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November 3, 2020 2:00 am
To the believer, the Bible is the way God speaks to us about Himself. Through God's Word, we get in touch with Him and encounter Him. Skip shares how happiness can be found in this pursuit of God as he wraps up the message "Happy."
This teaching is from the series Playlist.
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Never met a person who sort of in and out back and forth with the Lord to make a commitment to backslide to make a recommitment to go to make another recommitment site 40 times. Yes, God is a God of mercy. State David prayed, created me a pure heart of God, renew steadfast spirit within me. People pursue happiness often look for the next thing in your life.
The next relationship.
The next job. The next paycheck for the next purchase today on connect with skip-Skip shares when there's only one place where you can find true happiness. Now we want to tell you about a great resource to pursue God's truth and apply it to your daily. A recent study by the cultural research center, Christians are almost just as likely to reject the idea of absolute moral truth.
The article, except for American adults believe in absolute moral truth is eroding across all age groups and political ideologies with other church or unchurched.
What that means is that over 75% of Christ followers are those who purport to be Christ followers are saying that nothing can be known for certain. There is no absolute truth about you.
We want to help you understand the nature trips you can pursue God's true and apply your life to brand-new booklets, but why truth matters in God and suicide if you fall under that category. What you do with the claims of Christ Jesus, that I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except through me. These booklets are our thanks for your gift of $35 or more today.
Tell keep this ministry on the air, connecting more people to God's word to give. Call 800-922-1888, and securely connectwithskip.com/okay first song Skip starts today step is the light is in the law. The law one translation says he finds his greatest pleasure in the law of the Lord, why because this book is the means toward an and in the end is an encounter with the living God. So I want to know the word of God so that I can get to know the God of the word I want an encounter with him in this book does that for me give an example of a young woman has a boyfriend she can always be with them but she can carry and she does in her purse, a photograph of him photograph is a reminder that speaks to her of him. So when she's away from him once when nobody is looking sharp thought out and so look at it longingly and maybe even give a surreptitious kiss toward it. Now the picture is in him.
It's a substitute of him. Not even a great substitute but it reminds her of him and speaks to her of him and so does the Bible to us reminds us of him. It speaks to us of him. It gets us in touch with them and we encounter him is what's even more amazing. I want you to consider this when David wrote Psalm, Ron, and he talked about the happy person delighting in the law of God, the only Bible he had were the first five books of Moses.
He was talking literally about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. His delight is in that probably people do you know today that would say my delight is that one group I know that you mean the ones and eyes come you got hot Diggity dog run.
Leviticus numbers. We however have 66 books we have the whole Bible we have a treasure trove of truth and concerning the laws of God.
It was David who wrote we will see it in Psalm 19 more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb to my story few months ago I was on an airplane Southwest flight to be exact, and I was next to a man who had a bookie was devoted to his book was a book of crossword puzzles. His head was in it. His head was down he's writing in his thinking. He didn't come up for Eric's except maybe like when we were about to land. I took a breath and had a swig of water. So as I was my opening so you like crossword puzzles, data goes my love crossword puzzles because II have a knack for them as I can see patterns in a maze of letters and I don't know if this is fast or not but he said that my record is 33 words in nine minutes. Having I don't know anything about about that's good I I'm I'm hoping it's good because I really don't know that I'm just going along the conversation and then he said this is what I want to share with you. He said the first thing I do when I pack my suitcase is get a book of crossword puzzles. He said it takes my mind off line. The reason that made an impact on me as I thought. Is this the first thing I think to pack.
When I pack my suitcase might delighting in the law of the Lord as much as Mr. crossword puzzle is delighting in that book of his him.
You could say his delight is in the crossword puzzle and in the crossword puzzle doth he meditate day and night.
It was all about that.
Look at the word meditate in that verse by the way he meditates day and night. What is meditation meanwhile is not talking about transcendental meditation where one disengages the mind and kind of goes nowhere. Biblical meditation is exactly the opposite means you consciously engage the mind and you focus set upon revealed truths in this case the word of God. The Scripture that the word the Hebrew word meditate is the word Hagar, which means to coo to Maher to moan to read in an undertone or to talk to oneself about the root meaning of this word is the low moaning of an animal, especially when he choose its cut in the picture you you and I do that sometimes we need Goodyear you're talking to yourself about your reacting to what you're eating.
The picture that of meditation is that you just don't read the Scripture but you feed on the Scripture you slow down long enough to hear each word to emphasize a different word to say it out loud to yourself to get an impression slow down.
I have a problem when it when I eat and that is I eat fast. I always have my wife is told me over the years to slow down echoes of my mom used to tell me growing up slowdown. Let me explain to you to get to my side a little bit why I why I eat so fast I grew up with three older brothers. I'm on the I'm the youngest and the baby of four. So when it was mealtime. They were serious.
It was a little bit of banter back and for the cycle never get the food first wins and I was sometimes less on the smallest so I learned to eat very fast will that's dangerous. If you go to an expensive restaurant is like five bucks a bite so slow down so can I suggest that when you read the Scripture.
When you have your devotional time that you will slow down and consider it carefully and more slowly. Meditation is the link between theory and action. You ask yourself is this a command is this a promise to my to do something in following this. Why did he say that word. What if I emphasize that word in meditation is that link between theory and action if forearms your worldview and will determine your behavior.
So here's the happy person so far described by what he declines. By what he delights in third is described by what he depicts look at verse three he shall be like a tree should be like a tree that is that he shall be like us, of a tree, or he shall be like a twig lying on the ground like a 2 x 4, but something alive and something growing, something flourishing in a growth this a normal part of life you expect growth to happen if there is a living thing. If you have a CD planted in the ground and you water you expect to see results you expect growth.
When a baby is born you expect the baby to grow up. That's the normal natural expectation of parents the child 35 returns to be 35 years old and still in diapers you know you got a big problem. No growth when you see if the leave year, I believe our Christian summaries been born again or spiritual life. There is always at the same level you think sums wrong.
There ought to be growth and is much as I love evangelism and love to call people to follow Jesus. Christianity is more than obstetrics includes pediatrics include some emergency room visits and should go all the way to the geriatric old age. Stage so the tree depicts progress. It also depicts permanence for you will notice it says he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Can you picture a tree with its roots, going deep down that the soil deriving the nutrients anchoring itself in becoming a permanent fixture of the landscape.
I have a tree in my backyard. I want to tell you about unusual tree. It's only seven years old. It is no joke.
At least 50 or 60 feet high.
It has had enormous growth. All my neighbors have said so what's up with that trait, like Jack and the beast factory because all the other trees in the neighborhood are not like that for even the ones that have been around a while, so here's the deal.
I found out I wanted to find out my tree is planted next to a pond I have to fill the pond by hand with a hose and I'll fill it one day it will be down the next, and it's just a little pond that has a pump with a hole in the rock and the bubbles in the mix and I sound you fill in all the time especially in the summer and so so became MIR when day goes up. You got a tear in the liner of your pond you never got out and fix that there's something wrong with her liner so pulled up all the rocks liner was perfect. Not a tear not a cut. Not a whole, intact.we discovered the tree is a very smart tree roots not only go down with some of the roots have gone up just about the liner and back down into the pond and it's like getting mainline water you turn on the hoses going and that trees roots extend into the yard and it has become this massive permanent fixture. The idea here is permanence planted not plotted planted by rivers of water say more. Jesus use or thought of the same idea when he said I'll buy in me that word good New Testament work by the inmate means remaining in me. Never met a person who sort of in and out back and forth with the Lord. They make a commitment to backslide to make a recommitment to good go to the thing make another recommitment site 40 times.
Yes, God is a God of mercy, but state David prayed, created me a pure heart of God renew a steadfast spirit within me. So it speaks of progress in permanence, also calling us to be like a tree is productivity. The next races who brings forth fruit in its season's not an overnight success season. All it takes time to grow but he brings forth fruit you read the Bible very long, you know that fruit is a picture of anybody know results spiritual activity. If you say something you better do what you say that the fruit of what you say is out of the evidence has to be some activity results that show what you say is true, you will know them by their fruit so so fruit is a picture of results. A picture of spiritual activity, but let me add to that. How about this fruit is also a picture of refreshment a piece of fruit on a summer day, a cold watermelon on a day like today, so refreshing I happy person is the kind of person that to be around you feel refreshing to be around some percent. He was like and I'm so terrain and there's a place for that is time for that. I understand some people are burdened, and we we will will. But you know what it's like to be around someone who fills your tank up and you feel refreshed and they're usually the type of person described in the song, the Lord spoke of Abraham and made a promise in Genesis 12. I will make you a blessing. He said I will make you a great nation and you shall be a blessing you will be a refreshment as the happy person. Whenever we travel to Israel. We on one day take people from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem to few hour drive up by bus and it's the day that they are able to see the two bodies of water inland that exists there in a country versus the Sea of Galilee. That's up north and around the Sea of Galilee. There's farms.
It's green. It's beautiful.
And then it empties into the Jordan River and follow-up follow-up follow-up quality driving deep drive and follow the following get down south to another big body of water called the Dead Sea know is why it's called the Dead Sea said nothing lives in suffer some weird microbe but it's dead and it's such a picture of two ways to live. The reason the Sea of Galilee is alive in the Dead Sea's dad is the Sea of Galilee has an inlet and an outlet Dead Sea has only an inlet, no outlet, so it is with people for some people that are filled with light because they bring in. They taken there's growth there is vibrancy then they get out they exported and then there's other people who are dead. As I gimme gimme a lot more I need more. It's all intake neurotic happy person will be productive and refreshing. It also speaks of perseverance for you notice that it will say cruise leave shall not, whether no explanation needed it doesn't give. It keeps on going.
It doesn't quit as Evergreen also speaks of prosperity. Look at the end of that verse and whatever he does shall prosper. What a life for prosper means full-grown or mature. There's a picture of life is whose balanced person allying with God and thus the rest of life is in balance personal life, spiritual life, family life, business, life, leisure life, all unbalanced is that person is connected to God and in that connection and then that blessing everything he or she seems to touch is just blessed their happy through a lifetime of always love the story about the little boy who went into the pet store to pick out a dog in the put his face up to the mirror up to the window and there's little puppy wagon is failing was daddy I want the one with a happy ending though we all want the life with a happy ending a life marked by growth a life marked by productivity and refreshment and God's touch of blessing and prosperity and maturity. Upon so here's a happy man nor the happy woman describe what he declines, described in what he delights, described by what he depicts and finally and forth. He is described by how he differs verse four the ungodly are not so.
But I like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment implication is they won't stand or fall, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly, shall perish meet us at this point give you a word about the structure of the Psalm. This Psalm is structured and aesthetically, meaning the first three verses describe one person the next three verses describe a different person.
And there are opposites of each other there is an antithesis going on so verse one through three. The blessed person the righteous person versus three or verse four and five, the ungodly person verse six. Both of them in a summary fashion so he writes about the happy person. Then all of a sudden he takes a right turn and does not discuss the first guy is different from the second gun and in the Septuagint version. It's even a double negative.
It's not so the ungodly, not so, as if to say whatever good things can be said of the first guy them can be said for the second you got a growing living fruitful tree you got up pile of chaff's dad if you really want to see the difference. Look at the results of these two lives by comparing the first word of the Psalm to the last word of the song. The first word is a three people have read the Psalm here first word is said aloud blessed the last word is perish two ends to results of two lives, one is last happy fruitful the other parish.
There was a young paratrooper who was learning how to jump in instructor told him, and all the students you cannot get on the airplane until you know certain instructions number one when I say jump you jump number two you count to 10. After you have jumped and you pull the record in your shoe will open.
Number three. If your shoe doesn't open you pull the other court, the emergency record in the emergency. She will, and finally number four when you get down there will be a truck waiting for you to take you back to the airfield. So this young man memorize all four instructions got on the airplane got about 10,000 feet people were jump in instructor told him jump. He jumped to got number one he counted to 10 and number 10. He pulled a record number two problem.
She did not.
So he pulled the emergency report, got number three. The other parish he did not open. He has no parish is falling fast down to the ground and the fog comes to him all great.
I suppose the truck will be there either. When I get down I would've thought of something else. Hey, what are you flying in the one marked blessed the one marked parish to the work chaff.
There like the chaff you know chaff is right. Its husk is a little thin skin that surround the wheat. It's next to it, but when you pluck the wheat which is nursing. The chaff is winnowed, you throw the wheat up in the air and the chaff falls often.
The wind takes it away.
It's at the mercy of the wind and I thought about that. I thought what an interesting description of the unbeliever, the unsaved person does not believe there is a devil. And yet the irony is they are being driven and controlled by the very devil they do not believe in, carried by the winds all the apostle describe our life before Christ, and he said you were dead in trespasses and sins, and you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the one the devil who works in the children of disobedience, so does your life resemble a tree or pile of husks dead chaff and I mean deep inside of you. I man was spire River and he reached down in the water to pick up a rock and he took the rock and he looked at it was all that many got down. He cracked it open and he looked on the inside of the rocket was dry and it just it just dawned him him he said here is this rock surrounded by all this water, but deep inside the water hasn't penetrated his dries about that. How many people like I like that surrounded by God's people surrounded by God's truth surrounded by God's music surrounded by God's words, deep inside them dry as a bone.
No life in them that you you like the first one second it's amazing how the Bible always does. That kinda gives us not. 50 but to roads to choices to results that conclude Skip a text message from the series want to share about an exciting opportunity. You take your knowledge of God's word. Even the Calvary College is now open for registration.
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Whether you're looking to obtain an accredited online degree or take individual courses to become better equipped in your knowledge of God's unchangeable truth. Calvary College has you covered with a range of opportunities for updates on classes and registration information for Calvary College's visit Calvary ABQ.College that's Calvary ABQ.com for Calvary College, ABQ.College using the generosity of friends like you to bring families into his kingdom. Just listen to this letter. One person signing. Thank you for your broadcast helped me build a relationship with God and become a born again Christian in my life I have my entire family. Listening to the point make stories like this to continue showing your support to reach even more people with connect escape.com connect escape.com/Downey or call 800-9800 92 and again tomorrow Skip shares God's voice, Skip presentation of connection communication through