One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and seek Him in His temple.One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple.
13 sermons cite this verse
… it's a one thing we should all want as Christians David wrote one thing if I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life one thing then Paul says this one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind and pressing forward to the things that are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus but also a happy person will be a peacemaker Look at verse nine. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Now this is not talking really about people that march for peace or work for peace. So that is a good thing if it's done right. But having said that, this verse is really talking about a person who is spreading the gospel of peace. Seeking to introduce people to the prince of peace. The gospel is called the good news of peace through Jesus Christ in Acts 10.36. …
… flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I just want to get in that secret place. I want to get in that secret corner. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Hide me! Hide me! Hide me, Jesus! Hide me! Where the eagle can't break in, where the scavengers cannot destroy me, where the enemy cannot pollute me. Hide me! Where the hex won't work, and the spell won't work, and the lies won't work and the enemy won't work. Hide me, Lord. In the secret of your pavilion shall you hide me. You shall set me upon a rock. Now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me. I will sing. Yea, I will sing praises unto my God. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me. …
… question that he raises in verse 4, which is really what I want to focus on, where he says, One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. So he's raising an issue that I think that's worthwhile for every one of us to raise, and that would be what is the one thing that we would seek after in life? I mean, what is our priority? What is the dominant interest? What is our controlling passion? As a youngster, I would say my dominant passion was that I would be the next Don Drysdale pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers or the next Sandy Colfax. That's right. I was brought up in Los Angeles. So they were my heroes or that I might be the next Jerry West on the Lakers. That was certainly dominant as a young man. …
… this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. I wanna take God up on the offer of God and God is often found on the other side of a closed door. So by God's grace and the power of his spirit, I'm closing the door, do not disturb, and stepping in and I say, God, I want God. And I want us to be a church who wants God. And because we know God sees us, we're okay when no one else does. Because when you've got the pleasure of the Lord, woke up love today, you don't need to go fight for someone else's smile. No one did this better than Jesus. In John 8, 29, Jesus says, I always do what pleases my father. And because that's true, you can trace Jesus' life, eyes towards heaven. And at times, pleasing his father meant saying no when people crowned him as king and getting alone in the desert. …
Bible says in Psalm 27, for one thing have I desired, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, here it is, this is the awe of God, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Here's what happens. When the world says, well, you've got options on this, and the Christian drives the world nuts because the Christian goes like this, thank you very much for that information, those are my options? Yes, those are your options. I'll tell you what, I'll get back to you tomorrow. I'm going to pray about it. I remember being very, very young, about 22 years old, and I was offered a job that was way beyond me, but I was offered a job by a global corporation. It was amazing. 100,000 or 200,000 employees. But they said, you're the right man for this job. I didn't believe so. I didn't think so. But all these other people were applying for the job, and all these people were being interviewed. …
… I have desired, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Look at this. To behold the beauty of the Lord. If we're dazzled by diamonds, dazzled by our collection of fine wines, if we're most dazzled by staring at and looking at Instagram followers or this on influence on Twitter, if we're most dazzled by the vert we ski, if we're most dazzled by being the most fittest or the most, you see what I'm saying? If that dazzles you the most, hey, honey, it better be able to deliver you. But it won't be able to when you need it the most. End of your life? Standing before God? Can that which you let dazzle you in this world now deliver you in a trial? Can it save your marriage? Can it help your kids? No. So be dazzled most by the Lord because he can deliver you. He will deliver you. And as you seek him first, listen to me, listen to me. …
… Shout out to Ashley Cheeks and her team for pulling this together and I thank them for helping me be creative. I can't do it by myself. Psalm 27 verse 4, in the time of trouble. Well, I don't know if you have ever seen it, but there's a game called Trouble. There's a game called Trouble. And I grew up playing this game, and Lady Bree and I enjoyed this game. We rediscovered the game during the pandemic. You know, we were all quarantined at home trying to figure out stuff to do. We were doing all kind of stuff trying to just get through the day. We pulled out games we haven't touched in years and found the manual, had to relearn how to play the game because the trouble we used to play in the 90s ain't the trouble that they have now. Trouble changes. So an expeditious Google search explains that trouble is a board game where players race to get all four of their colored pieces around the board into the finish zone. …
… That's where I want to be. and I want to dwell there all the days of my life. I love that. That challenges me today. It's not like I can make it a couple Sundays. He said, I want to dwell in that place all the days of my life, but here's what I'm aiming for. Here's my one thing. I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. That feels like going back to Jeremiah and then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you. And here's David now saying, this is my one thing. Lord, I need some help with this and I definitely am leaning on you for this and I'm definitely trusting you for this and I'm definitely gonna be in every way I can clinging to you for this, but here's my one thing. …
in God's temple. I don't know about you, church, but I'm glad to be in the service one more time. As I told the congregation last night after birthing my twin girls four months ago, I'm convinced that he didn't have to let me live. He didn't have to let me live, but I'm glad to be in the service one more time. I give honor to God because God is the head of my life. God is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. The Greek New Testament tells us that God is the Alpha Chi Omega. God is the author and the finisher of my faith. To God be the glory, great things God has done. to the angel of this house, the Reverend Dr. Howard John Wesley. I am so blessed and humbled by the invitation to be present with you on this Sunday morning to worship God with this marvelous congregation, this spirit-filled congregation, to worship with you in spirit and in truth. …
I don't know about you, but I'm glad to be in the service one more time. After birthing those twins, I'm convinced that he didn't have to let me live. But I'm glad to be in the service. I give honor tonight to God who is the head of my life. God is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. The Greek New Testament tells us that God is the Alpha Chi Omega. God is the author and the finisher of my faith. To God be the glory. Great things God has done. to the under-shepherd of this house, the angel of this old ship of Zion, your pastor, the Reverend Dr. Howard John Wesley. I'm so blessed by his invitation to be in your midst on this day, on this weekend, to be able to worship in spirit and truth with this spirit-filled congregation. This service-oriented congregation is a privilege to my soul, and I am just overwhelmed with being here tonight. I give God honor and God praise for your pastor. …
… I know what we are up against. But I stopped by to remind Alfred Street that the psalmist says that when evildoers came to devour my flesh, they stumbled and fell. I stopped by to remind somebody of one King David who said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. I came by to remind somebody of the prophet who said, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass. I came to remind you of one Isaiah who said, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Oh, yes, there is a word because if God before us, if God before us, if God before us, who I say can be against us, neither death nor life, it is written, neither angels nor principalities, it is written, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height nor depth, or any other living creature can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. …
… what would they reveal about you as a couple? So it's like what David says in Psalm 27, verse four, when he says, this one thing have I asked of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Like that was his one prayer request. God, I want you. I want you. I want to see you. I want to be with you. And so the question is, is give me a manuscript of your prayers for his last. I want to hear what do you hunger for? What do you want? You're coming before the creator, the sovereign one who's in control of this whole earth. and what are you asking for? And most of us are asking for fix this, make life easier, better for me, right? Amen. So if that's, I mean, is it illegitimate for us to pray? …
… up there seeking you like, oh God, it's so good to be in your presence. that's why the psalmist says in Psalm 27 verse 4 he says there's only one thing I seek one thing I ask Lord one thing that I'll seek after it's like I just want to dwell I just want to dwell with you I just want to dwell in the temple of the Lord all the days of my life and just to gaze upon your beauty he says God this is all I want this is all I want this is my prayer there's one thing I'm going to seek after and I'm asking you for is every day could I just have the wisdom to come into your throne room and just stare at you, okay, to take my eyes off of everything on the earth, and I just want to seek you and be there with you and go, oh my gosh, this is insane. I'm in your presence because of Jesus, because you sent him to die on a cross. He died for all of my sins, and now I get to come into your presence, me. Who am I, this created being that's been alive just for a few years, and here I am in your presence. I just want to gaze upon your beauty every day. …