Hey, man, and hey, man, look good morning in East Point Church, this is a different morning, no doubt. If you had told me a month of goal that we would be gathering, and I would be preaching to basically an empty sanctuary, and we would still be having church, I would have considered you to have lost your mind. But as the Lord would have it, this is where we are this morning. Circumstances would have us to be in this place at this time, and the Lord is good to us. Thanks for the opportunity this morning to buy whatever means necessary to indeed share with you the Word of God, and in some sense the worship of our God together. I think the worst part of this whole coronavirus thing is this whole idea of social distancing, particularly as it comes to the people of God, for we know that the church gathers. I mean the word church really means assembly, those who have been called out from the world to gather and assemble together. And unfortunately we are not able to assemble as we normally do, but by the advances of technology and the grace of God, we are able to do what we can do. We want to thank those who have come out this morning indeed and made this possible. We thank those who have come out to lead us in singing and song. Thank those who are here this morning providing for us the technology and the ability to communicate with each other in this unusual but yet important way. We want to begin this morning a series of messages entitled The Psalms for the season. We want to interrupt briefly our time from 2nd Peter and hopefully address some of our own anxieties and concerns at this time when we do that by looking in the God's Word. So let's pray this morning, pray that the Lord would indeed grant us grace and grant us discernment that you would open our hearts in our minds, that we would receive what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church. Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning that we are able, Lord, in some way form and fashion to gather in your name, to be reminded that we are your people called out from this world called to gather in your name, to proclaim your name, to exalt in your Word, and so this morning we pray that as you have, would you continue to be with your people? Multiply your Word in our lives this morning as we meditate upon it. Come now by your Spirit. Bless and increase the faith of your people. We thank you and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Before I get started, I did want to wish Happy Birthday to Keisha Grant. Keisha, if you're watching, Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday to Zuri Johnson. Zuri, if you are watching and I'm sure you are, Happy Birthday, sweetheart. Beloved, these are indeed different and difficult, and in many ways dangerous times. The most common word used these days, at least I hear most frequently, is probably the word uncertainty. The word that comes to mind for me more times than not is the word ever changing. These are ever changing and uncertain times. And at times like these, God's people need to be reminded that we have a certain and never changing God. This is a God who has given to his people a certain and never changing word. So with that in mind, over as I said before, over the next few weeks, or as long as the Lord would have us adjusting our worship and our time together, we also want to adjust our time in the word together. So whenever the Lord is pleased, we'll get back to 2nd and Peter. But until then, we'll be looking at the Psalms. Looking at the Psalms that we might hear from the Lord, what is a sure and indeed unfailing word to the church in this time? Our series is entitled Psalms for the season. Someone has rightly said that there is a Psalm for every emotion in life. But I would add to that that there is a Psalm for every season of life, especially the season in which we find ourselves this morning. In times like ours, we look for help. At times like these, we look for hope. When the Lord has reminded us again and again that there is no better place to find help. There is no better place to find hope than in the His Word. And if that is the case, and I would suggest to you this morning, that then there is no better place in God's Word to find that help and that hope than in the Psalms. The Hebrew word for Psalms is tahamim. And it literally means praises. And Psalms is literally a book of praises. The point of the Psalms is to remind God's people that though life is filled with ups and downs, though life is filled with highs and lows, though it is filled with winds and losses, change and uncertainty, you can always find reason to give God praise. We always have reasons to worship. And so the Psalms is a collection of praises. And if that is the case, then Psalm 1 is a 15 introduction to this collection. If for a moment you might look at the Psalms as kind of a liturgy or kind of an order of worship for God's people, then Psalm 1 we can view as the call to worship. It sets the stage for the true worshipers of God. It puts us in the right frame of mind. It reminds us that hope and the help for those who believe is not in the concofony of voices that are in the world or the ungodly opinions of posters and pungent and politicians, but it is found in the true unchanging word of God. And therefore it centers us, it centers God and His Word in our life and in our worship. So Psalm 1 begins. It begins literally in a happy place. It begins, blessed is the one. Blessed is the one to be blessed, beloved, is to have the sins and to understand that you are favored by God, whether the circumstances are favorable or not, that God is on your side, that you are blessed. And so in his Joseph and Genesis, chapter 50 and in verse 20, who understood that whatever others planned for his demise, God had determined for his good. In other words, he was blessed. In his Joe, who though he had lost everything near and dear to him, he says in Job, chapter 13 and verse 15, though he slayed me yet, will I hope in him? Blessed, blessed. It is Paul in 2nd Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 12, who says, I know in whom I have believed and he is able to keep what I have entrusted to him, blessed, blessed. It is knowing that you have the favor of God, whether the circumstances are favorable or not. And blessed are those who, beloved, therefore are happy in Jesus. Blessed is the state of God's people. And this is always the state of God's people when they come to worship. They understand that they are blessed. The circumstances may not be favorable, but we always have the favor of God. The situation may not be the best, but we are still blessed. Now, beloved, I get it. It may be difficult these days to believe that you are blessed. Job security is anything but secure. Health security is every day more and more in question. According to the medical experts, the coronavirus has only just begun to impact our lives. Our country has shut its borders and more and more states are calling for a total lockdown. And yet the Psalmist this morning wants us to remember that blessings, that the blessing of the Lord come not in the security of our jobs, comes not in the security of our wealth, comes not even in the security of our health. It comes not in listening to the fickle and even mocking and at times ungodly voices and opinions of this world. But our blessings come as we delight ourselves in and meditate upon the Word of God. As we do, as Colossians, chapter three in verse 16 tells us to do, as we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. That's the blessing, beloved. The blessing comes from meditating on and delighting in the Word of God. This week I saw a clip of a well-known television preacher and she was encouraging people to send her $91 in honor of Psalm 91. As you meditate on Psalm 91, she said, you want to plant the seed of $91 into her ministry. But beloved is important to understand that the blessing is not in sending her $91. The blessing is in meditating upon Psalm 91. He who dwells, the Bible says, in the shelter of the most high, will abide in the shadow of Almighty. And I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Those who meditate and delight in the Word of God are blessed because through it all, as the Psalm has said in someone, they are well-rooted. They are well-rooted and they are well-suited. They are well-rooted. See that in verse three, right? That person who meditates and delights on the Word of God, that person is like a tree planted by streams of water. The Word of God is a source into which your roots can go deep and your roots land. So the idea here is that this tree that is planted by the rivers of water is well-nurse. The waters of life are flowing rich in that which feeds the tree. It's bringing the tree, the nutrients it needs to grow. This is not an artificial supplement. This is not some manufactured nutrients. These are nutrients given by God for the water and the building up of the soul. Everything the tree needs, the water supplies. Then that will remind you. The scripture we have been reflecting on lately in 2nd Peter chapter one. Verse three, that our God has supplied for us all things necessary to live faithful and godly lives. Well-nurse is this tree and therefore it is well-supplied. These waters flow from a never-ending source. My dear here is that this river is a source for the life of the tree. These are waters that never run out. This is a river that never runs dry. It's a song at Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 7 tells us, beloved. It reminds us that God's word never runs out. The store runs out of sanitizer. The shelves get empty of toilet paper. But God's word never runs dry. It never gets empty. That which is necessary for the feeding and the uplifting and building of our souls. This week my wife sent me to the store to pick up some hot dog buns. I went to three stores before I was able to find some buns. The beloved this morning, you don't have to look that hard for the word of God. God's word is flowing to you and you don't have to ever worry about it running out. Those who meditate and delight in God's words are well-rooted and they are also well-fruted. Notice what it says, which yields its fruit and season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prosperous. This is a life that is always fruitful. Notice what it says, and does not wither. Always, always fruitful. Meditating and delighting in the word of God is always fruitful. Always fruitful. It is always prosperous. God's prosperity, beloved, is important to understand this. That God's prosperity is not always being rich in this world's goods. But what it is, beloved, is always having the goods when it's time to have the goods. You always have the goods when it's time to have the goods. And therefore, you are always in season. You are always in season for it brings forth fruit according to the season. Seasons change and people change. But the word of God produces the fruit needed for every season of life. That's why you're fruitful because God provides the word. Whatever word is necessary so that you would be fruitful in whatever season you find yourself. That's Ecclesiastes 3 and 1 tells us, right? To everything there's a season. And I would add, to every season there's a word. There's a word from the Lord that feeds and blesses the soul and causes the soul to be fruitful. You meditate on the word. When you delight in God's word, you know what you will find? You will find this beloved. When the season calls for patience, you will be patient. When the season calls for peace, you will have peace. When the season calls for joy, you will have joy. When the season calls for reassurance, you will be reassured. So, Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 8 reminds us that you and I will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes. It's leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never, never fails to bear fruit. Those who meditate on the word of God, those who delight in the word of God are well-fruited. And they bring forth their fruit in due season. Not only are they well-rooted and well-fruited, but they are also well-suited, well-suited. For the ultimate blessing, beloved, the ultimate blessing of God comes not in this world, but in the next. The truly blessed are those who know that the righteous judgment of God is coming upon the world. But the blessed are not suited for judgment. They are suited for salvation. The blessed are not suited for condemnation, but they are suited for deliverance. They are suited for eternity with God. In verse 4 of Psalm 1, it tells us that in the day of judgment the wicked will be destroyed. They will not stand. And yet the blessing is this, beloved, I just said in St. Timothy, chapter 2 in verse 19, that the Lord knows those who are his own. The Lord knows those who are his own or, as it says, in verse 6 of Psalm 1, the Lord knows the ways of the righteous. Those who are well-rooted, those who are well-fruited, those who are well-suited in Christ Jesus. He knows those. He knows those. And the Bible tells us that they are the ones who are truly blessed. Because regardless of the circumstances, they remain happy in Jesus. The Ephesians, chapter 1 and verse 3, tells us that all those who are in Christ Jesus are those who are truly blessed because they are not just blessed now, but they are blessed for all eternity. And so Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 is that great blessing that tells us that in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. Why? Because in Christ Jesus, you are suited for deliverance. In Christ Jesus, there is no judgment. In Christ Jesus, you are saved. In Christ Jesus, you are blessed because in Christ Jesus, unlike the world, John 3.16 reminds us that you don't perish, but have ever lasting life. Is it the blessing that God gives to its people, even in uncertain and ever changing times? In Christ Jesus, you are not well-fruited and well-suited. In Christ Jesus, we are truly blessed. Like many of you, I have been waking up each morning with a bit of anxiousness in my heart. I wake up and the first thing that crosses my mind is I wonder what occurred overnight. What new developments will the day bring? And as you think about those beloved and as you begin to go about your day and the news begins to come in moment by moment, it can be overwhelming. And even one day this week as I was praying and praying and seeking the Lord as to what we should do as a church and where the Lord would have us go even with our time of worship together. The spirit of God said to me, son, just keep the light on. Just keep the light on and beloved the church like Jesus Christ our Savior is the light of the world in the midst of darkness. It is a beacon in the midst of stormy seas and at times like these we have to make sure that that light is on and that light is shining bright. And therefore, by the grace of God, I'll hope and I pray that these point churches that this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine because the Lord is still blessing His people. Let it burn.