Latest / Desoto Hills Baptist Church / SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 20, 2026 "Be Planted in the Word" Psalm 1:1-6

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SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 20, 2026 "Be Planted in the Word" Psalm 1:1-6 · Desoto Hills Baptist Church

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoy.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: God bless.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: My name is David Burgess.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a minister of discipleship at DeSoto Hills Baptist Church, and I love it here.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love the people here.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: We are indeed a big family, and I appreciate the kindness that you've shown me as a minister here on staff for so many years, and I just uh have been given the opportunity to preach today.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so one thing for sure is I love the Word of God.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I love it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: It is life-giving, it is joy, it is freedom, it is uh just everything the human heart needs to really truly be happy.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh a couple of months ago, really at the beginning of summer, uh we met as a staff here at DeSoto Hills, and we, uh Grant presented us uh with a challenge to think of how we can make sure that we are incorporating and encouraging our uh our our congregation to to think upon and dwell in the word and and to challenge you about how important it is that we have a daily diet of the word of God.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and so with that said, we have uh talked about where we want to be down the road, where we want to be in the future, what what's important for the life of DeSah Hills?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And um over the next couple weeks, I will have today and next week I'll have the opportunity to preach uh both Sundays, this week and next Sunday, and so we're gonna talk about the importance of the word of God in everything that we are to do and everything that we are to be about.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: We are going to consider the importance of the word of God on an individual level and as a faith family here at DeSoto Hills.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so I call it our B3 vision, okay?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be too corny.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: If that's corny, I can write in anonymously and be like, David, that's corny, and we'll kind of look at different avenues of the naming of that vision.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: But B3 vision, okay?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And the first B, and when I say B, not the letter B, I mean the word B, okay?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: B-E, be planted in the Word of God.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's today.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to be talking about the importance of a believer to be planted in the Word of God.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that led me to our passage for today is Psalm chapter 1.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we are going to be focusing on that today.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: And when I think about the Word, I think about how it gives direction, not just direction and life, but it is a roadmap for the life of a believer.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the life of an unbeliever.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: If an unbeliever finally comes around to say, hey, I want to get to know this God, this word will lead them to him, to the wisdom that is found in Christ Jesus.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: It will lead an unbeliever to saving faith.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is how important the word of God is.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think about it being a map, there are no reasons for anyone to have a map book these days, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, almost no reason.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Except for when you are going somewhere or you're not familiar, and then you end up going through an area where there are no cell phone towers, and then you're like, man, I really wish I had a paper map.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, can we, is it too late to map quest?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, where we're supposed to go.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: This happens whenever we go travel for vacation.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: We all oftentimes me and my family will go to uh St.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: George Island, and on our way to St.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: George Island, we're about an hour and a half away from our destination, and then we enter, and I forget every year, oh man, we're entering a national forest.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: There is no cell phone towers there.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you will lose cell service.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: You will lose it.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then the fear is always, man, I'm gonna lose the map and I'm gonna get us lost, and then we're gonna go have to talk to one of these people that have 10 lawnmowers out in their yard, and then like a makeshift shack for their chickens or dogs with 10 and political signs.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have to go talk to somebody.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do I want to risk it there or do I want to stay in the woods with the bears?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know which one's better.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: But nine times out of ten, like it the phone finally catches up.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: These days our phones download the map and you can still follow it.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: But used to, man, you were lost.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: You get so turned around in that forest.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so that would that's what would happen.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: And likewise, in the human life, in the human experience, if we do not have this word of God, we will lose our way.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: And being the great country that we live in in America, we each of us have at least two or three Bibles, copies of God's word, sitting on a shelf somewhere.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: But the thing is, the map is useless unless you pick it up and read it.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: It is useless in your life unless you read it.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you can't read and know where you're going without reading the map.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And this is God's map for us.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: It is the map of life, it is the map that navigates the pain of life, it is the map that navigates the joy of life, it is the map that helps us realize what we root ourselves in will bring us joy, life, or it will bring us destruction.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And sin will lead to destruction.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Sin leads to death.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So this word is powerful.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is amazing, it is life-giving, it gives joy, and it gives us light.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: It gives us direction.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want you, our church, and our vision, and this is not some prophetic vision I'm not casting out.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is, hey, this is a vision that I'm saying, hey, I want the Soto Hills, us together to be, have a vision that we are with the Lord, faithful, and when we arrive before Jesus, he will count us faithful, and we cannot do that without planting ourselves in the Word.
• 6:46
  unknown: That's right.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: As individuals and a congregation.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that said, we are going to read uh Psalm chapter 1.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you are able this morning to stand, let's read the Word of God together and start in Psalm chapter 1.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: God's word says this: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruits in his season, and its leaf does not wither.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: In all that he does he prospers.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff that the wind drives away.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Father, we love you.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the life that you've given us.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you for this word.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is so good.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, and it is life-giving, and it gives us direction to navigate everything the world throws at us.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we want to rest in your instruction and in your wise counsel and your wise instruction.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: We want to find rest for our weary souls.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, as we approach your word, I pray that we would be a people that keep the word central to everything that we do.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, help us to understand the importance of being planted in your word.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: We love you.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's talk about right there in the first verse, it says, Blessed is the man who will not, uh, who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this word blessed, okay, it is a word, a Hebrew word that is pronounced Ashrah, okay?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna use that throughout this time.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna refer back to that word.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and what it means is to be happy.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody who is truly happy, and and and from a perspective of someone else.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I was to look at one of you and you're living your life and you're happy and you're full of joy, you love the Lord, I would say that man is ashre.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is a descriptive word for someone who is happy, someone who is blessed from a different perspective.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so this word ashre means true happiness.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so what we're gonna look at is what um what the blessed man does not do.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: So blessed is a man who does not.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna look at three things.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um I want you to consider the habits of uh the person who is not blessed, who does not walk according to the wicked.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Or look at the habits uh of the person that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: So number one, what uh he does not, the blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: So this walk that it's talking about, it is the beginning of a progression we see in this chapter.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, first you walk, and then you s then you stand and then you sit.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: So think about walking this way.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you meet somebody, you know, back in ancient times, you walked literally everywhere, and so those who you walked with every day to wherever you're going, to the market, to work, um, every day you walked with those people, and those are the people that you kind of walked with and you got to know and you got to spend a lot of time with.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is the beginning progression of someone in a slow fade, of someone wicked who might be in a slow fade.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: So when you enter into relationship with people who you know don't love the Lord and you know that they are wicked, you you in turn will begin to look like those people.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Even if it's just light interaction, walking the same direction physically, but you start walking the same direction spiritually.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: That begins to affect the human heart negatively.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: So those who you surround yourself with, you will be, you will become.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so the Bible warns us, this psalm warns us, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Even light, uh steady interaction begins that slow fade.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so um, so looking at somebody who lives their life against God or opposite of God or void of God in their lives will lead you down, start leading you down that road.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: The wicked, the word the wicked here means morally, like literally it's translated morally backwards.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: So this type person is someone that thinks evil is good and good is evil.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, turn on the news, right?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: We are living in this culture, and so it is important for us to be the church for each other, okay, that we remain faithful to not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: See, the the interaction begins to increase.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the more you hang out with the people who think that evil is good and good is evil, it begins to desensitize your convictions.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then you start slowly looking and acting like those people.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: The wicked people.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so, how do you recognize this type of person in order to avoid you here's the thing, you can't avoid sinners in general.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like you are going to rub shoulders and elbows with people who don't believe in the Lord, who who believe in other things.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: But when you start taking advice and about righteous living and and the generalities of religion, and all roads leave to one lead to the same place, man, your heart is being taken captive by these ideas.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: So don't let your heart be taken captive by these ideas.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, how to recognize them when the fruit of their desires are sinful and far from God's desires.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: We have to remain alert.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now we don't cut off relationships because people don't look like us or talk like us or live like us, but we love them and present the gospel to them.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: We don't change for them.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: We hope and pray that the Lord changes their heart to look more like Jesus.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, where are you, how are you receiving your counsel, and what kind of counsel are you living in?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: There is one wisdom, there is one instruction that is true and good, and that is the wisdom and instruction of God.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: So build your life.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Do you see?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're starting to see the importance of building our lives to be planted in the word.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you are planted in the word, you know the word, you've heard the word, the word settles in your heart and mind, and you know, hey, what they're saying, what they're saying is contradictory to the word of God.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's contradictory to what I believe and what God says is true.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Do you see the importance of planting yourself in the Word of God?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right, number two, stand.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: You see the progression.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: All right, it's not enough.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you start getting interested in other people's lives, and man, you know, their uh their absence of God kind of works out for them.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they might have a little money, maybe uh maybe they're all full of blessings, and you know, maybe they cheat a little bit over here or cheat a little bit over here to get to get what they want.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: But and and it's attractive.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there are people that I know who are far from the Lord who are very wealthy and seem happy according to the world standards, so why not try that?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why not do what they do?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: But this is the warning: do not stand in the way of sinners.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you start slowing down with these people and you start taking it in.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can have these conversations.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is attractive.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Not all, not all worldliness is bad.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: You see, it can start desensitizing your convictions to what's true, good, and holy.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: So to stand in the way of sinners, this progression from walking to slowing down, this person stands with sinners and begins to make themselves more comfortable.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: The righteous don't linger with the wicked.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: And when when you linger with the wicked, you become more like that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: More like them.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so, what does it mean, this word sinners?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's translated as someone who misses the target.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so if I'm reading scripture and if I want to uh to be obedient to the word of God, the the two the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, right?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so this sinner, this word sinner is literally means to miss the target.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, what's the target?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the target for people and humanity's purpose is that we would love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, love our neighbor as ourselves, and the sinner misses that target.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And can I tell you, before I knew Jesus, I was both of those things.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Wicked.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: I thought the things that were bad were evil were good, and good was evil, and the Lord knows I missed the target.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I missed the target of loving God and loving people.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you, as a believer, as a follower, the righteous man does not stand in the way of sinners.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Does not sit there and shoot for the target and miss because you're hanging out with the wrong people.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get comfortable with anything that dulls your senses to the wisdom, wisdom, and instruction of the Lord.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: When you get comfortable with surrounding yourself with the wicked, their influence eventually comes out of you.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's, okay, so we're starting to see, okay, the reason that we plant ourselves in the Word of God so that we can know what to look out for, right?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: The importance of the word sharpens our spiritual senses when we are in it and planted in it.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so uh the blessed man does not uh walk in the way of uh does not walk, hold on, let me just read it.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the blessed man does not walk in the council of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: What is a scoffer?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about what a scoffer is.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sit in the seat of scoffers.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: You've you've made yourself at home.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: You've made yourself at home.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: The unrighteous person makes himself at home with the wicked and the sinner.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: So do you see this the slow fade?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: What they do has now become your life.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: And what a scoffer is, a scoffer is someone that can no longer recognize the beauty and wisdom of God because it doesn't align with their sinful life.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: It is a letting go of anything that's true and embracing anything that worldly or sinfully benefits myself.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: That is the scoffer.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: And again, and in addition to that, a scoffer is another word for mocker.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so not only does a scoffer let go of God's plan for their life, they are so jaded that all they can do is show contempt for things that are not like themselves.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so a scoffer, what a scoffer does is a scoffer will look at the righteous, look at the person who loves God, who's planted in the wisdom of God, and say, you know, what benefit is there to that?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make you money.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Being honest doesn't get you ahead, it sure doesn't get you the promotions.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: But what does it really do?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: It gives you treasure beyond this world.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: A relationship with the God of the universe who fills your heart and gives you life.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's what you get instead.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you, that's there's not enough gold in this world that is more valuable than a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So don't be a mocker.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Don't align yourselves with those who make fun and mock the righteous.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: At the end, it's pointless.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: It may get you ahead here in the meantime, slowly, but at the end, we see that they don't stand in judgment.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we see the progress, y'all see the progression of the evil influence.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And let me just tell you, if if we are not planted in the word of God, we just consider our own human hearts.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like mine, if I'm not planted in the word of God, I'm so easily distracted, and I'm so easily focused on, you know, the metrics of the um the successful metrics of this world.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so focused on those that I can, I'm so, it's so easy to forget the wisdom and instruction of the Lord.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So hang on.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's worth it's worth being planted, it's worth the time and investment to be planted in the word so that you know and can be sharp and see sin when it's coming.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: So remember I talked about the slow fade.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, oftentimes we don't just jump into great big sin.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Just just big.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Break the bank, sin.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: We don't just jump into those things.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: We see the progression in the Psalms that we we start walking that way, we get more comfortable, and we find ourselves at home.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Don't go that way.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible is clear about its warning, and it's even clearer about its outcome.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does the blessed man actually do?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, what does the blessed man actually do?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he delights in the law, okay?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: So, uh in verse 2, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so there's a couple of things that I want to I want to talk about.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: So this word delight.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's pleasure, it's joy, it's where the person finds their deepest needs met.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: So other places in Scripture use this word, okay?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Use this delight word when thinking about the feeling of having a lot of gold or even finding a good wife.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's delight in those things, right?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, there's delight in those things.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: But it it is the same word used that you can find that delight and even more in when you are planted in the word of God.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so there's more value in the word of God than there is in truckloads of money.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: So hang on.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let your heart be fed by the wisdom and instruction of the Lord.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, so let me just give you a little illustration.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I have a nephew, he's uh special needs, his name is Asher, okay?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: So remember that word Ashrah.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's where he gets his name.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Asher.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: Asher means happy.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's the name form of that word.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so we uh my sister named him Asher, and it is very true.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: His name is very true of his life.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: He is very happy.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the joy that he has every day, every year when his birthday rolls around, he knows there's one present he's gonna get.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna be a brand new pair of Converse shoes.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know about you, but I like I like that feeling of a fresh pair of shoes.
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  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's delight, there's joy, I love these shoes.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: My little my little nephew, like he lives for a new pair of Converse.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter, we have his birthday party every year, and he knows the first thing he's doing when he gets to my dad's house, he's taking off his old shoes because he knows he's getting a new pair from his uncle Jesse.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so that makes him happy.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll I share that story with you because that is how we should approach the word of God.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it's not because of what we're doing, it's because the product that it gives.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: The word of God gives the present.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: The word of God is the present, the word of God is what brings joy.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's way better than choose.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's a satisfied heart.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we find this satisfaction, and it's it's not that the the promise of the instruction of the Lord is gonna give you all this material blessing.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's not, it's not.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's nowhere that promises the word is gonna give you material blessing, and there's a lot of preachers out there who will preach that.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: But what we have is deeper, it's soul satisfaction in spite of your circumstances.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: See, the psalm doesn't say how blessed is the king.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: It says how blessed is the man.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the ordinary person, the person, the poor person, the broken person, the disabled person, wherever you are, you can find this soul satisfaction when you plant yourself in the word of God.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: So he delights, and not only does he delight, he meditates.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is um this word comes from, all right, pretend like uh there's a lion.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Just imagine with me this story: a lion who's going on a hunt.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, lions, you know, they they have to hunt for their food, and there's anticipation for a reward when they hunt.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so they go out and they hunt, and when they catch their prey, this idea of meditation is the sound that they make after they catch their prey.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that such a weird but cool like illustration?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's what the word is literally telling us.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a lion who's caught his prey and he's found what satisfies him the most.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's what the word of God is in the life of a believer.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that sound that he makes is this meditation.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to tell you and warn you that Easter, this idea of meditation and the Eastern ideology of a meditation is to empty your mind.
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  SPEAKER_01: No, what we are to do is we are to fill our minds with the word of God, and we are to say the word of God, we are to speak the word of God, we are to in turn speak it and hear it again and mull over it, meditate on it, live it, live on it.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's what this idea of meditate brings.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a starving lion who finally catches his prey is the word of God to the human heart.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So think about it, listen to it, hear it, mull over it.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, so wrapping it up, we have two outcomes bearing fruit that gives life or a life that misses the mark.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like a tree planted by streams of water, it is firmly, firmly rooted, it is in fertile soil, and it's constantly nourished.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: And when you are a tree that is constantly nourished, you are bearing much fruit.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: And when you, a believer, when you are a tree planted in the Word of God, you will bear much fruit, and it will be to your benefit, but it will also be to the benefit of everybody around you.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: You see, we are focused, we have focused on who not to hang out with, but today I'm asking you to focus on being the person who everybody should hang out with.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: May your fruit, may the fruit of the people of DeSoto Hills, bring nourishment and life to everybody around us.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's the idea of the heart that is planted in the Word of God.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so, where are we today?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you today?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Are you stuck in a rut?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Have you are you realizing maybe, maybe I've put an emphasis on the wrong things?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I've planted myself.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: If that's you, let me just tell you, as bad as the warning is, the grace is there that God is willing to forgive.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus tells us that if you confess your sin, he is faithful.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the scripture tells us that if you confess your sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that doesn't matter.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you are somewhere where you feel like, man, I've gone too far, you are not too far.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's time to get back in the word.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Be convinced that the word can fill your life with joy.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: It is our source of life.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so um that is the person who finds and is planted in the word of God bears much fruit, but the person who is wicked, who does not consider the instruction and wisdom of the Lord is one that will fall.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: And great will there will be their fall.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: They will not stand in judgment.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, this judgment also really speaks of the end times, of when the Lord, the Lord comes back in his final judgment.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you are a non-believer, you will perish.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so today, the invitation is this this good news is the gospel that God is willing to forgive you and restore you.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the answer to all this is the gospel should be our only consideration.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when we think about how blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he uh meditates day and night.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: This word law could be translated as word, the word of God, the full instruction and counsel of the word of God.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: And fast forward to the New Testament, the Word is Jesus.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: In the beginning was the Word.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so the good news of the gospel is that Jesus, when you plant your life in the Word of God, you are planting your life in Jesus.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And that's salvation.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have not trusted in Jesus today, if you have not given your life to him, you've not repented and realized, hey, God, I have been the wicked person in this story, I've been the scoffer, I've been the sinner.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you can't recognize that in your life, like true repentance is recognizing that that's what we are, born in our sin and turning away from that and turning to Christ.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's repentance.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're not trusted in Jesus for your salvation today, let today be the day.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you uh, and and maybe you you are a believer in here, maybe you are saved, and maybe you have been spending too much time with the wrong people, and they've turned you away from the Lord and caused you to want to pursue the things of this world.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: It is like you derail yourself right now from that path.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: Repent and turn back to Jesus.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: If that's you, the altar's open.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you're the sinner who is lost, who's never trusted in Jesus, come talk to us.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: We would love to help you and guide you to turn to Jesus, to believe in him and to follow him.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so as we uh as we close today, let us pray and then uh the altar is open.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: God, we love you.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the grace that you've given us.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you for the love that you have for us.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: We thank you that you have given us your word, that God, you have given us instructions to the good life, the real good life.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Not just what the world says is good, but what you say is good.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's an invitation to believe in and trust in Jesus.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, you are the word of God.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: You were there in the beginning, and you will be the judge at the end.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so today, Lord, as we approach this invitation time, I pray that you would work on our hearts.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: Show us where we've where we've planted ourselves in wrong areas.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: God, allow us the grace to repent and to replant in your word.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, we love you.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHills.com.