Psalm 1 (Where We're Headed and What We're Listening To)

The Neighborhood Church

Psalm 1 is a sign posted at the beginning of our journey through the book and through life itself. The word "Blessed" is painted in big letters at the entrance as an invitation to "Listen up because the quality of your life depends on it!" So where are we headed and what are we going to listen to? NOTES -- // SCRIPTURE FOCUS -- Psalm 1 // The Psalms are the prayerbook of God's people that covers the vast landscape of human emotion and experience. The Psalms give us permission to bring our whole selves to God -- like our failures, fear, and future. // Psalm 1 is a Psalm of trajectory -- about where you're headed and the way you take to get there. // "BLESSED" - A Geography - A Quality - A Trajectory // ISRAEL'S fork in the road: Deuteronomy 30.15-16 // "SIN" at its root is a failure to love and a rejection of life. Choices become habits, habits become character, so stop sitting over there and listening to it! // JESUS' fork in the road: Matthew 7.13-14, 24 // Where are you on your journey with Jesus? // "MEDITATES" - A Murmuring - A Mulling - A Chanting // QUOTE -- "Each citizen is habitually engaged in the contemplation of a very puny object, namely himself." (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835) // Belief informs behavior. Our faith is not just meant to be believed, our faith is meant to be lived. // What story are we telling ourselves about God? About who we are? About what matters? Because where we're headed depends on what we're listening to.