SPEAKER_02 0:00

Who's ready for God's word today in the house? Come on, give God praise. His word's coming forth this morning. We are blessed to have in the house uh the youngest son of our founding pastor and his wife, Pastor Bob and Karen Schmidgall, founded Calvary Church almost 60 years ago. 60 years next year. How cool is that? And we thank God for Calvary Church. 60 years in the making coming up soon. So we're blessed to have in the house today. Uh this amazing man of God preached a tremendous message last uh service. Joel Schmidgall is part of the staff there in DC and part of Calvary Family. This is home for him, Trent. He's home for us, family for us. Would you please get up on your feet today and honor the man of God? Come on, get on your feet. Let's just celebrate today, Pastor Joel Schmidgall, all the one here from DC. Come on, Pastor Joel. Bless you, man. God bless you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Uh, it's so good to be back home. It's great to be here at Calvary Church and see so many uh old friends from back in the day, also to be in the area and see some old friends in the area, like my friend Lou Malnotti saw them this weekend a couple of times. So I come five pounds heavier, but full of the goodness of God today. Where's my Malnotti people? Come on. All right, did I just uh get the Giordano's people unhappy right there? Starting fights today, but I bring you greetings from my family, uh, greetings from my mom as well, and I just want to take a moment to honor her. She's watching online, y'all. And so pioneered and pastored with my dad, this church for 30 years. So so wonderful to be here today. And uh want to start by just thanking Calvary Church. I grew up under the pews here, so thanks for investing in me. But I also want to thank you for praying for my brother Rob, who was diagnosed with ALS recently. And you all have been praying on Sunday mornings for my brother, and that hits me right here. So thank you for your prayers and your support, and Pastor Mar uh Pastor Marty and Becky for your guys. Uh I I mentioned this like we didn't ask, we didn't reach out. You were aggressive in praying and supporting our family, and that really touches my soul. And you did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge as well, got some of the pastoral team to do that. If you haven't seen it, it's one of the best that you'll see. You gotta check it out. I did notice that the ice bucket pourers were smiling. Very big. They get paid to pour ice water on their boss's head. I don't know how that works out. But listen, you guys, that just means the world to us that you would support Rob in that way. And here's what I have to say to that keep praying. Keep pressing. Let's keep believing for a miracle for him. And so, believing for that today. Now, because I'm with family today, I feel led to give a message from the heart today. Don't get emotional often, but three places that I do get emotional. Number one, talking about my family, number two, in a place of prayer. Number three, when the Chicago Bears beat the Packers in the playoffs. Hey man, I haven't been back since that happened. Was it incredible? Oh my goodness, God is at work, isn't he? And so it's good to be back home with my people. And so, uh, but I will say this with the recent developments with my brother, I found myself in a pretty deeply emotional state. For the better part of a week, Nino will tell you, I was kind of a mess. Choked up in private, choked up in public, trying to find my way, reflecting, trying to see, God, what is happening? And we went on a prayer retreat with our staff, and as we were praying together, felt like God reprompted Psalm chapter 84. And so I'd like to read it for us today. It's our text, and I want to unpack it, and I want to talk today about a place called Baca. Psalm chapter 84. We're gonna read verses five through seven today. It says this: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on 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 in Zion. In Deuteronomy chapter 16, instruction is given for the Jews to pilgrimage three times a year to Jerusalem. This isn't a quick jaunt up the road. You can't just hop on the Metro train. You can't just, you know, dial up an Uber and it shows up. And no, this is a long, arduous journey that they have to take, and it's not taken alone. They take their entire family on pilgrimage, and so many of you know this. You know, you just pack up the kids into the van to go 10 minutes down the road to the grocery store, and it's a minor miracle, right? Yet they are taking their family and they are going on a multi-day journey on foot, all their supplies and water carried on camelback. It's a difficult journey, it's a hard journey and grumbling and heat, and then they get to Baca. Now, you had to go through Baca to get to Zion. Backah was hot, it was arid, it was difficult, it was rough, it was a nasty place. In fact, Baca in the in Hebrew uh it means weeping or tears. And so in the Old Testament, you would name a place because of something that happened there. So Jehovah Rapha is God our healer because God healed there. Jehovah Nisi is God our banner because God gave victory there. This place is called weeping for a reason. Because you would get there and you are worn out, you were tired, you had nothing left to give, you were ready to give up. And so, my question to us today is this what is your Baka? That place of pain that you have walked through, that place of difficulty that you're walking through right now. Maybe you lost your job, maybe you're estranged from a family member or a friend, maybe you have a difficult relationship with your son or daughter, maybe you have difficulty because you don't have a son or a daughter, maybe you have difficulty in the relationship with your parent. Maybe that medical situation came back and it's so bleak, it's overwhelming. Maybe you feel alone at school, like you don't have any real friends, and you feel misunderstood. But whatever your situation, it's incredibly difficult, and you just want to give up. None of us want to be in Baca. We all want to be in Zion, though, don't we? A place of holy refuge, a place of holy healing and joy. But here's the geographic truth today. To get to Zion, you have to go through Baca. Here's the vertical truth today. To get to the mountaintop, you have to go through the valley. Here's the spiritual truth today, to get to a place of blessing, you have to go through a place of pain. And here's the hard truth today, but it's the triple truth that all of us will go through Baca at some point in life. You have to go through Baka. The disciples in the scripture, anytime they pursue purpose, you never see in the next verse, blam, it just happened. Well, that was easy, that was way easier than I thought. No, it's always the opposite. They pursue God's purpose. Wow, that took a lot longer than I thought. That was much more difficult than I thought. Last week, such a powerful message from Pastor Luke Barnett, and he talked about Acts chapter 2 that when we're filled with the Spirit, every single one of us has access to the power of God. And that puts us on the hook. We have a responsibility then with the power of God. Now, the prequel to that is this. They sought God not for a day, not for two days, not for three, not for a week. They sought God for 10 days going after him and waiting on the Lord, and then the power of God rested on their heads. So, can I just prophesy over us today? God can use this season in your life like no other season. He has purpose for this season, story after painful story in the scripture. God somehow uses to build up the church, to build up the people of God. He has purpose even through your pain. And so I want to unpack this story today. I want to give us four encouragements to consider today, as we unpack this scripture. Number one is this strengthen yourself in the Lord. Psalm 84, verse 5 says, Blessed are those whose strength is in you. Isaiah 40, 31 says, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. The word wait is the Hebrew word kavad. It means to tie oneself or to bind oneself to the Lord. And so in a Middle Eastern vineyard, you would have these grapevines that you see are held up by stakes. And so the idea is this that the vines were so weak that they would drop down to the ground. And when they do, the fruit on the vines would be killed. And so instead, the vine dresser comes along and he picks up that vine, he lifts up that vine, he binds that vine to the trellis above it. And when it is bound to the trellis, no matter what circumstances come around it, no matter what elements come against it, it will be whole and it will grow fruit as it is intended to do. Listen, we are called to bind ourselves unto Christ. And when we bind ourselves to Christ, we are the vine and he is the branches. We are the vine and he is the support. We are the vine, he is the goodness. We are the vine, he is our strength. And the vine dresser picks us up, he pulls us up, he lifts us up, attaches us to the uh to the trellis of grace, and he makes us new. Attach yourself, bind yourself to the Lord today. I wonder if you've ever gone through a season and you look back and you wonder, how did I even make it through that season? That's the strength of the Lord in you, right there. So strengthen yourself in the Lord. And sometimes to do so, you've got to encourage yourself in the Lord. You remember uh David at Ziklag, and his enemies had stolen his family, his mighty men, his loyal men, then came against him. And so David had nothing and he had nobody. And this is when in 1 Samuel chapter 30 it says that David, first he inquired of the Lord, and then he encouraged himself in the Lord. It's okay to talk to yourself in the Lord sometimes. There's a story about a young father who was in the grocery store, he had a son strapped into the grocery cart, and he's moving throughout, and the son was in a mess that day. He was throwing a fit, he was crying, he was yelling, he's pulling cans off of the aisles. And as he is, the whole time that father is just leaning over and just talking. Donnie, it's okay. Donnie, hang in there. Donnie, you got this. Donnie, you can make it just a couple more minutes, Donnie. And as he is, this grandmother walks by and she sees this and she stops and she says, You are a wonderful father. And I have just seen what the boy's doing, and how you're talking is just beautiful. And then she leaned down and she said, Now, what seems to be the problem, Donnie? And the father stopped her right away, said, No, no, no, no, that's Henry. I'm Donnie. It's a funny anecdote, but sometimes we gotta talk to ourselves in the Lord, don't we? It's okay. I talk to myself in the Lord. Have you ever done this? Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for them are with me, them rampant and thy staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, you anoint my head with oil. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. You gotta talk to yourself and the Lord sometimes. Encourage yourself in the presence of God. When you go through Baca, God has something unique for you. You've been beat up, you've been bruised up, you've been torn down, but you have built up some spiritual muscle in those moments that you are unstoppable in the kingdom. When you feel like you're lowest, the scripture says this when you're at your weakest, God is strong in your life. So strengthen yourself in the Lord, number one. Number two, know your destination. Verse five. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. In other words, you have to remind yourself where you're going. You know where you're at. Your relationship has blown up, your finances have dried up, your career is messed up, you're in the desert, you're in a dry place. You know where you're at. You need to know where you're going as well. Need to understand that this is that this place is not where I'm going to. This place is what I'm going through. I am on my way to somewhere else. This is not my ending place. There's a reason that you tend you set up a tent in Baca, right? You don't lay down foundations and build a house in Baca. No, I'm going somewhere else. And the enemy will come against you, won't he? And he'll talk to you. This is your destiny. You got to talk back to the enemy sometimes. No, this is not my destiny. I am on my way to my destination. And that's somewhere else. And the Israelites know this in the scripture, and they understand we are going there. That's where we're going. God has called us there. God has destined us to go there, but we're not there right now. Right now, we're here. And they understand the difference between here and there is some tough terrain. It's some difficult circumstances, but they also know this that there is purpose in those circumstances. Can I exhort you today? Know your destination. Keep your eye on the prize, but also know this. There is purpose in this season right here, right now. Set your heart on purpose. I want to give you three questions today. If you got a pen, just jot these questions down. I'd encourage you to spend some time just prayerfully reflecting on these three questions. Number one, what does God want to get you through? Number two, what does God want to get through to you? And number three, what does God want to use you to do? Can I hit those again? Number one, what does God want to get you through? Number two, what does God want to get through to you? Number three, what does God want to use you to do? In other words, strengthen me, God. Teach me, God. Use me, God. Those are the three things that you're leaning into prayer and encourage you to take a few moments to do that. The beginning of Psalm chapter 84, it defines a holy destination. It's written by the sons of Korah, and this is the Levitical choir of Israel. They descend from Korah, who rebelled from the nation of Israel. And this is actually a cool story because the sons came back to the Lord and then began to write songs for the church, for the nation. And so they wrote this song on pilgrimage for the people of God. So while they were going on pilgrimage, they would sing this song to remind themselves of their destination, of their purpose, and third, how to fight the battle on their way, which is this that we fight with worship. Number three, we persevere with praise. When you worship, you go from your strength to his power. You go from me to he. You go from I failed to he fills. You go from I can't to he can, he will, he did, and he still does. Worship picks up your spirit. Archbishop Ash made an interesting treatise for the priority of worship. He said preaching is the second consequence of sin. We must preach today because man sinned yesterday. But had man not sinned, he was still called to worship. All of creation was created to praise the living God. Many people choose a church based on the preacher, right? But God doesn't choose a church based on the preacher, he chooses a church based on the people's worship. He says, Draw nigh unto me, and I will draw nigh unto you. The priority of worship is so critical because if God doesn't show up here in this house, the sick aren't healed. The blind aren't made new. The broken aren't made whole. The sinner is not saved. We've got to keep the priority of a worship because if we're just worried about verbosity and eloquence and rhetoric, what does that matter if the presence of God doesn't show up? From the very beginning days, 59 years ago, this house was built as a house of prayer, a house of worship. We don't make our services to attract people, we make our services here to attract God. That's who we are, Calvary Church. That's the DNA of this house. We've seen it throughout the years, different testimonies. I was talking to Mom and she shared a testimony with me. I think it was right over here in this area. Uh, years ago, right in this auditorium, somebody, uh a person from Calvary invited their neighbor to come. They had never been to church. They showed up that night. There was an outpouring of the Spirit. People began to lift their hands and stand up and praise God. Well, this individual just stayed seated. But the woman behind him stood up and was so overcome with God's grace, she just began to sob and tears started dropping from her face onto the neck of the person that was invited, started running down his neck. It was a bit awkward. Well, they didn't get a chance at the end of service to chat, but they separated, and the person who invited him was so distraught because he had an awkward experience. But they got together that week, and when they did, they sat down and he said this. The first thing he said, I couldn't get away from those tears. Tears of worship, of authentic praise to have some uh such a relationship with God. And he said, I need that relationship with God, and he put his faith in Christ, he came to faith in Christ in this house and attached himself, bound himself to the trellis of God's grace. I'm telling you, worship brings breakthrough, doesn't it? Something about our sweet worship that changes everything around us. Remember the story of King Saul? And Saul was in such a difficult state, and he would go on these emotional tirades and just lose his mind. But the only time that he found himself to be calm was when he was around David's worship. Remember this? And in 1 Samuel chapter 16, it says that his soul would be refreshed as David worshiped. He wasn't even worshiping himself, he was just around somebody else, he was breathing in second-hand worship, and it was having a physiological effect on who he was. Now, here's the only problem: when he would leave David's worship, the peace would leave him. Now, some of us come into this house and we come in here, and I don't know about y'all, but the baptisms are going and the worship's happening, and I'm feeling good. I mean, I'm refreshed in this house, and we come in and we feel refreshed because we're around this worship, and then some of us leave here, and that worship and that presence dissipates, doesn't it? And we get frustrated because okay, I came to church, God, I was around worship, and then we leave, and and and that leaves us, and we get frustrated at God, don't we? But here's the thing: we need to bring our own worship unto God. We have a responsibility for ourselves. We abdicate spiritual responsibility to other people and get mad when our branches don't produce fruit. We have an understanding that God has called us to bring our lives as living sacrifices unto the Lord. We are called and we were made to worship the living God. Worship is our weapon. Strengthen yourself in the Lord, know your destination, persevere with praise. And number four, be fruitful in the land of suffering. Verse 6 says, as they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. The autumn rains also cover it with pools. People of God get to Baca and they're tired, they're physically exerted and they're thirsty. But it's that thirst that drives them to do something new, that leads them to be innovative. And so, what do they do? They dig a well, they make springs in a desert place. And so here we are, when we are in our Baca season, we can either sit back and sulk, or we can allow the presence, the spirit of the living God to come into us and inspire us to do something new, to bring about innovative solutions to the problems that are all around us. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord is calling you to. Dig a well. To act. Some of us will pass through the valley of weeping, and that valley will change us. Others will pass through a valley of weeping and we will change it. And so here's the thing, though, when you dig a well, it's not just for you. I put all that effort in. I did all that work, and the majority of my work is for the people that come behind me. See, that's counterintuitive. You know that's true. It is because all my work is for somebody else. Is that how this thing works? And it was just like Pastor Marty was encouraging us early in the service when we're talking about our offering. That when the Spirit of God comes upon us, he allows us and empowers us to give out of our lack. Isn't this an awesome thing that that he so inspires us that we can love the unlovable, that we can give heaven to those people who are acting like hell, that we can sow seeds in people that will not be able to sow seeds back into us. Because when we pilgrim ahead and when we dig a well, those who come behind us will reap the benefit. Second Corinthians chapter 1. It says this the God of all comfort comforts you so that what? So that you can comfort those who are in trouble. We say, God, I need a miracle. And God says, Well, pick up a shovel, get to work, do something. What have I called you to do? And when the individual it does in this scripture, it says that God pours down rain and covers it with pools. In other words, you dig, God pours. Pool can be translated as blessing here. When you dig, when you work, when you press in, God pours down blessing over your life. Isn't that an awesome thing? We saw my uncle Ed this week who went through surgery, was in the hospital for four days. We go to visit him, and you know what he was talking about? At a low point, he was talking about the peace of God in his heart. That somehow threw it all, God gave him peace. Are you kidding me? In your lowest place, God can give you blessing. Do you believe that today? We think the enemy is using Baca to malign us, but maybe, just maybe, he God is actually using Baca to refine us. We think the enemy is using Baca to kill us, but maybe, just maybe, God is using it to build us, to fill us. That he has a purpose in this season. Do you remember a shepherd boy named David who came up against Goliath at Bethel? And this was the impossible fight. There's no way he can win. But somehow, David he grabs that slingshot and he takes Goliath down. Remember this? He didn't kill him, he took him down, but then he went up to Goliath. He took his sword and he defeated Goliath in that moment. I think it was Pastor Chris who shared this. He said, You know, never after that scripture do we see that David fought with his slingshot again. Always after that scripture, he fought with Goliath's sword. You know where I'm going this today. Listen. In other words, the very weapon that was used to take David down was the exact weapon that he used to take the enemy down. In other words, the very weapon that is being brought against you can be the very weapon of choice that you use to do things for the kingdom of heaven. The word says this no weapon formed against you shall prosper. It doesn't say no weapon will be formed against you, it doesn't say no weapon will be used against you, it doesn't say no weapon will come against you or be shot against. It says no weapon formed against you shall prosper. In other words, the enemy is trying to destroy you, but he just supplied you with the very thing that will take you to the next level in your walk and for the kingdom of God. TD Jake said it this way: Goliath wasn't sent to defeat David, he was sent to reveal David. Some of you think you're going through a hard time. You're not going through a hard time. Some of you think you're going through the valley of the shadow of death. No, you're actually going through the valley of promotion. God has a purpose in this season. Verse 7 says they go from strength to strength. The strength you get in Baccha, digging wells, becoming mentally strong, dialing in, dealing with tough circumstances. The strain produces strength in you. You have no idea what God is setting you up for. You say, Well, what's that? Exceedingly and abundantly, more than you can ask or imagine, according to the power of God that is work at work within you. You look back a couple years ago, and man, how would I get through that? God, I don't know how I'll make it, but I'll tell you how, because you have been through Baca. And when you go through Baca, you're gonna get a testimony. God wants to give you a testimony, and you start talking and you start realizing, God, I have been to the depths, I have been to the dark places, I have been to death and back, I've been to relational brokenness, I've been to hurt in life and pain in life, I've been through loss, God, I have been so down low, but I wonder if somebody in the house has a testimony today. And you saying when I was at my lowest, I called on the name of the Lord, and he picked me up, he turned me around, he stepped my feet, I'm gonna stem the ground. I'm gonna thank the master. Come on, come on, somebody say it today. When you have a step back, you don't take a step back because God has already prepared your comeback. He's not done with you, he's still working in your life. I talked about Rob to start this sermon out today, and I've learned so much from my brother. Even in the dark place, I find myself getting down low, and I look over and here's Rob giving God praise. Here's Rob giving God all the glory, and I'm immediately challenged by his life and pick myself back up in the Lord. I wonder if I could just give two minutes to Rob just to describe his situation and give you one encouragement today. Check out the video.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Hey y'all, God is good. I've got a pretty huge uh health update that I want to share with everyone. Um I've recently been diagnosed with ALS, and it affects my speech. Um it affects a lot of things uh that I've been going through, and uh just kind of wanted to give a little bit of a download. It's so easy to blame God for dark moments in our life and for the bad things that happen. But God's goodness isn't just limited to the good things in life because he sits with me in the dark moments. He sits with me in the bad times too, and he brings me peace. Philippians 4 7 says that he gives peace that surpasses understanding and it will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Don't you want that? He is with me, he sustains me, he is able to carry me, and he is able to carry my family through this. There's a song that's called It Is Well, and it goes like this When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Rob went on to say that we're believing for a miracle, but if things end in death, his message to you would be simple: Jesus can give peace to your soul no matter what you face, no matter what you've been through. Put your faith in Jesus.