[0:00] Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to Psalm chapter 1. This is the Hebrew songbook. This is the Israelite songbook. This psalm starts off and it's a very good way to get you used to what's going to happen in the book of Psalms and in the entire Bible.
[0:16] It's a contrast. This psalm tells about what real blessing and prosperity are. If you have your Bible, I want you to open it to verse 2. And I just want to get you to circle three words in Psalm 1.
[0:28] It'll kind of help you get where we're going. It says in verse 2, but. And then skip down to verse 4 if you would and find the next word, but. The ungodly are not so, but.
[0:40] And then go down to verse 6 and it says, For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. There are two conflicting mindsets in the world today.
[0:54] There are two groups of people. The majority of the people are going to be the people in verse 1. But the godly people are going to be the people in verse 2. And there's a whole contrast in the Bible.
[1:06] What is real success? What does it mean to prosper? If you look at verse 3, the last word in verse 3 is prosper. And the psalmists and the psalmists, these people are getting together at church and they're singing.
[1:18] It's not church. It's a synagogue. It's a temple. It's a congregation that's getting together all around Egypt and they're singing. And they're talking about what it is that makes them different. What it is that makes them prosper.
[1:30] I want to have a word of prayer with you. And then I want you to dive into this and learn what real prosperity, real blessing is. Father, deal with us today. God, I am sure that there are some people here this morning that are not saved, that would not go to heaven if they died today.
[1:45] I am praying that you will deal with their heart, convict them of their sin and their need for you, and that today they would be saved, that they would trust you. And I'm praying, dear God, that as Christians, we get a hold of the fact that we cannot be so much a part of this world that we let them tell us how to think.
[2:02] God, help us today to honor you and I'll give you glory and praise for what you do in Jesus' name. Amen. I want you to go with me, if you would, to verse 6. The first thing I want you to know is the whole psalm, this whole psalm, this song they're going to sing, is about two kinds of people.
[2:19] In Psalm 1, 6, the Bible said, The Lord knows the way of the righteous, you want to underline that or mark it, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. There are two massive mindsets in this chapter.
[2:32] There's this group of people that are God's people and the way they think and what God will do in their life, and there's this other group of people that are not God's people and don't believe in God, and they're ungodly and they're sinners, and they've got a whole other way of thinking.
[2:45] There are, number one, in verse 6, the righteous. Look at them. There are the righteous. You know what? You can't make yourself righteous, and righteous is not about what you do.
[2:55] Being righteous means being made right with God. Being righteous means having your sins taken care of. Being righteous means God accepts who you are. We are made righteous.
[3:07] We don't obtain righteousness. Righteousness is being godly like God. It is what you are once you are saved and once you're in Christ.
[3:17] See, when you get saved, the day you get saved, you step out of who you were and you step into who He is. You step out of who you were and you step into who He is. You lose what you ought to get.
[3:28] The wages of sin is death, and you step into, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is knowing that you are a new creature. Your past is forgiven.
[3:40] Your sins are gone, and you belong to Jesus. There's another group of people talks about in this psalm. They're the ungodly or the sinners. Look at verse 6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
[3:54] Ungodly people are not godlike. Ungodly people do not know God. Ungodly people have not been changed by God. Ungodly people live in rebellion.
[4:06] Ungodly people have no real roots, no real foundation in their lives. They're going to die. They're not going to die just one death, but the Bible says they'll die two deaths.
[4:17] It's appointed unto man once to die, but if your name's not written in the Lamb's Book of Life, if you're not born again, you'll be cast in the lake of fire, which is the second death. These ungodly people do not enjoy company of righteous people.
[4:31] They don't like to be around saved people. They don't like to be around those that belong to God. You'll see all that in just a minute. The lives of these two groups are very distinct. They delight in different things.
[4:43] They like different things. One group is free. They're like the tumbleweed of the prairie. They have no roots, and they go wherever the wind blows. They do whatever they want to do. The other group is planted and stands firm.
[4:56] The one group is like the chaff, which the wind drives away. The others are planted and successful. The one group, according to Scripture here, has lasting prosperity, lasting blessings, and happiness.
[5:08] When the other one dries up, this one does not dry up. The other loses who it was and dries up. We don't have to do that. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. And he watches over them, the others, and says they're going to die.
[5:22] The one can weather storms. The other one falls apart when the wind blows. You need to examine your life today and see which group you're in. Every one of us need to know for a fact that we belong to Jesus Christ, that our sins have been forgiven, that our name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that we've been made new creatures.
[5:41] Psalm chapter 1, that's the first song in their songbook. I grew up in little country churches in Tennessee, and song number 1 was, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.
[5:52] That was a great song. I mean, how are you going to start singing? Start off with, God is holy. Holy, holy. Well, the psalmist said, when we start off singing, let's just go ahead and say, you've got to be one of the other group. You're either in or you're out.
[6:04] You're either saved or you're lost. There's no in-between ground here. You either belong to Jesus or you don't belong to Jesus. But you can be made righteous today if you will simply believe in Jesus and what he did on the cross at Calvary.
[6:17] Now go back with me to Psalm chapter 1 and verse 1. First Psalm, first verse. Now I want you to imagine singing it. I wish you'd memorize this psalm, by the way. Everybody ought to memorize this psalm.
[6:28] It ought to become a part of what you think. It ought to be sunk into your heart. It ought to be written on who you are, that you would have this psalm in your heart. But look at Psalm 1-1. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.
[6:45] Blessed. There's a way to be happy, but the way to be happy is to realize there's a lot of real bad advice out there. There's a lot of real bad crowds out there.
[6:55] There's a lot of real bad suggestions out there. There's a lot of real bad philosophies out there. And blessed if you don't get tangled up in those things. Real blessing comes when you realize where you get your counsel.
[7:08] Not from those who do not know God. Not from those who reject God. Not from God haters. Real blessing will come when you decide to have the right friends.
[7:19] Look, if you would, blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Do you realize what's going on there? Here's a guy who says, I don't like God. The fact is, if he says white, I say black.
[7:30] If he says red, I say green. Whatever it is, he says, I just don't like it. I'm going to do the other thing. And we go to that guy and say, give me some advice. And tell me what to do. And the psalmist says, y'all just start singing this.
[7:42] Hey, you'd be a lot happier if you just stayed away from that guy. He is ungodly. He doesn't know God. He doesn't like God. You should stay away from him. The second part of it is, your friendships, look at it.
[7:53] Nor stands in the way of sinners. Who are you hanging around? This guy says, hey, the psalmist, the song they're singing says, don't hang around sinners. Don't stand with sinners.
[8:03] What's a sinner? A sinner, if you really want to sum up sin, you know what sin is? Doing your thing, not his thing. You know what sin is? Doing your thing, not his thing. So this group of sinners are like, I know what God says, but I don't like that.
[8:16] I know what God says. I know what the Bible says. I know what they say is right. I know what the Word of God says, but that's not really my preference. And then you hang around with them. And so you've taken counsel and you're standing in the way of sinners.
[8:29] You need to know that your friendships determine who you are and what you think. Your friendships determine who you are and what you think. Who you hang around with pretty well defines you.
[8:44] When I started the first church, I started at the grand old age of 23. I worked in a Christian school. It was my first time. I didn't really want to teach in schools. I didn't want to be a school teacher, but it was a way to fund my things.
[8:57] It was a Christian school. And the pastor said to me, would you like to work for me? And I said, well, I'm making $325 a week. He said, I can pay you $150. I said, sold. I'll take it. It just shows you don't have a brain.
[9:07] Say amen. So anyway, they gave us some instructions. He told me when we were talking, he said, I have three needs in the school. A Bible teacher. I said, I'll take it. He said, an English teacher.
[9:19] I said, I probably don't need that one. He said, a math teacher. I said, I definitely don't need that one. And I said, well, can you tell me I'll get a Bible? He said, we'll work on it. When I got there, he said, you're going to teach math. I said, math?
[9:33] How do you not do math? So the first day in my geometry class, I got up and I told the students today we're going to study integers. One of the students raised his hand and said, Mr. Gardner, are you trying to say integers?
[9:46] I said, exactly. I just want to make sure you guys are awake. Amen. But I found out something about school. You know where all the rebellious ones sit? Altogether. You know where all the smart ones sit?
[9:58] Altogether. You know where all the lazy ones sit? Altogether. You know where all the talkers sit? Altogether. You know what? You hang around people that define you and teach you.
[10:11] Who you hang around with pretty well defines you. Pretty hard to be with people and not enjoy and do the same things that they do. Real blessing and happiness will come when you understand that they have a bad, bitter attitude that is contaminating everything in their life.
[10:29] And it will contaminate you. I read, I think just this morning, I was reading this old Australian preacher's, he's got a little short psalm-like things he writes.
[10:45] I was reading it and it talked about this bitter man who was walking down the street. And he was always bitter. He wouldn't speak to anybody. And everybody had talked about him. Was he crazy? Was he a hermit? Did he have some kind of psychological problem?
[10:57] When you walked by him and said, hey, how are you doing? He wouldn't respond to you. And they later found out that when he was young, he said, you know what? I will not forget what wrong you did to me.
[11:08] And he never forgot it. And he died a bitter old man. That's what these ungodly people are. They may hide it pretty well, but they're people whose minds are contaminated against God. They make fun of the things of God.
[11:20] Look if you would in the verse, Psalm chapter one, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. He's a mocker. He's making fun of the things of God. He's making fun of the Bible. He's making fun of Christians.
[11:31] His favorite joke is to make fun of the godly. His favorite thing to do is justify his own sin. If you want real blessings, you will reject their wrong attitudes, their wrong actions, and their wrong activities.
[11:44] You'll reject their wrong speech and their counsel. You'll reject their wrong mindset. Who you run around with tells us what you think and tells you what you think. Who you run around with helps you set your agenda for life.
[11:57] Who you run around with helps direct your path. But I want you to notice the word but. Look if you would in verse two. You see what he does? He starts off and he says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, standing with the sinners or a citizen in the seat of the scornful.
[12:12] He said, Hey guys, you'd be happy if you learned to stay away from those guys. Those people all like to get together and they all think the same things. And then he goes, But, look at it, verse two. But this other guy, his delight is in the law of the Lord.
[12:25] Group number one, they don't like God. Group number two said, I like the Bible. I enjoy the Bible. The fact is, I'd rather have the Bible than my necessary food. I like the Bible. It's like water for me. It's like food for me.
[12:36] I love the word of God. They want to receive truth. The blessed reject bad counsel, but they delight in the word of God. The light is more than just believing and accepting that it's true.
[12:51] The blessed person has rejected the life and thinks over and over the day and night. He has rejected this life, this world, and thinks over and over all day long. About the truth found in God's word.
[13:03] I want you to look, if you would, in verse two. His delight is in the law of the Lord. This guy's like, I need to know what the Bible's got to say. I really like what the Bible's got to say. The other guy said, Let me run over here and ask this lost person how about how to manage my marriage.
[13:17] The godly person says, Man, I just love how the Bible explains that to me. This lost person runs over here, or this wicked person says, Tell me how to manage my money. Tell me how to manage my marriage. Tell me, Hey, I need to figure out my gender.
[13:29] Could you help me with that? The other guy's like, I'll just go over here. I really like the Bible. I really like what God's got to say. Amen? Did you notice the but there? Which group are you in? But? Let the Bible fill you up.
[13:42] You need to fill up on the Bible until it runs out of you. You need to be so full of the Word of God that if they pricked a hole in you, the Word of God would slip out. You need to let the Bible become so much a part of you that when you speak, you accidentally talk Bible.
[13:56] I mean, it's just in Spanish. In Spanish, improve. You know, it really doesn't mean this. It's just that when you're an American listening to it, you see this and it sounds funny to you. And when somebody says something, they'll say, I didn't mean to say that in English.
[14:09] Well, in Spanish, the way they say that is, se me escapó. That means it escaped me. I didn't mean to say it. It means, they say, it escaped me. And I used to say to them, well, how did it escape if it wasn't already in there?
[14:22] Amen. So if you said that dirty word, it was probably already in there. Guess what? It ought to just, se me escapó Bible. It ought to be just like, well, I didn't mean to say skin of my teeth, but that's right in the Bible, in the book of Job.
[14:34] I didn't mean to say all these things, but it's just what the Bible says and it begins to become a part of who we are. You should make every decision based on meditating on what the Word of God says.
[14:46] You do not compare what you want with what others say, but what the Word of God says. Now you need to put, in verse two, you need to underline this word, meditate. And meditate's a, it's a great word.
[14:58] It's like mumbling the scriptures to yourself. My favorite one that everybody's going to know, and I'm sure you all know this, is if you're ever on a farm, and I grew up on a farm, and they get made fun of because of that, but I grew up on a farm, and you know, when a cow eats, they just pass their food down.
[15:16] But when they come back to the, get water in the evening, and they're up at the water trough, you stand over, and you look at them, and they'll just be sitting there, and all of a sudden, they go, what are you doing?
[15:33] They're like belching it up, chewing it up, spinning it back, putting it back down, and belch up a little bit more, and chewing a little bit more. It's gross, amen? You're like, that's why I'm not a farmer. Say amen. But see, here's the deal.
[15:45] You're supposed to just take in all the Bible you can, but then you're supposed to meditate on it day and night. So like when you're laying in bed at night, can I just give you a real thing to think about?
[15:56] When you're laying in bed at night, just get a hold of something in the Bible. The best way in the world to go to sleep is thinking about, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[16:07] And you drop off to sleep, thinking, what does it mean God gave his only, and it'll just change the way you think and change the way you act. When you look at Matthew 6, 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added and you're laying in bed at night and you think that.
[16:22] And if you're an old man like me, you got to get up and go to the bathroom. When you come back, you get to start thinking about it again because you got to go to the bathroom two or three times a night. You get to think about it all night long. Say amen. The rest of y'all just check out all night. But see, I'm more spiritual because I get up more often.
[16:34] That was a joke. Meditate. Get up in the morning. Meditate. Think about. While you're making your journey, you're driving into your workplace and while you're sitting around. And then when somebody comes in and says, we're looking at making a decision here, you ought to be going.
[16:50] Let me think of what the Bible says about that. You may laugh at that, but that's what it ought to be like. Day and night ought to be saying, I'm pumping myself full of this book. Here's the sad thing about the majority of us.
[17:02] You will go all week long with your Bible laying on the bedside table catching dust. You'll say, I got it on my phone. I know, but you don't ever look at it. I mean, getting it on your phone didn't change anything any more than getting it on your nightstand did.
[17:16] Say amen. It's always so funny being a taxi and prude and a driver would be driving crazy. I said, you ought to slow down. He said, don't worry about it. I got a Bible on the dash. Okay, when you crash and the Bible flies, I don't know if that's going to help us a bit.
[17:29] Amen. So watch. It's about getting meditating day and night. Fill up on the Word of God. And when you do, that starts affecting everything. It brings blessings and prosperity.
[17:41] Look at verse 3. You see, he's comparing these two people. He's comparing. By the way, if Hollywood is so good, how come they can't stay married to the same woman? If they know so much about it, how come their marriages never last?
[17:54] If they're so good at everything, how come they can't figure out what gender they are? If they're so smart and they know so many things, how come they're so messed up? But here's what the Word of God says to you. The Word of God says, if you will meditate on the Bible, now look at it, you need to know this, you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
[18:12] You'll be like a tree that never runs out of water. You'll be like a tree that always has something to drink. The great majority of you have never been in a real desert.
[18:23] But if you ever go to a real desert, like Idaquipa where we used to live, you didn't water your grass two or three times a week, it'd be gone. You just wouldn't have any grass. You had to water it all the time. But if you keep water on it, it's beautiful.
[18:35] The desert would be just like sand on a beach. But every 10 years or so, it'd come this massive rain, and it would last for extra weeks, and the desert would turn green.
[18:47] That's a tree right here that says, though, I don't care whether it rains or not. I'm planted by a river. I'm not just planted by a river. If you look at your Bible, it says rivers. I mean, I got lots of water flowing by me.
[18:58] I'm plenty able to deal with anything that might happen. I am planted by rivers of water. Right thinking brings stability. Planted.
[19:10] Right thinking brings stability. Planted. Right thinking brings refreshing resources. Rivers of water. Right thinking makes you spiritually fruitful. Look at the verse.
[19:21] He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit. That brings forth his fruit. He produces. This tree is by the water, and if it rains or it doesn't rain, this tree will be okay.
[19:35] If it rains or it doesn't rain, this tree will be okay, and it will bring forth its fruit. But even notice this. It'll bring it in its season. Did you underline that? Right thinking will help you understand there are seasons, even in fruit bearing.
[19:47] I'd like to just take a little bit of time with that, but just real brief. Can I just say this? If you're serving God, sometimes you're like, sometimes it feels like, it feels like my prayers aren't getting where they're supposed to. It feels like the Bible's not working like it's supposed to.
[19:59] I sometimes begin to wonder. Just hang on. There are seasons, and you just stay next to the water. You just stay next to the water. You just stay plugged into the Word of God. You meditate on it day and night, and sometimes your life won't be working out right, and sometimes there'll be financial problems, and sometimes there'll be medical problems, and sometimes there'll be family problems, but if you stay plugged into the Bible, you will have fruit at the right time.
[20:23] God will take care of you, right? Think it helps you weather storms. If you read this passage of Scripture, if you read this passage of Scripture, you've got a contrast, and the one is a tree planted by the rivers of water, and the other is a tumbleweed blowing through the desert.
[20:39] The one has a root and stays, and the other one just takes off and blows wherever it wants to go. So the one prospers, its leaf does not wither sometimes.
[20:51] You know, a few years ago right here in Georgia, right here in this area, don't water your grass. Don't water your grass. No water in grass. There's a watering band. If you water your grass, we give you these hours on these days.
[21:04] And then you drive by this one place, and it's just grass is green, and they've got a sign out there, we've got a well. We use recycled water. They go, we've got a way to get water. You know what this tree says?
[21:15] I don't care what's going on. I've got a place to get water. I will not wither. Right thinking will make everything you do prosper. I wish you'd underline in that verse 3, whatsoever.
[21:28] Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. I want to show you something. You fill up on the Word of God. You fill up your family on the Word of God. You have a marriage that prospers.
[21:40] The best marriage manual ever written was the Word of God. You like to say to me, but what about my child raising? The best book on raising children ever written was the Word of God. You keep enough of that in there, and you meditate on it enough in the Bible to build a raised children.
[21:54] What about how to handle money? I need Dave Ramsey. Well, the Bible knew more about it than Dave Ramsey before he was ever born. I can just tell you, the Bible is the Word of God. It's the manual, and whatever you do will prosper.
[22:04] I'm not saying you won't have uptimes and downtimes. I'm not saying you won't go through massive difficulties on the darkest day of my ministry. My daughter had run away, and they were talking bad about me, and I went up to preach in that pulpit, and when I walked in, I said this.
[22:23] Today, my message is entitled, I Will Win in This Too. Because you know what? Whatever I do will prosper. And today, everybody would say, well, you did win.
[22:34] How'd you get to be so lucky? I didn't get lucky. I just got planted. I just got planted by the rivers of water, and I can bring forth fruit, and you can bring forth fruit. But you got verse 4, if you look at it.
[22:47] There's a word but in verse 4. Lost people do not enjoy the blessings and the prosperity. Look at verse 4. The ungodly are not so. Now, we could stop right there. That's an entire message.
[22:58] So everything we just talked about, about the godly, is not true about the ungodly. So it says here, it says here, the guy who delights in the Lord is going to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
[23:09] Well, not the guy who doesn't know the Lord and does stay in the Bible. He's not like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Hey, the guy who's planted by the rivers of water knows Jesus is in the Bible. He brings forth fruit in his season.
[23:22] His leaf doesn't wither, and whatsoever he does prospers, but not the guy who doesn't know God. Not the guy who doesn't know God. By the way, if everything in your life went wrong and everything happened and you died, if you know Jesus, you'll still be prospering.
[23:37] Paul said, to die is gain. The ungodly do not have roots. So when the wind blows, they're driven away. They're not stable.
[23:49] Verse 5, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. The other's like a tree planted by the rivers of water. This ungodly, when it comes time for the judgment, he'll cringe. He can't stand.
[24:01] He can't stand. What's he going to do? Say, well, I saw on TV that we were evolved animals and I went to college and they taught me all that. And you're standing in front of God and you're like, I didn't know you existed.
[24:11] And you won't be able to stand. But if you know the Bible, you'll be able to stand. If you're planted by the rivers of water, you'll be able to stand. If you meditate in the word of God all day, you'll be able to stand. You'll be stable. The sinful, ungodly people do not even enjoy the same things as Christians.
[24:27] It's just two different tastes. The one wants everybody else's counseling and the one wants what the word of God has to say. You're here today because I think you're basically saying, not as like the Bible. When you come to a church like Vision, not real big on a lot of stories and not real big on a lot of acts and dramas and plays.
[24:44] We're just big on next chapter, next verse. We're going to study more what the word of God says. And you just keep coming. I think you're saying, I like the Bible. And that's what the Bible's saying. You're to like the Bible.
[24:55] And God's watching over the righteous and caring for them. Look at verse six. The Lord knows the way of the righteous. Now you might not know what that means. You'd be like, well, don't he know the way of the unrighteous?
[25:06] Yeah. But this no here is in contrast to the but in the verse. You got that? In the verse it says, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. It's like God's looking and says, this righteous man, I know exactly where he's going.
[25:20] By the way, he that began a good work in you will fulfill it. God saved you. He has predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son. Romans 8, 29. God is at work in you and he'll keep on working in you and he'll get you there.
[25:33] And God's up there and said, don't worry, buddy. I got this under control. I saved you and I'll carry you all the way through because I am God. And then God looks down and says, not you guys. I know them. I don't know you.
[25:45] I know who they are. I know what they think. I know what they believe. I'm not there for you. The ungodly will perish. They will die. That's what God never wanted them to do. Perish.
[25:57] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish. Have you really prospered if you die in your sins?
[26:09] Have you really prospered if you die in your sins? The first atheist in Congress died this week. He's the first self-proclaimed, visible, I'm an atheist.
[26:21] He died. And I thought to myself, not an atheist anymore. Not an atheist anymore. I don't even know the guy. Couldn't remember his name without going back and looking at the news article. But he's not an atheist anymore.
[26:31] He died. And in hell, he looked up his eyes, being in torment. The only way to really prosper is Christ in you. Colossians 127.
[26:43] You might make a note of that next to this chapter. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
[26:54] Christ in you, the hope of glory. If you gain the whole world and lose your soul, what have you gained? You're at the end of it. You got all that money piled up.
[27:07] You can build a nice mausoleum, put up a nice statue yourself. You can write a nice thing to put on your epithet, but you'll be gone and you'll have lost it all. Choose today not to listen to logic and friends and the world, but to listen to the Holy Spirit who's speaking to you right now.
[27:28] Psalm chapter 1, the first Psalm. It says, His delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law does He meditate and it works. One of my favorite all-time verses is 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13.
[27:41] Would you look at that verse? They'll throw it up here for you. Look. For this cause also we thank God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God, which you have heard of us, you receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, this part I really like, which effectually worketh in you that believe.
[28:05] I read this week about how advertising has trick-deceptive words when it says like, like or works or compared, it never tells you what it's compared to.
[28:17] This does the best of all the other, compared to all others. And it's like, well, what did it compare it to? So when they say this effectually works, you don't know. But this works.
[28:29] This works. Look at the last part of that verse right here in front of you. Which effectively works in you. If you're a believer, you won't even realize how much it's changing you.
[28:41] I've watched people all my life. I've been in the ministry preaching full-time 46 years and I can tell you I've watched people all my life. They'll come in the building and you're like, good night, that guy's got so many bad habits.
[28:51] He's doing so many things he ought not to do. I don't know what to do, but he just stays in the Bible and all of a sudden you just notice he starts changing. It just starts affecting him and all of a sudden he's not who he was and you're like, what happened to him?
[29:03] Effectually works. He wasn't a good husband. Then all of a sudden he starts being a good husband. Effectually works. He didn't know how to raise his children, but he filled up on this book and it effectually works.
[29:16] In all honesty, the word of God, the word of God, you put it in your heart. You start, you'll be here at every service you can be at to listen to it. You get up every morning and you spend a little bit of time reading it and praying about it.
[29:28] You memorize verses and lay down in a bed at night. You drive down the road and you think about verses. You focus your mind on the word of God and I promise you this, it'll change you. It'll work in your life. You say, it says I'm a new creature, but I don't feel like it.
[29:41] Oh, hang on. Let the Bible work. Just let the Bible work. They say the preacher asked the lady, he said, what did I preach last week?
[29:52] And she said, I don't remember. Preacher said, you don't remember what I preached? She said, no, sir. She said, but it was good. He said, if you don't remember how you know it was good. She said, water goes through my strainer, cleans it, but it don't always know the water's still there.
[30:05] The word of God will go in your life and change you. You don't know what a strainer is. I really blew that one. That's from my old people. The young people are all sitting there going, strainer? Huh? But here's the whole deal.
[30:16] The whole deal is it's the word of God changes you. It works in you. It matures you. I was talking to Daniel Arrago.
[30:27] There was a Peruvian pastor still there today. And I said, Daniel, you are one of the few Peruvians that weren't drunks before they got saved. He said, well, who told you that?
[30:38] I said, well, you know, I've known you now 25 years. I don't think you were ever drunk. And he said, well, I was. I said, well, totally different. He said, well, you know, word of God.
[30:51] Word of God. Word of God. It'll change you. I ask you now, do you want to prosper? You need the Bible. You say, well, why would we need a message like this?
[31:04] Because, well, first of all, God put it in there. But secondly, you need to realize the importance of the word of God. Get in church. Get around people that will help you meditate on the word of God.
[31:15] Get your thoughts into the word. Fall in love with God and God's people. Put yourself where God can most work in your life and change you and grow you. God saved you.
[31:28] I have to end by saying that you do realize. There are two groups of people in this passage. One of them are ungodly sinners and they're going to die and go to hell. And one of them is a godly that loves God and knows God.
[31:43] This one guy, he's like, boy, I just love the word of God. I just love God. This other guy's like, I don't really care about that stuff. But there are two groups. Which one are you in? You say, well, I come to church all the time.
[31:55] You know, coming to church is not what saves you. You need to come to a place in your life when you reject what everybody told you. They want you to think positively about yourself, but you need to see yourself as who you are. A sick, sorry sinner.
[32:08] A sick, sorry, rebellious person that needs God to save them. And when you humble yourself and say, I need you, God, he'll save you and he'll change you. You say, well, the world tells me that I ought to think highly of myself.
[32:20] And I'll tell you what the Bible says. You ought to think highly of Jesus and he's the one that changes you, not you. If you're not saved, does your daddy get saved? But I'd like to say this to you. I love you. I've been with you 14 years.
[32:32] Some of you aren't very much in the Bible. There's a bunch of people that just love the Bible. If you in the Bible don't have a daily meeting, you're missing out and you're hurting yourself.
[32:45] If you haven't been through discipleship where somebody took you and set you down with the Bible and started teaching you how to read the Bible and how to study the Bible, you're missing out. If you come to a few services and you hear a little bit of Bible, you're missing out.
[32:59] You ought to decide. I want the Word of God. But in the law of the Lord does he meditate and it is his delight. It is his delight. Father in heaven, I love you and I thank you for the chance to serve you.
[33:11] I pray you save those that don't know you and I pray, dear God, that the Christians in this room would commit to get into the book, to meditate on the Word of God and to put into practice what you say. And I pray.
[33:23] I pray.