Psalm 1 - Blessed is the man!

Pastor Steve gave the first sermon of the year. It was on Psalm 1, & in the sermon, Pastor effectively issued a challenge. The challenge was for us to live godly lives.

He started by talking about New Year's resolutions (how some people are into making them etc), blessings & being blessed, & then asked us - will we have a happy year?

He referred to Psalm 1:1, & pointed out that blessing begins with God, for it is God who blesses people. God blessed those who avoid wickedness. The wicked are the ones who reject God, live their own way of life & reject God's way. Avoid being drawn in the ways of the wicked & we can look forward to a blessed new year.

God wants us to be blessed. It's not just those who avoids the ways of the wicked who will be blessed. Psalm 1:2 tells us that those person who delights in the command of the Lord will also be blessed. Pastor also referred to Psalm 119:97, 103 (blessed is the one who loves Scripture).

The outcome of following the first 2 verses is seen in Psalm 1:3. If we delight in the word of God, & get saturated in the Bible, we will have a happy & blessed new year. We will then prosper. The alternative is Psalm 1:4 - follow the ways of the wicked; the wicked will be like chaff that gets driven away. If we are not getting fed by God, the less we are shaped by the Bible. Then, we will have no fruit & no prosperity.

Psalm 1:5-6 shows 2 categories of people: those with God & are blessed, & those without God & are cursed.

The secret to happy (& blessed life) is to read the Bible, thinking about it, live & meditate on it. We are to read the Bible: # extensively # intensively # daily # memorise it # & teach it

Pastor also referred to Colossians 3:16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.


Reflections:

Nice sermon to kick-start the year, & seems to be a strong reminder to evaluate where we stand. Live godly lives by following the Lord, delight in His commands, avoid the ways of the wicked & we can enjoy His blessings. On the other hand, follow the path of the wicked, & it will hinder your relationship with God & you will be cursed.

According to the sermon, the wicked reject God's way & live their own way. Now let's look at me. I don't consider myself as one who rejects God. But I do tend to live my live my own way. So, I certainly have some characteristics of the wicked. It's definitely a big struggle - to obey God & live His way instead of living selfishly for myself.

OK, so a good way of living less my way & more God's way is to saturate myself in the Bible & follow it. And here we go again: read the Bible - my old application point. And from the sermon, it's not just reading for the sake of reading. And look at those 5 things about reading the Bible, I practically don't do any of those. Read extensively? Nope. Intensively? Nope. Daily? Most certainly not.

Well, I guess the first concrete step is to find the Bible reading plan that Pastor gave me sometime last year, so that I can get the reading habit started & get immersed in God's Word. I've checked my Bible, but can't find the plan. I will keep looking for it. If I can't find it, I might come up with my own reading plan. How's that sound, eh??