Isn’t She Beautiful | Bishop JH Osborne by J.H. Osborne First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Psalm 48:1-3, Ephesians 3:21, Ephesians 3:9-11 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/j-h-osborne--isn-t-she-beautiful Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ thank you so much how kind of you may be seated sister Ozma and I are privileged to be here we're honored to come and celebrate with you and enjoy the blessings of the Lord that make us so rich and offers no pain or discomfort at all we've got two pair of glasses one to see my notes with and one to see you with and so I have to take them off and put them on and this is very cumbersome what a wonderful dedication service send out kudos to all those who worked so hard to make it so Erickson's and the Hammonds and even nolan he's probably off tried to start an airplane or something all of its so memorable bishop and sister carpenter and all the saints of FPC thank you for the comfortable room you provided for us in the hospitality basket and how about that food last night some of you did get DD to have it but man it was out of this world I'll tell you it was just gourmet we had a barbecue brisket and baked potatoes and shrimp cocktails and desserts and salads and soups and just everything you could imagine to eat how blessed we were because this churches does everything with such precision and such grace such glory that it's always a privilege to be here your bishop you know he brags on people and that's his nature to do that you know you just got to knock off the high scored the low score keep something in the middle there you know kind of like the Olympics your Bishop reminds me of a story I heard about two Indians one on one side of a big cavern and one on the other side of a big Canyon and they were talking to one another with smoke signals and have no messages phones or anything so they said smoke signals back forth to one another how things go on and this had the other suddenly on one side of the of the canyon there was a military base over there and they set off a big bomb of some kind set a big mushroom cloud up into the air that just filled the sky and OH ending on the other side saw it he said wow I wish yatta said that so every time your Bishop reaches that's I'm the Indian on the other side I'm thinking wow I wish I would have said that why didn't you give that to me Lord what did he let me say that you know was I'm puffing little puffs up and he's filling the sky with mushroom clouds and and that wonderful is for the friendship in the hospitality that they've offered sister Oz were to die I got the most pathetic set of notes that I've ever made in my life when I say pathetic I'm being pathetic they're a disgrace to my ministry really is I usually pride myself and having good notes but these are a bunch of sticky notes stuck together in random ways that right now make very little sense to me they made sense when I did them but then later on you know look out everything what was I thinking where's my brain at when I did that oh so you know I'm gonna do my best to piece this together and try to I need to go that which sticky-note did I make number one no that's not it go ahead and stand with me one more time they'll give me time to figure out no they got him up there there oh yes you see it is pathetic get it yeah I would tell you sorry I would go with you I would start off with a lie it's pathetic I'm telling you he's are pathetic let me see here oh yeah let's go over here in the Book of Psalms it's a good book The Book of Psalms the reason we love The Book of Psalms is because David never went to school he never said at the feet of anyone and learned he has no degrees therefore he's bad to repeat himself because he doesn't have a lot of words you know Isaiah uses more words in his book than David uses in all the Psalms because Isaiah was alerted man he was a man of city but to school David just lug around sheep yeah it's not only good right you know is didn't go to school to learn much but his writings are so easy to read and so applicable to our lives that when you go to bed you want to read something out of Psalms you know because you can understand that David writes it very simply he doesn't get complex he doesn't dive in over his head he stays within himself because that's all really you can do when you never went to school a day in your life he's just a poet he's a good man you wouldn't want to live next door to him because he's a many-faceted man he could you do a lot of different things David could he was uh he was uh he was a killer and he's a poet you don't find those two things going together much you know killers and poets are not necessarily synonymous you know he was a general and he was a songwriter see David was a multi-faceted man but he he was a one-man shop he would kill you did he write a poem about it then he would sing a song at your funeral this is psalmist in a killing machine and a poet and is everything all rolled into one but he have some beautiful words that I'll read for you in the Book of Psalms the 48th chapter verses one through three great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God the mountain of his holiness beautiful for situation the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north the city of a great king God is known in her palaces for a refuge before I try to title this convoluted thing let's just pray and that's God to touch your hearts thank you Lord for your word this afternoon I thank you for the Enlightenment that you give to our lives your great their God we know that right well there's nobody like you Lord there's nobody like you now open our minds our understanding and we'll try to give you the praise and the glory for all that you have done how great and how marvelous you truly are in Jesus name we pray amen amen you can be seated great choir great singing man fantastic this one this is important to me it's probably not important to you but it's important to me let's kind of tell you how this this little message came about you know cuz you know men will usually preachers are bad about this to begin where they can take some little something and make it so complicated you can't understand it you know so be my job to take and make this as simple as I can because I'm a simple man and so uh this this message you know it'll get up said you know God came in my room last night and he talked to me about this message well God doesn't do that for me and so well there's a fog you know and now the fog I heard a boy speaking and I'm not saying they did and I'm just saying I've never had any fog and so people have different ways I guess of what they need from God I usually get mine in a much less complicated way and I was I was preaching at a church it doesn't matter where it was I don't remember but uh they take some time to kinda like you did to honor a man and his wife and their length of service to the church and the position that he had filled for for several years and I didn't know anybody there in the church which is very common for me I didn't know one person there but the pastor and I just knew him kind of in a in a passing way and they invited this this man to the platform and it gave him a plaque of recognition for the years that he had serviced and what have you and I was so impressed with a man because it was an older man because you know the older you get the older old is you know cuz you're like I mean thinking I'm old well you're just when you get old older will be pushed on down the road you know so he's probably younger than me but I don't see myself as old so anyway he was about him the platform and yeah the salt-and-pepper hair going on and it all combed and groomed very nicely you know he was very stately in his stature very slim for trim took very good care of himself and he had a a modern suit on you know you know men are bad about double net you know and they're bad about you know not getting current because the older you get the more you go for comfort instead of style you know yeah well some of you won't understand that but you will some they've gotten let you live you'll understand the comfort Trump's style every time you know if you if your shoes put your feet ain't wearing them you know you get some of them big black shoes with Velcro on them and you can just wear them with anything you know because you're not interested in style interested in comfort you know well comfort you ladies will learn and eventually got them shoes you toes run down and then pointed things you know and he stand up you get over that later on and but he had still maintained his style you know he was still stylish at a nice suit on ental pales and and it was just I was just amazed at how well groomed he was you know he was immaculately dressed and and he was just a his shoes were very well shined you know and everything about him was just was just perfection as he stood up there I was just looking at not even knowing from Adams housecat I don't know who he was but I just he was very groomed very well and I was just looking at him a nice he looked you know and his hair was all fixed he was just he was just he just carried himself very well when he walked up he walked up like a statesman you know he wasn't like just wandering trying to figure out how to get up on the platform even he was very very well and he thanked the church for the the kind words and the respect that's shown him and and then he invited his wife to come up and join him on the platform and I was curious to see is to see his wife because I didn't know him you know so I'm kind of like you it was a large Church and I was scouting over who his wife would be and nobody ever got out you know and finally you know I got a little worried about it but uh finally she did get up and she had trouble getting up and what it was you know you know sometimes you have to walk a few times to get enough momentum to get you out there according how big you are you might rock yourself to sleep before you got up you know so it was it was kind of rocking trying to get up you know she's a little overweight just a little overweight I'm not condemning I'm just telling you I'm just being honest with you now she finally got up and uh and I thought she must be going the bathroom that's not his wife you know I can't be his wife you know but but she got up and and they helped her out to the aisle and she had a she had a little print dress on that would probably ten years old you know it wasn't it it was so far out of style it may come back in someday but that day hadn't arrived yet and it was her hair was just like shoved up on her head with some bobby pins holding it in you know and I looked at her and I thought sweet Jesus this is is not right you know he's still standing up there you know so she'd come down the aisle she kind of wasn't walking she just kind of fallen from one side to the other like that you know took her forever you know and I just kept thinking you know what was he thinking you know what was he thinking you know and then she got a closer and and it didn't get no better you know what'd he get no better closer she got to get no better so he walked over to the steps and and he took her by the hand and he helped her up the steps and it was an arduous task for her to get up the steps she may have had author write us or something I don't know but it was painful for it he finally got her up to the steps and he NE brought her up on the platform with him and trust me he was everything that she was not just pick out anything and she was nothing like him she did not look act walk behave or talk like him I kept wondering how did this happen you know so he brought her up beside him up here it kind of did a little little like a little half pirouette with her you know that the kind of show off a little bit then he said three words that I'll take for my text today they'll never forget his eyes got a little glassy little teary and he said to the entire congregation isn't she beautiful I'm gonna preach about that today a little isn't she beautiful because the Lord gave me the worst equipment I've ever had I guess about the judgment that I laid on the shoulders of that precious woman and that he saw something that I was not saying he perceives something that had escaped me completely then I never even entertained other than you are everything that she is not and the Lord said that may very well be true because she is nothing like him because when he looks at her he sees the children that she has wrapped her flesh around and raised for him he sees the clothes that she has washed and the things she has done without so he can dress like he is dressed and making an appearance in the church he sees all the meals that she has cooked and all the beds that she's made and all the sicknesses she has ministered to him all the struggles that she had endured never complaining he saw the sacrifices in all of her dedication to him in all that she had given up and surrendered to keep a house and offer them a refuge in a place where they could go and the fame that poured from his lips when he looked at her was isn't she beautiful he was not looking to her like I was looking at her she's nothing like you sir doesn't take a strain vision or a better set of glasses to see that he was not looking at the contrast between her and him he was looking at what she had given up in order to make him who he was today and all that she had offered unto him and God gave me a little lesson about the church you know because some who speak of the church speak of it contemptibly others condemn it for not being all that it should be some judges find it wanting all the scales of human reasoning others depreciate it by saying it's simply not like it used to be another's devalue the church by comparing it with other religious failures and yet the church has lived beyond the skeptics for more than 2,000 years and the church is going to stand and falling times and it will live and dine times and it is destined to victory and times of defeat and it will be raptured in times of destruction and it will rain in times of ruin it's going to be in heaven in times of hell for the church till the Living God is the anvil that has worn out many a hammer and now we declare unto you that this church does have some imperfections she has her flaws she has blemishes and certain defects and if you're looking close enough you'll see some weaknesses in her deficiencies she is unlike her Savior whom the Bible said is altogether lovely because he is everything that she is not but he says from the pages of Holy Writ isn't she beautiful isn't she she's not perfect because she has paid a price to be a part of the church till the living call and when God looks at her he don't see the defaults he don't see the failures you don't see the struggles and the hardships he don't see how many children she's given birth to he doesn't see what a time it's taken to cook meals and work in kitchens and get here early he looks at her says isn't she beautiful the world looks at her and says what she's not there she's not that she don't have this you don't have that she don't look like this it's easy to look at the church and condemn it but when you look through the eyes of God he always said isn't she beautiful I see her beauty songs of sobbing he wrote a covered a good book over there called by his own name he was a little proud of himself gold songs you know David said Lord is my shepherd and others called him the Word of God others referred to him as this of the door and others that some reference to him but you know Solomon he he said I'm preaching about a love affair he had 700 wives so I guess he knew something about it and had 300 concubines he had a thousand women by the way you don't need that you know not if you're gonna write a book but you can't hardly read this book you know you can read it but says landmines everywhere you know you got to be careful when you start reading songs of Solomon it you got to step very gingerly because you can be reading right along and all of a sudden pow you know they start describing one another anatomically and he's got to say listen I can't go there you know I'm you stay away from that you know so you got to pick your where you got to read slow cuz it'll go right from something into something else you know and it just gotta be your kids got a Bobby he stapled a book together you know they made a movie out of it you probably shouldn't go see it so Solomon talking about the ride talk about the bridegroom talks about talks about how gorgeous and lovely the groom is now beautiful he is and and even the bride describes him and said you know he's altogether lovely he just altogether lovely he's just glorious because when he lost her I'll get back to a Texan I'm it around stinky nose when she lost her beloved she goes to the men on the wall said have you seen my beloved he said what's your beloved looks like how am I supposed to pick him out just cause he's your beloved he said what's your beloved more than other beloved's if you lost him get you another one or dime a dozen or everywhere you know finds you nothing overall she said my beloved is all together lovely a crown of his head to the soulless feet ain't nobody like my beloved I'm not getting an Ellen if you see my beloved tell him I'm looking for him because I don't want nobody else he's perfect from the crown of his you don't have a mark on him you don't have a failure on him you don't have a blemish on him you don't have anything of it she says concerning herself don't look on me she says to him don't look on me don't look at me because if you look very close you'll see I've got flaws and I got I got problems and I got issues and I got some scars and I've been beat up and she says because I'm black meaning she had worked in the fields and got suntan I know ladies like to get a little Sun out there but in that day you think they wanted you milky pasty white because that meant you carried a little umbrella around so he did what the Sun to shine on you because if you ever got a suntan that was a type that you had worked outdoors and they didn't want anyone was not proud but she had to be a working outdoors was on the top of slavery or bondage you worked in other pieces no look at me don't look too close to me no don't start examining me or you'll find out I got faults and I got defects and I got all kinds of problems with me but the groom her husband says to her you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes you just blinked at me one time and you pull my heart out now wattage of my heart just one of your eyes you know boys are like that girls you wink at and they think you love them you know you made this had some in your eye or some of the boys will translate that into wedding bells and everything you know cuz he said you ravaged me with one of your eyes you got my heart with one of your eyes she said don't look too close to me he's a man you got me I think you're yeah and he was saying to her isn't she beautiful I I don't see her scars and I don't see her problems I don't see her issues I don't see that I'm a that you understand she is nothing like he is she is nothing like he is he's altogether lovely as she's altogether matronly and all together not put together very well and all together as a servant or a slave and yet he said you got me with one of your eyes you you have to blink both eyes you make one time and you had my heart and he would have displayed her and invited her to the platform this morning saying isn't she beautiful isn't she beautiful when God sees you coming in the church and God sees you coming across the parking lot he looks at his angels and saying areare in she beautiful she's coming to the house of God she's not carrying a Louis Vuitton she's carrying a backpack or a shopping bag full of Elmer's glue and cotton balls she's getting ready to work at her son it's go class say well she don't look like much God said yeah but in she beautiful because she's coming in the house of God they walk over in the kitchen when folks are staying late after everybody's gone they got tomato sauce all over them hairs all hanging down in their face where they've been waiting on for you may think they don't look like much but God said aren't they beautiful those are my beautiful children of God I know they're not perfect but when I see them coming into my I see them out in the parking lot with a combo gun on everybody else come and look like they're all that you know those guys are out there parking cars from people that came to have Drive to begin with you know and the Lord looks down at them toboggan it all says aren't they beautiful aren't they that beautiful to see them out there like that let's invite them to the platform let everybody see my beautiful beautiful beautiful altogether lovely bride and we're not anything like him you know that don't you we're not anything like him but it still thinks this church is beautiful it is beautiful it does not yet appear what we shall be now are we the sons of God it does not yet appear what we shall be but would he shall appear we shall be like him but we shall see him as he is there's coming a day when perfection will come upon the child of God but right now we've got our issues we've got problems but when the Lord looks at us he understands and believes us to be beautiful the beauty that I read for you in Psalms from the writings of David he said they are beautiful for situation for situation when you read in the Bible I got I don't I don't want to get you to board with this and we're not gonna be boring and I understand that so I'm trying not to be you know when you read in the Bible about a free woman but promise you read about Sarah and you read about Hagar and you read about Jerusalem which now is then you read about Jerusalem which is above is free and people Paul mentions people and circumstances and places and then he states they are allegories they are veiled representations to describe one thing under the image of another there's symbolic there figurative stories there's more to it than first meets me to meet your eye so when you read about Jerusalem or Zion or you read about all these other cities you read about Jerusalem which is above you read about Jerusalem which is below you read about New Jerusalem you read about Zion you read about all these things that Paul says or allegories they have more meanings than just what you may think it means you know like when use the words like well they've got me over a barrel you don't really mean that dude it actually got you over a barrel standing around there you look like you're over a barrel it's an allegory it means I'm in a position of where I can't take care of myself he's got me down I have I don't have no way to get out you know and you say you're drowning in debt it's allegorical you're not really drowning you're just over your head in debt indebtedness I put my glasses net where I can see you this ROM says I look like a hillbilly librarian but when you climb in the ladder of success you're really not on a ladder climbing you know it's allegory how long do I have to do this little Baptist not be now and then I'll shut it off you know I think you got it already you know you say man I picked that girl up and she's light as a feather well I've picked up feathers before I believe she's heavier than that you know but it's allegory you know you trying to surveil representation it's not really lines the feather it's just some way of you describing that you know you know it's a figure of speech and and and and so when you're falling in love it's kind of like that but you have fallen obviously and you can't get up and so you know you're you're you fall in love when you say well man I was tickled to death how come you're still alive if it killed you you know well no it didn't really kill me it's allegory you know it has more than one meaning to it you know and so these figures of speech or through the Bible especially the New Testament and Hagar is the type of bondage because she was from Egypt and she was Sarah's slave sarah is freedom she represents frames write down your Bible you read for yourself don't make me to take away too long you know Esau represents the flesh Jacob represents the spirit or all all the people and places are allegorical so you read about all these Jerusalem's in the Bible do some above Jerusalem a bow below then you got New Jerusalem you've got you got Zion you got you got all these different terms you say which Jerusalem are you talking about you know the one above the one below the New Jerusalem which is Jerusalem are you talking about there's one over there in the Middle East there's one coming down from God out of heaven there's a new one there's an old one you know which one are you talk cuz they're allegorical it could have been any of them but all the Jerusalem's and all the Zions and all of those places even Salem the Bible said save them also as a tabernacle and his dwelling place is in Zion so when you read about Zion and you read about Salem and you read about all these different Jerusalem's you understand they're all allegorical 'he's representing the church of the living god there's ioan Mount Zion is representative of the church it's allegorically representing of the church you have you know I just wanted you to get that kind of in your heart they're all synonymous one with another and Jerusalem which is below Jerusalem which is above heavenly Jerusalem Jerusalem called the church till the first morte it symbolizes a heavenly and an earthly and Zion being the church there's a relationship to all of them we have the natural first and then we have a spiritual and the natural we'll help you understand the natural you'll understand something about the spiritual if you can't understand that see the natural came first first of all there was the natural Jerusalem you have to understand the natural Jerusalem to be able to understand the spirits in Jerusalem because Jesus tried to talk to to - to a man one time and he tried to explain to him about this birth and it tried to explain to him and he described it as the wind blowing and you don't know where it came from you don't know where it's going it's like the spirit he's shake his head could understand it and Jesus said if I've told you natural things and you can't understand it there's no way I can explain a spiritual thing to you because I'm there allegorical they have more than one meaning to it it's so if you can't understand the old Jerusalem the Jerusalem is over there in the Middle East you need to understand that one so you can understand Zion the Church of the Living God which is going to one day be a part of a New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven everybody say praise the Lord I'm done with that everybody they'll say praise the Lord they give you a reason for pasta Paul summarizes Ephesians the third chapter it says unto Him be glory in the church Jesus Christ throughout all ages world without end he said it's the church gonna give God glory it's gonna give him praise and honor and adoration and beauty it's going to provide distinction for God and the reason he says it does that to make all men see what is the Fellowship of the mystery because the church was a mystery in the Old Testament they never saw Church age they saw the Jews being redeemed in the Messiah coming back and saving them they never saw that church age down there that they missed all of that but God says I want to make all men see what is the Fellowship of the mystery I want them to fellowship in this mystery which from the beginning of the world has got hid in God who created all things - Jesus Christ - the intent of this was the reason that now the principalities and powers in heavenly places but be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in judge Jesus our Lord there's intent for the church there's was an eternal purpose for God's house there was a design there was an aim there was a plan for the church that is it was not an afterthought not made up somewhere along the way just because the Old Testament prophets never saw it doesn't mean God just come up with it at the last moment he had purpose for it but it was a mystery the church was a mystery in the mind of God from the beginning of the world the Church of God would be the venue where the Lord would display all of his manifold wisdoms God was going to do something in the church and through the church that had never been done without the church God needed the church to display his manifold wisdoms that he's got a lot of wisdoms a lot of understanding and a lot of glory but he needed a showcase he needed a place to display his manifold wisdoms and he said it's going to be the church well I really show you what I can do now I've done some pretty neat stuff throughout the Old Testament I've done some stuff that baffled men's minds but when I get a church established down here I'm gonna show you what I can really do it'll be a display case for all my manifold wisdoms I'm gonna pull out the stops when I get a church and I'm gonna show you what I can do that I have not done from the creation of the world up to the time I've got a chair that men might see the manifold wisdom of God manifold wisdom of God hallelujah the six days of creation were simply not enough for the full display of God's manifold wisdoms because in Genesis you see his beauty you see his diversity you see his complexity you see his precision you see his artistry his intricacy his adaptability his forethought and his variety but church was gonna be his manifold wisdom he was gonna take care of all those wisdoms and make him look like nothing compared what he was gonna do when he got a church because in the church in the first six days he did not have or did not display his salvation his divine protection his healings his delivers his redemption his forgiveness his peace his security his joy his everlasting hope of glory the indwelling of his spirit the outward working of his amazing grace unto him be glory in the church he was going to show things in the church that he had not shown throughout the Old Testament there's a mystery that God hid from everyone until he got a church here unto him the Bible said be glory in the church that's why Satan hates the church and that's why all the enemies of Israel of their guns pointed at Jerusalem they hate Jerusalem he doesn't they don't have many friends in the world we learned that the Satan does not like the church because it displays things that men have never seen we see this Miravalle miracle God would display that in his church the manifold wisdom of God never knowing how it's gonna happen never knowing where it's gonna come from just believing God and being obedient to his word and let God show you something that he never put on display for ever the manifold wisdom of God he would unlock the mystery and said the church will be my display case where I will display all of my glory and my manifold wisdoms greatest the Lord my text and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain of His Holiness beautiful for situation he's the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion both sides of the north of city of a great king and God is known in her palaces or refuge she's beautiful for situation she may not always be beautiful to look at I pastored for forty about forty six years I've seen the church in all kinds of situations you know I've seen him when they were beautiful and I've seen some folks act ugly I've seen some folks give and some folks it wouldn't give I've seen some folks to miss church for nothing and other folks that were faithful to the house of God but I would stand right here and say to every critic of the church isn't she beautiful isn't she beautiful I'm not going to let something ugly take away from the beauty of God's mystery kids from the ages Jerusalem of the church is beautiful in the way this placed in relationship to its surroundings I want you to listen to me we said again Jerusalem or the church is beautiful in the way it is placed in relationship to its surroundings it's how it is situated that gives a beauty how does position relative to its environment is what makes you beautiful its beauty its pleasantness its appeal and attractiveness really has little to do with its architecture its design or the expense of its building materials it has nothing to do with its dimensions size or shape but rather how it is positioned relative to its surroundings that gives it its beauty you know when you think about how you position the church into its relationship with everything that is around it you know let me say this and I just need to go there for just a minute you know your nose ain't nothing that you don't hear many people say when he meets a girl to another boy do you see her nose unless he's got apricots good she's got a nose as enormous or something but Jared speaking boys don't talk about you know she's got a nose to die for nose didn't get a lot of attention you know it's it's I think the Lord must have been kind of feeling a little quirky when he put it where he put it you know it's not a clean thing what were you thinking Lord when you put it an inch from my mouth what was the idea behind that you know we tell the kids keep your note keep your fingers out of it you drag all kinds of demons how that thing you notice it's haunted never know what's gonna come out and then you put a pathway right on my upper lip the guides anything that might come from it right to my mouth how many angels are looking and saying Lord let's do something else from that part right there you know let's put it someplace where you can put a diaper on it or hide it somewhere you know so there's no love you got one nobody got that path right down through there you know cuz it you know beckon if he gets a bad goal you got one second to catch it it'll be in his mouth no you got a pathway right there leader right to your mouth if you run it like the Mississippi over here someplace maybe you'd have a little longer but you don't have no time you know you got a second to catch it it's always embarrassing when your nose runs get a bad cold you know and you're blowing your nose it's not very pretty it doesn't you know when you're airing it out and don't don't the other day I was under had war with him like a countryman you know a mic around your room I had never had war one well I had what one other time my son-in-law you know he's all about that stuff so he he wired me up and said you'll like it dad so and I did it was good but I got into teaching Bible study I took a I took a handkerchief and I was wipe my nose or my mouth everything else lied in the headset itself when I did it oh my hang shelf and look and I was shocked there was like a round thing laying in there and I said good grief upload my adenoids out of my head I've hurt myself what it was when I wipe my face off there's a little spongy thing that goes on the end of your thing and I'd pull that off and it was hitting my handkerchief you know it when I first looked at I said sweet Jesus I him I guess a cell let's say your nose is not all that attractive I don't care if it's a pug nose you've got a ski ramp going on or you've got a big knot in the middle of your nose and what you got there just none very attractive you know and it's right it's the first thing you come up against when you look at somebody against their nose in that little go path down through there you know you got to catch it quick it's an unclean place right above your mouth say God why'd you put it there is there someplace else you could have you know put it on your hip or put it someplace you know where it's not so obvious but you understand that every bite of food must pass under your nose and it's sanctioned by your nose before you put it in your mouth you don't think about it but the nose contains 10 million receptors that can pick us one smell out of 10,000 different smells cause the nose knows it is the TSA of the body and they will stop you if you get a bad shrimp you get it ready to stuff it down that piehole and he running under your nose and your nose says don't put that in your mouth you will be sorry if you eat that it picks out that scent and says that will not be good for you you don't consciously do that you don't think in a like I let my nose smell of it first you just pick it up a scoop it in slowly faster than others you know but it's sanctioned everything you put in your mouth and it has saved your life many times kept you from getting sick kept you forget ptomaine poison it's kept you from laying awake all night going to the doctor and have to have your stomach pumped it saved your life over and over again because God put it right where it needed to be it is beautiful not because it's a beautiful part of your body but it is beautiful because of where God put it in relationship to the rest of your body because if you here to put it down here on your hip you'd have to eat like this yeah that wouldn't be good it takes forever to eat something you know if you had to if it was someplace else on your body but the nose is beautiful for situation how it's in relationship to the rest of your body gives your nose some beauty well the church is beautiful for it's such a waste or a situation where God put it in relationship to everything there is around it that gives it beauty does it it saved your life more and more time so you can ever imagine now and then it may not be beautiful now then it may not be everything you think it ought to me but it has spares you misery this spares you misery did not have a thing in it is always clean but it is beautiful I said your nose is beautiful for situation where God put it is perfect because it does this job it couldn't do it anywhere else I hate to have to go there but it's too late for that now the natural city of Jerusalem it's placed upon a mountain Plateau it's 3,300 feet above the Jordan plain 3,800 feet above the Dead Sea it's higher than any other great Capitol in history there are no seaports there are no Caravan crossroads it's not the hub of commercialism which makes other the city's great but because of its elevation is referred to as the mountain of the lord's holiness it is the elevation that beautifies it and it's said over and above the landscape that's all around it it is not a part of the world below it is paramount it is above all other parts they that trust in the Lord Shelby is Mount Zion which cannot be removed and abide forever as the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from his fourth even forever Jerusalem is protected and it's sheltered and it's guarded and it's shielded and it's defended all this is due to the beauty of her situation we learned from the Bible that Jerusalem was the location of the temple the city where God chose to place his name it's a city of sacrifice city of praise the city of worship place where God would meet his people city of Prayer it's a city of choirs and intercession of the priesthood city of God's glory the city of a great king there's only one problem with the city and that was its situation or location respect to its landscape it did present a certain problem it was always an uphill climb to get there because of the way God situated I mean who builds their church on top of a mountain it demanded effort it required travail it burns your energy and caused some pain it would take time to make the climb there was no easy access due to its situation if you wanted the benefits of Jerusalem you got to endure the burden of getting there the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the and all they that dwell therein for he founded upon the sea and establishing upon the floods and got ready to establish this world in general he holds the title deed of everything and everyone upon the earth he owns the land the houses the wealth the factories the corporation's the industries every man woman and child rich poor boundary it's all God's absolute and sovereign property if the Bible said he founded it upon the Seas and he established it upon the floods he located it he originated this world and developed it and built it upon the Seas and the floods of water when you think of the world being built upon a very unsure foundation its built on the lower level plain the Bible said upon the waters and upon the floods that's why it is so subject to wildfires when one place floods in another place tsunamis and earthquakes in another place tidal waves and hurricanes and tornadoes because it's founded upon a very unpredictable foundation he said I found in everything in this world upon the floods and upon the Seas that are able to shift and place with ship and things will slide over houses will burn down they can't stop all kinds of perils and problems because of where it was situated but God said I'm gonna put a situation here I'm gonna take the church that she will not be founded on the floods will not be founded on the shifting sands of time but I will take her up to a high mountain and I'm bout her situation will make her beautiful because that most set up on a high mountain she will not be connected to the world let me go quickly let me go quickly the foundation for all that is built upon the earth is very unstable constantly changing floods and seas and trouble the foundation is unpredictable the world in the foulest their own built upon shifting sands without a sheer foundation will fall to winds and storms and floods you got to seek that which is a the world the question was asked who shall ascend the hill of the Lord if you take your church and you put it up on a mountain who's gonna go there when their churches everywhere what's easier to get to much more accessible who's gonna climb the hill and go to a church that's up on a mountain who's is gonna get all their kids dressed and ready to diaper bags and whatever else you got to take get your kids all dressed they'd have to climb a hill all the way up to church the question was asked who will ascend that hill who's gonna do something like that there's gonna do something like that then he says or who shall stand in his holy place he understands the difficulty he knows God knows the uphill struggle he realized the effort it will take in time and energy God is fully aware of the cost of the climb where there is a cost to this climb to this church that's set up on a high mountain who shall ascend the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place he said he that hath clean hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity or sworn deceitfully he shall receive the blessings from the Lord and the righteousness from God at his salvation this is the generation of them that seek Him and they that seek my face Oh Jacob that's when the Lord sees him climbing up the mountain getting their kids ready getting their family ready and it's not an easy past my 10 other churches to get to the one that's set up on the hill and Lord said aren't they beautiful aren't they beautiful coming down the street they will stop off at some church has got a much easier access that's not nearly as problematic it's making the trip all the way over to the church just set up on a hill and they'll be bringing their kids in their family aren't they beautiful aren't they beautiful aren't they beautiful aren't they beautiful because they're willing to pay the cost of the climb those that recognize the total lack of ownership below it is because the situation of Jerusalem that makes it somewhat difficult to a sin that has caused some to bring it down to a more accessible place in relationship to its surroundings if we could just get the church off of that mountain of holiness and just bring it down to a more accessible place just bring it down to the floods and the Seas and make it a part of the world it'd be easier to get to it'd be less troublesome there would be no cost for a climb you get there quicker and some have brought their church down to a lower plane and connected it to the world because it makes it easier and more accessible to everyone because there's no cost for a climb they've taken it down off of the mountain of holiness and brought it down to a lower plane so there's no cost to the client now you can just walk in without giving anything it is the phenomenon to me and I'm gonna go your Pastor reason I appreciate the Carpenters and the staff here at this church it's because they have left their church this great Church in Maryville they've left it up on top of the mountain because that's the it's beautiful for situation it's not the carpet it's not the pews it's not all the glories of the church it's the situation because if you changed the situation listen to if you change the situation of the church it loses its beauty when you take it down off the mountain and bring it down here it's only beautiful for its situation when you change the relationship of the church to the world now in this lost dispute it's not I don't care how much you spend on it I don't care the multiplied millions of dollars you can spend on it is not beautiful in the eyes of God but when God looks up at his church and he sees folks trying to climb the mountain he's he folks going up he said our baby aren't they beautiful because they love the situation of the household con they love hats situation up above the world but you got to pray the cost of a climb the climb is expensive to stay with me all the rest of the world's institutions when you change the situation of the church it forfeits its beauty it will stir the flesh music become but it will not stir the soul its appeal to the carnal it has no appeal to the Spirit it will appeal to those who are full but not to the hungry it will attract the masses but not the desperate it will stir the emotions but it never changes the hard it makes sight worldly pleasures it will not save us in sick soul as goes the situation of the church in relationship to its surroundings so goes this beauty she is beautiful situation she's the joy of the whole earth and in her palaces folks talk about how she's the refuge you can go to her to me this is amazing how close during the settlement of this great country may just play some music for me during the settlement of this great country it was decision of the townspeople at the church be given the high ground that's used to make a settlement just a primitive settlement if there was a little rolling Knoll or there was some high ground and give that to the church they wanted to be very easily accessible you know if you're watched and I'm not an advocate of this but I used to watch old westerns when I was a kid Lord Rogers stole westerns has you've ever seen one maybe you didn't realize it or think about it much but the church and this is an Old West this is not some religious program but you're watching old what's special in old western you'll find the church is never connected to the town never now the delivery stable hardware mercantile everything else is all in one level but the church is always set up on him they're not trying to be religious that's just how they thought it should be it's roofline is never connected you may have to ask for the hotel we have to inquire we're gonna give him a horse shot you may have to ask got a saloon in this town but you don't ask if there's the church here because they made it highly visible and it's never connected to the town that's a Western that enough sense to know if you're gonna make a realistic view you don't hook the town on to the saloon you don't make it a part of the town it's always off by itself someplace so if a man's ruddy running for his life you don't have to ask about where's the church they never named it as to what kind of a church it was it was just the church you know and if it's ever a gunfight in town you get your kids could always run to the church cuz you feel like you'd be safe there you know there's a place that is known as a refuge place to come to it was just never connected I'm talking about the most elementary basic concept of church in an old western never connected the church to the town it was always up on the Hotpoint when they settled the plains Nolan's settle the plains the Oklahoma's and the plains states there were no Hills so they put steeples on sick and look out across can always see that white steeple and know that's where the church is in sloughs don't have a seat they don't have a steeple you'll have to ask about that in choir but y'all always be able to find the church because this is she beautiful plus she's set up high above all the world that sweater set a pie ha she's beautiful for situation in respect to the rest of the town she's beautiful because she's not a part of the town she invites the townspeople to her and she's easy to find God looks down first Pentecost the chairs she says isn't she beautiful because she hasn't been brought down to a lower place she lifts your hands right down love the Lord first church how would she love the Lord first challenge - thank God for his church hallelujah hallelu but I'll see them coming to the door when I see that when I see the choir getting their robes on and they have to have prepped practices they have to give up another day for rehearsals God said it she beautiful it she beautiful the sacrifice she makes but I'll see the musicians playing their pianist rather than sitting with her family is sitting with the kids God loves hanim assist man aren't they beautiful aren't they beautiful they see the drummer he closed in Plexiglas they say isn't he beautiful it's because of what you give up and you sacrifice for the kingdom of God are we perfect no sir and if you want to look at us you can find some faults because we're not like him he's altogether lovely and we are not but you have ravaged his heart with one of your eyes you just winked at him and he said you stole my heart and I know you're not like me but one day you will be and I say as I help you as I help you evolve on the platform in your old worn out and dress your hair all disheveled and kind of wild when you walk I introduce you to the world around you and I say listen she is she's beautiful for situation we're gonna come and stand Church we gonna say we're just gonna value the situation of the church but your pastor when this staff has kept it where it needed to be up on the mountain and it is beautiful in its relationship to everything around it God has exalted me and brought it up on we go sing Oh thank you I'm gonna help keep it about thank you no I'm not you know I've read this the heart of God jabo see with me I'll say there will be temptations and struggles and the devil will tell you you're not worthy of his affections you don't love you because you made a mistake or an error or you have a fool or circumstances have scarred your life but he's a liar from the very beginning she says to her beloved don't look at me because I'm afraid you'll like me if you look at me too close he said you ravaged me with one of your eyes you stole my heart that make your beautiful I want to marry you always respect the mountain of holiness was respected because it's the beauty of the church because that's the situation that it's in sort of never changed the situation cause this holiness message hath no greater enemy than those who once embraced his tenants for having forsaken whites justice they cannot bear to forsake it alone but or not and will not rest until they bring others down to the estate for as long as there is one left standing they stand condemned there will be those who will try to entice the church Tice you not to pay the cost of the climb come down from that mountain walls change your situation things will be easier for you it saw that ones that have come down cannot rest until they break the others down because as long as there's one church and will not come down they stand