23 He restores my soul

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Intro: A shepherd looks at the 23rd Psalm (Phillip Keller) who grew up as a shepherd in East Africa. The 23rd Psalm is a year in the life of a shepherd.

CAST SHEEP (Show Video)

A cast sheep is a sheep that has turned over on its back and cannot get up again by itself.

It is a very pathetic site.

Lying on its back, its feet in the air, it frantically tries to stand up without success.

If the owner doesn’t arrive on the scene within a reasonably short time that sheep will die.

The knowledge that any cast sheep is helpless close to death and vulnerable to attack makes the whole problem of a cast sheep serious for the shepherd.

As the sheep lies there struggling, gases begin to build up inside and they tend to cut off blood circulation to the extremities, especially the legs. (Weather hot…can die within hours. / Weather cooler…it may survive for several days.)

This is probably the idea of what was depicted in the story of the 99 sheep. There is a shepherds concern for the one missing sheep and his delight in finding it.

(This is why the shepherd would always count his sheep…one missing typically signaled the “cast’ sheep - the shepherd knew that he would have to get his sheep back on its feet again.)

Once found the sheep is not immediately put back onto her feet but the shepherd must rub her legs to restore circulation and that usually takes the sheep a while to begin walking again.

There is something intensely personal…tender…endearing, yet…dangerous in this picture. The sheep is so helpless, so immobilized…though otherwise strong…has been cast down.

Many people have the idea that when a child of God falls, when he is frustrated and helpless in a spiritual dilemma, God becomes disgusted, fed-up and even furious with him. This simply is not so!

GOD IS OUR SHEPHERD AND IS CONCERNED AND COMPASSIONATE FOR “CAST DOWN MEN AND WOMEN”

WHY DO WE BECOME CAST DOWN?

- Says, “Why are you so “cast down” my soul? 3 times!

Each time is reminded to place hope in God.

So why do we become cast down…in our circumstances (no matter what they are, good or bad…we stop hoping in God…and begin hoping in ourselves)

THE REASONS MOST SHEEP GET STUCK IN THIS CAST POSITION:

LAYING IN AN EASY PLACE (Comfortable)

Some sheep find a soft spot or a hollow in the ground and this makes it easy for them to roll over on their backs.

Many Christians get stuck because they are looking for an easy spot.

Sometimes the shepherd will move the sheep to ta pasture that is not quite so soft and easy.

This is a place in our lives where there is no accountability.

There is no passion for God. Living in Routine.

Comfortable in their own sin and as they are.


2) THE NEED SHEERING (Too Much Baggage)

Sometimes the sheep have too much wool and this keeps them from being able to stand.

The wool can be heavily matted with mud, manure, burrs and other debris, making it much easier for a sheep to become cast, literally weighed down with its wool.

Wool in scripture depicts the old life in the Christian, our flesh.

It is the area where I am in continual contact with the world around me.

Here is where I find the clinging accumulation of things or possessions, or worldly ideas beginning to weigh me down, drag me down, hold me down.

It is significant that no high priest was allowed to wear wool when he entered the holy of holy’s…instead he wore a line robe.

WHY? Wool was a symbol of warmth and comfort. Linen was a symbol of righteousness and purity, does not cause sweat…symbol of rest.

This is a place in our lives where we are allowing the heaviness of our sins & loves to drag us away from the shepherd.

We are carrying around too much stress, worry, unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, hate, maliciousness, etc…..

3) THE ARE TOO FAT (Too self-reliant)

As christians was can get to a place in our lives where we think we have arrived and we are satisfied in it.

- God points out to the church of Laodicea that they were in danger because of their self-sufficiency.

This is a place where people feel like they are “good” in their own eyes…

T.S. Simply, God doesn’t want us to get stuck like this. (He wants the best for our lives.)

God (Our shepherd) realized that because “SIN” was in our nature…we would do everything that we could possibly do to run in the opposite direction as him…and “get stuck”

THIS IS WHY - He wants to RESTORE our lives. Or Restore our souls!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

WHAT IS OUR SOUL?

It is our “WHOLE” person

ILLUSTRATION ON SCREEN

HEART: Is at the center = the boss of our lives

The heart is where we make choices

This is where we say, “yes” “no” “i don’t care”

Choose good & evil

This is the place where sin is chosen.

Other parts of the “soul” influence the heart…but the heart is what ultimately chooses.

- Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life!

MIND: Separate from the heart - works day and night

Always making suggestions to the heart about directions to take

Made up of thoughts and feelings

Where we imagine and perceive (mind can be wrong about perceptions)

Feelings:

- our minds also feel

- our minds determine how we feel about what we think.

- our minds may completely understand something…but have a totally different

feeling about it then everyone else.

BODY: Our presence in the physical and social world

Our bodies or stimulated and effected by the world around us.

When our heart makes a choice it is our body that carries it out.

Our bodies often act before we think.

“the flesh wants to do contrary to the spirit:

SOCIAL LIFE: Way we connect to others.

Whether introverted or extroverted, there is a component in each of us that yearns for connection and calls us to relate to others.

According to Jesus a central goal of life is to connect to God and others (Love)

Rejection is a sword thrust into the soul and literally kills

The quality of our social life affects the other parts of our lives. Our Choices, Inner Thoughts, Feelings & How we feel about our bodies, even our actions.

SOUL: The Whole person

Connects all others dimensions or parts. (Heart, Mind, Body, Social) to form LIFE.

Cell Phone = Soul

Phone Chip: Connects phone to provider = heart

Circuitry: Guts of the phone that think = mind

Casing: Body

Cells: Connection to others = Social Life

HERE’S THE PROBLEM!!!!

When our heart begins to reject God’s thoughts = it begins to ruin us

God being God offends our human pride

We have to quit playing God…and surrender.

Toss God out of our hearts…and our minds try convincing us we are God

What we want and feel is the center…Life is about us!

This affects our Body - we stop worshipping God, and we worship self

Sensuality (what feels good) becomes our center.

Our social life is then less about Godly influences and more people who don’t challenge our beliefs…people who won’t keep us accountable.

Who make us feel good…even when we know its wrong.

Ultimately - our soul is ruined and needs “restored”

We have focused on ourselves and only stay where we feel comfortable.

Self-worship has a destination = LOSTNESS

Lost people = ones who mistake their own person for God.

THE PROBLEM….

Unfortunately even in this condition the human soul is still capable of great strength, dignity, beauty, and even goodness….

Denial is the primary device people use to deal with their own wrongness and ruin.

REMEMBER: Sin does not make us worthless, it just makes us LOST

THE SOUL NEEDS TO BE RESTORED!

THE SOUL NEEDS TO BE REFORMED.

But the power to reform/restore the soul comes from the heart!

Here’s the problem: OUR HEART IS BEING BOMBARDED BY THE REST OF OUR SOUL

HOW DOES OUR HEART REJECT GOD?

ILLUSTRATION: 2nd GRAPH

These all share how the heart decides.

Left alone with good intentions - we will lose the battle of growing into the people that jesus envision us.

Why? Because our heart can’t overcome the pressure of the other parts!

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Even though our hearts want to do good, right, best - FLESH just so much pressure on us to do what’s wrong and harmful we likely lost the battle: We are cast down

When God is not the center (controlling and directing) our hearts, our hearts are at the mercy of the other parts of our nature.

Our relationship w/ God is often low priority.

We miss the energy of his presence, the confidence of his guidance, the joy of his intimacy.

We will end up pursing happiness according to our own ideas - which may be sinful - and we drift away.

* THE SOUL NEEDS TO BE RESTORED!

JOHN CALVIN SAYS,

“The surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves.”

Say: The only haven of safety is to have no other wisdom, no other will, then to follow the Lord wherever he leads.

This is all about denying self.

Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (LOVE GOD WITH YOUR WHOLE SELF)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forgets his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

WE MUST DENY OUR SELVES TO BE FULLY RESTORED BY OUR SHEPHERD.

Deny self means humbly submitting to God and his will for our lives.

Its not about what we want

Its not about what we feel

Its not about what we think

Its not about our hurts

Its not about our disappointments

Its not about our comfort

Its not about how “good” we think we are

Its not about how broken we feel

Its not about our accomplishments

RESTORATION OF OUR SOULS ONLY COMES FROM SUBMITTING TO THE SHEPHERD.

Think about how embarrassing that cast down sheep. (Thats us)

- Pooped all over himself.

Since God is the one who made us, only He can restore us, because only He knows what we need to restore our souls. (Another person can not change another’s soul)

WHEN WE DENY-SELF…

GOD BECOMES OUR CENTER (OUR POINT OF REFERENCE IN THIS WORLD)

Life is not about what we want, but what God wants

Our priority and passion is what God wants, not what we want.

WHEN WE DENY-SELF…

GOD’S AGENDA BECOMES OUR CENTRAL FOCUS

LOVING GOD & OTHERS BECOMES THE NEW PRIORITY OF OUR LIVES

We begin to fulfill the purpose that we were created.

When we love God and others (we come alive) - we discover the lives we’ve wanted.

Under this arrangement, giving and forgiving become central to our lives.

We no longer have to look out for our own interest, God does.

WHEN WE DENY-SELF…

GOD ALIGNS OUR SOUL (WHOLE LIFE) WITH HIS WILL

Our love for God will put the entire structure of our person into proper allignment.

Our Heart, Mind (thoughts & feelings), Body, Social Life - whole soul aligned with GOD

Determines the friends we spend time with

Directs our minds to dwell on good - not tempted by evil

Bodies used to praise God not allow our hearts to give into dead end temptations.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR SOUL NEEDS RESTORING?

Feeling more irritated than you used to.

Feeling frustrated often or all the time

Feeling Sad or even depressed

Feeling Apathetic

Feeling Trapped in Problems

Feeling Comfortable in your doing what you know is wrong

Feeling Fearful

Feeling Defensive

Feeling Confused or not Clear about life

Feeling Distant from God

Feeling Angry

Feeling like you don’t know what to do.

Feeling like you are just going through the motions

Feeling like all your relationships are strained.

What is broken in your soul will affect your worship!

It will affect your repentance!

It will affect your relationships!

When your center point is off, that broken soul, that broken, diseased, deceitful, lying, disgusting, murdering heart you and I have is perfectly diagnosed by God and perfectly redeemed accordingly.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? The Lord is the one who searches the heart and tests the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

(This verse is like a punch in the mouth, and its like, “I can’t do anything about it, but God knows, he sees it. He diagnoses it accurately and flawlessly.

Through Christ he addresses the sick heart, the wounded soul, the broken life, that diseased center point. He gives us a new heart. He gives us a new name.

DAILY WE MUST CHOOSE TO HAVE OUR SOULS RESTORED BY GOD

Because we were born with our souls bent on self-worship, continuously loving God and others doesn’t come naturally.

Very few people become “good” at anything without intense training an discipline.

We MUST Daily Ask God to Search our Hearts…

Search (investigate) me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Life)

We MUST Daily Seek Repentance

Repentance is not a cuss word. That’s an unfair way of looking at repentance, because the very fact that God would call us out of something that’s taking life from us to align our center points, our souls, our hearts to him would mean he loves us!

So repentance is a beautiful gift from him for me and you to be realigned with him.

We MUST Daily Make God Part of Our Day

Pray, Scripture, Worship

Begin your day with thoughts on God…putting him in charge of your life.

This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heave. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

The lord wants to speak clearly to your soul…He wants to show you that you have become slave to your circumstances, and that your are looking for peace in something you will never find real peace in.

Jesus is the author of peace.