Psalm 1: Rooted or Ruined – Walking the Two Paths of Life

[Music] [Laughter] well hello there my name is Patrick Daly I am the pastor of Ontario community church and this is episode one of the pastor Patrick Podcast and I'd like to welcome you to our base basically our pilot episode of this podcast I'm really excited about doing this I've uh done a couple of Temps at podcasts before and now that I'm kind of settled in here with uh the family and things going on in Ministry I wanted to kind of launch this podcast as just a way of going through the word of God but also kind of having a m a more raw and authentic way of communicating with you uh no matter who you are or where you are or um where you out on life's journey I just hope that you um and pray that you come to know the Lord and that you grow in him and you're moved to do good in his name and so today uh this is just going to be the uh first episode we're going to go over Psalm 1 uh but I want to give you a little bit of information about who I am um so again my name is Patrick Daly um Ontario community church is located in Ontario Oregon and I've been uh ministering there Faithfully I'm going over the word of God uh since June of 2023 I am approaching my second year in pastoral Ministry it is the first time that I've ever really uh led a church before but I've had over a decade of experience of uh serving in Ministry in in really different capacities um I had about a decade of a ministerial calling and um I guess you could call it a career um in worship Ministry I uh dabbled a little bit in in youth ministry um but my mindset has always been just going where God um calls where he leads and guides me and uh just really seeing what happens and a series of events as we go on in this podcast you'll kind of learn about how the Lord has worked in my life to not only be in pastoral Ministry but to um do this podcast to do ministry uh serve the Lord serve my family right um and also be an ambassador for Christ in the community that's something that's very important to me and so I really hope that um you'll enjoy this uh video recording I've got my coffee here and just going over The Book of Psalms is something that's really good um you know uh before we begin on this one of the things that really excites me about Psalms is um I remember learning uh many years ago about um Proverbs Psalms and Parables or something that is available for everyone um and that Psalms is more for that poetic language uh that can really speak to people you know when we're talking about um seasons of life or things that people are going to um going through U much like how Proverbs is and Parables and those are um three the three PS that I'm really um excited about um preaching and teaching as well and so um I go over the book of Psalms I actually have a Ministry that I do on Mondays going over through psalms and so this is more of those raw conversations rather than the uh academic study version and so um once again I'm just really excited to start so um we'll just go ahead and get started and uh I'll go ahead and open in prayer and then we'll get started in Psalm 1 so um dear Lord and heavenly father I thank you for just this time and this opportunity um to come before you open the word and uh just utilize technology to be able to do this um podcast I Lord I don't know exactly who's going to be listening or when or who's going to be watching or when but I just pray um that whoever it is that they may know that they are loved by you and that you call them for a greater purpose you call for a relationship with your son Jesus Christ and to grow from milk of the word to solid food to be transformed by the renewal of the mind and you also call each and every one of us to do good in your holy name um being that Ambassador for Christ serving the local church but also serving you in excellence in everything that we do so I just ask father that you bless this time um together as we are going through uh this Psalm 1 and Lord willing we just just pray that um you bless everyone and you give insight and wisdom as we go through it is in the name of Jesus that we pray amen and so going over Psalm one what I'm going to do I'm going to be reading from the uh I have my Bible right here my uh I'm going to be reading just from the standard a new international version and we'll just go ahead and get started so um this is Psalm 1 um many of you if you haven't known it um you are feel free feel free to use whatever translation you'd like but I'm just uh for the time being I'm going to be using the uh New International Version so it says here blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that Sinners take or sit in the company of mockers but whose Delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night that person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose Leaf does not wither whatever they do prospers not so the wicked they are like chaff that the wind blows away therefore the wicked will not stand in the Judgment nor sinners in the Assembly of the righteous for the Lord Watches Over The Way of the righteous but the Way of the Wicked leads to destruction and so when we start off here when you start off that first one right blessed is the man who does not walk in step with the wicked stand in the way of Sinners or sit in the company of mockers in what you have here is three different scenarios right when you're walking with Sinners right you're thinking of um you've probably heard that saying before that misery loves company or you probably think you are the sum total or the average of people that you hang around with and this is speaking to who are you walking alongside with in the in in your own life it's a consideration that we can think of right when we're talking about who is influencing your your life or who are you influencing right who is walking alongside you or coming alongside you in your life that that you know or um maybe you're not aware of that and that's something to be mindful of right so um not walking in step with the wicked meaning you're coming alongside them in them and um certainly we can think of situations where we've probably hung around people that are good influence or maybe a bad influence in our life I know I think of back when I was in high school there were some people that I knew that you didn't want to hang around with them but there were other people that you did want to hang around and sometimes you you get confused with uh with which one to hang around with but it's definitely um important for us to think about who are you walking alongside who is an influence in your life and then it goes on saying and standing uh stand it in the way that Sinners take right and you know when you see someone doing evil when you see someone who's doing the wrong thing right whe whatever that may be a sin or something um we can think when you're standing there and you're not doing something about it that can be viewed upon as um the sin of omission right as some people would say or it's basically you are in agreeance with these people um for not intervening and trying to stop people from doing the wrong thing I I think of um the uh nurburg trials right where there's the famous saying well I was just doing what was what I was told to do or I was doing what was ordered of me and and it's just kind of focusing on well I'm not thinking I'm just complying and I'm just um being ordered around and that's it I'm not standing up or I'm not standing against this wickedness and we can think about that so um not walking in step with the wicked right standing in the way that Sinners take or and that final one is to sit in the company of mockers right and that sitting right is um are you sitting with these mockers are you sitting with these we can even think of Sinners right are you sitting with them um and it's not to say that sitting with Sinners is a bad thing but it's in the context of this it's are you identifying yourself as a mocker or identifying yourself uh living the kind of life that doesn't honor or glorify God um we can also think of um in times in our life where we are sitting with people who aren't necessarily um good for our lives and that can be a very uh it can be a very challenging thing for us especially when we're reading this is the first thing that we're talking about that the one who does not um doesn't come alongside with Sinners and partake in the Sin seed that's the big thing because you might read this and you might think well didn't Jesus dine with Sinners he absolutely did but he was remaining who he is being his authentic self right being the way the truth and the life and influencing the Sinners rather than I'm just going to be in the company of those that are doing the wrong thing kind of thing and the idea here is that when you're hanging around people that are a negative influence especially if you're not firm in your faith they can have a negative influence on you that's kind of one of the big things that we can take away in that um and so it's kind of this um progression of sin and you'll see in Psalms there's a lot of things that um just like in Proverbs and just like in Parables we can learn about the consequence of what happens when you are a fool or when you're unwise or when you're violent right or when you're um not choosing the Lord like in in Parables or whatnot so there's all of these things that we can think of right now um so kind of going into that verse two then it's saying whose Delight is in the law of the Lord right and um someone who meditates on the word uh day and night and we can think um back then that would be the Jewish people who would be focusing and and and um kind of having the sense of dedication to the word of God and the inspiration that comes from it and when we think of Christians we can think of how um the word of God being living and active and speaks to us and transforms us because one of the beautiful things about being a Christian is the fact that the word of God can be a guidance for our life and it can really help us in our everyday walk right and so this idea of delighting in the law so it's it's this um kind of this intention this hunger for the word of God right the hunger for reading the law in in in the context of the Jewish people um and it's not necessarily uh being uh Bound by it and what I mean by that is uh they're not reading or meditating upon the word as a Duty or an obligation and um you know kind of as a the former youth pastor and me right there's you can think of younger people they they don't want to read the word of God or you can think of even Christians now they they may not want to read the word of God they think it's a Duty or an obligation but one of the big things when we think of the word of God is just um how we're to have that sense of a childlike mind and we're to um really focus on u delighting in the Lord having that sense of awe and wonder of who God is and so it's really um we can think of the joy of the Lord the peace that surpasses all understanding or the inexhaustible inexpressible joy that comes from him right and so we have to think ask yourself that question do you Delight in the word of God that's a big thing uh we then go into verse three right where it says that person is like a tree planted by streams of water planted by streams of water which yields it its fruit and whose Leaf does not wither whatever they do prospers and that's something that's beautiful language right when we're talking about a plant that's being deeply rooted um I know as I I'll mention a great deal of Parables and Proverbs because those are number one near near and dear to my heart but I'm also preaching on The Parables of Christ at Ontario community church and one of the things that really stands out to me um as I'm preaching and teaching this the The Parables and it ties in with Psalms as well is the language of the seed and um being well rooted and the soil right um considering the condition of your heart and so when we're thinking about a tree that's planted by streams of water uh not only do you have to think about the seed that gets planted into good soil and grows and takes root and is cultivated um but you also have to think that you constantly have to nourish that plant whether that's crops or uh whether you've had your own little plants um my wife has had done gardening before and she always has to maintain those plants and um she's always get so excited about um when any of those plants are producing any sort of fruit and in the same way that's how God kind of sees us when we are producing good fruit for that matter and so a tree being planted by streams of water well the first thing we can think about is a tree having these very big Roots being rooted into the ground and when we think of these streams of water it's taking that nourishment right that water that it's required and and the idea is that if you're a if you're a tree the closer you are to water I mean re within reason um the better off you're going to be as a tree so that you can taking those nutrients and of course you could say the same thing about sunlight you can say the same thing about um what kind of environment you are in but in this case when we're thinking about this context here is the streams of water and then this idea of yielding fruit in season now that's an that's an important thing because when we're thinking about plants that are growing there's a growing process and a lot of times you may start to produce fruit but maybe it's not the best fruit and it may take time for mat um we can actually think about um um one one example that I think of recently is the Fig Tree um now figs they can produce um their fruit very um easily very quickly um but one thing that I found very interesting is that there are there's some people out there that say by the third year that's when it'll be the really good figs not to say that you won't ever have a good fig from a young tree but you got to give it time for it to mature and to produce um not only one fig but lots of figs over the over the course of the year and ones that are really good and so you kind of got to give the uh the Fig Tree some um some time with that so when we're talking about the season yielding fruit in season at the appropriate time right and so that's something that's really important so we can think of the tree representing the roots right stability we can also think of that nourishment as I was mentioning from the from the streams from the river um but also when we think of fruitfulness when we think of the natural order of things we can think of how trees um when they bear fruit people or animals they benefit from that good fruit they want to eat it and they want to be nourished by it and just as we see in the natural order of things and in the natural world so too can we think of the things that are spiritual and if God wants us to produce fruit well we can think of how not only is God pleased by that right God being the um the one who plants the seed right the sewer um and he's pleased when he sees his uh trees are producing fruit but also how it benefits other people and and this representation of us being like trees is just kind of a wild thought that we can think about that oh wow you know um people can benefit from the fruit that we produce you don't want to give you know a really nasty fruit to some somebody like if you had a an apricot tree or you had an apple tree you don't want to give them nasty fruit you want to give them good fruit and say hey look at my apple tree look at my orange uh these oranges or these apricots or the The Grapes on the vine and so in the same way when we think of our own lives and our own spiritual life we want to be able to have that that fruit that people can benefit from other people can benefit from so that's kind of interesting is that the righteous right they are rooted they have that nourishment they produce good fruit um and that's because they're planted they're firmly um planted and they're not um you hear a lot of examples of people who say uh you want to be like an oak tree and not like a mushroom right you flip over a mushroom and and that's it you want to be firmly uh rooted in that and so that leads us into Verses 4 to six right where um verse four says not so the wicked right so when we're talking about these these trees that are producing fruit and they're buying streams of water we can think of how the Lord is the Water of Life right and and and how God supplies all that we need and we think of this imagery for trees well it's not necessarily the case with the wicked it says that they are like chaff right um that the wind blows away therefore the wicked will not stand in the Judgment nor sinners in the Assembly of the righteous and so the wicked are like chaff and it's this idea that instead of being rooted they don't have much root anyways and instead of being um when you think of a grand tree that has these roots you know how difficult it is I mean I've I personally have never um unrooted a tree but I've I've pulled out weeds before I've pulled out plants before and when it's very well rooted it it it takes a lot of effort to be able to um unroot something and in the same way when you're looking at chaff then it's something that uh doesn't have a lot of root it doesn't have a lot of weight to it and it just blows where the wind blows and that's something that's really interesting in that um and when we think of we can even think of the weeds um we can think of um really any plant that doesn't really have big root I'm reminded of the idea of in scripture when we have the parable of the wheat and tears um it's the same idea right when you want to get rid of the um the chaff you want to get rid of the weeds you want to get rid of the things that are um not holy or not good basically and so when we think about this it's actually a very powerful image that we want to be rooted like a tree we want to receive constant nourishment from God and his word and we want to Delight in the word right and we want to produce fruit and the wicked they don't do that and so they don't they get swayed they they go to and fro with culture um and that that's a big thing that we can think of right when we think of that verse 5 the wicked will not stand in the Judgment nor sinners in the Assembly of the righteous and so when we think of judgment which here we are in the first episode talking about judgment how Wild is this idea that when we look at the Old Testament view of things sin was essentially separation from God and so being away from the presence of God and so when we think about this in this context and the cultural and historical understanding then it's that they did not have they do not have a relationship with God or they don't have that Firm Foundation we can even think about the um in scripture when it talks about having the Firm Foundation in Christ the solid rock as opposed to the man who builds his house upon sand it's you can see these parallels in scripture which helps us with our understanding um not only of Christ and and the Salvation that he gives to us but also the word and in all of this we observe the text right we look at what is going on in here and we then think to ourself what does that mean for us right what what do we um what are the lessons then that we could have here and um one thing I want you um listener or viewer or whenever you're watching this is this idea that there is I I use what is known as is the oia method it's it's really nothing new we observe the text we look at the lessons that we can learn and then how we can apply it to our lives scripture is the source then that we are to uh turn to the pages of the word and figure out what is going on here then we think of the interpretation what are the lessons for us on an individual level and then how do we live this out and so when we think about this we can see very easily that in this first Psalm there is a distinction between someone who is like a tree right someone who is righteous and someone who is like chaff and who is unrighteous and we can see based off of the pages of scripture that someone who is rooted is someone who is um has that Foundation right they they Delight in the word of God they are well rooted in the things of God and the word of God they receive constant nourishment and they're producing fruit that's a pretty um simple lesson that we can learn and we can think of the unrighteous or those that are not that have shallow roots and we can think for a second these are people that um they don't have those roots right they're not maybe they're not receiving the nourishment that someone who is well rooted and certainly they're either not producing fruit at all or they're producing bad fruit and so we have to think about um it's kind of the question that comes up with many um many times in scripture is what kind of a person are you are you someone who is rooted or are you someone who is rootless right you don't have any of those root are you like a tree or you like chaff so to speak and so one of the things that we can know um also in these lessons is um I always think of how scripture says you shall know them by their fruit and and the implication of that is you know a person based off of what kind of fruit they produce if they are a Christian or if they're not and so if one thing a challenge for us is to consider um kind of really think about what position you are in and that that's that's actually going to lead us into the application part of this Psalm 1 and so how do we live this out the first thing is to really consider for a second number one who is influencing your life right um again it's not to say that you can't hang out with Sinners and dine with them but it has to do on the question of if they are influencing you in a negative way or not that's that's the big thing right um are you walking along with Sinners right are you basically partaking in their sin by Omission are you just following orders and following the crowd you can hang out with Sinners but it's when you begin to sin or when you see them sin and you're just like H yeah whatever I'm just going to kind of hang out here that that's what it's talking about here um that's very different than ministering to someone or or speaking truth to someone in love that's another big thing um so are you walking right are are you standing with those Sinners or are you sitting with um really the kind of people that can pull you away or put you into a bad situation are they a bad influence upon your life and so that's one thing and so it's kind of an an idea of self-reflection for you is to think about that question um who is influencing you maybe it's time to take an inventory on your friends and I know sometimes for me I got to take an inventory and and it's perfectly healthy to do that um so maybe sometimes when you take that inventory you can look at who is someone um who is someone that is um rooted and who is someone that isn't um someone that is rootless kind of thing and the second thing then is and this is a fun one right do you Delight if you're a Christian at least and if you're not you can Delight in the word of God and hopefully um may you be on a path to know who Jesus Christ is and certainly by opening the pages of the word know who Jesus Christ is and believe in him and be saved receive the gift of salvation but it's the question of who or or what do you Delight in um do you Delight in the word of God or not and that's really a question of the posture uh examining your own heart right when you're thinking about do you enjoy the word of God do you enjoy the things of God do you enjoy enjy um having a relationship with Christ I'm not talking about necessarily the rigid rules I'm talking about a relationship where um you you want to open the word of God or you want to pray or you want to be with other Christians that's kind of a thing to think about um do you read the word of God out of obligation right so here obviously it's talking about um blessed is the one who um does not walk in steps right but whose Delight is in the Lord so instead of hanging out with and and doing the wrong thing with Sinners they are turning to the law for us it would be turning to the word of God um so that's something we should think about especially if you are a Christian um and one thing that um I've always been really encouraged by is One Pastor that I knew um when he would counsel uh younger men is um if they needed wisdom kind of thing in their life and certainly we need wisdom is to read one proverb a day and that was really cool um because there's 31 Proverbs and you know it that's a really powerful thing um one one powerful thing to um think about right when we look at Proverbs right I mean I'll turn there real quick um M Ecclesiastes a little too far um Ecclesiastes is a really good one too um but when you look at Proverbs you can do a proverb a day and that's really neat you can now what if you have 28 days or you know 30 days well you may have to read an extra one kind of thing um but that's a really big thing um but you can meditate on a Psalm and and when I think of when we talk about this idea of meditation it it's more about filling your mind and your heart with the word of God or the things of God and and and because sometimes people think well the word meditate has a negative connotation well it can but it's certainly what is what are you putting into your mind right um and and that and that's a really powerful thing right when you're meditating on it you're thinking of God and his word and how God um who he is and U maybe how he's worked in your life those kind of things and so the third thing then is the question of if you're bearing fruit or not right are are you rooted in in the are you rooted in Christ are you rooted in God are you receiving nourishment and certainly are you bearing fruit fruit because the the big thing with that is a healthy tree will produce fruit right that that's a huge thing is um not only want to produce you know one orange or one apple you want to produce lots of it right uh when I mentioned the Fig Tree um what I was reading and uh is that I think it's three times a year the Fig Tree will produce you know all these figs and that's something that's really powerful right and so when we think of we can think of the fruit of the spirit we can think of um love patience kindness wisdom uh we can even think of just simple transformation that comes from the Lord because that's one of the beautiful things about being a Christian is is that God transforms you from the inside out meaning um let God work in and through you let put on the new self and become the man or the woman that God wants you to be and it's really a remarkable thing especially when you see someone who you knew was a bad person right or someone that was um just in a bad place and how God can um heal them restore them transform them and and seeing that transformation is just remarkable and so maybe that's one thing to reflect on is what kind of fruit are you producing you shall know them by your fruit and maybe if you don't know maybe you can reflect yourself or even ask someone how's my fruit kind of thing and so when we think of Psalm 1 in closing here is that um it's really this question we are thinking about are what kind of person are you are you rooted in God or are you not rooted in God um are you drifting are you floating away like right and the big thing about um any sermon that I give or any um lesson that I teach or podcast that I give it's this idea of understanding that every day is a new day that God has given to you to enter into a relationship with him or to return to a relationship with him to grow in him or to be moved to do good in his name I'm always reminded of Ephesians 2 um veres 8-9 right for by Grace we are saved through faith so that no one will boast um but it's at verse 10 where we are his workmanship right we are made so that we can do good in the Name of Christ and so that's a really big one um and so it's not too late to be planted it's not too late to be transformed by God um if you identify as someone who's not rooted um maybe it's time for you to come to the Lord and and receive that the seed of the word right as the parable says of the good soil and let it cultivate let it take root and grow and let it transform your life that's a very big thing um and maybe maybe it's a call for you to just grow in the Lord and and to Delight in in the word um some people they just don't like it and I just pray that you certainly have a love for God and his people and also his word and then maybe this is a call for you to act and to go out into the world and be an ambassador for Christ and do good in his name that's another excuse me a very powerful thing um so maybe that's uh something for you to uh think about and this is the Psalm 1 for us to think about and it's a really good start of just all of the Psalms that we can think about short and extremely long as it goes along and so I just want to thank you um in conclusion of this for um tuning in and or watching or listening um I'm going to go ahead and close in prayer and then we'll go from there uh Lord and Heavenly Father we just thank you for the this time for this first um podcast episode um we are just so grateful uh for technology but we're also grateful for your salvation and your word uh we just pray that um whoever is listening or watching um may may they know they're loved by you and you call them for greater purpose in their life and so uh be with us as we go from this place in Jesus name amen and thank you so much once again for uh tuning in to the pastor Patrick podcast and uh we'll do this again uh hopefully next week Lord willing and God bless you as you go bye-bye [Music]