In Psalm 1, the message centers on two paths and a life rooted in god’s word. Explore Psalm 1 and discover the contrast between two paths, the power of delighting in God’s Word, and the life that grows from rooted faith. Rather than treating the passage as abstract theology, the sermon traces what these truths reveal about God, the gospel, and the way followers of Jesus are called to live.
The message presses toward an active response to the gospel. Faith is presented as something that reshapes priorities, decisions, character, and obedience, not simply something we affirm intellectually. Listeners are challenged to examine whether their lives are increasingly aligned with what they say they believe and to respond to God's grace with courage, humility, and faithful action.
Along the way, the message engages themes including Psalm 1, two paths and a life rooted in god’s word, power of delighting in word, grows rooted faith. These ideas help place the primary passage within the larger story of Scripture and show how its theology speaks to real spiritual formation. At its heart, the sermon helps answer questions such as: What does Psalm 1 teach about two paths and a life rooted in god’s word? It also considers how should two paths and a life rooted in god’s word shape the way Christians live?
For someone studying this passage, exploring the Christian faith, or looking for practical biblical teaching, this sermon offers a clear path from the text to everyday discipleship. The invitation is to hear what Scripture says, receive it with humility, and take the next faithful step in following Jesus.
What does Psalm 1 teach about two paths and a life rooted in god’s word? | How should two paths and a life rooted in god’s word shape the way Christians live? | How can believers apply Psalm 1 in everyday life?
Psalm 1, two paths and a life rooted in God’s word, power of delighting in word, grows rooted faith, two paths, a life rooted in God’s word
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If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Psalms. It is in the middle of your Bible if you didn't know. Just the chances of you falling on Psalms are actually pretty high um because there's 150 Psalms. It's the biggest book uh in the Bible. And we're going to be focusing on four different Psalms uh for the next four weeks. This week is going to be Psalm number one. And uh there's actually only six verses in this. Psalm 119 is uh one of the biggest psalms. There's 176 verses in the in that psalm. Um and the fact that there's 150 means if you would read if you read five psalms a day, you could read all 150 in a month, which is really cool. And that would actually make for a really awesome month to read all the psalms. Um this past week in our small groups, we were actually touching on Psalm 22. And uh it's it's an awesome psalm. Jesus actually quoted it and uh it's Jesus or it's it's David actually saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Right? Jesus said this from the cross. And what I love so much about Psalms is they're quoted so often in the New Testament. And and really the purpose of it is to shift our outlook on worship, on prayer, praise, even lamenting and suffering with God. It's it's incredible um that this really gives us permission to talk to God in this way. I think sometimes we read Psalms and we're like, can you say that like to God? Are you allowed? Are we allowed to talk like this to him? Um, and some of you know this and in my testimony and and things that I've I've battled through. Um, reading and writing psalms saved my life. Amen. Letting ourselves lament, bringing our pain, our anger to God, it's it's so powerful. And uh, again, when you read through Psalms, it almost seems like David's constantly mad at God. But have you ever been mad like at God and just want to yell at him? Liars. Some of y'all are lying right now. But like this Psalms gives us permission to have an intimate relationship with God. Psalms gives us permission to talk to him like we would talk to a friend or or spouse or to to fight a little bit with the Lord. And and we talked about it this past week. If we don't release the emotions and the feelings that we may have or the anger that we even have towards God, it ends up shifting our hearts a whole lot more than we realize. If if it if it sits within us and fers and we don't release it to him, we start to separate ourselves from God. And so really, this is a pathway for us to have deeper relationship with the Lord and WE CAN SAY, GOD, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? I don't understand. Like, why have you forsaken me in this season? Why do I feel like like nothing is working in my life right now? Like, you can talk to God this way. I know we have to be holy and reverent and all the things, hands and pockets, you know, Lord, but God calls us to to speak to him in this way. Psalm 13, how long, oh God, will you forget me forever? Have you ever prayed that to God? Like, God, have you forgotten about me? David prayed this way many times. Again, it's giving permission and and an invitation for us to have a real raw relationship with God. We release the pain or we release the emotions to the Lord and that transforms our mind. So many of us have so much in between our ears, there's no room for God to speak life. We we think that being transformed by the renewing of our mind is reading scripture all the time. And if that's the case, then the Pharisees should have had the most renewed minds, right? They were reading scripture all the time. No. If you if you don't release all the the things inside and then invite scripture and then invite the truth, we're not going to be transformed. So, we're going to pick four different psalms. Some of y'all got scared. We said a series in Psalms. You're like, "That's the longest book. How long are we in this?" Four weeks. I'm picking four psalms. First off is Psalm number one. Ready? Blessed is [clears throat] 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 law 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. The wicked 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 wic but the way of the wicked will perish. Let's just pray. God, there's so much here, would you help us to see the pathway and begin to take practical steps to begin prospering in you, to begin making you the center of our lives? Would you speak to us and see the beauty of this psalm, the wisdom, the word? In Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> [clears throat] >> So again, there's lots of different kinds of psalms and and as long as you're we're reading it and understanding where it's coming from, it's actually super beneficial to to realize there's sometimes lamenting psalms, there's worship psalms, there's also wisdom psalms, and this is actually a wisdom psalm. It's a psalm of of blessing and wisdom and gives us very practical steps forward on how to walk in this blessing. It's it's very similar to Jesus's first sermon on the mount where he talks about the biatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Very similar parallels here. And this psalm really distinguishes life in God's blessing versus life in wickedness. And really, there's only two options for how we live. We're either living for God or we're living for ourselves. You're either walking in God's will, his way, his word, and blessing, or you're living out of your way, your will, or the culture's way, which is leading to destruction. And in this dichotomy, there's there's light and there's darkness, there's blessing, there's cursing, and again, there's life and there's death. And really, that's the message of the whole Bible. It's God's way or it's your way. Right? That's the message of of scripture. And and it has this constant invitation to us to choose life that we would choose God's way above our own way. Have you ever um have you ever known someone? And if they're in the room right now, don't look at them. Okay? Have you ever known someone whose life is a wreck? Don't look. Don't look at them. [laughter] There's always something that they're complaining about, right? And it's and and like I know I know so many people like even when they get blessed, they find a way to look at it as a curse, right? Even when God is moving in their life, they find a reason to not be grateful for what God is doing. Anybody know somebody like that? If you don't, it's probably you. Hey, but here's the thing. Like I don't I don't think I know anybody who sets out in life going I can't wait for my life to fall apart. Like nobody starts the journey going I can't wait to screw this all up. Right? Like I've I've counseledled couples and I've I' I've married couples and I've yet to meet anyone who's planned how to destroy their marriage and get divorce. Like I I vow to nag you and gaslight you into insanity. Nobody I mean Hannah and Nate didn't say that at their wedding. Okay. But here's the thing like it happens. We start out with this idea or this this desire to succeed and to grow, but then somewhere along the way things begin to shift. Again, we don't start out desiring destruction and despair, but it's what happens when we don't consistently choose the path of life. We start making small choices that begin to misalign us with God's will and we think that it's not a a big deal, but we compromise here and there. You know, what's what's the harm in being a degree or two off? And and some of you may know this. I was not born. I was not alive when this happened. But in the 1980s during the Cold War, there was a Korean airline uh plane, some of you may remember this, that started off, I believe, from America and was flying to South Korea and uh there was something wrong with the navigation in the plane, something wrong with the computer and they ended up being just a couple of degrees off, right? And you think like that's not a big deal, right? But over the long run from flying from America to South Korea, like one degree off, two degrees off, like you're not going to end up at the destination you wanted to be. And turns out they ended up in Russia and the Russian government, the Soviets at the time, thought that it was a spy plane and they shot it down and over 260 people died. right? Being a degree off, it's not that big of a deal, right? Until we finally get to a destination that we never meant to get to, right? In the short term, being a few degrees off, it's not a problem. But if we're not careful in making the right decisions, we diverge, we compromise, we veer off course, we start listening to new influences, a new friend, or the new changes in the culture. Again, nobody starts their journey trying to go to the wrong place. We get out of rhythm. We stop reading the word. We stop engaging in prayer. We get out of the spiritual disciplines. We get out of church for a couple of weeks and then it's a couple of months and then a year or two. We stop going to small groups. We stop committing. We stop being accountable to others. And we become so isolated. Many of us, our phones influence us more than people. It's just one degree at a time, right? And then bitterness, unforgiveness, and and blaming others begins to rise up within us because how how how can we take responsibility for just being one degree off? We end up neglecting our responsibility and all the decisions that got us there over time. And it again, it's not something that's immediately felt. It's something that happens down the road. It's it's that moment when you stop and realize like it's like you look up, you come up for air for a second and go, "Man, I've changed." Anyone ever been one of those seasons where it's like you're just going, going, going, and then you wake up one day and you go, "How did I get here?" We're far from God. We're far from our values. We're far from our spouse, our family, our church. And again, it didn't happen instantly. So, when we read this psalm, I I want you to see that this is very practical because it shows us how to walk in the blessing of God. Now, some of y'all are getting scared already cuz I'm talking about blessings. All right? But this is very applicable to our daily lives. It's a way for us to behave and be blessed. Blessed in the sight of God, not in the sight of man. Amen. How many of you would say that you want your life to be blessed? Everybody's hands go up. I want blessings on blessings on blessings. Everybody wants to be blessed. But what is being blessed? If we're going to understand how to be blessed, first we need to know what are the things that actually block the blessing of God in our lives. Okay, ready? 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. Wicked is a great play, but it's a very harsh word, right? In the Bible, anyone who doesn't belong to or follow the Lord is considered wicked. An unbeliever, the ungodly person or the wicked, it sounds very harsh, but it says, "Blessed is the person who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Blessed is the person who doesn't stand in the way of sinners. Blessed is the person who doesn't sit in the seat of the scoffer. And this Hebrew word for blessed in this passage is cher. Everybody say cher. >> And this isn't used very often um in the Old Testament. It's about 45 times or so that it's used. And that word cher has nothing to do with material money or stuff. Not influence, not power. This word blessed, this word cher has to do with centeredness. Everybody say centeredness. It's actually interpreted in some translations as the word happy. Very similar in the biatitudes when Jesus says blessed are those. And it's not haha, I'm so happy. It's I'm content in Christ. I'm centered in Christ. No matter what's happening around me, I have a centeredness. I have a joy that comes from my devotion to God. I can have joy even in difficulty and even in suffering. And and just hear me. It's not comfort because we have zero conflict in our life. It's contentment in the Lord. Even in chaos, we think of blessing and many times we think of people with with influence, money, success. You got a sweet car, you got the dream house. God is blessing your life, right? But remember the rich young ruler in Luke 17? That was his problem. He had money, he had possessions, he had all the things. And he and he comes to Jesus and realizes that he has this deep void inside his heart because he has no intimacy with God. And again, that's why he came to Jesus. He said, "What must I do to have eternal life? And again, everyone would say, "Look how blessed this guy is." Like, what more could he want? But there was a hole in his heart. There was a desire for something more. He was far from God. He didn't have a life and centeredness in his walk with God. God. And Jesus confronted him. He says, "Your blessing has been comfort in your stuff and you need to find life in me." What if comfort is killing your intimacy with God? >> Right. Right. We belong to God. He belongs to me and I'm satisfied in that. Who wants that kind of blessing? Do we want the the comfort and the stuff or do we want centeredness in the Lord? That's the question that we have to ask ourselves, especially in an area like Franklin, Tennessee, right? Where we we have all of the things on the outside of of the blessings of of God. We could say we have the money, the car, all the all the stuff and we could say, "Man, God has blessed your life." But how many of us have seen the blessing of stuff turn into a curse? where it's caused more pain than pleasure. David's blessing that he's describing has a lot to do with who he's walking with, not stuff. It says, "Blessed is the person who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly or the wicked. Doesn't stand in the way of the sinner, who doesn't sit in the seat of the scoffers." What David is doing here, he's building this progression of influence in our lives. If you want to have centeredness and contentment with your relationship with God, first you need to check the people that you're doing life with. Scoffers, ridiculers, gossips, entitled and offended people not walking with God. And here's the thing, it's not just like physical interactions. It's social media. I know we're going to talk about social media today, right? It's the news networks full of scoffing, gossip, criticism that robs us of the peace in our hearts. It's like I watch the news and I I get riled up. Anybody else the same? Doesn't matter what network it is. I get angry. I start to feel hopeless. I start blaming people or we scroll on our phones right while we're sitting on the toilet. I know you do it. Right? That's the only time I get peace and quiet in my house. But then I let that peace and quiet like go away because I'm scrolling on my phone. Right. We're losing our peace while we are losing our lunch. All right. Cool. All right. I said it. Yeah. I did it. I said it. But again, we wonder why we're dissatisfied with our devotion to God, right? because we're devoted to multiple influences in our lives, right? I was talking to Britney about this um this last week about how many like TV shows and movies and music have influenced how we view relationships, right? I I I there's so many shows that like I can't even watch now because it's these like wild characters that are just aimless in life and it's really hilarious to watch. like it's entertaining, but then when it starts to influence how I'm making decisions, it it it ends up being not a good influence. Like how how quickly do cuss words come to mind because it's what we've been listening to, right? Like might have to bleed this out here. Taylor Swift has influenced a generation of women to think that they'll always be 22. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22. No, but think about it. Like, like I I was talking to somebody about this the other day. Like, how many how many men and women have stayed single? Not that being single is bad, but how many have have stayed single because they've been influenced by what television and movies and music have told them? And it's like we're looking constantly for reasons to not be in unity with people. We listen to songs with inappropriate innuendos and think it's not going to affect us. We watch TV shows that again they glorify these unhealthy patterns. It's very entertaining, but it's sinful counsel in the long run because the more that you hear it, the more that you see it, the more that it's celebrated, it begins to guide you and move you in a direction that you never thought you would. We need to get godless people and godless influences out of our lives. But wait, what about reaching the lost, right? Like we can't all just be hermits and shutins and and just me and Jesus for the rest of our lives because he's called us to reach those that are far from God. Amen. >> This is a call on all of our lives. And and and let me just let me just hit you here. Don't confuse being a witness with being watered down. Don't confuse being a light in the darkness. And the darkness is influencing you. If your relationships are compromising your centerness in Christ, it's the wrong kind of relationship. We see in this passage, we see that your blessing isn't blocked by your lack of faith. Perhaps your blessing is being blocked by your terrible friends and the terrible influences that you've allowed into your life. If you're not walking in the blessing of God, don't blame God. Blame your friends list. Blame your contact list. Start evaluating that. Don't get mad at God that you're not living in his peace. Paul said it in 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals." Listen, I want I want people in my life that are influencing and moving me to go where God wants me to go. Anybody else? Like, I don't need people that degrade my marriage. I don't need people that cause division or talk smack, gossip, and and constantly criticizing the call of God that is on my life or pulling me into this place of of comparison and dissatisfaction. And I I'm telling you, I have people in my life that I'm trying to reach for Jesus, but nobody in my life is influencing me away from God. David doesn't say you get blessed by fixing your prayer life or reading your Bible more. He calls us to assess the influences of our life. What is influencing you? And just and just hear me because I don't want to get mixed up in the vocabulary and the and the language here. Understand my heart. Contentment in Christ is not comfort. Hear me because many times we're comfortable. We're unchallenged. We're refusing to to move. We're comfortable with our stuff. We're comfortable with our decisions. We're comfortable with the influences because maybe it's what we know. It's what we've created. I've made my bed and I'm going to lay in it, right? We're comfortable with our patterns. We're comfortable with the people in our lives. But the pursuit of comfort kills our contentment in Christ. Because how many of us have ever felt like you weren't close to God or there's something that's separating you from him? And it's often because we don't want to give up the comforts. We don't want to make the change. We don't want to get one degree back where we need to be. We've taken the compromise and said it's okay cuz it's too hard to change now. We refuse to cut off bad relationships, to turn off the news, to stop scrolling and unfriending the negative people. And yes, it is hard. It is uncomfortable to do that. It's uncomfortable to make these changes and these shifts in our lives. But the blessing of God is worth it. what he's called us to, that contentment in him, that even in the middle of of a difficult transition or a difficult season or things coming in in and out of our control, that chaos, there's a peace that God has for each and every one of us in those moments that when my world is falling apart, I'm still centered in the Lord. That's what he's called us to as a church, as a people. Bless you. But let me hit you with this, okay? I was talking to my mom about this this last week and it's just like on the flip side, we've been influenced, many of us have been influenced to believe because of all the mental health memes and videos about people who are disrupting your peace, right? Anybody seen one of those videos? You got to have boundaries. All right? Like this is the generation of boundaries now. And we're putting up boundaries between us and anything and anyone that takes away my peace. But many times we are confusing peace with our comfort. I'm uncomfortable so I need to put up a boundary. I love that. Thank you. I'm uncomfortable with this so I need to put up a boundary between me and this person. And many of us we're putting up boundaries between us and our own family members. We're putting up boundaries between us and other believers. And and what we're what we're doing is we're actually becoming so isolated that we're far from not just God, but we're far from the community of God. And we we end up undercommitting ourselves because it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to do life with people and do life with the people of God. We're overcommitted to our own comfort, but we're undercommitted to God and his people. And we don't have any time now cuz we've got all these boundaries. We got all this stuff that we're doing. We have no margin even for a relationship with God. Many of us, we have just enough to get here on Sunday, but for the rest of the week, like there's no interaction with the Lord or there's no interaction with the people of God or whatever interactions we have are are so small and controlled in our own space because we put up boundaries and walls around our life to protect ourselves. to the point where not even God can interrupt my life. Not even God can if a burning bush showed up today, you'd be like, "No, sorry. That's outside my boundary." Why? Because I have to guard my heart, right? Scripture tells me, "I have to guard my heart." Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it." So, I'm with you. You have to guard yourself. You have to guard your heart. That's the call of scripture. We're supposed to have some level of boundaries. We're we're putting up boundaries against unrepentant Christians and and close family that have ungodly patterns. Like, I get it. It's hard. It's hard because aren't we all sinners? Haven't we all screwed up? We've all made mistakes. Man, if I put up a wall every single time someone made a mistake or trespassed against me, I'd have no friends. But it's how we engage with that conflict as a community of God that we we continue to grow together and we grow stronger and stronger. We've all fallen short and we're continue to be sanctified. We show grace, but we guard our hearts from temptation. Right? As believers, we're called to love everyone, right? We love everyone with our hearts, but that doesn't mean that we give everyone access to influence our heart. There's a big difference. Like I I want to influence the lost around me. I want to I want to influence and I want to love on these people so that when when the moment comes, the invitation, the Holy Spirit is drawing people to the Lord, I can be available, right? But if I allow them to have access to my life, if I allow these influences all around me to have access to my life, I begin to drift further and further away. And when the moment comes to speak life, I'm far from life. We should be in community with God's people. We should have margin in our lives to grow with others. We need to take responsibility for the influences in our lives and being used by God to impact those around us. Amen. Verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. It's delighting in the way, the will, the words of God. The delight of a blessed and centered person with God should be what delights God. Our passion, our focus, our hope, our delight, what brings us joy is in God. and our focus is on him. And the scripture goes on and they meditate on the Lord day and night. They're thinking about the Lord all the time again because their delight is in God all the time. Hear me today. Every heartbeat of your life matters to God. Just the fact that you're sitting here in this moment, it matters to God. So how you spend every heartbeat, how you spend every moment of your life should matter to you. If it matters to him, it should matter to you. Are we walking with God day and night? I'm walking with God as a father. I'm walking with God as a husband. I'm walking with God in my workplace. I'm walking with God when I'm in trouble or when everything is going well. In Deuteronomy 65-7, it says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words I commanded you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise at every area, every point in our lives, we should be connecting with the Lord. I don't know if that's practical. Have you been in this world? I got a job. I got I got stuff to do. I I've got other responsibilities like I got to I got to pay my rent and I got to pay for this food. But scripture calls us to give all of our heart to God, all of our soul, all of our strength. And and again, it doesn't mean that you're so spiritual that you neglect all of your other responsibilities. Doesn't mean you're so spiritual that you don't have any hobbies. Have you ever met someone like that? He's like, "Oh, what do you do for fun?" I read my Bible. God bless you, sister. Okay? I want to go to a hockey game here and there. Okay? like I want to go hunting. I'm going hunting today. It's going to be great. All right. Pray for me. But it but again, it's an invitation for us to consider the Lord more often. Right? Are we taking responsibility for our faith? Does he have our whole heart and attention? Like practically, write this down. Some of y'all put some scriptures up in your house. Like get a bunch of post-it notes and put them everywhere. or even like little sayings like remember the Lord or be a dwelling place today for the Lord. Maybe you need to fast a meal and pray. Maybe you need to read your Bible instead of binge watching something. Hey, we make these small degrees of change and watch God begin to bless you with his presence, right? Like if this is the only place that you're experiencing his presence, I'm sorry, but you're missing out on an amazing relationship with God. >> Like if you're bored in your in and your relationship with God, I'm sorry, but you're doing it wrong. I'm not sorry, okay? You are doing it wrong. This this is this IS THE MOST EXCITING JOURNEY that any of us get to go on in THIS LIFE WITH US AND THE LORD. HE CONTINUES TO GROW US AND STRETCH US and we become the very person that he saved us to be. Like to be able to walk in that purpose and to be able to walk in that centerness with God. Nothing can come against me that I can't handle because my God is handling it for me. That's what I love about this this walk with the Lord. Like I we sang the song, maybe we've made this complicated. Maybe we we we've made this into something bigger than it needs to be. What would it look like if WE WERE JUST DEVOTED TO God every day, devotion, relationship? Blessed, blessed and content is the person who doesn't walk with ungodly people. Our delight is in the Lord. We think about him all the time. Verse three, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. I love that language. In all that he does, he prospers. Notice like the strength of the description. Like a tree planted and grounded. Jesus said too, I am the living water. That stream is Jesus. That life, it's Jesus. You're planted by nourishment and provision and streams of water. And you are yielding fruit. And what does it say? You're prospering. prospering. You're fruitful in your season and your leaf doesn't wither in everything that you do. I'm centered. I'm grounded. I'm content. And that no matter what happens, I'm planted with God. One of the problems that we have is we want fruit right now, right? We want to see the results. We try something for a few weeks and if it doesn't work quick, we quit and then we compromise to what's comfortable. But many of you know that plants, they take a year, 5 to 10 years sometimes before they bear fruit. It's kind of funny. This past uh this past summer, I've got a bunch of stumps in my yard. We had some storms and a couple trees blew over and all the things, but it's very difficult for me to get the stumps out. Um moved the trees, burned them, all the things. But I called a landscaper company that removes stumps, all the things. And I said, you know, I want to get the stumps out, but I also had this like really young tree that's like right at the end of my driveway. And there's also a telephone line. And a couple years ago, we had the the county or somebody came through and I had a tree that was growing right under the power line and they just chopped the thing in half. Like this was a beautiful, beautiful tree. And they're just like, "Nope, it's going to get in the power lines. is like it's going to be a whole thing. They just they didn't even ask me. They just showed up one day and I'm like, "Hey, who's in our yard?" And Britney's like, "I don't know." Cuts it all down. Like, and now my tree is like half dead, basically. The one on the left. You remember that one? Yeah. But there's this beautiful little tree that's starting to grow. And I I asked the landscapers like, "Hey, is there any way that I can move this because if the county sees this tree growing here, they're going to cut it down." They're like, "Yeah, that's fine. um you need to call us later in like November or December cuz that's really the best time to replant a tree. And I was like, that doesn't make any sense. Like it's it's winter time. It's cold outside. And he's like, no, trees naturally in season, their roots go down deeper in those winter seasons. And so when you plant a tree in that time, its roots are already ready to go deep and grab a hold of the ground. Isn't that cool? See, many of you are in winter seasons. You're in you're in moments where on the outside it doesn't look like God's doing anything. It doesn't look like you're bearing fruit, but there's roots that are growing down deep in that moment. Things are beginning to shift deep down. And I and I and I've seen it and I've heard testimonies of it here in this church. God is doing things in the hearts of his people in this church, in this city. Things are beginning to happen. And things are beginning to shift, but it's unseen right now. Just wait till spring comes. Not like literal spring, but just wait until God begins to shift this season for us. Again, we feel like we're not fruitful, but we need to let ourselves get rooted. We need to stay planted. Let the word of God and the presence of God grow in our life to where we have more encounters, more godly community. Like I I love what's happening in our small groups right now. Like some of some of the best conversations where where guy but I don't know where the girls are at, but the guys are like awesome. I'm sure the girls are doing great. But our our men's group is awesome. And I feel like every time we we start to share things, it's like guys are getting all prophetic all of a sudden. and like there's fruit and there's stories and there's testimonies and I just walk away going like I can take on the world right now and it's because of of these moments where we're growing together and there's strength and that growth in those moments and and you may think like oh I just went one time or I just went a couple times and like it was all right you know like it was okay like that guy probably talked a little too much or you know this was kind of weird like I get it but if we would actually get committed and get rooted in a small group or get rooted and committed and and just a group of believers, things will begin to shift because you can't see that growth take place ins
