How to be Blessed

If you have your Bibles tonight, we're going to be in the book of Psalms, and it's a very fitting passage as we jump into tonight, and really we'll be in Psalm 1.

That's where we're going to be at tonight. I know the pastor's been preaching through Psalm 119 the past couple of Wednesdays, and with 176 verses we may be there a while, but we're looking forward to what he has in store for us. But tonight, if you could, if you're able to, stand to honor the reading of God's Word, and it says in Psalms 1 verse 1, Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for just the opportunity to come into your house, to gather with your people, to study your Word. Lord, I know many have had a long week, a busy week, and Lord, may we set the busyness and the chaoticness of this week that we've had aside to focus in on your Word tonight and what you would have for us. Father, I just pray for the various ministries that are taking place in this church tonight, that you would be with the children's ministry and the teens and even here in the sanctuary with the adults, Lord, that if there's anyone here tonight that doesn't know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, that today would be the day of salvation for them. Father, we thank you for the blessings and just what you're doing through this church. Lord, may we continue to be a lighthouse in this community. Lord, may we continue to seek to glorify you, Lord, that we would continue to press forward with the great commission that you have given us. Lord, hide your messenger behind the cross. Give me words to speak and a clarity of thought. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, I gave pastor a little bit of hard time about some gray hair in the first service on Sunday morning and then I doubled down on it but not really on him, on myself with the gray hair. My beard is cam came up to pray Sunday morning and it's funny when you go somewhere with one of the young guys that's on staff because now you're automatically asked is that your son and it's like no that's not my son but pastor josh and I get that quite a bit now when we go places with cam and some of the other guys on staff and it's just funny to see that and as I was thinking of those gray hairs I have my glasses in my pocket in case my old eyes give out tonight too and so it's just coming to terms with things right and just some silliness there but tonight's title the message I've titled it how to be blessed or how to have a blessed life and there's some results that come from this as we look at Psalms one there was a 47 year old Australian man named Carl Rabidere who gave away 4.7 million dollars of his fortune and what he did and why he did this was he realized that the wealth and lavish spending that he was doing it kept him from really living life and having true happiness he told the Daily Telegraph that he had the feeling he was working as a slave for things that he did not wish for nor need it was the biggest shock in his life when he had realized how horrible and soulless and without feeling complete and this five-star lifestyle left him his money now funds several charities as he set up to help people in Latin America many people when we ask you know I talk to a lot of people I even have people in my family will say that they would just be happier if they had a little more money Carl would tell you that money does not bring true happiness in fact most people who win the lottery would go on to tell you that their life was better before they won the lottery psalms one introduces us to a doctrine tonight of two paths it's a very common concept if you were here Sunday you heard pastor Ryan preach on the the narrow path and the the broad path and it's very familiar terminology most American Americans are acquainted with Robert Frost's idea and the poem of the road not taken and in that he says two roads diverge in a wood and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference but there are some biblical concepts to this as well and Jesus in his sermon on the mount you know towards the end of it there in chapter seven he starts painting a lot of these vivid imageries for us he says that there's two gates there's two paths there's two trees and there's two types of fruit there's two houses and there's two foundations and so psalms one is the clearest and most carefully developed and the first full expression of this idea in the bible of two paths and every day we're we're faced with countless choices aren't we and sometimes it's small decisions that have no meaning whatsoever they're they're frivolous they don't really have a significant impact on our lives but other times they're they can shape the very outcome of our life I would tell us now imagine you're standing at a crossroads one path leads to life and it's blessings joy and the other is to emptiness destruction and death which path would you choose and so psalms one presents us exactly with this choice the question is what path are we on tonight now psalms one is more than a poetic introduction into the the psalms it's a spiritual roadmap that offers us wisdom for life and so when we look at the book of psalms you know 150 chapters it's one of it's the largest book in the bible I should say and the primary purpose of the psalms is to cause the believer to praise the lord when we look at the the book of psalms it's real people living real lives and when you see in there they have real emotions don't they they're praising the lord they're lamenting there's there's real life stuff that is poured out in the psalms here and so the again when king david he instituted hymns in israel first chronicle 16 four says and he hath appointed certain of the levites to minister before the ark of god and to record and to thank and to praise the lord god of israel and so the psalms speak of believers in a real life in a real world many hearts have been encouraged and uplifted by the psalms many of you here tonight have probably read through the psalms and you've been encouraged or you've been uplifted maybe in a heavy season or maybe in through some sort of trial but the psalms are so rich aren't they and we think of the you know when we start naming off some of these psalms and and we see in chapter one you got this blessed man because he's following the paths of righteousness chapter two we get into the sovereign lord it's a it's a messianic psalm and then chapter three we see that the lord is my shield and psalms three verse one through three says lord how are they increased that trouble me many are they that rise up against me many there be which say of my soul there is no help for him in god salah but thou art a shield for me my glory in the lifter up of mine head and so we get to chapter four and you see that the lord is my peace in verse eight it says i will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou lord only makest me dwell in safety and then we jump to chapter five and the lord is my trust and you see that in verse three he says my voice shall thou hear in the morning oh lord in the morning i will direct my prayer unto thee and will look up in chapter six we see that he is the lord of mercy chapter seven he is the lord of my defense he comes to my defense to your defense and chapter seven verse 10 and 11 says my defense is of god which saveth the upright in heart and we get to the the wonderful psalm of god being creator and chapter eight it goes from the the earth to the glories of heaven if you're familiar with that in verses three and four says when i consider thy heavens the works of thy fingers the moon of the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him and then we jump to chapter nine it's the lord of nations the very familiar passage in psalm 23 probably one of the most familiar passages in all of scripture outside of maybe john 316 that is quoted at funerals it's quoted in different places and different events and we take refuge in that don't we that the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the steel waters there is still waters and so we're very familiar with that we take comfort in that many sinners have been encouraged by the grace of god through psalm 32 and psalm 51 as david pours out his heart in psalm 51 and he's sitting there and he's he's begging and pleading god that he would create a new heart a clean heart within him that he would forgive him he would restore the joy of his salvation and in psalm 32 1 it says blessed is he whose transgression is forgiveness whose sins is covered and so many have loved the words of psalm 40 verse 1 and 2 i waited patiently for the lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry isn't that comforting words to us that god is patiently waiting and he is hearing our our very prayers he brought me up also out of in horrible pit and out of mary clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings and so many fearful hearts have taken courage and encouragement and psalm 46 10 be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the heathen and will be exalted in the earth with everything going on in our world in the past couple weeks we all can find refuge in that verse can't we we can come to that verse and we we can meditate on that and it's a verse that we probably should meditate on quite often be still and know that i am god i just got back from vacation and and one of the things that i really was intentional about on vacation was making one time one thing was to be present there with my family in the moment put the phone away spend time being present with them being still getting up and just taking the day as it comes putting the noise away from the world and i get we can't do that all the time but we do need to have a time where we are saying you know what i'm going to be still and wait upon the lord many hungry hearts i think have prayed if hearts for god have prayed psalm 63 1 oh god thou art my god early will i seek thee my soul thirsted for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is and so with that as an introduction tonight i'd like to jump into psalms one and really that as we get into it is is how to be blessed and i would ask the question tonight who wants to live a blessed life who wants god's blessings poured out upon us who wants a life that god sees uh and and he wants to pour out his blessings upon that and blessed is that man and so the first thing we come across tonight and the first point is in order to be blessed we must be in the right place we see that in verse one it says blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful and so this verse here we are told how to walk where to stand and where to sit and so blessed here is a hebrew word it's really a plural it's not a singular uh singular item that's being in the in the plural form and it it denotes either a multiplicity of blessings multiple blessings or an intensification of the blessings from god and it is from a root word that means to be straight or right and so the question the first question i would say is what is the first thing that blessed man is known for in verse one what is the blessed man known for and and when we look at it it is to live the blessed life it does not start by doing notice that in verse one he says don't start doing these things don't start doing these right things he says stop doing the wrong things first that's interesting isn't it because you would think like when we start to do something like you know you you have a new year's resolution you want to exercise or whatever it may be you're like hey i'm going to start doing these things but the first step in it is we got to stop the bad things and it's just like this if you're wanting to save money you're wanting to put money into retirement you have to stop the reckless spending first don't you you have to stop the reckless spending first get out of debt and then you can begin to start saving and investing large amounts of money but if you don't do the stop doing the wrong things first you're not going to make much traction and ground and so repentance from sin turning away from sin is the starting point before you move to the right direction you must stop going in the wrong direction you know if i if i'm driving to florida but i'm heading north to michigan i've got to stop going the wrong direction before i can turn around and go in the correct direction who here tonight has ever thought that you could have victory but still live with compromise did it work you know early on in my christian faith i thought well maybe i can compromise in this small area or you know it's this minor thing and it does not work that way with god we cannot compromise my dad would say this show me your friends and i will tell you who you're going to become become how many wrong influences must you and i avoid and wrong paths must we avoid going down to live righteously is it 10 75 100 and when i think of that i when you i don't know if you've ever looked at mouse poison if you've ever lived on a farm or you know in an area where you have a lot of mice you may have to purchase that and if you've ever looked at it 99.9 percent of that is food there's only 0.01 that is poison and that's all that's needed and so the starting point for the blessed man is a decision of separation it is it is a willful choosing not to associate with certain types of people and places and things some people and places must be avoided to experience god's blessing i would tell us tonight there may be people that you love especially if you've recently been saved and and there may be people that you've trusted for years who have given you advice over the years and though their intentions may be good oftentimes they may not lie especially if they're not a christian they may not line up with god's will you ever had a friend tell you the wrong advice and it's like i've heard that from people it's like why would you take that advice they're ungodly and they say some of the most ungodly things but people will listen to it and it'll become it it takes effect on their their life now they may have good intentions but it's contrary to god's will and so look at this progression in verse one you see it first it's walking it says walketh not in the council of the ungodly but who are the ungodly they are those who live a life that are apart from god god is not in control of their lives they do not live godly rather they live in control of their own lives and i would say notice those you walk with you will soon be counseled by and it's not necessarily always verbally either people have an influence on our lives and that's what my dad meant when he said show me your friends and i'll show you who you will become because the people we hang out with have an influence upon us what we listen to what we take in it all has an impact and an influence on our lives and so if you want to be blessed you do not walk with those who do not have god in their lives you're so afraid aren't we supposed to witness to the loss aren't we supposed to win them to the loss absolutely yeah that's our mission field and there's certain times where you know it's okay that you're hanging around those people that you are witnessing to them but you have to put safeguards up you have to put protective boundaries up that you do not continue down this progression that we're going to see here in a moment this is the the wrongful influence of the that the blessed man avoids next you see that nor standeth in the way of sinners here you see walking turns into standing you're initially walking with them soon you're standing with them the ungodly are those who are now sinning they live without god in control and now they are violating god's word by sinning sin is is to disobey god and to go from the right path we all know that it's sitting here tonight this is wrong actions the blessed man avoids these wrong actions they may even proclaim these people that may even proclaim that hey i'm a christian they may say i made that decision years ago i trusted in christ but when you look at their life it could be nothing resembling a christian countless people claim to have been transformed by the power of god but yet they have no desire for god for god's house they have no longing of fellowship to be with the body of believers there's they have no faithfulness to serving him to studying his word and next we see not only is it walking and standing but then it becomes sitting nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful so standing has now turned into what sitting they're sitting and who are they sitting with it's the scornful those sitting with the scornful so who are the scornful what do the scornful people do those are the people that openly mock god and the things of god all right they they openly ridicule god they ridicule they ridicule christians and this is a wrong attitude that the black the the blessed man avoids becoming worldly is a progressive thing here it happens by degrees we make friends with the world soon we become spotted by the world next we love the world and then become conformed to the world instead of being not transformed by not conforming to the world and being transformed transformed by the renewing of our minds and in the end we become condemned with the world and so the question tonight is how do you boil a frog you don't throw it in boiling water because it'll jump right back out you slowly turn the heat up on it and it doesn't notice the difference in the change in the temperature and that's how you boil a frog and that's what happens sometimes with us with some people that have been in the church and they begin to get spotted with the world and the before they know it they're carried away with the world they have been consumed and i would say are there any any examples in scripture of people that did this that were walking and standing and then became seated with those people and there's two great examples in scripture peter for one you know peter is is seen as walking standing and sitting you you may have read these passages before but i i personally really had never looked at it in depth like this but mark chapter 14 verse 54 says and peter followed him afar off even into the palace of the high priest and he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire so first you see he he followed afar off he's he's following he was the only disciple that did follow right he's he's following christ as they're arresting him and then he sits down he sat john 18 18 and the servants and officers stood there stood there who had made a fire of coals for it was cold and they warmed themselves and who began to stand with them peter and peter stood with them and warmed himself and luke 22 55 and when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together peter sat down among them you see first he began to walk he's walking with the wrong crowd yeah he might have had the right intentions he was following christ he was seeing what was going to happen but he didn't leave he stayed and he began to stand around and he begins to take a seat and not too long after this he begins denying christ three times doesn't he a lot is another example of someone who became worldly now he took he took a look he looked towards sodom didn't he that's the first thing when you read uh and genesis 19 when he's there and he begins it began with a look he looked towards sodom it didn't end with a look did it he then began to pitch his tent towards sodom soon before you knew it he moved into town not only did he move into town he became involved in the town he was kind of like a city councilman in a way not only that but then sin took over his life didn't it and he lost it all he lost quite a bit and so we see the progression of the night walking walking with the wrong people or having the wrong influences you begin to stand with the sinners as the wrong actions and then you begin to sit and have the wrong attitudes and become scornful and so who here tonight has ever had this happen to them it's a question we have to ask ourselves you just happen to bump into a wrong influence get into a wrong conversation you didn't even intend to go that way you get into a bad conversation which then turns your spirit into a a bad spirit and before you know it you begin bad mouthing or gossiping or talking about someone or something and what started out innocent has soon brought you down and so the enemy doesn't just come up with uh come up and throw you into a large amount of sin does he it's like the frog it's a slow boil and it's slowly bringing the heat up it's slowly leading us away from god a wrong thought turns into a bad conversation it turns into wrong decisions a wrong place with a wrong person and then you find yourself into deep sin god's word over and over again tells us to avoid the wrong influences you think of the book of proverbs and it's a father instructing his son and so solomon's giving this wisdom that he's pouring out to his son in proverbs 1 8 and 9 it says my son hear the instructions of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother mother for they shall be an ointment of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck and notice the first thing that these godly parents tell her son and verse 10 it says this my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not hey if there's sinners coming along and they're enticing you to come along do not go and paul told the church at Corinth that if there was a church that was ever wrapped up in a bunch of sin it was the church of Corinth wasn't it he tells the church at Corinth that was dealing with a lot of sinful influences in their society that brought a lot of sin into the church he said this in first corinthians 15 33 and be not deceived evil communication corrupts good manners you know our words sometimes and james speaks about it doesn't he the tongue being a world of iniquity who can tame it and oftentimes uh i've i've had to to repent and it's just one of those things that our tongue can get us in a lot of trouble can it and he's saying here be not deceived evil communication corrupts good manners how vital has it been in your life and in my life to remove wrong influences i would ask tonight is there anybody that's still in our lives that we need to remove that is a bad influence is there anyone that's it's a corruptible influence in our lives that we need to remove from that one thing that we can be assured of is that if we do not remove ungodly influences they will begin to influence us so the second point tonight not only in order to be blessed must we be in the right place but secondly in order to be blessed we must invest time in god's word we must invest time in god's word we see that in verse two but the but his delight is in the law of the lord and his and his law doth he meditate day and night but his delight let's look at that this is a is a strong contrast this delight comes from a agree or a hebrew word uh it basically means your desire it's a longing it's something that you take with which you take pleasure in and so the blessed man is is one who delights in the word of god god's word fills their life it's what they meditate on day and night i think of a psalms 112 verse 1 and it says praise you the lord blessed is the man that feareth the lord that delighted greatly in his commandments and you see psalms 119 47 and i will delight myself in thy commandments which i have learned or loved and you think of jeremiah in a time when uh you know israel juda they were rebelling uh from god and jeremiah is ministering in a problematic time and he says to juda he says this in jeremiah 15 15 and verse 16 oh lord thou knowest remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors take me not away in thy long suffering know that for thy sake i have suffered rebuke thy words were found and did and i did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for i am called by thy name oh lord god of host and so when we look at that verse there note that jeremiah's mindset his ministry mindset it had a call for a cure and specifically that the effect of eating and meditating and chewing upon god's word was a digestive process that helped him in his time of ministry difficulty and to enhance a sense of the taste god's word stimulated delight in jeremiah delight being the psalmist's starting point here in verse uh psalms one as well he finds pleasure and happiness not among sinful people but in the truth of god's word and you may remember back in a day and age before you were saved you you acted like the world you laughed at the things that the world laughed at you you cut it up with the things that they would cut up with but as you become a christian those things should start to slowly become more and more disgusting i know previously before coming to work here and and at the church and ministry i worked in a place and there was just you know you a lot of you deal with it you know foul language you know jesting and this sort of thing and those things just became repulsive to me as i continued to grow on my walk with the lord after i was saved and i didn't laugh at the things that i used to laugh at i didn't cut up with the things that i used to cut up with with those guys and so how has your growth and god's word affected your desire to be around people who live sinful lives or live sinfully has has that changed how do you know if you delight in the law of the lord of the lord how do we know tonight if we delight in god's word and what does the blessed man do he meditates on god's word and meditate means you're focusing your thoughts on it you're pondering upon it now this speaks of a diligent of reading of god's word you know i remember early on after i first got saved it's like okay we get the bible in a year checklist and you're like okay what do i got to read today all right done check and that's kind of how i did it it was just real quick you know you asked me what i read and i'm like well i read those chapters well what did you get out of it i don't know i read it i checked it off right i was checking the box i was trying to be a a good christian right i was trying to do what was expected but as we grow in our walk with the lord it should begin to meditate on it to chew upon that word and it really is is slowing down and it's considering its meaning it's thinking about it deeply about the scriptures studying god's word and seeking its meaning have you ever come across a passage you're like what does this mean like what is he saying i mean romans chapter seven for me like for the longest time i'm like all right i need like the kindergarten version can you please give that to me right and so when you go to it it's like i don't understand it well that's good like we then need to seek that out what does that mean and if you don't know don't be afraid to ask questions there are a lot of smart people in this church way smarter than i am at times with scripture alex is just like mr wizard back there and so if you ever have a question see him see pastor see me and if we don't know we will get somebody who does and so again it's like you're taking the time you're studying you're meditating on it you're saturating in it and what i love is how warren weirsby said this uh he says we saturate ourselves with the word by meditating on it when we meditate on the word we allow the spirit of god within us to digest the word of god for us so not only do we delight in the word it becomes a source of spiritual nourishment for us and so the question is how often you know how often should we meditate on it and it says day and night for us we need to meditate on it day and night the preoccupation of the blessed man is a life that is consumed with meditating on the thinking of god's word reading studying musing over it and thinking about it i think of proverbs 6 verse 20 through 23 my son keep my father's commandments and forsake not the law of thy mother bind them continually upon my heart and tie them about thy neck when thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life and a lot of times when we do that as it begins to saturate we begin to soak in the word it's kind of what you put in comes out doesn't it and it's become it becomes what you talk about as you're going about your day and and it's just certain things i can remember back my son he's 13 now but he was a little guy and and when i say little he was probably four or five years old and we're out there and we're splitting wood and i i just keep working i mean i'll keep splitting it all day long i'm just working away and you know i had read that morning and it speaks of a if a man does not work he does not eat and sometimes we think of when we tell her uh you know we're going to do a devotion with our kids or whatever it may be that it's got to be this long laid out thing and it's got to have three points and it's got to have a poem no it's just doing life on life and so we're out there and we're talking and i said hey bret you know what the bible says about a man working he's like no i said oh it says if a man doesn't work he doesn't eat he's like okay and i'm thinking like he didn't get any of it try to keep it super simple and so we keep splitting wood and i would throw it in the wheelbarrow wheel it over to where he's stacking it and he'd start stacking it and again he's five years old at this time and maybe four i don't know uh one of those two ages but anyways we're out there for hours and like two hours later he comes to me and he says hey dad you know what you said about a man working and if he doesn't work he doesn't eat and i said yes he said i've been working an awful lot do you think i can get some chicken nuggets and i'm like yeah you're right we'll get you some chicken nuggets i mean he was just working away working away and uh but it's it's those things where you're you're really taking it in you're thinking about it you're meditating on it and it becomes to just flow out of you the word of god becomes your new companion i would tell us as well tonight the word is what counsels you instead of going to your friends and there is wisdom and counsel i should say that i want to preface that there is wisdom and godly counsel and we should do that but what you begin to start doing is as problems arises or there's things that come up the first thing you start to do is go to the word of god what does god say about this what does god say about my finances what does god say about how i should love my wife how does god say how i should raise my children and you begin to allow the word to transform your life and you don't necessarily have to go to your friends and things like that now obviously like i said you can have good godly counsel and you should and especially on major decisions and things like that but the word of god begins to help counsel you and so it becomes a daily and night meditation force it should become that psalms 119.97 says oh how i love thy law it is my meditation all the day long and then verse 103 says how sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than honey to my mouth and so compare this christian to the christian today who says i don't know and it'll say something like this i know i should read but i don't have the time to read the blessed man finds time to read the bible he sets time aside to study the word if we don't set our schedule our schedule begins to run us doesn't it now we have to set those times aside and that private quiet time that we have with the lord it is so special and we need to hold on to that i remember when i was going through my ordination process and i was asking some of the men that were on my ordination council for wisdom and advice and what they would have for a ministry experience and one of them told me never lose your personal time with the lord oftentimes in ministry you get busy with preparing messages and sermons lessons those sorts of things he said but never forsake your personal time with the lord and that that is so key i think of examples like joshua joshua 1 8 it says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shall meditate on therein day and night and colossians 3 16 says this let the word of christ dwell in you richly in wisdom teaching and admonishing one another and so you know you delight in god's law when you meditate on it and day and night you will delight to do god's will psalm 40 verse 8 i delight to do thy will psalms 119 131 i longed for thy commandments when you want to and another one is when you want to obey god you delight in his word and what i mean by that is psalms 119 35 says make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein i do delight i do delight in doing god's commandments first john 5 3 says for then for this is the love of god that if we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous to us and so the second thing i would say that when we know that we're delighting in the word of god is you when you know you're delighting in the god's laws when you not only love it and love to obey it but you hate to disobey it psalms 119 11 says this thy word have i hid in my heart that i might not sin against thee and you delight in god's law when you are sustained by it as well the law of the lord sustains us in psalms 119 92 unless thy law had been my delights i should have perished in mine afflictions and so that brings us to our third point tonight is as we've done these things we we've put off the wrong things we begin to do the right things and to saturate ourselves in the word of god we start to see the results of this in verse three and the third point tonight is embrace a steady life of abundance when we've done those things when we've put off the the wrong things and we begin to saturate ourselves in the word of god it will begin to produce great fruit in our lives psalms 1 verse 3 it says and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters and bring forth fruit in his season his leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper and you've probably seen that you know we we just came out of like i know we just had like the the monsoon uh you know it seemed like i brought hurricane helene back with me from florida sorry for that uh but before that we had like this severe drought that was going on didn't we the the grass looked like straw i mean tumbleweeds probably were blowing across your yards there was nothing i don't think weeds were growing at that point but if you went down to where there was a creek or a river and they may have been i saw a few of them that were completely dried up as well but some of the larger rivers you go there and you see the trees along the riverbank and you see the plant life along that riverbank they were flourishing weren't they they were doing quite well and in the same way when you see a believer producing great spiritual fruit great spiritual character attitudes uh great spiritual conversation conversions leading to salvations that is evidence of a life that is plugged into the word of god you know we all can be prone to wander at times and get a little a little away from the lord but if you show me someone that is plugged into the word of god i can show you their fruit they will be uh you know reading the word studying the word they'll be praying they will be leading others to christ they will be pouring their lives out into other people and the life that's plugged into god is productive and so i would say tonight how has your life your influence grown positively as you have walked with the lord is there fruit and you see it says that brings forth his fruit in his season and so there may not be a it's a season of fruit it may not be consistently all the time that you are producing fruit growing up in the small town of urbana ohio if you're familiar with that you've probably been and through that small community growing up there we had a grapevine and we love that grapevine i mean we would go as soon as they were on there they would be green and sour and we would just pick them it was better than sour patch kids i mean they were just amazing we would eat it mom and grandma would tell us kids to get out of there they needed those grapes because they would make jelly and they would can it and so that grapevine it grew it produced fruit but it was only during a certain season of the year of the year and there's a reason why that vine produced a great deal of fruit it fed upon the soil the nutrients that were in the soil it was watered the sun nutrients and the sun that light that had given uh you know the the needed thing for photosynthesis and all that and so you see that it was fed well many christians i would say want to have a fruitful life for god don't they if you're here tonight you probably want to have a fruitful life for god to produce great fruit fruit they must realize that they need to stay plugged into the word of god and you know i'm probably preaching to the choir tonight you're here on a wednesday night but we need to be plugged into the word of god to continue to feed on the word of god to grow and to mature and to bring forth fruit in our season today people want a fruitful life but they do not want to live a faithful life i would say there's many christians there that profess that they're christians that they want to have a fruitful life but they don't want to live a faithful life to god now you must learn to fill your life with god's truth and it will in turn produce great fruit in its season we know the law of reaping and sowing the bible gives us that galatians 6 9 says and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not and you know the the example in john 15 of the vine and jesus says i am the vine you're the branches how much can you do if you're not plugged into the vine he says you can do nothing we have to be attached to the vine and in verses 8 it says this in john 15 here and is is my father glorified that you bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples and then verse 5 it says i am the vine you're the branches he that abideth in me and i and him the same shall bring forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing and then verse 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you and so this abiding it means to dwell to remain that describes something that that we remain fixed we are enduring it it refers to an unbroken communion with jesus christ and so the central truth of jesus communication here is that the the truth of abiding in him is used at least nine times and we see next his leaf also shall pro shall not wither and whatsoever he shall do prosper and so the grapevine that would have had the leaves fall off of it and as as summer came to an end they would wither the vine would go back into a dormant state state through this long season it would become unfruitful but god's word tells us that we as christians tells us that that is not the case for us that we will bear fruit if we continue to stay plugged into his word we will continue to produce fruit our leaves shall never wither you when you delight in god you do not go through a dry season i can tell you in times am i walk with the lord when i've had a dry season it's because i've gotten away from the word i have gotten away from my prayer life and sometimes we think we can fake it till we make it but we can't do that with god god knows our heart he knows where we're at and we need to be diligently seeking after him we need to be in his word and so when we do this we will have leaves that do not wither we will have fruit that we continue to produce and how wonderful is that for us tonight as christians the life delighting in god's word is a life that is constantly filled with fruitfulness and then one of the last things last things tonight is make the most of their lives point four make most of their lives the ungodly are not so and this is a strong contrast here isn't it not so for the wicked the wicked do not have this their leaves will perish and it begins to describe to them that they are the chaff and so we ask tonight uh you know what is chaff and it's a frequently old used old testament word now it's a picture of harvest time and if you've ever been around the harvest and there's you know nowadays we have the corn combines that come out and they're harvesting it but you'll see what remains blowing up in the air as they harvest that in back in in israel in this time they would have threshing floors and basically they would either have a threshing mill that would thresh it they would sometimes bring in livestock that would crush it and basically what they would do is they would take everything was there and they would throw it up in the air and the wind would catch it and take the chaff away but the grain would fall and remain because it was true and it was heavier and it would remain in that and so the the refuse that is blown away by the wind and after a grain harvest is basically what the chaff is zephaniah 2 2 says before the decree bring forth before the day pass as the chaff before the fierce anger of the lord come upon you before the day of the lord's anger come upon you and then matthew 3 12 says this whose fan is in his hand and will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff the right the the righteous they will remain the unrighteous the wicked they are they are given this picture of chaff they will be consumed and the metaphor chaff reveals both the wickedness their uselessness as well as the ease in which god will deal with them when the chaff is thrown up it's easily removed and it's a picture of how easily god will deal with them some people will say well i knew that the there was a reason for that time in my life where you know i had these things go on i fell away from the lord we also need to understand an essential truth tonight from verse 4 though god's grace covers a multitude of sins from our past the bible is clear that a life lived without christ is a wasted life people can live and just waste time can't they we live in a day and age where there's video games social media anybody ever and sometimes it's not even a bad thing you get on youtube and you're going to watch a video and you had the best intentions like i was going to figure out how to repair my washer or whatever it may be and then three hours later you're watching like a lion taking down a gazelle in africa like how did i get on this wormhole over here it's like how did this happen and so we can have times and seasons that that are wasted moments and we have to be cautious of those things we need to be guarding our time there's people that continue to do a lot of nothing and and they're it's producing like chap it's worthless um and so i would say that it is also true that a life given to god can be a life that takes the wasted portions of our lives and can be turned god can turn that to good you know he can take those moments and and he can use them so we can then become an influence to others and say hey don't go down that path i was down there let me help guide you away from that let me help steer you from that and many times working in youth ministry uh you know anybody that has teenagers i i've had two now or i have two now actually um i don't know where i said had to i still have to i don't know um they didn't move out we didn't lose any um but we have two teenagers and sometimes as a parent you talk to your kid and it's like i might as well talk to the wall right uh but they'll listen to somebody else you know and i'm like i told you that five months ago why will you not listen um but god uses other people to speak into our lives to our children's lives and and so we can have the lord use those moments to redeem those times that maybe we wasted some time and did some things that we shouldn't have done and we can speak life into other believers and so the blessed man doesn't live a wasted life but instead lives a productive life and then the last point is the blessed man is approved of god a blessed man is approved of god and we see that in verses five and six therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of righteousness and so you see there in verse five it says therefore and anytime you see therefore in the bible you must ask what is it there for and so it's going back to the last four verses of verses one through four verse one starts out talking about the ungodly's influence that turns into scorning the things of god then it goes into the talking and wasting of life of the sinner and is literally blown away and now comes to a dreaded eternal consequence of the unrepentant sinner and then we see the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment this standing in judgment speaks of not being able to uphold their head they will not endure through this time and trial before god romans 3 19 and 20 every mouth shall be stopped every knee will bow and confess that he is lord anybody get in trouble is i was in trouble a lot as a kid i don't know if you've picked up on this yet or not but anytime i got in trouble i always try to give an excuse but but and start to interject or it was their fault they did it that day when they stand before the lord every mouth even us our mouths will be stopped we will not be able to give a reason an excuse whatsoever and so these unrighteous people they need to be reached with the gospel how many sinners today reject god's word who delight in everything but god's truth they live in sin live out of they live in sin live out their sin love the companionship of ungodly people who make them comfortable in their sin who can justify their sin before men but only on this day the day of judgment the day of the lord they will not be able to justify their sin before god they're not our enemies they're our mission field in matthew 7 verse 21 and 23 a very familiar passage of scripture and they talk about we did all these great things and and jesus said i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity so the ungodly will not be accepted by god this is nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous the eternal dwelling of the saints will not have ungodly sinners there they will be cast out the way of the ungodly shall perish and perish this speaks of a destruction a total ruin now the lost will lose everything even their own souls reminds me of the verse he says you know you can gain the whole world but you can lose your soul and so the godly man is eternally blessed we see it for the lord knows the way of the righteous the lord knows the way of the righteous what did jesus say to the ungodly and matthew he said i never knew you but god knows us he knows you by name he knows the number of hairs on your head and the lack thereof on my head you know he he knows intimately about us and thinking back on the you know as he's provided everything for us back to the word you know it says in matthew chapter 6 that he provides for the the birds and the lilies of the field now he provides the food but they have to go back and get it don't they he doesn't put it in the nest for them we have to go back and they have to go get the food and it's the same with us so we have to get the nourishment from god's word as a side rabbit trail sorry it just came up but as you look at this god knows the the godly he knows the ungodly as well but it says this here in psalms 34 15 the eyes of the lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cries that's a great passage of scripture to think upon and meditate upon that the lord his eyes are upon us and that his ears are open unto our prayers nahum 1 7 the lord is good and a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trusteth in him second timothy 2 19 nevertheless the foundation of god stand assure having the seal the lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity so god knows everything this is more than intellectual it is relational this is a personal relationship their names are in his book of life they are his sheep they are called by his name john 10 uh verse 27 and 28 he says my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and verse 28 says and i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand so in closing tonight as we close down as we reflect us upon psalms 1 tonight we are reminded that life presents us to pass as we heard sunday morning the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked the righteous who delight in god's word are going to be trees planted by streams of water whose roots is rooted in god they flourish in their season and every season the wicked in contrast is like the chafe it's going to be blown around it's going to be destroyed lacking stability and purpose don't we see that in our world from a lot of people we have people all over and we look at just in our neighborhoods there are people that are looking for purpose they they are they are just looking and they'll turn to anything to try to find something to fill that void that's in their life whether it's drugs or relationship whatever it may be and they're lacking stability we i mean this is quickly coming to an end i mean the world is crashing down and we have the answers we have the gospel we have the hope of jesus christ that we can take to a lost and dying world that's destined for destruction the psalmist is calling us to make a clear choice the path we take today will determine our spiritual vitality most of us sitting here tonight i believe looking across the room are saved but maybe there's someone here tonight and it's never trusted jesus christ as your personal lord and savior today is the day of salvation the bible tells us that you cannot put that off you need to make that decision today the psalmist is calling us to make a choice psalms one gives us the broad path and the narrow path and all through the scriptures you have two paths abroad and a narrow you have two eternities heaven and hell you have two options of the foundation the rock or the sand you have two fathers god the father you have satan who's the father of this world and and the ruler of this world and you have two outcomes in this tonight you have blessings and you have perishing there are two paths which are you on and i will leave you with this verse tonight isaiah 55 verse 6 and 7 says seek you the lord why he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and he will beat you over your head no he says i will have mercy upon him god is so merciful he's waiting he's waiting for that sinner to turn to him and he's waiting for the backslidden christian to repent and come to him so as we live leave tonight let us commit ourselves to walking the path of righteousness the lighting in god's word and seeking to save the lost