[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help, you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. One of the things I love the most about leaving Dallas is, first of all, you're leaving Dallas.
If you've ever flown into DFW and made the trip from DFW into Longview, there is a space right about Canton where everything changes. Come on, somebody. It's because you leave the concrete jungle in the demon world of Dallas, Texas, and then. Then you encounter trees for the first time. You step out of the dusts and you step out of the pollen. You step out of the haze and out of the spiritual cesspool and. And into God's country.
And I love the trees that start right there at the pine curtain, right there past Canton. It helps me know that I'm home. And. And there is a difference in the heat between Dallas and all the concrete and. And the heat in East Texas. And I think a lot of that is due to the. To the trees that we have. And I. I'm thankful. I'm very, very grateful for the trees. And they say that in 1870, a man named oh Methven, not too far from hill, stood on top of a hill, and. And he said, now that's a long view. And it's kind of where our city got the name. I don't think that story is true, by the way, because there's not a lot of long views in Longview because of the trees.
I don't understand that. The very first time I came to Longview, I thought, that's a horrible name for this city.
That makes no sense at all. It's kind of like Mount Enterprise, what makes no sense whatsoever. But I'm thankful for the trees that are here, and I'm thankful for a man named oh Methven that decided to name this Longview. And the reason why he did that was not just because he had a. Had a long view, but I believe it's because he had a vision for what this could be.
You see, he had deeded 100 acres of his own land to the railroad in the hopes that they would put a city right here. The city which we live in, the city that we're hanging out in, all started with one person's generous gift because he could see the vision of what could be.
There's not many people that have that, by the way. Most people look at their lives and they just see today, they just see maybe tomorrow. But he has a vision to see what could be hundreds of years from now. And he was willing to step into the gap and say, I believe in what could happen, and this is bigger than just a few hundred acres of some farmland that I have.
He's not only looking at a long view of trees, he's looking long term at what this could be. And when you think about your own life, it's difficult for us sometimes to think about what, what God could do over the next 10 years or 20 years or 30 years. We don't necessarily see ourselves that way.
And as a matter of fact, when you look at things like these trees that we're known for out here in Longview, you if you ever just walk out and stare at a tree for about 15 minutes, first of all, you're weird.
It's. It's kind of boring. You look at a tree for 15 minutes. Kind of boring. You look at a tree over 30 years, that's different.
Because what is happening might be slow, might be a process.
But if the tree is planted right, if the tree has the right nutrients, if it's growing over the period of about 30 years, it becomes something special. Your life is a lot like a tree.
As a matter of fact, over and over, Old Testament, New Testament, multiple times in scripture, God refers to people as trees.
I don't know if you've ever seen yourself like that. If, if you could just kind of close your eyes for a moment, visualize yourself as a tree. Do you see yourself as, you know, a. A big pine tree, a huge cedar, a big white, maybe redwood forest is you. Or you're like, I.
I'm kind of a. A scrub.
I'm an old dead tree that needs to be knocked over. You know, how do you. How do you view yourself if you were to visualize yourself as a tree? Because the, the Bible does it kind of sees you that way, and it. And it compares a lot of what we see in our own lives to.
To agricultural terms.
As a matter of fact, in Mark, chapter 8, Jesus does something that happens one time in scripture, and it's really peculiar how he does this. Jesus heals a man who was blind, and the man opens his eyes and Jesus says, what do you see?
And the man says, I see people, but they look like trees.
And I always read that and thought that did Jesus is not quite do it right, or could it be that Jesus is. Jesus is sometimes too good.
Right? If you notice in context, Jesus had just expressed his frustrations to his disciples. And he said multiple times, you have eyes, but you don't see. You have ears, but you're not hearing multiple places. He gets frustrated with people not being able to see. See, not just out of the eyes we have in our head, but through our spiritual eyes.
You see, oh, method. When he saw Longview, he didn't just see trees. He had a vision of what could be. And beyond that, by the way, is something even more powerful, and that's spiritual insight.
There is the way that you see yourself, the way that you see your life, and there's the way that God sees you.
And if we can somehow start allowing God's word to open up our spiritual eyes, you will look at your life and you will look at your future much more different.
As a matter of fact, think about this. Over the next 10 years, what do you want your life to look like now? It's easy for us to understand, you know, planning in the terms of things like our health. You understand that over the next 10 years, if you want to be healthier, you got to make some horrible choices to eat things that God never intended for any human being to eat.
But if you want the results, you're gonna have to eat the things that nobody likes. Oh, kale is so delicious. No, it's not.
You're a straight up liar. Oh, not the way I cook it. Not the way anyone cooks it. Ever.
We understand this in terms of our finances. If you want your finances to look different in the next 10 years, you got to make some hardcore decisions. Do I want it now, or do I want something more so I can sacrifice what I want now for what I want most?
Do you understand things like budgeting and you understand things like financial planning? Because in 10 years, I want my finances to look different than what they look like today. We understand that in terms of our physicality and our bodies. You understand that in terms of your finances. Do you understand that in terms of your soul?
You are not just a physical body. You. You have a soul.
Your soul is your mind and your will and your emotions.
And when you can start seeing things through spiritual eyes, you will recognize that what God can do long term in my life is more than just healthy physically, but an abundant, prospering, blessed child of God that's living his life to the fullest extent of what God intended for me to live at. What does that look like for you?
So when Jesus heals someone's eyes. And they say, I see people like trees walking around after Jesus has just said, you, you have eyes, but you're not really seeing. We see that Jesus really wants us to open our spiritual eyes. He wants us to see things as they are in the Spirit.
He wants you to view yourself in the Spirit. Why? Because if you do that, it changes everything about your future and it changes what you do today. Because you recognize that what God has for me is better than what I have today.
There are some decisions that I can make. There are some adjustments I can make to line my life up with what is most important to the Lord.
So what does the blessed version of you look like? What does the prospering version of you look like? What is the 10 year from now version of you look like? With a healthy soul, with a healthy mind, with a healthy marriage, with. With healthy views of who God is and who you are. With prospering and becoming all that God has intended to you to be. What. What does that look like?
And are we living today with tomorrow in mind?
There are hopes and dreams that all of us have. Maybe Your hope in 10 years is that that you would be married, that you would have children, or you maybe in grandchildren or great grandchildren, that you'd be financially stable. What about your soul?
What about your soul?
Do you want to be closer to the Lord in 10 years than you are today, than you are right now? Do you want to be more advanced? Do you want to be more spiritually mature? And if so, what? What steps are we taking?
Are they the right steps? How would we know?
So in Psalm chapter one, I want to turn our attention over there. We're going to spend all of our time right here today. In Psalm chapter one, the Bible talks about people as trees.
And it talks about what a blessed, what a successful, what a prospering version of that looks like. And it makes promises to us as his people. And if you want to take the long view of your life. When we turn our attention to God's word, it shows us what the blessed version of us looked like. It shows us also what a horrible version of us looks like. And it starts out with our relationship with people.
So it says this. Pick it up in verse one, we'll read through the next three verses. It says, blessed is the one who doesn't walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers. In other words, it's saying it really matters who you surround yourself with, the culture that you place around you, the culture that you've been placed into, that that really matters in the terms of what your life will look like over the next 10 years. You want it to be blessed?
Or do you want it to be just the same as everybody else gets?
Take a good inventory of your friend group. Take a good inventory of your coworkers and your acquaintances, of the people that you allow to speak into your life, because scripture says it matters more than you think.
You want to be blessed, want to be prospering.
Take a quick inventory of those that surround your life and the culture that you're in. It matters.
And it says, blessed is the person that decides, I don't want to be around that. I've got to surround myself with the right people. And it says this, and whose delight is in the law of the Lord. That means that the way that you approach God's word becomes something that feeds your soul. You take great delight in it.
The word of God comes to life, and you recognize what it's feeding you is good.
So blessed is the one who doesn't sit over here and stand with those people, doesn't keep company with those kind of people, but instead they start meditating on God's law day and night. Find great delight in it. And it says this. That person, the person that does that is like a somebody. Say the next word. A tree.
Here it is, one more time.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water.
What is that person going to do? If they were using that tree metaphor, it says they're going to yield its fruit in season.
It's going to produce, it's going to prosper, it's going to accomplish God's purpose for its life.
Says that person will be planted by the streams of water it yields in fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and whatever they do, prospers. I want. I want that. Don't you want that?
So the Bible's speaking very clearly about your life. It looks a lot like a tree. And it says, you know, if I was to look at your life over 15 minutes, kind of boring. But over 30 years, applying God's principles to my life, everything changes. There's blessing, there's prosperity, there's abundance, there's purpose accomplished when we do things God's way.
So it starts with who you surround yourself with, and then it gives us some insights to some things that I think we need to remind ourselves of the critical nature of.
So if I want to take the long view of my life, I want to become the person that God has called me to be. You want to truly prosper.
You want to be biblically blessed?
Here's some things that God's word tells us. Number one, you're going to have to watch your diet.
I hear a collective groan.
We understand this. There are some things that you realize I cannot eat that and expect to live beyond about 45.
Maybe. Maybe a little. I can have half of what I would normally have.
No, you understand your body has to eat, and your body will thrive off of good things. And by the way, your soul needs to eat, too.
Let me say it this way.
Everybody is being discipled by something.
You are absolutely being discipled by something. Now, for most of us, you're being discipled by your algorithms.
And then for. For others of us, you're being discipled by Scripture.
For some of us, you're being discipled by culture. For others, you're being discipled by the news that you feed yourself 24 hours a day. I'm not saying right, wrong, indifferent, good, bad. Everybody's being discipled by something.
And what you're discipled by becomes how you respond. What continually enters my mind eventually shapes my responses.
You understand how critical that is. What you constantly put into your mind is going to shape how you respond, not just to conflict and just a normal conversation. Your responses begin to change based upon the diet that you're allowing yourself to be discipled by.
Let me break this down a little bit more, all right?
With our algorithms, with our social media, with the reels and the TikToks and the Instagram and the videos and all the different things that you have that surround our lives, I understand. I'm not speaking bad about it. It is what it is.
With the amount of information that you bring in in a single day, with what you're being discipled by, what you feed your mind, you will notice it begins to change your responses. And now instead of saying what you would normally say, you start responding differently based upon the algorithms. Did you know that, like, when somebody says, here's what happens with me, when someone says, apparently, my mind thinks, apparently, some of you have no idea what I'm talking about. For the rest of you that giggled, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've never been on live television before, apparently, right?
And for about 15 minutes, that's all I can think about. When someone says, apparently. And I've just trailed off in conversation because what I've been discipled by changes my responses.
Now, when somebody and I ask somebody, well, that's a tall guy. How tall do you think he is? He said, I don't know, he's about 6, 7. I just do this and I'm like, ah, what am I doing?
He's 6 7.
Because what I'm being discipled by shapes my responses.
Now, when somebody says, ngl, not gonna lie, I find myself saying, not gonna lie, not gonna lie. When a preacher says, not gonna lie all the time, he probably is. Let me just say, not gonna lie, not gonna lie. Or it's giving.
It's giving.
Low key.
Not gonna lie.
You all know these things. Why? Because we've been discipled by them. And what you're discipled by changes your responses. And then we wonder why, by the way, when life gets tough, when rain comes, when droughts come, when storms come, when fire comes, when disease comes, when the diagnosis has changed, you wonder why our responses don't look anything like this.
Because what you're discipled by will change how you respond. If you're constantly led by the news and your algorithms and your Facebooks and your feeds and your Instagrams and your reels, all those things. What happens when life throws you a curveball? When you're hit with anxiety, when you're hit with depression, when you're hit with with fear, when you hit with worry, when you're hit with loss, when you're hit with grief, when you're overcome with emotion? What comes out of you will be based upon what you've been discipled by.
Will you go towards offense?
You go towards what you always go towards.
It matters what you feed your mind, because life will get tough.
And how you respond makes a massive difference in the long view version of who you are.
Everybody's being discipled by something. So he said, this person is like a tree planted by the streams of living water. Well, how did he do that? He said because he was meditating on God's law and day and night.
Now, the word meditation here, I understand it's really different in the English language than it is in the Hebrew language that this was written in and translated into English. Because for us, meditation means to sit around in some yoga pants and just shut up. Maybe twist yourself up like a pretzel, like, oh, I'm meditating. Like, that's not what this means, to meditate. Actually, that word translates better into English as the word murmur.
To murmur, to mutter.
What's a mutter? I don't know. What's the matter with you? I don't know.
But literally, the people that this is speaking about would take God's Law. And they would meditate on it day and night, which means that they're mumbling it under their breath all day so that they could memorize it. They get it into. Not just into their mind, they get it into their chest.
He said that's what it means to meditate on God's Word, that they feed themselves on it and it's just constantly in their mind. I keep God's Word in my mind. I'm feeding myself and discipling myself on God's Word. I'm quoting it over and over because I want it stuck in my mind. Why? Because when life hits, I want to respond according to the truth of God's Word, not to just my algorithm.
So when the doctor comes in, well, you know, apparently you're going to die. Apparently, like, no, no, no, no.
It. It should change to. Okay, Lord, I need you right now. Help me.
Hear me, Lord.
What? You're being discipled by Matters. Says in his law, He. He meditates day and night. One of the greatest decisions I've ever made was about 30 years ago when I chose to start reading God's Word every day. One of the things that you'll notice about our culture, and I've said this multiple times in the pulpit, is one of the things I want to challenge you to do, is Scripture before screens, spend five minutes, five seconds, one scripture, one chapter, whatever it takes, but honor God with the first and with the best of your day.
But get into God's Word first. And then, by the way, I don't only start my day in God's Word, I end every day in God's Word because I want to meditate on his law and day and night. Now, 30 years ago, you look at my life, pretty boring, but 30 years from then, I got His Word right here. It's one of the greatest decisions I've ever made, is to start to stifle my life according to the truth of God's word, to meditate on his law day and night. I had to fall in love with God's Word. And at first, it was just words on a page. I didn't understand. It didn't make any sense to me. But after a while, it started coming, coming to life.
And God has a way of doing that.
Scripture tells us that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. He said, you look for me. You're going to find me when you start seeking me with your whole heart.
You read your Bible over five or 10 or 15 minutes. Not that big a deal. You read over 30 years.
Oh, that's different. Because it will change how you respond.
It's more than just reading your Bible. See, reading your Bible puts God's word in front of you, but meditating on his word puts God's word inside of you. And there's a big difference between seeing something in front of you and having it hidden in your heart.
David says, lord, I've hidden your word inside my heart that I might not sin against you. I meditate on it day and night.
You see, the goal is not to just know more Bible. The goal is God's truth becoming our reflex.
And that's what you want. That's what you want with your life, that God's truth comes out. When life hits, something happens. And you. You say, I rebuke that in the name of Jesus. Come on. Something happens, and you're like, oh, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.
Something happens, and you're like, bless the Lord, oh, my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy names. That. That's. That's. That's God's word becoming our reflex. What's your reflex?
Is it a 6? 7, apparently.
Not gonna lie.
And will that help you when life hits?
It's important to take a long view of your life, a long view of the condition of your soul, and say, 30 years from now, I'm gonna be walking closer to God than I've ever even thought possible. This starts with meditating on his law day and night. It's doing the things that most believers refuse to do.
They'll come to church and say, pastor, you read it for me.
Feed me. Let me just remind you, if you're only eating once a week and I'm feeding you, you're going to starve.
My children learned that lesson the hard way. Like when those baby foods came around and some of the ones that tasted really good, I'm like, Applesauce, good. Bananas and peaches. Like, no, no, this one's Daddy's. This. The peas is for you.
Bananas and peaches is for me.
Remind yourself it matters what you feed your soul.
Here's the second key that we see from the truth of God's word in Psalm chapter one. To put down deep roots.
Tree is only as fruitful as it's. As its root system. And it matters. It says that that person that we're comparing a tree to, that person is. Is.
He's got to be like a tree planted by streams of water.
I want you to. I want you. To bring your attention to the word planted.
Planted shows us that it was intentional.
It's not a tree that just happened to grow in a good spot. No, no, no, no, no. It says it. It was intentional. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word says it was transplanted. It was put there on purpose, intentionally, by someone that knew what they were doing. God says, I want you to be planted intentionally. I want you to make a decision that I'm going to be planted. And it says by streams.
Notice the plurality of that word. It's. It's more than one. It's. It's multiple streams. So it's speaking specifically of. Of these irrigation ditches that would be dug so that trees could prosper in some of the worst conditions.
And when God says, your life is a lot like a tree, it says it matters how deep your roots go. And they need to have multiple streams feeding them so that you can survive things like fire and drought, and you can survive things like. Like pests in the Middle east and the rain and the hail and the storms of life that come and the cold of the desert nights.
I want you blessed. I want you prospering.
But it matters that you put down deep roots, that you are intentionally planted.
Ask yourself, am I planted? And what does that mean? What does it look like to really be planted with a deep root system?
Notice this. In Psalm 92, it says this.
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. Here's him comparing ourselves once again to trees. Says the flourishing version of you. What does it look like? He says, planted. Planted anywhere. He said, no, no, no. Planted in the house of the Lord.
Planted in the house of the Lord. And then it makes a promise.
They'll still bear fruit in their old age.
That means I just get better. I'm aging like a fine wine.
The flourishing version of you, the prospering version of you, the blessed version of you that still bears fruit at an old age, says you're going to be planted. Where? In the house of the Lord.
Why is that such a big deal, especially in East Texas? Because to be planted in God's house, to be planted in the house of the Lord, that's a thing of the past.
We drift from church to church. It's a very, very common thing, especially in the buckle of the Bible belts.
We go to whichever church has the best whatever, whatever you prefer. Because we've become a consumer society. Give me, feed me, make it entertaining for me.
Well, I like this over here, and I like this worship team over here. That's why I Go here. And I like the kids ministry over here, and I like that pastor over there. And it's really good. As long as the youth pastor ain't speaking today. Is it really him or is it somebody? I understand. We have our preferences.
And we go from church to church to church to church based upon who's not offending me this week?
You're acting like you don't know what I'm talking about.
I live here, right? This is. This is us. Let's. Let's. Let's be honest in God's house for a moment. It's a problem to be planted in God's house.
No, no, no.
What does the Longview version of your life look like?
Because to flourish like a palm tree, to still bear fruit in a ripe old spiritual fruit. By the way, it says you have to be planted in the house. That means that you have to make an intentional decision to say, I'm willing to die here.
I'm willing to commit to a group of people come hell or high water, in sickness and in health. I'm planted.
And it's not based on anything else, but the Lord led me here. This is where I'm getting fed.
Let me just remind you of what being planted looks like.
By the way, there's no offense, man, if you bounced around from 15 to 20 churches. No offense. I'm not here to offend you. I'm just here to try to tell you stop it.
Wherever God is leading you, look at me.
Plant roots.
Dive deep. What are you asking me to do? Give there financially.
Support. Stand behind the vision of what God is doing with your finances. Give in that place. Why? Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Your heart will never be attached to a church that you're not giving to. Simply put, you're going to drift from church to church to church to church until you say, you know what? I'm highly invested in the success of this place. This matters to me. I want to stand behind what God is doing. That's how you plant. Not only do you need to be giving at a church, you need to be serving at a church. Don't come and say, hey, serve me, give me, consume. Entertain me. Because it's like a movie theater. No, no, no, no, no. This is an army. Left, right, left, baby.
We're here to mobilize you.
Why? Because I want you to prosper. I want you to be blessed. It's the best version of you. It's the view that God has for your life to be planted at God's house. Not just as give there, but to serve there, to group there, to pray there, to be willing to be led by the Spirit, to submit, to find your part, to. To find your fit to serve God's people, to give back to someone who has a lot less than you. That's how you're planted. Now I say that's still a thing of the past for a long view. Not many believers are willing to do that. Why?
Why?
I think we've been deceived by the enemy that makes us think it's all about you.
This is not about you, it's about him.
And he invites you into a relationship and says, I'm gonna bless your life, I'm gonna prosper you, I'm gonna flourish you. The best version of you is found doing things God's way.
If it was easy, everybody would do it.
God's calling you to be planted in the house of the Lord. If that's here, welcome home. If that is not here, stop coming here. Go where God told you to go. Put down deep roots and say, lord, I want to be planted here. Because that's the best version of me. But find a home church and make it truly a home.
Stand behind it.
How do I know I'm really planted in God's house? Let me say it this way. You know that you're planted in God's house. When it becomes something more than just attending, you actually start helping to build it.
So 10 years ago, met a group of about 120 people that were meeting at the Kids Building across the street.
And those people sacrificed because they could see the vision of what it could look like today.
Those people gave and locked in, as the kids said, locked in, planted. Why?
Because they were hoping that you would catch the vision of what we can hand your children and your grandchildren. The best days of our church are not behind us. No, no, no, no, no. They're still in front of us. But it's going to take a group of people that just have determined. I'm locking in.
I'm planted here.
I'm not entertained here.
I'm commissioned. I'm called here. I'm serving. I'm fully 10 toes in.
If 120 people could do this and build this and hand this to you, if they could fund the seat that you're sitting in, if they could fund the cameras that you're watching this on, what could God do through you?
Put down deep roots.
So it's important as the trees that God is calling us to be, to flourish in the Long term, to watch your diet, to put down deep roots. And I want to finish up with this one. Number three.
Trust the process.
Trust the process. It says this person is going to be like a tree planted by the streams of water.
And it says they're going to yield their fruit in season and whatever they do, prospers.
Yield their fruit in season. Here's the thing.
When it's the season of you yielding your fruit, what does that look like? It means that your responses are going to be completely different than just apparently in 6, 7, they're going to change. As a matter of fact, on a serious note, your responses will look completely different. Now, instead of wanting to slap somebody, you want to help them.
And then you look at your life and say, that looked a lot less like me and a lot more like Jesus.
How did that happen?
How, how did, how did I want to be a blessing instead of wanting to just be blessed? How did I move from being a consumer to a contributor? How did, how did I, how did I shift my, my process from wanting to murder someone to want to disciple them?
Because there was, there was a process that began to yield its fruit in season. And it will shock you, by the way, when your responses start looking a lot less like you and a lot more like Jesus. And it says, and whatever they do, that person, that tree, they're going to prosper.
Now, I understand that that word prosper and prosperity has done a lot of damage to the body of Christ. I understand it, but, but that doesn't mean it's not valuable and it's not here. There's absolutely something to, to a prospering that God's word says his people do. It's, it's here.
But the interesting part of that word, salah, in the, in the, in the Hebrew language is that it means to advance, to succeed, and to accomplish its purpose.
That's what prospering means. To advance, to succeed, to accomplish its purpose and remain. Remind yourself, what's the metaphor in Psalm chapter one that it's speaking about prospering? The metaphor is a tree.
So let me ask it this way. Is a tree's ultimate purpose to make money?
Is a tree's purpose to have a huge 401k? Is that his purpose? No, no, no.
A tree's purpose is to produce fruit, to become, to grow.
And when it speaks about us prospering, accomplishing purposes, to succeed, it means that you've become who God has called you to be.
Let me just remind you that biblical prosperity isn't having everything you Want? It's producing everything. God planted you to produce.
How do I do that? Put down deep roots, watch your diet. And then, by the way, Jesus gives us the key in John 15:5, he looks at his disciples. He says, let me just. Let me just remind you of something.
I'm the vine and you're the branches.
He says, I want you to do something.
Remain in me.
You want to prosper. You want to be blessed.
Said, remain in me. He said, if you remain in me and I remain in you, you know what you're going to do?
You're going to bear much fruit. You're going to become. You're going to prosper, you're going to be blessed, you're going to grow.
Well, what happens if I don't? He says, apart from me, look at those next few words. You can do nothing.
How foolish it would be to feed our bodies, to build up your wealth, to pay no attention to your soul, to never graft into the true vine, which is Christ.
And to think you accomplished something with your life.
The book of Proverbs says, it's all vanity. It's a chasing after the wind. It produces nothing.
What are you feeding your soul?
What does your Life look like 10 years from now? What does the condition of your soul look like 10 years from now? Jesus says, oh, remain in me. Notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, work really hard so you can produce a lot more.
Work harder, Produce more.
No. What does he ask us to do? He said, connect.
Connect to me. Remain in me.
And if you make that choice, you're going to bear much fruit.
You're going to change the way that you respond.
You're going to change the way you act, change your life and these basic daily decisions. To spend time meditating in God's word, to spend time allowing him to disciple us.
Honoring God with the first, with the best. Those basic decisions might look pretty boring for 15 minutes, but over 30 years, what will that produce in your life?
What will it look like?
Take the long view of your life. And let me just remind you that a powerful spiritual life is built through ordinary habits practiced for an extraordinary amount of time.
As we finish up right there, I want to invite you to go ahead and put away your phones and your Bibles and give yourself a moment to meditate on the truth of God's word.
From Psalm chapter one. It says, you're blessed if you take a second look at your crowd.
You're blessed if you take another look at those that you're hanging around. The voices and the influences that people have over your life. It's.
You're blessed if you begin to meditate on God's law. Not just discipled by your algorithm, not just discipled by the news, not just discipled by all the things that are around you, but instead discipled by meditating on God's word day and night, spending time in Scripture, allowing God's scripture to do more than just be in front of you, but to be in you.
Meditate on it day and night.
Lord. That's the blessed version of me.
That's the blessed version of me. That's the prospering version of me.
That's the successful version of me.
If I'm fully submitted to you, planted in your house, doing what you've called me to do for an extraordinary amount of time, that's the long view of my life with heads bowed and eyes closed.
I want to ask you a question.
Maybe you came here today and you say, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, I don't really have a relationship with Jesus.
I don't know what that looks like, my friend. I'm glad that you're here.
Let me ask you a question. Do you want to leave the same way for others? You might say, pastor, I was raised in church.
I've done all the things, but I've gotten away from God. I've been running from God.
I know it. I need to come home, my friend. Yes, you do. As a matter of fact, if you could see it right now, God himself is reaching down his hand to you.
If you could hear him speak, he's saying, come home.
Come back to me.
How do I do that, Pastor?
It starts with a prayer. And if you'll let me, I'll help you the same way that somebody helped me one time. It's time to come home.
I want you to know I'm not here to single you out or embarrass you in any way. But you need to make a decision.
And so I want you to pray this prayer. I'll tell you the words to say. You're gonna pray it with me.
As a matter of fact, all of us are gonna do it out loud so you don't feel embarrassed in any way.
So, believers, saints, let's pray this together. Just say, jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died, and I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness from all of my sins.
Please forgive me, and I'll give you the rest of my life in Jesus name, with heads bowed and eyes closed, with no one else looking around. I'm not here to embarrass you, but if you prayed that prayer and you meant that prayer, if I was talking to you, would you do me a favor? With no one else looking around, would you just slip up your hand and say, that was me, not afraid or ashamed to admit it, but I prayed that prayer, Pastor, and I meant that prayer. Can I just see your hand all across this place?
Also, maybe you're watching online, you say, I prayed that prayer. I want you to know that there's a phone number that's just appeared on your screen and I want to invite you to text me. It's on the screen here in the room as well. Text the words I pray to that number and I'll send you back some things that will help you understand what just happened in your heart, what to do next. Super proud of you, High Rich Family. Go ahead and look up at me if you would and let's stand to our feet together. I want to just take a quick moment and say thank you so much. For those of you that have tuned in online, some of you are watching from all across the world, we want to say welcome.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: Welcome.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: We're glad that you could enjoy this service with us today. So High Rich family, can you welcome them one more time and tell them we're glad that you guys watch with us.
Thanks for hanging with us. And we want you to know that if you can use your social media influence for anything good, we would appreciate it if you would consider hitting the share button. It's a beautiful and awesome thing when people are saved all over the world from what happens right here in Longview, Texas. God's doing some great things here. So when you hit the share button, when you, when you interact, it allows a lot of people all over the world to see what's happening here and, and people are encountering Christ. It's a beautiful thing. I want to say thank you for that also. I have our elders and their wives stepping forward to be available to pray for you for anything that you might need walk might be walking through that. You said, I need some prayer. We would love to pray for you.
Also want to say thank you so much for those of you that volunteered and served and gave towards and bought tickets at Unite, participated for what happened on Thursday night. It was off the hook. If you know, you know seu worship was incredible to deal with and the power of God was in that room. You have no never seen more Baptists, full of the Holy Ghost in your life, as you would. It was awesome to see. It was fun. I have so many incredible Baptist friends. I was making fun of them all night. We like to do that.
It was beautiful. I love watching the body of Christ work together and have real friendships and accomplish things for this city. Let me just say it. None of that is possible without you standing behind us. Without you standing behind us. Financially, it's a big deal. It matters more than you know, because we cannot accomplish what God has called us to accomplish unless you determine that you're going to lock in here and stand behind what we're doing. It matters. It's making a huge difference. So I want to say, just on behalf of all of the different churches that came together, all of the things that are happening in our city, because of that, let me just say thank you. Thank you for making a difference. Thank you for being believers. They're not here to just be entertained and led by your offenses. You're locking in and plugged in. You're planted down deep, and it matters to me, it matters to the Lord, and ultimately it matters to you.
Thank you for being an awesome and generous church. Also. We were able. I think we had someone that stepped up last week and said, we want to get some more discipleship books for you guys. So the books, I said that weren't enough for everybody. We now have enough for everybody. So if you want one, you're more than welcome to grab one. Some of you felt super guilty. You're like, I'm gonna sneak one. Like, we have some extra for you. So you're welcome to take those if you like. Is that right, Pastor Paul? We've got. We've got books, so if you want. If you want to grab one of those and follow along during your lunch hour, please be our guest. It's our gift to you. For everyone else, let me bless you and send you out. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Would you bless their family? Would you bless their finances? Would you bless their friendships? Would you mark them with your presence and lead them by your holy spirit?
[00:41:20] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: If you want to be a part
[00:41:32] Speaker A: of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv, or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
