In this piece we want to examine, I hope briefly, if the Lord permits, THE BLESSED DISCIPLE AND HIS or HER EXPECTATIONS. We will start our observation from the book of Psalm 1:1-6. The Bible says in another place, “Surely there is a future and the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut short”. There are many disciples, Adolf Hitler had disciples, there is no criminal organization in the world that doesn't have its disciples. But we will call many of them unrighteous people. Now, when you are a disciple of Jesus, you are said to be partakers of the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
Let us look at this analogy. It is like in the family in those days, there could be families that still do it, but it used to happen in many families in those days in Africa. When food is served, mothers often serve the food, if it was swallow for example, inside two containers, one container for the swallow and the other one for the soup. And everyone in the household was expected to come and lay hold of his or her portion — something that produces life for everybody. The mother did the cooking, and she served it to everybody. So, if you're a member of the household, you must come forward; you must be able to sit down and eat. So, you are called a partaker of the meal for doing so. Do you understand?
We don't do that again at this time and season, but that was the common practice then. Now, looking at that, if somebody is not a member of that family, the person will become illegitimate and disqualified from coming to sit and partake. So, a disciple is the one who partakes in the spirit; and in the essence of the discipler or the master. So, if you are said to be a disciple of Jesus, whatever Jesus partakes in, you are expected to become co-partaker, join heir with Christ. Jesus is the primary partaker; He is the one that partakes: this thing belongs to him. When you are a disciple of His, you are expected to become a co–partaker.
So, whatever He partakes in you take a portion of it. Do you still remember the story of the lost son in the Bible, he came to the father and said, “I know you have abundance, but whatever belongs to me, of your abundance, give it to me.” It means before that, and he was a co-partaker of the collective wealth of the family, as a disciple of his father, the things that the father had, he had access to them. But he said, “Give me a portion, let it be cut off; cut my portion off out of the commonwealth so that I can know which one is mine. So now, we are looking at a disciple of Jesus who must become a sharer of His portion. That is, whatever belongs to Christ, he must have access to it. So, we're not looking at unrighteous men, or unrighteous women in this piece, but righteous men. The Bible says: “Surely there is a thereafter and the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut off”.
The blessed disciple and what is the future ahead of such a man or such a woman? Is there a good future or the future is anyhow future? Let's look together to the book of Psalm chapter 1 from verse 1, and see what the Bible says, “Blessed is the man or the woman who works not in the counsel of the ungodly.” A disciple is first a man or a woman before he becomes a follower of another man, or another woman, or another idea. If you're a disciple, you must be a man or a woman first. The Bible says, “Blessed is the man.” We are picking ourselves up as individuals who are men or women. So, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delights, excitement, passion, Love, and hunger are in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night.”
We are looking at something and I don't know if that resonates with you? I don't know if this describes you? If it doesn't describe you, you need to do something about yourself as a man or as a woman, if you will be able to partake in the future that is for the blessed man who follows Christ. The blessed man who follows Christ is the blessed disciple. It says, But His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night. Since he has done this, verse 3 says: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruits in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.”
The Bible didn't just say some of the things that he does will prosper, because this is where we must learn from. The Bible makes it like a close deal or close matter, it is not subject to change, this is much more than the law of Medes and Persian that cannot be altered. The Bible says, “Whatever he does”, whatever! Whatever can take on any name, whatever he does, the businesses that he is into, the ministry that he is into, the family he is bringing up, whatever he does. The ideas that come to his mind that he's trying to bring to fulfilment, whatever he does. When he gives to people who are in need, whatever he does, the Bible says, “Shall prosper.”
Many of us are looking for prosperity, but the Lord is showing us the secret to prosperity; it doesn't fall upon anyone like ripe pawpaw. The true prosperity that comes from God comes to the man that has been blessed. What is it that makes a man blessed? The Bible says, “He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.” The second thing is, “He does not stand in the part of sinners.”. And lastly, he does not sit regularly “In the seat of discomfort.” In verse 4, the Bible says: “The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
“It Shall perish…” It is like saying the expectation of the unrighteous is destruction, in the same way, that “the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut off”. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous; the Lord is aware of it. The Lord created it. He says, “But the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Now, in verse 1, we can see three things, which we would also find in verse 4 and verse 5. The first thing that we will notice is: “The counsel of the ungodly…” Don’t forget we are looking at the blessed man. What produces blessings for brother Obayomi, brother Francis, Sister Lara, or Sister Tosin is this, “Sister Lara does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.” But if Sister Lara begins to walk in the counsel of the ungodly the variable has been altered. So, you can no longer predict the expectation of Sister Lara to be the same as those who don't alter the variable.
The Bible says, “…who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.” So, the first thing is the counsel of the ungodly. The second thing is “Nor stands in the path of sinners”. The second thing is the path of sinners. The path of sinners! The last thing is, “Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.” The seat of scornful. These are three very important things, and the righteous man, the disciple, takes them very seriously, and they define his or her blessing from God. So, if a man or a woman is not blessed by God, the man shouldn't crack his brain, and the woman shouldn't crack her brain, how comes I'm not blessed? Check these three things: the counsel of the ungodly, the path of sinners, and the seat of the scornful.
The Bible says in verse 4, “The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” It didn't just mention them in verse one and dump them. There is a follow-up. He says, the path of sinners, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. So, how can I become blessed as a disciple? I need to look very deeply at what God has instructed a man or woman not to do if he or she will be blessed by God. Guess what, if you do the opposite of what you are not expected to do, or you do the opposite of what you're expected to do, for instance, you are expected not to take the counsel of the ungodly, if you take it, you will be blessed, but not by God. We must clarify things.
So, if your blessing will come from God, remember, the Bible says, “It is God that makes rich without adding sorrow to it;” the blessing of God makes rich without adding sorrow to it. One thing that differentiates the blessing of God from the blessing that comes outside of God is the presence of joy or the absence of joy. So you think you are okay, your life is progressing, everything is working fine, but you lacked joy. You are always in sorrow; something saddens your heart every time; then you must check that blessing. It might not be from God. God is the God of all grace. In Him is the grace for power, the grace for riches, the grace for strength, and so on. So, there is also the grace for blessing or the grace of blessing. If the grace of blessing will come to us, these are the things the Lord is expecting us to do, and not to do the first thing, we should not ‘work in the counsel of the ungodly.
When you look at the ungodly; the godly are those who have no God in their lives, or in whose lives you cannot find the living God; they go after other gods. There is nothing God has established as a way of life that they follow. They do not seek to please God by their words, by their actions, or by their associations, but they seek to please something else or someone else. And the Word of God is “don't walk in their counsel. Don't live by their directions.” When you are confused about what to do, don’t ask an ungodly man. What do you think I should do because you think the person is richer than you? Oh, you are in university, the person has graduated. And you know, the person is an ungodly man. The Bible says, don't ask for direction from such a man. Don't ask for advice.
Somebody is ungodly, he has moved from one married to another but you think his life is moving well; his or her businesses are moving fine, and you are asking marital questions from such an ungodly man or an ungodly woman, the Bible says don't do it. So, if you can avoid it, you are on the path of being blessed by God. Now, the second thing it says is, “Don't stand in the path of sinners”. Like the sinners have a way they follow. You know, there's a place in Isaiah where the Bible talks about the way of holiness. It says even when a fool walks in it, he will not miss the way. If you flip it; the way of unholiness, even when a wise man walks in it, the wise man will not miss his way, but he will end also at a destination of unholiness, destruction. I don't know if you understand?
Once you enter a way, usually, you will not get out of it. And every way will lead you to a destination. So, God is admonishing anyone that wants to be blessed by Him; He says, “Don't stand in the path [in the way] of sinners.” What has become a lifestyle for them, don’t stand in it? So, when we are looking for you, let us not to find you in the path of sinners, because if you stand in the path of sinners, you become a sinner. Is that not it? That's it. So, even though this piece might look like elementary Bible teaching, if you want to be blessed by God, you don't just want to be a disciple by name, you want to be a disciple indeed, number one, don't follow directions that are not orchestrated by people of God, don't follow somebody or some people or an organization that is on ungodly in any advice or any direction.
What does that tell us on the surface? You know, somebody is not godly, but he has written and published a book, and then you bought it. You're like, knowledge, knowledge is power, but what kind of knowledge are you acquiring? Can an ungodly woman or man produce godliness in your life — in any form? No, this is just business, what I am reading is business; how to start up a business, how to do a business, but he is not going to use a godly method to teach you. Whatever method he or she is following is not going to be godly. So, if you follow it, you have almost started following his or her god.
I don't know, but that is simple. You know, many of us are asking God to do in us and do for us and do with us as he did for the men and women of old. But these are some of the principles that guided the things that they held strongly that produced the dynamism of God in their lives, that we yearn for today. If you want to be blessed, somebody could say, okay, “you are blessed, blessed, blessed by God”, but the detail of the blessing is contained in verse three. If you want your life to be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruits in season, because fruit is the result. The essence of your life is that you bear fruit. Not just that you bear fruit and that your fruit remains. But it's important to bear fruit before you even start thinking, how do I make sure my fruit remains, you must bear it first. Your life must produce. When we search your name perhaps on Google, we should see your fruit flowing out of Google.
What about the products you've produced? The ideas you've translated into a reality that is solving a problem in a community, in a family, and a place? What about the books you've published, the ones you have been able to make available online or on Amazon? Can those things flow from your name? You have started some businesses, and anytime they type your name on Google, your businesses are showing under your name, those are fruits. I'm just giving us examples. And then what are the impacts of those things that are coming out on Google? let your name not be typed and nothing shows up. If Google was confused about the fruit you are bearing, the people around you shouldn't be confused. If Google cannot find you, we must find you. That is why that place concluded in verse 3 with “and whatever he does” So, whatever I do, the Bible says, “It will prosper.”
This is important in this message; you will bear fruit. If you want to be blessed, you have to bear fruit. The blessing of the LORD in our lives will land on the fruit that you are bearing. Let your life produce, let your life produce, let people be able to say, ‘when you are looking for this or something, you come to her, you come to him. She's the one that produces it. She's the one that generates it. He's the one that creates it’. It's very important. But what we make the things you do and the things you produce to enjoy the blessing of God is number one, don't follow the counsel of the ungodly. It's like God is trying to protect the investments, the idea of God in your life or your mind; God is protecting it. Don't corrupt it with ungodliness.
Bible says, “God cannot be mocked, evil company corrupts good manners.” So, don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; it is not just in marriage but even in life so that you don't be a fruit that looks like God and looks like the devil; in other for you not to produce results that people cannot tell the father or the grandfather of the result whether it is God or the devil? Don't take the counsel of the ungodly, don't stand in the ways or path of sinners. There is a way that sinners follow — there is a pattern. You don’t need to become a disciple of the Yahoo, Yahoo guys; and become an apprentice.
It's not only Jesus that has disciples, people have disciples, but don't become a disciple of the world. Don’t live by imitation. Don't just follow anyhow; if you must follow, ensure you follow deliberately, don't just follow anyone; follow the right one. Don't stand anyhow, don’t stand for something. Don't stand in the way of sinners; look at the plural — it is the way of many sinners. It means you are patterning your life after different people. Your life is like this because of this one you are following. Your life is like the other because of the other one you are following. Like someone could say when it comes to my business, so, so, and so is my mentor, when it comes to marriage, I have a different mentor, when it comes to money, I also have a different mentor; when you aggregate all of the mentors together, you might not find men of God or women of God among them.
By so doing, many have divided their lives among the sinners, so their lives look all of them. When you come to their lives, you can't find any organization; organized followership, like this, is a woman that is following this or following that. I pray that God will help us in Jesus' name. The last one, the Bible says, “Nor sits [repeatedly] in the seat of the scornful”. To be scornful means to be full of scorn the same way a faithful person is full of faithfulness. Scorn on the other hand means a feeling and expression of contempt or disdain for someone or something. Somebody that has a feeling but does not stop at feeling, but expresses it, he displays it; I don’t care, what is it? like somebody that can sell his birthright, we're talking about money, you're talking about birthright? We are talking about food, you're talking about right? Esau was an example of a scornful man. The Bible says, “And Esau despised his birthright.”
Contempt is a feeling that a person or a thing is worthless, or beneath consideration. Look at this when a young woman today responds to believe that “it is good to marry as a virgin.” A virgin! Are you serious, in this generation, virginity? Talk about something else! Who has been a virgin help? Forget it! There's nothing there, what do you do with that? That person is holding her virginity in contempt; something that is worthless, what is the value? We cite an example with Esau and birthright. Esau said, “What is birthright For God's sake, we are talking about survival, if I was to die now, and will I be inheriting anything in the future?” “So, I need to leave now to be able to get something in the future”. So, that is being scornful. And the Bible says one thing you shouldn't do
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