WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:08.240 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:13.919 Welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.280 Thank you for listening. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:24.719 I think that's how you finish off the Christmas season. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:25.440 Amen? 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.079 Thank you, Jessica and Choir and Orchestra. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:30.719 What a great time it's been this Christmas season. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:35.119 And it's good to have one last taste of all of that. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:41.039 Unfortunately, my wife is going to make me start taking down the Christmas tree this afternoon. 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.840 So I hate it when it all goes away, don't you? 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:49.280 And so it's great to have one more time where we get to sing Noel and praise to the Lord. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:52.479 We get to reflect on the fact that Jesus has come. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:01:05.920 And so now as we begin the new year and we start looking forward, I want to talk a little bit about the impact that is the result of Jesus coming. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:12.400 See, we've been singing and praising that Jesus came to bring hope to the world and to bring salvation and all of that. 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:17.760 And if he came to do that, then that means something in our lives. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:33.040 If Jesus came to save us, if Jesus came to draw us into relationship with him and bridge that gulf between us and the Lord by removing that barrier of sin and bring us with him. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:56.079 If this was an eternal plan of God designed from the very beginning of Genesis, worked throughout the book, the Old Testament books of the Bible to point out that Jesus was coming, if he worked all that hard to do all of that to make it all happen, then it must have an impact in our lives. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:00.959 It must have some purpose for us in our lives. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:06.079 God must be wanting to do something in your life. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:22.080 And as we look forward into 2024 this year, what I really want to challenge us this year is individuals and as a church to establish a vision, a spiritual vision for 2024. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.439 Do you have a vision for your spiritual life for this next year? 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:34.719 Do you believe that God wants to do something in your life supernaturally? 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:40.000 I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm chapter 1 this morning. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:54.400 And I want to unpack this Psalm a little bit, but I want to put it in that context of you beginning the process of establishing a spiritual vision for your life this year. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:59.919 Now, everybody talks about New Year's resolutions and all that sort of stuff, and we've all been there. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.199 We make these resolutions. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:04.319 Yeah, I'm going to lose 10 pounds by February. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:10.879 And so then I keep eating the rest of the Christmas candy that's left over, and then it's on clearance at Walmart, and there's more of it. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:16.560 And for some reason, Hershey Kisses taste better in red and green wrappers, right? 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:17.520 And all of that. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:26.400 And then it's Valentine's, and you got to take your wife out for cheesecake and cake and pie and ice cream and throw a little bit of steak in there somewhere. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.960 And you got to do, and you just, and then we blow it off. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.240 Like, forget all that, right? 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.199 Forget all that. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:41.599 But it is an awesome time to be thinking about something new, and it's a great time to be thinking about repurposing our focus. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.879 And I really want to cast it for you this way. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:51.280 Instead of that resolution business and all of that, think about what you're going to pursue this year. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:55.439 What vision does God have for you in your spiritual life? 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:57.680 And what does He want to do with you? 00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:05.759 Because, see, Jesus came to save us so that God could work in and through our lives. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:19.040 There is a purpose, there is an activity, there is a supernatural power that comes into our lives when we give our lives to Jesus, and that has a purpose for us. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:24.319 We don't come to church each week, we don't engage with the church family and all of that. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:29.040 Just because it's a nice place to be and it's comfortable and we're encouraged when we come and all of that. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:34.319 Lord, save us from that boring definition of a Christian life. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:45.920 There ought to be something supernaturally spectacular that you want and even through faith expect God to do. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.279 I want you to see this incredible psalm right here. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:51.360 And it's familiar to a lot of folks. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.120 If you've been in church any amount of time, it's familiar to you. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:04.319 But sometimes what happens is the more familiar we get with something, the more we lose the incredible beauty and richness of it. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.199 So I want to unpack this psalm with you this morning. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:22.480 Psalm chapter 1 begins this way How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the company of mockers. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:29.600 Instead, his is the happy, the man who does this. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:36.959 His delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:48.240 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.079 Whatever he does prospers. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:55.839 The wicked are not like this. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:00.720 Instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:07.199 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteousness. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:15.439 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of wicked leads to ruin. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:29.360 Vision, a spiritual vision, an expectation that's driven by imagination and faith and impact. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:36.079 A spiritual vision should be inherent in our spiritual identity. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:41.279 A spiritual vision should be inherent in our spiritual identity. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:47.680 Now, the point of this song, now you know the word psalm means song. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:07:00.160 And the point of this song is this: this incredible picture of what God does in the life of someone who follows him, painted in the image of this tree. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.680 That's the central part of this song. 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.040 It's the point of it. 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:13.759 God is trying to give us this picture of the fact that it means something that you're a follower of him. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:23.920 That he works in your life and he has this purposefulness and he has a point and he has an impact that is incredible in our lives. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:29.040 And so the linchpin of understanding this psalm is driven in this incredible picture. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:33.279 Now, this song is this song is so powerful. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:38.800 This entire, just these six verses right here, it is so rich and it is so filled. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:42.720 Only God could have authored this song. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:45.040 That's how powerful it is. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:55.120 And it comes from his heart, and I think it casts a vision for us that we need to latch on to and have a desire for in our lives as well. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:57.839 Listen, here's the way it begins. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:00.399 Look how this song begins in verse 1. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.360 How happy, how happy is the one. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:08.959 And that word happy there actually is a much more expansive word in the original language. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:15.199 It is, it could be translated blessedness, or actually it's in a plural form. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.480 So it's blessings and blessednesses. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:40.559 If you think about when Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, and he began with the Beatitudes, we've done a series of those throughout 2023 on our Triangle Podcast, and he talks about the blessed condition, the happiness, the joy, the fullness of life that comes when those characters are ours. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:42.399 And so he begins this psalm. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:49.200 The very first image is this plural sense of abundant life and blessings. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:56.480 The last verse in this song says, For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:04.559 You see, it is at the beginning and the end, this work of God moving in our lives. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:08.879 He has blessings for you that are plural and beyond description. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:18.159 And he watches over our way as we move in the direction with him of being a part of what he's doing in our lives. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:23.440 And in that frame, he now paints this incredible picture. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:25.919 He is like a tree planted. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:29.759 Now, that original language there is really beautiful. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:34.000 You get a sense of it in the English, but it's even more in the other. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:38.399 You get a sense, this is a tree that's not just growing there in the wild. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.279 It is a tree that has been planted there. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:49.519 And it's clear in the original language, this means it was intentionally planted like someone who is a farmer planting an orchard. 00:09:49.679 --> 00:10:05.600 Or it even could be with the connotation of transplanted, that it was changed, it was found over here, and it was put here on purpose by this stream where it can draw all of these resources and flourish. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:18.799 This is a picture of God taking a person who follows Him and having a vision for their lives that He has created and that He is working to accomplish in them. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:21.039 He chose this tree. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:37.120 So that it can do what He purposed for it to do when He planted it there. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:40.159 Now that's pretty incredible. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:46.320 I can't even wrap my mind around how powerful that message is. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:52.879 That's who you are when you are a follower of Jesus. 00:10:53.279 --> 00:11:08.080 That God is saying, I have chosen you and planted you, and I have planted you for a purpose and in a place, and I'm going to resource you, and I'm going to use you, and I want you to flourish. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:10.639 And that's why I've put you there. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.080 Man, it's just an incredible picture. 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:35.679 And so, in our identity as a follower of Christ, we need to understand that we are created by God in his image, saved for his purpose, that he has a plan for you, and that he wants something dynamic to happen spiritually in your life. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:37.840 Now look at what he says again. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:46.000 You're like a tree planted beside the flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:58.639 Bearing spiritual fruit is inherent in the identity of every follower of Christ. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:11.039 There is no such thing as a Christian who is simply a nice looking bush that you get nothing out of. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:39.919 Right? 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.639 There's no such picture of that in Scripture for Christians. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:56.639 Every time God uses an agricultural example in Scripture, he uses a fruit-bearing tree or plant or vine. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:04.559 For example, Jesus, in teaching his disciples and his followers in John chapter 15, he says this. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:22.639 You're a vine, and when you as a vine are attached to the branches, who is Jesus, that's where the life source flows into that vine, then you're going to bear fruit. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:28.879 And if you don't bear fruit, we're going to cut you off as useless. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:40.879 But if you do bear fruit, which is your identity as a grapevine, then we're going to prune you and work on you so that you bear more fruit. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:52.080 Because your purpose in being as a believer and follower of Christ is the work that he has designed and planned to do through you in your life. 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:55.840 That's why he uses the image of a fruit-bearing tree. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:01.919 Not something that you look at, but something that has impact in the world around it. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:10.639 Something that provides, something that provides life and food and sustenance, something that is highly valuable. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:18.960 Jesus told a parable where he, again, uses an agricultural example in the New Testament, and it is about a fig tree. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.080 Now, personally, we love fig trees in my family. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.399 I mean, we deeply love fig trees. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:27.600 But they create kind of a conflict in our world. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:37.919 My wife eats the figs just right off the tree, which is really a problem because God designed figs to make fig preserves. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:47.279 And since I'm spiritual and the pastor, I understand this truth, but my wife gets confused with that. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:53.919 And she'll eat all the figs before we have a chance to actually preserve them into fig preserves. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:00.480 God loves us and made figs just for us to make fig preserves. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.200 And Jesus understood the power of that, so he used an illustration of a fig tree. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:14.480 And he said, A guy owned a vineyard, and he had a fig tree in there, and all the other fig trees were producing fruit, but this fig tree didn't produce fruit. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.840 And so the guy that owned the vineyard comes to the gardener and he says, Listen, cut that thing down. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.360 It's wasting my time. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.039 It's taking up space, it's using resources without value. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:32.000 Its identity as a fig tree is to bear figs, and if it's not bearing figs, then it's broken. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:33.279 Get rid of it. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.720 And the gardener says to the owner, no, let me just work on it some more. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:39.519 Let me fertilize it. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:41.600 Let me break up the ground or let me help it. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:44.320 And let's see if we can't get it to do what it's supposed to do. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:48.639 Because it is a fig tree and it's supposed to bear fruits, and it can if we work with it. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:59.519 And it was a spiritual parable where God is the owner of the vineyard and he expects the plants to bear fruit the reason that he planted them. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:03.919 We're the trees, and the question is, are we bearing fruit or not? 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:13.600 And Jesus is the gardener, and it's his work around the tree, impacting the tree, and working in the tree that equips the tree to help it do what it was supposed to do. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:17.679 The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 2, and it talks about salvation. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.720 For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.440 It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:36.559 And then it says this, because we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that he has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:47.120 Our identity as a believer is to impact the people and the world around us by bearing spiritual fruit. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:17:07.680 Your identity as a believer, if you're a follower of Christ, what that means is you were chosen and you were planted, and he loves you, and he created you to flourish, and he gave you the identity of bearing fruit, and he's put everything in your life that would allow you to bear that fruit, and he has a plan for the fruit that you will bear. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:16.480 A spiritual vision is inherent in our spiritual identity. 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:25.359 That fruit has got to have involved in it the salvation of others and the advance of the gospel. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:38.079 There is no definition of bearing fruit that does not include us leading people to faith in Jesus Christ. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:44.960 And that gets lost so often in life. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:51.839 Our purpose in being is to be a part of the advance of the gospel and to see people saved. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:18:07.759 As we are working and cranking up towards these mission partnerships, it is so vital that we understand we must see the vision that God has for us and the responsibility that He has for us as a church to advance the gospel. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:17.200 The opportunity that we have to help that fledgling church in El Salvador. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:30.640 Really, the incredible opportunity that we have to join with brothers and sisters in Christ in a place like London, England, where the gospel is desperately needed. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:54.319 A vibrant baptizing church with a history of evangelism and a history of prayer, we can go step into that opportunity and help build that network of evangelistic pastors to bring the gospel to a key, worldwide, influencing city. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:00.079 We've got to see that that is who we are. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:07.279 We are to be fruit bearing in our lives individually and as a church. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:12.720 Your love list, that should be a part of your spiritual vision. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:25.200 You should realize I am here, and God has planted me in this spot, and He's planted those people around me for a purpose and for a reason. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:33.599 God saved us for so much more than, gee, I'm not going to hell, and now life is fun and I enjoy church. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.319 Like, praise the Lord, we enjoy church. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:37.519 We want to enjoy church. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.640 It's kind of miserable if church is not good, right? 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:43.839 But it's not here for us. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:20:09.200 We come and we get fueled and we get excited and all of that, but really what's happening is we are a part of a platform that God planted here well over a hundred years ago, many generations ago, because he knew that the river valley was going to grow and be a city and be an influential city in this region and in our state, and there needed to be a lighthouse here to point the way to Jesus, and that's why we're here. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:11.759 That's why we're here. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:24.240 And so in January, we're going to we're going to study prayer, and then we're going to have daily prayers that we're going to pre we're going to pray together, and we are reinvigorating our prayer ministry. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.279 We talked about that as all these things got to be together. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:33.119 We're not just building bigger, you know, hallways and bigger Sunday school rooms or avoiding the stairs. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.000 We are reaching people in all what we're doing. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:43.440 And so part of the prayer room and moving that and all of that, we're going to invigorate our prayer, our prayer ministry. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:44.160 Why? 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.759 Because God has planted us here for a reason. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:52.319 And we need to find out why he's planted us here and what he's going to do with us. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:21:02.160 We need to walk with him and pursue him so that we get a bigger vision of what we can, what we can accomplish through the power of God in our lives. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.960 Now, you don't just make up a vision. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:08.160 God is the one who planted that tree there. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:11.759 He is the one who, it says, watches over the way of the righteous. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:14.480 He is the one who has purpose in all of that. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:20.880 Verse 2, the person who follows the Lord, his delight is in the Lord's instruction through his word. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.920 We are to pursue him, and prayer is how we do that. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:26.319 And we'll start talking about that next week. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:33.440 But in all of that, the reason that we do that is we should have a vision for more spiritually. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:36.960 Now, why don't we have that vision? 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:38.480 Well, he gives some thoughts here. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:40.640 Look at what he says here in verse one. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:45.839 How happy is the one who does not do this. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:54.960 Walk in the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway of sinners, or sit in the company of mockers. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.559 Now notice this picture that he gives. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:21:59.759 One part of this. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.079 Is getting bigger, and one part of this is slowing down. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:09.759 And he's built this beautiful sort of way that it gets bigger and smaller at the same time. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:10.799 Watch this. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.759 We go from walking to standing to sitting. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:19.440 Walking to standing to sitting. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:36.799 But then look at how the negative description of sin escalates, advice of the wicked, the pathway of sinners, and then we sit in the seat with the scornful. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:38.880 You see how that happens? 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:47.759 As the negative influence gets worse, we go from advice to standing in to sitting in the scorners. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.119 He goes from the wicked to the sinners to the mockers. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.920 Now we're not just sinning against God anymore. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:58.079 We are mocking God and mocking those who follow him. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:22:59.680 You see how that works? 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:00.960 And here's what he's saying. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:05.759 Listen, you allow those things into your life, it has an impact on you. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:08.400 Well, just I kind of wrote it out in my head this way. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:10.160 It makes sense to me this way. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:15.519 Input creates influence, which creates identity. 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:18.160 Input creates influence, which creates identity. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:19.359 Look at what he says. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:25.200 Blessed is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:26.400 Input. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:42.160 When we're taking input from the world, when we're receiving information in that helps define how we're going to make decisions, when we draw that in from the world, it is the opposite of what we should be doing when we're pursuing the Lord. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:49.359 And because of that, it crushes that sense of what Jesus could do and wants to do in us. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:52.480 It dampens the passion of pursuing Him. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:55.359 That input has a negative impact. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:57.200 Think about it this way. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:05.519 How many things do you look up on YouTube or Google and get advice that way? 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:06.720 How do I do this? 00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:07.359 How do I do that? 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:07.920 How do I do that? 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:08.400 How do that? 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:13.920 It's fine if you're wanting to, you know, take a clog out of the kitchen sink. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:21.839 If you're going to figure out how to unclog the disposal, which we've had to do, you know, things like that. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.480 But if you're looking at things like, how do I do this with my kids? 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:28.880 How do I influence this with my kids? 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:30.799 How do I teach my kids this way? 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.720 How do I teach my kids this way? 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:48.000 If you are getting more instruction from YouTube or Google or influencers on Instagram or wherever, instead of the word of God, you are walking in the advice of the wicked. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:25:04.960 If we go to work and we're trying to find out from people that we were placed there to evangelize because they need Jesus and they've struggled in their lives and they got all this stuff, they should be coming to us for advice, not us going to them for advice. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:14.319 You were put there to influence them closer to Jesus, not to allow them to speak advice into your life. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:17.839 And then it escalates from input to influence. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:33.359 We go from walking in the advice of the wicked to now we have gotten into the path of sinners, and we're going to stand there and we're going to consider this and we're going to evaluate this and we're going to be in this flow of how sinners live. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:36.799 So we've gone from input to influence. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:38.960 It is now influencing us. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.319 And we are now in the flow of the influence of sinners. 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:55.279 We are in the pathway of how they live, the pathway of how they manage their money, the pathway of how they do married life, the pathway of how they do their kids, the pathway of how all of that life flows. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:01.359 There is a secular way of life that flows that is not godly, that is not drawing us closer to the Lord. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:09.440 It may not even be evil, it may just be life, but it is not drawing us closer to the Lord. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:15.200 It is not creating a passion for a spiritual vision or giving us a sense of vision. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:25.599 You see, but input is what creates that influence, and now we're allowing ourselves to be influenced away from the picture of life that God has for us. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:27.599 And now look how it escalates. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:32.000 Input creates influence, which creates identity. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:38.480 Now we will sit in the company of mockers. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:45.440 We have made our home with those who say no to the Lord. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:55.119 We are settling in to the place where we're not following the Lord. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.359 Input creates influence, what creates identity. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:13.599 And in our identity as believers, if following the Lord is to be like a tree planted by the flowing streams and bearing fruit, and even in difficult times, it gives that picture whose leaf does not wither in all of those times. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:24.079 If we're going to be that person, it cannot involve the input and the influence that creates an identity of someone who does not see what God wants to do in your life. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:38.480 And if you don't have a spiritual vision for your life, if you're not pursuing what God wants you to have in life, then you've got to check the inputs that are going into your life and the influence that is creating your identity. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:44.319 Now, you can take that input, influence, and identity, and you can apply it here in the beauty of this passage of Scripture. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:45.359 Look at what he says. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:48.799 His delight is in the Lord's instruction. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:51.200 Where is he getting his input? 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:53.039 He is getting it from God's word. 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:56.319 He is getting it from God's interaction in his life. 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.279 And then it says he meditates on it day and night. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:02.720 You see how now we're standing in that pathway. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:11.599 We've gone from receiving the information, the input of it, to now God's word is influencing us because we are standing in the scripture. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:14.400 We are meditating on it day and night. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:16.960 And now it becomes our identity. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:20.480 Input creates influence, which creates identity. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:29.680 He is like that tree planted by God beside the flowing streams that bears fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:34.079 Input creates influence, which creates identity. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:39.920 Spiritual vision should be a part of our spiritual identity. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:53.519 And if it is not, we've got to go back and check the inputs and the influences and look in the mirror and see where identity definition is now. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:04.400 If spiritual vision is inherent in our spiritual identity, then we have to understand that our identity determines our direction. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.599 It determines the direction in which we go. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.960 Again, I love there are directional pictures in here. 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:17.359 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, that path and that follow in that direction. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:22.640 What you have here is a beautiful picture of juxtapositions. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:28.160 He puts things in contrast in incredible ways right here. 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:31.440 Look at how he, again, the frame around this tree. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:34.240 Happy is the one who does not. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:36.720 Happy who does not. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:39.680 You see, those are put in juxtaposition against each other. 00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:41.440 Look at what he does in the last verse. 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:47.440 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin. 00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:50.240 He puts them in juxtaposition against each other. 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:55.039 So you have here this picture of the righteous versus the unrighteous. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:00.880 Happy is the one who does not walk in the way of the wicked, stand the pathway of sinners, send to see the mockers. 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.480 Instead, that's another verse of the opposite. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:11.039 Instead of that, this, a picture of the righteous, his delight is in the Lord's instruction. 00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:13.440 He meditates on it day and night. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:23.759 You see a juxtaposition of the negative active actions of sin and the positive actions of pursuing the Lord. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:38.640 He talks about standing and sitting in company of sinners and mockers and all of that, versus delighting in God's word and in his instruction and pursuing it and meditating on it day and night. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:46.640 You see the juxtaposition of the two different identities and the impact of those identities. 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:48.079 Look at what he says. 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.640 Verse 3, the identity of the righteous. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:56.079 He's like a tree planted beside flowing streams, bears fruit in his season, his life does not wither. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:57.759 Whatever he does prospers. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:00.400 The wicked are not like this. 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:03.519 You see, he's comparing two opposites. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:11.039 Instead, they are not planted, they are not rooted, they are not invested in God's word. 00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:15.440 They are not strong with a wheat, a leaf that does not wither. 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:19.759 Instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:22.720 In other words, they're like leaves or whatever. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:27.279 A tree that's died and the dead leaves, and they just blow wherever the wind takes it. 00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:30.640 Our garage, I hate cleaning out the garage. 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:34.160 I love a clean garage, but I hate cleaning out the garage. 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:35.279 Y'all feel me? 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:43.359 I mean, we have this garage, and our house sits, if it's facing that way, our garage is faced this way, and it got kind of this curve, right? 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:52.160 And I just firmly believe that whoever built our house, we were not the original owners, they did this on purpose, and they're still laughing at every person who lives in the house. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:32:01.519 Because the main garage is this way, and then there's an angle on this garage, and we've got these cool little brick walls right here that are real pretty, but what it does is it creates this little cove. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:06.160 And my neighbors next to me have this beautiful tree planted in their yard. 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:08.799 And it sheds these leaves every year. 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:14.319 And the wind blows them into this cove in my garage, and I cannot get them out of there. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:16.400 And it creates like a wind tunnel. 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:27.359 And I get in the garage and I have my wind blower and I'm blowing the leaves out, and just as I get to the lip of the garage, the wind in this wind tunnel blows them right back into the garage. 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:31.359 It's just frustrating as I'll get out, right? 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:33.680 I have only thrown my blower twice. 00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:35.440 I'm really proud of that. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.079 That I've only gotten mad twice, right? 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:39.119 Why? 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:44.160 Because those leaves, whatever blows it, is wherever it goes. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:51.200 And whatever wind may be blowing the leaf harder, the leaf follows that wind. 00:32:51.359 --> 00:32:52.160 You get it? 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:58.079 The influence is the wind, the leaf has no strength, no value, no whatever in it at all. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:14.880 And so the person who is listening to the advice of the wicked, and their input is from the world, and they are standing in the way of sinners, and they are sitting with the mockers, and they are not following God, and they are not invested in his word, they are blown wherever the wind blows them. 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:32.559 And if you think I'm stretching a point, then I would invite you to write in the margin of your Bible Ephesians chapter 4, which says that in Scripture, the role of pastors and leaders in the church and all of that, we are gifted to the church for the purpose of what? 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:37.440 For the purpose of building the body of Christ to do ministry. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:38.160 Why? 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:46.960 Because we are trying to grow to be mature in the full measure and stature of Christ, like a tree planted by the river. 00:33:47.839 --> 00:34:00.000 And if you are not, and you are immature, then it says you are like a leaf blown in the wind by every doctrine of philosophy and every trickery of man. 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:06.880 The consistency of these pictures and messages, and God's word is incredible. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:13.119 And so here's the deal: identity is what determines the destination of your life. 00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:15.840 Are you taking in the input of God's word? 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:17.840 Are you resting in his instruction? 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:19.039 Are you pursuing him? 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:22.800 Is that giving you the influence in your life that your identity is? 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:25.679 God wants to do something in my life in 2024. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:28.079 He wants to use me to reach somebody for Christ. 00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:29.679 He wants me to go on a mission trip. 00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:31.519 He wants me to start teaching Sunday school. 00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:34.239 He wants me to invest in students or children's ministry. 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:36.480 God wants to use me in the place where I work. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:38.079 He wants to use me in my school. 00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:39.840 He wants to use me in my street. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:41.119 Do you have that input? 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:42.559 Do you have that identity? 00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:46.639 If you do, then you are the picture here in Psalm. 00:34:46.960 --> 00:35:00.480 But if your inputs are from the world and your influence is from the world, and you do not have that identity, then you're going to be the picture in Psalm chapter 1. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.440 Finally, I want to give you this. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:05.679 So what do we do with that, Pastor? 00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:18.159 Well, pursuit, pursuit is what establishes your identity and leads to either spiritual vision or futility. 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:34.159 Pursuing God, pursuing Him is what establishes an identity of being happy, of blessed, of being the person that God is watching over your way, of being the person planted by the tree, planted like a tree by the river. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:45.280 Pursuing Him, that pursuit is what establishes your identity, and from that is what flows either spiritual vision for next year or futility. 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:47.440 Look what the Bible says. 00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:55.679 He says, Happy is the man who does not do this, but does this. 00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:58.480 And what is the this that he does? 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:06.960 His delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:20.159 You see, that identity of who Christ wants to make us to be should drive us to pursue him. 00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:25.840 If you write in your Bibles, just draw a line and connect the dots between this. 00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:33.039 His delight is in the Lord's instruction, and at the end of verse 3, whatever he does prospers. 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:35.519 Just connect the dots right there. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:45.920 You see, if your input is God's word and seeking him, and in fact you delight in that, that's why I've used the word pursuit. 00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:49.039 You establish your identity by pursuit. 00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:55.599 He delights in the Lord's instruction and he meditates on it day and night. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:57.199 That takes work. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:02.639 And you cannot be a growing Christian without doing your part. 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:04.639 Now hear me. 00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:11.119 Anything that is good that happens in our lives, it happens because Jesus did it. 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:15.679 But the question is, are we pursuing him or not? 00:37:16.719 --> 00:37:22.559 I don't know how much Jesus you have, but you have all the Jesus that you want. 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:30.480 Pursuit is what establishes our identity. 00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:37.760 It is pursuing him because that is how he then works and inputs in our lives. 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:41.519 It is our pursuing of him that makes us surrender to him. 00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:44.800 It acknowledges that he is the one who plants the tree. 00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:46.320 He's the giver of life. 00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:48.079 He's the one that bears fruit. 00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:50.239 He's the one that gives that instruction. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:54.320 He's the one, as it says in verse 6, that watches over our way. 00:37:54.480 --> 00:38:02.960 It is his instruction that we need, and that's why we delight in it and we meditated on it day and night because it is his work in us. 00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:06.639 Now listen, I'm a relatively smart guy. 00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:10.320 I'm not the smartest guy in the room, but I'm not, you know, I'm okay. 00:38:10.480 --> 00:38:13.519 And I'm fairly creative and I've seen a lot of stuff in life. 00:38:13.760 --> 00:38:23.119 I could go in my office and draft up something cool and put some alliterations and slogan on it and throw it out here and sell it to you as the vision for our church. 00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:24.960 I just, I could do that. 00:38:25.119 --> 00:38:26.000 I have that ability. 00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:27.840 I can't do a lot of things, I could do that. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:29.840 But what is the point of that? 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:33.199 What value would that bring? 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:39.599 Instead, we acknowledge that anything that happens good in the church, it happens because Jesus did it. 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:47.199 In our heritage, anything that's happened in those times when people were getting saved in the moves of God, that all happened because God did it. 00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:58.239 In our next stage of life, if we see people saved and we impact the River Valley and we impact London and all of that stuff, it's going to be happened because God does it. 00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:03.840 And so we've got to pursue him individually and collectively as a church. 00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:10.400 And we've got to find out how God is going to bear fruit in the tree that he's planted here. 00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:23.440 And we individually have got to figure out how does God want to plant, how does God want to bear fruit in each of our trees that he has planted us where we are? 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:24.800 How do you pursue? 00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:26.000 It's simple. 00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:32.000 You choose to pursue through adding and removing. 00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:39.440 So if you want to work through some New Year's resolution process, here's what you do. 00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:46.159 You ask the Lord, you pursue him, what does he want you to add and what does he want you to remove? 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:50.480 Happy is the one who does not. 00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:55.280 What does he want to remove? 00:39:56.800 --> 00:40:02.320 What input, what influence does he want to remove? 00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:09.440 Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. 00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:11.360