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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

What Does It Mean To Prosper

Abide In Christ Like John 15

Prosperity Is Jesus Not Stuff

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All right, welcome to day four in Psalm chapter one. Again, I'm reading it every day. Maybe some of you would memorize this Psalm by the end of this week. Says this Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of the sinner, nor sits in the seat of the scoffer, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Today I want to look at verse three. It says, He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Let me ask you this question. Do you want to prosper? Do you want a prosperous life? Every man I know wants to have a prosperous life. Well, I got good news. Jesus wants you to prosper. We'll talk about that in a second. How? How are we to be like a tree that prospers? Well, first and foremost, we've got to be planted by streams of water so that we yield fruit in its season and our leaves won't wither. Well, and this is talking about our relationship with Jesus. That's what it's talking about. In John chapter 15, Jesus gives this incredible invitation and he uses this garden imagery. I talk about it all the time, because it is the perfect picture of mortification and vivification. There's some things in your life that are killing your relationship with Jesus, just like if you were to create a garden, if you were to try to nurture a garden, there's some things that are that are trying to kill the plants, and you've got to kill the bugs, kill the pests, kill the poisons, or it'll kill your plant. But that won't be enough. There's also some things that you've got to add to the environment that bring life, that bring nourishment, that bring nutrients to the plant so they can grow. Jesus uses this kind of illustration in John 15, and he says, This, abide in me, and I will abide in you. He says, I'm the vine, you're the branches. So what you've got to do is you've got to take, you've got to stay attached to me through prayer, through worship, through Bible study, through sermons, through all the kind of things, man. The spiritual disciplines. That's what that's talking about. And then he says, Apart from me, you can do nothing. So if you're playing church, man, if you're trying to walk like a Christeless Christianity, which just leads to sort of a moralistic pursuit, it's such a waste of time. Apart from Jesus, you can do nothing. And then he says, Abide in my word, and I will abide in you. So how do you how can you be like a tree planted by a stream of water, first and foremost? The stream of living water is Jesus Christ, and you have to plant yourself there. You have to say yes to his invitation, and the roots of your life have to go deep into the person and work of Christ. And then, secondly, we plant our lives in the living word of God. Jesus gives this parable where he scatters seed, and some of the seed is just stolen by the devil that lands on a path. Some of the seed begins to sprout early, and there's a lot of excitement there, but it's got no roots. So when the scorching sun comes, it just dies. And then some of the seed, it just gets choked out by the concerns and the worries of the world. May we not be that. May we be the men who plant our lives in Jesus and we are rooted in the Word of God so that all that He does, He prospers. You want to prosper? Well, here's one way to prosper. If you do life God's way, right. If you live in God's world, God's way, that's called wisdom. There's a lot of prospering there. Now, does prosper mean cash and prizes? Honestly, maybe sometimes if you can be trusted with it, but if those things will bring a downfall instead of stewardship, then God's not going to trust you with those things. What it means to prosper is it means that you get Jesus regardless of the outcome. You see, God the Father is a good dad and he loves to give good gifts to his kids, as long as those gifts stir your affection for the giver of the gift and they don't drive a wedge in between you and him. So if you think if you do a few Bible studies, memorize a few verses and say some prayers, then you can prosper because you tricked God, then you're too dumb to talk to. Man, when when when when my kids were really little, um I went to Walmart and I bought a huge bag of bags of little green army men. And every time I would get home from a trip, JP would come running up to me because he wanted army men. And I would give him the army men. He didn't know that he could have found them if he just looked through the garage, but that was fine. And at first he was so grateful to me, but one, to see me, and then he was grateful that he got the army men. And then what began to shift is that he didn't want me, he wanted the army men. Well, do you think a good dad would give their kid a gift that would drive a wedge between them? The answer is absolutely no. God wants to prosper you. He's a good dad that wants you to have good gifts, but the good gift that he wants for you is him and the things that he brings to you. And so the best thing you can do with your life is be like a tree planted by streams of water, the living water Jesus Christ, and by a deepening relationship with him, he through you will yield fruit in season. Your leaves will not wither. And all that you do when you follow Christ will prosper because when you follow Christ, you get him.

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