Psalms 119:72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

	As we are gathered together in worship this morning, it is apparent that we have taken time to set aside for the Lord. There are many reasons and motives throughout this room for why we are here. There are some for whom a Sunday without going to church would be breaking a tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation. There are those for whom it is simply expected that we be here, whether from spouses or parents or from our own sense of feeling guilty if we were not together. For others, there is that sense of trying to establish something in our lives that seems to be missing. For others, it may be a sense that this is paying a penance for something that we did wrongly during the week, or storing up credit for something that we might do in the future. Some may find this simply to be a time to socialize with special friends, that we may not otherwise see. For others, it may be from a sense of obeying a law or a sense of duty to God which we perceive as a sacred bond between ourselves and the Lord. 
	For hopefully a growing number of those among us, our gathering together is developing more out of a whole-hearted desire to simply please God, and to worship together unto Him in the realization of Who God is in our lives, and in the lives of those about us. Rather than being a matter of going to church on Sunday because of some external reason that forces us into a semblance of what is thought to be spirituality, we are more and more coming together on the basis of an internalized desire to bring unto God the very best that we have to offer unto Him in Love.
	Along these lines, as we read through the 119th Psalm, we see that heart after God that should indwell each one of us in worship. That worship, by the way, is not limited solely to Sunday mornings or Sunday evenings, it is boundless in its scope and breadth and depth in our beings. As Christ reigns forth, He is establishing His sovereignty in our lives throughout the week, not just on one day of the week.
	There needs to be a recognition on our part, yours and mine of the gravity of our relationship with the Father, through the Son, by The Holy Spirit. That relationship, which is celebrated in true worship, is established not by a weekly gathering in this room, and not simply by a ritual reading and study of the Bible on Mondays, or Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. It is brought into existence as our hearts become more and more settled on Jesus Christ being the ONLY life that we have - Period! This is not a simple matter of singing a few songs, reading a few verses, saying a few words of prayer, and then feeling that we have pleased the Lord. It is a matter of daily, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - recognizing and living in the fact that our lives belong absolutely to God and to Him alone. There is no other claim that we can recognize outside of His upon any moment of our time on this earth.
	This, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is what the Lord very plainly told us in John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. That truth is as well brought into view by the Apostle Paul in Gal. 2:20, in a verse we are fond of quoting, but which needs to be worked ever increasingly into our beings by the Holy Spirit through a living understanding of exactly what it means in our walk on this earth, especially at work, at school and at home. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
	We need to acknowledge the fact that we are no longer free to choose our way or God’s way in our life. When we accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives, we willingly submitted to Him to bring us into the relationship which God has always desired for man. Some of us did it in order to be saved from the fires of hell, because we didn’t want to spend eternity in torment. There is no disgrace in this motive, because we threw ourselves upon the Amazing Grace of God to save us, and that is the start of our walk with God. Apart from so great a salvation in Jesus Christ, we have no standing before God in any manner. Then, as we came to know the love of God in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, we were drawn, we were compelled to know more and more about Him. Oh the depth of the love that God has so freely lavished upon us in Christ, that so manifestly draws us unto His heart. We begin to realize that what God is working in us is the very best that we can ever have accomplished in our lives. 	Whether we recognize it today, or in two years or twenty, we will come to the point of cognition that what God is doing in our lives is the very best that we can experience. We may not choose it today, but we will desire it to be the truth of our beings as the Holy Spirit accomplishes His good work in us. As this is truth, we need to bring our daily walk into conformity with that which will please God in our lives, and that requires an utter obedience to Him in every situation of our lives.
	This is not an easy message to listen to, to submit unto, nor to have established in us, because it is a literal joining Christ in a complete crucifixion to self, and a glorious resurrection in Him. That means that every desire and every strain upon our time, can no longer be viewed in terms of what we want and what we would rather do, but always, at every moment, in every instance, an obedience to the measure of what He wants in our lives that instant and every moment of our lives.
	We can not pick and choose, obedience in this issue, but my desire in that situation. Our life in Christ is an all-encompassing one. Please do not misunderstand and think that I am casting judgment on any one of us, because the truth is that we are all in this life together, bound by the bond of Christ and His life indwelling each of us. On that basis, I put myself at the forefront of whatever unintended criticism you may perceive, because my desire is to have the reality of Christ established in every one of us in this room, including myself. 
	We need to intensely examine the pulls of our everyday walk on this earth, to determine before the Lord, and before Him alone, where our focus is as our lives are being lived forth on this earth. As we began this message with the very reasons that we are gathered together, so we need to examine our hearts as to what it is that we desire in the Lord. If we are after the fullness of Christ being established in us, in the lives of our families, in the life of this fellowship, in the lives of those with whom we are associated at work, at school, and at play, then we need to ask the Lord to cut asunder our motives for everything we do. 
	On this basis, I ask each of us to examine our hearts before the Lord in the terms of the passage of our discussion, Psalms 119:72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Is this true of us? This is a most basic start in the examination of the motivations that have a hold upon our beings in this world. Is the Word of God more precious to us than the riches that this world promises? I am not talking of anything more than money at this point. Whether that money is in large quantities or barely sufficient to meet the expenses of living, is it more important to us than God? Are we so in tuned to the driving principles of making a living, that we are incapable to live in Christ? Does the drive after money affect our drive after the things of God, put God on the back burner when there is a dollar to made? This forces us into the morality issue, or rather lack of morality that is driven by the need after the mammon of this realm, and it leads to so many other different avenues of success in this realm at the expense of our living relationship with God. The range flows from work, to sports, to social activities, to scholarly responsibilities, all at the expense of the priority of God and of His Lordship every moment of our lives.
	The truth of our lives rest in the fact that as we are brought into the living relationship with Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit, every aspect of our daily walk will come into conflict with this world order. And yet, in us lives the One Who has so fully overcome the world, that every attack will be met on the basis of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will find our victory as He expressed in John 17: 15 - 23 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may also be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou lovest me.
	Where is our heart before Christ this morning? Is it focused on the person of Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, unto the Father, through His Word, or is it elsewhere, seeking that which is of so little consequence in the reality of Christ? I pray, and I hope that you join me in this prayer, that we are open to the fullness of God in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and fully set upon that which is His desire and plan and purpose for our lives, unto the complete glory of God on this earth.

Psalms 119:72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.