Latest / Wednesday Night Adult Bible Study and Prayer with Jeff LeDuc / Wednesday Night Adult Bible Study and Prayer | October 21, 2026

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Wednesday Night Adult Bible Study and Prayer | October 21, 2026 · Wednesday Night Adult Bible Study and Prayer with Jeff LeDuc

• 0:08
  Jeff LeDuc: Good evening.
• 0:09
  Jeff LeDuc: Welcome to our Wednesday evening Adult Prayer and Bible study service.
• 0:14
  Jeff LeDuc: It has been a privilege of mine for close to 15 years to lead this service every Wednesday night.
• 0:20
  Jeff LeDuc: It's a service where we gather together in fellowship and in prayer and in reading the Word of God and then finally studying from the Word of God together.
• 0:32
  Jeff LeDuc: What a gift technology is in that we're able to provide this service via live stream.
• 0:38
  Jeff LeDuc: So if you are unable to attend in person, then continue joining us via live stream.
• 0:44
  Jeff LeDuc: However, if you were able to be here in person, let me encourage you to do that.
• 0:49
  Jeff LeDuc: To be here each and every Wednesday night from 6.30 to 8 p.m.
• 0:54
  Jeff LeDuc: in the Worship Center, where we seek to do all things for the glory of God.
• 1:00
  Jeff LeDuc: Now we should be here for until Thanksgiving week.
• 1:36
  Jeff LeDuc: Thanksgiving week, we don't have Wednesday evening service, and so I'll try to remind you as we get closer.
• 1:43
  Jeff LeDuc: And then we meet a couple of Wednesdays in December, and then we're off uh for the remainder of December.
• 1:51
  Jeff LeDuc: And so uh but I'll try to remind you of all of that as we get closer to time.
• 1:57
  Jeff LeDuc: But uh it is great to have you here, and I'm very thankful that a couple of weeks ago uh Kyle Brown was scheduled to uh he was gonna be be in the starting rotation and take the the mount and pitch game one of the World Series, but he got sick, and uh then we went to Randy Reynolds, and Randy was good to go, and I was able to tune in actually.
• 2:23
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh the session ended beforehand.
• 2:26
  Jeff LeDuc: I was able to tune in and did a great job.
• 2:29
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh, and it was a tall order looking at an overview of Deuteronomy in the allotted time that we have, but um very, very thankful for men who are willing to teach and and feed us so well uh when I'm not here and able to be a part, and that that's a blessing not only to me, but to you all, and and uh gives you an opportunity to hear from someone else other than me, and uh these men study hard and pray hard and then deliver the word, and I'm very thankful for them.
• 3:00
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh one thing that I did want to give you a little bit of insider information here, just because you're you're here, you're the Wednesday evening crowd, you get some insider tips, and so uh one thing that's that'll be coming up in January, we are gonna do another round of growth classes.
• 3:23
  Jeff LeDuc: And so January the 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st, those four Sunday evenings will not have a normal Sunday evening service at 5 o'clock for those four Sunday evenings.
• 3:39
  Jeff LeDuc: Instead, you'll have about seven different growth classes to choose from.
• 3:45
  Jeff LeDuc: And the way for those of you who are new, some of you are nodding your head, you remember growth classes when we did these before.
• 3:52
  Jeff LeDuc: Others of you are like, what's a growth class?
• 3:54
  Jeff LeDuc: And so what we do is we offer uh, like I said, typically between six to eight different classes, and you're able to sign up for those.
• 4:05
  Jeff LeDuc: We'll have the uh title of the class, a brief description of the class, and the instructor that'll all be outside in the foyer uh here in a few weeks, and you'll be able to sign up for one of those growth classes.
• 4:22
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, here's the thing if you remember, we did summer seminars.
• 4:27
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh, we did those years ago for two summers, and that was on Sunday mornings during the Sunday school hour, and those were standalones, which meant you could go, we'd offered it numerous times, and you could that way hit several different seminars.
• 4:44
  Jeff LeDuc: The growth seminars are different in that they're not standalones, they're four sessions covering that class.
• 4:53
  Jeff LeDuc: So that instructor is going to present four different lectures, if you will, on whatever they're teaching on.
• 5:02
  Jeff LeDuc: So when you sign up, you're signing up to be in there for those four weeks.
• 5:08
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, one of the beauties of technology and JR and his giftedness and what he's brought to us uh when we did our parenting seminar and we had uh conference and we had some breakout sessions, we were able to record each of those breakout sessions.
• 5:27
  Jeff LeDuc: So I believe we're gonna be able to record all of our growth seminars.
• 5:32
  Jeff LeDuc: So while you may pick one to go to for all four weeks, you'll be able to access the other ones at a later date where you can listen to them.
• 5:42
  Jeff LeDuc: So I'm excited.
• 5:44
  Jeff LeDuc: We haven't done these for a couple of years, and uh, this is just an opportunity for us to fine-tune and hone in on some specific areas regarding whether it'd be doctrinal, uh doctrinally related, church history, biblical counseling, uh, other issues that that may come up related to missions, uh and and what that looks like, spiritual warfare.
• 6:12
  Jeff LeDuc: Those we're able to take a topic and spend four weeks on that.
• 6:17
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh, and so that's that's one of the beauties of doing the growth classes or the growth seminars.
• 6:23
  Jeff LeDuc: So again, that's hot off the press.
• 6:26
  Jeff LeDuc: You can feel free to share that with others or just keep a secret, and you can say, hey, I know something you don't.
• 6:33
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh, but we'll start advertising for that here uh in in a few weeks, and we'll have uh basically half of November, all of December to sign up for those, and then that second Sunday in January, January the 10th, will be when we kick those off.
• 6:52
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, the way our calendar falls, we'll do four weeks of that.
• 6:56
  Jeff LeDuc: Then we'll have a uh members meeting, which if you remember, that's like family matters that we used to meet in the gym.
• 7:04
  Jeff LeDuc: We'd hear testimonies from church members or different ministry areas, we would have a meal.
• 7:09
  Jeff LeDuc: Well, we outgrew that.
• 7:10
  Jeff LeDuc: And so now uh we don't call it family matters, we call it a membership meeting where we meet in here.
• 7:17
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh we've done one of those, and we have one coming up uh here in November as well.
• 7:23
  Jeff LeDuc: So uh after the growth seminars, we'll have a members' meeting, then we're off for a Sunday, and then we will start the Sunday evening services back.
• 7:35
  Jeff LeDuc: I think it's that third Sunday evening in February, and then we'll run through the spring and have our normal Sunday evening service, and and I'm not gonna tell you yet, but I do know that what we're covering on Sunday evenings, and it'll be a rotation of each of us pastors uh that'll be rotating through a sermon series, and so um, but I'm gonna hold that and wait to announce that till later.
• 8:03
  Jeff LeDuc: So, uh, anyways, all that to say, just uh kind of get your mind thinking towards Sunday evenings and when we get to January and starting out a new year.
• 8:14
  Jeff LeDuc: But for us in here, we'll we'll be in here till the week of Thanksgiving, and then we'll come back together.
• 8:21
  Jeff LeDuc: And then uh I think our time after the week in Thanksgiving of Thanksgiving, we will move to uh Adult Wing 201.
• 8:33
  Jeff LeDuc: And that's because our choir will come in here with our instrumentalists and they'll prepare for different Christmas services and things like that.
• 8:42
  Jeff LeDuc: But again, I'll give you a heads up before we get to December so you know uh where we will be.
• 8:48
  Jeff LeDuc: All right.
• 8:49
  Jeff LeDuc: So let's uh go ahead and open our time with a prayer of praise and adoration, looking at uh let me get my bearings here.
• 9:03
  Jeff LeDuc: Psalm 63.
• 9:05
  Jeff LeDuc: Okay, Psalm 63, there we go.
• 9:10
  Jeff LeDuc: My little ribbon was on a different page here.
• 9:13
  Jeff LeDuc: Psalm 63, reading from the LSB or the Legacy Standard Bible says, O God, you are my God.
• 9:23
  Jeff LeDuc: I shall earnest I shall seek you earnestly.
• 9:27
  Jeff LeDuc: My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land without water.
• 9:37
  Jeff LeDuc: Thus I have beheld you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory, because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will laud you, thus I will praise you as long as I live, I will lift up my hands in your name.
• 10:01
  Jeff LeDuc: And doctor Varner here in this uh praying scripture book says, Pause to adore your God even in your desert experiences.
• 10:11
  Jeff LeDuc: Pause to adore your God even in your desert experiences.
• 10:17
  Jeff LeDuc: What a great word.
• 10:19
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh how many of you read that psalm and hear our choir singing?
• 10:23
  Jeff LeDuc: Anybody else?
• 10:24
  Jeff LeDuc: That that's Psalm 63, great, great choir anthem that our choir has led us in.
• 10:31
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh anybody a Shane and Shane fan?
• 10:34
  Jeff LeDuc: Anyone in here?
• 10:35
  Jeff LeDuc: All right, good.
• 10:36
  Jeff LeDuc: I've got a few of you here.
• 10:38
  Jeff LeDuc: So uh Shane and Shane sings a song, Yearn.
• 10:41
  Jeff LeDuc: Lord, I want to yearn for you and uh I want to burn with passion for you.
• 10:46
  Jeff LeDuc: And it's a great, great song.
• 10:48
  Jeff LeDuc: So when I read this psalm, I think of those two uh songs, and that's the beauty and the power of even singing, and when we sing straight from Scripture.
• 11:00
  Jeff LeDuc: So let a let us uh go to the Lord in prayer.
• 11:03
  Jeff LeDuc: I'll voice a prayer of adoration unto our Lord.
• 11:07
  Jeff LeDuc: Let's pray.
• 11:08
  Jeff LeDuc: Our Father, we pause and even begin this evening with the acknowledgement that we may recognize intellectually that you are worthy to be praised.
• 11:30
  Jeff LeDuc: But perhaps we struggle with the yearning after you or thirsting after you with our whole being that moves us from within.
• 11:50
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we praise your name because you are worthy to be praised.
• 11:58
  Jeff LeDuc: We declare your great worth even as we begin this evening, this Wednesday evening prayer and Bible study service that is a gift from you, and we simply praise your name and thank you for the opportunity we have to commune with you through prayer.
• 12:22
  Jeff LeDuc: But then my mind even goes to that which is happening all over this campus tonight, those who were meeting in the choir room, the youth center, our kids' zone and the children's area, our preschool area, our gym, the meetings that are happening in the conference room and counseling sessions, the grief share, so much activity that is happening all over this campus, and for that we want to be careful to give you the praise and the thanksgiving for the work that you have done.
• 13:10
  Jeff LeDuc: And as we praise your name, we recognize again our great dependence upon you.
• 13:19
  Jeff LeDuc: We need you.
• 13:20
  Jeff LeDuc: We ask you to bless us in this service tonight, but then all over this campus.
• 13:26
  Jeff LeDuc: Protect us, provide for us, instruct us, make yourself great in the sense of your people acknowledging we know that you're already great and marvelous and worthy to be praised, but expand our vision and our apprehension of who you are so that we would continue to praise you.
• 13:52
  Jeff LeDuc: We ask all of this in Jesus' name.
• 13:57
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 13:58
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 13:59
  Jeff LeDuc: All right, let's go ahead and and look at Psalm 34, verses 6 and 7 for prayer of Thanksgiving.
• 14:08
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh let me kind of do this twofold in that this a way of disclaimer, too.
• 14:14
  Jeff LeDuc: Because normally I like to stand down here and visit with folks after our service, but uh tonight I'm gonna run out of here to go to a membership meeting.
• 14:25
  Jeff LeDuc: So I said I was gonna tie the two of these together.
• 14:28
  Jeff LeDuc: We just finished our largest membership matters class that we've had to date.
• 14:35
  Jeff LeDuc: I mean, we we think that it's the largest one we've ever had, and for that we just simply say, Thank you, Lord.
• 14:42
  Jeff LeDuc: Thank you for continuing to draw people here.
• 14:45
  Jeff LeDuc: We know He is the one who is doing that, and so with that comes the great responsibility that we have as a congregation, not only to welcome, but then as your pastors, we meet with every individual or couple or family unit prior to them being presented before you into membership here in our congregation.
• 15:10
  Jeff LeDuc: So people will go typically through a three-week new members class named Membership Matters.
• 15:16
  Jeff LeDuc: Sometimes it's two weeks, and we cram that in that way uh it based on the schedule.
• 15:23
  Jeff LeDuc: But, anyways, they go through that and then they fill out uh their testimony, their understanding of the gospel, of conversion, uh, even giving answers to the personal spiritual disciplines and the practice of the personal spiritual disciplines.
• 15:40
  Jeff LeDuc: And all of these things are done in an effort for us as pastors to get to know individuals better that the Lord is leading here, because we take seriously that we will give an account for the shepherding of your soul.
• 15:55
  Jeff LeDuc: We don't take that lightly.
• 15:58
  Jeff LeDuc: Shepherd the flock of God amongst you.
• 16:01
  Jeff LeDuc: So how do we know who's in the flock?
• 16:05
  Jeff LeDuc: By those who declare, we want to join, we we want to be members of this church.
• 16:12
  Jeff LeDuc: And then as a member of this church, just like you hear every time we present, there are commitments that you're making before the Lord and in this congregation, that there is a mutual accountability in that we want to hold you accountable to be seeking the Lord, growing in the Lord, and not drifting, not being distracted, not living in sin, and all of these things that Scripture would point us to.
• 16:38
  Jeff LeDuc: But then there is also that mutual accountability in that we want you to keep us as pastors accountable, that you're feeding us the Word of God, and that you're living a life that is holy and righteous and striving to please the Lord.
• 16:53
  Jeff LeDuc: And so what a blessing it is that we've been able to uh welcome so many people in and have and so with that though comes a lot of meetings because that takes that takes time, and uh, and I'm thankful for that.
• 17:08
  Jeff LeDuc: And so uh was able to have a membership meeting before we started here tonight and then one after when we finish.
• 17:16
  Jeff LeDuc: And so uh where am I?
• 17:18
  Jeff LeDuc: I'm looking at the Ogdons.
• 17:19
  Jeff LeDuc: You guys are my line of sight.
• 17:21
  Jeff LeDuc: So if I get to going past 740, then you, Jeff, run up here and tackle me and and we'll be done.
• 17:29
  Jeff LeDuc: No, I'm kidding.
• 17:30
  Jeff LeDuc: Don't do that, but uh just wave to me, yeah.
• 17:34
  Jeff LeDuc: But uh I'll I'll run out of here to go to that.
• 17:37
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, with that being said, understand that as the Lord brings more and more people here, it's not by accident, it's by his providential hand, and it's for the building up of the body.
• 17:55
  Jeff LeDuc: Because the church is Christ's church.
• 17:58
  Jeff LeDuc: He's the head of the church, just as our pastor has been going over, he is the head of the church, and so the Lord is the one who adds to their number, as the book of Acts points us back to.
• 18:10
  Jeff LeDuc: But with that comes the understanding that people will not just simply sit and soak, but you'll sit, soak, and then pour out.
• 18:24
  Jeff LeDuc: You'll serve as God has gifted you.
• 18:29
  Jeff LeDuc: And that excites me to think about the way the Lord is not only growing this church, but even as he leads more and more people here, there's areas I have no doubt that God is going to use people in that we need growth in, or we need strengthening in, or we need there to be a fine-tuning in the body of Christ, in this local body of believers.
• 18:58
  Jeff LeDuc: So we give thanks to him for the work that he is doing, and Psalm 34, verses 6 and 7 reminds us this poor man called out and Yahweh heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
• 19:18
  Jeff LeDuc: The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear him and rescues them.
• 19:27
  Jeff LeDuc: Pause to give thanks to God for rescuing you from your own foolishness.
• 19:34
  Jeff LeDuc: Oh, how we could all declare this poor man called out, and Yahweh heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
• 19:46
  Jeff LeDuc: So let's thank the Lord tonight as we go to him again in prayer.
• 19:51
  Jeff LeDuc: Our Father, once again, we are careful to give you thanks.
• 19:58
  Jeff LeDuc: We simply say thank you for your grace and your mercy.
• 20:04
  Jeff LeDuc: Thank you for hearing us when we call out to you.
• 20:09
  Jeff LeDuc: Thank you for saving us and sanctifying us.
• 20:14
  Jeff LeDuc: And as you continue to lead people here to join, we're thankful for the work you've done in their lives and how they have arrived at believing and trusting that you have led them here to plant their lives as members.
• 20:38
  Jeff LeDuc: And we're thankful for the leadership of the Holy Spirit in people's lives.
• 20:46
  Jeff LeDuc: Thankful that there are folks in the community who are in the community of faith here, who then go out into the greater community and even invite others to come in.
• 20:59
  Jeff LeDuc: As we continue to hear that from people who say the reason I am at first Mustang is because someone invited me.
• 21:09
  Jeff LeDuc: And so I say thank you for those who are faithful to do that.
• 21:17
  Jeff LeDuc: And then we pray that you would challenge us to be bold and courageous, to invite others here, people who cross our paths.
• 21:32
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we don't ever want to take it for granted that you are leading people here on a regular basis, and then we cry out to you, Lord, may we be found faithful as a church, as a group of pastors, as ministry leaders, as admins.
• 21:59
  Jeff LeDuc: To help and work in the office as building staff.
• 22:05
  Jeff LeDuc: In every capacity, we want to be found faithful.
• 22:10
  Jeff LeDuc: That we would continue until you call us home or return.
• 22:16
  Jeff LeDuc: So we thank you for this time and the people you have drawn here.
• 22:25
  Jeff LeDuc: And we pray this in Jesus' name.
• 22:28
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 22:29
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 22:31
  Jeff LeDuc: All right.
• 22:32
  Jeff LeDuc: Prayer of confession and before that, examination.
• 22:38
  Jeff LeDuc: So again, we're asking the Lord to examine our hearts.
• 22:42
  Jeff LeDuc: It's a good practice for us to be a part of and to take part in, asking the Lord to examine our hearts and see if there be any wicked or unclean way in us or thoughts in us.
• 22:55
  Jeff LeDuc: And then 1 John chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
• 23:10
  Jeff LeDuc: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just or righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 23:21
  Jeff LeDuc: Again, 1 John, such a great book, just to read through, even when struggling with assurance, assurance of being found in Christ.
• 23:33
  Jeff LeDuc: And I write these things, John says, so that you may know you have eternal life.
• 23:49
  Jeff LeDuc: The idea of assurance and knowledge.
• 23:52
  Jeff LeDuc: And yet this reminder that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
• 24:03
  Jeff LeDuc: That we would recognize, well, positionally, I am a saint for all who are in Christ.
• 24:12
  Jeff LeDuc: Positionally, that is justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, is God declares you righteous based on the righteousness of another, based on the righteousness of Christ.
• 24:25
  Jeff LeDuc: So positionally, that's how we're able to be called saints.
• 24:29
  Jeff LeDuc: You're the saints of God, you're the children of God, you're the chosen of God, you're the people of God, you're the redeemed, you're, and it goes on.
• 24:40
  Jeff LeDuc: All the descriptions of who we are, that's all based upon God declaring that based on the righteousness of his son.
• 24:48
  Jeff LeDuc: And for that we say, thank you, Lord.
• 24:51
  Jeff LeDuc: Praise your name that you did this work.
• 24:54
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, practically speaking, the way we live out our lives, we understand progressive sanctification means I'm still wrestling with the old man.
• 25:07
  Jeff LeDuc: The good that I want to do, I don't do.
• 25:10
  Jeff LeDuc: The bad that I don't want to do, I do.
• 25:12
  Jeff LeDuc: Wretched man that I am, who shall rescue me from this body of sin?
• 25:15
  Jeff LeDuc: Paul in Romans chapter 7.
• 25:17
  Jeff LeDuc: And boy, as we continue to get closer to the light, if you will, the more the defects and the cracks show that, oh man, I may have what I classify as big sins that are not evident and existent in my life, and yet we tend to give a pass to what Jerry Bridges called respectable sins.
• 25:40
  Jeff LeDuc: Or those things that more of culture would say, oh, that's not that bad.
• 25:46
  Jeff LeDuc: Well, sin before God is sin, and we need to confess this to him.
• 25:52
  Jeff LeDuc: And that's what 1 John 1 9 says.
• 25:54
  Jeff LeDuc: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 26:04
  Jeff LeDuc: So when we ask the Lord to examine our hearts, then we move forward in that which, or perhaps we already know, we've been convicted.
• 26:12
  Jeff LeDuc: Lord, I failed.
• 26:13
  Jeff LeDuc: Lord, I sinned against you.
• 26:16
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we confess that.
• 26:17
  Jeff LeDuc: We're in agreement with Him.
• 26:19
  Jeff LeDuc: Lord, this is sin.
• 26:20
  Jeff LeDuc: And now I'm asking you to forgive me of my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
• 26:29
  Jeff LeDuc: And so let's do that now collectively.
• 26:32
  Jeff LeDuc: I'll voice a prayer for us, but you pray that even where you sit.
• 26:36
  Jeff LeDuc: Let's pray.
• 26:37
  Jeff LeDuc: Our Father, once again, we come before you deep gratitude and humility, asking you to examine our hearts.
• 26:54
  Jeff LeDuc: I don't ever want to presume upon those who are gathered in this room.
• 27:02
  Jeff LeDuc: And if there be any here tonight that does not know Jesus as Savior and Lord, that even that would be what they confess, that I'm a sinner, I'm in need of a savior, and I cry out to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, with the full recognition that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
• 27:26
  Jeff LeDuc: For those who are already in Christ and who have done that maybe months ago or years ago or many decades ago, and we're still growing in progressive sanctification in Christ-likeness and godliness, we ask you to examine our hearts.
• 27:50
  Jeff LeDuc: One indicator of what's going on in our hearts are our words, our speech, the things that we say that reveal what's happening in the heart.
• 28:09
  Jeff LeDuc: Perhaps we need to ask you to forgive us for being rude or disrespectful or liar, blasphemous, perhaps an exaggerator, a gossip, a slanderer.
• 28:27
  Jeff LeDuc: Perhaps we have nursed the seed of bitterness in our heart to such an extent that it just comes through in our speech, being judgmental of others.
• 28:44
  Jeff LeDuc: For some it may be the lack of being silent and it's talking excessively, or there are so many areas that we can grow in, and we just ask you to examine us and then as you reveal that to us, would you cause us to live out of 1 John 1 9?
• 29:19
  Jeff LeDuc: We would confess our sins and ask you to forgive us.
• 29:26
  Jeff LeDuc: And then we know you will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 29:33
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we take great comfort in the gospel, the good news.
• 29:40
  Jeff LeDuc: We know that forgiveness has been offered and forgiveness is granted in Christ, and so we take comfort in that.
• 29:48
  Jeff LeDuc: Reminded, as the old Puritan said, for every look itself, take ten looks at Christ.
• 29:55
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we look to Christ.
• 30:00
  Jeff LeDuc: We pray this in his name.
• 30:03
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 30:04
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 30:06
  Jeff LeDuc: All right, one last section of prayer, if you will, will be a prayer of petition.
• 30:13
  Jeff LeDuc: So Colossians 3 and Psalm 19.
• 30:16
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh again, I would just say one of the things that we want to be in prayer for specifically are a couple of families that even this week we've had back-to-back funerals uh this week, in that yesterday in Ann Townsend, and we rejoiced and and celebrated her life, but we grieve nonetheless with her physical departure from us.
• 30:47
  Jeff LeDuc: And we want to pray for her husband Russell of uh 62 years of marriage, and we rejoice in that.
• 30:54
  Jeff LeDuc: What a testimony that is, and and just praying for their entire family, though, for the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and just the entire family.
• 31:06
  Jeff LeDuc: And so pray for them and then pray for Phyllis Humphreys with her mother, who uh Gene King went to be with the Lord, 97 years old, and 97 years old, seven months.
• 31:20
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh again, what a what an amazing life lived and great service.
• 31:26
  Jeff LeDuc: Both services were just again when you're at a a funeral service, memorial service, whatever you want to call it, when you gather together and you make much of Christ because you know their lives made much of Christ brings so much comfort.
• 31:43
  Jeff LeDuc: Oh, you shed tears, but there's comfort in knowing they live for the Lord, they made much of the Lord, and their desire was to make much of the Lord, even for those who are still living.
• 32:00
  Jeff LeDuc: And they expressed that.
• 32:02
  Jeff LeDuc: And so, but we want to be faithful in uh ministering to those families in the days and weeks and months ahead.
• 32:11
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh again, we're we're thankful for the hope of the resurrection, and we rejoice to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
• 32:20
  Jeff LeDuc: And with that comes that finality, though, for those who are here amongst the living when somebody is no longer there present physically.
• 32:31
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we're gonna pray uh for those families, and also when I ask you to pray for the McKenna family.
• 32:40
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh, Patrick has had a um some health complications.
• 32:44
  Jeff LeDuc: I won't want to go into great detail, not that it's secretive, but some of you are aware of that.
• 32:49
  Jeff LeDuc: But um just pray for them, pray, pray for Patrick and for um Micah and just their entire family, and that the Lord would continue to work in the midst of uh even doctors tending to him and and trying to find out what exactly happened and what has gone on.
• 33:10
  Jeff LeDuc: Um believe he's still in the hospital, and I think so.
• 33:14
  Jeff LeDuc: I think he's still be and he'll be in there for a little bit, is my understanding, the last update that I got, and so um want to pray for them.
• 33:22
  Jeff LeDuc: So some real needs with folks who have um who could use our prayers, and so we want to be faithful in that, and no doubt that as you came in this evening with whatever group you find yourself with, whether it be Sunday school or a discipleship group or one-on-one relationships, that you've got prayer requests uh that you could share as well, and you can lift those up to the Lord here in just a moment.
• 33:50
  Jeff LeDuc: So, Colossians 3, 23 to 24.
• 33:54
  Jeff LeDuc: Whatever I do, may I do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord I will receive the reward of the inheritance because I serve the Lord Christ.
• 34:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, this is one of those passages that Dr.
• 34:08
  Jeff LeDuc: Varner has a uh uh asterisk neck next to because he's he's taken those verses as a prayer.
• 34:16
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh, whatever I do, so as you're reading it on the page of Scripture, it's going to read differently.
• 34:20
  Jeff LeDuc: This is voiced and written as a prayer.
• 34:23
  Jeff LeDuc: Whatever I do, may I do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than from men, knowing that from the Lord I will receive the reward of the inheritance because I serve the Lord Christ.
• 34:35
  Jeff LeDuc: And then, of course, Psalm 19, 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer.
• 34:47
  Jeff LeDuc: Let me voice a prayer of intercession or petition on our behalf, but you pray as the Lord leads you even in your seat this evening.
• 34:57
  Jeff LeDuc: Let's bring our needs to Him.
• 34:59
  Jeff LeDuc: Father, again, it is good and fitting that we would bring our petitions before you, even purposefully, after we have praised you, after we have thanked you, after we have asked you to examine us and confessed before you, that then you bid us to come and bring our needs to you.
• 35:33
  Jeff LeDuc: Give us our day uh this day our daily bread you taught the disciples.
• 35:39
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we do that on behalf of others, even this evening, those that I've mentioned who are grieving the physical loss of a loved one.
• 35:50
  Jeff LeDuc: Beloved church members who served you so well, the years that you gave them on this earth.
• 36:03
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we pray for their family members that you would give them the peace that passes all understanding.
• 36:10
  Jeff LeDuc: You would surround them with your comfort as we're reminded that the Holy Spirit is another comforter, a counselor, one who is called alongside to help us as the great parakletos in the Greek.
• 36:27
  Jeff LeDuc: And we rejoice in that, and we pray that for these families.
• 36:34
  Jeff LeDuc: Father, we also pray for those who are dealing with um recovery in the hospital, and I think about the McKenna family, and I think about our friend Skip Holman, who even is in skilled nursing even this night, receiving care.
• 36:58
  Jeff LeDuc: I think about my father-in-law, George Shipley and Jim Thorpe rehab, even recovering from a week in the hospital last week.
• 37:10
  Jeff LeDuc: And Father, for these who have very real physical needs, we not only pray for healing physically in their bodies, but also for comfort, as it can be difficult to sit in a hospital room or to spend a night in a hospital room and trying to rest as they want you to, and yet we don't get much rest when we're in these facilities due to their care for us.
• 37:39
  Jeff LeDuc: And so I just pray that you would do a work even this very hour in these people's lives that only you can do.
• 37:47
  Jeff LeDuc: I also want to lift up the caregivers and pray that you and ask that you would give them strength and stamina, wisdom and discernment to care for their loved ones and friends well, all for your glory, whatever they do, that they do it as unto you.
• 38:05
  Jeff LeDuc: And may that be said of us as a church as well.
• 38:10
  Jeff LeDuc: Father, we also pray that you would be with us as a church as we approach the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, and many times people who are more open to receive an invitation to come to church.
• 38:32
  Jeff LeDuc: So again, we pray that you would give us those divine opportunities and help us to be able to open our lips and invite people to be here and then to serve them well.
• 38:44
  Jeff LeDuc: And now we look to you and ask that you would give us wisdom and discernment as we look to your word.
• 38:53
  Jeff LeDuc: Open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things from thy law is our prayer.
• 39:00
  Jeff LeDuc: And we pray this in Jesus' name.
• 39:03
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 39:04
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.
• 39:06
  Jeff LeDuc: All right.
• 39:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Thank you so much for praying, and I hope you know how important that is that we do that on a regular basis as a body of believers, that uh it's important for us to spend time praying.
• 39:22
  Jeff LeDuc: Even if one person is voicing that prayer, no doubt you all are lifting up prayer as you sit here together.
• 39:29
  Jeff LeDuc: So, together as a church family, we're praying, and that's so important for us.
• 39:35
  Jeff LeDuc: So, tonight, what I want to do, we finished Ecclesiastes a couple weeks ago, and so I've got a window of time between now and then January of Wednesday evenings.
• 39:49
  Jeff LeDuc: And so my plan is to work our way through a number of different psalms.
• 39:55
  Jeff LeDuc: And so uh tonight we'll look at Psalm 1.
• 40:00
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh and again, I was I was pinching or kicking myself for saying perhaps my favorite psalm, because then I go to another psalm and I'm like, oh no, this is probably my favorite psalm.
• 40:10
  Jeff LeDuc: Then I go to another one and I go, oh no, this is my or I find myself sometimes saying, This is a powerful passage, and every passage we turn to seems like is a powerful passage.
• 40:23
  Jeff LeDuc: But uh so over the next number of weeks, we'll look at various psalms, and tonight will be Psalm one, and perhaps one that you're very well acquainted with, maybe even have committed to memory.
• 40:39
  Jeff LeDuc: If you've never done that, I'd I'd challenge you and encourage you.
• 40:44
  Jeff LeDuc: This is a passage of scripture that if you were to commit to memory and meditate on would do much for your soul.
• 40:52
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh just a wonderful psalm.
• 40:56
  Jeff LeDuc: And uh so you'll see notes on the board that just kind of on the board, I was going back old school there, on the screens there.
• 41:06
  Jeff LeDuc: You'll see them on the screens, but just kind of an outline that I've given to this as relates to how we'll kind of walk through this tonight.
• 41:16
  Jeff LeDuc: But uh great, great resource here.
• 41:20
  Jeff LeDuc: Um I I personally love there's several of these.
• 41:24
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh Alec Matyr, it's a um devotional slash commentary with different books of the Bible.
• 41:33
  Jeff LeDuc: So I believe he's got Isaiah, uh, then Psalms, and uh I believe there's several others now.
• 41:40
  Jeff LeDuc: This one's a little bit older.
• 41:42
  Jeff LeDuc: Um 2016 is when this was published, but um it's been so helpful for me.
• 41:51
  Jeff LeDuc: I I love we've been in Psalm 119 in my Sunday school class for uh some time now, and love to call on this as a resource, even and and look over what he has to say.
• 42:05
  Jeff LeDuc: But I loved how he uh before he got into Psalm 1 here, one of his general introductory notes I thought was very important as relates to and one of the reasons why the LSB has become probably my favorite translation and why I use it on Wednesday nights.
• 42:26
  Jeff LeDuc: I don't use it on Sundays because I know as a church we use the ESV.
• 42:32
  Jeff LeDuc: And we've been there that way for many, many years, and and uh ESV is a great translation.
• 42:38
  Jeff LeDuc: Uh and so we as pastors understand if the majority of the congregation has the ESV, then it's easier to read from the ESV.
• 42:49
  Jeff LeDuc: But by now, as a Wednesday night member of this, if you don't have the LSB, get one.
• 42:55
  Jeff LeDuc: In fact, order it tonight.
• 42:57
  Jeff LeDuc: Do a high-end Bible, get a goat skin, get no, okay.
• 43:01
  Jeff LeDuc: Yeah, Christmas is coming.
• 43:02
  Jeff LeDuc: You can always ask for this.
• 43:03
  Jeff LeDuc: But uh but one of the things and the reasons why I I love the LSB and not even related to the LSB, but this ties into Psalm 1.
• 43:17
  Jeff LeDuc: And in these are the notes that that he mentions here.
• 43:23
  Jeff LeDuc: The divine name Yahweh will at first sound strange in your ears, being used to the established English convention of representing the name as the Lord, all caps L-O-R-D, referencing Yahweh.
• 43:42
  Jeff LeDuc: We who are of an older generation will remember the days when calling someone by their Christian name was a privilege granted, not to be presumed upon.
• 43:57
  Jeff LeDuc: It meant something to us when a Senior friends said, Please call me by my Christian name.
• 44:04
  Jeff LeDuc: That meant the relationship had ripened into a new intimacy and privilege.
• 44:10
  Jeff LeDuc: So it was in Genesis 4.26 when people began to call their God by his personal name.
• 44:19
  Jeff LeDuc: So it was even more when the significance of that name was revealed to Moses, Exodus 3.15.
• 44:27
  Jeff LeDuc: A totally false sense of reverence later said, the name is too holy for us to use.
• 44:35
  Jeff LeDuc: And the custom was introduced by representing it as the Lord.
• 44:40
  Jeff LeDuc: Here's what he says.
• 44:41
  Jeff LeDuc: No, no.
• 44:42
  Jeff LeDuc: He has granted us the privilege, and we should learn even belatedly to live in the benefit of it.
• 44:53
  Jeff LeDuc: Hebrew has two main nouns for God.
• 44:56
  Jeff LeDuc: The plural is Elohim, God in the fullness of the divine attributes.
• 45:02
  Jeff LeDuc: For simplicity, translated this God as the singular El, which is translated as the transcendent God.
• 45:14
  Jeff LeDuc: But there is only one name, capital N.
• 45:20
  Jeff LeDuc: God is what he is.
• 45:25
  Jeff LeDuc: Yahweh is who he is.
• 45:30
  Jeff LeDuc: That's so good.
• 45:33
  Jeff LeDuc: God is what he is.
• 45:36
  Jeff LeDuc: In all of the fullness of the divine attributes, he is transcendent.
• 45:45
  Jeff LeDuc: He is God.
• 45:47
  Jeff LeDuc: And God is what he is, and Yahweh is who he is.
• 45:53
  Jeff LeDuc: It's his name that he has given us.
• 45:56
  Jeff LeDuc: And it speaks to not only the transcendence of who God is, but his imminence, his intimacy, his relationship with his people.
• 46:08
  Jeff LeDuc: Thus the translation Yahweh.
• 46:16
  Jeff LeDuc: So we turn to Psalm one, where we are introduced even to Yahweh.
• 46:28
  Jeff LeDuc: The LSB begins in verse one how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.
• 46:43
  Jeff LeDuc: And in fact, if we were to start there, it's very important for us to see represented the blessed one is marked by what he does not do.
• 46:57
  Jeff LeDuc: He begins with a negative.
• 47:00
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, I personally, when I was much younger, struggled with why do you begin with the negative?
• 47:09
  Jeff LeDuc: Shouldn't we begin with the positive?
• 47:11
  Jeff LeDuc: But beginning with the negative sets up the antithesis.
• 47:17
  Jeff LeDuc: It's such a powerful teaching tool.
• 47:23
  Jeff LeDuc: Or as uh hang on, let me find it.
• 47:41
  Jeff LeDuc: Um where is it?
• 47:46
  Jeff LeDuc: Hang on.
• 47:49
  Jeff LeDuc: Yeah, yeah, there we go.
• 47:51
  Jeff LeDuc: As Jay Adams comments, even on this psalm, he says the Psalms in particular, from the first psalm on, set up the antithesis between the two ways and the two kinds of people who walk on them.
• 48:08
  Jeff LeDuc: It is not right for Christians, therefore, to become enamored with the ways of the world.
• 48:13
  Jeff LeDuc: From the Garden of Eden, it has always been a choice between God's word and the devil's, between the way of life and the way of death.
• 48:23
  Jeff LeDuc: And I love how that idea of the antithesis is set up even in the very beginning, and just logically speaking, he marches through this in that the blessed one is marked by what he does not do.
• 48:40
  Jeff LeDuc: And what does he not do?
• 48:42
  Jeff LeDuc: You see the progression.
• 48:44
  Jeff LeDuc: He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
• 48:49
  Jeff LeDuc: The idea of walking carries with it the idea of living life.
• 48:56
  Jeff LeDuc: It's going the way of walking in the ways of the Lord.
• 49:01
  Jeff LeDuc: We'd be walking in the path of the Lord, walking in the way of the wicked would be walking influenced by the wicked.
• 49:11
  Jeff LeDuc: And he says, Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
• 49:18
  Jeff LeDuc: The expression of that is found in a habitual lifestyle of walking.
• 49:29
  Jeff LeDuc: The word there, wicked, and even sinner that follows are broad general words.
• 49:37
  Jeff LeDuc: I love what Matyr says here.
• 49:41
  Jeff LeDuc: Wicked possibly comes from a verb meaning to be loose or lax.
• 49:47
  Jeff LeDuc: Another commentator said it's to be loose from the ways of God.
• 49:53
  Jeff LeDuc: You've wrestled your way away from God where you can do things your way, i.e., your God.
• 50:02
  Jeff LeDuc: Now we know what happens.
• 50:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Destruction awaits that way because there's only one God, and you're not God.
• 50:12
  Jeff LeDuc: But the idea of the wicked, one who has been loosed from or is lax, sinner is those who miss the target or miss the mark.
• 50:25
  Jeff LeDuc: The idea of those who are walking in a way or they are standing in a way that misses the mark.
• 50:36
  Jeff LeDuc: You see the progression that is here.
• 50:39
  Jeff LeDuc: Walk, stand, sit, all are in the perfect tense in the Hebrew.
• 50:45
  Jeff LeDuc: Stand is to stand up and be counted, or to take a stand for.
• 50:53
  Jeff LeDuc: So again, that which he does not do, the blessed man, the one who is under the favor of God or under the blessing of God, is one who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.
• 51:11
  Jeff LeDuc: Sid is to be associated with that company, the company of those who have settled into a dismissive attitude of scoffing.
• 51:24
  Jeff LeDuc: All that is spiritual or serious or reverent.
• 51:29
  Jeff LeDuc: It's a progression that happens here.
• 51:32
  Jeff LeDuc: The progression related to wicked sinners, scoffers, and the progression related to walk, stand, sit.
• 51:40
  Jeff LeDuc: And we could look at the downward spiral of sin as seen in Romans chapter 1, verses 18 to 32, and you see the downward spiral of sin.
• 51:52
  Jeff LeDuc: The consequences that are related to sin in Romans 1, and God gave them over, and God gave them over, and God gave them over is a repeated phrase.
• 52:07
  Jeff LeDuc: Those who are in direct rebellion against him.
• 52:10
  Jeff LeDuc: Fact the idea of God's judgment is one of this is the way you want to go, then this is the way you will go.
• 52:26
  Jeff LeDuc: He warned his people all through the Old Testament.
• 52:30
  Jeff LeDuc: If you will follow me, if you'll be obedient, you will have life, you will have blessing, you will have favor.
• 52:38
  Jeff LeDuc: But if you rebel against me, then there'll be punishment.
• 52:44
  Jeff LeDuc: Why?
• 52:46
  Jeff LeDuc: Because he loves his people.
• 52:48
  Jeff LeDuc: And you see that repeated cycle and pattern with the people of God throughout the Old Testament.
• 52:54
  Jeff LeDuc: So he sets it up with the antithesis of saying, Blessed, the blessed one is marked by that which he does not do.
• 53:03
  Jeff LeDuc: You don't walk, you don't stand, you don't sit in the way of the wicked, in the way of the sinner, in the way of the scoffer.
• 53:13
  Jeff LeDuc: Ah, but then comes that which you do.
• 53:19
  Jeff LeDuc: The blessed one is marked by what he does do.
• 53:25
  Jeff LeDuc: And what does he do?
• 53:29
  Jeff LeDuc: Verse 2 His delight is in the law of Yahweh.
• 53:37
  Jeff LeDuc: And in his law he meditates day and night.
• 53:41
  Jeff LeDuc: So right here you see in two verses, the blessed are marked by that which they do not do, and then they are marked by that which they do.
• 53:52
  Jeff LeDuc: That which they do not do, walk, stand, sit.
• 53:55
  Jeff LeDuc: Wicked sinners, scoffers, that which they do.
• 54:00
  Jeff LeDuc: Delight in the law of Yahweh and meditate on it day and night.
• 54:07
  Jeff LeDuc: Delight in the law of Yahweh and meditate on it day and night.
• 54:13
  Jeff LeDuc: And we think about the idea of delighting in that which captivates us, that which will cause us pleasure, in the sense of when we think about those things that delight us, whether it be your spouse, should be your spouse.
• 54:44
  Jeff LeDuc: Let me put it that way.
• 54:46
  Jeff LeDuc: You delight in your spouse, you delight in your children most of the time, right?
• 54:53
  Jeff LeDuc: And then you do delight in your grandchildren, which is a grandparent, I can tell you that's just all the time.
• 55:00
  Jeff LeDuc: You just delight in them all the time.
• 55:02
  Jeff LeDuc: Like, even if they're acting up and you know they need to be disciplined, you're delighting in that because you're like, I don't have to be the one that primarily disciplines them.
• 55:09
  Jeff LeDuc: They got a mom and dad for that.
• 55:11
  Jeff LeDuc: And so, uh, but I digress.
• 55:13
  Jeff LeDuc: But you delight in in those things that captivate you, bring pleasure.
• 55:22
  Jeff LeDuc: They capture your soul.
• 55:28
  Jeff LeDuc: And what the psalmist says here is his delight is in what?
• 55:33
  Jeff LeDuc: The law of Yahweh.
• 55:35
  Jeff LeDuc: Now, let me just pause here and do a direct application as a warning to us.
• 55:43
  Jeff LeDuc: So the antithesis.
• 55:47
  Jeff LeDuc: The warning to us here in a church that preaches and teaches the Word of God, the warning to us is do not succumb to just the academic exercise of reading the Bible, of listening to the Bible, of studying the Bible, and it just remains there.
• 56:15
  Jeff LeDuc: It's we're a people of the book, and praise God, we're a people of the book.
• 56:19
  Jeff LeDuc: Listen, there's lots of churches that a guy may open the Bible and then he literally walks away from the pulpit, and what you're seeing visually is what literally is happening.
• 56:30
  Jeff LeDuc: He's leaving the text of Scripture to take you on a journey of life principles or of a story from his past or of some motivational principle.
• 56:42
  Jeff LeDuc: And you're like, no, keep we want to keep tethered to the text.
• 56:45
  Jeff LeDuc: Like, keep bringing me back to the text.
• 56:48
  Jeff LeDuc: And praise God we do that here.
• 56:51
  Jeff LeDuc: The warning to us is that we do not become a people who uh equate opening our Bible and reading our Bible and sitting under expository sermons and teachings in Sunday school as automatic spiritual growth.
• 57:10
  Jeff LeDuc: That's what I mean by the academic sense, where you just become one who's knowledgeable that man, I can put the books of the Bible all in order.
• 57:22
  Jeff LeDuc: I can do the Old Testament timeline right there.
• 57:25
  Jeff LeDuc: I can tell you where all the minor prophets fell in the history of Israel, and and yet you're a jerk to your wife.
• 57:33
  Jeff LeDuc: You miss it.
• 57:34
  Jeff LeDuc: You missed it.
• 57:36
  Jeff LeDuc: If you're irritable with your children and you don't want to spend time with your children, you miss it.
• 57:42
  Jeff LeDuc: If you've got timelines memorized, you've missed it.
• 57:46
  Jeff LeDuc: Because spiritual growth means you will look more and more like Christ.
• 57:51
  Jeff LeDuc: And looking more and more like Christ means that I grow in my love and service unto my spouse.
• 57:57
  Jeff LeDuc: And I'm investing and I'm pouring into my children, and I'm recognizing that I'm a spiritual leader in the home, I'm a pastor in the home, I'm a shepherd in the home.
• 58:09
  Jeff LeDuc: I realize that I'm a light and an ambassador and a witness in the workplace and in the neighborhood, and and I'm growing in all that.
• 58:18
  Jeff LeDuc: So the warning for us is as people who are in the book and tied to the book, that we are not merely hearers only, but we're doers of the word.
• 58:32
  Jeff LeDuc: Application, which I would submit this to you.
• 58:36
  Jeff LeDuc: The delight in the word of God that leads to the meditation on the word of God will directly lead to the application of the word of God.
• 58:52
  Jeff LeDuc: So you delight and then you meditate.
• 59:00
  Jeff LeDuc: Meditation.
• 59:02
  Jeff LeDuc: We've talked about this before.
• 59:04
  Jeff LeDuc: It's not some worldly new age eastern influence of sitting in a lotus position with your hands lifted up and becoming one with the earth or emptying your mind, where I just empty my mind of everything to reach some heightened state of consciousness.
• 59:26
  Jeff LeDuc: And that's not the biblical idea of meditation.
• 59:29
  Jeff LeDuc: The biblical idea of meditation is you're churning the word of God over in your mind and in your lips and in your heart.
• 59:38
  Jeff LeDuc: You're you're mumbling the word of God.
• 59:42
  Jeff LeDuc: You're chewing on as a cow chews on its cud, you're tossing it back and forth in your mouth.
• 59:48
  Jeff LeDuc: That's what it means to meditate.
• 59:50
  Jeff LeDuc: So you're actually filling your mind.
• 59:53
  Jeff LeDuc: You're not emptying your mind, you're filling your mind with what God has said.
• 59:58
  Jeff LeDuc: And those who delight in the law of Yahweh, then meditate on his word day and night.
• 1:00:10
  Jeff LeDuc: Those are the things that they do.
• 1:00:13
  Jeff LeDuc: So it's a delight.
• 1:00:15
  Jeff LeDuc: It captures my attention.
• 1:00:18
  Jeff LeDuc: I'm pleased to be in this.
• 1:00:20
  Jeff LeDuc: And listen, if that's not you, do what John Piper even said.
• 1:00:24
  Jeff LeDuc: If you lack that, then pray.
• 1:00:26
  Jeff LeDuc: Ask the Lord.
• 1:00:27
  Jeff LeDuc: Lord, would you give me a delight in your word?
• 1:00:29
  Jeff LeDuc: I don't want to be afraid of your word.
• 1:00:31
  Jeff LeDuc: I don't want to be intimidated by your word.
• 1:00:34
  Jeff LeDuc: I don't want to be confused by your word.
• 1:00:36
  Jeff LeDuc: I want to delight in your word.
• 1:00:38
  Jeff LeDuc: And so, Lord, would you give me that delight that I would read the law of Yahweh, that I would read that which you have given to us, and there would be delight in it.
• 1:00:52
  Jeff LeDuc: And then meditation.
• 1:00:55
  Jeff LeDuc: When day and night.
• 1:00:57
  Jeff LeDuc: Day and night covers.
• 1:01:01
  Jeff LeDuc: Pop quiz.
• 1:01:05
  Jeff LeDuc: It covers what?
• 1:01:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Everything.
• 1:01:08
  Jeff LeDuc: All the time.
• 1:01:09
  Jeff LeDuc: Yeah.
• 1:01:09
  Jeff LeDuc: It's like when Paul lists out all these things, and then in the end, he's like, in all these things.
• 1:01:14
  Jeff LeDuc: Like just in case I left anything out, just know all these things are classified here.
• 1:01:19
  Jeff LeDuc: It's the same idea.
• 1:01:20
  Jeff LeDuc: Meditate day and night.
• 1:01:22
  Jeff LeDuc: It's to be all-encompassing.
• 1:01:25
  Jeff LeDuc: Oh, that I'd be saturated.
• 1:01:28
  Jeff LeDuc: I can't help but go back to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and the idea of the parents who are impressing this upon their children.
• 1:01:36
  Jeff LeDuc: And what do they do?
• 1:01:37
  Jeff LeDuc: They talk of it when they lie down and when they rise up and when they walk on the way, and it's on the doorposts of their house, and it's just, it's everywhere.
• 1:01:46
  Jeff LeDuc: You're just saturated with the word of God.
• 1:01:49
  Jeff LeDuc: I was just meeting, one of our new member meetings.
• 1:01:54
  Jeff LeDuc: I was meeting with a young man.
• 1:01:55
  Jeff LeDuc: I was letting him know listen, your desire shouldn't be.
• 1:01:59
  Jeff LeDuc: What does a uh new member do?
• 1:02:02
  Jeff LeDuc: Are they just faithful on Sunday morning?
• 1:02:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Or do they come Sunday night and Wednesday night?
• 1:02:10
  Jeff LeDuc: And and not that it was worded that way, but I'm I'm putting it, I'm giving you the picture of what I said is we need to immerse ourselves in the word of God.
• 1:02:23
  Jeff LeDuc: We need to be saturated.
• 1:02:25
  Jeff LeDuc: We need to be marinated and marinating in the word of God.
• 1:02:29
  Jeff LeDuc: When you marinate meat, you don't just put it in there for five minutes and call it good.
• 1:02:33
  Jeff LeDuc: Right?
• 1:02:35
  Jeff LeDuc: It marinates.
• 1:02:36
  Jeff LeDuc: It's in there for hours and hours.
• 1:02:39
  Jeff LeDuc: Saturated.
• 1:02:42
  Jeff LeDuc: So, Lord willing, you're here Sunday morning for worship service, and then in an adult Sunday school class where you're immersed in the Word of God, and then back Sunday evening to be immersed in the Word of God.
• 1:02:57
  Jeff LeDuc: And then here Wednesday night where you're immersed in the Word of God.
• 1:03:00
  Jeff LeDuc: So it should be a driving passion that I just want to be filled up.
• 1:03:04
  Jeff LeDuc: I need this in order to demonstrate the results of the two ways of living.
• 1:03:13
  Jeff LeDuc: And you see that in the conclusion of this psalm.
• 1:03:17
  Jeff LeDuc: Look with me at verse 3.
• 1:03:20
  Jeff LeDuc: What is the result of the one who delights in the law of Yahweh and the one who meditates in his law day and night?
• 1:03:28
  Jeff LeDuc: Well, verse 3, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
• 1:03:38
  Jeff LeDuc: And in whatever he does, he prospers.
• 1:03:40
  Jeff LeDuc: How's that for blessing?
• 1:03:45
  Jeff LeDuc: And in fact, if you do a deep dive study here, the idea of he will be like a tree firmly planted carries with it the idea that it's been transplanted.
• 1:03:58
  Jeff LeDuc: The tree has been taken from the dry, arid land and put near to the water.
• 1:04:05
  Jeff LeDuc: Oh, what a picture of salvation.
• 1:04:08
  Jeff LeDuc: We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
• 1:04:12
  Jeff LeDuc: He takes us from the way of the dead, the way of judgment, the way of being alienated from God and from the people of God.
• 1:04:20
  Jeff LeDuc: And he saves us.
• 1:04:22
  Jeff LeDuc: He gives us a new heart.
• 1:04:23
  Jeff LeDuc: He gives us new life.
• 1:04:25
  Jeff LeDuc: We've been born again.
• 1:04:26
  Jeff LeDuc: We're now a child of God.
• 1:04:28
  Jeff LeDuc: We've been saved and we're planted into the family of God.
• 1:04:33
  Jeff LeDuc: The idea of being planted by the streams of water where our roots will go down deep and then it yields its fruit when?
• 1:04:42
  Jeff LeDuc: In its season.
• 1:04:44
  Jeff LeDuc: What did we just look at in Ecclesiastes 3?
• 1:04:47
  Jeff LeDuc: The seasons of life.
• 1:04:50
  Jeff LeDuc: Right?
• 1:04:51
  Jeff LeDuc: There's times of rejoicing and birth and times of grieving and death, and everything that happens in between.
• 1:05:00
  Jeff LeDuc: And yet, the one who delights in the law of Yahweh, the one who meditates in his law day and night, he is like one who yields its fruit in its season.
• 1:05:11
  Jeff LeDuc: And its leaf does not wither.
• 1:05:14
  Jeff LeDuc: And in whatever he does, he prospers.
• 1:05:18
  Jeff LeDuc: So these are results that happen.
• 1:05:21
  Jeff LeDuc: We're firmly rooted, and we're yielding fruit.
• 1:05:25
  Jeff LeDuc: Firmly rooted, yielding fruit and prospering.
• 1:05:31
  Jeff LeDuc: But look at the contrast here, verse 4.
• 1:05:35
  Jeff LeDuc: The wicked are not so.
• 1:05:37
  Jeff LeDuc: This idea of rising in the judgment, it's as if the wicked stand and say, What have I to fear?
• 1:06:10
  Jeff LeDuc: The scoffer who says, What have I to fear of the judgment of God?
• 1:06:14
  Jeff LeDuc: And the psalmist says, You'll not stand.
• 1:06:19
  Jeff LeDuc: But note the contrast.
• 1:06:24
  Jeff LeDuc: That which is chaff is not rooted and easily driven away.
• 1:06:33
  Jeff LeDuc: It's blown away by the wind.
• 1:06:36
  Jeff LeDuc: Or it's even taken and burned up.
• 1:06:39
  Jeff LeDuc: What a contrast with those that are firmly rooted and producing fruit, and its leaf does not wither.
• 1:06:49
  Jeff LeDuc: Such a contrast here between the two.
• 1:06:53
  Jeff LeDuc: Verse 5 Therefore the wicked will not rise in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
• 1:07:02
  Jeff LeDuc: Now I want you to take note of this, verse 6.
• 1:07:06
  Jeff LeDuc: For Yahweh, that's important.
• 1:07:11
  Jeff LeDuc: Yahweh, what knows the way of the righteous.
• 1:07:19
  Jeff LeDuc: But the way of the wicked will perish.
• 1:07:22
  Jeff LeDuc: Yahweh, God's covenantal name, who he is, he covenants with his people.
• 1:07:31
  Jeff LeDuc: And he knows his people.
• 1:07:36
  Jeff LeDuc: Oh, listen, this is so important.
• 1:07:39
  Jeff LeDuc: The idea related to knowing in the Hebrew speaks to great intimacy.
• 1:07:51
  Jeff LeDuc: It is not just knowledge of, knowledge about.
• 1:07:59
  Jeff LeDuc: It is knowledge in its entirety.
• 1:08:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Illustrated by a husband knows his wife.
• 1:08:14
  Jeff LeDuc: That's a biblical illustration of Hebrew to know.
• 1:08:20
  Jeff LeDuc: That type of intimacy, that type of transparency, that type of knowledge of one to the other.
• 1:08:32
  Jeff LeDuc: And he says, Yahweh knows the way of the righteous.
• 1:08:38
  Jeff LeDuc: And then contrasts it again, the way of the wicked will perish.
• 1:08:43
  Jeff LeDuc: So this grand psalm.
• 1:08:46
  Jeff LeDuc: In fact, many scholars believe, and I hold to, I'm not a scholar, but I would hold to this as well, that Psalm 1 and 2 are the front porch to the rest of the Psalter.
• 1:08:59
  Jeff LeDuc: It's our introduction to the Psalms.
• 1:09:03
  Jeff LeDuc: Psalm 1 and Psalm 2.
• 1:09:05
  Jeff LeDuc: In fact, it's even didactic in nature.
• 1:09:10
  Jeff LeDuc: It's more proverbial in nature than Psalm 3 and following.
• 1:09:16
  Jeff LeDuc: It sets the stage that the blessed man is this man.
• 1:09:24
  Jeff LeDuc: He doesn't do these things, he does these things.
• 1:09:28
  Jeff LeDuc: And then these are the results of the blessed man's life.
• 1:09:33
  Jeff LeDuc: And the greatest blessing is Yahweh knows the way of the righteous.
• 1:09:43
  Jeff LeDuc: He knows the way of the righteous.
• 1:09:45
  Jeff LeDuc: So as has been said, that we may know God rather than we are known by Him.
• 1:09:57
  Jeff LeDuc: John chapter 10 points us back to the knowledge of the Good Shepherd.
• 1:10:04
  Jeff LeDuc: I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, and they know my voice.
• 1:10:11
  Jeff LeDuc: My sheep will follow me, and I will protect my sheep.
• 1:10:20
  Jeff LeDuc: No one can snatch them out of my hand.
• 1:10:22
  Jeff LeDuc: None.
• 1:10:23
  Jeff LeDuc: I give them eternal life, and when I give them eternal life, that's what it is, eternal life.
• 1:10:30
  Jeff LeDuc: So Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, contrasted with the way of the wicked who perishes.
• 1:10:41
  Jeff LeDuc: So here's the encouragement for us tonight, and then I'll close us in prayer.
• 1:10:47
  Jeff LeDuc: Encouragement is this.
• 1:10:50
  Jeff LeDuc: How do I know the way that's the blessed way?
• 1:10:56
  Jeff LeDuc: How can I know how to live under the blessing of God, the favor of God?
• 1:11:02
  Jeff LeDuc: Psalm 1.
• 1:11:06
  Jeff LeDuc: Blessed is a man who doesn't do this.
• 1:11:10
  Jeff LeDuc: Blessed is a man who does this.
• 1:11:14
  Jeff LeDuc: And then the results flow from it.
• 1:11:17
  Jeff LeDuc: And so we thank the Lord for Psalm 1 that introduces us to the rest of the Psalms.
• 1:11:28
  Jeff LeDuc: And I pray that this would be a blessing in your life as well.
• 1:11:32
  Jeff LeDuc: Let's pray together and then we'll close.
• 1:11:34
  Jeff LeDuc: Father, I thank you for your word.
• 1:11:38
  Jeff LeDuc: Thank you for how clear it is, and I pray that it would be in each of our lives.
• 1:11:46
  Jeff LeDuc: There is a way we should not go, and there is a way we should go.
• 1:11:52
  Jeff LeDuc: And then the work that you do in our lives is nothing short of miraculous.
• 1:11:59
  Jeff LeDuc: And so may it be said of us that we are those who you know.
• 1:12:08
  Jeff LeDuc: And that we would grow in delight and even in meditation on your word.
• 1:12:16
  Jeff LeDuc: And we pray this all in Jesus' name.
• 1:12:20
  Jeff LeDuc: Amen.