Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is definitely good to be here today, and we've been blessed. Good message this morning. And today, we're gonna go back, and the last thing I worked in and studied through was Psalm 119, the longest chapter of the Bible. And we're going to continue in this. And again, this is a very beautiful chapter and so much important information in there for us. And as we studied a few weeks ago, we looked at the first part of this. And that we saw really quickly, and if you've ever read through 119, you'll find out the centralized theme is God's word, the importance of it and the impact of it in a Christian's life. And again, the psalmist here is gonna celebrate God's word for a guide, for a comforter, and also for wisdom. And he also shows us the blessings of living life according to God's Word. And you know God's blessed and He wants to share His blessings with us. He doesn't wanna have to discipline us, but he will if he needs to. But he wants to share in those blessings. And again, as we read through Psalm 119, I'm not 100% sure who the author was. Most people think it was David, but it could have been Ezra or Daniel. But the main thing is, is that individual leaned on God and God's word. You could tell as you read through this And you'll acquire that. He was leading on that everlasting arm of God. And we see that this psalmist, whoever it was, they had distresses in their life. They had different things going on. There's trials and tribulations. But you see, God had no doubt saw them through it. And they got stronger. Each time that we go through trials and tribulations, we get stronger with God when we come out the other end. We're so thankful for that. One thing about Psalm 119 I found, you know, studying through it, as most of us have probably read through this one, really doesn't have a clear outline. You'll notice that as you go through this, you know, of course we have the main centralized theme, God's Word, right? But each stanza of this pretty much can stand on its own like a proverb. And when we talk about that, the stanzas, again, it's 176 verses, but it's broke down into 22 stanzas. And again, this is what they called an acrostic psalm. They broke it down into 22 with eight verses each. And what that was was, this is a good way to help you retain the information and to be able to memorize it, because it was that important. Now those 22 stanzas, they come from the Hebrew alphabet. And again, it was in order. The first one that we went through a couple weeks ago was Alof. The next one was Beth, and it followed that order. But again, very important for memorization and the Lord you know the inspired hand of God give us this and there's no doubt that this is so important this Psalm 119 that he wants us to remember it not only that but you know if you think about it 176 verses you know that kind of draws your attention to that chapter You know, oh, okay, that makes sense to me. It's very, very important. The whole Bible's important, but I can see God putting a lot of importance in this, and as it was written, because, you know, following God's word and doing what he wants us to do. You know, blessed is the undefiled, you know, that follows the Lord, you know. Blessed is the undefiled that walks in the way. So how important is that? It's very important for our Christian lives to be able to do that. You know, as we look through this and study more and more on this, This was probably, you know, gathered this information from the psalmist over a span of time and then compiled to create this. And I think it's just a beautiful psalm as you get into it and you start studying it. And, you know, as we went through that first stanza, there again was those eight verses in a loft is where we started with. And again, blessed are those undefiled in the way. Blessed are those that walk in the way of the Lord. how important those things are. But you'll notice, too, another thing that you see in here is the psalmist is very humble. He knows that he cannot do any of this without God. He cannot walk undefiled in the way. He cannot walk in the way of the Lord without God's intervention. Because, you know, we all got that old braved heart. That old depraved heart, it's not gonna allow us to walk in God's way without him. We have those fleshly desires, you know, and we wanna walk in our own way. That's just how we were wired. But God can help us with that, and he will help us with this. And you know, it is a daily struggle for us, you know, to walk in the spirit, walk in the flesh. Paul told us that, the Apostle Paul, of sinners I am chief. You know, the thing of it is, you hear that all the time, the struggle is real. Well, it is real. We struggle with it every day. But God is there for us, folks. And we got to understand that. But you know, the psalmist is going to bring all this into the forefront for us. And it's very important that we take a look at this and understand, are you seeking after God's wisdom? Are you depending upon your own? And that's the big question here today. We're all presented with choices and decisions every day of our life. And where are you going for your information? Are you going to someone else? Are you going to the Lord? Are you do have confidence in Him? Because you see, God's Word here is our roadmap, and He can plot a path for us, right? While we're in 119, I just want you all to take a look at something. Let me find it here real quick. Psalm 119 and verse 89 says this about God's Word. Forever, O Lord, the Word is settled in heaven. You know, as we read that, The Word, that's meaning the Word is never going to change. It's always going to be as it is and it's always going to be spiritually relevant. This Word is a living document. It's going to be here when everything else is gone. God's Word is so important to us and the thing of it is it will never change and God gives us this so that He can help us along the way with the Holy Spirit. Micah chapter 6 and verse 8, I'm just going to jump over there real quick before we get into our study here, but Micah chapter 6 and verse 8, it talks about, you know, in the way, and we know it's God's way, and it says here, and this is one of many verses that we can see God's way. He has showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Not, not God's, the God. So we gotta understand that walk with our God. And as Christians, the thing of it is, we got to have full confidence in God. We gotta have full faith in Him that He's gonna see us through whatever this life gives and puts in front of us. You know, putting ourself to the side, stepping away from the world and the popular beliefs of this world, and focusing on His direction and His directions only. You know, so we're going to look at Psalm 119, but we're going to jump ahead. As we started out, we've done the first stanza. We're going to jump to the 14th stanza today. We're going to be in Psalm 119, verse 105. And we're going to see the psalmist, we're going to see his confidence in God here. We're going to see his confidence and trust in God as we go through. So let's read Psalm 119. verse 105 to 112 this is the 14th stanza which is none the Hebrew alphabet so it starts out 105 the word is a lamp unto my feet and a lot unto my path I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep the righteous judgments I am afflicted very much, quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word, except I beseech thee the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. My soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I err not from thy precepts. The testimonies have I taken into a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes, always. even into the end. Let us pray real quick. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, again we come back to you, Lord. So thankful for your word, Lord, that we've got right here, our roadmap, Lord. We don't have to guess at anything, Lord. You bless us with it. You bless us with the Spirit to lead us, and we're so blessed and thankful for all that. So, Lord, here, just again, open our hearts to the message, and Lord, especially mine, Lord, here, as I stand up here, just give me the word you need me to say, and Lord, just watch over us and bless us. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. So as we read through that 14th stanza, what do we see? We see this individual definitely is distressed. They've got trials and tribulations, as we talked about earlier. And you can see on verse 107, I am afflicted very much. Verse 110, the wicked have laid a snare for me. So there's definitely a lot of difficulties in this individual's life, but it happens to us as well here on this earth. We go through those things, but we have to have that faith and trust in God, and it gets more so every time we make it through the end of something. When we put our full faith and trust in Him, it always helps us to get closer. And you know, I'd imagine every one of us in here has went through trials and tribulations, and went through these difficult times, and you've leaned on God, you've leaned on the Lord, and He's got you through it, and then you look back out the other side, and you're like, thank you, Lord, and the next one that comes my way, I'm gonna be stronger. I'm going to get stronger each time, and my relationship's going to get that much. My faith is going to increase, and I'm going to have confidence that the next time this happens, I'm going straight to Him. I'm not going over here to this or that one. I'm going straight to You, Lord, and it helps us. But we have to have that faith. Definitely we could we could seek other avenues and God blesses us with other avenues here on this earth But we got to go to him first We got to go to him first and that is so so important in our life because he's the source of our strength and our support and again You know, the psalmist here has confidence, and we can see that. And that's why you see in verse 105, it says, the word is a lamp unto my feet. Very popular scripture, and a light unto my path. This signifies, you know, that God is guiding, he's illuminating that path for us in that first step, and the path on to where we need to go. He illuminates that through the Holy Spirit. we got to have faith because he gives us guidance we just have to have confidence to go after it you know and I was thinking about this in a practical term and I I was thinking back when I was younger and not too many years ago but what happens the first whenever electricity goes out what's the first thing that you do the first thing if it's in the middle of the night We have to have a light, don't we? That's the first thing. And I remember as a kid, we didn't have all of our devices now. It seems like we've always got a device pretty close to us. We'd grab our phone or whatever and light the way. But back when I was younger, we'd have them, just big old flashlights. And if electric goes out, you're like, uh-oh, where's that flashlight at? You start feeling around. But you know what? Without light, how do we know where to take that first step? How many in here has ever stepped on a Lego? You know, I mean, you might know exactly how your house is laid out. You might be sitting in your recliner or something. Oh, I can just get up and I'll go find me a light. You know, I've stepped on many Legos. I've, a lot of tears have come out my eyes because of those things. Not only that, but I've also stubbed my toe so many times doing things like that. But you see, that light is, you're just not sure. Without some sort of light, I don't know where I'm at. I don't know where my location is for sure. But you know what? God's word is light, and it produces light. You know, in Ephesians 5.8, I just got it written here in my notes, but for ye were sometimes darkness. Yes, we were. But now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. We need to walk as children of light if we are his children. It's easy, you know, for us to think about that, for us to try to take first steps on our own, because in this world is darkness. There's so much darkness around us. In this psalmist, there's darkness around him. But there's so much around us, and sometimes we want to try to do things on our own accord. But that's whenever you step on the Lego. That's whenever you sink about knee-deep up in mud when you don't know where you're going. See, that happens. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God, and it's so important, it's so true. But you know what? The Holy Spirit will give us that guidance, will give us that wisdom that we need. We need to hold on to that. We need to have that confidence. It's going to give us the foresight. It is a light into our path, no doubt. But you know, not only does God's word give us, you know, give us instructions, you know, but it also sets the course for us. We can take the first step, but he can continue letting us take steps into his goal, what he wants for us in our lives. what he desires out of us. He is a child of God. He's got something. Whenever he redeemed you, he has something in mind he wants you to do. Every one of us in here do today. And he's gonna set us on that path. And we gotta have trust and faith in him to fulfill that, there's no doubt. But you know what? Not only that, but as far as being on the right path and doing the right things, boy, it's awful good to put my faith in God and have confidence in Him because I don't want to second-guess myself. You know, myself right now, I used to struggle with this all the time. I used to struggle with, you know, second-guessing myself. Was that the right, did I do right? Was that the right decision? When I come to a fork in the road, did I go the right direction? Did I do that? You know, over the years, I've been able, and I thank God so much, He has matured me that I know where to go to now whenever I have those questions. I know where to go. I can get on my knees and pray to Him. I know where to go. Before, when I was younger, I really didn't know exactly, and that second guessing gets difficult. Did I make the right choice? Did I not? But now, I have confidence, and I just, whenever he puts it on my heart, let's go. I don't think about it, because he is gonna give us exactly what he wants us to do, and that's a good feeling. And the psalmist is experiencing this in his life. You see in 106, in verse 106 here, I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. You know, thing of it is, is this is great, and this is what we need to do. And you know, God is going to take care of his sons and daughters. He's going to take care of his children. And again, in verse 111, I thought was pretty interesting here. Thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. Folks, as I read that, the rejoicing of my heart, the testimonies as a heritage. Well, folks, this heritage, God's Word that Holy Spirit that he blesses us with and as I get in that and I start looking at that a little bit deeper it's part of our inheritance here right God's Word is testimonies the heritage it's part of our inheritance as children of God I'm so thankful for that today but you know what not only if you look at 106 I have sworn and I will perform it well I I can't do that on my own. I know the psalmist, what he's saying here, but he has been so humble as he goes through this, and he's always, you know, letting us know, hey, I couldn't do anything without God. I can't do nothing without you, and we see that in verse 107. He says, I'm afflicted very much. Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word. He's saying, help me, Lord. Quicken me, give me, give me what I need. And in verse 108, except I beseech you, he free will offerings of my mouth, oh Lord, and teach me thy judgments. Teach me. 109, my soul is continually in my hand, yet do I not forget the law. Yeah, today we can walk in the spirit or we can walk in the flesh. We have that ability to do that. But he's saying here, you know, in that, I not forget thy law. That's so important. to know that we need to be walking in the Spirit. We need to be walking in that light that He has told us about. And we have that ability, folks. But you know what? We're gonna be tested from time to time, there's no doubt about that, but that actually makes us stronger in God. That makes us get closer to Him. We'll be tested. You know, there's people out there that, you know, be out on your job site or it can be anywhere out in society they're gonna whenever you say you're a Christian they they want to watch you pretty close some of them just and it's sad some people want to see you fail they want you know and that's the thing but you know what as we think about that In verse 110 here, the wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I erred not from thy precepts. You know, when we're going along life's way and we've got decisions left or right on the fork of the road, everybody else is going over here, come over here with us. But if you know it's not right and God's leading you the other way, go the other way. It's okay. And you will get some, you know, you might not be invited to all the parties. You might not be, you know, all these different things. You might not be invited to lunch or something like that. It's happened to me. You know, because I'm not following the ways that some of the other people that around me follow. And that's okay, but you know what? But in verse 110, I err not from thy precepts. He didn't stray because he wasn't influenced by sin. He's wanting to stay on the path of righteousness, and that's right. And the thing of it is, you know, the second is to like it. Love thy neighbor as thyself. You know, you're gonna have people in this life that are gonna try to hurt you to benefit themselves. You know what? Show them love. That's what Jesus did. Yeah, look. Look at him. Look what he went through. His own people rejected him. Think about that. love our neighbors as ourself. So here today, as I get ready to conclude this on up, this 14th stanza, I want you all to look at verse 111 and 112, and it shows the joy of the heart that Christians have. The testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever, for they are rejoicing of my heart. I've inclined my heart to perform the statues always, even until the end. You see, folks, true joy, true peace, true contentment, that only comes through the Lord. There's nothing in this world that's ever going to take its place. There's not one thing out here that's going to fulfill that spot in your heart. It takes the Lord. He's the one that gives us that. living a life that's pleasing to God it's so important and as you go closer to the Lord we start to see you know a lot of people out there have a bad misconception of it they think that God's just watching over them with a switch you know all the time but he's a loving God he wants to love us he wants to bless us yeah he doesn't want to have to you know do any discipline to us so he wants us to do the right things But the joy of the heart and that's persevering and that's what he's showing here to the end and that's why it says in verse 112 I have inclined my heart and I think about inclined my heart and basically it's putting your eyes on God and And I think about every year I plant these big old sunflowers, and what do they do when that sun comes up? They want to turn and point to it. That's what he's saying, incline your heart, turn, and turn away from this world and start looking at me. You see what I'm saying? Go to him and put our focus on him and go his way, folks. And that's exactly what the psalmist is telling us here. And be confident in God. And that just comes with time as we grow. And not afraid to do the right things. Not afraid in this life to do what's right. If we see something wrong out there, and the Lord's leading us, that's what we gotta do. We gotta stand against it. We gotta do what's right. Not afraid to do what's right. you know and the psalmist done that he had faith and confidence and you know as we get ready to close this but you know as we always say the Old Testament always points you to Jesus this is no different we read this right here as we've been reading through Psalm 119 you know think about that blessed are the undefiled in the way blessed are those that walk in the way of the Lord Well, when Jesus was here, he was without sin. He was undefiled. He done all that. And also, did he walk in the way? Yes, he followed God's commands. He did God's will. He lived according to the word. He endured on this earth to the very end. and he made the ultimate sacrifice for you and me. His redeeming blood will cover our sin when we go to that judgment day. Think about that. So, you know, whenever we think about this psalm, this none, you know, as we go through the stanza, folks, we just, we understand how important God's word is, but we need to have confidence to be able to follow his direction that he gives for us, his path. So, God bless y'all. You won't let me live.