I hope you found your place in Psalm chapter one, and we're gonna focus more on verse three today. We've already looked at four parts of the series, I guess you can say. The first part was, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. The second part was, nor standeth in the way of sinners. Third part, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. The fourth part, delighting in the law of the Lord. And so we're gonna look at the fifth part today, and that's in Psalm chapter one here in verse number three. The Bible says, in verse number one, blessed is the man that walketh not, the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Let's pray. Father, help us, Lord, as we look in thy word. I pray God you'll speak to us, Lord, and help us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. I love this passage of scripture. We know that David wrote this Psalm. We know that this is a Psalm of David. This is a Psalm that we have already studied in detail, I guess you can say, in more detail. But as we look in Psalm chapter number one, verse three, you notice the Bible says, and he, speaking of the blessed happy man, shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Like I said, this is speaking of the blessed, happy man. It's amazing how God likens us to trees. In the New Testament, Jesus referred to us to this in John chapter 15, when he spoke of the vine and the branches. Let's notice that very quickly. If you will, go to John chapter 15 and notice this, if you will. John 15, verse number one. The Bible says, I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing. "'If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch "'and is withered, and men gathered them "'and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.'" If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Here is my father glorified that she bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. Jesus Christ compares us, like I said, to trees. He compares us and unless we are connected to the vine and unless we're connected to him, we cannot bear fruit. Just like a tree cannot bear fruit of itself except it be connected to the vine, except it have some roots about it, except that it get the water and the nutrients that it needs, except it get the sunlight and then the water, except it get all that. If it doesn't get that, they will not be able to bear Fruit. Bible says in Galatians chapter five, verse number 22 and 23, it tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. If we are described as trees, we must bear fruit on our tree. So many are showing their fruit today by the way that they live their life. They say a tree that is planted by the river or a lake or a stream is often one of the strongest trees. The reason for that is this, the tree gets the water that it needs and also the sunlight that it needs. Psalm 84 verse 11 states this, for the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Notice the first part of that verse. It says, for the Lord God is a son. If the Lord God is a son, I believe he can give what we need to get to grow and to be productive in our tree. It's amazing how trees need sunlight and they need water. And around a lake or around a stream, like I've mentioned, they will often get the sunlight that it needs and they'll often get the water that it needs because it's right there at the water. It's right there to get the water, get the nutrients. And we know that this tree is gonna bear fruit. Think about this. Trees are strong next to the water and in order for us to be strong, we must be in the word of God so we can be strong and bear fruit. Why is that? In John chapter 15 verse number eight states, herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. If you want to glorify the father, you must bear fruit. And how do you do this? You get the nutrients that you need, sunlight and water. If you notice the next verse, it says, next part of the blessed happy man, the next part of this says, not only does it say that it will be a tree planted by the rivers of water, but it also states that it bringeth forth his fruit in his season. In his season. He'll bring forth fruit in His season. Let me stop here and say this. Your season may come and go, but don't let your tree die. Amen. Don't cut down the tree. Your season may come and go. I've got trees in the house, around the house. I've got woods behind my house and I watch those trees and I watch them bud with leaves. I watch them bud with fruit and I watch them with all those things. but seasons come and go. But you know what? Doesn't have to mean that the tree has to die and the tree has to go away. It just means that you're in a season that you need some help. You need some season that needs to be pruned back. Need some seasons that need to be purged. Need some seasons that need help and need encouragement. And listen, I'm telling you what, just because the tree is not bearing fruit, Just because the tree is not making fruit right then and there doesn't mean that it wasn't bearing fruit at one time. Oh, Brother Justin, you're sounding awfully crazy right now about a tree in the season. Hey, listen, pastors have seasons when they don't feel like getting in the pulpit. Sunday school teachers have seasons when they don't like to get behind that Sunday school podium and teach a Sunday school class. All preachers in evangelism have the seasons to where they get in there and they roar and then they shout and then they preach and they do what they can and then all of a sudden now their season has come to a little bit of a close because maybe they've got a little dry season. Maybe they don't feel like getting on the road. I've been there, I've done that, I've gotten up on Sunday morning, and my thought, listen, I'm just being honest, because I'm a human being, just like everybody else, my thought was, man, I wish I didn't have to drive three or four hours away, but I'm glad to know that God blesses, and I'm glad to know that God will help, and I'm glad to know that even in my season, even in when I'm out of season, when I'm in or out of season, God will still bless my faithfulness. But you know what, I gotta be connected to the word. I gotta be connected to the sun, get that sun, and I gotta get the water that I need. I need to be close to the Savior today. I need to be close to him. I need to get the sunlight that I need, the S-O-N light. I need his light to shine on me, but I also need the word of God to give me water, to give me food, give me nutrition tonight, to know and to go forward. Season comes and goes, but seasons come and go, but does not mean that the tree has to. Like I mentioned, we got trees all around our house. My brother, he's, let's see here. He graduated in 2010. I graduated in 2013, May of 2013. He's right around three years older than I am. That sounds about right, three years older than I am. And I remember he had put a skateboard, believe it or not, put a skateboard in the middle of a tree. And after time and over time, guess what happened? That tree has grown around that skateboard. You say, the tree was dead back then. Yeah, can I give you news? It was in an out season. It was in a season where it wasn't doing nothing. But can I tell you something? The tree didn't stay dead. It was getting the water it needed. It was getting the sunlight that it needed. And guess what? That tree kept growing and growing and growing. and growing and growing and I'm telling you what, in the end, guess what happened? We got a skateboard sitting in that tree today that I can't get out. Nobody can pull it out. You know why? Because the tree has grown around it. There might be some dead spots in your life. There might be some out of season moments in your life. But you know what? That don't mean that you're done. You ask your pastor today, you go up to your pastor this Sunday and you look at him and say, preacher, do you ever have a dry season? You ever have a season that you don't even feel like getting up at the pulpit? You know what he's probably gonna say? About three out of four Sundays. I know pastors that deal with things day in and day out. I spoke to a pastor just the other day about a certain situation. He called me and I'm a part of a little fellowship. I moderate a little fellowship meeting and moderating it right now. And the former moderator, he called this preacher friend of mine and he said, I'm done. Take me off your list. I don't want to be a part of it no more. I'm done. I'm getting out of it. discouraged, discouraged, discouraging. And the pastor called me the other day and he just was upset because of the fact that this preacher called him and told him he was done. And I said, you know what? I said, don't let this be a dry season for you. Hey, we need to bear fruit. We need to keep going. We need to do what we can for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we don't need to let our, we don't need to let little problems destroy our tree. I believe there's been some good people. I believe this, I believe this 100%. If you disagree with me, that's fine, I don't care. But I believe there's been some good people that at one time were right with God. At one time loved the Lord, they were in a good season, they were bearing a lot of fruit, but then all of a sudden somebody brought in bitterness and somebody brought in that and caused them to have a dead season. But it didn't make them just a dead season, it caused them to be a dead tree. How does this tree become dead? It stays around the people that are dead. They don't get the sunlight. Hey, if you wanna kill a tree, go ahead and cut it down, number one. But number two, if you wanna kill a tree, put it to where they can't get sunlight. Put a blanket over it to where it can't get sunlight and it can't get water. I promise you, your tree will die. I believe that's where so many Christians are at today. We're in a dry spell in America. We're not seeing fruit like Walt do. We're not seeing the fruit that we need to see because we're in a dry spell. We're truly in a dry spell. Seasons come and go. That is why this is the time to allow God to prune you and to purge you so you can bear forth more fruit for his honor and glory. Just because you are not in a season of bearing fruit doesn't mean you don't need the sunshine or the water. You need both. Amen. Just because you don't feel like eating, guess what? You need to eat. Amen. I'll never forget, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I hate the dentist. Anybody else out of the way? I mean, I just, I can't stand going to the dentist. And I can't stand going to a doctor, period, anyhow. But anyhow, off that subject, but I went and had my wisdom teeth pulled. And I'll never forget that. That day, I had the galls up in my mouth, and I was half numb. I was numb all the way, and then I was half out of it, because of the anesthesia. Y'all understand that. And I looked at Mama. I want Papa John's pizza. Mama said, you want what? I want Papa John's pizza. You want a Papa John's pizza? You just had four wisdom teeth taken out of your head. You are numb. You ain't going to eat a Papa John's meal. We get home. Mama got it because, you know, she's, you know, something my girlfriend always says. She says, some days I love you, some days I tolerate you. Tolerate your jokes, tolerate all that stuff. My mama at that point, I think she would have said the same thing. I love you, but I'm tolerating you right now. So in tolerance, you know what she did? She bought me a Papa John's pizza. I got one out and I said, oh yes, I can't wait. I bit into that thing and I said, oh! I mean, I couldn't eat a thing. Then I'll never forget two or three days after that, I'm still hurting. I had the ice packs or whatever that you had around your face. I looked like a chipmunk. Mama said, you need to eat something. Oh, I feel like it. Mama said, you need to eat something. I'm telling you, you need to eat something. Justin, you are starving yourself right now. You need to eat something. mashed potatoes or whatever it was. I mean, I was not eating the hard food. I think it was a week and a half before I really ate anything. Once that week and a half was done, and I'm almost done, once that week and a half was done, I finally ate something. But you know what? I didn't want to eat. I believe that's the problem that we've gotten in America. We've gotten in a dry spell. We've gotten to where we're not bearing fruit and we just don't care no more. The church of the living God doesn't care. The person that gets away from the nutrients he or she needs to stay alive spiritually will end up dying for lack of knowledge or lack of nutrients. If you don't believe this, don't try to eat for another week. Same thing goes for a Christian that is not getting the nutrients they need spiritually. They find themselves starving spiritually and end up dying for lack of knowledge. I'll say this in closing. It says his leaf also shall not wither. No matter what season you're in, you're still gonna have leaves. You may not have fruit, but you'll have a leaf. The Bible says whatsoever you do shall prosper. How can this be said of the blessed man? How can whatsoever you do prosper? The answer is quite simple. Verse one tells us. If he doesn't do those certain things, he'll live a prosperous life. He'll live a prosperous life. When you start with God, the blessings will come after. Are there gonna be days where you don't feel like listening to Godly counsel? Absolutely. Are there gonna be days that you don't feel like that you're gonna stand in the way of sinners? Yes, but the good news is you don't have to stay there. God's mercy is there. Are there gonna be days that you are gonna sit in the seat of scornful? Oh, yes. There are days that we all do. But you know what? If we don't do these things and we stay away from those things, God can help us be a blessed, happy person. Let's pray. Father, we sure do love you. Thank you for everything you do. Thank you for your kind mercy and your love to us. I pray God you help us, Lord, to apply these things to our life. In Jesus' name, amen.