So uh we are going to be going through this summer uh three different psalms in the book of Psalms. Um, if you know anything about the book of Psalms, there's a lot of them. We're not gonna cover the entire book over the summer. Um, that would not be possible. Uh but this summer we are going to go over three of them. And so uh tonight we're gonna be in Psalm chapter one. Um, and in a few weeks on July 23rd, we're gonna be in Psalm 23. So Psalm 23 on the 23rd. Come on, let's go. And then uh July 14th, we're going to be in Psalm 34. So those are the three Psalms we're gonna be covering. Um they are they aren't like tied necessarily in like they're the same kind of psalm or or even they're in the in the same theme, um, but we're going to go over each one of them individually. So if you miss one of the weeks, don't feel like, oh my gosh, I don't know where we're at in the series. Uh they're different psalms. Um, and that's kind of how we're going to go through this summer. We're gonna have two other new speakers um other than me. So uh this is the last time I'm speaking all summer. Um it's all it's great. I'm excited. Um and uh excited for our guest speakers. Um not excited to not speak to you guys, but um Parker's really excited about it. So um but yeah, excited for your uh for those two guys to be able to speak to you this summer. So uh if you haven't started flipping your Bible to Psalm 1, you can go ahead and start doing that. Um that's where we're going to be tonight. But I want to start with a little bit of a story. Um, how many of you have ever been to the Dallas Fort Worth airport? One, two, anybody? That's it. Okay. Well, Dallas Fort Worth um is a very, in my opinion, poorly designed airport. Um I was there, this was about a month ago. Um for some reason one of my friends wanted to fly me down to Tulsa where his church is uh to speak to his students uh at an event. And so my connecting flight was through Dallas. And if you know anything about Dallas, it's really hard to get from one end of the airport to the other end of the airport, okay, without the use of this special thing called the Skylink, I think is what they call it, but most people just call it the tram, okay? So you have to take a train to go from one end to the airport to the other end. And if you don't, you'll find yourself walking literally for miles to get to your gate. Okay? Yeah, you're nodding your head, you get it. Uh and so I had this flight, and I uh I had a 40-minute layover, 4-0, okay, in the Dallas airport. And the gates were not right next to each other. So I have I was sitting on the airplane and I was like, man, I don't know if I'm gonna make my next flight. I think I'm gonna be stranded in Dallas. I'm like texting all my friends that live in the DFW area and like, hey, just in case, like be ready to come pick me up. And so I'm on the flight, and uh, and everybody's like, ah, you'll be fine, just take the tram. Like, you're gonna be okay, like the tram's gonna get you there. Everybody takes the tram. That's the way. Like, it's gonna be smooth. And on the flight next to me, there was a lady that flies through DFW all the time. And she leans over to me and she goes, Hey, the tram's actually closed in that section that you're trying to ride it in, like right now. It's closed from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. And I literally landed at 10 01 a.m. So there's no access to the tram, but nobody else knows it on the plane. It's just this lady. She's like this, like, it's like she just kind of appeared out of nowhere, leaned into my ear, like, hey, the tram's not working. And so I was faced with a choice. I could either try to assume that the tram is working and go with the rest of the thousands of people that are probably gonna try to take the tram to their destination, or I could listen to this lady who has flown a bunch of times through this airport, who knows the airport like the back of her hand, and seems to know this like insider information that makes that decision to walk seem a little bit less, you know, um stinky, right? So I'm uh uh I am faced with a choice, and so what I end up deciding to do was I took the advice of the veteran. Okay, I didn't listen to other people saying I could take the tram. I get off the plane, I've got 40 minutes to make it to my next gate, and I literally put it in on my on my Apple Maps, and it said 1.5 miles to my gate, like the walking path. You know you can turn on walking pathway, yeah. And so I just took off not running, jogging, pretty brisk jog. And I eventually made it to my destination, right? But on the way, I saw like almost no one else taking the same path as me. I mean, it was like two or three other people that maybe met that lady on the plane too. I don't know. They're they're the only ones that are walking around the whole Dallas airport. And what happened was I eventually got there with five minutes to spare. Okay, I had enough time to go to the restroom. I had enough time to go to the old Hudson News uh kiosk and get some snacks, and I made it onto my plane. But what I realized was as we were boarding, is that not a lot of the people that were on the plane with me that said that they were going to Tulsa, which was a decent amount, were there. It was just me and like one other person, this lady. And so I realized that I took the road less traveled, but all the people who took the most popular road didn't seem to make it to their flight on time. Okay? So I took this least popular path and I ended up getting where I was going, but I had to trust in this person who knew more than me to try to arrive at my destination in the way that I was supposed to. Now, why am I sharing this story with you? So the point of sharing this story isn't actually about navigating this airport, right? None of you really care about the DFW airport. But it is about two pathways that were available to everyone on my flight. Okay, pathway one, the majority, was this promised easy way on the tram, right? Riding from one terminal to another. People talked about how great the tram was, how easy it was to take, how smoothly it got you to your destination, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. But the truth about pathway one is that it actually never even got them to their destination like they thought it was going to. Right? They walked up to that tram and the doors were shut. They didn't go to where they thought they were going to go on this pathway. They were just stuck and they ended up missing their flight, probably, and fell into the trap of believing that the easiest way was the best way. Pathway two, which is the pathway that I took, the minority pathway, was to take the road less traveled. But not just less traveled, but also proven. Okay, and using your God-given legs and beasting out that one and a half miles inside the Dallas Fort Worth airport. This way was not the easiest way, all right? I was very sweaty by the time I got there, shamefully so. I thought at times that I had a little bit of FOMO for not hopping on the tram at a certain certain point. I didn't know how long it was under construction. I I maybe could have got back on, but I was listening to the words of this lady stuck in my head saying, take this way, it will be better. Okay, that was what was living rent-free in my head. And the truth about pathway two, the path that I took, is that even though it seemed harder, more difficult, caused a little bit more sweat, and honestly, on the surface, a worse option, it actually ended up me getting me there with plenty of time to spare. And I made it to my destination. I had almost nobody in front of me crossing from terminal to terminal. I got to use all of those things that I wanted to do. I loosened my legs up and it ended up being way better and way more worth it. I chose pathway two, not knowing fully sure what it would be like in front of me. Nobody really knows until you're there and you're running through the airport like Kevin McAllister's family and home alone. Okay? I chose that pathway because there was someone, a seasoned veteran, who knew what the pathway would look like and who told me this is the best way. And I looked at that someone who knew more than me and said, I'll trust you. Right? And like the DFW airport guru telling me which way to go is best. Our passage tonight in Psalm 1, where we're going to be camped out, the psalmist is going to portray two pathways that are available to all of us, not just for how we navigate an airport, but two ways that are available for how we are to live our entire lives. Sound good? Okay, let's get into it. Uh if you haven't turned there yet, get there in your Bibles. I just mind flopped with my hand for some reason, so I'm not even there. Psalm one, I'll read it for us. Verse one. The two ways. 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. Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked are not like this. Instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin. Okay, so in our passage tonight, it just laid out two sort of contrasting ways that people can live. Okay, he paints this picture of two ways that living that we will determine as God's way. Okay, the first one, none of this is going to be up on the screen, by the way, so if you're waiting for it to flash, it's not gonna be there. God's way and the world's way. Okay, God's way and the world's way. God's way is drawn from verses one through three, and it's the way of living in which the Lord and his word are valued above all other relationships and wisdom. Okay, God first over everything. That is God's way. The second way that we talked about, or we we saw through here, is the world's way. This is drawn from verses four and five, and it's the way in living in which one's own selfish desires, relationships, and thoughts are valued above all else. Okay? Your way is another way to say that. God's way and the world's way. And what's interesting about our passage is that the psalmist only gives these two ways that we can live in this little section. Right? He can't say everything, but this is what he is saying. He's saying that there is no gray area. He doesn't talk about people who are halfway on God's way, who are halfway following God, or halfway on the world's way. And you want to know how I know that that is true, that there is no gray area? Because I have tried to live both. Personally, I have tried to live both. Okay, when I was in college, I was trying my absolute hardest to toe the line on both of these pathways. Okay, I was living a double life, right? Is another way to say that. I wanted to value the Lord and his word because at my core I knew that that was true, but I also wanted to value my selfish desires. Okay, I tried to get crunk and get to church too. Okay, that probably made me date me quite a bit, but I know Jared liked it, so it's fine. But it was truly an absolute disaster trying to tow the line of like showing up on church after partying the night before, rinse, repeat, weekend after weekend. So these two pathways are incompatible with each other. And what is maybe more true to me now than ever before is that you can't be halfway in or halfway out when it comes to God's way and walking in the world's way. There is no halfway pathway. Okay, so what exactly does it look like to walk these two paths? Okay, first let's look at God's way. Let's read verses one through three again. 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. Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, whatever he does prospers. Okay. What do we notice about the person who walks in God's way in these first three verses? I want to give us three characteristics, again, not going to be up on the screen, sorry for you note takers, uh, of one person who walks in God's way. Okay, so three characteristics. First one is this it's fleeing evil. Okay, fleeing evil. This comes from verse one. It says this 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. Verse one shows us that the one who walks in God's way is someone who is fleeing from evil, not running towards it. Okay, we see them fleeing from evil in three ways. One, not seeking advice from wicked people. Okay, they don't act like wicked people don't exist, but they just don't seek out advice from people who they know don't know the Lord when they need counsel. Okay, they don't seek advice from wicked people. Two, they're not living in the same way as sinners. People that are walking in God's way are not pretending to be perfect because they're not, and they are also not pretending to forget that they were once walking in the same lifestyle as everyone else. The same direction, the same pathway of those who don't know God. But they are choosing to live set apart through the power of the Holy Spirit. Third, they're not spending a bunch of time with mockers. Okay? What does this mean? Well, they're not exclusively hanging around with people who don't believe in Jesus. Okay? Now, most people aren't gonna be in danger of this if you grew up in church. You're probably actually gonna swing on the other side of the pendulum. You're gonna be more in danger of being around Christians exclusively than a sea of non-Christians. Okay. But if you didn't grow up in church, or you maybe became a Christian more recently, you might be in danger of exclusively hanging out with non-Christians. And the truth is that the people who are walking in God's way, they're spending time with both Christians and non-Christians, and they're balancing fellowship with believers and mission to non-believers. Okay, that's characteristic number one of walking in God's way, fleeing evil. Characteristic number two is this it's faithful study. Okay, this comes from verse two. Verse two says this instead, instead of, in other words, walking in the advice of the wicked, standing in the path with sinners, or sitting in the company of mockers, instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction. And he meditates on it day and night. If you're fleeing evil, you have to replace your old habits with some new ones. Or in other words, you need to replace your old sinful habits with some holy ones. While everyone who is walking in God's way should flee from sin, everyone should also faithfully study God's word to replace your old habits. Okay, that should be part of it. God and his word are the key to walking in God's way for the long haul. While other people are walking in the world's way are listening to all sorts of voices and opinions and kind of navigating this ever-changing cultural landscape, God and his word remain exactly the same. It's the only thing that's constant. So when we faithfully study, we eventually develop a delight for God and His Word, and we can't get enough of it. Okay, you might not feel it right now, you might not feel it every single day, but over time that will develop within you when you faithfully study God's word. Because when you realize that God's word is actually the best thing that you can be consuming, it's not TikTok, it's not Instagram, it's not whatever else you're doing, shopping, thrift shopping on your phone, I don't know what you're doing, right? It's better than that. And once you realize that, you can see the delight that we have in reading these eternal truths of the Bible, you won't want to go any other way. Okay. And when we flee evil, when we faithfully study God's Word, when we are really walking in God's way, what it leads to is it leads to a flourishing life. Okay, this is the third characteristic here. Let's read verse three. That's where this comes from. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does, he prospers. Okay. So the psalmist uses an image of a tree here to illustrate sort of this idea of what following God's way is like when you're all in. Okay. You ever see a gigantic tree next to like a creek before? Right? You ever seen one that's like super, super dead? It's like a flowing creek? Not really. Right? They have seemingly endless water supply flowing right next to them, available to them, to the point where they're so well nourished, they're so well fed from that stream that they never seem to be able to die. Okay, and the creek in this picture that the psalmist gives us is not a literal water source, but instead it's the Lord of the universe. See, if you're walking in God's way, you're eternally nourished by God Himself. Not something that's temporary, not something that will go away, but eternal nourishment through God. Like this is not your ordinary way of life, but this is a flourishing life. Okay, there's a difference between living your life in a normal way and living a flourishing life that God intended for you. This is a life that God intended for every single person on earth to have before we sinned. Before the Garden of Eden. See, in Genesis 1 and 2, Adam and Eve, the first humans, okay, they were living with God in harmony. They were walking in God's way, literally walking with God in the Garden of Eden. And we were doing everything exactly like God had intended until Genesis 3. If you're familiar with the story, you know what happens here. In an instant, through one choice to go against God and his way and go the world's way, sin enters the world, and humans from then on have naturally not been choosing God's way anymore, but have naturally been choosing the world's way. They've gone the opposite of what God had intended for them and the way that they live their life. And over and over, time after time, over thousands and thousands of years, humans have continuously choose or chosen the world's way. Because we ultimately are now sinful, selfish people by nature. Okay? You might not think that you're a sinful, selfish person, but ask your parents. You are. My three-year-old's a little sinner, okay? He's got a sinful nature in there. I'm just gonna tell you, you spent a couple hours with us, yeah, you'll see it. Right? If you think that people don't have it, they do. All right, and it's because of this, it's because of the decision in the garden to sin. Everyone is affected. It doesn't matter whether you think you're the best person in the world or worst person in the world. Everybody has at least a little dose of that sin nature, including my son. And because of that, God's way, not the world's way, God's way is not just something that we can just like work our way back into if we want to. Okay, you can't earn something that was taken away from you by somebody who has all the authority. You can't earn that back. That's not how this works. It's not something we can be good enough to get back to choosing. So we need a savior. We need someone who will pave the way for us to be able to choose God's way again. And for thousands and thousands of years, people were waiting for a savior. They were waiting for somebody to come so that we can choose God's way again to enter Jesus. See, unlike any of all the other people who have ever walked the earth, Jesus did something we could never do. He never sinned. Okay. My kids are one and three. They've sinned a lot in one and three years. Okay? I've sinned an awful lot in my life. You have sinned an awful lot in your life. But you know, the only person who has never sinned has been Jesus. That's it. There's nobody else. Mother Teresa, sinner. Gandhi, sinner. Insert any other good person you can think of, sinner. Everyone's a sinner. Okay? But Jesus never did. He did what we could never do. Being fully man and fully God, he actually lived a perfect and sinless life. Okay, how annoying would that must have been to be Jesus' sibling? Okay? Jesus had half siblings. They probably were super annoyed with Jesus all the time. Okay? He never sinned. He bore the wrath of our sin, despite not deserving that punishment upon himself dying on a cross, but not staying dead, rising from the dead after three days later, defeating sin and death. And because of what Jesus has done, not what we have done, but what Jesus has done, we are now being given a choice. Okay? We're being given a choice between two pathways to live our life. We're being given a choice between God's way, the way that God actually intended for us to live, the way that things are supposed to be, or the world's way. The way that gives into our sinful nature and goes against how God desires for us to live. That's the choice. Okay, Julia, you can come on up. And here's the reality for us tonight. Okay, the world's way to live, it's not the less popular way. The world's way to live is by far the most popular way. Okay, the majority of people are choosing that pathway to live. But here's the thing about the world's path it leads to ruin. Okay, when I was trying to tow the line between those two ways of living, what was ruining me was not God's way, but it was the world's way. That was what was ruining me. But on the flip side, God's way to live, the road less traveled, it doesn't lead to ruin. But it's actually the only thing that leads to life. So the question is, what way will you choose to live? You've been given a choice. Not because your own merit, not because your own doing, but through Jesus. Jesus has given you the choice to choose the world's way or to choose God's way. To choose trying to earn it on your own or to choose to rely on what Jesus has already done, the finished work of Jesus versus the work that we'll never measure up. You have the choice to make for yourself because Jesus has given you that gift. That gift of the choice of choosing him. Despite your nature wanting you to go the other direction, despite your nature wanting you to go the way of the world, Jesus has given you that choice. Okay, and you are here in this room tonight, and whether you've made that choice or not, you need to rest in the fact that Jesus has freely given that to you. And if you've placed your faith in Jesus already, rejoice. If you haven't placed your faith in Jesus yet, also rejoice because you've been given the option to choose Jesus. You could have never earned it on your own. So the question is, what way will you choose? What way will you choose to live your life with the one life that you've been given? My hope and prayer would be that each and every person in this room, all 20, whatever of you in here, would choose God's way. We go 100%, 20 for 20, nobody left behind, that we would choose God's way, that every single person in this room would choose not the common road, not the popular road, but the road less traveled, the narrow path, but also the road that leads to life through Jesus. Can you imagine the change that could come from a room of 20-some college students making the decision to not live their life the world's way, not go all the way of the rest of their peers that don't follow Jesus, but to choose to live their life God's way and not like the rest of the world. Affected by the gospel. God's done it with 12. Why won't He do it with 20? Let's pray that that would be true of us tonight. Heavenly Father, thank you for this room. Thank you for everyone that's here tonight, God, that you brought here to gather together. They're not here by accident. They didn't stumble in here randomly, but you have created each and every one of them that is here, God. You brought them here to this place. I pray that they would not choose the world's way, but instead they would go against the grain. They would take the road less traveled, the narrow path, and choose your way. God, I pray that they would see how good your way is and how life-giving following you and your son can be. I pray that each one of these people here would place their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins if they haven't already, and Lord, that they would just rest knowing that they're walking in your way, you have them in your hands, and they're doing what you have created them to do. Pray all this in your name. Amen.