I'm always grateful for the invitation to worship with you all and to be here. For those that may not know, I serve as the Executive Director for the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists and I want to thank you for your continued gifts to the mission. Cooperatively, we work together to make Jesus known in and through West Virginia. And it's exciting to see the missions video that you showed today with the International Mission Board. One of the things that West Virginia Southern Baptists kindly do with me is they allow me, in fact, they send me four times a year to the International Mission Board International Learning Center. And I'm responsible for training a new breed of missionary called the Project 3000 missionaries. And that was one of my students there. There's a new type of missionary that the International Mission Board is sending, and the goal is to engage with the gospel the remaining 3,000 unreached, unengaged people groups around the world. That term, unreached and unengaged, means two different things. An unreached people group means that there are less than 2% of that people group who have responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unengaged means there's nobody taking the gospel to them. Okay? And so unreached, unengaged, and there are 3,000 that are unreached and unengaged, 3,000 people groups around the world, and that people group that he was referring to that suffered just the catastrophe of being buried in a hundred feet of rubble after the earthquake. How sad is that? And that is an unreached, unengaged people group. And that one event wiped out most all of that people group. But as he stated, you know, the Scripture tells us that there will be those from every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every language group around the throne of God for all of eternity. And so he knows that God is still at work among this people group to draw people to himself. And so I appreciate the video this morning. Thanks for showing that. And we do here in West Virginia, We are on this journey of much of West Virginia, much of West Virginia understands themselves to be a mission field, all right, and much of West Virginia is in fact very much of a mission field. But we as West Virginians are beginning to really see ourselves as a family of churches on mission. And that's exciting. For the very first time in West Virginia Southern Baptist history, we have partnership internationally with the Peruvian Baptist Convention. We are partnering, we are the primary partner, with the Peruvian Baptist Theological Seminary. And this summer we're sending four mission teams from Peru from West Virginia to Peru for mission teams. One of those mission teams is going to be made up of high school students and they're going to be going and leading sports camps. Last year we sent a team of high school girls to the country of Belize. Have you heard about this? Have you heard about this? No? We sent a team of high school girls from West Virginia to Belize to do sports camps and when the Belize national softball team heard that there was a team from West Virginia that played softball, they set up an exhibition game. Our girls didn't know they were going to be playing an exhibition game. They certainly didn't know they were going to be playing the girls' national team of Belize. And so they were a little nervous. And they showed up at the stadium. And there was a crowd there to watch. Our West Virginia girls beat the national Belize team. Isn't that cool? And people can say, oh, well, you know, that's nice. But what does that have to do with missions? Let me tell you how the Lord utilized that. Because our West Virginia high school girls beat the Belize national team. You can imagine the number of young ladies especially, elementary age girls, high school age girls, who are surrounding our girls wanting their autograph, wanting to know how they learned to play softball, wanting to know a little bit about their lives. And they were able to invite every one of those girls and boys to a sports camp that they were leading that entire week, teaching them to play softball. And every one of those boys and girls heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the Lord is certainly, certainly at work in and through West Virginia. And your church is a part of that. As you give, as you give, that is what the money goes to. Some people have this wrong, sneaking suspicion that the money that is sent from churches to Scott Depot, West Virginia, as part of the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, that it's paying for the sustaining of bureaucracy. Listen, we are not in the business of sustaining bureaucracy. We want to put every dollar we possibly can at work sharing Jesus in and through West Virginia to the ends of the earth. And so thank you, thank you, thank you for being a part of that. Thank you for what you give to each month through cooperative program, your gifts to special missions offerings, all of that. It really, really does make a difference and the Lord multiplies that. Isn't it incredible that when we obediently give, God takes what we give and he multiplies that for his glory and his honor, certainly not for our bragging rights. You know, if we do things for bragging rights, the scripture teaches us that, well, there's your reward already. But as we do things unto the Lord, it is an act of worship. It is a way that we express worth to God. It's a way that we contribute to the work. Some have the idea that, well, you know, since God is God, he does things and he's in charge and we really don't make any difference at all. Well, certainly God is sovereign. We know that, isn't that right? But God invites us to be a part of his kingdom work. And not only invites us, but we are commanded in scripture to, as a disciple, to be on mission, making certain that we are living a missional life. Jesus tells his disciples, you will be my witnesses. in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And each of us have a responsibility to make Jesus known in and through our circles of influence. And every single person in this room has a unique circle of influence that most others do not. You have relationships with people in a certain way. You relate to those people differently than anybody else in this room and differently than anyone else on the planet. And God placed you in that circle of influence so that your life can be an influence on them and so that your words can speak of the goodness of God. You know, it's not just inside the walls of the church that we should testify of what he's done, but we should be testifying of the greatness of God wherever we are. And we live in a time that people are afraid of being offensive in doing so. Well, my wife has taught me that You can be a witness anywhere you are and not be offensive at all. It doesn't matter. Her name is Gay. I wish you were here this morning. She's singing at another church here in West Virginia. And yesterday, she was leading a bivocational pastor's wives conference. My wife, no matter where she is, whether she's at Walmart or anybody else shop at Walmart, we can't get away from Walmart, can we? Whether she's at Walmart, whether she's getting her nails done, she does that a lot, okay? She's a powder puff. She loves manicures, pedicures. She loves going and being pampered. But everywhere she is, People ask her, well, how have you been? And she's able to talk about how she's been. And people say, you are just always so happy, even when stinky things are going on. And she says, it's because I know who's in charge. And they look at her like. Oh, you're really in charge, huh? And she quickly tells them, I'm not the one in charge, but the Lord is the one in charge. And let me tell you what the Lord is doing in my life. And she's so incredible at being a witness and been an incredible influence on me to do the same thing. Well, I hope you have your Bible this morning. And if you do, turn with me to the very first Psalm. the very first psalm. For most of you in this room, this is going to be a very familiar psalm, but I want us to focus on the first two verses only this morning and really focus in, hone in on a one particular word for which there's not an English equivalent, all right? It's the Hebrew word asher, asher. Asher means content. satisfied, good with life. If I never had another dollar to my name, I would be equally as satisfied. If I never had a bigger home, nicer home, if I never had more possessions, if my family wasn't any different than it is right now, I would be content. I would be satisfied. Doesn't mean I would be complacent. but it means I would be not wanting for anything more. Not meaning I don't desire something else or something to be better, but my soul isn't searching for more meaning and fulfillment. There are so many people in churches today who are believers. They have been born again. They professed faith in Jesus Christ. And they're at church every Sunday or nearly every Sunday. And yet there is this thing that's missing inside of them. They can't really often put their finger on it, but they're lacking contentment. They're lacking satisfaction. And people try to fill that lack of awe share so many different ways. Some people try to fill it by going shopping. They buy things. Some people fill it by dreaming about what could be. Some fill that emptiness through living vicariously through kids or grandkids. And listen, I'm a new grandfather and I'm having a ball with grandkids. I just wish they weren't a thousand miles away, but they are. But every time I see them, I am just so full of joy. And this thing is wonderful because we FaceTime several times a week. And my granddaughter is three years old now. She knows how to use her mama's phone. And she knows how to flip through here and FaceTime me. Here's the crazy thing. I have to be reminded often how to FaceTime somebody. Okay. I have to think through it real hard. Now where's that little button? Now where did I go to do that? Was that through my phone app or was that through Messenger? How did I do? I have to think through that and a lot of times my wife just says, would you give me your phone? And she takes my phone and she dials up the FaceTime and I'm able to do it. But my three-year-old daughter She gets it done, and she reaches out to Grandpa, and she says, Grandpa, I want to talk to you. And yesterday, she FaceTimed me. And I didn't know the call was coming, but when it came, there was her pretty face, and she said, Grandpa, Daddy and I had a daddy-daughter date last night. And that just filled me with so much joy. And our kids, our grandkids, they can fill us with so much joy. But that's not where we go to find that missing contentment and satisfaction. That's an added joy. That's a blessing from the Lord. But that's not what fills that empty hole. The psalmist talks about Asher. I wish there were an English equivalent for it. There's really not. Some translations translate this word blessed or blessed if you prefer the old King James pronunciation. Some translations translate this word happy. Happy is really, in today's modern vernacular, is an emotion. Asher is not an emotion. It's a state of being. It's a state of being. It's a state of being that's not dependent on emotion. It's something that really, truly people can't put their finger on. But listen, I've traveled now and trained pastors, and preached in 47 different countries around the world. And I can testify that every place I've been in the world, everyone is looking for one thing. And that one thing they're looking for is Asher. And most people never find it. But here in this psalm, in the first two verses, the psalmist tells us where to get it. The trouble is, is we don't always approach it the right way. And so hopefully this will speak to you this morning. Psalm 1, first two verses. It says, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. Let's pray. With your head bowed, I want to ask you this morning to pray. With your head bowed, would you just ask the Lord, Lord, in the next few moments, would you just speak to me? Ask him to speak to you. Ask Him to speak to you through His Word, and ask Him to speak specifically to you through His Word and through the Holy Spirit. And if you're able, go ahead and commit to the Lord to say, Lord, when I know that I've heard from you today, I'll do what you're asking me to do. Or maybe your prayer should more rightly be, Lord, give me the courage to do what you ask me to. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank you that your word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, that it is relevant from the time it was breathed of you and placed on a page, and it's equally relevant today, and it's relevant for all of eternity. And Lord, we're honored to be gathered as believers, as the ecclesia, the church. And Father, you are so gracious to give us the scriptures, to give them to us in our language, and so gracious to help us to be able, by your Holy Spirit, to understand what you're saying. So Father, we're listening. Would you speak to our hearts today and when we've heard from you, give us the courage to obey you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Oftentimes, the Psalms have very specific literary patterns. There's different kinds of literary patterns in the Psalms. And when I was pastoring, I decided to take Wednesday nights. We had midweek service. And I decided to take Wednesday nights and teach a series on the literary patterns in the Psalms. And after 12 weeks of that, my wife said, please don't ever do that again. People don't want to come to seminary class. They want to come to church. So I'm fascinated by literary patterns in the Psalms, but I'm also conscious that a lot of people are not. But let me say a word about the literary pattern in this psalm. because it is important, all right? And please don't think I'm sacrilegious when I ask you this question, all right? It is merely an illustration. So how many of you have watched Bugs Bunny cartoons? You watch Bugs Bunny cartoons? I happen to really like Bugs Bunny cartoons. They don't show them very much now because they're found to be politically incorrect and in poor taste, especially with the political humor. But I find them funny. And I started enjoying Bugs Bunny cartoons when I was a toddler, when I was two and three years old. Why? Because there was goofy, silly, slapstick humor, okay? But those cartoons also paint incredible pictures of the political tension, the global political tension, going on in the World War II era. The writers of that cartoon are able to certainly have jokes and funny scenarios and things that happen, but with all that, they are painting a real picture of what is going on in the world right now, okay, or at the time that it was written. Here, the psalmist, is certainly communicating, under the inspiration of God himself, communicating words of truth. But he's also painting a picture of truth at the same time. And I want us to see that. It says, Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. All right? So I'm going to borrow this chair for a moment. And think about it this way. Here's what he's saying. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. You see the progression? Now let's break this down. Blessed is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. What is the counsel of the ungodly? Well, counsel is very simply advice. Godly, ungodly are those without the influence of God. Or ungodly advice is advice that is not of God. So first of all, the person Asher is the person content, satisfied, good with life, not in need of anything else, is the person who does not listen to bad advice, does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. I want to ask you this morning, where do you get your advice for living? And we can all say, oh, yes, I get my advice from the scriptures. Wonderful. Where else do you get your advice from living? Some get it from morning talk shows. Don't do that. That's a bad place to get advice for living. All right? Some get it from friends and family members. Some get it from other church members. Some get advice from self-help books. There are all kinds of places that we go to get advice. But we need to remember, even godly people can sometimes give ungodly advice. In fact, I've been known to give ungodly advice. I gave ungodly advice to my son when he was little. He was being bullied at school, and my advice to him was, come here, let me show you how to knock the kid's block off. And my son looks at me and says, Dad, would Jesus do it that way? And I wanted to say, just be quiet, would you? So we had to sit down and talk about that, all right? I gave my son bad advice. But where do you get your advice? Where do you absorb your advice from? we get our advice from all kinds of places. And when we don't think that our methods for getting something done, our methods for living life, our methods for accomplishing what we feel like we need to accomplish, or our methods for making us feel the way that we think we need to feel, when they're not working, we reach out to other places for that advice. Well, maybe this will work. Well, maybe this will work, all right? When my wife, was expecting our first child, every single older, dear, sweet saint of a lady in the church had advice for for her. In fact, she was two weeks late with our first, and one of the women in the church said, tonight's a full moon, and I suggest you sit her in a lawn chair in the yard under that full moon, and that full moon will draw that baby out. It was a cold, cold March night. And I followed that advice. And I said, Gay, come on. Let's get in the lawn chair out in the yard. She was not happy with me. And after she sat there for an hour and was freezing cold, she looked at me and she said, This baby's drawing up. I'm freezing. She said, let's go back in the house. All right. That sweet lady in church gave us advice, but it wasn't necessarily good advice. People told her to drink casserole. They told her to do all kinds of things to get that baby to come. But everybody has advice, don't they? Be careful of where you get your advice. Be careful of how you give advice. So, Asher is the one, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, listen to bad advice, or stand in the way of sinners. Stand in the way of sinners. What does this mean? Standing in the way of sinners, he's talking about posturing yourself as a sinner. Well, how does a sinner posture himself? How does a sinner stand? I mean, arrogantly, overly timid. How does a sinner stand? Well, what he's saying is, you listen to bad advice long enough, you're going to act on that bad advice. And when you act on that bad advice, there's really not much difference in your behavior and someone's behavior who doesn't know God at all. There's really not much behavior in the words that come out of your mouth, the ideas that come out of your mouth, the philosophy that you're living by, and someone who does not know God. and you start to find comfort and belonging among people who are ungodly, not people who know the Lord. Because of that bad advice, and you're walking in that bad advice, you are molding yourself to those folks that are living by a similar philosophy that you're following now. So, Asher is the person who does not listen to bad advice, nor find themselves posturing themselves, positioning themselves with those who are without God. And it happens so easily. Walking in the counsel of the ungodly, listening to bad advice. And then the journey, the spiritual journey comes to a screeching halt. Walking in the counsel of the ungodly, moving forward, progressing, and then standing. and the path of sinners. There are way too many people in churches across America today whose spiritual life, spiritual growth, spiritual development, their becoming more Christ-like journey came to a screeching halt years ago. and they go back to a time in their mind and in their heart, they remember when they professed faith in Christ, they remember a time where they were walking with the Lord, they remember a time that things of God really fueled them and excited them, and they were seeking the Lord, but somewhere along the way that journey just came to a screeching halt, and they find themselves lacking something. And they can't put their finger on it. What they're lacking is a share. How did they get there? By listening to bad advice and acting on that bad advice. And then, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, or the scoffers, your Bible might say. What does that mean? Here's what it means. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Now church, listen. This seat, the seat of the scornful, is the absolute most dangerous place for any believer to be. What does it look like? Looks like this sometimes. I'll tell you what, those people down there at the church, they just think that they're better than everybody else. Yeah, you know, yeah, I know I belong, but they're nothing like me. They're so self-righteous. Or it may look like this. If we sing that song one more time, I think I'm just going to pull my hair out. Can you believe what she wore to church today? Oh my goodness, that was awful. Or, oh, I wish that pastor would get done with this series, it is driving me nuts. Or if they keep doing that down there at the church, I guarantee you they're not gonna get my tithe. I'll just stop giving, see how they like that. It comes out in all kinds of different ways. Or those people down there at the church are driving me crazy. I just need a break. And they're pointing their finger at godly people that they once fellowshiped with, that they once were walking with because they were walking with the Lord. But now they're sitting in the seat of the scornful and they're pointing their finger at godliness and being critical. It irritates them, it grates on them. And there's something wrong with everybody else except for them. And they have bitterness, they have anger, they have resentment. And let me tell you the scary part. There is really, humanly speaking, no escape from the seat. It is a stronghold of the enemy, and that seat holds that person in its grip. And as that person continues to stay in the seat, the spiritual legs atrophy. And they just can't get the strength to get up. And there's only one way out. There's only one way out. Verse two goes on to say, his delight is in the law of the Lord. Ouch. Most people in this room, I would guess, don't get excited about laws. Oh, look, they lowered the speed limit again. Hooray, you know? I mean, most people don't like to be told what to do or how to do it. But certainly the person in the seat of the scornful, they don't like anybody's laws, especially God's. And they are far, far, far from delighting in the law of the Lord. How in the world do you get there? From here, you don't. You don't. So is it hopeless? except for one way out. And the person sitting in the seat of the scornful must come to a place in their life where they say, okay, I've got nowhere to go. But you see, the knowledge of even knowing that they're sitting in the seat of the scornful, comes from the Holy Spirit and way too often this person's heart is so hard they no longer hear the Holy Spirit's still small voice. They don't hear it. But if you think that you might be in the seat of the scornful, if you think that there's any possibility that you're in the seat of the scornful, Listen carefully to what you have to do. You have to take those spiritual atrophied legs and let them just crumble so that you slide out of that seat to the floor. And from this posture, you say, Oh God, please forgive me. God, I have no spiritual strength. God, I have no hope. God, I've lost my way. God, I don't even know where to begin. And Lord, here's everything I am, everything I have, everything I ever hoped to become. I lay my entire life, all my accomplishments, all that I value, all that I have ever hoped to be, I lay it at your feet. Here's all of it. And as we take everything and we lay it at His feet, God begins to separate the good stuff from the bad stuff. Because Eric Ramsey's too dumb to know what's good for me and what's bad for me. But God does. And I give it all to Him. I give Him the good stuff. I give Him the bad stuff. I give Him everything. And He begins to separate the good stuff from the bad stuff. And the Scripture says He takes the bad stuff, our sin, and He separates it as far as the East is from the West. And then as we can behave responsibly, He gives us back those good things a little bit at a time. And He reaches down and He takes us by the hand. He puts us back on our feet. But unless we heed this second verse, we'll fall right back into the seat. It says, but His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. The law of the Lord, in short, it's the scriptures. In short, it's the scriptures. Do you delight in God's law? Do you delight in the word of God? What does it mean to delight? It means that you can't not spend time in God's Word. And when you spend time in God's Word, you don't spend time in God's Word out of duty or because you're supposed to. You spend time in the Word because you can't imagine not doing it. You need it. You have to have it. You see, there's some people who eat food for its nutritional value. That's it. Eating food is something that they do to sustain their body. There are others who absolutely delight in food. And man, they smell that dessert baking. and their whole emotional outlook changes, all right? They smell that bread baking, they smell it, and wow, the whole attitude changes. They're at church, they smell food downstairs, and they wish that preacher would hurry up, because we're going to go eat, all right? Why? Because we delight in food. And some delight in it, some don't. What's the difference? Some eat because they have to. Some eat because they just find contentment and joy and satisfaction in food. And then when they go through some sort of a medical treatment or something that robs them of their taste and smell, it just zaps their joy. It's hard, because they delight in food. Well, I used to really guilt myself, especially as a teenager. See, I'm a pastor's kid. And we pastor's kids, we're difficult. because we see the ugly underbelly of church and ministry. We develop cynicism as a protection mechanism. We don't like seeing our parents being treated poorly by people who are supposed to be Christian. We don't like living in a glass house. and being expected to live a certain way because of who our parents are. And so sometimes we act out and do things just to prove that just because my dad's a pastor doesn't mean that I'm not my own person. And I'm going to be my own person. And I was that pastor's kid. And by the way, I'm still that pastor's kid. And my kids are pastor's kids, all right? My grandchildren are pastor's kids. Bummer, all right? Pray for my family, all right? So as a pastor's kid, I used to guilt myself big time. Because I would hear these saints in the church share testimonies of, oh my goodness, I just, you know, as I was reading God's word, he just spoke to me so powerfully and he showed me this in the scripture. And I'm thinking, oh man, I don't get it. I don't get it. I know I'm a child of God. I know I'm born again. But when I read the Bible, it bores me out of my mind. And then when I got to a place that didn't bore me, I still didn't find joy in it. I just, I didn't. It was hard to stay disciplined to really read it. And I'd go to church camp or something and I would commit myself, recommit myself to the Lord. And I'm gonna spend time in God's word. I'm gonna do it every day, every day. And I'm gonna be close to God. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do this. And then it would just, Somewhere along the way, just quit, until something really bad happened, like a girl broke up with me, and I'm searching for answers in the scriptures, saying, God, are you going to explain this to me? Surely there's a scripture in here that's going to help me. And I treat the Bible like it's a fortune-telling book, you know? Not his word. Anybody else ever live that way? Or is it just me? But here. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. Wow, how do you get there? I'm gonna share with you this one last very practical thing that helps me a great deal. Three Ds, discipline, desire, and delight. When we study the scriptures, we see psalmists, like David, who had to go through the three Ds, discipline, desire, delight. We saw Peter who had to go through the three D's, discipline, desire, and delight. What's that look like? Well, I had a roommate in college who was a all-american long-distance runner and his name is Glenn. And I didn't meet Glenn until the very first day that we were moving into the dorms. One of those situations I took potluck on a roommate. My roommate had graduated, I showed up for school and knew there was going to be a guy there and didn't know who it was going to be. I get to the room. He's already been there for a day, and he's put his things in his closet, and he's, you know, busy putting things on the wall. And as I walked into the room, he's hanging a certificate on the wall. And the certificate said, 162nd place. Well. This cynical pastor's kid just couldn't help himself. And I said, wow, dude, 162nd place. You rock, buddy. So do you have like a foam hand with 162 fingers on it you put into the air? 162. And he just started getting irritated. I didn't even know his name at this point. And I'm just, I'm being mean. This pastor's kid and me. And so I watch his neck getting red, which satisfies me to no end at that point. And he puts his finger in the middle of that certificate and he says, in the Boston Marathon. I'm like, oh, so that's good? And then he told me how many tens of thousands of people ran the Boston Marathon. I'm like, oh, wow. That's pretty good. And I said, so, what's your name? My name's Glenn. Oh, yeah, it's on their certificate. So have you always liked to run? He said, no. No, I used to hate it. I said, really? So how'd you get good at it? He said, well, when I was in seventh grade, my dad died. And this coach at school would come by every morning before school, and he would pick me up. spend time with me. And we spent time at the track. And we would just run around the track at school and talk. And he said, I really like spending time with Coach. He helped me through some really tough times. I went, wow. Now I'm feeling bad, you know? I said, Glenn, that's really cool. So running with him, you started to love running. He said, no. I still hated running. But I liked the time with the coach. Huh. So when did you start loving to run? Like when you started winning stuff? He said, well, yeah, I found out I was good at it and started winning. And he said, all the way through junior high school and high school, I was getting gold medals every week. And he said, it was really cool. I said, so you loved running? No, no. I liked the attention. I liked the accolades. I liked the difference it made in my physique. But it was OK. But I didn't really love running. I said, when did you start loving to run? He said, I really don't know. He said, I was about 18. And I started getting myself up in the morning. My mom wasn't getting me up. And the first thing I needed to do is go and run. Wow. And that's the day that I started thinking about what Glenn had just told me, and I'd been wrestling with. How do I find delight in this book? And Glenn gave it to me that day, he just didn't know it. Discipline, desire, and delight. Listen, if you don't delight in God's word but need to, Find somebody that you can run the race with. Find somebody who will read God's word with you. You don't have to sit there and read it together, but find someone that's close enough to you that will be kind to you and hard on you at the same time. and you commit to one another that you're going to read the scriptures daily. And then check on each other once a week and ask, what's the Lord saying to you in his word? Read through a book of the Bible at the same time. Hey, today as we read John chapter four, wasn't that amazing? What'd you think about what Jesus said? You know, talk about that. Talk about, what's the Lord saying to you? Talk about it. Discipline with somebody. Or maybe you need to be that coach to somebody to say, hey, I'm gonna do this with you, and we're going to do this together. Maybe you're the coach, maybe you're the saint, maybe you're the one who already delights, but you need to help someone else find delight in it too. Don't you know that that also changed that coach's life? Absolutely. I find a lot of joy in coaching hundreds of pastors. I find a lot of joy in that. It does a lot for me. God wired me to do that, but it does a lot for me spiritually. Because as I'm coaching these other pastors, they don't know I'm benefiting from it as well, because it's keeping me in a groove with the Lord. Discipline. As you're disciplined, you start to notice a change that happens in your spiritual physique. When you look at yourself in the mirror, things are just different. Your outlook on life is different. You're excelling in other areas that aren't necessarily your spiritual life, but it's because you are experiencing the effects of God's Word purifying your soul. Discipline, desire. Okay? And then delight just sort of happens one day. And you wake up in the morning and you can't wait to open God's word to see what he has for you today. Asher, everybody's looking for it. Everybody's looking for it. Contentment, satisfaction, being full from the inside out. Having all that you need, even when bad stuff happens, you're fine. You're good. You're satisfied. Don't listen to bad advice. Don't walk in bad advice. Certainly stay out of the seat of the scornful. But keep your discipline in the Word of God. Desire the Word of God so that you can delight in the Word of God. Let's pray. As you bow your head, would you just take a moment to ask the Lord, Lord, what did you say to me today? Ask him, Lord, what did you show me today? Can you identify something very specific the Lord said to you today? If you can, just take a moment. in personal prayer to articulate that to the Lord. Say, Lord, here's what I heard you say to me today. So now the question of decision, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do with what the Lord graciously showed you today? What action will you take? What change will you make? Heavenly Father, we thank you for meeting us here today and speaking to us today through your word. Lord, I pray that we would not insult you, sir, by merely being a hearer of the word and not a doer. Lord, I pray that we would never waste your breath. Lord, that we would never waste the moments that you spend with us intimately. Waste the opportunities to hear. that still small voice of the Holy Spirit. For Lord, we know that when we resist the Holy Spirit, we quench the Spirit's work in our lives. It leads to a hardness of heart. Lord, soften our hearts so that we not only hear from you, but Lord, are compelled to obey you, follow you. Father, I'm reminded of the old hymn. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. And Lord, help us to trust you and obey you today. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.