Pastor Derek Berry "Summer in the Psalms" - Sermon 1 (6/7/2026)

Psalm 1 reveals that life offers only two paths: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. The blessed person avoids ungodly influences and instead delights in God's Word, developing deep spiritual roots like a tree planted by rivers of water. In contrast, the ungodly are like chaff blown by the wind, lacking substance and direction. Our daily choices determine which path we take, and every path leads somewhere. The direction we choose today determines our eternal destination, making it crucial to examine our influences and intentionally pursue righteousness.

Transcript

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In the Psalms, and we're going to look at a different psalm throughout this summer and and um and see how the Lord can show us different things. And you know, I what I find is that no matter what season of life that I'm in, I can always find something to help me in the book of Psalms. There's something in it that can help me. And I love our theme verse for this this time will be from Psalms 119. And it just I'll read this one verse, and that's not where we'll preach out of this morning, but in in Psalms 119, verses uh verse 105, the Bible the Bible's, the scripture says that your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And it's impactful because there's times in our life where I'm not sure which direction to take or how to navigate this situation or that one. And I realize that the word of God will light up every step that I take if I allow it to. If I cling to it and grab a hold of it, it'll light my pathway up. And I want to look at that. That's our theme this time as we as we look different Psalms together. But we'll be this morning in Psalms 1. But let me let me just show you this a little bit about the book of Psalms. What I like about the book of Psalms is unlike any other book of the Bible. It's got all kinds of treasures within it, like all scripture does. But the book of Psalms is Israel's songbook. They would sing praises unto the Lord. It not only was a song book, but it was a prayer book where they were lifting up their prayers unto the Lord. Uh it was a psalm book, it was a prayer book, it was almost like a worship book. They were worshiping the Lord through tough times, through difficult situations, through times of victory. They they did, no matter what they were facing, they were worshiping the Lord, and we can read about it and see about it. And if you think about the book of Psalms as a whole, it's very large, and it took over a thousand years for it to be written the way that we see it today. A thousand years, and it was written by different authors. David wrote many. I love reading the ones that David wrote because I can see in uh, for example, in 1 Samuel where he was going through a struggle and then therefore he praised the Lord through it. You can read about ones that Moses wrote, you can read ones that Solomon wrote, and there's many others that took part in writing of these different Psalms, but no matter what, they were facing something. They had a lot going on, and they were praising the Lord through it. And I think what makes the book of Psalms so powerful is that every human emotion is represented. And that there's times in our life where we'll be overjoyed, and there's times in our life where we'll be with sadness. There's times in our life where we'll be happy, and there's times where we'll be angry. And no matter what we face in life, an emotion that we can find help for in the book of Psalms, whether it's joy, whether it's sadness, whether you and I are consumed with fear, I can find a psalm to help me with grief, I can find a psalm to help me with waiting. Nobody likes to wait, but then the waiting periods of life, I can flip through and find a psalm that will help me as I worship the Lord through the waiting, through the worship, through the victory, through even confusion. I don't understand why this has happened or that's happening. I can find help somewhere in the book of Psalms. So no matter what season of life that you're in today in this moment, no matter where you're at, I believe that there's a psalm that will speak directly to that need that you have. And I want to highlight some of them. This summer, as we discover what God's trying to show us, we're gonna look at some different ones. This morning, we're gonna look right here in Psalms 1, and we're gonna look at a thought called like this: two roads, two destinations, two roads, two destinies. The choices that I choose today and the road that I choose will determine the direction I go, which will determine the destiny that I end up at. So this scripture, these six verses, are gonna show you and I two different roads, and the two roads are gonna lead to two different destinies. Uh, the direction of your life determines the destination of your life. So the choices that you choose today will greatly affect what happens tomorrow and the next day and the next day. I'll read these verses in a moment, so just leave your scripture there open. Uh, I was thinking about this uh a lot of times with GPS nowadays. You know, GPS changed the way that we travel. Years ago, maybe some of you can relate, some can't, but you would use an atlas or a map to figure out how to get from point A to point B. And GPS changed all that. There was times where we had to go buy Garmin at the Best Buy or wherever and utilize it. Then our cars became equipped with a GPS within it. And it was good until they didn't update, and then you got a new road. Well, then now we have basically every smartphone, although it acts dumb sometimes, I know, but smartphones have GPS on them. Type in a destination and then just hit go. No longer do I have to stop at the gas station on the corner and ask them which direction do I gotta go to get to so-and-so's house. We simply type the the destination in and hit go and then just follow the route, turn by turn. Now, occasionally, yes, that does add some level of frustration when it recalculates. Sometimes mine will say, hey, in 200 feet, turn left, and then I can't even, I don't even see the road. I'll just blare on past it. And then it recalculates me. Go make a U-turn or go up and turn left and do this and right. And I it drives me nuts sometimes because I don't like to hear it recalculating, but it happens when we miss a turn. And what I've learned is that in life, it doesn't matter how well or good timing I'm making, if I'm going the wrong direction, I'm still going the wrong direction. It doesn't matter how fast I'm moving if I'm going the wrong the wrong way. Because what I've learned is it doesn't matter how fast I go, it matters which way I go. Because I can get the wrong place quickly, especially when I'm driving and I'm trying to get somewhere. But the truth is it might doesn't matter how fast I go, it matters which direction I go. And so as we open this book of Psalms up and read about it, it opens to the same truth. It presents you and I two roads, two options, two directions, and two destinies, essentially, that you and I will end up at. And every person I believe in the room today is walking on one of these roads. So let's read these verses together, these six verses together. Here's what the scriptures tell us. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. And the word ungodly there in verse number one means wicked. Then he goes on in verse number one and says, Nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But, verse two, but his delight, his joy, is in the law of the Lord, in the word of God. That's what he's telling us. That the that the joy of him, who's him? The blessed man that he's speaking about, his joy comes from the word of God. Then in verse 2 it says, in his law, talking about the word, he meditates. That word meditates means to ponder. It means it like this to ponder by talking to yourself. Now I know I was always told not to talk to myself. And I guess it's only a problem when you talk back to yourself, okay? Do you ever argue with yourself? Oh, you don't want to admit it, that's okay. All right. And I think you're okay as long as you don't answer your own questions. Well, we all do that, right? So look, it means meditate, to ponder, to think, to process this. Then he goes in verse three. He, talking about the blessed man, shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Then he changes directions here in verse number four. The ungodly, remember the wicked, are not so, but are like the ch the chafe, which uh the chaff which the wind drives away, the husk of the grain. It blows it away, it's a useless Verse 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Verse 6, for the Lord knows. That word knows means uh to be more than just aware, but to be walking with you. The for the Lord knows, because he's with us, the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Two roads, two destinations, two roads, two choices, essentially, is what the text is teaching you and I. And as I read these, I want to just break it apart into a few thoughts so we can process it and digest it just a little bit better. Here's the first thing that we'll look at. It's gonna be in the first uh two verses. The first two verses show us that the blessed man chooses his companions carefully. Verse one and two shows you and I that us that are blessed, believers that are following the Lord, are blessed because we choose the people around us, the ones that are gonna give us influence, the ones that are gonna encourage us or to bring us down one or the other, we choose those individuals very carefully. And if you look at verse number one and two together, I know I read already, but I'll read them again a couple times so that we can sort of grab it. Verse number one, when it talks, and it starts out by saying, the blessed, blessed is the man who walks not. And he shows us what we're not to do. And then it then it makes a level of progression here. It talks about the word walk, it talks and it says the word stand, and then it says the word sit. And he talks about almost as if there's a warning out there that if we're not careful, we can get away from standing for the Lord. He shows us, bless is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Then he says, and does not, nor does he stand. And then he also does not sit. He warns us because most of the time it's not just an overnight choice, there's a progression that gets us away from the Lord. These verses clear that. And notice the progression. There's a walk, and then there's a stand, and then there's a sit. This is a picture of someone who gradually becomes more comfortable with ungodliness. Most of the time, it wasn't just, man, I'm I'm I'm with the Lord, and then all of a sudden now today I'm not. There's usually a path, a process from where we're walking to where we're now standing, and now we're sitting with people that cause us uh some negative influence, if you were. And so if I look at that and sort of take this all into perspective, I've realized a few things. Here they are. Wrong influences rarely happen all at once. Wrong influences rarely happen all at once. What I've realized is that nobody decided to wake up one day and say, I want to ruin my life. And so I'm gonna begin to make poor choices and bad choices so that I can go down the wrong pathway. Most of the time, that's not how it works. They don't just decide to go down the wrong pathway. It's a process. It starts by walking away from the Lord. It starts by standing by things that aren't of the Lord. It talks about sitting amongst the ones that aren't for the Lord. It's a process, it's a progression, it's a choice that was made today that changes where tomorrow leads you. He shows you and I that it happens one choice at a time, one conversation at a time, one wrong friendship at a time, one wrong choice, or one wrong decision at a time, one wrong step at a time. And you and I live in a world that it sometimes makes it hard, the influences, the peer pressure, the social media impact, the things that are all around us changes. But I want to remind you of some words of Jesus because Jesus was uh trying to pray for his disciples in the Gospel of John, chapter 17. You can read and study it out later, but in verse number 11, he begins to pray for his disciples, but he also reminds the disciples in his prayer as he's praying over them that although we're in the world, we're not of the world. And sometimes it feels as if I'm in it and within it, right? And I have to remind myself that I'm just passing through. The second that I got saved, I'm heading to heaven. My citizenship is in heaven, and I'm just here for a time being for God to use for his glory and for his honor, whether that's a blessing to others or to influence others or to tell others about Jesus, whatever the Lord lays in front of me, I must do. But I'm here as a passing of through. My home's in heaven. And Jesus is praying over his disciples, and he says these words. I'll read them to you in John 17, verse 16. Jesus is praying and he says, They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Jesus was reminding them that he's not of the world either, but he's in the world, and we're trying to make a difference while we're here. He goes on in that prayer in verse 17 and says, Sanctify them by your word or by your truth. That's what he says in verse 17. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As he's praying for his disciples and he's reminding them that we're not of the world, we're just in the world, passing through it. And then he says, Sanctify yourself. What is sanctify? Set apart. Set yourself apart by what? By the truth, by what's the truth, the word of God is the truth. So therefore, we got to get in the word of God to let the word of God get the truth within us so that I know how to set myself apart from whatever's around me. As I lead somebody to the Lord, if I try to talk to somebody about Jesus, I may be different than Mo's, but oftentimes I don't start the conversation of, hey, I'm the pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church. I'd like to talk to you about Jesus. Because typically they they get real religious on me, right? They'll tell me their favorite Bible verse and they'll tell, so I don't even tell nobody. There's people that I've invited to church and they say, Where do you go? I'll tell them. They'll see me here. And they did not realize I was the pastor until after the church service was over. Why? Because I don't want that to make them anything different. I don't want them to act no other special way except by their, I want them to act like as their self. And then I'll use that as an opportunity to tell them about Christ or to tell them what Jesus did for me. John in the in the Gospel of John, Jesus is reminding the disciples, but also telling them to set themselves apart. I can I can take you a hair deeper in the book of James because he can lay it down. And James even reminds us in James 4 that we've got to beware of the friendships of the world. And he says that in James 4, 4. Do not, do you not know that friendship with the world is entity of God? He goes on a little bit later and says, Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. And what does he mean by that? We got to love the Lord more than we love anything of this world. I've got to love Christ and what he stands for more so than I love anything else. That's what James is trying to get us to realize, because if we're not careful, you give somebody a smidge and what they'll take? A mile. And that's what James is trying to warn us about. There's some other warnings throughout the book of James, but I also like the the epistle of John in 1 John, he kinds of gives some warning about loving the world in 1 John chapter 2, verse 15, 16, 17. Here's 17 says this the world is passing away, the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. It's a reminder that you and I are in this world, and God got a purpose and a plan for us. Otherwise, the second I got saved, he'd have brought me to heaven, but he's not finished with me, so I have a job to do for him, to be a soldier of the Lord's army, to tell the world about Christ, and to live for him, all while pointing anybody and everybody straight to him. That's what the scriptures are telling us in our text in Psalms 1, blessed is the man. Then he says, and he warns us at the same degree. And let me use an illustration or two to sort of convince you before I move on to verse number two. If you read the life of Lot and you go back to the book of Genesis and read that did Lot immediately move to Sodom? My scripture says no. If you go back and break down the life of Lot, it tells us very clearly that Lot did not move directly into Sodom right off the bat. What does it say? The first thing that we read about with Lot is that Lot looked unto Sodom. And then, after he looked a while, what happened? Anybody know? He pitched his tent right there by it. So he watched it, he saw it, he got a hair closer, and then put a campsite, his tent, right there close by. Then what happened? Then it wasn't too long after that that he moved in to Sodom. And then what was next? Sodom moved into him. Now, if you read in our text in Psalms 1-1, it says that he's warning us, because blessed is him who doesn't do these things, and he's telling us if you're not careful, you're gonna walk, and then you'll stand, and then you'll sit. See, Lot looked, then he got closer, put a campsite up, then he got in it, and then it got in him. Eventually, he couldn't shake it. Now you think about well, what about I'm different than him, man? I mean, I know the Lord as my savior. I I'm I'm good. I can take you over to the second epistle there of Peter and show you that Lot was a saved man per testimony. He lost all that he had when the Lord destroyed the city. So he was a follower of God. Except it happened to him. Why did it happen to him? Because he progressively got closer, got closer. And then the next thing you know, he's in it, and then it got in him. That's why this psalm is warning you and I. I can I can give you more examples if you so choose, but the old preacher probably said it best. Sin will always take you farther than you ever intended to go and keep you longer than you ever intended on saying it. That's what the preachers used to say when I was little growing up, and they have revival. And that's truth. Why? Because that's exactly the way it is shown. You're not gonna expect it, but it takes you and then it keeps you longer. I can I can use Jesus as an example of this. If you remember in the Gospels, when as Jesus is getting arrested, Jesus warned Peter, he did tell him multiple times, you're gonna you're gonna deny me, and of course Peter said he wasn't. And then Jesus even gave Peter some level of counsel before he got arrested and said, Do not flee. And if you read and study it out, what happened to Peter? Peter fled. He got out of there. Where did he go? He went to the courtyard of the high priest, right? Just he was just gonna get out of there for a little bit. And then what had happened? Not only did he go to the high priest, the courtyard, then he began to stand with the enemy. If you remember and study it out, they he was standing there when they asked, you know, who is this Christ? And he denied it. Then he sat with them, if you study out the scripture. So he he didn't listen to Christ, and he fled when he wasn't supposed to. He stood with the enemy when he wasn't supposed to, then he sat with them, and the result was he denied him three times. And my thought process was as if he had not got away from the Lord, would he have denied him? Most likely not. But again, it was just a progression. He got a little farther. Then he sat, stood with them, then he sat with them. In our text, he's telling us, man, the ungodly, he says, man, bless is the man who walks not in the council. Be careful if you walk with the with with the with the wrong, it's gonna take you the wrong way. It's gonna make you stand, then you're gonna be sitting. It's the same concept. Before I move to verse two, in verse number one, that word ungodly, I just want to tell you the meaning behind it, it means wicked. It means people who are willfully and persistently seeking out evil. Then in verse uh one, it continues and uses the word sinners. In verse number one, nor stand in the path of sinners. What does that sinners mean there? The word sinners in this text means those that that miss the mark of God's standards and don't care about it. Means I don't care if I am or ain't. And then he uses the word scornful there in verse number one as well. And that word scornful means they make light of God's law, essentially making fun of God's law and God's word, mocking it. We can see that all over the news and TV and internet today. They make fun of it and don't care about it. That's the scornful, is what he's speaking about. So the blessed man chooses his companions carefully. Let's move to verse number two because things drastically change in that moment. The blessed man chooses his companions carefully. We've already seen wrong influences can really mess us up now. Godly people, I think, choose, intentionally choose. Godly influences. Godly people intentionally choose godly influences. I'm very careful of who I listen to in regards to other pastors and sermons, podcasts, etc., books that I read, I want to be sure that they're not going to get me on the wrong path. I want to stay on the correct path. And so he tells you and I in this text, verse number two, but his delight, his joy is in the law of the Lord. His joy is in the word of God. The shift on what's going on changes because he begins to talk about the blessed man has joy in reading the Word of God. He is pursuing right influences. Now I know some for some people it's hard to just sit down and read. I get it. There was a time in my life where I, honest to God, did not want to. And I don't know if it was just my mind and how I was, meaning I couldn't sit still. Did y'all ever notice that? No, y'all never noticed I couldn't sit still, did you? Yeah, I can't even stand still. You understand? But I wanted to be on the go all the time. I got to be moving. My mind works faster than I can talk. You believe that? My mind's always working. I can't sit still. I never wanted to sit down and read a book. My sisters would, but I never really cared about it. I got saved at eight years old, and I didn't really want to read the Bible at that point either. But there was something that the Lord got a hold of me at some point in my life and began to give me a hunger for his word. And although there's times where I can't sit down and just read a book cover to cover, there's times that I can open up Psalms 1, for example, and I began to read and study for this particular sermon. And the next thing you know, you are chapters later. It's like I can sit down and read it because there's something that the Word of God drastically does within me. Something changes, something supernatural that I can't sort of explain. And although there's times where I don't look forward to it, then something sparks within me, and it's like I can sit down and begin to read. And God can absolutely change my thoughts, my understanding, and help me process it better than I ever thought I could. Delighting in the Word, when he says that in verse number two, in the Word and meditating on it, I believe they go together. Because whatever we enjoy, that's what I think about, that's what I pursue. I'm going to go after what I like, I'm going to go after what I enjoy. And sometimes there's been times in my life where I'll be honest with you, I've had to pray, say, God, listen, I don't like to sit still long enough to read, but I need you to give me the desires to want to get in your word. And I'm telling you, He has. He makes me not want to think about anything else, but man, I want to read this out and study this out. I want to ask you a few questions before we move on. Who has your ear? Who has your ear? Who's influencing you the most? Who influences your thinking? What shapes your priorities? What speaks life into you? Because that's what's going to change what your tomorrow looks like. Let me give you this thought, then I'll move to verse 3. Show me your influences and I'll show you your direction. I used to hear that growing up a lot. Dad would say it. Show me your influences and I'll show you your direction. He wanted to know what kind of friends I had. And obviously, if I was acting a little funny, funny, he might have thought I had a different friend than I used to have. Say, Derek, who's your friend? Because it could change something about you. And it's something that I have to ask myself, and that's to ask my children, and that's something I want to ask you. Show me your influences and I'll show you your direction, because that's going to change and shape you and show you what's next by who you hang with. Let's look at verse number three. Verse number three is a great verse that's been said many times in scripture, but here's the thought the blessed man develops deep roots. Verse number three shows us that a blessed man develops deep roots. Verse three says, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Verse three is probably one of the most beautiful pictures in all of Scripture, visualizing a nice tree by the side of the river, a luscious, fruitful tree that has deep, deep roots. And as you think about this tree that it's describing in the text, you have to start thinking about what does that mean for me? And I think about a live tree, a living tree. I think about just like a tree, godly people are also alive. Yes, I'm breathing oxygen, but I'm talking about spiritually alive. Not only is a godly person alive, but just like a tree, a tree is beautiful at times and it's pretty how it grows and the canopy that it develops, oftentimes godly people have the same element of beauty that they can help others with by shading them from storms and helping them through life and encouraging them when they're down. They godly person can offer the same things a living tree. How about fruit? A living tree offers fruit to some degree, and so should you and I, as godly people, offer fruit. There's a a tree that offers help and shade at times. Have you ever been sunny outside? You need to just take a break, you stand under a large tree. There's times in my life as a follower of Christ and a godly person, I may have to offer some shade to help somebody. So, like a tree that's alive, a godly person should be helping others, being useful. A tree is useful. A tree can endure the storms of life. You think about I live in the middle of the woods and I walk around in the woods and think, man, how old is this tree? This tree has been here a lot longer than I have. What has it seen? What does it look like a hundred years ago when this tree was here? Imagine what it saw in the storms and the tornadoes and the wind and the rain that it endured. Listen to me. In verse number three, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of the water. He's explaining an example for you and I to look at of my godly life and what should I be. Here's a few things. I'll give you strong lives are built beneath the surface. Just like that tree has a root system that is larger than anything I can comprehend. If I'm going to make it in life, I've got to have a large root system as well. The strongest part of any tree that you see isn't the large trunk and the large branches that canopy out. It's the root system that you may not ever see. You'll not ever look at. You don't realize it's there, but it intertwines with other trees. It grows wide and it grows in some level deep to seek out the nutrients and the water that it needs to continue on. The same is, I believe, true spiritually for you and I. What sustains you publicly is developed privately. What I get from the Lord in my time of private times with the Lord is what's going to sustain me publicly when the storm of life comes my way. Because I promise you, storms are going to come. I can do everything right and a storm will show up. It's just the way that it is. Life serves struggle because of sin and what came under the first sin. Listen to me, we struggle at times from life, but listen to me, the root system that I have in the Lord will help me and sustain me no matter what comes my way, no matter how hard the wind blows. Why? Because what sustains you publicly is always developed privately. I was reading about palm trees, and I like the beach. Y'all know that. I've mentioned it before. But I often wonder how do these palm trees survive? I've been to the Gulf Coast many times and see these trees season after season when I show up. Even after Hurricane Michael destroyed Mexico Beach, where I grew up going, a lot of houses didn't make it, but there were the same trees that were there, not all of them, but there were some that made it through. And what was interesting seeing the pictures from the aftermath of the storm, and sometimes the ground looked different and the sun and the sand eroded away, you could see a root system on those palm trees. Those palm trees that made it through that storm, had made it through many storms before, are still alive. What made that tree bend the way that it did and not break? What made that tree sway the way that it swayed and not fall over the root system that's underneath the ground? That I would have never seen if the storm wouldn't have eroded the ground around it. I would never see the root system. So storms reveal roots. Listen to me, they don't create roots. They revealed the roots in that palm tree on the Gulf Coast. They didn't create the roots. And in my life, I am no more on display of the grounded root system that I have when I'm in the storm of life. There's times where I've seen people go through the storm of life, and I may ask them, how did you get through it? They say, What the Lord has done for me, they'll share a private conversation they had with the Lord, a private win that they had in their quiet time with the Lord. It was their spiritual root system that had been developed time and time again, allowed them to withstand whatever came their way. See, God's word always produces stability and fruitfulness. God's word gives you and I the foundation that we need. And he tells us in the text that a blessed man delights in the word of God. What is he? He's saying, not occasionally does he delight in the word of God, no, but he continually delights in the word of God. Meaning, what about just once a week, preacher? I hear you read the text. Is that good? Listen, that's better than nothing. But that's not delighting in the word of God. That's listening to me read a verse or two or a section of scripture. But delighting in the word of God means that you get it, not occasionally, not when it's convenient. Listen, there's times in life where it isn't convenient, but it's always a blessing because of it. Listen to me, I could wake up in the morning and have a thousand things that I want to accomplish and do, and I could put anything and all things that I want to in front of my time with the Lord, but I want to delight in the Word of God, meaning I have to do it even when it's not convenient. I don't sometimes I think, was it convenient for Jesus to head up Calvary's Hill and die for me? No. But he did it because he loved me. There's times in my life where I have to realize that maybe it's not convenient, but that's sometimes when the Lord blossoms the most and does something bigger than I ever intentionally intended him to do. This is daily, this is a meditation, this is consistently what he is showing us. What's the most important part of a tree? The root system. I want to make a comparison, visualize this. The hidden part of the tree is the most important chart, the root system. Why? Because it draws water and nourishment from the ground. Now compare that to your life. As a person and a follower of God, the most important part of the believer's life is the spiritual root system. Your spiritual root system that draws hidden resources deep within Jesus Christ. I've had to learn a long time ago to help people develop their own spiritual root system. I was pastoring here a year or so, one, you know, this is 10, 12 years ago, and I went to this preacher's conference, and the preacher that stood up and said, I want to give you some of the young guys' advice. And he gives some very practical advice and something that he learned. He said, The best thing that you can ever do is teach your people how to suck the nutrients from God rather than suck it from me, because they'll try to get it from you because that's all they know to do. You have got to teach them to get it from the word of God, because if you give them all you have, you'll run out and you'll be worthless. You have got to teach them to get it from the word of God. And when they get it from the word of God, his resources are endless, limitless, will never run out, are sufficient for all of us. He can help all of us in our time of need. So I took that to heart and said, okay, the best thing I can do is point them to Christ and encourage them along the way. Give them some pointers, give them some help, give them some encouragement. But if they try to get it all from me, I've only got so much. They got get it from him. He's the resource giver. He is everything that we need. And I'm telling you, the spiritual root system that you and I have, if you get a hold of the hidden treasures of Jesus, I'm telling you, no storm will ever knock you off your stride. To know Christ in this capacity, I would take you to John 15 and study about abiding in Him. Abide in Him and He abides in me. That word abide, I could preach a whole sermon on that, but means remain. I remain in Him and He remains in me, meaning I can't remain in Him if I'm not in the Word. Study John 15 if you would so choose. It's a tragedy when believers ignore the spiritual root system and begin to wither. It happens. If I go outside and cut some roots off some trees, it's going to wither away. That same thing happens to you and me. When hardships come, listen to me, shallow faith collapses, rooted faith survives. Let me give you this nugget and I'll go to my last thought. Many Christians want the fruit of spiritual maturity without the discipline that produces it. Many believers they want the fruit that comes from spiritual maturity without the discipline to develop it. The discipline to develop it comes from private time with the Lord. Times of prayer, times of study, times of, I don't have the words to say, but God, I know that you understand as I weep to you. Lord, I don't know how to ask this question, but I know that this is what I don't get. I'm talking real and raw moments with just you and the Lord that maybe I won't understand if you tell me about Europe and I and you may not understand my times, but I'm telling you, God can develop us. And it takes that moment of discipline to produce the spiritual maturity to get and wither the storms of life. If your roots are deep in God's word, your life can stand through life's storm. You got to remember that. Let's go to our last thought, and then I'll close in prayer in a moment. Verse 4, 5, and 6, the blessed man understands destinations. Verse 4, 5, and 6, the blessed man understands the destinations. There's a change here from the first three verses to the last three, and I'll share that with you in a moment. Verse 4, the ungodly are not so, but are like a chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of his righteousness, or of the righteous, excuse me. Verse 6, for the Lord knows, the Lord knows more than just awareness, he's right with us. The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. These last few verses, the psalm shifts a little bit. The first half describes godly people, while the last half describes ungodly. So that doesn't mean for you and I to tune out the last half, no. It's actually for you and I, as godly, should seek the ungodly to give them the gospel. My job as a follower of Christ is to seek out the ungodly and restore them to him by sharing Jesus and pointing them back to Christ. And that's essentially what these last three verses teach you and I, is this clear two-road option. The righteous are like trees, and the wicked are like that chaff, which is a husk, a weightless shell that is just thrown into the wind. A husk is a shell around the grain, has no weight, no substance. The wind carries it. And literally, as they harvest the wheat and they thrush the wheat, they throw this up into the air, and the grain being heavy falls back. The wind carries the husk, the shell, away. Where does it carry it? Wherever the wind so chooses. Some goes that way and some goes that way and some goes a little ways and stops, and then the wind blows it again. That's the comparison. Here's what I'm gonna give you. Every path leads somewhere. Nobody drifts towards godliness. It just doesn't happen that way. It'd be nice if it did. But before the first sin, it did. Right? Before the first sin, it was perfect and great and luscious and everything worked. But because of sin, everything changed. And because of sin and that everything changed, my job is to be intentionally following. I don't drift to godliness, I have to pursue it. I'm gonna drift the wrong way, I have to pursue the right way. Nobody accidentally becomes spiritually mature. I have to pursue it. Destinations are reached by direction. I'll get to where I'm going based on the direction I'm going. If I want to go to Florida, I don't go north. You understand what I'm saying? I may go north for a couple hours and realize I'm going the wrong way and turn left and then turn left again. But the truth of the matter is, if I want to go to Florida, I got to go south. That's just the way that it is. So maybe I go a little west first, depending on the road it takes you. But my choice today determines where I am going. Think about this is a good illustration of the prodigal son. You can study that later if you want. I'll read it in Luke of the day, Luke 15. And you oh, you understand that what led the prodigal son to the pig pen?

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Did he just wake up one day and he's sleeping with the pigs? No. That ain't how it happened. He didn't wake up in daddy's house and then go to bed in the pig pen the next day. That's not what took place. The prodigal son wanted his inheritance. He said, Dad, hook me up with my portion. And I'm telling you, and the dad said, Sure, let's do it, man. I'm gonna give it to you. Right? What happened if you read the text? He took his portion and he went. And if you get to uh Luke 15 and verse uh number 3, uh 13, verse number 13, it says that he had a wasteful life, meaning that he was wasting his life away. And then you get to verse number 14, and verse number 14 says that he spent all of his money. One more step. And then after he's broke, the famine hit. Verse 14, a famine hit the land. Now he's broke and hungry. Verse number 15, next step of progression. He had to get a job. So he's working with the pigs. And then verse number 16, it says he's so hungry that he decided to eat from the pig's trough. And then it hit him all of a sudden. It said, Man, here I am in the pig's trough, eating in a pig's pen, and my dad's servants are eating better than I. What changed in that man's moment? Was it because he was hungry? No, because he was broken. He had got to the lowest point that he could have ever gotten in his life. He was broken and he realized that he had messed up and that he, as he conversated with the Lord, he realized that he had to make it right, and he was willing to go home and serve his dad's servants and be with them if that's what it took, and therefore he went home. Think about the progression that took place until he arrived, not in the pig pen overnight. It was just every direction he took led him to that destination. What I love about verse 6 is that God sees every road that we go on. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous. The word knows in that text simply means awareness. More than awareness, it means that he cares, he's attentive to it, he's gonna guide us through every step. See, God isn't just sitting there from his vantage point watching us on our path. He's walking with us. That's why I know that there's never a time in my life, although I may feel alone, I'm not alone as a follower of him. There's moments in my life where I feel like nobody gets me, nobody cares, and I can have a pity party, and then the Lord will speak to me and say, Derek, I told you I'd never leave you nor forsake you. Derek, I'm right here with you. I'm I'm closer than anything if you just opened your eyes to the right perspective, and I have to have a come to Jesus meeting sometimes, just me and the Lord. He's saying, I'm right with you. And I believe every person in the room is heading somewhere spiritually. The question I want to ask you is, where is your current direction taking you? Everybody's on a pathway. Where's your direction taking you? Let me let me give you this and then I'll close out. Your destination is determined by the direction that you choose today. Your destination is determined by the direction that you take today. Every um GPS eventually asks you a question, I think. When I am plugging in my GPS, sometimes I plug the address in and the destination, and even though I know about where I'm going. I go to this preacher's thing sometimes in LaGrange, and I'm I know almost all the way there except some of the side streets. And as I leave, go through Villarica and head towards Carrollton, I know to go down and hang a left on the bypass, and I'll get at 27, hang a left. But I always type the address in as I'm filling up with gas or get me a Martin's biscuit. You know what I'm saying? You know, that steak, egg, and cheese is good, I'll be honest with you. And as I plug all of it in, I do it for several reasons. Because it tells me if there's a policeman running radar, it'll warn me, praise the Lord. It'll warn me about those stupid cameras that are in the sky. Be careful. Thank you. Right? Even when it ain't school time, it's still taking pictures of you. All right. It'll warn me about hazards ahead, traffic jams, etc. But I plug that in, I start going. I go about four or five miles, and that thing says turn left. Wants me to go on some little side street. And I hate going that way. You know why? Because you turn left, go about a half mile, turn right, turn left, turn. And I feel like I'm on all these hog trails, and you'll save a minute and a half. And I would rather stay on 61 and hang left on the bypass and get a 27. So don't have to turn left 18. It's hard to eat a biscuit, drink orange juice, and drive at the same time. You understand? And so I just keep going, but what she says, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating. And on one of these days, I think she's gonna say, Derek, do you want me to show you how to go or not? I'm waiting for that. And I'm gonna try to record it if that happens. Derek, do you want me to show you or not? Yes, but I want you to show you my way, not your way. Here's the question. How many times we do that for God? We keep recalculating, but God says, I'm showing you, you're not following it. So I've recalculated to help you. What is God? I wish sometimes He'd slap me upside. Derek, are you gonna follow me or not? Are you gonna follow my pathway or is your pathway better? How many times we'll tell ourselves his pathway is the right way. But sometimes my actions are I can do it best. My way is better than his way. Listen, Psalms 1 teaches you and I there's two roads, two directions, two destinations. There's not a hundred roads, there's two roads: the way of righteous and the way of wicked. And every day your life, you're choosing which road you're gonna take every day. That's your choice. As I challenge you this week, ask yourself a couple questions. Who's influencing you? Who's influencing you the most? It's a question that you can ask. Uh, what is feeding your roots? That's a good question that you can ask yourself. Your spiritual root, what is giving life and nutrients to your roots? What current decor uh what current directions are you taking? And where is that gonna kick take you? That's the third question that I would have you ask. Because the direction of your life determines the destination of your life. Would you pray with me? God, I come to you this morning thankful. Thankful, Lord, for the word that you spoke. Lord, I know that throughout life there's times where we're retaining certain things and some things we're not. God, I pray that you supernaturally, Lord, will speak to hearts in a way that only your power can. Lord, and if there's somebody here today that doesn't know you as Lord and as Savior, God, I pray in the name of Jesus that through the mighty power of your Holy Spirit you would draw them unto you. I pray, God, for the ones that know you as Lord and as Savior, but maybe these verses resonated a little different than they usually do. Maybe they're thinking about the choices of life that they've made and the ones they've got to make. And they realize there's the way of righteous and the way of wicked. Lord, I pray that you open hearts and minds. Let somebody make a commitment and a decision today that they're gonna follow you no matter what distractions come. Lord, maybe somebody needs to come and pray and say, God, I want your word to be the delight of my life. Lord, have your way in this moment of invitation. I do pray in Jesus' name. Amen.