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It's a good hymn. All right, take your Bibles. Again, just go back to Psalm chapter 1. If you've moved away from there. Psalm chapter 1. Only six verses, but there's so much in it. I don't know if you guys have picked up on it. There's so much in it. It's such a powerful Psalm, I find. You know, it just seems to fit that that Psalm would open up the book of Psalms for us. Psalm chapter 1. Now, just an encouragement to you guys. So every Sunday, moving forward, unless the need comes up, you know, I want to preach. Just take a whole chapter of the Bible, preach chapter by chapter. Again, so the memory verse will be from that chapter that I preach from. But I also want you guys, just through, you know, sometime in the week, to read the chapter for yourself. Think about what it says. Meditate upon what it says. I know you've got your own Bible reading schedule. Okay, but just put that one in there. It's only one more chapter you're going to need for the week. Think about it. Read about it. So when I come and preach about it, you already kind of know what it's about, right? Or maybe you've got some thoughts that are a little bit different to mine, right? And then, you know, you can approach me after the service. Hey, Kevin, I got this out of it. Something we can discuss. You know, fellowship over. Read the Bible together. Hey, did you notice this in that chapter? Because obviously, I mean, this is a short chapter, but most chapters in the Bible are kind of longer. And obviously, I'm not going to be able to cover every verse in every chapter. So there might be things that you've picked up that I didn't pick up and vice versa. So it'd be great for us to be able to have a discussion on that specific chapter of the Bible. Okay, so Psalm number one, the Bible reads, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. The first thing I want to preach about today is that very first word, blessed. Okay, what does it mean to be blessed? What does it mean to have the blessing of God upon you? I don't know if you guys think about this much. Sometimes if you look at the, I'm not promoting the modern Bible versions, but many times the modern Bible versions change that word blessed to happy. Okay, now, if you're blessed, you will be joyful, you will be happy. But it's more than just happiness, right? It's being in good stead with God. Okay, if someone says, wow, that's a blessed person, you know, you're basically saying, you know, the Lord is shining his face upon that person. He's in good stead with the Lord. He's walking with the Lord. He's rejoicing in the Lord. He's been edified, lifted up in the Lord. You know, to be blessed is to be content or satisfied as well. You know, because in life we don't all have the same material gain. We don't have all the same profit. Some people have more, some people have less. But regardless of what you have in life, you can be blessed. You can be content and satisfied, rejoicing in what the Lord has given you. That is being blessed by the Lord. You know, it's again, being joyous and happy, but it's also having great success or having good success, being prosperous. And I'm not talking about just financially, but being prosperous in your life, being prosperous in your family, in your workplace, being a good friend to other people. People look at you and say, well, that's a blessed person. That's a blessed family. That means you're in good stead. You're walking with the Lord, right? People can see that the Lord is blessing your life. Now, what is the opposite of being blessed? Anyone want to say? What's the opposite of being blessed? Yep. Being cursed. Yeah. Being cursed. You guys have thought about, know that opposite of being blessed is being cursed. Now, when you curse someone, are you wanting good on that person? No. Like, you know, you're, I guess when you curse someone, you know, you're hoping for evil against that person, right? For them to be punished or having wrath put upon them when they're cursed, right? It's total opposite of being blessed, right? Now, you can struggle in life. You can have problems in life, but you can still go through those struggles in life in a blessed way if you're walking with the Lord. But if you're not walking with the Lord, it can be like a curse to you, right? When you look at people that are unsaved, that are without the Lord, they can be going through similar struggles that we all go through, but just having a harder time to get through it. It's much more difficult for them because they're relying on their own strength, whereas we have the ability to rely upon the strength of the Lord, right? We have the ability to have the Word of God as a shining path for our feet and having the strength of the Lord in our hearts, the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, right? Encourages us and lifts us up. Now, when we talk about blessings and curse sins, okay? Now, a lot of people understand this, especially when they read the Old Testament, because the Old Testament is filled with blessings and curse sins a lot more than the New Testament, okay? Now, in the Old Testament, one of the key differences of the Old Testament to the New Testament, well, actually, similarity yet different is this. You're blessed in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was blessed when they would walk in obedience with the Lord, okay? And they were cursed when they disobeyed the Lord. I'll just read to you a passage here in Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 26, Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 26 and 27 and 28. The Bible reads, behold I set before you, so this is the Lord talking to Israel, behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. So the Lord says to Israel, look, you can have the way of blessing or you can have the way of a curse, okay? A blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day. So you obey the commandments of the Lord and you will have a blessing from me, says the Lord to Israel, right? And then in verse 28, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known. So if Israel disobeyed the Lord, didn't worship him and ultimately turned their backs against him and worshiped other gods, they would be cursed, right? That's very clearly depicted in the scriptures. Quite often you'll see Israel, when they have the blessing of the Lord, they're in the land of Canaan, they're in peace, they have victory over their enemies, but when they turn their backs against the Lord, the Lord allows armies of the other surrounding nations to come in and bring war, disperse them from the land, so on and so forth, right? So the land was a big part of that blessing. If they were blessed by the Lord, they were obeying the Lord, they'd be in the land, and if they were cursed by the Lord, disobedient to the Lord, they wouldn't be in the land, right? Or they'd just be struggling with warfare on that land. Okay, now do you think that Israel kept all the commandments perfectly? Of course not, like nobody can, right? I mean if they were able to keep the commandments and the laws of God perfectly, they would be fully righteous and they wouldn't have the need for a Savior. Obviously they were still in sin, obviously they disobeyed, okay, obviously they did wrong, but that just shows you the mercy of the Lord, right? The long-suffering of the Lord, the graciousness of the Lord. So even though Israel was an imperfect nation, it's not like God was just waiting to curse them, right? But obviously when they got to the point where they're worshiping other gods, you know, then the wrath of God would have to fall upon them, you know, God would have to bring them to their knees so that they would be brought back to God. My point is, I just want to reinforce this to you, Old Testament Israel were blessed or cursed by God based on their obedience or disobedience. That's pretty basic, that's pretty basic doctrine. If you've read through the Old Testament, you'll notice that because that's covered a lot in a lot of detail. Now we enter, obviously since Christ died on the cross, we've entered into the New Testament, right? A new covenant, okay? Now there's still blessings and curse sins, okay? But, well, and it's still based on obedience, but it's not based on your obedience. Now when I say this, a lot of people will think, oh that's crazy, you know, that sounds like heresy, but I'll explain to you what I mean by this, okay, and it'll make full sense to you. So there's still blessings and curse sins in the New Testament times, but it's not based on, as a saved believer, I'm talking about, I'm talking to a church, I'm talking about saved believers, it's not based on your obedience or your disobedience to the laws of God. Okay, now let me prove this to you. Turn to Galatians chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3 verse 6. Galatians chapter 3. I really want you to understand this, because often when you hear this said, again, people just struggle to understand it, because they recognize there must be a blessing for the obedience, and there must be some type of punishment for your disobedience, and I agree with that, but let's understand how the scriptures explain this. Galatians chapter 3 verse 6. Galatians chapter 3 verse 6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So how was the righteousness imputed upon Abraham by believing God? It was through faith, right? Even in Old Testament times, they were saved by faith, by grace, through faith, and not of works. Even in the Old Testament times. That's going to be very clear, and one thing that you need to understand, though, even though Israel were in this Old Testament covenant with the Lord, many of the Israelites were not saved, and many were saved, okay? Those that were saved obviously had the righteousness imputed upon them through faith, and those that were not saved were just like today, you know, believing in their works, believing in their good self, or trusting in their religion to save them, rather than their faith on God, okay? Now, verse 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham? Are you of faith? Are you someone that believes on Christ, his death, bread, and resurrection, through faith, and trusting in Christ to save you, to take you home to heaven? If you are that person, if you are a saved believer, then you're someone of faith, and you are a child of Abraham, okay? I know many churches do not like to say this, right? They like to say that the physical nation of Israel, the Jews, physical Jews, if they're able to trace their heritage back, I mean, that's disputed, but if they're able to trace their heritage all the way back to Abraham, they say, well, they're the children of Abraham. Yes, they're the children of Abraham in the flesh, but you also are a child of Abraham through faith in the Spirit, okay? So never shy away from that. You are a child of Abraham in the Spirit, okay? Now, verse number 8. And the Scripture foreseen, that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham. Did Abraham know the Gospel? Yes, he had the Gospel preached to him in the Old Testament, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. All nations. We're Australians, right? We're saved believers Australians, and we're blessed with faithful Abraham because we're of faith, okay? I'm not saying the unbelieving are blessed with faithful Abraham. I'm saying all the believing that are in faith of all nations are blessed with faithful Abraham. It's not just to one nation like we find in the Old Testament. The nation of Israel were blessed based on their obedience and because they were physical children of Abraham, but again, they were only saved if they believed by faith, okay? Now, verse number 9. Sorry, so yeah, in thee shall... Did I read that? Yeah, Abraham's saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So how do we receive the blessing of God in the New Testament? It's through the faith. It's through the faith of Abraham, okay? Look at verse number 9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. So how are we blessed? Again, it just reinforces in verse number 9, they that are which be or they which be of faith. So if you're saved today, you have the blessing of God available to you, even before obedience or disobedience. Think about it like this. When you guys go soul winning, you preach the gospel, and you say to the people, it's not by your religion. It's not your works. It's not you cleaning up your life. It's purely based on you trusting on the death, burial, and resurrection. Here paid it for it all. Here was a substitute. Here died for your sins. Now, some people obviously receive that pretty easily. Some people don't. And sometimes the... How do I say this? The opposition might say something like what? So are you saying you can just live however you want? I mean, how many of you guys have heard that? Are you saying you can just live however you want? Well, basically, yes. You know, because it's not based on how you live. You can be saved because it's your faith on Christ. It's based on the righteousness of Christ, right? But yeah, you can live however you want. But how do we address that to give them some satisfaction? We say to them, well, if you disobey the Lord, if you break his commandments, then the Lord will chastise you. He will punish you on this earth, but he won't punish you in hell because you're already saved and delivered from your sins. And then to motivate them to do the good works, to motivate them to obey the Lord of God, we say to them, hey, you obey those things and God will reward you. You already have your destination to heaven, but God will lay up treasures for you in heaven if you obey his commandments and walk in his path, right? So, and this is where people sometimes struggle with this because here's what they think. We've told them the blessing of the Lord is available to them and they can have the full measure of that when they obey the Lord of God. But then we say, but if you disobey, God will chastise you. And what we automatically think when we think of chastisement, because we understand the Old Testament, we think, well, that's the curse, right? If you disobey the Lord, God will curse you by chastisement. Now, there's truth and there's error in that phrase that I just used. There's truth that God will chastise you. That's the truth. God will chastise you through your disobedience. But here's where the error is. The chastisement of the Lord is not a curse, okay? It's not a curse. Parents, you discipline your children. When you discipline your children, are you cursing your children? Are you wanting evil upon them? No, you do it out of love. Let's continue reading Galatians chapter 3 verse 10. Galatians chapter 3 verse 10. For as many are as are of the works of the law, so those that are trusting in the works of the law for salvation, basically, are under a curse. So pay attention now. Are you trusting the works of the law for salvation or are you trusting Christ through faith? So if you're trusting in Christ through faith, you're not under the curse. God cannot curse you if you are of faith. But those that are trusting in the works of the law, those that are trusting in being a good person, they are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So those that are trying to obey the law of God and say, hey, you've got to be good, you've got to keep the commandments, they've got to do it all. But if they don't do it all, then they're under the curse. And obviously, no one has ever been able to keep the whole law of the Lord. The reason that God gave us his laws is to show us how we fall short of his perfection, of his glory, and we have the need for a Saviour. When we realize that we cannot measure up to God's standard, that's when we finally realize, I need salvation. I need Jesus Christ. I need the substitute. Verse 11. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident for the just shall live by faith. So no man is able to, just reinforces what I just said, no one is able to keep the law for salvation. But look at verse number 12. But the law is not of faith. So because we're not under the law, does that mean we don't worry about the law? Does that mean we don't do them? We don't try to keep the commandments of the Lord? No, it says, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. So there is life in doing the commandments of the Lord, right? There is fullness of life. You can live in the command. God expects us to live our lives following his commands, following his way, following his path, but we're not trusting that for salvation. We know we fall short of it, but there is life in the commandments, okay? So even though we're not under the law in the sense that we can be cursed by being disobedient, we're still required to live in them because that's where you're going to experience the full blessings of God. The full blessings of God are available to you, but you'll only take them when you know the word of God and you walk in his path. Look at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us, okay? Christ hath redeemed us. Christ has saved us from the curse of the law. So if you think you can still be cursed by the Lord, then you haven't fully understood that Christ has redeemed you from that curse. You understand? So I want you guys to understand this because there's not much good teaching on blessings and curse things in the New Testament, and when you say, you know, it's not based on your obedience or disobedience, people think, well, hold on, that's heresy. That sounds like heresy. I want you to understand biblically, right, using the scriptures, the curse things and the blessings of the Lord in the New Testament. So Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Are you redeemed in Christ? Are you saved? If so, you were redeemed from the curse of the law. So here's what you need to understand. Even when you disobey the law, even when you sin, you cannot be cursed. Why? Because Christ became the curse for you. He took the curse upon the tree, as it were, on the cross. All right? Christ was made a curse for us. Now look at verse 14. That the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. So now we're talking about the blessing. The blessing to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Now, let me clarify a few things here. The blessings of the New Testament are still based on obedience and disobedience, but the blessings are on the obedience of Christ. Christ obeyed the law perfectly. He obeyed the commandments perfectly. He was righteous. He had no sin. Right? And so that's why the blessing of the Lord is available to us. Because of Christ, in Christ, through Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. So I'm talking about the Holy Spirit being received through faith. That's part of the blessings of God. Now, understand this. New Testament cursing and blessing, yes, is based on obedience and disobedience, but not on your obedience or disobedience. On Christ's obedience. Okay? We are blessed because Christ obeyed the law of God perfectly. And Christ was cursed because we disobeyed the law of God. We could not measure up. We could not do it. It's an amazing exchange. You know, we realize, yeah, Christ died for us, but he took the whole curse upon himself. And we receive all the blessings that God has that were promised to Abraham because of Christ's obedience. We have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon us. That's what you need to understand. Okay? You need to understand that it's based on Christ's obedience to the law. And he never disobeyed the law of God, so you can never be cursed. Okay? There's no little bit that you have to make up to avoid the curse of God if you're saved. Now, again, it surprises some people, you know, because they think, well, hold on, you know, chastisement. Well, turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5. I just want to prove to you that being chastised by the Lord is not a curse. Okay. Now, pay attention. Do we have the blessing of the Lord upon us through Christ? Yes. So what is chastisement? Is chastisement a blessing or a curse? Chastisement is a blessing. I'll prove it to you. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 5. The Bible reads, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked by him. Now, notice the word before that. And ye have forgotten the exhortation. Chastisement is being described as an exhortation. What does that mean to be exhorted? It means to be built up, right? To be encouraged. You know, I think Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Most people believe that. He's saying to the Hebrews, look, I want to exhort you. I want to bring you to remembrance because you've forgotten that the chastening of the Lord is something to be exalted by. When you're exalted, is that a blessing or a curse? It's a blessing, right? Verse number six. Is being loved by the Lord a blessing or a curse? It's a blessing. Yeah. Verse number seven. If ye and you are chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? Is being a son of the Heavenly Father a blessing or a curse? It's a blessing, right? I want to show you how all these verses are blessings. Being chastised by the Lord is a good thing. It's a blessing, okay? Verse number eight. So we're not a bastard. We have a Heavenly Father. We are a child of God. Verse nine. So what's chastisement being described here? As a correction, right? The Father is our flesh which corrected us. You know, is being corrected from your wrong, being corrected, is that a blessing or a curse? It's a blessing, right? Being corrected, being made right. Verse number 10. So if God says to you, hey, I've got something for your prophet. I've got something that's going to make you more holy. Are you going to be like, nah, I don't want that, Lord. That's a blessing. You're going to be like, yeah, I want that. And then Lord says, well, it's a chastening. It's a chastening is going to be for your prophet, right? Being profited, being made more holy is a blessing, okay? But you know, we don't like chastisement. But you know, your kids don't like to be corrected, right? Your kids don't like to be chastised, disciplined. But I don't know if you guys, parents, if you've observed this, when you correct and discipline your child, and I believe you ought to discipline with a rod like the Bible teaches, right? Aren't they much more happier afterward, right? If you just let them get away with whatever they want, they're usually grumpy. They usually don't know where the boundaries are. They're never satisfied. But when you correct them, yes, there's pain. Yes, there's tears. But then there's forgiveness immediately. It's been dealt with. And then the kids are happy, right? I mean, I don't know if you've observed this. I've observed this many times with my children. They're delighted. It's like it's a blessing afterward. Not while it's happening. It's not nice. But afterward, yeah, it is. Look at verse number 11. Now, no chastening of the present seemeth to be joyous. Yes, that's right. You discipline your children. It's not joyous at the time, or not seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So the fruitful, a peaceable fruit of righteousness, is that a blessing or a curse? It's a blessing. It's the product of the chastisement, right? It's a blessing. So I want you to understand. I want you to be exhorted, like we read in verse number five, that if you're in the chastisement of the Lord, or you fear the chastisement or something, you think it's a curse. No, it's a blessing. It's profitable to you. It's going to make you more holy. It's going to make you more joyful. It's going to give you profits and reward and make you more holy, more like the Lord. And so I just want you to understand that. I want you to understand the blessings and the cursings in the New Testament. Don't be fooled or fearful. Now, we shouldn't fear the Lord, but we should fear Him in knowledge and righteousness. We ought to know what we fear Him for. God will not curse you if you've been saved, okay? God cannot curse you. Otherwise, Christ did not take the curse of law upon Himself in full, which He did, okay? So be encouraged by that. Be exhorted by that. And that way also, when you think the Lord's chastising you, you don't think, oh man, I'm being cursed. No, it's for your good. It's a blessing, okay? It's something that we ought to, even when we're struggling in chastisement, to rejoice in because we know God has a plan for us. He does it because He loves us, okay? Now, all that just on the first word of the chapter. All right, let's keep reading. Go back to Psalm 1. If I haven't clarified that, please, you know, ask me after the service if there's something that's still not understood with the blessings and cursings there. That blessing is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor siteth in the seat of the scornful. One thing I want you to notice is that it compares the blessed man to the one that's not blessed, right? And you can see that it's a downward spiral. The one that's not blessed has a downward spiral, okay? Now, what does it say? First, it says they walk in the counsel of the ungodly, then they stand in the way of the sinners, then they sit in the seat of the scornful. You see that? They walk first, then they stand, then they sit. It's this progression. It's downward progression when you surround yourself with non-believers. So first, walking with the ungodly, seeking their counsel. No, do not walk, do not fellowship with the ungodly, okay? Now, I know we all have friends and family that are not saved, and I'm not saying, hey, just, you know, don't associate with them, don't be friends with them. Obviously, we ought to be a good example. Obviously, we should use the opportunities to preach the gospel to them when we get the chance. Obviously, we should try to be a blessing to them and encourage them, right, in the Lord. Obviously, I'm not saying that, but sometimes it can be very tempting when you don't have Christian friends to seek the friendship of the world, okay? To seek the friendship of the ungodly. No, that's you trying to walk with them. You might say, well, I'll never be, you know, I'll never be pressured to go with the way they live. I'll never feel, you know, I can't even think of the word right now. I'll never feel influenced by their sin, you know? I'll never take part of their sin, but that's not how it starts, right? You know, we're instructed not to walk with them, not to fellowship with them. Again, it can be very tempting if you don't have Christian friends. Oh, make friends with non-Christian people. The problem is, it leads you to the next step, which is standing in the way of sinners. Standing in the way of sin. Now, that's not saying that you're standing in the, like, in the way, like, you're preventing them from sinning, like, I'm in the way. Like, I'm in their way. I'm being a good example. I'm in their way so they can't sin. Now, what that means is, you're standing in that way, right? You're supporting them. You're backing them up in the sense that they're doing sinful things. They're doing ungodly things, but you're not, you're, you're with them with that. Like, you're, yeah, okay, you know, I'm allowing them to do that. I'm not, I'm not, I'm sort of partaking. You're not necessarily partaking of them, but you're, like, kind of just affirming that that's fine. You know, the way you live your life, the way you sin, the way of your life, that's fine. I'm with that. I stand with you on that. I stand. I support you on that. That's the next step. When you start walking with them, when you start fellowshiping with them, then you start becoming accepting of their way of life, and you're like, oh, that's cool. That's fine. You know, you start to water down in your convictions in what you know the Bible teaches. You're accepting of their ungodly lives, and then lastly, it says you will sit with them. You'll sit in the seat of the scornful, right? That means now you're not just okay with them, but you're partaking. You're sitting. You've settled into that lifestyle. You know, you're comfortable where you are, okay? That's where you now sit. You sit with the ungodly. You sit with the sinners. You sit with the scornful. What's the scornful? The people that mock. They mock the things of God, and I've seen this. I've seen people that have been in church that know the word of God. They get out of church. They have bad company. You know, it seems all right at the beginning, but then they go down this downward spiral, and before you know, it's like, ah, you know, that's not what the Bible really means. You know, I don't believe the Bible should be taken that literally. You know, that's mocking the word of God. You know, that's saying, hey, these things aren't right. You know, people don't like that God, you know, has put the death penalty on certain sins. Ah, that's too harsh. You know, God doesn't really feel that way anymore. That's mocking the righteousness and the judgment of God, right, and it's easy. It's easy to get amongst a group of friends of non-believers, and then find yourself influenced, not loving, and as we see later on, not delighting in the law of the Lord. Okay, so please be careful, and it mentioned about the, you know, the counsel of the ungodly. What is counsel? That means you take advice from the ungodly. Okay, you might not, you might say, oh, Kevin, I don't have any, you know, I'm not, I don't have a big group of non-Christian friends, but you can still might, you still might be taking counsel of the ungodly, right? You still might, I don't know, I don't know if you guys do this or not, but you might be listening to the Dr. Phil's, right, to the super nannies of the world. You know, you might be watching those television programs that tell you how, you know, you ought to live your life, give instruction to your life. That's counsel from the ungodly. Hey, there might be some truth in what they say, but it will never stand up to the truth of God's word. It will always fall short and have the wisdom of man, which is foolishness to God. Okay, now sometimes people see super nanny, they see super nanny go into a house where the kids are running wild, they're rioting, you know, and then she comes in and she brings in the, what do they call it, the time out, you know, if the, you know, if it's a five year old, five years old, they get the five minute time out session. You know, you're just training your children to go to jail. You do wrong, you need time out, adult time out is in jail behind bars. That's what super nannies say. But here's the thing, at the end of it all, yes, the kids are better behaved. You know, we can't deny that, they are better behaved, but here's what you need to understand. They're better behaved because they go into the extreme examples. They finally put some order in place. They finally put some boundaries in place. So obviously, yes, the kids are going to be better behaved. But are they going to walk in the way of the Lord? Are they going to be children of righteousness? No, not unless you implement the counsel of the Lord in his word, right? They don't do the discipline as far as the rod of correction in the super nanny. They're against that kind of stuff. No, God's wisdom tells us, use the rod. And I know it's not comfortable. I know it's not pleasurable. I know that as a parent, but we're instructed to do that. And I promise you, it's a one time deal. It's done. The tears are cried. They ask for forgiveness. You forgive them. Don't bring it up again. It's been dealt with. They go on and go on in their merry way. It's dealt with very quickly. Faster than the five minute timeout session. It's a 20 second thing, right? It's dealt with quicker. And I promise you, your kids will be more obedient and more godly and more righteous if you implement the counsel of the Lord, rather than the counsel of the ungodly. You might say, well, I don't listen to the super nannies. And I don't listen to the Dr. Fields. And I don't have the ungodly friends. But do you listen to the world's music? The worldly music, right? The stuff that's in the top 50, 100, whatever it is. Do you play that in the car? Do you listen to that? And I know, look, sometimes I've worked in an office where you have no choice, but it's blaring in the background there because, you know, the rest of the employees want it. I know that, right? And it can be very tempting to start because the songs are played over and over again, like three or four times in a day. And you're there every day of the week. And it starts to get into your head. But let me advise you, switch off that radio, man. If you have the ability, don't play it in your house. Don't play it in your car. Put on Christian hymns or something, or put on some preaching, or don't put on anything. And just use that time to pray to the Lord and speak to Him and have fellowship with Him. Look, I had a look at this. There was some research done on music, right? And they looked at music over the last 50 years. Over the last 50 years. So going back to the 1950s or whatever, 1960s, I guess. These are the main themes of songs for the past 50 years. Now think about how much of this are positive things and how much of these are negative things. Okay. Number one is loss. Negative. Love and desire. And what they mean by that is sexual stuff. Okay. Usually. Aspiration. Aspirance. Now that's a positive thing. You know, having aspirations, having a vision, having goals. Actually, that's a positive thing. What else? Nostalgia. So looking back at your past, you know, wanting the things in the past, you know, and not looking to the future and what you can do in the future. Pain. Break up. Rebellion. Inspiration. Well, now there's another positive one. Being inspired. Being encouraged. Jadedness. Escapism. Escaping this life, you know. Desperation. Confusion. These are the main themes for the past 50 years. Is this what you want to fill your head with? With loss and sex and nostalgia. Looking back in the past. Pain. Break up. Rebellion. This is the world's music. This is the council of the ungodly. This is you listening and it gets absorbed into your mind. It gets absorbed into your heart. And before you know it, you think this is what life is about and you start living what you hear on the music scene. Right. And that's just the past 50 years. I would say 50 years ago, 40 years ago, the music was tamer than it is today. Wouldn't you say that? And I looked at studies done in 2009. Studies done in 2009. They looked at the top 100 songs in 2009, you know, on the billboards. 92% of them, so 92 out of 100 were about sex. 92 out of 100 of the top songs was about fornicating, breaking up, finding another boyfriend, that kind of stuff. And further research was done that for every song on average, every song in that top 100 on average, there were 10.5 sex-related phrases per song. So if your kids are singing the worldly songs, they sing one song, on average they're probably singing 10 things that are coming out of their mouth about fornication, adultery and all that. Because how many of those songs are about marriage and staying with your wife and saving your husband? Not many. Very few, right? There's very few. Think about what you're feeding your minds, okay? What counsel are you taking? Are you feeding this to your kids? What are they going to grow up thinking life is about? What's going to be in their heart, you know? Psalm 1 verse 2. But his delight, but his delight, so the blessed man's delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Do you delight in the scriptures? Do you find joy in the scriptures? Do you meditate day and night in the scriptures? And if we're honest, and I'm honest, I'll say to you I've not always delighted in the Lord of the Lord. There's been times where it's like, ah, a chore to read. Or times I've not read the Bible, right? But he says no. The blessed man is someone that delights in the law of the Lord, meaning that the unblessed person is the person that delights in the counsel of the ungodly. They delight in having friendships with sinners and wicked people. They find delight in that. But the blessed man will find delight in the law of the Lord. And if you say, Kevin, I've lost a bit of that delight. I don't find it as enjoyable. I don't feel so, you know, motivated to read my Bible. Then it's probably because, you know what's going to happen to your life? You're going to lose that blessing. The blessing's available to you, but you're not going to be able to reach out and grab those blessings like you would should you delight in the Lord. If you're someone, if you, you know, if you're someone that I know reads their Bible day in day out, you know, you're always making an effort, I know you delight in the Lord, Lord of the Lord. And I know the blessings of the Lord come upon you and the Lord will shine his face upon you. Those things come hand in hand. Okay. Those things come hand in hand. Now the Bible says this person delights in the, meditates day and night. And I personally believe the first thing you should do in the morning, and look, I've come short of this. You know, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I'm saying the first thing that we should do in the morning is open the word of God. Even if it's just a chapter, just start the day with the powerful words of eternal life, the powerful words of the Lord, turn to them. You might be half asleep and not be able to fully comprehend it, but these are spiritual words. This isn't just any other book. It'll work, pass through your flesh, encourage your spirit, encourage your soul, and it'll feed you, right? The word of God is food. It's like bread. You know, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God, the Bible says. Okay. This is spiritual food. You should start your day in the Bible, and you should end your night, end your day before you go to bed. I reckon you should end it in the word of God again. What's the first thing you do when you wake up? I'm not asking you to answer that. Just think about it. You know, is it Facebook? Is that the first thing you do? Is it YouTube to see what the latest things that you're subscribed to? Is it the news? Let's see what the news, you know. Is it the weather? Is it, did I get messages from work? If you do that, then that's what you delight in. The first thing you do in the morning, okay, besides getting ready and getting up, is that's what you delight in. Whatever it is that you do. Okay. You might say it is Facebook, Kevin, or that's what your delight is in then. It's not in the law of the Lord. What's the last thing that you do before bed? Do you spend time in the word of God? It doesn't take long. Guys, if you take a chapter in the morning, a chapter at night, it's not a big deal. Probably five minutes, right? You're holding, you've got 24 hours. Five minutes. Start the day in the scriptures. End the day in the scriptures. Find the light in the law of the Lord. It'll get you through the day. Starting with God, knowing God, God's with me. I've got the words of God, right? My wife normally starts the day with the children, and sometimes if I'm able, I'll join them, reading the Bible, singing a few hymns, before they even start their homeschooling. Just to get, right God, we've got you on board. You're going to help us get through the day, right? It's not easy having a large family with a lot of kids. Lord, we need your help. We're praising you. We're worshiping you. Lift it in the Spirit so we can go on and do things, get through the day. I'll just read to you Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, because it's very similar to what we just read in Psalm 1. It says, this book of the law, this book of the laws of the Bible, shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night. Why? Why should we meditate in that day and night? That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. So why do we want to know the scriptures? Why do we want to gain knowledge to do, to observe those things, to do those things in our life? Don't be a Christian that knows all the doctrines. You know where you stand on all the teachings about all the main doctrines, and you're able to win every argument against every other person. Don't be that person that then doesn't do it, right? Make sure you exercise what you know. Make sure you be a blessing to other people. You teach other people. You go sowing in. You know, you try to have those fruits of the Spirit in your life so you can be someone that's valuable and profitable to people around you. That thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then, this is Joshua 1.8, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success. That's the blessing. That good success and prosperous, that's the blessing. Knowing, meditating on the law of God, delighting in it, doing the things that you've learnt, right? And then that's where your life is going to be prosperous. And I'm not talking about financially. Maybe God will financially give you a blessing, right? Maybe God will give you success financially, but that's not where all the success is, right? You're going to find greater love and prosperity in your own family, in your own children, in your wife, if your marriage has gotten a little stale. Hey, you can prosper in that area. You know, if you're kind of tired of the kids and all that, you can prosper there. Your life can be one that's fulfilled in God should you delight and do the things that God instructs you to do. Meditate on the words of God, observe them, do them. That's where the blessings of the Lord are, okay? They're all there for you through Christ's obedience, but you've got to grasp those blessings, right? Through the word of God. Psalm 1 verse 3, verse 3. And he, the blessed person, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You know what this reminds me of? Well, first of all, the blessed person is like a tree. A tree planted by the rivers of water. So there's plenty of nutrition, right? There's plenty of water to get that tree to grow strong, for those roots to go in deep, right? For that tree to produce fruits, for that tree to have its leaves on it, all right? It's planted by the rivers of water and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Again, the blessings of God, right? Anything that you do in your family, in your workplace, right? If you're blessed by the Lord, you will prosper in all areas of your life. In your church, I want you to be a blessing in this church. I want you to be blessed by this church, okay? Prosper in the things of the Lord. You know what it reminds me of when I read this? Because we read about, you know, we spoke about the new heavens and the new earth not long ago. I'll just read it to you again in Revelation 22 verse 1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding at the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there a tree of life, which bear 12 manners of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So we have the tree by the river, it's producing its fruit, and he mentions its leaves there as a healing of the nations. And it just reminds me of, I mentioned that in the new heavens and the earth, it's like these spiritual truths become reality somehow, you know, it becomes physical and literal. But yet we can experience that in our life, spiritually. We can be like that tree that bears fruits, right? You can be someone that wins souls, right? That's one way to bear fruit. You can be a soul winner. If you're finding that you're struggling to win souls, you know, I mean, there could be various reasons, but you know, are you delighting in the law of the Lord? Is that part missing in your life? And if that is, then get that delight back, right? So the Lord can bless you as a soul winner. But you know, maybe it's children, you know, maybe the Lord can bless you with the fruit of the womb, right? There's the fruit of the Spirit, right? There's many ways that you can be fruitful, be productive in your life, okay? And a tree that's planted by the rivers, guess what? Its roots go in deep, and it's unmovable. It stands firm. And if you've got your head in the Word of God, you will stand firm in life, okay? When you go through the struggles, and you go through the hardships, yes, hard things, you're going to need the Lord, yes, you're going to shed tears in life, but you're going to be able to stand firm in the Word of God, unlike what we'll read about to the ungodly, okay? Stand firm. Don't be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. And just back to Revelation, where it said, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. It reminds me here of the tree in Psalm 1 free, his leaf also shall not wither. So you know how trees, when they're at, when, you know, in autumn, in the winter, they lose their leaves? Well, that's not going to be like you, if you're planted by the rivers of water of God's Word, okay? You'll always have leaves, you'll always be fresh, you'll always be in season, you can always be productive. And the tree is in the Book of Revelation for the healing of the nations. So you can be a blessing to other people the same way. You can be a blessing to your nation, you can be a blessing to your community, you can be a blessing to others. Hey, make sure when you know the things of God, you don't just think, what can I have? How can I be blessed? I want to be the blessed man. No, how can I be a blessing to others? That's where the real joy is, right? Why in Christmas do people like to give, but not like to receive? No, we should receive, right? But people like to give because there's blessings in giving. It's just, hey, let me show you my love, let me show you my appreciation. You know, I would encourage you to ask one another, do you have anything you need to pray about? Are there anything, is there anything, brother, that I, you know, I love you, brother, I love you, sister, is there anything that I can be a blessing for you toward? If you haven't picked up what that could be, what can I pray for you about? You know, be a blessing. Be like this leaf in Revelation that's the healing for the nations. How can you find healing to other people? Verse number four, Psalm 1, verse four. The ungodly are not so. So the ungodly are not like this tree that's planted, that's firm on the word of God. No, but I like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Do you guys know what chaff is? I didn't really know until I looked it up, but chaff is basically like grains and seeds. Well, there's an outward layer that gets opened up and that outward layer is very flimsy and very light and literally the wind does blow it away. I don't know if you guys have ever had birds. I used to have a parrot, a cockatiel and we used to buy bird seed and you know parrot's beaks are very unique, very special where they can actually crack open those seeds. So what my bird would do would crack open the seed and I never, I thought they'd just eat the seed but it cracked it open and that outer layer you just dump it. That's the chaff and then within it there was the seed, there was the good stuff, there was the meat and you'd eat that. And so sometimes I remember when I first had a bird, you know, you put a little dish of food and then you come back a day later and it's still full. But then when you look at it, it's full of all the chaff because all the seeds have been eaten. And that's what it's saying, the ungodly are like that chaff. It's pointless, it's worthless, it's driven by the wind, it can be burnt by the fire, it has no profit, it does you no good, it's not the seed within it. The ungodly are like that chaff that's blown away by every wind, they always change, however the world develops and moves on, they go with the way of the world, they accept the homosexuality, they accept the sodomites, they accept, you know, abortion, they accept all the things against the word of God, they're always moving, they're blown away with the wind but not the blessed man. The blessed man stands firm on the word of God and does not change. Now I'm just going to read to you Job 21 verse 7, just because I could see a similarity here, Job 21 verse 7, and it's not far from Psalm, if you guys want to turn there you can turn there, Job 21, Job 21 verse 7. So these words are the words of Job and you've got to be careful when you read the book of Job, make sure, because Job talks and his friends talk, and what you're going to need to understand is the friends are wrong, okay, don't build your doctrine on what your friend, well you can build your doctrine on what the friends say, but that's false doctrine, right, you can say that's false, but what Job says, that's truth, okay. Now what Job says in Job 21 verse 7, he goes, wherefore do the wicked live? Become old, yea, a mighty in power. So Job is thinking about, because you know Job is suffering, he's lost his family, he's lost his possessions, his children have died, he's lost his cattle, he's got these souls over his body, right, and he says, he's thinking about the wicked, how they seem to grow old, they live, they grow old, they're mighty in power, he's thinking about them, they seem to have this great success. And then in verse 8, their seed is established in the sight with them and their offspring before their eyes, their houses are safe from fear. So they've got houses, they've got nothing to be afraid of, neither is the rod of God upon them. It doesn't even seem like God's punishing them, right, the rod of God is not upon them. They don't receive any punishment from God, he's, you know Job's thinking about the wicked, right. Verse number 10, their bull genereth, so that the cattle basically give birth, right, they grow, they get more, they get more possession, and faileth not, their cow carveth, so the cows give birth, and casteth not her calf, so the wicked are prospering in the things that they have. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance, so their children are partying, it's all about partying and living it up in life, they take the timber and harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ, yeah, so just partying and enjoying life. Job says they spend their days in wealth, so the rich, these wicked seem to have the wealth, they have the riches, and in a moment go down to the grave, therefore they say unto God, so the wicked say this to God, you know that they're living it up, they're prosperous, there's no punishment, they seem to be having a great life, and they say unto God, depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways, we don't want to know your ways God, we're said, we're established, we're doing well, we don't need you Lord. Verse 15, what is the almighty, that we should serve him, and what prophet should we have, if we pray unto him, we don't need to ask him of anything, what prophet is there, we have everything in life, that's the way of the wicked, they have no desire for God, and look at verse 16, because this ties into verse, to Psalm number one, lo their good is not in their hand, the council, remember that word, the council of the wicked, is far from me, so Job says look, I don't take counsel from the wicked, even though they seem to be prospering, even though they seem to be living it up and having a great life, and I'm poor, I've lost my possessions, I'm sick, I'm dying, right, I still, I'm not going to take counsel from the wicked, they have no desire from God, I'm not going to be deceived by their prosperity, because there's blessings in God, there's prosperity in God, right, I'm not going to listen to the advice of the wicked, of the ungodly, that's Job's, that's Job, he's suffering, if there's anyone that ever needed any help, even from the ungodly, it'd be him, and even then, I'm not going to take their advice. Look at verse 17, how oft, how often is the candle of the wicked put out, and how often, or oft, cometh their destruction upon them, God distributive sorrows in his anger, they are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away, so Job is wise enough to see, hey, I'm not going to be deceived by them, they are like the chaff, they will be destroyed, right, they're going to be blown away, they have no eternal future, yes, they have this vapour of life now, yes, they seem to be enjoying themselves, but they're going to face the wrath and the destruction of the Lord in the lake of fire, I'm not going to go after their way, even in the poor state that I am, and we need to be like Job, and you're not suffering like Job, but we need to be like Job, learn from Job, who did not take the counsel of the ungodly, did not walk with wicked men, and you know, we look at celebrities, we look at the Hollywood stars and the singers, they have the wealth, they have the popularity, they seem to have everything you might ever want in life, yet they're miserable, yet they're sad, yet they're on drugs, prescription and illegal drugs, to escape this world, they're losing their mind, I saw a video on YouTube of Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey, the comedian, he makes these comedy movies, always seems happy, always seems very popular back in the 90s and early 2000s, and the guy seems to have lost his mind, he doesn't even think he's Jim Carrey anymore, he thinks we're all just this energy and we're not really here, he's gone insane, look what the world's pleasure has done to him, he's like the chaff, he is, he says we're just like, we're not even here, he is being blown away by the wind, destroying their lives, committing suicide, they can't hold down a marriage, their kids run wild, that's the way of the world, they seem prosperous, like Job said, yeah they seem to have it all, but no, I'm not going to take their advice, I'm not going to take their counsel, I'm not going to walk with them, we ought to be the same brothers and sisters. Back to Psalm 1 verse 5, Psalm 1 verse 5, therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, so you know when they stand before God in the judgment day, they can't say well look at my wealth Lord, look at my success, look how good I am, they're not going to be able to stand before the Lord, they're going to be cast into the lake of fire, sad thing, they're going to be cast away, they're going to be blown away like the chaff, they can't stand in the judgment, you can stand in the judgment because you're blessed by God, right, God wants to judge you because he wants to reward you in heaven when we stand before God in judgment, but these people cannot stand, they're going to fall into eternal death, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Now let me just say this very quickly, I don't want to go into this into any great details, but sinners, and I know we're all sinners, but there are some sinners that are not to be in the congregation of the righteous, the congregation in the New Testament is the church, this church is the congregation of the righteous, there are some people that are so, that are so sinful and have certain sins in their life that are not to be permitted in this church, okay, now I'm just going to read to you 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 very quickly, 1 Corinthians 5, 9, you don't guys know I need to turn there because I'll be quick, I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators, so as a church we ought not to company with people that fornicate, yet not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then ye must, ye needs go out of the world, but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man is called a brother, so even if you're saved and you're in this church, we're not to keep company with someone that's a fornicator, covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner, with such and one know not to eat six sins, six types of sinners that are not to be in the congregation of the righteous, for what have I to do to judge them that are without, do not ye judge them that are within, so we have the ability to judge people that are in this sin and kick them out of the church, but them that are without God, that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person, okay, there are sins that are not permitted in the congregation of the righteous, okay, and I've just listed those off, okay, now you might say, well Kevin, where do you draw the line, like covetousness, haven't we all coveted, you know, well, I mean, that's the decision of the bishop, right, is that person's covetous, you know, destroying their life, is it influencing, you know, are you saying, hey, you know, you ought to have these possessions in your life and you're bringing people to covet, are you influencing the church, well that, my responsibility as the bishop of this church, as the pastor of this church, is to kick that person out, okay, I've got to find where that line is, I can't tell you exactly where that line is, but when I see it starting to destroy this church, influencing people in this church, I've got to cast you out of this church, I don't want to do that, do you think I want to do that, of course not, but if we believe the word of God, right, if that's the final authority, there are people that we need to cast out of this church, I'm not saying I know of anyone here, I'm just, that's the truth, so, you know, if that ever happens, I need the congregation to support that, right, you're not supporting me necessarily, but you're supporting the word of God, right, there are sins, and if you're someone that has some of these sins in your life, then look, it's time to get that sorted, okay, these are sins that God does not want you to have in your Christian life, God wants you to be blessed, God wants you to lie, that's how you overcome it, my friend, you got these sins in your life, you overcome it by meditating in God's word, day and night, you delight in the way of the Lord, and you get rid of your ungodly friends, because they're going to be the ones that get you into these sins, and when you do, I'm going to have to kick you out, I'm going to hope you get right, I'm going to give you a chance to repent, but if you're continuing in that way, you need to step out of this church before you influence other people, I don't want you to be like that, it's embarrassing, it's not nice, right, but it's for your profit, because we want you back, we want you to get right with the Lord, we want you to get right with the church, and be back in the church and be a blessing, okay, always remember that, if I ever have to kick someone out for these sins, I'm not talking about reprobate, right, bringing another gospel, another kingdom, another spirit, another Jesus, I'm not talking about those people, I'm talking about people that are brothers, we ever have to kick someone out of the church, we're doing it for their profit, we want them to get right with the Lord, we want them back in church, so we can fellowship with them once again, once they overcome those sins, so please, if you have these sins in your life, before I find out about them, please deal with them, okay, because I don't want to have to deal with it myself, you deal with it with God, you know, one way is to memorize verses, and you know, some of those sins, if you can memorize verses about those topics, and you're tempted to do those sins, play back that verse in your mind, right, delight in the Lord, it's powerful, the word of God is powerful, this is not just a normal book, and lastly, verse number six in Psalm 1, Psalm 1 verse 6, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish, so God knows your way, you might think, you might be saying, Kevin, I'm trying to obey the commandments, I'm doing the best I can, you know, nobody else seems to see it, that doesn't seem to be any great, I'm not being, you know, lifted up, and you shouldn't be lifted up and prideful anyway, right, but the Lord knows your way, the Lord sees the good that you do, the Lord wants to reward you openly for the things you do in secret, okay, just remember that, it just seems like you're not, you're doing the things of the Lord, you're not prospering like the wicked world, the Lord sees it, don't worry, the Lord is laying up treasures in heaven for you, he knows your way, okay, he sees it, he sees the good that you do, don't forget that, okay, don't be discouraged and say, well, it's not worth doing, no, God sees it, God loves you, he wants to bless you, but the way of the ungodly shall perish, and that is their way, they have it, they live it up now, this is, and sometimes you preach the gospel, people say, I don't know if you heard this, people say to you, yeah, you say, you might say, you know, the punishment of sin is death, and then you're going to hell, and then they'll say to you at the door, this is hell, like this earth is hell, have you heard that, I've had that a few times, you know what, for the believer, for the safe person, this is the closest to hell that we'll ever get, but for these people that reject the Lord, this is the closest to heaven that they're ever going to get, so if they're calling this hell, man, that's heaven to you from where you're going to go, should you reject Christ, they will perish, the ungodly will perish, now obviously we go out of our way to go and preach the gospel, so they don't have to perish, but don't follow after their way, okay, because that leads to destruction, remember those that profit ungodly, they're the ones saying, we don't need God, we don't need to pray to him, we've got everything we need, okay, so don't look at that and covet that, don't look at that and want that in your life, want the blessing of the Lord, bring the blessing of the Lord upon you, it's not based on your obedience or disobedience, based on what Christ has done for you, but they're available to you should you walk in his path, okay, they're all available to you, the same promises that were given to faithful Abraham are available to you in Christ, let's pray.