My Cup Overflows

Next week, we will be starting an all new series and I want to invite all of you as we are getting closer to Christmas to decide who you can be inviting to services, because one thing that is most certainly true and has been studied by different groups is Christmas is a season where many people who you wouldn’t normally be able to get into church are more willing to come. There are so many people lonely during the Christmas season and the thought of Christmas and family just exasperates their loneliness and they are looking for a community to be a part of even more so than normal, so it is a perfect time to start inviting people and get them involved. Over the four weeks leading to Christmas we are going to be looking at what I have called The Lyrics of Christmas, and are diving into some of the classic Christmas Carols or hymns and what we can learn from those, so you won’t want to miss it.

Last week we talked about how that piece of scripture may have been one of the hardest to undrestand but it was good for us. We don’t want to be disciplined, but we need it often times to get to the places we want to be with the Shepherd, much like a child needs discipline to make sure they don’t veer off course.

This morning we will finish the series as we look at the last two verses of the 23rd Psalm.

Psalm 23:5–6 NASB95

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This morning, I think it is important to know that Jesus has spread a table before you, and he wants you to come and dine. This is such an amazingly graphic image in scripture and I love it.

It says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” I just want you to think of how amazing that would look - like really get this image in your head. All these people that are your enemies, that talk bad about you, that have stories against you, that want nothing more than to ruin you; you’re accusers - right before them, right in front of them, God prepares a table before you to eat. That’s some amazing imagery, I just picture all these people and they are running their mouth and telling Jesus and anyone who will listen all the defamatory comments they can think of about you, and Jesus doesn’t care what they have to say. He’s sitting at the table with you eating, and they can do nothing but stand back and watch you dine with the almighty. What an amazing picture. They’re wanting justice, discipline, or something worse for you from Jesus, and instead they are watching Him dine with you. It is an amazing picture; and let’s not even get started right now about what that table would look like, I don’t think our brains could even imagine what Jesus would put together for something like this. What this is an image of really is that no matter how bad this life looks, no matter what is going on in your life in reality God is always working things out for his people, always trying to bless us in some way; trying to give us something good in the midst of all the pain and suffering. And this isn’t prosperity, I’m not saying he is trying to give you everything you’re heart desires, but he is giving you the nourishment you need, even in the midst of it all he wants you to have what you need. I know this is really hard for some of you to accept and understand. You just don’t feel deserving enough of something like this, but look to Psalm 68:19

Psalm 68:19 NASB95

19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah.

See, the thing is that God can bless us, whenever, however, and in whichever way he chooses to do so. And what often makes his blessings even more sweet is when he blesses us when we feel like there is no possible way that we could do it on our own. Like when you are at the bottom of the pit and the only way for you to get out is if someone comes and throws in a ladder, thats when God comes and does his work. This is when we feel like we have TRULY been blessed by him. It’s because we know there is no possible way for us to get out of our situation on our own in the natural sense, but all of a sudden god swoops in snatches you out of the pit. You know that nothing you could have done could have caused that and its in those moments in our lives when we can see our faith is truly strengthened.

It reminds me of the little girl at the family dinner that was punished and told she had to eat alone in the corner. They thought she had learned her lesson, until they heard her pray, “Dear Lord, thank you for preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies…”

Now, just think about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they were there but they hadn’t done anything to deserve to live in the most beautiful, perfect place that you could ever imagine. In fact the garden had been created even before they were, the Garden was fashioned by God before he had created man, there was nothing they could have done to deserve to be put into such an amazing and perfect place. I just want you to take a moment and think about this, there was nothing that Adam and Eve could ever had needed in the Garden. God created it and they would have everything they needed there - they would have lacked NOTHING. Yet, the Bible tells us they didn’t have to do anything to get it. Instead, the Bible teaches, “He took Adam and breathed life into him and placed him into the Garden.” Just follow that, there was nothing, created everything, gave him life, gave him perfection. God just placed Adam right in the middle of a huge blessing and there was nothing he had done to deserve it. Much in the same way that God is trying to prepare a blessing for you. He is working behind the scenes, trying to put things in order to give you a blessing that you don’t deserve as well.

And listen, I understand you are saying, Pastor, my life is miserable, I can’t see how that is happening, I don’t see at all how God is preparing me a place so amazing. Here is the thing, you don’t have to be able to see it, you just have to trust that the Shepherd is giving you something great and amazing, and as he prepares it for you, you follow him to it and then step into what He has prepared. I know you feel unworthy, I understand that, but the fact is, there is nothing that you could do anyway to prepare a blessing for yourself. The truth is its just Gods amazing grace that gives you what you don’t deserve.

Think about how amazingly perfect Eden was for Adam and Eve. They’re there in this beautiful place where they could have lived the rest of their lives without any problems. But most of us know the rest of the story; the serpent comes and starts speaking parseltongue to Eve. Some of you will get that Harry potter, reference. I know, we don’t watch that evil stuff, but its no different than the wizardry in Frozen. Anyway, the serpent comes and gets them to take their eyes off of God and look at their circumstances and their lives and they eat the fruit and everything changes; sin enters the world. Now, all of a sudden life is incredibly different for everyone. The truth of the matter from scripture is evident that God wanted the very best for us from the very beginning of time; he wanted us to be blessed and have everything that we needed from the very beginning. He wanted to walk with us and talk with us, and provide everything we needed, he wanted to be the one to be that shepherd. He has always wanted the very best and nothing second tier for his people, but he wants us to remain focused on him at all times; not to take our eyes off of him to continue to follow the shepherd.

Look at what Proverbs 4:25-26 says, I’ll read it from the

Proverbs 4:25–26 NASB95

25 Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. 26 Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established.

See in verse 5 of Psalm 23 David is giving us some amazing perspective on the abilities of God. David is using a pretty broad brush here about the ability of God, by using the phrase in the presence of mine enemies. This is a broad brush because when he says the presence of his enemies, who does this encapsulate? I would say that it encapsulates any enemy you may have even Satan, the accuser, and everything to do with him in and around your life, that will ever give you trouble your whole life long.

Listen, I can hear some of you in your mind pushing back, thats quite a stretch to say that God can do that in front of the evil one, but to them I would say is anything too hard for God? NO! Is there anything in this life that we live, that is too hard or out of the capability of God's amazing ability to take care of or to watch over for us? NO! Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19 that with man things were impossible, but with God all things are possible! There is nothing that God cannot do. I just want to say that one more time, There is nothing that God cannot do, Just remember, he spoke the entire world into existence with just his words.

Jeremiah said, “Lord you have made the earth and the heavens, nothing is too difficult for the You.” I think we should all be praising the Lord this morning because we serve not just "a" God of all possibilities but "thee" God of all possibilities!

The Bible is full of examples that show what is possible when you keep your focus and your mind on the things of God and the things that can happen. Abraham kept his focus and mind on God, as did David, as did Elijah, and all of those are some amazing Biblical stories we could spend hours dissecting. This morning I want to look at the story of Jericho, so I am going to read a few pieces out of the 6th chapter of Joshua

Joshua 6:1–5 ESV

1 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”

Joshua 6:10–17 ESV

10 But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. 12 Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. 14 And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. 15 On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.

What you can see is God had prepared that moment before the beginning of time for them to walk in and be successors. Here’s the thing, when when God gives you a promise, you still have to step out into faith to claim the promise that he has given and declared for you?

Let me ask you a question, when the Israelites outside Jericho started putting their faith into action do you think it made much sense to the people watching inside the walls of Jericho? Of course not! Im sure they were pointing and laughing and carrying on about their normal everyday lives. I would venture to bet that even on the seventh day as they begin to shout and blast their trumpets that the people inside were laughing and saying things like, “Oh here it goes again, they are going to march around us and blow those trumpets.” As they watched at first nothing happened, but the children of Israel kept marching because they knew what they had been promised; they kept focusing on that promise and looking toward God.

But to the people of Jericho, or to any of us that hadn’t heard the story, I’m sure in the natural it would have looked absolutely crazy. Suddenly as they circle the city that seventh time, the ground begins to shake; the earth begins to rumble and the Israelites began to shout louder and louder, and the ground began to shake harder and harder until the shouts caused the walls to be completely ripped apart.

Do you think there were times that the Israelites questioned what they were doing? I am going to be pretty clear and guess that sometime during those seven days as they walked around the city they were questioning what they were doing. I mean, they questioned God all the time, they communed with him and still questioned what he was doing - they were human beings just like us so there is no doubt in my mind that while they are walking around the city they would have doubted what they were doing. It may not have been during that first lap around, but maybe by the second or third as the people inside begin to mock and laugh at them as they continue to follow God.

Here is the thing questioning what God is doing is perfectly normal as long as you don’t let that questioning ruin completely your faith. You can’t let your questioning take your eyes and focus off of him. It reminds me of the old prayer, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” Sometimes you have to look at life and say, “I don’t care how it looks, I don’t care how I feel, I don’t care what anyone else says, I don’t care that there are seemingly unbreakable odds; all I care about is what God is telling me about this situation.” God had already prepared the Israelites for victory; all they had to do was walk in the victory that God had promised them - to continue to walk toward all those promises.

Let’s continue in Joshua:

Joshua 6:17 ESV

17…Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

Joshua 6:22–24 NASB95

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” 23 So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. 24 They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

Joshua 6:25 NIV

25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

See, some people think that the things that they are doing, and the things they have done in life make it to where they don’t deserve or can’t receive the blessings of God in their life. Some of you may feel that way this morning. I have spoken with so many people in my life who truly believe the Bible, that God can do anything in OTHER peoples lives, but they think that God couldn’t, or maybe shouldn’t, do the same in their own lives.

It is true that some sin will hold you longer and keep you sucked in longer than other sins, but this scripture gives us hope that God can do anything through our lives that he wants; hat his Grace is always greater than our sin. Rahab was a prostitute, but even through a prostitute if she is willing, God can use to impact the Kingdom. At the very moment she did something, she stood up she walked right up to the table of blessing that God had been preparing for her and sat down and partook of it. Her courage not only saved her but saved every person in the household.

Nothing is impossible when you put your faith and trust in God, NOTHING. The most amazing part of this story is that the story doesn’t end there. No, Rahab the prostitute end up in the genealogy of Jesus - She ends up in the bloodline of the savior of the world! That day she sat down at the table prepared for her. That day she experienced Gods mercy and grace. That day put her in the house of the Lord for the rest of her life. That day she experienced the Goodness and grace of God like she never had before. That day she took her eyes off of her own circumstances and she focused on God and all that he could do and she never once looked back..

5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lordforever. The Bible says that God is not a respecter of people and what that means is that what he has done for other people he can do for you. Your age doesn’t matter; the family you’ve come from doesn’t matter; you’re background doesn’t matter; your financial status doesn’t matter; God has given you a perfect destiny - an amazing table to eat from and he is just waiting for you to arrive to eat.

In Order to get there you just have to follow the shepherd and trust him and know that no matter the circumstances around you, God is leading you closer each day than you were before. Always know that he is protecting you and leading you no matter what it may look like in the natural scheme of things..

A famous actor was an after dinner speaker at a big function and when he stood up to speak, he invited his audience to choose a poem for him to recite. There was a long silence until a retired clergyman raised his hand and asked for Psalm 23. The actor was slightly taken back, but agreed to do so provided the clergyman would recite it after him, which the clergyman reluctantly agreed to do.

The actor recited Psalm 23 and received a standing ovation. When the clergyman recited the Psalm, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

The actor came over to the clergyman and said in front of all the guests. "Do you know the difference between his version and my version. I know the 23rd Psalm but he knows the Shepherd"

Do you know the Shepard today?

Maybe you are here this morning and you don’t feel like there is anyway you could sit in the presence of your enemies, maybe the world around you is moving much too fast and all you can seem to hear are those voice and those situations, and if that is you this morning, I want to encourage you to come forward for prayer, we would love to pray for you in your situations so the Lord would teach you, and more importantly that you would be able to see him as he leads you to take a seat, as he assures you everything is under control.