Well, good morning. I trust you had a wonderful, restful evening and you're refreshed and ready for today. I'm really excited to be here. I count these type of activities as probably the highlight or one of the highlights of ministry and the blessings that it brings. And I want you as young people to know that whether you think you know me or don't know me, or whether you think I know you or don't know you, I, like all the other chaperones, and I just want to underline this again, care for you deeply. in the best sense of what it is to love your neighbor, I hope and trust. We care about your souls, and that includes your questions, your minds, your struggles. And as a young person, it often feels like everything's new, but As I tried to point out yesterday to the guys, it's helpful to think in terms of history because there's not new. And your questions have probably been thought and experienced by someone older than you in this room. You just don't know it because you've never shared what your question is. So I know it might feel like a leap sometimes, but Honestly, feel free to ask. That being said, I'm not going to be here at campfire tonight. I'll be leaving after lunch. I have to have the privilege of having dinner with Justin and Holly before I go back to Ontario. So that's my reason for leaving early. But Reverend Tomasian is very willing and ready to answer all your questions for me as well. I'd like to begin this morning by turning to Proverbs 22. You heard from Proverbs yesterday, and we're reminded that the voice of wisdom is calling out to you. And as we think about the voice of wisdom, it's not true of every verse in the book of Proverbs, but we can hear Jesus Christ as personified wisdom speaking. And from Proverbs 22 this morning, I want to read verses 17 through 21. Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee. They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord. I have made known to thee this day even to thee, Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee? And it's really verse 18 that is the theme for my message to you this morning. It is a pleasant thing if thou keep these words of wisdom within you. I don't know if you believe that. It is a pleasant thing for you to keep these words of wisdom in you. The world wants you to think fear, dread, paranoia, bad news, selfishness. God's word comes to you this morning saying if you follow these words of truth, it will be pleasantness. You need much more pleasantness in your lives. I do. Because every time I, you know, go to the news webpage or read a magazine, whatever it is, it's just more paranoia. more fear, more skepticism, more animosity that's coming at us. And the world wants you to look at scripture with that lens of fear and paranoia and distrust. And are you going to look at scripture with the lens of the world? Or are you going to look at the world with the lens of scripture? I want to encourage you this morning. My goal is to encourage you to fill your mind with Scripture because it is pleasant. It is pleasant. And really, Pastor Kelderman last night set the stage for this presentation this morning I want to very quickly go through three ways it's pleasant and then encourage you to understand it as pleasant. So, we'll look at how the word is pleasant as it shows us good, as it shows us truth, and as it shows us beauty. As it shows us good, I just picked two topics that came to mind very quickly. The word's good. because it shows us creation, the truth of creation, the goodness of creation. So you can look at a number of passages. I just put three that came to my mind, right? You know them probably, at least two of the three. Genesis one, God said, let there be, and there was, and it was good. Now, what did God create? in those six days. All things visible and invisible, Nicene Creed. So God creates and it's good. What you have around you is what God has left as creation that was made good. Psalm 19, you know, the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork. These are reminders of God's goodness that should help you see the pleasantness of God's word, because you see it around you. Now, Job 38 is one of my favorite passages. As God comes into the discussion with Job and his friends and asks, where were you? when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who has laid out its dimensions? Where are the foundations of the earth fastened? What are they fastened to? Were you there when I told the sea, you can come all the way here, but you can't come any further than this? And the answer... It's a rhetorical question. The answer is, obviously, Job wasn't there. But that's what God wants them to realize. And you see, there's goodness in the words of scripture as they even cause us to recognize our human limits. Because even the seashore, you go to the beach, what should it remind you of? God, because God said the water could come this far and no further. But you see, you only think that way, you only recognize the pleasantness of the Word if you know the Word. So, it's an encouragement to know the Word. Now that's God's Word showing us His goodness in creation. Let's go to character for a moment. God's Word shows us good character. If you think about I don't know, maybe your favorite Bible characters, you might think of their character. I was thinking character in general. You have Moses and Joshua being examples for the people and telling the people themselves, don't be afraid, don't be dismayed. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Psalm 133 is the famous Psalm about the pleasantness. of brothers who dwell in unity, there's good character. Jesus himself points out the good characteristics, we might say, Luke 18, there's a series of interactions. So first the parable, parable of the persistent widow. It's a lesson. about character. The Pharisee and the tax collector follows that parable. Do you want to be the character who says, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like everybody else? Or God be merciful to me. Then Jesus, in the same passage still, welcomes the infants. Let them come. And after that, it's the interaction with the rich young ruler who comes saying, what shall I do to inherit life? And Jesus says, you need to sell all that you have because it's not about you thinking you did all the right things, it's about your heart and you still care for your possessions far too much. You see, God's word shows us good character and it should be pleasant to us when we read of what God sees as good. Now, it's not possible, but we'll come to the gospel in a moment. So God's word shows us good. God's word also, well, let me interrupt myself. This is just an addition to the idea. One of the things that society today is saying is bad is marriage. I just wanted to put this in there. God's word says marriage is good. The voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride and the voice of them that shall say praise the Lord of hosts for the Lord is good. There's pleasantness when you understand What God says is good, and you walk in that way. Thanks. All right, let's go back to... Our basic idea, God's word is pleasant as it shows us truth. Truth about two things, again, could be more, but truth about the world. How does God's word show us truth about the world? You could pick any number of passages to start. But God's word includes wisdom literature, right? The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 7, 29, God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. Does that help you understand the world? It should. It should be a light that shines on your understanding so that you might wrestle less. And as you put God's word over the world and see the world in light of God's word. That should be pleasant to you because things start to make sense. Once we realize that man has sought out many inventions, gone astray, everyone to their own way, we recognize the truth of Romans 5. As by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. For all have sinned. And you see sin everywhere. Now is the recognition of sin pleasant? Not so much. But does it help you understand what is sin? Yes. Should clarify things for you. And so you can see what the truth of Isaiah 59, justice is far from us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity. We look for brightness, but walk in darkness. Truth has fallen in the streets. You see, that helps us understand the world. And then the pleasantness of the gospel breaks in. John 14, Jesus saying, I am the way, the truth, in the life. Do you understand the pleasantness of God's truth as it comes to you? Truth about the world, but then truth about your direction as well. And there's lots of passages that point you to God's direction. And are you going to see them as pleasant and follow in them? Right? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. He shall direct your paths. Psalm 25 is a prayer for this same direction. Lead me in thy truth and guide me. Zechariah 8, these are the things you shall do. Speak ye, every man, the truth to his neighbor. You see? Maybe the more well-known passage, Micah 6. But all these things are God's truth pointing out direction for you, and this is pleasant direction. It's not bad instructions. These are good instructions. John 16, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself. He shall glorify me." It's Jesus. Have you prayed for the spirit that the Father loves to give? God's word says to you that the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. And what about your life direction then? How are you gonna answer the questions of the future you don't know? If you asked for the Spirit to guide you, because your direction includes something future, whether it's Christ's return before you die or the moment you die and meet Him, He comes and every eye shall see Him. He's the beginning and the end. He's coming back. And are you gonna trust God's word to lead you into pleasant avenues of truth? It's not a smooth road, but it's pleasant. Because you're gonna face confusing moments, confusing moments like this, The road seems to be going one way and the sign says something other. What are you going to do? Proverbs 2, when wisdom enters into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee to deliver thee from the way. of the evil man. But the knowledge that's being referred to here, the wisdom that's being referred to here, isn't your perspective. It's the truth of God's Word. And when the truth of God's Word enters your heart, and when the knowledge of God's Word is pleasant to you, then discretion will preserve you. So that's the pleasantness of God's truth. The third one, God's word is pleasant as it shows us beauty. There's lots of aspects of beauty we could talk about. I want to talk about the beauty of God's care and the beauty of the gospel. Briefly, the beauty of God's care. We can see this over all kinds of categories. Creation, we already mentioned that. But just think of Noah and God saying, I want you to take into the ark these animals. That's God's care for his creation. That should be pleasant to us. Then there's God's care for specific animals. I just thought of Psalm 84, the sparrow, the swallow, It's, again, seeing God's recognition of his own creation. His pleasantness. We see God's care of children, Matthew 18. Except you become converted and become as this little child, you shall not enter. We see God's care for minds. Think of Romans 12, one and two. Philippians 2, let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, made himself of no reputation, took on the form of a servant. Sidebar for a moment. God cares for your soul. We care for your soul. Do you realize the Heidelberg Catechism says God's care is as a father who is willing and able to provide everything you need for this life and the next for both body and soul? God is willing and able to provide what you need for your body. Your mind is important. Your mind's important to God. Psalm 86 is a demonstration of God's care for the lonely. God sets the solitary in families. He brings those who are bound with chains out. And we can see this. Throughout even the Psalms, it's an expression of a lonely person. But why did God include it in scripture? Because he knew there would be other lonely people. So what should you see? It's not pleasant to be lonely, but it's pleasant to recognize that God recognizes the lonely. Moving on, we'll turn briefly to the beauty of the gospel. We can think of famous passages like John 3.16 and others that have been referenced even this week. One of the most beautiful, pleasant verses for me is Galatians 4.4. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. See, it was God's perfect timing, God's design, God's purpose. I'm going to send forth my son to redeem those who are being crushed by burdens they can't escape from. And then, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. It's the beauty of the gospel. And as you read scripture, you should be overwhelmed with this pleasantness. It's not just abstract pleasantness that's out there. This is pleasantness that God's reminding you of. And as the last verse on the screen says, the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open. unto their prayers. See, there's pleasantness in the gospel, pleasantness in the reminders of the gospel. But again, you need to have those verses of Scripture in your mind if you're ever to recall them. And so some of your questions at the campfire too, what were the speakers saying to you? Go back to scripture, no more scripture, because scripture will answer some of those questions. This might take a moment, but watch. I'll let it play twice, or maybe it'll keep playing, but it's just a little. video. What's the picture of? An eagle taking some kind of rock badger, smashing him on the stones, and then dropping him. Presumably because the rock badger's climbing the cliff where the eagle's nest and eggs are. Now you can watch that, that actually comes from National Geographic video. National Geographic will add their commentary. I want to add commentary for you to the video. Isaiah 31, as birds flying, so the Lord of hosts will defend Jerusalem. Defending, also he will deliver it, and passing over, he will preserve it. Just see, imagine God's church being those little baby eagles, eaglets, in the nest, right? Does God care for the little ones? that are being attacked by the enemy? Yes, as eagles flying, so the Lord delivers his people. Now, God's gonna snatch your enemies. He can smash his people's enemies. He will smash them, crush them under his foot. Let them go. That should be pleasant to you. You can get reminders of that pleasantness from a video, but the video is not the point. The point is you only recognize the beauty and the pleasantness of that if you know the scriptures and you know what God says. I'm much stronger than that eagle, but like that eagle, I will defend that which is valuable to me. That's the beauty of God's care. Now, going to the pleasantness then of the word as it shows us good, as it shows us truth, as it shows us beauty, you need to take in as much word as you can. And I want to highlight now two things, the pleasantness of recognizing God's word, and the pleasantness of being filled by God's word. When you understand God's word, yes, is there to define you and equip you, but it's also there to fill you with pleasantness. It should tell you God has good intentions as he sends his word to you. His word shows you the shallowness of the world. It shows you time wasted. But if you think about your Bibles, if I think about my Bibles, how easy is it to scroll through something else rather than read and think about the Bible? You see, the word is pleasant as it comes to us, but it points out the world's shallowness. It points out our own selfishness. God wants you to find his word pleasant. And understandably, some passages, some books appeal to different people in various ways. But just think, there's historical narrative. There's poetry. lists. There's wisdom, there's reflection, there's prophecy. And if you read prophecy and then read further in scripture, you see prophecy fulfilled. That should be pleasantness. You're seeing the word supernatural authority. And God even has used men with different writing styles and different personalities, not just to use them, but I think even to encourage us. As you begin reading, one gospel may be easier or more pleasant until you recognize they're all saying the same thing, they're all pointing to the same Savior. But as you think about recognizing the pleasantness of the word, it demands something of you. If you are going to recognize the pleasantness of the word, you need to deny yourself. And I want to highlight one way we need to deny ourselves. We need to deny our own perspectives sometimes. Because what happens? We approach God's Word with our perspective and we go to that verse and we think it says that because we want it to say that. But we need to deny ourselves. And as was highlighted last night, you need to let God's Word be God's Word. You don't read it to find evidence of your own perspectives and disregard everything else. We're not about, we ought not to be about text proofing our own unique perspectives about some narrow idea. We need to read God's word as God's word. Read it as a means of grace through which God wants me to see his goodness. And how do you do that? Practice daily, or maybe daily disciplines. It's not about learning ancient languages, it's not about heavy duty study, but it is about reading it. and thinking about it daily, and maybe memorizing it, finding out which ways you memorize easiest. Some of us memorize through song, right? Encourage one another, build each other up. Till about two years ago, we still sang that to our kids, right? Little... Was it Steve Green discs? Memorized scripture. But there's other ways of memorizing. Some of the obscure verses that come to mind are because they've been carved into song and you need to know where they come from. But this is one way God encourages us. And so practice daily. But I want to go through a day with you, and not a whole day, I've just picked five things. How your normal daily activities can, should remind you of the pleasantness of God's word. Not because this makes me understand God's word, but as I see this, I see it in light of God's word and it just, it's beautiful. So here's the first one. The sun rises. What do you think? Let's turn it into a question for a moment. The sun rises. What do you think? Yes. It's lamentations, but yes, very good. His mercies are new every morning, right? That's one thought. But that's exactly it. They are new every morning. Is that pleasant to you as you wake up? It should be. It's understanding the pleasantness of the word. It's helping me to understand my day. What's another one? It's totally different, but it depends on what passages you may have memorized and think about. This might be a stretch, but one that came to mind was Psalm 31. Let thy light shine upon thy servant. It's a prayer to begin the day. And it's not just the sunlight, but let... Your light, Lord, shine on me today. That's pleasant. Here's the next one. Again, a question to you. What's it make you think of? Don't say beautiful flower. Where's my guys from yesterday? Tyler. It's a lily. It's a lily. OK. Or Christ saying, oops. Or Christ saying to the church, you are the lily among thorns. Or Matthew 6, consider the lilies. Right? How they grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. God takes care of this flower. Why are you worried about what you're going to wear and eat and drink? That's the pleasantness of the word. It's the pleasantness of creation, yes. But you see, it's when we understand God's word that we're given daily reminders of his word and the pleasantness of it. Number three. This one made me think of a Psalter. Thy might sets fast, the mountain strengthens thee evermore. Right? Okay, that's not scripture, that's a Psalter. Terry. They are, but not Psalter 171. Psalm 65 though, right? God of our salvation, who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, who by his strength sets fast the mountains being gird with power. This is a reminder of who God is. It's pleasantness, or Psalm 46, or Tyler. Very good, if you have faith, the size of a mustard seed could move mountains. What about this? Even if the mountains were removed into the middle of the sea, I won't be afraid because I am still and know that He is God. You imagine this mountain range collapsing, sliding into the Pacific Ocean? Would you be afraid? Psalm 46, I will not be afraid. You see, if we know these scriptures and things happen and we see them happen, we ought to have the pleasantness of the word filling our minds. Number four. Something we probably all see every day. May not see mountains every day, but certainly we see something like this. As cold water is to a thirsty soul, so is good news. Proverbs 25 verse 26. Or Mark, whoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, verily I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. Or Matthew 25, Lord, when did we see thee and hungered and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink? And the king shall answer, Just as you have done to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. You see, God's word is pleasant because it doesn't just use reality to point to something greater. It's daily reminders of the greatest. Matthew 7, oops, sorry, one more. Knock, it will be open to you. Or Revelation 3, behold, I stand at the door and knock if anybody hears my voice. I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. See, the pleasantness of God's word is it doesn't just point to reality. It rings true with experience, and as it rings true with experience, it's pointing you to the deepest truths, and they will resonate with you if they fill your minds. And so, this is an encouragement to practice daily, even through these small ways that I've tried to highlight, this goal. God's Word is pleasant. Recognize it as such. Because there is a result to God's Word filling you. The result is pleasantness, even more pleasantness. And it will only happen if it's God's Word filling you. Go all the way back to the beginning, Proverbs 22. How can you fill it? Yourself. Bible reading, sermons, podcasts, Bible study, friends, conversations with others who know Scripture. But there's another distinction on the screen here that's important. It's be filled by Scripture, not necessarily fill yourself. Allow the spirit to use the word in you. But if you're going to fill yourself, it's so often pick and choose, right? I'm going to pick my favorite passages and all I'm going to know is my favorite passages. But if you read scripture and allow the spirit to apply it to you, you will learn more scripture. have to choose not to read other things. I'm going to read through the book of Jeremiah. Might not be the easiest place to start, but if all you read is Psalms, which are very pleasant and good, and you ought to read them and know them, but you will never know the wrestling or understand. Or maybe you'll never even think that someone else has wrestled until you read Jeremiah or Habakkuk or some of these other prophets. They've wrestled with questions. And God's word is pleasant to you because it brings you answers even of those wrestlings. Point being, read not just the same book of scripture over and over. Listen to other things, and the Lord will fill you. His word will not return to him void. Let me just give you one other example. I know one of the struggles of teenagers, young adults, can be loneliness, even though you're surrounded by people, anxiety, questions about who you really are, and you may seem full of care. Does anybody get me? There's lots of people in this room, but does anybody know me? And what happens when we're lonely? We tend to sit in a corner. Some of us scroll through our phones, see pictures of everybody else. Does that help your loneliness? Or does it exacerbate it, make your loneliness even greater? I think you know the answer. If you know scripture, it's not an instant cure-all pill, but you go back to scripture. With the multitude of anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul. Psalm 94, you put that in context. And you realize scripture speaks to my circumstance. And scripture tells me what to do with my circumstance. Even though it's a multitude of anxieties, it's God's word that can comfort my soul. And not just comfort me, but delight me. There's pleasantness even in my anxiety and loneliness. And then you continue reading scripture. You see, God cares for other people. God cares for all people. And you come to Romans 4, and you think, wow, this is thick theology. And you come to the end of Romans 4, and what do you realize? Well, you don't realize it. It says it to you. This wasn't just written for Abraham. This wasn't just written for the Romans. This was written for us. You see, God's Word is God's Word, not just to the people of the Old Testament and the people of Rome, first century, but it's God's Word to you today, so that you would benefit from it today, so that you would see this is good, this is pleasant, and be overwhelmed that God has shown this to me. Why would God show all this goodness to me? Why would God remind me of his word moment by moment? So that you would grow. Faith starts like a seed. planted there by God. He wants you to grow. Slowly, consistently, being blessed with very pleasant things like water and sunshine, fertilizer. Right, God doesn't plant a seed and then pour acid on it. No, he plants the seed of faith and then he gives his word. It's a pleasant word. It's an encouraging word. It's knowing that you, this little beginning of faith, this small Christian, you need to grow. You need to be encouraged. You need to be molded and shaped so that you can grow. And yes, maybe there's pruning that happens. But you are to see all of this as God's good intention towards you. And he does it through his word and spirit. And that should be seen as pleasant to us. It's good. There's lots of Bible studies that can help you in this. But whether it's you and your Bible by yourself, whether it's you and a friend, Whether it's you and a book. Another sidebar for a second. This is a great little book. I don't think it's on the table there. But this is called Bright Shadows of Divine Things. It does extensively what I've tried to do in those five slides earlier. It takes wolves and doves and watches and music and rain and blossoms and water spouts and sunbeams and branches and cocoons and moths and snakes and prey, and it gives you Bible verses and meditations on all those things as you see them in your daily life. You take all these means of grace that God gives you. And what do you pray? You don't pray, make me know more than my friends. But no, Lord, fill me with this pleasantness so that I can grow. So that as we read at the beginning, It will be a pleasant thing for me if I am filled with this word, this truth, and I will be given discernment to know how to live, to know how to walk through life, to know how to make decisions. And from the seed will be a great tree. Psalm 1, blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither. Whatever he does will prosper. Is it smooth road? No. But he will prosper. God's Word is pleasant to fill you so that you can prosper in whatever crossroads or moment you come to. You see a huge tree out in the field? Remember, this is what God's Word says. can do to a little seed faith. I lost a friend last summer. He was 37 years old. Got diagnosed with liver cancer in March, died in July. three kids, and I was in quarantine when he was dying because I had come to Grand Rapids for my son's wedding. I get home and know that my friend's dying. His name was John. We broke quarantine. Don't tell anybody. We broke quarantine to visit John. And it's a privilege to read scripture to somebody. It's one of the joys of being a pastor. You get to bring God's word to people in all kinds of situations. But the Friday night that we broke quarantine, we went and visited and read scripture, prayed, had a little conversation. And didn't know if I'd see him again, but Saturday we went back and he had been unresponsive all day. not even talking to his wife, not able to say a single word to his kids, all day. On a Saturday afternoon, I get there, and I don't remember what passage we read, but we read a few verses. And he opens his eyes, and says, wonderful, beautiful. The pleasantness of God's word can fill you in every single moment of your life. But only if you come to recognize that it's pleasant, it's good, That wasn't the first time he saw that the Word was pleasant and beautiful. He had lived towards this moment, filling himself with Scripture, so that even in his dying moments, his confession was that the truth of God, the goodness of God, the beauty of God is what made him respond. get a greeting, I didn't get a hi. His wife didn't get a hi all day or a good morning. His kids couldn't even get him to say I love you. But the word comes and his response is beautiful. It's the last thing he said. Are you ready to die that way? That's my question. As we end this, because you are convinced of the beauty of scripture and the beauty of God's promises have filled you, the beauty of the gospels overwhelmed you, so that you are ready to die saying, Lord, it's all good. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that your word is pleasant and it fills the soul. And yes, it fills with conviction. It fills by hollowing us out so that there remains nothing in ourselves. But we thank you that the beauty of the gospel, the beauty of your promises, the beauty of your truth is such that it can fill us. Not just a little bit, but it can fill us all the way. It can fill us to overflowing. And as it fills us, it can grow us. And as we grow, we can become more fruitful. And as we become fruitful, we honor you. And you cause those who abide in your word to be like trees planted by rivers of water, who do not wither and do not fade. Lord, we pray that the pleasantness of your word would so fill us and our minds that whatsoever we do would prosper. That you'd bless us through word and spirit, giving us discernment and joy, confidence and assurance, wisdom, grace. And so as we conclude this time together this morning, we pray. for everyone here, that by your word and spirit, we would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please bless every person, every family represented, and continue with us through today. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.