- These six verses break down really

into four big spheres of life, right?

It's the individual, it's the family,

it's the church, and it's all of society.

And we're going to see what a life of walking

in the ways of the Lord actually looks like.

- Where are we in the Bible?

Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

The Bible begins in the Old Testament,

written around 3500 years ago.

The first five books of the Old Testament:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

are known as the Pentateuch, or books of the law.

The next 12 books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth,

1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings,

1 Chronicle, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

Whew. That's a lot.

These are known as the historical books.

This brings us to the books of the Bible

known as the Wisdom Literature.

It starts with Job and then into

a collection of 101 poems known as the Psalms.

- There's a chapter in the Book of Psalms

that has really unlocked for me a way to drown out

all that chaotic noise

and instead find something better

that I can actually vibe and live my life doing.

Today, I want to show you where that is

and how that exactly works.

But first, quick question for you:

What did you want to be when you grew up,

like when you were a kid?

Like what did you want to be?

Did you want to be like an astronaut,

a teacher, a firefighter?

Me? I wanted to be all those things.

But as I got a little older, I started to realize

what I really wanted to do was I wanted to be a DJ.

Yeah, that's right.

I wanted to be on the turntables,

making great noises,

you know, doing the whole thing.

[scratching] You hear that? That's fun.

Now, these turntables and this rig is interesting

because the technology has, like, evolved over time.

So I'm going to try to turn this thing on

and see if it actually -- Oh, it works.

Oh, look at that. It works. It really works.

Let's see if I can actually, like, scratch.

I don't even -- I don't even -- [scratching]

Oh, you hear that?

Oh, look at that.

Let's try something.

Let's try this. [song changes]

It worked. It work --

I'm not going to play with these too much

because my DJ friends will actually

be in the comment section making fun of me.

But I wanted to be a DJ as a kid, right?

And I had friends around me at the time,

we had like a little crew or whatever.

And my good friend, he wanted to be a public speaker.

He wanted to inspire people through his words

and through speeches. Right?

I had another friend who was in culinary school

and he wanted to make incredible foods

and that sort of thing.

And then had another friend

who was like a really good rapper. Right?

Well, as life progresses, my rapper friend,

he actually became a school principal.

And so he's still inspiring people through words,

but not necessarily ones that rhyme. Right?

So he's leading thousands of kids at a high school, right?

And my friend who was in culinary school,

he actually became a really good rapper.

And he's written songs for artists

that are Grammy winners and, you know, doing his thing.

And my friend who wanted to be a public speaker,

he's actually traveled the entire world deejaying.

And well, me, I'm here with you. Right?

It's funny how life works.

There's one thing I've learned,

it's that life is complicated and it's messy

and it's super intertwined,

and it never goes as planned.

But I got to be honest with you, I tell you this,

I am at peace.

I am at peace with God. I'm content.

And I believe that I am blessed

beyond what I could ever imagine.

And as life never goes as planned,

one thing we can plan for is that

when we take God seriously and we walk in His ways,

there are benefits.

So as we unpack Psalm 128,

I want you to see this as a snapshot of

an ideal society, church, family, and individuals

who are experiencing peace and contentment.

Let's read it together, Psalm 128:

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,

who walks in His ways!

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you from Zion!

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life!

May you see your children's children!

Peace be upon Israel!

Now, I know, before you go all wild on me,

a few things to note about this.

The word fear in this passage

is not what we talk about when we talk about fear.

The word fear in this passage is really

about respect, reverence and awe.

You and I have this weird thing like fear equals horror movie.

That's not what the writer is talking about here.

They're talking about respect and reverence

and taking seriously.

And this chapter shows us what a thriving family

and society and individuals and all aspects of life

looks like in a specific snapshot in history.

It's different today, we all know that.

We don't live in ancient Israel.

You probably don't even like olives.

And most of us, right now,

we don't pick our grapes off of a vine.

We drink our wine out of a box. Right?

This Psalm is an ideal, and it's okay

if your life doesn't look exactly like that right now.

But this can be something for us to strive for.

And in the same way,

we strive to be more and more like Jesus.

Every day we can strive for ideals.

So what does it really mean to be blessed?

What does it really mean for it to be well with you

and walk in the Lord's ways?

How do we actually get there?

Well, these six verses break down

really in the four big spheres of life, right?

It's the individual, it's the family,

it's the church, and it's all of society.

And after the break,

we're going to unpack each of those four

and we're going to see what a life of walking

in the ways of the Lord actually looks like.

- Hey, I'm Hannah. - And I'm Kyle.

- We're hoping that this message is connecting with you.

And if it is, we'd love for you to go to Crossroads.net/give

to support videos being made just like this one.

- That being said, let's get back to the message.

- Okay, so this deejaying thing is pretty sweet,

but we got to watch out for the bots, right?

So I'll give you just a little bit of --

remember this one? Classic.

You're not going to catch us bots.

We're not doing it. Not going to happen.

This is how deejaying works. Right?

This rig right here back in the day,

they would they would DJ on these things called records,

right, vinyl. Right?

And so if you were doing an event,

you'd have to walk in there with like giant crates,

like milk crates stacked to the ceiling

to be able to pick songs out of.

Now, it's a little bit different, right?

With technology and whatnot,

we've got playlists that you can pull from.

You can pull the songs out of here,

so you have to walk around

and load up a plane or whatever, or a car or a van.

And then from there, from the software,

it comes into these these turntables here. Right?

And so these turntables,

I learned on on these right here.

I learned on these guys right here.

But now DJs are getting smart.

They got a smaller, more condensed pack.

It does all the same great stuff, right?

It does all the awesome stuff,

but it's just a little bit smaller.

And then from there,

the sound goes into like this mixer, right?

And so this mixer right here is, like,

where the central point

of all the different noises coming in.

And then you get to take the sound out of the mixer

and you send it into the speaker.

And the speaker is what the world hears

or what your listeners hear, right?

So let's read Psalm 128 with that framework in mind.

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,

who walks in his ways!

You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

you shall be blessed and it shall be well with you.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;

Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you from Zion!

May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life!

May you see your children's children!

Peace be upon Israel!

Six verses, but unpack a lot of insight

on what a blessed and peaceful world looks like.

And we're going to unpack those four spheres.

But I want to do it in a way

that's been really helpful for me

as I've been reading Scripture, right?

And that's reading it backwards.

Like not backwards in like this word

and this word in reverse order.

But I mean, taking the verses, and reading them in reverse.

All right?

So the four spheres in reverse order, right?

We're going to pull it back.

We're going to pull back a little bit here

and unpack these.

The first one, right, verse six.

Verse six is talking all about society.

And when we think about society,

it really is interesting to me that

the noise that is coming out of the speakers

of Culture right now,

it really strikes me as uncomfortable, right?

Like hear how loud this is.

It could be a loud. It could be annoying.

It could be frustrating. It could be ugly.

It could be angry. It could be divisive.

We've got a lot of things coming out of the speakers

right now that need to be addressed. Right?

But the way we're going about it,

it feels like the speaker itself might be broken.

I think we all agree that a long life,

a peaceful life is something that we want.

A peaceful nation is more ideal than a non peaceful one.

And if we're going to change

what's coming out of the speaker. Right?

We can't just move the speaker around and tip it over

or or throw it out the window.

We have to look at the other components

that make up what's happening in culture,

because just like what's coming out of a speaker,

it's comprised of all the different elements.

What's coming out of society is comprised of

a lot of different elements.

I told you that the mixer sends the sound of the speaker.

Right?

Well, that really takes me back to verse five,

it talks about being blessed from Zion.

Like what's Zion, right?

Not just the basketball player.

Like what is Zion?

Zion was referred to as the holy city of Jerusalem.

And often times, like the temple that sat on the hill.

Right?

It was a place where all of the Israelites went.

It was the place where they met, and they worship God together.

There's an ideal in this passage

that everyone who is blessed

and is walking in God's ways

is connected to a body of believers.

And for us right now,

where the body of believers meet is the local church.

And I encourage you to get connected to a local church.

And this mixer is a lot like the local church, right?

If you think about this mixer as the place where

all the different people come together

and they all try to work together

to impact what's coming out of the speaker.

There are a lot of different components to this, right?

If you turn one side on too loud, it's super annoying.

But if you don't turn it on at all,

you don't hear it, right?

You get nothing.

Now, if this side tries to fight with that side

and you get like all of this back and forth going on,

all that jazz, it becomes annoying

and nobody enjoys it, right?

No one is blessed by it.

But when both sides of this mixer

are working the way they're supposed to,

something is created, right,

that wouldn't normally be there.

And then the people who are listening, they're blessed.

Society is blessed by the church working together,

the body of believers.

But a church is not just where it where it stops. Right?

Because the church is made up of more

than just people coming together.

It's made up of families.

And that takes me to verse three. Right?

Verse three is all about the family.

And it's important to remember in the culture

that these people were reading and studying this,

men did a lot of the studying and reading

and women did not.

And I want to encourage you,

if you look at your your home life right now

and you're like, "Ah, I hate it when we talk about this stuff,"

because, you know, your home life doesn't look like

that or you don't have to two parents in the home

or, you know, you might even

live with your birth parents or whatever that might be.

I want encourage you with this. Okay?

Families are like turntables. Okay?

They come in all shapes and sizes. All right?

I learned on this, this is what I had growing up.

Today I'm using these.

There have been times where I've used

different models of turntable and in the same way

God uses families that look like this,

that looks like this, and that look like

something that we don't even have on this table. Right?

Every family is different.

And if if you read this, and you automatically feel shame,

I want to take a quick pause and talk to you real quick.

Like, I know traditionally in Christendom

it's been like a one size fits all for women

and men are like, yeah,

you can do all these other things.

Women, you are called to just do this one thing, right?

And when you read a verse like that,

it can automatically trigger that feeling.

And so if you're a mom or wife or a woman right now

and you are called to be in the home,

if that's where you find your family situation,

I encourage you.

You are being fruitful.

You are not missing out on all the stuff

that is happening outside.

You are being fruitful.

You are a fruitful vine in your home.

And I also want to encourage moms

who are in the workforce and doing their thing,

the single moms, the moms who have decided to work,

the moms who are running businesses

and doing the whole thing.

I want to encourage you too.

You aren't failing your family.

You are being a fruitful vine.

See, what fruitful means is that

you are not just providing wine,

you're providing shade, you're providing nutrients,

you're providing covering over your family.

And what that looks like

changes depending on your situation.

You are being fruitful

if you are taking care of your family

and you are taking care of your home,

whatever that might look like.

In my house, it's probably not the same as yours, right?

Like my wife and I, you know,

we decided a few years ago that my wife would stay home.

Now, let me just stop you right there.

My wife's earning potential is, like,

way higher than mine.

But we made a decision that

it would be more fruitful for our family.

She decided she wanted to stay home.

All good. You know what that means?

That means she's being fruitful

as she cares for our kids every single day.

That also means that I'm going to have to be fruitful

in getting some stuff to bring home. Right?

Getting some money.

It also means that we can say yes to some things

and we can say no to some things

based on what we were called to do

to be fruitful in our home.

And then I also want to stop here real quick

because we're talking about family and stuff.

There's a lot of different emotions that can come up.

There are folks out there who are maybe you're single,

maybe you've been single for a long time

and you're like, "Man, I can't wait to make that,

you know, have to deal with those problems or whatever."

Or maybe you don't have children

or maybe you don't have a biological family.

Be encouraged with this.

We are all spiritual children of someone.

Everyone has a family, that's not a biological family.

Maybe you have a spiritual family.

And if you're following Jesus

or you're a part of pursuing who he is,

you are the spiritual child of someone.

I'm the spiritual child of Kevin and David

and the guys who had led them.

You are the spiritual child of someone.

We all have a family. We're all part of a family.

But families, right, families are made up of what?

Of individuals. Right?

And that's where I think the the most confusion comes

when we talk about a blessed world

and a thriving world and a thriving church

and a thriving family, we miss a really important part,

and that is the individual.

And we think about a DJ rig,

the individual is a lot like this software right here.

This software right here, if this isn't functioning,

none of this stuff works, nothing comes out.

This is one of the most overlooked parts

of a thriving world is the individual.

Because a thriving society

is made up of a thriving church,

that's made up of thriving families,

that's made up of individuals

who are taking God seriously and walking in His ways.

You can't have a thriving world

without people who are thriving,

and you can't have a godly world without godly people.

It blows my mind how we get so surprised

when chaos hits, when chaos ensues,

when we're not taking God seriously.

It blows my mind that we think that we can just,

you know, blame this, that and the other

and and make all these changes

without changing what's happening with us.

And lastly, I want to talk to the people

who maybe you don't know God, right?

Maybe you're like, "Yeah, this whole God thing,

I don't know if I really am into it or whatever."

Or maybe you're a little scared.

Maybe you take that word fear and you're like,

"Yeah, I'm actually scared of what might happen

if I actually get to know God,

if I actually make myself known to him

and get real around him."

I want encourage you with this, when you do know God,

when you do know God and walk in His ways,

you eventually realize that He wants good for you.

He has a future for you.

He's actually invested in your success

and your family's success and your church's success,

and your place in society's success.

He wants all of those things to thrive.

But it's got to start with you.

We need more people walking in the ways of God.

We need more people who understand what it's like

to take God seriously,

to bring it to the people closest to their lives,

to let that impact the local church,

to let that impact a society, not the other way around.

So my challenge today is that

you would examine your life,

take a hard look in the mirror

and see if there's anywhere in your life

where you aren't taking God seriously

and see if there's anywhere in your life

where you need to get to know God more,

you need to get to know more about what He says

about you, what he says about your future,

what it says about your life.

Because you can thrive.

Society can thrive if we take God seriously.

Let me pray for you.

God, I pray that we would walk in your ways

every single day and that we would see the fruit

of that decision in our daily lives,

with our families, with our friends,

with our churches, and with the world around us.

God, we don't want to throw our hands up

and give up and say, "Yeah, it is what it is."

No, God. We want to we want to pursue.

We want to bring your ways to the world.

We want to do what you've called us to do, God.

So I pray for every person watching this

that they would be renewed in their walk with you,

be renewed and their understanding of who you are

and they would see you for just how amazing you are.

You are good and we trust you. Amen.

- We're hoping you enjoy the message today

and hopefully you were able to get something

out of us going deeper in the Book of Psalms.

- That's right. This entire series is all connected

with an initiative that we've been doing

this whole year called the Bible Challenge.

- That's exactly right.

We as a community are going through the Bible

in the Crossroads App all week, reading,

diving into Scripture.

I'm there, Kyle's there, Brian's there.

- Everybody's there. Your mom might be there.

- Everybody's there. - A lot of people are there.

If you want to jump in,

just download the app and you're all set.

- That's right. So that's all we got for today.

We'll see you next time on Crossroads

and happy 4th of July.