This morning we are receiving some new members to our church.
Church membership is very different from memberships in the world like clubs. Unlike memberships in clubs you often ask what are the benefits. Church membership is very different. It is about how you can benefit the church. With it comes responsibilities like serving in the church and also to attend our AGM. What can you do to help the church grow and how can you contribute to ministries in the church.
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| We welcome our new members to Tabernacle of Praise |
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| Praying for Bro Deswyn who will be working in Congo and Sis Sasha who will be studying in KL. |
Psalms 1
The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Note the progressions of these words, walk, stand and sits. And also the words wicked, sinners and scoffers.
The first psalms was written to show us the way to true success. All of us wants success right? But how the world defines success is different from how the church views it. Is material wealth success? Yes but it is not entirely true. But we need to understand that material blessing is only a small part of God's idea of success.
True success is eternal, it is not only temporary. The first verse says how happy is the man who do not walk with the wicked. Or you can use the word success to replace the word happy. Success is the man who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
All of us wants success for our children but I also fear they may have success in the temporal. That they become successful in things that does not matter. I want them to be serving in church and community and social works and not just in the area of making money. In Psalms it gives us the secret for true success.
By the way you'll notice my wife is not here as she is at home taking care of Josiah as he is down with chicken pox and in a word is miserable. I'll appreciate your prayer. Tuesday was his graduation and he has photo taking session so I thought he could not go but the principal said to bring him as he will not want to have a graduation photo. Thanks to God his chicken pox was everywhere except his face. Thank God.
Success is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
The key to true success are:
1. Stay away from bad company.
The three groups of people are the skeptics, the sinners and the scornful.
The skeptics are referred to by the bible as ungodly and wicked. These people know about God but they don't believe in Him.
I give you an example. In America 96% says they believe in God but in the survey, 80% of them live as if there is no God.
The sinners are the second group. The sinners are unholy. They live as if there is no God but is proud of it. If you look at Hollywood movies, there messages. Like it is ok to sleep around. Right or not? It's okay to have multiple partners, like Desperate Housewives. And they are proud of what they are doing.
The third group is the scornful or scoffers. These are not only ungodly and unholy but they laugh at it. They have the cheek to mock God.
Success is the man who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the ways of sinners and sits in the seats of scoffers.
If we allow our children to mix with such company, they'll be influenced. Stay away from these type of people. I do not mean we cut away from these people. What I mean is that if you have a problem eg finance problem, go to a Christian for counsel and not a non Christian. If we go to seek ungodly counsel we won't get the right advice. Go instead to a Christian who is good in finance for advice.
2. Delight in God's word
v2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalms 119:14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
Is God's word great riches to you?
Psalms 119:72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
Is God's word that important to you? It's more than riches.
Psalms 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!David delights in God's word. Our problem may be because we read God's word as a responsibility. The key is it said he meditates on it day and night. You may say that it's impossible but how often a song gets stuck in our head the whole day. Or a jingle in a radio commercial?
We all know John 3:16 and if we just read it we may not appreciate its meaning. But when we meditate on it, it tells us so much and can mean so much. But you will miss it if you just read it and don't meditate on it. Do not read the bible like a reading assignment.
The bible says when we delight in the word of the Lord. Not the preacher or speaker. Sometimes we may end up with just looking for a particular speaker before we come to church.
3. This is the result
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
This is the secret to our success. How many of you want to be a tree in the desert? We'd want to be a tree by the banks of the river where it gets its nutrients, right? We will fruit in season and our leaf will not wither, always evergreen.
And I like the last one, whatever he does, he prospers. This is the result of not walking in the counsel of the wicked and to delight in His word. Whatever he sets his hands to do he will have success. And I am not talking about just worldly success.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
This is an agricultural reference. It's like when we harvest padi and they will throw the padi up and let the wind blow away the husk, or chaff. This is what the bible says about the wicked.
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
I pray that the Lord watches over your ways.
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