Sermon – “The Righteous Shall Flourish”

92 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night, 3 On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound. 4 For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. 5 O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. 6 A senseless man does not know, Nor does a fool understand this. 7 When the wicked [a]spring up like grass, And when all the workers of iniquity flourish, It is that they may be destroyed forever. 8 But You, Lord, are on high forevermore. 9 For behold, Your enemies, O Lord, For behold, Your enemies shall perish; All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10 But my [b]horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. 11 My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies; My ears hear my desire on the wicked Who rise up against me. 12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be [c]fresh and [d]flourishing, 15 To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

 

The righteous shall flourish that’s my title this morning the righteous shall flourish but let’s begin with the word of prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father we thank you and praise you praise you for your glory praise you for your grace and your mercy we praise you for your presence in our lives by the your word says that you inhabit the praises of your people so may we praise you too or not just when we come together on Sabbath morning but may we praise you every day that your spirit be present with us that you use this for your glory in your honor and father got to just pray that is Karen just said that you would give all of us the boldness to proclaim your work to proclaim your grace in your mercy father father may we just long to be vessels used for Your glory father just prayed to help us Lord bless us now Father bless us now with your glorious presence your manifest presence in Jesus’ name amen. So the righteous shall flourish so begin with who is the rights. Do you sitting here today those that may be listening because Or maybe many watching or listening do you consider yourself part of the righteous are you a righteous person. You don’t have to raise your hands. A righteous person my friends listen is this one the one who has of their own free will fully and sincerely repented of their sins. Believed and accepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God came to were became a man walked this earth suffered and died for our sins bled for our sins covered our sins that that righteous person is one who has made him their personal Lord and Savior So now you can answer are you the righteous nod your head or something yes praise the lord that’s who the rights this is the ones who believe in Jesus Christ accepted that wonderful gift Romans five will get to the big Scripture in a minute Romans five eighteen one thousand nine hundred is therefore as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men resulted in condemnation even so through one man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men resulting and justification of life for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners so also by one man’s obedience many will be made right it’s. We are made righteous through the one man’s obedience and that man is Jesus Christ that’s how we are made righteous as this is the result of this imputed righteousness’ those whom he has made righteous will walk in newness of life we won’t be drawn to the things. Of the world the righteous will abstain from the lust of the flesh and they will walk in obedience to the Word of God and the righteous shall be renewed we shall be renewed the right to self flourish we will be renewed second prettiest for sixteen says Therefore we do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day every morning. We can be read news now will get to the main scripture reading today Psalms chapter ninety two verses one through fifteen and I think I mistakenly did not let them know that I’m going to be reading from The Message Bible so that’s my mistake it will read a little different because I really like the way the message reads so if you want to disagree or that and listen might be best. It is good to give thanks to the Lord. Let that sink in. It is good to give thanks to the Lord every single day let’s give thanks to God. And to sing praises to your name oh most high to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night. I might eventually get through this every single morning declare his kindness and his faithfulness every morning safe if we’re if we wake up and we’re breathing if we’re breathing we wake up right. Lord thank you for another day Father thank You for the breath of life thank you for that son is about to come up over the mountain some of his son’s way up a time to get up when not sorry. But thank him for the the strength to get out of bed thank you for life and then the end of that day Father thank You for giving me the strength thank you for enable me to do the things I was able to do today in his care to said we should be saved thank you for putting that person in my path that I was able to tell them about you. First three. On an issue were praising them on an instrument of ten strings on the lute and on the harp with harmonious sound for you lord have made me glad through your work I will triumph in the works of your hands over Lord how great or your works your thoughts are very deep a senseless man does not know nor does a full understand this the world thinks we are the fullish ones. Then the wicked spring up like grass and when all the workers of iniquity flourish is that they may be destroyed forever but you are on high forever more for behold your enemies Oh Lord for behold your enemies shall perish all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. But my horn you have exulted like a wild ox I have been anointed with fresh oil my eyes also have has seen my desire on my enemies my ears hear my desire on the wicked who raise up against me. The righteous self flourished like a palm tree he shall grow like a cedar in Lebannon those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish. Or shall be so in the courts of God they shall still bear fruit in all age they shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright he is my rock and there is no one righteousness in him I think one of the key words in that whole thing is that the end to declare that the Lord is upright that’s what we are to do care and just started the thing there was more and instinct to declare flourish or flourishing is mentioned three times in those two short versus. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. So what is the meaning of the word flurries as the song misuses here in Psalms ninety two. The Hebrew word for flurries is Paul Rock to break forth as a bud. To bloom to make fly to grow to spread to spring up. So that makes you think of spring time right when things start to bud and bloom and as already heard Karen talking down earlier and that green leaves come out and they look so beautiful and fresh right so this word flurries has greater significance whenever you have the understanding of him tied into the palm tree. The right to self flourish like a palm tree I’m going to be talking a little bit quite a bit about palm trees this morning a palm tree has extremely deep roots they go down and down and down and down until they get to the living springs of water that’s how they became stake become so strong and sturdy the roots cause them to be anchored very securely to the ground now if you go out in it and one that would shoot back tree looks like. Well there was a couple grown retired from the church and I mean there was one out there that big and I could just grab it and I flipped it down because it has very shallow roots the roots just go like this where the palm trees are as roots go down the and that holds it sturdy and it gets as nourishment from the springs of water Likewise the righteous believe or. Who is deeply rooted in the Word of God and in his ways derives its nourishment from his springs of living water. Are you going to the well to be nourished are you going to the well to be refreshed in prayer and in His Word in the church to be revived to be nourished and fed. The palm tree in the righteous person can not be easily up rooted cannot be easily blown over by the heavier the strong storm. As all of as I’ve already said the righteous person will not be swayed by the things of the world by the cares of the world or by the lust of the world. Instead they will flourish in the word as you thirteen eight nine says when Jesus speaking about the parable of the Sower remember the seed that fell in the good ground the seed that didn’t have the rocks to seed didn’t have the thorns and thistles but that they’ll all good ground what that is say that they sell yield a crop some a hundred some sixty some thirty fold because its own good ground good soil. Is that he who has an ear to hear let him hear the righteous will produce a crop for the Kingdom of God the palm tree is also an evergreen tree. Which signifies a constant freshness. It does not go dormant. During the winter season but they are green all year long so if the righteous is like a palm tree why does it seem so many Christians are dormant Where’s our freshness church. It seems like the church as a whole when not to Speaking of us is dormant. We’re to always be fresh and new like the palm tree oh it’s always springtime for us friends always springtime we should always be Budden in bloom and blossoming in fresh and new right year after year month after month day after day we are to be fresh and new how can we be the light of the world when we are dormant we must shine kids can a view kids describe to me what a palm tree looks like one of the LOOK LIKE I’M GOING TO Is there any outback. No palm trees usually grow straight up don’t think straight up and they have branches sticking out all the way up and now. It’s all at the top they just grow straight up in the air there their branches delays are way up high horse not not all palm trees some palm tree can grow to be a hundred feet tall and they’re not going to give you a lot of shit because their spot of shade might be you might not be able to find it but those lower ones can give you some shade right but they grow straight up out of the ground always reaching upward So there’s where we. The right just that are like a palm tree should be always looking upward reaching upward right remember what I said last week it is better up higher. It’s always be reaching up higher be looking up our watching for him. But we like that palm tree that not the hundred foot tall ones but the shorter ones that has those branches going out of the top of those leaves and provide shade a person can find comfort can find relief under the palm tree right. I don’t know what kind of tree it was that God raised up for Jonah but he really enjoyed debts shade for a little while till the worm came with see a person can find comfort and relief under that palm tree but in the same way the world should be able to find comfort from the believer the righteous that are like the palm tree we should be able to encourage we should be able to reflect God’s kindness God’s love and God’s mercy to others so they should find the world to be finding comfort in the church if the church is the righteous. That are to flourish. So now that I’ve described the palm tree what it looks like. There is it’s a spot right there is it to identify I don’t know for sure but I would guess that if I would take the average person and go out into the woods with this go out back here into the woods and say I want you to then applied some of these trees for me. How well would most people do you think you do great identifying the trees anybody here would do great to be able to benefit most of them I might be able to point out a note tree to you maybe a palm tree and up might be able to pick out a locust tree. But I’ll tell you what I’ll bet you anybody you could walk out an affair with a palm tree out there they’d say that’s a palm tree they know everybody should know what a palm tree looks like right but. Who could and then if I palm tree. Well I hope every hangs up that’s right you could all identify a palm tree right so we are called We are like a palm tree right the righteous are like a palm tree planted by the water so what does that say about us we should stand out. Right we are uniquely different this is a palm trees will be uniquely different from the other trees they stand out we are uniquely I can’t talk uniquely different we should stand out the world should know they should see that light they just see by the life that we live that we are different from the rest of the world. Jesus describes the believer as the light of the world and the salt of the earth in Matthew five thirteen he also said a city built on a hill cannot be hidden a righteous person will be noticed by their god a lifestyle by the lifestyle that is not involved in corruption like the world. A righteous person will not conform to the worldly doctrine traditions or sinful pleasures the promise to the righteous the Bible is full of promises of God. Blessings that are meant for his people actually his blessings are meant for all people but sadly not all receive the gift that he has. But when he gives a promise it will come to pass there were some promises mentioned in our scripts are today. Verses twelve and thirteen God promises that throughout life the righteous will flourish and grow the righteous will flourish like the palm tree will grow and like to seed of Lebannon they will flourish in the courts of our God verse fourteen God promises that the righteous will still bear fruit in all a and stay fresh and green Now if a tree is fresh and green it doesn’t matter how old it is. Because it’s still very much alive bearing fruit right but you’ve got a tree up there that’s burning through I don’t care if it’s thirty years old you’re not going to go cut it down because it’s fruitful. Deuteronomy Chapter thirty four verses one through seven. Moses climb from the plain of Moab to mount KNEEBONE the peak of his god facing Jericho God showed him all the land from Gilly ad to Dan all next to lie F. or M M N S of all Judah reaching to the Mediterranean Sea the Negev in the plains which encircled Jericho City of Palms as far south as Zoar then their God said to Him So God said to Moses This is the land I promised to your ancestors to Abraham Isaac and Jacob with the words I will give it to your descendants I have let you see it with your eyes there it is but you are not going to go in and we know that Moses was not allowed to go in because that act were struck the rock and got told him not to. Because he was disobedient but he was such a faithful man first five Moses died there in the land of Moab Moses the servant of God just as God said God buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth pay or no one knows his burial site to this day but what a glorious thing he walked with God God. Showed in the promised land and God buried him Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died but here’s the most wonderful thing his eyesight was sharp he still walk with a spring in his step glory I just went to the odd doctor yesterday. And you see I need these things. The doctor says but there’s been some change in your vision I said well if there was change I wish that the change was for good he says well I’m sorry to tell you that’s not the way it went but Moses’ eye sight was strong Oh ah Laurie Holly what a wonderful thing but he had a spring in his step it a hundred and twenty years old and I found a cute little story on vision one time when Michigan State was playing U.C.L.A. and football the score was tied up fourteen zero and there were only a few seconds left on the clock Duffy Doughtery Michigan State coach sent in place kicker Dave Kayser who booted a feel go that won the game when a kicker returned to the bench Dougherty said Nice going. But you didn’t watch the ball after you kick that dog or yeah Kayser said that’s right coach he says I was watching the referee instead to see what he said no because I forgot my contact lenses I couldn’t see the field goal. That’s a true story. I don’t think the coach would have sent him out there if he knew that. But he knew where to kick it in the. Phrase already some great direction. Vision. God can you know this these physical bodies may. Break down they may fail. But we can still have at spring inside can’t we. We can still have that freshens every day have another story of how God provided for one of his servants and Joshua chapter fourteen versus six to fourteen then the children of Juda came to Joshua and Gilgo and Caleb the son of Geoff Hoon A at the chasm Knight said to him you know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me and Kadesh Barnea I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kaddish Barna to spy out the land and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart now. You’re unfamiliar with that story God told Moses to send out the spies to spy out the land because when they could bought a GA Egypt they could have had a very short journey into that promised land but they sent out the spies ten spies when they came back the only ones who gave a favorable were port was Caleb and Joshua They said we can take the land but the other said we’re like grasshoppers in their sight they will destroy us. All these children and God showed the mighty hand that delivered them out of Egypt they walked through the Red Sea all these things but yet when they got near the knocking on the door if you will the Promised Land they bowed in fear. But Caleb and Josh was said we can do it he told the truth the others told the law never the less my brother and he went up with me made the heart of the people melt but I wholly followed the Lord my God that’s key Caleb says I holy followed the Lord my God So Moses wore on that day St surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever because you have holy followed the Lord my God my God And now behold the Lord has kept me alive and has and he said these forty five years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in a wilderness and now here I am this day eighty five years old as yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me just as my strength was then so now is my strength for war. Wow. He says I’m just as strong at eighty five as I was at forty now therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day for you heard in that day how anak him were there and that the cities were great and fortified it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said and Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jeff Luna as an inheritance Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jeff no to this day because he wholly followed the Lord not wholly with the nature but a W. He completely followed the Lord his God was faithful to him. As I said we may need glasses we may not be as strong as we were when we were forty. But this I do know that God can be will be faithful if we completely follow Him He will give us the strength to do what he has called us to do to speak when he has called us to speak he will give us the US to see where he wants us to go we may need glasses on them. But he will encourage you he will be with you you will be like that tree planted by the river when you draw from him every day when you faithful and wholly and completely follow him. Recently. A study by doctoral student at Ohio State University University bears evidence that. Those that are faithful to God Those that are they say religious but believers they live longer they live longer we may not live to be one hundred twenty like most US People don’t tend to live that long today but the study analyzed over one thousand a bit wary and if found that people of faith live longer than those who are non-religious more Wallace led the lead author of the study noted that religious affiliation had nearly as strong an effect on longevity as gender does which is a matter of years of life added the study noted that people whose a Bichon were as mentioned a religious affiliation lived on average five point six four years longer than those who did not. Five years you want to live five years longer trust in the Lord follow him walk in His ways be planted by that river a man of course some say that they live longer because those that are of faith drink the last alcohol that is do not do drugs they lead a less promiscuous life so they tend to live a healthier lifestyle right course that is going to add to your life but I believe it’s more than that I believe it’s because God is faithful. And we are faithful he is faithful to us. Isaiah thirty eight sixteen says Lord your discipline is good that we say that. Father your discipline is good. For it leads to life and health you restore my health and allow me to live most kids don’t like discipline. But I tell you what a good parent will discipline their children. Because a non disciplined child. Is going to be one on really child so but the we say Lord your discipline is good do we like the discipline of the Lord it is possible my friends to continue to bear fruit to stay fresh even in our old age we can always continue to be like that tree planted by the spring by the by the river. And I know Gary said Oh pastors don’t retire they just go out to pasture. We never should grow old of speaking a word of God proclaiming his good news Galatians five list the qualities of for the spirit which is love peace joy patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control brothers and sisters no matter how we get we can continue to share those. No matter how feeble we may be may come we can still share God’s peace his goodness his faithfulness his gentleness we can share all these things in abundance. Psalms one verses one through see through one through three talk about the person who meditates on God’s word day and night. Bless it is the man who walks not in the counsel Council of the un Godly nor stands in the path of centers nor sits in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Bless it is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper. My friends if you want to lead a long and prosperous and fruitful life the light yourself in the way of the Lord in the light yourself in His Word. The light yourself in prayer meditate upon the Lord listen for His voice walk holy holy A to L.A. A Y A N W A H O L L walk holy unto him I men give your all unto him completely as Karen said are we holding anything back are we willing to give him us give our all to him he gave his all will we give our all. And Levy lead a fruitful prosperous life I pray that we say Yes Lord I will borders anything standing in the way are we willing to say Lord remove it say yes to him to day amen.