back to indexPrayer and Praise 3/9/2018
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To know you in our prayers, to know you in our worship, 00:00:16.420 |
What we are unable to do, no matter how hard we strive, 00:00:21.560 |
we know, Father God, how desperate and dependent we are, 00:00:34.360 |
you know the various things that we're wrestling with, 00:00:43.440 |
So we ask, Lord God, that you would call your believers 00:00:47.200 |
to submit to you, to take this time, Lord God, 00:00:52.720 |
That as you hear us, and as you hear our prayers, 00:00:58.040 |
that you would continue to soften and renew us, Lord God, 00:01:02.960 |
We pray for your guidance, we pray for your spirit, 00:01:08.180 |
Bless us, Lord God, as we have come to meet you. 00:01:13.680 |
All right, and so, especially the chapter one, 00:01:17.080 |
chapter one of the book of Psalms is the introduction, 00:01:25.800 |
'cause chapter one is kinda like the main thesis, 00:01:28.360 |
and everything else that you see in the rest of Psalms 00:01:31.040 |
is kinda like the outworking of what he says in chapter one. 00:01:35.360 |
So we're gonna start and look at chapter one. 00:01:43.960 |
"who walks not in the counsel of the wicked." 00:01:57.160 |
some people think that happiness is found in the world, 00:02:01.040 |
and then you come to church because this is your duty, 00:02:16.920 |
or if you wanna be happy, you go play sports, 00:02:19.680 |
or you travel, or you do something else, right? 00:02:29.960 |
and that's the distinction between a Christian 00:03:00.440 |
You know, a lot of times, we have a hard time 00:03:01.800 |
seeing that in Christians who've been walking 00:03:03.800 |
with the Lord for a long time, for whatever reason, 00:03:06.280 |
but when you see somebody who just received the Lord, 00:03:09.860 |
almost always, the first thing that you can notice 00:03:13.400 |
There's this burden of sin that's been lifted off from them, 00:03:16.440 |
and you see this light, because salvation literally means 00:03:22.280 |
Remember the word life is zoe in the New Testament. 00:03:33.600 |
So when he says, "Blessed is the man, happy is the man, 00:03:46.160 |
the distinction between them is where you find life. 00:04:11.480 |
and then he gives three things that he does not do. 00:04:15.760 |
He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. 00:04:21.280 |
Third, nor does he sit in the seat of scoffers. 00:04:25.440 |
the first identifying mark of a true Christian 00:04:28.940 |
is he does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. 00:04:38.960 |
and as long as you stay away from them, you'll be fine. 00:04:47.240 |
Any counsel, any idea, any thoughts, any principles 00:04:52.120 |
that is contrary to true life in Christ is wicked counsel. 00:05:07.480 |
who's living his life based upon the principles 00:05:26.920 |
is distinguished between what is good and what is best. 00:05:34.840 |
is distinguished between what is good and what is best. 00:05:41.200 |
there are things that we consider good, right? 00:05:44.680 |
We wanna be good children, we wanna be good fathers, 00:05:55.600 |
But sometimes these things lead us away from God. 00:05:59.880 |
Wickedness isn't always identified with black and white. 00:06:04.000 |
It's any counsel, any principle, any thought, 00:06:08.560 |
any advice that leads us away from Christ the center 00:06:20.040 |
If you work hard, you get money, you get a good job, 00:06:40.360 |
the aspect of true salvation is an individual 00:06:43.760 |
who does not walk according to the pattern of this world, 00:06:54.260 |
An individual who's constantly making decisions 00:07:00.080 |
eventually he's gonna be counted among the sinners. 00:07:08.280 |
and you begin to walk in the counsel of the wicked, 00:07:16.360 |
A sin that you've allowed and you've compromised in, 00:07:22.680 |
eventually will grow to become something bigger 00:07:36.640 |
other than the fact that he goes to church on Sunday. 00:07:39.540 |
Eventually he will be counted among the sinners. 00:07:41.640 |
His value system is no different than a non-Christian. 00:07:44.280 |
So eventually you're not gonna be able to distinguish 00:08:03.760 |
his thought process is no different than the world. 00:08:09.320 |
You can't distinguish him between a Christian 00:08:14.400 |
If you've talked to anybody who used to go to church, 00:08:36.640 |
They, oh, I used to be a professing Christian. 00:08:40.840 |
Usually the people who are the most antagonist 00:09:11.000 |
Usually it's not, do I choose God or do I choose Satan? 00:09:17.040 |
where you want God and you want something else, 00:09:19.280 |
and you know in your heart it's a compromise. 00:09:42.920 |
The Psalms don't have any kind of effect on you. 00:09:47.320 |
You read the Bible, it just seems like words, right? 00:09:50.480 |
And you're just kind of checking in and checking out 00:10:00.960 |
you say, "Well, you know, I'm in this large group of people, 00:10:03.120 |
"but I really don't feel like I'm fellowshipping." 00:10:08.440 |
you feel this disconnect with other believers. 00:10:23.620 |
"I feel judged because I don't connect with people. 00:11:05.420 |
This is a progression that I've seen throughout the years, 00:11:12.780 |
unrepentant sin, or sin that they've allowed and compromised. 00:11:20.980 |
and they begin to get counted with the sinners, 00:11:23.500 |
and eventually they are sitting with a sea of scoffers, 00:11:31.600 |
is a sin that they allowed it to fester in their hearts. 00:11:39.960 |
"happy is the man whose pattern of life is not that." 00:11:47.400 |
"and on this law he meditates day and night." 00:11:54.700 |
Now, we are in the new covenant, in the New Testament, 00:12:01.780 |
The law, we're not about the law, we're about grace. 00:12:24.340 |
"Legally, profitably, for what it was intended for." 00:12:31.780 |
"If true joy is coming from delighting in the law of the Lord," 00:12:36.460 |
you know, some of us will, or a lot of us will sit here 00:12:55.740 |
Whether you believe that pre-Christian or post-Christian, 00:13:01.580 |
"I don't have any ability to carry this out." 00:13:04.660 |
And that's why he said, "Because of the Holy Spirit," 00:13:15.140 |
we don't have the ability to delight in the law. 00:13:20.380 |
"So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, 00:13:23.720 |
"in order that we might be justified by faith." 00:13:26.720 |
When he says he delights in the law of the Lord, 00:13:35.580 |
He's not saying that if you wanna really be happy, 00:13:46.820 |
You have to enjoy that or else you're not saved. 00:13:49.220 |
The reason why he says he delights in the law of the Lord 00:14:05.580 |
Because those are his words, those are his commandments. 00:14:08.340 |
Because he loves the Lord, he delights in the law. 00:14:22.060 |
You know, the order of this is extremely important. 00:14:44.300 |
So many of us are trying so hard to delight in his law, 00:14:49.020 |
memorize and meditate on it, but you don't delight in it. 00:14:55.620 |
And then think about certain things that you really love. 00:15:03.100 |
Some of you guys may remember the very first date 00:15:13.020 |
Think about what you're gonna do on that date. 00:15:15.580 |
where are you gonna eat, what car are you gonna drive, 00:15:26.180 |
But the natural response, when you are delighting 00:15:32.180 |
in something, you just can't get this out of your mind. 00:15:38.420 |
Now, you may not be a detail-oriented person, 00:15:46.020 |
You know more about cars than an average person 00:15:48.460 |
because you're delighted, it makes you happy. 00:15:51.540 |
And if somebody told you, you need to memorize 00:15:55.540 |
all the different cars and the miles per gallon 00:16:01.380 |
it's just, I mean, it's just torture for some of you. 00:16:04.020 |
But some of you, you can't help but thinking about it, right? 00:16:11.540 |
When he says, happy is the man, safe is the man, 00:16:19.140 |
he's describing an individual who met the Lord. 00:16:35.580 |
He just delights in it, he can't stop thinking about it. 00:17:07.700 |
And that's why you share your faith with other people. 00:17:10.940 |
You tend to share the things that you delight in. 00:17:24.280 |
I don't care if you're an extrovert or an introvert, 00:17:36.880 |
You'll drop hints, and you have all kinds of ways 00:17:41.780 |
If you delight, if that's something you really delight in, 00:17:44.940 |
you watch a movie that you just really loved, 00:17:52.900 |
It's on your Instagram, it's on your Facebook. 00:18:23.500 |
Talking to somebody that is a stranger to you, 00:18:51.420 |
He's describing somebody that has happened to him. 00:18:56.980 |
an Old Testament believer or New Testament believer. 00:19:00.100 |
He said Old Testament believers were saved by faith. 00:19:02.460 |
They did, and they lived their life in obedience 00:19:12.300 |
And it's no different in the Old Testament and New Testament. 00:19:16.300 |
and it was not that that was their way of salvation. 00:19:41.620 |
He says, "He's like a tree planted by a stream of water 00:19:50.260 |
It is no different than what Jesus said in John 15, 5, 00:20:01.380 |
How frustrating is it when we are not abiding in him, 00:20:15.120 |
"If your thoughts and mind is not abiding in him, 00:20:18.220 |
"and you're not meditating on him, you can't bear fruit." 00:20:23.140 |
"It's gonna be very difficult to bear fruit." 00:20:25.340 |
He says, "No, it is impossible to bear fruit, 00:20:33.100 |
is no different than what he's saying in Psalm chapter 1. 00:20:35.900 |
So the first step of salvation is to meet Christ. 00:21:00.900 |
Billions of dollars are spent to convince you 00:21:04.540 |
that you need the phone, that you need the car, 00:21:08.500 |
that you need to go to this specific place in the world. 00:21:31.780 |
So it's only natural that somebody in his flesh 00:21:40.700 |
that would cause us to pull us away from that? 00:21:54.700 |
Christians, they don't have the fellowship of believers, 00:21:59.140 |
you know, peoples, friendships, they come, they go. 00:22:03.100 |
Leaders, no matter how much you respect them, 00:22:08.100 |
They're sinful people who are standing in between 00:22:11.100 |
and the best that we can do is to point you to Christ. 00:22:28.380 |
if the very thing that attracted to him from the beginning, 00:22:31.700 |
where our eyes were open and we saw the glory 00:22:53.180 |
by your own willpower, by your own organization, 00:22:59.460 |
That's why he says, "Then fix your eyes upon Jesus, 00:23:09.980 |
to be able to overcome the temptation of the world 00:23:22.340 |
he's like a tree planted by the streams of water, 00:23:41.140 |
and then somehow we've kind of moved past the water 00:23:45.660 |
and we've planted ourselves somewhere out in the desert. 00:23:48.420 |
And so we're getting bits and pieces of taste, right? 00:23:57.340 |
the responsibility of the leaders in your life 00:24:01.180 |
or, "We have to run to you, give you some water 00:24:12.940 |
and say, "He's okay now for another six months. 00:24:19.740 |
So the leaders are running around with buckets of water, 00:24:22.800 |
looking for people out in the desert to pour water in. 00:24:32.260 |
as soon as somebody doesn't run to you with water, 00:24:40.580 |
"who's truly happy, who's living, who's alive, 00:24:46.480 |
"but the one who was planted by streams of water." 00:24:51.260 |
"because the source of life, the living water, 00:24:55.700 |
He can survive whether it rains or doesn't rain. 00:25:07.660 |
See, that's what sanctification ultimately is. 00:25:25.460 |
is to make sure that I'm planted by the living water. 00:25:41.860 |
go to certain countries where persecution is happening, 00:25:43.980 |
threatening them with jail, physical violence, 00:25:51.460 |
whose this living water is flowing underneath them, 00:25:54.020 |
you tell them, "If you do this, there's consequences." 00:26:10.940 |
It's not because they're more courageous than us. 00:26:14.140 |
It's not because they're made of something different than us. 00:26:36.340 |
It's not because they were discipled properly. 00:26:38.260 |
It's not because they had all the right formulas 00:26:41.700 |
It's just this living water is underneath this current. 00:27:03.020 |
This is why our time of devotion in the Lord, 00:27:13.620 |
because there's only an avenue to get us to Christ. 00:27:22.540 |
and examine our life to see where are you planted? 00:27:41.140 |
Does it come from hope for a superficial future? 00:27:51.900 |
Are your friendships truly centered in Christ? 00:27:58.580 |
So there's four things that I want you to focus on. 00:28:13.220 |
that will lead us to greater meditation on God's word. 00:28:21.460 |
if that's not a regular pattern in your life, 00:28:23.980 |
to constantly plant yourself by the living water, 00:28:26.780 |
that's the first thing that I really wanna encourage you to do 00:28:30.900 |
man, you know, like I wish I could just be planted 00:28:35.540 |
Those of you who are not regularly in the word of God, 00:28:41.060 |
your spiritual, the fix to your spiritual problem 00:28:43.700 |
may be as simple as just regularly coming to the Lord. 00:28:57.660 |
if you are regularly living a pattern of life 00:29:00.500 |
where you're not regularly intaking the word of God, 00:29:15.100 |
if you're not regularly in the word of God on your own, 00:29:27.780 |
So if you're not in the pattern of doing that, 00:29:47.100 |
So the first thing I wanna encourage you to do 00:29:48.900 |
is how are you interacting with God in his word? 00:30:20.780 |
so those two things are not a regular pattern in our life. 00:30:28.540 |
Pray to be more deliberate with the friendship 00:30:35.060 |
well, it's so hard to fellowship with people, you know? 00:30:38.020 |
A lot of times it's because you set a pattern 00:30:41.340 |
in your friendship that you can talk about Jesus 00:30:47.940 |
To be deliberate about breaking that pattern. 00:30:51.060 |
where it's very awkward to talk about Christ, 00:31:07.380 |
it's just everybody just like, you're weird, right? 00:31:10.020 |
If that's the case and they're Christians with you, 00:31:14.780 |
that's something that I really wanna encourage you 00:31:22.820 |
like how's your Friday time, how you doing spiritually? 00:31:29.380 |
Secondly, pray to connect with new friends at church 00:31:44.100 |
my experience, again, I don't know everybody in this church, 00:31:46.580 |
but my experience is majority of the people in this church 00:31:49.500 |
will appreciate it if you took the initiative, 00:32:01.900 |
but my experience has been that that is not the case, right? 00:32:19.540 |
not just people who you're gonna hang out with, 00:32:22.900 |
to celebrate birthdays with and take trips with, 00:32:24.740 |
but people who you're really gonna partner with, right? 00:32:35.620 |
so many other people that you probably don't know. 00:32:41.820 |
100% certain that you don't know everybody either. 00:32:44.540 |
And there's a lot of people who are hungry for God 00:32:50.100 |
So second, pray for that, pray for true fellowship. 00:33:09.500 |
The first place that you really need to look at 00:33:16.340 |
It may be your coworkers, it may be your school friends, 00:33:22.580 |
It doesn't mean that you need to have a gospel track 00:33:25.500 |
right in your pocket and just lay it on them, right? 00:33:28.860 |
It may not be an effective way to evangelize, 00:33:40.780 |
You just have to talk about the holiday, right? 00:33:52.220 |
I spend a lot of time at church, which is also true, right? 00:33:55.460 |
It's an opportunity to share the gospel, be intentional. 00:34:07.580 |
When you're in the Word and in the prayer and you're sober, 00:34:09.980 |
you will be surprised just how many opportunities 00:34:15.180 |
And all you have to do is take advantage of it. 00:34:21.060 |
to be sensitive to the people who are already around you. 00:34:26.220 |
or people you may come into contact with, right? 00:34:29.700 |
Again, not just the people who you're already in contact with, 00:34:36.780 |
if you're at school and you have a school project, 00:34:49.260 |
you know, I had such a passion for evangelism 00:35:03.980 |
"they give me three opportunities to preach." 00:35:29.180 |
"and I preach the gospel three times to these people." 00:35:32.740 |
So all I'm asking is to be sober, to be intentional. 00:35:37.740 |
There's all kinds of, especially if you're a student, 00:35:39.740 |
if you're coworkers, there's all kinds of stuff. 00:35:41.740 |
If they ask you, "Well, how can you," don't say no, right? 00:35:56.180 |
So become friends with them, hang out with them. 00:36:07.780 |
Whether you're a student or you're a worker, right? 00:36:21.820 |
We already have a lot of non-Christians coming to church 00:36:25.020 |
and we're really excited because we see so many of you 00:36:27.260 |
inviting your coworkers and friends and family members 00:36:31.660 |
and so we're excited to see that you're actively doing that. 00:36:34.740 |
But this Easter is a Sunday that a lot of non-Christians 00:36:39.740 |
and nominal Christians who may not be true believers, 00:36:42.340 |
may be confused about their faith, they're willing to come. 00:36:50.140 |
If there's people in your life that you would like to invite 00:36:52.460 |
even if they don't come, at least if you invite them, 00:36:54.780 |
that may break the ice to be able to share the gospel 00:36:59.860 |
So what I would like you to do is take that piece of paper 00:37:02.620 |
that we gave you and again, I want you to write down 00:37:07.340 |
like point one, point two, point three, point four 00:37:14.900 |
And again, the reason why I asked you to do that 00:37:19.060 |
you can match the things that I'm asking you to pray for. 00:37:22.140 |
And so once you've done that, again, just like last time, 00:37:27.980 |
You can pray out loud, you can pray quietly, right? 00:37:33.380 |
Even if after three minutes, like man, this is hard, right? 00:37:45.060 |
So again, if you need a pen, go get it, it's in the back. 00:37:59.460 |
and I'm gonna give you about five, six minutes 00:38:01.380 |
and after that, we're gonna take some time to pray 00:38:07.860 |
And then after that, Pastor Mark's gonna come 00:38:09.420 |
and he's gonna lead us in corporal prayer, okay?