Like a Tree Planted by the Rivers

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Short Summary
The discourse centers on Psalm 1, emphasizing the importance of meditation on God’s law and the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. It discusses how righteousness is symbolized by a tree planted by water, representing spiritual nourishment and growth, and highlights the necessity of maturity in discerning good from evil in a complex world. The speaker encourages continuous learning, fellowship, and a deep relationship with God to flourish spiritually and bear fruit, ultimately concluding with a call for believers to strive for maturity and righteousness in their Christian journey.

**Keywords:** Psalm 1, righteousness, spiritual growth, meditation, discernment, fellowship, maturity, God’s law.

Long Summary
### Detailed Summary of the Discourse on Psalm 1

Introduction to Psalm 1:
– The speaker emphasizes the spiritual feast experienced thus far and the intention to meditate on Psalm 1 in detail.
– Acknowledges learning from Brother Richard, highlighting the importance of collaborative study and reflection.

Reading Psalm 1:
– The psalm begins by describing the blessed man who avoids negative influences:
Verse 1: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.”
– Contrasts this with the delight of the righteous in the law of the Lord:
Verse 2: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”
Verse 3: The righteous are compared to a tree planted by water, yielding fruit and prospering.
Verses 4-6: The wicked are likened to chaff, lacking stability and ultimately facing judgment.

Key Themes Explored:
Avoiding the Wicked:
– The importance of not engaging with ungodly influences is reiterated. The speaker questions the meaning of avoiding the counsel of the ungodly.
Delighting in God’s Law:
– A deeper exploration of what it means to delight in God’s law, drawing parallels to Jesus’ own delight in doing God’s will (Psalm 40:8).
– The speaker shares personal insights on the transformation that occurs as one grows in faith, leading to a natural delight in God’s commands.

Symbolism of Trees:
– The metaphor of trees in Psalm 1 is connected to the imagery found in Ezekiel’s temple, representing righteousness and spiritual nourishment.
– The speaker explains that trees symbolize rootedness in God’s word, stressing the connection between spiritual growth and the stability of trees in nature.
Hydrotropism: The natural inclination of tree roots to grow towards water is used as an analogy for seeking spiritual nourishment in God’s word.

Maturing in Faith:
– The speaker emphasizes the need for spiritual maturity, referencing Hebrews 5:13-14, which discusses the progression from basic understanding to maturity.
– Illustrates how personal experiences and decisions require foresight and maturity, akin to the growth of a tree.

Practical Application:
– The discourse emphasizes the necessity of fellowship and community in spiritual growth, referencing Hebrews 10:25 about assembling together.
– Encourages continuous self-examination against the teachings of Scripture for spiritual progress.

Fruitfulness and Prosperity:
– The importance of yielding fruit in season is discussed, with a reminder that growth can take time, referencing Ecclesiastes 3:1.
– The righteous are promised prosperity in their endeavors, as seen through biblical examples like Joseph and David (2 Peter 1:3).

Conclusion on Righteousness vs. Wickedness:
– Final verses summarize the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, reaffirming that God knows the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:6).
– The speaker encourages the audience to remain steadfast, green trees of righteousness, contributing positively to their spiritual landscape.

Final Encouragement:
– The closing sentiment calls for continual growth in faith and character, urging all to strive for maturity in the likeness of Christ, as referenced in Isaiah 61:3.
– The speaker stresses that true progress on the narrow path requires diligent commitment to God’s word and principles.

### Key Bible Verses Mentioned:
Psalm 1:1-6: The foundation of the discourse, detailing the contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
Hebrews 5:13-14: Discussing the need for spiritual maturity.
Psalm 40:8: Reflecting Jesus’ delight in doing God’s will.
Ecclesiastes 3:1: Emphasizing the seasons of life and growth.
2 Peter 1:3: Assurance of God’s provision for living a godly life.
Isaiah 61:3: Encouragement towards becoming strong, mature Christians.

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the key themes and insights from the discourse on Psalm 1, providing a clear understanding of its spiritual implications and practical applications.

Transcript

We had a spiritual feast so far and we would like to continue our meditation with Psalm 1, and very similar to Brother Richard, we will go through the entire psalm. We didn’t talk with each other, but it just shows that I’m learning a lot from Brother Richard, even if we don’t talk with each other. So I encourage you to open your Bibles. I forgot who I talked with, but I think Brother don’t.

That you mentioned that we learn more when we follow in our Bibles. I’ll have the verses on the screen, but it will be a blessing for us to follow as well. So let’s read Psalm 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is the law of the Lord, and his law.

He meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaves does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

This is a familiar psalm, and we probably quoted multiple times, and I’m sure when you heard the title, you knew that it comes from someone. It’s very beautiful. I would like to consider a few questions that will try to stay close. What does it mean not to walk in the council of the ungodly?

How do we delight in the law of the Lord? And we will spend a little bit more time spending especially on this word delight, and then how are we associated with a tree planted by the river? The thoughts of this psalm came as I was looking at Ezekiel’s temple and those of you that probably looked more into that, you remember that there were so many places in the Ezekiel temple that there were palm trees, and we’ll make some connections later as well.

And while Revelation says that the trees are for the healing of the nation, suggesting spiritual nourishment for the people that will come back. I do think that having trees all over the temple, on the door inside, and even by the river that was flowing out, it could represent righteous people, which in this context, in someone that that’s what a tree represents. So probably here we have there in the temple of Ezekiel, have a image of all the righteous people that will be brought back in harmony with God. Look from that stand, from this standpoint, how is our righteousness? How are we righteous in front of God?

So from verse one, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. This might feel like a very basic step in our Christian walk, probably one that’s to a certain degree, probably we consider it a little bit elementary, something that maybe we learned early in our consecration in our lives and we are now a little bit advanced or we move down to something more advanced features in our Christian walk, and in a general way, we know what is right and what is wrong. But as we mentioned, we live in a a day when things are getting a little bit harder. Things are not black and white, maybe how they used to be or how even I grew up.

We talked about that during the break as well. But things are falling more like in a gray area. Things are like, is this right, is this wrong? How far do we go with certain things? And this is what it becomes a challenge for a Christian one on the narrow way.

Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 5, 13, for everyone who lives on milk is still a baby and does not yet know the difference between right and wrong. So do we notice what Apostle Paul says here, that if we know what is the difference between right and wrong, that would be the next step after we move from the stage of meal and then the next verse 5, 14. But solid food is for mature people, and when we read mature, of course, there are multiple scriptures that tell us advancing or growing in the fruits of the Spirit, growing in the knowledge of God, and of course, with knowing more, we grow in separating ourselves from the world.

And they are connected with each other, and this is what Apostle Paul said, whose minds are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil, and I was thinking, why is they so hard to distinguish between good and evil that we have to be so mature? The more I realize even my personal life, it takes a mature mind to foresee where things are going, even when we have to take a certain decision. Sometimes we might be quick, like Apostle Peter that just jumped in the water and start swimming toward Jesus or John.

We know he stayed behind. He recognized that was Jesus and he was satisfied. So sometimes we might have that ambitious spirit like Apostle Peter, but it takes really a mature and consecrated will and depth into the will of the Lord to know where things are going, and this is what Apostle Paul here is talking about, and we face this kind of decisions all the time in our personal life, maybe in conversations or in our ecclesias, where when something comes up, we have to think, we have to foresee, we have to connect maybe with previous experiences like we did in Isaiah.

When you’ll come to a cross in the road, you’ll hear the voice from behind, and this is what that voice voice is, is the voice of experience, the voice of a mature, crystallized character that tell us what’s right and what’s wrong. So we had a seminar in Chicago and it was a very big blessing. John was there and many others, and we had a lot of conversation that young people had a lot of questions.

Is it right to do this? Is it wrong to do this? And then we realized that a lot of things that maybe for us seem, you know, seem distinctly that it’s black and white. They are not like that for others. So that’s what it means to distinguish.

And I think all of us, we have to continue learning and be able to foresee where things are going. We read in 1st Corinthians 15:33, do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. This is another scripture that tell us to be careful what surrounds us. Because it’s all these that will form who we are.

There are three groups as we look at Psalm 11. Three groups of people, and we see them ungodly sinners and scoffers. I don’t have them highlighted and we won’t stop on this. But I found a very beautiful article writers before we left Chicago reprint 2698.

And brother Russell goes through this three groups of people and explain how they apply to a Christian. I would like to stop at the verbs walk, stand and sit, and I think there is a meaning there as well. Walking is the first stage when we start going in a certain direction, and this is what Psalm says.

Blessed is the man who does not walk. So we don’t go in that direction. Stand has the thought of once maybe we start going in the wrong direction. Maybe we stop and think that contemplating to be part of it or contemplating that certain action and sit. It’s the step when maybe we get into temptation or something.

And maybe we start taking action in the wrong direction, and this is what someone once tell us not to. Not to do or not to be part of any of these, and we remember Lot when human Abraham had to separate. That’s what Lot did.

He started to go in that direction. Then he stopped around Sodom and Gomorrah. He realized that’s a beautiful place to be, and then soon, not too late, he became part of it. He even he lived outside of the city.

But that lifestyle really influenced his life until God had to pull him out. He was brought the example of David. Today I think Brother Mead did that and a very beautiful did, and this is when we see this is the path that David followed. He went, he saw Bathsheba.

And rather than turning away right away, he pursued that path physically and mentally. Then he went in the direction once he reached the destination, he could have continue maybe coming back. But he continued down that situation, and then he stopped and said he took action and committed the sin that he did, and it was not pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

Now when we talk about him and brother mentioned that we don’t necessarily judge him. Because I think the example of repentance that we see in David helped many, many Christians down the age, and that’s why our Heavenly Father allowed that to happen, and that’s how he became a man after God’s own heart by following those procedures, and I think it’s an example for us.

We just want to show the path that pursued, and then in comparison with Jesus. When we look at Jesus, we realize how he knew. He foresaw where things are going, and he knew right away that he should not even talk or about certain or like when Satan came, he said it is written.

And he did not even went to the first step. When Peter told him not to go to die Jerusalem he said get it behind Satan. So it was so clear for him. He could foresee where things are leading and who is even talking behind behind Peter, and I think that’s what it means to truly be mature.

Let’s go to the oh, and in First John 1:7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowsh one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin. Let’s go to the second verse. But his delight is the law of the Lord.

And his law he meditates day and night. This is a very beautiful verse, and when we read about Jesus, he said, I delight to do your will. Oh my God, your law is within my heart. How beautiful.

We see that Jesus is the perfect example that we have that the law of the God was his delight. He enjoyed to do that. It was something that was coming natural for him. A lot of times if we look at ourselves, we have maybe to push a little bit because we are in this earthen vessel and we will always have this resistance. But to have the delight is when little by Little the new creature gains victory over the old creature.

And then it becomes a delight to do certain things that probably they were not a delight earlier in our Christian walk. Very brief about Jesus. Just one verse, one verse before it says that you have not desired sacrifice and meal offering. You have opened my ears, and we mentioned about that yesterday.

You remember when if a servant served for six years and wanted to live with that master, and can you imagine what a good master to have that your servant wants to stay with you? It just gives us an insight that even if we are in certain positions, maybe to be a master, that people want to be with you. That’s a beautiful example, and this symbolizes that even when Jesus came on earth, his experience with the Heavenly Father and the relationship that he had until then was so close that he didn’t want anything else. He wanted to come here and continue to serve our Heavenly Father and to piercing the year, representing that act that I want to be and do your will.

He said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. Work. Apostle Paul tells Romans, for although they knew God, neither they glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him. What Apostle Paul here is truly saying is that while the Romans knew that there is a supreme being that created the heaven, that created the earth, while they acknowledged that there is such a being, they didn’t accept his authority. They didn’t accept him as the one to tell them how to live, how to conduct, how.

They didn’t accept him as the source of righteousness in their lives, and that means to delight. When we believe in God, we accept him to tell us, and his law becomes our law. This is what David said in Psalm 1:2 that delights day and night, and then David also says that in the watches of the night I meditate on thy law.

There is a very beautiful manna. This is a special day for us. But I really like the manna, and we were talking with Brother J about this. How we can read it. The Christian’s habit of thought has much indeed to do with his spiritual progress or retrogation, as there is also an index of his spiritual state.

And good habits of thought need to be carefully cultivated. By habit of thought we mean that normal condition to which the mind habitually returns in the moment of mental leisure. While engaging certain engaged in active duties in life, we must of necessity bend our mental energy to the working hand. But if we do anything merely mechanically and without concentrating upon it, we cannot do it well. Yet even here, Christian principle well established in character will unconsciously guide.

But when the strain of labor and care are lifted for a time, the established habit of thought, like the needle to the pole, should quickly return to its rest in God. We’re all familiar with this man, and we like it, and how important here is that if we make God’s law our delight, if we make that our life, then this becomes actually who we are, what we want to do. Philippians 4, 8. I think the manna for today was along that lines.

Very beautiful that this should be whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure. This becomes part of our lives. We have a plaque in our house. We got it from Brother George and Sister Florence Daybeck, and we took a picture here. Want to share with you.

And this is a familiar quote from repent 5413. But the little flock will serve the Lord with such delight that they will scarcely know how to cease their efforts, and you notice the word delight again, and knowing who gave us this plaque, knowing Brother George and Sister Florence’s lifestyle and everything that they have done and continue to do for their brethren, it means so much to us. Every morning when I walk in the office and I see this plaque, it makes me sometimes not feeling comfortable if I am not probably as productive as I should be.

And it makes me more to follow every time I look at this, follow their examples as they follow and continue to follow Jesus. You only experience and know that there is no greater joy than to serve our heavenly Father. Psalm 37:4, and Brother Richard mentioned this psalm. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

What we read here is that the more we delight, the more we do God’s will, the more they will become our lives and even our thought and whatever when we wake up. My earliest thought I desire shall be, what shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits toward me, that becomes our thought. Psalm 91, 1992. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction, and brethren, this law will become the delight of all people sooner or later.

And what a blessing is that we delight into his law today. Let’s look at verse three. He will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water which yields it fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers. Just reading this verse, we realize how rich it is and how much we can talk about this verse. But as I was thinking about these thoughts and thinking about the importance of water in our lives.

We watched the presentation of Israel that brother Ken Ralson put together, and he uses that in connection with Israel. Where is water? That is life, and that is so true because I remember going to Africa with brother Homer, and once you reach with the airplane, the land of Africa, for a while, the only thing where you see is just red, solid clay. That’s the soil that is there.

And then here and there you see some trees, and then you know right away there is a stream of water that feeds those trees, or otherwise you wouldn’t see them, and I don’t think we have the circumstances to appreciate the importance of water in a natural way, because we have it. But I’m sure it’s not necessarily our fault. It’s the circumstance that we have.

But people in other places in the world get to, in full and in depth, appreciate water and what it means to have water.

There is something very interesting that I found as I was looking at this about the trees, that tree roots tend to grow toward water through a process called hydrotropism, where the root tip senses the water potential gradient in the soil and actively changes its growth direction to move toward the areas with higher moisture content, essentially allowing the roots to search for water in soil. I found it very interesting that even at the tree level, the roots, God created them in a way that they can sense where there is drops of water, where they can grow, and what a beautiful lesson is that, is that for us, we know that the words that I have spoken to you, they are spirit and life. Water represents truth. The words of our Lord Jesus.

The words, the word of God. Ephesians 5:26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word. John 7:37. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, and we talked about that yesterday.

And there will be a time when the spirit and the bride will say, come, and all the world, everyone will come and take the free gift of the water of life, and this is our desire that if we drink this truth, if we drink this water, one day we will become water for others as well.

Psalm 42, verse 1 and 2. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, the living soul. How beautiful. Again we see the desire to enjoy the the truth, realizing that this is our source of Life.

Reprint 2123 with the increasing appreciation of spiritual blessings come a more ardent longing for more and more fellowship with God and more intense longing after holiness, and we would like to take just a few minutes to look at the relationship or how the Christians are symbolized in trees. We know that even the largest tree begins begin with a tiny seed. Our Lord said that the seed is the word of God, and Peter says that for you have not been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring Word of God.

The Christian life starts with the seed of God’s word taking root in a receptive heart. Just as this seed that we see contain or has potential life, and we say potential because not every tree, not every seed produces a tree. Even Jesus gave a parable that not every seed that fell produced something. So even so is this seed can produce life.

So the gospel sown in a person heart contains the power to bring spiritual life, and the next step is growth. It takes time for a tree to grow, and there are a lot of factors involved. There is another, another quote in reprint 5135.

Brother Asel says character is more like the the oak than like the mushroom. We know that the mushrooms grow overnight, and we know that it takes about. I looked that up. It says it takes about 20 to 100 years for a solid oak to grow and full and receive or get to the mature state.

So the same is for a Christian apostle. Paul said that I planted that follows water. But God made it grow. Ephesians 5:4. Rather than speaking the truth in love, we are to grow in every way into him who is the head into Christ.

And only by growing we can reach or get to the next step, which is standing firm, and the trees go through a lot of maybe we could say different natural disaster or dangers, wind or branches or people cutting them or animals or whatnot. But we know that the stronger the tree is, the more likely is for the tree to survive, and the survival of the tree depends of different factors. But one of the most important one are the roots that this tree builds.

And I was very impressed knowing that a tree, it says that it develops almost like a canopy underground and also goes horizontal. So the same canopy that we see on top, it’s underground, and it’s at least the size of the tree most of the time. It’s twice three times the size of the trees in the ground. I was very impressed that I looked that up.

And it says that the great greatest reported depth to which a tree roots have penetrated is 400ft. That is a lot of depth, 400ft. They said it’s taller than An Eiffel Tower that is, I imagine that trees in South Africa, whatever experience, whatever drought might go through it will find a little bit of water to go through, and I think you can see very easily what it means. Probably different lessons.

We have to have our roots in the word of God, but also the main lesson is as the tree grows more in ground, more inside, so called and not necessarily outside. That’s how we have to develop inside, more developing within ourselves. Prophet Nathan told Saul for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart, and Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3:16 about the inner man that we have to develop, and that’s a good parallel to the roots of the trees that they have to develop.

And if we do then then we’ll then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here by the every of teaching. If we look at this picture and if I would ask you if there is a storm that would come, which tree would survive or would have a easier time to survive a storm, and in Florida we hear a lot of storms that you have and you are familiar with that, and I’m sure as we look here, we’ll all say that those trees that are together, and the lesson for us I think is very simple, that the Lord designed us in a way that we would grow together, we would develop together.

And even if we read in John 15, 5, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you’ll bear much fruit. Apart from me, you cannot do nothing. So what Jesus is telling us that even if we meet together, our relationship is one on one with the Heavenly Father. Through him we absorb the water of truth.

Our relationship doesn’t depend of any ecclesia of a group organization what might be. But this is necessary for our growth, and let’s put emphasis on both of them, the individual relationship and the ecclesias and the fellowship that we have in Christ as well. Apostle Paul said, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, and as we said that the deeper the roots are for a tree, the more likely the tree will survive the drought.

And this is a very good parallel scripture in Jeremiah 17 that a solid tree does not fear when heat comes, and ultimately if we do this, we would become trees of righteousness. That says in Isaiah 61:3 we mentioned about the trees that were all over the temple and how beautiful represents the righteousness that will be developed in our righteousness as well. Just as a side note, as I was looking at the symbolism of tree, I realized how we A lot of times we have true Christians, false Christian. Now we have some parallels where trees don’t necessarily represent righteousness or faithfulness.

But for example, we have a large tree in Daniel chapter four, and brother Mer talked about that as well, and David told to the Nebuchadnezzar that you are that tree. So we see that association as again we remember the nation of Israel is a presented through the fig tree. When Jesus cursed the the fig tree, then we have the master seed that grew up in a big tree in Matthew 13.

Next we have yielding of the fruit in verse three, and the purpose of a tree is to bring fruit, and that is the purpose in our lives as well. Of course there are wild trees, fruit trees. We want to be a fruit tree that bring bring trees.

Jesus cursed the fig tree because it didn’t bear any fruit. This tree doesn’t look very good. But whatever the tree was that Jesus saw, it was the tree that he expected fruit. As we know, there are two harvests, so called of figs, and there was the early harvest that if there are leaves, there should have been some.

Some fruit as well, some figs. Another important point as we look at verse two is that it says that it brings its fruit in season, indicating that there are time for growth, but there is also time for bringing fruit. So we should not be discouraged if maybe there is a period in our lives when we grow and maybe we don’t see so much fruit. However, year over year, looking back, we should see our path going up. Ecclesiastes 3:1.

There is a time for everything and a season for every activities under heaven.

Another step is leaf that does not wither, and that doesn’t mean that we won’t go through some periods in our lives of maybe discouragement or maybe downs that we Read in Proverbs 24:16 for the righteous man falls seven times and rises up again, and even if we see this, we need to concentrate on rising up again. There is a very beautiful manna for March 18 that he ends with. The race before us is not one to be run by feats and starts, but by patient continually and well doing.

Basically not to be down, be up, not in a wavy way. Even if there are waves, we should make sure that those waves go up. You see those graphs. We should see that overall it’s going up. A very beautiful verse in Psalm 92:12, 14 the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar.

They still bear fruit in old age they are ever full of SAP and green, and this reminds us how blessed we are that we see brethren, that they are mature, they’re developed, and they are full of SAP and green in every stage in their lives, and they are an encouragement for us, and this is what Psalm tell us. Very brief.

We’ll go to the aspect of prospering in all we do. We have Joseph that prospered in everything he did. We have David, we have Hezekiah. Of course there are different ways of prospering, but if you are in the Lord, if we are in the Lord, we will prosper, and our prospering is in the in our calling.

2nd Peter 1:3 2:8 his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

We could talk a little bit more, but going to verse four and five in Psalm we read that this is not the same for the people that decide to go down the sinful way or to go in a different direction. Psalm 1:6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. What a confidence we have in the Lord that in that he knows our way and he will guide us and we should be able to pull that out. He knows the way that I take Even in the middle of his experiences of his trials, he had that confidence that he knows the way. Brethren, in summary, may the Lord bless each one of us as we came to this convention, as we fed upon the truth, fellowship with each other, everything.

May all this help us so we can be green trees, so called in every season, like a palm tree. That’s full step in every season, and we’ll conclude with a very beautiful quote. April5559 only by continual scrutiny of ourselves in the light of God’s word can we make real progress in the narrow way in which our Master walked. Truth is to become brighter and fuller and more luminous as we go onward to this end we must keep close to the Word and in line with his program.

The Lord will not accept little undeveloped sprouts for the kingdom, but he wanted those that have grown and matured strong, sturdy trees of righteousness. Isaiah 61:3 May the Lord bless each one of us, brethren.

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