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Psalm 23
This morning we dive into Psalms 23
And Monday after we had leadership I was thinking on what to preach on
And I went right to Psalms 23
So Monday night as I am laying in bed I pulled out my phone and began to write about Psalms 23
Probably one of the most famous pieces of scripture
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 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.
And there you have it
Psalms 23 one of the more well known pieces of scripture
It was written by king David
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Not that you get what you want when you want it
Sometimes we like to use God as our personal wish granter and then get upset when we don’t get what we want or when it turns out in a way different
We have heard the term they want for nothing
Which means they are taken care
Not that their ever want is supplied but their needs are met to the fullest
That is exactly what a good shepherd does right
11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
That Jesus is The good shepherd
Jesus is not a merely hired man who has no vested interest in us
See Jesus is interested in your life and desires to know you personally
Jesus cares about you
Jesus knows you so much
Like any good parent Jesus knows what we need and supplies that need just like any good shepherd would if they are interested in their growth
And He knows when we need rest, when we need to be chilsed on and worked on and sanded down
God knows exactly what we need and when we need
Church we can rest in that knowing that God knows what we need and when we need it
But the best part about it is that the Good Shepherd is active in our lives
He is constantly looking after us and caring for us so that there is no need for wanting anything else
That the is the reason we should not want is because Jesus is our good shepherd
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
God is the one leading us
We have a responsibility through right
We are to follow where He leads
Because He is the good shepherd though we can know in our heart that God has good in store for us as His children
That God wants us to rest in the green pastures
That God wants us to be by quite waters
God guides us to things for His glory and because God is a good God its also good for us
But church our responsibility in this is to follow
Often though I like most of you find myself sometimes out in front God and leading instead of being led
God has ordained times in our lives for rest if only we will follow
We can rest knowing that God
11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
That God has plans for you and I
That God has plans that have good in store for those who walk and run after Jesus
19 How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men! 20 You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
That God is so good and has that stored up for those who take refuge in God
Church we can rest knowing that the good shepherd knows what we need and when we need it and that it is good
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Probably one the most famous verses
David is saying here there is nothing to fear because of God
and He is right
As believers I think sometimes we fear or hesitate going into valleys
In this particular valley it is called death or valleys that are deep and dark because we can’t always see
But valleys are where growth happens
But we like the mountain tops
Can I tell you why we like the mountain tops
Because on top of a the mountain there is no work that is required of us because we have done all the work to get there
We like the mountains top because there is rest on the mountain top
Except on the mountain top nothing grows on the mountain top
Which is why you were never created to stay on the mountain top
Interesting thing about a mountain top is it is created by to valleys right
So to get to the mountain top you must go through a valley
But the valleys are not bad
Actually the valleys are where things grow the most
Because all the soil has run off the top and settled in the valley that is where things grow
We shouldn’t fear the valleys
That water that flows down is pooled in the valley and that is where refreshment comes from
Because I wanted to share with you what refreshment looks like and to do that I have some pictures of me to show you what refreshment looks like
Picture 1
This is not what refreshment looks like
There is a lot of anguish in this picture
Picture 2
This is what refreshment looks like
This is not an ad Gatorade
But this is what refreshment looks like
This is day 5 in the hospital and I needed something to drink other than water and I needed it know
I texted Randi to bring up some Gatorade and she replied that she would after church
To which I immediately replied that was not going to work and I needed it now
So Randi gathered up the girls and and brought up a bunch of gatorades
So much that it filled the huge window sill of Gatorade
This is what refreshment looks like
The David immediately changes from valleys to the good shepherds rod and staff
These are two different things
When we think of the shepherd staff we think of the shepherds crook, it was used to save the sheep that have gone astray
A good shepherd knows how to use that
The rod was used as discipline and for protection, sometimes those sheep get out of a hand and a little tap does them good to get back in line, or sometimes there is a wolf at some distance and the shepherd will use that rod and take out the wolf at some distance away to protect the flock
That is what a good shepherd does
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.
Here David is exalting the Lord God
God is so good and we don’t want because our cup overflows
As believers in Jesus Christ it is good for us to reflect on the blessings you have been given to from God
When I came to Maranatha Baptist Fellowship Pastor Gary was doing Praise Time
That is a great opportunity to remind yourself and the church that God is actively at work in your life and that you recognize it
David recognized that God was worthy of praise
Then He ends it
When we follow after God because of what Jesus did on the cross and the grave
We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
Praise the Lord
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Praise the Lord that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ
Once you have repented and trusted in Jesus then you begin your walk with Christ to being made holy
And as you walk with and towards Christ know that nothing can separate you from Christ
Praise the Lord this morning for that fact
As we move to a time of invitation
I would invite you this morning to the front if you have never made a decision for salvation and want to this morning
You can speak with someone who can show you in scripture how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus this morning
Or maybe you have a personal relationship and this morning has reminded you to not fear the valleys that growth happens in the valley and just maybe it is time to come down of the mountain top
Maybe you simply need to spend sometime in prayer at the altar
or maybe there is another decision you need to make the altar is open