1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,080 All right, good morning, guys. We're going to be in Psalm 119, 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:11,640 verses 9 through 16. Psalm 119, verses 9 through 16. 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,600 If you're in the Bible underneath your chair, that's on 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:23,440 page 480. Psalm 119, verses 9 through 16. 5 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,960 How can a young man keep his way pure? 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,280 By guarding it according to Your word. 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,520 With my whole heart I seek You. Let me not wander from Your 8 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,760 commandments. I have stored up Your word in my 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:41,800 heart, that I might not sin against You. 10 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,800 Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. 11 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,560 With my lips I declare all the rules of Your mouth. 12 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,680 In the way of Your testimonies I delight as much as in all 13 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,280 riches. I will meditate on your precepts 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,480 and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. 15 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,760 I will not forget your word. Swear to the Lord. 16 00:01:13,130 --> 00:01:15,570 What's going on Port City family and friends, how we doing? 17 00:01:16,490 --> 00:01:17,930 Good, good. Happy New Year to you. 18 00:01:17,930 --> 00:01:20,690 My name is Tanner. I am the lead pastor here and 19 00:01:20,690 --> 00:01:24,250 just honored to be with you. I just pray that 2026 is the 20 00:01:24,250 --> 00:01:27,290 year that Jesus gets bigger, more precious to you. 21 00:01:27,290 --> 00:01:30,880 I hope it's a great year circumstantially to you, but 22 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,560 even more than that, I pray that Christ would be more precious to 23 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,000 you and, and if he is, you can you can handle anything that 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,920 this year throws at you, good, bad, or in between. 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,400 OK, so I'm going to pray over our time together in God's word 26 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,400 one more time and then we go dive in. 27 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,360 Pray with me, our Father, we give you this year. 28 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,640 Lord, we're not in control. We have no idea what's going to 29 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,080 happen. God, your Word tells us that we 30 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,400 can't add an hour to our life by worrying. 31 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,080 Lord, I know that some really good, beautiful gifts are going 32 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,440 to be received this year. Just goodness from you. 33 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,240 Now, I know there's going to be hardship in this room, in 34 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:06,960 different forms, different expressions. 35 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,639 God, we pray that this year You would be with us by the Spirit, 36 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,280 through Your Word, we would cling to Jesus. 37 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,560 Lord, teach us to live more communally as a body of Christ 38 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,400 and teach us to live on mission. And would more people come to 39 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:21,720 trust the name of Jesus? So Lord, as we turn to your 40 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,600 word, what we know not, please teach us, God, what we have not, 41 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,840 please give us and who we are not, would you please make us 42 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,480 let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart even 43 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,840 now be acceptable in your sight? And everybody who agree with 44 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:38,520 that said Amen. What is the most? 45 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,600 Beautiful thing you have ever seen once you just picture it, 46 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:45,000 maybe it's the sunset or something like that. 47 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,560 For me, I just love being at the beach. 48 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:54,760 I love taking in like a sunset, sunrise at the beach, OK. 49 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,080 I love the sounds, the smells, the waves. 50 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,920 And at some point you kind of let your eyes just get lost in 51 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:04,040 how vast it is and just overwhelmingly big it is. 52 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,160 And the closer you get to the actual waves, the more you just 53 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,440 take it all in. And typically when you're around 54 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,160 beauty, you just kind of. Stop, you know, you're not very 55 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,560 busy when you're around beauty. Hopefully you're still around 56 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,840 beauty. You're just silent and and just 57 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:25,520 taking it in. Today we are in Psalm 119 and 58 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,520 Psalm 119 is the Bible's way of standing before the ocean. 59 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,240 That is God's word, OK? It's the way of just being 60 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,760 mesmerized by the beauty of God's Word. 61 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,280 OK, Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. 62 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:43,400 It is a Hebrew acrostic. OK, so to my kids out there, 63 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,200 there are 26 letters in the alphabet, right When you sing 64 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:47,080 your ABC's. All right. 65 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:52,360 Well, in Hebrew there was 22. And each stanza is a letter from 66 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:57,200 the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in the stanza starts with 67 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,360 that letter. So for us to be like, amazing, 68 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:00,600 are you Lord? Awesome, are you Lord? 69 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,360 Something like that. And then the B1 would do that, 70 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:03,920 and then the C1 would do that all the way down. 71 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,480 So it's doing that in Hebrew, even though your translation 72 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,120 doesn't show that. Does that make sense? 73 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,880 So it's kind of like one, one guy a couple 100 years ago said 74 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,760 this. He said Psalm 119 has as many 75 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,360 expressions as ways of the sea, but it's ultimately highlighting 76 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,480 the unity that is the ocean of God's Word. 77 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,280 So it's many ways of praising the beauty that is the ocean of 78 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:25,320 God's Word. Are you all with me? 79 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,600 So what we're going to do is we're just going to walk through 80 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,480 the verses. We're just going to we're just 81 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,400 going to bask in the beauty of God's Word with the psalmist and 82 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,960 at the end the the application is going to be to store up this 83 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,920 beauty in your heart. My prayer for this church is 84 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,800 that when we're all 80 and sitting in a rocking chair one 85 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,600 day, you just got treasures of God's word in you and you can 86 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,560 maybe you can't read no more. You can't see nothing, but deep 87 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,240 in your soul there's just a. Treasure deep in you and it is 88 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:56,960 God's word. It's like you're at the ocean 89 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:58,960 all the time when God's word is up in you. 90 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,440 So that's my prayer for you and I'm I'm ready to dive in. 91 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:04,960 If you are ready, let me hear you say I'm ready. 92 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,800 OK, first thing we got to do. What do we mean by God's Word? 93 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,480 What does that mean? I want to talk about that for 94 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:16,360 just a minute because it's going to use that phrase in a lot of 95 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,880 different ways in our Psalm. I just want to talk a little bit 96 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,480 about that phrase, OK. From the opening pages of the 97 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:28,080 Bible, God speaks and when God speaks, life is created and 98 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,440 eventually a people are created, not just people generally, but 99 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,160 God's people. And God's people carry God's 100 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:35,760 word. And God's people kind of are 101 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:37,600 God's word. And he speaks through his 102 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,680 servants, servants like Moses, and he delivers them from Egypt 103 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:46,200 and gives them his word. And it's kind of like the the 104 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:50,160 the explanation or the evidence, if you will, that God exists is 105 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,400 through his people who carry his word. 106 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,560 And in these last days he has spoken through his son Jesus, 107 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:01,440 who came and dwelt among us, lived among us, died in rows and 108 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,400 then ascended and sent the Spirit to indwell the church, 109 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,120 who are now the creatures of the word. 110 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:10,640 That's us. OK, so why do I, why do I, why 111 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,880 do I, why do I bring that up? OK, maybe for you 112 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,800 intellectually, one of the hang ups getting into Christianity 113 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:19,920 was about this, this book we call the Bible. 114 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:22,680 Or maybe even now as a Christ follower, you would say I 115 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,200 struggle like I struggle with the logic of it. 116 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,800 OK, you might say you're telling me this is God's word, Like 117 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:30,840 these are God's word. Yes, that's what I'm telling 118 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:33,000 you. But maybe the logic of it a 119 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,880 little bit is is hard for you to understand. 120 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:36,320 There's some circular logic to it. 121 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,400 OK, Circular means. How do you know it's God's word? 122 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,680 Well, God tells us his word where he tells us it's his word 123 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,760 in the book. So it's like the book tells us 124 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,320 that and then we say it because it said it in the book, right? 125 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,480 If, if that is ever been a, a challenge for you, you just want 126 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:52,720 to know how to think around that. 127 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,040 I want to give you 2 quick thoughts on that. 128 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,080 OK. The first one is any worldview 129 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,480 of any kind, whether religious or irreligious, has circular 130 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:02,880 logic to it. It just does. 131 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:05,840 Even the person who says I trust what I see in here and that's 132 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:07,800 it. Why do you trust what you see 133 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:09,960 and you hear? Because I see it and I hear it. 134 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,520 It's like there's you can't escape circular logic a little 135 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,480 bit in your foundational why you are rooted in what you're rooted 136 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:21,920 in. The most secular person who says 137 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:23,240 it's only facts that drives them. 138 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,240 They have a lot of circular logic in them. 139 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,200 Other religion systems have circular logic to it. 140 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,520 The Quran, Why do you trust it? Because you got it from Muhammad 141 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:33,640 and the Angel and it's it's circular as well. 142 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,360 So the question becomes, why trust the Bible? 143 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,200 Why the Bible? If it's all circular? 144 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:45,360 I would say this, I would say when you think about what a set 145 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,320 of logic you're trying to do, everybody's trying to answer all 146 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:49,920 the big questions. Where did we come from? 147 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,160 Where are we going? What is wrong with us? 148 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,040 How will it be made right? Why does morality seem like it 149 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:57,960 matters? Why is it wrong to kill someone? 150 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,360 Why is it? Why are these things we we hold 151 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,560 to be self-evident even though we struggle to live them out, 152 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:05,760 even though they are apparent to us? 153 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,320 What makes sense of all of those questions and what holds 154 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,240 historical weight. What holds like proof is in the 155 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:14,720 pudding kind of way. If you line up all the systems 156 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,360 and compare them to each other, you all what I would tell you is 157 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,760 this is that no thought system holds the water that 158 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,240 Christianity holds. It answers all the questions 159 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,280 more compelling than anything else. 160 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,480 It does a lot of things that a lot of those other systems hold 161 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,360 no water to in comparison. It has stood the test of time in 162 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,000 history. And at the center of it all is a 163 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,880 person, Jesus. And the most hardcore atheist 164 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,320 does not deny his existence. They, they accept that he walked 165 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,600 this earth and we believe in faith and trust what what the 166 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,120 Scriptures teach in history alludes to, which is that his 167 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:56,760 body ain't nowhere to be found. OK. 168 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:58,920 And so when you put this together, the water that it 169 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:04,280 holds is a thought system with this fact that Jesus is risen. 170 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:09,440 It is a pretty historically unparalleled thing to grapple 171 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:10,880 with. And when you line up all the 172 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,920 texts and all the systems of thinking, nothing holds weight 173 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,440 quite like the Bible does. So at the outset of this, this 174 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,960 conversation around Word of God, yes, we believe this is God's 175 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,960 word. We believe that it is. 176 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:30,440 It is inspired supernaturally through very natural processes 177 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,400 of God using human beings under the inspiration of the Holy 178 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,800 Spirit to bring about his revelation. 179 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,120 It's 66 books that make up one book. 180 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,280 And yes, we believe this is the word of God. 181 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,120 So here's what I want you to do. Turn to your neighbor. 182 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:51,920 I want to hear you say neighbor. God wrote a book for real. 183 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,400 You should read it. OK now all y'all look at me say 184 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:02,360 preacher, God wrote a book for real, you should preach it. 185 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,480 Yes I should OK and yes, should anybody who stands up here and I 186 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:10,840 pray even if poor city is not your long term local fellowship, 187 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,960 I pray that where you go centers around this because if it is not 188 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,760 God's word, we're just a club. We're just a weird group of 189 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:21,600 people getting together with weird traditions and stuff, OK? 190 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,960 But we really believe God has spoken and we want to hear what 191 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,560 He has said. So if you're ready to walk 192 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:32,400 through our verses that, yes, is from God here today, let me hear 193 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,320 you say I'm ready. OK, Verse 9, verse nine, check 194 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:39,560 it out. How can a young man keep his way 195 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:43,040 pure? By guarding it according to your 196 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,560 word right at the outset. I want you to notice the half 197 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:49,680 and half nature to to almost every phrase in the whole Psalm. 198 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:54,360 OK, What you'll see here is the contrast between the the humans 199 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,800 way and God's word, his way, your word, his way, your word. 200 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,960 And that's kind of how each verse is going to feel. 201 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:04,760 And I want you to look at the end of today's stanza in verse 202 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:07,400 16. It says, I will delight in your 203 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,400 statutes. I will not forget your word. 204 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:15,760 So the the brackets of this stanza are way in Word, our way, 205 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,640 God's word. And the psalmist is saying, make 206 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,160 my way your word. He's saying my way is your word. 207 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:25,200 There's this constant back and forth between way in Word. 208 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,720 And you'll notice here it's a rhetorical question, one of the 209 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:33,200 few in all all the Psalms, and he's asking about a young man. 210 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,960 OK, this applies to you even if you're not a young man. 211 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,240 It's kind of like if it applies to young men, it applies to 212 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:40,040 everybody. That's kind of the the idea. 213 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,760 Young men tend to be at the the epicenter of their freedom, 214 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,000 their autonomy. The world is telling them do 215 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:49,640 your thing, think about consequences later, buckle down 216 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:54,560 later, all that stuff. But if a young man's way can be 217 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:59,640 pure, can be godly, it's going to be through God's Word. 218 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,240 And if it can be for them, it can be for anybody. 219 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,200 Which brings me to an important point, important point and point 220 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:08,360 and point. You know what I'm saying, that 221 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:10,360 Pastor Ron really highlighted last week? 222 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:11,760 I encourage you to go back and listen. 223 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,920 We've got to hear, as we're hearing this, we're not talking 224 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,920 about sinlessness. We're not talking about you 225 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:20,160 being a perfect person. We're talking about for the 226 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:25,400 person who is a Christ follower, the person who knows Yahweh. 227 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,160 At the time this was written, this applied mainly to Torah and 228 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,000 some Old Testament stuff. Christians have now picked this 229 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,440 up as ours in Christ. Y'all for the Christ follower, 230 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:38,280 y'all. This is for you, not Christian. 231 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:39,320 I need you to hear me for a second. 232 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,000 If you're here and you're you, you don't. 233 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:43,880 You have not submitted to Christ yet in his reign. 234 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,600 I just want you to hear what we're talking about. 235 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:48,600 Is not your path to be made right with God? 236 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,920 What this is is a covenantal way of talking to a God. 237 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,440 You already know. That's what we're getting in a 238 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,000 snapshot of. Is into the heart of somebody at 239 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,640 the beach. You ain't at the beach yet. 240 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:04,120 Are you with me now? You might be thinking, who are 241 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:05,200 you to tell me I'm not at the beach? 242 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:07,200 It's OK. I know it's offensive. 243 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,760 It's called the gospel, OK? The gospel is that the way you 244 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:11,680 get to the beach is through Jesus, not through you. 245 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:15,000 OK, so we're not talking about your path to enter a 246 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,880 relationship with God, we're talking about your enjoyment of 247 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:19,400 your walk with God. Are you with me? 248 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:21,640 So here's how I would say it. Not Christian. 249 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,640 You have an old way that needs to be replaced, OK? 250 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:28,080 Your way is old, it's dead. It's your way. 251 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:29,880 You've lived your way your whole life, OK? 252 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:31,640 That's what's got you where you are. 253 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,000 And to get in with Christ is to agree with Him that you need a 254 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,520 Savior, is to agree with Him that you need a new way that you 255 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,800 can't conjure. You need gift. 256 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,240 You need new nature. That's what you need now, 257 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:48,600 Christians, we have a new way that we did not earn was gifted 258 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,560 to us in Christ and we need to foster this new way. 259 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:54,680 Are you with me? So old way needs to be replaced, 260 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:59,200 new way needs to be fostered. And the way you foster the new 261 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:03,320 way in Christ is you guard your way by His word. 262 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:09,280 Look at verse 10. With my whole heart, I seek you. 263 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,240 Let me not wander from your commandments. 264 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,920 So we see here again, my heart, your commandments. 265 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:19,480 If I'm underlining, which I know some of y'all are, at each 266 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,360 phrase try to pick out your part in God's part. 267 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:27,520 OK, my heart, your commandments. Maybe the question goes through 268 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:31,720 your mind as you read that. If you're seeking him with your 269 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,960 whole heart, why does He need to keep you from wandering That 270 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:37,600 that seems like a logical question, right? 271 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,440 Like if you're seeking him with your whole heart, why does he 272 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,680 need to keep you from wandering? It seems like that would be 273 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,000 self-evident. And to all the Christians in the 274 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,200 room, you're like, this is kind of our whole faith put into a 275 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:49,680 sentence, right? I mean it, it literally is 276 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,480 feeling like you love Jesus. If you if the spirit indwells 277 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,200 you, there is nothing you want more than to make him look good. 278 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:00,640 You love him and you know that if the Lord takes his hand off 279 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,160 your life for five seconds, you're in a ditch, OK, You're 280 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,680 gone. You just want comfort. 281 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,360 You want Netflix ice cream. You want everybody to serve you, 282 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,640 worship you. You want it in big ways and you 283 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,880 want it in little ways. This is it, OK? 284 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,920 The way the Bible thinks about salvation is you are saved from 285 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:21,000 something and to someone, OK? We're saved from our old way and 286 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:25,720 into life with God. So the goal of salvation is to 287 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,280 live with God. And even though the spirit 288 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,600 indwells you, the power of the resurrected Christ believer 289 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,160 lives in you. But it doesn't mean that like 290 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,440 your life is microwaved into just Jesusness everywhere. 291 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,040 You're still irritated if coffee ain't hit and you got a 292 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:44,720 headache, you're you're, you're still you and he indwells you 293 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,320 and you need him to just overtake you, right? 294 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:51,200 That's why each verse kind of feels like a pledge and a plea, 295 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,520 pledge, plea. I pledge I will follow you. 296 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,200 Please help me follow you. I will seek you. 297 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:58,600 Please keep me. So you're going to feel this 298 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,080 constant pledging, pleaing contrast. 299 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:04,840 So do the Christ followers in the room. 300 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,880 Let me just ask you a question. Is your walk with God filled 301 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:13,200 with pledges? And please, is it all pleased 302 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,480 with no pledges? Is it all pledges and no pleas? 303 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,000 Both of those kind of reveal something. 304 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,120 If you're always pledging who you're going to be, but you're 305 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,400 not pleaing for the power to do it, you've missed something. 306 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,040 And if you never plead to be nothing and you ain't pledging 307 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:28,400 to nothing, you've missed something. 308 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,400 The psalmist is on a mission, a godly mission. 309 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,880 Are you on that mission? And do you recognize that you 310 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,840 can't fulfill that mission in your own strength? 311 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,720 Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. 312 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,800 Prone to leave the God I love, Here's my heart. 313 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:49,200 Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. 314 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:51,640 We'll come back to verse 11 at the end. 315 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:57,240 Let's go to 12. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach 316 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:01,480 me your statutes. You're blessed. 317 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:03,200 Teach me. You're blessed. 318 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,920 Teach me. Yo, God is a blessed fountain. 319 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,839 Somebody say fountain. Fountains just keep spewing. 320 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,440 That's what they do. They just keep flowing. 321 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,960 That's all they do. They exist to flow. 322 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:20,440 God is an overflowing, inexhaustible, eternal, 323 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:26,040 unfathomably a deep fountain. He's deeper than the ocean. 324 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,200 All of His attributes are deeper than the ocean. 325 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,360 There is more of God to be explored than you will ever 326 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:35,680 eternally get to the bottom of a believer. 327 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:41,800 Isn't that amazing? God is just so inexhaustible in 328 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,600 the primary way. He blesses you. 329 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:49,280 OK, blessed are you, O Lord. Overflowing are you, O Lord, how 330 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,720 does God bless you? We got to have an answer for 331 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:56,640 that because if you're going into 2026 with the unclear about 332 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:02,000 that, life will squeeze you, OK. The way God blesses you is by 333 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,800 revealing himself to you. That's how he's in covenant 334 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:10,040 relationship with you and he is revealing, teaching. 335 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,720 The Israelites view themselves as the people who had hit the 336 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,520 Lotto. Y'all other nations were doing 337 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,880 crazy stuff. I told our our equip group 338 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,880 earlier they were it was not uncommon for like sacrifice of 339 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,080 kids to hopefully we get a good crop this year. 340 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:28,280 That was the kind of stuff the nations were on. 341 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:33,720 But God's revelation does so many things to a society, even 342 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:35,560 ones that don't think they follow the Lord. 343 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,520 Y'all, our society is standing on all kinds of things that 344 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,640 they're borrowing from God's revelation, a real basic one 345 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:44,960 like human rights. That concept is that there's 346 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,840 something self-evident about the nature of humanity that is 347 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,720 rooted in the fact we're made in God's image. 348 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,560 If you pull that out of a society, what is human rights? 349 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,280 It's I mean, y'all, we, we talk about the Nazi stuff from, from 350 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,040 almost 100 years ago now, like it's absolute crazy and never 351 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,440 happened again. They were the most pragmatic 352 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,960 group of people ever. And pragmatically, once your 353 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,280 life is not valuable to me, let's end it. 354 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:11,640 They ended elderly, they ended the sick. 355 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:14,640 It was not worth the time, energy, investment. 356 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,520 When you pull God's revelation out of a society, it just 357 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:23,160 there's chaos because there's no roots, there's no defining, 358 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,520 there's no agreed upon sense of what it even means to be a 359 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:28,640 human. And that's just general. 360 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:30,520 That's not even like I'm walking with Jesus. 361 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,360 That's just like if you pull out your made in God's image, what 362 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:35,600 is human rights? It's just what we all agree on. 363 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,800 But the, the, the idea here is that God's revelation just 364 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,280 creates life. It's a light in the darkness. 365 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,720 It's it's helping just by its existence. 366 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,240 And you might have noticed in verse 12, this word statutes. 367 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,440 Somebody say statutes. So you might be like, why is it 368 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:55,720 using different words every time? 369 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,400 Once you'd imagine like an umbrella, OK, at the top of that 370 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,960 is word. Word is kind of the universal, 371 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:06,120 like God's word is the, the, the overarching term that you need 372 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:08,160 to have in mind. In Psalm 119, there's about 8 373 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,720 other terms that are used. OK, you're going to see 374 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:14,880 precepts, rules, commandments, statutes, ordinances 375 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,160 occasionally. And the the idea here is that 376 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,680 sometimes it's zooming in on a law, it's meaning like, I am so 377 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:24,800 grateful God, you have revealed X. 378 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,640 Or it's just saying, I'm just so grateful you've revealed at all 379 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:31,400 like we are the chosen people who've received your revelation. 380 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,120 They're just praising him for that. 381 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:38,240 And as New Testament believers, the way we relate to God's word 382 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,720 is unique because Christ has fulfilled the law. 383 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,680 Amen. And we'll, we'll allude to some 384 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,080 of this and, and getting your head wrapped around how do Old 385 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:48,840 Testament laws apply to you and stuff. 386 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,480 We won't dive into a ton, but in general, Christ has fulfilled 387 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,760 the law. We walk in him sermon on the 388 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,920 Mount Christ filled love. Old Testament is still super 389 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:02,320 helpful as we do that. And the way that living out his 390 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:07,520 law in your daily life looks like is more complex than it is. 391 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,920 It's simple and complex. OK here's one. 392 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:15,240 Your Co workers are gossiping. You know, you're not supposed to 393 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:16,880 gossip. It's not like there's a law that 394 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,840 says do not gossip. It's just not loving your 395 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,240 neighbor. Well, you know, the Proverbs 396 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,440 talk about how dumb it is. It's foolish and in general, you 397 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:24,880 shouldn't do it. But what does that mean you do 398 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:26,920 when they start doing it? Do you walk away? 399 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,240 You say, hey, I'd love to talk to you one-on-one. 400 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:31,360 Do you start hanging out with them less? 401 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:33,080 Do you pray for everyone in that spot? 402 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,600 Do you just say, guys, we're stopping right now? 403 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,040 Do you get real? Direct with your personality, 404 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:41,760 with your story, with God. So what's unnegotiable is I'm 405 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,400 going to love my neighbor here. What's like God, I need you to 406 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:46,920 bless me, like teach me your statutes. 407 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:50,960 If you, Christ Jesus, but were here in my body with this job, 408 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,440 what would you do? If you had this friend, what 409 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,280 would you say if you were on that team? 410 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,280 If you were in this neighborhood, how would you 411 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:58,160 live? Y'all? 412 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,640 We need God to teach us down to the minutiae. 413 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,120 How do I walk with you? If you think you've got that 414 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,240 figured out, you know something I don't, OK? 415 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,680 Psalm 119 is praise God for your revelation. 416 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,920 And I need you to illuminate exactitudes of how to do this 417 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,600 because if you don't, I'm just going to hide behind. 418 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,400 I'm just trying to love everybody as best I can. 419 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,280 I'm a nice guy, hope people see the. 420 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,520 Lord of my life and here we go. It's like God reveal, like help 421 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:32,680 help with this person right now I need you verse 13 with my 422 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,040 lips. I declare all the rules of your 423 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:42,520 mouth, my lips your rules. Are you noticing in each verse 424 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,920 who is the possessor of all truth? 425 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,560 God. It's his rules, it's his 426 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,320 statutes, it's his word. It's not yours. 427 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:55,000 You don't possess it. Sometimes I talk to believers 428 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,480 who talk like walking with God is automatic. 429 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:00,560 Once you have the knowledge, it's like, Nah, you know what I 430 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,880 mean? Like you don't possess it apart 431 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,200 from him revealing it, you wouldn't even know what it was. 432 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,120 You need his help. And I'll be honest with you, 433 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:12,640 this one challenges me because when I think about being proud 434 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,600 of God's rules, like that's hard for me because sometimes I get 435 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,880 in the headspace, which I don't think is fully wrong, that I 436 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,160 want people to see Jesus so bad that I'm afraid to like have a 437 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,480 combo around a rule, you know what I mean? 438 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,440 And then be distracted from Christ. 439 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,640 I'm like, let's just avoid that and talk about this, which I 440 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,680 think is a good impulse. But he's like with my lips, I 441 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,400 declare all the rules of your mouth and I'm like, in some kind 442 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,200 of way. There's a distinction we have 443 00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:42,800 when we follow Christ that sometimes you just got to be 444 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,800 proud of and you're not going to get to explain it all. 445 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,360 You're not going to get to do the story and share Christ with 446 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:50,040 them over months and all the stuff. 447 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:53,560 You just got to stand on what it says and just trust them. 448 00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:56,320 I think the people who get this right are little kids. 449 00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:58,440 I don't know if you've been around like a four or five year 450 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,800 old recently. If you step on a family rule 451 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:03,720 that they got and be like, oh, we don't say that where in my 452 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:04,880 house. Like no, no, no, no, I didn't 453 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,400 mean it. You said hey, you said hey, 454 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,160 yeah, but I said I hate a football team. 455 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:09,800 I didn't say I hate you. They're like, no, no, no. 456 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:11,560 Got to tell my dad and they run off. 457 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:13,840 They are declaring the rules of their family. 458 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,920 Are you with me? There's a pride, a family 459 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,920 identity that little kids just they're not over calculating. 460 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,640 Are you with me? Sometimes we just get so over 461 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,400 calculated Christians we just think we got to do everything. 462 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,400 Perfect for somebody to come to. Christ or something. 463 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,320 I'm not saying you become flippant and just walk around 464 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,800 like did you know the word of the Lord said like that's not 465 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:36,840 what I'm saying. But when there are moments you 466 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:41,320 could just be proud that you're different kids, you're going to 467 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,040 be different if you follow Christ. 468 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,520 And that's something that's hard and it's awesome because you've 469 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,680 been bought by the blood of Jesus and it's just something to 470 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,240 be proud of and stand in. And when it brings different 471 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,520 distinctions from your friends, that's OK. 472 00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,960 Verse 14 in the way of your testimonies, I delight as much 473 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:06,200 as in all riches. Your testimonies, my delight. 474 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:09,240 This is one of those where I'm like, for real. 475 00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:14,480 I delight in your testimony as much as in all riches. 476 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,400 That's one of those I'm circling that all riches like put Bill 477 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,840 Gates and Jeff Bezos money together. 478 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:27,280 All riches like all of them. All of them you know I'll take. 479 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,440 Just just to they could sneeze out a million. 480 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,240 I'll take that in the testimonies, you know. 481 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,520 But in all seriousness, this is this is challenging you're I 482 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,400 delight in them as much as all riches. 483 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:43,520 I wonder what our just if we just pulled all of our New 484 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,840 Year's resolutions right now. Do they reveal that you've 485 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,080 already got riches or you need to go get them And listen, 486 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,280 y'all, I want some more money in 2026. 487 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,960 I want there's a lot of things. I hope I'm more disciplined all 488 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:55,840 the stuff. OK. 489 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,840 But if you're starting a new year thinking you don't have a 490 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,600 treasure in Christ, you're just. You're living to get something 491 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,880 that in Christ you already have. Are you with me? 492 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,600 And the way that reframes how we go after things is so different. 493 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,720 We live from victory, not for it. 494 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,720 So I just want to, I just want to invite you that in God we 495 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,680 have a prize that we live for and from. 496 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,360 God is not our consolation prize. 497 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,120 He is the prize. He is the end. 498 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:28,480 He's the means. He is. 499 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,120 He is the one we love and we seek. 500 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,520 And our culture just pushes on you that you're a nobody if you 501 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:40,200 don't have something that sets you apart, primarily riches. 502 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:42,720 It just is what it is. Either you got the riches or a 503 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:44,240 path to get them, or you're a nobody. 504 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:45,480 That's what our culture tells us. 505 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:49,880 It's not true. You have the words of God. 506 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:54,760 Next week's sermon is entirely about meditation, which is the 507 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,000 the theme of verse 15. So I'm going to skip that for 508 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,240 now. Go with me to 16. 509 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:03,320 I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word. 510 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:09,080 My delight, your statutes. I won't forget your word. 511 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:11,640 I thought he said he delighted in it. 512 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,480 So how's he going to forget it like this again? 513 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,720 It just seems like I thought. I thought you did delight in it. 514 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,840 How? How does somebody delighting in 515 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,920 something need to tell themself not to forget it? 516 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,960 Well, again, y'all, this is this is just the pledge plea dynamic 517 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,240 here. This is the the, the the link 518 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,840 we've got to just accept as part of our covenant to walk with 519 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:35,600 God. OK, is that this is what it's 520 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,760 going to feel like. The way that you keep delighting 521 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,800 in God is by not forgetting his word. 522 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,040 Do you see that link? Like I delight, I will delight 523 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,680 and I'm going to do that by not forgetting. 524 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,120 It's like a path, OK? It's kind of like a fire has 525 00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:54,040 started in you by the Spirit of God when you're saved. 526 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,200 OK, imagine a campfire and you want to the way to be warm, the 527 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,320 way to see is to get the light from the fire and the heat of 528 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:01,960 the fire. You need to be close to it if 529 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,520 you want to experience that. Once you're in Christ, the Bible 530 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:06,920 teaches that fire ain't going away. 531 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:12,240 However you can get, I mean, you know, you can get colder, you 532 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,720 can get hotter, you could see more, you could see less. 533 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:18,400 You want to be close to the fire to to live the life of 534 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,920 flourishing God intends for you. And the way that fire is flamed 535 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,280 is through the word of God and the Spirit of God stirring up 536 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,040 Christ in your heart. And that happens as you don't 537 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,200 forget it, as you store it up. So we're going to end our time 538 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,480 in verse 11. Go back to verse 11 with me. 539 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:39,600 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin 540 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:41,960 against you. Y'all say it with me, your word. 541 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:47,320 My heart and again y'all, let's just take it phrase by phrase. 542 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:53,320 I have who is that I I believers say this y'all, if you're not a 543 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,160 believer here you are welcome to store up as we're going to talk 544 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,000 about. Just know that it's not going to 545 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,320 have the effect we're going to talk about for those who are in 546 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:02,840 Christ. Not because you're not. 547 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,280 Because we're on some plane that you're not on or we're better 548 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,640 people. It's because the Spirit of God 549 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,440 indwells us by Christ who has saved us. 550 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:15,280 Y'all, before a new way is learned, a new nature must be 551 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,080 received. So the invitation to you non 552 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:24,080 Christ followers is to receive Christ is to repent is to 553 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,840 believe. It says here I've stored up your 554 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,000 word in my heart. Here's what's crazy that the 555 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,920 Bible teaches y'all is that if you are in Christ, you have a 556 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,280 new heart. Quite literally. 557 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,520 In Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, the new covenant was I will take out 558 00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,720 your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 559 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:47,440 It is as if God has put his heart in you believer, which is 560 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,640 what you're invited to. If you are not in Christ, you 561 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,920 are invited to receive a new heart. 562 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,960 This conversation we're about to have about storing up God's word 563 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,920 in our heart for the the faith family is what you're invited to 564 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:03,680 once you receive a new heart. We're not, we're not, we're not 565 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:05,920 trying to like dress up a dead heart. 566 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,720 We're trying to like, cultivate what Christ has given us in a 567 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,680 new heart. So the invitation to you is to 568 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:14,120 get a new heart. That's what the cross of Jesus 569 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,920 Christ is about. The purchasing power for your 570 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,600 new heart was His death, His burial, His resurrection, and 571 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:26,040 His ascension. He died to give you a new heart. 572 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,280 Isn't that amazing? Maybe your whole life you 573 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,200 thought He died to motivate you to live like you have a new 574 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,040 heart. That's not the gospel. 575 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:35,800 That's not what the Bible teaches. 576 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,960 The Bible teaches that Christ died as a perfect man so that 577 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,800 sinful people could be accounted as sinless. 578 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,320 And He's gifting you the heart He lived with, not you. 579 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,000 Like that's kind of that's the gospel. 580 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,240 He lived a new heart life. You don't. 581 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,400 So Christianity is not your pledges to be better. 582 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,760 It is you walking in the newness Jesus has given you as a gift 583 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,840 through his death, burial, and resurrection. 584 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,880 So we invite you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. 585 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,680 Now, followers, it says that I might not sin against you. 586 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:13,280 We're going to talk about storing it up here in a minute, 587 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,880 but it says that I might not sin against you. 588 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,120 Hopefully you know what I know that you know that I know that 589 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,560 we all know that you are a Sinner, OK? 590 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:27,880 And that apart from the ongoing grace of God, you can't help but 591 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,120 sin. It's just facts. 592 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:36,480 It's just, it's just what we do. But I wonder if in your mind if 593 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,440 if we've just fixed in our mind that part of the goal of your 594 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:45,240 life is to not sin, is to walk with Christ, is to love people, 595 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:51,360 is to not sin. Do you tend to, on the front end 596 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:55,400 of things, ask for God's empowerment to live his way? 597 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,880 Or are you banking on back end grace that you didn't? 598 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:06,000 Do you ask front end empowerment or bank on back end forgiveness? 599 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,440 Are you with me? It's not that you're not going 600 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:10,360 to need back end forgiveness either way. 601 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:11,720 Amen. Somebody is that. 602 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,200 Have you become the type of person that wants front end 603 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:19,040 power, that wants the way, wants the path illuminated, wants the 604 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,680 help, wants God to help? Or are you in your heart 605 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,040 settled? I'm not going to do it, but I 606 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,800 know He'll forgive me and y'all, I've been there. 607 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,720 I get there, but the psalmist says I'm going to store up your 608 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,240 word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 609 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:37,000 It's a plan to beat sin, as one of my favorite artist says. 610 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,200 He says I'm trying to win, trying not to sin. 611 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,440 And that just hit me as a new believer. 612 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,920 I'm like what? And like Paul talks about 613 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,400 pleasing God. You're like, I thought I do 614 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,400 please God because of Jesus. You do, but you can live in a 615 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,520 way that pleases God. And so I just want to, I just 616 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,840 want to ask you, do you game plan against sin? 617 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,560 You have victory in Christ that He wants to empower you to walk 618 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:04,040 in, in your workplace on your team. 619 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,440 Can you say to God, I have stored up your word in my heart 620 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,440 that I might not sin against you, which is way more than just 621 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,280 not doing a bunch of dumb stuff. It's being filled with the type 622 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,760 of heart that the Sermon on the Mount envisions, which is just 623 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,240 love and just giving your life away to others. 624 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,800 Let's close by talking about this phrase stored up your word 625 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:27,800 in my heart. Somebody say your word, my heart 626 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,040 y'all. The path to not sinning in some 627 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:34,160 way involves word being stored up in the heart. 628 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:38,120 Somebody say heart. This verse gives us an image of 629 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,720 the heart having like a vault, like a storehouse. 630 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,160 I'm thinking like Harry Potter Gringotts vault here. 631 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,600 I'm thinking like deep in your heart there's a vault. 632 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,800 You with me? Well, y'all in some kind of way, 633 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,680 your heart has a vault. Your heart is a vault like it it 634 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,560 has one it is one it's it's a little bit of both and what's in 635 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,960 the heart drives behavior. What's in the heart drives you. 636 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:03,240 What's in the heart, what's precious to you kind of makes 637 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:05,760 what you do automatic. I was I was sharing with the 638 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,719 students earlier. If you come to me and you ask me 639 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,120 about an opportunity to drive to Montana right now and just leave 640 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:16,280 my wife and kids, I'm going to be like, no, like I it, it 641 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,000 doesn't even, it's like speak of Chinese to me. 642 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:21,440 I'm like, that doesn't even like register because it's not in the 643 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:22,840 vault. Like the vault right now is 644 00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:26,239 kids, it's family, it's Norfolk, it's church, it's y'all like 645 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,120 what's in the vault makes a lot of your decisions automatic, yes 646 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,199 or no. It just drives your behavior, 647 00:34:32,199 --> 00:34:35,360 your words, your daydreams, They're all flowing from the 648 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:36,920 vault. The way the Bible thinks about 649 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:39,159 it is you are not a brain on a stick. 650 00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:40,840 You're kind of an overflowing heart. 651 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:43,760 To watch your life isn't to watch a rational being. 652 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,920 Living out their life is to watch an overflowing lover, just 653 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,159 showing that through how they lived their life. 654 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:55,440 So what's in your heart really matters. 655 00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,320 So should we if we love something else, just fake it 656 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:02,000 till we make it that we love God's word more. 657 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:07,800 No OK, remember pledge and plea part of how you're asking God to 658 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,400 make your heart. As a follower of Christ, Spirit 659 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,360 and power, part of your path to ask him to help you is to choose 660 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,880 to store up your word with God's heart, with a heart saying, God, 661 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,640 make my heart want your word. Therefore I'm a store up your 662 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:24,400 word. Are you with me? 663 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,960 You don't have to wait until you're fully authentic. 664 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,720 If you are always waiting until you're fully authentic, you're 665 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:35,600 going to stay waiting, OK? Part of the process is to plea 666 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:37,560 as you pledge. That's what I'm trying to get 667 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:39,920 you to see. Pledge while pleaing, plea while 668 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,000 pledging. It's not phasing. 669 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,640 It's kind of they're both happening in the same sentence. 670 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:46,000 Are you with me? Pledge, plea, pledge, plea, 671 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:48,480 pledge, plea. And one of the main pledges and 672 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,800 pleas of Psalm 119 is to store up God's Word in your heart, 673 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,640 Y'all, God wants to be treasured, not systematized. 674 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:00,280 So some of the asterisks here, we just got to get out the ways. 675 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:02,080 We're not talking about checklists. 676 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:06,160 We're not talking about you flexing information or being 677 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,040 proud of what you what you. This is not about you. 678 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,480 It's about Jesus, about the neighbor you need to love. 679 00:36:11,720 --> 00:36:16,560 But the path to love God, it involves A storing up. 680 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,400 So I want to call you to store up God's word in your heart in 681 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,000 2026 and for the rest of your life, just store it up. 682 00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:28,160 Just store it up. Next week we'll talk about 683 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:30,920 meditation. The goal of storing up is 684 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,720 meditation, but you can't swim in what you haven't stored up. 685 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:36,840 Are you with me? You can't soak in what you 686 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:40,000 haven't stored up like that. There is a a further 687 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,760 conversation from storing up. But you if you haven't even 688 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,960 settled that storing up is a part of what God's calling you 689 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,760 to, there's a lot. You're going to not be in the 690 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:50,640 rocking chair. You can't swim in the ocean. 691 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:52,600 That ain't in your heart. You with me, OK. 692 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,000 And y'all, there's all kinds of apps out there, things you can, 693 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,640 you do for the purposes of unity for our church at this place and 694 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,040 this time right here, right now. You don't have to. 695 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,520 Nobody's going to quiz you. If you would like to, I'm 696 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:08,040 inviting you to just memorize verses 9 through 16. 697 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:10,560 Store those up, store them in your heart. 698 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,560 Memory isn't the end goal. It's just the start of the goal, 699 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,640 OK? But you can't do other things. 700 00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:17,760 You can't swim in. You can't meditate on what isn't 701 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:19,640 stored up. So let's start with verses 9 to 702 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:21,880 16. And within your family, if you 703 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,240 got young kids, pick one verse in there that they memorize. 704 00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:27,400 OK, So if y'all want, you don't have to, nobody's going to ask 705 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:28,720 you. There's all kinds of apps, 706 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:32,320 there's all kinds of stuff. But I hope it's a lesson to you. 707 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,840 I, I want this to be a year where we are just storing up 708 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:37,560 God's word through reading, through praying, through 709 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,080 singing, through memorizing in ways that maybe we we never have 710 00:37:41,240 --> 00:37:43,840 before and maybe changes the trajectory of your life. 711 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,120 So I want to close on is reading verse 12 one more time. 712 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,040 Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statues. 713 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,520 God is just. So blessed praise God, from whom 714 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:59,720 all blessings flow. Every good thing you will enjoy 715 00:37:59,720 --> 00:38:06,000 today is a concept from God. Every food, every flavor, every 716 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:11,600 friend, every communication, every feeling, every game like a 717 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,040 person. I love to tell my kids, I'll be 718 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:14,920 like, who created football? They'll go God, I'll be like, 719 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:18,360 well, kind of, but some dude made it somewhere, but they 720 00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,440 didn't even have the concept of creativity. 721 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,160 Like we don't know how to make like the concept of let's get a 722 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,720 committee and make better rules. Should we ban the tush push? 723 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:31,160 All of that flows from a God who is a being that is thinking and 724 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:32,840 rationally. He's a community within himself. 725 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:38,440 Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all blessings flow from God and 726 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,840 y'all in your life, the challenges you face, all of them 727 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,560 go back to who He is and His blessedness. 728 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,280 We're talking about a God who died on the cross for people 729 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:51,480 like me and you. He got up on that wood and then 730 00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,440 He stayed there knowing I would keep struggling with sin the way 731 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,960 I do once I followed Him. We're talking about a God who 732 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,280 stayed as He was mocked. We're talking about a God who 733 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:03,320 just understands being misunderstood. 734 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,160 He overlooks so much. He's infinitely patient. 735 00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,800 He is so kind. So maybe you're in a marriage or 736 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,080 something where you feel misunderstood or stuck and 737 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:15,200 you're just resentful and frustrated. 738 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:20,520 Whatever power you need to live out anything is found in Jesus 739 00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:24,800 by the Spirit. And God wants to live life with 740 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,640 you. He has more blessedness to give 741 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:30,080 than you can even contain. So expand your storehouse this 742 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:32,720 year and you won't keep expanding it because he could 743 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:35,680 keep filling it for a long time. OK, blessed are you. 744 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:41,320 O Lord, teach us your statutes. Let's pray together Almighty God 745 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:43,480 our Father, you are blessed. You're overflowing. 746 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:46,440 You're a fountain God and and and nothing quite compares to 747 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:49,720 your word God your son is the word in the flesh. 748 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:52,440 We praise you that you are a revealing God. 749 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:55,800 You have made yourself known Lord and we we praise you for 750 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,880 that got to pray for my my friends who are not in Christ. 751 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,320 May they receive a new heart. May they repent and believe of 752 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:03,160 their sins. May they receive the heart of 753 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,840 flesh that your new covenant promises and for the believers 754 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,760 in the room. God just help us in the ways 755 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,760 that this is a battle. That we don't want to fight in 756 00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:14,480 our flesh. We want to just, we want to 757 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:16,320 just, we just want to store up other things. 758 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,760 We want to have a storehouse full of of, of comfort and 759 00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,600 daydreams and ease. But God being with you through 760 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:25,880 your word by the spirit. There's nothing quite like it. 761 00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:29,280 And I just pray God that that the the fruit that will come 762 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:32,160 from this process would would glorify you got to pray against 763 00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:35,200 just just lies and all the ways this process can feel 764 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,800 inauthentic and that rubs some allergies that we have and we 765 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:40,680 just don't like that. We want everything to feel 766 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:44,760 seamless, even though we, you know, force ourselves to do 767 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:48,160 things, even that we say we love like basketball or whatever all 768 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,120 the time. God, but with your word with 769 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,440 things of the Lord, sometimes we can just get real. 770 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,400 We can get real legalistic or we could just totally quit. 771 00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:01,600 Lord, just help us to, by your spirit store up your word. 772 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,160 God and I pray that more neighbors will be loved, more 773 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:06,880 people will come to Christ, that when you cut this church your 774 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,840 word would flow out of us. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach 775 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,800 us your statutes. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.