00:00:00.000 - 00:00:50.000

[ Silence ] [ Music ] What shall I render unto God for all his mercy? What shall I render?

00:00:50.000 - 00:01:14.840

What shall I give? ♪ What shall I recall ♪ ♪ Unto God for all his blessings ♪ ♪ What shall I recall ♪

00:01:14.840 - 00:01:41.240

♪ What shall I give ♪ God has everything, everything belongs to me. God has everything, everything belongs to me. How shall I remember?

00:01:41.240 - 00:02:12.240

How shall I live? All I can remember is my body and my soul. That's all I can remember. That's all I can be.

00:02:12.240 - 00:02:36.840

God has everything, everything belongs to me. God has everything, everything belongs to me. What shall I become? What shall I be?

00:02:36.840 - 00:02:49.180

♪ God has everything ♪ ♪ Everything belongs to Him ♪ ♪ God has everything ♪ ♪ Everything belongs to Him ♪

00:02:49.180 - 00:03:07.000

♪ What shall I become ♪ ♪ What shall I be ♪ - Amen, amen. How many of you have your Bibles?

00:03:07.000 - 00:03:20.040

Let me see your hands. Those who have Bibles, I encourage you to bring your Bible because what the pastor is doing is preaching through the Psalms.

00:03:20.040 - 00:03:30.820

It's the largest book in the Bible, 150 songs. It's the hymn book of the Bible. And so we have been preaching through it. So we've been there now for

00:03:33.260 - 00:03:51.740

some 40 some weeks. We are now considering the 52nd Psalm. The 52nd Psalm, and the basis of the message is the eighth verse.

00:03:51.740 - 00:04:13.340

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. Would you repeat those words? I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.

00:04:13.340 - 00:04:34.680

All right. The subject of the message, life like an olive tree, life like an olive tree. Poets through the ages have sung about life.

00:04:34.680 - 00:05:01.640

On the wings of song, Longfellow expresses his thoughts in his Psalm of Life. Sweet singers of Israel have compared life to a tree. In the first Psalm, the writer says that life is like a tree

00:05:01.640 - 00:05:22.320

planted by the rivers of water. And here in the 52nd Psalm, which is the basis of our message, life is compared to a green olive tree. The Psalmist says, "I am like a green olive tree."

00:05:25.480 - 00:05:42.640

But before saying that, the psalmist describes the existence of a braggart, the person who sees himself as the big shot while others are the little shots.

00:05:42.640 - 00:06:03.100

So he begins his song by telling what life is not. Many times we can better understand what something is by considering what it is not. One does not live on negatives.

00:06:03.100 - 00:06:25.240

One is not alive to what really matters when we take comfort in boasting in the wrong things. Matters not what we may have, It matters not how much we may be blessed with,

00:06:25.240 - 00:06:37.280

the important thing is how do we use it? That's what really counts. There are individuals who boast of what they have and fail to consider that they are responsible

00:06:37.280 - 00:06:53.020

for how it is used. We're responsible for the use of our bodies. We're responsible for the use of our influence. We are responsible for the use of our position.

00:06:53.020 - 00:07:14.120

We are responsible for the use of our power and our prestige as well as our material resources. But when we misuse these and boast about it, we are immersing ourselves in the sea of stupidity.

00:07:18.440 - 00:07:45.280

So the psalmist begins by saying, "Why do you boast, O mighty man, of mischief done against the godly?" Here is a man who has done some mischief, committed some wrong deeds against a godly person and he's boasting about it.

00:07:45.280 - 00:08:13.040

the Psalmist raised the question, why do you boast? Oh mighty man you've got all your power and all of that but why are you boasting now of the evil that you have done against the godly? Why boast about that? An individual may be in a position of power, he or she may be able to make life difficult for the godly.

00:08:13.040 - 00:08:51.360

And the psalmist here describes such an individual who spends the day plotting destruction, who spends time digging ditches for innocent people to fall in, the individual whose tongue is like a sharp razor, the individual who is busily engaged in treachery, who loves evil more than good, who loves lying more than speaking the truth. This is the kind of

00:08:51.360 - 00:09:25.720

individual that the psalmist describes in these verses. Here is an individual who is deceitful and who is constantly engaged in destruction. It's always tearing down. This psalm was written in ancient times but the kind of individual the psalmist describes is not peculiar to ancient times. That same person, that

00:09:25.720 - 00:09:42.440

that same kind of individual lives today. So the words of the Psalmist are up to date. They are as up to date as this present moment. Psalm 52 is identified with a critical period

00:09:42.440 - 00:09:54.220

in David's life. It's a time when King Saul seeks to take David's life. David is a fugitive. He's on the run.

00:09:54.220 - 00:10:10.220

He's running for his life. And so he goes to Ahimelech for help. David is hungry. And as a priest Ahimelech has the show bread which is reserved for the priests.

00:10:10.220 - 00:10:31.620

Not to be eaten by anyone else. But he gives this bread to David to eat. And this is a revolutionary act. It's a radical change in the normal way of doing things. It's revolutionary and

00:10:31.620 - 00:10:53.700

we live in revolutionary times. Change is all around us. Israel was in revolutionary times. She experienced a radical change from tribal government to the establishment of the United Monarchy. Now the kingdom is in the process of of being taken from Saul and given to David.

00:10:53.700 - 00:11:08.060

Revolutionary times. And sometimes we think, both as nations and as individuals, that we have a monopoly on our position or our place in history.

00:11:08.060 - 00:11:28.820

Saul thought that his position was his to keep, but it really belongs to God. And we live in a time when there is revolution in the air. America expresses increasing concern for civil rights. In Poland the workers are

00:11:28.820 - 00:12:01.100

protesting against the government. There is revolution among the Arab states. There is revolution in South Africa. There is revolution in Europe, revolution in Asia, revolution in Africa, revolution in America. There is revolution all over this world. Change, change, change, change in structure, change in the quality of

00:12:01.100 - 00:12:35.980

life. Yet amid change there are constants. Amid the discontinuities of life there are the continuities in the midst of all of the shifting changes there is that which remains steadfast and secure that which is changeless. The psalmist says I am like a green olive tree. Let's consider what it is to be like an olive

00:12:35.980 - 00:13:06.420

tree. Now olive trees are plentiful in the Holy Land they were then they are now. They are familiar sight on the hillside and in the countryside. In fact the olive tree is regarded as the king of trees. I am like a green olive tree. And so every individual ought to be like an olive tree and think of yourself as

00:13:06.420 - 00:13:34.540

being like an olive tree, the king of trees. We are the climax of God's creation. We are the best God has made when it comes to the investment that God has made in the human family. He made us to be ruler over his world. The olive tree is regarded as king of the trees. Now olive trees were planted, I said, on

00:13:34.540 - 00:14:12.080

the hillside often. It was grafted when three years of age and it was arranged, the arrangement rather, was of such that the water from early rains is conducted to the roots so that it would receive the kind of nourishment and great care is taken in the planting. Planting because you see when they were planted on the hillside they were exposed to the

00:14:12.080 - 00:14:51.640

scorching Sun and the fierce winds and yet the psalmist says I am like a green olive tree planted on a hillside exposed to the scorching heat and the fierce wins but nevertheless remains green, steadfast, secure. I am like a green olive tree. In other words, I'm rooted and grounded in that which is meaningful.

00:14:51.640 - 00:15:23.880

You know so often people live meaningless lives. They spend themselves for that which really doesn't matter. But what it really means to be rooted and grounded in that which matters. In meaningfulness. A green olive tree rooted and grounded in freedom. Freedom. Rooted and grounded in justice. You know some people want to play it safe. They know something is right,

00:15:23.880 - 00:15:59.860

but they don't want to be over there on what's right because there's a price to pay for that. I may not be as prosperous if I'm over here, but to be rooted and grounded in justice, to be rooted and grounded in love. I am like a green olive tree. The psalmist says that because he's planted on a hillside and he owes his existence to one who is a skillful planter.

00:15:59.860 - 00:16:16.520

Now that olive tree must be cultivated. There is plowing that takes place. That's essential for the proper growth of the tree. Soil around it must be plowed in order for it to develop in a meaningful way, in order

00:16:16.520 - 00:16:44.760

to have strength. So really God has to plow around us. Sometimes shake the soul from around us in order that we might develop. So when some things are happening around us and sometimes people wonder why is this happening? Well it's essential for our development. You can't really be and I can't be the kind of

00:16:44.760 - 00:17:10.660

person I want to be, I ought to be, if all you have is just success, you're going to have some disappointments, you're going to have some failures, you're going to have some reverses in your life, but somehow in the midst of it all, this plowing, this cultivating that we ought to be cultivating that which is good, cultivating that which is true, cultivating

00:17:10.660 - 00:17:35.020

that which is beautiful and this takes place through obedience to God's Word. You know what? The cultivation of the olive takes a great deal of patience. You got to be willing to wait three years in the grafting of the plant and then three

00:17:35.020 - 00:17:57.500

years before it produces any fruit. somebody may say who wants to wait that long? It takes a great deal of patience. So if our lives really develop in the way that God wants them to develop, it must be like a green olive tree, there has to be a great deal of patience. Enough patience to wait on God!

00:17:57.500 - 00:18:22.600

Enough patience to wait for the kind of maturity to take place in one's life. and have patience to wait and sometimes that's that's so hard to do I have problems with it all of us do patience when I was a little fella used to wear short pants and I wanted to wear long pants it looked like it was so long

00:18:22.600 - 00:18:48.420

before I could wear long pants you know patience if you can wait to be able to wait on the Lord. But the psalmist says I am like a green olive tree, I'm prepared to wait on God. The psalmist says of the braggart who boasts of his mischief against the godly, this is what the psalmist says about that braggart, God

00:18:48.420 - 00:19:26.580

will break you down forever. He will snatch you and tear you from your tent. He will uproot you from the land of the living. God will do that. In other words, don't worry about the person when you're doing good and they're always doing mischief to you. You don't have to run out to pay them back. Leave it to God. God will snatch you from your tent. And then he as he looks and compares his life with the one who's boasting about what he's has and what he's doing in a way of mischief he said I am like the

00:19:26.580 - 00:19:57.880

green olive tree. During a time of drought the olive tree prospers. No rain, sun is scorching, but the olive tree remains green. You know how can we accept the changes? You know some people go to pieces. They go to pieces when they have have things to happen in that family, when they have some disappointments, when they

00:19:57.880 - 00:20:19.160

have some reverses on their jobs, when some loved one is taken, they go completely to pieces and sometimes find fault with God. The psalmist says, "I am like a green olive tree." In this book, Future Shock, Toffler points out the fact that when you put many of the

00:20:19.160 - 00:20:40.100

changes that that are going to occur during this period that people aren't prepared for them because Not being prepared will cause them to go to a great deal of shock it's like when you uproot a plant and you put it somewhere and You've changed its environment and it loses all of its leaves. It's going through shock

00:20:40.100 - 00:21:07.080

And so sometimes people experience shock because of these changes, but the olive tree remains Steadfast it remains secure and prospers during times of drought and then lastly the olive tree is a symbol or an emblem of peace God has promised to make our lives like an olive tree if we trust in him

00:21:07.080 - 00:21:24.420

He said to Israel that you will inherit Olive yards that you did not plant That that's if you if you follow the leadership of my spirit and I will make your life beautiful I will make your life secure. I

00:21:24.420 - 00:21:52.580

Will make you like olives because you will inherit Olive yards that you did not plant so life like an olive tree Is due to one comes as a result of one who trusts in God George Skilmore says, "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.

00:21:52.580 - 00:22:22.900

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth's sweet flowing breast. A tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray. A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair, upon whose bosom snow has lain, who intimately lives with rain.

00:22:22.900 - 00:22:54.780

Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree. Only God. Only God can make a green olive tree. I'm talking about a tree that remains green. Jesus as he goes through his life and he is the epitome of perfection but he is

00:22:54.780 - 00:23:22.260

mistreated, he's ridiculed, he's crucified and as they are taking him up Calvary he looks to those who are around women who are weeping and he said don't weep for me. He said if they do this thing to a green tree what will they do to the dry? He compares his life to a green tree and if we would be like Christ it means

00:23:22.260 - 00:24:01.060

that our lives must be like a green olive tree, standing on a hillside amid all of the scorching heat and the fierce winds, but it remains green and prosperous. So he says, I can say this because I trust in God. I trust in the mercy of God forever. That's what the psalmist says. Well a psalmist says that that's his testimony what about yours and what about mine? Can you in your

00:24:01.060 - 00:24:26.200

heart of hearts say today I am like a green olive tree. So if you are here today God is present to help you if you have not made this decision to live like like a green olive tree, God is present to help us. (chanting)

00:24:26.200 - 00:25:01.800

(shouting) ♪ And you have me ♪ ♪ The last Sunday of the season ♪ ♪ Sing of thee, our neighbor's love ♪

00:25:01.800 - 00:25:21.220

♪ And all ♪ ♪ The healing hope ♪ ♪ That saved the world ♪ ♪ Our song of earth and home ♪

00:25:24.100 - 00:25:39.860

♪ Like a mouse and a ghost ♪ ♪ Where I first saw light ♪ ♪ And the world along the line ♪ ♪ Oh, there it is ♪

00:25:39.860 - 00:26:18.660

♪ It was there by day ♪ ♪ I received a sight ♪ ♪ As of now I am the people's king ♪ [ Music ]

00:26:18.660 - 00:26:38.780

♪ And called me a degree ♪ ♪ At the cross, at the cross ♪ ♪ Where I first saw the light ♪ ♪ And the burden of my heart rolled away ♪

00:26:38.780 - 00:27:02.680

♪ It was there by ♪ ♪ I received my sight ♪ ♪ And now I am happy all the day ♪ May we bow our heads.

00:27:02.680 - 00:27:19.940

Gracious God, our Father, we thank you for this encouraging word that comes to us from the experience of the Psalmist. We pray that your spirit will ever be with us

00:27:19.940 - 00:27:37.220

to help us to develop in the way that it may be truthfully said that I am like a green olive tree. We come now to the table which thou has prepared

00:27:37.220 - 00:27:49.040

to nourish. [BLANK_AUDIO]