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Fill me with your Spirit, dear God, help me not to preach in the flesh, but, dear God, help me to preach in the power of the Holy Ghost. And I pray that every single person's ears will be attentive to your word and to your voice tonight. And in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Now, before I get into Psalm 1, I want to just talk about the Book of Psalms and Generals as we're starting at the first chapter. And Psalm 1 is one of the most famous Psalms that there is, probably second only to Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want, etc. But Psalm 1 is a Psalm that's constantly being preached. It's so filled with powerful truths, but before I get into that, I want to just talk about the Book of Psalms in general. Now, let me tell you something. The Book of Psalms is under attack. It is. And I'm going to show you how it's under attack. And I'm going to preach to you tonight, before I get into Psalm 1, just about the Book of Psalms, how important it is and what it means. Now, first of all, turn, if you would, to Mark, chapter number 12. The Book of Mark, chapter 12, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Now, probably two of the most attacked books in the Bible are Genesis and Revelation. But today, believe it or not, the Book of Psalms is under attack. Now, you'd think that Psalms, if anything were sacred, would be the one book that people wouldn't question or attack it. I mean, if you get a New Testament, a lot of times it has the Book of Psalms appended to it. Because even though it's found in the Old Testament, it's considered one of the greatest books of the Old Testament. Let me prove that to you. It is the most quoted book in the New Testament. Did you know that? When Jesus and the apostles and all the different books of the New Testament quote back to the Old Testament, more often than not, they're quoting the Book of Psalms. It's the most quoted book in the New Testament. Look at Matthew 22. I'm sorry, Mark, where did I have your turn? Mark 12, sorry about that. Mark 12, 35. Watch this. And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore himself calleth him Lord, and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. Now what I want to point out in this passage is that David spake by the Holy Ghost. Now even though he's speaking in the first person, he's speaking as David. And he's talking to God and about God and about Jesus Christ. He was speaking by the Holy Ghost. Let me tell you something. Psalms is authoritative as scripture. It is not written by man, it's written by God. I'm going to prove that further, but that's a quote from Psalm 10. Now what is Jesus Christ teaching here? You see, many people today, I'll apply this scripture to 2009, will say that Mary is the mother of God. Now wait a minute. Here, Jesus said, I'm not David's son. I created David. Now he was the son of David in the flesh as Jesus Christ, the man, because he was 100% man and 100% God. And the man was physically descended from David. But the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 3 that Jesus Christ is without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God. That's what Hebrews 7-3 says. So Jesus Christ is the beginning, the alpha, the omega, the first and the last. Mary is not his mother. Mary is a creative being. She was the mother of the physical Jesus. She gave birth to him. She's not the mother of God. And David is not the father of God, even though David was physically his forefather. That's why he says here, wait a minute. Why are the scribes telling you that Christ is the son of David when David's calling him Lord? Whence then is he his son? He's trying to prove to them the deity of Jesus Christ. That before David was even around, Jesus Christ existed and was God and was Lord. Look at Matthew 22. Back one book. Matthew 22. What was my point in turning there? To show you that the book of Psalms is authoritative. Jesus is preaching it as fact saying, hey, these words are spoken by the Holy Ghost. Look at Matthew 22 42 saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, the son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David, what are the next two words? In spirit, call him Lord, saying, I'm sorry, I lost my place. Saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies and I have footstool. Turn to Acts chapter 4 and while you're turning there, I'll read you another scripture. Hebrews 4-7, you're turning to Acts 4. Hebrews 4-7, this is talking about God speaking to the children of Israel. It says, again, he limited a certain day saying in David, today after so long a time as it is said today if you will hear his voice, pardon not your hearts. So there it says that God said in David and then he quotes Psalm 95. So who's the one that's speaking in Psalm 95? God. This is God's word. Look at Acts chapter 4 verse 24. And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven, the earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, then he quotes Psalm 2, Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? So who was speaking through David's mouth in the book of Psalms? The Lord God. So we see that David was speaking in spirit. David was speaking by the Holy Ghost. David was authoritative because it wasn't man's word. It was God's word. It was the Lord God speaking by the mouth of David. God said in David. It said in Hebrews 4-7. Look at Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter number 2 verse 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, now this is the phrase I want you to see, because we're trying to figure out about the book of Psalms here, being a prophet. So David was what? A prophet. And that's applying to what he said in Psalm 16. This is David prophesying. It says David being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell. Neither his flesh did seek corruption. Flip back to Acts 1. Now wait a minute. David, being a prophet, spake these things in Psalm 16. Listen to this. 2 Peter 1-20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Now let me ask something. Does that apply to the book of Psalms? Absolutely. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The book of Psalms is not man's word, it's God's word. I mean right there we saw Psalm 95, Psalm 110, Psalm 2, Psalm 16. In Acts 1 we're going to see Psalm 109, Psalm 69. This is the most quoted book in the New Testament, my friends. Again and again it's quoted. I'm just showing you a very few examples of quotations. Look at Acts 1-16. Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas. So who was speaking? The Holy Ghost, using David's mouth, which was guide to them that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, and so much as that field is called in their proper tongue a seldoma, that is to say the field of blood, for it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein, and his bishopric let another take. Now flip back if you would to those two Psalms. Psalm 69 and Psalm 109. Put a finger in Psalm 69, and a finger in Psalm 109. We're almost done with the introduction, then we're going to get into Psalm 1, but we've got to understand the book of Psalms, only because it's under attack today. Only because Christians don't understand the book of Psalms today. We've got to lay some groundwork. What have we learned so far? Jesus preached it. He quoted it more than any other book. The New Testament quotes it more than any other book. He preached it as authoritative. It was called the word of God. It was called the prophecy of God. It was called the Holy Ghost speaking. It was called the Lord God speaking, using the mouth of David. Could it be any clearer? It really couldn't, that this is God's word. Psalm 69 verse 25. Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents. Then Psalm 109 verse 6. So that was the part that was quoted in Acts 1. Here's the second part that was quoted. Verse 8, but let's start reading in Psalm 109 verse 6. Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office. You remember that? That's his bishopric, let another take. Why bishopric, office? Because they both mean the same thing. That's why the Bible says, that he that desireth the office of a bishop, desireth a good work. 1 Timothy 3, 1. And so it says in verse 9, Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and big. Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him. Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following, let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth, because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. Now who's speaking, my friend? God. But wait a minute. It's not just God speaking, it's God speaking by the mouth of David the prophet. Here's what you have to understand about the Bible. People in the Bible, and every scripture I've shown you has proven the point I'm making, especially the one in Acts chapter 2. We kind of blew by it. But if you really comprehend Acts 2 and Psalm 16, you'll understand that people in the Bible speak about themselves and the events in their own life. Yet, it is God's word that was from the foundation of the world before they were even created. For example, it's not just Psalms. How about Galatians chapter 1? In Galatians chapter 1, Paul talks about withstanding Peter to the face, because he was to be blamed. Now he's talking about the events of his own life, but who is it really that was upset with what Peter was doing? God. Because God was the one who was speaking those words for him to pin down, for him to speak. Does everybody understand that concept? That's what I want you to understand. It's God's word. God created the man to fit the book. He didn't write the book to fit the man. The book existed before the man ever existed, whether it be Paul, whether it be David, whether it be Peter. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. Hey, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. His word is from before the world began. So what are we saying here? The book of Psalms is under attack. People today cannot face, cannot deal with some of the teaching and preaching of the book of Psalms. And so here's what preachers have been saying this week. Independent fundamental Baptists, can you believe this? They said, oh, that's just David talking. Like the Psalm we just read. I mean, this exact Psalm that I just read to you. They said, oh, that's David, and boy, David did a lot of things that were wrong. And, you know, he committed adultery, and maybe he was wrong here. Well, maybe Paul was wrong in the book of Galatians. I've literally sat in an independent fundamental Baptist church that was King James only, and the pastor got up and said, well, Galatians was written really early in Paul's ministry when he was immature. That's why he was so hard on Peter. Later on, he wised up. Whoa there, tiger, that is God's word, buddy. And let me tell you something. You are preaching heresy if you say that's David talking. No, my friend, it's the Holy Ghost talking. And where is that logic in the end? As soon as you don't like something in the book of Psalms, you just say, oh, that was just David. Somebody else said this, oh, but when David was praying all these curses, because we just read David pray all this cursing upon a wicked evil doer. And he said, that was the Old Testament. How about Galatians 1? If any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that you have received. Let him be accursed. And then he said, hey, let me say it again. And he repeats it a second time. Why? Because he wanted to make sure that you didn't miss it the first time. And what I'm trying to say is that they run into these things and they say, well, you know, sure, David prayed in 20 different Psalms for people to be cursed or to die and go to hell or to have their name blotted out of the book of life or all these different things. And he prayed that he hated them in Psalm 139 and on and on. But they say, well, how do we know that God approved of that prayer? I know these are his. Look, this is not David's diary of personal feelings. I just want to make sure you know this before we get into the book of Psalms. This is not David's diary of personal thoughts and reflections. Here's what I prayed today. And we're just left to wonder, I wonder what God thinks about it. No, and you know what? Anybody who's preaching that heresy needs to get right with God and say, you know what? The book of Psalms is God's word, not man's word. Now, wait a minute. The book of Psalms has a lot of things that are unpalatable. But it can also be a very encouraging, uplifting book. And that's really the way the whole Bible is. But let me ask you this. Where is it going to end? If we can take the parts of Psalms we don't like and say, oh, that's just David. Well, what about Genesis? That was just Moses, right? I mean, that was Moses, right? Joshua, that was just Joshua. You know how Joshua is. Oh, you know, first and second Samuel. Well, I don't think it was Samuel because he dies part way through the book. So whoever wrote it, you know what I mean? Oh, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. What do they know? Discovery. You know, and oh, you know, the Epistles of Paul. That's just Paul. Where does it end? Pretty much you're just left with everything in the red letter. You know, you get a Bible with the red letters, words of Christ in red, and that's all you believe. But you know what? That's what the Catholics have already believed for years. Because I remember I used to give the Gospel to Catholics, and I'd use the book of Romans, and they'd say, oh, that's just Paul, that's just Paul. What did Jesus say? What did Jesus say? This is what Jesus said. Amen. Psalm 1 is what Jesus said. Psalm 2 is what Jesus said. Jesus is the Word. Amen. Okay, and so we've got to get that straight. How are we going to understand the book of Psalms if we don't even know who wrote it? If we don't even realize it's God's Word? If we're going to stand in judgment of the Psalms? I mean, if we're going to read Psalm 1 and decide, huh, is this right? You're not going to understand the book of Psalms like that, my friend. You better go into it knowing this is the prophecy of God, this is God's Word, no private interpretation, it's the Holy Ghost, it's God, et cetera. With that, let's delve into Psalm 1 here. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the swordful. Now, what does it mean to be blessed? It means that, you know, it's a very deep word, it's a very profound word, and so it's kind of a word that doesn't have an exact parallel, maybe, but it means that God is basically making things go your way, right? God, you know, it's kind of like, I always ask people, not me, who is it? Roger Jimenez, whenever he's stolen, he always asks people, what's death? And they always give them the same answer, to die. Because how do you define it, right? It's death. You know, certain words have no parallel. But what does it mean to be blessed? Who's doing the blessing? I'll put it that way. Because blessed is a, you know, basically a transiver. There's some kind of a subject that's blessing you, you're being blessed by God. That's what it's talking about. Blessed is talking about God is going to bless you. That's what it means. God is going to, you know, smile upon you, show his favor upon you, I guess be the best thing, make things go your way, he's going to prosper you, etc. Blessed is the man. So do you want God to bless you? What's the opposite of blessing? Curse. Right? You don't want God to curse you, and there are some curses in the book of Psalms. There are curses in the book of Deuteronomy. But he said curses in Galatians. But he said, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Now notice, you can see here a progression. First you're walking with the wrong crowd. Next you're standing with the wrong crowd. Then you sit out with the wrong crowd. You know, that's basically the downward spiral. But what does it mean to walk in the counsel of the ungodly? Well, counsel is basically advice. It's basically someone giving you their opinion. It's someone guiding you, guiding your mind. What you think, how you feel, what you're going to do. You know, what should I do about this? What do you think about this? That's what counsel is. And God says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. We should not be getting our advice and our counseling from the ungodly. Let me give you examples, and this could be a whole sermon. But let me give you some examples. The psychiatrist. Now look, the psychiatrist does not believe on Jesus Christ, does not believe on the Bible, does not believe that Psalms is written by God, like some Baptists don't believe that. But the psychiatrist is a dope dealer. Okay, let me just explain that to you. Psychiatrists are drug dealers. Psychiatrists should show up at their office in an Escalade with, you know, spinners, maybe like a gold SUV with hydraulics. You know, they should get out with a bunch of gold chains around their neck, you know, and basically say, you know, instead of laying on the couch, come into the crib and, you know, and, you know, do something. But hey, let me tell you something. They are drug dealers. Deal with it. They sell drugs. They sell mind-altering. Wait, do they not sell mind-altering drugs? Yes, they do. Now listen, let me give you a little tip because a lot of people take drugs and they don't realize that they're mind-altering drugs. Now we know that psychiatric drugs are mind-altering. But let me give you a hint. When you look at a drug and it lists the side effects as anxiety, panic, paranoia, that's a mind-altering drug, okay? Because you don't get paranoid, you know, from, you know, taking something that doesn't affect your mind. Paranoia is a disorder of the mind. And so if it says side effects may include paranoia, panic attacks, suicidal tendencies, that's a mind-altering drug. And so going to the world and getting the psychology of the world, you know, but number two, what about this? Just your unsaved buddies at work. Don't ask them how to have a good marriage. Don't ask them about major life decisions. Ask God, you know, or ask your fellow Christians at church. Ask somebody who's godly. One of your Bible-believing fellow Christians at church. Or do like Nehemiah. He said, I consulted with myself. You know what I mean? Don't consult with the ungodly. Your best counsel comes from yourself. Usually whenever people ask me advice, because people do sometimes come to me and ask me advice, I always say, well, what do you think you should do? And they always get the right answers. It's like, OK, well, why are you asking me? Because people know the right answer. Or I just say, what do you think I'm going to say? And then they tell them what I'm going to say. And I'm like, you're right. That's what I was going to say. You know, we try to lean on other people as a crutch, right? So that we can then later hold them responsible. Well, I just did what Pastor Harrison said. My whole life is messed up now. And they want to just blame you. Consult yourself. Or at least consult the godly. At least consult the righteous. Ask somebody. Have you ever heard this term, like a consultation? You know, don't consult with these ungodly weirdos that have all these letters behind their name and somehow they know how into the human depths of the soul. They're not even saved. Their spirit is dead within them if they're not a believer in Jesus Christ. What do they know? Nothing. Bless is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Number three, how about the news? You get your political opinion from, oh, you know. Rick Sanchez. Rick Sanchez. Let me just park it there for a while. You know, Rick Sanchez said, oh, I'm a Christian. I pray to Jesus. That's my religion. You know what? You're going to hell, Rick Sanchez. Give me break, phony, lying piece of garbage. Anyway, why'd you get me off on that? Thanks a lot. Oh, you know, Lou Dobbs or he's going to give it to me straight or Anderson Cooper. I'm just going to buy all the advertisements I hear in the airport. Every airport in America plays CNN 24 hours a day. I don't know if you know that. But I fly all over the country and that's all they play, CNN. And I hear the names, you know, Sean Hannity or Alan Combs or who am I missing here? Come on, help me out here. Keith Olbermann. Keith Olbermann. I don't even know who that is. Chris Matthews. Are they on TV? Then they're ungodly. OK, that was easy to test. Look, you're going to let these people tell you what's right. And let me tell you something. Many people are spending more time listening to those guys than they are in this book. And that's why they don't, that's why God's not blessing them. That's why their mind is so warped. That's why they can't see straight. They can't call a spade a spade because it's just being pumped into them all day long, counsel the ungodly. Oh, let me give you my opinion about this or Dr. Phil. Isn't that some psychology TV show or something? Am I in the ballpark? I don't have to be exactly. Am I in the ballpark? Oprah Winfrey or, you know, Geraldo Rivera or whatever. These are the ungodly of this world. I don't want them to counsel me. I don't need their marriage advice. I don't need their financial advice. I'm going to go to God and the people of God to give my counsel, not the ungodly. I'm not going to walk in it. I'm not going to stand in the way of sinners. You know, hanging around with wicked, sinful people. You are or you soon shall be what your friends are. It's true. I can look at your friends and I can tell where you're heading. You may not be a great Christian, but I can see that if all your friends are great Christians, you're on your way to being a great Christian. You know, I see you, you're maybe a good Christian now, but all your friends are wicked and ungodly. That'll be you. They'll bring you down. You'll be there. You'll be there soon. You see, we don't want to stand in the way of sinners. We don't want to sit in the seat of the scornful. Now, what is the scornful? Well, think about what the Bible says in 2 Peter 3, what it says, In the last days, mockers shall come. Scorning is basically mocking. It's basically people who make a joke about things that aren't funny. Like the Bible says, fools make a mock at sin. Did you get that? Fools make a mock at sin. That's people who think that it's funny to tell a dirty joke. They think homosexuality is funny. It's not funny. It's sick. It's disgusting. It's filthy. It's not funny, but TV tries to make it funny. It's always funny. All the way back to Bud's Bunny putting on makeup and molesting Elmer Fudd. And he's turning all red and purple and blue. Oh man, get away from me. And Bud's bunnies, cross dressing. Ha ha! No! It's perverted. And they're perverting the minds of children back then. Today, it's a hundred times worse. That was like 60 years ago. 50 years ago. And so, it's making a mockery of the things of God. Nothing more blasphemous than making fun of Jesus, making fun of the Bible, making fun of God. The seat of the scornful. Let me tell you where that seat is located. Now look, this is a seat. Right? That's what it's talking about when it says, sit in the seat of the scornful. Let me tell you the seat where Jesus is made a mockery of, where the Bible is ridiculed, where the things of God are disparaged, and where people think that if you believe in the Bible, it's like you're that poor kid who's eight years old and he still thinks the Santa Claus is real. You know, he still thinks the tooth fairy is real. That's what the scornor thinks of you as a believer in Jesus Christ. He thinks you're like, oh, you poor thing. You still think that Santa Claus and the tooth fairy and Jesus Christ are real. You don't make a joke about it and mock you and disparage it. This is where it's located, okay? In fact, I'll give you directions. Because we want to know where not to sit. Right? And you're sitting in the seat of the house of God here. You're hearing the preaching of God's word. And by the way, you're listening to a preacher who believes that this is God's word. Believe it or not, even the book of Psalms is God's word. But wait a minute. If you want to sit in the seat of the scornful, you get in the car. You take a right on 48th Street. Everybody getting this? You writing this down? 48 turns into Route 143. You exit at University Avenue. You head east. You'll see Dave's Dog House on the left. This message is brought to you in part by Dave's Dog House, the best hot dogs in the world. But anyway, why stop at, you know, Arizona? And you'll find yourself on the campus of ASU. You go in the classroom. You go in the science class, the history class, the Western Civilization class, and you sit down in the seat of the scornful and listen to the Bible mock. Don't tell me it's not. I've been to college. I spent years and years in college, and I know what it is. They mock God. They mock the Bible. They mock Jesus Christ. And they make light of sin. It's true. Who's been to college? Put up your hat. You've done a semester of college. I'm telling the truth. You know I'm telling the truth. For those of you who don't have your hand up, talk to them after the service. They'll tell you. And so don't sit in the seat of the scornful. Don't stand in the way of sinners. Don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. What's the opposite? But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. So the opposite of this walking in the counsel of the ungodly is when you meditate on God's word day and night. You say, Pastor Anderson, meditate upon it day and night? Well, wait a minute. You have to delight in it before you're ever going to meditate in it day and night. I mean, if you don't like it, isn't that what delight means? You delight in it? I like it. David said, Oh, how love I by law. It is my meditation night and day. You've got to love the Bible before you're going to meditate upon the Bible. You've got to love it. You've got to delight in it. And let me tell you something. I love the Bible. Reading the Bible is not a drudgery to me. It's not a chore. Hey, it's a pleasure to read the Bible. It's the most interesting, exciting, powerful book you'll ever read. It's God's word. Keep your finger here. Flip over to Joshua 1 real quick. Joshua 1. Joshua chapter 1. The sixth book of the Bible. Joshua 1. Watch this. Verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Sound familiar? That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt thou have good success. So let's flip back over to Psalm 1 here. So wait a minute. If we meditate on God's word day and night, we're going to be blessed. God's going to make our way prosperous. Whatsoever we do is going to prosper. Because it said, I mean, very consistent here between Psalm 1 and Joshua 1, because they were both written by God. And so it says in Psalm 1 3, And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit and his season. Now listen to this great promise. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now how would you like that promise to be applied to you? How would you like to walk around with that whatsoever you do is going to prosper? Now wait a minute. Are we talking about you're going to roll into the church parking lot with the Mercedes and you're going to live to be 120 and you're never going to have any problems? I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel. Nothing worse than these prosperity preachers who lie and say, Oh, if you put ten dollars in the plate God's going to give you a hundred. And if you put in a hundred, God's going to give you a thousand, you know. Have faith, plant a seed. You know, and you're going to reap the same. And they tell you, you know, and they're the ones who are driving the Mercedes, you know. I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel. Job was the most righteous man in the entire world. Lost all his money. Lost all his children. Lost all of his employees. Lost the respect of his wife who told him to curse God and die. Lost his health. Was covered in boils head to toe. Sitting in a garbage dump scraping his wounds. And wait a minute. That was the greatest man who was living at that time. Why? Because the trial of his faith was being much more precious than gold. He was being tried. He was being tested. Yea, and all the will of God in Christ Jesus have suffered persecution. You're going to go through trials, temptations. Think of no strange thing concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. Paul had the thorn in the flesh. Everyone goes, look at the things that Paul went through. Everyone who's a Christian goes through heart. Jesus didn't even have a place to sleep at night. Okay? And so we see that we're not talking about a prosperity as in a money prosperity. And that's what we think of today, right? Prosperity is wealth and health and success. No, let's figure out what the success is. How about the fact that you'll bring forth fruit in your season? How about the fact that you're going to go out and win people to Christ and be blessed? How about the fact that when you preach the gospel you'll get people saved? You'll bring forth fruit after your own kind. You'll reproduce as it were. And I'm mainly talking about spiritually reproducing. Going out and win somebody, you're a Christian. You reproduce into another Christian by winning them to Christ. Bring forth fruit. Also physically, the Bible says children are inherited to the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward, okay? And so God's blessings are maybe different than what you think of. God's blessings are being blessed with children, being blessed with getting people saved, being blessed with the power of God on your life, being blessed with understanding, knowledge, wisdom, okay? These are the things that are worth far more than money. Wisdom is more to be desired than gold or silver or rubies. Don't be foolish and follow this world's example and think it's all about how much money you have. You know, the richest person in the world, they ate the same amount of meals today that you did. They still had to get up and brush their teeth and take a shower and put on their clothes. They ate meals. They worked. They go to bed at night. They sleep. You know, there's not really that big of a difference between your life and their life, okay? But think about it. It's true. Having food in raiment, the Bible says, let us be there with content. And so we see here that it says, you know, you'll be blessed. You'll prosper. God's going to bless you. God says you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. You're not going to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. You're not going to be bouncing around all the time. No, you're going to be planted. You're going to be firmly rooted, grounded. People aren't going to be able to push you around. You're going to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain. But in verse 4, it says, the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. It's like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand versus the wise man who built his house upon a rock. The Christian who meditates on God's word, he doesn't mess with all the worldly and ungodly, scornful. He is planted. He's like a rock because he's planted firmly upon the rock. He's like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water. The ungodly are like the chaff. The wind just blows them away, knocks them down. In a moment, they're destroyed. They're gone. Their character won't stand up to the test. They're like the chaff that the wind blows away, as opposed to being a tree that's like a rock. Like when the storms come in your life or in my life, if your house is built upon the rock, it'll stand firm. If you're built upon the shifting, changing sands of this world, it's going to be blown over. It's going to be knocked over. Religions today are based upon a shifting sand. They change all the time. One minute, gays are an abomination. The next minute, they're being ordained as the pastor. Right? If you're a Lutheran, didn't they just a week ago ordain the sodomites, the homos, the queers? The United Methodists, they change all the time. The Catholics are constantly changing what they believe. Baptists, in many cases, are constantly changing, but this book doesn't change. If you're founded upon some church, some denomination, you're in for the ride of your life, because you're going to be shifting and blowing all over the place. Hey, why don't you get planted upon the rock right here? God's word, the Bible. And then when somebody gets up and tells you, Oh, well, I don't know if this is really God's word. I think David was just having a bad day or something. You know what I mean? I think David was just in a bad mood and God just wanted to tell us about it when he was screaming all this hatred and damnation on people. No, you'll say no. No, I've been meditating on Psalms. I know what it says and I know what the book of Acts says. It's God's word. But then again, maybe Acts was wrong, right? Maybe Acts was wrong when it said Psalms was God's word. Maybe the book of Hebrews is wrong. Where's it going to end? Quit questioning the Bible. And then he says in verse number four, The ungodly are not sober like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. But who will stand? The man whose meditation is in God's word day and night. The man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly can stand firm. When the storm comes, when the winds and the waves beat against him, he can stand because he's found upon the rock, not like the ungodly that are just blown over. They can't stand up. They can't stand up for anything. They'll fall. They may stand for a while, but eventually they'll fall. I love how God uses this word throughout the Bible, upright. Who knows the word I'm talking about? You see it all throughout the Bible, the upright. What do you picture when you think of upright? Somebody who stands tall, stands firm in what they believe. They do the right thing and they stand upright. This is not upright. This is upright. Standing up. Being upright. He says, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. What's the word congregation translated as in the New Testament? The word congregation is never used in the New Testament. The word church is never used in the Old Testament. When the New Testament quotes verses that say congregation, it quotes it as church because they both mean the same thing. A church is a congregation of people, not a building. People say, oh, you guys don't have a real church. You better know we have a real church. Your building doesn't have a big point at the top. It doesn't have a Masonic obelisk to worship Satan with. It doesn't have a big obelisk like the ancient voodoo, pagan worship centers of the past where they have these big obelisks. It doesn't have a point at the top like the pyramids of Giza or something. This building is not the church. The church is the congregation. God's people assembled together. That's the church. We don't have to stain the glass on our front window of a long-haired Jesus for this to be the church. Hey, this was the church when we started out in the house. It was the church. And it's no more church now than it was then because there we had congregation of God's people. There we had soul-winning. There we baptized. There we sang. There we preached. There we fellowshiped. It was church. We could be outside and it would be church. When God's people are congregated, it's this group right here is church, not a building. Oh, your church is in a strip mall. Yes, it is. Yes, it is in a strip mall. Why? It's convenient that way, right? You go to church. You hit the pawn shop. You get a soft sandwich. Right? Hey! Amen. Man, if we were in a church building and I had some big steeple, I'd get up there and physically destroy the steeple on the first Sunday. I'm not kidding. On the first Sunday. I need some weird symbol, some satanic obelisk on top of my building to show everybody that it's a church. Hey, people know this is a church. They don't need some pokey thing on top to tell them. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. What does that mean? God knows your way. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. Now, stop and think about that. The way. What is the way? What does it mean, your way? Well, it's the way that you're going, basically. Now, we sang one of my favorite songs. We were singing the hymns a little earlier, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. That's one of my very favorite songs. All the way my Savior leads me. And then at the end of the song, remember what it says? This my song through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way. Jesus led me all the way. God knows the way. God knows the course or the path that your life is taking. Now, think about this scripture, also from the book of Psalms. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. God lights the path. But God doesn't light up the whole way for you. You can't see that far off. I mean, I can't see far off. Jesus tells us, take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. So he just basically lights up our feet, he says. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So he basically just lights up the next step for us. He doesn't show us the whole route. He just lights up the next step. Now, so many people today, they want to know God's will. And they want to know God's will for their life, like things way off in the future. Oh, someday I'm going to start a church. I'm trying to figure out where. Who am I going to marry? Or what am I going to do for a living? When in reality, what God wants to show you is what you need to do today. You're worried too much about two years from now, one year from now, five years from now. He's saying, look, think about what you're going to do today, this week. What are you doing for God now? Don't tell me, oh, in a few years, I'm going to do these great things for God. You don't know what a day is going to bring forth. You better do it now. What are you doing today? Don't tell me about last week. Don't tell me about two years from now. No, tell me about today. Let's talk about today and tomorrow. Let's talk about right now. That's what you really need to worry the most about. And sometimes people have a bad circumstance in their life. Right? And everybody goes through times where you have bad circumstances in your life. Now, if you try to look at the whole big picture, it's overwhelming. Like, let's say you're looking at your life, and you're saying, oh, man, I have to deal with this for the next 7,354 more days, or whatever. You're trying to look at this big picture. No. It's overwhelming. That's why God said, sufficient unto the days the evil thereof. It stresses me out to think about, what am I going to do from here until December 31? All these appointments are coming to mind, court dates, and all this stuff is coming to mind, all these business engagements, and problems, and bills. And what am I going to do about this business problem? What am I going to do here? What if I stopped and said, what am I going to do? I have to prepare 156 sermons in 2010. How am I going to come up with all that stuff to preach? 156, and each sermon's about an hour. So I've got 156 hours of preaching. No. I'm just going to prepare three sermons each week. You see what I'm saying? I don't even think of it as, oh, I've got five days to work this week. Just go to work today. Just get through the day. You know, we look too far out sometimes. Instead of just dealing with each day, living each day, hey, this is the day which the Lord hath made. We will be glad and rejoice in it. You don't know if tomorrow is even going to be there. You don't know if next week. And you don't know what's going to change between now and then. So don't worry and fret and be careful about the future. You know, be careful for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes on is saying, so keep your hearts and minds for Jesus Christ, through Christ Jesus. You see, don't try to plan out your whole life. You need to just be more focused on what's going on today, what's going on this week, what's going on this year. That's the focus. Because you will be shown the next step when you get there. Have you ever heard this expression, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it? That's the way it is with God. You cross the bridge when you come to it. You don't have to worry about it now. Just live your life. God knows your way. The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. So wait a minute. That means you should be more focused on being the good man than on worrying about what am I going to do here, what am I going to do... Be the good man and God will order your steps. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. So you have to worry about where you're going, what's going on. Just let God direct your paths. Be a good man. Obey God. Do what He tells you to do and He will lead you. He'll guide you. You'll be in His will. God's will is spelled out in the Bible. It's not some revelation you get. It's when you read the Bible, He tells you what to do, you do it and you take it one day at a time and when you get to the end of it, you look back over it and say, Jesus led me all the way. Now look, there are things that happen in my life constantly that I don't understand. And I'm just thinking to myself, you know, why is this happening? Why did that happen? But you know what's funny? If I go back about two years, I can't think of anything that happened more than two years ago where I'm still wondering why it happened. Today I can tell you why it happened. Literally. I mean, I remember one time, I had a job that I really liked. Man, I enjoyed this job a lot. But I kind of got to a point where I kind of hit the ceiling. There wasn't really anything more to learn. I couldn't really go any higher, it seemed like. I wasn't really learning it. It wasn't being challenged. It wasn't going any further financially. And so I decided to change companies because I was offered another job that I really kind of lied to about this other job. It was made to sound a lot different than it really was. Well, I basically was kicking myself because this new job, I hated it. The old job, I loved it. I worked ten hours a day and it blew by so fast. I mean, it blew by faster than any eight-hour shift. I enjoyed it. I was making pretty good money. I was getting into overtime and everything. But I switched jobs and I just was kicking myself. Why did I do it? It's a disaster. They were lying to me. It's horrible. I moved across town to be by that job and we only had one car as a family. I was kind of stuck. I don't want to bounce around. I stayed with it. The whole time I was there, I hated that job. I was there for about two and a half, three years. Hated it. Didn't like it. Kept getting jerked around. But you know what? When I got out of that job and whenever I moved across the country, God provided me a perfect job and it was the experience that I got at that job that got me this really good paying job that I really enjoyed and that really set me up with the skills of what I'm doing today in the fire alarm business. And so looking back, I thought that was a disaster. But looking back, it was great. It helped me. It was actually the best thing that could have happened. And other horrible catastrophes in my life have turned out to be a blessing in disguise. And so we've got to just trust that God's leading us. We just have to trust that God is leading us because we're doing his will. He must be guiding ourself. Now God isn't leading everybody. But if you're doing what's right, if you're the good man, if you're obeying God, if you're preaching his word, if you're soul winning, he's leading you. He's guiding you. And he'll lead you to the right place. But I mean, that's just one example. I mean, I could go through example after example. Even just catastrophes, sicknesses, and I look back and say, boy, I can see why that happened. Man, I'm glad that happened. It was actually a good thing that that happened. I remember when I was at Round Table Pizza, working when I was a teenager, and I refused to serve alcohol. I just said I'll work in the kitchen because I didn't want to serve alcohol and they wanted me to be a supervisor. And I was going to get a promotion, make more money, and I said, you know what? I don't serve alcohol. I don't touch it. I don't want to look at it. I'm against alcohol. And they said, well, you're not going to be promoted. I said, fine. I said, I guess I'll just have to stay a crew leader instead of a supervisor. Crew leader is like $0.10 above minimum wage and you get a free pizza with every work. But you were still a green shirt because there were the green shirts and the blue shirts. And the green shirts are all the garagemen that supervise the blue shirt. But they said, you can be a blue shirt. But you've got to serve alcohol. And I said, no. So I remained a green shirt. And at the time, it really bugged me. Man, why can't I be a supervisor and not serve alcohol? There's no reason why. They could still have other people working out the product because a lot of supervisors would be working in the kitchen and everything. But they just were holding me back because I think they were just trying to leverage me because it would be more convenient for them sometimes to have me working that register and serving up the alcohol. But looking back, I say, hey, maybe I would have gotten too comfortable in that job and missed out on some other jobs that God had planned for me that were better. You don't know why. I look back now. I'm like, well, I'm glad I wasn't a supervisor because then I probably would have stayed there, maybe got comfortable, started making money. And then I wouldn't have gone into other things in my life that worked out better. You just don't know what's going on. I mean, maybe those are silly examples. I'm just trying to think. I mean, if I racked my brain, I could think of a hundred. But I'm just trying to get you the gist of what I'm saying. One time, I can remember, and this is a long story. I don't even have time to go to it. My son became ill with a horrible rash, but it ended up being a huge blessing because it got us a medical exemption from the sun. I mean, it just worked out good. You know what I mean? Somebody was trying to take our kids and put them in this class and away from us. And I was like, well, you can't. Look at him. He's ill. But at first, this illness was really frustrated until it got us out of something that we didn't want to do. And it sounds funny, but it was important to us at the time not to draw up our kids off in these nurseries with these. The people who were working in the nursery were like these nursery Nazis. And I don't even want to go into that. That's a long story. Have you ever been in a church where the nursery's like these nursery Nazis that are obsessed with all these rules? One time, my wife literally went to get her kid back from the nursery, and they give you a little number assigned to your kid. You drop off your kid, and they give you a number tag. My wife goes to pick up the kid. I mean, we've been going to church there for years. They knew who we were. She didn't have the number tag. They wouldn't give her the kid. That's our policy. She's like, it's my child. I'm getting off the subject here. But you know what I mean? Things can be a blessing in disguise. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly, oh, it seems like they're going great. Oh, man, they got it all figured out, right? They got the 401k. They got, oh, it's all diverse. They got some of it in gold. They got the high yield, the low yield. They got their portfolio, their bonds. They're even in some foreign currencies. They've even got some seeds and survival stuff. They got it all figured out. I'm talking about ungodly people. He says, the way of the ungodly shall perish. Ungodly people, but man, they've got it all figured out in life. And it seems like they're, ah! Because the way of the ungodly is going to perish. Let me shock you. Every unsaved person dies and goes to hell, no matter how much money they have, no matter how well they do in business, no matter how good they take care of their own. Every person who's not saved dies and goes to hell. Can you imagine anything worse? The way of the ungodly is going to perish. Hey, we as Christians, no matter how bad it gets, we're blessed. We're going to heaven. I've said this about our life. People say this when you're out soloing. You'll ask them, do you know for sure if you died, did you go to heaven? You'd say heaven, hell. And they'll say, well, I think this is hell. Have you ever had people tell you that? I think we're living in hell right now. You know, for me, that's true. This is the closest thing to hell I'll ever experience. Phoenix in the summertime. You know what I mean? This is hot. This is hot as I'm ever going to feel. And if you think about it, for the Christian, hey, this is the closest thing to hell. You know? It's the worst. Because it's only going to get better from here. But wait a minute. For the unbeliever, this is heaven. Because they're never going to go to heaven. So this, to them, is their heaven. Live it up. Have fun. Enjoy it. Because this is all you've got. What a sad thought. Because this life is not that great, OK? And if this is all, that's a pretty dis- and it's only going to get worse. Oh, thank God it's going to get better if you're saved. Those who don't believe, it's going to get worse. And by the way, that guy on the airplane, he was right. It is easy. But it's not like I want to take a chance. No. We believe that the Bible is God's word. All of our faith is in Jesus. And thanks be to God, if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable. Tell that to Joel Osteen. Now think about it. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, we're of all men most miserable. Tell that to the guy who tells you, oh, if you're a Christian, man, everything's going to be great. Then everybody would be doing it if it's so great. People aren't doing it because it's hard. People aren't doing it because you've got to suffer. We'd be of all men most miserable, but thank God we're not miserable because we have hope. We rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Heaven is our home. We're just passing through this world. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this great book of Psalms, dear God, one of my favorite books in the Bible. I think if I were on a desert island and I could only take one book out of the Old Testament, I'd take the book of Psalms. If I were going to append one book to my New Testament, it would be the book of Psalms, as many publishers have done. God, I just pray that you'd please just help us as we go through the book of Psalms to receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Help us not to explain away things in the Bible that we don't want to face or deal with. Help us to let the Bible be our authority. And God, please just help the book of Psalms to strengthen us, encourage us, build us up, that we could be like that tree that's planted, steadfast, unmovable. Help the book of Psalms to be a part of every Christian's life. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, let's sing one song before we go. Let's go ahead and sing just one verse of song number 150, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place. One, five, zero. 150, let's sing it out. On the first verse, 150. My faith has found a resting place.