Life-transforming Sermon on Psalm One

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. It is a joy and a privilege as always to be here and represent

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King's Church in Apologia over on the west side and here because we love you and we love

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Jeff. Where is Jeff by the way? Oh, he's over there. Okay. And in hearing the news of what was happening, we were immediately just very anxious and sure you were much more than us, but Jeff we love you and love your family.

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I've been praying for you and I just want one of many to echo the fact you've touched the world and I trust you're sensing that the world, at least the world in Christ, is coming back and saying we're praying for you as a family and I trust you're feeling that support.

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And we just love you guy. We love you and it's a privilege to be here.

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I am grateful for the ability to quash the vicious rumor that's spreading across the internet that is really, it's really hard to deal with when people are asking if I'm making announcement of becoming a member at Apologia tonight and as an optimistic amillennial,

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I can't be an elder and yet and yet I would put my name forward as a professor of heavenly accent believing that my role as being called

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John and being a Baptist is to prepare

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God's people in America for heaven because it's going to be a big shot when you stand before the

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Lord and he says well done good and faithful servant See I got to prepare you it's going to be a big big shock, you know

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So it's just a vicious rumor. No, there is no professor of accents and But it's a joy to be here.

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I wonder if you can turn in God's word to psalm number one We may get to the second psalm.

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We'll see how time is going I have brought a clock up here with me

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Which means nothing Some have thought that I needed a calendar rather than a clock

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But i'm inspired by the words Blessed are the short -winded

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For they have a chance of being invited back Psalm one

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How you guys doing you doing good good you look good from here Hope they don't turn the lights up Oh I believe the

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Lord does have a sense of humor. I mean he made you right so Well, let's quiet our heart and go to God's word.

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But first have a word of prayer Lord we come to you recognizing your

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God and we're not And we recognize you're the source of all life and of our life

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We ask that the same Holy Spirit who has inspired the word of God Would now help us to understand and apply it

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This life -giving inerrant infallible word We ask it in Jesus name.

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Amen Book one psalm one Let's read

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The text before is familiar. I'm sure to all of us psalm one And ladies and gentlemen, this is the word of God How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

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Nor stand in the path of sinners Nor sit in the seat of scoffers But his delight is in the law of the

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Lord And in his law, he meditates day and night He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water

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Which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and then whatever he does

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He prospers The wicked are not so But they are like chaff which the wind drives away

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Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous For the

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Lord knows the way of the righteous But the way of the wicked will perish

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I remember being Raised in england in a city called chester being born and raised there

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Familiar with the roman empire with its advance because one of the

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Areas, they did advance and conquer was the northern part of england And the city of chester was founded in the 50s

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That is the ad 50s and it was amazing going around the museums and seeing instead of Cowboy relics and things of just 100 200 years of previous history 2 000 years of roman and european history seeing the artifacts and icons and The the military equipment of the roman soldier was a familiar thing to me

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But that's nothing if you want to receive real history then go to the middle east and go to israel and I remember in chester there was a night of Just celebration of israel and a team of about 30 people from israel

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Were making a tour of certain cities in england and they came to chester and I happened to be Going to see them being intrigued by what

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I would find there and this was not advertised as a religious Night at all in any way.

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It was simply A way for the people of israel who love their country to and encourage travel and vacation to israel, so they were quoting poetry of israel some of more modern times, but others of antiquity and at various parts of the evening,

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I was intrigued because they would Recite songs that were known to them and it was really encouraging to to see

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And in a couple of the songs they did about 20 during the evening They said now this goes back to our ancient king david

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And they sang songs that I was familiar with at least by means of the words but now they were putting music and accompaniment to it and I was struck by Something that was visual that I wouldn't have known.

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Otherwise if I just simply heard this on a cd perhaps I would not have Been impacted the way

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I was because visually Both the men and the women were very colorful They had a delightful array a spectrum of colors the women

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Especially it seemed of the 15 women. They had almost every color of the rainbow on their

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Dresses and they were just bright and cheerful and I thought If these guys showed up in most churches, they would be shunned and yet they were going back to the historical the historical aspects of what was

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Judaism, it was not this boring black and bleak arduous thing to be

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Involved in a worship service in israel, and that was very apparent and that's my lasting impression

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Of that evening the color the joy there was times when they were speaking and singing of sadness

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But there was also oftentimes just great jubilation And that's exactly what we find in the psalms we find the whole gamut the whole spectrum of Emotions as they are spoken back to god in terms of our bibles

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Oftentimes, it's simply god speaking to us or others recounting and god using the writers in that way.

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But in the psalms, it's Very much man speaking to god as inspired

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By the holy spirit we find words for our tears and we can identify with the psalms

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And there's oftentimes when the new testament is first given to a nation and it's translated into their language

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Often with the new testament there is the psalms before they can Produce the entire holy bible.

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It's the psalms as well as the new testament. There's a reason for that We do find words for our tears sunlight

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For our souls in the bleakest and harshest of dark times the quenching of our thirst nourishment for our hunger this book of psalms means a lot to all of us as christians and in these 150

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That are recorded for us here in the scripture. We find that there are five distinct groupings called the five books

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Of the psalms if you've ever noticed that book one starts With psalm one and goes through to chapter 41.

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In fact, if we can go to the end of 41 You'll see that Markation a demarcation in the text and once you have seen it, it becomes obvious.

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Oh, that's that's what that is psalm 41 and then

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Just out of the blue. It says book two before psalm 42 do you see that and then at the end of psalm 72 if we can go there 72

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We have book three book three of the psalms At the end of 89 you'll see book four

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Amazing how that works At the end of 106 You'll see book five and just as there are five books of moses genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy

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There are five books of the psalms And each has its distinct emphasis

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Dr. Robert godfrey recently produced a series for ligonier on the psalms. It's a short series

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But he classified these books in this way book one deals with confidence in god's care book two

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Commitment to god's kingdom book three crisis over god's promises book four comfort in god's faithfulness book five

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Celebration of god's salvation and although there is overlap. I think he's very well

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Documented the distinct nature of each of these books of the psalms

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So we turn to psalm one Obviously, it's the first In this series of 150 and yet it's not the first by way of chronology

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In terms of when it was written. The first psalm written was psalm 90 Written by moses the last psalm psalm 126 and these psalms these songs of the people in hebrew.

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The book is called the book of praises These words were compiled and written

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Over the course of a thousand years or roughly about a thousand years And so we do have the gamut of all human emotion expressed here

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As we take a look at psalm one we notice it starts with that phrase familiar to us how blessed

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How blessed is the man and of course in speaking of the man it's speaking in generic terms.

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It includes women it includes Young people boys girls how blessed is the person but it does say how blessed is the man

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Who does not and then it goes on to list the things he does not do but if you go to the end of psalm 2

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There's a familiar phrase because it is very much linked to psalm 1 psalm 2 verse 11 the final phrase how blessed

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Are all who take refuge in him? and by Intentionality psalm 1 and psalm 2 are linked together as the first steps like the porch into the house of the book of psalms

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The compilers really wanted Those that were going to read the psalms not to start in number 40 or 55 or 69

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And simply be about the rote and the routine of religious Thinking and expression to maybe go to a religious service and be involved.

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They wanted conversion They wanted people to know god And psalm 1 and psalm 2 are very evangelistic

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Evangelistic psalms It's as if they wanted people to know who god is

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They need to be there need to be right with him to be born again and have right standing with him before they proceed

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Into the life of the psalter the book of psalms ch spurgeon

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Said this about the psalms and the study of it The delightful study of the psalms has yielded me boundless prophet and ever -growing pleasure common gratitude

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Constrains me to communicate to others a portion of the benefit with the prayer that he may induce them to search further for themselves

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And I hope to whet your appetites as we take a look at this wonderful psalm psalm one

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How blessed is the man how blessed are all who take refuge in him? Psalm 1 speaks to everyone and it says its message is that everyone's on one of two paths

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Leading to two eternal destinations Psalm 2 is the revolt the vain attempt of man in a collective sense in a cosmic sense

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The revolt of the nations and the call for all the inhabitants of the world to bow its knee to the son

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Who's established on god's throne? You'll notice immediately in psalm 1 that we are looking at what we call descriptive language

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Rather than prescriptive when you go to a doctor and they give you a prescription what they're doing what he's or she is doing is telling you what to do

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And prescriptive language says do this or don't do this, but that's not what you and I find in someone.

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It's a It's a it's a sum of description It describes rather than prescribes

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And it speaks of the detail of what will be included in the life of the blessed man

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It's interesting too that the word blessed in the original language is in the plural

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And that speaks according to dr. Montgomery Boyce of a multiplicity of blessings or an intensification of blessings

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It could easily be rightly translated this way. Oh the blessednesses

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Is of the man Who does not walk in the council of the wicked?

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Oh the Happinesses of the man it speaks of fullness. It speaks of full supply and of bliss and of well -being it's uh cholera in the cholera in the in the new testament is is of jesus who says

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I say these things to you that your joy may be full that's speaking of life as the blessed man

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It's not dependent on circumstances and happenstance and happenings and events all around it's the blessedness of this man is due to What god does for the man?

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its blessing Is reserved for the righteous? And what is very much apparent is the wicked will not see this will wicked will not enjoy it

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You remember the sermon on the mount jesus in matthew 5 through 7 It's as if he's elaborating and expanding on what it is to live the blessed life blessed

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Are the poor in spirit blessed are the merciful? And so it goes on and yet in that same sermon jesus said

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Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide in the way is broad that leads to destruction

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And there are many who enter through it for the gate is small in the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few

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Who find it? So there are two roads two paths the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked

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And there is this call to put off the old put on the new put off a way of thinking

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And put on a different kind of thinking Oh the blessedness of the man

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Who does not do certain things It speaks here of a separation a separation from worldly an ungodly influence

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He's not saying don't be in the world live life in a monastery live away from people

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No way to be in the world, but not of the world jesus prayed in john 17

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I have given them your word the world has hated them because they are not of the world Even as i am not of the world.

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I do not ask you take them out of the world But to keep them from the evil one.

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They are not of the world even as I am not of the world Sanctify them in the truth

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Your word is truth So they're in the world but not of the world separated by the truth and that same

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Idea is certainly expressed in the descriptive language of psalm one

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Someone said it. Well the ship In the sea is all right

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The sea in the ship is all wrong A christian in the world is all right

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The world in the christian is all wrong First john 2 says do not love the world nor the things in the world

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If anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father

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But it's from the world The world is passing away and also its lust but the one who does the will of god lives forever and because christ has

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Not will have one day but has all authority in heaven and on earth way to go into the world

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Penetrating the darkness by bringing the light of god's truth And as much as it depends on us and by that you know that Maybe we're working in a place an environment that is not in any way godly

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And you cannot do anything about the environment in which you're working except maybe get a different job

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But even there you're a light And you're used by god to be salt and light in that environment

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And so you cannot change everybody around you in that sense, but as much as it depends on you scripture calls us to not allow the world to Squeeze us into its mold.

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Don't think like the world. Don't dress like the world. Don't have a basis of worldview

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Based on something other than what god says make your pact with god and his word take your stand here

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May your thinking be based on what god says don't be conformed to this world to this age

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But be transformed by the renewing of your mind Then you'll prove the will of god romans 12 2

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So the blessed man Insulates himself he shields himself.

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There's a self Shielding he doesn't have to know everything. He doesn't have to know about everything

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He doesn't have to know what the latest movie is And he doesn't know he doesn't have to know what the latest curse words are.

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He shields himself deliberately He shields himself from deception from defilement.

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He does not Walk in the council of the wicked. He does not stand in the path of sinners.

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He does not sit in the seat of scoffers A man is known by his friends.

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We have a phrase in our culture birds of a flesh birds of a feather flock together

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And the blessed man doesn't spend his time his free time in the company of the ungodly unless it's for evangelism

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But he doesn't just hang out with those that he knows will not Encourage him and he wore his walk with god

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And today we don't even need to leave our house to be guilty Of walking and of standing and of sitting in unfamiliar places

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An unfamiliar place to the people of god the television the internet spews out ungodly messages images attitudes perpetually and it's a constant stream

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And anything that's secular is not in any way neutral But it promotes a worldview without reference to god

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There is no neutrality The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom but if you don't

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Get hoodwinked by the message of the movies the soaps and the documentaries

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You can be had by the commercials it's amazing what can be put into a 30 -second ad

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And if you and I think about the ads on television, every one of them has a message. Oh television doesn't influence people.

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Really? Really? So why would a company spend over two million dollars sometimes four million dollars for a 30 -second ad at the super bowl

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They're wanting to influence people They wanted people to buy a certain product think a certain way develop this kind of lifestyle

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And if they've got 30 seconds, you know, they want to use it well And you may be laughing but what's the underlying theme?

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What's the Underlying thing that's being said and oftentimes we can sit in the comfort of our home

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And be sitting where in the seat of scoffers We allow so much to invade our lives

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We should ask what's this commercial promoting now? Some things are not overtly sinful

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Life is boring. That's the message without this new improved toothpaste Other things are more sinister

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Promoting sin without any apology And the scoffing seat today may well be your living room chair.

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Don't sit in it. The blessed man doesn't sit there Choose what you watch

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You see what you and I put in front of our ears And our eyes our ear gate our eye gate will form in the heart

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He doesn't walk in the council of the ungodly why he receives wiser counsel He's not interested in hearing secular philosophy

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Humanistic values a secular worldview. He doesn't want to hear about man being the center of the universe it would be amazing to us if we could go back and Bring the puritan age into our age and the puritans take over the television news for just one night

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The weather reports will be amazing They may be able to show satellite images of a hurricane that's coming to florida, but they would say lord willing

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This will be hitting this aspect of florida on tuesday Because they knew though they could see what was happening

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The hurricanes are in the hands of god And if you're not saying that as a news broadcast you are saying something else by not saying what you should be saying

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You're saying and you're promoting this is happening apart from god why you never mention him

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So he does not walk in the council of the ungodly doesn't stand in the path of sinners to stand in the way means to adopt their lifestyle

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You start thinking a certain thing It will end up in your life

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Now here's some good news regarding that if you can't think a certain way What won't happen is

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What you weren't thinking for instance an adulterous affair

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Doesn't just happen I just woke up with another partner beside me.

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I have no idea how it happened That doesn't happen. There's a whole lot of thinking that went on Before they ended up in that situation

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And you've got a challenge I have to challenge the thoughts that come to us martin luther said we cannot

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Stop the birds flying over our heads talking about the ideas that come to our minds

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Even spontaneously we can't stop the birds flying over our heads, but we can stop the birds nesting in our hair

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There's a lot of truth in that We're to stand at the gate of our mind and challenge every thought and make it captive and obedient to christ

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And that is the warfare of the christian life We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and thought after thought after thought after thought assails our minds and it is

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Perpetually the case if we are giving our minds over By sitting in the wrong seat bad company corrupts good morals 1 corinthians 15 33 you see

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The ungodly have a way of life. They have a way of thinking But the blessed man his company's more select

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He doesn't fellowship with evil What fellowship is like with darkness? He doesn't make decisions based on peer pressure what everyone else is doing

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The ungodly don't normally have you noticed this migrate to a bible study

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Do you see someone traveling at 110 miles an hour on the freeway? They're not usually trying to get to the bible study

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To go to other things up their sleeve They want to rush they want to buzz

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They want something other than the way of the righteous But the blessed man doesn't sit in the seat of the scornful

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He doesn't listen to the scoffing and mockery of others He refuses to associate with those who scoff at god and the whole of the book of psalms is like this

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Century point as psalm 2 is gods guarding the way to the psalter instead with Intentionality verse 2 the blessed man's delight is in the law of the lord and in his law.

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He meditates day and night Verse 2 I believe is the key to the whole psalm

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He has a delight somewhere else. It's not that he has to He loves to he longs to he may have a long day at work

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He may come back home tired after a long hard arduous day But his chief delight is to spend time in the scriptures to open up god's word

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He can't wait to have free time to do that his delight Is in the law of the lord

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Back then the law of the lord was not as an extensive force that it is today There was only a few books a few books that were inspired by god.

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Now. We have 66 of them As a man thinks in his heart. So is he?

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The blessed man reads and relishes god's word. He has a hunger for god's word and that's a sure sign of regeneration

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Speaking of the word delight john stott Once said this delight is an indication of new birth

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As a result of the inward regenerating work of the holy spirit the godly find that they love the law of god

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Simply because it conveys to them the will of their god They don't rebel against its exacting demands their whole being approves and endorses it

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Delighting in it the godly will meditate in it pour over it constantly day and night

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May I ask you does that describe you? Oh, I don't have time to do any of that kind of stuff.

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I I work 70 hours a week. I I understand I understand but let me ask you this.

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Do you have time to worry? Because worry is meditation Worry is thinking on the wrong thing

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Blessed man, his delight is in the law of the lord And in that law, he meditates day and night

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I'm sure you're thinking of the verse in joshua chapter 1 when god commissioned joshua to follow moses

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And the command of god to joshua was this this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth

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But you shall meditate on it day and night that you may be careful to do according to all that's written in it

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For then you'll make your way prosperous And then you'll have good success Meditation was the key for joshua's life

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The bible's not some magic book. You just carry it around with you and it means your life will be different No, it's internalizing that truth making its view your view submitting to scripture saying

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I believe what god says My thinking is based on this book If god says this is the way creation happened in genesis and with this i'm going to look at the lens of my world

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With the glasses of what god says and what I find is everything I see

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Conforms to what I see in my bible. I don't have to throw out my bible I start with my bible and the bible tells me with authority the way things really are science is just catching up with it

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That's kind of radical But it is radical to be a blessed man To be a blessed man is you don't think certain things.

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You don't go certain places You don't allow it to be The influence that it is for others instead you delight

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In the law of god and on that law you think about it you meditate day and night

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Now the word meditation in the original language is interesting. It means to mutter

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It means to speak out I'd like you to just go through a little process with me

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And just silently all of us girls boys men women start counting

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From one to five hundred slowly in your mind just start one two, but do it quietly silently one two three

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Now I want to ask you as you're doing that For everyone out loud to say your first and last name all together

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What happened to your counting? It stopped That's a law in the mind.

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It's Works all all around the world. No matter where you go. You can try this

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And that's god's method for us defeating anxiety Anxiety may be forming in the mind because we're thinking certain things and god says

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Mutter god's word meditate god's word and the anxiety will stop. Have you found that to be true?

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I have as I've thought god's word and meditated on it Muttered it out spoken it out loud the thoughts that were assailing me just stop

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The bible says you'll keep him in perfect. Peace whose mind is stayed on you

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It stops the onslaught of other thoughts And gives your mind a fixation point see the world has an idea of meditation.

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That is we discipline ourselves to think about Nothing And if we're really good at it, we'll achieve that it's very hard to think of nothing if I try that I think of blackness

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Which is nothing No, it isn't nothing. I thought it was nothing. No blackness is something. Oh, I guess

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I failed but to meditate in the world is to Go on to a rock and think no thoughts about anything and come back full of peace

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But that's diametrically opposed to what god says meditation is and that is mutter it

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Say it this book of the law don't let it depart from your mouth say it say it Well, what do I do?

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It's three in the morning say it day and night meditate meditate meditate Well, it's five in the morning.

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I can't sleep great chance to meditate mutter mutter mutter mutter I don't have time.

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Yes, you do You have time to worry someone Danced around with the word fear and made an acrostic you ever heard this f e a r

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False expectations appearing real I think that's good most of the things in fact 98 of the things

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I worried about never happened that's good because As a child in our home, we were worrious

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We could almost be professional worriers If we weren't worrying

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We were worrying about the fact we weren't worrying You're not worrying.

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No, you should be worried about that 366 times in our bibles.

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It says fear not that covers every day and we're even covered for leap years. Praise the lord

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Constantly set your mind on the scripture That's what we're told the blessed man.

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That's what he does. That's his habit. Does that describe your life? Is that the path you're walking on?

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Scripture says like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow into a

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Respect to salvation if you've tasted the kindness of the lord first peter 2 2 now look at verse 3

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As we turn to the third verse I have to say that for decades. I read this psalm and didn't know what i'm about to tell you

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And in the subject of divine election and sovereignty. It's something that was a discovery a discovery for me after a couple of decades as a christian and it was a bit like a

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Theological rock was thrown into my theological lake and I noticed that The rock had fallen but I didn't realize the ramifications

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And it would be endless and for years and years and still going on there are ripple effects as that rock

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Has its course in my lake thinking But once you see divine election as i've taught it now in many different places the reaction of people is well,

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I see it and Pastor now. No, I see it. I'm seeing it everywhere. I'm seeing election in genesis

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I didn't know i'm rereading the bible and it's like a different book. I see it here.

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I see it there. I see It's everywhere. It's in the parables. I didn't know there was election in the parables

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It's everywhere. Do you know it screams of election? in verse 3 for years

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I read Psalm 1 I thought it had nothing to do with sovereignty. It's just A description of the blessed man, but look at verse 3

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Here we read he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water

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What's the big deal with that? Well, it's obvious when you see it. It's obvious when you hear it a tree

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Does not plant itself Someone else does the planting

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And it's the father who plants The blessed man a tree doesn't wake up one saturday in march and think

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I don't like where I am I'm gonna plant myself in a better place Just recently linda my wife has added so much to our home and the backyard and she bought two trees because two of them had

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Had their last days due to the storm that came a few months back And getting the trees out of her car

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She asked me to take them to a certain place and I I put them in a certain place and she says no three feet to the left in other words

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She wanted it in a certain place. She wanted those things. I'm just because she knows what she's doing and I don't

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Not in that realm. I say, okay, honey I'll move it the three feet And it was then planted

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Exactly where she wanted it planted That's what god does To make a blessed tree to make a blessed man

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Hear these words from matthew 15 Then the disciples came to jesus

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And they said to him. Do you know that the pharisees were offended when they heard this statement? Now this is what i'm about to say the reversed version.

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This is not what it says. Jesus then said. Oh, I am so sorry They must have misunderstood what

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I said Let's go back and offer them free bicycles if they'll come back

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But he answered and said Do you want to hear the revised? Every plant which my heavenly father did not plant shall be uprooted

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See jesus believed in election and jesus believed people were planted And every plant which he did not plant will be uprooted.

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They will not survive the storm Here it says he will be like a tree firmly planted and again, it's specific it's not trees in general, but a tree

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A tree a singular tree each time god makes a blessed man.

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He does it specifically with intention and on purpose The new american standard says firmly planted firmly planted

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I like that god plants the blessed tree. It's a supernatural action on god's part

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The tree doesn't wander off to sink itself into soil next to a stream No, the gardener plants the tree exactly where he wishes

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Where does he plant the tree hold your finger if you would in psalm 1 go to psalm 92 These are words that I often write to people who visit our church and by way of welcome

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I thank them for coming and then I say my prayer is that god would plant you in a place where you can bring forth fruit

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Psalm 92 we're in book 4 of the psalms And in verse 12 the righteous man

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Oh, I think of psalm 1 immediately Will flourish like the palm tree

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He will grow like a cedar in lebanon planted where in the house of the lord

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They will flourish in the courts of our god They'll still yield fruit in old age.

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They shall be full of sap and very green So it goes on Where god plants the blessed man is in the house of the lord.

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That's the place of nourishment That's where there are streams. That's where there are rivers of supply and nourishment

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And if one stream should fail it's interesting the word streams are the word rivers in verse 3 planted by streams of water the word streams rivers is in the plural if one fails if one source of water

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Fails another will soon pop up god plants people in the local church Where they can start growing and feeding and be nourished in the faith

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God does not plant them in isolation. He plants them in the house Of the lord.

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Are you planted? Are you planted by streams of water? Are you planted? If you are it's because god has planted you

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God plants each Blessed tree in the soil of the house of god the universal church actually

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No, it's the local church hear these words in first timothy Chapter 3 i'm writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long

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But in case i'm delayed I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself Hear this phrase in the household of god, which is the church of the living god the pillar and support of the truth

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Why I believe this is speaking of the local church as a place where god plants the christian the new blessed man

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Is because you don't conduct yourself in the universal church you conduct yourself in the local church

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When you go to church, there's ways of conducting ourselves in the announcements. There was something in there

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Did you hear about hey parents? Uh, can we make sure? certain things are happening and deal with the crackers conduction

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How we conduct ourself in the household of god that would be irrelevant if we were talking about the universal church

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What is that local church? It's the pillar and support of the truth It's it's holding something up the truth of god's word

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The church is not what is held up the church holds something else up Which is the truth the church is a place where we hear the word of god hear it explained to us

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Hear how it might be applied to us So in summary someone says that the blessed man is planted firmly planted like a tree

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Besides streams or rivers of water And god has sources multiple sources of water for the blessed man

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And what happens then is described in the rest of usry which yields its fruit in its season

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Its leaf does not wither and in whatever he does he prospers There's seasons in the christian life

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There may be times of adversity but because The soil is a place where he has stood and sunk himself.

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He's unmoved in harsh times In times when things aren't going too well in good and hard times triumphs and trials

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He's still planted because god planted him. He doesn't say i'm leaving the church. No, he knows that's his supply line streams of water

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Planted in the house of the lord and his leaf doesn't wither not it's not contingent upon happenings outside He is so rooted with streams available to him that no matter what's going on.

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He is still being nourished in the lord It speaks of the ordinary means of grace

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And over time as we avail ourselves of that you do it week in week out week in week out

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You will be planted and have access to streams of water and people will notice the growth

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I notice this the trees that visit Our house every four weeks don't do too well

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But it's the trees that are planted Are you planted? Are you planted by god?

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Has there been a change of affection so that you don't want to listen to certain things? You do want to listen to other things you do want to delight now in the law of god and you have a desire

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To just be in the presence of god hear the word of god. I heard the testimony of a man who

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Had after a long time of illness with a daughter Seen his daughter pass away at 2 a .m.

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One sunday morning and the church were more than surprised because Due to the internet word had spread throughout the church of the passing of the daughter though it had been expected

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It was obviously a time of great grief this young child had not lived to even her 20s

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They're surprised to see him in church and one asked him why are you here? Why are you not at home just grieving?

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He said the means of grace I had to hear the gospel one more time today

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I thought that's a man who gets it. That's a man who gets it. I've got to hear the gospel you see

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Those who are planted they're never bored by the gospel The gospel is going to be preached.

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Hey, i'm there But haven't you heard the gospel? We have such a default mechanism that goes back to law keeping as a means of attaining right standing with god

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We've got to constantly hear the gospel martin luther said it's impossible to over stress

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Justification by faith alone because our minds go elsewhere throughout the week This is a gospel preaching church

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Be planted here be planted Whatever he does prospers now, this can only be understood in the eye of faith.

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Sometimes there are persecutions. There are trials But prosperity according to god is doing what he said and doing his will

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I think noah was a prosperous man. I think jeremiah was a prosperous man In his sight, he would never have made it onto the front of a christian magazine.

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How many is in your church jeremiah? You don't want to talk about it. No one listens then the contrast verse 4

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Ladies and gentlemen the contrast the wicked are not so True What's true about the blessed man cannot be said about the ungodly

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A man without god is morally corrupt and bankrupt. He's the exact opposite of the blessed man

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The wicked are not like this not so not so the wicked they're not like this.

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They don't have this They they they may be millionaires, but they don't get this. Do you know you can be an up and out as well as a down and out?

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The wicked are not like this they're not like a tree they're not like a tree instead they're like chaff

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That's the part of the grain that was discarded it's good for nothing. It's Rootless, it's lifeless.

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It's fruitless. It's worthless. It has no value And the wind just drives it away.

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It's gone. You see it for a moment and it's gone that is the expectation of the wicked according to god

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Again spurgeon describes chaff this way worthless dead Unserviceable without substance easily carried away.

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This is their doom Their doom the wind drives them away death with its terrible blast will hurry them into the fire

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And they will be consumed Does that describe you the expectation of you?

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I pray not but the wicked are not so but they are like chaff which the wind drives away

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Verse five Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous

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Here we have The congregation of the righteous who stand in the judgment they appear before god and are justified

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Standing in the court of god's judgment. The wicked won't be acquitted at the judgment. They'll be exposed for what they are

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We see the great white throne outlined in revelation 20 11 through 15

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You read that you realize that is Not what I want. That's not what anyone wants

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But with christ there's endless hope without him. There's a hopeless end But the unplanted man the

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Unplanted man has no desire for heaven against virgin If he went to heaven he'd be out of his element living in a tree would be easier for a fish

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Than living in paradise would be for the wicked heaven would be an intolerable hell Imagine the wicked getting to heaven

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I don't think they have watches there, but should they do so you can imagine say how long is this service going to go on?

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Oh four thousand years. We're singing worthy is the lamb I can't stand it.

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Let me out. This is like hell for me Yeah And what we what are we going to do if we sat after we've sung worthy is the lamb for four thousand years

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We're going to have the reading of god's word. We're just going to it's awesome. Uh, uh brother benjamin over here

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He's going to read genesis, aren't you? And and brother malachi over here he's going to read exodus and then we're going to have a three minute tea break

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I mean, it's going to be like Like like heaven, right? Yeah, like like english tea, you know

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But the wicked man says let me out of here. Let me out of here.

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I can't stand this The lord knows the way of the righteous

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He's mindful of them. He knows them intimately Contrast that Verse 6 the lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish

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Proverbs 14 12. There's a way that seems right to a man, but his end is the way of death There is a road there is a path of perishing the road to damnation

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And the way of the wicked shall perish Nothing's left along that highway

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Don't go down there Like footprints in the sand when the tide comes in and then the tide rolls out the footprints

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Are now gone There's no indication they were ever there Like chaff they've been blown away.

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There's no eternal significance Gone gone forever

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D. A. Carson said this 50 billion years from now. No one will be sitting around talking about adolf hitler

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But every cup of cold water given in the name of the lord will still be celebrated

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For the lord knows the way of the righteous For the way of the wicked will perish So what road are you traveling on Have you entered through the narrow gate that leads to life

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Are you still on the broad road? Headed for destruction. Is there evidence that you have a new heart that delights in god's word?

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Do you meditate on god's word? Do you live a life that's separated? Have you made a break with the world?

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Can anyone around you tell? Is your delight in the law of the lord? The fruit of the christian life is not what saves us

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It's god who saves us from start to finish by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone

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But those who come to christ do so because they have a new heart They're a new tree

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And they produce fruit God doesn't say produce some fruit and i'll make you a tree

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It's the opposite he makes us trees and then we produce fruit Two ways to live there's not a third way

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The second way is a broad way The first way is a narrow way Isn't it true of us that like david we're people of contradiction?

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David was a man after god's own heart yet guilty of murder and adultery enoch joseph ruth daniel

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Not much in the way of exposure of sin as you read them, but that's the rarity The bible when it speaks of the righteous doesn't avoid talking about the warts in their character

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But it doesn't glory in them But god wins ladies and gentlemen

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Wickedness will be punished And in psalm one we have in what we call wisdom literature a wisdom song

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It's saying this is what the righteous man looks like And you're presented with one way or the other the way of the righteous all the way of the wicked of the wicked and wisdom demands you make a choice

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And wisdom literature is designed to do that Let me say this as I wrap this up There's a lot of gold in reading through the psalms and you can speed through Speed read through the psalms and you can get through it pretty quickly.

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But if you want some gold Do some digging Look at the words

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Meditate and mutter May I leave you with this thought As I look at my life and if you look at your life, i'm sure you'll agree

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None of us have lived this blessed life. Not fully There's never been an entire week of my life when

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I can say i've lived exclusively to god. I've not even had a mental thought in opposition to god

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Most of us can sin before we ever get out of bed, right? In our thoughts as well as our words and our deeds

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And so I can't say i've lived the blessed life i've i've done a good You know, i've had a good attempt at it, but I come short and coming short is not good enough

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The bible's definition of sin one of them is Transgression of the law another is falling short of the glory of god.

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It's an archery term whereby The bullseye is maybe 30 yards away You've seen the targets where the bullseye is what the the archer is aiming at and if you

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See the archer bend the bow and release the arrow Instead of hitting the target and then hitting the bullseye it falls to the ground 28 feet away from its intended

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Target Such as sin It's a failure to live up to god's expectation and that is the glory of god all have sinned and come short of what the glory of god romans 3 23

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So I can't say i'm the blessed man But if you'll allow me

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I think the blessed man Is the lord jesus christ He's the only one in history

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Who loved the law of god with all his heart soul mind and strength who delighted in the law of god who muttered it day and night

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Who was about his father's business in everything? He did he said my meat my food is to do the will of him who sent me

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This one sent by the father lived the blessed life Everything he did prospered under the hand of his father

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He lived a sinless life And then he went to the cross and died an atoning death for all those who were not like him

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It should have been me. It should have been you crucified on the cross And yet god sent his son into the world to die an atoning death

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As a great exchange took place on the cross this sinless one this lamb of god this blessed one

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The bible says our sins were laid on him He was wounded for our transgressions

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He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement the punishment due to us was upon him and by his wounds.

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We are healed What an exchange Had jesus ever committed any sin? No, had we ever committed any righteousness not according to him all our righteousness is his filthy rags isaiah 64 6

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But on the cross god took the sins of all those who would ever believe in him And placed them on his son and he died in their place vicariously in their place as the substitute

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First peter 2 24. He bore our sins in his body on the tree That's where it all happened.

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This righteous one went to the cross for the unrighteous And the bible says this he god made him jesus who knew no sin

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To become sin for us a sin offering for us that we might become the righteousness of god in him

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What an exchange the key to the blessed life

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Is to consider the work of the blessed man The lord jesus who went to the cross who died an atoning death and rose up from the dead and then three days later after death rising triumphing over death

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Triumphing over sin triumphing over all that was against us the curse of the law

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He bore it for us that we might have the blessing Now this one has ascended into the throne room to sit on that throne forever and psalm 2 describes it this jesus

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There's not one who says to us. I'm really hoping you'll open the door of your heart, but i'll never violate your will

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Now this is the lord of glory And he stands at your heart and he has power to open your doors so that by the power of the holy spirit

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Mysteriously the holy spirit being at work while you're hearing the word of god perhaps even now at this moment

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The holy spirit goes to work and you say I I don't see him. You don't have to see him he's like Wind he works like wind you don't know where it comes from or where it is going

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But so is everyone who's born of the spirit john 3 And he does divine surgery and he sees that stony heart and he says i'm taking that out today

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This is the day the last day of your rebellion against my throne and i'm putting in a heart of flesh

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So that you now delight in what you never delighted in before you came to this service not wanting to be here

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Now you can't get enough you want to get the law of god in your mind You want to know what god's will is you don't want to listen to what you've been listening to before you want to start a new

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Life why because god has given you life He's raised you from the dead

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And you now are a follower of the lord. Jesus repent and believe in him

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That's the good news This christ the king of the kingdom stands at the door of your heart and says repent come to me and have life

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We say yes, sir And it's my joy to do so. I confess you as the lord of my life

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I believe you've been raised from the dead from this moment on i'm yours God says all right

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Now start living this new life As the blessed man and the blessed woman of god.

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Let's pray Lord we thank you for your word we pray that in this psalm you'll

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Continue to speak to our hearts that we might be that blessed man and woman now and forever to live in your courts because of your grace your grace alone