Listen, we are so excited to get to kick off We Are One Church today. And man, you get to hear from, really, one of our campus pastors who's become really a good friend of mine. This is Andy. And Andy Pittman is our campus pastor there.

Andy is full of energy and joy. Yeah, we can give it up for Andy one time. Yeah. I'll take it.

Come on. I'll take it. Andy is one of our best just encouragers, and man, has a ton of wisdom. He's been in ministry for a long time.

He's a really gifted communicator. But I want you to get comfortable and begin to hear a little bit of his story before we even get to open up God's word. So, Andy, tell us a little bit about you and your family and just some of your story, man. So, hey, thank you for having me.

I'm glad to be a part of the team here at Venture and that you welcomed me into Jones County. Graduated from the metropolis that's a little east of here, Richton. Graduated from there- ... several years ago. And anyway, Grace Strickland, the Hunt Club campus pastor, y'all know who that is, right?

He was my babysitter, so you see how that turned out. Yeah. So, all turned out well there. Went to Jones College.

At that time, it was Jones County Junior College. From there, graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi. To the top, actually. Andy.

I was expecting more, but it's all right. I think let's do. Yeah. A little early.

A little early. And then my wife and I, Katherine, she and I got married right after graduating from Southern Miss. And there's a picture of my family up here. So, you see my beautiful bride, Katherine.

This coming Wednesday will be our 20-year wedding anniversary, right? Give it up for her. Thanks. She gets this for 20 years and forever.

And then, so Katherine and I have been married for 20 years. And then you have my oldest son, Parker. And for any of you that have ever had an encounter with Parker, you have had an encounter with life. And- ... that is very good.

They were here, or will be here. My middle son, Ridge, and then my youngest, Brooks, right there, our caboose. And when you see them, it is never a dull moment at the Pittman house as my wife is raising four boys at this point. Hey, do this for me, man.

We got a lot of folks that are watching today, and you may not have been to our Jones County campus. And so, one of the things we're doing in this series is inviting you to say, "Hey, listen. I want you to see some of our other campuses." And when you walk onto that campus, you're going to feel at home. We would love to say, if you know someone that lives in Jones County or lives close, Ellisville or any of that area, man, listen, take a Sunday off of your campus, bring them with you, and go enjoy Jones County.

All right? And you'll see Andy there. You'll see some of the folks that led worship today. You are our best piece at growing campuses.

Right? Because when you invite someone, they'll come with you. And so, we want you to go to Jones County and see what God's doing there. But Andy, is there a moment, is there a memory, is there a story that just stands out to you from leading at Jones County?

A lot of things have happened in the past little over three years at Jones County. But I'm going to say the most impactful in my world is going to be recently, the outdoor baptism night that ended up being indoors. Yeah. We couldn't do it outdoors.

Had some rain. Yeah. It happens in South Mississippi. I got the privilege to be a part of seeing my oldest son give his life to Jesus and to baptize Parker on that night.

And so, that was just huge- Yeah, Parker. ... after years. Life changed. A melted dad. Really couldn't say a whole lot.

I could just... Held him under a little bit and then brought him back up. But it's good. Just a special moment.

Well, listen, here's what we're going to do. I want you to go ahead and find your Bibles, or you can jump on the Venture app, and you'll see the notes for today. We're going to be in the Book of Psalms. We're going to be in Psalms 1.

And before we start the day, I'm going to pray for us, and then Andy's going to get to open up God's Word with us, okay? So, let's pray together. God, I thank you so much for Jones County, for what you're doing there. God, I thank you for an outward-focused church that's reaching people whether it's on the coast or in Stone County, here in Hattiesburg or in Jones County.

And so, God, I thank you for the families that helped start, that began this work. I thank you for the team that you've put together to lead it. God, I thank you for Andy and for his family and for his heart. God, I thank you for our partners that make that campus so special week after week.

But God, today, as one church, when we open up your Word, we pray that you would speak to us, God, you would encourage us. Father, our lives feel like the Book of Psalms. They're up and they're down. There's highs and there's lows.

And so today, would you speak to us and would you encourage us through Andy? God, it's in your powerful Son's name that we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thanks, Craig. Hey, since you have your Bibles open, look, can we again celebrate what God is doing, not just here, but through all everywhere that this is happening at Venture Church? Hey, in Jones County, I'm very, very thankful that we get a chance to be a part of it. That the team here took a chance on just an old, redneck country boy and said, "Hey, you'll do." And I'm thankful for it.

And I'm thankful for it, and I'm glad that God looked down and said, "Hey, I'm going to use you one day." And I was like, "How?" And here we are. And so, we celebrate that you guys have been a part of the sending. Sending the campuses, sending the people to go. I'm very thankful that there were people that would get there early and would set up for the mobile church.

Setting up and tearing down, building the stage, taking the stage down. The whole production from lights and sound to taking all the seats out of the room and cleaning it up each Sunday for years. I really, really, really appreciate that. I'm very thankful for it, and I'm really thankful that God brought me in on the backside of that.

Because my first Sunday there, the carpet was in, and it was permanent, and so I didn't have to tear stuff up, or put it out, or any of those things. And so, I'm very thankful for that. But I'm thankful that you have bought into the mission to be a church for the unchurch and to reach people that you don't know. In fact, I thought about it this morningI was like, "You know what?

That's what faith looks like." God's called me to do something. I don't see what's happening. I don't know how it's going to go down, but the fruition of it is this: God called me, and I'm taking a step out to do it. And so I'm thankful to have the chance to do that.

Hey, I came across some information this past week. Came across some information that I thought that was interesting, and I want to share with you. Did you know that in 2024 there were 14, let me make sure I get this number right. No, I'm-- 15,000 self-help books published. 15,000 self-help books published.

A $14 billion industry. In 2025, there were estimated 660,000 podcasts. When people say, "Hey, everybody's doing podcasts now," absolutely. Yes.

Worldwide, 660,000 podcasts launched globally, with health, mental wellness, self-improvement genres being the top of the list. So when I read these stats and I hear this information, I have no choice but to come to the conclusion that at one point I said most, but I dare say that everyone out there right now is looking for how they can live what is deemed a blessed life. Yes. You know what I mean?

So, what is deemed a blessed life? Now, I'm not talking about a T-shirt. I'm not talking about the tank top at the ball field. I'm not talking about the door hanger in front of your house.

I'm talking about blessed. And every one of us in this room have our own version of what that blessed looks like. Maybe it's family, maybe it's family gatherings, maybe it's something to eat. Maybe it is a piece of property.

Maybe it's your possessions. We all have that different version. But this morning, what I want to do is I want to take a look at the Bible and see what God says is blessed and how we deem what is actually the blessed life. We are in the Book of Psalms, and Psalms is a compilation of many different things.

It's not just a book that you open and go, "Hey, I'm going to pick this" and go, "This feels good. Let me read it." Because there's some things in Psalms that don't feel good. Yeah. But it's a compilation of poems.

It's a compilation of songs, hymns, prayers. Lots of authors are found in the Book of Psalms, most notably King David. Yeah. A man known as a man after God's own heart.

So this morning, as we jump in, I'm going to invite you to read with me verses one through six of Psalms, which is the entire first psalm. "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 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 the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

And the wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the 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." We notice right out of the gate the word blessed. It says, "Blessed is the man." I think it's important we define that, right? What is blessed?

For those that are followers of Christ, that have surrendered their life to him, blessed is a deep-seeded joy and contentment from God. Blessed refers to the redemptive favor of Christ. Sounds a little different than the rest of the world, doesn't it? And the one who is blessed, the one who is walking with God, notice that what it says, it follows that with the blessed man.

Now, this is not gender specific. Blessed man, blessed woman, it fits. That's where it goes. "The blessed man is one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers." A blessed person, or one living the blessed life, is living a life of obedience.

Living a life of obedience, walking with God. Let's look at what Paul says in Philippians 3, verses 12, 13, and 14. "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul says a person living a blessed life has forgotten the sins of his or her past and says, "Hey, I am going to walk, pressing forward with Jesus." Yeah. When we desire and we want to play and dabble in the sin that once held us separated from God, when we play and dabble in that, what we're saying is, R.C. Sproul had this quote and it saysFrequently, R.C. Sproul frequently taught that every time we sin, we repeat the original lie of the serpent.

We convince ourselves that we know better than God regarding what will make us happy. By rebelling, we essentially declare ourselves ultimate arbiters of truth, striving for self-deification, wanting to be the absolute masters of our destiny. May I sum that up for you? When we choose sin over obedience, what we say is, "I'm just better than you, God.

I've got this." And that, my friends, is not living a blessed life. So when we read these words, what do we do? How do I live in faithful obedience? How do I run away from my sinful past?

How do I move forward? Well, I'm glad you asked. I could see it all over your faces. You were asking.

And so it's important that we answer that by looking at verse two. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night." A person that is moving forward, that has forgotten what is behind, delights in God's truth. I'm not sure about you, but my vocabulary, I don't use the word delights a whole lot. And so I had to think of how does this work in my brain?

So I'm looking up, I do some research, I do some stuff, and this is-- There are-- Please don't throw stuff at me yet. Give me a chance to run. July, right? You all with me?

Yep. It's coming. Yeah. It's going to be a little warm.

Yeah. July 4th. It's beautiful. Some of you have a pool.

You have your slides out there. Where I'm from, we got our sprinklers set up. Yeah. So we're out there playing in the yard.

You got things going. It's 104 degrees, and somebody says something, "Hey, the homemade ice cream's ready." Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so we sit down, and we start to eat this homemade ice cream, and it soothes us.

It starts with our lips, and it goes down our lips, down our throat, and then it soothes us. It's a delightful treat. I'm enjoying this in this moment. To delight in God's word is going, "Hey, I am enjoying this treat." Yeah.

I want to spend time researching it. I want to spend time cherishing it, learning it, praying God's word, and taking it in a little bit at the time. Matthew 4:4 says, "But he answered, 'It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" That's right. When we want to delight in God's word, we open his word, and we see what he has to say about the character of who he is, and whenever we hear that, we then react in obedience.

See how the two are connected? There's also something else we do. We meditate. And on his law, the Lord's law, which is the scriptures, we meditate day and night.

Now, I want to, if you will, go with me here. There was a time in my life when I did not understand meditation, but I'm learning it as we go. Don't know about you, but my brain is full of useless knowledge, and a lot of that useless knowledge is spinning around in there in this word vortex at 150 miles an hour. What do I need to do?

Where do I need to go? What's coming up next? What are we eating for lunch? What if I run into this person?

Do I need to get my oil changed? I just changed my oil. The grass needs mowing. And I know you're going, "That don't make any sense." I know.

I need help. And whenever I talk about that, I think that's a reality. And so I wanted to learn about meditation. And when I became a follower of Jesus, when I was in middle school, I wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Yeah. Became a follower of Christ. So I bought myself a Bible on a youth trip, and it was the teen study Bible. It's pink, purple, blue, green.

Some of you all know what I'm talking about. Had it, toted it under my arm. I had it for a whole week and went outside to read my Bible. I set it down and went inside to get something to drink, forgot I had taken my Bible outside, and two days later, I found it after the dog had chewed it up.

That's what my spiritual life looked like. So I bought me another Bible because it was going to make me better. I bought another Bible. I never read it.

I got into college, bought me another Bible. One was given to me, and so I had this stack of Bibles, and so I have this excuse me, I have this really nice box that's full of Bibles. And by the time I'm an adult, I realize that I'm thinking all the time about things. I'm like, "I'm not a good reader.

I don't study very good. I'm not a very good student." And I started making all of these excuses, and then one day, I was having a conversation with a gentleman, and it was about this. Every outdoor magazine that came out, I read them cover to coverI knew about ballistic coefficients. I knew about what caliber needed to be used for what animal, what type of bullet needed to be used to harvest said animal that I'll never get a chance to go and hunt.

I also knew that there was a thing called thermals and how you needed to hunt thermals, how you needed to do. It was a problem. I knew all the gear, I knew all the names. I knew all of that.

In fact, I consider myself friends with them because I watch their shows so much. I know none of them, and they don't know me. And so when I heard the reality set in for me that that is meditation, I was thinking on those things. I had them in my brain.

What if I read God's word like I was reading those outdoor magazines? What if I studied God's word like I studied the pitching rotation for an 11U baseball game this afternoon? What if I studied God's word like I did the rule book so I could show that one umpire that he's dumber than me? What if?

And this, my friends, is meditation. Biblical meditation is when we get to the place when we're internalizing God's word and then applying it to our lives. Do the words that I say to my children matter? Absolutely.

That's why it's important for me to speak God's truth to them. Do the words that I say to my wife matter? Absolutely, and that's why they need to come from here. Does Andy make boneheaded decisions?

Oh, you have no idea. It's who I am. It's what I do. But it is by God's grace that he draws me back to his word, and he teaches me who he is.

Amen. You see, in verse one, when it says, "He is like a tree that's planted by the streams of water that yields fruit in its season. The leaf does not wither, but in all he does, he prospers." The beauty about God's word is it's like a tree. The person that is living in obedience, the person that is walking in his delight in the law of the Lord, the result is this person stands firm.

Go with me here, this word picture that we found in scripture. A tree planted by the streams. Notice that the tree doesn't plant itself. It gets there somehow.

Either an acorn falls, or someone transplants it, but somehow this acorn is beside. Why did I go oak tree? Because you just heard me talk about my redneck stuff. That's where we're going.

Okay? So there's an oak tree. It's planted beside this stream, and in this stream, hear me out, streams are usually at the lowest spot of the topography. So when the landscape goes, you have rolling hills, and in the valleys there are streams.

And along those streams, here's what you have. You have a tree that has been planted. As this tree has been planted, the top inch or so starts to sprout roots. And as these roots are sprouting, over time, there are rains that come, and it washes the sediments into the creek.

Here it says streams. We're in South Mississippi. I'm pretty sure it says creek. And so it washes into the creek.

The sediments come down the creek, and they start to collect around the roots. And as it collects around the roots, the roots grow, then so does the trunk. As the trunk grows, so does the canopy. But the canopy takes a while before it gets to the place of producing fruit.

And so now there's a flood. When the flood comes, all of these sediments rush in, and they cover up the roots, and this tree grows. Even when it's a drought, the drought comes, and this tree, it's still there. And so it has the place where it still is able to collect the nutrients.

It is still able to receive the moisture, and it continues to grow. And one day, it is producing this fruit because the roots are well, the trunk is well, the canopy is well, and now the fruit is produced. You all, the same thing happens in our spiritual life. You are not planted or accidentally just show up in God's grace.

Just like trees are seeded or transplanted, God, through his Son, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, exposes the glory of himself to you, so we get the chance to start to grow in a relationship with Jesus. And over time, our roots are being fed. You end up hearing God's word, and God exposes our sinful nature, and we become a child of God. And when you become a child of God, then you start growing in a relationship with Jesus.

And as you grow in a relationship with Jesus, it takes time and takes consistency, and this time and consistency is day after day after day. You know this? A tree never thinks anything, ever. It's a tree.

But it certainly never thinks, "Oh, one day I'm going to be big and strong. I'm going to have roots, and I'm going to have a trunk, and I'm going to be pretty." It doesn't do that. There's a life lesson here. What if we said, "I don't know about being a spiritual giant, but God, I want to rely on you today." I made it.I'm terrified, God.

I'm a new believer. I'm a new follower of Jesus, and I have a wife, and she's not there yet, so I need you to get me through it today. My kids don't like me because they're teenagers. Can you help me get through this today?

My job is forcing things on me that I do not appreciate because it contradicts who I am and what I believe in. And God, I pray that who I am and what I believe in stands with your character. And I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I want to walk with you because you hold the future. Please, today.

And as we read God's word, what he does is he sends sediments down, and it grows us and builds our roots and builds our trunk. And as our trunk is built, and as the canopy is built, here is the beauty of it. God then starts producing this system inside of us where we don't have a choice but to produce fruit, and we didn't do it because we set out to produce fruit. We did it because we set out to walk with God.

That's right. Amen. The wicked are not so. It tells us the wicked is nothing like the tree.

They stand firm for nothing. In fact, they're discarded. When we think through and we process today, the blessed, the man, the woman that's living the blessed life, he doesn't walk, she doesn't walk with the wicked. We don't stand with the sinners, and we certainly don't sit with the scoffers.

We've put to death that old life. But one thing that we must do is reevaluate the company that we keep. Who's influencing who? Next, be careful where you get your information from.

Just because on TikTok this morning or Instagram or Facebook or whatever social media platform that you use, that today you had a social media preacher that just started preaching to you, hey, listen, that's not God. That's an algorithm. Make sure that whenever you hear teaching, that it comes from this. I get it, you have your devices, and you guys are way more mature than me, and I'm completely.

But if I try to read my Bible on my phone, the next thing you know, I have three four-wheel drive trucks and a broken four-wheeler that I have saved on Marketplace, and I was like, "I thought I was reading my Bible here." It's reality. There is no substitute for opening this and underlining things like, "Blessed is the man." God, I want to delight in your law. I don't really know what it means, Lord, to know though, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous. I don't deem myself righteous, but God, could you just teach me to be more like Jesus?

We sing it, "Holy Spirit, make me more like Jesus." That's right. Why can't we live it? The wicked ultimately will perish. This means hell.

Eternal separation from God. Straight up, you don't want that. Not now, not ever. Living the blessed life is getting to the place where you fall in love with Jesus because you understand that the gospel, don't y'all love that song we started out with today?

The gospel is Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, and there is no other. If you would like to have a relationship with Jesus today, you'll get a chance to be walked into that. But ultimately, it's this, "God, I can't do this on my own. Will you forgive me for my sins?" Maybe you are in this room and you're going, "Hey, man, I get it, but I'm stuck.

I'm stuck in a rut and the rut is driving me. Even when I put it all the way to the floor, the rut is driving me. I need help." Well, the beauty of that is we have the options to help you. Just open your Bible.

Take it to today. Read Psalm 1. Take notes. Highlight passages.

Cling to those things. Commit to a plan. I'm not asking you to go read the entire Bible today. That's a lot.

But here's what I would love for you to do. Start. Amen. You can't finish the marathon without taking one step at the start-finish line.

Start. And utilize the research, I mean, the resources that our team has put together. This isn't a sales pitch. Remember I said be careful where you get your information from?

We've vetted it for you to make it easy. Go there. Get a Bible reading plan, a daily devotion, a family devotion. And today, I want to invite you to walk in intimacy with God, our Father, as we attempt to live the blessed life.

One who's given their life to Jesus and walks with him. Pray with me. Lord, I pray thanking you so much for your Son, Jesus. I thank you that we don't deserve the chance to walk with you, but Lord, you offer it.

I pray that this morning, that we will respond in obedience, that we will live obedience, we will delight in your truth and in your law. And Lord, we will leave here challenged to grow in a relationship with you, God, our Father, through the Son, Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.