Now, I'm not sure what brought you here today. But I do know one thing that we all have in common and that is is that I believe every single person in here today in person watching along online or listening later wants to live a blessed life. Now, how do I know that to be true? Because I know the opposite is not true. Is that no one came in here today thinking man, I really hope I live a cursed life. You know, like I want my life to be broken. I wanna end up bitter. Uh I really could use some more betrayal in my life. You know, I want some more pain and some more hurt. No, like no one, no one comes in wanting that, that we all want a blessed life or a good life. But the question is, what does it actually mean to have a blessed life? Now, there's a few words in the Bible for Blessed. Uh We're gonna focus on the Old Testament as we're in the book of Psalms today as a church. But there's a few words blessed there is uh Baruch, which means this idea of experiencing God's favor and then there's sway, which is a description of someone who is Baruch. So it's used 45 times in the Old Testament and it's used to describe somebody who is blessed. And so in other words, the way to think about it is that it is someone who experiences a good life or oh, how good the life is for someone or in the passive aggressive translation is that in your mind? If you've ever thought must be nice, right? Have you ever thought that? Right? You've seen this girl in social media? You see somebody post about the new car or their vacation or you know, a better behaved child out in public? I don't know um whatever you've experienced and you're like, and you've had this internal dialogue or it's really a monologue. I, I have a dialogue because I have lots of voices. Um But uh you know what I'm saying though, like you read something and your first thought is oh, must be nice, right? Where that comes from is that we want goodness in our life, we want to be blessed. But what does it actually mean to be blessed? And so we're gonna take a look at that today that really in life, there are two paths to take. There is a path that leads to ruin and then there is a path that leads to the breath to the blessed life. And so when you have the blessed life is really this idea of, oh, how good it is. Oh, how sweet is the life of the person who? And so we're gonna jump into that, that osprey life, the blessed life today and understand how we take that path. But before we jump into Psalm cha uh Psalm one today, let's do a quick recap because this summer, June and July, we're, we're spending the summer in the Psalms. And last week we gave a quick overview of that, that the word psalm literally means song or praise, song or praise. And that it is the greatest musical album of all time. The most sung, the most read, the most printed collection of songs and poetry in the history of the world. So the collection of the Psalms, 100 and 50 Psalms that were written over about 1000 years. The earliest one here was Moses and 1400 BC ish all the way to the last one being there. Um On the other side of exile in 400 BC, many of the Psalms written through the life of David from David himself. 73 actually, of those or some of David's worship leaders. And what we saw is that Psalms help us experience God in everyday life, that the Psalms help us experience God in everyday life. That there is a Psalm for every season in life. And what makes the Psalms different than other books of the Bible is that not only are the Psalms God's words to man. But the Psalms are unique and that they're also man's words back to God. And so there is a uh an emotion to it. There is a heartfelt experience to it that if you're on the high mountain top of life or the low valley in life, whether you're feeling close to God or you're feeling forsaken by God, whether you are walking the righteous path or where, whether you are lamenting your own sin and shame that for every season there is a song. And so what we're gonna do today is that we're gonna take a look at Psalm one and I believe Psalm one is the key that unlocks the rest of the Psalms. If you picture a beautiful house going to see a beautiful house. Uh I don't know if you're like me and my wife when we go on vacation. Uh Do you just kinda act like you're on AC TV, when you're driving around and you're giving commentary on which houses you like? You know what I'm talking about? Like you're in neighborhoods and houses you could never afford and you're just like, oh, I wouldn't do that. I can't believe they put that right? But then you're like, oh that's, I like this house. I like this tree. I like this driveway. I like this color, right? Do they just OK. All right. Just try. I'm just checking, you can talk back to me here and so imagine pulling up to this gorgeous mansion that is the Psalms. Now you wanna see inside, but first you have to go to go through the front door. Psalm one is the front door that UN that when it's unlocked really opens into the rest of the Psalms that if you understand Psalm one, it actually will open its doors to understanding the rest of the Psalms. It really is the key that unlocks the rest and is the key to understanding what it means to live a blessed life. And so we're taking notes, write this down. The blessed life is planted in God's word. The blessed life is planted in God's word. Now to set up this Psalm, one is considered a wisdom, Psalm. And a lot of these Psalms use parallels or parallelism. In this case, it's antithetical meaning, it's gonna see two contrasting ways of living and, and you're gonna notice very stark differences in those two paths. And so if you wanna live the good life, if you wanna live the blessed life, you have to choose the right path. And so I'm gonna go ahead and preface that the end of this sermon. I'm gonna ask you, what path are you walking on today? What path are you walking on today? So let's go ahead and jump into it and see this contrasting path of Psalm. One that really unlocks the rest of the Psalms to you and to me, Psalm, one verse, one blessed is the man. There's that word as Ray there. So how good is the life of the person who, that's how you would translate that? OK, how good is the life of the person who walks not in the council of wicked? Nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers. So here in Psalm, one verse one, we see the path that leads to ruin. This is the path that describes the way of the world. This is the majority of how our world currently lives. And what I want you to take a look at are those three verbs that progress that actually leads to where people get stuck in their own sin. So first you see this progression, it starts with walking, right? And then it moves into standing and then it moves to sitting, right? You are walking and the council wicked, you are standing in the way of sinners and then you are sitting in the seat of scoffers or mockers. Um Yeah, there's a stool here. It's just to picture it here. OK? There's a progression when it comes to a life of sin is that you start off over here that all it takes to go down the wrong path is that initial first step, right? The initial internal desire that thought that comes from a personal desire of selfishness, right? It is, it is a click, it is one lie, it is one thought of greed, right? And and it's in the council of the wicked. Is this idea that you are just taking a step away from God, right? The next thing you know, you're walking down this path and now you're standing surrounded by other sinners, right? You're standing in this council and and surrounded by sin. The word sin really means to miss the mark. So now you are living in a way that is missing the intended purpose that God created you for, right? And when you sin, that's what happens is that you are choosing something that God did not intend for you to choose. And so you are walking the next thing you know, you are standing and then lastly, then you are seated and here in the scoffers now notice the progression of anti health, right? You go from movement to being stuck, you go from just a slight misdirection into a place of apathy. So where if you're seated and surrounded by sin of, of scoffers, what you're saying here is that you can't even appreciate what is good. You don't even know the sin that you're in, right? You are the middle schooler who has no idea how they smell. Do you know what I'm saying? Like if you've ever, if, if you've been around them, you understand it, right? You don't know like they, they're unaware, right? It's a fish in water. You're like, well, what's water? It's just, it's where I am and I want you to see this progression because it just starts, anyone can get there and let me and just real quick, all of us have been on this path because we are all sinners. OK? We're all sinners. So when left to our own devices, this is where we're gonna go. That all it takes is a step. What's this one? Lie? It's just one thought. It's just one act of pride. It's just one negative word, right? Whatever it is, it's just one drink. It's one taste. It's one thing. And next thing you know, like, oh this, well, I didn't get punished over here. So I'll just take one more step, take one more step. It's like, oh, this is kind of nice. And next thing you know, you are lounging in the laziness of sin, living a life as opposed to what God has called you to be. And so if you're there, if you're sitting there and have you ever been in this position? You're like, man, how did I get here? How did I get here? Like if, if you know, if you think about those that struggle with drugs or alcohol, those are very visible struggles and, and people that have battled that and some, some of the most honest conversations happen in recovery groups when people say I, I didn't set out to be here. And I look back and I think how I didn't realize that I was stuck. I didn't realize that I was seated here. And so this is the way of the world. This is the path that when you follow what the world teaches is where you're gonna land. But it's opposed to who God has called you to be. Because you see when it comes to Christianity, it's not about behaving right. It's about becoming right. It's not about bad people becoming good, it's about dead people becoming alive. It's that God places in you a new heart, a new life that radically transforms who you are. And so there is hope for all of us. But when left to your own devices, you're left on this path, that'll leave you seated among the scoffers. OK? So there's the first path. OK? And, and no one really wants to be on that path because it's, it's, and it's empty and you'll see the, the imagery that the author uses here in verse four in just a moment. But for right now, then what is the alternative? If that's the first path, what's the alternative? Well, the second path here in verse two, it says, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law, he meditates day and night. So blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. How good is the life of the woman who delights herself in who God is? And thinks through what God has written day in day out. So it is the contrast. This is the path to a blessed life. This is the path to a good life. But I want you to notice a few things. First, the law, the word law of the Lord is the word where we get the word Torah, which is description of the first five books of the Bible. But in this case represents the entire Council of God's word. So throughout the Old Testament and then even in the New Testament, a lot of times you get reference of thinking through the law or, or processing or praying through the law, it's talking about the full counsel of the word of God. And not only are you reading the law but you're actually delighting in. Have you ever talked to someone who feels forced to talk about something versus someone who is excited about something? It's completely different, isn't it? Think about how the average person reads a book report for a class when I read To Kill a Mockingbird? I was inspired by this story, right? You know what I'm saying? Like there's that there's, you can read something or how about when you talk with someone who's passionate about something, right? Like how do you know someone does crossfit? I didn't have to finish that line because you know, because they will tell you they do crossfit and how great it is, right? Like why? Like, but take out crossfit and insert anything else? I um I love it. So I, I'm a basketball guy. I love, um, I love basketball and all that. And so here is uh Jalen Brown who is one of the best players for the Celtics. And uh we got game two of the finals. I don't necessarily like either team, but I just like competition and they were like, you had, you had about 9, 10 days off between the conference finals and the finals. What did you spend that time doing? He's like, well, I'm single. So I actually just binge watched Harry Potter. And so, so here is this guy who's like the world famous, like athlete and it's just like talking about his love for us a story here and it's just like all of us have something that we're passionate about, right? And so what I want you to notice here is that it's not simply reading the word of God, it's actually delighting in the word of God. Well, what's fascinating about this is, it actually is a, is what I would call an infinity loop, right? Not like the infinity stones or the Marvel movies, but like the infinity loop. That one thing feeds the other and then feeds back and they go back and forth. Here's this progression that if you delight in the Lord, if you delight in the law, you will meditate on it day and night. And the more that you meditate on God's word, the more you delight in God, right? And so you act, it actually creates this path instead of the way that leads to ruin. You actually get to walk down this path that leads to life and that you can delight in who God is. Well, how do you delight in who God is that? You meditate on it? Well, what does it mean to meditate? See what's interesting here is that the Christian definition for meditation is not how our contemporary world defines meditation that in our culture today, meditation is actually well accepted. But a lot of times points to kind of more eastern religions where they in our world today, when they say meditate, what they typically mean is that you are supposed to empty your mind of all things and then be open to the universe, right? Which look, I'm all for like trying to put away distractions and mindfulness is a very good practice to be aware. But here's the problem when you try to empty your mind and be open to the universe. Two things. One is your mind ever really empty? No. Right? Have you ever had this conversation that's cycled in your mind? Like OK, I need to just stop thinking. OK. Now I'm thinking about how I should be stopped thinking. Wait, but now I've acknowledged that I'm thinking about how to think about not thinking. But if I just acknowledge that, now I'm thinking about how not to think about how to think about not. And it's like mirror reflecting back and have you gone there? Ok. And um, and some of you are looking like my spouse can think of nothing. I'll tell you that. Ok? Just, just say I'll let you have that conversation on the way home. But when you try to stop thinking of anything, you can't do it. Right. The other thing is that if you are left to your own devices, you're still left with the most dysfunctional person, you know yourself. And the reason I know that that's the most dysfunctional person that you know is because you know everything about yourself that you're aware of, right? You can't put on a front to yourself. And so when left to your own devices, what the Bible says is that the heart of man is wicked. And so we are left in our own devices and we're gonna end up down this path, right? You will always drift towards unhealthiness, right? I've, I've shared this before, but like no one gets overwhelmed and stressed and then does like really productive things for the most part, right? Like what happens, right? Just be, let's be real, right? You're stressed, you're anxious. So you binge watch a show, right? Like no one is going to like, man, I was really stressed out last night. And so I made a kale salad at 1230 right? It doesn't work. This is why we keep Taco Bell in business, right? Like we crave things like we do. You know what I'm saying? It was like, man, I just who I am not feeling great. So I accidentally learned another language. It doesn't work that way, right? We drift when left to ourselves, we drift in the wrong direction. OK? We drift in the wrong direction. So what is the biblical version of meditation? The biblical version of meditation is not simply to empty yourself, but instead to fill yourself, to fill your mind with God's truth. This is why it says in other places like Hebrews 12 2 to fix your eyes on Jesus. This is why in Colossians 32, it says to set your mind on things above Romans 85 says to set your mind on what the spirit does. And then Jesus himself in Matthew 633 says to seek first the kingdom of God that the biblical concept of meditation to meditating on something day and night is to fill your mind with God's truth. The word meditate the root of it, actually, it was used to describe the sound that animals make when they chew its cut. Now, that's not very fun. But actually, it's a pretty good picture. If you think about it, if you think about a cow or an animal that's got multiple stomachs and you just kind of keep chewing on something over and over again. That's what we do when we meditate on the word of God. So to meditate is to quietly think or say aloud the word of God over and over again to the point that it sinks into your heart. Sometimes I think the, the longest distance in this world is the distance between head and heart, isn't it? Right? When you know something, but you struggle to believe it. Right. I know this to be true. But I don't. And so you just start to think on it over and over again, which makes sense because the more you concentrate on what is true, the more you can identify what is a lie for those that are counterfeit specialists. It's not that they learn all these new ways to counterfeit money. It's they really understand what is the actual dollar bill. So as soon as they see something that's contrary, they can identify it quickly. So your job as a Christian as a believer is not to try to identify every single lie that Satan throws your way, but to really firmly and confidently know the truth so that the lies present themselves through that because you are regularly filling your mind with truth. One of the most common commands in scripture is to remember. Right? And we know we need this because I can't even walk into my own kitchen without forgetting what I went in there for. Right. Or have you ever gone to the grocery store to get one item? And you get 30 items at, except for the one item that you were supposed to go to the store for right. We do this all the time. This is why we need to be reminded of renewed and continually meditate on it. But when you do that, guess what happens, you delight in God and the more you delight in God, the more you meditate on God and the more you meditate on God, the more you delight in Him. And pretty soon you're walking down this path that leads to a blessed life. Psalm 37 4. It says, delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Now, sometimes people translate this verse like, well, if I delight in God, he's gonna give me stuff. No, but think about the first part, delight yourself in God. So where's your heart? Your heart's with God. And He will give you the desires of your heart. So in other words, when you delight yourself in who God is, God will in turn, reveal Himself to you and give you the affection of your heart, which is God Himself, which is important because He is the one who made you. He is the one that is going to lead to rest for your soul. It isn't that we're looking for. Isn't that what we're looking for? Confidence, great courage like you, you do not have to pay for discouragement in this world, do you? I said, you know what I'm just feeling too good. I wish somebody would just come alongside and make me feel worse about the world you don't need like you will naturally drift towards negativity about yourself, about the people around you. You will on your own. You will fill in any gap with a negative thought when left to your own devices because that's the, that's the path of the world. But the path of God is centered on the word of God. This is why Joshua, when he was about to lead the Israelites into battle, taking over for Moses, he's about to go into this massive battle and he is encouraged to be strong and courageous. And in Joshua 18, it says, the Book of Law, shall, the book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it, day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then you will be able to make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. So here, Psalm one, the key that unlocks every other Psalm. We are presented with two paths. There is a way that leads to ruin and then there is a way that leads to life. We continue reading here in verse three and it says he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither and all that he does, he prospers. I love this verse and this is, this verse is where we get our main idea for today that the blessed life is planted in God's word. But I want you to notice something here. Is that what being planted near water brings any, any golfers in the room? Ok. Any baby ball chasers in the room you're like, ok. Uh One of the things I love about golf is just, is the course in general, right? Especially in Arizona, right? And, and golfers know what I'm talking about. Like you, you got desert, but see this lush green piece of grass weaving its way through the desert and it just pops out why? Because it is watered, right? It is watered and, and you experience that. And so and where there is water, there is life. And so while the while golf courses are, I think are a quick preview of heaven. Uh the game of golf is a reminder that we are on earth because things can turn real quick bad real quick if you've ever played. And so, but here is I this idea is, is that if you are planted next to water, you can do these three things first, you will produce, produce fruit in due season. Now, the reason this is important to understand is that you will not produce visible fruit in every single season of your life. There will be seasons where you experience winter, there are seasons where you experience drought. There are times where you will read your Bible, you will pray and you feel like you hear nothing from God. There are times where you will in your relationships, you will do what you think is right. You will say what is right. And then the result is not right. And there are times where you're gonna ask yourself God, where are you? What encourages me about this first section of the verse is the fact that you will produce fruit in its season, meaning just because you don't see visible fruit, right? This very second doesn't mean you're outside of the will of God. It might just not be your season yet. I've seen this on a personal level, right? Especially after about 20 years here in ministry where it's like I'm praying, I'm, I'm walking through it and it just feels like, eh, have you ever had that feeling? You feel like you're going through the motions? We're kind of like e feel stuck. That's part of the process. But what God's word is telling us is that in due season when it comes time, you're gonna produce fruit. You know, we celebrate the fact that already this year we've baptized 30 people last year, we baptized 20 people. So in the last 18 months or so, we've seen 50 people take their step in faith and get baptized. Amen. I'm praising God for that. But for those that were with us in the beginning also remember setting up in 100 and 20 degree heat at the school when there was a Sunday where the air conditioning didn't come on or the doors were locked or we're trying to load a trailer or load uh, a little mini portable storage unit or we'd start a service with three people in the room or we'd preach the gospel every week, every week, every week. And we had two people make a decision or no people make a decision or someone would say I'm gonna get baptized and then that person wouldn't show up, right? And so like, so I am celebrating the 50 but I remember in that it wasn't always that way, right? You're not gonna see visible fruit all the time. And that's ok. The encouragement is don't give up because when you are planted in the living streams of water of God's word and God's spirit, when it's time, fruit, fruit will come. When it's time, fruit will come. The second encouragement here is that it says you will produce fruit in its season, but also that its leaf will not wither, meaning that you will produce fruit in some seasons that you can also be resilient in all seasons. You know what they call a plant that always has its leaves in color. They call those plants evergreen. And when you plant your life in the word of God, you will be evergreen. You might not have visible fruit in every season of your life, but you can keep the color and your leaves and the shelter and the structure and the strength and the resilience that comes from knowing God. I love that because in every season, you can stay true that with the word of God, you will never lose hope. We just sang over this morning that it is living hope that God's Word is active and God's Word is true and that God's Word will stand the test of time that here we are 3000 years later, still ringing out this truth, that God's Word will and will always stand. Every culture, every kingdom, every empire, every individual that has tried to take down the word of God has stopped or passed away. And yet here we are that the word of God, there are more copies available. The church is larger than ever and that there are people and believers gathering together on Sunday morning and across the world, right? Where is the Roman Empire today? Where is the Persian Empire? Where are the Babylonians and the Assyrians? Now, you can get real interesting, right? And you can see actually some of this play out right in Israel and Turkey on some of these places, right? So the very biblical concepts still at play, but every single empire, world entity that has tried to wipe Christianity off the map or the word of God off the map was not successful. One tiny little example. All right, this is one, but it's kind of fun. So I'll share it. There's a French enlightenment philosopher. His name was Voltaire. Uh, smart dude. Right. Smart guy. A lot of interesting quotes about life, hated Christianity for different components. And in fact said, because we've come so far as a human race that at some point the Bible will cease to exist because you're not gonna need it. Right? Because we've come so far. Right. It's about human enlightenment, right? It's about taking strides forward as humanity, right? You know what's interesting though that after Voltaire died, about 50 years after he passed away, someone bought his house who was a part of the evangelical Bible society and then used his printing press to print Bibles and his house became the storehouse for thousands of Bibles that got passed around Europe and beyond. Isn't that cool that someone who said all the Bibles, you're not gonna need it 100 years from now and then 50 years later, it's used as like a Bible printing. Like I'm here to tell you that the word of God will stand. The key here is not to just be like a potted plant, but to be a planted plant. By that meaning, you're not just in some pot that can be moved around, but rather you are planted firmly, deeply securely in the word of God. With the living water of His spirit says you will produce fruit in its season that you will be resilient in all seasons And then lastly, it says that you will be prosperous over the long haul, you will experience prosperity, not in how the world defines prosperity, but as God defines prosperity, that you will come to have a life transforming relationship with him and find ultimate peace and rest for your soul. I don't know about you, but that's a life that I want. That is the good life. Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the council of wicked who doesn't, doesn't stand surrounded by sinners who's not seated with scoffers, but instead chooses to light himself into the word of God and meditate on it daily. So is the person who is planted by living streams who will produce fruit in its season, who will be resilient in all seasons and ultimately be prosperous in the long haul of life and experience that which is good. You see Psalm 1/4 then describes the alternative that the wicked are not. So, but instead they are like the shaft that the wind drives away. So yeah, the chaff there is the shaft is an empty wheat husk, an empty wheat husk. It's the shell when it's pulled, that then gets blown away. I think that's an interesting picture because if you think about the the shaft, it still actually has the shape of wheat, but there's no substance. Doesn't that describe our world today? That our world can offer something that is shaped like meaning but cannot give you the substance and the nutrients that only comes from God because God creates but Satan counterfeits, right. God creates love. God is love. The world will counterfeit with lust. God creates this idea of ownership and stewardship and Dominion. Satan creates this idea of power and struggle and that people are better than others and that you gotta grab power when you can and introduces greed and pride and line by in addiction and all these things where people will try to find their worth. But at the end of the day, they have a shape of meaning, but they don't have the substance of meaning. And so like the chaff or an empty wheat husk, it's simply blown away, right? Which path do you wanna walk on? Do you want to be planted by the living streams of water that will produce fruit that will make you resilient that will lead to a blessed life? Or will you accept the lesser substitute of the chaff that the world offers? He continues in verse five and six. He says, therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment for nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. It doesn't work. What's interesting in our culture today is that on one hand, you've never had greater access to the word of God, right? We've never had greater opportunity than we are have right now. Some of you are watching online right online right now that a few years ago, that's not even possible. Right. It's not even an option. But yet, at the same time, you've never been bombarded with more messages than ever before. This is why our generation right now is probably the most anxious, the most medicated, the most depressed, the most struggling. Why? Because you're being bombarded with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of messages every single day. But what those messages are are empty wheat husks offering the shape of meaning, but they cannot provide the substance of meaning. Isn't it interesting? How fine the line is between what our world celebrates and what our world cancels. Do you live? How you want? Do what do Yeah, let's celebrate it, right? We even have a pride month, right? The name behind that to be rather like yet. And the word of God says pride comes before the fall, right? And so you have this where it said do what you want. But then as soon as you cross the line, which by the way, the line of culture moves as soon as you cross the line of the day. Now instead of celebrating, you canceled. Ok. So we idolize people or we demonize people. Meanwhile, that's not how God created us to be. I'm which path are you on? Are you on the path that leads to ruin? Maybe you didn't mean to get there, maybe it was just a step. Next thing you know, you were drifting. Next thing you know, you were seated in the middle of something. The good news is that this is why Jesus came as much hope as the authors of the Psalms had we have even a greater hope because we have Jesus Christ himself who came down and actually offers living water in John four and in John seven, his spirit who gave of his life, died on the cross, took payment for your sins and for mine knowing full well, you were on that path through and said, I'm gonna take you and I'm gonna create in you a new heart, a new, a new life and then offers you and I a road a a path to blessing that says, if you delight in me and you meditate on my word, you will find the peace and rest for your soul. That, that's really what you've been after. And that's my prayer for you all summer long. We're gonna spend here in the Psalms. There's gonna be a song for every season of your life. And I love that because it's honest, it's real, it's authentic. And so what I want you to do this summer is I invite you to do three things. Number one, we've created this Psalm 23 Bible study. Um If you have uh a little bulletin here, it's a little QR code on the bottom. I invite you to go through that. There's six lessons there. It's the most famous psalm of all time. Uh We got a 23 page guide as well as six videos on it. Take that deep dive with it, learn what it means because it's meant to find peace in the valley, right? One of the most famous verses, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why you can learn? Why in that study? Second thing I invite you to do is to read through the Psalms with me this summer, we got reading plans here. It's also a QR code on those notes. But we get these little book marks on your way out, read through the Psalms because this is a songbook of Jesus. This is a songbook of the early church. This is a songbook that has lasted, that has been evergreen for the last 3000 years. It worked, then it works now it'll work tomorrow. So let's dive into that together. And the last thing then is don't go through that alone, talk with someone on your journey, find someone within the church, family, friends and go through it together because whatever you're walking through right now, I want you to be evergreen. I want you to produce fruit in its due season. I want you to be resilient in all seasons. And at the end of the day, over the long haul, I want you to be prosperous and to live a blessed life. Will you pray with me dear and the father, we thank you for who you are. God. May we plant our lives in your word? May our life be reflected in that we delight in you so that your word and your spirit changes us, take us off the path that leads to ruin and, and, and lead us down the path of righteousness and we be planted in your word this summer to receive the nutrients and the substance that only you can provide. Maybe we avoid just simply the shape of something that we want. But instead grab hold of the substance that is knowing you as Lord and Savior. We plan our lives in your words and in your spirit. And we give this morning up to you in a sense that we pray. Amen.