Deeply Rooted

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that'll

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. We serve a really,

really good God. And it's such a blessing to

be here this morning. It's a blessing to be here

this afternoon and worship with you and be back

to a place that feels like home. And as we were

singing this song about praising God and for

who He is and for what He's done. and the Name

that is above all other Names. I just kind of

hope to think this morning as we reflect and

as we meditate on God's Word, if we could be

having our eyes open and our ears ready for those

moments of praise, the moments of challenge,

and the moments that God invites us to be formed

by Him and His Word. And so I'm gonna do a quick

prayer before I invite Lily up to do our reading.

Yeah, Father God, would you give us eyes to see

and ears to hear what you have in store for us

this afternoon, Lord? Lord, would you be renewing

our minds? Would whatever has been going on in

our weeks and our months and our years, Lord,

would you allow that to just be put to the side

for the moment? so that we can examine it through

your word, so that we can examine it through

prayer and petition to you, Lord, and so that

we can see the direction that you are sending

us and the pathway of our life clearly the way

that you see it, Lord Jesus. Lord, we pray that

you would bless this time together. In your powerful

name, Jesus, amen. I'm gonna hand it over to

Lily. Hi everyone. Our reading today comes from

Psalm 1. In fact it is all of Psalm 1. This is

the Christian Standard Bible by the way. The

two ways. How happy is the one who does not walk

in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway

with sinners or sit in the company of mockers.

Instead his delight is in the Lord's instruction.

and he meditates on it day and night. He is like

a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears

its fruit in its season and its leaf does not

wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked

are not like this. Instead, they are like chaff

that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked

will not stand up 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 ruin. This is the

word of the Lord. Thanks Lily. Who has been on

a road trip before? Who has planned a road trip

before? I went on my first road trip earlier

this year to Canberra. I organised it with a

friend of mine. It's a very short 14 -hour drive,

if you take stops. And on the way there, totally

fine, because I really wanted to get there. On

the way back, I had a long weekend, I was tired,

and I prioritised two things. Toilet stops and

food stops. The thing that I did not prioritise

was petri -stops. Now, see, what you might...

No, or not no, is that petrol needs, cars need

petrol as much, if not more so, than people need

food and drink. And what I had worked out is

that there was this town that we stopped in and

that the food was pretty good. And if we stopped

there, we could go for a quick toilet break,

we could go get some food and there'd be a petrol

station in that town. Listen, there was no petrol

station in that town. And when we stopped in

that town on this 43 degree day, the town was

in fact closed. Not just the stores but also

the bathrooms in this town were closed. I had

planned this trip with the wrong things in mind.

I was thinking about our bladders rather than

thinking about the petrol that my car needed.

Now thankfully we made it in time to fill up

our tank but it got me thinking about, when I

was reflecting on this trip, it got me thinking

about the things that we can prioritise in our

life. When we prioritise our comfort over what

we actually really need. Because to be honest,

I probably could have waited the extra 30Ks to

get to the petrol station. I probably could have

waited to have lunch. I probably could have relaxed

a little bit more in my car. But instead, I prioritised

my comfort, my preference, and the way that I

thought was the right way to go. Thankfully,

I've gotten wiser and I'll plan a better trip

next time. In our lives, though, we're often

thinking about our security, our financial security.

our job security, we're thinking about raising

kids or studying, I don't have children in case

that's something that you were wondering about,

but I do live with some and they do need to be

raised. Maybe we're thinking about how we might

resolve a fight with a friend or a partner and

these are all things that are good to be prioritizing

in our lives and they're all things that are

good for us to give our energy to. but they are

all really impacted when that fuel light pops

on, right? There are only so many hours in each

day and so much energy that we have to commit

to each of those things. And so how do we decide

what gets the lion's share of our energy? How

do we choose the things that are important to

us? And the Psalm today highlights the two ways

that we can do this, depending on our own wisdom

and understanding or meditating on the instruction

of the Lord. And what the Psalm offers two ways

and the biblical authors often speak in black

and white, our experiences in our life is often

shaped by the gray. It's often shaped in the

middle rather than these two extremes. But what

the Psalmist highlights here is that the two

extremes give us wisdom for the direction of

our lives and ultimately the path that we choose

and the way that we take ends up in either one

of these two extreme directions at the end. Both

of these directions are influenced by something.

It's something that we draw from. You have this

self -sustaining life, which looks for worldly

wisdom and advice. It centers its life around

its achievements, focusing on how well it performs.

It relies on having a good network and smart

plans and learning through experience. It's the

kind of life that sees God as a backup plan and

as a security on top of the security that we're

already building. It keeps itself busy, always

trying to keep one step ahead of the next crisis

that's incoming and it relies on willpower, on

its own strength and its own understanding. One

of the challenge for us in church is it's often

really easy for us to look at that description

and go, I know people like that and absolve ourselves

of responsibility when we are people like that.

The Psalm is an invitation into meditation and

reflection. I know when I look at that list,

I see myself there. I see myself striving for

the approval of others. I see myself relying

on my talents to get me through in life. And

I see myself coasting towards the future that

I have imagined for myself. But we are invited

to reflect on our life through the Psalm to look

for where we are self -reliant. where we are

scoffing at others and stubborn in our sinfulness.

And in my trip, if I had taken a moment to examine

my route, I would have seen that I needed to

fill up my tank earlier. I would have seen that

running on near empty in the hot weather and

prioritizing my comfort is a bad idea. At the

beginning of the Psalm, it talks about what it

looks like to fall into the submission of sin,

the way the blessed is not. We might begin to

walk the same road as the wicked. Maybe we tell

small lies sometimes. Maybe we look at things

we're not supposed to or say things to people

we're not supposed to. Maybe we offend somebody

in the middle of the congregation who you live

with. These things draw us into a way of life,

not just moments, but a pattern that continues

to repeat. Well, we cannot help but tell more

lies to cover the lies that we've already told.

or where our anger spills over into our family

life. Perhaps we've picked up an unhealthy coping

mechanism or two to deal with the hard things

or avoid the hard things in our lives. And eventually

this direction leads us to sit in the company

of mockers. This way of life has become something

that we stand firm in, not just a little compromise

here, a little compromise there, but where moral

compromise has become a way of life. where moral

compromises become the new moral norm for us.

Muckers are jaded, they're stubborn, and they

are unwilling to recognise or can see that they

might be wrong about the decisions that they've

made. And in reality, this is the direction that

we are all heading in without intention. If we

don't deliberately and intentionally change,

we head towards this kind of life because we

drift towards a life of sin. There are no accidental

saints. That's John Mike Homer. It is always

a deliberate process to be formed into the life

of Jesus. And so it's really easy for us to label

other people in this category of the wicked or

the not blessed life or the self -sustaining

life. But if we are honest with ourselves and

we examine our lives, we can see areas where

we are relying on us. where it's all on us, where

it's dependent upon our effort, our energy, our

resources. But the blessed person finds delight

in the law of the Lord and meditates on His instruction

day and night. The contrast to the way of the

wicked is intention, it's delight. I know I find

this really hard and really challenging to delight

in the law of the Lord, to meditate on the instruction

day and night. How do I delight in reading the

Bible? How do I find delight in thou shalt not?

How do I find delight in sitting in silence by

myself for a long time? How am I supposed to

meditate day and night? I've got other stuff

I've got to do. We don't often put delight and

discipline or teaching together in our minds.

I'm currently studying and the overarching complaint

I have from the people I study with is I just

want to get this done, over and done with. I'm

not enjoying this. I'm not having a good time.

I just want to get my degree so I can go and

do the thing that I am supposed to do. We take

delight in the things that we desire. I take

delight in ice cream and in pizza and clearly

in a lot of other foods. That wasn't a comment

about my weight. I was just describing that I

like food, but Thank you for the sympathy But

the Psalm is describing a life that finds the

light in instruction Finding pleasure in obedience

and a thirst for his instruction and direction

for our life instead of allowing ourselves to

be influenced negatively We hunger and desire

for God's wisdom and influence in our life. I'm

gonna do it of a tangent the word instruction

here is the Hebrew word Torah, and the Torah

is the first five books of the Bible. And when

we read the first five books of the Bible, we

can have a look and go, man, that is a lot of

stuff. There's a lot of rules here, there's a

lot of direction here, there's a lot of people

not doing what God told them to do here, a lot

of punishment here. But what we also see is God's

gracious initiative to His people. We also see

a God who reaches out to his people again and

again, despite their attempts to run away from

him, despite their attempts to disobey him, who

blesses his people when they continually fail

to live up to his expectations. And so when we

think about God's gracious initiative, that he

sends Jesus, his son to us. and the instruction

that He comes along with that allows us to be

close to God, that allows us to be in an intimate

relationship with Jesus, I think I can take delight

in that. I think I can desire a deeper relationship

with God and the things that will bring me into

that deeper relationship. God's Word draws us

in and it refines us and it shows us more about

who God is. We get to delight in His graciousness.

and His love for us that is revealed to us in

how He leads us. And the way that we can delight

in the Lord is by meditating on the Lord's instructions,

by redirecting our attention towards the words

of God. Now, who here has done meditation before?

Who here has done biblical meditation before?

Okay. Meditation in my mind, the way I see it

on all the movies and whatever other media I

might be consuming, is you sit in a room cross

-legged and you empty yourself of all your thoughts

so that you can find inner peace. Biblical meditation

isn't like this. It's not an emptying of ourselves,

but a feeling of God's Word. It's to... put God's

Word into our mind to ponder, to chew through,

to roll around. The image I get when I think

about this is like God's Word being a wine that

you swish around in your mouth to get the full

flavour out, the full blend out so you can get

that really, really great taste from it. We can

meditate by speaking God's word to one another,

by sharing it and contemplating the words and

to have our minds be directed by the instruction

of God. Because how true is it that the direction

of our thoughts have a great impact on the way

that we live our lives? Craig Rochelle, the lead

pastor of Life .Church says this, our lives are

always moving in the direction of our strongest

thoughts. What we think shapes who we are. This

is why it's so important for us to be meditating

on the Lord's instruction instead of something

else. Because when we fill our minds with the

global crisis, with the amount of abuse that

we're seeing coming out of everywhere, the financial

stress that we might feel, our daily anxieties,

we begin to meditate on those things and fill

our minds with those things. And we see that

the fruit of that meditation is anxiety, stress,

fear, division. And we end up sitting in this

seat of mockers, trying to find a solution to

a problem that we don't actually have control

over. But when we fill our minds with God's word,

with His promises and His direction, and when

we ponder on those things, it transforms our

minds. We gain wisdom for dealing with those

challenges that we face today. We reflect upon

our lives, pondering how these words that we

read impact the way that we live. And we receive

peace in the midst of our messes and comfort

when we don't understand what is happening. It's

not that we're avoiding the present moment or

the present challenges that we're facing, but

we're viewing them through the lens of God's

promises, commands, and His love towards us.

When we fill our minds with the things above,

we begin to receive a different kind of fruit

from our thoughts. Paul says this in Philippians

four, chapter four, verses eight to nine. And

now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing,

fix your thoughts on what is true and honourable

and right and pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy

of praise. Keep putting into practice all you

learned and received from me, everything you

heard from me and saw me doing. And the God of

peace will be with you. Are the things that you

are thinking about worthy of your attention?

Is it worthy of your praise? Because when we

take a step out and we look at these things,

the way that the God looks at these things, we

see actually these aren't worthy of our attention.

Actually, I have a lot less control than I think

I do over these things in my life. And really

when I see this through God's eyes, when I see

this through scripture and instruction, I begin

to see that really it's God who's worthy of praise,

not - Not this. It's God who's worthy of my attention,

not this. I'm going to say something a bit controversial.

I don't think that this means we need to read

our Bibles more. I think it means we need to

meditate on the words that we do read. Because

how many times have you talked to somebody and

gone, hey, what are you reading in the Bible

at the moment? And they're like, oh, I'm reading

this and this, but I could always be reading

more. And how much shame and guilt do we carry

around about the way that we engage and meditate

on God's word? It's not delight, that's punishment.

We're punishing ourselves for struggling to delight

in something and meditate on something that's

supposed to change us and transform us and that

we view our life through. And so what if instead

it looked like, I'm gonna read the verses of

the day today and I'm gonna meditate on that.

I'm gonna think about that. throughout my day.

I'm gonna look at it through a different lens.

I'm gonna share that with other people. I'm gonna

chew through the implications of this passage.

Now, you might need to read your Bible more to

do this. Maybe. But you might find that you can

just read that verse of the day and chew on it

all week. For me, I find listening to scripture

-inspired music brings me more delight in the

Lord's instruction. When I hear the words of

God sung over me, I have that stuck in my head

all day. I get to listen to music that I delight

in and hear lyrics that I get to delight in.

And I'm often reflecting back to a chorus or

verse that echoes the words of God. You might

find that writing something down or texting a

friend about something you've been chewing on

helps you to find delight in his instruction.

I know I send messages to friends all the time

about stuff that I find in the Bible that sparks

my curiosity. than something that we need perfect

peace as to this thing. Well, the goal is not

I'm gonna read my Bible 400 times a day. The

goal is I'm gonna chew on the words of God and

allow it to instruct me. I'm gonna allow it to

be the forefront of my mind and the lens through

which I see my life through. And this is why

it says that the blessed person is like a tree

planted beside flowing streams. As a blessed

person meditates on the instruction of the Lord,

they're like a tree drawing from a flowing stream

and this stream is that instruction. The tree

is sustained by the instruction. It doesn't draw

from itself for its sustenance, but it draws

from the water which continually flows. It brings

new life again and again and again. And its roots

grow deep as it continues to draw from the river.

We need to capture this picture of our life with

God. That we would allow ourselves to be nourished

by source outside of ourselves. Because how many

of us are drawing from empty water sources today?

Trying to give out the small amount of energy

we may have to do the things in our lives. How

many of us reach the weekend exhausted? How many

of us give all we have in our workplaces and

give whatever we've got left to our families?

Our culture would tell you, you need to go feel

your well. You need to go do things which fill

up that well and say no to things that empty

your well. But the trouble is we always come

to the well thirsty. We never come in a space

where we're like, I can wait. I can wait for

that well to fill. I can wait until I can draw

from that again. We come because we need to drink.

By the time you're spiritually dry, you don't

need a bucket of water, you need a river. And

so while our culture might say, take a break,

go refill your well, the Bible is telling us

to find a different source. Skip this well business

and go straight to the river. Stop distilling

wisdom to outside sources and allow God to direct

your growth. Allow God to direct your steps,

allow God to sustain you. Maybe you are doing

too much. but let God direct you into His rest.

Maybe you do need to take time to delight in

things, but let God direct you into His delight.

In John 4, 13 to 14, we read this. Anyone who

drinks this water, this is Jesus, will soon become

thirsty again, but those who drink the water

I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes

a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them

eternal life. We need to go to the source, to

the water that swells up into eternal life. This

is how the blessed person is different from the

wicked. Where the wicked person leans on their

own understanding and decides they're gonna work

it out for themselves, the blessed person draws

from God. They seek his wisdom, his thoughts,

his path. They seek to apply his principles in

their life rather than looking for loopholes

around his instructions. This is why the blessed

person produces fruit and the wicked person is

like chaff blown in the wind. Not because of

their own effort, but because they are dependent

wholly upon God's words. Meanwhile, the wicked

person is blown from one answer to the next.

From one source of wisdom to another, living

a fruitless life. But the blessed person produces

fruit in season. I wanna say fruit is not about

the things that you do, it's about the life that

wells up within you. Fruit is there to be life

-giving, it's not there to be life -taking. When

we're drawing from the source of all life in

God, we begin to produce fruit, which brings

life to other people. It's not for us, we're

already sustained by the river. We don't need

more life than the source of all life. But actually

it's fruit born out of a relationship to Jesus,

that is to be enjoyed by other people. And it

brings life wherever it goes. You might be in

a season right now that feels really hard. You

might be in a season right now where you go,

man, I've been trying to produce fruit. You don't

get it. I've been trying my hardest to produce

fruit. Again and again, I come to the end of

my week and I'm tapped. I'm done. I'm trying

to pull from the source. I don't really have

a lot to give. I don't have a lot that I can

really produce here in this moment. But the tree

doesn't determine the season. God determines

the season. And so while we might be in a challenging

season of our lives, God is pouring His Spirit

and He's pouring His life into you. And what

we see in this tree is that the leaf does not

wither. The tree's not dying. It's just not producing

fruit right now. It's getting ready for the fruit

bearing season. So I wanna encourage you today,

if you're feeling dry or burnt out, God's not

done with you. He's not done with you if you

feel like you blew it, if you feel like God's

never gonna be able to forgive you for what you've

done. You can always return to the river. Band,

you guys can come back up. At the end of the

Psalm, we see the life of the blessed person

is contrasted with the life of the wicked person.

The wicked person cannot stand up at the time

of judgment. They've got nothing to stand upon.

And when we reflect back over our lives and we

look at the accounts of our lives and we ask,

where did I stand on Jesus and where did I stand

on my own? Where was I standing on what I could

do on what I'm supposed to give here? on my willpower,

on my strength, on my own sustenance, and where

have I been standing on Jesus? We can't stand

before God in confidence in anything but Jesus.

I wanna close by asking a question maybe you

guys have been asking. Where's God in this Psalm?

We read a lot about the blessed person. We read

a lot about the instruction and we read a lot

about the wicked. Where's God in this psalm?

The word for planted here in the psalm captures

the idea of being replanted rather than planted.

The tree that was far from the water has been

moved closer. God has taken us from wherever

we have been and He has replanted us next to

the flowing river. Our son finishes with this

idea that the pathway of the righteous is watched

over by God. He sees you. He sees your effort.

He sees your struggle as you do your very best

to follow him. He sees your hard days and he

sees your good days. He sees the parts of grief

and the parts of joy. He sees every aspect of

your life. And He doesn't just see them, but

He knows them. He knows the steps ahead of you,

the steps that you're in the space you're in

right now, and He knows what's happened already.

Every heartbreak, every failure, every joy, every

doubt, He knows them intimately. And so for us,

the question tonight is not, am I planted in

the right spot or am I producing the right fruit?

But the question is, am I pushing down towards

the source? Who am I following? What am I allowing

to feed and nourish me? And so to close, I wonder

if we can meditate on this Psalm again. I wonder

if we can read this out loud together and just

let it roll around in your mind as we do. I want

to read it slowly, but I would encourage you

to read it out together with me and ask, what

do you think God is highlighting to you? What

do you think God is taking from this Psalm and

placing in your mind to stew over, to ponder

and to meditate upon? Let's read together and

take a moment to reflect. in the company of mockers.

Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction

and he meditates on it day and night. He's like

a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears

its fruit in its season and its leaf does not

wither. Whatever he does prospers. The wicked

are not like this. Instead they are like chaff

that the wind blows away. Thanks so much for

tuning into this week's message. If you felt

challenged or need prayer, we'd love to hear

from you on Instagram at encounterhenley. Or

if you're interested in how you can support this

ministry please go to our website encounteradelaide

.com .au Thanks again for listening. God bless

you.