The Beautiful Cornerstone

The Beautiful Cornerstone
Psalm 118:14-29
May 11-12, 2024 

Psalm 118 is so filled with glory and depth of meaning that you could literally write books explaining the truths, the prophecies contained in this amazing psalm. It is one of the most personal Psalms because it has everything to do with our own personal, eternal salvation. It is also the greatest of what are known as the Hallel psalms. Hallel is Hebrew for praise God. It's the praise psalms of 113 to 118 or a set of psalms that they would read every Passover or sing as hymns.

This is the greatest, the last and greatest of the Hallel psalms that they would read. In fact, Jesus would have read or sung this psalm with the disciples on that last night, that night He had the last supper, the night before He was betrayed and arrested that led ultimately to His being crucified. He would've read this psalm with them.

Now, what's amazing about that is that all the Jews knew that this psalm was the great psalm of the Messiah. That it's all about becoming Messiah. It is the greatest of the Messianic, that's what it means, that show Jesus in the Old Testament amazingly. Now, remember the day that we call it the triumphant entry, the day that Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the fold of a donkey, great crowds were with Him, and they were celebrating, waving the palm branches, shouting, "Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

Well, they were shouting Psalm 118. Everybody knew that was the great psalm of the Messiah. When the Messiah came, you got to sing us that psalm. You got to shout out that psalm. That's what the crowds were doing.

Well, the Jewish leaders there that were blending into the crowd, they didn't like that. They tried to correct Jesus because the crowds were singing that psalm of the Messiah. They said, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples, they ought not be singing this. No one ought to be singing this unless the Messiah is here." Jesus, and I love His response, He says, "I tell you, if these be silent, even the stones will cry out." I love that answer. Exactly so. Nothing and no one can hinder the purposes of God for this is the day that the Lord has made. It's in the psalm. This is the day that the Lord has made salvation possible.

The crowds that day were intending to rejoice and be glad in it, just like the psalm said they ought to do. For this is the day that God has made a way. God has been leaning up to this day, this exact day since the very beginning. The prophecies of the Old Testament all point to this day, and all that it brings about in the life of those who are followers of Jesus Christ. All of the miracles Jesus did, all the teaching Jesus did.

Then He told His disciples, "We must go to Jerusalem." He knew that this must be fulfilled on this day. He told them in advance that He would suffer many things there from the elders and chief priests and the scribes, and that He would be crucified. That's part of the psalm. That He would be raised up on the third day. This was the day the appointment was made in Psalm 118. It's right there. All of it's right there in this beautiful psalm. He would be rejected by the leaders of Israel. It's in the psalm. He would be that festival sacrifice bound with cords with horns of the altar. It's right there in the psalm.

He would be chastened severely, but death cannot hold Him. It's in the psalm. He would become our salvation. It's right there in the psalm. Again, let's read it together. Psalm 118, we'll begin in verse 14. Again, we'll cover the other verses at the Wednesday service. "The Lord," again, it's the name of God, the Lord, Yahweh. "The Lord is my strength, the Lord is my song, and He has become my salvation."

Now, the word salvation is the name of Jesus in Hebrew, Yeshua, it means God saves. Salvation. "He has become my salvation." Then verse 15, "The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. For the right hand of the Lord does valiantly." Right hand means strength, power, might. "The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly, and I shall not die, I will live. I will tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death. Death will not conquer me."

I love verse 19, "Open to me the gates of righteousness and I shall enter through them. I will give thanks to the Lord for this is the gate of the Lord and the righteous will enter through it. I will give thanks to you for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation. My Yeshua."

Then verse 22 is very famous. "The stone, which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone and this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes." Verse 24 is now very famous. "This is the day that the Lord has made and let us rejoice and be glad in it." Oh, Lord, do say literally in Hebrew "Hosanna, we beseech you, oh, Lord, we beseech you. Send prosperity or your favor upon us." Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God. He's given us light, bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. Here it pictures that offering, that sacrifice that Jesus gave Himself to be, that offering for sin that day.

I. Enter Through the Gate of Righteousness

"Thou are my God and I give thanks to you. You are my God, and I extol you. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, and His loving kindness is everlasting." Now, that's a great psalm. There's so much in the psalm for us to see and apply to our life. Starting with this, you must enter through the gate of righteousness. Verses 19 and 21. "Open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go through them. This is the gate of the Lord," notice "and the righteous will enter through it. For you have become my salvation." Who enters in? The righteous.

Now, see the holy city, you enter the holy city by the way of a gate. Now, this is a prophetic expression. The holy city is a picture of the heavenly presence of God in all of His glory. How do you enter in? You enter in through the gates of the righteous. Who can enter? The righteous. Can sinners enter? No, it's called the gates of the righteous. What about sinners? Can they enter? No. It's called the gates of the righteous. It has everything to do with us.

Back when I was in Bible college, I had a class that I took in missions and evangelism. As part of the class, we were given this assignment where we had to go out and about in the world and talk to people that we had never met before. We had a list of questions that we were supposed to engage with because this was going to open the door for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It actually did. I took this assignment very seriously. Went to the mall and you know some of those cafes where they got little tables and people just sitting around, I would just sit down at a table and just tell them, "Hey, my name's Rich. I am in Bible college. I have this class and this is my assignment, to sit down with people and ask questions. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

They would say yes. I would start. I'd say, "All right, now if you were to die tonight, why or on what basis would God allow you to enter into heaven? Why would God allow you into heaven?" The answers were amazing.

By the way. It did open up the door for conversation. I actually did pray with several people to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people would say, "I'm a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and on that basis, I believe in Him. He's forgiven my sin." Okay, awesome. Welcome, brother. Others would say, "Well," and many of them would say, "Well, I've lived a pretty good life. I've lived a pretty good life. I haven't done bad things."

My response would be, "But God is all together holy. He's all together righteous. He doesn't weigh righteousness on a scale." I said, "Let me ask you a question. Have you ever told a lie? I mean any lie?" They would say, "Well, yes." "Then what does that make you?" "A liar." "Have you ever stolen anything? I mean even something small. Have you stolen anything?" "Well, yes." "What does that make you?" "A thief." "Right. Have you ever sinned? I mean any sin at all? Have you ever done any sin?" "Well, yes." "What does that make you?" "A sinner." "Tell me again why God would allow you to come into the presence of the Holy Almighty God."

Now that's a ponder and it opened the door to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ because you do enter through the gate of righteousness, but can sinners enter? Yes. The answer is yes. Jesus is the gate of righteousness by which sinners can enter into the presence of the Holy Almighty God. It's called the Gate of the Righteous. It brings out now a great truth that not only does God make a way for sinners to be forgiven of their sins because Jesus became that offering and sacrifice and He paid the price and the penalty for all of those sins when He shed His blood on the cross that day.

Your sins have been paid. They've been paid in full and you have been forgiven, but not only that. He also then gives righteousness to you. The righteousness of God, He gives it as a gift to those who have received Jesus Christ and they have received forgiveness. Then He says, "Now I add a whole new thing, which is the righteousness of God." Not your righteousness, His righteousness.

Can you imagine the righteousness of God given to you by which then sinners can enter into the city, but they're no longer called sinners because as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. No. He has laid upon us the very righteousness of God and that is the basis by which you enter in that great city.

Let me give you a great verse. Perhaps one of the great verses of the whole Bible, Second Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him who knew no sin," that's the Lord, "to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." That's why Jesus said in John 10:9, "I am the gate and if anyone enters through me, he will be saved."

Then that brings us to Psalm 24 which is that glorious great psalm where it says there, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates. Be lifted up, O ye ancient doors that the king of glory may come in." Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. Now, see, I love this picture for us. "Open up the gates of righteousness and I will enter in." The king of glory enters in and opens the gate for those who follow. It says that He leaves a great procession, that He leads many sons to glory. Ah, there's a beautiful picture.

A. Jesus is the stone which the builders rejected

Then it tells us back to Psalm 118:22 that Jesus then is that stone which the builders rejected. It is part of how God has brought about our salvation, that Jesus is the stone, notice verse 22, which the builders rejected and has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Now, this hearkens back to when Israel was defeated, destroyed by the Babylonians. Then they were held in exile in captivity for 70 years in Babylon. Now, when that time of exile had come to an end, they were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild and restore the ancient city and to rebuild the temple, but when they arrived to Jerusalem, they were so discouraged.

The whole city was destroyed and the city was a pile of rubble. Where do you begin? How do you rebuild? Well, you start with the cornerstone. You must have the cornerstone. The cornerstone was the stone literally placed in the corner and the building was engineered such that the weight and bearing of that building was laid upon the cornerstone. You don't have the cornerstone, you can't build the building.

The builder searched through the rubble looking for that cornerstone. When they found it, they did not recognize it. They rejected it. That became a picture prophetically of what would then occur when Jesus, the King of Glory, came and was living amongst them, doing that which only the Son of God, the Son of man, the King of Glory would do, but the Jewish leaders, they missed it. They did not recognize the signs of the times that were right before their eyes. The blind could see. The deaf could hear. The lame could walk. He could cast out demons by the word of His power. He raised Lazarus from the dead and it was right before their eyes, but they would not see.

Which brings me to an interesting story. You remember that time that Jesus was coming out of Jericho on the road there and it says that there was a blind man who was by the road begging alms and he heard a commotion. He said, "Well, what's happening? What's happening?" They said, "Jesus of Nazareth comes," and, of course, the great colleagues with Him. "Jesus of Nazareth comes." He said, "Ah." He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

When he did that, he was calling Him the Messiah. He was calling Him by that name, by which everyone knew that when the Messiah comes, He would be called the great Son of David, so He knew that this was the one, the long-awaited one so spoken of in all of the Hebrew Scriptures, and so He called out, "Jesus, Son of David." No one had told him that and so they rebuked him. "You be quiet." Yet he would not. He called out all the louder, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Jesus was there in the crowd. He heard that voice. "Jesus, Son of David." Jesus said, "Bring that man to me." They said, "The Master calls for you."

Now, I love to imagine the scene. Here, this man, blind, stood before Jesus. I just imagine the look upon his face. Don't you think he would just be so pleased? Here, this man, blind, could see more than all the Jewish leaders could see. He knew that this was that long-awaited Son of David, the great Messiah that the Scriptures had spoken of, and he knew that since He was that great Son of David, that when He comes that He would heal the blind and he's blind. That's why he called out.

He could see in this blindness more than the Jewish leaders could see in their sight. Jesus said to him, "What would you have me do for you?" Oh, I love this scene. "The man says, "Sir, I want my sight." "You shall have it." So pleased was Jesus that this blind man could see that the Jewish leaders could not.

In fact, Jesus gave a parable to explain it well. In Matthew 21, He said that a landowner planted a vineyard and then rented it out to vine-growers and went on a long journey. When harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the vine-growers to receive his produce, but the vine-growers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. He sent another group of servants larger than the first and they did the same thing to them. Afterward, he sent his son saying, "Oh, they will surely respect my son," but when the vine-growers saw the son, they said amongst themselves, "Ah, this is the heir. Come. Let's kill him and seize the inheritance." They took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Therefore, when the owner of that vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers? They said to him, "Well, he will bring those wretches to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper season.

Jesus then quoted right out of Psalm 118. Matthew 21, Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures that the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and this has come about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and will be given to a people producing the fruit of it."

Now, that's an amazing thing. He says, "The kingdom of God will be taken from you and will be given to another people." Church, we're in the Bible. That's us. Right there, that's us. He took the kingdom and He gave it to us. The kingdom of God is now given to us to produce the fruit of it. What is the fruit then of the kingdom? It's the fruit of the bearing, of the Holy Spirit of the living God. That is what God is doing now in the kingdom of God. He's pointing out His glory, His Holy Spirit upon those who are building their lives on that stone, and they produce the fruit of God's glory and God's character in their lives.

B. Build your life on this precious cornerstone

God is love. Then the fruit of God in your life is love and joy and peace, and patience and kindness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control. That's what God is saying. Build your life on this precious cornerstone.

Now, remember when they came out of that excel and came back to Jerusalem, what building were they building? The temple. They were looking for the cornerstone of the temple. Not some other building, not some administration center, not some library. No, they're going to build the temple. They need the cornerstone of the temple. That is the place where God's glory would dwell. That is the place where the mercy seat would reside. That is the place where they would come to worship the Almighty in the temple. That's what they were building on that cornerstone.

Is there a temple today? Is there a temple in Jerusalem? No. No, there is not. On the Temple Mount there's the shrine. It's the Dome of the Rock, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque also to the side of it. The temple is not there. Is there a temple anywhere else in the world? Yes, there is. Do you know where it is? It's not far. It's here. The Temple of the Living God now resides here. Not in the sense of a building, but in a sense of believers who now have received the gift of salvation.

They are the ones in whom God by His Holy Spirit dwells that the glory, the same glory that dwelt in that temple, the Scripture says, "Now indwells those who are believers in Jesus Christ." Those who have come to worship, they worship because God is doing that which is in them. They will build their life on that cornerstone. What God is building is the temple. What God is building is glory. What God is doing is to transform those who are building their life on that precious cornerstone.

Jesus said, I mentioned it last week, "He who hears these words of mind and lives by them, I will show you whom He is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid his foundation on that rock, on that stone, and then when the Torrance burst, when the storms and troubles come, it could not shake it for it had been well-built." God wants to build your life well, but it will be based on that precious cornerstone, that place where God's glory is known. Build your life on a spiritual foundation.

You dwell in the glory of God. That's where your soul is made alive. You want to build your life, build it there, on that stone where glory dwells. Build your life there. He will transform you in it, and He will truly build. See, He's building. He will truly build.

We looked at this last week. That He will construct. When you build your life on that stone, He will construct in you the construct of integrity and stature, the stature of God's glory and character in your life, the beams, the posts, the steel, the rocks of God's glory and character in your life. The bearing of your life will be upon that stone, and every blessing that God intends for you will flow from it when you build your life on that precious cornerstone.

C. He will build - and He will overturn

Notice this, He will build and He will overturn. This is the interesting part. Remember on that day we spoke of the triumphant entry, Palm Sunday. Jesus, great crowds are with Him. He's descending from the Mount of Olives. Now, whenever we go to Israel, we always go to this very place. I hope you get to go to Israel once in your life. When you do, if you come with us, we're going to go to the Mount of Olives.

As you're descending down the Mount of Olives, there is this place. When you stop there, you see what Jesus saw in that day. There is Jerusalem. It's right there. Right in front is the temple. Today the temple mount. In those days, there was Jerusalem and right in the front was the temple. He stopped there. The crowds they're celebrating and they're waving the palm branches and it's exciting, but Jesus sees this, and He begins to weep, a deep, deep weeping from His soul.

Tells us in Matthew 23. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, she who kills prophets and stones those sent to her. O, how often I have wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you will not have it. You are unwilling, behold your house is being left to you desolate."

Of course, He's prophesying of the destruction of Israel and Jerusalem in 70 AD. He said, "Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." Then it tells us that He descended to the Valley Kidron below, came up the other side, entered into the city of Jerusalem, came into the temple. When He came into the temple, what He saw there caused a righteous indignation to arise inside of Him.

With righteous indignation, He saw that they were buying and selling in the temple, and that they were selling doves and money changing. Jesus just filled with righteous indignation took hold of the tables and just threw them. These were like heavy, thick wooden tables. You can imagine. Just throws them over, all the tables, throws them over, doves flying, money flying.

"Get out," He said, "This is my Father's house, and it is to be a house of prayer and you're making it a den of robbers." What was it that caused such righteous indignation? Well, it was this, these were standing in the way of those who wanted to worship, those who wanted to come to give God glory and honor, and now they're standing in the way. How so? Well, imagine you have this fellow, let's say, coming from Galilee and he wants to go at the time of the Passover, and he wants to bring an offering. He says, "Well, rather than bring an animal all this way, I'll just buy one." He heard, "You can buy these things at the temple." He brings some money and off he goes. When he gets to the temple in Jerusalem, he goes where he was told, "Oh, they're selling doves there."

He goes and says, "I would like to buy a dove for the offering. How much is a dove?" They say, "Oh, the price of a dove is such and so." "What? No. That's not the price of a dove." It is to the immigrant. You want to worship, you pay. "Ugh." He reaches into his money pocket and brings out the money. "Oh, is that Roman coin? No, no. You do not buy holy offering with ugly Roman coin. You must change."

He goes to the exchange table. "What is the price to exchange the Roman Denarius?" "Oh, the exchange rate is such and so." "No, it's not, that's not the exchange rate." "It is today, my friend. You want to worship, you pay." He's like, "Ugh." Jesus sees this. He sees this, and indignation arises. "This is my Father's house. Doves flying, money flying--" It becomes a great, powerful spiritual picture. Is there anything standing in the way of God's glory in your life?

What is God building? He's building the temple. He's going to build it on glory and He's going to build it on the presence of the Almighty. Is there something in your life, anything standing in the way of it? God says, "Oh, you have no idea what I can build. I can build glorious things. I can do that. I can build the stature of God in your life, but this thing, this thing in your life. Now, I'll tell you the Holy Spirit of the living God is able to show you what that thing is.

I don't need to say anything. The Holy Spirit is already saying God can show you what it is. Is there anything in your life that's standing in the way? God says, "You know what? I'm going to overturn that thing because it stands in the way of that which is glorious and good. I want to build something. I want to build the temple of God here, and this thing. This thing from the world. This thing is poison to you. This thing is standing in the way, I'm going to overturn it." To which we would say, "God, if you're going to overturn it, it's good. Do it. Take it, Lord. I don't want this thing in my life. I don't want anything standing in the way of what you want to do in my life. Take it away. Overturn it." Amen?

Notice that very next verse. It says after he overturned the tables of those selling doves and changing money, it says the very next verse that the blind and the lame came to Him, and He healed them all." I love this part of the story. He will overturn what needs to be overturned and He'll heal what needs to be healed.

God knows exactly where each person is. What is the necessity of each person? For one there is this thing that He's going overturn. Someone else, there's a hurt, a wound, a pain. This thing is keeping you, this thing, this hurt is keeping you from God's glory in your life. God says I'll heal this thing. I will heal this thing. Open your heart, let me heal this thing. That's the glory of God. Ezekiel 34, I will feed my flock. I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God, I will seek the lost. I will go find them, and I will bring back the scattered. I will bind up the broken and I'll strengthen the sick.

II. This is the Day; Rejoice and Be Glad

Need healing? Hurt, wound, He'll heal it. Then He tells us, leads us up to His great word, for this is the day, and this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad. This is the day that the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad. It's the great theme. Read the whole of the psalm and it's like the great theme. Rejoice, be glad in it. Now, by the way, some hear that verse, "This is the day that the Lord has made," and they wrongly understand it. They think it has to do with how glorious the day is.

Some people got up this morning, this was a glorious morning. You have to admit, it is beautiful today. We're looking right now at the glory of Oregon. This is all of that rain, it was worth it. It was worth it, just it's so glorious, it's something we live in the most beautiful place in the world. Anybody agree with me? I mean the world, absolutely right. You get up in the morning, maybe you get up this morning and you think, "Oh, glorious day. Oh, reminds me of a verse. This is the day that the Lord has made, let's rejoice in this glorious day," but that's not what it means.

It's true it's a glorious day and you ought to give God glory for it, but that's not what the verse means. The verse means there is one day, one specific day, it is the day of salvation, it is the day by which God made a way for sinners to be invited to enter the courts of the Lord. It is that day that He's speaking of. One day when Jesus entered Jerusalem singing the Psalm 118 Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is you who comes in the name of the Lord.

That glorious day began that week by which it culminated in His betrayal, His arrest, His crucifixion, and then finally that glorious day when He was raised in the dead on the third day and death was defeated in our behalf, and He won for us the resurrected life. That is the day of salvation. Yes, let's give Him praise and glory. This is the day when sinners can enter into the glory of God because they see what they've never seen before. Eyes have been opened. They understand what they've never understood before. Hearts have been opened.

When you see God's glory, when you see how beautiful is that which God does in the lives of sinners, it is amazing, but your eyes also see sin like you never saw it before. When you see God's glory, it will open your eyes, and now you see sin for what it really is. How ugly is this? How ugly is this? Then a regret comes, a shame comes, "Oh, I'm embarrassed." I tell you, I look back on my life. I wish I had known at 20 what I know today. It would've saved me so much misery. It would've saved me so much grief and so much suffering. "Oh, how I wish I knew then what I know today."

A. The joy of the Lord is your strength

Anybody want to add your yes and amen to that? When the exiles came from Babylon there in the rebuilding the temple, the going through the rubble, and someone finds a copy of the word of God. The word of God had been so neglected that they didn't even have a copy. They brought it to the governor who realized these people, they need to hear this. They gathered the remnant of Israel there in Jerusalem, they built a platform, and one of the Jewish leaders stood up and read to them the word of God, they had never heard it ever in their lives.

When they heard it, their response was to weep, because now they could see all that God had done in pouring out His favor and love on Israel. How He redeemed Israel out of all of her troubles and brought Israel out of Egypt and how He established His favor and all that God had done for them, and then how they had turned their back, how they got heart of heart and rebellious, and now they see this misery and this suffering, we did it to ourselves. We did this. Now they're weeping because they can see what they could not see before.

Now when the leaders of Israel saw the response, that they were weeping, the leaders stood up and said, "No, do not weep, do not mourn. This is a day that is holy to the Lord. This is a day to rejoice. This is not a day to weep. This is a day to rejoice." Then, of course, that famous verse for the joy of the Lord is your strength, a great truth. Joy is a necessity when it comes to what God is doing in building your life on the freshest cornerstone, strength comes from joy.

It's a necessity. It's the theme of the entire psalm. This is the day that the Lord has made, and it is marvelous. God did this. This is the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day. Rejoice, be glad in it, for strength comes from joy. In fact, faith is strengthened on the foundation of joy. Be amazed. God has made a way for sinners to be reconciled to God as their father. Be amazed, standing, ah, rejoice and be glad. It is marvelous in our eyes.

Notice how the Psalm ends at the great crescendo in verses 26 and 29. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. Now get the picture? We've entered into the holy city through the gates of the righteous. We've come to the house of the Lord and we're going to bless your name from there, for you are my God and I'll give thanks to you and you're my God, and I will exalt you for I will give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His loving kindness is everlasting.

B. Faith is strengthened on the foundation of joy

This is the day to rejoice. They were weeping, and so He says, "Stop. No. Do not weep, do not mourn." No, He says, in fact, what they did was they sent them home. He said, "Go home. I want you to eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, give portions to him who has nothing for this day is holy to the Lord." We are going to celebrate. Eat of the fat. Eat of the fat means that's the flavorful part of the meat. Eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, give portions to him who have none. We are going to celebrate today. It's a day to celebrate.

By the way, that is why we serve donuts on Sunday. That's why we serve cookies on Wednesday and ice cream on Saturday. Go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, we're going to celebrate in the house of the Lord today. Amen. Sure. Amen. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Do not be sorrow for what you lost. Be thankful for what you found. Faith is strengthened on the foundation of joy. God will build on the foundation of glory. God will move because you have seen the beauty of the Lord in your life. God will build honor and peace and character when you build your life on that precious cornerstone. Father, we love you, thank you, honor you for we see what we did not see before. We understand what we did not understand before, and we want to build our lives on this precious cornerstone.

If there's anything in my life that stands in the way of that which you would build, then overturn it. A hurt or a wound that could stand in the way, God says that I'll heal it. For I want to build that which is glorious and beautiful in your life. Would you open your heart? Would you see that God is building that now? If you would open your heart, He is that precious, beautiful cornerstone on which He will build your life. How many would say to the Lord today, then I will open my heart, build my life on that precious cornerstone?

Build in me, God, that which is glorious, that which comes from your hand is good. Build, construct, do that which is glorious. Build my life. I will build my life on this rock, this precious, beautiful cornerstone, is that you, church? Would you just raise your hand as a way of declaring that to the Lord? Build in me on that precious cornerstone. Lord, do that which is glorious in me. We pray in Jesus powerful, mighty name, and everyone said? Can we give the Lord glory and honor. Amen. Church, we're going to-