The Happy Man // Psalm 1

In this Father’s Day sermon from Psalm 1, Pastor Josh Thompson shows the portrait of the happy man: careful about his company, captivated by the Word of God, and deeply rooted like a tree planted by streams of water. This message calls fathers, husbands, grandfathers, and all believers to abide in Christ, meditate on Scripture, and bear lasting fruit in their homes and lives.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Thank you, Pastor Aaron. Good morning, Church. How's everybody doing okay? All right. Happy Father's Day to all you dads. Before we open this morning, we want to do something special. We do it on purpose. We want to honor the fathers and grandfathers in this place. And so we're going to ask you guys to stand up if you would. We want to encourage you, all you dads, we would love for you to stand up. We want to bless you and say thank you for all that you do. We love you guys. Stay standing, please, stay standing. Stay standing, please. Please, please stay standing. Please stay standing. You have to say it 20 times. They're all like they're sitting down. But we want to honor you. And we want to say thank you. We want to lift you up. We want to encourage you. We want to strengthen you. We want to say thank you for giving up all the endless sacrificial hours that no one sees. Thanks for sticking in there when it's very difficult. You carry a lot. You have strong backs. You're strong men. And you've been built to do that. We thank you for that. We honor you for that. And we need good men in this society. We need you to stand in the gap. We need you to lead the charge. We need you to lead in righteousness even when everyone else is not going to. We need you to keep pushing the line forward. And so we just want to honor you guys and say thank you for doing it. We're hoping to strengthen you today. We want to pray for the dads. And I'd love to give this verse to you too this morning, brothers. Galatians 6 9. Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Do not give up. You keep pushing forward, and the Lord is going to bless you and honor you. Let's, if you have a dad nearby or a grandfather nearby, would you reach your hand towards them? We're going to pray a blessing on these guys. Let's lift them up to the Lord. Father, we worship you in this place, and you are a good father. We thank you for the example. And I pray for these men, they would be good, good fathers. That they would keep on, Lord, loving their kids, loving their children, loving their grandchildren unto you. And that even when we fail, Lord, that we would just turn back to you, just keep walking with you, turn back to our kids, turn back to our wives, keep loving you, keep learning, keep growing, keep strengthening us. And Father, I pray that you would help these men in the quiet places, Lord, when no one else is around, that you would strengthen their minds and their hearts, that you give them determination, discipline, and focus, and that they would be able to continue to grow in you and be a blessing to their families and a covering for their families, a protection for their families. And so please, Lord, use these men to glorify yourself in this society. We ask, God, that your favor would be upon them, that your sh that your supernatural strength would be in them, that they would be able to go beyond what they believe they are capable of, and that they would win greatly in this life, that you'd bestow favor and blessing upon them as they run with you, as they walk with you. Bless these men, fill them with your Holy Spirit. We honor them today in you. We bless you, Lord. We thank you for these guys. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We love you guys. Thank you, brothers. Heard of a story, maybe you heard of this one. Be in Psalm chapter one, by the way, if you want to turn there, Psalm chapter one. But while you're turning, heard of a story, maybe you heard of this one. Four men are pacing in the hospital waiting room, of course, while their wives are delivering. A nurse comes to the first and says, Congratulations, you have twins. And he laughs. That's funny because I work for the Minnesota twins. She goes to the second and says, Triplets, my guy, triplets. He says, Really? That's wild. I work for the 3M company. How did that happen? To the third, quadruplets. He says, No, no, I I this is too much. I don't know if I can handle this. And it's very ironic because I work for the four seasons. There's a guy, the fourth guy in the corner, and he starts hitting his head against the wall, groaning. He said, What's wrong for you? He says, I work for seven up. You know, becoming a father changes a man. And let's be honest about that. Something happens to our brains, your emotions rearrange themselves. Your focus sharpens, and at the very same time, your heart goes soft in places it never was before. Your perspective gets wider. By the sheer grace of God, to which I'm very grateful, Katie and I have three little kids, Eden, Shep, and Wes, my crew, my unit, eight, five, and three. And so I am in it. And we are enjoying it. And I've been told by multiple men as of recent that this is the best time. These next 10 years is the best time of my whole life. They've raised families. I'm like, really? This is it right now. This is it. What's going on right now is the best time I have. Yes. Don't miss it. Do not miss it. And so I'm trying. I'm going to. I'm going to, you know, it's not that I'm going to stop building, but I'm definitely going to focus on my wife and my kids more than ever. I've had the time to spend. I'll be 44 this next month. And I burnt up a lot of time building. And now is the time to invest in the kids, in the family. They can't miss this season. You invest now and you win them long term. You miss this time, you miss a lot long term. And so I would not trade this most precious gift God has ever placed in my hands for anything. Even an ordinary Tuesday with them is far greater than all the diamonds in the world, no doubt. You hear old men say this. You know, Billy Graham said a good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society. You know, I've been reflecting on this, and uh if you kind of look at what has happened to society maybe over the last 50 years, um society has kind of pictured the dad as, you know, kind of like Homer Simpson, you know? Uh that's who dads are, you know, in our society. And if God has built society and if he has blueprinted this society, and if man uh is supposed to be a a covering and the head of his home and the leader of his family, and we have cut off the head of the man. Uh but he and and God has designed it that he would lead, but we've cut him off, and we've said he's Homer Simpson, pushed him in that uh direction, and stolen uh all of his honor and respect. Um wonder society is drifting in the wrong direction. Uh, we need men to then step in the gap and lead your families. And ladies, you lift him up and support him and cheer him on. Let him lead. Uh I saw the funniest thing happened the other day. Uh, there were a bunch of little kids playing around. There's this little guy, he had to be like two years old, two and a half years old. And uh the kids were doing this thing, and the older boys were getting after it, doing it, and this little guy went to do it, and the mom tried to come and instruct him. You know, no, no, do it, do it this way. And he went, No, no, no, no, no. He's like, Mom, I'm with the guys, don't tell me. Leave me alone, let me do it all by myself. And I'm telling you that, you know, as much as uh as much as the women they want nothing more than to help, lift up, and encourage. I believe that with all my heart. But you can see it even in the toddler that he wants to lead, he wants to run, he wants to figure it out his way. And there has been something that's happened in the society which men feel like they can't lead, they can't press forward. And you gotta let him lead. And guess what? He has to do he has to fall, he has to fail. And sadly, as Sarah had to do, she has to watch her guy lead him in the wrong direction and try to love and support him along the way. But you know what you do? You let him fail, and you go talk to God about it, and God will correct him, and God will fix him. And that's the best thing that you can do for this guy. Because when he fails, he will learn and he will cry out to God and he will grow. But if you decapitate him, you just take all of his strength and all of his leadership, he will feel deflated. He cannot run hard in this society. We need fathers to end the lives of their children more than ever before. And dad, you are the anchor of the family. Under God, you are the pastor of that home, protector of that home, provider of that home. You are the covering. And we are living in a generation of sons and daughters wandering the earth looking for their father. Uh, the whole restless world is wandering. Where's my dad? Where's my father to tell me who I am and what I'm supposed to be doing? I don't know who I am. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. Uh we need dads to tell their kids clearly, this is who you are. This is what you're going to do. This is the direction you're going to live. This is who we are as a family. You set the parameters and encourage your kids in that direction. Um, you know, whether the world knows it or not, they're looking for a relationship with their father in heaven. And they are looking to find that relationship with their father in heaven through their father on earth. So here's what I want you to take away today. This is the direction I want to go. This portrait of the happy man, the blessed man, the blessed dad. And I want to strengthen the men in this room and the calling of God. And ladies, we should be praying this text over the men that you love. Brothers, I dare you to memorize this text. It's only six verses. Psalm chapter one. Can we stand for the reading of God's word? You guys alright? Ladies, you hear my tone change a little bit today because I'm talking to the guys. Hear that? You get real straight with them, real direct with them. That they know I love them, they know I care about them, and I I uh I salute them, I honor them, I lift them up, and I try to respect them uh through the tone. And so that's what I'm doing today. Listen in, and and also uh some encouraging words for everyone here today. Psalm chapter one, take a look at verse one. How blessed is the man, how happy is the guy, how happy 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. No, no. But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, and in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree, firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, its leaves does not wither, and whatever he does, he prospers. But the wicked, it's not so. They are like chaff which the wind drives away, therefore the wicked will not rise in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And we thank you for this forever psalm, this forever picture, this beautiful, eternal picture that springs true year after year somehow in our in our in our minds and our hearts. And I pray, God, today that you would you would produce new roots in us that aren't there yet. The roots would grow deeper into the ground, into the nutrients, and we would grow. And then you would sustain us, and we would find where to place our roots. We'd find rest in you, and we'd be like oak trees, giant redwoods, sequoias, standing in the midst of this generation, standing in the midst of this city, this culture, not moved by anything, not moved by any storm, not moved by any trial, not moved by anything, because we are anchored in you. I pray for these men that you would supernaturally grow us to who you want us to be. Bless our time in your word, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Look at the very first word here in the text, the word blessed. Blessed. You could just so well translate this word, happy. The happy man. How happy is the man. And right away your mind should run to a hillside in Galilee, where the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, sat down and opened his mouth and said it eight times over. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Happy, happy, happy, happy. Matthew chapter 5. Notice the psalmist does not hand us a formula for chasing happiness. He doesn't say, Here are seven steps to a happy life. He simply describes a certain kind of man that happiness is already in. It's assumed. The man who walks with God is by definition a blessed man. This guy's gonna be happy. He will find his joy in the Lord. It's given. As David says it elsewhere, in your presence is fullness of joy. So as he just walks with God, he's gonna be full of joy, he's gonna be blessed. I did a memorial service yesterday for my wife's grandpa, Tom Daly, 91 years old. Uh, it was the most joyful memorial service I've ever been to. Laughing and celebrating and cheering. 91 years old. He was the Bible bandit. I called him the Bible bandit because he never stopped asking me for Bibles. He was the Gideon of all Gideons. I think maybe single-handedly handed out more Bibles than anybody I personally know by hand. Um, yeah, he would just be calling, asking for more Bibles. When he found out I worked at Harvest and there were thousands of Bibles in the warehouse, he would call them and say, I know, I know Pastor Greg Glory and Pastor Chuck Smith, and I know the Pope, and give me a hundred Bibles. He's a funny one. He'd walk into a donut shop and he'd make friends with everybody in the donut shop and then be handing a Bible to the person across the counter and praying for them. He's that guy. He did it his whole life from Chicago. He's a rough guy, turned soft. And when I reflect on his life, what a legacy Tom Daly had. He was a happy man, a blessed man. Why? Because his life was anchored on this. His wife brought his last three Bibles to the memorial service and trying to give them away. Little Gideon's. I love it. Tom was happy, Tom was blessed, Tom is happy, Tom is blessed because he walks with the Lord all of his life. It's a given. That's what happens. Blessed also carries the idea of favor. Redemptive favor, this, the undeserved kindness that comes to a believer, not because he earned it, but because of Jesus. And men, brothers, hear me. The favor of God is on you. Not might be, it is on you. You are a blessed man. The favor of God is upon you. Walk in it. Yet how quickly we forget it, the world around us works overtime to convince you that you're not blessed, that you do not already have the favor of God, that what you have is not enough. Which brings me to one of my favorite story illustrations of all time. I've read it many times here, I'll read it again, years ago. Russell Conwell told of an ancient Persian name Ali Hafed, who owned a large, beautiful farm, orchards, grain fields, gardens, a wealthy man, a content man, until one evening a visitor from the east sat by his fire and told him about diamonds, about the staggering fortune a man could have if he owned his own diamond mind. Ali Hafed went to bed that night, a poor man, a discontent man. Not because he had lost a thing he had and he went to bed poor because for the first time he was discontent. So he sold the farm that he had, and he sold the orchards and the gardens, and he left his family, and he wandered the whole world searching for diamonds until his money was gone and his health was gone and his hope was gone, and he died broken in a strange land, far from home. He took his own life. And here's the part that gets me every time. One once the one day the man who had bought Ali Afed's farm, he led one of the camels to a brook in the back of the vineyard and into the water to drink, and the animal lowered its nose to the water, and the new owner caught a flash of light in the sand of the stream, and he reached down, he pulled out a stone that shimmered with every color of the rainbow. He had just discovered the diamond mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond mine in human history. The acres of diamonds Aliafed crossed the earth to find had been buried in his own backyard the whole time. Brothers, your diamonds are sitting right in front of you. They are. It's your relationship with God. It's the woman who said yes to you. It's those kids around your table. It's the simple friendships. It's every need quietly met this very morning. You don't need more. But oh, how the enemy loves to lean in and whisper those little words. You need more. I'm convinced that those may be the darkest words ever spoken into the man's ear. You need more. More money, then you'll be happy. More success, then you'll be happy. A different house, then you'll be happy. A different life, then you'll be happy. Fill in the blank. What is it whispering in your ear this week? Charles Spurgeon said it's not how much we have, but how much we enjoy what we have that makes us happy. And so you've already got the diamonds. You're blessed. You have favor. You're worshiping the Lord today. You have Him. The most content man is the wealthiest man on the earth. Right, J.D. Rockefeller. How much money do you need, sir? He said, just one more dollar. Never content. Are you con it doesn't mean you can't go after more, but are you content with what you have today? You're blessed, brothers. You know God. You walk with God. You are sons of the king. Now the psalmist is going to show us three things about the happy man, three things that protect his joy. I'm going to walk through them one at a time. Point number one, if you're taking notes, the blessed man is careful about his company. The happy man, the blessed man is careful about his company. Verse 1, how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. Don't miss the picture. The psalmist paints with the body of a man. Watch the posture. He walks, stands, and sits. There's a slow drift in those three words, and it goes downhill every step of the way. First, the blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the world. Happy is the man who stops talking taking advice from people who don't know God. Let me flip the verse over so you can feel it. Not blessed, but unhappy, anxious, and quietly miserable is the man who walks in the counsel of the wicked. And there it is. And here's how the erosion happens. It's subtle. First you walk with them, just listening, then you find yourself standing with them, comfortable in their company, sin no longer bothering you the way that it used to. And before you know it, you're sitting down in the seat of scoffers, mocking the very things you once held sacred. Somewhere along this slide, the joy quietly slips out the back door. Brother, some of the erosion of your peace this year may trace right back to what you've been listening to, the voice of the world, the voice of the enemy, the voice of your own flesh. It can rob you. David knew this danger. In Psalm 26, 4, he says, I do not sit with deceitful men, nor will I go with pretenders. I hate the assembly of evildoers. I will not sit with the wicked. It's like I'm not gonna do it. We become the people we surround ourselves with, right? It's the old high school thing, right? You become the people you hang around. So I gotta do is look around and see you're hanging out with. I mean, I remember thinking this. You hang out with losers, you're gonna be a loser. You hang out with millionaires, you might be a millionaire. You hang out with people who love God, you'll probably be someone who Loves God. Now you look at the crew that we assembled back in the day, these very eclectic group, ragtag renegades. We would not hang out together had we not been Christians. Let me just say that. None of these guys do the things that I do. We didn't do the things. We were bonded together because of Christ. And we would have never, ever probably met each other had not it been for the church. But it was such a beautiful thing to see the opposite of myself and to learn the opposite of myself. What a treasure. And men who would strengthen and encourage. And I love that about the church. It's one of the most powerful things. Because you try to break into any group here in LA, and it always is basically based around doing the same thing together. And we're all going to talk about our dogs. I'm going to join a cycling group because we all like to ride bikes together, and so we're going to go do that. We're all going to run together. We like to do that, which is great, which is fine. The hobbies are great. It's a great way to connect, no doubt. But man, it's amazing. You come to the church, Christ is the center, and then you have all of these random, different types of people. We become the people we hang around. You got to decide early on what kind of person you want to be. I am the older I get, the more I want to be less religious, uh less studious and prestigious in my knowledge. I want to be like John Lennox, you know, the Oxford mathematician, top of the food stand at Oxford, Stephen Bartlett, tries to get him to divulge all of his knowledge and he won't do it. He just talks about the joy of Christ and the peace of Christ and the experience that he had with Jesus and how he was changed forever. He blew the guy's mind away. He couldn't even process it. He's like, no, tell me the things. Convince me into Jesus. He says, I can't. It's just like swimming. You don't know what it is until you jump in the water. So jump in, Steven. The guy is like in his 80s and he's just laughing away like a jolly old Santa man. You don't realize he's at the top of the food chain in Oxford. The mathematician. The apologist. I love that. I think that's what people want in the end. They want the happy man. You become the people you hang around. Deal Moody said, as long as the church is living so much like the world, we cannot expect our children to be brought into the fold. If I walk with the world, I cannot walk with God. Jaya Packer said, worldliness is being controlled by what preoccupies the world, the quest for pleasure, profit, and position. Pleasure, profit, position. Pleasure, profit, position. I can't believe he nailed it so well. He's like, like when I read it hurt me, you know. Man, let me say one more thing here gently. Sometimes the wicked counsel you have to refuse is a counsel running inside your own head. The places your mind wanders at two in the morning, the lies you rehearse about yourself, be careful what you sit and listen to there as well. It can steal a happy day faster than anything else. You know what I mean? You wake up and you don't even know why you feel bad. Like, actually, I thought I slept well. You already feel sick. We must not allow the flesh to control our minds. How do you turn it, Pastor? You have to start calling on the Lord. You have to start texting a brother. You have to start turning on the music. You have to start turning yourself. Do something. Get busy doing something else. Um, do not focus on those things or allow your mind to be taken over. You can control your own mind. Let me add, you are the only one who can control your own mind. No one else can. Only you. And God has given you that strength by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen. You can confess that. Lord, my mind's out of control. Help me. I can't stop the spinning. Lord, do something. Holy Spirit, ignite something and change my mind. Quote scripture, read the word, listen to a podcast, start doing something. Get your mind on something else uplifting. Don't allow your mind to stir into darkness. Point number two, if you're taking notes, the blessed man is captivated by the word of God. Verse 2, but his delight is in the law of Yahweh, and in his law he meditates day and night. I love the turn here in verse 2. It says, but, but his delight. The blessed man does not have room for the counsel of the world. And here's why. Because his delight is in the law of the Lord. It's his pleasure, it's his excitement, it's his craving. He is so full of the Word of God, he loves it so deeply, he feeds on it so regularly that he simply isn't hungry for what the world is serving. You see that you don't fight the appetite for junk food by gritting your teeth. You crowd it out with better feasting. You eat the good stuff. I mean, it's amazing. You know, it's amazing how good junk food looks, you know, when you're starving. You're like, oh my gosh. I haven't had a Big Mac in ten years, but that thing looks so good. But man, you you eat you eat as a really nice restaurant, and they like won't stop bringing the courses, and you're just eating yourself to the brim as this like, man. You know, and they're like, you want some dessert? And you're like, ah, teramasu, and they bring that out, and you eat three bites, and you're like, I shouldn't have done that, and you're max. And then the Big Mac comes along, and you're like, I don't, I can't, I that's gonna make me throw that's gonna make me sick. I can't even think about that right now. You crowd it out with the good stuff. Galatians 5 16, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And what a feast it is. Listen to how David describes the word of God. Psalm 19:7, the law of Yahweh is perfect, it restores the soul. The precepts of the Lord are right, they cause the heart to rejoice. More to be desired are they than gold. Even if you find a lot of gold, much fine gold, the finest gold. And it's sweeter also than honey, and the drippings of the honeycomb. And moreover, by them is thy servant warrant, and in keeping of them, brothers, there is great reward. The word of God is a gift to us, men. It's our compass, it's our flashlight in a dark world. Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. And by it we find our way, and we lead our families along the same path. Your job is to set the parameters of your family by the word of God and try to keep them within that lane. Now you can't do it perfect, trust me. Your kids, your family, even you are gonna all of a sudden one day you're wandering outside the parameter. Like, what am I? I'm supposed to be guiding the whole family, and I'm outside the line. That's right. You gotta get the family back in. You gotta get yourself back in. Wasn't that Adam's job? Adam, where are you? It's the wife you gave me. Adam, that's your first response, huh? You're gonna blame your wife, my man. I think I made you first. You know this garden. You know what's going on in here. We had lots of talks. And I made a helper for you, and you didn't watch out for her. Don't blame your wife. And don't even blame Lucifer. I gave you the parameters. You know you were not to eat, and you allowed that to happen in your family. And so, Adam, you are responsible for Adam sinned and plunged the whole human race into sin. Adam, the first Adam, is the one held responsible. Eve is not mentioned. Brothers, it is our responsibility. You can blame your wife all you want, but God will say, Adam, where are you? Never forget that. We got all the excuses as why everything's going wrong. It the best thing you could ever do is just take responsibility. It's all right. You messed up, stuff is failing. That's all right. Start fixing the leaks. Go to a couple of brothers, figure out how to make it right, turn it back around. You know that everyone has leaks in their house. You know that everyone has repairs that need to be done. Everyone, so we gotta stop this game of acting like we don't all have problems going on in our homes. We have to start there. We all need Jesus the same. We all have to work together the same. Notice he meditates on it day and night. That word meditate is the Hebrew word Haga. A wonderful earthy word. It means to murmur, to mutter, to ponder, to chew something over and over until you've gotten everything out of it. Have you ever been so deep in thought that you caught yourself talking out loud to yourself? Happens to me all the time now. That's how I know I'm a dad. You know, I'm getting old. Just be out there, you know, mowing the grass or whatever, just talking to myself, like saying things. Trying to encourage myself. You know, I miss a wave out there on the water. Come on, man, you can do it. Let's go.

unknown 32:30

Come on.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

The picture behind this word is the cow chewing the cud. The cow chews, swallows it, brings it back up. Chews some more, swallows it, brings it back up, chews, swallows it, brings it back up. Keeps chewing it. Meditate, meditate, gnawing on, chewing on the cud. Meditation, um, working every bit of nourishment out of that grass. It's not a speed reading, a verse before you bolt out the door. It's it's it's turning the truth over and over until it has fed the deep places of your soul. And I'll tell you what, this really got this got real for me. The first ten verses I ever memorized were the ones tucked in the back of a little green Gideon Bible somebody gave me. One of those old men handed me a Gideon Green Bible. And I was on a college campus, Calci San Bernardino. I would sit there on the curb between classes, and I was trying to memorize all the verses in the very back of uh of the book. And the next 50 came through chanting scripture set to music. We do sometimes here after service. I wanted to bleed scripture. There was a band of brothers at harvest, about 15 of us, and every week we would memorize a passage and hold each other accountable for it just to keep our hearts and minds fixed on the Lord. No joke, some of those guys started memorizing whole chapters. They were trying to recite it in front of everyone. It was probably like a one-up game, you know, who's more righteous? You know, that's what we were doing. But in the end, it ended up paying dividends into our lives because the word of God was in us. Psalm 119, 11. I've hidden these words in my heart, O Lord, that I may not sin against you. Hiding the Word of God within us to stop us from sinning, to remember his word. Charles Spurgeon said, remember that souls grow more by meditation than by anything else. Your soul grows by meditation more than anything else. Vance Havner says, when we are too busy to sharpen the axe, we are too busy. You gotta think about that one, brothers. Uh a sharp axe cuts more wood faster with less time, and the man who takes time alone with God, time in the word, time in prayer will cut through the demands of a week with strength that the worrisome man will never get to. And so allow me to ask you plainly, what are you meditating on? Is it feeding your joy? Is it quietly stealing it? Get alone with the Lord, get alone with God. Uh, you men are the ones meant to be anchored in the word, holding the compass, shining the light, steadying the family through the storms of life, and we need you in that role, and we need you to hold the line. And you were made, you were built to do this job. You are. God made you that way. So you already have the gifts, talents, and abilities to do it. You just need to be watered, you need to be strengthened, you need these roots to grow deeper, and you can withstand the storm. Point number three, and finally, blessed is the man deeply rooted like a tree. Verse three, he will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields fruit in its season, its leaves does not wither, and whatever he does, he prospers. Did you catch that? He will be like a tree. Now, what comes to mind when you picture a tree? I think of giant redwoods, the sequoias, the cedars of Lebanon. Who's gonna move one of those? I mean, a train tries to like smash into one of those and gets derailed. And a tank runs into a tree, and that thing's gonna get flipped over. You know, up in the southern end of Yosemite, there's a place called Mariposa Grove, several hundred uh mature giant sequoias, some of them over 2,000 years old, uh, 25 feet across. Yes, 25 feet across. Um, unbelievable. And there's one tree in that grove with a name, they call it the Faithful Couple. True, two trees that grew so close together over the centuries, their chunks fused into one at the base, and down at the bottom of the tree, you can still see the burn marks. That couple has stood through fire after fire, storm after storm, and it's still standing, still root is still rising. I think we got pictures of it here, we'll show you. Look at that thing. These trees set on fire. The roots grow so deep, not even the fire can turn it over. That's the man God is describing. He's like a tree planted, he's not going anywhere. He's stubborn for God. He's anchored in the word, he's planted. And he's not planted behind beside a little puddle, but beside streams of water. He's never thirsty because he drinks daily from the water of life that never runs dry. You gotta ask yourself, what is a tree with no roots? You know, it topples in the first heavy wind. A tree with no water, it withers and dies, it's thirsty and fruitless. The water we need is the Lord Jesus. And that water is the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And soaking him in daily, day after day, is what drives the roots down deeper for the glory of God. But it's not just reading, brothers. It is communing with God through the scriptures. It is allowing the scriptures to ignite the fire of your heart over and over again each and every day. It is nutrients, nutrients causing the roots to inch little by little, deeper and deeper into the soil. Two thousand years of roots. Not even a fire can burn that tree down. And a tree like that yields fruit in its season. Every season. What kind of fruit? The best kind, the fruit of the Spirit. Love. The fruit on that tree, that guy's true. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's a lot of fruits. But can you imagine, brother, the fruit on your tree is just hanging there, and your wife gets to come and eat of that tree? And your kids get to come and eat of that tree, and your grandkids get to come and eat of that tree? Oh man, your family's full. You want that to be said about you. Again, we can play the game of church and religion all we want, but in the end, what do people say about us? What do they really think about us? We really care. We really love people. Like, isn't that the litmus test? Love God, and the way that you display that you actually love God is how you love and how you handle people. The fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, goodness, faith, meekness, sign is gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5 22. If you want the fruit, you have to have the water and you have to be planted in that water, deep-rooted, daily relationship with God in His word and in prayer. I can't promise you that fire is not gonna show up. It's gonna show up. I can't promise you that hurricanes aren't gonna show up. They're gonna show up and try to blow down that tree. Uproot you, tornadoes are gonna come. See tornadoes come through the land? There's like one tree standing there. It's like, how'd you get through? Its roots go deep. So deep. You might rip off a couple branches, but you're gonna hang through and you're gonna regrow those branches. And you will do it, brothers. You will make it through. You will make it through war. You will make it to the other side. You will make it to the beaches of heaven. I think there's nothing sadder than a man who's been in a church 20 years and his spiritual infant. Picture a tree so thin and weak, a breeze could knock it over. Someone tells you it's 50 years old. You say, What? What happened to it? Well, no water. The apostle Paul had to correct the church in Corinth for it. Chapter 3, verse 1. I could not speak to you as spiritual men, he said. But as to fleshly, as to infants in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not solid foods, for you're not able to do it yet. You even are not now, he says. But not you, brothers. You guys are different. You guys know the Word of God. You love the Lord, your roots are already growing. Continue to be strengthened in them. Blessed is the man who is not like that. He is a tree planted, bearing fruit, growing, maturing, full of peace, joy, and rest. And then it gets even better. His leaves do not wither. Why? Because he is planted by the water. No matter what storm rolls in, the roots of God's word and the promises of God hold that tree fast through every season of life. Isaiah 26 3. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26 3. Psalm chapter 119, verse 165. Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing can cause him to stumble. Look at the very last line of the verse, and whatever he does, he prospers. Simple. Simple truth. The man who tunes out the counsel of the word and tunes in the word of God, meditating on a day and light, planted like a tree, drinking from the streams of water, fruit is coming, his leaves will not wither, and whatever he does, he will prosper. John MacArthur said, the legacy of a faithful father is written on the hearts of his children. Behind every strong family is a father who bends his knees in prayer. A father's greatest gift to his children is to love their mother and to fear the Lord. It's the best thing you could ever do. Keep doing it. Just keep doing it. Trust the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. Keep walking in obedience. The dividends will pay out. Allow me to bring it home because all this points to one person, the Lord Jesus. He said himself, Abide in me, and I in you. A branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine. So neither you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John chapter fifteen, verse four. Brothers, hear that last line. Let it settle. Apart from me, you can do nothing. We can be good. We cannot be good fathers, good husbands, good men apart from Jesus. You want to learn to love the way he loves, abide in him, get planted in him, get alone with him in prayer day after day. Get into his word. Get with the brothers. Let the men strengthen you. How are we going to get through this thing? You're going to go into war alone? We can't do that. We need each other. We can't fight this thing alone. We need each other. Make disciples. That's how trees grow. And that's how the leaf stays green. The end of this Psalm, verses four to six, there are only two ways to live in this Psalm, and the psalmist won't let us leave without seeing the other one. Just let the weight of it settle on you. For the wicked, it's not so. They're like chaff that the wind just drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous, for Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Chaff. The alternative to the tree, not a rival tree, but chaff, weightless, rootless. But look at where the psalm lands in hope. Yahweh knows the way of the righteous. And that's a promise, brothers. God knows your way, he sees your path. The early mornings, the quiet faithfulness, the prayers nobody hears, he will see it that you prosper, that you stand, and that you win in the end. And so keep pressing on. Keep building the kingdom, keep serving the family, keep building your house. Let me send the brothers out the way Joshua sent out the generation of men. What do you say? Dads, granddads, grandpas, grandfathers, men. But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Blessed is a man. Brothers, you are blessed. The favor of God is upon you. And so let's go out of this place into our homes, our work and our world and be the tree, rooted, watered, fruitful, unwithering. Let's do it for the glory of God and for the good of everyone who lives under our covering. Amen. Amen. Let's pray a blessing over us as we leave this place. Father, we worship you. And God, I thank you that you have already done the work. You have accomplished it. You have provided the way. All we must do is abide in you. Cling to you. Submit to you. Choose to walk with you for me and my house. We will serve the Lord. And I pray, God, that we would display your unbelievable gospel to the world around us. That our forgiveness and our grace would be the most powerful fuel of obedience to all those around us. Would fuel our lives and fuel those around us to see the love of our God and bring us to our knees to worship you and love you. I pray for these men. Lord, even if they're like, I don't even know if I can grow my roots deep, God, that you would supernaturally, you put the fertilizer on, and they would grow deep, deeper than ever before, and they would wake up blown away by your grace again. You growing them supernaturally for your glory. Bless us, Lord. We give you our lives. Bless the men today, strengthen them, carry them through this season. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.