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Psalms of the Summer - A Tale Of Two Paths (North OC)
Episode 19th July 2023 • OC Church of Christ Sermons • OC Church of Christ
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We kick off our new sermon series "Summer of Psalms" looking at Psalm 1 where we learn about the two paths of life and where they lead to.

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Amen.

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Welcome to Church Unplugged.

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. My name is Marcel Hall and I want to, , express how grateful I am to

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be part of our church family and be able to worship God together, whether

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we have amplified sound or not.

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And I do want to thank Brian Turner and the Ushers always doing their

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job and Brian on his birthday.

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Over here serving.

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Amen.

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And and Chris just mentioned, you know, it's also Corinna's

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birthday today as well.

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So she was hooking up some sandwiches afterwards.

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So that's what, that was where she was right there.

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But amen.

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Alright, so we're gonna go ahead and we're starting up a new

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sermon series for the summer.

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And we're calling it Psalms of the Summer.

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The soundtracks of life and so we actually have we can have the ushers go ahead

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We have some handouts here for you that we want to I think we're gonna have it

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on the app as well But I don't think it's on there right now But we're gonna

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have some of these handouts and want to go over it real quickly because it's

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a breakdown of the book of Psalms And so I want to go over this real quickly

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here because we're going to be studying out now There are a hundred and fifty

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songs And we are not going to go over 150 songs over the next few weeks.

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If we were to do one song a week, that would be, what would that be?

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About three years almost, right?

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So we are not going to do that.

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But we will have some songs over the next two months here that I believe will really

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help us out in our relationship with God.

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And so, I see that ushers are passing them out here.

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So I'm gonna go ahead and go over.

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The handout that we have here, and again, this will be a guide

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and help you as well to go deeper in your own personal Bible study.

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And so, it starts off here with the purpose.

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The Psalms are a collection of poems used by the Jews as songs of worship.

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A hymn book, if you will.

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The Psalms express the full range of human emotion and display the

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writer's relationships with God.

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The thoughts and feelings they express help their readers

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draw near to the Lord as well.

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And so, one of the great things about the Book of Psalms is it's very real,

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honest vulnerable, and authentic.

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And and so as you read and study out the Psalms, it really reveals

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how to have a deep, personal, intimate relationship with God.

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And so you, because you know that these are psalms or poetry, it also helps us

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to make sure we interpret it correctly.

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Because as you read the psalms, if you are thinking that these are all commands

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from the Lord, then you will be confused on some of the psalms that you read.

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Because King David was, wrote several of the psalms and he gets

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very real in his prayers to God.

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Where he's like crush my enemies.

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You know what I'm saying?

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And so some of us would be fired up and like, yeah, God

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You want me to crush my enemies?

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Let's go, but that's not necessarily Correct theology.

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Okay, you with me here?

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So let's continue going over this the dates almost all of the Psalms written

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between the time of David 1000 BC and the time of the return of Jews from exile

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in Babylon about 500 BC this collection of Psalms was assembled gradually over

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time and completed by at least 400 B.

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C.

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Some of the author David is attributed with writing 73 A.

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Sasson, the Cora, Solomon, Moses and etcetera.

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Not all the songs are credit to a specific author.

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The titles were added later and should not be considered part

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of the inspired text structured.

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150 songs are arranged in five books.

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You have book one Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, and Book 5.

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Book 1 was probably the first organized collection of Psalms, and the other

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books were added successfully over time.

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Biblical scholars have attempted to classify the

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Psalms that are similar types.

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Lament Psalms expressing grief and appeal for help.

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More than 60 of those, the largest group.

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Royal Psalms concerning Israel's king.

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Thanksgiving psalms, praise psalms, wisdom psalms, and trust psalms.

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Other types of psalms that have been suggested, and some psalms seem to

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be a combination of different types, and some psalms are individual while

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others are meant for the Jewish nation.

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Important considerations, poetry uses symbolism and vivid imagery

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to communicate emotionally similes, comparisons, hyperbole, and parallelism.

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The New Testament writers quote for themselves more than any other book in

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the New, I mean in the Old Testament.

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And then there's some several recommendations to help you again

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go further in your Bible study in a couple chapters specifically.

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And then here are some of the topics.

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that we will hit on over the next several weeks there.

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So again you want to keep this, use this, this is a helpful guide for you

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to go deeper in your walk with God.

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Today we're actually going to go and we're going to study out Psalm 1.

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Since we're going to study out the Psalm, let's go ahead and start off with Psalm 1.

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Actually, the song that we just sang...

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It's based off of Psalm 1, and as we read it, you'll be able to go, Oh,

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okay, this makes some more sense, and you'll be able to connect it.

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And so the title for today is, A Tale of Two Paths.

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A Tale of Two Paths.

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Let's go ahead and let's pray before we get into the scriptures.

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God, thank you so much for your Word.

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God, I'm so inspired and excited about our Bible study in the book of Psalms.

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I'm excited about the things I've been learning.

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Been studying out specifically someone and God, I pray right now father, we will

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walk away with decisions about our life, decisions about our faith and decisions

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about what path we want to be on.

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We pray in the name of Jesus.

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Amen.

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Alright, let's go ahead, let's go on over to Psalm chapter 1.

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And so we have this, in order for us to again understand this as poetry, even

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on the screen, or if you're looking on the screen on your phone it's, the way

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it is, it's in stanzas, if you will, to help you again understand the type of

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literature that you and I are reading.

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So let's go ahead, and you know, here's another little cool thing, is that

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the word the first word in Psalm 1, again, the original language is Hebrew.

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And so the first letter of the first word in Psalm 1 starts with the

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first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

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And the last word begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

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You guys hear what I'm saying?

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So like A to Z.

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So if it started with an A and then the last word started with a Z there, right?

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And I believe that's intentional.

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We might make a reference to that later.

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But let's go ahead and let's get into it.

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It says, Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked.

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or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but

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whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day

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and night, that a purse that person is like a tree planted by streams

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of water, which yields its fruit and season and whose leaf does not wither.

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Whatever they do prospers.

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Not so the wicked.

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They are like chaff, the wicked, okay, I'm sorry.

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All right, there you go.

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They're like chaff, that the wind blows away.

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Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners

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in the assembly of the righteous.

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For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of

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the wicked leads to destruction.

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A tale of two paths.

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There's this idea, there's this imagery, there's this conjuring up

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this idea of one way and another way.

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Did you see that?

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And you see here, there's two paths, a path of blessing and a path,

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really, of eternal condemnation.

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And we all know that God wants His children, His creation,

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to be on the right path.

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And so, therefore, He encourages and He also calls and warns

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us to stay on the right path.

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And if we want the blessings of God, if we want God's favor, if we want to

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be aligned with our Heavenly Father, then we should heed the wisdom and

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the direction that is in this psalm.

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So let's go ahead and let's break down this psalm here.

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And so I believe that this is definitely by divine order, that this psalm is

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placed first of all the 150 psalms.

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Because it really is a great preface.

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It's a great introductory to all of the teachings and the wisdom that

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you will find in the book of Psalms.

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And it really serves as a summary, if you will, of all of

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the Psalms and their teachings.

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So let's go ahead and let's get into it here.

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First off, it says blessed.

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Now this word blessed in Hebrew means, it means blessed, but you can also

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translate it like, oh how happy!

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So even in some translations of this, it says, Oh, how happy is the one.

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Now think about that for a second.

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When you're feeling blessed, how are you feeling?

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Happy.

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You're like, man, I'm fired up.

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I'm blessed.

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You know, just the fact that we were able to have service today.

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I'm blessed.

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I'm happy to be here in the worship.

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My wife is happy that today is her birthday.

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You guys get what I'm saying.

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And so it says blessed is the one that would get remember that.

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Because that sets up the whole song.

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Blessed.

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Happy.

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Is the one.

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Now, there's something interesting here.

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It had this idea of walking, standing, and sitting.

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I don't know if you caught that.

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But there is really a progression, or you can argue, in this

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case maybe a regression, here, of someone in their faith.

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And you see this progression there of being loosely associated with.

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to being completely identified with the wicked.

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And so let's break this down.

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Church, are you still with me here?

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You better take some notes here.

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I'm going to drop a little Hebrew on you today.

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Okay, alright?

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I've been working on my Hebrew.

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Just like I work on my Greek.

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So that's very little.

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Alright, here we go.

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Alright, so here we go again.

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Let's look at this here.

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It says, Walk in step of the wicked.

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Now this idea, usually, especially the way NIV does it, walking

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step means the way you live.

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But really the way this should be translated, or literally translated,

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is really this idea of walking in the advice or the counsel.

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So blessed is the one who does not walk in the advice or the counsel of the wicked.

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And this word wicked wicked is Rasha.

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Can you say Rasha?

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Rasha.

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There you go.

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That's one of your Hebrew words for the day.

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Rasha.

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Now this word wicked here, it means wicked, but it means to have been

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judged or will be judged guilty.

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But in this regard, we know guilty as far as sinning and

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in defiance of God Almighty.

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So it says, Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel,

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in the advice, of the wicked.

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Now that seems to be smart.

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Doesn't it?

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Because the advice or the input that you receive has a huge influence

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on your thinking and your behavior.

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Doesn't it?

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And so, how blessed, it makes sense.

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How much wise it would be to go ahead and make sure that you avoid evil influences

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because they will influence your world view and then what your behavior.

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I remember, we were actually having this conversation yesterday, and I remembered

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yesterday how I used to listen to all types of rap music, and and when I became

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a Christian, and through the years, I started to realize that some of the rap

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music that I was listening to wasn't really healthy for me spiritually.

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You know what I'm saying?

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I don't want to mention any of the songs, cause y'all might start relapsing,

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and you know what I'm saying, you might get to tripping up in here.

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But some of the songs I realized that as I would listen to it, it would influence me.

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Because those words would come to mind later on.

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And so as situations would happen, I would battle, What, wait, wait, am

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I thinking like a man of God or am I thinking like a man of the world?

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And so I started to realize, well this is having a huge influence on me.

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And I realized for many years, That yes, I would probably have been as

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sinful as Worley without rap music, but it definitely enhanced my sinfulness.

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You guys get what I'm saying?

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And it affected the way I viewed, especially the way I viewed women.

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They were objectified.

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The way I viewed people was us against them.

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And so it had a huge, so I was walking in the council of wickedness.

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You guys get what I'm saying?

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And so, I have to mention this though, church.

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Can I just be honest for a quick second?

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Well, hopefully I'm honest the whole time.

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But you get what I'm saying.

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I hate when I have to say, Can I be honest?

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Well, what you been doing before?

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Okay.

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We have to be honest.

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There is a concern for our congregation.

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There is a concern for our congregation.

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And it's who are we listening to?

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Who are we listening to?

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TV personalities, the four letter networks, podcasters, radio personalities,

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social media, TikTok and Instagram.

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Are these the ones who are having the most influence in our lives?

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I especially have to mention the parenting.

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You know, it's really concerning.

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When it comes to our parenting, how many of us are going to websites and books

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more than we're going to the biblical principles laid out in God's Word?

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We're going to books or we're just winging it and we're not going to people who can

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give us godly input or godly application of the godly principles in God's Word.

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And then we're wondering what's happening in our homes.

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Who are we listening to?

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But it says blessed is the one who doesn't walk in the advice of the world.

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Let's continue going forward here.

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Church, are you still with me?

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Stand in the way, or stand in the way that sinners take.

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Now this means to closely associate with them in their sinful behavior.

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If I'm standing in the way that the sinners take, that means I'm

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associating with their type of behavior.

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And so let's break down another Hebrew word.

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This word is a little harder than it sounds.

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It's haqta.

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There's a haq.

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Haqta, can you say that?

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Haqta, there you go.

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Hopefully that was right.

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If it was wrong, then go ahead and blame me.

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Okay, alright, there you go.

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But what this word means, it can be used as an adjective, but basically what it

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means as a noun, it's just sinful person.

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It's a sinner.

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But more in this context of one who's live.

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Is dominated and shaped by the inclination to sin.

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So I'm just inclined that we're all, to a certain extent, inclined to sin.

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But that's not really what we're talking about.

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This is a lifestyle which I'm inclined, so my life is dominated and shaped by sin.

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You guys get what I'm saying here.

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And so how can we see this in our lifestyle in, in our day?

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Well, when we have lifestyles or we have choices that are eerily similar

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to the sinful world that we live.

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Yeah.

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When our lifestyles, when our choices look mirror, if you will, the world that we

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live in, that's how you and I can stand in this in, in the path that sins take.

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But again, blessed or those who don't closely associate you with sinful

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behavior, we keep moving forward or sit in a company of mockers.

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And this word mockers is, uh, it's loots, it's go ahead and

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say loots Luke's then, right?

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And so this is probably the worst and the furthest from God

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when it comes to being a sinner.

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So even what was mentioned before, this is the absolute worst because

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this type of sinner is one who's arrogantly defiant and mocking God

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and those who want to be righteous.

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So there's an arrogance.

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There's a mocking.

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Oh, you want to be like that?

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You want to be righteous and you mock it.

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That's why the word mocker is there.

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It's mocking God, but with an arrogant defiance.

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And so again, you see what you see this progression.

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Or maybe you could call it a regression in the faith.

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And so to sit in the company of mockers means that people

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are now completely identifying.

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With them in their proud, sinful plans and behavior.

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So all of you right now, you're sitting in the assembly of the church.

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So right now, you are associating, identifying yourself, in some form or

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fashion, with the church, with God's people, as you're listening to God's word.

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But now, if we were all a bunch of mockers, you would be sitting

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in the company of mockers.

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Therefore, clearly identifying yourself as one of them.

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He says, blessed is the one who doesn't sit in the company of mockers.

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And again, we see, if you will, three degrees of departure from

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God by conforming to the world at three different levels.

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First of all, accepting its advice, second, participating in its ways, and

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third, completely identifying with it.

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But again, blessed is the one who doesn't go down that path.

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Let's continue.

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It says, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord.

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Delight to enjoy, to value, to follow God's teachings and directions.

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This is what the blessed are like, the path of God.

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They delight in God's word.

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And if you think about this, whatever we enjoy, we tend to what?

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Think about and pursue.

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If you enjoy something, you tend to think about it and pursue it.

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So if we enjoy God's Word, we'll tend to what?

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Think about it and pursue it.

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And this is what the righteous are like.

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Meditate on God's Word.

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It says meditate on His law day and night.

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Even though we think about this for a second, right?

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If I'm delighting in the law of the Lord and I'm meditating day and night, that's

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going to influence the way I think.

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It will transform and shape my worldview and directly influence

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and determine the path, the steps, or the lifestyle that I live.

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And if I'm consumed, With God in some form or fashion, whether it's

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study, diligently studying the word, meditating on it, trying to talk

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about it, trying to live it out.

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Guess what's going to happen?

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I'm going to have behavior that follows that, but I'm not even

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going to have enough time to get involved with a whole bunch of sin.

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You get what I'm saying?

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Because if I'm delighting in God's word, if I'm going ahead and I'm

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meditating on it, then again, I don't even have enough capacity.

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To go ahead and indulge in sinful behavior.

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And it says meditate on it day and night.

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I don't think it means, hey, I thought about God's word in

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the morning and in the evening.

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Kind of like prayers before you eat.

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You know what I mean?

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Like, okay, I prayed, yeah, before I ate and then, you know, it's

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morning or lunch again or whatever.

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No, it's talking about this idea of the Lord's instruction governing

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and guiding the whole of our lives.

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God's word should govern and guide the whole of our lives.

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Now here, this hit me the other day.

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You know, the initial audience who read this, who stood up in the

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congregation as they read these things, who might have sang these.

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The initial audience, most of them were illiterate.

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Think about that for a second.

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Most of them were illiterate.

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And so how can they meditate on the law day and night if they couldn't read it?

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Well that meant that when they came together and they heard the word,

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that meant they valued the word of God so much that, Hey, I'm going to come

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together and hear the word of God.

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So they made it to their church service.

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But then they took it and they thought about it.

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And the Deuteronomy says you are called to talk about it and

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instill it as you walked, as you worked, as you did your day.

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And so I don't need to be able to read all of it if it's on my mind

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and I'm talking and I'm engaging it and I'm trying to understand what

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does God want me to do with this?

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And life was more simple back then.

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They didn't have as many things pulling at their attention so you

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can think more about God's work.

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But it made me think, wow, there is no excuse for us today when

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it comes to consuming God's Word.

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It's readily available.

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I think every one of us, except for maybe a couple of the kids don't have phones.

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And so every single one of us can get on an app and read God's Word,

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and allow it to minister to us at any point of the day that we want.

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And everyone here, I believe, is literate, so you can read God's Word.

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And you can consume it in a fashion that they couldn't even enjoy.

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Again, blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord

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and meditates on it day and night.

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It says that person is like a tree planted by streams of water.

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And the way to translate this, streams of water, is accurate.

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But literally it means channels or irrigation channels.

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And so you have this channel of water.

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So back in the ancient Palestine, the streams of Palestine regularly dried up.

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But the irrigation channels that came off the great rivers never did.

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And so they would see that the imagery is in their head.

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Hey, we know about these streams that dry up, but we know about those that never do.

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And so he gives this imagery for you and me, saying that the godly

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individual is like a tree that has a rich water supply, a strong root system.

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So then it's filled with leaves and fruits.

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Suggesting to us.

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That the godly will have a continual source of life, which produces

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stability and uninterrupted prosperity.

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But then it says it doesn't wither.

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And so this is helpful for us as well.

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Leap doesn't weather because there is a time when our seasons

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or natural seasons are dry.

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But it means we won't crumble.

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We won't fail or we won't fall.

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But that our faith...

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We'll be strong even during those times,

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and I love this.

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How it says yielded fruit in season or streams of water

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and whatever they do prospers.

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And it reminds me of what Jesus said in John 7 38.

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Look what he says here.

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He says, whoever believes in me as scripture has said, rivers of

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living water will flow from within.

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Wow, how incredible is that?

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We see this connection from the Old Testament to what Jesus is saying.

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And we know that in between, Jesus provides the Holy Spirit for those

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who would repent and get baptized.

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And so now we have the Holy Spirit who is readily available to provide

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living water that flows from within us.

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Calling us to be in step with the Holy Spirit, be close to God.

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Hence, why we should read our Bibles, why we should pray, why we should

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connect with each other in relationship, and build each other up, so that the

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living waters may flow through us.

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So no matter what the season may be, we will never wither, fail, fall, or crumble.

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I don't know about you, but that's some good news.

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I say hallelujah for the Lord Jesus.

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You know, I do want to mention this, though.

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This does not promote health and wealth teaching.

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Some can use this passage out of context and say, Well,

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this is a prosperity gospel.

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See, God provides all these material blessings.

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One thing, again, we have to remember, that as we're reading this as poetry, this

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is a general truth, not an absolute truth.

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So that's helpful to remember in the context.

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But also that the blessings that God refers to throughout the

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Psalms, and as we see in Christ, are more spiritual blessings

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than they are material blessings.

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Are you understanding what I'm saying?

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And even if we read the Psalms, even as your sheet shows, the most Psalms

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can be categorized as lament Psalms.

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Times of struggle, of hardness, of God, where are you?

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Why is this happening to me?

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But yet God pulling them through.

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And so again, this is not health and wealth gospel.

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This is a general truth that God provides, and we see what it's like for

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us on this side of the new covenant.

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Church, are you still with me here?

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Let's go to verse 4 here.

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It says, But not so the wicked.

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Interesting.

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We know what it's like for the blessed.

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It would be like rivers, streams, and water.

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He says, But not so with the wicked.

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He says, They're like chaff.

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The wind blows away.

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And so we see this contrast from the well rooted, productive tree to the

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now, the dry plant that has no root system and is blown away by the wind.

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And chap is basically the husk on corn or seed.

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And so what they would do when you winnow that or whatever, is you

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get that off and it just blows.

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And especially during the wind in the Palestine area, you would just

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go ahead and you're winnowing your whatever it is, your seed or your coin.

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They just go like this and the wind will blow it away.

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He says, that's what it's like for the wicked.

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They're just going to be blown away at the eternal judgment.

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And this is the image of the destiny.

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For that path of the wicked.

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And he goes on and he says, Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment.

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Basically, the wicked won't have a leg to stand on.

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When it's time for God to judge, they won't have a leg to stand on.

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And he says, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

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Did you catch a little bit of word similarities from verse 1 in this one?

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This idea again of rising up within this one and sitting in

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the assembly of the righteous.

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And so those who sit in the company of mockers will not sit

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in the assembly of the righteous.

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Those who identify with the mockers will not sit with those

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who identify with God Almighty.

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And so we can see the path of God and blessing.

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And the path of destruction.

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And this serves to be really two things, at least for me.

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It's encouraging and it's sobering.

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It's encouraging because I feel like, Hallelujah!

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To be, in Christ, to be clear and confident that I sit amongst

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those who God considers righteous.

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Not because of what we've done, but because of what Christ's

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done and Him covering over us.

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And so we can rejoice and we can say that we can do that.

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Come on, man.

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I'm auditioning.

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I keep auditioning.

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They keep telling me, wait, keep working on it.

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That's what I hear.

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But we can be encouraged that by God's grace, where we sit amongst

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all those who are righteous from beginning of time until now.

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But yet it's sobering at the same time.

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It's sobering because it's God's warning and God's calling to get right.

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And so if you're here today, God is calling you and He's warning you.

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Come to me and get right with me now.

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I want you to get off of that path and I want you to get on to the right

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path which leads to eternal life.

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But it's also sobering for us who sit in the assembly of the righteous.

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Because know what that means?

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is that we have many family, friends, neighbors, co workers and classmates who

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are not right with God, who are right now currently don't sit in the assembly

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of the righteous and that's sober.

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And so I rejoice, but yet I'm sober and feeling a call in a pool.

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To do something about that, because somebody did that for me.

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They reached out and they helped me to cross over from that path to the other.

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Let's continue in verse 6.

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Church, are you still with me here?

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For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of

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the wicked leads to destruction.

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The Lord watches over, literally means He knows.

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And so what this implies, what this communicates to us is that our Heavenly

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Father has an intimate knowledge of us and intimate care for each single, every

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single one of us that he watches over.

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He knows he's there and he's trying to care, provide, protect and guidance.

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Again, we are God's chosen people by grace and mercy, and we can rejoice

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and celebrate, but may that lead us to great humility and gratitude.

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But we see here two paths that lead to two different lives or

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two different lifestyles that lead to two different judgments.

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God blesses and shows favor to one while the other stands condemned.

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One leads to joyful prosperity while the other to destruction.

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And this is true in part in our lifetime, but in fullness in the life to come.

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And so now we have to ask, well, what does that mean for you and me today?

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How should we apply God's word and direction to our lives today?

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Here's what I believe.

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I believe we need to go ahead and we need to go and choose our path.

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We need to decide today to choose your path.

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We must respond by choosing a path that we will take for our lives.

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Because we're on either one path or the other.

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We're not in both at the same time.

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You can't have one foot in one and one foot in the other.

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You guys get what I'm saying?

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They go in two different directions.

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It's like I always tell people, you can't be half pregnant, okay?

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You're either pregnant or you're not pregnant.

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You get what I'm saying?

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So I'm either on the path of God or I'm on the path of not.

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Right with God.

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And so we have to ask ourselves and especially those of us who might have

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grown up in a church, just because you grew up in a church, you know the path,

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you've been close to the path, but it doesn't mean you're on that path.

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And again, that's a sobering truth.

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And so we have to make a choice which path we will choose.

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Remember I told you earlier that the first word, that word blessed, that

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started with the first Hebrew letter.

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You guys remember that?

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And that word destruction, that actually is the...

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Last, it starts with the last letter of the Hebrew word.

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You guys get that, right?

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And I think God is really cool in this.

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Because you think about it, it's basically saying from A to Z.

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We pretty much have a poem that goes, It starts off with A and ends with Z.

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You guys with me here?

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And when we say from A to Z, we mean A from beginning to end.

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Right?

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And so at the beginning is blessing, and at the end is destruction.

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But in between, there's direction.

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On which path you can take and you say, wow, you're telling me you want me to

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learn something from beginning to the end and you want me to choose this path

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of blessing and of righteousness and a life with you and so we could choose to

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be faithful in our relationship to God or we could choose to be unfaithful.

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Now, the blessings that come along God's path for the here and now and for the

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life to come are awesome and incredible.

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But it's clear that there's a call to be righteous in the way we live.

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If we're going to remain on that path, there's clearly a call to live

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holy, meaning separate sacred of God.

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Then to live like those who are in the path of sin.

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Did you guys catch all of that?

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Yes, of course you did.

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And so we see here that we should have an unshakable, unmovable conviction that

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is those who are considered righteous.

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We will never flirt with the idea of

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We're not going to partake.

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We're not going to get a little bit.

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Just give me a little something, something of the evil.

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We're not even going to flirt with the idea.

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I'm not going to walk and step.

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I'm not going to stand in the path.

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And I'm for sure not going to sit down in the company of the mockers.

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And so again, which path are you truly on?

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Because if we're on the path of God, then our lifestyle and our

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choices should reflect that.

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So yes, that applies to the music that we listen to.

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Yes, that applies to the media that we consume.

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But it applies to how I interact in my relationships with the opposite sex.

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It applies to how I relate to the relationships in

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my home and in the church.

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Church, are you with me here?

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And so man, there's so many blessings that we all want that and hallelujah,

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but those are reserved for those Who walk in step with the Lord and God is

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gracious and merciful and he lavishes upon his people But if we want to

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stay in tune with him, we got to be in tune with the Holy Spirit church.

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Are you with me?

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And so the righteous love God's instruction.

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They love God's teaching and therefore live by his word Which

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makes us wise and live holy lives.

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And so, we are called to choose our path today.

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I want to get very practical here and give some action steps here real quickly.

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And go ahead and take a picture and write these down here.

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And I'm asking you here to do this.

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Either today, tomorrow, or Tuesday here.

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Do it sooner than later.

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Is answer these questions.

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Just go ahead and write them down as you answer them for yourselves here.

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But go ahead.

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First off, what path are you on?

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And let's be honest, honestly.

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Yeah, maybe I was on that path, but man, the way I've been living, it sure does

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reflect and look like the other path.

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Or maybe you know, Hey, you know what?

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I'm not on the path of God.

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I'd encourage you even as Chris welcomed us.

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Go ahead and seek some help today.

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Every single one of us who is a member of this congregation.

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We had somebody help us to cross from this path to that path

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and we are forever grateful.

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And so I encourage you to go ahead and seek that help out.

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But again, we can ask this question, how you respond to God's grace.

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Or God's calling and warning as you realize the path you are on.

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And in the second section here, answer this question.

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What path are your family, friends, and neighbors on?

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And what will you do this week to help those who are on the wrong path?

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Right now we're going to take communion.

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This is the time where we remember Jesus death upon the cross, the

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sacrifice that allows us to have an opportunity of eternal life.

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And we take the emblem representing his body and his blood that was

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sacrificed and spilled for us.

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And I want to close out right here with the passage that we read earlier.

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Because Jesus is the only way that we can even have a chance to be on the path of

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the righteous and the holy and of God.

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And he says, whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living

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water will flow from within them.

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Let's pray.

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God, thank you so much for Jesus.

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Thank you so much that he provides a path that he is, as we learned

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last week, or we're reminded of.

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He is the way, the truth, and the life.

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And God, we're so thankful that all of us who are in Christ, that

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we can celebrate our salvation.

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That we can celebrate and rejoice of the grace and mercy

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that has been extended to us.

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But God, we pray that we can soberly assess where we are before you.

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And God, that we can make choices in response to the resurrection.

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In response to the cross.

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To live righteous lives.

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God, to live in honor of what you have bestowed upon us.

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God, I pray for all those, maybe those online or those here in the room.

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God, I pray that they will see that this opportunity is there for them.

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And it came at a cost.

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It came at the cost of your son, Jesus died.

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And if that would move, that would stir and that will compel them to

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turn and to look toward you and to move from one path to the other.

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God, you are good and we are thankful that we had this

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opportunity to worship you today.

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It's in the name of Jesus.

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Amen.

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