going to feel much different than an evening service, but there are things that are going to be a little bit different. We want to be good stewards of these July evenings. I think a lot of times in the summer we kind of just dwindle off, and we want to make good use of that time.

I think it's a good time for everybody to come out and do things. It's going to feel much like a Sunday evening service with an emphasis upon proclaiming the highways to Zion, those truths that God has revealed that expedite those thoroughfares to heaven. And so we'll be emphasizing those, calling people to the faith.

And so it's going to be an evangelistic thrust. And so hopefully you will invite your friends and you will invite people that you yourself will come and that you will lift this effort up in prayer and that we will want to learn from this too. We're trying something new, so please be in prayer for it and participate.

Thank you for all the work that's ours. Gone into it. But the theme for revival nights is about getting on and walking the highways to Zion, the highways to Zion. We can think about these highways to Zion as these thoroughfares, spiritual thoroughfares that radiate out from God that lead us to Him.

That lead us to God, lead us to His eternal abode, those expressways into worshiping God. You see, everyone is traveling through life. In fact, much of Scripture portrays life as a pilgrimage. I think that's one reason why so much ingrained in Israel's life and history are pilgrimages to Jerusalem several times a year.

Everyone is traveling through life. Right now, no matter who you are, you are going through this thing we call life. What roads are you walking on? That's the question, the theme that we want to keep coming back to. Are you walking the roads of earth, the ways that make sense to you, or are you walking the ways of heaven?

And I want to call you here today and be throughout the evenings this month is to get honest with yourself. Where are you really spiritually? Are you really this blessed person that we just read about? How blessed is the man in whose hearts are the highways to Zion?

Are the highways to Zion in your heart? Are you really on them? Are you really among the blessed? Let's, friends, let's be done with sham Christianity. There is no value in that whatsoever. The highways to Zion, that is what we're interested in. The thoroughfares to worshiping the true God in the way he wants to be worshiped.

We live in a world where many people are deceived. And so it's important that not only we learn and embrace these thoroughfares to Zion, but that we teach these thoroughfares. No one else is going to. And that is exactly what God's vision for the church is: to learn, to talk about, to embrace, and to teach these highs.

Highways to Zion. And so that's what I want to look at this morning, just by way of introduction to what we'll be doing this July, the evening services. And I want you to see God's vision for those who walk the highways. And so that you will commit yourself to learning, embracing, and teaching them, and praying for those who are engaged in that endeavor.

Let's jump right in. A very simple message this morning. Those who traveled the highways to Zion are first and foremost, they are blessed. They are blessed. You can be sure that God's vision for those who are walking on his highways is to bring about blessing upon them. You see, it's not just those who at the end of the journey enter into his house who are blessed, but those who are actually on his highways even now.

As they journey to that final place, they are blessed even now. If we just take a moment to look at this, the greater context here of Psalm 84, Psalmist no doubt wants us to see several blessings that are upon those in whose hearts are the highways to Zion.

Who are the blessed ones? Three times the word blessing is used, and it speaks about four different categories of people. Look at verse 1. How lovely are your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts. My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young. Even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God, how blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are ever praising you. How blessed. What does it mean to be blessed?

To be in a state of being highly favored of God. That's what that means. Blessed, happy, blessed. There is a sense of an awareness of God's blessing upon the blessed. It's an awareness of God's favor. But notice in verse 4: how blessed are those who dwell in your house.

They are ever praising you. Of course, if God invites you into his house, guess what? You're blessed. If someone invites you into their house to host you, you're blessed. You're favored. And so God invites us into his house. They are the blessed. Another category of blessed. Look down at verse 12.

How blessed. Blessed is the man who trusts in you, not only those who dwell in God's house, but those who are trusting in God right now. And the emphasis there, look at the end of verse 11. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. No one, no good thing, not one does he withhold from those who are walking uprightly, those who are walking his highways.

He doesn't withhold any good thing from them. This is what the word of God is saying. Don't take my word for it. Look at what it's saying and let that shape how you think and how you view the importance of these highways that he has given to us.

Then the third category, or the third blessed category of people, look back at verse 5. We're getting into the center of the song where the emphasis is. How blessed is the man whose strength is in you. How blessed is the man whose strength, whose help, whose defense, whose refuge is in you.

Notice that. How blessed is the one whose strength is in God, not in themselves. Yeah, there's no blessing. I don't care how rich, strong, powerful, or whatever you may think, the greatest of the earth, there. Those who confide in themselves, an impotent vapor. But blessed is the one whose strength is in Yahweh God.

And this strength encompasses physical strength. It encompasses mental strength. It compasses spiritual strength. This firmness, how blessed is the man whose firmness is because of who God is and their relationship to God. That's the blessed. But then there's this fourth category. How blessed. In the second part of verse 5, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

That's the emphasis of this Psalm. How blessed is the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Now notice plural highways. He's not saying there's many ways of salvation here. He's not saying blessed is the man who's on the only highway to heaven. No, that's not what he's saying.

He's talking about the spiritual pathways of heaven. That which is consistent with God, consistent with heaven. The character of heaven, the ways of worship, no matter where you are. There's an expressway of worship to God, an expressway, no matter what you're facing in life, a thoroughfare from where you are into His very presence of worshiping Him.

How blessed are those in whose heart are these thoroughfares that are expressly worshiping God in every situation that they encounter in life? That's the blessed, and that's the emphasis. And it stands to reason why these are the blessed ones. Why? Because all others are dependent upon that. All the other blessings that are spoken about in Psalm 84 are dependent upon this one thing: that the highways to Zion be resident in your heart.

Because, see, the ones who will dwell in God's house forever are the ones who traveled the road to Zion. Verse 4. They are the ones who are going to dwell in your house because they have traveled the roads to Zion. I'm going to ask you again: are you on the highway?

Are the highways of heaven in your heart? Or are you a pretender? But not only, but also verse 12 speaks about the one whose trust in God. You see, the emphasis is upon having the highways to heaven in your heart because the ones who are going to go to heaven are the ones who have his highways in their hearts.

But also, the ones who trust God now, they demonstrate it by walking on the highways to Zion. Do you really trust God? Are you really walking in his ways? If you're not walking in his ways, you're not trusting him. You're trusting your own ways. But the ones who will experience the strengthening power in this life are the ones walking on the highways.

So, the ones who dwell in God's house forever, the ones who trust in God now, and the ones who are going to experience God's strengthening power in this life, are the ones who, in whose hearts are the highways to Zion. You see, God's going to strengthen them. You know why?

Because he wants to make sure they get there. God wants them in His presence. And so He's going to ensure their safe arrival. That's why He strengthens those and doesn't withhold any good thing from those who are walking uprightly, those who are walking in His highways. But isn't this wonderful?

Just take a time out here and just think first. God wants you there. That's why He is given highways. That's why He's given you a thoroughfare, thoroughfares to Zion. He wants you there. He's given you His highways. He wants you in His house forever. He wants you in His presence.

And He wants the person next to you there. Isn't God good? He even wants me there. That's how good He is. But now let's go a little bit deeper into this expression in the second half of 84. How blessed is the man in whose hearts are the highways to Zion?

And that's what we want to emphasize and look at. I love how the Greek Septuagint translates the Hebrew here. It says, Blessed is the one whose help is from the Lord, a mounting up like on a horse. In the heart of him, it has been granted. It's interesting in the Hebrew, there is no verb, it's just blessed, how blessed, the one whose strength, or the major highways.

Highways are in his heart. Septuagint sees a little more connection in translating this, that they have been placed there, appointed there, granted there. So we want to learn a little bit more about these highways to Zion. What can we learn about this statement? How blessed is the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion?

Well, let's just think in a general standpoint. What is a highway? Well, it's a major thoroughfare. It's a major travelway that connects two major towns or cities. It's a thoroughfare for travelers from one point to another. It's usually the most direct route or the best way to get from one point to another.

It's used to facilitate or to transport persons or goods. So that's what a highway is: a thoroughfare made for traveling, expedited travel. But there's no roads. It's kind of hard to get across the landscape. But boy, if you have a highway. Let's think about it on a historic level.

Zion, in context, here is reference to Jerusalem. Think of the days of the theocracy. That is when God's Shekinah glory, his manifest presence, was there in the temple at Jerusalem. Think about the days people would travel from all the remote parts of Israel and they would go up to Jerusalem on these pilgrimages.

And at the end of the road was the city of Jerusalem, and even further in, the temple itself, the very presence of Yahweh God. And the whole nation was to go up. And there were those who traveled them. And you can imagine, if you'd been traveling all your life, you'd probably get to know them by heart.

You would know the ways up to Zion. And the pilgrimages themselves would become a festive time of caravanning with your friends and going up to worship the true God. But those true worshipers knew more than just the physical highways. They knew the God at the end of the highway.

And that's why they could celebrate in company going up to worship the true God. And friends, we are on a pilgrimage as well. And at the end of the row, we will stand in his glorious presence with the assembly of all. The redeemed. That's who we are. And all of this life is one grand pilgrimage, the very presence of God.

But we are blessed now and joyful now, even as we travel. We know the God at the end of the road. You see, in Israel's time, walking the physical roads were simply part of this spiritual pilgrimage. But even in the emphasis in this psalm, it's knowing the God at the end of the road.

Those who went up in history for these great feasts, they knew the physical pathways to Jerusalem. But more importantly, those among them who were blessed, they knew the spiritual pathways of the God who was enthroned there in Jerusalem at the temple. So we can thought about this on a historic level.

We've thought about this on a general level. Let's think about this on an applicational level. What do we think about Zion? Well, Zion, think about it in the context of the eternal city, New Jerusalem, the eternal state, and the highways. The highways of heaven emanate from heaven. What are they?

Well, they are God's revelations of himself and his ways. These highways, think of them as God's revelations of himself and his ways. Where does it start? Well, he's exalted Christ, Jesus, the carpenter. His ways is giving glory to Christ. His ways involve faith, the pathways of faith, the pathways of repentance, the pathways of forgiveness.

These are highways to Zion. The spiritual roads that we are to frequently travel in this life. We should get very familiar with the ways of truth, the ways of repentance, the ways of compassion, the ways of godly virtues, such as love, joy, peace, self-control, and the like. These are the highways that we are to learn in this life, that we are to frequent, that we are to walk.

How blessed are those who do. Where are they? Look back. In the heart. How blessed is the man in whose heart? That's where they are. In that inner person. Let's talk about your inner person for a minute. What drives your thoughts? Are your thoughts... On the highways of heaven, or are they off highways of earth?

What about your feelings, your emotions, or that which motivates you, or your conscience, that faculty of judgment? Are they all influenced? Are they all traveling the highways of Zion? The places of the earth. Why has God given them to us? Why has God given us highways? Well, what's the purpose of any highway?

It's not hard. They are for expedited transport from one place to another, expedited spiritual guidance. You want to know the quickest way from your place where you are right now? Walk the highways of Zion, wherever you're at right now, and what takes you into that direct center of worshiping God and His presence.

These are what the highways of Zion are about: expressways to take you into His very presence. Get familiar with them. When you're called to forgive, forgive. It's an expressway to worship God. When you're called to have compassion, have compassion. It's an expressway to worship God. When you're called to love somebody and lay down your life for them in whatever little or big way, jump on that road.

It's a way to express worship. True God. Let's get to know these roads. How blessed is the one who does. How do you worship God right now in the circumstances that you're in? You may be going through some things. How in the world are you? How can you worship God?

Well, get on His worship expressways. Worshiping God, faith, repentance, forgiveness, service, love, etc. So you must learn the highways to Zion before you can embrace them. And so does everyone else, if they're going to be blessed by God. So those who travel the highways to Zion are blessed.

How are they blessed? Well, there's fellowship with God in the future, fellowship with God now, fellowship with God and his people, now and in heaven. The ones who go to heaven travel its highways, and they also enjoy heavenly fellowship along the way. Second way they are blessed: peace in your presence.

Peace. Confiding, trust in God. The ones who travel are the ones who trust Him. And those who trust Him, what that means, they've built their life, they've put their support upon God and they've gone to bed at night. Knowing that God is their strength, God is their support, no matter what comes.

So there's fellowship with God and His people now and later. There's peace in your presence, but there's also a third benefit of the blessed is that there's power when facing all of life's difficulties. Power, God's strengthening power is for those who trust in Him. God wants you to get there.

So there's strength in your future in this life. There's peace in your presence. There's fellowship in the life to come. There's fellowship now. How blessed is the man in whose heart the highways to Zion Spurgeon says it like this: The man who has God's ways in his heart and his heart in God's ways must be blessed.

No way around it. When your life is anchored on the resources outside yourself, when your ways Are when God's ways are in your heart and your heart is in God's ways, you cannot help but being blessed. So, those who travel the highways to Zion are blessed, but they are also a blessing.

Those who travel the highways to Zion are also a blessing. Look at verse 6, 84, Psalm 84, verse 6. Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring. The early rain also covers it with blessings. So, get the scene. The ones who are passing through the valley of Baca, the ones literally passing through, traveling across, passing by, they benefit the valley, the valley of Baca.

It's interesting, again, the Greek translation translates this term Baca as the hollow of weeping. The hollow of weeping, weeping, huh? We ought to get that. Our church here is situated at Steep Hollow. It's a place. Think about the hollow. As they pass through the hollow of weeping, they turn.

It into a hollow of blessing. That's what it's saying. Passing through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring. They make it a fountain. What a great vision for our church to take, to so live, to so be part of this society that we're in, that we can turn a hollow of weeping into a hollow of blessing.

What a vision for a church. Imagine this valley of Baca for a minute. Just step into this mental scene. Imagine with me, imagine for a moment that stretched out before your eyes as far as you can see is an expansive valley of the harshest terrain. It is a valley that is difficult to cross.

It is dry. It is sparsely vegetated, and it is virtually uninhabitable. And against this lifeless backdrop, this wasteland, as your eyes are gazing and taking it in, your eyes are captured by the movement of a solitary soul. And then another. And then you see another. And then you see another.

And all of a sudden, you realize they are part of a great caravan of pilgrims that are crossing this barren wasteland, going up in the same direction. And as they make their way across this parched land, the land comes to life. It is transformed by their very presence.

They, it is they, the pilgrims, that make it a spring. The hollow of weeping is transformed into a place, a hollow of blessing. Wherever their foot touches, the land becomes an oasis because God is with them. And it's clear that God's with them because he showers them with his early rains from heaven.

And the overflowing abundance of his blessing upon the caravan is what waters and blesses the whole valley and everyone in it. Who are these people that I've just described? Where a psalmist says, they are the blessed ones in whose hearts are the highways. To Zion. And they are on their way to the great assembly of God's people in His glorious presence.

And they will be blessed upon arrival, but God's blessing is with them on the whole journey. And they are a blessing everywhere they go as they make their pilgrimage up to and into God's presence to worship Him. What a high calling for a church. Imagine for a moment now these walls removed.

And look around, look not onto the pretty green. Wow, there's a lot of green in July. So use your imagination and let's look into a spiritual baka, a spiritual destitution. Imagine these walls gone, looking around, look at the community they're in. There are many and multitudes on the way to destruction, many in the hardness of their heart, many broken, many casualties.

And then there's us, in whose hearts are the highways to Zion, the means that God wants to teach and instill His blessings upon and in others. That's why you should be involved in praying for and attending revival nights. We want to teach the highways of Zion to those who don't.

We want to walk in them ourselves. I think we've got a lot of imposters among us. I think there's some sham Christianity, I dare say, even in this room. Let us learn, walk, embrace, and teach these highways Zion. And so that's what we're trying to do. By the way, John Bunyan wrote about this valley of Baca.

And you all better, by this time, know what the valley of humiliation is. What happened in the valley of humiliation? Who did Christian meet there? Come on, guys. We're going to have to start go back. We may cancel revival nights if you don't get this one right and go back.

Who did Christian face in Apollyon? Thank you. He was brought low there. Let me read to you a few excerpts from Pilgrim's Progress, the second journey, when Christianity is traveling through, and Great Heart, that great guide, is taking them through. He's taking them through this valley of Baca.

As he calls it, the valley of humiliation. And as Great Heart leads them through, he's explaining. He says, Yeah, a lot of people think about this valley that it's just a place that's haunted by some devil or fiend. He says, No, it's those who get brought low in this valley.

It's their own doing. It's because of the slippage. As Christian left the house, the beautiful house, and went down the hill, he slipped. His pride is what brought about his humiliation. And he goes on to say, but this valley of humiliation, Great Heart says, is the best and most fruitful piece of ground in all these parts.

He says, Because God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And he said, It was in this valley of humiliation where our Lord had his house. He loved to be in this valley of the humble. And as they were going along, and I'll just read an excerpt.

Now, as they were going along and talking, they saw a boy feeding his flock. Father's sheep. The boy was in a very humble clothes, but of a fresh and well-favored countenance. And as he sat by himself, he sung a song. And here are some of the words to his song: He that is down needs fear no fall.

He that is low, no pride. He that is humble ever shall have God to be his guide. You see, those who are humble, they don't need to worry about a fall because they're already down. Those who are low have no fear of pride because they're already low. And those who are in such humble estate can be sure that God is going to be their guide.

Because God says in Isaiah 66:2, To this man I will look, saith the king, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word. You see, good things happen to those who go through this lonely valley of Baca. A person is brought low.

And as the person is brought low, they are forced to ponder the great questions of life. Who am I? From where did I come? Who made me? What have I done with my life? What am I doing? What has the king called me to do? You see, it's in this valley of humiliation that hearts are broken, that spirits are melted, that personal ambitions are buried, and what comes out is a person who can live and start living for God's glory.

It is a blessed place, even though it is the most uninviting place among life's journey, a place of being humbled. But anyone traveling to heaven, guess what? You're going to have to be brought low. And God is able to do it and will. But being brought low brings good things.

Good things can happen. Fruitfulness to God blossoms in humility. And so it is. But think about that for just a second. What a high calling to travel through the spiritual wastelands of this fallen humanity. And be a source of blessing as you do. What is your vision for your life?

I'll tell you what God's vision is for His people: to go through this life, and as they learn and embrace His highways, to become a blessing to others and leave behind a trail of blessings to take the down, the broken, and to create celebration and joy to make life a celebration.

You know people like that, don't you? They turn the hollows of weeping into hollows of blessing just by their presence and their counsel. Do you know people like that? As they go through life, they bless the world around them. I see scores of them in my mind. But they're ones who look to God for supply.

His highways are in their heart, and God blesses them, and they become a blessing. What a high calling in life. Be this for your family, be this for your friends, be this for your place of employment. Turn the most dry and difficult places into fertile places of joy and worship.

And they can do that. And it's not in and of themselves, but notice. God is with them. The early rain covers it with blessings. It's not them. It's God's blessing upon them. And as they go, God blesses them. It's from heaven. In their hearts are the highways of heaven.

And yet it is God whose blessing is upon them. And it touches the world. Passing through the valley of Vaca, they make it a spring. That's God's vision for your life and for your relationships. So those who travel the highways of Zion, they are blessed, and they are a blessing.

So again, we come back to the question: are God's highways in your heart? Are they really there? Or are you a pretender? Listen, if you're not sensing his favor, if you're not sensing a degree of his favor, I'm not saying you're not going to see tribulation in this world.

That's not what this text is saying. But even in places of the cross, there will be a resurrection. How do you start? You say, Pastor, I know I'm not. I know if I'm really honest with myself, I don't see the highways of heaven in my heart. How do you start?

Very simple. You ask the king to enter, and your heart will be reoriented to his ways, because where the king is, there will also be his ways. If you don't have his ways, you don't have the king. So you're invited today. If you've never asked Jesus to come into your life, come into your heart, you're asked.

The invitation is here for you today to welcome the king into your life. So I hope you will come out and help us with revival nights. Pray for us. Be a part of the blessing, inviting others. The core themes of the evenings are going to be pilgrims and kings.

We want to learn these highways of Zion. We're going to use a lot of kings from Israel's history to learn them. Pilgrims travel, kings model. Kings are models. They are high-profile examples of the thought patterns, the emblems. They are dispositions, mindsets. They represent the highways that people travel through.

They're high-profile examples of that. And so we'll spend some time. Studying Israel's history. They are full of them. Some of the kings illustrate the way God blesses, and some the ways he curses. And we're to learn from both. So join us. Invite others to join us. This is a good time to bring a friend, somebody who needs, hasn't been to church, would like to go to church.

There'll be a lot of activities up here for the family. There'll be an evangelistic message calling people to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. So are you blessed this morning? Have you embraced God's vision for your life? God has given you His highways so that you will walk them.

And that as you walk them, you will be an oasis of blessing as you go through life. Grade school, middle school, high school, whatever school, then school, life beyond, workplace, family. Embrace his vision. Walk the highways. Be a blessing. Turn the valleys of weeping into valleys of blessing.

How blessed is the man in whose heart are the highways to Zion. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for these highways, thoroughfares. That communicate to us those expressways of how you want to be worshipped. And Father, we thank you. Help us walk them. Help us to learn them.

Help us to frequent them. Let them be second nature to us. May we know these ways like we know the back of our hand. Father, imprint them deeply on our heart and help us, Father, when we are reluctant to walk in them, to trust you and to recognize that we will encounter your strengthening power as we do.

Father, be with us. We lift up our evening services in July. Father, we just pray for your blessing upon the activities. You see our hearts in these things, and we just pray for your blessing upon it all. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.