Psalm number one reads as follows. 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, but his delight is in the Lord, of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 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. are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 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. May the good Lord bless his word, and also to us be the blessing as well. Amen. Brothers and sisters, when I was meditating upon this passage, something just came to my mind. In other words, my mind went back to the Christian period in Africa. That is the period before Christianity was introduced. When many people used to believe that to be blessed meant to have one many children, to have many wives, to have protective magic, and also to have many slaves. That's how the pre-Christian period in Africa understood the meaning of being blessed. Today, even among us, we still believe that blessedness means to have a fat bank account. to have good business, to have a job, even to drive latest cars, or to get married to a rich person. This is what we believe. But in the ecclesial circles, in the church, We have pastors who also believe that to be blessed is to have a big church, a church which is located in the cities. A church with members that are honoring their tithing dues. If we were to ask even politicians the same questions, they would say to be blessed is to be voted into power. As simple as all that. to control resources, to manipulate the system, to siphon public resources. This is what is happening. But what about the Bible? What does the Bible say? We have almost Psalms 24 that speak about being blessed. For example, Psalms 32 verse 1 and 2 says, blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered. Psalms 33 verse 12 says, blessed is the nation whose God is their Lord. What about Psalms number 40? Psalms number 40 verse 4 says, Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. Psalms 112 verse 1. And again, blessed are those whose way is blameless and keep his testimonies. Psalms number 119 verses 1 and 2. In Matthew chapter 5 verses 3 to 12, Jesus gives a list of being blessed to be poor, to be meek, to be persecuted for their righteousness. What about the book of Revelation, chapter 14, verse 13? The Bible says, blessed are they who die in the Lord. To be blessed. In other words, brothers and sisters, there is a golden rule for blessing. First of all, before one can bless others, he or she must be blessed. We can apply the same rule when it comes to discipleship. If you have not been discipled, you cannot disciple others. If you have not evangelized, you cannot evangelize others. Those of us who are involved in evangelism, I think the first thing that we must do before we go out there, we must ask ourselves a question. Am I evangelized? Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 to 3, we read also about God sending Abraham to be a blessing because he blessed him. In other words, we cannot bless ourselves. There are people who are trying to bless themselves. They come up with ways and means. But the golden principle is this. You, all of me, cannot bless ourselves. Someone, somewhere must bless us. I think we have tried to bless ourselves in one way or another, but God is watching. God is watching. The theme is very simple. The blessed man and the woman. That's the theme. Our main focus will be verses one to three. That will be our main focus. This one says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the weak, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. How is a blessed man and a blessed woman? How are they defined? First of all, they are defined by what they cannot do. That's the first description. In other words, they are defined from a negative perspective. Sometimes when we are trying to describe a person, either we use a negative description or a positive description. But what are we learning from this sound? A blessed man, a blessed woman is defined by what he or she does not do. That's why the psalmist says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the weak, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. To walk not in the city, to walk not in the council means that, especially the Hebrew, those who are studying Hebrew, you can agree with me that the word to walk simply means to leave, to leave. So in other words, not to walk in the council, It simply means not to live according to advice, according to norms, according to the instructions. It can be cultural norms. When it comes to culture, we are so defensive. The culture has got another voice, and that voice always contradicts God's voice. Not to walk, it means not to go along with, not to live according to the plan, according to the purpose of the sinners. It is unfortunate that some of us, we have already walked in the Council of the Sinners. Maybe we were doing that in the course of trying to bless ourselves. Or maybe we were thinking that maybe by following their advice we will be eventually blessed. A blessed man, a blessed woman. How do we define him or her? Remember, What Paul is saying in the first, in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verses 1 and 2, where the scripture says, do not be conformed to the standard of this world, but be renewed or transformed by the renewing of your mind. Don't be conformed. to the standard. The standard, it may also mean even the advice or the systems or the principles of this world. Very often we are so adapted, we are so adapted to the principles of this world, to the point that sometimes we ignore even scriptures and we become so defensive. Remember, the Bible must Christianize the culture, but not the culture Christianizing the Bible. In other words, the Bible, it's above the culture. It's above the system. It's above the constitution of any country. Even the powerful country in the world, still the Bible, it's above. The same verse also speaks about the wicked, the cancer of the wicked. The word wicked there, it simply refers to those people who ignore the principles of God. People who ignore the principles of God. God's principles are many. They deal with the issues of our daily life, our marriage, even our politics, our economics, everything. But sometimes these principles are ignored because of our wickedness. And that is a dangerous thing in life. The Bible says the blessed man does not stand in the way of sinners. The word sinner refers to a person who misses a mark. A mark means the will of God, the law of God, the gospel. That's what it means. How many of us have missed the mark of God? Maybe in our daily life, we are always missing that mark. Maybe in the course of ministering to others, we are missing that mark. Maybe in the course of reading the Bible or serving others, always we are missing that mark. Blessed is the man. Blessed is the woman who does not stand. Who does not stand. in the way of sinners. The way of sinners, the way, the word way means in Hebrew, the path. The path. You see the sinners are walking and you just join them. Without questioning yourself, saying, no, no, no, no, I am not part of them. Maybe we are just using this, follow, follow, follow, follow the leader. We are doing this unconsciously. Brothers and sisters, let me tell you this. You can nicely hold the Bible. You can nicely read the Bible. You can nicely even recite verses. But Steve, you belong to that group. The question is, are you blessed? How many of us are blessed? To stand means not to be involved with something or to join the company. Joining the company, the company of the wicked, the company of sinners, the company of the scoffers. Paul, especially in 1 Corinthians, 15 verse 33. He says, body company corrupts good morals. Body company corrupts good morals. Even if you may say, no, you know, I am a Christian. I'm not part of that. But as long as you join them, gradually, you become part of the system, part of the company. Which company have you joined? Is it a company of good friends or a company of what? What matters is the type of company that you have joined. The psalmist says, no stance in the way of sinners, in their way of life. They were how they conducted themselves, their behavior pattern. Nor sit in the seat of scoffers. To sit simply means to dwell, to remain. Remember what Christ says in John chapter 15. You must abide in me, you must remain in me and I in you. But then you find someone is remaining in the seat of the scoffers. Those who have no regard for the law of God. Let's move to the next part. The next part, the heading says, the subheading says, the blessed man and woman is defined by what he or she does. First we said, The blessed man or a woman is defined by what she does not do, but this one says the blessed man and the woman is defined by what she does. Verse 2 starts with but. That is a sign of contrast. Those who are doing homiletics, you can agree with me about this. It starts with, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. Defined by what we are doing. In other words, even in our Christian life, our Christian life is defined either by what we are doing or what we are not doing. One of the two. You can't just be a Christian and just be on one side and none of that. Even the Ten Commandments. You find some of the commandments are saying, do not, do not, do not. And then we have also other commandments that say, you must do this, you must do this, you must do this. It's the same principle in this psalm, which is also applied here. The important key words here is delight. To be delight or to have delight. To have passion for the word. And here the word even law, it refers to five books of Moses. five books of Moses. So this blessed man has passion. He loves reading. He loves thinking over it. That's the meaning of meditation. And this blessed person or this blessed man and the woman, this one, he is always saying, I want to find out God's will today, for today. I want to find out God's will for my life. There are people who don't know God's will, and always they are thinking in terms of their will, what they want to benefit. As I said, God is watching. His delight is in the Lord, trying to seek God's will. trying to listen to the voice of God. The world has so many voices. Sometimes we are so confused. Sometimes we think that this voice maybe is coming from God, while in actual sense it is not. But those who meditate upon the law of God, they are seeking to know the will of God. They are seeking to understand God's plan. Sometimes in God's plan, or sometimes I would say God's plan may be full of sorrows. What are you going to do? Just two days ago, I was preaching about these two brothers, Abel and Kai. And in my conclusion, I challenged the congregation, asking them, who do you want to become? Do you want to become Abel or Kai? The whole church said, we want to become Ebe. I think even if I would have asked you the same question, you'd have said, we want to become what? Ebe. Then I said, do you know the meaning of the name Ebe? Because you cannot become a person whom you don't know. Because the character of the person is in his name. That's why they say that son or that child will be called Jesus. That will be his character, the character of saving. Eber means vapor, someone who just goes quickly. And some people said, OK, we want to become Eber. Then I said, do you want to die also? But why do we need what meditation? You are kind by my word. If we have the word of God in us, the word of God is going to challenge us, is going to convict us, is going to empower us, is going to lead us to a godly direction. Remember Joshua 1, verse 9, you must meditate on my law day and night. We find also the role or the importance of the Word of God, especially in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, where the Bible says all scripture is inspired And we read that the scripture is useful for training, for teaching, for reproofing, for correction. I would have also said the scripture is our GPS to heaven. If you're going to drive without a GPS, you are in trouble. If you can live a Christian life without the word of God, you are in trouble. Let's look at the final point. Especially verse three. A blessed man, a blessed woman 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 or she does, she or he prospers. The blessed person is defined by their position and fruits. How far Am I from Christ? How far are you from Christ? A blessed person is planted by streams. Not a stream, but streams. And the Bible says, in whatever this person is doing, he or she prospers. It's not only one blessing. There are so many blessings, a multitude of blessings. This verse reflects the agricultural context in Palestine, whereby the farmers had to find a wood tree somewhere. For its survival, they had to transplant it by streams, so that as the water passes by, then the water should also be able to irrigate that plant. So this thing of saying, like a tree which is planted by, this tree does not plant itself. In the same way, we are planted by God in his kingdom. We cannot plant ourselves in God's kingdom. Maybe in the church, you can join a church with him, pure motive, but not in the kingdom. There are people who have tried to plant themselves in the kingdom of God, but they have failed. because it's not their responsibility. Unless we are planted by the heavens, as Daniel is describing God, sometimes he's not using the word God, he just says the heavens, then we can be fruitful. Because God knows the right place for us. He knows the right place. He knows where we can benefit others. He knows where we can be fruitful. He knows exactly. And he knows even the time when we can be fruitful. We are saying the blessed man, the blessed woman, is defined by his or her position. Position in God. Am I far from God? or am I close to God? The thing is, the more we move closer to God, it's the more we know that we are sinners. But the more we move far away from God, it's the more we justify ourselves. It depends on where you are going. We have the Holy Spirit living in us. The Holy Spirit who is always refreshing our minds. The Holy Spirit who is always giving us blessings. If we can read Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 to 23, we have a list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those who have got the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is there to do a number of things in their lives. Sometimes when you look at a person, when you look at his or her Bible, the Bible is marked. Okay, it's fine. But when you look at the life, the fruits... Why marking the Bible? The fruits of the Holy Spirit are our testimonies of our blessedness. Brothers and sisters, do you want to be blessed? Do you want to be wise? Do you need the joy of your heart? Do you want to go to heaven? Do you want to be a blessing to others? You must be transplanted by God in the right position. This is what the last part of that verse is saying. The tree that roots its fruit in its season Its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Worldly, you cannot prosper. But spiritually, you should prosper. Remember, we are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are marching toward heaven. But we should march while being blessed. Those who are blessed, they know where they stand with their God. They know exactly what they do and what they don't do. Those who are blessed, their life is a true testimony even to others. Am I a blessing to you? Are you a blessing to me? Let us pray. Merciful and holy God, we call upon your name this morning, having taught us how I can be blessed, not in a world sense, but in the spiritual sense, in the heavenly sense. You have told us what we must do, that we must be planted, transplanted by yourself so that we can be blessed and that we can also be a blessing to others. My relationship with the world must be checked. Yes, Lord, we know that we are in the world, but we are not of the world. Lord, we ask you to bless us, to transplant us on Jesus Christ so that we can copy his character. We can be irrigated by spiritual blessings and that, Lord, we can go and shine in the world while blessing others. And that others may be attracted to you upon seeing your blessings to us. that we may not be arrogant, and that, Lord, we may stand firm in faith. Whatever happens, Lord, we may present it to you because you know our environment, you know our situation, our context. You have plans for each one of us, O Lord. We just want to commit our brothers, especially those who have got crosses, who are passing through difficult situations, those who don't have answers to their many questions. We commit them into your hands, O Lord, knowing that you are the only provider. Lord, help us to meditate upon your word so that we can be wise. Help us, O Lord, to understand your will so that we can do your will. Help us, O Lord, to have our spiritual GPS as we are marching towards heaven. We pray this, Lord, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. One God forever. Amen.