Shepherd looks at 23rd Psalm week 10

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23:6 “6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Can anyone explain to me what happened to bands?

What happened to high school kids forming bands and playing local shows?

Is that still a thing?

I was a part of 3 different bands growing up.

One of them was a christian rock band.

The second band I was a christian metal band , we released 3 songs.

You’ll never find them and I’ll never tell you the name.

I had a blast going to one of our band members homes, setting up my drums in the middle of a wooden shed in the woods, and recording those 3 songs over the next few hours.

What a time.

The 3rd and last band I was a part of was just a short stint.

If you are on facebook, you can go back and find these videos circa 2008 or 2009.

Truthfully, I don’t know what the name of my band was but it was with 2 guys named Tim and Chris.

We wrote 3 songs and played them for a battle of the bands that we had at NGU.

Also, what on earth happened to those? They were awesome!

One thing I always love about music, is that it tells a story.

creating music too, it is special because its never been done before the way you are doing it.

Your making something new that some people will like and some will hate.

Music leaves a wake if you will.

You know those ripples in the water, or the waves in the water that follow a boat.

Music leaves that as well.

On March 17, 2009, Something occurred that was powerful to the Spartanburg community.

A band named My Calvary lost a key member of the band.

His name was Brandon McDaniel.

I was in my second semester at NGU when he passed away.

Brandon had just gone on a mission trip to India.

He was home for 3 days and couldn’t sleep.

He decided to go for a drive and on that drive he ended up falling asleep, hitting a telephone pole, and passing away.

However, his journals from his India became infamous for a time.

In his journals he wrote this:

"As followers of Christ we have been blessed with life. Life has been spoken into us and we are all called to speak that life into others. ... Why are the ones that have breathed in the breath of life from Jesus not speaking that life into others? It is not a matter of how you can get there because it has been made so easy for us. It's not a matter of why you should go because that should be clear. It is not a matter of whether or not you are qualified to go because we are all commanded. It is simply a matter of your heart. Do you care enough to go? Do you care enough to step out of what makes us comfortable and step into the uncomfortable? Do you care enough to speak life into the lifeless? Into the hopeless? Into the broken? Into the unloved? Someone cared enough to speak it into you. ... There is such a bigger picture than our safe and free America. Go. The lost is waiting. The lifeless is eager to hear. You have life. What will you do with it? Be precise in what you say and bold in how you say it. It's time for the "followers" to be leaders and truly follow Christ. It's time for disciples to be made. It's time to be urgent. GO."

Are our lives speaking life into others?

There are many hopeless hearts around us, broken people around us.

Like Brandon wrote, someone cared enough to speak life into you,

are we speaking life to others?

This year, we’ve talked about many things regarding Psalm 23.

Tonight

Psalm 23:6 “6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

We’ve talked about and hopefully learned a lot about the relationship between shepherds and sheep during this study.

Tonight I want us to learn one more thing.

Sheep can very easily destroy a field, but they can also restore a field and make it healthy.

They can eat too much from the same places and turn the grass into dirt.

At the same time, sheep that are properly managed can make a field flourish.

Sheep are wonderful about eating weeds and invasive plants that may take over a field, but the sheep will eat those plants that are bad for the field but not bad for them.

At the same time, as the sheep use the bathroom, this fertilizes the field and helps the good grass grow.

The difference between a well maintained field and a destroyed field then lies in the attention of the Shepherd.

It is up to him to lead the sheep where to eat and when to leave a field alone and let it rest.

But for the sheep that are properly managed, as they leave a pasture, “Goodness and mercy” follow them.

Why? Because they have been led by the good Shepherd.

The sheep leave behind a field that is growing, healthy, and in good condition because the good Shepherd tended that field.

What is your life leaving behind?

What is your legacy and influence on those around you?

When I used to go to the mill there was a man who attended there named James Shelton.

The church was much smaller then, but somehow he always sat near my family.

I can remember him shaking my hand and saying something encouraging to me.

I remember him loving baseball and talking to my brothers at length about their love for baseball.

James Shelton passed away this week.

Other than what I just told you, I don’t know much about him.

But what I do know, is that he simply took time to talk to those younger than him and show them through his life that he loved Jesus.

What a wonderful wake his life left.

Surely goodness and mercy followed him all the days of his life and now he is with Jesus.

Psalm 39:4 “4 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.”

James 4:14–15 “14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.””

Life is a vapor guys, and all I know tonight is this.

Our lives are doing one of two things.

They are either speaking life into others or we are not speaking life.

Every day is an opportunity to live.

As we live, we leave a wake behind us.

Is that wake of your life goodness and mercy?

Is it full of life that flows into other people?

Is Jesus using you to impact others?

Listen… I know school is hard.

I can’t imagine being in school right now guys.

Hearing the things you hear.

Hearing the way your friends talk.

Hearing the things your peers are doing on social media.

Seeing the things you guys are texting one another.

I mean your lives as teenagers is way harder than mine was.

I know there is constant fear that you may end up on someones story or tiktok or elsewhere and you may be bullied for the way you are portrayed online.

I know that people use words in a hurtful way in the halls of your school every day.

I know you face incredible pressures with the opposite sex.

Truly… that breaks my heart.

I can’t imagine living as a Christian teen in 2024.

But!

You can. I know you can.

Goodness and Mercy can follow you.

Maybe it’s one student in your class.

You don’t have to reach everybody guys! Just one student.

What if you noticed that there is one guy or one girl who really struggles to have friends.

How are you being Jesus to that person?

Maybe there is someone who is on your team and they don’t fit in very well.

Come along side that person and encourage them.

You have an opportunity to treat them with kindness and the love of Jesus.

You’ll never regret the times you live for Jesus but we will regret all the time we don’t live for Him.

It’s not easy.

In may even be painful.

Is pain a good thing or a bad thing?

Pain is one of the greatest blessings God ever gave to us.

The ability to feel pain is wildly amazing.

But it’s worth it.

Sometimes, living for Jesus will be painful, but you know what? This can be a massive blessing.

In 1946 a medical doctor moved to India from England.

His name was Dr. Paul Brand.

For over 60 years, Dr. Brand studied the disease of leprosy.

You know that disease we read about in the Bible where Jesus healed people with leprosy?

Well, leprosy was still a big deal in the 1900s in India.

The problem was people with leprosy were losing fingers, toes, hands, feet, and other parts of their body, but nobody knew why!

It was always assumed up until that time that Leprosy caused the hands and feet of people to rot and fall off.

However, through his dedicated life work, Dr. Paul Brand discovered the true nature of Leprosy.

What Dr. Brand discovered is that Leprosy is actually primarily a disease that affects the pain system in the body.

Leprosy numbs critical pain sensors in the body.

So in the hands, feet, nose, and eyes people with leprosy lose the ability to feel pain in those areas.

As a result, it’s very easy for infection to set in from injury.

Because people with leprosy can’t feel pain, the infection can become bad without them even knowing it.

The results can be devastating and can cause toes, fingers, etc.. to fall off.

Dr. Brand wrote that ultimately Leprosy is “a painless hell.”

Ultimately he concluded and wrote extensively in his life about the importance of pain.

How pain prevents further injury.

How pain is a first reminder for us to stop what we are doing and change.

For example, if you and I touched a hot stove top, we would wince in pain and run our hand under cool water.

A person with leprosy might not even know they touched the stove till it was too late.

I think a lot of us view life as trying to be as painless as possible.

We want to avoid it.

But thank God guys that Jesus didn’t do that.

Jesus looked pain in the eye

Luke 22:42–44 “42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Because He died for us this Easter week, we know that Jesus loves us.

1 John 3:16 says “16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Now the call is what 1 John says at the end. “And we out to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

That doesn’t mean you need to go die today, but it does mean that we need each other.

Living for Jesus isn’t a solo mission.

We need friends around us who love Jesus too.

Is goodness and mercy flowing out of your life to those around you?

To those on your team?

To those in your classes?

I know the cost of doing so may be painful at time, but isn’t it worth it?

Like I challenged you at the start, Brandon McDaniel’s journal is a powerful testimony to us all,

someone cared enough to share Jesus with you. Are we sharing Him in return?

Life is hard.

Life is painful.

We all know that life is short and we only have one life given to us.

I pray that we are challenged by this.

At the end of life, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

But what will your life leave behind?

WIll it be full of goodness and mercy?

May it be so this week.

let’s pray.