Happy New Year! Can we celebrate that we had 57 people give their hearts to Christ in 2024? Who are your “ones” who haven’t yet been saved? Soul winning will always be our number one priority as believers! I can’t wait to see who the first person will be in 2025! So, keep praying for salvations and keep inviting people to church and keep sharing your faith with people who need Jesus!
2025 is the Year of the Word, and this month we will be exploring Scriptures about the power, authority, wisdom, and direction we gain from being people who ascribe to living life by the Word of God. Let “WORD” stand for “Work on reading daily.” Find a way to take the Word in every day. Come up with a plan. Find some friends who will hold you accountable. Meet up for coffee and ask each other what you are learning from the Word. When you came in this morning, you found a bookmark on your seat. Put it in your Bible, and take note of the Scriptures on the back. I will have a special prize on the last Sunday of January for anyone who memorizes those Scriptures and shares them with me on the last Sunday of January!
I want to encourage you to carry your Bible to services. There is something about having it in your hand, about opening it, and having some space to write a note in the margin if you choose, that I believe will be helpful. I appreciate technology and use it daily, but I want to challenge us to move to having a physical copy. I think it might eliminate distractions if we aren’t on our phones. It takes a while to form a new habit, so getting used to bringing your Bible might take a minute. That’s alright.
Psalm 1- 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Who wants to prosper in 2025? I submit to you that the way to the kind of prosperity that the Psalmist describes is through the way of the Word.
Our text began with “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” The person who is blessed is the person who also prospers. The word, “Blessed” comes from the Hebrew word, “esher.” The word carries the idea of happiness or contentment. The root of that word actually means “to be straight” or “to be right.” The Psalmist here is painting a picture of the person who is straight or right with God. That person will be blessed. That person will prosper.
Blessed means supreme happiness. Complete contentment. Actually, the Hebrew Word is a plural which denotes a multiplicity of blessings or an intensification of blessings. You can be supremely blessed if you will make the decision to be right with God in 2025, and the Psalmist helps us see that being right, walking right, results from learning, cherishing and obeying the Word of God. Hear me this morning. Blessedness and prosperity are byproducts of learning and living by the Word of God.
Every choice we make has a consequence. When we hear the word, “consequence,” we’re conditioned to hear it as if it is something negative. There are negative consequences for sure, but there are equally as many positive consequences. If you choose negative behavior, you will experience negative consequences. If you choose positive behavior, you will enjoy positive consequences. What I want us to leave here knowing this morning is that our ability to be blessed and to prosper is largely in our hands. “What do you mean, Pastor Melissa? Isn’t it up to God to bless and prosper people?” He brings the blessing for sure, but friends, God has shown us the way to blessing and prosperity and where we get the counsel for how we live, and how we apply that information determine if blessing and prosperity are released in our lives.
Look at the strategic choices the Psalmist made to secure God’s blessing and prosperity. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
There are things a believer must choose not to do and things a believer must choose to do to experience God’s blessing. There is a way believers decide they will not walk. They decide there are paths they will not take, and places they will not occupy.
The blessed are those who have learned that where you begin determines where you will end up. You start with wicked counsel, you start by entertaining thoughts that are evil and contrary to God’s Word, you start by opening yourself up to ways and patterns of living that are in conflict with the Word by receiving counsel and encouragement from people who don’t walk with God, and you will wind up following them instead of God.
Where your mind goes, your feet will follow. Another way to say that is, your feet will never take you where your mind hasn’t been.
Where are you getting your advice? Whose putting thoughts in your mind about what is best for your life? Whose suggestions are you taking? The Psalmist said, “I’m not getting my advice from wicked people.” A blessed person is someone who knows where to go for the right information. A blessed person walks with God by consulting the Word and godly people so that he or she gains discernment for life. Where you go for information is critical. Far too many believers are quicker to turn godless people, to self-help books, or worse yet, “Google,” for information than they are to the Word.
When you are receiving advice from people around you, ask if what you are hearing lines up with the Word of God. God’s Word and God’s people offer the best counsel. Make sure where you go to for advice lines up with where you want to wind up in you take it.
If you want a blessed and prosperous life, don’t look to the world for a path to follow. Look to the Word instead.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
This verse doesn’t say that a blessed man is literally standing in the way of a sinner, like, preventing that person to sin. No, it means that the person is following the way of the sinner. Sinners have a way of life. It is self-centered, self-serving, and is based on fleshly, worldly desires. I don’t know anyone who lives apart from God, without concern for the counsel of God that winds up walking in godly ways for godly purposes.
One translation says, “nor stands in the path of sinners.” Sinners are all on the same path. They are traveling in a direction that is opposite of the direction the Word would dictate.
Friends, we now live in a time when those who have purposed to follow after Jesus, those who want to walk the righteous road, they are going to have to walk on the road less traveled. Jesus told His followers that the way to the life He promised wasn’t a popular road. He told them in Matthew 7:13, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.”
The sin path is the broad path. The sin path is the popular path, but Jesus said it leads to destruction. Destruction is the opposite of blessedness and prosperity. If you are on the sin path, you are going the wrong way unless your end goal isn’t destruction. The sin path is the easier path for sure. You don’t have to worry with what God thinks. You don’t have to resist any urge or desire. You don’t really have to even think about what you are doing. You just follow the herd! You just go with the flow, but where it takes you isn’t a place I can’t imagine you are aiming to be.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
Scoffers would be those who are antagonistic toward believers, those who love to hate on Christians, those who make fun of people for giving their lives to Christ and who seek to live for Him. If your community is defined by those who mock God, you need a new community. Not only will your faith be undermined, but you will be pressured to cower and shrink. There can be a lot of pressure to go along to get along, to stay quiet about your relationship with Jesus when people are mocking and laughing at Christians. I mean, you don’t want to become the next target, right?
Maybe you aren’t someone who is going to the wrong people and places for counsel on how to live. Maybe you don’t find yourself on a sinful or destructive path, but you can be guilty of blending in when the belittling and name-calling and criticism of Christ-followers gets started. When we don’t stand up for Christ by standing against those who oppose Him, we are complicit with them.
So, the Psalmist tells us not to go in the way of the wicked, the sinner, and the scoffer, instead, He says we need to walk in the way of the Word. Verse 2: but (instead) his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
People who walk in the way of the Word are preoccupied with reading it, learning it, knowing it and living it out.
“His delight is in the law of the LORD.” With what are you delighted? Our daughter just got 600 wedding photos back. To say I am delighted with them is an understatement. I have looked at them so many times and will no doubt go back to them countless times. They remind me of what felt like a perfect day. They bring joy to my heart. They bring thanksgiving to my soul. To know she found her person, and that he loves Jesus even more than he loves her, is a delight to my heart. I couldn’t ask for more. We got what we prayed for. It is satisfaction on a level I can’t explain.
We ate, drank and dreamed about the wedding for months. Our texts always included wedding talk. When we were able to talk or get together, the wedding was always a topic of conversation. Planning it was as fun as the actual wedding day. It took a lot of time, but I was delighted to give it. It consumed us in a good way. It was WORK, but it was never a burden because we were delighted to do it. Our hearts were in it!
I’ll be honest…I don’t know that I have experienced a time when I was more tired or sore than I was when we finished cleaning up from her wedding. Does the phrase “bone tired” resonate with anyone? Is there a way to multiply that by three? That might come close to how I felt, but you know what, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It was a delight to do it all, from setting up for it to tearing it down and cleaning up and even paying for the shin dig. I was happy to have worked my fingers to the bone because my heart found delight in it it all. Here is the point. Here is the point the Psalmist is going to drive home: There isn’t anything that can keep you away from what delights you!
What is delighting you right now? Is it seeing your children flourish in adulthood? Is it planning for a trip that you can’t wait to take? Is it an achievement at work or school? Is it the way something turned out that you spent a lot of time and energy planning? Is it going to the gym every day so you can see that number on the scale drop? Delighting in something fills us in a positive way, doesn’t it?
Does your relationship with Jesus delight you? Does reading His Word delight you? Is it something you look forward to and can’t wait to do? Does it fill you in such a way that you want to go back to it over and over? Do you see it as a duty or a delight? The Psalmist chose to delight in the Word. That is where his heart was, and that became where he placed his effort and focus
His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. The Law of the LORD is a repeated phrase throughout Scripture, and it refers to the entirety of Scripture. The Psalmist couldn’t stay away from the Word. The Word was his go-to day and night. Once a day wasn’t enough, and if he was meditating on it, it was a constant.
It wasn’t a burden for the Psalmist to read the Word. He delighted to do it. He didn’t just read it to check a box. He didn’t just read it to appear to be interested in it, but the fact that He took delight in it means he enjoyed it. It was meaningful. It enriched his life. He found useful information inside of it. He was connecting with the Author of the Word as he read it. He then couldn’t get the Word out of his mind. He meditated on it.
In Eastern meditation, the goal is to empty the mind. That is dangerous because an empty mind may become an open invitation to deception or a demonic spirit, but in Christian meditation, the goal is to fill your mind with the Word of God. To get the most out of the Word, we need to read it as if it is God’s voice speaking to us and read it with a desire for truth and transformation. We have to engage our hearts and minds when we read the Word. It’s not like reading a book for entertainment or escape, but reading the Word requires tuning our spiritual ears to hear what God has to say for us in our current circumstance. If you just read the Word casually, and don’t meditate on it and don’t adjust your life to the principles you find in it, you are just reading words on a page, but if you read the Word with the desire and goal to hear from God, your mind will be reoriented to God’s truth, God’s counsel, God’s path, and God’s purposes for your life and it will become a delight to you.
You will become rooted and planted and established in the way God desires for you. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Fruitfulness sounds like blessing and prosperity to me. Being planted by the water meant the tree would have a continual source for life. It won’t ever wither. It will be strong and stable. Nothing will be able to take it down.
The Christian life is supposed to be a fruit-bearing life. Fruit naturally comes to trees that are planted in the right place. The tree doesn’t have to pray for fruit or try to be fruitful. It just happens. The same is true for the believer who locates himself in the way of the Word. As you hear from God through His Word and seek to apply it in your life, the Fruit of the Spirit begins to naturally grow. The person who is in love with the Word of God can’t keep from sharing his or her love for God. It’s a natural by-product.
Notice that verse 3 says it yields its fruit in its season. Fruit-bearing has a season. Don’t get discouraged if you read the Word for 30 days in a row and don’t see a major change in your character or desires. It’s coming. Harvest time has a season. That’s why you have to meditate consistently on the Word, so that your season of transformation will come. Don’t get discouraged if you read something and don’t understand it. Don’t quit if it doesn’t seem to make sense at first. Get planted and rooted in the Word and your season will come.
In John 15 Jesus said He is the Vine, and we are the branches. We have to remain in Him. We have to abide in Him. We have to stay connected to Him. A branch can’t bear fruit apart from the Vine. We stay connected as we spend time in the Word. The Word of God will bring fruit to and through the believer who stays diligent to read it. Blind spots will be removed. Doors will open. Strength will be instilled. Clarity will come. Callouses on the heart will fall off. Vision will be birthed. Prophetic words will emerge. Confidence will soar. Understanding about how to take authority over the enemy of your soul will become your natural instinct.
Notice that in addition to bearing fruit, the Psalmist said there would be no brown, dead, withered leaves. When you see leaves down in your yard, it is a sign that something is dry. Something is dead. Something is now disconnected from the tree. Listen, there will be no signs of death and dryness in your life when you are engaged with the Word. You will not be disconnected from the presence and power of God in your life. You will be more alive than you have ever been if you walk in the way of the Word.
You will be spiritually strong and growing and everything about you will look like life, abundant life. And whatever you do will prosper! That doesn’t mean you will develop the “Midas Touch” and become rich and comfortable. Prosperity and blessedness can include financial help, but it goes way beyond that. Prospering means that God will consistently bring about good things in your life. If a storm comes, it will make you stronger. If you face a challenge, God will use it to bless you. Every tough circumstance will cause you to triumph and prosper. You will live with joy and it will be well with your soul even when things in life aren’t going well. You will develop the ability to overcome because the life of Jesus grows in you as you read the Word, and He is the Overcomer of all things.
There are two ways you can live. You can walk in the way of the world, or you can walk in the way of the Word. One leads to destruction. The other leads to blessedness and prosperity. This morning, you are in the driver’s seat. You get to decide where to get your information, your inspiration. What’s your end goal? Prosperity and blessedness or destruction? As we start this new year, I challenge you to walk in the way of the Word.
Recent Comments